Hello readers! This is the beginning of my first fanfic: Super Mario Bros: Mushroom Heroes. This series is basically my own take on the Mario universe. There will be original characters and ideas so I can have some originality. I am a huge Mario fan having grown up with the games and it is tied for my favorite franchise alongside Pokémon. I had this idea for over a year but now I can finally put it into fruition. So without further ado, let's-a-go!
I do not own Mario. The rights belong to Nintendo.
Episode 1: Into the Pipe
Earth, the only known planet with life on it, is the most beautiful planet in the universe. However, this time we'll be focusing on an Earth that has the same name, but the lands are shaped differently and is a more unrealistic version of Earth with magic and creatures. Our story focuses on two brothers who are plumbers, whose lives are about to be changed forever. Here is their story.
New Donk City: a bustling city which is basically this world's equivalent of New York City. It features traffic, giant skyscrapers and people hustling about. It is known as "The city that never leaps." Of course, every city has jobs and plumbers are definitely one of them. In the underground sewers, two brothers were fixing pipes.
One of them was a short and stocky man, with brown hair with sideburns, blue eyes, a round nose and a thick dark brown mustache with six bumps wearing a red shirt, blue overalls with golden buttons, white gloves, brown shoes and a red hat with a red "M" on it. This was the older twin brother, Mario Marino.
The other was identical to Mario, only he was taller and slimer. He too had brown hair and blue eyes but his mustache was more straight. He also wore a green shirt, blue overalls with golden buttons, white gloves, brown shoes and a green hat with a green "L" on it. This was the younger twin brother, Luigi Marino.
They were both born in a different country and had Italian accents, but they moved to New Donk, one of the reasons was that their father got a plumbing job there, which Mario and Luigi took over after he retired. The two didn't mind their job, but Mario wished for something greater.
It was an ordinary day at work, with the two brothers finishing their job fixing pipes in the sewer. After they fixed the last pipe, Mario gave out a sigh of relief as he wiped his forehead with his arm.
"Looks like our job here is done!" said Mario.
"Yup! All done here!" replied Luigi. "Let's-a-head back home!"
Mario then felt a little sad and sighed. Luigi felt concerned for his brother.
"What's wrong, Mario?" asked Luigi.
"No, it's nothing really." replied Mario.
Luigi put his hand on his brother's back.
"Please tell me. I'm your brother and I'm here for you." he said.
Mario then realized that he needed to let it out, so he told his brother how he was feeling.
"Well, the thing is that despite liking this job, I want something greater." he said.
"What do you mean greater?" asked Luigi.
"Like I don't know, an adventure." replied Mario. " I want to see the world and explore its vast riches. Maybe we can become rulers of a land, be heroes, or become defenders of a nation.
The possibilities are endless! Wouldn't that be exciting, Luigi?"
Luigi smiled at his brother's imagination.
"I guess that would be cool," he replied. "but I'm kind of scared of what could happen. Maybe it will happen eventually, but let's not get our hopes up, Mario."
"I'm not necessarily hoping for it, I'm just saying it would be cool." replied Mario. "I just wish it wasn't just the two of us." Mario's face grew sad. Luigi knew why and patted his brother on the back in comfort.
"Don't worry bro." said Luigi. "I know it's not the same, but we just gotta learn how to live with it unfortunately."
"I know." replied Mario. "We'll be fine, even if it's only you and me."
Luigi smiled. "That's the spirit bro!"
"Yeah. But for now let's-a-head back!" said Mario.
So the two brothers grabbed their bags and started walking through the sewers. On their way out, Luigi noticed something.
"Hey Mario, look!" he pointed out.
Mario looked at what Luigi was pointing at, and to their surprise, they saw a strange green pipe with a circular hole sticking out which looked like an entrance to a tunnel. Mario and Luigi were confused.
"Is that a pipe?" asked Luigi.
"It is." replied Mario. "But I've never seen a pipe like this before."
