Princes and Plumbers

Burning brooms and unwanted Dukes

He races through the woods running on nothing except for determination. The creepy trees pass by rapidly as he makes his way up the spiraling path to the secluded, dark settlement of Twilight Town. He skids to a halt before reaching the town square, spotting two red shelled koopas talking in the square. Quickly he dodges behind a building and sneaks up closer to eavesdrop on the conversation. "Why are we stuck here on guard while everyone gets to search for the star," one of koopas asks vexed.

"Because we are not parakoopas or parabeetles or paragoombas! We're para-nothing, so how much help are we going to be when this thing is supposedly hovering in some floating house somewhere around here," the second koopa proposes.

"I guess not too much Barry," the first one admits.

"That's right Stew, not much. Besides think of it this way we are the first line of defense against," Barry stops, noticing something moving around the building, something red. The koopa moves closer, hoping it is not who he thinks it is then the red clad man jumps out in front of him. "Mario!"

"Night night," the plumber taunts as he jumps on the koopa reducing him to just a shell.

Stew comes around the corner, "Barry? Barry, where'd ya go?" Mario smirks as he kicks the shell sending it barreling toward the confused koopa. Stew turns seconds before the inevitable collision, "Uh oh." The shell crashes into him sending both koopas flying off to who knows where.

Mario claps his hands together triumphantly, That was way too easy. Now floating house why does that sound so familiar? Mario ponders, trying to recall any floating houses he had been in. There was the cloud house in that painting in Peach's castle, so hard to get to with all those freaking carpets to ride along the way. Mario shakes off the thought, Focus! Where else did I see a flying house? Wait I got it! Mario turns around and sprints off back toward the path. Twilight House, how could I forget! He recalls zooming around the eight rooms in his go-kart trying to pop all of his competitors balloons, little did he notice until now that Twilight Trail could be seen in the background. He finally reaches the woods and stops listening for any sign of Kamek or his troops. After hearing nothing, Mario slowly wonders through the woods shifting his focus between the sky and ground whilst listening for any enemies. He wonders around for five minutes when he hears Kamek's voice off to the east.

"What do you mean you haven't found it yet," the magikoopa asks enraged. Mario cuts through the brush and finds Kamek grilling a paragoomba. "We've been in this place for three hours, how is it that you have not been able to locate a flying house yet?"

"It is awfully dark sir and all the troops we have were pulled from the boundaries of Koopa Land; they see a lot of action sir and are very tired," the paragoomba tries to explain.

"Does it look like I care," Kamek spouts furiously, "Switch the shifts and keep looking!" The paragoomba flies off as Kamek mutters to himself, "Good help is so hard to find these days!" The koopa wizard leans against a tree, swinging his wand back and forth out of boredom. Mario sneaks up closer carefully, avoiding making any noises. As he draws closer, he notices Kamek's broomstick leaning against another tree, in perfect fireball range. Mario smirks to himself as a plan formulates in his mind. The plumber picks up a stick and snaps it in two sending a crack echoing in the air. Kamek immediately stands to attention squinting toward the area where Mario is hiding. The magikoopa slowly creeps up to the trail's edge and peers into the cluster of trees. Kamek's eyes widen as a bright red fireball comes toward him; he easily dodges and grins. "Taste my power, you filthy plumber!" Kamek waves his wand sending a ring of electricity into the woods. Mario quickly tumbles out on to the trail avoiding the ring, but becoming visible to the wizard. "Ha how pathetic, you're aim is much worse than the last time we met. You missed completely," Kamek gloats as he sends a wave of electric rings Mario's way.