Part Four: The Invasion
Chapter 1: Memory Erased
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The bathroom sink in Mario’s new house was clogged. He had no idea how a sink for a place that wasn’t that old could clog so fast. Even with the few whiskers he trimmed from his moustache and the few hairs he brushed out in the morning couldn’t have clogged it up that fast. It could have been scales that were shed when he washed his hands and face, but the weather wasn’t cold or dry enough to cause that much exfoliation. He didn’t use a lot of gunk. He didn’t bother with hair gel. He just wet his hair down when he styled it. The only stuff that went down that sink besides hair and dead skin was toothpaste, mouthwash, soap and the dirt he washed off and whatever kind of crap was inside his mouth.
Then again he had no idea how old his house was. It was a good size for a bachelor like him and the price was reasonably good as well. It wasn’t too far away from the Dark Land Border. Toad had told him it couldn’t be older than five years because of the style. The most distinctive thing about the house was the green pipe that stuck up from the roof instead of a chimney thus earning the name of the pipe house.
“At least I know how to fix a sink,” Mario grumbled as he went to fetch his tools. It was kept in the bottom of what Peach had said should be the linen closet. The sight of the tool box made his heart burn. It made him think of his brother, mother and all his friends he had to leave behind after Bowser had marked him as a traitor. He still knew the number of the castle. He remembered that first painful phone call he made a few weeks ago.
“Hello,” Mario held the receiver of his new phone in his hand.
“Hello,” the voice on the other end belonged to Ludwig. “Mario?”
“Yes,” Mario croaked. Out of all of Bowser’s children he was closest to Ludwig. “I don’t know what to say.”
“Neither do I,” Ludwig did not sound pissed, just disappointed. “Father is feeling better, considering that he was pushed off a castle.”
“I did not participate in that,” Mario was still reeling from the pain of being scratched. He had watched as the others, including Princess Peach, push him over the side of the castle in Dinosaur Land. “I did however free Peach from her cage and refuse to put her back after Bowser had promised to let her go if Maria and Pauline would kiss him.”
“He had mentioned a kiss.”
“I need to speak with my brother.” That is if Luigi was willing to talk to him.
“I’ll get him.”
“Thank you,” Mario cringed. He had no idea what he was going to say to Luigi. He had been going over it in his head until Ludwig had picked up, and all the words that he thought of had vanished.
“Mario,” Luigi growled his name. They were already off to a bad start.
“Hi Weegie.” Mario greeted in a weak tone of voice.
“Don’t high Weegie me,” Luigi said. “Do you no that mother cries every day. She bawled for hours when we returned and Bowser told her how you betrayed our kingdom.”
“I’m sorry,” Mario felt his stomach fill with miniature paragoombas that tickled his insides with their wings and chewed on by their sharp teeth. His mother was one of the last people he wanted to hurt. “I had to go with them.”
“Did you have to push our king over the edge of the castle?” Luigi asked.
“Is that what he is saying?” Mario should have known. “I didn’t push him. I was too much in pain from the scratches he inflicted on my arm.”
“Which in no doubt you deserved.”
“He’s different,” Mario sighed. “He’s not the same kid we grew up with. He used to keep his promises. He told me that he was thinking of not changing the toads back to normal when we took over their kingdom a few years ago. He promised he would let Peach go if he received a kiss from either Pauline or Maria and Maria kissed him.” He could of swore that she enjoyed it as much as Bowser, and for some reason that bothered him. “He’s gone mad with power. King Rover was never like this.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Luigi asked. “About the Mushroom Kingdom years ago.”
“I didn’t want you to be as disappointed in him as I was, because I knew his daughter had a crush on you.”
“Don’t say you did this for me. What about mom? She’s too upset to speak to anyone. I don’t think she could even talk to you.”
“I miss her,” Mario flicked his tail. “I miss her already and I want to tell her I wish things could be different. Damn it, you know that I want it to be different, but it doesn’t change the facts that our king is power hungry and obsessed with Princess Peach. I can’t live with that. I can’t live in Dark Land, not with him, nor our uncle who has committed infanticide.”
