When Mario, Luigi, Daisy, and Polterpup arrived back to Mushroom Kingdom; they were surprised that it was night time.
Mario stated, "That's strange."
Daisy added, "Yeah, it only takes an hour to get here from Professor E Gadd's lab in Evershade Valley."
Luigi shivered, scared as he replied, "I don't like the looks of this..."
Polterpup sniffed around and happened upon an orange spotted toad. Polterpup barked, capturing Luigi's attention. The green hated ghost hunter ran over and saw what Polterpup saw.
"Good dog," Luigi said as he shook Orange.
Mario and Daisy came over. Daisy saw Orange on the ground, face down.
Daisy asked, as she came around, "Orange, are you okay?"
Orange came to and answered, a bit dizzy, "N-not really..."
"What happened," Mario questioned.
Orange started to get up but collapsed again.
She answered, muffled, "They got her... The Boos have Princess Peach."
Daisy gasped, as Mario made a fist, upset that he couldn't protect Peach.
He vowed, "They are going down!"
Mario was about to run off but someone grabbed him by the arm. The red hated plumber spun around and saw Luigi was holding him back. And since Luigi was so strong, Mario couldn't fight against him.
"Weegie," Mario cried, "Let me go! I have to save Peach now before its too late!"
Luigi replied, upset, "You're better off doing it with a plan and knowing which way the Boos went. Plus, I have the Poltergust 5000 and I'm the only one that knows how to work it."
Mario hated to admit it but Luigi was right... Mario looked at Luigi and saw that he was upset. Mario cursed himself, 'Shit, the minute that we are on a mission together again, I called him Weegie. But I always called him that.' Polterpup barked in agreement, breaking Mario's thoughts.
Daisy stated, "Luigi is right. We need to find Toadsworth!"
Mario nodded finally as Luigi let go of him. Orange finally managed to get up and saw Luigi.
She asked, surprised, "Luigi? You're back?"
"Not for long," Luigi answered, glaring at Mario.
To this, Mario sighed.
As they headed up to the castle, Mario couldn't get over what happened between him and Luigi just a few minutes ago. Luigi wasn't holding back any emotion, it was obvious. But even though he was showing more emotion, he wasn't letting it cloud his judgement. Luigi even allowed Polterpup to look ahead to find Toadsworth. 'Looks like those two years away from everything did him some good but why did he snap at me downstairs,' Mario thought. As Mario was lost in thought, Daisy approached Luigi.
She whispered, "Why did you snap downstairs?"
"I guess I was just upset," Luigi whispered.
"You guess," Daisy giggled, even though she was whispering.
Luigi chuckled as he heard Polterpup barking.
Mario stated, "Sounds like Polterpup found Toadsworth."
Luigi shined his Dark-Light Device as they followed the paw prints. They entered the room as Polterpup was wagging his tail, sitting at the side of Toadsworth, still out. Green was also still in the room (also out cold) as Blue looked panicked seeing Polterpup.
Luigi reassured, "Relax, he's friendly."
Mario approached Blue and asked, "Can you tell us what happened?"
Blue shook his head and answered, "I'm afraid that I went out of the room to get ribbon for Peach's dress when it got mysteriously dark. The next thing I knew, the princess was yelling for help so I came back as fast as I could. But she was gone and these two were out cold!"
Daisy knelt down to Toadsworth and started to shake him.
She whispered, worried, "C'mon, Toadsworth... Wake up..."
Toadsworth eventually came to and saw Daisy standing over him.
He asked, "Daisy...?"
Daisy nodded as she helped him up and answered, "Careful, you've been through quite an ordeal."
Toadsworth came back to his senses and stated, "The Boos...the Boos have Princess Peach!"
"Yes, we know," Daisy replied, "Orange and Blue told us."
Toadsworth responded, "There's more, by boogity!"
Luigi asked, "What is it?"
Toadsworth, upon seeing Luigi, came into tears. He never expected that Luigi would come back.
He stated, his voice almost leaving him, "Luigi...you're alive and well!"
"I was surprised too," Mario replied, letting his presence known.
Toadsworth saw Mario and Polterpup by him. He raised an eyebrow.
Luigi commented, "I'll explain later about my puppy. Right now, you said that there was more."
Toadsworth nodded and responded, "Yes, quite! Bowser is somehow behind all of this!"
Mario instantly made a fist.
Luigi got puzzled by this and asked, "Wait, he's STILL trying to capture the kingdom?" He turned to Daisy and said, "You didn't tell me that in your letters. You said Mario finally proposed but not this..."
Daisy sighed and stated, "I was tired of trying to write to you about Bowser's failed attempts, mainly because you always seem to know that Mario will win. So I left it out."
Mario rubbed the back of his neck and asked, "You always knew that I would win?"
