Chapter 5:
Kevin took the Mario Brothers down the long, winding stairwell to the depths of the castle. As they descended further, the light grew less and less until it was almost pitch dark. Mario and Luigi looked ahead at the Koopa Prince as they were levitated down the staircase just in front of the Koopa Prince. As the darkness grew, Kevin produced a magical light from his wand, which functioned as a flashlight. After a while, the stairwell ended, indicating that they were on the lowest level of the castle. The prince then took Mario and Luigi down a long corridor. As he walked, the Mario Brothers looked around through the darkness and saw that the cells on this level were completely empty. Eventually, Kevin reached his desired destination. He went over to an unoccupied cell and pointed his wand over to it. It was a metal room with a single door with a small window. The door opened as soon as he pointed the wand at the door. After the door flew open, he swished his wand and the two humans flew through the door, landing on the metallic floor with a thud. With another movement of his wand, the energy rings that bound the two brothers disappeared, allowing them to move once more. As soon as the rings disappeared, the door swung closed and a loud clank echoed throughout the cell. Mario rushed to the door and punched it, but it would not budge, and it did not even dent. The plumber could only grimace. Kevin had done his homework. He must have known that there had been a time when Mario was "cursed" to be able to turn himself into paper and would have been able to slide between the bars. While the curse had worn off two years ago, the Koopa Prince was not taking any chances. Luigi went over to him and tried to comfort him, saying, "Don't worry. Peach and the others will save us."
"That's what worries me," Mario said in reply. "I know that Kevin will be thinking along those lines, and the last thing we need is to have our friends be captured as well. Besides, I think we may still be able to get out of this."
"How?" Luigi asked. From his vantage point, things did not look good for the two of them at the moment.
"We wait for Bowser to publicly execute us. I think that I can manipulate Bowser into giving us a chance for escape. It won't be a good chance, on paper, but I think that we can get it done."
"I hope your right," Luigi said, his voice not expressing much confidence. "Because the last thing I want to do is to have to fight Kevin again."
Mario nodded in agreement. While they both had a feeling that with their superpowers, they would put on a better showing in a subsequent battle against the Koopa Prince; they also knew that Kevin had been holding back, himself. There were several times in their last fight where the prince could have killed them if he had wanted to. They just hoped that Bowser would not take his oldest son's advice and execute them quickly. Oddly enough, their best chance for escape at the moment was Bowser.
Outside the cell, Kevin walked down the corridor until he came across a pair of Dark Koopatrol sentries that were on patrol throughout the corridor. He went over to them and told them, "Captain Patroopinator, I want your entire squadron stationed down here to guard the Marios. I don't want there to be any chance of them escaping."
"Understood, sire," the Captain of the Guard answered. "Should we arm ourselves with any special items?"
Kevin nodded. "Yes, do so. I will also be sending down additional guards as well, just in case it becomes necessary, but do arm yourselves with special weapons as well. We need to take every contingency into account."
The captain nodded once more. "Understood." The captain then bowed. Kevin saluted him and then went back the way he came and went over to the main tower. He wanted to hear what plans, if any, Peach and anyone else was hatching in order to try to rescue the Marios.
Back at Princess Peach's Castle, Princess Peach Toadstool paced anxiously back and forth on the second floor balcony of the main hall of her castle. Toadsworth stood by her and tried to calm her down, saying, "Don't worry about the Mario Brothers, Princess. They've fought tough enemies before and come through. This time will be no different."
"I hope you're right, Toadsworth," Peach responded. "I just can't shake the feeling that Kevin is a lot tougher than any of the other enemies that Mario and Luigi have faced before. I know that there have been stronger fighters, like the Shadow Queen or even Bowser when he was powered up by the Star Rod, but Kevin's different from them. He isn't nearly as arrogantly secure in their own power as they were. Kevin actually takes the time to plan his battles. He lured Mario and Luigi to him, rather than just take me to his father's castle and leave a bunch of minions for Mario to warm up against while he gloated over his victory."
"I understand," the elderly steward agreed. Like Peach, Toadsworth knew that Kevin had to have been planning something. The question in his mind was whether or not taking down the Mario Brothers was his endgame, or merely a means to an end.
Suddenly, Peach heard a knocking at the door to the castle. She rushed down the stairs to greet whoever was entering, assuming that it was a friend. The door opened before she arrived and Kooper, Bombette, and Lady Bow helped a hurt Goombario through the door. When Peach came over to meet them to see how things went, the gloomy expressions on the four friends' faces told her all she needed to know. "I failed," Goombario lamented. "Kevin managed to capture the Mario Brothers."
