Another World: pt1 chapter1

Disclaimer:  Mario, Peach and related characters belong to Shiguru Miyamoto and Nintendo.

OC’s such as Pickles the Stork belong to me.

Setting:  Alternate Universe, Covers several of the games.

Another World

Chapter 1: Plans of Attack

Dark Land 28 years ago
-

They have failed. He and the other Yoshis had taken up the great and nobles task and they have failed, correction. He was the one who failed. Out of all the Yoshis why was he chosen to have been the one to carry the infant to the castle to rescue the baby’s brother and the stork that had flown overhead?

It was during the battle with that odd creature that was shaped like a ball covered with spikes and had a large red and round nose and seemed to tap dance. He didn’t know how had slipped up. He was firing several eggs at the thing and then something rolled under his foot and he tripped. The infant was floating in that large bubble, wailing his head off and just as was about to get up the spiked creature overcame him. Darkness had enveloped his mind and the next thing he knew he was in the dungeon.

“You were brave,” the stork had said to him.

“No,” Yoshi shook his head. They shared the same cell together in the grimy dungeon. After the Magikoopa  and the spiked had defeated him. He most likely ran off with the baby and sent several of the strange henchmen with the whirling hats had carried him down to the dungeon.

“You shouldn’t be blaming yourself,” the stork shook his head. “If anyone should be blamed it should be me.” The bird lowered his head and closed his eyes. “Their mother trusted me. She asked me to take them someplace safe. It was a place called Brooklyn.”

“I have never heard of this place.” Yoshi said.

“Neither have I, but I was supposed to go there. Mrs. Segali trusted me. She told me to go to the warp pipe in Boo’s Woods, but I made a wrong turn. I made several wrong turns. I get lost very easily. That is how I met the Segali’s. I was lost and it was raining and I crashed near their home and broke my wing. Mrs Segali fixed my wing and gave me a name. I never had a name before.”

“What is your name?” Yoshi asked.

“Pickles,” the bird’s smile was brief. “I am Pickles the failure. I couldn’t save Crimson from the vampire.”

“There was a vampire?” Yoshi stared at the bird.

“Crimson was a Yoshi like you. This vampire came and he wanted one of the twin sons born from a woman from another world, one that can take on a reptilian form. Crimson and I attacked him. I pecked his ear before he gave me a concussion. When I woke up Crimson was dead.” The stork sighed. “I failed him too. I failed everyone.”

“I failed my people,” Yoshi pat the stork on the head. He wasn’t sure if he could stand up against something like vampires and formed a bit of admiration for Pickles. “We came across one of the babies. The one named Mario. We promised we would reunite him with his brother and return him to you and make certain you both have returned home, but I have failed.”

“Maybe your friends will figure out you have been captured,” Pickles said. “Maybe they are on their way right now.”

“They could be,” Yoshi nodded. A part of him did not want his people to know about his failure, but a new part, a growing part hoped that they have. “Maybe they are on their way right now. That means there is hope. We can rescue the babies and send you on your way.”

“And I am here to dash those hopes,” the same Magikoopa stood before them. He had a henchman on each side of him, floating in the air. “I have come here to the release the two of you.”

“Why?” Yoshi’s voice creaked. He felt a part of himself detach and fall to the bottom of his stomach.

“Seeing that those brats are now dead, there is no reason for you to perform a rescue.” The Magikoopa continued to gloat.

“They are dead?” Yoshi asked. They couldn’t be dead. Not even this dark wizard has it in his heart to kill defenseless babies.

“No,” Pickles cried out.

“I killed them myself,” the Magikoopa folded his arms across his stomach. “Slit a knife across their throats. Their cries were cut off by a mere gasp. I had thought it was going to be even messier, but then when they are so small they don’t have as much blood.”

Yoshi was silent. All he could hear was the saddened howls from Pickles. His body shook until he felt soft wings grab onto his body before he could no longer hold it in, broke down and wept.

-

“I wish I had a video camera,” Kamek chuckled as he skipped up the stairs to the hallway that held Kammy’s room. “I never knew an overgrown lizard and a bird could cry like that.” He paused to catch his breath. “That was beautiful.”

The two toadies said nothing. Their mouths were closed and mood less and it was hard to tell their expression in their eyes, not when they wear those thick glasses.

“What?” Kamek placed his hands on his hips. “You two are not going to tell me that you feel bad for those dumb animals?”

“No,” one of the henchmen shook his head. “What you did with the babies.”

“Oh for the love of,” Kamek slapped the side of his face. “I didn’t kill them. They are still alive. Kammy and I permanently changed them into Koopas, and Kammy has decided to adopt them. Don’t you remember some of your cohorts were heating a couple of bottles?”

The two Toadies stared at each other for several minutes before they nodded. Kamek could have sworn he saw a pair of flash bulbs appear over their heads.

