The Mario Brothers - Chapter 3
     Spys sent out by the Mushroom Kingdom Secret Service (M.K.S.S.) had reported  that Bowser had begun arming his troops and new previously unknown fortresses had been discovered. Bowser´s troops had been estimated to about 150 Goombas, 200 Koopa Troopas, 25 Hammer Brother and 75 other troops. Much bigger than the last one! The Mushroom Kingdom and the surrounding Kingdoms prepared to meet Bowser´s attack, but there were no attack! For 2 weeks they waited for Bowser to approach them with his troops. Bowser never attacked instead it seamed like he was building up his defences rather then planing an offensive. Then one morning when Toad as usual was walking up the long stairs to Peach´s room in one of the royal Castle´s towers to wake her up, he noticed that the door to her room was open. Peach always sleeps with her door closed. He walked towards the door and peaked in. Peach was gone! Toad immediately called a meating with the M.K.S.S. leaders including: Peach (who wasn´t present!), Toad himself, Mario and Luigi for an emergency meeting.
     - What! Is Peach gone! Mario started after he´d hear Toad´s story.
    - Yes and I found this on her bed. Toad said and held up a letter reading: "Bowser has your precious Princess!" The letter was signed "Nina the Ninji".
    - Who´s "Nina the Ninji"? Luigi wondered.
    - Ninji.. Sound familiar.. Toad started.
    - The black ninja like creatures with sharp teeth that we all saw in that strange dream a couple of weeks ago. Mario said.
    - But that was just a dream or wasn´t it.... Luigi said.
    - Maybe not, I´ve always felt that it was more than a dream. Toad added.
    - I have also felt that it was more than a dream too. Luigi began.
    - Whether this creature is from our dreams or not doesn´t matter! Now we must find a way to get Peach back! Mario said a little bit annoyed  by Luigi and Toads nagging.
     Disguised as Koopa Troopas Mario and Luigi managed to sneak past many of Bowser´s scouts patrolling the area around the Mushroom Kingdom. When they had walked about an our in their big, heavy, warm and highly uncomfortable Koopa Troopa suits they was fed up with it and decided to proceed by foot (without the suits). The enemies they encountered this time was the same as in their last adventure: the dumb and ugly Goombas, the stupid Koopa Troopas, The vicious Piranha plants, flying Lakitus and the Bullet Bills. The only real threat were the Hammer Brothers. These swift and well armed Koopas were always dangerous. They threw their hammers with deadly precision and moved fast up and down the platforms. Apart from the Hammer Brothers Mario and Luigi didn´t have to much trouble handling either Bowser or his troops. When Mario and Luigi had defeated Bowser in his grand fortress they discovered a whole new much tougher world. Here they faced Bowser both in Fortresses and in outdoor areas. Mario and Luigi learned that if they could make it to Bowser witha fire flower they could shoot him! In the outdoor areas they couldn´t defeat Bowser onless they had teh fireflow ablilty otherwise they just had to stay away from him. At last they managed to make their way though the 4 new areas of this new world and found Bowser in his lair. Now after defeating Bowser innumerable times Bowser wasn´t so hard to defeat anymore and he hadn´t learned any new techniques this time either. When sending Bowser into the lava Luigi shouted after the lizard king.
    - You´re no match for us mighty Mario Brothers anymore Bowser! We can defeat you and your troops in the sleep!
    - Yeah get a job Bowser! Mario shouted in triumph.
     They freed Peach and found a shortcut back to the castle. It only took Mario and Luigi 2 days to rescue peach from the clutches of Bowser. After that they saw lesser and lesser of Bowser and his troops. Spys reported that Bowser had drawn back his remaining troops and had begun building up a fortress far away in the Dark World at the border of the World. It seamed like Bowser had retired!
     Meanwhile in Bowser´s newly built fortress Bowser sat depressed in his big throne with his head lowered. Luigi´s words were echoing through his head: "You´re no match for us mighty Mario Brothers anymore Bowser! We can defeat you and your troops in the sleep!".
    - How can I, the master of all evil be so easily defeated by two plumbers!? Bowser begun talking to himself.
    - Have I started to grow old!?
    - Have I lost my spirit, the "killer instinct" which my father Morton was so famous for?
    - Am I no longer able to battle or run an army!?
    - What do I have left to improve?
Bowser calls in his chief strategist Kamek.
    - How can I serve you? kamek said as he bowed deeply.
