It had been almost a year since Tatanga's failed attack and he was ready to try again. He had made another, larger clone army. It had taken a long time, but he had built an army of five hundred clones. He had them all in a large projection room.
He walked in front of the army and shouted "listen up!"
He projected a picture of Luigi and said "Target one, Luigi. His skills include: sniping, strategy and hand to hand combat. His preferred weapon is the M-14 rifle fitted with a scope and a silencer which allows him to kill quietly from a distance."
The projector switched to a picture of Mario and Tatanga said "target two, Mario. His skills include: bravery, strength and determination. His preferred weapon is the M-60 light machine gun which allows him to deal massive damage quickly."
The projector switched to a picture of Peach and Tatanga said "target three, Princess Peach. Her skills include: distractions, the ability to anger her adversaries and close combat. Her preferred weapon is the SPAS 12 combat shotgun which allows her to inflict major damage at close range."
The projector switched to a picture of Daisy and Tatanga said "Finally the primary target, Princess Daisy. She is NOT to be harmed! She is to be captured alive! Her skills include: medium range combat, bravery and heavy weapons destruction. Her preferred weapon is the M2a1 flamethrower, .357 Magnum combination which allows her to deliver massive damage to multiple targets at close to mid range. We are going to attack Princess Peach's castle first. We will eliminate the Princess and Mario by storming their castle or by placing the castle under siege. When Luigi and Princess Daisy come to their aid, we will capture Luigi and use him as a hostage to force Princess Daisy to surrender herself. Once we have Princess Daisy, we will kill Luigi. Any questions?"
His army was silent.
"Outstanding!" Tatanga shouted "gather weapons and ammunition and prepare to attack!"
Tatanga landed the spaceship in the remote desert plains on the outskirts of Sarasaland and ordered his troops to march on Peach's castle.
As they marched through the desert, one of Daisy's scouts spotted them. He began running to her castle. A clone spotted him and shot him; the bullet hit the scout in the leg, causing him to fall. Luckily when he fell the clone thought he had killed him and moved on. When the army had passed, the scout stood up and began limping toward Daisy's castle. Daisy and Luigi alternated every six months between living in Luigi's mansion and Daisy's castle. Luckily for the scout they were at Daisy's castle that day.
When he was one hundred yards away from the castle he began yelling "Princess! Princess there is trouble!"
Luigi and Daisy stepped outside. When Luigi saw the scout limping he ran over and helped him to the castle and sat him down.
The scout looked up at Daisy and said "Princess, Tatanga's army is back! They are marching toward the Mushroom Kingdom."
Daisy looked at Luigi and said "I've gotta go change into my jeans. You call a doctor and then go get our guns."
"Right" Luigi said.
He ran inside and called the hospital and told them to send an ambulance, then he ran to the castle vault and grabbed his rifle and Daisy's flamethrower and pistol. He met her in the main living room. She was wearing a yellow tee shirt, blue jeans and tennis shoes. She strapped her flamethrower on her back and put her .357 in her belt and emptied a box of hollow point rounds into her pocket. Luigi filled his pocket with all the spare clips he had and loaded his M-14. Then they began running toward Peach's castle.
"Follow me" Luigi said "I know a warp pipe that will take us to the castle."
Daisy followed him to the warp pipe. They came out of a pipe right next to Peach's castle. Luigi and Daisy ran inside and shut the door and locked it.
"Mario! Peach! Get in here!" Luigi yelled.
Mario and Peach walked in.
Mario looked at Luigi and said "Luigi why are you yelling? You could've just come in and found-"
He stopped when he noticed that Luigi and Daisy had their guns with them.
"Don't tell me that Tatanga has another army" Mario said.
"Yeah he does" Daisy said "one of my scouts saw them headed this way. You guys need to get your guns and maybe a few other weapons."
Peach headed upstairs to change when she saw Mario pull out his cell phone and begin to dial a number.
"Who could you possibly be calling now?" Peach asked.
"Yoshi" Mario said "five gunners are better than four."
