The small boat landed on Yo'ster Isle. It brushed up along the beach, and the crew got out, making sure not to step in the water. Mario and Peach knew this place well. The others had heard of it, but had never been there. It was a tiny island about half a mile long. Yoshis of all sizes and colors were walking about. A few were chewing on fruit, others were gathered around the starting line, betting on races. Mario looked around for two particular people. Peach and Daisy approached a campfire, where some were sitting on logs. One was sitting in a wood and grass chair. He wore black shades, and sipped juice from a coconut.
"Helooooo, beautiful." he hooted quietly. "I see you brought a friend too this time."
"Buzz off." Daisy scolded.
"I could, but I'm too lazy. Besides, how could I help you if I did that? Scojum told me all about your little predicament. You want a ride to the island?"
"What's in it for you?" Peach asked skeptically.
"Well, ya gotta do something for me." he folded his hands.
"You PERVERT! NO!" Daisy flailed.
"No, no, no. I'm not in the mood for that today. I want something funny. Get your buddies over here." Daisy and Peach walked away slowly to look for the Marios and Toad. Meanwhile, on the other side of the meeting square, Mario and Luigi were meeting up with an old friend.
"So he had his elevators rigged with gas?" the animal asked. Luigi just nodded. "I guess he's gone back to the dark side if he has a place like that." The dinosaur species tossed an apple core into the trash, and soaked his green hands in a hot spring. "Have you figured out where you're going yet?"
"No, Yoshi. That's why we came here." Mario pointed to the other side of the square where Boshi was sitting. Peach, Toad, Wario, Waluigi and Daisy were around Boshi's grass throne.
"You want me to WHAT?" Toad yelled in surprise.
"Do it, mushy mush." Boshi chuckled.
"You've got to be kidding me!" Peach was disgusted, "You can't make him do… that stuff!"
"You wanna go to the factory? He'll do it and like it!" Boshi ordered. A rare event occurred as Wario stepped in to defend Toad. Not that he cared, mind you, but he sure was curious.
"Wait a second. Why him? What's your deal with Toad?"
"Ehhh…" Boshi shot a look of impersonal cruelty through his sunglasses. "I don't harm chicks. And Italian guys bore me. I've got a thing for the timid guys. This is gonna be a real freak show."
"You're crap, man. The things I do…" Toad trailed off as he grabbed the long white joint from Boshi's blue hand. Boshi laughed hysterically as the smoke crawled out of the tip and into Toad's nostrils, making him cough. Toad closed his eyes tightly, put the other end in his mouth, and inhaled as fast as he could. The smoke hugged the inside of his esophagus and scratched it up nastily. It was Toad's first burn. It was rough. Wario probably wanted to step in for him because it would have been barely anything to him. On top of that, Wari had never thrown up, so he could handle ingesting or inhaling anything. Toad couldn't bear the blow to his system, so he fell on the floor, curled up into the fetal position, and coughed miserably. Peach covered her mouth in disgust and horror, and fire spewed out of Mario and Luigi's eyes. Toad was in way over his head. Boshi laughed and laughed. When Toad was able to kneel up, Mario and Luigi helped him to his feet.
"Alright, you've had your fun, sicko. Now give us directions." Daisy demanded.
"Hey, hey, the kid hasn't shown me the funny yet." Boshi argued innocently. "Now, no deal unless he… finishes the whole thing." Peach shrieked. Yoshi got in Boshi's face.
"Boshi, this time you've gone too far. Now you lay of and-" Yoshi stopped in his words when he saw the brave mushroom man stumble over to the blue boss and grab the evil-smelling herb. He sucked in long and hard. Then, with stern eyes, he repeated it three more times. He tossed the tiny end into the fire and stared Boshi in the face. He wanted to be entertained, so Toad had given that to him.
"I'm… done." Boshi cracked another grin.
"Good job. You've got a gift, ya know? Or you're just stupid."
"This didn't even touch me. Why?" Toad sounded like he had just finished a round with a giant chomp.
"Ten minutes. Let's go." Boshi signified as he removed his shades, revealing his evil red eyes. "I'm going to keep an eye on you myself. Make sure you don't sell me out to the big boys. I know you're not gonna make it through there, so hurry up and get killed.
