Wario of Diamond City
Threat Level: 4
Wario is an old rival of Mario's and as such should be treated as the kind of opponent that can reasonably go head to head with Mario. While known more for his greed then his heroics, Wario is not to be underestimated.
Wario's combat style appears to follow no specific form, and is carried by Wario's inhuman strength, stamina and durability. This makes Wario an unusual opponent, lacking any substantial amount of skill that's greater than the average street thug in terms of technique, and yet still is able to make up for it through his raw power and tenacity. Wario is also known for using his powerful flatulence to enhance his movement, as well as for offensive purposes. Wario's wafts appear to possess enough force to send people flying and to propel him through the air in short bursts. The smell is also reported to be nothing short of absolutely putrid. Lastly, it is worth mentioning Wario's powered up form, Wario Man. Wario is said to achieve this form by consuming an entire clove of garlic (which probably doesn't make him smell any better). Wario's strength, speed, durability and of course, wafting power are increased in this form.
I want to cover Wario's psychology for a moment here. Wario is known for his greed and has a long history of being stingy with his money and performing many schemes to obtain more wealth. Wario was previously known for his treasure hunting endeavors before settling down to start his own gaming company, WarioWare. The games are of surprising quality considering that making the most money possible is Wario's aim. Still, it may be possible to appeal to Wario's greed or distract him by threatening WarioWare in some way. Lastly, Wario is known to be one of the most ill tempered of all the Smashers and it may also be possible to use that to one's advantage by goading him. Use this as you will, but use it carefully. As stated before, Wario is not to be underestimated, and his technique and strategy are so abysmal to begin with that Wario getting angry is nearly a straight power up for him.
To counter Wario, it's a little difficult to offer suggestions due to his lack of conventional combat ability. I think attacking Wario with a weapon would at least give one a reach advantage since Wario already has to deal with a short stature and does not wield any weapons. Wario also does not use any projectiles and while he is skilled at closing the distance, projectile attacks may be of use. I would advise any fighter that battles Wario to consider beforehand if they have the stamina and durability necessary to fight against Wario, as any fight against him is going to be a protracted slug fest. Make sure to go into the fight well prepared and well rested, and try not to get caught in the wafting.
Act 9: Murphy
Chapter 3: Twilight River
"I'll see you later, Murphy!"
Murphy just waved with a big grin, and walked a little quickly towards the door that led to the Smasher's quarters. He quickly opened it and closed it behind him, a little too fast. Murphy took a deep sigh and walked over to a nearby bench to slump down on it. Space was very cramped within Summerstone Castle at the moment, but the Smashers had been assigned to one of the towers to stay in for the moment. He'd already said hello to all of his friends and had to do a lot of reassuring that the Smashers were up to the task.
Murphy stared out of the window at the side of the moat. The castle would keep them safe. But Murphy wasn't there to stay safe in a castle. He was there to drive the bad guys off his island. And that Sephiroth fellow had taken on 3 of the stronger Smashers, one of which was Mario Mario himself. And sure, Mario hadn't been going all out, and sure Sephiroth hadn't won, but the thing was he hadn't lost either. That wasn't exactly inspiring for Murphy. And the worst part was that everybody was counting on him and Carrie to save the day.
Sure, people had heard about the exploits of Mario and Luigi. They'd heard of the strength of DK and Bowser, and the fearlessness of K Rool, Daisy and Yoshi. But he was a hometown hero. These were people he personally knew. They were counting on him and Carrie specifically. And Murphy wasn't sure if he could win against this caliber of opponent. Sure, it was possible that he'd be able to win, but it was a feat itself to take on Mario and not get completely stomped.
Murphy leaned back against the wall, closed his eyes and took a several deep breaths, trying to calm his worried thoughts. It was only partially successful. He could hear the constant noise outside, even through the thick castle walls and doors. It was coming from everywhere. Echoing around, echoing below, echoing above.
And of course, there was still the matter of Carrie. How was he going to figure out what was going on with her?
Murphy stopped himself. He needed to meditate, his mind was wandering all over the place.
