(A/N: So the first chapter showed us what we might have suspected about "Super Mario Sunshine". No one on Isle Delfino, except for maybe a few people, found out who the real culprit was. All right, I'm starting the next chapter so you guys won't have to be in suspense.)
The Koopalings unhappily trudged downstairs to the meeting room to find that it was empty. Good. They had something major to discuss, and they needed to do that somewhere quiet, where they could concentrate.
"All right, so we not only got the answer to our question, we can agree on the fact that we all hate it." Ludwig said as he took his place at the head of the long table. His siblings sat down in the chairs on either side.
"You're right about that! I was sure we were going to hate the answer before we got it! But I was hoping that I would be wrong on that. I hated when I learned that I was right." Roy replied.
"While we could easily tell the people on the island who really made the mess, they're never going to believe us. Not unless we can give them some real proof that we're telling them the truth." Morton said.
"The only proof they need is for Jr. to come right out and tell them that he was the real vandal, but he refuses to do it. He really doesn't care that he caused Mario to be hated by a bunch of people for no good reason! It just isn't right, and it's so unfair for him to suffer for no good reason!" said Wendy.
"So, does anyone have any ideas on how to make Jr. go back to the island and spill his guts to the islanders?" asked Lemmy.
The Koopalings were silent, trying to think of some way they could get Jr. to tell the islanders who really caused the trouble on their island.
"Well, I just thought of something that we could do to him, but I'm not entirely sure if any of you are going to agree with it." Iggy began after a few moments of silence had passed.
"Iggy, I think we're pretty much open to any ideas right now, so just go ahead and tell us what you've got in mind." said Lemmy.
"Very well. Has anyone here ever heard about The Twelve Labors of Hercules?" asked Iggy.
Everyone stared at him blankly as crickets chirped. No, they obviously weren't familiar with that story.
"I'll take that as a 'no'. Okay, then, here's what happened..." Iggy began to tell them the story from Greek mythology, even though Lemmy and Larry had quickly tuned him out and Roy and Morton fell asleep during the telling.
Upon finishing his story, Iggy looked at his siblings and sighed in disappointment, wondering if he was going to have to tell the whole story again. Perhaps he could find a way to paraphrase it, but then he heard Ludwig's voice say, "Go on, Iggy. Tell us what brought this on."
"Yeah, what's up?" asked Wendy.
Pleased to learn that at least two of his siblings had been considerate enough to listen to his tale, Iggy smiled happily and suggested, "I was thinking, since Jr. also has to atone for something he did that was wrong, why don't we put him through something similar to that?"
"You're suggesting that we make him do all the things Hercules had to do?" Ludwig asked.
"Oh, no! There won't be twelve difficult challenges for him to endure, just seven. Each of us will think of something for him to do." said Iggy.
"That's... actually a pretty good idea you've come up with, Iggy. I like the sound of it." said Ludwig.
"Yeah. It's really interesting." said Wendy.
"Oh yeah! That sounds good!" said Lemmy, who had started listening again when Iggy got to the point.
"But how does this make Jr. tell the islanders the truth about Mario?" Roy asked as he and Morton appeared to wake up. They had only pretended to fall asleep when Iggy told his story.
"Simple. If he fails the challenges, then he has to go to the island and sing like a pretty yellow canary." said Iggy.
"But the question is: what are we going to make Jr. do? He's nothing like Hercules, so we've got to make sure that what we want him to do is doable, and that it's something he'll be willing to follow through with." Ludwig said.
"I got it! How about we make it a game challenge, where he'll have to play each of us in a game of some sort?! Doesn't that sound like fun?!" Larry suggested.
"It does, but that all depends... what kind of games did you have in mind, Larry?" asked Roy.
"I was thinking of the common ones, like maybe chess and checkers. But I call dibs on poker." said Larry.
