Mario and Bowser: Frenemies Forever (Redux)
Love and War, part 1 (Chapter 9)
Disclaimer: Mario and co belong to Nintendo
Author notes: To get back on track, enjoy this two part dealio.
~BREAKING NEWS! Approximately this afternoon our princess's servants were attacked in her absence by renegade 'Zoo S. Diddley'. The castle is in total ruins. Two toads are unaccounted for, beloved Chanslor Toadsworth and an unknown steward. Multiple toads injured, and one very serious. Luigi Mario and his team vanquished Zoo from town. It's suspected he and his conspirators known as 'Sam and Slam' may have been behind the latest epidemic- and the influx of off duty Koopa Troop homicides on our streets~
Working in the dark, as the Press was closed now, red haired human languidly purged the dark boo's belongings into a white garbage bag.
"Too.. reads like a scattered synopsis, doll," her boss lowered the rough draft from his face. "How long ya been here?"
"Since the 00s."
Steve shook his body exasperatedly. "You know better then. Erase the part about the koopa scum. Say a Mario brother instead of Weegee. See? Emphasize the MARIO. What brought ya? Don't see too many humans.."
Because they tend to be unwillingly warped here, kinda like their 'gods' the Mario Bros. She didn't have super human abilities nor a coincidental run in with the princess leading to a decades long partnership, so she wound up here, a receptionist to anthropomorphs and else, like talking bullet bill constantly hovering her literally. She missed Mitch more by the moment. The green toad kept her company late into the evening and kept Steve at bay, also one of the few she could be mildly critical of the Kingdom with..
Jessie hesitated with a small painting Zoo owned. Artist 'Drew L. D.', it was titled "Assemblation" - a bunch of random colors spiraling. The meaning eluded her but it was pretty, almost too much to give up to Snifit Patrol, who classed the belonging as 'evidence'.
The way everyone gathered around his phone reading the latest Toad Town bulletin reminded Larry Koopa of his current freshman year. Considered antisocial by the administration of Badlands High, his milking incited brawls, fragmented cliques, and triggered after-school warfare. Hold fire! He was just the messenger.
The fifteen year old lingered above deck to watch the trainwreck unfold. How would Ludwig shroud their mishaps? Disappointingly Larry discerned an easy out for Luddy. They had scapegoats, acknowledged by the news media's coverage. Bowser orbiters, not soldiers, easily distanced from. That only left explaining why they were in possession of Toadsworth..
"I mistook him for my grandpa and we abducted him. Done," Emery answered, also annoyingly sticking around.
He had to stop thinking out loud.
"-Anyway, I meet the fitness requirements, General. I airlifted. Do you know how heavy patients are these days?" She blabbered over the shoulder of the vessel's captain. "..Hello? Well when I bring it up to King, I'm sure he'll get me trained on the artillery. I've always dreamed of blowing stuff up…"
Ludwig's eye twitched, aggravated enough from the daunting task of navigating their humongous doomship, a symbol of evil and oppression to Mushroomites, through Toad Town's dark evening skies. Their destination was going to be the park, as traditional, quiet, and family friendly as it went. Maybe so, but because it was usually vacant Larry knew. According to online friends, everyone under the age of 65 ignored it and its high grass, mosquitoes, and creepy statues in favor of malls and clubs.
"What are you so worried about? I'm King's best weapon. If we're spotted I'll have another excuse!"
Ludwig whipped around and snapped "-You may smarm a witless citizen, Miss Toady, but I doubt the princess and Mario."
"Peach can't tell me anything! Mario even quit today, King texted me earlier, so all of this hero villain stuff isn't his business anymore."
He stared blankly. "Emery, am I being toyed with?!" He shook himself out of it. "Implausible. General Larry, please verify."
Larry swiped around the message boards. "…People were moaning and groning online about how Luigi will be in the news now. That doesn't prove nothing!"
A smirk was etched on his brilliant face. "Negatory. We are not amateurs are we? The Mushroomites reverence of Mario Mario is so great, they would never question his heroic integrity or status wantonly. So ein mist. It was obvious. Mario, not a politician, was a major proponent in the Peace Pact. Why? To prepare his kingdom for his retirement. Therefore…"
Larry's stomach dropped. "Oh no.":
"-There will be no one in position to stop our father, who will unquestionably be on board with us, no pun intended, once I present my scheme in a delectably different light."
