The Darklands was home to the evil tyrant himself, Bowser. There were home to small villages too, mostly populated by Goombas and Koopas. The Darklands themselves were mostly barren, containing little to no source of vegetation but they were blanketed by an endless sea of clouds, making the sun invisible to the denizens there for what would probably be their natural lives. The only jewel, if you could call it that, was Bowser's castle.
Bowser's castle was about the same size as Toadstool's castle. Instead of marble the castle walls were completely enclosed of obsidian. The bridge connected it was a wooden bridge that was in a weak state of repair due to old age. One small step and one could fall into the moat. However, the moat was not composed of water, but instead of lavas. The roof of the castle was always on guard by Koopa archers. There were also various traps within the castle, such as lava pits, which the architects made sure, would not burn down the castle itself. There were also thwomps, large blocks of stone that would go up and down whenever an intruder presented itself. There were also Goomba guards and Koopa troops patrolling the interior of the castle in case an intruder ever did present himself and somehow managed to survive the lava and thwomps traps. There was a bedroom for Bowser, which really was not impressive at all, albeit the view from his window was an endless stream of barren land encompassed by the surrounding darkness. His throne room had a chair composed of solid gold with a few cushions made out of some of his "disloyal" subjects. The kitchen only contained various meats that Bowser and his troops hunted for sustenance around the Darklands. The only recent addition to the castle was its dungeon, where Bowser intended to put the lovely princesses inside.
"Alright men," commanded Bowser giving a little smile. "Throw our guests in here." The Koopa troops shoved the princesses in there, and then proceeded to lock the door.
"You'll never get away with this." Yelled Peach trying to shake the door to be set free.
"Yeah someone will come for us." Yelled Daisy searching for any other means of escape.
"Please," replied Bowser without a hint of concern on his face. "No one knows where you two are. And even if someone did manage to find this castle, I would have a lot in store for them. "Bowser chuckled menacingly then proceeded to enter his throne room.
Daisy and Peach just sat in the dungeon room, looking scared and miserable. "Do you really think someone will come for us?" Asked Peach with a worried look on her face. "I mean we have never been kidnapped before, and we don't know what prince or warrior would risk his life just to save us."
"I don't know the answer to that Peach." Replied Daisy who also concerned of that issue. "But we can't give up. Otherwise Bowser would get what he wants and that is to break us and to eventually allow him to have our kingdoms…or worse." Daisy swallowed hard, having terrible thoughts of the severity Bowser would have on them.
Back in the Mushroom Kingdom, Mario and Luigi passed by the town square, and decided to buy fishing poles in case they needed to get food for themselves if their supplies ran out. Mario bought a crimson red fishing pole with a red leer, while Luigi bought an emerald green fishing pole with a green leer. Mario and Luigi went to go ring up the items at the cashier, who recognized them as the Koopa Slayer and the Goomba Slayer.
"Oh Mario, Luigi," said the cashier bowing down to them with humility that they would come to his store. "Please, no need to pay any gold coins, the fishing poles are free."
The brothers said thank you to the cashier, but were puzzled by the fact they didn't accept American dollars.
"Guess we're back to being really poor again." Said Luigi making both brothers chuckle.
"Yeah no kidding," replied Mario. "But hey, that new hero status sure does have its perks. Let's just remember not to let it go to our heads again." He then nudged Luigi in the side, reminding him of what happened earlier.
"Right…" said Luigi feeling a little embarrassed. "Anyways let's get on our way."
They then proceeded to enter the road which, according to their map given to them by Toadsworth, should lead them to the Darklands. It was almost nightfall and they decided to make camp by a huge tree that overlooked a small stream.
"Good thing I bought that fishing pole." Said Luigi who went to explore the small stream in the pursuit of trying to catch fish.
Mario decided to pitch the tent and setup the sleeping bags. He then took out the portrait of Princess Peach that Toadsworth handed to him during the briefing of their mission. Mario couldn't believe that such a brute could ever get her hands on this wonderful creature. "She's so beautiful," thought Mario. "If I could save her, if I could defeat the one they call Bowser, would she even accept me as a friend. A girl like that has to be real shallow considering that there were no princes showing up at her door to escort her dates or whatever they do in this Kingdom." Mario then placed the portrait back with all the briefing documents, grabbed his fishing pole, and decided to join Luigi at the stream.
