Waking up, Mario blinked as the New York sunset got into his eyes.

"Welp, time to see what the kid did."

Unlocking his bedroom door. Mario stepped out to find Luigi laying on the couch, fast asleep.

"Luigi!" Mario snapped his fingers. "Get up!"

"W-W-W-What?" Luigi groggily came back to consciousness.

"Where's the kid at?"

"Oh, he's in the bathroom. He didn't take the money. I watched him for a few hours pretending to be asleep, then I actually fell asleep."

"Well, I'm glad he didn't take it!" Mario said, pissed. "I'm also glad he didn't knife your ass in your sleep. I hope he didn't take any of our food. Lemme check this damn fridge..."

"Knife me?" Luigi sat up, now with rapt attention. "I thought you said he was safe!"

"I assumed he was safe! The whole reason I had the jar there was to test him and find out! You gotta be smarter than that man. You can't fall asleep when someone that you don't know is in your house. Learn to protect ya neck." Mario opened the fridge and looked around. "Now that I'm looking inside I think we missing a few things..."

"Trust me, anything that was in there yesterday is in there now," Luigi called from the couch.

"Well, what was in here yesterday?" Mario said back.

"I don't know. But I know what wasn't in there." Luigi said.

"How is telling me what's not in here gonna help me find out anything?" Mario said.

"You're looking for food right? I know that's not gonna be in our fridge." Luigi answered.

"Oh haha, very funny!" Mario said, "You'd be looking stupid if he found out that he was taking our food. Take this seriously."

"I'm just saying, don't pin it on him if that fridge looks empty. That's because we haven't put anything in it. We po', remember?"

"'We po'?" Mario repeated, annoyed by Luigi's country accent.

"Yeah, we po'." Luigi said. "We can't even afford to finish our words. Thank God we aren't on Wheel of Fortune, because we could never afford a vowel. We'd go into debt right on stage. A, E, IOU $1,250 for that sentence alone, Pat. Hopefully they got Y on layaway because it isn't completely a vowel."

"Oh so now you wanna make jokes. Wouldn't be saying that if there was a fucking hole in your chest." Mario muttered.

FLUSH!

"Oh fuck, he's coming out." Mario said alarmed. "Luigi, act normal! Actually, that's impossible for you. Act like none of this happened. Just follow my lead."

Mario greeted Mac with a friendly smile as Mac walked out of the bathroom. "Hey kid, how you doing? Thanks for posting all of those flyers for us. You didn't run into any trouble did you?"

"No. I'm okay," Mac replied.

"Good. Good. Well, Luigi and I decided that since you are our new employee, we outta take a picture with you to celebrate this moment. C'mon, let's go outside. Luigi, get the camera."

Getting outside to the cool sunset, the three stood in front of Mario Brothers Plumbing, huddling together to fit into the picture...

"Say CHEESE!"

CLICK!

"Alright boys! good picture, good picture." Mario said.

As they walked back in, the phone started to ring.

"Mac, get that for me would you?" Mario said.

Mac sheepishly picked up the phone. "Hello? ... Yes this is Mario Brothers plumbing...hold a second, let me get your address..."

"If Mac doesn't know anything about plumbing, he would be our secretary," Luigi said to Mario as Mac wrote the caller's information down.

"Alright, see you soon." Mac hung up the phone.

Mario took the notebook Mac was writing on. "Alright, let's see where we're heading off to...

I can't read a single thing on this piece of paper."

Luigi glanced at the notebook. The page was covered in chicken scratch, illegible marks were skewed across the paper. "Is... is that a 4 or a 9?"

"Is this a P or a D?"

"Is that s u or a y?

"Is that an n or an m?"

"Is that a c or an e?"

"Is that an h or a k?"

"Sorry, I don't write good." Mac admitted. "That's supposed to be 'Punch'"

"It is?" Mario and Luigi looked at all the letters again. "Oh NOW I see it." They both said aloud.

"Wait, 'Punch'?" Mario repeated. "Just where are we going anyhow?"

"The guys' name is Jerome Louis. He says he was at the Punch-Out boxing gym."

"Wait, Jerome Louis? Doc Louis? You just spoke to Doc Louis?"

"You know this guy Mario?" Luigi asked.

"Hell yeah I know who that guy is. Luigi, get the tools. We're going to lower Manhattan. ASAP."


"So this guy, Doc Louis, how do you know him?" Luigi asked as the group rode through the Manhattan borough.

"Oh, this man used to be the baddest boxer in the world. His uppercut, the Star Punch, could knock out anyone he stepped in the ring with. He was a multi-time world champion in the WVBA, the greatest there ever was, until he got retired by the current world champ, Bald Bull. Although he might not be world champion for much longer. There's this fight next weekend to determine the #1 contender for his title. It's Bald Bull's longtime rival Super Macho Man Randall Savages vs this undefeated rookie that's on an incredible tear through the WVBA. His real name is Tyson Michaels, but his ring name is... Mr. Dream? Mr. Sandman? Something like that."

