(A/N: Well, in the first chapter, our friends started making their way to the island, and what did Peach, Luigi, and Daisy see in the promotional video? A fake Mario! Is he actually hanging around on Isle Delfino as we speak? There's only one way we're going to find out: by starting this chapter!)
By now, the plane was reaching its destination. The airstrip was coming into view, and the plane was just about to land, but none of the passengers really seemed to notice how close they were to paradise.
Peach was nervous and unhappy, Luigi and Daisy were still wondering about that fake Mario, the real Mario was still thinking about food, but he had stopped moaning, and Toadsworth still appeared to be daydreaming about what he could do while they were on the island.
Suddenly, the plane came to a very abrupt stop, and because none of the passengers in first-class had fastened their seatbelts (not a very smart decision), they all yelled out in surprise as they were thrown from their seats, ending up on the floor in a heap. It was obvious that they were expecting a landing as smooth as butter.
"Ohhh, I really think we should've fastened our seatbelts, just to be on the safe side..." Luigi said, not feeling so well.
"Ditto." Daisy replied, unhappy about the abrupt stop the plane made when it touched down.
"What happened?" Peach asked, sounding confused and surprised. She might have been delicate, but she was very quick to recover from what had happened.
The vacationers quickly picked themselves up, dusted themselves off, and disembarked the plane to see just what had caused the not-so-smooth landing. They were shocked to see a huge mess of some strange, moving, paint-like goop all over the airstrip. That explained why the plane had come to an abrupt stop when it was landing!
"Hmm... No wonder the plane stopped so quickly. It didn't want to land in that pile of muck." Daisy muttered as she looked at the mess. She even gave a low whistle, never having seen anything like that before.
"Yeah. But I think it's-a good that the plane stopped when it did. I'd almost hate to imagine what would happen if the pilot hadn't seen it in time and had actually landed the plane in it." Luigi said with a shudder.
"I'll bet we would've experienced something a lot worse than just falling out of our seats." Daisy said.
"You know what? Next time we travel by airplane, I'm not only going to fasten my seatbelt, I'm going to keep it fastened until we land." Luigi said, referring to the mistake they made of not wearing their seatbelts when the plane was going to land so abruptly.
"Yeah, you're right, Luigi. We really should do that from now on. What do you say to that, Peach?" Daisy asked.
Peach didn't reply. She wasn't even looking at them, for she had noticed something in the distance. It looked like that shadowy Mario-esque character she had seen in the promotional video for the island.
"Peach?" Luigi asked, before realizing that she was distracted. He and Daisy looked in the same direction she was looking, and they saw what had gotten her attention.
"No way! He's actually here?!" Daisy asked Luigi.
"What is he doing here on the airstrip?! It was bad enough we saw him in the promotional video for the island!" Luigi said. He didn't really like what he was seeing. Something about that character just didn't seem natural to him.
"Should I go over there and wrestle him to make him admit who he really is? I could even ask him who he thinks he's trying to kid." Daisy said, also not enjoying the sight of the blue character on the airstrip. He appeared to be standing there... menacingly...
The word "yes" was on Luigi's lips, but in spite of that, he didn't think it was a very good idea. He knew that Daisy was a strong girl, but this guy didn't look like he could be beaten so easily by a woman. So he said, "Probably not yet, Daisy. Even though I don't like the look of him, he might not be a bad guy. And besides, you know what they say: innocente fino a prova contraria."
"I'm sorry; what did you just say?" Daisy asked, turning to look at her beau. She knew only a few words in Italian, and those were the easy ones that Mario and Luigi taught her whenever she was able to visit the Mushroom Kingdom.
"I said, 'innocent until proven guilty'." Luigi said.
"Okay, thanks for the translation, Luigi. You know, I'm thinking that this trip might even be a great opportunity for you and Mario to teach me and Peach some more Italian words. You know that we still have a lot to learn." Daisy told him.
"Just ask, and we'll teach you girls as much as you want to learn." Luigi said. Then he added, "In fact, the 'Delfino' part of the island's name is Italian for 'dolphin'."
"That's really cool! You're turning out to be a great teacher!" Daisy smiled, giving him a hug, which he gladly returned.
Peach realized that Mario and Toadsworth were busy talking, and they didn't really seem to notice anything. She tried to get their attention, but her voice was rather soft from nervousness about the situation as she said, "Um, excuse me, but..." Then she looked back and noticed that the shadowy Mario character was gone, and she added, "Huh?"
"Dang it! The little chicken ran away!" Daisy said, frustrated. She and Luigi had looked back in that direction when they heard Peach speak again. It disappointed them to see that he had vanished.
"Daisy, he might not be a chicken. If he overheard what you said you're planning to do to him, then running away might have been the right decision for him to make. You're a tough woman. I really don't think that I could win if I was to take you on in a wrestling match. I would have run away, too." Luigi said.
