Chapter Three: Waluigi?
There were Piranha Plants all around these woods, but Daisy hated those things. They could be nice, but she was still frightened of them, no matter what.
Waluigi saw a notebook or a journal of some kind on the ground, but its author was 30 feet up in the air. How did she even get into the tree?
Waluigi contemplated for a little while. This was his chance to do something good, but would she even trust him? He was her only help at the moment, so maybe she wouldn't have a choice. He hadn't done something good in a long time.
"Fall," he called, positioning himself under her so he could catch her.
"Who's there?" she asked, still a little worried.
"Does it matter?" he asked. "Just let go. I'll catch you..."
"I don't know about this," Daisy said, trying to grip the tree, but her arms were getting tired.
"I promise," Waluigi said then, realizing what he just said. It seemed so unlike him. He never made promises to people, least of all Daisy. He debated for a split second about not keeping his word, but he changed his mind as he saw Daisy struggling to hold on.
"Okay...ah!" she fell, trusting this complete stranger. She couldn't see who he was, but she had to trust him. She'd come into the park alone, so she was lucky there was even someone else around.
Waluigi held out his arms, catching Daisy perfectly. She fell right into him, her back facing the ground and her eyes tightly shut. He was nervous about when she would opened her eyes. She'd see him, and then she'd think the worst, like everyone else did.
Daisy slowly opened her eyes to see she hadn't fallen to the ground, which was a huge relief. She could have been seriously hurt. She looked up to see...
"Waluigi!" she exclaimed. He let her down, and she rushed for her journal and pen that fell before she had. She looked back at him.
"You didn't read it, did you?" she asked.
"What?" Waluigi asked. "No, no! I couldn't have. It's sitting in the exact place I found it."
"I could have managed myself you know," she said. Daisy could be quite stubborn at times.
"Yeah, calling for help on anyone else around you is managing perfectly fine," he said, in sarcasm.
"If I would have known it was..." she began.
"I know!" he said. "You wouldn't have fallen. But you did, and now you're fine. I should probably be going. Don't want to be seen talking to me, now would you? How about we pretend this never happened?"
She didn't respond to him, not believing this. Waluigi helped her out. He may have even saved her from being seriously hurt or worse.
Waluigi was starting to walk away.
"Wait," she said, making him stop, mostly in surprise she'd even want him around. "I'm being ungrateful. Th...Thank you for... saving me. I should feel lucky someone else was around."
The princess brushed her journal off and stuck the pen back inside of it.
"I..I'm not going to mention this to anyone," Daisy said. "It's...not necessarily believable. But, thank you. I won't forget that it happened."
"Heh, I'm not going to mention this either," Waluigi said, smirking. "Well, now I get to go take the blame for something I didn't do."
"Why would you have to do that?" Daisy asked, walking closer.
"Didn't you hear the explosion?" Waluigi asked.
"Did I hear it?" she asked, her eyes widening. "It's what made me lose my balance in that tree! What was it anyway?"
"The dome for the tennis tournament. Wario went and tried to blow it up," Waluigi said. She gasped, then she stopped for a moment as she realized Waluigi wasn't with him then.
"Oh!...wait, you're not with him...so why would you be blamed?" she asked.
"He'll throw me under the bus or say I just got away or something," Waluigi said.
"The proof is in your favor though," she said. "You were never there."
"I was, but when Wario told me his plan...I just wasn't going to do it. I walked out on him. Came here instead," Waluigi said.
"You walked away from doing a bad thing?" she asked, her eyebrows lifted. She was obviously surprised by this realization.
"Yeah," he answered, a small smile on his face. "I guess I did. If I may ask a question now."
"Sure, go ahead. I supposed I've asked plenty already. Sorry about that," Daisy told him.
"What brings you here? I thought you'd have been up there with them at the tournament. You are, after all...one of them, as I would put it," Waluigi asked.
"Well, actually...I never signed up. I didn't want to I guess. I came here to think, I suppose...about other things besides sports and hanging with Mario and Luigi," Daisy explained.
"Hmm, me too," Waluigi said. "I mean, I came to think, not the Mario and Luigi part."
"Really?" Daisy said. She was having her fair share of surprises today. "Well, no one's around yet...I can't believe I'd ever say this but...you wanna talk a while? We should go somewhere else. I don't like Piranha Plants so much."
Waluigi's eyebrows now rose too. Did Daisy just asked him to stay awhile with her and talk? How could he refuse?
"Sure," he accepted. "I know of a better spot."
They walked together to a more fitting location. There was a comfortable area with a waterfall and a spring. People came and swam here all the time, but with the tournament, no one was here today. Waluigi remembered this spot from when he was very young.
They sat down together, and began to talk about...anything really.
"So...you hate Piranhas eh?"