Apparently I left out a scene because I had to rewrite this due to the computer dying and me losing work. Kudos to Mike in the reviews for reminding me about this and allowing me to rewrite it into this chapter again.
Mario and Luigi - A Superstar Story
Chapter 25: Peach Be Scheming
"Oh!" Lady Lima gasped as Mario and Luigi approached her on runway. "Masters Mario and Luigi! Queen Bean was most pleased by your efforts at the Hooniversity! By the way…There has been a slightly hiccup in our plans to welcome Princess Peach."
"I had a feeling something like this would happen." Mario sighed.
"You see, nasty Piranha Plants have dug their roots into this runway. Her airplane can't land!"
Luigi noticed some Piranha Plants on the runway, cried out, and tackled the second one out of the two. He kept trying to pull its stem out, but the Piranha Plant was stuck firmly into the ground. Mario turned his gaze to the Piranha Plants, then back to Lady Lima.
"How come this wasn't fixed earlier?" Mario asked.
"Hmm? What? You want to know why repairs haven't been made?" Lady Lima asked, receiving a nod in return. "Well, with the Cackletta incident, it didn't seem to be a priority…But, enough about that! You must do something about these disgusting Piranha Plants!"
Mario glanced at Luigi to find he was sipping a cup of something. He then returned his gaze to Lady Lima.
"…For the sake of the princess! You can't refuse, can you?"
"To be honest, I wouldn't even need to be convinced to help people. I do it naturally. It's the right thing to do."
"Well, then! Show me the Mario Bros work ethic I've heard so much about!" Lady Lima yelled, then backed off from the runway.
"That sounds so familiar…"
. . .
Lady Lima took out a remote, and pressed a button. A trapdoor opened up below the Bros' feet, and they fell in.
. . .
Mario landed down on the floor...on his face, just like Luigi. They seemed to be in the sewers.
"Hear my words!" Lady Lima called as she lowered herself on a rope within sight of the Bros. "If you two are indeed the true Mario Bros, you must prove it by repairing the castle's plumbing! If you are able to completely fix it, then you may meet Queen Bean! Now then, show me the work ethic of the superstar Mario Bros!"
. . .
"Yeah, I've definitely heard something like that before."
Mario jumped to get Luigi's attention, then they started to try and think up a plan to remove these Piranha Plants.
"How about we just fight them? That always works." Luigi suggested.
"Even if you beat these Piranha Plants in battle, the roots sprout new plants almost immediately! We've been looking forever for some other way to defeat them…"
"We may as well try fighting a couple, just to see what happens, then." Luigi charged at the first Piranha Plant. It noticed his presence, and spat a fireball at him, winding the plumber. Mario jumped, and smashed the red Piranha Plant with his hammer, but nearly got his face bitten off.
"So you wanna play with fire, huh?" Luigi asked, getting up and pointing at the Piranha Plant. It chomped cheerfully. "Well, let's bring some thunder into the party!"
Luigi snapped his fingers, and a powerful lightning bolt struck…the grass. Mario fell to the floor in shock. Sparks came flying from the grass, and some of them struck the plant, defeating it.
"Not what I had in mind…but it worked anyway." Luigi sheepishly grinned.
"Luigi! Look out!" Mario called.
Luigi jumped over a fireball in the nick of time.
"Bro, why don't you try using fire?" Luigi asked.
Mario threw a fireball at the Piranha Plant who attacked Luigi. The Piranha Plant ate the fireball, and looked healthier.
Luigi then snapped his fingers once more, hoping he would actually strike the Piranha Plant this time. Thunder boomed, and struck the Piranha Plant perfectly, destroying it in one blow.
As the Bros started to walk off to deal with the rest of the Piranha Plants, they suddenly heard something sprout, and repetitive chomping. They looked back, and saw BOTH Piranha Plants had come back. They decided on just scanning the area to find out how many Piranha Plants they had to deal with first, and started running to the west, passing a MASSIVE pink egg, and three more Piranha Plants. They also passed two giant water containers, and there was one where they entered the runway that they had already pass, so there were actually three.
