Paper Mario: Shy Guy Scramble
Chapter One: Candy and Paint
In the Paper Mario world, there are two kingdoms: The Mushroom Kingdom and the Koopa Kingdom. Each of these kingdoms gets a sweet treat from a startup company that quickly became a fad: Shy Guy Sweets and Eats. This company is managed by previous commander of Bowser's army, Cherry "Sweetheart" Shyster. He is known as Sweetheart because he founded the sweets and eats company, tested the candies, and packaged them.
One day, deliveries were delayed due to a shortage of ingredients. This left the kingdoms with many less active citizens.
"Why we aren't getting our candy in the first place is beyond our comprehension," one Toad said during the delay. "It's fine by me, I'll just need a coffee."
"My minions need their daily dose of sweets, but this is okay, I guess," Bowser said during the shortage.
Suddenly, it's at Mario's house, with him and his brother watching the news channel.
"...And this is Tom Toadstool, with Mushroom Kingdom Weather!" a news reporter said as it switched over to weather. "Cloudy with a 70% chance of rain!"
Just then, it started to rain outside.
"Oh, come-a on! First the candy stops, and now it starts to rain?" Mario said, slightly cranky because of the shortage.
"Mario, it's-a okay," his brother, Luigi, said. He still had some candy, and he offered to share with Mario.
"No-a thanks, Luigi, I'll be fine with just some coffee."
Just then, the doorbell rang.
"I'll-a get it!"
"No, Mario, you-a stay here."
The door opened, revealing a shy guy holding a box of candy.
"Here's your candy, sir! We've got a special flavor for today! It's now coming in blackberry jam flavor!"
"Oh, thank-a you! Here's your pay!"
Luigi gave the shy guy 50 coins to pay for the candy.
"Thank you, sir!"
Luigi walked back in, holding the box of candy.
"Hey, Mario! I've got the-"
"Shh, Luigi! The news has something to say!"
Luigi put the box down and listened.
"This is Samuel Sporeson with BREAKING NEWS! This just in, almost half of the mushroom plains has turned WHITE! It's been drained of color entirely!"
Luigi gripped his mustache in fear.
"Oh no!"
Mario stood up, clenching his fist in anger.
"Oh no! No no no no, no! I am NOT going out to repaint another island!" He muttered through clenched jaws.
"But Mario, you-"
Mario sighed before Luigi could finish.
"Fine. I'll go out and repaint the kingdom. But I'm not happy about it," he said at last.
"In other news, the Princess' color has mysteriously been stolen!"
Mario and Luigi gasped in horror.
"OKAY, THAT IS WHERE I DRAW THE LINE! I'M-A COMING, PRINCESS!"
Mario burst out of the door, running toward Toad Town.
Luigi watched this in astonishment.
"...wow, he's a hero even when-a he doesn't want to be one."
He then tried the candy.
"Hmm... it's pretty-"
But before he could finish, he felt mysteriously okay.
He started to drool, with whirling in his eyes.
"I belong in the Shy Army," he said almost like a zombie.
Meanwhile, at Bowser's castle, a similar problem was going on.
"I MUST GET TO THE PRINCESS BEFORE MARIO GETS TO HER!" Bowser exclaimed.
"But sir, no paint with the princess means kidnapping her does nothing," General Guy said.
"We are NOT kidnapping her! We're just going there to see what happened!"
"Oh... Okay then."
Back at Peach's Castle...
"OH, MARIO! IT'S TERRIBLE! THE PRINCESS HAS BEEN DRAINED OF HER COLOR!" a random guard toad told Mario as he entered the castle.
"I know this," he said, exasperated. "The princess has not been captured, but her paint has."
Suddenly, Bowser uses a sliding haymaker to burst through the wall.
"IT'S BOWSER!"
"EVERYONE, RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!"
"AAAAAH!"
Mario whirled around and saw Bowser, who just headed straight toward Peach.
"Oh-a no you don't!"
"What the-"
Bowser got whacked in the face by Mario's fist.
"OW!"
"You are NOT kidnapping Peach!"
"Well, I wasn't GOING to!" Bowser exclaimed as he held his nose. He moved his hand and saw he was bleeding from a nostril.
"Well why ARE you here?"
"To investigate!"
"Oh..."
A couple of hours later, after Mario calmed the Toads down, a security guard let the fire-breathing turtle that is Bowser into the security room.
"Back here. Oh, and for everyone's sake, take a tissue, Bowser."
"Thanks..." he said as he blew his nose.
"Yeah, no problem. Anyways, as we all know, the Princess has had her color stolen. According to this footage, the last person to come in was a shy guy, and during this, the video footage got corrupted, but the audio didn't get corrupted, so..."
The toad played the video, and it was horrifying.
"Hello, Princess Peach."
"Hello. What are you doing here?"
"I heard you had supplies here that we could use to make candy."
"Us? Have supplies? Why would we?"
"Oh, you know, just saying."
The audio turned black in its entirety, while the audio continued to play.
A rumbling sound indicated that the door got blocked off by a wooden stick.
"What are you doing?"
"CIRCLE UP, SHY GUYS!"
They heard screaming and slurping sounds, and when the door got unblocked, the video got uncorrupted.
At this point, the shy guys were gone, and all toads in the room and Peach were drained of their paint.
Mario shivered from the creep factor, and Bowser just had tears in his eyes.
"W-w-well! We can't just wait here while some bozos are out there screwing with our world!" Bowser said as he stood up and prepared to leave.
"Bowser, relax. I'm-a sure I will put a stop to this evilness," Mario explained to Bowser. "But go ahead and try to locate their base. I'll go get Mister Rust head- I mean Huey!"
"Okay, Mario. But you owe me."
"Alrighty then! Here I go!"
Thus, Mario started another adventure. What could be waiting ahead? Who is the leader of those shy guys? And better yet, how will Bowser find their base?
Meanwhile, after the Peach incident...
Doors were flung open, indicating someone of strength had forced them open.
"Master, we have done it."
"I saw. Stupid Toads don't know what hit them."
"So, hey, are we gonna do the thing and brutally murder Bowser's minions?"
The figure put what appeared to be a 3-fingered hand on his seemingly formless chin. His hand seemed to morph as if being blown at by a child.
"Good question. I suppose so."
"Alright, we'll begin black paint bombing right away."
"Excellent..." the figure let out an evil laughter that sent chills down the servant's spine.