The younger brother staggered backwards. "Y-you can't be freaking serious!" Impulsively he bolted down the observation deck, so blindly he forgot a third of the ship was ripped off. His feet screeched to a stop on the jagged edge. He looked down and saw the city hundreds of feet below, wavering as vertigo hit.
Hands of a toad girl latched to his shell, pulling her back.
"Don't be a baby! Come on."
Thanks, but he still hated her, grappling as she dragged him back. His hopelessness drained his strength. While Ludwig had a consultation with everyone conscious to hear it, she managed to push him below deck and secure the door with a spare oar. Lemmy noticed this, his face dropping.
"I like your new plan, but was that necessary?" he fumed. "..And I just thought of something. I know we aren't worrying about Mario, but what about Luigi?"
In a private spot in Dr. Toadley's clinic, the lights were dimmed once the beeps and blips of the computers monitoring the body grew steady. X-ray scans were resoundingly normal, leaving the scar and the shock Luigi was in the only proof anything ever happened. He was on involuntary bed rest for twenty-four hours minimum.
"Feeling better? Just a bit?"
"Mmfm." So no, he likely meant.
Or maybe he was asking about Yoshi. Mario hadn't been in contact since he rushed home to deal with an 'emergency.' Or Boo? They reluctantly retreat to Forever Forest, refusing credit for helping after it was confirmed Luigi would be okay. Mario blamed neither for vacating. The castle destruction and incident at the park thrusted into the public eye every sordid detail, every messed up thing they'd been through and were attempting to privately handle. Mario refused twenty interviews before he had to block calls altogether. Luigi had a small fanclub earnestly excited for him, but they had to be turned away too for his recovery. -Not the inauguration to he imagined for him.
Mario gently sat on the bed's edge. "You hear me, right? Good. I might be back late so here's what we know about the Mushroom Flu. Long ago, after all of Bowser's cupbears were run through, his in-house doc discovered the containment in food, just like this time. By then it had gotten nearly everyone. Nobody would help because of that war back then, until a stateless human doctor rolled by. They weren't good with English then so they didn't understand what he was doing, but the doc left a notebook behind my mistake and they still have it. We're going to sneak out and look for that."
Mario pulled the white covers up to his brother's neck, noticing that he hadn't stirred in a while..
Outside of the blue curtain partitioning them from the rest of the Clinic, Mario bumped into Bowser lumbering around impatiently. Whoops. They were a little late. Dr. Toadley allowed Mario to wheel the Mach Bike behind the shop and borrow power tools to fix its oil issue. After that he had to modify an extra helmet for his new occupant..
Mario handed it over his hacked up creation.. "I know I took forever. Where again?"
Bowser tried the basic white commuter style headgear on. Snug over his red hair, but the spots carved out for his horns lined up fine. "The park.. Not much for my runts to damage. Since when do I need a stupid helmet?"
Maio poked his scaled chest. "Since they prevent your skull from cracking open, dummy. And you asked."
"I thought cha would whip up a cool one, with a visor! -Uhg.. Thanks.. I guess!" he groaned teasingly. His calloused hands slid across the nape of Mario's neck, settling on the shoulder opposite to him with a slightly heavy if thrilling weight. "I mean it. Also -I was watching you on the floor deal'n with a billion bike parts n' junk. That couldn't be me! Sometimes I forget you're so.. handy."
Mario ignored the flash of heat he felt in front of his friend. "Keep that tool box smokin', as you'd say. Right?" A realization crept on him. Friend he'd thought, without the enemy. "And I had too. We'll have to take a much longer, bumpier, secluded route."
Bowser strode outside and down the alley behind the Clinic with him, cooly. "Ain't we used to that?"
Putting along their alternate path away from the lamps of the busy main roads allowed Mario to appreciate the vibrant sky, fuchsia on the horizon still and deep blue, spotted white stars elsewhere. The constellations above wowed him like the first time he'd ever seen them, the 'Gluttonous Gobbler' to the East, 'Hello Mole' to the South, 'Brick Blocks' just over town. Had he not been observant? No, just until now he was dead inside.
Speeding through Toad Town alone, Jelectro Bond was free to use his spy car's computers. He clicked the experimental hacking program a colleague installed recently.
