Goodness gracious, things are starting to get messy, aren't they! Lasers flung, words murmured and building left to ruin. Those all sound like very interesting set-pieces for this chapter, yes? Onto it!
We return to the high skies above the ransacked Holli Jolli Village...
...and the soaring Koopa Cruiser.
In one of the flying contraptions eastmost compartments lay our well-known trio of Mario, Luigi in Peach in their...immature state, prancing around aimlessly across the polished metal flooring and making pleasurable sounds with their bulbous mouths. However, these festivities were (very rudely) interrupted by a familiar burst of faint sheets of sound, swimming along smoothly.
...BOOM!
Did I really just say smoothly? Oh, well then. Indeed, the three were slung up by a cascading impact to the Cruiser's rear, causing understandably astounded faces from the babies (except for Peach, as always) as they hit down to the ground with tears gushing out of their poor eye sockets.
"EMERGENCY! EMERGENCY!"
A voice that sounded seemingly just as intrigued in the unfortunate scenario as they clamored out from a descending yellow-green speaker, not at all quelling any sort of fear from the frantic littluns, if that was even the objective. Luckily, Toadsworth carefully crawled his way into the babies' chamber and moved his vocal cords vigorously.
"PRIIIINCESS!" he shouted urgently, somehow drowning out the graining emergency buzzes that permeated the room. Yet another strike graced the ship's battered rear. He accelerated his crawling speed three-fold and made a ninety-degree turn and stood up simultaneously in a feat of apt athleticism.
"Heavens! Do not cower, young princess, for Toadsworth is ready at the hour!" His courage was further proven by his seemingly impenetrable sheen of protection against the tremors of infantile bawling.
He hurried over to the left side of Peach's carriage. "Quick! Let us travel to refuge!" With that, he bolted out, the colorful cart in hand, assured that the other two toddlers could handle, y'know, not dying.
The speaker coasted down once more.
"This is the Great (and awesome) Prince Bowser speaking to you!"
A very rough and rowdy voice beamed through the audio device's protruding outlet. "Ain't this thing cool? Anyway, don't jump off or your pay'll be cut in half, bow down to me, yada yada yada. And, GET DOWN TO THE BRIDGE!"
His tone shifted in such a way that Mario perked his nose up in interest, snapping out of his crazed daze. Looking to see his brother's salt-water-stream still very active, he bounced up and down a bit in a foray to get his dignity (or what was left of it) back in shape. A few seconds later, he resorted to shoving his sobbing sibling across the surprisingly-unaffected ground.
Getting into an organized formation, the Diaper Duo found themselves in a cavernous corridor with long, thick piping lining the spaces around the platform they were standing on.
"What are you tater-tots doing?"
A Koopa in aviator fatigues approached the two as they dilly-dalleyed forward, causing them to exchange awkward glances at each other in unison. "You're SUPPOSED to be moseying along to his grouchiness..." He stopped in his train of thought, going over to the Red One.
"Hey, Red tot, show me a little preparation hop, will ya?" Mario shrugged slightly, dazzlingly jumping even higher than the Koopa's height.
"Good enough for me," he smarmily approved, sidestepping to the Lean Green Bean. "Do the same, Green tater."
The half of a breakfast item in question leapt up high after a brief bout of hesitation, garnering a slightly more impressed expression on their personal trainer's face. "Pretty good, in fact, good enough to go. Practice those jumps with the crates ahead and scram, you know the Prince ain't patient."
The Brothers did as he told, carefully navigating through the hallway of blocks and boxes by way of feet-to-air and back. To their chagrin, yet another aeronautically-briefed Koopa heckled them as they came upon a series of box-pedestals with short gaps scattered symetrically in the middle of them.
"Always remember to leap and lope as a GROUP! If Prince Bowser can't get teambuilding right, then I'm sure you can." Motivated by this, they speedily hurdled athwart the spaces, overcoming the ship's shaky situation.
As they stopped at the elongated area's next section, they saw a third Koopa in brown attire, this one however nonchalantly leaning against the surprisingly-pristine orange wall."Psst, here's a secret. Red guys hit red things. Green guys hit green things. If a Red guy hits a green thing, nada, nope, zip happens. Same difference for Green guy and Red thing. Use that in good health, kids, it might save your lives someday."
Mario and Luigi reluctantly held their thumbs up before bashing through hue-appropriate blocks that dotted their immediate path, and venturing into the next compartment with the prescient advice well in-hand.
Capering in and out of another litany of storage containers and floating cubes with the starting letters of their names peculiarly stamped onto them, they stopped to take a gander at a similarly odd object in the hands of a (alright how many more of them are gonna loiter in position) Koopa that stood idly by.
"I don't expect a bunch of babies to have the smoothest of rides in the troubling times we live in, so you better save when ya feel uneasy."
