Chapter 4: The Chaos Heart


"And this is a new type of power-up we've been working on. The penguin suit!" Peach gestured to a toad who donned the suit and slid on his belly across some ice he threw. Daisy tried to keep up with everything Peach showed her, and Luigi chimed in to simplify things whenever her head spun.

"You've really lived here for a year!?" Daisy muttered to Mario and Luigi.

"Of course, it's amazing here!" Mario emphasized the wonder of the Mushroom Kingdom.

"So, what exactly have you and Mario been doing here?"

"Well, you know, plumbing work, fighting Koopas."

"Koopas?" The word threw Daisy for a loop.

"Servants of King Bowser, King of the Koopas. It was our victory over them a year ago that's cause for celebration!" Despite Peach's enthusiasm, Daisy appeared as lost as a child in a maze.

"What's a Koopa?" Daisy saw all three of her new companions open their mouths, but a wave of high-pitched screams flooded the streets from every direction. When the four humans looked up at the sky, they saw what spread terror among the toads. An icy chill ran down their spines as a fleet of wooden sailing shops flew through the night sky and descended upon them.

"Mamma mia!" Mario and Luigi cried together. These ships did not have sails upon their masts but huge propellers. Each one also sported a metallic ram on their bow shaped like Bowser's head, flew his black flag, and carried a full complement of cannons.

(Recommended theme, Airship theme, Super Mario Galaxy)

Mario, Luigi, Peach, and Daisy watched in utter terror as a barrage of cannonballs and Bullet Bills descended upon the Mushroom Kingdom. Toads and toadettes scattered before them in a panicked stampede.

"Everyone, get to the shelters! Get underground! Alert the Toad Brigade!" Despite her desperate cries, Peach could not overcome the chaos around them. "No!" Peach reached out toward a few toads who flew several feet after a house went to pieces after three Bullet Bills struck it.

"Daisy, look out!" Luigi grabbed her hand and pulled the soccer star away moments before a cannonball blew apart the section of the road where she stood.

"Ahh, thanks." Daisy wrapped both arms around Luigi who appeared ready to explode into steam.

"You're, you're welcome." Luigi stuttered. Under different circumstances, Mario and Peach might have laughed, but the attack stifled all joy. Mario and Peach followed Luigi's example saved many toads through quick and decisive action. Mario dove into a child toadette and got her away from a Bullet Bill, while Peach likewise scooped up a toad moments before a cannonball impacted.

"What's happening!? Who are these guys!?" Daisy yelped. Before they could answer, one of the airships dropped its anchor into the street and tore through pavement. Mario, Luigi, and Peach all squared up when Koopa troopas, goombas, and shy guys descended from the chain and surged into the streets.

"Those are the koopas!" Luigi tightened his fist after Bowser's minions began their rampage throughout the streets. Toads ran or found themselves struck by the troopas, which boiled the Princess and heroes.

"Nobody hurts my toads!"

"Luigi, let's-a go!"

"Right behind you, Mario! Daisy, don't worry. We've got this!"

"Hold on, what are you!?" Daisy gazed in awe and disbelief when her companions went to work on the invaders. Peach leaped up through the air and struck a shy guy with her high-heel dead in the center of his mask. The kick sent him back like a cannonball and knocked over another two. While in the air, the Princess used her dress as a parachute and floated over two more shy guys who overshot their charges. Once behind them, Peach picked up a big red beet from a destroyed shop and lobbed it at the two minions. It bounced off both shy guys and hurled them beside their dazed companions while Peach adjusted her crown.

Mario charged the Koopa troopas and leaped over the red-shelled sergeant's spear thrust. From there, Mario kicked him back into his shell and propelled himself onto the first green shell, which suffered the same fate. By the time Mario brought down the fourth Koopa, he flew straight at the next one and delivered a spinning punch that sent him out of his shell.

At last, Luigi charged the squad of goombas who bore their pointed fangs. When he was but a foot away, Luigi slid across the ground and kicked the lead goomba backward and into his companions like a bowling ball. Daisy's mouth dropped, and she lost herself when she watched him punch the last two into the pile of unconscious goombas in successive blows.

