It’s impossible to get to this chapter, so why or how you’re reading this, I don’t know. Now go back to the chapter you were just on before your Internet connection dies!
“I think downstairs is our safest bet,” says Ludwig. The Koopalings follow his lead and go down some musty stairs. There is so much dust, in fact, that it causes the Koopalings to start coughing madly and loudly. This noise causes a ton of guards from a room in the basement to come running after them. They instinctively realize it’s time to run, but Morton and Lemmy both trip on the top stair on their way back up the stairs. As they pick themselves up, the Mushroom guards grab both of them and chase the other Koopalings onto the ground floor, right in front of the castle doors. Fortunately, Ludwig and Roy both push over those Mushroom guards, causing a wrestle between the Mushrooms and Koopas. In the end, the Koopas make it away with their own lives, but not much else, as all of their items and coins rolled away in the combat.
*The Koopas lose all of their items
and coins.*
Go to chapter 25.
The Koopalings sneak down the hallway quietly. They realize that Peach must be in one of the rooms but they cannot figure out which one. They try to open the doors, but they are locked, and they do not have a key. So they continue on, checking every door, until they reach the end of the hallway, where they find a vault and another hallway, with more rooms on the sides of it. They are all curious over the vault, which raises Lemmy’s eyebrows being that it is in the upstairs portion of the castle.
“Look, a combination lock!” says Iggy. “If we could unlock this, we would have as many coins as we want!” Some of the Koopalings greedily rub their hands together, but Lemmy frowns. “Yeah, we’ll waste our time trying to get rich and end up getting caught by the guards. What will be the use of that?”
“I’ve got it!” says Ludwig. “First, I’ll take everything we own and go back down the hallway and watch for guards. Then you guys try to figure out that combination lock and, if you can open it, get all the coins you can get. Then we continue on.”
Some of the Koopas get even happier when they hear this, but Lemmy disagrees. “I think we’re safer just continuing our journey,” he says, as Ludwig puts all of the Koopas’ possessions into his pockets.
If the Koopalings should follow Ludwig’s
idea, go to chapter 33.
If the Koopalings should follow Lemmy’s
idea, go to chapter 29.
All of a sudden, Ludwig screams. “Hey, that’s not like Ludwig to be scared like that,” says Wendy. Then the Koopalings see a ton of Mushroom guards grab Ludwig and rush towards them. “Run!” screams Lemmy, but the Koopalings are too weighed down by their coins to run well. “Great!” says Iggy. “Someone miscalculated! We took too many coins!” The Koopalings try emptying their pockets and jogging down the hallway, but it is too late. They are all grabbed by the Mushroom guards as well.
Within an hour, they appear before Princess Peach, who is on her throne, with them being heavily guarded by all of the huge Mushroom sentries. The princess says, “Make us all the biggest feast ever, and if I don’t like it” she points to Mario and Luigi, who are both holding Fire Flowers “you get fired! Ha ha ha ha ha!” The Koopalings can’t stand to watch Princess Peach laugh hysterically and evilly at them.
Being captured is one thing, but being forced to slave away for your worst enemy, every single second for the rest of your life- now that’s really low.
GAME OVER!
The Koopas see the approaching Mushroom guards and decide the best route is to climb up the stairs. One Mushroom guard reaches out to grab Larry, but Larry kicks the guard away and clambers up the stairs with the rest of the Koopalings. After that, the guards, for some strange reason, don’t even bother to follow the Koopalings. They just go to the downstairs portion of the palace.
At the top of the stairs, the Koopalings see a long hallway with many doors along the sides. “That’s too many doors for me,” says Ludwig. “We’ve got to keep going,” says Lemmy, as the Koopalings start to slowly and quietly sneak down the hallway.
Go to chapter 23.
When Wendy wakes up, she finds herself
in a dungeon cell with Mario about to fireball her. “Tell me your plans,
or get the fire treatment,” he says to her. Wendy, of course, fears her
own life, so she tells
everything to Mario. Mario, in turn,
tells about 1,000 huge Mushroom guards down in the basement of the castle
to capture the still-bickering Koopalings.
An hour later, the Koopalings find themselves doing menial work for Princess Peach. The blonde-haired princess starts to laugh madly and evilly as she watches the Koopalings be forced to slave away by giant Mushroom guards.
