AUTHOR'S NOTE: Forgive the dumb title, it's the only thing I could come up with. Anyway, this story's canon is based on the 1989 cartoon series, "The Super Mario Bros. Super Show" (that was the series with Captain Lou Albano as Mario, for those of you keeping score). I read somewhere that the show is not in the same canon as the games. Since I've never played the games, the cartoon is what I know best, hence why the characters are referred to as Princess Toadstool and King Koopa. Anyway, Mario, Luigi, Princess Toadstool, Toad, and King Koopa and his minions belong to Nintendo. Phyllis Portobello, Puffball the cat, the city of Portobello Port, and any other incidental characters belong to me. Franky Portobello is a gray area, considering he's an expy of Fluid Man from the Hanna-Barbera cartoon "The Impossibles."
Plumber's Log Number 6-2-0-7
We had warped to Portobello Port, which had one of the biggest wharves in the entire Mushroom Kingdom. Deliveries to the Mushroom Kingdom had stopped suddenly, and we were there to investigate the cause. Little did we know what was in store for us here.
Upon exiting the warp pipe, the Mario Brothers, Princess Toadstool, and their friend, Toad, walked around the docks of the seaport town of Portobello Port, and found the docks completely empty. There were no workers loading cargo onto ships. As a matter of fact, there weren't even any ships docked in the harbor!
"Boy, this place is emptier than my stomach!" Mario shouted.
"Maybe they all went home," Luigi said. "After all, it is night time."
"Something's not right here," the Princess said, looking around. "The docks here are always busy, day or night. And there are always boats in the harbor."
"Yeah, this place is always filled with big men with big muscles!" Toad shouted.
Toad flexed his arms, trying to show off his muscles, and then ran to a crate laying on the dock. He grunted as he tried to pick it up, and managed to lift it over his head.
"Ta-da!" he cheered. Unfortunately, the crate turned out to be too heavy for him.
"Whoa!" he shouted, as the crate fell, and smashed to pieces when it landed on the little mushroom.
"Toad!" Princess Toadstool shouted, as she and the Mario Brothers ran over to the destroyed crate and began digging through it to pull Toad out.
"Oh, Toad, are you all right?" the Princess asked.
"Sailing, sailing, doodle-dee-doot-doo-doo . . . ." Toad sang, dazedly, as his eyes turned into two spinning spirals, and stars circled around his head.
"I think he'll live," Mario said.
"What do you think happened to all the people who work down here?" Luigi asked.
"I don't know," the Princess said. "But I know where we can find out. Let's go to the governor's mansion. He's sure to know what's going on."
The quartet left the wharf, and walked through the city, though it appeared to be deserted as well. There were no lights on in any of the buildings, and no one was on the streets.
"Holy macaroni!" Luigi shouted. "This place is like a ghost town!"
"Guess that means we won't be getting anything to eat for awhile," Mario said.
"How can you think of eating at a time like this?" Toad asked.
"Maybe it keeps his mind off of how creepy this place is," Luigi said, shuddering a little.
The foursome continued to make their way through the streets until they came across a large mansion surrounded by a stone wall and iron gate.
"Uh oh!" Mario shouted, and he suddenly dove into a nearby bush.
"What's up, dude?" Toad asked.
"Look what's crawled outta the waterworks," Mario said, pointing towards the gate. "Koopa Troopas!"
Sure enough, standing at the iron gate were several Koopa Troopas, each holding long, pointed spears, obviously on the lookout for intruders. Immediately, Luigi, Toad, and the Princess ducked into the bushes before they could be spotted.
"Where there are Koopa Troopas, there's King Koopa," the Princess said.
"That would explain why no one's around," Mario said. "King Koopa must have captured them. I'll bet he's taken over Portobello Port."
Before anyone could say anything more, a light came on from the large house, and King Koopa stormed out onto a balcony. Our heroes ducked down to avoid being seen.
"After them!" King Koopa shouted. "Don't let them escape!"
"You think they spotted us already?" Luigi asked.
"I don't know, but I'm not taking chances!" Toad shouted. "Run for it!"
Immediately, Mario and his friends began running toward a wooded area behind the mansion. But as it turned out, Koopa hadn't spotted them at all. Instead, he was after someone else. A large search light began sweeping the grounds of the mansion, barely missing two figures. They were humans, one being a blond-haired girl in her early twenties, and the other being a black-haired teenage boy. The boy was carrying a white cat wearing a pink collar with a mushroom shaped tag in his arms. The two humans leaned against the side of the mansion as the light swept by. Once it was gone, the girl stepped out, and motioned for the boy to follow her, and they ran toward the back of the mansion. They raced to another gate, which was unguarded. The girl opened it, and the boy ran through it immediately. After the girl ran through, she saw the Koopa Troopas, headed by Mouser, coming at them. Immediately, she closed the gate, and she and the boy ran toward a wooded area behind the mansion. Unfortunately for Mouser, he crashed into the gate, and the Koopa Troopas crashed into him, and they all fell to the ground.
"You nincomkoops!" Koopa shouted. "Get after them! Don't let them get away!"
"Right away, your Koopa-ness!" Mouser shouted, as he opened the gate. He and the Koopa Troopas raced after the girl and boy.
In the meantime, the Mario gang stopped running for a moment, and realized no one was chasing them.
"We must've lost them," Mario said.
"I think you spoke too soon!" Luigi shouted. "Someone's coming!"
"Up here, quick!" Toad shouted, and he climbed a nearby tree.
Mario and Luigi pulled out their plumbers snakes, hooked the branch Toad was sitting on, and climbed up, with the Princess following closely behind. Once they were safe, they saw who was coming, and it turned out to be the girl and the boy from the mansion.
"Those aren't the Koopa Troopas," Mario said.
"But those sure are!" Toad shouted, as Mouser and the Koopa Troopas approached. Much to the amazement of Mario and the others, they passed the tree completely.
"Get after zose two!" Mouser shouted. "Make sure zey don't get away!"
"Hey!" Toad shouted. "What gives?"
"They weren't after us after all," the Princess said. "They must be after that girl and boy that ran past!"
"Come on!" Mario shouted, and he began swinging from tree branch to tree branch with his plumber's snake. "Whoever they are, they might need our help!"
"I was afraid he was gonna say that," Luigi said, but he followed his brother, anyway.