Chapter 10

Not too long after the adventure that saw the Mario brothers join Peach and a lowly toad assistant in their only trip to Subcon, the Mushroom Kingdom was given word of a curious predicament going on in the far east Kingdom of Sarasaland. Daisy, the kingdom's princess, had vanished and all attempts at communication with other local leaders were met with strange, incomprehensible responses. After a last round of gibberish from abroad, Princess Peach responded by sending Mario and Luigi in a crude biplane that stalled in midair so frequently that it would have made more sense calling it a glider.

After a rough landing in the dreadfully hot Pyrapt Kingdom, Sarasaland, the Mario brothers launched into a rather boring investigation of the small town of Marhaba that never made it into the public record of the situation. The strange gibberish seen in written form was spoken by everyone the brothers encountered except for a man named Sharif that quickly introduced himself and led the two to his home. Come to find out, the individual was a slacker trying to avoid work during the important festival when everything changed. Upon waking up, Sharif noticed that nearly everyone around him was in a strange haze, speaking in a nonsensical language, and inexplicably getting violent. After his own investigation, he found out that he was one in a small network of those not under the influence of what happened the fateful day when a spaceship supposedly came down from the sky and bathed the entirety of Sarasaland in colorful beams of light.

Luigi brought up Princess Daisy and Sharif rolled his eyes. He didn't care much for the princess and was not happy with the reality of such an "undignified girl" eventually leading the country. He had heard that Daisy was imprisoned on the aforementioned mystery ship but didn't know much else due to the royal family ruling out of Chai Kingdom, and it being a lengthy trip east. Mario, deciding that he had heard enough, tried to get Luigi to run off with him into the brutal desert heat to start his heroes crusade. After a small argument in which Luigi made clear his desire to get more information before acting, Mario relented, returned to the plane, and flew east by himself.

As Mario was off saving the proverbial day, Luigi stuck close to Sharif and the two made their own voyage to Birabuto, the northernmost town in Pyrapt Kingdom and home to the great majority of individuals unaffected by the turn of events in the rest of Sarasaland. Armed with somewhat exaggerated stories of his past exploits, Luigi forged new friendships with the locals, including a chef for Chai Castle that avoided being one of the brainless masses due to the warp pipe back home being out of service. Luigi was bothered more by the broken warp than anything else and had to resist the urge to grab his tool bag and desperately try to fix things. When asked about the state of the royal family, the chef, much like Sharif before him, had absolutely nothing good to say about the princess and felt that it would for the best for her to disappear into the depths of space with her kidnapper.

"This is not the first time that I have heard such a strong opinion against Princess Daisy," said Luigi after the chef's statement.

"And it won't be the last. Look, the king has four sons and all of them are more than qualified to reign as king when tragedy decides that it wants to strike," responded the chef in an accent that differed from the one everyone shared in Pyrapt Kingdom.

"I assume they are younger than Daisy," said Luigi.

"They are much older, but they have all fallen out of favor with the king despite the fact that Daisy spends her every waking hour trying to sabotage her rise to the throne!"

"What, exactly, does she do?" asked Luigi.

"She has no respect for herself, or her title as princess," responded the chef.

"Which means?"

"She is disgusting!"

Not convinced in the slightest of Daisy's offences, Luigi continued tossing questions at anyone wiling to give him answers. After a day and a half, his investigation was halted entirely by the reversal of fortune of the zombified masses of Sarasaland. One particular individual sprinted to Luigi and gave him a massive hug. His name was Ansh, and his lack of free will had taken him from Birabuto to Marhaba. There, Ansh attacked Mario and, right as the hero was going to stomp him out, Luigi got involved. Ansh and the many who shared his affliction all detailed how terrifying it was to be in full control of your senses yet be controlled like a puppet by an unknown entity.

Luigi and Sharif returned to Marhaba and the once eerie streets were bustling with activity. During a fruitful conversation in a bar's outdoor patio, a goomba sporting regal-looking clothing and an ornate messenger bag cut the chat short.

"You are Luigi, yes?" asked the goomba.

"Indeed," replied Luigi.

"I have an official message from the King of Sarasaland. Open it quickly, as it is very time sensitive"

Luigi did as he was instructed and was confused by the whole thing. According to the message, his brother had long left Sarasaland to tend to his rarely mentioned castle in the Mushroom Kingdom and that the King of Sarasaland wanted Luigi to join the guard for a week as a deterrent to any other malicious entities. Luigi was about a minute away from not believing any of it when a large covered wagon hauled by animals that resembled oxen stopped in front of the bar. The woman at the reigns tipped her hat and smiled, and Luigi started the day long trip to Chai Kingdom, Sarasaland. Thankfully, the wagon's interior was the epitome of comfort.

