Mario & Luigi - Partners in Time (REWRITE)

Chapter III: The Time Machine Returns

(- Italic = Game dialogue/text
- Bold Italic = Important game dialogue
- Regular = Story
- (Regular, between brackets) = Writer's note
- Bold = Header)

Shroob Castle
When you leave the secret base, you will immediately arrive at the castle. (In reality, the base is not this close to the castle, as it's quite some distance. The immediate transition from the base to the castle is just to save time.) The castle itself will look very similar to the original Shroob Castle. In the original game, when you go to the right, you will find a blue pipe, which is the entrance to get inside the castle. In this rewrite, the entrance will still be here, but instead of the blue pipe there will be a small hole in one of the walls. You walk in and the game cuts to the inside of the castle, where you'll start in the middle.

If you try to explore parts of the castle, you will find out that several parts are impossible to reach or go through. This can be because of closed doors, obstacles, or too many enemies that are too powerful for you to fight.

To find the Refreshroom you need to go to the very bottom-left room of the castle. In the room before that one, you will find a strange floating white-colored glowing orb, with some broken metal pieces laying on the floor. You have no idea what this is and dare not use it. You decide to keep moving. (If you walk back to try to use it, that won't work, as you can only walk up to it, but this won't activate anything.)

Eventually, you get to the bottom-left room. In there, you will find a Question Mark Block. You strike it and you obtain a Refreshroom. Your mission is now to leave the castle and head back to the secret base.

The Secret Base
The game then cuts back to the secret base, where Toadsworth is laying on a bed, with everyone else surrounding him. The first Toad says: "Toadsworth! Any final words?" Toadsworth then whispers: "Princess..." The Toads and Luigi then start to cry again, after which the first Toad sobs: "Toadsworth!" Right at that moment, however, Mario gets back into the base and immediately gives Toadsworth the Refreshroom. The latter then opens his eyes, jumps back up, holds his cane in the air and yells: "HUZZAH!" Everyone becomes happy to see Toadsworth alive and well, but their happy moment quickly gets interrupted by a strong trembling, followed by some powerful flashes. When the last flash fades, everyone sees that the time machine has returned. However, it looks totally destroyed. The professor says: "Well, take a gander at that! The time machine's returned. But what's happened to it? It looks completely broken. What could've gone wrong?" Toadsworth gets off the bed and walks up to the time machine and says relieved: "Oh, princess! Welcome home!" The time machine opens its doors. "Your Majesty! I've been fraught with-" Toadsworth doesn't get to finish his sentence, because inside the machine are two pink evil-looking eyes opening. Two green-colored pincers for arms get out and then you see that there is another creature inside the machine. (This is the Junior Shrooboid from the original game, but they of course don't know that.) It gets out and everyone, but Mario, runs to a different room of the base. Mario faces it and the creature roars twice before attacking Mario.

The Junior Shrooboid
Your second fight begins. You select your Jump Attack, but then something strange happens: the Junior Shrooboid moves BEFORE you! You then get the option to listen to Toadsworth's explanation of what just happened. If you choose to listen, you will learn about the Speed-mechanic. (That's right, in this story the Speed-mechanic will work differently than it did in the original game! It'll work the same way as it does in Pokémon-battles. For those who don't know: when you're in a Pokémon-fight and you select a move (and a target in double battles), the Pokémon that has the higher speed stat will get to attack first, assuming they haven't selected something like a priority move. The reason you haven't learned about this mechanic in the Baby Bowser-fight is because you were faster than Baby Bowser. But now, the Junior Shrooboid is faster than you. I thought that this change would make the speed stat a lot more important, as it was almost pointless in the original game. Like, it basically only mattered for the very first turn. This change will also make the Blue Pepper a more important item once you find it.)

After the battle
You defeat the Junior Shrooboid, and the latter lays unconscious on the floor. The first Toad opens the time machine and enters it. He quickly gets out and panics: "No sign of the princess! No! NOOOOOOOO! That awful monster..." The professor looks at the creature and says: "Just take er' easy, now. She wasn't this feller's breakfast." He takes out a small device from his pocket and taps a few buttons. "My DS Time Radar puts Peach somewhere in the Mushroom Kingdom of yesteryear." he explains. He then puts the DS Time Radar back in his pocket. The second Toad yells: "Time Radar? TIME RADAR?! You just made that up! Where'd this monster come from, then?" The professor answers: "That I don't know. And with the time machine this dinged up, we're not going anywhere." He pauses for a moment before continuing: "And unfortunately, I'm not gonna be able to build another one, because I had to use the whole Cobalt Star for this one."