    - Am I losing by bite!? Bowser began.
    - Do you want me to be completely honest. Kamek asked.
    - Yes please... Bowser answered silently.
    - You are not the Tyrant you used to be.
    - What can I do about it?
    - You must seek new strategies. How about using your kids, they should be useful in battle by now.
    - They are only 10 years old but I could easily train them to be great fighting machines! Bowser began in triumph.
    - And then we can give them an airship each and a minor army and then send them out to conquer an kingdom each.
    - When everyone is paralyzed by my children´s violent rampage I can sneak in and kidnap Peach! Bowser shouted in happiness.
    - First we must build up and big army and try to summon new more powerful troops.
     After month´s of work the all airships was constructed and the armies were in place to invade the kingdoms. So Larry, Morton Jr., Iggy, Roy, Lemmy, Wendy and Ludwig went out in their first mission to spread havoc in the kingdoms around the Mushroom Kingdom. Mario and Luigi was soon called to sort things out.¨To aid Mario and Luigi in their new adventure Peach and her servants had invented new special powers for Mario and Luigi to use like the "Raccoon suit" which enabled the brothers to fly shorter distances.
     First they travelled to the Green Land which was under control by Larry. After a smaller adventure they came to a fortress. In the last room they was confronted with the owner of the fortress (and all the other fortresses in all the kingdoms): Boom Boom, a big Koopa Troopa with big spikes on his back. Mario and Luigi could only attack him when he didn´t "exposed" his razor sharp spikes. After a little practice he wasn´t to hard Mario and Luigi just waited until he had unfolded his spikes and then jumped on his head. They continued on and some battles later and a brief visit in an underground cave they came to the castle of Grass Land where they meet the king that had been transformed into an dog! He told them that Larry was watching them from his airship hoovering above the castle. They ran out in the castle´s yard and grabbed the airship´s anchor and climbed up. After being confronted by a series of cannons and Bullet Bills they found the pipe leading down to the cabin where they found Larry. He waved with his wand and shot magical beams after the brothers but Larry was too slow and after 3 jumps in the head he was out of the game. Luigi ran to the cockpit and landed the airship outside the castle. They took Larry and the wand and walked in to the castle to go see the king.
     - Oh there he is, the one who turned me into what I am now! The King cried out when he saw Larry.
    - We´ve got his wand right here. Luigi said.
    - Great just let the wand touch me and I´ll return to my normal form!
When the king had returned to his normal state he told the plumbers that he had a letter from the princess. With the letter Peach had enclosed a mysterious power up named the "P-wing" which worked like the raccoon suit except that the used could fly around freely for many minutes!
     The two brothers continued to the hot Desert Land were they met many new hazards, like quick sand and an small attacking sun which dived down after them, but Mario "disposed" him by shooting a shell at him. They also had many too close encounters with the Fire Snakes and Chomps patrolling the desert. Half through the desert they found a fortress. Inside they found many new enemies like the big spike furnished rocks called "Twomps" and the eery ghosts Boos that although lethal could easily be stopped by them by just looking deep into their eyes, because then they blushed and stopped! However the second you turned your back against them they started chase you again! Here they also encountered a new sort of hammer brothers the boomerang brothers and in one secret area they found the furious fire brothers that rapidly spitted fireballs after Mario and Luigi. They had to use their P-wing that they had obtained from Peach to defeat them. After defeating Morton in his airship and restoring the king to his normal shape they continued on to the Water Land where they had to avoid all sorts of fishes and squids on their journey across the country and seabed. When they was walking on a bridge a huge fish jumped up from the water and almost swallowed Mario whole! In this world they also found a strange green frog suit which enabled the weared to swim easier and faster. The only female Koopa kids, Wendy O Koopa ruled this world. She jumped around the cabin and shot big candy wheels after Mario and Luigi. The brothers' next adventure was to take place in the strange Giant Land were gigantic Goombas and Koopa troopas attacked them and a new power up was found. The "Tanooki suit" enabled the wearer to (except from looking almost excruciatingly cute) turn into a statue to hide from enemies. After a time Mario discovered that by transforming himself into a statue in midair and then falling down on enemies he could defeat previously undefeatable enemies! In the airship above Giant Land the funny looking, Iggy which were wearing big round glasses watched them. The glasses made him look like a real nerd and he was in fact a real whimp. They took Iggy´s ship to the next Kingdom the Sky Land.
