Author�s Notes: I love Author�s Notes. It�s so much fun to rant. I could rant all day. But, um... First thing�s first. Somebody asked my to tell them the website that the drool-inducing Luigi fan art is on. Well, I�ll do it even better! I�ll give a direct link! MWAHAHA! I just can�t resist. If somebody asks, I usual like to do it. �Cause I�m a nice, wonderful person. Hehe... Clickedy here to see! ::drools::

Peach finally shows up in this part. Okay, she showed up in the Prologue but that doesn�t count. She said, like, one line! That�s a pitiful excuse of an appearance.

Warning: There�s another one of those icky killing scenes in this part. Oh no, whatever shall we do?! Well, for one, you can just skip that part if it bothers you so much. There�s some cussing going on... and, hum... Is that it? That�s all I can think of to warn ya about!

Princess Peach Toadstool grounded her teeth together and seriously considered pounding her head repeatedly against the giant, polished wooden table she was sitting at. If anything, it would at least get the multitudes of arguing people to pay attention to her. She was the Princess, damnit, she was ruling this kingdom! Not a bunch of stuck up bureaucrats! Finally having enough of hearing them fight over the exact same thing for the past thirty minutes, she gracefully stood up from her chair at the head of the table, looking as regally as possible and let out a high-pitched, piercing scream.

Heads turned, eyes went large, mushroom hats went askew, and whole room was plunged into silence. Peach cleared her throat daintily, smoothed out the non-existent wrinkles from her pink dress as only royalty could do, and sat back down, looking highly pleased with herself mixed with a hint of smugness.

"Now that I have everybody�s attention, may I have my say in this matter?" she asked, forced sweetness dripping off her voice.

Her High Chancellor, Zhar, whom she always thought was so appropriately named for the job, spoke up first. He at least had the common sense to look sheepish. "Of course, your Highness."

"I think the people have the right to know."

The room once again erupted in sound, every person present trying to have his or her say in the matter. The Princess once again had to yell and pound her fist against the table to regain order once more.

"Please, hear me out! The people must know there is a murderer on the loose! I know you think it may cause strife in the populace and possibly riots, but I disagree. How will the people know to protect themselves if they have no knowledge of it in the first place?"

"But, my Princess," Zhar broke in smoothly. "Isn�t it the Mario Brothers� job to the protect the people?"

Peach beat down the impulse to strangle her Chancellor. She knew that, of course, she just didn�t want the others to remember that little detail. It�s not that she didn�t have faith in her two plumbing friends, but this was almost out of their league. Hell, it was out of everybody�s league. "Yes, Chancellor, it is, but I still think-"

"Then the people should be fine. No need for them to worry over things that aren�t of their concern." He ended his sentence with a definite note of finality, closing up the meeting by saying, "Well, gentlemen, shall we converge in the Dinning Hall for dinner?" He strode out of the room as if belong to him and all the officials followed after him without one word against it.

Peach muffled her shriek of pure frustration, petite body taunt with fury and this time she did bang her head against the table. Repeatedly. ~That arrogant, stuck-up little prick! I swear I would fire him so fast if it wasn�t for him being the uncle of the king of the kingdom over.~ One thing Peach was sure of though, was if another murder took place, she would tell the people personally. With or without the Council�s permission.

Luigi flopped down on the bed, midnight black hair spreading out around his head like a halo. The hotel room the brothers had been given was actually quite nice, filled with sweet-smelling flowers and earth-tone walls. Windows were placed high and low all about the room, letting in as much sunlight as possible throughout the whole day. Right then, the sun was shining at just the right angle to glow through the crystals hanging from the ceiling, sending rainbow colors shooting around the room. It was very pretty, but Luigi was too busy complaining to his brother to notice.

"God, it�s boring around here! I thought the Castle could get slow, but this place is dead! I mean, it�s deceased, pushing up the daisy kind of boring. Did you see those people? Churning butter would be too much excitement for them! They�d probably die from a heart attack not even ten minutes into it! I mean, I need something to do! I am down to the drool-inducing, mind-numbing stage! Staring at the wall�s no fun. I know, I�ve tried it before. For a few hours, even. I thought, "Hum, well maybe I should give it a chance." And I did and you know what? It sucks. It only started to get interesting when that stain on the wall started to do that trumpet solo. Very talented, that stain was. But then you walked in and-"

"Luigi!" Mario finally stopped his brother in mid-rant, turning away from where he was place all their clothes in draws for their stay. "Please, you�re rambling again."