"Hello old-timer, could you give us some advice on getting rid of these Piranha Plants?" Luigi asked a Bean wandering around the giant water dispenser on the west side of the runway.
"As a botanist, I must say I am quite interested in these Piranha Plants, loathsome as they may be. Water can be easily extracted from the petals of the Piranha Plant. Did you know that?" the Bean asked, pausing for a split second before continuing to speak. "It's true. The plants are said to hide below-ground so as not to be shocked by lightning when wet."
"Did you hear that, bro? We should make them really wet, then shock 'em!" Luigi said, looking around for his bro, who came waddling back to him, stuffed with water. He pointed at the Piranha Plant nearby, and signalled for Luigi to hammer him.
Luigi nodded, and smashed Mario on the head with his hammer, and a blast of water hit the Piranha Plant, causing it to swell up and turn blue. Luigi smashed the rest of the water out of Mario, then zapped the Piranha Plant. It sparked, then disappeared. There was a loud crack. Mario and Luigi didn't hear it, though.
They repeated this with the other Piranha Plant in this area, and there was another loud crack, which this time, Luigi heard…but barely.
"Bro, did you hear something?" Luigi asked.
"Nope. Why?"
"No reason."
They headed into the middle section of the runway, and Mario drank from the giant water dispenser there, and they dealt with the only Piranha Plant there the same way as the first two. There was another loud crack. Mario and Luigi looked in the direction of the possible source of the crack, and noticed the massive pink egg had some cracks in it, and two of five roots were still in the ground.
"I don't exactly want to see what's in there." Luigi said as he watched Mario pass the last two Piranha Plants and drink from the water dispenser in the east side of the runway. He waddled back to Luigi, and they repeated the same process with the first of the two Piranha Plants. There was an even louder crack. When they did the same thing with the last Piranha Plant…there was a massive crack.
"ROOOAR!"
Luigi froze…and turned blue. Mario knew where the sound came from, since they just passed it, and picked up Luigi. He walked over to the pink egg's location, and there was no longer a pink egg…and instead, there was a massive female red Piranha Plant, otherwise known as a Mom Piranha (or as I'd like to and probably will call it, Mama Piranha).
Mario set Luigi down, and started charging at Mama Piranha. Suddenly, two red Piranha Plants popped out of the ground, and both spat a fireball at Mario. He was blasted backwards, and struggled back to his feet. Luigi woke up from his fear, and the situation he was now in sunk in quite nicely, as he didn't freeze up again.
"These guys think they're such big hot-shots. Bah, I'd show them if fire didn't heal them." Mario grumbled, signalling Luigi for Burrow Bros. Luigi nodded, and was smashed into the ground. He quickly tunnelled to in front of Mama Piranha as Mario jumped there, and went under the plant. He popped out of the ground, ripping Mama Piranha away from her roots and into the air.
Mario swiftly hammered Luigi back in, then the green plumber popped out when Mama Piranha touched the ground again, and he was smashed back into the ground again, to do it once more before retreating. Both Piranha Plants looked vexed, and spat a fireball at the bro in front of them, then at the bro they weren't facing, then at the one they were facing, all of the fireballs being jumped over.
Mama Piranha, now free from her tangle with the roots moved over to the Bros, and swiped a vine back and forth, scraping Luigi both times. Mama Piranha backed off after two swipes. Somehow, she seemed a bit healthier after a short silence. Luigi snapped his fingers, and lightning struck one of the Piranha Plants, knocking it out instantly. The other one decided to avenge his friend, and shot Luigi with a fireball.
Mario jumped at Mama Piranha and smashed her large, sharp, white teeth with his hammer, hardly even scratching them, yet Mama Piranha looked like she felt the pain. The Piranha Plant spat a fireball at Mario, but it went off-course by a mile. It then spat one at Luigi, then finally managed to hit Mario. Mama Piranha looked a bit healthier again after a blue Piranha Plant showed up.
