Although she did not have the parasol to help her, the stranded princess found a way down. She scoured the rooftop, but there was no door leading to inside the building. However, she managed to find an air duct that spread through the entire skyscraper. She broke the vent off and was skinny enough to climb through it.
"Wow, this corset is actually coming in handy…"
Peach worked her way through the duct and got to the first floor, majorly confusing the citizens employed there. But she didn't care about that, or even think about the strangeness of a woman with a pink dress and crown climbing out of a dusty chute. Her mind was preoccupied with two things: Doopliss harming her friends, and the realization that she had become a stereotype.
The princess left the skyscraper she was stranded on and began the long walk home. There was no clear path as to where they came from, since the puzzle of catching Doopliss took up their focus. She walked down the streets of the city, and quickly realized something: being dressed as a princess in a strange city is no picnic. As soon as she was in the open, a shady looking Doogan came up to her and asked,
"Hey, you…you want some shrooms? You look like a fighter with the tattered dress and all. Or maybe you're one of those 'damsel in distress' types who need a fighter to save her. Either way, shrooms are the way to go!"
"No thanks, really…" Suddenly, the man opened the trench coat he was wearing, revealing a stash of assorted mushrooms.
"Let's see, I got regular mushrooms, Max Mushrooms, Volt Shrooms, Life Shrooms…a girl like you could use a Life Shroom."
"I really have to get going."
"You don't like the standard market products, huh? Well, little lady, I got a Golden Mushroom in here! I even have an Invincishroom! It'll cost ya 500 coins, even though I don't know what it does, but-" Peach remembered what the Invincishroom did to Mario and responded,
"You know, I just spent all my money on a robotic butterfly version of a friend of mine, anyway…" She could tell the man didn't believe her, and he pulled out a Poison Shroom.
"You tryin' to mess with me?"
"No, not at all!"
"You're gonna give me some coins anyway, shroom or no shroom!"
"NO I'M NOT!" Without thinking, Peach pulled out the frying pan she was given and knocked the Doogan out cold. She said aloud to herself,
"…Did I just do that? …It felt pretty good, defending myself from the likes of him!"
The princess laughed, put her frying pan away and left the city. If anyone there came up to her, she just pulled out the frying pan (which by now had a head-shaped dent in it). The tattered clothes/dented frying pan combo made her actually look tough. Creeps backed away from her, and she liked the freedom of it. She walked into the forest, and realized that walking on vines with high heels seldom works. So, she put her shoes away, walking barefoot through the mud-covered floor. As she whacked a few menacing Goombas away, she said to herself,
"This frying pan is incredible! It's no cheap Fire Flower or Starman, but it definitely shows results! Now, whenever a Goomba comes my way…" She continued while demonstrating it on a Goomba charging her way,
"I just knock it out of my way!" WHACK!
"Oh look, coins! Anyway, this is much better than when Bowser kidnapped me and Mario leapt to my rescue! Every single time…well, I'm not that stereotypical and useless!"
Just then, she looked down at the clothes she was wearing. A pink flowing dress with a shining baby-blue emblem and puffy shoulders. Not to mention her crown and earrings, the latter being bigger than her actual ears. And the pink high heels and pink parasol she normally used.
"Or maybe I am." She continued on. "Ever since 1985, my plumber in red has been forced to save me…and the plumber in green, I suppose. 22 years of the same story over and over again: I being captured by Bowser and Mario saving me. The adventure is different every time, but the plot isn't. I want that plot to change! Like with the adventure I just went on, I was needed for several puzzles and challenges! I even took out a freakish spidery creature in Castle Bleck…but then saved her after the fight was over.
"Even if I saved her, that just means I have the heart of a hero in me! And I saved Mario once before in Super Princess Peach, using the…power of emotions…well, the time of being useless is over! I won't be the Toadette to Toad, the Birdo to Yoshi, the Minnie to Mickey, the Wonder Women to Superman…wow, there are a lot of examples of this. From now on, I will be known as…the Pink Wonder! That sounds cool! Pink Wonder, away!"
