It was a bright, sunny afternoon in Toad Town, and the streets were crowded. It was early in the afternoon, and the people of Toad Town were out and about, attending to their daily jobs, shopping, or even just frolicking in the sun. Toad walked towards the entrance of a small park, and sat down on a bench right inside the park's entrance. He was getting rather frustrated, having spent almost two hours since he left the castle searching for Luigi. He still didn't even have a clue as to what direction his friend went in.
Toad sighed, and allowed himself to sit back for a moment before he started searching again. He leaned back on the bench, soaking in the warm sun, and tried to think of where Luigi could have gone. He had already asked dozens of people if they had seen him, but no one he had talked to had seen neither hide nor hat of the green clad plumber. He frowned, scratching his head trying to figure out where else he could check, or who he could ask.
He had checked a number of places already. The post office, the library, numerous restaurants, even knocked on a few resident's doors, but Luigi had not been anywhere. Toad was starting to think he was running out of places to look. Mario had seemed pretty urgent about talking with his brother, and Toad assured Mario he'd find Luigi. He wouldn't give up, but feared he'd soon have to start looking out of town to find him. Where had he gone? How could he have left town without anyone seeing him?
Toad pondered this for a few minutes as he rested on the park bench. He was starting to get worried that maybe something had happened to him. Mario had said that he had went to the house this morning, and Luigi was already gone. Perhaps maybe he took it upon himself to take a little vacation? Toad hoped not, otherwise he'd never find him. Luigi was a pretty laid back person, but would once in a while surprise everyone by doing something pretty spontaneous, like the time he had won that mansion, and actually ended up saving Mario from some ghost king. Everyone had been really surprised to see that Luigi had set out on his own adventure. Maybe that's what he was doing now?
Toad groaned as he got up from the bench to start searching again. He decided to try the train station. If Luigi went out of town, maybe he took a train, and one of the people at the station would have seen him. Toad made his way downtown towards the train station, and decided to ask a few people along the way if they had seen Luigi.
"Excuse me," Toad said to a Toad with a yellow spotted head and red vest. "I'm looking for Luigi, have you by chance seen him?"
"Nope, sorry." The Toad replied. "I haven't seen either of the Mario brothers in a while."
Toad frowned and nodded to the other Toad.
"Thanks anyway." Toad said.
Toad asked about half a dozen more people as he made his way towards the train station, but nobody had seen anything. Toad wasn't surprised, he was starting to get used to the idea that he would never find Luigi. He could see the train station ahead, and hear the whistle blowing as the big, red train started to depart. He stopped walking at a gate as it closed in front of the train tracks, and he watched as the train rolled out. After a few minutes, the gates over the train tracks had opened, and Toad walked across the tracks to the station. There he saw a Toad with blue spots in a red conductor's uniform, and stopped him.
"Excuse me, sir." Toad said. "Luigi didn't happen to come by here did he? Maybe take a train out of town?"
The Toad shook his head.
"Sorry, son." The conductor replied. "I have been here since the station opened this morning, and I haven't seen Luigi here at all. At the very least, I know he didn't get on a train."
Toad frowned again.
"Alright, thanks." Toad sighed as he walked away.
To Toad it seemed like now he had officially checked every place in Toad Town where Luigi could have gone. Toad Town was not large by any means. Although it literally resided right outside the castle grounds, it only had a few small districts. The southern district which Toad was in now had the train station, a shop and a few homes. The northern district had a an inn, a few shops, a library, and a gate that lead to the castle. The western district had a dojo, a shop, a few residences and a pipe that lead outside of town to where the Mario brothers lived. The eastern district led out to a road which, after crossing miles of fields, forest, and a rather large desert, you could reach the kingdom of Sarasaland. People would often opt to take the train there, but some liked to venture on foot.
Toad didn't even no where to start. There was no sign of Luigi anywhere, so what was he to do? Just pick a random direction and hope he encountered Luigi somewhere along the way? Toad knew a good portion of the Mushroom Kingdom, but felt that even with all of his knowledge, it would still be like finding a needle in a hay stack. He had one more place he could check just a little outside of town, but was a bit reluctant to do it, since it would be unpleasant. He had saved it for last, but now he was so desperate for some kind of lead, that he'd go take the shot.
Toad made his way west, to try his luck at a small castle-like mansion on a hill. It was the home of Wario and Waluigi.