Luigi snapped his fingers, and a lightning bolt struck the red Piranha Plant, zapping it and causing it to turn into ashes. The blue Piranha Plant spat an electric ball at Mario, but the plumber ducked and it went right over his head. Mario charged up a fireball, and chucked it at the blue Piranha Plant. The fireball struck the plant perfectly, and it burned to ashes.
Mama Piranha reached inside her mouth with her vines, and picked up a massive energy ball, then taking it out of her mouth and chucking it at the Bros in a high arc. Luigi tried to stop it with lightning and thunder, but the energy ball was too powerful, and just absorbed the attack, and grew even bigger. Mario tried throwing a fireball at it, but it absorbed it just like Luigi's thunder.
It looked nearly twice the original size, and it was MASSIVE to begin with. As a last-ditch attempt, Mario leaped into the air and tried with all his might to kick it back at Mama Piranha, or at least absorb the blow so Luigi didn't get hurt…and a large explosion was created. Mario was smashed into the ground by the energy ball, now knocked out. Luigi was knocked over from the explosion, but was barely scratched.
"B-b-bro..."
Luigi wiped away his tears, then snapped his fingers. They were suddenly charged with some wild electricity, and Luigi ran at Mama Piranha. He back-flipped into the air, and blasted some lightning at Mama. Luigi landed on the ground, and punched Mama with an lightning-infused punch. He finally violently zapped Mama Piranha up-close with some lightning, and there was an opening. Mama tried to sweep Luigi off his feet, but Luigi had jumped out of range before she even lifted a vine.
"One of the few times when I get to adventure with my brother, a giant Piranha Plant ruins it! I'm always left at home on adventures, but the one time Mario takes me with him on one, you go ahead and blast him with a giant energy ball!" Luigi started to float into the air, and was charging up a very menacing looking blast. He cried out, and blasted Mama Piranha with it. She cried out in pain. Luigi viciously kicked Mama, then gave her another hard punch. He backed off, dodging a vine attack.
Luigi made another sprint for Mama, but a red Piranha Plant popped out of the ground, startling him, then a blue one appeared too, nearly chomping his head off. Luigi zapped the red one, destroying it in one blow. The blue Piranha Plant saw this happen, and for its friend, it blasted Luigi with an electric ball. It opened its mouth once again to blast Luigi again, but was silenced with a zap of the finger.
Yet another pair of both kinds of Piranha Plant shot out of the ground as soon as Mario finished off the last one. Luigi engulfed himself in lightning, and rushed at Mama Piranha, grabbing the attention of the Piranha Plants. They both shot at Luigi, but he smashed into both of them on the way to Mama, and ripped both of them from their roots, throwing them on the floor and zapping them to ashes before continuing at Mama Piranha.
Mama Piranha took out another energy ball from the insides of her mouth, and chucked it at Luigi. In the corner of his eye, he could see Mario move a bit. Luigi raised his hand to signal him to stop.
"I can see how exhausted you are. I don't want my bro to go through any more pain to protect me. I need to take care of myself…" Luigi said, jumping into the air, and smashing the energy ball back at Mama Piranha with his hammer. Mario gaped at this, and once he struggled to his feet, gave his bro a thumbs-up.
The energy ball struck Mama Piranha in the face, and caused her to droop and turn crimson-red, then spitting out Spiny Badge A, which Luigi picked up.
Mario levelled up to Level 19! Mario got an extra +3BP!
Luigi levelled up to Level 19! Luigi got an extra +4HP!
Mama shrunk to a miniature size, and Luigi took the opportunity to finish her off in style…by sitting on her. That seemed to do the trick, so the Bros did some victory poses, then headed back to Lady Lima.
"Well done, Mario Bros!" Lady Lima praised.
"Don't praise me. Praise my brother. He's the one who destroyed the Piranha Plants, for the most part, single-handedly." Mario said. Luigi was staring at the badge.
