Super Mario World (Series)

by sleepfiction

After fixing a strange pipe deep below their city, plumber brothers Mario and Luigi find themselves sucked into a pipe that warps them to a strange new land: the Mushroom Kingdom! As strangers in a strange new place, Mario and Luigi quickly make themselves useful by helping those around town, also aided by the compassionate Princess Peach and pursued by the dark King Bowser.

4. 1-4: Little Problems

"Mario Brothers Plumbing- No Leak Too Small. How can I help ya?"

"Hey, I thought this was Mamma Mario's Plumbing?"

"She's retired, me and a'my brother run it now- we're her sons."

"Oh, wow, I haven't seen you boys since you were two! How is Mia, by the way?"

"Mamma's fine, enjoying the retired life. What's a'the reasoning for your call today?"

Leaning against the front desk in the office's small lobby, Mario was answering the call for plumbing services just as he would any day. The small business in Brooklyn usually had dozens of calls a day for service, and on especially busy days Mario and Luigi would be out for the entire day in the van parked at the curb out front. With as many to-go meals the Bros ate in that van, it felt like it was their summer home.

They never ate dinner in it though. Mamma Mario would get angry if you skipped out on the dinner she worked so hard to make- just ask her husband, the boys' father.

With a red pen and a notepad, Mario wrote down the description of the issue to keep on hand. He'd have to get Luigi down here to get a second opinion; since it was a slow day, Mario knew his brother was somewhere in the building.

"Uh huh. Uh huh. Alright. We'll be out a'there within the hour. Thank you for choosing Mario Brothers Plumbing. Buh-bye."

Click. He hung up the phone.

Still at the front desk, Mario reached to a hanging rope that was hooked against the nearby wall. He pulled on it gently, tugging twice, and heard a small ringing from somewhere upstairs.

Mario Brothers Plumbing ("No Leak Too Small!") was operated on the bottom floor of a three-floor building in Brooklyn. Situated between a sportswear shop and a bookshop placed on the corner of the block, the sandwiched building had a two-story apartment on its upper levels. This apartment was the childhood home to Mario and Luigi, as well as where Mamma and Papa Mario both still live.

Because of this, since the plumbing was a family business (save for the Bros' father, who went into a medical-centric career) there was a bell that Mamma Mario once used to use to call down her boys to help with a plumbing job, especially in the summer when school was out. Sure beat having to pay people!

From the sounds of what the guy on the other line said, the issue he was having was that a toilet wasn't properly mounted in the bathroom. The guy said it best: "it's called a restroom, not a rodeo-room." Mario would have to tell Luigi that, he'd get a kick out of it.

The front door opened. Mario didn't have to look up to know it was his brother. He'd have to walk down the stairwell that led to the above apartments to get in the plumbing office, and the architects who made this building didn't have the foresight to just install stairs that lead right into the lobby.

Luigi was Mario's younger twin brother (by twenty-three minutes) but you wouldn't be able to know that since he got Mamma Mario's height. Luigi was half a head taller than his older brother, and his mustache had a more English style compared to the Chevron style that Mario had. Though Luigi was tall, he wasn't a beanpole, still pretty podgy compared to other guys.

Like his twin brother, Luigi wore denim overalls, but had on a green sweatshirt underneath them.

"Hey, bro."

"Hey, bro." Mario answered in a more deadpan voice compared to Luigi's peppy greeting. "We got a call in. I guess someone tried DIY-ing a toilet and it's not a'set right."

"Oh no! That toilet must be a'bucking everywhere."

"It is. The guy said it's a'supposed to be a restroom, not a rodeo-room."

"Ha! Did you write a'that one down?"

"Yeah, it's on the notepad. Another one a'for the scrapbook." Mario yawned, though much happier than his dispirited attitude from a moment ago for making his brother amused.

"Coffee?"

Mario hadn't noticed that Luigi walked in with mugs in his hand: one white, one green. Luigi handed the green one to Mario- that was odd, Luigi always took the green colored stuff in a set. Green was Luigi's favorite color.

Hesitantly, Mario took the mug. "Thanks, bro."

Luigi sipped his coffee with a smile.

The red plumber lifted the mug to sip from it, but when he opened his eyes to look down his nose at the inside, he didn't see coffee inside, or any liquid at all. All he saw was blackness.

He slowly pulled it away, looking into it with a furrowed brow as he continued to see nothing but shadow inside of it. It didn't even seem like the darkness that would be in a normal empty cup, it looked like the cup had no bottom even though Mario knew it did.

No wait, it's not a green mug at all. It never was. It was a small Warp Pipe.

Mario dropped the mini Warp Pipe upon realizing what it was. Luigi stopped drinking his coffee, startled from the sudden clanging of the dropped mug, first glancing at Mario and then looking down at the dropped green pipe in confusion.

"Bro?"

The mini Warp Pipe began to rattle and shake against the ground. Mario stepped back, his back hitting the counter. Luigi didn't move, still bewildered from the violent vibrations below. Once the rattling became unbearable, the mini Warp Pipe suddenly spun around and pointed upwards. A horrid wind noise started as it began to suck everything in the lobby into it.

Out of fear, Luigi dropped his mug, which flew into the little Warp Pipe. Once it did, it became five times its size instantly, and only started to vacuum things in harder. As more and more things flew into it, the Warp Pipe only became larger and larger.

Luigi tried grabbing onto a chair in the lobby to stay anchored, but the force of the suction lifted the chair off the ground and pulled Luigi to the widening Warp Pipe as well. Before Luigi could fall inside, his hand was grabbed by Mario.

Gripping tightly onto the front counter with one hand, Mario held onto Luigi with his other. Luigi grabbed Mario with both hands, still being pulled into the now massive Warp Pipe. The pipe was larger than the lobby now, completely replacing the floor.

However, though Mario had a grip on Luigi, it didn't last very long. Both brothers wore white plumbing gloves, something put in their heads by their mother, and as such they didn't do much to keep the grip on each other.

Although Luigi had both his hands holding Mario, it only lasted as long as Mario's glove stayed on his hand. The glove soon slipped off, and Luigi was sent screaming into the darkness of the Warp Pipe, with Mario only able to yell after him.

"Luigi!"

---

Mario hit the ground with a grunt and a thud, landing on his stomach and hitting his face on the Mycellium plank floor. He groaned, lifting his head up and rubbing the spot that whacked against the ground.

Another morning in the Mushroom Kingdom. It had been over a month since he arrived through the Warp Pipe- and as the nightmare so rudely reminded him, he was no closer to finding his lost twin brother.

From the lack of sunlight outside, it was very early in the morning. Mario had went to bed early that night, tired from a long day of helping the plumbing of a town that didn't have quality plumbing services for the last… how ever long Toadso wasn't up to the task.

Usually, plumbing was a breeze to him. It still was, but it was much more dull and took far longer than needed, because Mario was only one person working in town. He was reminded that Luigi wasn't around from how disenchanted Mario was from something he was doing as young as eight years old.

Plumbing just wasn't the same without Luigi around.

Mario picked himself up off the ground. Well, since he was awake, he might as well actually get up. As he stood, he put both hands on his lower back, leaning backwards to crack his back. He was only a couple years over twenty, why did he feel so old?

He walked over to a recliner in the room, where his clothes were laying across it, and pulled on the white shirt he typically wore under the red one. In shirts and boxers, Mario decided to get started on the day, with step one being to put on and button up that red shirt he had.

There was a light in all this darkness though: today was the day he and Peach would be going into that castle's undercroft to look for the stuff about the Warp Pipes. It had only been a day or two since the whole "Megasmilax" trouble that happened, and Peach wanted to wait until the castle could be all theirs for them to look for the plans.

The Warp Pipe in the basement of the castle had been plugged up, courtesy of Mario and an order placed to Mushroom City for an industrial sized pipe plug. Queen Chanterelle paid for same-day delivery.

He stepped into his overalls to pull on next. Mario was very glad that there was a washing machine included in this small house, especially because he was a plumber, and that job is not known for its cleanliness. Regardless, it sucked only having one outfit to wear.

Mario thought back to his home in Brooklyn, and all the outfits he had there. He wore this outfit specifically because it was his "work outfit," and he did enjoy wearing overalls most of the time anyway.

It had been a month and some change since Mario was spat out into the Mushroom Kingdom. He wondered how everyone was doing back home- his mama, his dad, Pauline. Even more insignificant people like Spike, the foreman for the last job Mario had.

They had to have noticed he was gone. He wondered what the reaction was between everyone who knew Mario and Luigi. There was a deep, deep pain in his chest thinking about his mother crying, thinking about her sons being missing without a trace.

He had to find Luigi and get back home. That is… if Luigi even wanted to see Mario.

