Mario and Bowser: Frenemies Forever (Redux)
Ludwig's Schemes (Chapter 5)
Disclaimer: Mario and co. belong to Nintendo.
Author note: Got a facelift from the original, some new ideas, some old..
Kylie Koopa departed from the bus a block down from the tennis stadium. There were yellow banners blocking the entrances but no competing reporters or police. The latter not in the traditional sense, but there were entities out there aside from Mario and she'd dread to end up in their cruddy clutches for trespassing. She sleuthed the area, camera hanging from her neck, starting with the rear of the colosseum-like structure facing away from busy Starman lane.
Her spine was then rattled by a frigid sensation, mistaken at first for a cool breeze but dismissed just as quickly. It felt like it came from the inside. In seconds her fingers were too stiff to handle the buttons on her camera. Rubbing her hands together desperately, she trekked through the dark tunnels into the tennis court, quickening her steps when she heard a motorcycle purr coming closer from the streets. Trash and other items blemished the court, redolent of a rapid deterioration of order. Crestfallen, she rationalized that the green object she was after would now be like a needle in a haystack.
She couldn't give up however. Looking around, she was jolted by a shadow moving in the corner of her eye. The source of such evaded her despite her efforts. She found nothing out of place in one locker room, but upon leaving she stumbled over a red duffle bag laying round. Kylie gleamed, it was Mario's, proving further the audience were abruptly dumped outside after the tragedy.
Before she could check the other locker rooms the chill went away and now her skin smoldered, like she was melting. She was stumped at what was psyching her out during routine reporting. Stubbornly pressing on, she took note of the orange hair band on the ground and- bingo! There stood the waste baskets, well used since Luigi's photo was taken, and filled to the brim. She prepared to dig in as gross is it would be when-
Ding ding ding..
Those chimes seemed distant yet frighteningly in her ear simultaneously. Woozily she lost her balance in that moment, bumping and tilting over the can. Emerging from that brain fog, she was startled again by the gruff voices of two men in an altercation. Cursing and yelling, their voices bounced around from somewhere under the stands. It could be guards, civilians, anything, she feared. The koopa reporter hurriedly photographed the contents that had spilled out of the trash can and sprinted out, picking up Mario's bag on the way. If this was indicative of her performance when she skipped lunch for 'the scoop', she vowed to never do it again.
'Grandma' Bowser took up three seats and scowled behind his mask at anyone who crossed the 'bizarrely intimidating old koopa lady'. He didn't want company of Mario, or specifically his mushroom freak friends, but that was better than the alternative. Whether he liked it or not his brain was on a different mode when things were casual and not in a 'game' so he couldn't help but acknowledge that he was, dare he say, 'vulnerable' in enemy territory. To bat those thoughts away he grabbed the closest magazine, something rather suggestive and unexpected for Peach's hospital to have on hand, an old 'Play Koopa'.
…Far down the West hospital wing, Mario abruptly stopped before room 444, making the others step on his heels. Not meaning to get caught up in himself like that, he apologized and let the others trickle in ahead of him. On edge like this, having Bowser stay back was definitely the right choice. Inside the dim room stood a whomp doctor, his large blocky form hiding whatever the monitors stationed in between Toad and Daisy's bed displayed. Unceremoniously, he spun to face Mario and crew.
"Just checking records," he droned, waddling around them.
"Excuse me, doctor?" The door slammed shut behind Peach. She had not done hiring here for ages but she knew that one was an oldie, an expat from some land, 'Isle Falsa' or something or another. That matter slipped her mind when she ventured closer to Toad's bed. She gasped and covered her mouth, unable to speak.
Yoshi's older but discerning eyes caught something on Daisy as well. "..Mario, do they look green to you too?"
Luigi bolted forward. The bed squeaked as he leaned against Daisy's bed in shock. "Oh man! Bro, getta look at this!"
Mario flicked on the light switch located near the door, brushing past Boo who had remained frozen since they'd come in. When their eyes adjusted to the bright sterile lighting, it was obvious what petrified the boo diddly. Toad and Daisy lay stiff as a board in the bed, skin hued sicky putrid green, the computers continually flashing foreboding yet uninterpretable readings. There were no sounds in the room, not even the beep of a heart monitor.
