By this time, Mouser and the Koopa Troopas were making their way back to the governor's mansion, burned, bruised, scratched, and singed. They were not looking forward to telling King Koopa about this. He hated to receive bad news, but Mouser knew he had to tell him, anyway. He gulped, and walked up the spiral staircase to the second floor study, which Koopa was using as his throne room.

"Well?" he asked, when he saw Mouser enter the room. "Where are the old governor's brats?!"

"Well, your mean-ness . . . ." Mouser said, a bit hesitantly. "I'm afraid zey . . . . got away."

"Got away?!" Koopa shouted. "How could they get away?! There were only two of them, and about a dozen Troopas! They were outnumbered!"

"Well," Mouser said, "ze little boy had zis cat, see, and it practically clawed me to death!"

"A cat?" Koopa asked. "You mean that little white furball the governor's bratty son is always carrying around? A little kitty cat?! How could you let yourself get beaten up by a little kitty cat?!"

"But your greatness, zis was no ordinary little kitty cat! I swear, it's some kind of demon kitty!"

"Who cares, chowder head?!"

Koopa then bopped Mouser on the head with his fist.

"I can't believe you let this happen, you rotten rodent!" he shouted. "What else could go wrong?!"

"Well, zey really didn't get away wizout some help, to tell you the truth," Mouser continued. "You see, zey ran into . . . . into . . . . zuhmurrobrozes . . . ."

"The what?!" Koopa shouted. "Stop mumbling and just tell me already!"

"Ze Mario Bruzzers," Mouser said. Then he squeezed his eyes shut, and waited for Koopa to explode, and hit him multiple times.

"WHAAAAAAAT?!" Koopa screamed at the top of his voice. The force of the scream sent Mouser directly out of the room, and into the wall across the hallway.

CRASH!

"Strike!" Mouser shouted, dazedly. "Uuuuggggghhhhh . . . . ."

"I can't stand it!" Koopa shouted, as he began picking up objects, and throwing them at the wall in frustration. "I just! Can't! Stand it! Why do those pesky plumbers always, always, always hafta show up and ruin everything?! RAAAAUUUUGGGGHHHH!"

Koopa picked up a large, ceramic vase, and hurled it against the wall. Mouser saw it coming, and ducked. Unfortunately, it hit him anyway. Koopa took a couple of deep breaths, and tried to calm himself down, but it wasn't easy.

"I'll get the best of those drain brains if it's the last thing I do!" he shouted, and he began to think about what he was going to do. Then he snapped his fingers.

"I've got it!" he shouted. "Send the Beezos after them! And tell them not to come back without the governor's kids, and Princess Toadstool! If the Mario Brothers are here, then she's bound to be here, too."

"But why Princess Toadstool along with the governor's children?" Mouser asked.

"Because I said so, you lame brain! Now get going!"

"Right away, your Koopa-ness!"

And with that, Mouser raced out of the room in order to alert Koopa's Beezo army.

Meanwhile, Mario and the gang were also contemplating their next move. Mario had taken a stick and drew out a diagram of the governor's mansion on the ground, along with the stone wall that surrounded it. Franky was holding Mario's flashlight so they could see what they were doing.

"Okay, we know the Koopa Troopas will be surrounding the front gate," Mario said, drawing some Troopa representatives. "So going through there is out of the question."

"Yeah man," Franky said. "And going in through the back gate is a no-go, too. After Phyl and I escaped through there, Dragon Breath's probably gonna have it guarded as well."

"How about going over the wall?" Mario asked. "That might work."

"But how would we do that?" Phyllis asked.

"We could pole vault," Mario said.

"Over a thirteen foot wall?" Franky asked. "You gotta be kidding me! Maybe we could climb up."

"I don't think that would work," Phyllis said. "It's a pretty smooth wall. There's nothing to hold onto."

"We could use our plungers," Mario said.

"But the Troopas might hear us sticking and unsticking the plungers from the wall," the Princess said.

"Well, what about going under the fence?" Phyllis suggested. "You know, dig our way in?"

"Gotta shovel, sis?" Franky asked, giving his sister a look.

