breath20k

Not just for Alex, but for the Mario Brothers and the Peterson family.

LiamTheYoshi

I meant for Alex to become a Super Mario Brother because he deserves it a lot.

mariobroultimate

When it's Thanksgiving, you have to bring the whole family together.

StarlitDuck

Thank you so much. I appreciate your support.

Chapter 10

10A - The Final Match

"Hey. Wake up, buddy," Mario whispered while tapping Alex's shoulder. It's 6:25 AM on November 25, 2004, the final day of the Peach Dome Tennis Doubles Tournament. Alex and Luigi are bound to play against each other for the 250,000 Coin top prize and gold trophy at 8:00 AM.

"Ugh... Mario..." Alex groaned. He slowly opened his eyes to see Mario in his trademark outfit standing beside him. "What time is it...?"

"6:25. I have breakfast coming up for you."

"Okay... Just give me a second..."

"Take your time, Alex," Mario said before leaving the guest room. Alex got up from his bed and took out his toiletries and tennis outfit before going into the bathroom to take a shower.

12 minutes later, Alex came out of the bathroom in his tennis outfit; his racket was still in the guest room next to his backpack.

"Okay. I'm ready, Mario," Alex said while walking toward the kitchen. Mario was making chocolate chip pancakes and scrambled eggs for Alex's breakfast. Having heard Alex's voice, Mario turned to see him standing in the doorway.

"Oh boy! You look just like me, but without the mustache!" Mario exclaimed.

"Thanks," Alex thanked Mario. He peered out the kitchen window for a brief moment and saw it was still dark out with the sun bound to rise soon. Alex then sat at the dining room table. A few minutes later, Mario served Alex's breakfast.

"All right-y. Two giant chocolate chip pancakes and two scrambled eggs for my little brother," Mario said with a smile.

"Thank you, Mario," Alex responded while Mario patted his shoulder.

"I knew this is your favorite. Hehehe," Mario chuckled.

"What are you eating?"

"I'm not that hungry. Maybe I'll drink a shake before we leave," Mario answered. He quickly went back to the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of syrup for Alex's pancakes.

"Sorry. I forgot the syrup."

"It's okay, Mario," Alex said as he started to eat his food. 25 minutes later, Alex grabbed his racket and Mario took him to his kart for the 50-minute drive to Mario Stadium. By the time they got to the stadium, the parking lots were packed.

"Were me and Luigi supposed to ride in the limo?" Alex asked after he and Mario got out of the kart.

"Not today. Princess Peach just said for us to go straight to the tent."

Mario and Alex walked through the crowds surrounding the east entrance and into the tunnel leading to the waiting room tent. They could barely hear the audience cheering from the tunnel, but the cheers grew louder as they approached the tent.

Inside, Peach, Daisy, Luigi, and Aqua were standing on the left hand side of the tent while the other tennis players were seated in the dugout on the right hand side.

"Hi, Aqua!" Alex greeted Aqua while waving to her. She immediately turned to Alex having heard his voice and held her arms out.

"Alex!" Aqua exclaimed before Alex gave her a big hug. "I'm so happy to see you again!"

"Me too. Will you promise to cheer for me?" Alex asked.

"Why would I not? I'm your best friend."

"Hello, Alex!" Luigi greeted Alex. "You ready to play with me?"

"I'm more than ready!" Alex high-fived Luigi with both hands. "You know I'm gonna win!"

"Are you sure? There's a chance I'll play better than you."

"But I thought you said I'm a super tennis player," Alex said. Luigi thought it over for a couple seconds.

"You're right. I did say that," Luigi replied. "Let's just play like it's for fun."

"Okay. I still think I'm gonna win."

"I hope so, buddy." Luigi gave Alex another high-five.

Two minutes later, the elderly announcer from the Round 1D and Round 2B matches started talking over the loudspeakers, getting everyone's attention.

"Good morning, ladies and gentlemen! Well, this is it! The fourth and final round of the Peach Dome Tennis Doubles Tournament is about to begin in less than three minutes. Our doubles team who won Round 3 on Wednesday will play a one-on-one this morning for the top prize of 250,000 Coins and a gold trophy with the winner's name on it."

Alex and Luigi picked up their rackets, ready to take the court in a moment. This time, Alex was not afraid to show himself in front of the 59,000 people attending the match.

"Our first player is Mario's number-one brother and a crowd favorite when it comes to sports. Let's welcome Luigi Franco Mario!"

Right on cue, the "Overworld" theme from Super Mario Advance played in the background while Luigi ran to the top end of the court.

"Playing against Luigi is a newly recruited Super Mario Brother who has been Mario and Luigi's best friend since he was three years old. Here comes Alex Matthew Peterson!"

As soon as the "Go Go Mario!" theme started playing, the audience stood up and started clapping to the music. Seconds later, Alex ran as quick as he could to the bottom end, prompting the audience to cheer as loud as they could and chant Alex's name.

As the match was to kick off in a minute and a half, there was no time to do last-minute practicing. So, Luigi got his tennis ball out and prepared to make the first serve.

At exactly 8:00 AM, Luigi served the ball to begin the match. For this time around, Alex felt the need to try and curve some of his shots, but initially didn't know how as he was focused on the match. Nonetheless, Alex won the first game.

Prior to Luigi making the next serve, Alex quickly flashed back at his first training session with Luigi and visualized himself struggling with the backhand swings; he was turning his wrist while following through.

Alex turned his wrist left right as he returned the serve, which resulted in a backspin shot; the ball landed just short of Luigi and bounced backward, causing him to miss the ball.

"Jeezums! When'd he learn to do backspins?" Luigi asked himself with shock. "That's new."

Just in case Alex chose to do more backspins, Luigi moved a bit closer to the service line. This is so that he would return the ball before it bounced away from him.

The strategy worked for Luigi, who won two games before Alex tied his score shortly afterward.

Before Alex made the next serve, Luigi reflected on his previous matches against the Wario Bros in which he tried to play aggressively. He didn't want to accidentally hurt Alex or scare him with his Power Shots.

"If I play my way like I did at the start, I'll hurt Alex," Luigi muttered. "But Alex is gonna win if I go easy on him. What do I do?"

Luigi decided to save his question for later and resumed the match. Alex didn't want to make all his shots backspins, so he switched between straight and curved shots every now and then.

Eventually, the score stood at 5-4 with Alex in the lead. It was then that Alex and Luigi took their water break.

"How's it going, Alex?" Luigi asked.

"I'm trying my best, but I think I can do it," Alex replied.

"Good for you!" Luigi took a sip from his water bottle. "I was just thinking a few minutes ago... Back when the tournament was just getting started, I was playing rough against Wario and Waluigi because they were really strong. Like, they worked out almost every day."

"What does that mean?"

"Well, if I play rough during this last game, I could hurt you really bad, and no one wants to see that," Luigi said.

"I know."

"I kinda want to let you win, but at the same time, I want to play for the money and the gold trophy. It's one of those hard decisions."

"You know what? I'm thinking the same too," Alex agreed. "I don't want to hurt you either, which is why we care about each other."

"You're right, buddy," Luigi said with a smile. "That's what friends are meant to do."

Before going back to the court with Alex, Luigi offered, "I'll try to go easy on you for the rest of this game."

"But don't you want to win?"

"Yes, but I told myself I would never let anything bad happen to you. That's why I'm slowing it down a bit, but I won't slow down too much."

"Okay." Alex and Luigi hurried to their positions on the court, ready to finish the match once and for all.