The Third Attempt

[Insane Steve]

I said I wasn't posting Chapter 3 today. I lied. :P

***WARNING: If you don't like original characters: stop reading now.***

Chapter 3: The Unlikely Liberator

One of Bowser's generals entered the grand hall to tell the King about the triumph. "Sir, the attack on Yoshi's Island was more successful than any of us could have imagined! Of course, it doesn't surprise me one bit, knowing how amazing of a leader you are, but still... we're ahead of schedule."
Bowser was a bit surprised by how strong his forces were. Normally, what would have taken days, maybe even weeks had taken Bowser's troops mere hours. "Wow... ummmm, what exactly did we gain from the conquest?"
The MagiKoopa, who was listening intently, answered for the general. "You see, the main reason we captured the island is for an unapproachable base for our troops. That we now have. Plus, from what I can tell, the island is rich in many resources that we'd never be able to obtain on the mainland. And, of course, we have the prisoners. We can enslave them, force them to fight for us... make them gather all the materials we need for the later stages of our attack... and if there are any dissenters..."
"We slaughter them!" Bowser interrupted once more.
"No, no... That would be wasteful! From what I can tell, we have two options. First, we can torture them until they give in. Although it is a bit of a waste of resources.... we will eventually gain from it. An individual who would never give in to us before would be coerced into serving us. Or.... what I was thinking is that we could bring them all back here and perform experiments on them. The information we can obtain about the race from this can be truly beneficial to us in the near future..."
Bowser thought about this for a while. "Interesting..."
The MagiKoopa got back to the plan. "Anyways, we now must continue the attack. We must expand to the mainland. Base #2 is just off the southern coast of the mainland, in the desert town of Al Akkad. It is one of the most exquisite palaces anywhere in the world, and it would be even more exquisite as a mainland headquarters..."
"Well, what are we waiting for then? We withdraw from the island and attack this place!"
"Wait... if you remove ALL the troops from the island, how will we ensure that the Yoshies will remain servile to our cause? We send HALF our troops there. There are more than enough troops to take this place over. Then, as we attack the base, we slowly disperse the troops until the entire world is swarming with our troops! And then, you will be the undisputed ruler of the world!"
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Some people in the Mushroom Kingdom saw what was happening to their populations, and yet no one knew what Bowser was really up to. They became more and more confused as time went on, too.

And then there were those people who just didn't care. Marty was one of those people. He lived alone in a large castle, about 5 miles from the princess's castle. It was complete with a drawbridge, large double doors, and even the rustic gray stone look on the outside, although it had every modern convenience on the inside. He was an introvert; he actually preferred the solitude of his castle to something that required ability, like having friends. No one could really understand Marty. In fact, there was an urban myth going around that on every full moon, Marty turned into a werewolf and went into town, slaughtering everyone in his path. Of course, no one believed it, but it did shed a negative light on his personality.

Marty really didn't care about too much in his life. As long as no one messed with him, he was contented. Marty's most prized possession was his castle. He valued it more than any intangible emotions or feelings. In fact, Marty really had only 2 penchants in his rather banal life. One of these was something he called "The Useless Talent of the Month", where, as the name implied, every month he took up a new useless talent in order to make himself a better and more talented person. In one month, for example, he learned how to hook up wiring to his drawbridge so that it could be opened and shut with the push of a button. The other escape from the dullness of solitude was what prevented him from weighing 300 pounds: He loved wandering around mindlessly, losing himself in the world around him. Actually, he had done this so much that he really could no longer lose himself anymore; he pretty much knew what the entire world looked like.

One of Marty's favorite places to go was Yoshi's Island. More specifically, the city of Caj. Marty often traveled there and marveled at how amazing the town was. It was, in his opinion, more beautiful than anything a human could ever make. He would often stare in awe at the architecture of the city's buildings, especially the Grand Palace. He just could not see how a structure of such elegance could even be conceived. In fact, he visited so often that several of the town's residents knew him very well. Better than any human did, anyways.

In fact, he had just embarked on one of these expeditions. It was midday. He was eagerly waiting for the ferry that went from the southern tip of the mainland to the port in Caj. It was a beautiful day, and he could hardly wait for the chance to go to the island. Even he, who was really indifferent about the weather, was sick of all the rain.

Marty saw the ferry approaching the southern docks. "Wow. The ferry's on time today. That's a first," he thought to himself. He boarded the ferry, along with everyone else, and it set sail on time. Little did Marty know that this innocent ferry ride would soon lead to so many more problems... problems that would faze even him...

Not only did the ferry arrive on time, it was also making good time to its destination. Marty actually realized that he might, for the first time in his life, be early in arriving on the island. He breathed in the fresh ocean air, although he scented a slight corroding sharpness that he hadn't sensed ever before. He merely attributed it to the boat's punctualness, and how the ferry was a bit earlier than usual at arriving at that point in his journey.

As the ferry approached the island, Marty noticed something seemed wrong. There were ships he had never even seen before surrounding the island, and he also noticed that four of them were sailing towards the ferry. A bit suspicious, Marty went to the edge of the ferry and was prepared to jump. Everyone else on the ferry was having too much of a good time to notice. Suddenly, one of the warships rammed the ferry. Everyone shrieked.
"Surrender now!" One of Bowser's admirals delivered the threat. "Just give up and we won't kill you. Resistance is futile."
Everyone on the ferry was thrust into a panic. Marty jumped. He hoped that none of Bowser's troops would see him, and thought he'd have better luck swimming to the nearest island. He was right. The troops from a second warship forcefully boarded the ferry and captured everyone on board. Marty was long gone, however.
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"Sir, I have great news!" The MagiKoopa gave Bowser a status report. "The swiftness of the attack on Yoshi's Island had some unforeseen good to it. We've managed to take over several ferries destined for the various ports on the island. Not only that, but we've also taken someone between 800-1000 new slaves. I'm not sure of the exact numbers. The ferries we can use to transport materials from the island. This is truly a fortuitous occurrence, all brought about by our careful planning!"
"Wait.... how do you find out about these things so fast? It's almost as if you alert me to what's happening as it happens!" Bowser, although a bit confused, was also delighted that this idea he had once scoffed at this "planning", has resulted in so much good.
"Well..." The MagiKoopa explained, "I have my tricks." He left the room, leaving Bowser to try and figure out what exactly he meant by the statement.
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Marty was somehow able to bypass the warships in his swim. Still, he wondered what the big idea was. He had never encountered one of Bowser's warships before, and he certainly had no intention on doing so ever again. He reached the island, although he had no clue where he was. In fact, he wasn't entirely sure what island he was on. He was pretty sure he had arrived at Yoshi's Island, yet he'd never been to this part of the island before. Aside from the shallow beach he landed on, the area was entirely jungle. He had no clue where we was, but he went into the jungle, deciding it would be safer than standing there on the beach and exposing himself.

