Chapter 2- The Brother's Plot
It was an utter war zone. All around the area, the small army of monsters battled fiercely with Mario, Luigi, Parakarry and the rest of the Paratroopa Postal Team. Even Peach and Daisy were lending a hand once in a while, while Toadsdale remained to sit on Kumo away from the fighting, and throwing attack items or tomatoes or other foods to whomever needed them. It was a brutal battle, and it seemed like Mario and the rest of the group had no chance, though they were proving that theory to be very wrong.
The Paratroopas were fighting well, battling the other Paratroopas in the air fist and feet, while Parakarry, Poorta and Parry were performing dive-bombs into the crowds of enemies, knocking flat all in their way with each swoop. Peach and Daisy were together by Luigi and Mario, combating the monsters with whatever weapon they had on them. Daisy had brought along her tennis racket, while Peach used her golf-club, both items proving to be useful as they pounded away at whoever came at them. Mario and Luigi fought side by side with near perfection, using every technique up their sleeves, from their fireballs to the mad hops they had to slam onto the creatures.
Above them, three more enemy Paratroopas plummeted to the ground, being knocked unconscious by the mighty flying rams of the Paratroopa Mailmen. Toadsdale just managed to dodge them all using Kumo, and quickly got back to his surveillance of the fight. He spotted Parakarry, Poorta, and Parry all charge through a group of Goombas, and by the time they were flew out every single one was on its back with glazed looks in their eyes from the massive hits. Peach and Daisy were knocking aside several Shy Guys and Bobombs, Daisy striking them with her tennis racket and Peach practicing her tee-off with her nine-iron. Toadsdale could see about ten more coming their way, and quickly thought of how to stop them.
"Peach! Daisy! Hit these things at the monsters!" the little guy said, catching their attention. Reaching into a large white sack that he brought with him, a bag that had an 'endless hole' he tossed out two green shells, and the Princesses pounded them with every ounce of force in their body straight at the Shy Guys and Bobombs. Not one managed to get out of the way in time, and suffered a quite painful shot. Peach smiled up at him with a wink.
"Thanks Toadsdale!" she shouted. He smiled and nodded back.
"Hey Toadsdale, give us a couple of those shells!" Luigi yelled then after punching out a small Chomp. Quickly he reached into the bag, and threw a red shell and a green shell at the two brothers, Mario took the red, and Luigi took the green, and then both punted them into the masses of enemies, the shells tearing through the lines like they were tissue.
Just then, on the horizon, three more Paratroopas flew into the battlefield, two of them carrying Geno and Mallow. The living doll opened up his arm, and unleashed a spray of bullets at a group of Koopas and Goombas, taking them all down. Mario quickly spotted them, and the young man's face lit up.
"Hey! It's-a you guys!" he yelled. Mallow smiled as Geno smirked and shot down some Paratroopas.
"Yeah we're finally here! Let's finish these guys off!" Mallow said, and the Paratroopa dropped him. Once the cream-puff like boy landed on his feet, he raised his hands into the air, and as the sky grew dark, a clap of thunder echoed throughout the mountains. A bolt of lighting struck the enemy lines, blasting them away and cutting down their troops. Mallow sent down another, and another, and another, until soon lighting was raining onto the monsters. Whatever were still around, or even moving for that matter, began to run off, screaming in fright from the awesome might of Mario's gang.
"Retreat!! Somebody get Spike!!" a Goomba yelled. As everyone was about to celebrate, they then managed to hear that one shout, and the everyone in the group looked quite bemused.
"…Spike?" Luigi asked aloud. A few seconds later, a loud stomp was heard, like that of a giant. After another second, there was a second, and then came a third, a fourth, and fifth. They grew louder, and soon the ground began to rumble as everyone saw a huge shadow move across the ground from around the corner of a small cliff. Mario's eyes bugged out.
"Uh-ohhh…" he said. Finally coming before them then, was a monstrous brown dog, easily six times the height of Mario. It looked like a wild mutt, with pointy ears and ragged fur. Around its neck was a black collar with several spikes coming out from it, probably where it got its name. Everybody froze when they first saw it, their hearts nearly stopping as they saw the great animal, baring its fangs as drool poured from its giant maw. The one Goomba laughed while several other monsters stood behind him.
