Time- 1:28 PM, Sunday, October 14, 2001 – Doomship
"Keep going southwest for another hour," the sage Nature told Bowser, who is controlling the giant doomship.
The group has been flying for about an hour after picking up Nature, passing Grasslandian cities one by one. They seem to be over, once again, another forest. This time, the forest seems to be more deciduous, as yellow, red and orange trees dot the forested area.
"Okay," he replied, looking at his maps, "Just crossed the western Grass Land border into Desert Land."
All the passengers look out of the doomship's windows. Despite this being Desert Land, there are still numerous trees, plants and birds flourishing.
"I just love plants!" Daisy exclaimed, "I need to go to that forest one day!"
Larry agrees with her; maybe the characters need to set up a date to go there one day.
The doomship continues flying over the green forest that blanketed the landscape, then a sudden transition of more bare ground, sand and dried grass is seen—the savanna and grasslands of Desert Land.
Everyone is paying so much attention to the ground that nobody notices the change of the sky's colors. Black clouds surround the crew and a huge lightning bolt, immediately follow by a loud crash of thunder, consumes the whole scene. Heavy rains begin to pour all over the doomship, getting the upper deck flooded within minutes.
Meanwhile, inside the doomship:
"Pa, da ship sprang a leak in da lower deck!" Roy cried out in a shaky voice.
"Then put a bucket under it! We got to get the heck out of this mess!" Bowser replied in a tone of impatience, as well as one of terror.
BOOM! Another flash of lightning lights up the scene, followed by another loud CRASH. Not only did the thunder make a huge noise, but...
"What was that huge noise? It sounds like a machine just blew up!" Bowser cried out.
Before any others could respond, there was a shudder felt all over the doomship. Alarms went off everywhere in the doomship, followed by a message that appears on all the TV screens in the ship. It reads, "EMERGENCY! EMERGENCY! ENGINES 1 AND 4 FAILED. ENGINES 2 AND 3 ARE INCREDIBLY WEAKENED. DO AN EMERGENCY LANDING IMMEDIATELY!"
"NO! WE ALL ARE GOING TO DIE!" Wendy cried. Her mascara is apparently not waterproof; black tears run down her face.
"Holy CRAP!" Bowser yelled, "EVERYONE HOLD ON!"
Bowser tries to control the shaking piece of flying machinery numerous times, but fails every time. After many attempts of wrestling for control, he finally gains back the role of pilot and tries to fly the doomship to a safe area. Since engines 1 and 4 are on the left side of the ship, while 2 and 3 are on the right, this proved to be a difficult task, as the doomship favors going left.
Bowser looks down and sees a medium-sized city, then spots a barren field about two miles away, in the direction of 17 degrees North of East. He steers the doomship, with the doomship obeying his every command, to that barren field and attempts to land it as safely as he can. He succeeds!
"Well," Bowser said, "Good news: The doomship is safe, and so are we. Bad news: The doomship cannot operate without all four engines up and running on 100 percent. Plus, we are in the middle of nowhere."
"Ve aren't exactly in ze middle of novhere," replied Ludwig, "Ve need to valk to zat city over zere. Ve can get help zere."
"Yeah, we still have, at the doomship's speed, about fifty more minutes of flying until we get to the city holding the records," Nature told them, "Hopefully we get there soon."
Ludwig looks at them all, "I vill stay here. You guys valk to zat town please and see if you can buy more supplies to fix zis. I built ze doomships so I know about zem. All ze vires are fried, and ze spare vires are vet. Zey zhorted out. Buy more vires please."
The gang walks off towards the city while Ludwig stays behind, surveying what work needs to be done.
~7~7~7~7~7~7
On the way to the city, the heroes worry about the condition of the wooden ship.
"What happens if the doomship won't work? What if we will be stuck here in this hot, scorching sun while the world is taken over?" Violent asked.
"I have that fear too, but we must think positive. Ludwig knows many things about a doomship; he even built them all! He invented them from an inspiration given from an airplane. He can fix this situation up just well," Bowser replied, actually being comforting for once in his life.
"Nonetheless, I still worry; another freak storm could pop up out of nowhere. Desert Land is always famous for spontaneous stuff like that. We need to be careful if the doomship manages to get fixed," Peach added.
As they kept walking, the sounds of cars grow louder, and the multiple buildings originally seen in the horizon get bigger and bigger. They then reach a sign that reads, 'WELCOME TO ROLLING HILLS!'
"Aha, this is Rolling Hills! I remember hearing reports of this city. Several Desertlandian bandits live here! We need to be careful!" Peach warned.
Looking around the town for any shops selling wires and other mechanical parts, they see a Koopa girl in the distance. The mysterious Koopa girl is in an alleyway, walking towards a purplish carpet. Before she reaches the carpet, two bandits tackle her to the ground and put her in a vise hold. While the two bandits pin her to the ground, the third grabs her purse. The heroes stare at shock at the happening, while Daisy looks as if she's going to explode.
"Did you see that?! I will NOT accept that!" Daisy shouted.
Daisy, in a blink of an eye, runs towards the scene and starts smashing up all three of the bandits. The rest of the heroes walk up to the bandits, making sure no other bandits back them up. A few police officers go into the alleyway and put their handcuffs on the bandits, taking them away.
