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

a famous line of his. Mario chuckled to himself.
“Sure.” He stood to his feet, raising his white-gloved fist with a bent elbow. “It’s me, Mario!” the cartoon plumber exclaimed with an exaggerated smile. The young penguin snickered in delight. Mario sat back down next to the penguin called Eddie. He put his hand over his face, embarrassed and amused at the same time. A few moments passed before either of them spoke up again.
“So are you feeling better now, Super Mario?” Mario turned to look at Eddie. Mario’s grin faded from his face. He gazed back out at the water, watching the penguins have fun. Mario glanced over at the red koopa on the nearby bridge, finding that it now napped under the sunlight. Eddie addressed Mario again. “Why are you so upset anyway?”
“I’m not…upset,” Mario lied, to himself more than to the penguin.
“Uh, yeah you are. You mumbled to yourself about not being cool earlier,” Eddie said. “And you were being all sad and mopey about it. I know you’re upset about something, Super Mario.”
“Well…I came here to try to forget about it,” Mario said in a quiet voice. The penguin was unrelenting.
“You admitted it! You’ve gotta tell me now,” Eddie urged. “C’mon! You can talk to me! I’m a good listener.”
“Will you promise not to tell anyone?”
“I won’t tell. I promise.”
“Okay. I guess I’ll tell you then.” Mario paused to let out a breath. “You know who Bowser is, right?” he asked. The penguin nodded.
“Big scary spiky koopa king, yeah,” Eddie replied. “Always taking the princess.”
“Yeah, that’s Bowser.” Mario looked away at the sky. “So I was just thinking about something. Bowser kidnaps Princess Peach a lot! Of course it looks like he’s trying to take over the Mushroom Kingdom. But…he always does the exact same thing: kidnaps Peach.” The young penguin looked at Mario incredulously. “What if Bowser has some other reason for kidnapping Peach? What if…he’s not kidnapping her at all?”
“Like…Princess Peach and Bowser are plotting something behind your back?” Eddie said. “Why would you think that?”
“Well, it’s just…Peach. She’s always acted so weird around me. I mean, a big fire-breathing koopa kidnaps her and locks her up somewhere, right? I go and venture through all the different Worlds and break into castles until I find her.” Mario was on a tangent. He had obviously been troubled by this for a good while, the penguin thought. Mario smiled frustratedly. “And when I do find her and get her out of Bowser’s Castle, she just thanks me like it was no big deal!” Mario turned back to the penguin, grinning and looking as if he were about to scream. “No big deal, Eddie! And so I just smile and pretend it was no big deal too. I only died dozens of times in horrible ways! Eaten all kinds of strange plants and fungi just so things wouldn’t kill me right away! I had to drag myself through parched deserts, steamy jungles with purple acid for rivers, and active volcanoes! I just…I…” Mario closed his eyes and rested his forehead in his palm. “I shouldn’t have brought you into this.” Eddie was at a loss for words.
“I wasn’t expecting something like that. I don’t know…what to say,” Eddie muttered. Mario sighed again.
“I knew I shouldn’t have told you. I should just go now.” Mario began to stand up, making an attempt to leave. “Goodbye, Eddie.”
“Hey, wait! Mr. Mario, wait! I’m the one who asked you about it!” squawked Eddie.
“Yes, I know. I didn’t have to tell you, though.” Mario now stood on his feet. “Besides, what possible good has it done to tell you?”
“Well, I dunno. Getting your thoughts out of your head and telling someone else, maybe?” The overall-clad man stood beside the young penguin for a moment.
“I’m so sorry I’m portraying this to you. I just… I need some help,” Mario said with a hint of sorrow. With one last glance at the red koopa’s bridge, Mario stepped away from the lighthouse. The young penguin hopped to his little yellow feet.
“Hey Mr. Mario! You should go see old Penguru! He could give you some advice!” shouted Eddie. Mario turned back around.
“I will go to him then,” he said. A sad fleeting smile swept across his face. Eddie stood and watched as Mario turned and walked across the koopa’s bridge while the koopa was fast asleep. That red koopa never let Eddie set one foot on his bridge, even when he was asleep. Mario stood at the other side of the bridge, looking down at the water. He was going to jump in and swim all the way over to the water jet on the other side of the giant mangrove tree, for that was the only way to reach the central island. Without warning, Mario made a flying leap (also known as a long-jump) and dove into the water. Eddie waddled over to the edge of the lighthouse area and stared down at Mario.
“Hey Mr. Mario,” Eddie called to him. “How come you wear all your clothes and your hat when you swim?” Mario looked up and smiled.
“How come you don’t wear any clothes at all?”
“I’m a penguin! I don’t have to wear clothes!” Eddie laughed. Giving the penguin one last glance, Mario turned and began to swim around the Sea Slide’s loop.
