Mario's eyes squinted and then opened, adjusting to the sweet morning sunlight that cascaded quite ideally through his bedside window; he climbed down groggily from the top part of the bunk bed he shared with his younger brother, Luigi, gradually waking up with each step down the wooden ladder.
Having dressed himself in his usual overalls and red attire, Mario paused near the door to his room; he could hear commotion outside, which was strange, because Luigi was the only other person in the--
"Oh!" Mario exclaimed, remembering that they had invited Princess Peach and Princess Daisy to their humble home for the week's end. He paused a moment longer, straightening his
M cap and dusting off his overalls, before opening the door to the kitchen and living room of the house.
The scene was a simple one. Luigi was sitting at the table, feet propped up, sipping a lemonade through a straw; Peach was tidying things up with one hand while cooling herself from the batting of a cute pink fan with the other; Daisy was sitting on a sofa, which was a loud red against her gay yellow dress, caught up in conversation with Toadsworth, who had obviously dropped by "for a visit," as he put it, though the four of them knew that he was worried about Peach's well-being, as unfortified a feeling as it was.
They all seemed to turn in unison to greet morning, an acapello of "Hello," "Good morning," "Hi," "Greetings," and "Look who decided to finally get up!"
Mario laughed lightly and nodded to his friends, walking through the kitchen and sitting at the table opposite his younger brother, Luigi. The sun was well up into the sky, and though it was summer in the Mushroom Kingdom the climate was temperate and mild, making for a comfortable atmosphere.
Peach and Daisy had come to visit because the heroic plumber duo would be taking a trip to Mushroom City the next day, having been summoned there by a mysterious letter; they would be gone for two weeks at the least, the letter said, and both Princesses knew that neither brother would turn down the invitation.
As Luigi Mario sat sipping his lemonade, he went over the letter in his mind...
To the famous and prestigious Mario BrothersYou are hereby and herein cordially invited to the quarters of Master Ishbin Cornelius Kooplattius the Third to attend a special event that will not be disclosed to you unless you deign to come! Directions have also been enclosed, and if you do decide to join me at my Mushroom City suite, you will be furnished with everything you need to complete the task I plan to assign you. Cheerio.It was signed with the same wacky, drawn out name. The name gave Luigi the creeps... it sounded so... expensive. He was afraid he'd break something and have to spend his days at Don Pianta's casino, trying to work out of debt.
Peach sat down at the right side of the table, looking to Luigi and then to Mario, before asking in her soft, refined voice,
"Are you two excited about going to Mushroom City? I would just love to go! I hear they sell everything you could ever dream up, and everyone is cultured and intelligent!"
Luigi finished his lemonade with a noisy slurp of his straw, piping in, "That's-a not what I heard. I heard parts of it were filled with crime, that people got robbed all the time and Shy Guys and Bandits infest the place!"
"Oh, that's silly, Luigi," Peach replied.
Mario drummed his gloved fingertips on the table, "I think you're exaggerating a bit, Bro, but Peach, he does have a point."
The princess nodded somewhat gravely, considering what Luigi had said but figuring the Mario Brothers wouldn't have any trouble with Shy Guys or Bandits or anything like that. She did find the letter to be a peculiar delivery, however--there was no return address on it, and it was written in a strange purple dye. The stationary was fitted in the corners with a dialect that none of them had recognized. Who was this Ishbin fellow...?
The rest of the day the 4 spent talking, walking in Toad Town, playing games, etc. That evening, after Peach and Daisy had said goodbye and wished Mario and Luigi luck, the younger plumber lay staring at the sag in Mario's bed above him as his tubby brother lay snoozing and calm.
Luigi couldn't shake the ominous feeling he got from his letter. Since his whole "mansion" experience, he had been wary in answering anonymous letters. But if Mario thought it was okay, he figured it couldn't hurt to go see what this Kooplattius guy wanted.
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How is it so far? I'm just getting started. Hopefully I'll finish this one this time. I haven't written in a while, but you gotta' start sometime.
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"Love... How do I explain it? Love tells you when you want to be with a person forever. It makes you feel happy just to see that person happy... smiling, having fun. When you love someone you will do anything to help when he or she is in trouble." -Princess Peach, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door
"Mario`s trying to get it all! Treasures, princesses... Does his greed never end?" -Kammy Koopa, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door
