Fanfic / Mario & Luigi: The Seven Star Spirits

Mario & Luigi: The Seven Star Spirits is a completed fanfiction adaptation of the first Paper Mario written by nintendoscript15, who previously wrote Mario and Yoshi's Adventure Land.

An extended adaptation of the original Paper Mario, Mario and Luigi are invited to a brunch party at Princess Peach's castle with their longtime friend Jim Heeding, now a soon-to-be high school senior. Suddenly, in the middle of the party, Bowser uses an underground dungeon to lift Peach's castle into the stratosphere and take it over, imprisoning all the party guests as well as Jim. Not to mention him stealing the Star Rod from the Star Road and the seven Star Spirits earlier in the morning. Now, the Mario Bros must go out to save the Star Spirits on what might be the most dramatic adventure both will experience.

Here's the link for the fanfic.

This Fanfiction contains examples of:

• Absurdly Spacious Sewer: Kero Sewers is rather large for a sewer area. There are numerous deeper tunnels and Warp Pipes to a lot of other areas in the Mushroom Kingdom.
• Adaptation Name Change:
  • Kolorado is given a full name, Dr. Jesse Kolorado.
  • Various locations are renamed to their designations given in Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars. Examples include Shooting Star Summit (Star Hill) and Toad Town Tunnels (Kero Sewers).
  • The Goomba King is now known as Goomboss, a shout-out to the DS remake of Super Mario 64.
  • In the original, Spike is known by his real name, Lakilester. Here, his preferred name is used all throughout his appearances.
• Adaptational Angst Upgrade: Angst is normally the last word one could use to describe Mario. But here, he's easily stressed out and prone to anger because of anxiety issues.
• Adaptational Jerkass: Mario in the original game (as well as the entire series in general) was an Ideal Hero who could bravely handle any situation without much (if at all) negative emotions, or any signs of selfishness. This version of Mario on the other hand, while still having the original's noble qualities, is anxiety driven with a Hair-Trigger Temper that can set off whenever his patience is tested, or he can't handle a given situation that can drive him mad. Whenever this happens, Luigi has to calm him down before they can continue on their journey. Sometimes, his behavior can go too far, such as in Shiver City when he lashed out at the mayor's wife even after she apologized for accusing him of murder, and later before the final battle when he irrationally gets angry at Jim's Sanity Slippage even though it wasn't his fault, first with a slap in the face and then punches him in his left eye, resulting in Jim getting a black eye. After the latter incident, Luigi has enough of his behavior and calls him out for it.
• Adapted Out:
  • Kooper, Parakarry, and Sushie are cut out off the Mario Bros' partner list as they are not story-relevant. All minibosses, with the exception of Jr. Troopa and the Goomba Bros, are also cut out for the same reason.
  • The sidequests involving the Fuzzy ambush, the Yoshi Kids being trapped in Jade Jungle, and Raphael the Raven are omitted, shortening the trip to Koopa Bros Fortress and Mt. Lavalava, respectively.
• Armor-Piercing Question: While scolding Spike for siding with Huff N. Puff, Mario asks if his parents raised him to be a villain.
  Mario: Who even are you to not let anyone get their wishes granted?! Did your parents raise you this way?! Huh?! DID THEY?!
• Ascended Extra: Luigi plays a much more prominent role in this story compared to the original, as he actually joins Mario on his adventure.
• Astral Finale: The final battle takes place on a platform in the stratosphere just above Peach's castle.
• Bait-and-Switch Boss: The Koopa Bros reappear at the very end of Bowser's Castle to fight the Mario Bros, but the actual Recurring Boss, Jr. Troopa, scares the Koopa Bros away, causing the last Bowser Door to be perpetually confused.
• Big Bad: Bowser kicks off the plot by stealing the Star Rod, trapping the Star Spirits and spreading them across the Mushroom Kingdom, lifting Peach's Castle into the sky, and then killing Mario before he's brought back to life. Throughout the whole story, he's ordering his minions to take down the Mario Bros, and abuses the Star Rod's power.
