19B - Peach's Huge Thank-You

It's 9:45 AM on August 16, 2000. Mario was checking the analytics of the New York Mets on the office study's computer while Luigi was doing the laundry.

"How are the Mets doing, bro?" Luigi asked.

"They just beat the Rockies yesterday, 7 to 5," Mario replied. "The Mets have 70 wins and 48 losses."

"That's great! I hope they keep it up for the rest of the season."

"Me too."

Suddenly, Parakarry's voice called from outside, "Mail call!"

Mario and Luigi instantly remembered the mail delivery five days ago and felt a bit of déjà vu.

"I think this is another party invitation," Mario said before going outside to check the mailbox. He was right; there was a single envelope Peach's signature and the message "To Mario, Luigi, and Jim" in the center.

"Oh. So Princess Peach is inviting Jim this time," Mario said to himself while going back inside.

"Bro! It IS another party invitation!" Mario called out before Luigi met up with him in the kitchen. He opened the envelope to reveal the letter before reading it out loud.

"Dear Mario, Luigi, and Jim, thank you so much for all of your hard work and perseverance to save the Star Spirits and their Star Rod from Bowser's clutches including myself. I'll talk more about it later because this is Take 2 of that brunch party that Bowser botched five days ago. This time, the party is being held from 10 AM to 12 PM today. Same food, same fun and games, and same guests as last time. But there will be a couple other special guests who I've invited personally. The party will start with a small ceremony before everyone is allowed to get their meals. Other than that, I'm looking forward to seeing all three of you! From, Princess Peach."

"I'll call up Jim, Mario," Luigi instructed Mario. "You wait in the castle for us."

"Sure." Mario immediately went out the front door by himself and entered the Warp Pipe to get to Toad Town. Ten minutes later, he arrived at the foyer of the castle. The number of guests was bigger than last time. Mario spotted Goombario, Bombette, Bow, and Spike to his left talking to each other. But he started to tear up because he knew Watt was killed during the final battle, leaving four of five partners remaining.

A couple minutes later, Jim and Luigi arrived at the castle too. For today, Jim was wearing a polo shirt and khaki shorts unlike the previous party, where he wore a t-shirt and gym shorts because Luigi called him up at the last second.

"You look handsome, Jim," Mario complimented Jim while studying his outfit.

"Thanks, Mario," Jim replied. "I wanted to tell you I was gonna bring a video camera with me to film some stuff during the party, but I decided not to."

"Why not?"

"I wanted to enjoy it in person rather than focus on filming the videos properly."

"That makes sense."

"Ladies and gentlemen, may I have your attention, please," a door guard announced from the mezzanine, causing everyone to quiet down. "Princess Peach will be entering the foyer momentarily to speak with you all. Please put away your cell phones for now so as to not disrupt her speech."

Mario, Luigi, and Jim immediately put their cells phones on silent before stowing them in their pockets.

"And now, without further ado, please give a warm welcome to Princess Peach!" Right on cue, Princess Peach entered the foyer to the cheers and applause of all the party guests. She brought in a microphone stand and hooked it up to two speakers already installed on either side of the staircase. Peach then tested the microphone by tapping the end of it.

"Is this on?" Peach asked before hearing her voice on the speakers. "Yeah, it is."

"I hope I don't cry during her speech," Mario whispered to Jim and Luigi.

"Well, good morning, everyone," Peach said. "I'm so pleased to see all of you again after that fiasco Bowser riled up several days ago. I was very disappointed and upset when I felt my castle being lifted into the sky and Bowser's army took everything over in addition to kidnapping all the guests. But Mario and Luigi did all they could and saved me yet again. But there's more to it."

"The Star Rod stolen by Bowser has been returned to its rightful place in the Star Road, and peace and faith have once again returned to the Mushroom Kingdom," Peach continued. "Above us, the Stars shine with more beauty and power than ever before. It seems that they're sending us their thanks. Mario, Luigi, Goombario, Bombette, Lady Bow, Spike, and everybody across the lands of the Mushroom Kingdom, we've regained peace because of all your efforts. Thank you very much, indeed. I appreciate it from the bottom of my heart."

