(A/N: Okay, this time, the story you know and remember will be different. Chapter 4 from the original story will be part of the companion fic After The Rescue. And the story featuring deleted scenes from this fic will now be added as bonus chapters that you will see after the epilogue! Now let's get this show on the road!)
Mario and Cappy were on their not-so-merry way back to the Odyssey after finishing up in the Wooded Kingdom, and Mario was feeling very frustrated, to say the least. Not only did the Koopa King have plans to marry Princess Peach, Mario had totally failed to rescue the princess from the get-go when Bowser captured her this time around!
Even though Mario and Cappy were hurrying as fast as they could, they were unsuccessful at stopping Bowser's wedding planners, the Broodals, from stealing wedding supplies known as the Binding Band, the Lochlady Dress, and the Soirée Bouquet for this stupid forced wedding Bowser was planning. Not only that, they weren't able to catch up to Bowser and Peach fast enough.
Worse still, Mario wasn't sure if Peach knew that he was still alive. The last time she saw him, Bowser had thrown his wedding hat at Mario, which missed him, but it knocked Mario's cap off his head. Then Bowser's hat turned around like a boomerang, and when it did that, it hit Mario with enough force to send the plumber flying clear out of the Mushroom Kingdom! Peach didn't know if he survived or not, and it really upset her.
"I know how you feel, Mario. I want to save Tiara as badly as you want to save Peach." Cappy said, feeling as frustrated as Mario was. It was bad enough that Bowser had pretty much destroyed the Cap Kingdom, but that fiend also kidnapped Cappy's little sister for Peach's wedding tiara! Cappy didn't know if his sister was okay or not! If Bowser hurt her, then Cappy wanted him to suffer just as bad, if not worse, than Tiara had.
"And I want Peach to know that I'm still alive and kicking! I don't want her to think that the big, dumb Koopa King has me licked! If she knows me as well as I know she does, then she knows for a fact that I won't let Bowser get away with this! She knows that I will never give up when I know that her life is in danger!" Mario said.
"Maybe Peach does know that you're still alive. Bowser did tell those rabbits to hinder you from catching up to him to stop the wedding on the off-chance the fall didn't kill you, didn't he?" Cappy asked.
"He did, according to the squat, green-clad one, but we don't know if they told Bowser that I'm not dead, and even if they did, we don't know if Peach overheard! And I'm sure that Peach didn't see or hear me at the top of the Inverted Pyramid in the Sand Kingdom. I could hear her calling for help, and I called back to her, but I don't know if she knew I was still alive before Bowser's airship flew away from there..." Mario sighed.
"I know. And if Peach didn't hear or notice you, then it's a good bet that Tiara didn't hear or notice, either." Cappy sighed.
"If only there was a way to trick Bowser into surrendering Peach to me." Mario said.
The two were silent for a moment, thinking about that. A minute later, Cappy had an idea.
"Hey, Mario, does Peach have a sister? If she does, perhaps she could fool Bowser into thinking she's Peach and spare her a lot of trouble." Cappy said.
"No, Peach was an only child. But she has told me often enough that she wished she had a sibling when she was growing up." Mario said.
"What about you? Do you have any siblings?" Cappy asked, veering away from the topic of Bowser.
"I have a twin brother named Luigi. But it's-a very easy to tell us apart. I'll show you." said Mario. He pulled his smartphone out of the pocket of his overalls and looked over the pictures on it. While he was looking for a picture of Luigi, Mario happened upon a picture of himself with Peach.
"Oh, mia dolce, adorabile principessa... My sweet, lovely princess..." Mario said to himself as he looked at the picture. Love hearts began to emanate from his body.
Cappy flew closer for a better look, and he got a good look at Peach.
"Um, Mario... that's not really your brother, is it?" Cappy asked, snapping Mario back to reality.
"What?! Oh no, I just found this picture of me with Peach. I want to save her so much... La amo; I love her..." Mario said.
"What did you say before 'I love her'?" Cappy asked.
"I said 'la amo', which means 'I love her' in Italian. My nationality is Italian, and sometimes, I say words in that language." Mario explained.
"Okay. As for your feelings for Peach, I really can't blame you, Mario. Now that I can see her better, I've got to tell you that she's quite a looker. If I was lucky enough to have a girlfriend as pretty as she is, I'd want to save her, too." Cappy said.
"Yup, she's a keeper." Mario said as he went back to looking over the pictures. About a minute later, Mario found the picture he was looking for.
"Check this out. This is a picture of me and Luigi." said Mario, and Cappy looked at the picture of Mario with Luigi. The picture showed Mario and Luigi hanging out in Toad Town. The two had an arm around each other. It was easy to see which brother was which.
