Chapter Six: A Storm of Text Messages

Daisy did go outside to watch the tournament. She had been just in time, for the last match was about to begin. Toadsworth sat on the judge's chair, up high to observe the playing field. The match consisted of Birdo and Boo. Daisy remembered playing Boo, and what she recalled most were his tricky shots. Birdo looked pretty confident today though. Still, Daisy's money was on Boo.

"Hey Daisy," Mario said when she came to the front so she could see the match better.

"Hi Mario," she replied.

"Did Luigi find you yet? He'd been looking for you all day," the plumber said.

"Really? Well, yes I did talk to him," Daisy told him. She stayed and watched the rest of the match with Mario. Peach couldn't have been too far away either, but to her surprise, she didn't show up until the last set.

Not that Daisy talked a lot with Mario. They shared some small conversation such as what they've been doing recently and if anything new or exciting had happened to either of them. Daisy considered him a friend, for he'd even saved her one time. Peach used to talk about Bowser and how horrible it was when she was kidnapped. Then, she'd always glorify Mario and make him sound all heroic and sweet. However, when Daisy brought up Mario saving her, Peach went silent, and Daisy didn't know if she had struck a raw nerve with Peach or if she just wasn't listening.

Daisy figured she'd never know, but for the sake of their conversation, she just went along with what Peach said about Mario. She never again brought up Mario saving her. Peach can have Mario, not that Daisy wanted Luigi the same way.

The next week, the tournament was over, and traffic in the Mushroom Kingdom had quieted by a lot. Daisy could fall asleep easier nowadays, but after she'd received a text from Waluigi, she found that she couldn't wait until their tennis match.

How about tomorrow? That was what he'd texted her and she replied with her approval for the date he'd set up. Not that she was going on a date with Waluigi, just the day he'd planned was what she approved of.

For the rest of that day though, she seemed to get a lot of messages from Luigi. It was always something like 'call me when you get the chance' or 'hey' or something like that. She'd answered to a few, but the conversation seemed to always die. Then, a few hours later, he'd text her again. These texts would be tolerable to Daisy if she'd put her phone on silent, but at some of those times, she was also texting Waluigi. She'd set the two to different ringtones after a few hours.

The next day, Waluigi waited for Daisy by there meeting place. She was a little late, but he didn't mind waiting. He had his tennis racket ready to go, and he'd even brought a few bottles of water for both of them in case she'd forgotten something like that.

"Waluigi!" Daisy called. He turned to see her in a tennis outfit, and there was not a crown in sight. Her hair was even straight. She came to him, asking if he was ready.

"You bet," he told her and they walked onto the new tennis courts in the park. They had just been built as the tournament was going on. Peach probably requested that. Otherwise, they'd have gone to another place to play.

They were playing singles, and Daisy rather enjoyed Waluigi's company and being his opponent. He was a good tennis player, and the both of them had gotten an active workout. They made each other run for the ball. When they went to take a break, Waluigi had been in the lead, and Daisy sat down to drink a bottle of water. She was sweating pretty good. So was Waluigi.

"You are quite the player," Waluigi said. "I don't recall ever versing you in a tennis match before."

"Me either, but I must say you have one nice backhand," Daisy told him. That was her weakness, the backhand. She checked her phone to find 15 text messages, and all of them except one had been from Luigi.

"Whoa!" she said. Waluigi saw she was looking at her phone, and he checked his, but Wario hadn't contacted him.

"What?" he asked, looking at her. She looked back, her eyebrows raised.

"Fifteen text messages in the past few hours!" she exclaimed.

"What'd you miss?" he asked with a smirk. She smiled back.

"I have no idea," she said, closing the phone. "I'll check them later. Let's finish the game."

In the end, it was Daisy who won the match, but only by one game. Waluigi kept her on her toes, that was for sure. She couldn't spot a weakness with him, except maybe when he got tired, but she did too so she couldn't call that a weakness.

"Daisy!" another voice called. The two looked over to see Luigi coming towards them.

"What do we do?" she asked in a frantic panic.

"Just shake hands, act like it was a bet, then I'll walk away. See you around. I'll text you," he told her. She nodded and they walked outside the gates, shook hands then Waluigi walked away.

"Hey Daisy, did you get my messages?" he asked.

"I was just about to check my phone," she said. "I'd been playing tennis for the past few hours."

"Oh...with Waluigi? What'd he do to you now?" Luigi asked, tightening his fists.

"Nothing," she said. "It was a bet, I won. No big deal." As she was checking her phone and walking with Luigi, she received a text from Waluigi.

Good game. Maybe next time I'll help you with your backhand.

She smirked and then after reading all of Luigi's 'call me' and 'hey, what are you doing today?' messages, she texted back:

I'd like that, and maybe next time I'll go easier on you. :)

Waluigi smirked after he received that message. He then closed his phone and headed for home, where his landline was filled with Wario's voice.

Another stupid plan for another stupid day, but then he found a voicemail from Boo on his phone.

'Hey Waluigi, this is Boo. Me and Shadow Mario are going to play a round of golf at the Bowser Badlands on Thursday. Bring someone else and we can play doubles. Call me if you get this and if you're going to go.'