(A/N: Okay, now let's head back to "Super Mario Sunshine". What I don't get is why didn't Peach tell the judge that she was a princess when he overruled her objection at that trial. You ever wonder what might have happened if she had? I do. Let's read this AU, and see how that plays out...)
Mario was feeling very upset, and he had every right to feel that way. He was supposed to be starting to enjoy what should have been a relaxing vacation with his girlfriend, Princess Peach, and several Toads, on a dolphin-shaped island called Isle Delfino. But here the vacation had barely begun, and it was already turning out to be a bad thing. The island was a mess of some paint-like substance, and the islanders were all blaming Mario for making a mess of their beautiful home, but he sure as heck hadn't done it!
It all started when the plane landed. The plane came to a very abrupt stop, and when they got off, they saw why. The airstrip had some icky, moving, paint-like goop all over it, but Mario had quickly cleaned up the mess by using an invention called F.L.U.D.D., which was short for Flash Liquidizer Ultra Dousing Device. No sooner had he cleaned up the mess did the cops show up. But they didn't come to thank him for cleaning up the airstrip, like he first thought. Rather than thank him for tidying up the airstrip, the police grabbed him and hauled him off to the courthouse at Delfino Plaza for a trial. Peach and the Toads quickly followed, worried for their innocent, heroic friend.
The trial was short, quick, and completely unfair for poor Mario. He found out that someone, he didn't know who, had made a mess of the island and caused the island's guardians, the Shine Sprites, to vanish, which left the island to be a rather dark place, even during the day. And he was the one they blamed for all the trouble.
What really bugged Mario was the fact that no one had thought to ask him any questions, like where was he on such-and-such day at such-and-such time. Had they thought to do so, Mario might have been able to prove his innocence, but it seemed to him that the islanders didn't really care that they were accusing a completely innocent man of something he never did, something he would never do, and that they weren't about to let him explain himself! They all said that the perpetrator looked like him, but even so, Mario knew that he hadn't done it!
"The truth is obvious. The guilty party sits among us. It is none other than Mario!" the Pianta prosecutor exclaimed.
"Objection!" Princess Peach announced, standing up, and even Toadsworth was trying to object with her.
"Overruled!" the Pianta judge declared.
"Overruled? Overruled?! And since when did it become fair for a judge to overrule the objection of a princess; I would like to know!" Peach said, sounding offended.
The whole courthouse went as quiet as a church when Peach said that. No one had been expecting her to say that she was a princess! None of the islanders even knew that she was a princess to begin with!
"Y-y-you're a p-p-princess?!" the judge asked, starting to turn pale.
"I am. Princess Peach of the Mushroom Kingdom, to be exact. This crown on my head isn't just a rinky-dink fashion accessory, you know!" Peach said, pointing at her crown.
All the Piantas in the courtroom gasped as they realized that the judge had the gall to overrule a princess's objection! And they all heard of Princess Peach, too! Now that they knew who she was, they recognized her. To see her here, objecting against the idea of Mario being guilty, was a big surprise.
"I... I... I-I-I'm terribly sorry, Your Highness. Y-you may speak." the judge said, overcome with shock at the realization of what he had just tried to do to Princess Peach. He put his head down and buried his now bright red face in his arms, shaking uncontrollably with total embarrassment.
"Oh no, what the heck came over me?! I should not have tried to do that! Not to royalty! You can't overrule royalty in the court! I hope she's not going to make me go home with her so she can lock me up in her dungeon and throw away the key! I really don't want that!" the judge thought, feeling as awful as Mario was.
But Mario's heart surged hopefully. If anyone could help him prove his innocence, it was Peach! But would the islanders be willing to listen to her? Would they even believe her? She was a princess, after all, and she wasn't one to lie... well, maybe she would lie to Bowser, but that's neither here nor there.
"Oh, please, Star Spirits. Help Peach to convince these people that I didn't do anything to their island! Please help her to prove to them that I'm completely innocent here!" Mario prayed in his mind as he looked at his lovely girlfriend.
