One fine day in the Mushroom Kingdom, in a little hut not too far from Princess Peach’s castle, Mario awoke on the top bunk of his bunk bed. He took a deep breath and rubbed the sleep from his eyes.
“Aaah, nice day!” yawned Mario.
With that, he hopped from his top bunk and went into the kitchen and searched his shelves for something to eat. When he discovered that there was nothing in there, he looked in the refrigerator.
“Nothing in here either,” groaned Mario. He pondered for a moment, and then he thought of something. “The Toadstool Breakfast Buffet!”
Quick as a wink, he ran into his room, changed into his overalls, grabbed some coins, and headed out the door. He then jumped into the warp pipe that was just outside of his door. He then appeared in Toad Town. “Hmm, I wonder where Luigi could be?” thought Mario
No sooner had the thought crossed his mind than he saw none other than Luigi talking with a local outside of the Toad Town Library. After about two seconds the two parted and Luigi reunited with his older sibling. “Sorry I left before you woke up,” apologized Luigi, “but I just remembered that I had a book overdue.”
“No problem!” said Mario, “Listen, I’m about to go get some breakfast, would you like to join me?”
“No thanks! I’ve already eaten.”
“I suppose I’ll see you around then.”
With that, Luigi left in the opposite direction while Mario left for the buffet. After a few minutes, he arrived at the Toadstool Café. “Looks like my lucky day,” thought Mario.
And it was, for there was absolutely no line. He advanced to the cashier. “Well hello, Mario!” said the cashier. “Will you be taking your meal out, or eating in?”
“I’ll eat in,” replied Mario.
“The buffet’s five coins.”
Mario paid his fee and sat in his seat. After receiving his plate, he went and got some fried eggs, some mushrooms, bacon, and a Tasty Tonic. After eating a light breakfast, he got to his feet and left the café. Realizing he had tons of free time on his hands, he thought about what he could do. “I’ll go and visit Princess Peach,” decided Mario.
So he strolled along the quiet Toad Town until he reached a huge castle with a stained glass replica of Peach on it. He walked up to the front gate, only to be confronted by a spear-wielding Mushroomer. “Commoners aren’t allowed to-“ started the guard. “Oh, you’re Mario! Well, that makes a lot of difference! Open the gate!”
After a few seconds the gate had opened and Mario formally strolled in. When he had walked in, pictures of past kings and queens, princes and princesses surrounded him. But he was not here to admire artwork; he was here to see Peach. As he walked up the long corridor, he wondered about what they would talk about on this unexpected visit. Before he could ponder any more, he had arrived at the door of Peach’s room. He called out loud. “Princess! It’s me, Mario.”
“Oh! What a pleasant surprise!” said Peach in a surprised tone. “Give me just a second!”
After a few minutes, the large door opened to reveal a shimmering Princess Peach.
“Princess Toadstool, you look gorgeous today,” Mario said in awe.
“How many times have I told you to call me Peach?” asked Princess Peach.
“Terribly sorry.”
“It’s okay. Would you like to come in?”
Accepting her offer, he walked into Peach’s room. Feeling slightly nervous, he decided to stand up. Peach, realizing his shakiness, took his arm. “How about we go out to the garden where no one can bother us?” asked Peach soothingly.
More nervous than ever, he accepted her offer, feeling he couldn’t refuse. They walked down to the garden together, and when they reached it, they pulled up two chairs and sat. They chatted for a long time, about past adventures and triumphs over conflicts. After a while, the sky started to get dark. Very dark.
“That’s strange,” thought Peach aloud, “it’s only one fifteen.”
Slightly shocked from the sudden transition from light to dark, Mario investigated the situation immediately. He had only gotten out of his chair when, to his amazement, a big blue sphere appeared out of nowhere.
“Whoa! What’s that?” asked Mario in amazement.
His question was soon answered. For out of the bright blue sphere jumped out none other than the notorious Ludwig von Koopa, the strongest and most evil Koopaling. Appearing slightly surprised, Mario fell backwards.
“Mwa ha ha ha ha ha!!!” Ludwig laughed maniacally. “I’ll bet you veren’t expecting to see me, vere you Mario?”
Enraged, Mario immediately sprung into action. He aimed a swift jab at Ludwig’s jaw, but he swiftly dodged it. Ludwig counterattacked Mario with a cough of fire, which hit Mario square on the back.
“OH NO!!!” gasped Peach in horror.
But Mario was not to be defeated. Thinking fast, he quickly withdrew a Fire Flower from his pocket. Holding it above his head, his red and blue overalls suddenly changed into white and orange overalls. He began to charge a fireball.
“I don’t think so…” sneered Ludwig.