"NO WAY! Jr. is never going to follow through with that idea because for one thing, he's much too young to be playing poker! Secondly, it's obvious that if you do talk him into playing it, you're going to cheat to win! He knows that as well as the rest of us!" Wendy pointed out, and the rest of the Koopalings nodded in agreement with her. Larry hadn't earned the nickname 'Cheatsy' for nothing.
"So, that's a challenge he'd never be able to win." said Larry.
"Drop the idea now, Cheatsy!" said Roy, and he was going to punch Larry's lights out.
"Down, boy!" said Lemmy, pulling out his wand and using a spell that caused Roy to freeze as he was getting ready to punch. Then he turned to Larry and said, "The game challenge idea really does sound like a pretty good one, Larry, but you're gonna have to face facts. You know that Jr. will never want to play you in any games."
"Okay, so what did you have in mind?" Larry asked.
"That's what I'm trying to think of." said Lemmy.
"Ooh, I got the best idea ever! Let's challenge him to some video games instead! Those are lots more fun than the normal games Larry had in mind, and we all know how much Jr. loves to play video games!" said Morton.
"Now there's an idea! Why didn't I think of that?" asked Lemmy.
"That could work! But what kind of video games do you guys think he should play?" asked Wendy.
"Given what he needs to do, I'm thinking they should be "Super Mario" video games." Ludwig started.
"But Jr. doesn't like to play those games. He'll throw a tantrum like a whiny diaper-baby unless we allow him to play the "Super Koopa" games that we've stopped playing for... obvious reasons." said Morton.
(A/N: "Super Koopa" is what I call the video game Ludwig was playing in "Super Mario Adventures", where the main character was a Bowser-esque Koopa wearing a leotard with a 'K' on it and a cape, and every enemy looked like Mario. Chances are the Koopalings had a bunch of games like this, and they are the villain's version of "Super Mario" games.)
"Well, that's just tough for him. He knows that he really needs to atone for what he did to Mario and Peach on Isle Delfino, after all." said Ludwig.
"So you're saying that we should turn the "Super Koopa" video games into the "Super Mario" ones that everyone else is familiar with?" asked Iggy.
"Yeah. But only the ones we're going to make him play. Those are the ones that we'll change. But I'm almost thinking of turning all of them into their "Super Mario" counterparts." said Ludwig.
"He's really not going to like that idea. But you want to know the worst part for him? I really don't care if how much he'll hate the idea. That's his own fault." said Iggy with a laugh.
"So let him know what it's like to suffer for once. He deserves to suffer for the way he made Peach suffer with him and King Dad in that volcano. She could have died from heat stroke down there, and it wouldn't have been her fault, or Mario's." said Larry.
"Okay, but what are the games going to be? You guys know that there are lots of different "Super Mario" games, and so many challenges we could give him. The possibilities are endless." said Lemmy.
"I think we should make him do the main series games, not one of those spin-offs, and not one where you can choose between a bunch of different characters." said Wendy.
"Yeah. If he does one of those, he'll be avoiding Mario at all costs, if he can. And he'll pick King Dad, even though it was against the rules we'd set for him." said Roy.
"Well, if it's the main series games, we can't make him do anything in "Super Mario Sunshine". That's the one he's going to change the ending to." said Iggy.
"And he should really do the games as one player. He wouldn't want to play against us." said Wendy.
After giving the matter some more thought, Ludwig said, "Okay, here's the deal: each of us will pick out a main series "Mario" game for him to play, and when we figure out which one he should play, we'll think up a challenge for him to complete in it. We'll take the rest of today to pick out one game and come up with a good enough challenge to go with it. Can each of us do that?"
"I can do that." said Morton.
"Me too!" said Lemmy.
"If each of us gives him a challenge to complete, then that means he'll have to pass at least 4 of them if he wishes to avoid going to the island. But if he fails 4 or more of them, then he's going to Isle Delfino." said Iggy.
"I thought Hercules had to complete every task." said Wendy.
"He did. But we're going to be a little more lenient with Jr. on this one." said Iggy.
"Sounds fair enough. But we also have to make sure that our challenges are not going to be impossible to pass. We have to make them realistic." said Ludwig, looking directly at Larry as he spoke.