GAME OVER!
“Let’s just stay on this floor,” says
Ludwig. “We’ll go hide behind that wall over there and take a look
around the castle from there.” As the
Koopalings run over and hide behind the wall, Wendy slips and falls on
the palace floor. She is knocked unconscious, but the other Koopalings
do not see this, nor do they see Mushroom guards picking her up, because
they are arguing over which door to go to.
Go to chapter 26.
“Hmm,” says Iggy. “If we can each carry 1/4 of our body weight, that comes to 175 coins. But I think that Fire Flower may be helpful, although that duct tape looks useless. Let’s just take 165 coins, because the Fire Flower will take up about the room of ten coins. Then let’s go.” The Koopalings agree and take the number of coins that Iggy suggests, and the Fire Flower. Then as Roy closes the vault door, Ludwig sees what they are doing and rejoins his siblings.
*The Koopas collect 165 platinum coins
and the Fire Flower.*
Go to chapter 29.
The Koopas head down the second hallway, checking door after door. Unfortunately, all of these doors are locked too. “Man,” says Roy in disgust. “How come we have such bad luck?” He sits down on the floor, when suddenly the floor gives way. “WHOA!” Roy yells as he falls through the floor. Fortunately, Ludwig grabs his hand as he is falling, and is eventually able to lift Roy up. “Boy, am I glad you started weightlifting,” Roy says to Ludwig. Roy shakes some dust off himself and walks to the other side of the hallway.
Unfortunately, all the noise caught the attention of some guards below, who start to yell, “Upstairs!” The Koopalings can hear faint footsteps of Mushrooms stomping up the stairs. “Uh, let’s run!” says Lemmy. Since the Koopalings had not been greedy with the vault, they are able to easily run down the hallway and go down another hall. Morton checks door after door as he runs down, with none opening up. “No doors. None. Zero. Zilch. Nada. Nothing. Zip,” says the talkative Koopaling as he runs down the hall. Finally, the Koopalings see two big doors at the end of this hall with a star painted over both of them. These two doors lead to the same room, and the doorknobs are right next to each other. Ludwig and Roy both grab a doorknob and pull. Both doors open and the Koopalings see their prize: Princess Peach, sitting pretty on her throne.
“The princess!” they yell. But Princess Peach smiles and pushes a button on her throne. The Koopalings, running right at her, go running into a brick wall. Wait a minute- there was nothing there! Lemmy realizes that they had hit a force field right away, and he looks behind him and sees tons of Mushroom guards running at him. They too hit a force field before reaching the Koopalings, as the princess hit a different button. Lemmy realizes instinctively that they have to go left or right to escape. To the left is a staircase that leads to the roof of the castle. To the right is a door, one that looks exactly like all the other locked ones. While the other Koopalings slowly get up, Princess Peach reaches to push another button, having no clue what she is doing. Lemmy sees a few of the letters on top of the button, and he knows that the Koopalings will have to run the opposite way of which direction she pushes. But which way?
Solve this puzzle to know which way
to run:
Princess Peach is facing the Koopalings.
Whatever direction the button says is the direction relative to Princess
Peach in which the force field will appear. The Koopalings want to run
the direction opposite of the force field, but remember that Peach’s direction
is opposite of theirs. Lemmy knows that the last letter is definitely T,
but he can’t make out much of the rest. He also notices that the first
letter has a curve in it.
If the Koopalings should run left, go
to chapter 41.
If the Koopalings should run right,
go to chapter 40.
“How about this,” says Roy. “Let’s take a safe number of coins, 1/4 of our weight each. It comes to 175 coins, but those two items will take up some room in our pockets. To be safe, let’s take 150, the two items, and make a run for it.” The Koopalings count their coins as they collect them and Roy takes the two items with his coins. Lemmy and Larry both start to think Roy might have some brains in him, but then they both shake their heads, getting such a crazy thought out of their minds. Roy closes the door carefully and as quietly as possible, then motions for Ludwig to rejoin them. Ludwig is also quite impressed when he hears about Roy’s mathematical moment.
*The Koopas collect 150 platinum coins,
the duct tape, and the Fire Flower.*
Go to chapter 29.