"I see. Despite being twins, you and your brother do look different from each other. But you do show that you are twins by dressing similarly, and you both have mustaches." Cappy pointed out.
"And we both have blue eyes, and the same nose." Mario added.
"Right. Okay, so now let's get back to the problem at hand: how do we save Peach from Bowser's clutches?" Cappy asked, suddenly remembering what they were supposed to be thinking about.
"Well, believe it or not, Luigi actually tried tricking Bowser by dressing up as Peach twice before, and it worked well enough." Mario said as he put his smartphone away.
"Get out of here!" Cappy said, surprised.
"No, dico sul serio! I mean it!" Mario began.
"Luigi really pulled it off? How did he do it?" Cappy asked.
"He pulled it off really good, mainly because he's close to being Peach's height, and he can do a pretty good imitation of Peach's voice, despite the fact that he's a man with the Italian accent like I have, and his voice is thinner and deeper than mine. However, he ended up giving himself away both times." Mario began.
"He did? What did he do to give himself away?" Cappy asked.
"Well, okay, the first time it happened was because when Peach showed up to save me from the tower she had escaped from, Bowser's adopted children, the Koopalings, realized that there were two princesses in the room. Luigi, who had disguised himself as the princess to save me, revealed himself as the fake. I was in the room where it was happening, so I saw everything." Mario said.
(A/N: This happened in the "Super Mario Adventures" comic.)
"Sounds like an interesting idea, tricking Bowser by having Luigi dress up as Peach." Cappy said.
"And the second time he did this, we told the villains that the Princess Peach they had was un impostore, an impostor! We explained that we had expected something like that to happen, and so prepared an impostor. They fell for it and dropped Peach like yesterday's garbage. Luigi did end up getting captured, but the important thing was that Peach was safe." Mario finished.
"Do you think that maybe Bowser would be stupid enough to fall for your brother pretending to be Peach for a 3rd time?" Cappy asked.
"Cappy, while the idea of finding out is tempting, I really don't want to ask Luigi to throw away the little dignity he has for the 3rd time. Well, except the first time he dressed up as Peach; he did that of his own free will. Plus, he'd have to find a way to hide his nose and mustache from Bowser." Mario said.
"Oh, yeah, I almost forgot about his nose and mustache. Your princess has a tiny nose, and no facial hair." Cappy said.
"The first time he did it, he covered them with una maschera, a mask, which he removed when the Koopalings didn't know which princess was the real deal. The second time, he just covered his nose and mustache with his hands. But the bad guys got suspicious and tricked him into removing his hands. I wasn't with him when he gave himself away that time; he just told me about it." Mario said.
"Your brother could easily shave off the mustache, but that still leaves the problem of his nose." Cappy said.
"Nothing doing, Cappy. Luigi and I like having mustaches. Shaving them off is out of the question for both of us!" Mario told him.
"So, you might want to use a girl to trick Bowser this time, huh?" Cappy asked, understanding that Mario was not about to ask Luigi to pretend to be Peach once again and shave off his mustache in order to try and help him pull it off.
"It would be wise to use una donna, a woman, if we're going to try and trick him into giving up Peach this time. That's what Bowser seems to want more than anything, except maybe rule over the Mushroom Kingdom, which is the only reason why he's marrying Peach." Mario said.
"Do you know of a girl who might be able to pose as Peach and trick Bowser easily?" Cappy asked.
Mario was silent for a moment as he thought about Cappy's question. Then he said, "You know, the Toad Brigade discovered a new type of power-up a little while back."
"What kind of power-up?" Cappy asked.
"It was a crown, but the top of it resembled our friend Toadette's mushroom head, being pink with white spots. And Toadette, who was with the Toad Brigade, showed me that something surprising happened to her when she donned this crown." Mario said. He pulled out his smartphone again, and this time he showed Cappy a picture of Toadette, who was smiling and holding the crown in her little hands.
(A/N: I know that the Super Crown didn't come around until "New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe", but who's to say they didn't discover it before that game came out?)
"This is the 'before' picture." Mario explained.
"Toadette's pretty cute and cheery-looking, just like Tiara. I bet they would get to be very good friends if they ever met." Cappy said as he looked at the picture of Toadette.
"Forse lo farebbero. Maybe they would." Mario said.
"So, what surprising thing happened to Toadette when she donned this crown she's holding? I want to see." Cappy said, sounding interested.
"Toadette turned into a girl that looked a lot like Peach! She even sounded like her, too! However, there were a few differences in her appearance." Mario said.
"How was she different?" Cappy asked.
