The Koopa archers had fired their bows, with the arrows after the brothers as fast as bullets being fired from a gun. The Mario Brothers had to do cartwheels in order to dodge the rain of arrows. Luigi was able to dodge them all successfully. However, one of the arrows hit Mario in the stomach, causing him to fall down on the ground.
"MARIO!" cried Luigi as he saw his brother fall to the ground, tears coming out of Luigi's eyes.
"It's a alright Luigi." Mario said softly as pulled out another flower. Soon, he jumped back up to his feet, feeling one hundred percent again, and tossing the arrow that had hit him into the lava before.
"That's impossible," said one of the Koopa archers. "No human could have survived that no matter the willpower." The archers quickly tried to retrieve their next arrow to short. With the delay in reloading, the Mario brothers took their opportunity to take down some of the archers on the roof. With some of the archers down, the Koopa master archer wasted no time commanding the rest of his archers to hurry up and fire. The Koopa archers that remained fired their second arrow, with the Mario Brothers easily dodging them. Concentrating their attacks on the archers, the Mario Brothers fired their fireballs at the archers again. More Koopa archers were defeated, some crashing into the lava moat pit below.
With the last of the archers disposed of. Luigi took the opportunity to put down the master archer. "Ughhhhh." Croaked the master archer as all he could think of to do was to fall on the bridge below him, shattering the bridge, piece by piece that connected the Darklands to the castle.
"Luigi," Mario said running towards the bridge. "We have to move now." Mario and Luigi had to jump where the bridge was not destroyed in order to gain access to the other side.
"Just like my dream." Luigi thought to himself as the Mario brothers were making their way to the other side. With one more leap the Mario Brothers attempted to make it to the other side. Luigi successfully made it because of his tall jump. However Mario could see he wouldn't be able to make it as he was only able to grab the edge.
"Mama Mia," thought Mario hanging on for dear of life. "If I let go, I become a roasted pizzano."
Luigi then grabbed his brother's hand and safely pulled him out of danger. "I got ya bro." The two brothers than embraced in a brotherly hug. "That's twice I thought I lost him," thought Luigi trying to wipe the tears from his face. "Bowser will pay for this." The Mario brothers than kicked the doors to Bowser's castle open. They then traversed the lava pits and the thwomps in order to gain access to the main part of the castle. Random castle patrols always found the Mario Brothers but they met a grisly end as they were no match for the Mario Brothers. They explored the castle trying to find the princesses. They checked the kitchen, dungeon, and even Bowser's bedroom to no avail. They then reached the final room, where they were certain that the princesses were being held.
"The final battle bro." Mario said turning the knob to open the door. "The final step towards reaching the sweet end."
"Then let's get this over with." Luigi said, his fists up and ready for battle. "It's time to kick some Bowser Butt."
Mario opened the door to the throne room, where they took a step forward, face to face with the enemy they had been searching for in Bowser. "So," Bowser said, his voice raised a bit higher than normal speech volume, furious at the Mario Brothers for all the work that they had undone. "It is you who has come to destroy my empire, destroy what I've worked so far. I would expect such a couple of heroes not to be so ridiculously dresses." Bowser let out a menacing laugh, angering the Mario Brothers a little. "I'm sure you come to rescue the princesses. Well rest assured they have been under great care thanks to me." He then lowered the cages from the ceiling to reveal both Princess Peach and Princess Daisy. They were sleeping, but the Mario Brothers could tell they went through a great deal of trauma with scared expressions written all over their face. This enraged the Mario Brothers even more.
"You're going to pay for what you have done," Mario said, his teeth clenched in anger seeing Peach tortured like that. "Face it you have lost, and you are just another bad guy me and my bro are going to crush."
"I'll make sure you feel what those princesses have felt under your watch," Luigi said. "When we're done with you, you'll wish you never missed with the Mushroom Kingdom."
Bowser could lonely laugh, confident that he could take down the Mario Brothers himself. "Then prove it heroes. Come and face me." Bowser put up a taunting gesture, causing the Mario Brothers to charge at him. He then slammed both fists hard on the ground, causing parts of the floor to fall into a lava pit below, triggering a trap. However, the Mario Brothers prepared for such a plot, narrowly avoiding the falling parts of the floor and jumped platform to platform to get to the side where Bowser and the princesses were located. On the last platform they had to jump on, the Mario Brothers imitated a jumping karate kid, and both attacks hit Bowser's face as he was kicked back all the way to his throne room chair, making it and Bowser crash to the floor with a hard thud. This stir caused the princesses to wake up from their exhaust driven slumber without the Mario Brothers knowledge. They then were able to get a good look at the heroes for the first time.
