Location: Toad Town - Streets ---> Peach's Castle
Mentions:@Kafka Komedy@Jensoman@tex@Lmpkio

Once Bonnie had slugged Jr. Troopa out of sight, sound, and hair, Mario ran over to his power hammer and gave the shy girl a peace-sign salute in thanks. Shouldering his mallet, Mario started sprinting toward the castle, having no idea that he would be too late to save the delicious lovely Princess Peach. As he neared the castle, he gazed up at the stained-glass portrait of the blonde beauty that greeted all those who approached her luxurious home. What Mario had and hadn’t expected to see was Bowser’s clown car parked outside her balcony.

I guessed it, Mario thought angrily. Who else? No; seriously, who else could it have been? Bowser’s tricks got old.

Both hands wrapped about the arm of his mallet as he hefted it from his shoulder. Bringing the hammer to his side, Mario slid to a halt and sank into a crouch. With an audible BOING! like sound, Mario launched into the air, swinging his hammer above his head as he headed straight for Bowser’s stupid ride. He wasn’t going to let him get away.

“BOOOOWSEEEER!” Mario bellowed before he brought his hammer down upon the clown car. BA-DUNK!

Thrusting a hand out, Mario caught the balcony rail before he fell and glared down at the Clown Car as it went spinning on a plume of smoke and fire to the well-manicured lawn. The Clown Car wasn’t wearing a happy smile then. Its eyes had become “X”es and its mouth hung open in agony. The gardener was going to be furious to know that his star-shaped trees were engulfed in flames, but it was duty over beauty!

KABOOM!

The Clown Car exploded before Mario pulled himself up to glower over at the spiked lizard.

“I’m tired of comin’ to the castle to find you here up to no good!” Mario growled. “You’re not gettin’ away this time! We settle this once and for all!”

As Bowser takes a gander around Peach's bedroom, he then hears an unmistakable battle cry from outside.

“BOOOOWSEEEER!” it cries.

Yup. It was him. After having his plan be jeopardized by a Count Bleck look-alike, King Koopa now has to deal with the Mushroom Kingdom's savior Mario. His expression just turned a 180 as he issues a frown of utter embarrassment. What was he gonna say to him? And if he does, will the plumber believe him? As he tries to think on what to say to him, he hears an audible "BA-DUNK!" from outside, followed by a metal whine. He just destroyed his Clown Car didn't he? He has to fix it when he gets back to his castle... well IF, would be the better word.

It was then when Bowser heard the footsteps hit the balcony. He has arrived at last.

“I’m tired of comin’ to the castle to find you here up to no good!” Mario growls. “You’re not gettin’ away this time! We settle this once and for all!”

Bowser kept his silent back away from him for a long moment. His blood was already boiling once again. As always, he wants to beat the living shit out of the plumber bastard. But is it really necessary in this case? Surely it wasn't. It was then when the Koopa King begins to finally speak.

"Oh Mario... Mario..." he growls, which can be confused for a sigh, "You finally arrived to "ruin" my plans on kidnapping your Princess Peach. BAW-HAW-HAW..."

He then finally turns around, showing no signs of the Princess in his grasp.

"But it seems that someone else happened to catch her first." he then says, but not in an evil flair, but an honest one.

But can Mario identify this?

La Bandita

Local: Toad Town ==> Peach's Castle
^{Operatives: @Holy Soldier, @Lmpkio}

Bonnie followed behind Mario after he thanked her with a peace sign and continued on forward. As the two neared the castle, they both noticed a vehicle parked outside. It was obvious to anybody that the vehicle belonged to the King of Koopas, it's wicked smile signifying immediate danger, and probably also kidnapping. As soon as Mario lept up to it, Bonnie dashed through the front door of the castle with a simple "I'll meet ya up there!" though she doubted the man could hear her.

La Bandita ran through the halls of the opulent palace as quick as she could. Although she hadn't been through this iteration of the castle, she was able to find her way around well enough. After noting where the royal treasury was, she quickly made her way to where she heard voices, one gruff and tough, and another that sounded a little similar to hers.

Bonnie busted through the door just in time to hear Bowser admit that someone else had caught the princess. An audible "Huh?" left her lips as she tried to process the info. She couldn't see anyone other than the two rivals. Had the villain already escaped? This was a confusing situation, especially since Bowser didn't seem to be attacking. Was this some sort of ploy? It would catch Mario off guard a little, but certainly not enough unless there was some sort of trap to be spun. Bonnie decided to simply wait it out. She was unsure which side would be more profitable, if there even were a side to begin with.

