CHAPTER 1

"The ancient acqueduct"

Voice: "C'mon, Luigi, wake up"

Luigi was sleeping in his warm, comfortable bed. It was a cold winter in New York, and there was nothing in the world that Luigi loved more than sleeping in a warm bed when it was winter.

Luigi (mumbling): "Please, let me sleep a little more, Mario..."

But it wasn't Mario who had called him, but Teresha, the stout housekeeper. She simply took away the sheet and made Luigi fall down from his bed.

Luigi (hitting the ground with his nose): "Ouch!"

Teresha: "Move away, I have to make the bed"

Luigi (touching his aching nose): "But I was sleeping!"

Teresah: "You don't pay me enough to be kind with you, man, so be glad that I keep coming everymorning to do your housework"

Teresha wasn't bad, on the contrary she was not paid at all for all she did for the brothers. But she was always there to help them and to be useful. Still, we could say she was a bit rude.

Teresha: "You loafer, your brother woke up twenty minutes ago and he's ready to go to work. Go and dress yourself, he's waiting for you downstairs."

She opened the window, and the sudden light woke Luigi up once for all. Mumbling and groaning, the moustached man stood up and went to the bathroom. After a while, he had put on his green dress and the blue workpants, and was ready to reach his brother. Luigi found him in the small dining room, sipping a cup of coffe and watching the Tv.

Luigi: "Mario, why didn't you wake me up earlier?"

The man named Mario turned his head and smiled. He was almost an exact copy of Luigi, but was a little smaller and... rounder, and his smile looked much more joyful than Luigi's.

Mario: "I've tried, but you didn't even hear me"

Luigi (looking at the Tv): "News?"

Mario (drinking his coffe): "Nothing important. Mrs Licksonn called me five minutes ago, and said that her sink's blocked again"

Luigi: "Didn't we repair it last week?"

Mario: "Yep"

Luigi: "I'm sure it was her husband again. Why can't he stop throwing food in the bog?"

Mario (taking his red hat from the coat): "I'm certain he's happy like that"

In two minutes, they both were in their van, and in ten minutes, they arrived at Mrs Licksonn's house.

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It was night when they finally headed back home (which was in Brooklyn) after their usual work round. Luigi was looking absent mindely out of the van's window, when he noticed a shadow moving behind a corner of the street.

Luigi (pointing toward the corner): "Mario, have you seen that?"

Without saying a word Mario (who was driving the van) made an U-turn and headed toward that corner, squealing. The front lights of the van suddenly showed what was goin'on: a bunch of men with a white mask were hitting with sticks and chains a black boy, who was crouched on the ground, sobbing.

Mario got off the car.

Luigi: "M-Mario, what are you doing? They're too many!"

In fact, the masked men were about ten. One of them noticed the plumber dressed in red, and looked at him with a menacing stare.

Man #1: "Hey, what do you want? Go away!"

Mario didn't say a thing, instead he did an incredible jump, landing between them and the black boy.

Man #1: "What the..."

The man couldn't end his sentence, as a very angry Mario jumped on his face, stunning him.

Mario (snorting): "Go away"

The men looked at him, dumbfounded. Then, Luigi ran in front of Mario.

Luigi: "C'mon guys, can't we settle this in peace?"

Man #2: "Shut up, you smear!"

The other man tried to punch Luigi, but he quickly jumped right behind him. Not even the black boy could believe his eyes. They remained there, staring at each other, until one of the masked man noticed the insignia on the brother's van.

Man #3 (shocked): "Oh my... Look... These are the Super Mario brothers!"

Dismayed, the others didn't wait for a second and ran away, leaving their "weapons" and the stunned "friend" behind. Luigi took a sigh of relief.

Luigi: "Phew!"

Mario (laughing): "Hey, Luigi, we're famous!"

Luigi (snorting): "Thanks to your crazy head! Didn't you notice they outnumbered us?"

Mario: "I noticed they were hurting a boy"

Luigi: "Couldn't we just call the police, like everyone does?"

Boy (interrupting them): "Are you really the Super Mario brothers?"

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Inside the car, the little boy couldn't stop asking questions to his heroes.

Boy: "Is it true you are plumbers by day and heroes by night?"

