(A/N: Well, Jr. has failed his first challenge, but how will he fare at the other 6 challenges? Can he complete them, or will he ultimately fail? Let's start this chapter, and we'll see what happens when Jr. tries some more.)

Day 2

The following day, after breakfast, Lemmy said, "All right, Jr., it's a new day, which means you get to attempt a new challenge. Are you up for it?"

"I guess..." said Jr., before asking, "What's the game I'll play today?"

"It's another NES game." said Lemmy as he handed him the NES controller.

"Okay." said Jr. as Ludwig turned on the T.V. and the console, allowing Jr. to see what the next game was going to be. He saw a red curtain rising, and Mario and Luigi appeared at either side of the stage and ran to center-stage. Then the background lit up and showed the title of the game, which was none other than...

"I have to play "Super Mario Bros. 3"? Wasn't this the play where you guys made your debut?" asked Jr.

"Correct. This one took place shortly after King Dad and Queen Mom adopted us as their kids. We were playing the roles of wand thieves and bosses for Mario and Luigi to fight in the show." said Iggy.

"Okay. So, what's the challenge of this game?" Jr. asked.

"Get all the Warp Whistles first, and don't use any of them until I tell you to." Lemmy said.

"That's it? But Lemmy, that's so easy!" Jr. exclaimed.

"Of course it is, but be warned: that's just the beginning." Lemmy reminded him.

"Are you saying that your challenge is going to get super hard for me?" asked Jr.

"It really depends on how good you are at playing this game, Jr." said Lemmy.

"Okay, then. Let's do this thing." said Jr. as he pressed the 'Start' button, beginning the game.

Jr. knew where all the Warp Whistles were in the game. Two of them were right there in the first World, but the last one was hidden at the end of World 2, and he also knew how to get them. He was good at doing that in the Koopa version of this game.

"Lemmy, when you told me to get all the Warp Whistles, that means I can't play one until I have all three of them, right?" Jr. asked as he collected the second Warp Whistle.

"That's right." said Lemmy.

"But... that means I have to fight one of you guys, doesn't it?" Jr. replied.

"I'm afraid so. But try to look at the bright side; you'll get to fight Larry, and you failed his challenge, didn't you?" Lemmy asked.

"Don't remind me!" Jr. said.

"You're not looking at the bright side. I'm saying that you get to kick his butt as revenge for what happened when you failed his challenge yesterday." said Lemmy.

Jr. brightened at this, and he said, "You're absolutely right. Thanks, Lemmy!" Then he turned to Larry and said, "Okay, Larry. When I reach the castle and board your airship, you're gonna pay!"

"Hey, what happened to you in World 8-1 wasn't my fault. You went down that pipe on your own, remember?" Larry replied.

"You didn't warn me that it was going to lead me to a backwards Warp Zone." Jr. said.

"Gee, haven't you wondered why none of us ever went down that pipe when we were playing the game? I told you that I thought you would've known to avoid it." Larry countered.

"You're right. How stupid of me. But that doesn't change the fact that when I find you, I'm going to make you sorry." Jr. replied. Before entering the castle, Jr. looked over the power-ups he'd acquired so far and said, "Hmm... I know how to make you pay! I'm going to kill you with fire!" And he used the Fire Flower. He kept it as he went down the pipe to the room where Larry was, using the wand as a weapon.

"Die, Larry!" Jr. yelled as Fire Mario pelted the youngest Koopaling with fireballs until he retreated into his shell and flew off the screen, causing him to surrender the wand that he'd stolen.

"Okay, you won. You beat me. You burned my tail off. Are you happy now?" Larry asked.

"For the most part, yes." said Jr.

Jr. played his way through World 2, but when he played the Fortress, he remembered something.

"Hey, I also have to fight Boom Boom here. He also debuted here." Jr. said.

"Yeah, but only as a mini-boss." said Iggy.

"He's still here." said Jr.

"We know." said Lemmy.