While the 'Pink Wonder' was finding her way back home, the Return Pipe brought the other heroes to Flipside Tower immediately. The group of heroes, along with Doopliss imitating Peach, returned to Merlon's house. Doopliss was waiting for the perfect moment to sneak away with the Light Prognosticus. Merlon, Nolrem and Nastasia were there as well, Nastasia asking the two wizards for a loan. She was about to leave to repay Tom Crook, but their conversation came to an abrupt end as Merlon chimed,
"You found the Light Prognosticus! Excellent work, heroes!" After a moment of celebration, Nolrem added,
"…I suppose it's time you returned home then." Luigi said,
"Yeah, I miss my old room and my old bed! Hopefully no one found my diary while I was away…" Bowser added,
"And it's time I got to my new castle! I've got a new army to train!" Luigi said,
"No capturing Peach this time, okay?" The heroes laughed as Bowser said nonchalantly,
"Well, I don't know about that…"
Just then, Bowser pulled out a remote of some kind and pressed a large red button on it. Suddenly, the fake princess was trapped inside of a metal-barred cage. But, she (or 'he' I suppose) wasn't the only thing trapped: she (or he) was holding onto the Light Prognosticus. The Koopa King called out,
"HEY KAMMY KOOPA!" As soon as he gave his command, Kammy Koopa flew in on her broomstick.
"Huff, huff…King Bowser! Did you know how hard it was to find you? Even though that dimensional rip took me to this town, it took forever to find the house you were in! How can I find you in a foreign town if you're indoors, even if this house DOES look conveniently unique?"
Bowser ignored her complaints and pressed the second button on the remote, which revealed his infamous Koopa Clown Car (no one quite understanding the logic of how his vehicle appeared like that). He hopped inside, taking the cage with him. Nastasia tried to brainwash him, but before she could, Kammy Koopa saw her and hit her with a block. Kammy Koopa flew up to Bowser in the air, as the Koopa King yelled,
"Good luck finding us at my NEW castle!"
Bowser laughed as he, Kammy Koopa and the Peach-impersonating Doopliss flew away towards his new castle. Peach Doopliss blew a kiss at Mario (trying not to grin) as Merlon yelled,
"THE LIGHT PROGNOSTICUS! …And Peach!"
Mario didn't need to think about what he had to do; he had done it plenty of times before. Instantly, Mario jumped through the door and ran towards the dimensional rip to chase after Peach. Luigi was also quite familiar with the scenario, and he leapt into action as well. O'Chunks and Mimi were a little shaken up by what had just happened, since they had no knowledge of Bowser's past. But, Tiptron explained,
"Bowser has been Mario's arch-rival since the timeless classic of Super Mario Brothers, released in 1985. The game-"
"Juss shut yer trap and foller us!" Before O'Chunks, Mimi, Tiptron and the other pixls could leave, Merlon shouted,
"Wait! My crystal ball can help you find Bowser's Castle!"
Thoreau grabbed the crystal ball as the group caught up to Mario and Luigi, thanks to Dashell's help. Nastasia also left Merlon's house (in as much confusion as the other previous minions of Blumiere, not to mention the block attack to the head) to pay off her debt to Tom Crook. Thoreau gave the crystal ball to Mario as they were going through the dimensional rift. Once they were teleported to Bowser's old castle, Mario looked through the crystal ball in order to find Bowser's new castle. Before he could see a clear image, a Paratroopa flew in and knocked it out of his hands. A Goomba came in, accompanied by an army of various Bowser baddies, and said,
"Well if it isn't Mario! Even if you manage to get past this army – which you won't – you'll never find Bowser's new lair!" Mario glared at the Goomba and was about to jump on it, but was stopped by his brother. Luigi walked cautiously to the Goomba and asked,
"…Gary?"
"Luigi?" Luigi approached the Goomba, who stuttered,
"Oh, Luigi! Great to see you again, man! Good to know that you're free from the brain contr-" Luigi interrupted,
"I thought that you became one of Count Bleck's baddies! Why aren't you in his castle right now?" Gary responded,
"What? Oh, I snuck out of Castle Bleck before things got messy. I joined willingly, without getting brainwashed, remember?" Since Luigi had no memory of being Mr. L, no. Gary continued,
"That 'betrayal' of mine paid off nicely!" Luigi grounded his stance and said (attempting to sound tough),
"You're still not going to stop us, you fiend!" Mimi called,
"Luigi!" Luigi turned around to see that Thoreau had already taken the crystal ball back from Gary's gang. O'Chunks commanded,
"'Ey Mario, yew, Thoreau and dat crystal ball should 'ead over to 'is castle to get Peach! Wheel 'old off de army and catch up to yew wit Dashell!" Gary mocked,
"I don't know what you just said, but it won't work! Army: attack!"