"Woah." The Soccer Princess's face went a little pink, at least until she screamed again when she saw a squad of Koopa-like creatures slide down the anchor chain and take a fighting stance.

"Hammer bros!" Mario warned Peach, who had just enough time to duck under a razor-sharp boomerang that flew over her head and zoomed back to the hammer bro who threw it.

"End of the line, plumbers!" The lead hammer bro gave a feisty grin as he and his companion opened their mouths and breathed balls of fire at Mario.

"Woah!" Mario ducked, weaved, and jumped over them until he reached the fire bros. One close enough, he spun himself around and clocked both in their beak mouths. The fire bros spun on their shells until Mario kicked them into a building and smiled.

"And that was without any power-ups." Almost as if to try and one-up him, Peach avoided four boomerangs hurled at her by the next two bros. Once in the air, she reached out and caught two of the boomerangs on their return trip and hurled them at their owners. The boomerang bros yelped and tried in vain to flee but found their shells sliced to pieces. The two elite minions covered themselves as they stood in their underwear, at least until Peach jump-kicked them both.

"Not bad." Mario said and earned a smirk from her.

"I was about to say the same thing to you."

"Yaah!" Luigi raced about as a rainstorm of hammers came down upon him from the last two hammer bros.

"Cut him off, we got Luigi now!" The hammer bros threw their weapons over Luigi, who skidded to a halt and panted.

"Come on, think, think." Luigi turned back to his attackers and curled up in a fetal position. Daisy's wonder vanished as the hammer bros laughed and took aim. However, the Soccer Princess soon gasped again when she realized he was not cowering. The hammer bros, too, yelped when they figured out his game but were too late. Luigi propelled himself forward like a torpedo and crashed into the hammer bros, who landed beside their defeated brothers.

"That was amazing!" Daisy almost squealed while Luigi rubbed his sore head.

"That's-a me, Luigi."

"Open fire!" Another hammer bro atop a passing airship pointed at the humans as his vessel, and two more let off a salvo of bullet bills straight for them. Mario backed up with the others until he realized the first airship had begun to raise its anchor.

"Ohh, I've got an idea. Hey, pellet Pauls over here!" He jeered at the giant bullets, which narrowed their eyes in a fiery rage, and all chased after Mario. However, the Italian plumber leaped onto the anchor just as it raised off the ground and then rode it onboard the airship. Once high enough, Mario jumped up and landed on the deck as the remaining crew of goombas, koopas, and a few rocky wrench moles raced toward him. However, they skidded to a halt when they saw the salvo of bullet bills behind him. The minions screamed and pleaded with the bullets, who tried to alter their direction but to no avail.

"Bye-bye!" Mario leaped off the airship and slid down a flag pole just as a massive explosion rocked the airship, which pitched about and crashed somewhere out of sight.

"Oh yeah, that's my brother!" Luigi fist-bumped Mario while Peach tried to suppress a blush with an impressed smile.

"Ok, I'll admit, that was impressive." By contrast, Daisy was beyond words, in awe of all three. However, their celebration ended when the Airship Flagship, which dwarfed the others inside, flew overhead and shook the streets below. All four humans almost fell to the ground while dozens of toads did.

"It's heading for the castle!" Luigi cried and pointed toward the royal estate atop a hill in the city center. A collective chill shook him, Mario, and Peach all at once, which turned their faces pale.

"What's wrong? Why is that so bad?" Daisy trembled at the thought of what could make three heroes like these turn white.

"Bowser's inside! They want to free him!" Mario yelped.

"Toad's in there too!" Peach held her mouth before Mario and Luigi made a dead sprint for the castle. Peach came right after, with Daisy close behind. The crowds of panicked toads and toadettes made this almost impossible, so the Mario Bros and Peach resorted to acrobatic parkour across some debris and scaffolding. Daisy, despite her fear, imagined herself in a soccer match and avoided groups of toads with swift movements. Luigi watched her in delight and almost fell off the rooftop.

"Woah! Careful." He reminded himself. At last, they approached the elevators which would take them to the castle and watched as the Flagship docked just above it.

"Hurry! We-" Peach could not finish, for three smaller airships zoomed overhead and dropped anchor in front of the elevators.