Jr. fought Boom Boom, then continued playing until he had obtained the last Warp Whistle. Once all three of the Warp Whistles were in his possession, he asked, "When do I get to use the Whistles, Lemmy? Do I have to fight Morton first?"

"You can use them now if you don't want to fight Morton. Warp yourself to World 8." said Lemmy.

"World 8? I can go right to the final World now?!" Jr. asked excitedly.

"Yeah, go ahead." said Lemmy.

"Lemmy, you're the greatest!" Jr. replied as he used the Warp Whistles, taking himself to World 8.

"Are you sure?" Lemmy asked. He was sure Jr. was going to eat those words.

"Yeah! This was easy." said Jr. as he found himself in World 8.

"Not quite. You know that your challenge isn't done yet." Lemmy told him.

"I know." Jr. said.

"And this is where your real challenge begins." Lemmy said.

"Okay, so what do I do?" Jr. asked as he started looking through his power-ups, for he had powered down during the battle against the Fire Bros. for the Warp Whistle. But when Lemmy saw what his little brother was doing, he gasped and screamed, "Wait! Don't use any of those-"

Too late. Mario had just powered up.

"Doggone it!" Lemmy facepalmed.

"What were you gonna say, Lemmy?" Jr. asked.

"Why bother? You just failed the challenge." Lemmy mumbled in exasperation. But Jr. heard him, and he was not the least bit amused.

"I failed?! You've gotta be kidding me! I didn't even get started!" exclaimed Jr.

"I know. But the main idea of this challenge was for you to play through World 8... without losing any lives... as Small Mario..." Lemmy explained as Ludwig drew a red 'X' on his note card.

"What?! You've got to be out of your mind! Do you have any idea how hard this World is? Do you know how difficult it is to get through Papa's Castle, even with power-ups?" Jr. asked.

"You think I don't know that? I was going to say that if you could actually do it, you could prove to us that you're a hard-core gamer. But you powered up, and you failed." said Lemmy.

"Why didn't you warn me?" Jr. asked.

"I tried to, but by the time I realized what you were doing, it was too late. You powered up before I could stop you." Lemmy replied.

"Great..." Jr. sighed. He knew he wasn't allowed any do-overs. That made this whole thing far too difficult.

"Maybe you'll have a little more luck tomorrow, when you attempt my challenge. It won't take too long for you to do." Iggy suggested.

"Oh? Well, okay." Jr. replied.

Day 3

When the children met in the entertainment room after breakfast, Jr. asked, "If I remember correctly, I'm going to attempt Iggy's challenge today?"

"That's right, Jr.! Good memory." said Iggy, and he handed Jr. a controller for the SNES.

"Oh! I'm going to play a Super Nintendo game today?" Jr. asked, faintly surprised.

"Uh-huh. Check it out!" Iggy said as he turned on the console, allowing Jr. to see that the game he'd picked out was none other than "Super Mario World", and Iggy told him to play the first file.

"Why? It's already been played. I thought I'm supposed to start these games from the beginning." Jr. pointed out. The file had the number 88 next to it.

"No, Iggy decided that you don't have to start from the beginning of this one." said Ludwig.

"I don't?" Jr. asked. That was new to him. But then again, the NES games he'd played didn't have a battery back-up, or even passwords that allowed him to continue a game if he had to stop at some point (except their copy of the original "Super Mario Bros. 2").

"Yeah, and the file isn't really what you'd call complete. Notice that the number on the file is 88, not 96 with a star next to it." Iggy corrected him.

"Oh, you're saying that some of the exits have not been found?" Jr. asked as he entered the file.

"Yup. Can you guess which ones they are?" asked Iggy.

When the map screen appeared, it didn't take long for Jr. to figure out the 8 exits that had yet to be found. He said, "Oh! It's the Special Zone levels!"

"That's right. The challenge is that you're going to play the Special Zone, and if you can beat every level here on your first try, you win! But if you lose a life, you fail the challenge." said Iggy.

