ACT 15: BOWSER DOES IT AGAIN
The goo-covered Luigi and Parakarry watched as the enormous flying ship slowly loomed over their heads, flying in the direction of Princess Peach’s castle. Bowser Junior was laughing. “Heh heh! Don’t think that you can stop him! He’ll eat you alive!”
Luigi froze, then turned sharply to Junior, making him flinch. “Just-a let him try!” he snapped. He turned to Parakarry. “Come on! We have-a to protect the princess if the Mushroom guards can’t!” Then, copying his brother’s catch phrase, he said to him, “Let’s-a go!”
“Right!” Parakarry nodded. He grabbed Luigi’s hand, then began to flap. The two lifted up into the air and headed for the castle. “You know,” Parakarry remarked, “you’re much lighter than Mario…”
Bowser Junior watched Luigi and Parakarry leave. He then grabbed his paintbrush. “Looks like Mama Peach is coming for a visit! Oh boy! I can’t wait to see her again!” He spotted a taxi driving up on the nearby road. Junior charged to the road and jumped in front of the taxi. The driver shrieked and slammed on the brakes, skidding to a stop only a few feet away from Junior. The Koopaling ran to the left rear door, threw it open, and jumped in the left back seat, directly behind the driver, who was shaking in fear. Bowser Junior ever so enjoyed watching people trembling in terror upon catching sight of him. It gave him much pride in himself, as it did with every other Koopaling as well as his ol’ big daddy.
“To Mama Peach’s castle!” he ordered, clutching the driver’s left shoulder with his left hand and holding his paintbrush in front of the driver’s face. “And don’t spare the gas, or you’re gonna be my next masterpiece!”
The driver raised a brow upon hearing the words “Mama Peach”. Was this kid crazy? “… Uh…” he spoke nervously. “P-P-Peach isn’t your—”
“Just drive!” Junior hissed. “Or else!” He slapped the paintbrush against the driver’s upper chest. The driver could feel the gooey paint oozing both onto his shirt and into his shirt. The driver couldn’t refuse. For one thing, though the paint was painless, Junior could do a lot worse. And for another, the customer is always right. That was his motto.
“… Y-y-yes…” he stuttered. “R-r-right away…”
“That’s better!” Junior finished. The driver stomped on the accelerator, and away they went.
***
“Princess! Princess!” Toad burst into the princess’ private room, again panting as if he had run a marathon, even though the “marathon” was nothing but a trip up the stairs. “The Koopas are attacking!”
Princess Peach already knew, as she stared out the window at the Koopa airship becoming bigger and bigger as it grew closer and closer. “Oh… Great…” she said sarcastically. “The Evil Koopa King has once again come to kidnap yours truly…” Peach was all but tired of this. Every single month it was the same exact thing. This whole Bowser-kidnaps-Princess event was becoming monotonous.
She turned to the Royal Mushroom Retainer. “Get all the guards out there, on the double!”
“Yes, my Princess!” Toad answered. “We shall not let these evil turtles take you!” He quickly ran out of the room, beginning yet another marathon down the stairs.
Princess Peach took another look out the window and sighed. When will he learn…? she thought.
***
“We have reached our destination, sir!”
“Excellent!” Bowser said evilly, tapping his fingers together under his chin. “Land the ship!”
The crewmembers all stood puzzled, staring at each other, then back at Bowser. “Err… Where?” one member, a Goomba, asked.
Larry shook his head, snickering under his breath. Dad’s gonna yell again… he thought.
Bowser did just that. He slammed his fist on the armrests of the chair with a loud thud, then roared at his crew. “I don’t care where you land! JUST LAND!” The crew followed the order. The huge ship began to lower towards the ground. Once they had finally landed, the bow of the ship had crushed the front gate of the castle, and the stern was in the middle of the street.
“Troops! Off the ship! On the double!” Bowser ordered.
***
Luigi and Parakarry were just arriving on the scene. They could see the airship on the castle grounds, with the gate crushed under the front of the ship. “Talk about careless parking…” Parakarry mused.
Luigi spotted the troops getting off the ship. He gasped. “Parakarry!” he said. “Wait… We’ll-a need to land somewhere where they won’t see us… Land us behind the ship.”
“All right,” Parakarry answered. “Prepare
for landing!” The two began to descend towards the rear of the ship, unseen
by any of the Koopa troops.
