Let us recap… The Mushroom Kingdom is slowly becoming a barbaric anarchy, while the Beanbean Kingdom is little more than a wasteland now. Characters like Bob-ombs, birdos and Shy Guys have been petrified by, according to Professor E. Gadd, by an unusual frequency. Bowser is literally a mere puppet for the very potent menace that is "the Master", who is yet to be identified, and at his disposal are all of the remaining Koopa Troop, the mobster gangs of the gangster town of Rougeport, and his very own henchmen.

Presently, Daisy will go against the warden while Yoshi and Morton Jr. sneak their way in the vents to try and save Johnny the shark pirate, and Geno is nowhere to be seen. However, the powerful bounty hunters, the Fire Bro. pair of Desert Hill Hitatsu and Draco, are on their way to Johnny as well, and Lemmy and Ludwig are also on their way to that desert prison! What kind of time bomb is ticking, and what fate awaits them all?

-o-

Heroes: Yoshi, Daisy, Morton Jr., Geno

Current Enemies: The Master, Ludwig von Koopa, Lemmy Koopa, Hitatsu and Draco

-o-

The Mission has gone to Hell and Back

Location: Clown Car, en route to the desert jail

Time left: 4 hours, 32 minutes

Ludwig and Lemmy silently recline on their respective seats within the Clown Car as it is currently on autopilot. The smaller Koopaling is picking wax out of his left ear as he lazily rests his feet dangerously close to the control panel and the autopilot button. Ludwig discreetly glares at his brother, and ponders on his brother's eyes that were those of a carefree but innocent fool, but now glow evil and blue.

Lemmy flicks the wax off his claw and out of the Clown Car, and nonchalantly turns to his older sibling, saying, "So, Wiseguy… What's the smartsie plan for when we get there? What exactly're we gonna do?"

Ludwig snaps back to reality, quickly replying, "Ah… I will cut to the chase. In all truthfulness, I have yet to develop the plan; my thoughts seem clouded in the light of recent events…"

"Ha! You're too soft for someone who is renowned as the cruelest of us Koopalings. You mean to tell me you have a soft spot for these fools we are capturing?"

Ludwig scoffs as he closes his eyes. "Far from it, but I have certain reservations that an individual of your I.Q. could suggest a reasonable argument for my profound musings, or a succeeding plan of action for that matter. I, however, need to listen to elegant music for inspiration."

"We're not listening to your junk you call symphonies. I bet you're too deaf to actually hear how terrible your music sounds."

Ludwig chortles. "I would not expect a Philistine as yourself to understand art. But I digress. I am playing my most recent recording of one of my best piano concerto, played by yours truly." He looks at the time on his mobile device. "Hmm... 4 hours and half of one before arrival... That will grant me all the time I need for a great plot. You will thank me later."

Ludwig inserts a U.S.B. cable that connects from his mobile device to the Clown Car's sound system. He selects a track, and a sudden fiendish fury of notes emit from the speakers as they continue their ride to the desert jail.

…

Location: Penitentiary of Desert Hill, air vents, Yoshi and Morton Jr.'s side

Time left: 4 hours, 30 minutes

Yoshi, clad in his ninja suit, and as swiftly and as quietly possible, traverses the metallic confines of the air ducts that somehow were built in the entire premises. Thankfully, no type of heating or air conditioning has been turned on, making Yoshi's job slightly easier.

However, as much as he sniffs his way around, he has no idea of what is he supposed to smell for, though, much of the odors penetrating the vent ways every so often is musky, male body odor. It seems that the further he crawls through the maze of metal vents, the smellier it gets. If it wasn't the smell of a rotting taco, it was the raunchy stench of underwear that hadn't been washed in weeks.

After a few minutes, Yoshi is starting to gag and just about had enough. He begins to dash though the vents like a madman, paying no heed if he was being loud or not. His nose started to burn from the spicy stench, and even his eyes begin to cry and become bloodshot.

He finally reaches a junction where it splits in two directions. One side emits a tobacco scent mixed with manly musk, which by now, is causing Yoshi nausea and a stomach ache. The other, a path going forward, has a faint fishy smell, but in Yoshi's mind, it smelled like roses compared to every putrefied aroma he had the displeasure to experience.

Yoshi tries to drag his tense and weakened body toward the fishy scent, but stops when he hears murmuring and footsteps approaching from below him. Apparently, the entire battalion stationed there is excited to see a woman, and Daisy, no less. Yoshi just rolls his eyes and presses forward as soon as he hears the footsteps grow more distant, not noticing he left Stuffwell 2.0 in the junction.

Morton somehow manages to undo the suitcase, and gasps loudly as he pops out, immediately shutting the suitcase shut. Luckily for him, the vent junction was large enough for him to fit into, but he couldn't get out unless he went back in. Yoshi hears this, and after a few seconds the emminent danger clicks in his mind, so he loudly scrambles his way to the junction, but…

"That's it chump! I ain't going back inside!" rants Morton, who is beat up, and breathing deeply. "And I ain't moving!"

Yoshi, more worried about being caught than upset, tries to silence Morton, but as soon as he breathes though his mouth, the musky smoke odor goes in, and he begins to gag.

"See, chump, you need to shut up, and not make any noise or we'll get trapped!"

"WHAT?! You telling me to be quiet when you're the one who started it in the first place!"

And this goes on for a bit, as they fail to get each other to be quiet. Luckily for them, no soldiers are in their vicinity, But…

...

