Mario and the Koopa Conspiracy by Martin C. Featherworth (i am malala young readers edition txt) 📕

The sun shone upon the curved stretch of water and warmed the tiny islands strewn about within it. Colorful penguins splashed and played in these waters; the Sea Slide was a popular place to visit for them. Even a few bees from the neighboring world of Gold Leaf basked in the warm rays. The Sea Slide was a man-made (or penguin-made) stretch of ocean and beach that hung suspended in the sky. It was often frequented by the penguins from the planet below and the bees who lived nearby. Not many non-locals knew of it, but a certain group of mushroom people did.
The Toad Brigade came to the Sea Slide for the beaches, though the Captain always said they were doing some “serious business.” The band of merry mushroom people often liked to travel to recreational places, pretending that they were helping to find power stars (though they have found about a handful together). Their mushroom-shaped spaceship (known as the “Starshroom”) had landed on the protruding grassy area near the lighthouse. With them they had brought a troubled guest.
Mario, or Super Mario as some called him. He was the best plumber in the Mushroom Kingdom and the seeming hero of the Worlds. He was known far and wide throughout the Mushroom Kingdom and in several galaxies for his “heroics” and his undying will to rescue the often-kidnapped Princess Peach. Though Mario was famous, he spoke not a word to anyone revealing his true thoughts. And he had a lot of thoughts: happy thoughts, deep thoughts, disturbed thoughts, thoughts about life and existence themselves. Mario never showed his true nature; he would always put on a happy face, raising his fist in seeming triumph over his head. Today, however, was different.
Mario left the Starshroom and leapt off the beach onto a small island; he had become used to large jumps by now. Mario turned around, looking at the penguins playing in the water behind him. One young orange penguin caught a glimpse of him, staring in recognition. Mario smiled and waved in attempt to be friendly in spite of his disturbed state of mind. The young penguin waved back. Mario hopped over to the dock in front of the lighthouse.
“I’m not a hero,” he mumbled to himself in his Italian accent. The lighthouse was isolated from the rest of the Slide, built onto an outcropping. The white lighthouse with the blue shingled roof wasn’t that tall, as it was there for decorative purposes. There weren’t as many creatures over around the lighthouse to bother him — only a red-shelled yellow-skinned koopa pacing back and forth on all fours over a wooden bridge. The small bridge was about five feet long, connecting the way to get to the lighthouse’s outcropping to an island with a single palm tree. Mario was headed for the lighthouse for certain.
“Hey you! You’d better not be thinking about walking across my bridge!” barked the turtle-like creature. Mario didn’t even look at it.
“Do you know who I am?” Mario questioned softly.
“You’re dead if you come near my bridge!” snapped the koopa.
“I guess you don’t.” Mario exhaled. “You should know who I am. Your species is quite oppressed because of me. I’ve kicked several of your species into both each other and goombas.” The koopa’s yellow turtle-like face went deathly pale. It backed away.
“You’re the… You’re the Jumping Guy! Oh please… Please don’t stomp me,” the koopa pleaded. Mario smiled, turning to look at the petrified red-shelled koopa.
“Relax. I’m not going to stomp you. I’m just going over to the lighthouse,” said Mario. The red-shelled koopa stared in silence as Mario walked past him. Of course the koopa hadn’t known who he was. He had probably lived his whole life on the remote penguin planet, which Mario had visited just a handful of times. That had been years ago, back when Mario’s archenemy Bowser had tried to create a new galaxy for the first time.
The first time. Yes, he had tried again after his plans had been foiled. The spiky koopa dragon was far too persistent, trying the same exact thing over and over and expecting it to work — the utter definition of insanity. No matter how many times Bowser would kidnap Princess Peach, who was a governmental figure of the Mushroom Kingdom (though it was governed by a committee that met in a fancy building), he would always fail in the end. Or…was he failing?
Mario had just come upon this new idea: What if there’s some other reason Bowser always kidnaps Peach? What if it’s all planned out? Mario had been thinking about this for about the past week. When he heard that the Toad Brigade was going back to the Sea Slide, Mario joined them right away. He needed to get away from everyone — from his oblivious brother Luigi, from the princess herself, and from all the toads in Toad Town who admired him just a little too much.
While he had been thinking, Mario had made his way over to the lighthouse. He now stood leaning against its cool white side. No, he couldn’t let his thoughts wander back: they were the exact thing he had come here to get away from! He took in the scenery instead.
Mario watched the penguins swim and race each other in the distance. He remembered when he had joined in on one of their races. Penguins sure seemed to love racing each other, Mario thought, as he had also raced penguins before in different locations. They looked so happy and carefree — the state of mind Mario hadn’t enjoyed in a long time. Mario wanted to be happy like them, but alas, he couldn’t make himself change.
