"So where you headed now?" Mario asked his brother as they exited the diner.
"I figure I'd go see my friend Mac," Luigi said. "We were going to hang out today."
"That's cool. I'm going to see what the Princess is up to."
Suddenly, a Little Goomba rushed up to them, panting and out of breath. "Mario! Luigi! Thank God I found you!"
"Whoa, whoa, slow down little guy," Mario said. "What's wrong?"
"The Albatoss patrol said they saw the Koopalings headed towards Mushroom Castle!" the Goomba panted. "All seven of them!"
"I TOLD you they were still making trouble," Luigi said, smacking his brother.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever." Mario said. "To the castle!" They dashed off at breakneck speed through the village, up the hill, round the waterfall and up the courtyard to the castle.
"Hm, doesn't look like they're here yet," Mario said.
"I can see them, though," Luigi said. "They're coming up the hill in the distance."
"I'm going to tell the princess to stay inside," Mario said, but just at that moment, the castle doors opened and Princess Peach Toadstool emerged. She was about Luigi's height, and had long blond hair and was wearing a pink dress.
"Hello, boys," she said cheerfully.
"Princess! Stay inside!" Mario said urgently.
"Why?"
"The Koopa Kids are coming to the castle!"
"Oh dear…"
Just then, the seven Koopa Kids emerged from the low side of the hill and began walking up the courtyard. Larry Koopa, the first born and the brains of each outfit; Morton Koopa Jr., named after his grandfather and the bully of the group; Wendy O., the only female and a total pill; Iggy Koopa, the speedy dork; Roy Koopa, Morton's fraternal twin and thus an equal bully; Lemmy, the only Koopa who tried to join the circus, and Ludwig Von Koopa, the all around tough guy.
Mario and Luigi met them as they walked up the courtyard. "You're not going any further!" Mario said, crossing his arms.
The Koopa Kids stopped and stood in a line, looking up at the brothers. Then Iggy put one foot past where he was standing. Larry smacked him back. "Don't be a dummy," he said.
"If you think we're letting you cause any trouble, you're wrong," Luigi said. "We put the kybosh on you once, we can do it again."
"Heh heh, look at him, acting all tough," Roy chuckled, walking up to Luigi. He punched Luigi in the knee, causing the plumber to cry out in pain. "What're you going to do now, tough guy?"
"Dude, that's not cool," Larry said. "They're not gonna listen to us if we act like asses."
"Hey, the Princess is the one making a horrible fashion statement," Wendy snorted. "That dress went out of style 20 years ago." Peach glowered from where she stood.
"What do you guys want, anyway?" Mario asked.
Larry stepped forward and said, "We want to join your ranks of soldiers, if you'd have us."
Mario blinked a few times, and cleaned his ear out with his pinky. "I'm sorry, say again?"
"We wanna join the good guys, dummy!"
Mario and Luigi looked at each other, at a loss for words. Then Luigi said, "Um… why?"
"The demise of our father has left us with a lack of direction," Ludwig said.
"So you were bored, so you want to join us?" Mario said, trying to reason this all out in his head.
"That's not all," Larry said. "We knew that you guys would need a lot of protection pretty soon."
"Yeah, heh heh, never go without protection," Morton murmured, chortling. Roy heard him and bashed him over the head.
"What makes you think that Luigi and I can't defend this land ourselves?"
"If that were so, then how did the Princess get captured previously?"
Mario and Luigi were silent. Then Luigi said, "So why exactly will we need your protection?"
"Feed us and we'll tell you." Larry said.
"Yeessss," Lemmy said, stumbling in place. "Feeeeed usssss… FEEED usssss!"
"What do you think, bro?" Mario asked Luigi.
Luigi shrugged. "I'm not opposed to hearing what they have to say. You?"
"I'll hear them out, but I have strong doubts. Princess?"
"If something terrible is coming, it would be advantageous to have more soldiers," Peach said, nodding. "I'll summon the royal chef."
Twenty minutes later, at the grand dining table, Mario and Luigi sat across from the Princess, and the seven Koopalings sat on the other chairs.
"This is unbelievable cooking, your majesty," Larry said. "Compared to what Father made us eat, this is heaven."
"Thank you, Larry," Peach said with a smile.
"Suck up…" Morton said, rolling his eyes.
"Um, what kind of milk is this?" Iggy asked, pointing to the carton. "I need to have lactose-free milk."
"I'll take care of that," Peach said, looking to the chef, who went into the kitchen.
"So!" Mario said, "Now that you're all nice and full, why don't you fill us in on this 'upcoming disaster'?"
"Right," Larry said. "Here's the facts: A gang of bandits from the BeanBean Kingdom plans to sneak into the castle tonight and steal the Princess's crown."
The Princess gasped.
"Why, what's the matter with that?" Luigi asked. "She can buy a new one."
"No, you guys don't understand," Peach said. "The Royal Crown is blessed with special magic. If it were to be taken from the royal princess, her life energy would start to wane, until she fell into a coma and died."
"Oh." Mario said, then grew suspicious. "Well then wait. If your father knew about that, how come he never just took her crown to begin with?"
"Because he didn't know," Larry said. "We did, he didn't. We read about the legend of the Royal Crown at the Mushroom Kingdom library years ago."
"And why didn't you tell your father?"
"We didn't bother because we knew that if our father killed the princess, Mario and Luigi wouldn't come after him to rescue her, they'd come after him for revenge, which would probably involve slicing his belly open or something."
Mario and Luigi nodded. "Yeah, it wouldn't have been pleasant for him."
"So this gang of bandits, there's at least a thousand of them. Very large group, they are. They call themselves The Garrison Gang. There'd be too many for you two to fight off on your own."
"I still don't see why we should trust you," Luigi said. "You could be trying to trick us."
"You don't really have a choice but to trust us," Ludwig said. "Unless, that is, you want your princess to die."
"What do you think, Princess? It's your call." Mario said.
Peach looked around the table at each of the Koopa Kids, and smiled and said, "Welcome to the Royal Defense."