AS PROMISED, here's another chap-...
I'm sorry-- 5K READS ALREADY?!? HOLY GOD!! THANKS, Y'ALL!!!! :D
Considering making a one-shot chapter at the end of this because I have WAYYY too many ideas for this but I can't fit them all in the story. (Plus, I wanted to thank y'all for the positivity you've given in this! Requests will be open for that shortly!)
A lot of bustling activity and serious tones could be heard within the main lobby of the giant castle. Seemed like there was a huge meeting going on while Mario was still being chased by the guards.
Inside was full of anxious toadstools, wondering why they were called there in such a hurry.
Several of those toads were in the center of the room, acting as the main royal court. They seem to be worried by the fact that the star had been stolen and that Bowser meant business this time around.
And with The Knoble Knight gone, they had to put things into their own hands now...
A magical platform suddenly moved up from the middle of the floor, summoning and building up pieces of their whole world as if it were a large map. There was the mushroom kingdom, a large green plain, a deserted island, a jungle kingdom with a golden monkey head, the Dark Lands, and the penguin Kingdom, which quickly turned into darkness as Bowser's ship took the star from it and began moving toward the castle.
(The fact they didn't include Toadsworth in this scene is kinda disappointing lol)
"Council! Your attention! Bowser has found the Super Star and is headed toward our kingdom!" A stern blue-dotted toad with glasses explained to the crew. Everyone watched as the miniature ship resembling Bowser's kingdom moved toward the castle with the star.
"Its power will make him invincible... and with The Knoble Knight gone, we WILL BE destroyed..." Gasps of shock and horror filled the room suddenly as the toads began to panic. Some even fainted. They were powerless against their sworn enemy now. They would surely die without help. Curious and fearful, the toads looked up forward.
"Princess, what are we gonna do?" One of the lime-colored toadstools asked. This princess is seen sitting in her thrown, thinking of a plan. This beautiful princess resembled the one shown in the glass pane of herself behind her. With golden locks and a beautiful pink dress, she begins to ponder for a moment before she looks down at them with determination. No matter what happened, she would NOT let Bowser hurt her civilians. Then again, she still wished her Knoble Knight was there to help her too.
"I will NOT let him hurt you..."
The princess, now known as Princess Peach, stood up triumphantly from her throne and began to walk down the red staircase toward her toads. She kept a smile, showing them that she knew what she was doing and that she had a full-thought-out plan.
"WE are going to STOP Bowser..." Suddenly, a yellow-capped toad looked at her with big pleading eyes.
"How? Look at us! We're ADORABLE!"
Princess Peach walked over to the royal court in the center of the room and looked down at the 3D map, gazing specifically at the jungle island with the golden monkey head.
"I'm going to convince the Great Kong Army to help us!" Peach explained thoroughly to her subjects. She knew that with the Kong Army by their side, they would outnumber Bowser's army and defeat them.
"Together, we'll ANNIHILATE that monster!" She continued, looking back at the toads, who seemed to agree with her plan. Seemed simple enough...to most of them... The court's leader brought his fist down, not exactly going with the idea.
"Their mad king doesn't make alliances. The Kongs will NEVER agree..." He explained to the princess, almost hoping there was a Plan B in case this went wrong... like last time...
The last time they fought Bowser was AGES ago when he tried to forcefully take the princess himself. Their well-thought-out plan to team up with the penguins, the Yoshis, and the Sarasa Islands townsfolk to stop him nearly failed. (The Kong army refused to help to save themselves)
They managed to save their princess but lost both their Knoble Knight and Sarasa Island's rulers as a result...
The princess tried keeping things on the positive side, trying to keep everyone's spirits up. She stayed confident with her words.
"I can CONVINCE him! I'll leave for the Jungle Kingdom in the morning..." With that being said, the princess walked away and out of the room, still keeping her look of pride.
"Good luck, Princess... for ALL our sakes..."
The moment she walked out of the room, Peach's stern look faded the more she thought about her plan. What if this failed? Were they going to have a backup plan? No. If this failed, she would fail to keep her kingdom safe... and that wasn't what a princess would do and she knew it. Without the Knoble Knight's help and guidance, she was sorta stuck.