Yoshi showed up a few minutes later. Luigi unlocked the door and let him in then he shut and locked the door again. When Yoshi walked in, Mario handed him a M-249 SAW.
Yoshi looked at it and said "why do I need this?"
"There's big trouble coming and we need you as a gunner" Mario said "can you shoot?"
Yoshi looked at the SAW and said "point it at the bad guys and pull the trigger, right?"
"Yeah, that's about it" Mario said.
Luigi walked over with five radio headsets and blueprints of the castle.
"Everybody take a headset" Luigi said "that way we can talk to each other from anywhere in the castle."
He put the blueprints down on a table and said "Ok, I'm gonna be on the top of the tower I'll have a great shooting position from there. Mario, I want you in the left second story window with that M-60, Yoshi you take the right window."
Mario and Yoshi both nodded.
Then Luigi turned to Peach and asked "did you keep that machine gun from the nest that Daisy burned last time?"
"Yes" Peach said "and Mario went to the real world and bought three thousand bullets for it, I thought it was crazy because .30 caliber bullets are expensive, but now I guess it was a good idea."
"How did you know what caliber that gun is?" Mario asked.
"I read the side of the box of bullets" Peach said.
"But I hid the boxes of ammunition" Mario said.
"I know" Peach said "but I know all of your hiding places Mario."
"You do?" Mario asked.
"Yes" Peach said "it is my castle after all. I've lived in it a lot longer than you have. Speaking of your hiding places, I wanted to talk to you about-"
"Anyway" Luigi interrupted "we're gonna try to keep them away from the castle so the shotgun and the flamethrower aren't going to be very helpful; so Peach, Daisy I want you two to man the .30 cal on the ground floor, keep the flamethrower and the shotgun close though, if they get too close you can let 'em have it."
"No problem" Daisy said.
"You can count on us" Peach said smiling.
Just then Toad walked up and said "I couldn't help but overhear what's going on. I wanna help."
"As do I" Toadsworth said as he walked up.
Peach looked down at Toad and said "this is going to be dangerous."
"I know" he said "but I still want to help. I'm a fast runner, I can bring you guys ammo when you need it."
"Ok" Peach said.
"How may I assist?" Toadsworth asked.
"You can be Luigi's spotter" Mario said.
"What does a spotter do?" Toadsworth asked.
"You would stay next to me with a pair of binoculars" Luigi said "and point out targets of opportunity like officers, heavy weapons and counter snipers."
"I believe I can do that" Toadsworth said "I shall be your spotter Master Luigi."
"Everybody know what to do?" Luigi asked.
They all nodded.
"Ok" Luigi said "take your positions and good luck."
Then Peach said "Toad can you go grab two more headsets?"
"Sure" Toad said.
"Thank you" Peach said "you wear one and give the other one to Toadsworth."
"No problem" Toad said.
They were in position and laying in wait for Tatanga's army. Peach was telling Daisy about the new dresses she had just bought, Daisy was half listening and polishing her revolver. Mario, Toad and Yoshi were talking about pasta and fruit. Toadsworth was giving Luigi gun safety tips. Luigi was ignoring him and scanning the horizon through his scope.
Luigi saw a figure in the distance through his scope and said "Toadsworth, eleven o'clock."
"I beg your pardon, Master Luigi" Toadsworth said "but it's one forty-five."
Luigi sighed and pointed toward the figure and said "look that way, what is that?"
"Oh, yes" Toadsworth said.
He raised the binoculars and said "It appears to be Tatanga."
"That's all I wanted to know" Luigi said as he turned the safety off on his rifle.
He aimed and began to squeeze the trigger.
"Master Luigi, wait" Toadsworth said.
"What?" Luigi asked.
"Pardon my interruption" Toadsworth said "but by the angle of your rifle, I believe you are aiming slightly too high."
"I am aiming high" Luigi said "he's really far away so I have to allow for bullet drop."
"Very well" Toadsworth said "continue."
