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Author's Note:
I'm very glad to see how many people enjoyed the last chapter. The whole slavery thing was just a theory I completely made up. Slavery was always an interesting topic to me, so I figured I combined that interest with my story.
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Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the story idea and any OCs.
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Chapter 65:
A Reason to Celebrate
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"There, all done,"
Luigi stood up and wiped the dirt of his garden gloves as he examined his handiwork. After his little story time with Kamek, the green plumber had decided to spend some time working around the courtyard. He spent nearly two hours pulling out weeds from the ground before he was finally done.
A small push on his side got his attention. He turned and saw it was the Glad Piranha Plant. It whimpered and pressed its head against him again. Luigi smiled and gently pet it, making it purr.
"Hey there, Kitty; hungry already?"
The Piranha Plant, or Kitty as he now calls it, grunted in response. Luigi looked up at the sky, trying to determine the time from the position of the sun and the amount of sunlight. If he was reading it right, it should be close to dinner time.
He removed the garden gloves and headed back inside. He returned twenty minutes later with a wagon full of pockets of whole chicken.
"Okay guys, it's feeding time." He announced as he put on some rubber gloves.
Almost of the piranha plants perk up when he said that. Since the first day he was assigned to take care of them, he always took some time out of his day to interact and feed them at least once a day.
By now, he had given each Piranha Plant a name. The Glad Piranha Plant was the first one he befriended; he named it Kitty because of its constant purring.
Gent was the Bony Piranha Plant. After him were Anna and Elsa, the Fire and Ice Piranha Plants, and the 3 normal plants were Babar, Dianne, and Zoe. He named the Putrid P. Plant, Sasha; the Frost plant, Jack; the Prickly plant, Spike; the Gold plant, Vanna; and the Inky plant, Oswald.
Like Kamek had told him each Piranha Plant had their own personality. Some warmed up to him fairly quick while others needed a little more time. For instance, Kitty - she was the joyful one; always happy to see him. Sasha was the shy one; hesitant at first but very sweet once she got used to him. Vanna was oddly self-centered; caring much about its golden exterior, but for good reason. Gold Piranha Plants made one of the richest and popular extract around so a little extra care was necessary to get its full quality.
"Alright Blaze, you're the last one," He said as he place the last bucket of meat beside.
Blaze was the Lava Piranha Plant in the center fountain. He named it that after its fierce personality. So far, Blaze would only allow him to come close enough to feed; petting, on the other hand, was a completely different story.
"So...do you think today we'll get some process in?" He asked, holding up some chicken to give him.
The Lava Plant snorted, like it was saying 'as if'.
"Oh, come on; I'm not a bad guy. Just give me a chance," Luigi pouted.
Some might look at him as if he was crazy talking to a plant. But the truth is Piranha Plants were actually quite intelligent and, in some species, were capable of speech and walking around. All the piranha plants here seem to understand what he was saying so he tends to talk to them daily.
Blaze growled as he was starting to get impatient. Luigi sighed and tossed him a large piece of meat.
"Fine, be that way. But one of these day you're going to warm up to me. Or in your case, cool down."
If Blaze had eyes, he'll be rolling them right now. Luigi puffed and turned around to leave him alone. He paused and glanced back towards him.
Blaze seemed to be distracted; his body was slightly turned to the side, chewing his food slowly as he took his time eating.
An idea appeared in Luigi's head. He placed the bucket back down and turned back to the Lava Plant.
'What are you doing?' Mr. L asked him.
Luigi shushed him. 'Shh…watch,'
Slowly, the green plumber started walked behind the Lava Plant, as if to sneak up on him.
'Can you even sneak on a Piranha Plant?'
'Well, we're able to find out,"
As slowly and quietly as he can, Luigi stepped behind Blaze. Piranha Plants naturally has an excellent sense of smell and pretty good hearing which is how they detect their prey close by. Normally, Blaze would have noticed Luigi by now but he was chewing too loud to hear him and the green plumber's scent was covered by the dirt and meat he handled.
Once he was close enough, Luigi reached over and started petting Blaze. He felt the plant tense but that only lasted for a few seconds as it soon calmed down. Luigi smiled; knowing he'll get close to the Lava Plant one way or another.
He petted Blaze for several minutes; he was really warm despite the fact he's been sitting in a pool of lava all day. Once he was done, he backed away and placed his hands on his hips.
"See that wasn't so bad," He said "Now would you loosen up?"
His response – a face full of fire…
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"So how did it go?"
The green plumber was burned from head to toe when he walked back inside the castle. A green Shy Guy was sitting in a chair, reading a newspaper asked him that question. His name was Shyloh; he was the one who usually feeds the Piranha Plants. Luigi coughed out some smoke before smiling.
"I think he's starting to like me,"
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Dinner was pretty lively tonight. Conversations vary from the web show Wendy and Morton were working on to Iggy and Lemmy's birthday coming up soon. After eating their meals and throwing in some ideas for the show, most of everyone got up and return to their rooms for the rest of the day. The only ones still sitting on the table were Luigi, Kammy, Junior, and the king himself.
Bowser had already finished eating; he was just sitting in his chair reading his newspaper. Junior was still here because Kammy was forcing him to eat his vegetables, which he was doing so very slowly. Wendy left the table not too long ago, Luigi said he'll join her soon as he finish watching the humorous display.
"So plumber," Bowser spoke suddenly. "How's it going with Kamek?"
"So far so good," Luigi replies. "Although, he wasn't kidding when he said things were going to get harder,"
Bowser smirked. "Yeah, that's Kamek for ya; he's as professional as they come."
He folded his paper and sat up from his seat with a slight grunt.
"Well, I'm going to bed." He announced. "Congratulations, by the way,"
Luigi raised a brow. "For what?"
Bowser didn't say anything. Instead he tossed the newspaper over to him. Luigi caught it and glanced up to see the Koopa King exiting out of the dining room. He looked back at the newspaper and unfolded it to the first page. His eyes widen when he saw the headline.
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~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~
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Wendy came out of the bathroom, feeling fresh and clean. She walked over to her closet to put on her night gown. A few minutes later, the front door opened.
"Wendy!" She heard Luigi called out for her.
She walked out of the closet dressed in a slight blue night gown. "Luigi? What is it?"
The green plumber was in high spirits. He held up the newspaper for her to see. Right on the front page was the main headlines:
"THE MUSHROOM HEIR IS BORN:
WELCOME PRINCE MARCUS"
"Guess who's now an aunt?" Luigi beamed, excitement written all over his face.
Wendy's eyes widen as she took the paper in her hand. "I'm…an aunt?"
He nodded. "That's right. And I'm an uncle,"
She smiled and looked back at the paper. The entire front page was taken up by the picture of the new born baby boy. He was asleep when the photo was taken. He looked much like his father when he was an infant – with his black, beady eyes and his slightly smaller but still pretty big nose. The only difference was that he had a small patch of blonde hair instead of brown.
"Got to admit, the kid is cute," She commented.
"This has been a good month," He smiled."I'm writing a book, you and Morton are making your own show, Ludwig and Kanary are composing an opera, and we have a little nephew to adore."
"You're right, this is a good day." She agreed. Then she smirked. "This gives us all the more reason we should celebrate."
"Celebrate?" He questioned. "How?"
"Don't be so naïve," Mr. L scowled him.
Luigi frowned; not understanding his other's meaning. It wasn't until Wendy took his hand that he realized what she meant.
"Oh right that," He blushed as he was lead to the bed.
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Ending Note:
Most of you probably still remember the very first chapter of the story before I changed it to what you see now. I still have it; I'm just moving it to a more fitting place in the story - Act 3.
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Review :)