Author's Note: Here comes another two-parter that wasn't really meant to be a two-parter at first. This chapter would have ended up being quite long if I attempted to put everything I wanted into it though, so I think it all turns out for the better. Anywho, please read on and I hope you enjoy the chapter.

Chapter 13: "Sports Day Without the Sporty Girl"

Luigi felt oddly off as he sat up on top of his bunk the following morning, hunching over slightly to prevent smacking his head on the beams that supported his brother's mattress above him, an act that became second nature to him after a while, for Luigi frequently had problems with nearly knocking himself out during the first few months the brothers had the stacked beds. It wasn't particularly uncommon for Luigi to feel a bit down first thing in the morning. It was actually kind of hard not to, especially after spending seven to eight blissful hours sleeping and wandering about a dream land that existed only in his head. Having to disturb that rest in order to get up and actually exert energy to move about was always a bummer. But on this day, a day that was meant to rouse the entire town into friendly, competitive activity and a day that Luigi was honestly looking forward to, he just didn't feel the urge to do much of anything really. However, he figured that if he could just get himself out of bed and move around for a while, he'd soon feel a fair bit better. That was how the morning routine usually worked at least.

So, with an inaudible groan, Luigi threw off the covers that lied over the bottom half of his body, stepped out from underneath his brother's bunk (Mario was already up apparently, for his bed was empty), and turned right back around in order to replace his sheets into a neatly flat position, a ritual he always made sure to take care of, for he hated returning to a messy bed when it was time to rest for the night. Once his sheets were tidy and in order, Luigi scratched the back of his head, getting his fingers tangled in his messy hair as he turned to exit the semi-clean room that he and his brother shared. Before he left, he observed an alarm clock that neither he nor his brother ever actually used. It was a little past eight o' clock. The park just opened for Sports Day a couple minutes ago.

The moment Luigi left the room he was greeted by the delicious smell of a medley of breakfast-oriented foods. Sausage and ham and eggs and waffles. Mmm-mmm-mmm, it smelled fantastic...

Appreciating the fact that someone was considerate enough to save him the trouble of cooking breakfast for the family that morning, Luigi immediately made his way to the steam-filled kitchen where his mother was busy balancing frying pans and toasters galore, zipping all about masterfully as she shot a smile to her son. Her hair was short and brown and she wore a pink apron over a white and red checkered dress and fuzzy pink slippers.

"Breakfast smells great Mama," Luigi complimented as he stopped his short, rather husky mother and gave her a hug from the side. His mother happily returned the gesture with a small giggle before taking in a noticeably loud sniff and ending the hug rather abruptly.

"More than I can say for you," she retorted as she waved her hand next to her nose playfully. "Go take a shower Luigi, you can't go out smelling like that."

Luigi couldn't help but chuckle as his mother shooed him away so she could go back to keeping her eye on the food. However, as he passed by his father (who was reading a newspaper from four days ago in the dining room next to the kitchen), he suddenly grew self conscious and decided to give himself a small sniff underneath his armpit. Needless to say, his mother was right. He reeked. How the heck did he manage to smell so bad after just one night of sleep? It was disgusting.

"Do you know if Mario's in the shower Papa?" Luigi asked his tall, skinny father who wore blue overalls on top of a turquoise shirt that day. He had a matching colored hat and bore some seriously impressive lip fur resting underneath his large nose.

"He should be out by now," his father answered without looking away from his paper. He let a second pass by as Luigi began to head for the bathroom in the hallway when he decided he may as well throw in an extra two cents about Luigi's hygiene. "And if he's not, tell him to hurry up. You're curlin' my nostril hairs with that stench."

"Yeah thanks Papa," Luigi muttered with a sigh as he left, though he knew his father was just kidding with him. It was bad enough that he smelled the way he did without knowing why, and being heckled about it only made things worse.

