It was a sunny quiet afternoon in Applejack. Max was enjoying the day and greeting his neighbors on that fine Halloween day. Oh, it was moments like this that made him always long to live in videogame worlds like the Mushroom Kingdom. Then, he felt a tap on his shoulder. Max turned around, and nearly jumped out of his skin: Standing right there was a Zebesian space pirate!

The pirate stood there for a few moments staring at him, and then it finally spoke. "Are you gonna get dressed or what?" It had Samus's voice.

Max, embarrassed, went inside to change. Samus followed behind and called out to him from outside his room. "We have to go in five minutes! Look I know you like it here but come on, man!"

Max stepped out, wearing a big thick moustache, red shirt, overalls, and carrying a red cap in his hand. "Wait... are you going too?"

Samus smiled and shrugged. "I am if you are. Just don't leave me hanging, okay? Mario scares me sometimes..."

Max could agree. Mario certainly meant well, but his view on things (and his advice) wasn't always... well... useful. "Oh, by the way... I think Doug will be there too..."

Samus stopped dead in her tracks. "...Douglas?"

Max could tell she wasn't happy. "Yep. So, is he like a rival of yours?"

Samus shook her head. "No, Captain Falcon is just a delusional hunter who thinks we were meant for each other... I'd get a restraining order on him, but I'm not exactly… well… let's just say I'd rather stay on Gaia for right now…" She said, nervously, as they loaded onto Hunter-II. "Well, ready to go back to North Palace?"

It was only a few years ago that Samus, infected by a viral lifeform known as X during a tour of the metroid homeworld SR-388, was given a life-saving metroid vaccine, which forever altered her genetic and cellular makeup. In addition to a temporary change in her suit's appearance, Her original Hunter-II craft was destroyed and had to be replaced. She did not speak of what happened to the purple, insect-like Hunter III, or how her old Hunter-II craft had been mysteriously repaired. All she would say was what happened to her suit. Apparently, near the end of her mission, her original appearance had been completely restored after she absorbed one of the dreaded SA-X, special X organisms that would mimick her and her varia suit. This was of course contrary to what Max remembered from Metroid Fusion, but shrugged it off. It actually sounded even cooler than the game!

Hunter-II hurtled through the sky for about an hour until it finally began a landing cycle for North Palace's airstrip. "...hope I can find a place to park..."

Max looked out the window and saw many familiar vehicles. The Falcon Flyer, Koopa's Klown Kar, and Auto's truck. Then, there was a pickup truck parked next to the Klown Kar. "Excitetruck?"

Thankfully, Samus managed to find a parking spot, though it was much further away than she would have liked. "No matter," Samus said. "I think this Halloween party'll be good for both of us. You'll get to meet a lot of interesting people, including the old brotherhood."

Max turned to ask. "What's that?"

Samus smiled, as if reminiscing. "Ah, the old brotherhood... before Kevin showed up, a brotherhood banded together to help protect this world, consisting of a vampire killer, an angel, and a robot. After Kevin joined that team, I kinda sorta fell in as an unofficial member..."

Max nodded, figuring the first member might be part of the Belmont clan, but had no idea who the other two might be. At the current rate, he couldn't even recognize anyone entering the castle because they were all in costume. So, he just went with the flow and kept walking, along with the space pirate next to him. A creepy but definetely Link-looking butler greeted them at the door.

It took Max a while to notice that Samus was holding onto his right arm. "she's shy", he figured, and they went to look for a table. Then Samus saw someone she knew, dressed as He-man. "Oh! Max! Go introduce yourself to He-man over there and get him to come sit with us!"

Max pointed to the man. "Him?"

Samus was smiling giddily. "Yes! yes!"

The Mustacheod Max walked up to the barbarian and introduced himself as Max. When the man heard this, he smiled enthusiastically and shook his hand.

"Ah, mine friend! How good it is to finally meet you!" he said in a thick East European accent. "Does you like mine costume? I would have tried a Ninja turtle but..."

Max blinked his eyes. "Wait a minute, you're Simon Belmont!"

Simon laughed heartily and bowed. "Yes, I am. And I see you haven't come alone?"

Max pulled Simon over to the table with Samus, who was still jittery with excitement. Samus took off her pirate headpiece. "Hey, Simon. Remember me?"

Simon had to think a little bit, and even put on his reading glasses for just a second, but soon figured it out. "Ah! Lady Samus! I see you've finally found a boyfriend that doesn't stalk you... are you supposed to be the queen from Alien?"

