Mario, Peach, and their yoshis stood atop a cloud amid many others. The Italian plumber pressed his feet against the white surface in wonder and disbelief.
"Woah?! How is this even possible?!"
"It wasn't easy, but this is the kind of thing thee Toads are masters of making." Peach stroked the cloud with a tender hand, but her smile faded as she looked out at the colony. Mario, too, saw it. Various neighborhoods of toad houses rested upon larger clouds connected by rainbow roads with a great manor in the center. The city should have inspired awe and delight in those who saw it, but the army of rampaging koopas and marauding airship. Mario thought about all the time, effort, and passion that Peach and her toads put into making this cloud city a reality, only for Bowser's fury to take it all away.
He saw this pain take its toll on Peach, and Red Yoshi tried to comfort her with a nuzzle. Mario joined in with Green Yoshi and took Peach's hand. His radiant and fiery expression of confidence warmed her heart.
"We're gonna stop them and put this place right, I promise." His enthusiasm spread to Peach, who smiled back.
"Yes, we are."
"Yoshi!" The four approached a vibrant carpet at the head of the rainbow road. When they stepped upon it, the rug carried them across the colorful path toward the rest of the colony. Red and Green Yoshi narrowed their eyes in rage when they spotted a group of toads chased around by shy guys and paragoombas. Mario, too longed to hurl balls of fire at Bowser's minions but had no fire flower. Peach, however, spotted a parakoopa flying nearby and smirked.
"Hey boy, eat!" She pointed to him, and Red Yoshi shot his tongue out and seized the green shell in his mouth.
"No!!" The Koopa squealed as his spear fell, and he went inside Red Yoshi's mouth. Moments later, the yoshi spat out several bursts of fire, which hit and scattered the attacking minions.
"Princess! Mario!" The toads and toadettes cheered.
"Everything will be ok! We're gonna send the Koopas packing!" Mario declared, even as a pair of lakitu flew at them with sinister grins.
"Ohhhh, we've got them right where we want them! Have some spikeys!" The two glasses-wearing Koopas tossed down spikey after spikey. Mario saw this and petted Green Yoshi's head.
"Hungry?"
"Yoshi!" He stammered about with glee. The spikeys unballed themselves but yelped as Green Yoshi flung his tongue out, ensnared, and swallowed them one by one.
"Hey! You can't do that!" One of the lakitu moaned.
"Yeah, what are you gonna do about it?" Mario and Peach anxiously waited and grinned when the lakitu took the bait and flew at them.
"Gaaah! Ahhh!?" Both Koopas realized their mistake too late and screamed as Mario and Peach leaped up, then punched/kicked them out of their clouds. The plumber and Princess both landed in one of the little clouds and took control of them.
"Alright, this is pretty cool. Let's-a go!"
"Yoshi!" Both yoshi leaped off and onto a vaster cloud street while Mario and Peach flew overhead.
"Hey! It's Princess Peach!" Yellow-shell snarled and pointed to a dozen shy guys who flew after Peach. The Princess gritted her teeth and performed evasive maneuvers around a few wrecked toad houses until she spotted a few more shy guys who harrassed frightened toads hidden in the alleys.
"I don't think so!" She spotted a huge onion in a messy kitchen, snatched it, and hurled the vegetable. It hit the first shy guy, bounced off, and struck the next two.
"Princess, behind you!" A blue spotted toad yelped. He pointed to the squad of shy guys in pursuit and tossed her another oversized vegetable.
"Thanks!" With a cocky grin, Peach turned and hurled the turnip into the nearest shy guy. The blow hit and knocked him into his companions, who fell out of the air like dominos.
Meanwhile, Mario leaped out of his cloud, stomped the yellow shell out of his shell, kicked it up, then hurled it into a dozen green shells and goombas who charged at him.
"Hmp." Mario adjusted his cap but then gasped and jumped away moments before a Bullet Bill struck the cloud where he had previously stood.
"Going somewhere, human!" A trio of red shells snickered as they flew up in mini-clown cars.
"Mama mia!" Mario and the two yoshis ran from a barrage of Bullet Bills that came and exploded behind them. Peach, too flew hard when two more clown cars came after her. Mario spotted another rainbow road and raced onto the carpet with both yoshi.
"What kind of stupid is he? Totally exposed now!" One Koopa laughed until Mario pointed behind him. The three turned and yelped as Peach passed overhead, and the two after her crashed into them.
"Yaaah!" All five Koopas and clown cars fell from the air.
"Yoshi!" Red and Green Yoshi cried while Peach came overhead and giggled.
"You shouldn't have left that cloud."
"What? I'm better on my feet." Mario assured her before a squadron of shy guys, super-koopas, and paragoombas flew for them.
