************
Bowser's Airship
It's a big victory for not just Bowser, but his associates too. That include the Warios, who are at a distant corner of the ship. Wario's giving his partner the rundown. "I raked in more money for us, and all I had to do was assault a doctor."
Waluigi twirls his moustache. "Haha, and I thought my cons were great. You just forced him to overpay!"
The hoss just rubs his hands together. "We'll be able to make a fortune after that fat check comes in. All i had to do was trick that stupid turtle. For a king, he's so gullible. They should name US the kings with how hard we carried. We won't be the Wario brothers, we'll be ROYALTY!"
That gets Waluigi thinking. "For a king he folded quickly. He deals like an amateur! We should charge more next time! What's he going to do, say no? Wahahah!" They should have kept their inside voices on...
...because Bowser's right behind that thief, towering over him. It takes Wario pointing to send the message to him.
"Wahaha...haha...ha...the ogre's right behind me isn't he?"
The king just grabs him by the neck and throws him off the ship like he's nothing! While Waluigi takes the fall down, Bowser huffs at the colleague remaining. "Let's make one thing clear penny pincher: NOBODY disrespects me and gets away with it! Not Mario, not Peach, and especially not the two of you!"
"..whaaat? You must not have heard that right."
The Koopa just shakes his head. "You two call yourselves villains and can't even lie."
That's insulting to the criminal. "We Wario's CAN lie when we need to! How do you think people keep paying us?!"
"Because they're stupid!! You LOOK like a sleazy cart salesman, how can anyone trust you?"
"The power of persuasion." He responds, but the king grabs his overalls too. "Then persuade me." Uh oh, getting put on the spot like that can wreck anyones nerves. "Wario already did. You said you'd back up the trucks!"
"I lied."
Wario's about had enough. "Ok so you can't pay anyone a fair wage??"
"I pay my army with brotherhood. You don't need money when you just take what you want." Bowser throwing it back at him. "You probably don't even have an education so of course I have to explain this."
"Since when does the big dumb turtle have an education?"
Bowser heads closer to the edge, not struggling at all carrying him unlike others. "Keep poking at me and find out what happens..."
"You're a cheap bastard who will throw Wario off anyway!"
"Takes one to know one."
He releases Wario..who flips him the bird on his way down! Bowser just keeps prodding him. "Oh and stop calling yourself 'Wario,' you sound stupid!" He huffs and returns to the safe part of his ship. He just brushes his hands off like he took out the trash.
He get's stopped by his mage in blue, Kamek, "Lord Bowser, our paratroopas have spotted a Power Star." That causes his boss to raise a red brow. "It's about time. Where?"
"Grumble Volcano. Your son is very excited to go searching for it."
"...why couldn't they have just taken in?"
Kamek just sighs. "Because they're scared." His lord's silence tells all. "..Do you want me to punish them, lord Bowser?
"Just send them to me."
************
Peach's (Wrecked) Castle, Mushroom Kingdom
With the debris surrounding them, six meet up in the main room right where their Princess was abducted: Mario, Luigi, Yoshi, Daisy, Dr Mario, and Toad. There are other toads roaming around with equipment, but there are bigger priorities.
Daisy's especially worried. "We're saving her whether you guys want to go or not!"
That Toad already knows what's coming. "Just go on your adventure already. We'll take care of the fixins here. It'll take a while to clean this up..." Mario pats him on the head. "Your crew has done so much repairs that this'll be easy-peasy! If you're feeling like there's trouble, you can call us on the double." He looks at his brother for some validation, but gets nothing. Instead the shadow of his cap is covering those eyes.
Mario's no dummy and can sense that there's something wrong. "Speaking of trouble, let me clear this up with him."
The hero drags his brother into a nearby room and closes the door behind him. "..did I put too much pressure on you?"
"...want me to lie to you?"
Ok he knows the problem, but getting through to him may be the hard part. "Don't blame yourself, ok? Bowser's a thorn in everyone's side, we've all swallowed that pill, you know?" Despite trying, Luigi just shakes his head. "I could have been on his tail..but my body was hurting."
"Everyone got messed up. You didn't ruin it for anyone."