"Ah, well done, Luigi!" Lady Lima praised. "Now we can welcome Princess Peach to our fair kingdom!"
The runway lights started to flash red, and a pink plane with several Princess Peach logos and white lines landed smoothly on the cleared runway.
Princess Peach had arrived.
Beanbean Castle Court Gardens
Mario and Luigi were chatting with some Beans in the middle of the garden while waiting for stuff to happen.
"Hush, everyone!" Lady Lima ordered. "Princess Peach, representative of the Mushroom Kingdom, brings greetings!"
Princess Peach walked around the hedge she was hiding behind, and stopped a fair distance away from the Bros. Toadsworth was watching. The Beans were at each side of the Bros. Peach walked closer to the Bros, and opened her mouth.
Mario yelped, and Luigi dived behind Mario for protection, keeping his hat over his eyes so he wouldn't see the mayhem that was about to take place.
"Mario! Luigi!" Peach cried. Mario and Luigi froze on the spot. "Mario! Luigi! Thank you so much for all you've done. I am so relieved that the two of you are safe."
Mario and Luigi were shocked beyond belief. The look on their faces was priceless, and caused Peach to giggle.
"Oh ho ho ho ho ho ho!" Toadsworth chuckled. "Oh, terribly amusing! Yes. Come now, don't be so startled! You see…I must tell you…Princess Peach's voice…was never stolen!"
Prince Peasley walked around the hedge Peach was behind, and waved his finger.
"I knew Cackletta was after the royal voice, so I beat them to the castle and warned the princess with a letter." He said rather proudly, waving about a letter.
. . .
It was a fine day in the Mushroom Kingdom. The Goodwill Ambassador from Beanbean Kingdom has arrived. Toads were lined up at each side of the carpet leading to Princess Peach's throne. Sounds were heard from one of the pillars near the carpet's end, followed by a female voice saying "Quiet! They'll hear us!" but no one took notice of the sounds.
The Ambassador was a Bean (a green creature from the Beanbean Kingdom) in yellow clothing, with a grin and a somewhat long nose. He was followed by a smaller bean, face covered by a chest he was holding. He was dressed in the same garb.
"I wish to improve my kingdom's ties with the Mushroom Kingdom." The Ambassador started. "I bring a gift from Queen Bean." The Ambassador finished as he bowed to Princess Peach. His follower approaching Peach, and allowing the chest to open. It revealed a doll with a green face and purple clothing on a spring. It quickly bounced up, and sprayed a foul colour changing gas cloud at Peach's face. She coughed as it covered her whole upper body.
"Eeeyah ha ha ha ha!" The Ambassador cackled, revealing herself as some kind of witch. She was wearing a cape with a purple outside, and a black inside. She wore a dress which was pink and ended in yellow, and had two purple things, which appeared to be ears. She raised her hands in the air, causing lightening to crash indoors, instantly making the Toads freak out and flee while the chest her follower was holding packed up and closed itself. Suddenly the walls turned into a constantly shifting rainbow colour. The follower revealed himself to be a grinning smaller bean, wearing a red cloth and circular glasses. Peach continued to cough in the gas cloud until a kind of headgear with two gray mini-jet packs on the sides, and a yellow/red vacuum on the top sucked up the gas cloud after landing on the witch's minion's head. The witch couldn't help but grin evilly at her handiwork. Once the gas cloud cleared up, Peach could be revealed to look exactly the same, but was waving her hand to try and blow away the gas, and using her other hand to cover her mouth. Seconds later, she slowed down and collapsed.
"Eeeyah ha ha ha ha!" was all that was heard as the witch and her minion laughed briefly, and they flew off (the minion using his headgear, and the witch using a rocket rocking chair to fly off) into the clouds.
. . .
"THIS was the Princess Peach whose voice was stolen!" Prince Peasley pointed at a second Peach walking out from behind the hedge the prince stood before. The Peach took her clothes off to reveal she was none other than Birdo.