"Woah!" Red and Green yoshi yelped. However, Mario and Peach showed no fear. Peach reached inside the lakitu cloud and hurled a pair of spikeys, still in ball form, at the approaching enemy.
"Ahhhh!" A paragoomba tried to evade but was knocked out of the air alongside two shy guys. Mario likewise punched and kicked every other paragoomba and shy guy who came at them while the yoshis snatched the others with their tongues.
"I'm coming for you, Mario!" The lead Super Koopa roared as he flew at Mario, his cape flashing. Moments before impact, the plumber struck the Koopa with an uppercut that sent him high into the air.
"Ha ha! Huh?" Mario's mouth dropped when he saw a cape feather float down from where the super Koopa was. In an instant, Mario reached out and seized it. "Just what I needed!" Mario laughed as a cape appeared behind him. He leaped off the carpet and soared beside Peach in her lakitu cloud. The two smiled brightly at each other and flew straight for the next wave of minions. Mario punched, kicked, and cape-smacked a dozen paragoombas and super koopas while Peach knocked the Shy Guys down with more spikeys.
All around them, toads and toadettes emerged from their hiding places across the clouds. A chorus of applause and cheering came from the toads and transformed toads alike. Even so, Mario and Peach remained focused while Lemmy and Morton Jr. watched their heroics.
"Grrr! Humans!" Morton Jr. snarled from the deck of the airship.
"Easy, bro. Dad and Uncle Bowser warned us they might show up. This is a golden opportunity! Think of how we'll be rewarded once we kill Mario and bring them Peach!" Lemmy rolled his ball off the airship and landed on the manor's rooftop.
"I'll snatch Peach. You kill Mario."
"Hmp sounds good to me!" Morton directed the airship at Mario, and a half-dozen more clown cars flew beside them. Peach, meanwhile, leaped out of her cloud to kick another lakitu out, then seized his cloud and a fresh supply of spikeys, which she used on more paragoombas. However, as Peach readied another one, she spotted the squadron, which bore down upon the red-suited hero.
"Mario, look out!" Her voice altered Mario to the danger, and he saw the salvo of Bullet Bills, which flew from the airship and clown cars.
"Woah!" He evaded the first barrage, but Mortion Jr. huffed out smoke.
"Human filth! Let's try a bit of magic!" Morton Jr. waved his wand at the next round of Bullet Bills, which then glowed with a dark aura.
"Huh?" Mario watched these enhanced Bullet Bills fly faster with jagged fangs out. "Woah!" Evading them proved no simple feat, and Mario struggled to keep a safe distance. However, the magic proved too much, and three Bullet Bills exploded behind him.
"Mamma mia!" Mario yelped as his cape vanished, and he plummeted.
"Hold on!" Peach flew down with everything her lakitu cloud had and caught Mario by the hand.
"Woah! Thanks!"
"I've gotcha." Peach giggled while Mario kicked away two paragoombas who tried to attack from below. "We need those wands!"
"Yeah, I'm ready for a little payback! I'll take the airship!"
"Sounds good!" Peach tossed Mario onto Green Yoshi's back as he and Red Yoshi charged through a platoon of goombas and koopas on another cloud street. "Here we go!" Mario cried as he caught knocked up Koopa shell and hurled it into the air into a few Super Koopas who almost outflanked Peach.
"No, no, no, no!" The caped Koopas squealed as the shell knocked them down one by one. Peach smiled back at Mario and set a course straight for the manor even as Lemmy sent bursts of magic down at her.
"I've got you, Princess!"
Mario continued on Yoshi's back until he saw a power-up box ahead. With a deep breath, he leaped up and punched the yellow container, which shot out a red cap just like his own. However, this one had little white wings atop it, and Mario made the swap. In that instant, a weightless sensation overtook him, and almost by instinct, Mario leaped off Green Yoshi and took to the sky.
"Here we go!" Mario laughed as he spun himself in the air and punched two parakoopas away. "See you there, Peach!"
"Oh no, you won't beat me!" Peach laughed back as she pushed her cloud harder. Mario evaded the magic Bullet Bills with ease and knocked each Koopa out of their clown car before he began his sweeps of the airship itself.
"Get him!" Morton Jr. roared and tried to blast Mario with magic while several Rocky Wrenches hurled their tools at him. However, none hit their mark, and Mario dispatched the moles as he swooped in.
Peach, likewise, came upon the manor and leaped onto two goombas who guarded the entrance. Once inside, she jerked away as a bouncing circus ball hit the door.
"Welcome to my house, Princess! Like what I've done to the place!" Lemmy laughed like a clown as he rolled around atop another circus ball and emphasized the various statues and banners of Bowser around them.
