Oh gracious…..HAHAHA!
This is hilarious! I feel so bad for him, but can’t help laughing at his plight…

Mario is tenacious, I’ll give him that. And he never seems to get jaded by his experiences. Unless you count the fan made ’There will be brawl". That aside, I enjoyed your story. Keep up the good work.

Oh, no. Poor guy. He seems a bit hapless for all his courage. Who was the ephemeral princess? The voice? Is this part of a series? Mr. Quick mentions a Mario and other experiences. How can I find the other tales? This was a wonderful, exciting read and the ending was stellar. Great job!

HAHAHAHH!!! that made me laugh so hard. very creative! thanks for entering =)

Thanks for the comments. I really wanted to enter this contest, but was having trouble coming up with a good enough bittersweet ending until I randomly got the Mario theme song stuck in my head while browsing fics.

To answer your question, shadowlight, “Thank you! But our princess is in another castle!” is from the Mario Nintendo games, when you beat a boss enemy in a castle only to discover that you haven’t beaten the game yet: http://media.giantbomb.com/uploads/0/3924/195078-princess_is_in_another_castle_super.jpg

I thought it was great, up until the last line. Maybe because I am not a Mario fan/player. It just kinda spoiled the mood and I didn’t think it was bitter sweet, more comedic.

I loved the punchline, but I was reared on Mario games. Never really thought of the situation from Mario’s POV before, so it was an interesting shift in perspective for me.

Haha, took me a while to pick up the reference, but I got it right about where he did the leap and hurled a fireball. Nicely and dramatically written version of the familiar scene.

I thought it was a great story way to stick to the challenge/genre

I loved the action and drama and tension, capped with the ultimate let down and frustrating revelation. :)

If you have any problems understanding this ficlet, you can use the enclosed instruction book.

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YES

Oh freak yes! This is awesome!

Wow! Lots of action on this!

Thanks to all for reading and commenting – glad you enjoyed it!