Mario and Bowser Frenemies Forever 2

Typical Saturday Morning (Chapter 10)

Disclaimer: Mario and co belong to Nintendo.

Author note: The set up begins...

There was yelling, jesting, off-key singing, seat cushion springs creaking from children bouncing, and spit-balls flying in the school bus returning from Bowser Badlands, a swampy outdoorsy and more remote area of World 8 where the official Koopa Scouts campsite was stationed. One such kid present was special, the prince of Dark Land. Pinned to Bowser Junior's uniform forming a colorful mosaic were all the merit badges earned because he was simply the most skilled, the most disciplined, and the King's son- but not exactly in that order. Regardless he was content to mostly be like any other scout, not really old enough yet to be more than a typical spoiled child. The bus screeched to a halt and the game system he'd been glued to flew out his little paws, sliding under the seat in front of him.

"Oooh free 3DS with Smash Brothers in it and DLC and Bayonetta's skimpy outfit!" a scout a few seats ahead screeched.

"Gimme that! Hey!" Junior warned, beating his fist hard against the seat from behind.

"Kids, for the love of... Just settle down," the buzzy beetle bus driver moaned as they kept driving over an unusual amount bricks and debris in the road.

The boomerang bro Scoutmaster seated in the bench behind the driver spun around towards the scouts getting more riled up by the second, serene as he always was. "Kids stay in your seats alright? And look at that! Guess there were some storms while we were away. Remember what we learned about weather?"

"The rain clouds get angry and then dance around in a circle!" a spiny scout answered.

"Thaaaat's right! It's called a tornado. Oh and here's.." The Scoutmaster's smile faded. "..Here's Scout Junior's stop coming up."

After some hesitation Junior stepped off the bus with oversized backpack strapped on. He was then left in the dust. The tyke could see for miles around because just about everything was knocked flat. His home for all he'd known in the last six years, Bowser's Castle was desolated with its roof even ripped from it. All of the lava was drained from the moat and displaced into puddles in the front lawn. The family's old airship was lying flat on its side but still intact. Wandering around he found everyone's possessions scattered about and then some of his family haggardly standing around at a makeshift camp site in the backyard. Bowser still wore a sleeping cap and had large bags under his eyes, waddling around to face his son.

"Junior?" he sputtered, rubbing his eyes in a dazed fashion. "Was everything safe coming back?"

Junior sprint ahead cling to his father who came to at the physical contact. "What happened daddy?"

"Junior!? You're safe. Thank you whoever's up there. Listen son, I woke up like this. Me and everyone else!" He pointed to his king sized bed reduced to a pile of burning rubble in one of the lava pools. "Plus Ludwig, Lemmy, and Iggy are missing. All of my koopa troop too or maybe they ran away! Gah! I'm losing my mind!"

Larry dragged from a hole torn in the castle a chest of items. "You're welcome folks. Pfft making me do all the-"

Almost everyone gathered to salvage junk, Kammy a portable fan that gently stir air around her face, Kamek had a wearable blanket that was promptly worn, Morton found his prized half finished thesaurus he was working on, Roy got a suspicious little bag, and finally Wendy dug in. A second later she kicked the chest away with a pout.

"This is just CDs, energy drinks, and video games! And not even my Princess Parlor ones! Daddy! He's making me mad! I didn't get to do my face this morning. I woke up on top of a cannon ball. My back hurts! My-"

Bowser covered his ears, grimacing. "Shut up shut up shut up! Where's Peach? She's supposed to be in my sight all of the time!"

"I'm over here Bowser." Stoically Peach walked up, her foot attached to a chain attached to Toadsworth attached to a weighty black ball. "First I get kidnapped then an apocalypse happens! We didn't even get married this time to start it!"

"Gee I wonder what terrible little thing will happen when you do tie the knot again, ee hee hee," Kammy wondered.

"THERE HAS TO BE A WORLD TO GET MARRIED IN FIRST!" Bowser bellowed.

"Know what daddy? I learned survival skills in camp!" Junior snatched from some rubble old lab test tubes clearly marked 'toxic'. "See, we use these to collect rain water." He held his 3DS. "And the Street Pass feature will tell others where we are if they have a 3DS!" He picked up a bottle of beer dislodged from a cooler. "And this alcohol will keep us warm!"

