Chapter 1-6: Entering New Bowser Island
Mario has had his fair share of towers he had to scale. The style of the tower was usually gray and bland. The inside had green stores lining the ground. Sometimes it was a hassle to get up these things. Mario didn't like the towers all that much. Luigi didn't either. Mario looked up in the tower and saw swinging platforms and gears. He had his work cutout for him, Chase and Marshall on the other hand may not have such a good time.
"Whoa! It's bigger on the inside!" Marshall shouted as his voice echoed up the tower.
"Shh!" Starlow hissed, "The last thing we need is to let the baddies know we are here!"
"Oh Sorry…" Marshall pardoned himself.
*Rattle Rattle*
The gang looked up at one of the higher ledges to see Dry Bones staring down at them. Their eyes glowing yellow as they looked at them angrily.
"Skeletons?!" Chase said in surprise.
"Those are Dry Bones." Mario explained, "They are the aftermath of a koopa falling into lava and having them be resurrected into the bones."
Chase and Marshall shivered at the thought of being burned alive by lava and becoming a skeleton.
"I hope they aren't planning something nasty…" Luigi mumbled. Starlow gave Luigi the side eye, as to say 'Really?' to him. Luigi smiled nervously at her. Starlow's stare was broken when a bone nearly clobbered her on the noggin. Mario looked up and saw it was raining bones from above. The Dry Bones have scrounged up a few bones and were now throwing them down the tower.
"Take cover!" Mario shouted as he dove out of the way of a falling bone. Luigi frantically ran around trying to find a place to hide. Mario and the pups hid behind an alcove. The Dry Bones had bones ready to throw at them as soon as they came out.
"We're pinned! We're doomed!" Luigi cried.
"They won't let us climb! We need a way to get to the top and take care of them!" Mario pondered out loud. Chase knew what to do at the moment.
"I have an idea, can you distract them?" Chase asked Mario. Mario nodded and then looked to Luigi who was clutching Marshall.
"C'mon guys, we need to distract them." Mario told them. As he ran out of the alcove, "Hey over here! Come get me!"
The Dry Bones then began to throw bones at Mario, "Guys I need some help!"
"Get in there you two!" Starlow said as he rammed Luigi into battle. He stumbled forward with Marshall. They all began dodging bones as Chase snuck around and looked up. He then called out his grapple and it shot up to the Dry Bones' platform. He then rose up to their platform. There he could still see them throwing the bones. Chase then called out his tennis ball launcher and fired upon them. By the time the Dry Bones turned around they were hit and dropped down the tower hitting the floor before Mario, breaking apart into a messy pile of bones. Chase looked over the edge to see the mess.
"I got them!" Chase said,
"Nice going Chase!" Mario said.
Marshall saw the piles of bones. His canine instincts kicked in upon seeing them. He couldn't resist so he picked up one of the bones, a rib cage bone.
"Marshall? What are you-" Luigi said with great concern.
"What?" Marshall said with the Bone in his mouth, "Ewey pub lowes a bon."
His enjoyment didn't last forever, the bone piles began to rattle and the Dry Bones started to reassemble themselves. Marshall was then pulled to the Dry Bones by the bone and the bone reattached to the center Dry Bones. The Dry Bones looked at Marshall annoyed.
"Uhm… hi?" Marshall said nervously, then he unmouthed the rib cage and jumped backwards after nearly getting bitten by the Dry Bones.
"What?! How?!" Chase asked.
"They are Dry Bones. If they fall apart they can easily put themselves back together." Mario explained.
The Dry Bones then started to walk towards them.
"What do we do Mario? Where do we go?" Luigi said cowering.
"There's only one way we can go now," Mario said as he jumped towards the stairs leading up, "Up! Let's a go!"
Luigi then jumped over the Dry Bones that snapped at him. Luigi pumping his legs sailed over them landing on one of them causing it to fall apart. Chase and Marshall moved around them and followed the brothers. Up they went as the Dry Bones followed trying to catch up.
"We aren't losing them!" Marshall said as he tried spraying one with his water cannon which they ducked to avoid. They rattled with fury and continued pursuit. Mario frantically looked around for a way to lose them, to which he saw a question block hovering in the air. Deciding to take his chances against practically invincible skeletons, he jumped and hit the block and held out his hand, as a Blue Flower landed in it.