"…This room looks..more..like.." Boo choked up at what came next. "A morgue."
That caused the princess and Luigi to wail sharply. She latched onto Mario. "Eldstar, it cannot be!"
"I-It's not!" Yoshi corrected, struggling to keep his voice steady. He brought his ear up from Toad's chest first and then Daisy's. "They're still alive- for now."
As his own palpitations clashed against her's, Mario gently eased out of the princess's embrace, holding her upper sleeves. "Look, Peach. It'll be alright. We'll get them help, okay? I need to update 'You Know Who'. Probably better in person than texting. In the meantime please, PLEASE drag one of those sorry white coats back in here. If they can't give a real explanation I will personally give them the 'plumber whack'…"
Bowser in the lobby had one leg crossed over the other, flipping through the second crinkly magazine he found laying around, 'Kart and Driver'. That previous one wasn't to his taste he realized quickly, but this last one captivated him enough to convince him to try to sound out the bigger words. He could use a new kart or two whenever they got back to doing that sort of thing again. Eventually there was only one other thing to read within arm's reach, the short note from that nurse. Scrawled on it was a number with a Town Town area code..
"Hey. I'm.. 'You know Who'. This is Fangirl chick, right?"
On the roof at the hospital's airlift station, Emery hopped up and down squealing.
"Yeah yeah..." He asked her to recount her story..
She eagerly did. "...And the staff here aren't helping the patients, King. When I first started I had a few people I was cool with, but they got steadily replaced with these weirdos. I need your help because, well, you're Bowser and you do what you want!"
"Ha ha ha. True, chick. Know what? I kinda like ya. I'll see what I can do, but whatta bout you? Ain't it dangerous for ya if you really know what's up?"
"Don't worry about it. No one pays attention to me up here. Oh, and thank you thank you thank you!" she went, blushing. "You know, when I was young my mom Nass, a total trip, would try to tell me scary stories about you, but I just thought they made you sound cooler and I was a fan ever since. I'm kinda still a social outcast because of that… or maybe because I don't mind seeing blood and guts and stuff... Sorry I'm rambling. I have an old coworker who can help me out I think if I call his- Gotta go, King. Bye!" She hung up as an helicopter was approaching for landing.
Back inside, the Koopa King remained skeptical of the narrative, but she had a point. What was so complicated about letting him walk into a patient room? He suspected this wasn't a big deal anyway, just theatrics that he'd be able to suss out in record time. Mario was just imposing extra rules to flex, to revel in holding the power. Safe in his home turf, this contrasted their typical out of town secret meetups where the plumber had to watch over his back warily..
He stood up, yanking his mask off figuratively and literally. Next he ripped off the scarlet cloak, allowing its frayed remains to bundle at his feet. Someone noticed his presence in the lobby and screamed, causing a chorus of alarm. Their terror reignited Bowser and he belted out a maniacal laugh involuntarily, unceasing until someone stood before him. The red plumber dropped his head towards the disguise reduced to shreds, confused and horrified alike.
Bowser snapped shut his dumbphone, staring his rival down with extra intensity. "I'm seeing our tennis rivals whether ya like it or not!"
Mario leaped acrobatically to Bowser's side and pulled his spiked collar down to his level, flipping into character in the blink of an eye. "I don't think so, Koopa! Time to take out the trash!"
Underneath the spontaneous applause from the grateful dozen eavesdropping, hidden behind the heavy double doors that partitioned the lobby from the East and West wings, Mario dragged Bowser through the automatic doors with him. The moment they were outside and out of ear shot he crossed his arms.
"Why'd you do that?"
"I just wanted to see 'em." His frenemy smirked again. As infatuating as they were, they simultaneously made Mario's blood boil.
"I was just about to let you. Jerk.." He seized the koopa's arm. "I'm serious. It's awful in there so let's go. We can sneak in the window."
"Sure.." Bowser replied airly as they walked along at a leisurely pace.
When a bob-omb on the public sidewalk looked at them puzzlingly and turned the opposite direction, something dawned on the plumber and his face flushed. "Crap! Hurry!"
He started to tug Bowser down the sidewalk then, even as sparks threatened to fly from the koopa's dry hardly moving feet scraping across concrete. Next a bemused birdo on a bike spotted them hand in hand from across the street and was so distracted she smacked into a stop sign.