"Thank you, Your Honor." Peach replied with a sweet smile on her pretty face. She looked over at the witness stand and saw Mario looking at her with hope in his blue eyes. She knew that she could be his saving grace, and that's just what she intended to be. Peach would do everything in her royal power to save Mario from being declared guilty for something he would never think of doing.
"Don't worry, Mario." Peach mouthed to him before turning to look at everyone else, getting ready to speak her piece.
"I hope the Princess knows exactly what to say..." Toadsworth thought, watching the Princess as she figured out how to prove Mario's innocence to the court.
"I know that each and every one of you blames Mario for the mess on your island, but hear me out: he didn't do it!" Peach began.
That didn't work. Except for Mario, Peach, the Toads, the prosecutor, and the judge, the whole courtroom erupted in laughter, as if they had just heard the funniest joke ever told. No one believed Peach! They all knew that they saw Mario make the mess, the sketch looked like him... How could the Princess sit there and claim that he hadn't done the crime with no proof?!
Mario facepalmed, Peach crossed her arms while frowning at the laughing people with mild disapproval, the Toads all buried their faces in their hands, and the prosecutor and judge looked less than pleased with what was going on.
Everyone in Mario's party feared that this would not end well at all. Peach was especially upset about this, because she so badly wanted to repay Mario for all the times he saved her and her kingdom. But her attempt to save him from being unfairly blamed for a crime he never tried to commit was starting out as badly as this vacation was.
"Order! Order in the court!" the judge yelled, banging his gavel to stop the laughter. When the laughter finally died down, the judge looked at Peach and said, "I'm sorry for all that. Please continue, Your Highness."
"Thank you again, Your Honor." Peach said, turning to offer a polite curtsy to the judge before turning to look back at everyone else. She said, "Let me explain: Mario and I just got here a few minutes ago! He couldn't have done anything to your island! He would never entertain such thoughts!"
"But I saw Mario make that huge mess that was out on the airstrip! Surely you saw it, Your Highness!" said one of the Piantas in back of the room.
"Yes, I did see the mess out there. But here's the thing: that mess had been made while Mario and I were on the plane here, because it was there when we arrived! And Mario never left my side once when we were on the plane! How could he have made the mess when he was on his way here?! Think about it!" Peach told them.
The Piantas were all silent as they thought about the princess's words. Unless Mario had teleportation powers, which seemed highly unlikely, he couldn't have made the mess. Even the judge and the prosecutor began to think that perhaps they had been a bit hasty in their decision to blame Mario and punish him. Was the Princess really telling the truth?
"Also, Mario cleaned up that mess. If he had made the mess, why would he clean it up? He wouldn't do that if his intention was to mess things up for all of you!" Peach said.
Everyone continued to remain silent as they took in Peach's words. She really did have a point. If the perpetrator was making a mess, he certainly wouldn't clean it up... unless he was forced to, and that mess on the airstrip was all cleaned up when the cops arrived, and they hadn't forced him to clean it.
"You're beginning to have a point, Your Highness." the judge said.
"But just to be sure, we've decided we're going to ask Mario some questions, which, come to think of it, is probably what we should've done in the first place." said the prosecutor.
Mario became even more hopeful now. They were actually listening to the Princess, and now they were going to do what they should have done in the first place! Just because they thought they saw him do it didn't mean anything. What if he had been framed, like Roger Rabbit? (A/N: I had to make a reference to "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?".)
So then the prosecutor began asking Mario where was he on certain days, when parts of the island were being vandalized.
"I was in the Mushroom Kingdom, spending time planning this vacation with Princess Peach." Mario said. And sure enough, Peach and the Toads were able to back up his claim. Also, on one of the days that the island had been attacked, Mario had been shopping somewhere in the Mushroom Kingdom. He even had the receipt from the store he went to, and he showed it to them. The date on the receipt was the day they asked him about! That proved he and Peach were telling the truth!
"And why did you clean up that mess?" the prosecutor asked Mario.
"Well, that's simple. It didn't belong there, and it was the right thing to do. Plus, I could see that not only was it disgusting and gross-looking, it was dangerous, too. One of the people here popped out of the goo when I washed it away, but he blamed me for making the mess when I was the one who saved him from it! Plus, there was a goopy-looking Piranha Plant in that mess! It had to go!" Mario said.
