ACT 14: BOWSER’S PLAN
Dark Paratroopa watched, his nerves tingling, while Dark Master paced back and forth across the width of the throne room. Paratroopa could feel it. Dark Master was definitely onto him. How could he handle his plan without Dark Master finding out completely? Boy would this be a challenge. Paratroopa continued to watch the pacing Magikoopa. What were his thoughts? What would he say?
Dark Master stopped pacing and turned his back to the Paratroopa. He groaned, then spoke. “Paratroopa… What am I going to do with you…?”
Dark Paratroopa cringed and squirmed upon hearing those words.
“… I don’t know where in the world you were last night—”
“I told you, I was just taking a—”
“SILENCE!”
Dark Paratroopa flinched. There was another problem. How could he stand up to this guy? Shine Guy couldn’t have been serious the previous night.
“… As I was saying… you’ve been acting very… strange… lately… Is something… trouble you?”
“… Erm… No… Not really…”
Dark Master was silent for a moment. Dark Paratroopa held his breath. Half a minute passed before Dark Master spoke again.
“… Well then… you won’t have any trouble finding the next Power Gem… will you?”
“… Erm… No…”
“Then… FIND THE FORSAKEN GEM!!!”
Dark Paratroopa flinched again. “… Y-yes…” he replied. “I-I won’t fail…” Immediately after speaking, he though to himself, That was one big bluff…
“Good… Now away with you! GO!”
Dark Paratroopa nodded and quickly left the throne room. He took a sigh of relief and leaned against the front door. “Ah boy…” he said to himself. “You’d better make something good happen, Paratroopa… And I do mean good…” He headed down the halls to the front door. As he walked, he still thought about what Shine Guy had revealed to him last night. He still couldn’t believe it, but somehow, he seemed to trust Shine Guy more than he did Dark Master.
Immediately after Paratroopa left, Dark Master began to have thoughts. He groaned, then sat down on his throne. After a moment, he thought to himself, He’s up to something…
***
It was morning in Dark Land, and Bowser, Clawdia, and the remaining two Koopalings- Bowser Junior and Larry- were at breakfast. Bowser simply couldn’t eat, nor could Clawdia for that matter, not while BJ and Larry were arguing. That morning Bowser had informed them about a second jewel found by Blaze. Ever since, and for the entire morning, the two had been bickering about it.
“You might as well just pull out of the competition!” Larry yelled.
“Ah shut up!” Junior retorted. “You just watch me. I’m gonna beat up my enemy, I’m gonna win those shiny rocks, and you’re gonna eat those words!”
“YOU CAN’T WIN!”
“YOU CAN’T WIN!”
Bowser lost all patience. He shot up from his chair and roared at his two youngest. “You BOTH won’t win if you keep up that pointless bickering! IS THAT CLEAR?!!”
Junior and Larry immediately stopped, then nodded. “Good!” Bowser finished, sitting back down. Though the two Koopalings were silenced, they gave each other mean looks.
Loser… thought Larry.
Jerk… thought Junior.
Bowser took another bite from his cheese omelet, courtesy of his wife, one of the best cooks around.
Clawdia was about to take another bite, when she noticed something. “… Um… Dear?” she said to Bowser. “Why is Blaze not down here?”
Bowser turned to Clawdia. “I’m letting him rest,” he answered. “He came back very late last night.”
“If he lost to the Marios,” Junior said, “I thought he would’ve been stuck in Mama Peach’s castle dungeon.
Upon hearing this, Larry burst into laughter. “You still think Peach is your mother?! Hello?! Your real mother is sitting right there!” Bowser Junior blushed in embarrassment. Larry finally got a hold of himself. “But seriously,” he continued. “You have to wonder exactly how he’s escaped…”
Bowser pondered for a moment. He didn’t think it was an escape… In fact, he had never seen him this tired… Not to mention, it took him two days from the day he went about his attack to today… What happened to him the previous two days? Bowser decided to ask him about it later.
***
The red-shelled, fiery-haired, scarred-up Koopa was fast asleep in his bed, half-covered in the sheets. He had been through a lot these past couple of days, but was too tired to think about it.
Then…
“LIVE AND LEARN! Living on the—”
The Koopa’s fist slammed down on the digital clock, crushing it. He groggily sat up and groaned. Nice… he thought, yawning. He was so tired last night he didn’t think to turn off that stupid alarm… Oh well… He could simply “borrow” Roy’s clock until he returned… He stood up off the bed. While he was up, he might as well have some breakfast. He slipped his gloves on and exited his room.