“I’ve got it!” says Larry. “We can hold 1/4 of our combined body weight, which is 225 coins. So let’s just take that number of coins. I don’t see any use for those other two items, so just leave them here.” The Koopalings do so as quickly as possible.
Go to chapter 24.
“As greedy as I am, let’s only take the two items and run,” says Roy.
“Yes, let’s, let’s, let’s, let’s-” Morton breaks in, but he is slapped by Wendy and stops. With saddened spirits, the Koopalings leave behind a fortune and grab the two items. Then Roy carefully and quietly closes the vault door, as Ludwig sees them doing this and rejoins the rest.
“All right, let’s go,” the Koopaling with sunglasses says, obviously annoyed by Larry and Lemmy’s conservative reasoning.
*The Koopas now have the duct tape and
the Fire Flower.*
Go to chapter 29.
“Oh, all right,” says Lemmy. “But don’t say I didn’t warn you.” Ludwig heads back down the hall to check for guards, and he gives the other Koopalings an okay signal. Then they get to work on cracking the combination lock.
“I’m great at these!” says Roy.
“What do you mean?” says the still-skeptical Lemmy.
“Watch this!” Roy replies. Roy spins the lock as hard and fast as he possibly can. Then he stops it. Again he turns it the other way, and does this seven times until the door opens. “How about that?” Roy laughs.
“I don’t know how you do it,” says Wendy, as Roy opens the door.
“He’s lucky, that’s all, lucky!” Lemmy jealously says.
The Koopalings’ eyes glitter as they look at the tons of platinum coins. Platinum coins are worth five normal golden coins a piece. “Now let’s help ourselves to the coins!” Roy shouts with glee.
“Wait a minute!” says Larry. “Shouldn’t we take a limited amount, to avoid getting weighed down, or should we take as much as we want?” This pauses a few of the Koopalings, and then they think about it. They also see that there is a roll of duct tape, and a Fire Flower. This makes them think even harder.
Solve this puzzle to decide how many
coins to take:
Each of the seven Koopalings at the
vault can carry a limited amount of coins, in fact 1/4 of their body
weight in platinum coins. The numbers
shown are rounded and not exact, and these platinum coins are quite heavy,
for you nit-pickers out there!
Larry: 60
Lemmy: 100
Iggy: 100
Wendy: 80
Susan: 100
Roy: 160
Morton: 140
Also, the Fire Flower counts as ten
coins and the duct tape counts as fifteen, so they will need to take less
coins if they want to take the items. (Note: Ludwig can hold more coins
than the rest because these platinum coins are heavier than normal golden
coins, and he is bigger than the rest, letting him hold the other items
as well.)
If the Koopalings should be safe and
only take the two items, go to chapter 32.
If the Koopalings should take 150 platinum
coins and both items, go to chapter 30.
If the Koopalings should take 160 platinum
coins and the duct tape, go to chapter 35.
If the Koopalings should take 165 platinum
coins and the Fire Flower, go to chapter 28.
If the Koopalings should take 175 platinum
coins and no items, go to chapter 34.
If the Koopalings should take 200 platinum
coins and both items, go to chapter 37.
If the Koopalings should take 210 platinum
coins and the duct tape, go to chapter 38.
If the Koopalings should take 215 platinum
coins and the Fire Flower, go to chapter 39.
If the Koopalings should take 225 platinum
coins and no items, go to chapter 31.
If the Koopalings should take all 5,000,000,000
platinum coins in the vault and both items, go to
chapter 36.
“Hmm,” says Larry. “I think we can take 1/4 of our body weight, which comes to about 175 coins. Forget about those items, as they might just mess us up later on. Let’s take the money and run.” The Koopalings do so, and Ludwig sees this, so he comes back over to the rest of them. Then Roy quietly puts the door back to its original position, closed, of course.
*The Koopas collect 175 platinum coins.*
Go to chapter 29.
“Well,” says Susan, “we can take 175 coins, which is 1/4 of our combined body weight. But in case I want that Morton shut up, let’s take that duct tape too. So that will probably take up the room of 15 coins.” The Koopalings are no dummies; they know that total comes to 160 coins. Roy is the one forced to close the door behind them, and Ludwig is motioned to return to the others.