"It could use a good makeover, just like your face."
"Ohh! That's a low blow. Luckily I can do the same!" Lemmy spun his wand, and four magical circus balls bounced toward Peach with evil grins across their faces. However, Peach just smiled back and leaped off of each ball until she got close enough and jumped on Lemmy himself.
"Yaaoch!" The Koopaling went back into his shell but remained on the ball as it rolled away. Peach remained hot on his tail, but Lemmy emerged and conjured another four balls, which hit and knocked Peach onto the ground.
"Ooof." She grunted as sharp pain afflicted her body.
"My uncle thinks you're hot. Let's see just how hot!" Lemmy waved his wand at a nearby fireplace which spat out a jet of flames toward her.
"Ahhh!" Peach rolled aside just in time but saw more magical balls bouncing toward her. However, when she saw the one beneath Lemmy, the Princess smirked again and kicked the nearest ball, just like Daisy. To her delight, it hit Lemmy's and made him faceplant into the fire.
"Hmp, I should learn soccer from Daisy." Peach chuckled while Lemmy raced about, his tail on fire. "Hey, Koopa, get out of my house!" With a running start, she charged Lemmy and landed a kick dead center to his chest.
"Gaaaaah!" Lemmy flew out a nearby window and vanished from sight, his wand now flat on the ground.
Elsewhere, Mario slammed the last two Rocky Wrenches below deck as he landed and stared down Morton Jr.
"Mario! You're gonna pay for what you did to my brothers! When Uncle Bowser finds out I took you out, he's gonna name me his heir!"
"Hmp, I suppose he needs a worst-case scenario." Mario smirked, and Morton Jr. screamed as he jumped up and shook the deck upon impact. Mario flew up and over Morton Jr., who conjured more magic from his wand. However, the Italian plumber performed tight maneuvers and evaded the tracer magic until Morton Jr. got dizzy in his attempt to keep track of him.
"Ohhh." Morton's head spun when Mario's foot came down and slammed him into his shell.
"Grrr!" Morton spun around on the deck, but to little effect, for Mario's cap kept him in the air.
"My turn!" With a mighty ground pound, Mario slammed Morton back out and punched him dead-center in the face.
"Gaaah!" Morton Jr. sprung back up, now bright red with steam in his mouth. "Just die!" The Koopaling waved his wand around himself and leaped over Mario. When the Italian plumber tried to fly away, his eyes went wide. Morton Jr. made impact and sent a wave of magic in every direction.
"Offf!" Mario grunted and felt himself slammed against a wall as his flight cap vanished.
"I've got you now, Mario!" Morton Jr. exploded with glee and waved the wand around himself again. However, he almost blinked in disbelief when Mario charged straight at him rather than away. "Stupid human!?" Morton's laughs turned to screams when he saw Mario perform a jump kick halfway through his ground pound. Mario's foot hit Morton Jr.'s stomach and sent him overboard while his wand landed in the plumber's hand.
"And that's bye-bye!" Mario spun the wand around and exchanged a victorious smile with Peach, who revealed herself on the manor's balcony, wand in hand.
"Ready?!" She cried.
"Ready!" Together, they waved the wands and watched as hundreds of creatures transformed back into toads and toadettes.
"Yay!!!" A wave of delight overtook the entire colony, and an immense sense of relief filled Mario. He and Peach shared another passionate expression, but at that moment, all joy vanished. Something smashed through the manor beneath Peach and seized her.
"Peach!"
"Gaw, gaw, gaw, gaw!" Bowser's bone-chilling laugh sent a shiver down Mario's spine as he revealed himself inside a massive clown car, Morton Jr. and Lemmy beside him and Peach in his hands.
"Ohh, Peaches, did you really think you could escape true love!?"
"Get your hands off me!" She tried desperately to break free, but Bowser proved too strong.
"Peach, I'm coming!" Mario raced to the airship's bow and readied his wand.
"Not this time, Mario!" Bowser roared, and a jet of fire ripped the airship apart.
"Waaaaaah!" Mario cried as he fell uncontrollably toward an unseen ground.
"Mario!!" Peach tried to jump after him, but Bowser held her in place, and the Koopalings cackled.
"So long, Mario!" Bowser laughed again as he flew off with his maimed troops.
"No! Princess! Mario!" The toads cried in a sense of helplessness.
"Yoshi!" Red and Green Yoshi both shot their tongues out and caught Mario together by inches. They pulled him back onto a cloud, but the plumber raced toward the edge, his hand outstretched.
"No! No! No! Peach!"
"Mario!" Peach's voice faded, and soon she disappeared.