Disclaimer: All assets of the Mario Movie belong to Nintendo and Illumination.

Chapter 13: Thunderstruck

Bowser smiled as he gazed at the fabled Rainbow Road that stood before him. "So, this is the Rainbow Road you were talking about, Koopa General. Interesting." Bowser had personally never heard of this Rainbow Road mainly because the Jungle Kingdom wasn't on his radar, but all it took was a bit of research done in the library including a photo to help with comparison because Bowser wasn't gonna believe something someone said. Again, he needed actual proof, and the photo satisfied his question. He just let the rest of the text tell him where it was and now here they were, staring at a beautiful road made of gorgeous texture where the colors of the rainbow coalesced beautifully together. This seemed like something out of a myth, but nope. Here it was, the same Rainbow Road that they're gonna use to attack him, but having it be the exact opposite made it even more satisfying. It was a shame he couldn't get any information out of Green Stache after his stunt. He truly underestimated him, which gave him all the information he needed. Stubbornness must've runned in the family with the way he acted, so there was no way Mario was gonna back down without a fight, but neither was he.

"Indeed," the Koopa General said. "I have all our troops ready at the cliffside like you suggested, and I reaffirmed them to killl everyone, especially Mario, but keep the princess alive. I didn't tell them to capture her because you want to propose to her at her kingdom. Hence why you got the Super Star should she refuse, so you could use her people against her."

"Good. Has Kamek left with the air fleet?"

"Yes. A couple hours ago, so they should be arriving momentarily."

"Good."

"If I may ask something." The Koopa nodded. "Did something happen recently between you and Kamek? I couldn't help but feel bad for stumbling upon your conversation. Again, you have my apologies."

"You're perfectly fine. To be honest, I was having doubts about the wedding. Having her not share the same love I have for her, especially after all these years, just made me wonder if it was all worth it. Heck, I even transformed the part where I say I do into a silly song to show off my quirky side, but all she's seen is my anger, and I want to change that so badly. Any advice?"

The Koopa General sighed. "I don't have any experience with women, but I can draw from my other relationships. Learn to take your time with her. Don't rush her by forcing your feelings onto her because that's how this has always been, yes?" Bowser nodded. "Just let it come out naturally and tell her how you truly feel. That's the best advice I can give you right now."

Bowser nodded. It was sound advice. Perhaps this was the best way to proceed. Heck, forcing his feelings onto her was all he ever did, so he needed to practice soothing his anger. To her, that was all he had ever been, and that needed to change in order to show that he cared, but then again, he did have the Super Star. He planned on destroying her kingdom should she refuse, but all she had to do was say yes, then he wouldn't hurt another soul of her people ever again. Did he hate killing her people over her love? To be honest, yes, but hopefully things would change if everything went to plan and Mario did indeed die in the raid, but one thing was for certain: he couldn't put all his eggs in one basket. But even if Mario was still alive, Bowser would destroy him with the Super Star, so there was no need to worry. Everything was perfectly under control.

Jungle Kingdom

Mario yawned as he stretched his arms and glanced at his surroundings. He was in some sort of bed with the white walls plastered around the room. His hands were bandaged up, most likely because of the battle, but the rest of his body seemed to be fine when he moved around for a bit, which was a bit of a surprise considering the thrashing he got from Donkey Kong. Heck, he was lucky to even be alive, but considering his hands were the most damaged, that gave him great confidence for the future. "Ah, you're awake." Mario jumped at a Kong wearing a white scrub and a stethoscope around his neck. "It's good to see you up, though it's been a couple hours since the duel and they took you here after it finished, and I'm quite surprised by your injuries, or lack thereof."

"Lack?"

"We did an x-ray scan on your body to make sure you didn't sustain any injuries on the outside or inside, but the results were very surprising. It turns out you have very strong muscle tissue, and that tissue managed to support your internal organs and cushion the blows a little, though there were some injuries that needed to be attended to like scrapes and the like, but I'm very impressed. I've seen body frames of many Kongs, but never one quite built like yours, but I digress. Now that you've had some proper rest, I believe it's time to see your friends. They are excited to see you, especially the small one. He seems most enthused by your performance." Mario chuckled. That wasn't a surprise. The doctor carefully guided Mario out of the room into the lobby where Peach and Toad were waiting. They perked up at the sound of his footsteps and Peach was the one to notice the plumber as she ran to hug him.

"Mario!"

"Easy!" he said. "Still injured!"

"Sorry."

"That was so cool!" Toad said. "Man, I cringed when you were being thrashed around, but I hollered so loud when you started fighting back, my voice went numb! It was so cool!"

"And yet it came at the cost of bursting my eardrums," the princess said, darting her eyes at the organism. "I thought I freaking had Tinnitus because of you. Thank you so much!"