It was the Knoble Knight's job to make sure ALL kingdoms were in order and protected... and ever since she'd fallen, the princess kinda had to take over.
Peach suddenly heard something screech against the floor beside her as someone came around the corner breathlessly. She almost assumed it was Toad with some news. But instead, a short man in red slid around and began running toward her.
A human!
The princess's eyes went as wide as saucers when she saw this. Where did this guy come from? How did he get here?...
Why was he so small?...
(Ngl, I almost thought Dreamweaver was gonna start playing in the background here lmao)
"Princess!" Mario called out for her with a smile, thankful to see another human in this crazy world he was in. He reached out his hand to greet her but instead, the princess defensively grabbed him by his hand and threw him over her shoulder and onto the floor on his back. The two looked at each other for a moment. The princess seemed VERY pretty and Mario seemed...
cute...?
Mario scrambled to his feet and grabbed his hat, trying to explain himself. He was sure she seemed a bit startled to see him.
"Princess! Hi-" Suddenly, seemingly from out of nowhere, the guards tackled Mario down to the ground, toppling on top of him and keeping guard to protect their princess. Peach thought for a moment before looking back at her guards.
"Wait! Release him!" She commanded softly. The guards did as told in disbelief, still not trusting Mario. They climbed off the poor plumber as one of them kicked his face. Mario finally managed to stand back up as Peach looked at him in wonder and amazement. She gasped softly as the realization finally kicked in.
"Woah...are you..?..." The princess brightly smiled in excitement.
"HE'S A HUMAN!! :D"
"Wait... you ARE a human, right?" The princess examined Mario's features while circling around him. Mario didn't seem to like that, as if she was teasing him for his height.
"It's just that you're so SMALL and--..." She even grabbed his hat which Mario verbally disagreed with and reached up to try and get it back. Of course, he was too short.
The princess obviously knew the Knoble Knight wasn't as small as that but she wasn't as tall as her either so seeing Mario be this short kind of startled her.
"Wait, wait, wait! Let-let's go back!" The princess put herself together to calm herself down from the excitement. She placed Mario's hat on his face sideways.
"Where did you come from?" Peach asked, putting her questions in order this time, as sh stood back in front of Mario. The red-clad guy set his hat correctly back on his head, getting back to his task at hand. He was wasting time!
"Uh, me and my little brother Luigi..." As he continued speaking, Peach reached out her hand to continue examining him and he flinched, almost confused about why this woman seemed intrigued to see him like he was some sort of wild animal she had never seen before.
"We-we fell down this PIPE! And now he's lost! S-somewhere in the Dark Lands!" Mario remembered the place Toad talked to him about and became even more worried for his poor brother. The princess seemed to know what he was talking about too.
"Then it's only a matter of time until he's captured by Bowser..." Mario didn't seem to like that statement. This 'Bowser' fellow must mean real business and now his brother was in danger because of it.
"But, you're in luck! I'm on my way to stop him!" Peach gave him a look of determination, stating that she would help him find his brother. It would be like hitting two birds with one stone at this point. Mario went along with her plan.
"Well, take me with you!" He told her, hoping she would even though they had only just met. Who knows what they were going to face in this battle? Peach began to make it seem like Mario wasn't fit for this mission. He wasn't strong enough.
Matter of fact, he wasn't TALL enough either...
"This guy is a lunatic! A PSYCHO! He will EAT you for BREAKFAST." The princess explained thoroughly to Mario, who became worried for his brother the more she spoke about this monster. Everybody around him seemed to state that Bowser was a crazy monster who would do anything to get what he wants. Hopefully, Mario wouldn't be too late to rescue Luigi.
"He won't even notice it, probably, 'cause you're very, very small..."
Mario finally had enough of the torment about his height and became serious. He didn't care if they made fun of him, he needed to save his brother one way or another.
"You know what? Make fun of me all you want. But you are gonna help me find my brother." Mario demanded trying to seem brave while pointing a finger at Peach. It only took a moment for him to immediately soften his gaze apologetically, however.
"Please...?"
Princess Peach slightly smiled with confidence in response. She wanted to test him.
"Okay... Let's see what you're made of..." And with that, she walked away toward the balcony. Mario followed along, confused about what she meant by that. Was she willing to help him?
