Notes: The characters aren't mine, and the story is! I was inspired to write this after the announcement of Mario & Luigi Paper Jam at E3 last month; I didn't get around to it until now, as I had other projects going on.

I would also like to dedicate this fic to the memory of Mr. Iwata, for all the years of games and joy that he gave me and to countless others.


It was a lovely, peaceful morning in the Mushroom Kingdom. Mario and Luigi had been repeatedly getting praise for their defeat of Dreamy Bowser on Pi'illo Island a few weeks ago. Bowser, brought back to normal, had receded into the woodwork and hadn't been causing any trouble lately; the brothers and the princess had been taking advantage of the temporary peacetime to relax.

The quiet summer morning was soon filled with the calls of a familiar friend.

"Daisy's here, loud and clear!"

Toadsworth cleared his throat as the auburn-haired princess strode into the hall of Peach's castle.

"Presenting Princess Daisy of Sarasaland—"

"Aww, come on, Toadsworth," Daisy said. "Life's too short for all of those formalities! These guys know who I am!"

She tossed her suitcase and sports bag aside and extended her arms out as Peach arrived to greet her.

"There she is!" Daisy exclaimed, giving Peach a bear hug.

"Nice to see you again, Daisy," Peach said, through a laugh. "Did you have a pleasant trip?"

"Sure did; you have the best first-class service this side of Sarasaland!" Daisy said, now rushing forward to give Mario a hug. "Hiya, Mario!"

"Oof!" the red-clad plumber exclaimed as he had the wind knocked out of him. "Good morning, Daisy! Yipe-!"

Mario did a clumsy pirouette as Daisy let go and suddenly swept past him as she spotted Luigi, standing shyly at the back of the room.

"And there's my favorite guy in green!" she exclaimed. "C'mere, you!"

"H-hi, Daisy," Luigi began, but he, too, yelped as he was caught in a tight bear hug, as well.

"Mamma mia…" Mario said, as he regained his footing.

"She knows how to make an entrance, doesn't she?" Peach mused.

"You can say that again," Mario agreed, but he was smiling, amused, as his brother shyly returned Daisy's hug.

"And…" Daisy said, turning to the Star Sprite hovering nearby. "…First time I'm meeting you, I think…"

"The name's Starlow," she grinned. "Hello Yello!"

"Hey, you're talking my language!" Daisy exclaimed. "Great! Now let's get to some serious vacationing! I brought my golf clubs, I brought my tennis racquet, and I'm assuming you guys have my kart here. I'm ready for some fun!"

"Brunch is ready!" a Toad announced.

"…Well, maybe I can wait a bit longer," Daisy mused, as a long food cart was brought in.

"I thought you might be hungry after your trip," Peach explained.

"I like the way you think," Daisy replied, as they all began to get some food and sit at a table. "Hey, you guys need to tell me all about this Pi'illo Island place you went to. I mean, I got from today's papers that it was a hot vacation spot."

"Are the papers still talking about it?" Mario asked, surprised.

"Sure—they were talking about Luigi in today's Kingdom Courier—they gave me a complimentary copy on the flight," Daisy said, retrieving the paper from her bag. "All about Luigi being able to open up portals to a world of dreams and wondering if he can still do that here." She looked to the green-clad plumber. "Have you been holding out on us, Luigi? I never knew you could do that!"

"I didn't know myself until we got there," Luigi said, with an embarrassed chuckle. "We found out on accident."

"So, you got to be the hero this time around, huh?" Daisy asked.

"Well, I couldn't have done it without my big bro," Luigi said. He blinked as Starlow cleared her throat. "And Starlow, too."

"You were handling things fine, Luigi," Mario assured him. "Daisy's right—you were the hero this time."

"I'll second that," Peach agreed.

"Nah…" the green-glad plumber said, blushing slightly.

He was spared from any other embarrassing praises by the arrival of the Mail Toad, carrying a larger-than-normal stack of mail.

"It appears that tales about the Pi'illo Island exploits have begun to reach foreign lands," Toadsworth observed. "These are from a variety of places."

"Eh, go figure—after I leave Sarasaland," Daisy mused.

"I only thought Link knew about what happened," Luigi said. "At least, he was the only one I told—since he'd mentioned having been in a Dream World before, I thought we could compare stories."

"Hey, don't complain!" Daisy grinned. "Enjoy your fifteen minutes of fame!"

"Sure; enjoy it, Luigi," Mario agreed, as the Mail Toad handed him a few letters. "You've earned all of this praise. …Oh, look—another fan letter from Pit, and he's asked me to congratulate you on our accomplishments in the Dream World. And here's one from Captain Falcon. He says you surprised him and he never knew you had it in you. …I think he meant it as a compliment."

"Well, here's the answer to this wave of fanmail," Peach said, as she opened a letter stamped with the Hyrule Royal Crest. "Zelda says that Pit was sparring with Link the other day and the story sort of slipped out."

"Yeah, and Pit isn't exactly the quiet type like Link is," Daisy laughed. "…Or, should I say, usually is?"

"Yeah," Luigi said, as he opened his letter from Link. "Link apologized for accidentally letting it slip."

"And Samus also wants to congratulate you, too," Peach added, opening a second letter. "Along with giving her usual offer of a discounted rate to exterminate the Koopas the next time they cause trouble. She knows we'll turn her down, but she still offers out of courtesy…."

"And here's a letter from Red," Luigi mused. "Oh, and one from Ness!"

"Uh-oh…" Mario suddenly said, as he picked up the last letter in his stack.

"Who's that from?" Luigi asked. "Bowser?"

"No, worse—it's from Mama."

Luigi dropped his stack of letters.

