Chapter 1

The Adventure Begins!

"...ario…"

He wasn't sure how long he was out cold. But his senses were slowly coming back to him. His vision was still hazy, so he didn't know where he was.

"Mario…!"

He adjusted his eyes to see where he was. The area looked dark and gloomy. It was as though a storm was coming. Then he turned his eyes to the source of the voice. Above him was what looked like a white top hat with eyeballs. Upon seeing him, he jumped, quite literally, out of shock. The sight scared the hat as well, and it zipped over to a nearby hill.

"Wh- What was that thing?" Mario asked himself. "And where am I?" He thought back to what he was doing, and his eyes widened. He remembered exactly what had happened.

Bowser.

It was Bowser who had ruined his wedding with Peach. To make matters worse, he already knew what his new plan was: to marry Peach himself. The very last thing he remembered was being launched into the distance. Perhaps that creature saved him? Either way he had to get answers.

The plumber quickly ran over to the creature, hoping to get some answers. But upon seeing him come, it panicked and began to float away. It didn't take him long to realize that he was scaring him, so he stopped chasing him at the edge of a nearby town.

The creature hid behind the gateway, as Mario stood outside. "Hey, paesano. Sorry I scared you back there. Could you tell me where I am?" the latter asked.

It then slowly hovered over to him. "It's not your fault. I do startle easily..." it said. "My name is Cappy, and I saw what happened to your wedding. You've landed in Bonneton in the Cap Kingdom. We were attacked by the same monster that gave you gave you a trouncing."

"Why would Bowser attack your homeland?" asked Mario. "He usually wants to take over the Mushroom Kingdom where I come from."

"Well, like your fiance, that fiend has kidnapped my little sister, Tiara! I'd hoped to give chase to that monster in a ship of my own but, unfortunately…" Cappy moved aside to show the damage that had been done. "...all of our ships were wrecked in the attack."

"Of course he did…" Mario sighed. "What do we do now?"

The Bonneter thought for a moment. "Now that I think on it… I'm fairly sure that there's a functioning ship in the next kingdom over. I could get us there, if only I could reach the top of Top Hat Tower… which is being guarded by Bowser's henchmen." He then pointed in the distance. Not too far away, a large white tower topped with a top hat stood. A small airship circled around the top.

The Mushroom Kingdom hero thought for a split section and then… "You know… It seems we're after the same thing… Perhaps we should team up!" he suggested. "You help me rescue my fiancé, and I'll help you rescue your sister."

"That's not a bad idea." Then he held something up in his stubby arms. "I think you'll be needing some headwear anyway."

Mario looked at the thing Cappy held, and his eyes widened. It was a piece of… "My hat!"

"Allow me..." Cappy then hovered over his new friend and plopped himself down. It felt a little weird wearing the Bonneter on his head. Mario eyed him with a look of discomfort. "...Not your style?" He asked, and Mario confirmed with a nod. Then he got back up. "How about this?" With the shred in his hands, he spun around rapidly. Like that, the Bonneter transformed into an exact duplicate of Mario's cap. The only notable difference was Cappy's eyes were in place of the M. When Cappy fell on his head, his clothes from the three-piece suit he initially wore to his signature red shirt and overalls.

"Ah, now that's more like it." Mario breathed. "Now come on, let's-a go save our girls." He began for the tower. Thankfully there were no baddies around Bonneton, so getting to the foot of the tower was a snap… or at least it would be.

There seemed to be no way to the door of the tower. There was a large abyss in front of the way in. Mario then pulled a lever to allow passway, but it wouldn't budge for some reason.

"Throw me onto the lever," Cappy suggested.

"What…?" Mario asked confused.

"Go on."

"Okay…" He tossed Cappy as though he were a frisbee, and the Bonnetor landed on the lever. He pulled the lever down like it was no trouble at all. And from the abyss, a bridge rose, granting them passage to the tower. "How did you do that?"

"We're a lot stronger than we look."

Mario crossed the bridge to the tower, and immediately, they were met with a trio of Goombas. They didn't look friendly.

