Paper Mario
The Curse of the Dark Star
This is my first fanfiction since I made my account here. Now at first I wanted to start writing a story of my own here but since this is a site for writing fanfictions I thought I should start writing on the series that already existed. Anyway I chose to write about series of event staring in Paper Mario Universe (since I played the first two games multiple times and I like the Mario series I thought it was a great place to start). Now recently I've also played some Fire Emblem games which was also made by the same company that made Paper Mario series and was surprised that no one has ever made a fanfiction that combined the two franchises (not crossover), so yes this will be a Fire Emblem styled Paper Mario fanfiction with will include Mario style classes and some battle sharing both mechanics from Paper Mario RPG and Tactical battles from Fire Emblem. Not only will I add elements from Paper Mario and Fire Emblem but I'll also add characters settings and villains from the entire Mario franchise (apparently fans loves big collaboration). I can't really promise that you'll be satisfied by how it'll turn out once I merge the two series but I'll try my best not two disappoint you. Few things before the story, one is that my English isn't really my first language so don't expect the English on this fanfiction to be great, second is that I am still working on summarizing the story on the planner on my phone so the updates can be slow, third is that this fanfiction will be like playing a game so like all Paper Mario games (or any Mario games for that matter) Mario will not be speaking the entire time and he'll only communicate through gestures. And lastly if you think it's okay for me to post a story of my own I would consider posting it.
Paper Mario and Fire Emblem belong to Nintendo and Intelligence System and everything else from Mario series belongs to Nintendo and Geno belongs to Square Enix. I would say that the characters that you won't recognize in this fanfiction belong to me, but their race is designed by Nintendo so they'll be full credited for it. Hope I made that very clear. Enjoy!
Prologue
People desired the world with nothing but peace and peace alone with no evil at all. But the world cannot exist without the darkness since it'll cause an imbalance. Therefore, many great magicians found the way for the darkness to formulate somewhere else far from anyone's reach. It resulted with the great chunk of Malice in the clustered form. But the evil within was growing too much that it broke free from its prison and the dark chunk became what we see as a comet. This comet still travels at light speed. Where will it land? When will it stop? What's the harm? This was one conspiracy that was better off not knowing. But fate suggests otherwise for the very souls living on Earth.
Chapter 0A
It was a beautiful day at the peaceful kingdom of the Mushroom kingdom where number of days without troubles caused by the mean koopas reached over 60. Was Bowser preparing for a big invasion or was he on vacation? The citizens of Mushroom kingdom was too excited to even think about the invasion from Bowser's kingdom, because today was the day every citizens were anticipating. It was the day which the whole Mushroom Kingdom watches the night sky to watch the comets falling. Every citizen was setting up decorations, cameras, stages and foods all across the kingdom. The most gorgeous sight in the Mushroom kingdom was the Princess Peach's castle; the castle court was set like the ball room surrounded by round tables and long tables placed symmetrically on both sides. It was even busier inside where the staff was decorating and cleaning the mess hall. The citizens were doing great but what about our favorite plumbers?
The Mario bro's residence was fine as ever and it was the only house that hasn't been decorated for the night event. Just then a paratroopa named Parakarry was flying towards the Mario bros Mailbox and deposited a letter inside.
Parakarry: Mail call!
After delivering the letter he flies away. Then the green plumber wearing green shirts and cap with indigo overalls and mustache named Luigi comes outside to get the letter. He got the letter and calls Mario.
Luigi: Hey bro! We got a mail! It's from Princess Peach!
The red shirt and cap with blue overall plumber with mustache named Mario comes out of the house and approaches his brother. As he approaches him, Luigi reads the letter.
Luigi: I'll read it for you as usual.
Dear Mario and Luigi
The whole kingdom is getting ready for the comet festival and I was hoping that you both can come over to watch the comets with me! I had a perfect spot prepared just for us so please come! I'll have cakes and tea ready for when you arrive.
Sincerely, Peach
Luigi: Wow, even a letter with only few words can be considered an honorable invitation! C'mon bro, let us get ready before we get to the castle!