To Mario’s horror, out of the blue sphere jumped Larry, a Koopaling who wasn’t quite as strong as Ludwig, but twice as clever. “No, not you too,” stammered Mario.
Without thinking, he hurled his fireball at Ludwig, but it merely bounced off him. “It’s good to study shield spells!” said Larry, looking quite pleased with himself as he twirled his wand.
Mario decided that it was best to go after Larry first. With that, he charged at the Koopaling at full force. But before he could take a step, Ludwig started breathing little balls of fire at Mario again. He ducked and weaved to avoid them at all cost, but before he could strike Larry, there was a loud rumble, and out of the sky fell the rest of the Koopalings: Roy, Wendy, Iggy, Lemmy, and Morton.
“How did you guys get here?!” asked Mario in horror.
As soon as the words left his mouth, there came a spherical ship with a propeller at the bottom of it. This ship could only be one person’s, Bowser’s! The evil King Koopa’s head arose out of the ship, mimicking his maniacal smile. “Gwa ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!!!” laughed Bowser evilly. “Glad to see me?”
“No…” said Mario looking very aghast. “You’re back again?”
“Gwa ha ha!” laughed Bowser again. “Yes, I’m back again. And I will defeat you this time!
“How do you bet on that?!” replied Peach triumphantly. “He beat you when you had the Star Rod, he beat you when you controlled the Power Stars, he beat you in your own castle!!! What makes you think that you can beat him now?!”
“Simply the fact that that I outnumber him eight to one,” replied Bowser calmly.
Realizing this, Mario started to sweat. He realized he was going against seven super powerful Koopalings, and the King of the Koopas. But he would not give up that easily. With this, he pulled a Feather from his pocket and threw it in the air. His white and orange overalls changed instantly back into his normal red and blue look, but a cape suddenly materialized onto his back. With this, he charged into battle. With a quick decision, he charged after Larry again, but this time, airborne. He had started out at a sprint, but quickly flew into the air and was rapidly bobbing to maintain flight.
“Not so fast!” warned Lemmy. Withdrawing his wand, he pointed it at Mario and out came tiny little ice shards heading for Mario at full force. Mario was not harmed, but his cape was badly punctured, leaving him plummeting to the ground. Acting quickly, he withdrew another Feather and his cape magically repaired itself, floating gently upon Larry’s head.
“OUUUUCHHHH!!!!!” howled Larry in pain. With this, he fell over unconscious.
“Okay,” thought Mario, “six more Koopalings to go, then I can deal with Bowser.” He quickly charged into battle. Realizing that he needed some power, he pulled out a Super Shroom and grew tremendously. Going after Roy with a jump-kick, he hit Roy square in the face. But Roy was a stubborn Koopa. He retaliated with fangs bared and dealt a bone-crunching blow upon Mario’s face. He lay and moaned in agony.
“Is this the end?” thought Mario. “Am I to lose to a child?”
No, this wasn’t the end. Not for the great Mario. There had to be a way out of this.
“The blue sphere…” thought Mario desperately.
It was a risky chance. He had no clue what lay ahead of him, nor what would happen to Peach, Luigi, and all of his other friends in the Mushroom Kingdom. But he had to. He couldn’t lose this battle. He had to go for it.
“Waaaaaaaaaaah!!!!” shouted Mario as he ran with all his might. “Don’t worry, Peach, I’ll be back!”
“Stop him!!!” shouted Bowser at the top of his lungs.
But before anyone could react, there
was a flash, and Mario was gone.
“… Peach… Luigi… Uuurrghh… Is this the end?” thought Mario.
He was seeing lots of wavy blue backgrounds. He couldn’t tell if his vision was blurred, or he was going blind. Before anything else could happen, Mario heard something.
“Heeeeeey! Look out!” shouted an unfamiliar voice.
Mario then started to see a green blur. The blue backgrounds started to look vine-like, and green slimy material was flying out of them. In five seconds, the commotion was over, and the green blur seemed to stand still.
“You okay?” asked the green blur.
As his eyes focused, he saw that the blue blurs were actually flowers that looked similar to Piranha Plants, and the green blur looked as though he were an elf.
“Hi, I’m Link!” said the elf, “Link the Kokirian. Man, you took quite a fall. You okay?”
“Urrggh…” said Mario stumbling to his feet. “Yeah, just fine.”
“That’s a relief. Hey! What’s that?!”
Just over Mario’s head was the blue sphere, but it looked as though it was shrinking.
“Oh great!” shouted Mario, “I can’t get back now!”
“Get back where?”
So Mario went and explained where he came from, who he was exactly, and briefly described some of his adventures.
“Hmm, Mushroom Kingdom, eh?” said Link quizatively. “Sure, I’ll help. Actually, I’m looking for someone too.”
And with that, the two friends started on their long journey.