"Yes!" Mario said, he gripped the flower in his hand and transformed into Ice Mario. Once one of the Dry Bones came up the stairs to their level, Mario hurled a ball of ice at it, freezing it on impact.
"It froze! But how did you do that?" Chase asked the Powered-up hero.
"Ice Flower." Mario stated, "Compliments of the tower leaving useful items in here. Now to take care of the other two!"
"Are you going to freeze them too?" Marshall asked.
"Oh I can do one better." Mario walked over to the frozen baddie and picked it up and then hurled it down the stairs. The Dry Bones that were still coming up rattled and tried running back down the stairs only to get hit by the block of ice and crashed all the way down the tower. The pups looked down and saw the reckless heap of bones knocked out at the bottom of the stairs.
"How strong are you Mario?" Chase asked Mario, amazed at his arms strength.
"He is very strong!" Luigi answered for his brother, "He is strong enough to hurl Bowser by the tail quite aways."
Chase was once more inspired by Mario's endurance. He was a great leader. While he still liked Ryder, he still wonders if Mario is even human. That was a question for later, for now, they still needed to climb the tower.
"If Everest was here, she would be quite amazed at Mario's Ice Powers." Marshall said to Chase.
"Everest?" Luigi asked.
"She's another friend of ours. She lives up on Jake's Mountain, and when she's a Mighty Pup she has freezing powers." Marshal explained, Mario and Luigi were trying to keep up with the amount of information he was given, "She is so amazing and always willing to rescue anyone and I-"
Marshall stopped once he realized he was giving too much information to the bros.
"What? Do you have a crush on her or something?" Starlow asked. Marshall turned red in the face.
"Wuh? No! I don't!" He said, denying it. Starlow just gave him a narrowed eyed stare.
"Uh huh… Sure…" Starlow brushed off.
"Uh… we should probably get to the top now before those Dry Bones get back up!" He said, trying to change the subject.
"Right you are Marshall! "Mario agreed, "Next stop, the top of the tower!"
Mario jumped forward into action and so did the others. As they continued, Marshall couldn't help but think about Everest now that he brought her up in the heat of the moment.
'I wonder how Everest is doing…' Marshall thought. Then he saw he was falling behind.
"Wait for me!" Marshall shouted, running faster.
There was a big snow storm on Jake's Mountain. It was quite strange to Everest as she was scaling the snowy mountainside. The weather forecast didn't call for a snow storm, and it was sudden too. Everest continued to scale the mountain, with the snow blowing in her face. She was going up the mountain to find some lost skiers. She couldn't bear to think that someone could be lost out here, and do nothing when she could've done something.
"The snow storm is getting rougher!" She said, squinting her eyes.
She trekked further on. At this rate she could get lost herself, and with the snow still raging, it was bound to mess with her pup tag, her only means of communication with Jake, her owner.
"I don't think I can find anyone at this point, but I need to-" Everest then shrieked when something glowing green soared past her, taking her tag with it.
"Hey!" She shouted at the thing, as she squinted to see where it was she saw it fly into a cave.
Everest struggled over to it and stood at the mouth of the cave. It was risky entering a cave without a tether and with the risk of not knowing if a bear was sleeping in there, but she needed her pup tag back. So she mustered up the courage to go in. She walked in only a couple of feet and could see the glowing green thing disappear into the ground but left behind the tag.
"There you are." She said as she walked up to it, but her senses were on high alert. Something felt wrong about this.
"Hello there…" A raspy voice called from the dark. Everest's eyes darted back and forth and then she spotted two purple dots in the cave's darkness. Everest was taken aback by this, she took a few steps back.
"Oh I'm sorry… I didn't mean to scare you." The voice wheezed.
"Who are you?" Everest asked.
"I need your help… I am stuck over here… I am a lost skier…" The voice explained, "The snow storm hit and I was stranded in her. An ice boulder has fallen on my leg… Please help me…"
Everest saw the voice sounded desperate.
"Don't worry, I'll get you out… but…" She trailed off as she saw the purple dots again.
"These are just my headlamps on my helmet, follow them to get to me." The voice told her.
"Okay, I'm coming over." Everest then made her way to the purple dots.
"That's right, come over here… I neeeed your help." The voice longed.
"I'm here. Where are you-"
"Before you rescue me… can I take a picture of you?" The voice asked.