"In that case, I'll keep an eye on you. Let's go." said Yoshi.
Luigi and Waluigi took a turn at rowing, while Mario and Wario worked the rudder. The ride was pretty silent. It was only about 15 minutes but it felt like a year. They were all in a tropical paradise but that particular Wednesday still felt gray, as if they were still in Flarch. Luigi looked at Daisy. He took a moment to reminisce about how they met. She was a friend of Mario's, and Luigi first saw her after the war against Tatanga when he invaded Sarassaland. At first, he was freaked out by the fact that she had some Koopa DNA in her. But after he talked to her for a few weeks, and started to grow close to her, he knew she was perfect for him. The dress said it all. Not just on her, but on Peach too. They showed that the girls were royalty. Born leaders. Yet the dresses were built to last in battle, just as they had a few times. They were hands-on people. Priceless mates. And then there was Toad. So witty, the way he flopped around. Luigi's thoughts came to a screeching halt. He feared for Toad's life. He stood up and shouted.
"Toad's flopping around!" Luigi was shaken.
"Oh yeah. Let the show begin, boy." Boshi rubbed his hands together.
"Oh, will you just shut up?" Yoshi couldn't take anymore. He got up from assisting Toad and threw a fist across Boshi's snout. He fell on the floor, and another joint fell out of his pocket. Yoshi picked it up and ripped the tip open. He examined the color and characteristics of the leaves. A look of fear struck his face. He shook Mario's shoulder.
"Mario… this is Boshi's special hybrid!"
"So," Mario was busy trying to help Toad calm down, "what's that mean?"
Yoshi's voice quivered. "There's about a fifty fifty chance he could die." Things were going from bad to worse. A rocking boat had nine people in it, one of them was drugged to a dangerous level, two of which were ready to tear each others' throats out, and another six of which had to cope with this while bringing down a poison flower operation in the next hour. "If he stays alive, he'll still be toasted for the next five hours. He doesn't even know where or who he is now, so he needs to stay in the boat. Peach and Daisy, you need to watch him. Boshi's not going anywhere." Boshi was out cold, bleeding from the mouth and nose. "Alright, guys, let's get in there." Yoshi nodded to the four Marios.
"Erm…" Wario was confused. But after thinking about it for a minute, he realized the only thing different was that Toad had been knocked off, and Peach and Daisy had to stay behind.
"Alright, now this is what's happening." Yoshi assumed the position of the leader. "Boshi says he called the place, talked to someone on the inside and arranged for four plumbers and a Yoshi to come in and fix a bunch of leaks in the east wing. We're gonna go in there, state the business, then sneak off and steal some uniforms. After that, I'll get outside and check on the others. While you're in there, do whatever you can to stop these guys. I'll be ready to make a getaway. Got it?"
A short pause. "Let's go gettem." Waluigi broke the scilence. The five victims walked toward the front door, and pushed the large metal panel open. There were two red-shelled troopas in black helmets, carrying machine guns. Mario approached one of them nervously.
"We're the plumbers, we're here for the-"
A troopa spoke up assertively, as if he had planned something. "Right, we've been expecting you. Get outside, you're going for a ride." he knocked Mario's stomach in with the barrel of his gun. At that exact moment, all five of them knew exactly what had happened. They wanted to get in and have a slight chance of stopping the production, all for different reasons. Mario and Luigi wanted to save the Mushroom Kingdom, not to mention other regions from potential downfall. Wario and Waluigi wanted to do a halfway decent job and fly home to a fat invoice by Friday. Yoshi was an activist all about toppling troublemakers. When he was younger, he found a little baby on his home island, whom he had to protect from thousands of cases of certain death, just to reunite him with his twin brother. Ever since then, he'd had a hard-on for giving a nice kick in the gut to anyone who put other people in danger. About thirty years later he met Mario, and he'd been in cahoots with him ever since. Needless to say, he blew his top when he heard about this whole operation. But there was one thing they all had in common with regard to the death mission. They knew it was crap. On the surface, there was no reason the men couldn't do it, and they really wanted to. But in the back of their minds they knew about a million ways it could have gone wrong. This was one of them. In short, they were sold out. By Boshi. They didn't need an explanation to figure that one out. Boshi had a message sent to the factory. "A Yoshi, the retainer of the Mushroom Kingdom, two princesses, and four agents from Mushroom are coming to sabotage you. Capture them and do what you will with them. And pay me off."