"Going somewhere!?" A blue-shelled Koopa captain laughed as he stood at the center ship's bow. Within moments, an entire battalion of Bowser's minions descended upon them from the ground and the air. A red-shelled sergeant parakoopa flew from the far left ship flanked by six paragoombas and two lakitu. The cloud-riding Koopas laughed as they tossed a swarm of spinies onto the ground beside enormous goombas and equally massive sledge bros. To top it all off, an almost metallic dog bark shook the humans, and moments later, they gasped as a giant ball and chain with eyes and jagged teeth dropped from the center airship and barked at Mario.

"Chain chomp! Mario, look out!" Peach cried, but Mario refused to back down, even before the battalion.

"Mario, Luigi, Princess!" All three and Daisy turned to a toad scientist, the same one who demonstrated the penguin suit earlier.

"We have some new experimental power-ups! Now's the perfect time to test them!"

"Yeah!" Mario shouted back. Power-ups were just what they needed right now, and they held their hands out. The toad scientist tossed three power-ups their way. The first was a strange mushroom with a propeller at the top, which Peach caught and ate. Within moments her dress transformed into a pink flight suit, and a helmet with the same propeller appeared on her head.

Luigi caught the second, which appeared as a small human-like doll wearing what looked like a hammer bro's shell and helmet but black. As he squeezed the figure, he soon found himself wearing the same shell and helmet while hammers materialized in his hands. At last, Mario took the third power-up in his hand and realized it was a cap just like his, only metal.

"Go on, Mario put it on!" The scientist cried. Mario loved his cap, but with a deep sigh, he replaced it with this new one. In that instant, his entire body transformed into metal.

"Mario!" Luigi yelped but soon saw his brother move around as if nothing changed.

"Woah! This is awesome! Let's-a go!" All three charged the battalion without a hint of fear, even Luigi. Peach spun herself and soared high straight for the red parakoopa, who hurled his javelin at her. The Princess dodged this attack and kicked him out of his shell. In the same motion, she seized the now empty shell and hurled it into the half-dozen paragoombas, which hit and knocked them all out of the sky.

"Ahhh!" The two lakitu hugged each other in sheer terror when they saw Peach come down on them.

"Take this!" With a pair of spinning kicks, she knocked them out of their clouds. Elsewhere, Luigi charged the sledge bros, who grunted as they hurled their huge hammers at him.

"Luigi time!" the green-suited plumber knocked the sledge hammers away with his own and then slammed the nearest sledge bro with a hammer blow. He then propelled himself into the next and hit him across the face. The sledge bro stumbled backward with little birds flying around his head before he collapsed. Before Luigi could celebrate, two more sledge bros charged him and hurled a barrage of hammers. Daisy held her breath but soon lost in when he knocked each sledgehammer away with one of his own, then hurled both sledge bros back when two more of his hammers hit them in their stomachs.

"Oh yeah! Luigi is number one!" He beamed while tossing a hammer around in his hand, earning Daisy a giggle. That was, however, until she saw three normals goombas run at her from another street.

"Ahhh! Luigi!" Daisy scrambled for him, but the goombas cut her off, and the chaos drowned out her cries. Instead, she sprinted toward the toad scientist and grabbed him with a desperate expression.

"I need one of those power-ups!"

"Uhhh, well, I only have one more right now, and it's not quite-"

"I'll take anything!" Daisy seized what he held without even looking at it and felt something change around her. As she stood to face the goombas, the three brown monsters looked at each other and laughed.

"Huh?" Daisy looked at herself and realized she wore a frog's suit. "Are you kidding me!" She snarled at the scientist, who sighed.

"If there were a body of water here, you'd be in very good shape." Daisy grunted after one of the goombas hit her. The moment he did, her frog-suit vanished, and she lay helpless before the monsters who bore their fangs.

"Ahhh!"

"I don't think so!" The center goomba went flat as a pancake as Luigi jumped and landed on him. Before the others could react, he slammed them away with two hammers and then twirled them in his hands. "You ok-" Luigi yelped as Daisy sprung up and hugged him.

"You saved me again!"

