Raindrops lightly tapped the windshield as she drove through the center of the street. She didn't want the stupid "security guidelines" of the toads, so she drove alone.
Princess Peach sighed. Still no sign of him. What had happened was horrible, but it was no reason to go into hiding.
She had no other choice than to keep looking. Only the headlights of her royal car illuminated the road as she drove into the dark night.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Luigi sat in his living room, with a sad expression on his face. He was thinking about the events of the last hour. He remembered them perfectly.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
55 minutes earlier
Mario couldn't take it anymore. He had seen enough. He got on his kart, started it and drove away from there.
Luigi spotted him. "Mario! Wait!" he shouted at his brother. Mario didn't even look back. Luigi knew he had to do something. He got on his kart as well.
Princess saw them, and ordered a chopper to track the chase. He needed to tell Mario something very important.
Waluigi was recovering. The medics had managed to revive him, but they needed to get him to a hospital fast.
Luigi and Mario had already left the course, and were headed towards Toad Town. Mario accelerated, not wanting Luigi to catch up. Luigi wanted to use his turbo, but thought he might need it later. He could still reach Mario's kart if he gassed it.
Mario noticed Luigi speeding up, and drove into a group of trees. I can probably lose Luigi here, he thought. He skillfully maneuvered around every tree, and knowing Luigi wasn't as good as he was, he was sure Luigi would get left behind.
Luigi thought exactly the same thing. If he tried going into the woods, he would crash for sure. And then no one would catch up to Mario. Suddenly, he heard a helicopter approaching. It was a familiar shade of pink, and had a mushroom on it. Peach's helicopter.
The toad driving the helicopter turned on his radio and said, "We have a visual, I repeat, we have a visual, over."
A voice sounded from the radio. "Pick up Luigi if he gets into trouble. We need to catch Mario!"
"Yes, ma'am" replied the toad. They turned the helicopter in the direction of the trees, and threw a ladder down to a confused Luigi. Luigi looked around to see if the ladder was for anyone else, and after seeing no one, grabbed the ladder and yelped as he was lifted into the air.
The chase was on.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bowser(the first) had been laughing for over 5 minutes already. He had seen the whole thing on his TV (that for some strange reason, had horns instead of antennae).
"I didn't think that it would go this well!" Bowser happily exclaimed.
Bowser reviewed his evil plan in his head. It was almost fool-proof, but Mario always found a way around. But it looked like this time Mario's emotions got in the way of his hero-ingy stuff.
"Doopliss did a good job, didn't he?" Bowser Jr. said, happy for his father.
"Yes," Bowser replied grinning evilly. "Yes he did."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The ambulance at the scene started shaking violently. Then it stopped.
Peach noticed the comotion and went over to investigate. Most toads had gone to attend the Mario situation, so she was one of the last ones left, besides her 2 body guards and other officials.
Suddenly, the back doors of the ambulance flew open. Inside was Waluigi, completely healed.
"Huh?" Peach asked, puzzled. "Waluigi- but you were- burned an-and stuff-"
A wicked smile was Waluigi's answer. Then, Waluigi started changing. His body got smaller and he finally took on his original form. Doopliss.
Peach gasped. So Bowser's minions were behind the whole accident. Or "accident".
"Surprised to see me princess?" asked Doopliss, grinning widely. "Our plan is working perfectly, hehe." He easily defeated the shocked toad guards. He then reached out to the princess, but she ran away, startling Doopliss. She almost never ran away, because her dress kept her from doing it. But Peach knew this was no mere kidnapping. If Bowser succeeded, their kingdom would have no more hero.
Peach looked back. Doopliss was catching up. She sighed heavily, knowing it was necessary. The princess blushed, thinking about what she was about to do. Then she grabbed her dress tightly and, still blushing, ripped it off.
Doopliss stopped running and stared in awe. The princess could now run faster since she was now in her pink underwear. Remember, this is a T rated fic, so that's as descriptive as I can be. But also consider that she's not naked. That would be weird.
