It's almost time isn't it.

Yep, they should be getting here any time now.

5 more seconds. 4. 3. 2. 1. *Watches as time machine materializes out of thin air*

*Emerges from time machine* Behold Cascore, the future!

There you are!

Oh hey, it's my future self. What's up dog!

Nothing much, except that the Pennington Files haven't been updated in almost 8 months!

Futureversionofmyselfsaywhat!

I'll explain. When you, our past selves, went on your time travelling joy ride, you forgot that the flash drive containing the next chapter of Murder on the Excess Express was in your pockets. So for the past eight months it's been with you guys as you were flying through the fabric of space and time.

Yeah, turns out, car sickness translates to time travel as well. But the story seriously hasn't been updated for eight months?

Nope.

That's messed. Oh, you know what, I think I have the flash drive right here actually.

Well give it here so we can update this bad boy!

Alright, so while he's doing that, what new exciting things can we expect from the year 2010?

They're making a 3DS. It lets you play 3D games on a handheld without the use of glasses.

Holy cow, you're pulling my leg, right?

Nope. Also, they're making a 4th Paper Mario game for it.

MY HEART! All of this future technology is going to give me shock.

Quickly, we must return to our time where the natural order of the universe is respected and adhered to! *Drags Wimpzilla into time machine*

*Watches time machine pop out of existence* ...I just realized that if we gave this flash drive back to them they could have updated the story themselves 8 months ago...

I hate time travel.

Day Three - Saturday Evening

Not unlike the pair of Toads, Mario found himself stunned by the news. Unconsciously leaning towards the door's opening to get a better look at the room, his throat quickly became drier than the most arid of deserts as his heart rate began to increase. Toad seemed to have a similar reaction, for his face paled slightly as his eyes widened in shocked. The waitress shot him a glance, took note of his stunned expression, and hugged his arm more tightly as she returned her attention to Pennington.

"Who's the victim?" she asked, concerned and quiet. Fidgeting slightly, Pennington ruffled his hat a bit and placed a balled flipper in front of his beak as he cleared his throat.

"We'll discuss the details once I have everyone gathered," he explained in an uncharacteristically serious tone. Something about this new occurrence seemed to bring out his full-on detective mode. Shortly, he stepped off to the side of the door. "If the two of you will head to Car Three."

The pair followed suit after exchanging a worried look, proceeding slowly out of the room in clear reluctance of bearing witness to this new crime scene. Pennington was left behind to slide the door closed behind them and went for the knob as he stepped out. Before he left though, he suddenly paused and looked back into the room. By this time, Mario was leaning partially out of the closet, but quickly threw himself back out of sight once he realized that Pennington was moments away from noticing him. Several seconds passed in silence before the door finally closed and Mario was free to exit the closet.

He remained in the room for a while, taking a few deep breaths to lower his accelerated heart rate as he simultaneously wondered how long he should wait before exiting the room. If Pennington was coming from Car Three with the news, it was likely he was working his way down the train, meaning he was headed for Bow's room as his final stop. If Mario left immediately, he'd run the risk of being caught in the suspicious act of leaving Toad's room only moments after Pennington himself was there. So he decided it may well be best to stick around for at least a little while before going to leave.

He allowed a minute to pass in silence before he edged over to the door and nudged it back open slightly. Cautiously, he poked his head out into the hallway and looked off toward Bow's cabin, only to rear back into the room and close the door once more as he witnessed Pennington, Bow, and what looked like Peach and Toadsworth all exit the Boo's cabin.

"Right this way, ladies," Pennington insisted. The group passed in silence as Mario hid directly on the other side of Toad's door. Once the sound of the footsteps made its way past the door, Mario poked his head out the door once again to confirm what he believed he saw just a moment ago. Sure enough, Pennington and Toadsworth had taken the rear, Bow and Peach making their way in front of them.

Mario figured the only possible reason Peach could have been in Bow's room was for the purpose of giving the Boo a harsh talking-to about intruding on others' relationships, while Toadsworth was only there to accompany the princess, as he always did. If that were the case though, why were they going through the hallway side by side like that? They must have either been on friendly terms, or the shock of the news made them forget about their bad blood for a moment. Mario was willing to bet the latter was the case.

Forgetting about the princess and the Boo, Mario quickly hopped out of the room, closed the door behind him, and hastily made his way over to Car Two. He made sure to keep a distance between himself and the group just ahead of him to avoid being seen, but his mind was preoccupied with far more than being caught.

How inconvenient that a second murder take place while Mario was still in the process of figuring out the first one! Why did something like that have to happen when he had less than a day left to prove his brother's innocence? Sure, it was a terrible thing that someone else had been killed, but this new case would surely impede his progress on solving the mystery behind Don Pianta's death. And that was the last thing Mario needed at the moment.

The scene felt all too familiar as Mario stepped up to Waluigi's room, for a crowd of horrified, disgusted patrons had been gathered in front of its open door. Several faces were pure white as Mario nudged his way through the crowd, others seeming to threaten to pass out on the spot from the sight. And once Mario laid his eyes on the scene, he immediately understood why the reactions were as they were, for his own eyes had widened as his throat grew dry once more.

Popple was found lying next to his bed on the floor, a pool of his own blood having surrounded him from head to toe. All across his torso, several cuts had been etched into his skin, and the cloth around the incisions was drenched in whatever blood was not presiding on the floor. A large steak knife rested at his side, roughly two feet away, its blade almost fully covered in its victim's blood. Mario had to admit, he didn't have fond memories of the guy, and he didn't exactly have the best reputation, but seeing him decimated in such a fashion...who in the world – or, rather, who on that train, would ever do such a thing to him?

"Ah, thank you for joining us 'Mario'," Pennington greeted as he noticed the plumber enter the room. He soon gave a little summoning wave, motioning for Mario to come to his side. "I believe your assistance may be needed at present. As my capable apprentice, I believe you would surely be best to aid me in solving this undoubtedly heinous case."

Ignoring the comment about being Pennington's apprentice, Mario approached the body slowly. He was careful not to step in the massive red puddle as he came as close as he could to Popple's side, kneeling down to inspect him more closely. Pennington watched him intently before stepping over to his side, flippers clasped behind his back.

"Do you notice anything particularly strange about this scene, 'Mario'?" Pennington asked, the inflection in his voice hinting that he knew something that Mario, and likely everyone else, didn't. Mario couldn't help but furrow his brow and scrunch his nose slightly as he gave his answer though. He didn't notice how horrible the room smelled until that instant.

"Other than the fact that there's blood everywhere? And that is smells terrible?" Mario responded, cupping his nose with his right hand in an attempt to block the foul odor. The stench of the large puddle was not like that of blood; it proved to be much more offensive to the senses, making Mario wonder wonder if Beanish people had different blood than Toads and Humans. Pennington's improbably sensitive nostrils seemed unfazed however, for he continued to hold his flippers behind his back and appear as if the smell did not affect him whatsoever.

"I was speaking more along the lines of the murder weapon itself," Pennington corrected, drawing Mario's, and most of the crowd's, attention over to the steak knife. "Give it a closer look. Do you not recognize the insignia on the blade's handle?"

It was a bit over the top to refer to a steak knife as a blade, wasn't it? Regardless, Mario did as he was instructed and focused his attention on the knife's handle. On it was a small, carved picture of the engine of the Excess Express, and inside that image was a small oval in which the letters "EE" were placed...

"Isn't this a steak knife from the kitchen?" Mario asked after a few seconds, prompting a nod from Pennington.

"Precisely," Pennington confirmed. "The murderer had to have had access to this steak knife in order to kill our Beanish victim. How do you believe they were able to procure such an item, 'Mario'?"

"Well, anyone could have just sneaked it out while they exited the restaurant," Mario responded, not exactly sure of what Pennington was getting at. It was absurd to think anyone had to go through special means to obtain a simple steak knife.

"I'll get to that point later then," Pennington said, a hint of disappointment in his voice, as if a student had failed his test. "But the first important thing I wish to address is establishing a suspect. Who was the person last seen entering or exiting this cabin?"

Several seconds passed by without anyone responding. Everyone in the crowd slowly began to look at each other awkwardly, expecting someone to speak up. When it was clear no one had an answer, Pennington rubbed the underside off his beak.

"I see. You sir, in the emo garb," Pennington spoke up, pointing towards Waluigi. Waluigi scoffed at the ridiculous comment about his choice of fashion, but came over to Pennington's side anyway. "Do you not bunk with this Beanish looking fellow?" Pennington asked rhetorically, for he continued before Waluigi could begin to give an answer. "Surely you had a clear opportunity to murder him."

Waluigi folded his arms and looked down at Popple's body, almost appearing as if he didn't care that his own acquaintance was laying there dead right before his eyes. "Yeah, we used to share a room, but I haven't seen him since we left Riverside Station."

"Really now?" Pennington began accusingly. "Where could you have possibly stayed other than your own room?"

"I've been staying with Wario since we pulled out of Riverside," Waluigi explained simply. "We haven't had the chance to catch up in a while, so I've been spending my time with him."

Pennington looked towards Wario, who nodded in affirmation. "Wario, is it?" Pennington started, turning fully to the obese man as he spoke. "Has this shifty-looking fellow ever left your side since Riverside Station?"

"Well, duh!" Wario responded with a snort, "I ain't the guy's babysitter or nothin'. We hang out and stuff, but I ain't goin' to the bathroom with the guy if that's what you're askin'."

Waluigi rolled his eyes as if to thank the heavens for that small fact.

"That was a rather vulgar way of putting it, but thank you I suppose," Pennington said. "Perhaps I should have asked a more narrow question. Wario, has this man been with you for the past, say, half hour?"

"Yeah," Wario answered briefly.

"And neither you nor he ever entered this cabin in that span of time?" Pennington continued.

"No."

"Well, that most certainly is troubling indeed," Pennington admitted, though he still appeared to be in control of the situation. He was in full-on detective mode after all, and he couldn't afford to let that slip away. "So no one here has entered this cabin within the last thirty minutes, correct?" Everyone in the crowd nodded. "Then that can only mean one thing-"

"Hey guys, what's going on in here?" A slightly timid voice suddenly asked from the back of the crowd. As a single unit, everyone turned to see who had spoken up only to find none other than Pennington's perpetual number one suspect standing at the door: Luigi.

