No Such Thing

Chapter 10- Preparations

Now that we have Yoshi, this should bring more excitement as we have our first character from another world from the Mario universe joining. You guys are most likely thinking of who's going to be next.

...To be honest, not even I know at the moment. But, I guess it only makes it better.

What I want to point out is not only after this chapter this is officially going to be my longest story ever, but I will also have 150,000 words written for all my stories! (This also has over 1,000 views! Thanks!)

~KF

It was now after breakfast, and the Koopalings were once again silent as each of them, along with their frenemies left the cafeteria after they enjoyed a rather good meal. Unfortunately, due to the sudden news, they didn't have enough time to think about how good it was.

Not paying attention to minor issues, they now had an even bigger problem than it already was. However, the question was why in the world would Dry Bowser choose Dinosaur Land to attack of all places.

It was exactly what Mario was thinking of. Because of how astounding and confounding it was, he thoughts had to be spoken. "Before we found out what actually happened, we first thought of who 'attacked' Bowser's home, saying that if it were anyone, it should be us. Then, we learned that it was Dry Bowser himself that burned down his own home. Now, we know that he chose Dinosaur Land to be the first place to explore. I don't why in the name of the Star Spirits he would think that the Koopalings would go there... I mean, when the princess is kidnapped, not one of them heads to the Dinosaur Lands so that they can battle me..."

"Not to mention, there is no tower, nor castle there." Reminded Peach with a raised finger. "The fact he would choose there first is beyond me. But, the points is, we have to warn help out the inhabitants and worn the other lands right now. Me and a few of my servants will be in the throne room."

"Princess Peach," Yet another Toad walked over to her calmly. "the reporters are back. May we and the others calm them down?"

"I'll talk to them." Mario nodded with a nod. "Yoshi can come, too."

Iggy scratched his neck and looked away. "I guess I can't start working on that invention... I just hope that I remember all the major details... I'm gonna need some supplies, though..."

"We will help you on that." The same Toad who informed Peach about the paparazzi replied with a nod.

He looked slightly astonished. "...I... I'd appreciate it, thank you..."

"Well, young one, I don't think you could manage to pull it off all by yourself, no more how talented you may be at making inventions. We all need help sometimes."

That statement had the potential to be more powerful than it seemed, and it was. Ludwig was the certain being that was affected by it. "...We were so blinded by the fact that were being aided by Mario, we couldn't see it... He's right, without a doubt... We may be at each other's throats, but it doesn't mean that we don't need any help at all, even when it comes to being worst enemies..."

Mario was smiling in his mind. "Maybe they would finally start to understand. I may need help one time if it's not Bowser trying to take over the Mushroom Kingdom if I can't do it all by myself. We just have to put ourselves in the other's position."

Dear Prince Vanillabean, ruler of the Meringue Clouds,

In case you are not aware, King Bowser Koopa's castle was in flames just a couple days ago, due to King Koopa himself unable to control his skeletal form inside him. Typically, he would use said form whenever it it necessary, though as of now, Bowser is not able to transform back into his normal form.

As we speak, the king of the Dark Lands is after his eight children. They have managed to come to the Mushroom Kingdom, and is now staying in my castle until we figure out a way to stop all of this and change him back. Since he is after the children, he is desperately searching through possibly all of the lands. Just yesterday morning, Dinosaur Land was unfortunately his first target, as the Yoshis homes are being burned down as well as forest fires starting. We do not know which land will he target next, nor when he will do so. I suggest that you plan ahead and prepare your minions if your land will be his next location.

Sincerely, Princess Peach Toadstool, ruler of the Mushroom Kingdom

That was letter number three that Peach and her accompanying servants had to write. They basically had to warn the entire universe of Bowser's attacking. It was so extreme, even the whole galaxy was put into question. Any place Bowser been to would search there for the Koopalings, only expressing how desperate he actually was. Adding fuel to the fire, if the universe did not have enough time to prepare, it would rapidly fall into chaos. Peach's honest thoughts were that she would rather be kidnapped for the umpteenth time and just have her kingdom being taken over, and not the entire world.

It was a lot for her to take in, but she was handling pretty well thus far, and rather quite calm then completely exhausted and stressed out. Calm is one of her known character traits, so it actually wasn't surprising for her Toad servants.

"When Donkey Kong and Daisy get warned, maybe they can come." The princess was thinking to herself. "You know what they say, the more the merrier. The entire world would have to accept the fact that we are on the Koopalings' side and will have no choice but to trust them. ...And if we don't, there would be a major consequence for it... Carrying the entire world on our shoulders..."

She concluded with a sigh. Just because she shown herself that her energy wasn't drained from the whole situation didn't mean that she thought that it would be a breeze. It was anything but that, of course. Thankfully, the more allies that get warned, the more allies would help. If one broke it down to that, he or she would realize that it wouldn't be as bad.

Peach thinking rule, simply nodded her head with a slight smile pasted across her face expressing hope. Wasting another moment or two, she moved to writing the next letter for the Layer-Cake Desert.

"Yes, I've kept my word that I will be back to talk to all of you, so please be patient here."