Heading downstairs, he began to have a strange feeling. This feeling somehow directed him away from the royal dining room and to Bowser’s personal bedroom. Why did he feel this way?
Blaze decided to enter anyway. Something in the room was tingling his senses, and he needed to find out what. He looked around in the room. Then, his eyes lay rest on a pair of shiny objects on Bowser’s nightstand, one green and one red. They were the two gems he had found: the green one ten days ago, and the red one just yesterday. He then remembered. There was something about these gems… he couldn’t quite remember. He walked up to the nightstand and picked them both up, holding one in each hand. While holding them, he suddenly had an even stranger feeling. He felt a sudden jolt of energy flowing into him… What the…
Blaze suddenly gasped. He dashed out of the room and to the nearest bathroom. Reaching the bathroom, he kicked the door open and switched the light on. He immediately looked at himself in the mirror. Upon seeing himself, it all came back to him. All he could say was “… Oh snap…”
***
“Ah! Delicious!” Junior said upon finishing his meal. “Thanks, Mom! You’re an excellent cook!”
“That you are,” Larry agreed, also finishing his meal.
“Oh you guys…” Clawdia said, blushing.
“And now,” continued Junior, “time for my attack! Let me just get my trusty paintbrush, and I’ll be on my way!”
“Not that stupid old thing again…” Larry said, rolling his eyes. Junior immediately became enraged.
“STUPID?! Why I oughta—”
“NOT AGAIN!!!” Bowser roared. The two silenced themselves. Junior flashed Larry an angry look. Larry did likewise. Out of everyone else, these two were the second worst sibling rivalry in the family, beaten only by that of Roy and Iggy.
Junior stormed away, fuming. He walked through the door and slammed it shut. Bowser flashed Larry a mean look, while the Koopaling shrugged nervously.
“… BLAZE?!”
Everyone in the dining room jumped upon hearing Junior’s scream outside the door. “What’s he yelling about?” Clawdia asked.
“… Um… Something to do with Blaze I think…?” Larry said.
“Don’t get smart with me!” Clawdia snapped.
“Sorry, Mom…”
The door suddenly opened. Everyone gasped.
“… BLAZE?!” Bowser cried.
There, in the doorway, was Blaze… or he was Blaze’s shape, yet in a different color. He had a shell color of dark purple, with a dark green Mohawk. However, his eyes were still purple, his normal eye color.
“My… goodness…” Clawdia said.
Bowser slapped his forehead upon hearing the word “goodness”.
“Blaze!” Larry cried. “What… what’s happened to you?! Why are you purple?!”
Blaze hesitated, then answered. “… Something I never explained clearly…”
***
“Come on, Donkey!” Yoshi yelled, shoving on the ape’s arm. “Wake up already!” Everyone else had woken up, but Donkey was still fast asleep in the bed sheet. Yoshi, unlikely for someone of his nature, lost patience.
“DONKEY!”
The ape suddenly jumped up and yelled, making everyone else back up from his reaction. “YOSHI! NO DO THAT!!!” he roared.
“Come on!” Yoshi said. “We gotta get moving. The next Gem is out there somewhere, and we need to find it pronto!”
On one of the beds sat Shine Guy. The Shyster’s eyes were shut, although one couldn’t tell through his mask. Yoshi was right, but of course, they wouldn’t be able to get to that ”somewhere” if they didn’t know where “somewhere” was.
And now, they knew…
“… Aha!” Shine Guy finally spoke. “I have found it!”
“Which one?” Diddy asked.
“… The Blue Gem… It is…”
“Where?”
“… Oh my… It is somewhere in a huge forested area. It seems like a maze… I cannot pinpoint the exact location…”
Mario pondered upon hearing this. Forest? Maze? It was a dead giveaway. “Ah!” he said. “The Forest Maze. That place has-a been known to mess with-a one’s mind…”
“I guess that explains why Shine Guy couldn’t exactly find it…” Sparkle giggled. Shine Guy sighed and shook his head.
“Can we just go?” Yoshi asked. “It smells like something died in here!”
“Well… something died out there,” Diddy said, looking through the window. Everyone ran to the window. Outside was a crowd of people circled around a motionless body in the ground. Everyone (except Shine Guy and Sparkle) gasped and ran out the door.
