Welcome To Mario Kart, Part 6
Only Cats Have Nine Lives, Don't They?"Peach! We have to be ready to go in fifteen minutes!"
The sound of Luigi's voice was chilling—it sounded so much like Mario's. The last thing in the world she wanted was to be rude by not answering him, but she couldn't help it this time, because she really didn't feel like talking to anyone and couldn't stand looking at herself in her gold-trimmed cheval mirror. How could she love herself on this day? Mario was dead and she was more angry at him dying on her than she was at whomever was responsible….because he had access to more than enough invincible stars and one up mushrooms and coins that he should have lived forever! But then Peach was just as angry at herself, for she should have brought him back with her own powerful spell of resuscitation, but there was a time limit for bringing someone back to life even in the Mushroom Kingdom, and Peach had been unconscious so long that by the time she woke up, Mario was a good ten minutes past that limit.
Eventually the princess took a long deep breath and sadly looked at her reflection in the mirror, as she was not dressed in the Royal Princess gown, instead draped from head to toe in black.
On the other hand, Luigi seemed to be taking this well despite the fact that he would have to continue defending the Mushroom Kingdom against evil and protecting its dear princess from the massive claws of King Bowser Koopa without the added skills of his older brother. Peach didn't want to let the thought cross her mind, but she had to consider Luigi's feelings for Daisy and that they would be married one day soon, which meant he would probably spend his time being a dedicated husband and would not have time for anything else.
"Peach? Are you okay? Is there anything I can get for you?"
She saw Luigi standing in the hallway as she left her room, and she forced a half-smile. "I'm fine. Thank you."
"Toad is ready for us downstairs." he said. "Here, let me help you with that."
Peach stood very still as Luigi's hands reached for her black veil and gently pulled it over her eyes after she had managed to get a good glimpse of how nice he looked in his suit and tie—handsome, calm, holding himself together so well.
"There," he said. "Now, we'll be just fine."
….no…I'll never be fine again…
Nothing in her life had been devastating as this. Peach took Luigi's hand and went with him downstairs where they met with Toad and all of them were about to walk outside, say a few words to the Mushroom Kingdom press, and give thanks to the people who had come to grieve with them and pay their final respects to their fallen hero, Mario, when suddenly Geno came running in from the kitchen.
"I'VE FOUND IT! It was in the Mushroom flour! I found several other wigglers in there too! Princess, someone planted them in your food! I think we can find who did it. All we need is to find the source! …And I think I know exactly where it is."
Peach was so stunned by…well…just about everything, that she couldn't say a word, but Luigi, he livened right away.
"You know?" he asked anxiously. "You do know where it came from?"
"Well, I don't think you'd find it so hard to believe if I told you about a guy who raises a whole farm of them. He's even sold them to Bowser…I guess you already know that—"
Luigi squinted like Clint Eastwood playing Dirty Harry, and snarled, "Bowser."
"No, it's not him." Geno said quickly. "He's bought them before but he didn't do this. I'm pretty certain whoever did this had access to dozens of those worms, and the only person I can think of right off hand is Wario. He's the one who owns the wiggler farm."
Luigi now had an angry scowl on his face along with a sudden strong determination. "You are right. Knowing Wario has done this….it doesn't surprise me at all. Now we go after him, and after that, we change some things about the races….just to make sure no one else gets killed."
"You're continuing the races?" asked Geno.
Peach raised her veil in shock.
"Yes." said Luigi. "We continue. Mario would've wanted us to do that and I see no reason to stop now just because of one deranged person. As a matter of fact, I see this as a new reason to keep the races going, in dedication and honor to my brother's life."
"Yeah." Geno agreed. "I guess you're right, Luigi. I didn't really think about it that way, but knowing Mario, he would've wanted us to go on. You want me to contact Yoshi, D.K. and Bowser to let them know about this?"
Luigi nodded. "Sure. I'll go out there and talk to the press and get the fans behind us!" He looked back at Peach. "You stay here, Princess. I'll take care of this right now. I'll come get you when they're ready."
Toad went up to Peach after Luigi was gone.
"So, what do we do now, Princess?"
She looked toward the doors, then Geno, then Toad. "Call the driver, I'm going out."
"What?" said Geno.
"But Princess—" said Toad.
"Call him!" she demanded.
Toad and Geno were both silent after seeing how upset she was, and it was Toad who went to call Princess Toadstool's personal Royal Mushroom Kingdom coach.
"How will you get away, Princess…I mean, with all those people out there?" asked Geno.
Peach had a sinister look that others rarely saw. "Do you honestly think I would let myself become trapped in this castle and not have a way out?"