"I don't know what that means, but you're welcome!" Peach rolled her eyes.

"Anyway, I'm glad you're back on your feet. I will say you know how to get one's heart racing. It was so intense, but you managed to beat him. I'm very proud of you."

"There you two love bugs go again. At this point, just get a freaking room if you love him that much."

She glared at Toad. "Will you shut it about that? That's not what this is about! Drop it already!"

"Fine. Deny it as much as you want. One day, you'll know that I'm right."

"Whatever. Cranky Kong and Donkey Kong are waiting for us, anyway. They didn't want to go over any specifics of the plan until Mario was ready. You are feeling OK, right? Don't let me speak for you."

"I am," the plumber said. "Actually, I feel more energized than ever before. Let's do this!"

"Well, good. Let's not keep them waiting, otherwise who knows what Cranky Kong might do." Mario nodded and the three walked to the structure as the mouth opened once more where Cranky Kong was busy talking to his soldiers with Donkey Kong among them. "Hello, King Cranky Kong. We have arrived."

He jumped at the sound of her voice. "Geez, princess! You scared me! Didn't I tell you to give me a heads-up when you come? Goodness gracious!" He sighed. "Well, whatever. You're here. And there he is!" He approached Mario. "The star of the show! I must say you put on quite the show for my people. At one point, I had to cover my ears because of how loud their screams were, though most of that was from the princess's friend." Toad chuckled in embarrassment. "Such a good show." As Cranky Kong praised him, Mario could feel the intense gaze of Donkey Kong as he stared at him, but the plumber didn't say anything to not draw attention to himself, but he already achieved that. "That aside, you did win the duel, so I will hold my end of the bargain. I didn't want to begin without you, though I will admit I'm not the most patient Kong in the world, but now that you're here, we can begin making plans, though I assume you already have some sort of one considering you came here again, Peach, but you weren't as much of a crybaby as last time."

She huffed. "Back then, the war had just started, and I only had become their princess. How else was I supposed to react?"

"Touché. Again, I do feel regretful I didn't help you out sooner, but I blame that on my stubbornness. I've always been quite the stubborn one since my childhood, but I digress. I suggest you lay out what plan you have for us so we all can be on the same page."

"Indeed. I shall give a brief rundown of what's happened the past few days so we can understand what Bowser's goals are. According to my soldiers, a couple days ago, Bowser invaded the Snow Kingdom and nabbed the Super Star, which I'll talk in depth in a bit. Now, he plans on using the Super Star to destroy my kingdom if I say no to his proposal in marriage, but my plan is to invade him before he even has a chance, but he might invade by sundown based on the timetable. Bowser doesn't take many breaks and always plans ahead, which is why we need to make a move before he does."

"Indeed," Cranky Kong said. "I can see why you came to us again. We do have the technology to stop him, but time is of the essence. You're lucky I know a quick way to get to Bowser's Castle, so taking the short-cut can save us some time. But I can see the look of confusion on Mario's face, so go ahead and explain what the Super Star exactly is."

"Right. The Super Star is an artifact created by the Star Spirits to protect the Snow Kingdom. There are other artifacts in other kingdoms, and they play similar roles in their protection. Some grant wishes to others while others can magnify the energy, mental or physical, around them to be used either offensively or defensively. The Super Star is included in that second umbrella. It has one weakness: it doesn't contain an infinite amount of power. When someone touches the Star, they start to consume its power, but it starts to lose its power and turns gray as a result, thus requiring constant energy to be used effectively, say like in a snowy tundra where the constant temperature helps to feed the Star so it doesn't lose its power over time. That's why the Snow Kingdom has constant snowstorms throughout the year, even during the summer seasons, because they're created by the Super Star to protect the Penguins. But as a result, they were left defenseless because of their docileness. It also can obey certain commands, meaning Bowser could spread its power to his entire army, making them all practically invincible. You can understand why Bowser's become such a threat and why we need to stop him before he can use it. Hopefully, that makes sense to everyone."

There were various nods, but that didn't calm the nervousness in Mario. He sighed. And to think he was quaking with determination moments ago. Now he was quaking with the antithesis of that. He returned his attention to Cranky Kong. "Now that we're on the same page, I can say what we Kongs have to offer. As you all know, my kingdom is the most industrious kingdom in the world. We have the technology Bowser would only dream of."

"Actually," Peach said, "I've seen Bowser's army grow exponentially over the years. He developed new technology your kingdom doesn't have like airships. I wouldn't hold your breath."

"I go out of my way to help you guys and now you're endorsing the enemy?!"

"I'm telling you what they have so you don't get caught by surprise. Good lord."

