As the curtains drew back, Lucina sat straight in her seat. She always had enjoyed watching the operas back home with her family. But this was the first time watching a performance in a different region. She wanted to be able to see every detail.
On the stage was a red cardboard house. Above the doorframe was a giant M. There were some plastic grass and near the house was a large green pipe. Lucina had read in the play brochure that the Mario Brothers were plumbers. Perhaps the pipe was there as a reference to their profession?
A red toad wandered onto centerstage and cleared his throat. "Today's tale begins outside the Mario brothers house," he squeaked, trying hard to sound dramatic. "It was a warm summer day. The Cheep Cheeps were frolicking in the ponds, the Wigglers sleeping peacefully."
Lucina had no idea what Cheep Cheeps or Wigglers were, but she was distracted as a wispy cloud floated above her. She looked up as the cloud flew towards the side of the stage. To her surprise, there was a turtle like creature riding the cloud. It was aiming a weird, shaped device towards the stage. It had a flashing red light on it.
Altea didn't have technology like that, and Lucina wasn't sure if that device was deadly. Pit followed her gaze and whispered, "Don't worry about it. That's a Lakitu and its just recording the show."
"Recording?" Lucina pondered. Like keeping a note of the show to keep in a book for later. "What do you mean recording?"
Pit shushed her; his eyes glued to the stage. Lucina huffed and followed suit. The Toad finished his narration as he started to leave the stage. He barely made it five steps when the cardboard door swung open. The door was opened so hard that it nearly snapped off its hinges.
A short mustached man wearing a red shirt and blue overalls emerged from the door. That must be Mario, Lucina thought. As the man hopped from the doorway and onto the stage, he gazed towards the crowd. Mario gave a wide smile and gave the crowd a thumbs up.
The crowd loved it. Cheers and whoops burst out from the crowd; Pit included. Lucina simply stared at Mario, who looked pleased at all the attention. He didn't look special. And yet, Pit mentioned that he is the hero of the Mushroom Kingdom. Lucina couldn't see that.
Mario evidently remembered he was doing a performance as he awkwardly turned his back to the crowd and opened the mailbox. He reached inside and revealed to the crowd a letter engraved with a crown seal.
"Hey bro," Mario called back to the house. He spoke with a different accent than what Lucina was used too. "The Princess has sent us a letter!"
Footsteps echoed from beyond the house. Lucina was curious what the other Mario brother would be like. Would he be just as vain as Mario appeared to be? The answer disappointed her when the brother walked onto the stage.
For one thing, it was a green Toad, wearing overalls clearly too big for him. Lucina was wondering why the real brother wasn't portraying himself. Maybe he had stage fright or was sick? Pit didn't show any interest in the green Toad, his focus remained on Mario.
The Toad wandered over to Mario, nearly tripping on his overalls. "A letter from Princess Peach?" The Toad croaked. "Can I read it Mario?"
Mario laughed. "Of course, Luigi," He said as he handed the letter over.
"Luigi" eagerly opened the letter up and cleared his throat to read it. "Dear Mario. I am hosting a party today and I would be honored if you could attend. There will be plenty of entertainment and cake. Love, Princess Peach!" The Toad paused to catch his breath, before looking at Mario. "Wow Mario an invitation to the castle!"
"Yes, it is wonderful," Mario said, flashing a smile towards the audience. Some of the female Toads sighed dreamily as a response. "Well, I shouldn't keep the Princess waiting…"
"Oh, Mario can I tag along?"
"But of course, bro! Let's a go!"
Mario turned around and leapt into the air. He certainly had some jumping prowess at least, Lucina thought. The plumber landed dramatically on top of the green pipe and after another proud smile, he lowered himself and disappeared into the pipe.
As the Green Toad struggled to lift himself into the pipe, Pit leaned over and said to Lucina, "It's a Warp Pipe. A real one are used in the Mushroom Kingdom to transport goods and people around."
"That's interesting," Lucina noted, watching the Toad successful hoisted himself into the pipe.
Within seconds after he vanished in the prop Warp Pipe, a horde of Toads rushed onto the stage from both sides. They hurried over to the house and with their combined might started to rotate the house. As the cardboard house spun around, the front of the Mario brothers house disappeared. On the other side, was what appeared to be the interior of a grand building.
The was a red carpeted staircase leading of stage while the Toads left the cardboard and started placing various props across the stage such as tables and exotic looking plants. As quickly as they appeared on stage, the Toads scattered off to the sides once again.
In their place came a bunch of odd-looking individuals that Lucina could only assume were other denizens of the Mushroom Kingdom. There were large turtle-like creatures walking around on two legs frolicking amongst huge penguins. Big mice wearing scarves were pretending to enjoy the prop food while strange looking bean-shaped people were staging conversations off to the side of the stage.
As the actors got into place, Lucina turned her thoughts to how woefully unprepared she was by all this new information. Back home in Altea, there may have been other species like Taguels and Manaketes… but they still had a resemblance to humans. Nothing Professor Byleth had taught her had prepared Lucina about these wide variety of creatures in the world they shared. All his lessons pretty much amounted to all the reasons why Altea is best region without going over the other three.
