Mario was busy taking people's phone calls about their plumbing problems.
"All right, Mrs. Novak. How does tomorrow at 1:30 sound? Ok? Ok! See ya then. Bye." Mario hung up the phone and went back to his favorite TV show and leftover pizza. He nearly always watched 'Who Wants to be Loser?' even though he wasn't good at the puzzles. Luigi always got them, thought Mario sadly. He had never been apart from his brother for this long, and he was always looking out for him. After all, he was Luigi's legal guardian after their parents died. He and Luigi had been through a lot together. I mean, they discovered a freakin' alternate dimension through a pipe, for cryin' out loud!! Ahem. Once again, I have to apologize.
The pipe now resided in their private office. Going through it meant fighting and supposedly defeating King Bowser many times. It also meant rescuing the Princess more than once. Keeping a secret like that and keeping a business was hard work. Mario shook his head, and said to himself, "Oh well. Four more days till Luigi comes home." He smiled as he envisioned how the diploma would look on the wall. A sound from the private office broke his thoughts.
He turned down the volume on the TV and raced to his room, getting the biggest plunger imaginable. He walked to the door of the office. That's funny, he thought. How could anybody get in there? He slowly opened the door, jumped in the room, and found -----no one. Must be a rat...Just as he lowered his weapon, a blow from behind rendered him unconscious.
Ok, I lied; there was someone there. What are you gonna do about it? A maniacal laugh, and someone stepped forward from the office corner. "Tonight's puzzle is: How do you fool the dumber plumber?" snarled a voice from the shadows. But his eyes gave away his identity as the demented Wario.
Back at Northern School of Plumbing...
Luigi woke up early the next morning. He hadn't slept very well on the floor, but he wanted to courteous to Ali. She was still sleeping. "I don't blame her. It's 4:30." Looking at her, he realized how beautiful she was. She had short black hair that barely reached her shoulders, and her skin was completely anti-tan. He wished he could see her dark green eyes one last time before he left, but he didn't want to wake her.
Luigi got up quietly and folded up the blankets and set them on a chair. He managed to find some paper and pencil and wrote Ali a thank-you note. He left her 'place' and stole into his dorm. He got into his bed and tried to sleep, but his thoughts were focused on Ali.
"Luigi?" Conner asked sleepily.
"Uh, yeah?"
"Where were you last night? I tried asking Scotts, but he gave me a black eye."
Luigi sucked in his breath sharply. "Oooh, that doesn't look good, buddy."
"So? Where were you?"
"I, uh, had to spend the night somewhere else. Real bad."
"Well, you're not much for details. Come on! Tell me."
"Awe, geez....Scotts locked me in a broom closet, ok? The one in the hall where nobody goes. Happy?"
"That stinks...but why was that so bad?"
"Sigh. I'm, kinda....... claustrophobic."
Conner stared. "You? Claustrophobic?!" he exclaimed.
"Shhh!!" Luigi whispered sharply. "I don't want the whole school to know!"
"Sorry. That's just really hard for me to believe."
"Well, believe it! Just try not to tell anyone, or I'll have to shove you in a closet, too", Luigi answered as he got under the covers of his bed.
"You spent the whole night there?"
"No, I spent the night with the janitor, we had real good time," Luigi sighed.
"Uh, Luigi, I can't help but think that was wrong."
"Awe, Conner, not Howard! The other one......Ali", he said dreamily.
"Wow, you got lucky."
"Come on, it wasn't like that," objected Luigi. Sure, he liked the ladies, but he was not one to go too far.
"Sure, sure," grinned the younger plumber.
"Conner, don't even go there, ok? She trusts me."
"Ok, ok. I'll believe you......but are you sure?" "Goodnight, Conner."
"You too," Conner said as he drifted back to sleep.
The day had finally come: the exam of drills. The cadets were taken class by class to a special obstacle field used only for exams. It had many things on it similar to the regular drills field, only much more difficult. The final obstacle was called 'Big Runner'. It was a huge maze of normal sized pipes, but it was at least 12 feet high and wide. Once water was turned on, it needed patching badly, so the object was to fix the monstrous construction as fast and as best as they could. It was every plumber's nightmare. On the way to the field from breakfast, Luigi saw Scotts. The burly man's face curled into a sneer.
"Surprised to see that you came out alive," he said menacingly.
"Surprised to see that you even showed up here. I thought you would get scared and run home," replied Luigi. Scotts look of anger suddenly changed to a cynical smile. "Hm. You know, it's a funny thing. I was thinking last night........not only do you screw pipes in your free time, you screw garbage girls too!" At this statement, Luigi was all over Jamison. A circle formed around them in the hall as they both threw punches and kicks at each other. Scotts managed to give Luigi a punch that made him double onto the ground just before a staff member could break it up. Which was a good thing for Luigi, because the teacher sided with him thanks to his 'condition'. Neither of them got in any real trouble on account of this was the last day of exams, and this teacher didn't have the heart to expel them. As Scotts stalked off, Harper and Conner helped Luigi up from the floor.
"Uhhgg," moaned Luigi. "That guy sure packs a punch."
"You're telling me", replied Conner.
"Are you sure you're alright, lad?" asked Harper. "We want you to be a-o-k for the drills today "
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine." Luigi stopped. "Conn, what happened to your other eye?" He held the man's face in his hands in a fatherly waiy, scrutinizing the injury.
"Ahhh, well, that's kind of how Scotts knew about you and her."
"He beat it out if you?"
"Yeah, he seemed really ticked when he found out you weren't in the closet this morning. I'm really sorry, Luigi, I just told him where you spent the night, nothing else, honest."
"No sweat. I'm just sorry that you're Jamison's punching bag."
"I don't remember it being quite so big and.....frightening," said George in horror. Everyone else agreed whole-heartidly.
They didn't have much time to sink it in. Leaks blew the whistle, and they were off. Luigi excelled in every obstacle, or at least HE thought so. And then, the moment of truth came. He was face to face with 'Big Runner'. Luigi took a deep breath and set off to work. He attacked every crack and corner armed with his wrench and plumber's tape.
Leaks was watching him like hawk. As soon as there was not a drip to be seen, a faucet came loose off on end, and water sprayed out. Luigi panicked. He hurriedly fixed the faucet, but forgot to lower the pressure. Big Runner was shaking and convulsing, and Leaks was bent down, critically inspecting Luigi's work.
Everyone else noticed the commotion, but somehow Leaks was totally oblivious. Harper called out, "Everybody run! She's gonna blow!" That's when Luigi realized his mistake. He took cover with the others just as the explosion took place. BOOM. It seemed to shake the whole university. Water and pipe fragments flew everywhere. Leaks thin voice could be heard among the soggy destruction.
"Mario.... Luigi". As Luigi slowly stood up, he heard Riley say, wide-eyed, "Tough break, kid "
Leaks removed himself from the wreckage, and Luigi smiled faintly until he saw Leaks face. The Lieutenant spluttered angrily.
"Pack. Out...... Now."
*Author's Notes*: There! i finally updated. Aren't you thrilled? I know I am. Even though this stupid chapter will get me jack squat reviews.......oh, I'm sorry! Did i say that outloud? *bats eyes innocently*
But anyhow, tell me what you think. Are you excited? Bored? Wish you had never read it? Wish you had written it? Well, too bad, buckos! Cuz it's mine, ALL MINE! *maniacal laughter* I like that word...maniacal. He-he. Obviously, these characters aren't mine, they are Ninty's. But the story is mine. You want a story plot, go get it off the cracker jack box.