Murphy sat down in an attempt to better direct his meditation. However, almost as soon as he'd gotten himself settled, the door to the tower opened and heavy footfalls made their way through. The door slammed with a little more force then necessary. Eyes still closed, Murphy sniffed the air, smelling the scent of smoke.
"Hey Bowser."
"Oh hey! Didn't see you there, Murphy."
Bowser shuffled over some distance, and rummaged through a bag, most likely his own, for a moment.
"What are you looking for?" asked Murphy.
"This!" said Bowser. Murphy opened his eyes to see Bowser holding a large object. It was a photo frame, holding a photo of Bowser with his 8 children. "Gotta remember what you're fighting for!"
Murphy nodded. "Yeah."
"See? That's Junior, I'm sure you remember him. That's Lemmy, that's Iggy, that's Wendy, that's Morton, that's Ludwig, that's Roy, and that's Larry!" said Bowser, pointing to each Koopaling in the picture.
Murphy forced a smile.
"It's nice to see your kids, but shouldn't we be out there, fighting Sephiroth?"
"I mean, that's why we're here. We're gonna fight pretty boy again, right?"
"But I mean, actually fighting the guy. Stopping whatever plan he's got."
Bowser shrugged. "Mario's probably cooking something up some strategy right now. I've got some ideas too."
Murphy gave Bowser a look of surprise.
"Hey, don't count me out! I've made a few bids for galactic domination in my time! I'm no amateur!"
Murphy nodded. That at least stood to reason.
"Anyway, you gotta remember what you're fighting for! It's what gives you your fighting spirit!"
"Yeah, I guess."
"Huh? You don't seem too sure of that! This is ancient Koopa wisdom right here! This is the good stuff!"
Murphy tried to smile. "Yeah, I'm sure it is. Thanks!"
Bowser shook his head. "Something's eating at you. Listen. I'm not very good at this feelings thing, but however you do it, you gotta get that stuff out of ya. It's not gonna do you any good to let it sit and mess up your thinking!"
"I'm feeling the pressure, ok?"
"Since you're the hero everybody here knows, right?"
"Yeah."
"Uh huh. Yeah. Gotta get used to that, you know."
"Wow, thanks a lot."
"But you gotta do it. Listen. Let's say you are your sister were the only ones here. Would you still fight?"
"Of course. It's my home."
"So, what changed? The pressure didn't. The stakes didn't. The only difference that I see between that scenario and what we have here is that you've got more backup."
"You're saying I need to get my game face on?"
"Yeah, that's one way of saying it. However you do that, of course. Everybody has their own way. Ludwig starts playing one of his battle songs on his violin. Iggy does a bunch of flips and cartwheels. For a long time, I'd sit down and remember all the times Mario beat me and just imagine how much I wanted to punch him in that stupid 'stache of his! So, whatever, you gotta do, you're gonna want to do it now. You got a lotta your friends counting on you. Don't let 'em down."
"Easier said than done. But yeah, you're right."
There was a pause.
"You're having trouble doing it," said Bowser.
"Yeah," said Murphy.
Bowser scratched his chin.
"Hmm. What do you usually do?"
"Sit and meditate. Deep breathing."
"Yeesh, that's what you do? No wonder you're having a hard time, it's a zoo out there."
Murphy nodded. "You don't say."
Bowser thought for a moment.
"Maybe try something else? There's more than one way to do stuff, right?"
"I guess?"
"I have an idea! Try my way!"
"Your way?"
"Yeah! Get yourself amped up!"
"Amped up? Bowser, my style revolves around balance, not anger!"
"No, not anger! Though I suppose I do get mad to get amped up sometimes."
"Sometimes?"
"Ok, a lot of the time. But hey, that's not the only way to do it, you know!"
"All right, fine. I'll bite. What do I do?"
"Sit down and make yourself comfortable. Whatever you do."
Murphy sat down, cross legged, before settling himself comfortably.
"Ok. Now close your eyes. Think of everybody you're fighting for right now. Your mom, your dad, your sister, your favorite aunt or uncle, whoever else you're fighting for. Now picture them. This is what you're fighting for. None of the other stuff matters. You left the oven on at home, that's ok. You forgot to repay your friend 5 bucks for coffee last week, that doesn't matter now. Maybe you forgot to punch a picture of Mario this morning. That's unfortunate but we can let it slide. All the other crap means nothing. It's just you, focusing on what matters, and that's protecting your family, your friends, and everybody and everything you care about."
