Lucad: Hey, guys. Most of the things (places, enemies, etc.) here are based on RPG games in the Mario franchise, namely the Paper Mario series, Mario and Luigi series, and Super Mario RPG. I hope you like this story. This should be one of my first attempts at creating stories.

I rated this story T for there might be some inappropriate language, and maybe a few other things that might be unsuitable for the K+ rating.

Mario and co. belong to Nintendo. I am merely creating a fictional chain of events based on them.

- Chapter One: A Toad's Plea -

KNOCK! KNOCK!

"What IS that sound!?" Luigi furiously bolted upright from his bed. He heard loud knocks from the door across the almost pitch-black room.

It was in the middle of the night. He was in his bedroom, but he was hearing knocks...and the only person who can knock at his bedroom door right now is Mario. Problem is, he can't think of a reason for his brother to knock at his room at this time.

KNOCK! KNOCK!

"Luigi!" A faint yell can be heard from the other side of the wooden door. "Open up!" His brother seemed bothered and hasty.

As said, he wondered what the fuss could be. It was a peaceful night, as far as he knows. His windows were apparently closed that night, so he had no idea whether there was something stirring outside their house, moreover, his room. He quickly got up, walked across the room barefooted, glancing at random objects in his room for no reason at all, and opened the door.

The lights were turned on at the hallway, which made Luigi cover his eyes from the light immediately.

He caught the sight of his brother, who looked frantic tonight. He was dressed in his usual outfit, a red cap, a similarly red shirt, and blue overalls. Of course, he's not supposed to be wearing them right now.

"What is it?" Luigi interrogated, a slight degree of annoyance in his question. That wasn't appropriate, he thought, but nevertheless, he was annoyed at that time.

"Peach is in danger!" the upset older brother informed Luigi in a hasty manner, "We must go there, NOW!"

"What!?" he asked in disbelief. So Bowser has apparently been doing his thing at night?

"You must believe," he continued, though he looked as if he can't handle waiting for Luigi to do so. "Dress up as soon as you can, and try to catch up with me. I'll be going there first." Mario disappeared out of sight, his footsteps fading from Luigi's perception. "Mario must be really concerned about Peach," Luigi uttered, turning around.

The room was still almost pitch-black, in his opinion, but it was dimly lit by the light from the hallway. His room was quite messy, though he hardly noticed it until now.

He then went back in, towards his wardrobe, and peeked in as he opened each.

"Now WHERE are those clothes!?" he groaned, not having time to waste in looking for his clothes. He only saw his green hat, having an encircled white 'L' on it in the same way as Mario's hat had an 'M' on it.

But he had no choice...he can't possibly go there on his pajamas. So he searched the house for his blue overalls and green shirt, which were situated on unthinkable places.

He looked at his room. "Nope."

He checked the kitchen. "Not here."

The dining room? "No."

Maybe the bathroom. "Hahaha...what?"

After checking every other room, he checked his brother's room.

When he finally found them, how they ended up there, he did not know, though he was lucky it took him only a few minutes, he went back to his room and got into his clothes. While putting them on, he was thinking how his brother found out about Peach's situation.

"My bro's pretty attached to Peach more than I thought," he said to no one in particular. "It's as if he can sense everything that is near Peach."

Luigi got some stuff before leaving. Mushrooms mostly, but he did not forget to bring the lucky charm that Daisy gave him the week before, back at the park bench. The memory flashed back to his mind.

Luigi was in the park with Daisy. The two of them were sitting on the bench, Luigi looking tired.

"You know, Luigi, you should have just said that you weren't used to jogging in the first place," the brunette told him.

He tried to make up a reason, but failed to do so, and just told the truth. "I didn't want you to think of me as a wimp. I had no idea it would be this tiring."

Daisy shook his head.

"Luigi," she said his name. "Here," she handed him one of her floral earrings.

"Wha? Why are you giving this to me, Daisy?" he asked, confused, though he was blushing.

Daisy smiled. "That's so you'll always remember me," she said, making Luigi redder than ever. "As a friend, of course." she quickly added, punching Luigi on his shoulder lightly. She laughed at Luigi's reaction. Luigi got over it and simply laughed along.

"You alright already?" Daisy suddenly asked him. "Because if you are, we should get moving. Let's a-GO!" she gleefully told Luigi, mimicking him and his brother's line. He held Luigi's hand and pulled him up. They then continued to jog, back to where they started.

With his thoughts aside, he hurried to put his brown shoes, almost failing to find them similar to his other garments a while ago, and ran outside, locking the door along the way. The green clad plumber noticed the sky was filled with countless stars tonight.

"The sky looks beautiful tonight," he mentioned to himself in awe. He thought of how different his brother's mood was from the evening.

And seeing the beautiful sky...made him look towards a contrasting view...at the direction of Peach's Castle.

He realized his brother had enough of a reason to panic. The upper-left part of the castle was ablaze, much to Luigi's dismay. The land near it, which he knew as Toad Town, was similarly glowing. He hoped Peach was alright, and Mario would be careful. He then ran toward the warp pipe that takes him to Toad Town, and jumped in.

Toad Town was woefully disquieted tonight...a lot more disquieted than what Luigi expected. Most of the houses were ablaze, thick black smoke wandering out and about, sparks from the orange flames' combustion going everywhere, Toads scarred, running, screaming here and there, and the young ones were crying. It was hard to see the town in havoc, and he wondered how Mario got through the turbulence.