Those words are encouraging, but Luigi still has his doubts. "You're pretty beat up and STILL ready to go again. You'll always beat that Koopa before I do. It's like you're built for this."
Mario clicks his tongue. "Don't hold yourself to my standards. Neither of us are invincible. Don't let this eat at you."
Maybe it's too late.
Luigi slumps down. "But I'm—"
"I know you're guilty but you'd be worse off if you fought him. I've rescued her plenty of times, and we'll all do it again...together." Mario promises. "If we don't get up and fight, we'll never be able to live with ourselves." Valid point from the kingdom's hero.
His brother goes silent for a good ten seconds. Mario's always been a shoulder to cry on, but it's not crying this time. He's a brother to vent on. "Sorry..."
"I'll support you every step of the way. We're not just brothers in blood, we are brothers for life." Mario says, with a genuine smile on his face. The talk seems to be doing well as Luigi can't stop his smile from coming on either. Mario helps his brother up, this looking like the pick-me-up he needs.
They hear a knock, but it's coming from Doctor Mario. "You two havin' another one of these talks?"
Mario sets his hands on his hips. "Are you surprised?"
"No, it's tradition. I hate to cut in like this but we still need you two back out there."
Mario tips his cap. "We'll be right there."
The brothers get it together and head back outside to the huddle. Mario's got some useful information for the group given how much he's been around.
"Me and my bro went to this cooky old man, quite the character. He helped us find a couple Power Stars to send that Koopa back where he came from! Gave us a tracker to 'em." Mario recalls. "He said there was only seven, and that's seven we NEED. If go in with nothing, then Bowser could crush us once and for all!"
"That rotten king only gets stronger every time. If we can get a few then my girl may see her kingdom again." Daisy adds.
"Right! We need all hands on deck. Marlin..." he turns to the doctor. "I know you don't usually fight, but every good team has a great medic."
"I'll be the best there ever is."
The dinosaur suddenly jumps in. "Oh! Wait wait wait! If we're going after the Power Stars, I think one crashed onto our island!" They took it in custody, but if we can get them to hand it over then we'll already have one."
"That's-a great!"
"But..."
An actual question mark appears on the hero's head. "But what?"
"I don't know if our chief will give it up. I don't have a lot of pull over there...if we can't get them to give it up, then we may not get it at all." Yoshi hits them with his reality. It may not go as easy as the crew wants it to go, but it's worth a shot.
"Then we'll do what we can." Mario responds. The outline of their plan is simple, but needing to get the seven stars won't do them any favors. They need trackers, vehicles, and maybe pure luck to save the Mushroom Kingdom's ruler.
************
E. Gadd's Laboratory, Undisclosed Location
The crew stands in front of a grey door.
"So this is where the magic happens? A small base?" The Doctor asks.
"He's got another in...." Luigi pauses, and Mario takes over. "Boo Woods."
Daisy gasps. "TWO bases?? This guy's gotta be a legend to look after two places at once."
"He could still have more we don't know about." Mario clarifies. "Luigi said he has one in his pocket."
"Oh my..."
The younger brother shakes gets out of the trance, and puts his hand on a square..poking out just a little.
"...what are you doing?" Daisy asks.
"There's nothing there. He HAS to be messing with us." The Doctor adds.
It's not a joke, as a scanner runs his hand through the system. The scan goes through and the door slides up and gives them a free entry in. That doctor's got no choice but to eat his words.
"..Touch ID with a scanner you can barely see?" Doc asks, and gets a quick answer courtesy of Luigi. "This doctor's not going to just let strangers in, it's like a game to find the scanner. He's ahead of the times." he informs him. If E. Gadd has trackers to seven powerful stars, then he may be more ahead than that plumber says.
The first wall they see is full of cameras, with all types of locations on them. Presumably, it's a look at all the different areas in the facility. One lone chair's watching over it all, and eyes the one with five visitors. "Why hello again boys..."
The chair spins around...and it's that E. Gadd himself, and the threatening aura immediately goes away for the first-timers in the room. His eyes immediately hit the team's medic. "Oh, you've brought your in-law! I've heard so much about your accomplishments in the medical field. Your tablets are revolutionary."
