A/N: This story will follow several groups of characters. Bowser will have a prominent role, so will the princesses Peach and Daisy, and of course the Mario Bros. Maybe even the local mad scientist. However, the main character in this chapter is an original character. He will have his place every now and then, but he's not a constant character.
The story starts out dramatically, but the it's intended to be more of a gradual silliness than a serious drama. It will hopefully be a long collection of short daily-life stories. But everyone knows daily life for the Mario world is probably insane.
Enjoy XD
Chapter 1: The Humble Tour
January, Monday the 9th, 1:30 p.m.
"Hello, everyone, and welcome to another weekly dose of Gulliver's World Tour! Today we're taking another trip to the Mushroom Kingdom."
The camera panned around to show the nice, colorful surroundings that were and always would be the Mushroom Kingdom, home of the famous Super Mario Bros.
"I know it's not the most exciting place to be right now, what with the new breath of life over in the Hyrule Kingdom, and all those tropical tours sailing around Alola. Definitely gonna get on that bandwagon. Soon. I promise. But I thought it was about time for a check-up on our fungi-friends. We haven't heard much from 'em in a while."
The Toad then grimaced over-exaggerating-like into the camera his buddy was holding, "You know, aside from that time just a little while back when they tried to implement cell phones into the kingdom."
"It wasn't that bad," his buddy said.
"Oh, no, it was bad. But let's move on!" He pointed forward as they began to walk to same old road into Toad Town. "Besides, could you imagine Princess Peach just callin' Mario up and bein' like, 'Hey, Mario, it's me. I got kidnapped again. Yeah. I'm just west of Toadwood Forest right now. No, Bowser, you can't talk to him.' Bahaha! I crack myself up."
His buddy snorted, "Sure, if you say so."
"Hey, I don't have all these followers for nothin'."
They'd gone to the Mushroom Kingdom so many times now, for how many years now? It must've been over five years. And it hadn't changed. Actually, the Mushroom Kingdom hadn't changed for a lot longer than that. It was always a mystery, how tragedy would befall the kingdom for brief periods of time, the princess would usually get kidnapped, and Mario would miraculously save her before it was too late. And then they would just leave the kingdom defenseless and let it happen all over again.
But the villains were just as predictable. It was like they were using the same old "Villains' Tactics Guide for Beginners" and hadn't bothered innovating since it came out in the 16-bit age.
"We haven't seen a lot of change from the Mario gang," Toad reported, "but that's why we make use out of the news, get people talking. That's what I'm thinking our goal's gonna be. I think the Mushroom Kingdom needs a little liveliness in its bones. I think the Mario crew needs to step out of their block."
"Block? I thought it was 'step out of the box'?"
"I know. It was a pun."
"Not a very good one."
"Whatever. Let's just go to the castle."
Go to the castle they did. It was the same as always: tall, lavish yet simple, fitting perfectly for a typical girl like Princess Peach and her simple Toad attendants.
They happily welcomed the internet-turned-TV sensation known only as Gulliver, and his "roadie" known as Buddy. Gulliver was a Toad with a blue cap spotted with white stars instead of actual spots, who sported casual tourist-wear with just a T-shirt, shorts, and sandals. Buddy was dressed similarly, but in sneakers and their backpack. Buddy had a yellow head spotted with white flowers.
The Mushroom Kingdom hadn't known him when he was a Nintube star, but everyone was captivated one he got his own TV show on the travel channel. Now literally everyone in the kingdom knew who he was. It was a small world in the kingdom, wasn't it?
As expected, they were greeted by Peach just as warmly (and instantaneously) as everyone else. "Oh, Gulliver! I was wondering when you'd come to visit again."
Though he personally thought she wasn't' a very motivated princess, he was still polite and respected her. He greeted her with the same cheer he did with everyone else, "Heya, princess! How are you? Anything exciting happen recently?"
"Oh, I'm just fine. And everything's mostly the same. It's been very peaceful lately. It's so nice."
Same, same, same. Even though he loved the Mushroom Kingdom, it held a sort of monotony that lingered behind him like a shadow whenever he took a tour here. After going a 6-month drought of nearly giving up on it, he thought there should be something done about it. "You're not bored at all?" he asked without fear.
"Oh, no, I don't get bored easily," Peach assured him. "Hey, would you like to sit down for some tea?"
"And cookies, right?"
"Of course!"