As Mario left with Thoreau, Tiptron and the crystal ball (barely managing to understand O'Chunks' orders), Gary's army got into formation. The army consisted of the normal Bowser enemy fare: Goombas, Koopas, Paratroops, Paragoombas, Magikoopas, Koopatrols, and worst of all, Hammer Brothers. Mimi said,
"Oh, so this is where Count Bleck got those stupid brainwashed minions!" Gary answered,
"Hey, Luigi was also-"
Before he could finish his sentence, Cudge went up to him and pounded him into the ground. This motivated the army to attack. The Koopas were all in their shells, shooting at the heroes who were affected by gravity. O'Chunks trained with a team of Yoshis from when he was a general, and so he had good kicking reflexes. Luigi also had good kicking reflexes from nearly drowning in the Mushroom Kingdom pool. The general instructed,
"Mimi, yew cin copy Cudge and attack de air force!"
While the two of them kicked shells into the Goombas and at other Koopas, Mimi copied Cudge and was focusing on the aerial enemies, as O'Chunks commanded. Cudge handled the Paragoombas and Cudge Mimi handled the Paratroopas. The Paratroopas that were hit by Cudge Mimi became regular Koopas, and added to the work O'Chunks and Luigi put in. They were defeating the floating enemies at a quick pace, but the Magikoopas slowed them down with their attacks in the air. O'Chunks saw this and yelled,
"Barry, dew somethin' to 'elp out Mimi an Cudge!"
So, Barry reflected the Magikoopa spells, flinging them back at the casters. During all of this, Mario was running towards Bowser's Castle. Thanks to the crystal ball, Mario knew that the castle was just to the east of where he was. He realized that the army in his new castle would be much greater in numbers, so he prepared for the worst (which meant the usual). The red plumber also passed by enemies that weren't yet hired by Bowser, but still hated Mario for killing hundreds of their own species. So, they attacked him as well.
While Mario was stomping on his own enemies, Koopatrols started to attack the other heroes. O'Chunks and Luigi were starting to get hurt, and the Koopas were flying right into them. One knocked Luigi on his back and the Koopatrols kept charging at them. Luigi had a surprisingly difficult time trying to get up, whining,
"I feel like a Koopa right now." All the Koopas there decided to gang up on Luigi at that point. O'Chunks yelled out, in pain but still in charge,
"Thudley! Use yeh powers to flip oveh dees armored Koopas! Not flip like Fleep, but anotheh kind! Yeh know wat I mean! Boomer, explode when dey're flipped!"
Thudley did what he was told, and thudded onto a Koopatrol. Thudley got a bit of damage, but the Koopatrol was flipped, and a quick explosion from Boomer knocked him out. So, nearly everyone was busy wiping out the opponents, and all groups were taken care of –except for the Hammer Brothers, who threw their hammers at every type of hero there, airborne or not.
O'Chunks wanted to save them for last, but Luigi wanted to stop their cruel attacks right away (once he got off his back, of course). Unfortunately for him, the Hammer Brothers were not on a row of blocks he could jump under…they were floor-level. Risking everything (at least to Luigi it was), Luigi timed his jumps to stomp on the Hammer Brothers, and managed to knock them out. O'Chunks was able to handle the Koopas and Goombas, killing all but Gary, who was still stuck in the ground. In fact, he was run over by sliding shells many times, but Gary was a surprisingly resilient Goomba.