The group charged through the hall towards the front desk. The clerk saw them coming. “Ah!” he greeted. “Did you enjoy your—” The six took no notice of the clerk, running right past him and out the front door. “…stay?”
Outside the group pushed through the crowd to the center, where a purple-shelled, helmeted Sledge Brother with shaded skin lay on his shell, showing no movement whatsoever. Mario tapped a Toad on the shoulder. The Toad turned to him. “Excuse-a me,” Mario spoke, “but… what happened?”
“… We’re not sure…” the Toad answered. “He was just… there this morning. We have no idea how he got here… unless you happened to be battling a few Koopa goons last night… Mister Mario.”
Diddy walked up next to Mario. “How he know Mario name?” he asked.
Mario shrugged. “I suppose I’m-a just that well known…”
Diddy went up to the motionless corpse and sniffed. He then turned to Mario. “He dead all right…” he said.
Shine Guy and Sparkle looked at each other. “Uh… Isn’t that the very same guy you killed last night?” Sparkle whispered.
Shine Guy sighed. “I told you,” he answered, “I did not kill him. It was Dark Paratroopa.” Sparkle raised a brow when she heard this.
Yoshi and Donkey Kong heard them whispering and turned to them. “You say something?” Yoshi asked.
Sparkle was about to answer, when she looked at Shine Guy, who shook his head.
“Uh… It was nothing…” Sparkle said. Shine Guy nodded in agreement. Yoshi and Donkey Kong looked at each other.
Mario turned to them. “Let’s-a go, guys.”
***
“…And that’s how it happened…” the oddly-colored Blaze explained.
“… Shadow Flame?” Larry asked. “… How lame. This… Dark Master guy has no taste…”
“I know…” Blaze replied, chuckling a bit.
Bowser wasn’t chuckling. This was all very strange to him. “So these… Power Gems… grant power?”
“Makes sense to me…” Larry laughed.
Bowser groaned. “Any more smartness from your mouth, and it’s one week in the dungeon!” he hissed.
“Sorry, Dad…” Larry muttered. “Um… Will I still get to attack to win those Gems?”
“… No…”
“WHAT?! First I have to go last, then I can’t attack at all! Weak!”
Blaze cleared his throat. “As I was saying,” he said, “it seems Mario and his buddies are after these Gems, too.”
“Mario?!” Bowser roared. As one could tell, he strongly detested the very name. In fact, whenever he heard the name, he just wanted to smash something. Bowser growled under his breath.
“I don’t know how…” Blaze said, “but Mario seems to know exactly where to go to find these things… Wait a minute…” Blaze suddenly remembered his conversation with Dark Paratroopa. “… Oh… The Shy Guy…”
“What?” Bowser asked. “Shy Guy?”
“The Paratroopa who took me, told me. There’s this white Shy Guy, and he’s got these… sensing powers. It’s like, he knows exactly where each Gem is.”
“Hmm…” Bowser thought out loud.
“There’s more,” Blaze continued. He paused, trying to recollect all that Dark Paratroopa had told him. When he was sure he had every detail in his head, he continued. “… Okay. There’s this land… half of it is light, half is dark. Well, in the heart of the land is this altar. If one collects all those gems and puts them on the altar, you can unlock this… treasure, and you could rule the entire world with it. It’s that powerful…”
Bowser thought to himself, Powerful treasure, eh? I could finally dominate the Mushroom Kingdom… perhaps MORE than that! Bowser laughed evilly.
“… I take it the King of the Koopas has developed another one of his evil schemes,” Blaze said with an evil smirk.
“You bet, my flaming friend!” Bowser replied.
“… Are you going to kidnap the princess again?” Larry asked.
Bowser laughed. “That’s right!” he said.
Larry rubbed his hands together, as a mad scientist would do before performing an evil experiment. “So, what’s the plan?”
“Well…” Bowser began, “it just so happens we too have someone who is good with senses.”
“Who? Kamek? But he’s not here…”
“I’m aware of that, Larry…”
“… Oh… Well then… who? Oh… no… Not the hag!”
“It’s the only way…” Bowser turned to Blaze. “Go get her in here, would you?”
Blaze nodded, then teleported. Larry’s jaws dropped to the floor. “… He can… TELEPORT?! He’s so lucky!”
“Larry,” Bowser said, “in the meantime, you and I are going to have a little fun!”
Larry quickly perked up, staring at his father with a bit of interest. “I’m listening!” he said.