“I can’t even look at him,” Luigi said. “Much less ask him. I told mother what that Yoshi told us. She had this look of shock on her. She couldn’t believe Kamek would have done something like that.”
“I can. Something happened all those years ago. We have no idea what had exactly happened but I’m going to find out. I’ll talk to you later.”
“Bye Mario,”
“Bye Weege.”
There were several other phone calls since then. Some were arrangements on what to do with Mario’s stuff. They had arranged delivery by Paracarry to drop of Mario’s things at his new home. He never spoke with his mother. He couldn’t bare to hear her weep over the phone. He was just not ready.
“There,” he pulled out a glob of something nasty and tossed it the trashcan. Too bad they don’t have work gloves for Koopas. “That should have done it.” He watched as the water went down the drain before he washed his hands.
There was a knock at the door. “Your lunch delivery is here.” The voice belonged to Maria.
“I’m a coming,” Mario smiled. He did make new friends. Maria and Pauline were as accepting of him as Peach and Toad. Then again they did share the same dream with him and Luigi. The retainer and the girls had to explain things to the king and Toadsworth and even with their assurance they didn’t trust him. Then again why should he? He had lead the attack against their people about a year ago. He lead the troop against the guards at Pipe Land.
“I hope you like sandwiches,” Maria had a paper bag with wire like handles and a couple of drinks in tall paper cups with plastic tops and straws. “I stopped by this one bistro on the way. They make the best meatball subs ever.”
“Meatball sub?” Mario raised his eyebrows.
“You never had a meatball?” Maria set the food on a table.
“I had a meatballs but what’s a sub?”
“A sub is short for submarine sandwich,” She pulled out several napkins from the bag. “They are also called poor boys, hoagies, grinders and heroes, but a true hero sandwich is an Italian sub.” She pulled out two long ovals objects wrapped in paper.
“It does smell good,” Mario couldn’t remember when the last time he smelled food as good as what Maria brought him.
“If you think it smells good then wait until you taste it.” She unwrapped one. It was a sandwich made out of a miniature loaf that was sliced in half and filled with meatballs, peppers and onions and slathered in cheese and a rich and heavenly tomato sauce.
“A crocodile snout,” Mario recognized the sandwich. “That’s what we call them cause they are long like crocodile snouts.”
“They do?” Maria stared at hers before she took a bite. “Now that is a spicy meatball.”
“I love them when they are spicy,” Mario took a bite out of his. The meatballs were spicy and the cheese was rich, but the sauce was one of the best parts. It was a bouquet of flavors that made his tongue tingle. “Wow.”
“I told you it was good.”
“Yeah,” Mario ate another bite. “Pauline not coming?”
“She’s on a date,” Maria chuckled. “I kind of arranged it. His name is Darien and he owns an arcade across the street from the coffee house I work at. He is one of my regular customers. A real nice guy and he went to the same business school as I have.”
“So you are good at setting up dates?” Mario asked. He wasn’t going to ask her help in asking Peach out. He couldn’t.
“I don’t that all the time, basically I just invited Darien over for lunch and he and Pauline had hit it off.” She slapped her shoulder. “Ouch.”
“Is it a mosquito?” Mario asked.
“No,” she pulled out a dart. “Mario?” Her eyelids closed.
“Gotcha,” Mario caught her before she hit the floor. He set her down, right before he felt a dart strike his flesh.
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Kamek chuckled to himself as the two Shy Guys chained Mario up against the wall. It was such a clever plan, ingenious to be exact. He was almost surprised that neither Ludwig or Iggy had thought of something similar.
“Don’t make it too tight,” Kamek instructed. “and don’t make it too loose either. How long do you think it will be before he wakes up?”
“I have no idea,” the red Shyguy said.
“You don’t know?” Kamek frowned. “What do you mean you don’t know? You work with this stuff don’t you? Shouldn’t you know the potency of your darts?”
“We don’t test them out,” the pink one said. “We just load them up and are ready to go.”