"I, I, I uh-"

Meanwhile, metal-Mario charged the swarm of giant goombas, spineys, and enormous chain chomp. Mario sent each spiny flying when he made contact and did not even slow down. When the goombas came, his metallic punches sent them into the air like ragdolls. Despite this, the chain chomp barked again and ran straight for metal Mario. With a jump-uppercut metal Mario sent it onto its back, then seized the chomp's chain.

"Here we go!" Mario laughed and hurled the chain chomp at the third airship's back propellers. Upon impact, it tore through them, and the vessel lost control.

"Ahhhh! Evasive action-" The blue Koopa captain squealed when the damaged ship crashed into his, which in turn slammed into the third. Within moments, all three airships spun out of control and crashed.

"Come on. We need to hurry!" Peach waved Mario and Luigi on despite their victory.


Elsewhere, inside the Castle, Toad tried to organize his panicked fellow toads as they ran around the halls. Despite his best efforts, the others ignored his directions and continued running.

"Will someone listen to me?! We need to secure the prisoners-" Toad caught his breath when he stopped beside a balcony and saw it. The Flagship lowered its bow, and from it, seven Koopalings, who looked like smaller versions of Bowser, emerged. Each gave a maniacal laugh at the two toad guards who trembled before them.

"Stay, stay back." One tried to hold his halberd up when something much bigger slammed onto the balcony before them and huffed out a breath of smoke.

"No way!" Toad muttered before both guards flew past him. Now, the monster approached. It was Bowser! Or rather, someone who looked almost exactly like Bowser. Aside from a very slight difference in size, the Bowser before him's the only difference from the original was his dark blue scales. The blue Bowser's jaws expanded into a malevolent grin as he loomed over Toad.

"Ohh, you think I'm afraid of you, ugly fake Bowser!" Toad whipped out his frying pan and held it up. "Take this!" He swung with all his might, but the pan broke in half upon impact with the blue Bowser's snout. "...I thought that would work." A few hiding toads watched Toad zoom past them and smash through a wall.

"Ouch."

In a nearby room, Bowser heard all the commotion from his cage and jerked at the bars to try and get a better look.

"Hey! What's going on!? Someone tell me-" Bowser went silent and backed up when he saw him.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't my big brother." The second Bowser chuckled as he stroked the cage.

"Impossible, Blue Bowser!?" Bowser stuttered in disbelief. The second Bowser snarled and rocked him inside his cage.

"How many times do I have to tell you my name is Morton Koopa Sr.! Stop calling me that!"

"Alright, alright, I'm sorry! Just get me out of here!" Bowser rocked his cage while Morton Sr. chuckled. After a moment, he raised his fist as a shadowy aura surrounded it, and in a single motion, he shattered the cage with his punch. Bowser fell out, and when and upon landing, the Koopa King laughed, for he stood back at his true size.

"Finally! You're the Koopa, little bro!" Bowser ensnared Morton into a hug. He was bigger than Mortan, but only a little. Soon, cackling laughter eased Bowser out of the hug, but his smile lingered as he looked at the seven Koopalings around them. "Ahh, my beloved nephews and niece. Larry, Morton Jr., Wendy, Iggy, Roy, Lemmy, Ludwig!"

"So good to see you, uncle!" Iggy laughed like a madman and almost rolled on his shell. As they spoke, Ludwig and Roy opened Kamek's cage and helped him out.

"I haven't seen you all in ages. Where have you been, Morton?"

"Hmmm, hmmm, hmm. We've been quite busy, brother. It's taken us years, but we finally have it, the key to ultimate power!" Morton Sr. held out his hand, and Bowser backed up in disbelief.

"It, it can't be, a Chaos Heart!?" Bowser and Kamek stood in awe of the shadowy black heart Morton Sr. held in his claws.

"That's right, uncle! It wasn't easy, but we made one!" Larry jumped up and down in excitement while Bowser extended his hands toward it.

"Such power."

"Ohhh, I've been waiting for this day! Koopalings, I know just what to do with this!" Kamek took out his returned wand and waved it at the Chaos Heart. The magic guided black shadows from the heart, which flew into each Koopaling's hands and took shape. Within moments, all seven cackled in delight as a black wand, much like Kamek's, appeared.

"Yes! Now we're talking!" Wendy flashed her fangs in a terrifying grin as she spotted two pale toads hiding behind them.