He hadn't been in the jungle for more than a minute when he heard a voice.
"(Marty... is that you?)" Marty turned around to see where the voice was coming from. He noticed a Blue Yoshi, hiding in the wooden area.
"Wait..." Marty was a bit taken back. "You know me?" Marty could not for the life of him recognize the Yoshi. Of course, Marty could not recognize anyone he had seen before.
"(Yes... you visit Caj quite often. I see you a lot. In fact, you're rather famous in my part of town... It appears you've picked the worst possible time to visit us.)"
"What happened?" Marty thought he knew, but just wanted a conformation.
"(It's Bowser. His troops just stormed into town. It was horrible. The attack was one of the worst massacres I have ever seen. I was one of the lucky ones who got out of Caj before it was completely taken over. You should see what they've done to my friends. Actually... I really don't think anyone should have to see what Bowser's forces have been doing to us.)"
Marty was shocked. Of all the times to go on his little trip, he had to go right when his destination was taken over by an evil force. He hadn't heard anything about it on the mainland, but if he had, he would likely have just went back to the castle without a second thought and continued to waste his life.
"(Here, come with me. You really aren't safe here.)" The Yoshi went to a large rock. With Marty's help, they lifted the rock to reveal a tunnel leading underground. They went inside, making sure to carefully replace the rock so that no one would ever think there was an underground tunnel.
Marty was in awe. He had never even imagined the extent of the underground passages. In fact, one could go entirely across the island using the passage.
"And why exactly did you build these tunnels, anyway? I mean, you couldn't have anticipated Bowser's attacks..."
"(No.... these were built years ago. It's quite a long story.)" The two walked through the tunnels. "(You see, everyone on the island is informed about these secret passages in case the island is threatened. Everyone who managed to evade capture is now down here. We're hoping that someday, we'll be able to stage a rebellion and reclaim what's rightfully ours.")
Marty wasn't too worried about the welfare of the Yoshies at this moment. The only thing he really cared about was getting home again so he could get back to his castle, far away from any 'invading forces' that might challenge him.
"Well..." Marty explained his thoughts. "I really want to get back to the mainland. Everyone needs to be informed so that they can be prepared for Bowser if he decides to go after the mainland..." Of course, Marty really wasn't going to tell anyone anything about this, for he really didn't care, but he needed some way to get back.
"(Well... I might just be able to help. You see, a while ago, before this invasion occurred, one of our brightest built something similar to what you call a ‘submarine’. See, it went underwater, and was to be used only if something like this happened. Unfortunately, he was killed in the defense of our island, and now no one knows how to control it.)"
"I think I'll give it a whirl." Marty showed a good deal of confidence.
"(It's not that easy. See, everything is labeled in OUR language, and if you can't read it... then---)"
Marty interrupted. "Of course I can read it!" Indeed he could. He devoted a whole month to comprehending the Yoshies' written language.
"(Well... ok then... I'll bring you to it.)" The two went down the long narrow tunnels into a docking area. The submarine was in a large room. The vessel itself wasn't large at all; in fact, it was only big enough for two occupants, Marty being one of them.
The Yoshi called for everyone in the area to assemble in the room.
"(Ok, what we need is someone to go with Marty in---)"
"(Wait, who's Marty again?)" Someone was confused.
"I'm Marty." Marty introduced himself, although a lot of the Yoshies in the area knew who he was already.
"(Good, now anyways, we need someone to go with Marty back to the mainland to warn everyone about Bowser's doings here. I'd prefer to stay here so make sure everything is ok on the island. Any volunteers?)"
The room went silent. All the Yoshies knew who Marty was (Well, they did now, anyways) but were hesitant to go into the submarine with him. They feared that he didn't know how to pilot it. After a while, a Red Yoshi finally spoke up.
"(I'll do it. Besides, I personally would rather take my chances now in the submarine than take my chances later on this island. Who knows what Bowser would do to us if we were found? I mean, look at how he's treating everyone who gave up immediately!)"
"So, are we going now?" Marty seemed impatient.
"(Yes, we'd better leave ASAP.)" The underground docking area led outside the island via a submerged tunnel. "(If you head straight, you SHOULD wind up on the mainland. Good luck!)"
The two went into the submarine, and took off.
Marty soon discovered he didn't now nearly as much about the Yoshi language as he thought. "Erm... How do I speed this thing up?" He pushed a button. The craft veered left. He panicked, and frantically began pushing buttons. The craft sped up to full speed, and began veering uncontrollably off course. Before Marty could realize what was happening, the submarine crashed into a large rock. It practically disintegrated at the force of the collision, and Marty slammed headfirst into the rock. He was knocked unconscious.
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"Sir, we have a problem." The MagiKoopa went to see Bowser for the status report. "See, I've finally gotten a head count from the invasion of Yoshi's Island, and the numbers just don't add up. The number of slaves we've gotten seems quite a bit low considering the original population of the island. We've covered the entire island, and yet there STILL seems to be several Yoshies that are unaccounted for."
"That's easy!" Bowser's face beamed of confidence. "We maimed them so badly that we killed the rest of them! There aren't that many left to enslave! THAT is why the numbers are so low!"
"No, we've taken the dead into account. Something isn't adding up here. I believe that there is a large group of Yoshies hiding out somewhere. If they are allowed to plot, they might just attempt a revolt."
"So? We'll crush them!" Bowser was still confident.
"That isn't the point. The revolt might encourage other conquered lands to revolt. We'll lose all control over any place we conquer! We can't let this happen! We MUST perform a more thorough search of the island to find these dissenters before they get out of hand."
"I will see to it that they rue the day they EVER decided to cross me!" Bowser went from confident to angry that there were still individuals who doubted his power. Of course, he didn't realize that he was actually crossing THEM; it was just that he was now in control over the island.
"We do have good news, though." The MagiKoopa continued. "We have conquered Base #2 in Al Akkad already. The town and its surrounding areas are now under our control. It fell even more easily than Caj did! If this is any sign of the future, you'll rule the world in no time!"

Congratulations! You have just been blessed by the wisdom of Steve.

Edited by - Insane Steve on 4/29/2003 8:15:44 PM

[Hirocon]

Yes, I have participated in the AIME three years in a row.  But, alas, I have never qualified for the USAMO.  Perhaps I have killed too many of my brain cells by years of playing Mario games.  BUT IT WAS WORTH IT!!

By the way, do I detect some parallelism in your story between the Koopas and the Nazis?  Is this intentional?

[Sapphira]

Hey, still good so far! Heheh..."Resistance is futile." --gotta love that. :)
Oh, what about Mario, the princess, and all the other prisoners? Hopefully we'll learn what's goin' on with all of them, too. Anyway, I like it as it's coming along. And new characters are nice for a change, as long as many of the old ones are still there, like you seem to be doing.

--------------------
If things don''t go your way, just keep complaining until your dreams come true.

[Jman]

Hey, nice story Steve, man.  This is excellent!  I think highly of all fanfics.  (Except Pokemon fanfics cause I'm AP.) Anyway, I can't wait for the next chapter.

Waluigi, how unoriginal can you get?

[Insane Steve]

Ah well. Today was the second day of the USAMO... and I am guessing, considering and depending on how hard they grade these, I'm going to score somewhere between 2-16 out of 42 points. Here's question one:

Prove that for every positive integer n there is at least one n digit number divisible by 5^n all of whose digits are odd.

I wrote a 4-page proof here.... and I'm expecting anywhere from 0-3 out of 7 for it. My expected range per question (Out of 7):

1: 0-3
2: 0
3: 1-6
4: 0-1
5: 0-1
6: 1-5

But, I've digressed off-topic. And, no, you surely didn't waste those brain cells. Trust me.

I won't be posting Chapter 4 today (And I'm not lying this time.) because after TWO days of 5-page long proofs, I'm really sapped. Plus, Chapter 4 is the longest chapter (I think). I won't have time to post it today.

As for the parallel with Bowser's force and the Nazis... I think that the evil character in my stories has to be TRULY evil. Of course... I have recently (Since I first started this fanfic) been learning about Nazi Germany in History. As I see it, although Bowser is acting somewhat like Adolf, I think it's needed for the contrast in moods of the story; I go from despotic to light to back again several times. So maybe there was some subconscious referrence to the Nazis there.

Of course, there are other intended parallels in the story, but I'll let you all see if you can try and find them.

What I kind of like about this story is the dramatic irony shown in it. Several times in the story, Bowser's plan is revealed, and somewhere else in the world, some other character is making a decision that you know will have a bad result... but that character is oblivious to anything that you know.

