Story #1 by: Drago 321

MARIO AND LUIGI: PARTNERS IN TIME

Author's Note: I would like to once again remind you that these chapters are from the walkthrough divisions on . Also, this story consists of four Parts, each Part containing five Chapters. This is a novelization of the video game, and thus is not mine. The story interpretation of the game is.

PART 1: INVASION

CHAPTER 2: STRANDED IN THE PAST

Last time on Mario and Luigi: Partners in Time:

Mario and his twin brother Luigi both had extremely odd dreams. Mario saw lonely alien beings searching for something, and Luigi saw the same creatures attacking their homeworld years ago. In the waking world, Princess Peach and two Toad accomplices will accompany her into the past. Toadsworth, her caretaker, faints from the excitement, and Mario has to find a cure. As Toadsworth awakes, the time machine returns, beaten and battle-scarred. Only a single alien is inside. Mario and Luigi beat it down, but is this a coincidence? An alien returning from the past? It seems a 'time hole' has now appeared in the front yard, and after some discussion, the brothers decide to take the plunge and see if they can find the Princess...

Now, read on...

Boom! Yet another blast shook the castle.

"BOWSER!" Toadsworth shouted. "You have brought this upon us!"

They were still in the throne room of the castle.

"What are you talking about? I never told those morons that Kamek hired to fire! They would never attack if I was in the firing zone, anyways, you stupid old guy! What a geezer!"

"Hey! I am not a geezer! Yet!"

"Come on, you two!" a Toad shouted. (They were awakened by the battle between Mario and Bowser.) "We've got to stick together here! Apparently, Bowser did not do this...I trust him! This is obviously a bigger threat than him" (here Bowser pouted) "and there is one thing that we need to do right now...RUN LIKE HECK!" Indeed, he was right. The strange things were descending on the castle, and they needed to run...like heck. A Toad scooped up the Mario Brothers, and Toadsworth grabbed Peach. All of them ran through the now rubble-strewn throne room and out the double-doors. Now they could see who their new adversary was. There was a brilliant blue sky. It was a nice, sunny day, but not for long. As they ran outside, the previously sunny day turned rainy.

Boom! Another blast hit the ground. It just barely missed Bowser, who looked back to see the blast. He saw what looked like a big pink cloud. It was a condensed plasma blast that would burn anything it touched to a crisp. The ground next to Bowser was blackened and charred, as was most of the castle.

Bowser looked up to confirm his worst nightmare...the attackers were aliens! They were like Toads, except they were purple and looked more menacing than Toads do. They were snugly fitted into flying saucers, and there was an oval window that acted as a targeting reticle for the huge gun on the white saucer. It resembled a machine gun, and was black. The creatures were still firing away...

"Look!" Bowser shouted. "ALIENS!"

"Oh...my..."

"AAAAAHHHHH! RUN LIKE HECK!" the Toad said as all three babies (or four if you consider Bowser a baby...) began crying. They ran out of the garden and hid behind a castle wall to take a breather.

"We need to get out of here!" Toadsworth yelled. "Those aliens are faster than we are by far in those ships! Eventually we'll be toast!"

"Wait..." Bowser had a plan. "I do have my ship...the Koopa Cruiser. It's a big blimp-like thing that Kammy bought me for my last birthday! Comes complete with weapons and everything!"

"Well...can you get it here?" A Toad asked impatiently.

"Of course I can, you nimrod! I just gotta find the transmitter..."

"What is that going to do for us?" asked Toadsworth.

"It calls the crew of the Cruiser, stupid...AAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGGGH! Where is it?! WHICH one of you DIPSTICKS TOOK it?" There was a general mumbling of 'I don't have it!' 'What's it look like?', and 'We're doomed!'

"Ohhhhh...ohhhhh noooooo!" Bowser whimpered.

"Dear boy, stop mumbling! What is it? Have you found it?" Toadsworth inquired.

"No...I left it in the castle...I dropped it to battle Mario with both hands..."

