Chapter 1: The Mushroom Kingdom
The plump red plumber rubbed his nose, the frequent battles with his enemy had begun to take their toll, a taller green plumber walks in from the door, he calls," Mario, there is a letter for us, it is from the Princess, yah." Mario ran over to his brother, they opened the letter carefully and Mario read it aloud," "Dear Mario and Luigi, I request your attendance at the palace tonight, we are throwing a party in honor of your achievements the past year, please hurry and meet up as soon as possible" signed Princess Peach" Mario cheered slightly, Luigi followed with a little dance from left to right.
The two brothers headed towards the castle that was east of their house, they passed by the houses and villager, a group of robed beings turned their heads to them, Mario continued but Luigi however was angered by this, he walked over to them and shouted," What is wrong, you have a problem with us?"
One of the beings walked up to him and said," Uh, No we have no problem, where just waiting for someone to arrive, we have waited a long time for his arrival, we often turn our heads from those who lack our great ones knowledge." Luigi scratched his head and puzzled by this asks," Who is the great one?"
The man in front of him looked down at him and studied him, he said after thinking," You don't know who the great one is, how is this possible, surely the heroes of our time would know of him?" Luigi shakes his head and asks," Who is this being?" The head approached and said," You cannot ask us, you must learn for yourself," he searches a bag and pulls out an old book," Here take this and learn, when you have the time read of him, he who can answer the great riddle, is allowed to awaken him, if you wish to try the challenge simply come back to us, we are here all hours of the day, we will take you to the statue to try the test any time, you may try as many times as you like but none have ever answered correctly."
Luigi grabs the book and puts it in his bag, he thanks them for the book and runs to catch up with his brother who was already at the palace, the men wave and go back to preaching of the great one.
Mario knocks on the front door and waits patiently for someone to answer, after a minute or two, Toadworth opens the door, he says ecstatically," Master Mario, you have arrived, great the Princess will be over joyed! But where is your brother?" Mario looks to his left then right, he begins to answer, suddenly the door is rammed into, Luigi slides down and hits the ground, he grabs hold of the door and helps himself up, Toadworth and Mario look at each other but laugh slightly.
Luigi glares at them but gets caught up in the moment and laughs as well, Toadworth invites them in and walks them to the garden, lush green trees grow all around the garden, flowers of red, yellow, and all sorts of color scattered the grove, a pink figure sat near the pond feeding some baby birds, Toadworth walks up and says," Princess, Mario and Luigi are hear."
Peach stands up and walks over, smiling she hugs them and says," Thank you both for coming. The party wouldn't be as fun without the two heroes who save us from Bowser." Mario bows and Luigi follows, she bows as well, she invites them to sit down and enjoy some tea while they sit, Mario accepts right away but Luigi decides to begin reading the book the group handed him.
Mario sat with the princess enjoying some tea, he put some sugar in it and began drinking, Peach sipped her tea and patted her face, she said," So, Mario how have your days been so far?" Mario put his cup down and said," It is a all good, but all the fighting with Bowser has kept me from having fun, but that's what heroes are for." He sips some more tea as the enjoy the nice weather.
Luigi lays back against a tree and settles himself down, he reaches into his bag and pulls out the old stitched covered book, the cover faded from years and Luigi could tell the book was old, the being on the front was hard to identify, Luigi ignored it and continued into the book, he opened up the cover and flipped through the pages to the first page, he read," The great one lived years before the first kingdoms of the world, his power spanned across all others he faced, he who challenged him would meet a gruesome end to his blade, he reigned for two hundred and fifty years, those who served him fell to the enemy around the end of his era of rule, he was not defeated in battle but sealed away for he who could figure out the ultimate riddle could unlock him and be his ultimate follower in his time of need. This passage was from the Lord's personal journal that he kept in his time," The day has grown old, my men have all fallen to the darkness I shall soon follow, but first I check the last remainder of the town we have laid siege to. All I see when I look around is money, Jewels, and foolish things, this is one town I have saved from this tyrannical rule called upon by the kings of these lands. I go to darkness now, and wait till the net day arises to my men." This is the last of the great ones writings from his journal, this was the only page recovered, the journal has never been found. Those of you, who wish to awaken him, answer at the statue," I live in day just as night, those who despise me, have never felt me; those who call to me, have need of me; what am I?"
Luigi scratches his head, the answer was in his head, he just couldn't remember it, suddenly a large explosion caught his attention, he darted off for where it came from, Mario was holding Peach he put her down and looked up, Bowser jumped down from his vehicle and cracked the earth beneath him, he smiled wickedly and roared into the air, he shouts," Give me the Princess Mario, or I will take her from you!"
Mario points and says," No way a Bowser, you're not getting the Princess, right Luigi….. Luigi?" Luigi runs through the gate screaming," Wahhhhh!" Mario shakes his head but turns towards, Bowser, Bowser stomps down on Mario, Mario rolls away and jumps up hopping on his head, Mario grunts and backs up, Mario runs forward and kicks him in the jaw, Bowser crashes his fist down on Mario, Mario slams into the ground, he jumps back up and dodges Bowsers spin attack. He runs forward and kicks up at Bowser again, Bowser flings up and crashes down, he breathes fire and Mario runs trying to avoid it, Bowser hits a block and a Fire Flower appears, Mario jumps and snatches it, a white flash covers him and he turns white and red, he rushes forward, he spins rapidly and upper cuts Bowser, Bowser flies forward and slams into his machine, smoke bellows through the engine and a fire bursts, the ship takes off away and crashes into the water far off.