"SO!" Pennington shouted exuberantly, immediately pointing an accusatory flipper in Luigi's direction, managing to part the crowd like the Red Sea so Luigi was standing directly in the spotlight. "The criminal returns to the scene of the crime!"

"...What!" Luigi shouted after an awkward silence as he attempted to figure out what was going on. The crowd erupted into a flurry of whispers, thoroughly worrying Luigi. "W-Wait, I didn't commit any crime! What's everyone talking about here!"

"Don't play dumb 'Luigi', as easy as it must be for you," Pennington retorted, inwardly smirking at his wicked burn. "I made sure to gather everyone in the train, EXCEPT you. By the mere fact that you showed up at all means you knew there was a murder here."

"But I didn't-" Luigi stammered. He suddenly came to a freeze once he noticed Popple's body on the ground behind Pennington.

"And how could you possibly have known there was a murder here at all," Pennington continued, ignoring Luigi completely as he continued to make his point, "unless you committed the murder yourself!"

"I have serious doubts about that line of logic, Pennington," Mario spoke up, causing the Bumpty to spin around and look at him in shock. He seemed to have honestly forgotten Mario was even there.

"How could you possibly have doubts about it. Just look at his face!" Pennington shouted, pointing to Luigi, whose had gone quite pale. "Only a man who knows he's been caught would have a face as pale as that."

"Or his face could just be pale because-"

*THUD*

Everyone turned their attention back to Luigi in surprise, for he had collapsed and landed flat on his back. He was unconscious.

"He doesn't do well with the sight of blood at all," Mario finished. Pennington frowned, for he hadn't considered that Luigi could have simply been more on the squeamish side. "He wouldn't have been able make it past the first cut if he actually did do this."

"Hm... This case won't be as easy to crack as the previous one then," Pennington admitted. "However it's just as well. This only vindicates my suspicions of 'Luigi' murdering Don Pianta."

"How?" Mario asked.

"As I'm sure many of you assumed, whoever did this very likely murdered Don Pianta as well," Pennington began to explain. "However, the way this murder was carried out suggests another person to be at work here. This murderer is much more direct and brutal, possibly taking a sick pleasure in stealing this man's life. A single stab to the heart would have done the job just fine, but notice that there are several horizontal cuts across his torso instead of thin, deep stabs. 'Popple' here most likely died to loss of blood instead of internal injuries, considering the massive puddle of blood at our feet. This person took their precious time in killing him, most likely enjoying every sick and twisted second of it, the heathen."

Many of the faces surrounding the entrance to the cabin had become pale green with nausea.

"However, whoever killed Don Pianta was much more indirect, and clean, about their murder. I suspect there are in fact two different murderers on this train. And if 'Luigi' turns as green as the very clothes he wears at the mere sight of blood, then that means even the way Don Pianta was murdered points straight to him."

"So you mean to say that there's actually another murderer on this train?" Toad asked, he himself starting to turn white with worry.

Meanwhile, Peach seemed a little less surprised by this turn of events and more shocked by just how Pennington was acting. She soon turned towards Toadsworth and whispered, "When did Pennington become so...competent?" Toadsworth merely shook his head in response, just as astounded as his dear princess.

"And that is precisely why I've called you all here," Pennington answered, not having heard Peach's comment and disregarding the fact that he just admitted to trying to trick Luigi into looking even more guilty before he fainted. "I'd like to individually hear from each of you about what you've been doing for the past half hour."

"But why only the last half hour?" Yoshi asked, having forgotten his hunger pangs. "No one's even seen the guy since we left Riverside Station. The murderer could have gotten to him at any time since then."

Pennington smiled as if he had a secret he had been dying to tell everyone, and Yoshi seemed to give him the perfect opportunity to show off his knowledge. "I would like to draw everyone's attention to this ghastly pool of blood," he began, stepping to the side to ensure everyone could see it, though that really wasn't a problem since it covered half the entire floor. "But what I would like to point out is that the blood...IS STILL WET!"

At first everyone had grown silent with confusion, but slowly, one by one, they realized Pennington's point. For anyone who hadn't though, Pennington spoke up with his explanation about the significance of this discovery.

"Blood, on average, takes twenty minutes to congeal," he recited.

"Con-what?" Yoshi asked, cocking his head to the right a little.

"I think he means it takes twenty minutes for blood to dry," Mario corrected, knowing that Pennington had used the word "congeal" inappropriately in an attempt to make himself sound more intelligent.

"Precisely!" Pennington announced, ignorant to his grammatical misstep. "Which brings us back to the steak knife. We know the murder must have taken place today by the fact that this person was killed within the past twenty minutes. Lunch has since passed, and no one would have need for a steak knife for any lunch or breakfast item on the menu. With every utensil accounted for the previous night, where could this killer have hoped to obtain his murder weapon?"

"...!" Mario pieced together the information, and once Pennington had seen that his apprentice knew what he was talking about, he continued.

"I see you've figured it out 'Mario'," Pennington spoke up happily before informing the rest of his clueless audience. "This can only mean that whoever stole that box of kitchen ingredients and utensils..."

He paused for dramatic effect...

"Is directly involved with this murder!"

A collective gasp shot through the crowd, followed by more shocked murmuring. Pennington soon held his flipper up, commanding silence from the crowd. They heeded his gesture and quieted down.

"Naturally, this is a very mysterious case, as most cases tend to be. But we do have a lead now, with the Chef's missing box. Everyone's cooperation would be very much appreciated, so I will be holding 'interviews' with everyone soon, beginning with you, Mr. Waluigi," Pennington said, turning towards the lanky thief standing at his side. Waluigi gave a grunt and showed off his usual frown, but didn't decline. "In the meantime, I'd like to discuss with my apprentice in private. If you'll all excuse us for a moment."

Everyone began filing out of the cabin, carefully stepping over the still unconscious Luigi, leaving the Bumpty and plumber to discuss the finer points of this new case.

"I hope you've accepted the fact that your brother murdered Don Pianta," Pennington began quite casually. "I don't need you to be distracted with several cases at once if you're going to be helping me."

"Sorry Pennington, but my brother never murdered Don Pianta, or anyone for that matter, I'm sure of it. You've already proven that he couldn't have anyway," Mario responded, aggravated by Pennington's persistence on blaming Luigi for everything.

"I hope you're not speaking of the fingerprints I lifted off the ring," Pennington stated flatly, "because there's a very simple explanation for the small prints that have appeared."

"Oh, really?" Mario asked rhetorically, not buying into Pennington's claim at all.

"Elementary, my dear apprentice," Pennington began. Mario could tell by the look on his face that he had been waiting for the opportunity to use that line. "Don Pianta himself simply left those prints on the ring. Surely his thumb on his right hand left those prints whenever he took the ring off."

"That's a bit absurd don't you think?" Mario asked, folding his arms. "You're clearly grabbing at straws now."

"Am I? Tell me, how could Don Pianta's left hand leave fingerprints on a ring he's wearing? His fingers never came into contact with the ring itself, and if they do they are wiped away when he slides his ring on and off. Only his other hand, in the process of taking off the ring, could leave behind his large, distinct prints. And surely his thumb comes in contact while doing so."

"So you've matched the smaller prints to his right thumb I assume?" Mario asked. Pennington gave a weak smile.

"Well, you see, my nose is very sensitive, which gives me the impeccable ability to sniff out any hint of mystery," Pennington tried to explain. "However, I'm afraid that the stench of the rotting steak in Don Pianta's room has become too much for my nostrils to bear. I can't even enter the last car of the train because of that horrible stench. With luck I won't have to venture back there for this case. Regardless, my sheet of prints seems to have gone missing, so even if I wanted to test for comparisons, I couldn't exactly do so at the moment... Would you happen to have seen my sheet at all?"

"No," Mario lied bluntly before quickly getting back to the subject. "Well I'm sorry Pennington, I can't help you with this case. Proving my brother's innocence is of far greater importance than finding the scoundrel who stabbed Popple." Oh lord, now Mario was starting to talk like him!

"I see, though I can't say I truly understand why you're so persistent on proving that murderous brother of yours innocent. I commend you nonetheless on your undying loyalty though," Pennington said. "Well, it looks like this penguin with the improbably large brain has yet another case to solve, and he must do so quickly, with or without the help of his apprentice. So if you'll excuse me..." With those parting words, Pennington left the cabin, nearly tripping over the unconscious Luigi still laying in the hallway.

Mario remained behind, shaking his head slightly before taking in the scene of the murder. Although he had to focus on Don Pianta's case, Mario couldn't help but feel curious about this one as well. During Pennington's analysis of the crime, Mario couldn't shake the feeling that something was out of place; namely the fact that nothing was actually out of place. Every item in the room, save for the carpet, was left unchanged and pristine. Mario knew Popple; he was a fighter, known for even causing a tussle over literally nothing. The fact that there were no signs of struggle between him and the killer was far too suspicious...

As his eyes darted about the room, they rested upon a bottle of ColdKillerX, a popular brand of cold medicine, placed on the nightstand. The top was removed, placed off to the side of the stand. A bottle that large could easily last a person a week, if they took the suggested two pills every four hours. But the bottle was only half full, and considering that Popple must have been sick upon boarding the train only two days ago, he must have been taking quite a dosage of pills, far more than he should have. But if he took too many over a course of several doses or in just one sitting could not be determined. Mario set the bottle back on the table, promising to let Pennington know about his discovery the next time they met.

Once Mario had set the bottle back on the counter, he found himself alone again. With no one wanting to revisit a dead body, right then would be the best time to sneak a peek at Toad's secret letter. Shutting the door closed and making sure to lock it, Mario pulled out the fabled letter and began reading it, holding his breath as he did so.

Dear Toad.

We regret to inform you that, due to our limited resources, we could no longer continue with providing life support for Toadette. Her medical finances have not been covered for three (3) months, and we simply have too many patients in need of our equipment. We are truly remorseful about the decision that has reluctantly been carried out, but there was nothing more we could do, and no compromise was available for this situation. We hope you understand, and again, we deeply apologize for your loss, but our paying customers must come first.

With regret,

St. Herald Hospital

Mario read the letter over and over again, but somehow he couldn't believe what he was reading could be real. Toadette...she was dead now? Toad couldn't keep up with the high payments so they just pulled the plug on her, just like that? What kind of sick hospital was this? Sure, there were others in need of equipment too, but she was there first, and obviously very much in need of it! Mario wasn't sure who he was more furious at, the hospital for doing such a heartless thing, or himself for not even knowing that Toadette was in danger. He could have prevented this, if only Toad had come to him for help...