Cringing, Mario looked back. "You can try lifting those things, you know!"
"I freakin know that!" Snapping out of a daze, enwrapped by seeing Toad Town somewhere other than from the vantage of an invading Doomship, Bowser cooperated somewhat and they briskly made it around the block to the West wing. There were a few camera flashes Mario noticed from some passing cars. He guessed he didn't have to be holding on to Bowser publicly like this, but how else would he make sure the most feared enemy of the kingdom couldn't bounce ? Bowser must have taken sick delight in this, or at least Mario thought so with how much the Koopa King kept giggling at nothing. "Enough, dummy!"
Toad and Daisy's window was partially obscured by bushes and shrubs that they wasted no time diving in. Mario heard some sort of alarm blaring over raised voices, all muffled by glass. He felt in vain around the sides for a latch.
"Of course a plumber can operate a window.." Bowser carefully applied pressure to the entire pane, making something creak. "Whoops!"
"Bowser!" Mario jutt his arms out to catch the glass. It then slid off his gloves and inside the room, shattering on impact with the floor. It bumped one of the computer status monitors and it went out of the dummy mode it was in, displaying a standard Mushroomsoft 10 OS screen.
Peach gasped, spinning away from the blue shy guy nurse she was speaking with at the door. "What was that?"
Yoshi lifted up the blinds, revealing Mario and Bowser. When Bowser leaned his big head in, his smile dropped abruptly, stomach churning at Toad and Daisy's state. How affected he was all a sudden surprised even himself.
"So it wasn't a false alarm afterall. Like, I gotta tell someone, bye." The nurse swiftly left, sneakers squeaking down the hall.
Yoshi, Luigi and Peach collectively groaned or close enough as the only nurse around willing to talk to them slipped away.
"Did you learn anything?" Mario asked, climbing inside.
"No," Peach responded curtly. "And the alarms mean some sort of security is showing up. Dare I ask what prompted such?"
Mario pinched between his eyes. They had no choice but to do the unthinkable. Explain the situation.
In Dark Land even the accustomed folks dreaded the weekends, predisposed to low visibility storms that made urban and developed areas like Neo Bowser City more treacherous. That is why the Royal Koopa family were forever appreciative Bowser Castle was built hundreds of years ago in another geological sector that featured a more tolerable quirk, erected in a region that was red, crackled, parched and fruitless. Being as it was a certain magikoopa's shopping day, that type of ground became the cushion for an airship speeding out of control. With a rumble felt for miles, it crash landed, sending an enormous dust cloud in the sky. One unusual situation in the castle led to another, where nearly all of the koopalings were in the den at once, being placed there by happenstance after the mess hall was too crowded and room service too slow, or always being there to begin with.
Larry yanked off his headphones after he felt a particularly large quake in the floor. "Sis! That's too much bass from the stereo!" he yelled over the TV. "Even for me!"
Without diverting her attention away from her dating simulator, Wendy flung an extra controller at him. "That's Morton's craptastic CD that still plays even after I've scratched it five times on purpose!"
The music cut as Morton spun around from the trio of 18 inch stereo cabinets, suspicion in his grey eyes. "Did you just say that you damaged, defaced, vandalized, my limited edition, rare, compact disc from DJ Deadbone5?"
Lemmy was in the opposite corner of the room scooping up the multicolored blocks from his life sized structure that was rattled apart by that same thud. He was adapted to ignoring most of the fuss going around, but getting a whiff of smoke in the air made him second guess. "Anybody smell smoke?"
Iggy's head snapped up from the green translucent Gameboy he was buried in. "My radioactive microwave downstairs!... Hahaha, no that blew up last week… By the way is it my turn yet, Wend?"
"Nooo!"
"Haha, no problem sis," the tall lanky koopaling replied. "Hey anyone wanna see what I did with our extra stock in the basement? I stacked them in formations like a convex icosahedron!"
"Now yer just makin' stuff up! Shuddup," Roy griped from the other more ragged couch, leaning all the way back lazily with one arm folded behind his head.
"No no no! It's totally real and it looks like.." Iggy continued to rant and rave enthusiastically to a bored Roy Koopa, the latter one of the older and larger koopalings.
