Chapter 2 Madness in the Mushroom Kingdom

Meanwhile, in the Mushroom Kingdom…

Honestly, a morning jog was extremely underrated in Mario's eyes. He would even include himself in the group of people who don't appreciate it, as he often skipped out on a jog in favor of sitting back and relaxing in his favorite recliner. He often didn't think that a jog in the morning, especially so close to when morning became noon, would be worth it.

But now that he was actually taking part in such an activity, he could say with full confidence that he didn't appreciate it as much as he should. The sightseeing, working up a nice sweat, getting himself exercise that he desperately needed… it all made him feel good. Seriously, he wished someone told him how good jogging was sooner (of course, if someone did, he'd probably just laugh them off). Right now, as he jogged through Toad Town, he felt like he was on top of the world.

"Hey, Mario! Great to see you!" said one Toad as they waved at him. He waved back.

"It's so good to see you doing so well!" said another Toad as they tipped the sunhat they wore at him. Mario tipped his own hat toward him.

"Mario, you're awesome!" yelled another Toad at the top of her voice.

Mario smiled. Okay, maybe the main reason he appreciated this jog so much was because it provided him with a good amount of ego-stroking. Still though, validation or not, he was glad he did this. He felt better about a lot of things; himself, the citizens of Toad Town… even about the current state of Bowser and his family!

Cause Lord knew that he had done a good job of following the Peace Treaty that was established three years ago.

Eventually, Mario got up to Peach's Castle, officially bringing his jog to an end. He let out a breath and smiled as he looked up at the iconic stained glass window showing Peach's side profile. It shined in the sunlight, casting the colors across the ground where Mario stood. So gorgeous, so beautiful, so amazing. But as great as this colorful and grand piece of modern art was, Mario knew it couldn't hope to compete with the person depicted by the artist.

Grinning, Mario entered the castle. He immediately got to work trying to locate Peach, cause he was just itching to have a conversation with her. He breezed through the various hallways in the castle, keeping his eyes peeled for the princess. It took a bizarrely long time to find her, which he had to admit was just a tad frustrating. Thankfully, he eventually located her in one of the castle's courtyards. Oh wow, her golden hair glowed in such a beautiful way in this type of sunlight.

"Princess Peach!" Mario exclaimed as he approached her.

"Hey, Mario!" Peach greeted him as she stood up. Mario got into a bowing position, even though he knew Peach would say it was unnecessary. Sure enough, the princess in pink snorted at this gesture. "Mario, there's no need for such formalities."

Mario chuckled as he raised his head and looked into Peach's sapphire eyes. "Then what would you suggest I do instead?"

"Well, for one thing, I want you to stand up." Mario did just that, and Peach's eyes twinkled as she looked at him. "And as for what I would want you to do instead…" She approached him and wrapped her arms around him, to his complete and utter shock.

"Peach…" this hug was one of the best hugs he'd ever received, although that didn't change the fact that he never in a million years would've expected it. He slowly hugged Peach back, smiling as he did. Would it be an exaggeration to say that he was in Heaven right now?

Eventually, Peach did have to let Mario go though. "I'm so glad you're here." She gestured toward the table she had been sitting at. "As is my guest."

Mario looked forward and gasped at the blue princess present at the table. "Aqua!" He approached Peach's younger sister. "Oh my goodness, mi amico, I haven't seen you in so long!"

Aqua chuckled and pushed a lock of chocolate brown hair out of her freckled face. "Yeah, it has been a while." She rose from her chair, allowing Mario to see her full height. When he did, he gasped out loud.

"Oh my goodness! You've gotten so big!"

Aqua smirked. "Yeah, that tends to happen when someone turns twenty."

"Twenty? Oh mio Dio, where has all that time gone!" He stepped forward and wrapped Aqua in a hug, this time not nearly as disorienting as when Peach had done it. "I am so happy you're here."

"I am too, Mario." Aqua squeezed him. "I would never miss out on an opportunity to see you."

