My eyelids fluttered open in the darkness. All I could register was being overwhelmingly hot. I could hear someone calling out to me. Cappy. He was shaking me.

I sat up grabbing the bump on my head. The low-health warning beep filled my ears before Cappy gasped.

"Mario! You're okay!"

I coughed, spilling lake water from my throat. It hurt to breathe, but I tried to anyway, taking shallow gulps of air into my sore lungs.

Cappy helped me stand, grabbing my arm to hoist me onto my feet. I ran a hand over my forehead, which was beginning to burn. I realized why a second later; I was back in the village by the castle, next to the small bonfire. Cappy must have been trying to warm me up after I fell in the freezing water.

Cappy looked down at the ground, shivering and shaking.

"I was afraid you wouldn't wake up…"

I tried to reach out to him, when all of a sudden, he burst into tears.

"MARIOOOOO! I'M SOOORRYYYYYYY!"

I nearly fell backwards in shock.

Cappy squeezed his eyes shut as he wailed, "I JUST COULDN'T GET TO YOU! I WAS SO SCARED, IT'S ALL MY FAULT! I JUST WANT MY SISTER BAAAACK!"

I quickly shook myself out of my stupor so I could scoop up the sobbing hat in my arms, giving him a tight hug. I was here. We were okay, and alive. Cappy would see his sister soon, and I would see Peach. We would be fine, we would be okay.

"N-No!" Cappy jumped back to look into my eyes, "You d-don't understand! I-I had to…" he hid his face in my shoulder, "I had to capture you! I wasn't strong enough to carry you, so I possessed you! I'm so sorry! I'm sorry, Mario!"

I blinked. He took me over? I guess he was the one who gave me that power in the first place, so it made sense he could capture me, too. He was controlling me to get me here?

"Mario…" Cappy had calmed himself somewhat, but he still shook like a leaf, "You're the best friend I've ever had, and I thought I was going to lose you...I'm so sorry I had to capture you…"

I carefully sat down, still cradling Cappy in my arms. He saved my life. I didn't mind that he had to capture me, because at least I was still here. He did what he had to, and I'm grateful for that.

Cappy sniffed, looking at me again with wide, watery eyes, "So...you forgive me?"

No, because he did nothing wrong. Thank you for saving my life, you silly hat! I ran my fist into the top of his head.

"Ahahaha! Hey! Cut it out!" he escaped my grasp, that nice smile taking over his features as he chuckled, "I'm not a child, you know!"

I playfully rolled my eyes as I stood up again, brushing the dust off my overalls and red shirt.

"I saw that!" Cappy tried to look cross, but I could tell he was still smiling, "Don't give me attitude, mister! I could capture you again, you know!"

I waved my hands in surrender.

"Yep, that's what I thought!" Cappy exhaled, "Hey, for real, though. Thanks for cheering me up."

It was no trouble. Cappy reverted back to my red cap so he could relax on my head again. His constant weight had grown to be a comfort to me, something I took for granted when I had a normal non-sentient hat. He wasn't just an article of clothing; He was a friend you wear on your head.

"Come on! Let's go and get those two! I know we can do it this time!"

I pulled him down on my forehead, running towards the ladder that would take us up. The chill was welcome for a while, seeing as being so near the fire was too extreme.

Getting back to the castle was easy enough, but the holographic door wouldn't open. It had locked up again.

"The key!" Cappy jumped up to search the ground, "Where's the key!?"

I found it, well, a piece of it anyway. The key had been split into several shards.

"Oh no!" Cappy tried to put the pieces back together, but they wouldn't stick, "What do we do now!?"

"Mario!"

I turned to the voice, dropping the key shards.

It was Luigi! He was on one of Bowser's massive airships, Lucy on his head, with Bowser, the Koopa Kids, and even the Broodals! Luigi jumped down so he was standing on the ground.

"We're here to help, bro!" Luigi pumped his fist in the air, "It wasn't easy, but I managed to convince Bowser that we needed to save Peach!"

I ran to my brother and gave him a crushing hug, "Thank you!"

"Oh!" he was surprised at first, but quickly returned my embrace, "No problem, bro!"

I gave him a beaming smile as I stepped back, jumping up onto Bowser's airship.

