The events inside the Desert Hill Penitentiary have reached its climax!

-o-

All Hell's gone Loose

Location: Cistern maze underneath the desert jail

Time left: 20 minutes

As the warden continues his search for Geno and Yoshi throughout the maze but to no avail, Daisy and Morton Jr., together with a pair of soldiers guarding the corpulent Koopaling, get separated from the rest. Daisy has forgotten to keep up her act and walks around casually with her arms behind her head, making the guards question her change in demeanor.

"Man, this is boring," complains Daisy.

"I know, man," replies the Koopaling, "I'm hungry but these chumps won't give me no food..."

"We've been walking for a long time, Morty. My legs kinda hurt."

The two soldiers, a clubba and a Toad, look at each other, then at the princess, and back at each other. The clubba takes his partner apart, who's holding a small torch, under the pretense of taking a break.

"Psst, don't you think it's strange that the princess is chummy with the fatso?"

"You're fat too..."

"That's beside the point! I mean, what if they're in this together?"

"She could be a crazy Daisy from that cosplay thing in the pyramids. Makes more sense that way. The real princess would be too dignified to step inside a hellhole like this..."

Unbeknownst to them, the Fire Bro. Hitatsu hid behind a rock in the shadows of the cavern, eaves dropping on their supposed private conversation. He is holding onto his lower rib cage as he pants silently and leans on said rock. He smiles as he concocts a plan.

'Well, these dudes put A and B together… Just like I am working with the Koopaling dudes, these dudes must be on a quest to stop them. Not my problem; I'm just doing my job and raking in the dough. Now, to get the fatty dude and the princess…'

Hitatsu, as stealthily as possible, walks out of his hiding place, and joins the two soldiers without them noticing.

"If I understand what you're saying," the clubba says, "then the Koopalings must have sent Morton Jr. to get the shark pirate. The sooner we get rid of him, the better…"

"That sounds about right, dudes," interjects Hitatsu, surprising the soldiers. He continues, "Except for the part of him getting sent here. That would be my role, dudes."

He smirks, and in swift maneuver, he jumps and flame kicks the clubba soldier into the rock, breaking it to pieces and knocking the soldier out. He then, while still in the air, grabs the morning star club, flips backward and slams it down on the Toad soldier, also sending him to dreamland.

Daisy and Morton, having witnessed everything, begin backing away. The Fire Brother propels himself behind them by shooting fire from his feet, stopping them in their tracks.

"I may have lost the shark dude, and still cannot find the fruit, but you're a good substitute, dude."

Morton Jr. retreats into his shell and Daisy follows him inside, but soon gets thrown back out. She bangs his spiky shell a couple of time, but resigns herself to the situation.

"What do you want?" confronted Daisy, a bit of fearful.

"Money," Hitatsu nonchalantly replies. He walks up to her and grabs her hand. Upon close inspection, the Fire Brother measures one head taller than Sarasaland's princess. "I'd rather not hurt a pretty face like your; I'm sure we can work out a deal on some ransom."

He proceeds to go kiss her hand, which freaks her out. With her free hand, she slaps him into the ceiling Mario Party 3 style, though he falls back to the gritty cavern floor.

"I've had enough of nasty, slobbery kisses on my hand. Do you know what it's like to smell a dog's breath so close to your nose that it burns?"

The Fire Bro. grunts as he picks himself up, and wipes of the gravel off his bare chest. "Indeed, dude; that can be quite the ordeal… But screw the money for now!" Hitatsu turns into the blue fire demon like when he fought Geno and Yoshi earlier, and is livid. His shades have melted off his face.

"No one slaps or rejects me!"

He begins shooting Daisy, who runs behind Morton's quivering shell, but just as quickly is met by the Fire Brother. She tries smacking him gain with her right hand, but he grabs her wrist. She tries with her left with the same results. Hitatsu grins maliciously as he begins heating up his hands and lifting the princess off the ground. She begins to scream in pain as the heat begins to singe her wrists.

"I don't like hurting girls, but there's a limit to what a dude can take. All of my plans have gone up in smoke so far, and…"

Before he could finish, Daisy accidentally kicks him in the crotch, since the pain made her kick the air uncontrollably. Hitatsu releases her and falls on his left knee, nauseated and with shortness of breath.

Almost instinctively, she runs a little ways back, then stops and returns, hoping onto Morton's shell, and speeding away. Hitatsu tries to go after them, but the male pain has him on his knee.