Now, the general thing being said was, 'You WHAT?!' 'In the CASTLE?!', and 'Go get it then, lizard-face!'

Among all the commotion, no one noticed little Baby Luigi sneak across the wall, headed for the garden. He got into the castle without anyone noticing, then he looked around the throne, where Mario and Bowser battled. Almost immediately, he found it and then returned to the group, without anyone, friend or foe, noticing. He had in his hand a little plastic box with an antennae. It was bright red.

"I've a-got it!" he said in his little baby voice.

'Yay!', 'Hooray for Luigi!', 'He got it?!'.

"Ha! Gimme that!" Bowser yelled. He pressed a large green button on the box, and immediately and huge blimp-like ship appeared. It was a huge green thing, with Bowser's ugly face painted on it. The group ran out into the open and heard the aliens' strangled cries as they were getting away.

The ship dipped down a bit into a clearing a ways away and an intercom voice from the Cruiser said, "Bowser, come on, quick! It looks like you're in a spot of trouble!" The aliens began firing on the ship! It was blimp-like, but made of metal. The Toads, the babies, Toadsworth, and Bowser all ran for the blimp-ship. They ran through the woods next to the castle, as it gave them good cover from the aliens. They saw various forest creatures scattering from their location. Finally, they got back to the blimp. Already it was battle-worn and scarred from the aliens. Bowser ran to the blimp and jumped on it, then tried to close the door.

"Hey! Aren't you forgetting something?" a Toad said.

"Hmmmm...let me think about that...NO! Ha, ha, ha! Fools! I'm leaving without you!" Bowser replied.

The intercom spoke again. "Bowser...just let them on. If you don't hurry anyways, we're going to be burnt metal. Now come on!"

"Drat! All of my budding evil plans get shot down by current higher authority!"

Everyone stared.

"Well get on, you nitwits!"

They all got on the blimp-thing, and Bowser closed the door. They were off, dodging the blasts of the aliens. As they looked back, they saw the creatures making the final descent on the now deserted castle. This was not a dream.

Toad Town was a woodsy, muddy place, with dirt paths and spread out houses in the traditional Toad fashion.

Here a father was watching the morning news with his son. The son was perched on the father's lap, eager for the news to be finished so that they could go outdoors. The news was just about to be wrapped up when, suddenly, the TV went blank.

"Urgh..." the father Toad said.

The little Toad lad knew it would be a while before they would go outside, because his father would want to fix the TV first. His father went behind the TV and checked the various wires and cables...but they were all fine. So he went outside to check the power line and found that it was on the ground. But how?

It began to rain.

Out of the air came a white saucer, and, before the Toad could react, it shot what looked like a pink cloud at him. That was the last thing he saw.

The little Toad now came out of the house.

"Daddy?" he called. Now, the saucer shot at him, too! But, miraculously, it missed him, and the child ran screaming inside after he saw the charred ground just in front of him. "Mommy! MOMMY!" he cried. "There are scary things outside!"

He went into the kitchen, where his mother was making lunch, and pulled at her arm. "Mommy, come outside! Scary things ATE Daddy!"

The mother stepped outside with the son as she tried to reassure him that there was nothing to worry about. Then she saw the saucer and the charred ground.

"Where's your father?!" she shouted. "WHERE'S YOUR FATHER?!" she half-cried.

"Mommy, run!" the Toad, Jimmy, shouted. But, the mother Toad just stood there with a blank stare in her eyes. Then the strange saucer shot her down, too. "Mommy! Where'd you go?! MOMMY!"

The spaceship began blasting away again, and out of the distance, more saucers appeared. Jimmy ran for his life, but he slipped on the wet dirt path near their house...

All over Toad Town, the same was happening. Complete devastation. Everywhere. And, like they took the castle, the aliens made a final descent on the now empty town. Except, the castle was empty because everyone left, but Toad Town was empty because everyone was dead. After the beasts were done, there was nothing left. Not even the ashes of the victims.