"You were right, Mario. Cappy." Bowser grimaced, crossing his arms, "As much as I hate to admit it, Peach will never come back if I don't at least try."

"I knew it!" Cappy jumped up, once again a white top hat, "I knew you had it in you!"

"Yeah yeah, save it for the rescue, kiddo."

"I'M NOT A KID!"

"Guys! Focus!" Luigi joined us onboard, pointing into what was left of the castle, "Now that the walls are broken down, we can simply attack that way! No key required!"

"Nice!" Cappy fell onto my head, "Let's go, Mario!"

I nodded.

Bowser gave a wave of his hand, and the airships rose, high enough to let us jump right into the castle. The monster was furious, but this time it was vastly outnumbered. I could hear Bowser Jr.'s distinct laugh as they all descended on her, but she barely seemed encumbered by it. I lept back from the action. Now that she was distracted, I could actually figure out a real strategy. I ran around her as she spun on the various enemies, trying to find her weak spot. Every enemy had one.

"Mario! Look!"

I followed Cappy's gaze. The monster had a glowing mark on the back of its head. That must be it! But it was so high up, and there were hardly any walls left high enough to jump all the way up there.

"Hey, I have a crazy idea!" Cappy shouted over all the noise, "It just might work! Remember how you climbed that one wall before!?"

I looked up at him in disbelief. He didn't mean…!?

"Trust me on this, okay!?" he braced himself, almost enough to cover my eyebrows, "Throw me!"

I grabbed his brim, planting my feet, then I threw.

I jumped up onto him, landing on the gnarly monster's knee. Before she could swipe me away, I threw Cappy again, batting her hand away, then I jumped again. I continued this, throwing Cappy, jumping up on him, then landing on the woman's hip, arm, shoulder, until I reach the weak point. I jumped, grabbing what little bits of scraggly hair on her head I could reach, then I jumped one last time, and did a ground-pound.

She screeched, reaching for me until one of her blows connected, sending me flying again. This time though, I was caught by Luigi, who grabbed my arm as I sailed past, and letting me land on the airship.

"Good job, Bro! Rest for a minute, okay? We got this for now!"

I leaned against him gratefully, watching the others take turns following my lead as they bashed the mark on her head. I noticed something odd though as I caught my breath; Every time the mark was struck, a sparkle flew out of it.

"Power moons!" Cappy said, "That thing is full of power moons!"

Wow. No wonder it was so strong and fast...and why the settlement below had so many of them drained.

"We'll need to get them, then." Lucy slid off Luigi's head, reverting back to her derby hat form, "She could just grab them again if we don't!"

"Lucy, stay with my brother." Luigi jumped off the ship to begin collecting them.

"Are you okay?" Lucy carefully let me sit down, "You took quite a hit there."

I gave a short nod, wiping the sweat from my brow as I waited for my heart rate to slow down. It didn't take too much longer for me to catch my breath. I told Lucy to rejoin Luigi, then I slipped back into the battle. The woman had begun to shrink with the loss in power moons, and it was making her very upset. I would have to tread carefully to avoid detection, or I might receive another concussion.

"What should we do now?" Cappy asked, "If we do the same thing too many times, she'll catch on."

I had an idea, but I would have to be careful. The thing was getting desperate, and so its thrashing increased as more of its moons were lost. I would need to execute this so that every blow would release more than one moon at a time, leaving a larger margin of error.

"Okay, I know what to do." Cappy said, "Let's go!"

Since the thing was shorter now, it was easier to perform the necessary jumps to get to her head. Once there, I did a ground-pound like before, but then before it could throw me off, I threw Cappy into the wound before it stopped shining. He stuck, and began to pull moons out by the handful. He managed to grab about 12 before he was thrown off.

"AAAAAHHH!"

I caught him, and he lay back in my hands, panting, "Jeez, that was scary! It's working though! Just...just let me rest for a second…"

I put him on my head, his favorite place to be, while I looked at everyone else. Instead of simply striking the mark, now they were grabbing it and tugging on it, pulling dozens of moons out at a time.

Suddenly, everything was thrown back.

