Toad leaned back against the door he had just locked, panting. The crowd outside the Mario's house was getting ugly.
"If they're still here, prove it!"
"Yeah, prove it!"
"We want the Marios!"
Poor Toad swallowed hard. This was going to be difficult. He cleared his throat nervously, and did his best impression of the plumber in red.
"Mama-mia! Look at all the people, Luigi!"
He cleared his voice again.
"Yeah, maybe we better calm-a them down!"
Some of the townsfolk grew quiet.
"Who wants a hat?" the Luigi-Toad asked, chucking one of the green caps out the window. It fell to the ground in a cloud of dust and the crowd was silent.
…For a moment.
"That's Luigi's hat!"
"We want to see Luigi!"
"Yeah! Luigi!"
If only Luigi could be here now, Toad thought wryly, knowing the plumber would bask in such fame. Running fast to the closet, he emerged a minute later, hopping on one foot to fit the too-large overalls on himself. He cleared his throat as he straightened his comb mustache.
"Okay! Here I come!" He pulled open the door. "Tada!"
The crowd was once again momentarily quiet.
…Too quiet, for Toad.
"It's-a me, Luigi!"
"That's not Luigi!"
"That's Toad!"
Luigi-Toad cringed inwardly. "No, I am a-Luigi! See?" Toad started to dance awkwardly and sang, "Come on, do the Mario--"
"He's lying to us!"
"Let's get him!"
With a cry of panic Toad rushed back into the house and locked the door, his hat and mustache knocked askew. He groaned, exhausted. "Come on, Princess. Where are you?"
The Princesses and their new ally-
Pauline: Excuse me…friend??
Oh guys, come on! I told myself I wouldn't have any of these trite conversations in my stories! Just leave me be!
Pauline: Not until you fix your typos!
*rolls eyes* Fine. Here. *pushes backspace, Pauline's comment poofs away* Much better!
-just arrived via pipeline to the Mushroom Kingdom. It took longer for Pauline to overcome her dizzy spell seeing as she'd never experienced something so freaky in her life…except for drinking a strange concoction of alcoholic beverages and ice cream once. "It wears off fast," Peach said.
"Don't worry about me. I can take this." She straightened up, and lo and behold, both Princesses were gone.
"Great," she sighed. "Lost 'em already." Smacking away the umbrage in the forest they landed in, she realized the temperature was quite comfortable. "This isn't half as weird as I thought…oof!" A pair of strong arms grabbed her from behind, lifting her clear off the ground. Pauline gritted her teeth angrily, hating to be harassed to soon into her arrival to this new, freakish dimension. Staring at the tree in front of her, she got a wild idea. She through all her weight back into the hulk behind her and lifted her legs, walking up the trunk. She swiftly flipped over and out of her stalkers arms. He turned around to face her and must have been offended by her look of disgust.
He was huge, to say the least.
"What? You're not very pretty yourself."
Pauline lunged at him and kicked, but he managed to grab her foot and swing her down. Placing his own foot on her stomach, he grinned.
"Don't-a make me sit on you."
Never recalling a threat so intense from a man so large, Pauline acquiesced. From her spot on the ground she got a better look at this fella. He looked familiar, but in a really ugly way.
"…Mario?"
"That's what everyone says the first time."
"Who are you?"
"What's it to you, cutie?"
Swinging her legs into the one he was balanced on, Pauline swiveled out of the way before he came crashing down on her. She stood up and put a foot over his…well, some things are better left unsaid.
"Don't make me step on you."
His forehead beaded with sweat.
"Who are you?"
"Wario," he sighed.
"And just what does that mean to me?"
"If you know Mario, you'd know he's-a my evil twin."
"Seems like right now, it would be the other way around."
"Yeah, well, you must not know him very well."
"Let's just say I'm new to these parts. Why did you attack me?"
"I thought you were-a trying to kill the Princesses, so I had to protect them."
"Sure. I'll buy that." Pauline didn't look convinced.
"I'm really the nice guy, here…"
"He's lying," said a breathless Peach, coming out of the bushes.
"Where were you?"
"Warding off his stupid brother."
"Ugh, there's two of them?" asked Pauline repulsively.
"I think we got him," panted Daisy, just emerging as well. No sooner did the words exit her mouth than the said assassin jumped her from behind.
Pauline sighed. "Obviously not good enough." Rolling her eyes she stepped down and walked over Wario.
"…owe…"
"No, no Daisy, grab him from behind, yeah use your arms…that's it…now you got him."
Waluigi tried to break free from Daisy's chokehold, but of no avail. Pauline stepped forward grabbed his shoulders and slammed him into a tree trunk.
