It was within the interior of the aircraft, it's destination set for Dark Land, where the fruit-named monarch was currently held hostage, chained down to a chair.
Within the holding room were also three of the seven koopalings, Larry, Iggy and Wendy, Kamek, and the Koopa King himself, Bowser.
Eventually, the turtle monster decided to taunt the princess.
"Heh heh, this time my little Toadstool, I have the upper hand," Bowser told Peach.
Not taking him seriously, Peach responded. "Okay Mr. King stupa Koopa, what makes you come to that conclusion?"
"You haven't seen it have you?" Bowser questioned. "Well here you go you ignorant little girl," In this, Bowser pointed to his neck, having a pendant wrapped around it. Decorating this pendent was some kind of crooked shard, glowing with a yellow tint.
"Old tricks, new toy huh…" Peach commented. "Because yes, that's obviously worked when you tried to use the Grand Star...and the vibe specter...and the star rod Bowser."
Putting a claw underneath the princess' neck, the Koopa King menacing responded. "We'll have no more of those comments here...capeach?"
"...not funny…" Peach responded anyway.
There wasn't much conversation beyond this as the ship continued on it's path to the dark volcanic badlands.
II: Split Quarter WaysBack on the ground, the Mario Bros were wasting no time, making pursuit of the mobile ship on foot, chasing it towards a group of hills, these very hills being known as the Sunset Hills.
As the two hustled, Luigi brought about some discussion, stopping in his tracks.
"Hey, M-Mario."
"Huh? What's the-a problem Luigi?"
"I...I-a honestly dunno if I want to-a come along now…"
"Wha…"
"Well, I just-a kinda have a bad feeling about me coming along this-a time, and well...because you're often used to going on-a journeys like this for this kind of-a reason alone, I was wondering if I could...you know...like-"
"Brother…may I-a ask you an-a question?"
"Sure, anything Mario."
"Well...what i'm wanting to ask is...why are you-a so inconsistent?"
"Huh? What? what do you-a mean?"
"Like, you've had alot of-a times where you've tried to opt out of going on-a quests with me and the group."
"Y-Yeah…"
"And I know-a why. But what I find a bit-a weird too is well, you seem to get upset or...jealous, I don't-a know? When you're left behind."
"Oh…"
"Like, I think I-a recall a time where I went to Peach's castle just for cake, but it ended up evolving into another rescue mission, I actually had been thinking of bringing you along, but you decided to stay behind that time."
"How...how did you-a know?" Luigi asked, looking away nervously.
"Well...I have an-a confession to-a make regarding that…"
"...which?"
"Which is well...I've...kinda looked inside your-a diary that you keep in that room under our-a bedroom a bit…"
"Y-Y-You looked in-a there!?"
"It...was mainly by-a chance, but yeah…"
"Well...I-a guess I don't have a choice...to...to answer you're-a question...well…well...well..."
"Are you having-a trouble saying it?"
"I...I don't-a know how to respond…"
"Oh...I-a see...I guess we should just-a…-wait…"
"Huh?"
"THE-A AIRSHIP! We can't let it get any-a further, come on Luigi!" Mario exclaimed, quickly hustling in the direction of where it flew, practically leaving Luigi behind.
Seeing this, and that Mario didn't seem to be making him come along, he looked around for a bit, and nearby, he saw a blue pipe nearby, colored differently from most other pipes in the areas, green to be specific. Realizing what the blue pipe entailed, he decided this is what he'd use as a bailout.
In his haste, Mario momentarily slowed down and looked behind him, realizing his brother was nowhere to be seen.
"Mama-mia…" he thought to himself before continuing on without him.
Toad and Link meanwhile had returned to the main town area of Toad Town, and discussed with one another how they were going to do things.
"Okay, so for starters, do you know how to get to Dinosaur Land and Desert Land?" Toad asked.
"...not really...don't know the place too well…"
"Oh, well between Dinosaur Land and Desert Land, which one would you say you know slightly more about? Even if only by a tiny bit?"
"...Desert Land…"
"Huh…"
"...something wrong?"
"Not really, but umm Link, I've noticed this for a fair amount of time since you showed up but...you don't talk much do you?"