"This isn't about me," Luigi answered, hissing. Mario was stunned by this. That was twice that Luigi went off on him. Mario was a bit worried. Luigi added, "This is about stopping the Boos and Bowser. And then we save Peach. This doesn't revolve around you, Mario Gregory Manfredi. And it doesn't revolve around me, Luigi James Manfredi."
'Gregory and James are their middle names,' Toadsworth and Daisy thought at the same time. Polterpup went over to Green's face and started to lick it. Green woke up and saw Polterpup. He screamed, scared as Luigi jumped up, also scared. Mario laughed at this as Luigi shot him a cold look. Mario was again surprised by this. 'Something happened,' the red hated plumber thought.
Green rambled, "A Shy Guy! A Shy Guy was here!"
"There's our prove that Bowser is behind this," Mario stated.
"Hold on, we still don't know if Bowser Jr. is also involved with this or not," Luigi pointed out.
Daisy turned to Green and asked, "Do you have any idea where they went?"
Green shook his head as Blue asked, "Wouldn't they go back to Bowser's Castle?"
"Well, I'm gonna go check it out," Mario answered.
With that, Mario headed for the direction of the castle. Luigi didn't have a chance to stop him.
Luigi rolled his eyes as he told Polterpup, "Follow him."
Polterpup panted as the ghost pup followed Mario, wagging his tail.
Daisy stated, "You're really being hard on Mario, he just wants to save his fiance."
"He could do it with a better head on his shoulders," Luigi replied.
"Mario always has been hot-headed about Peach, even you know that," Toadsworth pointed out.
Luigi shrugged as he turned to Daisy.
He asked, "Can you watch over the kingdom while we're gone?"
Daisy nodded as she answered, "I did it before and I can do it again."
Green stated, "Good luck to you and Master Mario."
Luigi smiled at Green and replied, "Thanks."
"I'll make us some hot tea, Toadsworth," said Blue, as he left the room.
As he was headed for the kitchen, he brought out his walkie-talkie again.
He eyes turned red again as he reported, "Mario and Luigi are on their way now. I repeat, red and green hat are coming."
As Mario was walking down the path to head to Bowser's castle, he heard Polterpup's bark. He spun around and saw the ghost pup following him.
"Go away, Polterpup," Mario hissed, still being his hot-headed self. Polterpup whined sadly. Mario looked at him and saw that he was sitting down, giving Mario his puppy dog eyes. "Oh no, not the puppy dog pout," he groaned.
"Gets to you too, huh," said a voice.
Mario looked up and saw Luigi coming towards him, looking ready for action...and anything.
Mario answered, "Yeah. Even though he's a ghost, he is kind of cute..."
Luigi chuckled as he stated, "Yeah but he's still a pain in the butt."
Polterpup wagged his tail and stuck out his tongue, sitting at Luigi's feet. Mario and Luigi both laughed at this.
Mario looked at Luigi and asked, "So, are we going or not?"
Luigi nodded and answered, "We're going but let Polterpup take the lead, he's a great tracker."
Polterpup barked as he sniffed the ground and took the lead, letting the two Manfredi brothers follow behind him. Mario was still baffled by how Luigi was acting but he figured that things will fall into place shortly.
Anyways, eventually reached Bowser's castle and went inside. Not seeing any trace of anyone had the brothers worried.
"This is weird," Mario stated.
Luigi replied, "Sure is..."
As they entered the library (which was needed to go to the throne room), they were ambushed.
Mario commented, "It's a trap!"
"How the hell did they know we were coming," Luigi asked, surprised.
Mario shrugged as he took out a fire flower. He didn't have a chance to use it, however. One of the Koopas took it as Luigi started to suck up the Boos with Polterpup's help. Suddenly, Paraboo hit Luigi from behind hard enough that it knocked him into Mario. Polterpup was about to help but the Boos took him. Polterpup whined, scared of the Boos and worried for Luigi.
Mario groaned as he woke and started to say, "Oh man, we are so out of..." That's when he saw Luigi's left arm out its socket. No blood was coming out strangely. Mario's eyes widen. He looked at Luigi, who was still out and saw that he was in no pain. That's when it clicked. Luigi lost his left arm while he was gone. "Synch," Mario finished, in shock.
Luigi woke up and saw Mario there. Before he could ask about Polterpup, he saw that Mario was holding his arm.
Luigi gripped his left socket and stated, near tears, "I can explain."
Mario blurted out, "Damn it, you better! I haven't seen you in two years and when I do, I find out that not only you're a ghost hunter but you lost your left arm!"
AK1028: Yes, I'm leaving it there! Ooh, I am so evil! How was Mario reaction? What will happen now? Is Polterpup okay? Will Mario and Luigi save their friendship and their family? Will they save Peach? Who is Blue really? Is this the end of the Mushroom Kingdom? Stay tuned to find out! Please read and review! And always think outside of the box!