Prologue

My name is Mario Mario. Ok, that's not really my name. My real name is Mario Moro. But because they sound so similar, and because people always call me and my brother Luigi "The Mario Brothers" that's sorta become my unofficial last name.

I'm an Italian-American from Brooklyn. Well, I used to be. I haven't been in Brooklyn for quite a few years now.

My life sure seemed great back then. Me and my bro ran are own plumbing and misc. contracting company, I had a wonderful girlfriend Pauline, and had a lot of great friends.

But my life changed on that night in 1982. I can't remember the exact date, but I believe in was in the summer. A huge ape creature came and attacked New York like something out of King Kong.

He was running right down the street I lived on. There were police cops following him and blocking the road ahead. Me, Pauline, and Luigi had just happened to be there and were running for our lives. None of us knew what was happening. All I know was that I wanted Pauline away from the horrible thing.

Something's were funny. People were evacuating buildings, while others running into them. But I had no time to laugh. The streets were packed. We couldn't get on the sidewalks, and the streets were covered with cars. The ape was stepping on the cars, and we barely missed its toes. But Pauline...

She did get caught between Kong's toes. She screamed, she screamed. I tried to get closure but Luigi held me back. The monkey must of felt her, because he screamed and kicked his foot up, Pauline into the air, and I actually tried to jump to save. The ape caught her, and I thought for sure he would crush her in his giant fist, but, instead carried her in the palm of her hand, and ran away stepping on the police cars on the way.

I ran after him, with Luigi following behind me. I didn't care what I had to do; I pushed aside every person in my way. Luckily it didn't go very fast, and he wasn't exactly hard to find. We finally pushed past the crowds, and the ape went into an empty construction site. He, seeming more like King Kong at every moment, climbed up it and kept her captive.

I wasn't exactly sure why he did it, but I knew I had to try to save him. Luigi disapproved, but nevertheless, watched as I attempted to save her. I climbed up the side of the building frame in a series of ladders. The monkey kept throwing building materials down at me, but luckily I found a sledgehammer and crushed the things before they got me.

I got to the top and wasn't sure what to do. I jumped on a bar above his head, jumped on his back and tried to get Pauline. I touched her hand, and tried to pull her towards me. But the ape threw her down to the ground. Luigi caught her before she could hit the ground, and the ape disappeared. Just into thin air, it was gone.

I got down quickly. Pauline had passed out, but seemed ok. A cop car pulled up in front of the site. We told him what happened, and he got an ambulance to come get Pauline. I asked him if he could just drive us home.

I never stopped thinking about Pauline that whole night. Early morning, Luigi and me planned on going down to the hospital to check up on her. But we got an emergency call from a guy, who offered us big bucks if we went straight away. We went down, only because the money would help pay hospital bills.

We went down in our van to a strange house in Queens. The windows were all covered in dark drapes, and the roof made a dome shape at the top. I knocked on the door, and a strange looking man answered. He was short and bald, and was a vest covered in polka dots. Luigi asked what the problem was and he, "Mr. Stool" as he called himself, said his toilet was clogged up.

We got out our plungers, and started working. We traced the problem back to a pipe behind the wall. We carefully removed the tiles around it, and were shocked by what we saw. The pipes didn't seem to connect to walls at all, but rather, behind the wall was a huge green pipe, large enough for both of us to fit in it.

I went back out to ask Mr. Stool about this, but he was gone. Luigi and me checked every room in his house, but he was nowhere to be found. Even the white Volkswagen he had parked in the driveway was still there.

A lot of weird things had happened to us in the last 2 days. Hardly did I know that this was just the beginning of what was left come. But I was sure this pipe was somehow connected to the ape that attacked last night.

My brother and I argued what to do. I was convinced that we had to go into that pipe to figure out what was happening, but my brother said to get away from that house and never come back. But despite his objections, I went into the pipe.

I hardly stepped one foot inside when I felt something sucking me inside, like vacuum cleaner. Everything became darker, and then I passed out. My brother pulled up his courage and went after me.

I woke up some time later. Luigi was still out cold next to me. I looked at my surroundings. I was in a huge empty room. The walls were made of stone, and fancy floor tiles. The pipe was next to us; it was coming up from the ground. I ran towards a window. We were around a huge grassy area, with tons of mushrooms growing in the ground. I looked at the building we were in. It was a huge castle.

Luigi started coming to. He looked confused like he couldn't remember what just happened. We talked for a while, not sure what to do. Luigi wanted to go back through the pipe. I hesitated, but agreed that would be the best thing to do. Luigi went on top of it, but it was blocked. Some invisible force was keeping him from going in.

Just then, the door opened. It was the man, Mr. Stool. But now he was wearing a hat shaped like a mushroom.

"Hello," he said.

"Who are you, what is going on here?" I demanded.

He apologized for tricking them here, but thought we would never come if he had told them first.

"What, you haven't answered anything. Why do you want us here."

"This is the Mushroom Kingdom. A country in the mushroom world."