All the while, trying to drown out with his headphones Roy's notifications going off constantly, Iggy nerding out, Morton whining over his CD, Lemmy's plastic blocks clinging, and Wendy's RPG thing, Larry kept feeling more anxious. He knew why when they got a group text.
"Attention! Mandatory meeting behind the castle!" the message stated. Unanimously, his sister even pausing her game which she would never otherwise do, the koopalings filed out.
"Aww heck.." Larry whispered.
In the barren backyard typically used for mass enemy formation training, their best airship was embedded into the ground bow down. Orangey red dirt mounds from the impact were littered up to a mile away, some even making it onto the rooftop of the castle. Despite all of that, Kammy Koopa was able to squeeze out of the emergency hatch on the top and slid down from the hull to the ground like nothing had happened, arms full of shopping bags.
"Dearies, I got something for yoooooou!" Kammy sang, shuffling across the field.
Temporarily forgetting their mission, the koopalings couldn't help but to cheer. She was the one person they could count on for gifts, especially when she couldn't keep track, frequently double gifting by mistake, tripling birthdays, or gifting to spite Kamek and so on. Meanwhile a particularly Ludwig sized dirt mound started to jiggle, unnoticed by everyone except Larry dragging himself outside lastly.
"Freaking what is that?" he gasped, stumbling back and drawing his sibling's attention that way.
Bloodshot eyes appeared from the mound, followed by a red hot face and then the rest of the body. "What in Eldstar's name is wrong with you crazy woman?!" Ludwig screamed.
Kammy coyly strolled up to everyone, her head poking around the stacks of shopping bags. "Luddy-dear, you know how I have lil problem reaching the brake pedal sometimes, ee hee hee! Now chill out, boy!" She tossed a yellow Banana Bird Republic bag full of hair spray his way.
The eldest koopaling caught it on reflex then dropped it to the ground. "Everyone focus!" He snapped his fingers. "Time?"
Lemmy checked his artsy 'wrist watch'. "There's been exactly zero minutes and no seconds since we've been standing here."
"Lemmy, your watch is drawn on your wrist with crayon. Hey, I should invent a watch that can freeze time like yours!" Iggy rubbed his hands together as he got unfortunate ideas.
With a loud aggravated huff, Ludwig went ahead and dashed inside the airship so fast Kammy spun in place, shopping bags flinging off. They waited awkwardly until Ludwig emerged from the hatch. Using a thick colorful quilt, likely as-seen-on-tv at some point, to shield his nose and mouth from dust, he sat there instead of sliding down and seemed to be busy dialing a number on his phone in an irritated manner. This struck them as odd. Not the attitude, rather the implication their commander had any friend or acquaintance to call at all..
With bated breath Larry kept watching and shifting his weight from side to side. He'd known about this plan for a while, but it was merely an abstract idea like Ludwig's Schemes usually were until this day when it all started to spin out of control. He was almost desperate enough to approach Roy, Morton, and Wendy rummaging through Kammy's outlet mall treasures. Self consciously, he held back however. They were such Koopa Troop supporters as they'd say. It even paid for Roy's college now and eventually Wendy and Morton's when they graduated.
He diverted his attention to Iggy, wondering if the eighteen year old would even comprehend his plight. He could be disorienting to talk to sometimes, and not just because of the obvious quirks he possessed from the outside. "Hey, Iggster," he whispered.
"-Hands off, sonny! I need that to keep up with the sock, caudron, and cooking ware collection," the elderly magikoopa woman repeated, slapping Iggy with her broom.
Iggy held the pocket calculator over her short stature. "And I'll totally trade you another, but first let me borrow this and harvest the proprietary and out of production CPU microchip. Sam and Slam took my other one before they left this morning in the trucks! You know, when they left very early this morning when King Dad..?"
Larry in a conniption kicked a dirt mound, his foot getting stuck inside for a while. All that was left was Lemmy, Ludwig's secretary if only due to strict hierarchical Kingly Law rules, happily and patiently balancing on his ball waiting for their commander's phone call to be over. Larry knew he was screwed, as embedded in this mess as their airship was in their rotting backyard.
