2005 September 13th

USA, New York City, Brooklyn

"~We're the Mario Brothers, and plumbing's our game

We're not like the others who get all the fame

If your sink is in trouble, you can call us on the double

We're faster than the others, you'll be hooked on the Brothers, uh!~"

"Dial 929-55-MARIO and you'll hear my bro Luigi saying: "Thank you for calling Super Mario Bros. Plumbing, it's-a me Luigi!"

"That's right! If there's anything you clog!"

"Then. We'll clear 'em. Wahoo!"

"Call the Super Mario Bros Plumbing Service and we'll hook you up some tools we need."

"Anyways, stay fresh, paisanos!" The Mario bros announced as they cheered and jumped with excitement.

But it's all an act.

In a house in the living room where the TV shows the advertisement of the Mario bros plumbing, both moustache men are seeing themselves on TV which motivated the taller, 2 curves and younger twin brother, Luigi as he's glad to see what he and Mario did.

"Mario, this is great! Now people will notice us being the plumbers that'll help anyone in need of unclogging their pipes!"

"Yeah. A perfect gateway to our career." Mario, the older twin with 6 curves, yet shorter body height, is also glad, but not as excited as Luigi.

"When you boys say you wanna start a career as plumbers. Do you really have the licence for that?" A woman in a red suit, Pauline, asks while handing both mugs of coffee for Mario and Luigi.

"Pfft! Silly, Pauline, we have a degree of plumbing. So relax and let the Mario bros do our job." Mario proudly points at himself before picking up a mug.

"Yeah. And besides, as plumbers, it's our job to, um… Clean up the pipes like your workplace." Luigi follows up while explaining to Pauline.

"That's right. Especially when you already have a job. You should be proud of your little brothers for setting up their career." An older woman calls with a warm smile as she pats Pauline's shoulder and giggles towards her sons.

"Well… That's kinda true. At least you guys are getting a paid job." Pauline sighs and then smiles towards Mario and Luigi.

As Mario and Luigi's mother mentioned, Pauline is the older sister to the twins as she raised them when they're kindergarteners and Pauline was an elementary schooler, being adopted by Mario's family as the older sibling to the twin brothers.

Pauline looks towards the clock, leading her to gasp with surprise.

"Oh dear! Sorry, mother, I have to go!"

"Already? Well then, good luck, Pauline dear." Mario's mother waves as a farewell to Pauline.

"Will do, mother. See you later, Mario, Luigi!" Pauline waves as she puts on her hat and opens the door to leave.

"Bye, Pauline!" Mario and Luigi waves as they're waiting for Pauline to come back after her work.

As the door closes, Mario prepares his Nintendo DS while starting a game featuring a blue hedgehog and a purple cat in game.

"Hey, Luigi, wanna race?" Mario asked.

"Okie dokie!" Luigi accepts as he brought out his own DS, preparing to beat Mario in a race.

What stops them from starting is a phone ringing, causing the Mario bros to gasp with excitement.

"Our first customer! Yahoo!" Mario and Luigi cheered.

This led to Luigi picking up his phone as he responded like on the TV.

"Thank you for calling the Super Mario Bros. Plumbing, it's-a me Luigi! So what seems to be the problem?"

[Hello? Is this the Super Mario Bros. Plumbing Service?] A woman's voice called.

"Um, you're calling our number, so yes?" Luigi raises his eyebrow out of confusion.

[Ah. That's great. I'm at the Brooklyn Warehouse and the toilet is, um… Clogged by a bunch of bugs. Yeah that's right! Oh! And there's a dead cat in there too.]

"D- Dead cat!?" Luigi shrieks before he drops his phone.

"Give me that." Mario took the phone off of Luigi while feeling suspicious about this lady on the phone. "Look here, ma'am, I don't know who you are but there better not be any prank calls." Mario said sternly.

[No! It's all real! Basically, like it stinks in there and the water is flooded! Hurry!]

"Alright, we'll be there." Mario finally hangs up as he sighs and shakes his head out of disappointment. "Oh mama mia… So much for our first customer."

"But hey, at least we get paid, bro." Luigi said optimistically.