"Huh? Why?" Everest asked curiously.
"I…" The voice paused, "Like taking pictures of things… I have never seen a creature like you before…"
"I am a husky…" Everest corrected him, "Okay I guess but…"
"Oh goody, now just stand still now, look at me and…" Then as he said that a glowing light appeared before Everest. The light conjured a picture frame. Then the glow from the frame illuminated the source of the voice. Everest stood in horror as she saw the thing that stood before her. It was white like snow, purple in the eyes, had a mouth full of sharp teeth and wore a crown with a purple gem in it.
"...And put your most horrified face on!" The monster cackled as he forced the painting to Everest. She tried to run but ran into some kind of transparent fence. Everest frantically reached for her pup tag.
"Jake! I need help! It's huge, it's going to- AHHHH!" The picture frame then came down on Everest with a large thud. The sound echoed through the cave causing some icicles to fall. The monster lifted the frame up with psychokinesis and looked at it. In the frame now was Everest, frozen within the canvas with a face of horror still on her face.
"HEHEHE! I very much like this one…" The monster talked to his painting, "Now I'll add you with the rest of these unfortunate saps."
He levitated the painting to a stack of frames with skiers in them. The monster cackled once more and looked at Everest's pup tag on the floor. He picked it up and went over to a snow pile and dropped it into it and covered it up. It then went back into the cave without another word and all was quiet at the top of the mountain.
"Come on Luddy! I wanna pet the puppy now!" Said a very fed up Larry Koopa. He was the youngest of all his siblings in the Koopaling and was leader.
"My name is Ludwig not Luddy. And no Larry! We cannot take our prisoner out." Ludwig, Larry's older brother told him.
"Just a little pet. Please? Pretty please? PLEASE!" Larry nagged. Ludwig rubbed his temples, he was getting a headache from his brothers whining.
"Fine, but leave him in there. Pet him from behind the bars." Ludwig negotiated.
"Yay!" Larry shouted as he ran over to a cage that had a very unamused Zuma sitting in it. Larry reached out to pet him on the head, "Come on puppy! Lemme pet you-"
Zuma in response to being touched by his captors bit his hand.
"YEOWCH!" Larry said, holding his hand and blowing on it, "What was that for!? That hurts, that thing doesn't have rabies right?"
"I'm no wild animawl." Zuma told him, "And I'm not wetting you touch me, whewe's Wyder?"
"Shut up Wittle Baby!" Larry said mocking Zuma's speech impairment, "Your bosom buddy is working overtime to help King Dad!"
"Not gonna happen dude!" Zuma said, stomping his paw, "I know that someone will stop you!"
"Oh yeah, baby wips?!" Larry mocked again, "Well you gotta-
"SHUT UP! Both of you!" Ludwig lashed out, they both fell silent, "I am getting a migraine from listening to you two talk, mostly Larry but you are both irritating me! Larry, keep your koopa trap shut!"
Larry crossed his arms, "Sure whatever, it ain't like you're my boss or anything… nag…
"What was that?" Ludwig asked, glaring at him,
"Nothing boss!" Larry said sweating,
"And you!" Ludwig points to Zuma, "No one is coming to save you, your amateur speech is annoying me so sit! Shut your yap, and don't say another word!"
Zuma whimpered at Ludwig's temper, he sat down and rested his head on the floor of the cage. He was hurt by all of them insulting him for the way he talks.
Ludwig sighed and rubbed his head, "Finally some quiet."
Then the doors flung open and standing in them were Mario, Luigi, Chase and Marshall.
"COME ON!" Ludwig shouted, "Not you guys again!"
"Mario and Green Mario?!" Larry said surprised, "I thought you was busy being dumb back at that dumb city. And what did you bring more mutts here for?"
Zuma perked up at this and saw his friends standing with the Mario Bros.
"Chase? Mawshall? You're here too!" Zuma said
"There's Zuma!" Marshall pointed.
"Release him immediately!" Chase ordered the two Koopalings.
Larry began to laugh hysterically and Ludwig facepalmed at his brother's foolishness.
"Please, if you think we are releasing our prisoner, you are very much mistaken." Ludwig said, drawing his wand from his shell. It glowed with blue energy.
"Yeah," Larry wheezed as he got up from his laughing moment, and drew his wand to, "Now get outta here or you'll make like the trash and get thrown out! Which I hate doing so please leave."