Mario agrees by nodding, and the two plumbers head back into their house. As times passed dawn approached and they came out of their house dressed in a cleaner outfit.
The two plumbers made it to the Toad town surrounded by many citizens enjoying themselves, and they made their ways towards the castle. The castle was full of decorations and the staffs were all serving food there. Mario and Luigi made it towards the garden gate.
Luigi: Look bro! Everyone from every other kingdom came to gaze upon the comets!
?: That's because our kingdom has the better view of the comets.
The brothers saw someone approaching them. He was a toad soldier dressed like the soldiers Mario saw back in the first Paper Mario game. He had red spots on his mushroom head, had blonde bangs, wore a white robe and wielded a pike.
The toad soldier: Hello Mario bros, Princess Peach was expecting you! My name is Markay and I recently joined the Mushroom kingdom court guard and was appointed as Princess Peach's personal bodyguard. Her highness asked me to escort you both to her. Please follow me!
Luigi: Geez. Thanks that would keep us from getting lost. Funny how we came here lot of times and I always get lost. It's like the castle interior's always changing!
Markay: Ha ha! Anyway it's this way.
The two plumbers followed the soldier as he escorted them inside. As they went in they are approached by two more toads. One was wearing red Chinese styled dress with meat bun shaped pigtails. Her spot colors were pink like her hair. The other one was slim; wearing robes designed for scholars and had glasses and he was holding a book. His head spot was blue and he had green bangs.
Markay: Allow me to introduce these two. These are my brother and sister who are also working in the castle. This is Ikki T. my little sister.
Ikki: Hello~! I'm Ikki! I work here as a maid! I hope to be your personal maid today! *wink*
Markay: And this is my rather intelligent brother Chaz T. He's a librarian.
Chaz: Salutations. I've heard many stories of you two. I hope to make personal biographies of you both to honor your past achievements for the younger generations.
Markay: C'mon Chaz don't cause trouble for our guests.
Luigi: Our own biography? Golly! I never even thought about that!
Markay: Anyway the princess is waiting up ahead. Follow me please.
The two toads head down to the party on the bottom floor, while the bros along with their escort heads up towards the north wing. They made it to the highest floor and as they went in the observatory, they are greeted by none other than Princess Peach herself. She was elegantly dressed wearing pink and a gold crown with jewels on it. Her golden hair shined as she approached the brothers.
Peach: Hello Mario, hello Luigi. I am so glad you both could come. After all, an occasion such as this doesn't come too often.
Luigi: C'mon Peach, you know that we could have come even if you didn't invite us. But we were still grateful that you invited us.
Mario nodded in agreement
Peach: Oh that's so sweet! Thank you for guiding them here Markay. You may leave us now.
Markay: Are you sure princess? You might need a guard.
Peach: Don't worry, I'll be fine! I'll have Mario and Luigi with me and they've been protecting me since forever!
Markay: I see. Okay then! I shall meet with Toadsworth to inform Mario and Luigi's arrival. I shall leave her in your care Mario. Please excuse me.
Markay than leaves the room leaving the brothers alone with the princess.
Peach: Now then, I had this room designed specifically for this day. And ever since it was built, I wanted to show you the best part about this mechanism.
Luigi: What is it?
Peach: Step on this switch and see!
Peach was pointing at the star shaped button in the middle of the room. Mario went and pressed with by jumping on it. As he pressed it the whole room began to shake. The floor beneath them closer to the rose up as the ceiling opened up like a silo. They were now outside, and were even closer to the night sky. The sky was full of stars; it was a wonderful night sky.
Luigi: Holy Cow! That is wonderful! I am so glad we came, right bro?
Mario nods in agreement
Peach: Just look at the beautiful sky. To think we sleep under such sight, it almost makes me feel ashamed of myself sleeping away from this sky. But not tonight, tonight we'll be watching it as if it was a movie, a very long movie.
Luigi: Hey! I thought I saw a shooting star!
