The Super Mario Saga

Chapter 3 - "The Hero Awakes"

By Gregory Achen

The Super Mario awoke with a start.

Startled by nightmares of the distant past and tortured by memories of a pain long since forgotten. This horrid vision of the past laid dormant, deep inside his sub-conscious, secretly eating away at his very soul. It was close to twenty years ago that he had lost his first love and fiance through unspeakable circumstances. It was close to twenty years ago that he had left the life he'd always known and warped over into the lands of his birth. And it was close to twenty years ago that his whole outlook on the world had changed forever.

Mario and his twin brother Luigi had always known they were different. Growing up in the slums of Brooklyn, New York was, to say the least, a very humbling experience for two people who would later become legendary heroes of an entire world. Though they were not what many people would consider "fortunate" enough to have been brought up in a high social class, he and his brother couldn't have asked for a more loving childhood.

Mario had no memory of the short time he spent as an infant in the Mushroom World. The only things he could remember were brief moments of deja vu and the occasional intense emotion that would periodically flood into his heart; especially when looking up toward the stars of the night sky. What later in his life he had come to know and pieced together, was that his birth parents had wished him and his twin brother away to a "new world" in fear for their lives. They were then found in a basket on the doorsteps of a shabby little home in the Human World by an old Italian couple whose last names were, as fate would have it, "Mario". Having been unable to conceive a child throughout their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Mario took the twin babies into their home, and instantaneously formed a connection to the tiny infants. The only hint to the babies origins were their own red and green caps and a short letter reading:

"Protect the Baby Mario and Luigi from Evil.
Teach them to be honest and good people.
Love them so that they may know Love.
Chosen are they from above."

Mr. and Mrs. Mario honored that mysterious request asked of them as in a few months time they adopted Mario and Luigi making them the now famous "Mario Brothers". Those years growing up in Brooklyn, while in poverty, was actually one of the best periods of Mario's life. He loved his adoptive mother and father immensely, as did they love him and his brother. The notion of not being biologically related to each other was not an issue, figuring if love existed, the blood running through ones veins was trivial compared to the heart.

Yes, Mario's childhood in Brooklyn was ideal. He and Luigi had even taken over the Mario family business and became plumbers in honor of their father's life's work.

No, it wasn't his life growing up that had left his night so tormented. It was his life in Brooklyn, after childhood. It was a single woman.

Looking at his pillow saturated in sweat, Mario felt sick to his stomach. Why was he having lurid visions of the ancient past? He thought that had been a chapter long since over in the saga that was his life. Whatever the reason was, he didn't like it one bit. Through the years he had learned to trust his intuition, and follow his heart no matter what it entailed. The nightmare he had just experienced was warning him of something to come. Something grand.

With a hard stretch Mario threw off his comforter, got out of bed, and walked over to his adjoining bathroom disoriented. He then turned on the faucet of the bathroom sink causing a hiss of fresh water to stream out. Immersing his hands, Mario splashed the cold water on his face and looked into the mirror at his reflection.

Studying his features; his curly brown hair, his deep blue eyes, his bulbous nose, his dark brown moustache. Mario really did look no older than that of his mid-twenties. Living in the Mushroom World for as long as he had looked as if it had stunted his aging, at least in terms of his physical appearance. He and his brother had lived in this "other" world for close to two decades as the chosen warriors against the Koopas and what a truly epic two decades it was.

Still looking in the mirror, Mario slowly drifted off into a daydream, remembering that fateful day he and Luigi had warped over into the Mushroom World... a world lost to them since infancy.

It would be an understatement to say that the last thing they were expecting that day was their very lives as they knew it to change forever. Desperate for money, Mario and Luigi had taken on a most peculiar job in the sewers of Brooklyn, New York. Their task? To fix a series of leaking pipes that had mysteriously burst, reportedly by "alien creatures" that infested the subterranean world. Though quite baffled by this most mysterious endeavor, Mario and Luigi did reluctantly accept the job. After all, they hadn't worked in weeks and the city was desperate for the repairs after their own men dared not venture into the sewers, afraid of the so-called monsters. With a slogan like "the last resort IS sometimes the best", it was a job Mario Brothers Plumbing dared not refuse.

After getting lost in the deep maze of the underground, Mario and Luigi were shocked to find themselves being assaulted by none other than the barrage of monsters that had been plaguing the sewers. If being attacked by monstrous creatures wasn't enough to shock them, imagine their surprise when they found themselves actually fighting against the critters with abilities and strengths they never knew themselves capable. It was like an unseen power surged through their bodies as they battled the creatures that were, in actuality, the very beings they were born to fight against.

After exterminating all but one of the "alien beings", they chased the lone turtle-like creature to a large rusted pipe that laid almost plush with the concrete floor. After the creature then jumped into the pipe, all the Mario brothers could do was stare at each other, bewildered by what was a most unbelievable experience. It was then that a sharp wind blew from out of no where, knocking Mario and Luigi into what was, in actuality, a gateway into another dimension.

For two long years would the Mario brothers lay unconscious in the Mushroom World until finally awakening in strange yet overwhelmingly familiar surroundings. How they got there? They did not know. But it was within the walls of the sacred Star Haven that Mario and Luig found themselves and it was to their utter disbelief the following events that occurred. Seven spiritual beings in the form of stars shone down from the heavens, reuniting with the twins they had not seen since birth. Instead of being afraid like "normal" people would, the Mario brothers were uncharacteristically calm and collected. They were at peace; an emotion that seemed to perplex an already perplexing situation. It was then that the Star Spirits spoke, welcoming Mario and Luigi to the lands of their birth, as well as briefing them on a past they were all but oblivious to. The surreal course of events that surrounded the brothers was almost too much for them to handle, yet somehow they knew of what the strange beings spoke of could only have been the truth.