"Ah, a secret passage."
"Of course." she shrugged while checking something in her purse and straightening her long black gloves.
"And so where?" asked Geno.
"Now, if I told you, it wouldn't be a secret." she said slyly.
A few moments later Toad came to escort her back upstairs, and Geno saw nothing more than the doors closing behind them.
Meet The Course GhostIt was strange how nothing looked the same in Mushroom Kingdom. The once fluffy clouds were kind of flat and the perfectly green trees looked pale and dry. Koopa Troopa Beach didn't seem so sunny after all. Peach couldn't even stand to watch as her coach passed through the rolling hills of Kalimari Desert.
She sat back daydreaming until finally arriving to the place where she insisted on going even though Toad warned her not to, and even the driver tried convincing her to let him turn around and take her back to the castle. She refused to listen. She wanted to go to Mario Raceway, and she wouldn't let them change her mind. The sky shuttle had landed before they arrived, and her custom pink kart had been dropped off at the track as she had requested.
"Princess?" Toad was so very confused.
"If we're continuing with the races, I need to practice." she said, and without anything more, Peach went to the track and got into her kart, started it up and watched Lakitu's signal go from red to blue, and she was off! She blasted like a rocket from the starting line with a mushroom and cut corners, plowed through the grass, skidding around the tight curves and shot through the tunnel at more than eighty miles an hour! She didn't really know what it was that made her feel like doing this, but suddenly was a desire to win like never before! She raced around that track for three full laps, cutting curves and power sliding and using the two remaining mushrooms, and crossed the finish line with a ZOOOOM!
"Wow! One minute, twenty-nine seconds!" said Lakitu as he floated around Peach. "That's a real record. Now, I have a friend who would like to meet you."
She had no idea of what he was talking about but followed him back to the starting line again, and she looked up at him, wondering what was next.
"Look, Princess…" he said. "…Beside you."
Peach looked to her right and couldn't believe what she was seeing or that it could've been real. "Mario?" she said faintly. Stunned, yet alert.
It was Mario's red kart and his cap and it was indeed him, but he was not really there, he was a ghost—somewhat like Lakitu—she saw him, yet could see right through him as well! And as she wondered if he could hear her speak his name or if he could see her, she quickly realized Lakitu's signal going from red to yellow and knew there was no time to try talking to Mario because the signal went blue and she saw his ghost take off at the starting line so she put the pedal to the metal and shot forward, making those tight curves and plowing through the grass again just to catch up with her dearly departed hero, and she managed to catch up and steer her kart next to his as they came around the curve in front of the green tunnel, then came quite a paranormal experience when Mario's ghost passed right through her and she called out to him but he just kept going without even looking back. It was not like Peach to give up so she kept racing, trying her best to catch him again but never did, and as she approached the last curve on the third lap she saw Mario's ghost cross the finish line ahead of her, then he vanished.
"What's wrong, Princess?"
Peach heard Toad's voice nearby after she had stopped on the finish line and held her hands over her eyes so no one would see her crying.
"You did really good!" Toad added joyously, being his usual self. "If you drive like that against everybody else, we'll never have a chance!"
She lowered her hands and looked at him, and she knew by the look on his face that he was surprised to see the tears in her eyes starting to run down her cheeks.
"Toad, did you see anyone else racing with me?"
"Huh? …Uh….No."
"Are you sure? You didn't see any ghost?"
"A ghost? Lakitu's the only ghost we have around here, and we all see him when he wants us to. Other than that, you were the only one I saw. I think we should go back to the castle, Princess. Maybe you should get some rest."
Following Toad's advice, Peach turned off the engine and got out of her kart, then allowed him to escort her back to the Royal Coach, and they returned to her castle.
Skyscraper (Police Headquarters)
"I do-a nothing! Why did you bring me here? I do-a nothing!"
Wario yelled to the tops of his lungs while struggling to break free of the two toad agents that held him.
"Everybody's accusing me of killing Mario! I would have loved to kill him! I wish I had…how about that! I think you should be bringing that pretty little Peach Toadstool down here! She's the one who killed him with her own two hands! She just wants me out of the race so she can win! But I will not be defeated! I'm Wario! I'm-a gonna win!"
"Yeah," said Sergeant Toad. "Sure thing. Like we haven't heard that one before….Book'um boys."