"Sign me up!"
She always greeted them personally, always with Toadsworth tailing behind her, and she always offered tea and cookies in their lovely tea room. They never stopped recording, though; you didn't want to miss anything good between bites.
"We still have the kart races, tennis, golf, you know, fun, active things," Peach told them after sipping her tea. "The sports stadium is always so lively. And thanks to the E. Gadd's scenery machine, we never really have to play at the same place!"
She did sound quite happy. But Gulliver always wondered if she ever kept up a face? He would be curious to know her true thoughts and feelings.
But he was no therapist. He just reported what he could record. "Have you had any new things to do in town? Other than the sports?" he asked. "Because you can change the scenery with a little smoke and mirrors, and maybe a few gimmicks. You know, add a few bananas in there and everything's peachy, so to speak. But it's still the same thing." (His buddy definitely didn't miss an eye roll at his pun.)
"Oh, dear," Peach said, contemplating all that. "Maybe it is, but we all have fun playing together. It's never dull. It's actually quite hectic sometimes, especially when Bowser crashes the party."
Their parties; that was another thing that never really changed much. You can change a few rules and throw in some flashy new activities, but what was really being innovated? "Is Bowser still the regular, old terror?"
"Sure he is," Peach laughed. "Although, I have to say, he's mellowed out in recent years. I feel like he's been helping us more than really hurting us."
"Even considering he yanked your castle out of the ground?" Gulliver asked, surprised with her for once.
Peach grimaced at the remembrance, and then reconsidered. "Maybe I should say very lately. Now that you mention it, I wonder if he's gotten bored? He's not a very grounded fellow. And I haven't seen him in a while."
Gulliver had started writing notes; something he'd always liked to do. Made it seem like a real interview. And that way he wouldn't have to pour through video footage to find info he needed. "Very interesting, actually. I might be paying him a visit this afternoon. I wasn't sure I'd be up for it, but I'd be curious to get his thoughts on all of this."
"On what?" Peach asked innocently.
"Well," Gulliver started, "to be quite frank, the Mushroom Kingdom is very static. I can't believe none of you mind no change for so many years." Putting his note pad away, he bagged the rest of his cookies to eat later. He hopped off his stool at the tea table. "I think this kingdom needs a little shake-up. I think it could use it."
"Oh, I don't know," the princess frowned. "I think most of us are just used to a quiet, peaceful life."
"I think a little action wouldn't hurt you. And not just the 12-hour kind, where Mario saves the day and everything goes back to normal."
It didn't seem to have offended the princess, though she did look a little nervous. Good thing Toadsworth had stepped out, or he would've been going bonkers about the prospect of change.
On the way out of the castle, Gulliver's buddy looked to their map, their usual route. "Okay… I wasn't prepared for an extra interview, so there's a little dilemma. Where do you want to fit him into the schedule?"
"Easy," Gulliver said. "We cut straight to his castle now."
Buddy at him. "Wait, what? I thought we were going to visit the Mario Brothers."
Gulliver sighed, "We always do that. The whole reason I wanted to come here again was because I want to inspire some change. I don't think I'm going to accomplish that by talking to the same old groups of people."
"But don't we want to get the word out?" his friend suggested. "If we go straight to Bowser's castle from here, we'll be missing Mario and Luigi, Professor Gadd, all the Toads around town… Kylie Koopa—we can't pass up a journalist when—"
"Yeah, you're right, there's no way we're passing up Kylie Koopa," he assured Buddy. "We'll meet her on the way back. But I wanna get ahold of Bowser while my last interview's still in my head."
"You know people like seeing the Mario Bros, though."
Gulliver shook his head adamantly. "Those two are just going to say the same thing as the princess. 'Everything's fine.' I don't want to waste my breath, honestly." As they walked, he looked to the sky, almost listlessly. "They hang out all the time, anyway, so they'll talk."
His buddy sighed. "If you say so…"
Pointing onwards, Gulliver declared, "I do say so, so start rollin' and let's go!"
They were headed on their way with their schedule decided on. It was probably going to be any other normal day touring the Mushroom Kingdom. But, just as he pointed, a light shined in the sky. A small spark of a light. Gulliver didn't miss it, though—or he thought he didn't. Was there a light at all?
He would find out a few moments later. A brighter light shined, and it was emitting a strange blue hue. "Hey, Buddy… Do you see that?"
