Welcome Back viewers, welcome to the year 2019! I know it is late to say it but I guess it's alright. I hope the last chapter worked well for you all. I am sorry about the long wait for the next chapters. As a reminder, college life is putting a halt on the chapters; I can't seem to find the time to upload due to the time and effort of reality. Just to confirm, Ala-gold and Bucken-berry were the names that were given to Yellow Toad and Blue Toad in New Super Mario Bros Wii by the developers of Nintendo so I'll be referring the two to the names for now on.

On other notes, I have gotten to gather and play the new game that came out recently. I won't say which game it is but it was the best I ever played. Anyway, I hope you'll enjoy this long awaited chapter.

Chapter Eight: The Under Truth

11:40AM

Pack attempted to follow and catch up to Mario but had quickly lost the hero through the halls of the castle. He safeguarded his weapon, pointing it down. Pack had checked around the castle to see if he could find the hero. Even if he knew the layout just by playing both Odyssey and 64. Since the castle was big and not many rooms were shown, he had to ask for directions from passing toads. One of the toads were lucky enough to catch Mario heading to the castles' library.

He was starting the feeling he would not be the only one concerned of Mario. Pack had that feeling that someone would have notice him going down. He couldn't make out who would be following him but if anything it was likely Cappy. He was half right as Cappy WAS secretly following the human but with his sister Tiara. He needed to talk with Mario for the same reason. Following the directions that were given by the toad, Pack reached a room that was decorated in red and light blue fabric. He expected a librarian to be attending at the front desk but there wasn't.

Pack found Mario slumped down, holding his right hand beside his head. The human approached slowly just to not cause the hero to jump out on the defensive. Once Mario took note of presence of the marine, things began to progress.

"Mar-Mario?"

Pack shuddered because he was alone with Mario. On the inside, he couldn't hold it any longer. Being able to talk to a video game character that you only knew by playing his or her game series. Pack might be the first one to do it, that is...if there was someone before him. There was also having to talk to the other characters as well. Add that to the possibility of meeting Sonic the Hedgehog as well since Eggman was here.

"Oh! Hey Pack, what is it?"

Pack finally gathered courage, putting his gaming side behind him. With the chaos over, he was able to get a good look at Mario. He could tell how tall he was compared to the hero by just having to look down. Since there doesn't seem to be a scale around here. Just going by the height, Pack guessed he was just as tall as the average New Donker in Odyssey. Using this an example, Mario was around the same height as in game.

"Mario, I haven't got to properly introduce myself to you. My real name is Walker Sanderson but you can just keep calling me Pack if you want."

"It's fine for me."

Some of the characters had shown their concern for Mario, which wasn't going to boil over soon. Pack might as well try to limit the damage before the others find out. "Mario...I came to check on you because everyone is worried about you, they saw what you did."

"I saw no need to follow the ship since I knew where Bowser would be taking Peach."

While Mario given a valid reason for why did refused to give chase to Bowser's ship. That grumpy look and crossed arms explained another story to Pack. There was a deeper issue between Mario and Peach. From what he was able to get from Odyssey, based from the tips from Peach around the world, both Mario and Peach seemed to have worked it out.

"I know what you been through."

"What do you mean?"

"There on the moon when you proposed to Peach."

Cappy and Tiara listened in from behind a bookshelf, rather surprised to what they are hearing. In part since no one was suppose to know what had happened on the moon except for the ones who were there. Pack wasn't there, wasn't he? Mario's attention questioned Pack as to how that information got out. Considering the hero had just met the human, something told him that the human must have known.

"It's not what happened on the moon."

"I was angry and confused at Peach for a little bit after we came back from the moon, but she was right to reject me since I was the one who was shoving flowers into her face...It's just that I've spent ten years rescuing the princess because I love her; That's why I wanted to propose to her just to show it."

"Tell me Mario, is that the reason why you didn't want to rescue her anymore?"

"The countless rescues? Maybe but I felt that all my rescues were nothing to her, What happened on the moon might have..."

Pack could see the guilt that Mario was now realizing. Truthfully deep down, he really didn't want to see Peach suffering because of Bowser. Pack was right about Mario being somewhat being changed by what had occurred on the moon.

"Mario...deep inside, Peach may have feelings for you too since you were always there for her. Do you really want to break her heart after coming so far?"

