Chapter 11

"I don't get it, Luigi. All you had to do was tell Persimmon to go screw herself right then and there. Instead, you play obedient little puppy even for a few coins and an apartment? If you were that desperate to feel important, then you should have harassed me in Sarasaland. You would have had land, a title, and a place in society years ago!"

"I was trying to step on as few toes as possible."

"Those people stripped you from your home and forced you to work! Who gives a flaming bag of crap about their toes! Luigi, nice guys like you don't make it anywhere in life but the bottom of someone else's shoe. Luckily, you know me."

"Daisy?"

"Yes?"

"The red light on the wagon's intercom has been blinking for a quite a few minutes."

"I saw it."

"Are you going to answer it?"

"No."

"That light is to signify an emergency call, correct?"

"They've been exploiting the system lately. If they want to talk to me, then they can do so to my face."

"Can I answer it?"

"Knock yourself out."

Luigi got off of his seat and took a few steps over to a small panel near the front of the wagon. With a hardly complex two button control scheme governing the communication system, Luigi quickly figured out how to open the channel and began to speak.

"Hello, this is Luigi. Is there an emergency?"

The commercial district of Muraiya was awash in total pandemonium as Bowser's Doomship made an incredibly quick landing on one of the widest boulevards. The various escape routes into General Evacuation all led to doors so heavily reinforced that the burliest of hammer brother could not smash through them. The panicked individuals spilled back into the streets, only to be greeted by the lowering gangway of the Doomship and the high-pitched squeals of its sound system coming online.

"I must tell you guys that I shed a tear before I touched down in this place," said the booming voice of Bowser. "The Enhanced Darkland project was nothing more than the city of the future founded by outcasts and ruled by me. After I retired I never thought that I'd see Enhanced Darkland in anything but my own personal documents, yet here it is in front of my face!"

Bowser, cordless microphone in hand, walked out onto the gangway. Those who had not retreated into the darkest recesses of the city were frozen in place in a mix of fear and curiosity. Combine that with the ever-increasing numbers of the flat out nosy and the potential for a mass casualty event was very high.

"Now that I see my vision fully realized, I'm going to let you guys have it. Maybe I'll buy a summer home when I'm on better terms with the new leadership. What I can't let you guys hang on to is a certain individual that is loved so much around these parts that he was stolen by the previous mayor and kept by the current one. To be clear, you have Luigi and the Mushroom Kingdom wants him back."

Upon Bowser's mention of Luigi, the citizens left on the streets muttered uncomfortably among themselves while avoiding eye contact with the retired tyrant. Some took that opportunity to vacate the area altogether.

"I see a lot of chatter and no action. Mayor Lin, you are ordered by Her Royal Majesty Princess Toadstool, acting on behalf of the Mushroom King to hand Luigi over to me!" demanded Bowser with a tone verging on menacing.

There was an incredible amount of commotion a short distance away that sounded like an immense vehicle plodding onto the scene. Bowser shot a look to his left and smiled widely when he saw a huge tank approaching with its cannon aimed square at him.

"Be still by beating heart! I'm not just looking at Enhanced Darkland. I'm looking, proudly I might add, at how I was going to defend it all those years ago! It seems like all of my former elites made it here!"

"There is nothing here for you!" yelled a nasal voice from the tank's speakers. "Return to your craft and leave or face harsh consequences!"

"Nothing? I may not be in command of an army, but my reach is still the stuff of legends!" responded Bowser. "I know about the apartment in Muraiya Heights. I know about the office in the municipal complex. I know that Luigi is here!"

Without warning, the tank unleashed a fiery blast at the Doomship's exposed flank. The impact was thunderous, but, when the smoke cleared, there was no damage to speak of outside of a minor scorch mark.

"You see that? Top of the line engineering!" said Bowser with a smile. "That focus on quality is what you'll get when you invest in my newest venture!"

Bowser lifted his free hand, allowing a miniature Doomship to flutter down the gangway. The moment that the toy touched Bowser's palm, it was comically reduced into ash by an unseen projectile.

"A sniper?" asked Bowser with almost no concern at all. "How many different ways do you plan on killing me?"

