"Take this!"
Banging the floor as Peach dodges, Alberto swings another fist as Peach tosses the snowballs around while missing the limbs of a Wiggler.
"Woah! Peach!"
"Toad! I need you to find Pauline!" Peach orders while creating spiky ice shards that'll block Alberto's punches.
"Um… Um! I'll call her, but I don't have a phone!" Toad panics.
"Then use mine! Pauline's number is down there!" Peach points at the screen while handing her phone over to Toad.
"Thanks!" Toad makes a run towards the exit as Peach is still trying to harden the ice block.
Despite the block harden, the ice cracks from a multitude of punches until it smashes, causing the reception desks to be totaled by ice blocks.
"Nowhere to run, Toadstool!" Alberto now has the advantage, making him dive towards Peach.
As Alberto misses, Peach jumps and steps on the flower on Alberto's head which also crushes his cap, causing the flower to vanish as well as turning Alberto's body colour from yellow to red.
"Uh oh!" Peach screwed up.
"TOADSTOOL!" Alberto roared, instantly grabbing Peach by the leg and slams her down on one of the reception desks, leading to Peach's dress becoming her normal pink colour.
"Gah!" Peach exclaims while being pulled and tossed to the wall as she shrieks out of agonising pain.
So this is how Daisy, Mario, Luigi and others felt when facing their opponents.
Then a wall smashes with twice the brute strength as Peach crashes near the citizens as they scream and run off, causing Peach herself to hold her right arm as the sticks are snapped which means her arm is still broken as it's unable to heal.
As Peach cries with pain coming back, Alberto is closer to Peach while raising his fists.
"Oi, Toadstool. Who's the real champion now?" Alberto grins as his anger knows no bounds.
"Kah! Y- You…" Peach coughs as she can feel her ribs starting to squeeze her lungs.
"Exactly." Alberto can feel the satisfaction of defeating his former opponent, even though she barely knows him.
Before Alberto does anything, a snowball hits his hands which causes him to exclaim that he has a couple of ice blocks as his hands.
"Huh? What the-"
"Take this!" Appearing, Toad darts towards Alberto and then freezes his entire body with a blue flower he carries and jumps off, making him rub his mushroom hat.
Along with Toad is Pauline, sliding while lifting Peach up with worry.
"Peach, are you okay?"
"Not really… I really need to learn not to pull any stunts." Peach grunts as she holds her broken right arm.
This causes Pauline to pull the gloves off of Peach, witnessing her arm bent after what happened a while ago.
"Toad, you got any spare sticks? Anything thick that wouldn't break." Pauline asks as Toad looks at a baton, saws it with a tool he found and hands it over as a harder material stick.
"Here. I hope Peach is doing fine." Toad said with worry.
"Yeah. It's crazy too. Using someone to get the money, only to encounter someone who had a beef against one. You've really done it, princess." Pauline puts her hands on her hips after bandaging Peach's arm with a baton.
"Yeah. I really deserve it." Peach weakly giggles while pushing herself up.
"Let's get out of here before this Alberto guy breaks out of the ice." Toad takes a headstart while leaving Pauline to carry Peach by the arm.
"Let's go, princess." Pauline said while nodding.
"Okay. To the palace." Peach orders calmly while walking with Pauline.
"Mario, Luigi, wait for us." Pauline whispers while moving forward.
With Peach, Toad and Pauline gone, Alberto is free as the ice smashes, causing him to pant.
Little did he know, his opponent was gone, causing him to growl and roar.
"TOADSTOOL!"
Haru's Palace
Inside the building, Mario and Luigi are now inside their target's home while following the prince, making Luigi gulp.
"So, it seems you have a bunch of friends with you." Luigi meekly said while pulling his collar.
"Oh? You mean my servants and maids? Of course, they're my family." Haru answers with a positive smile.
"Some family, huh. Anyway, you've been waiting for us. That's kinda neat." Luigi nervously chuckles, making Mario elbow Luigi's arm and look at him funny.
"Speaking of family, are your parents there?" Mario asked.
"Nope. It's just me and my servants. Come in." Haru lets the Mario bros enter the living room.
With Mario and Luigi sitting down, they see a koopa troopa servant handing a cup of tea over to Haru and bowing.
"What would you boys like? Tea or coffee?" Haru asked.
"Tea please." Luigi answers calmly.
"I'm fine. None for me." Mario declines Haru's offer.
As the room becomes quiet, the maids are standing by the entrances and windows, meaning there's no way out of Haru's living room.
Luigi takes a sip of his tea and then sits up a little.
"So, prince, I didn't know you would let us in."
"Well, I was only giving you two some hospitality. Now let's talk about-"
"Your majesty! The princess! She escaped!" The maid arrives while panting and interrupting Haru, causing a reaction from the outsiders and the prince.
"What!? How!?"
[... Cut the promise from the outsider. It's obvious that you're not there for power, but playing with other people's minds.]
[I see. It seems that you like to tug on other people's hearts and play with them, even someday, you'll be messing with this outsider's head. How disgusting.]
[Princess… Here's the truth about your kingdom. When I rejected it because it's too expensive, I didn't expect the Kongs to be involved with your construction workers.]