People began whispering amongst themselves. Mario was proving to be innocent. It was possible that they'd had him wrong.
"You know what? I'm beginning to think we had Mario all wrong." the prosecutor whispered to the judge.
"I have to agree with you. The Princess is making a good argument, and we didn't really give Mario a fair chance when he was dragged in here by the police. Now that we're actually giving him a chance, I'm starting to believe that Mario and Her Highness are telling us the truth." the judge whispered back.
"Also, while we were on the plane here, we saw a promotional video for your island. And in the video, I saw something really odd: I swear I saw a shadowy figure of Mario running and jumping around in the background at the beginning and end of the video!" Peach added.
Mario looked stunned, and Toadsworth was just as surprised, asking, "What?! Princess, why didn't you tell us about this?!"
"You think I didn't try to?! I was checking to see if either you or Mario had noticed it, but it was obvious that you didn't. Mario's mind was fixated on the seafood the video showed, and, judging by your reaction when I tried to ask if you had seen it, you made it clear to me that you hadn't noticed it, either, Toadsworth." Peach explained.
"Mama-mia..." Mario thought, blushing.
"Oopsie..." Toadsworth said, his face turning the same color of Mario's cap.
"Let's see if the Princess speaks the truth about this. Bring up the promotional video for our island!" the judge ordered.
The Pianta prosecutor pulled out a remote control and pushed a button, which caused a giant video screen to come down from the ceiling over Mario's head. Peach turned to look, and Mario glanced up at the screen.
"Princess, let us know when you see this figure." the judge said to Peach, who nodded in reply.
The screen lit up, and Isle Delfino's promotional video began to play. As soon as the voice started to speak, Peach spotted the culprit in the video. Upon seeing him appear, Peach shouted, "PAUSE THE VIDEO!"
Everyone in the courtroom jumped at her shout, even Mario! Toadsworth was so shocked by her yell that he fell out of his chair and onto the floor! The Toads immediately jumped down from their chairs and rushed over to help him up and make sure that he was okay. He wasn't hurt, though; just surprised that Peach had yelled like she did. He never heard her yell like that before!
The prosecutor was visibly startled, but he did as Peach ordered and quickly paused the video, and the very surprised judge, handing Peach a pointer, asked, "Did you see the perpetrator, Princess?"
"I did. I need you to zoom in right around here." Peach said, using the pointer to show where on the screen they needed to zoom in.
The Pianta prosecutor shrugged, but he hit the 'zoom' button on the remote, and sure enough, everybody clearly saw the shadowy figure of Mario! His presence was something they had missed completely when they made the video!
"You see him?! He's right there!" the Princess exclaimed, pointing at the image of the true culprit, the guy they were after.
"Hey, that's him!" said someone down in front.
"Yeah, that's the guy!" said another person from the back.
"He was there when we made that video?" somebody else asked.
"Mario was with me when we watched that video! He never committed the crime!" Peach said. Then she said, "And now that I get a better look at the guy, if that was the Mario I know, he would've appeared in color! That one is cloaked in shadow!"
The Piantas all realized that Peach was right about this guy! If the real Mario had been in the background, then he would've been in color, like the Piantas had been.
"When we got off of the plane, I also caught a glimpse of that character out on the airstrip, while Mario and Toadsworth were talking. But they didn't see him. I tried to tell them about him, but when I looked back, he was gone, as if he had been some sort of mirage or a crazy hallucination." Peach added.
"Now that I think about it, Princess, the perpetrator also carried a giant paintbrush, and that is how he made this mess." the prosecutor said to Peach.
"Huh?" Peach turned her gaze back at the screen, and sure enough, that character was indeed carrying a giant paintbrush, like the prosecutor said.
"Okay, that right there is a dead give-away that Mario is innocent! He never used a paintbrush that size before!" Peach said.