"So with that matter rectified, we may proceed on our trip," Ludwig said upon returning.
"Yeah sure! Daddy's gonna explode when he sees this," Wendy quipped.
He dropped a bundle of shovels in front of them. "Are you certain? Riddle me this, sister mine. What has two thumbs, a shell on its back, and has supreme commander Ludwig Von Koopa as a leader?"
Iggy quickly answered, "Uh well actually that could be a multitude of things, Luddy-sama like-!"
Lemmy rose his hand. "He meant it's us! We get to do all the work!" he said over other's sighing.
Mitch Toad's black luxury sedan skidded to a stop at one of Starman Lane's many red lights. Scratch papers rolled up in his lap contained interview questions for a movie star, among other appointments for the day. The glove compartment was unsuccessfully ravaged for more facial tissues and aspirin for the searing pain behind his eyes, and his nosebleed continually stained his expensive suit. Despite this he was glad he braved venturing from his hidey hole at the Press. That 'creep' knew better than to target his ex and coworker, fully aware Mitch knew what they were capable of the moment they walked through the Press's doors.. The light changed green so he mashed that pedal. Traffic was thin except for a bus about to pass on the opposite side.
Ding ding ding.
Fingers curling around the leather covered steering wheel rigidly, the toad's blood ran cold. Ringing behind his head was the sound of- Then before he could react, a mushroom bus was veering into his lane head on. The vehicles collided with a terrible metallic clash. His car's aluminum frame warped and compressed, shards of glass from the windshield spraying Mitch as it flipped into the air and somersault off the street into the park. The public transportation vehicle kept rolling for some time, the driver a warm corpse in the seat before the crash occurred. The ghost bus came to a grinding halt when it overran a brick hedge down the block. Back in the park, within the mangled remains of the Lexus, an airbag deployed at last. This partially awoke Mitch buried inside, conscious just enough to realize that he could neither move nor scream…
The first person to notice the accident was koopa from the park. Jogging in place he began to call emergency services and remained on the line until he was whacked in the back of the head with an object, a green Bowser racket a number of people might have caught a glimpse of at a certain tennis game. The unconscious fitness junkie collapsed at the feet of a dark figure with no feet at all. Surveying the carnage, the attacker's eyes squinted slightly due to astigmatism, but their lips curled upwards in satisfaction.
"Write a story on this, bro," the person mocked, leering into Mitch's driver window. Then they vanished like the boo they were…
…
Back in Room 444, Yoshi, Luigi, and Boo remained with their friends for the moment to watch out for that 'security' to roll down the main street and hopefully give the others a heads up. When Yoshi excused himself to make a call to his fiance, Luigi shyly glanced over to see how his friend was holding up.
"Are you okay?" Boo asked him first, catching him off guard.
"Not really. It feels like for every step forward it's two back," the green plumber said.
Boo kept their focus unwaveringly on the highway, the bright shiny colors from the occasional vehicle sweeping by mesmerizing. Forever Forrest had only dirt trails and the woodland critters in comparison. "I think I'm used to that," they said vaguely as a more vibrant than usual work van was crossing…
Up front Peach concluded, "-So you did not need to raise alarms. Bowser is roaming I must admit, but 'civilly' I suppose you can say. A more important matter is that- let me just say we highly suspect the staff of squandering time." While the ringing alarms were disabled in the lobby, they were still faintly audible in other parts of the hospital and red lights continually flashed as well.
"We are still determining their condition," Nass answered.
"-These people giving you-? Ah, uh, nevermind. Hmm hmm hmm.." the whomp doctor hummed in passing from the East wing to the West.
Peach forced herself to ignore that. "Very well," she lied. "You stated that the call for security came from within this facility, so would you know who authorized that unnecessary measure?"
"We do not know that either."
"...Oh why did I ever hire you back then as the receptionist!" the princess blurted, immediately regretting it.
Nass stared blankly before shooting up from her chair. "If you have a problem with how I do my job, take it up with Dr. Professor for crying out loud! Don't complain to me! I'm following orders!"
This sent Mario over the edge. He'd stood beside his princess for support, letting her handle the matter to add credence to the fact that she owned the place. It was obvious now the staff were just messing with them.