Slowly refolding the letter and placing it back into his pocket, Mario simply stood there for a moment as he let the information sink in. Toadette was really, honestly gone...? He would never be able to see her again...? Suddenly, he felt hollow. Empty. As if a part of his own self had died as a result of daring himself to read that letter. And the news was only made worse by the morbid activities go on within that very train. Just how many deaths would he have to deal with before it was all over? It just felt like too much to take in all at once.

After a minute or two, Mario realized he was staring blankly out of the cabin's window. He had things to do, and standing around idly wasn't one of them. But Toadette... Mario would definitely have to find Toad as soon as possible and talk with him about that letter.

He left the cabin, feeling strangely awkward as he walked. His body almost seemed to go numb from the thought of Toadette's death. He wouldn't have even noticed he stepped on his brother had Luigi not grunted as a result.

"Oof," Luigi moaned, waking from his fainting spell as Mario accidently stepped on his stomach. The older brother quickly backed off as Luigi sat himself up, rubbing his throbbing head. "Oooh...what just happened?"

Thinking quickly, Mario stepped back toward the cabin door and closed it shut. Poor Luigi probably would have passed out again on the spot if he witnessed the ghastly sight again. Slowly, Luigi's eyes focused and he soon craned his neck back to look up at his brother, who was gazing right back at him worriedly. He then stood, stumbled a little from the daze of having recently passed out, and shook his head before supporting himself on the railing next to the hall window.

"How are you feeling?" Mario asked with genuine concern, removing himself from the door and stepping over to the Luigi before placing a firm hand on his shoulder. Luigi merely looked at him for a moment before he spoke, as if trying to remember what happened in the past few minutes.

"I don't know. I'm kinda confused," he admitted slowly before resting his forehead on his palm. Mario retracted his hand and backed off a bit. "All I remember was Pennington calling me a murderer, and then passing out..." Remembering Pennington, Luigi suddenly snapped back into reality and shifted himself into worry mode immediately. "Oh no, Pennington doesn't think I murdered Popple does he!"

Mario was glad to see Luigi was back to his regular, worrisome self so quickly, even if that wasn't much better than being confused.

"No. He's still convinced you killed Don Pianta, so he's ruled you out already," Mario explained. Luigi pouted.

"Well, that's not much better now is it?" Luigi muttered, folding his arms in a huff.

"I wouldn't worry," Mario consoled with a small smile, trying his best to lighten his brother's mood, despite his own dampened spirit. "Remember, we already proved it couldn't have been you at lunch, but Pennington's so delusional that he made up this whole explanation that the prints were left by Don Pianta himself when he took his ring off. It's not like he even bothers to take the ring off-"

Mario stopped himself short once he realized that Luigi was giving off an odd look. He wasn't looking directly back at Mario, instead focusing his attention high up on the wall behind Mario, slightly to his left. An eyebrow was slightly raised and a faint frown could be seen forming across his lips. Mario knew his brother had something to say, and stayed quiet until Luigi noticed that Mario wanted him to give up whatever information was hiding away in his mind.

"Well..." Luigi started reluctantly, urging a groan from Mario. Luigi was about to say something he didn't want to hear. "Don Pianta actually takes his ring off for several occasions. Like when he's eating, when he's meeting an employee or a client, and when he's joggercising, among other things."

"...Jogger-what?" Mario asked, already sounding exasperated after learning this knew nugget of information.

"It's um, kinda what power walking is to regular walking I guess, except you jog. If that makes any sense," Luigi responded, a little unsure of his own answer. Mario accepted it without question though, figuring it was a moot point anyway.

"So you're saying that Don Pianta definitely, without a doubt, had his ring off during your meeting on Thursday?" Mario asked, making sure Luigi was absolutely one hundred percent certain. Luigi nodded in response.

"Yes."

"So, hypothetically, you could have, very easily, stolen the ring from Don Pianta?" Mario asked, becoming noticeably more weary by the word; he stared at Luigi rather intensely and slumped his shoulders slightly, unable to believe that Luigi was so willingly prosecuting himself at the moment.

Luigi didn't seem to get why Mario was staring at him so strangely for a few moments, until he slowly pieced together what was being hinted at in the last couple of questions. Once he figured it out, his eyes immediately widened and he quickly clutched on to Mario's shoulder, worry riddled in his face. "Oh man Bro, are you saying this is ANOTHER piece of evidence Pennington can use against me!" Mario nodded, looking quite irritated and away from Luigi's face. Luigi soon let go of his brother and reared his head back dramatically, clasping his hands to his face as he did so. "Why me! Why does this kind of thing only happen to me! And just when I thought life was finally looking up for me, all of this starts to happen and-...and...!"

Luigi dropped his hands and slumped his shoulders after the dramatic display, hiccuping as a tear or two slid down his face. Mario, unable to stand seeing his brother like that, stepped over and gave him a pat on the back. "Don't worry Luigi. It'll be okay. Trust me. Thing's could always be much worse."

"How could it be worse than this-hic!" Luigi asked, having lost all composure. "Being accused of...murdering your boss, losing-hic, losing the best job you've ever had because of it, and having the possibility of freedom dangled right in front of you, only for it be-hic, yanked away when things are looking up! HOW COULD IT BE ANY WORSE THAN THAT!"

"...You left out Daisy learning what you wrote in your diary," Mario timidly added with a small smile after a moment of silence, hoping to interject some humor into the situation. Luigi was less than impressed at Mario attempt to lighten the mood though.

"Yeah, thanks for reminding me," Luigi grumbled. "I almost wish I was the next person to die."

"Don't say that Luigi. As long as Pennington doesn't know about Don Pianta's ring habits, then we're in the clear on this one. All we have to do is keep quiet about it," Mario explained, bringing a slight light of hope to his brother's dismals face.

"Well, how unfortunate for you that I heard absolutely everything you just said!" a stuffy voice shouted triumphantly from behind Mario. His eyes wide and the hairs on the back of his neck standing at attention, Mario spun around quicker than his heart could beat and saw, to his pure and utter dread, the very Bumpty he had come to despise over the past few days, staring up at him with a snicker and a sneer. Meanwhile, Luigi could do little more than stare in horrified shock.

"PENNINGTON!" Mario shouted in equal parts surprise and utter disbelief. "Wh...What are you doing here?" he went on to ask after a brief pause in an attempt to collect himself and calm down.

"Well, I'd decided to return to the scene of the crime for one last examination before my meeting with the Goth fellow," Pennington responded smugly. "Believe you me my fair apprentice, I had no intention of further proving your brother guilty of his murder, but I suppose what just happened was simply destiny at work. Well, if you two will excuse me, I'll be off," he finished, tipping his hat to the brothers as if to mock them before turning to enter the cabin. Mario watched in silence as Pennington began to whistle an inappropriately cheery tunes while opening the cabin door to return to the grisly scene beyond. He suddenly remembered Luigi's previous reaction to all the blood and looked over at him quickly. However, the man in green was busy continuing to stare straight ahead, a tiny, pitch black rain cloud now hovering over his head and drenching his hat and shoulders.

"And if you'll excuse me Bro-hic...I have a pillow to go cry into," he sighed. He began to leave for his room, the cloud following him as it released a tiny bolt of lightning that barely missed Luigi's cap, followed by a miniature clap of thunder. Mario felt immensely sorrowful for his brother; the poor guy just always seemed to attract all kinds of trouble. Figuring Luigi could benefit from some alone time though (or maybe just some time not being around other people so he couldn't incriminate himself even more), Mario decided he may as well head off for his intended destination: Toad's cabin.

Mario approached the door to Toad's cabin and attempted to open it immediately. However, the door wouldn't budge, even after Mario tried to slide it several times. For a moment, he thought it might have been stuck somehow. Eventually though, he realized it was simply locked. So few people ever actually locked their doors on the Excess Express that Mario forgot it was possible for a moment, even though he did it himself just minutes ago.

He stepped back for a moment, wondering if he really wanted to intrude on Toad's space. He must have had the door locked for a reason after all...

No. Mario had to talk to him about that letter. Something like what was detailed in the letter couldn't just be left alone. He had to go to Toad and figure out what was going on with him. Resolved, Mario knocked on the door a few times.

"Toad, are you there?" he called.

Several seconds passed in silence before he could hear the tumblers in the door's lock activate. The door cracked open just wide enough for Mario to enter, welcoming him to slip into the dim room before Toad quickly shut the door once more and relocked it. Mario watched his friend in silence as Toad returned to his couch.

"What's up Mario?" Toad asked, a heavy hint of nervousness in his voice as he watched the door from the side of his eye. Mario noticed this, and though he planned to bring up the letter immediately, Toad's nervous composure piqued his curiosity.

"What's wrong Toad? You seem worried."

"Well, aren't you?" Toad asked. "I mean, two killers? On the same train? I think I have every right to be freaking out at least a little bit right now."

He did had a point, but, for some reason, Mario couldn't shake the feeling that Toad's current demeanor was little more than an act. It didn't seem to match up with how how was behaving before. "You weren't this freaked out when the first murder happened though," Mario pointed out, though sounding more sympathetic than accusatory as not to make Toad feel even more uncomfortable if he was expressing genuine fear. "Why weren't you like this when we found Don Pianta?"

"Well, I was kind of freaked out in the beginning," Toad admitted, still watching the door, "but I thought the killer was...well, finished with their job, you know? When two days passed without Luigi killing another person, I thought everyone would be in the clear. But now, I guess I at least know who to avoid." Mario felt it necessary to correct Toad about his Luigi comment, but allowed him to continue regardless. "But did you see what the second guy did? And to a completely random person too! No one on this train is safe..."

"You think this last death was a random killing?" Mario asked, failing to see the logic in Toad's argument. Why did he think it was random, and who would go off and just kill random targets anyway?

"It has to have been! ...I mean, no one on this train even knew who that Popple guy was," Toad reasoned, his voice sounding more desperate after he finally focused his attention on Mario. Mario was beginning to feel that Toad really was scared for his life.

"Some people on this train did know him," Mario began in an attempt to prove Toad wrong. "For instance, Waluigi. And Luigi and I met him when we went to the Beanbean Kingdom."