"So...is that a 'yes'?" He asked, double-checking to make sure it was true as he caught up to her. The guards watched the two of them walk away in wonder.
"No, that's a 'let's see what you're made of'."
When they opened the doors to the balcony, Mario found out that they were right behind the roaring waters of a large waterfall that sat right below the castle. The waterfall suddenly opened magically like a gate and both Mario and the princess could see the beautiful landscape view before them.
"Woah..." Mario gazed around him in amazement as Peach smiled with pride. Peach knew what was fixing to come while Mario on the other hand felt a bit nervous. The balcony they were on suddenly began moving on its own, similar to how the platform he was on in Toad Town earlier. The balcony moved along its invisible path up to the middle of this large lake they were high upon.
Curious, Mario looked below him. Why were they out here in the middle of the lake? What other crazy things were in store for him?
A ginormous yellow question mark block suddenly splashed out from the water and rose above the balcony's level. Whatever this thing was, it made Mario amazed as he smiled in bewilderment. He'd never seen anything like this before! It was amazing!!
The miniature blocks that formed the question mark block suddenly separated, spreading out and turning into random objects. Circular levers of fire, cannons, robotic chomping plants, and several different colored platforms. Mario suddenly got the idea on what this was about.
This was a training course!
Now he understood what Peach meant by 'let's see what you're made of'. The princess turned to him with a small smile, putting her hands to her sides.
"IF you can finish this... you're coming with me. Watch and learn!" She stated this as if she almost doubted Mario could make it in the first shot. She suddenly ran off on him, jumping into the course. Showing off her skills, she leaped over a small platform full of spikes, keeping her dress up so she didn't trip over it. Peach leaped up on several different glowing blocks by their sides and did a backflip over to the next platform like she was a skilled ninja. Making sure to keep up her pace, the princess leaped over both robotic piranha plants with ease. This seemed a lot easier than it was supposed to in Mario's eyes. But that was BEFORE he got a chance to test his skills.
The princess then slid under the orange circling balls that went in a spinning motion, just barely missing one of them. Peach then leaped through another robotic piranha plant before jumping on a yellow trampoline-like button, sending herself flying high. She continued running before leaping off one of the platforms, sending herself flying past several more areas and landing in front of what appeared to be a well-made cardboard Bowser statue, to which she leaped up and karate kicked right through it.
Sliding down onto several colorful platforms that fell the moment she would touch them, she kept herself upbeat in pace as the cannons aimed themselves directly at her. Peach stayed confident with what she was doing. She had done this several times before with the Knoble Knight before. Heck, Peach could do this with her eyes closed and skill through it easily!
The princess leaped through several of the shot fake bullet bills flying past her before finally making it to the end at the flagpole with the pink mushroom flag on top. Showing herself off with one last move, Peach whirled herself around on it and made it the rest of the way down using her dress as a parachute, right back at the balcony Mario was still at. Mario's mouth fell agape in shock at how awesome that was in his eyes.
He made it through a construction site. How bad could this be?
"That was amazing!" He uttered, still in shock before getting back to reality, knowing full well he wouldn't be able to do that cool stuff like her.
"Wait, How-how am I supposed to do that?" Mario asked in confusion. There must be some way he could cheat through it. Maybe some kind of energy drink or something? Peach made sure to show him that there was no worry, thankfully.
"With the Power-Ups! They give us special abilities." She explained, gesturing to the small glowing question mark block above them. She then hit it with her fist and Mario caught this so-called 'Power-Up'. He expected something like something that makes him fly or makes him go really fast.
Unfortunately, a small red and white mushroom landed in his hands.
He grimaced in disgust suddenly and looked at her dumbfounded.
"Ugh. Really...?" Today really wasn't Mario's lucky day. Once again, he had to deal with mushrooms. In all honesty, Mario thought he would rather have to be in Luigi's position than eat mushrooms right now. The princess didn't seem to care. She just needed to see if he had potential.
"Go on. Eat it." She stated as if he had never seen a mushroom before, keeping a smile on her face while doing so. Mario groaned in defeat, knowing there was no way around it this time. He pretty much had to try and force himself to eat it. Of course, he brought it to his mouth before stopping himself and looking at the princess again.