"So, this is a real sports legend, huh?" Luigi said.

"I'm gonna see if he has any tapes of some of his fights that we can watch. Dude was absolutely incredible. They called him Doc because he could operate on people. Just picked them apart in the ring."

Mario looked up and saw a green boxing glove sign. "And here we are. 1984 Takeda Ave."

Parking the car, the three walked in and the first thing they saw was a boxing ring in the middle of the dimly lit front of the building.

"Oh good. You're here." They heard a voice say.

They turned to see a large man in a red track jacket walk over. He had a black mustache and was currently eating a chocolate bar.

"Hey, Doc Louis!" I'm a huge fan of yours!" Mario said, putting his hand out for a handshake.

"Why thank you, sonny." Doc was about to meet the handshake when he saw he had chocolate on his hands. He quickly wiped it on his tracksuit before shaking hands with Mario.

"Yes. We are truly in the presence of greatness." Luigi said. He turned to see a small mountain of chocolate candy wrappers in the trash can. "You sure love your sweets, don't you?"

"Eh, Dark chocolate helped me quit smoking. It was either obesity or lung cancer. I honestly like milk chocolate more. But I got used to dark after a while."

"So, what's the problem?" Mario asked.

"Something's wrong with the water pressure. I saw your flyer on the way home from watching an amateur fight, and decided to give you a call."

"Thanks, we'll get right on it. Let's go Luigi, we got a job to do."

Mario and Luigi went down to the boiler room, leaving Mac alone with Doc.

"So, you ain't a plumber with those two?" Doc asked.

"No. I think I'll just hang back here. I don't want to get in their way."

"Alright. Alright." Doc said, taking another bite of his chocolate bar. "So, how old are ya kid?"

"Fourteen."

"What do you want to be when you grow up?"

"I don't really know. I really don't have any goals."

"Say, why don't you come inside this ring for a moment, I wanna talk to you."

Mac slowly slid underneath the bottom rope into the ring, making sure he stayed on the ropes in order to dart out at a seconds notice

"You know anything about boxing, kid?" Doc asked.

"N-N-no. Other than that you were a great boxer. But that's only because Mario told me."

"Alright, that's a start. That's a start." Doc started pacing around the ring. "You know, after I retired, I opened up this boxing gym in order to find the next great champion of boxing. Dozens would come to this gym to train under me, a few even graduated and would hold some small titles over a number of minor promotions. But none of them could ever make it big. And over time, it all petered out. Now people only come in here for a workout, a pipe dream thrill ride, or a little self-defense. Nothing permanent."

Doc stopped and leaned over on the ropes. "You watching the fight next weekend? It's a couple of big boys going at it to be the #1 contender. You know, when the WVBA was formed, its gimmick was that it would ban weight classes. Its motto that everything was skill based. 'Body won't determine you from being world champion, skill will. And for a while, it was like that. We had tons of different guys in different classes carry the world strap. But oh, sooner or later, the giants started to win out, and the weight classes took their spots on the championship totem pole. But you know, every once in a while, a guy comes along and bucks the trend."

Doc took a bite of his chocolate bar. "A while back, while I was champ, I met a man named Jake Plissken. Jake the Snake. The guy was about your size, he had boxed all over the world, being champion of his weight class everywhere he went. Then, he came to the WVBA, and he beat every bigger guy they sent his way en route to yours truly, and he knocked them all down. And then, came the championship bout."

Doc finished his chocolate, crumpling the wrapper into a little ball. "That had to be one of the hardest fights I was ever in. That man had a certain special talent, a talent that made him one tough customer."

"What was it?" Mac asked.

WOOSH! The balled up wrapper came flying at Mac's head like a dart. Mac barely moved his head to the side to avoid it and watched as it landed on the ground.

"The man could dodge." Doc said, looking at Mac's stunned expression. "When you get so used to fighting giants that are as big as you, a small and quick target could wreck you more than you'd think. They say every boxer has a plan until they get punched in the mouth, well you gotta punch them in the mouth first. And against Jake... I could barely touch him. Kid danced around me all night long. Let me get a recording of the fight."

Doc went into the back and came back out with a VHS tape. Popping it into the TV, Doc got back in the ring and watched his old match.

Mac was stunned at how great Doc's in-ring physique was. Standing in that ring with the prestigious WVBA World Championship over his shoulder, Doc Louis was a mountain of a man. And standing in the ring with him was someone who looked like a child compared to Doc. His whole body was cast in Doc's shadow. Jake the Snake. Mac assumed.

