2

It was the very next morning and the news of the king's death had since left the entire vicinity in silence. Peach and Daisy have since written letters to every resident that lived within twenty-five miles of the castle, alerting them of the upcoming funeral for the king. Of course, it would have been a very challenging task, had it not been for the help of the many toad helpers that resided in the castle and their sincere willingness to help the two princesses.

Meanwhile, in the nearby capital of Toad Town, along the outskirts of the residential neighborhoods, it was a different situation between two close brothers…

"Luigi! Get up, if you can hear me! Let's go get some breakfast!" said Mario, the slightly older of the two. A young man of nineteen, he was also the shorter of the two brothers, and was also very outgoing. He also had the tendency to not miss a meal, even if it was just a slight afternoon snack, and was often known by his brother as the "protector" of the family. This is because in all the years that they have been alive, Mario has always looked out for Luigi before he looked after himself. In physical features, Mario was slightly chubby, though not considered overweight; he has a round nose, sky-blue eyes, and dark brown hair. He also had the ability to run very fast and play every sport at a proficient level. His favorite kind of music to listen to is classic rock and his favorite foods are spaghetti and mushrooms.

Frustrated by his brother's inability to wake up, Mario grabs Luigi by the arm and pulls him off of the couch. After waking up, he responds with a mean glare.

"Mamma mia! What was that for, brother?" Luigi complained. "Couldn't you at least give me time to finish my dream?"

"No." Mario said sternly. Luigi was pissed.

Luigi shares many characteristics with his brother Mario. Like his fraternal brother, he had dark brown hair, blue eyes and a round nose. He also liked spaghetti, though he preferred bagels instead of mushrooms because of their strange texture. However, unlike his brother, Luigi was relatively slim and he also surpassed his brother in height even though he is only slightly younger than him. He is also more mild and calm than his relatively hotheaded brother and preferred new age rather than classic rock as his favorite type of music. He may not be as athletic as Mario, but he can jump higher and farther than him and could run as fast as him. Luigi is also smarter than Mario when it came to mathematics, science, and literature, not to mention complex puzzle-solving and dice games. However, he does have one major downside: phasmophobia, or the fear of ghosts. Otherwise, he is just as brave as Mario.

"When you finally stop having a fit and acting like a chicken," Mario said, "do you want to go to the café to grab breakfast like you usually will do?" Luigi was finally starting to calm down.

"What happened last night?" Luigi asks, almost as if he was never angry in the first place.

"Nothing, you just fell asleep on the couch again." Mario said. "You must be very careful when you a take that sleeping medication!"

"The funny thing though, Mario, is that I did not a take any." Luigi said in a mocking tone. "What's your excuse now?"

"Hmmm…" said Mario. "It seems as though you've a outgrown those pills."

"That's right." Luigi responded. "In fact, I've been off of them for quite a while now."

The room fell silent

"Well, if you want to go eat breakfast, then you must a hurry! I'll go get the mail and we'll take a look at it inside the café."

"Sounds great." Luigi said. "Just let me get in the shower first."

Mario rolled his eyes, knowing how long it takes for his brother to take a shower. On average, it usually takes Luigi around fourteen minutes to clean up because he sings too much.

Mario opened the door and walked outside to see the nice beautiful view while getting the mail. There was a nice cooling breeze from the north, and the sun was shining brightly on the nice grass, the tall green trees, and the distant plains of the dirt that separated the other houses. The mountains had recently been coated with snow, giving the landscape a serene and tranquil feel to it. Mario could not help but stare out into the distance and wish he was out there instead of in the city.

"Ah. Another nice day!" Mario said out loud as he walked toward the mailbox. Just then he spotted Parakarry, the local mailman. He was a short Koopa that wore glasses and was very slow when it came to getting around to other places, which was a typical trait for the Koopas.

"Good morning, Parakarry. How are you today?" Mario said, waving to him. He waved back.

"Good morning to you Mr. Mario," he replied, "I am doing just great giving mail in this wonderful town. How about you?"

"I'm just getting ready to go to the Club 64 to go grab some breakfast. I'm still waiting for Luigi to get ready. Hey, is that mail for us?"

Parakarry examined the stack of enveloped he had in his hand and saw the two that were at the top.

"Why, yes. These do belong to you and your brother. Did you hear about what happened to King Toadstool?" as he starts to frown while he gives Mario the envelope.

"What happened?" Mario asked in a concerned tone.

"The king is dead."

Mario's mood suddenly changed. "What?"

"He died last night in the castle infirmary." Parakarry replied. "He died because of a cancer in his lung or something like that. I wasn't able to hear the whole story!"

