(A/N: So now it's time for that trial. Can they save Mario from having to do the time for a crime he never committed? That's what we're going to find out!)
The ferry ride to Delfino Plaza seemed unbearably long for Mario and his friends, mostly because everyone was quiet, for fear that the cops might try to silence them if anybody said anything. But the main reason for their silence was for other reasons as well.
Mario didn't know what more he could say to convince the cops or islanders that he wasn't guilty of messing up Isle Delfino. He tried to tell everyone that he hadn't done anything to the island; that he would never do such a thing. But his defense was weak, and none of the islanders believed that he was telling the truth. If the islanders didn't believe that he was innocent, there was a good chance that the cops wouldn't believe him, either.
Luigi, Peach, Daisy, Toadsworth, and the Toads were quiet, too, wondering if they would be able to defend Mario in the trial. If they were given the chance, they knew they were going to have to make a statement that would dazzle the jury if they wanted to help Mario come out on top. So during the ride, the group of friends quickly started thinking of what they were going to say.
When they finally got to the courthouse, they quietly walked into the courtroom, and Mario was sent right to the witness stand. Mario's friends all sat down at a long table in the room, giving him looks of reassurance. Mario tried to give them a smile in return, but it wasn't working. He couldn't shake the sick feeling that he wasn't going to be getting out of this mess so easily.
Then Peach had a quick look around the courtroom, and she began to feel worried, just like Mario. She turned to her friends and whispered, "Something is really wrong here."
"What's wrong, Peach?" Luigi asked in concern. If something was really wrong, it could spell bad news for his big brother.
"I can't see the jury. Doesn't this court have one?" Peach replied.
Upon hearing that question, the others started looking around the room, trying to find out where the jury might be. But they weren't having any luck finding it.
"Princess, I'm beginning to think the justice system over here is corrupt. I don't see a jury, either..." Toadsworth whispered in worry.
"Well, then I'm afraid that this trial isn't going to count for anything. There has to be a jury here to help decide the verdict. It's only fair." Daisy whispered. It was clear that she didn't sound too happy with Isle Delfino's justice system, either.
"Mama-mia... This is not going to end well at all. I just know it..." Luigi groaned in frustration, putting his head in his hands.
Then Peach felt someone tug at her skirts in an attempt to get her attention. She turned to see that Purple Toad had done it, and now he and the other Toads were all looking up at her with the most unhappy expressions on their small faces.
"Is there something the five of you want to tell me?" Peach asked them in a whisper.
"Princess, we have a really bad feeling about this..." Purple Toad began, his voice barely above a whisper.
"Join the club..." Peach told him.
"We already have. In fact, we think we know the reason why we can't find the jury in this courtroom, and it's not good..." Yellow Toad added, his voice also low.
"Why?" Peach asked, her voice so soft that she practically mouthed her question.
"They probably think they already know that Mario is guilty of the crime, so it's obvious they think that having a jury to help them decide the verdict is pointless, for they have already decided what the verdict is going to be." Blue Toad whispered loud enough for the others to hear.
"No! They can't just decide that my brother is guilty right before the trial, and not without a jury! It's-a wrong! I won't just sit here and let them call Mario guilty when he's completely innocent!" Luigi said in a loud, worried whisper.
"You're absolutely right, Luigi. They can't do that to Mario. But that's why he's got all of us here. We're going to help him out! But first, we're going to have to think of something to say in order to change the judge's mind about Mario." Green Toad whispered.
"Like what?" asked Red Toad.
"I don't know. But we'll think of something." Green Toad replied, and he started to think of what they could say. There had to be something the group could say that would change the outcome of this phony trial with no jury.
"Come on, guys. If we're going to help Mario, then you've gotta help me out here." Green Toad said to the other Toads, realizing that they may not be thinking of anything at the moment. So they all started to think, trying to figure out what they could say to make the judge reconsider a really bad verdict.
Mario, meanwhile, hoped that his friends were coming up with a plan to save him from being called a criminal. He too noticed the lack of a jury in the room, which was rather odd. What was going to happen to him if there wasn't a jury?
The judge banged his gavel and announced, "Court is now in session!"
Mario and his friends quickly turned their attention to the judge, but then they had to turn to look at the prosecutor as he began, "As you are no doubt aware, someone has been senselessly defacing fair Isle Delfino using some paint-like substance."