"I'm sorry. I also jump to conclusions too fast. Anyway, let me show you what I mean." Cranky Kong led them deeper inside the lair as two Kongs were standing guard to some sort of entrance. They saluted and moved, revealing an elevator that led to the darkness below, but Mario managed to catch whiffs of mechanical noises like engines roaring and drills alike. "This is an entrance to the secret workshop we use to build our karts. Let's descend below." They went inside the elevator as it immediately descended below, the darkness enveloping the plumber's irises, but as the elevator reached the bottom, Mario gazed at the buzzing activity going on around him. Kongs of various sizes were everywhere in this underground facility doing many different tasks from welding different weapons to the karts and putting the karts together using various tools. This was quite the expansive workshop. They definitely had a shot at winning against Bowser. "Welcome to the Great Kong Underground Kart Workshop! Don't mind its long name. I wasn't the one who coined it. Here is where we produce all our latest technology, the bulk of it being karts. This workshop expands for miles on end, and we have Kongs here constantly testing the limits of our technology in finding ways of improving upon them. I come down here every once in a while to see the results, and they're really surprising. To think we created this technology over 50 years ago and now are expanding ways of new traversal like defying gravity with anti-gravity mode as our newest expansion. Come here." He guided them to some sort of console with a scrollable interface. "Here is where we design our karts. We have a wide selection of wheels, kart and bike bodies, and even gliders for you to choose from. We even tailor it to your specific taste with additives like what color you want and even weapons because you never know when you need to defend yourself. I believe I rambled on for long enough. Go ahead and customize your karts!"

And so the trio started designing their karts, using the interface to decide what kind of vehicle. For Mario, he wanted something standard, nothing to fancy or anything with added bulk. Just average. So, he went with the standard kart body painted red, of course because his whole wardrobe was red, so why not? The other two had different ideas. Peach decided to go with something that had a bit more finesse, something more chic and sleek, and a slim bike body decked in pink was her answer, and it fitted her personality pretty well, though Mario wasn't the biggest fan of the color, but as a result, she even managed to get her very own biker outfit, showing off her slim body as she climbed on top her new, furbished vehicle, and Mario couldn't help but blush at her sleekness. He hadn't been into too many relationships, but he did have a crush on hot girls every now and then during his high school years, but perhaps all the spiel Toad talked about wasn't entirely false.

In speaking of Toad, his vehicle was, well, monstrous to say the least. His kart had a giant blue frame with yellow accents and huge monster tires. He literally built a monster truck, but that didn't surprise Mario. That organism was always quirky in his humor. After the vehicles were fully constructed, they drove them to the entrance to the secret passage as Mario glanced at Toad, roaring his engine as the shades he wore started to fall off.

"I take it everyone's here," Peach said. There were many nods. "Good. Let's defeat Bowser and save this world!" The gate opened as the flurry of karts rushed outside with the princess at the front. Mario glanced at the cascading waterfalls that surrounded them, but as he glanced ahead, the road ended with nowhere else to go than the presumed ocean below. He glanced at Cranky Kong as he rode beside him.

"Um, Cranky Kong, I think you might've been wrong about your short-cut."

He raised an eyebrow. "Oh, you dare doubt the great and mighty Cranky Kong? Well, then you might want to step on the gas and buckle up!" He laughed as he drove away. Mario scratched his head. What could possibly be waiting at the end of the road? Well, why should he question the logistics of this place? Not everything was entirely realistic about this world, so why should he question it? Instead, he decided to enlighten Cranky Kong's idea. He slammed on the gas, the car accelerating as he zoomed past the army towards the ramp, but as he flew off the ramp, all he saw was the ocean below as gravity took over the kart and it began to nose-dive. Where was the road? Was one supposed to be here? There was nothing but ocean! He screamed as the ocean got closer. In desperation, he slammed on the glider button, the updraft catching the kart as it glided in the air, but as he got closer, he could see a glint of light made of multitude of colors. The light materialized as it formed into some sort of road, a rainbow road if you will, which was astonishing as he gasped in delight. A rainbow road? How did such a thing exist? He had normally seen rainbows during cloudy days when the sun peaked, creating the phenomenon he was familiar with, but an actual rainbow road? He was in awe.

"Impressed, aren't you?" He glanced at Peach as she drove beside him.

"Are you freaking kidding me?! We're driving on a freaking rainbow road, something that I see once in a blue moon! I freaking love this world!"

"Well, this rainbow road is unique. From far away, it's actually invisible to the naked eye, but as you get up close, that's when you start to see it. It appears all depending on the amount of sunshine shining on it. I was also shocked, too."

"You know, it makes me want to stay here. Your world is so unique, but there's so much more that I don't know about it and I want to see more." He sighed. "But I can't."

"You're worried about your brother?"

"It's not just him. I have a whole family waiting for me in my world. I know I have issues with them, but they're family. I can't just abandon them. There's my Pa, Ma, uncles, and the rest of my family. I can't just leave them. They're family whether we fight or love each other."

