''You sure it's here?'' Waluigi asked me as we stepped out of the car. 

I nodded. ''That's what it says on the paper.''

In front of us was an old factory, judging from its name ''Monty Factory'' it was very clear that its sole purpose was to create weapons. Monty moles have a very strong love for weapons and are known for their excellent craftsmanship in that category. But this factory looked like it had been shut down for years. It was all rusty and dark with its windows broken. But it would be a very good hideout, nobody would suspect anyone hiding here.

''Let's go,'' I said and started walking towards it. Everybody followed me close behind, Polari ended up hiding behind my shoulder. ''Guys, it's just an old building. You shouldn't be scared until we're inside it.''

''What's... what's that supposed to mean?!'' Shawn stammered.

''Well, the building's not the thing that's going to hurt you, if it turns out that this is a trap then we'll have some problems with the people inside.''

''Oh, thanks, now I feel a lot more confident in doing this!'' Waluigi grumbled.

''I think it's safe to trust Pauline,'' I said. ''When has she ever taken the bad guy's side?''

''Sure, you may be right,'' Waluigi admitted. ''But if it turns out that it is a trap and I have to help you escape with my super-awesome-criminal instincts, I will have the right to say 'I told you so' right in your face.''

''Yeah, yeah, whatever.'' I dismissed him.

After walking around the factory we eventually found a door. The lamp hanging over it was on, so I guessed that it would be the entrance. I knocked three times as it said in the paper. After a few seconds a little hatch in the middle of the door opened up and you could see two eyes staring at us, I could tell by the eyes form and the yellow skin around them that the person behind the door was either a flame, boomerang, or hammer bro. The bro's eyes widened in surprise for a moment before going back to its angry expression again.

''Surprised to see you here princess.'' At least knew that it was a girl now because of her silvery voice. ''I would've let you in, but I can't if you don't have the password. So please tell me that you know it or else I would feel really guilty for the rest of eternity.''

''It's 'Heroes never die', right?'' I said.

The hammer/flame/whatever sis closed the hatch and a loud and heavy *clunk* could be heard from the inside, probably a very big lock to keep unwanted visitors out. Then, the door opened and we could go inside. Now I could see that the one we had been talking to was a flame sis, other than looking like any other of her kind with the red shell and red helmet and all, she had a blonde ponytail sticking out through her helmet on the back, and a giant skull painted over her whole shell. 

''I can't believe that you actually found this place!'' She said in triumph. ''This is a glorious day!''

''So this is where the resistance hides out?'' Polari asked shyly.

''Oh, yes, this is the place. Just follow me.'' She said and started walking down a dark corridor. ''Chuck, please close the door.''

''Alright.'' A gruff voice exclaimed behind us. I turned around in surprise and saw a chargin' koopa carrying a large padlock that looked too heavy for any human to carry. He gave us a smirk. ''Hello, princess. Welcome to the resistance.''

''Are you comin'?'' The flame sis asked. We started following her through the dark and rusty corridor. I could feel a bit of unease in both Waluigi and Shawn. ''Oh, and by the way,'' The sis said. ''I'm Flamy Koops, nice to meet ya'!''

''So... Flamy... how long have the resistance been around?'' I asked.

''Maybe a year at most, I joined a few months ago when I heard about it. Managed to guess the password and was let in. Since then I've lived here together with the others.''

''Who are 'the others'?'' I asked.

Flamy smirked as she went up to a door and grabbed the handle. ''You'll see.'' 

The door creaked as it was opened and behind it was a room filled with several different pipes. 

''This is where the real entrance is,'' Flamy explained. ''Only one of them work, but it's a good way to confuse intruders.''

She led us to a green pipe far in the back, it was placed between two yellow ones. She gestured with her hands for me to jump into it. ''After you, princess.''

I grabbed Waluigi's hand and we climbed on top of it together. I stared down into the dark abyss inside of it, I wondered where it would take us. I took a deep breath and jumped into it together with Waluigi. My stomach was tickling as we fell for what seemed like an eternity, but then it all came to a stop and we got shot out of the other end of the pipe and landed on a pile of pillows. We were now in a much cleaner and lighter room than before. And after a few seconds, Shawn, Polari, and Flamy arrived too.