While in the middle of his response, Bowser caught wind of the tank churning another explosive blast. At the very second that he posed his question, all of his senses failed him simultaneously. After a few moments of being conscious, yet unable to jumpstart his body into any kind of activity, Bowser's vision slowly returned to him and he noticed that he had been propelled onto the street a good two hundred feet from the gangway. As he attempted to get back on his feet, he saw an incredibly aggravated Mario exit the Doomship with wicked looking flames spurting from his clenched fist. He leapt from the gangway and, with an unnecessarily stylish twisting flip. Rained flaming hell down on the tank and caused it to detonate with such force that it jolted Bowser's hearing back into gear. Mario then shot a look at a building to his right and hurled a particularly nasty looking ball of flames into its fifth floor. As those inside of the building started spilling out into the street and away from the dramatically escalating situation at hand, Mario, after picking up Bowser's fallen microphone, walked over his former arch-rival and helped him up.

"You okay?" asked Mario.

"I've survived worse," responded Bowser.

Any type of genuine moment the two could have shared between the husk of the tank and the spreading building fire was thoroughly interrupted by the arrival of six more tanks, two small, propeller powered flying vessels, and an enormous amount of armed guards on foot. The rescue was on the cusp of turning into all-out war.

"You still have that star on you, big guy?" asked Mario, opening a pouch on his hip.

"Yup," said Bowser, reaching for his own pouch.

Mayor Lin heard a set of explosions in the distance and sighed heavily as the wagon she shared with a number of officials began its trek back to Sarasaland. Lin had tried to establish contact with Queen Daisy, but the royal was predictably unwilling to respond. After the multiple days of flagrant inaction in Muraiya, not to mention years of conflict with royal and administrative aides, Daisy was seen to Lin as nothing more than detriment to Sarasaland as a whole. Lin firmly believed that the Muraiya Guard would have not seized control of the city and deployed the heavy arms if the queen had put a strong foot down and forced to respect the authority of their interim mayor. Alas, that did not come close to happening, and the new administration of Muraiya was forced to hastily flee the city. Lin's usually chipper assistant broke into tears and begged for the wagon to be turned around as if the combined forces of Mario and Bowser could be taken down by a handful of politicians. Before Lin could properly admonish her helper, the wagon was nearly collided into by a vehicle from the opposite direction.

"Driver, this is Mayor Lin. Do you have any details on whatever nearly killed us?" asked Lin over the intercom.

"You might not believe it, but that was the queen's wagon," responded the driver. Both Luigi and Daisy are inside."

Lin pondered the situation for a few moments.

"Driver. Onwards to Chai Kingdom."

"Are you sure?"

"Do not question me."

Gaspar was defiantly against fighting the foreign menace to Muraiya until he was threatened with treason and forced in the front line of the foot soldiers that had arrived to confront Mario. As there was no hope of anyone carrying a spear or hammer walking out of the Commercial District alive, the shy guy tried his hardest to devise an escape plan. Unfortunately, his train of thought was ground to a halt by Mario activating a star and tearing through the tanks with his temporarily invincible body. The foot soldiers scattered like ants and, in a dark twist, the only individual left on the battlefield of vacant stores, flaming tanks and broken bodies was the one that never wanted to be there to begin with. As Mario approached him, Gaspar threw down his spear and spoke.

"I'm your brother's friend, Gaspar! I refuse to fight you regardless of how much you wreck the city!"

Mario stopped in place, extinguished the flames coursing through his hands, and softened to that of a reasonable human being. Bowser, who had opted out of Mario's chaos at the last minute, smiled widely and limped closer to where the action was.

"I've heard a lot of good things about you," said Mario in a voice far too calm for one who had been the cause of so much destruction.

"Really? I had no idea I was so famous," said Gaspar with a nervous chuckle.

"Stop trying to be so humble, kid," snapped Bowser. What self-respecting card player doesn't know you?"

"But where'd that get me?" shot back Gaspar. He had a small grin on his face, but no one saw it due to the mask.

"If the money isn't rolling in, then even champions need a day job. Nothing wrong with it, kid," said Bowser.

"Anyway," cut in Mario. "This right here is what you call the mother of all terrible first impressions. How about you tell me where the mayor is holding my brother so I can get out of here without any further destruction and loss of life."

"We've changed mayors in the last for weeks."

"I already know about the election and Mayor Lin of Sarasaland running the place. I also know that this place locks up tight when any of us gets within miles. Since we are finally here, I think it is safe to assume that Luigi has been tucked away somewhere. Where is he?" asked Mario.

"Luigi is heading to Sarasaland with Queen Daisy. They both left in a wagon a while ago."

Mario's eyes widened. "A while ago as in what? Last night?"

"No, maybe two hours ago. They left out of the eastern gate."

