Author question for you wonderful readers: Phoney and Smiley is a small little reference to something. Can you guess what it is?

_________________________________

Both Phoney and Smiley rushed towards me in such a fast pace that I almost couldn't dodge them. Luckily I had some self-defense magic that made it easier for me to dodge them right in the last second. They seemed confused that I was able to evade their attack and tried to attack me again. Smiley, who was wielding the sharp bone tried to stab me in the stomach. I jumped up in the air and landed right on top of his head, causing it to fall off. Phoney quickly grabbed Smiley's sharp bone and threw it towards me. I didn't have the time to react and it managed to make a cut on my left arm. I let out a small whimper caused by the pain and it made Phoney smile sadistically.

''You don't know who you're up against, toots.'' He said. ''You could've just not interrupted us, but you had to.''

I ran towards him, making him surprised that I hadn't given up yet. I jumped onto him and grabbed his head.

''H-Hey, what are you doing?!'' He yelled.

I threw his head into a nearby dumpster, same with Smileys head. Their bodies walked around aimlessly while trying to find their heads again. I kicked them back so that they were lying on their shells, making it hard for them to geck back on their feet.

''Wow...'' The small toad said, which made me flinch. He had been so quiet that I actually forgot that he was there. ''That was awesome!''

''Are you okay, little toad?'' I asked him.

He smiled. ''Yeah, I'm fine. But... your arm-''

''It's nothing,'' I said and put my hand over the wound. ''How did you end up with those guys?''

''Well, I was walking to school and then out of nowhere they showed up and wanted to take my money. I said that I didn't have any but they wouldn't believe me.''

''You shouldn't really walk by this neighborhood, it's dangerous and filled with a lot of dry bones.''

''But you saved me.'' He said happily.

I smiled. ''I'm not always going to be there to save everyone. Now go, I think you'll be late for school if you stay here any longer.''

He seemed to have forgotten about school and immediately started running away. ''Thank you for saving me, lady! I will not forget it!'' He hastily said before he was gone like the wind. I walked back to the apartment again where Polari was waiting, he was not happy to see the wound on my arm.

''You got cut again! You've got to be careful! You could die!'' He said stressed.

''Oh, don't worry Polari, I will not die until the Mushroom Kingdom is free from Bowser.''

I channeled my magic into my right hand and put it on the wound, it slowly started to heal while also hurting a little bit. If I had my wand I could heal it instantly without any pain involved, but now I was forced to do it the slow way. If Waluigi saw this he would be even more worried than he already is about me. He doesn't like it when I try to be the hero and just ends up being hurt. You could say that he's a little overprotective of me, maybe because I'm the first girl to have ever seen past his mean behavior and love him for who he truly is.

Suddenly a big rumble could be heard outside. I looked out the bedroom window and saw that the red clouds outside started to turn darker in color. It was going to rain again, it rained quite often. Some say that it represents the tears of the people in the kingdom. It sounds believable since it started raining more when Bowser took everything over.

At least I like rain...

Polari and I waited for a few hours. We didn't do much but talk with each other. Sometimes I sat on the bed and looked out the window while the raindrops hit the glass. I felt so trapped here. I couldn't go out that much in fear of Bowser's minions spotting me, there wasn't much to do indoors and the only one I would socialize with during the time Waluigi was gone was Polari.

I could maybe follow Waluigi to the training grounds. I've done that before and it went better than expected. It's just that Waluigi isn't very fond of me being outside in plain sight, so I always have to convince him in one way or another.

Then, as a savior from my boredom; I saw a familiar man dressed in purple clothing walk outside the building. I went and opened the door so that he didn't need to unlock it himself. I could hear the echo caused by his feet when walking up the stairs, my heart was jumping with excitement to see him. Then, he was finally home, standing in front of me. I immediately hugged him and didn't care that he was soaking wet from the rain. 

''Welcome home, Walu!'' I chuckled happily.

But something was wrong, he didn't hug me back. I could feel his aura trembling. I looked at him and saw that he was looking down at the floor with an upset and a little angry frown.

''Hey... Waluigi? What's wrong?'' I asked.

He looked up at me. His sad, blue eyes stared into mine. ''I can't do it.''

''What?''

''I can't be ready enough for the tournament, I don't have enough time. It's useless.''

I smiled to try to comfort him. ''Hey, come on. You've dealt with worse. Remember that time when they changed the sport right before Friday? You still made it out.''

''Yeah, with a broken leg that took hours for you to heal!'' He said grumpily. ''I don't want to break another bone! I've already done that 26 times this year!''