Mario was riding along, inside a giant slide of sorts. It was a giant spiral tube of red and gold. He watched in awe as he sped around this strange flume. Next, he was launched through an opening into the sky. He fell onto something squishy that made a noise. It squealed...it was Luigi, lying face-first on the ground in front of him!

He quickly got up, but before he could help his brother up, something else came up out of the time hole! It was a suitcase, and it landed on Luigi, also. Luigi groaned as the second thing hit him that day.

Mario was surprised to see the suitcase stand up and talk.

"Watch the leather, Professor! No need for shoving!" Mario gasped in awe of this amazing talking suitcase. "Oh, you must be Mario!" it said as it turned to him.

The suitcase began searching for something, and then said, "According to the Professor, there should be a Luigi here as well, but I don't...AAAAA!" Luigi finally got his bearings and jumped up, making the suitcase fly to the side. Luigi was fuming with anger. "Oh, my!" the suitcase said. "Are you Luigi? I...sorry about that."

"Come on, bro!" Mario said. "It wasn't his fault! Lighten up!"

The other brother calmed down, but still gave the thing a deathstare.

"I am pleased to meet you. I am known as Stuffwell." the strange suitcase said. "Professor E. Gadd invented me. I am what is called a suitcase." Stuffwell said.

"Oh, really?" Luigi muttered sarcastically.

"Yes, actually...I am!" Stuffwell replied, not noticing the sarcasm. "The Professor sent me back in time to be...your assistant!"

"Assistant for what?" Mario whispered to Luigi.

"Yes, 'assistant' IS accurate...I'm more than just someplace to store your belongings." Stuffwell said, not noticing the blank stares of the brothers. "I have MANY complex sensors...and various memory apparati for data retention...and...er...you do not understand my functions?" he said to Luigi, who had fallen asleep. "Well, suffice to say, I am very technologic by contraption standards."

"WHAT?!" Mario shouted. "Mushish, please!"

"I'LL BE A BIG HELP...nimrods"

"What exactly will we need you for?" Luigi asked. (He was awake.)

"Well, I am LOADED with many features, and I can carry all of your items-"

"Open up." Mario commanded. He dropped the two Mushrooms and coins that he collected that day inside.

"As I was saying..." Stuffwell said irritatedly. "I can carry all of your equipment, as well...and...I can display your health statistics and experience in the field."

"Why would we need that?" Luigi asked.

"Er...the Professor said that to find the Princess...you might have to face a few baddies..."

"How do we even know if we're in the right time? This might be just a complete waste of it." Mario responded.

"That...you'll have to figure out." Stuffwell said. "Now... BACK TO ADVENTURE!"

"Wow...that was strange." Mario and Luigi said in unison.

"Let's just go back." Luigi said.

"We can find a more accurate way to save the Princess." Mario added as they turned to look at the time hole.

Suddenly, the earth trembled, and the little mound of earth with the time hole disappeared. Slowly...slowly...the time hole itself shrunk to nothing.

"OH NO!!" Luigi shouted frantically. He desperately began digging at the spot where the time hole was.

"Oh, geez...this is not good." Mario said. "Now we can't even get back!"

"And, on top of all that, we've got to carry a stupid suitcase around!" Luigi cried. He burst out in tears.

"I heard that!" came the muffled voice of Stuffwell.

"Come on, bro! We just gotta make the best of things, like we always do! It's not AS bad as it looks...we're just...stranded in the past with no way to get home and an annoying talking suitcase as our assistant...talk about a run-on sentence! But...just think about it! We are in another time! Let's do some exploring!" Luigi went on crying.

Now that the excitement of being thrown into a new time had died down, Mario could finally get his bearings and see where he was.