"What odd little fellows! They seem to know you! And… not like you…"

"They work for Bowser, but they're the lowest of his minions." Mario then jumped on top of them and flattened them.

"Well done. Now throw me at the door." Mario did as instructed, and the door burst open.

The duo made their way inside the tower. However, there was a bit of an issue for Mario. There were no stairs. Just high platforms. "Uh… How do we get up there?"

"Those do seem pretty high. Hmm… I know! You see those frogs over there?" Cappy made Mario turn his head. Next to the cliffside was a trio of frogs. "Toss me onto one of them."

"How will that help us?"

"Just do it."

Mario threw him onto one of the amphibians, and instead of returning back to him, he stuck onto it. Crazier was to follow… Mario seemed to disintegrate soon after. He quickly organ to panic as he too was pulled toward the frog.

It was almost like he was being pulled through a current underwater. The frog's memories whooshed past Mario as he was pulled into a bright light at the end, before everything went black.

When he once again opened his eyes, she felt different. He felt shorter, slimier… and Cappy and the frog were nowhere to be found. "Cappy…? Where'd you go, ribbit?" That was when he knew something was up. He then looked down at his hands to see two webbed frog feet in their place. "Holy Ravioli, ribbit!" I'm a frog, ribbit!"

"It's weird, I know," he heard Cappy say, "but you get used to it.

"How did you do that, ribbit?!"

"It's a special ability we Bonnetors have. We can control certain objects or weak-willed enemies as we please. We call it our Capture ability."

Mario processed what he was told. Then he laughed a little. "I get it, ribbit. 'Cap-ture,' ribbit." He then looked up. "Well, let's-a bounce, ribbit!" The Mushroom Hero began to use the frog's body to jump up the platforms and make his way up the tower with almost effortless ease. It took almost no time to reach the top.

When he finally did, Cappy looked at his companion in a joyous manner. "Well, you're a natural. Now, allow me to get you out of there." Cappy popped off the frog's head and Mario came with him, leaving the captured one dazed and confused.

When Mario and Cappy reached the balcony, they climbed a winding slope to the top of the tower. However, a force field preventing them from escaping appeared, as a smaller version of Bowser's airship appeared, this one carrying an assortment of rabbit-like creatures.

The short one dressed in green chuckled as he saw the two. "Da boss warned me that there'd be a fella with a mustache coming along! Guess we oughta introduce ourselves. We're da wedding planners for da happy couple. I'm Topper!"

"I'm Rango!" added the tall one with the orange pants.

"I'm Spewart!" the one in blue cut in.

"I'm Harriet!" said the female.

"AND WE'RE THE BROODALS!" they all
chimed together.

"The Broodals?" asked the duo.

"Yeah. We got dat treasure we needed, so we've got no business in dese parts anymore… Although, roughing up goody-two-shoes meddlers like you was in da contract, so I guess we still got a little work to do!" Topper then jumped off the airship and landed in front of Mario. As he did, a small stack of green top hats appeared on his head.

And with that, the battle began. Reacting almost instinctively, Mario threw Cappy rapidly at the Broodal and knocked his hats of his head, before following up with a ground pound atop the enemy's head.

"Just like that!" said Cappy as his friend did a backflip off of Topper's head.

"So, dat's how it is, eh? Well, let's see how you deal wit dis!" Topper summoned another top hat and disappeared inside. At the same time, two more appeared beside it. The three hats then began spinning around in a circle before they went bound around the area. Mario threw Cappy at two of the hats, causing them to disappear and causing Topper to reappear with a fresh stack of top hats. Mario, for his part, continued throwing Cappy before once more ground pounding Topper.

"Argh!" said the Broodal in pain as he glared at Mario. "Ya got me dis time, but dis fight is far from over! Broodals! Let's roll!" He then retreated to the airship, which then took off as fast as it could. Almost as soon as it'd left, an electrical wire appeared out of the ground as though by magic.

"That'll teach them!" said Cappy floating off Mario's head to look at the red-clad plumber. "You know, we make a pretty good team."