Wario and his brother give me the creeps. He thought. But maybe they will at least tell me if they have seen Luigi. I'll take anything at this point.
Toad sighed again, as he walked past a crowd of Toads talking. He recognized them all, since he had asked the group if they had seen Luigi earlier. He continued walking for a few minutes, and entered the western district now, passing the long staircase leading up to the second floor of the dojo. He passed a shop, and the library as well, having checked both locations earlier. He found the gate leaving Toad Town, which had a great arch sign in lights that simply said, "Toad Town". Right past the arch would be a warp pipe that led directly to Mario and Luigi's house.
If Wario or Waluigi don't have any information, I'll check the Mario brother's place for clues, or maybe I'll be lucky and Luigi will have returned. He thought.
Toad walked past the warp pipe, and started making his way towards the rolling hills before him. It would only take him about fifteen minutes to walk there. As he scaled the first hill, he could see Wario's place in the distance, maybe a half mile away. The hills before him were actually very beautiful, and Wario's place sat flat atop the highest one. He started making his way towards it, hiking along lost in thought.
Toad couldn't shake this uneasy feeling he'd had since early this morning. Toad had just awoken from a wonderful night's sleep, when he had joined Mario and Princess Peach for breakfast. Over a delicious breakfast of fresh fruit from Yoshi's Island, eggs, and some fresh baked cookies made of shredded fire flowers, Mario and the princess had explained to Toad about what they had seen the night before in the sky. The seven stars of the Star Road had winked out one by one, and they had seen two shooting stars. Mario and the princess had seemed genuinely troubled by it, and Toad had to admit that it shook him too.
The Star Road granted wishes, and without it, what would the people of the Mushroom Kingdom do? Toad remembered the adventure Mario and the princess had gone on almost ten years ago to collect the seven star pieces, and repair the Star Road. It had proven to be one of Mario's most difficult adventures, but he had in the end recovered all of the stars, saved the Mushroom Kingdom, and beaten Smithy and his gang of weapons. Toad remember how dire the situation had become, and how close Smithy had come to reaching his goal.
Toad shivered at that thought. Now the Star Road was gone. Had it been destroyed for good this time? Did someone attack it? Toad thought for a moment about what could have happened, and quickly dismissed the idea that Smithy had returned, and destroyed it again.
Mario defeated him. He has to be dead, otherwise why wait ten years to try it again? Toad thought.
Toad wasn't doing a good job convincing himself, and quickly suppressed the thought. No matter what the reason, whether Smithy had returned or something else had happened, Toad knew Mario would save the day like he always did. He wondered if Mario was already thinking about what actions he would take in light of this news.
How does he do it? Toad thought. How is he so brave all of the time? He always jumps into action, beats the bad guy, and saves the princess. I wish I could be more like him.
Toad frowned as he realized that as long as the Star Road was gone, his wish would not come true.
Toad kept walking for a while, until he reached the large doors of Wario's castle. The castle was big, but didn't seem so grand compared to Princess Peach's castle. The stone bricks were a much darker color stone than hers, and the three spires shooting out of the roof were much shorter. Wario's place was much more richly decorated, however. On each side of Toad two very large pure gold statues of Wario stood proudly, and the entire castle had gold etched in elaborate designs along the stone bricks. He could see small portraits of Wario in gold through the stained glass windows, and the grand doors in front of him-They had to be at least ten feet tall-were also pure gold. To Toad, Wario may have been a bit of a slob, but he sure had fine taste, and a never ending lust for gold.
Toad took a deep breath as he grabbed one of the large, ring shaped gold knockers-Encrusted with small diamonds no less-and pounded on the door with all of his might. He knocked three times. Toad waited for a moment for an answer. He looked down at his feet, and noticed the welcome mat he was standing on. It read, "Go Away!".
Toad jumped as he heard one of the doors start to slowly creep open. He looked up to see an extremely tall, lanky man in black overalls, a long sleeved purple shirt and matching hat, and orange shoes that curved up at the tips. He had a long face, hard jaw, a long pointy pink nose, and thin black mustaches that pointed upwards to his pointy ears. The man looked down at Toad with his hard, dark eyes and scowled. It was Wario's brother, Waluigi.
"Eh! What do you want mushroom boy?!" Waluigi scowled. "Can't you read the mat? Go Away!"
Toad grabbed the door as Waluigi tried to close it back up and shouted.
"Please! I need just a moment of your time!" Toad pleaded.