"I'm just waiting for the right moment to propose to her again."

"You and Peach were able to talk about what happened right?"

"Yeah..."

"Everyone is not going to take that move you did lightly, but I'll try to convince everyone on something."

"You think that would work on them?"

"Trust me... It will."

Enough was heard by both Cappy and Tiara. Not only was Pack able to come up with a good reason for Mario's behavior but also knew what happened between him and Peach. "The proposal on the moon, how do you know all this?" Pack and Mario knew who it was just by the sound of the voice. The voice had belonged to Cappy who now revealed himself along with Tiara from the bookshelf.

"Please tell us the truth."

Cappy's eyes were crossed as he floated towards Pack. While approaching, the Bonneter was reminded of what he had asked Pack back at the beginning. Pack knew what Cappy was going to do, the marine knew that the hat-like being heard what he said to Mario. Add to how he was calling out characters by their names. He could see the fire glowing in Cappy's eyes. Cappy hovered close to Pack looking at him suspiciously. "By the way, I wanted to ask you the question about how you know us...You knew my name right off the bat."

Well, this was it for Pack, there was no way out. As much as he wanted to say that they were New Donkers but the helicopters armed to the teeth had told them otherwise. "Okay..."

There wasn't anything else but to tell the truth. What would their reactions be once he told them? Based on denial at first? Accepting it quickly? The sound of the silence drowned out as he took a breath of air.

"I'll come clean with you...I know this is going to be hard to believe but...I or more specifically, we...are not from here."

"Huh?"

"I knew the knowledge of what happened on the moon just by playing a video game."

"Wait! What?!"

"I have came from a world where you exist only as video game characters."

"Brother..." Tiara hovered closer to her brother as she was frightened of what the marine was saying. Pack felt sorry for how she was taking it.

"Listen... I know it may be hard for you all to believe but it's true."

"Do you have proof?"

Pack had the proof already, taking out an amibo of Mario from his backpack. To further it, he took out a Switch along with the game covers of Odyssey and a Paper Mario adaption. He wasn't done yet since he had one more to reveal. He searched until he pulled out the cover of Sonic Forces.

Mario, Cappy, and Tiara were convinced enough of the truth. They couldn't believe it though, being told that they were video game characters was hard to take in definitely.

The characters had stayed silent as Pack explained how he along with many others played as Mario through the video games. Pack explained into detail about the events of Odyssey as well. He was careful to leave Galaxy out since no one would remember the events. He was sure Mario might remember since he did have that vision with Rosalina. The events that Pack explained might have not matched exactly how it went for the three characters but it was close enough.

Now questions began to run through the three, if they were video game characters...did it mean that the events unfolding could be some future game that was being programmed? That was the thinking that they couldn't get their mind off.

"Does that mean a video game would come out detailing everything what we are doing now?"

"I don't think this would have an effect since I do believe this is a different dimension."

"A different dimension?"

"It is complicated, all I know is that things that take place here won't affect where I came from."

"If your from the real world...tell me Pack...why are you here then?"

Pack went on to explain how he was a marine that was tasked with the capture of a wanted scientist. The scientist wanting to do experiments that may seem harmless but could do really bad damage since there was the possible use for evil. Once Pack explained about the machine that the scientist built and how the hurricane had brought the Breaknecks here, there wasn't anymore to say. Nevertheless, Pack knew that the video game part had gotten through to the characters. It was just now the reality that threatened his world, both Mario and Sonic.

Pack held the amibo of Mario in his hand, looking at the three. "I am not going to lie, I might have played the games and know all the adventures you went on, but there is so much I want to know."

"Speaking of which, Peach has to know about this as well."

"Everyone does..."

"What about everyone else? They will ask what happened to Mario."

"I am not much at making stuff up but we could just say, Mario was being controlled by Bowser and I was able to get him back."

"You sure about that?"

"I think that for the sake of Kingdom, it's better to blame it on someone else."

"I guess your right, everyone can't lose their minds right now."

"Lets tell everyone to Toad Town including Captain Toad. They should know all this information."

11:45AM

On the other side of Toad Town, the occupants and defenders were gathering around the humans to say thanks. Over on the flip side, the humans were bewildered as the beings that they protected.