The red plumber sighed deeply, buttoning his overall straps. It had been a while, but remembering what happened before the brothers got sucked into the Warp Pipe still made Mario a little upset. Well, less upset, more really guilty and regretful.

It was best not to think about it now. He'll burn that bridge when he gets to it. He just needed to find Luigi.

After Mario finished slipping on his boots, the phone rang. Over the weeks he had after Toadso left, Mario managed to properly install Plumber Toad's phone and set it up. The new number was advertised throughout town now, so Toads could call Mario whenever they had a plumbing problem.

Mario answered the phone. "Mario… Bro Plumbing. What can I help you with?"

"Mario! My sink keeps sputtering when I try to turn it on!"

"Sputtering, huh?" Mario grabbed a pink notepad (given to him by Peach) and started writing in it. "Any water coming out at all? Can a'be any color, just water."

"No, mostly just air."

"Hm. Might be a leak in the pipe. I'll a'come over and look at it real fast."

"Okay! Thanks Mario!"

"No problem. Bye-bye."

Mario hung up the phone and flipped the notepad closed. A quick job before seeing Peach wouldn't hurt. Beat just sitting around and waiting for lunch. Besides, working on plumbing is a good distraction. It wouldn't take his mind off Luigi, but it was better sitting alone and wallowing in distress.

Grabbing his red hat by the door and putting it on, Mario left his home in a hurry to distract himself.

---

"Princess, the bakers have finished the buns!"

"Oh wow! Toadsworth, those look marvelous!"

The old Toad was presenting a pan of hot cross buns to Peach, fresh from the oven. After Peach's compliment, he walked over to the small table set up and put it down.

"I'll tell the bakers you send your compliments."

"I'll do you one better- tell them they did so good, they get the rest of the day off!"

"…really? Princess, I don't mean to question your judgment, but… Just because your parents have left, does not mean you can vacate the castle as well."

"Oh come now, Toadsworth, they're the baking staff! What are we going to do, have a baking emergency?" Peach mused. "It'll be fine. It's just for today."

"Well… If you're sure, Princess. I'll go let them know. Pip pip!"

His cane clacking against the floor, Toadsworth left to talk to the bakers in the kitchen.

Peach set up the teapot and cups perfectly across one another. She was currently in the solar room, a room on the second floor that had glass walls and ceiling in a curved eave shape- similar to a greenhouse or a solarium.

The king and queen were out of town on their expedition to the Beanbean Kingdom, the only kingdom they really trust and travel to due to their close affiliation, and Peach set it up so she could have a nice lunch with Mario without either of her parents possibly interrupting. She even made a batch of cookies for them to bring to Beanbean as an extra bribe for them to skedaddle.

She wanted to have a small nice meal before they would go down to the undercroft. Like her mother had said to her before, the undercroft was dank and murky. Peach hadn't been down there before, but every Toad that had to go down there always groaned in annoyance when asked to retrieve something from the storage below the basement.

It was also the makeshift archive for the castle. Every important document that involves the castle, Toad Town and even the Mushroom Kingdom in its entirety was placed in the shelves of the undercroft. Peach never considered that it could assist in her desire to see the world outside the kingdom, as she simply assumed it was filled with boring royal government stuff. Taxes, deeds, censuses and the like.

She poured the hot tea into each soft pink cup. The smell of peaches filled the air. Peach wanted something special for her lunch with Mario, so she made peach tea this time! She thought that would be cute considering her name.

The door opened, and Toadsworth took a step in.

"Princess," He spoke. "Mario has arrived."

"Oh, great! Send him up here!" Peach swiftly went to the seat further from the door. "You can have the day off too, Toadsworth."

"The day off? Princess, it is my job to watch over the castle duties."

"You've done a lot for me, Toadsworth, and you work yourself to the hyphae to fulfill everything my mother and father want. If you're really that worried, you can check back in at dinner, but take some time off. Maybe finally start working on that autobiography you always speak about? The tell-all memoir?"

Toadsworth fiddled with his thick mustache.

"Well… I can't really say no to a royal order from the castle's standing mistress."

"It is an order." Peach pulled her chair out. "Go take some time off, Toadsworth. After you tell Mario to come up here, though."

"Very well! Tally ho!"

With that, the old Toad left. Peach adjusted the dishes on the table once more to look a bit neater.

Though she loved having tea and lunch, and she loved making everything look all pretty, she knew that the real meaning for the meeting was for them to further their efforts into finding Luigi. The luncheon was just prelude to finding further information on where Luigi could end up.

There was a part of her, deep down, that was worried their attempts to find Luigi was all in vain. That Luigi will be gone, somewhere outside of the Mushroom Kingdom, far from the reaches of the princess and Mario. Or worse: Luigi is harmed or more, all alone out there.

She quickly pushed those thoughts away. No, he was fine. Luigi had to be okay. If Mario could survive as long as he did with no supplies, Luigi could survive with all the plumbing supplies he had- even if, from Mario's own confession, he was "anxious" by nature.

They would find Luigi, and they would find him together. It wasn't just about finding out more about this Metro Kingdom, it was about helping someone Peach has become fond of. She couldn't just turn her back on someone in need.

The door opened. Mario peeked in to make sure it was the right room, before stepping in proper. Peach sat down in the seat opposite the table, smiling.

"Mario! It's nice to see you. Please, sit."

With the invitation, Mario stepped in and sat across from Peach. He took off his hat, wincing a bit at the sudden light invited to his face from the solar's all-glass walls.

"Mamma mia. This room is a'brighter than my Nonni Pierluigi's skin."

"Nonni? Like… Grandma?"

"Grandpa. On my papa's side." Mario elaborated. "Do all castles have a'bright rooms like this?"

"The solar's usually used as a smaller great hall in castles. I enjoy using it for tea. Speaking of, I hope you enjoy the one I picked for us! Cream and sugar?"

"Just sugar."

Peach used small tongs to drop three sugar cubes in Mario's cup. He stirred it up and took a sip.

"Mmm… Is this a'peach tea?"

"Yes, it is! Brewed from the best picked mushrooms in the kingdom."

Mario paused at the implication that his tea was brewed using mushrooms. He looked down at the drink- it sure looked like a normal beverage. After a second, he shrugged, continuing to enjoy the delicious tea that was apparently brewed with fungi. He's been eating mushrooms for the last month or so, why stop with drinks?

"Enjoy some fresh baked hot crossed buns, too!" Peach gestured to the pan on the table. "How have you been? Last we saw each other we were killing some killer plants."

"I've a'finally gotten over the concussion I suffered at the hands- er, leaves? The teeth of that a'Megasmilax." Mario replied, reaching over to pull a bun from the pan. "Other than a'that, I've been mostly doing minor plumbing jobs. Toadso's a good man, but it seems he really fell behind with taking care of the town."

"Nobody's perfect. I felt like he wanted to retire soon anyway."

"…And a'leave Toad Town to become consumed with the bad plumbing?"

"We would've found someone. We did! We found you!"

"You really don't a'seem to mind that Toadso was lacking behind."

"Well…" Peach paused in thought. "Look, maybe it was bad of him to ignore calls. But I knew that there would've been a solution that presented itself. Toads are complex people, and Toadso was an elderly one. There was a lot of factors that contributed to him not really doing his job."

"I'm amazed you're gunning for him a'this much."

"The Toads are my people. I know at least 99% of them are innocent, caring Toads, and like I said they're complex. Not to insult my parents, but there has to be someone out there to "gun" for them as it were. Someone has to look out for the little Toads."

"You're better than most, Peach. If my mama would've caught wind of a plumber not a'doing his job she would've stuffed Toadso in a toilet and a'break the flusher."

"You've mentioned your mom before. She was a plumber, too?"

"Yeah." Mario took a second to swallow the chewed up food in his mouth. "She was the plumber in Brooklyn. Even if there was another plumber, people always a'chose her. Everyone in the neighborhood a'knew her- and she did her job well, because she cared."

"See? She gets the whole gunning thing." Peach gestured with her cup before sipping. "Though I'm a bit concerned about how violent you've presented her as."

"She's Italian!" The plumber replied, almost defensively. "And from Brooklyn. You kinda have to be a little crazy to live there. One time, when Luigi and I were like eight, a guy tried to mug my mama while she was walking down the sidewalk with us."

"Oh no! What happened?"

"Well, after some intimidation, some tears, and someone a'wetting their pants, the distraught and soiled mugger gave mama all of his money and ran away crying."

Peach was taken aback, but started laughing after a moment. Mario, smiling, took another sip of his tea.

"Wow!" The princess finally spoke, still chuckling. "What a fierce woman. And such a dangerous city."

"Brooklyn's not all that a'bad. It's gotten better once we elected some a'new people in office. Still as hectic and crazy as ever, though. But I wouldn't a'have it any other way."

"…was Brooklyn inland like Toad Town is?"