"Capture?" Peach asked. "Not kill?"
Goombario nodded.
"Then there's still hope!" Toadsworth shouted exuberantly.
"Hope?" Goombario scoffed. "Chances are that Kevin will merely present them to his father just before he kills them all."
"I'm not so sure about that," Kooper said thoughtfully. "I've been reading up a bit on Bowser, and if his oldest son is powerful enough to defeat the Mario Brothers in battle and capture them, then Bowser might not be so thrilled about his son's present."
"Why not?" Goombario and Bombette asked.
"Because Bowser'll view Kevin as a threat to his power," Bow answered for Kooper. This statement surprised Peach and the others greatly and they did not bother to hide their shock.
"Kevin, a threat to Bowser's power?" Bombette scoffed. "If Kevin always had the power to beat the Marios and he wanted to take his father's throne, then any battle would have already been fought; and it would have been no contest. He would have easily taken the throne. The Koopa Troop would have gladly followed someone like Kevin into battle. He won't waste his troops, unlike a certain Koopa King who currently reigns supreme in the Koopa Kingdom."
"I know," Kooper replied. "That's why I think that we may still have a chance to rescue them." The others then focused on the Koopa and he explained what he meant. "Kevin has always been extremely loyal to his father, treating Bowser like his father, rather than his king. But Kevin is also loyal to the Koopa Kingdom, specifically, its people. And every time Mario rescues Peach, or an attack on the Mushroom Kingdom is made, countless Koopas, Goombas, and other members of Bowser's army are killed; which results in Bowser merely drafting more and more Koopas, Goombas, Boos, etcetera, into the army…"
"Only to be killed in the next assault," Bombette finished.
"I can see why Bowser might not kill Mario and Luigi right away," Peach commented. "He wants to let everyone know that he actually has the power to kill the Mario Brothers in the hopes that anyone who would agitate for Kevin to try to take the throne would stay silent if they think that Bowser actually has the strength to kill the Marios."
As they were continuing to discuss the events of Mario's capture, Toad, Peach's faithful friend and retainer came charging into the main hall, panting as he reached her. He was dressed in a blue vest, white diaper-looking pants, and a white cap with red spots on it. He was also a close friend of the Mario Brothers and had been praying for Mario's safety. As he went over to Peach, he called out to her, "Princess! You've gotta come up to the conference room! Bowser's giving a speech to the entire Koopa Kingdom. He's got Mario and…"
"Yes Toad, we know," Peach told him glumly. "I just found out myself."
"Well Bowser's treating this like it's a national holiday for the entire Koopa Kingdom."
"But he hasn't killed them yet?" Goombario asked, hoping that the Koopa King would hold off on killing the Marios.
"No, not yet," Toad answered. "Come on, guys. We've still got a chance to see what his plans are." He then rushed over to the conference room, with Peach and the others right on his heels.
The group soon arrived at the conference room and entered. The interior of the room was painted white with a pink line outlining the ceiling above. There was a large table situated in the center of the room with eight chairs positioned around the table. Four Toads were already sitting in the seats, with Peach quickly taking one at the head of the table. Mounted on the wall in front of them was a large high definition television. On the television, the image of Bowser standing at a large podium, surrounded by eight of his children in clear sight with Kevin standing a ways off in the background. The Koopa King was already in the middle of his speech and the others listened to him as he was saying, "…and under my orders, my oldest son, Kevin, was able to enter the Mushroom Kingdom and capture our greatest enemies, Mario Mario, and Luigi Mario, collectively known as the Super Mario Brothers." Bowser then motioned for his oldest son to step forward, which he reluctantly did. The prince looked to be ill at ease standing in the spotlight. The cheers from the crowd could be heard and confetti rained down upon both Bowser and Kevin.
"Well, it looks like Bowser's already bending the truth," Toad said derisively.
Goombario nodded. "Yeah, there's no way that Bowser ordered Kevin to capture the Marios. If he had ordered Kevin to go after them, it would have been to kill them."
The others, however, motioned for Toad and Goombario to quiet down as they listened to the rest of Bowser's speech. The Koopa King soon continued, "With the capture of the Super Mario Brothers, our greatest enemies are finally under our heel. As such, I have scheduled a mandatory appearance by each and every Koopa in Koopa City outside of my castle three days from now. It is then that the Mario Brothers shall be publicly executed, so make plans to come. There will also be a kingdom-wide media blackout with the television and radio stations only covering the execution of the Marios. Today is truly a great day for the Koopa Kingdom, and three days from now will be a national holiday that will be celebrated in this wonderful kingdom for millennia to come."