Meanwhile, the taxi pulled up next to the castle, where the road was blocked by the airship. Bowser Junior kicked the door open and jumped out.
The driver lowered his window. “Hey! Where’s my tip?!” the driver yelled. Junior stopped. The driver swallowed hard. I had to open my mouth… he thought.
Junior walked back up to the taxi with an angry and very annoyed visage. He walked up to the driver side window. Giving the driver a threatening stare, he spoke coldly. “Sorry, but I’m broke!” He slung a glob of paint into the driver’s face. The driver shrieked and jammed on the gas, frantically trying to make a U-turn but recklessly driving onto the sidewalk, where he crashed into a fire hydrant. Bowser Junior laughed hard as he watched the water shooting into the air, then walked along the right side of the ship towards the front.
On the left side of the ship were Luigi
and Parakarry, slowly sneaking up toward the front of the ship, where Bowser’s
troops were facing several Mushroom guards blocking the door.
“You shall not pass this bridge!” said the first guard. The guards were standing on the bridge over the moat, their faces showing much determination not to let the Koopas into the castle.
Bowser simply laughed sinisterly. Standing next to him, Larry, who held a Bob-omb in his hand, joined in the laugh. Eventually all the troops even started laughing, making the Mushroom guards uneasy and unconfident.
Bowser, finally getting a hold of himself, spoke coldly to them. “You’re showing much courage! Especially while you’re outnumbered! Two to one!”
“Three to one!” said a voice. Bowser Junior walked up alongside Bowser.
“Hey, Bro! How’d it go?” Larry asked.
“Uh… Not so good…”
Larry opened his mouth to say something sarcastic, but an angry glare from Bowser quickly silenced him.
The Mushroom guards began to shake. They were outnumbered.
“Enough fooling!” Bowser snapped. “We’ll just be letting ourselves in now!”
“Oh no-a you won’t!” Luigi and Parakarry landed in front of the Koopas. “The princess stays here!” Luigi yelled.
Bowser Junior laughed. “I told you! We’re gonna eat you alive! Better leave now if you know what’s good for ya!”
“Do your worst!” Parakarry yelled. The Mushroom guards stood their ground.
Bowser didn’t laugh, though he held his laugh back. He simply turned to Larry. “You heard him…” Bowser said. Larry nodded, then turned his attention to the front door. Taking aim, he hurled his Bob-omb over the Mushroom guards and into the door, where it exploded upon impact. The force of the explosion knocked Luigi, Parakarry, and the guards off their feet, with some of the guards falling into the moat.
The front door was gone. “Now…” said Bowser. He turned to Larry and Bowser Junior. “Would you two care to do the honors?”
“With the utmost pleasure!” answered Larry.
“You bet!” Junior chimed in.
The two Koopalings looked at each other, grinning. In unison, they then said the word “CHARGE!!!”
The Koopa Troop charged into the castle, trampling Luigi, Parakarry, and the guards. Bowser turned to Junior and Larry. “You two go free the rest of your siblings. Princess Peach awaits my arrival!” He stomped into the castle, trampling a guard but continuing without a care in the world. Larry and Junior ran into the castle, trampling the very same guard.
Luigi slowly got back to his feet, then helped Parakarry up. “Come on!” he said. “Peach is-a in trouble!”
“I guessed that…” Parakarry groaned, wincing from the pain in his wings after some of the troops had stomped on him. The two quickly headed into the castle.
***
The imprisoned Koopalings watched, their mouths watering, as the two prison guards munched down on a plate full of hotdogs. The Koopas had not had much to eat, and they were hungrier than Piranha Plants at a picnic.
“Come on, guys!” Iggy whimpered. “We’re famished over here!”
“Yeah!” added Roy. “Toss us soma dose, or I’ll—”
“Or you’ll what?” One of the guards laughed. “Hello! You’re behind bars!” Both guards laughed hard. They were so enveloped in their laughter that they didn’t notice two others coming down the steps into the dungeon.
“Oh we’re so famished!” the other guard said, mimicking the Koopalings’ voices. “Give us dose hotdogs!” The guards laughed even harder, nearly choking on their food. Suddenly, one guard stopped. The other stopped laughing and stared at him. “… What?”
