Yay, another chapter! *happy dance* And nobody came after me for chapter four! *more happy dance*
Alright, enough happy dance. Here's chapter five.

Disclaimer: I don't own nothing, not even proper grammar.

Chapter 5: Heart Attack

One of the many doctors in the operating room walked up to Mario, Luigi, and Peach. Toad and Toadette had stayed in the hospital's lobby.

The doctor said to them, "I am going to have to ask you to wait outside."

Luigi nodded and exited the room. Peach followed, stopping only to take one last glance at the Koopas. The doctor looked at Mario, expecting him to follow his brother's example.

Mario shook his head, "I'm a doctor, too. I should stay and help."

The doctor frowned, "I understand your concern, Mr. Mario, and I appreciate your offer, but this is much more complicated than what you studied. Rest assured the Koopalings are in good hands."

Mario's shoulders sagged. He sighed, "Alright, I wait. But I'm going to be right outside the room, not in the lobby. I want to know right away if anything happens. I also want to hear their diagnoses when you finish them. Okay?"

The doctor nodded, "Understandable. There's a bench across the hall from the door you can sit on while you wait."

Mario waited for a second, and then headed for the door. He turned back to the doctor, stating sternly, "If anything happens in here—"

"You will be first to know," the doctor confirmed, smiling.

Mario nodded, satisfied, and went through the doorway. Just as the doctor told him, there was a bench nearby. Mario strode to it and sat down heavily. He then took off his cap and ran a hand through his brown hair, going over the morning's turn of events in his head.

Luigi came back to check on him, wondering what was taking him so long to get to the lobby. When he noticed Mario on the bench, clearly troubled, he decided to sit down next to his older bro.

They sat in silence for a good minute, with Mario staring blankly at the wall and Luigi looking anxiously at Mario.

Mario finally spoke up, "I've never seen Peach cry like that."

Luigi nearly spaced out, "Hm?"

Mario looked at him, "I've never seen Peach cry like that, Luigi."

"I know what you mean. She's usually so calm and collected. We both saw how she addressed the Blorbs outbreak," Luigi smiled weakly, "Well, at least you did. I must have slept through half the meeting."

Mario chuckled humorlessly, "She's hardly ever affected anymore when she's kidnapped… by…" Both brothers looked down somberly as the older trailed off.

"So do you think they're all okay?" Luigi voiced quietly, not looking at his brother.

Mario put an arm around his bro. "At this point, Weegee," he said sadly, "we can only hope."

Luigi returned the gesture, and both brothers looked anxiously at the door in their secure, one-armed hug.

*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*

In the hospital lobby, Toadette was in a similar embrace. She still hadn't recovered from seeing Roy Koopa's broken body. She could barely breathe.

Toad couldn't stand seeing his younger sister like this.

I wish I knew what to do to help her. I wish I was more experienced in these types of scenarios, Toad thought. I mean, I've been a comforting big brother before, but Toadette's never gone through this before. What do you do for someone who's just seen an almost-dead body? He looked around the room, Maybe something to calm her nerves. Maybe the cafeteria's got something that can help. Deciding that this was the best course of action, Toad stood up from the seat he was in to go to the hospital's cafeteria.

Toadette's eyes widened. She started to hyperventilate as she reached out and latched onto Toad's vest.

Toad immediately sat back down and hugged her again. "Toadette, it's okay. I'm right here. I'm not going anywhere if you don't want me to," he reassured her.

After what seemed like forever to Toad, his sister finally managed to calm down a little.
He sighed. I guess close contact is more important to her right now. He gave a small squeeze.

"Toad?"

Toad looked up to see who had addressed him. It was Peach. And she looked worried.

Right, who isn't today? he reminded himself. "Yes, Princess?"

"Is Toadette alright?" Peach asked him, eyeing her.

Toad frowned. "No, she is not alright!" he snapped, "She just saw what could very well be a dead body!"

Peach looked at him in shock.

Toad, realizing what he just did, looked down apologetically. "Sorry, Princess. I just—"

Peach sat down next to him. "No, it's okay, Toad. Everyone's upset today."

Toad shook his head. "I still shouldn't have said that. Or snapped at you."

"I accept your apology, Toad," Peach smiled gently. "Now you just have to accept my forgiveness."

Toad finally looked at the princess, smiling sheepishly. "Thanks." Then he remembered something. "Princess, could you maybe get something from the hospital's cafeteria for me?"

"Yes, what is it?"

"I don't know, just something we could give Toadette to help her calm down. I'd go myself, but she wants me to stay here."

Peach nodded, still smiling. "I think I know just the thing." And with that, she got up and left.

Toad looked in the direction she went. "She's such a great princess."

Within minutes, Peach was back carrying a cup of steaming liquid. She handed it to Toad.

"Here. Herb Tea."

Toad held it out in front of Toadette. "Toadette? Here. It'll make you feel better."

Toadette slowly took the paper cup and took a small sip of the tea. After a few more sips, she managed to take a deep breath. Then she downed a third of the cup. Afterward she looked at Toad and the princess and found her voice again. "Thanks," she said softly.

The three then sat in silence as Toadette drank. They started to experience something they thought was unimaginable at that point in time: Peace.