"Now, this has to be a mushroom? 'Cause I just...hate mushrooms and-..." Peach suddenly gave him a stern look, making him pause with his words and raise his hand defensively. It was either he was gonna eat it or the princess was gonna make him.
"Okay, okay..." Mario took a moment before bringing the mushroom up to his mouth again.
"Are you sure there's not like a--"
"DOWN THE HATCH!" Finally losing her patience, the princess walked over to him and stuffed the mushroom into Mario's mouth forcefully. It was a bit of a struggle due to how large the mushroom was.
"Yep, there it is, and all gone." With that, Mario finally managed to eat the mushroom completely, although he didn't like it. He had to take a moment to get his breath back.
"*Cough* Agh, NOT cool!" Mario told her, slightly upset. He suddenly felt an odd tingling feeling in his hands and pondered for a moment. They even started glowing for a moment. Mario assumed he was seeing things at first.
"Eh...?" He took a closer look at his hand not long before his right hand dramatically grew largely, causing it to punch him right in the nose. He held his nose in pain for a moment before gazing at his large hand. The same thing suddenly happened to his feet and legs, which made Mario slightly panic. This wasn't a bad mushroom, was it?!
The mushroom's abilities suddenly made him grow his entire chest, then his left arm and hand, and finally his head, making him twice the size he was before. Now he knew what that ability was! To make him bigger and stronger!
This would be a piece of cake!
"WOAH! I'm tall!!" Mario exclaimed in amazement happily. He was even taller than Luigi now! The princess nodded along with him as he continued looking at himself.
"AND strong..." She told him, pointing at his arms. Mario smiled before looking up at a brick above his head. Now he was tall enough to reach it! He leaped up and smashed the bricked block into pieces. The princess crossed her arms.
"And...you can jump!" She finished. Mario was suddenly full of pride and determination. He could do this easily! He chuckled in delight.
"I got this! No problem!" With a great look of confidence spread on his face, Mario ran into the course and leaped high up.
"WAHOO!!!..." It only took a second for him to realize that he barely made it halfway across to the first platform. He screamed aloud in panic as he began plummeting down. Peach knew this would be coming so she patiently sat there and watched him do this.
Due to Mario being so big now, he broke through some of the platforms and continued falling down into the water below him.
Suddenly losing his powers the moment he touched the water, Mario got sucked into yet another green pipe underneath him. The pipe sent him flying back up to the platform Peach was still at. She smiled at him sarcastically, knowing this was coming the moment Mario left the balcony.
"Oh YeAhHh, when you get hit, you lose the power." She finally explained to Mario as he stood back up and put his wet hat back on. She couldn't have told him this earlier? Peach then punched another question mark block and gave Mario another mushroom. Mario immediately knew this would take a long while to get used to and sighed in annoyance and disgust. He ate the mushroom himself this time and grew his powers back. He groaned repulsively as Peach tried to keep his spirits up. They had all day to do this.
How hard could it be?
A lot harder than Mario imagined, that's for sure.
"Come on. Try again." Peach told Mario, patting his back confidently. Mario took it in him to finally run up and make it onto the first platform. For a bit, he seemed to be doing okay at first. He leaped up one block after the next before suddenly smashing his head into a brick and falling down. Peach winced, knowing how that must've felt. She still kept her hopes up though.
Next up, Mario tried really hard to get past the circling orange lines of balls but every time he tried getting under them, they swung back. Mario tried getting under them again and suddenly got smacked off the platform.
Then there were them moving yellow platforms Mario despised. The moment Mario leaped up to jump on one, it moved and sent him falling.
As this went on, day suddenly turned to night the more Mario continued trying to get through this one course. He finally managed to make it onto the moving platform but moved so quickly that it caused him to fall forward into the other smaller platform and into the lake underneath him once again.
Finally, by the time night came, Mario managed to make it onto the smaller yellow bridge platform. He put his fist up victoriously after how long that took.
"YES-AAAAA--" Mario made his victory too early, for the yellow block he was standing on suddenly turned red and fell, making him fall as well. Peach sighed and rolled her eyes, setting her head on the balcony fence in disappointment and annoyance. Maybe this guy wasn't a skilled as she thought he was.