Murphy took a deep breath and began to focus. He thought about his mom and dad. They were here at the castle, and they had looked so relieved when they'd seen him and Carrie walking towards them.
He thought about Carrie, and how worried she'd been the entire flight. His mind flitted to trying to figure out what was up with Carrie, and why she wasn't talking to him so much, but he pushed it out of his mind. That wasn't going to help him in the upcoming fight. No, he was focusing on what he was defending. And his fighting spirit was starting to rise.
He thought about his home and their yoga studio. He thought about the sword dueling arena and the archery course. He thought about the golf course and the bowling alley and the runway and the harbor.
And his focus hardened. He knew exactly what he was going to do. He knew exactly what he needed to do.
Murphy opened his eyes.
"Yeah? That do it for ya?"
"Sorta, yeah. Wasn't expecting it to work so well. I probably need to practice more, but that was a pretty good first attempt."
Bowser cracked a grin. "See, I told ya it would work! Anyway, I'm gonna go see about getting a little grub. Wanna go with me?"
Murphy stood up. "Sure. Let's do that!"
Alph watched in the castle courtyard as the autopilot of his ship guided it carefully over the castle walls and slowly land itself next to the many floating battle platforms that sat arranged in the courtyard.
"You got everything you need, Mr. Smasher?" asked one of the techs.
"I do, thank you!" said Alph, somewhat nervously, before quickly scuttling over to his ship. He unlocked the door and stepped inside, before almost slamming the door shut.
Alph took a deep breath. It was far too noisy out there, there were too many people who thought he was some great warrior and there to save the day. He was no Mario. He wasn't a DK or Bowser. Crud, he wasn't even a Yoshi or a Wario. He was Alph. Part scientist, part ship mechanic and part pilot. There was a reason he was almost always doing the behind-the-scenes stuff.
Alph walked over to the passenger seats and slumped down in one of the chairs. He was safe in here, for the moment, within the walls of his spaceship.
This was pathetic. The other mechanically inclined Smashers that Alph tended to work with wouldn't be feeling like this. Fox and Falco wouldn't be this scared. Scrapper would be in his element here. Samus and Captain Falcon would probably be looking forward to the next fight. And Captain Olimar, even though he wasn't a fighter, would not be as scared as Alph was. But here he was by himself. Without any of his usual colleagues here to back him up.
What if he was just cannon fodder here? What if he was holding the other Smashers back just by being here?
Suddenly, there was a loud banging at the hatch.
"Alph? You in there? Open up!"
Alph quickly looked through the hatch's window. It was K Rool.
Alph scrambled to the hatch and fumbled with the lock. After a moment, he unlocked the hatch, and got the door open.
"Sorry about the delay," he mumbled, before stepping aside to let K Rool through.
"It's fine," said K Rool. "Just here to get my bag."
"Your bag?"
"Yeah. I took it out during the flight."
"Oh, of course."
K Rool walked over to where he'd been sitting and grabbed a sack.
"So, how'd you do in the fight earlier?" he asked.
Alph froze.
"Not good, eh?"
"I…. fighting isn't my forte…."
"Yeah. You're more of a scientist, right?"
"That's right."
"Huh. Well I guess you won't be turning the tide or anything."
Alph hung his head. K Rool knew he was useless. All of them knew he was useless.
"You got any science stuff to help us?" asked K Rool.
Alph paused.
"What?"
"You're a scientist. You got any science stuff that can help us here?"
"I… don't know. Not yet, anyways. We just got here after all," said Alph quickly.
"Well, let us know if you figure anything out, ok? I think you're the big brains here for this operation."
"Erm, yeah!"
K Rool nodded and reached into the sack and pulled out a bag of something.
"What's that?" asked Alph in surprise.
"Oh, dried squid strips. I brought them as snacks. Why, you want some?"
"Umm… I think I'm all right," said Alph.