"Well, I can show you. You see how Toadette looks in this picture? Check out the 'after' picture, which shows what happened when she donned that crown!" Mario said as he brought up the picture and showed Cappy.
Mario was right. Despite looking a lot like what could easily be Peach's identical twin sister, Toadette did look different from the real deal. Her dress looked different, sporting a mushroom-like appearance, and she wore the Super Crown, pinkish-red earrings, her blonde hair was in pigtails, her dress also had a magenta ribbon with a yellow brooch, and she wore Toad-like shoes on her feet.
"Whoa! You're right, Mario! She does look like she could be Peach's identical twin sister, except for a few differences, just like you said." said Cappy, impressed with what he saw.
"You can't see it, but her eyes are gray, not blue like Peach's. She's also a little shorter than Peach is. Also, the crown made her voice sound exactly like Peach's sweet voice! Still, we were more than surprised with her Peach-esque appearance. We called her 'Peachette'." Mario explained.
"That's really cool! Did Peach ever see her like that?" Cappy asked, intrigued.
"Sì. It really surprised her to see Toadette looking like her twin sister and sounding just like her. In fact, Toadette wondered what might happen if Peach tried on that crown." Mario recalled.
"Did Peach try on the crown?" Cappy asked.
"Yes, she did." Mario replied.
"What happened?" asked Cappy.
"Nothing. The crown didn't have any effect on her like it did on Toadette." Mario said.
"Did you try it on?" Cappy asked, almost laughing at the thought of Mario wearing it and turning into some kind of Peach-looking character like Toadette did.
"No. I really didn't want to try on the crown. I didn't feel like it. And if Luigi had been present at the time, he wouldn't have wanted to try it on, either. Even when we showed it to him, he had no intention of wearing it." Mario said, which made Cappy remember what they were supposed to be doing. That gave the Bonneter an idea.
"Mario, do you think Bowser would be fooled if we sent Toadette to him while she's wearing that crown? We could tell him that she's the real Peach." Cappy suggested.
"We could try it, but there's a catch. It won't take long for Bowser to realize that he's been duped. He'd probably kill Toadette upon finding out who she really was. And if he did that, Toad would be upset for the rest of his life, because Toadette is his sister, and he loves her very much." Mario said.
(A/N: The guide for "Mario Kart Wii" stated that Toadette is Toad's sister. I'm going by that theory.)
Cappy could understand that. If anything as terrible as that ever happened to Tiara, he would never be happy again, and he'd never forgive himself, even if it wasn't his fault.
"There's got to be someone who would be willing to trick Bowser and pull it off easily." Cappy said.
Mario was silent again, due to being lost in thought, but then a light bulb appeared over his head.
"Of course!" he exclaimed.
"What is it?" Cappy asked.
"There is someone who can trick Bowser, and they would be more than willing to do it, too!" Mario said.
"Who?! Is it a she?" Cappy asked.
"Yes! And she is perfetta, perfect for this idea!" Mario replied.
"Perfect, huh? Now I'm curious! Tell me who she is!" Cappy pleaded.
"I'll do you one better and introduce you to her when we find her!" Mario promised.
When they reached the Odyssey, Mario immediately set a course not for the next kingdom on the map, but rather for the kingdom of Sarasaland.
"Sarasaland? That's a pretty far away kingdom, Mario." Cappy noted as he saw how far Sarasaland was from the Wooded Kingdom.
"But that's where this girl lives, Cappy. We have to go there in order to find her." Mario told him.
"Oh." Cappy replied.
An hour later, the Odyssey finally made it to Sarasaland, and they landed right outside of a big castle.
"Wow! Does the girl you're talking about live in a castle like Peach does?" Cappy asked.
"Sì, she does." said Mario.
Cappy turned into Mario's hat as Mario rang the bell. Seconds later, a young, fair-haired woman in a maid's uniform answered the door. Her hazel eyes widened in surprise when she saw who was at the door.
"Is she the girl Mario spoke of? If so, She's pretty cute." Cappy thought as he looked at the maid.
"Mario! What brings you to Sarasaland on this fine day?" the maid asked in a cheery voice, smiling brightly at the red-clad plumber before making a polite curtsy.
"Hello. I'm looking for Princess Daisy. Is she around? I need to speak to her about something very importante." Mario replied, returning the maid's smile, which made her blush.
"Oh, yes, she's here. In fact, I see her coming this way. I'll go tell her that you wish to speak to her." said the maid, and she ran off to tell Daisy about Mario.
A few seconds later, Princess Daisy was standing before Mario.
"Mario! It's so good to see you again!" Daisy exclaimed in happiness, giving Mario a big hug. She may be a tomboy, but she viewed Mario as a very good friend, and she liked him enough to hug him when she saw him.