Then they snapped to attention when they heard Toadsworth say, "I am most concerned with the well-being of the princesses in this dreadful heat. Masters Mario and Luigi, if you would, cross over to that shore and find some assistance."
"Okie-dokie." Mario replied.
"Toadsworth, if you want the girls cooled down so badly, I think I can take care of that little problem right now. Watch this." Luigi said. Everyone watched as the green-clad plumber quickly got back on the plane and jumped out seconds later with his Poltergust 3000 on his back.
"Wha-?! Luigi, did you really have to bring that thing with you?!" Mario asked in surprise.
"Hey, you never know when something like this is going to come in handy. And you know what? I think bringing it on this vacation was a smart move on my part." Luigi said as he went down to the water to suck up a Water Elemental Ghost. Then he started spraying everyone with the water. It cooled them down pretty fast, but their clothes were soaked.
"Oh, I wish I'd thought to bring my Super-Soaker with me so I could get you back for doing that. And then you'd be wet like the rest of us." Daisy said to Luigi, but she was smiling and laughing, so she proved that she didn't really mind it.
"Don't worry, Daisy. Maybe I can find something over there to soak him with." Mario said, and he was going to do as Toadsworth said.
"Mario, be careful! I have a bad feeling about this..." Peach warned her beau.
"So do I. Something about that guy rubs me the wrong way..." Daisy added.
"What guy?" Mario asked.
"Oh, don't worry. It's-a nobody." Luigi replied, before turning to Daisy and whispering, "It might not really be wise to tell Mario about something he didn't see..."
"Well, when he finds out that 3 of us saw the same thing, he's not going to think either of us are nutsy-cuckoo. It's pretty hard to think that when more than one person saw something, you know." Daisy whispered back.
"I get that, but now I'm beginning to think that we needn't worry about that guy too much until we find out what he's up to." Luigi said as they watched Mario run off. Then Luigi saw that his brother had suddenly stopped, and he appeared to be looking at something.
"Hmm, what's going on over there? Did Mario just see what we saw?" Luigi asked himself as he went to stand next to his brother. He saw that the object Mario was looking at was some kind of invention that neither of them had seen before. It even moved like it was coming to life.
"Power-up complete. Thank you for purchasing this item from Gadd Science, Incorporated." the machine said in a mechanical voice.
"Gadd Science, Incorporated?! Professor E. Gadd made this thing?! What is it called, and why didn't he tell me about it?!" Luigi asked in amazement.
"Shh! It's-a still talking! Be quiet!" Mario told him.
"Preparing to register customer information. Scanning and classifying subject data...subject identified as Mario, resident of the Mushroom Kingdom. Data storage complete. I am F.L.U.D.D.-a Flash Liquidizer Ultra Dousing Device. I hope to be of assistance." the invention stated.
"You do? Well, Toadsworth did ask me to find some assistance..." Mario said.
"And you had to have been made by the same person who made this invention." Luigi said, showing F.L.U.D.D. the Poltergust 3000 on his back.
"Shall I?" Mario asked.
"Well, that machine scanned you, and it knows who you are..." Luigi began
"I think I can help you... if you'll give me the opportunity." F.L.U.D.D. added.
"All right. You've got the job." Mario said with a smile. He strapped F.L.U.D.D. onto his back, and the machine gave him a quick tutorial of how to use it. It turned out that F.L.U.D.D. was rather easy to use, and Mario was a fast learner, like Luigi when he was learning how to use the Poltergust 3000 to suck up ghosts.
"Wow, you learned how to use that thing pretty fast. Tell you what, if you teach me how to use F.L.U.D.D. someday, I'll teach you how to use the Poltergust 3000. Sound fair?" Luigi asked.
"It does. But I think we'll save the training for after the vacation." Mario smiled.
However, for some strange reason, almost every Pianta at the airstrip was acting pretty hostile to Mario. Mario didn't know what he could've said or done to make them treat him like he was a villain, because he knew that he hadn't done anything. He just got here.
"Mama-mia... I didn't say anything to offend those people, did I?" Mario asked Luigi.
"No, you didn't. And I don't think it was anything you could have done, either. You just got here and obtained the professor's newest invention." Luigi shrugged.
"Maybe it belonged to them?" Mario asked.
But F.L.U.D.D. was able to confirm that it had no owner. Not until Mario found it and agreed to use it.
"Then what did I do that was so wrong to them?!" Mario asked, frustration evident in his voice.
A Pianta woman heard him, and she came marching over and told him that he could do something about the big mess on the airstrip. She added, "This gooey paint of yours completely covered my friend!"
"Don't worry, ma'am. I'm going to go clean it up right now!" Mario said, and so he went over and started cleaning up the area where the Pianta woman's friend was trapped. But Luigi realized that she said something rather odd.
