Chapter 5: The Retaliation! The Mushroom Kingdom fights back!
A toad in light red garb with metal shoulder and ankle plates was hiding beside a castle wall. He gestured for more to come to him and suddenly several more toads in the same attire appeared beside him. The leader of the group peered around the edge of the dark wall of an ominous castle. Beyond that lied three koopas in heavy armour. They stood in front of a large door, unmoving. Their eyes constantly scoped their surroundings but they never noticed the squad of toads leering behind the wall to their left. The squad leader narrowed his eyes and magically pulled a shuriken out of thin air. He angled himself beside the wall and made a powerful but subtle throw. The shuriken deeply thrust itself into the neck of the koopa in the middle and the poor turtle slumped against the door while hacking blood. His two other comrades noticed the attack and got into an attacking stance. Suddenly, the group of toads appeared suddenly from mid-air and easily killed the two other koopas in the same method, by attacking the unprotected neck with a shuriken. The other two koopas died in the same way as their partner. The squad leader walked up to the middle koopa, the one first killed and roughly pulled his throwing star out of the koopa's throat. This opened the flow of blood locked in the koopa's neck. "The rebellion has begun…Hellfire." said the squad leader as he scoped the koopa king's castle with a glance. Lightning struck miles away but the deafening sound of thunder caused immediate notice.
"Master," cried a small koopa. He was wearing nothing but the green shell on his back and the intimidating presence of the powerful koopa king on his throne made him shiver. "Master, a rebellion force has penetrated the castle and they'll reach the throne room in a matter of seconds!" "What?" The koopa king barked. "How many?" "5, sir." "You mean to tell me five toads are stronger than my whole army!" the king settled down and chuckled. "No matter. Good riddance to bad rubbish I always say. Get Bowser! He'll take care of them!" "Yes sire." was all the small koopa could say.
The squad of toads saw their goal ahead. Instantly every thought was dropped out of their heads. They were now shinobi, tools for killing and nothing else. They ran toward the throne room door at the end of the hall with cheetah speed until a powerful quake made them jump back in anticipation of a powerful enemy. There, just a couple meters away, stood the koopa prince. He looked just like his older self, even down to the smallest features. "You may have gotten this far but you won't make it past me! I'll make sure your feat is remembered though by eating you whole! Won't that be quite a treat?" said Bowser, overconfident as always. The five ninjas hopped into the air and rained down a hoard of shuriken upon the prince who blew out a powerful stream of fire from his mouth to send them away. The ninjas barely avoided the flame. A burnt shuriken landed beside Bowser who barely flinched. Now back on the ground the squad of ninjas moved their hands quickly into the form of different hand seals. "Kage Buushin no Jutsu!" Instantly in a poof of smoke five clones of each toad appeared. They hopped wildly around Bowser who tried to scratch one of them with his powerful claws, failing miserably because of his slow speed. Finally, the angered prince rotated 360 degrees while breathing fire, incinerating most of the clones. Four of the original ninjas fell to the ground, harshly burned. "What?" Bowser said to himself as he noticed one was missing. "One thousand years of pain!" a voice said behind him. Bowser felt an extremely sharp pain go up his hind quarters and deeply into his anal area. "Ow!" the prince yelled as he flew upwards from the pain. The squad leader could now be seen holding his shuriken with a smile. You couldn't see him smile but the four ninjas sensed it and smiled themselves. Bowser came down on the four ninjas with a stomp. This kicked up a lot of dust from the destroyed bricks and old castle. "Aaah! Help me!" a voice was heard through the dust cloud.
When it cleared, the squad leader could see one of his ninjas struggling under the weight of Bowser's foot. Suddenly, the toad turned into a block of wood that was instantly crushed under Bowser's foot. What is this? Bowser thought as he turned his head upward in terror. The ninja he thought he stomped was above him with a kunai, ready to dive onto Bowser's face with a sharp impact. This is too dangerous! thought Bowser. These guys are too skilled! Wait… Bower inhaled and breathed a powerful stream of fire toward the ninja who was barely able to escape it by diving out of the way. He somersaulted to where the rest of his group lied once he hit the ground. The squad got into fighting stance as Bowser turned toward them with a grimace. Again, only four ninjas were present. "What is this?" Bowser complained. "One of you is always gone!" "One of us was always gone." said the squad leader. "Stop speaking in riddles." Bowser said. "Tell me the truth." "I feel sorry for you, so I will." said the squad leader. "The fifth ninja was just a shadow clone. The real one had found Princess Peach and escaped to the Mushroom Kingdom with her a long time ago." "What?" Bowser yelled. "That's a lie!" "No." the squad leader calmly said. "Your father left a long time ago too. He left a losing battle." "No!" Bowser barked. "You're trying to trick me!" He charged forward but the four ninjas easily jumped over him. Bowser crashed into the empty throne room. "My father…" he said quietly. "He left me…" Bowser stared at the empty throne with sadness and surprise which then swirled into anger. "No!" he yelled and breathed fire wildly around the place. The ninjas retreated and left to escape the castle. Bowser's rage damaged the castle and left in a dangerous state. It was going to collapse. After the remaining ninjas exited the castle it collapsed in a huge cloud of dust and smoke. Bowser was thought to have died inside the castle.