This joke made Ludwig roll his eyes. The cage with Zuma in it sank into the floor out of sight and both Larry and Ludwig jumped to the center…
Dysfunctional Duo: Larry & Ludwig
"Looks like a fight is headed our way!" Starlow observed.
"Arf!" Chase barked, "Chase in on the case!"
"Whoa there!" Starlow said, biting Chase's tail and pulling him back, "Larry and Ludwig may be Koopas but they are Koopalings. They are tougher than other koopas."
"First off, Ouch! That hurts, and secondly, so?" Chase said, annoyed that Starlow had once again stopped him.
"For your information, have you not noticed the wands? They can deal potent magic with it." Starlow informed him.
"Magic? There's no such thing as…" He trailed off as Starlow deadpanned at him as did Marshall, Luigi and Mario did, "Oh right…"
"Ugh! Can we all just stop making so much noise?!" He said sending magic at them. They all jumped out of the way of Ludwig's attack. The balls of magic hit the floor making small explosions.
"See?" Starlow said.
"Okay okay, I got it!" Chase brushed her off.
Larry tried firing at Chase, but was saved by Mario throwing an Ice Ball at it, extinguishing it.
"AW! No fair!" Larry pouted. Larry then started jumping super high above them all and landed a dive kick on Luigi jumping off him as he did.
Luigi fell over and was knocked out.
"Luigi!" Marshall shouted running over to him. Larry used this as an opportunity to try to lunge kick Marshall. However Chase stopped him by biting him on the tail.
"YEOW!" Larry jumped into the air, he then started to run around like a mad man, "Let my tail go!"
Ludwig watched his brother go through with it but decided to focus his magic on Mario.
"You really wanna do this Ludwig?" Mario asked, squaring off with him while forming an Ice Ball.
"I gladly will. I will have the satisfaction of being praised for your downfall." Ludwig pompously claimed.
"We'll see about that!" Mario then hurls the Ice Ball at Ludwig which he blocked with his wand. He then fluttered, jumped above him and ground pounded Mario. Mario was flattened and he lost his Ice Flower. Once Mario got up he then found himself trying to avoid getting hit by balls of magic that were homing in on him.
Mario needed some help, he then looked at Marshall and shouted, "Marshall, give Luigi this!"
Mario threw a Green Mushroom. Marshall caught it, almost fumbling to catch it. He was curious why he was given it, until he remembered what happened with the Red Mushroom before.
"Okay! Here Luigi, eat this." Marshall said, dropping it into his mouth. As soon as it touched his tongue Luigi felt energy coursing through him and he got up and swallowed the Mushroom.
"Yeah!" Luigi celebrated, "Thanks Marshall!"
"Don't celebrate just yet!" Mario shouted dodging three magic balls that wouldn't stop following him. Mario saw what to do and led the balls of magic around by running from them.
Meanwhile Larry felt like his tail was gonna fall off,
"Get off of my tail!" Larry shouted as he retracted his arms, legs and head into a shell and spun around in it. Chase was flung around getting dizzy. He let go and he flew towards the wall. He was expecting a hard landing but Mario had once again caught him and he then ran to Larry and jumped over him. Larry popped out of his shell.
"You missed shnozy!" Larry taunted.
"I wasn't trying to hit you, I was trying to get those to hit you." Mario pointed behind him. Larry turned around and his eyes nearly came out of his head as he was pelted by three of Ludwig's magic balls.
"What?!" Ludwig shouted in disbelief. He was then sprayed down by Marshall with his cannon. The water flow was so strong it bounced Ludwig into the wall, off it and landed on Larry who was torched from his last attack.
"Had enough?" Mario and Chae both said.
"Great, as if Mario and Green Mario weren't enough, we now have mutts that humiliated us." Larry grumbled. Ludwig then clobbered him on the head with his wand.
"Shut up!" He said, "It's impossible to work with you. Just because you won this battle Mario Brothers doesn't mean you win it all."
"Yeah, King Dad still has a lot more stunts to pull on ya!" Larry said.
Ludwig got off of Larry and they both jumped to the tower's window which was poking outside above ground.
"We won't forget this!" Ludwig reminded them as he jumped out the window.
"Cannonball! Arrrrgh!" Larry screamed as he fell down. There was a dull thud, "I'm okay!"
