Time: 8:43 am – October 13, 2001, Mario's house.

A beautiful Saturday morning falls upon the Mushroom Kingdom, with an endless supply of sunshine raining down on the land. A sudden crisp, autumn breeze stirs the hilly landscape, kicking up dust and leaves in the air as it does so. Various species of birds chirp as the falling red and yellow leaves expose their home every instance a gust kicks up.

Mario and Luigi, wide awake due to the squawking of said birds, start preparing their breakfast consisting of cereal and bacon, as well as two cups of coffee. With the Princess tucked safe in her castle, no known conflicts between species in the Lands, and their near-nonexistent plumbing schedule for the day, they have nothing to do. These kick-back-and-relax days almost never happen and the Mario Brothers plan to use such a rare phenomenon to their advantage.

"You know, bro," Luigi started his proposition as he looks at Mario. Mario senses a thought prodding at his twin brother, and now the red plumber's curiosity seems to take over. Mario signals him to keep going, and Luigi does so. "I was thinking that we should go on a picnic later today. You know, Peach, Daisy, you, and me. We need the time to ourselves! Solving these multiple civil wars between the goombas and the toads is taking away my sanity. Plus, today is the start of Plit Weekend!"

Mario stares at Luigi in disbelief. What a huge, hilarious coincidence! Even Mario himself felt that the two of them should have a type of vacation; perhaps a journey towards a peaceful, isolated location far from the outer reaches of civilization. As much fun as keeping the Mushroom World running offers to the Brothers, the two of them still need a well-deserved break.

"I-a agree with that! These last nice days of the year are ticking down fast. I mean, look outside," Mario points to the kitchen window. Just outside the window, the Mario Brothers sight a type of pigeon resting on the branch of a maple tree bearing red leaves, "All the leaves will turn brown if we don't do this anytime soon. How about I call Peach and you call Daisy? I'll try to get Peach to bake one of her cakes for us, and the rest of us will agree to bring something?"

At the thought of Peach's cake, Luigi's mouth begins to water. Her cakes; her world famous cakes. The spongey texture of the red velvet makes it his top favorite flavor from Peach, though others, such as her yellow cake and lemon cake, are also out of this world. Either way, when it comes to cake, Peach will never fail anyone; if she ever did, then the apocalyptic events leading up to the Thirteenth Age will occur. With the tasty thought still in his mind, Luigi smiles broadly and said, "Yeah, whatever bro. We'll call our girls after breakfast!"

"Great! Now let's eat. I'm starving, and something tells me that I'll need all the energy I can get."

Time: 9:14am, Saturday, October 13, 2001, Bowser's Castle

"KIDS!"

Anger and irritation flow through Bowser's mind like a raging rapid of magma; where in the world are those brats?! Sure, contrary to popular belief, he loves his kids to death, but they need to know that being nearly fifteen minutes late to an urgent meeting is not only unacceptable, but is taboo in this castle.

Sounds and rumbles of running and stomping echo throughout the castle for a few minutes before Bowser's eight kids stand before him. The eight express either a look of exhaustion or a fear-like emotion on each of the eight faces.

Though Bowser's annoyance seems to be equally spaced among his eight kids, the King glares at one kid in particular. Seeing the hateful glare from his father, the koopaling shivers a bit, walks over towards Bowser's right side, and bows until his messy blue hair just sweeps the floor. Still seeing the look of annoyance on Bowser's face, the koopa then lets out an apology.

"Ve all arrived here dear daddy-o. Please excuse us for being late, as ve all slept in! Ve totally forgot about zis meeting!"

"Yeah yeah, then the tooth fairy came and asked you to do a favor. You should of remembered, Ludwig; you are my crowned prince. I have put a ton of trust and responsibility in you, and I expect you to exceed that. Everyone, take your seats."

Not wanting the hateful glare to land on any of them, the remaining seven Koopalings dash over towards their assigned seat. Larry seats himself next to Ludwig while Morton takes the seat between Larry and Bowser Junior. Roy takes his place in the chair on Bowser's left side, Iggy sits next to Roy and Lemmy makes himself comfortable between Iggy and Wendy. Unlike any other meeting, the scowl of Bowser's prevent the Koopalings from emitting any negative outbursts toward each other.

"Anyway, kids," Bowser kickstarts the meeting, "You all know the Plit Day celebrations, as well as the Plit Weekend festivals going on today and tomorrow, right?"

Monotonous grunts and mhm's are emitted from his children. Their dad hasn't been talking about anything but this for weeks.

"Umm.. Do you kids even know what Plit Day is about?" Bowser questioned.

All the Koopalings shook their heads. Bowser sighs and starts explaining the holiday to them.

"Well, as you guys know, we are in the Twelfth Age of Plit's history. The unifying of Grass Land, Desert Land, Water Land, Sky Land and Ice Land into the Mushroom Kingdom transitioned Plit from the Eleventh Age into the Twelfth. The estimated date of this occurring is October 15. So, every October 15, huge celebrations kick up everywhere," the Koopa King explained to his children, "Well anyway, this is not a history class. This year's celebrations start on Monday; we need to come up with a plan to try to take Princess Peach, and preferably the Mario Brothers also, because we all know they just love to PARTY."

'I can't believe dat Dad is still going after dat chick. I would think he will give up after awhile. When will he accept defeat?' Roy whispered to Wendy. Wendy nods her head in agreement and giggles.

"Vell, dad," Ludwig, as well as the others, ignored Roy's whispering and Wendy's giggling, "I have spies around ze Mushroom Kingdom vhen I told zem to spy on E. Gadd. Zey reported zat E. Gadd now lives in Pipe Land, zen vun of zem picked up zat ze Mario Bros. and princesses vill go on a picnic later. Anyvay, I svear I vill be better zan zat old man in zat vhite co-"

"HEY, that's my line!" Bowser Jr shouted. Ignoring his younger sibling, Larry takes the floor.

"Isn't it obvious guys? We need to do something to their food to make them weak and submissive!" Larry shouted, pounding his fist on the table as he yelled. He, as well as Ludwig, appear to be the only wide-awake Koopalings present at the meeting.

"Good idea, but what should we use on their food, and how do we get that INTO their food?" Bowser asked.

"Simple. I'm a great, sneaky, cheating spy; I can handle any task from robbing a bank to stealing a baby's candy. Ludwig can figure out something we can use," Larry stated.

Bowser considers the idea, nodding at the idea.

"All right. Ludwig, experiment with some chemicals to make one strong enough to make them weak, but weak enough to not kill them. I want them all alive, not dead. Next time, do not be late to a meeting. MEETING AJOURNED!"

~7~7~7~7~7

Meanwhile, in a dark, barren world, far from the reaches of the planet of Mario, rests a shadowy figure. The figure, which shares a resemblance with the Shadow Queen in shape and form, lounges on an ebony throne, grimacing at an object in front of her.

"Look at that! Those turtle things! They hate the other group!"

The figure giggles to itself, its head still focused on the object. After a few more moments of peering into the unidentified item, the figure, smile still implanted on its face, arises from its throne, rushes towards a strange telephone-like object, and screams into it.

"Troops! Come here to the throne room! It's finally time to get ready to capture my world of Plit! With the two main prophesied forces against each other, we will succeed! Let's bring darkness unto that world and show them the true meaning of power!"

The figure can clearly hear the cheering originating from the other end of the line. The figure then hangs up the phone and smiles an evil grin.

"And nobody will stop me from conquering that planet!"