Both Mario's face and heart grew warm. He made sure to hold onto Aqua for an extra long time before he let her go. He looked at the two sisters, the two most important women in his life right now. He could write a million essays on what was so great about these two. He could write a million songs detailing his amazing appreciation for the princesses in the most poetic way possible.

"Well, Mario," Peach said, eventually snapping Mario out of his thoughts. "Would you like to join us for tea and cake?"

"Oh, you don't even have to ask, Peach!" Mario pulled up a chair as Peach and Aqua sat back down in their own. Peach poured Mario some of her famous peach tea from one of the most beautiful tea kettles the plumber had ever seen. But honestly, as great as that tea was, it was nothing in comparison to the cakes she liked to bake. He was grateful beyond all mortal comprehension when she gave him a slice of some strawberry cream cake. The look of the frosting alone was enough to sell Mario on this fabulous confection.

"So," Aqua said right before Mario could wolf down the cake (darn it, he was looking forward to that). "What have you two been up to?" There was this mischievous sparkle in her eyes as if the question she had just asked was a supremely taboo subject. "I imagine since Bowser is no longer invading, you two have had more time to work out your relationship.

Mario, surprisingly, wasn't embarrassed by this question despite how nosy it was and how suddenly it had been brought up. He looked at Peach, who didn't seem particularly bothered by the question either. She looked into Mario's eyes before giggling.

"Mario and I have kind of been… taking it easy."

"Taking it easy?" Aqua asked as her eyebrows scrunched up. "That's no fun!"

"On the contrary, I think it's extremely fun," Mario said with a laugh. "Your sister and I have just taken the time to enjoy each other's company. No bells and whistles, no awkwardness. We've been enjoying this period of peace."

Aqua stopped looking upset. "That makes sense." She directed her eyes to the table, drawing a circle on its surface with her pointer finger. "Still not very exciting though."

Peach laughed. "When my definition of 'exciting' mostly involves a giant, fire-breathing dragon koopa kidnapping me every weekend, I would take boring any day."

All three of the party members laughed. Mario, much to his delight, noticed Aqua looked significantly less upset the more time passed. He really enjoyed the pleased look she wore as he took a bite of his long-desired cake (which tasted magnificent by the way).

"That makes sense," Aqua said once she recovered from her laughter. She let out a breath. "And if you two are happy with how things are going, then I see no reason to complain. It doesn't matter if you decide to become a couple or just remain friends; you doing what you're comfortable with is all that matters."

"Exactly," Peach said, looking at her little sister with a mixture of pride and gratitude.

"Speaking of friends," Mario said as he took another bite of the scrumptious cake. "How have things been between you and that half koopa girl who rescued you from Bowser? What's her name… Cecelia?"

"It's Celia, actually, and things are going good." Aqua grinned from ear to ear. "I saw her recently just last week. She came to my castle, and we had a good time just hanging out."

"Good! That's great to hear!" Peach said. She sipped her tea. "It's nice that you get along so well with a koopa." She giggled. "As it is for all of us! The Koopas have been very good at treating us well recently." She sighed and looked up into the blue sky. "I don't want to jinx anything, but I think things are going to go really well from here on out."

Mario nodded. "I couldn't agree more." He swallowed his last bite of cake. "And I don't think there's any chance you could jinx…

BOOM!

The courtyard, as well as the castle in general, shook like mad. The princesses gasped, and Mario immediately rose to his feet. There was only one thing that such a sound could indicate. He had heard it many times before, hoping that he never would have to hear it again. Even now, he severely hoped that he was mistaken…

"Oh no!" Mario felt a twinge of panic and sadness fill him when he saw Bowser's airship on the horizon. The princesses stood up, their faces going pale when they saw what Mario saw.

"Bowser's attacking us?" Aqua asked, her voice shrill enough to compete with the alarm bells going off in Mario's head. She turned toward her sister and her friend, looking pale enough to pass out. "But… but the peace treaty! It's still active!"

"That's what we thought," Peach said. She didn't look afraid so much as saddened. "But I guess not."