After a hilarious bout of miscommunication that nearly resulted in Luigi being cast out of Sarasaland entirely, the still confused man of the moment entered Chai Castle and was directed to immediately speak with the king. As the place was a horrible mess from a design standpoint, Luigi had to be guided to the door of the throne room, where he faced a final inspection before he was let in to see the short, jovial man who ran the kingdom.

"Greetings, dearest Luigi. I trust that the voyage here was pleasant?" asked the king.

"Incredibly so, your majesty," replied Luigi, with a short bow. "For what reason am I needed?"

"While the threat from above might be no more, the fact remains that the vast majority of the Chai Royal Guard was affected in one way or another. Those who were not hypnotized were fighting against those that were and what you must understand, Luigi, was that the afflicted soldiers were much more dangerous than the common folk who were muttering and shambling about. Well, this is what I was told, as I too was hypnotized."

"I assume you were taken to a safe place within the castle during your hypnosis," said Luigi.

The king shook his head. "Actually, I wandered off into the dungeon where I somehow managed to free the career criminals and traitors from their cells. Moments later, the lot of them returned and kept me from being a danger to myself until your brother broke the spell."

"What happened to the criminals?"

"Pardoned with great speed. The lot of them make up the guards you passed by on the way to the throne room," said the king, proud of his actions.

"The Chai Royal Guard is in that bad a state?" asked Luigi.

"Yes. Most are in no condition to stand, much less stand guard," stated the king.

"Which brings me here to fill the gaps," said Luigi.

"Yes. Your brother sang your praises, and I am not one to argue with the savior of our land. With that recommendation, I entrust you with one of the most important duties in the kingdom: the protection of my daughter."

"What am I to do and where must I do it?" asked Luigi.

"My daughter's quarters are right up those stairs there. Start with Introducing yourself to her and realize that while she wasn't muttering incoherently and shambling about, she had her own interstellar demons to fight. I will tell you the specifics of your duties upon your return."

After some overly formal chatter, Luigi politely excused himself and made his way to the spiral staircase located behind the throne of the noticeably absent Queen of Sarasaland. A short climb later, Luigi found himself in front of an incredibly thick, wooden door. He balled his hand into a fist in order to knock but stopped as soon as the realization set just how much damage he was going to do to his hand in the process of introducing himself.

"I know you're out there," said a raspy voice.

"Good. That saves me from trying to craft a way to knock on your door without shattering my wrist," said Luigi.

"That's what the drawstring is for, genius," replied the voice, as Luigi's eyes focused in on the object dangling in front of his face.

Luigi pulled the drawstring and there was an awful racket posing as a doorbell.

"Hello, I am Luigi."

"Hi, I'm Daisy."

There was an awkward pause between the two.

"I am not tasked with doing anything other than introducing myself at the moment," said Luigi.

"You already have points over your brother, who didn't even do that."

"That sounds like something Mario would do."

There was no response, which led to another pause.

"And with that, I take my leave."

Luigi heard frantic unfastening of the door's numerous security measures and decided to remain in place. A moment later, the door opened, and Daisy revealed herself. The Princess of Sarasaland was a short woman who was thin to the point of looking emaciated. Her brown hair was haphazardly self-cut not out of style or necessity, but of boredom. Her skin was oily and full of bruises and numerous blotches that weren't hidden at all by the ragged, orange and yellow gym wear that she was sporting. Her youthful, brattish appearance hid the fact that she had left her teen years a decade prior.

"Wait," she said.

"Nice to actually see you," said Luigi.

"Come back right after you're done with my dad. That's a demand."

"The way things are going, that was going to happen regardless of if you demanded it or not," said Luigi with a smile.

Daisy rolled her eyes. "No, there's going to be a celebratory whatever and then they'll show you to your room. Once there, you'll fall asleep because you were eating like a pig."

"You can predict the future? Do tell me when I am due for my big lottery win."

"Tomorrow, but you'll be too busy antagonizing me here to know that your numbers finally played."

Luigi, knowing damn well that Daisy could not predict the future, thought deeply about the aforementioned numbers that he indeed did play in Coinship, the Mushroom Kingdom's Lottery. His train of thought was broken by Daisy laughing at him.

"Are you that gullible or are you Mushroom Kingdom types that enslaved by the lottery?" asked Daisy.

Luigi laughed at himself. "Both."