K Rool nodded. "Yeah, it's not for everyone. I'll see you around then."
And with that, K Rool exited the hatch and closed it behind him.
Alph sighed and walked back to the cockpit and slumped back into his chair, before sealing the cockpit door and hitting the atmosphere button, sucking out the air from the room and replacing it with a mimicry of the helium atmosphere of Koppai.
Alph leaned back and turned on his ship's radio. He flipped through the channels, quickly skimming past a political talk show and the weather channel, before pausing on a channel with cheerful, upbeat music.
He sighed as the stress began to drain out of his mind. He stared at the walls of the castle through the cockpit window. It was a nice castle, made of a lightly colored stone that looked like limestone. Idly, Alph wondered where they'd sourced it from. He'd have to look at Wuhu Island's geological profile at some point.
Alph felt a hand on his leg. He looked down to see Jeff.
"Hey Jeff," said Alph, fondly ruffling the Blue Pikmin's flower.
Jeff peered up at him in concerned fashion.
"I'll be all right. Probably."
Jeff jumped up and down and pointed to the console.
"What is it, Jeff?"
Jeff pointed at the console animatedly.
"What about the console?" asked Alph curiously.
Jeff walked up to the console and pretended to be staring at it intently.
Suddenly, what Jeff was pantomiming clicked for Alph.
"You think I should read something? I don't think that's going to help that much," said Alph.
Jeff nodded, before making some slashing movements with his hands.
"You want me to read about Sephiroth?" asked Alph. "You mean from the villain catalogue?"
Jeff nodded vigorously.
Alph paused. That honestly wasn't a bad idea. Maybe there was something useful in Cloud's full report on Sephiroth? He'd only read the short version meant for quick overviews in the field.
Suddenly, K Rool's words rang through his mind. "Well, let us know if you figure anything out, ok? I think you're the big brains here for this operation."
That was it. There was something he could do!
"Great idea, Jeff," said Alph, as he booted the ship's computer.
He ruffled Jeff's flower fondly as the system warmed up. Jeff jumped up and down excitedly.
After quickly clicking through the files, Alph pulled up the full file Cloud had written, before pausing and going into a different file path and pulling up some of Captain Olimar's pikmin battle strategies. It wouldn't hurt for him to go over that again. If he was gonna have to be out near the fighting again, he needed to do better.
Alph cracked his knuckles. Time for his university perfected speedreading skills to shine.
On the battlements….
Wario grumbled to himself as he watched the horizon. The sun was setting over the horizon and the air had started to cool a little.
He'd barely gotten a crack at that edgelord they'd been fighting earlier. Between the back trenchcoat and his super nerd samurai sword or whatever that was, Wario was certain that he shopped at one of those stores that was fashionable and stuff. Bah, wasn't his problem.
But the fact that he hadn't even got to throw a punch at the guy was.
Wario liked to sell the fact that he'd "turned over a new leaf" and was a hero. And maybe, a small, often ignored corner in his heart truly wanted that to be the case. But the real reason Wario was here was what came with being a hero. More specifically, the good publicity. Boy oh boy, was the positive publicity from saving the world a couple times GREAT for sales. Wario Ware profits had nearly tripled after the Tabuu incident and had been slowly but steadily been growing higher. Sure, it didn't give him the same rush that finding a massive treasure trove did, but the numbers didn't lie. Consistent income from being Wario Ware's owner and CEO netted greater long-term profits.
So here Wario was. Out "saving the world". Not his favorite activity, but the world had to exist if he wanted to sell people things. And hey, he got to beat the crap out of people with this gig. Just like treasure hunting, minus the treasure. Wario would take it though, he enjoyed a good fight.
"Hey Mr. Smasher!" shouted somebody.
Wario turned to see a couple of Mii Force soldiers standing around an ammo crate on a cart. One of the wheels of the cart had come off its axle.
"Can you help us get this ammo crate to the tower over there?"
Wario looked over at the tower. It was about 40 meters away.
"Sure thing, pal!"
Wario grumbled inwardly as he walked over to the disabled cart. Couldn't these losers figure out how to change a wheel?
