Chapter 2: Warning of a crisis

Author Note: I wrote this story to take a slightly different approach to the first Paper Mario game. I wondered recently why Mario was so distant with the townspeople that were only minutes away from his house. It didn't look like he interacted with any of them despite their close proximity. It's safe to say that while most people know of Mario, they don't know him on a personal level. Maybe he's training all of the time to make sure that he's always ready for a fight? Or maybe he just isn't very sociable and only hangs out with Peach, Luigi, and Toadsworth. Either way it bugs me.

So with that in mind wouldn't it be plausible for Luigi to know more about the people of Toad Town if he was forced to stay back and watch the house instead of going off on adventures all the time? With the princess being kidnapped and Mario gone to save her for days, weeks, or maybe even months at a time he wouldn't be able to socialize with them a lot. I doubt that Luigi intended to literally stay in the house every time Mario went on an adventure. He probably went off and made some friends while he was left alone to watch over their property. With that idea this story started to take shape.

Disclaimer: Same as the first one.

-Also I included Goompa in the fishing group that Goompapa has.

I looked at my wrist watch after coming out of the warp pipe once again, only to notice that it was almost 11:30 a.m. Cursing to myself, I realized that I wouldn't have enough time to go fishing with the guys today. "I guess visiting Goompa and the rest of the guys will have to wait 'till another day." Usually we would all get together a little bit after lunch and chat before heading to a fishing hole for a few hours every weekend. Since there wasn't a way for me to transport myself to his place instantly I settled for writing him a letter. I told him that there was a last minute party at the royal castle that we didn't know about until this morning.

"He's definitely going to be mad at me for a while now… Well at least until I give him his favorite dessert." I vowed to myself to make him a chocolate cake with strawberries on top for him whenever I next got a chance to visit. With my letter completed I handed it to the receptionist at the post office and made my way to one of my old friends. Merlon's house was only a minute away from the post office, so there was plenty of time to talk to him.

I stood in front of his house and admired the spinning roof that went around constantly. Then I stepped onto the welcome mat and lifted a secret panel before pressing the button that lies beneath it. A relaxing song was let loose from the doorbell as I put the panel back in its place. It only took a few seconds before the sound of someone walking towards the door reached my ears. The door slowly opened before a hooded figure came into view. Only his glowing yellow eyes and the lower half of his face was visible through the darkness. I smiled and gave a small wave before he opened the door fully and physically pulled me into his house.

I was pulled into a tight hug before we both broke apart with grins on our faces. "Luigi long time no see." He stepped back a little further and awaited my reply. "Hey Merlon. Knowing you, I bet you already knew when I'd be stopping by." He chuckled at my joke before saying, "Actually I did. I decided to take a glimpse at the future today since I've been getting some bad vibes lately. When I read the newspaper this morning I thought it would be important to make sure nothing too horrible would happen. The only problem was that most of what I did see was very vague."

We both frowned as we thought about what that could mean for everyone in the kingdom. "Now what can I do for you?" I smiled and said that I just wanted to visit him before leaving for the party today. "Really? It's today? Hmmm…" The way he trailed off was making me nervous. "Is there something wrong Merlon?" He shook his head before dismissing his thoughts. "It's probably nothing, but make sure to be on your guard for anything odd, okay?"

I nodded in acceptance before Merlon pushed a switch that was underneath his chair. An opening appeared in the floor that led down into his living room. I followed him in as usual so we could continue to catch up with each other. We both sat down and talked for around half an hour before I stood up and stretched. "I think I should make my way towards the castle pretty soon." He stood up as well and we briefly hugged again before I made my way over to his front door.

"Don't forget to be cautious today Luigi. I've got a very bad feeling that the party might not go as planned." I told him that I'd be careful and proceeded to leave his house. With nothing else planned for the day, I made my way to the large gate that led to the royal castle. I slightly pushed on one of the doors and marveled over the fact that they automatically swung open for me.

I laughed to myself as I thought that maybe there are guards watching everyone through a camera and they decide who gets to enter and leave. "That must be a boring job to have if it's true. Not many people come and go to the castle unless there are major events planned. I'll have to ask Peach if she set up a security system. That would be a good idea to invest in if she hasn't already done so."

