breath20k
And who will emerge as the winner? Get ready!
LiamTheYoshi
We are gonna find out the winner right now.
mariobroultimate
If it's a longtime rival of yours or a rude being from out of nowhere, it's best to play rough for the money. But it's a different story while playing with a five year old kid.
Shana Hager
To be honest, I'm stuck between the two players; I can't pick a potential winner.
StarlitDuck
Yeah. No doubt about Alex's friendships with Mario, Luigi, and Aqua. They all care for him.
10B - Congratulations!
"Here we go, Alex," Luigi mouthed to Alex before he got ready for the next serve. For the sake of playing with Alex, Luigi slowed down his speed and lessened his swing power a small bit. However, if Alex decided to play like he meant business, Luigi would push himself harder to win.
After winning the next game to make the score 6-4, Alex initially made two straight shots before hitting the ball high over Luigi's head to make him barely miss it, but Luigi used his high jumping skills to successfully return the ball and lead to the point call being love-40.
Alex had to try something else to catch Luigi off guard, so he chose to hit the ball as hard as he could while curving it at the same time. It initially didn't work out for Alex because he used too much power and let the ball go out of bounds, awarding Luigi the next game.
Before Luigi's next serve, Alex only had a few seconds to figure out how much power to use on his next trick shots. Suddenly, Alex heard a whooshing sound to his right and noticed Luigi made an ace without him looking.
"Luigi! I wasn't ready yet!" Alex yelled.
"Sorry, Alex!" Luigi replied. "I didn't see you there!"
Alex didn't want to waste time thinking about his strategies, so he kept playing as he did earlier. Unfortunately, Luigi increased his curve shot angle so that the ball was not only was out of reach of Alex's racket, but it also barely stayed in play, having landed on the center line. Because of that, Luigi tied the score with 6-6.
By now, Alex was getting angrier at Luigi potentially winning and felt like his skills were fading away. He started making power shots out of rage, letting the ball fly at a faster speed than earlier.
To Luigi's surprise, he wasn't quick enough to return the ball; not to mention some instances in which the ball nearly hit his face. Despite those near misses, Luigi knew all along that Alex would never hurt him on purpose.
Alex won the next game, making the score 7-6, and was one game away from winning it all. Right as he made the next serve, Alex started to gradually calm down. He finally decided to do his curve shots again and attempted to think of how much power to use.
Meanwhile, Mario and Aqua stood at the entrance of the tent, cheering on Alex. On the other hand, Daisy wanted Luigi to win, but ultimately chose to root for Alex as she didn't want to make him cry.
"COME ON, SUPER ALEX!" "YOU'RE ALMOST THERE!" Mario and Aqua shouted respectively.
"Maybe if I hit it with 75% power, will it work?" Alex asked himself. "But how fast will my swing be to make it look like 75%?"
Alex turned his right wrist left 50 degrees and swung his racket fast, but not as fast as he thought was full power. Luigi was inches away from returning the ball, only to see it bounce to the top right between the service and center lines. The announcer made the match point call of 40-30. If Luigi won the next play, a deuce would be reached and Alex would need to win two more plays to finish the tournament, or Luigi could win two more plays to tie the score.
Alex did three straight shots to make it look easy for Luigi, and chose to do a curved overhead shot, turning his wrist right 48 degrees and hitting it high above Luigi's head. Luigi barely missed the ball despite him jumping high enough to reach it. At the same time, Alex studied the ball to make sure it landed in play.
Alex saw that the ball landed right on the white line, but the announcer called, "Deuce!"
"Wait! Stop the game!" Alex cried. "That's not a deuce! It was in play!" He made the "time-out" signal with his hands to pause the game, prompting Luigi to approach him.
"What's wrong?" Luigi asked.
"Did you hear me?! The ball landed on the white line! It's in!" Alex shouted with anger.
"Hey. Calm down, buddy. I'll ask for them to watch the replay to see if you won."
The announcer saw Alex and Luigi discussing about the last play and said, "Ladies and gentlemen, it appears that Alex is calling for an instant replay to see if he won the tournament."
The videoboard on the northeast end of the stadium flashed to see an overhead camera view of the top end of the court, which zoomed in close enough to the spot where the ball first bounced. The ball was clearly shown to have bounced off the middle of the white line, which usually means the ball was in play.
Then, the videoboard showed a view from a ground based camera mounted behind the court's top end. Again, it showed the ball hitting the middle line. Despite the replay showing that the ball was possibly in play, Alex was starting to tear up, thinking Luigi won the play.