“You never test it out?” Kamek covered his face.” How the hell do you know if it will work if you don’t ever test it out? You could of shot the darts and it might have no effect, or killed him.”
“But if we killed him then it wouldn’t be much of a loss,” the red one said.
“Yes it would,” Kamek slapped him. “We want him alive, and right now I want him awake.” He turned back to Mario. “Wake up kid.” He gave Mario a few slaps in the face, but the red Koopa continued to snore. “This should work.” He stepped back away from his prisoner and stared up. There was one loose stone in the ceiling. “I don’t want to give him a concussion.” He pointed his wand at the rock. “Change the stare of matter, stone now becomes water.” The loose stone became a large blob of water that fell right on top of Mario.
Mario coughed. “What?” He spat out some of the water and coughed again. “Where am I?”
“Hello, nephew.”
“Kamek?” Mario sputtered. “What have you done with Maria?”
“I have done nothing. Wait, Maria was there?” He turned to his minions. “You didn’t tell me Maria was there. Why didn’t you bring her?”
“You told us that you only wanted Mario,” the pink one said.
“Yeah,” the red one nodded. “You said that to knock out everyone, but only bring Mario. We were following you instructions.”
“Oh,” Kamek smiled. “You were following my instructions. Do you guys ever think for yourselves? Did you not take the initiative and think ‘hey there is that Maria girl who is always a pain in the king’s tail. Kamek didn’t tell us to bring her, but if we did then maybe we would gotten a nice award.’ No, you didn’t think that. You guys never think ahead like that.”
“You didn’t touch her,” Mario asked.
“I didn’t touch your little-“ he quickly covered his mouth. He couldn’t believe he was about to reveal something like that.
“My little what?”
“Your little friend,” Kamek grinned. “I wouldn’t to harm her at all, not when King Bowser wants her alive.”
“Neither you or Bowser will lay a claw on her, or Pauline or Peach,” Mario snarled. “You murderer.”
“Oh that,” Kamek chuckled. He turned to the Shyguys. “Tell Kamella I’m ready for her, but make sure you have covered your nose.”
“Yes sir,” the Shyguys nodded and ran out of the dungeon.
“Now where were we?” Kamek placed a finger under his chin.
“You were about to tell me the truth,” Mario glared.
“About what?” Kamek placed the nose plugs over his nostrils.
“About two human twin babies named Mario and Luigi. I’ve been to their graves. They date of their death just happens to be our birthdays. Luigi and I are wearing their hats. Tell me the truth. Did you kill them?”
“Oh them,” Kamek smiled. A part of him wanted to tell Mario the truth. He wanted to see Mario’s face when he told him that he and his adoptive mother had transformed him and his brother to their current state. “Let me just state two facts. One is that I did get rid of the human Mario and human Luigi, and the fact is if I hadn’t then you wouldn’t be here before me.”
“You monster,” Mario pulled on his chains and lunged for him, but the chains held him back.
“It was for your own good,” Kamek said. He heard footsteps behind him. “Great timing Kamella.”
“Thank you,” the female Magikoopa said. She did not wear robes and instead chose to wear a deep purple dress with a ruffled and lace bottom. The trim on her sleeves and her cuffs were hot pink in color. She also had a bright red brooch on her collar. Her hat pointed straight up. Her long finger nails were painted turquoise and she also wore green lip stick and a pair of nose plugs. “The potion had been brewed.” She held up a small pot that had thick clouds of steam flowing out of it.
“What is that stuff?”
“It’s a forgetting potion,” Kamek explained. “You don’t know how much pain your mother is.”
“Yes I do know,” Mario scowled.
“This will help ease her pain. It will bring you back to us.”
“If that gives me amnesia then it won’t make her feel better. It will hurt her even more.”
“This won’t completely erase your memory,” Kamella explained. “You will only forget what we tell you to forget.” She set the pot down by Mario’s feet. “You do have a point. Kammy is not going to like this.”
Kamek swallowed. “I will deal with her later.”