"Hooooold it. I'm not sure about that." Bowser gently removed the beverage and stored it for 'safe keeping' in his shell and sighed. "Okay. We gotta do something instead of standing around. Kamek, can ya fly up and look around? I see that broom is only half on fire.."

"Yeah yeah..." Kamek flew up to scout the perimeter of the castle, taking his time. He returned to Bowser. "I know the roofs gone but the walls look strong so maybe we can repair-"

There were cracking noises then the left wall of Bowser's castle fell over against the adjacent one causing a domino effect to ruin the entire structure. A great dust storm covered everyone and then the landscape truly was leveled then…

...

Under a red sky the party took a desert trek across the Dark Land grounds on the way to Neo Bowser City. They traveled through a village and found displaced land owners standing, if able, in the midst of everything he'd owned. They eyed the royal family with disdain the moment they were in sight and said nary a word.

"I almost feel bad for these people," Toadsworth whispered, sticking close to the Princess. "Well, not really Bowser but certainly folks just happening to take up residence here."

Peach nodded to his words without really hearing. She felt lightheaded as she was sure everyone- even Bowser felt, but for different reasons. What could this natural disaster mean for her secret deal with Larry? The two hadn't a chance to rendezvous for obvious reasons. Should she even worry about that now? Would he be willing to do this serious thing for her? And she was only thinking of herself. Larry would be a defector of his own kind and she might have to shield him from retaliation somehow, not that she would be opposed to a koopa ally in her kingdom. Her stricter and old fashioned toad contemporaries on the other hand..

A call dragged her out of her thoughts.

"Vater! Over here!" A haggard and disheveled Ludwig blocked the path with his arms stretched outward. "We must not travel this way! Might I suggest immediate retreat?" he requested. Lemmy and Iggy revealed where they were hiding from under a pile of rubble, powdery and dusty and they held a tattered thick book and a pocket watch respectively, begging more questions from everyone.

"I'm glad you're alright but what is going on? Why were you missing all night?!" Bowser couldn't help but to yell over everyone else's chatter.

"It is quite a story Vater! We just wanted a witness report on my scheme and then- Well at some point I lost consciousness and then-" Ludwig's face went pale when a huge group taking up the entire road marched their way, an eclectic group of goombas, koopas, and other baddies holding bats and planks of wood.

"We're aware of your ploy to drive out the poor and disadvantaged of the land!" a goomba girl with purple hair and some facial piercings screamed through a megaphone.

"And force us to live in your communist corrupt Neo Bowser City instead! We the 'Dark Land Anti-Monarchy' won't stand for it anymore!" added a boomerang bro with a trench coat and trilby.

"No! No! No!" their Anti-Ma group chanted.

Bowser nearly staggered backwards. "Now what is this? And what the heck is 'communist' anyway?"

Wendy keep her head down and arms crossed. "Daddy I-I know these people," she said nearly inaudibly. "Raven, Jim and some of the others? I started the 'Anti-Ma' in eighth grade when I was just listening to people on the internet instead of reading actual books and getting my history major-" Bowser cut her off by growling and the sound of his blood boiling. Everyone indeed remembered that phase of hers when she wanted to stick it to the Man, the Man being her father and brothers and just being an annoying ironically privileged brat in general. "Alright alright daddy. I'm like not a rebel anymore for sure! I promise! I'll just 'cancel' myself then!" To her surprise that wasn't enough to dodge the leers of her brothers.

"Dat 'PC' culture of yours is balls," Roy grumbled.

Morton jumped in. "Terrible. Unsatisfactory! Bullocks!… I mean bollucks!" All of the Koopalings agreed with the budding English writer, which in turn made the Anti-Mas match volume and win due to numbers.

"GAH! ENOUGH! None of us did nothing to cause this ya wierdos!" Bowser declared. "Why would I demolish my own castle? So stop complaining, stop giving those crazy looks, and if you're smart try to get out of here with us!"