"Allo stesso modo. Likewise, Daisy." Mario replied, returning the hug.
"If she's the girl that Mario has in mind, then I wonder just what he's planning to do with her. She doesn't really look much like Peach." Cappy thought.
"Where's Luigi? Didn't you bring him with you?" Daisy asked as she and Mario stepped apart.
"No, I'm afraid not." Mario replied.
"Aww, why didn't you bring my man with you?" the flower princess asked, sounding disappointed as she made a pouty face that, oddly enough, looked really cute on her.
"He's kind of busy right now, and so am I. But even though I'm busy, I came here because I needed to ask for your help with something." Mario told her.
"What do you need? I'll help you if I can." Daisy asked, her pouty face gone.
"Oh, I know you can help, Daisy. I'll tell you what the problem is if you can come with me." Mario said, holding out his hand for Daisy's.
"First, I have to tell my parents that I'm going with you. I'll be right back!" Daisy said, and she ran off into the castle.
Mario dropped his hand, and he and Cappy waited for a minute or two before Daisy returned. She said, "Okay, Mario, it's all good. Mom and Dad know that I'm going with you, and they're okay with it."
"Then let's-a go, Daisy!" Mario said, extending his hand again. Daisy closed the castle doors behind her and took his hand. Then Mario led her to where the Odyssey was parked.
"Oh, wow! What is this thing?!" Daisy asked, intrigued as she looked at the airship before her. She had never seen a big airship like the Odyssey in all her life.
"Princess Daisy, I'd like to welcome you aboard my new airship: the Odyssey!" Mario said to Daisy as they boarded the airship, and then Mario set a course for the Mushroom Kingdom.
"So, what's going on back at the Mushroom Kingdom? Can you tell me?" Daisy asked as she and Mario sat down in the chairs as they flew to the place Mario called his 'real' home. Although Mario and Luigi had grown up in Brooklyn, NY, they learned that they had been born in the Mushroom Kingdom.
"Not surprisingly, Bowser is causing trouble again." Mario said.
"I should have known that that Koopa creep would be causing trouble over there. Since when is he not up to something?" Daisy sighed.
"Oh, but this time, he's worse than ever before, Daisy." Mario began.
"What's that disgusting piece of filth doing this time? Nothing too bad, I hope." Daisy said.
Cappy snickered quietly when he heard Daisy refer to Bowser as 'a disgusting piece of filth'. If only Tiara had been there to hear it. She would've cracked up and agreed with Daisy about what he was.
"Daisy, I honestly wish I could say that his plan this time is not too bad, but I'm afraid I can't. This plan of his... it's-a something really bad. He's trying to... forcefully marry Peach." Mario explained, looking uncomfortable.
Daisy suddenly grabbed her stomach with one hand and looked a little green in the face when she heard that.
"Mario, there is a bathroom on this ship, isn't there?" Daisy asked, urgency in her voice.
"Sì. It's-a right over there." Mario said, pointing to the right.
"Then pardon me while I puke!" Daisy exclaimed, running to the bathroom and closing the door. After she slammed the door, Mario and Cappy heard the sound of Daisy throwing up. She sounded really sick in there.
(A/N: I know the real Odyssey doesn't have a bathroom, but in my story, anything goes.)
"She is okay, isn't she, Mario?" Cappy asked Mario.
"I'm not too sure about that, Cappy. I don't want to say that Daisy is airsick, because when I had her with me in this spaceship that I used to take her home after I rescued her, she wasn't sick. Plus, if she is prone to airsickness, she wouldn't have agreed to come along if she knew this was how we would travel. I think hearing Bowser's diabolical plan is what triggered her sickness." Mario said.
"I hope that's the case. And maybe you're right. She did look pretty sick when you told her what Bowser is trying to do to Peach." Cappy replied.
A few minutes later, they heard the sound of the toilet flushing, and then Daisy emerged from the bathroom, looking a little pale as she said, "Okay, I'm really sorry about that, Mario."
"Non è colpa vostra. It's-a not your fault, Daisy. I don't blame you for reacting the way you did to such news. I almost reacted that way when Bowser said what his plan was this time. Even Peach looked like she was going to be sick." Mario assured her, pulling a container of wintergreen Tic-Tacs out of his pocket and offering her one.
"I don't blame either of you for feeling that way, Mario. I just wasn't prepared for what you were going to say about Bowser and my cousin. Now please continue." Daisy told him as she sat back down and popped the Tic-Tac into her mouth, allowing it to freshen her breath.