Wario picked up the ammo crate and began carrying it to the tower.
"Thank you, sir!"
"Anytime! Wahaha!"
It wasn't even that heavy. These were the guys defending this joint? Yeesh, no wonder they'd folded so quickly and scurried off to their castle. Though in a way, Wario should be thanking them. It gave him another positive publicity stunt.
Speaking of publicity stunts, this was his third PPI, or positive publicity interaction for the day. He just needed two more to reach his daily goal.
One of the Mii Force soldiers opened the door for him as he got close.
"Just put it on top of the pile, sir!"
Wario quickly spotted the pile of ammo crates and carefully placed the crate that he was carrying on top of the stack.
He turned and grinned at the soldier. "Ya need help with anything else?"
"Actually, sir, yeah. If you could follow me?"
Wario deflated on the inside as he followed the soldier. The stuff he did to try and earn a buck. He was totally counting this as today's fourth PPI.
In the keep of the castle….
Carrie walked over to the bed of an injured Mii Force soldier.
"Carrie! About time you showed up!" said the soldier.
"Come on, Marcus. You know I'd come back for this."
"And you brought Mario too!"
Carrie grinned but deflated on the inside. Sure, Mario was a big name hero, but it wasn't like the rest of them were helpless or anything.
"We did, yeah."
"You're gonna fight off the big sword guy?"
"You bet!" said Carrie.
"That's great! Sorry that I couldn't be out there to help you…." he trailed off.
"Don't worry. The Smashers will handle Sephiroth. You just stay here and get better, all right?"
"Sephiroth… I think I've heard that name before. Wasn't he trying to destroy some other planet or something?"
"Yeah. He's a bit of a psycho."
"Hah, I bet you guys are the best to take him on. I mean, me and the boys did what we could…." the soldier trailed off.
"You did your best. And now we'll do ours, ok?" said Carrie.
"Yeah."
"Good. I need to get going, but it's good to see you're doing all right."
"You too! Get him good!"
"We will!" said Carrie as she stood up. She walked over to where DK and Yoshi were standing by the door.
"You finish your rounds?" she asked.
"Yeah!" said Yoshi.
"Thank you. I really appreciate the fact that you're willing to do this."
"It improves morale! It's the least we can do. Having low morale is like eating a green banana! It brings your mood down and dampens your fighting spirit!" said DK.
Carrie paused in confusion, but Yoshi just shrugged.
"Anyway, where are we going to next?" asked Yoshi.
"That was the last place I planned on going, so I guess we're going back to our quarters next," said Carrie.
"Sounds good to me!" said DK cheerily.
The three made their way through the corridors of the castle. Several people moved out of their way and waved to Carrie as she passed. She smiled and waved back.
Eventually, they came to the door leading up to the tower the Smashers had been assigned. As they closed the door behind them, Carrie took a deep breath.
"You doing all right?" asked Yoshi.
"Just mad. My friends and everybody I know is in the crossfire. This idiot just made it personal, and I'm going to make him pay."
DK nodded. "That's the spirit! But don't be too reckless out there."
"I'll be fine. I saw what Sephiroth can do. But this is my island, my home. All of you are Smashers and we're glad you're here, but Murphy and I need to do this. We need to be here."
"I understand the sentiment," said DK. "Yesterday, the bad guys were in my backyard. We'll back you as best we can."
Carrie grinned. "Thanks. We're gonna need all the help you can give out there."
A few hours later…..
"All right, everybody," said Mario. "I called this meeting to put together a plan for how to deal with Sephiroth. Do we have any ideas as to how to proceed?"
Murphy glanced around the room. The Smashers were seated on various benches and chairs in a circle around a table they'd moved into the center of the room.
Alph raised his hand. "I did some research, and I have some things to say that might be helpful."
Murphy raised an eyebrow. The little pilot wasn't usually this talkative. Now he was curious.
"Go ahead, Alph," said Mario.
"Ok. So, I went through Cloud's entire file on Sephiroth. Not the short one I pulled up in the field, but the complete version."
"Did ya find anything good?" asked Bowser.