"And THAT is why the Beanstar reacted so strangely to her voice!"
"But wouldn't her voice be gone now?" Luigi asked.
"Not at all! We had prepared a sample of her voice that we extracted beforehand! Kudos to that owner Starbeans Café who happened to be a professor for building the thing, if it weren't for him, Birdo here would be voiceless. We put the sample back in, and it multiplied in her body and she regained her less explosive, preferred vocabulary."
Birdo did a few flirty poses to the Beans nearby, and then proceeded to chase them around as they ran for their lives, screaming their heads off.
"As you can see, every card in our hand was truly better than theirs." Queen Bean chuckled.
"Mario…Luigi…I am sorry to have caused you such trouble." Peach apologized. "When the pair of you came rushing to the castle…I intended to tell you the truth immediately, but Bowser beat you there…and I lost my chance to spill the beans…so to speak…"
Queen Bean walked out from behind the bush.
"But you defeated Cackletta nonetheless!" Toadsworth cheered optimistically. "And that is something to be congratulated for!"
Mario and Luigi praised themselves for once.
Beanbean Castle Entrance Room
"…By the way, there's no sign of what's left of the Beanstar…it apparently broke into four pieces, which seem to be lost…and so, I am off yet again! I must sally forth to look for the pieces of the Beanstar!" Prince Peasley explained.
"You sure you want us to relax? I don't mind looking for the pieces, too, you know." Mario offered.
"You two should relax here and enjoy some sightseeing in our kingdom with fair Princess Peach." Prince Peasley advised, then flashed the area before leaving the castle. Luigi waved with his hat goodbye, and they started to walk back to Queen Bean and the others.
Once they got back to Queen Bean's throne room, Toadsworth noticed them as soon as they stopped walking.
"Oh, Masters Mario and Luigi…Spot-on timing…" Toadsworth said.
"Mario, Luigi…I was just speaking with Queen Bean…" Peach started. "She tells me there is a mushroom town in Beanbean Kingdom called Little Fungitown. Do you know of it?"
Mario and Luigi shook their heads.
"It is a town full of Toads who have immigrated to this land." Toadsworth explained.
"Since we have come all the way to this land, I wish to pay an official royal visit to Little Fungitown…" Peach continued.
"That's acceptable in theory, but to reach Little Fungitown you must go north through Teehee Valley…" Queen Bean chimed in. "Teehee Valley is filled with vile monsters. It would be a little…No! VERY dangerous for Princess Peach."
"As the royal representative of the senior Toads, I must vigorously oppose this idea!" Toadsworth agreed, now steaming-red and waving his walking stick around wildly. "Passing through unknown lands filled with monsters is absolutely absurd! Why, the very idea…Koh-hoff! Ah-hem! …And yet…I suppose if Mario and Luigi escorted you…"
"Mario. Luigi. Since we seem to have come to a consensus…won't you take me to…Little Fungitown?" Princess Peach asked.
Mario nodded out of kindness, but Luigi shook his head out of fear. Mario gasped when he noticed, then smashed Luigi into the ground, then resumed to the nodding of the head.
"Will that do, Toadsworth?" Peach asked.
"As if I have any say in the matter! Just by very, very, very, very, very, very, very, VERY careful." Toadsworth warned. "I must begin preparations immediately. Mario, you and Luigi should meet us up north, at the entrance to Teehee Valley."
"…And with that, please allow me to excuse myself, Queen Bean." Peach did a curtsey, then followed Toadsworth out of the room, neither of them stepping on where Luigi was underground.
"…Your princess is not only beautiful, but both wise and courageous, as well. I am severely impressed!" Queen Bean said. "Mario! Luigi! We have entrusted Princess Peach's safekeeping to the two of you! Leave the castle town and head northeast to reach Teehee Valley."
Luigi popped out of the ground at last.
"So, how about we make our own preparations?" Luigi asked.