The Princesses Peach and Daisy walked down the corridors of Peach's Castle, talking quietly between the two of them, watching the clouds roll by the windows. It was a very peaceful day. Peach had already sent most of the Toads on duty out to play and enjoy the sunshine, and those who had stayed were also aimlessly wandering the castle, gossiping amongst themselves.
The two Princesses found themselves on the second floor, after a tip from one such Toad that their guest had already arrived, and Mario and Luigi were upstairs already in her room. Peach approached the door to the Guest Bedroom they kept Livi's things in, and the Princess knocked very softly on it.
They waited a moment, then Daisy irritably pushed her out of the way, raising a fist and giving three hard, firm slams on the door before screaming, "Livi!! Let us in!! We know you're in there!!"
"Daisy!" Peach gasped. "That's not very polite!"
"Oh, please, like you'll get that idiot to open up any other way…" Daisy said, waving the pink princess off.
Sure enough, the two were interrupted by a clicking sound as the door was unlocked, swinging open to reveal Mario. He stepped aside, letting the girls inside, then shut the door back behind them.
"Uh-uh!" Livi screamed from the floor. "Don't be lettin' them stuck-up Princesses in my room!"
Peach sat down on the bed behind her. She cleared her throat to draw attention to herself. Livi leaned her head back from where she was laying in Luigi's lap on a mound of pillows, wearing his hat, and smiled stupidly up at the Princess. "Oh… hello, Peach… you look lovely today…"
"Oh, nononononono…" Daisy said, walking around the bed to glare at Livi. "Off my boyfriend!"
Livi ignored her, simply waving her hand towards the side. "Get out of my way! We're in the middle of a game!"
Mario, Luigi, and Livi each held a Wiimote controller, and the large TV mounted at the front of the room showed a paused game of MarioKart—final lap, final race.
"No!" Daisy said, stomping her foot. She pointed to a beanbag chair adjacent to Luigi's seat. "Get off of my boyfriend!"
Livi poked her tongue out. "Why don't you make me?" Needless to say, the first time Luigi had introduced Daisy to Livi, the Sarasaland Princess had quickly been marked off of the "favorite characters" list.
Daisy reached down and grabbed Livi's arm, the fangirl instantly shrieking as loud as she could. Luigi grabbed Daisy's hand, motioning for her to quit it as Livi kept screaming. Daisy growled, throwing Livi's arm back down, and stomping over to sit in the beanbag chair herself. Livi stopped screaming, sticking her tongue out again, then settling back into Luigi's lap. She hit a button on her Wiimote and the three continued with their race.
Mario laid down on the bed beside Peach again, the Princess tapping the top of his hat to get his attention. "Have you told her yet?" She asked sweetly in a hushed voice.
Mario shook his head "no", not taking his eyes off the screen.
Peach leaned in and whispered in his ear. "I just got the letter from Bowser… he gave us the all-clear…"
Mario smiled up at Peach as the game ended. Livi, meanwhile, took a split second to realize that she had won the game, jumping up and screaming, throwing her fists in the air in a celebratory fashion. Mario tapped his brother on the shoulder, catching his attention, and gave him the signal. Luigi nodded, smiling as Livi plopped back down in his lap. "Alright, let's go again!"
As Livi started picking out her next selection of characters, vehicles, and courses, Luigi started to deliver the good news. "Hey, Livi… we forgot to tell you—we've got a little birthday surprise for you…"
"I like surprises!" Livi screamed ecstatically, not looking away from the screen.
Luigi paused a moment before going on. "Well… We've been talking with Bowser—"
"Omigosh I love him! Bowser is the awesomness!!" Livi interrupted. Luigi gave her a look. "Sorry… go on…"
"So… we've been talking with King Bowser—without him trying to kill us…" Luigi answered Livi's question before she could interrupt him again to ask why she had missed the fight. The fangirl simply smiled up at him, then went back to playing, allowing him to continue. "And, after much persuasion and debates, Bowser has agreed to let you come spend the day in Bowser Castle!"