And yes, there will be occasional check-ups on the Mario Bros. and the princess.... but CH. 3 is really only intended to introduce my original character. And if you want to try and make predictions, you have to carefully read the paragraphs describing Marty's personality near the beginning of CH. 3... you'll see why I chose to write it like that as future events in the story unfold. And no, none of the "old" characters merely disappear.

And oh yes... the title won't be truly explained until Chapter 6. So I'll just leave you all wondering about that for a while.

PS: I will post CH. 4 tomorrow. Trust me.

Congratulations! You have just been blessed by the wisdom of Steve.

[Insane Steve]

I made a few minor revisions to Chapter 4. This chapter took two and a half hours to type. You'd better appreciate it. (Or at least read it... I don't care if you like it.... but if you don't, at least tell me what's wrong, ok?) Here goes:

Chapter 4: Siege!

While all this was going on, Mario, Luigi, and Peach were STILL trying to think of some way to escape from the cell. They'd been there for days, and none of them had yet to come up with any viable plans. Suddenly, Luigi came up with something.
"You know, Every so often I see this one guard that walks by here. He hasn't been here for a while, so I'm assuming that he'll be here shortly. I ALWAYS see that this guy carries a ring of keys on him. I also see that if one of us could distract him, I SHOULD be able to grab the keys. One of them would have to open the cell. Then we just run out here. I really hope nothing bad happened while we were in here..."
Mario commented. "Weege, that has got to be the DUMBEST idea I've heard in a long, long time. It won't work. I don't think Bowser's troops are as stupid as he is."
"Well, have you come up with anything better? Or, to put it another way, anything PERIOD?" Luigi shut his brother up. "Look! Here he comes now! ... Princess, will you do the honors of distracting him?"
The guard came. As Luigi predicted, the key ring was hanging on a hook on his armored jacket, and appeared easy to remove. The princess spoke up to stop him.
"Sir?"
The guard stopped.
"I just wanted to say that so far, even I must say, you guys have been doing quite well!"
The guard seemed confused and a bit suspicious that he and his troop would be congratulated by someone for capturing her.
The princess continued. "I've also noticed that the number of people in here has really increased the last couple days. I'm amazed. You guys truly---"
At this point, the guard noticed Luigi's hand reaching through the bars in an attempt to reach the key ring. He smacked Luigi's hand very hard.
"How dumb do you think I am? I mean, the way you were talking, it appears that even you three realize that we're smarter than you are. Just stop trying. Soon, Bowser will rule over everything and you will be GLAD you're in here and not forced into slavery." He then glanced at Peach. "And you deserve to be hit too, but I'd NEVER hit a lady..." He walked away laughing to himself.
"I TOLD YOU! It didn't work." Mario gave Luigi an "I-told-you-so" sort of look.
"Hey, I've come up with more ideas than you!" Luigi stated his point.
"Yes, and was it successful?"
"Shut up!"
And Mario and Luigi bickered on. The princess had no choice but to listen to the vehement shouting, for as difficult as it was to believe, not even she could outscream the brothers at this point.
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Marty woke up. He didn't know where we was or if he was seriously hurt. All he knew was that he was miraculously alive, he had a throbbing headache, and he was soaking wet. He also spit out a chunk of sand in his mouth. After lying there for a while to regain his composure and try to lessen the headache unsuccessfully, he stood up. He realized that he was on some beach; which one he honestly could not figure out with absolute certainty. He believed he had somehow reached the mainland, as there were, to his knowledge, no islands between Yoshi's Island and the mainland. After examining his surroundings, he determined that he was indeed on the southern mainland beach.

He walked for a bit along this beach. He saw something in the sand a while away. It was the Red Yoshi that accompanied him on his misguided journey back to the mainland. From what Marty could see, he could not tell whether it was dead, unconscious, or merely asleep. He went over to the Yoshi and smacked it in the head. The Yoshi merely groaned and rolled over.
"Hmmmmmm, so it appears we've both survived. I'm amazed," Marty thought.
After a lengthy pause, the Yoshi finally righted itself and got up.
"(Where am I?)" He asked.
"Well, for all I know, we've SOMEHOW reached the mainland. Also, from what I see, the town of Al Akkad should be only a few miles north of here. We could probably get there in less than an hour... anyways, we should really get going. My clothes are just COVERED in sand and I really have to change. That, and I really have to get back home...
"(Go... now?? I can't even walk straight! How do you expect me to go through a desert?)" The Yoshi pointed out Marty's obvious lack of caring for anyone else.
"Pffffft. Fine, we'll wait until you can 'walk straight'. I mean, I got this nasty headache and even I can at least walk straight..." Marty showed obvious discontent in this statement. Nonetheless, he decided to wait (Although he visibly showed his impatience) until the Yoshi could function normally for they went off to Al Akkad.

About 45 minutes later, the reached Al Akkad and saw something was immediately wrong. Bowser's troops were everywhere. They had pretty much overrun the hapless city. The two stopped before they reached Al Akkad so they wouldn't be seen.
"(Oh my.... this is even worse than Caj was! I mean, look at how brutally everyone is being treated here!") And indeed it was so. The town's residents were being chained to walls and beaten to death, and everyone that was not being brutally murdered in this way were forced into performing arduous physical tasks, such as mining the ores needed to build Bowser's newest war machines, or dragging supply carts to the new headquarters. And, of course, the were guards everywhere to ensure that everyone complied.
"Erm... I honestly don't think I should wash off this sand here... We need to make a hasty retreat and travel far, far away from here. Actually, we really need to get back to my house. The sand is really getting annoying."
Marty led the way as the two made the long trip back to Marty's castle.
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"Sir, we have an important decision to make!" The MagiKoopa showed Bowser that map of possible bases he had made up. "See, we have Bases 1 and 2 under our command. Now... seeing how these are both in the south of the kingdom, we should obviously progress north on our campaign. Now... there is an important decision to make. We need to figure out what bases we want to take over, and in what order they should be taken over. Now.... we have two options for bases a bit north of Al Akkad: one off to the west and one of to the east. Of course, since the west and east of the kingdom must be occupied as well, I'd say we better take over both. Since it would be rather pointless to take them over one at a time, I say we split our troops in half... one half goes to the west base, and one have goes to the east base." The MagiKoopa numbered the bases in question 3A and 3B.
"Ok.... then what? We expand north?" Bowser seemed a bit confused, but he kind of understood the plan.
"Of course!" The MagiKoopa labeled most of the bases on the map. See, from 3A and 3B we go to the four bases labeled 4A, 4B, 4C, and 4D. From there: 5A, B, C, D, and E. And then 6A, B, C---"
Bowser interrupted. "Why are some of the bases not numbered? Take 5C. There are two bases by 5C, but only one is numbered. Why is that?"
"Well, it would be pointless to take over bases that are about 3-5 miles apart... a waste of resources, I'd say. So, we take over the base that is better inclined for our troops. See, in the case of 5C, one of the two bases happens to be Princess Peach's castle. However, as you may remember, you crashed through the ceiling when you captured the princess. Thus, as the building is considerably damaged, it would not make a good base for our troops."
"Why not?" Bowser missed the obvious.
"Let's just say that if it rained, your troops will be dripping wet. And seeing how the weather's been recently, rain seems rather likely. Quite fortunately for us, there happens to be another castle some 5 miles away in perfect condition. It would make a better base."
Bowser seemed interested by this concept. Conquer only the bases that are needed and use the other troops elsewhere. "Ok then, we shall attack these areas NOW."
"Yes, immediately!" The MagiKoopa sped off to give the orders.
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Marty and the Yoshi were not at the castle until the middle of the night. Marty really didn't say much of anything during the trip, as he was a bit occupied with his sandy, wet clothing.
"(THIS is your house?!? A castle? With a moat AND a drawbridge? Isn't that a bit ... extravagant?)" The Yoshi was obviously quite surprised that Marty lived in a castle. He was expecting a normal sized house, maybe something a bit larger, but not a castle.
"Yes.... and what's wrong with it?" Marty opened the drawbridge and the double doors. "It's great to finally be home."

