Mario was sitting down on a couch with Aster, bored out of his mind. He groaned as he scrolled through the story's chapters and his annoyance just grew more and more as he stared at the last upload date: March 18, 2023
"Is he ever going to upload another chapter? At this rate, the story will never be finished."
"Honestly, I don't even care anymore," said an unbothered Aster who didn't even look up from his book. "He abandoned this story just as I was about to have my big solo moment. How did you think I felt in the moment? The guy clearly just went and gave up."
"It's weird…" said Mario. "He's clearly still active over on Twitter, and he still posts here once in a while, but not on this story. What's the issue?"
"You mean X?" corrected Aster.
"Twitter, X, whatever it's called!"
Suddenly, a peculiar looking Toad popped into the scene. He had a blue mushroom cap with a white spot having the letters SMBU written on the front white spot, along with a peach skin tone, a red shirt with overalls like Mario, and a pencil in his right hand.
"I'VE COME TO MAKE AN ANNOUNCEMENT! SHADOW THE HEDGEHOG IS A-! W-Wait a minute…" the strange Toad interrupted himself and then chuckled. "Sorry. I'm thinking of the wrong script."
"Who are you?" asked Aster.
"Oh me? Well, Aster…" he put on a mask with a voice modulator. "I am your father."
"Wh-What?" Aster gawked at him for a good minute. "That's not true. Impossible."
"Search your feelings. You know it be true." He took off the mask. "Not your in-universe father, dummy! It's-a me, supermariobroultimate! Your creator! But you can just call me SMBU for short."
"Oh, well nice to meet you in person, I guess." He shook the Toad's hand then cleared his throat. "Now then, what have you been doing over the past year and half?! Or rather almost two years! You up and disappeared for a long time, only uploading once in a blue moon. And when you finally come back, rather than continuing this story, you go on to write some kiddy story starring OCs that aren't even yours."
"I got permission from their owner to use the-"
"That's not the point!"
SMBU sighed. "Okay, hear me out. My transition into adulthood hasn't been the easiest to the point where I had to put this fanfic biz to the side for my own sake. I just had a lot that needed to be taken care of."
Aster nodded. "I guess that's not mine nor anyone else's business to step on the toes of, but since you're back, will you finally continue the story."
"Quite the opposite, actually. I'm here to announce that this story is canceled."
That made his and Mario's eyes go wide. "WHAT?!"
"N-Not forever!" the author put his hands in front in a defensive position. "I mean, I'll eventually pick this back up for a reboot, but for now… Yeah, sorry."
Aster looked like he was holding in a huge scream about to be unleashed, and both the author and plumber braced themselves for impact. Just then, he took a deep breath and turned his back to them.
"I waited nearly two years just to end up hearing you say this. Thank you so much for wasting my time! If anyone needs me, I'll be… waiting for an eventual reboot." Aster vanishes.
"Wow, so… that's it? You're canceling this?"
"It was… a hard decision to make, but… I think it's for the best," admitted a solemn SMBU. "I can't help but go back to my old works and cringe whenever I see them. I made some weird and immature choices that I think will just hurt my creative process for newer stories moving forward. So I'm going all the way back to restart my Mario mythos from scratch."
Mario smiled. "If that's what you think is best, then I respect your decision. I'm just glad to have you back. And if you're cooking something new, I'm sure your readers will certainly have something to look forward to."
"Oh, they will for sure!" I wink at the camera.
Super Mario Bros.: Reimagined
Coming 2025