They were on a plateau of some kind...for it was quite windy and breathing was a bit more difficult than it normally was. He looked over the edge, but couldn't even see the ground. They must be on top of the clouds! There was a huge Mushroom plant rising up out of the clouds, and various bridges that criss-crossed over it led to another, higher plateau. This other plateau was snowy and looked inhabited, for there were lights twinkling in the distance.

Mario realized that they were in at least a civilized time. There was a fence along part of this plateau's edge. This plateau, unlike the other one, was a grassy area, with trees, bushes, and colorful flowers. Some of the bushes had red berries. To their left was a large stone wall, and the edge of the plateau. To their right was a narrow bridge that led to a large grassy clearing. A dirt path marked the way to the Mushroom plant, and civilization.

"Come on, bro!" Mario said. "Let's try to see if there are friendly people in that snowy place up there!" Luigi reluctantly followed him.

They came to the narrow bridge and Mario helped Luigi cross it. (The latter was afraid of heights.)

Next, they came to some ledges, somehow perfectly carved into the countryside.

"Mario!"

Mario looked around to see who had called him, but found no one.

"MARIO!"

He hadn't looked down. He took out Stuffwell again.

"Now, these ledges can be quite tricky...you do know how to jump, yes?" Stuffwell began.

"Of course we know how to jump, stupid suitcase!" Luigi said, having gotten over the time hole disappearing and the narrow path.

"Ah...but do you know how to jump in TANDEM?"

"Yes, Stuffwell...we've had adventures together before, you know!" Mario replied.

"Okay, then...if you say so..."

Mario and Luigi then expertly jumped up three ledges. They were now considerably higher up than they were before. They were about to continue when Mario saw two Mushrooms lying on another ledge to the side. He scooped them into Stuffwell and continued.

They jumped up onto yet another ledge and Luigi saw out of the corner of his eye four coins on the ground as well as a One-Up Mushroom. One-Up Mushrooms were much more tasty than regular Mushrooms, and they were said to bring back the dead. So, of course, they grabbed these, too.

Now, the brothers came to a set of ledges leading down to the original height they were at, but also, a ledge that stayed at the same height. This higher ledge had three gaps in it.

"Let's go down the stairs." Luigi said.

But Mario looked ahead and saw that if they went down the stairs, they would come to a dead end. He told this to Luigi, and they realized that they would have to go along the top...with high risk of falling off the plateau! Luigi looked nauseous.

Stuffwell spoke up again, "Ah...now you have to jump across these gaps at the SAME TIME!"

"Stuffwell...we know!" Mario said.

"Okay, okay...you guys are mean..."

Mario and Luigi deftly jumped across the gaps, a feat not many other people could do...well, they WERE the Mario Brothers!

Then, they came to another stranger place. It had five floating blocks, each either red or green. The red ones had an M on them, and the green ones had an L on them. There were three L blocks and two M blocks. It also looked like a dead end, because there were stone walls on the right and upper sides. Even stranger, there was a sign ahead that said 'Hollijolli Village' with an arrow pointing up.

"Ah, this is something that you may not know!" Stuffwell said again. "Only Mario can receive items from the red blocks, and Luigi can receive items from the green ones. Now...BACK TO ADVENTURE!" With that, he went back into Mario's arm.

"Wow...he is so annoying!" Mario said to his brother.

"Yeah...it's like he thinks we don't know anything..." Luigi replied. "Well, let's hit those blocks!"

"Why would they even make these?" Mario said. "I mean, blocks that only WE can hit? Kinda weird."

Each block held one coin. Once Mario hit the last block, part of the stone wall ahead of them slid down, revealing a staircase.

"Yes!" the brothers said.

"Now we can continue to this place...Hollijolli Village." Mario said.

They went up the staircase and into another clearing area. Just to their left was a bridge leading onto one of the stalks of the huge Mushroom. This plateau was over.

Suddenly, they saw something white shoot across the shy, headed for the village.

It began to rain.

Hollijolli Village. A snowy, Christmas paradise. All of the houses and roads had a nice blanket of snow on them, and everything was lined with twinkling lights and pine trees. Every house had a streetlight next to it. The roads were adorned in multi-colored stars.