Behind the penguins was the large mangrove tree, where the four-legged spiders lived. Mario had climbed to the top of it once to obtain a silver star, one in the usual set of five needed to form into a regular power star. The spiders didn’t mind so much.
Stars, a necessity for easy living. Different kinds of stars did different things. Power stars were a useful energy source in the realm in which Mario lived. The golden hovering stars could be used in a number of ways, including fuel for starships. Silver stars weren’t quite as powerful as normal power stars, hence the reason to merge them together.
Next to the tree was the platform containing the water jet mechanism in which one was able to reach the center island. The Sea Slide looped in a circle around a floating cone-shaped island, where old Penguru went to be away from the crowds. Of course, the sagely old grandfather penguin made sure it was turned off during the day. He didn’t like to be disturbed.
Mario often thought of the whimsical impossibility of this realm when compared to his old home in Brooklyn, USA. It had been years since he and his brother had been sucked into that green pipe they had found while doing their plumbing job on a strange person’s sink. The brothers’ trip through the worlds had been disorienting…to say the least. Before they had fallen into the pipe, the brothers had looked like normal people. After they ended up in the Mushroom Kingdom, they had changed. They found themselves to be cartoon characters in a cartoon world, a world that defied all physics. They were unable to go back, however. The pipe between the worlds was said to have been destroyed in the incident involving Bowser’s Dark Matter Plant. The brothers often wondered how life was faring back in Earth.
“Hey!” a voice chirped out of the blue, interrupting Mario’s already-derailing train of thought. Mario looked about for the source. It hadn’t been the red koopa. It was no longer pacing on the bridge but sitting on the edge of it with the back of its shell facing Mario. “I’m down here!” said the voice. Mario shifted his gaze down at his feet. A tiny navy-blue penguin stood staring straight at him. “I’ve been standing here a while, and you didn’t even see me!” said the penguin.
“Oh, sorry. I didn’t know you were there,” Mario said. The small flightless bird motioned a flipper toward the structure behind Mario.
“I always hang out by this lighthouse,” said the little penguin.
“Oh… Would you like me to move somewhere else?” Mario offered. The penguin just shook its little blue head, sitting next to Mario.
“No, it’s okay. I think you’re pretty cool,” the penguin said with a smile. Surprised by the bird’s sudden change of tone, Mario lowered himself down to sit. He lowered his head a bit at the penguin’s remark.
“I don’t think I’m pretty cool,” Mario said.
“Why not? You’re Mario, right? Super Mario! You…you saved the universe!” the little penguin squawked in surprise. Mario shook his head.
“Twice now, actually. Not to mention almost all the Worlds on the planet I live on,” the short mustached man answered, not believing his own words.
“Oh yeah! I heard about that! Rompin’ and stompin’ through the Worlds! Always saving those princesses…” the penguin rambled. “Hey, you know what else you saved, Super Mario? My cousin! Remember him? His name’s Egad, and he’s from Cool, Cool Mountain.” The mustached plumber furrowed his brow in thought. Yes, Mario recalled the entire situation. Years ago, he had visited the place the penguin spoke of. Cool, Cool Mountain. That had been in his earlier days of collecting power stars. Mario had brought the baby Egad back to his mother, much to the penguin’s complaining. The penguin’s mother had given Mario a power star to thank him. Mario also remembered the young penguin making a face at him as he grabbed the star. Mario hadn’t seen that penguin family in a while. How were they doing in their snowy floating mountain home? Mario remembered another thing. There was a rumor among Bowser’s goombas and koopas that Mario had brought the baby penguin back to its mother to get the power star (which was a little bit true) and after snatching it, Mario had thrown the baby penguin off the mountain. The goombas and koopas were always making up stories about Mario, but they weren’t always too farfetched. They were right that Mario had done some insane things. But Mario didn’t kill the penguin! Mario did not want to think about the rumors anymore.
“Yes. I remember that penguin,” Mario said, adjusting his red cap. “He was hiding at the summit. He yelled at me the whole way down.” Mario smiled a bit. “Did he really say I saved him?”
“His mom did. She told me all about you and your power stars,” the little penguin replied. “My family is from Cool, Cool Mountain. We’ve got friends here, and we like to come here on vacation.” He pointed his flipper to a group of navy-blue penguins by the shore near the Starshroom, where the Toad Brigade had set up their beach towels and umbrella. “That’s them right there. There’s my mom, my dad, my grandma and grandpa, and my sister Beatrice,” the penguin told Mario. “Oh! That’s right! I never told you my name!” the penguin realized. “My name is Edmund. You can just call me Eddie!” he said with a smile. Mario couldn’t help but smile back.
“Nice to meet you, Eddie!” Mario responded. “Of course you already know who I am.” The young blue bird nodded and looked down at the ground in thought.
“Could you say who you are anyway please, Super Mario?” he asked. Mario knew why the penguin was asking for Mario to say his name — it was part of