Meanwhile, Mario and Yoshi were surrounded by many reporters as they were near the castle gate. The latter was occupied by his surroundings while the main savior of the Mushroom Kingdom did all the talking.

"The reason why Yoshi came all the way here is because that Dry Bowser has attacked Dinosaur Land and is possibly still doing so."

Many gasps were almost immediately followed. Some of the paparazzi dropped their camers to the ground, a few breaking. Other members of it stepped forward and leaned closer to the point where their cameras and microphones were almost directly in front of their faces.

Ignoring the sudden loud noise from the large crowd and keeping his cool, Mario resumed speaking. "We are warning the other lands as we speak. They will know that they need to prepare for whatever land is going to be Dry Bowser's next target. You can expect heroes like Donkey Kong and Daisy to arrive here when they get enlightened by this major incident. I'm pretty sure they would help, also. And if they were to trust the Koopalings, you guys should too."

Some of the noise began to quite down, and was replaced by a few stares from the Toads that lived near to the castle and were not reporters.

"Face it. What if we didn't trust Bowser's children and turned them down? Do you honestly believe that we would be alive for much longer?"

Concluding what he had to say, the green dinosaur followed his friend back into the castle doors, subsequently being closed by the two Toads standing on each side.

In a living room that contained two green Toads, a father and son were silent throughout the entire time they seen the two heroes on their television screen. Once the double doors of the castle closed, the son with the lighter shading of green used the remote to turned the family TV off. "Man, maybe he's right after all. If they weren't on his side, I don't know if we'll see next week."

His father simply shook his head in response with his head hanging low. "He's just saying that so that they will stop asking him about that. There might not be only one way to put an end to this. Why can't they just stop for good like they always do? And this time, make sure that the damage is permanent so that we will never see him again. I'm not buying it..."

"..." He could only eye him.

Another night came across the Mushroom Kingdom, and Ludwig, Iggy, and Wendy were wandering the halls of Princess Peach's castle. Iggy somewhat had a satisfied look on his face while the other two only stared blankly.

"We've actually made progress today." The one with the strange hair told his brother and sister. "I believe I should give myself a pat on the back... I mean shell... I-I mean... nevermind..."

"We understand what you mean, Iggy." Ludwig rotated his head. "If we continue working at a pace like this tomorrow, we would be finish in no time and would be on our journey to find father. No other land should be harmed by him. I, for one feel sorry for those Yoshis' in Dinosaur Land... They could be our people if the attacker was somebody else..."

"...Like, you know who..." The tall Koopa did not care if his mumbling was loud enough to be heard.

"You still don't know, do you?" Wendy had to ask. "Just go with the flow. That was what I taught myself how to handle certain things. It may not be what we wished for, but slowly I am learning to trust that plumber."

"It's quite obvious that trust is the word of the day, and maybe the word of the day for a while until we save father." Ludwig replied as they continued waliking. "I should be the last one to trust him and not you, Iggy..."

"I know that, Ludwig." He had a slight glare behind his glasses. "It's just that... I'm not quite used to this, yet..."

"As we all are. Like Wendy said, go with the flow until you can get used to it. I've managed to shake everything off after breakfast when I was helping you, which you have not thanked me or Wendy, yet."

A quick sigh was followed. "Fine, thanks you two, I really appreciate it..."

"Anytime." The blue-haired son of Bowser grinned. "...You know, let's not use the word 'trust' as often. We need to find a word to replace it until we were out of this. ...Something that is not good, nor bad..."

"..."

Their confusions looks meant that it would be decided later.

The three met the rest of their siblings at long last, along with the Mario Bros., Peach, Yoshi, and Toadsworth. All of them were standing right outside the door, eyeing the stars in the night sky. It was Toadsworth's suggestion that they should do this action to take their minds off of things and then they could sleep off the stress that they had for the time being.

"You know Mario," Luigi took a break from glancing at them. "I don't even remember the last time we just look at the sky like this. I've almost forgot how beautiful it was..."

"You said it, Luigi." Mario had to agree. "Unfortunately, it had to be in a situation like this out of all times... Don't worry. In the next couple weeks, we would be hard at work... Those Koopalings deserve to be happy in the best possible way..." He started mumbling, altering his facial expression. "There's no way we are putting them down, especially if Bowser is all they have left..."

"Hmm..." He shrugged. "Makes me think of our parents..."

"Exactly." His voice got as low as a whisper. "It is why we need to put ourselves in their... shoes... and imagine what it would it be like. I know I'm saying this a million times, but people are still thinking that we should just betray them, but we're not..."

The older, yet shorter brother leaned closer. "They would have nothing to live for if we rejected them..."

Some loud gasps were heard from a couple of the people who were standing near. Mario wondering what was the problem, he was eyeing in the direction they were reacting at whatever it was.

...

Bowser's airship.

"...!"

"...!"

"...!"

One-by-one, all eyes were wide opened, as well as their mouths. Not one could even blink at the sight. Standing right behind the wheel was the King Koopa himself in his skeletal form, with an evil look in his eyes.

... ... ...

Questions:

1. It's been another five chapters. Who is your favorite character so far, and why?

2. It's been ten chapters. Can you predict what's going to happen next? Sometimes the answer can be obvious...