"Owe! Hey, lady!"
"That's miss lady to you. Now I suggest you run along and find something else to torment and leave us alone."
Waluigi glanced at his still withering brother and figured she meant it. "All right, all right. We'll leave!" Pauline shoved him away and stood her ground as the skinny one helped up the fat one. "But this isn't over yet!" She waited until they were both gone and relaxed a bit.
"What were those things?"
"The dark side of Mario and Luigi," said Daisy sadly.
"I'd hate to see my dark side."
"Well, that was an adventure. Out world isn't always like this, Pauline."
"Yes is it," corrected Daisy cheerfully.
Peach rolled her eyes. "Anyway…we need to head on up to Bowser's." She pointed to a distant spot settled in a dark, dismal valley.
"All the way over there?!"
"Yes, but we'll just take another pipe and shorten the trip."
"Sounds like a plan…but, Peach?"
"Yes?"
"Tell me you have an arsenal of some kind in your…palace."
"Yes, in the basement, why?"
"Don't ask me. You're the one who sees that freak everyday."
Peach blushed a little as she led them to her castle. Sure, Bowser kidnapped her often and she should have known better than to go into a battle with him unarmed…but Daisy didn't have to giggle along with her.
Black. That's all there was. Not gray. Not darkness.
Just black.
Maybe there was a blindfold involved, but no. No feeling. Just black.
Mario didn't remember Bowser's prison being so badly lit, but then again, that turtle creep was King of his dark domain; he could do whatever he pleased.
He couldn't think much of anything else, for that matter, beyond knowing there was a Princess and a brother and a Bowser somewhere…out of the black. All he could remember before this black was more black. His memory was so foggy, he nearly forgot his brother's name. Then, suddenly thinking of it, he gathered his energy and faintly called it out loud.
No one answered him.
Oh, that's right. He was alone when it happened. Poor Luigi…he hoped he was all right on his own.
He thought he heard his own name being called, but it was too late. He was surrounded with the blackness of unconsciousness once more.
Each girl armed with an ancient, rudimentary weapon of some sort was circled around a pipe. Peach sighed.
The Marios knew these all by heart, she thought. And without labels, we're as good as lost already. Smiling confidentally she turned to the two beside her.
"This is it."
"Are you sure?" asked Daisy.
A pause. "Are you?" pressed Pauline.
"It…it has been a while…"
"All right, let's eliminate from what we know of these places." Pauline put her hands on one pipe. "This one is cold."
"They're all cold," Daisy shivered.
"Colder than the rest. That goes to Ice Land," Peach whispered.
Pauline nodded and moved to the next pipe. "This one is hot."
"Could be Desert Land."
Next pipe. "Clammy."
"Water Land."
Next.
"There's air coming from this one."
"Probably Sky Land."
Pauline felt the remaining four. "They all feel the same."
"One of them is for this Kingdom, so going in will just spit us back out. There's Pipe Land, which won't be any help, seeing as we'll get lost...and then there's Dark World…"
"Right. So we find which one looks darkest inside."
They stared at Daisy for a moment, then Pauline shrugged.
"She has a point."
"They're all dark when you look inside them."
"Well it's a better idea than just guessing," Pauline muttered, stepping up to a pipe. "That's pretty dark."
"So is this one."
Peach hugged her arms over her chest, feeling a bit embarrassed and left out. She stepped up to a pipe and peeked in. Raising her eyebrows in a careless manner, she said "This one is really dark."
Pauline stepped up to it. "Sure is. Let's try it."
"Are you sure, Peach?"
"Yes, Daisy," she snapped, just wanting to get this whole adventure over with. She sat on the edge and flew down the pipe. She could barely hear the others sliding down behind her.
It was still dark, but gradually growing lighter. The trip was over shortly and she fell screaming to the ground. One after the other they piled on top of her.
"Owe…"
Daisy got up and looked around. "This doesn't look much different from the Mushroom Kingdom, Peach."
Pauline brushed her self off. "Yeah, but everything looks bigger."
Peach got up off the grass and looked around. Her heart leaped to her throat. "Yeah…yeah it is bigger."
Pauline waited. "Any reason why?"
Her question was answered by a sound like thunder. It grew louder and closer until it sounded as if it were behind them. The ground shook with every boom. They turned around…and stared at an enormous Koopa Troopa looming over them.
"Is there a pipe land you forgot to mention?" Pauline whispered, actually looking afraid for once.
Peach gulped and nodded slowly. "Giant Land!"
Screaming, they frantically ran in separate directions.