"Maybe it's a newly discovered pipe," said Luigi.
"I doubt it." replied Mario. "Although I am curious to see what's inside."
Mario then put his bag down and lowered himself and went into the pipe.
"What do you see in there?" asked Luigi.
"I don't know." replied Mario. "I can't see, it's too dark."
But then it happened. Mario suddenly got completely sucked into the pipe and screamed as he disappeared into it. Luigi was startled.
"Oh no! Mario!" cried Luigi.
Luigi dropped his bag and decided to go inside the pipe to see where his brother went.
"Mario? Where are you?" he called.
Suddenly, Luigi got sucked in completely as well and screamed as he disappeared into the pipe. The Mario Bros had completely disappeared.
While in the pipe, the brothers felt like they were in a water slide as they slid through the pipe while screaming in fright. Mario then flew out of the exit and fell onto the ground. The red plumber barely got up while groaning in pain, but before he could stand up fully, Luigi flew out of the pipe and fell right on top of his brother. Mario and Luigi groaned in pain but the two soon got up.
"Mario, I'm so sorry! Are you alright?" asked Luigi concerningly.
"It's okay Luigi." replied Mario. "I'm fine. But more importantly, where are we?"
The two brothers then looked around to see where they were. It was a place unfamiliar to the two. The place was a grassland with hills and the strangest feature of them all, floating yellow blocks with a ? mark on them. The two brothers were confused and then looked at the pipe, which was the same one from New Donk City.
"Uh Mario? I think we're no longer in New Donk." said Luigi.
"That's obvious." replied Mario. "This pipe definitely led us here but how? We're most likely a long way from New Donk."
Luigi sighed. "You can say that again, bro."
Suddenly, there was a noise, which sounded like propellers. Mario heard the noise.
"Uh Luigi? Do you hear that?" asked Mario.
"What are you talking about?" Luigi asked back. "I don't hear anything."
Then the noise got louder and louder until a large shadow cast over the Mario Bros. Mario and Luigi looked up in shock to see what it was. To their surprise, it was a giant airship. It looked like a pirate ship, only equipped with propellers in the center and back. On the front of the airship was a gargoyle in the shape of a turtle-like monster.
"Woah! That airship looks terrifying!" said Mario. "Hopefully whoever is piloting it doesn't mean any harm."
Unfortunately it did. The airship began firing black missles, but they had angry eyes and white arms on them. This caused explosions to go off upon their impact, causing the civilians, which looked like humans with mushrooms on their head, to run in panic and scream in horror. Meanwhile, back with the Mario Bros, seeing this caused Luigi to scream in fright.
"I spoke too soon." grunted Mario. "But why would they be attacking there?"
Meanwhile, the airship approached a castle. It was a standard medieval castle with a red rooftop and in the center, there was stained glass, which featured a woman with blonde hair and blue eyes with pink lipstick, wearing a pink dress. Inside the castle, she was in the throne room. She was a beautiful young woman with fair skin, long blonde flowing hair, wore a long pink dress with sapphire brooch and earrings, with a crown that was encrusted with rubies and sapphires and wore white long gloves that went up to her elbows and red heels. She was looking outside the window after hearing the series of explosions. Soon afterwards, a figure came into the room in a state of panic. It was a short humanoid figure with a beige mushroom cap with brown spots, round glasses with black rims, sporting a white puffy mustache, a red bow tie, wearing a light purple vest with gold buttons under another purple vest with gold trim, with white bottoms and brown bootie shoes. He was holding a brown walking stick which had a brown mushroom cap with beige spots. The princess looked at him concerned.
"What's wrong, Toadsworth?" she asked
"Princess Peach! Come outside to the front!" replied Toadsworth in a state of panic.
The two went outside to the castle entrance to find the airship hovering above them. Then a figure came flying from the ship. It was a turtle-like creature with yellow skin, round glasses, wearing a blue cloak and hat as well as red shoes. He was flying on a broom and stopped in front of Toadsworth and Peach.