The girl Koopa stands up and brushes herself off, then retrieves her nearly-stolen purse from Daisy. Larry looks at the girl, his eyes very wide: The girl Koopa looked great. She has dark, brunette hair going down to the middle of her purple shell, emerald-like green eyes, and is very slender in shape. She finally responds to her rescuers; "Thank you guys for doing that! I am grateful!" she thanked with happiness.
"That's how I roll girl, haha!" Daisy laughed. The Koopa joins in on the laughter for a few seconds until she stops.
"Sorry to suddenly ask this question, but who are you guys?" the Koopa questioned.
The gang looks at each other; should this stranger be trusted? Despite that fear, Larry steps out and speaks up.
"I am Larry. This is Mario, Luigi, Peach, Daisy, Lemmy, Iggy, Roy, Morton, Wendy, Toad, Violent, Bowser and the sage Nature," he announced, pointing to each character as he repeats their names.
"Ahh, okay. Wait! Peach?! Like... The ruler of the Mushroom Kingdom?! Daisy of the Sarasaland Kingdom? Bowser from the Kingdom of Dark Land?!"
"Yes," Peach nods, "That is us!"
"Oh my gosh! I'd never thought I'd see so many royals! Thank you again for saving me! Oh, by the way, I am Alexis Schwab, but call me Alex for short," the girl Koopa greeted, then adding a wink to Larry.
Mario is the first to welcome her, "Hello, Alex, do you want to join us on our adventure? It is a long story, but we can tell you on the way."
"Yes, I will love to join your group. By the way, how do you all plan on getting where you need to?"
Mario continued, "We are going there by Bowser's flying ship, called the doomship. It is currently going under repair by one of our crew members whom you did not meet. We are here to buy fuses for the engines to work again properly. Do you have any, or know of any shops that sell them?"
Alex thought for a minute, "Hmm... There is a hardware store a few streets down that sells stuff related to that. I've never been in there since... Well, that technology-building gizmo never interests me. Let's try that place though."
"All right, let's get to walking." Luigi said.
"Walk? Who says we are walking; we are FLYING there. Get on the carpet!" Alex replied.
Everyone boards the carpet. It then begins floating in the air, carrying all passengers along with it. It is actually a magic carpet!
The carpet, controlled by Alex, zooms down the multiple streets, eventually stopping in front of a mechanical store. Everyone gets off the magic carpet, Alex rolls up the carpet and puts the roll into her shell, a little more than half of the carpet leaking out. They go into the mechanical store, where the characters spot different kinds of technology, such as flip phones and MP3 players. The salesclerk, a magikoopa with gray robes, greets the heroes.
"Welcome to Rolling Hills Machinery! Do you guys need any help?"
Bowser wanted to reject the help from the kind salesman, but before he can, Luigi steps up to the plate.
"Yes. Do you know where we can buy wires?"
"Wires are located by the car batteries over there," the magikoopa informed, then pointing over towards an aisle on the opposite side of the door. Luigi nods his head and thanks the magikoopa, who then smiles, "No problem."
After the guidance, the characters make their way to the area supplying wires and buy a few coils of them. After paying, the characters step outside and some more bandits try to rob the fuses. Unfortunately for the bandits, they are knocked out by the tomboy Daisy. They zoom off to the doomship crash zone on the magic carpet with the coils of wires in hand.
~7~7~7~7~7~7
Ludwig is at the bottom floor of the doomship, where all the engines and other machinery are kept. He looks on the right side of the room; everything looks fine except for a few charred wires; he will replace them when the group comes. However, he looks on the left side of the room and sees a ton of smoke billowing out of the two failed engines. Black surrounds them, appearing as if it caught on fire from the lightning bolt. Some of its steel covering is bent out of shape, and the associating wires are likely more than just 'charred'.
Ludwig sighs and begins to work on fixing the two engines. Despite the magnitude of the damage, the repair goes relatively quick and easy for the poofy-haired Koopaling. After repairing the components of the two failed engines, such as the propellers, he opens the slot where the fuses go, and waits for the group to arrive.
~7~7~7~7~7~7
As the magic carpet makes a final stop in the barren, sandy field, Ludwig is emerging out of the doomship. He puts on a confused look on his face when he sees Alex with the rest of the group. Before Ludwig can ask who she is, she spoke first.
"Hello, I am Alexis. Call me Alex for short."
"And I am ze vun and only Ludvig von Koopa. Anyvay, I need ze wires; give me them please."
Alex hands the eldest Koopaling the requested item. After receiving it, Ludwig goes back in the doomship with the wires. After rerouting the wires and a few last minute repairs, the ship roars back to life, causing the gang to cheer and jump at the sight and the sound of the resurrected ship. Everyone boards the doomship shortly, with Alex rolling her magic carpet and putting it inside. Bowser takes off and the doomship is seen flying all the way up in a now-clear, blue sky.
"Now go in the same direction for 50 more minutes," Nature guided.
Cities, forests and uninhabited deserts come and go, and before the group knows it, the group is at the entrance of another medium-sized city. On the outskirts of this city, Bowser lands the doomship and turns it off. Everyone gets off the doomship, and Alex takes out her magic carpet for everyone to ride on.
A sign saying, "Welcome to the town of Sandstorm!" is seen, but instead of entering the town, they fly to the more mountainous region, which is to the west of them. After about fifteen minutes of cruising over cliffs and steep inclines, they find a cave-like depression in the side of the mountain. On one of the walls in the recessed area is a giant sandstone double door with ancient carvings on it.
Nature is overjoyed, "That's it! That's the door to all the preserved ancient records!"