"That is true. Okay! Let's-a-go!" Mario cheers up while standing up and picks up the equipment that is needed. "Mama! We're heading out!"

"Already? That's a surprise. Ain't you boys lucky." Mario's mother laughs.

"Of course we are. Off we go!" Mario pushes the door open as Luigi waves.

"Bye, mama!" Luigi called.

"See you later, boys! I hope you do well!" Mario's mother waves to her sons as a farewell.

Finally the door closes with the mother hoping if Mario, Luigi and Pauline are doing well on their own jobs.

At least the kids are growing up as adults.

Brooklyn Warehouse

Parking by the warehouse, a van that has a Super Mario Bros Plumbing brand halts with Mario and Luigi checking the building that is unusually suspicious.

Mario sighs after remembering his time which is sudden.

"Bro? You seemed down." Luigi asked out of curiosity.

"Nah. It's nothing, Luigi. I just had a lot in mind. Let's-a-go." Mario shakes it off while opening the van door and grabs his equipment and leaves.

Luigi follows as he's looking at Mario with concern.

Afterwards, both plumbers enter the warehouse as Mario and Luigi see the dust coming through the sun, leading the duo to halt.

What stops them is a blonde woman in a pink dress, humming as she bandages a cat's front leg near its paw, letting the cat stand back on its four paws.

"There you go, little kitten. Now, off you go, I have people to see." A blonde woman coos as a cat meowing and then runs off, causing Mario and Luigi to stare at a long beautiful blonde haired woman.

To Mario, he can see her blue eyes open which led him to gasp with surprise about the pureness this woman has behind her.

"Oh mama…" Luigi gasps, having the same reaction as Mario.

"She's… Pretty…" Mario had a feeling he could actually see a princess.

Approaching the brothers, a woman can see 4 blue eyes looking into her, oblivious to know if she attracted them or not.

"You're the two plumbers I called?" The woman asked.

As Mario and Luigi nod, Mario halts and shakes his head after realising that he's attracted to a woman in a pink dress.

"Hold on a minute! You called us!?" Mario exclaimed.

"Why yes. I was hoping if you guys could li-"

"Luigi, let's go fix the toilet and remove the rumoured dead cat." Mario interrupted the woman while dragging Luigi.

"Oh! Yes, bro!" Luigi salutes after waking up and then rushes past.

This led the woman in a pink dress to exclaim in shock and then turn around.

"Sorry, ma'am. You're not my type." Luigi chuckles.

"I bet you're into tomboys?" The woman asked as her tone was static yet shocked.

"Yep! I like girls who're feisty and competitive." Luigi laughs.

"Luigi! I need some help here!" Mario called in the bathroom.

"Coming, Mario!" Luigi waves and then enters the bathroom.

"Wait, but… Ugh! How rude…" The woman groaned.

With the Mario brothers using their tools to fix the toilet, Mario sighs while wiping his head and turns towards the woman with disappointment.

"So that was a lie, huh?"

"Uh… Yes. There was no dead cat in the toilet." The blonde woman admitted.

"Hm. At least we fixed the toilet. That'll be 75 dollars."

"Oh… W- Well… Is it safe to say that I have none?" The woman nervously chuckles after knowing that she lacks the money from the USA.

"What? Listen, lady, plumbing doesn't come for free and we wasted our money on advertising our service. So please pay up." Mario raises his hand while waiting for the money.

"Come on, ma'am." Luigi begs.

"Well… You see… I have none." The woman lowers her head, guilty for dragging both men into the warehouse with zero awareness.

"Great… So much for our first customer." Mario groaned. "Also, looking at you in a dress, you look more of a cosplayer. Sorry, missy, comic con is that-a way." Pointing at the exit, Mario calls her out on what she looks like.

"Excuse me!? How rude are you!?" The woman snapped.

"Sorry, ma'am! Mario isn't like that before! He's just not happy that you made us do work without pay." Luigi stands by Mario after seeing how mad the woman was.

"Not like that before? This shortstack doesn't seem gentlemanly either. I have you boys know that I am the princess from another world. Princess Peach Toadstool." Proudly introducing herself, Peach has shown herself to be taller than the Mario brothers in height.