"What exactly is the Mushroom World?"

He told us it was a dimension. There were a lot of dimensions. We were from one of the boring dimensions. He said he brought us here because he was having problems with the Koopa World.

"Koopa? What's a Koopa?" asked Luigi.

"Koopas can look very different. Little ones look just like turtles with beaks. The big ones look like dragons with shells, and most can breathe fire. They are ruled by one of the evilest things I ever met, named King Bowser."

"What does this have to do with us?"

He told us that the Koopa dimension was a horrible world of darkness and barren land. He said that they had tapped in to the power of pipes, a way of transportation of the mushroom citizens, and were able to come into their world.

"So, that's what happened. That green pipe was a way to get us in here. But just answer me, who exactly are you!"

"My name is Toad. I am Prime Minister of the mushroom citizens, and advisor for our ruler, Princess Peach Toadstool. I'm also a semi-powerful wizard. Now here is the point to why I have brought you here. The koopas, and a lot of other evil creatures from their world have started an attack on the Mushroom Kingdom. Before they came here, our land was happy. The little koopas, and Bowser's army have taken control of most of the land, forcing my people out. The higher Koopas have taken control of the castles where mushroom royalty live, and are keeping the other Mushroom citizens hostage. They aren't able to kill them, because I have put a spell to protect them. But, worst of all, Bowser has kidnapped our princess. He's using her magic powers to keep control this land. He won't kill her, but we have to save her."

"Look, this is starting to scare me...why are we here!"

"Bowser is using the princess' power to keep me from using my magic to save her. Luckily, none of the Koopas have gotten me yet. The only way to save her now is to fight Bowser hand to hand. I, or any mushroom citizen, would have no chance fighting Bowser. So I knew I had to get a mortal to do it. That's why I brought my friend Donkey Kong into your world, to see if any human was able to stop them. You were."

"YOU WANT US TO FIGHT BOWSER FOR YOU!" screamed Luigi.

"Look, we feel bad for you...Toad, but this isn't our battle. I'm not going to risk my life for people I don't know. It's because of you that my girlfriend Pauline is in the hospital."

"I was never going to let DK kill anyone. But, you must do this for us. You won't die, I can give you more then one life."

"We're not doing it"

"Then, I'll lock you in this room and never let you go home."

Luigi and I talked about it. Neither of us thought this was a good idea, but figured it might be the only way to go back home.

Great way to start a friendship, huh? Being threatened into saving his home. But we're great friends now. I'm happy my brother and I decided to do this, if we hadn't, my life would be a lot sadder now.

Toad taught us all about the Mushroom Kingdom. He said that the Princess' castle was far away from here, but that Bowser was preventing him from transporting straight there. We'd have to get past a lot of land, and fight lots of enemies to save the world. And along the way, try to save the mushroom citizens from the Koopas.

I asked what we would eat along the way. He said to eat the mushrooms. The mushrooms had amazing effects on us. They made us instantly bulk up, and grow taller, making us stronger. Just the thing we needed for fighting monsters.

There were a lot of things we saw, mostly koopas and goombas. Goombas are brown bug things, which are about half my size. They sting really badly, but I can easily step on it. The koopas are interesting, when you kill them, you can use their shells to hit other monsters.

Another thing that Toad told me that I could eat were flowers. The flowers are the strangest things ever. When you eat them, you gain the ability to shoot fire, and your whole body turns red. There are blocks floating in the air, and lots of things come out of the, mostly golden coins. Those coins are the most crucial thing on my adventures; when you collect enough of them, it gives you extra lives. One more chance to live after you die.

Dying when you have extra lives is a weird thing. You lose all feeling in your body, you black out, and you feel like you're in a tunnel heading to a white light. But when you reach it, you're eyes open, and you appear a safe distance away from where you had died. Another thing I watched out for was the rare green mushroom, which gives me an extra life. I died a few times on my way, but it didn't matter because I always had extra lives.

But the most amazing thing that came out of those blocks were stars. If you catch it in your hand, your whole body starts glowing, and anything that touches you dies. But it last only for a few seconds.

So, Toad taught us what to expect on the journey, but before we left, he trained us by playing a little simulated game where Luigi and I were put in a strange room with lots of platforms, and enemies would pop up from pipes. We had to hit the platform below them, knocking them down, and then kick them away.

After all that, we set out. We went through so many different strange lands. Bowser must of known we were coming, because the ground was filled with pits that seemed to go on forever. But my brother and I made it, and we finally got to the princess' palace. Bowser had changed the inside of it to make it like a confusing maze. But we made throw it, and killed Bowser by tossing him in lava. I stepped forward and got Princess Toadstool out of the cave she was in. She was so happy she kissed me.

God, she was a beautiful woman. She had deep blue eyes, and dirty blonde hair. After we saved her, the entire Mushroom Kingdom went back to the way it was before. It was a great land. Toad appeared and thanked us so much.