Luigi laid his hand on Alex's shoulder, feeling sorry for him. "It's okay, Alex. Even if it IS a deuce, there's still a chance of you winning."
"N-no, th-there i-isn't...!" Alex trembled. "I'm n-not gonna...m-make it...!"
"That's not true," Luigi said softly. "Pretty much everyone is cheering for you, but that doesn't mean they're leaving me out. The crowd knows I'm-"
Suddenly, the announcer blurted out, "GAME, SET, AND MATCH! IT'S IN PLAY!"
The crowd screamed with excitement as loud as they could with "Go Go Mario!" being played over the loudspeakers again. In addition, several fireworks were shot off from the roof of the stadium.
"ALEX PETERSON: TOURNAMENT WINNER! HE'S THE WORLD CHAMPION OF TENNIS!"
Alex became overwhelmed from the intense cheering and dropped to his knees crying his eyes out. He felt like his limbs were going weak and also felt dizzy.
Not noticing Alex breaking down, everyone from the tent and dugout rushed toward the court to congratulate Alex only to see Luigi step in front of him and hold his hands out.
"Stop! No further!" Luigi loudly ordered the players; stopping them in their tracks. The music cut off abruptly and the crowd stopped their standing ovation.
"What's going on here?" the announcer asked. "Why did the celebration stop?" The players backed up to show Alex sobbing on the ground, prompting the audience to aww and groan with sympathy.
"It seems that Alex is having an emotional breakdown from him winning the tournament, but don't panic. I'm sure he'll recover in no time."
"Is he okay?" Mario asked.
"We might need to carry him to the tent," Luigi answered. "He literally can't stand up."
Mario immediately walked up to Alex and picked him up before carrying him to the tent. He was tearing up at the sight of Alex sobbing hard.
"I-it's okay, b-buddy... You're g-gonna b-be fine..." Mario coaxed Alex with a shaky voice.
"D-did...I...w-win...?" Alex cried.
"Y-you d-did... We're a-all p-proud of you..." Mario said while trying to smile, but he didn't feel happy as he was worried about Alex's condition. The players followed Mario and Alex back into the tent.
Immediately after going inside the tent, Mario laid Alex on his back on one of the couches before kneeling next to him.
"Leave Alex alone," Luigi instructed the players. "You'll upset him more if you go near him."
"But he won!" Aqua protested. "Why can't we tell him 'Congratulations!' and all that?"
"Now's not the time, Aqua. I'm sorry."
Aqua let out a disappointed sigh. "Okay. I guess we'll wait until later." All but Peach, Luigi, Daisy, and Aqua returned to the dugout.
In the meantime, Mario comforted Alex by stroking his head. He had completely calmed down, but still felt sorry for Alex.
"I d-didn't...m-mean to c-cry...M-Mario..." Alex whimpered. "It j-just h-happened..."
"I know it did," Mario replied. "Maybe it was because of the instant replay and the crowd cheering all at the same time. Trust me: none of us expected that either, so you're not alone."
"Th-thank you..." Mario wiped the tears off Alex's face.
"Do you want some water?"
"N-no... I-I'm n-not th-thirsty..."
"Okey-dokey," Mario answered. "Do you want to be left alone?"
"No... P-please stay..." Alex cried.
"All right-y. I promise I'll stay with you." Alex sat up to hug Mario. "You did brilliant, buddy. Never in my whole life have I seen a kid like you play tennis like that."
"Thank you... I'm glad I won..." Alex said while taking a deep breath. "I'm sorry Luigi lost..."
"It's okay. I'm sure Luigi understands you," Mario responded before letting go of Alex. "Actually, all of us understand you. What I'm also proud of is how nice you are to everyone around you. Even though you get angry sometimes like I do, that never means that you're rude."
"Okay."
"How's Alex doing?" Aqua asked as she approached Mario and Alex.
"He's doing better," Mario said. "I was just saying how happy I am that Alex won and that he's the nicest kid I've ever known."
"You can say that again," Aqua remarked before turning to Alex. "Good job on winning the game, Alex."
"Thank you, Aqua," Alex thanked Aqua. "Thanks for being my friend too."
"Any time, amico. (Any time, buddy.) I love you just as much as Mario and Luigi love you." Alex got up from the couch to hug Aqua too.
"I love you too, Aqua," Alex said.
It's now 9:30 AM. At this point, the tennis officials had finished setting up a stage next to the tennis court for Alex to be presented with his trophy and 250,000 Coin cheque.
"You ready to be given your trophy?" Mario asked Alex.
"I'm ready," Alex replied.
