Chapter three: Mouse in da House

(Unknown Location)

The leader of the evil gang trying to get Daisy sat in deep thought, pondering his next move. He had just heard that Luigi had put a team together to try and protect Daisy. He suddenly felt extremely lucky that he had several real strong villains on his side.

"Do you understand what you're to do?" The leader asked a figure in the shadows.

"Yeah." The big-eared figure replied. "I'm supposed to stop, and possibly kill Luigi and his team."

"Correct, but not just that. You know what you need to look for, don't you?" The leader asked.

The big-eared figure paused for a second before slowly nodding. "Yes. Are you sure it's where you say it is?"

"Positive."

The big-eared figure stepped out of the shadows, revealing a giant gray mouse wearing black shades and white gloves. "Perfect. This'll be a snap!" Mouser laughed.

(Luigi's Mansion)

Luigi looked down at his professor friend. "Why can't you help us?" He asked.

Gadd shook his head. "An old man like me won't last very long on foot, my boy." He replied. "Don't worry. I'll be focusing on making a new machine that will allow me to help. I'll join you guys and soon as I can."

Luigi nodded as he and the rest of the team turned around and walked down the hill, leading away from the mansion.

Melody had changed into her new wardrobe before the team left. Dressed in a light blue sweater and dark blue pants with the brown shoes Luigi had given her, she felt ready to use her new Firebrand power on anything.

The team of Luigi, Melody, Sonar, Fice T, Goombaria and Waluigi walked through Mushroom Fields, going straight towards Toad Town. They weren't sure where to start looking, but they figured that they might get some info from the residents of the town.

After a bit of walking, the team arrived at Toad Town. Surprisingly, there weren't any guards at the gate.

"Something's going on." Luigi concluded, looking around. "The guards aren't here."

"Yeah." Fice T added. "And I've know these guards to never leave their post unless something serious was going on."

Curiously, the team walked inside Toad Town. Once inside, they saw that the streets were all deserted. No one was around. By now, even Waluigi was interested in finding out what was going on.

The team continued going to the town square in the middle of the town. That's when they noticed what seemed to be every citizen of Toad Town gathering around a giant clock. Luigi cocked an eyebrow, wondering what was going on, as everyone seemed to be panicking.

Luigi walked over to a mushroom person, which turned out to be the owner of the Item Shop. "What's going on?" He asked, getting the mushroom's attention.

The shop owner turned to see Luigi, although didn't drop his panicked state. "There's a thief on top of the clock, stealing the crystal stone on the face!" He cried.

Luigi and his team looked up, seeing a strange, yet familiar to Luigi, figure standing against the clock face, pulling a crystal stone, which was holding the two hands together, from the face. Suddenly, the figure looked down at the crowd, showing his face to Luigi and his team.

Luigi's eyes sprang open. "Mouser!" He said in shock.

"You mean that freaky bomb-throwing thing I heard that you fought?" Goombaria asked.

Mouser seemed to hear this as he growled down at the little goomba girl. "You've got a sharp tongue, girl!" He shouted. "If I had the time, I'd teach you a lesson!"

Mouser ripped the crystal from the clock, removing the hands at the same time. Several people had to get out of the way to avoid getting hit by the falling hands. Grinning slyly, Mouser leapt from the clock, grabbed a branch of a nearby tree, swung from it, spun several times in midair, landed on the ground and ran off down Mushroom Way.

Luigi suddenly felt something tugging on his pant leg. Looking down, he saw Sonar staring up at him. "What is it, Sonar?" He asked.

"He said that he didn't have time to teach Goombaria a lesson." Sonar replied. "You think he was taking that crystal to someone? Like maybe the person trying to get Daisy?"

Luigi's eyes widened. "You may have something there! It's been years since I've heard from Mouser and this would be a good chance for him to come back!"

The rest of the team agreed as they all ran from the crowd, racing after the escaping Mouser.

Unfortunately, Mouser was way too fast for the team, and ended up escaping quickly, leaving the team looking around Mushroom Way to find out where he went. Even Waluigi was searching as best as he could.

Sooner than later, all six team members turned to each other, all having the same response. "Nothing." They all said in unison.

Waluigi sighed in frustration. "Great! That freak escaped with that crystal thing and we have no clue where he went!"

