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The traffic was bad in Brooklyn again. The red van stood still amongst the other cars, vans and trucks. Super Mario Bros. Plumbing was printed on the side, along with a picture of two jumping cartoon men.
There was a catchy little tune playing on the radio. Mario sat behind the wheel with a bored look on his face. He was a fat Italian man in his thirties, with a large, dark moustache. He wore a red baseball cap and a pair of blue overalls over a red shirt.
Sitting beside him, in the passenger seat, was his brother Luigi. He was dressed much the same way, but with a green cap and green shirt. He was a little taller and thinner than his brother. He also had a large moustache on his face, which also wore a bored expression.
"This-a sucks!" said Luigi with a thick Italian accent.
"I think it's pretty catchy. Da da da da da da ...da." said Mario, imitating the tune.
"Not the music brother. I mean being a plumber sucks!"
"It's not so bad. There's plenty of worse things we could be doing'."
"Worse than being arm deep in other peoples' excrement?"
"Yeah, we could be neck deep."
"It's boring. How many movies do you see about plumbers?"
"I saw one the other day."
"Really?"
"Yeah, it was a good one. A porno."
"Oh yeah. A hot, busty housewife answers the door to two handsome Italian gentlemen. 'Were here to check your pipes!' Next thing, she's sucking down both their cocks and they're double teaming her. How come that never happens to us?"
"Maybe at the next job."
"Yeah right. I don't think I can handle another boring, mundane day of plumbing."
Mario turned to him, "So what are you gunna do?"
"Shrooms."
"Shrooms?"
Luigi got out a small plastic bag and held it up. Inside were a couple of small, flat mushrooms. They were white with green spots on them. "Where did you get them?" asked Mario.
"I bought them off Toad."
"That little Shit-head? Last time we bought some shit off him, we got in big trouble."
"Yeah well I'm bored out of my mind. I could use a little trouble. These are called One-up. They're supposed to send you on a wild adventure."
"Let's pop them after work then."
"No, I want to take them now."
"That might not be good for business. 'Super Mario Bros. Plumbing, we'll show up shit-faced, guaranteed'."
"Come on brother. Today can either be boring as bat shit, or lots of fun." He held the bag up to him. "I know you want to. You're just as bored as me."
"Yeah, okay then. But I hold you responsible for anything that happens."
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They showed up at the Apartment building where their first job of the day was. Both men entered the building carrying their tool boxes. Mario was wearing his tool belt.
"We gotta see management. They got a flooded basement." said Mario.
"Damn it! Soggy shoes for the rest of the day. Are those Shrooms kicking in yet?"
"No, what are they supposed to do anyway?"
"I told you, they're supposed to send you on a wild adventure."
"That's the line Toad used eh? He probably sold you some duds. We'll go and have some words with him if he did." Mario rang the doorbell.
Luigi crossed his fingers. "Please be a horny housewife! Please be a horny housewife!" A fat, slobbish, middle aged man opened the door. "God-dammit!"
"You the plumbers?"
"What the hell do you think?" said Luigi.
"I thought someone might have ordered a couple of clowns and you got the wrong address."
"Very funny Dickhead. You got a flooded basement?"
"Yeah, come this way."
Soon the two brothers were down in the large basement area, where there was ankle deep water. "Have a look around for the leak." said Mario.
"Yeah, yeah. Those shrooms aren't doing' anything. This day is gunna suck!"
The two men walked along, splashing through the water. The basement was fairly large and had old furniture and crap in it. Luigi could see a large gap in the far wall, about one meter wide and a meter and a half high. He walked up and peered into it, but it was very dark. Water seemed to be flowing out from it.
"Hey Mario. I think I found the source. You got your flashlight?"
"Yeah, hold on." Mario came over, getting his flashlight from his tool belt. He shone the light in. They saw sharp teeth and scary glowing eyes.
"Yeeeaaagh!" Both men cried out in surprise, and jumped back, as the animal came out from the darkness. It ran after Luigi, and he sprinted away, splashing through the water. Mario could make out a hard blue shell, covered in sharp spikes.
Luigi jumped up onto an old desk. The animal growled and gnashed its sharp jaws. "FUCK!!" cried out Luigi. "What the fuck is that?"
Mario cautiously moved around to get a better look. It looked like some sort of turtle, with a large blue, spiky shell, and a large jaw full of sharp teeth. It was vicious, it looked like it wanted to tear Luigi to pieces.
Mario grabbed a wrench from his tool belt and threw it at the animal. The tool just bounced off its' hard shell, and it continued trying to lash out a Luigi. Mario grabbed more tools and threw them.