As the shell flies though the corridors of the cave, Daisy extends her arms outward, as the cool cavern air relieved some of the pain from the burns. She had no idea where the shell would take her, but anywhere away from the fire Koopa demon seemed better in her mind.

After a couple of minutes, Morton Jr. pops his head out, over his fear and not knowing what had just happened. Upon seeing a tiny rock quickly approaching him, a twisting feeling inside his gut overtook him, and he forced his limbs outside his shell, which caused the shell to flip, launching Daisy upwards. After bouncing and coming to a complete stop on his back, Daisy lands on his belly.

"Boy, that was scary!" laughs Daisy, forgetting about her wrist pain. She gets off Morton and looks up, finding the prison lights beaming inside. Some ruble crumbles down. "Hmm… We're back where we started…"

Before the Koopaling could respond, Hitatsu arrives on the dot. He is panting and grabbing his groin, and he is calmly furious.

"I should have given lardo dude for the pirate to eat when I had the chance. That way, I could have at least nabbed the shark dude and left this Eld-forsaken place."

Illogically, Morton Jr. quickly stands up while pointing at Hitatsu. "Not if we take him first."

"You and what army, dude? Your siblings are on my side."

"Well, um…" stammers the Koopaling as he looks up and begins counting with his fingers, "There's Gee and Yosh, um… uh…"

Daisy soon covers his mouth and resumes her princess act. "That will be enough, Koopaling. I, as the reigning princess of Sarasaland, sentence both of you to prison for life."

Hitatsu, not buying the act, retorts sarcastically, "Right, dude. And even if it were to happen, Ludwig will get me out."

"Von Koopa?" a mysterious gruff voice inquires.

"That's right, dude," replies Hitatsu, only to realize that voice didn't belong to anyone there. He turns; the warden and his posy had just arrived along with the two soldiers the Fire Brother had dealt with earlier. Warden Leroy's doogan nose is twitching; he is not amused.

"I see. So this was your plan all along, eh, Hitatsu? Or was it Draco?" He holds up his left hand. "Doesn't matter anymore. You are more of a liability that an asset, I'm afraid. Both you and the Koopaling there shall fall at my hand." His hands begin to spark with lightning. "En garde!"

Suddenly…

…

Location: Room next to Johnny's tank

Time left: 10 minutes (concurrently with the cistern scene)

The shark pirate continues wheezing on the ground as the doogan vice warden, with Stuffwell 2.0 in his left hand, and our protagonists have a silent standoff. Both Geno and Yoshi are panting lightly.

"Hmm… I'm actually curious now. What made you both want to break into this jail, just for that prisoner? And why do you want this trinket? Onward to adventure, perhaps?"

Geno whispers to Yoshi, "I still can't shoot anything, but if my instincts prove me correct, his power's effect will fade, and I'll be able to use my arsenal once more. Buy me some time and distract the vice warden. Seeing how he has handled us so far…" He chuckles. "I digress. I'm sure you'll manage. I'll get Johnny to the tank somehow."

The green dinosaur glares at the wooden doll, then at the vice warden. He says under his breath, "You owe me big."

"That's a good sport!" replies Geno, just as Yoshi lunged at Tanuki.

"Come at me, dinosaur!" bellows Tanuki, just as he blocks a double kick from Yoshi.

The wooden doll dashes toward the tank to check for the water level, and though the stench was almost unbearable, there was enough water for the shark to breathe in. While Geno tries to get Jonathan to the tank, Yoshi is pounding away at the vice warden with nose whacks and kicks, who blocks them expertly, suitcase in hand.

As Yoshi is about to hit the doogan with his nose, Tanuki thrust Yoshi's nose with his left arm, and pushes the green dinosaur back a bit. Yoshi opens his mouth, expecting to stretch out his tongue and capture the vice warden, but nothing came out. He tries to speak, but his tongue is too numb to make any coherent noise.

Vice Warden Tanuki sets the suitcase down. "Now, for the rest of you…"

His furry hand paws glisten a silvery glimmer, and soon after, Tanuki the doogan vice warden runs at the green dinosaur and thrusts both palms forward. Yoshi simply flutter jumps to avoid the attack. Taken aback, the vice warden accidentally pushes the shark further into the tank room, close to the murky water.

"Curses!" he exclaims, right before Yoshi stomps him into the ground. Yoshi then runs toward Geno, and both finally push the shark inside the remaining pool of water, to which the pirate responds with a loud gasp. Yoshi makes lots of raspberries until finally he is able to speak properly.

"Thay! I can thpeak!" [Hey! I can speak!]