• The Big Damn Kiss: Mario and Peach kiss each other after the latter is saved following the final battle.
• Big "NO!":
  • Peach does this when Bowser throws Mario out of the broken window at the end of their first battle.
  • Tutankoopa lets out one before his Chain Chomp swallows him whole.
  • The Crystal King screams this while falling to his death.
• Bittersweet Ending: Mario and Luigi save Peach and the Star Spirits from Bowser and return the Star Rod to its original place, but Jim's permanent departure causes Mario to fall in a deep depression to the point that he's unable to eat and get any sleep for three straight days, which is worsened by the fact that while Luigi made up with him and forgave him for the times he acted foolishly and immaturely whenever he was overwhelmed by stress, anger and anxiety, he can't help him because he had to go to the Berklee College of Music in Boston for his vocal lessons, leaving him alone at home and causing him to feel very lonely. He gets better during a 10-day trip to Australia where a young fan named Jason gives him motivational advice, and Mario records a message for Luigi, who had come back home the day he left for Australia.
• The Cameo: Yoshi and Red Yoshi briefly appear during Peach's second brunch party, specifically when Jim gives them a shout-out.
• Catapult Nightmare: Mario wakes up screaming after having a nightmare about him being defeated by Bowser hours ago.
• Chimney Entry: In Shiver City, Mario and Luigi need to find Herringway as part of finding the apparent murderer of the mayor. They slowly climb down a chimney of a nearby building, entering Herringway's home.
• Clown Car: Bowser's Koopa Clown Car.
• Cooldown Hug:
  • Luigi hugs Mario after the latter gets emotional from the skies clearing in Flower Fields.
  • Mario gives Bombette one in Crystal Palace after she's accidentally hurt during one of the Duplighosts' impostor puzzles.
  • Luigi hugs Mario again during the latter's intense apology.
• Curse Cut Short: Jim almost says "shit" while talking to Toadsworth about how he went insane, but stops himself before he could curse.
  Jim: I know Mario's angry and all, but he and Luigi are in deep... Uh... I can't say that word in front of you guys.
• Darker and Edgier: Mario is given a Hair-Trigger Temper, making him not as lighthearted as fans are used to, various characters are Killed Off for Real, and Bowser nearly wins when he gives the bros a Sadistic Choice.
• Damsel in Distress: Princess Peach, as always. With the exception of that one scene where she attacks Bowser out of self-defense.
• Damsel out of Distress: Right as Mario and Luigi save the last Star Spirit, Bowser visits Peach's room once more, trying to kiss her. Peach suddenly whacks Bowser in the face with a frying pan and pepper sprays his eyes.
• Death by Adaptation: Several characters, such as bosses, Jr. Troopa, Kammy Koopa, and even Watt are killed off in this adaptation.
• Death Glare: Luigi gives Mario an angry glare while yelling at him for punching Jim.
• Demoted to Extra: Jim plays a significantly smaller role than he previously did in Mario and Yoshi's Adventure Land, going from one of the protagonists to one of the prisoners in Bowser's dungeon. Therefore, he doesn't get to help out the brothers until the finale.
• Descending Ceiling: In Shy Guy's Toy Box, right as Luigi finds his diary, a spiked ceiling caves in from above, making everyone run away. Mario doesn't take it well, though.
• Destination Defenestration:
  • After being defeated by Bowser the first time around, Mario is thrown out the broken window with an electric spell casted by Bowser.
  • During the ferry ride after getting the fifth Star Spirit, Jr. Troopa scares Mario enough to make him crash out the glass window in one of the quarters.
• Detective Drama: The search for the seventh Star Spirit shifts into this, as Mario and Luigi arrive just in time to witness the supposed corpse of Shiver City's mayor, and have to track down the culprit to clear their names. It turns out that the mayor was actually just unconscious from an accident while he was getting a wreath for Herringway, the other suspect (which is why he was holding a piece of paper with Herringway's name on it).
