In this chapter, Mario and Lincoln are going to encounter Jr. Troopa. Seems he doesn't like it when people enter his playground. And it won't be the last that they see of him, either.

Also, Lincoln is going to find one of his sisters...one down, nine to go.

Chapter 3: Jr. Troopa The Bully

Since there was a yellow block blocking their way back to Goomba Village, Goompa and Mario decided to look in the nearby playground for something that could help them. Surely even a block of that size could be toppled somehow.

However, Goompa didn't seem too happy about entering this place. In fact, he seemed somewhat nervous.

Mario decided to ask him why. It didn't seem like a bad place to be in at first glance.

"Be careful, Mario, this is Jr. Troopa's Playground. He's not going to like it if he catches us in his territory." warned Goompa. Fortunately, it appeared that Jr. Troopa wasn't actually in his playground at the moment...though he was likely going to return sooner or later. He just put in a jungle gym.

Mario noted that perhaps it would be best if they left the playground quickly before they were noticed. They had no idea when Jr. Troopa was going to be back.

Quickly, he decided to look around for something that could help them. There had to be something useful inside the playground.

At that very moment, Lincoln showed up.

"Oh no! It's Jr. Troopa! He's here!" exclaimed Goompa. It looks like they were going to have to cut their visit to the playground short.

Curious, Mario decided to turn around.

However, as Goompa quickly discovered, it actually WASN'T Jr. Troopa.

"No, it's me." answered Lincoln.

"False alarm." said the elderly Goomba. His vision wasn't what it used to be.

"Do you need help with something?" asked the boy. He noticed that Mario and Goompa seemed to be looking for something, though he wasn't sure yet what it was.

Curious, Mario decided to shake a nearby tree. It seemed like there was something on top.

He continued shaking and shaking the tree.

Suddenly, something fell from one of the branches.

He decided to pick up to see what it was.

Mario had discovered a doll of Princess Peach. They were selling quite well on the market. Whoever came up with them was a genius.

Maybe someday someone would start selling Mario plushies...though he wondered if someone was ever going to do the same for his brother. He just wasn't as popular as his older brother was.

"I wonder why Jr. Troopa has a Princess Peach doll..." questioned Goompa.

"Beats me." stated the boy. "Wait, whose Jr. Troopa?" He had never heard of him.

"He's a bully who goes after Goombas that are leaving Goomba Village..." explained the elderly Goomba. Apparently he wanted their lunch money.

"Oh..." comprehended Lincoln.

Eventually, Mario found a hammer. This would be a boon if he ever encountered some Spinies.

"Did you find something useful?" asked Goompa.

Mario nodded. Maybe he could use this to get rid of the Yellow Blocks that were always getting in his way.

However, as Mario and Lincoln were getting ready to leave, Jr. Troopa showed up.

"I think I'll use the swings today." stated the young Koopa who never left his eggshell.

Suddenly, he noticed Mario and Lincoln in his playground. It looked like it was too late for them to hide.

His eyes widened in shock.

It looked like he had some uninvited guests. What were they even doing there?

"Hey! This is my playground! Get out of here!" exclaimed Jr. Troopa.

"We'll just be leavi-"

Before Lincoln could finish that sentence, Jr. Troopa charged right towards Mario and Lincoln.

Quickly, Lincoln picked up Mario so that he crashed into a tree instead.

"Ow..." murmured Jr. Troopa.

"May I ask you why there's a Princess Peach doll in your playground?" asked Lincoln.

"I have...no idea how that got there." lied the bully.

"Alright then..." answered the boy.

Immediately, Jr. Troopa got ready to battle Mario and Lincoln.

He pulled out an egg and threw it at Mario.

Quickly, he ducked over it.

It hit a nearby tree and splattered.

"Darn it! I missed!" exclaimed Jr. Troopa. Maybe he needed to work on his aim a bit more.

Lincoln picked up Jr. Troopa and began to shake him silly.

"I'm getting dizzy!" exclaimed the Koopa. Already he was starting to feel sick to his stomach.

Since he didn't feel like hurting kids, he dropped him shortly afterwards.

Though now that he thought of it, Jr. Troopa WAS pretty mean for a child.

Since he was dizzy, Mario hit him with his hammer.

"Alright! That's it! No more games! I'm charging up!" exclaimed Jr. Troopa.

Immediately, he charged up to increase his strength.

Mario wondered if he could learn that ability somehow.

Jr. Troopa then charged at Mario and hit him in the face. Apparently, he was a lot faster now.

"Ow!" exclaimed Mario.

"You alright, Mario?" asked Lincoln.

Mario nodded. He survived falling from a great height, surely he would be fine.

Mario jumped on top of Jr. Troopa and he fell to the ground.

"Wah! I lost!" cried the Koopa.

"Maybe you need to stop bullying..." suggested Goompa.

"Fine, you win. But I'll be back, Mario and...what's your name?" declared Jr. Troopa.

