All characters are owned by Nintendo
That night, Peach slept in a chair in the room with Mario, Luigi and Daisy. Nurses would come in every so often to check on them. The door opened and someone walked in, waking Peach up. She looked at the clock and saw it was two a.m.
"Wow" she thought to herself "I'm glad I'm not a nurse. I couldn't work all night."
Peach was shocked when she saw a clone sneaking into the room. It walked over to Mario and looked at his cap, which was pulled over his eyes.
"Red M" the clone whispered "I have to kill the green L."
The clone drew a silenced pistol as it approached Luigi. Peach felt anger stronger than ever before. Her right hand closed into a fist so tight her own fingernails dug into her palm. She stood up, ran toward the clone and punched it in the back of the head with all the strength she had. The clone fell forward. It tried to stand up, but Peach dropped to her knees, grabbed the clone's head and slammed it into the floor as hard as she could. She rolled the clone over and began punching it in the face over and over.
"You won't touch my brother-in-law!" She yelled "And only a coward attacks a wounded man!"
The yelling woke the others up. Daisy jumped out of bed, grabbed Peach and began pulling her away. The clone was barley conscious, but it slowly reached for the pistol. Mario kicked the pistol away as Luigi grabbed the clone by the throat and picked it up.
"How many more are here?" Luigi asked.
The clone saw the blood stain on the left side of Luigi's overalls. It mustered all of its strength and hit Luigi in the ribs on his left side. Luigi dropped the clone and groaned in pain as he grabbed his ribs. The clone began crawling towards the door. Peach broke free of Daisy's grasp. She ran over to the pistol and shot the clone in the head three times. Mario saw blood dripping from Peach's right hand.
"Peach, are you ok?" He asked.
Peach looked at her right palm and saw blood dripping from four deep fingernail marks.
"Yeah, I'm ok" she said "are you ok, Luigi?"
"I'll be ok" he said.
A nurse ran in and asked "what is going on in here?!"
"Get me my shotgun" Peach said.
"Princess, your hand is bleeding" the nurse said, ignoring what Peach said.
"It's just a scratch" Peach said "I want you to get my shotgun for me."
"I can't do that Princess" the nurse said "you cannot have it in here."
Peach pointed to the dead clone and said "Tatanga sent one of his clones to murder Luigi in his sleep. You can either place an armed guard outside the door or bring me my shotgun."
The nurse sighed and said "as I said Princess, I can't do that. I might be able to sneak Princess Daisy's pistol in here for you."
"Fine" Peach said.
The nurse left and came back a few minutes later. She reached under her shirt and pulled out Daisy's .357 and handed it to Peach. She opened the chamber to make sure it was loaded. When she saw all six chambers were loaded, she closed it and put it in the waist band of her shorts.
"Thank you" Peach said.
"You're welcome" the nurse said "may I see your hand now?"
Peach held her hand out toward the nurse. She cleaned and bandaged Peach's hand.
"Please try to go back to sleep now" the nurse said.
Two toads came in and took the dead clone's body out. A third came in and mopped up the blood.
"Let's all try to get some rest" Mario said.
When Mario fell asleep he began to hear a voice in a dream.
"This is all your fault" the voice said.
Mario saw the path with all the rock piles and heard Luigi's voice say "it's perfect sniper country."
"Remember when your brother wanted to stop?" the dream voice asked "you made them keep going."
Mario saw Daisy's face twisted into a painful expression and saw the blood dripping from her side.
"It is your fault your sister-in-law was shot" the voice said "remember this?"
Mario saw the forest and heard Luigi's voice say "there are a lot of ambush points in there."
"Your brother wanted to stop again" the dream voice said "but you wouldn't let him."
Mario saw the clone shooting him in the shoulder.
"You are the reason you were shot as well."
Mario saw the stressful, worried look on Luigi's face as he was trying to shoot Tatanga. He saw Luigi spin towards him and shoot the clone holding him. Mario saw the knife blade go into Luigi's side twice. He saw his brother's face showing extreme pain and a tear leaving his eye.
