Misadventures in Babysitting

Misadventures in Babysitting is the fourteenth episode of The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3.

Plot Synopsis
The episode begins in the living room of a Brooklyn home, where the parents, who are getting ready to go out for the night, are waiting for a babysitter to arrive to look after their bratty son, Junior. Junior foolishly breaks a vase and lets the family cat take the blame. At that moment, Mario and Luigi come out of a Warp Pipe underneath the kitchen sink and realize that they must've taken the wrong pipe. They are then spotted by the mother, who assumes that they're Junior's babysitters. Mario and Luigi are unable to talk their way out of babysitting Junior, and the parents, who are desperate to get going, dump Junior on the Bros., telling them to give him a bath, and they leave. Right away, Junior insists on playing hide-and-seek, and demands that Mario and Luigi be "it".

Junior goes to hide under the sink and crawls into the Warp Pipe, which warps him to the Mushroom Kingdom, where he takes an instant liking to the bizarre atmosphere of the place. Several Boomerang Bros. attack Junior with a boomerang, but Junior manages slice a tree in half with it, which crushes the attackers. Junior is then spotted by Ludwig von Koopa, Roy Koopa and Larry Koopa (Kooky, Bully and Cheatsy in the cartoon respectively), who convince him that they're his friends, since they're all enemies of the Mario Bros. Mario and Luigi arrive in the Mushroom Kingdom to look Junior, and hear him calling for help, although it was just a ploy to lead them to some attacking Ptooies, which they have to fight off.

The Koopalings use Junior to lure Mario and Luigi inside a volcano, where they trap them behind rocks and boulders in a cave. However, Junior starts to worry when Ludwig prepares to flood the cave with lava, as he just wanted to play around with the Mario Bros., not to actaully harm them. Annoyed with Junior's complaing, the Koopalings toss him down a pipe, warping him to Pipe Land. Junior soon finds himself having to avoid Thwomps, Boo-Diddlies and a Boom Boom. Now that he's lost, Junior is desperate to return home.

Mario and Luigi escape from the rising lava by chiseling away at the wall, and manage to escape from the volcano. They then spot the Koopalings laughing, and learn about what they did with Junior. The Bros. warp to the Pipe Maze, and deal with the enemies there until they find Junior. Meanwhile, Ludwig starts to flood the Pipe Maze with lava, forcing the Mario Bros. and Junior to flee. Mario and Luigi both find Super Leaves, transforming them into Raccoon Mario and Luigi. They then grab ahold of Junior and fly into a Warp Pipe to escape from the lava, returning to the Mushroom Kingdom.

Mario points out that the volcano is about to erupt, so he, Luigi and Junior set up a boulder on a makeshift catapult, which they fire at the volcano summit to plug it, stopping the lava. Luigi points out that Junior's parents will be home in fifteen minutes, so the group warps back to Junior's house. Just as they do, Junior's parents get back. Since Junior's mom wanted Junior to take a bath, Mario and Luigi scramble to get Junior into the bathtub, just as his mom enters the bathroom. Junior's mom is so pleased that Mario and Luigi managed to get Junior to take a bath, that she asks them if they'd be willing to babysit the following Friday.

Trivia

 * Peach, Toad and Bowser do not appear in this episode.