Location: Penitentiary in the darkness of Desert Hill, Daisy's side

Time left: 4 hours, 17 minutes

Daisy finally steps out of the locker room and into the hallway, dressed in a desert camouflage, army pants, the white shirt and the boots she was given earlier. Outside, next to the locker room door are two fully uniformed, doogan soldiers, who have waited for her to exit the changing room escort her to the playing field. One has crucifix hanging outside of his garb, and holds out his arm and shows her the way to the area set up for the tennis game while walking beside her, the second guard following their lead. The other has an eye patch over his left eye and licks his doogan lips and taps his foot like a stereotypical lascivious canine.

Almost as soon as they walk a few steps, Daisy hears some sniffing and feels heavy breathing on herself, and turns to find the eye patched doogan having personal space issues, causing the other doogan to get in between them and shake his head while clenching his weapon tighter. The doogan soldier with the eye patch growls and walks ahead to the playing area.

"Forgive us your highness," says the doogan with a crucifix after sighing, "Many of my brothers in arms stationed here have… needs, to put it mildly. I'd be wary around everyone, especially our commander, the warden."

"Um… don't… worry about it," replies Daisy.

"Of course I do. We are here to make our guests feel safe, especially when requesting to see our prisoners. I feel ashamed whenever we have female guests, they are almost always harassed in some way or another, and as a jail, we have a dirty reputation of personal space issues."

"Like I said, don't worry about it," interrupts the princess, "You don't seem like the rest. I appreciate that."

The doogan soldier smiles. "Much obliged, your highness. Oh look, we are arriving at the courtyard. I wish you the best."

And just like that, they exit the building and turn right, entering an open area where most of the drills and training take place. Thick, sandstone walls of the jail and buildings surround the area, and many lights illuminated the court nicely for a nocturnal game. Soldiers of the many of the Mushroom World's species surround an especially marked tennis court. How they were able to get a fine net and tennis rackets for that game baffles even Daisy.

The commander, still in his uniform, smiles and motions Daisy to the opposite side, whom takes her side, and her escort walks back into the complex. He squeezes the tennis ball with his rather large doogan hands, carefully making sure his claws do not puncture it. He bounces it a few times and soon after, masterfully balances the green fuzzy ball on the net tip of the racket, earning a cheer.

"Like I said, your highness, I may be a bit rusty, but I was quite the star in my heyday."

"That's nice and all, Mr. Warden," retorts Daisy, "But how about showing me?"

The warden licks his upper lip as he tosses the ball up. "That's what I like to hear. Prepare yourself, ma'am!"

…

Location: Secret Corridor in the Desert Jail, Fire Bro.'s side

Time left: 4 hours, 13 minutes

Hitatsu looks at some footnotes at the base of the map, and presses a certain location on the wall, to which the wall slowly reveals them a hallway leading to the vice warden's office and Johnny's tank. Some crumbling happens as the stone wall moves away and sand flies everywhere.

"Okay, Hitatsu, we're out. Now what?"

The leader of the two lets out a frustrated sigh. "I've just about had it with you nagging about everything, dude. One more word, and I'll… Ugh! Never mind, dude. I'll put up with your whining for now, because I need you, dude, but once we're done, I'm gonna roughen you up."

Draco also sighs. "Look, I'm sorry about before, okay? I'll even promise I won't be a whinny little Goomba anymore. As long as you are calm and collected, we can do this. Please, get it together."

Hitatsu lowers his shades as the stone slab guarding the secret passageway closes. "You better be sorry, dude. Let's hurry to the vice warren dude's office. We need another map to a deeper cave. Maybe then, we'll find the… What is that noise, dude?"

Because they were concentrated in their conversation and due to the noise made by the stone slab, they couldn't hear the commotion caused by Yoshi and Morton. Both Fire Brothers walk closer to the origin of the noise, growing louder as they drew near. Right before arriving at the tank room, they look up at the starting place of all the rowdiness.

Unlike most of the hallway, which is pretty much all sandstone except for light sockets and electronic hardware, there is a metal box hanging in the ceiling, clearly a vent junction that splits off in three directions, and those ventways continue into the sandstone walls.

"Hmm…" starts Hitatsu as he rubs his chin, "It appears we have intruders, or rather, they have, dude. Let's turn on the heater and burn them to a crisp…"

"What?! No! That's low; we never kill anyone. If it is their intruders, why don't we capture them first, so we can get even more money?" That makes his leader smile and his eyes turn into gold coins.

"See, dude? Now we're talking. Let's 'unweld' the vents, then."

While the dark skinned Koopaling and Yoshi argued, the Fire Brothers begin to melt away the welding that kept the whole junction together. The yelling was so heated that they didn't even notice the temperature rising nor the creaking from their weight pulling on the screws holding the box securely to the ceiling.

"Look, fatso! If you want to stay here and rot, that's fine by me. I'll go ahead and take Stuffwell with me!"

"Fine! I don't care, chump. At least I ate your cookies!"

Yoshi stops and leave the suitcare in the vent way and goes back. "That's it! This is where you fall!"

Yoshi lunges at Morton Jr. but as soon as he lands the entire box collapses to the ground. Hitatsu then lights his hands up in flames and rips the top of the metal box, revealing the dizzy dinosaur and Koopaling. After a few seconds they recover, and look up, their eyes meeting their foes'. Draco stood behind in the hallway as Hitatsu stands before them in the entrance to the tank room.

"Hello, ladies," says Hitatsu, "Welcome to hell."

-o-

As expected, any plan involving Morton Jr. can be expected to fail, and what bad luck for them. How can they ever escape now? Will Daisy beat the warden? One last question… Where in the Mushroom World is Geno?

I should probably mention… The story received a makeover, as you may notice some discrepancies with any reviews written for any chapters prior to chapter 24. So, 24 onwards, will be new content. Thank you for reading thus far, and see you all in the next chapter.