Super Mareo Bros.
by Homage
Chapter 1: The Koopa Troop Attacks!
It was a cloudy summer day in the Mushroom Kingdom. The sun was at the top of the sky, obscured by a large cluster of cumulus. Mario and Luigi were on a job, and they were currently taking a breaking for lunch.
The two brothers sat on the edge of the blocked pipe. Mario pulled out two brown paper bags from his backpack and handed one to his brother.
Luigi opened his lunch and remarked, “I sure am hungry. I hope you made lotsa spaghetti!”
Mario turned his head. “No,” the older plumber replied. “Meatball subs.”
The two brothers sat on the edge of the green pipe, munching on their sandwiches. Luigi thought he felt the pipe start to vibrate.
“Hey, Mario,” started the green-capped plumber. “Do you feel...”
Luigi trailed off after noticing his brother staring in the distance with his mouth agape. Luigi turned in the direction of Mario's gaze. In the distance, he could see what looked like a sea of Koopa Troopas, Paratroopas, and Goombas. A few Magikoopas flew along on brooms.
Individually, none of these minions posed a threat to the two jumping experts. But several thousand...
Mario and Luigi both turned to each other, and simultaneously shouted, “RUN!!!”
The brothers sprinted as fast as they could down the dirt road. Yoshi was walking down the path. Mario, still running, screamed out to the green dinosaur, “YOSHI! RUN!!”
The dinosaur looked at Mario in disbelief. Luigi was usually the one who freaked out like that. Then, Yoshi felt the ground shaking. He knew that it would take a lot to scare Mario. The dinosaur didn't want to stick around to find out what it was. So he took off after the two plumbers, following them along the road.
The trio came to a fork in the path. A double arrowed sign indicated, “Left, Port o' Bellow. Right, Creepy Canyon.”
Port o' Bellow was a peaceful harbor town inhabited mostly by Toad sailors and a few friendly Goombas. Creepy Canyon, on the other hand, was a dry and desolate desert valley. Nothing lived there besides a few vultures and the occasional Pokey.
Not wanting to lead Bowser's army into an inhabited town, Luigi suggested that they head toward Creepy Canyon. Mario and Yoshi both nodded their heads in agreement, and the trio headed to the right.
The dirt path followed quite a distance. The trio noticed the grass and trees along the path became gradually more brown and dead as they approached the large walls of the gorge. Without hesitation, they dashed inside.
The path through the gorge was narrow, and was littered with bleached bones and shells of various creatures which had succumbed to the extreme heat and dryness. The path twisted and turned, but the plumbers and Yoshi pressed onward, hoping that the army couldn't follow the narrow corridors.
They came to a large clearing, filled with dead trees, bones, and small dust devils. The ground was mostly flat, but was divided by a series of crevices which stretched from rock face to rock face. The trio would have to jump the gaps. But then they noticed a more pressing issue.
The dead trees had several large, dark silhouettes among the barren branches. Upon sighting the three heroes, one of the shapes spread its wings and took off from its roost.
“Mario!! Look out!” warned Luigi, but it was too late. The dive-bombing vulture had plowed straight into the older brother, knocking him to the ground. He began to shrink to half his normal size. The vulture continued flying, and began to turn around for another strike, but suddenly a long, red tongue wrapped around it, pulling it to the ground. Yoshi retracted his tongue and swallowed.
“Good job, Yoshi!” said Luigi. But his congratulations were cut short when he noticed the many other vultures beginning to take off. He immediately threw the unconscious Mini-Mario on Yoshi's back, and took off running. Yoshi trailed right behind him.
Luigi leaped the first gap with ease. He was the best jumper in the Mushroom Kingdom, after all. Yoshi followed suit, fluttering in the air to extend the jump. The two green figures landed safely on the other side. A few vultures dived at them, but missed.
“Just keep running, Yoshi! We're almost there!” Luigi shouted as he cleared the next gap.
Yoshi and Luigi had successfully managed to get to the other side of the bone-filled clearing. Mario was still unconscious on Yoshi's back. By this time, the vultures had decided to leave them alone. The path was ahead, even narrower than the one before. But Yoshi's attention turned toward the bones scattered around them.