After some minor adventures they found a Goomba wearing a big green shoe.
    - I'm Kuribo´s Goomba and I'm gonna stomp you on your heads until you drop! The Goomba screamed.
    - Look at this! Luigi screamed back
    - This is my imitation of King Bowser Koopa! Luigi screamed after the Goomba and took up two sticks and put them into his ears so that it looked just like he had horns and started jumping up and down while he uttered all sorts of strange sounds. The Goomba started laughing and Mario took the opportunity to sneak up behind the Goomba and throw him out of the shoe.
    - Jump in Luigi! Mario screamed after Luigi.
Luigi jumped into the shoe also. Whooshhh! The shoe flew high up in the air and landed right on top of a pipe 50 feet away, knocking out a Piranha plant that was looking up from the pipe.
    - Whoa! How did you do that! Luigi asked Mario.
    - I just pushed the lever, inside. Mario answered.
Mario and Luigi noticed that they could kill Piranha plants and Spinys by just jumping on them with the shoe! Soon they found a high tower leading high up to the sky. When they walked out at the top of the castle they found a whole new world high up in the clouds! When they finally found the airship and met Roy Koopa in the ship´s cabin they encountered problems. Roy was so heavy so that when he pounded the ground he caused a small earthquake stunning Mario and Luigi for the moment. This enabled Roy to take aim with his wand and fire a blast at Mario. The blast hit Mario and he screamed in pain.
    - MAARRIIOOOOOO! Luigi screamed.
    - My arm my arm! I'm wounded.
    - It´s your turn next Luigi. Roy screamed as he prepared to pound the ground once more.
    - No it won't happen Luigi screamed and quickly grabbed a bit of wood lying in one corner of the cabin and summoned all his available power in one rage as he jumped after Roy and hit him right over the head with the bit of wood. Roy fell to the ground and Luigi rushed over to Mario to see how his arm was.
    - Quickly take me back to the castle and maybe they have a medic there who can take care of me. Mario moaned
     Luigi landed the ship outside the castle and Luigi ran in to call for help. When the medics had taken a look on Mario they returned to Luigi.
    - You brother was very lucky! The blast only hit his arm but unfortunately the bone is broken so he has to put plaster on it to let it heal. The medic said.
    - But can we continue our quest.
    - I wouldn´t recommend it but I guess I can´t stop you!
     After resting at the castle for 2 days the brothers took Roy´s airship down to arctic, cold, Ice Land where they learned that natural obstacles like slippery walkways and cold lakes and waterfalls could be at least as dangerous as the enemies that patroled the area. After a slow insecure trip through the barren landscape and not too hard fight with Lemmy Koopa in his airship the last kingdom before the Dark Land where Bowser was hiding laid before them, the Pipe Land. This once so successful kingdom had been infested by thousands of Piranha plants . At first there was only a few of them but the piranha plants flourished in the many pipes in this area and soon they had taken over the whole kingdom and the inhabitants of this kingdom had to take refuge to the royal castle.
     Here Mario and Luigi faced one of the most hazardous enemies ever, both outdoors, indoors and beneath water. They do however found one pleasant surprise. From a mushroom citizen living in a small house they got a "Hammer suit". This suit was much like the armor that the hammer brothers had but more improved and could stand fire attacks. The best thing however was the hammer that came with the suit. With these hammers they could attack and kill enemies they had never been able to defeat before! The airship hoovering above this land was one of the toughest and they had heard from the king that this Bowser kid was a real mean bastard so when they reached the pipe leading down to the cabin of the ship they stopped. The king had said that Ludwig as his name was, was so heavy that the floor shock when he jumped (just like Roy).
    - Mario I can barely fight. Luigi started
    - I know I´m also weak. Mario answered.
    - What power ups do we have left. Luigi asked.
    - A Super Mushroom, a fire flower, a Tanooki suit a Hammer suit and 2 P-wings. Mario answered.
    - Okay this is what we do. Mario continued.
    - I´ll use one of the P-wings because then Ludwig can´t stun me with his jumping.
    - Okay good luck Mario!