The first guard pointed behind him. The second turned around, and there were Larry and Bowser Junior. “Sup guys?” Larry said with a fake, lighthearted look on his face.
The guards were frozen in fear. “… Uh… Hi?” one squeaked. The Koopalings stared down at them for a few seconds, then their happy, lighthearted looks quickly changed to mean, sinister ones: eyes narrowed, evil smirks, as sinister as a grin could get. The guards hugged each other in fear.
Suddenly, one guard stopped. “Wait… What are we so afraid of? As the princess’ guards, it is our sworn duty to guard this castle! We must stand up to our enemies!” He held up his spear and pointed it at the Koopalings. The other guard still sat, dumbfounded by his comrade’s speech. When the first guard saw that his comrade hadn’t stood up with him, his swallowed hard, developing an anime sweatdrop.
Larry shook his head. He grabbed the guard’s swear and stripped it from his hands. The guard backed up. Larry remained silent, and simply snapped the spear in half on his knee.
“Very amusing…” Junior said, rolling his eyes. He then grabbed the sitting guard by the chest, while Larry grabbed the other. The guards grinned nervously, and were immediately thrown against the wall by the Koopalings. One guard lost his keys from his pocket.
Larry and Junior picked up the final two hotdogs and gobbled them up. The Koopalings all groaned at this. “HEY!!!” Wendy screamed. “WHY DIDN’T YOU SAVE SOME FOR THE REST OF US?!”
“You’re kidding, right?” Larry laughed.
Bowser Junior grabbed the rings from the floor and strolled along the cells. He unlocked Iggy’s cell first. Iggy pushed the bar door open. “Sheesh!” he remarked. “I’m glad to finally be out of there!”
Junior walked up to the cell that held Ludwig and Karma and unlocked it. Ludwig and Karma walked out. “Finally!’ Ludwig breathed. “If I had to spend vun more night here, I’d go out of my mind!”
Karma thought up the perfect insult, then spoke. “Funny… I thought you did a long time ago…” Ludwig growled under his breath.
Junior unlocked Kamek’s cell next. “Uh… Why couldn’t you just teleport out of here?” Junior asked as the Magikoopa exited the cell.
“Your father would have killed me if he found out I left you all here…” Kamek answered.
“That’s true…” Junior said with a giggle as he unlocked Roy’s cell. The sunglasses-wearing Koopaling kicked the door open, causing it to swing into Junior’s face. “Ow!” Junior yelped. “Why’d you do that?!”
“Who cares?!” Roy snapped. “At least I’m outta dat stupid cell!”
Junior grumbled under his breath as he unlocked Lemmy’s cell, then Morton’s, then Wendy’s, then the cell of the Koopa Troopas that helped Lemmy in his attack. “It’s about time!” Lemmy said.
“Yeah! I was getting tired of being in there! Hardly any food, and it’s cold down here! Who in their right mind would want to spend a night down here anyway?! Like I said, it’s too cold and they’re not much—”
“SHADDAP!!!” Wendy screamed at the top of her lungs. Morton instantly shut his mouth.
“Heh…” Larry said as he walked up. “Did you guys enjoy your little vacation?”
The others groaned. “Well the rooms are very comfortable… But yeah…” Lemmy said sarcastically.
“What did you guys use?” Junior asked. “Just curious…”
“Helicopter pack…” Iggy replied.
“Battle mech…” Ludwig replied.
“Dark magic…” Kamek replied.
“My bare fists…” Roy replied.
“Decoys…” Lemmy replied, pointing back at the three Koopa Troopas.
Wendy gave Morton a mean look to tell him not to make a ramble. Morton understood. “… Flamethrower…” he replied nervously.
“Mini-clownchopper with a Bullet Bill Blaster…” Wendy replied.
Junior turned to Karma, raising a brow. “… Well?” he asked. “How about you?”
Karma folded her arms and groaned irritably. “Big Daddy wouldn’t let me attack…” she fumed.
“Oh yeah…”
One of the Koopa Troopas came forth. “Excuse my interruption, Masters and Mistresses,” he spoke, “but may I suggest we leave now before the princess’ guards find out we’ve escaped?”
“Don’t worry about the guards,” Larry answered. “We took care of them, but Dad’s probably waiting for us with the Princess right now… We should leave.”
“Yes!” Junior cheered. “I get to see Mama Peach again!”