"I think so. First of all, Cloud says that Sephiroth was formerly a SOLDIER, a super solider for the Shinra Corporation. He had a spotless record up until the day he went up against Cloud."
"Ol' paddle sword kicked his butt?" asked K Rool.
"Not the first time, but eventually he did. Sephiroth had a very high success rate, but it seems like Cloud was very much his match. He disappeared after AVALANCHE defeated and dismantled Shinra Corp. It's kinda a long story but that's the short of it. I didn't think anything from that part of his story would really help us," said Alph nervously.
DK nodded and flashed a grin. "We trust your judgement, Alph. I'm sure that you would have noticed if there was something critically important there."
"Was there anything else that did seem important?" asked Yoshi.
Alph nodded. "There were a few other things. One was the fact that Cloud keeps mentioning how arrogant Sephiroth is," said Alph. "Though take this with a grain of salt. It seems like there's a LOT of bad blood between the two. Sephiroth killed one of Cloud's friends that he was really close to, and Cloud obviously smeared Sephiroth's otherwise perfect record pretty badly. But from what we saw on the field, I think it's not too much of stretch to say that he's got an ego, even if it doesn't frequently show. Other than that, Sephiroth is consistently known for his professionalism. As best as I can tell from what's written here, it seems like there's one exception to his code of conduct, and that's Cloud. Like I said earlier, those two really have it out for each other."
"Yeah, no kidding," snorted Bowser.
"But I think the point is that he's probably underestimating us. Other then maybe Mario," said Luigi.
"That's right. Maybe not Bowser and K Rool either since they fought him earlier with Mario," said Alph.
Daisy grinned. "His loss, then!"
"I'll take whatever I can get," said Yoshi.
"Did you find anything else?" asked Mario.
"I found a section on Sephiroth's sword style," said Alph.
"Where'd you find that?" asked Mario.
"After the 3 and half pages of the plan to spike Sephiroth's shampoo with hair loss chemicals, and before the part about adding sand to his sword polish to screw up his sword," said Alph. "When I said Cloud was biased, I meant it. Fun fact, Sephiroth apparently uses an entire bottle of shampoo every time he washes his hair."
Everybody shared a laugh.
Mario chuckled. "Ah, that's what I get for only skimming the document. That was a very interesting segment, I'll give you that."
Alph grinned, and said, "But anyway, Sephiroth is a cautious fighter, but once he figures out his opponent, he switches to a hyper offensive style. This style balances strength and speed, and his sword gives him the ability to outrange a lot of opponents. Though Cloud says that his defense isn't anything special, and that he's been able to win by battering his way through his guard. In other words, Sephiroth's defense is carried by his offense," said Alph.
DK nodded. "That makes sense. I bet that big sword of his isn't super maneuverable up close and personal. We just need to get inside his guard. His style is like a durian. Spiky on the outside, but if you can get to the inside, it's as soft as a banana."
"And how does this help us, exactly?" asked K Rool.
"Um, just to give an idea of how to defeat Sephiroth, I guess," said Alph.
Mario nodded. "Which will be a crucial part for taking down the bad guys. I did some scanning with my R-47 scanner. It looks like his Subspace Portal is set up inside the volcano."
"That makes sense. There's a large cavern in the volcano. There's a hiking path that goes through the cavern, but nobody goes up there on a regular basis. It was probably the perfect place for Sephiroth to launch a surprise attack from," said Carrie.
"What is the area like?" asked Mario.
"The mountain is pretty steep on the outside, but there are paths that go into the heart of the mountain. They're similar to the ones we took here. Other than the incline, it's not too bad to get to," said Murphy.
"I see," said Mario. "So, the biggest issue is still Sephiroth and his forces. Did you find anything else useful, Alph?"
"Two more things. First, it doesn't seem like Sephiroth uses much in the way of projectiles, he's basically just a swordsman. Secondly, it seems like Sephiroth's SOLDIER training includes hand to hand combat training. So just be careful when you get up close and personal, ok?"
"Sure. But I'm still more worried about that sword for the record," said K Rool.
Mario rubbed his moustache thoughtfully. "Does anybody have any thoughts as to what we should do?"
