LiamTheYoshi

"Here we go!" indeed.

mariobroultimate

Me neither. At least Peach tried to talk the figure out of bribing her, but she had to give in eventually.

MarioFan88

Thank you so much. What's a Mario & Luigi adventure without Luigi? Simply Mario.

…

Chapter 2: Off to Hunt for Treasure

Fast-forwarding to 1:20 PM, Mario and Luigi had just finished lunch at Mario's Pad; Luigi was invited over for the personal meal beforehand.

"That breaded chicken was excellent, Mario!" Luigi said while washing his plate. "I couldn't have cooked anything like that myself."

"Well, as one said in the past, 'Two is better than one'," Mario responded.

Suddenly, a familiar voice called from outside, "Mail call!"

It was Parakarry, who had just made his weekly mail delivery before flying off.

"My turn to get the mail this time," Mario said before going out the front door. He opened the mailbox to find only one letter.

"Heh. It's always got to be one-" Suddenly, Mario saw Peach's signature and the message "To Mario and Luigi" on the envelope's center. "One worth reading."

Mario's smile on his face grew as he went back inside. "Hey, Luigi! A letter from Princess Peach arrived for both of us!"

Luigi stopped doing the dishes and sat at the dining room table with Mario.

"All right-y! Let's see what she wrote this time!" Luigi said with glee. Mario opened the envelope and handed the letter to Luigi. "Here we go."

"Dear Mario and Luigi, I'm taking a vacation traveling to different places across the world. Just now, I received a mystical map… Well, it's a treasure map, to be exact. It was inside this chest I bought from an old merchant in a town called Rogueport. I felt kinda suspicious when I first saw her, but I eventually trusted her enough to get the treasure map. But since it would be too difficult for me to try to go find the treasure all by myself, I thought you two could help me hunt for it. But that's a no-brainer because I know you're gonna accept the invitation immediately. I've included the map with this letter, so please bring it with you when you come. Call me when you near Rogueport, okay? From, Princess Peach."

A treasure map…? Luigi asked himself. "Mario, give me the envelope."

Mario gave Luigi the envelope.

Luigi sifted through the envelope and pulled out the treasure map Peach got from the hooded figure at Rogueport. He became excited at what he was seeing.

"Well, what do you know? It's true! This weathered old map came in with the letter!" Luigi exclaimed. "Check it out!"

Mario took the map and examined it thoroughly.

Hmm… Those locations look interesting… Mario wondered. There's an island and pirate ship at the bottom, some big town at the right, and a haunted forest at the left…

"What do you think?" Luigi asked.

"I love it!" Mario replied. "Let's start packing!"

Without hesitation, Mario hurried to his closet to start packing his suitcase.

"Mario, my suitcase is at my mansion," Luigi said before walking out of Mario's Pad. "I'll be right back."

"Okay."

Mario put in his suitcase four different outfits, his toiletries, and his Walkman music player. And just in case he had to defend himself from potential enemies, Mario took his red and yellow hammer.

20 minutes later, Luigi arrived at Mario's Pad again and left his kart on the driveway behind Mario's kart. Mario ran out of the pad and met up with Luigi.

"To the Information Center," Mario declared. He led Luigi down the Warp Pipe to Toad Town and retrieved both suitcases. They then entered the Information Center and approached the front desk Daniel T. was working at.

"Good afternoon, Daniel," Mario greeted Daniel.

"Mario! How are you doing?" Daniel asked.

"Me and Luigi are going on another trip today. This time, it's to this town called Rogueport."

"What's at Rogueport?"

"Well, Princess Peach wants to take us on a treasure hunt and said to meet her there," Mario explained.

"Wow. That sounds fun," Daniel remarked. "It's actually good timing because the SS Oceania is going to Lavalava Island to pick up some of the Yoshis. But I'll call Captain Jonah and tell him to change destinations."

"When's the ship leaving Toad Town?" Luigi asked.

"It departs at 2:05 PM," Daniel answered. "You might as well go straight to the port. Don't stop for anything else."

"Thanks again," Mario thanked Daniel.

"No problem. I'm always welcome to help you and your brother out. Good luck on the treasure hunt."

Mario and Luigi immediately left the Information Center and went to the Toad Town Port. The SS Oceania was stationed at the dock with the captain, Jonah T., standing next to the entrance.

"I heard from Daniel T. that you want to go to Rogueport for treasure," Captain Jonah stated after Mario and Luigi stopped in front of the ferry.

"We do, and it's supposed to be fun. Sorry, we had you change destinations," Mario apologized. "I hope Yellow Yoshi understands."

"He will. Don't worry." Captain Jonah checked his watch, which indicated it was 1:58 PM. "You may board the ferry now. We're leaving in a few minutes."

"Thank you," Mario thanked Captain Jonah. He and Luigi made their way into the ferry's dining room and gazed at the interior briefly.

"It's spacious as always," Luigi said.

"I'm gonna get some sodas from the bar," Mario said before going to the bar. He grabbed two cola bottles and gave one to Luigi.

In the meantime, Captain Jonah boarded the ferry and headed to the bridge. He then turned on the intercom for the departure announcement.

"Attention, passengers. Welcome aboard the SS Oceania bound for Rogueport. We'll be departing in less than a minute, so hang tight while the boat starts up and leaves port. You can then walk around once we're in the open waters. The ride time from Toad Town Port to Rogueport will be 18 hours and 40 minutes. Depending on how the ocean traffic holds up, we could arrive several minutes ahead or behind schedule, so just bear with me. Other than that, we hope you enjoy your time today. Thank you."

As soon as the intercom shut off, Captain Jonah started the ferry's engines and left Toad Town Port at a slow speed.

For the next half hour, Mario and Luigi listened to some music on their Walkman players and played the arcade machines in the game room.

At one point, Luigi was playing Space Invaders with Mario watching closely. The former was on Level 3 with half the enemy board gone and two lives left.

"Since when did you get so good at Space Invaders?" Mario asked Luigi.

"A lot of playing experience," Luigi replied. After another minute, he completed Level 3 and stepped aside to let Mario have a go at the game.

"There's no way I'll win," Mario said as the fourth level started. Not even five seconds passed when he lost a life; the enemy board was very close to the bottom bunkers.

"You can do it, bro," Luigi said. "It's not that bad of a game."

Mario blocked out everything around him and solely focused on the game. Despite worrying about getting a Game Over, he managed to defeat one quarter of the enemy board and shoot down a UFO.

Come on, Mario... You're-

"Oh yeah!"

Luigi's exclamation distracted Mario and caused him to lose his last life. Mario slammed his fists on the arcade machine with frustration.

"DAMMIT, LUIGI!" Mario shouted. "YOU JUST GOT ME KILLED!"

"Come on. I was just having fun with you," Luigi chuckled.

"It's not funny! Don't distract me when I'm focused on a video game!"

"Okay. I'm sorry," Luigi apologized. "I won't bother you next time."

Mario sat himself on the pool table's edge and looked down at the floor. He had a medium frown on his face.

"Hey. Don't pout like that. It's just a game," Luigi coaxed Mario.

"Yeah. A game that you wanted me to lose at," Mario answered with sarcasm.

"No, I didn't. I wanted you to win Level 4." But Mario didn't respond and placed his hand on his forehead. "You want to try again?"

"Not now. I need a break," Mario sighed.

"All right-y. Let me know when you're ready to play again," Luigi said. He went to the Galaga arcade machine for the time being while Mario cooled off.