Mario & Luigi Superstar Saga Retelling
Prologue 2: Unlikely Alliance
"Ah! It's Bowser!" cried a Toad in Toad Town.
"Quick!" shouted another. "Somebody call Mario!"
"Time to reset the Bowser counter," sighed another.
"Gwa ha ha!" laughed Bowser stomping towards Peach's Castle. "What a glorious day. The streets are filled with Toads screaming and panicking at the mere sight of me and I don't smell any plumbers around. This must be my lucky day. I wasn't planning on it, but I think I'll pay the princess a visit and then kidnap her back to my place." Shoving aside the double doors at the front of the castle, Bowser was greeted by the castle's many guards already trembling with paralyzing fear. Scratching his head, he proceeded to the throne room. "I must be especially gnarly today. They are already cowering before me and I haven't even had to breathe some fire or even roar. This couldn't be more perfect if Peach was waiting for me already tied up." Chuckling at the thought, Bowser entered the throne room and saw Princess Peach sitting on her through sobbing uncontrollably. At her side were a pair of Toads, trying to console her.
"Please," one of them said. "It'll be okay."
"Yeah," agreed the other. "No more tears."
"They're right, princess," stated Bowser approaching them stomping his feet with each step he took. "No need to cry because I'm here."
"B-b-bowser?!?" they cried. "What are you doing here?"
"Look it's Mario!" said one of the Toads in Toad Town as Mario hustled into town, his presence enough to change everyone's terror into excitement.
"And there is his brother," stated another with less excitement and more pity in is voice. "Um, being dragged behind him."
"Someone please help me," mumbled Luigi his words too muffled to be heard.
"Hurry, Mario!" shouted the Toads as Mario ran straight for the castle. "Bowser is after Princess Peach again!"
"I should have known Bowser would show up today," said Mario as he rushed through the double doors. "There was something important happening here today and Bowser can't resist crashing any event going on in the Mushroom Kingdom." Entering into the throne room, Mario spotted Bowser stomping about and Princess Peach in tears. "He's already upset the princess. Bowser!" Mario braked, sliding his feet against the rug and came to a stop behind Bowser. The hog-tied Luigi kept his momentum and flew forward, crashing to Bowser's back and knocking him to the ground.
"Uh," groaned Luigi as he recovered and stood up. "That wasn't fun, but at least I'm free."
"Huh," growled Bowser. "Who here is begging for a good old fashion Bowser bashing?" Gulping hard, Luigi rushed behind his bother as Bowser turned to his attackers. Seeing it was Mario and Luigi, Bowser clenched his fists shaking them and stomping the ground in a violent temper tantrum. "Attacking me when my back is turned, huh? Well, that's typical! "C'mere, Super Coward Bros.!!!" He then charged forward to strike back. Mario ran at him to clash.
Bowser slashed his claw at Mario who swiftly back-stepped to stay out of reach. As Bowser lunged at Mario, he leapt into the air to dodge and countered, stomping on Bowser's head and running down Bowser's shell. Spinning around quickly, Bowser grabbed one of Mario's fleeing feet. Lifting Mario up into the air, dangling by his foot, Bowser slammed Mario onto the ground over and over again.
"Shouldn't you do something to help your brother?" Toad asked Luigi. "It looks like he's in trouble."
"Mario doesn't need any help to take on Bowser," replied Luigi trying to sound confident, but the more he saw his bother get pummeled the more his legs buckled. "Uh, nothing to worry about at all."
"Had enough head butting the ground?" guffawed Bowser as he lifted up Mario once again to gloat. "Awe, gone all silent. No good come backs?"
"I am rather tired of head butting the ground," mumbled Mario.
"What was that now?" asked Bowser moving Mario closer so he could hear. "Speak up now."
"How about I try it on your head," continued Mario swinging his body and ramming his head into Bowser's chin, knocking Bowser off his feet and forcing him to release his grip. Landing on his feet, Mario leapt at the off balance Bowser and attacked him fists swinging fiercely at the Koopa King's paunch.