"Wait a minute! You just said the gooey paint was his! Are you implying that he made that mess?!" Luigi asked in angry astonishment.
"What did she say?!" Mario asked as a male Pianta quickly popped out of the sludge that Mario had cleaned away with help from F.L.U.D.D. The poor guy was covered in the disgusting stuff.
"Bro! You won't believe it! This woman is saying that you made this mess!" Luigi exclaimed.
"Because you did! I saw you make that mess!" the woman said to Mario.
"No way! We just got here to find the mess! I didn't do it! There is just no way I could have done that if it was here before I even arrived!" Mario said, walking over to where the woman was standing.
"Don't play stupid with me! I know what I saw, and I saw you making this mess!" the woman said.
"I think I'll go and clean off her friend." Luigi offered, seeing that the male Pianta was free, but filthy.
"Huh?" Mario and the woman asked, looking to see that the Pianta was free, but still covered in that goop.
"Mama-mia! Mi dispiace tanto, signore. I'm so sorry, sir! I'm going to clean you off right now!" Mario quickly apologized as he rushed back and used F.L.U.D.D. to quickly clean the goop off of the Pianta who had been trapped. Well, the Pianta was glad Mario had saved him, but then his relief turned to anger, and he was also quick to blame the mess on Mario.
"Mama-mia! Not you, too!" Mario groaned.
"What?! He's also blaming you for this mess?! You have got to be kidding me!" Luigi said as he walked over to where his brother stood. The brothers were getting discouraged and confused as to what was going on here.
"I have every right to blame him for it! He did that to me!" the Pianta male claimed.
"No, he didn't! He wasn't even here when the mess was made!" Luigi said.
"It's-a true. I was on my way here with friends! They saw me on the plane the entire time, so they know I didn't do it!" Mario said, hoping that would be enough to make them stop pinning the blame on him.
"We saw you making the mess, and your friends were nowhere to be seen at the time! So we've heard enough of your pathetic lies!" said the female Pianta.
"Bro, you didn't happen to pack your doctor's kit for this trip, did you? I think the people here need to have their eyes examined." Luigi said to Mario in a whisper.
"No, Luigi, I didn't bring it. All I have is a first-aid kit, and that isn't going to help us out." Mario said sadly. Then he angrily added, "Besides, even if I did bring my doctor's kit, giving them an eye exam would be pointless. They wouldn't want 'Dr. Mario' to be giving their eyes a much-needed exam."
When Peach and Daisy heard what was going on, they were less than happy.
"Are you freaking serious?! Those people actually have the gall to blame a heroic guy like you for this disgusting mess?! How can they sit there and blame you for this when you did nothing wrong?!" Daisy asked Mario. The tone of her voice sounded like she was ready to teach someone a lesson.
"I don't know, Daisy. They all seem to think I did it. They even said they saw me doing it." Mario said.
"What?! That's just ridiculous, and completely impossible! There is no way that you could have done something like... like that!" Peach exclaimed in anger, gesturing t the mess.
"Yeah, you just got here, so it couldn't be you who did it! Sounds to me like they're hating you for no good reason, or maybe there's something wrong with their eyes!" Daisy said.
"Well, we're thinking it's-a the latter, but if we accused them of such a thing, they might say that there's nothing wrong with their eyes, so they won't go to the eye doctor to see if it's-a true." Mario replied.
"Not even Dr. Mario would be able to find out what was wrong with their eyes if he was here. They'd never let him get close." Luigi added.
"If I had known something like this was going to happen, I would have asked the Royal Physician to join us on this vacation. She would be able to examine their eyes with no problems and find out if they have poor eyesight or not." Peach said.
"Well, there's no way we can bring her here fast enough now! It took hours for us to get here by plane! By the time she arrives and finds out what's going on, things may have gone from bad to worse for Mario!" Daisy exclaimed.
"So what are we going to do?" Luigi asked, clearly upset about the way his older twin brother, a heroic person, as well as his sibling-soulmate, was being treated poorly by the people on this island.
"We might as well do the only thing we can do right now: clean up the mess before someone else suffers the same fate as that guy over there." Mario said, referring to the Pianta woman's friend, who was glaring daggers at him. Mario told himself to just ignore that jerk and started using F.L.U.D.D. to clean up the big mess. The paint-like substance was quickly being washed away.
"Don't worry, bro. I'll help you." Luigi said, and he started using the water in his Poltergust to help Mario clean up the disgusting mess of goo.
"What are we going to do? I know that Mario is innocent an innocent man, but I don't think anyone is going to believe me if I tell them that they've got him wrong. They might laugh as though I was telling them a funny joke. But there's nothing funny about accusing my totally innocent boyfriend of a crime he would never commit!" Peach said to Daisy.
"Well... if it makes you feel any better, I could start knocking some sense into the heads of those who think Mario was responsible for a gigantic mess he wouldn't dream of making..." Daisy said, cracking her knuckles.