"Are you the queen of the Mushroom Kingdom?" asked the turtle.
"No, I'm the princess." replied Peach.
The wizard turtle frowned. "Okay then, I'll let my lord answer you then!"
A giant jumped from the airship and onto the ground in front of Peach and Toadsworth. The two were intimidated by his appearance. The figure was giant and he resembled the symbol on the airship. He was a turtle-like dragon creature with fiery orange-red hair, matching bushy eyebrows, and red eyes with long horns. His face was green and wore a matching giant shell on his back covered with several spikes. His muzzle and underbelly were flesh colored, with the former filled with sharp teeth, while his arms, legs and tail were an orange-yellow color, with latter having two small spikes on it, while he wore several spiked black collars around his arms and neck. He had eight fingers and six toes, all of which looked like sharp claws.
"Well Kamek?" he asked in a deep and gruff voice.
"It turns out she's the princess, not the queen." replied Kamek.
The turtle frowned but then continued. "Oh well, that'll do."
"Princess, I am King Bowser Koopa, the king of the Koopa Kingdom." said Bowser. "I'm here to subjugate the Mushroom Kingdom to mine. And if you think about resisting, well that won't be necessary. Do it, Kamek!"
Kamek pulled out a yellow wand with half a red circle on the top of it and pointed it towards the town. It spouted a purple-blue aura which turned all the civilians into bricks, much to Peach and Toadsworth's horror.
"You monster!" shouted Toadsworth angrily. "How could you do such a thing?!"
Bowser laughed evilly. "I'm gonna use these bricks to build the rest of my kingdom, you old fungus! But this leads me to what I'm also here for!"
"What is it?" asked Peach.
"You see, I thought the queen had the magic to undo all of my work but it seems you might actually have that instead." replied Bowser. "I can sense the magic coming from your brooch and earrings, so in order to prevent you from undoing everything, I'm going to have to kidnap you and take you to my castle!"
"And what if I don't want to go?" retorted Peach.
"Then I will burn this place to the ground!" replied Bowser. "So what's it gonna be?"
"Princess Peach, you can't let this crazy turtle take you!" protested Toadsworth.
Now in a state of conflict, Peach then took a deep breath and said her answer.
"I'll go." she said, much to the shock of Toadsworth.
"Princess, are you crazy?! What are you thinking?" screamed Toadsworth.
"It's alright Toadsworth." replied Peach. "It's for the safety of the Mushroom Kingdom. It will be alright."
"Okay, if you say so," said Toadsworth grimly. "Hopefully your parents will try to rescue you."
Bowser then grabbed Peach by her back.
"Good! You made the right choice, princess!" said Bowser. "Now let's get going!"
Bowser, with Peach in his hand, jumped back onto the airship, with Kamek following. The airship then took off into the other direction. This was also where Mario and Luigi were. They noticed the airship coming back to them and it flew past them.
"What's going on?" asked Luigi.
"I don't know," replied Mario "But I'm gonna check this out!"
Mario then ran off in the direction of the airship.
"Mario, wait!" shouted Luigi, who then let out a sigh.
Mario ran so fast that he jumped so high and took out two plungers which attached him to the back of the ship. The plumber then proceeded to use them to climb up the airship. Meanwhile, on the deck, Bowser had tied Peach up by a rope onto a propeller pole.
"Wait, you said you were from the Koopa Kingdom," noted Peach. "Weren't you-"
"Yes I am!" interrupted Bowser. "Let's just say I'm doing this because of a grudge we have against the Mushroom Kingdom! You see-"
"I don't care what the reason is!" shouted a familiar voice. "You better let her go, you oversized reptile!"
Bowser and Kamek were shocked and looked to find Mario standing and staring at them angrily. Peach was also shocked.