He pushed himself through the water, avoiding the floating islands occupied by penguins and vacationing bees. Mario dodged a team of multicolored penguins as they rocketed past him. They were racing around the loop for sure, Mario thought; it was a popular activity here at the Sea Slide. Mario himself had raced the penguins once, but not without the help of a few koopa shells. For some strange reason, koopa shells had a self-propelling quality underwater. Mario had found this discovery to be quite handy, as they made swimming a lot easier and faster.
I wonder if there are still any shells under the water, Mario thought to himself. There was only one way to find out. He took in a deep breath and submerged. Mario swam down to the bottom of the loop. Were there any koopa shells down here? Ah yes! There was a green one sitting atop a rock! Why one of the penguins hadn’t snatched it up already was a mystery to Mario. He grabbed the shell, and it propelled forward. It almost slipped out of his hands at the sudden burst of speed. Mario pointed the shell upward so that he could resurface. By now Mario had reached the grassy dome with the two tunnels. He was almost to the water jet. The dome went over the top of the water and over the sides of the loop. The two tunnels were underwater, but there was a bit of air near the top of the openings. Casual swimmers and younger patrons tended to avoid these tunnels, as they were filled with giant Gringill eels and underwater cyclones. They weren’t all that dangerous though, at least not in Mario’s opinion. Penguin racers went through the tunnels all the time, and nobody was ever hurt. Mario had gone through the tunnels himself a dozen times.
Resurfaced, Mario steered the shell into the larger tunnel on the right. Mario skimmed along the surface of the water inside the tunnel. He found that if he kept going in a straight line, he could avoid them all quite easily. It wasn’t long before Mario emerged.
"Ah yes! The water jet platform!" Mario remarked to himself. He approached the water jet to Penguru's island in no time. He hopped out of the Slide, landing upon the suspended platform. Mario threw the koopa shell back into the water, knowing he wouldn't be needing it again. He inspected his clothing. Yes, his clothes were dry; such were the ways of the Toadstoolian realm of the Mushroom Kingdom. The place where Mario stood consisted of stone slabs that were raised above the water's surface. Upon one of them was a large green valve. That was the water jet. Mario went to the valve. All he would have to do to turn it on was...oh wait! This was a valve that wouldn't budge unless one used the right method. The method he had used to turn it on before was no longer possible. On his previous adventures here, Mario had used the help of a white baby luma. The star shaped creature had given him a new ability: a-powerful spin. This was another whimsical superpower he had gained as quickly as he had lost. The white luma was gone now, maybe never to be seen again. Mario had been able to spin before that, but he had soon stopped doing it. After his time with the luma, Mario had attempted to spin once again. Maybe he could do it now...
"Let's try a spin-jump," said Mario. He hopped onto the valve. "Okay then." He took a moment to prepare himself. Spin-jumping was not as powerful as the ability the luma had given him, but he could still try. Mario leapt spiraling into the air and landed back on the valve, causing it to turn. It had worked! Mario backed away, knowing that the water would come out. A huge burst of water gushed out of the floor. It formed a tube shape and snaked around the Sea Slide to the floating island in the center. The water jet to Penguru's island was now functioning again. Mario inhaled a deep breath and jumped in.
Water surged around him as he shot through the jet. He was unable to move while the water pushed him. Within moments, Mario had come to the end of the high-speed blast. He rolled out of the stream, flopping with a heavy splat into a shallow pool. Mario had arrived at Penguru's island. He didn't care about making a theatrical entrance this time; he just cared about catching his breath. He lingered there, lying in the pool. A glimpse of a scuttling creature told Mario he should get up. Mario stood to his feet as a couple of large red crabs circled around him. Crabbers, as they were called; everything seemed to have a funny name here. There was no need to fight the crabbers; if Mario didn’t bother them, they wouldn’t bother Mario. He walked past the crabbers and up the side of the cone. Most of the time, Penguru watched over the beachgoers from the top of the island. The cone-shaped island was covered in white sand and had a few patches of grass growing in different spots.
The island was not all that big, so it didn’t take long for Mario to reach the top. To his surprise, the old penguin was nowhere to be found. That was strange. Penguru would always be here on a day like this. Mario was just about to go and search the island when a voice croaked in the near distance.
“Hey!” the voice said. Mario looked for the source.
“Penguru?” Mario questioned aloud. The voice continued as feet shuffled in the sand.
“I thought I made it clear to you kids to stay away from my island! I fill tunnels with Gringills, put up a giant water jet…” A black white and yellow penguin waddled up the side of the cone. The penguin had droopy white eyebrows and a beard, his beak in an inquisitive scowl. He resembled an emperor penguin, though he was much taller. This wizened old bird was Penguru, and he could still not recognize that Mario was not some young penguin who had come up here on a dare. Penguru came closer. “I still don’t know how you turned on that valve. The last person to ever turn it on was… Ho-ly smokes! You’re that mustached overalls guy! Wow, I haven’t seen