Chapter 8 - The Flaw
"STOP!"
Everyone in the room stopped to look at the door which had slammed open.
Luigi stood in the centre of the doorway, his right leg was extended forward after kicking open the door. To his left was Toadworth and to his right was Princess Peach with her hands in metal bonds.
4 hours ago...
Toadsworth was tied up lying on the table in Peach's room, he was in utter astonishment. The Princess attacked him, HIM! However the answer to his questions was being given to him right now as it turned out the 'Princess' was actually Ludwig Von Koopa talking to a 'toad' that was Larry Koopa, they were saying how Bowser is going to use Ludwig to give the kingdom to him. Toadsworth was angry but he knew that he was the only hope at saving the kingdom since everyone thought that Ludwig was really Peach.
Larry had left the room now and Ludwig was pacing around the room silently, the only sound was the clapping sound of the Princess' shoes he was wearing which became more and more foreboding every time he stepped. He began talking to himself as if he had forgot the elder was even there, "Ok, once more Ludwig, *clears throat* I wish to send a summons to multiple recipients for a meeting" the devilish Koopa said in a voice that Toadsworth was ashamed to think sounded exactly like his beloved Princess. He felt like he had betrayed her, he had to do something about it.
Then Ludwig, as according to the plan, also left the room. Toadsworth rolled to the edge of the table, luckily for him the shape of a toad is wider at the head so his rolling moved his feet in front of him, dangling over the edge of the table. He used this to drop down to the floor (being extra careful not to fall over, ruining everything) and began hopping to the other side of the room. By the door was a sword
attached to a suit of armour, he wasn't sure why Peach had it in her room but was glad she did, he carefully rubbed the ropes against the blade and to his luck they sliced in half and fell to the floor without scratching him.
He then left the room and ran as quickly as possible out of the castle.
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! Was the extremely annoying noise coming from the alarm clock, Mario opened his eyes to look at the clock showing that it was 6 in the morning, he sprang out of bed and went straight into the bathroom to shower. Luigi, to his annoyance had also been woken by the alarm clock despite him not needing to be awake unlike his brother who had been called for a meeting at 9. He decided since he was awake anyway he'd get up and make a cup of coffee for himself and Mario, after a minute the coffee was ready and he took a sip burning his mouth, other than it being piping hot it tasted pretty good. Mario suddenly burst out of the bathroom already in his overalls and rushed to the kitchen to get some cereal and sat down eating it faster than anyone normally would, Luigi gave him his coffee and Mario thanked him before taking the last spoonful of his breakfast and downing the coffee. He ran to the door, grabbed his signature red hat and dashed out. Luigi laughed at his brother's hurry and then himself went to take a shower, much more calmly than Mario did.
It was 7am now and Luigi now dressed in his overalls was playing Mario Party, he of course was playing as himself against Wario, Donkey Kong and Yoshi. He was winning without doing anything because he's so good. Suddenly the door slammed open causing him to jump and drop the N64 controller, Toadsworth was in the doorway. "MASTER MARIO WHERE ARE YOU I NEED TO WARN YOU OF GREAT DANGER YOU MUST COME AT ONCE WHERE ARE YOU CAN YOU HERE ME ARE YOU EVEN HOME MASTER MAR-" "Toadsworth he's already gone to the castle, it's just me here." Luigi called making the babbling toad shut up. "OH NO!" Toadsworth said not in his usual tone to Luigi's surprise, he sounded like something absolutely dreadful was really happening as opposed to his usual exaggerations. In concern Luigi turned off the N64 and ran down to him, he was in total fear as if he'd just seen a ghost. Suddenly he began shouting again, "MASTER LUIGI YOU NEED TO COME WITH ME AT ONCE THE PRINCESS THAT MARIO SAVED A FEW DAYS AGO IS ACTUALLY LUDWIG AND THE REAL PRINCESS IS STILL AT KOOPA CASTLE AND LUDWIG IS GOING TO GIVE THE KINGDOM TO BOWSER AND WILL KIDNAP MARIO AND SEVERAL OTHERS SO I CAME TO WARN HIM BUT NOW HE'S GONE I NEED YOU TO SAVE THE DAY MASTER LUIGI!" Luigi quickly and decisively responded, "Ok let's save the kingdom!" He put on his green hat and ran out the door towards the Koopa Kingdom followed by Toadsworth.
