Okaaay! So I am officially the worst updater in the world! It's taken me more or less two years to add this chapter. The fic is almost drawing to a close with one, maybe two chapters left. For anyone who was reading this two years ago I hope you still enjoy it :)

Chapter 13: Rescue me.

It hadn't taken them long to reach the Darklands but here they were, stood at the bridge that lead them to Bowser's castle. The dark grey castle stood magnificently surrounded by a sea of lava. Mario looked across the bridge, he'd been here many times before. He turned to the other two.

'We have to be careful crossing this bridge, fireballs can pop up at any moment,' He told them. Luigi nodded at his brother.

'Really? Are you going to do this all the way?' Waluigi hissed. He had long since grown tired of Mario talking to them like they were children. Mario ignored the comment and beckoned for them both to follow him. After many years of coming to this castle he had memorised the correct pattern of steps to avoid getting burnt. Despite not being fond of following orders Waluigi followed the two brothers to the other side. They had reached the castle and were stood in front of the castles big red door, somewhere behind that door Plum awaited rescue. Waluigi was about to push open the door when Mario stopped him.

'Wait. We need a plan,'

'Yes, I plan to go in and kick that stupid reptiles ass,' Waluigi smirked. Mario rolled his eyes.

'Yup, because it's ass easy as that. We just go in and kick his ass,' Mario said sarcastically.

'I agree, we need a plan' Luigi spoke up.

'You would agree, no ideas of your own? By the way, why are you even here?' Waluigi asked Luigi, who flushed

bright red.

'I've been on my own adventures! I'm not as useless as you'd like to think' Luigi responded, feeling a little hurt.

'Will the pair of you be quiet' Mario hissed 'and in any case why are you even here? It's not like your good for anything,' Waluigi said nothing, he merely shrugged. He wasn't getting into this topic of conversation right now. A few minutes past and Mario started to relay a plan to them. Meanwhile, unaware of what was happening at the front of the castle, Plums room was buzzing with activity. Plum had given up hope of getting out of the wedding and had decided to go with what ever the young Koopaling had thrown at her. Plum watched as Wendy approached her, carrying what she assumed was her wedding dress. Wendy laid down the big pile of white fabric on to the bed and motioned for Plum to come forward. Plum tentatively edged towards the bed and ran the silky fabric through her fingers. It felt devine. Wendy watched her as she examined the dress.

'You like how it feels huh? Try it on,' She said.

After a few minutes Plum stood in the centre of her room in full bridal attire. Her dress had a sweetheart neckline, embellished with gems. The top half of the dress was a fitted corset and the lower half followed the contours of her body until it flicked out at the bottom. The whole bottom half was covered in soft delicate ruffles and the dress it's self was a sheer masterpiece. If Plum had been marrying the right man the dress would have been a dream come true. However, the dress symbolised a life of misery.

'You look spectacular, Sister-in-law,' Wendy said, emphasising the last part. Plum looked at her and felt nothing but sorrow. a single tear slipped down her cheek. There was a knock on the door. Everyone turned around. In walked Kammy, she nodded to Wendy.

'It's time,' The Koopa witch said.

'Her hair, what about her hair!' Wendy shrieked, making Plum jump. Kammy cackled and pointed her wand at Plum. In seconds her hair transformed into a beautiful style, filled with delicate curls.

'Come Plum, it's time for your big moment!' Wendy cried enthusiastically. Plum reluctantly followed her, but before she could leave the room Kammy grabbed her arm.

'You think of disrupting the wedding and I'll send someone to kill your loved one,' She said warningly.

'My loved one? I have no loved one...' Plum whispered back sadly.

Kammy looked her square in the eyes and laughed. 'Really my dear? Not even the lanky criminal who randomly dropped by your home?' Plums eyes widened as she realised who she meant.

'No!'

'Well then, all you need do is say I do' Kammy cackled before pushing Plum through the door.

Back at the front of the castle, the three men were still arguing over the best course of action.

'We need to-' Mario started to say, but Waluigi cut him off. He was getting quite impatient with Mario's plan making and decided he could not wait any longer.

'Do what you want, I'm going in!' He said as he pushed passed Luigi and entered the castle. Mario sighed before grabbing Luigi and following him in. The main hall was deserted, not a single villain in sight.

'M-Mario? Where is everyone?' Luigi asked. Mario shook his head, in all the times he had come to the castle there was always some kind of attack.

'It's odd, but we need to carry on,' Before anyone could respond to Mario there was the sound of cheering in the distance. Mario looked to Luigi, who looked terrified. 'I'll bet that's where everyone is then,' He said with a nervous chuckle.

'Well, what are waiting for?' Waluigi asked. The Mario brothers nodded and they ran of in the direction of the cheering. They ran down several corridors, occasionally narrowly missing Thowmps as they crashed down to the ground. Eventually they came to another red door, the cheering was now very loud and Mario was certain that the cheering was coming from behind the door. He pulled the door ajar and what he saw shocked him. There, in what looked like a make shift chapel stood two people. A bride and a groom. Mario tried to make out who the groom was and he realised it was Bowser's son, Roy. He was relaying this information to Luigi and Waluigi who wondered who on earth would want to marry a Koopaling.

'Um, guys? You're not going to believe this but they've got Plum,' Mario whispered, keeping his eye on the bride.

'What?' Growled Waluigi, pushing Mario aside so he could see. "I thought the wedding was in a weeks time?"

'I guess they brought it forward," Mario surmised.

'What do we do?' Luigi asked. Waluigi looked around the room.

'There's a balcony above them, we need to be up there,' He said.

