Chapter 13: The Sarasaland Grand Council
"Damn Wario Brothers," Bowser Junior muttered between shivers, "they never told me they were gonna do that. Stupid jerks."
He stumbled down the hill, tumbling over and earning himself a face full of snow. He lay there for a few seconds, humiliated and annoyed, before lifting his head up and spitting the mouthful of ice out. He mumbled another comment about "The Damn Wario Brothers" and stomped down the hill as fast as he could, to avoid falling over again. This plan didn't work out too well, and he soon found himself rolling to the bottom of the hill and into a snow bank.
By now, the penguins had made their way out of their homes and had gathered at the foot of the hill. They poked at Junior's tail, which protruded from the snow bank, chattering amongst themselves. Without warning, the young koopa burst out of the bank tail-end-first, knocking a few of the villagers over in the process. He sat up groggily, rubbing his head and groaning. His growling stopped abruptly and he looked up again.
A good twenty pairs of black eyes stared back at him, blinking curiously. Their owners cocked their heads to the left simultaneously, blinking their coal black eyes at him again, and squeaking in confusion and curiosity. Junior stared right back. Their beady little eyes and sharp beaks sure were intimidating. His eyes shifted to each of them warily as they closed in on him, and he backed up against the snow bank, jumping when his shell bumped with the snow.
"Who are you?" came a deep voice from one far in the back. How could such a small creature have such a booming voice? Junior was startled, and gave a shaky reply.
"Prince B-Bowser Junior of the... the Koopa Kingdom," he stuttered, using his full title in an attempt to intimidate them.
The penguin in the back made a "Hmm" noise and pushed through the crowd in front of him. He was about up to Junior's shoulder in height (which was saying something, considering Junior himself is barely three feet tall) and his feathers were a light shade of lilac. On top of his head, he wore a brown fur cap, which Junior thought ridiculous, as Penguins didn't need fur to fight the cold.
The old penguin's light feathers ruffled in the cold north wind, and he didn't seem to feel the least bit of cold, compared to Junior, whom shook so violently you'd think he would fall apart. He cleared his throat a bit upon reaching the edge of the circle of penguins, and spoke very loudly.
"Koopa, eh?" he said in that deep, commanding voice of his, "We don't really like that Koopa King 'round here, do we?"
The others behind him murmured in agreement, the curiosity vanishing from their eyes, being replaced by a slight tinge of anger, but they seemed neutral to the situation.
"We think that what he did was terrible, and he should really pay for it!" came a voice from within the sea of penguins, and another murmur of agreement followed.
Bowser Junior was suddenly aware of how outnumbered he was, and thought it was best to play the 'traitor' card.
"I'm not with him," he began, "I tried to convince him not to do it, but he only called me a traitor and sentenced me into exile!" Junior cried, trying to put up his best acting job, "He threw me out here, and if I go back, he said he'd kill me!"
The old penguin seemed to buy his story, he felt sympathetic towards the shivering Koopa Prince, "I see. Well, I am the Mayor of this city, Shiver City. You can stay as long as you like, I suppose."
Bowser Junior smiled, and bowed with fake enthusiasm, "Thank you for your hospitality, sir. I hope it won't be too much trouble."
"No trouble at all!" the Mayor said, motioning for the citizens to resume their normal business, "You may come live with me for now, until we can get you a proper place to stay..."
"Princess, we can take care of matters here. Please leave before we are forced to... escort you to where you belong," one of the Muda Kingdom Councilmen spat, pointing at Daisy accusingly.
"I'm sorry, I must have missed something. Last time I checked, I was the Princess," Daisy said calmly, ignoring the enraged look on the man's face, "Unless you're a very ugly Princess, I believe I'm in charge here. Not you."
The man nearly fell over the railing of his balcony and onto the floor, but was held back by the person beside him, whom managed to calm the councilman down after a while. The whole chamber had since gone dead silent. Whether it was out of shock, fear or respect was unknown, but the Princess took it as an opportunity to speak.
"You may or may not know that the Mushroom Kingdom has been attacked by none other than the Koopas. The Koopa King has taken over the kingdom by burning the castle and imprisoning its inhabitants. Not only that, but he's hunting the Princess down, as well as the Mario Brothers. If he gets a hold of them, he will likely kill them," Daisy said loudly, as to carry her voice over the large area of the Council Chamber, "It is wished - no, necessary - that Sarasaland aides them in the oncoming War against Koopa. They only wish for military support, and I will give it to them-"
"That is none of our concern!" cried one of the Chai Kingdom Councilmen, waving his fist through the air in an attempt to clarify his point, "Let the Toadstools take care of themselves!"
This comment aroused a great argument among the councilmen, and their loud, and often angry, voices filled the chamber. The Grand Councilman pounded on the armrest of his great chair and ordered that there be silence. The room was soon quiet again.