Melody, however, was looking around curiously. "Just a minute, guys." She said, slowly turning from the group.

"What is it, Melody?" Goombaria asked.

"There's something strange going on." The former ghost replied. "Hear it?"

"I...Don't hear anything." Fice T said nervously.

"That's what's so strange." Melody said.

Everyone stood in silence, looking in different directions. This continued until...

"MARIOOOOOOOOO!" A young voice screamed.

Everyone turned to the sudden shrill and saw a young Koopa charging towards the group in psychotic rage. What was so unusual was that he was still in his egg, wearing one half of the shell on top of his head and wearing the other half over the bottom half of his body instead of a normal shell. His small and round feet were sticking out of the shell and currently looked funny as the boy scurried along in his quest to reach the team.

The boy Koopa charged past Melody and continued running until tripping on a stone. He slid the rest of the way until coming to a halt at Luigi's feet. The boy quickly regained his composure, jumped to his feet and stared up at Luigi angrily. "Mario! I'm sure that you remember me, do ya!"

"Uh...I'm not Mario." Luigi said, looking down at the young creature that he was taller than by at least two feet.

"Don't give me that!" The boy snapped. "You just changed your outfit, lost that fat gut and went through a growth spurt so I wouldn't recognize ya!"

Everyone sweatdropped as Luigi turned to look around at the rest of the team. "Does anyone know this guy?" He asked.

"I do." Goombaria asked. "That's Jr. Troopa. He's somewhat of a bully and lost to Mario on his quest to recover the Star Rod. According to Goombario, he tried fighting Mario again five more times, but lost every battle thrown at him."

Jr. Troopa instantly turned from Luigi to stare at Goombaria. "Hey! Shut up! Shut UUUUUP!" He replied. He quickly turned to Luigi. "Let's do this, Mario!"

[BATTLE: START]

[MINI-BOSS: JR. TROOPA - HEALTH: 3]

Jr. Troopa charged at Luigi, but the green-clad plumber simply dodged by getting to the side. The young Koopa flew past Luigi, arms flailing. Jr. Tropa quickly noticed that Luigi wasn't there anymore, did an instant about- face and charged at Luigi again.

Luigi leapt into the air, and just as his opponent was passing underneath him. Luigi planted his feet into the back of Jr. Troopa's head, surprisingly doing it without cracking the eggshell. Jr. Troopa's face instantly hit the ground as he tried to shake off the effects of Luigi's blow.

Luigi quickly took the chance and struck Jr. Troopa with a hard karate chop. Unfortunately, it seemed to have no effect. Jr. Troopa quickly jumped to his feet, laughed at Luigi's attempt to damage him and swung his fist out, which Luigi easily avoided.

"How am I gonna defeat him?" Luigi thought. "That shell is to tough for my hand attacks."

Suddenly, a thought came to him. The question was, would it work? "It's worth a shot." Luigi thought as he backed away from Jr. Troopa.

Jr. Troopa charged at Luigi again. Luigi saw this and leapt into the air, again coming down on Jr. Troopa's head. He was again sent to the ground.

Luigi pulled his right fist back as he concentrated. Suddenly, a ball of electricity appeared in his hand. Once it was fully charged, Luigi thrust his hand out. A quick jolt of electricity went through Jr. Troopa's body, damaging him [HIT].

"Gah!" Jr. Troopa said as he jumped to his feet. "I let my guard down there."

Luigi smirked. He now knew how to defeat his opponent.

Jr. Troopa again charged at Luigi. "Doesn't this kid know how to do anything else?" Luigi thought. He quickly noticed that Jr. Troopa was running a little faster this time. Luigi jumped into the air, but Jr. Troopa was running so fast that he passed underneath him. Luigi knew that he'd have to jump a little earlier this time. Luigi landed on the grass to the side of the path and backed away from the oncoming Jr. Troopa, who had again did a 180 and was charging at the green-clad plumber.

Luigi jumped again, earlier this time. His timing was lucky, as just as he was starting to come down, Jr. Troopa was passing underneath him. Luigi landed on his opponent's head, sending Jr. Troopa to the ground. Luigi quickly ran up to the stunned youngster and pulled his hand back, again activating his Thunderhand. After Luigi lashed out his hand, Jr. Troopa was again electrified [HIT].