The bleached remains began to rattle. Yoshi began frantically stomping and trying to get Luigi's attention. But Luigi failed to notice.
Suddenly, the bones rose up and assembled into skeleton Koopas. The trio found themselves surrounded by at least ten Dry Bones.
Luigi let the animated skeletons close in a bit more, then leaped in the air, landing directly on the head of the one blocking the path. It collapsed into a pile. Yoshi wordlessly rushed to follow Luigi out of the broken circle of monsters, down the path. They could hear the crushed Dry Bones reassembling behind them.
Luigi and Yoshi were sprinting down the dusty road, finding themselves being pursued by an army yet again (albeit a smaller one). But they reached a dead end.
Luigi attempted to jump over the rock wall, but it was much too tall. They were trapped. And the crowd of Dry Bones was closing in.
With Mario still unconscious, Yoshi and Luigi began to panic. It looked like the three of them were toast!
Luigi just sat down and started screaming. Yoshi hopped up and down repeatedly, running around in circles. However, on one of these jumps, the green dinosaur hit his head on something. He fell on the ground rubbing his aching head, and looked up.
Right where had just jumped floated a brown block with a vine growing out of the top. The vine extended over the top of the rock wall. Yoshi squealed with glee at the prospect of escape and ran over to Luigi, who was crying and rocking in the fetal position.
Yoshi ran over to Luigi and babbled wildly, pointing at the vine. Luigi took a look. “Yoshi! Well call me Mama Luigi! You found a hidden block! Let's get outta here!”
Yoshi carried Mario up the vine, with Luigi following closely. They scrambled over the top of the wall, looking over the edge at the Dry Bones gathering around the block. They knew from experience that Dry Bones couldn't jump and therefore couldn't reach them. They were safe.
As they rested at the top of the wall, Mario began to regain consciousness. Luigi saw his brother's open eyes, and explained to him what had happened. Mario started to respond in a high, squeaky voice.
Luigi found this hilarious, laughing so hard he fell over. The unamused Mini-Mario rolled his eyes. After his laughter began to trail off, the younger brother began to stand up. Unfortunately for Luigi, the Dry Bones below were able to see his green cap over the edge. One of them took aim.
The bone struck the younger Mario brother squarely in the head. He cried out, “Mama mia!” before toppling over the other side of the wall, into a deep pit.
Mario looked over the edge as his brother fell, eventually swallowed by the darkness. He thought his brother was done for, until he heard a loud splash.
“The pit isn't bottomless. Luigi must be at the bottom, Yoshi! Let's go get him!” squeaked Mario to the green dinosaur.
Yoshi facepalmed. Was he the only sane one in the group?
Apparently so. Mario jumped right in after his brother. Yoshi rolled his eyes before leaping in after Mario.
They fell for what seemed like hours, until landing in a deep pool of water with a loud “SPLOOSH!!” They quickly swam to the surface, spitting water and coughing.
They swam ashore and pulled themselves up. A soaked, micro-sized Luigi was waiting for them there.
“Bad news,” informed the younger brother, “There's no way back up.”
Mario, wringing out his cap, thought this over. There was always a way out. His glance was drawn to a strange looking rock. As he approached it, he realized it was not a rock at all, but a large, cylindrical structure studded with multicolored gems. The shape somehow seemed familiar. Suddenly, it hit him.
“Luigi! Yoshi! I found our way out!” called the red-capped brother. The others walked up noiselessly behind him.
“That doesn't look like any pipe I've ever seen before,” remarked Luigi.
Mario turned to his brother, “You got any better ideas?”
Yoshi pointed to a sign next to the pipe.
Mario squinted to read the fancy pink text. “E-quest-ria. Sounds like a great place to go on an adventure, eh Luigi?”
Luigi didn't even dignify this terrible pun with a response.
Mario sighed and jumped up to the edge of the strange pipe. Yoshi did too. Luigi reluctantly followed suit.
Mario looked at Luigi. “We go on three,” the older brother instructed. “One.”
“Two,” said Luigi.
“Three!!!” shouted Yoshi, leaping into the pipe.
The brother stared at each other in shock for a moment before jumping in after the dinosaur.