"That we do, Cappy," Mario replied as he visually followed the electrical wire. "So do we use this thing to get to the next kingdom?"

"Precisely! Throw me on there, and let's get moving!" said Cappy. He compiled, and together, as a ball of yellow electricity with a mustache and red cap, the two of them set off for the neighboring kingdom.

Meanwhile, aboard Bowser's airship, Peach silently sat and watched the clouds pass from her brig window. She was still very depressed. Her wedding with the man of his dreams, before his friends and family… ruined by Bowser. Her friends and family themselves… captured by Bowser. And his beloved would-have-been husband, Mario… destroyed by Bowser. What was first the best day of her life turned into a living nightmare.

Before long, the Koopa King had entered the brig. He eyed the princess who glared angrily back at her. "Comfortable, Princess?" Bowser asked.

"No!" Peach replied. "How can I be after you ruined my wedding?!"

"Forget him. You have a royal wedding to attend to."

"I'm not marrying you, Bowser! I do NOT love you!"

"Who cares about love?" Bowser snapped coldly. "I'm marrying you for power!"

"Power?" ashed the Princess curiously.

"With you as my wife, I will be the Mushroom King. In fact, it was when I heard of Mario proposing to you that I had the idea. Now, let's get down to business." Then he held out his claw. In it was a small Bonnetor resembling a rhinestone tiara. "This is Tiara, a Bonnetor from the Cap Kingdom. She'll be serving as your headdress."

Bowser flicked the golden crown off Peach's head and placed Tiara thereon. Two eyes appeared and looked to Peach in a frightened manner.

""I'm sure you'll have plenty to talk about before our big day," said Bowser as he left the brig for the ship's upper deck. He pulled a map out of his hat for further direction. "Let's see… next on the list is the Binding Band, so…"

Just then, another small ship flew in over him. The Broodals landed on Bowser's airship and reported back what had happened in Bonneton. "Sorry to let you down, King Bowser, sir," began Topper.

"The little runt's tougher than he looks," Spewpa added.

Bowser was infuriated. But he had to expect this from the red thorn in his side. After all, Mario had been foiling his plan for years. "Your boss' still guarding the airship at Fossil Falls, right?" he asked and they nodded in reply. "For the sake of this entire operation, I hope she does her job properly…"

Mario was screaming as the yellow ball of electricity that he was zoomed along the powerlines at high speeds. When he finally reached the end of the line, he was launched out and went flying a good couple of feet before he face-planted into the ground. Pulling his face up, the plumber's jaw dropped at the sight of a breathtaking waterfall that seemed to be passing through the ribcage of a dinosaur's skeleton.

Cappy dismounted Mario's head and faced him. "Whoo! Yeah! What a ride! And we made it to Fossil Falls in the Cascade Kingdom!" he said, vibrating as he spoke.

"Are you okay?" his companion asked in concern.

"Sorry! Still a bit amped from capturing a power line… That was my first time, you know…" said Cappy as he slowly collected himself. "There should be an old airship somewhere around here. Let's see if we can find it." He then changed form once again. This time, though, he transformed into what looked like a Dry Bones' skull. landing back on Mario's head once again, the outfit he wore changed once again to look like that of a caveman.

"Huh?" He eyed himself as he looked at his clothes. "Can you make me look like anything?"

"Pretty much," Cappt replied. "This is just to make you look more localized, you know?"

"Fair enough. Now, let's-a go!" And with that, the two of them made their way through the Cascade Kingdom's Waterfall Basin.

Although, it wasn't long before they found their progress hindered by a really big rock, a cliff, and a Chain Chomp. The Chomp lunged at them, but Mario was quick to dodge it. Seeing how it was moving gave him an idea. Acting quickly, he tossed Cappy at the metal beast, and took over its body. The Chain Chomp's eyes turned into those of Mario and a moustache rapidly grew on its face.

He then used the Chomp's body to smash down a large rock that was blocking his and Cappy's path, but was knocked out of the Chain Chomp's body as a result. As the large rock was smashed away, it knocked a stone pillar down in the process, forming a bridge across the river.