He tossed the thing toward Luigi, a neatly-constructed album with a rainbow 'S' stitched on its cover. The target buckling under its surprising weight, Mario had to swoop in and tuck the book into his pockets to curb his brother's...further squishing. Lakitu once again taking a photo (this time from a medium-sized window right in the midst of the battle, smart thinking Lakitu) and the babies marching up some short-stepped stairs deeper into the belly of this mechanical beast.
"Time to show these purple blockheads what the Cruiser can really do!"
They entered a narrow yet spacious control room with the same general color palette, this time with a curved line of computers to the left side perched before a large, open windshield of which the finicky Prince could see out from.
"Fire the...Koopa Cannon!" he said, his hesitation acting as a testament to the name's originality.
"FIRE!" one of his lackies repeated, although in an obviously more urgent tone.
The ship seemed to swerve violently northwest, sending a single shot of spiked-ball rocketing into the trio of UFOs behind it, the projectile mystically bouncing in and off of each ship till they were all short-lived puffs of smoke.
"Bwa ha ha ha ha HAH!" Bowser cackled, not worrying about his voicecrack causing inevitable deafness to those around him. "I'm just so darn BAD! I hope they were honored to be DESTROYED by me, heh!"
"You're the best Koopa there is!" one splurged in affection.
"You're a Koopa's Koopa's Koopa's Koopa!" another pouted.
"Bwah hahaha!" he shrieked in joy, consuming the compliments like candy (with extra sprinkles for the Prince, duh).
"...YOW!"
This squeal was instead one of shock, as the Koopa Cruiser nosedived without a moment's notice before regaling in more stable altitudes. "Whoa! You call THAT piloting!? Pay some attention, air-nerd!" he scowled back at his incompetent cohorts.
"Your Distastefulness! There! Four O' Clock!" the topmost Koopa advised, taking the criticism to heart.
Back in the Village...
Our dynamic duo was in quite the unfortunate situation. Mario and Luigi simply laid on the dismembered pavement with a dull, movementless quality to their bodies. They were trophies to the Shroobs that stood next to them, tall and proud, laughing and bantering with one another until the Sun rose and set for how easily their foes were met and vanquished. To them, this was just a job well done, and so well done in fact that it warranted this type of jubilation.
"Those Villagers are under the Shroobs' mercy, Prince Bowser!"
"Your...your course of action? Shall we assist them?"
"Aw, shucks...it's over half past snack time already! Bummer..."
It took a second for him to think about it. "We...we saw nothing at all, got it?"
Peach sure didn't get it. And, using a sort of sixth sense to somehow figure out what was going on, she started a thunderous stretch of crying that began to dang near crack everyone's ears in half.
"Great hoogly-boogly-coogly! The princess is NOT accepting of this!" Toadsworth shrieked. "Oh-so Juvenile Master Bowser! Leaving those folks defenseless and vulnerable is absolutely delinquent (and harmful to our eardrums)!"
And so it occurred. The patience-perforating princess detonated in a literal waterfall of tears supplemented by a torrent of squealing that could cut through butter between five and ten inches thick.
"GOSH! She'll ruin us all, AND my dignity! Alright! I'll help them if it'll just SHUT HER UP ALREADY! Koopa Cannon, please!" His voice visibly sounded strained, concentrating such frustration into a couple sentences like that was tough work for a dragon-turtle of his stature.
"FIRE!"
The crew resounded, rushing to their stations (which were fortunately right next to them) and sending a shot of cannon reigning down upon the celebrating Shroobs, flinging 'em to who knows where. His Gnarliness stampeded to Peach's lofty, soaking carriage.
"There! Happy now, priiincess?" his rage was translated into punctual taunting, before a sigh cleared the animosity.
"You stinkin' babies can go off and do whatever you do. Go KO 'em for me, Green and Red!" The crawlers departed on the building-lacking northwest side of town, Toadsworth tagging along for disputed reasons.
"Oh-so Young Masters, if you could, please take a look at those most-unfortunate villagers. My conjecture is that that would please the princess dearly...and make future tantrums significantly less of a possibility." Luigi gulped in remembrance of the previous...happening.
"I shall stand waiting for your undoubtedly-victorious return, thinking to myself about walking sticks and all that. Tallyho!"
A crucial objective in mind, at least for the sake of their hearing's continued prosperity, the future Time-mates ventured forth into the depths of the village...a short walk away. Even still, the dark imagery of a desolated suburban area combined with the bright and appealing architecture constituted a both unsettling and curious feeling in the indignant infants, in wonderment and fear at equal measures.
What's this? Two grown men conveniently with the same outfits as the babies? Mystifying!
