When they finally made it to what Mario was sure was Bowser's castle, they were exhausted. They had already been to 4 other castles, fighting their way through it only to find out at the end by a short guy with a mushroom on his head that "The princess is in another castle." Ichigo would have given up long ago, if it wasn't for the fact that Mario had promised to join them and help him find Rukia if they helped him rescue the princess. Ichigo suspected that Mario was the one that "L" was referring to. He didn't know why, but he trusted this L guy.
"This one is it! I'm sure of it!" said Mario.
"That's what you said the last 4 times!" said Naruto who was clearly frustrated.
"Naruto is right," said Ichigo. "We can't keep wasting our time going to the wrong place. All we're gonna accomplish by doing this is tiring ourselves out."
"No," said Link. "Mario is right, this is definitely it. I can feel it." Ichigo saw the conviction in Link's eyes. Naruto must have saw it as well because he simply nodded.
"So lets a-go!" said Mario.
Within the hour Link, Mario, Ichigo, and Naruto had made it through the castle and they stood outside the throne room facing the door. Mario opened the door while everyone else was on their guard. The moment the door was opened they stormed the room.
Mario marched right up to the throne and said"Bowser! Let the princess go!" The others were about to join Mario but what they saw on the throne shocked them. Mario had described what Bowser had looked like, but they were still just as surprised. The creature that was on the throne was a giant turtle with a green spiked shell. He also had a spiked wristbands and clawed hands. He definitely resembled a dinosaur-dragon-turtle combination.
"Help me Mario!" yelled a voice. They all looked towards the source of the sound and saw, next to the throne, a cage. Inside the cage was a girl in a pink dress, white gloves, blonde hair, and bright blue eyes.
"Don't worry princess. I will save you! After I'm a-Mario!" Boswer simple laughed and jumped off his throne right in front of Mario. Before Mario could react Bowser knocked Mario hard, sending him flying. Naruto jumped and caught him before he could hit the wall. Bowser continued to laugh.
Ichigo and Link, drawing their swords, charged Bowser. Ichigo jumped and attacked Bowser from above, while Link went for his legs. Bowser bent down so that his shell deflected Ichigo's attack. Then, quickly standing straight up, he knocked Ichigo into a nearby wall. At the same time, he shot out fire from his mouth towards Link. Link pulled out his shield and blocked the fire.
Ichigo and Link continued to fight Bowser as Naruto and Mario made their way over to the princess. When they made their way over to the princess, Naruto used his kunai to cut the cage open, freeing the princess. Mario and the princess embraced.
"Oh Mario! Thank you!" said the princess.
"No trouble at all Peach, but I couldn't do it without the help my friends here!" said Mario pointing at Naruto then out Ichigo and Link who were still fighting Bowser. Naruto saw that they were in trouble and went to help them.
"Stay here, Peach. I'm a-going to help my friends," said Mario. Just as Mario turned around to join the fight against Bowser, Peach screamed. Quickly turning around back towards Peach, he was just in time to see a black hole in the air closing. In it's place stood a black creature. It resembled a sort of hedgehog but was around the same height as Mario. It was wearing white sneakers, white gloves, and was all black, with the exception of red streaks throughout it's body.
"Who-who are you?" said Mario.
"I am known...as Shadow," said Shadow. Before Mario could do or say anything else, Shadow raised his hand, his palm facing Mario and said, "Chaos control!" and a wave of energy crashed into Mario, sending him into a wall, knocking him unconscious.
Ichigo, Naruto, and Link, after hearing the scream towards Peach. They saw what the creature did to Mario, but before they could react and help out, Bowser took the disctraction and jumped landing right next to the creature. Another portal opened behind them and Bowser grabbed Peach, throwing her over over her shoulder and he walked into the portal. Shadow followed him but just as he walked into it, he turned and looked at Ichigo.
"Rukia sends her regards," said Shadow, smirking, and disappeared into the portal. Ichigo was suddenly filled with rage and was about to chase after them but then the castle started to rumble. The walls, ceiling, and floor was falling apart.
"Ichigo, c'mon!" said Link. Ichigo turned around saw Link and Naruto standing by the door, signaling to Ichigo to hurry up. He saw that Naruto was carrying the unconscious Mario.
"Ichigo, the portal is already closed we have to go!" Ichigo knew that Link was right and he took one last look at the where the portal was and he joined the others as they escaped Bowser's castle...