"Does she read the Kingdom Courier?" he yelped.

"You two ordered a subscription for her by mail, remember?" Peach pointed out, looking up from her letters.

"Oh, no…" Luigi moaned. "She's not going to congratulate me—she hates it whenever Mario and I do anything remotely dangerous."

"Can't say I blame her," Starlow said. "Even as kids, you guys got into a lot of dangerous scrapes, or so I've heard."

"Yes…" Toadsworth agreed. "I seem to recall that after my younger self returned your younger selves to your proper time after the Shroob invasion, the good lady gave my younger self a right earful for allowing you in such a dangerous situation."

Luigi gave a slight gulp.

"Well, aren't you going to open Mama's letter?" he asked his brother.

"Eh… maybe you should open it, Luigi," Mario said, gently sliding the letter over to him. "I mean, this is all about you."

"Oh, but I couldn't have done it without you, remember?" Luigi asked, sliding the letter back.

"The two great heroes of the Mushroom Kingdom," Daisy teased. "Give 'em a hand, everyone…"

She trailed off as a frown crossed Peach's face; Peach had just opened another letter and had started to read it.

"What's wrong?" Mario asked, noticing now. "I'm guessing that isn't a message of congratulations, either…"

"No," Peach said, grimly. "It's from Prince Dreambert. There's trouble in the Dream World."

"Again!?" Starlow asked. "We got home three weeks ago, and now we've got to go back to Pi'illo Island!? What did Forgetbert forget this time!?"

"He hasn't said, and we're not going to the island," Peach said. "Dreambert and Eldream are on their way here; listen to this—'By the time this letter reaches you, we will be within an hour of the Mushroom Kingdom. We're hoping that the Mario Brothers can help us one more time to ensure the safety of the Dream World for good.' That's all he says. I'm sorry, Daisy, but it looks like your vacationing will have to wait."

"Hey, there's going to be some action, and I'll get to be a part of it," she replied, with a shrug. "That's fine by me."

Mario, in the meantime, was pondering over what the trouble could be.

"Antasama is history… Are there others like him?" he wondered aloud.

"Maybe it's just something small, like a Goomba or a Shy Guy?" Luigi said.

"Don't get your hopes up," Starlow said, cynical about the whole ordeal. "It never works out that way."

They continued to ponder and discuss over the possibilities as they waited for Dreambert's arrival.


They didn't have long to wait; true to his letter, Dreambert and Eldream soon arrived.

"Presenting Prince Dreambert and the elder Eldream from Pi'illo Isl—" Toadsworth began, but once again found himself cut off by Daisy.

"Lemme simplify this, Toadsworth," she said, and she turned to the Pi'illos. "Hi, I'm Daisy, princess of Sarasaland and friend of Peach and the Mario Brothers; they've told me all about you while we were waiting for you. Nice to meet you both."

She shook their stubby arms and indicated the others to them. The prince and the elder briefly greeted everyone before turning to the matter at hand.

"I'm sorry we had to meet again under serious circumstances," Dreambert said. "But we really are unable to deal with our current dilemma."

"You know we'd like to help," Mario said. "But what exactly is it?"

"Yeah, you were kinda vague in that letter," Starlow reminded him.

"We're not exactly sure of the problem, either," Dreambert explained. "That's part of the problem, actually."

"We set about surveying the Dream World now that Antasma is gone," Eldream added. "The majority of the Dream World is doing fine. But there appears to be a problem in Dream's Deep."

"There is a malevolent presence in the darkest reaches of Dream's Deep," Dreambert continued. "We've felt its power issuing from there—some of us have even heard it laughing. But we're unable to reach it presently. With Luigi's ability to manipulate the Dream World, we can hopefully gain access to it."

"And, perhaps, deal with it in your usual way," Eldream finished.

"Oh, yeah!" Mario exclaimed. "What do you say, Luigi?"

"Well… I guess it wouldn't hurt to look around," Luigi finished.

Peach, who had been standing to the side, thinking about something, now beckoned Toadsworth to her.

"Can you possibly find Toadiko and Toadbert?" she asked. "I think he might be able to help us out."

"Absolutely, my dear," Toadsworth said, and he headed out of the castle, towards Toad Town.

"What do we need Toadiko and Toadbert for?" Mario asked, baffled.

"Diversions," Peach said. "I intend to go to the Dream World with you—but Toadsworth would never go for it."

"I'm afraid I must agree," Dreambert said. "We have no idea of what's down in Dream's Deep; the last thing we want is for something to happen to you again."

"But when Antasma took me, I wasn't even in the Dream World—he pulled me in, separating me from the others," Peach reminded him. "Whatever is in Dream's Deep could escape into the real world and come after me this way."

"I gotta go along with Peach on this one," Daisy said. "I mean, just how often does the whole 'splitting up' thing actually work? I'll take my chances with Mario."

"Very well," Dreambert sighed. "If we're ready, then…"

Luigi gulped nervously, but nodded. Eldream reclined on the floor of the hall, and Luigi made himself comfortable. With a sigh, he fell asleep, and the cloudy dream portal opened above his head.

"So that's how he did it, huh?" Daisy said, in admiration. "Just fall asleep and open that portal? And we can all go through it?"

"Well, I guess I'm staying behind for my usual duty—Dreambert sometimes relays stuff back to me to help Luigi manipulate the things in the Dream World," Starlow said. "But yeah, anyone who's going should probably go now before Toadsworth comes back and puts a stop to it."

"Right!" Mario said. "Follow me!"

He leaped headfirst into the portal; Peach daintily jumped in after him, while Daisy practically high-jumped right into it. Dreambert shook his head in slight confusion, and then floated in after her.