After Luigi's timed jumps and the final kick from O'Chunks, the heroes defeated the entire army Kammy Koopa had collected. Luigi said,
"Good job, O'Chunks! You knew exactly how to use our powers!" O'Chunks responded,
"Well, I was a general in meh day! A gewd one, too! Meh army was fighting fer dat Dark Prognosticus, and we were up 'gainst de army dat 'ad it! But…meh army lost. However, dat meant when Dimentio showed meh to Count Bleck an I joined 'is forces, I knew where it was! So, Count Bleck defeated dare general, an dat's when he got 'is book back!" Mimi added,
"Yeah, thanks to O'Chunks, Count Bleck got the book back from all those nasty wars it had created!" Mimi walked next to Luigi and told him,
"You did a good job too, Luigi! You're really powerful…" Luigi blushed and stuttered,
"We should really catch up to Mario…"
So, they followed Mario's tracks, based on O'Chunks' tracking expertise. With the additional help of Dashell (along with the fact that all enemies on the way were defeated by Mario), they caught up to the plumber right outside of Bowser Castle #9999. The castle was just like every other one: big, sinister-looking, somehow creating a storm behind it when it was sunny a minute ago. Nothing new. And of course, like with every castle, Peach was at the very top.
While the heroes were trying to reach Bowser's Castle, Bowser flew to the top chamber, along with Kammy Koopa and the entrapped Doopliss. The cage was set down while Bowser got out of his Clown Car. Kammy Koopa also set herself down and said,
"Inter dimensional travel is a pain on the old back! If you'll excuse me, I'll be off to take a nap!"
"Alright, Kammy, go ahead!"
"Thank you, your Tremendousness!" As Kammy Koopa flew out of the room, Bowser told 'Peach',
"Well, he we are again! Feels like old times, huh?"
Doopliss realized that he had to imitate Peach. It didn't seem like that bad of a situation, actually. Not just because Mario would rescue him and the tiring battle with Bowser will exhaust the heroes enough to let him get away with the Light Prognosticus…but imitating Peach would be fun. So, he said,
"Let me go, you overstuffed pizza-face!"
"Your insults have improved, I see, but that won't help! My army is invincible! Mario doesn't have a chance!"
"I know that Mario, my hero, will save me!"
"You still have a crush on that plumber, huh?" Doopliss fake-blushed and said,
"He's the love my life." Bowser clenched his eyes and fists in anger, as Doopliss sneaked a grin he couldn't hold in any longer. He managed to stop smiling when Bowser looked back at him and said,
"And now that we're divorced, you two could get married…and with the whole Pure Heart lovey dovey feel of our last adventure, you'll probably get hitched right away!"
"I wouldn't doubt it! He's my knight in shining armor!"
"That's why I have to kill him!"
"NO! Don't do that! Don't break a stereotypical damsel's heart! My heart couldn't handle it!"
"Well, that's too bad! Say goodbye to your precious plumber!"
Bowser's army flooded through the entire fortress, the evil Koopa laughing maniacally. Doopliss was secretly having just as much fun as the Koopa King. While the fake Peach cried for Bowser to stop in the most stereotypical way possible, the real Peach finally made it to Bowser's old castle. The place was nearly abandoned at this point, since the troops were defeated and the heroes had moved on. There were still two Koopas left, who were pulling a Goomba out of the ground. Once the Goomba was free, he saw the princess, and said,
"What are YOU doing here, Peach? I thought you were captured by Bowser!" Peach responded,
"Long story – wait, captured by Bowser?" Gary said,
"Yeah! Bowser put you in a cage and flew you to his new castle!"
"He did?"
"Yeah, how do you not know this? Once you were captured, the heroes came through here looking for you!" Peach realized what Bowser had done and gnashed her teeth together, although she expected Bowser to try that soon anyway. She thought aloud,
"That fire-breathing idiot! He captured Doopliss instead! I better tell Merlon!" Peach tried to go through the dimensional rip, but the two Koopas stopped her. Gary continued,
"Wait…if you're here…what is Bowser doing?"
"Taking a shapeshifter captive."
"A shapeshifter? We need to alert the boss!" Gary motioned to one of the two Koopas (for a Goomba, motioning at anything is hard), and instructed,
"Yo! Mitch! Go tell Bowser he has a shapeshifter captive instead of Peach!"
The Koopa dashed off, and Peach knew that she couldn't catch up to him. She had just been fighting stray Goombas and Koopas for hours! But, the princess looked at the second Koopa that was next her, and then looked at her frying pan. Peach jumped on the Koopa, making him go inside his shell. Peach aimed through the open side-gate where Mitch ran out, and Peach used the frying pan to launch the Koopa shell at him. They were both knocked out right away as Peach said,
"Wow, those Mario Golf games actually came in handy!" She turned to Gary and bonked him on the head with her frying pan. Gary finally was knocked out, and Peach grabbed the few coins he let go of. She grinned at her golf prowess, but then remembered,
"Oh, right, telling Merlon what happened!"