"That was your fault too" the voice said "your brother was stabbed because of you. If you had listened to your little brother no one would be in the hospital; but you couldn't because of your EGO!"
Mario woke up with a jolt. He turned toward Luigi and Daisy and looked at the blood stains on their clothes. A lone tear ran down his cheek. Mario stood up and quietly left the room.
He walked to the front desk and said "I'd like my M-60 and my ammo please."
"The doctor hasn't discharged you yet" the toad behind the counter said.
"I know" Mario said "but this is for the best."
"Alright" the toad said "I will get your gun."
"Can you give me a pen and paper before you go?" Mario asked.
The toad handed him a pen and a clipboard. Mario wrote a note and folded the paper. The toad handed him his ammo and M-60.
"Thanks" Mario said "give this to Luigi in the morning for me."
"Ok" the toad said.
Mario left the hospital and headed toward the outskirts of the kingdom looking for Tatanga. When Luigi woke up in the morning, he looked around but didn't see Mario. He walked over to Peach and woke her up.
"What is it, Luigi?" Peach asked as she rubbed her eyes.
"Where's Mario?" Luigi asked.
"What?" Peach asked. She looked around the room and said "I…I don't know, maybe he is in the bathroom."
Luigi walked over to the bathroom door and knocked on it and said "Mario, you in there bro?"
A nurse walked in with a piece of paper and said "Mr. Luigi, your brother left this for you."
Luigi opened the note and said "oh no."
"What?" Peach asked.
"What does it say?" Daisy asked as she sat up.
Luigi looked at the letter and read "to Peach, Luigi and Daisy. It is my fault that you are injured. If I had listened to Luigi, none of this would happened. If we had not gone through that rocky path, Daisy wouldn't be shot. If we hadn't gone into the forest Luigi and I would not be hurt. I've gone to find Tatanga alone. Goodbye I love you all. Mario."
Luigi dropped the letter and said "let's go. I'm not letting him go alone. This wasn't his fault."
Daisy got out of bed and put her shoes on. The three of them headed to the front desk to get their weapons. Once they were armed, they began following Mario's foot prints. They saw a tall hill with Tatanga clones moving toward it. Soon they heard gunfire break out.
"You want me?! Come get me!" They heard Mario yell.
"Peach, take the left" Luigi said "Daisy go right. I'll go up the hill."
Peach ran toward the left of the hill as Daisy ran right and Luigi ran up the hill. Mario was firing into the approaching clones. The belt in the gun ran out. He opened the gun to reload as a clone with a large knife ran toward him. Mario was reloading as fast as he could. Suddenly he heard a gunshot behind him and the clone fell a few feet in front of him. He heard more gunfire and the clones in front of him began falling. He looked up and saw Luigi crouching on top of the hill with his rifle raised. Mario saw the clones setting up a heavy machine gun to his left. Suddenly he heard several rapid shotgun blasts and saw the clones being torn apart by buckshot. Peach walked into view still firing. He heard clones screaming to his right. He turned and saw Daisy spraying flames at the approaching clones. Soon the clones began to run away. Once they were out of sight, Luigi walked down the hill and hugged his brother.
He stepped back and asked "why in the world would you think all this was your fault?"
"Because it is" Mario said "if I had listened to you and stopped when you wanted to stop, none of us would be wounded."
"That's not true" Luigi said "no matter which way we went, if we were following Tatanga we would have been under fire anyway."
"I just want all of this to be over" Mario said.
Luigi saw tears welling up in his brother's eyes. Mario was trying to hold them back.
Luigi set his rifle down, pulled Mario into a hug and said "it's ok bro. Let it out, nobody will think any less of you for crying at a time like this. Just let it out."
Mario laid his head on Luigi's shoulder and began to cry.
Luigi rubbed his back and said "Sono qui per te grande fratello. Non essere in imbarazzo, basta lasciarlo fuori." (I'm here for you big brother. Don't be embarrassed, just let it out.)
"Grazie fratellino, ti amo" Mario said through the tears. (Thanks little bro, I love you.)
"Anche io ti amo Mario" Luigi said. (I love you too Mario.)
Peach started walking toward them, but Daisy grabbed her arm and stopped her.