After that, Luigi and I decided to stay there for a while. It had taken so long to save Peach that it was already 1985. Peach and I got closer; I guess you could say we were dating. I forgot all about Pauline.

We passed our times doing things like playing pinball, golf, tennis, and more of that simulator game Toad had.

I had always intended on going back to Brooklyn, but for some reason, I never did. It was 1988 when something strange happened. I kept having weird dreams where I would go up a flight of stairs; open a door, and this weird world would spread before my eyes. I kept hearing a voice.

"This is Sub-Con, the dimension of peoples dreams. But we are being turned evil by a creation of nightmares named Wart. You have to save our world Mario, like you saved the Mushroom Kingdom."

I talked to the gang about it, and we decided to help clear my mind by going out. We had a picnic at a near-by mountain. Things were going well, until I noticed a small cave in the mountain. I didn't know why, but I felt compelled to it. I told my friends to go with me in it. When we got inside, I saw a staircase just like in my dream. I ran as fast as I could to the top. My friends followed. The stairs stopped. A door stood at the edge, and didn't seem to lead anywhere. I opened the door, and walked through. I was in a dark room. My friends came in.

We turned around, and the door was gone. We all decided that we should try and save Sub-Con. It was interesting being there, fighting along-side my friends. A lot of things were similar to the Mushroom Kingdom, and many things were different. I couldn't believe how good Peach could fight. It made me think how strong Bowser must really be, and also, how strong I must be to of beat him. But I didn't really beat him; I just got past him and got him in the lava pit. We eventually defeated Wart, by throwing vegetables at him Oo after about a year there. We appeared back in the cave, and it seemed as though no time had passed.

A year passed after that. We enjoyed peaceful living, playing tennis, table tennis, and golf. But Luigi and I were starting thinking about going back to our dimension. It was hard for me, because I couldn't imagine life without Peach, but Luigi also didn't seem ready. But one day when we were going to tell them we might go back to Brooklyn, Peach came running out of her room crying.

"What's the matter," I asked.

"Her cousin, a princess in a dimension called Sarasaland has been kidnapped by an evil space monster named Tatanga," said Toad. "He's trying to conquer Sarasaland, and is planning to force Princess Daisy marry him. And worst of all he's hypnotized all of her people so they won't save her. It's upsetting the Princess Toadstool a lot, they were very close."

"Oh Mario. We must save Daisy," wept Peach. "We can do it. We saved Sub-Con, and you and Luigi saved me from Bowser. We must save Daisy."

This was the worst possible time for this to happen. And I was tired of going to different dimensions; risking my life for people I don't know. But I couldn't say no to Peach. And besides, maybe something good will happen from this like when I went here.

Toad tried to open a pipe into Sarasaland. Ever since the koopas invaded, pipes into other dimensions had been temperamental. I went in first, with Luigi following. I got to the other side, and Sarasaland sure seemed a lot like the Mushroom Kingdom, without the mushrooms. I looked behind me, and Luigi still hadn't come. It must of broke. I tried to go back in it, but it didn't work. I heard a voice coming from it.

"Mario!" it was Toad. "The pipe isn't working. We're stuck here. It might take a while before it starts working."

"Don't wait up for us!" screamed Peach. "Go on without us. Time is of the essence. I get to the Chai Kingdom and stop Tatanga!"

What could I do? As usual, I had no choice. I passed through Birabuto, Muda, and Easton, to save Princess Daisy. It was hard for me to spend so much time alone, without any friends to back me up. I beat Tatanga, after about 6 months, and met Daisy. She looked a lot like Peach, but I didn't feel attracted to her like I did to Peach.

A few minutes later, Toad, Luigi, and Peach appeared. Apparently they had been trying to catch up with me for 2 months, and since I defeated Tatanga, they could transport straight there. Luigi and Daisy stared at each other. They seemed like they had fallen in love at first sight. We stayed in Sarasaland for a month. After that, Luigi decided to stay with Daisy for a while.

We went back to the Mushroom Kingdom, and I told Peach I was going to go back to Brooklyn. She tried to convince me to stay, but I didn't. I said we'd be back together again someday. We had a romantic dinner and evening, and then Toad opened the pipe back home. He ensured me that it was working fine. I stepped in, and appeared back in the house where Toad tricked me. It was 1989, and I had been gone for 7 years.

I headed back to the old neighborhood, and everyone was shocked to see me. They all thought Donkey Kong had killed me. It felt weird seeing all my old friends, so much older. Victor and Mona were married, and Antonio had 2 kids. Everyone asked where I had been. I told them the story, and nobody believed me. They seemed to think that Luigi and I were secret agents for the government. I went along with that story, saying that Luigi was still on a mission in Germany.

I asked where Pauline was, and they said she had died in a car crash 4 years ago. I tried to pick up my life, opening the plumber business again. But my life seemed wrong there. I couldn't stop think about Peach. After almost a year, I decided I would try to get in contact with Toad to go back. That is how my story started, but not how it ended...