Prologue: The Bad Beginning
A cold, rainy, and foggy day: these are just mere words to describle how rotten the day was. Thunder crashed, causing loud booms; rain thrashed upon Toad Town; and to all of its citizens, it was completely horrid. Mario's house was drenched in silence, as it was soaked. Mario and Luigi both lit candles as they emerged from the darkness of the kitchen. Because of an unexpected lightning strike, power had been knocked out all across the kingdom.
Luigi lit a candle and sighed. "Boy, is it ever dark!" he said.
Mario got up and stepped into the kitchen, staring out the window, watching the rain patter against their front deck. "Hey, Luigi! Check that out!" he said in a state of shock, nearly jumping.
Luigi came over
to the window and stared in shock as a Koopa Troopa wearing a black jumpsuit
crept slowly past their house. "What...?" Luigi gasped. "I wonder where
he's heading to..."
Chapter 1: How a Simple Troopa Can Make Such a Difference
The next day, Peach was writing invitations to the people she would invite to her latest party. "Hm... I know! I'll invite Mario and Luigi," she thought to herself...
Later, after the mailing, and at the front gate, the very Troopa who waltzed by Mario's house emerged. The guards clenched their weapons. "Halt!" called one. "State your biusiness here, Troopa!"
The Troop chuckled. He then reached into his pocket and pulled out a red poker chip. "I'm bored," he said in a deep, German voice. "Want to play a game?"
The guards shuddered. "Is this some kind of a trick?!"
"I wouldn't think of it," said the Troopa. "... On second thought..." And with one swift move, he threw the poker chip on the ground, which exploded. It then released sleeping gas from the remains, knocking the guards out.
"Maybe I would."
He then crept into the light, revealing he was a German Troopa wearing a monocle and a black jumpsuit, and clenching an umbrella. He also had a mustache. He snuck into the master bedroom, where Peach lay, asleep. She was awakened by the door slamming and thrashed her head around. "GUARDS! HELP!" she shrieked.
After she had finished that cry, Toadworth busted into the room. "PRINCESS!" he yelled. "YOU DISPICABLE FIEND! How dare you?!"
The Troopa then lunged at Toadsworth, knocking the poor senior to the ground. "TOADSWORTH!" the princess cried. The Troopa then released the sleeping gas again, also knocking the princess out.
"Heh..." the Troopa
chuckled. "Don't think it's over. I'm Bertam T. Koopa. Luckily, you won't
live long enough to identify me. Weh heh heh hehh!"
Chapter 2: The Letter Recieved
As the day passed, no one knew of the kidnapping of the princess, because Toadsworth lay in the hospital in a coma, and the guards woke up, remembering nothing. The morning came and the sun rose. Mario awoke to Parakary's call. "Mail call!" Mario jumped out the front door and snatched the letter.
Dear Mario,
Would you like to come to my party? And no, Bowser will not be here to ruin everything this time. I just want to have a great party. Bring Luigi along too, okay?
Yours truly,
Princess Peach
"C'mon, Luigi!" Mario called. "We have a party to go to." Luigi emerged from the doorway, and made his way down the front steps.
Meanwhile...
In a dark room, Peach lay in a chair, tied with rope. She slowly began to ragain consciousnous, as her eyes opened. "Uhh... wha? W-where am I?" she whispered.
Out of the darkness emerged a very tall Koopa, wearing a black and white tuxedo, with a bandit's cap on. He slowly approached the chair and chuckled. "Princess Peach, is it?" he asked.
"Y-yes. Who are you?"
The figure laughed softly. "I am Oddball T. Koopa. One of my brothers brought you here."
Peach shuddered. "Where exactly IS here, anyway? What do you want with me?!"
The troopa stepped
forward. "That doesn' t matter at the moment," Oddball said. "What does
is little
red cap."
Peach gasped. "Y-you mean Mario?"
"Ah, yes, Mr. Mario Mario." He stepped into the corner and opened a suitcase. He took out a carabine rifle and loaded it. He took out a board of wood, scribbled an M on it, placed it on a table, and fired rapidly. He paused and blew the remaining smoke from the tip of his gun.
"That," he bagan, "was a simple simulation of what will happen to Mr. Mario later, after executing plan A."
"Plan A?" Peach
replied softly.
Chapter 3: The Sudden Surprise
As Mario and Luigi approached the castle, Mushroomer Police were placing a roadblock, knocking off all traffic in its path. Mario and Luigi where forced to continue using another route. "But we got an invitation to Peach's party!" Mario replied to the police, but they refused it and tore the invitation in half.
Mario and Luigi quietly snuck past the police, through the crowd of people, and witnessed a reporter Toadette on the scene. "This is Lydia T. at Peach's Castle, where she has now been reported KIDNAPPED. Bowser has denied having anyting to do with the crime, but police are still curious."
