No Such Thing

Chapter 20 - Emotional Evacuation

Okay, so coming into 2019, I'm proud to say that not only that this is by far my most reviewed fic on this site, but I've gotten a few favorites in between this chapter and the previous one, meaning that people still actually care for this in spite of the inconsistency when it comes to posting chapters. I don't know what it is about this, but thank you! Never expected a Mario fic of all things to be 'that fic' right now. If only if I stay consistent, then I would probably gain more interest for this (not that I don't have interest for this anymore, but lately I've been struggling on the direction this fic is going. I know where it leads in terms of character and plot development, I just need to figure out all the details, which is why this fic is one of my most difficult to write, but I'll pull through eventually.) Hope you guys enjoy!

~KF

Although initially stunned, Toadsworth had to react to Princess Peach's suggestion straightaway, barely having a moment to let her statement sink in. The decision to evacuate Dinosaur Land was obviously a necessary move for any inhabitant that desired to have a chance at surviving, given the state it was in at the time.

The princess of the Mushroom Kingdom's message quickly reached out to Dinosaur Land to split its citizens between the Mushroom Kingdom and Dark Lands had to take affect, whether they were injured or not.

Everyone was aware of the fact that they of course needed the word of King Bowser Koopa himself on whether or not they should follow through, though obviously it was not possible, so the Koopalings were next in line, and of course they had to apply common sense when it came to their decision.

Knowing that the citizens of Dinosaur Land never had to undergo anything like an evacuation previously, it was the very reason to why literally everyone was heartbroken, especially Princess Peach, who was currently sitting in her room in the castle again, wanting some time alone to think everything over.

"All of this happening within a week. All those innocent people. All those children fighting their own father. Why do things have to be this way? Nobody deserves this. All of the years I've been ruling, this is by far the most difficult with this alone... Imaging having to go through the rest of the year with this... My father always taught me to be strong. If it was meant to be a warning, now I know that it was the biggest warning that I would ever get."

She sighed and hung her head down.

"Clearly, this is all going to take more than one strong woman to fix this. We need all the help we can get, but I'm fearful of us messing this up somehow. This all happened out of nowhere, so we usually do not deal with situations like these everyday, but this is one that we can simply not runaway from. I just hope we could all work this out and at least keep everybody together if we're all gonna get through this?"

A knock was then heard on her door. "Princess?"

It was the sound of one of her many Toad servants. "It's open."

Opening the door and stepping into the doorway, a Purple Toad stared in her direction. "You have another visitor downstairs. He wishes to speak with you."

"Who is it?" She stood up.

"Donkey Kong."

"Donkey Kong?" She repeated with a walk to the toad. "Here?"

Indeed he was in the Mushroom Kingdom. The ape, who became great friends with the Mario Bros. and Peach, happened to be making his way throughout the main hall, with Toadsworth by his side. Out of curiosity, he was currently glancing around the place. In spite knowing them for years, he never witnessed the interior of the castle, which of course looked far larger than he expected. He would have called it perfect, had it not been for the damages thanks to Dry Bowser.

Yet, the looks of the place were the least of everyone's problems. It did not take long for the brown-haired ape and the lady in pink to meet up, greeting each other the second they laid eyes on each other.

"How have you heard of this?" Princess Peach inquired.

"I was informed of everything." He began to elaborate. "Back at home, I've seen a few inhabitants from Dinosaur Land entering my land, and they've quickly explained to me what happened with them. I then find out that Bowser, or Dry Bowser, is behind all of this."

"How long did take you to get here?"

"I'd say about a couple hours. I left Diddy with Funky back home, since I know more of Dinosaur Land's citizens are going to appear, and if I was going to leave my own land behind knowing that Bowser could also attack there (which I was also informed about), then I would not rather have all of us go here. Sure, it wouldn't make sense for me of all people to come here instead of staying behind, but what if Bowser doesn't attack where I live?"

"I was originally going to help them out, but then, not only have I heard that Mario, Luigi, and Yoshi were assisting everyone, but I have also heard of the complete story behind Dry Bowser's attacks." He continued with his explanation. "Even though I desired to help the Dinosaur Landers out, I fear that he might just turn around and head back to the Mushroom Kingdom. And so, I thought to myself: 'at least somebody has to be there to help out'."

"Oh..." Peach had to think for a moment to make sure she heard everything right. "...So, you've found out... everything?"

"Yes." He nodded again. "I found out the Koopaling part and the possibility of the Mushroom Kingdom being attacked again at the last minute, which was the only reason to why I came here. If you need any assistance, someone has to be here to help."

"Oh." She formed a small smile. "Well, I appreciate your kindness, Donkey Kong. Right now, my servants are taking extra precautions in case he in fact does back. We're already trying to take care of the door situation. The drawbridge is going to be raised to cover the door so that no one, unless expected visitors, should enter here... unless of course it's someone we know and trust."