Back on the stage, the warp pipe shook and out popped Mario. He, once again, landed dramatically on the stage. His appearance caused the actors to start to clap. Mario took off his hat and took a bow. The Green Toad's head popped out from the pipe. He struggled to lift his leg out and ended up falling face first onto the stage.
Mario wasn't paying any attention to his fallen "brother" as his focus was at the top of the stairs. Lucina followed his gazed and gasped. Standing at the top was Princess Peach. She looked quite lovely, Lucina thought.
Pit also gasped, tugging on Lucina's sleeve. "Lucina look," He stuttered. "The real Princess in the flesh! Maybe we can talk to her after the performance?"
Lucina was certain that it was an actress playing the Princess, but she didn't have it in her to ruin his happy mood. Meanwhile, the Princess, after straightening her blonde hair, made her way down the stairs and called out, "Howdy… I mean… Hello my dear Mario!"
Mario bowed to the Princess. "Aw Princess Peach… just as peachy as always," he said in a charming voice.
Princess Peach had reached the plumber and she let out a snort. "Oh Mario. You're such a charmer," she said, while swatting him on the back. The force was strong enough to knock Mario against the ground. Snickering broke out amongst the crowd as Mario went red in the face.
"Well, someone's been working out," He spat out, getting back to his feet, glaring at Peach. And as though he remembered he was on stage, he regained his composure and smiled. "Anyway, thanks for the invitation."
"Don't mention it sugar. It is so nice to enjoy your company after so long." The Princess let out a sigh. "But greeting all these guests does get tiring after a while… Shall we take a private walk out to the garden?" Just the two of us?"
Even sitting in the back of the crowd, Lucina could see Mario's moustache twitch in excitement. "Let's a go," Mario said, offering his arm to the Princess.
The happy scene vanished quickly as the stage began to shake, the actors jumping and falling over in their spots. Over by the food, the Green Toad called out in his croaky voice, "Look out Mario! It's Bowser!"
An ominous shadow covered the stage while the Toad dove behind a table. Lucina was curious how they would handle portraying this "evil Koopa King". She doubted the actual one would be here in person, and she was correct.
It was a cardboard cutout of this Bowser that rolled onto the stage. His appearance caused a stir amongst the crowd. They began booing and throwing various items at "Bowser". Most bounced harmlessly off the cardboard, but one can managed to get itself lodged on one of the horns. From within the cardboard, a strange voice croaked, "Mario! This time the Princess is mine!"
Lucina tilted her head in surprise. That voice sounded like a timid person trying to sound intimidating. And it had that same accent that Mario had. She picked up the play brochure and quicky scrolled through it. She paused at the cast list and scanned for Bowser's actor.
Next to Bowser was the name Luigi. It made no sense. So, Mario's brother was portraying the villain instead of himself? Why not have one of the Toads act as Bowser instead?
Mario stiffened up, putting his arm protectively in front of the Princess. "You'll have to get through a me first Bowser," he boldly said.
"My pleasure," Luigi-Bowser responded, rolling forward a few inches. "Time to burn Mario!"
The cardboard mouth opened wide as a grumble came from within. Some of the actors backed away as Mario braced himself for the incoming fireball.
Nothing happened. Inside the suit, grunting sounds were the only thing coming out. Mario straightened up, glaring at Bowser. "Seriously?" Mario yelled. "All this build up and you can't even do this one a thing right!"
Peach put her hand on Mario's shoulder. "Um doll… Maybe you should take care of him before it gets… worse?"
Mario glanced at the crowd before regaining his composure. "Of course, my Princess!" He ran towards the cardboard Bowser and leapt high into the air. His boots collided with Bowser's face. The force was strong enough that Bowser was knocked backwards and fell onto its side. From the kickback, Mario landed center stage and posed for the audience.
Peach ran forward and planted a kiss on Mario's cheek. "My hero," She praised.
The crowd loved it. They rose from their seats (they were short enough that this didn't make a difference) applauding wildly. Pit followed their example also cheering loudly. Lucina remained in her seat. She didn't feel like praising the seemingly self-absorbed person on stage.
The curtains rolled back across the stage as rushing footsteps were working hard behind them, setting up for the next scene.
The play continued in the similar pattern as nighttime emerged. Each scene was a short tale that always focused with Mario being the hero. The tales ranged from a vacation Mario took to the time he saved a dinosaur tribe as a baby. Lucina did notice that the cardboard Bowser did not make a reappearance since the first scene. They probably wanted to avoid another issue like the first scene.
Pit prodded Lucina on the shoulder. "Are you enjoying yourself?"
"Oh yes," Lucina lied. "This is interesting learning about Mario's adventures." Her mind turned to Luigi. It still didn't seem fair that he couldn't appear as himself. "Why do you think Luigi doesn't get the same treatment as his brother?"
Pit shrugged. "Mario's the older one and is probably more talented."