"Oh, put a sock in it!" A pokey rebel launched a sharp spike ball that missed Bowser by inches. Then the group collectively rushed with their weapons drawn.

Everyone did an 180 and ran from where they came, even Peach and Toadsworth. Bowser and company kept running until they were sprinting through grass instead of red soil. The sky got bluer and the air clearer and soon they were in a sunny field, a mushroom house and a river in the distance. Roy craned his neck towards the largest stone structure visible that reached into the clouds. He knew exactly where they were. They had been driven out to the bordering fifth known mushroom world, Sky Land!

...

"Hey… Dude. Dude! Wake up!… Jelectro?"

The noki leaned up from his side on the hard floor. Over night he couldn't sleep except during the last hour it seemed. The air was cold and there there thick iron bars in his face. With a burst of energy he sprung up to cling to them. A prision. Outside his barred window was a white court house like building with some high rises of various brick colors in the backdrop. Poshley Heights!

"Listen, I know you don't wanna work with someone like me and I wish it hadn't gone like it did, but I need you back here dude. Where are you exactly?"

"Working on it," Jelectro replied to Mitch's voice, gritting his teeth and trying to ignore the sting. His personal belongings were confiscated, his glasses, the Press's telephone he risked so much to obtain with proof of the hospital conspiracy, and the noki's ear plugs. Placebo or not, they helped him tackle the discordant voices of all living things in a radius around him funneling to him telepathically. The cacophony was too thick for him to pick anything out of it. What a great start for a day he thought with sarcasm quickly redacted when he picked up a coherent thought from someone in the building. On the prision's the menu his was favorite dish despite cannibalistic implications, 'escargot'!

...

"I had to respond when I heard of this situation from, you know, those blaring news sources. They are so quick with information these days. Speaking of which, were your injuries severe? Golly!" Captain Toad examined the fresh scrapes and bruises revealed by Mario's sleeves being rolled up in the hot weather. The plumber also had a slight limp The three were on their way from the care facilities, passing by prairies and expansive ranches to head to the southern hospital. Agents sent by Peach's father were there waiting for them as well. "The inflammation's identical to what happened to Bank Toad."

Luigi gave him a blank look.

"That's why the rest of the brigade aren't with me, Mr. Luigi. During our last treasure hunt, Bank Toad slipped off of a cliff!"

Mario bumped into someone. A murmuring crowd stood in the lot outside the doors of the two story western styled edifice. He tried to see around tall cowboy hats.

"Watch and learn, partners!" Jr. Troopa came along from the side proudly showing off. Instead of using his staff or wings or his ability to grow a spike, he did some sort of a rope trick. The hospital door was slightly ajar and so he sent the rope in and caught something big and heavy. "I got em'!" What ever spectacle he was going for fell flat when out came a group of teeth clattering toad guards, the very elite force that was supposed to be protecting everyone.

"Save us!" the burly mushroom men squealed.

A parakoopa janitor named Probabilly, broom in hand, leisurely exited the hospital and kindly propped open the door for what sounded like a charging stampede. The Mushroom Flu patients in gowns spilled out, red eyed and babbling endlessly about anything and everything from significant others, to day plans (from the previous day presumably) to the weather, repelling everyone in a panic.

"You never signed my hat, Legendary Captain!" a green capped toad screamed heading towards Luigi. The plumber leap high in the air and on a wagon to escape.

"No more homework!" A little bob-omb tackled Jr. Troopa down. The guards tied up by Jr. Troopa were powerless during the rampage.

Captain Toad hung on a clothes line feet dangling to avoid conflict, unperturbed. "Typical Saturday morning for me..."

Finally Mario was knocked back into the wagon. It tilted over and his brother and the Captain came down with him. Once they got out of the pile of tangled fabric and wooden pieces, everything got quiet. Too quiet. The coma walk period cooled off and the sick were completely unconscious all over the ground.

...

"Anything else darling?" Birdo stepped up to the bed with something steaming and appetizing in a bowl. Yoshi had stayed in bed late but was now more lazy than tired. He checked the bandage on his nose. A little tender, but nothing to keep him in all day. He'd need to do something eventually. The hero in him couldn't take a sick day if he tried. He wasn't sure if that was sad or not.