[That's right, marry me and have your kingdom cultivated and then we'll stop Bowser with our army.]
[Tch! Then I guess you'll have to rot in the room until you accept my offer. Take Toad to the dungeons. I'll take Peach somewhere.]
Beep.
To Haru's horror, he sees Mario holding out a phone as he shows what was recorded by Toad.
"Mario Mario and Luigi Mario of the outside world." Haru growls, realising that he's being exposed by the outsiders.
"You got a lot of nerves harming a childhood friend like that. Why?" Mario asks while piercing a glare towards the prince.
"Oh, Mario, it's never about marrying the princess. It's about taking the koopa down. That woman lied to us." Haru said while turning towards the plumbers.
"You serious!?" Mario is shocked by what he said about Peach.
"You don't know anything!" Luigi snapped.
"Of course I do! She manipulated you! She used you!" Haru rants which led to Mario pulling his collar.
"You don't know how Peach truly felt. Even I had a hard time understanding how she felt." Mario growled.
"Same goes with her not understanding you. You're both alike." Luigi pointed out, only for him to shriek and Mario grunt as daggers are pointed at them.
"So reading other people is the commoner and the princess' speciality. Interesting. Your majesty, shall I prepare for the tournament?" Lillie asks while still emotionless.
"Do so. We're not gonna have a duel like you did with Minmei, but a little game show with the three of us." Haru challenges Mario and Luigi while leaning closer to the brothers.
This gives them the opportunity to face the same man that hurt Peach, also giving Mario a chance to tear Haru a new one.
"Challenge accepted, prince." Mario accepts with a smirk, ready to overthrow another royal family.
"Yeah. We're ready to beat you!" Luigi pumps his fist while accepting.
"And here I thought the green one was cowardly. You seemed to have changed a lot." Haru is surprised to see Luigi's bravery after being in this world for a while.
"Hmph! That's because Daisy is watching over us and I'll do anything to protect my bro!" Luigi raises his arm in front of Mario while preparing to face Haru.
"Lu…." Mario is speechless that Luigi is going so far to do what he did for Luigi himself.
"I'm with Luigi on that one." A voice has caught the whole room off guard as they witness Peach, Toad and their partner Pauline.
Approaching Haru, Peach is no longer afraid as she has the similar determination as Mario, knowing she's on thin ice.
"Princess Peach Toadstool." Haru calmly speaks out while looking Peach in the eyes.
"Prince Haru Spring." Peach does the same as she closes her eyes and opens them by looking straight at him. "You're angry. Is it because Toad and I are free? Is it because of Mario and Luigi? Is it because of my real personality?"
"Don't say such fancy words, princess, I can tell why you and Mario read emotions. But credit is due, you're both impossible to understand,yet Luigi is simple. What sort of relationship did you two have with each other in childhood?" Haru asked.
"I'll admit it. I was selfish and a liar. But you're no better. You lie as well, so spill the beans. It's obvious you never wanted to marry me, but to take over the Mushroom Kingdom as a whole." Peach hits the nail on Haru's ego, catching him off guard.
This leads to Haru chuckling after hearing Peach's callouts towards him.
"Haah. Just like you and Mario, I too am not so different after all. Your Holy Mushroom, Daisy's Flowershade, Minmei's Dragonshine, Luigi's Sunstar and my Golden Leaf." Haru reveals the medallion out of his pocket, showing them a leaf shaped golden medallion with silver zig zags.
"The medallion… That means…" Luigi gasped as he and Mario as well as Toad and Pauline were shocked about Haru's history.
"He knows an immortal as well. Sorry for not telling you anything." Peach calmly apologised.
"Never mind that, I was told Bowser has one too." Pauline pointed out.
Haru turns towards Pauline and immediately clenches her cheeks, causing her to grunt in pain.
"Pauline!" Mario, Luigi, Peach and Toad exclaimed.
"Hey! Let her go!" Toad snapped while raising his fists.
"Silence, Toad. If I were you, Pauline Mario, I'd stay out of it. You're just an ordinary person." Haru hisses while being close to Pauline's face.
"I may be ordinary, but there's one thing Kinosen has said to me. No kingdom is free from criticism. Every royalty has dark secrets and you're one of them. Face it, Haru, you pitted everyone against you." Pauline smirks while glaring back at Haru.
As the phone rings, Mario answers it on speaker.
[This is Donkey Kong, we reported to Prince Florian. Now it's time to take action!] Donkey Kong's voice calls, causing Haru to gasp as he's being betrayed by the Kongs.
"DK?" Pauline gasps with surprise.
"You…" Haru chucks Pauline to the wall before Mario and his friends are blocked by the maids.
"Haru! What's wrong with you!?" Mario barked.
"That's our sister!" Luigi shouted.
"I don't care! Meet me at the theatres. I can't wait to humiliate you and take over the kingdom altogether." Haru concluded.
"Mario! Don't! He's trying to provoke you!" Pauline calls as she picks herself up.
"I'm aware of that, Pauline!" Mario calls back.
"Haru…" Peach whispers as Haru walks past Peach, glaring at her.