"Yes, someone did it, but not me. You've all got the wrong guy. Just ask my friends. They know me well enough." Mario thought.
"The accused is charged with polluting our beautiful home, and yes, endangering our very way of life." the prosecutor continued as he showed a map of Isle Delfino, showing X's over different parts of the island. They were obviously the parts that were affected by the problem.
"If those X's mark the troubled spots, then this means the criminal must have been on the island for days! That's not good at all..." Peach whispered to her friends.
"But since Mario just arrived on the island, then they should know that he can't be the one behind this." Yellow Toad whispered to the princess.
"This is proof enough that Mario is an innocent soul!" Daisy whispered to Luigi. The green-capped plumber was glad to hear that.
"We can save him!" Blue Toad whispered, determined.
"Indeed, how can one not be aware of what is going on?" the prosecutor asked, before continuing, "Though it is daytime in Delfino Plaza, our poor residents tremble beneath a veil of darkness."
No one could argue with that. When they first arrived and saw the dark skies, Daisy wondered if it was about to rain. But Luigi had told her that it couldn't be stormy weather. The air didn't press down as it did before a storm.
"Expert Shine scholars have determined that this darkness has arisen because all of our guardians, the Shine Sprites, have vanished from their gathering spot at the Shine Gate. The reason? It's quite obvious. This horrible graffiti is to blame!" added the prosecutor, showing off a picture of the Shine Gate, which was covered with awful-looking black goop.
"Oh my goodness! Who could have done that?" Peach asked quietly, bringing her hand to her mouth.
"Well, I don't really know, but I do know for a fact that Mario didn't do it." Daisy whispered.
"Behold this sketch of the perpetrator based on eyewitness descriptions." the prosecutor said, showing everyone a crudely-drawn picture of Mario.
Peach got one look at the picture and shook her head. That picture looked nothing like Mario.
Mario's eyes widened as he looked at the picture. Was that supposed to be him?! If so, it looked like it was drawn by a 5-year-old, and he could never look like that picture. Not in a million years.
Luigi now realized what was going on. There was no jury here because their plan was to pin the blame on Mario, lock him up in prison, and throw away the key. OH, HELL NO!
"The truth is obvious. The guilty party sits among us. It is none other than Mario!" the prosecutor finished.
Mario sighed in sadness and looked at the floor in defeat. They weren't even about to let him try and talk his way out of this mess that someone else put him in. It was all over...
"OBIEZIONE! OBJECTION!" Luigi shouted in a very loud, very angry voice as he leaped to his feet.
Everyone in the courtroom jumped in surprise at the sound of Luigi's unexpected shout. The judge hadn't expected that, and he was too surprised to say anything in response. He was so surprised that he couldn't even rule Luigi's behavior as contempt of court.
Peach and Daisy were a little nervous. They had never seen Luigi react like that before. He was usually very quiet and shy, so to see him do something like this was really surprising to them. But then again, Mario was in danger of being thrown in prison, so maybe it wasn't all that surprising when they thought about it.
Even Toadsworth and the Toads were a little surprised when Luigi did that. It was quite a change from Luigi's quiet and shy nature. But since it seemed that they were ready to judge Mario guilty with no real proof, it was understandable.
Mario almost immediately recognized the voice that yelled, and he picked up his head to see Luigi on his feet with an angry look on his face. He was surprised, but he didn't feel that way for long. Mario had lifted his head so fast, he felt dizzy, like maybe he was suffering from vertigo. Now he felt like he needed a lie-down, but there was no place for him to do that here.
"Ohhhh... Mama-mia..." Mario quietly moaned, cradling his head in his arms. He felt like he was going to throw up from dizziness and fear.
"How dare you! All of you! How can you people just sit there and accuse him of being the one who's behind that awful crime?! Take a good look at him! He couldn't have done it! He doesn't look like a bad guy." Luigi started.
"Looks can be deceiving, you know..." a green Pianta male stated.
"I'm well aware of that fact, but you don't even know him! And for all you know..." Luigi started, but then he trailed off as he realized that he didn't know what else to say! There had to be something he could say! But what?
"Go on..." the judge bade him. Luigi was the one who started the commotion; he may as well finish his sentence. In fact, the judge seemed pretty eager to hear whatever it was Luigi had to say.