"Well, okay...but you were the only three who actually knew him," Toad countered, sticking by his fear. He seemed to calm down just a little bit as he bowed his head and went through the names Mario just gave him, really thinking about what could have happened. "And he and Waluigi were friends, so I really don't see why Waluigi would have done it. And we know Luigi couldn't have killed him because he faints at the sight of blood. So that just leaves..." Toad trailed off into silence as he got to the last name, and he slowly returned his gaze back to Mario, his eyes suddenly stricken with fear. Mario caught on to Toad's thought process immediately and quickly raised his hands defensively.

"Toad, don't start jumping to conclusions-"

Obviously reacting poorly to Mario's sudden hand movement, Toad immediately jumped up onto the cushions of the couch and ran to the far end of the room, where his dresser rested. "N-No! Stay away from me! I won't let you make me your next victim!" he shouted hysterically as he opened up his sock drawer and began chucking balled pairs of footwear at his assailant.

"Toad, calm-" Mario paused as he ducked out of the way of a flying pair of socks homing in on his mustache, "Calm down! I'm not-" As he regained his posture after the duck, he didn't realize a second pair of socks were zooming right towards his face. The socks successfully struck him mid-sentence and got caught in his mouth. Mario feel silent spat the striped argyles onto the floor and began disgustedly picking out pieces of fuzz from his tongue.

"I can't believe this Mario!" Toad shouted, continuing to toss more and more socks with his eyes closed in fear, thus resulting in them flying all over the room at complete random. "Of all the people I thought I could trust, you were number one! But now you've gone and done something like this-"

Toad suddenly cut himself short upon the discovery that he had no more socks to use as projectiles. His eyes shot open as he felt around the drawer desperately before peering into it to take a look for himself. He was out of ammo.

"I'm not a killer Toad," Mario said firmly after picking all the fuzz from his mouth and before Toad could properly resume freaking out on him. "I may not have liked Popple very much, but I would never kill him, or anybody for that matter."

"Then why are you in here!" Toad shouted, still sounding more frightened than anything. "What do you want from me!"

Wordlessly, Mario pulled out the letter from Saint Herald Hospital and held it out to Toad. It looked like any ordinary piece of folded paper though, so Toad was left to wonder Mario was extending it to him. Fortunately, it seemed to calm him down quite a bit, for he simply looked at the paper for a moment before slowly reaching out and accepting it from Mario's hand. After unfolding the paper and giving it a quick glance, Toad visibly froze on the spot. Not a single part of his body moved an inch, and his stare at the paper was tense. Slowly, after several seconds of awe and utter silence, Toad finally spoke up with a very quiet voice.

"How... Why do you have this?" he asked, his eyes glued to the letter. Mario hesitated for a moment before answering.

"I found it," he responded simply, not wanting to admit that he'd been previously sneaking around Toad's room for evidence. "But I wanted to talk to you about this. What happened? Why couldn't you pay the medical bills?"

Toad slowly lowered the letter from his face and looked right into Mario's eyes, staring at him deeply. Mario suddenly felt a huge surge of guilt course through his stomach as he noticed, even through the darkness of the room, that Toad's eyes were filling with tears. Toad himself didn't know what he should have been feeling at that moment; anger because someone he trusted had to have been digging in his personal space to find the letter in the first place, remorse for having gone so many months without ever telling anybody about what happened, or misery because he was just reminded once again of that horrible, heartless letter that changed his life forever. No matter which he felt he should be feeling at that moment though, it was obvious that all three emotions were grabbing at him at once, dealing with each other just fine as they worked together to dive Toad's heart into the pits of woe that had been ever-present since Toadette's death.

Eventually, after what felt like an excruciatingly long moment of silence to Mario, Toad finally sat himself down on the couch, closed his eyes tightly for a second to let the welled up tears stream down his cheeks freely, and began to gives his answer with an emotionally choked voice.

"It started out as just a...a little drive through the city," he said. Mario quietly moved from his spot and took a seat next to him. "I remember it being a beautiful day. There wasn't a cloud in the sky. Except for one, but it was smiling right at us until it disappeared out of sight," he mentioned, an odd, melancholic smile occupying his face as he remembered the serenity of the day fondly. "...We were coming back from the theater, and we were talking the movie we just saw on the ride home. I forgot what the actual movie was. And I don't really remember much of the movie itself, except for a few little things that I can't really put together. Like the smell of the buttered popcorn. It wasn't ours though; we didn't buy anything to eat. That smell made me pretty hungry though. And I remember her clinging onto me during a scary part of the movie, though she giggled a little when I tried to comfort her. I think she was just pretending to be scared..." He said the last sentence with a light, hollow chuckle before quickly falling back to a more serious, deadpan voice than the one he'd been using previously. "Then I remember how she screamed moments before we crashed... I woke up a little while after to find that my car was in crumpled heap on the side of the road, and I was being carried off on a gurney... After I saw that, I remember passing out again. I just couldn't stay awake anymore...

"Then, before I knew it, I was waking up in the hospital, unable to remember anything that just happened. I still can't remember much to this day, but the memories are starting to come back a little. When I was laying in that bed though, I had no clue what was going on. All I knew at the moment was that a Toad girl was sitting by my bedside. And I remember thinking for a second that she was pretty cute. She seemed to be really happy that I'd woken up."

"A Toad girl that you thought was cute?" Mario asked, confused about the description since Toad was still with Toadette at that point. Why would he even think for a moment about the looks of some other girl, especially after what just happened?

"She turned out to be the waitress that works on this train," Toad explained, gazing in Mario's direction for the first time since he began his story, though not looking directly at Mario himself. "I guess that, at that moment, I just thought she was cute. I didn't know what was going on after all, or why I was where I was. Toadette wasn't even on my mind when I first woke up, as horrible as that might sound... I felt like I was just waking up from a regular night's sleep, but very sore and not really able to move much.

"Anyway, she told me that she was the one who called the paramedics to the crash site," he continued, looking back at the letter blankly as he spoke, not really observing it, but allowing his eyes to rest on something as time passed. "The people who T-boned us managed to drive away from the site of the collision before the authorities could arrive. They were a couple of Piantas from what the waitress said she remembered.

"She kept me company in the hospital every day while I recovered from the accident. I suffered some broken bones and a minor concussion from the collision, but I was the lucky one... Toadette fell into a coma from the head injuries she'd sustained; the doctors weren't sure if she would recover from the coma, or if she would be brain damaged upon her awakening. They kept her in a separate room in the hospital, so I could only hear about how she was doing through my new friend."

"The waitress?" Mario asked fo clarification. Toad nodded.

"Yeah," he responded before taking a brief moment to ponder. In a thoughtful manner, he added, "Honestly, I don't think I could ever repay her for everything she's done for me. She's been an incredible help since that accident...

"After a while – probably a few weeks or maybe a couple months, I really can't remember how long it took – I was finally able to travel on my own," Toad continued. "With the help of crutches anyway. But I was still able to move at least. The first thing I did was hurry over to Toadette's room. The nurse looking over her was pretty apprehensive about letting me see her, mainly for my sake, but I promised her that I wouldn't go hysterical or anything if she let me see Toadette. So, she let me in and...I had to do everything I could to not break down and start crying right there. She just looked so...so broken Mario. There were all kinds of tubes hooked up to her, and several parts of her body were wrapped in gauze... I could hardly stand to look at her in that condition. I didn't want to believe that what I was seeing was real. I even stood there in the room doing nothing for a while, waiting for myself to wake up from some horrible dream...but that never actually happened...

"There was one seat next to her bed. I took it and, not really knowing what I could or should do, I just took her nearest hand into mine. I wasn't sure if I was allowed to touch her at all, but I just have to feel something to let me know that it was real. And that she was still alive. I could feel her heartbeat from her wrist, and that let me know she was still functioning at least. And, for a second, I started to hope... You know how a coma patient's heartbeat suddenly speeds up and they wake up a little bit after their loved one touches their hand in the movies?"

"Yeah?" Mario replied, becoming engrossed in Toad's story.

"I hoped so much that, for once, what we saw in the movies could happen in real life. But it never did... Toadette never opened her eyes for me..." Toad admitted slowly. "She couldn't tell I was there, Mario. She was unconscious, and completely unable to feel, or see, or hear, or do anything at all. She couldn't even hope that she'd get better. All she could do was lay there and let time pass her by as her life was left in the hands of the doctors around her. I knew she would never be the same after she woke up. She would lose her motor skills, or her brain functionality, or probably even both... She wasn't going to be the same girl I knew and fell in love with...

"But I didn't care. Even if she woke up and had no idea who I was or didn't have any memory of what we had together, I was going to see her wake up from that coma. But, of course, to do that, I needed money to ensure that she could at least stay alive long enough to make sure she had a chance of waking up. I needed a lot of money. And I didn't have a penny to my name at the time, since my entire life savings, and then some, were drained by my own medical bills...

"So I needed to get a job, which turned out to be a lot harder than I thought it would. In this economy, you'd need to be able to perform open heart surgery with a ball point pen if you even want a chance at getting a job. I just couldn't convince a single employer that I would be the man for the job, and I was starting to fall behind on my payments before I could even make my first installment. I went for weeks struggling to get a job before my new friend came to me with the best news I'd heard in a long time.

"Don Pianta was looking for workers for his new casino. At first, I wasn't exactly sure if hearing that was good news; Don Pianta was a well-known crime lord in Rogueport for a long time after all. Even though he'd quit the business, working for somebody with that kind of history wasn't really my prime prospect for a job. The waitress insisted that it was a great opportunity for me though, since I easily had more job skills than half the folks in Rogueport. Plus, she told me that she already had a job where I'd be working at, and we'd be working alongside each other. It was nice knowing that I'd be familiar with at least one other person on the staff. It would have made settling into it a lot easier. So I spent the last of my money on boat fare to bring me to Rogueport, and I managed to arrive on the last day that applications were still being accepted.

"Don Pianta wasn't really easy to convince; partially because his history as a mob boss kind of intimidated me. Halfway through the interview, I felt like he could tell I was way too nervous, and he wasn't really impressed with what I was telling him. The whole time, I was trying my best to keep my cool and act professional and everything, but everything suddenly seemed to just hit me all at once. Not getting that job would have meant that I blew my last shot at saving Toadette. Not getting that job would have meant that she would die, and that I would never be able to see her again because I was stuck on the other side of the sea with no money and no way of getting back to her. The fact that it was Rogueport of all places that I'd be stranded at really didn't help either. Once all of that hit me...I just completely lost it right in front of him. I broke down into tears and started whimpering and everything. It was really pathetic now that I think about it, but I just couldn't sit there and keep a straight face knowing that Toadette's life relied on me getting that job.