"Idiot…" The Mario Brothers could hear Ludwig as his voice trailed off. They were already gone.
"We won!" Luigi jumped up in celebration again. Then with that, the cage with Zuma in it, rose up from the ground again. The cage then seemingly unlocked itself and Zuma was free. He jumped out and landed on the stone tiled floor.
"Dude! You saved me! Thanks a wot!" Zuma thanked his friends.
"No problem. It's just what the Mario Bros do…" Mario paused, "With our good pup friends."
He looked over to Chase and Marshall, who howled in victory.
"Wait! What about the others?" Marshall said looking around, "Aren't they here too?"
"We were spwit up by guys looking bwue haired dudes, they are somewhewe on this island." Zuma explained.
"Island?" Starlow asked, "Wait, is this tower on…"
She hovered over to the window and looked out.
"Huh!?" She said surprised, "Look out here!"
Starlow then flew out the window.
"Starlow!" Mario called to her, "Come on. Let's a go!"
Mario jumped up to the window and dove out of it. While Luigi picked up their pup friends, plus Zuma and spring jumped out the window.
When they landed outside, everyone gasped. The land before them was a hot mess, literally. There were steamy vents, lava lakes and rivers and boiling hot springs. Mario wasn't surprised that Bowser had already made a territory for himself, he was known for doing that.
"What is this?" Chase asked observing the landscape.
"Bowser's doing most likely…" Luigi said with uncertainty. Mario gazed around and could see another tower on the side of the mountain. A personal beacon of his pointed it out to him. Mario looked up the mountain and saw a circular blanket of clouds covering the rest of the top of the mountain. Mario figured it was Bowser's way of hiding himself from Mario, which he has seen a hundred times before.
"I think Bowser is on the top of that Mountain." Mario said pointing to it. The pups followed his gaze and agreed.
"But how awe we gonna get up thewe?" Zuma asked.
"Don't worry Zuma," Marshall assured him, "Nothing will stop us, right Mario."
"Right you are!" Mario answered him, "But we'll need to have caution. There are a lot of traps Bowser puts up to keep me from reaching him. Stay behind me, I'll lead the way."
Everyone nodded as they followed Mario. Mario was careful of everything he came across, he didn't know if there was going to be a trap door or pressure plate that would trap him and his friends. The last thing they needed was someone getting hurt…
…or worse.
They gang came to a precarious cliff with a lava river flowing at the bottom of it. With very unstable platforms in the middle, Mario knew it would be unwise for everyone to go at the same time.
"It would be dangerous for all of us to try to jump across those platforms." Mario said.
Chase looked down, nearly getting vertigo, "Is there another way across?"
Mario looked around and found nothing to get across, but he saw a trail of floating coins and saw a blue switch with the letter P on it. Mario knew what that meant, he needed to press it to help the others to get across.
"Stay here guys!" Mario said, taking a large leap. He jumped off the unstable platforms that crumbled under his weight. The platforms crumbled into each other, creating a domino effect. Mario quickly made haste and did a long jump to clear a larger gap. He barely missed the ledge as he gripped the cliffside and pulled himself up.
"Dude, is thewe anything he can't do?" Zuma asked Chase.
"He is just that good." Chase answered him.
"He did it!" Marshall cheered, "But…"
They all looked at the ravine and saw there were no more platforms.
"Uh Mario?" Luigi called, "How are we supposed to get across now?"
"With this!" Mario said, hammering down the P-Switch with his hammer. As he did, the coins then transformed into brick blocks.
"Hurry across before they transform back!" Mario called. Luigi got the message as he ran to the platform of bricks and ran across it. So did the other pups. Marshall at the wrong time tripped up and tumbled taking the pups with him. They rolled down the trail just as they were about to disappear and cleared the ravine.
"Heh… sorry to hit you guys like a bunch of bricks." Marshall said comically. Chase and Zuma laughed, as did Mario and Luigi. After that little squabble, the gang made their way through the charred landscape. They came across a few enemies like Piranha Plants and Fire Bros. They took them down quite easily and with the addition of Zuma, they were able to activate contraptions that were underwater, thanks to his scuba gear. They came across some hot springs where they found lots of Shy Guys slacking off and having a relaxing soak. They decided not to engage in any battles they did not need to have.