Koopa Castle was dingy, it reaked of turtles and goombas. The dungeons were worse, they were damp, dark and dank and smelled of rotting fabric, which was probably because that's what the prisoners were wearing. Luckily for Luigi all the troops were waiting at the pipe, which according to Toadsworth was being connected to one in Peach's castle by Larry, so there were no guards in the dungeon. "Peach?" Luigi whispered hoping she would hear without being loud. "PRIN- *mummffumf*" Toadsworth had begun shouting her before Luigi covered his mouth, no guards were there but Luigi was sure that they would be able to hear Toadsworth shout from over a mile away.
Luigi realised he could hear someone crying, from the sound of the pitch it was definitely a girl and that made him run straight there hoping it was Peach. Luigi and Toadsworth saw that it was Peach crying, she was chained to the floor and had metal bonds on her hands, she was on her knees with her head hung low and her blonde hair shielding her face from view. The sight made Toadsworth want to cry helplessly but Luigi instead went straight to help her so he didn't have to see her like this.
He tapped on the bars of the cage causing Peach to suddenly stop crying for a moment, she very slowly looked up so she could see who had tapped her cage. The green plumber was stood next to her advisory looking at her worriedly, she was so happy to see them. "Luigi! Toadsworth!" She exclaimed, "SHH!" Luigi responded reminding her that she was still in Bowser's prison and didn't want to attract any attention. She closed her mouth and nodding to show she understood. Luigi pulled out his hammer and went to the cage door, he swung it back to strike it which broke the hinges making it fall off. He then walked up to Peach and helped her stand up, he slotted the handle through the chain and then pulled it which snapped the chain in half. After doing the same to the other chain he and Peach walked out of her cell and the three of them exited the dungeon and sneaked out of the castle. They began to run but Peach struggled with the broken chains still on her ankles so Luigi decided to change the plan slightly, "We'll wait in this castle until Bowser goes through the pipe then we'll go through it too, we can then burst into the meeting once he's there". They all agreed and waited while talking about the plan and Toadsworth finally (quietly) expressing how upset he was to Peach who unlike Mario and Luigi, who tried to get him to shut up when he blurts out, she hugged him and listened to every word.
Present Time
"That Peach is fake!" Luigi shouted pointing his finger at Ludwig. Everyone was in shock. "So that's why you're giving the kingdom away!" Mario shouted which made everyone realise that that made a lot of sense now. Bowser was panicking, so was Ludwig, "No! This is not true! Guards! Take away this green liar!" Ludwig shouted. "You don't even sound like me!" Peach screamed at Ludwig, the guests weren't buying it either.
Luigi grabbed a fire-flower from his overalls and began to shoot at the villains, he hit Larry who failed to dodge as a toad and nearly hit Bowser too but Bowser jumped over it. Kamek then cast a spell at Luigi which he only just dodged, it hit a glass on the table which vanished completely, that gave him an idea. He jumped on the table as Kamek shot more blasts which he dodged carefully, the first hit a glass, the second hit the table itself and the third hit Toadette's chair. All three disappeared freeing Toadette, "Luigi! Take this" she shouted throwing a super star to him. He had intended to free Mario but this worked out even better. With rainbow power he charged into Kamek who desperately tried shooting spells at him but they did nothing and the magikoopa was knocked out. He then punched Larry, who's waistcoat was still on fire, which knocked him out too. His power was about to run out so he sprinted at Bowser who was trying to defend himself with his shell but he too, was knocked out. Luigi charged at Ludwig but the star ran out before he could attack him, "AHAHAHAHAH!" He cackled triumphantly.
SMACK!
Ludwig fell to the ground after Peach had smacked his head with her metal bonds, "HOW DARE YOU IMPERSONATE ME YOU SNAKE!" She screamed at him before hitting him once more and ordering the guards to take away the evil four.