"...was never really the talkative kind where i'm from…"
"I see…"
"...and well...combine that with the fact that i've only been living in this place for about...a year or so, it's not easy to adjust, making lifestyle changes in so many ways…"
"Oh...I see…umm..."
There was a short period of silence before Toad eventually broke it, continuing their previous discussion topic.
"...Well, to get back to the point, if you feel a bit more comfortable with tackling the pyramid in Desert Land, I can go to the mountain in Dinosaur Land," Toad offered.
"I suppose that should work…" Link accepted. "But to ask my earlier question again...how are we going to get to these two places?"
"In regards to Desert Land...I think there should be an easy way there through a warp pipe in the Mosaic Group's neighborhood, keep note that it's yellow in color."
"Oh, thanks...how about you though?"
"I know a shortcut to Dinosaur Land outside of Toad Town that way."
"Okay...given I was at Vibrant Park the other day, finding the pipe shouldn't be hard..."
"You sure?"
"...Yeah, pretty sure I can find where it is…"
"Well alright then," Toad said, handing Link the Desert Land Pyramid Map, "hopefully we both find something interesting at these spots, see you later."
"...See ya…"
The two after giving their parting words went their separate ways, Link heading south and Toad heading east of the town to the pipe he knew of.
Toad of course had no issue tracking down the pipe, and once he did, quickly dove in, not wasting any time.
Link on the other hand had a bit more difficulty tracking it down, having to traverse through a large amount of grassy pastures, question blocks, pipes and such scattered about.
Other than this however, there wasn't much else that stood in the way. He made his way to the Vibrant Park, and after a bit more searching and memory jogging in where he saw the Mosaic Group meet with him the other day, he found their neighborhood.
After some further searching, as well as even finding the Mosaic Group's house at one point as well as the note they put up, he eventually found a yellow pipe, this being the one Toad had told him about before.
"Well, let's do this…" Link thought to himself, and not putting it off any longer, jumped in.
III: Road Split BrothersBack where Luigi was, he had made it the other side of the pipe he escaped through, upon emerging on the other side after a steady landing, he began to walk through it, somewhat aimlessly.
As he wandered however, thought began to run through his mind.
"...I...I-don't-a want to go…"
"I don't-a want to go back…"
"I...I really don't-a want to go back and...fight the Koopa Troop…"
"But...but…"
"As...as-a brother said...if I don't...I'd miss out on the adventure...the-a travel…"
"And...if I-a don't…I could-a miss out something meaningful with him..."
"I...I don't-a want that…"
"And...I shouldn't-a force Mario to go on-a journeys like-a this on his own...if I can-a help it…"
"He's handled things himself bef-"
"No, that's no-a reason…" Luigi interrupted his other thoughts. "I really shouldn't make him do-a that if I can make an-a difference…"
"...I've….I've been-a this-a way for a long-a time…"
"Deep down...I know it...I want to change...and well...I-a can...even if it's-a hard."
"That's...That's what I should-a do...go help an-a a brother out...I mean...it must-a mean something that he gave me this, right?" Luigi then spoke aloud, then pulling out the compass frame he was given and staring at it.
As he stared however, he noticed something interesting about the frame…
The needle started to twitch.
"Mama-Mia!...did...did it-a find something?" Luigi reacted.
Testing the compass a bit by pacing about in different directions in the cave corridor he was in, he eventually realized that whatever it was that the compass was reacting to, it had to be located within the cave.
As such, he decided instead to follow the compass within the cave and see where exactly it was that it'd lead him.
IV: Stalling ConflictBack where Mario was, he was still pursuing the airship, having just made it to the edge of the Sunset Hills, and in fact, had pretty much caught up with the airship, being directly below it, infact, he saw that the anchor that the Koopa Troop always tended to leave hanging off, probably that one underpaid, overworked troop that forgot, not too far off from him.
"Okay, i'm not-a too far off from it now, looks like this could-a be a hasty rescue this time around."
As he said this, looking up at the ship however, he saw something, or more accurately, someone, kinda big and yellow falling to the ground, in a way that looked to be intentional.