"Nah. I've been through worse," he answered his fiancé at last.

The pink dinosaur sat on the edge of his hammock and rose the spoon to his mouth. Enjoying the apple cider, Yoshi relaxed among the native sounds of birds, other dinos outside the treehouse, and even his companion Poochy out in the yard below before a notification chime went off. The spoon froze.

"I'll check just in case." Yoshi tossed the covers to check his phone, the irritated glare from Birdo unseen. "Whoa! I gotta head over Mario's to help out. That was a group text from Luigi. Did you hear that Peach-"

Birdo tugged on his arm, holding him close. "What about them? Are you really going to abandon me again?"

"Not for long." Yoshi tried to remove her hand but it didn't budge. He then chucked to himself darkly. "Listen to me honey. You know it's my responsibility too when things go wrong, especially with Bowser! Remember him? Big scary koopa guy?"

Birdo sighed and faced away from him, cross a leg over the other. "How could I forget? That's my point... You bring their issues from the Mushroom Kingdom here, hundreds of miles away to Dinosaur land. For what? Like those plumbers need you every. Single. Time!"

Yoshi stopped smiling. "...It's not every time is it? No. It's not. I think. Well I do hang out with them a ton but...no no no!"

"I'm just saying dear," she started, facing him again. Yoshi noticed her diamond ring catching the sunlight, sparkling brightly. He made sure it did before he saved up so many dinosaur coins to buy it for her. "-that WE were going to starting something here, right? We were even looking at cabins nicer than this tree house of yours for when we finally... Oh forget it. Forget it all if this is what we're going to be now. A long distance! You just don't care!" she exclaimed with a tear rolling down.

Not wasting a second Yoshi pulled her close comfortingly. "No no no no no no don't say things like that. I'm sorry just.. just..." Birdo kept listening to his fervent mumblings in her ear as she embraced the dino back. Of course after a moment her irritated look returned, again unseen by him...

...

"-Actually I did use cowboy boots once in one of Ludwig's forced ballets. He was kind of weird when he was younger. Are we done now?"

"I'm still better than you," Jr. Troopa replied, waving the plumber on. "Yep. I'd wreck ya."

Mario rolled his eyes. "I forfeit. You're better at me at square dancing. Can we move on?" Tired of swatting away flies and muggy heat, he stood up to finalize the impromptu barn house meeting. In there were also a dozen of some curious things lined up in open stable doors, some sort of cyborg yoshi on roller wheels with a saddles, silver painted with sharp claws and red eyes. Each had a short antenna on their heads. Mario inquired what were those and why they weren't used earlier. He was told by Vick that they would have been up and running but his phone was a Mario Galaxy Note 7 and blew up in the heat that morning. So.. that was a thing. Anyway the plans were to keep the patients here in the Southern hospital, lock doors to contain them, and don't cause any trouble while he and his team take care of business.

To catch up on the rest of his crew some transport waited for Mario, a station wagon and not the all-terrain 4x4 he expected from an adventurer like Captain Toad. When he got inside Luigi was waiting. They went to 'Hotel Mario' with neon flickering lights putting the natural sun to shame as their car approached the litter filled and oily parking lot, not having improved a bit since the nineties. Mario left the car to limp in using a cane he'd acquired while his brother followed. Inside the lobby had old cracked paint and plastic palm trees lining the faded carpet leading to the desk maned by a goomba in an over sized tie. There were colorful and blaring slot machines lining the walls trying to grab their attention.

"Aye! Mario and Luigi!" the clerk greeted like he knew them. He didn't. "Interested in a stay? Or our other services?"

The brothers split and Mario approached alone.

Goomba eyes shifted from left to right. "..Jump Man, you're looking rough. I got an import from Rogueport and it'll fix you right up."

Luigi poked his head into the recreation room attached and was shocked. The toads of Peach's castle were all at long tables with game boards and empty plates of food from breakfast. A mini ninja with a mic read off the numbers robotically and the toads were very into it. He cleared his throat loudly.

"We were just trying to raise money to fix Peach's castle!" Toadette hid her board under the table too late.