Determination filled Mario. He looked toward the princesses, immediately formulating a plan. "Peach, Aqua, you need to go hide. Go to the castle basement; I'll take care of Bowser…"

BOOM!

Another explosion shook the ground, so powerful that it almost made Mario and the girls collapse. Mario looked up into the sky, at the airship that was currently hanging over their heads. Mario tried not to panic as he saw Bowser walk up to the edge of the deck. The Koopalings were with him, and… Mario didn't know if he was just hearing things, but it kind of sounded like they were… arguing with him?

"Bowser, this isn't a good idea!" Lemmy exclaimed.

"It most certainly is not!" Iggy said. "Do you not recall the events that transpired prior to the Peace Treaty being established? This could lead to war!"

"Yeah!" said Wendy as she put her hand on Bowser's right arm. "Let's just turn around and go back before things get really messy."

Bowser just chuckled in response to this. "But I love messy! Don't you worry guys; everything's going to be fine!" He directed his eyes down toward Mario, the purest yet most wicked form of glee visible even with the distance between the two rivals. "Heyo, Mario! Lovely day for an invasion, isn't it!" He laughed when he spotted the princesses. "I'm sure Peach and What's-Her-Face agree with that."

"MY NAME'S AQUA, YOU REEKING REPTILE!" Aqua screamed.

Mario shook his head, trying to wrap his head around things. "Bowser, why are you even here? What happened to the Peace Treaty? What happened to not invading the Mushroom Kingdom or kidnapping Peach ever again?"

Bowser just chuckled. "Well, technically, I am following part of that treaty even still. I'm not kidnapping Peach this time!"

Mario felt relieved, but only by a slight margin. "Then what are you going to do?"

Bowser, still smiling, moved to the left. Mario saw several minions walk up to the edge of the deck, the most notable one being a dry bones wearing a wizard cap. Just as Mario was wondering what in the ever-living heck could be going on, Bowser spoke up.

"This handsome fellow right here is Bone Mage. He came to me recently saying that he wanted to be part of my troop, and he presented some… actually really great plans. Like, the kind of plans that inspire you and make you realize you're setting your sights too low, you know?"

As what Bowser said sunk into Mario, he couldn't help but gawk. "You threw the peace between our kingdoms because of that putz?"

"Hey! Bone Mage is not a putz! He's one of the best minions I've come across in a while, and I'm gonna show you guys why!" He turned toward Bone Mage. "Well, I know you didn't teleport back from your fortress to just sit back and do nothing! Do your thing, BM!"

Bone Mage cringed. "Yeah, don't call me that." To Mario's shock, he got out a magic wand. He waved it, and when he did, the bullet blasters on the sides of the airship fired. That wouldn't have been so bad in and of itself, but what really filled Mario with fear was that it fired…

"Fire bullet bills?!" Aqua screamed in terror.

Mario gawked at the bills, covered in orange flame that really called attention to their red skin. Mario didn't know how the bullet bills got like that, but that meant very little in the grand scheme of things. He needed to move. He needed to move now!

So, he rushed toward Peach and Aqua and grabbed them by the waist. Once he had a good hold on both of them, he jumped out of the paths of the fire bullet bills. It was a good thing too; the places where the bills landed left patches of fire in the courtyard grass. To say Mario was lucky to evade these things was a massive understatement.

"Mario, look out!"

Mario just barely had enough time to see a fire bill flying right towards him. He fully expected it to hit him, but in a sequence of events that zipped by, Aqua made the rest of the tea stored in the tea kettle rise out with her hydrokinesis and hit the bullet bill. Its fire went out, causing it to fall out of the sky with a plop.

Mario let out a breath before giving Aqua a proud smile. "Nice job, piccolo amico!"

Aqua chuckled. "I learned from the best."

Bowser put his hand to his chin. "Huh. Looks like this is gonna be tougher than I thought." He turned back to Bone Mage. "What do you say you take over from here?"