“PEACH IS NOT YOUR MAMA!!” everyone else replied in unison. Bowser Junior blushed in embarrassment.
***
Peach simply sat still on her bed. There was nothing she could do. She could hear the stomps getting louder and louder. Here he comes again… she thought. This happened so often it was becoming more annoying than scary to her. Instead of an “Oh my! This is bad!” attitude, it was more like “Not this again…”
The door swung open, and there stood his “beloved”… or at least that’s how he wanted her to feel. Peach shook her head.
“Oh Princess!” Bowser said cheerfully. “Your cute, cuddly Bowser is—”
“Just… tie me up…” Peach groaned.
Bowser stopped, raising a brow, then snapped his fingers at the troops behind him. Two Hammer Brothers ran in with ropes and bound the princess in them.
“Stop right there!” Luigi ran into the room with Parakarry. “Untie her! Right-a now!”
Peach stood wide-eyed. “Luigi!” she cried, now treating the entire issue seriously. “Um… Why do you have goo in your shirt… And why are you covered in shoeprints?”
Bowser was surprised to see Luigi here instead of Mario… but then, he wasn’t so surprised, as he remembered what Blaze had told him. “Well well well!” he bantered. “So you’re the one whose been beating up on my children!”
“That’s right!” Parakarry snapped. “And now we’re going to do the same to you!”
Bowser laughed loudly. “You think? GET THEM!”
The eight troops that had followed Bowser charged at them.
BOSS!!!: Bowser and Koopa Troops
Luigi ducked to avoid a flying hammer from a Hammer Brother. He jumped at the Hammer Brother and punched him hard in the face. Immediately, he was struck in the back with a hammer from yet another Hammer Brother. He jumped and kicked the Hammer Brother back. A Goomba charged at him, but Luigi simply grabbed him and threw him into a Koopa Troopa, knocking them both into Peach’s nightstand, this causing the lamp to fall onto the floor and shattering the bulb. “Sorry about that, Princess,” Luigi apologized.
Parakarry shell-dashed a Koopatrol, knocking the armored Koopa off his feet. A boomerang bounced off his helmet as he popped back out. Parakarry grabbed the boomerang from the floor and chucked it back at the Boomerang Brother who threw it, striking him hard in the beak. Parakarry then dodged a dashing Koopa shell, which bounced off the wall and knocked down a framed picture of Mario. Parakarry knocked away a Goomba with a hard punch.
The troops were all defeated. Bowser slapped his forehead. “Incompetent wimps…” he muttered. “Fine! I’ll take care of you myself!”
“Bring it on, Kingy!” Parakarry taunted.
Kingy? Kingy?! He had the nerve to call him Kingy?! Bowser would not allow it. He grabbed the broken lamp and slammed it down on Parakarry’s helmet. Though the Paratroopa didn’t feel much pain, it was enough to knock him to the floor. Parakarry yelled and winced.
Luigi was filled with rage when he saw this. “HEY!” he yelled. “I can’t let you-a get away with that!”
“Then why don’t you just do something about it?!” Bowser retorted.
“Okay! You asked for it!” Luigi jumped up and kicked Bowser in the snout. Bowser roared and tried to stomp the plumber. He slammed his fists on the floor, but Luigi narrowly avoided him. Bowser grabbed Peach’s nightstand and, with ease, threw it at Luigi, who gasped and jumped to the side, allowing the large, heavy nightstand to slam hard against the wall. Luigi took out his large, wooden hammer and bashed Bowser square on the head. Bowser swatted Luigi back with his huge hand, retreated into his shell, and darted at Luigi. There wasn’t much room for this move, however, and Bowser knocked down and shattered everything in Peach’s room, nearly hitting Peach herself.
The large, green shell flew head on into Luigi, knocking him across the room, out the window, and into the moat.
“LUIGI!” Princess Peach cried. “NO!”
Parakarry stood up after seeing Luigi fall through the window. “No!” he yelled. “I’ll make you pay for that!”
Bowser popped back out and laughed sinisterly. “Ha!” he said simply. He grabbed the Paratroopa and slammed him on Peach’s bed. Then, flicking a small fireball from his mouth, he set the bed on fire!