(A/N: Peach and Daisy being cousins also comes from the "Mario Kart Wii" guide. I'm also going by that theory.)
Before Mario could speak up again, a voice Daisy never heard before spoke up, saying, "Bowser also destroyed Mario's cap in the propellers of his stupid little airship!"
"What the-?! Who said that?" Daisy asked, looking around, wondering where the new voice had come from.
"Oh, that was Cappy." Mario replied.
"Cappy? Who or what is a Cappy?" Daisy asked.
"Cappy is the name of my new hat." Mario said, pointing to his hat, which suddenly sprouted a pair of eyes.
"WHOA!" Daisy exclaimed. She had never expected to see somebody's hat do a trick like that.
"Cappy, why don't you turn back into your Bonneter self for now so Daisy can see what you really look like?" Mario asked.
"Fair enough." said Cappy, and he disappeared from Mario's head as he assumed his Bonneter form, which made him look like a hat-ghost.
Daisy was even more surprised to see what Cappy really looked like. It was easy to tell that she had never seen anything like him before.
"Daisy, I'd like you to meet my new friend, Cappy. He's a Bonneter from the Cap Kingdom. Cappy, this is Daisy, the princess of Sarasaland, and Peach's cousin." Mario explained, introducing the princess and Bonneter to one another.
"Good thing Luigi's not here to see you, Cappy. He'd probably freak out, think you're some kind of ghost, and try to suck you up into his Poltergust 3000." Daisy said as she looked at Cappy.
"No, Daisy, Luigi wouldn't be that scared. His pet happens to be a ghost puppy that he's not scared of, remember?" Mario reminded her.
"Oh, you're right. I can't forget about Doggy..." Daisy mumbled, feeling a little sheepish as she remembered Luigi's sweet, lovable Polterpup. Even though he was a ghost, he was a very cute dog who was very loyal to Luigi.
"Hey, I'm just a Bonneter. I can't help it if my people look like this." Cappy said.
"I know, Cappy, and that's perfectly understandable, but I was just saying what might happen. But then again, maybe it won't happen. Luigi may not be as brave as Mario is, but he can muster up the courage if and when he needs to. And he has a ghost dog that isn't at all scary." Daisy said.
"Okay." Cappy said.
"Now tell me: how did you and Mario meet each other, and why are you working together?" Daisy asked.
"While battling Bowser to save Peach from a fate she doesn't deserve, the big dummy knocked me off of his dumb old airship with his stupid two-bit wedding hat so that I would fail. I was knocked unconscious and later woke up in the Cap Kingdom, where I met Cappy." Mario started.
"It turned out we're both chasing after the same monster because that fiend destroyed my homeland and kidnapped my little sister! As for me being Mario's cap, I caught a shred of his own cap from the propellers of Bowser's airship, and then when we agreed to work together, I used that shred to turn into a cap similar to the one Mario wore." Cappy continued.
"Bowser went after your sister and wrecked your homeland? Gee, and here I thought Bowser was only after my poor cousin so he can turn her kingdom into a burning wasteland." Daisy sighed.
"That fiend is using my sister, Tiara, as a wedding tiara for Peach." Cappy explained.
"Then it's even more important that we rescue Peach." Daisy said.
"Esattamente. Exactly." Mario agreed, nodding his head.
"So, tell me, Mario, what do you and Cappy want me to do to help out? Do you want me to sucker-punch Bowser into a galaxy far, far away?" Daisy asked.
"What?! Can you really do that?" Cappy asked. He didn't really think any girl, let alone a princess, was strong enough to do something like that to someone as big and terrible as Bowser.
"I'll tell you that I've seen Daisy slug Bowser before, and she sent him flying far, far away, but I don't know if it was into another galaxy." Mario explained to his Bonneter friend.
"If Daisy really can do it, then I'll tell you right now that I'd pay big regional coins to see her do that to Bowser! And I know Tiara would feel the same way if she knew!" Cappy exclaimed, figuring that if Mario said he saw her do it, then it must be true.
"If that's the plan, I'll be more than glad to do it. I want Bowser to pay for this as much as you do." Daisy smiled at Cappy.
"Maybe you can. But the main plan, Daisy, is to trick Bowser into thinking that you're Peach." Mario said.
"Okay. Hey, maybe I could sucker-punch him after we put the plan into play." Daisy suggested.
"We'll see. But first, we have to stop at Peach's Castle." Mario told her.
"I might have guessed. If you want to trick Bowser into thinking that I'm Peach, then we'll have to go there in order to make me look more like Peach." Daisy replied.
And what do you think they're going to do with Daisy? I'm not telling you anything... except to stay tuned if you wish to find out more!