The houses looked like snowy Mushrooms, and inside they always had a pile of presents or two, as well as ornate red rugs. Their floors were also patterned with stars and every family had at least a few trees inside.

Way up in the village, a child was bundling up to go outside with his siblings. He stepped outside, all ready to begin a violent snowball fight... and it began to rain.

"Awww!" the child said. He and all of the children had wanted to spend a nice day in the snow. Suddenly, white saucers appeared in the sky out of nowhere and began blasting pink shots everywhere.

"Ahhhhhhh!" all of the children shouted.

The roads were being blasted away by the invaders as they tried to hit their targets. They did succeed in their goal for most of them.

The adults, hearing the commotion, came outside to look. They saw the incoming invaders, and rushed their children inside.

It was the worst thing they could have done.

Now, the aliens were firing upon the houses! Rubble flew everywhere as Toads left and right got blasted off their feet. Some of the saucers landed and little Mushrooms came out with portable versions of their ships' guns (blue, with yellow blaster rings around the barrel) and began blasting civilians left in the street. One Toad got blown off of the plateau onto the grassy area below. The ground forces then infiltrated the mayor's home, and locked him inside his own dwelling with a small explosive device.

It was chaos.

Out of nowhere, a Toad flew down right on Mario's head.

"OWWW!" Mario shouted.

"The...village..." the Toad whispered. "Dank purple...mushrooms..."

Mario and Luigi stopped short. These were the creatures in their dreams, and similar to the creature from the time machine. Was this a clue that they were in the right time?

But, he didn't get to say any more, for some saucers spotted the brothers and quickly flew down. The brothers ran away, up onto the Mushroom. Luigi looked back to see the saucers blast the Toad into dust...and then collect the remains...

The brothers ran up a creaky wooden bridge to one of the stalks of the Mushroom. It was a huge red thing, with yellow spots scattered all over it. They ran up another bridge to the next stalk, and saw a purple Mushroom thing, except it was moving! These 'ground forces' of sorts didn't look as big nor as fierce as the pilots, but they were still a threat. They had razor-sharp teeth and were also purple with white spots.

Stuffwell once again popped into their lives. "There is no choice, my fair masters. We must battle these creatures!"

"Stuffwell!" Mario shouted. "These creatures are what took Princess Peach! We are in the right time! We made it!"

"Yes, yes, that's all dandy...I knew we were in the right time from the moment I came through! But now-"

"WHAT?!" Luigi exclaimed. "What do you mean? Why didn't you tell us?!"

"You never asked." was his brief reply.

Luigi was once again fuming at the little storage item.

While they were talking, another little Mushroom creature joined the first.

"Ah! Our first battle together!" Stuffwell exclaimed. "Mario...jump on him to begin the battle!"

He did, and heard both little aliens squeal in pain.

"GOOD JOB!" Stuffwell said excitedly. He then went off to the side to watch the battle unfold.

Mario got another shot in at the alien as Stuffwell muttered "Hopefully this Luigi is as good a fighter as his brother!"

Luigi was angry, and determined. So he got a jump attack in at the second creature.

"AH!" Stuffwell said. "These are Shrooblets! A growing creature of the Shroob race! They are a distant people, living in a far part of the galaxy."

The brothers looked at each other. So these were the perpetrators.

Stuffwell continued, "Observe the stance of the enemy. When it lifts its left foot...IT'S AIMING FOR LUIGI!" At this point, the beast came forward and lifted its left foot. Then it spun toward Luigi, who deftly jumped over it. "Every beast has its own attack pattern. Do your best to observe closely the movements and tendencies of your enemies! Now...BACK TO ADVENTURE!" And he was silent.

Now, one came to Mario, and Mario jumped on its head, killing it. Then, Mario jumped on the last one and killed it, also! The battle was won.

Meanwhile, more troops had come to them.

