Mario and the Koopa Conspiracy, Martin C. Featherworth [book recommendations .txt] 📗

himself with a hint of a grin. “So what are you doing over here, Toadward?” The toad motioned to the red Starshroom.
“The Captain told me to set a course, and I also had to fix a few things.”
“For where?” Mario asked, curious.
“He wants to go and search for treasure later.” Toadward looked from side to side, checking for anyone who might be listening. “We picked up on huge power star energy readings in this area. The Captain hasn’t told you yet, but…he kinda wants you to help him.”
“Did he say that?”
“Not directly, but he inferred it.” The toad adjusted his glasses. “I think we can manage without you, though. It’s up to you if you want to help us. You also seem kinda down, so I don’t want to trouble you more…” Mario covered his face with his hand.
“I’m not in the mood for another adventure right now.” Toadward turned his mushroomy head away in thought.
“I’m sure the Brigade wouldn’t notice if we just ‘went missing,’” he said in his high-pitched toad voice. Mario stared at him. The idea seemed appealing. The Captain, according to Toadward, hadn’t straight-up said that he wanted Mario to look for treasure with the Toad Brigade. Besides, the Toad Brigade had found plenty of treasure by themselves with no help from Mario. Mario also had an excuse: he was feeling depressed and wasn’t prepared for an adventure.
“Let’s leave,” Mario said in a hushed tone. Toadward pointed into the air.
“Don’t you mean ‘Let’s-a go’?” the toad said with a poor attempt at speaking in Mario’s voice. He snickered a bit. Mario placed his hand over his face, moving it down over his mouth. He stared at the toad with an unamused expression.
“That was a good one,” Mario said, taking his hand off and closing his eyes for a brief moment. “But I’m serious. Let’s leave.” Mario looked back in the direction of the rest of the toads. “Though I think it’s a bit rude to leave without telling everyone.” Toadward nodded.
“I guess that would be kinda rude… I’ll go tell them now,” he said, staring off in the direction of the rest of the Brigade. Mario followed him.
“I’m coming also. I think the Captain may be less upset if I tell him in person,” Mario said. They began to approach the Toad Brigade. 3: Yoshi’s Island…of Desperation

After Mario and the blue toad named Toadward had gone and announced their departure to the Toad Brigade, they rode the orange and yellow platform down from the Sea Slide to a floating warp zone. The Captain of the Brigade had been upset that Mario was leaving, but he had tried not to show it. The pipes in the warp zone led down to a large parking area with restroom and shower facilities, just as you’d expect to see at a normal beach. Of course, Mario was dry after swimming in the water. It was a strange phenomenon, even here in the Toadstoolian realm. Nobody else could swim without coming out of the water wet, nobody except Mario and his brother Luigi. They had guessed that it had something to do with their inter-dimensional trip from Brooklyn, that it had somehow messed with physics. Of course, neither of them thought about it too much. It was just another unexplainable mystery to them…
The toads had landed the two extra Starshrooms near the back of he parking lot. The Brigade had taken three of them: the red one, the green one, and the pink one. The red Starshroom remained up at the Sea Slide so the rest of the Brigade would have something to fly in. Mario and Toadward got into the Starshroom they had ridden in before, which was the pink one. Using a series of shortcuts and inter-dimensional warps, they were able to get back to the Mushroom Kingdom in a little over an hour. Time and space didn’t seem to matter as much in this realm. Mario often thought about how many groundbreaking advances could be made if scientists from Earth could come here and study things. He himself wasn’t knowledgable enough to study the natural occurrences here, but a team of scientists could develop new theories and technology. That would also require a way to get to Earth, which seemed to no longer exist. These were the things on which Mario thought while he flew back to the Mushroom Kingdom. Mario also contemplated the outcome of his short trip.
Yes, the Sea Slide had been lovely today. The young penguin Eddie and his family had also been lovely, lovely to meet. Somewhere in his mind, Mario thought he should have been content. He probably would have gone home beaming, and he would have been happy to see his brother and have some dumb conversation with him. Now, he didn’t want to see anyone, and especially his brother. Luigi would be the least likely person to understand even a little bit what he was feeling.
Even though they were only a little under two years apart in age, Mario had always perceived Luigi as being the “baby,” as Mario was often forced to be his “parent” when they were children. They had a tragic life when they lived in Brooklyn. Mario was glad to be here in the Mushroom Kingdom, but for some hint of a reason, he wished he could go back for a visit. Maybe Dad came home to Mom, and now they’re happy together. Maybe they’re happy like before they had kids. He liked to think that things were better without him, but he often had unpleasant dreams.
