''What has happened to you?!'' Shawn burst out as he saw the blue marks on my stomach that White had left on me yesterday. I quickly tried to cover it and put on my white shirt. ''Nothing.'' I said.

Shawn looked a little angry. ''Of course it has! You don't just get bruises randomly, and those look pretty big! What have you done?!''

''It's not your concern.'' I said and stared at him with a ticked off look. Why couldn't he just stop worrying about me for just one second?

''Not my concern?! I'm your friend! If something has happened to you then I want to know about it! I'm a little worried about you, you know? You've been acting a little strange since that day at the mall.''

Shawn crossed his arms and waited for me to answer. I just shrugged. ''I'm completely fine.'' I mumbled as I made my way out of the gym's changing room. Shawn followed me close behind and didn't start talking again until we were out on the street. ''You know... you can't hold everything secret forever. It's going to slip out in one way or another someday.''

''Shawn, please just... stop. I don't want to-''

I got stopped in mid-sentence by a very suspicious sight. On the wall of a building someone had sprayed a mark that I was far too familiar with. A rose, surrounded by thorns, all painted in black. Under the mark was two sentences reading: ''We're back bitches! Watch out!''. They still use such harsh language, I see.

''Waluigi, why are you looking at this? Do you know what it is?'' Shawn asked as he went closer to get a better view.

I didn't answer for a moment, then decided to at least let Shawn know about them so we can do something about it. ''They're a gang called the thorny roses.'' I shortly answered.

''Who are they?''

''Shawn... how long have you been living in the mushroom kingdom?'' I asked, actually suprised that he haven't heard of the roses before.

''Almost ten years now.'' He replied.

''That explains it.'' I said. ''They used to live in the mushroom kingdom when I was in my teenage years. They caused trouble everywhere they went and were very dangerous.'' I sighed, then looked Shawn directly in the eyes. ''They're not the ones to mess with.''

''Well, it's our duty to catch them, isn't it?''

I raised an eyebrow, questioning if he was really sane. ''Shawn, to catch them we need at least twenty officers.''

''And?'' He asked. ''Our job requires us to lock them in, we're forced to do it.''

I couldn't really answer. He was right, it was our duty to catch every criminal, including the thorny roses. I couldn't escape it. ''Alright, seems like we have a new case.'' I chuckled nervously. Shawn laughed happily and nudged my leg playfully while we made our way back to the office again. ''Come on! At least you get to do something else than paperwork, right?''

I sighed. He didn't at all know how much pain I felt by even hearing the roses' names.

*Later*

I felt so vulnerable, even when I had Bob-ombs and a piranha plant pot equipped under my coat. My fear form White and the others was greater than anything else, they always made me feel like a mouse being chased by a lion. Why did they have to come back?! WHY?! They promised! And a rose never breaks a promise!

''We meet again, Purple.''

I gasped and turned around while quickly trying to take out a Bob-omb. But my hand got stopped by one of White's punches. I fell to the ground with a whimper escaping from my mouth. ''What do you want from me?!'' I yelled.

''I'm here to show you where you belong. You really think that you're a good guy after what you did?''

''Shut up!'' I said and put my hands over my ears while I crawled together into a ball. ''It wasn't my fault!''

''Sure it was, we all were there when you did it.'' White said as she circled around me and kicked me whenever she felt like I needed it. ''And you were exactly as pathetic now as you were then, too.''

She lifted me up by holding my hair in a tight grip and gave me a few punches. ''We're not leaving anytime soon. Might as well just give up being a detective, you can't win anyways.''

Out of pure rage I took out my piranha plant pot and sent the plant's head right towards her. But with just one finger she managed to calm the plant down by tapping a certain spot on its head. ''You're really forgetful, you don't even remember showing me this little trick.'' She chuckled.

I stared at her in fear. She forced the piranha plant to shrink back into its pot and gave me one more kick. I shrinked into a ball that lied helpless on the ground while she walked away. ''Crybaby.'' She mumbled.