"The Mushroom Kingdom deserves no throne. You're no different to Bowser." Haru concludes and raises his arm for the maids to leave his guests.
Peach jolts up a little, realising Haru is actually poking her nonstop as truth hurts her psychologically.
As the room becomes quiet, Mario catches Peach from falling, even Pauline and Toad are looking behind them with fear of losing the Mushroom Kingdom.
"It's okay, Peach. We'll handle that jerk." Mario said with a calm tone.
"You don't understand. The game is rigged. Haru has already won the game. Mushroom Kingdom is no more…" Peach can already tell it's over before it begins, making Mario lower his head.
With everything becoming quiet, Luigi is the first to leave the room alone while thinking about what to do.
"Luigi?" Peach is surprised to see Luigi moving out of the room.
"Sorry, Peach. Just let me think. I'll leave my bro to you." Luigi nods while going past Pauline and Toad.
"Luigi…" Toad is now thinking about why Luigi is more determined to do what his brother did, making him follow Luigi and leave Pauline. "Be right back!"
"Wait, Toad!" Before Peach rushes towards Toad, Pauline grabs Peach's arm, knowing he needs some time.
Mario, Peach and Pauline are now left thinking about what to do once Haru has taken advantage of the outsiders' knowledge and made Mushroom Kingdom his.
Later.
In the hallway, Luigi and Toad are walking together as Toad lowers his head.
"Hey, Luigi, why do you always stay by your brother's side?" Toad asked.
"It's because I don't want to leave him miserable. Mario is always strong and brave. As a younger twin, I couldn't bring myself to be as cool as him. After the split, I was there to make Mario smile, but his smile is always fake." Luigi answers Toad's question, making Toad gasp.
"Just like my old friend…" Toad whispers while turning his head to the side.
"Huh? Your old friend?" Luigi turns around with surprise.
"Yeah. We were mining buddies. She was Captain Toadette. She teaches me about adventures and making money outside of punching blocks endlessly, which Maisey and I wanted. Captain Toadette is always there as a mother." Toad explains his history with an old friend.
"A mother. Does she have a husband?" Luigi asks with curiosity.
"Not really, but she once had a boyfriend that was taken from her because of the accusation of harassing the Mushroom Kingdom's servants. They were biased towards those affiliated with the king and queen, meaning my friend ran away before something happened." Toad continued which had Luigi interested.
Toad grunts while thinking about what happened to her before he became Peach's loyal friend.
"The incident is that we encountered Kamek and Bowser's immortal, Moku, also known as Morton Koopa, the name of Bowser's father." Toad answered Luigi's curiosity.
"What!?" Luigi is flabbergasted.
"Moku and Morton are different people, but Bowser barely knows them. Moku is considered dangerous to those as the immortals are no longer associating him with them, marking something worse." A woman who appears as a maid shows up with a calm expression.
"He killed Captain Toadette. I wanted to call her my mother, but… I can't." Toad grunts while lowering his head and squeezing The headlight that was originally Captain Toadette's.
"Toad…" Luigi can tell why Toad is hiding his grief from others.
"It's true. Same happened with my grandfather. I ended up as Haru's maid after being taken in by his parents." The woman also shares her childhood grief, making Toad feel for the maid.
"Excuse me, but who are you?" Luigi is confused about the redheaded maid who courtesies towards Luigi and Toad.
"Oh, we have just met, Sunstar holder. I am Martha, Haru's maid and one of the rejected people unable to marry Peach." Martha introduces herself with a warm smile.
"Long story. Why're you here?" Toad wants to know Martha's game towards the duo.
"To help you. There's a way to unrig the rigged game. You outsiders are capable of breaking that curse." Martha said.
"Well, I did win a lot by doing nothing." Luigi points out.
"That's one of the advantages you had. Consider me as neutral, it's fair for me to judge you boys and Haru." Martha approaches Luigi and Toad.
Luigi is ready to hear Martha's tips and tricks, making Martha smirk as a way to save the Mushroom Kingdom and make them play fair.
Outside the theatre building, Mario, Peach and Pauline are seeing Luigi and Toad appearing with confidence.
"Luigi?" Mario is surprised to see his brother looking more confident in facing the prince.
"Let's-a-go, bro."
This had Mario smirking as he chuckles and pats Luigi's shoulder.
"Okie dokie. Let's-a-do this." Mario pulls up a thumb and marches inside with Luigi, surprising Peach and Pauline.
"What's going on?" Pauline asked.
"I don't know." Peach shrugs her shoulders.
"Hehehe. Looks like they're cooking up a plan. Peach, Pauline, we know how to unrig this game. Mario and Luigi needed to face their worst fears in order to win this game." Toad chuckled.
Peach is wondering why the outsiders are something else as if they're built differently.
With Pauline nodding, Peach is praying for the plumbers to win their battle, even if it harms them.
Inside the building, Mario and Luigi are hearing cheers through the door, making the bros stand confidently, ready to take on a challenge that's tough to break.
It hasn't been a day and the hostility is real.
This time it's Mario Mario and Luigi Mario vs. Prince Haru Spring.