"I repent!" Buckenberry tossed his board aside dramatically, red paper dots flung into the air. "Take me with you Luigi!"

"Stay!" Toadette snapped at him like a pet trainer.

"How's Gold?" Luigi noticed the yellow toad in their adventures with his head down on the table resting. It was bandaged up, but 'Ala-Gold' gave a thumbs up so it was time begrudgingly to move on.

"They're okay in there, just 'gaming'. Of course I'd be the one to do your work again," Luigi whispered down the back of Mario when they met back in the lobby. Mario was still at the desk and in fact the goomba was still spouting out details of some product as they were leaving.

"Don't start anything little brother, I'd just had to turn down twenty offers for 'essential mushroom oils' that are supposed to cure everything."

"Don't start what?" Luigi replied icily, contrasting the heat wave they walked into outside. "You invited Bowser to the club leading to this in the first place. Meanwhile I was out there busting my tail tracking down Zoo Diddley all for it to mean nothing because Bowser won! Plus today we haven't heard from Boo or Yoshi!"

Mario stopped walking but didn't face back. "How is that my fault?! Bowser found me when I was finding Peach who shouldn't have ran off! And those other two-"

"Blame everyone but yourself. You have an attachment to that monster so just face it!"

Kylie Koopa ran up the sidewalk waving for them. "Sup, fellas! Did I interrupt? No? Good. Bowser's goons last night tried to give me the shake down, would ya believe? I snapped a photo and they stole it. But I have backups, I always do, and backups of my backup-"

"Kylie, we're busy."

"Right," Luigi added. His phone began going off and he fumbled around, then Mario's did the same then Kylie's. Everyone checked their either email or text message.

"Re: Dr. Toadley: Toad and Daisy just discharged themselves by coma walking?" Mario read out loud.

"And they're causing a ruckus alright!" Kylie added. "My boss Steve just messaged that he's currently trapped in his car with Toad and Daisy jumping on top of it! I'll follow you guys!"

A remote push button fob revved up a silver Aston Mushroom car parked on the sidewalk. She made no effort to explain where it came from or the numerous scratches and dents on it from some altercation. Not finding it worth it to shoo her off at this point, all of them sped to the Mushroom Press where there was a scene in the four lane wide streets. There were three toads in all, including their Toad plus Daisy and a yoshi girl all over the place diverting traffic away. Toad and Daisy stood on top of a car swinging around two broken street signs left and right, like for an imaginary tennis game using Steve the Bullet bill as the ball.

"Ahhhhhhhhh!" the reporter wailed as Captain Toad drove past very gingerly to the annoyance of the Mario bros and Kylie tailgating.

Mario hopped out the moving car and rolled hard. Toad and Daisy took one glace at him and jumped off the car to make him the next ball. It was like their scheduled rematch was right now as Mario got whacked by the aluminum stop and yield signs. Luigi dashed out to wrestle away the sign from Daisy but she put up a tug-o-war match with him.

"Enough.. digging up my backyard.. dawg!" Daisy grunt with some super strength to match.

"Daisy it's me snap out of iiiiiit!" Luigi yelled, struggling while Mario retrained Toad.

"Nothing gets between me and my free pizza!" Toad cried, squirming out of Mario's grasp.

Kylie dropped next to her boss on the sidewalk. "Steve! You stayed up for sixty-four hours once when we were short staffed, brother. You can't give up now!"

"Just write your story," he told her softly. "And take this." Wadded up in his pocket were some scrap papers.

Luigi got kicked by the princess, falling on his back. Daisy rose the sign up above like a wild crazy woman and slammed down, but something snatched it right out of her palms. She swung empty air at Luigi and lost her balance, careening right on top of him. 'Booigi the Second' appeared in the spot almost like a vision, holding the sign while smiling slyly. They then pried Toad off of Mario and everything was looking up before Booigi forgot about the other three patients. The two toads and yoshi girl pulled the cover off a fire hydrant, drenching the street and sending their small bodies up into the air, eventually landing them on the roofs of the shops lining the road. From there the frenzied state resumed, the patients flinging down bricks, air ducts, and more from the rooftops and down on any pedestrians and the parked cars. Car alarms went off and realizing they'd made things worse, Booigi disappeared.