Getting over the comment, Luigi continued on his way to the bathroom. Seeing that the door was closed and hearing his older twin brother humming on the other side of it, Luigi rapped his knuckles against the hinged portal that stood before him.

"Hurry up bro, I need to take a shower," Luigi called, beginning to get sick of having to smell himself as he stood outside in the hallway, a mere twenty or so feet away from the shower that beckoned him. Hardly any time passed before Mario opened up the door however, granting entrance for his younger brother to enter as Mario passed him on the way out. Taking a quick whiff of the air though, Mario decided to follow in the footsteps of his parents and mention Luigi's stench.

"Wow Luigi, you must have sweat a lot last night," Mario commented once he was out in the hallway and his brother was inside the bathroom. He only wore a simple white towel around his waist, having left his clothes waiting for him back in the bedroom.

"I was sweating?" Luigi asked, raising an eyebrow as he began to feel even more disgusted with himself. After Mario nodded in affirmation to the question, Luigi suddenly felt rather sticky, thinking about the dried sweat that clung to his body.

"Did you have a bad dream or something? You woke me up with all that mumbling and tossing and turning you did last night," Mario added, making Luigi attempt to recall any dreams he had...

"I didn't dream about anything last night," he answered, failing to remember a single image that may have popped up during his unconscious state. Still though, if he really was reacting as if something were disturbing him in his sleep, what in the world could it have been if it wasn't a dream?

With a nonchalant shrug, Mario resumed his cheerful humming as he continued on his way to the bedroom he shared with his brother. Waving off his thoughts about his uncontrollable actions of the previous night himself, Luigi retreated fully into the bathroom and closed the door behind him at the exact same time that Mario closed the door to the bedroom.

It would be another ten minutes of scrubbing and singing rather raucously in the steamed bathroom before Luigi finally emerged, feeling infinitely better after having successfully washed his morning blues and his sweaty smell away. And after about an additional five minutes, he joined his family at the dining room table, dressed similarly to his brother who wore his usual specialized cap, a short sleeved jersey, loose gym shorts, and running shoes. The only difference between the boys' choice of dress was Luigi's preference of a green theme color to Mario's red.

The breakfast was eaten in relative silence, for the boys' mother was scarfing down her food without a second's delay between bites, their father wasn't much of a talker (usually opting to remain silent unless he was first spoken to), and Mario and Luigi themselves simply didn't have much to say. This was rather normal for most of the family's breakfasts together, so nobody felt particularly urged to strike up any kind of conversation in order to fill the empty air with chatter.

That morning however, there was a rather obvious source of interest for discussion. And that source was coming from Luigi's older brother, who wouldn't stop humming his cheerful tune even while chewing on the various foods laid out on the plate before him.

"You seem pretty happy this morning bro," Luigi spoke up, looking across the table at his brother in red, who lowered his fork that was previously in the process of delivering a morsel of scrambled egg from the platter to his mouth. Also taking note of Mario's cheery attitude that morning, both parents lulled their eating for a moment to look over at their older son in anticipation of an explanation as to why he appeared to be so jovial.

"Well, I am," Mario responded simply with a waning smile that began to disappear from his face. The way his family was looking at him, it felt like he was committing some kind of crime just for being in a good mood. "I'm just excited for Sports Day," he continued on to say somewhat defensively just before resuming the act of eating his scrambled eggs.

The facade succeeded in deterring the two parents from keeping particular interest in their son's peppy mood, but Luigi wasn't ready to buy it. Maybe it was that innate sixth sense that were built into twins that allowed them to "read each others' minds," but Luigi simply knew that Mario was hiding the true reason about why he seemed particularly bright that day, and he was intent on finding out.

After he finished his breakfast of course.

The meal was quite delicious, much to the surprise of everyone at the table (including the lovely lady who made it). The family had grown so used to Luigi cooking for them morning, afternoon, and night that it seemed like they forgot that anyone else in the house could do it and actually pull off a half decent meal. Heck, even restaurants couldn't compare to Luigi's cuisine, and they had to pay to go to those establishments.