From the shattered rock emerged an object that was shimmering like one of the Power Stars from back in the Mushroom Kingdom, except this object was shaped like a crescent moon. Mario grabbed the object out of the air and studied it before Cappy popped off his head.

"Oh! That's a Power Moon! What a lucky break! This will come in handy to power the airship!" said Cappy. "Have you ever seen anything like it?"

"Something like it," Mario replied. "Back home in the Mushroom Kingdom, Princess Peach's castle uses Power Stars as a power source. They're a great source of clean, renewable energy."

"Well, so are these," Carly stated as he plopped back on Mario's head. "Now, come on. The airship should be just up there."

Sure enough, no sooner had they crossed the bridge they made when they came across the remains of an airship. It was old and rusty. It looked as though it hadn't flown in years. Decades, even.

"Hmm… it's looking a bit rougher than I expected…" said Cappy as he eyed it. "Wait. It's just an older model. I'm certain it can still fly. Let's give it a shot, shall we?" Calmly then placed himself on a small globe in front of the ship. "Try holding up the Power Moon!"He instructed.

The red-clad hero did as instructed, and the Moon left his hand and hovered in front of a small sphere on top of the airship before entering said sphere. The Power Moon's energy caused the skeleton of a rigging to appear, along with part of the sail.

"Huh… nothing's happening? That Power Moon must not have given the ship enough energy."

"Maybe we just need to find more? If there's one of those things, then maybe there are others scattered around here?" suggested Mario.

"Can't hurt to check. According to this globe, we need at least four more Power Moons to get the engine running. Let's get searching!" said Cappy before he mounted Mario's head once more.

The duo rounded through a small canyon, and there not long after were a trio of Chain Chomps, one of which was significantly larger than the other two. Mario captured the large one and tried to use it to break through the rocks that blocked the path, but to no avail. The chain itself was too short.

"Okay, it looks like capturing a Chain Chomp won't cut it this time," said Cappy out of irritation.

As they tried to think of a solution to their issue, they suddenly heard a deep growling sound from behind, causing Mario to start quaking in his boots. He turned around and quietly weaves through the blocks to face whatever was behind him, only to nearly jump out of his boots.

Snoozing in a patch of sunlight was a full-sized dinosaur that was nothing like Yoshi, but rather a Tyrannosaurus Rex. Mario eyed it and then the wall and the Chain Chomps. "I got it! This is more than what we need to break through that wall.

"Mario, wait! I've never-!"

But it was too late. Mario tossed Cappy onto the Jesse and captured it. The T-Rex stood up and roared loudly under Mario's control.

'Whoa! Now I know how Bowser feels when he gets all a-jumbo sized!' Mario stomped his way through the Chain Chomps and the rock barrier. As he crossed a bridge behind, he attacked another Chain Chomp and smashed a cliffside wall, revealing a pipe. 'This is magnificent! With this body, I could maybe even-!'

But suddenly, Cappy Pulled Mario out and the T-Rex fell into a daze. "It's too big!" gasped Cappy. "I couldn't hold onto it a minute longer!"

"Ohhh… Sorry 'bout that. I didn't know you had a limit," Mario replied.

"It's fine… Let's keep going. There's still gotta be some Power Moons around here somewhere."

"Hmm… I'd be willing to bet there's a Power Moon at the top of the falls, so why don't we check out up there?" Mario made his way towards a green pipe that was embedded into the the side of a wall. Upon entering it, however, he and Cappy emerged on the other side, they found themselves flat as a pancake on the side of the aforementioned wall.

"Oh my! We've gone flat… and rather blocky at that…" said Cappy.

"I feel kinda nostalgic like this," said Mario as he made his way up the cliff face. He jumped on a Goomba's head, unveiling a hidden block as a result. It opened a path that led to a trail of coins and another Power Moon. Following the trail back and making it to the top of the cliff, he saw someone rather large in the distance. Upon approaching it, a large golden Chain Chomp in a sunhat lunged at them from the other side, gnashing its large teeth at the duo.