Luigi took careful aim and began to squeeze the trigger. He fired and a second or two later the clone fell.
Luigi pushed a button on his headset and said "they're here! Get ready!"
Daisy quickly put her pistol away and got ready on the .30 cal, Peach stood beside it ready to feed the belts through. Mario and Yoshi both got ready. The clones began rushing the castle, everyone opened fire on them. Toadsworth kept pointing out counter snipers and officers to Luigi.
Then he said "Master Luigi, there is a clone with a flamethrower at two o'clock."
Luigi looked and saw the clone. He put the crosshairs on the flamethrower's fuel tank and fired. The tank exploded engulfing several clones around it in flames. Peach and Daisy kept up the fire with the .30 caliber.
Peach pushed the button on her headset and said "we need some help down here! They're coming too fast!"
"Ok" Luigi said "Yoshi get downstairs with your SAW and help the girls. Mario get that 60 up here with me."
Yoshi and Mario went where Luigi told them to go. Mario laid down next to Luigi and began firing. Yoshi set up his SAW in the window on the other side of the main door from the princesses.
Then Luigi came on the headset and said "Toad, I need more M-14 ammo on the tower."
"On the way" Toad said.
He brought Luigi a bag with fifteen clips in it.
"Thanks" Luigi said as he reloaded.
"No problem" Toad said "I also brought a couple of extra belts for Mario."
"Thanks Toad" Mario said "can you please go check on the princesses now?"
"You got it" Toad said.
Then he ran down the stairs.
"We can't keep this up forever Weegie" Mario said "sooner or later we're gonna run out of ammo."
"I know" Luigi said "I've been trying to think of a way we can escape and find a new place to defend. Or…"
"Or what?" Mario asked.
Luigi looked at him and said "it's risky, but we could fake a surrender, get them to come inside and ambush them."
"I like that better than running" Mario said.
"I do too" Luigi said "but we've gotta see what the girls and Yoshi think before we make a decision."
Mario got on the radio and said "Peach, Daisy, Yoshi can you hear me?"
"Yeah, go ahead Mario" Daisy said.
"We're gonna run out of ammo soon" Mario said "Luigi has two plans, plan A: we run and try to find a new spot to defend and try to gather ammo on the way. Plan B: we fake a surrender, draw them inside and ambush them. Me and Luigi both vote plan B; but we wanted to get your opinions too."
"I vote B" Daisy said.
"Me too" Peach said "how do we ambush them?"
"I vote plan B too" Yoshi said.
"Ok girls" Luigi said "tie a string or something around the trigger of the .30 cal to keep it going and meet us at the vault, you too Yoshi."
Daisy held the trigger back and Peach tied it back, then they headed for the vault.
When they all got there, Luigi said "ok, first we're gonna make barricades to take cover behind as while shoot. Then we'll let the belt in the .30 run out of ammo, then we're gonna put a white flag out the window and unlock the doors. When they come in, we all open fire. You should know it's dangerous and risky, it could backfire and they could overwhelm us. So let's vote one last time, I say B."
"Plan B" Mario said.
"Same here" Daisy said.
"Plan B" Peach said.
"Plan B" Yoshi said.
"Ok" Luigi said "grab all the ammo you can carry from the vault and it wouldn't hurt for all of us to find a back up weapon like Daisy."
They took all the ammo they could possibly carry and tried to find back up weapons. Luigi took two .45 automatic pistols, Mario took a .9mm automatic, Yoshi took a .38 revolver, Peach found a .32 pistol and Daisy stuck with her trusty .357 Magnum. Mario and Luigi set up barricades with tables and chairs. Daisy set up in front of the door with the flamethrower facing out. Mario and Yoshi set up side by side to the right of the door. Peach set up next to Yoshi. When the .30 cal ran out of ammo, Luigi unlocked the door and put a white flag out the window. Then he jumped behind the barricade beside Mario. The door opened and Daisy immediately began spraying flames out the door. After about forty-five seconds, the flamethrower began to overheat forcing Daisy to stop. She ducked behind her barricade and waited for the flamethrower to cool off. The clones began running into the castle, Mario, Luigi, Peach and Yoshi all opened fire and the clones began falling. After a few minutes, a clone shot Yoshi in the arm. Peach set her shotgun down and tried to check Yoshi's arm.