• Determinator: Jr. Troopa flies across the ocean, travels to barren icy lands, and follows Mario and Luigi into the skies to fight them, specifically Mario. Just because Mario inadvertently stepped foot in his playground.
• Disappointing Older Sibling: Even though Luigi is the younger brother, he's much more patient with others, more mature, and is in more control of his emotions than his brother, who has a Hair-Trigger Temper. He eventually gets fed up with Mario's foolishness and calls him out on it after he slaps Jim and gives him a black eye with a punch in the face when they find him insane and with repeated personality switches.
• Disney Death:
  • Mario dies after being thrown out of Peach's castle by Bowser, but gets revived thanks to the Star Spirits' power.
  • On the ferry ride from Lavalava Island back to Toad Town, Mario nearly drowns after Jr. Troopa caused him to fall out the quarter window. Luigi was able to perform CPR and save Mario.
• Disney Villain Death:
  • Goomboss and the Goomba Bros fall down a deep abyss after being defeated by Mario and Goombario.
  • The Crystal King clings onto a cliff, admitting his evil plans and lying he'll redeem himself. Not buying it completely, Mario sends the Crystal King to his doom.
  • Luigi tosses Jr. Troopa off Bowser's Castle's roof at the end of their last rematch.
  • Kammy Koopa is knocked off the Power Platform by Twink after he's powered up thanks to Peach's praying.
• Distressed Dude: Jim needs to be rescued from Bowser's castle's dungeon, and he ends up going insane from stressing about missing his first day of his high school senior year and his parents punishing him harshly.
• The Dragon: Kammy Koopa is Bowser's second-in-command, informing him of Mario and Luigi's progress throughout the adventure and building a machine to enhance her master's powers.
• Embarrassing First Name: Spike's real name is Lakilester, which he found offensive in school, being called "Lakiless Fortunate". Spike was able to change his name legally, but his parents still accidentally called him by his original name.
• Everything's Better with Rainbows: On top of the skies above Flower Fields clearing up, a bright rainbow appears, making Mario cry Tears of Joy.
• Face Your Fears: Luigi faces his ghost phobia in Forever Forest and Boo's Mansion, going through a panic attack midway through the latter location. He does warm up to Lady Bow after Tubba Blubba's defeat.
• Four Eyes, Zero Soul: Kammy Koopa, Bowser's second-in-command, is an old Magikoopa with glasses covering her eyes, and spends most of the time inconveniencing the Mario Bros and preventing Peach from escaping.
• Good Feels Good: After helping Mario and Luigi destroy the Puff Puff Machine in Flower Fields, Spike realizes this and accompanies the Mario Bros for the rest of the adventure.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: Mario tends to lose his temper at times; sometimes, it can get out of hand such as when he breaks Shiver City's mayor's front door to apologize to his wife during Chapter 41.
• Having a Blast: This trope is embodied in Bombette as her specialty is blowing things up.
• Heavy Voice: Whenever Mario or Luigi use a Super Mushroom, their voice deepens in addition to them growing one foot taller than their normal height.
• Heel–Face Turn: Spike changes from a villain to a hero after getting yelled at by Mario.
• Heroic Sacrifice: In the middle of the final battle, Watt charges Bowser only to get overloaded by a lightning attack casted by the Star Rod. Bowser tosses Watt's pacifier overboard after she explodes.
• Inelegant Blubbering:
  • Mario cries right as the skies clear in Flower Fields, culminating with a rainbow appearing in the distance.
  • After the final battle, Mario sobs very hard, still guilty about making Luigi yell at him and for punching Jim in the eye.
  • Jim breaks down during his farewell speech at Peach's second brunch party.
• In Name Only: Despite the title, other than the inclusion of Bros Attacks from Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, this fic has no relation to the Mario & Luigi series. The author even dismissed them as not canon in his universe.
• Just Eat Him: Tubba Blubba terrorizes the Boos by turning them into snacks.