"No, but I know where I can get one," Phyllis said. "From the gardener's tool shed in the backyard."

"Backyard of the mansion, huh?" Franky asked. "You know that means we have to get inside, and past the Troopas first."

"Oh yeah," Phyllis said, sheepishly.

"Uh huh," Franky said, knowingly.

"Going under may not be the best possible way in, either," the Princess said. "My guess is Koopa's increased the number of Troopas around the mansion after he found out you two . . . ."

"Meow!" Puffball shouted, sounding offended.

"Sorry, I meant after you three escaped," the Princess continued, giving Puffball's forehead a tickle. "I'm pretty sure not only would he have the front and back gates being guarded, but everywhere on the mansion grounds as well."

"Maybe Puffball could sneak in undetected," Franky said. "She is small enough to get through the bars on the front gate, and fast enough to run past those Koopa Troopas without being seen."

"Yeah, that's a good idea," Toad said. "But how is she gonna get the rest of us in? She ain't tall enough to reach the lock on the gate!"

"She could jump," Franky said. "Puffball's a champ at it! Cats can jump up to eight feet high!"

"Yeah, but even if she could reach the gate by jumping," Toad went on, "she couldn't unlock the gate, because cats ain't got opposable thumbs!"

"Oh yeah," Franky said, a little sheepishly.

"Besides, I'm small enough to get in undetected!" Toad shouted. "And I'm a pretty high jumper, too!"

"Yeah, but you're also noisy," Mario said. "You always make this squeaking sound when you jump."

"I do not!" Toad shouted. "I'll prove it to you!"

With that Toad began to jump up and down, and his feet did indeed make squeaking sounds as he landed. Mario gave him a look that simply said "told ya so."

"Okay, okay," he said. "So maybe I do. I guess that's not gonna work, either."

"Well, I'm all out of ideas," Mario said. "You got any, Luigi?"

Luigi didn't answer. As a matter of fact, he wasn't even paying any attention to what was going on. The only thing he was paying attention to was Phyllis.

"Yo! Earth to Luigi!" Mario shouted, waving his hand in front of his brother's face. "Hello? Anyone in there? Hey, wake up, spaghetti head!"

Luigi didn't even acknowledge his brother. He just kept right on staring at Phyllis with a dreamy look on his face. There were times when Phyllis caught him looking at her. When she did, she just giggled, and smiled back at him.

"The lights are on, but nobody's home," Mario said, rolling his eyes.

"Man, all he's doing is sitting there making goo-goo eyes at my sister," Franky said, making a face.

"Yeah, and when your sister catches him looking at her," Mario said, "she giggles like a schoolgirl, smiles, and makes goo-goo eyes right back at him! What's with them, anyway?"

"Oh, I don't know," the Princess said. "I think it's kind of cute."

"Yeah, cute," Toad said. "Cute and disgusting! Bleah!"

Toad blew a raspberry to emphasize his point. Puffball turned toward him, and growled a little, to show her displeasure at his attitude.

"It's obvious they like each other," the Princess said.

"So what?" Mario asked. "I like Phyllis, too, but you don't see me making goo-goo eyes at her like Luigi's doing!"

"No, Mario," the Princess said. "I mean they like each other."

"Yeah, as in Cupid's arrow struck a couple of suckers," Toad said. "All that mushy stuff. Yuck!"

"Toad!" the Princess shouted.

"Well, I'm not crazy about all that mushy stuff myself," Franky said, "but I think you may have something there, Princess. I mean, look at them."

"Yeah, I see what you mean," Mario said. "They're acting like something straight out of an old, romantic movie."

Puffball heaved a heavy sigh, as if she were saying "how romantic." You could practically see little hearts floating above her head at the mere thought of it.

"Yucko, patooey!" Toad shouted, making a face.

"What's say we let these two lovebirds have a little time to themselves?" Mario said, ignoring Toad for the moment.

"But what about Koopa?" Toad asked. "And kicking his scaly tail out of Portobello Port?"

"I think the four of us can manage without them," Mario said. "What do you say, Franky?"

"I say let's do it," Franky said. "And I got just the thing."

