Author's Note

Well, here it is, just like I said, chapter 5. v00t! I managed to get two chapters in today, just like I said. Who knows? I might actually be able to upload chapter 6 tonight…mwa ha heh, maybe. Anyways.

Disclaimer

I do not own anything of the Mario Empire. And that's that, folks.

CHAPTER FIVE

Choose, Hero

The two brothers silently ate breakfast, Luigi keeping anything he had to say about the ridiculously large bump on Mario's head to himself. Of course, Mario was grouchy…he wasn't exactly a morning person, and having dark forces possess you and hurl you violently out of bed didn't help matters much for our heroic red plumber. He refused to believe he had rolled out of bed on his own…he had told Luigi that it was Bowser's fault.

Luigi finished his meal, wiped his chin, and cleaned his plate, Mario finishing a moment after.

"Bro, I had a really odd dream last night…" Luigi began, deciding it would be best to share his disturbing encounter with the cloaked man than to keep it to himself. He would explode if he kept it all inside…

Mario looked at him curiously, silently urging him to continue. Luigi went over to the sink and put the dishes in.

"Well, it felt really…uh, real, for that matter…" He continued, as he began scrubbing the spaghetti-stained dishes with soap.

"I found myself in a strange, dark place…and I was floating in the air. There was a swirling vortex-like thingy underneath me, sucking everything in but me. It was pretty weird, I'll tell ya." He paused, trying to remember what exactly happened after that.

"Oh yeah…and some weird guy in a cloak was there, and he talked to me. I couldn't see his face, or, for that matter, any part of his body, really…but he was human, from what I gathered. He had a relatively young voice, too. He told me something about…" Luigi stopped scrubbing for a moment. What exactly had he said, again?

"…Something about "choices" and…uh…that I would have to make an important one soon, or something. Mmm…yeah." Luigi concluded.

Mario gave him a puzzled look, one that seemed to say "'Weegie, you need to lay off the mushrooms." Luigi laughed.

"What, what? It was just a dream, bro…just a dream."

He looked out the window, up into the sky.

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"RGGGH!!!" Bowser stomped about the room, rattling some of the delicate relics in his tantrum. Kammy motioned for him to stop, and Bowser, while still angry, decided that would be best, as well. He stood, fuming.

"How dare he?! Does he know who I am?! The fool!!!" Bowser spat, still seething about the encounter with the cloaked man.

"Well, he seemed to know who you were, your bowser-essness…" Kammy offered, but Bowser only roared.

"I'll teach him to steal things that I was going to steal! Man!!! He really pushed my buttons! Stupid, ignorant little…"

Bowser's tirade continued for a few minutes or so, before he seemed to finally cool down…slightly. One of the koopas stepped up.

"What is it?" Bowser inquired, slightly irritated.

"Well, lord, it seems one of our men has stumbled across something…odd." He reported, and Bowser grunted to indicate he continue.

"In the back…another room. He tripped, fell near the wall, and seems to have triggered something…suffice to say, a new door has opened."

Bowser was curious, his mind set off his annoyance for the time being.

"Gra ha ha! EXCELLENT! Let's check it out, Kammy!" The koopa magician nodded and followed the dark lord to the back of the room, where indeed, a new door had been opened. It had been painted over to blend in with the wall, and could only be opened by some sort of miniscule button kept underneath one of the tiles below it. Indeed, there had to be something in here that someone didn't want people to find.

Upon entering the room, Bowser's mood soured slightly. It was empty. Nothing was here.

"What?! What's the use of having a hidden room if you're not gonna hide anything in it?!" He stormed, jumping up and down. Kammy was about to politely request he stop again, when something was heard shifting somewhere in the room.

"What was that?" Kammy asked, looking around. Bowser sniffed the air, curiosity roused.

"Well, whatever it was, something definitely changed."

One of the koopa squad returned from outside of the room, and stood, silent. Kammy rose her eyebrows.

"What is it? Anything change out there?"

"Yup. It's pretty remarkable…" The squad member replied, and continued to stand.

"Well…are you going to show it to us?" Bowser asked in a tone of irritated politeness. The underling snapped to, and nodded fervently.

