No Such Thing
Chapter 14 - Operation Failed
Looks like I'm gonna keep posting on Tuesdays for now. It's not a guarantee that I will update every Tuesday, though. But hey, I know for one thing. It's very unlikely that I'm gonna have the nerve to take another three-year break from this. This fic it's just getting started. I don't know how long this story is gonna last, but think again if you think the story is at least a quarter of a way finished.
You wanna know what caused me to write this again? ...Donkey Kong Country Returns. That's right. A DK game of all things inspired me to write this again. ...Maybe because of his... upcoming role in the fic. *Winks* But we'll get to that when we get to that.
~KF
"So then we were all once again running for our lives. We already found Luigi at the time, but then we suddenly met up with Mario, Iggy, and Larry. Then, we all ran like we've never ran before. Come to think of it, I have never ran so fast in the Doomship in all my life. Anyways, when we all were at the edge of the Doomship, we hopped back onto Ludwig's ship and it ended up being a wild goose chase for at least ten minutes before King Dad finally lost track of us!"
Princess Peach and the Toads were trying their best to picture the events that occurred with the group while they were still at the castle, even thought it was somewhat difficult since Morton Jr. was a chatterbox for a reason. However, it did not change the fact that nothing went according to plan in the beginning, with the exception Mario finding his brother. Yet, not only he did not do it himself, three of the Koopalings found him for him, and that was basically not even their intention.
With all this in her mind, the Mushroom Kingdom's princess could only blink. "...Okay... So, he caught you all red-handed and it went downhill from there?"
"...Yes." Morton nodded in response.
She sighed in deep frustartion, shaking her head gradually processing it all in. "Okay, so how did you all get away?"
"Well, we had to trick father for two things." Ludwig explained holding two fingers up. "We didn't want him to keep chasing us and the last thing we needed to happen was to have him heading back to the Mushroom Kingdom."
"So what did you do?" Yellow Toad asked.
"We somehow manipulated him into thinking that we went back to the castle assuming that we will probably hide behind it so we can have enough time to think of another plan." Mario informed. "We then wanted him to think that if we were smart, we would go someplace else so that he wouldn't come back here... Somehow, someway, we actually managed to pull him off..."
"Bowser's actually thinking for once." Luigi stated before turning to Ludwig. "No offense."
"None taken."
Peach once again heaved a sigh, even greater than before.
"Okay." Iggy was growing impatient by the second. "So obviously the Doomship plan didn't work. That way of approaching him was not going to cut it. We didn't think of everything through before we were so rushed up, we didn't have time and no one thought of any other way of doing it. If only we planned more properly, we would have somewhat had a chance! But no, nothing works, and I'm getting very frustrated!"
"So, where is he going, now?" Blue Toad raised an invisible eyebrow.
"...We don't know..." Junior shrugged.
"That's the problem!" Iggy was clearly irritated at that point.
"Iggy, calm down!" Lemmy held a hand out.
"I don't need to calm down right now!" He glared. "Nothing is working. Because of us tricking dad, other lands are at risk. And when he realizes that we're all not there, he's gonna come straight back here and cause even more problems. Now we have even more to deal with! I think we should all feel guilty!"
"What are you saying?" Roy asked.
"HE'S SAYING THAT WE JUST PUT OTHER LANDS IN DANGER!"
By the time all eyes were on Ludwig after he yelled at the top of his lungs, he was already leaving Peach's room, shaking his head in disgust. He had no shame in slamming the door behind him.
It was getting near midnight again at Peach's castle. There was obviously no more paparazzi outside, which was one less thing everyone had to worry about. The princess herself wandered out the doorway since the doors were destroyed. It was quite astonishing to her that Dry Bowser ended up not targeting the whole castle. Then again, she then hypothesized that it was never his intention to attack the castle in the beginning, since the one thing that was probably on his mind was him getting the upper hand on the Koopalings.
She joined the eldest one that was faced away in a different direction, as well another friend of her that was simply observing his surroundings. Both of them had a million things running through their minds that were weighing them down.
Peach Toadstool turned to the dinosaur first. "What are you thinking, Yoshi?"
"...I don't know anymore..." He slowly shook his head, not even looking in her direction. "My home land is destroyed right now and I'm standing here doing nothing. I feel so dirty. I want to go back over there so badly, but I don't wanna leave you guys either. No matter what I'd do, I think I'm being selfish to people, which I'm not like at all."
"Well, don't feel guilty, even though I understand where you're coming room. I'm sure we'll be able to figure out something that will help everyone."
The green creature still hung his head down sighing. "I just... I don't even know where Bowser is, and I don't even know if he's gonna go there again or not. Even if he doesn't, it's still just as bad since he's gonna target somewhere else when he finds out that the Koopalings aren't at the castle. ...Something tells me that he's not gonna be there for long... I mean, he's gonna wonder why would they be at an already destroyed castle, anyway."
He finally turned to look her in the eyes. "...What are Bowser's minions doing?"
"Toad guardians, Toadsworth, and now Mario are watching them in the dining hall. None of us know what to do with them, yet..."
