Disclaimer: I still don't own any of the Mario people, Nintendo do.
Hope you enjoy this next chapter as I enjoyed writing it. This helps to explain some things, but you have to read later chapters for it all!
Chapter 2: Explaining Your Future
Luigi finally got himself to his feet amongst the rubble of the ship's remains. It didn't take him long to see the blue clad man. He was trying to wake Dark Bowser; however, Luigi didn't have then strength or the courage to stop him, so he just strolled over towards him.
"Hello there." Luigi said plainly hiding his fear of whether Dark Bowser would wake up or not and he can't escape as he doesn't remember any of the forest he's in.
"Who's… oh Luigi! What are you doing here?" The man replied with a puzzled face.
"I came to find out who you were; I ended up steering the ship from landing straight into the castle because you and… Dark Bowser, were knocked out cold. By the way, what's your name?"
"My name's Horatio, of the Sapphire Kingdom, pleased to meet you." Horatio replied with a smile.
"Wait, what? I've never heard of it? How long has the Kingdom been here?" questioned Luigi with haste as there was so much he didn't know and it was starting to frustrate him.
"I'll tell you on the way to the Kingdom" Luigi went to ask another question but Horatio shot back saying, "I know how to get there don't worry, first we've got to see if the prisoners are alright, including Bane here" pointing at what Luigi thought was Dark Bowser.
"I thought that was Dark Bowser, we've seen a replica of him before and fought him, and won!" Luigi mentioned triumphantly. But Horatio just looked at him with understanding.
"Bane gets controlled with dark spirits a lot, because he is not particularly strong will but he is big muscle, he's actually a lot kinder than you and your brother normally" He said while laughing. Who does he think he is! We have saved numerous innocents and put our own lives on the line to save them! Who could be kinder! Thought Luigi, however what Horatio said next seemed to answer his question,
"He's not technically kinder than you, that was a bit rude, but he was willing to die to save the world, he sucked in the dark energy from his enemy. He was willing, instead of beating his rival senseless, to try and save him which under most circumstances would have killed him. If anyone told you that to save the world you had to die, and you either did it by taking the culprit's life, the reason why you had to go, or save the culprit's life, what would you say" He stared into my eyes intently, not with anger, but expectantly. Luigi simply nodded knowing his answer to the second question which he didn't feel the need to share. Luigi watched Bane wake up and smile.
"Thanks for telling him that, I didn't want to communicate with him thinking I'm a monster" said Bane, Luigi was staring with surprise however Horatio seemed to know what was going on and laughed,
"No problem, it's my job as a diplomat to establish relations with people, if not kingdoms" answered Horatio.
"Wait a minute, so your Sapphire Kingdom's diplomat, then why was you being the Hero to face off against the cursed Bane?" Luigi insisted while trying to come to terms with what was going on.
"Because I did the easy part, all I had to do was suck in the mild dark energy out of him, which I'm still practicing, which is why I fainted with no bruises, our kingdom believes we can not just throw our lives away if we can avoid it, because people care about us, dying will make people fell sorrow and hurt. As you have probably realised we are a kingdom of peace." Horatio explained.
"So how come you have Geno and Kooper, for a peaceful kingdom you have some strong soldiers in your arsenal" Luigi pointed out.
"That's because they are the Heroes of our Kingdom, bare in mind we are a Kingdom from 500 years in your future, we will need good protection from stronger forces" Horatio said plainly.
"You're from the future!" Luigi thought out loud.
"Yeah, but our kingdom is in your time at the moment, it's actually only an hour walk from here" Bane said out of no where.
"The Toad Troop at your service diplomat!" shouted a toad with green dots on his head, with a sharp spear in his right hand. He strolled along with a toad with blue dots and a hammer, and a toad with yellow dots and a bow and arrows. People just keep popping out everywhere thought Luigi.
"Ah-ha! The prisoners! Pleased to meet you, what are your names?" Horatio announced.
"I think you've given Luigi enough to remember, sir." Whispered the yellow toad, and if Luigi heard, he would definitely have agreed.
"How come you wasn't hear when I searched?" Horatio asked.
"We were scouting the area to see if the aliens that controlled Bane were about, though we didn't find anything." The blue toad answered. Bane looked away in shame as he knew how much he was controlled, Luigi realised that the dark energy from Bane was gone and he looked a lot like Bowser except he had a blue shell and green skin, he more like a dragon king rather than a Koopa king; even though he wasn't either apparently.