The next few days were rather uneventful. Well, from Marty's standpoint, anyways. Bowser was on the move, and rapidly gaining territory. The Yoshi showed an obvious worry about his friends he had left behind on the island.
"(What if they were found? I can't imagine what Bowser would do to them!)"
"Relax!" Marty showed a certain aplomb that was almost devastating to the Yoshi's feelings. "I mean, you're off that deathtrap (His wording of his statements weren't really helping much), you're free, you can do whatever you want, so why must you worry? You aren't in any danger right now."
"(Yes, I may not be in danger, but what about my friends? I mean, you've had friends before, right? You have to know how it feels to know your friends may be in danger, right?)"
Marty thought for a while. "Nope, can't really say I've had a friend for a while... not like it matters to me, though. I'm perfectly content with myself."
"(How can you be happy? Aren't you.... lonely?)"
"I don't mind it at all. I'd rather be alone than with someone else."
"(... That would explain your self-centered attitude...)"

Despite these obvious contrasts in personality, Marty and the Yoshi took somewhat of a liking to each other. Marty explained how he could be happy with himself while not really being in contact with anyone. The Yoshi really didn't understand it, as he had always depended on his friends for things.

One day, Marty went out to go and get supplies in town. He didn't get very far. When he looked out the window of his castle, he saw literally thousands of Bowser's forces surrounding the castle. He went up to the top of his castle to investigate further.
"Why are you here? Can't you see I'm doing something?" Actually, Marty wasn't doing anything; but to Marty, doing nothing was doing something.
"We are here because our King has decided that your castle would make a nice base of operations for this region," Bowser's general explained. "If you surrender now and abdicate your castle to us, there will be no conflict and you will be free to go off wherever you please. If you resist, we will have no choice but to invade by force. I assume you will make the best decision for yourself. I mean, you are outnumbered ... 1,000 to 1, at least."
Marty thought for a while. He was at first very shocked that his castle was being invaded like this. Then after some thought, he noticed that Bowser's general was standing rather close to the moat. He pushed the button that lowered the drawbridge. The drawbridge landed on the general and a few other unfortunate troops, crushing them to death.
"Why don't you all come on in? We can sit down. Maybe have a drink or something." Marty spoke with a mocking tone. He seemed rather pleased with his stroke of genius.
The troops rushed across the drawbridge in an attempt to force open the double doors leading to inside Marty's castle. Just before they got to the doors, Marty pushed the button and raised the drawbridge again, crushing several more troops between the drawbridge and the doors. A few troops drowned in the surrounding moat.
"Oh man, these guys are SO DUMB!" Marty thought confidently to himself. Of course, he had, in those two moves, killed at least 100 troops... although that was maybe 5% of the large force that awaited him.
Marty went down into his castle to explain to the Yoshi what exactly was going on. The Yoshi was quite a bit unnerved by the event.
"(What if they get in? They'll see me here and discover I fled the island. Then what? I can't imagine what they'd do to me.)"
"Well... they AREN'T getting in here. I'll see to it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The MagiKoopa had some bad news for Bowser. "Sir, it appears we've run into some unexpected difficulties regarding Base 5C... you see, several of our troops, including a commanding officer, have been killed in the takeover.... which, to be honest.... we haven't taken it over yet. Bases 5A, 5B, 5D and 5E all fell without a hitch... But the person defending Base 5C seems to be putting up a miracle defense..."
"Wait, hold on. THE person? No 's'? YOU MEAN ONE PERSON HAS DEFENDED A CASTLE FOR SO LONG AND KILLED SO MANY OF MY TROOPS???? WHAT AN OUTRAGE!" Bowser was more upset than he had been before when he couldn't think of a plan to take over the world. "And what are these morons waiting for?"
"Well.... the base itself is rather unattackable... which will make it that much more useful when we take it over. So---"
"Then we just smash a hole in the side it, run through the hole, kill everyone inside, and be done with it! What's so hard about that?"
"That is why we didn't just take over Princess Peach's castle instead. See... the princess's castle is a wreck. If you smash a hole in it, it becomes useless. Remember: we want the structure itself, not the things inside. It can't be ruined."
"So how do we get in? The troops obviously can't..." Bowser showed a deal of frustration. He didn't see how such a large, powerful force could be stopped with so little effort.
"Well... I got an idea. I saw it somewhere. It's called a 'siege'. What we do is we simply wait outside for the residents to surrender."
"And how is THAT going to work?" Bowser couldn't see the point of this "siege". It seemed useless to win a castle by waiting.
"See... what happens is that the resident won't be able to leave the castle until he gives up. He'll run out of resources, and be forced to give up or starve to death. Either way, we win."
"I just don't see it... but whatever." Bowser was a bit skeptical of this idea, but he went along with it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After a couple hours of the troops just standing there, Marty knew what was going on.
"See, they're trying to keep us in here, and starve us out. It won't work. See, I've once stayed in here without going out for over two months. Honestly, it will be much more convenient for them to just invade somewhere else..." Marty explained the purpose of the siege to the Yoshi. He scoffed at the idea that he could be flushed out in such a pathetic manner.

Two days later, Marty soon realized that feeding a Yoshi required a lot more resources than he ever imagined. The castle was practically devoid of food, and Bowser's troops weren't letting up.
"Hmmmmm... I'm hungry... and there's nothing in here to eat.... I guess I'll have to show you the secret passage."
"(Secret passage? Huh?)"
"See, in my castle, in case for some reason someone was trying to get in, or I couldn't be seen leaving (Like this), I had a secret passage built in here. I'll show you!"
Marty led the Yoshi to the passage. See, going in here and traveling down the corridor will lead you to a trap door hidden in a back woods. From what I can tell, Bowser's troops aren't waiting there. Then, go to town, buy some food for us, and run back in here through the passage."
"(Yes... one problem. Where is 'town'? I've never been off the island before now. I need more information. What's it called?)"
Marty froze. "Ermmmm... I go there all the time.... and yet I don't know! Ah well... it's about 3 or 4 miles directly north of the door. Is that enough to know?"
"(I guess.)" Marty gave the Yoshi some coins to buy food with and sent him on his way. Hours later, the Yoshi return with a bag of food, although he had eaten about half of it on the walk back.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A couple days passed like this. Bowser grew more and more irritable at the lack of immediate success that was shown.
"This isn't working! Look, we've taken as long to take this place over than we spent taking over all of what is under our control right now! We're wasting time! Can't we just use the princess's castle?"
"Have patience, sir! Seriously, I really didn't expect this guy to hold out for so long, and the benefits the castle provides will far outweigh the time spent taking it over! Plus, in this time, we've gained more troops, more resources, and more money. They will all be needed in the near future. This time was not wasted."
"For your sake, you'd better be right..." Bowser was still quite dubious of the idea's success rate.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Meanwhile, the Yoshi was about to embark on another food run to town. This event usually happened at least twice every day since the first run, as the Yoshi usually ate over half the food he bought on the walk back, and the remaining food didn't last long at all.
But this time, things were different. The Yoshi popped out he trap door, made his check for Bowser's troops to make sure no one was watching him exit, and left for town. However, this time, the Yoshi didn't check well enough. One member of Bowser's army that had strayed from the siege site in a fit of boredom had seen the Yoshi exit. He didn't believe what he had seen, so he hid behind a tree and waited until the Yoshi returned to verify his sighting. The Yoshi returned with his half-empty sack of food, and indeed he went back through the trap door.
"How odd..." The soldier, who was rather low ranking in the army, wondered if this would be the day he'd get his big break. He wandered through the trap door, through the corridor, and wound up...