"That's the challenge?!" Jr. asked, feeling a little nervous about attempting this challenge. He knew that 'Tubular', the second level of the Special Zone, was not very easy to win, due to the lack of ground. It usually took him a few tries before he could win that one whenever he played it in "Super Koopa World". The same thing went for his siblings.

However, there was a trick to beating that level, and Iggy knew what it was. But he didn't tell Jr. about it yet. Nor did he tell the others, for fear they might tell Jr. about it and help him win this challenge, and he wasn't supposed to win them.

"Don't be afraid. Chances are you might get lucky and beat 'Tubular' on your first try this time." said Iggy.

"I know..." Jr. replied. There once was a time he got lucky and did it on the first try, but 99.9% of the time, it would take him more than one try.

"Why not give it a go anyway? Unless you'd rather go to Isle Delfino now." Iggy said.

"All right. You've twisted my arm." said Jr. as he led Mario to the nearest Star Road and went to Star World.

"Hold everything! Do I have to do the Special Zone as Small Mario?" Jr. asked.

"I didn't say that. But you can if you want to." Iggy replied.

"I think I'm going to power myself up first, just to be safe." said Jr. He sent Mario to the Top Secret Area to get him powered up. When that was done, Jr. walked him to the nearest Star Road. It took him right to the Star World, and he made his way to the Star Road that would take Mario to the Special Zone. Sure enough, none of the levels here had been played.

"Okay, here we go." Jr. said to himself as he started to play 'Gnarly', the first level of the Special Zone. This one wasn't so hard; he could beat it on the first try every time.

"Honestly, I think you could've given me something a little easier to do, like maybe try and play through the game with only one of the Switch Palaces completed." Jr. told Iggy as he began making his way up the vines in the level.

"Jr., I know this challenge sounds hard, but you should be thankful that this is what I gave you. I actually had something really cruel in mind for the challenge when I picked this game, and I almost wrote it down." Iggy started.

"You did?" asked Ludwig.

"What was your original idea?" Jr. asked.

"Your challenge would be to complete the game without playing any of the Switch Palaces." said Iggy.

"Ooh, harsh! And not realistic!" said Larry.

"That's really not fair." said Roy.

"Yeah, in case you haven't noticed, you need to do those Switch Palaces in order to win some of those levels in the Star World!" said Ludwig.

"That would've made this challenge impossible for Jr. to win." Wendy added.

"That's true. I would've failed for sure if you had written that idea down. So I'll thank you for not suggesting that kind of challenge, Iggy." said Jr. as he went through the pipe that would take him to the end of the level.

When Jr. beat the level, he saw the name of the next level and swallowed nervously.

"Here goes nothing..." Jr. said to himself as he started playing the level. He was always edgy about doing this particular level, and this time was no exception, for he had to do it on the first try, or else he was going to fail the challenge.

"I can do this." Jr. told himself as he grabbed the first Power Balloon. He had to be super careful not to take a hit from an enemy, and that wasn't gonna be easy, because he had powered down near the end of the previous level, and he hadn't powered up since then. Yeah, this level was the hardest of them all.

But for the most part, Jr. was doing quite well. He might actually win the level! This would be great; he almost felt like cheering. However, right near the end of the level, he got touched by an enemy, and since he was Small Mario when it happened...

"NO!" Jr. screamed in horror as Mario fell off the screen and died, costing him the challenge.

"Ohhhhhhhh!" gasped the Koopalings, sounding distressed (but they were really cheering on the inside as Ludwig inconspicuously put a red 'X' on Iggy's note card).

"I almost made it..." Jr. moaned as he sank to the floor, trying hard not to cry.

"Sorry, Jr." said Iggy as he rubbed his little brother's shoulder.

"I came so close..." Jr. whimpered.

Hearing the way he said that almost made Wendy, Morton, and Ludwig think about letting Jr. off a little easier. But Roy noticed the looks on their faces and said in a firm voice, "You'd better not be thinking what I think you're thinking."