"That blue light? Yeah. The sky wasn't supposed to fall down today, was it?"
"Quick, turn your camera on! In case it does," Gulliver urged.
But Buddy wasn't new at this, and took the camera out to film in the general direction up at the sky where the blue light had been seen.
The light steadily grew brighter. Then, with all the suddenness of the speed of light, something incredible and enormous shot down from the sky at a catastrophic speed. Maybe the sky was falling after all.
The light exploded into a white, blinding cloud spreading out over the whole kingdom while it was nearly turned upside down by the force of the crash. If the light wasn't blinding enough, a dust cloud washed over like a fog. The thundering boom would be ringing in the denizens' heads for hours.
It wasn't much later that the entire kingdom was all over the crash. And the neighboring kingdoms, including the Koopa Kingdom.
Buddy's camera panned the scene; the star of the shot was an incredibly gigantic, gaping crater in the ground. There were few pieces of the space rock left, but the ones intact sat around at the bottom of the crater, about the size of cars. The area felt hot and smoky, and the ground was charred with what must've been an incredible heat carried by the mysterious rock from outer space.
There was a strange feeling in the air, though. Not a nauseous one, not a sickly hot one, but strangely light. As if it were a dream and you could float around like a feather. But that was ridiculous, right?
"You've got it!" Gulliver exclaimed, running around the crash site. "You've got it all here at my World Tour exclusive! At the scene, at your service!"
"But it's not exclusive," Buddy pointed out. "Kylie Koopa and some local news reporters—"
"Not the point!" Gulliver (not listening) whirled around the gaze at the site. "We got it all live! Even this ginormous space bullet was no match for Buddy and the camera! Oh, man, I'm so excited!"
"Excited?!" a nearby Toad shouted, shaking in his boots. "We could've all died!"
But the site wasn't very close to town. It was fairly far away, northwest of the castle. It was closer to the woods than anything. "But you didn't! Not by a long shot. This is so incredible, I can't believe we got this, Buddy! We are awesome!"
Gulliver lead the camera around the edge, breaking in between the crowd as he needed to. On the way, they found Kylie Koopa snapping pictures and leading her own camera crew around. "What a scoop," she was saying, but through panic, "but what a catastrophe! What kind of karma would bring this beast to drop out of the sky, practically onto our heads?!"
"It's not karma!" Gulliver butted in, now sharing Kylie's shot. "It's just what we needed!"
"Whaaat?!" she cried, eyes bugging out at him. "What are you saying?! We needed a big old meteor?!"
"Yes, exactly! Change!" he declared. "Change is what we need. I was just saying it. I said it to the princess. Now I'm saying it to you. All of you out there watching this from the comfort of your couches! The Mushroom Kingdom needs a spark of life! This is a sign!"
People were clamoring around them now, like moths to a light. "We could've died!" many people were saying. Others seemed interested in what he had to say, though it was a bit hard after something so shocking happened. "A sign of what? What do we need to change?"
"Everything!" Gulliver blurted out.
He was quickly accosted by Buddy, "Not everything."
"Okay, not everything. But I think the Mushroom Kingdom would be better off to have some new experiences. Live a little! Talk, exchange ideas! Change the town! Think out of the blocks!"
His speech was met with an immediate eye-roll from Buddy, "Oh, my God."
"What? That was better. It rhymed."
"It was okay, but still. A meteor just crashed; you could show that much consideration and cut it out with the puns."
"Tch. You're no fun sometimes." Gulliver whirled back toward the camera, and continued to walk around to interview people. He interviewed, offered the microphone to many, many Toads, Koopas, Shy Guys, Goombas, and finally ran into Princess Peach again.
"This is so terrible," she said. "But we're also lucky… It could've hit the castle." She seemed so grim all of the sudden. "It could have…"
"Are you okay, Princess?" Gulliver asked. "What are you thinking right now? What do you think about change?"
She didn't say anything for a moment, hesitating. "I'm not afraid of it. Though, uh, I don't think this," she said, gesturing to the crash, "is the change we needed…"
But Gulliver shook his head and faced the camera again. "I think maybe it was. It's kind of like a wake-up call, I think. Well, thanks for talking to us again, Princess."
"Of course."