"No, it's a coastal city. East coast. Though we a'didn't really have any beaches. The city was a'bordered with the Lower Big Apple Bay." Mario replied. "I heard there was a Seaside Kingdom near us a'though."

"A Seaside Kingdom?" Peach was intrigued. "That's incredible!"

"I know, right? I wanted to find out a'more so I could send my mama and papa out on a vacation for once."

"Means less time on your back, right?"'

"Oh you know it."

Both amused, Mario and Peach continued to consume the buns and tea.

As he continued to eat, Mario thought back to Brooklyn. When he left, Mario had actually ironically been tired of living in Brooklyn due to the issues that the city was going through at the time. It was a cruel twist of fate that pulled him out of his hometown and into the weirdness that was the Mushroom Kingdom.

His opinion had changed in the time he'd been at the Mushroom Kingdom though. It really wasn't all that bad, especially now that he's settled in. The Toads no longer scream and/or recoil at the sight of Mario anymore, and he did genuinely enjoy spending time with Peach.

He was sure that Luigi would like Toad Town better than he would though. Luigi always watched weird television shows about aliens and the like back in Brooklyn, he would be eating this place up- not literally though. It had all the makings of something Luigi would love: weird humanoids, magic plants.

At least this place didn't have ghosts. Luigi hated ghosts.

Mario stirred his second cup of tea to dissolve the tea within it, thinking back to Brooklyn and Luigi. His train of thought was broken with the sound of the door behind him opening again, making Mario turn around to see the old Toad walking in.

"Toadsworth!" Peach identified him. "I thought I told you to take the day off!"

"You did, princess. But I thought you'd like to have this before I took my leave."

Toadsworth presented a dark key to Peach. It was metal, maybe brass, discolored due to age. The princess took it, looking over it in both her gloved hands.

"The undercroft key! I was wondering where I put that…"

"You left it in your tea cabinet. Please keep better track of these things, princess."

"I will, Toadsworth, I will- thank you. Now scoot! I'll see you at dinner." The princess shooed him away.

"Pip pip!"

With a nod to Mario, Toadsworth left the room. Peach stood up, pulling another hot crossed bun from the pan to hold in her hand.

"Well, I think we've had enough food for one lunchtime!" She said. "Let's head to the undercroft!"

"Letsa go!" Mario stood up too, putting on his hat.

Peach led Mario out of the room. They walked through the mezzanine (ironically an Italian word- Mario wondered if Peach would be interested in knowing that) to the red carpeted steps leading down to the castle's main entrance hall.

The look was certainly different than the art deco designs a lot of Brooklyn buildings had. The walls and ceiling were painted to set a scene- with hills painted into the brick walls and clouds painted on the ceiling, both with bright blue backing. The floor of the main foyer was made up of black and white tiles, only interrupted with a massive cosmati detail right in front of the main steps. The detail was shaped like a sun, with purple and red spicules coming from it.

Light was coming down onto the sun, but Mario couldn't see where it was from. It seemed to just… come from the ceiling. Whenever he looked for a source, the light got too bright for his eyes to handle.

They walked around the steps to a lower door, heading down to the basement area. The Warp Pipe was still plugged up after the accident with the Piranha Plants, with them still allowing Chanterelle to believe that the fact it was open was the reason those plants got into Toad Town.

As they walked past the large archway leading into the basement area, Peach slipped inside to stride over to the barred off area where that Chain Chomp was. Mario stayed away, still wary of the large creature, but Peach got up to the bars and looked inside.

When it spotted her, the Chain Chomp slid forwards curiously. Showing it the hot cross bun in her hand, Peach tossed it to the metal beast for it to catch from the air with a massive chomp of its teeth.

The Chain Chomp chewed the food, leaning down and giving Peach the chance to rub the creature's head between its eyes.

"There you go, Duchess."

"Duchess?" Mario asked from afar. "You gave it a name?"

"Yeah! I'm sure she's not the only Chain Chomp out there. I need to differentiate her."

Mario started to step cautiously into the room. However, sensing him nearby, Duchess immediately opened her eyes and stared directly at the plumber. She bared her teeth at Mario, the Chain Chomp obviously warning him about stepping near her and her now perceived owner: Peach. Clearly Duchess didn't have the fondest memories of him, and he stepped back.

Peach gave Duchess one or two more pats before parting with the Chain Chomp. She wiggled the undercroft key at Mario as she passed by.

Opposite to the stairway leading up, there were more steps that led downwards, down to the undercroft and sub-basement. A lot of this area was inaccessible due to it not needing to be used- the undercroft held documents, sure, but the only ones who really needed them were the census Toads and the like every few years. The sub-basement was something Peach had only ever heard of, as nobody really walks into it due to it being on the same level of the moat and its water, with only a wooden door acting as a barrier.

The door to the undercroft was positioned awkwardly, placed on the edge of a stair. Peach slipped the key into the door and unlocked it. She opened the door.

"Huh. Doorknob feels loose." She commented.

Peach took a step forwards, not ready for the steep drop to the next step. She grunted, carrying on. There was still a whole half a stairwell to go down- this awkward door was clearly placed here after these stairs were set up.

Mario followed, closing the door firmly behind him.

"Ugh. Smells like a'mildew down here."

"Damp and dank, just like mother said."

They walked down the stairs together.

"What exactly is down here?"

"The undercroft acts as an annex to the castle, containing information dating back to thousands of years ago, back when the Mushroom Kingdom first started. It's practically a time capsule to important documentation involving the kingdom, her properties, and her people."

As they reached the bottom of the steps, they were immediately greeted with a few things: burlap sacks of turnips and radishes, an old wooden sofa, and a barrel with the word "SALT" on the side. Anyone's guess what the latter barrel had in it.

"…and it's used for storage too, apparently." Peach finished her statement. "But we're not here for that. We're here for the archives!"

Walking further in, through a few arches made with stone pillars, they reached another massive room. Mario used a light switch- thank goodness they adapted with modern electricity- which turned on some wall mounted lights that lit up the room.

They could see the dust and cobwebs that were strewn across the shelves in the archive. The shelves were tall, really tall, over twice the duo's heights. Sticking out from the ends, parallel with the shelf ends, were large markers with numbers on them to classify the areas. There were some short drawer cabinets near where the duo entered, separate from the shelves.

"Huh. More stuff than I a'thought." Mario remarked.

"Don't worry! We can locate what we need using the Dilepis Decimal System!"

The princess glided over to the short drawers, followed by Mario. She opened a top drawer, a giant puff of dust blowing up into both of their faces. Both Peach and Mario recoiled and coughed, the former waving her hand in front of her face.

"How old is this stuff?" Mario asked.

"Can't be too old. The decimal system was only introduced about two hundred years ago. Certainly it couldn't have been untouched since then, they've been updating it every few years!"

Peach proceeded to page through the drawers and its files. Mario reluctantly moved in to watch her work.

"Let's see… How about… Societal functions?" She said. "If the Warp Pipe was for transportation, maybe it could count as a part of society!"

"Worth a shot!"

Peach pulled out the notepad of index cards and flipped through them.

"Social sciences, groups of people… Well, it doesn't have anything on the Warp Pipe, but… Oh wow! There's something on Toadettes in here!"

"Really?"

"Yeah! I wonder what it says."

She looked across the index card to read further.

"Toadettes and… other… mental derangements." Her eyebrows furrowed as she read. "Female-presenting Toads and their very lackluster contributions to society… proper etiquette for the societal abnormal?"

"…well, we know how old it is a'now." Mario said, pulling the card away from her. He put the pad back in the filing cabinet himself. "Let's move on from that before we dig up this Dilepis guy and a'beat him up beyond the grave ourselves."

"Right. Okay, not a society function. Let's see… Philosophy, language, sciences, technology, arts, literature…" Peach read across the different classes per drawer. "History and geography is the last one."

"Your ma did a'say the Warp Zone was an ancient form of transportation."

"Good point. Let's see."

She opened the 900s drawer. Peach paged through the different cards inside.

"History and travel… Oh! This is it!" She pulled out a card and stood up. "Travel in the ancient world! 910!"

"Alright!" Mario gave her a double thumbs-up.

The pair swiftly walked through the archives, reaching the very back of the shelves. The shelf marked 900 was packed with thick books, a lot of them sticking out from the archives. There was a bookshelf ladder, one on wheels, parked at the inner end of the shelf.

On the outer end of the shelf, there was darkness. The archives led to the opening of a dark and obscured tunnel leading elsewhere, something unseen. Peach silently got creeped out, and made sure to stay behind Mario away from the darkness as they stood before the massive bookshelf.

There were smaller markers that dictated where each of the tens in the 900s started. They looked up to find out where 910 started and, sure enough, it started on the second shelf.