"Alright! No more mister nice Koopa!" Jr. Troopa shouted as he jumped to his feet.

Jr. Troopa jumped back and thrust both fists into the air. "FULL POWER!" He shouted before he started glowing.

Luigi cocked an eyebrow. What could this kid do with more power? He suddenly found out, as Jr. Troopa leapt into the air, soaring right towards Luigi. Luigi jumped out of the way as Jr. Troopa hit the ground where he had been standing, creating a shockwave. Luckily, the shockwave died down before it reached Luigi. Instantly, Jr. Troopa jumped again, again going at Luigi. The hero quickly dove to the side as his opponent hit the ground, creating another shockwave. This time, Luigi was close enough to have to jump over the shockwave to avoid it.

"This kid's not going to continue running again." Luigi thought. "I need to think of another way to hit him."

Luigi was brought out of his thoughts when he saw Jr. Troopa sailing towards him again. Luigi got out of the way and jumped as soon as Jr. Troopa hit the ground, causing the shockwave to go underneath the airborne plumber. Before Luigi hit the ground, he steered himself in midair to land on Jr. Troopa. His attack was a success, making Jr. Troopa stunned again. Luigi quickly activated his Thunderhand before Jr. Troopa snapped out of his daze. For the final time, Jr. Troopa received a jolt of electricity [HIT].

"I'll...Get you...Next time...Mario." Jr. Troopa muttered as he collapsed to the ground.

Luigi folded his arms and looked down at his fallen opponent. "You've got spunk, kid. You're not that bad." He said.

[END BATTLE. LUIGI WINS]

Jr. Troopa started having leg spasms as he lay on the ground at Luigi's feet, defeated. Luigi turned from Jr. Troopa to look at the rest of the team. "You guys have any idea where we should go now?" He asked.

"We could try Koopa Village." Fice T suggested. "Maybe the Koopas there saw something."

Everyone agreed with the guard's suggestion as they walked off, leaving Jr. Troopa lying on the ground, twitching.

The team walked through Mushroom Way, towards Koopa Village. However, just as they were coming within the boundaries of Koopa Village, the team heard some strange noises, almost sounding like a battle.

"That sound..." Fice T said, surprisingly suspiciously. "It's flesh hitting flesh. Someone's attacking Koopa Village!"

Within a flash, Luigi, Waluigi, Sonar and even Fice T charged headfirst into the village, followed shortly by Melody and Goombaria.

The scene that lay before the team shocked everyone in it. Red-shelled Koopas were all over the village, attacking helpless villagers left and right. The sight of this made Luigi's blood boil.

"What do we do?" Melody asked. "We need to help them!"

"That's exactly what we're gonna do!" Luigi replied. "We'll spilt up. That way we can help more people."

Everyone nodded as they all split up, going throughout the village to help the friendly Koopas. Luigi found himself charging at a pair of Koopas terrorizing a pair of villagers. Luigi was surprised to find Waluigi running beside him.

The plumber pair leapt into the air at the same time, each performing a long jump. In perfect synchronization, Luigi and Waluigi landed on the backs of the evil Koopas, knocking them out.

"Are you guys alright?" Luigi asked the Koopas he and Waluigi had saved.

"Yeah. Thanks for the help, but the tough guys ran towards Kolorado's place!" One of the Koopas replied.

Luigi's eyes sprang open as he charged past the Koopas, straight towards the other part of the town. Waluigi was still beside him. Goombaria and Sonar were fighting the evil Koopas around the second half of the town, but Luigi's objective wasn't to help them. He and Waluigi ran towards Kolorado's house. Luigi tried to open the door, and started panicking when he found it locked.

"Come on, shorty!" Waluigi said. "Let's break it down!"

"It's looks like we've got no choice." Luigi said.

Luigi and Waluigi backed up and charged towards the door. The power from both plumbers was enough to break the door in.

Inside, Luigi quickly saw a pair of Chomp Bros. in the house, cornering Kolorado and his wife against a wall. Kolorado was bravely standing in front of his wife, although Luigi could tell that the professor was petrified in fear.

Acting quickly, Luigi charged at one of the Chomp Bros., kicking him in the side of the head. This caught the other one's attention, turning around just in time to see Waluigi's fist soaring straight at his face.