"My sudden display disgusted Don Pianta at first, but, surprisingly, he actually asked me what was wrong. I never thought Don Pianta, a mob boss, would ever care about why anyone was upset, but I went ahead and told him all about everything that happened. He never seemed to stop paying attention at all, and never interrupted me or anything. And once I was done, he just kinda sat there and kept looking at me without saying a word. He looked like he was thinking about something, though I didn't know what. After a few seconds though, he finally spoke. And I still remember everything he told me as if he'd said it yesterday:

"'Ya know kid, ya reminds me of dis guy I know. Dis guy, he started out wit nuttin'. Zilch. Zippo. 'Is chances of makin' far in da world was next ta none. But dis guy, he had a fire in him. He knew dat sittin' around an' mopin' wasn't gonna fix a thing. So he shaped up, and he joined my mafia. Now, dis guy wasn't no supastar gangsta; he blew just about every stinkin' assignment I gave him. Dis one time, I tells him to give dis chump a pair of da old 'cement shoes', and whadda dis guy do? 'E confused a bag of C-MIX cement with a bag of C-MIX cake mix! I kid you not. Da chump he was supposed ta take out swims away, no problem! My guy was da laughin' stock o' da whole mafia for dat one! But he didn't let dat get 'im down.

"'I thought about cuttin' da guy, but I knew he was tryin' his best, and dat he meant well, so I gives him one last chance. If he screwed up afta dat, he was gone. But I also told him dat I was only givin' him dat chance 'cause I knew he had da potential to be somethin' great someday if he just applied himself a little more. Well, I couldn't tell ya how he managed it, but he seemed ta take my advice ta heart; he shot up through da ranks and became a A-list memba in no time flat. Soon enough, he became da top dog, right undaneath me. All da respect he was commandin' musta got him cocky dough; I turn my back on da guy for a minute and he goes runnin' off wit my daughta! I'm absolutely enraged by dis; no man comes near my daughta witout my consent, and here he goes tryin' ta whisk her off to some island right unda my nose! I sent out my best guys to look for dis scumbag, and one of 'em manages to get dem ta come back ta me. I'm all nice an' ready to go bonkers on dis fool for tryin' ta take my daughta away, but I had no idea how much she had da hots for dis guy; before I could even begin, she suddenly steps up and demands she take da blame for da whole deal! And right when I'm about ta tell her to butt out, dis guy who tried ta take her away steps forward too and tells me dat he should take da heat for what happened. I was stunned – speechless ya might say – as I stood dere and watched the two of dem start arguin' ova who should take da blame. It moved me, seeing how much dis guy truly loved my daughta as much as I did.

"'What I'm tryin' ta say, kid, is dat I sees da same fire in you dat I saw in da guy my little story. And if youse really, truly love dis girl...what was her name? Toadette? Well, if youse is gonna come all the way out to Rogueport just for 'er, den you can bet on ya life dat I'm gonna help ya in any ways I can. Howeva, all da positions have been filled already...except bartenda. Nobody's been lookin' ta take dat job. So if you want it, it's yours.'"

"So that's how you became a Bartender?" Mario asked after a few seconds. He was admittedly impressed that Toad could remember Don Pianta's speech so vividly, and even speak in a similar fashion as the Don. The event must have truly affected him if he could remember it so easily.

"Yeah, and I was really happy about it for awhile," Toad answered with a sigh. Mario raised a confused eyebrow. "But then I found out why no one wanted the job: the pay was really low, even by Rogueport's standards. There was no way I could keep up with the bills on the pay I was getting from the job; it barely covered my living needs, let alone the cost for the medical utilities... Soon, I had to start skipping entire meals just so I had enough money to make any headway on paying for Toadette's bills. It got to the point where the waitress would sneak me scraps off of dinner plates if my situation was becoming really desperate. It even crossed my mind a few times to try to gamble my way to paying for Toadette's medical bills, but I knew the odds were severely against anyone trying to profit from a day at the casinos, except Don Pianta himself...

"So this went on for a while, and after about six or so weeks of work, I was able to pay for one month of Toadette's medical bill, which was due two months ago... The hospital said that they couldn't deny her service just because of limited financial resources, but they weren't obligated to keep her alive in case someone else needed her equipment, the hospital had no other machines, and the person in need could provide money on a timely basis. This was a relief to me since someone needing intensive care like Toadette is typically pretty rare, but I was always worried that an emergency would suddenly occur, and Toadette wouldn't recover in time. But as long as there was a slight possibility of her surviving her coma, I was going to work myself to the bone to keep her alive.

"...And it was about four months into the job that it happened," Toad muttered quietly, a sudden welling of emotion slightly drowning his words as he turned away from Mario for a moment to dry his watery eyes. He took a moment or two to regain himself before continuing. "An...An outbreak of the Koopiflu hit the kingdom and people were coming the hospitals like crazy. I was three months behind on the bills by then, and the hospital needed to care for everyone who could afford to pay for their expenses... So...when the demand for medical supplies exceeded their supply...they were forced to..."

Toad had grown near incomprehensible by then, his words being choked down as still more tears presented themselves. Mario, in an attempt to calm his hurting friend, wrapped a comforting arm around him and patted him on his shoulder as Toad used his shirt as a cloth to wipe away the tears. Once Toad managed to calm himself a fair amount, he retreated from Mario, a look of slight embarrassment emblazoned across his face. He'd been trying to stay strong and hide his true feelings ever since that letter arrived for him in the mail, but he couldn't down it any longer. And as Toad realized that, somehow, he actually felt a little better after telling Mario all the details about what happened, Mario himself decided it was time to ask the question that had been burning in his mind the entire time.

"Toad, why didn't you ask for help?" he spoke up. "You know I would have helped you if you needed money. I wouldn't have given it a second though."

"Well...I didn't know that," Toad responded weakly, knowing that such a poor answer wouldn't suffice. "...I don't Mario, I don't know. I just, I felt like this was something I had to do on my own, since it was my fault she was in the crash in the first place. And she was my girlfriend. I felt that, if I couldn't protect her by myself...then..." He quickly closed his eyes and bowed his head in shame, pressing the palms of his hands against his forehead as he spoke through frightened sobs. "I don't know Mario. I was just so scared. I didn't know what to do. And I thought I could save her on my own but...I couldn't. I just couldn't."

Mario was trying his best not to let his own emotions get the best of him now. He felt he could relate to Toad, feeling the need to save someone close to him by himself. He couldn't allow himself to falter though. If anything, he had to be strong at that moment for Toad's sake. Thus, Mario placed a friendly hand on Toad's back and said, "I know it's too late now, but Toad, I want you to know that you're never alone. You've always got us. Me, Luigi, Peach, everyone. We're all here if you ever need help."

Toad sniffled and wiped his face clean once again, but he didn't look at Mario. "Thank you," he said quietly. "I'm sorry Mario, but could I just be alone for awhile?"

"Sure thing," Mario answered with a nod before standing back up. He made his way over to the door, unlocked it, opened it, and exited, closing the door behind him immediately afterward. He felt the urge to chance a glance back at Toad before leaving, but figured it would likely be better to simply leave him alone as soon as possible.

Mario took a moment to reflect on everything he just heard. It was certainly heartbreaking to listen to Toad's story, but what did it mean to Mario's case in discovering who killed Don Pianta? For one, it certainly wiped out Toad's only alibi; Toadette was already gone, so he'd no longer been working for her sake for some time. But the story certainly did not provide any motivation behind why Toad would do it. If anything, Toad was very grateful for his job, so why would he kill his boss? Though, one could argue he was frustrated and upset over his girlfriend's death, and he blamed his boss for the subpar pay, but something like that seemed a little extreme by Toad's standards, or by anyone's standards for that matter. But the absence of an alibi couldn't just be ignored.

Before long, Mario found himself back in the restaurant. Without even realizing it, he'd begun to wander off, but once he regained his senses, he looked around at the place rather slowly. He'd been going through that restaurant several times over the course of that day alone, and so many things took place there. It reminded him of the first time he'd ever ridden that train. The restaurant felt like the central hub of it all-

Click-click-click-clank.

Mario could hear what sounded like metal beating against glass. He looked around a bit and spotted Wario sitting a short distance away. The obese man appeared to be bored as he twirled around an empty glass that contained a spoon sticking out of it. He was making a little racket from his table near the kitchen.

"Would you stop that?" Mario asked, wanting to focus on his thoughts and just enjoy a little quiet for a minute. "You're distracting me."

Wario suddenly stopped and looked over at Mario with a raised eyebrow. It was quite evident that he was unaware anyone else was even in the restaurant; aside from Shimi, Wario was previously the only person there. Once he realized that it was Mario who was there though, Wario shed a smug smile and began clanking the spoon around the glass again, keeping his laughing eyes glued on Mario to see his reaction. Mario glared at him before giving an annoyed grumble. When Wario continued, Mario turned around and planned to head for his room.

"Oh, sorry little Mr. Detective," Wario scoffed, putting the glass down with a careless slam. Shimi suddenly back out of the kitchen and glared at him now. "Was I breakin' you concentration?" Mario ignored the sarcasm and continued for the door. Once Mario was halfway to his destination, Wario spoke up again. "Well, you ain't the only guy on this train that can snoop around," he commented matter-of-factly. Mario hesitated and came to a stop before turning back around to face Wario.

"And what do you mean by that?" he asked. Since Wario was sitting so his back was to Mario, he turned in his seat so he was leaning against the wall and clasped his hands behind his back, appearing to relax as he snickered.

"Do I have to spell it out for ya, bub? I've got a bit of primo information for ya...if the price is right that is. You know, a little 'you scratch my back, I scratch yours' deal."

"Sure," Mario replied sarcastically, rolling his eyes, "I'll keep that in mind." With that, he turned back around and headed for the door once more. He reached out for the door's handle and, just as he clasped it, Wario seized his attention once more.

"It's about the waitress," Wario stated slyly.

Mario froze on the spot. Something about the waitress...? He'd been looking for some dirt on her all day. If Wario was telling the truth, he couldn't just pass up the opportunity to find something out. Though, honestly, how much could he trust Wario? He wasn't exactly known for telling the truth... Well, nothing ventured, nothing gained.

