A Smash of Kings

Chapter 2: The Capital

On the eve of their attack, High King Mario stood in a large tent with his Red Council: Princess Peach, Princess Zelda, Sir Link, Lord Sonic and Luigi, The Hand of the High King. The nights on the open plain of Hyrule field were cold, so Luigi adopted a fur scarf around his shoulders, which trailed off into a green cape. Mario had been forced to adopt much of the same look, though he had a crown atop his head; it was silver and wired with a red gemstone on the top, something rather humble for a High King. The night had just set upon them, and they planned on ambushing the Gerudo-Koopa forces who occupied Kakariko Village. In the tent was a wooden table with their plans of attack set up on a large map of the Village, to its very limits. Luigi saw High King Mario looked down, into a chest by the table. The chest had been delivered by a small squad of Toads wearing yellow armor; it was from a WarioWare factory. Although against the idea of it, Luigi knew that Wario would be their only option for fast, reliable equipment, so he was forced to accept Wario's offer of financing and supporting the war effort from Mushroom City.

Luigi could tell that the High King was satisfied with the weapons and munitions inside the chest. The High King's nod and grin only confirmed it. After he walked back to the others—Luigi and Link were carefully analyzing their battle strategy while Peach and Zelda talked about the state of both their kingdoms—he heard a loud commotion from outside their war tent. A Hylian soldier wearing silver chain mail and steel armor opened the flaps of the tent and panted, "Your Majesty... Sorry for the intrusion, but we found a spy... She was in the Mushroom Kingdom barracks with a pad and paper. We believe she was counting for Lord Bowser."

The High King nodded sternly and, soon after, the spy was forced into the tent by a Toad and another Hylian soldier, who each restrained one of her arms. The spy, who was wearing a bowl on his head with painted-on red spots, was a Gerudo. From where Luigi was standing, he could tell from the dried red spots on the back of the armor that the Gerudo had killed a Toad to steal their armor. They threw her forward, and she fell onto her knees. She slowly rose, clearly disarmed of all her weapons. She just stared at the Red Council, a mixture of hatred and fear in her eyes.

"What was your number?" Luigi asked loudly, breaking the tense silence of the room. However, she stayed silent. With a sigh, Luigi spoke up again, "Well? Out with it!"

The Gerudo stammered nervously, "Um... It... Uh..."

The Gerudo stopped speaking, instead deciding to look down and remain silent. High King Mario turned around and looked at the spy. He then took the paper from the Hylian soldier and scanned it quickly. Looking at the Gerudo's bowed head, the King said, "You counted twenty thousand?"

"Yes..." the Gerudo responded, reluctantly, "Ten thousands Hylians and Toads each..."

"I think we're done here" Zelda sighed tiredly. She turned to the guards and ordered, "Take her outside and—"

"No," Mario quickly vetoed Zelda. He turned back to the Gerudo, who ducked her head further down, "Go back to your camp and tell Bowser the number you counted. But, tell him what happened here; tell him that you were caught just before you got to half. Tell your Lord Bowser that fifty thousand Toads and Hylians are coming South to put The Unworthy to the sword."

****

As soon as he got to Smashville, Kirby docked the Warp Star outside of the city's main gate. He looked up at one of the Koopas standing guard there; the Koopa was covered in mainly leather armor bearing King Ganon's colors, black and maroon. Their armor, Kirby noticed, was much different from that of the kingdoms to the North; unlike the chain mail and steel plated sets, the soldiers under King Ganon's rule wore round, egg-shaped helmets with bronze chain-mail not leather armor. More often than not, the Koopas wore the helmets, and King Ganon's Gerudo troops often wore a Keffiyeh in place of the round helmet.