No one got hurt in this part, which is to say that Chase did get jumped by a Hot Water Cheep Cheep by accident. The gang then found themselves at a large hot spring lake with black floating on top of it.
"Yech!" Luigi gagged, "Who dirtied this puddle?"
"I guess it wouldn't be a good time to ask for a bath?" Marshall jokingly said. Everyone laughed again.
"But sewiously," Zuma pointed, "It's like an octopus or squid sprayed ink here."
Oh how much on the money Zuma was. As he said that, the water rippled and a deep trill was heard under the water.
"I know that sound…" Mario thought out loud. He looked at the water's surface in the black splotch, it bubbled and then something caused a big splash as it emerged. Everyone jumped back to avoid getting splashed. When everyone looked at the water to see what it was they saw…
Producer of Pollution: Gooper Blooper!
Gooper Blooper saw the Mario Bros and immediately became aggressive. He then slammed one of his tentacles on the ground before them.
"Looks like Gooper Blooper wants a fight!" Starlow observed, "I guess that means we should give it to him!
Mario agreed as he readied for a tussle. Gooper Blooper then began to rhythmically clap his tentacles as he attacked.
"The Gooper dude has got some sewious wythm." Zuma complemented the beast as he was picked up by Luigi and moved out of the way of Gooper's attack.
"Save the compliments for later!" Luigi shouted.
Mario dodged a tentacle and grabbed it. He began pulling it and Gooper began to pull back. Mario let it go and he smacked with his own tentacle. He rubbed his head and became enraged and turned purple. His rhythmic clapping then became rhythmic slams as he slammed his tentacles on the edge of the lake.
Gooper then pushed all the heroes into one spot and blocked escape ways with his tentacles.
"Is he okay? Why is his face purple?" Marshall asked.
"He's priming some ink. It's poisonous!" Mario shouted, seeing they were cornered by a rock.
"We're gonna get splattered!" Luigi said, squeezing Zuma in fear.
"You're cwushing me dude!" Zuma strained.
Gooper Blooper then got ready to spray but something unexpected happened. A shadow jumped out from behind the rock and threw an… egg?
The egg landed in his funnel mouth and clogged it. This shadow landed and Mario and Luigi were surprised. It was Yoshi! Their dinosaur friends from Yoshi Island.
"Yoshi!" Mario and Luigi cheered.
"Who?" The pups asked.
Gooper muffled a battle cry as he attacked Yoshi with his tentacle. Yoshi used his super long tongue and wrapped it around the tentacles and pulled it back and let it rip. The tentacle smacked his face again and it made him spew the ink on his face with a splatter. He blinked and the poison's effect to place. Then Yoshi then did a flutter jump and was now above Gooper, to which he performed a ground pound and sent Gooper underwater. Gooper under the water got stuck in a mini vent volcano. The pressure built underneath him and then it shot him 100 feet out of the water. Gooper went soaring right into the Bay where he landed with a sizzle of steam and a splash as he sunk into it.
"And he's outta here!" Marshall shouted. True to form, everyone laughed.
"Yoshi, good to see you're okay!" Mario said.
"Yeah, thanks for the save, Yoshi." Luigi thanked him.
"Yoshi!" Yoshi said.
"Who is this Mario?" Chase asked, looking at Yoshi.
"Pups, this is Yoshi. My good friend and ally who has helped me on some of my journeys." Mario introduced him.
"Yo Yo!" Yoshi waved.
"I like this gween dude!" Zuma said. Then Yoshi looked at the pups and then remembered something,
"Yo Yo! Yoshi!" Yoshi frantically began to tell Mario.
"Why is he still saying his name?" Marshall asked.
"He only speaks using Yoshi." Starlow explained.
"D'oh Sorry Yoshi, if Toad was here he could translate for you." Mario shrugged. Yoshi deadpanned and flipped Mario up into the air.
"Wahh!" Mario shouted as he landed on Yoshi's back, "You want us to come with you?"
Yoshi nodded in response.
"Okay, lead the way Yoshi!" Mario told him. Yoshi then began scampering over the tower on the mountain.
"Wait for us guys!" Luigi called, then he saw a cannon pointing towards the tower, "Idea! Come on pups follow me!"
"But they went this way!" Marshall told him.
"I know but I have a better way of getting over there!" Luigi told him.