With that, Bowser finished his speech and stepped down from the podium. Various Koopa news reporters shoved microphones in his faces and asked a barrage of questions, but the Koopa King merely made his way over to the rest of his family. As such, he left it to Kevin to answer all of the questions, since he was the one who captured the Marios. Before the others could listen to Kevin speak, the television screen went blank as one of the Toads turned it off.
"Well you heard him," Peach began. "We've got three days to come up with a rescue plan."
"A rescue plan?" Toad gasped. "Princess, Kevin just captured what amounts to our entire army! They're being held in the capital of the Koopa Kingdom in what is certainly going to be the most heavily defended of Bowser's castle! And chances are that they'll be expecting an attack. Heck, Kevin's probably beefed up security already. It'll be easy for Bowser to make it look like it was his idea. There's no way that we'll manage to reach the castle in three days, and that's if we even had the ability to launch an invasion in the first place, which we don't."
"I know," Peach responded, looking downcast. "However, we can't just sit by and do nothing."
"We won't," Goombario declared. Kooper, Bombette, and Lady Bow then stepped forward to support Goombario.
"We're with you," they each said in unison. "And I can alert Parakarry as to what happened," Kooper offered.
"Yeah," Goombario blurted. "I also have kept in touch with Watt, Sushie, and Lakilester, too. With their help, we can send a rescue force to get back Mario and Luigi."
"Hey, don't leave me out of this," a young adult sounding voice burst in from the exit to the room.
The others turned and found a pinkish Goomba with a blond ponytail, dressed in a brownish hard hat with flashlight and a piece of clothing covering her torso with a red tie. "Glad you managed to make it so quickly, Goombella," Peach told her.
"Thanks for alerting us to the situation," Goombella responded. "Koops and the others should be arriving shortly, too."
Goombario took one look at the beautiful young Goomba that had entered and was instantly smitten. However, he did a good job of managing to hide his infatuation with her and merely asked, "Excuse me, ma'am, who are you?"
"I'm Goombella," the female Goomba answered. "I helped out Mario when he went on an adventure to Rogueport a couple years back."
"Hey, I remember you, now," Lady Bow called out. "You were with Mario when he visited Poshley Heights after the Shadow Queen was destroyed."
"Lady Bow, I take it," Goombella said, looking over at Bow. "Where's your butler?"
"Looking after the mansion," Bow responded.
"Ahem," Peach said, not so subtly telling them that they could catch up later. Now, they had to focus on making a plan to rescue Mario and Luigi.
After a few minutes, the other allies of Mario began to arrive. The first were the rest of Goombario's friends: Sushie, a Cheep-Cheep with a purple upper body and a tan underbelly, orange tail fins and dorsal fin, with white fins on her side; Watt, a yellow, sparking Li'l Sparky, a round yellow, sparking being with a pacifier-like plug in her mouth. Next came Parakarry, a Koopa Paratroopa and mail carrier with a blue shell and a brown airman's helmet and goggles, and a mail pouch on his side. The last of Goombario's acquaintances was Lakilester, a Lakitu who wore sunglasses, had a green spiked haircut, and rode a white cloud. As they entered, Lakilester asked, "So, what's the story?"
"Mario and Luigi were captured by Kevin Koopa," Goombario answered.
This caused Lakilester and Parakarry to raise their eyebrows. "Kevin?" they asked in unison. "Bowser's finally letting Kevin enter the fight?"
The others nodded solemnly. "Not exactly 'letting' him enter," Peach corrected. "Kevin entered the fight on his own accord."
It was not long before Goombella's friends arrived as well. Being led into the conference room by Toadsworth were Koops, a Koopa Troopa with a green shell who wore a sky blue hooded sweatshirt, blue shorts, and white shoes; Flurrie a female blue skinned wind spirit with wild blue hair similar in style to Ludwig von Koopa's, a golden necklace, green earrings, and golden bracelets; a young green Yoshi with a red mohawk and a piece of his yellow and white spotted egg covering his lower abdomen; Vivian, a female purple Shadow Spirit with a red and white striped hat, long pink hair, and white gloves; Admiral Bobbery, a Bob-omb with a long, gray mustache, a sailor's cap, and a mechanism that resembled a ship's wheel as a part of his back, which looked to serve the function of the normal wind-up switch that all other Bob-ombs possessed; and last but not least, Ms. Mowz, a Squeek, a being that resembled a mouse in form but also had two small arms along with two legs. Ms. Mowz wore a red mask over her eyes, wore red stockings over her legs, as well as having her long, thin tail curl into the shape of a heart. As the friends entered, they introduced themselves to one another so that they could all be acquainted before the group got down to business: the rescue of Mario.