"Princess Daisy, you will do no such thing!" Toadsworth suddenly scolded the flower princess.
"Toadsworth, I can't just sit back and let those stupid morons blame my friend for something he didn't do; something I know he would never do! And what kind of friend would I be if I didn't stand up for him?!" Daisy asked.
"Princess, I understand that you want to stand up for Master Mario, and he'd lucky to have a friend who cares enough to help. But fighting those people for blaming him is not a good way to go about it. You'll be in just as much trouble as he is, only you won't be getting off as easily when they finally prove his innocence! Is that what you want?!" Toadsworth asked.
Daisy knew there was no arguing with the old Toad's words. She let out a frustrated sigh before slouching in defeat and saying, "No... And because I'm royalty, my parents would manage to find some way to punish me far worse than the islanders ever could..." The flower princess didn't even want to imagine how she could be punished. Even though Daisy was an adult, her parents were still the rulers of Sarasaland, and she was still their daughter.
"No slouching, Your Highness. Princesses are supposed to have good posture." Toadsworth said, trying to get the auburn-haired princess to stand up straight.
During this, Peach's eyes widened, and she suddenly gasped in shock, clapping her hands over her mouth! Daisy and Toadsworth immediately looked to see what made Peach gasp, and when they saw the cause of her alarm, their eyes were as big as dinner plates!
Mario and Luigi had cleaned up most of the goop, but out of the big pile in the middle emerged what looked like a big Piranha Plant, but it was covered in the sludge on the airstrip.
Both plumbers were in shock when they saw the creature emerge, completely covered in that goop. Mario immediately knew what to do, but Luigi was so stunned that he couldn't move.
"Hey, Luigi! Don't just stand there and stare at that thing! Help me out! Spray it with me!" Mario said to Luigi as he quickly sprayed it with F.L.U.D.D.
Realizing that Mario needed his help, Luigi told himself to be brave for Mario, and so he sprayed the goopy Piranha Plant as well. The brothers managed to defeat the monster, and doing so caused the paint-like goop to disappear.
"I think I'm going to have to refill the Poltergust." Luigi said after the battle had ended. He could tell that it had no more water in it.
"Okay, you do that. I need to refill F.L.U.D.D. as well." Mario said as the airstrip returned to normal.
As the brothers went to go refill their inventions with water, an object like the one shown before the promotional video appeared where the Piranha Plant had been. Peach's blue eyes widened when she saw it.
"Mario! Luigi! You've got to come and see this!" Peach called out.
"Hmm? What is it, Peach?" Mario asked, turning around.
"Come here and take a look at this!" Daisy said.
"Do you think maybe those people have changed their tune about you, since you decided to clean up the mess on the airstrip?" Luigi asked.
"Lo spero. I hope so." Mario said.
Well, they saw that the girls were actually referring to the shiny golden object that looked like a sun sitting where the mess had been.
"That thing was left behind when the runway returned to normal." Daisy explained.
Mario and Luigi learned from the Piantas that the golden object was called a Shine Sprite, and they sure seemed glad to see it. Mario and Luigi quickly obtained the Shine Sprite, and Peach praised the boys on a job well done. F.L.U.D.D. also introduced itself to the friends of the Mario Bros.
But suddenly, a Toad pointed out that the police were coming, but they weren't there to find out who cleaned up the mess so they could thank them for it. They roughly grabbed Mario by his arms and started dragging him away!
"Hey, what's going on?!" a surprised Mario asked.
"We finally caught you! And now that we've got you, you're going to court!" said the Chief.
"What?! He has to go to court?!" Peach asked.
"What for?!" Luigi asked.
"Didn't any of you see that giant mess out here on the airstrip?" asked the rookie.
"You wouldn't happen to mean the giant mess that's just been cleaned up, would you? If that's what you're referring to, we saw it, but that poor guy you're manhandling is the one who cleaned it up!" Daisy said.
"And I helped him clean it up!" Luigi said.
"It doesn't matter. He was the one who made the giant mess in the first place, and even though he cleaned it up, he still needs to be put on trial." said the Chief.
"What in the world is the matter with everyone on this island?! Please listen to me! I'm not the one who made that mess!" Mario exclaimed, sounding very unhappy.
"Yeah, right. Tell it to the judge." said the rookie.
"What are we going to do? Mario isn't the one who made that mess! We should know!" Red Toad exclaimed.
"There's only one thing we can do right now! We're going to the courthouse, and we're going to save Mario's butt in that trial!" Daisy said.
So Luigi, Peach, Daisy, Toadsworth, and the Toads quickly followed the police, who were still dragging a very upset and confused Mario to the ferry to Delfino Plaza, where the courthouse was.
The trial happens in the next chapter. Can they save Mario from being judged guilty? Well, you'll have to stay tuned if you want to find out!