Princess Peach stood firmly as Orwell approached after getting out of his helicopter. "My name is Peach Toadstool, I would like to thank you for coming to my aid and helping defeat Bowser."

"It was my pleasure, your highness."

"What is your name?"

"That would be Orwell."

Orwell was no stranger to the Super Mario Bros. Even though he never actually played the games, he recognized the physical traits from anywhere. It was strange though, if Peach begins asking questions about who they were, He won't be able to explain it.

Everyone would be looking for answers so the best bet would fall on Pack since he was the first one to make contact. Orwell reached for his radio and put it to his mouth.

"Orwell to Pack, you there?"

"10-4..."

"Hey Pack, if you could suggest where we should meet and discuss the complications, that would be fine."

"I would suggest we meet at the town hall since that seems to the logical place."

"Copy, we would meet there."

Guided by Peach, the large crowd made their way to the town hall waiting until a more smaller crowd marched from the stone wall that separated her castle.

There was numinous characters among the crowd including: The Toad Brigade, the Scoring Six, Ala, Bucken, Cappy, Tiara, Mario, the Two Hammer Guards, and lastly Pack.

"Mario!" The princess grabbed the front of the skirt of her dress with both her hands and ran to Mario.

"Peach!"

Before the hero could say anything, he saw the princess having her smile fade to a look of concern and anger. It would have seemed she also saw Mario pulling that move. "Mario, What happened? Why didn't you come and try to rescue me?"

Mario didn't answer the question, he looked away and remained silent. And as the silence continued, it was becoming ever more tense. Pack knew he had to bail the hero out since those on the roof of the castle had seen everything unfold. Mario was starting to show that angry look, giving reasons to begin yelling at her. Pack didn't want their friendship to grow dark, not at a time like this. Both of them were angry as it is.

"Princess... I know your angry but we have something more serious to tell you."

"How?"

Peach was looking at Pack sort of dumbfounded, not caught on by what he meant. How was he going to explain the whole video game thing to her? Explaining it here in the open was going to give both good and bad reactions. It was better if it was explained indoors.

"I've seen something like this before...It may seem major to you but I'll explain further on this once we get somewhere more settling." The two hammer guards retook their positions beside the princess as she began introducing herself to the Pack.

"Ah! I am sorry, I am..."

"Princess Peach Toadstool, I know..."

"Oh! I didn't know you were familiar with me."

"I am familiar with everyone around here."

"Uh-huh?"

Peach gazed on Pack, taking her eyes off and back to Mario. "Peach, I think something happened with Cappy."

"Cappy?"

Mario decided to demonstrate, using the Hammer guards as an example again. Cappy transformed and allowed himself to be thrown towards the same guard from earlier. Cappy landed on the helmet but couldn't capture the hammer guard as before.

"That's impossible, I lost the ability to capture perfectly."

The guard began swirling his hammer around as entertainment as Cappy, out of suggestion by his sister tried to concentrate. Again, nothing happened between the hat and the hammer bro. Cappy began to feel the frustration building up as the capture ability was the best thing he could do. He began grunting and gasping after going out for about a moment. Cappy concentrated harder and harder, relaxing until he saw Mario beginning to fly into the hammer bro. Mario's blue eyes and mustache appeared on the hammer bro.

Just as if there weren't going to be anything wrong, some sort of bright energy began zapping around the captured being. Screams began coming from both Cappy and Mario as the lighting was shocking em both.

"Mario!"

Lighting discharged and continued to shock the two until Cappy finally unbuckled. He along with Mario was thrown from the procession and left face down onto the floor.

"What happened?"

The now unprocessed hammer bro touched his head to relieve the headache that was showing. Mario and Cappy recovered from the ordeal, both of them nodded at each other in agreement. "It was that lightning, wasn't it?"

"I guess that is the main cause."

Pack could have guessed this would have happened. While Cappy could still capture beings, the result of the leftover energy from the lightning would shock both Mario and Cappy until they un-capture the being. The being might suffer from the shock as well.

If Pack had to guess correct also, the shock both Mario and Cappy were having was similar to the feeling when they were both hit by that device. "Whatever that lightning had done, it has left me unable to assist Mario." Cappy looked frowned with disappointment in his eyes. The lightning was in some degree, a takeaway to both the heroes. It was best that trying to capture something was out of the question for now. The shock that the lightning left was not worth the risk.