"It wasn't easy for Mario and friends to save the seven Star Spirits and the Star Rod. There was another partner that accompanied Mario and Luigi named Watt. Born a Li'l Sparky, Watt was held hostage by an army of Shy Guys and was freed by Mario and Luigi. Even though she was just born, Watt proved herself to be a brave and strong kid. But unfortunately, Watt sacrificed herself to help defeat Bowser and restore the Mushroom Kingdom to its original glory. Let's take a moment of silence to pray for Watt's wellbeing and for the Stars to watch over her."

For exactly 60 seconds, everyone bowed their heads in silence and prayed for Watt before Peach spoke up again, "Rest in peace, Watt. You will be dearly missed forever."

During the moment of silence, Mario and Luigi cried a small bit, but Jim stayed calm.

"But on the bright side, we have another special guest who also accompanied Mario and Luigi. Well, he wasn't there for the whole adventure, but he played a big part in the Mario Bros' quest. Ladies and gentlemen, Jim Heeding!"

All the guests cheered loudly as Jim showed himself and decided to walk upstairs to join Peach. He took a couple seconds to wave to everyone while Peach handed him the microphone.

"Go on, Jim," Peach insisted before Jim took the microphone. By now, the applause had died down.

"Wow," Jim chuckled. "I didn't know I was gonna walk up here to speak to you. What was I thinking?" Everyone laughed at Jim's comment. "But thank you for coming, like Princess Peach said. It really means a lot to her because she worked hard for the last few days setting everything up to finish what we started on the 11th. I would like to tell you all about me because most of you don't know who I am. You're all like, 'Who is Jim Heeding? How long has he been Mario and Luigi's friend? What's his backstory?' Well, as one may say, there's more than meets the eye."

"I do not hail from the Mushroom Kingdom because I was born in a different world than this one," Jim began his story. "I live with a really nice mom, dad, and older brother. They are, like, the perfect family I belong to. And on top of that, they supported every dream I wanted to make come true. My biggest one is to be not just any ordinary author, but an author that captivates readers in a way to convey emotion and depict different morals in life. Even though I'm still in high school, I've been working on my first novel titled, 'Dinosaur Land: An Adventurous Experience'. It's about 75% completed, but I am willing to tell you about what the book depicts."

"When I was seven years old on the day after Thanksgiving, my family got a package from a family friend in Japan that contained a telephone game console called the Terebikko, which is hooked up to a video cassette player and allows for kids to interact with anime characters depending on what video they watch. It also came with an anime video that depicts one of the older 'Mario' games. For me, it was way different because the message that came with the Terebikko took the 'interact with characters' description literally." Everyone laughed again for a couple seconds. "What the instructions said was to press this button while holding the fake telephone and looking at the TV screen just after the 'Mario' video started up. It may sound strange to you, but what happened next was I found myself standing next to Mario and Luigi's castle, which was their first home in the Mushroom Kingdom."

"I just had to hug Mario and Luigi as soon as I first met them because I was their biggest fan. It was then that they got a letter from Princess Peach offering to visit her and several Yoshis at Dinosaur Land. Speaking of which, where are you guys? I know you've been invited too."

"Over here!" "Hi!" Yoshi and Red Yoshi called out, waving to Jim. The guests cheered for both briefly.

"Yes. That's Yoshi and Red Yoshi, two of me and the Mario Bros' closest allies for many years," Jim said. "But it wasn't a normal greeting from both. When me, Mario, and Luigi arrived at Dinosaur Land, Bowser flashed in out of nowhere and blatantly said that he kidnapped Princess Peach and all of Yoshi's friends including Red Yoshi, who we saved later on after Yoshi joined us on our quest. For the next two days, we all pushed ourselves through many obstacles to reach this castle in the middle of a vast plateau where all the Yoshis were kept. It was a successful rescue mission, but what happened next would take a temporary turn for the worse."