A clone snuck up and put a gun to the back of her head and yelled "put your weapons down or I'll kill her!"
They immediately stopped firing and lowered their weapons.
"Hands on your heads" The clone said.
They put their guns on the ground and put their hands on their heads.
The clone began to drag Peach out and said "we've got Princess Daisy, let's get out of here."
"No, let her go" Daisy said "you've got the wrong Princess, I'm Pri-"
"Shut up!" a clone interrupted.
He pointed to a group of clones and said "you four stay here and take care of the rest of them."
All the clones left except the four that were told to stay. One of the clones ordered them to stand up. None of them moved.
The clone put his gun to Daisy's head and said "NOW!"
"What do you think this will do?" Daisy asked "I mean you're gonna kill us anyway."
Luigi slowly stood up, keeping his hands on his head.
One of the clones looked at him and said "you can die like a man, put your arms down."
Luigi put his hands by his side, as a small smile crept across his face.
"Are you that happy to die?" The clone asked.
"No" Luigi said "I'm happy to do this."
He drew his pistols and quickly shot three of the clones. The last clone quickly took his gun off of Daisy's head and pointed it toward Luigi. Before he could fire, Daisy drew her pistol and shot the clone. Mario and Daisy ran to Yoshi and began to bandage his arm.
When they finished, Mario stood up and said "alright, let's go find Peach."
"Right" Daisy said "come on Luigi…Luigi?"
Mario and Daisy turned and saw Luigi sitting against the wall, his rifle was on the floor next to him.
"You ok, bro?" Mario asked.
"No" Luigi said "and I'm not going with you."
"What? Why not?" Mario asked.
Luigi looked at him and said "The ambush was my idea, and I planed it out. It's my fault Yoshi got shot and because of me, Peach was kidnapped. I could've gotten someone killed."
"It's not your fault" Mario said.
"Yeah" Daisy said "you gave us a choice and we decided to ambush them, you even warned us about the risks and we all still agreed."
"That's right" Yoshi said "I agreed to the ambush so if it's anybody's fault that I got shot, it's my own."
Mario knelt next to Luigi and said "we need you Weegie, you're the best shot out of all of us and you know more about strategy than any of us. We can't get Peach back without you."
"What if I make another mistake?" Luigi asked.
"You've made mistakes before Luigi" Daisy said "but you always think it through and try again. The Luigi I know, the Luigi I fell in love with, would stand up and make a plan to get Peach back."
"She's right bro" Mario said "Peach needs you and I need you, now make me proud."
Luigi grabbed his rifle and slowly stood up.
He smiled and said "ok, give me a minute to come up with a plan."
"Take as long as you need" Mario said "me and Daisy will go get ammo from the dead clones."
"Ok" Luigi said.
He grabbed a map and started planning a strategy. Soon Mario and Daisy came back.
"I think I've got it" Luigi said "judging from the sand on the clones' boots, they started out in Sarasaland. There's a chain of hills that runs through the Mushroom Kingdom, almost to the Sarasaland border."
"We know" Mario said.
"Ok" Luigi said "next to the hills it's flat ground, which makes a much easier walking path, so Tatanga's army most likely took the flat path. If we stick to the hills, we'll have a good vantage point and a big advantage in a fire fight. When we get to Sarasaland, we can follow the clones' footprints in the sand. When we find the space ship, I'll quietly deal with any guards or scouts. Then we'll go in and try to find Peach. When we find what room she's in, you two go in and I'll wait by the door. That way if he tries to use her as a human shield, you can distract him and I can try to find a shooting lane that won't put Peach in danger. Sound good?"
"Sounds great" Mario said.
"That's my Luigi" Daisy said "let's go."