Peach: Oh my! It's about to start!
The castle lights were turned off as the sky began to shimmer brightly with the sparkling stars. There were many constellations visible to the eyes of many. Then it happened, the stars on each constellation began to rearrange, creating something amazing. The stars were all spinning like crazy; as they spanned the night sky began to emit an aurora like light within the vortex. The vortex served like a gate, and within those gates wondrous lights came out. They soared down like bullets. The comets in many different colors were passing by the kingdom emitting colorful lights. As some of the comets passed they began to scatter into little star clusters. Every citizen were mesmerized by the amazing display within the night sky, it was so astounding that there wasn't any reason to feel bad about anything. As each comets exploded, everyone cheered "Hurray!" and as the star clusters were falling towards the ground the citizens tried to grab them. The clusters however disappeared as soon as they made contact with their palms. Peach also raised her arms to try and grab the comets, but with no success. But Mario with his amazing jumping ability reached out and successfully grabbed a comet shard before it exploded. As he landed on his foot he gave it to Peach who was very grateful.
Peach: Thank you Mario!
Mario looked at the comet fragment he gave her. It was bigger than Peach's torso but it looked really light and it was sparkling with multiple colors. He has never seen anything like it. As he gazed upon the fragment it reminded his adventure traveling across galaxies. He missed traveling while soaring on star launcher and navigating the galaxies on his own galaxy ship. He even wondered how Rosalina was doing. Peach approached towards Mario quietly.
Peach: You feel sad Mario.
He looked at her as she spoke. He shook his head to tell her he wasn't sad. But Peach knew him too well.
Peach: There's nothing to worry about, this is the night when all of our tragic memories are to be forgotten. I've had such memories too, but they don't matter anymore. As long as I still have you and the whole kingdom, I'll always be happy.
Mario nodded as well. The two were so happy together that they forgot that Luigi was also with them. They suddenly realized his presence when he called out.
Luigi: Guys look! Something's happening. Oh boy, what else will we see?
Luigi was anticipating something exciting when the sky suddenly turned red. Even though the saturated colors seemed beautiful it felt uneasy. The comets that were falling slowly began to fall faster. The spectators were beginning to feel frightened by the change of atmosphere, the sky was getting redder and a lot more comets were falling and they were suddenly accelerating, even their colors were turning red. Then it happened, the comets that were falling closely were starting to cause damage to the town. The roofs on the buildings began to collapse, and everyone began to panic. The comets somehow became a meteor and their numbers were increasing. It was supposed to be the beautiful night of the year, but now became the image of apocalyptic disaster. They were also falling towards the observatory, and as they fell Mario used his hammer to knock them off while Luigi was ducking for cover as did Peach. The toad soldiers began to evacuate the citizens away to a safer location, but nowhere were safe. After much panic, the comet frenzy stopped. After it stopped things began to go quiet and the citizens were slowly calmed downed. After the long silence, Luigi lifted his head.
Luigi: Is…is it over?
Just as they thought the madness ended the sky became darker and darker, with no stars in sight.
Peach: No…something else is about to happen.
As she finished talking, the area began to shake and hell broke loose. Something else was about to fall from the vortex, something a lot bigger. It was another comet, but unlike the ones they've seen so far it was black colored surrounded by the purple colored aura, and it was falling very slowly. The citizens looked at the massive chunks of darkness and were frightened by it. As it passed by the kingdom small fragments from the comet fell on the whole kingdom. The fallen fragments were black colored shrouded in purple aura just like the comet. Some of the toads nearby approached the rock slowly to see what they were. The comet was still falling but it was getting closer to the ground. As Mario, Luigi, and Peach saw it passed by it looked like it was going to land somewhere nearby. When the comet finally crashed somewhere, the whole kingdom shook. When it did the black chunks that fell from the comet began to shake. And suddenly, the rocks began to spawn the black mists which formed a physical manifestation. And then a black monster was made. As it screeched the nearby citizens screamed and began to run away from the monsters.
