5
Mario and Luigi looked around them at the desolate scenery of the desert as it revealed itself in the early morning light of the sun. The sand dunes had a bright gold cast to them and the distant pyramids that stood around the brothers loomed majestically, their golden tips shining brilliantly in the sunlight like bright stars. Still, Pauline remained silent as she followed the brothers with the crowd of people to the king's castle, which stood along the border of the Birabuto and Chai provinces of Sarasaland. She was relieved to see Mario again, but at the same time she found it difficult to not focus on Luigi. There was something about him that she found appealing, but she did not know what that was. Luigi had been keeping an eye on the mysterious Pauline for about an hour and could not help but think that she was not only attracted to him…but REALLY attracted to him. Nonetheless, his mind was still thinking about Daisy.
As for Mario, Peach was obviously on his mind, but he too noticed Pauline's strange attraction to Luigi as he kept glancing back at her along the path to the castle. It was starting to make him suspicious of her possible intentions, and Luigi's possible reaction to them. He still did not trust his brother as much as he should, even though he told him that he trusted him during their underground cave expedition back in the Mushroom Kingdom. Despite what he had told Luigi in the past, Mario was afraid that Luigi might fall into another 'sex trap'. He was also afraid that, in doing so, Luigi would get Pauline impregnated and ruin his relationship with Daisy for good.
Just take it easy, Mario! Mario thought to himself, as the clash between good and evil thoughts rocked his brain with ever increasing intensity:
Good: Why the hell must you be worried about Luigi so much?! Remember, he's grown up now, and so are you…at least that's how you should be.
Evil: Have you ever considered that maybe it wasn't Luigi's idea to get laid by Daisy? You know, Daisy does have a huge crush on him! It's a shame that Peach couldn't do the same for you.
Good: Stop thinking about it and getting jealous of him because of it! There's no reason for you to not trust your brother because he lost his virginity!
Evil: Is that so? If you think you can get by like that, then you must be a real pussy!
Good: Shut up, you unsavory little runt! Luigi's your brother! He would never try to hurt you or make you feel inferior to him like that. The only reason you feel that way is because you are jealous. Last time I checked, being jealous was considered as immature.
Evil: Why don't you make me shut up! Oh, wait. That's right! YOU CAN'T!
"Mario. Are you alright? It looks like you have a headache." Pauline said.
Surprised, Mario glanced over and saw Pauline looking at him with concern. She was actually talking to him.
"No…No, everything's fine." Mario said.
"Is there something you want to talk about?" Pauline asked. "Is it about our separation?"
"No. Not right now." Mario said. "There's too much on my mind right now."
"Are you sure?" Pauline asked.
"Yeah." Mario replied. "I'll tell you later though."
"Okay." Pauline said. "By the way, I can't thank you and your brother enough for saving my life. If weren't for you guys, I'd be a pile of ashes inside my own bony carcass."
"I'm glad you're still alive, too!" Mario said. "It really broke my heart that I acted rude to you when we went our separate ways."
"It broke mine too!" Pauline said. "Why did you do that?"
"I'm afraid I can't answer that." Mario said. "It's rather complicated."
"What is?" Luigi asked, evidently eavesdropping on the whole conversation.
"Nothing." Mario said. "I was just talking bullshit."
Pauline glared at him with renewed anger. Mario kept his mouth shut after that, fearing he might get into another argument with her, like the one they had right before they broke apart. Luigi still had no idea what happened between the two former love birds, but he somehow figured that he would eventually know the answer.
In the meantime, the rest of the crowd was walking ahead of them as they made their way down a large sandy hill and into a small suburban-type town. Most of the people in the small town were either humans or Toad people from the Mushroom Kingdom, with a few exceptions here and their. As they reached the central plaza, Mario and Luigi looked up at all the large buildings and saw giant posters and billboards of a familiar-looking little girl with the phrase "HAVE YOU SEEN OUR PRINCESS?" printed below the picture. It was none other than Daisy as a baby.
"Those posters have been up there for almost two decades." one of the humans in the crowd said. "Back in the day, when Bowser took over our kingdom, his forces drove much of our population away, including princess Daisy when she was just born. Luckily, your king was able to take her in and raise her after our king had passed away. We are very sorry to hear that he is dead."
"I know." Mario said. "The Mushroom Kingdom has been going down for the past three days because of that. Bowser has already done some seriously damage to our capital city. Now he has both princess Peach and princess Daisy as hostages in his evil kingdom."
"We saw it in our newspapers." said one of the Toads in the crowd. "It was also rumored the other day that you two were going to try and save the princesses. Is that true?"
"Well, of course!" Mario said. "We can't just let them suffer! We have to be proactive about getting them back safely."
"That's very good to hear!" said the Toad person. "I've never known of anyone that would risk their lives for the sake of their own kingdom like that! That's why guys were mentioned in the Book of Prophecies. By the way, my name is Drake."
Pauline was silent the entire time, looking away from Mario as she heard the term 'saving the princesses'. She was upset with Mario for not acknowledging his brother on the details regarding their former relationship. As for Luigi, Pauline's attention on him was starting to ease, though it still made him uncomfortable.
"We're almost to the king's castle." Drake said. "It is just straight ahead on the top of the giant sand dune just outside this town."
"What's the name of this town?" Luigi asked.
"It's called Birachai." Drake said. "It's one of two border towns that lie along the Birabuto and Chai provinces."
"I'm guessing that the other town is called Chabuto." Mario said. "Am I right?"
"Close, actually." Drake said. "It's called Butochai."
As the crowd made its way through the town's lovely central plaza, other people were quick to spot the two brothers and cheer for them. Mario and Luigi were aware of this and for the first time in years, they felt that they could accomplish anything that their hearts could desire. It truly felt as though the weight of the world had been lifted from their shoulders.
Ouch! There is definitely still some tension between Mario and Pauline. It appears that Pauline doesn't like how Mario refered to their conversation as 'talking about bullshit' when she was trying to make things better between them. As a result, their rivalry seems to be kicking in once again. At the same time, Luigi still seems bothered by Pauline's level of 'appreciation' for him. Could this cause problems later on?
The names of the two border towns I made up, using parts of the names Birabuto and Chai and making them into new names.
Let's see what happens as the day progresses...when I release the next chapter. It shouldn't be a long wait. See ya! :)
saturn95