"With pleasure." Bone Mage raised his wand. "Attack!" He waved his wand, and several enemies burst out of the airship. Mario gawked at them, unable to believe what he was seeing. Bob-ombs that were sky blue and covered in frost, boomerang bros that had the same metallic skin as when Mario used the metal cap, purple bloopers that made bubbles with their mouths that could trap everyone, piranha plants with the ability to breathe fire… all of these and more spilled out of the airship.

"What?" Peach exclaimed. Her face was as pale as snow. Possibly even paler.

"Mario, what's going on here?!" Aqua squeaked.

"I…" Mario didn't even have time to voice his opinion, as all the supposedly powered-up minions shot their attacks at him and the princesses. Fireballs, iceballs, bubbles that would disintegrate them if they touched them… Mario really had his work cut out for him if he wanted to avoid these attacks. Thankfully, he had always been quick on his feet. He performed all sorts of gymnastics; double jumps, back flips, and really high vertical leaps. It was a miracle that he was able to do this, that was for sure, but he managed to do it. And even more fortunately for the three of them, Mario noticed a question mark block in the corner of his eye. He performed one quick triple jump to get over there, feeling immense glee when he saw a super leaf, a fire flower, and a cape feather.

"Girls!" he said as he let go of Aqua and Peach. "Use the power-ups NOW!" He grabbed the super leaf, turning into raccoon Mario

"Right!" Peach took the fire flower and became Fire Peach. She tossed the cape feather to Aqua. Cape Aqua flew and shot a water blast at the fire piranha plants. Fire Peach shot the ice bob-ombs with fireballs, which made them explode upon impact. As the girls fought on the ground, Mario gritted his teeth and set his sights toward Bowser. Wagging his raccoon tail faster than ever before, he shot toward the Koopa King. Bowser's eyes grew wide as Mario got closer and punched him in the snout.

"OWW!" Bowser put his hand to his nose. The Koopalings, thankfully, didn't step in, (Mario imagined they weren't that thrilled about fighting him again, if the arguments they had with Bowser before were any indication). Mario swiped at Bowser with his raccoon tail, smacking him across the face.

"Oh… MAN am I out of practice fighting you," Bowser said as he rubbed his cheek. "Koopalings, do something!"

"But Bowser, the Peace Treaty…" Iggy exclaimed.

Bowser growled. "Oh for the love of Pete!" He turned toward Bone Mage. "Bone Mage, do you mind…?"

"Not at all!" Bone Mage fired an arcane blast at Mario, making him sail backward. Mario grunted when his back came in contact with the door leading to the deck.

"MARIO!" Peach screamed from down on the ground.

"Bwa ha HA!" Bone Mage guffawed as Mario struggled to get to his feet. "If you thought that was impressive, wait til you see THIS!"

Another tremor, this one worse than both that came before it, shook the airship. Mario weakly lifted his head and gasped when he saw a GIANT FIRE DRY BONES WITH AN ACID PIRANHA PLANT ON HIS BACK! Mario tried to stand up, determined to fight this baddie, but his back must've snapped, because trying to stand caused him excruciating pain.

"This is your end, Mario!" Bone Mage exclaimed.

The fire dry bones and the acid piranha plant shot projectiles at Mario at the exact same time. They probably would've ended Mario's game right there if Peach and Aqua didn't show up just in time to grab Mario and fly out of the way.

"Mario" Aqua said, her breathing out of control. "Are you okay? Are you…"

"Bubble bloopers, seize them!" Bone Mage cried. Before the trio could react, three bubble bloopers flew out and blew bubbles out of their mouths. Peach, Mario, and Aqua gasped as they got stuck in the bubbles. No amount of banging against them could make them pop.

"Huh. I guess we are kidnapping Peach after all," said Bowser in awe

"As well as the princess of the Lake Kingdom and the Mushroom Kingdom's hero," said Bone Mage with a wicked grin.

"Yeah!" Bowser puffed out his chest. "Not bad for my first day back on the job!" Bowser laughed and, completely ignoring the fact that the present Koopalings looked mightily uncomfortable, went up to the steering wheel. "Next stop, the Koopa Kingdom!"