Time: 11:02 am, Saturday, October 13, 2001, Mario's house

Mario POV

I shouldn't have accepted the picnic offer. First off, I have absolutely no idea what location to have our picnic at. Second off, I never knew preparing for four people could be this difficult. Seriously, we are FOUR people; maybe five if Peach brings Toad. Still, why do we need twelve servings of pasta, seventeen sandwiches, and 6 liters of soft drinks? Not to mention the cake Princess Peach is baking to finish off for dessert.

Peach baked a red velvet cake, and I swear I can smell its sweet, squishy, crumbly cake and the accompanying cream cheese frosting all the way from my house. That cake, as well as being with my little Peachy, is the main highlight of the trip for me, and nothing else can top that. Luigi's out running errands and I haven't even heard anything about Daisy from him, so I have no idea if she's even coming or not. Maybe she's at Peach's castle, helping her with baking the cake... Speaking of, is it ready yet? I need to call her and see.

I head towards my living room to pick up my cellphone from the couch. Before I could reach for the phone, Luigi nearly kicks down the front door, almost in excitement. He looks at me before uttering a question.

"Hey, what's wrong bro? You look super stressed," Luigi pointed out as the front door slams shut behind him. I roll my eyes at his observant statement and let out a sigh. It may have came out overly dramatic, but I lacked the energy to care.

"No; I'm completely calm after freaking preparing all that food," I answered sourly, my sentence leaking with sarcasm.

"It's 12 servings of pasta, 17 sandwiches and 6 liters of soda bro! How is that stressful? You buy soda, uncooked pasta, bread, peanut butter, jelly, deli meats..."

Before Luigi can finish his never-ending list of required ingredients, proving my point as he voiced every item, the door opens. There, under the doorframe, stands Peach, Daisy and Toad.

"Ever heard of knocking, Princess Peach?" I teased the pink princess. Peach giggles a bit before taking her hair out of her famed ponytail.

"Hehe! I am royalty; what I say, goes," she joked back.

"Haha! Anyway, let's hit the road! Yahoo!" Toad cheered.

~7~7~7~7~7

Time- 11:28 am, Saturday, October 13, 2001, Ludwig's lab in Kastle Koopa.

Ludwig POV

Let's see here, a potion that will immediately knock out anybody when consumed. I read the recipe's ingredients to myself; it calls for some silver nitrate, a sage lily, three Koopa Tea leaves, and... Nooo!

A chocolate bar? Into a freaking knockout recipe? What a waste of such goodness! This potion better work!

After my little tantrum, I collect both the sage lily and the Koopa Tea leaves from one of the laboratory's refrigerators, put the leaves in a pestle and mortar, then grind up the leaves to form a thick, green pasty liquid. I then pour the liquid into a vial containing silver nitrate powder and ground chocolate. A yellowish-green potion that smells just like a cup of steaming chocolate tea resulted from those chemicals being mixed together. Maybe it has a similar taste to chocolate tea?

"Now," I said to myself, "Time to boil zis potion to activate all the effects zat ze ingredients offer."

After a few minutes of a harsh boiling, the potion changes its color. Now it's a shade closer to orange.

"EUREKA!" I'm so happy the potion-brewing was successful that I did a little jig around my laboratory. It's about time I get a result that I expected!

The celebrations end, unfortunately, and I am stuck having to make four copies of the same potion; four more big, beautiful bars of chocolate wasted on those plumbers!

Figuring that one, maybe two, is the maximum needed, I pocket the others in my shell. Never knew when I will need them next...

"May need zis in ze future..." I muttered to myself.