Chapter 1

Homecoming and Aftermath

Mario and Luigi walked into their home. The shorter brother came in first, flicking on the light as he entered. The younger massaged his own neck and stretched.

"Daisy would like to hear from you," Mario noted.

"The princess will probably get ahold of her soon," Luigi replied.

Mario nodded. He glanced backward at his brother. He continued to rub the back of his neck.

"You okay, Weeg?"

"Yeah, fine. Just a kink. Pretty crazy world, huh, bro?"

"Yeah… crazy…"

The image of his brother's head coming from Dimentio's likeness had not yet left his mind. If Luigi found out… He won't. I won't let that happen.

Hopefully things could return to normal. Hopefully the hardest part of their life could be kicking Bowser's shell. Bowser was just an ally, and now he was back to being the enemy. How strange things have become.

.

Bowser paced around his castle. Did I really come to care about those mustachioed idiots? Nah, it was just Peach I was worried about… He growled under his breath, holding back some orange flames. Maybe I'll feel better if I kidnap her again… That'll bring me back! He crossed his arms and nodded. But then, he looked outside and sighed. He was exhausted. Maybe he'll just wait for tomorrow.

And for now, Kammy Koopa wasn't around to bother him or nag. If she had known about his recent alliance with the Mario Brothers… He didn't even want to think about it. But all worlds were at stake! Just like they said, there would be nothing to rule if it was all destroyed, right? Right?

He was tired of the logic and the thinking. He wanted to sleep.

.

Daisy rested her chin on her fist as Peach explained the latest adventure. Mario got the feeling that the pink princess was enjoying it too much. Daisy was probably the tougher princess, they all knew that, so when Peach had an adventure to tell her about, she got a little braggy. The Mario Brothers just looked at each other and shrugged. Daisy rolled her eyes. "Man," she finally said, "Why can't I go on any cool adventures like ya'll?"

Peach grinned. "Right place, right time, I suppose."

"But what about this thing at the end?"

"It was a total boss rush! Man to man, woman to woman!"

"And you saved these people that tried to kill you?"

"It was the right thing to do."

"Pfft. Goody-two-shoes."

Luigi tilted his head. "You'd have done the same thing, Daisy."

Daisy looked at him with a slight blush. "Yeah… probably…"

Mario noted, "Those minions… they were all good people…"

"Except Dimentio," Luigi spoke out.

Mario and Peach tensed. Luckily, Luigi's eyes were on Daisy, so he didn't notice. But Daisy noticed the twitch of Mario's 'stache and Peach wringing her hands afterward. She looked at Luigi then back at them. Peach gave her a look that said: We'll talk later.

Luigi was always the first to retire to his room when the brothers visited the castle. That was lucky for Daisy, because she was not a patient person. When Luigi excused himself, she eyed her best friend. "Okay, so what's the deal?"

Mario looked uneasily at the two women. "Luigi can't know. It would destroy him."

"What would destroy him?"

After some hesitation, Peach decided that they might as well tell Daisy. She wouldn't let it go, anyway. So they told her about Mr. L, the mysterious "man in green" who was the "perfect host" of the Chaos Heart. Daisy's mouth fell open.

"Luigi?" her voice was small.

The two nodded.

She shook her head. There was one thing that she noticed, though, so she held up a finger. "Wait… You said that—besides the evil, I mean—one of the things that was so un-Luigi about him was his arrogance… his over-confidence…"

"Yeah, he was kinda a jerk…" Peach shrugged.

"Don't you get it guys? Confidence!"

They just blinked back at her.

"He has it in him! He needs it!"

Mario stood suddenly. "Tell me you're not saying what I think you're saying."

"Depends on what you think I'm saying, doesn't it?" she replied with some sass.

"Daisy… you can't try to bring out any part of a 'Mr. L' with him. If he knew…"

"Yes, I know him just as well as you, Mario." She muttered under her breath, "If not better…" Then she continued: "He can't know he's caused any harm to you. But he was brainwashed to believe he was your enemy. That's it. He wasn't brainwashed in ability or anything. He was confident. And he was powerful!"

She had a plan now… a plan to use what she knew of 'Mr. L' to help Luigi to see that confidence and power in himself. She'd have to be careful, but she'd have to do it, for Luigi's sake.

.

"For badness sake, sire!" Kammy Koopa pounded on his bedroom door. "Awaken at once! We've a day of scheming ahead of us!"

The koopa king moaned. "Five more minutes…"

"Underwhere help me, I will blast down this door!"

With another growl, Bowser opened his bedchamber door. "I was going to kidnap the princess of those shroom-heads today, alright?"

"Splendid! We need a good plan."

He knew that was true. He had been foiled too many times to count.

And Bowser came up with a brilliant plan. He hurried out in his clown copter as Kammy waved goodbye. "Best of luck, sire!" she called.

I don't need luck, Bowser determined.

He approached the castle just as he always did and parked his copter on the tallest spire. He looked down and jumped from the sphere. All he needed to do was sneak into the window and grab the princess. It was early enough in the day for her to still be in her bedchamber, likely getting some breakfast delivered to her. She'd be better pampered in my castle, Bowser thought to himself. These shrooms don't know nothin'.

He peeked through the glass and smiled. There she was. He burst through the door with a roar. But there was one thing he hadn't noticed. One thing he hadn't planned for in his flawless plan. There was a second princess in the room. And all it took was a chuck of her crown to knock Bowser on his shell. "GACK!" he cried.

"Bowser!" Peach gasped.

"Geez, Turtle! Don't you take a break?" Daisy picked up her crown and dusted it off.

"Oww…" Bowser's eyes started to water from the fierce impact on his snout. "By stars, what the heck was that?!"

"Get out, or there'll be more where that came from!"

Peach looked at him with pity. "Are you alright, Bowser?" she asked.

"I don't need your pity!" Bowser rubbed his snout as he stood. "I'm here to kidnap you!"

"Give it a rest, Bow-Wow," Daisy growled.

Bowser started to summon a flame between his teeth. Peach grabbed her parasol and opened it up as a shield. Bowser had seen her use that tactic on their last adventure… their adventure as a team. He swallowed his flame.

"Change your mind? Or Goomba got your flame?" Daisy asked, suspicious of his sudden hold-back.

It's more fun to fight the Mario Brothers than to kidnap Peach, Bowser considered. "Maybe I'll come back for you after I roast your boyfriends!" he called as he jumped out the window.

"Oh no, what is he up to?" Peach asked.

"Better warn the guys," Daisy noted.

.

Meanwhile, Bowser landed right in front of his enemy's house. They were ready for him, per the princesses' warning, however, each armed with a fireflower. "Wow, Koopa," Mario spoke up. "This is an interesting strategy, going for us first!"

"I'll do what I like!" Bowser roared.

"Sure enough."

A fire battle ensued. Bowser spat flames at the brothers, and they threw blazes back. Bowser still just felt like he was going through the motions, though. When Mario finally grabbed his tail and tossed him away, he landed with a frown. "What's the matter with me? That was way too easy for them!"

"That was… surprisingly easy," Mario noticed.

"Maybe you're just so used to it by now," Luigi suggested with a shrug.

Mario looked off in the direction Bowser was thrown. "Yeah… maybe…" There was something off about that battle. What was Bowser's angle? He may need to search him out and get to the bottom of it. He'd go alone. Luigi needed rest from the last excursion.