The toad finally left, leaving me all alone with these two, one of whom seemed to have wires hanging out of him. "Robots, huh? I guess that means you're not living things..." I said, mostly to myself as the fiery one tried attacking again. I tried to jump over his fire blast, and onto his chest, and one I was on there, I started grabbing whatever wires I could and tried my best to tear them out. "If that doesn't destroy you, it'll at least cripple you for a while," I commented as I turned my attention towards the electrical robot... at least, I assumed he was due to the lightning bolt, light bulb, and the fact that he randomly shouted "ENERGIZE!" to his friend, who was apparently called Fireman... the irony was almost too much for me, and I almost fell to the ground, laughing, but I managed to suppress my laughter, and almost managed to keep my determined expression. Before I could say or do anything to the lightning-based robot, I heard some sort of explosion coming from Peach's castle... I guess I should head there once I was done here. Once that was over... I actually forgot what I was going to say to the guy, let alone what I was going to do, though, I assumed that my own lightning was out of the question, given how he's a robot, and not only uses but probably runs off of electricity... and since he uses it, it's likely that he has some sort of shielding against it... right? Since he's not a living thing, I COULD use my tongue to bash him against a wall, or I could just punch him until he breaks... of course, if I still could, I would have breathed fire on him, but, well, my throat still hasn't quite recovered, yet.

Soggy

Soggy had gotten the call from Bowser about yet another atempt to steal princess peach. He decided to take the opportunity to hit up a potion shop near the castle in town. He figured as long as he showed up when it counted then he could drink and get paid. He suddenly heard an explosion and at the same time got a call to act from the The Man. Lets see if he can keep her this time.

Soggy quickly downed his drink, dropped some coins and ran off for the castle. Unfortunately he decided to drink in the shop in the southern plaza. As he stepped outside, some sort of crazy commotion had begun. Some bunch of freaks had decided to cause some sort of chaos. He didn't really care about this as long as he could get to the castle before it all finished. He stumbled and plowed through the crowd, accidentally dodging rocks and clubs left and right. He finally made it through the crowd and into the castle. He took a side entrance he knew of from days before. He quickly and clumsily slunk into Peach's bedroom with Bowser.

"Hey King Bowser did you get peach already!? Where is she at? Have you whisked her away already?" As he came in shouting to Bowser, he noticed the other two in the room as well. "Well if it isn't the great Mario, I bet you've come to stop us, but this time the great Koopa King has a plan that you'll... uhh you'll never... uhh... what?" Even though Soggy was ignored and was on his own rant, Bowser's final words had finally made their way into his thick skull. Princess Peach was already gone and Bowser had not taken her. "Is this some sort of joke? Was it this other bandit over here? Since when do bandits steal princesses?" Soggy shut up for a second and actually thought, but realized he had no real idea what to do now, or real ideas in general, but that's besides the point. "So uhh, what do we do now Boss?"

@Kafka Komedy@Lmpkio@Holy Soldier@tex@Jensoman

"OOOFFFFFF!!" Jr. Troopa shouted as he was struck by Bonnie's bat and launched high into the sky. He glared at Mario as he flew away.



With that final roar, the young Koopa flew right out of Toad Town. He ended up crashing into the forest nearby.



Fire-Man turned to Elec-Man for a moment. "Ha! Nothing can stop THE POWER OF JUSTICE FIRE!!" He simply responded to him, only for Blake to crash into him as he ripped out several wires. The Robot-master held his ground however, despite sliding back a bit. "I will burn the evil right out of your heart!" He shouted, slapping Blake's hands which caused him to release the wires. He took aim with his right palm. "The flame of justice burns even HOTTER!" He roared, and attempted to fire another flame blast at Blake. Instead, all that appeared were a few small flames, which quickly extinguished. Fire-Man was baffled. More then baffled, he was dissapointed in himself! Surely his fiery spirit and sense of burning justice should be strong enough to create flames! What was going on?

In reality, some of his vital wires had been snapped, including the one that channeled the flame energy through his right arm. No, Fire-Man wouldn't have it... Maybe he just needed to keep trying! "Time to heat things up! My flames will never be extinguished by evil like you!" He continued, jumping into the air. He launched a torrent of flames at Blake with his left palm. Fire-man's confident look returned on his face as he did so. He still had it after all!

Location: Toad Town - Streets ---> Peach's Castle
Mentions:@Kafka Komedy@Jensoman@tex@Lmpkio@rechonq

Oh Mario…Mario…You finally arrived to ‘ruin’ my plans on kidnapping your Princess Peach. BAW-HAW-HAW…

Mario’s grip tightened on his hammer as he glared daggers at Bowser’s spiked hide.