"Ha! Let's see ya stop us now! Sick 'em boy!" the monster commanded. With one loud bark, Spike charged at the others, its mind set on simply tearing them apart. Mario and Luigi quickly snapped out of their trances, and felt their intensity rise as the dog ran at them.
"Everyone get back, let us handle this!" Luigi yelled as he looked back at everyone else, "ready bro?" Mario nodded, his eyes hardened.
"You bet!" he answered. The two brothers then dashed at Spike together, attempting a head-on assault. They leapt at the giant mongrel, trying to perform a punch each, but were force to end their attack early as Spike snapped at them with his huge jaw. Once they came down to the ground, the two scattered, running away as Spike lashed out with his teeth once again. The brothers dashed all around, avoiding his mouth as they desperately tried to find a way to attack him, though coming to no avail. Peach watched on, quite worried even so early in the fight, and looked over at Toadsdale.
"Quick, Toadsdale, find a Mushroom. The two of them have no chance when that dog's so big!" the Princess said.
"Yeah, good idea!" he replied, and began to dig away into his bag in search of the size-increasing vegetable. Plowing through other weapons, he dug further into the sack, though finding nothing. After a few seconds, Daisy looked at him with a stony expression.
"Lemme guess, you have so much stuff in that thing that you can't find a Mushroom?" the tomboy questioned. Toadsdale turned around at her, smiling and chuckling in embarrassment.
"I guess so…" he answered. Everyone sighed.
Back at the fight, Mario and Luigi were still running all over to evade Spike's jaws, who was just coming up short of clamping them onto one of the brothers. Before long though, the dog chose a new tactic, and used it upon Luigi. He slammed his paw down onto the young man, pinning him to the ground with his huge foot. Luigi struggled to escape, but found himself trapped beneath the mutt's weight.
"Mario! Help!" he shouted. Mario was now behind Spike, and put on the brakes as he looked back at his fallen brother.
"Hold on!" the hero of Mushroom Kingdom yelled back. Charging up for not even a second, he shot off a fireball from his hand, and straight into Spike's hindquarters. The giant dog's eye widened, and he yelped in pain as the burned fur on his rump smoke. Running off for a second, Mario dashed over at Luigi, and helped his brother up. "You okay?" he asked. Luigi groaned, but nodded.
"Yeah, I'm fine" he answered. Spike stood by one of the mountain walls, snipping at his smoking behind to try and relieve the discomfort. Once he was able to handle it, he looked back at the two brothers, snarling as he showed off his impressive dentistry. With another bark, the monstrous mongrel rang at Mario and Luigi, ready to try the first tactic again. The two young men knew how to get by it this time, and put their plan into action. They executed a double jump, bounding over Spike and his massive jaws. While they were in mid-air and directly on top of him, they turned, and fell upon his back, both doing a ground-pound. Their bodies smashed into his lower-back area, rocking his body like an earthquake.
But to their misfortune, the attack did nothing, and Spike revealed that when he then rolled onto the ground several times, with Mario and Luigi under him. The others all cringed and looked away, knowing full-well that the two were probably pancakes by now.
When Spike got up, they looked back, and spotted only Mario and Luigi's heads sticking out of the ground. The two groaned from the throbbing pain, and slowly revolved their heads from their dizziness.
"Ohh man, who said for that mutt to roll over…?" Luigi moaned. Mario couldn't even answer, though he managed to get rid of the stars that he could see as he shook his head vigorously. Once he regained his composure, he looked back at Spike who was coming at them once more. With a shout of fright each, the two burst from the ground, and began to sprint away as Spike followed them right on their tail. As they began to come to a wall, Luigi quickly turned and ran off in a different direction, while Mario just kept running in a straight line. It ended up being his mistake, as Spike slammed his jaws upon him, taking him straight into his mouth. Peach almost screamed when she saw Mario get eaten, and everyone else gasped or turned away. But it was not as bad as they thought, as Spike suddenly gave an odd look as his mouth began to slowly open again. Through his huge teeth, Luigi could make out Mario pushing with all his might against the giant mouth, trying with all of his strength to escape. "Hold on bro, I'm coming!" Luigi yelled.