Mario(laughing): "Not at all, we are full-time plumbers! Infact, tell your mom we are the best plumbers of all New York!"

Luigi: "And you can find us even in the rush hour"

Boy: "What are your weapons?"

Mario: "Plungers and wrenches!"

Boy: "Is it true you already saved the lifes of other 10 persons during last month? I read it on the newspaper"

Mario: "You have not to believe to everything you read on the newspaper..."

Luigi: "It was 6"

Boy: "How can you jump like you do?"

Silence fell in the van. Luigi looked outside, on the moving street. Mario simply stared forward. After a while, the older brother spoke first.

Mario: "Actually, we don't know"

The boy looked at him silently, afraid that he said something wrong... even if he didn't know why.

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Finally they reached the boy's house. They left him on the door, and after the usuals "by" and "see you", they went away. The boy remained there and shook his hand until they disappeared from sight.

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Mr Roger knocked on the door and waited for an answer, but it never came.

Roger (knocking again): "Mayor, may I enter?"

Again, no response. Daringly, he opened the door and peeped inside. He saw the mayor, an old fat man with clever blue eyes, absorbed by a map on his desk, his thoughts running far away.

Roger: "Mayor...?"

The mayor suddenly woke up, and noticed his visitor.

Mayor: "Oh, mister Roger... Please, come in..."

Roger: "If you allow me to ask, are you still worried about the ancient acqueduct?"

Mayor: "You can ask anything you want, and I'm afraid you're right. This whole affair is slipping out of my hand"

Roger: "You mentioned that earlier but... why are you so worried about that?"

Mayor (sighing): "Do you know, Mr Roger, why the ancient acqueduc is so important to our city?"

Roger: "Because... It's an important water source, right?"

Mayor: "It's a FONDAMENTAL water source. Moreover, it's very famous because the aqueduct existed long before Colombo discovered America. When white people arrived, it was already there. It's our underground monument"

Roger: "And so? What happened to it?"

Mayor: "The attaches employed in its maintenance are disappearing one after the other. The survivors talk about monsters coming out of pipes..."

Roger: "That's ridiculous... The Police?"

Mayor: "I don't wanna call the police! If this becomes common knowledge, my re-election is gonna be in trouble!"

Roger: "Hmmm... do you think the problem is the piping system?"

Mayor: "Don't know. Why?"

Roger took a newspaper from a table and showed it to the Mayor, who read the first page.

Mayor (reading): " "Two heroic plumbers save a boy from ten aggressors"... Who are they?Roger: "Two plumbers who live in Brooklyn. They're also known as Super Mario Brothers"

Mayor: "What are their name?"

Roger: "Mario and Luigi Mario, Mayor"

Mayor: "Is that a pun?"

Roger: "I'm afraid it is not"

Mayor: "How could these super plumbers help me?"

Roger: "That's my plan: you tell everybody about the acqueduct. Then, as the valuable mayor you are, you call these public "heroes" to settle the matter. You call a public meeting in the main plaza, announce the arriving of the bros, they enter in the underground acqueduct, and when they'll come out saying that there's trouble nomore, everyone will applaude your decision to employ them. And everyone will be happy"

Mayor: "But what if they fail?"

Roger: "They can't, because I'm sure there's no monster inside the pipes of the acqueduct. Come on, be reasonable! It can't be!"

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Mario and Luigi were having a break in a little italian bar ("By Tommaso's") in Brooklyn. It was a cold afternoon, and the sky menaced to rain in a moment.

Mario (eating a toast): "So, what's left in our cash?"

Luigi (drinking a coke): "Three bucks"

Mario (worried): "Can we pay the toast I'm eating?"

Luigi: "Maybe, but we should take my coke on credit"

Mario: "I'd prefer not to ask another favour to Tommaso... Give your coke back"

Luigi: "My coke it's almost finished! Give your toast back!"

Mario (sad): "But it tastes good..."

Voice: "I couldn't help but hear that you have cash problems, ain't you?"

Mario and Luigi turned their head, and they saw a distinguished young man wearing black glasses.

Mario: "May we help you?"

Roger: "I really think you can... If you're Super Mario Brothers"

Mario: "Someone calls us like that. And you are...?"

