I can't seem to find any more of my older Mario fics, so starting with this chapter, I'll write a few new chapters and see if this story is worth continuing.
I wrote this specific chapter back in February, in preparation for this moment.
Mario and Toad were taking a stroll through Toadstool Greens, Toad Town's largest and most popular park. "Hey, Mario, ever bothered to, you know, stop and and smell the Fire Flowers?" Toad asked as they slowly passed a group of playing children.
Mario raised a thick eyebrow. "What do you mean by that?"
"What I mean, Mario, is that you're always off on adventures, saving the princess, or the world, or sometimes even the universe! Have you ever slowed down and just… enjoyed life?"
Mario rubbed his mustache, now in deep thought. "You know, now that you mention it, I should get around to enjoying the finer things in life-"
Mario was suddenly pelted in the face with a large rubber ball, causing him to shrink to a smaller, more vulnerable size.
"Sorry!" A nearby Toad child called out. "… Could I have my ball back?"
"Great, now I have to down another Super Mushroom," Mario muttered as Toad threw the ball back. The red-clad plumber searched his pockets for a mushroom, but came up empty. "What the- I don't have any powerups on me! If I get hit like that again, I'll die!"
"Hey Mario, I just realized… Most of your powerups are mushrooms, and I'm a mushroom, too!" Toad said out of nowhere. "You think us Toads are some kind of powerup, too?"
A malevolent grin spread across Mario's mustachioed face. "Let's find out," he replied darkly as he crept toward Toad.
"M-Mario, what are you doing?" Toad asked, backing away.
"Don't worry, Toad, this won't hurt a bit," Mario creepily 'reassured'. "For me, at least."
Mario lunged at Toad, knocking them both to the ground. Toad began to scream and cry for help, but his pleas were quickly silenced when Mario bit his head off. Once Mario took a few moments to down the giant "mushroom", he uneasily got back to his feet, unsure of the effects of what he just ate. "Weird, I don't feel any different - HELLO!"
Mario was less than pleased to discover that he was now a Toad.
"I guess this is my life now," the new Toad muttered before before lumbering off to go annoy some humans.