"Okay, I'll bite. What's this 'primo info' you've got for me?" Mario asked as he returned to Wario's table and took a seat across from him. Wario turned in his seat to face him, but soon folded his arms and tilted his head to the side, pretending to think deeply as he raised an eyebrow and looked at the ceiling.

"Gee pal, I seem ta be havin' a really tough time rememberin' exactly what happened," he said with an incredibly fake voice. Mario glared at him. "If only I had a little somethin'," he suddenly and blatantly dropped his head and stared at his empty glass, "to...jog my memory a little bit."

Mario continued to simply stare at him as he continued his needless theatrics.

"And hey, wouldn'tcha know, another one of these would be perfect for refreshin' the ol' noodle." He took up the glass and clanked the spoon around a little more before obtaining a hugely fake look of depression as he seemed to remember something. "But, gosh darn it wouldn'tcha know? I'm plum outta moolah!" He slammed the glass down again and slumped over, looking defeated. Once again, Shimi backed out of the kitchen and glared at him. "Oh, whatever shall I do, Mistah Detective! Whatever shall I do!" For his grand finale, he reared back his head and rested the back of his hand on his forehead, appearing highly distressed as he began to fake weep. "Boo-hoo! OH, Boo-HOO!"

Mario had no words as he stared at Wario, bemused.

"Are you done?" Mario asked after a few seconds of Wario's pretend weeping. In response, Wario took his free hand and gave the glass a small push toward Mario. The plumber gave an exasperated sigh before hailing Shimi. The chef hopped over and Mario turned to him. "Can you whip up another one of whatever this was?" he asked, indicating Wario's glass resting on the table. Shimi nodded wordlessly before hopping back over to the kitchen. Once the chef was gone, Mario redirected his attention back to Wario, who was now sitting normally, his signature mischievous grin resting on his face. "What were you eating anyway?"

"A fruit parfait," Wario answered cheerily, chuckling a little as he delighted in the knowledge that he would be having a second serving soon. "Freakin' delicious stuff."

Mario simply stared at Wario for a moment, taken aback by the answer. "...Did you just say you ordered a fruit parfait?"

"Yeah. What of it?" Wario responded defensively, ready and waiting for Mario to make some kind of crack about him liking a more delicate style of dessert. Mario sat back in his seat and looked off somewhere innocently though, twiddling his thumbs.

"Oh, it's nothing. I just thought something like a garlic parfait would have been more your taste." Wario chuckled a bit.

"You know, I actually tried asking Chef Shumi-"

"Shimi," Mario corrected, though he was ignored.

"-over there ta whip one-a those up, but he just gagged at me. Guy's got no taste," Wario criticized, crossing his arms. Once Shimi returned with a fresh parfait though, he quickly perked up and accepted his dessert heartily. Mario then noticed something quite odd: why wasn't the waitress delivering the food? Wasn't that her job? Once he looked around again though, he noticed that she wasn't even there. He, Wario, and Shimi were the only three people in the entirety of the restaurant. Which was probably just as well, since the waitress probably would have exploded if she'd heard that Wario had some information against her. Exploded in the figurative sense of course. That would certainly be an odd occurrence if she actually did spontaneously combust. Where was she anyway-

"AHEM," Chef Shimi cleared his throat loudly, holding a fin to Mario's face, snapping him out of his thoughts. As Mario contemplated the waitress's absence, he didn't notice that Wario had signaled to the chef that Mario would be paying for the meal. After regaining his bearings, Mario asked how much the dessert cost, frowned at the answer, and gave the chef ten coins. Which was eight too many as far as he was concerned. Shimi hopped away shortly thereafter.

"Alright, you got what you wanted, so spill it," Mario demanded, turning back to Wario. He was surprised to discover the parfait was already a quarter finished. ...Though, okay, this was Wario he was dealing with. Of course the treat wasn't going to last long.

"Okay," Wario mumbled through a mouthful of parfait before gulping it down and continuing, "so, you remember the night of the murder, right?"

"How could I forget?" Mario asked rhetorically. Something like seeing an old acquaintance laying dead in his room is a pretty easy thing to remember. It's even easier when your own brother is being convicted as the guy's killer.

"Well, while you and that Bumpty guy, Pensworth or whatever-"

"Pennington."

"-were putting on your little detective show, I was hanging out at the back of the crowd, lookin' around and stuff. Eventually, I saw that little waitress chick coming down the hallway of Car Seven, and she was snoopin' all over the place."

"Snooping?" Mario asked.

"Yeah, bargin' into people's rooms and stuff," Wario clarified. "She went in and out of every room all the way down the hallway before she noticed I was there. She stayed in Luigi's room the longest, then came out with this weird, worried look on her face. That's when I called her out."

"Did anyone else notice this was going on?" Mario suddenly asked, hoping that he could confirm this with someone else. Taking Wario's word for something as suspicious as what was being said was probably a very risky move.

"Hah, nope. Everyone else was too wrapped up in your little detective drama to pay attention to what was goin' on right behind them." Wario chuckled before taking a quick break to gulp down another scoop of the parfait. He gave a satisfied sigh as the treat slid down his gullet and rested in his stomach. Mario now stared at the dessert in envy. He was the one who paid for it, and now he had to watch someone else eat it. It felt borderline torturous when he remembered how much he paid for it. "Anyway, she started makin' up excuses all over the place about tryin' ta find someone..."

"'Someone'?" Mario asked, irritated by Wario's vague description. Wario took another bite of his parfait before looking away.

"Ya know, I don't remember who was looking for" he mumbled before looking back at Mario, who was glaring at him yet again. "Nah, I'm serious this time, I really can't remember who she was lookin' for. When she saw me, she just suddenly gave me this fruit parfait she was holdin' to try to distract me. And I guess it worked, 'cause after that I just remember eatin' it, then goin' to bed when curfew was called," he concluded with a shrug. Mario remained quiet for a while, expecting Wario to add something. When the man just continued to eat his parfait (he was already three-quarters of the way through it), Mario sighed, knowing he wasn't going to be getting anymore information out of him. So what dirt did he get for ten coins? That the waitress was darting in and out of rooms looking for someone with a fruit parfait in her hands? That wasn't really ten coins' worth of information. But at least Mario learned just how Wario came to love the dessert so much.

"Why are you sitting here anyway?" Mario asked, remembering how he initially found it strange that Wario was the only person in the restaurant besides Shimi.

"I have an interview or whatever with that Pennington guy," Wario answered, swallowing the remainder of the parfait. "I think I do anyway. Guy's been gone for like, twenty-five minutes by now."

"Huh. Well, I'll try to find him," Mario offered, wondering what could have been holding Pennington up for so long.

At the same time Mario got up to leave, the waitress showed up in the restaurant, entering from Car Three. Mario figured that right then would be a better time than ever to find out exactly what Wario was talking about, or even if his story was even useful at all for that matter. He didn't notice that the waitress had adopted a steely glare as soon as she saw him.

"Hey," Mario greeted casually, "Mind if I-"

"HOW COULD YOU DO SUCH THING!" the waitress exploded. Again, figuratively. Mario was taken aback and stopped in his track, a fair distance from the waitress.

"What?" Mario asked, bewildered, more surprised by the outburst than confused.

"You know, I thought you hero types were like, all about being noble and stuff, but what in the world do you think gives you the right to go through other people's personal property!" the waitress asked, her eyes searing into Mario as he figured out what she was probably getting so upset over.

"...Is this about Toad's letter?"

"Uh, Duh!" the waitress shouted immediately, making Mario recoil a little bit. The waitress slammed her hands onto her hips in a huff, making her glare all the more cutting in the meantime. "You think that, just because you're Super Mario, you get to intrude on other people's privacy!"

"No...I was just curious and-"

"OH!" the waitress retorted in mock surprise. "The amazing Super Mario was curious about something! Well, God forbid we keep him from finding out something that catches his interest! Who cares if it means that Toad would hole himself up in his room and cry his eyes out! Do you know what horrible memories your stupid curiosity dragged back to the surface! And right when he was starting to finally get over it!"

"HEY! I didn't mean to make him cry, alright!" Mario screamed, getting red in the face himself. It was rare that he actually felt flustered, but the waitress was certainly doing a great job of making him feel absolutely horrible. "It was an accident."

"I'm so sure," the waitress muttered, a fair amount quieter than she'd previously been speaking. She soon shook her head, appearing to be disappointed in Mario. "You know, I thought you'd be better than that, but you're just like almost every other man on this planet." The exception being Toad, Mario figured.

"Well, don't think you're so perfect yourself," Mario responded, gaining back his composure. "You act as if you haven't been doing any snooping of your own since this trip started."

"...Like, what are you talking about?" the waitress asked, appearing to be genuinely confused. And Mario noticed that that was the first time she'd said "like" in quite a while.

"On the night Don Pianta was murdered," Mario hinted. When the waitress didn't catch on to what he was talking about, Mario continued. "Wario over there," he went on, nodding his head to indicate Wario a short distance behind him, who was watching the two of them with a huge, amused grin, "said he saw you sneaking around the train and going into peoples' rooms while everyone was preoccupied with Don Pianta's death. What exactly were you looking for?"

"Okay, you've gotta be like, totally kidding me," the waitress scoffed, rolling her eyes in disbelief. "If you must know, since you apparently need to know like, everything, I was looking for a passenger who'd ordered a fruit parfait. The scary Yoshi guy."

"But why look in everyone's room when there was a crowd outside Don Pianta's room? Surely Yoshi would've been in there," Mario quipped. The waitress scoffed again.

"Like, how was I supposed to just magically know where everyone was?" the waitress responded acidically. "Like, I already told you before that I didn't even know about Don Pianta's death until yesterday morning, so when I went back into the casino to give Yoshi his parfait, I had like, no way of knowing where anyone was. So I started to go and look for him. I never even went into the car Don Pianta was staying in at all."

Mario mentally smacked himself in the forehead. That made perfect sense. Even Wario never mentioned anything about the waitress going into Car Eight; he'd made it clear that he found her in Car Seven. And why would she continue to look for Yoshi after already giving up his parfait to Wario anyway? There would be no need to look around anymore after that.

Mario was started to feel that he'd parted with ten coins for nothing.

"Alright...but why look in everyone's room? And why would you linger in Luigi's room the longest?"