"Oh of course you don't know. Just like how our friends are changing colors and you think we're stupid enough to believe that none of you have a single clue of what's wrong with them!" Mario slammed his fists down on the desk. This made Peach blush and even Bowser pause as he was walking in. Regardless, the Koopa King remained near the door, unnaturally silent and downcast.
Mario's outburst seemed to work, or at least do 'something'. The defiance visibly drained from Nass as she sat back down stiffly in her seat, holding down a button. "D-Dr. Terrace, please come to the front again, thank you!"
"Is he willing to be honest for once?" Peach cut in, emboldened by Mario. "Because so far I am wholly unsatisfied with your care, organization, husbandry, and communication!"
"Ahh, well that's too bad," the whomp, Dr. Terrace, said behind their backs. "Nass, you knew better to rope me back up here. This lady don't own the place anymore as of the big vote this morning. Just kick her out."
Mario pulled the rock baddie closer by the stereoscope. "Sure you wanna try?"
"Watch it, freak!" Bowser exclaimed, followed by a thud.
He was flat on his spiked back, bowled over by a yellow blur that was barreling inside and zoning on the front desk. Mario dropped Dr. Terrace and scooped Peach into his arms, launching them both out of the way just in time.
The dust cloud settled- "Dis is Jimmy M. of the Mushroom Kingdom Disease Control Unit!" announced a short monty mole in a bright yellow hazmat suit.
Nass peeked over her desk, familiar with the agent's round furry face. "There must be some mistake, James. We were expecting- No, you cannot- Stop! You are not authorized to-"
James had the temerity to jump into her office and the file cabinet next to her computer, sending papers flying around. As Mario was helping Peach to her feet, both dazed at whatever just happened, they heard tinny chatter from a radio.
"I got somethin," James said into a walkie talkie, choice documents spread on Nass's desk before him.
"No!" Nass repeated, sliding her crooked glasses back up. She drop to her knees attempting to retrieve her data files spread about the marble floors. "Terrace, someone help me!"
"Do I look like I can bend ninety degrees? Ha! Guess again!" Dr. Terrace shrugged, standing amongst her papers. "Be useful, will ya?" He nudged the shy guy nurse 'Azul' rolling up in a food cart. The younger nurse flashed a rude gesture but obeyed, albeit begrudgingly, picking up a pink slip that Peach suddenly identified.
"Young man. May I see?" she asked him, before boldly snatching it out of his hands anyway and retreating to the safety of Mario. The document James had plucked was procedure guideline for 'T-Virus', the unofficial name coined for the disease. Strikingly there was a pencil mark 'X' over the entire list of recommended steps. She nearly lost her balance, and not just because one of her heels had broken a second ago.
Mario quickly steadied her as she was on the verge of tears. "Peach, I think these jerks are sabotaging your hospital!"
Then the alarms everywhere totally silenced and the red lights became neutral, eerie silence punctuating his revelation. A somewhat strung out Dr. Prof. Koopa made his entrance into the lobby, clothes and lab coat mysteriously ruffled. As he strolled towards Mario and Peach they subconsciously backed up until they were pinned against the automatic front doors.
"My Dear 'Sweat Pea'," he began petulantly, "I must inform you that the rumors are true. You are no longer the director here. Now, I have made it clear that we are handling this case so I suggest that you do not chide my staff or interfere with our new methods."
"-Wait a minute. Who the heck is in charge?" Bowser demanded.
Dr. Prof. turned to the Koopa King, pausing with an air of recognition. "That would be I, dear old Bowser.."
"Great! Just needed the owner present according to protocol. Get on in here boys!" James said into his receiver.
This prompted a mega goomba, a koopa paratroopa, and a wiggler to rush in from outside, stepping around Mario, Peach, and Bowser. They split up and went down all of the halls, shaking the entire building in moments, banging down doors. Every nurse and patient that could was shoved outside during their emergency. They were soon swarmed by a stampede of folks and ejected on the grey asphalt of the parking lot. Mario whoosily leaned up. Countless others were displaced, blocking his view partially of the huge vibrant 'MKDCU' truck parked in front of the entrance. On autopilot he was trying to rush back in when he caught sight of some of the health inspectors wheeling patients out. There was a yoshi, a koopa, then a toad- Toad Toad, and a girl- Daisy!