"All this damn place had to do was be up front with where Luigi was and we would have never touched down!" said an incredibly irritated Mario. "Bowser, I'm going to head east and swoop up my brother. Stomp out anyone who acts out of line."

Mario quickly donned a cape via a feather in his pouch and flew away. As he faded out of view, Bowser decided to call a massive audible.

"Hey Gaspar," said Bowser. I've got a crate of one-up mushrooms in the ship. If we act fast, we could bring back everyone that was snuffed out by Mario."

"What do you need me to do?" asked a curious Gaspar.

"You probably won't believe me, but I'm a toymaker nowadays. I brought a slew of prototypes to show off on the slim chance that the people here forgot that I ruled over most of them with an iron fist. One of them is the PortaFludd Self-Conjuring Water Pack. It packs enough punch to knock out these fires, but it's too small for me to wear. In fact, no one has worn it. If you're willing to be my guinea pig, then we could bring some positive change around these parts," said Bowser, still trying his hardest to sell his life's work even as his opportunity was literally burning to the ground.

"I have nothing to lose at this point. I'm in, big guy," said Gaspar, excitedly. "Just don't let any walls fall on me."

Speeding towards Muraiya was the wagon occupied by Queen Daisy and Luigi, who was being briefed in real time about the destruction done in his name by his brother. Since a showdown with Mario was never something that Luigi had ever planned, Luigi had no idea of how to approach him, or what to do if things turned violent outside of hoping for mercy. Daisy, on the other hand, was searching for some item with which to inflict some form of bodily harm on the vagrant destroying her land. Before Luigi could get into the intricacies of why going after powerful figures with an improvised weapon was a terrible idea, Luigi spotted a familiar flying figure in the horizon. Every second that went by saw the individual get closer until it suddenly landed on the road in front of the wagon, forcing it to come to a screeching halt. After pleading with Daisy to not follow him out, Luigi exited the vehicle to confront Mario: Part time carpenter, hero of the Mushroom Kingdom and loving brother to an absolutely insane degree.

Upon seeing his long-lost brother, Mario sprinted up to Luigi and gave him a tremendous bear hug. Luigi wanted to push Mario away and go on at length about the absolute mess that was enacted in Muraiya, but he was momentarily frozen in place by the tears falling from his brother's eyes.

"I was worried sick about you, brother," said Mario." I wasn't eating. I wasn't sleeping. I would have probably kicked the bucket due to starvation if the unexpected partner I gained didn't pull through."

"I have been gone for much longer than this and didn't get any tears upon my return," said Luigi, a little colder than he meant to be.

"I didn't know where you were, man!" said Mario, who stiffened after Luigi's previous statement. "My mind went to some dark places after hearing that you went deep underground and were never seen again."

"You are here with Bowser?" asked Luigi, changing the subject a bit.

Mario nodded. "You were right all along, brother. He is beyond harmless nowadays. I offered to help get his struggling toy business off the ground in exchange for helping me find you."

"You were right on top of the place a few weeks ago."

"I didn't see anything but a boring mountain range. Bowser was trying to tell me that something was up, but I didn't believe any of that until he tapped his man on the inside."

"Bowser still has spies?" asked Luigi.

"Of course, he does," responded Mario. "It was a koopa that drove for the previous mayor. He gave us all the information from the day you took over the rest stop to a few days after the election. We then lost contact, but what we got was all we needed to get in order to strike."

"Appropriate choice of words," deadpanned Luigi.

Mario sighed. "I did what I had to do."

"You killed people to rescue me from a cozy apartment and a generous stipend?" asked Luigi, boldly.

"How the hell was I supposed to know any of that?" shot back Mario. "Luigi, if you were so damn free to do whatever you wanted as long as it was within the city, then you should have sent me a message!"

"I cannot say that I appreciate the various individuals that have questioned my approach to the situation that I found myself in," said Luigi with irritation.

"Who else got on your case?" asked Mario.

"The queen of the territory that you terrorized," said Luigi, making sure to stress the final word.

Mario rolled his eyes. "Luigi, we were attacked. They blasted Bowser when he was in mid-sentence. What was I going to do? Sit there and accept death because it might upset the guys that stole my brother from me? Listen, I don't know what that woman Persimmon did to you, but it doesn't have you thinking right at all. I'm taking you back to Mushroom and I'm going to get your head unscrambled."

"That is not happening," responded Luigi. "I am slated to be in Sarasaland in the coming days."

Mario shook his head. "I'm not leaving emptyhanded."