As Wario's were being cuffed behind his back, he did something that was slightly inappropriate for the particular moment the Marios were in. "Ahem, I think I speak for both my little brother and I when I say we're pulling out of this stupid mission." Mario just looked at the floor in stress. Too much was going on for him to want to respond. Wario pretended that he did anyway. "No, I'm serious. I can't take anymore of this bull crap." He talked as if he were a little kid who was proclaiming he was quitting school. "I mean, I'm surprised I made it this far. I can't stand people staying in my house, I can't stand being thrown in jail while I could be gambling, I can't stand stupid rich bitches and the little peanut terd who won't shut up unless you drug him to death, I can't stand flying, and most of all, I can't stand YOU! You two annoy me to no end! RRAAAGH!" Those were Wario's last words to Mario and Luigi before he was hauled off with his brother to some unknown place. Wario and Waluigi had been calm and patient with the cousins they had hated their entire lives, but it only went so far.
"And don't ask to stay in our apartment again! Wrah!" screamed Waluigi as he threw one of his lanky legs in the air. Two paratroopers violently held Mario and Luigi's wrists behind their backs and yanked them outside. The thick black gloves of their uniforms felt like death, even more so than the gun barrels jammed into their backs. As they stumbled past the beach they landed on, Luigi noticed that the boat was empty and drifting away. Toad and the princesses were gone. A green-shelled troopa stopped the men as they headed toward a vehicle.
"New orders. We're taking the Yoshi, the fat one and the stick to the HQ, but he doesn't want these two going any further. Just kill them here." A bad feeling sank to the bottom of Mario's stomach. He'd felt this before, but each time it was different. One of the troopas popped in a magazine of bullets and stuck the gun on auto-fire. He lazily swept it across Mario's left shin first, just to hear him scream. Mario fell on the floor with three holes in his shin, screaming hysterically. A million knives had just stabbed him in the leg. Luigi's face quivered with hatred and fear. Blood sputtered out and stained his pant leg. The troopa but the barrel to Mario's forehead and began to squeeze. Suddenly, the troopa's face turned bright purple, bright green, and bright orange, all in about a third of a second. A high-pitched whirl turned the sky black and the sand dark blue. A thick column of hyper-brilliant light knocked through both troopas, shattered their skeletons, and disintegrated their skin. The sky and ground returned to normal and before the Mario brothers lay two carcasses of the guards that were about to kill them. Mario lay still on the ground with sweat on his forehead and his eyes wide open. Luigi was a statue, standing over him. Mario looked down and remembered he had just been shot in the leg with an assault rifle. He began to wail again. He felt ocean mist falling upon it. He looked to see it wasn't ocean mist at all. It was water falling straight down that gleamed a soothing turquoise. It was the complete opposite of acid rain. The blood stain vanished from his pants, and the wound closed up. He looked up to see that the rain was coming from a tiny cloud with a smiley face on it. The cloud disappeared as its master came out from behind a crate and pulled off a black mask. The man who created the psychokinetic energy field climbed out of a barrel and removed his mask as well. They fit the description of the two guys that busted Wario and Waluigi out of Goomba's Greedy Gala.
Luigi had never met these two, but Mario had traveled around the world with them. The one who took out the soldiers was made of wood. He had a red blue cape and a blue hood over his brown head. His nose was small and red. The boy who showered Mario's wound had pants with blue and white stripes and a large belt. He was short, round, and shirtless. His skin was yellow and his small patch of hair was pink. The wooden man gave a short bow and the yellow boy smiled.
"Mario, I've… I've returned to Earth. The world needs my help again." the man in blue shook Mario's hand.