The younger of the Mario brothers dashed over to Spike, and stopped underneath him. With a single jump, he punched the dog square in the stomach, making him gag and spit Mario right out. Luigi wasted no time, and briskly ran to Mario and helped him up. The two ran off again, and Mario began to recover his composure after almost being swallowed alive.
"You okay Mario?" Luigi asked. Mario nodded.
"Yeah, I'm-a fine, but we gotta figure out a way-a to stop this guy!" he said back. At that moment, Toadsdale finally was able to find a Mushroom in his bag, and took it out as he held it into the air.
"I got it!" he proclaimed. Peach's face lit up.
"Great! Give it to Mario! And hurry!" she commanded. Toadsdale turned over at Mario, and pulled his arm back.
"Yo! Catch!" he shouted. Mario looked up at him, and once he saw the Mushroom flying at him, leapt into the air and caught it. No less than a second later, he popped it into his mouth, and swallowed it whole. His body flashed with a neon-yellow color for a moment, and the next thing he knew he grew to some five times his height. Landing on the ground, he quickly looked over at Spike, who seemed to prepare for another charge. Mario planted his teeth, and balled up his fist as he eyed the dog fiercely. Spike growled raucously, and charged at Mario. The giant-man pulled back his fist, and after a couple seconds, sent it flying forward…
With a loud smack! Spike ran off, yelping as his nose throbbed from the great hit. As he dashed away, he plowed through all the other enemies, that or crushing them in his retreat.
"Alright! We did it!" Daisy exclaimed. Luigi then went over to the downed monsters, and poked a few of them to see if he could get a reaction.
"Yeah, but the only possible guys we could question are either dead or in a coma. Which means we have nothing more to go on with this…" the young man stated. Peach sighed.
"Well great, now what do we do?" she asked aloud. Mario stomped over to a gang, his finger in the air.
"Don't worry, we can-a go see Merlon, he could probably give us some-a help!" the now large hero explained. Parakarry smiled.
"That's perfect! He'll surely know what to do!" the Paratroopa replied.
"Good, then let's get outta here" Toadsdale said. All the Paratroopas looked way up at Mario then, their eyes widened as they stared at the giant man.
"Uh…how are we gonna fly with him…?" Poorta inquired.
Luckily, Mario's growth had eventually worn off, and he shrunk back to normal size. Instead of joining him and the others to go see Merlon, Parakarry and the rest of the group chose to go back to their post office, and check in with their boss. While they joined them on their travel to Toad Town, the second they got there they departed and went straight to their building. Though when Mario and the rest of the group arrived, they went right o the mystic fortune teller's house, where they all now stood inside, after explaining the entire ordeal to the mysterious man.
"Hmm, so an army of monsters…big army huh?" the magician asked. Peach nodded.
"Yeah, big"
"We're talkin', huge right?" Merlon pressed.
"Absolutely gigantic" Toadsdale answered. Merlon nodded, rubbing his chin.
"So big that…" he began before Luigi interrupted him.
"Can we get down to the point!?" the young man yelled. Merlon seemed a bit taken aback by his shouting.
"Why sure. Now, what is it that you want me to try and find out for you?" he inquired. Mario took a small step forward, and placed his hands upon Merlon's table.
"We tried to-a find out who-a these monsters are for, but we had-a no success. Can you find-a out who they're working for?' the hero questioned, an unusual serious tone to his voice. Merlon seemed to think it over, again rubbing his chin as he contemplated.
"I shall try, allow me to inspect" the mystic replied. Then putting his hands upon his magical sphere, he closed his eyes, and focused ardently with his mind. The room grew dark, but a dazzling display of lights began to fly all about, putting almost everyone else besides Mario in awe. Stars, rays and all other shapes of the illuminations could be seen, and through it all Mario stood staring at Merlon, who continued to scrutinize into his mystical powers. After about a minute more, he stopped, and so did the lights. Lifting his hands from his star-ball, the hooded man's eyes opened. "I believe I have a answer" he stated. Daisy's eyes lit up.
"Well, what is it?" she asked excitedly. Merlon appeared almost reluctant to speak.
"Before I say it, I must warn you, it's slightly vague" he spoke. Geno smirked.
"Man nonsense, a vague answer is better than what we have now" he replied.
"Yeah, we need some kind of clue!" Mallow added. Merlon did not give a reply, but sighed and nodded.