Then silence as Mario and Luigi are staring at her full body appearance.

"Did she really say that she's the princess from another world? Sounds like a movie or a Japanese animation plot to me." Mario snickers while whispering to Luigi.

"I don't know, bro. It doesn't look like she's lying, unless she's role-playing." Luigi is unsure about it.

"I go for the latter." Mario chuckles while holding his mouth.

Peach can tell that Mario is laughing at her, leading her to approach him and yank him by the nose and pull his moustache.

"Ow! Hey! Watch the stache, lady!" Mario exclaimed.

"Don't think you're escaping punishment. You're lucky you're not in my world, otherwise my people will put up a death sentence on you." Peach hisses and then pushes Mario as Luigi catches his brother.

"S- Sorry!" Luigi apologised.

"Hey! What's your problem!? You called us and now you attacked us because I don't believe in your fantasy." Mario shouted.

"If it was fantasy, then I wouldn't have looked or dressed like that." Peach turns around, piercing a glare at Mario as Mario and Luigi are intimidated. "Hmph. How about this, maybe I could work with you big nosed boys on plumbing and soon, we'll determine who's right."

"Really, now?" Mario lifts himself up as he's curious to know if he or Peach are right about the 'other world.'

"Mario, don't!" Luigi warns as Mario pushes Luigi aside.

"Deal. It's obvious that I won by default." Mario accepts the challenge.

"Hm. We'll see about that, Mario." Peach also accepts the challenge to see who's right. "Luigi, is it?"

"Yes?" Luigi points at himself after being asked.

"Who do you think will win the bet?" Peach asks.

Luigi lowers his head, unsure about Mario and Peach's bitterness at first sight.

On one hand, Mario is a realist type that only believes in anything that is believable, denying Peach's existence that she's a princess from another world.

On the other hand, Peach is an otherworldly type that feels like she doesn't belong in this world, trying to convince that she and her world are real and all of it was believable.

"I don't know. Maybe I'll find evidence whether or not one of you is right." Luigi said.

"So in other words, you believe the two of us? Seriously?" Mario sighed.

"Sorry, Mario, but I don't have a choice." Luigi concluded.

"Hmph. Then it's a deal. No moving goalposts, 'princess.'" Mario went closer to Peach with a smugly grin.

"Fine. We'll see about that, shortstack." Peach giggles while staring into Mario's eyes as both of them are squeezing each other's hands.

In Luigi's case, their relationship isn't going to improve if they keep on acting like this.

Luigi already knows why Mario is acting like this, but when it comes down to Peach, he doesn't even know anything about her.

In Luigi's eyes, their behaviour must've reflected on their pasts which made them crack like a shell.

But Luigi will see someday.

A phone rings which stops Mario and Peach from glaring at each other and looking at Luigi who was picking up the phone.

"Thank you for calling Super Mario Bros. Plumbing, it's-a me Luigi!" Luigi regains his cheerful tone while calling a second customer.

[Hello? It's my brother's house. His bathroom is clogged up and I need the plumbers to help us.]

"Okie dokie! We'll be right there. Tell me the address, ma'am." Luigi holds out a notepad while writing the address, leading Mario and Peach to look at each other and then back to Luigi. "Okay! We'll be right there!"

As Luigi hangs up, he jumps towards Mario with excitement.

"Mario! We have our proper customer!" Luigi laughs.

"Really? Sweet! Let's-a-go!" Mario and Luigi rushes towards the van out of the warehouse.

Before the van moves, they halt as Peach stands in front of the van at a hasty pace.

"What the!?" Mario stutters in shock.

"Have you forgotten who's coming along?" Peach asks while waiting for the brothers to stop.

"Ugh… Luigi, move over." Mario groans as he rolls his eyes.

"Okay." Luigi shuffles as the door opens, letting Peach in by sitting next to Luigi near the window.

"Stupid princess wannabe…" Mario mutters under his breath as he starts the vehicle and then moves to get to a customer's house.

Right now, it's a job that Mario and Luigi do and now they are letting Peach in on a ride for plumbing, something that Mario didn't want to do.