"That is exactly what you are going to do!" shouted Luigi. "Muraiya was founded by individuals fleeing Bowser's tyranny and you being a murderous psychopath! They have suffered enough, so please do not make them suffer anymore! Leave!"

With a heavy heart and blinding speed, Mario conjured a large hammer into his hands and swung up towards his brother's chin. Luigi was unconscious long before he hit the ground.

For a man who had been given a brain-rattling wallop via the hammer of the most powerful human in the mushroom world, Luigi felt great. The constant headache brought upon by interminable work was gone. The weak arm and noticeable limp inflicted by Pico, the mouser, had healed. The dizzyingly high heart rate that he had acquired desperately trying to figure out how to stop Mario had lowered to a state of normalcy due to Mario stopping him first and dragging him back to the Mushroom Kingdom.

Luigi rose out of his bed and noticed immediately that the old house of his had been significantly remodeled since the last time that he was there. The rotted wood and scratched windows that were hastily cobbled together were replaced with top of the line material and craftsmanship. On top of a new dresser was a tool bag replacing the one that was lost when the pipe under the castle erupted in his face. Beside the bag there was a note featuring the horrible chicken scratch masquerading as words that was his brother's handwriting.

Hey Bro,

Decided to fix the place up when you were gone. Got you some new tools. Better ones. Peach got you some other stuff, but she didn't want me to say that, ha ha! I'll see you later. Maybe for some pasta? Love you, bro.

-Mario

Conspicuous by its absence was any mention of what happened between Luigi getting clobbered and his arrival in the Mushroom Kingdom. Wanting some answers and to check the no doubt awful state of the local transport pipes, Luigi grabbed the tool bag and made his way to Peach Castle, where the strange adventure started.

"I had three hundred coins on you coming back alive," said the toad at the drawbridge.

"How big was the pool?" asked Luigi, not exactly surprised at what he had just heard.

"Most of the castle, and those idiots bet against you," said the toad, obviously more excited for his eventual payday than Luigi's safe return.

"Seriously?"

"I told the other guys that while you might be an oaf, you aren't a particularly squishy one, so there was absolutely no way that you were going to die out there," said the toad with a rather goofy grin.

Luigi nodded and moved on. He was a few steps from the castle's entrance before noticing that the drawbridge guard was following him.

"Do you need something?" asked Luigi.

"I'm going to need your presence for a few seconds,"

Luigi opened the double doors, entered the foyer and was immediately pushed aside by the drawbridge guard.

"Guess who's back! Looks like its time for daddy to get paid!" shouted the toad to the others of his kind that were walking about the castle.

Luigi turned away from the gloating guard and approached a toad that was sweeping the floor.

"Nice to see you back, Luigi," said the janitor.

"Thank you," responded Luigi. "Have you any clue where my brother or the princess ran off to?"

"They left to run a few errands," responded the janitor.

"Both of them? Together?" asked Luigi, incredulously.

"Yep. No idea where, though."

"I see. Hey, did any other strange characters arrive after I was brought back home? Maybe Queen Daisy?" asked Luigi.

"No, unfortunately. I'd love to see Daisy again."

Luigi wrapped up the conversation and decided to take a trip to the east side of the castle. Some distance before his intended destination, Luigi was stopped in his tracks by a flying contraption whizzing past him. Luigi lost sight of the thing and was about to give up on looking for it entirely until it zipped back into view. It was a very well-made miniature representation of one of Bowser's clown cars being flown around by a young toad holding a rather large remote controller. Luigi recognized the kid as the one who ventured underground for a scant two minutes before returning to the safety.

"Mister Luigi!" exclaimed the young toad. "You were down there for a long time. Did you have a lot of fun?"

"To tell the truth, it was a lot of work," replied Luigi with a smile. "What's that?"

"Papa bought it for me. It's COOL!" said the child as he commanded the toy spin around on a cushion of air.

"Can I see it?" asked Luigi.

"Okay," said the child before dropping the toy towards Luigi's hands with no warning. Luckily, Luigi caught it.

"Koop-Di-Loop," said Luigi, reading the whimsically written logo on the side of the device. "Haven't heard of this outfit."

"It's from Bowser! SCARY!"

Luigi was surprised to hear Bowser's name uttered so casually in Peach Castle. He became even more curious what happened after he was knocked unconscious.

"Alright, friend. I am going to head down below and check out the damage. I will see you later," said Luigi.

"Bye!" said the child as he regained control of the toy and flew it down the hall.