A nearby toad was also watching. He saw a princess running half-naked from a ghost thing. Uh-huh. He rubbed his eyes, then looked again. The scene was the same. He turned around, to respect the princess, but smiled to himself. You don't see that every day, he thought.
Princess Peach stopped running and hid behind a tree. It was kind of cold, and even colder if you have almost nothing on. But at least she had lost him.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Luigi looked down at the city, admiring the amazing view from above. It was kind of scary, being really high up, but it was no time to be scared. He had to find Mario and stop him from doing something crazy or stupid.
The helicopter was fast, but Lugi didn't think it was fast enough to catch Mario. But still, if they found him, they could follow his kart, and it had to run out of gas sooner or later.
"There he is!" the toad co-pilot exclaimed. The red kart rampaged through the street, nearly running over a few toads. Luigi couldn't believe what his brother was doing. As if Waluigi was that important. He shifted uncomfortably in his seat. But it was still-shudders-...murder.
Or was it?
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"You really think you have a chance agai-against THAT!?" John yelled desperately.
"You're not helping..." I growled at him. I know Dry Bones are almost invincible, but I had to do something. I was 100% sure that Bowser Jr. was planning something. And something inside me told me that it had something to do with us. But then why did he want to get rid of us?
I was taken from my thoughts by Dry Bones' evil laugh. It was still dark, but I could still see his evil red eyes. I took a couple of steps back. For some reason, I wasn't as scared as I thought I would be. Something in the back of my head told me: It's just a Dry Bones!
And it was. A Dry Bones willing to eat my brains, or whatever they do. But I still wasn't scared. The voice in my head got louder. "He's just another common enemy. Stomp it! Stomp it!"
What? Stomp it? What did it mean by that? Jump on its head? Ha! That's ridiculous.
John finally decided to be a man and help. He got up and turned on his flashlight. I could finally see.
"Hey! You stupid Dry Bones! Over here!" he taunted. The Dry Bones looked annoyed. It turned around and headed towards John.
John looked like he had a plan. And he did. As soon as the Dry Bones got close enough, he did a little spin, stuck out his leg and kicked Dry Bones' bottom part with all his might. Then, the Dry Bones fell over. I looked at the Dry Bones, then at the ground in front of me. It's feet were missing. I leaned over over a picked them up.
John started to do a victory dance. "Ha!" he shouted. "Looks like I de-feeted you!"
I just stared. I didn't think anyone could come up with such a bad joke at a time like this. "..."
His smile disappeared. "It was just a pun...you know 'feet'..."
We stared at each other, then at Dry Bones. It looked like he was concentrating. I then felt the feet in my hands moving.
"I think he's trying to regenerate," I said.
"Well, don't let him get his feet back," John replied, "We have the upper hand, or fe-" He stopped, realizing it was the same bad pun, used differently. "Whatever."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mario frowned. He had noticed the helicopter by now. Why couldn't they just leave him alone? He wanted to be alone, and think about what he was going to do. One thing was for sure, his life would never be the same. Then, Mario saw something with which he could easily lose Luigi and the Princess.
Mario turned left and parked in front of a store. He got out of his kart and walked close to the wall, so he wouldn't be seen. He stood in front of a familiar green tube. Then he jumped into it and disappeared. The toads walking by paid no attention. Every toad knows that a warp pipe is the fastest way to travel.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Peach walked out of the shop. She finally had clothes on again. She knew her own personal clothing department, conveniently hidden in the back of the city's biggest mall, would come in handy someday.
It was already getting dark. They had to find Mario now, or else they'd never catch up. Peach had also gotten a phone just in case. She dialed her "super secret private emergency number" 912, and waited for someone to answer.
"Hello," she said in her trademark high tone voice. "I need to be informed of what's happening right now with the Mario situation."
The toad (yes, every employee has to be a toad, ask Miyamoto) on the other side sighed. "I was afraid you'd ask," he said. "It seems they, um, lost him ma'am."