"Mercy!"

"No!" Wendy waved her wand, and shadowy magic enveloped both toads. Toad got up and staggered about with a disoriented expression.

"Ohh, I'm gonna feel that one in the morning." He stopped when he saw the two toads ahead of him transform into a dog and spider. "What the!?" Toad stumbled backward and ran when Lemmy and Morton Jr. came out and unleashed more dark magic. Three unfortunate toads behind him could not escape and turned into iguanas. The Koopalings savored every moment of their magical rampage through the castle with Kamek beside them. Bowser and Morton Sr. laughed as they watched them.

"I wish I had kids." Bowser sighed when he watched Ludwig transform two more toads.

"Oh Bowser, as powerful as the Chaos Heart is, I'm afraid it's incomplete."

"What?"

"Yes." Morton Sr. stroked the Chaos Heart with a longing expression. "I have yet to unlock its true power. But that's where you come in! With your help, we can unleash the Chaos Heart's full potential and remake this world in our image!"

"Yes!" Bowser shook the room with his roar. "What do we need to do, bro!?"

"We need Princess Peach."

"Ohhh, ohhh! You just made it that much better, Morton!" Bowser almost jumped in excitement. Meanwhile, Mario, Luigi, Peach, and Daisy reached the castle courtyard, still enhanced by their power-ups, except for Daisy.

"We made it! Alright, let's-a go!" Metal Mari charged toward the castle doors when he and the others spotted Toad battered and bruised as he stood on the balcony.

"Toad!" All three humans who knew him cried.

"Princess! Mario! Luigi! Run, Bowser is free, and he's not alone-" A black shadow enveloped Toad, and Peach screamed as he transformed into a kappa yokai.

"No!" Peach collapsed onto her knees as Toad looked at himself.

"Ahh! I'm a Koopa!?"

"No you're not! You're a kappa!" A Koopa troopa onboard the flagship cried. Moments later, Mario's heart sank when he saw not one but two Bowsers emerge behind kappa Toad.

"Peaches!" Bowser blushed. "Mario!" He snarled.

"Hmp, these are the two humans who defeated you?!" Morton laughed as Bowser growled.

"They had the Star of Invincibility! They won't stop us this time!" Bowser and Morton Sr. held the Chaos Heart out. Peach went as white as snow and backed up.

"No! It can't be!?"

"What is that?" Mario came to a stop, and a sense of foreboding overtook him and Luigi. Bowser and Morton Sr. thrust their paws out, and a blast of dark magic hit the ground before the humans. All four flew backward and landed back on the streets.

"Mamma mia." Mario and Luigi grunted. Their power-ups vanished alongside Peach's, and Daisy struggled to get to her feet.

"Ohh, that's worse than a hundred soccer balls to the face." She muttered.

"Ha ha ha ha ha!" Bowser and Morton Sr. laughed as the flagship soared over the humans.

"Ohh Peaches, now you understand a fraction of what I felt when you ripped my heart out! Nephews, niece! Princess Peach has expanded the Mushroom Kingdom since my imprisonment. Go, wreak havoc to your hearts' content!"

"You're the best uncle!" Iggy and Wendy flew off on an airship together toward the grasslands while Morton Jr. and Larry flew on another heading to the Desert Hills. From there, Roy and Lemmy took another airship toward the sky colony, and finally, Ludwig took his airship with Kamek toward the seaside.

"No!" Peach extended her hand out toward her subjects in the distance.

"Oh, don't you worry, Peaches, you and I will soon be married!"

"Yes, you shall!"

"Oh no!" Luigi and Mario saw hundreds of Koopas and other minions surrounding them with evil grins and laughs.

"Oh, that's not good, that's not good. Mario, what's the plan?" Luigi struggled to his feet beside him and Peach as Daisy staggered toward them.

"We're not gonna give up, bro! Never!" Mario stood before the Koopa army in defiance, Luigi beside him. Peach and Daisy stared at them in awe and wonder.

"Yoshi!"

"Huh?" The four humans and all the koopas muttered. A section of koopas went flying as not one, but four Yoshis trampled past them and ran straight for the humans. "Woah!"