"Cappy, even without the ability to capture, you could still knock enemies over and open doors."

"Heh, I guess..."

Things couldn't have been for the better as Peach was far from trilled due to the destruction left behind. Looking at the destroyed death egg robots had proved something to her. She felt fear as a new enemy had appeared and had shown itself to be more powerful then Bowser. And yet, another more equal power had appeared and had countered the threat. She didn't know what was going on, nor how to see it. The only thing she know was how they came to aid without knowledge of the Mushroom Kingdom. The princess held her feelings back, hiding them to contend to the following.

"Princess, can you kindly lead us to the town hall or at least somewhere where we can discuss this more privately?"

"Alright... lets go."

Toad Town was formally the capital of the Mushroom Kingdom for reasons. The location played a role due to being located a few miles away from Mushroom City. The city was famous for hosting some of the tracks from Mario Kart. Normally cities were considered a capital due to their history and wealth. The history and wealth of Mushroom City went further than Toad Town. However, as the town hall had stated in full view. Toad Town was the hometown and birthplace of the Toadstools. Not a big surprise for Pack there. The first thing that the soldiers noted was the design of the town hall. It sported bright colors, mostly red to match the environment around it. Just across the street was a building with a huge radio antenna. The words NKBN was sported on the side, standing in for the Mushroom Kingdom Broadcasting Network.

Since the Breaknecks were numbered into the hundreds and there was a need to keep watch, several teams were assembled to keep guard. A news crew that comprised of toads emerged from the TV station, showing their cameras towards the newcomers. The toads handling the camera looked unmotivated, probably from being bored. Some of them were even tired and covering their mouths. They were unprofessional and slow at getting ready for the broadcast. Whatever the case was from poor time management or not, this seemed to be the only news network for miles.

While the citizens of Toad Town were distracted, Pack, Finn, Patterson, and Orwell managed to hide themselves into a nearby alleyway. Once there, Pack began to explain the situlation to get the other three caught up on the world that they came to step on. Patterson, Finn, and Orwell were able to understand the situation that were before them. They were able to understand the concept of Super Mario and Sonic The Hedgehog. Pack began to explain the brief stories of both Odyssey and Sonic Forces to the three.

"That scientist we were suppose to capture brought Eggman here and is now creating chaos."Pack had finished there, waiting as the other three gathered their thoughts. Finn took note of how the Sonic series had technology that was comparable to their world. Eggman had flying ships, fighting machines and alot of butality.

"I say technology wise, this world is not ready to fight a war as brutal as the one that in that game, let alone compete with the scale."

Patterson added after Finn, also noting of how he saw how the defenders fought the attackers.

"What's worse is that there is not a military to help with protecting the kingdom, the closest that resemble an army in this world are the police and royal guard."

"The only ones who is capable of standing up to them is us, not for long since we only have enough ammo, supplies and fuel for short runs." Orwell noted by how they already used some to help beat back Eggman's force.

"We could fight them if we have had the whole armed forces of our world following us in...There is just no way we could defend all of the Mushroom Kingdom."

"Agreed! If that battle told an indication, it will tell the mess that the kingdom will face."

"Even if we had the fuel, by the time we get there...it will be too little...too late." Patterson's tone grew cold as he was noting that those who were living far from Toad Town were on their own.

The four knew that, with their limited supplies and ammo at their disposal. It was only a matter of time until the Breaknecks couldn't defend anymore.

"The Mushroom Kingdom will rapidly fall fast and all of it's civilians will suffer."

The truth couldn't have been set to reality. They were going to have to leave the Mushroom Kingdom for dead and only save those well enough to fight. The only hope for the kingdom was the will of the people, to hold off until the liberators could arrive. That day however seemed well away from being reached. Pack explained that jet fuel wouldn't be much of a problem until later as Sunshine had hinted that passenger jets were being flown around. It seemed logical go try to head back into the storm, the storm that emerged from. Currently, they didn't know the status of it or whether it would form away and leave them trapped here. The four emerged from the alleyway just as the Peach ordered them to the front of the town hall. A camera was ready recording and primed to broadcast all over the kingdom.