Livi was up on her feet in an instant, whipping around to face Luigi. Her hands were over her mouth to keep herself from screaming, and her eyes were wide with disbelief. "Nu-uh…"
"Yup." Luigi simply replied, reclining back into the pillows.
Peach held up a folded piece of parchment, waving it back and forth. "We just received this letter from him… we'll be going tomorrow on your birthday—I'll take you up there on my plane, and we can all go with you!"
"Nu-uh!" Livi said again, throwing her hands down, showing her ecstatic smile.
"Yeah, that's right…" Daisy sneered, glaring up at Livi. "Luigi's precious little angel gets everything she wants…"
"Well, at least we know who his favorite is…" Livi sneered back.
Daisy raised a fist, growling under her breath, but Luigi put a gentle hand on her shoulder to stop her. Daisy crossed her arms over her chest, huffing and slamming her back irritably into the beanbag chair.
Peach stood up and offered Livi the letter. "We'll leave first thing in the morning, alright? How does that sound?"
Livi snatched the paper from Peach's gloved hand before she was finished, quickly scanning over the message. "Are you kidding?! That's great! This is totally amazing! Ohmygosh I'm going to Bowser's Castle!!"
Livi threw her arms around Peach, screaming ecstatically, then released the Princess, grabbing Luigi and yanking him up off the floor. She hugged her green-clad hero, swinging him around the room as she ranted on and on about the sheer amazingness of the current events. Daisy stood up, her hands clenching into tight fists, apparently about to take her boyfriend back by force. Peach and Mario laughed, holding her gently back as they watched Livi twirl about the room.
Certainly, everyone could tell, tomorrow was going to be something to remember.
Luigi awoke early in the morning, the sun just beginning to rise over the green hills of the Mushroom Kingdom valleys. There was already an uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach—today he, Mario, and the Princesses were taking Livi up to Bowser's Castle. Everyone had already agreed to be on peaceful terms through the visit, but that castle still just gave Luigi the creeps. It was defiantly going to be a long day, and Luigi could tell already Livi was going to be very difficult to keep up with.
Luigi yawned and stretched, dragging himself out of bed. He and Mario were staying in a guest room in Peach's Castle, as they always did when Livi came over (during her first few visits, she had been known to sneak out into the gardens at night and attempt to pet the Chain Chomps), so they could keep an eye on her, since their room was just down the hall from her room.
Mario was still asleep in the bed across the room. Luigi decided it would be best to let him sleep a while, so he grabbed the green hat hanging on his bed post, without bothering to change out of his pajamas, and went out into the hallway, quietly walking down to Livi's room.
He knocked softly on the door, waited a few moments, then there was a light thump on the other side of the door—probably a pillow flung from across the room as a lazy signal to enter. Luigi opened the door, quietly stepping inside. Livi was on her bed playing Super Paper Mario, still in her pajamas as well. The way she was laying, she had the lower half of her face buried in a pillow, probably to keep herself from screaming. Wondering why this would be an issue, Luigi watched her click rapidly through Squirps' dialogue, then someone from off-screen said something. A flash of black swooped in, stomped on the little alien, and flew right back off.
As the screen cut, the music shifted to a certain villain's theme-song, and Livi saw a quick glimpse of Mr. L's arrogant smirk before she buried her face in the pillow, her muffled screaming making Luigi smile at the silly little fangirl. As she picked herself back up, she gestured wildly at the screen. "Look! Look, Weegee! It's Mr. L! Isn't he amazing?! He's totally amazing, ohmygosh!"
"Yes, he's very amazing, Livi…" Luigi said, sitting down on the bed beside Livi. He watched her click through the hero's dialogue as quick as she could, not able to care less about what Peach had to say, yet hanging intently on every word out of Mr. L's mouth.