Within a matter of seconds, the plumbers had trounced the Chomp Bros., barely avoiding defeat at the hands of the wild chomps in their opponent's hands.

"Oh, thank you, chaps!" Kolorado said, vigorously shaking Luigi's hand. "My life was flashing before my eyes there!"

"Ah, it's nothing." Luigi said sheepishly.

"Nothing?" The British Koopa asked. "You two saved our lives! If there's anything I can do for you, please let me know!"

"Well," Waluigi replied. "You can tell us if you've seen a gray, bomb- throwing mouse wearing shades come by."

"Oh, yes!" Kolorado replied. "He was the one that sent all of those nasty Koopas on the village."

"Did you see where he went?" Luigi asked.

"There's a place behind Kooper's house where the Fuzzies used to hide out." The professor stated. "He ran off in that direction."

"Thanks, professor!" Luigi said as he quickly, but gently, broke from the handshake Kolorado was still giving him.

After saying goodbye, Luigi left the house with Waluigi behind him. Looking around, he saw all of the evil Koopas lying on the ground, defeated. He spotted the rest of the team, and motioned them to come over. The rest of the team quickly arrived at Luigi's side.

"Kolorado says that he saw Mouser go off towards the Fuzzy hideout behind Kooper's place." Luigi explained.

"Then we'd better get after him before he escapes with that crystal!" Sonar replied.

Everyone agreed as they ran towards Kooper's house. Because Kooper was out, no one was in the house. The team quickly ran through the house, and onto the pathway on the other side. The team continued running down the path, having to fight off the occasional Evil Koopa.

Soon, the team came to a more open area than on the path. It was a small field with four trees standing in the open. They quickly saw Mouser pacing back and forth impatiently.

"What's taking him so long?" Mouser said to himself. "He's never this late!"

"Mouser!" Luigi shouted.

Mouser froze, as he recognized the voice. He spun around and stared at Luigi in disbelief.

"It can't be!" Mouser said. "My Koopas were supposed to slow you down!"

"It'll take more than that to take us down, bomb-brain!" Goombaria shouted.

Luigi quickly turned to look at Goombaria in horror. He knew how much Mouser hated that name, as Luigi had used it himself when he first fought the psychotic rodent. Luigi quickly turned to Mouser, and saw him seething in anger, a slight twitch developing under the left eye of his shades.

"'Bomb-brain', is it?" Mouser asked. "I'll make those your last words, goomba girl!"

Without saying anything else, Mouser charged at the group, straight at Goombaria. The little goomba girl was too frightened to move, and was quickly scooped up into Mouser's arm as he ran by. Mouser quickly activated something on his watch, something Luigi hadn't noticed before. Mouser vanished into thin air, taking Goombaria with him.

(Unknown Location)

Not feeling Mouser holding onto her anymore, Goombaria opened her eyes. Her eyes widened and she looked around. She was standing on a circular stone platform suspended in some kind of void. A gap was separating the edge of the circle where Goombaria was standing from the middle of the circle. The gap went all the way around the circle, and was too long a jump for Goombaria to make it. The void the whole circle was in was made of black and green energy. Mouser was standing on the center of the circle, laughing at the goomba girl.

"W-Where am I?" Goombaria asked fearfully.

"The Nth dimension." Mouser replied. "Everyone working for the boss is given a watch that transports the owner and whatever he's holding to a custom-made battle arena."

"Battle arena?" Goombaria asked, eyes wide.

Mouser grinned evilly, pulling a bomb with a lit fuse from out of nowhere. "You got it!"

[BATTLE: START]

[BOSS: MOUSER - HEALTH: 3]

Mouser quickly threw the bomb he was holding at the stunned Goombaria, who quickly snapped out of her daze to see it coming. She quickly ran to the side as the bomb exploded, creating a small ball of flame that quickly died down. However, she didn't have much time to rest, as Mouser quickly threw another bomb.

Goombaria ran around the circle she was standing on, avoiding the bombs Mouser was throwing. She knew fully well how to defeat him, but she didn't get enough time to throw the bombs back before they exploded. She'd have to wait until Mouser threw a bomb that would take longer to blow up.