Bowser sat next to his son and put his arm around his shoulder, grinning sinisterly. “You and I are going to take a little trip to the Mushroom Kingdom. If these Gems can grant power, there will be no stopping us from taking the princess! Sounds like fun, eh?”
Larry laughed evilly, then looked up at his father. “Yes! Terrorizing the Mushroom Kingdom, complete and utter chaos! I just love being mean! Heh heh heh!”
“Good! That’s how I raised you! I couldn’t be more proud!” The two let out an evil laugh, this being basically how father-and-son moments (or daughter with Wendy) went with the Koopas.
Blaze materialized in front of them. Seconds later, Kammy did likewise. Kammy looked confused. “Could someone tell me why Blaze is purple?” she asked.
“Shut up and listen, Kammy!” Bowser snapped.
Kammy jumped. “Err… Yes Sire…” she said.
“Good, now Kammy, take a look at this.” He held up to two Gems. Kammy took the green one of them and examined it. “… Hm… Interesting piece of jewelry this is…” she remarked. “In fact, it’s strange, but I can feel a strange force inside it…”
“Okay,” said Bowser. “Now, can you sense any other force like it anywhere?”
“… I expect I can…” Kammy answered.
“… So… you know… Do it,” Larry said sarcastically. Kammy quickly shot a threatening glare at the Koopaling, then closed her eyes. Still focusing on the Gem, she searched for any other sources of power like this one. Fifteen seconds passed, then…
“… Amazing… There is another. It’s… somewhere in the Forest Maze…”
“Excellent!” Bowser said as he glanced over at Blaze panting. “… Blaze?”
Blaze caught himself, then turned to Bowser. “… I’m all right…”
Bowser scratched his forehead, then continued. “Anyway, while Larry rounds up the other Koopalings, you two go out and find the rest of those… err… How many did you say there were?”
“Ten.”
“Right, anyway, you two find the other eight. Clear?”
“Yes Sire!” answered Kammy.
“Got it, dude!” answered Blaze.
“Good. Dismissed!”
“Let’s go, Blaze,” Kammy said. Blaze nodded, and the two teleported away. Meanwhile, Bowser turned to Larry. “Come on, Son. Time to load up my airship! You can be my ship commandant since Kammy is out with Blaze.”
“Yeah!” Larry jumped up, and the two exited the room. “Forget the competition; this’ll be way more fun!”
***
“Come on, K.K!” Woshi called. “We gotta keep moving before the elephant and the spider show up again!” He and K.K. had been on the run for the whole rest of the night. It was noon now, and they still hadn’t been able to escape the forest. The place was like a maze (hence the name); a maze of many paths with no escape, and overall, inevitable frustration.
The Yoshi impatiently tapped his foot as he waited for his friend to catch up. The Koopa wearily walked up to the Yoshi. He panted, a very tired and worn-out visage. “… Sorry Wosh,” K.K. panted. “We’ve been walking for hours. I have no more feeling in my feet…”
Woshi sighed as he watched his friend. The Koopa was so worn he could hardly stand up anymore. In fact, the Koopa’s feet were in so much pain he began to slip down into a sitting position. He tried to stand back up, but he couldn’t. His feet seemed to disobey him. He’d say “Come on, feet! Stand up!”, yet his feet would come back with “no way! We’re too lazy!” K.K. tried yet again to stand up, but with no success. “I’m… sorry, Woshi… My feet just quit on me…”
The Yoshi gave the Koopa a look of pity. He bent down to the Koopa. “If your feet hurt that bad,” he said, “you can ride on my back if you want.”
K.K. looked up at Woshi. “… Thanks,” he said. Woshi turned around, and K.K. pulled himself onto his back with his arms, since his feet were basically useless for now. After K.K. forced himself into a sitting position, Woshi started off.
“I have to wonder…” Woshi said, “where’d the fat guy and the skinny dude end up?”
“I don’t know…” K.K. answered. “I’m just glad they’re nowhere in sight… That skinny guy almost blew me to bits with those Bob-ombs…”
“Yeah, and that fat one nearly broke my back. He’s must be at least three-hundred pounds!”
“And how much
is the other guy?” K.K. mused. “Seven?” The two burst into laughter as
they continued down the forest path.
Meanwhile, in another part of the maze, Wario was fuming. He tirelessly stormed down the forest path. He had been on the chase for the entire night. Though they started off in Woshi and K.K’s footprints, they had lost the trail by morning. The greedy plumber (if he is a plumber) wanted the blue jewel in the worst way, and would stop at nothing to get his hands on it.