Taking in a deep breath of air, Bowser exhaled a stream of fire down at Mario, forcing him to back off from his assault. Rubbing at his stomach, Bowser smiled, showing all his large pointy teeth. "Gwa ha ha! Is that the best you can do?" laughed Bowser. "Your punches are weak. Have you been getting soft on pizzas since the last time we fought?"
"I could be asking you the same thing," retorted Mario. "Your belly looks rounder than normal and is that a second chin?"
"You dare insult my royal girth!" snapped Bowser. "Now you'll feel the full power of my awesomeness!" Swinging his fist, Bowser began to prepare a mighty punch. Mario stood his ground, waiting for Bowser to strike. "Not going to run? Gwa ha ha! It'll at least be entertaining to see you try and beat me in a battle of strength." At the same time, Mario and Bowser swung their fists at one another and they connected in the middle with a loud "boom!" Mario's pushed his fist against the center of Bowser's fist, but Bowser merely grinned and flexed the muscles in his arm. With one mighty burst of strength, Bowser overpowered Mario, striking his entire torso with his fist and sent Mario flying backwards, tumbling on the ground all the way to the wall leaving his imprint in it.
"Ugh," groaned Mario knocked for a loop, his eyes spinning.
"Gwa ha ha!" bellowed Bowser heartedly. "You are going to need a 1UP after that one." Bowser continued to laugh, but suddenly stopped and howled in pain, shaking his fist then blowing on it. When the pain began to subside, Bowser was able to calm down to see the cause of his anguish, Mario's fist imprinted on his. "Grr! So your punch was stronger than I gave you credit for. All that managed to do was make me angrier!" Roaring once again, Bowser charged at Mario.
"I think now is definitely a time for you to step up, Luigi," cried Toad.
"N-n-no," whimpered Luigi watching Bowser shake the ground as he stomped towards Mario. "Mario doesn't need my help."
"Are you sure?" yelped Toad. "He still looks out of it and Bowser is getting close."
"I suppose I could try, but it's been ages since I fought," admitted Luigi. "I'd probably just get in the way."
"Once I finish off Mario," stated Bowser. "Then nothing will stand in my way again. The princess will be all mine! This really is my lucky day!"
"Bowser doesn't seem me as a threat," commented Luigi. "I doubt he even knows my name."
"He never will unless you man up and do something!" shouted Toad. "Now save Mario!"
"Oh, you're right, but how?" asked Luigi taking a moment to think and then his eyes opened wide as the answer came to him. "Hey, Mario! Pizza's ready!"
"Pizza?" asked Mario regaining his sense and looked around for the pizza but only saw the Koopa King lunging at him. "Mama mia!" Mario leapt into the air, dodging Bowser's attack and watched as his head broke through the castle wall.
"Ugh," groaned Bowser as he pulled his head free and rubbed his head. "Where did he go now?"
"Up here Bowser!" called Mario getting his attention as he started to descend from his jump and stomped atop Bowser's face, and planted his head into the ground.
"You did it again!" cheered Toad. "You beat Bowser!"
"Yeah," panted Mario rubbing his chest. "Usually I have to go all over the Mushroom Kingdom to stop him, but this time I stopped him before the princess was even taken."
"Actually," commented Toad, a sad expression appearing on his face. "Bowser may have been here to kidnap the princess, but that was not what the original crisis was. It happened before Bowser even showed up."
"If Bowser isn't the trouble then what is?" asked Luigi.
"Uh... This is no time for fighting! ...Even though I would've won!" grumbled Bowser as he got up again and dusted himself off. "My dear princess is in tears. I have to whisk her off to my castle to make her happy again."
"B-B-Bowser's up again already!" cried Luigi.
"Then I'll just have to beat him up again," stated Mario getting ready to tussle once more.
