Chapter 5: A First-Hand Look
A small glowing object picked it way among the garbage in the alleyway, wondering where it was. Hearing some sort of noise, the glow moved towards the pile of junk from where it emanated. As it moved closer, the sound grew louder. Suddenly, something shot out of the pile, and the glow hid behind a garbage can that stuck out of the debris. Mike took a few thankful gasps of air and wiped the grime out of his eyes. "Man," he commented to no one in particular, "that's three times I've been out in the last 24 hours! You'd think I'm starting to like it." He looked around and noticed something sticking to his shoulder. He brushed it off, saying, "That better be a candy bar." Mike checked his watch, which read 1:43 P.M. "Man," he said, "I've been out for almost twelve hours! I better find my stuff." He started rooting through the garbage, looking for his things. The glow inched closer to Mike, wanting a better look at this newcomer. Mike kept digging, oblivious to the stranger approaching him. "Ah-ha! Here it is!" Mike said, finding his duffel bag. He wiped off his face with an old rag he found. He got up and turned around to leave when he found himself face-to-face with a glowing, floating light bulb. "AHHH!" they both screamed, and they backed away from each other. The bulb dove back behind the trashcan, and Mike stumbled back a few steps and tripped over a metal pole. "Oww…" Mike moaned, rubbing where he had hit his head. "At least I didn't pass out this time." Feeling bad, the bulb floated over to Mike. "I'm sorry, mister, I really am," it replied in a childish voice.
"Don't worry about it," Mike replied, sitting up and rubbing his eyes.
"I've just never seen a human up-close before. I'm really sorry, mister," the bulb continued.
"Well, I've never seen a talking, floating light bulb before, so the surprise is mutual."
"That's good, mister. I hoped you weren't mad at me."
"Mad? Why would I be mad? By the way, what's your name?"
"My name's Joules."
"Joules? I guess that makes sense. Hmm, I wonder…" Mike mused.
"What's your name?" Joules asked, interrupting Mike's thought.
"Me? My name's Mike. I'd shake your hand, but that might be a problem."
Joules laughed. "You're funny," he said.
"At least someone from this world appreciates my humor."
"You mean… You're from Earth?" Joules asked in astonishment.
"Yep. Born and bred."
"Wow. Not only do I meet a human for the first time, but he's also from Earth! Wait until Mom hears about this!" Jules exclaimed.
"Your mom? What's her name?"
"My mom? Her name is Watt."
"Watt?! THE Watt!?" Mike asked excitedly.
"Yep," Joules said, literally glowing with pride, "The Watt that helped Mario beat Bowser when he stole the Star Rod!!"
"Quiet, kid. In this place, that isn't something to yell about."
"Oh yeah. Sorry."
"Don't worry, just keep it down. Where is your mom, anyway?" Mike asked.
"Oh, she's at home."
"Home? Wouldn't Bowser want to capture her because she helped Mario?"
"Oh no, she's too smart. She just says that she was young and impressionable, and Mario had a bad influence on her," Joules said, glowing again.
"Very clever," Mike said, impressed. "Well, I guess we need to get you home, right?"
"But I don't know how to get home from here. I'm lost," Joules said sadly.
"That makes two of us." Mike turned and started walking out of the alley. "We might as well get going anyway. Maybe someone knows how to get you to your home."
Joules flew in front of him and said, "Wait! You can't go out there! We don't get humans in this area that often. Any patrol would pick you up for sure."
"Good point. I guess a disguise is in order then. We should be able to make something out of the stuff here," Mike said, motioning to the piles of garbage. The two of them started rooting around the stacks of junk, looking for anything that may be of use. Finally, Mike stumbled across an old snow saucer. "Bingo!" he exclaimed. Joules moved in for a look at what Mike was making. Mike took an old piece of rope and tied the two handles on the saucer together, so it made a semicircle around Mike's duffel bag. Mike took the duffel and placed it on his back. He cinched the strap so the bag fit sung against his back. He then took his plastic poncho out and draped it over his shoulders and the rest of his body. "How do I look?" he asked Joules.
"Kinda like a koopa, but something's wrong…" he replied.
"Ah. I know," Mike said. He hunched his shoulders and slouched. He also put the hood of the poncho over his head, hiding most of it. "Good thing Mom got this two sizes too big," Mike commented.
"Now that's a decent costume," Joules said.
"Let's go," Mike said, and they walked out onto the street. "Man, what a dump," he said.
"It all happened after Bowser took over," Joules said.
"How was Bowser able to take over? Did Mario and Luigi finally get beaten?"
"Mario and Luigi never were beaten, but Luigi left, and Mario couldn't handle the onslaught that ensued," Joules replied sadly.
"Well, why did Luigi leave?" Mike asked, starting to walk down the street. Mike took a few steps, looked up and did a double take. Up above the line the roofs of the buildings on the opposite street made, there was probably the tallest, most intimidating structure Mike had ever seen. "Is that Bowser's Keep?" Mike whispered.
"No, that's the castle of Lady Bow, who rules over the slum area," Joules answered from Mike's shoulder.
"Lady Bow? Didn't she…" Mike started.
"Yes, she was with Mario and my mom."
"Then, why? How?"
"She swapped sides. She was the one that tricked Luigi and Daisy into leaving the Mushroom Kingdom. Bow sent Luigi letters from Daisy and letters from Daisy to Luigi," Joules explained.
"Thus playing the two from the middle, like a puppeteer on the strings," Mike commented to himself.
"After Luigi left, Mario was heartbroken. They had always been together, through good times and bad."
"Not if you played the games," Mike interrupted.
"Games?" Joules asked.
"I've heard that after Luigi and Daisy left, the pipe they took lead them to Japan, where they met Shigeru Miyamoto."
"Who?"
"Shigeru Miyamoto, the man behind many of the most famous video game characters ever, like Fox McCloud, Link, and the Mario Brothers, Mario and Luigi."
"Nintendo? Weren't they shut down?"
"More like totally eliminated," Mike said, tracing a line across his neck with his finger. "Well, moving on, Miyamoto was having problems coming up with a hero for his new game when he met Luigi. Luigi told him about his brother and all of his adventures. Miyamoto thanked him for all the great ideas, and Nintendo started giving Luigi and Daisy the royalties from all the games they ever sold."
"Royalties?" Joules asked.
"A small bit of the money made from each game sale went to Luigi and Daisy. Luigi and Daisy changed their names and settled somewhere in southern New York State, to avoid attention. They saved up their money, and people say that their family was always well off, but no one knew which family it was."
"Was my mommy in a game?" Joules asked.
"Yep. It was called 'Paper Mario', because all the people were flat, like paper."
"Was she good?"
"Oh yeah. Probably the best sidekick to have, especially against Bowser."
"Really?" Joules said, glowing strongly.
"Definitely."
"But…" Joules started.
"Yes?"
"I thought Nintendo stuff was outlawed. How did you get the game?"
"There's a group of people called Game Runners. They travel around, buying and selling games. The games are expensive, but they risk their life everyday, so I really don't mind."
"Your parents must be really nice, if they let you have that stuff." Mike lowered his head and grew very reflective. My parents… I hope their okay. If Bowser is after me, then he's probably after them, too, Mike thought to himself. Was Rose telling the truth?, he continued, Am I really the grandson of Luigi? All the points she brought up, while on their own they were circumstantial, but together they do make sense and show a bigger picture.
"Are you okay, Mike? Did I say something wrong?" Joules asked, concerned.
"Hunh? No, no. I'm just thinking about some things that someone told me. Come on let's go," Mike answered.