Mario scratched his head under his hat. Peach gave him a swift slap on the back.

"Alright, go ahead." She said.

"Uh, scusa?"

"You wanted to find the book! Go ahead!" Peach said. "…it's not the best to climb up ladders in this dress, okay? Until I can be sure that my magic leg powers actually work on command, I'm not gonna risk spraining my ankle again."

"Alright, alright, I get it." Mario rolled his eyes. "Just a'help me with the rolling ladder."

With Peach pushing and Mario pulling, they got the ladder across the front of the bookshelf. It was a rolling ladder with rusted up wheels, so getting it across was no easy feat.

Mario climbed up the old ladder to get to the top, feeling the thing shuddering under his feet as he took each step. As he got to the top, he realized it ended just at the bottom of the 920s- how would a Toad be expected to pick something from the top shelf with how short they are?

Didn't matter. He needed to get a book on the Warp Zone. Hanging onto the shelf, Mario looked down the 910s, seeing a bunch of different books on travel using carriages, updated motor vehicles, and even two big cartography books for travel.

However, barely four feet away, there was a certain book that caught his eye. It stuck out, a design on it that Mario found familiar: a shade of green and shaped like a pipe. On the edge of the pipe's lip were the words "WARP ZONE" in big cascading letters.

Jackpot.

This ladder was a hassle to move in the first place. Mario decided to just risk it. He leaned to the side, reaching out to the pipe book with white gloved hands.

Peach noticed, and saw the ladder continue to shake. "Mario, be careful!"

Using the big map books to pull himself further, Mario reached out. His fingertips touched the warp pipe book, rubbing against the texture of the lettering on the front. He was so close.

Suddenly, the ladder tilted. Wanting to keep it from toppling over, Mario pulled back, swiftly losing his balance on the top rung with nothing to really hold onto. He was flung back towards the book, forced to grab onto the map travel books to hold onto as the ladder whipped him off and rattled back to its standard position.

Peach gasped, her hand covering her mouth as she watched the scene unfold.

The Warp Pipe book was so close. He reached out, still holding onto one of the map books, before feeling said map book start to tilt forwards under his grasp. Both of the thick books flipped forwards, one of them tilting lower than the other.

Mario landed on the ground with a THUD, right on his back. He slowly sat up, groaning with a hand over his face. While he was seated, however, one of the books continued to tilt. It slid off of the shelf completely, falling off and landing right on top of Mario's head with a powerful WHAM!

With a second's pause to let the pain settle, Mario suddenly shrunk down to his damaged little size. The thick cartography book slid off his head and hit the floor behind him. Mario swayed for a second before slowly laying himself down on his back, head using the book like a pillow.

"Mario!" Peach walked to his side. "Are you okay?"

"I'm a'fine, just… ow." Mario said, his now larger had over his eyes.

"Good. Good, I'm… I'm… Glad…"

It was evident as she spoke on, but Peach started chuckling a little bit. Mario lifted his hat to blankly stare at the princess while she snickered at his misfortune, and when she noticed the look, she cleared her throat quickly.

"Sorry, sorry. It's just slapstick. C'mon, it's a little funny!"

To better accentuate her point, the remaining cartography book Mario had held onto- the updated one with more pages, slipped from its tilted position off the shelf. It was positioned perfectly to slam onto Peach's head next, shrinking her down to her own little form and making her fall to the ground.

Mario and Peach lay next to one another, both staring at the stone brick ceiling.

"…ow." The princess finally spoke.

"Are you alright?"

"I'm okay. That just really sucked."

"I know."

There was another few moments of silence.

"We need to move the ladder over more."

"Yeah, but we can't at a'this size."

"We should get some super mushrooms, make ourselves big again, move the ladder and get the book."

"Good thinking."

"Why, thank you."

With that, they were off. Mario was up first, helping Peach to her feet. The princess bundled up her billowing dress, holding it in front of her, as they both walk away from the book shelf.

Walking up the steps to the door out of the Undercroft, however, they were faced with a unique problem: the door was far too high for them. When the queen warned Peach about other Toads' difficulty getting out, it was clearly because of the position of the door. The fairly steep steps, skinny steps, and the fact the door was on the edge of one of these steps meant the doorknob was just out of reach of the tiny-ified plumber and princess.

Mario tried standing on his tiptoes to grab the doorknob, but like with the book, could only graze it with his fingertips. It was the same for Peach, standing right next to him.

"This is an issue." She said. "And Toadsworth's not going to be back until dinner. We might be stuck here a little while…"

"How did a'Toads even get out of here?"

"Your guess is as good as mine. Any ideas?"

"Well, you could a'get on my shoulders. Though I don't know how much I can a'carry with these flimsy arms of mine in this a'body." Mario wiggled his loose-sleeved arms for emphasis.

"Anything's better than nothing. Let's try it."

Mario knelt to let Peach on his shoulders. Sitting on the plumber's shoulders, Mario slowly stood up when it was secure, granting Peach a bit more height. She reached out to the doorknob, eventually grabbing onto it after making Mario lean forwards and let her rest against the door.

She tried jiggling the knob, to no avail. She was still a little lower than the knob was, so it seemed she was pulling it down.

"I gotta get higher. Take off my heels."

Figuring out what Peach meant immediately, the plumber complied. Now without sharp heels, Peach used the door to pull herself up to stand on Mario's shoulders for that extra bit of height.

It was very unsteady. Peach swung her arms around as she suddenly pulled away from the door to regain her balance. Mario leaned backwards, trying to shift the weight of the princess moving back to better steady themselves. Instead, he put more weight on his heel and the edge of the step. The old wood of the steps couldn't take the direct pressure of the heel with both their weight, and as a result the end of the step snapped.

Without proper footing, both plumber and princess fell backwards and down the stairs together.

If they weren't shrunken down before, they certainly would be now. Mario helped Peach up to her feet again once they regained their bearings.

"Okay, standing on shoulders is out." Peach clapped her hands and rubbed them together. "Let's check these vegetables and hope there's a super mushroom somewhere inside."

There was nothing. Just more turnips and radishes. They did find a rusty can opener though, one of the old manual ones.

"There's just more a'turnips and radishes!" Mario stated the already stated.

"Dang it. I should've known there wouldn't be any mushrooms down here." Peach muttered. "Curse my lack of foresight. I can never see when it screws me over…"

"What now?"

"That can't be the only exit down here, that would be a fire hazard. I think. They said this floor connects to the moat outside, maybe there's an exit involving that?"

"I think I know a certain outdated a'decimal system that could help with that."

Luckily, since they were so short, it was easier to reach the lower drawers without having to crouch down. What they were looking for was in the 700s: Arts and Recreation.

"Arts, area planning- architecture! 720. That must be what we're looking for." Peach pulled out the card.

With a number so low, that meant the book was on a high shelf once again. They didn't need to move the ladder though, because the 720s were surprisingly small and close to the inner end.

Since Mario took the trip up the ladder last time, Peach climbed the bookshelf ladder to retrieve the architecture book they needed. She found a book pretty quickly: a makeshift bound book listed on the spine as "Castle Toadstool," which she pulled out from the shelf.

Not wanting a repeat of what happened last time just in case, Peach pulled the book out and dropped it to the ground a few feet in front of Mario. She climbed down the ladder as the plumber opened the book.

Flipping across the pages, he came across the plans for the sub-basement area, complete with blocks that showed the location of the shelves.

"Alright, well, looks a'like there might be two ways out." Mario pointed to the page. "The one going upstairs, then another exit that a'heads through the other area to reach the moat exit."

"The other area? Like… the dark one?"

Peach and Mario both looked towards the pitch black that started right at the edge of the bookshelves.

"…might not be a good idea."

"Right. Don't wanna go rummaging around in the pitch a'black." Mario stroked his mustache. "Besides, we can't really use the book for guidance. Can't a'read in the dark."

"Let's save that as a last resort. Let's see if we can find a different way to get out of here."

Mario closed the book, seeing Peach stride off to the drawers again. After putting the book on one of the steps of the ladder, he swiftly followed, seeing her looking through the decimal system again.

"What's a'your plan now?"

"Well, if we can't open the door normally, maybe we can remove it entirely." Peach flipped through the cards. "I'm looking for information about how to take the door off."

"Take a'the door off?" Mario asked, slow and incredulous.

"It can't be that hard! I'm sure the door is so old part of it will break off without any force. We just need to give it a little push. Aha!"

Peach pulled out another card, showing it to Mario- 690, hardware and general construction. Mario followed alongside Peach as she quickly scurried off to the appropriate bookshelf.

Luckily, this time, with such a big number that meant the books were lower on the shelves. They didn't even need a ladder this time. Peach looked across the different books and pulled a few out that seemed helpful. She sat down, her dress pooling around her to obscure her legs. Mario leaned against the ladder, using a low step as a thin seat.