• Just in Time: Bowser encases Mario and Luigi in metal casings during the final battle and puts them in a catch-22 scenario. When the Mario Bros don't make a decision, Bowser prepares to burn them to death, but is attacked by an ice ball casted by Jim in his Ice form.
• Kubrick Stare: Jim, under his insanity, gives Mario and Luigi this look after they unlock the cell he was trapped in.
• Lethal Lava Land: Mt. Lavalava.
• Let's Split Up, Gang!: Used at certain points in Dry Dry Ruins when the Mario Bros and Dr. Kolorado solve the various puzzles within the ruins.
• Live Item: The Mystical Key from Tubba Blubba's Castle, called Yakkey, is sentient and talks. Well, actually, screams in order to alert his master Tubba Blubba.
• Madness Mantra: During the ride from the Star Road to Bowser's Castle, Mario murmurs, "Hang in there, Mario." over and over again.
• Mood Whiplash:
  • During the first brunch party at Peach's castle, Mario and Peach are about to go up on the roof to relax, but giant rumbling ensues before the castle is lifted into the sky.
  • After Mario gives the Star Rod back to Eldstar, all the Star Spirits and Twink give their genuine thanks and say goodbye. But the mood suddenly changes from happy to sad when Mario starts feeling guilty about what he did to Jim and Luigi earlier.
• Near-Villain Victory: Bowser encases Peach in metal, and Mario and Luigi aren't able to do anything because of Bowser's Sadistic Choice. He would've finally defeated the Mario Bros. for good had Jim not shown up.
• The Nose Knows: A downplayed example. Kammy Koopa is able to discern that Peach is disguised as a Clubba because she smells nice.
• Ojou: Lady Bow is based on this archetype. She's a spoiled Boo who lives in a grand mansion, carries around a fan, and has a strong Noblewoman's Laugh.
• Original Character: Jim Heeding returns as a supporting character following his debut in nintendoscript15's first fanfic Mario and Yoshi's Adventure Land.
• Party in My Pocket: Just as in the original, though it's actually explained this time as Mario holds a Partner Collection Band which stores each of his partners until needed. Goombario implies that each of the partners have their very own room to stay in until Mario takes them out.
• Pay Evil unto Evil: When the Bros defeat the Crystal King and he's about to fall to his death, he tells them about why he joined Bowser and supposedly begs for forgiveness. Mario doesn't buy it, however, and slams his feet on the cliff edge to send him falling, telling him to rebuild himself in Hades' sanctum. Mario admits after doing it that he felt like he and Luigi were the villains in that moment.
• Phantom-Zone Picture: Or Phantom Zone Playing Card in this case. Bowser traps the Star Spirits on individual cards and gives them to his minions to guard. They're able to muster up whatever power they have left to communicate across great distances and help Mario and Luigi after the former was downed by Bowser, but it completely exhausts them.
• Politically Incorrect Villain: Bowser at one point makes a sexist comment about a woman's place in a relationship, stating that men are the only ones who can order their loved ones to get out if they can't take it anymore. Naturally, Peach smacks him in the face with a pan and pepper sprays his eyes in retaliation.
• Put on a Bus: At the very end, during Peach's second brunch party, Jim announces his permanent departure from the Mushroom Kingdom; essentially retiring his character.
• Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: Mario and Luigi team up alongside a fanboy of the Bros, a pink exploding tomboy, a ghostly Ojou, a baby spark of electricity, and a cloud-riding punk with self-esteem issues.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech:
  • Instead of battling Spike like in the original game, Mario yells at him for darkening Flower Fields and not letting the flowers' wishes be granted. This persuades Spike to become a hero for the rest of the story.
  • In Chapter 49, Luigi gives Mario one and nearly leaves him after he punched Jim to snap him out of his insanity in the previous chapter, causing him to get a black eye. The way Mario gets yelled at by Luigi in this scene scares him so much that he has a hard time getting over it, as revealed in a future fanfic based off the events of Mario Power Tennis that is set four years later: during an encounter with a therapist in Chapter 15, Mario admits that he's scared that if he and Luigi will face each other in the single finals, Luigi will play angrily and vent his anger on him for always being so overshadowed by him, even thinking at how he felt jealous of his relationship with Aqua and thought that she was going to replace him (as seen with mariobroultimate's fanfic Super Mario Sunshine: A Sprite of Light) and admitting that even four years later, Luigi scolding him in outrage in Bowser's castle still shakes him so much that he often has nightmares about it.