"And now, ladies and gentlemen..." the announcer declared. "...let's bring out our tennis champion Alex Peterson!" The audience got up on their feet and applauded for Alex, who walked out toward the stage with Mario following him. The audience also chanted Alex's name.
Right as Alex stopped at the middle of the stage, he waved to the audience as well as the players standing in the dugout and outside the tent.
"What an unbelievable and stunning finish! I'm at a loss for words right now," the announcer said. "Who would've thought that a kid like Alex would finish strong?" The audience cheered with agreement.
"Exactly! And because of his wonderful accomplishment, Alex will be awarded with a gold trophy and a cheque for 250,000 Coins!"
As the audience cheered again, Mario raised Alex's left arm up with victory; Alex chuckled while his arm was raised. Seconds later, one of the tennis officials walked to the stage carrying a gold trophy and a 250,000 Coin cheque with Alex's name on both.
Mario took the trophy and cheque before handing it to Alex. At the same time Alex received his awards, Luigi came running over with a microphone stand in anticipation of Alex making a speech.
"Why don't you say a few words, Alex?" Mario offered.
"Okay." Alex approached the microphone and cleared his throat, prompting everyone to quiet down before he started speaking.
"Hey, everyone. As you all know already, I'm Alex Matthew Peterson from the state of Texas in another world. I am also the third Super Mario Brother as Mario and Luigi named me yesterday."
The audience cheered again at Alex's statement.
"Yes, it is true. I've proved to Mario and Luigi my bravery and kindness. It was also because of our strong friendship we've had for over a year now," Alex continued. "And I couldn't have asked for anyone like the Mario Bros to be my brothers. Thank you so much." The audience applauded once again for a brief moment.
"Anyway, it was a huge pleasure to play in this tennis tournament and show everyone my super tennis skills thanks to Luigi. It wouldn't have been possible if I went straight to playing without the training I went through. It also wouldn't have been possible if Mario kept going with his head hurting a lot."
"And I have to thank the Toadstool sisters standing in front of the tent: Princess Peach, Daisy, and Aqua. I love how you've helped give me the support to make it to where I am right now. The smile on my face is growing bigger and bigger because of you three."
As the audience cheered again, Peach blew Alex a kiss while Daisy and Aqua waved to him. Alex felt his heart beat fast when he saw Peach blow him a kiss.
"Wow," Alex giggled while putting his hand on his heart. "I don't know what else to say. All I can say is I'm so happy to be called the champion of tennis, and I'm so happy to have the bestest friends in my life. I will always remember this tournament forever because this shows me how I'm able to do great things in my life. Everything is possible no matter what other people think about it."
"Thank you everybody for all that you've given me, and I can't wait to see where my adventure will take me next. Goodbye."
The audience gave Alex a final standing ovation while Mario held his hand and walked with him back to the tent.
"Mamma mia! That was a great speech, Alex!" Luigi exclaimed before high-fiving Alex. "Everything you said was absolutely right!"
"Yes, it was," Alex agreed. He looked at his name engraved on the trophy as well as the cheque filled out by Mr. Farly. "I can't believe my name is on my awards. It's like another dream of mine has come true."
"Do you want to know something cool?" Mario asked.
"What?"
"When we take your money to the bank, you will get a lot more in dollars rather than Coins."
Alex gasped with disbelief. "Are you kidding me?!"
"No, I'm not," Mario answered. "In the Real-Life Earth, dollars are 25% more than Coins, so you'll be given over $300,000. That's something that can help your family."
Alex squealed and jumped for joy. "YAY! YES! MOM, DAD, AND LEAH ARE GONNA BE SO HAPPY!"
"They sure will be," Luigi said with a smile. "If only they came to watch us play, but either way, your parents and sister will want to hear all about it."
"Mario! Luigi! Alex!" Peach called from the other side of the tent. She was holding a camera with the intention of taking pictures of the three. "I want to get some pictures of you!"
"Yes, please!" Alex exclaimed. Mario and Luigi stood on either side of Alex before Peach took some pictures of them. Then, Mario and Luigi took turns standing alone next to Alex. Daisy and Aqua also got the chance to have their picture taken with Alex. Finally, Peach stood next to Alex for the last set of pictures before everyone was ready to go back home.
The Peach Dome Tennis Doubles Tournament was officially over. What started out as a normal set of games turned into a tragic disaster midway, but the pieces were picked up in no time and triumph emerged from the wreckage. This was no longer a twisted tennis tournament; it was a lesson to teach everyone about what's right and what's wrong.