Wario suddenly noticed Waluigi was far behind. He stopped and growled, then turned around sharply. “Hurry up, will-a you?!” he yelled. “We have-a to find those brats!”
His brother, however, did not exactly have the same attitude. Of course, he too wanted the gem very badly, but he wasn’t so enthusiastic about it. In fact, he felt a bit tired from walking for so long. He slowly slouched up to Wario. “Come on, Wario…” he panted. “Can’t-a we rest?”
Rest?! Wario was not happy with what he just heard. He angrily grabbed Waluigi by the shirt collar and pulled him down until the two were nose-to-nose. “Listen here!” Wario whispered coldly. “We’re not-a resting until that shiny stone is in-a my hand! Clear?!”
Waluigi knew better than to argue with Wario. His massive bulk versus his light, thin body? There was no match. “Clear…” Waluigi squeaked.
“Good!” Wario dropped him to the ground. “Now come on! Once we find those-a blasted kids, they’re dead!”
He stormed away,
while Waluigi groaned and tried his best to keep up. This is going to
be a long day… he thought.
In yet another part of the maze, Dark Paratroopa materialized onto the forest path. He was feeling very pleased with his idea. He had taken a little extra something before leaving. In fact, he had taken three extra somethings. The only problems would be facing Shine Guy’s companions and coming up with a good bluff to fool Dark Master. Of course Dark Master could not be easily fooled.
He decided he’d worry about it later and focus on the task at hand. He started down the forest path.
Minutes later, a group of Dark Troopers materialized in the path, at the exact same spot Dark Paratroopa had been. The group was made up of five Koopa Troopas, three Lakitus, two Hammer Brothers, a Boo, and two Paragoombas, one of which was wearing a helmet with a spike.
“Okay,” the Boo, presumably the leader of the group, spoke to the rest. “Master is obviously losing trust in Dark Paratroopa. We’ll need to bring him the Power Gem before Dark Paratroopa gets his hands on it.”
“What if he does get it before we do?” one of the Koopa Troopas asked.
“… Well then Dark Master will probably kill us…” the Boo answered, cringing at the thought. The others cringed also. “But we may be able to redeem ourselves if we can find out exactly what Dark Paratroopa has on his mind.”
“Well… where do we start, oh fearless leader?” one Hammer Brother said in a somewhat sarcastic tone. The other Hammer Brother covered his mouth to hold back a laugh.
The Boo growled. “We can start by following his footprints…” He pointed down to the ground at the set of footprints; definitely Dark Paratroopa’s, as one could tell by the deep holes in the middle of the footprints, showing where his show spikes had dug into the ground.
***
“No! No! No!” Larry ordered. “Put those boxes over here!”
“Yes, Master Larry,” the Hammer Brothers answered. Larry was inside Bowser’s airship, the Koopa Dominator, supervising the loading. Bowser’s minions were loading many boxes of ammunition and other weaponry onto the ship. Of course the Koopalings had their own airships, but Bowser too had one of his own, and this one was the most heavily-armed of them all.
The Koopa King himself came aboard the ship. The Koopaling glanced over and turned to him. “Oh… Hey, Dad,” Larry greeted.
“How’s everything going here?” Bowser asked.
“We’re almost fully loaded. Do you have our two little meal tickets?”
Bowser held up the two gems. Larry nodded. “Oh yeah! This is gonna be…” He paused when he noticed a Koopatrol and a Koopa Troopa loading a stack of three boxes in the wrong place. “NO! Put those over there!” Larry pointed to the stop. Just as the two soldiers were moving towards that spot, Larry changed his mind.
“Actually, it can go here…” The soldiers looked at each other, then moved to the spot. Larry then changed his mind again. “… No wait, over here… or… nah… right over there… no…” The soldiers became so confused that they dropped the boxes, with the stack landing on the Koopa Troopa’s foot. The Koopa yelled and hopped around on one foot, clutching the injured toe with both hands. Larry slapped his forehead. “… Or it could go there…”
A Sledge Brother then came up with a larger box. He set the box down next to the pile that had been dropped. He then turned to Bowser and Larry. “All loaded, sirs!” he said.
“Excellent!” Bowser said. “All soldiers to your stations!”
“YES SIR!” they all replied in unison. They immediately ran to their stations.