"They lost him?!?" Peach exclaimed. No! No! Now we'll never find him, she thought. "Um, I'm sorry but I have to go,"
"Wait, Pri-"
Peach put away her phone. It was time to take matters into her own hands.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mario jumped out of the pipe and appeared at the castle grounds. He hadn't used that pipe in a long time. He almost always drove or flew or walked to the castle, but one time he received a letter from Peach, and he really liked cake, so he took the pipe.
He walked through the grass and reached the castle doors. Mario had his own key, so he didn't need to knock. But he had to be careful. The toad guards could still hear him if he wasn't quiet.
Mario quietly opened the door and looked inside. Luckily, there were no toad guards in the main hall. He closed the door behind him. Mario went over to the first door he saw. He just wanted to take a walk. He opened it. It was the room leading down to the basement. Peach's castle had been remodeled many, many times but the general layout was the same. Mario could always easily get around.
The only thing Mario didn't like about the lower part of the castle, was that it was the least visited part, thus the least taken care of. The floorboards creaked and the walls were dusty. Maybe someone should-
CRACK!
One of the floorboards broke and Mario fell into the room below. He landed with a thud on the ice cold floor.
"Ughh..." Mario stood up and looked around. It was a room he had never seen before. It had strange markings on the walls, and it looked like there was some kind of pedestal in front of where Mario had fallen. On the pedestal was some kind of medallion.
Mario went over to examine it. It had some sort of inscription.
It's flow is steady
It's path is clear
It's p--er t-
T-- o-- wh-- ne-r
---------------------
---------------------
---------------------
---------to those in need
The bottom part was a bit dusty. Mario carefully grabbed it. He was about to blow on it, when he noticed it had something on the other side, too.
The hero's star is the key
He wondered what it could mean. A lot of people called Mario "The Hero", but there were thousands of stars he had collected.
His thoughts were interrupted by a red light coming from the medallion. It glowed intensely, and Mario had to close his eyes. Suddenly, he felt something weird inside him.
Then nothing.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dry Bones was winning. We tried to defeat him, but he always managed to regenerate. I thought about completely taking him apart, but it was downright impossible.
"Now what?" John desperately asked. We knew that if we didn't do something now, we would grow tired and as far as I know, the undead don't.
Then, out of nowhere, a bright red light appeared. We looked over, and it seemed that it had come from a portal of some kind. It hovered around the room for some moments, then flew at lighting speed, right at me. It hit me so hard I flew a couple feet into the air, then against a wall, then to the floor. But for some reason, it hadn't hurt at all.
"Whoa! Steve, are you alright?" John asked.
When I stood up, I felt some kind of power flowing through me. It was like my energy was restored, but now I had 3 times as much. My body was glowing red, but after a few moments, it stopped. I felt a lot stronger, too.
"Better than ever," I answered. I wanted to try my new powers, starting with Dry Bones.
"Hey, Boneface! Ever heard of food?" I mocked, wanting to get his attention. It looked like my comment had made him angry. Perfect.
I decided to take the little voice's earlier tip. I jumped. And hit the roof.
"Whoa!" I cried as my head hit the ceiling. I landed on the floor softly, as if I had only jumped a few inches off the ground.
John stared with his mouth wide open. It looked like he had noticed normal humans don't jump that high. "Wha- but how?" John stammered. "You-he...what just happened?"
"No idea," I replied. "But I think I can use it to our advantage. Keep the light on Dry Bones."
John nodded and obeyed, still confused. I took some steps back and jumped again. This time I jumped lower, but still missed. I was about to collide with another wall.
"Do a wall kick!" the little voice exclaimed. I decided to take its advice again. It was that, or slamming against the wall. As I made contact, I pushed against it, and it worked. I was now headed towards the other side of the room. I saw Dry Bones below me. Instincts that I never knew I had kicked in; I did a somersault and started falling. My feet made contact with Dry Bone's head, and he instantly collapsed. I had defeated him.
"Ha! Rest in "pieces"!" John yelled, using another bad joke. I was too excited to notice.
I had another idea. "Come on, John, let's get out of here," I said. "Hold on to me."
"Alright, I just hope you know what you're doing. You just got these skills," he remarked. "But I do want to get out of here."