“Great you two grew some brains, now hopefully you will get off my back. In fact I think the two of you should make yourselves useful, and do that somewhere away from me.” He waited until the two Toadies to fly off before he knocked on Kammy’s door. “I hope you are decent.”

“Don’t be a fool,” Kammy answered him. “You can come in.”

“I delivered the bad and yet untrue news to those animals,” Kamek stepped inside. He ignored the usual decorum of the Koopa witch’s room. “You should have seen their faces.”

“That’s nice,” Kammy stood in front of a wooden crib. “My widdle boys are sleepy yes?”

“Where did this crib come from?” Kamek was certain that it wasn’t there before.

“I made it with a wave of my wand.” Kammy did not remove her gaze from what was in the crib. “Lower your voice. They are falling asleep.”

“Taking this mother thing seriously?” Kamek whispered as he approached the crib. He looked inside and stared at the two Koopa hatchlings. Both of them had large snouts, brown hair and were still wearing the over size hats they had when they were human. The one with the red hat had a red head and shell and the one with the green hat had a green head and shell.

“Motherhood is serious,” Kammy said. “Aren’t they adorable?”

“I guess,” Kamek said as the green one yawned and the red one grabbed onto the end of his tail. “They certainly are cuter than before. Are you going to give them different names?”

“No. I looked up their meanings. Mario means warlike and Luigi means warrior. They are perfect names.”

“I see. You are going to raise them to be Prince Bowser’s bodyguards?”

“Something like that,” Kammy tucked in the twins. “They are going to make their mother and their Uncle Kamek proud.”

“Uncle Kamek?” He smirked at the name. “I kinda like the sound of that.” He yawned. “I’m going to help myself to a glass of the good Scotch.” After defeating the Yoshi’s and a successful transformation, he felt like he deserved it.

-

Dark Land Three Years Ago

Mario Koopa entered the throne room of his good friend and king with an assured smile on his face. The plans have been drawn and the troops have been sent out. Unless something drastic happens they will have taken over the neighboring Mushroom Kingdom within a few days. He grinned at the thought of those toads quivering and wetting their pants in fear when they are attacked .It serves them right for what they did to his brother and himself, and every other member of the Koopa Draconis breed who had suffered at their racisim.
“
Your majesty,” Mario’s twin brother, Luigi was the first to address Bowser and kneeled down before him.

“Good morning, King Bowser,” Mario followed suit and dropped to his knees.

“My friends,” Bowser smiled at them. “You two may rise. Luigi, how many times have I asked you guys not to address me like that? Your majesty this, your highness that? Let the grunts call me that.”

“Sorry,” Luigi smiled sheepishly. “I just felt that considering what we are about to do I should be more formal.”

“Relax,” Bowser removed himself from his throne. “Everything is coming together as planned. “The borders have been magically blocked off. That is correct, Kamek?” He turned around to face the elderly Magikoopa who stood behind him.

“I have sent several soldiers along with the magic spheres,” Uncle Kamek had explained and held up something that resembled a bubble. “Once they reached their target they broke their spheres, releasing the magic in the air and creating a wall. No one in the surrounding kingdoms, save for those of us from Dark Land, no one can enter the Mushroom Kingdom, not that they will notice anything out of the ordinary. A little extra something.”

“Excuse me?” Mario and Luigi’s mother asked.

“Which we can thank Kammy for,” Kamek scowled at her. “The visual block was her idea, but the force field in general is mind.”

“You two don’t need to bicker about it,” Bowser said. “It is a great idea. Mario, Luigi, what preparations have you made?”

“We’ll show you,” Mario turned around to the two Hammer Bros standing behind him. “You can put that map on the table.”

“Yes general, sir.” The Hammer Bros said and unrolled the map across the surface of the table.

“As you can see here,” Mario touched a large blue area on the map. “This place is mostly water. There is also a great bridge, which I have to admire in the archeological sense. I have already sent several Bloopers and Cheap Cheaps there. Any means of trying to fight back in the water will be thwarted and since these fish can fly there will be little to no counter attacks across the bridge.”

“Great,” Bowser rubbed his hands. “What about in the air?”

“Several Lakitus have been armed with spiny eggs,” Mario explained.

“There are several underground labyrinths,” Luigi pointed out the area on the map with a claw. “You can travel to them via warp pipe. I have already ordered several soldiers to go into these underground dwellings; some have been carrying piranha plants to put in the pipes. We will have cut off all means of escape.”

“Did you make sure all of your soldiers are carrying the powder pouches?” Uncle Kamek asked.

Luigi nodded. “I am curious, Uncle. What does this powder do?”

“It transforms toads into bricks, rocks, and horsetail plants,” Uncle Kamek’s smile grew wider.

“Come again?” Mario asked. “Do you mean to say we are conquering a kingdom by turning everyone in it into inanimate objects.” This was not how he wanted to conquer the kingdom.

“Mario has got a point,” Bowser frowned. “It will be hard to have the Mushroom people bow before me, if they are just a bunch of rocks and plants.”