"...Did they at least try to escape?" Ludwig suddenly asked.
"Not at all." She shook her head. "We have about twenty of them in there at the moment. Of course we had to make them drop their weapons just to be on the safe side, but a couple of the Toad guardians didn't think they would attack anyway since I had my frying pan."
The blue-haired Koopa grabbed the white rail that was directly in front of him with both hands out of his anger. "Words can't even describe how ticked off I am at them right now... Just... why? I've known quite a few of father's henchmen since birth, and this is what ithey'd came to? I thought that they were on our side 100% to help us solve this... Cowards..."
No words were both from the green dinosaur, nor the ruler of the Mushroom Kingdom, so he kept going. "We have our father in danger, who knows what will happen if he comes back here, I don't know what he's going to do if he targets the Dark Lands, and Dinosaur Land's already in trouble. What's next? I'm fearing the worst. ...I even wonder the status of some of the inhabitants in Dinosaur Land because of what father did..."
"Don't say that Ludwig." Peach immediately responded. "Even if they are hurt, I'm sure at least someone is out there helping them if any way they can."
"Even if you're right, princess, I know peoples' homes are destroyed, and they have nowhere to go, just like the eight of us. He already attacked your castle. He can come back here whenever he pleases and attack anywhere he wants in this kingdom..."
Those last words struck Peach greatly. What if he was right? What if Bowser targets her kingdom again? What if he starts randomly attacking the houses of innocent families? He could also attack schools, stores, and even hospitals if he desired to.
Obviously, she couldn't just tell people to stay indoors, yet what other moves did she have? Tell people to move to another place temporarily? Bowser could be at that exact location any chance he got.
"Forget us." Ludwig interrupted. "Father could be planning an even bigger plot. Look at all that has happened over the years. Wouldn't be surprised if he's attempting world domination... again..."
"How are you guys doing?" Luigi suddenly asked, seemingly appearing from nowhere.
"And he is obviously being more aggressive than ever before. If this was the case, he is going to take over all the worlds. One-by-one..." Ludwig closed his eyes in disgust hanging his head down. "It's not him against all the worlds. It's literally the exact opposite. He's just one Koopa, but he's just not any Koopa. Only the Star Spirits know the amount of damage he can cause..."
"... ..." Luigi simply stared.
"Iggy can forget about the invention for now. We have to deal with the hardest task in the universe." Ludwig then groaned like he never groaned before. "All of this because of one person. Our own father..."
Peach felt an even bigger pit in her stomach. She knew Ludwig was right all the way. It was definitely overwhelming for her, the Mario Bros., the Koopalings, and everyone in Peach's castle. And as of now, it could potentially be any world that Bowser was planning on going after. Dinosaur Land already fell victim. And coming from Bowser of all people, he could have a million tricks up his sleeve to get what he wanted.
In case if one couldn't guess already, there was a lot of thinking that need to be taken place.
Ludwig looked over realizing that no words escaped from Peach in a while. His eyes then widened slightly as a result as he observed a couple tears rolling down her face. "Princess?"
Luigi went to her side and wrap his arm around her in reaction, though Peach had already covered her face with her glove hands. "...I don't know what to feel right now."
"Neither do the rest of us." The taller Mario brother answered. "The only predictable thing about Bowser is that he's unpredictable... sometimes at least... No matter how many times we've beaten him, I never felt as more scared as I do now."
"I mean, it's obvious that this isn't going to be handled within a span of twenty-four hours... At least not right now... Or..."
She then sighed in frustration and nimbly walked back inside her castle. "I don't know... I just don't... I need to calm myself down..."
Watching her walking off, Ludwig faced back in the direction he was in the beginning. His clenched hands never left the rail.
Luigi blinked as he pondered what to do. He barely talked to the Koopalings in person at all. Whenever they would fight against them, Mario typically did all the talking. Even the Toads conversed with them more than he did when they saw them again after a long while, due to Bowser Jr. constantly being in the spotlight.
Nonetheless, he felt he had to say something. Anything for that matter.
"...Um... Ludwig?"
"..." He turned to the green plumber slowly.
"...I... I'm sorry..."
Staring at him with his head down, Ludwig simply could not think of any words to say at that moment. He knew that his mind was focusing on a million things at once he was surprised at all that he was nearly speechless.
Then again, he was the same way. His mind was also racing.
Moments later, he exhaled deeply and started to make his way back inside Peach's castle. "I'm getting a headache. I'll be back shortly..."
So after rising from the dead, last week, I've managed to turn chapter 14 in today. So now that you've finished reading, I'm gonna to announce my reincarnated "Bowser's Castle" forum. Anyone can join as long as you believe in the fact that people have lives outside the internet (lol).
But seriously, feel free to join if you want! By the time you read this, all topics will be posted to get things started.
Questions:
1. Predict Dry/Bowser's next move. (I know this isn't really a question, but for right now, it counts.)
2. What would Yoshi do next? Is he gonna plan on going back to Dinosaur Land, stay in the Mushroom Kingdom, or is he too conflicted to decide?3. Who's the most distressed right now?
What do you like/dislike? I encourage everyone to review.