"22 Flower Lane," he voice commanded. The screen brought up an unsecured server for the Mushroom Press. He was able to see into the inbox of computer #15, Zoo's. There was a voice message originating from MK East Hospital.
*Beep* "This is Nass Toad, head nurse and secretary of Dr. Prof. Koopa, responding to 'Mr.Z' of Giant Land Hospital regarding your proposal to not publicize sufferers of today's T-Virus. We however want clarification on what that entails exactly. Thank you."*Beep*
The proof he could use to prosecute the hospital for conspiracy with their confederate Zoo, right there. So why else was Mitch sending him that relentless pinging sensation, like a hole being drilled in the back of his brain? Okay, there's the murders too, but that part wasn't his agency's problem. The noki hit a speed dial then. His first attempt, his preference, went unanswered.. He went with another.
" Whatup 0064, this is Agent 0069 reporting."
"You need credits, so here's a chance, mon ami.. Location is MK East."
There was rustling in the background. "..I dunno.."
"Est-ce que je ne parle pas anglais? I thought not, Andrew." Jelectro sighed at the agent recruited five spots after him. "Do not delay."
With great care Kylie Koopa opened the latch to travel into the cabin from the trunk. What a jerk to dump her off like that. No wonder he got along with that ol' Mitch. She was still hunched behind him when Jelectro calmly adjusted his mirror. They made eye contact, she supposed, and then he accelerated, pinning Kylie against the rear cabin wall. Darn it! He was as hyper cognizant as Mtich too.
"Give our regards to the South hospital." Doctor Professor Koopa held open his office door for Probabilly Koopa, hissing as he crossed by, "We know it was your brother who infiltrated us this morning with his 'MKDCU' gang."
The paratroopa janitor froze in the doorway, eyeing him back and matching his intensity."...I reckon so. I'll hollar for ya."
The head doctor let that pesky one go. True to his word, Probabilly made the facility like new in a 'jiffy'. He'd cleaned, fixed the entrance, the wobbly furniture, even their computer infrastructure. Alarmingly they hadn't been encrypting any correspondence until now, and that wasn't the only issue. Since expunging Mario and co, the competence of his doctors plunged below rookie level. He could twirl his fingers in front of their unfocused eyes before they animated again and continued with the preparations for his upcoming experiments on the eclectic variety of MF patients in their care.
Dr. Professor enter the operating room where #1 awaited on the table. Male. Pianta. 57. He slipped on his surgeon's coat and blue gloves. A ticklish sensation overtook him as he was reminded of the arcane sciences he used to dabble in in the 'good old days'.
-A code blue then interrupted him, scalpel inches away from the patient's sternum. That kicked off another slew of errands that concluded with him filing documents in the front office. He kept his green shell turned when Peach showed up in their lobby. They always come back... Upon request Mariam electronically transferred the records of a toad Peach sent to the emergency room of the South hospital, Ala-Gold Toad. She left with her two toads. One ran back.
"Excuse me, ma'am. Is anyone associated with the castle checked in? Just curious.."
Mariam fumbled on the computer. "-Oh. It's private."
Toadette pressed against the counter's glass. "It's not Mr. Toadsworth, is it? I know you have HIPPA guidelines, but please? Pleeeease?"
Pitifully the receptionist wrote on a sticky note and flashed it to Toadette. There was no spark of recognition on her face, but she smiled and nodded to the receptionist anyway and departed.
Mariam balled and tossed that note backwards into the trash. As she dealt with other business, Dr. Professor dug it out. 'Mitch Jamerson Toad'. Charts listed the patient under Dr. Kuribo. There was something else about him. He went to his office and rechecked on his computer, finding much on the local celebrity. Mariam misread, he was listed as 'banned from Peach Castle'.
…
Toadette rushed outside to reboard the limousine-like shuttle driven by Sergeant Howie, appointed by Snifit Patrol to escort them around. She was already embarrassed about flooding Peach's kart, and that her ranting to clerks at the mall kiosk wasn't what restored YoshiMobile (Rather the thick concrete of Peach's floating at the time castle blocked the towers on Star Hill), so she just wanted to do something right for once. Peach could maybe repromote her manager. ..Or look at her, cup her face and simply go 'job well done, dear'. That would be acceptable too.
She wouldn't either. The moment the name from the post-it note left her lips, the princess knew he wasn't the new recruit. She would not elaborate beyond mentioning that 'Mitch' would have never gotten past their beloved missing Toadsworth.