Luigi found the denizens of Chai Castle to be a very hospitable gathering of humans born in the Mushroom World. After what seemed like hours of interminable formality at the celebratory feast that Daisy said would happen, Luigi was showed his room, which was around the corner from the princess' chambers. In order to prove Daisy's prediction wrong, Luigi returned to Daisy's door and decided to give it a knock. The process hurt about as much as Luigi thought it would.

"And here I thought you had fallen out of a window," said Daisy from behind the door.

"I had to scale a mountain of food to get here," responded Luigi.

The door opened. Luigi was not exactly surprised that Daisy had not changed clothing since the last time that they spoke.

"So, you're officially my sworn protector?" asked Daisy with a hint of sarcasm.

"For the week, yes," said Luigi

"Alright, I'm going to set some ground rules. You see this threshold here?" asked Daisy as she motioned down at the doorway. "You are not to cross this unless I specifically give you permission. No, I'm not going to magically fall for you in the next few days and let you in. Get it?"

"Noted. As for rule number two?" asked Luigi.

"That's it," stated Daisy.

"Well, you specifically said 'ground rules' so I was waiting for this lengthy list of dos and don'ts."

"Don't come in here ever. That is all you need to know, Luigi."

"Moving on, you know who had their own pile of food waiting for them on the table?"

"They're still doing that?" asked an annoyed Daisy.

"Sometimes you just have to fall back and accept free food," stated Luigi.

Daisy rolled her eyes. "Free food is overrated when it is all you get,"

"I assume that food is going to make its way to this door eventually."

"Nope."

"Then what do you eat?"

"Scraps."

"Out of the trash?"

"Dinner on my own terms."

"What did you eat when you were on the spacecraft?"

Daisy's interest in the topic visibly increased. "Pastes, powders and jellies. Most of it was tasty."

"You took the food of a kidnapping alien, but constantly refuse that of your own father?" asked Luigi.

"When else was I going to be offered food by a spaceman? Also, Tatanga was very nice."

"Tatanga?"

"That's his name."

"Not sure how one responsible for turning a kingdom into a mindless herd can be seen as nice."

"Tatanga was sent to this planet to obtain a bride, as his kind had been doing for hundreds of years. Anyway, he hypnotized everyone, swooped into the castle, plucked me out of my room, took me to his ship, and was dismayed to see that he was one of the few of his kind whose skin boiled upon contact with that of a human being. That being a thing, he couldn't just up and leave Sarasaland without at least a sign of struggle, so we sat around and talked about life until your brother arrived."

"I assume Tatanga retreated into space after the battle," said Luigi.

"Impossible after what your brother did to his ship," replied Daisy.

"So, he is still here?"

"Still on this planet for the time being. He was never trying to outright hurt anyone, so I wouldn't worry about him anymore."

"Then I will not."

"Good."

"How did Mario treat you?" asked Luigi.

Daisy laughed and shook her head. Luigi wasn't sure how to read that.

"Don't ever let him near an airplane for the rest of his life."

The conversations at Daisy's door continued on for the entirety of the week that Luigi was tasked with subbing in as a royal guard. Upon the rehabilitation of Hien, who had been protecting Daisy for over fifteen years, Luigi was relieved of his duties. As Sarasaland used any excuse to celebrate, another extravagant dinner was thrown, and Daisy surprised everyone by actually showing up. She might have been sporting a not-so regal oversized shirt that went down to her knees, but she was there and eating. A great time was had by all, and the royals made it very clear that Luigi was welcome in Sarasaland any time he wanted to visit. Luigi returned every three months for a number of years until the king died and the princess was thrust upon the throne as queen.

Caught up in the festive chaos since the deciding vote of the referendum, Luigi had been the guest of honor at five different parties in as many different venues on the same block. If he had not put his food down about drinking, he would have no doubt died of liver failure during the second party, which was attended by seemingly every hammer brother in Muraiya. During a subdued gathering hosted by a small number of toads, Luigi was confronted by a representative of Mayor Lin and escorted outside to a covered wagon that had much in common with a modern recreational vehicle. Seated inside of the wagon was Mayor Lin, who showed no negative signs of being awake for an unreasonably long time. She smiled upon seeing Luigi.

"We finally meet, Luigi. I am Lin, new Mayor of Muraiya as selected by the Kingdom of Sarasaland. Have a seat," said Lin, motioning to the plush seating that took up most of the space in the wagon.

"Greetings. I heard that you already disposed of Persimmon," said Luigi, sitting down across from Lin.

Lin smiled. "The former mayor has been relocated. Where she resides is unimportant. Listen, there is a lot that must be said in a very small amount of time, so excuse me if I am curt."

"I understand."