Waluigi sighed and opened the door a little more. He scowled again, and crossed his long, lanky arms.
"It better be quick!" Waluigi muttered. "I'm busy practicing my tennis game. I don't plan on losing to those damned Mario brothers again!"
Toad gritted his teeth as he spoke. He was hoping Wario would be the one to answer the door. Although Wario didn't really like Luigi, he didn't have a hatred for him nearly as strong as Waluigi did. Waluigi had a deep rooted jealousy of Luigi apparently since the two of them were kids.
"I have actually come to ask you about Luigi." Toad said hesitantly. "I was wondering if you or your brother had seen him today. Maybe challenged him to a tennis match or something?"
Waluigi's face turned red at that moment, and as Toad looked at his eyes, he thought he could see fire in them.
"Luigi?!" Waluigi growled. "NO! I haven't seen that filthy, do goody rat since he beat me in the tennis tournament! I hope he's dead and rotting in an alley somewhere!"
Toad jumped back and fell as Waluigi slammed the door in his face.
"GO AWAY!" Waluigi shouted from the other side of the door. "And if you see that green plumber, tell him I will get him next time! He won't humiliate Waluigi again!"
Toad could hear the echoes of Waluigi's footsteps walking away from the door. He got back up, and brushed himself off.
I should have known that was a stupid idea. Toad thought. Like Waluigi or Wario would tell me if they saw him anyway.
Toad turned away from the door, and started to make his way across the hills back to Toad Town. After about ten minutes of hiking through the hills, he saw the entranceway of Toad Town. He made his way to the green warp pipe right outside of the entrance, and paused right before it.
Well, I might as well see if Luigi decided to go back home. He thought.
Toad took a few steps back, ran and jumped right into the pipe. He saw nothing but darkness as the magical pipe transported him at a very fast speed to a bright light. He was literally racing towards the light at the end of the tunnel. It happened in a matter of seconds, and soon he was coming up out of the other end of the warp pipe. He stood on top of the other end of it, and found himself in Mario and Luigi's front yard.
Toad stared at the Mario brother's humble little house only a few yards in front of him. It was a humble, wooden house one story tall with a small stoop leading up to the red wooden door. There was a sign above the door in red letters that read simply, "Mario" and he could see a few long, green pipes laying on the ground at the sides of the house. Toad jumped off the pipe, crossed the yard, ascended the stairs, and reached for the doorknob. It was open, fortunately and Toad walked inside.
"Hello? Mario? Luigi?" He heard a woman's voice say from the next room as he entered the house.
Toad paused as he watched a tall woman in a yellow dress walk out of the living room into the kitchen where Toad was standing by the door. Behind her, an older looking Toad with a dark beard, an eye patch and holding a spear walked through the entranceway.
"Daisy? Mash?" Toad asked curiously. "What are you guys doing here?"
Daisy adjusted the golden crown on her head, and nodded at Mash.
"I just arrived here about an hour ago." Daisy said. "I need to speak with Mario and Luigi, it's urgent. Mash and I decided to wait here to see if they'd come back soon, and we were about to give up and check Peach's castle."
Toad thought Daisy sounded worried. She kept rubbing her hands together and was visibly trembling. Toad had known Daisy for a long time, and knew how tough she was. What could have happened that upset Daisy so much?
"Mario is at the castle now." Toad replied. "I'm honestly not sure where Luigi went. I have actually been searching for him all morning. I just came back here now to see if he returned home."
"Oh, my. I hope he's okay." Daisy shook her head.
"What's troubling you princess?" Toad asked. "Forgive me, but you look really worried."
Daisy took a deep breath and closed her eyes.
"My kingdom was attacked this morning." She said softly. "I came for help."
"Her highness and I barely escaped ourselves." Mash said. "We managed to make it to the traveling grounds, and take a warp pipe that led right outside of Toad Town. We made our way here as quickly as we could.
Toad felt a wave of shock go through him. First the Star Road, now Sarasaland had been attacked. What was going on? And where was Luigi?
"Attacked?!" Toad exclaimed. "Who would attack your kingdom?"
"An old adversary." Daisy said solemnly. "I need to go take it back, but I can't do it alone."
"Come, princess!" Toad waved Daisy out the door. "Let's go see Mario and Peach, they will know what to do."
Daisy nodded, and her and Mash walked out the door. Toad paused for a moment at the doorway and let out another sigh.
Luigi, where are you? He thought as he walked out the door.