Chapter Text
“A HUGE BATTLESHIP IS APPROACHING FAST!!”
With sweat on his brow and his eyes squinting to drown out the flashing lights and noisy machines around him, Mario breathed in deeply and rested his trembling hands back onto the joystick and buttons.
As his spaceship dodged and breezed pass enemy fire, he retaliated with his own, blasting away armor and artillery from the imposing mechanical menace. Truly, he was in the zone. Nothing could have pulled him out of this state, well, almost anything.
“HEY! Lookie here, big bro!” called a chipper voice that somehow passed clearly through the arcade’s clamor. But Mario ignored this, rolling one of his eyes while keeping the other locked in on the action. Still, waves of bullets and giant laser beams eluded his craft.
“HEEEEYYY!! I’m talkin’ to yoooouu!” The voice came closer along with the pounding rhythm of beaten-up sneakers across the carpeted floor. Even the miniature earthquakes approaching him were nothing compared to Mario’s sheer force of will. Until suddenly…
“AAAAAAHHHHHH” shrieked the voice now only inches away from Mario’s ear, causing him to jump. But still, his focus was unshakable. His eyes widened as a he nearly ran face-first into an enemy bullet, but he pressed the bomb button with superhuman speed to escape the barrage. Now the enemy boss was flashing red, so he risked it all and flew right in front the boss’s fish-like face. He kept tapping away on the fire button as he planted his face closer and closer to the screen.
Out of the blue, Mario felt a wiggling sensation in his ear, kind of like a worm had crawled in, or maybe like a… “WET WILLY!!!” cackled Daisy as she twisted her index finger further into her brother’s ear. The shock of having his younger sister embarrass him in a crowded arcade was enough to pull Mario out of his game-induced trance. His finger slipped off the joystick, and his little spaceship crashed right into the boss, which was only a few shots away from getting destroyed.
“GAME OVER” the screen flashed in mocking red letters. “CONTINUE?”
“DAMMIIIT!!” Mario shouted into his arms, which he then used to grab his hair.
“Haw haw!!” Daisy guffawed. “I’m gonna tell mama you said a bad word!” She skipped merrily along the carpet in the direction their parents were playing air-hockey against each other.
“WAIT, DAISY!!” Mario stretched out one hand towards her while the other rubbed his wet-willifed (new word!) ear. “WHAT was-a so important that you just-a HAD to interrupt my game?” he panted.
She stopped dead in her tracks and turned back around. “Oh yeah!” Daisy reached into her permanently sticky overalls pocket. “Check this out… TA-DA!” Daisy pulled out a solid orange lump of plastic with some string sticking out. “It’s a yo-yo! I traded all my tickets for it!” she proclaimed with a proud smile.
Mario’s mouth curled downward into a sour scowl. “Do you even KNOW any yo-yo tricks?” asked Mario in monotone.
“Psssh, ‘course I do!” smirked Daisy with the yo-yo’s string tied around the same index finger she used to prank her brother. “BEHOLD!!” She flicked her wrist down and…
plop.
The siblings stared at the motionless toy on the floor for a moment and then to each other. Daisy flashed a cheeky grin which showed off her missing baby teeth while Mario furrowed his brow.
“DAIIIISYYYYY!!!” Mario shouted as he chased her around the arcade for what seemed like hours.