The brothers battled another group of two, and the only injury to the brothers was when Luigi anticipated the Shrooblet was attacking him, and jumped. But it was attacking Mario, so Mario was hurt by the creature. It's fangs ripped open his shirt sleeve as he spun, giving Mario a very large cut. Blood spilled over the Mushroom. It wasn't deep, it was just a long cut.

There came one last group of two, which the brothers defeated with ease.

They continued up another bridge to the next stalk, which had yet another team of Shrooblets. These Shrooblets dropped a Mushroom when they were killed, so of course, Mario scooped it up.

The brothers crossed over three more stalks without incident until they heard a hostile alien language being spoken from above. Suddenly, a Shrooblet landed on Luigi's head!

Stuffwell, of course, had his say on the matter, "Are you operational, Luigi?" he asked as Mario rolled his eyes. "Do you need service? It appears you've taken damage!"

"No kidding!" Mario muttered.

"What fortulent timing!" Stuffwell continued.

Luigi looked angry again.

"Allow me to explain how to use items!"

"WE KNOW!" the brothers said in unison. (Although Luigi sounded more like "Guruaugh!")

Mario pried Mushroom essence out of the stalk for enough to make two Mushrooms. He gave Luigi one of them, and he instantly recovered, the bump on his head fading.

"That should put pepper on his pizza!" Stuffwell said. Luigi almost pushed Stuffwell off the Mushroom, but Mario stopped him.

Mario also fed one to himself. The cut he just got, as well as the dried cut he got from the green thing back at the castle, instantly healed.

"Well then...BACK TO ADVENTURE!" I'll give you three guesses as to who said that.

The brothers made a relatively long climb to the next stalk, and met a squad of Shrooblets. They dealt with them easily, and then battled yet another team of two beasts on the stalk. From the second battle, they gained a Mushroom.

They climbed up the last bridge, and were now at the tip of the Mushroom. Waiting for them were three teams of Shrooblets. They were now quite experienced in beating these creatures, so they passed through them with ease like the heroes they were. They got another Mushroom from the third team.

They passed over a bridge into the snowy Hollijolli Village. As they entered, the invasion was just ending. A saucer shot at a runaway Toad, missed, and then killed him with the next shot. Another saucer did the same with another Toad. They both collected the remains and left.

"I guess we got all of their ground troops." Mario said.

Mario and Luigi looked around at the wreckage; the blasted streets and the crumpled houses. It was devastating. Lights on the trees and on the streetlights were flickering on and off.

They picked through the wreckage, looking for any survivors.

All they found was a wrecked village, a clearing to the north that might have been a picnic spot, and another place to the south that had a set of stairs in the middle, then a big, blasted gap, then a large ledge that was too high up to get on. They assumed there would have been a way to get on, before the invasion. There were four houses standing. Among the wreckage were two crumbled houses very close to each other. The first house was right at the entrance to the town. There was another house near the empty park, and yet another near the other park. In one of the houses, they found three Mushrooms and a coin. In another, they found twenty coins, and in the third, they found sixty coins. The only house they hadn't explored yet was one with a crooked sign on the outside saying 'Hollijolli Mayor's Home'. This house was near the back of the village. It was smoking at the seams, and looked like it would fall down at any time. They also noticed that this house was much bigger than the rest of them.

The brothers carefully stepped inside.

"Mrrrrrrf...Mmmph..."

The brothers jumped when they heard a noise from the back of the house. They walked up to the chimney and saw a pair of legs about halfway up it.

The pair of legs said, "Is...anybody there? Hello?"

The brothers looked at each other.

The legs continued, "What happened to those awful Shroob things? Are they gone?"

"Who are you?" Mario asked.

"Me?" the legs replied. "I'm the mayor of this village. Nice to not see you! Those Shroob things locked me inside my own house with an explosive...and then it almost blew me through the roof! Good thing I didn't leave my fire on, or I would be dead now. The question is...how do I get out?"