"Aye, allow me to tell you what I saw…" the magician began, and everyone focused completely on him, "I could see a shadow, one as black as the heart that it came from. It had terrible power; amazing strength, horrible flames, and fighting technique like no other. It basks amongst his monster minions, inside an enormous castle. This thing is a 'king'…" Daisy snapped her fingers.
"Wow, so it actually was Bowser all along. I actually started to believe it wasn't him" the Princess said.
"Yeah, but with such a vision like that, there's no one else who it could be" Peach commented. Merlon looked very severe now, and was silent for a few seconds.
"It is not Bowser…this one is even stronger than he is now…" he stated. The entire group shot a look at Merlon like they had seen a ghost, as if they didn't want to believe him. Their eyes widened, and their mouths agape.
"No way…stronger?" Toadsdale asked. Merlon nodded.
"Yes, far stronger" he replied. The rest of the house grew quiet once more, and no one said a word in this moment of shock. After a few more seconds Merlon walked over to the exit, and stopped. "I suggest you all stay here in Toad Town for the rest of the day, I'm going to go to Russ T's house and talk to him about this, and look over his books with him" the mystic said.
"But, Peach is supposed to have a huge party tonight" Daisy objected. Merlon paused, and then gravely replied.
"My friends, an hour of danger like this is no time for a party…" he responded, and the proceeded to leave his home.
Inside a dark castle room, on top of a greatly adorned chair, sat the one that Merlon saw in his vision. It was the leader of the army indeed, and the sole being that was the cause of the horrible predictions that the magician bore. He was truly a terrible beast, huge in size, and with terrifying looks to the inch. Claws, horns, spikes, armor and all, this horrible creature sat in the room alone, a large throne-room like space so to say. He sat silently, his head bowed he thought about many things, including his plans. But in fact, he waited for something, and that something was a simple pair of Gray Magikoopas, carrying their wands as their robes dragged upon the ground. When the doors to the room closed, they walked up a deep green carpet to the creature, and bowed.
"My lord, we bring some delightful news" one said. The evil one lifted up his head, a slight grin on his frightening face.
"And what might this be?" he asked, in a deep voice. The Magikoopas now stood up, and the same one that spoke replied to him.
"The rest of the army has entered our barracks and castle now. The only ones that are not here are the group that was behind at Choco Mountains, with Spike" The creature nodded.
"Hmm, that is indeed good, and not a bad loss at all. In fact, it's even better, now we know that Mario and those other weaklings have found out about some of this, and will try to stop us" he began, "all the easier to wipe them out…" The shadow one then began to chuckle deeply, but quietly, pleased by what he heard and what he knew.
"And sir, we have even more to tell you" the other Magikoopa said. The creature looked at him now, appearing a bit curious.
"What is it?" he asked. The Gray Magikoopa grinned.
"We've spotted three other Magikoopas, two Blues and a White, traveling through the Grey Grey Mountains. They're Bowser's minions, and heading for his castle" The evil one's eyes lit up with a sinister glee, and he laughed.
"Oh my, a few of Bowser's clowns out in the open. How delightful" he joked, "get a group together, and have them taken out, tell them that I've come here to Mushroom Kingdom, and that I'll be taking all control" The Magikoopas both grinned now, and bowed back.
"Yes my lord" they said in unison. They both turned around, and left the room then, leaving the dark one to himself. He simply sat on his chair, grinning.
That night, when the sky grew dark and the air chilled, as everyone in Toad Town slept, Merlon and Russ T worked endlessly as they through books, tomes, manuscripts and scrolls. Already had they been tirelessly slaving over the task for some hours, finding nothing of which Merlon needed. The worst thing of it was though, that even with all they had, they were barely half-way done with all the books to look through…
Russ T gave a big yawn as he flipped through a brown book nearly the size of him. Dust flew off when he turned each page, and with a simple scan over the writing, he managed to decipher most of what they said. And sadly, they contained nothing of which he needed.
"Jeez, you'd think with all these books we could actually find something on what you need" the older Toad said.
"Yeah, and that you wouldn't know where it could be after you've lived with all these things for who knows how many years" Merlon remarked as he read over scroll after scroll that he found. Russ T shrugged.