"Waaaait!" Mario shouted as the snifit driving the truck shifted into gear. The MKDCU sped off into the distance with his friends. Panting, he slung his hat to the ground. Then there was another layer to this catastrophe. His Mach Bike appeared to have been stolen from the park lot, leaving an oil puddle only.
Four people regrouped at Club 64, a landmark diner in Toad Town known for its cozy atmosphere over the decades, a notable distinguisher against sleeker and larger competitors like Club Gamecube across the street. Mario got his friends a seat far in the back of the restaurant, near the often therapeutic fish tank. He kept her arm around the princess's quivering form, the tears that once marred her face long dried. The spinning ceiling fans and the bubbling of the tanks projecting blue light on them were the only sound. Yoshi's attention remained on the bulky old television screens usually set to closed caption only, no reports pertaining to them found among the mix of miscellaneous news…
"That Bowser…" Luigi spat all a sudden.
Yoshi swiveled his chair around and nodded.
The implications were clear and with some guilt, Mario faced the princess. "Nobody knew about Bowser until those alarms I thought, and the hospital was acting crazy WAY before then. There is just no way!"
"Don't be so certain.." Peach answered. "When we were searching for answers I couldn't help but feel that some of the unconscious patients were familiar. They were. They were sitting near me during the tennis game drinking that soda!"
Yoshi eyed the princess sympathetically before returning to Mario. "We know the source of the disease is the tennis game. It was a mixed crowd yet is a single koopa scum on the mends? No, only people like us, coincidentally the only partakers of that soda. It's a targeted attack, Mario! Of course we all disagree with the scummy hospital's ways, and this does not explain why they're not treating our friends, but I can't think of any other reason why they would kick the princess off the board like that except for permitting our worst enemy Bowser to stick around. "
Mario remained silent. Yoshi seemed so logical as usual, and the rousing conviction in his voice, the way he pieced it all together with proficiency.. He'd successfully thrown Bowser under the bus, not a Mushroom Bus however as they had suddenly ceased to run in the last hour, but he was buried regardless and Mario didn't know how to dig him out. -Or if he should.
Luigi checked a message. "Oh Boo got my text to meet here. Good cause they know how to get into some of the private chat rooms on the Toad Town message boards. They have some 'juicy' info on Bowser."
Mario sprang up from his seat. "Lemme go to the bathroom real quick."
Mario slipped out a back door, rounding the block on the lookout. He craned his neck upwards occasionally, pacing back and forth in the shaded alley next to Club 64. When he spotted at last a Clown Copter in the sky, he was anxious, so much he was shaking. Somewhat ashamed of that emotion, it quickly morphed into rage.
"Bowser, because you can't ever be patient for five seconds now everyone is freaking out thinking about conspiracy theories that!.."
Bowser yawned under Mario's rant, his parked clown car barely squeezing in the alley. "Done, Mario? What they're blabbering about is wrong! It's the hospital that's dirty, I had a lil toad fangirl rat on 'em to me. I was think'n at first maybe those losers staged their own fallout so that they could force a reschedule- Let me finish! - buy I threw that out when I saw how rough they looked. I bet not treating them is some experiment from that Dr. Professor creep runnin the place, slithering back to his old ways!"
Mario slowly fizzled out. "Huh?"
"Way back the dude was a mad scientist with me. Think somebody can just walk away, straighten up, hang up the coat, and transform into a boring regular doctor that talks to ya for five minutes then charges three-thousand coins?! Thought not. Anyway, smell ya later." He prepared to get back into his clown car.
"Hold on!" Mario rolled his eyes. "Eldstar, you're annoying. But to clear it up: You have nothing to do with anything, right? Nothing involving sodas? Nothing with your soldiers?"
"Of course not! And my minions don't lift a claw without my say so. You know that!" he explained vehemently.
"I believe you, but I'll be the only one in the entire Kingdom who does- aside from your fangirl I guess. Problem is every new piece of evidence rounds back to you, Bowser." Almost uncannily he thought, but the Koopa King had given his word and earnestness had always been a consistent component of their relationship oddly. "I guess what I'm saying is.."
Bowser stepped closer, his red eyes flashing with intrigue. "Spit it out!"