Parakarry suddenly fell into tears, for he was unable to hold in his sorrow and disappointment. Mario gave him a hug to calm him down.

"Oh mamma mia, that's terrible!" Mario still shocked about the recent news. "What's going to happen now? After all, he never had a son. Without a son, you can't have a new king!"

"I'm not sure yet," Parakarry responded in less tearful tone, "but I heard that the princesses invited everyone to go to the king's funeral today."

"We will go straight there as we are done eating breakfast" Mario said swiftly. "I hate to leave you like this, but I need to go very soon. I do hope that you feel better."

"I appreciate your kindness." Parakarry said. "See you later."

"You take care." Mario said as he started making his way back up the front steps of the house.

As Mario walked back into the house, he saw Luigi already dressed and acting all excited, unaware of what had just happened. He spotted Mario coming through the front entrance and closing the door behind him.

"Let's go get some spaghetti and bagels." Luigi said as he started for the front door. But Mario suddenly blocked the door.

"What's wrong Mario?" Luigi asked. "Why are you blocking my way?"

Mario sighed. "Well, what if I told you that the town is in jeopardy now."

"Jeopardy?" Luigi questioned. "What do you mean?"

"Just listen to me for a second!" Mario said.

"Why? What happened?"

"The king is dead!"

Suddenly, Luigi had a shocked feeling and started breathing heavily. It was not long before he temporarily lost consciousness and fainted, landing on the floor with a loud THUD!

One minute later…

Mario slapped Luigi across the face and wakes him up. Complaining of a headache, Luigi gets right back up as if he never fainted and continues the conversation.

"What are we going to do now?" he asked.

"We need to get dressed into our black uniforms and go to the funeral." Mario said. "However, we can still go get breakfast at the club 64, because it doesn't happen until later tonight."

"Funeral?"

Mario showed Luigi the envelope and gave it to him. The front of read "OPEN IT". Luigi turned the envelope to the back side and noticed something that was predicted. It had a black stamp on it. He carefully opened it and started reading the letter that was inside. It read:

Dear all residents of Toad Town,

I have some bad news for everyone! I'm afraid that my father is no longer going to be king for the Mushroom Kingdom because of his death. So as a favor I am asking everyone in Toad Town for the king, please come to his funeral today around 6:00. The funeral will take place at that time and then their will be a party in the king's honor at 6:30. We will be looking forward to your arrival. Thank you and hope to see you there. Sincerely,

Princess Peach

"Let's go!" Luigi insisted. Mario nodded his head in agreement as they make their way out the door to the Club 64.

"So what did you dream about last night?" Mario asked as they walked down the street.

"I had a little nightmare about seeing ghosts in many colors all trying to scare me to death." Luigi said. "It all relates back to an incident I had when we were very young, I'm sure you remember that. Don't you? It still scares me to this very day."

"No more watching scary movies like Nightmare on Elm Street." Mario replied. "Those movies are way too scary for you; I can only hope you haven't seen all eight of those videos."

"Actually, Mr. Smart One it was called The Exorcist, not that movie you're talking about." Luigi paused. "So what did you dream about last night?"

"First of all, it doesn't matter what movie it was, okay. I am just trying to protect you from these dreams." Mario then changed the subject back. "Well, besides being surprised at your nightmares and having the ability to sleep through it, I had a dream that we were super heroes and saving the world, but mostly the princesses at the Mushroom kingdom. We were beating the people that have been beating us up for most of our lives during our school years, and we also got married to the princesses and had kids with them. And then..."

"Let me guess," Luigi suddenly blurted out, "you're going to say that they made us spaghetti and all the other food you can think of right of the top of your head." Mario was stupefied.

"How did you know I was going to say something about food and the parts where we got super powers like fire, flying, and getting stronger from the food that they made us?"

"That is because you always mention about food no matter what it is." Luigi replied. "And I speak of the truth and nothing but the truth."

"Hey, at least it wasn't my fault that you had that nightmare for the last two weeks about your death and something about a famous ghost name King Boo attempting to suck your soul and make you become one of him or a stupid little zombie, or whatever you call that crap." Mario said. "And that is the truth and nothing but the truth."

While Luigi is daydreaming about the Bagel, he became annoyed by his older brother's remarks and gave him the evil – dead eye for being too technical.

Still, Mario and Luigi knew that they were just messing with each other, and that they would protect each other no matter what happens or what the situation is.

As they show up to the front door of the Club 64, Mario opens the door for his younger brother, knowing that he was dying to get his hands on the spaghetti and bagels.

"Thank you Mario" he said.

"Anytime, brother!"

They walked inside and the door shut behind them…