From getting eaten by piranhas to getting pushed by glowing ball strings to even getting slapped by the fish in the lake, Mario wasn't doing very well getting through this.
He had to eat so many mushrooms that day, it began to make him feel sick. He even vomited one of those times as Princess Peach nervously patted his back in reassurance. She had never seen anyone quite unskillful like him when it came to this stuff.
This was going to be harder than she thought...
By the time the sun began rising again, the princess was already sleeping on the balcony, resting her head next to the fence. Mario looked back up at the flagpole, trying to win back his determination. He HAD to. There was no other way to convince the princess that he was worthy of joining her team. He reluctantly ate the mushroom and grew in size once more. He had to get through this one course.
For his brother.
The moment Mario thought of how Luigi must've felt right about now, his determination and confidence grew drastically. His brother needed him!
Mario exhaled, taking a step back and bringing himself to go for it again. He quickly began running through the course, finally managing to ace through perfectly. Not as quick as Peach but at least he was getting through it.
He ducked beside a green pipe as the robotic piranha plant chomped to get at him. When it went away, Mario leaped onto the pipe and jumped onto another piranha plant's mouth. He then made it to the wretched circling ball lines and instead of going through them, Mario smashed his way underneath them, finding that a lot easier than pushing through. He smashed through the walls of bricks before him as he never stopped running through.
Hearing this made Princess Peach arise from her slumber and look above to see Mario finally getting through. She seemed surprised by this, knowing it had taken a LONG while for Mario to get this far with ease. Mario angrily leaped up and smashed through the cardboard Bowser piece. He then ran for his life as all the miniature blocks began changing and falling underneath him. If he slowed down any, he would fall again. Peach internally cheered by this. He was getting close!!
Mario slid past the glowing blocks and came face-to-face with the Bullet Bill Cannons as they aimed directly at him. He was not about to lose his confidence just yet.
Mario leaped on top of each Bullet Bill that passed him, jumping from one to another easily. He seemed pretty delighted that he even made it this far. Doing a couple of flips and spins to zoom past the rest of them, Mario finally managed to make it through to the end, making one last leap of faith toward the flagpole. Peach smiled excitedly as he did this. He was finally going to make it!!
Mario looked down and smirked at Peach, giving her a light-skinned stare in pride. After hours of pain, Mario was finally going to make it through the co--
*C H O M P !*
Mario suddenly got caught by a piranha plant and he verbally showed his pain by it. He tried and failed to wiggle himself out. He was SO CLOSE!!
Finally giving up, Mario and Peach sat back on a row of bricks, watching the sunrise. Mario hadn't slept all night and needed a bit of rest before their long journey. Mario felt a bit down for not completing the course but Princess Peach still tried lifting some spirits, knowing he at least made it three-quarters through.
"Well, we have a LONG journey ahead of us, Moustache," Peach said to Mario, nudging his shoulder delightfully. Mario seemed surprised to hear this. If he didn't make it then why was she still letting him come along?
"But, I didn't make it." He told her as if she hadn't watched him fail the course. Peach gazed at him softly.
"You almost did! No one gets right away." She explained to him. She remembered how The Knoble Knight was when she first started training. In fact, it took her DAYS to complete it. She didn't even finish it if we're being honest. By the time she reached the end, the Penguins had called them over to help settle their Mama.
Only when they did that was when they finally knighted her.
Mario seemed to not believe her statement of his failure as he looked at her with a serious look on his face.
"How many tries did it take you?" He asked, almost expecting a big answer. The Princess seemed startled, almost as if she felt embarrassed to answer the question. She tried waving it off.
"Oh, SO many. I was NOT good at it... Worse than you! :D"
......
"You got it right away, didn't you?..."
Peach suddenly and finally gave in to the lie, knowing he was right.
"I got it right away, BUT I grew up here..." She explained to him, trying to make him feel better about his tries but reasonable about it. Mario grudged and crossed his arms.
"Okay, now you're just trying to make ME feel better..." Mario mumbled. Peach continued trying not to admit herself.
"No! No..."
.......
"Is it working...?"
........
"A little bit...yeah..."