"You don't want to just read about how we solved this mystery in the paper instead of doing something about it, right? ..Besides it's kind of neat seeing you.. Here. In town for once. " He detected a smile creeping onto his rival and consequently himself. "If they're the bad guys here, what if we return to the hospital and teach them a lesson? I'll plan it out and in the meantime I know somewhere you can stay where no angry mobs would ever look." He presented his house keys from his pocket.
Bowser's demeanor lit up like he was in a steakhouse. "I finally get to see your old shack in person? This IS a Boo Moon!" he said, referring to a Darklandian calendar period where inhibitions were vanquished. "By the way…been meaning to say.. I like the 'look' you're going for now!"
"Ha ha, okay?" Mario went, unsure where he was going with that. " I've seen your mangy den a million times so it's only fair. Don't let anyone or anything see you, or break anything, or order too much pay-per-view, or break the TV when you can't beat my high scores…
His keys clank softly as they fell into the calloused open palm of his nemesis. That sealed it in his mind. He'd made a mistake, and worryingly he didn't want to turn back!
When Mario snuck back into Club 64, he learned that the message boards predictably pinned the epidemic on the Koopa Troop. Boo looked nervous and uncomfortable about that 'juicy' detail on Bowser and wouldn't share it, even after Luigi and Yoshi plead.
No matter, Mario believed Bowser was being framed, given false credit for this disaster. Bowser explained once to him that his culture was so proud, that sort of thing would essentially be like an insult, even if directed against an enemy. If news spreading of that beckoned a Koopa Troop response in town, that would further convolute the situation. The Peace Pact had done nothing to bridle the typical Mushroomite's bias clearly.
Mario knew what he wanted to do next, but it wouldn't be easy. Not with his friend's unanimous next plan of action.
Kylie Koopa made it back to the Mushroom Press and returned to her cubicle, tossing her notebook on her desk and dropping Mario's heavy bag in her chair as she checked her task organizer. Across from her space, Mitch's area was vacant and his items unguarded she noticed. Aware of his obsessive compulsive tendencies this concerned the reporter, more so when she found his lunch box under his table with uneaten sandwiches in it.
"Jessie, have ya heard from that ol' Mitch since this afternoon? Just curious."
The desk lady shook her head so Kylie returned to her space, trying to reign in her erratic mind. Before she had that unexplained episode back at the stadium, she had enough wit to take photos. At the bottom of Toad and Daisy's trash was a can. Fungus Up! She just needed a way to prove a person shown drinking one is also checked into the hospital and vola! She didn't like the pattern. Bowser bad guys were there, Bowser was in the city, Bowser was still in the city.. This wasn't her first rodeo.
A roadblock was that MK East ignored her calls. She could not skip on over right away because for some reason the buses suspended all routes temporarily due to an ongoing investigation. That would be a scoop for some other reporter. Anyway she still had Mario's bag picked from the scene of the crime. Her hand rested on her chin. The Kingdom's hero shared a locker room with the Koopa King, could there be a clue within? But then again, she couldn't bring herself to snoop on their greatest hero out of respect. Anyone else was fair game though..
She left a voicemail for Mario, then went back to blowing up MK East's lines. Office phone pressed against her ear, she overheard someone entering the press for a paper.
"Right here, sir," Jessie said. Kylie rolled her computer chair back slightly so she could see the customer, a noki in a Hawaiian shirt and black sunglasses scan the newspaper nearly as tall as him and nod his head.
"See your stories?"
The noki rolled it up under his arm and handed over coins to Jessie. "Merci." He waltzed out and through the windows she saw him get into an Aston Mushroom sports car, a fancy 'thang' as she'd put it, at a parking meter. The Toad Town license plate didn't fool her. She clocked him as a tourist.
To be continued:
Author note: Once upon a time this was one of the shorter chapters in Redux. A sort of transition from grandfathered older ideas to newer directions. Not anymore.
Created: 5/18/19 -5/26, 5/31, 6/1, 6/2, 6/3, 6/4, 6/10, 6/13
More edits: 6/20/19, 7/1, 7/9, 7/17.
Again: 8/4/20
Revise: 1/28/22, 2/1- 2/3/22, 2/4, 2/5/22
