CHAPTER THREE
Peach was on her balcony, sitting down with her right arm wrapped up in a cast and resting in a sling. She had been cooped up in the castle all day and wanted to go outside and get some fresh air. It was a beautiful day, with a cool breeze blowing from the north. Although she was happy to be outside instead of sitting inside having to listen to Toadsworth lecturing her about how she needs to be more careful when doing anything outside the castle, she was still very depressed. The weather was perfect for playing golf or tennis, and she really wanted to go do those things, but she couldn't because of her broken arm. She sighed and looked down at her cast. Her friends had all written "Get well soon!" messages or had simply put their signature on her cast. She saw Mario's message and felt even more depressed. She knew that he and Luigi were going to be guest speakers at this year's Plumbers' Convention, and wouldn't be back for at least a week, so she couldn't even invite her best friends over to the castle just to chat or have tea. Therefore, she had come to the conclusion that the next few weeks would be the most boring weeks of her life. She sat back in her chair, made herself comfortable, and tried to take a nap.
Suddenly, she was awoken by a loud explosion coming from Shooting Star Summit. She could see the Summit from her balcony, so she looked to see what was going on, but since it was so far, she couldn't make out any details. She couldn't even see smoke or fire that would normally be there as a result of the explosion. Confused, she sat down again, still looking towards the Summit for anything strange. She then saw a distant round object take off from the Summit and fly away. She wasn't totally sure, but she could've sworn that the object was actually Koopa's Klown car. Since she was tired, she decided that it was probably her imagination, and went back into her room so she could take a nap without being interrupted.
Little did she know that the explosion was actually part of the trap that Bowser set for Mario. And that it was indeed his klown car that flew away from the Summit. Mario had reached Shooting Star Summit, only to be immediately ambushed by Bowser's entire army. He saw Bowser, and asked "What the heck are you doing here?"
"I'm executing my most brilliant plan!" Bowser replied. "I can't believe you fell for that fake letter! And therefore fell into my trap! And once I take care of you, I'll be able to capture Princess Peach without you foiling my plan once again!"
"Oh yeah?" Mario shouted, "You'll never win, Bowser! You know I can take you down any day!"
"Oh really?" Bowser sneered, "We'll just see about that!" He pulled out a remote and pushed a button, causing a cage to form around Mario so he couldn't escape. Bowser then shouted, "Everyone stand clear! I'm launching the Bowser Bomb!" All the koopas retreated into their shells as a large bomb came out of the klown car and headed straight for Mario. He tried to break out of his cage, but couldn't.
It was too late. The bomb exploded right next to Mario's cage. Mario was burned and knocked unconscious. Bowser laughed.
"YES!" he shouted, "MY PLAN WORKED!"
The koopas all came out of their shells and cheered. Bowser picked up Mario's cage (which was not destroyed at all in the blast), threw it into his klown car, and took off from the Summit, heading to his castle. Once he arrived, he opened a cell door in the dungeons, threw Mario (who was still unconscious) into the cell, shut the door, locked it, and threw the key into the moat. "Now all I have to do is capture Peach!" Bowser growled.