Captain Toad then decided to take care of a problem no one knew about yet. The station wagon cruising around made an abrupt U-turn to strike two pedestrians on the sidewalk with black trench coats on. They were launched right on Steve's car, smashing out the windows with a mighty clash just as the Captain meant with his adroit little plan. Their identities were revealed as a fire and hammer bro, spies of the Koopa Troop, and they moaned in pain while the all patients dropped unconscious again, the coma walking timing out. Luigi pulled up from the ground with the princess in a sleeping state on his lap. He'd not mind this in any other circumstance..

Soon they were back at the Toadley Clinic where the escapees originated and the decision was made to relocate them south. The intern thanked them repeatedly while Dr. Toadley remained silent and only nodded. The place was torn up to sheds and the intern apologized for that too. Toadley's work station was being held up by stacks of books and his laptop was currently on fire. The beds were in shambles and magazines were on the floors. Windows were covered in tape. Mario shook the doctors hand and almost left before he spoke up.

"Ah. Did I forget to tell you something? Yes I did. Some Special World Hospital colleges are personally coming HERE!"

Mario whipped around. "Here? With Koopa Troop SPIES infiltrating the city?" He marched right out to Luigi, the Captain, and Kylie waiting. "Change of plans. We can't all go after Bowser because those doctors are returning and of course the koopa's goons will want to sabotage them."

"That does make sense, Mr. Mario." Captain Toad's glance lingered on Luigi. "Perhaps someone should stick behind. My car can reach up to sixty."

"Why? The speed limit in the city is way less."

Luigi gave a start, facing Mario. "You're not going to rescue Peach?"

Mario pulled his brother aside, away from prying eyes. "I feel like that time I was molded into a pinball shape and launched into Bowser's Castle. If I go out now I doubt I'll be able to stomp a single goomba."

"So you think I can do this without you.."

"You're right about yesterday, okay? I guess I get too focused on the big picture sometimes and by the big picture I mean-"

"Bowser."

"Yeah.." Silence lasted for a second but it felt longer.

"Well, I got your back, bro." Luigi felt much of his bitterness ebb away, compelled to step up even if he didn't expect a 'thank you' for it later. That was just life. So they rejoined the others and gave a quick rundown.

…

"Hello?.." Mario chuckled at the extreme reaction he got on the other end of the phone call, Bowser going wild and such. Kylie was giving him a quick ride back down south. "We have to keep up our ritual! Just a reminder: you might wanna tie up any loose ends you have real soon."

"I don't have time to chat with hairy faced freaks like you!" Bowser had lots of noise in the background like a wind tunnel with ugly chants of 'row row row' added to it. "Gotta wedding to plan and I'm gonna invite a lot of people, even if it ain't in the location I expected to be in. Not you though!"

Mario wondered what he meant by that. "Will you invite your spies in the city? Hopefully not because they aren't in any shape to travel now!"

"YEAH PLUMBER!? Don't matter, it's all coming together anyway. Here's a preview." In the background he could hear Peach in distress from something before the line cut. How dare he! Mario angrily tossed his phone out the window but hadn't noticed the car had stopped and they were back down South. The phone landed in a watering basin for moo moos and he had to fish it out.

Finally alone, Kylie sat in the car and checked those notes. It was Steve's latest story based on foreign nations. Sarasaland, formed of four vast and great lands were ruled by four generals and the princess Daisy. With Daisy in town that would make four in charge currently, so why did Steve's report count five currant leaders?

...

"Because we paid a good amount for the convenience a while back." Luigi exited from the passenger seat and went to the front door of his house.

"But I can go up to-"

"Yeah, I know, sixty. Hold on."

Captain Toad held on tightly to the steering wheel in a rigid anxious state until Luigi came back out with his bag of power-ups and motioned him to come to the backyard. There were the seven pipes erected in the grass, each labeled 'Warp Zone'.

"Some people decorate with bird baths, or plants, or swings. We have a way to get places so we can save the day once a week," Luigi explained. "What do you think, Stan?"