Princess Peach went through the dimensional rip and appeared in Flipside once again. She was happy to walk the rest of the way to Merlon's house in a peaceful town as opposed to a bustling city or a monster-infested town. She burst into Merlon's house, and Merlon was the only one there. Nolrem had left for his house in Flopside to study the Dark Prognosticus and Nastasia was heading towards Marrymore Chapel. Merlon looked at the princess (noticeably her dirty feet and ripped clothing) and asked,
"Peach! Are you alright? Well, at least they managed to save you!" Peach countered,
"No, Merlon, they didn't save me! I was never captured by Bowser!"
"…What?"
"That was Doopliss! Doopliss was copying my form ever since we –er, they- came back from the Ancient Forest!"
"So, Doopliss was holding onto the Light Prognosticus and not you?"
"Doopliss has the Prognosticus?"
"Well, you had it – er, he had it – so yes. Oh, my…that's not good. No matter who has it, she –er, he- has been captured by Bowser!"
"Should I go tell the others?"
"No, they're probably long gone by now. I'm afraid there's nothing more for you to do but wait."
"So…the other heroes are going on an adventure to save me and the Light Prognosticus…and I'm stuck waiting for them?"
"So it seems."
"…I am NOT a stereotype!"
The feisty princess sat down in Merlon's house and rested, waiting for the heroes to return with Doopliss. She was worried that Doopliss would harm the heroes once they freed him, and Merlon worried that he could take the Light Prognosticus away again.
As they worried, the heroes entered Bowser Castle #9999. It was all of Bowser's army versus Mario, Luigi, O'Chunks, Mimi, Tiptron, 11 pixls and the crystal ball. It was a pretty one-sided match, and you can guess who would win. The heroes quickly defeated the group of enemies in the castle hall, and the last one dropped a key. Mario took that key and unlocked the first door, wondering why the enemies always carry keys around, and why it's always the last enemy who has it.
That first door led to a long staircase that seemed to go on for infinity. Mario and the others walked up the staircase for an entire minute, but it had no end. It was an endless staircase – again. Mario realized the similarity of the endless staircase to another adventure he had gone on, and silently sighed. Tiptron said,
"Mario, if you use Dashell, you should be able to beat the curse Bowser has put on this stairway…" Mario took Dashell and the heroes ran up the staircase, getting to the next door in a couple of seconds. Mario mumbled something and Luigi responded,
"Yeah, having Dashell would have helped out the first time."
They went through the door and found themselves in a much larger room. Enemies, spikes, and torches seemed to be spread everywhere. On the opposite side of the large spiky chamber, there was a large metal door with two locks on it, connected to chains holding the door shut. Mario flipped to find out that in addition to the two locks, there were two smaller doors, one on the left of the room and one on the right. Since the heroes had gone through the Flopside Pit of 100 Trials and got the cards at the end, Mario could stay in the third dimension without getting hurt by it. Mario knew that through each of those smaller doors was a long, puzzle-filled passageway that had a key guarded at the end. So, after a short game of eenie-meenie-meine-mo, they went through the left one.
The left passageway consisted of several lines of fire, spinning around in a confusing pattern. Mario tried flipping, but the fire walls covered the entire area, so the third dimension wouldn't help. So instead of using 3D, Mario decided to use Dottie. The group of micro-heroes ran through the wheels of fire, timing their sprints to avoid getting burned. For if they got burned, they would somehow end up at the beginning of the hallway. Mario never figured out exactly how that made sense. After a couple of tries, they made it to the end of that area, which had a key on a pedestal. As soon as Mario returned to normal size and took the key, a group of four Hammer Brothers and four Fire Brothers fell from the ceiling. The Mario brothers sighed at the sight of the Hammer Brothers and heard one of those four brothers saying,
"We're the Flaming Carpenters, and we demand our key back!" Mimi chucked at their name as the Hammer Bro repeated,
"Seriously! Give it back! I'm warning you – the Flaming Carpenters are an elite group of Koopa fighters!" Mimi said,
"I think we can take on some…Flaming Carpenters! Lol!"
