"What can we do?" the Princess asked. "That gallows is surrounded by Troopas! We'll be caught before we have a chance to get to Luigi!"
"Give me a second," Toad said, nervously. "I'll come up with something . . . ."
"We don't have that long!" Phyllis shouted, and she raced toward the gallows as fast as she could.
"Phyllis, wait!" the Princess shouted.
Koopa grabbed the lever, and was just about to pull it, when Phyllis suddenly appeared on the platform, jumped up, and kicked Koopa with both feet so hard, he fell off the platform, landed flat on his back, and knocked himself out cold.
"Wow!" Luigi shouted, as Phyllis ran over to him and began untying him. "Remind me never to make you mad!"
"Come on, you guys!" Phyllis called to the others. "I can't take all of these goons by myself!"
Toad, the Princess, and Puffball ran over. Toad and Puffball helped Phyllis and Luigi fend off Koopa's Troopas, while the Princess untied Mario.
"Still think she's on Koopa's side, Mario?" she asked.
"Are you kidding?" Mario asked. "After she dropkicked Koopa like that, I'd be stupid to say yes!"
"Get zem!" Mouser ordered, taking charge while Koopa was incapacitated.
"Come on, Mario!" Toad shouted. "We've got Troopa tail to kick!"
Mario nodded, and he and the Princess jumped onto the platform in order to help Phyllis, Luigi, and Puffball fight off the Troopas.
"Hey Toad!" Franky called. "Throw me the keys so I can get outta here!"
"Gotcha!" Toad shouted, tossing Franky his key ring.
Immediately, Franky unlocked his cell door, raced out of the jailhouse, and karate chopped two Troopas guarding it. Then he ran around back to the gallows to help the others fight off the Troopas.
"I don't think we'll be able to keep this up much longer, Mario," Luigi said, jumping into the air, and landing on top of one of the oncoming Koopas. "We're outnumbered!"
"I think you're right," Mario said. "And Koopa should be coming to any minute now."
"I think I have an idea," Franky said, holding up the keyring. "Everybody follow me!"
"What are you up to, Franky?" Phyllis asked.
"Just trust me, sis," Franky said, giving his sister a wink.
"Last time you said that, I had neon green hair for a month," Phyllis said. "And it took a week for that make-up to wash off, too!"
"Excuse me?" Luigi asked, giving the siblings a weird look.
"Forget it," Franky said. "Look, this time, I know what I'm doing, but I can't tell you guys the details right now. Not in front of this mob! Now let's go before Lizard Lips comes to!"
The others looked over at Koopa, who was beginning to stir. Having no other choice, the group followed Franky toward the mansion. By that time, Koopa had come to his senses. He looked around, but all he saw were half of his Troopas helping up the other half.
"All right, you nincomkoops!" he yelled. "Where are those miserable Marios and their friends?!"
"Uhhh, they got away," one of the Troopas said.
"Got away?" Koopa asked. "They got away?! How could you let them get away?! You outnumber them!"
"Well, uhhhh . . . ." the Troopa said, trying to come up with a good excuse.
"Never mind!" Koopa shouted, smacking the Troopa away with the back of his hand. "Argh! One of these days, I'm going to trade all of you in for some decent minions!"
"If it's any help, your ruthlessness," Mouser said, stepping forward nervously. "Zey were heading for ze governor's mansion."
"The mansion, huh?" Koopa asked. "That figures. It's the only place around to go. Well, we'll just see about that! Koopa Pack! A-ten-hut!"
Immediately, all of Koopa's minions stood rigid and saluted their leader.
"To the mansion!" Koopa ordered. "Forwaaaaaard march! Hup two three four! Hup two three four! Hup two three four!"
While Koopa led his Troopas to the mansion, Mario, Luigi, the Princess, and the Portobello siblings were busy unlocking the chains from the citizens of Portobello Port, and then telling them to get to the governor's mansion, where Toad and Puffball were keeping a lookout.
"You sure you know what you're doing?" Luigi asked.
"Positive," Franky said. "You guys said it yourselves. Koopa doesn't have an original bone in his body. Once he finds out we got away, and are heading for the mansion, he's likely to have his troops storm the place."
"I get it," Mario said. "We're just evening up the odds a bit."
"Right," Franky said.
"I don't know about this," Luigi said. "What'll we use as weapons? They're gonna be armed, you know."
"Whatever we can get our hands on," Franky said. "Kitchen utensils, furniture pieces, that kinda thing."
"You kidding?" Luigi asked. "We'll end up destroying the mansion! Your dad'll have at least a dozen fits!"
"It might be the only way to stop Koopa," the Princess said.
"Besides," Mario said, "if we end up wrecking the place, we can put the blame on him!"
Luigi still wasn't sure this was a good idea, but before he could say anything else about it, he and the others heard Puffball meowing like a siren. She and Toad were running toward the others.
"The Koopas are coming! The Koopas are coming!" Toad called out.
"Perfect timing," Franky said, as he freed the last of the Portobello Port citizens. "It's time to party!"
Franky was off and running. The others looked at each other, shrugged, and followed. After all, they didn't have any better ideas.
Koopa and his Troopas arrived at the mansion, and were met by darkness, and a strange quiet, and he didn't like it one bit.
"It's quiet," he said. "Too quiet!"
"Maybe zey're not here after all," Mouser said, growing uneasy himself.
"No, they're here all right," Koopa said, sniffing a bit. "I can smell sewer scum a mile away. They've gotta be hiding somewhere. After all, there's only six of them, and tons of us!"
