Mario and Luigi were in their house. Bowser and Peach had recently signed a peace treaty, so the brothers had some time off. Luigi was sitting on the couch while Mario was reading the paper. He sighed and said, "Mario, I'm-a bored."

Mario put the paper down and asked, "Do you want to go-kart?"

Luigi thought about the idea of go-karting, and then remembered being hit by a blue shell, "No"

Mario thought for another idea, "Play sports?"

Luigi shuddered at the thought of the last time they played baseball and he got smashed by a Thwomp, "No."

Mario thought for a while before suggesting, "Host a party and play torturous mini-games with your life on the line?"

Luigi thought about the idea of a party, but decided against it, before questioning what Mario had fully said, "No- wait what!?"

"Oh nothing. Actually, I heard Professor E. Gadd had some new invention. Want to go see what it might be?"

Luigi shrugged, "Well, I've got nothing better to do. As long as this doesn't end in you getting captured by King Boo and me having to rescue you, I'm fine with that."

The brothers left their house and headed over to the Professor's lab. When they arrived, a strange man in a black cloak, and his face concealed by a hood walked out of the lab and brushed past Mario and said, "Apologies. I was just picking something up from the professor. Wait... you're Mario and Luigi, aren't you?"

Mario nodded, "That's us. Who are you?"

The man smiled underneath his hood, "Just call me Anon for now. We'll meet again Mario. I'll be looking forward to it." before continuing to walk away.

The brothers walked into the lab and Mario asked, "Professor, who was that strange man?"

The professor looked up from his desk and said, "Oh? That man was the man who commissioned me to create something called Catch Cards. A few days ago, I got this in the mail." he showed them a letter that read, "Dear Professor E. Gadd, I've sent you some plans for an invention. As much as I'd like to create them myself, I don't have the scientific knowledge to create them. I call them Catch Cards. They're meant to capture enemies and turn them into cards. The cards are to be used to battle other people who have Catch Cards. Once I arrive to pick them up, you can mass produce them if you wish." The professor told Mario and Luigi, "And with the letter came these plans, and 50,000 coins. That man was certainly strange though. Anyway, I've got plenty of Catch Cards. I can give you some if you'd like. I'm sure it'd be helpful with Bowser's minions. Ever since the peace treaty between Peach and Bowser was signed, a lot of Bowser's minions have still been causing trouble. Here, take some Catch Cards. Now, you'll still need to weaken any enemies you want to catch, and if they're weak enough, the Catch Card will turn them into a card you can use in battle." before taking a deck of cards and giving them to Mario and Luigi.

Mario smiled, "Thanks Professor. Hey Luigi, why don't we check out Mush Mush Forest? We might be able to find some enemies we can turn into cards."

Luigi nodded, "Why don't we split up for a while? We can see who can catch more enemies."

As Mario and Luigi arrived at Mush Mush Forest, they split up. Luigi stayed in the thinner part of the forest, while Mario went deeper into the forest. Mario looked around for any of Bowser's renegade minions until he heard barking, "Oh no... the first enemy I ran into just had to be a Chain Chomp." As a Chain Chomp approached Mario, he took out his hammer and a Fire Flower. When he used the Fire Flower on his hammer, it was ignited in flames. He hit the Chain Chomp with his flaming hammer, and it did a lot of damage on it. "I think that should be enough. Catch Card set!" before throwing his Catch Card to the ground right next to the Chain Chomp. The card flashed and then circled around the Chain Chomp before sucking it in and twirling before flashing again and falling to the ground. Mario picked it up and smiled, "Yahoo! I got a Chain Chomp!"

When Mario went back to meet Luigi, Luigi had just caught a Goomba, "Hey Luigi, I just caught a Chain Chomp! I didn't think there'd be any of those in this forest. I was pretty lucky."

Luigi sighed, "Yeah, lucky you. I didn't come across anything but Goombas. But I suppose something's better than nothing. Well, it's starting to get dark now. Should we head back home?"

Mario looked up in the sky and nodded, "Yeah, we probably should. Hopefully we can find some more enemies tomorrow."

As Mario and Luigi headed back home, they came across Anon again. Anon chuckled, "So, you've caught your first enemy. I suppose you do have some talent, although I shouldn't be surprised, considering who you are. Perhaps we'll battle one day. The Catch Cards were an instant hit. The Toad Town shop is selling blank Catch Cards, and the Chance Time show is offering rare cards as prizes. I never expected the cards to be this popular to be honest."

Mario was surprised that the Catch Cards were so popular in such a short time, "So Anon, why-a did you decide to get Professor E. Gadd to make these Catch Cards"

As Anon left, he told them, "Sorry Mario, but that's a story for another time. I'll see you around."

And so begins a new craze within the Mushroom Kingdom, the Catch Cards. But who is the mysterious Anon who paid Professor E. Gadd to create them? It seems he has some mysterious purposes for creating them, but what are those purposes? Only time will tell