Discovering a pair of hairy men in oddly carbon copy-looking overalls as them was a wholly revelation to them, although intrigue turned to urgency when they got going in clamoring for the old bros' awakening, moving feet muscles over and over again wildly. It appeared their luck had run out for the time being, however, a pair of the purple marauders slithering out from the hunk of black-iron metal and muttering s'more gibberish as they eerily examined the two hopping hopefuls.
"Googoo! Let'sa go!"
Our pre-pubescent prodigies flexed their vocal cords in an expectedly spry and sprightly fashion, standing firm on this suburban battleground prepared for struggle. Seeing that the Shroobs' potent weaponry required further calibration after the commotion with the cannonball, Mario jumped straight into the action, plopping down a small but still-effective blow onto the stubby creature's forehead (if mushrooms have foreheads). While it incurred some oral malice and foot-slamming from the baddie, a recognizable voice came crashing down.
"Young Master Luigi! Don't fret, look to Mario's form and perform as he did!" he exclaimed, dashing to the sidelines. Despite being clearly nagged by this, via abject reverse psychology this genuinely rekindled a sort of grit in the green youngling, him hurling his body at a breakneck velocity into the right Shroob's mushy temple, inflicting even stronger damage as the tater returned to his spot fortuitously. Mario could only tip his cap in recognition of awesomeness.
This time though wasn't the best for the appreciation of athletic excellence, as the left Shroob was keen to react and sent a condensed sphere of hot plasma careening into his pudgy wittle face, dispatching him to the ground. Yet, his doggedness was still first-rate, opportunely dodging a second volley from the most recently-concussed alien and showing a ready-for-more stance.
"Young Masters!"
Toadsworth squawked, nigh as persistent as they were. "Let's give you a taste of some...
"Bros. Items,
shall we?"
He lugged out an assortment of hollow emerald Koopa shells, accurately tossing them to the fascinated youngsters.
"These handy-dandy things are designed for use by a duo! Make Shroob-kebabs out of them, if you would!" He was immediately mouthed off by the soon-to-be finger-food.
Some team-building exercise, eh? Mario held out the device like he'd messed with it a thousand times before, setting down and kicking at the precise time for maximum momentum. The shell ricocheted off the left baddie's shin, provoking a gasp of pain before shifting direction to Luigi's steadfast toes, which slingshotted the projectile back yet again. The babies rallied on, accelerating the shell's speed with each kick, taking care of the left foe in a few seconds. The right one was just kicking practice for our daring doublet, and the scuffle became history.
Then, the toddlers observed their counterparts' unmoving bodies once more, Toadsworth checking the carnage for the first time.
"That was pretty close, don't you think?" He shuffled over to the right. "Come to think of it, at close range, they bear a startling similarity to the two of you!"
Mario and Luigi put fist to chin, glaring at the two men in front of them feet onward.
"Yet, who really knows when those terrible aliens'll make their return? It'd be best we take these villagers to Master Bowser's ship." They sauntered over back to the Cruiser...
Those aliens...Their advent has been like a horrid nightmare...It was all so sudden...
Vicious parasites from that purple planet, land of utter disgustingness! Their goal is oh-so obvious! They desire to take hold of all we value solemnly in the Mushroom Kingdom!
Our very land...Our very lives!
Toadsworth twiddled around frightfully, visualizing the incoming terror. It was spot-on.
The bustling and booming Toad Town, with Toads skimpering around hither and thither, didn't escape the barrage of pure-black discs hovering above ominously. They didn't escape.
An endless current of smoldering lasers radiated onto the once-tranquil houses, shopkeeps and parks. It took no time for the dirt to become ash, the water to evaporate, the flesh to be soldered. Bricks flew every which way as a second wave of far more blunt, tangible projectiles that spared the cauterization of wounds. The air itself grew arid as the Toads that somehow survived were rounded up like fish in net and devoured by the white slices of machinery that nearly blocked the sun. The night, though, carried on...
Oh, the village is in shambles...
And our precious castle as well!
The apprehensive Toad found himself in the midst of a crumbling Peach's Castle, Peach herself closing her eyes in trepidation, Mario and Luigi clutching to their frail faces, and Bowser left in a static pose. Attacks from the outside drowned out everything else, and so even the wails could be barely listened to. A Toad lay scratching his feet against the cracked floor, shouting out pleas for assistance in this mayhem.
A UFO swerved inside. It meandered to above the Toad, as everyone bolted to the left insistently. He could do nothing but watch his impending subjugation. The Prince, pressed up at the dismembering wall, plucked out a boxy-grey phone and shuddered words at it.
"Prince Bowser at the ready!
Kamek, come in, come in!"
The electronic's antenna buzzed as perilously as they whimpered.
"Get the Koopa Cruiser here on the DOUBLE!" he wouldn't hesitate for the world. The UFO's protruded cannon hung over.
"MY PRINCE!"