"As Prince of Nimbus Land, and an experienced fighter, it's my duty to do anything I can to help the man who saved my kingdom." said the short boy in a brave and young voice.
"Luigi," Mario said slowly, "these are the guys I told you about after I fought Smithy. This is Prince Mallow of Nimbus Land, and Geno, caretaker of the Star Road.
"Helooooo, beautiful." he hooted quietly. "I see you brought a friend too this time."
"Buzz off." Daisy scolded.
"I could, but I'm too lazy. Besides, how could I help you if I did that? Scojum told me all about your little predicament. You want a ride to the island?"
"What's in it for you?" Peach asked skeptically.
"Well, ya gotta do something for me." he folded his hands.
"You PERVERT! NO!" Daisy flailed.
"No, no, no. I'm not in the mood for that today. I want something funny. Get your buddies over here." Daisy and Peach walked away slowly to look for the Marios and Toad. Meanwhile, on the other side of the meeting square, Mario and Luigi were meeting up with an old friend.
"So he had his elevators rigged with gas?" the animal asked. Luigi just nodded. "I guess he's gone back to the dark side if he has a place like that." The dinosaur species tossed an apple core into the trash, and soaked his green hands in a hot spring. "Have you figured out where you're going yet?"
"No, Yoshi. That's why we came here." Mario pointed to the other side of the square where Boshi was sitting. Peach, Toad, Wario, Waluigi and Daisy were around Boshi's grass throne.
"You want me to WHAT?" Toad yelled in surprise.
"Do it, mushy mush." Boshi chuckled.
"You've got to be kidding me!" Peach was disgusted, "You can't make him do… that stuff!"
"You wanna go to the factory? He'll do it and like it!" Boshi ordered. A rare event occurred as Wario stepped in to defend Toad. Not that he cared, mind you, but he sure was curious.
"Wait a second. Why him? What's your deal with Toad?"
"Ehhh…" Boshi shot a look of impersonal cruelty through his sunglasses. "I don't harm chicks. And Italian guys bore me. I've got a thing for the timid guys. This is gonna be a real freak show."
"You're crap, man. The things I do…" Toad trailed off as he grabbed the long white joint from Boshi's blue hand. Boshi laughed hysterically as the smoke crawled out of the tip and into Toad's nostrils, making him cough. Toad closed his eyes tightly, put the other end in his mouth, and inhaled as fast as he could. The smoke hugged the inside of his esophagus and scratched it up nastily. It was Toad's first burn. It was rough. Wario probably wanted to step in for him because it would have been barely anything to him. On top of that, Wari had never thrown up, so he could handle ingesting or inhaling anything. Toad couldn't bear the blow to his system, so he fell on the floor, curled up into the fetal position, and coughed miserably. Peach covered her mouth in disgust and horror, and fire spewed out of Mario and Luigi's eyes. Toad was in way over his head. Boshi laughed and laughed. When Toad was able to kneel up, Mario and Luigi helped him to his feet.
"Alright, you've had your fun, sicko. Now give us directions." Daisy demanded.
"Hey, hey, the kid hasn't shown me the funny yet." Boshi argued innocently. "Now, no deal unless he… finishes the whole thing." Peach shrieked. Yoshi got in Boshi's face.
"Boshi, this time you've gone too far. Now you lay of and-" Yoshi stopped in his words when he saw the brave mushroom man stumble over to the blue boss and grab the evil-smelling herb. He sucked in long and hard. Then, with stern eyes, he repeated it three more times. He tossed the tiny end into the fire and stared Boshi in the face. He wanted to be entertained, so Toad had given that to him.
"I'm… done." Boshi cracked another grin.
"Good job. You've got a gift, ya know? Or you're just stupid."
"This didn't even touch me. Why?" Toad sounded like he had just finished a round with a giant chomp.
"Ten minutes. Let's go." Boshi signified as he removed his shades, revealing his evil red eyes. "I'm going to keep an eye on you myself. Make sure you don't sell me out to the big boys. I know you're not gonna make it through there, so hurry up and get killed.
"In that case, I'll keep an eye on you. Let's go." said Yoshi.
