Work Text:
"It's just my luck that there are TWO Marios! Whatever! You haven't seen the last of me!" The Paper Goomba shouted, before scampering off.
Mario turned around to look at his paper counterpart, to see a scene unfolding between him and Luigi.
Paper Mario jumped for joy at seeing his apparent brother, and opened his arms in an invitation to hug.
Luigi mirrored his actions. "Mario!" He affectionately exclaimed.
As the paper plumber ran up to hug him, Luigi threw his arms around him and hugged him tightly, intending to show his gratitude for saving them, but instead ending up accidentally crumpling him to his chest, causing Mario to panic by the sidelines, who was not yet aware of how durable these paper people were.
After an awkward moment, Luigi realized what he had done, and jumped away from Paper Mario with a yelp, sharing Mario's fear over his safety.
The latter approached his counterpart, and Starlow flew out of his pocket to the sidelines between all three of them. "Whoops! That's too much Luigi love for our new paper friend, I'm afraid."
Thankfully, Paper Mario casually hopped up into the air, and straightened himself back out, with no harm done.
However, when he landed, he glanced around at Luigi and Starlow in confusion.
Starlow was a stranger, so her oddities weren't that concerning but his own brother?
He walked up to Luigi, examining him all over from every side, only growing more confused by what he was seeing.
He hadn't exactly learned much about this new world he had found himself in yet, and couldn't fathom that there could be two of Luigi, assuming something must've happened to his brother.
Or maybe he had just gained some weight.
Stepping back, Paper Mario said that he thought Luigi was staying home, to which Luigi shook his head and hands in denial. "No!" He replied.
Before the paper plumber could become more confused, Starlow flew up behind him to clarify. "You confused him with the Luigi from your world, didn't you? Actually this Luigi is totally different."
Floating to the side to no longer block his view of his 3D counterpart, Starlow continued. "And not to freak you out, but you might wanna take a look behind you too."
He turned around, not sure what to expect... and he certainly wasn't expecting to see himself.
He threw his arms back, freaking out as Mario jumped in showcase of... himself?
The duo stepped closer to one another.
"So, you're Mario too?" Mario asked, and Paper Mario confirmed.
Deciding to test their similarities, Mario did a dramatic backflip jump.
In response, Paper Mario jumped up into the air, and did several floating flips.
"Gosh!" Starlow exclaimed, before he landed back down on the ground.
Mario crouched to the ground, charging up for a Power Jump, letting it loose and jumping as high as he could.
Paper Mario crumpled himself down to the ground, charging up a Spring Jump, before leaping into the air.
...admittedly, he could've gone a lot higher with that, but he kind of messed up the timing. He hadn't had to do a Spring Jump in a long time... Way to mess it up in front of the new guys...
Although it seemed like none of them noticed, with Starlow even exclaiming in awe at the mere possibility of him crumpling up like that. He couldn't imagine not being made of paper, and not being able to do basic things like that...
Mario began spinning around, and after a moment, his paper counterpart caught on, matching his spin with his own, before they both struck simultaneous poses, garnering cheers and claps from Luigi nearby.
"You guys are really in sync!" Starlow remarked.
She flew up to the Mario that they hadn't officially named yet. "So, Mario from the world in the book in Peach's Castle..."
The trio turned to look at her. "Hmm... That's a bit of a mouthful, isn't it." She muttered, trying to think of a better one...
When the subject hopped and supplied one himself.
"Huh? I should call you Paper Mario?" She asked, to which he responded to with a firm thumbs up. "Gotcha. Paper Mario it is, then!"
While they were doing introductions, he decided to ask the big question.
Who is Starlow?
Her eyes widened, and she lurched back in shock. "W-what? You don't know me?"
He shook his head.
"Well, I'm Starlow! I'm a representative of the Star Sprites! Do you have those?"
Paper Mario raised an eyebrow, asking if she meant Star Spirits.
"Star Spirits? No, I'm a Star Sprite! I've never heard of a Star Spirit before. What do they do?" She asked, curious to learn more about his world.
He broke it down as simply as he could: There is a place called Star Haven, where something known as the Star Rod resides, which has the power to make all wishes come true. It's guarded by the 7 Star Spirits, which use its power to grant good wishes which are delivered to them by Star Kids.
"Wow! Trippy!" Starlow exclaimed. "I mean, we have star power, and we can grant SOME wishes... But we're not THAT powerful, and we don't have any sort of rod." She explained. "There's also WAY more than 7 of us!"
By that point, Mario had a lot of questions.
He'd spent this whole time half listening to them, half wondering why his paper counterpart reacted to Luigi the way that he did.
He turned to him, and decided to ask. "Earlier you thought that Luigi would be-a staying home? Why did you-a think-a that?"
Paper Mario gave him a confused look, and explained that his Luigi usually stayed home, only coming on a select few adventures.
Both Mario and Luigi reacted in shock at this news, jumping back. They did practically EVERYTHING together.
"Wait! Did you two-a go to the Bean Bean Kingdom together at least?" The older brother questioned, and Paper Mario raised an eyebrow.
He had HEARD of the Bean Bean Kingdom, but he had never been there, much less with Paper Luigi.
As a counterpoint, he asked if 3D Luigi had ever been to the Waffle Kingdom.
"No..." Luigi meekly admitted. "What's-a that?"
Before the paper hero could explain, Mario butted in. "Hold on! What HAVE you-a done? You went to-a Isle Delfino, right?"
To his surprise... Paper Mario confirmed.
They traded notes on their adventures on Isle Delfino, finding that they had nearly exactly the same adventure there.
And yet somehow, he had never been to the Bean Bean Kingdom...
He brought up his adventures in Rogueport, garnering confusion from all involved.
As he tried to explain, he brought up his partners, and the pictures of them in his house, that were on the cabinets next to the kitchen table, hoping to jog their memories...
Mario and Luigi both raised eyebrows. "We don't have a kitchen table." Luigi said.
Paper Mario jumped in shock. Partially, they have different houses? Partially, how do they live without a kitchen table? Do they eat everything off of the counter?
"Well, maybe we just have-a different furniture!" Mario suggested confidently. "You have a second-a story, right?" He asked, to which Paper Mario denied, shutting down Mario's theory immediately.
"Jeez... Maybe you AREN'T as in sync as I thought..." Starlow mumbled off to the side.
Getting back to the topic at hand, the paper Mario explained his adventures in Rogueport, gathering the Crystal Stars, and getting cursed to fold up into various shapes...
"I... think I-a know why that didn't-a happen to us..." Mario muttered, shuddering at the thought of his 3D, fleshy body getting contorted into a plane...
"Look, I hate to interrupt, but how about we walk and talk?" Starlow suggested, starting to get antsy. "There are now two Bowsers in this world. That means double the badness. And if those two Bowsers were to start working together, that would equal evil squared!"
She paused for a moment, considering what she had just said. "...Maths was never my strong suit. But you get the general gist. We need to get moving before those two meet up!" She exclaimed.
The trio agreed.
Mario walked up to his paper counterpart. "Let's-a go!"
Luigi walked up to him on the other side, causing him to turn to look at him. "Oh yeah!"
Then, they struck a simultaneous pose together, establishing themselves as a true team, ready for their adventure.