Chapter 3: A Rogue's Welcome

It's the next day at 7:05 AM. The rising sun's rays peeked through the quarter's window blinds, slowly waking Mario up.

"Oh, God…" Mario groaned as he lifted his head up. "That's bright…"

Mario looked around the quarter to see if Luigi was still sleeping, but Luigi was gone and his bed was already made.

Luigi…? Where did he go…?

Mario stood up and opened his suitcase. He took out his toiletries and one of his four outfits; he carried them to the bathroom on his left-hand side.

After Mario took a quick shower and got ready for the day, he walked out wearing a blue cap, a blue shirt, and red overalls.

I wonder if Luigi's having breakfast right now.

Mario headed over to the dining room and sat at one of the tables next to the first floor's balcony. A waiter noticed Mario at his table and approached him.

"Sir, do you know where my brother Luigi is?" Mario asked the waiter.

"I don't know, Mario. I was in the kitchen all morning," the waiter replied. "But if Luigi's joining you for breakfast, I'll wait for him."

"Okay."

The waiter walked away from the table for the time being. A moment later, Luigi entered the dining room wearing a green-yellow cap, a green-yellow shirt, and dark green overalls.

"Well, look who decided to reverse his colors," Luigi remarked.

"Good morning, Luigi," Mario greeted Luigi before giving him a hug.

"Good morning, bro. Did you sleep well?"

"Yeah." Luigi sat next to Mario. "I dreamt about us playing golf together and you won in the end."

"That's a fun dream. We should play golf after the treasure hunt."

The waiter came back to take the Mario Bros' orders. Mario got a bowl of maple brown sugar oatmeal with scrambled eggs and coffee, and Luigi got a red bell pepper and Pepper Jack cheese omelet with bacon and decaf coffee.

It took 20 minutes for both to finish breakfast before leaving the dining room.

"Before breakfast, I was up on the bridge talking with Captain Jonah and he wanted you to come upstairs with me," Luigi said.

"Why?"

"You'll see."

Luigi led Mario to the third floor where Captain Jonah was waiting next to the bridge.

"Good morning, Mario. Glad to see you today," Captain Jonah greeted Mario.

"Thank you."

"Go on and have a look on the bow." Captain Jonah directed Mario and Luigi to a narrow spot in front of the bridge. "The town you'd been speaking of has come into view. That's Rogueport over there."

Mario and Luigi looked closely to see Rogueport in the distance; both were amazed at the view.

"Wow. It looks like one of those French villages," Mario said, referring to when he and Luigi went on a European cruise a few years ago.

"How much longer until we arrive?" Luigi asked Captain Jonah, who looked at his watch.

"About 45 minutes from now. Good news is we're gonna make it a few minutes early."

Mario walked toward the observation deck to call Peach regarding the ferry's arrival. His phone went to voicemail after four rings.

What is she doing? Mario asked himself. He waited until the beep to record his voicemail.

"Hello, Princess Peach. Me and Luigi are about 45 minutes from Rogueport, so I was wondering if you're standing at the dock. If you are, I'll wave to you. And I also have the map ready to go in case you ask if I have it. All right-y. Talk to you later."

…

It's 8:40 AM; the SS Oceania arrived at the Rogueport Harbor five minutes early.

"Attention, passengers," Captain Jonah said over the intercom. "We have now arrived at Rogueport Harbor. Please collect all your belongings before proceeding to the exit down in the first floor's dining room. Thank you once again for choosing the SS Oceania and have a great morning."

Captain Jonah met the Mario Bros at the dining room to send them off. "Uh, Mario and Luigi?"

"Yes, Captain Jonah?" Mario replied.

"Are you quite sure you want to disembark here? I heard of some of the sordid tales about Rogueport the other day."

"What are you talking about?" Luigi asked.

"Rogueport's essentially a dangerous place. But if Princess Peach did say she would wait for you two, then I won't stop you," Captain Jonah said.

"We'll be fine," Mario said. "Don't worry about us."

"All right, then. Please be careful out there. Don't say I didn't warn you guys."

Mario and Luigi disembarked from the ferry, waving goodbye to Captain Jonah. They took a minute to check out their surroundings.

"Um… Captain Jonah might be right," Luigi murmured. "I don't feel good about this town."

"It's okay, Luigi. I have my hammer in case anyone tries to hurt us," Mario reassured Luigi. "Just as much as you have my back, I'll have yours too."