"That's understandable. Don't feel pressured to come back right away. Whatever problems you need to resolve between your family, make sure to prioritize that, OK?" The plumber smiled. Even though he had his issues with them, he truly couldn't leave them. They were family, regardless of whether they gave him a hard time or not. What he wanted the most was to fix the issues between them so there wouldn't be so much constant tension. He was tired of it. He wanted things to turn back to normal, and he couldn't do that without making himself be heard. That was what he was gonna do once he finished what he came here to do.

"Though I will say you look sleek with that outfit of yours."

"Thank you. I figured fighting in a dress wouldn't do me much good. Actually, that's how I ruined many of them. My poor tailors have had to work overtime to make me new ones each time I ripped one to pieces."

They drove in silence for a bit. "Can I ask you a question?" Mario asked. "It's kinda a bit personal, but it's something that's been on my mind."

"Mario, we've had a heart-to-heart on the boat. Granted, this is more out in the open, but we've got a long way to the Darklands, but I don't mind if it's personal. Ask away."

"OK. Lately, Toad's been going nonstop, taking our various conversations out of context with him claiming you have a crush on me or something. It's been on my mind for a bit, but I can't help but wonder. Is it true? Do you have a crush on me?"

She sighed. "To be honest, I don't know. When you first came into this world, sure I was drawn to you, but it wasn't in a platonic way. For all my life, I've been alone, constantly wondering who I was, and where I'm from. I don't even remember anything from my old world." She sighed as a couple tears caressed her cheek. "For all my life, I've always glanced at the stars, wondering if my world was among them. Were my parents even alive? Why was I meant to be in this world?! There are many things I don't understand about myself, and as much as I love this world, there are so much questions that have haunted my mind since my childhood. It's always the same question. Why? Why?!" She took a deep breath. "Then you came along. You, a complete stranger, just wandered into my world, but the second I laid eyes on you, I knew who you were. You're like me, a human, someone of my actual species. For once, I didn't have to feel alone. But there was a point where I knew you would have to leave. Like you said, you have a family waiting on the other side, something I don't, and I'm jealous of that fact. I know it sounds stupid, but I'm jealous. Even though you have problems, at least you have someone waiting on the other side, unlike me. I love Toadsworth and my Toads, but they could never fill the empty void in my heart. But who knows. Maybe all these musings are just a way of saying I have feelings for you. In the end, I don't truly know."

"Well, listen. I don't think you give yourself enough credit. You're so fearless and strong. You never give up. For the past ten years, you've shown so much endurance against an overgrown turtle who has a deep obsession towards you. You never backed down, and I know one day you'll get the answer you're looking for. It's out there somewhere, and I know if you keep striving and pushing forward, you will get those answers. Don't give up."

She smiled, wiping away her tears. "Thank you so much, Mario." She leaned over and kissed him, making him blush. "Perhaps all of Toad's musings weren't wrong after all." Mario glanced at said organism as he struggled to contain his excitement, but he didn't say anything. Well, he didn't need to; his expression said it all.

"Now, let's not rush things. Let's finish the mission first."

"Right." They turned their gaze back towards the road.

He could feel the hairs of his neck rise. He turned to see Donkey Kong still giving him the death stare. This Kong hadn't said a word to him ever since the duel and all he did was stare intensely at the plumber for no good reason, and it was starting to irritate him. "What the heck is your problem, monkey? You keep having a staring contest with me ever since the duel. What the heck is your problem?"

"That's none of your business," the Kong growled.

"Well, it obviously is considering that's all you've done! I think I'm inclined to have some sort of answer! Either that or stop staring at me! It's starting to creep me out, and I don't like it!"

Donkey Kong snorted. "Whatever." He drove away.

"I don't understand what his problem is with me. All he just does is freaking stare at me. Is he still angry that I won the duel?"

"Try not to think of it too much," Peach said. "Just focus on the mission for now." He nodded.

"Emergency! Emergency!" The two glanced around to see a young Kong wearing a red cap with a worried look on his face as he drove to Cranky Kong. "King Cranky, I have horrible news!"

"Horrible news? What could it possibly be?"

"We have intruders!" He pointed towards the island. Mario glanced at the landmass and gulped. Could it be him? Was Bowser here? Well, there was only one answer to that as a fleet of airships slowly approached the island, ready to bomb it to the ground.

Thanks for reading and thanks to cckgreen for favoriting/following this story!

I've been playing a lot of the recent wave 5 of the Booster Course Pass, and it's been a lot of fun. It's a shame Sunset Wilds lacks its namesake sunset in this version, but the rest of the wave is still good. I love the characters, Wiggler in particular oddly being my favorite of the three. (He's so cute!) Speaking of Mario Kart, the next chapter covers one of my favorite parts of the movie: the invasion on Rainbow Road. See you then.