"Well, like, I didn't know what room Yoshi was staying in," the waitress answered, "and I don't know if I stayed in Luigi's room the longest or not. If I did, I was just like, double checking to make sure. I mean, green room, green Yoshi. If any room was his, you'd think that'd be it." Mario couldn't exactly agree with that logic, but when he remembered who he was talking to, he figured he'd have to let it slide. "But I couldn't find him, and I needed to get back to the kitchen, like, ASAP," the waitress continued, "so I handed the fruit parfait to the yellow guy and told him who it was supposed to go to. I figured he'd give it to the passenger for me if he saw him." The waitress finished, pointing to Wario. Mario, appearing weary after realizing the waitress had a pretty solid alibi on her hands, looked over at Wario, who merely gave him a toothy grin accompanied by a twiddly-finger wave. Mario simply glared at him.

"So like, it's almost curfew and stuff," the waitress informed, folding her arms. "I need to like, pack up my stuff for when we arrive in Poshley Heights in the morning, so if you're done with this little interrogation of yours..." the waitress said, clearly still upset with Mario. The man let out a sigh, admitting defeat.

"Yeah. Go ahead," he muttered, feeling foolish after the explanation he just heard. The waitress gave a short "hmph" as she passed by and exited the restaurant into the empty casino. Mario now turned back to Wario staring at him coldly. "Hey Wario, your 'primo info' wasn't exactly helpful you know. Or entirely truthful for that matter."

"Buyer beware," Wario muttered with a shrug, not appearing to care as he sat back into his seat comfortable and began clinking his spoon around his now-empty glass.

Mario sighed once more before noticing that it was quite dark outside. The waitress did just mention that curfew was coming up. The day seemed to just fly by though. As if to remind Mario of what he just realized, the train's conductor was heard over the PA system letting the passengers know that lights would be out in just fifteen minutes. And that meant only fifteen minutes remained for Mario to make the final case in his brother's defense; the case that would ensure his brother remained a free man. Mario almost felt as if he was no closer to finding the true killer than he was on the night of the murder. Sure, he had his suspects, but nothing one hundred percent conclusive came up about any of them. And if he couldn't find out who the real killer was, then Luigi was going to be carted off to jail as an innocent man. What could Mario possibly do in the next fifteen minutes that would get his brother off the hook? He had several whole days of sleuthing to prove his brother was innocent, and he'd failed to discovered the truth behind it all. It almost felt entirely hopeless at that point...

"Mario... My friend... My buddy... Compadre... Amigo..."

What?

Snapping back to his senses, Mario realized he'd left the restaurant and was sulking through Car Three when Yoshi approached him from across the car, hunched over and clutching his stomach as he moved about with a dramatic limp.

"I'm dying Mario... This is it... This is my final chapter... This is the place where I, too, will succumb to the cold, harsh embrace of death... Starvation was the killer in this heinous crime... Mario, my lifelong friend...tell my wife...I love her."

With that, Yoshi did a single, overly dramatic spin, placed the back of his hand on his forehead, and fell into Mario's arms. His tongue lolled out slightly as his breathing slowed to a halt, but Mario could still feel his pulse. He rolled his eyes.

"You don't have a wife, Yoshi," Mario said flatly.

"Then tell my mom," Yoshi responded briefly, following up with a fake, weak coughing fit.

"Stop being silly, Yoshi," Mario said, dropping Yoshi unceremoniously before crossed his arms. From the floor, Yoshi barely cracked open his eyes and began to slowly reach skyward.

"I see...a light. It's...It's so beautiful." A single tear ran down Yoshi's cheek. "Grandma...? Is that you? ...I'm coming Grandma... We'll be together again soon..."

"Come on Yoshi, you just have to wait one more night," Mario reminded. "Then we'll arrive at Poshley Heights and you can eat all the food you want."

"No... I'm not gonna make it Mario... I can feel my stomach digesting itself right now... This is the end!"

Mario let out a sigh. "You just need to get your mind off of food." He glanced over at the door across from him, remembering that it was Popple's room. Didn't Pennington go in there a while ago? "Why don't you help me find Pennington?"

"Why?" Yoshi asked with a dry wheeze, determined that he was going to die.

"He hasn't annoyed me in a while. I think something might have happened to him," Mario answered, forcing a chuckle in an attempt to lighten Yoshi's mood, as well as his own. Yoshi, however, didn't bother to move an inch. "Wherever he is, I bet he has food," Mario added enticingly, though even he doubted Pennington would just be carrying around snacks with him. Then again, who knew what was in his tote bag anyway?

The idea of obtainable food got Yoshi motivated immediately, causing him to jump up from his position on the floor and begin sniffing the air for the scent of Pennington's signature scent of leather-bound books and cheese puffs. He quickly scampered up and down the length of the hallway, his nose high in the air as it led him all about. After a short while of frantic running, he suddenly stopped in his tracks and slammed his snout to the floor, appearing quite focused. He then scooted his nose across the carpet at lightning-fast speed until he stood in front of Popple's room, where he jolted to a halt. He then turned to the door and pointed at it with his rug-burned nose, similar to how a hunting dog would point out its prey. Mario raised an eyebrow as he stepped over to the door.

"Popple's room? I saw him go in there a while ago, but I thought he'd have been out by now..." Mario commented as he reached for the handle and slid the door open. The air had become quite thick with the smell of Popple's rancid blood, causing both Mario and Yoshi to turn their heads in disgust, waving away the horrible odor. After some coughing, they eventually became mildly used to the stench and returned their attention to the room itself. They didn't quite expect to see what would be displayed before them.

Pennington laid there face up in a puddle of blood, his tote bag and magnifying glass lying at opposite ends of the room. Mario could feel himself shaking, shocked by the scene, but Yoshi seemed unmoved by the motionless Pennington and instead focused on the tote bag that rested at the far end of the room. Mario was shocked by the scene, but Yoshi was distracted by what laid at the far end of the room.

"Aha! His bag! Something's gotta be in there!" Yoshi yelled, pointing at the opened bag that laid drenched in blood. Undeterred by the horrific stains all over the bag, Yoshi darted across the room and quickly began to empty it of its contents eagerly, throwing aside various articles as he searched for food.

Meanwhile, Mario was too stunned by what he was seeing. Pennington appeared to be knocked out cold, if not dead himself. Suddenly, Mario's stomach seemed to turn upside down as his anxiety soared to new heights. What if Pennington really was dead? Sure, he got on Mario's nerves to no end, but he just never expected the Bumpty to meet such an end-

"HAHA! YES! YES!" Yoshi shouted victoriously, still blissfully uncaring of the scene around him. He'd found something in the bag, and he soon jutted the hand which held the item into the air victoriously. "FOOD! Finally, at long last, something to ease my intense pangs of hunger and looming death!" Happily, he lowered the item he was holding back to eye level and look at it giddily. Soon, however, his bright smile slowly turned upside down, drooping into a frown as he learned just what the food was. "No...no... This...this can't be happening... Why! Why! Oh God in Heaven why must you torment me so!"

Yoshi limply dropped the small box that he'd recovered from the bag and began to weep tears of eternal sadness and woe. Mario took a small step forward (not wanting to get his boots stained with the blood) and focused his eyes to read what the box said.

"What's wrong with raisins?" he asked after successfully scanning the text on the container.

"Raisins are only a MOCKERY OF WHAT FRUIT IS ALL ABOUT!" Yoshi responded with a passionate hatred, eyeing the box evilly as if it had done something to him personally. "Real fruit is supposed to be succulent, and juicy, and filling..." Mario could see him salivating at the mere thought of his own description. "But raisins... With their wrinkliness and their dryness and their...stupidness. Raisins are just grapes with the JOY SUCKED OUT OF THEM!"

"Who's bad-mouthing my raisins...?" a voice slurred. While Yoshi preferred to continue crying over the promise of food being snatched away from him yet again, Mario instantly returned his attention to Pennington, who was stirring from his position in the puddle of blood. Mario let out a quiet sigh.

"So you're okay after all. What happened to you?" Mario asked, though he realized just then that there was something else that was off about the scene. A certain other person seemed to be missing. "And where's Popple?"

"Who...?" Pennington mumbled, blinking rapidly as his eyes adjusted themselves to the rush of light. He looked around for himself now, apparently dazed and quite confused about the situation. "Oh. You mean the murder victim? Uh... I don't know where he went..." Mario folded his arms and raised an eyebrow in response. How could he have just not known where a dead body disappeared to?

"Okay. How about we just focused on what happened to you then?" Mario offered. Pennington looked over at him, confused.

"Um... I...don't know?" he responded, sounding genuinely unsure about what happened that caused him to become unconscious. Mario pressed a hand to his forehead.

"Well, that's just fantastic Pennington," Mario muttered before lowering his hand and scanning the room. "So you've somehow managed to lose the murder victim, and you forgot how you were knocked out. Real top notch detective work right there."

"Well, someone's a little sassy! I'd like to see you do better!" Pennington demanded as he began to get to his feet, balancing himself upright in the pool of blood. He seemed blissfully unaware that he was fairly covered in dry, red stains. He soon placed a red flipper under his bill as he began to think, and something appeared to click in his brain. "Oh wait. My severe head trauma has reminded me, I believe I do remember something."

"What?" Mario asked.

"A severe amount of pain, my dear apprentice," Pennington answered, quite nonchalantly. "Shortly after I entered and began to check the scene, I heard a squeal of sorts emanate from behind me, shortly followed by a sharp, intense pain, a blow perhaps, that connected squarely with the back of my possibly fractured skull. I then blacked out."

"You were da one squealing like a little girl da entire time I was beating you, see," a voice with a rough, slightly nasally Brooklyn accent clarified from the doorway, shortly before giving a sniffle. Surprised, Mario spun around to see who was talking and nearly jumped when he saw who it was that just spoke.

"P-Popple!" Mario stuttered, unable to believe his eyes at the sight of the fully-alive Beanish thief. Pennington, meanwhile, went from blue to white in an instant, and Yoshi continued to remain oblivious to the entire situation, determined to find something edible in Pennington's tote bag. "Shouldn't you be...um, you know...dead?"

"What? No, idiot," Popple spat before sniffling again, appearing to be a little confused by the situation himself. "But dat bow-tied joker over dere, he's the one who should be dead...ah-...ACHOO! after covering me with dat red goop, see." A question mark appeared above Mario's head. What in the world...?

"So, Pennington covered you with...red goop?" Mario asked, scratching his head underneath his cap. Did that mean that all of the red liquid in the room wasn't...