I stood directly below the trapdoor and jumped once more. For a couple of seconds, we flew through the air. Then, I heard the sound of wood breaking as we burst into the room.
I looked around and let my eyes adjust to the light. Warlu and Bowser were looking at us surprised, and I suddenly felt extremely angry. It was payback time.
"What? How did you get in here?" Warlu asked.
I snickered. "Looks like you underestimated the grandson of Mario, the Legendary Hero," I said. Somehow, after I found out who I was, I had this new-found confidence.
"Don't talk like that to me, Warlu, the leader of the Sand Bandits!" he screamed angrily. His face was turning red, but he seemed a bit nervous. And there was another thing. How could a human be the leader of the Sand Bandits?
"And I don't care who you are!" he added. "But if you're my king's enemy, you're my enemy! Sand Bandits, attack!"
And as soon as he gave the order, Sand Bandits came into the room by the dozens. We were completely surrounded. But I wasn't very worried.
"OK Steve, show them what you can do," said John. He wasn't very worried either. He had already seen me defeat the Dry Bones.
"Alright, here I go!" I exclaimed, and ran towards a bunch of Sand Bandits. I did what I now knew best, jumped on a Sand Bandit's head. It was immediately defeated. I used the momentum gained from bouncing off its head and jumped onto another one's head. And another one. And another. The group ended, and I landed on the floor softly. I turned around. All of the Sand Bandits I had jumped on were out cold. But there were still more.
I decided to test my strength. I did feel a lot more powerful. I went over to another group of Sand Bandits, jumped a few inches and kicked a Sand Bandit at full force. It looked like I was strong after all; he flew backwards ramming into every Sand Bandit behind it.
John was still amazed by my new "powers". He stared, enjoying the show. I decided to get rid of the rest of the Bandits. I kicked one in the face, impulsed myself and landed on another one. Then, I jumped, taking a Sand Bandit with me, and threw it at another group of Bandits, knocking them all out. The last two Sand Bandits came running at me, but I was now quicker. I jumped, did a backwards somersault, and landed with my two feet on both of their heads. Their heads slammed into each other, and they were instantly knocked out as I landed gracefully, having defeated them all.
Warlu was flabbergasted. His whole army had been defeated by a single person. Me.
"Master, what will we do?" Warlu said to Bowser. Warlu cowered in fear, but Bowser just frowned.
"How about you-" I yelled as I lifted a 10 foot wooden carving of Bowser, "-take this!" I threw the statue with all my might.
Warlu screamed at the sight of a giant statue about to hit him. But as the statue was about to collide with them, it burst into flames, and was completely incinerated. John and I stared, amazed, as the ashes fell slowly onto the floor.
"This is why I wanted you to capture him!" Bowser screamed as he wiped his mouth. "It's my father's demise, all over again!" He suddenly looked sad again. "And YOU!" he yelled angrily, pointing at me, "YOU will NOT defeat- ME!" He looked over at Warlu. "Seize him!"
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Raindrops lightly tapped the windshield as she drove through the center of the street. She didn't want the stupid "security guidelines" of the toads, so she drove alone.
Princess Peach sighed. Still no sign of him. What had happened was horrible, but it was no reason to go into hiding.
She had no other choice than to keep looking. Only the headlights of her royal car illuminated the road as she drove into the dark night.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Luigi sat in his living room, with a sad expression on his face. He was thinking about the events of the last hour. He sighed. He had to do something, he couldn't just sit there. But where could my brother be? he thought. He looked over at a photograph of him and his brother. Luigi smiled. It was a picture of him on top of his brother, having a lot of fun together. Then he looked at the background. Peach's castle. Ah, the memories. Wait. Peach's castle. Peach's castle! That's the only place where he could be hiding. It wasn't a very good place to hide, but there was no one there at the moment. Luigi stood up immediately. Next stop, Peach's castle, he thought.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I concentrated on Warlu. One hit was all I would need, but I had to do it at the right moment.
"Ready, Stevey boy?" he asked, smiling. He had been scared before, but it looked like he had deduced that they were just Sand Bandits I had defeated.