Ala, Bucken, and the Toad Brigade were off to the side with interest into the humans. They were seemly just as curious about wanting to know more about the humans as well. Mario, Cappy and Tiara were further back since Pack had revealed the truth to them sooner than everyone else. The first words that Peach had demanded were their names. It wasn't much of challenge to explain their full names, not that it mattered to her or not. It was then a matter of now explaining who they were.

"The first question I want to ask is...who are you?"

"Orwell, why don't you explain more about the company..."

"We're the Breaknecks...we specialize in traveling the world, protecting those who want to live in peace."

"Live in peace?"

"Our employment is numbered to a thousand strong even though we are not the official military of the real world."

"Wait!? Real world?"

Pack decided to step in to explain to the Princess and the rest of the Mushroom Kingdom since he knew about the history of the series. Pack carefully explained again what he had told Mario earlier.

He received a few gasp as he did, even some from Peach. Since the TV station was broadcasting, many at home were going nuts as well. To prove the point, he brought out the amibo again and displayed it to everyone. Once he was convinced he explained enough for their reactions. He was sure many were in disbelief though he was also sure many were convinced since he did explain the events well. There were talks that were going among the crowd. He couldn't hear what they were saying but he could already make them out. They were all dealing with a mixture of emotions.

"I believe you!"

One of the koopas from the Scoring Six called out to Pack, breaking the sounds from the crowd. The koopa then moved forward, followed by the others and stepped up to the front.

"We got to believe him, whether we like it or not."The koopa that made the statement was sporting the color orange from his shoes, shell and bandana.

"There is another me right now that is living that life of fighting off continuous attacks by Bowser, stuck in an endless cycle but right now, that cycle is broken and now has ended. Bowser WILL change and strive to end the series in his order." Peach agreed with the koopa as he is right. She protected the Mushroom Kingdom by offering herself to Bowser as a way to deny the effort. By letting herself get kidnapped, she was effortlessly saving the toads from getting turned into stone.

Peach effortlessly ignored to not advance technology to the standards that Bowser was having. If she did, the move would have caused Bowser to further develop more advanced weapons to counter.

Deep guilt came upon her as she made Mario and the Royal Guard suffer because of it. By now, the Toads have caught on and have accepted it into their daily lives. If the Royal Guard have to die so the whole population could live...It was for the best.

Peach was still offset when Pack had explained their world was a video game to theirs. If she was the main character video game...

"Oh no..."

Peach was horrified as she realized how much she turned down Mario. She saw why Mario have decided to stop trying to rescue her at that moment. Mario as well have mistaken her intentions as she didn't give any hints of it. They might have worked it out earlier but she kept the truth until now. To be honest, she loved to see him come after her, just seeing him made her feel for the hero, even when she was not showing it. Putting the thought back to her as a video game character, many might have mistaken her intention as well and were now having bitter thoughts. Whether the toads knew or not, it was time to reveal why she made it easy for Bowser to kidnap her. Letting Mario know also was the first step of redeeming herself.

"Princess, may you explain the reasons why your getting kidnapped so much?"

"I am willing to be kidnapped for the sake of the toads, I am willing to save them."

Peach explained her reasons for letting herself get captured by Bowser often. In part, the civilians of Toad Town cheered for her. It was long overdue but she had shown that all this time, she did care for the kingdom. She then looked down to Mario, displaying the familiar smile to him. She might as well explain to Mario since there was nothing to lose.

"Mario, I am sorry...I am sorry for being angry at you...I should be the one to blame."

"Princess..."

"All those times where you risked your life just to save me...I see why you didn't want to save me anymore."

"Princess...I thought that all the rescues were for nothing."

"Mario...they do mean something to me...every rescue proved you were the hero that everyone...even me."

"They do?"

"Every rescue proved to me that your more to me...you are the one I want to be with."

"Peach, I never thought you would say that...Your the one that I want to be with also."

"Is that why you wanted to propose to me?"

"Yes, I've felt like it was that time...you know to..."

Mario wasn't able to finish, instead he switched the topic to another subject."Peach, I just want to see you safe."

The feeling of being anxious loosened and relaxed inside Pack as the anger between the two was diminishing, leaving them close again. He didn't have to make a dumb excuse after all. He was going to state that Bowser had procession of a mind control device that took control of Mario. Peach turned around towards Pack and Orwell. "Can you send help with the clean up and tell what is going on?"