Chapter IV: Triple Trouble

After Luigi and friends found the yellow yoshi egg in the Birabuto region of Sarasaland, they headed back to Daisy's castle. Unfortunately, they became lost in the desert on the way there.

"Are we going the right way?" Purpley panted. "I don't think I've seen that rock before."

"Of course we're going the right way," Luigi tried to assure her and looked at the map. "I'm pretty sure we are anyway. I think. Actually, I'm not sure at all."

Mario shielded his eyes with a hand and looked at the horizon.

"See anything, Mario?" Pinky groaned.

"I think I do," Mario answered. "Let's try over there."

The party walked in the direction that Mario pointed to. There seemed to be a town some distance away.

"I hope that is a town," said Luigi. "We could ask for directions and maybe get a bite to-"

Luigi's words were cut off by an explosion just ahead.

"Th-the town just went boom!" Waluigi wailed.

Wanting to see what happened, the party broke into a run. But the desert heat was beginning to take its toll and they slowed down to a jog, then to a walk. Finally, they had to completely stop and catch their breath.

"Luigi! Sir!"

Luigi heard a voice call to him and saw Abu running up to him. He looked like he was in a state of panic.

"I'm so glad to see you again! Something terrible has happened!" Abu shouted.

"What's going on?" Luigi gasped. "Did that town just blow up?"

"Yes indeed! A monster has appeared at my hometown and set a few buildings on fire! I believe it may have some connection to the egg you were looking for!"

"Shoot!" Mario exclaimed. "We'll take care of it right away!"

"I would appreciate it very much. Ah, but you fellows look exhausted. Here. Have some water before you head over there."

Abu gave the party two bottles of water. Mario and Luigi drank from them first, then they handed the bottles to Waluigi and Purpley. Pinky missed out on getting a drink. Her attention was caught by a nearby plant.

"Wait a minute. If this is what I think it is..." Pinky thought to herself as she carefully picked a leaf off the plant and tucked it away under her saddle.

"Okay," said Luigi. "Now that we're not dying of thirst, let's see if we can save that town."

Luigi and friends followed Abu to his hometown. When they arrived, they saw that the citizens were running for cover as they were pursued by a big, red, three-headed snake that was capable to spitting fireballs.

"Well, this is interesting," our hero said.

"Sure is," Mario agreed. "But I have a plan. Get your hammer out and follow me."

Alas, Luigi did not have his hammer with him. In his haste to get to Daisy's castle after taking a nap on the S.S. Garlic, he forgot to grab it.

"No can do. I don't have it on me."

"D'oh! I'll have to improvise then."

"You guys get to some place safe while Mario and I take care of business," Luigi commanded his friends and gave the egg to Purpley. "Take this with you."

Mario thought for a moment. "Okay. I've got it. Now listen..."

After Mario told Luigi his plan, the brothers put it into action. Mario began by pulling out his hammer and running right in front of the snake.

"Hey, ugly! Over here!" Mario taunted.

"Hey guysss," the snake's middle head spoke as it eyed Mario with interest. "Thisss one wantsss to fight usss."

"Ah, thisss could be fun, yesss?" said the right head, who saw Mario as well.

"Let'sss get him, guysss!" the left head hissed.

The snake lunged toward Mario and spit some fireballs at him. Mario kept his cool and used his hammer to deflect the fireballs. One of them managed to hit the snake.

"Yikesss!" the middle head shrieked. "Thisss one'sss tough!"

While Mario had the snake distracted, Luigi prepared to attack it from behind. Luigi raised his arms and got ready to use Hyper Burn; a devastating, fiery blast.

"Actually," Luigi had second thoughts. "I probably shouldn't do that. I might fry myself."

Instead, Luigi charged up another attack, the Green Missile, by getting into a strange squatting position. After a brief moment of this, he launched himself head-first at the beast and burned it on impact.

"Hey!" The right head turned around and saw Luigi charging up another Green Missile. "It'sss him!"