But, almost needless to say, having been spoiled by Luigi's frequent cooking, the family's sense of appreciation for his work dulled down to virtually nonexistent over time. While his mother received praise after the breakfast was over for the meal she laid out for everyone that morning, Luigi hadn't been complimented about how good his prepared dishes were for a bit over six months by now. Sure, he wasn't really envious that his mother received thanks for the one time she cooked all week when Luigi himself never received any comments for the past several months, but it would have been nice to get some kind of recognition for his effort. He sometimes even contemplated making a big deal of it and refusing to cook until his family began to appreciate it once again, but he could never bring himself to actually do it. Deep down, it really didn't matter to him whether or not his family verbally thanked him for cooking. He liked doing it anyway and it was a contribution that he was proud of honestly. Besides, they all had to eat one way or another.

Sharing the chore of taking all the used dishes, glasses, and utensils to the kitchen in order to rinse them off in the sink before placing them into the dish washer, Mario and Luigi soon departed the room with everything in hand, giving them a moment alone that Luigi could use to interrogate his older brother about what he refrained from imparting back at the table.

"So why were you so happy earlier?" Luigi asked quietly, partly to keep from having his parents hear and partly because he wasn't sure whether or not Mario would want to tell him. Thankfully, his brother didn't harbor any ill will about Luigi's act of attracting attention to him earlier and decided he would go ahead and let his little brother know, though he kept his voice quiet as well to prevent his parents from overhearing.

"I've just been thinking about Peach lately," Mario answered as he began to scrub down some of the plates he carried in his load, beginning to hum once again as he worked. Luigi wasn't really surprised, for Peach seemed to be on Mario's mind almost constantly anyway. The fact that he was humming so happily while thinking of her was what sparked his interest, and Mario soon let him know. "Since I woke up this morning, I just suddenly decided that I wanted to ask her out. And I've been thinking about how cool it'd be if she said 'yes'."

Ah, so that's what aroused such a good mood from Mario that day. Well, it was no doubt that Peach would agree to a date; it was obvious that she was just as smitten with Mario as he was with her. The pair gave off all kinds of little noticeable signs that they were interested in one another every single time they were in each other's company: Peach's hand lingered on Mario's shoulder just as Mario's lingered on the small of Peach's back for a second or two after they gave each other a hug goodbye, Peach laughed at every one of Mario's jokes (including the ones that were admittedly horrible), Mario always subtly attempted to position himself near Peach whenever they were in a group of friends together. It was just incredibly obvious that they had a thing for each other.

"Actually bro, I was also thinking that you should ask Daisy out too," Mario commented, breaking into Luigi's thoughts and snapping him back to reality for a moment as he began to rinse off a butter knife. "We could probably set up a double date."

...Well...Luigi and Daisy were a slightly different case... And by slightly different, Luigi would have argued that his feelings for Daisy were pretty much completely one-sided. Yes, in the past she had shown some signs of affection for him, but nothing that Luigi could really consider to step outside of the realm of friendship.

Sure, it was obvious to most that Luigi liked Daisy, but Daisy herself seemed to think that his slightly odd behavior around her was due to the simple fact that she was a girl and not because Luigi actually had a thing for her. And really, Luigi couldn't blame her if she didn't notice that he was infatuated with her. He never made any subtle moves or did anything for her that he insisted he wouldn't do for anyone else, whenever they were in a group of friends, he actually tried to distance himself from her, he just didn't make any attempt whatsoever to try and get her to notice him. Luigi was too shy and too unsure of himself to even try.

But, according to Mario, who heard his information from Peach (the wondrous grapevine effect at work), Daisy actually found Luigi to be rather cute. Probably not in the way that he was hoping (the kind of "cute" that girls liked about guys that made them eligible for friendship but not for a relationship, however that worked), but the fact that she thought this in the first place was enough to give Luigi a glimmer of hope that he just might be able to win her over. Asking her on a date that day though? That would probably be a bit out of his league. If anything, it might actually drive her away more than attract her to him. And that wasn't a risk Luigi was willing to take.

