"Who was responsible for the deaths of 113 of our loyal troops?"
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"Give me answers, damn it!"
A muscular Koopa, wearing a helmet and shoulder padding, with two small sledgehammers in a belt, was interrogating Toad. What had taken place after the Mario Bros. entered the yellow pipe was disastrous. No more than 2 minutes after, just as Toad was finding his way back to the Mushroom Kingdom, did a Lakitu, basic surveyors of the land, basic managers, see the Mushroom Man near the site of a Troop Massacre. After filing and sending a report to King Koopa Bowser, the Lakitu jailed him and notified the resident Hammer Bro of the case.
The next day, Mushroom World's atmosphere was different. Darker. Realer. 48 years of basic peace were coming to an end. If you will allow me but a moment to check in on all the persons and places that have big influence on this little tale.
In the Mushroom Kingdom, Toadsworth had taken up the mantle of ruler, as legally obliged by his previous vice-presidency. The population had grown, oddly-perhaps people trusted their own kind more than another.
Koopa Kamek was still flying toward Shy Guy Falls, the main residency of the Shy People. It was, quite literally, on the other side of the world. However, he was nearing the Falls. And with him, he was to bring promises of candy and toys to appeal to the Shy Guys' childlike nature.
Princess Peach was much smarter than you've probably come to expect. Ever since she was 15, she carried a sharp knife under her dress, strapped to her leg. For safety measures, of course. Whenever Bowser was not around, she was sawing at the bar furthest from the Megakoopa, hoping to make her way out.
Toadshipp had been rotting in jail for, so far, a night and a half. He was slightly scarred and bruised, punishments from the Hammer Bro as a result of his giving no valuable information.
"King" Koopa Bowser was planning on handling the trouble that awaited him personally. He was employing construction workers, engineers, architects to turn his castle into the most dangerous death trap possible.
And Mario and Luigi Mario were busy swimming frantically, looking for a way out of their underwater torture and to Koopaland.
I haven't mentioned that, have I? It was horrible under the blue sea. Strange fish known as Cheep-Cheep, watched their every move, attacking at every chance. As a result, Mario and Luigi were quite bruised, cut; Luigi's overalls were torn in half. Their mission was to find one more yellow pipe, an entrance to Bowser's kingdom.
And, secretly worse to both of them, was the realization of the amount of creatures they felt they had killed. Each brother had a guilty conscience eating away at them. How many did they kill? 50? Perhaps even 75? (We know they killed so many more, but let's not tell). Even if they were "creatures", they had still only been doing their jobs. Each made a mental note to limit the amount of deaths they had to deal out.
"Leege, I think I see it," Mario sputtered out, wiping some blood from his face onto his dry sleeve. Very surprisingly, it was as if the water were not there-it did not wet them, it did not prevent their breathing; it was as if it was oxygen. Mario then pointed his slightly blooded arm to a yellow object. The two ventured closer and found that it was, indeed, the entrance to Koopaland.
/Don't tell me any lies, look me in the eyes and say you're not the dev-/
Luigi quickly hushed his Walkman and turned to Mario.
"After you," Mario gestured, not quite wholeheartedly. As Luigi stepped into the pipe, Mario mouthed, "ladies first," before entering himself.