"We're still not out of danger yet, Yosh. The show must go on!"

"I beg to differ," the vice warden interjects. "The show ends here, boys. Time to blast you into oblivion!"

Suddenly…

…

Location: Front door…

Time left: 1 minute…

"So this is the hellhole, eh, Wiseguy?" asks Lemmy, nodding approvingly. "Kinda small, don't ya thnk?"

"What size these premises have is inconsequential," replies Ludwig, "However, I estimate that in about four to five hours, the dawn will break, and we need to erase our foot print before then. Slyklyde should be arriving in two or three, as he is the fastest flyer I have knowledge of. And by that time, bean boy will be no more." He chuckles before continuing. "Now then, summon three giant bombs. That should shake them to the core."

Lemmy pulls out his wand and summons three purple bombs with golden stars, neatly placing them on the front door. Ludwig then breathes fire on them and runs off with his sibling to a safe distance next to the Clown Car.

"No matter the outcome," begins Ludwig as he turns toward the gate, "our objectives are the fruit, a Fire brother, and the shark. You're free to do whatsoever except destroy those three; getting at least one of them will advance the Master's cause."

"That's what I like to hear!" replies the petite Koopaling excitedly.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

Debris flies everywhere as the door protecting the jail is no more. Pieces of the door fly past both Koopalings as the air from the blast pushed away their hair. Lemmy runs like a madman toward the jail, but Ludwig stays behind. He eyes the Clown Car, and grins.

The explosion is heard throughout the entire jail and cavern, and the shock waves make the buildings tremble. The ceiling covering the tank room weakens further and is about to give in. The sudden blast has paralyzed almost everyone in shock … Well, except…

…

Location: Tank room

"An explo… That's it!" Geno suddenly remembers about the last transformation bubble he has hidden in his left arm, and in one swift motion, he removes his left forearm and aims at Yoshi, who gets nervous by such an action. However nothing happens.

'Great! I forgot I can't shoot anything because of the vice warden!' Geno keeps thinking as the doogan vice warden is flustered with the turn of events, and the sound of soldiers rushing toward the explosion echoes in the hall. Geno grabs his dinosaur friend by the shoulders.

"Yosh! Get over here! We're bailing outta here!"

"How? We're cornered here!" replies Yoshi as he runs over.

Geno aims his left arm at Yoshi again. "Just poke your finger in here. No time to explain."

Yoshi makes a perplexed face. "Wait… What?"

"Just get this show on the road, Yosh! We don't have another chance!" They look down at Johnny, whose breathing has normalized.

Yoshi complies, and as soon as he does, the sound of a bubble popping comes from Geno's arm, who then quickly pulls it back, replacing his arm. Yoshi transforms once more; this time, into a mole.

Geno jumps on top of Mole-Yoshi, pointing toward the hole leading into the cavern. "As soon as you grab Johnny and load him up here, fall down the hole and begin digging once we hit ground."

Vice Warden Tanuki regains his composure, and yells a few commands at the last set of soldiers running toward the front gate. He turns and is shocked to see Mole-Yoshi carefully setting the pirate on his metallic back. He runs forward and jumps at them, aiming a well placed fist at the pirate, when suddenly a wooden fist blasts him in his abdomen, sending the doogan flying back a huge distance into the hallway.

"Take that as my parting gift," declares Geno.

"That pun, though," chuckles Mole-Yoshi.

"That was not on purpose," replies the wooden doll, "But I'll take the loss of my right arm if it helps us further our cause."

Yoshi charges forward toward their much awaited exit. Much to Geno's dismay, the mole transformation was rather slow, although beforehand, he figured that could happen. Geno spots Stuffwell on top of the rubble between them and the vice warden, who is still on the floor in pain, and quickly goes for it as Yoshi continues forward.

Tanuki shakes his head, and sits up, only to see that Geno already the suitcase. The wooden doll then darts for the hole as well right when Yoshi is about to fall into it. With the right wooden fist in hand, the vice warden also darts toward his foes. Right when he is about to capture Geno, the wooden doll drops into the abyss. Speechless, Tanuki stares into the dark pit.

-o-

The Koopalings have finally arrived, wasting no time to get down to business. How will things proceed from here on out, now that they are added to the mix of things? Will Johnny have any hope to get out alive?

A/N: It took me a long time to get the story how I wanted, but here it is, something I am satisfied with. Please feel free to like, follow, and/or review. :D Any insight will be helpful. Thanks for reading up to this point.