After a minute or two, Mr. L introduced himself, the screen zooming in as he twirled around, striking a dramatic pose and proudly proclaiming himself to be the Green Thunder—Mr. L. Livi squealed with delight, burying her face in the pillow, and drumming her fists and feet on the bed.
"So… ready for today?" Luigi asked as Livi stopped spazzing.
"Are you kidding?" Livi asked, tensing as the fight ensued. "I haven't slept all night!"
"What?" For some strange reason, Luigi was surprised. "Livi… how long have you been playing this?"
"This is a new file." Livi said bluntly, intensely focused on trying to jump on Mr. L. She had only just reached the end of chapter four, so she was about halfway through the game, but the way Livi loved the dialogue of the game, no doubt it had taken her all night to get this far. Actually, this was a relatively quick pace for her.
"Livi, that's not good for you…" Luigi said gently, as though a father to his daughter. "Especially since there's going to be a lot going on today."
"Oh, please…" Livi tried to wave him off, quickly snatching her controller back up to spastically dodge Mr. L. "I'm a spaz—as soon as I'm in the same room as King Bowser Koopa, I'll be fine!"
Luigi sighed.
"What?" Livi asked, looking up at him as Mr. L gave up, summoning his Brobot. "Is something wrong?"
"Not really… I just…" Luigi sighed again. "You know how I worry about you…"
"Aw, Luigi!" Livi blushed, smiling and jumping up to throw her arms around Luigi's neck, hugging him tightly. "That's so sweet! You really care about me!!"
"Well, of c-course…" Luigi stammered, blushing a bit. "I promised Mario and P-peach I'd pro-protect you, right?"
"Aw, how sweet! That's totally adorable!!" Livi continued. She suddenly snapped out of her fangirlish rant by the sudden ceasing of Brobot's battle theme. The two looked up at the TV just in time to seem Mario fall off-screen, which quickly cut to "GAME OVER"
"CRAP!!" Livi shrieked, diving for the controller and pressing every button all at once, hoping she could somehow revive the fallen hero. "Aw, man! I didn't save since the chapter switch, either! I'm gonna have to do the Woah Zone all over again!"
Luigi laughed, patting her on the head. "Hey, it's okay… why don't you just get ready to go? The sooner you're dressed, the sooner you can bother Peach into taking you up to Bowser's Castle…"
Livi threw the controller to the ground, switching off the game, and jumped up. She grabbed Luigi's arm, pulling him off the bed and started pushing him towards the door. "Out, out, out! I have to get ready!"
"Okay, okay!" Luigi stepped out into the hallway. "I'll meet you downstairs in a bit, okay?"
"Sounds good!" Livi said, nodding. "Ohmygosh, I can't wait! This is going to be great!!"
With one last squeal of delight, Livi slammed the door shut. Luigi could hear random shuffling around and the throwing of discarded items as Livi searched for the perfect outfit and other little trinkets she found necessary.
Luigi laughed under his breath, shaking his head at Livi, then walked off back to his room to wake Mario up and get himself ready.
As a loud crash sounded behind him, followed by Livi's muffled laughter, Luigi made a mental note to stock up on Mushrooms, 1-UPs, and the like. No doubt either Livi was going to need them or her unfortunate guardians would.
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Hey guys! I'm trying to keep the revisions going quickly so we can get back to updating, but I'm really low on free-time at the moment. Hopefully, I can get this school crap cleared up and we can get back to the epic soon!
I'm really liking the re-writes so far, and I really like what I have in store for the other few chapters (remember: I'm only re-writing through chapter 7: max). I going to switch up Kamek's initial personality a little. I just seemed to me like his change was kind of… sudden… I don't like it…
I also plan to drag the Fawfulness out a little more before we find Dimentio, but I don't know how that's going to work.
Any comments at all? I'd love to hear from you guys! It's always nice to know that my hard work is being appreciated! (though, truth be told, if everyone flamed me to death, I'd just keep writing anyway)