The sky darkened, the walls continued to crumble, but everyone else was gone, and the thing charged towards me with a new vengeance. I jumped out of the way, just catching the new Luigi statue among the statues of Bowser, the Broodals, the kids…

Luigi.

I rolled, stopping on my knee to glare at the monster.

"Mario, what's wrong?"

My brother. My only twin brother.

I stood up and sprinted towards it, performing the jumping trick again and again to climb it, digging my fists into the shining mark in her head so I could drag power moons out myself. I was thrown off fairly often until the gnarled woman was small enough that I could stay on better by wrapping my legs around her neck and holding fistfuls of her hair with my free hand.

Finally, after hundreds of rounds of this, when every muscle in my body cried for rest and the edges of my vision were blurred and full of static, the thing was the size of a normal woman, even shorter than Peach, and it fell, throwing me off one last time before it disappeared. The room was full of power moons, but I didn't see half of them as I lay there, on the verge of unconsciousness, until the world stopped spinning and I could see through the blackness and hear through the pounding of my own heart.

By the time I was fully aware again, the sun had come up over the horizon, casting a hazy glow through the clouds. I felt something on my arm, slowly rising up and down. I turned to my left, and there was Cappy, nestled in the crook of my elbow, softly snoring as he dozed.

I lay my head back, taking a second to breathe. After the chaos of the battle, it was so peaceful and quiet. I was in the grass, outside where the castle used to be, and I could hear birds singing, and wind blowing through the trees.

"He's awake!"

I jumped up, waking Cappy. I knew that voice.

I turned around, looking for the owner of the voice.

"Thanks for that…" Cappy rubbed his head in annoyance. I gave a distracted apology as Princess Peach ran to me, her heels rustling through the grass as she held up her skirt so as not to trip.

"Mario!" Peach stooped to kiss my cheek, which made me a little dizzy, "Thank you for saving me!" she stepped back, blushing slightly, "Um, again."

I smiled.

"Mario!" Luigi barreled into me, "You did it! You saved all of us! I knew you could!"

I returned Luigi's hug. Of course I would save them. Why wouldn't I?

"Cappyyyy!"

Tiara sailed through the air to tackle Cappy, rubbing her cheek into his, "Rescue me faster next time! That was so scary!"

"T-Tiara…" Cappy began to cry, softer than last time, but still with big fat tears rolling down his cheeks. He nuzzled her affectionately, "Oh my goodness, Tiara! I was afraid I'd never see you again! I'm sorry! I'll get you out sooner next time, okay!?"

Peach knelt down so she could take my hands, her skirt billowing gracefully around her, "Well, our vacation isn't over yet. We can always get a new ship and keep exploring."

I gently gave both her hands a squeeze. How did this princess never fail to captivate me? My heartbeat slowed when I looked in her eyes, it made rescuing her worth it every time just so I could see her smile.

"Yo! That was super cool!"

Luigi took the newcomer's hand. It was Princess Daisy, Peach's cousin.

"I could've beat her though, probably…" Daisy puffed her cheeks in annoyance, "Anyway, are we leaving or what!?"

Luigi gave a nervous laugh, "Of course, let's go."

Cappy tilted his head to the side, like a confused puppy, "Where are you going?"

"What?" Luigi shrugged, "You thought you were the only ones on vacation?"

"I'll race ya!" Daisy hiked her skirts up and bolted.

"Wah!" Luigi ran after her, "That's not fair! You got a head start!"

"It's payback for throwing a beach ball at my head!"

"That was an accident!"

"Don't care!~"

Their voices faded into the distance as they ran away.

"Well then…" Cappy turned back to Peach, "What about Bowser?"

"Oh, he told me something about how he loved me and how he'd come back for me later." she rolled her eyes, "Because kidnapping me and holding me in his castle against my will is a great way to show that he loves me."

I chuckled. Yeah, Bowser needs to learn when to take a hint.

"Well, nevermind that." Peach stood, brushing off her skirt, "We might as well enjoy this time while we have it. You need to rest, though. You took a bad hit to your head…"

She ran her fingers through my hair, gently brushing over the bump on my head. It felt really nice.

"Come on, then." Peach stood beside me and placed a hand on my back, "Let's see about that airship, hm?"

THE END