Toadette slumped beside Buckenberry in the same row, zombifying by the second the more they zipped around town.
"I'm feeling sick," he squeaked.
Simultaneously the whomp driver placed down his radio receiver. "Inspector Douglas at the precinct had an anonymous tip come in. Princess, your missing toads have been found!"
The princess jumped up and joined him on the bench. "Thank the stars!"
Toadette exuberantly wrapped her arms around her boyfriend. "Cool Blue, hang in there! Plus we'll really know how it all went down!"
Thankfully there was an empty shopping bag nearby for him to grab as he heaved.
Jelectro skidded behind MK East hospital, running onto the curb and bouncing onto the lawn in between the dumpsters. It was pitch black and next Kylie knew, she was thrown around, bashing her face against the middle console.
The pursuing officer they'd picked up along the way parked behind them, blowing a loud whistle. "This is Snifit Patrol. Stop!"
Jelectro eased himself out, flashing his own agency's badge. "You waste your time, mon ami. Madame might warrant your attention however. No seat belt."
Kylie spat out a tooth and glared from inside the luxury car. "Bond, you stupid-! That noki ditched.. well I did climb in his trunk but..."
Snifit Patrol enthusiastically pulled out a thick book of salutations. "Tell me more!"
A purple bandit slick, sporting fancy black Air Koopa sneakers and a boombox jaywalked onto the scene. He got close and deliberately blasted hip hop, distracting and drawing the snufit. Jelectro winked at Kylie and tossed her his keys.
"I will explain later, mon ami. It's all yours."
What a jerk! Again. -Except the flagrantly lending his million dollar car part. She accepted the insurance that the noki would have to meet with her again soon. Snifit Patrol rolled parallel to her, made an '"I see you'' gesture, and then let her off the hook to chase a large shadow around town with his lights on. Ha ha. She'd been in town long before these vigilanties showed up. She was the one watching him!
The flags that survived were raised as Ludwig rode low and slow, bestowing the citizens a perfect view of the doomship invading their tranquil skies. He stalled engines over Toad Town park, only lit by tiny mushroom shaped lights on the walking paths. His best landing attempt was lopping off the head of a statue, crushing a jungle gym, and tipping over the portapotty.
The Koopa King watched the entire thing, predicting correctly that their wrecking the environment potential was minimized here, but not that they would make up for it with the condition of his vintage ship. The moment the dirt cloud cleared, he stomped alongside the hull and strained to examine every broken rivet. His eyes bulged, what happened?
"Vater, we were buffeted by a severe storm on the way, precipitation, a tornado, hail.. Other things.. It soars acceptiably, I assure you! Additionally we are familiar with all events today. No need to recount."
Bowser grumpily approached Ludwig. "Good, cause I wasn't in the mood."
Mario introduced himself, climbing off the Mach Bike cautiously. He caught Ludwig and Lemmy glancing at each other knowingly, the younger stifling a giggle. "King Dad, can we wait a minute more?" Lemmy asked. "We don't wanna hit another one off the coast."
"I just escorted your dad here. I can hang around to watch you guys. No prob!"
"Yeah, whatever. I'll be on deck.." Bowser climbed aboard via a bottom hatch, Ludwig trailing.
A moment later Peach gasped, making out the airship's form and the koopas. It was like she'd materialized onto the scene. Mario then noticed the shuttle parked on the street that she'd originate from, along with two toads. "We received a tip that our toads are here. Is there a mistake?" she asked primarily the Koopaling, not sparing the plumber any attention.
"No, we DID happen to rescue them, but they're, uh, shaken up? So we kept them on board. Come on!" Lemmy kindly offered his hand.
Mario fought to ignore what felt ill-advised. As long as he kept close.. "Go ahead. I'm sticking around down here.."
Peach scrunched her nose before dragging herself closer with Toadette. Buckenberry froze as he crossed Mario's boots..
"Mr. Mario, I need to talk to you," he murmured.
The noki adopted a wandering tourist act and traversed the West ring, updating Agent 0069 with his smart watch. Upon reaching Room 26 he was greeted by Mitch's middle aged, tanned, slightly bloated, probably from fluids, face. He had beady black eyes like his own and thick graying downturned eyebrows.
"You were supposed to catch Zoo! I even gave ya every detail about the punk!"