He watched her look across the books, clearly focused. Mario hooked his thumbs in his overall straps, looking around the area as if trying to find something interesting to pay attention to.

No dice. Everything looked as drab and dark as always. Mario looked back down at Peach.

"So…" He spoke. "This might be a'rude, but… It's a little strange that a'you don't really look like a Toad."

"Oh, don't I know it." Peach replied, still reading. "It was only the main source of gossip in town for the first ten years of my life. Couldn't walk through the streets of town without stares, whispers and all that."

"They've gotten a'used to you, at least."

"Yeah, the Toads love me now! Just took some time to adjust." The princess opened another book. "Because of how we don't really leave the kingdom, not a lot of people knew what humans were. That is what you said you're called, right?"

"Yeah."

"Apparently a few knew, but it's not like I could talk to them about it."

"Because a'your ma?"

"Yup. I was raised with all questions about the outside, other people, anything else about the world either waved off or ignored. I guess I can't really blame my mother, she's scared, but it really messed with me. I was always told I was made to be the best ruler the kingdom needed, but I felt like she was holding me back from my fullest potential. I want to know about the other kingdoms in the world so I can rule better. I actually want to grab one of those map books we've seen so we can see what the rest of the world looks like, for once."

"Mamma Mia… your ma sounds a'like a real pain in the neck."

"She's not all bad." Peach replied, finally looking up at Mario for a moment. "She's flawed, sure, but she's slowly coming around. She actually introduced me to baking- you know, that thing you always praise me about doing? We used to bake together when I was little, but as I grew up, the responsibilities of the queen became more complex. Eventually I started to just bake on my own. Would never taste the same though."

"I know what you mean. I used to cook with my mama when I was a kid."

"You did?"

"Well, cooking is a'being generous. She would do most of the cooking. I can't a'cook to save my life- that a'skill mostly went to Luigi. He would make all this a'food with her, help her cook a'dinner when we were in high school. I couldn't even make a'spaghetti if you put the ingredients in front of me."

Mario stared forwards, a small smile under his mustache, clearly thinking back to those days in Brooklyn.

"…what is spaghetti?" Peach finally asked.

"Huh? Oh, uh… It's this a'dish a lot of Italians make." Mario replied. "Noodles made of a'wheat, sauce made with tomatoes. Sometimes with a'meat, sometimes with meatballs. Lotta parmesan."

"Parmesan?"

"A type of cheese. It's a'delicious! If I ever get to leave this a'kingdom, I'll see if you can have some. Especially my mama's, she makes a'the best in Brooklyn."

"Your mother seems to have a lot of accolades to her name."

"Well, it's all a'relative, ya know? She's my ma, of course she's a'the best."

"And you've brought up Italians a lot. Is that what people in the Metro Kingdom are called?"

"No, it's for Italia. We're a'native to the Metro Kingdom, just descendants of a extinct kingdom's people that a'settled in Metro. Brooklyn has a lotta Italia people there."

"…You know that off the top of your head?"

"I did a history report on Italians for my keystone a'project in high school. It's ingrained in a'me." Mario knocked his fist on the side of his hat.

"When it was such a long time ago?"

"…whaddya mean?"

"You know, you're like… forty."

Mario choked and grabbed his throat, pushing off the ladder to stand up by himself. Peach's eyebrows raised in surprise.

"Forty?!" He asked.

"Are you not?"

"Macché! I'm a'twenty-four!"

"Really? With a mustache like that?"

"Another feat of Italian genetics!" Mario replied, chuckling in bewilderment. "I can't believe that! Forty? Ha! Is it because of the eye bags and the stress lines?"

"Huh… You know, I didn't notice that before."

"That's from both a'high school, my brief stint in college and years of a'being in the Wrecking Crew." Mario gestured his face. "Not from age. Though it feels like a'my back is forty sometimes."

"You were stressed out that much?"

"Yeah, well…" Mario slowly sat down on the floor with Peach. "It's a whole a'thing. When I was in high school, I was a little… busy. I did a lotta electives- gymnastics, personal finance, humanities, dance- not to mention a'constantly doing school work and juggling a relationship."

"Your ex-girlfriend; the one you mentioned before, right?"

"Right. Her name a'was Pauline- Pauline Fiore. She was… a childhood friend of me and Luigi's." He waved his hand. "Not a'the point. I didn't wanna disappoint my parents, which is why I did all a'that stuff. Eventually, I got into a'college in Diamond City a few hours away. Pauline and I were a'drifting apart with different career choices anyway, so we a'broke it off. I moved away to go to college."

"And?"

"Well… I only lasted a year before I dropped out. I burnt out. I felt like I wasn't a'meeting up to my parents' expectations, even though I set them. I spent another year in Diamond City, acting out a bit, before I came a'back to Brooklyn, moved back in with Luigi and them. That started the stuff a'with the Wrecking Crew."

Instead of giving a verbal nudge for him to continue, Peach stared at him expectantly. Eventually she rolled her hand and slowly nodded to encourage him to continue. Mario sighed.

"The Wrecking Crew was a construction a'company. Luigi and I hated it there. We especially hated the foreman, Spike. He was always on our a'case. Eventually, Luigi and I decided to move on. Mama was a'getting older, so we decided to take up her plumbing a'business together. Changed the name to Mario Bros Plumbing. And, a'well… here we are."

With the book still open in her lap, Peach stared at Mario with a slightly furrowed brow.

"…I can relate with the whole 'disappointing your parents' thing." She replied. "I'm supposed to be a perfect princess, but it feels like I keep messing up. But you… You're not disappointing anyone. You helped people- you helped me when you didn't even know me. Any parent would be happy to have you as their son."

"Thanks, Peach. For all it's worth, I haven't a'seen anything towards you being a bad princess. The sheer fact you remember all a'the Toads' names is proof of that enough. The Mushroom Kingdom is a'lucky with you set to be its a'queen."

Peach was taken aback, clearly touched at the sentiment. She smiled, brushing her hair back behind an ear as she let the statement settle.

"Thank you, Mario. I mean it."

After a moment, Peach returned to the book. Mario stayed close and kept quiet, letting the princess read through the books to try and find a proper way to get through the door.

The plumber was grateful that the princess thought he was a good son- he'd never been complimented by anyone of royalty before. Peach was someone he actually considered something akin to a friend, especially after all the misadventures they'd been through since he got there. He didn't really have a lot of friends back in Brooklyn, mostly just associates. Pauline and Luigi were the only two people he could really consider friends.

He thought back to Luigi. The entire reason they were in this predicament was because they were trying to get a clue as to where he went, and as always bad luck had to strike. It felt that every time they took a step towards finding his brother, they immediately took a step or two back.

They had to get that book. They had to get big again so they wouldn't get instantly killed in these weakened forms with another thick book or something. He had to find Luigi so he could say he was sorry.

The mood in his head from his discussion with Peach became soured. His smile faltered, his face becoming blank again as he stared down at the floor.

With a THWAP, Peach closed her book, ending the trance Mario was in.

"Alright! I think I got a plan." Peach got up to her feet. "C'mon!"

As the princess walked away, Mario followed. He watched the princess with mild interest, seeing her scrounge through the bags of vegetables until she found the rusty can opener they saw earlier.

She walked up the steps, and Mario stayed a few stairs down to make sure if she fell that he could properly catch her this time.

"If we can unscrew the bottom hinge…" Peach began, leaning over to look over said bottom hinge on the door. "Maybe we can wiggle the door around and bust the top hinge. Or at least pull it far enough that we can squeeze through the gap!"

"You're a'sure this is a good idea?"

"Better than nothing!"

Using a flatter edge of the can opener, she pressed the rusty tool against the bottom screw, trying to twist it as hard as she could. It wouldn't matter if Mario twisted it or if she did- they were pretty much at the same level of strength right now in these bodies.

Peach felt the screw give a little leeway under her. It moved a little bit- the screw was just as rusted as the can opener was, and it was hard to unscrew the thing without destroying the brittle metal.

She kept twisting. Slowly, the screw started turning further and further, though only a little at a time. It was clear this was going to be a slow and steady process. It didn't matter- anything to try and get them out of here would be worth it.

Things were really looking up. But of course…

SNAP

Peach watched as the top half of the can opener fell to the step below her. The whole thing snapped clean in half.

The middle part of the can opener was too wide to fit in the screw, and the other end of the can opener was too thin. She stared down at the rusted can opener in astonishment, resting in her gloves that were now stained on the palms from the rust.

Her hand started shaking slowly. Eventually, in frustration, Peach angrily threw the can opener against the old door, making it bounce off of it and fall down the steps. She let out an angry yell at this development.

Mario stepped out of the way as Peach stormed down the steps.