But it seems that someone else happened to catch her first.

Mario continued to glare at the lizard king, and slowly he noticed that Princess Peach was nowhere in sight. Normally, she would be within his clawed-clutches squirming and going: Woe-is-me, my super handsome plumber god Mario. Save me! Well…maybe something along those lines. The plumber blinked as Bowser’s words finally clicked.

“Wait…what?” Mario said in confusion. That wasn’t how it was supposed to go…"What do you mean someone caught her first?”

Bonnie startled him with her sudden appearance, putting him on edge. Then some Zombie Koopa emerged from what seemed like out of nowhere—a secret passage maybe? It made Mario blush. How long had it been since he cleaned the pipes beneath the castle of zombies? His first reaction would have been to crush the turtle with his hammer, but it had addressed Bowser. It had some sort of intelligence? This day was getting weirder and weirder.

Bringing his fingers to his forehead, Mario closed his eyes to push away the headache that threatened to overwhelm his consciousness.

“All right; everyone just shut up! It’s just me and Lizard Breath talkin’ and no one else.”

Mario then directed his hammer at Bowser and warned: “You got one minute to explain what happened here before I beat it outta you.”

“Wait… what?” Mario said in confusion, "What do you mean someone caught her first?”

Bowser made an mental sigh in his head, seemingly relieved that he is coming to an understanding of the situation. Yet as he tries to explain, he sees the bandit Bonnie come into the door, issuing a confused "Huh?". He wanted to greet the thug, but regardless he didn't.

"Yeah," Bowser answers with a nod as he crosses his arms, "Someone actually beat me to kidnapping her for once in awhile. I mean, heh, not like I waaaaaaas gonna kidnap her, but you see~"

As he begins to explain himself, a newcomer then came on screen, this one being the drunken wreck, Soggy Dry Bones.

"Hey King Bowser did you get peach already!? Where is she at? Have you whisked her away already?" As he came in shouting to Bowser, he noticed the other two in the room as well. "Well if it isn't the great Mario, I bet you've come to stop us, but this time the great Koopa King has a plan that you'll... uhh you'll never... uhh... what? Is this some sort of joke? Was it this other bandit over here? Since when do bandits steal princesses?"

An annoyed sigh growls from the King's maw as he facepalms himself.

"Shut up Soggy Bones..." he says disgustingly at the Dry Bones, "Just, shut up."

Bringing his fingers to his forehead, Mario closed his eyes to push away the headache that threatened to overwhelm his consciousness.

“All right; everyone just shut up! It’s just me and Lizard Breath talkin’ and no one else.”

Mario then directed his hammer at Bowser and warned: “You got one minute to explain what happened here before I beat it outta you.”

"Must it always result in senseless violence?" growls King Koopa under his breath.

He then coughs once and finally begins to explain himself.

"So here I was," Bowser begins, "Just cruisin' along the Mushroom Kingdom on my sweet ride to go and meet the Princess right? You know, the usual. As I made this one turn, I suddenly hear this loud-ass scream coming from the Castle's balcony, already identifying it as Peach's, which then happened to have like 6 beams of light come out of it! I being both puzzled and worried, then quickly head to the castle, transferring onto my Koopa Car I had conveniently had (which you destroyed god damnit), and happened to get up to the balcony where I met this Count Collector or somethin'. Looked verrrrrrry much like that creep Count Bleck from way back when, only with some differences. Apparently he wanted to add Peach to some sort of "collection" of his, even having her trapped in some card. I tried to get her back, but was unsuccessful and now they're god knows where. Probably in another castle, which ain't mine lemme tell you that."

That must've been more than a minute, but regardless he told them all that he knew.

Elec man sighed as Fireman continued to ramble on about his justice-whatever. What a brute! "Fire-man, you're injured! You should make a graceful retreat and allow me to deal with this hideous little dinosaur... Thing!" Elecman insisted. But Fireman didn't hear him, immediately firing yet another attack at Blake. Elecman shrugged and shook his head. "What am I to do with you?" With that, he began charging a large amount of electricity in either of his hands. Within seconds, he was ready to launch his attack. Oh and what a brilliant display it was! Two coiling thunderbolts sprung forth towards Blake from each of Elec man's hands. "Shocking!"

Location: Toad Town - Streets ---> Peach's Castle
Mentions:@Kafka Komedy@Jensoman@tex@Lmpkio@rechonq

Must it always result in senseless violence?

