Chapter 2: Initial Conquest
The Mario brothers were considering their options, which, given the situation they were in, were quite limited. First, there was the rather unlikely chance that they could run off, down the halls and out of the castle. Of course, seeing how narrow the hall was, they'd really have no chance fighting through the throngs of Bowser's guards. The idea of actually fighting the guards was absurd considering how outnumbered the brothers were. After realizing they had no other options, Mario and Luigi took the only viable way out; they surrendered.
The bitter irony was that the princess really wasn't in another castle; in fact, she was in the farthest cell from the door Mario and Luigi entered. They hadn't gotten to that point, as Bowser had practically made sure that they entered the door farthest from that given cell by confronting them in the great hall.
To explain it better, the door closest to the hall was purposefully made the door farthest from the cell the princess was kept in to deceive the brothers into thinking that she was not there. And soon enough, Mario and Luigi found themselves in the exact cell that the princess was in.
The two were too shocked to say much of anything. They found it impossible that someone whom they had originally deemed rather stupid had just tricked them into such a blatant trap.
The princess finally spoke up. "Wow. So you guys are in here too? That's great. Now what are we going to do?" She paced nervously back and forth in the cell in a similar manner to her pacing back at the castle hours ago.
"Don't worry," Luigi said, trying to console her. "Things will be fine. I'm sure we can figure out something..."
Suddenly, a loud booming noise was heard. Bowser had come down into the corridor and stopped to survey Mario and Luigi's predicament.
"Hahaha! My arch-nemeses... right where I want them!" Bowser commented.
"You just wait," Mario retaliated, "Your plan won't work. Just like the rest of them didn't!" Deep down inside, however, even Mario felt that Bowser had something truly devious up his figurative sleeve.
"No, YOU just wait!" Bowser gloated yet again. "This time, things will be different. This time, I will be successful!" Bowser's comments became more determined as they went on. "And with YOU out of my way for good, NO ONE WILL STOP ME! I have a feeling this will finally be the plan that brings the world under my control!!"
"Plan?" Mario wondered in a sarcastic tone. "Bowser actually has a PLAN? That's a first!"
"HAHAHA! And wasn't it you who just said, and I quote, 'Bowser just isn't that smart'? Well, it appears I'm smarter then any of you could ever have imagined! And combined with my raw, unstoppable power, I am invincible! I will not be beaten as I've been so often in the past..." Bowser left the corridor to go back to the great hall. Now that Mario and Luigi were finally out of the way, Bowser could begin the true purpose of his plan: taking over the world.
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Back at the princess's castle, Toad was becoming more and more worried. There was no one there when he went to inform the Mario brothers about Bowser's doing, so he had naturally assumed that they'd gone already to take care of the task. Mario and Luigi had gone now for hours, and it normally didn't take them that long to bring the princess back home safely. And even if the rescue would take several days, normally Mario would return to the castle to inform the Chancellor.
Toad finally decided to explain his worries to the Chancellor. "Sir, I'm worried about the princess. Mario and Luigi have been gone for awfully long now, and it seems they'd be back to at least tell us what has happened. I'm worried that something has gone terribly wrong..."
The Chancellor seemed a bit startled at Toad's worries. "Relax... It hasn't been that long. Maybe they're coming back victorious right now!"
"Yes... I sure hope so..." Toad still appeared worried. "Although this time... something tells me that there truly is something wrong... Although normally things turn out ok in the end... I have my doubts..."
Toad left the Chancellor's throne room, although he was actually more afraid for the welfare of the kingdom than before.
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Bowser went back to the great hall to confirm his success. "Ok... now that those meddling plumbers are out of my way, we can finally get down to some serious business!" Bowser took out the sheet of paper with his 2-step plan for world domination on it. "Let's see... I've captured the Mario brothers... and I've completed step 1... now all I have to do is..." He read step 2. "Take over the world! That's it! All I have to do now is take over the world and the Mushroom Kingdom will be mine!!! I'm halfway there!" Bowser seemed ecstatic over his triumph.