"I don't care if you have the famous L.O.L powers! Our flaming hammers will take you out!"
The Hammer Brothers started chucking hammers and the Fire Brothers started spitting fireballs. Luckily, Barry had the advantage over both groups. Before the Mario brothers could leap into action, Barry reflected a couple of hammers, knocking them into two of the Koopas who threw them. They were both knocked to the floor, one of them saying right before they lost consciousness,
"Wow, we are powerful!" Mimi said,
"Two down, six to go!"
The four Fire bros. went in front of the other two brothers and spit out a bombardment of fire. Mario jumped through the great balls of fire, eventually jumping on one of those brothers, knocking him out. Luigi threw Boomer near the other three Fire Bros, and would instantly explode if any fire hit it. Unfortunately, one Fire Brother coughed, and that created enough sparks to make Boomer explode. After being dazed by Boomer's explosion, O'Chunks ran in and knocked out all three of them.
With those four defeated, the only enemies left were two Hammer Brothers – how appropriate. Mario looked at his brother, who nodded back, and they ran at the enemies. They times their jumps well, and simultaneously defeated the last two villains. With the first key, the heroes went back to the large spiky chamber.
"Why do you think that killing Mario will make you win my heart?"
"Peach, baby, it's not that! It's just that if Mario's out of the picture, I'll be the strongest guy you know!"
"But…you're already so powerful!" Doopliss was nearly dying of internal laughter. Bowser responded,
"I know I am!" Doopliss said,
"When we got divorced, and that attractive ghost broke in the window…I was hoping he would interrupt the proceedings."
"Me too! Wait…I thought you WANTED the divorce! You were the one forcing me to do it!"
"I know this sounds crazy, but…I think I'm starting to change my mind!" Bowser was delighted to hear that, and Doopliss was delighted to say it. He continued,
"Bowser…I love you."
"BABY! I love you too! So, you don't mind having Bowser Jr. and the Koopalings as children?"
"…Why not? I'd love to be a mommy!"
"Great! I'll go get Kammy Koopa! I think she's legally able to betroth people – she ranted on once about betrothing two pirates, or something; I wasn't really listening." Bowser left the room to retrieve Kammy Koopa, and as soon as the door closed behind him, Doopliss started dying of laughter. He said to himself,
"I should do this more often!"
With one key in their possession and one key left to go, the Heroes headed towards the middle chamber. The enemies in that chamber somehow regenerated, but they were easy to kill a second time. After defeating those Goombas and refilling their coin meter a fair amount, they went into the East Wing.
Unlike the Left Wing, which was filled with obstacles of fire, this hallway was filled with obstacles of ice. The floor was slippery and ramps of ice led into bottomless pits. Penguins were sliding around, dodging the pits and knocking into the heroes. And worst of all, wheels of ice that would freeze you on contact mirrored the fire wheels of the other wing. Suddenly, a Penguin sliding towards them got up, waddled to the heroes, pulled out a note and said,
"Message for Mr. Stache from His Greatness, King Bowser! 'Hello, my little puny plumber! Good luck on rescuing your princess, because I have captured not only her self, but also her heart! Hate, King Bowser.' Oh, and there's a lipstick kiss on the envelope – peach colored lipstick. Sorry, guy." The penguin went back on its belly and slid away, using the ramps to go over the bottomless pits. Luigi said,
"Let's get to the other side of this hallway and get that key!" Mimi said,
"But how are we supposed to get past those pits? It's not like we have a penguin suit or anything!" Tiptron and O'Chunks both looked up with an answer. O'Chunks waved his hands in the air, but Mario asked Tiptron first. The robot said,
"Our Carrie formation from earlier, along with the assistance of Dashell, could probably fly over the gaps...Carrie tends to glide a little…plus, Mimi can use her memory to turn into Peach again…" O'Chunks whined,
"Not de Carrie Formation again!"
Against his will, O'Chunks got on the real Carrie pixl, carrying Mario and Luigi. Mimi turned into Peach, and got her parasol ready. Carrie took off, flying past all sorts of traps and penguins. Mario was the best at fast-paced jumping and driving, so he controlled the steering.