Luigi and Waluigi took a turn at rowing, while Mario and Wario worked the rudder. The ride was pretty silent. It was only about 15 minutes but it felt like a year. They were all in a tropical paradise but that particular Wednesday still felt gray, as if they were still in Flarch. Luigi looked at Daisy. He took a moment to reminisce about how they met. She was a friend of Mario's, and Luigi first saw her after the war against Tatanga when he invaded Sarassaland. At first, he was freaked out by the fact that she had some Koopa DNA in her. But after he talked to her for a few weeks, and started to grow close to her, he knew she was perfect for him. The dress said it all. Not just on her, but on Peach too. They showed that the girls were royalty. Born leaders. Yet the dresses were built to last in battle, just as they had a few times. They were hands-on people. Priceless mates. And then there was Toad. So witty, the way he flopped around. Luigi's thoughts came to a screeching halt. He feared for Toad's life. He stood up and shouted.
"Toad's flopping around!" Luigi was shaken.
"Oh yeah. Let the show begin, boy." Boshi rubbed his hands together.
"Oh, will you just shut up?" Yoshi couldn't take anymore. He got up from assisting Toad and threw a fist across Boshi's snout. He fell on the floor, and another joint fell out of his pocket. Yoshi picked it up and ripped the tip open. He examined the color and characteristics of the leaves. A look of fear struck his face. He shook Mario's shoulder.
"Mario… this is Boshi's special hybrid!"
"So," Mario was busy trying to help Toad calm down, "what's that mean?"
Yoshi's voice quivered. "There's about a fifty fifty chance he could die." Things were going from bad to worse. A rocking boat had nine people in it, one of them was drugged to a dangerous level, two of which were ready to tear each others' throats out, and another six of which had to cope with this while bringing down a poison flower operation in the next hour. "If he stays alive, he'll still be toasted for the next five hours. He doesn't even know where or who he is now, so he needs to stay in the boat. Peach and Daisy, you need to watch him. Boshi's not going anywhere." Boshi was out cold, bleeding from the mouth and nose. "Alright, guys, let's get in there." Yoshi nodded to the four Marios.
"Erm…" Wario was confused. But after thinking about it for a minute, he realized the only thing different was that Toad had been knocked off, and Peach and Daisy had to stay behind.
"Alright, now this is what's happening." Yoshi assumed the position of the leader. "Boshi says he called the place, talked to someone on the inside and arranged for four plumbers and a Yoshi to come in and fix a bunch of leaks in the east wing. We're gonna go in there, state the business, then sneak off and steal some uniforms. After that, I'll get outside and check on the others. While you're in there, do whatever you can to stop these guys. I'll be ready to make a getaway. Got it?"
A short pause. "Let's go gettem." Waluigi broke the scilence. The five victims walked toward the front door, and pushed the large metal panel open. There were two red-shelled troopas in black helmets, carrying machine guns. Mario approached one of them nervously.
"We're the plumbers, we're here for the-"
A troopa spoke up assertively, as if he had planned something. "Right, we've been expecting you. Get outside, you're going for a ride." he knocked Mario's stomach in with the barrel of his gun. At that exact moment, all five of them knew exactly what had happened. They wanted to get in and have a slight chance of stopping the production, all for different reasons. Mario and Luigi wanted to save the Mushroom Kingdom, not to mention other regions from potential downfall. Wario and Waluigi wanted to do a halfway decent job and fly home to a fat invoice by Friday. Yoshi was an activist all about toppling troublemakers. When he was younger, he found a little baby on his home island, whom he had to protect from thousands of cases of certain death, just to reunite him with his twin brother. Ever since then, he'd had a hard-on for giving a nice kick in the gut to anyone who put other people in danger. About thirty years later he met Mario, and he'd been in cahoots with him ever since. Needless to say, he blew his top when he heard about this whole operation. But there was one thing they all had in common with regard to the death mission. They knew it was crap. On the surface, there was no reason the men couldn't do it, and they really wanted to. But in the back of their minds they knew about a million ways it could have gone wrong. This was one of them. In short, they were sold out. By Boshi. They didn't need an explanation to figure that one out. Boshi had a message sent to the factory. "A Yoshi, the retainer of the Mushroom Kingdom, two princesses, and four agents from Mushroom are coming to sabotage you. Capture them and do what you will with them. And pay me off."