"You know that back then, Luigi was halfway in front of the curtains while everyone recognized Mario. Well, after the Yoshis were saved, they only paid attention to him, leaving Luigi by himself with his back turned. I couldn't just stay and shout, 'Hip hip hooray!'. I felt so bad for Luigi that I had to cheer him up myself because no one else saw him. We then had to destroy the castle the Yoshis were trapped in, but a small mishap prompted Mario to ask Luigi to check what was wrong, but he spoke too soon as Luigi was caught in the explosion. I may have been a young kid, but I was brave enough to pull Luigi out of the wreckage."

"But unfortunately, Mario and the Yoshis couldn't help but laugh at all the grit Luigi was covered in following the explosion, and that was the last straw for him because he screamed that he hated Mario and wanted a different brother, which is obviously not true. But to be honest, and this is no joking matter, part of Mario died inside of him because he realized that he made the biggest mistake of his life: laughing at his own brother who could've been killed in a massive explosion. Even though Mario lost it for a while, he was put back on his feet and all of us went to defeat Bowser and save Princess Peach once more."

"Now, I bet all of you are thinking, 'Well, that was some adventure. I'm glad things are normal again.' Not quite yet," Jim continued. "What some of you don't know about Mario is that he's not the 100% happy-go-lucky and cheerful hero you thought he was. Nobody's perfect. Mario was apparently born with anxiety and temper issues that he had to put up with for all his life, but he was able to stay positive and happy whenever possible. Even Luigi has to tend to him despite the fact that he's the younger brother."

"Anyway, immediately after we freed Princess Peach, Mario asked her, Yoshi, and Red Yoshi to leave because he was feeling the depression and guilt consuming him again after holding everything back for so many hours. He even felt like he was going to throw up all over the place. His intention was to apologize to Luigi for not recognizing him after saving Yoshi's friends and for laughing at him after the castle was blown up. But his apology was so intense that it made me confused. I was like, 'What's wrong with Mario? Was he ever like this?' Yes, he was. Mario and Luigi made up afterward, but even after that, those incidents would come back to haunt Mario every now and then. That's another thing Mario had to deal with: being unable to let go of bad memories."

"The good news, however, was that all of us were safe and sound. I had to go back home right after we had a late lunch at the Yoshis' village, which was hard for me because I thought I'd never see Mario and Luigi again. All three of us shared a strong connection with each other, making me feel like I was Mario and Luigi's brother too. But just before I went back home, Mario said that the Terebikko I have can be used to take me to the Mushroom Kingdom and back whenever I feel like it. And ever since that first adventure, me and the Mario Bros became really great friends."

"In fact, the week after the Dinosaur Land adventure, I was given a tour of Mario and Luigi's castle before they surprised me with a wooden plaque that said, 'You're number-one, Jim! We love you!'. That touched my heart more than ever in my life, I can still see myself being handed that plaque and embracing Mario and Luigi as a thank-you. You're really awesome, Mario and Luigi. Thanks again."

The guests cheered for Mario and Luigi for a few seconds before Jim resumed speaking.

"For the next four years, me and the Mario Bros had fun together, playing sports, riding go-karts, and even checking out some of their latest and greatest video games produced by the Japanese video game company called Nintendo. But as soon as I turned 11 years old, I stated my big dream to become an author, prompting my family to tell me to focus hard on all my schoolwork. I didn't want to leave Mario and Luigi, but I had to. And ever since that emotional goodbye, I never set foot in the Mushroom Kingdom again until Princess Peach's first brunch party attempt."

"I got an unexpected call from Luigi, who I have been talking by phone for the past six years with Mario. He said to come over to the party immediately, no questions asked," Jim continued. "Luigi asked Mario to go by himself to the party to keep it a surprise. And let me tell you, Mario never felt happier in his life when he saw my grown-up face. But the reunion didn't last long because Bowser stole the Star Rod, captured the Star Spirits, and took over Princess Peach's castle. And I was one of the guests who was locked up in Bowser's Castle's dungeon. You wouldn't want to know what it was like down there because I literally went insane up until Mario and Luigi rescued me."

