Luigi and Phyllis walked through the clearing, not really saying anything to each other. It was a beautiful starlit night, and Luigi was afraid he was going to spoil things if he said anything, anyway.
"Come here, Luigi," Phyllis said, as she started crossing the pool by the waterfall, using a series of stepping stones. "I want to show you something."
"Sure," Luigi said, and he started crossing the stepping stones as well.
Phyllis took Luigi's hand, and led him to a path that led behind the waterfall, revealing a stone wall. There were several fireflies there, but Luigi couldn't see too well. He took out his own flashlight turned it on, and saw several carvings of names inside of hearts.
"Wow," Luigi said. "There must be hundreds of these here!"
"Most everyone in town has been here on dates," Phyllis said. "They like to come here and carve out their initials in this wall. It's kind of a town tradition for couples to do so."
"Here's an interesting one. Philip P. and Frances F. Kinda sound like your name and your brother's name, Phyllis."
"I know. Those are my parents. Philip Portobello and Frances Fettuccine. This is where they had their first date. Father carved their initials into the rock the night he proposed. Every year on their anniversary, before Mother died, they would come back here, visit the spot where Father proposed to Mother, have a moonlight picnic, and then just sit and stargaze. Sometimes, Father would pick a cherry blossom from one of the trees and put it in Mother's hair."
"Now that's what I call a romantic date."
Phyllis and Luigi walked out from behind the waterfall, sat down on a nearby fallen tree, and began looking up at the stars. Something came over Luigi just then. He wasn't sure why, but he felt it was the thing to do. He stood up, picked one of the flowers off the nearest cherry tree, and carefully put it in Phyllis's hair. Phyllis looked at the plumber, smiled, and giggled.
"Oh, Luigi, that's so sweet of you," she said.
"Yeah, well," Luigi said, somewhat at a loss for words. "I guess . . . . I mean that story about your folks and all . . . . I just thought . . . . I mean . . . ."
Luigi trailed off as he sat back down next. Once he did, Phyllis took his hands in hers, and the two of them gazed into each others eyes. They were about to kiss, when they suddenly heard a buzzing noise close by. They looked up, and saw a swarm of Beezos heading right for them.
"Look out!" Luigi shouted, and he and Phyllis ducked, just as the Beezos swooped down on them.
"What are those things?" Phyllis asked.
"Beezos," Luigi said. "They work for Koopa. He must've sent 'em after you and Franky. We'd better get outta here!"
Luigi and Phyllis took off running, just as the Beezos made another swoop on them. They barley had time to duck!
"Go on, beat it, you Beezo bozos!" Luigi shouted.
"Charrrrrrrge!" one of the Beezos shouted, and he and his swarm made another swoop.
"Hit the dirt!" Luigi shouted, and he and Phyllis practically threw themselves on the ground.
"We'd better regroup with the others," Phyllis said.
"Good idea!" Luigi shouted, grabbing Phyllis's hand. "Let's move!"
The couple began running as fast as they could, until they heard frantic meowing. Phyllis skid to a halt, which caused Luigi to stop as well.
"Puffball!" Phyllis shouted. "I forgot all about her!"
Luigi dared to look, and saw a couple of Beezos chasing after Puffball, ready to swoop down. The cat looked behind her to see how close they were, instead of looking ahead of her to see where she was going, and she ran face first into a tree.
BONK!
"Me-yeeesh!" she mewed, dazed. She was too dazed to dodge the oncoming enemies. Immediately, Luigi ran over, grabbed the frightened cat, and jumped out of the way just as the Beezos came swooping down.
"Hey, pick on someone your own size, you overgrown insects!" he shouted.
"Me-yay!" Puffball cheered, and she began licking Luigi's face.
"Save the thanks, kitty. We've gotta keep moving!"
Luigi ran into the bushes to avoid the Beezos, and found they had stopped chasing after him. When he surveyed the area, they found they were now chasing after Phyllis, and had her cornered. She was trying to fight them off herself, but there were too many of them.
"Gotcha now, Blondie!" one of them shouted.
"Where's a fire flower, or a starman when ya need one?" Luigi asked. "Oh, the heck with it! You buzz-brains get away from her!"
Immediately, Luigi jumped from his hiding place (still carrying Puffball under one arm), and raced over to Phyllis, shoving her out of the way.
"Whoa!" Phyllis shouted, as she tripped, and fell, hitting the side of her head on the ground as she landed.
Before Luigi had a chance to move, the Beezos swooped down, threw a burlap sack over him and Puffball, tied it closed, and flew into the air.
"Hey, lemme outta here!" Luigi shouted.
"Meow!" Puffball protested.
"That should do it," the leader said. "Come on, let's get back to King Koopa!"
By this time, Phyllis had come to her senses. She looked up, just in time to see the Beezos disappear from view. Then she looked around for any sign of Luigi and Puffball.
"Luigi?" she asked. "Luigi, where are you? Puffball! Here, kitty, kitty, kitty!"
It was then Phyllis remembered the Beezos were carrying a sack with them as they flew off. It only took her half a nanosecond to realize what happened.