Lucina hesitated. She wasn't sure how Pit would respond to criticism about one of his heroes. She slowly responded, "Or maybe he doesn't want to share the spotlight?"
Pit's eyes narrowed. "What do you mean by that?"
She was spared of answering as the Red Toad cleared his throat and proclaimed, "And now guests… its time for the song of Super Mario! And there's audience participation!"
Even under the night sky, Lucina could see Pit's eyes shining with enthusiasm. She wasn't in the mood to sing… mostly because she couldn't. Lucina rose in her seat to Pit's surprise. "What's wrong?"
"I… I have to use the restroom," She quickly said.
"All right. Don't take too long! I'm sure you don't want to miss this epic song!"
"Right…" On that note, Lucina made her way out of the row and away from the theatre pavilion. She didn't really want to find a restroom to hide in for the remainder of the play… which hopefully was nearing its end.
Instead, she choose to wander around the park. She was nervous walking around an unknown area by herself, but nothing she noticed looked threatening. There were families of Toad's walking about, conversing with each other. A few even said hello to her as she passed by, despite how different she looked.
It was surprising to her at how similar this region was to her home. No one was talking about potential conflict amongst the other regions. Everyone seemed a little to carefree to care.
Lucina passed by a quiet section of the park filled with benches when she did a double take. On one bench with his head in his hands was Luigi. He was sitting by himself alone under a light. Lucina hesitated for a moment, before making her way over to him. She tapped him on the shoulder and asked, "Hello!"
Luigi reacted worse than she expected. He leapt from his seat with a petrifying scream, landing on his bottom. His hat fell off while he scuttled on all fours away from Lucina. "I'm sorry," Lucina quickly said, worried that she somehow offended him. "I didn't mean to frighten you!"
The man stopped crawling and timidly turned his head towards her. Upon noticing her sorry expression, Luigi slowly got to his feet and said, "I should be the one to apologize… I shouldn't have freaked out like that."
Lucina gave a small smile while bending down to pick up Luigi's hat. "I take it you get scared easily?"
"You could say that," Luigi chuckled as he cautiously walked back over to Lucina. He retrieved his hat and thanked her. "My brother wants me to work on getting braver… though I'm clearly struggling," he added, his face falling. "He says it hurts the public's opinion about the Mario Brothers when I freak out like that…"
"Why does it matter what your brother thinks? Or anyone else for that matter?"
Luigi looked warily at Lucina. "You were at the play, right? So, you saw what Mario is like. He prefers when things go smoothly."
"That and he likes to feed his ego," Lucina bluntly said.
Luigi laughed. "Yeah, he does get like that. I think being the Mushroom Kingdom's Superstar goes to his head sometimes. But I do agree with him that it looks bad when the famous Mario's own brother can't even create a simple fireball." To prove his point, he flicked his hands and although sparks flew from his gloves, there was no trace of a fireball.
Lucina was confused. "Is creating fireballs something Mario can do?"
"Yep. He can throw red fireballs with ease. Something everyone in the Kingdom is aware of…" He paused as he looked closely at Lucina's attire. "You're from a different region, aren't you?"
Lucina's heart skipped a beat. "What? What makes you say that?"
He pointed at her weapon. "A swordsman from Altea came through here a few months ago with a similar sword."
"Uncle Marth was here," Lucina blurted out, before she clasped her mouth. She didn't mean to expose herself like that, but Luigi raised his hands to calm her down.
"Whoa there. I won't tell anyone where you're from."
Lucina looked nervously down at Luigi. He looked back her with a simple, yet sincere expression that she started to relax. "Thank you, Luigi," Lucina said with relief. "I don't know if anyone's said this but you're a decent person."
Luigi blushed while absentmindedly kicking a stone. "Thank you… um… I don't think I got your name."
"My name is Lucina of Altea," Lucina said, while extending her hand.
Luigi shook her hand and asked, "What brings you here, Lucina?"
"I have to deliver an invitation to Princess Peach. But I wasn't able to enter the castle."
Luigi's face lit up and he said, "I might have a solution for you. The Princess is scheduled to come to tomorrow's performance, and she usually hangs out with the crew afterwards. I might be able to introduce you to her."
"Really?" Lucina exclaimed. "That would be incredible Luigi!" This was great news! Now she and Pit had an answer to their problem. After tomorrow they would have proved themselves capable of completing this mission. "I'm going to go tell my friend. I'll meet up with you later Luigi!"
"Sounds a good Lucina. I'll meet you outside the pavilion once the play's over… which should be soon."
Lucina nodded before racing off back towards her seat. Luigi watched her run off and said to himself, "What a friendly girl."
Luigi was unaware as he walked away as there were two sets of watchful eyes from the bushes. The eavesdroppers had listened to every word between the exchange. They left the bush, grinning from ear to ear. The taller lankier one dressed in purple chuckled. "Wah hah. Lots of good information we just heard. I knew following that weakling would pay off."
The smaller larger one dressed in yellow stroked his moustache. "You do have a good idea sometimes. Come one… let's go call the boss and tell them that plan is a go!"