Seeing they were falling very close to him, the plumber jumped aside, avoiding being squashed.
Getting a closer look at the creature that fell, after seeing their details; wielding a bullet bill cannon, pink shelled, wearing a pair shades...he quickly identified them. Roy Koopa.
"Hey! Mario! What you think you're doing?" the Koopaling snapped at Mario.
"I think it's-a pretty obvious, i'm trying to save the-a princess that you're-a dad loves kidnapping so-a much," Mario snarkingly answered. "Now move aside Roy, you're in the-a way."
"You linguini loser," Roy insulted. "I'm here specifically TO get in the way!"
"Is that-a so? Not the-a first time I've heard that..." Mario responded. "Well don't-a mind if I-a do," Mario responded, drawing his hammer.
"Put 'em up, fatso," Roy responded, kicking off the fight with a blast from his cannon.
As the flying bullet flew Mario's way, he quickly deflected it with his hammer back at Roy, which the koopa quickly dodged.
"That's how you're gonna be huh? Guess I'll just mix up strategies," Roy responded, then making a large jump into the air.
Seeing his intent, Mario dodged once again, then forming a flame in his hand.
He gave the flaming ball a short toss and then swung it at Roy with the use of his hammer.
Roy blocked the shot with the bulk of his cannon, and shot back with two more of the large bullets, in which Mario easily dodged.
Wanting to change up strategies a bit, Mario began to infuse both hands with fire and unleashed a barrage on Roy.
Roy blocked a number of the shots once again with his cannon, however, a decent number of the shots made it through, knocking him back a bit.
"Landed the first strike I see, don't mind that…" Roy said as he prepared to shoot the cannon again, firing three more bullets at Mario.
Mario dodged the first bullet as it approached. He then ducked under the second one. And finally deflected the third with his hammer once again, this time hitting Roy on point with the deflected projectile, it blowing up and sending the turtle flying on impact and crashing back into a wall.
Roy recovered, at a relatively slow pace, preparing to fire the cannon once again, aiming it as they prepared to resume and continue their battle.
Back down below, within the depths of the Jewel Caverns, Luigi had still been following the guidance of the compass, but even after all this time, his hunt was fruitless.
"Mama-mia...is this thing ever going to-a-"
Luigi began to utter to himself before he looked up and saw a distinctive figure up ahead.
Based on what he could work out from the silhouette...this looked to be a Rex.
Intrigued by this, Luigi walked closer to get a better look at them.
On closer inspection, he saw more details of the Rex, namely that this Rex had a dark green body, something that while some rexes, like Striker had, not all Rexes were like this. But on top of this, this specific rex had also been wearing a green robe, this robe covering everywhere but his tail and feet, the latter of which, to Luigi's shock, were completely bare, exposing the pointed features on it, kind of like that of a Birdo.
Remembering his earlier advice, Luigi quickly stuffed the compass frame into his pocket before making his way closer to the Rex to greet himself.
Before he did so however, the Rex noticed him first.
"Huh, hello there aimless wanderer, what might you be doing here?" The Rex asked Luigi.
"Oh...you know, just-a….wandering around…" Luigi responded, trying to play it off while being somewhat humorous.
The Rex looked at Luigi's clothing for a bit, analyzing it and then asking a question.
"Huh, are you some kind of electrician?"
"No, no, not at-a all, what makes you-a say that?"
"Well, given your outfit, I thought that might have been a profession you partook in, something of that sort…"
"My overalls…" Luigi contemplated, then looking at them himself.
"I guess I kinda do look-a bit like one…"
"What would you say you are then?"
"What would a say I-a am? Would coward suffice as an-a answer?"
"You consider yourself one? You were brave enough to wander here on your own I can see."
"I...see…"
"Hey come on, that's not what I meant, I was asking about your profession, like...what do you do to provide for yourself?"
"Oh, I'm an-a plumber…"
"A plumber? I don't know what that is…."
"Well, a plumber is-"
"Sounds like some kind of tacky job."
"Er…"
"Dunno, would have liked it better if you were an electrician, nice clothes though, see that you like to sport green as well."
