AN: Hello, and welcome to my little take on Mario's role as "Player One". Be sure to check out "Player Two" to see Luigi's one-shot as well.
Disclaimer: No Nintendo characters or locations belong to me. Nor does the "Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" theme song background music.
Mario was lounging in the front yard of his house, looking up into the sky melancholically. He let out a small sigh, and moments later, the background music to the theme song of "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" began to play.
"Now this is a story, to you from me," he began, "About how hard life can be. If you have a minute, I'll speak 'til I'm done, I'll tell you how rough it is to be 'Player One'."
The music faded away and Mario sighed once more. Gazing into the sky, Mario frowned, and pulled the lip of his trademark red "M" hat down over his eyes.
Donkey Kong's Construction Site
"They made it so it seemed I could never win."
Mario did everything perfectly. Jumped a barrel, climbed a ladder, grabbed a hammer, reached the top of the site. It seemed easy enough, and everything was looking fine.
He fixed his hat after climbing the final ladder, leading to his lady love Pauline. He felt pretty confident and smiled brightly as he approached her, but, before he could even properly take in her image, Donkey Kong swooped over and picked the distressed damsel up, carrying her to an even higher part of the construction site.
Mario, being ever valiant as he was, followed in hot pursuit.
More climbing, more jumping, and more hammering resulted in a second "arm's-reach" moment with Pauline at the top of the hostile Donkey Kong's site. This time he acted more swiftly, dashing at her the moment he scaled the final ladder, but Donkey Kong was faster, grabbing her a moment before Mario could and whisking her away. Determined, Mario followed once more.
Climb, jump, hammer, the regular formula. This time, Mario was ready. He climbed the ladder with alacrity, skipping every other rung as he ascended. He threw himself up onto Pauline's platform and immediately ran to retrieve her. Nevertheless, Donkey Kong remained faster, grabbing Pauline and climbing another long ladder.
Mario sighed, getting sick of the chase and near-misses. He would not give up however, and chased Donkey Kong up the ladder once more.
The surroundings seemed very familiar. He could swear he was in this very same spot as where he started this escapade. However, this time around, instead of just worrying about barrels hitting him, he also had to worry about fireballs popping out and burning him. However, he made it through, and, though winded, he still tried to get to Pauline before Donkey Kong could.
And, once again, he failed.
Watching the pair go up the ladder, Mario removed his hat and squeezed it tightly, frustrated.
"Every single time," he muttered. "I get so close, then she gets pulled so far away. What do I have to do to get her back?"
Then an idea popped into his mind. If he could manage to grab a hammer and climb the ladder to the platform below Pauline's, he could smack one to Donkey Kong. The ape would be defeated and Pauline would be in Mario's arms. It just had to work.
Unfortunately, the actual event didn't turn out quite as planned. Donkey Kong, seeing Mario approach him rather than climb up to Pauline, appeared confused, but quickly remedied the situation.
As Mario came close, ready to put the hammer to use, Donkey Kong lifted his bulky hand high up into the air and swiped Mario away, launching him miles away from the site, screaming.
Pauline screamed in terror, watching her love fly into the distance. Donkey Kong simply shrugged. Maybe he should have just done that sooner instead of resorting to throwing barrels and running away.
Mario Household
"They made me answer the call to action every time."
"Yeah, Mario, like, hi. So, um, I was thinking. Like, maybe you should come over to my castle tonight and we can, like, I dunno, hang out. I have cake! (That means you have to come!)
Love,
Peach"
"Don't do it bro," Luigi advised, reading the letter over Mario's shoulder. "You know what's gonna happen. Just stay here like I do every single time you're invited to some kind of event, yet I'm not even mentioned at all in the letter."
"I dunno Luigi," Mario said, rubbing his chin. "I mean, she has cake dude. That's pretty enticing."
"Bro, don't do it!" Luigi said assertively. "You know that the second you get there, Bowser's gonna pop up completely out of nowhere and just steal her or something."
"I know but…man, she has freakin' cake!" Mario persisted. "How can I pass something like that up?"