"Luigi, the reality of your time in Muraiya is no secret. It is widely known that you were kidnapped and forced into servitude in the nicest way imaginable. That said, what happened to you has put you in a place where your actions carry more worth than in the Mushroom Kingdom. From repairing warp pipes to being a vital part in getting us here. Luigi, you have no more obligation to Muraiya and are free to return home. However, the people of this fine city, the Kingdom of Sarasaland, and Queen Daisy herself would love for you to remain to take part in projects of great importance."

"Daisy knows I have been here?" asked Luigi, interest rising upon mention of his friend.

"Indeed, and she is currently in a caravan set to make its arrival in less than a week."

Luigi realized that invoking Daisy was a rather cheap move on the part of the new mayor, but the fact remained that it had been years since he had spoken to his friend. While Luigi did listen to the rest of Mayor Lin's pitch, he was set on staying upon the slightest mental whiff of the glory days.

"I would be lying entirely if I told you that I had anything pressing to do back in the Mushroom Kingdom. I will stay here for a while longer."

Mayor Lin smiled. "Fantastic decision."

Luigi was incredibly busy in the days following the referendum. He was given an assortment of roles by Mayor Lin that ranged from keeping an eye on construction as Lesser Minister of Safety to briefing the public on current events as Information Minister. During his fleeting free time, Luigi played Final Smash with Gaspar, who kept his job as a border guard. The open-door policy installed by Sarasaland had made work a rather brainless experience for the shy guy, but he was fine with it as long as he got paid. What he did not cast a blind eye to was the amount of new faces surveying the wall.

Three days before the arrival of Daisy's caravan, Luigi was given what he thought was an impossible task of selling the people of Muraiya on the demolition of the wall that had protected them for years. At the press conference, the news was met with a tepid reaction only due to Luigi's immense celebrity. Elsewhere, the citizens of Muraiya were downright nuclear at the new administration even thinking of such a ridiculous activity.

The municipal complex was overrun with citizens after the announcement was made about the wall's impending collapse. For the entire day, Luigi and the other officials had to run the nightmarish gauntlet of concerned individuals talking at length about the horrors of Bowser, the unmitigated rage of Mario and various issues they had with the outside world as a whole. The angry citizens might have been listened to, but their stories did nothing to alter the plans of the new establishment. With a day left before the arrival of the queen, the protective wall of Muraiya was decommissioned and set for outright demolition in the near future.

"I was told that you wanted to see me," said Mayor Lin to Luigi.

"Tomorrow is the big day, correct?" asked Luigi, not exactly hiding what he was talking about.

"The queen is still on schedule," responded Mayor Lin.

"I have not received any information on my role in the event."

"That is because you will spectate."

"I see," said Luigi with a small nod.

Mayor Lin sighed. "There is much for the queen to do when she arrives. All of it culminating with a great speech to the people. I assume you are wondering when you will get to talk to you friend?"

"Possibly," said Luigi.

"There will be an appointed time after business has been concluded," said Lin.

"And then?"

"She returns to Chai Kingdom."

Luigi did not respond. Lin caught on to his disappointment.

"Speak up. Do you have a problem with the itinerary?" asked a stern Mayor Lin.

"No," said Luigi.

"Good."

The new officials of Muraiya were granted a reprieve from dealing with angry citizens only to end up interminably stressed by the coming of Queen Daisy's caravan. Absolutely nothing was ready for the planned festivities, which caused the already icy mayor to become downright hostile to everyone involved. On more than one occasion, Lin glanced into Luigi's office for support only to be hit by the realization that she had intentionally left him out of the entire process in order to limit his time even thinking about the queen. Mayor Lin knew that keeping the two friends apart for as long as possible was going to lead to blowback, but she felt it was necessary to keep Daisy on task upon reaching Muraiya. The organizational quagmire that the city found itself in ended only after the desperate bribing of two magikoopas who willed everything needed into existence with a flick of their wands. A scant few hours later saw the arrival of the queen's caravan, and everything that could possibly go wrong went a whole lot worse.

The caravan entered Muraiya from its eastern entrance, which had gone nigh-forgotten by the new leaders. So very ignored was the entire region that it became home of a minor bandit group that attacked the wagons on sight. After dispatching of the criminals, members of the caravan went into a general store to get bandages and were fleeced to the tune of two thousand coins.