Inside Marty's castle. The Yoshi and Marty were confirming what was in the bag of food in a faraway room, so the pair didn't see the soldier walk to the doors, lower the drawbridge from the inside, and let the entire army into the castle. By the time they were finished, they went into the main room of the castle, but it was too late. The pair saw the charging army coming right for them.

"Run!" Marty and the Yoshi had no choice but to go through the secret corridor that led out of the castle, and evacuate before they were captured and subjected to horrors like nothing that could ever be imagined. The exited out the trap door and ran as far as they could away from the castle. None of the troops even bothered to chase them out, as they were relieved to finally accomplish their task. The siege had finally been successful.

When the pair stopped to catch their breath, the harsh reality of the situation finally sunk in for Marty. His castle had been taken over.

Congratulations! You have just been blessed by the wisdom of Steve.

[Sapphira]

Bum Bum BUUUUUUUUUUUMMMM!! The plot thickens... Anyhoo, I'm still reading and it's still great.
Eh, I'm too tired and lazy to say anything more. Perhaps someone else can for me... Oh well... It's interesting and I like it nonetheless.  :)

--------------------
If things don''t go your way, just keep complaining until your dreams come true.

[Insane Steve]

Is Sapphira the only one still reading this? Everyone's comments are appreciated after every chapter here! And after this one, there's only 2 left!

And we now go from the longest chapter in the story to (I think) the 2nd longest. Unfortunately... I can't fix the awkwardness this chapter seems to have near the middle parts.

Chapter 5: Bowser's Oversight

"Sir, I have great news! We've finally managed to take over Base 5C! Supposedly, there was a secret passage leading from the castle to outside, and the residents of the castle (I heard there were actually two of them, not one like we originally believed) went through this castle, into the town and bought supplies! This is why they were surviving for so long!" The MagiKoopa was relieved that this plan finally worked.
"Really... and what became of the residents? They were thoroughly crushed, I assume..."
"Erm... I'm afraid they managed to escape.... but I assure you; they will be a mere non-factor in our conquest. I can almost see us capturing them in another town right now..."
Bowser was still a bit miffed that, although he had gotten his base, the residents had escaped. "And how exactly was this passage discovered? And who discovered it?"
"Well, I have the soldier right here... He says he was watching the area when he saw someone leaving through this secret exit. He went through this door and opened it from the inside."
The soldier walked into the grand hall rather timorously. Although he had just single-handedly taken over a base, he was still unsure of himself.
"Well..." Bowser rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "I thought you'd never amount to anything. And now you've just taken over the one place we just could not capture ... pretty much by yourself! You've far surpassed my expectations. You truly deserve a big promotion. I know! Since the original commander of your troop was killed in the takeover, how would you like to be the new general?
"Sir, I'd be honored."
"Then it is settled. It is good to see that there are others in this regime besides me that can think for themselves. Now go, and deliver my orders to your part of my army."
The new general was ecstatic. He had finally become something. He ran off to his post to inform everyone of his promotion.
The MagiKoopa continued his status report. "With our victory, however, comes another problem. We've taken more and more prisoners as time has gone on, and we've sent them down into our dungeons. However, the dungeons aren't getting any bigger. The cells are direly overcrowded. We need to expand on the dungeons so that they aren't.... ummmmm... what's the word I want here..."
"I see..." Bowser realized just how crowded the dungeons were. He had been down there a while back. "Well, how can we expand?"
"Simply put, we need to bulldoze a wall, and expand the halls. Then, we must build these things... and it will be a costly process. However, I have a sum of money lying around that I am not using that will do perfectly for the task.
"Wait, YOU'RE paying for this? I'm ... amazed. I have a large fortune built up... and my personal advisor offers to pay for these revisions. Wow." Bowser did not realize that the funds in question were those very funds the MagiKoopa was siphoning from him a while ago... and the Bowser really WAS paying for the revisions... in a way.
"Yes.... that is so that you can use your funds to improve your armies. That will become more crucial than ever."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Marty was still devastated at the loss of his castle. He was just sitting there on a fallen tree, remincing over his dilemma.
"That castle was EVERYTHING I HAD! I mean, now what do I have?"
"(Well... you have me. That's .... something...)" The Yoshi tried to console him, but to no avail.
"Yes, but I lost all the possessions I had right there! It's decided. I am getting my castle back, even if it's the last thing I do. I'll die before I just let this tyrant take over my sole place of contentment."
"(Seriously, how will you get it back? I mean, Bowser is looking pretty unstoppable right now. I think you'll have to not only get his troops out of your castle... but out of everywhere they've taken over!)"
"In that case, I guess I'll just have to single-handedly overthrow Bowser's empire." Marty was determined to someday regain what was rightfully his, even if it killed him. "I think we'd better try and get some rest. There's an inn in that one town whose name I forgot. We'll go there for today and travel north until we come up with an idea."

The two traveled to the town. Something was wrong. They'd both seen it several times before; by the time they got to the town, it was teeming with Bowser's forces. The town looked just like Al Akkad... except it wasn't in a desert.
"Is there a place Bowser HASN'T taken over yet?" Marty was surprised at how fast the forces went from his castle to the town. It hadn’t' even been two hours since he was thrown out of his castle, and yet the once tranquil town was now in utter dismay. "Come on, let's get out of here. We'll rest in the woods."

The two left the now-invaded town and went into the northern wooded area to stay the night. It started to rain. Although he has very tired, Marty didn't sleep at all throughout the entire night.

When day broke, the pair continued the long road to some town where they could do ANYTHING to ease their situation. All they could do in the meantime was make haste to the more northern towns in an attempt to salvage SOMETHING from the hopeless situation. They only thing Marty cared about was getting back his castle. The Yoshi kind of tagged along, hoping to ease Marty's pains. Of course, he realized he wasn't doing much, for even he could tell that Marty only truly cared about tangible possessions, but he figured that anything that could be done to improve Marty's situation was a help.

Fortunately, they saw that as they continued north, they were beating Bowser's troops to the towns, and they were getting a bigger and bigger "lead" on them. Their plan was to get to a town that was very far north (Almost near Shiver City... not quite that far, but in that general area) so that they were sure that Bowser wouldn't invade it while they were there. Then, they decided to rest for a while, get supplies (Marty had a good deal of coins on him for some reason), and return to the area of the castle someday to figure out what the best idea to regain the castle was.

Of course, the Yoshi also had an additional goal that Marty really didn't care about; he wanted to get back to the island so he could help to remove Bowser from control. He knew it would be hard, for Bowser had begun his conquests there, and it was likely the most populated area of the world. Plus, he hadn't heard anything about his friends back on the island. He didn't know if his friends had been captured or killed... if they were starving underground... if they were still ok... He knew nothing. He grew more and more worried about his friends back on Yoshi's Island as time went on.

After about a day of wandering due north, they found a place they wanted. It was a rather small town. The main features there were a nice inn, where the pair planned to stay the night, and a central market, where they intended to buy materials they thought they'd need to get back what they wanted.

As they entered the town, they noticed that the streets were rather desolate. Everyone was hiding in their homes, although the local inn appeared to be open. It was just after sunset when they decided to check in.