"So they are our heroes," thought Peach, barely able to keep an eye open. "They came all this way, faced so many odds just to rescue us." Peach lit up a small smile before fainting back to sleep from severe exhaustion.
"They're so brave," thought Daisy as she was also smiling at the Mario Brothers. "Not to mention they're really cute too. More charm than any other prince has shown me." Daisy, just like Peach, has also fainted from exhaustion silently hoping that the Mario Brothers would come out on top against Bowser.
Bowser proceeded to stand up after that initial attack. His face a little cut up from it meeting those two kick attacks. He roared in anger and starting using his fire breath to attack them, which both Mario brothers dodged in success. "That never happens," thought Bowser now having a worried look on his face. "Could it be that I have finally met a worthy opponent?" Then suddenly Bowser yelled "NO!" as he let out another fire breath attack one in which Mario and Luigi again narrowly dodged as one brother was on each side of Bowser.
"I guess my fire attack isn't going to work," thought Mario as he didn't try to cast a fireball. "Bowser is probably immune to them. So I guess I'll just fight him in hand to hand combat." Since Mario didn't try to cast any fireballs, Luigi did the same thing, as to not waste his energy when trying to fight him. Again, the brothers charged at Bowser at opposite sides, until that was when Bowser grabbed both brothers by the shirt and lifted them up high from the ground. The brothers tried to wiggle free, but Bowser's grip was too strong.
"Take a good look at the princesses," Bowser said in a menacingly soft tone. "It will be the last time that you will ever see them." With all his strength, he sent the Mario Brothers flying into a wall, both hitting their heads with a sickening thud. The force itself made Mario and Luigi unconscious for a few moments. Bowser then proceeded to slowly go over there, planning to cast his fire breath to finally put an end to the brothers' lives. Peach and Daisy woke up for a tiny portion again just to see the Brothers hit the wall, unconscious and ready to be killed.
"Wake up!" softly said the princesses, using as much strength as they could. "You've given us hope, you can't be defeated now." Tears were in their eyes as they prepared for the inevitable
During their time in an unconscious state, they saw a devastating future as to what would happen if they didn't defeat Bowser. They saw the Mushroom Kingdom and Sarasaland being annexed by the Bowser Empire. Bowser would have an army that was larger than what the Mario Brothers would have faced before. The princesses would be forced into marrying him, and never finding happiness again knowing that their inhabitants were basically slaves to themselves. The worst part about their vision was the knowledge that Bowser had won. "NO!" cried the brothers in their own visions. "I can't let this happen. Not after I had come so far, so close to reaching the end game.
Mario and Luigi woke up, and dodged the next fire attack by a millisecond as Bowser's flame reached the indent from where they were unconscious. "Impossible," said Bowser in a shocked tone. "How could you have survived that? That throw would have knocked out a toad for a good five minutes and any two bit hero for at least three minutes."
"Yeah well try us you overgrown lizard." Mario replied defiantly ready to challenge Bowser to another fight.
"I'LL SHOW YOU HUMAN! I'LL SHOW ALL OF YOU WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU MISS WITH ME!" Bowser said a in a furious shout as he charged at Mario. However, Bowser's anger got the best of him when Luigi spotted his tail in a vulnerable position. He ran up towards it, grabbed it which caused Bowser to fall on the ground immediately.
"Hey Bro," Luigi said straining to life the tail up. "A little help here."
Mario helped his brother lift Bowser up from his tail as they spun him around and around in a big circle. "No," thought Bowser now scared for his life. "What are you doing? This isn't supposed to happen. I'm supposed to win here, not you two."
The two brothers with the last of their strength spun him around one last time and threw him into the lava pit below. "SO LONG A BOWSER!" yelled the two brothers as Bowser fell into the lava pit, defeating Bowser once and for all.
Bowser landed face first into the pit, desperately trying to get out. "NO GET ME OUT OF HERE! THIS CAN'T BE THE END IT CAN'T! AAAGGHHH!" Bowser than sank into the pit below.
The Mario brothers sat on the edge of the pit looking down to where they threw Bowser.
"It's over Mario," said Luigi in an exhausted tone. "We saved the Mushroom Kingdom. We saved Sarasaland." Luigi put his arm around his bro and gave him a playful nuggie.
"Hey take it easy Luigi." Mario said, too exhausted for any brotherly shenanigans. "Besides, there's one thing left to do now." Mario then turned to the cages where the princesses were being held and pointed to them.
"Oh right." Said Luigi sheepishly as both brothers stumbled their way towards the cages, knowing at least that the hard part was over.