Everyone tries to think of a good idea, but to no avail. The first Toad then asks Mario: "Wait! Mario! When you were in the castle searching for the Refreshroom, did you also find anything else that could be valuable?" Mario shakes his head, but then he remembers that he actually did find something interesting. He tells everyone about the mysterious floating glowing orb he found in one of the rooms. He didn't dare touch it of course, because he didn't know what it was. The professor then says: "A floating orb? Hmmm... I don't know what that could be... Wait... Could it be..." Toadsworth asks the professor: "What is it, professor?" "The description Mario gave us about this orb made me think of something I've seen before, but I'm not completely sure if it's the same thing." the professor answers. The second Toad then asks: "What are you talking about?" The professor says: "I can't say for sure. I should see it with my own eyes to be certain. But if it is what I think it is, then Mario may have found something VERY valuable!" Toadsworth walks up to the professor: "You- you want to go inside the castle?" The professor nods. Mario asks the professor if he's absolutely sure about this, because of the very close dangers of the castle. "Yes, feller. I'm absolutely sure." the professor says with determination. Mario accepts, but he proposes to come along, because he prefers that the professor doesn't go all by himself. The professor accepts it and says: "Alright then. Let's go!" Mario and the professor head for the exit, but the second Toad stops them. He says: "Wait! What do we do when the monster wakes up?" The professor turns around to look at the creature and thinks. "Oh yeah, I forgot about that! Hmmm...I suppose I could make a big cage so that it can't escape after it's woken up... But I'd also want to know more about that orb... Alright. Mario. If I'd lend you one of my latest inventions (so that we can keep contact), would you still be willing to sneak into the castle again?" Mario thinks for a moment and then nods. "Splendid! Then here's my latest invention!" the professor says and he shows everyone a suitcase with a face. The suitcase then starts to move (much to everyone's surprise) and says:

"Watch the leather, Professor! No need for the shoving!" The suitcase turns to Mario. "Oh, you must be Mario. I am pleased to meet you. I am known as Stuffwell. I am what is called a suitcase. However, I'm more than just someplace to store your belongings. I have MANY complex sensors... and various memory apparati for data retention... and... er... well, suffice to say, I am very technologic by contraption standards. I'll be a BIG help. Would you like me to explain how I work?" You now get to choose between "Yes" and "Maybe later". If you choose "Yes", Stuffwell will give the tutorial of what he can provide for you, which will happen the exact same way it did in the original game. If you choose "Maybe later", Stuffwell will say: "That's okay. We should head to the castle immediately anyway." (Another important change that I will not mention every time it occurs: every tutorial in this rewrite will become OPTIONAL to listen to. Every time a tutorial is about to happen, the game will ask you if you want to listen to it or not. If a tutorial occurs, I'm not going to write all of that, but I will mention all of the changes I made if a tutorial has them.)

Mario and Stuffwell head to the exit, but Luigi stops them. He freaks out, because Mario is actually going to sneak inside the castle again. Mario assures him that he will be fine. He then proposes the idea of Luigi coming along, so that they can look after each other. Luigi really hesitates, but eventually accepts the offer. He really doesn't want to lose his brother and this way he can stay with him. The second Toad walks up to Luigi and asks him: "Are you sure about this, Luigi?" The latter nods. The second Toad says: "Alright then. Just know that you can jump with B. Do you wanna try it?" The game then asks you to press B. You press it, but Luigi doesn't jump very high. The second Toad reacts: "Come on, Luigi! Try to jump as high as Mario. Mario, can you show him?" The game then asks you to press A. You do this and Mario jumps high. The second Toad turns back to Luigi and says: "Seriously, Luigi. You need more intensity or something." You then press B one more time and this time Luigi jumps as high as Mario. The first Toad reacts: "Wow... that was super! That was a great jump! Worthy of Mario himself. You really are brothers! Good luck to both of you!"

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(From now on, I'm gonna try out some things when it comes to the lay-out, to figure out what makes this story better to read. This is the first chapter that has headers. For now I'm only going to use them during a switch in locations or when a battle occurs (or ends).)