"I can make you cake bro!" Luigi yelled, waving his arms madly. "Just don't go! DON'T! GO!"
"I'm sorry man, my hands are tied on this," Mario said, heading for the pipe leading away from the abode. "I mean, she sent me a letter and everything. And she has cake!"
Mario disappeared down the pipe and Luigi smacked his hand to his forehead, groaning.
"Great, now the Mushroom Kingdom is going to be put in peril, AGAIN," he muttered. "And Mario's gonna be gone for weeks, AGAIN! And I'm either gonna be the 'Player Two', or a secret character, or have something stupid happen to me…AGAIN!"
Palace of Shadow
"They put the world on my shoulders."
Mario and his traveling companions, Goombella, the sassy and scholarly Goomba, Koops, the timid Koopa, Flurrie, the luxurious former star Wind Spirit, Diablo, the spunky baby Yoshi, Vivian, the kind and gentle Shadow Siren, Bobbery, the lovable admiral Bob-Omb, and Ms. Mowz, the flirtatious Squeek, were all gathered just outside the chamber of the Shadow Queen. Everyone was doing their part to keep team morale high, but most everyone spoke to or referred to Mario as they did so.
"I'm right behind you Mario, whatever you decide to do!" Goombella said excitedly.
"Yeah Gonzales, let's go in there and kick some butt!" Diablo added, punching at the air furiously.
"Just remember Mario, if you get knocked out in there, the world is basically screwed over," Koops said, smiling and patting Mario on the back. "So uh, no pressure."
The last comment wiped the confident smile off Mario's face, and he suddenly looked worried.
"Wait a minute, you're saying that if I'm defeated, we all automatically lose?" he asked nervously.
"Uh-huh, yeah, basically," was pretty much the answer from the group. Mario simply stared at everyone for a few moments before he shook his head.
"But, why me?" he asked, pointing at himself. "Why can't you all keep fighting if I'm down?"
"Because you're Super freakin' Mario!" Goombella exclaimed. Mario waited for her to finish her statement, but when she didn't, he sighed, giving up any hope at finding reason in what she just said.
"Well, someone, please tell me we have a Life Shroom on us," he begged. Everyone checked their traveling rucksacks and nobody found a single Life Shroom. Mario smacked his palm to his forehead. "You guys better not let me die in there, I swear."
"No promises," Koops said.
"But it's not all bad…"
Mario was lounging outside in his lawn chair, smiling as he looked up into the afternoon sky. His hat was off; he held it on his stomach with a free hand.
Flapping wings were heard, and soon, a Parakoopa mailman showed up next to Mario. Mario sat up and threw on his hat, turning to face the visitor.
"Hey Parakarry," he greeted with a smile.
"Hello there Mario," Parakarry answered, returning the smile. "Good to see you, as always."
"What brings you here today?" Mario asked, though he felt he already knew the answer. Sure enough, Parakarry had a number of letters at hand, all addressed to Mario.
"About ten more letters today," Parakarry said as he handed them over. "Below average, but still much more than I deliver to other folks. But what can you expect; you're a hero."
"Thanks Parakarry," Mario chuckled as he began opening the letters. Parakarry gave a salute before flapping his wings and taking off.
"Rain, sleet, snow or hail, we deliver what you mail!" Parakarry called as he flew off.
Mario read every letter with a smile on his face, appreciative of their messages of thanks and encouragement.
"I receive these letters every day, but they're what I live for. 'Thank you Mario! Just for being you!' 'I don't know what we'd do without you Mario!' 'I hope I get the chance to meet you one day Mr. Mario!' These letters keep me going. Sure, sometimes it may seem that the odds are impossible, but when that moment comes that you finally get it done, that's the greatest moment in the world. I may always be pulled into adventures I'm not exactly willing to carry out, but where would we be today if I never took them on? And yes, the world is often put on my shoulders. But if I'm able to help those in need, I wouldn't have it any other way. Every adventure needs a 'Player One' to step up to the challenge and put it into motion. And I'm proud to be that player."