He looked at a particular house, its roof burning...segments of it dropping to the ground. A huge part of the blazing roof detached, came crashing down...and he noticed that a young orange spot capped Toad was sitting, or crying, beneath the exact place as to where the burning segment of the roof would drop.

"WATCH OUT!" he yelled, running towards the targeted young Toad before it was too late. He leaped, stretching his hands in front of him, towards the doomed Toad, in an attempt to somewhat push him aside...push him from his doom.

In an unexpected event, both of them miraculously pulled off an evasion right on time... The burning roof crashing inches from Luigi and the Toad.

"T-thanks, m-mister," the young Toad, looking exhausted, grateful, and out of words.

"Don't mention it," he said, having a hard time believing that he was able to do it...that he saved the young one's life.

Apparently, Luigi was noticed for his act of heroism by a particular Toad that he and Mario were close to, who's name was simply Toad. Luigi and the young Toad noticed him, too, and ran towards him.

"Thank you, Luigi, for saving my cousin, Todd, from absolute peril," he gratefully told Luigi. "You owe us one."

Luigi felt himself blush at Toad's words. He glanced at Todd, his cap unusually specked with orange spots. The color reminded the plumber of Daisy, because of the color of her dress. It was the second time that Luigi remembered Daisy that night. He hoped she was okay right now, and that nothing as perilous as this was happening to her.

Toad interrupted, making Luigi stop in his trail of thoughts. "I still need to ask a favor from you," he began, his voice now trembling in fear and derangement. "You MUST help us...the whole town...and Princess Peach."

The younger Toad, Todd, followed his cousin's actions. "Please, sir. Help us. We need both you and Mario to do this," he said.

Luigi was having a hard time keeping his coward side from showing, and right now when the two Toads were begging for him to help them.

"I will," he managed to say, hiding his fear. "I need to ask, though," he continued, Toad listening intently. "Have you seen my brother?"

"Yeah, I have," his voice was finally calm. "He went towards Peach's castle about 5 minutes ago," he said, and continued on. "You should be careful if you decide to follow him, Luigi. The castle courtyard is on fire, too," Toad warned, which made Luigi gulp.

"Thanks," he said absentmindedly. He was thinking of a way to get though the courtyard and in Peach's castle, now that he knew the courtyard was on fire. Still, he continued on, waving at Toad and his cousin, Todd.

He then ran across town, not minding the noise and wreck that was surrounding him. Though dodging the spurting flames and running Toads was a tough thing to do, he was able to, and soon, he got to the intersection on the east side of town, seeing the castle gates from north of where he was standing. Signs of flames were present as he glanced on the gates, sounds of cracking coming from inside, and flickers of red-orange hued combustion made him tremble a bit. Though he thought to himself that this was nothing to be intimidated at, for he needed to do what Toad, an awfully nice guy to be with, pleaded.

"I can do this," he assured to himself, trying to boost his self confidence. And with one last look at the burning town that he might not see anymore if...by any chance, he...fails, Luigi ran towards the gate, braver than he's ever been.

Peach was horrified. She wasn't expecting something stir tonight, and she thought that she was dreaming. But alas, she was obviously not. Everything that she is currently seeing from the balcony where she is standing...it is all true. The town below her was burning, smoke floating up towards the starry night sky, screams can be heard from where she was at, and her castle was burning, too. And it's sad that she doesn't know why this is happening, who is doing this and how to help them. She felt useless, being the princess she is.

"I can't stand this," the blond princess, who wore a beautiful pink dress, said in disgust. She would not let this happen. She HAD to do something.

At that same time when she was pondering on what to do, Toadsworth, an old cautious Toad having a cap with brown spots who was at the same time Peach's adviser and guardian, entered the balcony from Peach's room to speak with her.

"I should tell you, princess, that you mustn't worry. Mario will save us," the old Toad tried to convince Peach, but was ceased by the princess' following statement.

"We shouldn't wait for Mario to help us forever. And I am not going to let anyone risk his life for me again," she stated, making her point clear. "I need to make a move, and not just wait."

As she said this, she approached the door leading outside. She then halted, for she saw someone who wasn't supposed to be there.

"Peach!" Mario shouted, urging her to open the door for him. The red clad plumber looked burnt, he was black of smoke, but he was still there.

"Mario! What are you doing here?" she asked, though she knew that he would be doing this thing as always. She quickly approached him.

Mario was covered with soot. He was as black as the smoke outside, and if Peach did not close the door immediately, she would've caught the soot on her dress, too.

He had a hard time answering clearly, being someone who inhaled smoke too much. "I'm here *cough* *cough* to help. *cough*"

"But you shouldn't have! You almost got cooked!" she reasoned. He tried to answer, but all Mario was able to do was cough.

Toadsworth, who was watching, was speechless. Mario was having difficulty breathing, and they needed to act fast before something bad happens.

He did not know, though, that two beings who would make an important role towards Mario's safety are both inside the castle, approaching them.

One of them would save, and one of them would kill.

I hope you like it so far. Please write a review, or criticize. I want, no, I need to hear your opinion, no matter how long.

Reviews or criticisms would probably be the ones that would urge me to continue the story, so please click that button below.