"Why-I did no such thing!" Pennington shouted defensively.

"Oh yeah, sure ya didn't," Popple responded sarcastically, sniffling yet again. "'Cause when I wake up on da floor with my best shirt ruined and I see a guy standin' over me, da last thing I oughta assume is that he's...ah-...he-ah-...he's-ACHOO!" he sniffled once again, "da one who pulled all dis."

"Hold on you two," Mario interjected, hoping to get all the facts straight in an orderly fashion. Something like what was going on at that moment certainly called for an explanation. "Popple, what was the last thing you remember before waking up and seeing Pennington?"

"I took some of my cold medicine. Den I felt kinda woozy, so I went to bed," Popple responded briefly, folding his arms.

"And what happened after you woke up?" Mario asked.

"Like I said, I saw that bow-tied doofus standin' over me, starin' at me wid his magnifying glass. I figured he was da one who did dis to me, so I decided I should-ACHOO!" He paused, irritated by his own inability to control his sneezing. "I decided I should let him know how I felt about de situation, and socked 'im one right in the kisser, see," Popple answered, adding a shadow punch to demonstrate his action. He stared right at Pennington as he did so, causing the penguin to recoil a little in response.

"Looks like you went to town on him," Mario commented, looking again at the magnifying glass and tote bag (which Yoshi was now holding upside-down and shaking vigorously) on opposite sides of the room. "Did you put up any sort of fight Pennington," he asked, more out of curiosity than anything. Pennington straightened himself up and fixed his bow tie and hat confidently.

"Please Luigi, don't sell me short. Of course I took action," Pennington responded. "I instinctively employed the much-talked-about Pennington fighting style to defend myself while securing my dignity."

"He curled up into a ball and started begging for his life," Popple clarified.

"With dignity!" Pennington added quickly, pointing at Popple defensively before quickly retracting his arm. He held it tentatively with his free flipper. "I do feel rather bruised at the moment though. Perhaps turning in for the night and allowing my body to rest would be for the best." With that, Pennington stumbled out of the room, his almost nonexistent legs apparently sore as well. He didn't even bother to gather his belongings that were currently strewn all about the room. Mario figured he may as well do the guy a favor and take Pennington's things back to him after he was finished speaking with Popple.

"This doesn't make any sense at all," Mario commented as he turned to Popple, who, now that he actually got a good look at him, Mario discovered had some pretty large bags underneath his eyes and had a general air of sickliness about him. Being woken up in such a fashion while being sick at the same time must not have done much for the guy's mood. Mario figured it would probably be best if he left Popple alone soon, but only after one more question. "Popple, why were you knocked out? Did somebody hit you, or did you just take too many pills or something?"

"It was probably da pills," Popple said, recalling how he didn't feel very well after taking his latest dose of the medicine. "Waluigi kept houndin' me to take my medication, even dough I was always pretty sure I'd already taken some. I kept takin' more dough, 'cause he kept on suggestin' I do, see." He glanced over at his bottle of ColdKillerX, then at the puddle of fake blood that covered the floor. Really, when he thought about it, that situation much more likely came about because of Waluigi. "Looks like I'll hafta give Waluigi a piece of my mind-ACHOO!...next time I see 'im."

"Give him an extra smack for me then," Mario responded half-jokingly as Popple took a seat on his couch, glaring at the red goop that covered half the room. Just looking at it clearly ticked him off to no end. Knowing that Popple would much rather have some time alone so he could rest, Mario wordlessly began gathering Pennington's belongings. After picking up the magnifying glass, the copy of Twilight, and Pennington's various sleuthing tools, Mario approached Yoshi and stared at him questioningly. "Um, Yoshi...what are you doing?"

The dinosaur was sitting on the floor with Pennington's tote bag draped over his head. He was inhaling furiously before he heard Mario and looked over at him. Or, at least, moved his head so Mario could assume he was looking at him.

"I smell food in this room Mario. I'm going to find it," Yoshi's muffled, determined voice explained.

"Well, it's not in the bag," Mario pointed out as he stepped over and removed the bag from Yoshi's head. As soon as he was free, Yoshi immediately began to twitch his head back and forth, his nose quivering constantly as he scented the air. He soon began to scour the room on all fours, sniffing all over. "What exactly are you smelling?"

Yoshi sniffed a little more before answering."I think I smell...blueberries. And...chocolate chips? ...Yeah, chocolate chips."

"Blueberries and chocolate chips?" Mario parroted, feeling like those items sounded oddly familiar for some reason. Where had he heard those been named off befo-

"What was in the box?"

"The box in question contained... blueberries, chocolate chips..."

Mario dropped all of Pennington's belongings absently as he seemed to finally realize what was going on. And the more he though about it...that box, the red goop all over the room, what Yoshi was smelling... Everything was more connected than he'd initially thought.

"That box. The one I told you that Chef Shimi was looking for. It's in here somewhere!" Mario proclaimed. Yoshi appeared to not really listen to Mario, and Popple didn't seem to care, but this discovery felt quite immense to Mario himself. Soon, he began helping Yoshi in his search for the box, and, after a rather short time, they located it resting in a rather obvious hiding place: underneath the bunk bed. How in the world did Mario, and pretty much everyone else on the train, miss it earlier? It was sitting right there. But, then again, Popple's body was positioned so it blocked the box perfectly.

Ignoring the red goop, Mario made his way over to the bedside, knelt down, and dragged the box out. Yoshi caught this action out of the side of his eye and scurried over immediately, eagerly waiting for Mario to open the treasure up. And, sure enough, upon inspecting the inside of the box, Mario and Yoshi discovered all of Shimi's missing utensils, ingredients, and the random watermelon that was grouped in with the bunch.

Yoshi squealed with glee as he clasped his hands together and tiny hearts replaced his pupils. Mario couldn't help but laugh as Yoshi grabbed the succulent melon and gave it a loving embrace. Shortly before he tossed it into the air, opened up his gaping mouth, and swallowed the entire melon whole. He smacked his lips satisfactorily before rubbing his stomach and shedding a gleaming smile.

"Aaaaaahhh~ Now that hits the spot," he sighed happily. Mario could swear he saw Yoshi becoming a healthier green after eating the melon and couldn't keep back and happy smile, despite the situation. Popple, on the other hand, wasn't so moved.

"Well dat's great for you. Now get out, see," Popple demanded, pointing out the door. Quickly, Mario regathered all of Pennington's things and exited, closely followed by Yoshi, who was dragging along the box. They were soon out in the hallway, and Popple shut the door behind them. Just as he did so, the conductor made another announcement over the PA system.

"Attention Passengers. Curfew will is in 5 minutes. Please be in your rooms by this time. Thank you."

Mario and Yoshi quickly made their way to Pennington's broom closet over in Car One, Mario moving with the intent of delivering the penguin's things and Yoshi going along simply to follow him as he scoured the box's possessions. Besides, Chef Shimi stayed in the restaurant until a little after curfew anyway, so it wasn't like he'd be able to get back to his room anyway. It seemed he and Mario had become roommates without either of them ever even bringing the situation up. Regardless, once the pair reached Pennington's closet, Mario dropped off the items, covering the sleeping penguin in books and tools. They then began to head back to the restaurant to return the box before curfew was up, but Yoshi quickly stopped Mario just before they crossed over into the dining car.

"Wait a sec, I haven't seen everything else that's in this box yet," Yoshi said, not exactly having much of a chance to peruse it during the constant walking. "I know we have to give it back and all, but there might be something else to eat. Like those blueberries."

"Well...okay, I guess it couldn't hurt to take a look," Mario seceded, agreeing to stop with Yoshi as the dinosaur happily placed the box on the floor. They both peeked into it like a pair of young children exploring a chest of make believe treasure. "Let's see..." Mario muttered as he sifted through the box's contents. "An empty bottle of corn syrup, and an empty bottle of red food coloring."

"You think that's how Pennington made the red, goopy stuff?" Yoshi asked. Those were Mario's thoughts exactly when he initially figured out that the box was in Popple's room.

"I doubt Pennington was the one who made it, but someone definitely used this stuff to make all that fake blood. And, after what Popple told us about the pills, it sounds like Waluigi was the culprit behind the whole thing. Though I have no idea why in the world he'd do all of this," Mario muttered with a shrug. Yoshi, putting on his thinking cap, rubbed his chin in thought, but eventually shook his head when he couldn't come up with a reasonable explanation himself.

"Well, at least we know there's only one actual killer still," Yoshi said, clearly in a much better mood with food in his stomach. Mario had to agree with him, but that didn't make the occurrence any less strange at all.

"So what else is in here...? Oh, here's that container of blueberries!" Mario announced, pulling the box out and shaking the container. Yoshi happily snatched the package away and downed the contents instantly, not feeling even a twang of guilt for taking Chef Shimi's food. Mario couldn't blame him either; the chef practically stole Yoshi's watermelon, even though he did nothing wrong, and forced Yoshi to go hungry most of the day. The guy deserved some free food after all he'd been through.

"Anything else in there?" Yoshi asked, unceremoniously tossing the empty pack of blueberries back into the box before looking in once again. Mario began digging around once again, looking for the chocolate chips that were said to be in the box. No matter how much he searched though, he couldn't seem to find them, and he found himself eventually reaching the very bottom of the box. Once there though, he felt something rather strange; a sort of foreign object resting in the midst of the ingredients and various utensils. His facial expression suddenly shifted into that of confusion as he clasped the object. "What's wrong?" Yoshi asked, taking note of Mario's expression as he pulled the weird object up to the certain. And once he'd exposed it to the light and discovered exactly what the object was, his eyes widened in shock. What he pulled out was something he never expected to find in that box.

In his hand was clasped a green thermometer. Its top was broken off, and its mercury was drained...

*Emerges from time machine* WAIT! You are about to make a horrible mistake!

Yeah, kind of late to stop that future self...

Oh really. Well I guess I'll just hop back in my time machine and go back 5 minutes- *Turns around to see Cascore dismantling Time machine*

This machine... must be destroyed!

Hey! Did you just trap me in an infinite loop of growing old and then coming back to warn myself of my mistakes only to get stuck in the past and grow old again?

... Oh, whoops, sorry about that... And before I forget, a new poll has been put up for Day 3 on who you think murdered Don Pianta. This is your last chance to guess the true mastermind behind his death before the big reveal NEXT CHAPTER!