Meanwhile, Bowser and Larry walked up to the top of ship, into the cabin. Entering the cabin, Bowser walked over to the commander’s chair. Larry turned on his walkie-talkie and spoke. “Dominator to hanger control, request clearance for liftoff.”
“Roger that,” hanger control responded.
“Begin engine ignition!” Bowser ordered.
“Engines one through six in ignition,” replied one of the crew members.
“Hanger control to Dominator, you are clear for liftoff.”
“I copy dominator,” Larry responded.
“Engines seven through twelve in ignition.”
“Excellent!” Larry commented. “Set a course for the Mushroom Kingdom!” He turned to his father. “Engines powered up, clear skies… We’re all set!”
“All right then!” Bowser replied. “You ready for some fun?”
“Ready when you are!” Larry said eagerly.
“Then let’s make trouble! My beloved awaits!” Bowser sighed at the thought of Princess Peach; so beautiful, so pure. If only he could finally win her heart…
Larry raised a brow upon hearing Bowser’s words. “… Uh… Dad? Mom will kill you if she hears you say that…”
Bowser stared blankly, then looked away, slightly embarrassed. “I rest my case…” he muttered. His embarrassment quickly turned into anger when he heard a few of the crew members snickering. He became so enraged a fireball began to develop in his throat. He roared, accidentally scorching Larry.
“WHO’S LAUGHING?! CERTAINLY NOT ME!!!”
As quickly as a light being switched off, silence fell in the cabin. “Dad!” Bowser looked down at his completely black son.
“… Sorry…” he said. He looked up at his crew. “As for the rest of you, I catch you laughing behind my back again and I’ll scorch your scales! Understood?!” The crew nodded. “Good! Now then… ENGAGE!”
Slowly, the Dominator began to lift off. Bowser looked down at Larry and gave him a thumbs up. Larry responded with a wink.
***
Meanwhile in yet another part of the huge Maze, Kammy materialized onto the forest path. She looked all around. One could easily get lost in this forest (as proven by Woshi, K.K, and the Warios), and she knew this search wouldn’t be an easy task.
Blaze materialized next to Kammy, still with his dark, gothic-looking appearance. He still couldn’t figure it out. The previous day, he had been knocked out of Dark Master’s control by Mario and his party. But somehow, he still had these new powers. How?
Kammy glanced over at Blaze “Power-granting gems, huh?” Kammy asked.
“Yep,” Blaze answered as they started down the path. “And a whopping ten of them to find. The good thing is, Mario has at least four of ‘em. If we can snatch those, we’ll be ahead of the game.”
“Yes… There’s only one problem… Do we know if Mario’s here or not?”
“Not to worry. He’ll be here. Trust me.” He grinned sinisterly before continuing. “But for now, let’s just focus on finding the Gem in this forest, then we’ll get Mario.”
“Sounds like a plan,” agreed Kammy.
The two continued down the path. Suddenly Blaze began to have a strange feeling. He began to feel slightly weaker. He began to pant. Kammy looked at him. “… Are you feeling okay?” she asked.
Blaze looked back at her. “Uh… I’m fine… I guess I’m just not used to being in this form…”
“Might I suggest powering back to your normal form?”
“… Nah. It probably just needs to be broken in. You know, like shoes…”
“How can you make that analogy when you never wear shoes?”
“… Kammy?”
“Yes?”
“Shut… up…”
***
Toad burst through the door in a frantic mood. He panted heavily as if he had just run a twenty-six mile marathon. Luigi, sitting on his bed, made courtesy of Princess Peach, looked up from the book he was reading. “Another Koopa attack?” Luigi asked.
“No!” Toad cried. He panted again, then continued. “It’s… your brother!”
“Oh all right. I’ll-a take care of…” Luigi paused, recollecting Toad’s last two words. “… My brother?!”
***
“Mister Flapps?” the nurse (a Toad) said. “There’s someone here to see you.”
Parakarry entered Flapp’s room in the Mushroom City Hospital. His work buddy had been struck by a Bullet Bill the previous day, so he came to visit him.
“Oh… Hey Parakarry,” Flapps greeted.
The Paratroopa walked up to the Chicken’s bed. “Hey Flapps,” said Parakarry. “How are you feeling?”
“I’m all right; I just hit my head…” The two laughed, though Flapps couldn’t laugh very hard. Parakarry examined him. A cast had been wrapped around his head and one around his beak, which slightly muffled his voice. His wing was also wrapped up. Parakarry felt much pity for his friend.