The biggest threats were the wheels of ice. Mario timed his sliding to avoid them, but the slippery floor made them crash into one. The entire group of heroes and pixls were frozen, and a penguin was about to knock them into a pit. Luckily, Boomer could instantly light a fire to detonate himself with, and so the ice encasing him was melted. Boomer set himself down right in front of the penguin, and exploded with the icy enemy directly on top. So, the Penguin flew up to the ceiling and landed back on the icy ground with a thud. This thud, however, was enough of a crash to break the ice.
Mario looked with dread at the cracks beginning to appear. O'Chunks yelled,
"'Ey Maria, 'urry up an get movin!"
So, Mario steered the stack of heroes faster than the cracks could move. The heroes raced over ramps, through ice wheels and on top of sliding penguins, all while the ice behind them was collapsing into the pits. They did not know how this lair of ice was formed in the middle of a hallway with no bottom to it, but that didn't stop them. Eventually, the heroes reached a solid surface at the end –which also held a pedestal with a key on it.
The heroes separated from their stacking formation as Mario picked up the key. As soon as they did that (not too surprisingly), eight Ice Brothers dropped from the ceiling surrounding them in a circle. The leader of them boomed,
"We are the Icy Reptiles, builders of this icy field and guarders of this key." The heroes looked at them with confusion, and the leader continued,
"You haven't met us Ice Brothers yet. But that's not important now! What's important is that you're not going anywhere!" Mario was unfamiliar of these 'Ice Bros', so he asked Tiptron to tattle on them. Tiptron stated,
"It's an Ice Bro. These elite Koopas spit out balls of ice that freeze you on impact… Max HP is 10. Attack is 3. Defense is 1. Those ice balls bounce on the ground, so watch carefully…still, I bet their breath is minty fresh…" The leader responded,
"Oh, it is! But you won't be once we're done with you!" Another Ice Brother asked,
"…What?" The first Ice Brother reiterated,
"They won't be as fresh as our breath once we're done with them."
"…What?"
"Well, we're going to freeze them and push them into the bottomless pit, right? That'll kill them. Once they're dead, their bodies will start decaying, and then they won't be so fresh! You know, because their flesh will start to-"
"Let's just kill them already."
So, the Ice Brothers ended their talking and began spitting ice at the heroes. The heroes were quick at dodging the bouncing projectiles, but bigger targets were easier to hit. In other words, O'Chunks was the first to go. As soon as the Scottish giant was frozen, two Ice Bros ran over to push him into the pit. Tiptron saw this (her being mostly an observer), and said,
"O'Chunks is in trouble…help him…"
So Mario and Luigi, the natural answerers to distress, jumped on the two Ice Brothers. Luigi used his Super Jump and Mario used Cudge to do their damage. But, while Luigi was charging his Super Jump attack, he was frozen solid. As he was scrunched up. So, Mario had to knock out the second ice brother as Thudley crashed on O'Chunks to smash the ice.
Two down, six to go. Once O'Chunks was freed, he took one of the ice-spitters and threw him into the pit. Five to go. O'Chunks realized that his throwing skills came in handy for a small stage surrounded by bottomless pits and so he yelled,
"Barry! Coveh me while I chuck de Ice Brothahs!"
Barry floated over by the Scottish general as O'Chunks grabbed onto another Ice Brother. O'Chunks charged his arm and went to throw him, but before he could let go, the poor Koopa spit out an ice ball, freezing him to his hand. O'Chunks looked at his hand with discomfort and waved it around, but the turtle would not come loose. This left four more Ice Brothers on the field.
An Ice Brother was spitting at Mario, who was distracted trying to use Cudge to get Luigi out of his ice. The ice on his brother was surprisingly hard. So, Mimi had to copy Mario and knock out that Ice Brother herself. The real Mario realized that Luigi couldn't help and O'Chunks was a little…distracted…so he leapt into action again. He called over Thudley to free Luigi. Even when frozen, Luigi shivered as Thudley was about to crash into him.
