Pegasus Team
Written by Pegasus Team
0415 hours
"What?" Mario asked incredulously.
"We're being overrun by airships and ground troops -oh my god." The magical link crackled and went silent.
"That makes six." Peach said. They were in the basement of the Castle, in the map room. The map in front of them said that thirty airships and at least ten thousand koopas were attacking over the border. They had already overwhelmed six sentry posts. The worst bit of it was their ETA to the capital was thirty minutes. Peach, holding back tears, gave the order she had never wanted to give.
"Open channels to the remaining posts."
"Done, my liege," Luigi replied, flipping a switch on his console.
"Everyone, this is your ruler Peach." She was holding back her tears. "Retreat and defend Rose Town. I repeat, fall back and defend Rose Town." She knew it was probably hopeless. The six thousand troops she still had were probably going to be worthless against the massed airships of the Koopa Army, but she had to hope. She had to. She turned and left the room, heading for hers.
0425 hours
Bowser, at the helm of his flagship Predator, led his forces into battle. He pulled a lever and the ship shook. Then the seeding cannon emerged. The monstrosity was joined by three on either side of the airship. He raised his arm and the cannon crew tensed. He swung his arm down and the crews swung into action. Bowser, feeling victorious, felt the ship rumble as it fired its payload. The salt ball launched itself into the clouds overhead, immediately turning it into a rolling thunderstorm. Thunder roared around the airships as they emerged out of the clouds over the Mushroom Kingdom. The monarch roared, "Death to the infidels!"
The crew roared back, "They will perish!" The resounding continued for a minute before dying off.
Peach looked out her window at the gathering storm. So THIS was the secret weapon. She looked, horrified, at the airships emerging out of the fog. They were heading straight for the castle, arrow-straight to her. She murmured, "Oh my god." Panic held her in its grasp. She then took off down the stairwell. She yelled down the stairwell as she ran, "Activate the shielding! Activate it NOW!" Her foot misstepped a step lower than she intended She tripped and fell, tumbling down three stone stairs in a helpless heap before she hit a wall. Everything went black.
0430 hours
A crackling blue field surrounded the castle as Bowser looked at it. He glared at the field as it hummed with power. No matter. He would rain them out and flood their castle. A minion approached and saluted.
"Bowser, sir, the occupation is complete. We now own the Mushroom Kingdom."
"I don't like that name. Let's change it to...Bowser's Domain."
"Yes, sir."
"Fifteen minutes to interception," Luigi said gloomily.
"Is the shielding up?" Mario asked.
"Yes. Where are Peach and Toad?"
"I don't know. Want me to go look?"
"Would you, please? Now, Daisy, we've gotta counterattack somewhere. Any suggestions?"
"I hate to say it, Mario," Daisy replied, a gloomy look covering her face, "But we're toast. We can't hold out here against that storm. It'll simply flood the castle. We can't stay here. Not unless we can get to high enough ground."
Mario yelled down the stairwell, "Peach's fallen. Can you come help me, Luigi?"
"I'll be right there." Luigi and ran up the stairwell. He gingerly lifted Peach's body and carried it down the stairwell to the infirmary. Adelé, the castle doctor was there, lounging. She sprang to her feet when Luigi entered and took the limp form of Peach and laid her on a table. "She'll be all right, Luigi. You'll just have to give her several minutes. Go out and save the world."
"This time, Adelé, it won't be so easy." Luigi dashed out, nearly running into Rain Booster head on as Rain rounded a corner, nearly glowing and joined her. He slowed down slightly to match Rain's pace.
"Do you know what's happening?" Rain asked, puzzled. "I can feel some big rain coming, and I don't like it."
"Yeah -pant- Bowser's invading the -pant- kingdom. He's almost at our doorstep."
0433 hours
The two skidded across the damp floor into the magic lab. Mario was there, hard at work at the weapons systems. "Great. You're just in time to second the weapon systems. This thing needs one more activation code. Luigi, you know it. Recite it please."
"Luigi Mario, authorization code delta-pi-thirty. Silent countdown."
"Code accepted. Three minutes until activation. There will be no further warnings."
The steady patter of rain outside increased suddenly to a torrent.
Mario swore. "We're out of time. Quick, get upstairs. The floods are starting. Daisy's already up there." Even as he spoke, thunder boomed and rolled tempestuously outside as the torrential rain slammed against the walls of the castle. Rain was practically flooding the room with her shining glow. Mario pressed a button and metal plates rapidly covered everything. The doors started to close, waterproof metal plates covering them. The water pipes in the ceiling burst, and the trio was ankle deep in water and the water was rising quite quickly. They sloshed out the door. Even as he did so, trickles of water seeped out the door. They ran upstairs, doors closing everywhere, stopping only at the infirmary, where Peach was trying to get up but couldn't.
"Adelé, what's happening?" Peach asked woozily as the three raced in.
"You sprained both your ankles. You can't walk well."
"We'll help." Mario stated. "I've got her. Go on." He assisted Peach in a fireman's carry as the other three dashed out. He walked up the spiraling stairwell just as the castle shuddered twice. The Cannon was about to deploy. He opened Peach's bedroom door on floor 8, entered the royal chambers, and set her down on the bed with infinite grace.
0436 hours
Peach sat up in her bed. "Where am I? What's happening?" She saw Mario and Luigi looking sadly out the window.
The airships were almost right on the shield. They could stand watch indefinitely, so the last 'free' denizens of the Mushroom Kingdom were going to live the rest of their lives in a virtual prison.
Adelé was sitting in the corner, consoling Daisy, who was racked by sobs. Daisy's entire family was in Rose Town at the time. Because of her friendship with the Marios, they would probably going to die. Adelé herself didn't have family anymore. They had all died in a plague when she was younger.
Rain had no family in the Mushroom Kingdom since she was from the Lands Across the Sea. She was standing at another window, looking out over the former Mushroom Kingdom. The massed columns of koopas were visible even from here. So were the fires in the Capital and Rose Town. Yoshi's Island, about ten miles to the southwest, was being overrun by Bowser's ships. The situation looked hopeless.
Peach looked at the control panel for the Cannon. It was tucked under Luigi's arm. Peach sat up. "We have to fire that cannon to scare off Bowser's ships! Otherwise, we're all dead. Now let's get to work!"
Mario and Luigi walked away from the window. Everyone else perked up. Finally, a glimmer of hope shone through the clouds of the storm, which raged all around. Luigi set down the control panel, the brothers walked over to the console, and put in their lock keys. "Turn on three, ok?"
"One... Two... Three!" The light flashed from red to green as the cannon whirred into position and the bethemoth fired. The shudder of recoil was felt throughout the castle and the huge cannonball flew out. Peach could see it out her window. She saw it go through the shield. She saw the impact. The cannonball destroyed the ship, holing it through the middle, causing the ship to plummet into the stormy ocean. The Cannon was ineffective, since it couldn't be reloaded. Luigi and Mario looked down with despair. They were doomed to life in prison.
0900 hours
The Captain of the Guard woke to the sound of airships buzzing overhead. Quite puzzled, he walked outside. The streets were filled with people ignoring the light rain and looking up at the ships. They were monstrous, their girth nearly blocking the sun. The rolling clouds looked bad. They hadn't had rain that looked this bad in thirty years, but at least it quenched the small fires that had broken out. A booming voice came from the ships. "Surrender. You have lost to Bowser's minions."
The captain thought, "Never will I surrender."
The crowd partially dispersed. Peach or Bowser, their rulers are all the same to them.