As Mario saw witnessed the monsters out the courtyard, he jumped off the tall observatory landing on one castle roof to another. Luigi was still shivering as he saw his brother taking off.
Luigi: Okay bro! You handle the slimy and creepy black thing while I protect the princess!
Peach: C'mon, let us go back in.
Peach pressed the center button and the floors began to go back down. As they made it below Markay was there waiting.
Markay: Princess Peach! Are you alright?! I came to…
Peach: I'm alright Markay, but I do feel uneasy about the havoc going on outside. I want you to help Mario handle the situation.
Markay: But princess! My duty is to protect you at any cost!
Peach: I am aware of your job description, but there's no need for you to protect me all the time. I'll be fine. Besides, the citizens outdoors may need my help more than ever. So please, for my sake, go protect them in my stead.
Markay felt uneasy about leaving the princess unprotected. Even though Luigi would be with her, he still felt insecure about leaving her. But the princess begged for him to protect the ones that needed to be saved. There was just no way he could refuse.
Markay: Okay princess. I shall make haste and assist the others. But please try not to walk into danger in my absence.
Peach: I won't. Now go.
Markay heads out of the castle. Peach saw him left while Luigi looked outside, wondering if he should go out and help or not.
The soldiers outside were driving off the monsters but with no success. The dark creatures were charging towards them with monstrous speed. But just before their fangs could meet their mushroom hides, Mario jumped in between and hammered the foe with ease. Mario defeated one but two more were coming in the similar manner. Luckily for Mario they were taken down by the Toad magician coming from the rear with their magic blast.
Toad soldier: Thanks for the hand Mario! We will handle the monsters on the castle area while you help out the others outside!
Mario nodded in agreement and made his way towards Toad Town.
As Mario made it to the town, monsters were everywhere and the townsfolk were hiding indoors. The Toad town became the large battle ground covered with tiles (In readers' perspective). There were four monsters on four different tile spaces beneath the map while Mario was on the tile somewhere on the top. Mario's objective was to make sure the villagers lock their doors and defeat the monsters before they can bring harm to houses that haven't been locked yet. Mario moved 5 square down. As his turn ended the monsters moved 2 spaces, approaching closer to the houses. Mario managed to reach one of the houses and alerted the citizen living in it.
Toad Citizen 1: What?! The monsters are still outside? Okay I'll lock my door. For warning me I'll give you something to help you fight them.
Mario received a mushroom from the house which just locked itself. The monsters were still approaching closer to each house. Mario managed to reach another house before it could be destroyed by them.
Toad Citizen 2: Huh? Oh sorry! I was busy worrying about my kids that I forgot to lock the door! Please take this as my "thank you!"
Mario received honey syrup and the house became locked tight. The monster was now reaching for Mario. It swiped its claw towards Mario. Mario guarded and took one out of ten damages. Mario moved to the third and final house that was unlocked.
Toad Citizen 3: Yes? Ah yes, I left the door open to let the monsters in. They seemed to be in a bad mood so I thought I could calm them down by serving them teas. I beg your pardon? They don't like teas you say? Hmmm, and I prepared a leaf for tea and everything. I supposed I'll just give some to you then. Have a chef cook it to make a tea out of it.
Mario received a koopa leaf and the door closed. Then another black monster attacked Mario. It swiped its claw at Mario again. But this time instead of guarding, Mario super-guarded, and the monster took damage instead. Now that the houses were secured, all that's left was to defeat the monsters. Mario aimed at the black monster and jumped on it taking 2 out of 3 HP. It became defeated. Mario earned 25 star points. As the monsters attacked, all Mario could do was either guard or super-guard. He defeated one more with his hammer, and earned another 25 star points. As two were defeated another two were spawned at the bottom. Luckily Mario's back up arrived at the same time.
Markay: Need a hand Mario?
Markay arrived, and he was ready to help Mario out. As Mario took down another monster, he earned another 25 star points. Markay moved towards Mario and spoke to him.