Mario and Luigi
both gasped. "Oh, no!" cried Luigi. "The PRINCESS!"
Chapter 4: Evil Plan A
Princess Peach was now standing in a tube. "LET ME OUT!" she helplessly cried, but no one who cared was anywhere near her.
Oddball stepped from the master computer back to the tube where Peach was trapped. "And who do you think is going to save you?" he said, chuckling. "NOBODY, that's who! Do you know what you're standing in?! It's a cloning device, you scatter brain! I'm going to use it for Plan A."
"And just what is this PLAN A?!" Peach interrupted. "And why exactly am I here?!"
Oddball stepped up to the machine and pulled a red lever. The tube then slowly filled up with green and blue liquid. The princess' screams were then muffled from liquid as it rose over her head and face. And beside the princess' tube, a shadow could be seen through the cloning fluid: it looked exacly like the princess! Then, the liquid drained from the figure and it stepped out of a second tube. IT LOOKED EXACTLY LIKE PRINCESS PEACH!
Oddball laughed
and laughed as maniacally as possible. "Now Mr. Mario won't know the difference,"
he said, chuckling, "because there IS NO DIFFERENCE! Wah ha ha ha ha ha
haaa!!!"
Chapter 5: A Clone in the Kingdom
Mario and Luigi stared in awe as the reporter continued. "Princess Toadstool Peach has indeed been kidnapped. Most of the police believe that the missing majesty was taken sometime yesterday evening, when she was asleep. It gets even wierder: police found a sleeping gas-expelling poker chip. It has fingerprints on it, and the police at the lab are studying it as much as they can."
"This is awful!" Luigi cried. "The princess is missing! And the police can't do anything!"
Mario stood up. "Hey look!" Mario said, jumping to the ground. "Isn't that the princess over there?"
The police thrashed their head around. They gasped, and to their surprise, there, standing in the crowd, stood Princess Peach! The reporter shook with joy. "Oh! Oh, what is this? It's the princess! Oh, it's the princess and she's all right! Oh, Peach, please, can you please take any questions?"
Princess Peach just stared blankly at the camera and stepped into her castle.
"Hm..." Luigi said. "The princess is unusually quiet."
"I'm sure she's so overcome with relief," Mario said, "she can't even speak."
"Well," Luigi replied, "I'm sure if she was relieved from escaping, she would stop and-"
"Ah, Luigi, lighten up! It's the princess! She can do what she wants!"
As Mario finished that very sentence, Betram T. Koopa pulled his head out from beneath a nearby bush. "Exactly right, Mario," he said to himself. "She could even put me and my other two brothers in charge of the whole city! Weh heh hehh!"
Back at Oddball's lair...
Peach was clenching the bars of the gate to her prison cell. She shook them violently. "You repulsive Troopa! LET ME GO!" Princess Peach shrieked.
Oddball then stepped
up to the gate and laughed. "Do you honestly think anyone can hear your
helpless
cries?" he said,
laughing. "And besides, my new Peach clone is already infiltrating your
castle. Soon Mario will fall right into my trap!"
Princess Peach then began to get more furious by the second. "WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF DESTROYING MARIO?!" Peach screamed.
"Everything," Oddball said. "Y'see, back when I was working for Bowser, he was always complaining of how much Mario foiled his plans. So, I decided to go on a mission. I tried to bomb his house, but that failed. As did many other plans. And soon, I was a complete disgrace to the Koopa Troop. Everywhere I turned: voices laughing... So, that was then and this is now."
"So, you're saying that you'll kill Mario just because you want to win?!" Peach yelled in anger.
Anger flared in Oddball's eyes. "YES. Is that a problem?!"
Peach didn't reply.
She was too scared to even think why she had screamed at Oddball; she was
afraid if she would repeat it, it would be her last.
Chapter 6: Plan A Begins
After the humungous crowd, the police, and the reporter left, Mario and Luigi were the only ones standing. "Let's go see if the party's still on," Mario said to Luigi. The Marios stepped into the castle. Down the hall, they witnessed a giant, muscular Troopa wearing a ripped, black muscle shirt.
Mario and Luigi stood in fear as the Troopa approached them, every step he took shaking the castle. "I AM TENK T. KOOPA, AND BY ORDER OF ODDBALL, I HAVE BEEN SENT TO DESTROY YOU, MARIO!!" he bellowed.
Mario and Luigi each took a step back, but before they could reach the door, it shut and locked. Mario ran to the door and shook it with all his might. "Ahh! We're locked in!" he cried.
"PREPARE TO BE DESTROYED!!!" screamed Tenk, taking out a shotgun. He fired rapidly at the Marios. Mario and Luigi ran and ducked behind the desk.
"We can't get out of here! It's hopeless!" Luigi cried.
Mario looked at Luigi and thought up a plan. "You go destract him while I go rescue the princess, all right?" Mario explained.