"Ah, yes, Lord Bowser, forgive me…come this way."

He led the Dark Lord and the witch out of the concealed entrance and into the ruins…

"Wow!" Bowser yelped.

He looked down into the abyss that seemed to stretch forever downwards that met his eyes. It was huge, and seemed to stretch both ways for miles. Yet golden stairs winded above it, very thin, and they all seemed to intertwine at certain points. In the middle of it all, there was a raised platform, and on that platform a small, golden treasure chest rested.

"Well…I would say that treasure chest right there is important, considering where it's placed…" Kammy said softly, though her voice trailed across the expanse of the gap, echoing.

Flames burst forth from the precipice, ascending like massive pillars, roaring with an unnatural ferocity. Bowser's eyes watered.

"I LOVE this place!"

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"So…what happened between you and peach the other night, Bro?" Luigi asked, grinning mischievously. Mario smiled widely and sighed, resting his head on his hands. Luigi chuckled, patting his brother on the back.

"You knew it was bound to happen sooner or later." He smiled. Mario sighed again, seemingly lost in bliss, and Luigi chuckled yet again and left the room.

The lights in the house seemed to grow dimmer.

Luigi frowned. That was odd…but he realized that it was not the lights in the house that had darkened, but outside.

That was even stranger. He hurried out to the kitchen, to find that the door had been swung open in a hurry and Mario was gone…he raced out the doorway and gasped at the sight before him.

Lightning twisted about in the sky, thunder echoed, and the day had turned to night. It had grown even darker in the time it had taken for Luigi to run outside. This was by no means natural.

And Mario stood, in a defensive posture, hammer raised. Luigi ran over to him.

"What's going on?!"

Before he got an answer, a giant hand, a hand which seemed composed of the shadows themselves, reached out before him, and he stepped back, fighting the fear that had threatened to grasp his body.

"WHAT IS THAT?!" He yelled to Mario, but too late. His brother had already leapt towards the monstrosity head-on, hammer raised, and had began to bash the god-like hand. Luigi couldn't help but feel afraid for his brother…while he had overcome several enemies in the past…Luigi cursed. He had to believe in his brother.

What was he thinking? HE should be out there, too! But…

Luigi cursed his fear. Why was he afraid?! If Mario could bring himself to fight such a fearsome foe, he could, too!

He began making towards the hand, when the ground in front of him exploded with no prior indication of wanting to. He was thrown back, landing…hard. The wind was knocked out of him. He blinked, feeling disoriented.

"Hey."

Luigi managed to stand, to find the cloaked man he had encountered in his dream standing before him, though he had his cloak lowered so you could see his face. He had blue, spiky hair, and looked no older than 18.

"You…!" Luigi started.

"Me. Anyways 'weeg…heh, that sounds funny…" He chuckled briefly, while Luigi stared at him incredulously.

"Is this really appropriate, here, now?!" He yelled, feeling his sanity slip beneath him. The cloaked man motioned for him to calm down, smiling that smile that seemed to make a lot of stuff better.

"Relax, dude. Now listen…you remember what I said about choices and all that, right?"

Luigi nodded, though he was still finding everything hard to cope with at the moment. So, his dream hadn't been a dream…interesting.

"Well…" He scratched his head. "…That part's kinda…well, y'see, something big will come up some day relatively soon, and I was referring to that, y'know, foreshadowing, dramatic irony…blablabla…" Luigi continued to stare.

"Well, actually…by the way, my name's Zane." He paused to smile before continuing. "There's a choice you have to make here, too."

"Like what…?" Luigi asked, narrowing his eyebrows. "My brother's in danger, I should think it would be obvious what to do…"

"Naw, naw, nuh-uh, that thinking bit seems like a good idea to most people, but normally only distracts you. Your bro will be fine…I mean, he is Mario, right?" Zane grinned, while Luigi remained silent before asking…

"So…what type of choice do I have here?"

"Okay…leave Mario be and follow me, or stay here and…well, you'll see what happens."

Luigi stared at him wide-eyed.

"Okay, stop staring and decide. I told you, thinking is a distraction."

"I'll…"

At that precise, suspenseful moment, an explosion rocked the ground and flames engulfed the two. Terrible timing, really.