Mario smirked. “When dealin’ with the princess’s number one kidnapper, uh, yeah.”

Scumbag…, he thought. What a dumb question from such a vile creature. His actions in the past and even now deserved the wrath of every sturdy splinter that comprised his hammer……he might have saved the world once, but it was only because the world was in danger that they shared a common goal. Bowser was still Bowser. Resting the mallet on the ground, Mario crossed his hands over the pummel and leaned upon it, listening to Bowser’s explanation.

So here I was…Just cruisin’ along the Mushroom Kingdom on my sweet ride to go and meet the Princess right?

Mario spat, “Pft! You must think me an idiot if I’m gonna believe that, Goomba Shit. The entire kingdom knows about your sick kidnappin’ fetish.”

He then muttered under his breath, Just about as bad as shy girl’s kleptomania…

The scream part was true. The whole kingdom must had heard it.

Stroking his thick manly moustache in thought, Mario mused over what Bowser had said so far about the enemy resembling Count Bleck. Could they have been related?

His hand then moved to his head as he reached beneath his red cap to scratch his scalp.

“Do you think Count Bleck and Timpani might have…had a kid before they gone went off and saved the world?”

The battle raged on as I pulled some wiring out of the robotic fire guy. He tried to attack me twice, but, the first one failed, causing me to accidentally let my guard down for the next one, which hit me pretty badly, mainly because I was standing right in front of him. The electrical one shouted about how Fireman should retreat, and when Fireman didn't, the electric guy shot lightning bolts at me, something I was very familiar with. I actually LET them hit me, causing me no additional pain, heck, I even smiled, a bit, knowing that they couldn't hurt me, and I was completely correct in my assumption. "Heh... oh, I mean, OW, how painful those lightning bolts are! Oh, no, I think you hit my weakpoint!" I tried to sound convincing, though, if my horrible acting skills didn't give me away, my chuckles at both the beginning and the end probably did. Speaking of lightning, however, I figured that was my next best course of action, against the fire guy, obviously, and I tried my best to aim for the hole that I made, knowing that hitting him with an electrical jolt, there would probably cause some sort of chaos that the engineers didn't plan for, if destroy the robot. While I still put on a courageous face, in all honesty, that fire did a number on me, and I wasn't in top condition from falling down from the castle several times... I'd have given an exact count, but having your head hit with a brick over and over again makes that a little difficult.

Fire-Man smirked as his flames struck Blake. He got an annoyed look on his face as Elec-Man's attack struck the Yoshi through the flames. He turned to him. "Elec-man, these super-HEATED flames of JUSTICE are more then enough to take this evil beast down!" He explained to him. He sighed in dissapointment. "Well, looks like the FIIIRE of-" Fire-Man muttered, being cut off by Blake's words as he remained standing despite the injuries he'd received. That was an attack from both him AND Elec-Man! Just how durable was the evil before him? He didn't realise that Blake was putting up an act about being injured by Elec-Man's attack, either.

As Blake's bolt of electricity speeded towards Fire-Man, the robot quickly moved his right arm in front of the spot that Blake was aiming at. The bolt blasted his right arm clean off, despite stopping the electricity that was aimed for the hole. "Now things are really HEATING UP!! MOOORRREE FIIIRRREE!!" He roared, as flames erupted from the volcano on his head and coated his entire body. It seemed that the wires from the hole in his chest and the hole where his right arm would have been didn't get damaged by the flames, which wasn't surprising as the robot already had fire coursing through them. The robot dashed at Blake as flames erupted from the back of his legs, speeding him up.

The robot now appeared like a massive fireball, aimed to crash right into Blake.

La Bandita

Local: Peach's Castle
^{Operatives: @Holy Soldier, @Lmpkio, @rechonq}

Bonnie's confusion grew ever evident as yet another person joined them. Some random Dry Bones who seemed inebriated and idiotic. Apparently, he and Bowser were working together. Bon felt indignant. He hired some drunkard over her? She could hand this things ass to it a million times over, even if it was a nigh-immortal Dry bones. She began to walk over to the both of them and give them a piece of her mind, but was interrupted by Mario, who had told both her and the Dry Bones, apparently called "Soggy" to shut their traps. Bon wanted to insult him as well, but Bowser mumbled something, and she wasn't able to make out what he had said before he began his explanation.