I grabbed his hand and led him into the apartment. ''I know you don't want to, but would you rather die for refusing to compete?''

''No...'' He shortly answered. ''I just don't know what to do...''

I just realized that this would be a perfect opportunity to ask him if I could follow him to the training grounds. ''Say, why don't we ''cheat'' a little?'' I said with a smirk.

''I know what you're going to say. It's out of the question.'' He replied almost immediately.

''Oh, come on! I want to go outside for a bit, it's so boring here when you're not around. And I could help you get ready for the tournament, just a little magic, nobody will ever notice.''

''No.'' He said and turned his head to the side.

I put my arms around his neck and closed in on him. ''Pleeease?'' I asked with puppy eyes. I saw that he was trying not to look at me, he could barely hold back a smirk. ''I can maybe bake you a cake afterward? With blueberry flavor? Your favorite?''

That's when his eyes went back to look at me. ''You really want to go, don't you?''

I nodded.

''Sure, you can come with me, then.'' He said with a smile. 

I kissed him right on the lips. ''Thank you!'' I said with a happy grin. ''Now let's get you dried up.''

I grabbed a towel from the bathroom and put it over Waluigi's head to dry his hair. He went to go and change out of his tennis outfit into his ordinary clothes which were just black overalls and a purple long sleeved shirt, accompanied by the purple plumber-hat that he has owned since... forever. I was about to start cooking some dinner for us when suddenly Waluigi grabbed me by the waist and pulled me towards him.

''What are you doing?'' I asked.

''Show me your arm.'' He said and stared at me with a serious glare.

I calmly pulled up my sleeve on my right arm, his eyes squinted angrily. ''Your other arm.'' He growled.

I tried to think of a way to get out of this situation. My left arm still had a scar from the wound I healed earlier, it would not go away until a few more hours had gone by. If Waluigi saw it he would be very mad at me. 

''I can't,'' I said.

''And why is that?'' He asked.

''It's... embarrassing...'' I said, trying to sound innocent enough that he would believe me.

He closed in on my face. ''You weren't this embarrassed to show some skin last night.''

I blushed at his comment. ''Waluigi!'' I said embarrassed. ''No comments like that when Polari is close!''

He quickly grabbed my arm and pulled it towards him before I could even react. My scar from before was now revealed to him.

His eyes widened at the sight and he let out a disappointed sigh as he let go of me and backed away. ''Why do you have to act like you're a hero all the time?''

''I just can't sit there and watch! It's unfair how the mushroom people get treated by koopas!''

''I know it's unfair, but that's how the world is now. You think that the whole world's going to change just because you save some toads? You don't gain anything from it!'' koopas

''At least I'm trying to save the world! What have you been doing all this time?! You're the brother of a star-child but I don't see you beating up anyone!''

''You know I'm not one of... them.'' He said with shame. ''I've only got taught a few things about star powers, but that doesn't matter since the only one who can kill a star-child is a star-child itself! And the only one we know the whereabouts of is my so-called ''brother'' who don't even want to help!''

''Do you have to be so childish?! Yes, you may not be a star-child but you are the only one in the world who has been taught by one! That makes you almost as powerful as one of them! You can save the world, or at least make Bowser back off from our kingdom but you're just too-''

I suddenly heard a small sniffle coming from the bedroom. I turned my head and saw Polari with tears falling from his eyes standing by the bedroom doorway. ''Stop fighting please...'' He whimpered while trying to wipe his tears away with his short little arms.

Waluigi and I looked at each other, then back at Polari. ''Sorry, Polari,'' I said. ''We didn't mean to raise our voices.''

''Sometimes people just need to yell a little,'' Waluigi added.

''We're sorry if we upset you.''

I grabbed Polari and carried him in my arms while I shot Waluigi a cold stare. He just shrugged and stared at me as if he was saying ''What? What did I do?''. 

Sure, I loved Waluigi, but he's so stubborn. He thinks he's nothing when in fact he is Wario's brother. He can't exactly kill Bowser but he can do what Mario did throughout the years: push him back. Drop him into lava so that it takes a while for him to heal and start a new attack. That was Mario's strategy because he didn't want to kill him, he was too nice. But it didn't go on forever...

If Waluigi didn't think so low of himself he might actually have a chance, but I know it was pointless to have an argument about it, he would never do it unless something happened that made him suddenly get really courageous. The reason I have that argument with him is that I have a slight glimmer of hope that maybe one day he will change his mind.

But maybe that glimmer of hope is just lying...