As they walked away, they searched for Bowser; they found him nearly on the other side, surrounded by his cronies of Koopas and Goombas. He stood at the edge, looking over with his arms on his hips. He wasn't scared or even spooked like the rest of them, more fascinated than anything. "Where the hell did this big lug come from? Big-ass meteors don't just fall out of the sky like that all the time," he mused to himself.
"Maybe the sky is about to fall!" one of his Goombas suggested in a panic. "Maybe Armageddon is coming!"
"You're an idiot," Kamek told him, though the minions continued to clamor.
"Koopa King!" Gulliver shouted over the crowd, nudging his way through. "What are your thoughts?"
Bowser paused at the same cringe-y Toad voice he always heard, but likely it was the camera that got his attention. He certainly knew who Gulliver was. "Well," he said, "I'm actually wondering if I can use these rocks for anything, you know? Give 'em to my scientists and see if they can find a way to make 'em useful."
"You're not scared by the crash?"
Bowser bellowed a laugh. "What? Me? Scared? No way. It wasn't even anywhere near my castle."
"Of course not! Say, Bowser," Gulliver said, aiming his microphone, "I heard you've become less hostile lately."
Bowser gave him an unamused look. "Oh, yeah? Where'd you hear that, twerp?" he demanded, proving his hostility theory wrong on the spot. That was Bowser for you.
"From the princess. From what I hear, everything's been quiet lately," Gulliver said quickly. He wanted to make sure he didn't insult the Koopa King. He was a lot more interesting to interview, anyway. "The whole kingdom, your kingdom, all the kingdoms. Do you think everybody' bored, and they just don't know it?"
"Bored?" Bowser considered, tapping his chin thoughtfully. "You know what? Yeah. It's been pretty damn boring around here."
One score for the team. "Do you believe in change, Bowser?"
"Change?" he said. "What kind of change? Because if you're talking about breakfast, hell no. If you mean me specifically… hell no."
It was hard to avoid a sore spot with Bowser when the guy went around looking for fights. Gulliver tried to recover, "No, I just meant in general. The town, the kingdom. It would be awesome to see someone open up some new places, start doing new things, meet some new people."
"Hmm... I never thought about that," Bowser said, quite earnestly. "Don't know why, now that you mention it."
If Bowser ended up being the only person that would listen to him, then who was he to complain? He could start touring Bowser's awesome castle instead of the humdrum Mushroom Kingdom. "That's great, Bowser, that's great," Gulliver said with excitement. "You could very well be the driving force that puts some energy out here!"
Bowser looked at them with some curiosity and confusion (and wariness), even while the two Toads smiled excitedly and traded quips. "I know I'm excited," Buddy commented.
"Yeah! Bowser, Bowser, buddy!" Gulliver chattered, "I'm counting on you! If anyone defies expectation, it's you!"
Now, with his ego stroked, Bowser started to look more eager about these suggestions. "Well, of course. I defy expectation every day!"
"I bet you have a million ideas up there! Go on, Bowser, change, change yourself, change your environment, get out of the Mushroom Rut!"
"A rut," Bowser grunted in agreement. "You're right, you know? I am in a rut. I need to get out of it Like, right now!."
"Well, I'm actually scheduled to come back here next week," the Toad told him. "I'm making a pass to go visit the Beanbean Kingdom. I think I'm gonna pop in and check up on ya. How's that sound? It'll be the first exclusive interview with the Koopa King I've had in a while!"
Bowser laughed his heavy laugh. "Sounds like a plan, shrimp! Make sure you have your cameras ready, 'cause I'm gonna knock your socks off! Or your sandals, whatever."
"We'll find out!"
"Are you so sure about that?" Buddy asked Gulliver as they were getting ready to take the train out of there.
Maybe it was too inspirational to get into Bowser's head, but at least it could serve to motivate him for a while. "I dunno. I hope someone takes it to heart," Gulliver said. "Anyone. I would love to see this place alive."
"Do you really think it's dead?" Buddy asked.
"No, not dead. Just… static. It needs to get shaken up. It doesn't even have to be anything ridiculous like a meteor. But you know the whole Mario Bros. story. It's a little stale."
"Yeah, I guess so. I wonder how someone can go on so long doing the same thing day in and day out? It's almost robotic."
Gulliver went over his notes and smiled wistfully. "Maybe we'll find out someday. Maybe that'll be our biggest story—and we got a pretty big one today."
They would find out if there was chance for just a spark of change next week. They wondered what Bowser could do when left to his own devices and so many ideas running around in his head.