The left head turned around just in time to see the right head get a misfired Green Missile in the face and get knocked out.

"You fool! Watch what you're doi-"

Luigi leaped and smacked the left head with a mid-air karate chop, knocking it out too.

"You think your dirty little tricksss can ssstop usss?!" the middle head shouted in anger.

Mario smashed the remaining head with his hammer.

"Argh! Massster! Help usss!"

Before Mario or Luigi were able to strike again, the snake disappeared in a puff of white smoke.

"Crud! It disappeared!" Luigi said in frustration.

"So true. But I have the feeling we'll see him again," Mario pointed out.

Now that the monster was gone, the town's inhabitants and the rest of Luigi's party came out of hiding.

"Thank you for saving our fair town," Abu spoke. "If there is anything you need, please don't hesitate to ask."

"No thanks needed," Luigi said proudly. "I already got what I wanted."

"Besides, we were just doing what we do best," Mario boasted.

"That's right. Kicking tail!"

After getting directions and bidding farewell to Abu, Luigi and company made their way to Daisy's castle.

"Hmm..." Luigi murmured as he walked.

"What's up?" Waluigi asked.

"I have the feeling that I've seen that snake before. I'm not sure where though."

"You might be right," said Mario. "It acted like it knew you."

Purpley shuddered. "Do you think it's a friend of the thing that turned the herd into eggs?"

Luigi stopped for a moment to think. Something seemed fishy about this whole thing. "It must be!" he shouted suddenly. "Before it disappeared, it mentioned that it had a master!"

"Maybe," said Pinky. "But let's go, please. I'm getting hungry."

When everyone arrived at the castle, they went inside and looked around for their friends. They eventually found them in the royal library. Oshi and Yosheta were napping in bean bag chairs, Daisy was sorting through a few books and Wario happened to be reading one.

"Hey, Daisy. We're back," Luigi said triumphantly.

"Wow," Daisy smiled when she saw the egg in Luigi's hands. "Looks like you found it."

"Would it be okay if I borrowed this book, Daisy?" Wario asked as he closed the book he was reading.

"You? Want to read?" Mario laughed and took the book from his rival.

The book was called The World of Plit. The cover depicted three locations. One was Peach's Castle in the Mushroom Kingdom. Another was Delfino Square on Isle Delfino. The last was a jungle on Kong Isle. Mario opened it and saw that it was filled maps of various places around the globe.

"An atlas, huh?" said Mario.

"Sure," Wario replied. "After I got done fixing the Bloom Coach, I thought I'd take a look at it. It really knows what it's talking about."

Waluigi shook his head. "You actually fixed that thing? You're going soft on me, bro."

"Of course you can borrow it, Wario," said the princess. "Anything to help my Weegiepoo..."

Luigi couldn't help but blush. He and Daisy had been good friends for some time now, but he still gets embarrassed when she called him pet names like that.

"Grazie, Daisy," said Luigi. "I'm sure it'll come in handy. We've got to get going now."

"Good luck, hon."

Luigi woke up Oshi and Yosheta and grabbed the book from Mario, then everyone went outside and walked to the S.S. Garlic. At this time, the sun as well as the temperature was dropping, so they had to move quickly. When they got to the ship, Waluigi went into the kitchen to make some dinner. Luigi went into his cabin and tucked the egg into a corner, set the book down on a nearby table and slumped onto the bed.

"Knocky knocky!" Wario shouted.

Luigi got out of bed and opened the door.

"You didn't plan on going to bed without dinner first, did you?" the captain asked.

Luigi simply rubbed his eyes and followed Wario to the dining room where everyone was eating hot dogs.

"You know," Wario began to say as Luigi ate. "While I was looking at the book, I thought that maybe we should check out Kitchen Island next. It's not too far from here and I'm familiar with the place.

"Sounds fine to me," Luigi yawned.

After he ate his fill, Luigi returned to his cabin and fell asleep. The day had been rather tiring for Luigi, but the next week or so will be even more eventful...