Roger: "Excuse my bad manners, I totally forgot introducing myself! I'm Roger. I work for New York's Mayor. I'm here in his place to employ you"

Luigi: "Problems with the bathroom?"

Mario (reproaching): "Luigi!"

Roger: "Oh, please, don't worry about etiquette... Your brother is almost right indeed"

Mario (talking to Roger): "We'll be glad to make ourself useful"

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Luigi: "Please, explain me again how in the world we ended down here!"

The two brothers where climbing down a rope in a dark, swet vertical tunnel.

Mario: "They're paying us dearly, and they organised a great meeting for us in the main plaza, that's why. We have money plus advertising. Mamma mia, Luigi, what are you complaining about?"

Luigi: "Maybe you missed the time when they talked about monsters!"

Mario: "My, it's only an underground acqueduct! We'll find some rats at most"

Luigi (scared): "Rats?"

Mario: "Oh come on! If you see one, just jump"

Luigi: "The problem is, you're too easy going, Mario! Peolpe disappeared, down here!"

Mario: "Stay quiet, I can see a light at the end of the tunnel"

Luigi: "Did anyone ever tell you that seeing a light at the end of a tunnel is a bad thing?"

Mario (perplexed): "Why should it be a bad thing?"

Luigi: "God please help us. Aiutaci"

They finally reached the ground. From there, they could see three ways departing.

Mario: "Now where?"

Luigi: "What about... up again?"

Mario: "Let me check the map"

Luigi: "Please, let's find that hole in the pipe and leave subitissimo"

Mario: "Ok, we should go over there, that is toward the light"

Luigi: "Toward the light... sigh..."

They walked for a long time in the shafts, finding nothing. Until Luigi heard a strange noise.

Luigi (freezing): "Did you hear that?"

Mario: "What?"

Luigi: "That noise!"

Mario: "All I hear is the trembling of your legs"

Luigi: "It sounded like a voice"

Mario: "Maybe it was echo"

Then again that same noise resounded in the tunnel.

Mario: "You were right. I can hear it too, now"

Luigi: "It was like many voices speaking..."

Mario: "Maybe we found the missing plumbers! Come!"

Mario ran toward the noise in another shaft, leaving a terrified Luigi behind.

Luigi: "Mario, wait!"

But Mario had already disappeared in the shadow.

Luigi: "Agh, a reckless, that's what he is! Maaaaaario!"

Luigi ran after his brother, but he couldn't reach him for about a ten minutes. Then, suddenly Mario appeared. He was running... toward Luigi! And he looked scared.

Mario (yelling): "Run run RUUUN!"

At first, Luigi didn't understand what was going on, and he frozed while Mario ran past him, as fast as he could. Then he heared a noise of steps. Running steps. Many running steps.

And then he finally saw them.

The were ten, no, twenty, maybe thirty strange animals. Some of them looked like brown mushrooms with feet and eyes, others looked like turtles with duck-like head, and others like little brown moles. They looked aggressive.

Brown Mushroom: "Take 'em! Don't let them escape!"

Luigi: "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Luigi quickly ran away, reaching Mario after a few seconds.

Mario (running): "Did you see them?"

Luigi (running): "MONSTERS! THEY WERE RIGHT! Oh Mamma mia, oh Mamma mia, OH MAMMA MIAAAAAAAA"

Mario: "Stop yelling or you will lead them to us!"

Luigi: "What are we going to do, Mario? WHAT?"

Mario: "I don't know, I don't... Wait! The map! Maybe I can find a way to escape!"

Luigi: "Let's go back to where we came from!"

Mario (checking the map while running): "We can't, they're blocking the way! Here.. Turn right, now!"

They both dashed to the right, but the group of monsters was reaching them.

Luigi: "Where are we going?"

Mario: "There's a human-size pipe a bit further on"

Luigi: "Where does it lead?"

Mario (panting): "On the map there's no clue, but I think it will lead us outside"

Luigi: "Hurry, they're getting closer!"

Right when the monsters were going to catch them, the brothers reached the pipe and jumped in it. Then, they realized that pipe was a sort of bottomless hole.

They hurtled down screaming, but Mario managed to speak for the last time.

Mario: "I'm... sorry... Luigi..."

Luigi: "I've... always been proud... of being your brother... Thank you Mario"

#SBAM#

#silence#