     With out his ability to stun his enemy Ludwig wasn´t such a big problem and after turning the King back to his normal state and resting at the castle for a day or two they continued on heading for Bowser´s fortress in the Dark Land. This was goning to be the toughest adventure yet for the twins. Bowser had built up a impressive defense, consisting of 2 big tank divisions, a whole armada of ships and countless attack planes. Mario and Luigi´s bravery and inventiveness saved them from all these hazards. They swum beneath the armada (luckily Bowser didn´t have any subs!) and they used a P-Wing to fly past the attack planes by hiding high up in the clouds, the tank divisions however they had to deal with in conventional ways. The fortress in this area that was constructed like a gigantic maze was one of the greatest challenges Mario and Luigi had ever faced but they some way managed to find a way out and soon they stood outside Bowser´s gigantic fortress.
     - Take this! Mario said as he threw the Tanooki suit to Luigi.
    - And I´ll take this. he said and took up the Hammer suit.
    - It´s not fair! Luigi started.
    - I always get to have this damn Tanooki suit, you look like little cute raccoon in it!
    - It might not look like much but if you use the suit's statue form right it's very handy.
    - Yeah, if I face Bowser in this, maybe he laughs so much that his heart stops! Luigi snapped at  Mario as he got dressed in the Tanooki suit.
     The two brave brothers entered the fortress and immediately faced Bowser´s first traps: statues with the shape of a certain lizard king shooting lasers after all intruders! Then they continued up a long stairway and down another one while avoiding the roto discs that were mounted there. After the long stairways they found themselves looking out over a massive lava sea with lava bubbles jumping up and down everywhere. Fortunately small platforms were scattered above the sea and by using their perfected jumping skills they managed to make it across in one piece! After even more lava lake antics they had finally come to the door to King Bowser Koopa's room. A note attached to the door read: Step in if your life is NOT a precious thing to you!
They entered and came to a big hall with a brick floor and a door in the end of the room.
     - Where´s Bowser. Luigi wondered.
In the same moment Bowser came falling down from the ceiling landing on a stone block near them.
    - Greetings you´ll make a excellent dinner! Bowser welcomed them.
    - How do you intend in beating me this time. Bowser continued.
    - Use your hammers! Luigi shouted to Mario.
    - I don´t have no more iv'e used them all up! Mario shouted back.
    - Now you have nothing to put up against me! Bowser shouted in triumph as he breathed away a big fireball after Luigi.
Luigi ducked but had to jump aside because the next second Bowser can jumping trying to crush him to the floor.
    - No to tuff anymore! Bowser derided Luigi as he prepared to spit yet another fire ball this time after Mario. Shortly after Bowser aimed and jumped after Mario trying to pound him to the floor but Mario was to fast for Bowser and he could escape and run over to Luigi.
    - Any other ideas brother. Mario said.
    - Yes  I think so, take a look at the place in the brick floor where Bowser tried to crush me before. Luigi began
    - Yes what about it! Mario answered.
    - Take a look at floor, Bowser made a big crack in the floor as he pounded the ground.
    - I understand if we get him to pound the ground enough times at that spot he might get that part of the floor to collapse!
    - Let´s do it!
Luigi ran to the spot with the crack and started shouting.
    - You can´t hit me you old lazy lizard!
Bowser jump up in the air and came hurtling like a torpedo after Luigi. In the last second Luigi jumped aside.
    - One more time. Mario shouted after Luigi, now it´s my time.
    - I´ll lure him over here. Luigi answered.
After getting Bowser to jump after Luigi, Mario took his position on the crack that now was so wide that he could see the area below them . He took up a brick and threw it right in Bowser's head.
    - You can´t hit me!
Mario ducked for 3 fireballs coming towards him and prepared to dodge Bowser as he came jumping. Bowser got up his strength and jumped high up in the air and set course for Mario on his way down. Mario jumped aside and Bowser hit the crack and in an loud "crash" he fell through the floor. Mario and Luigi ran to the edge of the hole and looked down.
It was soo dark but in the distance they could hear Bowser screaming as he fell deeper and deeper into the darkness. After a while they heard a distant "donk" as Bowser hit the ground deep down in the darkness.
     The door at the end of the big room opened and bright light flowed out of it. Mario and Luigi entered and inside they found Princess Peach.
    - Thank you I never thought that you would get past Bowser´s army! Peach thanked them.
    - This is the third time we rescue you from Bowser isn´t that worth a real party?! Luigi wondered.
    - Oh, of course we´ll arrange one for you this evening. Peach said.
     That evening they all had a big party to celebrate Mario and Luigi´s bravery. Bowser was once more defeated but he hadn´t given up yet. He had already started planning on his new offensive, this time far away from the Mushroom Kingdom.........
     Written by: Mattias Liedholm