Bonnie mostly got what happened at the castle before her and Mario had arrived, but there was one thing she didn't get. Who was this "Count Bleck?" Apparently, Mario knew who he was too. How the hell did she not know of this? He almost sounded familiar, maybe, but she was probably getting him confused with someone else. Apparently, he had a main squeeze: a lady named Timpani. The two saved the world or something? Then why would their kid go around kidnapping princesses?

"Who the hell is Count Bleck? Or Timpani?" The thief asked. She was super confused right now. Nothing was making any sense, and she really just wanted to sit down in an alley and count her coins.

Soggy had a faint rememberance of Count Bleck and Timpani for that fact, but because of Bowser's incessant rudeness, he decided to take his advice and stay quiet. That didn't last for long though. Running his mouth was a specialty of Soggys.

In his most sarcastic tone, he replied. "Well since you asked so nicely, I'll tell you what I know about him. He was some weirdo who managed to force a marriage between Bowser and Peach in order to destroy the dimension or something. He was upset at something. He liked Timpani too I think. I know tippi helped Mario out some. It was a good time for drinking then, so yeah I did a lot of that."

Soggy gave his two cents on the matter, even though it probably wasn't even worth that.

Bowser growled in annoyance as Mario remarked on his "Bullshit". Hell, he didn't need to be that mean about it. I mean sure, a little mean, but c'mon now. Either way, as soon as he finished his speech, it appears it has raised some questions around the room. Bandita was the one who asked the most obvious of them all.

"Who the hell is Count Bleck? Or Timpani?"

Bowser was going to respond, until Soggy filled her in... sorta.

"Well since you asked so nicely, I'll tell you what I know about him. He was some weirdo who managed to force a marriage between Bowser and Peach in order to destroy the dimension or something. He was upset at something. He liked Timpani too I think. I know tippi helped Mario out some. It was a good time for drinking then, so yeah I did a lot of that."

A sigh utters from Bowser's maw as he thought on crushing that dry bones with his bare fists. Regardless, he kept his cool.

"Like that numb skull said," the King of Koopa remarks shamefully, "Bleck is a damn weirdo. And lemme tell you that marriage was a phony. It wasn't real. Otherwise you wouldn't see me be kidnappin' her anyways right?"

Then came the big theory of the day.

“Do you think Count Bleck and Timpani might have… had a kid before they gone went off and saved the world?”

King Koopa would freeze like an ice cube when he heard that statement. Could something like that be possible? If it was, holy shit this would be quite a twist. Perhaps this plumber was onto something. Bowser simply glares at his nemesis as if he made the biggest offense in the entire Kingdom, only for that to become a sigh as he even scratched his head in wonder.

"I don't know..." he responded unsurely, "But whatever that case may be, lemme tell you all something."

He then raises his fist and points to the ceiling as he announces to everyone in the room.

"We all gotta get Peach back from that crazy caped weirdo. That's a fact. Without her, this whole Kingdom is gonna fall. Plus, the ONLY one that gets to kidnap her is ME and ME only! And I'm not gonna let that guy take that advantage away from me! . . . *Sigh* Regardless, in order to save her, and must I add the Universe, I say we need to band together once again. We may be rivals or enemies or nemesises to one another, but we need to stick together if we're gonna have any chance on saving her and the entire World."

He then reaches his hand out to Mario.

"Red stache'." he then remarks, "We may hate each other with a passion, but I say let's bad together once again to get her back. Hell, if you do, I'll be a Mr. Nice Guy, and give your Kingdom one month free from me kidnapping her. That may not sound like much, but what will you rather have? A world WITH Peach... or a world WITHOUT her? Waddya say, ya ole' chap? Team up like good times?"

Fireman's words were irritating, to say the least. His fire-hot attitude was going to get him killed. Blake cut in though, shrugging off his electrical bolts for a moment, before crying out in... Agony? No! That acting was terrible! Elecman's eye twitched as Blake feigned an injury. How dare he try to trick him? Elecman was a natural thespian! This dramatic crime was disgusting! "Who do you think you are, pulling such an unsightly act??" Elecman blared. In the same moment, Blake fired a jolt of electricity at Fireman, and destroying his arm canon. The nerve! Blake's little display was so insulting that elecman was too distracted to defend his ally from the element that he had mastery over! It made Elecman even more furious. The yellow and black clad robot rushed after Fireman, preparing to pelt Blake with physical blows after his hot-headed friend's attack, using his right, gloved fist.

