Paper Luigi: The Waffle Kingdom

A Royal Briefing

It was only a short trip to Castle Éclair. Luigi bid farewell to Goombenny the taxi driver and stepped out as he drove off.

He took a few minutes just to take in the grandeur of the area surrounding him. "Wow... this is more grand than I ever imagined. It's, like, on Peach's Castle level of grand." marvelled Luigi to himself.

There was a huge castle standing right in front of him. It was the exact same three-spired design of Peach's Castle... but it had all the colors of a chocolate éclair. Dark brown chocolatey colors around the edges, then light brown, pastry-like colors further in, and pure creamy white in the middle.

In the place where the picture of Peach would have been, there instead stood a picture of a rather young woman with a regal brown dress.

"That must be Princess Éclair... She's very beautiful. She's kind of like Peach!" said Luigi.

He strolled through the gardens up to the castle. He immediately noticed that on the floor, there were flowers that looked like waffles. "Wafflowers..." Luigi said. They were the Waffle Kingdom's native plant but he didn't expect to actually see one.

"Mmm..." Luigi drooled. "I wonder if they taste like waffles too..." He went to pick one but stopped himself. "O-On second thought, maybe my royal first impression shouldn't be 'getting seen eating flowers.'"

At last he reached the castle doors. Compared to the incredibly underwhelming doors at Peach's Castle, which were a tiny set of double doors with a giant keyhole on them, this was a sight to behold. The doors towered over Luigi. He was about to walk straight in when a Spike in a guard's uniform stopped him.

"Halt! Who are you and what is your business here, sir?" asked the Spike sternly.

"O-Oh, yeah, I forgot about security. Hahaha..." Luigi let out a forced laugh. "My name's Luigi, and I'm a traveller from the Mushroom Kingdom. I have urgent business."

The Spike thought for a moment. "Never heard of the Mushroom Kingdom, sir. Where's that?" Luigi facepalmed.

"Listen, your minister Crepe invited me to help rescue Princess Éclair. So now can I get in?" Luigi said, irritated.

"Well, I suppose if you know about the Princess you must have been told by the castle themselves... But then again, you could have spied on us. I'll need identification, please." said the Spike guard.

Luigi was about to scream in exasperation when he suddenly heard a voice. "Now, now, Spike. I believe this man can be trusted." The giant castle doors began to open.

"Are you joking? A Spike called Spike?" Luigi laughed before noticing the guard's death glare. When the doors were open, out stepped a man whose body was one giant crepe!

"Well, this has got to be Minister Crepe... I'm not sure how much more weird this day can get!" Luigi thought to himself. Mr. Crepe was an older man, with the curly moustache and spectacles you would expect to see of someone in the position. He was wearing a smart-looking outfit with a bowtie.

"Hello, Mr. Luigi! Welcome to the Waffle Kingdom! I've heard all about you and your heroic exploits." the Minister greeted, extending his gloved hand. Luigi shook it.

"Hehe, thanks." Luigi said, blushing.

"I am somewhat curious about the absence of Mr. Mario, but everything can wait until we get you into the castle. Come this way. Follow me." said Mr. Crepe.

"Be careful, Minister, sir!" shouted Spike as Mr. Crepe walked back into the castle with Luigi following.

"I do apologize about that little entry mishap earlier. Spike is the youngest worker at the castle. He is very eager with his job, for better or for worse." explained Crepe, smiling.