As Wario's were being cuffed behind his back, he did something that was slightly inappropriate for the particular moment the Marios were in. "Ahem, I think I speak for both my little brother and I when I say we're pulling out of this stupid mission." Mario just looked at the floor in stress. Too much was going on for him to want to respond. Wario pretended that he did anyway. "No, I'm serious. I can't take anymore of this bull crap." He talked as if he were a little kid who was proclaiming he was quitting school. "I mean, I'm surprised I made it this far. I can't stand people staying in my house, I can't stand being thrown in jail while I could be gambling, I can't stand stupid rich bitches and the little peanut terd who won't shut up unless you drug him to death, I can't stand flying, and most of all, I can't stand YOU! You two annoy me to no end! RRAAAGH!" Those were Wario's last words to Mario and Luigi before he was hauled off with his brother to some unknown place. Wario and Waluigi had been calm and patient with the cousins they had hated their entire lives, but it only went so far.
"And don't ask to stay in our apartment again! Wrah!" screamed Waluigi as he threw one of his lanky legs in the air. Two paratroopers violently held Mario and Luigi's wrists behind their backs and yanked them outside. The thick black gloves of their uniforms felt like death, even more so than the gun barrels jammed into their backs. As they stumbled past the beach they landed on, Luigi noticed that the boat was empty and drifting away. Toad and the princesses were gone. A green-shelled troopa stopped the men as they headed toward a vehicle.
"New orders. We're taking the Yoshi, the fat one and the stick to the HQ, but he doesn't want these two going any further. Just kill them here." A bad feeling sank to the bottom of Mario's stomach. He'd felt this before, but each time it was different. One of the troopas popped in a magazine of bullets and stuck the gun on auto-fire. He lazily swept it across Mario's left shin first, just to hear him scream. Mario fell on the floor with three holes in his shin, screaming hysterically. A million knives had just stabbed him in the leg. Luigi's face quivered with hatred and fear. Blood sputtered out and stained his pant leg. The troopa but the barrel to Mario's forehead and began to squeeze. Suddenly, the troopa's face turned bright purple, bright green, and bright orange, all in about a third of a second. A high-pitched whirl turned the sky black and the sand dark blue. A thick column of hyper-brilliant light knocked through both troopas, shattered their skeletons, and disintegrated their skin. The sky and ground returned to normal and before the Mario brothers lay two carcasses of the guards that were about to kill them. Mario lay still on the ground with sweat on his forehead and his eyes wide open. Luigi was a statue, standing over him. Mario looked down and remembered he had just been shot in the leg with an assault rifle. He began to wail again. He felt ocean mist falling upon it. He looked to see it wasn't ocean mist at all. It was water falling straight down that gleamed a soothing turquoise. It was the complete opposite of acid rain. The blood stain vanished from his pants, and the wound closed up. He looked up to see that the rain was coming from a tiny cloud with a smiley face on it. The cloud disappeared as its master came out from behind a crate and pulled off a black mask. The man who created the psychokinetic energy field climbed out of a barrel and removed his mask as well. They fit the description of the two guys that busted Wario and Waluigi out of Goomba's Greedy Gala.
Luigi had never met these two, but Mario had traveled around the world with them. The one who took out the soldiers was made of wood. He had a red blue cape and a blue hood over his brown head. His nose was small and red. The boy who showered Mario's wound had pants with blue and white stripes and a large belt. He was short, round, and shirtless. His skin was yellow and his small patch of hair was pink. The wooden man gave a short bow and the yellow boy smiled.
"Mario, I've… I've returned to Earth. The world needs my help again." the man in blue shook Mario's hand.
"As Prince of Nimbus Land, and an experienced fighter, it's my duty to do anything I can to help the man who saved my kingdom." said the short boy in a brave and young voice.
"Luigi," Mario said slowly, "these are the guys I told you about after I fought Smithy. This is Prince Mallow of Nimbus Land, and Geno, caretaker of the Star Road.