"It's Lincoln." answered Lincoln.

"Right...I'll be back for you too! Next time, I'll win!" exclaimed the young Koopa.

Immediately, Jr. Troopa decided to flee. Maybe he could find another playground somewhere...one that was better than the playground that he already owned.

"You think he'll be back?" questioned Lincoln.

Mario shrugged.

"I suppose if we beat him once we could always beat him again." noted the boy.

Now that Jr. Troopa was out of the picture, Mario and Lincoln decided to make their way back to Goomba Village. It wasn't a long way back, right?

In the process, they smashed the block that was in their way.

However, they quickly noticed that there was trouble up ahead.

Several Goombas were outside, and judging from the graffiti they were writing, they didn't like Mario too much.

"Careful, Mario! These Goombas must be working for Bowser!" warned Goompa.

"Yeah...I think they want to take you to the dungeon..." noted Lincoln. He still remembered when Bowser's minions had tried to capture him along with everyone else that was attending the party. It was rather fortunate that he had managed to escape, though it would be a good idea to head back to the castle to try to rescue everyone else that hadn't been so lucky.

Of course, it would probably be a better idea not to head back just yet. What if they shot Banzai Bills at him this time?

Suddenly, one of the Goombas noticed Mario. He was surprised that he was actually in the area. Shouldn't be at Bowser's Castle trying to rescue the princess?

Oh wait, that's right, Bowser was invincible. There was no way that Mario would be able to pull that off now.

Immediately, he decided to alert his friends so that they could gang up on the plumber.

"Hey, it's Mario! Let's get him!" exclaimed one of the Goombas.

Immediately, the Goombas rushed towards the trio.

Fortunately, as Lincoln knew from playing Mario games, Goombas were not something that Mario needed to worry about.

Mario leapt on one Goomba while Lincoln punched another.

'Hey, didn't I see you at the party?" questioned the Goomba as Lincoln punched him.

As they went down, Mario and Lincoln got Star Points.

"Why do I feel like I'm getting stronger?" questioned Lincoln. He had started feeling like that ever since he had taken on Jr. Troopa and won.

"When you beat up your foes, you get Star Points!" explained Goompa.

"Oh, right..." answered the boy. Perhaps it was only a matter of time before he and Mario leveled up.

However, they quickly noticed that some of the Goombas had wings. Others had spikes on their heads.

It would probably be best not to jump on the Spiked Goombas and not to hammer the Paragoombas. If they tried doing the former, THEY would the ones ending up getting hurt, not the Spiked Goombas.

In other words...they should try doing the opposite by hammering the Spiked Goombas and jumping on the flying ones.

Immediately, Mario hammered a Spiked Goomba while Lincoln punched a Paragoomba.

"So much for using spikes..." remarked a Spiked Goomba.

"And so much for wings..." noted a Paragoomba.

Perhaps they needed to change their strategy so that they would actually be a threat to Mario.

After getting past the Goombas that were in path, Mario, Lincoln, and Goompa made it back to Goomba Village.

"We're back!" exclaimed Goompa.

"There you are! I was worried about you!" shouted Gooma.

"Be more careful fixing the veranda next time!" warned Goomama.

"We'll just have to seal off the door." noted Goompapa.

Immediately, he went into the house in order to lock it.

At that very moment, Lincoln felt rather sleepy. Making his way back to the village made him feel rather tired.

He decided to take a rest.

However, a few minutes after he began snoozing, the Toad suddenly came in. He seemed to be in a hurry about something.

"Emergency diaper change!" exclaimed the Toad.

"Huh?" asked Lincoln as he woke up. What was this about a diaper change? Did Toads wear diapers?

One thing was for sure, that diaper was quite smelly. It was times like this when he wished that he had a bad sense of smell. But as it was, he did not.

"Hey there, I'm just changing the baby I adopted..." said the Toad.

Immediately, he threw away the smelly diaper in the trash can so that nobody else had to smell it.

"That's nice..." noted the white-haired boy.

"Yeah...I found her right outside Goomba Village...I decided to take her in since she didn't seem to have anywhere else to go..." explained the owner of the Toad House.

"That seems familiar..." acknowledged Lincoln.

"All done!" exclaimed Toad.

"Lincoln!" shouted the baby.

"Look! She can talk!" shouted the housekeeper.

"Yeah, I guess she can...wait a minute." answered Lincoln. How did the baby know his name?

Curious, he decided to take a look at the baby. That voice sounded familiar now that he thought of it.

As soon as he realized who the baby he was, he gasped in shock.

It was none other than his sister Lily!

"There you are! I was wondering where you were!" exclaimed Lincoln.

"Lincoln!" cheered Lily.

"Do you two know each other?" asked the Toad.

"That's my sister!" answered the boy.

"Your sister?" questioned the Goomba village resident. Now that he thought of it, he had heard Lily mutter her brother's name while she was sleeping. He had also heard Lily mutter names such as "Lisa" or "Lori".