"This is hopeless!" She yelled, her voice echoed through the undercroft. "Ugh, why did I send Toadsworth out for the day? The guards aren't nearly as attentive!"

"Peach, calm a'down." Mario said as he got down the steps.

"No! I just…Ugh!" Peach kicked a stray turnip down into the undercroft in anger. "This always happens! Why am I like this? I'm supposed to be better than this! I always get ahead of myself! Between this, and the stuff with the sewers, and Bowser…"

She sighed, sitting down on the nearby couch and putting her face in her hands.

"Now we have to wait for Toadsworth to come back. And he'll have another reason for my mother to keep me from leaving the Mushroom Kingdom." She said, voice muffled. "I'm supposed to be the best I can be, but I can't even do this right."

Something stung deep into Mario's chest as he heard her say that. Mario resonated with that sentiment. It always felt that he was doing something wrong back in Brooklyn- it was when he came to Toad Town that he felt that he was actually starting to do something right.

Peach didn't deserve to feel hopeless like he did. Mario didn't want her to.

His eyes trailed over to the bags of vegetables besides the couch. Without another word, he walked over and grabbed the two burlap sacks, pulling them behind him. Peach lifted her head, watching Mario pull the bags up the stairs.

"Mario?"

The call out went unanswered.

With all the strength he had in this body, Mario pulled the bags up the stairs. He grunted as he got them up one at a time, with multiple vegetables bumping against the wood as he did. Mario was slow with it, but he eventually got up to the top step, narrowly avoiding the step that was busted from before.

He pulled one of the sacks to the top step, standing to the side. Mario slid the other sack on the first, pushing it up against the door as best as he could to keep them on top of one another.

Slowly, the plumber climbed up on the bags. He tried navigating his feet through the vegetables, his hands against the door to keep himself steady.

With wobbly legs, Mario got up. He felt the vegetables shift below him, making Mario grab onto the flat surface of the door for some semblance of leverage. Mario used one of his feet to try and pull the top bag closer to the door.

Suddenly, he felt the bags shift. The vegetables got firmer below him. He looked back- Peach was below, pushing up on the bags to make sure they stayed in place for Mario to stay on top.

Now with a better surface to stand on, Mario slowly lifted himself up again. As he straightened his back, he found himself around the same height that he was before, and saw the doorknob before him.

He grabbed onto the knob. He jiggled it- he knew it would open towards him, but he just needed to get the knob twisted. After that hurtle, they could pull the door back out.

Mario twisted the knob, but found it barely went anywhere. The thing was old, the mechanism was probably really wore down. He jiggled it, his breathing getting heavy as he was anticipating for the door to finally be open.

The doorknob refused to cooperate. He continued to twist, again and again. He jiggled the knob, practically slamming his palm into the thing to try and get it to work.

Then there was a CRACK from inside the mechanism, and the whole door knob came out.

It happened when Mario pulled on the knob one more time, causing him to stare at the detached doorknob in shock and awe. The force from his pulling caused him to lean back, making the vegetables shift under him once again. He moved his feet around to try and regain his footing.

The vegetables moved away, and Mario fell backwards, his back colliding with Peach and sending them both down the stairs once again.

After the pair landed at the bottom of the steps, the bags tumbled after, both of them opening at the bottom and spilling their contents across the floor, scattering out and around the duo lying on their back.

Mario lifted the knob and looked at it. He soon threw it away, letting it bounce and ring out across the stone floor elsewhere.

"It's no use." He murmured, staring at the ceiling. "I failed a'doing this just like I failed to look after Luigi. Another thing for mama and papa to be a'disappointed in. The worst part is that I'll never a'get to tell Luigi that I'm sorry."

Still laying down near him, Peach turned her head to look at Mario nearby. The plumber sniffled.

"Back in a'Brooklyn, before we ended up… here," He said softly. "We were asked to do a job for Pauline. She's the deputy mayor back there, and the normal mayor had been a'missing for a few weeks at that point- she was pretty much the mayor of the city herself. There was a problem with the sewer a'system down below the streets that was causing a'some flooding. Pauline came to Luigi and I to help her out, since all a'the city workers were unable to work a'right away. She asked for a favor, for us to look for the problem and a'try to fix it. The only issue was that we were doing it pro bono…"

Mario wiped his nose.

"The entire reason Luigi and I were still living with mama and pop was because we were both a'broke as can be. I was still trying to pay off my student loans from my one a'year in college. So when Luigi heard we were doing this a'big plumbing job with no money, he was upset. He had a right to be upset. He accused me of doing it because I was a'still in love with Pauline… I dunno, maybe he was a'right. But I was angry when he said that. I told him, I said a'he can leave if he wants. That I didn't need a'his help. I shoulda never said that… I think it's my pop in me. When he was leaving, I was a'fixing what I thought was a waste disposal pipe, but… it was that a'Warp Pipe. It sucked the two of us in, and I ended up in the Mushroom a'Kingdom."

"Mario…" Peach spoke softly, sincerely.

"The worst a'part of it is that… My mama and her sister, my Zizi Zia," He continued. "They used to be a'close, like me and Luigi. I used to see her every day. But then, Zizi Luciana got married when Luigi and I were little, and… something a'happened. Zizi and mama got into a nasty argument. Apparently it was over something my mama wore on my Zizi's a'wedding day, I dunno. It was something a'dumb. Something minor. But after that a'day, I never saw my Zizi again. Mama always talked about her with anger. An entire a'relationship, destroyed. And I always felt… scared. I was scared that Luigi and I would a'somehow end up like that. That we would someday just stop a'talking to each other over something so dumb. And I guess… I guess it happened after all. One way or another."

The words stuck with Peach. She was so ready to give up a few minutes ago over her own issues that she forgot the entire reason they were down there- for Luigi. It hurt Peach deeply that the plumber was apparently giving up on trying to fix his mistake; and it was a mistake. Peach didn't hold what Mario said against him.

Mario needed her. She couldn't give up now. Peach flipped over, picking herself up.

"No it will not." She said firmly, before rushing away, leaving Mario behind to lay on the floor.

Willing herself to go near that creepy darkness again, Peach returned to the 900s shelf. She looked up the side of the ladder, spotting the Warp Zone book that Mario was reaching for earlier. With those big map books that landed on their heads out of the way, there was a better chance of reaching the book.

The princess bundled up her dress in front of her, pushed the bundle back between her legs and grabbed two ends, tying them around her waist to better hike up her dress' skirt. With her heels still off, Peach was able to climb up the old ladder without any fear of possibly misstepping.

She ascended the ladder with firm gripping to the sides, eventually getting back in the same spot Mario was in before- the very top rung. She was just tall enough that, most likely, she could reach towards the toppled over book that she was looking for.

Peach reached over, gripping tightly onto the ladder.

This ladder was most likely as old as the undercroft was. To that end, already weakened from the stout plumber putting weight on one side, when Peach put her entire weight on the same side, the front wheel of the right side completely snapped and shattered under the pressure.

As the crack echoed in the area, Peach let out a noise of shock, returning to her spot standing upright on the ladder but discovering that the entire thing was now falling over. With quick thinking, the princess hopped off the top step of the ladder and grabbed onto the emptied shelf on the same level as the Warp Zone book.

The loud sound of the ladder toppling over was able to pull the despondent Mario out of his funk. He lifted his head, looking towards the source of the sound with a murmuring "Peach?"

Peach looked down at the ground from over her shoulder. It seemed much further down than it probably was- she was smaller now, after all. The princess kept her grip on the shelf, creeping to the side slowly to get closer to the book of interest.

These shelves, dozens of years old, were nailed to one another. Overtime, the once strong wood slowly weakened into what it is today. Sure, it was able to hold all the books that are currently on there, but an addition of 50-100 pounds of weight of a person hanging off one of the shelves was enough to pull the nails from the weakened wood it was impaling. As a result, the screws connecting the shelf Peach was holding onto cracked softly, slowly starting to pull out.

Attracted by the noise, Mario skidded to a stop near the shelf, seeing Peach hanging off it.

"Peach!" He echoed his previous statement, watching the princess.

Shimmying closer to the book, Peach was right beside the bundle with the Warp Zone book in it. She could grab the spine easy- it stuck out the furthest of all on the shelf.

However, this was because of a very annoying factor: it was a long book. Peach slowly pulled the book out from the shelf, unknowingly at the same time mirroring the nails of the shelf pulling out of the wood behind it. Peach quickly noticed that the shelf was toppling over, set to crush her below.

Peach pushed herself from the shelf, pulling the Warp Zone book out the rest of the way. She fell to the ground, but with sparkles of pink and gold from her body, she stopped a few inches from the floor and was gently set down on her feet. Her mystery mystic legs came to the rescue once again.