• Rock of Limitless Water. The Water Stone. When it's given back to Lily, she uses it to refill her empty pond.
• Sadistic Choice: In the middle of the final battle, Bowser gives Mario and Luigi two options after encasing them in metal casings: let him take over the world using the Star Rod, or kill all the prisoners by blowing up his castle as well as Peach's. Luckily, Jim comes in at the last second, allowing Mario and Luigi to not make a decision.
• Sanity Slippage: For the entire three days Jim was locked in the dungeon, it appears at first that he's calm and is willing to be patient. But later on, he gets angry about being cooped up in the small cell and losing his first day of the school year, gets worried that he will be punished by his parents and destroys his cell phone from stressing over school. Eventually, he starts talking to himself as “Mij” and goes through different personality switches midway through before laughing nonstop at everything, only snapping out of it when Mario punched him in the face, injuring him in his left eye in Chapter 48.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: In Shy Guy's Toy Box, a Clubba threatens Mario with his mace. But Mario grabs the mace, prompting the Clubba to run away.
• Secret Diary: Bowser and Luigi each have one. The former is a minor plot point, as Peach reads it and relays tactical information to the Bros. Luigi's diary is stolen by the Shy Guys, but is successfully retrieved and brought back home.
• Shifting Sand Land: Dry Dry Desert.
• Spot the Imposter:
  • Mario has to determine which of the two Bombettes in Shiver Mountain is the real one.
  • This puzzle is taken to a whole 'nother level in Crystal Palace where's five Bombettes with four being fakes. Unfortunately for the real Bombette, she gets injured by Mario's hammer, revealing the four Duplighosts posing as her.
• Stress Vomit:
  • In Boo's Mansion, Luigi gets so scared of the Boos that he throws up in the midst of a panic attack.
  • Similar to Luigi, Mario suffers a panic attack in Crystal Palace thanks to the Duplighosts' trickeries, and throws up before passing out.
• Swallowed Whole: The battle against Tutankoopa ends when Luigi throws the former's Chain Chomp at him. The Chain Chomp eats Tutankoopa whole before retreating into its den.
• Tears of Joy: Mario while Flower Fields is restored to its beautiful glory.
• Tickle Torture: After Huff N. Puff is split off into multiple Tuff Puffs, the Tuff Puffs compress in on Mario and Luigi continuously, nearly tickling them to death.
• Ungrateful Bastard: One of the Shy Guys steals a case of water from Toad Town's corner store. Mario and Luigi find only half the bottles remained intact, but give them back to the store nonetheless. The store owner doesn't seem to be appreciative and kicks out the Bros instead of thanking them.
• Waking Up Elsewhere:
  • While Mario is unconscious after dying from falling and being revived by the Star Spirits, Goombaria and her family take him to Goomba Village's Inn, where he wakes up from a nightmare four hours later.
  • Mario falls asleep in the ferry after nearly drowning in the sea. As a result, Luigi carries him back home and tucks him into bed. Mario wakes up the next morning, initially confused about why he went from the ferry to his bed.
• Will Not Tell a Lie: Both Bros were morally obligated since birth to never tell a lie.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Luigi's "The Reason You Suck" Speech to Mario doubles as this since he calls him out for the very non-heroic things he's done because of his anger.
• Would Hurt a Child: As shown in the finale, Bowser has no qualms with murdering Watt, the youngest and most innocent member of Mario's team.
• You Are Not Alone: At the very end, Mario takes a vacation in Australia to cope with his depression after Jim leaves the Mushroom Kingdom for good. There, a young fan named Jason lets Mario know that he'll always have someone to reach out to, even in bleak times.

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