"Yes, we need a room. The two of us. Anyways... where is everyone? Shouldn't they be outside doing things?"
The innkeeper was an old man who appeared cheerful despite the situation. "I don't recommend you stay here. We know about Bowser's forces, and the rate they are coming north, we may not be here tomorrow. And if they invade in the night, I can't guarantee your safety."
"We have nowhere better..." Marty explained his plight.
"Well... if you insist... I'll let you stay for free. Besides, we expected Bowser to get here a lot sooner. Supposedly, he was held up for a good week trying to take over some castle. I honestly don't think they'll get here tomorrow... but you never know."
"Yes... my castle..." Marty's voice trailed off.
"YOUR castle? You mean, you were living in that castle when it was invaded? You really don't know how fortunate you are to be free and alive right now. As for us... when the fateful day comes... we're just going to give up. No use fighting a useless battle... and besides, most of the population evacuated the town days ago."
"And if I took that view on my castle, I'd be doomed to wander the world, looking for SOMEWHERE to stay, trying to eke out some kind of meager living in a cold, despotic world. But no. I've decided to run along and someday regain what's mine." Marty was cautiously confident.
"The odds are well against that.... but good luck anyways..." The innkeeper showed them to their room.
"And oh yes, where can we purchase things here? The market seems rather empty."
"Well... the general store is the only other place in the town open. Everyone else fled. Well, good night, and I surely hope that it won't be your last..." the innkeeper shook his head solemnly.
"(Wow. You sure are cheerful, are you?)" The Yoshi seemed a bit unnerved at the last statement.
"Huh? I can't understand a word you're saying. It just came out as some high-pitched whistle." And on that statement, the innkeeper left.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
During the night, Marty had a strange dream. He dreamt that he was in a large, dark wasteland. He stood there in wonder, trying to make something out of the surreal surroundings, and then he heard a voice.
"Marty..."
"Huh? Who are you?" Marty could not see anyone in the area. It was just an expansive wasteland.
"That is not important."
"Actually, it is. I've never heard you before..."
"That is not important." The voice repeated itself.
"What do you want?" Marty was a bit worried.
"I must tell you something."
"Ok... proceed..."
"Things aren't as you remember them, Marty."
"OF COURSE NOT! Bowser's forces are all over the place, and I don't have my castle anymore! Of course things have changed!" Marty grew a bit irritable.
"Things aren't as you remember them... You must find the subtle changes in your world from day to day. Only then can you see the truth...only then can you emerge victorious..."
"Subtle? I think an army invading a large town to try to conquer the world isn't really a 'subtle' change."
"You must also see the subtle changes in yourself, Marty. You are not the same as you once were."
"OF COURSE NOT! I don't have my castle! How would I be the same?"
"If you cannot see these changes, you will surely perish. Your inability to see the obvious may very well lead to your downfall. Your inability to ask the obvious may deeply affect you. Good luck, Marty." The voice trailed off.
"What changes? Missing the obvious? What am I missing?" There was no reply.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Marty woke up. He vividly remembered the dream. He was also a bit worried.

He awoke at the break of dawn. The Yoshi was still sound asleep. Marty woke him up.
"Come on! We have to go get our supplies, and then we have to go back south to see what's happened! There's no time to lose!"
The Yoshi woke up. He wasn't really awake, so the only reply was an unintelligible groan. Nonetheless, he woke up, and the two left the inn. They then went to the store, stocked up on supplies, and left. They were both quite relieved that Bowser hadn't gotten to them yet.

As they continued south, Marty told the Yoshi about his strange dream.
"And it said that if I didn't see the obvious, and I didn't see the subtle changes in the world and my life, that I'd 'surely perish'. What could THAT mean?"
"(Maybe it's some kind of sign?)" The Yoshi saw this as a chance to get an idea. "(We have to examine our tracks more carefully! We may see something we weren't able to catch before!)"
"What would we have missed, anyways?" Marty was a bit confused. "We looked around when went there. What could have changed? Bowser's troops were in my castle when we left, and there is about a 99.999% chance that Bowser's troops are in my castle now! Nothing's changed! This world's just as hopeless as it was before!"
The Yoshi merely shook his head. He was a bit discouraged at Marty sudden lack of confidence. "(And what happened to 'I'll die before I let this tyrant take over my sole piece of contentment?' We can't give up!)"
"Wait.... you're right! I can't let this bully just dominate my life like this! We must press on! Come on! We can reach the castle in a few hours if we hurry!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mario and Luigi noticed the expansion of Bowser's dungeon.
"It's about time," Mario commented. "Now the cell across from us might only have 25 people in it now!" He sneered sarcastically at this thought.
"Wow... Bowser must really be serious about this!" Peach was more worried than ever. "What if he succeeds? We'll die in here! And then..." She shook her head. "Who knows what will happen?"
"Relax." Luigi consoled the princess. "Things will turn out fine. Someone will step up out there and save us. And besides, I've almost come up with an idea to get us out of here..." Even though Luigi spoke with confidence, even he realized things were becoming more and more hopeless as the days passed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Marty and the Yoshi arrived at the town near his castle. It was still just as barren as ever. However, Marty noticed something. Something wasn't quite right. Then it struck him. There weren't as many troops in the town! Although everyone in the town was still obedient to Bowser's officers in patrol of the town, the troops were dispersed a bit.
"Wait... There aren't as many troops here! Come on, I have an idea!" Marty directed the Yoshi back to his castle.

When they got to his castle, Marty noticed that it was still occupied. This shattered his .001% hope that they'd left. Still... Marty noticed the drawbridge on his castle was open. He saw that nothing had changed on the outside of the castle, except that "5C" had been spray-painted in red letters on the side of the castle.
"Ah well, that'll come off." He peered in the castle. His assumption was correct. Although there were literally thousands of troops that drove him out of his castle, he saw only about 30 or 40 in there now.
"Wait a minute... the dream! 'Find the subtleties in our world from day to day and you will triumph'... That must be it! There are fewer troops there! Wait---" Marty realized that even though there were fewer troops, they were still outnumbered, and attacking the forces in the castle would be rather useless. Still, armed with this newfound idea, Marty told the Yoshi to go further south. Marty had finally figured out how he might topple Bowser's empire. Marty may finally have found out how to reclaim his castle.

The pair went all the way south, down to the beach they had landed on when they went back from Yoshi's Island that first fateful day. Marty and the Yoshi passed by Al Akkad along the way, and Marty also noted that it too had fewer troops stationed there than they remembered. In fact, there were hardly any troops there to enforce Bowser's will. However, the residents still remained subservient in fear of Bowser's wrath.
"Here's my idea. From what I can tell, every town invaded in the beginning of Bowser's conquest mission has FAR fewer troops stationed there then when it was first invaded. See, Bowser is dispersing his troops too thinly, as the land to conquer is growing faster than his forces. I duly believe that if we can rile up the enslaved populations of these towns, they can upstage a successful revolt." Marty was amazed at his insight.
"(And why are we here on the shore? Shouldn't we be in Al Akkad?)"
"That is where you come in." Marty pointed out a motorboat on the shore. "Since Caj was the first place invaded, there are probably far fewer troops there than when the island was first invaded. See, if you can get to the island and tell your friends underground about this plan, I bet that you can drive out Bowser's troops and get your island back! All you have to do in go into the motorboat and steer it to the island. Then, you tell the other Yoshies about my plan and stir them to revolt. If you and I are successful, everyone else in the other cities will revolt. Eventually, this area will include the town by my castle, and they will get it back for me! This is bound to work!"
"(Wait, and what if you're wrong? What if the island is just as populated as before? I'll be doomed for sure!)" The Yoshi was obviously worried.
"That won't happen. See, Bowser would NOT waste so many troops on an area if they were needed to fight and invade other areas. I'm sure there aren't even 1% of the troops that were there when your island was lost..."
"(And another thing, that isn't your boat! You're just going to steal it?)"
"Desperate times call for desperate measures. And besides, the owner of the boat is probably enslaved or dead anyways... don't worry." Marty reasoned with the Yoshi. "While you're off there, I'll stir Al Akkad to revolt. If we are both successful, then Bowser's empire will collapse upon itself! Then, I shall regain my home!"
The Yoshi was still skeptical. After some thought, he realized that the situation wasn't getting better, and that Marty's plan was the only viable option. "(Ok, I'll do it.)" He hopped into the motorboat. "(Don't worry, I'll figure it out myself.)"