Luigi opened the unmarked door and was caught off guard by the great condition of the pipe that led underground. He approached the mouth of the pipe and noticed that the ladder he had installed a while back was replaced with actual suction. Curious, Luigi hopped into the pipe and was smoothly taken to the underground depths of Peach Castle. He was surprised to see that the whole area was well lit by strategically placed lighting sources that were far too high for any human to place without significant help.

"Well, this is impressive," said Luigi out loud as he noticed that every transport pipe below the castle had been replaced. Luigi followed the pipes with his eyes and to do a triple take before his mind processed the fact that the chasm that he had fallen into those months ago had been filled.

"You like it?" asked a voice from the ether.

Luigi turned around and saw that he had been joined by a young magikoopa.

"Is this your handiwork?" asked Luigi.

"It is."

"Well, it is nice to see that the transport pipes were left in good hands during my absence. That said, I am not exactly sure if I am needed anymore," said Luigi only half-jokingly.

"I'm not your replacement, Luigi. I'm your apprentice," said the magikoopa.

"First of all, what is your name?"

"Leon."

"When were you hired, Leon?"

"A few weeks ago."

"Who hired you?"

"Mario and the princess."

"Excuse me?" The thought of those two conducting an interview seemed comical to Luigi. Especially when one actively disliked him. "Well, excuse my disbelief. It has been a long few months."

"No problem, boss," replied Leon.

"First things first, I am sure you took a brief trip to the bottom of what used to be a chasm about a few steps away," said Luigi, motioning to where the scaffolding used to be.

Leon nodded. "Yes."

"Did you happen to see a warp pipe down there?" asked Luigi.

"Not at all."

"What did you see?"

"There was a small landing down there, but nothing out of the ordinary outside of the shrapnel filled water."

Luigi did not believe a word of it, but he refused to press the issue.

"When were you instructed to fill the chasm?" asked Luigi.

"I did it myself as it was incredibly dangerous," replied Leon.

"Very true," said Luigi, nodding approvingly. "Listen, I just woke up not even an hour ago and a lot has changed. How about we reunite tomorrow at noon and we will discuss transport pipes until we are blue in the face."

"No problem, sir. I will see you then," said Leon before teleporting out of sight.

Luigi took the warp back into the castle and sat in one of the incredibly comfortable sofas in the foyer. While a good number of the toads ignored his presence, far more than usual tried to strike up conversation with him. A few had a surprising amount of information of Luigi's exploits in Muraiya.

"Master Luigi," said a particularly well-dressed toad that Luigi recognized as the executive royal aide.

"Yes?" asked Luigi.

"Please join Mario and the princess in the dining quarters."

Mario and Princess Peach were in mid-conversation as Luigi entered the dining room. Peach gave Luigi a nasty sneer before launching into an incredibly fake squeal of delight.

"Oh Luigi, I was so very worried about you," said Peach in a voice that was perhaps more robotic than she had planned, but it was not like she actually cared.

"We both have a ton of surprises for you, brother," said Mario.

Luigi put on a smile as fake as Peach's.

"Have a seat. The first surprise is being brewed up as we speak!" said Mario as he disappeared into the kitchen, leaving Luigi with the princess.

"I do not believe it for a second that you were here weeping over my loss," snapped Luigi.

"Trust me, I wasn't," said Peach.

Peach immediately put on a goofy smile as Mario returned with pitcher filled with a light red liquid.

"Hey bro! I'm back with some Subcon summer tea! I know you love this stuff!"

"Wow, you had to travel for this," said Luigi, licking his lips in anticipation of one of his favorite drinks.

"But I can't have that tea sitting around without company. I've got more!" excitedly said Mario before returning to the kitchen.

"I am assuming that the entire table is going to be filled with food and gifts in the next hour or so," said Luigi to Peach.

"I made both the tea and what's coming up. You better appreciate it, because that's not happening again," said Peach.

Luigi nodded as Mario exited the kitchen with delicious looking apple pie in his hands.

"Peach baked you this mouth-watering apple pie! Bro, take a whiff of this," said Mario as he brought the pie close to Luigi's nose.

"Wow, this does smell good," said Luigi, hoping that the pie was not as bland as Peach's cakes.

Mario set a cup, a plate, a knife and a fork in front of Luigi. There was a moment of awkward silence.

"Cut yourself a piece and dig in," said Mario, who took his seat across from the princess. The two then sat in silence as Luigi ate a horribly mangled slice of pie and sipped the tea.

"Everything turned out amazing," said Luigi.