Markay: Mario, Princess Peach asked me to help you out. I shall help you smite these creatures, you just tell me what to do and I'll follow.
Mario nodded and Markay became a party member. Mario moved towards another monster and used jump attack on it. That was another monster down and another 25 star points rewarded. Mario leveled up to level 2.
HP:10+2FP: 5+1 Power:5+1Block: 1+1 Technique: 4+1 Magic: 1+1 Immunity: 1+1 Luck: 4+1
Markay moved to the remaining enemy and attacked. He positioned his pike towards the monster and charged towards it. He skewered it and damaged 2 out of 3 HP on it. The monster attacked Markay the same way the others attacked Mario. Markay super-guarded, depleting its last remaining HP. Markay received 25 star points.
They defeated all the monsters, but it wasn't over. 2 more black monsters and 1 big one spawned out of nowhere.
Markay: For heaven's sake, couldn't they be any more stubborn? They just keep coming!
Just then Luigi arrived nearby.
Luigi: Don't worry guys! I've come to help!
Markay: Luigi?! What are you doing here?! I came to aid Mario knowing that the princess was safe with you! If your here, then the princess would be...
Luigi: Don't worry, the soldiers back at the castle managed to defeat the monsters, and the princess's safety was guaranteed. She told me to go and help you guys, so I mustered my courage to come here.
Markay: Very well. I trust your words. Now that we took out some of these creatures all that's left are now these three.
Luigi: Whoa. The third one is ginormous! Maybe coming here wasn't such a good idea.
Markay: Well you can't turn back on us now so now that you're here, prove to me how valuable your courage is.
Luigi: Ugh, okay I'll try.
The two black monsters approached the three and began to assault them as usual. Markay defeated one with a lucky critical and received 25 star points. Luigi hammered the other one and the monster received 2 HP damage. It retaliated, but Luigi super-guarded and it was defeated. Luigi earned 25 star points. Mario advanced towards the bigger black monster and used jump attack on it. He only managed to damage 2 out of 10 HP. The big black monster swiped its claws on Mario. Even though he managed to super-guard it, it didn't hurt the monster. Markay attacked the monster with his charging pike attack and it took 2 HP damage. Luigi jumped on it; he landed successfully once but missed the second time so he only took out 1 HP.
Markay: Luigi, your technique stat isn't high enough! So use an attack command with a higher hit rate like your hammer attack!
Luigi: Okay I'll try.
It was Mario's turn to attack; he used his hammer this time and took out 2 more HP from the monster. The monster used his fang this time and aimed at Markay. Markay couldn't super-guard in time and he lost 4 HP from the attack. Luigi attacked it with his hammer and took 2 HP from it. The monster now had 1 HP left. Markay took the finishing blow with his charging pike attack. The Big black monster was defeated at last. Markay received 80 star points and leveled up to level 2.
HP: 10+2 FP: 3+1 Power: 5+2 Block: 2+1 Technique: 6+1 Magic: 0+0 Immunity: 0+1 Luck: 3+1
Luigi: Whoa, I can't believe that we won!
Markay: Yes, but thanks the damages those monster caused, we got some cleaning to do. For the moment we must return to the castle.
Mario nodded in agreement and so the three made their way back to the castle. The battle was over, but it was only the beginning. What were these monsters and what about the fallen black comet? All would be revealed in the future.
So how was it? Was the story worth reading? As you figured it out, the battle layout was similar to the battle mechanics from Fire Emblem but during individual battle, it had an RPG styled battle element from Paper Mario, but as I wrote the battle details I thought it looked too complicated so next time I'll try to make them less complex. I'll be adding more characters that will join Mario later on and yes I'll be adding support conversations for each ones available. As for Markay he will not be joining Mario momentarily, in fact he'll have a role of his own after few chapters. If you are wondering why this chapter was called Chapter 0A is because there's going to be a separate stories taking place elsewhere and they'll be categorized with letters. You'll find out more about the story splits in the future. Hope you'll all be anticipating for more, it'll be the key to my motivation.