"Well...I only have electrical powers to be-a honest...and...thanks?"
"Huh, we seem to have more in common than I thought…"
"Hmm?"
"Anyway, now to ask, why are you really down here?"
Realizing this implied the Rex didn't believe his earlier question, he decided to answer, not giving him all the details.
"Well...I was-a trying to get out of helping my-a brother Mario rescue Princess Peach from the King-a Koopa…"
"Mario? Princess? King? Who might these individuals be?"
"Huh?" Luigi thought to himself, finding this Rex not hearing of them somewhat odd. "Everyone in both the-a Mushroom Kingdom and Dinosaur Land knows who they-a are…" further thoughts came.
"You never heard of them? Everyone in the-a Mushroom Kingdom and Dinosaur Land has heard of-a them…" Luigi said to the Rex aloud.
"Well...no one ever told me about them."
"I see…"
After a brief moment of silence, the Rex continued the discussion.
"Oh wow...we spent all this time intermingling and we never got one another's names…"
"We...We-a didn't did we?" Luigi acknowledged. "I guess I can-a start by introducing myself...i'm-a Luigi…"
"Well hello there, Luigi, nice name, I'm Meredith," the Rex finally revealed.
"Meredith huh? Interesting-a name…"
"Thanks for your compliment," Meredith responded. "Based on what you've told me earlier, you consider yourself a coward?"
"Yes...And everyone else that-a is around me does as well...and I don't know if that'll ever-a change…"
"Well...what I'll tell you there is what you should do there is get out of your comfort zone, work towards changing yourself in the way you consider best."
"Huh…"
"With some of the changes, or some of the decisions that you may make, you may get criticized by those around you, there'll be people who won't like changes that may come about, they may even persecute you in fact…"
"That's...an-a strange way of wording it…"
"What i'm basically telling you is the truth fella, don't be discouraged, if you think you can, and you think you must, then do what you must."
"I-I'll-a try…"
"Exactly, now, as for what you should do no-"
At this moment, at a distant spot in the cave, something, most likely a rock or stalatchie fell on the ground, making a sound, this being loud enough for both Luigi and Meredith to hear.
"That reminds me...I don't why I wasted so much time…" Meredith thought aloud.
"Wha?"
"I don't have time for pep talk, need to return to my mission, I'll be seeing you off now man in green."
Hearing his words, Luigi tried to get one last question in as he left.
"Wait, what do you-a mean by your-a…" Luigi began, but seeing how the robed dragon had gone off already, realized he wasn't going to answer most likely. "...He can't-a hear me back here…. One-a things clear from-a that...I should return to my-a own mission and help Mario out…" Luigi told himself. "Don't-a worry brother! I'm-a coming!" Luigi then said, turning the opposite way, rushing out the cave in the direction he came, having his new found determination to help his brother out in his predicaments.
Back above the ground, Mario was still in battle with Roy, they exchanged several more blows here and there, then eventually backing off from one another for a moment.
"Heh heh," Roy snickered.
"What's so-a funny?" Mario questioned.
"Oh nothing, it's just that I find it kinda silly. You spent all this time messing with me that you forgot what you considered your objective."
Gasping in response, Mario then looked around in the sky, seeing the airship was nowhere in sight.
"That being said, I may have been smacked down quite a bit by you tubby pasta man, but my work here is done," Roy taunted. "And looks like my ride's here too!" Roy said, spotting a Lakitu, who after drifting down to Roy's level, dropped down a fishing line with a hoop at the end of it.
After the Koopaling grabbed the ring, the Latiku shiftly carried him off, despite the notable bit of difficulty in doing so, heading back in the direction of the airship.
"So long lasagna loving lump!" Roy said to Mario as he was carried off.
It was at this moment that Luigi had seen from a distance where Mario had been standing, and he quickly made his way over to him.
V: Rethinking"Brother! Brother! I'm-a sorry for-a running of earlier like I-a did, but i'm here to-a help!" Luigi stated apologetically.
"Oh! Hey there-a brother, well, basically what happened is well...I-"
Before he could finish however, he was suddenly hit with one last surprise bullet bill from Roy, knocking him over into a nearby pit, this pit seemingly being connected to the Jewel Caverns.