"Are you crazy?!" Luigi screamed. "That's flirting with DOOM!"
"Trust me on this!" Mario said. Luigi gave Mario a nod and jumped up on the desk.
"Hey, Tenk!" he shouted. "Come get me!" Tenk turned his attention to Luigi and fired. Luigi ran around him, dodging every shot.
While Tenk was too focused on Luigi, Mario ran up the stairs into the master bedroom. Peach sat strapped in a chair. "Princess!" Mario said, jumping to the chair. He untied the ropes and Peach arose from the chair.
"Well, well, well..." a familiar voice called. Mario thrashed his head around and saw the door lock. He pulled on the knob, but it wouldn't budge.
"We meet at last, Mario." the voice said. Mario whipped around and saw Oddball, clenching a carabine rifle, pointed at Mario's face. "W-wha...?" Mario said, confused.
"What's the matter?" Oddball said, laughing. "Don't you recognize an enemy from your past? Heh... If you don't, allow me. My name is Oddball." He then gripped the handle of his rifle and loaded it. He took a few steps back.
"BUT IN YOUR CASE, LET MY RIFLE BE MY INTRODUCTION!!!" he screamed. And after his bloodcurdling bellow, he fired rapidly at Mario. Mario then fell to the ground, wounded in his right arm. After he was shot, he fell uncouncious. Blood nearly covered the floor, and Oddball laughed maniacally. "Killed in a single shot?" he laughed. "Pathetic!"
He walked over to the Peach clone and shook her hand. "You have done well, 'Princess Peach'," he congratulated her.
"Thank you, Master,"
she replied.
Chapter 7: Mario's Recovery
"Ungh... wha? Who are... you?" Mario groaned as he began to wake up.
Over him stood a yellow duck, about two inches shorter than Mario. He wore a black tuxedo and wearing shades. "Nice to meet you, Mr. Mario," he said. "aAlow me to introduce myself. I am Ducky.10. I understand your problem and I'm here to help."
Mario slowly lifted up off the cement floor. "Where are we?" Mario asked.
"My HQ, also known as the Plit Protection Program HQ," said Ducky.10.
"What do you want?" Mario asked, curious.
"Let me show you." Ducky.10 said. "Follow me."
Ducky.10 walked over to a big, metal door, covered with locks. "This," he said, "is the vault containing 'Operation 0017'."
"Operation double-o seventeen?" Mario asked. "What's that?"
Ducky.10 then inserted a computer chip into the door. Then, a computerized voice called from the door. "Password is required to open the vault."
"0017," Ducky said to the computer.
"Access confirmed."
After the password was spoken, the giant, metal door began to open. As it slowly began to do so, steam poured out of the door's path. It opened, and a line of guns and many other weapons could be seen on a shelf. Mario gasped. And there, laying on a pedestal, was a gold badge.
"What's that badge?" Mario asked Ducky.
"That is 0017's badge, and you are the new 0017m" Ducky.10 replied. "Take it and put it on."
Mario slowly approached the pedestal and picked up the badge. He read the text, which had been formed with gold also. It read:
0017; crime weeps
at his feet, crime will halt if he is near,
he fires a gun,
evil is killed,
**** 0017, the
greatest agent of all ****
Mario was amazed. He slowly attached the badge onto the strip of his overalls and stared at it in awe. "Of course," Ducky.10 said, "we'll have to get you some new threads." And at that moment, a giant tube engulfed Mario. Clanking and loud noises were heard, and when the tube released Mario, he wasn't wearing his blue overalls and red shirt, he was wearing a white tuxedo!
"WOAH!" Mario cried, looking at his dashing suit. And then, a vacuum-like device emerged from the ceiling and sucked off Mario's cap.
"Now, Mario," Ducky said, "you are 0017; Mario Bond."
Then, Mario realized something. "Where's Luigi?!" he screamed.
"I estimate Oddball captured him," Ducky.10 said.
"Don't worry,
Luigi," Mario thought to himself. "Mario's coming to save you!"
Luigi and Peach sat helplessly on the damp, wooden benches. The chains holding the bench against the wall were rusty and weak with jagged carves in them; it was as if the bench were just about to break in half. Peach's hands were covering her eyes.
Tenk marched past their cell, stopped, peered in, and continued peering from one wall of the cell to the other, where Luigi and Peach sat on seperate benches. Off in the far background, Oddball was typing miraculouly fast on his keyboard, as if he was impatient. Indeed he was, but not about the prisoners; he was impatiently typing messages to Bertam, asking if the clone was obeying orders.
"Yes, Oddball. I am indeedly sure the clone is obeying the plan," Bertram typed back in response, from another part of the hideout.
"Everything is going along quite as planned?" Oddball replied, nervously.
"Yes."
"Good. I cannot afford to make ANY mistakes."