"Correction, Koopa!" Mario shouted, as the lights came on, revealing him, Luigi, the Princess, Toad, the Portobello siblings, Puffball, and practically the entire city of Portobello Port standing before Koopa and his army.
"Make that tons of us, too!" Mario shouted. "Okay, everybody! Charge!"
"Koopa Pack! Attack!" Koopa shouted.
And the battle was on. Koopa's minions began charging with spears, but the citizens managed to fight back with whatever they could get their hands on in the mansion, from swords decorating suits of armor to buckets and mops. One managed to pin a Beezo to the wall by the wings with a set of kitchen knives. Mouser began charging up the staircase with some Troopas, but stopped when he saw Toad sitting on top of a grand piano at the top it. He smiled sneakily, and waved to Koopa's henchmen.
"Rock and roll, fellas!" Toad shouted.
"Rock and roll?" Mouser repeated.
"Yeah, man!" Franky shouted, as he, Mario, and Luigi pushed the piano as hard as they could, and the piano went rolling down the stairs.
"Emphasis on the roll!" Mario shouted.
"Whee-hee-hee-hee!" Toad shouted, gripping the music desk as he rolled.
"Oh nein . . . ." Mouser groaned, as the piano came closer and closer. "Oh nein, oh nein, oh nein . . . . . RETREEEEEEAAAAAT!"
Unfortunately, Mouser's command came too late, and he and the Troopas wound up bowled over by the piano. Toad jumped off just as the piano smashed into them, and it still kept going, until it crashed into the wall, two flights below, destroying it completely. Mouser and the Troopas were nearly destroyed as well. Mouser was so dazed, he gave Toad an incredibly dopey looking smile, revealing a set of piano keys instead of teeth.
"You guys are gonna be singing flat from now on!" Toad shouted. "Eee-hee-hee-hee-heeee!"
Koopa, who was hanging back during all this, trying to stay out of sight, was not amused. He didn't like seeing his troops getting trashed.
"I'll get those goody-goodies for this," he growled. Then he began to sneak his way toward the second floor. He went unnoticed due to all the chaos that was going on.
By this time, nearly all of Koopa's minions had been clobbered, and they couldn't take it any longer.
"Retreat!" one of the Troopas shouted. "Retreat! Let's get outta here while we're all still in one piece!"
"But what about the boss?" a Shyguy asked.
Before the Troopa could answer, he and the Shyguy heard someone whistle at them. They looked up and saw Princess Toadstool and Phyllis standing at the top of the second floor, steadying a large wardrobe, with a little help from several citizens.
"Uh oh . . . ." the Shyguy said.
"Run for it!" the Troopa shouted, but they didn't get anywhere. The Princess, Phyllis, and the group of citizens pushed the wardrobe over the railing, and it crashed to the main floor of the mansion, not only putting a dent in the floorboards, but also squashing the Troopa and the Shyguy flat. They managed to crawl out from underneath the wardrobe, and inch their way toward the front door, in their flattened state.
That did it. Every last one of Koopa's minions retreated from the mansion, all of them bruised and battered in some way or another. Once the last of them was gone, everyone began to cheer triumphantly.
"We did it!" Mario shouted. "The house is a little worse for wear, but at least we got rid of Koopa's stooges!"
"But what about Koopa himself?" Phyllis asked.
"I'm right here, my dear!" Koopa shouted, grabbing Phyllis by the arm, and pulling her away from the others.
"Uh oh," Mario said. "He must've snuck up here when we weren't looking."
"Naturally," the Princess said, glaring at the repulsive reptile. "He's the grand champion king of sneaks, after all!"
"You humble me, Princess," Koopa said, bowing. "And now, I must be leaving! And I wouldn't try anything funny, either, sewer scum, or something nasty might befall the pretty Miss Portobello here!"
"Oh no you don't, Koopa!" Mario shouted. "You're not gonna pull the rug out from under us this time!"
"Oooh, good idea, Mario!" Koopa shouted. He used one of his claws to cut the carpet, then grabbed it, and gave it a good, hard yank, which caused Mario, Luigi, the Princess, Toad, Franky, and Puffball to lose their footing, and tumble down the stairs, crashing into some of the debris left over from the earlier fight. The crash left them all seeing stars.
"And now, my little pretty," Koopa said to Phyllis, "let us make our exit!"
And with that, Koopa ran up the next set of stairs, practically dragging Phyllis with him, while she struggled to get out of his grip. Luigi was the first to get his wits back, just in time to see them disappear into the shadows of the next level of the mansion. He glared, stood up, and almost immediately raced after them.
"Luigi, what in the name of Sam's Pizza Parlor are you doing?!" Mario shouted.
"I'm going after Koopa!" Luigi shouted, not bothering to look back. "What's it look like I'm doing?"
"You're going after Koopa?!" Toad asked, incredulously. "The world must be coming to an end!"
"Yeah, Luigi," Mario said. "You don't usually take charge like this when it comes to Koopa!"
"He must really be hooked on my sister," Franky said.
"Darn right," Luigi said. "And I'm not about to let that overgrown tub of lard hurt her! I'm gonna kick his tail into next Tuesday!"
The others just stood there in shock. They had never seen Luigi this angry before. But the shock didn't last long. As soon as Mario got his wits back, he began following his brother.
"Wait for me, little brother!" he shouted. "I'm with ya on this!"
"So am I!" Franky called.
"Me too!" the Princess shouted.
"I guess that makes it unanimous," Toad said.
"Me-yeah!" Puffball shouted.
"Then it's settled," Mario said. "Let's go give that overgrown suitcase what he deserves once and for all!"