Luigi finally thought of something to say, but he was afraid that saying it might turn out to be a big mistake on his part. He gulped nervously, then slowly said, "...I may be the one who committed the crime."
The whole courtroom was in a flurry after that! This confession was a rather strange turn of events.
"And why should we believe that you may be the one who did it?" the prosecutor asked, not about to believe him.
"Because... well... look at me. I look just like the guy you're after, don't I?" Luigi asked.
The Piantas began discussing this fact amongst themselves in whispers. Now that they looked at Luigi, he did look pretty similar to the guy they were blaming. Maybe they were wrong about Mario? Or was he really Mario? Or were they taking turns? Now they weren't so sure who the real culprit was...
Mario realized what Luigi was trying to do, and he didn't like it one bit. He knew what would happen if they decided that Luigi was guilty of the crime. As much as he didn't like the idea of ending up behind bars, he really didn't want Luigi to be there. Luigi was a sensitive soul, and having to do time would be worse than anything he'd suffered in the past.
"Cosa fai? Luigi, what are you doing?" Mario mouthed at his brother in worry.
"Sto cercando di salvarti la vita. I'm trying to save your life." Luigi mouthed back.
Peach and Daisy were worried about Luigi. Saying something like that was not a very smart move on his part. They knew that he was trying to save Mario from going to prison. While they could not blame him for wanting to save his brother, they knew this wasn't the way to go about doing it. It was up to the princesses to figure out a way to save the boys from spending the night in prison.
Daisy stood up and politely asked, "Your Honor, may I please have the sketch of the perpetrator? I would really like to have a better look at it."
"I don't think so. I'm not going to let you tamper with something like that." the judge replied, thinking she was asking for the sketch so she could try to alter it. This was usually the case when someone was being accused of a crime and a sketch of the perpetrator was included.
"I'm not going to alter the sketch, if that's what you're afraid of, Your Honor. I don't have a pen, a pencil, or any writing utensils on me. And there aren't any at this table. I know that trying to alter the sketch would be out of the question. I only want to look at it. That's all." Daisy said, and she looked him right in the eyes.
"Very well, then. Permission granted." the judge said, not knowing what else to do.
"Thank you." the flower princess said, sitting back down. The prosecutor handed her the sketch, and she and the others studied it very carefully. After a minute or two, Daisy and Peach looked at each other and nodded. Toadsworth and the Toads looked at the princesses with puzzled looks on their faces. What was going on?
Peach then stood up and asked, "Permission to speak, Your Honor?"
"Permission granted." said the judge.
"Thank you." Peach replied. She faced everyone and said in a firm voice, "Haven't you people ever heard of 'innocent until proven guilty'? The sketch, when you study it carefully, doesn't really look like either of those accused men! My cousin and I think the real perpetrator is still out there on the island, causing even more trouble as we speak, and if anything, we want to find him!"
"We know we can find the real criminal if you'll allow it! Please! Just... give us the chance to prove the innocence of those men!" Daisy added.
Mario and Luigi heard all this, and now they were hoping against hope that the judge would consider the words of the princesses. They really didn't want to end up in prison for something they never did.
The judge thought about it for a minute or two, and everyone wondered just what he would say. All the Piantas in the courtroom wondered if he was going to listen to the pleas of the women, or throw the young men in prison without another thought.
The Toads all prayed that the judge would listen to Peach and Daisy and not throw Mario and Luigi in prison. They didn't belong there! And they were afraid that Daisy might actually snap on the judge if he decided that Mario and Luigi were going to prison.
It seemed like an eternity had passed before the judge finally said, "Very well. We shall adjourn for now and return to the discussion of this case tomorrow afternoon at 3:00. That should be plenty of time for you young ladies to try and find the 'real' criminal. But if you fail to find him, or provide any concrete proof that these two men are innocent before the trial resumes, then they will be judged guilty."
The Toads all looked at each other in concern. Would 24 hours be enough time for them to find out who framed Mario?
Mario and Luigi were feeling astonished. They were safe... for now, anyway.
"However... I'm going to have to insist that these men clean up the island in the meantime. That graffiti is an eyesore for everyone here. And if they refuse to comply, then I will judge them guilty, and they will be spending a few nights in prison as punishment." the judge added.
"Lo puliremo! We'll clean it up!" Mario and Luigi promised, their hands where the judge could see them. They had no intention of spending this vacation in prison.