"Interesting. And it's Captain Toad," he corrected quickly. Luigi only knew his real name because they shared a night school class years ago. Since then he'd determined he'd never be 'Stan Luke Toad' again, just The Captain. He wasn't sure why he was so subservient to this Mario Brother so far. He was a brigade leader, yet thinking it over again he wasn't exactly adept in the ways of war against Bowser so perhaps he could learn something. Plus he might find treasure maybe.

They took the dark path to World 8. Tumbling out of the exit pipe they found a barren wasteland on the other side. Luigi noticed the drooping and crumbling head that formed Bowser's Castle entrance. That was the only part still standing. In the distance a chant of 'No no no!' echoed. Ever farther than that it seemed like a village was wiped clean by some event. They ran up the castle to find a very fresh and crisp torn out notebook page nailed to a broken column of stone.

"Hello, greetings, salutations, dear visitor! We, the family of King Bowser Koopa, the ex-masters of the land and (we hope) your liege rulers have officially left the land forever! Indefinitely! Permanently! We are now stationed in World 5 Sky Land so if you are a stranded forlorn soldier please report there soon, quickly, expediently! We could utilize you for a certainty!"

-Your prince, Morton Koopa Jr.

(With different penmanship) -Also me, the para-goomba that risked my life sending this message back and fighting off those freakazoid Anti-Monarchy creeps. I deserve some recognition here don't I? My name is.. Paragoomba. Sweet name right?"

Then the words faded off. Puzzled, Luigi backpedaled into the Captain.

Captain Toad was stooped down at some large clawed footprints etched into expansive swirl patterns in the soil. "Golly. There was a tornado, but something is rather unnatural about it. Regardless it caused the exodus obviously." He stood up straight and shrugged.

...

A delivery truck fresh off of the boat that transported it there left deep tire marks through Sirena beach until it reached Hotel Delfino and took up three parking spots. Two sumo bros stepped inside, one dressed like a sci-fi character with a neon green katana and the other in a highly detailed dragon costume. Naturally large by species, these two were ever wider and less athletic than usual making the desk clerk pianta do a double take.

"Brahs! The Dungeons and Koopas-Con was last week! You missed it."

"Aaaactually we are here because we know about the hotttt babes week coming up, hehe.." the first brother, Sam, spoke after sliding up his thick eye glasses.

The clerk in turn slid up his. It was weird how that was contagious, like yawning. "Sooo how long you want your stay? You have your papers, brah?"

"I do," piped up Slam, the younger more nasally sounding brother/dragon. He handed some over and they were most certainly not legible. "Forgive we. The darkness encroached us whilst smuggled on that boat."

"And it stank too!" Sam added.

They got their room booked way at the top floor. Entire elevators were hogged and many bellhops hauled lots of their prized memorabilia for their extended stay. The brothers relished in the fact that they, typically the mules of Bowser whenever he remembered that they owned shipping trucks, escaped the windstorms that stirred up if the rumors were true. They would stay here with all the money they'd saved up by scalping vintage videogames forever and still play with friends online. (It wasn't like they got outside anyway). They ordered everything on the menu from room service and went to their vices, Sam was on a console game and Slam playing a table top game against himself. The window light got dimmer so Sam peered outdoors. People scattered down below on the beach like ants while an unidentified object blocked the light from the sun.

"YOU CANNOT ESCAPE!" the thunder seemed to speak.

The palm trees bent and twisted and dust from sand blew in the air as hurricane like forces came from the clear sky. The building rumbled, knocking over Slam's plastic character figures on the board. The power cut and others screamed in the halls. A tidal wave almost as tall as the hotel sped their way and crashed against the building sweeping the hotel away. It wouldn't take long for the news to spread: Disaster at paradise.

To be continued!

Created: 6/17/19, 6/18 , 6/19, 6/20, 6/23, 6/24, 6/25, 6/26, 6/27, 6/30, 7/7, 7/9

Edits: 7/19, 7/22, 7/28, 7/29, 7/30, 7/31, 8/3, 8/21, 8/25, 8/29, 8/30, 8/31, 9/13, 9/23

12/2/20