There were three Ice Brothers left (since one was on O'Chunks' hand), and the two Marios went up against them. The Marios jumped off of the floor and landed on the Ice Brothers, dodging the ice balls. Two of those Ice Brothers were knocked out, leaving the leader to his lonesome. Luigi ran to his brother/brother impersonator, legs unfrozen but body still covered in ice (he was running from Thudley). Luigi still managed to jump over the leader, but the jump turned into an ice body slam. Luckily, the thud both knocked out the last Ice Brother and broke the ice encasing Luigi without Thudley being involved. The leader Ice brother let go of the key he stole, and Mario grabbed it.
With the Icy Reptiles defeated (O'Chunks finally knocking the Ice Brother on his hand and into the pit), they left to the main chamber. Except for one flaw…the entire pathway was broken. O'Chunks yelled,
"'Ow are we supposed teh get back?" Luigi said,
"If only there was a way to go back to the beginning of this hallway!"
The heroes thought about what to do, and even Tiptron was stumped. So, it came to Mario to get back. Mario thought for a little while, and then got his idea. All the heroes waited for Mario to explain, but he simply ran to the bottomless pit and jumped in. He got one damage, but appeared on the other side of the hallway. All the other heroes did the same as he did, and all went to the exit door. Tiptron muttered,
"That's not a correct way of doing it, but it still works…" With both keys under their possession, they opened the main door, and there was one small hallway separating them from Bowser and 'Peach'.
Speaking of Bowser and 'Peach', the two of them were back in the same room, Kammy Koopa accompanying them. The fake Peach was let out of her cage, and Kammy Koopa took the Light Prognosticus to use like a Bible in their wedding. It turns out that she had betrothed two pirates before – if she could remember the exact details of the same story Bowser remembered from five years ago, it was probably true. Kammy Koopa announced,
"We are gathered here today to join a beautiful princess and a powerful king! This reminds me of the time I almost got married, and to the cutest boy on the block. You see, we were-"
"Kammy, pay attention!"
"Sorry, your Impatientness! Bowser, do you promise to stay wed unto Princess Toadstool until your game ends?"
"You bet I do!"
"And Princes Toadstool, do you take this incredibly wonderful king to wed until your game ends?" Peach blushed and said,
"I do! I do!"
"If no one has any reason to object…you may kiss the bride."
I know what you're thinking. Mario bursts in right now and stops the wedding. Well, you're wrong. Bowser and Peach kissed uninterrupted, this moment being the best moment in the King Koopa's life. Since 1985 he has fought hard for this, and 22 years of army-recruiting and castle-reconstructing had finally paid off. There was no chance that Mario would rescue her and marry her now!
But…Doopliss turned back to his normal form in the middle of the kiss. Bowser opened his eyes and stared in a frozen stance, his lips frozen in a puckering position. Doopliss stopped kissing Bowser and laughed like a fiend. The ghost stole the Light Prognosticus from Kammy Koopa (also frozen in shock), jumped on the windowsill of his room and said,
"See ya later, Slick! Ciao!"
Doopliss laughed again and flew through the window, breaking the glass and getting away a second time. THEN the heroes burst through the room, Luigi yelling,
"Alright, Bowser, unhand the princess!" Bowser did nothing.
"Unhand her!" Still frozen. Mimi yelled,
"Give her back, you oversized turtle!" Mario looked at the cage, which was now empty. He went over by Kammy Koopa, who stuttered,
"Wh-what just happened?" Mimi asked,
"What? What happened?" Kammy Koopa blurted out,
"I don't know! Here I was, getting Bowser and the princess betrothed, when the princess suddenly turned into…a ghost! Then, the ghost took the book she -er, he- was carrying and flew out the window! " Luigi gasped,
"A g-g-g-g-ghost?" Mimi also gasped, and yelled,
"Doopliss! Oh my gosh, Doopliss must have knocked out the real Peach and tricked me into thinking she was her! Er, he was her!" Luigi asked,
"So, that was Doopliss? And he stole the Light Prognosticus again?"
"I'm afraid so."
So, the heroes sighed and decided to go back to Merlon's house. Mario pulled out the Return Pipe, but Bowser was still frozen. Thoreau grabbed him as the heroes went back to Flipside. They ran back to Merlon's house to tell him the bad news, but when they got there, they saw the princess waiting for them. She asked the dumbstruck heroes,
"Did you honestly expect the Pink Wonder to get captured by Bowser?"