"All right, then." the judge said. With that, he banged his gavel again and said, "Court adjourned."
The judge informed the cops not to take either Mario or Luigi to prison. Not until he was able to give the guilty verdict (even though he was sure Mario was guilty). He had been ready to judge Mario guilty, but when Luigi said that he might have done it, he, like everyone else, didn't know which of them was guilty of the crime. Well, by this time tomorrow, that question would be answered.
Mario and Luigi were so stunned, they could hardly speak to the girls. They couldn't say a word until they returned to the airstrip, where they had to pick up their baggage from the airplane.
"Peach... I have to thank you for that speech you gave the courtroom. You saved our butts!" Mario said to his princess, giving her a hug before grabbing his suitcase.
"Mario, you have saved my life countless times, so it was only fair that I returned the favor for once. And I wanted to help you out. But if you must thank anyone, it really should be Daisy. She was the one who thought to ask for a better look at the sketch. Getting a closer look at it helped give me the courage to speak up and figure out how to save you boys from spending a night in the slammer." Peach said, hugging him with one arm.
"Grazie, Daisy. Thank you. You really helped us out in there." Luigi said.
"No prob, Luigi. I didn't want you or Mario, or even both of you, to end up spending the night behind bars. It just wouldn't be fair, and it would kinda ruin the vacation for all of us if that happened to you. Plus, I was also afraid that if I didn't do something soon, you and Mario might have launched into an argument similar to the humorous "I'm Dirty Dan!" argument that SpongeBob and Patrick had." Daisy replied.
"You're right about that, and it's a good thing that you did what you did, Daisy. We would have, and could have, been charged with contempt of court if we started doing that. Then the both of us would be spending a night in prison for sure!" Mario said.
"I know. And I wouldn't allow that to happen to either of you. You were already in enough trouble for what's going on here, and Luigi threw himself in danger by suggesting that he might be in charge of the crime. Anything more would have landed you boys in the kind of trouble you'd never be able to get out of." Daisy said.
"Don't worry, Mario, Luigi. We'll find the criminal before the trial resumes tomorrow afternoon. You won't be spending any nights in prison if we have anything to say about it!" Red Toad assured them.
"Yeah. We're going to do everything in our power make sure that you guys are gonna be safe!" added Blue Toad.
Then the group split up and started a very thorough search of the airstrip for any sign of the real criminal, whoever he was. Apart from Peach, Daisy, and Luigi, all everyone else knew about the real criminal was that he somehow looked like Mario. They searched the airstrip for half an hour before giving up, but they couldn't find him. He must have left the airstrip without them seeing.
"In the meantime, we might as well make our way to the hotel and drop off our things." Toadsworth suggested.
"You're right. It wasn't really a smart idea to search for the villain with our luggage in hand." Peach said. So they went back to Delfino Plaza and found the boat that went to and from the hotel.
Toadsworth pointed out something else that was rather interesting to the group as they took the boat to the hotel, he said, "Did you notice that they didn't even ask Master Mario any questions during that trial? Never once did they think to ask him anything to change the outcome of the trial. They failed to ask if he swore to tell the truth."
"I noticed. They really didn't want to hear anything I had to say." Mario replied quietly, feeling awful.
"You're right, Toadsworth. They weren't asking him the questions they should have asked. Both sides need to be heard in any kind of trial, no matter how guilty one side is." Daisy said.
"I bet I know why they didn't ask. They wanted to believe that Mario was the criminal in the worst way, so they knew that asking him any questions would ruin their belief about him. Grambi forbid they learn that they've got him all wrong." said Yellow Toad, sarcasm evident in his voice during that last sentence.
"And you know what else? I'm willing to bet that if they decided to ask him a question, and they heard his answer, the whole courtroom would likely shout "LIAR!" at Mario and make him afraid to answer any more questions." said Green Toad.
Mario frowned at that thought. Bowser often accused him of lying about his love for Peach, but he was one to talk! Bowser seemed to believe that love meant kidnapping a completely innocent young princess who doesn't love you and forcing her to marry you against her will.
But Mario knew that love meant rescuing the princess from a fate worse than death, and getting the chance to know her and find out who she is beyond her royal title. Chances are, you and her might have a lot in common and become friends. And that friendship might even blossom into love.
But what's going to happen next? Well, you might want to stay tuned in order to find out!