I lied quietly for a moment, sobbing. White was pretty scary up close, and one bad memory after another played inside my head every minute. I felt my head hurt really bad, my nose was bleeding as well as my lip. I probably got a black eye too if I knew White. In the end I managed to take out my phone out of my pocket and dial a number that I hadn't done for a long time. I held the phone close to my ear and pleaded that the person would pick up as quickly as possible.

''Uhh... hello? Who are you to call at this hour?'' A rough voice answered.

''Wario!'' I called out in a trembling voice, both relieved and scared at the same time.

''Waluigi? What's wrong? You sound weird...''

''Come.'' I shortly replied, I felt my throat burning.

''What?'' He said, utterly confused over what I was saying.

''Come, please!'' I said and sobbed. ''Please, brother!'' This was like deja-vu to me. I had been in the exact same situation several times before, and I knew I hated to call him brother. But in theese situations I needed a big bro to help me.

Wario got quiet over what I said and a few seconds later he answered me. ''Where are you?'' His voice was serious and showed that he was clearly worried about me.

''The park.'' I sobbed. ''Help me.''

''I'm coming, stay where you are! I'll be there soon, hold on!'' He practically shouted in panic, then ended the call.

I sat with my knees against my chest, fearing that White would maybe come back for another round. I sobbed quietly as I tried to hold out until Wario arrived. It was so cold, the ground was covered with snow. I was shaking like a crazy man until I saw a shadow hanging over me, caused by the street lights. It was Wario, he stood in front of me like a guardian angel, but instead of being dressed in white clothes he was dressed in his biker clothes.

''Wario...'' I whimpered and immediately hugged him. He patted my back in comfort. ''Don't worry, I'm here, bro.'' He looked at my face drenched in tears and blood. ''Was it...?''

I nodded. ''She hurt me.'' I cried. ''I... I can't... she-''

Wario hushed me. ''Let's get someplace warm. Okay?''

He lead me to his motorcycle and I got to sit behind him while he drove off to his home. I held my arms around his chest and buried my face into his shoulder all the way there. I knew this situation too well, but almost every time it happened it felt like it was the first time.

As soon as Wario opened the door to his home, Mona popped out to greet us. But before she could say a word, Wario pushed her to the side to lead me to the couch so I could sit down. Mona was confused and looked very worried as soon as she saw that I was hurt.

''What's happening, Wario? What's with Waluigi?'' She asked worriedly.

''Mona, please go and make some tea. He needs to get warm.'' Wario said in a calm but serious voice.

Mona immediately went to the kitchen to make some tea. Meanwhile, Wario looked at my wounds. ''Curse White and her punches.'' He mumbled under his breath. He took off my wet coat and shirt to look at the bruises on my stomach and back. He gasped as they became revealed, then growled in a low voice. ''Damn, she really knows how to hit hard.'' He wrapped a blanket around me comfortly and wiped off some of my blood from my face with a wet napkin.

Mona came back with a cup of tea and handed it to me. I grabbed it with both hands and felt the heat warm up my hands. I was too shocked to say anything at the moment, and could only give her a faint sound as thanks.

''Wario, please tell me what's going on!'' She demanded. ''What happened to Waluigi? Why does he have so many bruises and wounds?''

Wario sat down next to me on my left side. ''It's... complicated...''

She sat down next to me on my right side and stared at us with a sad look. ''Please, I can maybe help.''

''I can't, I'ts a secret that I've promised not to tell anyone about.'' Wario said as he slowly shook his head. ''Who did you promise? I thought that you never promised anything to anyone.'' Mona exclaimed and crossed her arms. ''And if you did you'd alway break that promise!''

''He promised me.'' I said in a faint voice and took a gulp of my tea. ''And I know that he'd never break it.''

Man, this shows even more that I'm a sadistic writer! Why do I always write about the bad stuff?! Why?! Anyway, next chapter is going to be... I don't know actually. I'll try to make it as interesting as possible for you! :)

Please vote and comment, I try to write as much as possible, even when I have school. Stay patient, dragonreaders!