As soon as the bell rung. Doc tried to bear down on Jake, rushing at him with quick and heavy jabs, and hooks. To Mac's amazement, Jake dodged them all, and countered with a solid right cross to Doc's chin, stopping Doc in his tracks.

"I see what you mean."

"If he had been in his prime, there would have been a new world champion," Doc commented. "Quick as a hiccup and even more of a pain to deal with."

"So how did you beat him?"

"It was a few things. First of all, all the years of fighting took their toll on him. As soon as I could get in a few blows, he was on cooldown for the rest of the round. He didn't have the knockout punch that could put people down for the count. He just didn't have it in him to put me down, and I didn't have it in me to stay down. Also, he was a counter-puncher. So I decided to go on the defense and let him come to me. I threw a few feints in there, and I managed to wear him down just enough to get the decision my way. You see, in boxing, if you want to be the champ you gotta be 3 things: Tough, Smart, and Accurate. You got to be the TSA. And no one likes the TSA. But still, Jake the Snake was a tough customer. I wonder how tough you could be kid."

"Wait a second, you think I could be a good boxer?" Mac asked.

"Anyone could be a good boxer with the right training and coaching. How much you weigh kid? I bet I got some gloves in the back that could fit right on you."

"Like a little over 100 pounds."

"Alright, I'll see if I can get you in a 10 oz. I'll be right back."

Mac watched in disbelief as Doc went to go get Mac boxing gloves. Is he serious? Does he seriously think that I have any potential at all?

Mac looked back over to the TV and watched the fight. The world champion Doc Louis had been put into the corner by a man half his size. That could never be me...

"Alright kid! I got the gloves!" Mac turned to see Doc coming back with two green gloves. "Get out of the ring and walk over to the punching bag over there."

Little Mac looked over to a white punching bag outside the ring. This seemed crazy, but he wasn't going to make someone as big as Doc mad. Mac stepped out of the ring and onto the floor.

"Let me just get these gloves on ya...there we go." Doc padded the gloves. "Some people think that gloves are supposed to protect the face. They actually protect the fists, the face got nothing to do with it. Now, come on, set your feet. Balance and footwork is everything to a boxer, especially to a small one like you. Keep your lead foot in front of your head. Stay on the balls of your feet. Now, I'm going to show you how to throw a jab."

Setting his feet, Doc put his hands up, and threw a rocket of a punch, shaking the punching bag and viciously rattling its chain. It sounded like a shotgun had gone off in the room. "Make sure to snap your punch. Rotate your arm. Now, do a jab!"

Mac went for the jab and swung with all of his might, connecting with the punching bag squared in the middle... and barely pushing it back.

"Good, good," Doc said, not seeing Mac's disappointed face. "Now do it again."

Mac punched again, his fist smacking the bag dead center, but not able to have the blasting effect Doc had.

"Keep it up. Try using your left sometime."

Mac kept punching again and again, growing more frustrated with every punch. He finally stepped into a punch and was able to knock the punching bag back.

WHAM!

The punching bag came sailing back and smacked Mac in the face, knocking him over.

"Woah woah woah, slow your road kid!" Doc said. "You can't just step into a punch on a bag like this. Hitting a bag is about technique, not about how hard you can hit it. It's not even supposed to hit back! Just focus on getting your form down, got it?" He helped Mac back up to his feet."

"Alright Mr. Louis, we fixed the problem." Mario and Luigi came back. "Your pipes got a few leaks in them and some rust, we patched them up. and got the rust out."

Mario saw the two at the punching bag and paused. "What's going on here?"

"Oh sorry, I was just working the bag with him. You mind showing me where the leaks at?"

"Yeah sure. Right this way." Mario lead Doc back to the boiler room and pointed around the room at a few pipes. "The leaks were here, here, here, and here. We put some rubber sealant on the trouble spots. And on that note, I would check around outside for any damage. You might want to replace a few things before it starts to snow."

"Alright, thanks." Doc got out his wallet. "So how much I owe you?"

"For a job like this? I'd say eighty dollars is fair."

"I'll make it an even hundred. There you go." Doc slapped the hundred dollar bill in Mario's hand.

"Thanks for the tip."

"Don't mention it. Good, fast service." Doc turned his head back to the lobby. "Say, that kid in there, you mind if I train him?"

"You mean Mac?" Mario said in surprise. "Why?"

"I think he could be a real good boxer someday. He just needs the right trainer."

"Um.. I don't know man. I don't think I could afford it."

"I'll train him for free. Just bring him to the gym."

"You'd do that?"

"It's not like I'm getting a lot of traffic nowadays, I'll take on anyone I can get."

Even if I'm only paying for gas, that adds up over time. Mario thought to himself, It takes a half hour to get here, and I'm not trying to miss clients by being away from work and the house for an hour. But still, boxers can make a lot of money. And with Doc Louis supporting him, Mac is going to get opportunities. This could be a big payday down the line...