Shadows obscured her body as the shelf was starting to fall the rest of the way, causing books to slide out and land beside her. Peach screamed, frozen in terror, covering her face with her book.

Mario rushed in, tackling the princess in time to save her from the collapsing bookshelf, which smashed down onto the floor with a massive crash.

Both princess and plumber rolled to a stop together in the entrance of the dark tunnel. Once regaining their bearings, they saw the toppled shelf on the pile of books nearby, cracked in half and blocking the opening of the tunnel they were in. For extra measure, the shelf that the toppled shelf was connected to fell backwards as well, crushing it down and blocking the opening even more.

The pair picked themselves up, with Mario giving Peach a hand to help her up to her feet.

"You got a'the book!"

"Yeah, and I destroyed priceless kingdom property." Peach replied. "Lack of foresight. Got ahead of myself once again."

"Hey, there hasn't been a'one moment where you jumping in a'wasn't for anything but the best of intentions." Mario said. "You came into that a'sewer because you wanted to befriend me, you reached out to that a'Bowser guy to make a connection like any ruler would, and you climbed a'that shelf to get a book to help me find a'my brother. Maybe you can be a bit impulsive, but you never a'do it to hurt anyone, and you always try to fix your mistakes."

"…maybe that's true. But that's also true for you. You said that mean thing to your brother, but you feel bad about saying it. You want to make it right. That's an important distinction. You are a good person, Mario, and I'm sure Luigi will forgive you for everything that's happened."

The statement clearly meant a lot for Mario. Slowly, he smiled.

"Thanks, a'princess." Mario reached under his hat and scratched his head. "Now… I don't think we're gonna make it a'through these shelves. There's only one last a'way to go."

The duo looked into the shadows of the tunnel they were standing at the end of. A shiver went down the princess' spine, clutching the book closer to her chest.

"Last resort." She murmured. "…alright. Let's go."

Taking one hand off of the book, Peach offered it out to Mario. Though surprised for a moment, Mario took Peach's white gloved hand in his own. Together, slowly, they walked into the blackness.

The hum of the wall lights in the undercroft soon faded out behind them as they descended into the shadows. A chill came over them the further they walked away from the lights and bookshelves.

When the light became a quarter-sized speck in the back, a light turned on near them. A torch, mounted on the wall near Peach, fluttered to life automatically. More torches came on one by one, illuminating the room around them. Looking behind them, there was another torch still fairly obscured by darkness in that tunnel. Maybe the tunnel was never supposed to be pitch black.

The area they walked into was clearly the sub-basement area in the plans. From the stone floor in the undercroft, they were now walking across cobblestone floors. The walls of the room were discolored green-shaded stone bricks, unlike the typical stone blocks the archive area was made up of. Perhaps this area was never renovated like the archive area, hence the more primitive means of lighting.

This area had the door leading out to the moat. Mario and Peach could see water pooling in a lowered area below them, with a slope leading down, possibly water gathered from leakage from said moat. It was split into a four-way intersection, with the path straight ahead showing something strange on the back wall: a… painting? Weird choice for decor in a place nobody would typically come down to.

Mario and Peach glanced at one another. After a second, they consciously let go of each other's hands. Peach continued to grip onto the Warp Zone book with both hands.

"A'where to first?" The plumber asked.

"I'd like to see that painting up close." The princess replied. "It looks like a Toadstool original."

"We'd a'have to walk through the water though."

"…and I forgot my heels back in the undercroft." Peach sighed. "Curse my lack of foresight."

"I could a'carry you."

"No no, I need to pay for my mistake. Let's go."

The pair descended into the cold water. Peach hissed as she stepped into the water below.

"Hundred-coin stockings, ruined." She fretted.

They carried on. Peach and Mario walked through the water, the latter taking up the front just in case. The duo eventually reached the painting at the end, illuminated with torches on either side.

It was a painting of blacks, reds and oranges. The primary subject of the painting was apparently some kind of misshapen fireball. It had a face, with empty black eyes and a strange looking smile as it stared out at Mario and Peach.

The princess ran her thumb over the plaque at the bottom of the frame.

"Lethal… Lava." She read it. "Huh."

"Look a'familiar to you?"

"This is my father's art style." Peach replied. "My father painted most of the art you'll see in the castle. The paintings you see are usually areas or reconstructions of events that my father remembers. But this… this looks strange. I don't know why my father would paint something like this."

"Vent art, perhaps?"

"Likely story. That's a conversation I'll have with him later."

A small splashing to Peach's right got her attention. She looked over to the corner leading to somewhere unknown. Her eyebrows furrowed while she looked for the source of the noise- the last thing they needed right now was to fight some weird hostile creature.

As she scanned the area, she found something entirely different: a gold colored rabbit, peeking out from the corner. When the princess made eye contact with the rabbit, it quickly ducked back and away, clearly scurrying off from the repeated sounds of splashing.

"Did you see that?"

"What? Huh? What're you talking about?" Mario looked away from the painting, confused.

"It was a rabbit!" Peach replied. "If it's here, there must be somewhere we can reach outside! C'mon!"

Peach grabbed Mario's arm, pulling him behind her as they splashed through the ankle-deep water. They turned the corner, with Peach just barely seeing the rabbit's foot as it clearly turned the other corner to get away from the duo.

They turned that corner too, ending up in the intersection they started in. Peach didn't pay it any mind, continuing to pull Mario along. As they ran around the corner to head straight down to the painting once more, the rabbit was at the end, clearly waiting to see if they continued to follow.

"There is a rabbit!" Mario exclaimed.

The rabbit ran away again. Peach followed suit, with Mario now properly keeping up. They kept making turns, again and again, barely seeing the rabbit as they kept sprinting towards it.

They saw the painting. Then again. And again. And again. And again.

This bunny was smart. It was taking the duo in a circle.

Once they reached the intersection at the beginning again, the two of them stopped, watching the bunny hop down and stop in front of the painting, turning around to watch the duo again.

With a glance at one another, both Mario and Peach knew what to do next. Letting go of one another, Peach sprinted quickly down the straight path towards the rabbit alone. She kept the book clutched tightly to her chest, trying to keep it from getting wet- or at least not let it get soaked.

The rabbit watched her run towards it for a few moments before it started to turn and run in the same direction it was going before, intent on bringing the princess on a wild goose chase in a circle once again.

However, as the bunny was going to round the corner, it found something undesirable, at least undesirable to the rabbit: Mario. The pair had split up to corner the rabbit as best as they could.

Turning tail quickly, the golden rabbit hopped away from Mario. It ran between Peach's legs to evade the princess next, and since she had the book in her hands there was no real way to grab it in time. Both of them ran after the rabbit again, turning the same corner it did.

There was nothing there.

Clarification: it was a dead end. There was a slope upwards, bringing them back to dry land, but there was simply a wall at the end of the hall led from the corner. There were torches on either side of the corridor, illuminating the area like something was supposed to be there.

Mario and Peach stopped, looking around in confusion.

"…the exit must be here. Something. Look around."

At the princess' command, Mario began to search. As she looked at the side walls, Mario looked at the wall at the end of the corridor that made up the dead end. He ran his gloved hands across the surface of the green stone wall, trying to press into anything to feel for a loose brick or something.

It was weird enough they were chasing a rabbit in the basement of the castle. Now it vanished into thin air? How could today get any weirder?

As he ran his fingers across the surface of the wall, Mario suddenly felt something. It was an indent- or, rather, it was something branded in one of the stone bricks of the wall. Mario stepped back to get a good look at it.

The symbol was the size of Mario's palm. It was familiar- a flower, particularly a lotus flower.

Mario's head tilted curiously. Peach noticed him stop and came up beside him.

"What did you find?"

"This." Mario looked at Peach, his fingers right below the symbol to show her what he was looking it. "It's a flower. A lotus flower, which is a'really rare."

"So you know what a lotus flower is! Great, that's something our kingdoms share. But I agree, this is a weird find… of everything, why is there a symbol here? I wonder…"

Peach reached forwards to run her own fingers over the symbol. She touched the indent of the lotus flower sigil, and as she did, a pink sparkle came from her fingertips.

As she did, it suddenly seemed like the wall was dipping inwards from where her fingers were touching it. Peach quickly pulled her hand away, and as she did it seemed like the wall stuck to her fingers slightly. It bounced back, creating ripples across the surface almost like it was made of some kind of watery gelatin.

The princess side eyed Mario, who returned the glance, both of them startled.

Curiosity got the better of the princess. She reached over to that symbol once again, wanting to touch it. She pressed her fingers into it- however, when she did, she broke the surface and phased her hand inside of it.

Suddenly, Peach was sucked into the jiggling wall with a yelp. Mario let out a noise of shock before promptly jumped in after her.

The world went white. When Mario regained himself, he found he was on his feet. He blocked out the light- the sun, which was bright in the strange looking blue sky above them.