He turned to the princess. Peach tried to back up as Bowser walked towards her, but she tripped backwards over a broken stool. Peach, still tied in the ropes, was unable to stand back up. The Koopa King stood over her and picked her up in his arms. “Let’s go, Princess!” Bowser said. He walked past the burning bed and exited the room.
Parakarry jumped off the bed in a fright. He began to roll around on the floor to put out a flame on his wing (not the one that was trampled). When he had finally put out the flame, he ran to the window and looked down at the moat. Through the clear blue water, he could see an unconscious Luigi, who had sunk to the very bottom!
***
Kamek, Karma, and the Koopalings were all waiting at the airship for Bowser. Their father (not Kamek’s!) finally exited the castle, holding the princess in her arms.
“Princess!” Iggy greeted. “How goes everything for you?”
Princess let out an irritated groan. “I can’t complain…” she replied sarcastically to the bespectacled Koopaling.
“Hiya, Mama Peach!” Bowser Junior shouted. Upon hearing this, everyone else performed an irritated action: Roy and Larry groaned, Ludwig stared blankly, Karma giggled, Morton surprisingly remaining silent but with a raised brow, Wendy sighed, Lemmy and Iggy looked at each other and shook their heads, Kamek’s jaw hung open, and Bowser simply stared at his youngest son with a strange look on his face.
“… Hi, Junior…” Peach said with a groan.
Bowser broke up the moment. “Let’s just go already!” he said. “There’s something very important I need to tell you… ALL TROOPS ONTO THE SHIP!” The troops regrouped and boarded the ship. The Koopalings, Karma, and Kamek followed, with Bowser and the tied-up Princess Peach bringing up the rear. “Time to go home, Princess!” Bowser said cheerfully.
“One,” Peach snapped, “this is my home! Two, you totally trashed my room and burned my bed, and I don’t appreciate that!”
“Who cares?!” Bowser replied. “I prepared an even better room, just for my dear!”
Lemmy stopped when he heard those last two words. He turned to his father. “Uh… Dad?” he asked. “Don’t you usually call Mom ‘dear’?”
Bowser stared back at his second-oldest-yet-very-short
son. “… Get… on… the ship…” he growled through gritted teeth. Lemmy knew
better than to argue with his father, and wisely walked ahead onto the
ship.
Parakarry had just dragged Luigi out of the moat. He hastily pumped the water out of Luigi’s lungs. When Luigi’s lungs were finally clear of the water, he slowly regained consciousness, coughing up water. He sat up and looked at the mail carrier. “… Parakarry…?” Luigi asked. “What happened…? Is-a the princess all right?”
“Bowser’s got her!” Parakarry said quickly.
“WHAT?!” Luigi shot up to his feet. Upon hearing a loud blowing and whirring noise from above, he whipped around to see the Koopa Airship Dominator ascending into the sky and flying over Mushroom City. Luigi gasped. He turned to Parakarry. “Quick!” he cried. “We-a need to get her back!”
“I know!” He grabbed Luigi by the hand. “Hang on!” Parakarry flapped hard. He could feel the pain in his wings, but gave no care. The two took off after the ship.
***
Peach stood still, tied in several knots, in Bowser’s airship cabin. Bowser was again sitting in the commander’s chair. All the Koopalings were inside the cabin as well.
“So, Father…” Ludwig asked. “Vhat exactly is it you vanted to inform us about?”
“Yeah, do tell us…” Karma said sarcastically, quickly flinching as Bowser silenced her with a threatening glare.
Taking his eyes off the Halfing, Bowser replied, “I’ll tell you all when we arrive back home, but it’s very important. In fact, it might just be our chance to takeover the Mushroom Kingdom… or the world!”
Peach jumped after hearing Bowser’s words. A plan to takeover the Kingdom… or the world? What was going on? What exactly was his plan?
“Oh boy…” said one of the crewmembers (a Koopa Troopa). He was staring down on the radar, which had just detected another airborne object. Wendy happened to hear the Koopa speaking and walked over to him. She looked over his shoulder at the radar. Behind the center dot (the ship) was another, smaller dot (the following object), slowly gaining on the center dot. The Koopa turned to her. “Ma’am, it appears we’re being followed…”
“So I see…” Wendy turned to Bowser. “Daddy, someone’s behind us and catching up fast!”
Bowser looked up at her daughter, raising a brow. “But who could possibly be following us?!” he asked.