"Oh no!" she shouted. "I'd better get back to the others!"
And she immediately began running in order to alert Mario and the others to what had happened.
Back at the governor's mansion, Koopa was pacing the study, getting impatient.
"Where are those flying fools?" he asked. "They should've been back by now!"
"Here we are, your royal repulsiveness!" the leader of the Beezos said, as he and his troops flew in.
"It's about time!" Koopa shouted. "What kept you?!"
"We couldn't find the boy, or Princess Toadstool," the leader said. "But we did get the governor's daughter for you!"
"Well, where is she?"
"Right in this sack, your lizard-ness."
Koopa walked over to the sack the other Beezos were holding. He could hear meowing and scratching from inside of it as well.
"Huh, sounds like you managed to get the little brat's mangy feline flea hotel, too," Koopa said. "Let the cat outta the bag, Beezos!"
The Beezos opened the bag, and revealed Luigi and Puffball to their master. Needless to say, their king was not a happy Koopa at this.
"YOU DIPSTICKS!" he screamed at the top of his lungs. "YOU CALL THIS THE GOVERNOR'S DAUGHTER?! WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH YOU?!"
"Hey, this isn't Blondie!" one of the Beezos said.
"No kidding, Sherlock!" Koopa shouted, bonking the Beezo on the head with his fist.
"Well, at least they got the cat," one of Koopa's Troopas said. Koopa bopped him on the noggin as well.
"WHO CARES ABOUT THE STUPID CAT?!" he screamed at the top of his lungs. "Morons! I'm surrounded by morons!"
"Now might be a good time to make our way to the exit," Luigi said, as Koopa began stomping around the room, screaming incoherently. "What do you think, kitty?"
"Me-yeah," Puffball agreed.
While Koopa's attention was diverted, Luigi, holding Puffball close to him, began to sneak away. But just because Koopa wasn't paying attention, didn't mean his minions weren't as well! Luigi didn't get as far as the hallway before he came face to face with Mouser, holding a spear.
"And just where do you think you're going, plum-scum?" he asked.
"Apparently, nowhere," Luigi said, backing into the room.
"Ya got that right, greenie!" Koopa shouted. "You and the little fuzz bucket ain't going nowhere!"
Puffball hissed at Koopa, and was about to jump at him, but Luigi held her back, and began stroking her to calm her down.
"Easy does it, kitty," he said. "You don't want to antagonize him more than he's already antagonized. Trust me on this one."
Puffball grumbled, and then blew Koopa a raspberry, just for the heck of it.
"Besides, look at it this way," Luigi went on. "At least he didn't get Phyllis. I'd hate to think of her in Koopa's clutches!"
"You would, huh?" Koopa asked. "Hmmm. That's very interesting, pipe-squeak. Very interesting indeed. Sounds like you and Blondie have gotten to be pretty close friends."
"You leave her outta this, Koopa!"
"Sorry, but I can't. I need her, and her bratty brother, here. Besides which, I don't like slaves who escape."
"You just wait until Mario gets here! Then you're gonna get it!"
"You know, that's not a bad idea. Troopas, lock 'em up!"
With that, Koopa threw Luigi and Puffball to his Troopas, and they marched the plumber out of the mansion.
"What are you up to, your royal disgusting one?" Mouser asked.
"It's obvious the little pipe-squeak's got a crush on the governor's daughter," Koopa said. "She's sure to tell Mario and his friends about this. All I gotta do is wait until they come. Oh, have I got something devious in mind! It's so despicable, I'm almost ashamed of myself!"
And with that, Koopa began to cackle madly.
As Koopa was devising his next devious scheme, the Troopas marched Luigi to a small jailhouse, and locked in a cell. Then they left the jailhouse to guard the front door.
"Well," Luigi said, sitting down on the wooden cot against the wall, "I guess it could be a lot worse, huh, Puffball?"
"Meow?" Puffball asked.
"Yeah. They could've put us in the stocks or something. I hope they didn't hear me, or else they might get ideas."
Puffball jumped out of Luigi's hold, and began investigating the cell, sniffing about. Luigi looked around the cell as well. Besides the cot, the only other thing in the cell was a window, but there were bars over it, but it wasn't being guarded. But even if Luigi could manage to get rid of the bars, the window was too small for him to fit through. However, the window was definitely not to small for Puffball.
"Meow!" she cried happily, and jumped onto the window ledge. She sniffed at the bars, and began to try to squeeze herself between the gaps.
"Forget it, Puffball," Luigi said. "There's no way in the world anything could fit through those gaps in the . . . ."
"Meow!" Puffball cried, as she managed to get through the spaces between the bars. Once she was through, she sat on the ledge, and began grooming herself. Squeezing through the bars had mussed her fur a bit.
"Huh," Luigi said, a bit dumbfounded. "Well I'll be a monkey wrench's uncle! Way to go, kitty! Now go find Mario and the others!"
"Meow!" Puffball shouted, sitting up on her hind legs, and saluting the plumber. Then she ran off. She knew there wasn't any time to lose.