"Heya bro. Any luck?" Mario asked, sitting a few feet away from Luigi and proceeded to start fishing.
"Nope. Darn fish aren't biting today." Replied Luigi, getting a little frustrated for his unlucky predicament.
"Well. Let me show you eh Luigi." Mario said giving Luigi a wink as he reeled in his first fish. "See it's that easy." Mario chuckled to himself on how lucky he got getting a fish on his first try, while Luigi just got annoyed from Mario's lucky attempt. "So…Luigi what do you think of this mission?"
"Easy," replied Luigi casting out his fishing reel further into the stream. "We got to defeat Bowser, save a couple of princesses, and be back in Brooklyn by the Subway series. Why ask?"
"I don't know Luigi," said Mario getting a little tense. "I think we can have a fresh start here. You know what I mean? I mean there has to be more than just saving princesses here and then leaving."
"You like Princess Peach that much huh?" asked Luigi completely starting his brother.
"I-I…m-mean yes. Could you blame me though, she's a beautiful girl. One of a kind. Her personality has a lot to be desired, but I won't know until the end. You can't tell me you didn't felt the same way about Princess Daisy right?" Mario asked trying to put Luigi on the spot now.
"Y-yes." Luigi said completely blushing now from revealing this fact. "But come on Mario, we're only plumbers. They're royalty and they are after the guys on top not the bottom dwellers. Furthermore I thi-. Uh Mario we got company." Luigi pointed at the tree to about 10 Koopas and 10 Goombas.
"Alright boys," said one of the Koopas rummaging through the brother's supplies. "Destroy anything that might lead to them to the Darklands. We can't have Bowser's plan foiled."
Mario and Luigi ran to the top of the tree where they spotted the battalion of troops. "Hold it right there Koopa scum." Mario shouted getting ready to fight. "Don't you wanna play tag?"
"What is this tag you speak of?" asked the Koopa, confused at the weird game that was popular in the real world.
"It's a game where I tag you," replied Mario as he jumped on the Koopa shell and sent him spinning. "And YOU'RE IT!" The Koopa's shell killed about 4 Koopas and 5 Goombas where the shell landed in the stream where the brothers were fishing and drowned.
"Enough games!" commanded one of the Koopas. "Finish them off."
The Goombas charged at Mario and Luigi which made them dodge left and right in succession of each Goomba attack. Without a hint of exhaustion, the brothers jumped on each of the Goomba's head in succession, killing them off, leaving the Koopas left.
"Try to dodge this you insolent humans." One of the Koopas said as all 5 of them retreated into their shells and proceeded to ram the brothers in 5 different directions. Mario and Luigi carefully timed their jumps, allowing them to pick off one Koopa at a time until one was left.
"Bowser will hear about this." The lone Koopa said as he pulled out a communication device to warn the other soldiers back in the Darklands.
"Send this message to Bowser for me then," said Mario as he jumped on the turtle's shell. "Tell him when we come for him, he'll be turtle soup when it's all said and done. Luigi, you can have the honor."
"With Pleasure." Replied Luigi as he jumped on the Koopa shell again sending the Koopa flying into the stream where his brethren was, immediately drowning him. "Who knew these turtles couldn't swim." Both brothers chuckled at this remark, but then yawned out of exhaustion from the skirmish.
"Alright Luigi," said Mario yawning again from exhaustion. "Time to get some sleep. We have a long day ahead."
"Wait just give me one second." Said Luigi retrieving the fish that the Mario brothers caught from the stream as well as the fishing poles. "I also want to see if these troops have anything of value." Luigi looted the pockets of the corpses of the adversaries they were fighting, retrieving about 150 coins, 4 red mushrooms, and 2 flowers. "Hmm" thought Luigi puzzled at the last 2 items he collected. "I wonder what they do."
Mario and Luigi decided to enter their sleeping days and drift off into their dreams, resting up for the next part in their adventure to save the princesses.