"Must be some crazy phenomenon then. I've read all of these books at least once, and I'm sure that I'd remember something like your situation. Say, what exactly is it you need to find?" he asked. Merlon stopped his reading, and quietly gritted his teeth once Russ had said that.
"Something about a terrible evil to come to Mushroom Kingdom, even more, like a prophecy" the magician answered.
"Well, right now I'm looking through "The Land's Villains" and so far I've got nothing on the description you gave me, only thing similar to Bowser is him himself" Russ T said. Merlon sighed, and simply dropped the scroll he held currently. His eyes then searched about the room for a second in pure boredom, and they caught a lone green codex at the end of a shelf.
"Say, Russ, what's that book up there?" Merlon inquired, curious by the sight. The Toad looked over at the tome.
"Oh, that's just a crack-pot work on prophecies. I would've suggested it earlier, but trust me, its pure garbage. I only read it once, and all the 'predictions' in there are ridiculous" he explained. Merlon went over to the shelf, and picked it off.
"Right now I'm willing to try anything…" he muttered, and opened up the thin book. His eyes looked over the pages, and second by second he turned another as he tried to find anything similar to his vision.
It was his lucky night, and on the very last page, he found a short paragraph followed by what seemed to be a painted picture of a silhouette of Bowser. The mystic man read the passage-
When the time passes from the defeat of the King and his Star Staff, it will come that the army of evil attacks the land. Traveling through the towers of rock, they will spread throughout the entire kingdom, plaguing all lands with their might and numbers. Leading them, will be the most terrible evil to threaten the country in it's time. The thing will be one of the same kind of the King, but with even more power. It will be the Black Koopa King…
Merlon's eyes widened. He literally stood frozen in place after he finished the short excerpt, and stared at it silently. Russ T watched form across the room, confused by the magician's odd behavior.
"Hey Merlon, you okay?" he asked. After a second, the hooded-man turned around, looking at Russ with an appalled look.
"I think I found what I need…"
The next morning, a few hours after the sun began to rise into the sky, Mario and the rest of the gang began to wake up. With the rays of light shining upon Mushroom Kingdom, illuminating the land, the rest of the country was awakening from its slumber, a whole new day beginning. The birds chirped, the streams ran quietly, and all the towns began to get life in their streets. Toad Town was no different, as now all the residents left their homes, and started off their days however they pleased.
Mario and the group soon were up and about, having a quick breakfast in the hotel, and then leaving to go visit Merlon. The group was still only Mario, Luigi, Peach, Daisy, Toadsdale, Geno and Mallow, as Parakarry and the other Paratroopas had to work.
"Aw jeez, I can't believe we had to skip out on that big party for you Peach, we worked so hard on it…" Toadsdale sighed as they walked along. Daisy looked almost just as disappointed.
"Yeah, that thing was going to be a blast, and all of a sudden all of our plans were blown away. I really wanted to eat that food!" the girl yelled, obviously a bit mad now. Peach simply chuckled.
"It's no problem, we still have the entire decorations up, and we should be able to keep most of the food. We can just plan for another time, the Kingdom before me of course" she commented. Mario smiled.
"That's-a the way! What-a great Princess!" the young man remarked. Peach laughed.
"Thanks Mario" she said with a big smile. Geno then finally brought up a constructive topic.
"Say, you guys think Merlon managed to get all of what he needed?" he asked. Luigi pondered it.
"Hmm, I'd like to think so, but I honestly can't say" he replied.
"Yeah, after all that all sounded very serious, I wouldn't be surprised if he needed another day to get it all sorted out" Mallow stated. Geno didn't seem to like the idea that much.
"That could be true, but then that gives the enemy another day to operate unnoticed, and it leaves us stuck for more time" the living doll commented. By then, they came to Merlon's house, and Mario began to enter.
"Well then, lets-a find out" he said. The group of seven all walked in, and stood before Merlon, who remained behind his table with the star-ball. His eyes were closed, and it appeared like he had a severe aura about him. After a couple seconds, he looked at the band of heroes.
"My friends, I and Russ T worked all through the night, and eventually I found out enough information to try and examine my mystic ball, and find enough of an answer" he affirmed. He had gotten everyone's interest and attention, almost instantly.
"So, what is it?" Peach asked. Merlon sighed, and then took a deep breath, a sign that he was preparing for a very significant speech.
"Alright, listen carefully…"