*The Koopas collect 160 platinum coins
and the duct tape.*
Go to chapter 29.
“What the heck!” yells Ludwig from the other end of the hall, seeing the whole argument. “Why even worry about the number of coins to take, just take them all!” The Koopalings, as smart as some of them are, own more greed than brains, and they all jump into the pile of coins, rolling in them with evil laughter as they snatch all the coins they can possibly get, put them in their pockets, and grab some more. Roy even grabs the two items that are in the vault, the Fire Flower and the duct tape.
“There’s got to be five billion coins here!” Roy laughs.
As they keep on stuffing their pockets, they do not see Princess Peach walking down the hallway. “Hmm... I must have left this door open. Oh well!” she says, not even seeing the Koopalings inside the vault, and shuts the vault door.
This vault door locks automatically when closed, and it cannot be opened up from the inside. Because of this, the Koopalings are trapped inside the vault. “I hate blondes,” mumbles Roy, as he realizes that Princess Peach, dumb as she was and is, has stupidly and accidentally locked them up- for good.
GAME OVER!
“By my calculations, or counts, we can take 1/4, or one quarter, of our amount, or number of coins, or shiny round discs with stars on them. If we subtract, or take away, 25 coins for taking the two items, or objects, from our total of 225 coins, we get our number of coins we should take, or collect. That comes to... 200, or 2 times 100, or 5 times 40, or 4 times 50, or-” WHAP! Lemmy gives a Three Stooges slap to Morton, who was obviously talking. The Koopalings collect their coins and their items and put them in their pockets.
*The Koopas collect 200 platinum coins,
the Fire Flower, and the duct tape.*
Go to chapter 24.
“All right, guys, let’s see,” Wendy says. “If I am correct, we can only hold 1/4 of our body weight, and that number is 225 coins. Now I want that duct tape just in case someone- I won’t mention any names- talks too much. That shall take up room for 15 coins, so let’s take that much less.” The Koopalings get together all of their coins and the duct tape, which comes to a grand total of 210 coins.
*The Koopalings collect 210 platinum
coins and the duct tape.*
Go to chapter 24.
“Hmm,” says Lemmy. “Well, I figure we can take 225 coins with us, which is 1/4 of our body weight. But the way this adventure is going, that Fire Flower would come in handy. I wouldn’t risk bringing that duct tape along- after all, we aren’t garbage-pickers. We’ll just take what we want and may need, but I really don’t see a use for the duct tape. Since the Fire Flower will take up room for ten coins, let’s take 215 coins.” The Koopalings grab the 215 coins and the Fire Flower.
*The Koopas collect 215 platinum coins
and the Fire Flower.*
Go to chapter 24.
“Run right!” yells Lemmy, and the Koopalings run to the right, with Lemmy grabbing the doorknob. The door swings open, revealing a spiral staircase that leads downward. The Koopalings run with all their might down as fast as they possibly can. Of course, Roy stops to pick up five coins on the handrail, tossing them to Ludwig, but that’s Roy for you.
On her throne, the absent-minded Princess Peach finally gets some sense. “Those Koopalings got away!” she complains. “But Mario always catches them. Maybe this Mario button will do the trick. Might as well push the Luigi button too.”
Mario and Luigi, in the kitchen of the castle, hear the first part of the classic Mario music. “That’s the princess calling for help,” Mario says.
“Let me finish these meatballs!” complains Luigi.
“Luigi, no one needs to eat 87 meatballs in one sitting. Just leave those three there and let’s get going,” the smarter but shorter plumber replies. The plumbers each grab a Fire Flower and head towards the entrance of the castle.
The Koopalings clamber down the stairs and exit out a door. Unfortunately, when they exit, they keep on running full force, until they come face to face with the Mario Brothers, both holding Fire Flowers and ready to fire.
“Hmm,” says Larry. “Things could start to get a little... toasty.”
*The Koopas collect 5 coins.*
If the Koopalings have the Hammer Brothers
suit, and you think they should use it, go to chapter
44.
If the Koopalings have the Fire Flower,
and you think they should use it, go to chapter
49.
If the Koopalings don’t have either
item, or you don’t think they should use either, go to chapter
46.