"Let go" Peach said "Mario needs me."
"No" Daisy said "right now, I think he just needs Luigi."
After a few minutes, Mario stepped back and wiped his eyes.
He smiled at his brother and said "thanks bro."
"You're welcome" Luigi said "I know sometimes we all just need a shoulder to cry on."
Mario smiled and nodded.
Daisy looked at Peach and said "sorry I held you back, but I think Mario just needed his brother to- Peach! Behind you!"
Peach spun around and saw a small star like creature.
"Is that a luma?" Peach asked.
"A what?" Daisy asked.
"A luma" Mario said "they live with Rosalina."
"Rosa-who?" Daisy asked.
"Oh you haven't met her yet" Luigi said "she lives in space on an observatory. They call her the Watcher of the Stars. She helped me and Mario rescue Peach when Bowser took her into space."
"Ok then" Daisy said.
The luma flew over to Mario and said "Mama has been watching from the observatory. She has decided to come and help you in your fight."
A blue haze that formed the outline of a woman began to appear near by. A woman in a light blue dress with blonde hair and bangs covering one eye appeared.
Peach stepped forward and said "hello Rosie."
They hugged and Rosalina said "hello Peach."
Luigi walked over and said "Hey Rosalina, this is my wife Princess Daisy from Sarasaland."
Rosalina bowed her head slightly and said "hello Princess. It is very nice to meet you."
"It's nice to meet you too Rosalina" Daisy said smiling "and please just call me Daisy."
"In that case, call me Rosie" Rosalina said smiling.
Mario walked up and said "Hey Rosie, so you came to help us?"
"Yes" Rosalina said "I have watched your battles from my observatory. You have fought with bravery and with great determination. When I found out this alien was trying to force Luigi's special one to marry him, I decided to lend my assistance."
"Do you know anything about guns?" Peach asked.
"Yes" Rosalina said "I used my magic to gather many books about firearms."
"You have magic?" Daisy asked "does that mean you can get rid of Tatanga?"
"No" Rosalina said "my magic cannot kill, but it can help you."
She waved her wand in a small circle above her head then pointed it at Mario. A metal box appeared strapped to his back with an ammunition belt coming out of the top corner and into his M-60.
"What's this?" Mario asked.
"Two thousand rounds" Rosalina said "all in one belt so you will not have to reload."
She waved her wand and pointed it at Luigi. A vest appeared with ten clips and fifty extra rounds for his M98.
"All the ammunition you could need." Rosalina said.
She waved her wand and pointed it at Peach. A vest also appeared on her with two spare drum magazines and one hundred spare shells.
"Thanks Rosie" Peach said.
Rosalina waved her wand and pointed it at Daisy, but nothing changed.
"What, uh what did you do?" Daisy asked.
"May I see your pistol?" Rosalina asked "I will show you."
Daisy drew her .357 and handed it to her. She pointed it at the fuel tank of Daisy's flamethrower.
"Are you crazy?!" Daisy yelled as she tried to take the flamethrower off.
Rosalina smiled and shot the fuel tank twice. Daisy closed her eyes and waited for an explosion and the burning napalm to cover her body. After a few seconds she opened her eyes and saw that both bullets had bounced off.
"The fuel tank is now indestructible" Rosalina said smiling.
"Uh, th…thanks Rosie" Daisy said "sorry I yelled."
"It is ok" Rosalina said "I understand why you did."
She gave Daisy her revolver back.
"Don't you need a gun?" Peach asked.
Rosalina thought for a minute, then she smiled and waved her wand. An M4 with an M203 grenade launcher appeared on the ground in front of her. She waved her wand again and a vest appeared on her with four spare clips and sixteen grenade rounds.
She picked up the rifle and said "I'm ready."
She noticed Daisy wearing jeans and a yellow tee shirt and Peach wearing a pink tee shirt and pink shorts.
"Almost" Rosalina said.
She waved her wand again. Her dress became a blue tee shirt and denim capri pants and her heels became blue tennis shoes. A belt appeared around her waist with bullets all the way around.
She put her wand in her belt and said "now I'm ready."