"Hey! What do you want?! Get away from me, freaks!" a distant female voice cried.

Mario and Luigi walked toward the voice to see what was going on. A girl Goomba wearing an archaeologist hat was being confronted by a large soldier wearing a black outfit with a white X on it. He also wore a purple horned cap and pants, white gloves, gold goggles, black shoes, and a red cape.

With the soldier were two of his minions wearing a red outfit with a black X on it. They also wore gold goggles, a white horned cap, shoes, gloves, and cape.

"Oh, don't play dumb with me, airhead!" the black soldier exclaimed. "I've seen you walking around town asking for information about the Crystal Stars. Well, now I'm doing the asking, so be a good girl and tell us what you know!"

"Never! I don't have anything to say to you creeps!" the girl Goomba yelled.

"I suppose it wouldn't be right if a sassy little lass like you met with an untimely demise. Buh! Buh! Buhhuhhuh!" The black soldier turned to his minions. "Boys, we're taking this firebrand to our fortress!"

"As you command, Lord Crump! We're on it!" the first minion replied.

Just as Lord Crump and his soldiers started to close in on the girl Goomba, Mario and Luigi leaped in front of her.

"LEAVE HER ALONE!" Mario shouted with anger.

"What are you doing?!" Luigi demanded.

"Whuh? What do you think you're doing, chumps?" Lord Crump asked. "You think you can screw up my plans?!"

"Plans for what?" Mario questioned.

"Gah! It's always something. Looks like I'm going to have to give you a little taste of the old CRUMP-A-BOMB!"

"Bring it!" Mario exclaimed, beginning the battle against Lord Crump. Lord Crump made the first move by attempting to jump on Mario, who dodged him easily. One of Lord Crump's minions charged Luigi, who blasted him away with his Fire Jump Punch move.

Mario took the short opportunity to toss his hammer at Lord Crump's second minion, who got knocked into the harbor.

Lord Crump attempted to jump on Mario again, but Mario retaliated with his Mario Tornado move. While Lord Crump was in the air, Luigi leaped up and karate-chopped him to the ground, officially defeating him.

"Wow! That was incredible!" the girl Goomba said. "You Mister Men totally owned those lunatics!"

"Buh! Buh! Buhhuhhuh!" Lord Crump grumbled after getting back up. "Okay. You got a couple of decent shots in; I'll give you that."

"Decent shots? You were dead on the ground!" Mario argued.

"Oh, I was dead on the ground?" Lord Crump asked with sarcasm. "You know, that comment insults me because…unfortunately for you…that means…"

Lord Crump stopped to think of what to say next.

"IT'S GO TIME!"

A large number of Lord Crump's minions ganged up on the Mario Bros and the girl Goomba.

"PUNISH THEM!" Lord Crump shouted. All of his minions attacked by jumping on and off Mario and Luigi, but they kept dodging every jump. The girl Goomba managed to sneak out of the attack.

"Quick! This way!" the girl Goomba called to the Mario Bros.

"What?!" Mario asked; he couldn't hear her over the mass attack.

"Can you get out of there?"

"What is she saying?!" Mario asked Luigi; they were still dodging Lord Crump's minions.

"I think she said to follow her out!"

"But I can't see anything! There's too many!" Mario yelled.

Luigi looked for an opening and found a small hole to his left. "Give me your hammer!" Mario gave him his hammer.

Luigi charged forward, breaking him and Mario out of Lord Crump's minion mass.

"You okay?" the girl Goomba asked Mario and Luigi.

"Yeah. I almost lost my cap in there," Mario said before Luigi gave him his hammer back.

"They're all just a bunch of jerks," the girl Goomba remarked. "Let's sneak out of here. Follow me." She led Mario and Luigi up the stairs to the center of Rogueport.

Meanwhile, Lord Crump's minions continued their jumping attack, unaware that the group escaped them.

"Keep going, boys!" Lord Crump said with glee. "Show them what-" Suddenly, he noticed the middle of his minion mass was empty.

"Buh-HUUUUUH?!"

Lord Crump looked all around, trying to find the Mario Bros and the girl Goomba to no avail.

"STOPPP!"

Lord Crump's order to stop prompted his minions to cease their attack.

"Where'd they go?! Huh? All of you! Did you see them? Did anyone?"

None of the minions replied, having no clue what was going on. It took a few seconds for Lord Crump to realize the group disappeared.

"Oh, dammit! They escaped!"