"I was recovering from my insanity and I was asked to go home for the sake of being safe, but I felt the urge to help Mario and Luigi take down Bowser, who made himself invincible with the Star Rod's power. I was nearly too late, but in the end, we all did it. Not just Mario and Luigi, but all five of their companions they met along the way, including the late Watt. Congratulations to you guys."

Everyone briefly applauded for the Mario Bros, Goombario, Bombette, Bow, and Spike.

"Despite the hardships we all went through, it was all fun and games," Jim said. "And they say adventures never end, which is true. But for me... I'm sorry to say this, but..." Jim sighed, not wanting to break the news to everyone. "I... This will be the last time I'll ever set foot in the Mushroom Kingdom." Everyone groaned and awwed with sadness including Princess Peach.

"I know. I'm sorry to say that, but this is one of those adventures that has to end. I can't live like a kid forever. We all have to move on. I will miss every single one of you who was invited to the party, to all the residents across this world, and especially my best buddies Mario and Luigi."

Mario and Luigi teared up while Jim was beginning to say his goodbyes.

"It was a sincere privilege to be your best friend and I will never, EVER forget these days of my life..." Jim also teared up and his voice began to tremble. "B-but n-no...matter w-where...my a-adulthood w-will...take m-me... I-I... I w-will k-keep all...th-the f-fun t-times I...h-had in m-my...heart..."

"A-and M-Mario and L-Luigi...y-you'll a-also h-have...a s-special place...i-in my h-heart too..." Jim cried. "B-but m-most...of a-all..." Jim turned to Princess Peach. "P-Princess P-Peach...you've a-also s-supported me...j-just as much...a-as the M-Mario Bros h-have... Th-thank you...f-for a-all the...m-motivation you've...g-given me to...p-pursue my...d-dreams... It f-felt like...I h-had a s-sister in...a-addition to m-my...b-brother K-Kent...!" Jim finally let the tears flow and gave Peach a big hug, causing the guests to aww again.

"I-I'll n-never r-repay...you f-for b-being another...o-one of th-those r-role...m-models for me...! I-I love y-you...!"

"I love you too, Jim," Peach replied while the guests applauded, knowing Jim is wrapping up his speech. Before Jim knew it, Peach kissed him on the cheek, causing him to cry a bit harder. He let go of Peach a few seconds later before turning to the guests again.

"A-and to...M-Mario and L-Luigi... I l-love you t-too...as a r-really g-great f-friend...!" Jim sobbed while Mario and Luigi began crying too. "Th-thank you...for y-your f-friendship...and f-for b-being there...f-for me...when I-I wasn't f-feeling...myself...! I will...n-never, EVER f-forget you f-for w-what...you've g-given me...!" Jim took a deep breath and calmed down a bit. "This... This is goodbye for us...after the party is over... It has been an honor...a privilege...and a pleasure...to serve a purpose for the Mushroom Kingdom... Thank you..."

The guests cheered as loud as they could, giving Jim a standing ovation. He gave the microphone back to Peach before rejoining Mario and Luigi and giving them a hug too.

"Oh my God," Peach said. "What a moving speech that was. If I was in Jim's steps, I couldn't have said anything better. To conclude this ceremony, ladies and gentlemen, I hope that the Mushroom Kingdom will enjoy peace and prosperity for a long time to come. Perhaps forever. This is my heartfelt wish. And we deserve to celebrate and enjoy the festivities because as a whole for the Mushroom Kingdom, we all have a purpose to serve. A purpose that makes us feel proud of what we've become. Thank you."

Again, the guests gave Peach a standing ovation as she went through the second floor door to set up the rest of the party accessories for when the guests will mingle upstairs.