...Well, okay maybe it was. It really all depended on how confident he was feeling when he saw her that day. But, knowing him, that would almost definitely mean that he wouldn't even try to ask her out...

"I dunno bro," Luigi responded as he opened up the nearby dishwasher, preparing to load everything up. "I don't think Daisy likes me enough to go on a date with me. But Peach will definitely say yes if you ask her," Luigi quickly added before he could get any words of sympathy from his brother about Daisy. The attempt at diverting Mario's mind away from Luigi's possibilities with Daisy was to no avail however, for the boy in red chose to ignore the last sentence his brother in green uttered and focused on trying to raise his spirits about his chances with the girl of his affections.

"Come on Luigi, I'm sure Daisy would like to go on a date with you," Mario insisted as he passed a glass over to his brother to load into the dish washer.

"...You think so?" Luigi asked meekly as he slowly accepted the glass, wanting desperately to believe his brother's words. "What if she says no though?"

"Don't think like that," Mario lightly scolded, grabbing the final plate in order to rinse it down. "You know what Mama says-

"Thinking negatively will only bring negative results," both brothers said at the same time, for Luigi heard this saying frequently thanks to the fact he often thought that the worst would arise from most situations. And really, if Luigi's past experiences were any indication, the validity of the quote couldn't really be challenged.

When he went to a pool for the first time, he didn't think he would be able to swim, no matter how much positive reinforcement he had backing him up. And he ended up almost drowning that day.

When his elementary school hosted a small game where students had to guess how many badges were sitting in a jar, Luigi believed that, no matter what he guessed, someone else would guess more accurately and win the free ticket to Ricky T's Fun Park. As it turned out, he was only two badges short of being spot on and winning. But another kid was only one badge short and ended up snagging the ticket right out of Luigi's grasp.

And then there was that time-

"You know Mario, you're right," Luigi spoke up, interrupting his own negative thoughts about the past. It was about time he started believing in himself. He'd spent his entire life under his own critical eye, telling himself that nothing would turn out favorably for him. He had to make a change. A change in favor of an optimistic future.

"Next time I see Daisy...I'm gonna ask her out," Luigi said with a somewhat convincing determination ringing from his voice, a tone that brought a proud smile to his brother's face.

After giving his little brother a pat on the back and a few words of support, Mario led Luigi back into the now-empty dining room. Their father had departed to start up the family car while their mother went to change into more suitable outdoor clothes, opting for a rather large yellow sun dress and a pair of matching flip flops. She and her husband wouldn't be participating in any of the park events that day, but they would be there to support and cheer on their two sons, who were, apparently, only going to be playing two sports between the both of the them, which seemed like something of a waste considering the wealth of additional activities that the park provided.

Nevertheless, the entire family was excited to get out to the location and spend the day together (even the boys' father, though he was much more subtle about it than everyone else). The day was to be spent with frolic and fun, good conversation and even better competition, and an appreciation for health and fitness. Games would be played, friendly matches would be won and lost, but ill will would never arise. It felt like a day of unity for the entire community to come together and share their time with one another, using sports as the medium of communication. And it was hard to find someone in sour spirits, whether they participated in the events or not. It was a bright and sunny day, filled with bright and sunny people.

At least, that was how Luigi thought of the day before he realized that Daisy wasn't where she promised she'd be.

Having met up at the park later in the afternoon the previous day, everyone agreed that they would meet at the tennis courts, since they were close to the entrance and, if they wanted to, they could immediately play a few games of tennis if they so desired. However, as Mario and Luigi stepped up to the courts, they only found one of the two girls that were supposed to be there. And that one girl was Peach...