The noki was struck by how the toad's real voice was more boomy and forthright compared to the shyer telepathic one he'd heard until now.. "-All details, like what you would like to do to him if not for the age gap? Bleh. There is more amiss in town than your latest fascination."
"Bingo," he agreed unexpectedly. "I can't stall Theodore's project any more, and he's on to me now. That ain't the worst part. The Poshley Height feds will come and smoke him out, read it from that sow Peach when she pranced in. That koopa bastard can and will purge everything to get away clean, kinda like how that broad's done it a couple times. Ha! Just sweep it all under the Royal rug. You know she, in the 80s, made her toads do a physical, not exercise stuff, a purity blood test. Can't have her 'pure' toads mixed with any 'enemy species'..."
Jelectro shifted his weight uncomfortably, standing and listening to his personal, resentful, delirious from pain killers ranting, all the way until their time elapsed.
Gripping the door handle, Dr. Professor paused outside. "For the third time, you don't sound like him. What was our deal again, sir? And what is that strident background noise?"
"Yo, lemme put ya on hold." The bandit agent dropped the phone from the rooftop workstation to text Jelectro for an answer. His boombox was on the opposite side of the helipads, currently occupying the ems workers as they danced to the drill beats. "Tell ya what. We'll add 20g to it if ya take the MF patients and-"
"-Enough claptrap. Goodbye prankster." Dr. Professor hung up and entered room 26. Hand on chin, he verified the vitals on the monitors, cross checking with a clipboard.
Jelecto spied from the closet, behind bundles of white towels. The doctor lurched over Mitch's 'sleeping' body for a prolonged period. At last he cleared his throat. " Mr. Mitch, if you can hear me, there has been a small change. Instead of Dr. Kuribo, I will perform your scheduled operations tonight. Alright? Alright."
Jelectro was startled by the impenetrable nature of the koopa's mind. He had little to go on until he edited Mitch's procedure chart to have 'Lobotomy.' Jelectro jumped out and blindsided the doctor, slamming him into the wall. The bump knocked tacked papers to the ground.
"I am Detective Bond and you are under arrest for conspiracy, bribery, and unlawful procedures. Hands up!"
Doctor Professor shot his arms upwards.
"You accepted a deal from a scoundrel posing as a Giant Land Hospital representative. Why?"
The doctor's visage contorted into a self satisfied smile. "My, what are the odds of meeting two magikoopa-like-freaks in a day, boy? If you can't pick it from my brain, give up. I can wait aaaall day. Can you?"
Jelectro checked his watch. About that..
The intercom screeched for a moment, filled with static and distant screams from some conflict happening in the lobby. "We have another invasion! All doctors on guard!" Nass blared.
The stomp of heavy boots bounced off the hall outside. While his head was turned, the doctor slipped out of Jelectro's grip, wasting not one second to hurl himself shell first against the glass and out the window to escape. Baffled, the noki peered outside. He shuddered at the dark outlines, armored vehicles of the burly Mushroom Royal squad surrounding the hospital.
"Check under the bed, dude."
Jelectro rushed to prop the door closed with a steel fold out chair that was down there. A half second later, there was a heavy thunk as a guard failed to kick it in. The noki backed away.
"Unprop it again on one. The elevator will be clear and you can rendezvous with your buddy on the roof. Good luck. Now swing it open in five.. Four..."
On 'one' Jelectro obeyed. The three guards that were collectively charging right before then stumbled inside the room, tripping over each other. Jelectro climbed over the pile up and found the way clear as Mitch cued. He rode up three floors to the helipads and found the bandit peering over the edge of the parapet.
"Screw that reconnaissance credit, 0064. I just wanna bounce!"
The noki joined him, sullenly under his steely front. Mitch was not only a league above him in telepathic prowess, but a prophet, because he would need good fortune. They had no wall scaling gear to get down from there. Agent 0069 was brave enough to jump when a gaggle of those mushrooms infiltrated the roof. Jelectro wasn't, not when he heard the crunch below from his friend.
Toadette was eager to break free from the cramped spiral staircase leading up the airship's four decks. She kept on Peach's heels until, muffled by thick walls, she thought she heard someone cackling. She had it. She would beg Peach to go back, stop being prickly and just send Mario in. Just a friend, not a hero thing. She ran out of time. The observation deck was in appalling condition. Debris was hurled everywhere, the ship had no sails left, and the floorboards had treacherous gaps to avoid. The poor condition ran all the way to the control panels at the helm. Bowser, Ludwig, and Kamek, with much grumbling involved, were busy tinkering with sparkling wires sprouting from the tarnished metal boxes.