"Ready when you are," I replied, also smiling. Then I ran at full speed at him. He started running too. I jumped, hoping he wouldn't be able to read my movements. Just as I predicted, he remained on the floor and just looked up when I jumped. As soon as I landed, I turned around and did a sweeping kick, with a full 360° spin. But that move he was able to predict. He placed his hand on the floor, impulsed himself and jumped over my leg. I had to get up, fast. I put my arms on the floor and pushed hard. We were both in the air.
"Yahhhh!" he screamed, as he tried to hit me. Perfect. I did a flip, dodging his arm, and stuck out my right leg. As soon as I was right-side-up, my leg struck his head, sending him plummeting down towards the ground. He hit the floor hard, cracking the tiles where he landed.
One down, one to go.
"Impressive," Bowser said. "But you won't defeat me." He was showing a suspicious level of confidence.
"How can you be so sure?" I asked defiantly.
He suddenly turned to face me. "Your grandfather...so you knew nothing about him?" he asked. I was surprised he had brought up the subject again.
"Not much...why?" I answered, examining Bowser Jr.'s expression. "Except...what you told me."
"Then you wouldn't know that he and my father were mortal enemies," he continued. "I actually fought against Mario myself, once. But from what I've seen from you, you're nothing compared to him. I have no idea how you suddenly got amazing powers, but you don't have the experience your grandfather had, and only with that was he able to defeat my father. My father was obviously stronger and bigger than Mario, but your grandfather always had this...this-" he stopped, as if not knowing what else to say.
I waited.
"My point is, just because you suddenly inherited all of your father's skills doesn't mean that you're a good a hero as he was."
I frowned. He was probably just trying to distract me. "I understand what you're trying to say, but I also know that you're the bad guy here."
Bowser Jr. looked over at John. "Your friend, he seems familiar," Bowser said, ignoring my comment.
John looked puzzled. "Umm, I don't think I've ever met you before, but..."
Bowser raised a hand, interrupting John. "Does the name "Daisy" mean anything to you?"
John stared at Bowser. I looked over and saw his stunned expression.
"Uhh...yeah," he answered after a while. "That's my grandma's name."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The door opened with a loud creak. Luigi poked his head in and looked around. It was completely dark. He stepped inside and closed the door behind him. "Mario? Marioooo!" he shouted. He hoped his brother heard him. Then, Luigi noticed one of the doors was open.
"Mario?" He walked slowly over to the door, in case it was a thief. He slowly opened the door and peered inside. The first thing he saw was the giant hole in the center of the room.
"Huh?"
Luigi carefully walked over to get a better look. "Whoa, I wonder what happened here...."
CRACK!
Luigi had gotten too close to the hole, and another piece broke, sending Luigi into the room below. "GAAHH-oof!" Luigi landed with a thud, but luckily wasn't hurt. He stood up and dusted himself, when he saw someone else in the room.
"Mario?" He slowly walked towards the inanimate object. "Mario! It's you!" Luigi exclaimed happily. "I've been looking for you all day and..." Luigi stopped, noticing that Mario was just standing there, staring off into space.
"Umm, Mario?" Luigi shook Mario's shoulder. Then, Mario suddenly blinked once and regained consciousness.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My feeling of power and agility was gone. Bowser stood towering in front of me, already having kicked John back into the dungeon cell.
"Told you so," Bowser said smiling, then pushed me into the hole behind me. I lost my balance and fell backwards, then hit the floor below. The last thing I heard was John's worried cries.
"Steve!"
"Steve!"
"Stay with me!"
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A bright yellow light filled the room....
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I woke up. I knew how to get out. Suddenly, my previous dreams made sense.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"How long will it take for him to regain consciousness?" Peach asked the medic.
"I don't know, he's pretty beat up," the toad said. "It'll probably be a couple hours."
Peach sighed.
Luigi was knocked out on the floor, and next to him, a red cap with the letter "M" on it.
On the request of my reviewers (looks over at a completely empty room, except one chair occupied by Wimpzilla, who gives a thumbs up) err... reviewer, next chapter will provide the backstory. Please review, I wanna know what you think!