He smirked for a bit. "I happened to come at just the right time, then."

Suddenly, the ape jumped a bit when he found Toadsworth poking his side with his finger. "I suggest that you make yourself comfortable here, monkey. We are all probably going to be here for a while as we attempt to work something out. This mess can clean itself up, you know? If you so desire to see the Koopalings, they should all be in the lounging area at the moment."

"I suppose I could show my face and say hello." He bobbed up and down before following the elderly Toad along, following by him facing Peach for a moment. "...And I just wanted to say... I am terribly sorry for all that has happened."

Watching his sympathetic eyes was enough to make Peach feel sorry for Donkey Kong for feeling sorry for her. "Don't worry, DK. We're all in this together."

As he began to disappear with Toadsworth, Peach once again had quite a few thoughts going through her head. Firstly, she was astonished that Donkey Kong managed to get word of the big predicament so quickly. Then again, his land was not that far from Mushroom Kingdom, in comparison to somewhere like Sarasaland. Another thing that popped up in her train of thought was her wondering of how DK's reception would be. Of course, he was always on Mario's side whenever it came to dealing with Bowser, but his involvement was rare. Most of the time when DK and Bowser are near each other is whenever they decide to play sports or in the Super Smash Bros. tournaments. The chances of him interacting with Bowser Junior were even lower. Divide that possibility by a thousand, and those were the chances of him meeting the rest of his siblings once in a while.

Them seeing his face, she would not be surprised if they ended up not caring for his arrival that much, unless they were curious of him being in the Mushroom Kingdom of all places, let alone in Princess Peach's castle.

"No personal belongings! We need to make as much room as possible!"

"Right this way! We need to move!"

"Hurry up and get your kids! He'll come by here any minute!"

Four large, wooden boats contained many of the surviving citizens of Dinosaur Land. Judging by easy math, two of them were heading to the Dark Lands, while the other two were planning on heading to the Mushroom Kingdom. Mario, Luigi, and Yoshi of course were going for the latter due to obvious reasons.

"Yoshi... Yoshi look at me..."

Mario and Yoshi were standing side-by-side, with Mario's brother close behind. The man in green could not stand to see Yoshi being in the current state he was in. What ever happened to the free-spirited, heroic, adorable character that he had? In fact, he could not even recall one time had he been this way before. It pained him, and of course Mario, deeply. And it came to the point to where Luigi questioned himself on whether or not it was really the same Yoshi he had seen all those years.

"He's not saying anything. He hasn't spoke a word for the past thirty minutes..." He stared.

"Is it really a surprise, though?" Mario turned. "It really scares me to see them this way. Even when we do leave here, if anything, it's going to make everything worse since he's leaving his land."

He gave him a pat on the back. "Don't worry, pal. This is not going to last forever."

They were heading one of the last two boats that was set to travel to the Mushroom Kingdom any minute; the group of three decided that it was best for them to not board until the last minute to make sure they helped as many people as they could, first, which took no one by surprise.

One quick notice of the trio caused people to attempt at their best at pushing themselves to the side to let them on.

"So, are they planning on making a second trip?" asked Luigi.

"They do, but I'm not so certain if they actually will given the chances of Bowser coming here of all places." Mario responded. "The ones that can't get on board will be taken somewhere to hide in case he actually does show up here."

Luigi then witnessed a sigh escaping from him as he stared below. "I can't help but feel guilty, though. We're three people. Three that could mean three more Dinosaur Land inhabitants that could be on here right now."

Yoshi meanwhile, was simply taking his last look of Dinosaur Land, possibly for who knows how long. The land he had know for since he came out of the egg was now know for being the next land that was victimized by Dry Bowser.

"Somehow I knew you were going to say that." Luigi shook his head gradually. "I feel guilty too, but I feel that everyone will be alright if they manage to come back. They're all going to hide for a reason. After all, the only reason to why we're on here right now is because of the fact that we need to return to the Mushroom Kingdom as fast as possible. Bowser can't be in three places at once, but he could return whenever he wants to. Peach needs all the help we can get. Look, I know that it's not really Bowser we're dealing with, but Dry Bowser doesn't know everything. We'll put a stop to him."

Out of nowhere, Mario ended up stumbling back a little into someone from behind after being hugged by the green dinosaur.

"...Yoshi?"

One look down, and tears were strolling down his face. "(...Please... help me...)"

I do apologize in advance if Donkey Kong's entrance felt rushed and if Yoshi was somehow too emotional despite the circumstances of what is going on at the moment. Regardless, chapter 20 is finally done, and now it has over 50,000 words, which is my second fic to do so after my Super Smash Bros. story "Survivor - Kodai Island". (Mario, Donkey Kong, and Bowser are three of the twenty main characters by the way, so if you're interested, check it out!)

I encourage everyone to review and I will see you all next time!