"Oh... Really?" The lanky hero pulled himself up into a sitting position, long legs dangling over the side of the bed and elbows resting on his knees. "I can�t help it." he whined a bit. "It�s just that I�m bored!"

"Yes, I know! I�ve heard about fifteen million times already. But you do remember why we�re here? This is not just for fun and games."

Luigi sighed, a slight frown scarring his face. "Yeah, I remember. You had to bring it up, didn�t you?"

Mario was silent as he finished unpacking. So was Luigi, his earlier raving mood dispelled by thoughts of the recent visit to a certain farm house. And despite what he had said during the rant, he was busily staring at the wall across him as if it had did something to personally offend him and killing it would give him the greatest pleasure in world at that moment.

Mario lugged their now-empty luggage into a corner, then pondered of a bit. Finally coming to a decision, he turned to his brother and asked, "Hey Weegee, how would you like to scope out the town?"

Mario and Luigi wandered through the crowded streets, amazed and baffled by the sudden display of activity in the otherwise quiet town. Cobble stone streets were filled with mushrooms of all shape and sizes, talking, laughing, manning booths that lined the avenues, or yelling at each other.

Luigi, clearly bewildered about the sudden change, had to ask, "Mario, what the Hell is going on here?!"

An old mushroom woman, pushing her way though the crowd, stopped between the two and glanced up at them. She muttered a quick, "It�s Market Day. Jeez, are you guy�s stupid?", before roughly shoving Mario out of her way with her handbag and disappearing back into the crowd.

Luigi, after being restrained from going after the woman and telling her just where she could shove that bag of hers, turned to Mario with wide eyes. "A market! Wow! A gen-u-ine small town market! Where everybody knows everybody else and people bargain for stuff and get into bloody fist-fights over the cost of animal feed! I�ve heard of these. I always wanted to go to one."

"I�m... not sure it�s exactly like that."

"Sure it is! I heard it from Toad. Come on, Mario!" Grabbing a hold of his brother�s arm, Luigi dragged him off to the nearest booth.

Mario just rolled his and complied.

A few hours later, just before dusk, found the Mario Brothers and the rest of the market still going strong. Luigi had ended up wearing a hand-made necklace composed of small sea-shells, hair pulled back in a sloppy, high pony-tail with a scrunchie a girl had made him buy with big, pathetic eyes that he just couldn�t resist and dragging a bag of horse feed. He had purposely pissed off the feed supplier and goaded him into a brawl so he could prove to Mario that what he said really did happen. He now wore a rather large black eye like a badge of honor.

The only thing Mario had gotten was a pretty bracelet, simple in design, but it had caught his eye anyway. Even though it wasn�t very expensive, he was planning on giving it to the Princess when they got back. He thought she had enough gaudy jewels as it was and needed something simplistic to wear.

When only the last top tip of the dying sun was visible, Luigi tried to haul Mario into the �beer tent�.

"Oh, come on Mario! What�s it gonna hurt?"

Mario pulled his arm out of his brother�s grip easily and raised an eyebrow. "Do you really have to ask?"

"But, it�s not like-ack!" Luigi was cut off when he was grabbed around the throat from behind and literally lifted off the ground. Mario was instantly on defense, but his eyes widened as he took in the largest mushroom he had ever seen.

This colossal toadstool growled into his brother�s face and rumbled, "Are you the Mario Brothers?"

Mario, tensed and wary, answered, "Yes. What of it?"

"You guys didn�t do your job."

"What?!"

"You heard me." The giant said and squeezed a bit tighter. Luigi, hands scrambling on the ones about his throat and already wheezing for breath, squeaked when he felt the added pressure. Deciding he had enough of this, Luigi brought his leg up and kneed his captor directly on the groin.