The whistling sound of the Koopa Cruiser arrived, indeed, on the double, ramming into the aerial plunderers on top and annihilating the ship inside with the flick of a switch and whisk of a spiked spheroid. It single-handedly sent the group up in the air and down on the ground.
"Prince Bowser, let's get OUT of here, pronto!" the Koopa's voice had near died out by now.
...Toadsworth snapped out of it. He must've been droning on by himself for at least fifteen minutes. Nevertheless, he carried on (as always), and stood front and center by the oddly mouth-shaped main control pad facing this new quartet of bros.
"And THAT, gentlemen, is how the princess and I were valiantly rescued by Master Bowser, as...strange as it sounds. And...well, now there isn't much soil left in the Mushroom Kingdom that hasn't tragically fallen under malicious Shroob control."
"Incoming status report, Your Mischievous! We are currently closing in on Peach's Castle, if you can even call it one anymore." The Koopas still managed their confident peppiness with every stroke of the tongue.
Toadsworth was drawn to the windows.
"Our once extravagant castle...No...take a gaze at it now..."
Dastardly!
No, this wasn't a castle, as Toadsworth pointed it out. It was more like a geometrically-consistent and painstakingly-precise microcosm of the Shroobs themselves: purple monsters with a knack for military dominance and horrific decapitation of what their conquered peoples once loved. It was a brooding edifice, the hues of pink and violet and magenta somehow keeping brightness and villainy synchronously, fitted onto pale bricks, ovular eggs and even the trees outside. They were balanced out increasingly by the dark-green oozing liquid that replaced the moat, and the pale-silver of battlements and circular warships alike. Above everything else, a mammoth statue rested, half covered in a peculiar shadow.
Orbiting it like the Sun were hundreds of Shroob UFOs deployed there to make the fortification that much more impregnable from the air, a swarm that could pick anything else apart. Suffice to say, they were armed to the teeth in every sense of the saying.
"...No doubt these fiends'd call it Shroob Castle, they couldn't muster an ounce of artistic creativity if they were filled up like barrels with it. In fact, a rumor says that their little-known leader, Princess Shroob, lays there..."
Mario jumped ahead to explain.
"Eh? You say Princess Peach is being held up in that castle? Ho ho! You surely jest. The princess is snug safely here with me."
The plumber blabbered again.
"...I beg your pardon? The...future, Princess Peach? You're the future Masters Mario and Luigi?"
He nodded swiftly.
"Ho ho ho! I do say, you fellows must've gone daffy! Noggins bonked, eh? You should get a nice nap."
Mario thought for a moment, hopefully not about that nap. The sirens blared red once more. The quartet ambled in place, befuddled.
Bowser stomped. "Status report, NOW, slackers!"
"Your Indecentness! We're getting some sort of transmission from Peach's...ahem, Shroob Castle, sir!"
"A transmission, huh? Well, put it up on the TV-I mean monitor! Let's see what's up with them..."
Princess Shroob...
The grainy image of a figure with dark-red eyes, green earings, two mushroom-shaped loads atop her shadow-obscured head, and a white crown all piled on a velvet dress with a grey-black amulet in the middle, flashed on the screen. The babies jumped for joy. Foul emissions of Shroobish beeped out, her bulbous top-half throbbing.
"...Who's this dumb hag?" Bowser feverishly blurted.
"Th-th-that must be...has to be...P-Princess Shroob! Without a doubt!" Toadsworth hollered, shivering while cradling Peach in his arms. Another bout of undiscernible words rung in their ears. The 'princess' rose her claws for hands high into the musky, cloudy sky, a myriad of different reactions seeping out from the quartet. The Prince merely snarled.
"Man...Does ANYONE have ANY idea what she's blabbing about? Gosh..." The alarm continued sounding.
"Ack! P-Prince Bowser, s-sir! F-from Shroob Castle, it seems...
...It's a Shroob Missile, and it's headed STRAIGHT FOR US!"
The quartet compounded into absolute astonishment. Bowser simply gritted his teeth.
"Whoa! Evasive maneuvers, STAT! Koopa Cannon! FIRE!"
t
"No...
...NO AMMO!"
"...What? OH, you're definitely fired."
The purple missile wafted through the sky, going and going and...
BAM!
"DIRECT HIT!"
The impact shook everyone up and down again, the altitude levels faltering at excessive rates. The Purple Princess' mouth could be vaguely seen, snickering under another victory. The monitor faded to jaded, pixelated lines.
"Those...those alien DIRTBAGS! We HAVE to hold it together till this we get back home!"
It sunk further. It was making a bee-line for...home, as it was for His Gnarliness.
Bowser's Castle...
The sleek and menacing architecture came into view as the Koopa Cruiser came into the interior's clutches, yard by yard, dawdling on the air, till...
CRASH...
...A great time for a cliffhanger, don't you think?