Mario straightened himself out and walked back to the Princess, he asks," Are you alright Princess?" Peach nods her head, she smiles and says," Thank you Mario for your assistance, now do me another favor. Please go retrieve your brother, we still need him for the party." Mario nods his head and runs off looking for Luigi.
Luigi ran down the streets, he thought to himself," How could I be such a coward, there must be a way to be stronger, if only Mario could stop fighting Bowser, I know he dreads his life for how he is but that's no reason to attack the king…" Luigi shouts," Hooray, that's it, that is the word I was looking for in the book, I have to try it out at least!"
Luigi took off towards the square, in a matter of moments he reached the square, he turned the corner and began looking for them, He found one of them standing near a building, he ran over and noticed it was one of the two men he spoke to earlier, he ran up to him, the man smiled and said," Oh hello it's you again, have you come back to talk to the elder?"
Luigi shook his head and said," actually I came to try out the riddle, I think I know the answer." The robed man looked at him astonished," What, you're going to try the challenge, but you just got the book?" Luigi nods his head again, the man smiled and escorted him through the building, leading him down dark corridors then down a stairwell leading to a locked room.
The elder appeared before them, he asked," What are you doing down here?" He notices Luigi behind him and continues," Ah, I see, he has come to try the riddle hasn't he, well then follow me through the door." Luigi followed the elder into the room, a large statue stood in front of them, columns rose to the top of the room, strange material was covering the wall on the right side, Luigi approached the statue, it's eyes suddenly lit up in a brilliant blue, it's voice was cracked and old, it said," If you wish to follow the great one and wake him, answer the riddle," I live in day just as night, those who despise me, have never felt me; those who call to me, have need of me; what am I?"
Luigi calmed down, from his frightened state, he spoke clearly and said," The answer is DREAD!" The monster just stood there, Luigi stepped back, the elder said," Well you tried, I thought you almost had it my friend better luck nex…." The dragon interrupted him and said," Your answer Is correct green one, approach now and meet with the great one, may he show you the truth and may you follow him proudly."
The elder and the Robed man both looked at him astonished, the elder rushed him forward eager to meet the great one, Luigi shook a little, the wall behind the statue scratched the ground as it moved, a loud screeching noise echoed through the room, the walls stopped and the noise halted, Luigi looked forward, a cave was behind it a strange wave of energy escaped from it.
Luigi moved forward and eased his way through the hole, he shook as he passed through it, a spider landed on his shoulder, it moved around the sudden touch made Luigi jump, the spider flew off and landed on the rock nearby, Luigi took off down the hall screaming as he ran, suddenly a flash stopped him, a being appeared in front of him, it reached out and touched him, he said," You my dear follower, have awakened me from my long slumber, let me give you the power your heart seeks, I shall call upon you when I need you, now return to your home and await my call, you shall not be changed, now go!" Luigi is hit with a blue wave of energy, he suddenly loses sight and falls over unconscious.
Mario shakes his brother, Luigi slowly opens his eyes and gazed up, He smiled when he saw his brother he asked," What happened brother?" Mario shakes his head and says," I don't know, a villager found you passed out and brang you back here, how are you a feeling?" Luigi shakes his head a little, he says," I'm a fine, lets head to the castle I'm sure the Princess will start the party soon."
Mario nodded his head and the two made their way to the castle to enjoy the night ahead, while other matter took place far away, Mario approached the gate and entered the party had begun recently so there was time to still enjoy the whole thing, Princess Peach smiles and walks over to them," Mario, Luigi, this party is for you go enjoy yourself!"
Luigi took off into the crowd and was gone, Mario scratched his head but followed after, Peach smiled and waved goodbye, but a strange feeling overpowered her feeling of safeness, she shook off the feeling and followed after them. Luigi was eating at the table, there was food of all sorts, Luigi made his plate in the orderly way he could, his brother however was snatching all kinds of food, By the time Mario had his plate ready half of the buffet table was missing, Luigi stared at him disbelieving his brother was going to try to eat all that.
Mario acknowledged that he was indeed attempting to eat all of the food, the room was quiet and the people where all concerned as they watched the hero scarf down food as he ate, Luigi pushed his plate aside losing his appetite, he moved from the table and walked away, Mario shrugged his shoulder and snatched Luigi's food as well.
Luigi looked out over the palace in the far distance was the kingdom that Bowser ruled, Luigi squints his eyes to watch, a small flash catches his attention from the castle, he shakes his head and walks away as well, tired of the night and heading home to sleep, seeing as how the party was not as fun as he thought it would be.
What has Luigi so down, is Mario going to be able to finish all of that food he consumed, what is going on in Bowser's castle, find out in the next chapters.