“They said I’m not in too bad a condition,” said Flapps, “but I won’t be going anywhere for about four weeks… Ba-KA… ow… I really need to learn to stop doing that…”
“Well, you really set an example as to why you should always wear a helmet…” Parakarry said, glancing over at Flapps’s helmet, which sat in a chair to the right of the bed.
“Helmet?” Flapps mused. “For a Bullet Bill, you’d need a force field…”
Parakarry laughed. Suddenly his cell phone rang. Interestingly enough, his ringtone was Pleasant Path. Parakarry quickly took his phone out of his shell and answered the call. “… Yes…? Oh, hey Luigi. What’s up…? What?! Okay, I’m coming!” He hung up, then turned to Flapps. “Sorry to rush off like this, but apparently there’s another attack…”
“That’s okay,” Flapps said. “It is an emergency, after all. Beat ‘em up, buddy.”
“Exactly what I intend to do! Take care!” Parakarry quickly left the room, waving to Flapps as he left.
***
Luigi arrived at Mushroom City Park via taxi. He hastily paid the taxi driver, then quickly ran off into the park. This is usually where I keep finding the Koopalings. No surprise this one would be in the same place. However, he kept thinking about what Toad had said. His brother? How could that be? Mario was not even in the Mushroom Kingdom…
*squish*
Luigi stopped. He looked down at the ground. Puddles of a gooey substance were scattered everywhere. Luigi lifted his foot. “… Well… this is disgusting…” he remarked. He continued forward.
As he walked past a grove of trees, he could hear the sound of people screaming. Beyond the grove, he could see many people running from a dark blue shadowy figure. Much to Luigi’s surprise, the figure looked almost exactly like his brother, the only differences being that he was, of course, completely blue in color and held a large, goo-covered paintbrush in his hand. “That’s right!” the shadowy figure roared. “You’d better run, for I am Shadow Mario!”
Luigi pushed past all the screaming and running people, making his way towards this… Shadow Mario character. “Shadow Mario, eh?” Luigi said.
Shadow Mario turned to him. “Ah! Luigi!” he said. “Uh… Come on! The Koopaling is this way!”
“Sure-a he is…” Luigi said. “Nice try, but Mario’s away… Bowser Junior!”
Shadow Mario stared blankly at Luigi. “How did you know it was me?!” he cried, as he noticed Parakarry hovering in from above.
“Don’t think-a that Mario never told me about that-a crazy vacation on Delfino!”
“Yeah? Well, whatever! I’m still taking you and your Paratroopa buddy there down!”
“Bring it on!” Parakarry said.
BOSS!!!: Shadow Mario/Bowser Junior
Shadow Mario simply couldn’t pass up a request such as “bring it”. He did just that, slinging the gooey paint at Luigi and Parakarry. Luigi jumped to the side, while Parakarry hovered upward. Luigi dove at Shadow Mario, who jumped to miss him. In this form, Bowser Junior’s jumping abilities matched that of Mario’s. Shadow Mario landed and whipped around to Luigi. He slung a large glob of paint at the plumber. Luigi caught this out of the corner of his eye and jumped up, with some of the paint splashing onto his back. Luigi yelled and shook the goo off, then turned sharply to Shadow Mario. “I still can’t believe Elvin actually gave-a you that paintbrush…”
“Nothing beats the power of persua—” Shadow Mario was interrupted by Parakarry swooping into him from behind with a swift punch to the back of the head. Shadow Mario stumbled forward, but recovered and slung a glob of paint up at Parakarry. The Paratroopa was hit-and unfortunately he had his mouth open. Parakarry nearly fell, but regained control of himself and spat up the goo. “Gross! Ultra gross!” he coughed.
Shadow Mario jumped back at Luigi. Luigi charged at him. Shadow Mario jumped over him and whipped around to sling paint at him. Luigi jumped over the paint glob and lay a hard, painful kick on Shadow Mario. Though Bowser Junior could jump as well as Mario in his form, Luigi still possessed much better jumping abilities than his brother. Shadow Mario was knocked backwards by the force of the kick. Shadow Mario jumped to his feet, only to be knocked down yet again courtesy of a swooping attack from Parakarry. Shadow Mario jumped back to his feet. He charged swiftly at Luigi and rammed him down like a truck before Luigi could react.