The mushroom man gasped, pupils contracting to the size of pin-points, and his hand opened in spasms, letting Luigi drop to the ground. The lean plumber landed in a crouch and brushed the already un-balanced mushroom of his feet with a sweep-kick. As his opponent fell, Luigi flipped backwards and landed beside Mario, rubbing his sore neck.

"Jeez, what is up with that guy?!"

Mario gave his brother a quick run-over to check that he was alright, then said, "He knows."

"What? About the..."

"Yeah. Let�s get out of here."

The two siblings pushed their way through the crowd that had gathered during their confrontation, making their way back to the hotel. When they finally reached their destination, it was completely dark outside and lamps had been lit along the roads. The brothers quietly shut the door to the hotel building and were sneaking up the stairs when a voice, coming from the top of the darkened stairway, startled them both badly.

"I see you both made it back safely."

Luigi stumbled on the steps and grabbed the rail to keep his balance, hand flying up to his heart. "What are you trying to do, give me a heart attack?!"

Mario semi-glared at the outline above them suspiciously. "What are you doing here, Captain Stephen? And how did you know we ran into trouble?"

The mushroom cop went down to join them on the steps. "It�s all over the streets. Besides," he shrugged. "I�m a cop. It�s my job to know."

"He knew about the murder."

"Yeah, he did. I guess it�s kind of useless to try and keep it a secret now."

"B is for Basil, assaulted by bears." A growl, that would have been ridiculously fake if not followed by an insane giggling, came from the shadows, accompanied by a glint of metal from the full moon light streaming in through the window.

The little child on the bed pulled his covers up farther, peaking over the top with large, frightened eyes as the gangly mushroom lurched out of the corner of the room. He was hunched over, a pair of claws attached to his wrists dragging the ground. In one gracefully motion, he leapt off the floor and on to the bed, hunkering down over the startled boy.

He snarled playfully, tugging on a lock of the boy�s hair before pulling it all the way off, throwing the silky strands onto the floor. The boy whined pitifully, hand going up to cover the hurting area on his scalp. The man pounced before the boy could barely move, the sharp weapons on his hands cutting painfully into the boy�s tender skin on the inside of his arm.

"No moving Basil!" the man snarled again, keeping in character. "You�re not playing right."

Basil froze when his name was said and tried to shrink down in the covers.

The man grinned. "That�s better," he said as he slowly ran one tip of his claws down the boy�s side, cutting the pajamas and drawing blood in the process. When Basil whimpered again, the man dug in, tearing into flesh and pulling a chunk out. The man seemed to like the way the blood welled up in the little hole he had made, and proceeded to slash away at the boy, ripping away his stomach and pulling out intestines.

Pisces: Umkay, that killing scenes was a bit shorter that the last, but still as graphic. ::shrug:: So-rry.

Princess: (appearing from out of screen) Oh Pisces, I love you! I finally showed up. And you gave me such a bitchy attitude too! Thanks! ::glomps Pisces::

Pisces: (trying to breath) ::gasp:: Welcome. ::wheeze:: I think...

Mario: (appearing form off screen) I�m in love with the Princess?! And I get her too! Woo-hoo, thanks Pisces! ::glomps Pisces::

Pisces: (turning blue) Heeeelp me...

Luigi: (appearing from off screen) I can kick so much ass! I can do all those things Jackie Chan does in those movies of his! ::proceeds to back flip across the room:: Oh, man... Dizzy... But, I love you Pisces! ::glomps Pisces::

Pisces: (underneath a pile of bodies) I�m dying! Which way�s out?!

Bowser: (appearing from off screen, bellowing) PISCES!

Pisces: (frantic as she pulls herself out of the mound of people) Don�t glomp me! Stay away!

Bowser: (stops for a minute, then goes on yelling) Why am I not in this fic yet?!

Pisces: (cautious, almost not believing) So... You�re not going to glomp me?

Bowser: Of course not, you insolent human! Now, answer me!

Pisces: Jeez Bowser, no reason for you to get all huffy about you. You show up in the next part. We�ve got some impatient people around here, I tell ya...

Bowser: (gets stars in eyes) Reeeally? I love you Pisces! ::glomps Pisces::

Pisces: AHHHHHH!!!