*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*

The Mario Brothers perked up when they saw and heard the door open. The same Toad doctor Mario had spoken with earlier came out and looked at them.

"We have identified all of the Koopalings' wounds," he stated.

Mario looked at him expectantly. "Well?" he pressed.

The Toad took out clipboard and listed off the diagnoses. "While all three have many small cuts, scratches, and bruises, there are quite a few more critical injuries. Bowser Koopa Jr. managed to get the least amount of damage. The only pressing matter is a rather ugly gash in his right leg, extending from his hip to his ankle. Some of the team is stitching it up as we speak. Someone had already wrapped the wound in cloth and stopped the bleeding, which makes things easier for us. Young Bowser is the only one not hooked up to a heart monitor.

"Lawrence Koopa's condition is more alarming. He has two large bruises on his head: one on the left side and one covering his right eye. Lawrence's right forearm is broken, both bones. It was previously splinted with his spiked cuffs. We've set it in a cast. What worries me most is Lawrence's shell. The two uppermost plates of his plastron have a large crack through them, close to the heart area. Much too close. He'll need surgery to have it fixed."

"Wait," Luigi interrupted, "Why does he need surgery? I've seen lots of Koopas with cracked shells, and it's never bothered them."

"I'm afraid Dragon-Koopas are built differently than your average Koopa Troopa," the doctor informed them, "A Dragon-Koopa's shell is actually attached to his or her skeleton. The back of the shell — called the carapace — is attached to the vertebrae. The front of the shell — called the plastron —'s upper area attaches to the Dragon-Koopa's rib cage."

Luigi slowly put the pieces together. "So what you're saying is a cracked or broken upper-plastron for a Dragon-Koopa is basically the same as cracked or broken ribs for us?"

The doctor nodded, "Precisely."

Mario bit his lip, "What else is there?"

"Roy Koopa is also in rather poor condition. His right collarbone is broken, and his left hip was dislocated, but we have already relocated it. Almost his entire forehead is bruised, and he most likely has a concussion. Half of Roy's upper left spike has been shorn off."

This time Mario was the one who interrupted, "But he's going to be fine?"

The doctor frowned in confusion. "That's just it. Roy should be fine, but seems to be getting weaker. From what his heart monitor tells us, his heart rate is getting lower. But there's simply nothing physically wrong with Roy that would be considered fatal."

"That is weird," Luigi agreed.

To Mario, however, one word managed to stand out from the doctor's last sentence, a word that even the doctor failed to notice. There's nothing physically wrong, he noted, but Roy must need to know the other two are safe. If Roy doesn't have Larry and Jr. with him, maybe he thinks he has no reason to live. He spoke his thoughts to the doctor and Luigi.

The doctor frowned again, "That's rather unscientific."

"This coming from the talking mushroom," Mario jeered, "We all saw how Roy clung to his brothers like a lifeline. And then we separated them."

Luigi's eyes widened, "You're saying we cut Roy's lifeline."

Mario nodded, "With a needle."

The doctor was still frowning, "I still don't think—"

Suddenly alarmed shouts came from inside the operating room. The doctor ran back into the room, Mario and Luigi following.

"What's going on?" the doctor demanded.

"Roy Koopa's heart rate has gone up!" a nurse said frantically, "It's too high; his heart might give out from the stress!"

As soon as he had spoken those words, the room filled with a long, dreadful beeeeeeeeeeep. The line on Roy's heart monitor had gone flat. His heart had stopped.

The operating room rapidly filled with panicked shouts. The nurses wheeled a defibrillator over to the right of Roy Koopa's hospital bed and handed the paddle to a doctor, who called out "Clear!" and sent a jolt of electricity into Roy. A small blip showed up on the heart monitor, but then it went dead once more. The doctor tried a second time, only to have the same result.

Mario knew what he had to do. As the doctors tried the defibrillator again, the red-clad plumber ran to Bowser Junior's hospital bed and grabbed the sides. Remembering that the doctor said he wasn't hooked up to anything, Mario carted Jr. towards the crowd of medical workers.

"Make-a way!" he called out.

The doctors and nurses looked at him in disbelief. "What in the Star Spirits' names are you doing? You can't move a patient!"

"Trust me," Mario said forcefully, "I know what I'm doing." I hope so, anyway.

The medical team move out of the plumber's way to avoid being run over by a hospital bed. Mario wheeled the cot to the left of Roy's. Mario grabbed Bowser Junior's left wrist and placed Junior's hand firmly in Roy's right.

Blazing rubies shot open.

And that's chapter five!

Now you know why cracked shells are dangerous for Dragon-Koopas! That Dragon-Koopa anatomy stuff is obviously made up. I doubt it's even turtle anatomy, so don't go telling your biology teacher what you learned from me. It's probably not accurate.

I probably should have mentioned this after chapters 2–4; I am not going to write Mario's, Luigi's, or Ludwig von Koopa's dialogue and thoughts with their accents much. It'd be too hard. There's also the fact that I don't picture Ludwig with an accent. Wait, I don't think 'picture' is the right word here. What's the word I'm looking for? 'Imagine'? Alright, let's go with 'imagine'.

And for those of you who are wondering just what in the Star Spirits' names chapter four was all about, I'm not gonna tell! That will be revealed in a later chapter.

Let the flaming commence! Or, you know, the reviews.