I was surprised at the immediate change in sound after the doors shut after me. There were many different people that have gathered here today for one of Peach's famous parties. "She really does know how to throw a good one." I saw that while there were many guests on the grounds there were also a few guards that were walking through the area. "It's good that she is starting to take her safety seriously these days." I wandered the front yard of the castle and waved at a few of the guards before I headed inside the front door.

The inside of the castle was even more packed than the outside was. While the weather is nice today, being outside isn't as exciting when there are amazing dishes of free food for the guests. Not to mention that there's a high chance for you to meet the princess for yourself if you enter through the front door. The people were even more diverse than before in here. There were goombas, koopas, shy guys, bob-ombs, toads, bumpties, and even more kinds still.

I walked around not really knowing any of these people until I came across one of the tables that were serving various kinds of food. There were too many choices to pick from for a meal, let alone the large amount of sweets for afterwards. The sheer amount of desserts filled the same amount of tables that the rest of the food took up. "Peach probably had a hand in that." I decided to not even take a look at the sweets until I ate a proper meal first.

I piled a plate full of spaghetti with some berries on the side and grabbed a glass of water. With the amount of people milling around I was surprised to find an open table nearby. Quickly I made my way through the clusters of people and sat down to eat my lunch. A few minutes into my meal I spotted Toadsworth walking my way with a plate of his own in his hands. He made his way to my table before stopping and asking if I would mind if he sat with me.

"No not at all." I smiled at him while I gestured for him to take a seat. He did so with a smile of his own and dug into his meal with gusto. We ate in a comfortable silence before I slowed down in order to chat with him. "So how have you been lately Toadsworth? I bet you were finishing the final touches on the party this morning." He chuckled a bit before putting his utensils down.

"That I was Luigi. Why, I was scurrying about and fussing over every detail for this party. You know how I get when something doesn't look perfect at an event. So I was rushing about and barking orders like a mad man right up until the first guests arrived. Thankfully we got the things that needed to be done the most first. I shudder to think of how the guests would react if we didn't provide them with the basic necessities such as food and drink." The funny thing was that he did shudder at that thought.

I hid the small smile that I was sporting and the laugh that was begging to be let out by drinking some of my water. Not long after that I noticed another guest walking towards our table. He was a bumpty by the looks of it and the hat that he was wearing looked quite warm and comfortable even from a distance. "Would you mind if I sit here with you two? There aren't many tables left, and I thought you both looked pretty friendly." He gave a hopeful smile towards us while he waited for our decision. Toadsworth and I shook our heads and gestured to the last seat at our table.

"Thanks. You both can call me May. What are your names?" I introduced the two of us, and we then went to casually converse with each other as we finished off our food. May was telling us about the joys of living in Shiver City as a large tremor shook the whole castle. A few plates crashed to the floor and many people began to feel uneasy.

Another tremor larger than the first shook the castle soon after that left many people holding onto each other for balance. "I don't think this is an earthquake you two." To make sure that it wasn't the case I quickly make my way to the front door to have a look outside. The expressions on the faces of the guests who were still outside were worrying. They were all looking at the base of the building in shock. This proved that something was definitely wrong with the castle.

I hurriedly made my way back to our table as another wave went through and pulled May and Toadsworth out of their seats. "We need to get out of here now! Something is wrong with the castle!" I had to yell over the noise of the guests at this point. They both ran by my side as we weaved through the mass of panicking people. The quakes were getting closer together and stronger by the second. "Everyone get out of the castle NOW!" It looked like a few people heard my cry as they quickly followed behind us. We made it out of the castle with little time to spare.

Time slowed down as I saw ten people sprint out of the front doors and stand by us at a safe distance from the now constantly trembling structure. Mere seconds later Peach's castle erupted from the ground, and we all scrambled back even farther away to avoid the falling debris. What shocked us even more was that a larger castle sprung out of the ground underneath the royal building. We stared in horror as the symbol of our kingdom was floating up higher and higher into the atmosphere. It was incredible to think that in less than a minute the entire castle was taken hostage, along with Peach, Mario, and many citizens of the Mushroom Kingdom.

Another Note: I can answer questions or comments from guest reviews at the end of each chapter.

Pikminfan24: More please!

Me: I definitely plan on continuing this story. I don't know how often I'll be able to update it, but I'll continue it for sure.