Grubba was a money-grubbing blue thing and Jolene was his super-efficient assistant.
Grubba asked Mario, "Why do you want to be a fighter?"
"I don't want t" Mario started, but stopped when Luigi stomped on his foot.
"He wants to fry the competition in his dust," Luigi finished for him.
"He wants to whip the competition into a creamy, frothy substance," Peach said.
Mario whispered into Peach's ear, "I'm not having fun anymore. Let's go home."
"What did he say?" Grubba asked.
"Oh, um..." Peach stammered, "he said, 'I'm a champion fighter!' "
"No I didn't!" Mario shouted.
"Yes you did!" Peach said, stomping on Mario's foot (with her high heelthat really hurts).
Grubba couldn't see the foot-stomping. "Oh, you're a champion fighter? Well, I'll just move you right into tomorrow's match! Jolene?"
Jolene picked up her clipboard. "You'll be competing with Rawk Hawk tomorrow morning at 9 AM."
"There'll be thousands of spectators!" Grubba exclaimed. "We wish you luck."
Mario sighed.
After the meeting with Grubba, the three stood in line at the hot dog stand. Peach came up with an idea. "Hey, Mario," she said, "Wouldn't it be a good idea if you watched a few battles so that you would know what you were going to be going up against?"
Mario shrugged.
"Oh yes," Luigi said, "we should let Mario watch how Rawk Hawk beat his competitors. He'll get learning experience."
Mario turned toward Peach, and whispered into her ear, "I don't want to."
"Oh, come on, silly," Peach reassured him. It was their turn to buy a hot dog. Peach paid for three hot dogs, and handed one to Mario and one to Luigi. "It won't be hard, I guess."
Then they entered the Glitz Pit and took their seats in the fifth row. They were pretty neat seats. The air was filled with excitement. After a short wait, Grubba walked onto the stage and stepped into the center platform. "Ladies and germs, welcome to the GLITZ PIT!"
The crowd went wild. Peach screamed happily, and Luigi jumped up and down. His colorful bunch of balloons bobbed up and down above him with the tugging of the strings.
"In today's EXCITING match, we have our challenger, the GOLDEN GOOMBA," a shiny Goomba walked hesitantly onto the stage, gazing up at the spectators. "versus the RAWK...HAWK!" The crowd went ballistic. They screamed, they hollered. Rawk Hawk entered, shouting back enthusiastically to the audience. They shouted back. Soon, everyone was shouting "Rawk Hawk! Rawk Hawk!" Everyone but Mario.
"Are our combatants ready?" Grubba asked. They both nodded. "Okay, let's BRAAAAAAAAAAAWL!" The crowd was wild.
Rawk Hawk started by picking up Golden Goomba. It squirmed frantically in his hands. Rawk Hawk threw it high into the air, then flew up into the air right above it, and dove straight down, smashing the Golden Goomba into the platform below. The Goomba did not move.
Somewhere in the middle of all this, Mario dropped his hot dog.
"That's the match!" Grubba yelled into his microphone. "And a rather quick one, too!" Grubba walked over to Rawk Hawk. "That was fast. Did you have a strategy going into this one?"
"A fighter like me doesn't need a strategy," he replied.
Mario found that he was biting his fingernails.