Samus shook her head. "No, random pirate. I like your costume, by the way. It's way more 80's than Mario here."

Meanwhile, Bowser was at the ballroom bar and ordering his first drink. "Uh-oh, when Bowser gets drunk, he gets mean... Simon, Max, why don't you go look for Pit, and Megaman?"

Max thought for a moment while walking. "Hmm, Megaman's here..."

Mario, Luigi, and Peach were a little late to the party. "Confound it, Mario! Once again, we arrive late to da party and dere's NO PARKING SPOTS. Perhaps I should be left in charge of dese things…"

Mario snapped at Luigi. "Hey, shut up! How was I supposed ta know to take da left warp pipe at Albuquerque Land?" Besides, we didn't even bring a car."

Luigi got annoyed. "NO! You always do dis! I always say, "Mario I know how to get dere. Allow me ta accompany ya" and you're always like "nuuuhh I don't need any help!""

Peach quietly tried to interrupt. "Mario... Luigi..."

"Well maybe if I didn't have ta constantly look afta my little brother and he could take care a himself..."

"I CAN take care a myself!"

"Mario... Lui-"

"Just let me do things by myself!"

"!"

Everyone looked up and at Princess Peach. "Mario, you made us late. Luigi, if it bothers you that much, go on an adventure of your own, or heck just do something at the castle with me if you're bored. Got it?"

The frightened plumbers quietly put their hands to their sides and continued walking forward. "Yes, your highness..."

Peach suddenly returned to her sunny chipper attitude when she saw Max. "Oh look there's you, Mario!"

Peach, bizarrely enough was wearing a Zero Suit costume, while Mario and Luigi were dressed as Laurel and Hardy. "Heh, I dress as Samus, and you dress as Mario. Small world, eh? so what's this thing with you guys?"

Simon blinked. "Can you not tell? That's Samus!"

Peach gasped. "Oh! Samus I'm so sorry, I didn't recognize you under the... ...well anyways, like my costume?"

Samus put her hand to her chin in deep thought. "Weeeeell, the cups are a little flat, but-hey I'm just kidding!" And she gave Peach a big hug.

"Wow", said Mario. "That's kinda hot..."

"Yeah," said Max. "At least she's socializing with people she knows. And Captain Falcon is nowhere to be-WHAP!"

Before Max could finish his sentence, something clobbered him hard on the skull and knocked him out. When he woke up, Megaman and Pit were on the dance floor, doing some sort of techno.

"Max, Max, you alright? Guess Bowser and the hammer bros. got a little too tipsy..."

Max shook his head and looked around. Peach had left a few hours ago, and Bowser was surprisingly sober. "Mama Mia... Someone's taken Peach!"

Simon shook his head. "No, Peach went..."

Max jumped to his feet. "We gotta save da princess! AND YOU GOTTA HELP ME, Luigi! Come on!"

Luigi blinked. "I'm… are ya asking for a companion on ya adventure?"

Mario watched this spectacle. "Oh, crap… kid thinks he's me. Come on, Luigi, we betta tell da princess what happened..."

Luigi ignored him and took Max's hand. "You go on ahead... I'm going to have an adventure with "Super Mario!""

Mario shook his head. "But Luigi, what about... ...ahhh alright fine! Go on a pointless adventure to Bowser's castle, see what I care..." and with that, Max and Luigi ran off to the warp pipe. As soon as they were gone, Mario stared sternly at Bowser. "Alright Bowser, you started this, now ya gotta help us finish it!"

"You gotta be kidding...", said Bowser, who really didn't want to be bossed around. Thankfully, Mario knew how to speak his language.

"How long has it been since ya done somethin REAL sinister? Or heck, just had me come up to da castle and save Peach? I get bored too dese days... don't tell me ya don't wanna play along with all dis head trauma!"

Bowser thought about Mario's proposition. "Alright, I'll do it! What do you need from me?"

"We're gonna let dis play out until Max and Luigi reach your castle. Then we can hold Max dere until he comes back to his senses..."

Bowser looked at Mario with little faith. "This won't work without Peach in a cage or something."

Mario smiled. "Not a problem. If I explain da situation to her, I'm sure she'll play along too. Remember, we don't want him freaking out or nothin. We'll just let him think he's me for a little while until he reaches ya castle."

Bowser nodded. "Sounds good to me. I'll go get ready now..." he hopped into his clown car with the hammer brothers, flying to a pipe in the clouds.

Mario sighed. "Max, Luigi... I hope you can take good care of each other..."