“And bricks.” It appeared that dear old Uncle Kamek was losing his sanity.

“This idea was entirely his,” mother stepped back away from Uncle Kamek.

“We’ll figure out what to do next, after we have conquered the kingdom.”

“We have a bit of a flaw,” mother approached the table and placed a picture in the middle of the map.  The picture was of a young human woman with bright blue eyes, long golden silky hair, a pert little nose, and lush lips. “This is Princess Peach Toadstool.”

“The princess is human?” Mario couldn’t remove his eyes from the picture. She was cute for a human, probably would look better if she lost that pink get up.

“My sources have claimed that she is mostly human,” mother nodded. “A little too human for Kamek’s magic powder.”

“Crap.” Uncle Kamek gulped.

“She’s kinda cute,” Bowser studied the picture.

“She also has a special voice. If she sings then she will be able to undo Kamek’s magic, but it will only work if she is in her kingdom.”

“Where did you find this out?” Uncle Kamek asked.

“I do my research,” mother said in a proud tone. “I have read up on the Mushroom Kingdom History. It has been stated that girls born to the royal bloodline have a special power, fueled by their love for their people. Their voices can undo any spell, but only when they are within their own kingdom.”

“Then we will capture her and bring her here,” Mario said.

“Let me take care of that,” Bowser picked up the picture of the princess. “You two ready the troops. We leave within an hour.”

“C’mon,” Luigi grabbed onto Mario’s shoulder. “I need to get my hat.”

“Yeah,” Mario nodded. “Ma, can you make sure everyone has enough powder?”

“There will be plenty,” their mother nodded. “Kamek, I want you to make sure my sons have several pouches with them.”

“I may have to make some more,” Uncle Kamek said.

“Then do it,” their mother held onto her stone like expression before she turned them. “Good luck, and I want you to know, that no matter what happens. You have always made me proud.”

“Thanks Ma,” Mario said along with Luigi as they left the room.
-

Their hats were exactly where they had left them, hanging of the hooks on the door inside their room. They had their hats since as long as they could remember. Their mother said they were a gift from Uncle Kamek and given to them on the evening that they had hatched.

“Is it wrong that I feel a little giddy about this?” Luigi asked as he put on his hat. “I mean it is about time that we conquered that kingdom of smug racists.”

“Yeah,” Mario turned to the mirror. Like his brother he had his hair styled in the same fashion, bangs that sprung up into a cowlick, sideburns and the backs were skating dangerously close to mullet territory. He put his hat on, careful enough to slide his horns through the holes. “I’m not kinda keen on the way though.”

“What do you mean?” Luigi raised an eyebrow. “Don’t your remember the one time we tried to visit that place?” He placed a hand over his stomach. “I can still feel their fists.”

The firsts were not the worst even when they struck their knuckles against his unprotected arms and legs it still did not compare to the words:

“Coldbloods”
“Cannibals”
“Fat ass reptile”
“Midget monster”
“Look how they wish they weren’t sub creatures. They even try to grow their own facial hair.”
“That isn’t real.”

“Don’t mention it,” Mario rubbed his moustache. He had always wondered why his poofed out more while Luigi’s was sleek and more manageable. It was probably the same reason why Luigi was taller and his head and shell were a different color. “I want to take over that land as well as others for the Koopa Empire. I just think Uncle Kamek is starting to lose his marbles.”

“I agree. That idea to transform everyone is kinda odd. I rather seem them bow before us.”

“Bow before Bowser you mean?” Mario asked. “I just want to go to the Mushroom Kingdom and not be assaulted. I want to see the Toads and the Koopa Troop living together peacefully. Like what mom dreamed about.”

“That does sound nice,” Luigi sighed.

A second sigh was heard and the two brothers turned around in time to see a pink shell and two bows, one large and polka dotted, the other on the tail of the Koopa Princess duck behind the corner.

“Was that Wendy?” Luigi swallowed.

“Yeah,” Mario smiled. “I was right. She does have a crush on you, and now you are blushing.”

“I’m not,” Luigi stared at the ground and tapped his fingers to each other. “I think she is cute and all, but she is the princess, not to mention what Bowser would do if he found out.”

“He might be cool with that. You should ask her out.”

“No,” Luigi shook his head. “I can’t. I mean, you know I suck at this kind of thing.”

“You do not suck.”

“It is easy for you to say. Look how many dates you have had.”

“Single dates,” Mario frowned. “I haven’t had a steady girlfriend since Lola and I broke up.”

“You’ll find another girl, you always do. What Koopa gal doesn’t want to be with the greatest general of Dark Land?”

“One of the greatest,” Mario held up his hand. “You are the other and you are right. They want to be with the general. I can’t find anyone who wants me for me.”

“You will probably meet several nice girls at the victory party.”

“I might,” Mario tightened the spiked bands around his wrists. “But first we have a kingdom to conquer.”