The large object turned around to reveal itself as another Broodal, who was significantly larger than the fore he encountered in Bonneton. She wore red clothes, a matching hat, and a pearl necklace embedded with a charm.

Crappy noticed something dangling from the bottom. "A Multimoon! That's worth three Power Moons! That'll get our ship up and running no doubt!"

But Mario was not interested in the Multimoon in the least. It was what was inside the crystal between the Multimoon and the pearls that made him grind his teeth in anger.

It was Luigi!

The Broodal laughed. "You say you need to repair some silly old airship? Why, I could never part with any of my precious Power Moons!"

"You can keep the Moons! We'll find more later," Mario stated. "Just give me back my brother!"

"You dare make demands to Madame Broode?!" she replied. "It sounds to me like someone should be a snack for my adorable Chain Chompikins! Sic 'em, girl!"

The gold Chain Chomp lunged at Mario at full speed, but the red one made an immediate dodge to the right. Determined to save his brother, he knocked the sunhat of the beast, and captured it at the same time.

"What da-?!" Madame Broode exclaimed. Controlling Chompikins, Mario yanked her chain as Madame Broode pulled back. "Gimme back my Chompikins, you twerp!"

Mario jumped out as instructed, and the gold Chomp was launched into her master's face. "If you insist…"

"Well played, Mario," Cappy chuckled.

Madame Broode pulled her Chain Chomp off her now red face. "You little-!" But the last of her angered shout was drowned out by Chompikins' loud barking. She then sent the Chomp in questioned spinning at Mario. But the mustachioed superstar was quick to capture the Chomp once again.

This time, though, Madame Broode began to chase him. She tried to swipe Cappy and yank Mario out, but after a few failed attempts, she quickly lost her breath. And the mustached one yanked the chain and quickly popped off for another successful strike.

After a third strike to the face, Madame Brood began to lose her sanity and balance. "I knew I… should've used… the treadmill more…" were the last few words she said before she flopped onto her back.

Mario then clambered onto the enemy's body and pulled the charm off the necklace. After dragging it a good distance, Cappy was thrown at the crystal at full strength. With a loud crack, crystal shattered to smithereens. Luigi was freed.

"Did I have too much champagne…?" The green clad hero looked up to see his brother and literally jumped. "AHH! Caveman!" he shouted. "No, wait. Is that you, Bro? Whoa, you really gave me a shock there."

"Sorry, Bro." And Mario helped his twin brother up.

After dusting off his suit. Luigi looked around. "Where are we? Where's everyone else?" He jumped again as Cappy popped off his head and changed back to his original form. "And what is that?!"

"I'll explain on the way," Cappy stated. "Right now, let's get back to the airship before Madame Broode wakes up!" With that, the three ran off, back where Mario and Cappy came from.

As the trio neared the airship, Cappy and Mario finished explaining everything to Luigi. "Of all the times for Bowser to attack, it had to be at your wedding, huh?"

"That was the point," Mario replied. "He's gonna marry Peach himself. And now, Cappy and I are gonna rescue her." He held out his hand to his brother. "You up for one last adventure as bachelors, Luigi?"

He hesitated, but the green-clad hero accepted his brother's hand. "Not sure how I can help, but I'm not staying out of this one. After all, I have no means of getting home."

"Okay, now let's get back to business." Cappy placed himself on the globe as Mario added the Power Moons to the power source. The power provided by the Power Moons was able to complete the sail, and, in a blinding flash of light, restored the ship, which the two brothers now noticed had a red and silver paint job. "Okay, guys, we've enough power to reach the Sand Kingdom! Let's go and save Peach and Tiara! Why don't you take the helm, Mario?"

"Okie-dokie," said the red one. He was not entirely convinced they would be able to get the ship out of the ground, but took the helm nonetheless.

With an almighty rumbling noise, the Odyssey rose up from the ground, causing several portions of rock to fall into the big hole the ship left behind. Cappy left his perch from the globe and transformed into a Captain's hat before landing once more on Mario's head. His clothes transformed to match as well. And with that, the Odyssey set sail towards the Sand Kingdom and the Mario Brothers' biggest adventure yet.