"Ahh! The dinosaurs!" Daisy yelped as she hid behind Luigi.

"Yoshis!" Fiery hope rekindled in Peach's hope, and with a mighty leap, she landed on the red Yoshi's back.

"Come on!" Mario likewise jumped up and onto the green Yoshi.

"Ok, good Yoshi, good Yoshi!" Luigi yelped as the blue Yoshi knocked him over and licked him like a dog again. "Gaah, yes, I missed you too. Come on!" Luigi climbed onto his back while Daisy trembled before the yellow one.

"It's ok! She won't hurt you!" Luigi cried while Daisy slowly extended her hand to the Yoshi's head.

"Nice little dinosaur."

"Yoshi!" The yellow Yoshi knocked Daisy onto her back and ran faster than a racehorse. "Ahhh! Slow down, no speed up!" Daisy yelped when she saw the koopas in pursuit.

"Peaches!" Bowser wailed.

"Hmp, no matter, big brother. We'll find her soon enough."

On the outskirts of the Mushroom Kingdom, the four humans met up with the countless Toad refugees who cried or groaned as they set up a makeshift camp in the Mushroom forest.

"Ahhh, come on!" Luigi groaned as his blue Yoshi pinned him down again. Peach, like her toads, was on the verge of tears. She watched in a sense of helplessness as her capital city and home burned down before her eyes.

"Waaah!" A little toadette sobbed.

"I wanna go home!" Another toad moaned. Daisy could not stand seeing the little people in such a state and tried to comfort them.

"There there, it will be ok." She tried to assure one.

"Ok!?" The toadette wailed, tears in her eyes. "My brother was turned into a lizard!"

Mario and Luigi shared in lament. Their new home, the city they'd protected for over a year gone, just like that. With a deep breath, Mario sat beside Peach and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Peach, I'm sorry." Without warning, the Princess pulled him into a hug and dampened his overalls in her tears.

"Toad, so many other toads, my family, my home. Bowser took them from me. I was supposed to protect them!" She lost control and found comfort in Mario's embrace. The Italian plumber patted her back as a similar frigid sensation overtook him.

"We failed too. I promised to protect your Kingdom, my new home. I couldn't, and for that, I'm sorry Peach." Despite his words, Mario retained a steel demeanor. He took Peach by the shoulders and stared into her eyes. "But this isn't over! We're gonna beat Bowser and retake the Mushroom Kingdom, I promise! Right, Luigi!"

"Yeah!" Luigi forced himself upright and jumped up with Mario. Their enthusiasm spread like wildfire and kindled those around them. Peach and Daisy soon found themselves lit in this fire. The Princess stood over her Toads and basked in their renewed sene of hope.

"Mario's right! We won't give up! Not ever!"

"I'm no warrior, but I can try to help you too." Daisy gave an assuring nod, and with that, the toads cheered. Somehow, hearing Daisy's proclamation filled Luigi with a greater sense of attraction toward her than ever before.

"Yoshi!" All four Yoshi cried together as they nuzzled their riders. Peach laid out a map of the new expanded kingdom.

"Alright, we need to get to the colonies before the Koopalings. But we can't fight them alone. Daisy, you and I will go to the grasslands and rally the toads there."

"Ok, I'll, uh, do my best."

"Alright, Luigi, you and I will go to the desert hills first! After that, we'll meet up!"

"Yeah!" The toads cried.


Author's note

So here's the thing, Bowser's brother Morton Sr. is not a character I made up, he actually exists. In the original Super Mario Bros. 2 also known as the Lost Levels, there is a Blue version of Bowser who certain game manuals refer to as Bowser's Brother, though not all of them do. Either way, when I chose to make him the Koopalings' dad, since they're not considered Bowser's kids anymore, I decided to name him Morton Sr. since one of the Koopalings is Morton Jr.

As for his voice actor, I envisioned Steve Blum, aka Amon from Legend of Korra. For the Koopalings, I'll let you guys decide :)

So now the race is on to save the Mushroom Kingdom and stop the Bowser Brothers. The next few chapters will get a bit action heavy, but they're meant to simulate mario levels.

So until next time,

Please review, comment, suggest or ask (VIA PM)