The brothers walked right underneath him, then Mario jumped. The mayor flew through the chimney and landed outside in the road. Mario and Luigi quickly went outside to see him.

"Ho ho! Safe at last!" he said. He was an old Toad, with a bushy white mustache and beard, and a nice red suit.

The mayor just stared at the destruction with sad and tired eyes. He sighed.

"Am I the last?" he asked.

"What do you mean?" Luigi replied.

"Am I the only survivor?"

"Yes." Mario said. "We already went through the wreckage...and..."

"Well...there is one thing I can do. I have to go warn the other places of the world. I can travel and tell the people of the coming danger...by the way...what is your purpose here? You look like adventurers!"

The brothers looked at each other, then, choosing his words carefully, Luigi said, "We are here to battle these creatures just like you. But, we are fighting to save the future from chaos."

"Hmmm...then we have something in common!" he said. "I do realize that you do not wish to withhold such information of your mission to me...but I trust that there is good reason for it."

" There is. It's getting late." Mario said. "How about we camp in your house for the night, then you can leave in the morning!"

"Sounds alright to me!" the mayor Toad replied.

They went inside and prepared some comfortable space.

As they settled down to sleep, Mario went to Luigi for a private talk.

"Luigi...I don't think we're getting out of here."

"I've already thought of that, brother. But...like you said, we need to keep trying...so let's just search the city once more in the morning."

"Alright...good night."

"Good night."

"Good night!" the mayor said.

It was silent. The Shroobs were waiting for the perfect time. Little did the brothers know, they hadn't all left. They had a job: disable all threats.

There were no birds in the morning. They were all somewhere else. Anywhere else. The brothers awoke to find the mayor gone. Luigi went outside while Mario looked for signs of where he might have went. Luigi found a note written in the snow. It said, 'gone to Toad Town for help...the mayor.'

"Bro, come here!" Luigi yelled.

Mario came running, and Luigi continued, "Look! A note from the mayor! He went to Toad Town!"

"What...do you think we should follow him?"

"Yeah! It's the best chance we've got of finding some sort of help!"

But, they never even got to set off on their journey. For out of the shadows stepped three Shroobs, fully grown, and three saucers. At this point, also, Mario saw a charred, blackened part of the street that wasn't there last night. He gulped. The mayor was not on his way to Toad Town.

"What should we do with them?"

"Maybe we could absorb them?"

"Let's kill them!"

"Yes, let's!"

"Hurrah!"

Suddenly, out of the air, the three saucers produced a large, black spiky thing with the number three on it.

"What's that?" Luigi asked.

"No idea, but right now... I don't really care!"

And the brothers began to battle the three Shroobs.

Mario jumped on one of them. Right when he did, the number on the thing changed to two. Then, the Shroobs pulled out guns and began shooting up the place.

While dodging the guns, the brothers got a few more jumps in, while the number changed to one.

Mario jumped on the first Shroob, and killed it.

The number changed to zero.

The remaining Shroobs fled, and the saucers quickly dropped the thing and sped away with lightning speed.

The brothers looked up, and wished they hadn't.

"I don't think this is good-" Luigi began.

BOOM!

And everything went black.

The Shroobs were happy. Their job was complete.

Next time on: Mario and Luigi: Partners in Time:

Is it all over? Did the aliens win before it even began? Find out in: Mario and Luigi: Partners in Time Chapter Three: "Assume Defensive Positions!"

Author's Note:

This chapter...sadly...wasn't as long as the first. I had to cram a lot of stuff into this chapter, so don't blame me if it's not as descriptive. These next few chapters are very different from the game, so be warned. A lot of the stuff I wanted in this chapter is in the next chapter, so forgive me if it seems a little weird in the next chapter...I just needed to make Chapter 3 longer, cause it's already going to be shorter. Well, I didn't spend a lot of time on this one because I didn't have the game until recently, so I wanted to put up a chapter quickly. Only eighteen more to go!

Please review!