On that, the Yoshi sped off the island. "Good luck!" Marty shouted as he disappeared from view. Marty didn't know if he'd ever see his friend again, but he had his own agenda. He had to stir the citizens of Al Akkad to action.

After the 45 or so minute walk, Marty carefully entered the town. He saw that the streets were very empty: neither the town's residents nor Bowser's troops occupied the area anywhere. He had to look around for some people to start a revolt.

He saw his opportunity in a coal mining camp just outside the city. There were several chained prisoners mining coal under the supervision of.... one guard. To make the situation that much more advantageous, the guard was asleep. Marty walked up to the residents and presented his idea.
"Don't you all HATE being tethered together and performing demanding physical labor in this scorching heat?" Marty inquired among the prisoners.
"Yes... but we can't do anything about it! We'd be slaughtered if we tried anything. And that's if we're lucky..." The resident was obviously very depressed.
"And your current situation is any better? I mean, what are you getting from this? Nothing! You're suffering at the hands of this tyrant, and you are just going to take this? I mean, look what's holding you back. A few chains, which you could easily cut with those pickaxes you're using, and one guard, who happens to be asleep. It's sad! And what do you have to lose?"
Marty's proposal finally sunk in for the prisoners. "Yea... why ARE we just putting up with this mistreatment?" The slaves in that particular mining camp cut their chains with a few swipes from their pickaxes. Then, they went after the defenseless guard, who didn't really stand a chance against the repeated and inexorable blows from the discontented citizens' pickaxes. The slaves were now free.

"Come on! We have to free everyone else! Then, it's onto the palace!" Marty proclaimed with about the same fervor the recently freed slaves had. Marty saw that the revolt was turning out just as he had planned. He was about to leave the city to spread the word of this success to other cities when he felt a very hard blow on his head. He fell. Everything went black.

Marty was knocked unconscious once again.

Congratulations! You have just been blessed by the wisdom of Steve.

[Hirocon]

Hey, I'm still reading!  And I've not been posting after each chapter only because my initial opinion still stands.  I liked it before, and I still like it!

[Insane Steve]

Ah, yes. It hadn't hit me until then that the people who post before and don't reply after many chapters really have nothing to add to what they say... Sorry to all those of you who were reading that I didn't acknowledge. There is no way to tell when someone reads it... But if you have nothing to add to what you've said before, I shouldn't expect you to repeat yourself.

Anyways: You'll have to wait until tomorrow to finally find the meaning of the title. I have no time to type CH 6 today. I have other things to do today. Tomorrow the meaning of "The Third Attempt" will finally be revealed...

Congratulations! You have just been blessed by the wisdom of Steve.

[NintendoExpert89]

I have been reading all of this, and I find it very interesting and funny. Keep it coming with the great story!

Remember, anything's possible... if it happens.

[Insane Steve]

I said I was going to post Chapter 6 today. I lied. :P

Seriously, Chapter 6 explains the title. If I don't do Chapter 6 correctly, it won't make much sense. I want to spend just one more day revising Chapter 6 before I post it.

I'm still surprised that after 5/7 chapters, I STILL have yet to get any real negative remarks. Really, I'm just amazed at the positive reactions this story has gotten thus far.

Congratulations! You have just been blessed by the wisdom of Steve.

[Sapphira]

Hey, I got back today. Ditto on my earlier posts.

"Then, they went after the defenseless guard, who didn't really stand a chance against the repeated and inexorable blows from the discontented citizens' pickaxes."

...What a lovely picture... Eh, I shouldn't be talking. You'll know what I mean when I get further in my story...

--------------------
If things don''t go your way, just keep complaining until your dreams come true.

[Insane Steve]

Ah yes. Hacking someone to death with pickaxes. Lovely indeed.

This chapter is kind of short. I think it's the shortest of the seven. I think.

Chapter 6: The Three Attempts

Marty woke up again. This time, his headache was worse than before. He really wasn't able to notice much about his surroundings, except that the ceiling was made out of cement.
"Ceiling?" Marty thought to himself. "That's odd... I don't remember much about a ceil---"
Then it hit him. He was in a dungeon cell. He didn't even know where he was. For all he knew, he could be taken prisoner in his very own castle. All he knew about the cell was that he was the only one in it.
After about an hour, his headache was a bit lessened, so he finally got up. He noticed that the cell he was in was fairly new. He also noticed that the cell across from him had about 30 people in it, although he really didn't care about the exact amount.
He sat down in the corner to think about what all had happened in the past weeks. "This is terrible. Just two weeks ago, I was in my own castle, minding my own business... watching the rain trickling down the walls of my castle... And now.... look at me! Look at where I am! My castle's gone, and now I'm sitting in the jail cell... where I'll more than likely rot away for eternity. See? I noticed the subtle changes in the world... and where has it landed me? HERE!!" He actually said the last word, in desperation. Everyone in the cell across from him peered at him strangely. This was partially due to his shouting of the word "Here", and partially because he had his own cell while they were cramped 30 or so in the same area.
"Yes..." Marty realized how dumb he looked. "Do any of you know where this is? I got knocked out and when I woke up, I was here. Where is this?"
"You and all of us are in Bowser's Castle, Mr. 'I'm so important that I get my own cell' ... Sheesh." One of the prisoners was in obvious discontent over the crowded condition.
"Hey! It isn't MY fault that I'm in here alone." With that comment, Marty soon realized that he had to devise some plan to get out of there. "I'll come up with SOMETHING," he thought to himself. "I don't know when, or how.... but I will. And then... then I'll reclaim my castle!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Sir, I have some terrible news." The MagiKoopa was very nervous to tell Bowser what had happened in Al Akkad. "It appears that somehow, the citizens of Al Akkad have managed to chase our forces out of their town. We no longer have control of Base #2. What's worse, there seems to be a revolt starting in Caj, of all places. If we lose Yoshi's Island, our major port will be gone!"
Bowser was outraged. "HOW COULD THIS HAPPEN?!?! We were doing so well! And now look! We must reclaim those bases! NOW!"
"Sir, I don't think that's a good idea. See, if we take troops out of other areas to get back Al Akkad, then those towns will know that there was a successful revolt in Al Akkad." The words 'successful revolt' struck Bowser with a certain urgent rage. "These cities will try a revolt of their own, and due to the lack of troops in the area, they will be far more likely to have success."
"And what are our OTHER options?"
"Well... I was thinking---"
"YOU THINK TOO MUCH! LOOK AT THIS!" Bowser was teeming with rage. "My empire is in ruins, and it's all YOUR FAULT! And it's all because you were thinking! This "Plan" idea really didn't work, now did it? Nope. And now I look bad because of you!"
"Will you listen to me for just a few minutes? What we can salvage from this is our towns we've captured thus far. Just stop expanding, and control the towns we have now. Prevent them from revolting. Then, when all fear of revolt has passed, we gain more troops. This plan had only one oversight: the land we had to conquer grew far too quickly for our troops. If we keep our land steady, we can wait until we have more troops to restart our conquest. First, we'd have to regain Al Akkad, of course. That base was integral to our command!"
"You've really messed up this time..." Bowser was quite disheartened at the new problems the plan presented.
"Relax. Remember when we ran into that snag with Base 5C? That was taken care of with our ingenuity! This problem will be handled in the same way. Everything will be fine. Just don't worry."
"For your sake, you'd better be right." Bowser said this with the exact same tone as he did when he expressed his opinions on the siege.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Marty paced back and forth in the cell, trying to come up with some idea for what to do. He wasn't able to think too clearly... considering that he still had some traces of that massive headache. Suddenly, he came up with something.
"I don't think it'll work," Marty thought to himself, "But it's worth a shot. See, I saw this one guard. He had the key ring just hanging off him. It seems like I should just be able to easily grab it off of him. I'll wait until he passes, and make a desperation grab at it. I hope this works..." Deep down inside, he had a feeling that it wouldn't though.
In fact, as he was thinking, he saw that particular guard walking near the cell. He walked up to the bars, reached through them towards the guard's key ring...