Toadette looked to her left. The princess was missing! Her palpitations resided. Peach had traveled with familiarity to a rusty compartment door leading deeper into the ship where Wendy stood around. The koopaling princess batted her eyelashes and pushed it open. Out came a young toad, orange, dorky, and sorta cute, also in a wrinkled nurse outfit.
"Nass Toad's daughter? You joined my castle today?" Peach asked.
Emery did a curtsy. "Yep!"
Peach obviously had much more to inquire about, considering her other staff purported that the new recruit was a male, but she had to press another matter. "And Toadsworth?"
"His case is kinda sensitive. Some privacy?" Lemmy made Toadette jump. "Maybe wait off board."
The so-called childish koopaling towered over her while on his green ball and ran her off deck, back into the spooky spiral staircase. She protested as the door slammed shut in her face. She pulled on the handle. It didn't bulge.
…
Mario led the blue toad off to the wooden picnic tables a quarter mile away, keeping within view of the airship and peeping at it ever so often, though he didn't share that outloud. He really didn't have the time for asides, but Buckenbery was different. He was his bravest warrior in adventures, and even ran his fan club. The toad sat across from him, head down, trembling. Mario rubbed his shoulders as he sobed.
"It's about the castle thing, right Blue? It's not your fault."
He breathed in and out heavily. "Mario.. You know, like, my 'origin story' right? I was a sole survivor of alien experiments. My family, mother, brothers, and sisters didn't make it when Toadwood Forest was invaded. I rationalized that Eldstar doesn't let things happen for no reason. I must be stronger than usual, like destined to protect others that aren't or something. If I trained hard enough I'd never let anyone die again. But I was wrong, I'm not strong enough. I didn't protect the castle, Mr. Toadsworth, the innocent new guy I was a dick to, or Alagold! They're saying.. it's brain damage..I don't know if I can do this anymore."
"...Bucken-Berry, it's not that the things you love can hurt- they will hurt at some point. Something happened out of your control. Are you just afraid you might fail again, or is there really something else you'd rather do?"
The blue toad wiped his eyes on his vest sleeve. "I'm not sure."
"That's fine. For me, after my first giant screw up, it was the former. We didn't go on vacations and I was too paranoid to let Peach out of my sight for months. You may know that as Super Mario World. Then I got over it. However, three months ago, I had a moment of clarity after waking up every day…" The plumber stopped and stared off at the black jagged outline of the airship, detecting his own tears welling up. "-feeling…nothing… just nothing for years. So now it was the latter. I know the retirement timing was deplorable, but I'm more useful this way. Trust me."
"-What did you use to go by?"
His head snapped back toward the toad. "What?"
"I know everything about you but that. I've defended you, Mario against hecklers when they'd try to say your name wasn't really Mario Mario. Please."
After hesitating, Mario leaned over and whispered in his ear. The steward reeled back incredulously, squinting as someone in the park shined a dazzlingly bright torch all over. The beam settled on their picnic table, like a figure of authority catching mischievous teens at night. The red plumber supposed their moment just then was 'intimate', but not like that..
"I was tracking that airship all over town, I even let my quota drop to keep up." Panting, Snifit Patrol lowered the beam.
"Buddy, it's all in peace. I'm monitoring it. Now could you please.."
"Peace? Mr. Mario, they had their Bowser Flag raised the entire time!"
…
"Noooo!" Peach dropped to her knees before Toadsworth's bruised, bloodied, and unconscious body. A tattered Bowser Flag was draped over him, as if symbolically claiming that the Koopa Troop, fractured as it was, succeeded in claiming him successfully. She was in a terrible position, and she placed herself there!
"That was my touch. I'm Bowser's new toad actually!" Emery had a fleeting tinge of guilt as she mostly had fun watching Peach squirm. Why did she waste the last few years pretending to be a regular toad in an underpaid hospital?
"-Do not get ahead Miss Toady, but affirmative, she contributed greatly, one of our many pawns as we terrorized you and your society all day!" Ludwig declared maniacally, looming over the princess in a crazed, dare one consider 'kooky' way.