"Er, you wouldn't happen to know where any of my other sisters are, would you?" asked Lincoln.

Immediately, Lincoln pulled out a picture of himself along with his ten sisters. They were all outside their house, posing for the camera. It had taken some work so that they would all fit in the same picture, but it was all worth it.

"Someone has a lot of sisters!" exclaimed the Toad.

"I know..." nodded the boy.

"Anyways. I haven't seen them...just your baby sister. Sorry." spoke the housekeeper. Perhaps the other Toads at the other houses knew more?

Lincoln sighed. Well, at least he knew where one of them was and that she was safe.

"Well then, I'll just let you babysit my sister and-"

Suddenly, someone grabbed his arm.

Curious, Lincoln turned around and noticed that Lily had done so.

"Huh? You want to come with?" questioned Lincoln. He actually wasn't expecting that.

Lily nodded.

"I don't know...it's going to be dangerous there." warned the boy.

Lily wouldn't budge.

"Bowser and his minions might capture you!" exclaimed Lincoln.

Lily still wouldn't budge.

"You won't get to sleep in a crib!" continued Lily's brother.

Lily grabbed Lincoln's other arm.

"You're really persistent, huh?" questioned Lincoln.

Lily nodded. She wanted to be her with her brother Lincoln even if he was going on a long trip.

"Well, I suppose if you insist..." answered the boy. Perhaps it would be fun going on an adventure with his baby sister. After all, he did things with his family most of the time.

Lily giggled.

Immediately, she and Lincoln exited the Toad House.

"I'm going to miss the baby girl..." noted the Toad.

On the other hand, he wouldn't have to clean her stinky diapers anymore. He was worried that he was going to pass out.

Meanwhile, Mario was getting a badge from Goompa.

"You should take this with you on your adventures!" exclaimed Goompa. It would be quite useful.

As it turned out, it was a Power Jump badge.

Mario happily leapt into the air.

"You'll want to use that if you get into trouble..." suggested the elderly Goomba.

Mario nodded.

Suddenly, Goombario asked his mother something.

"What? You want to go with Mario?" asked Goomama.

"I'm a big fan of his! Of course I do!" exclaimed Goombario.

"I suppose you are getting older..." acknowledged Goombario's mother.

Goombario's parents nodded.

"Woohoo!" exclaimed Goombario.

Mario noted that perhaps he was going to gain a lot of partners on his journey.

At that very moment, Lincoln exited the Toad House.

"Hello!" exclaimed Lincoln.

Lily giggled.

"Who's the baby?" questioned Goombaria.

"This is my baby sister, Lily...she wants to go with me on an adventure." stated the boy.

Mario cheered. It looked like Lincoln had managed to find one of his ten sisters. Maybe one day he would go on an adventure with his baby counterpart...maybe to take on an alien race or something. You never know.

For now, he would simply stick to racing. Despite Baby Mario being very young, he was a rather good driver. In fact, the same applied to his brother's baby counterpart, though he was much more nervous about racing than his older brother. What if he ended up being knocked off the road?

However, he wondered where the rest of Lincoln's siblings were. They could be throughout the Mushroom Kingdom. At least he knew where his brother Luigi was.

Well, they had better start looking. For now, it would be best to head to Shooting Star Summit. The Star Spirits would probably be able to help them.

Suddenly, Goombaria noticed that Mario was carrying something that belonged to her.

"Hey, Mario! That doll you have...it belongs to me! Where did you find it?" questioned Goombaria.

Mario explained that he had gotten it from Jr. Troopa's Playground.

"I knew he was a kleptomaniac..." remarked Goombario's sister.

Mario returned the doll to Goombaria.

"Thanks...you can have this lavender blanket I found in a tree..." answered the female Goomba. She wondered who THAT blanket belonged to.

As soon as Lily saw the blanket, her jaw dropped.

"Blankey!" exclaimed Lily.

"Your blanket? How did that get there?" questioned Lincoln.

Perhaps Lily was holding onto her blanket when she had got swallowed inside that portal.

Immediately, she began to hug it tightly.

"Well, at least you won't have to go without it..." noted the boy. He knew how much Lily liked that blanket...just like he liked his Ace Savvy comics. Of course, since he had comic book superheroes, maybe he DIDN'T need his Ace Savvy comics for this adventure.

Lily nodded. She didn't want to go anywhere without her precious belongings.

Together, the four of them set out.

"Shooting Star Summit, here we come!" exclaimed Lincoln.

Well, this is rather fortunate. Mario now has a partner and Lincoln found one of his sisters. In case you don't remember, Lincoln now has nine sisters left to go. However, he's not going to find them as easily as he found Lily.

In the next chapter, Mario and Lincoln are going to encounter a road block on their way to Toad Town...fortunately, Goombario and Lily are going to come in handy.