"Okay then, now that everything has been explained, should we start moving before it gets dark?" Horatio mentioned, no one knew what the time was, but they would like to think they haven't been out stone cold for too long, and forests in the night never seem to be a good thing, and hence they started to walk towards the Sapphire Kingdom.
"You know we aren't 100% sure that he's dead, Mario" Toadsworth said in his rather smug voice, however,
"For once he has a point you know, Geno said he's with 2 powerful allies of theirs, I doubt they would have let any harm come to him" explained Yoshi.
"But we still aren't 100% sure he's alive, and that goes the same for the allies, what if he's out there on his own, he'll be so lonely…" Mario trailed off into silence, but the others tried to stay as bubbly as possible for his sake.
"But he's practically with you" Kooper said as if it should be normal.
"What are you talking about Kooper, I'm here, not there, and I'm not spiritual either" Mario was starting to lose patience.
"What he's trying to say is that there is someone there who looks exactly like you." Geno told him but Mario wasn't having it,
"No one, to this day, looks anything like me except my brother and that's still just a bit. I am me, I am Mario… he did look a little like me but exactly like me? What kind of crazy comforting tactic is this!" Mario yelled at him, though Geno kept his cool,
"He's your twin from the future, but he's also younger than you, and he's always looked up to you, he's more like your son than a twin, because he's different in his own way and he's younger than you." Mario was just staring at him in amazement, because if it was coming from anyone other than a star and one of his best friends, he wouldn't have believed it. "He's the diplomat of a kingdom of the future called the Sapphire Kingdom, but today its here, and it will be here for as long as the Kingdom's Time God wills it. I used to be its single hero because the kingdom tends to time travel itself to a place that needs help, in this case aliens I would assume, however now, when Kooper was running an errand for himself to gather some berries, he noticed the massive blue sparkling Kingdom and decided to take a look, he is now my apprentice." Kooper was embarrassed but proud at the same time, and Peach who had been listening in the whole time was smiling at Kooper's achievement, as she knew that Geno was the right master, however she wondered, because of this, how long Geno would be around for. Mario, who had now been put in a cheerful yet dumbfounded mood said,
"Okay then, we need to do numerous things and we don't know whether there are more of those ships coming at us. Me, Geno and Kooper will search for Luigi, if he's with…"
"Horatio, his name is Horatio" Kooper backed up Mario.
"Thank you, if he's with Horatio then the first place he'll be heading to would most likely be the Sapphire Kingdom, and I would like to talk to your King to establish some relations. Also I want Yoshi to go and scout the Mushroom Kingdom to see if it's safe to go back and the rest of you to stay and protect the camp, including the toad guard." Mario added, but Geno was looking down as Kooper went to explain,
"Well, we don't actually have a King, or even a royal family; and we don't have a main leader either." While he rubbed the back of his neck, Mario, Peach, Toadsworth and Yoshi looked shocked and astounded trying to comprehend a Kingdom without a King or a Queen, or even a leader.
"A Kingdom without a leader! What if the people need guidance in a crisis, who will do all the work, all the jobs, and everything else that the royals would do!" Complained Toadsworth as he struggled to comprehend how it could possible work.
"People choose their sub leaders, instead of main leaders, such as Diplomats and Heroes. This is because they believe that the people themselves are their own leaders and no one will tell them how to live their lives, because it's their lives. They have sub leaders because they also believe that a person still needs advice and help to be guided down the right path."
"Well at least they have some common sense" muttered Toadsworth. Usually everyone would let that slip with the grumpy toad, but Mario has had a long day and was sick of it.
"You know what, if your going to be so disrespectful to the people that saved your life, and your going to pretend you are so great, even though you are good at nothing other than being old, grumpy and bossing Peach around, you better run back to your little horrid house to people who cares about your ridiculous ideals, and start thinking about how to be an actually nice person that people actually care about!" Shouted Mario angrily with fire in his eyes showing he meant it. Everyone was thinking they should interfere and back the old Toad up, but a lot of people agreed with it, even Toadsworth. Toadsworth ran off as proudly as possible, which was impossible in his state. Peach gave Mario a disgusted look and ran off for the toad. Mario, with no sympathy, walks into the forest looking for the Kingdom but has no idea where it is. Geno decided it would be a good idea to follow him to make sure he comes to no harm in his out of character mood. Yoshi was a born follower and hence made his way back to the castle. Leaving Kooper standing there thinking, they make it sound like their whole world has fallen already, if anything I have it worse. But I will push on, with my new friends, to build a more peaceful world. He then ran after Mario and Geno knowing if no one will make a world of peace; he will be ready to make an ideal world for all, in his people's honour.