Mario continued to struggle with his chains and for the longest while it seemed like he was trying not to inhale the steam. He carried on for a few more minutes until his arms dropped to the side. His eyelids closed halfway and his pupils dilated, nearly taking up the entirety of his eyes.
“Mario listen to me,” Kamek said. “You will forget betraying your king.” He watched as Mario blinked. “You will forget about what the Yoshi told you and what Luigi told you about the Yoshi. You will forget everything you know about the human Mario and Luigi. You will forget about Maria and Pauline, and you will forget about Princess Peach and your time in the Mushroom Kingdom.” He nodded at Kamella.
“Just hope he doesn’t come across those girls anytime soon,” Kamella sprinkled pink powder into the pot. “This will be undone by the right kind of stimulation. It might be a food, or words, or the right kind of smack.” The smoke became nullified.
“I thought you said this was permanent,” Kamek said.
“The stimulation might not occur until months or years from now. It might not even ever happen.”
“Get rid of that,” he pointed to the pot. “And explain to Bowser what we have done.”
Kamella picked up the pot. “I’ll explain, but only to him.”
“Good,” Kamek removed Mario’s wrists from the cuffs. “Now what to tell you.”
Mario blinked several times as his pupils returned to their original size. “Uncle Kamek?”
“You okay kid?” Kamek feigned concern. “Those toads gave you a bit of a thrashing.”
“No,” Mario grabbed his head. “I can’t remember. I was on Dinosaur Land with the others.”
“The heroes of the Mushroom Kingdom overthrew our plans” Kamek sighed. “They abducted you. I don’t know what they have done to you.”
“I can’t remember,” Mario trembled. “Those snot nosed racist toads took my memories.” He growled. “I’ll get them for this.”
“I bet it was decided by their princess. She hates us as much as these rest of them.”
“That bitch,” Mario growled. “I want to sink my claws into her flesh.”
“You will have your revenge,” Kamek chuckled. “Bowser wants to see us.”
-
Kamek caught the eye of Bowser when they walked in. The room was nearly empty save for the king, Kamella and Kammy.
“Mario,” Kammy gasped. “My baby.”
“Mom, I’m fine,” Mario smiled. “Those toads just took my memory that is all. I can’t even remember how they defeated us on when we took over the Mushroom Kingdom, or the other seven Kingdoms, or even Dinosaur Land.”
“They had sneaky heroes,” Bowser said. “Underhanded savages.”
“You don’t remember?” Kammy ran up to him. “You don’t remember Maria or Pauline?”
“No,” Mario shook his head. “Who are they?”
“Hired help,” Bowser explained. “They might be the ones responsible.”
“Uncle Kamek told me the princess ordered it.”
“He told you?” Kammy asked.
“He was the one who rescued me.”
“Oh he did, did he?” she glared at Kamek. “I’m going to have to thank him for that later, and I will see to it that the one responsible for stealing your memories will be slapped so hard that there face will fly off.”
Kamek shuddered.
“I can understand how you dislike Princess Peach,” Bowser said.
“Dislike her?” Mario snarled. “I despise that bitch.”
“You would love to see her suffer?”
“With great intent,” Mario’s voice oozed pure malice. It almost frightened Kamek.
“Good. I want you to kidnap her from her castle and bring her here,” Bowser stood up and held out his hand. “In case you forgot what she looks like. She is about this tall, mostly human. Has long blond hair and blue eyes. She wears a crown and a pink dress. Bring her back to me and I’ll take care of her.”
“With pleasure,” Mario bowed before he left the throne room.
“Great work, Kamek.” Bowser smiled.
“Yes,” Kammy grabbed him by the arm. “Now about your reward.” She pulled him out of the throne room.
“Now Kammy let me explain,” Kamek braced himself. “You were upset about him leaving. I did this for you.”
“Oh you did,” Kammy smiled before she slapped him across the face with enough force to send his glasses flying. “Don’t you ever use another spell on any of my sons again, or so help me I will kill you.”
Kamek said nothing and closed his eyes and Kammy continued to slap him.
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