11
Mario slowly opened his eyes and heard the sound of his door banging uncontrollably. It was so loud that it sounded like someone lit a firework in his ear. Then, he heard his brother's voice.
"What is it, Luigi?!" he asked, not realizing the urgency of the situation. "Go back to bed!"
"WE'RE BEING RAIDED BY BOWSER'S TROOPS!" Luigi shouted through the door. "IF YOU WANT TO SURVIVE, THEN I SUGGEST GETTING OUT OF BED RIGHT THIS MINUTE! PAULINE SAID SO!"
Pauline? Mario thought. What's she doing here?
"Hurry! They're coming up the stairs!" Pauline suddenly shouted.
"Wasting no time, Mario ran for the door and let Luigi and Pauline inside his room. They were clearly in a state of panic. He closed the door behind them and locked it.
"Hurry and get dressed!" Pauline said. "We have to get to the pyramids right now!"
"How did you find us?" Mario asked.
"No time to explain!" Pauline said. "How are going to get out of here?!"
Suddenly, Pauline and the brothers got an uncomfortable sinking feeling as they heard footsteps making their way down the hall. They could not be seen by Bowser's forces.
"How far up is the balcony?" Luigi asked.
"It's too high!" Pauline said. "Unless you're willing to get a broken ankle, then that would be your best option."
"But then again we have green mushrooms." Mario said. "I think."
"Wait, what do you mean 'you think'?!" Luigi asked.
Mario quickly grabbed the rucksack and frantically searched for any green mushrooms that they could use.
"We don't have any green mushrooms left!" Mario said.
"What?!" Luigi asked. "I thought we had at least one left!"
"I gave it to Pauline!" Mario said.
Suddenly, the three friends heard pounding at the door. They wanted to scream, but they knew better than to give themselves away in front of a whole army of Koopas.
"Quick! Everyone hide!" Luigi whispered.
The three friends frantically searched the room for a place to hide. Luigi found a safe haven under the bed while Pauline managed to hide in the closet. Mario began to panic, for he was unable to find any other hiding spots.
"Mario! Hurry!" Pauline said from inside the closet. "Come hide in the closet!"
Having no other choice, other than the bed where space was severely limited, Mario quickly ran into the closet with Pauline and closed the door behind him. The two of them were barely able to fit inside together.
"Mario! I'm scared!" Luigi said from underneath the bed.
"Whatever you do, don't make any sound!" Mario whispered loudly. He turned to Pauline.
"What are we going to do?" she asked.
"That's what I'm trying to figure out." Mario said.
Suddenly, the door bashed open and Koopas started pouring into the room like a tidal wave. They immediately started searching the room.
"You! Check in the bathroom!" called one of the troops to his fellow officers. "We'll check under the bed!"
"What about the closet?" someone else asked.
"We'll check there too!" said the first troop. "We cannot let those Mario Brothers get away from us again!"
Oh God, help me! Luigi said as the troops got closer to the bed. I'm going to die! Judging by the amount of footsteps in the room, he guessed that there were about five Koopas searching the room. One of them was inching his way towards him.
As the Koopa neared the bed, he was already beginning to anticipate that there was someone underneath it.
"I know you're underneath the bed!" said the Koopa. "You can't hide from me!"
OH NO! Luigi thought to himself. THIS IS THE END OF ME! PLEASE, MARIO! DO SOMETHING!
The Koopa stooped down next to the bed and slowly lifted the bed sheet to reveal the space underneath. He spotted Luigi hiding underneath.
OH SHIT! Luigi thought.
"Well, well, well what do you know?" said the red-shelled Koopa who looking straight at the younger Mario brother.
"What is it, sir?" said a green-shelled Koopa.
"I found the skinny one hiding underneath the bed!" said the leader.
Luigi immediately tried escaping to the other side, but another Koopa was already there looking at him and ready to kill.
"Oh, God! NO!" Luigi cried. "This can't be happening!"
All five Koopas were laughing as they surrounded the bed. Luigi was trapped.
Suddenly, the Koopas heard the closet door open ever so slightly. They turned around with renewed interest.
"Is the other Mario brother hiding in there?" one of the Koopas asked.
"You mean the real Mario brother?" the leader asked.
"Shut up!" Luigi shouted. "I'm real too!"
"No shit, Sherlock!" said the red-shelled leader. "You're going to be the first one killed!"
Once again, why is it always the skinny one that has to die first? Luigi thought in disgust. I hope you thought of something good, brother!
"Go look in the closet!" said the red-shelled Koopa to one of the other Koopas.
"Yes, sir." said the Koopa standing in front of Luigi's feet. He walked over to the door and slowly opened it and was surprised at what he saw.
"Hello! What's this?!" said the Koopa.
WHAM!
The Koopa Troop flew onto the ground unconscious as Pauline stepped out of the closet and revealed herself. The others were shocked.
"You're not Mario!" the red-shelled leader shouted. "You're a woman!"
"No shit, Sherlock!" Pauline replied. Luigi was heard laughing underneath the bed.
"Step out of the way, woman! We don't have time to play any of your games!" said another Koopa.
"What are you talking about?" Pauline asked. "I was just about to let you look in the closet."
"What?" asked another Koopa. "Are you sure this isn't a trap?"
"There's no one else in there." Pauline said. "But if you want to be sure, go ahead and take a look."