The MagiKoopa heard everything. "No, sir, you're getting it all wrong. I mean, yes, the Mario brothers are not a problem at this moment... and I must commend you for the stunning ease with which you captured them... but they can STILL a problem in the future."
Bowser was puzzled. "Huh?? How is that? They're locked up in my dungeon, they won't be leaving anytime soon ... (Or, if I have my way.... ever) how can they still be a problem?"
"Let me explain. See, eventually, someone is going to find out about Mario and Luigi. After they fail to return for a couple days, the people will realize that something's wrong. Then, a rescue party will be set up for both the princess and the plumbers, they might be successful, and then you'll be right back to where you started! We can't allow these previously unseen forces to interfere with this plan. We just can't allow that, can we?"
Bowser thought about this for a while. "Well, how can we prevent this?"
The MagiKoopa smiled. "Well, this is where all those spies you've had observing Mario in an attempt to pinpoint a weakness pay off. See, our spies have taken down a list of every potential threat to your power that has SOME connection with Mario. Now, what we need to do is go through this list and prevent any of these foes from ruining us. We can do this by---"
"Capturing them all!!!!!!!" Bowser interrupted the idea. "Man, I really am smarter than I thought."
"Yes... I guess we very well can do this. I'll go get the list, then." The MagiKoopa left the hall temporarily, and then returned with a long list of everyone who was deemed a threat to Bowser's enterprise.
"That's a lot of captives..."
"And we have a lot of forces!" The MagiKoopa showed the next step to the plan. "See, all we need to do is send out your forces and capture or kill everyone on this list in a methodical matter... and NO ONE ELSE. This is important. We want the world to wonder what's going on. After this, then---"
"Then we attack!" Bowser interrupted again with great enthusiasm. "When do we start?"
"Well, the earlier the better. The faster we get through these preparatory stages, the faster you'll be the undisputed ruler of the Mushroom Kingdom and all it encompasses!"
Bowser's plan to capture or kill anyone who was deemed a conspirator with Mario was taken into action. Essentially, anyone who had even so much as waved to Mario as he walked down the street in front of their house ten years ago was targeted. This part of the plan was expected to only take a couple days.
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Meanwhile, Mario and Luigi were racking their brains for ideas to escape the cell. Oddly, them noticed that the dungeons were becoming less and less empty by the hour. They especially took note that the cell immediately across from them was empty when they arrived, and then gradually increased in captives. First, there were 2. Then 4. 7. 12. And now, just about one day later, there were 20 prisoners in the overcrowded cell. Of course, for some reason, Mario, Luigi, and Peach were STILL kept in their own cell, while all the others had ten or fifteen or as many as thirty prisoners in a cramped ten by twelve foot cell. Some of the captives the brothers vaguely recognized. Others they had never even seen before. Not even they knew what Bowser had in store for them.
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Meanwhile, the once calm Chancellor was now in a frenzied panic. The Mario brothers had been gone for over 2 days now. He went to see Toad, who was still wondering about the recent occurrences.
"I'm afraid you're fears may have been very well founded..." the Chancellor confessed in a dire tone. "There's been no sign of the princess, and what's worse; my subjects seem to be disappearing by the minute. It's a bit odd, wouldn't you say?"
Before Toad could answer, a loud thud was heard by the front door. One of Bowser's massive armies forcefully swooped through the castle. "I am under strict orders to take over all occupants of this castle. Dissenters shall be executed." A general warned any would be escapees of the consequences of trying anything to prevent their fates. Massively overwhelmed, the castle's occupants (Including Toad and the Chancellor) were captured, although for some reason, the castle was abandoned by Bowser's troops after the takeover.
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Bowser saw that the number of people left to incapacitate from his list was getting very small, and he and the MagiKoopa agreed that it was finally time to begin the takeover.
"Where should we begin?" Bowser asked. He assumed that the princess's castle would make an ideal base, but he said nothing about it, as many of his initial assumptions were proved quite wrong.