Franky gathered Mario, Toad, the Princess, and Puffball into a huddle, and began whispering his plan. The others agreed to it, and went back to what they were doing, though Puffball walked over to Luigi, and began pawing at his leg, and meowing, which broke Luigi out of his thoughts.

"Huh?" he asked. He looked down at saw Puffball meowing at him. He smiled at her, and rubbed the side of her head. "Hey there, kitty."

Puffball continued meowing, and walked toward a path that lead further into the woods, pointing to it with her paw.

"Yo, Franky!" Luigi shouted. "What's the matter with your cat, here? She need to use the litter box, or what?"

"Maybe she thinks there's something down that path," Franky said. "Matter of fact, I think I heard something, too. Maybe Puffball wants to check it out."

"Okay, so go check it out," Phyllis said. "She's your cat, after all."

"Awww, but Phywwis!" Franky shouted, in a baby-talk tone. Then he rested his head on Princess Toadstool's shoulder. "I wanna stay here wiff da pwetty pwincess!"

"Oh, honestly, Franky!" Phyllis shouted, rolling her eyes. "For a sixteen-year-old, you can be such a baby! Fine, I'll go check it out."

"Well, I don't think you should go by yourself," the Princess said. "Even if you're with Puffball, I think someone else should go with you."

"Good idea, Princess," Mario said. "Luigi, you go with her."

"Me?!" Luigi shouted. "But . . . . but why me?!"

"Why not you?" Mario asked. "Come on, how bad can it be? Besides, you saw what Puffball did to Mouser. She'll protect you if you get into trouble. Besides, she wants you to."

Luigi was about to argue, when he felt a tug at the leg of his overalls. There was Puffball, tugging at Luigi's overalls with her teeth, and looking up at him with the biggest, saddest looking kitty eyes he had ever seen.

"Meoooowwwww," she said, in a pleading sort of way. Luigi groaned. He couldn't resist the cuteness.

"Oh all right, already, I'll go," he said. "Just get her to stop looking at me like that, she's killing me!"

"At ease, Puffball," Franky said.

The white cat stood on her hind legs, and saluted her master. Then she led Luigi and Phyllis down the pathway. Once they were gone, Mario and Franky gave each other a knowing wink, and they got back to work plotting their next move.

Puffball ran ahead of Luigi and Phyllis, and they followed her to a clearing. Once the two humans arrived, Puffball made herself scarce.

"Puffball!" Phyllis called out. "Here kitty, kitty, kitty, kitty!"

"Come out, come out wherever you are!" Luigi shouted.

"If we don't find that cat, my brother will kill me!"

"She's gotta be around here somewhere."

Luigi and Phyllis continued looking around, until they noticed exactly where Puffball had led them. The clearing had a small waterfall that flowed into a small pool of water where the reflection of the moon practically danced. Pink cherry blossom trees surrounded the pool, and fireflies were flickering. It was like something out of a fairytale. The spot Puffball had led the couple to was where many people in Portobello Port went to on dates, and Phyllis knew it.

"You know, I get the feeling we've been set up," she said.

"You know, I get the feeling you're right," Luigi said.

"And I know exactly who set us up. My brother."

"And I wouldn't put it past my brother to be in on the set up. The only thing missing from this scenario is the romantic, candle lit, spaghetti dinner."

Luigi and Phyllis heard a grumble in the bushes. When they looked, they saw Puffball hiding there, and snapping her toes like they were human fingers, as if she were saying "darn it, I knew we forgot something!" When she noticed the two humans looking at her, she darted further into the bushes to hide. Luigi and Phyllis began laughing.

"Even my brother's cat is in on it," Phyllis said.

"Oh boy," Luigi said. "I tell ya, our brothers are something else, aren't they?"

"They sure are," Phyllis said. "But it was kind of sweet of them. I'd hate to spoil it for them. Considering we're being watched."

"We are?"

Phyllis pointed over to the bushes. There was Puffball, watching the two of them. When she realized she was spotted, she ducked down again, trying to hide. Luigi and Phyllis couldn't help but laugh. They decided to forget about being watched, and make the most of the atmosphere.