Wendy, Morton, and Ludwig turned their attention to Roy, and Ludwig asked, "What do you mean?"

"Come on. Let's go discuss this somewhere private." Roy told them.

"Do you want the rest of us to come with you?" Iggy asked.

"I hope not." Lemmy said. He didn't want to leave Jr. alone all by himself, but if he went along, he might end up hearing things he didn't want to hear, or wasn't supposed to hear, and he was upset enough as it was.

"Don't worry, Lemmy. I was going to ask if you, Iggy, and Larry wouldn't mind staying here with Jr. It's the others I need to speak with alone." said Roy.

"Okay. Thanks, Roy." said Larry as he gave Jr. a small hug.

"What's up, Roy?" asked Morton as they walked down the hall to the meeting room. It wasn't until they were in there with the door closed that Roy answered Morton's question. He turned to face his siblings and said to them in a stern voice, "Don't think I didn't notice that!"

"Notice what?" asked Wendy.

"I saw the way the three of you were looking at Jr. when he failed Iggy's challenge. You looked like you were thinking about going soft on him!" Roy accused.

"Oh, right. We know that we shouldn't..." Wendy started.

"You're darn right, you shouldn't! We can't go soft on him! Kamek has told us about plenty of times he had to be tough on King Dad, no matter how sorry and sad he looked for when he did something bad." Roy told them.

"I know. We have to harden our hearts and make him continue doing the challenges, no matter how upset he may get about failing one." said Ludwig.

"So you're going to continue being tough on him?" Roy asked.

"Yes, Roy. Going soft on him is not an option. We can't let him get away with what he did on Isle Delfino. The islanders deserve to know the truth about Mario." Wendy nodded.

"That's what I wanted to hear. Okay, we're good." said Roy.

"Great. I hope Jr.'s not feeling too sad. He still has four more challenges left to try, and they're not going to be easy, even though they are doable." Morton said.

Then they went back to the entertainment room to see if Jr. was all right. He seemed to be feeling a little better.

"I used my wand to give him a big glass of his favorite Kool-Aid as a reward for at least attempting the challenge and almost winning that hard level. That helped calm him a little." Iggy told his big siblings.

"Okay, that's all right. He might have been thirsty, anyway." said Roy.

"I wonder how he's going to feel tomorrow, when it's time for him to attempt my challenge. It's not gonna be easy, but I'm sure it can be done if he's careful enough." said Wendy.

"What was your challenge again, Wendy?" asked Lemmy as he walked over. Wendy had to whisper it to him, and he said, "Oh yeah, that's right."

"Don't tell him, though. I'll do that myself when it comes time for him to play it." said Wendy.

"We know, sis. We'll be quiet." Lemmy promised.

Day 4

"Another day, another challenge. Are you ready, Jr.?" Wendy asked their little brother after they ate breakfast.

"Ready as I'll ever be." Jr. said as he followed his siblings to the entertainment room. Once inside, Wendy handed him the SNES controller.

"Another Super Nintendo game?" Jr. asked. He wasn't sure what game Wendy had in store for him.

"That's right, Jr. Let's turn on the game of my choosing, and I will explain the next challenge to you." Wendy said as she turned on the console.

"All right." Jr. said. But he was very surprised when he saw the story for "Yoshi's Island" playing.

"Huh?! I'm playing "Yoshi's Island"?! But... but I thought I would be playing "Mario" games, and you don't play as Mario in this game!" Jr. said.

"Actually, you know that if Yoshi grabs a Super Star, then Baby Mario will take charge and become invincible for a short amount of time, and as long as the invincibility lasts, you're controlling him instead of Yoshi." Wendy said. She kept looking back and forth between Jr. and the T.V. for a glimpse of Mario as a baby. He was cute now, but as a baby, he looked very sweet.

"Oh yeah. But I'll be playing as Yoshi for much of it!" said Jr.

"I'm aware of that fact. But can you tell me what'll happen if Baby Mario falls off of Yoshi's back?" Wendy asked.