"You couldn't beat an egg!" taunted Bowser. "And I've given you enough of my time as is. I came here for Princess Peach, not you."
"Listen to me, everyone!!!" shouted Toad calling everyone to his attention before they started another fight. "Something terrible has happened! The Goodwill Ambassador from our neighbor, the Beanbean Kingdom, just paid a visit! But it wasn't a friendly one. The ambassador stole Princess Peach's voice!"
"What?" questioned Bowser. "Just her voice was stolen? Sounds like an amateur kidnapper. If it was me I'd kidnap her voice and all."
"But that's not even the worse part," whimpered Toad. "Uh, show them, princess."
Her stream of tears drying up, Peach looked at Mario, Luigi, and Bowser and opened her mouth to speak. Each word she tried to speak was like a Bob-omb blast that knocked the three of them off their feet.
"Mama mia!" cried Mario. "What was that?"
"What did you say?" shouted Luigi. "I got a ringing in my ears."
"Her voice was replaced with this explosive vocabulary!" continued Toad. Opening her mouth again, Peach began to speak some more. "No Princess! That's already enough!" His words failed to reach her as explosions shook the ground all around the throne room. In a panic everyone fled a safe distance away to wait it out.
"Gah!" complained Bowser stomping his foot in frustration. "If I kidnap Princess Peach in this state, she'll wreck my castle!" Turning to Mario he pointed a claw at him. "Mario! Do something super! You are always the one who fixes these sorts of messes."
"You mean your messes," commented Mario to Bowser's chagrin. Getting into his thinking pose, Mario began to brainstorm. "I'll have to go after the one who stole it, but first I need to know where they ran off too."
"Mario!" begged Toad. "Please! Go and retrieve Princess Peach's beautiful voice! Only you can do it!"
"Only Mario can do it, huh," thought Luigi sadly. "Guess I'm not needed again... like always."
"The perpetrator came from the Beanbean Kingdom!" explained Toad. "If you head over there, you should be able to figure out where the culprit is and rescue Princess Peach's voice."
"That makes sense," agreed Mario. "But the Beanbean Kingdom is at the border of the Mushroom Kingdom. "I don't suppose there's a Warp Pipe anywhere around to get me there."
"Unfortunately, no," admitted Toad. "And the Royal Plane is busy with repairs at the moment. It'll take a while longer before it can be used again and by then it might be impossible to recover the Princess's voice."
"Then I'll have to go by foot," he stated. "Then I'll beat up the baddie behind all this."
"Bwa ha ha ha!" laughed Bowser villainously. "Yes! Go, capture that fiend and get Peach's voice! And then I can kidnap her!"
"Bowser!" snapped Mario getting ready to attack him again. "Isn't it about time you went back home before I throw you there. You cannot kidnap Princess Peach so you don't even have a reason to still be here."
"Don't be so hasty now," continued Bowser. "Nobody is allowed to kidnap Peach except me so just this once I'm going to help you."
"Help?" asked Mario skeptically. "Help how?"
"You can't honestly believe you will be fast enough on foot," he pointed out. "We'll take my Koopa Cruiser and reach the Beanbean Kingdom in no time!"
"Your Koopa Cruiser?" asked Mario. "Is that a new airship of yours?"
"Yeah," answered Bowser. "I was planning on saving it for the next big scheme I came up with, but now seems the perfect time for me to flaunt its awesomeness. I just wish it was being used to pound you into the dust rather than help you out, but I digress... Mario! We leave immediately!"
"I didn't think I'd see the day," admitted Mario extending his hand in agreement for the uneasy alliance. "But it looks like we're allies in this adventure."
"For now anyway," replied Bowser going to shake Mario's hand, but they were interrupted by Peach's words once more.
"Aye!" cried Luigi freaking out. "This one looks really bad! Run!"
"Don't worry, my dear Princess!" called Bowser as they fled the castle before it was filled with Peach's booming voice. "Before you know it you'll have your voice back and I'll be back to kidnapping you like always."