And got his hand slapped very hard.

"Please. You're the third person that's tried that on me. Even the Mario Brothers tried to do that. How dumb exactly do you think I am? I'm not going to fall for that trick! Let that be a lesson to all of you!" He left, laughing as he walked up the flight of stairs leading to the grand hall.
"Well, Marty, that sure was a brilliant idea you had there." Marty was thinking sarcastically about himself in the third person. "You'll have to do a lot better than that if you want to get your home back..." Now it switched to the second person. "Man... I must be going crazy. I'm thinking about myself... from other points of view!" He shuddered at the thought. He often said that anyone who did that was crazy. Now, he saw just how crazy he was.

Marty continued to pace back and forth in his cell for a good hour in an attempt to come up with a genius plan. The discontented prisoners in the opposite cell looked upon him jealously, for he actually had room to pace. After another good hour of this, he thought he had come up with a master plan.

"Hahaha! I got it!" Marty was pleased at himself. "First... I think I'll hide somewhere in the cell." Although it was a rather barren cell, there was an overhang there the cell was taller than the bars of the gate, and if he positioned himself in just the right way, it would look like no one was in there. "Then, when the guard unlocks the door to investigate, I'll knock him silly! I'll drop right on him, and run out the open door." Marty then came up with something better. "Wait! I'll put on the guard's armor and look like I am working for Bowser! Now... I have to figure out some way to take out Bowser so I can ruin his empire and take back my castle... Ah! I know! When I walk upstairs disguised as one of the guards, I'll give him a phony status report! Something along the lines of 'Everything's gone bad!' or something. Then I know he'll just blow a fuse! At this point, I believe he'll just mess up ... something. I really don't know what. Once he does that, I'll run out the doors, and then I'll ... Hmmmm, I'd better get out of here first." Although Marty's plan was quite a bit complicated, he was sure that it would work.

Once Marty got into position in the little overhang that made him look as if he wasn't in the cell anymore, he waited. About 20 minutes later, he saw his chance. A guard was walking by when he noticed the empty cell.
"That's funny... I thought there was someone in here..." The guard opened the cell and walked inside to look around. Immediately, Marty dropped right on top of him, knocking him out. Marty grabbed the armor and tried to put it on. It didn't fit very well at all. Marty had to walk around really awkwardly in order to wear it. Of course, Marty missed the obvious: He didn't see the key ring on the unconscious guard. He could have taken it and freed all the other prisoners. Alas, he missed it, and went off on his misguided quest.

Marty walked out of the cell with the poorly-fitting armor on and begin to roam down the hall and up the main flight of stairs leading to the grand hall. He passed by one of the guards on the way up the stairs. This guard immediately knew something was up.
"Wait... you aren't a guard!" He saw right through Marty's disguise.
"And how do YOU know?" Marty was calm despite the accusation.
"Well, I've been here for some 20 years. And I know what every guard here looks like. And I know that you don't look like any guard I know." The guard confidently stated this fact.
"Well, this is my first day!" Marty had some answers prepared in case something like this happened.
"And another thing, look at how poorly your armor fits! You look like one of those hunchbacked people ... you know, that walk with a lean?"
"Yes, it was the only set they had, and I decided it would be better, knowing the unrulely crowds there, to wear this poorly fitting armor than none at all." Marty came up with that lie on the spot.
"I'm still not convinced. I'm going to King Bowser to ask about you. Come with me."
Marty knew that this guard wasn't falling for any cheap disguises. He immediately took an alternate plan; he ran for it.
"I need assistance here! Some unauthorized person, I'm assuming a prisoner here, is trying to escape!" The guard called out for others to help him catch Marty.
Marty ran up the stairs. He was desperately trying to think about his plan. A bit nervous, he forgot what to do next. He decided that the best course of action was to make a break for the exit and forget about Bowser for a while.
Unfortunately, Marty's poorly fitting armor really slowed him down, and he was caught up to quite easily. A hard rap to the head sealed the deal, and Marty was knocked out once again.

Hours later, Marty woke up again. He found himself back in his cell. The throbbing headache had also returned, although it wasn't as bad as it was the first time he was captured. He saw the guard responsible for his downfall staring at him from outside the cell.
"Ah! Now that you've regained your composure, let me warn you: Don't try ANYTHING like that ever again. You know it'll be a waste of time. And I'll see to it that if you EVER try anything like that again, you'll hope that your death is somewhat painless. Of course, I won't be able to guarantee that..." That guard walked away laughing.
"Well, that was brilliant." Marty said aloud. "And now that headache is back." Marty decided to sit down again and think about what was going on.
As he thought, the words stuck in his head. 'You'll hope that your death is rather painless.' He shuddered at this thought. He saw other prisoners in other towns being tortured in ways not even he could imagine. He didn't want to know what they'd do to him if he were to be caught trying to escape again.
"Hmmmm... I think I'd be best to just stay in here and hope that some other revolts are successful." Marty was now more reserved in his thinking; after two failed attempts, he realized that a third attempt would not be a good idea.

However, the more he thought, the louder his castle called for him. "Wait a second. Where is my life going in here? Nowhere!" Marty had second thoughts about his conservative plans. "This is a pointless place to live, and I'm wasting my life away! I mean, I said I'd rather die than lose my castle, and now I'm testing that! I will NOT waste my life here! I will find a way to escape!" Marty changed his mind. He was now more determined than ever to escape and get his castle back.

Marty knew he had to be more resourceful than ever to escape now. He checked his pockets for objects. "Let's see here. Three coins... a half a piece of bread... some note I had written a while back..." Marty checked his other pockets, but found most of his stuff had been confiscated.

Marty also saw a small pole used to build his cell nearby. He took it. He then realized that, if he could only bend his coins to a point, he could make a crude lock pick. In fact, picking locks was one of his Useless Talents of the Month. He bent the coins (After a lot of effort) and attached one to the pole. It fit perfectly. It actually looked a bit more like a spear.

Marty decided that after picking the lock, his best option would be to just run for it. The time had come . Marty knew that if her were caught this time. There would be no fourth attempt. This was it. He took a deep breath, and worked at picking the lock.

Click! The door swung open. He bolted in the opposite direction as last time. As he ran, he saw the Mario brothers in their cell. He stopped, as he had an idea.

"Here, take this! You can use it to escape!" He handed the brothers the lock pick, obviously forgetting that they likely didn't know how to pick locks. He then ran off. The brothers, however, had other ideas for the lock pick.

He ran upstairs. Immediately, the guards saw him and ran after him. Unlike last time, however, Marty was not weighed down by anything. He was actually going faster than everyone chasing him.

Well, almost everyone. There was one guard that was rapidly gaining on him. Marty knew that if he were caught, this would be the end. However, he couldn't go any faster, and the guard was on his heels. He remembered something.

"The Bread!" Marty took out the half piece of bread and threw it behind him. This one guard stepped on the bread and slipped on it. Marty had no one to beat now. He was home free. The castle doors were wide open. Marty ran out the doors, into the plains,  and then into the dense forest outside Bowser's castle. No one could find him.

Marty was free. He could finally focus on his ultimate goal again: regaining his castle.

Congratulations! You have just been blessed by the wisdom of Steve.

[Sapphira]

And so the final chapter is left...  Will everyone be saved? Muhuhahahahahahaha!!! ...*Ahem* Still good, still continue. :)

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If things don''t go your way, just keep complaining until your dreams come true.