"Princess, as much as we would like to help you," he lied, "we cannot spare any soldiers for a war that cannot be won."
"Cannot be won? Listen, you-" Mario began to yell, but stopped short when Daisy turned to him quickly. If looks could kill, Mario would have dropped dead right then and there, for she had given him the coldest, most piercing glare possible. He fell silent. It was very unwise to upset the Grand Council, whom could be just as dangerous as Bowser Koopa himself.
"I beg your pardon, Sir? You can't spare any soldiers? You know as well as I do that Sarasaland's army is very large, and with all due respect, I say that you aren't telling the truth," she said, growing more impatient with the man.
He seemed to ponder his next statement carefully, "Princess, this is not our fight. We have no reason to fight and lose men in a war that isn't for us."
"But he'll come. With his new strength, he could come to you, and crush Sarasaland just like he did to the Mushroom Kingdom!" Luigi announced, pounding one fist into the other to emphasize his point, "If we don't defeat him, he'll spread throughout the world. There won't be anything left in his way, and we'll all be either dead or his slaves. That includes you as well, sir.
If you don't help, you're sentencing us all to death."
The council chamber came alive with whisperings and hushed speaking. What should they do? Would Bowser really come for them all as well? Could they really afford to lose any soldiers in this war?
"You must leave for now, we will decide what is to be done tomorrow afternoon," the grand councilman said, stroking his beard thoughtfully, "You are all dismissed..."
Each of the four bowed in turn, and left the chamber swiftly.
"Luigi, you really nailed 'em," Mario said as they walked down the hall and back to the lobby, where the others were waiting, "they're gonna have something to think about tonight, I say." Mario was impressed by Luigi's apparent political prowess.
"Ah, it was nothing..."
"Really though, you were great. You've brought up a very good point, actually. If it weren't for you, we'd probably be leaving with nothing," Peach said, smiling at him, "thank you."
"I only told the truth. If Bowser took over one Kingdom, he could very well take them all..."
Once they entered the lobby again, Toad launched himself out of his chair and bounced over to where the foursome stood, waving his arms excitedly, "Did you tell them? Are they going to help?"
"We aren't sure yet. We hope so," Daisy answered, sighing, "They still have to decide. They're going to tell us tomorrow."
"Agh!" Toad exclaimed, "Things take too long around here! You were in there almost two hours! And now they still have to spend a night on it, too? Sheesh!"
Mario couldn't help but chuckle at the mushroom boy's exclamation and impatience. Toad always reminded him of himself when he was younger, Mario thought. He used to be carefree, happy-go-lucky. But, he had changed; constant battles against Bowser had hardened him slightly, making him more aware of the world. How he longed to be as carefree as he once was, waging tennis battles instead of full-scale wars.
"Mario? You okay?"
Mario snapped back to reality when Toad spoke loudly to catch his attention, waving his hands in Mario's face, "You kind of blanked out there for a second," he said, laughing. He turned around and threw himself back onto one of the plush chairs again, sighing contentedly.
"Where are we going to stay, your Highness?" Toadette inquired, tugging slightly at Peach's sleeve, "if they are going to decide tomorrow, we will need to stay the night."
"That's right, isn't it, Toadette - Oh, call me Peach, by the way," Peach said, and turned to Daisy, "But really, where -are- we going to stay?"
"Hmm, well, I say you're going to stay here in the palace. Hopefully they haven't torn down the guest rooms, or anything stupid like that..." Daisy said, rolling her eyes, "I'll show you all there anyway, you probably need some rest."
She motioned for them to follow her, and they did so, following close behind in the empty hallways of the palace. They were long and tedious, with a high ceiling, and many detailed wooden doors dotting each side of the hallway, presumably leading to the different guest rooms. Daisy stopped in the middle of the hallway, standing with her hands on her hips.
"Pick a door, any door," she said simply. Each of them glanced at one another briefly, and each picked a room to spend the night in. Once they had all disappeared into a room, Daisy turned in to one herself. There was very little chance of her staying in her own room, anyway. There's no doubt that either one of the councilmen had taken over it, or it was an office or something.
"Damn council," she muttered, sitting on the bed.
She hadn't noticed the shadow behind her until it was too late, and whoever it was had wrapped his arm around her waist and covered her mouth. She kicked and struggled against the shadow, but it held tight to her, intent on keeping her in his hold.
It chuckled slightly, holding her tighter still, and hissed quietly in her ear, "Greetings from Koopa. He'll be happy to see you. In fact, he has a surprise for all of you. It's simply to -die- for."
He cackled, and at once Daisy knew who it was. She knew what he was talking about. She knew what was going to happen.
They were going to visit Bowser, and they wouldn't be coming back.