While Shadow Mario focused on Luigi, this was a perfect time for Parakarry to make another move. He swooped down towards the Koopaling-in-disguise, only for Shadow Mario to jump up and grab onto Parakarry’s shell. The surprised Paratroopa flew upward and shook viciously, trying hard to make Shadow Mario lose his grip. However, Shadow Mario stubbornly held on, smacking Parakarry on the helmet with the paintbrush. Though the helmet did indeed protect him, the constant splashing of the gooey paint irritated him. Parakarry groaned and turned upside-down, leaving Shadow Mario hanging from his shell. Shadow Mario finally lost his grip, and fell to the ground.
Luigi watched as Shadow Mario impacted the ground. Shadow Mario lie dazed in the grass. “Ready to-a give up?!” Luigi said as Parakarry hovered in above him.
Shadow Mario turned to Luigi, then laughed evilly. “Are you kidding?!” He slowly got back to his feet. “I’m just warming up! Enough playing!” He began to spin around swiftly, creating a blue vortex. Seconds later, out of the vortex jumped Bowser Junior… the real Bowser Junior. “Now… let’s really brawl!” BJ pulled his bandana up over his mouth, then charged at Luigi. Luigi jumped aside, but was surprised to see BJ jump into Parakarry and knock him to the ground. Parakarry landed hard on his wing. The Paratroopa was slow getting up, injured, but still okay. Bowser Junior stood over him. “Time for a little arts and crafts!” He slapped the paintbrush on Parakarry’s face with a loud, gooey *splat*. Parakarry’s mouth had been open again; he spat the goo out. BJ was about to slap Parakarry with the brush again, when…
*WHAM* Luigi tackled him, knocking BJ clean to the ground. BJ kicked Luigi off, then retreated into his shell and darted into the plumber. Luigi was knocked ten feet back by the impact. Bowser Junior popped back out and laughed. “HA!” he snarled.
Luigi was on his hands and knees, panting heavily. BJ casually walked over to him, preparing for a little more arts and crafts.
Parakarry stood back up. When he saw Bowser Junior standing over Luigi, he growled.
Bowser Junior smacked Luigi’s back with the paintbrush, knocking him onto his stomach. “Ah yes!” BJ bantered. “Defeated Luigi! This’ll truly be my greatest masterpiece!” He smacked the paintbrush on Luigi and ran it across his body. Luigi could feel the gooey paintbrush squishing and splashing on him. Though this “attack” did not exactly give him any pain, it felt very disgusting.
“And now for the finishing touch!” Bowser Junior laughed. He lifted his paintbrush up, preparing to give Luigi a hard smack on the head.
…
*Ba-BANG* Bowser Junior was dive-bombed by Parakarry. The Koopaling (if he is one) fell on the ground, still conscious but dazed, heavily panting.
Parakarry went over to Luigi and helped the plumber to his feet. “You okay?” he asked.
“… You could-a rub-a my back for a second…” Luigi said. Parakarry did so. Luigi breathed out a sigh. He turned sharply to Bowser Junior. “All-a right, Bowser da Vinci! You’re coming-a with us!”
“And confidentially…” Parakarry added, “your art is simply not fit to be in a museum.” The two laughed and high-fived, while Bowser Junior simply moaned.
Luigi and Parakarry grabbed him by the arms and started to drag him away, leaving his paintbrush behind. “Hey! Wait!” BJ cried. “My paintbrush!”
“Oh yeah…” Luigi said as an afterthought. “After we lock-a you up, I’m-a going straight to E. Gadd’s and demanding an explanation for-a why he gave-a you that paintbrush…”
Bowser Junior groaned and mumbled something under his breath. Suddenly, a gigantic shadow cast over them, covering almost the entire park. Luigi and Parakarry didn’t bother to look up, as they though it was just a cloud.
Bowser Junior, however, did look, and he could see it was a huge, flying object blocking out the sun. He squinted to see what it was. When he was sure he knew, he let out an evil laugh. “Oh boy! You’re all in so much trouble!”
Parakarry turned back to look at him. “With who?” he asked. “Certainly not you…”
“No… My papa!”
Upon hearing this, Luigi and Parakarry stopped, letting go of Junior. They both looked upward at the flying object. It seemed to be some sort of flying ship. The ship had the word “Dominator” engraved on the side. On the front of the ship was a huge craving of a familiar (and sinister-looking) figure. Suddenly Luigi realized what it was.
“Oh no…” Luigi said.
“What?” Parakarry asked.
Luigi hesitated, then uttered, “Bowser!”