The Doctor blows. "I appreciate the gratitude, professor. But we haven't come by for a friendly chat."
The professor sets a finger on his chin. "Hm. Let me solve this: Bowser took the princess again?"
"Yeah."
"This is an easy fix. All you need is one Power Star and that will do the job."
Mario breaks the news. "Not one. All of them. Bowser comes back worse every time so we need to stop his kingdom for good."
"I thought you were above Murder."
The plumber puts his hands up. "NO, NO not murder! We're-a gonna do some damage."
"Some? If you want to neutralizing the Koop Troop you'll need to do massive damage."
"I'm trying to be calm about it..."
E. Gadd just laughs at that. The princess is gone, and it's just no big deal. "Mario Mario, ever the pacifist. Bowser's tomfoolery knows no bounds, if I say so myself. If he wants to crush your kingdom he'll be searching for those stars as well. Unfortunately for him, he doesn't have a genius in his arsenal."
He scoots the chair over to a desk, opens a jour, and seven items are sitting right there. All of them look like watches with a nice green exterior. "Um..how are these watches supposed to help us?"
"Oh-ho! Sarasaland must be behind. These are trackers." he says, handing one tracker to each. There's only five people though, and luckily Yoshi's can do some math. "Um..professor."
"Yes, my Omnivoric friend?"
"There's still two trackers left..." that just gets a giggle from the professor, who gestures for the brothers to come over. "For every plan I have, there's ten backups. If your trackers ever break, there will be a couple replacements for you."
"..what if we lose them all?" The dino asks, and that elder just shrugs. "Then fate will decide. Now come along, you won't get anywhere on foot." He leaves his chair and heads for a door, with a pad next to it.
Yoshi's looking very judgemental. "I'm not sure about this guy..." he whispers to Daisy, who shares his sentiment. "He's smart, crazy, or both. Definitely both."
Gadd's presses a loose grey brick in, his hand is scanned and the door slides open. One flip up a switch and a dark room fills up with a light. The main crew enters to see five personalized vehicles! Mario runs to his signature red cart with that 'M' upfront. "Woah! Just when I think I know everything about you..."
"I've witnessed all those Grand Prix in the kingdom, studying what karts fits you best. If it's a race to the finish you'll need every advantage you can get, copyright or not." Gadd explains. "You may have the best medic in the world, but every great squadron also has its tech." He points to himself. "Allow me to fill the role."
Luigi's with his Mach 8 and it's slim tires. "They have a slow airship while we have this? Haha, we may have a leg up!"
Daisy's hops on her Mach Bike, with those signature colors. "May? We DO, this is right up our alley! Bowser would never join a karting season."
Yoshi's petting his bike that looks eerily familiar to himself, just enjoying his reunion with it. It hasn't been that long since the last Grand Prix, but the dinosaur can get attached pretty quickly. "Oh how I've missed you..."
As for Doctor Mario...he's never had a kart in his life. Not one Grand Prix under his belt. He's just looking up at what's basically a red pill with giant wheels. "I'm used to the lab, so I'll be trailing behind." The professor stands by his side. "We could have stood here and worked behind the scenes, but the brothers insisted you stick with them. It takes one parasite to kill the foundation."
The Doc wipes his forehead. "I know that all too well...but you couldn't have come up with something else?"
"You never show up..."
Ouch. The shade.
Everyone has their trackers gets into their vehicles both big and small. E. Gadd heads to a lever stuck in the wall somehow, and a whole wall opens up to reveal a trail, ready to go. "Before you go, there are communicators in your vehicles. Just press the blue button. You can never be over prepared."
Mario presses his button and selects Yoshi. "Your island's not too far. Ready for a visit back home?"
"Ready to get that star. Need me to carry you again?"
Mario chuckles. "Just like old times..."
The five refs their engines, and take off onto the trail. E. Gadd pushes his glasses up and pulls that lever again, the wall sliding shut. He gets back to his cameras, and clicks a button..showing the five on that same trail.
"The best of luck to your crew, boys..."
**********
As you see, I've introduced the Power Stars to this series. One grants invincibility for a short time, given it's only one. but who knows what can be done when all seven is in someone grasp.
Next chapter comes out soon!