It was warm, wherever they were. Peach was only a few feet away from Mario, wincing and blocking out the sun as well. Both of them simultaneously got a sense of their surroundings.

This place was some kind of desert. There were many dunes around them, creating a crude square-shaped area they were standing in. The most notable thing was a pyramid in the center of this area- made up of golden bricks with the same lotus flower symbol in a lot of them.

There were a few towers of brick around, and what appeared to be a condor perched upon the top of one of them. Around the pyramid and towers was a massive pool of shifting sand- maybe quicksand- that was cascading in towards the structure. Nearby was a pathway of metal platforms above more of this shifting sand.

Somehow, someway, the duo had found themselves in this shifting sand land from the castle subbasement.

In awe, Mario slowly stepped backwards as he looked around. He turned, but stopped as he found himself at the edge of a cliff. He watched a puff of sand go off the edge and flutter down into the blue colored void below them.

The dunes weren't making a square shaped area- this entire place was a square shaped piece of area cut out and placed in some kind of voice. What was this place?

"Mamma Mia…" Mario murmured in astonishment, backing away from the edge.

He rejoined Peach, who turned to look at him with an equal expression of confusion.

A shadow came across both of them as something approached them: some kind of box. From what they could see, it was some strange looking box with one side open. The closed sides had faces on them, and the side that was facing them was a frowny face.

They didn't know what this thing was called, but the archives did: a Tox Box.

The frowny face was the last thing the pair would see as the Tox Box tilted over to crush them. Mario grabbed Peach, the duo holding each other tightly as the box slammed down on top of them.

Blackness. Then, light.

Mario and Peach found themselves flung through some kind of black tunnel together towards light.

Before they could even scream, they were shot out like a cannon into the main entrance hall of the castle. Both Mario and Peach crashed down onto the sun detail of the main antechamber, finally free of the undercroft after a very painful experience.

Nearby, a few Toad Guards took notice. They all scurried over.

"Princess! Mercutio!" One said. "Are you okay?!"

Slowly, Peach lifted the Warp Zone book up.

"We got it…" She murmured.

"Please… a'get us… mushrooms." The plumber added

The book was dropped as both Mario and Peach passed out, the only evidence of their strange experience being the sand caked onto their wet feet.

---

After being nursed back to health, two super mushrooms, and swearing to the princess that none of the guards would tell Toadsworth, the duo were all back to normal.

Mario was readjusting his clothes on his body to fit better after what happened. They fit weird on his body after the mushroom grew him back to normal size.

Directed by the guards up to Peach's room, Mario made sure everything was on right before knocking on the princess' door. There was a second of rummaging from inside, and a few seconds of silence, before the door opened.

Peach had changed from her regal pink dress into something comfortable. She had on pink leggings and a loose collared pastel pink sweatshirt with "VILLI MANILLI" written in blue across the front.

"You're back!" She said. "How are you?"

"I've been a'through worse. Just a few days ago, actually. May I…?"

"Oh yeah! Please ignore the mess, I haven't had time to clean."

The "mess" was the dress she took off tossed in the corner of the room. Compared to Mario and Luigi's room back in Brooklyn, this bedroom was absolutely pristine.

Mario followed Peach to her desk, situated in front of the window looking out to Toad Town. She had the Warp Zone book resting, closed, on the desk. Mario had seen part of it before, but he saw the full thing now: it was shaped like the end of a Warp Pipe.

The princess kept the chair pushed in, wanting her and Mario to stand together as she opened the book.

"You ready?"

"Letsa go…" Mario said, almost anxious.

Peach opened the book, letting Mario look as she passed by every page.

The book mainly talked about the origin and history of the Warp Zone. Ancient means of transportation, created and maintained using the "power of the stars," whatever that meant. Meant to connect each of the kingdoms together so they could better communicate and trade with each other.

How ironic, seeing what became of them.

The princess would study the book later for more answers. Right now, she wanted to find the locations of these Warp Pipes in the area.

Without any complaint from Mario, Peach continued to turn the pages to get further to the back. Sure enough, there were maps back there that specified where each Warp Pipe would be. The first map they came across, from the shape and amount of land, was clearly a map of the entire world.

Mario and Peach feasted their eyes on how many kingdoms there were out there. There were a lot of big kingdoms out there, some smaller than others. The borders were clearly marked with thick lines. The only one that really stuck out was one landmass under the one with Metro Kingdom in it- this lower hemisphere landmass said K. COUNTRY on it, with two pipes apparently in this area, but written in red ink below it was "STAY AWAY AT ALL COSTS".

"Oh… my gosh…" Peach said, her voice full of dread.

"What's a'wrong, Peach?"

"The Mushroom Kingdom… isn't the biggest kingdom in the world!"

She pointed out a landmass between the two major ones. Within the Oho Sea, there was an appropriately shaped mushroom continent that was actually smaller than most of the other listed kingdoms. It was labeled Mushroom Kingdom and everything, with the amount of Warp Pipes listed as eight.

"We aren't even the second biggest! The biggest kingdom of the world is the Snow Kingdom!" Peach pointed out that big continent to show Mario. "The Metro Kingdom is bigger than us!"

"Wow, a government lying about a'their land to make themselves look good? Never seen a'that before." Mario deadpanned, thinking back to his own homeland.

Peach ran her finger over the page towards the western continents.

"Look! There's a Seaside Kingdom, like you said!" She remarked. "Plus a Luncheon Kingdom! And… The Dark Lands."

Peach pointed out Bowser's Kingdom, making up a bat wing shaped piece of the landmass on the opposite side of the continent from the Metro Kingdom.

"Appropriate shape a'for that name." Mario commented.

"Where's Brooklyn at?"

"Hmmm… I'd probably say a'right… here."

He pointed at the symbol of a Warp Pipe on the west coast of the Metro Kingdom, lower down the coast. There were thin dotted lines that connected each pipe to each other, so they could get a sense of where Mario could end up from there.

"All the pipes towards the Sand, Lake and Wooded Kingdoms end there. Furthest they go is someplace called the Cascade Kingdom, west of us." Peach remarked. "You'd probably take this pipe through the borders of the Seaside Kingdom. It looks like it's a straight shot to the Mushroom Kingdom past it, even past the Sunshine Islands east of here- a lovely vacation spot, by the way."

"You think Luigi made it to this a'kingdom and not somewhere else?"

"Depends. How long was it between you and him separating?"

"Not too long. It was a lot of light and a'clouds around us… We were separated from a fork in the path that a'split into multiple different pipelines."

"How many?"

"Seven. No… Eight."

Peach flipped through the book until she got to a full-page map of the Mushroom Kingdom. Sure enough, like the bigger map said, there were eight Warp Pipes across the landmass.

"Bingo." She said. "There's the pipe in the Woody Woods, where you came out of. And here's the pipe in the castle basement. That's two of the eight down. Only six to go, and two are in the Beanbean Kingdom."

"Are we sure he didn't end up a'there?"

"If he did, we would've heard about it. The Beanish rely on us for a lot of defense measures, and based on the Toads reaction to you the Beanish would require a few Guard Toads to get rid of your brother.

"So no Beanbean Kingdom."

"Nope! So two more down, only four left!"

"Any other we should a'strike out?"

"Well… The one furthest east. That's in the Toadwood Forest." Peach replied. "Nobody goes up there. I doubt anybody would ever be up there. You'd have to have a serious stroke of bad luck to end up in the Toadwood forest!"

"What if Luigi did?"

"I doubt it. Don't worry about it, Mario."

"So that a'leaves three spots to look!" Mario looked over the book to try and memorize it. "I'm going out tomorrow to find him. I know he's out there."

"There's one near Mushroom City, another towards the base of Barrel Volcano, and the third is closer to the border of the Mushroom Kingdom and the Beanbean Kingdom." Peach said. "Maybe I should take back what I said, being close to the volcano is probably worse than Toadwood Forest."

"It doesn't matter, I'll a'find him."

"I'll help."

"Are you sure?"

"We made a deal." Peach said. "Besides, you've been indulging me more than you needed to. I owe you big time- I'll set up an expedition with the Toad Brigade to look your brother around these pipes."

"Peach, I really don't know a'how many times I can thank you…"

"You don't have to. We're in this together. Then, when we get Luigi back, we'll find out a way to use the Warp Pipes to get you two back to Brooklyn." She closed the book and faced him, her confidence and excitement renewed. "I promise."

Mario smiled again. He took off his glove and offered it to her. Peach, in return, took off her own glove and shook Mario's hand like they did on the hill a while back. Another promise made between the pair.

Unknown to them, outside, roots were climbing up the wall of the castle. The roots thinned out around Peach's window, causing them to spider around and circle the glass, as if making a bullseye directing somebody to that location.