Another crewmember (a Rocky Wrench) burst into the cabin in a frantic and hasty manner, startling everyone inside. Bowser was about to roar at the Rocky Wrench for forgetting to knock, but the Rocky Wrench spoke first. “Sir!” he cried. “The guy in the green clothes and hat is on our tails!”
Peach jumped again. “Luigi!” she breathed happily.
“How?!” Bowser asked angrily. “Luigi can’t fly!”
“No, but some Paratroopa is carrying him!”
Bowser became furious. He slammed his fists on his chair arms, making everyone in the cabin jump. “Shoot him down!” he roared. “BLOW HIM RIGHT OUT OF THE SKY!!!”
Peach gasped. She turned sharply to Bowser with an angry visage. “And you wonder why I strongly dislike you, you rotten, evil—”
“Thank you, my dear Princess!” Bowser interrupted. “I try my best!” To Bowser, words such as “mean”, “evil”, “rotten”, “bad”, and “no-good” were complements, while opposite words like “polite”, “nice”, “pleasant”, “hero”, and especially “good” were insults.
“Yes sir!” the Rocky Wrench replied, paying no attention to Peach’s harsh words.
Bowser turned to his children. “You all go out and direct the firing!” he ordered.
“Yeah!”
“All right!”
“Vill do!”
The Koopalings rushed out of the cabin.
Bowser, in the meantime, turned to the princess, who quickly looked away.
“I’m no longer speaking to you right now…”
“LEFT, PARAKARRY!!! LEFT!!!” cried Luigi. Parakarry veered in that direction to avoid the oncoming Bullet Bills. A cannonball whizzed over Parakarry’s head, inches from his helmet. Parakarry flew as fast and as hard as he ever could, slowly gaining on the ship.
On the ship, the Koopalings were directing the crewmembers.
“Rapid fire, guys!” Larry yelled. The crew continued to blast their Bullet Bills at the flying duo.
“Fire! Fire! Fire! And keep firing!” Morton ordered, beginning to ramble on his orders. “Dad wants those two shot out of the sky, and that means we gotta do what he says and blast ‘em! Keep blasting at them! Don’t spare the ammo! Fire! Fire! Fire—”
“SHADDAP!!!” Wendy screamed from across the deck. “I THINK THEY GET THE IDEA NOW!!! WOULDN’T YOU AGREE?!” Morton wisely closed his mouth.
Parakarry swerved and lurched to avoid the flying bullets and cannonballs. He ducked under a Bullet Bill, hoisted Luigi up waist-high to help him avoid another Bullet Bill, then jerked to the right to miss a cannonball. “Nice moves, Parakarry!” Luigi commented. “Now try to-a pull up alongside the ship!”
“Here goes nothing!” Parakarry called back, dodging another cannonball. He began to speed up, flapping even harder and beginning to pull up to the ship.
“They’re coming up on the starboard side!” Lemmy called.
“No!” Ludwig corrected. “They are on the left! It’s the port side!”
“Who cares about what the stupid side is called?!” Karma yelled. “Just fire!”
The crew fired more Bullet Bills, but Parakarry dodged them as he continued to carry Luigi up alongside the ship. “Keep it up!” Luigi called to his partner. “Just a bit further!”
“I’m going as fast as I possibly can!” Parakarry called back. The mail carrier was really too tired to make another flap of his wings, but he did… and another, and another, and another. Parakarry kept up his tremendous rate, feeling the pain in his wings: the right wing trampled, the left wing burned. He let out a loud yell, nearly sounding like a battle cry, as he continued to fly along the port side of the ship. Luigi was impressed at how hard Parakarry was working. “Keep at it!” he encouraged. “You’re doing-a well!”
“Come on, you idiots!” Roy bellowed to the crew. “Stop missing! Hit dem already!” The crew tried hard, but Parakarry was able to avoid every Bullet Bill and cannonball fired at him and Luigi.
Finally, one of the crewmembers, a Rocky Wrench, was fed up. He grabbed a wrench and side-tossed it at the Paratroopa and plumber.
“Keep going, Parakarry!” Luigi called.
“I’m try—” Smack!
Luigi wondered why Parakarry was cut off. He looked up to see that the Paratroopa’s beak was full of wrench. Parakarry spat the tool out. “I’m all right!” he called to Luigi.