"Well, if you insist." said the red-shelled Koopa. "But don't think you'll get out of this unscathed!"
One of the three green-shelled Koopas that was still conscious pushed Pauline out of the way and looked inside the closet. Sure enough, there was no one else inside. But when he turned around and was suddenly greeted by someone who was hiding on the ceiling and fell back to the floor. It was Mario!
"FREEZE!" he shouted, throwing an ice ball at the unsuspecting Koopa and encasing him in a huge block of ice.
"SHE LIED TO US!" said the leader. "GET HER!"
"Oh no you don't!" said a voice behind him. The Koopa turned around and immediately fell to the ground upon receiving a swift and hard punch to the face by Luigi. The two remaining Koopas immediately drew their weapons, and started swinging at the brothers. However, Mario was able to give them a cold blast before they ever had the chance to do harm.
"Quick! Let's get out of here!" Pauline said.
"The elevator is the quickest route." Mario said. "Let's go!"
"Wait for me!" Luigi shouted.
The three friends stepped out into the bright hallway and sprinted towards the elevator at the far end.
"Are you sure the elevator is the safest route?" Luigi asked.
"I don't see why it wouldn't be." Pauline said.
Suddenly, the elevator door opened and two Hammer Brothers stepped out into the hall. Both Pauline and the brothers gasped.
"There they are!" one of them shouted. "Get them!"
The three friends instantaneously turned around and headed for the stairs as the Hammer Brothers started chasing them. Pauline suddenly tripped as her right high heel shoe gave way underneath her foot.
"Pauline!" Mario shouted.
The Hammer Brothers were getting closer and Mario's ice powers were beginning to wear off. With the last bit of power he had, Mario was able to blast the Hammer Brother Koopas with a blast of chilly air and freeze them before they got to Pauline. He was now back to his normal self again.
"Thank you, Mario." Pauline said. "That was too close."
"Your welcome." Mario replied. "The elevator is probably safe now."
"Hopefully it's safe!" Luigi said. "I don't want to get killed anytime soon."
"Let's go!" Mario said. "Leave your shoes here, Pauline. They'll slow you down."
Pauline reluctantly took her shoes off and left them behind. The friends entered the now empty elevator and pressed the button to go to the first floor.
"Those were my best shoes!" Pauline complained. "I realize that they were slowing me down, but now I have to run around barefoot."
"We just want to get out here alive." Luigi said. "Don't you?"
"Of course!" Pauline replied. "I was the one that warned you guys to get away from here!"
"Touché." Luigi said, finding himself at fault. Suddenly, the elevator dinged and the door opened out into the main lobby.
"Oh my, God!" Mario said. "This not good!"
Inside the lobby was the rest of Bowser's army. There were red and green-shelled Koopas, Hammer Koopas, and Boomerang Koopas, all were starring at the two brothers and Pauline with the intent of killing them.
"It's them!" said a Boomerang Brother. Mario immediately closed the door as they got bombarded with boomerangs and hammers. He searched through the rucksack and found three fire flowers.
"Here, Luigi! Take one." Mario said. "Pauline?"
"I can't do that." Pauline said. "I'm allergic to those flowers."
"Stay here, then." Mario said. "I'll call the elevator when the battle is over."
Mario looked at Luigi, who was already rubbing the flower into his palm.
"Ready, brother?" Mario asked.
"Let's do this!" Luigi said.
As the fire started taking over the brothers' bodies, the elevator door suddenly opened and the Koopa Army started hammering them with their projectiles. Mario and Luigi started throwing fireballs rapidly their enemies, dodging boomerangs and hammers in the process.
"Luigi! Look out!" Mario shouted.
Luigi ducked as a large hammer almost hit him in the face and rushed over to help his brother. Soon the whole lobby was awash with red and green fire as the lobby became more and more 'empty'.
"Mario, watch out!" Luigi said. "There's a Koopa behind you!"
Mario turned around and saw that it was a red-shelled Koopa. Mario jumped on it, and then kicked it across the room, knocking over two Boomerang Brothers in the process. But the enemies kept coming at them like a wildfire.
"Would you two just die already?!" said a nearby Hammer Brother. Luigi responded with a green fireball, knocking him to the ground unconscious. Mario and Luigi found themselves standing back to back as they threw fireballs and slowly neutralized Bowser's small army.
After over two minutes of solid fighting, Mario and Luigi were down to only a couple of Koopas, who were showing signs of surrendering. Finally, the two green-shelled Koopas fell to the ground and gave up.
"We surrender!" they said in unison. "Don't kill us!" They ran out of the hotel at lightning speed to escape their wrath.
Mario wiped the sweat off of his face and turned to Luigi, who was ready to collapse. Luigi looked back at him and smiled.
"We did it again!" he said.
"I'll get Pauline." Mario said.
Mario ran to the elevator door and pressed the button as the fire powers started to wear off. The door opened and Pauline ran out of the elevator embracing Mario as she wept tears of joy.
"Oh, thank heavens you're alive!" she cried. "I was worried that you wouldn't make it!"
"It's over now." Mario said. "Let's get out of here."
"The door's this way!" Luigi said.
The friends ran across the lobby and ran out the front door and into the night leaving behind piles upon piles of unconscious and dead Koopa Troops. Bowser had failed again.