When the caravan reached west Muraiya, Mayor Lin tried desperately to reverse the mortifying course that the day had taken with the power of pomp and circumstance. The heavily decorated streets were filled with all manners of entertainment unique to Sarasaland and its constituent kingdoms. The general public, still worried about the ramifications of the newly deactivated wall, crowded the sidewalks to the point that many were viewing from precarious positions in the middle of the street. As the caravan drove closer, guards came along and those in the road were stuffed back on the curb. Not ten seconds later, the first fist was thrown and the caravan's route quickly resembled a war zone. The guards, mostly hammer brothers and shy guys, tried desperately to stop the fighting, but had to join the fracas themselves when a sumo brother bit into a magic mushroom and terrorized everyone around him at twice the size. After many brutal hammer swings and sickening impalements via spears, the giant sumo brother fell dead in a bloody heap not thirty feet away from the first wagon of the caravan.

"Mayor Lin!"

Embarrassed and hiding from the world, the new mayor of Muraiya did not even look up at the locked door of her secondary office in the municipal complex.

"There is very important business that needs to be addressed. Please open the door!"

Ignoring the mousy voice of her assistant, the mayor pulled out a bottle of rice wine that she had been hiding in her desk. She had every intention of taking a small swig but ended up guzzling most of the contents in a quick attempt at blacking out and forgetting everything that happened that day. Naturally, it did not even come close to working.

"Mayor Lin, I was trying to ease you into this, but it seems as if my words are no longer worthy of a response. The queen arrived quite a long time ago and grows very impatient. Open the door if you value your position, or so she says."

Only after a long period of pondering the ramifications of abandoning her post did Mayor Lin open the door and was immediately stared down by Queen Daisy.

"My most humble apologies for the continuous failures of my administration. I assure you that the week will not end without the doling out of severe punishment," said Lin as she bowed deeply.

"What were you drinking?" asked Queen Daisy, peering into the office and spotting the bottle of wine on the table.

"Apple cider," lied Lin.

Daisy smiled. "I'm sure the folk down at Veiled Capricorn Winery don't share your dedication to recycling, but what they don't know won't hurt them."

Lin nodded nervously.

"Tell me, Lin, what kind of rickety ship are you sailing here?"

"As addressed in my opening, there have been numerous flaws that will be dealt with in the coming days."

"Members of the caravan were nearly killed, Lin. That is way more than a little flaw. That's a tremendous oversight."

Lin had no answer.

"That said, I don't agree with you painting the other members of your administration as inept. It has been all business since I got in with the only outlier being the lack of a participating mayor," said Daisy, who held eye contact with Lin to an uncomfortable degree.

"What is in need of my signature?" asked Lin.

"Nothing that can't wait a few minutes. I do have a question of my own."

"Yes?"

"Where is Luigi?"

This was the only element of Lin's smoldering plans that stayed on track.

"Luigi is on assignment," said Lin, smiling.

"And what kind of assignment is he on?" asked an obviously distrusting Daisy.

"He is outside of Muraiya at the moment," said Lin.

"Is he?"

"Affirmative."

"That's not what I heard."

Mayor Lin wanted to curse loudly but kept a straight face.

"He was told to stay far away from me until my last day here," said Daisy.

"Who told you that?" asked an increasingly defiant Lin.

"Why?" asked Daisy. "Do you plan on handing out some of that severe punishment of yours on whoever told me?"

"I simply want to tell you if the information that you obtained came from a trustworthy source," said Lin, trying to restrain her heavy breathing.

"How many times are you going to lie to me within a ten-minute span? Tell me where to find Luigi. Tell me now!"

"He is in his dwelling," said Lin, stricken with nervousness.

"The truth shall set you free! Thank you, Mayor Lin. On the official records of our engagement, I just might forget that all of this even happened."

"Do you know where to go?" asked the defeated Lin.

"I knew that a half hour ago."

As much as it pained Mayor Lin to lie to her queen, her reason for resorting to such an action was solid. The very moment that Daisy and Luigi reunited, all official business involving the two was left in limbo. The pair spent extended periods of time inside of Daisy's wagon, and the hours spent out of it saw them inside of various establishments around the city. The press loved the "power couple," and released special editions of their publications every eight hours to keep up with the latest. The fact that the general public ate all of it up infuriated Mayor Lin, but there was no longer anything that she could do to alter the course of history. On the eve of Daisy's departure from Muraiya, she convinced Luigi to return to Sarasaland with her.

With the few parting words that he had saved for Gaspar, Luigi entered Daisy's wagon and made himself comfortable as he waited for the caravan to pull off. After tending to business with the different wagon conductors, the queen joined Luigi, and the two talked excitedly about vacation plans as the caravan departed Muraiya from the east and Bowser's Doomship descended into the city from the west.

Author's Note: We're in the end game now! See you soon with the finale!