Roy turned sharply to the Rocky Wrench. “What… was… dat?” he asked.
The Rocky Wrench shrugged. “Well, sir…”
he answered nervously. “Uh… I hit him… didn’t I?” Roy slapped his forehead.
“Target missed… target missed… target missed!”
Bowser slammed his fists on his chair arms again. He had heard that phrase nearly a thousand times, and he had had quite enough of this nonsense. He stood up from his chair. “If you want something done right…” he said, “do it yourself…”
Peach watched as Bowser walked to the cabin door and exited onto the deck. She didn’t like where this was going.
Bowser walked over to the port side of the Dominator. He walked all the way to the middle of the length of the side, looking back to see Parakarry and Luigi. Time to see what these babies can do! he thought.
Parakarry and Luigi continued to inch their way up along the port side. Suddenly, Luigi spotted Bowser at the edge of the ship. Luigi watched him without blinking, wondering what he was about to do. Then he watched in terror as Bowser took out the Green and Red Gems! “I knew it!” Luigi cried.
Bowser was glowing, energy rushing into him. The Koopalings watched, their jaws dropped, as Bowser’s cheeks began to puff up, a fireball developing in his mouth. Linked with the two Power Gems, his fireball became much more powerful than normal. Judging his aim, he parted his lips, releasing a huge wave of glowing fire at the flying duo.
Parakarry and Luigi yelled. There was nowhere to go, no way to avoid the enormous fiery wave. Parakarry, unable to stop himself in time, flew straight into the fire. The two exited the wave, but began falling downward, scorched. The two plunged down towards the ground.
The Koopalings watched Luigi and Parakarry disappear, then slowly turned to Bowser, wide-eyed and confused. Bowser turned back to them, grinning evilly.
“… Dad…” Iggy spoke slowly. “What… was that?”
“Hey!” said Wendy. “That’s the jewel we were competing for… and you’ve got another one like it! What’s going on here?!”
“Exactly what I meant to explain to you all,” Bowser replied.
***
“… Parakarry? Wake up, Parakarry! Are-a you okay?”
The Paratroopa’s eyes twittered, then slowly opened up to see Luigi leaning over him. Parakarry slowly sat up. He looked around. They were in a forested area just outside of Mushroom City. The Koopa Airship Dominator was long gone. He pounded his fists in the ground in frustration, then looked at Luigi. “… Sorry…” he panted wearily. “I failed…”
Luigi couldn’t stand to hear those words. He put his hands on Parakarry’s shoulders. “Listen,” he encouraged, “that wasn’t your fault. You did everything-a you could up there.” Luigi paused to examine the Paratroopa. He was badly bruised after being trampled, his wing was burned, and yet, he still had kept up his amazing speed with the airship. “I’ve never seen anyone do what-a you just did,” he continued. “You were terrific up-a there. In fact, I couldn’t have-a done better myself.”
Parakarry raised a brow. “Uh… You can’t fly…” he said.
Luigi stared, then replied. “Well… I don’t do much flying… Nevertheless, I’ve never seen anyone work that hard.”
Parakarry took a breath, then nodded as a way of saying “thanks”. He slowly stood up to his feet. Luigi also stood up. “Well…” he said, “looks like it’s-a up to us to save the princess…” Suddenly, Luigi paused. He remembered Bowser holding the two Power Gems on the ship. He gasped. “Oh… The Power Gems!”
Parakarry gave Luigi a confused stare. “Power Gem?” he asked. “What are you talking about?”
“I’ll explain later,” Luigi replied. “But I’m sure Mario is-a looking for those right now. We have-a to get them from the Koopas… Not to mention-a, the Princess.”
“I guess we go then…” Parakarry said. “I have no feeling in my wings right now…”
“We can-a take the trip on foot. Besides, you need to rest your-a wings…”
“Yeah… But it’s going to be a long walk…” said Parakarry as the two began to walk off.
“Not to-a worry. There are-a many pipes that lead all across the Mushroom World. The trip should take-a one day at the least…”
As they headed northeast, Luigi thought to himself, Save Princess from Bowser… Back to my roots, I see… He also began to wonder, what exactly was Bowser doing with the Gems? How in the world did he even find them anyway? And what were Mario and Yoshi up to at this minute? Those were a few questions he’d hopefully find answers to in the future. For now, he would have to focus on the task at hand.