Mouser laughed psychotically as he threw four more bombs in a row, all exploding on contact with the concrete surface. He figured that Goombaria was as good as dead and he'd have the battle won in no time. Due to his overconfidence, he didn't even realize that the next bomb he threw was one with a slow fuse.

Goombaria, however, DID notice that the bomb had a slow fuse. As Mouser stopped laughing to continue laughing, Goombaria examined the bomb, thinking of a way to throw it, as she didn't have any hands.

Goombaria's eyes widened with an idea, but she didn't have time to try it out, as the bomb was too close to exploding. Goombaria ran away from the bomb as it exploded.

The sound of the bomb exploding brought Mouser back to reality. He continued throwing short-fuse bombs at Goombaria, who didn't stop running around the track. This continued for a good fifteen seconds before overconfidence got the better of Mouser, accidentally throwing another bomb with a slow fuse.

Instead of sending it back, Goombaria stood by the bomb, waiting. Mouser was too wrapped up in his laughing to notice. When she saw the bomb starting to flash yellow, Goombaria smirked.

"This'll stop that laughing!" Goombaria thought as she pulled her foot back, spun it around several times, and thrust it at the bomb, kicking it with all her might. The bomb soared straight back at Mouser, exploding in his face. Goombaria was right, as it DID stop his laughing [HIT].

"What the?" A blackened Mouser said in shock. He quickly shook the soot off. "A lucky shot..."

Mouser started throwing short-fuse bombs at Goombaria again, this time much quicker. Goombaria noticed the difference in speed and tried running faster around the arena. The bombs were closer to her when they exploded, but Goombaria managed to avoid getting hurt.

Goombaria noticed that she had to run a little longer than before, and she figured that she'd have to run even longer after damaging Mouser a second time. Soon, Mouser was yet again overcome with overconfidence, throwing another slow-fuse bomb. Mouser continued his laughing.

Goombaria again stood beside the bomb, but decided to start winding up for the kick a little sooner. Her assumptions were right, as the bomb started flashing again, quicker this time. Goombaria struck the bomb with her foot, sending it back at Mouser for another strike [HIT].

"Ack!" Mouser said as he shook off the soot again. "Alright! Now I'm MAD!"

Goombaria suddenly decided that it would be a good time to start running.

"FIRE! FIRE! FIRE!" Mouser screamed psychotically as he threw dozens of bombs right after each other. He was throwing them so fast that Goombaria couldn't see his arms.

Goombaria had to run as fast as she could to avoid the bombs explosions, and the explosions were always dangerously close to Goombaria, but she barely managed to avoid the explosions without getting hurt.

Sweat dripped down Goombaria's small face. She could only hope that Mouser would throw a slow-fuse bomb soon.

Her wish was granted, as she heard Mouser start laughing insanely again. Looking back, she saw a bomb sitting on her part of the arena. She quickly turned around, hoping to reach the bomb before it exploded. Fortunately, it stayed intact long enough for the goomba girl to pull her foot back and kick it as soon as it started flashing.

Mouser stopped laughing to look at Goombaria struggle to get away from the bomb, but instead saw the bomb coming straight at his face. "Crud." He said flatly.

BOOM!

[HIT]

"I can't believe it!" Mouser said, slowly drifting off into unconsciousness. "Lost...To a...Goomba girl."

Goombaria jumped up and down twice before spinning around once on her right foot. "Not bad for a goomba, eh?" She said, smiling.

[END BATTLE. GOOMBARIA WINS]

(Koopa Village)

A flash of white suddenly blinded Goombaria. When she was able to see again, she was standing on the path behind Koopa Village again, with the rest of the team staring at her, wide eyed. Mouser was lying defeated not too far away.

"You...You defeated Mouser!" Luigi said in amazement.

"Yeah! It was easy!" Goombaria replied with a smirk.

"Well, let's get that crystal back." Melody said.

Everyone agreed as they turned to Mouser and started walking over to him. However, as the team was coming close, they saw a strange, glowing, white energy surrounding Mouser. The energy covered Mouser completely and faded away. But when the energy faded, Mouser was no longer there.

"Hey! Where'd he go?" Fice T asked.

"I dunno, but he took the crystal!" Luigi replied.

The whole team, even Waluigi, exchanged worried glances to each other.