"That's for yesterday on the flagship!" Roy shouted from afar as the Latiku carried him further away.
"Mama-mia...right when I-a get here…"
"You-a said it brother...now...could you throw me an-a vine or rope or something?
"Umm...sure, I'll try to-a look…" Luigi responded, then scouting the surrounding area, mainly putting focus on the question blocks, hoping there'd be something in them.
As Luigi searched, Mario looked around in the pit that he was knocked into, seeing that he was in a small pocket of the cave, with a warp pipe leading deeper in, and most notably, several question blocks, five to be exact.
As such he decided that while Luigi looked for something to get him out, to unopen these and see what was in them.
Upon opening the first block, he found only coins.
He then opened the second one and found a familiar red-petaled, green steamed flower within, a fire flower.
Instead of absorbing it right away, Mario instead decided to pocket it, and got back to opening the other blocks.
The other three were much higher up than the first two, and as such, he needed something to reach them with.
Originally he thought of throwing his hammer at them, but decided to use another method.
He looked around the room a bit and saw several blue blocks stacked atop one another, grab blocks…exactly three.
"Okay...let's-a do this right…" he thought to himself.
Grabbing the first block, he went underneath one of the floating blocks and threw the block in his own hands at the one above.
There were only coins in it.
Though a bit disappointed, he repeated the process again for the second block, once again, only coins.
"Okay, here we go...third times' the-a charm?" he then thought as he prepared the third block.
He then threw it.
Out of the final block...emerged another flower with the same look as the earlier one, this one however being light blue instead. An ice flower.
The flower fell out of the block and onto the ground.
"Nice…" Mario thought to himself, then picking up and pocketing the ice flower as well.
It is after this that Mario then headed back over to the opening to the surface and shouted up it.
"Brother! Have you-a found anything yet?"
"...Yeah...I found a springboard."
"Well let's-a send it down!"
As such, Luigi did just that and threw the bounce pad down to Mario, which Mario, upon seeing it's landing quickly bounced onto it, the force being enough to quite literally, "spring" him out of the cave, and back onto land.
"Figured you weren't really going to sit this-a one out, now were you brother?" Mario then said, starting a conversation.
"Really? What makes you say-a that?" Luigi asked.
"Hmm, I don't know, something just-a told me you'd be back," Mario then started.
"I see...but...where's the-a airship? I saw you fighting Roy, and we saw the airship earlier, so...I assumed that-a, well...you know…"
"Yeah...that wretched reptile…" Mario began to explain. "They-a knew that I was trying to catch up with the-a airship so we could retrieve the princess, who's probably already being transported to Dark Land by now...and so Roy apparently jumped ship, specifically with the sole-a purpose of stalling for time…"
"Oh-a no…So...we're not going to catch the-a airship?"
"Yeah...and I should have-a known...known that thinking we could catch a moving aircraft on foot was an-a idea...but eh, I guess that's a me...impulsive…"
"Do you think...maybe we should-a head back to Toad Town and regroup?"
"...Yeah...that's what I'm-a thinking, we don't need to-a be in any sort of a hurry I'd think, I mean, what's the-a worst Bowser has ever done to Peach while she's held hostage?"
"...make attempts at a forced-a marriage? Twice?" Luigi pointed out.
"...True…" Mario realized. "...But...it's not-a like she is being tortured there or anything…"
"Or-a worse…"
"Luigi...that's-a...nevermind," Mario began, then cutting himself off. "let's-a head back to Mushroom Town, take a rest, recuperate, and-a figure out what we're going to do,"
"Sounds like an idea…"
And with that, the Mario bros began to go opposite of the way they came, back through the sunset hills, back to the civilization of Toad Town, to work towards what their next step would be.
"Between the varying circumstances in occurrence, to the Mosaic Group's leave of absence, to the discovery made of the wacky scientist, , to the recurring of what was clearly a cliche with the princess, as well as the mysterious green-clothed reptilian that a green-clothed hero meet, there was certainly a lot that had now come our heroes' ways, how would this all unfold? The answers will come...in time…"
To Be Continued...