"She's right, you know! Whenever I paint, it's-a with normal brushes, to paint pictures, or rooms, and even houses. I'd never dream of using a brush, including one that big, to vandalize an entire island! However, it has been un tempo molto lungo, a very long time, since I've done painting of any kind." Mario said, referring to "Mario Paint".
"If you don't believe me about Mario using a giant paintbrush, then maybe you should search his luggage and see for yourselves. You're not going to find a giant paintbrush in there." said Peach.
"Andare avanti. Go ahead. And mind you, I didn't pack any paint supplies, either. I think I am much better at plumbing and helping Princess Peach than I am at painting." Mario told the prosecutor.
So the cops took Mario's luggage to the police station, and they searched through it very carefully. Did they find a giant paintbrush among his things? Of course they didn't! He never brought one because he didn't commit the crime!
But then they had a sudden thought: what if the Princess or one of their friends was holding onto it for him? The cops immediately called up the courthouse, asked for permission to speak to Peach, and told her what they wanted to do.
"You can search all our luggage if you must, but I'm telling you right now that even if you do, you still won't find a giant paintbrush. Mario has nothing to do with the mess, and neither do we." Peach said in a firm voice.
So they searched Peach's luggage, as well as the things the Toads packed. They found no giant paintbrush in anyone's luggage.
Meanwhile, back at the courthouse, the Toads were all very worried for Mario, hoping that the judge wouldn't decide that he was still guilty for no good reason. Mario was afraid that they might still claim him guilty in spite of everything he and Peach had said. The Princess strolled over to the witness stand, where Mario was sitting, reached out, and gently stroked Mario's cheek with her finger.
"I've done all I can to help prove your innocence, Mario. I just hope it was enough to save you from a fate you don't deserve." Peach said, speaking to the plumber in a soft voice.
"Me too, Peach. Me too..." Mario mumbled, his voice barely above a whisper as he gently grasped Peach's delicate hand and held it to his cheek. Her hand was so soft.
An hour later, the cops returned to the courthouse.
"Well, officers? What's the verdict?" the judge asked the police.
Everyone went quiet, listening closely to what the police had to say. Mario was so scared that he let go of Peach's hand and quickly folded his hands in prayer. He wanted so badly to be judged innocent that he felt the need to pray.
"Her Highness was right. Mario was not holding that paintbrush, and she and her friends don't have it, either. Her story checks out." said the Chief.
"And she's right about Mario in the video, too. The Chief and I tried out the same thing she pointed out about the guy in the video, and sure enough, from a distance, the one on camera was in color!" the rookie stated.
"Add to this the fact that the Mario I know is a hero! He has saved me and my kingdom countless times in the past! He would never cause trouble in another place; especially one he has never been to before!" Peach finished.
"Okay, I judge the defendant not guilty, just framed!" the judge said. Then he banged his gavel and finished, "Court adjourned."
The Toads all burst into cheers and applause, jumping up and down and hugging one another out of happiness. Toadsworth looked at Mario and the Princess with a proud smile on his face as Mario was finally allowed out of the witness stand. The red-clad plumber was so happy about the verdict that he jumped up and gave Peach a quick peck on her cheek.
"Grazie mille, mia meravigliosa principessa! Thank you so much, my wonderful princess!" Mario joyfully exclaimed as he hugged the Princess.
"You're welcome, Mario, my equally wonderful hero." Peach said, blushing at Mario's kind words before leaning down, returning his hug, and giving him a kiss on the cheek, which got him blushing like a madman.
The real criminal was soon caught by the police and dealt with by the judge shortly thereafter. He was given the punishment that was about to be given to Mario, only it was far worse than he imagined. He was put to work right away, and was forced to clean up the island with only his toothbrush. Plus, he was told that he couldn't rush the job, despite the fact they wanted their island back to normal, and fast!
As for Mario and Peach, they and the Toads were allowed to enjoy themselves on the island without worrying about Mario being blamed for causing trouble, because Peach was able to set the record straight! She truly was Mario's saving grace.
The End
Well, looks like Mario got off easy this time around. He didn't even have to spend a single night in jail! And it's all thanks to Princess Peach, his saving grace! I hope you all liked this story!
