Chapter 1: Oh, great. The Equivalent of the Toad-pocalypse Happened.

Dear Mario,

Why don't you join us at the castle for a party? I'll bake a cake!

Your's Truly, Peach.

Our story begins with our titular hero running towards his destination, ecstasy filling his mind. Wait; did it start with this paragraph, or the letter? Anyway, Mario stopped dead in his tracks as he heard a whirring sound behind him getting closer and closer by the second. He looked behind him, dodging the flying behemoth that was charging towards him with a barrel roll. Mario looked up to get a closer look at who or what was seemingly so intent on attacking him, and big surprise, it was Bowser.

Bowser bellowed his signature evil laugh. "Heya, chump!" he roared. "I'll be taking that cake! And Peach, too!" With that, he flew up in his Clown Car. Bowser had taken it too far that time. Not only was he going to kidnap Peach again, he was also going to literally take the cake, and that's terrible!

Mario began to give chase, but soon enough crashed into something that appeared out of nowhere. Mario rubbed his throbbing nose as he stood back up, wondering what we ran into so suddenly, and to his surprise, a floating text box, well, floated before him.

"Welcome to Super Mario Run! In this game… Or story… Mario will run automatically. Now run, Fatty, run!"

All of a sudden the text box disappeared and reappeared behind Mario, now with an extended buzzsaw.

"I said run, Fatty!"

Mario, terrified of what was to happen next, began to run as fast as his stubby, little legs could take him, vaulting over every object in his path in a desperate attempt to escape the text box that was supposedly trying to murder him, or rather, give him a game over.

The text box began to float besides him. "He'll also automatically jump over small obstacles and enemies! Jump while doing so for extreme parkour action!"

Mario just gave a worried look as he pressed onward, and after much excessive filler and hand-holding, he was finally making decent distance to Peach's Castle, which was promptly getting bombed.

The text box appeared in front of the red-clad hero once again, catching him off guard.

"Here's a hint! Super Mario Run can be played with just one hand!"

Mario stared blankly at the text box for a few moments before giving a sly expression. "Would you mind explaining what you'd do with the other hand?"

"Quiet, Pasta Breath. We're trying to keep this E 10+ at the most."

"Isn't this a fanfiction, though?" Mario questioned. "At the very worst, this will probably get a T rating on someone's crappy account." Mario then proceeded to look at the reader, staring deep into their eyes, causing them to feel very uncomfortable.

Soon enough, Mario reached Peach's Castle, or at least, what was left of it. Toad ran up to him, a panicked expression on his face and tears in his eyes.

"Mario, it's terrible! Princess Peach was kidnapped by Bowser! He's also wrecked the castle and all the other Toads have fled!" Toad paused for a moment to catch his breath, exaggerated by his crying. "What can we do?"

Mario just seemingly zoned out for a moment before placing his hands on Toad's shoulders, looking at him square in the eye, and said one word: "Ok."

Toad jumped as high as he could, slapping Mario across the face with his stubby, little arms in the process. "Ok?" he exploded. "OK?! How is any of this ok?! Princess Peach is gone, the economy is in shambles, people have lost their homes, and I lost my favorite bathroom spot! Where am I supposed to go now?"

Frantically, Toad looked around before finally spotting a bush and quickly dashed there, proceeding to relieve himself because as we all know, every Mario fanfiction needs to have toilet humor, no matter how arbitrary.

Toad quickly dipped his hands in the nearby river to wash them off before running back to Mario. "Well, what are you waiting for? Toad ordered, placing his hands on his hips. "Go rescue her!" Toad then gave a bit of a coy expression as he slowly began to shake his hips from side to side.

"I mean… I can help if you want…"

Mario instantly lit up. "Sure! Any help is appreciated, Little Toadie!"

Toad was astounded by that comment. It had been, like, I don't know, FOREVER since he had been called that. He instantly began flushing a bit. "Y-Yeah," he eventually muttered before lighting up. "Well, what are we waiting for, Mario? Peach is still waiting for us, so let's go!" He began to rush off, but soon ran into that same old text box.

"Sorry. You need a My Nintendo account to play as Toad."

Toad instantly got miffed at this remark. "What? But this is a serious matter! Peach is in danger!"

"He's right," Mario added. "Also, again, isn't this a fanfiction?"

The text box simply let out a ellipsis before finally responding to their claims. "You still need an account. It's free, though."

"Ok, fine! Done!" Toad shouted, now holding a phone in his hand. "Now let us pass!"

With that, the text box shrunk back down. Toad just huffed in annoyance. "Geez, what a jerk, he pouted."

Mario put a hand on Toad's mushroom cap, giving him a smile. "Hey, at least now we can finally go rescue her."

Toad couldn't help but smile back. "Well, what are we waiting for? The Princess is waiting for us. You ready, Mario?"

Mario gave a confident nod. "You bet! Let's-a go!"

Toad felt all his anger wash away when Mario said those words, His smile grew wider as the two began to run off towards the first of Bowser's castles.