"It's a deal," Mario said. "When should I bring him in?"

"5:30 from tomorrow morning and on. It's better to work out at the beginning of the day."

"Alright see you in the morning." Walking back out to the front, Mario called out to Luigi and Mac. "Hey boys! Great news!


"I still can't believe you signed him up to be a boxer!" Luigi said in the car as they crossed the bridge.

"First of all, I did. Second of all, it's decided. Third of all, shut up."

"But WHY? Do you see all the blows to the head boxers take? You might as well turn his brain into oatmeal."

"Have you seen the kid's writing? It's not like we'll be missing much."

"Are you serious right now? I know you're a boxing junkie, but if you want more boxing in your life, you should do it yourself."

"Oh, so now it's about my ego."

"When is it not?"

"Since you want to be an ass about this, let me tell you why we are doing this."

"Go ahead, enlighten me oh great Mario."

"Do you know how much the Super Macho Man vs Tyson Micheals fight is going to be? They say the loser is going to get $65 million. $65 million just to get knocked out. And it's not even a title match! It's for the #1 contender. In 60 minutes, two men are going to make far money than either of us will ever make our entire lives. Do you understand that?"

"Yes. Maio, I understand."

"Now, Doc Louis used to be in the kinds of fights. Making millions of dollars. He was once considered to be the literal best, in, the, world. The best in the world. Billions of people on the planet, and he was a better boxer than all of them. He wasn't just a boxer, he was the boxer. If he sees anything, and I mean anything in Mac, we should pay attention to it. This isn't some community gym leader guy, this is someone with a legitimate contendership to being the greatest boxer of all time. And you just want to ignore that."

"I'm just saying that maybe it should be Mac's choice as to what he wants to be. Whether or not he wants to do this. He told me in the lobby he didn't want to do this."

"Really now?" Mario looked at Mac with his rear-view mirror, who had been hiding in the backseat the entire time. "You don't want to do this kid?"

"I-I-I don't think I can." Mac sheepishly replied. "I could barely move the bag, and when I did, it knocked me on the ground. I don't think I'm cut out for this."

"Let me tell you something kid: if Doc Louis thinks that you can be a good boxer, you can be a good boxer."

"And without a second thought, you just sign him up."

"Yeah, I don't miss opportunities Luigi, especially ones that fall right into my lap. I'm a businessman."

"Oh, so this is about money? You're gonna pimp a kid out in hopes that he might one day make you a profit?"

"Yeah, yeah it is. And you want to know why?" Mario white-knuckled the steering wheel. "Because opportunities like this only come around once in a lifetime. If both of you are too dumb to see it, this could be Mac's big break. You know what we are going to do tomorrow Luigi? We are going to get out of bed, we are going to sit by the phone and wait for calls, we are going to run our asses around town, we are going to make a little money, we are going home, we are going to go to sleep, and the only thing that seperates tomorrow from any other day is is that we are going to have to decide to get the Whopper or the McRib. We could spend our entire lives doing this, and nothing may ever change. We might never build a company, we might never be famous. All we got is a shithole apartment and that might be all of what we amount to. But if we put Mac on Doc's training, maybe he can do something. Even if he never makes $65 million. Just something. Something to stay off the street. Something to get out of that shithole apartment. I know we might be grasping at straws, but I'm barking up every tree in the damn forest for better or for worst. At least someone in this car gets to be something. Something more than just a goddamn plumber. Now do you see why we are doing this?!"

Luigi paused for a second, then looked at his brother. Just looked. Mario never looked this tired. It hadn't occurred to Luigi before, but Mario rarely took naps like today. Mario always had the 'sleep when I'm dead mentality.' Mario always had to do something. Always moving, always thinking. But over the past few weeks, Mario started napping. More, and more, and more.

"Spark's gone, isn't it?"

"What are you talking about now?"

"When you first talked about being a plumber, you were so excited. You were talking about building an empire, about making a fortune, how the Mario brothers would go down in history... and now, we're selling a kid out to some fat old dude past his prime hoping he makes it. This whole plumbing thing hasn't gone the way you thought it would, did it?"

"...No. No it hasn't."

Luigi yawned. "Alright, let's ride this train and see where it goes. But you're the one who is gonna take him and pick him up."

"Good. Mac, we're getting up at 4:45. Be ready." Mario said. "And I want you to be respectful of this man. Not only he is a living legend, he's doing all of this for free, so you better give this your all, got it?"

Mac simply nodded.

"And if it doesn't work out, he can always be a plumber with us. So I guess it is low-risk." Luigi said. "We need to do more low-risk stuff often."

The three of them rode in silence for the rest of the way home, each lost to their own thoughts.


"I never sleep, 'cause sleep is the cousin of death. I lay puzzle as I backtrack to earlier times. Nothing's equivalent to the New York state of mind."