He continued, "We hired Sam and Slam, mm hm, from the news to infect the participants of your tennis game. We did not authorize those others in your proximity, but it is of no consequence now. Us, the Koopa Troop take full responsibility for the tragedies of today: the rapid illness of your friends, the mushroom citizens, AND the destruction of your hideous castle! Now we will destroy your heinous kingdom because we are kidnapping you!"
Bowser whipped around so quickly the wheel spun, rotating the ship on the ground and into adjacent trees. "Waitaminute. Since when did.. WHAT?"
Ludwig gave a salute. "Vater, I concocted this scheme for your central purpose. (Mostly) Forget go-karting with that Mario. The princess is just. Right. There!"
No, not anymore. Peach jumped into the part of the ship torn off, knowing she'd land in an open room with bench seating. She dashed out and down a deck, into a cramped corridor for ammo storage. It had occupants among the cannons lining the walls, like unsightly things stuffed away, demented koopalings! Iggy spun in circles, wild with laughter. Morton drooled and rolled back and forth on the ground. Roy appeared to have a sliver of lucidity in him, he approached her by a few steps but then became perturbed by something, bashing his head against the nearest support column. Pale, she turned back, losing her footing when abrupt g-forces knocked her around.
She gravitated, or was rather thrown, against the nearest porthole- and into toadette's aghast face on the other side. The airship lifting launched the steward out of the stair shaft and outside, where she clung to the flapped open exit door for dear life.
Peach spotted a rivet tool hung up in the room for the barrels within. Clash! The princess shielded herself amidst the shower of glass shards. She brushed off the cuts on her arms and lunged half her body out, dropping her personal items to do so. Their hands graced for a fraction of a second. Breathlessly she watched her toad plunge.
-Thank the stars.. Mario and her guard Buckenberry were directly below, even the police she detested so, but the doomship was so high up now. She could scope the entire park. Far dimmer than the city around it, the circular shape resembled a black hole the more she stared. She struggled to remain calm, determined to be as far from Mario one moment, yet yearning for him the next. There was a sudden roll. She screamed as the barrels toppled everywhere, nearly crushing her. Someone tugged her out of the way before she was pinned. She tumbled into a koopaling.
…
Low to the ground, the fiery blasts from the engines held them at bay. As the ship gained altitude with difficulty, it was safe to gather beneath. Mario pointed to a pink toad hanging precariously from an unsecured ground level door. The decrepit Doomship had a backfire. Like a clap of thunder, it shook the person off.
Buckenberry dove forward and caught Toadette before she spat on the ground. She continued to hyperventilate in his sturdy grasp as he repeated, "Baby, I got you.."
Peach's parcel plummeted as well, shedding its contents in the sky, spreading white papers around the city block like the work of a manic salesman. Snifit Patrol commanded Srgt. Howie to collect whatever they were, and busily tuned his left..
"I have a loaded super scope in the car, Mr. Mario."
"No!" the plumber stammered. "Look at it, it's barely going. You want it to crash? I'll do something else." He felt the ground open up under him, sinking. No, it was the vessel moving away in the starry sky- or both at the same time.
His hands were too feeble to swipe his pattern lock. It took ten tries. The lawn sprinkler system he stood next to did not register until he shivered from the wind colliding with his drenched body. It didn't matter. He had to call Bowser.
Then the phone rang him first.
To be continued!
Author note: Will they catch up to the weasels? Will Mario unretire? Will there be more multi-parts?
On a more serious note, this is where I stop sticking so rigidly to the old version of the story's structure (Hosted exclusively now on my website. See profile). As I discovered in the previous chapter, forcing it was creating some clunk due to changes in event sequencing and newer plot elements I added. No more! I am free to let this new story stand on its own. That also means I can no longer predict exactly how many chapters this may be now. Standby on that!
I'm going to credit the previous chapter again, since those events mostly happen this time around. Created: (As "Bowser Wins") 6/3/19, 6/6, 6/8, 6/9, 6/10, 6/12, 6/14, 6/16, 7/4, 7/7, 7/29, 7/30, 8/3, 8/4, 8/29, 8/30, 9/4
Revise (rename and total rewrite): 4/8/22, 4/10, 4/15, 4/16, 4/19, 4/20, 4/22, 4/23 (slit in two parts)