It was two o'clock in the morning and bitterly cold outside which was unusual for the Mushroom Kingdom no matter what the season—except for a few places, such as Frappe Snowland and Sherbet Land. Citizens stocked firewood and huddled around their hearths to stay warm on this night. Whipped hot chocolate and espresso(a Kingdom staple taken from the tallest part of Choco Mountain and packaged by a famous toad person named Mushy Faldez), flew off store shelves by the dozens and kept children happy, parents full of energy, and just about everyone else completely satisfied with the wonderful aroma in the air.
Even Wario was in the middle of drinking a tall cup of espresso when the agents pounded on his door and threatened to knock it down if he didn't open up.
"I am an elite member of the Brotherhood of Latte Guardsmen!" he shouted. "You take me, you will hear from my brothers!"
The toad agents totally ignored his threat, then picked him up and threw him in the paddy wagon.
"Now look, you can make this hard for yourself or easy," said Sergeant Toad after Wario was brought to the station. "First of all, I want you to tell us how those wigglers got into Princess Toadstool's mushroom flour."
"I don't know." Wario shrugged.
"You don't, eh? You just happen to be the only person in Mushroom World who has a wiggler farm."
Wario maintained his innocence. "Well….uh….yes….I…uh…I do…But I don't know a thing about how they got into her mushroom flour! Those critters…they get around but not so far away from the farm, you know. I keep them all safely locked up, so they can not get out unless I let them out."
"So you've got a key?"
"No, no key. A code in my head that nobody else knows. So you see, it is impossible that they were my wigglers. I told you before, you need to look at someone else. …Bowser! I've sold them to him before! He's always wanted to kill Mario and now was his chance to do it then get you to blame me! I am innocent! You will see when the wiggler is dissected, that it did not come from my farm!"
It took a few hours to test the wiggler's identity at the Mushroom Kingdom's Police Crime Lab, and sure enough, it did not have the same genetic make up as those on Wario's farm. And when the investigation turned to Bowser, again the trail went cold.
"Nothing." said Sergeant Toad to Luigi a few days later. "We can't find where these things came from, and I think the princess has started losing hope that this thing'll ever be solved. Toad tells me she's doing pretty badly."
"Oh? I've been in Sarasaland for the past two weeks." Luigi explained. "I have yet to speak to her."
"Sarasaland? Well, that place is really growing, I hear. Actually I think a lot of people from the Kingdom are moving there. It's just not the same without Mario…and you, of course. There hasn't been a council meeting in weeks and the princess hasn't even come out to give her monthly address to the people. I think she's in her final days of ruling here, Luigi. There's even been talk about a public vote to remove her, and believe me, I don't want that to happen anymore than you would, but now some people are saying that she really did kill Mario for a reason I can't believe. They say she did it to get him out of the way, can you believe that?"
Luigi, curious of where this was headed, looked confused. "Get him out of the way? Of what?"
"Not of what….for who." Sergeant Toad answered. "You." he then said. "People are saying the princess knocked off Mario because she figured it would force you to take over where he left off, if you get my drift."
"Wait….wait just one minute.." Luigi walked around the small room that was often used for interrogations. "Peach….I mean, Princess Toadstool? Kill Mario, for me?"
Sergeant Toad got up from the edge of the table where he had been sitting and raised a brow of suspicion at Luigi. "What'd you call her? Peach? Do you usually call our princess by her first name?"
"Well….uh…" Luigi stuttered like Wario did before him. "The Princess and I…I mean….us….a-me and my brother have been friends for a long time, you see. I meant no disrespect by calling her that, and it certainly has nothing to do with any kind of personal affections between me and her. Peach..I mean Princess Toadstool, is like sister to me."
"And so you once dated your sister? Is that what you're telling me?"
Luigi was instantly angered. "We dated, yes! For a short while! We made a mutual agreement to split up and have been friends ever since. …Mama-mia, I can't believe you are actually trying to accuse the princess of murdering my brother just because you can't find any good leads."
"Oh? Well maybe she wasn't working alone, Luigi. Just maybe you were working together—"
"That's it!" Luigi slapped the palms of his hands down on the table then turned around in a hair-pulling rage. "I've had enough of this! I'll get a lawyer and sue this entire department for slander! I'll have every one of your badges!"
"Yeah," said Sergeant Toad with displeasure. "You guys really think you're slick, don'tcha. …Book'um boys."
(Will Sergeant Toad ever find out Whodunit? Or will he lock up the entire Mushroom Kingdom? Will Peach…uh Princess Toadstool…be escorted from her castle in handcuffs? Will Luigi get out of jail in time to marry Daisy? Or will she accuse him of still being in love with the Mushroom Kingdom Princess and dump him? And will we ever see Super Mario 128 for the GameCube?* Your guess's good as mine…)
*the above was written in Dec 2001