Mario had been having terrible nightmares about his family. There was a reoccurring theme in them: Mario as a child watched child Luigi and his mother get killed, and he could do nothing to stop it. Sometimes they were swallowed up by darkness, sometimes they were drowning, but the worst one was when Bowser would come and burn them with his fire breath. He would always wake up just before it happened. His dreams became more and more real as time progressed. Perhaps that was the underlying reason behind his emotional low. Or maybe it was the other way around. Mario’s spirits were dampened regardless.
Mario directed his thoughts away from his past and his nightmares and back to the Sea Slide. He had gone to Penguru for advice on what he should do about his undying notion: that Princess Peach’s kidnappings were planned just to make Mario go insane. Another time, Mario would have dismissed such nonsense right away. Why would a princess go of her own free will with a mean-looking, spike-covered, dragon-like koopa just to make a short fat plumber go crazy? Unless…Peach liked Bowser. Ugh! Why did he think that? Mario shook his head at the thought. He was probably just too stressed out.
Penguru, the wise one-hundred twenty-three year-old penguin, had told Mario that he was worrying too hard for no reason at all, that his suspicions were in vain. On the contrary, Mario hadn’t even told Penguru what he was worrying about. Did he know, or was he just giving advice that didn’t pertain to Mario’s situation? The bird was one-hundred twenty-three years old; he was bound to know something. All the evidence seemed to point in the direction of Peach having planned kidnap dates with Bowser, and Mario was no longer sure what to believe. Even if Peach wasn’t getting kidnapped on purpose, there was still the fact that Peach didn’t seem to care much about Mario. Period. Sure, she made him cake sometimes, but that only seemed to happen right before she was kidnapped again. And even after Mario had gone through castle after castle looking for her, Peach just said a casual “thank you” upon her rescuing and maybe only gave Mario a kiss on the cheek twice…ever. It was maddening either way.
What was he to go do after he got back home? Would he go and confront Peach on this matter? No, that seemed a bit rash; it wouldn’t end well any way. Who else could he talk to about it? Certainly not his brother. He wouldn’t be able to help at all. Maybe he could talk to Yoshi. Yoshi was a compassionate and understanding parental figure. Yoshi had rescued Mario and Luigi as infants and taken them back to their parents in Earth, who were still a normal functional family living in Italy at that time. If anyone would have known what to say to coax Mario out of his pit of despair, it would be Yoshi. There in the Starshroom, Mario decided that he would go and talk to that green dinosaur, the only parent he had left. And that is just what he did.
The pink Starshroom landed on the outskirts of Toad Town, the capital city of the Mushroom Kingdom and home to Peach’s Castle. Toad Town was a city that was split into two parts: the Main Side and the New Side. On the Main Side, which was the part closest to the castle, Toad Town was a bright and cheery city made of the traditional mushroom-shaped buildings and populated almost entirely by toads. Peach’s grand white castle stood in front of the Main Side of Toad Town, and the lake that was fed by the waterfall was the main separation between the two halves of the city. The New Side was different from the Main Side, however. Tall buildings rose high above the mushroom-houses, toads as well as goombas, koopas, yoshis, and other creatures bustled down the streets, jumping into public pipes and utilizing the new-fangled launch and slings stars as a part of their daily commute. Office buildings, restaurants, stores, and other buildings here were built in a way that was similar to how the buildings in Earth cities (like Brooklyn) were built.
Mario had made his home near the city and the castle. It was a strange little thing, set apart from the city and set on a small hill. Though Mario had a permanent living space, he rarely was in it. He only used it to eat and sleep in, as he was always off on an adventure, exploring, or just at Yoshi’s tree-canopy house. He wasn’t going to his house now, but to Yoshi’s place.
The pink Starshroom sat atop a hill not too far away from Mario’s house, which looked like a small yellow cartoon house with varying colors and sizes of pipes all around it. Mario thanked blue glasses-wearing Toadward as he left the vessel, faking a smile that didn’t have the right emotion behind it. They exchanged brief farewells as the big metal mushroom lifted off into the sky. Mario was back in the Mushroom Kingdom now, where everyone else he knew was. He was going to go right to Yoshi, not addressing anyone else. Of course, that didn’t work.
“Heeeyy Mario!” said a nasally voice in the same Italian accent as Mario. Mario didn’t even have to turn around to know who it was.
“Hi Luigi,” Mario replied, making little attempt to sound friendly. Luigi didn’t seem to notice. He hopped up next