Dressed in the pink T-shirt and short pink shorts she normally wore for gym class and her hair done up in a ponytail, Peach greeted the boys with a smile (and a small hug for Mario) and soon asked if either of them saw Daisy on their way in. After fruitlessly scanning their immediate surroundings though, neither boy could honestly say that they had. Very much to Luigi's displeasure.

"Weird, I thought she'd be here before any of us," Peach commented as she looked around as well, unable to spot Daisy herself. "She told me she would be here as soon as the park opened, so I hurried over as quickly as I could."

"Well, it's not that late yet," Mario spoke up after observing the worried look on his brother's face in hopes of calming him down a little. "It's only about eight forty-five. Maybe she's just running a little behind schedule."

Luigi seriously hoped his brother was right. He had a boost of confidence that morning and he wasn't sure how much longer it would stick around. If Daisy didn't show up soon, he had no idea if he'd still be in the right mind set to ask her out.

All of a sudden, Luigi seemed to regress back into the negative mood that held sway over him earlier that morning. He felt that he remembered something that came to him in the middle of the night; something that was likely the cause of his alleged tossing and turning. He didn't know what it was, but he could feel that something would just be missing that day. Something that obviously succeeded in slightly depressing him that morning before he entered the soothing shower... And that something was very likely Daisy...

Luigi would never claim to be psychic in any way, but this wouldn't be the first time that a seemingly random feeling was a precursor to an event that would justify said feeling. In the past, he would suddenly feel jolly after a relatively bad day was nearing a close and, the very next morning, he would find several dropped coins lying on the sidewalk. One day he would be unhappy for no reason and, later on that same day, he would discover that his favorite cafeteria food was sold out just moments before he could obtain it. These feelings would associate themselves with some kind of event that hadn't even happened yet, and it was uncanny how accurate they were, but Luigi shrugged them off as mere coincidence most of the time.

But now...he couldn't really deny that there was something to this phenomenon that he previously ignored. If he was feeling particularly down that morning for no apparent reason...maybe it was true that Daisy would be absent for the rest of the day...

No. No. He had to stop thinking like that. He and his brother talked about this not fifteen minutes ago. He had to think positive. He had to believe that Daisy would show up any minute, wearing that bright smile and walking with a spring in her step, ready to get herself lost in the sports she so loved to play for the entire day.

...But, as the group waited for about five minutes...there was still no sign of Daisy.

Okay, maybe she would arrive in just a few more minutes. Everyone ran a little late now and then. No big deal.

And the group lingered about for an additional seven minutes. Mario was growing noticeably antsy thanks to his idle state as he watched the dozens of people around him walking about, chatting each other up, playing games and wearing the brightest smiles possible on their faces. Being only inches away from an area loaded with tennis courts (which was quickly filling up with passersby and threatening to have no space left if the group waited much longer) was doing Mario no favors as he attempted to create small talk to occupy the group as they kept their eyes peeled for an approaching Daisy that never appeared. Bearing in mind that he was waiting for Daisy partially for his brother's sake though, Mario kept himself from verbalizing his eagerness to start playing without her.

It was nearing nine o' clock though. A whole hour later than Daisy promised she would be there. What the heck could be keeping her up for so long?

Wait...duh. If they wanted to know what was up, they could just call her. She did have a cell phone after all, and everyone did have her phone number. It was a wonder that nobody had thought of doing this sooner.

Being the most eager to solve the mystery behind Daisy's failure to arrive, Luigi was the first to react to the suggestion by reaching into his pocket and grabbing his trusty cell phone. Flipping it open and quickly locating Daisy's name on his contact list (it wasn't tough, considering there were only five contacts total anyway, and Daisy was right at the top), Luigi put the phone to his ear and waited through the long, monotone ringing that preceded either the answer from the receiver that he hoped for or the dreaded voicemail that would ask him to leave a message. Mario and Peach watched him in silence for fifteen long seconds before it became evident that something was speaking to Luigi, for his face sudden lit up with awareness after the long duration of the droning of the ringing.