"Of course, it did. I made it," said Peach, leaving modesty to the wind. "Anyway, glad to see you again and all that jazz. Excuse me, I have a kingdom to run."

Peach promptly stood up from the table and left the dining room without looking back at the supposed guest of honor.

"I guess it's just you and I from here on out," said Mario, changing seats to face his brother. "I was trying to use the princess as a crutch, but she was having none of it."

"The princess was perhaps the only normal aspect about the place since I woke up," said Luigi. "What is going on?"

"I'm making you feel appreciated around here," responded Mario.

"To varying results."

"It's damn hard to get everyone on the same page when most people don't care."

"Then why did you not leave me in the city in which people do care?"

"I don't think it's the best time to talk about this. I still have a lot of presents for you," said Mario, obviously uncomfortable.

"You knocked me half dead and dragged my body back home. I think you owe me a little more than tea and apple pie,"

Mario sighed. "What do you want to know?"

"Everything that happened after you knocked me out."

"Daisy pulled out a knife and tried to kill me. She's alright. The driver, who had spiny armor and a death wish, then tried to kill me. He's not alright. I drove that rickety bus back to Muraiya and some hammer brothers tried to kill me. I then dragged you back to the Doomship and holy hell did everyone try to kill me. It would have been a total crap show if Bowser, of all creatures, didn't calm them down."

"Bowser?" asked Luigi.

"He was scheming behind my back the whole time, bro. Trying to get back with his flock through fixing up the city."

"I thought he had a hand in destroying it."

"Nope. Anyway, the guy pulled this crazy story out of his behind about you suffering from some sickness that could only be cured in the Mushroom Kingdom. It was dumb, but they didn't question him. I hauled you on the Doomship and the rest is history."

"That is exactly what happened?" asked Luigi, distrusting his brother.

"I would never lie to you, bro."

Luigi was treated to one of the most upbeat, joyous days that he ever had in the Mushroom Kingdom once he gave up trying to force the reality of the Muraiya situation in his brother's face. A standout moment was Mario walking Luigi just beyond the castle into the vast Toad House right before the payout for Luigi's safe arrival was about to take place. The drawbridge guard was in such rare form that threats were made on his life. When he started flaunting his enormous pile of coins, he caught a miniature fist to the face, which started a small riot that the Mario brothers had to put to an end. It had been ages since Mario had that much fun doing his rounds and he hoped that Luigi would join him more often. Luigi smiled and flattered his brother, but he had no intention of going out with him for a long time.

Luigi returned home in the early morning hours and casually tried to get some sleep. Eyes refusing to even halfway close, Luigi got out of bed, put on a jacket, and went outside. Twenty minutes into a rather aimless walk meant to clear his mind, Luigi felt a sharp, sudden gust of wind and felt a presence nearby. He turned around and saw Leon, his magikoopa apprentice.

"Has there been a sudden rupture, boss?" asked Leon, dressed for work.

"Not at all, Leon. I am just taking a walk," responded Luigi. "How did you know that I was even out here?"

"I was keeping an eye out," responded Leon. "In regards to work, I have to be at your side at all times."

"This is not work," deadpanned Luigi.

"I understand," replied Leon. "Well, I'm going to head back to my place. You should get some sleep, as I'm sure that you have a lot planned for me in a few hours, not to mention the days, weeks and years to come."

Luigi turned his back and walked away upon coming to a bitter realization. With his loving brother hovering around in the day, a magikoopa above his shoulder at night, and a legion of toads filling the gaps, there was no way that Luigi was anything other than a prisoner in and around his Mushroom Kingdom home. Days later there were no updates on Muraiya. There was no more news on Daisy or the abandoned Sarasaland vacation. There was not a single word about any of the friends, acquaintances, or obsessive fanatics that Luigi only recently knew he had. His fable was fabulously fractured, and all that had to happen for there to be a good outcome was for the initial chapter to have never been written in the first place.

-END

Author's Note

-Special thanks to everyone who stuck with me to the end. I realize that my lack of updates has been to my personal detriment, but I think it resulted in a much better story. If you are reading this at any point outside of the 2017-2018 period that the story was written in, then you luckily didn't have to deal with my upwards of three-month gaps between chapters.

-I have been working on a Wario-centered story for quite a while now. It is going to be set in the same significantly altered Mario universe that this story was set in, and it going to be as mean spirited, cynical, and crass as a Wario tale should be.

-And with that, I have lots of stuff to read and comment on. Catch you guys in Late August/Early September with some new material!