''We're here!'' Flamy said and got up on her feet. She hastily went past us and opened up a door in front of us. ''Welcome to the resistance!''

Behind the door were several toads, yoshis, koopas, and a lot more different species walking around doing all kinds of stuff. Then they all stopped with what they were doing to look at us with surprised expressions.

''Everybody, the princess is in the nest!'' Flamy announced. 

Everybody started cheering and they all went up to me like I was some kind of celebrity. Some of them even had tears of joy streaming from their eyes.

''What's all the commotion?'' A familiar voice said behind the mass of people in front of me. 

Everybody moved away from me so I could see who it was. And I was so surprised to see this person that I was completely speechless.

''T... Toadsworth?'' I asked with a trembling voice. A tear of joy formed in my eye as the old brown-capped toad walked towards me with his eyes full of confusion. 

''Rosalina?''

I got down on my knees to keep myself on the same height as him. When he got close enough I pulled him into a tight hug. ''I thought you were killed.'' I whimpered.

''That's what everybody thought.'' He said and patted my back. ''I'm so happy to see that you're alright.''

''But how did you escape?'' Polari asked.

We ended the hug. ''We can talk more about that in my office. Come with me.'' He said.

We followed him through the base. While walking to his office we went past a lot of things. A cafeteria, the living quarters with hundreds of rooms, a big training hall and a room filled with weapons. I had no idea that the resistance had this much stuff at their base. I was amazed at everything I saw.

When we arrived at Toadsworth's office, he offered us to sit down on a few chairs placed in front of an old metal desk. He pulled up a stool on the other side while we made ourselves comfortable.

''So, you probably have a lot of questions-''

''Yes, I have one: How are you alive?'' I asked immediately without letting him finish his sentence. ''I saw your execution, you got beheaded!''

''Yeah, I wonder that too,'' Waluigi added with a slight tone of untrustworthiness in his voice.

Toadsworth, understanding our confusion, nodded silently. ''Yes, the horrible day when Bowser was newly crowned as king of the Mushroom Kingdom, he executed everyone who wouldn't accept him as the new ruler. One of those people was me. But Bowser's easy to fool. When I was in my cell I had it all planned out already. Two of my friends, one toad, and one paratroopa helped me break out of the cell. Then, the toad disguised himself as me and took my place instead. He told me that if everyone would think I'm dead, nobody would come looking for me.''

''So... the Toadsworth we saw wasn't you but... another toad?'' I asked. ''How could you even agree to that?!''

''I didn't.'' He said sadly. ''I tried to get him to come with us but he refused. The paratroopa had to drag me out of the cell. We managed to escape out of the prison without anyone noticing that I was gone. It's thanks to that toad that the resistance became a real thing.''

''Toadsworth... that's horrible. I'm so sorry. If I knew I would've helped you.'' I said.

''What's done is done, it can't be helped.'' He replied. ''Now, I wonder, how did you all find us?''

''Pauline helped us.'' Polari chirped.

''Ah, yes, Pauline. One of our many secret spies around the kingdom.''

''Spies?'' I asked.

''Yes, we have several spies scattered around the kingdom. They work at different locations to earn money for the resistance so we can keep ourselves alive and at the same time, they can collect information about the outside world for us. They sometimes find people that want to go against Bowser and sends them here so we can recruit them.''

''Wow, you people got a whole fully working network.'' Waluigi said amazed. ''What's your goal other than taking down Bowser?''

''Well, right now it is to find a star-child who can help us. We've gotten word that Yoshi is hiding on Yoshi Island together with Donkey Kong. We're currently trying to find a way to safely get over the ocean border.''

''What about Wario?'' Waluigi asked.

''We're... saving him as a last option. We're extremely certain that he wouldn't want to help us since he doesn't want this nightmare to end because it's making him money.''

''Okay, that's true.'' Waluigi sighed.

''Okay, I think that's enough questions for tonight. It's late and I think you're all very sleepy.'' Toadsworth declared. ''I will show you where you can sleep for the night. Then tomorrow Flamy Koops will show you around. She's certainly a big fan of you, princess.''

''That sounds lovely, Toadsworth.'' I smiled.