"Well... First, we need to take over a base." The MagiKoopa reached into his pocket. "Now, before I show you this, where do you think we should attack first?"
"Well," Bowser spoke his thoughts. "I think we should attack Princess Peach's castle! We've pretty much taken it over anyways..."
"Yes, and this would be a mistake." The MagiKoopa explained his logic. "See, if you made that your headquarters... it could be attacked from all sides! See, you want something... a bit farther from the mainland. Get my drift?"
"Ah!" Bowser thought he knew what was being explained. "So, we should first attack a coastal area?"
"Well... that's better... but... You can STILL be attacked from so many directions there... and I know of a place that would be almost IMPOSSIBLE to get to!" The MagiKoopa pulled out a map. It was a complete map of the world, marked with about thirty or forty black squares. Two of the squares were numbered. "See... If you REALLY want to control a place that cannot be regained, you want to take over an ISLAND. An area entirely surrounded by water. Now, do you see it?"
"Wait..." Bowser looked at the map. "So, you recommend taking over the base marked '1' and naming that our headquarters? And this is on... Yoshi's Island!"
"YES! EXACTLY!" The MagiKoopa showed signs of approval. "See, the first place you should take over is the palace of Caj, the largest city on Yoshi's Island. See... It would serve as a perfect base of operations. It's close to the ocean, too, so we would have full control of the oceans. Next, we go to the mainland afterwards and attack base '2'. This will be our mainland headquarters. From there, we capture the bases you see fit for the success of our campaign."
"Yes..." Bowser finally began to see the point of the plot. "So, we take over the world from the island and go north until we've taken over everything? When do we begin?"
"The sooner the better! Call back all the troops and we'll begin our assault ASAP."
"Wait... ALL OF THEM?" Bowser was again puzzled. "Wouldn't that be ... inefficient? We could easily take over several places at once."
"Well.... it also becomes more efficient too."
Bowser was confused.
"See, we must make the conquest of the island as fast as possible. Then, we'll have our base before anyone can realize our attack, and the earlier mainland towns we attack won't stand a chance!"
"Hmmmmmm..." Bowser appeared to see the MagiKoopa standpoint. "So, we begin now, correct?"
"Of course! They won't know what hit them... You know, with your strength and my intelligence (compounded with yours, of course) ... we can easily take over the world!" The MagiKoopa's voice had an exuberant and zealous tone.
Bowser seemed a bit shocked by the comment. "Yes...." He walked into a corner... "We..." He was a bit discouraged that he had to work with someone else to achieve his goals, but he was quite sick of failing. "Call in our troops! The attack will begin IMMEDIATELY!"
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Meanwhile, The Yoshies on Yoshi's Island were rather content with their lives. The rain had also reached their lands, and after being cooped up inside for some three days, were overjoyed that they were finally able to once again roam their island as do as they pleased without getting wet.
The town of Caj was bustling. It was midday, and everyone was out on their daily runs, most of which had to be put off for the last three days. The alleys of the town were packed.
Suddenly, Bowser's warships were sighted at the nearby port. Now, there weren't one or two or even a few ships there, more so the entire armada. Bowser wasn't messing around here.
When the Yoshies finally came to their senses and saw that their homelands were in trouble, Bowser had already mobilized his troops, which were on the move towards Caj. The Yoshies put up a valiant defense, but unfortunately, it wasn't very successful at all. Caj was taken over in mere minutes, and was swarming with Bowser's forces. The Palace of Caj was immediately taken over and converted into a headquarters for Bowser's operations. The alleys of Caj were empty, except for a few of Bowser's troops who were looking to capture the last few citizens that were missed during the rout, a stark contrast to the activities that were occurring minutes prior. Within an hour, the entire island was teeming with Bowser's troops. Anyone who wasn't killed in the utter domination of the island was capture and enslaved. Bowser's initial conquest was a resounding success.
Congratulations! You have just been blessed by the wisdom of Steve.