"I promise it'll be realistic." said Larry, even though he'd been thinking of some really hard challenges for Jr. to try and complete in a bunch of different games.
"What do you say to our idea, Roy?" asked Lemmy as he undid the spell he'd cast on their bully of a brother. He was able to hear everything, even though he was frozen.
"I'm in!" said Roy, glad to be able to move again.
"Great! This meeting is adjourned for now. We'll meet here again tomorrow morning after breakfast to start working on the "Super Mario Challenge" for Jr. to complete!" said Ludwig.
"All right!" said the rest of the Koopalings.
"Oh, one more thing: no telling King Dad, Kamek, or anyone else about our plan. And we especially can't tell Jr. about this plan of ours. He mustn't know anything about it until we've got it figured out." Ludwig said.
"Don't worry, Ludwig. We won't tell. Our lips are sealed." Morton said, his hands where Ludwig could see them.
"All right. Let's go and plan our challenges." said Ludwig.
With that, the Koopalings left the room and made their way to their bedrooms to think about what games they wanted Jr. to play. That wasn't easy, for Lemmy was right. There were a lot of "Super Mario" games in the main series, and lots of challenges that they could dream up for each one. But they knew that they had to pick just one game, and one challenge for it, and none of them could be "Super Mario Sunshine".
Before nightfall, the youngsters had been able to figure out what game they wanted Jr. to play, and what he was going to do in that game. To make sure they didn't forget what they had planned, they wrote their ideas down on note cards, which they hid under their pillows, where they would be safe.
The following morning, after breakfast, Ludwig beckoned for his siblings (save for Jr.) to join him in the meeting room. The young Koopas hurried to the room and gathered at the big table once again, picking up from where they had left off yesterday.
"Okay, now has everyone here picked out a main series "Super Mario" game and a good enough challenge to go with it after we adjourned our meeting the other day?" Ludwig asked when he and his siblings were seated.
"Yes!" said Wendy.
"I picked one!" said Iggy.
"So did I. And don't you worry; I made sure that my challenge is realistic and not too impossible for Jr. to do. But it's still very possible that he could fail if he's not careful." Larry promised.
"I've got mine." said Roy.
"I wrote it down! I've even got it with me!" said Morton.
"Same here! But what about you, Ludwig? Have you got one?" asked Lemmy.
"Right here!" said Ludwig, holding up his note card with his choice on it. The others pulled theirs out, and then Ludwig said, "All right, read to me what you put down, then hand them over!"
"Wait, Ludwig! In what order are we going to do these challenges?" asked Wendy.
"I was thinking we could go from youngest to oldest, even though that would mean Larry gets to go first, since he was the youngest of us until Jr. hatched." said Ludwig.
"Cool!" Larry smiled.
Ludwig went down the table, asking his siblings what game they picked and what their challenges were going to be before he told them what his idea was. To everyone's relief, the challenges were all from the main series, and they were doable, at best.
"So we're going to let him have it?" asked Morton as he and his siblings handed their note cards to Ludwig.
"Yes, Morton. Starting Monday." said Ludwig, arranging the note cards in order from youngest to oldest.
"Then that means he's starting it tomorrow! Today is Sunday!" said Roy.
Ludwig checked the date on the calendar in the room and said, "Hey, you're right. He will. Okay, we'll inform him about the challenge tonight, but we're not going to tell him certain things about it, like what games he'll be playing, what he has to do in them, and how many he needs to win if he wants to avoid going to the island. We'll just save those bits and pieces of information for when it comes time for him to play them."
"That'll do." said Wendy.
"All right. Meeting adjourned." said Ludwig, and the Koopalings went to do their own thing for the better part of the day, but that wasn't easy, since the thought of the challenge for Jr. was constantly on their minds.
Looks like the Koopalings have planned everything out. What's going to happen when Jr. learns about it? I'm really sorry, but I can't tell you anything... except to stay tuned if you really want to find out!