"Yeah. He's gonna start bawling his eyes out until Yoshi grabs him, or if the timer runs out and Kamek's Toadies nab him. That's when he stops crying and tries kicking to escape." said Jr.

(A/N: I never noticed that Baby Mario is kicking his little legs when the Toadies have him. Not until my brother pointed it out to me. But then again, I don't let the timer run out.)

"Exactly! Your challenge is to play this whole game without letting the baby fall off of Yoshi's back for even a fraction of a second! Don't take any hits, and don't let any enemies take him away from you. Keep Mario safe!" said Wendy.

"What? Wendy, is such a thing even possible?!" Jr. asked.

"If you're careful, it should be." Wendy replied.

"Yeah, Jr., we were just as uncertain about this as you were when she told us what game she'd picked for you to play. But the challenge she had in mind was what clinched it for us." said Ludwig.

"But... but what if I have to morph? The baby isn't on Yoshi's back while he's transformed!" Jr. said.

"Those moments don't count. Sometimes, metamorphosis is the only way for Yoshi to progress through a certain part of a level. The baby also goes to where Yoshi is at the end of it, so don't worry about it." said Wendy.

"Okay." said Jr. as he selected a new file and started the game. He watched the little story that started each file, and then he began to play the tutorial level.

"Wait a second!" Jr. said, pausing the game.

"What is it?" Wendy asked.

"Does losing him in the tutorial level count as failing the challenge?" Jr. asked.

"I hadn't really thought of that when I came up with the challenge. I had actually forgotten about the tutorial level. But now that you mention it, yes, because it is a level, albeit a short one without the stars, flowers, and red coins that Yoshi needs to collect for a perfect score of 100." Wendy said.

"Oh yeah! Do I also have to play the Extra Stages?" Jr. asked.

"If you get a perfect score in the Worlds you play through, then you might as well, even though I'm really just counting on you keeping the baby on Yoshi's back for the whole game. If you don't get the Extra Stages, I'm not going to say that you failed the challenge. The baby's safety is your top priority, not getting a perfect score that'll unlock fun things for you to do." Wendy told him.

"All right, then. Let's do it!" Jr. replied, and he finished the tutorial level so the true game could begin.

Jr. seemed to be doing just fine when it came to Wendy's challenge. He had a few close calls in some levels, but he was very careful, and he made sure he didn't lose the baby. And what's more, he was completing each level with the maximum score of 100 points. But then again, this was the first World of the game, and it was easy-peasy.

He also got past the Fuzzies in World 1-7 without touching a single one.

"What do you think of that, Wendy?" Jr. asked after he passed the Fuzzies with no problems.

"Impressive, but you know that touching Fuzzy won't cause you to lose the baby. It just makes you dizzy and changes the scenery, making you look like you've been doing drugs." said Wendy.

"I know that. But I was going to make sure that I didn't get high as a kite." said Jr.

"Smart thinking. If you can complete my challenge, I'll give you some bonus points for avoiding the Fuzzies in this level." Wendy said.

By the time he reached the main boss of World 1, the baby hadn't cried once, much to the surprise of the Koopalings.

But Jr.'s luck ran out while he was fighting the main boss of that World, who happened to be Salvo the Slime. He ended up taking a hit from one of the Lemon Drops that broke off of Salvo, and that caused the baby to leave Yoshi's back.

"NO!" Jr. screamed as Wendy turned off the game.

"You did well for most of the first World, Jr. The baby didn't cry until you reached Salvo the Slime." Wendy assured him.

"But I lost! I didn't even make it out of there yet!" Jr. complained.

"You still have 3 more challenges left to try, Jr." Ludwig reminded him as he put an 'X' on Wendy's note card.

"Do I even stand a chance at winning them?" asked Jr.

"We'll see. My challenge is tomorrow, and it's doable." Morton promised.

"All right." said Jr.

What will happen when Jr. tries the challenges the oldest Koopalings set up? You'll have to stay tuned if you wanna find out!