Once they were all properly introduced, the group took the opportunity to watch Bowser's speech once more so they could all catch up on the current situation. Once the recording of the speech was finished, Princess Peach stood at the head of the table and called, "Okay, now that everyone's been caught up on the current situation, we all know the reason you were called here. We don't have a lot of time so I'll get right down to the point. We've got less than three days to get Mario and Luigi out of Bowser's Castle before they are executed. I know what I am asking for is dangerous. Yes, the Mario Brothers have been able to do what we are now forced to do in order to rescue them, but I also know that we are not the Marios. Not only that, but chances are that Kevin will likely be in charge of security. And even if he isn't officially in charge, you can bet that he'll be making some suggestions to both his father and to other guards on how to keep the Marios in. Still, we cannot let this execution go forward," she insisted. "The Super Mario Brothers have done so much for this kingdom, and for each and every one of you!" she proclaimed. "Now it is time for us to carry our own weight. We have to attempt a rescue!"
One of the Toads, a Toad guard with green spots on his head raised his hand and then spoke in a shaky voice, saying, "But you've already told us that Kevin's likely in charge of security at the castle. Unlike Bowser, Kevin's no fool. He knows what the deaths of the Marios means to both the Koopa Kingdom and to his father. There's no way we'll be able to storm the castle and get Mario. We'll be slaughtered!"
"Then we don't storm the kingdom," Vivian interrupted. The others then looked over at the Shadow Spirit. "As stated before, doing so would be suicide," she continued, "and it would take too long for such a mission to be accomplished given the numbers necessary. Instead, we infiltrate the Koopa Kingdom. There are a ton of spies in the Mushroom Kingdom. Look around," she told everyone as her eyes swept over all whom were present. They each did so and focused on one another. "We've got two Koopa Troopas and Goombas here. Of the Goombas, Goombella is recognizable due to being female and her distinctive ponytail, but if Goombario takes off his cap, then he's no different physically than any of the other Goombas in Bowser's army. As for the Koopa Troopas, here, we've got Kooper and Koops. Kooper has a blue shell and if he takes off his handkerchief, he'd be a dead ringer for any one of Bowser's Blue Koopa Troopas. Koops could also pass for one of Bowser's minions if he takes off his hoodie and shirts."
The blue Toad was unconvinced. "It's one thing to look like a member of Bowser's army," the Toad said. "It's another to actually be able to infiltrate the Koopa Troop and actually get to Bowser's Castle. Security will be tight. No one from the outside save for Koopatrols will likely be allowed inside the castle, itself."
"True," Vivian admitted.
"That shouldn't be too hard for us," Koops proclaimed. "There are a lot of Koopas in Bowser's army. All we really need to do is look the part and act it as well. Kevin can't be everywhere at once. All we need to do is look and act the part so we can get close to the castle. Bow can turn invisible and get a map of the castle for us, assuming it's all that hard to navigate."
"Even better is the fact that I could find out Mario's location and get him out of the cell," Bow added.
"That might be better for me to do," Vivian suggested. "I can take Mario into the shadows, and I've gotten better at taking things, and people, with me in the shadows as well since my last adventure with him."
"So, where do we stand?" Goombario asked.
"You all will be guards and pass off our credentials should we be stopped for whatever reason," Vivian replied.
"It sounds like a plan," Goombella added.
"I see only one problem," Peach commented. "What do those of you who are more recognizable do? I mean, Vivian and Bow can keep to the shadows and avoid detection, but what about people like Lakilester, Bombette, or Bobbery? Even Flurrie will be recognized by Bowser's troops, to say nothing of Sushie being completely out of her element."
"We'll provide the distraction," Bombette replied. "We are, as you have said, Princess, too easily recognized. Bowser's forces would be on us in an instant. We can use this to our advantage, though, during the escape attempt. We could divert a large number of Bowser's troops away from Mario and Luigi and allow Bow and Vivian to enter. They're already strong enough to take on and defeat any resistance that they may encounter short of Kevin. And the two of them together might just be enough to cause the Koopa Prince some concern."
"Thanks," Vivian said, blushing.