"What? Who are you and how did you get on my ship?" asked Bowser.
"It's-a-me, Mario!" he replied. "And I'm here to put a stop to you!"
Bowser laughed at that remark. "Fool! Do you really think a human like you can stop me?!'
Mario ignored him and pulled out a plunger and threw it on Bowser's face.
"Lord Bowser!" yelled Kamek
"Gah!" cried Bowser. "What is this?!"
The reptile then pulled off the plunger and threw it away. Bowser then proceeded to punch Mario, only for the plumber to dodge it by jumping. He then attempted to strike Mario multiple times, but the mustached man kept dodging his attacks.
"He's fast!" thought Bowser.
Mario then punched Bowser in the stomach, but due to his shell protecting it, it only made Mario's hand swell up, causing the plumber to scream in pain.
"Ow! Ow! Ow!" cried Mario.
"Ha ha ha ha! Did you really think you were gonna crack my shell?! Pathetic!" laughed Bowser.
The king then grabbed Mario and held him up in the air.
"Alright! Let me show you what a real punch feels like!" yelled Bowser.
He then threw the red plumber up in the air and readied his fist, ready to punch Mario.
"Bon Voyage!" he yelled, as Mario came back down which led to Bowser punching Mario off the ship, causing the plumber to scream while falling backwards. Bowser and Kamek laughed at Mario while Peach was horrified.
"No!" cried Peach. "How could you?!"
"He was in the way, Princess!" replied Bowser. "Now that he's gone, we can get the Mushroom Kingdom ready for mine! Bwa ha ha ha ha!"
Meanwhile, Luigi was still standing in the grasslands, worried for his brother. Suddenly, he heard screaming and then realized the source was coming towards him as Mario was flying towards Luigi. The green plumber screamed in fright as Mario crashed into Luigi, causing the two brothers to fall down. Mario and Luigi groaned in pain. Mario then got up.
"Luigi, are you alright?" asked Mario.
Luigi got up and wiped his sleeve from the dirt. "I should be asking you that! What happened?! What's going on?!"
"Okay, I'll tell you." said Mario.
Mario explained to his brother what happened on the airship, who Bowser was and how he got sent flying. Luigi was shocked from what he heard.
"Oh my!" said Luigi. "So this Bowser means serious business! But what are we gonna do?
"I know it's none of our business but we can't just leave this place." replied Mario. "We need to help them."
"Uh, I don't know Mario," said Luigi in a scared tone, "it seems too risky to do that."
Mario then put his hand on his brother's shoulder.
"Luigi, remember when I said I wanted something greater?" asked Mario. "Well looks like the chance has come and I want you to come with me because you're my brother."
He then extended his hand for a handshake, causing Luigi to smile and shake his hand back.
"Okay!" said Luigi. "You got it, Mario! I won't let you down!"
They then let go of each other's hands.
"How will we know what to do though?" asked Luigi. Mario then pointed at the castle in the distance.
"You see that castle over there? Maybe there are people over there that can help us." said Mario.
"Okay then. You got it!" replied Luigi.
"Okay Luigi, let's-a-go!" yelled Mario excitingly.
"Okie dokie!" replied Luigi, as the two brothers set off to the castle where their adventure begins. Their lives have changed forever and it will only get crazier from there.
To Be Continued
And thus begins Super Mario Bros: Mushroom Heroes! I hope you all enjoy this one because it's gonna be a long one! Oh and for this series, I will be adding voice actors for both Japanese and English to make it feel like an anime. Here are the cast:
Takeshi Kusao/Johnny Yong Bosch as Mario
Kappei Yamaguchi/Bryce Papenbrook as Luigi
Saori Hayami/Cherami Leigh as Peach
Tessho Genda/David Lodge as Bowser
Masaharu Sato/Steve Kramer as Toadsworth
KENN/Todd Haberkorn as Kamek
Thanks for reading and stay tuned for the next episode!