Paper Mario : The Color Thief
Prologue
Legends tell of a kingdom in the sky, where all of the world's colors are protected.
In this realm, many people live, people who have ascended beyond being physical beings.
They dedicate all of their lives to defending seven mystical artifacts:
The Rainbow Orbs
These orbs are what give color and life to the entire universe, if only one of them was gone, the end of the world would break out.
Every single day, the Star People guard their precious orbs from evil, not getting or needing any thanks.
But what would happen if the Rainbow Orbs were stolen by a greedy monster from the world far below the Star People's?
Twas a quiet afternoon at the Star Palace, Star People were walking back to their homes and living their lives, in the center of the huge palace, which was more along the lines of a city, was a temple which held eight pedestals, seven for each of the Rainbow Orbs and a final, taller one for the Master Orb, an object that allowed control of all the colors in existence.
"Having the task to eternally defend these things sure does get boring after a hundred or so years," One guard said to the other next to him.
"I know it's boring, but it's a job that must be done," The second guard replied, finishing his sentence in a fancy saluting stance.
Suddenly, the alarms inside of the Rainbow Temple rang and all of the guard ran into the inner sanctum to see what was happening, a tall, purple and feminine figure was floating above the orbs.
"Heheheh, you puny guards could never do anything to me, I'm not here to play around, now if you excuse me, I have a Master Orb to steal,"
In one quick swipe she did as she promised and took the Master Orb with her as she flew back off into space, presumably to her lair.
"How did she know what the Master Orb was and where it was?" One guard questioned, still in shock. A type of earthquake hit the Star Palace and the floor of the temple caved in, sending all of the orbs to different parts of the kingdom below.
"Oh lord, what shall we do now?!" A guard panicked, "The Rainbow Orbs are gone and the entire palace is starting to fall apart, soon, all of the colors will disappear from the world and everyone's game is over!" The same guard continued. The Elder Guardian of the Rainbow Orbs, Starnos walked down the stairs that lead to the top of the temple.
"Worry not, young Star Children, I know a way to save this world," Starnos began, "Stories tell of a great hero dressed in red that shall locate all of the orbs and save all creatures of this world, his name is…" Starnos fell asleep mid-sentence but a guard woke him up and asked what the hero's name was, "Oh yeah, the hero's name is… Something like Marty, or Mary, something like that, I haven't read my prophecy book in ages," Starnos finished his story.
"Well, where is he? Who is he?" A guard asked, before Starnos could answer the questions, the palace began to fall, at the same time, a black and gray blob of energy formed where the Master Orb of the palace would've been. "TOO LATE, IT'S THE END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT, RUN!" The guard panicked and rushed out of the temple, falling down a pit that had formed on the floor just outside.
Meanwhile, down at the Mushroom Kingdom below, Mario and Luigi were asleep in their bunk beds when a knock at the door got Luigi to wake up.
"You've got mail, Mario bros!" Parakarry yelled out from outside of their house.
"What is it, Karry, yet another letter from the princess?" Luigi jokingly asked as he opened the front door.
"No, the sender is addressed as 'Starnos from Star Palace'" Parakarry replied.
"Star Palace, eh? I've heard of a restaurant by that name, but we never ate there," Luigi responded as he took the letter from Parakarry's hands and went back inside.
Mario asked what it was that Parakarry get them.
"It's from a guy called Starnos from Star Palace, do you know anyone like that?" Luigi said to his brother.
"I don't think I've ever heard that name before," Said Mario, Luigi opened the letter and, to both of their surprises, a small star was inside, as soon as the letter was opened, it jumped out and gasped for air.
"Thank you very much, you have no clue how bad being inside of a little paper thing for a long time is for you," The small star said, "By the way, I'm Tinkle, I'm a Star Child sent down by the Elder Guardian of Star Palace, Starnos," Tinkle introduced himself to the brothers and continued talking, "He told me to pass an important message to you guys, but I might have forgotten what it was…"
"Just try to remember it!" Mario said to Tinkle.
"Um… Oh yeah! It was something like: 'The world is ending and we need your help, Marty!' I think it was exactly that, actually," Tinkle calmly said.
"What?! The world is ending? How?" Luigi was in shock at the message.
"Apparently, some girl stole the Master Orb and the Rainbow Orbs fell down from Star Palace and now we need your help to get them back before all of the color in the universe is drained and everybody's game ends," Tinkle continued cheerfully talking about this horrible situation.
"This is horrible! We need to go tell the princess immediately to see what she can do, then we have to go find those orbs!" Luigi said and Mario agreed with a simple nod of his head.
Luigi joined the party!
Luigi is Mario's brother, he can help him in battles and jump higher to reach other areas along the quest.
Tinkle joined the party!
Tinkle is a young Star Person who arrived in the mail, she can "scan" an enemy or location to know everything about them, she can also dash into enemies and damage them with her pointy star limbs.
The trio ran to Princess Peach's castle and found exactly who they didn't want to meet up with, the king of Koopas, Bowser.
"Oh great, you pesky plumbers are here to stop me from kidnapping the princess again, is that right?" Bowser growled at the Mario brothers.
"Actually, we just wanted to talk to the princess, by I guess beating you once again can be helpful as well," Luigi said. Bowser breathed fire at the team, blowing Luigi away, leaving only Mario and Tinkle to fight the Koopa king, Mario and Tinkle dashed at Bowser and they began fighting.
"That's Bowser, the king of Koopas, but I'm sure you know that already, HP is 10, Attack is 2 and Defense is 5," Tinkle used her tattle ability on their enemy, "Mario! I know you beat this guy before, but just in case you're a bit rusty, I could help you out!" Tinkle offered some help and Mario accepted it.
"You should try jumping on his head, like you do with most enemies," Tinkle said and Mario followed her orders, he hopped on Bowser's head and hurt him a bit. Bowser walked over to Mario and tried to attack him with his claws.
"Jump at the right time to avoid getting hurt, Mario!" Tinkle advised and Mario obeyed, hopping over Bowser's claws before he could hurt him.
"Now it's my turn!" Tinkle said before spinning around and dashing into Bowser, defeating the Koopa king for now. Bowser was on the floor, fainted, and Peach was free, she walked up to Mario to thank him and his new friend, Tinkle, for saving her.
"Thank you so much Mario, and you too, little star, you know, I had a little friend once that looked just like you," Peach said.
"You're welcome princess, my name's Tinkle, I came here with Mario and Luigi to warn you that the entire world is in danger!" Tinkle said, Peach was surprised and asked what is it that would happen, "The Rainbow Orbs were stolen and we need to find them before the entire world is drained of color and everyone's game ends!" Tinkle explained.
"Well then, you three must hurry now! Do you know where the first orb is?" Peach asked worryingly, Mario shook his head, "Well then, do you at least have an idea of where it could be?" Peach questioned the group again.
"Maybe in the forest" Mario suggested as Luigi stepped back into the castle, so it was decided that they would check the forest for their first Rainbow Orb.
"Do you mean Boo Hoo Woods? I hope you guys make it back okay, many innocent Toads that walked into that forest haven't returned to this day," Peach said, that sentence made Luigi very scared, but Mario and Tinkle knew that they could get back and save the world once again.
The team stepped out of Toad Town and into the dark forest known as Boo Hoo Woods.
End of Prologue