"Hey!" Daisy's cheerful voice rang out from the other end of the call, causing Luigi's heart to jump immediately as a small smile came to his lips. "What's up?"

"Hey Daisy," Luigi responded, nodding to Mario and Peach to indicate that Daisy had indeed answered her phone. "I was just calling because we're all waiting for you at the park and-"

"Oh really? Man, that's great!"

What inspired her to say something like that...?

"Yeah, I guess it is..." Luigi said, noticeably confused about what Daisy had just said. "So where are you anyway? We've been waiting for you."

"Well you know, I've just been doing this and that," Daisy's voice answered, making more sense than her last response. "I'm not at the phone right now though, so I'll just have to tell you about it later. But leave me a message so I can get back to you alright? Talk to you later!"

...What?

Luigi soon discovered that he was played for a fool as the beep that indicated that it was time to leave a message rang into his ears. With a slight blush showing off his embarrassment, Luigi simply hung up his phone, suddenly feeling deterred from speaking once again due to the fact that his brother and his friend were watching him, thinking that he was actually talking to Daisy. Of course, repeating what he just said in order to leave a message probably would have made it less obvious that he was talking to a recording than abruptly hanging up the phone. But who cared? In that moment, better judgment and common sense didn't matter to Luigi.

He at least had to admit that Daisy's method of leaving a recording that mimicked an actual conversation was pretty cute, if quite clever, even though it made him feel idiotic having actually spoken to it.

"Why'd you hang up?" Mario asked with a raised eyebrow, bringing voice to the very same question Peach had in mind.

"Uh...that was a message I left her..." Luigi lied. What he said during the fake conversation could have been a message if one stretched their imagination a bit, which both Mario and Peach did in order to accept the idea.

Still though, if Daisy didn't answer her phone, what could she be doing? She had to be up by now, that was for sure. Even on days that she didn't have to get up by any set time it was discovered that she rarely slept past eight thirty. And, as far as everyone there knew, she always had her cell phone on her. So what could possibly be going on that made her unable to answer?

"Well, maybe she's already here?" Mario suggested, turning all eyes on him immediately. "She probably went off to play some different sport while she waited for us and put her phone away so she wouldn't lose it or something."

Hmm... Yeah, that sounded logical. Once Peach informed the brothers that she didn't arrive until eight twenty herself, that left a whole twenty minutes where Daisy probably decided to try out a different game while she waited. It wasn't too farfetched that she would do that; standing around for twenty minutes straight during one of her favorite days of the year probably would have pushed her to do something to immerse herself in the activity. Hell, Mario was hardly restraining himself and he'd been staying idle for about fifteen minutes.

So it was decided. The group of friends would split up and explore the grounds in order to find the missing Daisy: Mario was to check the basketball courts and the golfing range, Peach would handle the tennis courts and the track, Luigi would search the soccer fields and the go kart areas, and Mario's and Luigi's parents (who'd been sitting on a nearby bench, striking conversation with a friendly elderly Toad for the duration of the time their children were standing around) would either wait there or walk about the grounds themselves, calling one of their sons in case they located the absent girl.

The plan was ready, everyone was set, and, determined to find Daisy and complete their group, it was time for everyone to go. Mario, Luigi,and Peach set off for their own assigned destinations, keeping their eyes open along the way should Daisy happen to show up before they could get to where they were headed. And, though they were searching for Daisy...well, nobody said they couldn't have a little diversionary fun along the way...

Footnote: Yeah, I'm going to be slightly diverting from the core storyline for a while here in favor of a bit of character development in the next chapter (which I'll try to have up soon). I just hope that nobody really minds and that the next chapter is entertaining nonetheless.

Oh, and if you were wondering, the five contacts on Luigi's cell phone were, in alphabetical order, Daisy, Mama, Mario, Papa, and Toad. It's not really important, but I thought I'd let you know anyway.