Bowser raised his hand. "I say we hit his portal quickly. That portal is where he's getting his troops from, and its also his escape route. If we attack that, he'll be forced to come fight us. And since it's near a volcano, I'll have an advantage. Lava's my element, you know!"
Mario nodded. "I agree. I don't think that there's much more to do then launch an assault on the portal. And if we can cut off Sephiroth's portal before he escapes, we stand a much better chance of capturing him. I say we rest for the evening and attack the portal tomorrow morning. We've had a long hike and two battles, so I'm pretty sure we're all tired. What do you all say to that?"
"Sounds like a plan to me!" said DK with a thumbs up.
"I can work with that," said Carrie.
"Let's do it!" said Bowser.
Mario nodded. "All right. We rest for tonight and move out tomorrow morning. I think that's all for now, do what you gotta do to prepare for tomorrow, ok? Meeting dismissed."
In the dining hall…..
Luigi smiled as the microwave that he was standing in front of let out a cheerful ding. He opened the microwave and let the pleasant smell of his previously frozen dinner waft to his nose. Chicken Parmesan always put a smile on a face. Even if this one was most likely processed to oblivion and back.
With a spring in his step, Luigi sauntered back to the table reserved for the Smashers, where Mario and Daisy sat, eating. Mario appeared to be eating a heated frozen dinner ravioli, while Daisy was eating a pre-packaged curry dish.
Luigi sat down and quickly tucked into his meal along with Mario and Daisy. It wasn't bad. Could have been better, but it could have been worse too.
"Man, this is gonna be interesting," said Daisy.
"How so?" asked Mario.
"I get to go with the heroes to save the day this time!"
Luigi rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Now that you mention it, yeah, I think this is the first time you've gone with us to save the world!"
"Yeah! It's always you two off on some epic adventure. Sometimes Peach is with you, and other times she's the one kidnapped, but at least she gets to tag along sometimes! Why do you never invite me?"
"I mean, we're usually in a rush," said Luigi. "We'd love to have you backing us more often, but we'd be losing precious time if we waited for you to fly out to us, even if you were ready to go immediately."
"Ugh, Sarassaland is so boring," groaned Daisy. "Nothing interesting ever happens. I guess Bowser doesn't like deserts or something."
"I mean, isn't that a good thing?" asked Luigi. "It's a good thing that Peach is so good with finances, when Bowser used to invade the Mushroom Kingdom on a regular basis, the repair costs were staggering. Half of our heroism was doing pro bono plumbing repairs!"
"Yeah, but things get boring after a while. Why do you think I go to every kart racing and sports event you guys invite me to? A girl's gotta have some excitement in her life!" said Daisy.
Mario just grinned. "We're happy to have you, Daisy. It's-a always nice to have another person from back home backing us."
"You know it! We're gonna clobber that Sephiroth guy in no time!" said Daisy.
Luigi scratched the back of his head. "It's not always that easy Daisy. Like the time we…."
"Don't-a worry, Luigi! We have more than just the two of us, Bowser and Peach. We'll be just fine," said Mario.
"Yeah, I guess I'm too used to only going in with just you," said Luigi bashfully. "Things always went better when we had more people, like Yoshi, Bowser, Peach or Toad."
"I mean, we already have Yoshi and Bowser, and we should be ok with those two alone," said Mario.
Luigi chuckled. "I getcha, bro. It's just that we used to go in so undermanned all the time, it's a miracle we accomplished what we did!"
"Maybe it is, but we made it. Mamma mia, remember that time you got trapped in that Ghost Galaxy while we were looking for Rosalina's power stars?" asked Mario.
"Oh yeah! Man, I wish I'd brought my Poltergust!" said Luigi.
"It would have been handy, that's for sure!"
"See! This is what I mean! You have all these adventures under your belt and I've never done anything!" said Daisy.
Mario nodded, "Well, you're on one now. You think you can handle it?"
"Of course, I can handle it!" said Daisy. "I wouldn't be here if I couldn't!"
Luigi grinned. "That's the spirit!"
Mario grinned back. "All right. Though that reminded me, I want to go over some thoughts I had about battling Sephiroth again….."