It had been three days since Princess Peach had been rescued from Bowser once again. This time, though, the journey to rescue her was much different. Mario, and his new friend, Cappy, had to literally travel the world for her, as well as Cappy's little sister, Tiara. However, that was all in the past now, and the four could finally travesere the various Kingdoms at their own pace. Despite this, however, Mario wasn't as enthusiastic as one would expect.

Mario sat by a cliffside in Bonneton and aimlessly stared beyond the seemingly endless fog as he put his palms on his chin and sighed. He had somehow convinced Cappy to leave him be for a bit, saying he could have a chance to meet up with the fellow locals. Cappy, however, disregarded this, instead following Mario secretly.

Cappy stealthily floated towards the overall-clad hero, placing himself on his head, causing Mario to jump a bit before realizing it was just his Bonneter companion. "Hey, Cappy," he nervously chuckled.

"I partake this is still not your style," Cappy simply quipped, making obvious note of the fact that he was still in his normal form. He got off Mario's head, quickly taking note of the subtle tints of sadness in his eyes. Cappy already had a crystal-clear idea of what was causing Mario to be so upset, but he wanted to ease himself into the situation at hand.

"So, I guess you finished meeting up with everyone?" Mario asked in a semi-flat tone.

"Yeah. A lot of them were busy, though," Cappy lied, not wanting to tell Mario he followed him. "Anyway, what brings you here by your lonesome?"

Mario just turned back to face the fog, putting a hand to the side of his face again. "I just needed a bit of time to myself, I guess," he sighed. "During our adventure, we were always on the move, so to finally have the time to explore a bunch of kingdoms at our own pace… It's a bit overwhelming. Like, where do we start first?"

Cappy lit up a bit. "I can see where you're coming from, but isn't that still exciting? All these kingdoms to traverse, Power Moons just under our noses… How could you be so unhappy?"

Mario gave Cappy a half-smile. "Full of energy as always, huh?" he simply jested before sighing again. "To be honest, though, I'm just kind of assessing the adventure we had, the fun moments we shared, and… the mistakes that we made."

Cappy jolted back a bit, not completely what Mario meant by that last sentence. Cappy floated closer to Mario, more than ready to console him. "Mistakes?" he asked out loud. "What do you mean by that?"

Mario shook his head. "No, I think I worded that wrong. It doesn't relate to you, so you don't really have much to worry about."

Cappy huffed a bit. "That just makes me worry more! Just tell me what's bringing you so down."

Mario just stared at Cappy, gloom beginning to flood his eyes even more. Cappy sighed. "It's about Peach, isn't it?"

Mario froze almost instantaneously at Cappy's question, continuing to be in a stupor for about a minute before averting his eyes ruefully. "Yeah, I guess," he finally muttered, hiding his face in his knees a tiny bit.

Cappy was admittedly a bit relieved that his suspicions to what was making Mario so down were true, but telling by the gloom in his eyes, it was obvious he still wasn't completely over it. The two continued to share a moment of silence for a while until Mario couldn't help but give a slight smile, scruffing Cappy's wisps of hair. "You're a kind soul, you know that?" Mario chuckled before turning back to the fog once again. "I'll be fine, really. I've… just got a lot on my mind."

Cappy continued to sadly stare at Mario, slightly confused at what he was saying.

Mario sighed again. "I'll admit, I've always been a bit impulsive. It definitely has led me to some bad choices… recently being no exception." Mario paused for a moment, sighing once more. "...If I must be honest, I've been overanalyzing that one event on the Moon Kingdom too much. Not the wedding itself, but… after we stopped it…"

Cappy just continued to give the plumber a solemn look, fully knowing where he was going with his monologue of sorts.

Mario sighed again. ¨It's just, I don't know. Seeing Peach in that beautiful dress… I just couldn't help myself. It just felt like the perfect time to… you know…"

Cappy was about to speak up until Mario unintentionally interrupted him. "Admittedly, it was a hasty decision. She had just gotten out of a forced marriage, and there I was trying to bring her into one with me. If I must be honest, I'm not too surprised she turned my request down."

Cappy wasn't sure what to do to get Mario's spirits up at that point. He never dealt with this kind of heartbreak. The closest thing he could think of was Tiara getting kidnapped by Bowser, which just so happened to occur shortly before meeting Mario. He just continued to stare at his friend with sad eyes.

Mario suddenly and briefly exhaled, doing his best to smile. "You know what, though? If she just wants us to stay as friends, even until the day our games are over… Well, that would be ok, too. What's important is that she's happy and safe." Mario's smile began to grow a bit wider. "Thanks for letting me talk to you, Cappy. I actually feel a little bit better now."

Cappy perked up slightly. "Really?"

"Yeah," Mario simply replied, turning his whole body towards Cappy, scruffing his small wisps of hair again. "I guess I just needed someone to talk to so I could let my feelings out. Thanks, Cappy."

Cappy lit up more. "Why, you most certainly welcome, Mario! I'm glad I could be here for you in your time of need."

Mario couldn't help but smile a bit more, getting back up on his feet. "Well, I think I'm ready to go again. You ready?"

Cappy gave a quick and joyous nod, transforming into Mario's familiar cap before placing himself on his head. "Hey, Mario. You think you're ready to meet up with Peach and Tiara?"

Mario paused for a quick moment before giving a quick nod of his own. "Yeah, I think I'm ready."

Cappy couldn't help but give a happy expression and laughed a bit. "Alright then! Let's go!"

With that, the two set off again, ready for adventure once more. While it was quite obvious to Cappy that Mario still wasn't over it, he was clearly better than he was before, so that was all he could ask for. The two weren't sure where their odyssey would lead them next, but as long as they were at each other's side, they knew it would be ok.