"Name: Mario Jumpman Mario; Height: 155 cm; Weight: 89 kg; Age: mid-30's."

The Pianta then took inventory of my possessions. "Possessions: One Flash Liquidizer Ultra Dousing Device; three mushrooms of questionable origin; one wallet containing a driver's license, a Yoshi-breeding permit, 39 Mushroom Kingdom coins, and seven photos of a woman and himself, along with cake; and finally, an outfit consisting of one red newsboy cap with an M monogrammed on it, a red shirt, white gloves, blue overalls, and brown work boots."

With that, they led me to my cell. I'd never been in jail before.

And it was even worse than I'd thought.

The next morning, an officer came to my cell. "Alright, come with me," he said in a gruff voice.

I followed him outside, where he handed me the FLUDD. "Go straight that way. You can't miss the mess, pal! Your first job's to get rid of all the ugliness. And remember, we'll be watching you, pal. We'll know if you start slacking off."

I sighed and began the walk. They were right; it was really dark. I rounded the corner, gasping at the ocean of paint that lay in front of me. This was going to take a while.

I turned on FLUDD.

"Powering up complete. Greeting, Mario. What has happened since I was last on?"

"Hey, FLUDD. I got sentenced to clean up all the graffiti on the island and return all the Shines."

"Oh. Well, I do hope to be of assistance."

"I certainly couldn't do this without you."

I filled FLUDD and got to work spraying the goop.

"Mario!"

I turned at the voice of Peach and saw her coming towards me with Toadsworth. "Hey, guys," I tried to say cheerfully, but it came out broken.

"We're sorry that our vacation started out this way. But hey, we're gonna wait until you're done before we do anything."

"No, that's okay. You don't have to do that. Go enjoy your vacation."

"But Mario —"

"No, I insist. I'll be fine." I then continued to clear the paint.

Peach looked distraught.

"Princess, look!" Toadsworth called, pointing at the large statue.

We looked, and gasped.

Standing atop the statue was the blue shadow figure. It had a large resemblance to me, save for the obvious color difference, and his glowing red eyes. He was holding a large paintbrush, which was presumably what he made the graffiti with.

Peach pumped her fist. "I knew it! I told you!"

"Um, Princess?" Toadsworth apprehensively said, "He's staring right at you…"

Suddenly, the Shadow Mario leapt off the statue and made a beeline straight for Peach. Almost instinctively, I began running at him, but he was too quick; he picked up Peach and began to run off.

"Mario!" she shouted.

"Peach!" I began to chase them, but it was like Peach's added weight made no difference to the Shadow Mario's speed. For every two steps I took, he took three.

"Mario!" FLUDD chimed in, "Use me! He appears to be made of paint, so water would no doubt hurt him!"

Still running, I oriented the nozzle and sprayed, blasting the Shadow Mario off of his feet and knocking Peach out of his grip. He gargled in pain, then got up and began to run back to the town square.

"Peach!" I began.

"I'm fine, Mario; just stop him, quickly!"

I turned and chased him.

He stopped at the statue in the center of the town square, then brandished his paintbrush and slathered paint onto the base and —

Jumped in?

I didn't have time to question the logic of it; I just jumped in after him.