Vol. 1, Ch. 2 - A Curious Arrival.

     "It's a spaceship!"
     "So?" Luigi asked.  It wasn't like he hadn't seen spaceships before.

     "I mean, a spaceship we haven't seen around here before," said Toad, becoming rather impatient.  It always astounded him how he had to go through a five-minute dialog before the Bros. got going.  Of course, once they started, it was impossible to stop them.

     "Okay," said Luigi.  "Is that a problem?"

     "It is when the Princess is taken aboard without any warning."

     He didn't need to say anything else.  His impatience was matched only by his astonishment at how fast Mario and Luigi took action when necessary.  Five minutes and two warp pipes later they had all arrived at the castle.

     "Good to see you, Master Mario," said Toadsworth, Peach's ever-present steward.  "We appear to have something of a problematic situation.  This monstrous shuttle landed without any proper clearance directly on the Princess' rose garden, and a second later she was gone!"

     "Have they addressed you or said anything?" asked Luigi.

     Mario didn't wait for them to finish their conversation.  He began making his way to the ship, and noticed a total lack of windows.  This made him a tad nervous- even Bowser's castle had windows.  What was hiding in there?  His curiosity was put on hold when a beam of light shot past him and onto Luigi and Toadsworth.

     "I say, what is this madness?" cried Toadsworth.  "I cannot see a thing!  You there!  Do consider turning your light down!"

     "I don't think they see us here," said Luigi.  "Look, if we move to the right, the light doesn't follow."

     It was true.  They both stepped aside, but the light remained.

     "Hey, bro!" called Luigi.  "What do you make of this?"

     Mario didn't answer.  He had no idea what was up, and didn't have time to answer.  He needed to find out what was in the ship, and fast.  He noticed a tower on the south side of the castle close to the ship's top deck.  Perhaps he could board from there.

     "Let's a-go!" he called, and took off.  Luigi and Toad followed.

     "What's the plan?" asked Toad.  "Ah, am I supposed to follow you?"

     Mario shook his head.  Right now he wanted just to get inside the ship.  Luigi could follow him easily enough, but Toad wasn't ready, and Mario didn't want to take unnecessary risks.  He wished Yoshi was around, though.  Yoshi had a way of getting along with enemies which sometimes could delay or even prevent a conflict.  For now, though, Yoshi was nowhere to be found.  If he had been near the castle, Mario would have seen him, or so he hoped.  Perhaps he was with Peach.  That would be a mixed blessing, since Peach would be with one of her best friends, but- it would also mean he had been captured too.

     Luigi broke into this train of thought by asking "Are we going to just jump in, then?  If so, here's a Fire Flower.  No point in going somewhere new unarmed."

     Mario nodded.  By now they'd reached the top of the deck.  No apparent door existed, however.

     "Perhaps a fireball right at the ship?"  Luigi suggested.

     Mario frowned.  He didn't want to start by flinging fire at an unknown enemy.  Maybe it wasn't even an enemy.  Perhaps it was a visitor with a lack of Mushroom Kingdom etiquette.  Regardless, the goal was to reach Peach, and he wouldn't be able to do that if the ship went into lock down due to an attack.

     "Here we go," he said, and jumped.  Luigi was after him a second later.  To their astonishment they found that they had jumped right into what seemed to be the ship's bridge.  The crew members were all bustling about, apparently not noticing the newcomers.  Suddenly they saw Peach walking towards them.

     "Oh! Mario and Luigi!  I certainly wasn't expecting to see you here."

     "You didn't think we'd come to try rescue you?" asked Luigi, a tad incredulous.

     "Rescue me?  I'm right inside the castle courtyard.  What's there to rescue me from?"

     "Um...the aliens?  You know, the ones that took you aboard their ship?  The ones walking all around us?"

     "Luigi, I don't know what you're talking about.  Am I missing something?"

     "More like EVERYTHING!" Luigi's shock had turned to frustration.  "We're on the bridge of an alien vessel!  Since when does this look like the castle courtyard?"

     Mario looked around.  There had to be an explanation for this phenomenon.  Peach was obviously not where she thought she was, so why was she confused?  Then he noticed the...

Continued next week.

Vol. 1, Ch. 1 - And So It Begins.

     "I just don't understand it," said Luigi, taking off his hat and scratching his head.  A plumber by trade native to Brooklyn, he'd never become quite used to the way things worked in the Mushroom Kingdom.  "Why do I need five coins to buy a mushroom, but only twenty to buy a star?  The logic escapes me."

    His brother shrugged.  Two years and five days older than Luigi, Mario was a man of few words, and he preferred to take things as they came.  Although he sometimes wondered why things were the way they were, he had decided long ago that this would be his and Luigi's new home, strange customs aside.  As time had passed, they had both become more accustomed to the place, but every once in a while things still seemed a little strange.

     "I suppose," Luigi continued, "that a mushroom doubling your size is pretty valuable, but I still don't see how that makes it worth one-fourth the value of a star!  Speaking of which, why do you think stars are so different around here?  Where we come from they're just balls of gas, but here they have a set shape, and everyone wants them."

     Mario smiled and shrugged again.  Luigi always had good questions.  Actually, he was the better plumber of the two of them.  Although Mario seldom let it on, he really admired his brothers' intellect as well as his ability to overcome challenges.  Sure, Mario could do it too, but Luigi always did the brave thing even when he was frightened.  Mario had courage, but of a different sort.  He simply wasn't afraid anymore.  Perhaps it was the variety of experiences he'd had, or maybe he was just foolhardy.  Both were interrupted in their reverie by a knock at the door.

     "Must be the mailman," Luigi remarked, and started to rise.

     "I got it," said Mario, motioning to Luigi to sit down again.

     When he opened the door he saw Toad standing there.  Or was it Toad?  Or maybe Toad?  One thing Mario never understood was the apparent shortage of names in the Mushroom Kingdom.  Since so many citizens looked rather similar, he couldn't help but wonder why everyone introduced themselves the same way.  Shortly after he finished this thought, however, he realized it was actually Toad, or Kinopio as he was sometimes called, who had accompanied Mario and Luigi through several adventures and helped either in person or indirectly.

     "Mario!  You'll never believe what just landed in the Princess' backyard!" Toad cried.

     "What is it, Toad?  A shooting star?  A giant egg?  Bowser's airship?" asked Luigi.

     "Nope. Nope! NO!" Toad replied in turn to each query.  "It's a..."

Continued later this week.