"Now" Toadsworth said. "This was the end of the story. Bowser was abandoned and no one knows what happened to the Koopa King. Princess Peach returned and helped to rule our kingdom. She never became Queen because she thought of it as respect to still think of her mother and father as the rulers of the kingdom. In our years of peace Bowser gathered an army and rebuilt a castle under our noses. He attacked and that was when-" "When Luigi and I came to the Mushroom Kingdom." Mario finished. Toadsworth nodded. "The five shinobi died right before you came. They were no match for Bowser in that battle." "Toadsworth," Mario started. Toadsworth nodded to show he was paying attention. "That was a nice story but I have no time. Please tell me where the stars are. I need them to-" "I know." Toadsworth raised his hand to tell Mario to stop. "I have them all packed into one." Toadsworth showed Mario a bright star. Its light almost blinded the group before Mario quickly took it in hand and it fused inside his body with a quicker, more intense light. He now wore a wing cap on his head. "I know you are in a rush but please let me teach you one of a shinobi's best techniques: The Kage Buushin no jutsu." Toadsworth begged in a calm way. Mario smiled. "I need every move I can get." he said. The group quickly made their way out of the castle and were now in the cold courtyard. Frigid winds constantly blew and Mario stood a couple feet away from Toadsworth in a ready position. "Okay." Toadsworth tried to divert Mario's attention since time was of the essence. His body was shivering and it seemed Mario's was too. Goombella and Luigi stood a good watching distance away from the two. Skolar was watching from his little star vehicle. "This move was made by A level ninjas and was thought of as forbidden by the Village Hidden in the Leaves. Uzumaki Naruto was thought of as the father of this technique even though he didn't make it. He earned this title by making this forbidden jutsu his signature technique. He died of old age as one of the best Hokage his village had ever seen. Now, this move is started by using the power within you, in this case the stars, to make another solid body of yourself. Just think of-" "Done." Mario quickly said.
Beside him stood a perfect clone of himself. Mario even jokingly punched his clone in the stomach and it didn't disappear in a puff of smoke as it should've. "That was quick." Was all Toadsworth could say. "Toadsworth, the world and Peach's life are in my hands and I have no time to waste." Mario said as he flew into the air. "Skolar, take Goombella and Luigi home! I don't want you guys to slow me down!" Mario commanded. "What?" All three of them said but before Mario could answer he was already gone in the distance of the dawn. I have little time left. I hope I can make it! Mario thought as the castle just became a speck in the distance which slowly disappeared. "Time to do the Kage Buushin no Jutsu!" Mario, under the power of the stars, had the ability to do this move without the hand seals. Naruto couldn't even do this! Now a flock of Marios were flying in the sky above the open ocean. Mario had no time to enjoy the sea air though. A large land was coming into the distance. Rogueport. Mario saw a small boat docked in the small harbour he once visited on his quest. Bedlam was already here. The force of her shadow suddenly stopped him in his flight. From 50 feet in the air Mario could see two figures in trench coats hurrying through the streets of Rogueport. One was small and scuttling quickly while the other was behind it, big and slow. Mario dived like a falcon toward the small figure and tackled it into the ground with a huge force. Dust was kicked up and the crowd quickly scattered to a safe distance of behind an object to watch the event. Most of them hid behind houses and cargo boxes, peering over the corners in fright. When the dust cleared eight Marios stood opposing a revealed Bedlam and Marilyn. "Eight Marios?" Bedlam asked herself. "What tomfoolery is this?" "Guh. Guh." Marilyn said. "Well, Bedlam I'm back. I may be a murderer or may not be able to save everybody but I'll try my best and I'll lose when I die." Mario said this as he and his seven clones charged up a bright fireball in their right hands. "You sure never give up, Mario. But the odds are stacked against you." Bedlam said while raising her hands. "Those are my kind of odds." Mario said with a confident smile and the fight begun. The eight Marios scattered and rained down their fireballs and Bedlam sent a powerful blizzard spell to intercept them. The fireballs stood frozen in mid-air and fell to the ground, where they shattered. "Powerful." Mario whispered to himself and then yelled. "Where's the Star Rod?" Bedlam whispered some words and said Mario's name. Instantly the plumber was paralyzed in mid-air. He couldn't move his body one inch.
His clones disappeared in a puff of smoke. "What is this?" Mario said under the strain of this invisible trap. "My spells have increased in power triple-fold from when we met at the Star Sanctuary." Bedlam said with a confident smile. "I have been able to tap into forbidden magic that could utilize your name to my advantage." Suddenly, Mario turned into a puff of smoke and disappeared. "Should've been more specific. He was Mario, too." a voice said behind Bedlam. Mario was there with the Star Rod and an unconscious Marilyn behind him. "I love doing that, having you fight all my clones while I take the Star Rod." Mario flew up into the air with a smile. "You lose. Now to go back to the Star Sanctuary and wished this never happened." Mario was about to zoom into the distance when his body became paralyzed from Bedlam's spell. "I don't think so!" the witch angrily yelled. It seemed the spell was taking its toll on her because she was now out of breath and panting like a dog. She magically removed the Star Rod from Mario's hands and gripped it tightly. "It'll be an hour before the spell can wear off." said Bedlam as she woke her sister up and walked away, soon disappearing under the arch that led to that familiar pipe and to the Thousand-Year Door. "The Earth will be a graveyard by then." Mario said to himself and cursed. How could he be stuck in this spell while the Shadow Queen rules? He couldn't, that's what. "Mario!" Luigi's voice rung in his ears as he struggled with the spell. Mario looked down to see Luigi, Goombella, Skolar, and Toadsworth. "You guys!" Mario called to them. "Go to the Shadow Queen's tomb! Bedlam is already on her way there!" Luigi, Goombella, and Skolar obeyed and they zoomed in the direction Bedlam had just taken. Toadsworth stayed and looked up at Mario. "Need some help?" The mushroom asked. Mario nodded. Toadsworth did some hand signs and placed the palm of his hand up at Mario. A blue stream of light appeared around Mario and entered his body. "Thanks!" Mario zoomed off and had no time to ask what the Toad had done. Toadsworth sighed and decided it would be best if rested at the inn again.