"Thanks for the vote of confidence, but I'd rather not have to test my mettle against someone like Kevin without some help," Bow said, though she, too, was pleased at the vote of confidence from Bombette.
"Of course, you would have to remain behind, Princess," Toadsworth told Peach before anyone else could make the suggestion, or Peach decided to volunteer herself to be part of the decoy group.
"What?" Peach blurted.
"He's right," Flurrie stated plainly. "While you'd definitely be a tremendous decoy, Kevin and some of the other higher-ranking generals would know for certain that there was a big plan if you were part of the decoy mission."
"I've been taking some lessons since my last kidnapping," Peach countered. "I can fight."
"I know you can," the Wind Spirit responded. "But secrecy is the key, here. We have to divert the guards away for as long as it takes Vivian and Bow to get Mario and Luigi out of that castle."
"And who better to divert Bowser's forces than me?" the Princess asked.
"And what better way to tell Kevin that we've got a huge rescue plan going on than to have you lead a rescue attempt," Goombella countered. "Guys and gals like me can get away with it. We're known fighters and known to be independent. Bowser's goons wouldn't bat an eye at one of us leading a one-person rescue attempt of Mario and Luigi. You, on the other hand…" she left the statement unfinished, but Peach knew exactly what she meant. And she could not deny the fact that Goombella was right. As much as she was loathe to admit it, her presence on the rescue team would merely be a hindrance to them and increase the chances of failure.
Eventually, the Princess acquiesced to the others' wishes and said, "Fine. I'll stay behind. But if things go wrong, I'll be coming to the rescue."
The others had no problem with that, and replied, "Fine by us."
"Stay alert, Princess," Koops told her, "I can see a lot of ways that this can go wrong."
"One more thing," Toadsworth added. "What about extraction?"
"That shouldn't be too hard for us," Kooper replied. "We can just hijack one of Bowser's Clown Cars or one of the smaller airships if needed."
The group then discussed amongst themselves who would be in charge of what during the rescue mission. It was already agreed that Lady Bow and Vivian would be the ones to get Mario and Luigi out of their cells and to an airship or Clown Car that they could then use to escape the kingdom. Kooper, Koops, Parakarry, and Goombario would take the role of members of Bowser's army and infiltrate the castle with their disguises. It would not be difficult for the party to find a Spiked Goomba spy and take his helmet and give it to Goombario to complete his outfit. As for Koops and Kooper, they already looked the part. A change of clothing would make them almost impossible for an outsider to tell apart from any one of the rank and file members of the Koopa Troop. The same thing could also be said of Parakarry. The final group in this mission consisted of Goombella, Bombette, Sushie, Lakilester, Watt, Flurrie, Bobbery, Yoshi Kid, and Ms. Mowz. They would be the ones to distract the guards. Goombella looked over at Ms. Mowz and could not shake the feeling that the Squeek might try to use this opportunity to attempt to steal a valuable item from Bowser's Castle. She shook off the thought. If anything, that might actually help their cause. Once the discussions had concluded, they proceeded to leave the conference room and make the necessary preparations for the rescue attempt of the Mario Brothers.
Meanwhile, back in Bowser's Castle, on the lowest level of the castle, Mario and Luigi sat on metal pallets inside their cell. Mario was hard at work trying to see if there were any secret exits by checking the room's metallic walls for any signs of weakness or any lines that might indicate a secret panel of some sort. Luigi, however, merely sat in the cell, staring at the ceiling. He did not look it, but he was busy contemplating the possibility of escape. Unfortunately, nothing came to mind. All of his scenarios ended with Kevin finding them out and defeating them in battle. After all, it would be easy for him to justify killing the Super Mario Brothers if they were found trying to escape. Eventually, Mario went back over to Luigi, defeated. "Did you find anything?" Luigi asked his older brother.
Mario shook his head. "No. This cell's locked up tight. Whoever designed this dungeon did a really good job."
"Ten bucks says it was Kevin," Luigi quipped.
Mario smiled at his brother's attempt at humor. "No bet there," he answered. He then looked downcast. "Yeah, there's no way we're getting out of here short of someone else breaking us out before our execution."
That then gave Luigi an idea. "Then we'll just have to wait for the execution to make our move," he said, knowingly.
Mario looked over at him questioningly. "What do you mean?"
The younger brother gave a soft chuckle. "We've got the perfect scenario to allow us to escape," Luigi told him. "Bowser, himself."
Mario then realized where Luigi was going and his spirits lifted. Indeed, if Luigi was right, then they were not out of this yet, not by a long shot.