Mario nodded and the three of them moved to the left of the door to find the entrance to the balcony. When they reached their destination they could see the ceremony from a better angle.

'We need to find something to attack them with, we can't go down there like this. There's too many of them,' Mario said, Waluigi agreed, so they started punching yellow boxes in the hope that they would find an item of use. Down below the ceremony was starting. A Magikoopa by the name of Weizenheimer was conducting the ceremony. 'Koopa's, Goomba's, Boo's and er... what ever else is left. We are here today to witness the marriage of Roy Koopa to the beautiful Plum. This marriage will be the start of a new era! Where Koopa and Humans come together to create hybrids!' The crowd shrieked even louder than before. Plum winced.

'Now... Roy, your vows,' Weizenheimer said. Plum watched as Roy started to speak. 'Plum, you are to be my wife. You will obey me, serve me and raise our future king or Queen. You will be mine to command. You will be mine to do what ever I please with' He said as he moved his claw to stroke her cheek. Plum recoiled automatically. Roy raised his claw and slapped her.

'Now you Plum,' Weizenheimer said menacingly. He handed Plum a scrappy piece of paper where her so called vow's were written. 'R-Roy, I am to be y-your' Plum began, but she couldn't quite get her words out. Tears were falling thick and fast. This earned her another slap across the face. The crowd went wild.

'Do it properly!' Roy snapped. Plum took a deep breath before starting again. 'Roy, I am to be your wife, I am yours to command-' The crowd started to cry out again, but this time it wasn't full of cheers. Roy, Plum and Weizenheimer turned to face the crowd. Fireballs were raining down on the crowd from the balcony above. Bowser stepped up through the crowd, seething with rage. He turned to Roy and Weizenheimer.

'Continue with the ceremony no matter what you fools!' He bellowed and he started throwing Koopa Troopa's up to the balcony. 'Plum, carry on!' Weizenheimer called out over the crowed. Plum reluctantly nodded. 'I am yours to command and I will obey you at-'

'Not today you wont!' Waluigi shouted as he jumped down from the balcony and landed on Weizenheimer's head knocking him unconscious. Roy and Plum looked at him in shock.

'Waluigi!' Plum cried and ran over to him.

'Get back here, wife!' Roy yelled angrily.

'No and I am not your wife!' Plum shouted back as she hid behind Waluigi.

'Not yet!' Roy retorted.

'Not ever!' Waluigi said as he landed an almighty punch on Roys face. Roy fell to the ground holding his face, tears stinging his eyes.

'C'mon Plum, we gotta move,' Waluigi said as he pulled her through the masses of Koopa's. In the midst of the fight Mario and Luigi had also left the balcony and were fighting against Koopa Troopa's. Whilst they had been on the balcony they had come across two fire flowers and had used them for long distance shots down below. Now their cover had been blown it was now time to fight among the masses. Waluigi had dragged Plum over to the Mario brothers. They stopped fighting briefly to figure out what to do next.

'You two, take Plum and get out of here, I have something I need to do,' Waluigi asked of them. Plum clung on to him, she'd already lost him once.

'It'll be fine, I promise,' He told her. She nodded and loosened her grip on him. Mario and Luigi looked him sceptically.

'What are you planning?' Luigi asked. 'Look just get her out of here, wait for me by the warp pipe,' Waluigi told him. Luigi nodded and grabbed Plum, Mario followed. Waluigi ran off in the opposite direction. Mario, Luigi and Plum dashed past the Koopa's who were by now fighting themselves.

'What's he doing?' Luigi asked Mario.

'No idea, but we should trust him,' He answered.

The three of them were nearly at the door when Bowser leapt in front of them.

'Going somewhere?' He cackled wildly. Mario spun round to Luigi and Plum. He didn't need to say anything to them, Luigi understood. He held Plums hand and pulled her away from Bowser.

'C'mon let's get out of here,' He cried.

'But...' Plum protested.

'They'll be fine, they know what they're doing,' He lied. Luigi and Plum made it out the castle and all they way to the warp pipe. Back at the castle Mario was facing off with his old enemy. They circled each other staring into each others eyes.

'You may have ruined the wedding, but it's not over. I will get my revenge,' Bowser snarled.

'And I'll be here to stop you,' Mario declared defiantly. Bowser inhaled and let out an all might blast of fire that Mario only just avoided. The Koopa Troopa's were also circling Mario and were launching bob-ombs at him. He was struggling to keep out of harms way and needed a plan fast. Bowser inhaled again and this time Mario was ready. Before Bowser could exhale Mario grabbed the nearest Bob-omb and launched it at Bowser. Bowser swallowed the Bob-omb.

'Ha ha! Really? Is that all you've got?' He laughed. Mario gulped.

All of a sudden Bowser felt a pain in his stomach. Fear flickered across his face. His stomach swelled and then returned to normal. He fell to the ground with an almighty bang. Mario watched his face, waiting for his nemesis to get up. He didn't, Bowser merely rolled on to his side. Mario walked over to him cautiously. Bowser looked him in the eye.

'You won,' He murmured. Then nothing. Mario gave his old foe one last look and ran out of the castle to safety. He reached the Warp pipe and met up with Plum and Luigi.

'What happened bro?' Luigi asked.

'Bowser's gone,' Mario whispered. The previous events hadn't sunk in.

'G-gone?' Plum squeaked. Mario nodded. She understood.

'Did you see-' Before she could answer Mario shook his head. The ground started to shake and all three turned to face the castle in the distance. The castle crumbled before their very eyes. A cloud of smoke rose into the air, Bowser and his castle were no more.

'Waluigi...' Plum whispered.