The first thing that happened was another attack from Fireman, this time, he was just trying to ram into me, though, with the way he coated himself in fire, he made even that look impressive... it was, unfortunately for him, predictable enough for me to just jump over, thankfully, and then I couldn't help but laugh at the lightning bot's overreaction at my horrible acting, I did, however, try to apologize with "Sorry, couldn't help it, I'm-" I was going to say more, but the robot decided the best course of action after that was to try to punch me with his metal fists, and that sort of interrupted my apology. His first hit actually hit me right in the gut, causing me to say "Oof!", and causing me to fall backwards, landing on my rear end. My throat seems to have recovered by now, and, while it was still risky, I got up, and decided to breathe fire on the robot, all while trying to move out of the way of his next attack. I coughed up some smoke after the fire breath, as usual, and also, as usual, my throat felt bad. Oddly enough, it didn't feel as bad as the last time I used this... maybe I was building up a sort of resistance to this, somehow? Maybe, sometime in the future, I'll be able to breathe fire all I want without turning my throat into a war zone... someday, but that day wasn't today. While my expression was still the same one I wore at the start of the fight, I knew that one more attack from that robot would actually finish me off... I just had to keep dodging... I had to hang in there, and I had to try to persevere. If only he wasn't smart enough to try to punch me... ugh... then this fight would be in the bag, by now... I thought as I tried to weigh my options, right now. I couldn't really let these two win, running wouldn't work, either, as that would have them continue their rampage on the innocent civilians... my fire breath will take some time to recover, and I know lightning, itself won't do much to him... as much as I hate it, I really had to punch this robot... yeah, that didn't sound like a good idea, but it was my only option at this point.

Elecman tried to jump back, but couldn't stop himself from getting caught in Blake's torrent of flames. His yellow gloves and mask melted within seconds, leaving his fingers mashed together in a goopy yellow slime, and his vision blurred by the goey mask around his eyes. "Good heavens!!" He cried out, staggering back several steps while trying to scrape his eyes clean. It was no use though. His once rubber-like hands were now gooey stumps, and he was nearly blind. "Fireman! We must return to Dr Wily!"

As Fire-Man charged, he got a look of annoyance on his face as Blake jumped right over him. He avoided his burning charge of Justice! He couldn't believe it! He turned back around to face Elec-Man and Blake and seemed rather displeased as his companion was injured. He most certainly did not like Elec-Man's suggestion to retreat. He began to charge flames in his left palm. "If the flames of Justice aren't hot enough yet...Then we just need MORE FIRE! FIIIRRRREEE!!" He roared, launching another flame blast at Lugia's chest.

Location: Peach's Castle
Mentions:@Kafka Komedy@Jensoman@tex@Lmpkio@rechonq

Mario’s eyes were narrowed and arms crossed before his chest when he heard Bowser’s declarative outburst. His expression soured even further when Bowser suggested they team up again, his frown practically disappearing behind his awesome moustache. His blue eyes then glanced to the extended claw and he made no motion to take it.

“How about a world without you?” Mario asked bluntly. His arms uncrossed as he rested his hands upon his hips, his burly chest puffed out as though he were challenging another male. “What makes you think I need your help? I get Peach back and you’re just gonna kidnap her again in some endless cycle. Why don’t you just settle down and sit this one out? Find yourself a Queen Koopa so you don’t keep kidnappin’ Peach!”

Mario turned his back to the giant Koopa and grasped his mallet. He walked back over to the balcony and stared out at the Mushroom Kingdom as it fell into chaos due to some unknown army. Making deals with Bowser always put a lump in his throat, and every muscle in his body seemed to tense up to prevent him from shaking his hand. It was like making a deal with the devil. Just hearing him passionately declare how he wanted to get Peach back just so he could return to kidnapping her bothered him. What kind of hero would he be to allow such injustice? He had already teamed up with the kleptomaniac shy gal. Heck, there wasn’t a single good soul on his team except for maybe his little brother Luigi, then again…Mario blushed a little. If Luigi joined the team, then he would make them all look like devils.

Reaching a hand up beneath his hat, he scratched his scalp and groaned loudly as though the decision he was about to make was agonizingly painful, “Look. I won’t shake your hand because I don’t agree with what your true motive is behind all this, but I’ll accept your terms. I don’t exactly know what’s goin’ on and we got an army out there in the streets comin’ from somewhere crazy. I guess what I’m trynna’ say is…me and this kingdom are gonna need all the help we can get.”

Mario hopped onto the balcony rail and hefted his mallet onto his shoulder. He continued to watch as Toad Town burned before he peered over his shoulder at the group, “Let’s just stop talkin’ and get to the bottom of this mess before there isn’t a Toad Town left.”