It seems as Mario and Luigi had lived their lives in the Human World, a few years before their current return, the Koopas, led by a fully-grown Bowser, invaded the Mushroom Kingdom. Using their powerful dark magic, the Koopas had transformed the peace-loving Mushroom People into the likes of stones, bricks, and fungus. In the wake of this ghastly "coup d'etat", the beautiful Mushroom Kingdom had fallen into ruin and despair. It was said, however, that only the daughter of the great Mushroom King, whose blood was as pure as Saint Angelina Toadstool's, could reverse the dark spell inflicted upon by the Koopa.

In hearing what happened, Mario and Luigi knew where their lied. Without so much as even being asked, the Mario brothers took it upon themselves to reclaim the Mushroom Kingdom and rescue the fair Princess from the clutches of the blood thirsty dragon named Bowser.

As their journey began, it became evident that darkness really had corrupted the lands of the Mushroom Kingdom. Whatever beauty the countryside might have had was long since left dead and barren. If one had known the Mushroom Kingdom before the Koopas touch of death, they would have thought it an entirely different world. With the ruined land of their birth before their eyes, Mario and Luigi became inexplicably enraged and vowed amongst each other to save the Mushroom Kingdom at any cost.

Together, Mario and Luigi traveled throughout the lands of the Mushroom Kingdom; passing through underground tunnels, deep under bodies of water, and high above through the skies, gallantly fighting against the many warriors of the Koopaharian Curse. Getting deeper and deeper into their mission, Mario and Luigi's abilities grew stronger and stronger. Toward the end of their first quest, they trained their heavenly aptitudes extensively with the help of no other.

As they would reach fortress's throughout the Mushroom Kingdom, they faced illusions of their arch nemesis Bowser where upon the decoy's defeat they would free one of the seven Mushroom Retainers with whom were also kidnapped with the Princess.

At the seventh castle of the Koopa, the Mario brothers quickly destroyed the final decoy that imprisoned the last Mushroom Retainer. This individual Mushroom person, however, was the personal attendant to none other than the Princess of the Mushroom Kingdom herself. Simply going by the name of 'Toad', he issued to the Mario Brothers a powerful warning that their quest would be nearing an end soon, as what was in the next and final castle would bring the former Brooklyn plumbers face to face with the real King Koopa and at long last Love's children would duel Evil's monster.

Having finally reached the eighth fortress of the Koopa, the Mario brothers worked their way through the mazelike structure trying to find the hallway which led to Bowser's throne room; a throne room that sat atop a bridge of molten lava.

When finally coming eye to eye with the Dark King, the dragon did not know of whom the two were and actually laughed at their stupidity in challenging him. He did pay them a single compliment, however, as even he admitted it would've taken great skill to have gotten where they were. And so the first battle between the two heroes and their arch nemesis began. The three fought long and hard as Bowser tried all his known tricks to destroy the twins, each time the brothers dodging whatever fireball or weapon thrown their way.

The duel finally concluded when as Luigi provided a distraction against Bowser, Mario grabbed the decorative golden axe fastened to the end of the bridge and cut the ropes. The bridge then shattered from under Bowser's feet causing him to fall into the lava to what was, at the time, his presumed death. It was through Bowser's own over confidence and underestimation of the human brothers that Mario and Luigi defeated the Koopa King for the first of what would become many times.

Separated from Luigi by the lava, who had jumped to solid ground at the last moment, Mario walked on through the castle alone in search for the Princess. Suddenly he had become entranced by the sight of the most beautiful woman he had ever seen in any world or in his dreams for that matter. Crying and on her knees, Mario walked up to the woman who was in actuality the Princess of the Mushroom Kingdom and put a comforting hand on her shoulder. Looking up into Mario's eyes, that innocent moment brought forth an instantaneous connection between the two.

Upon her rescue, the Mario brothers took Princess Peach Toadstool to the holy Star Haven where she quickly went to the top of the tower. There, the Princess removed the Star Rod from it's throne, thus fulfilling her destiny, as she used the tool constructed by her great ancestor to return her cursed people back into their normal selves. The Mushroom Kingdom reclaimed, the Princess freed, Bowser thought to be dead, and the curse placed upon the Mushroom People lifted; the long foretold prophecy of the brothers would seem to have been coming true.

On that glorious day, the Mushroom Kingdom as well as the entire Mushroom World forever crowned Mario and Luigi as their saviors. And on that day did Mario find his true love and the woman he vowed would some day marry.

Mario shook his head as his mind came back to the present. Yes, it was the descendant of Saint Angelina Toadstool who Mario loved with all his heart. He had lived for two decades in the Mushroom World fighting against evil in all its incarnations. Yet what he felt was his real accomplishment during those long years was his personal relationship with the Princess. The two were soul mates and in his mind they were fated for one another. His life in the Mushroom World was wonderful for that and that reason alone.

Turning off the faucet and going back into his bedroom, a small picture of him and Peach holding hands in the tropical paradise of Delfino Island caught his eye.

"Peach," whispered Mario as he picked up the picture from his dresser to study it closely.

"I love you so much."