Dupli Doo was hovering around the castle underground. He was bored out of his non-existent mind. He stopped as he saw something sparkle under one of the crates. "What could it be?" he thought. When he went to the crate and looked at the sparkle, it was nothing more than a spoon. "Arrgh! When will I find that stone?" He said to no one in particular.
The stone that Dupli Doo, a duplighost, was to find was by order of Bowser, the Koopa King. It was very powerful, and only those destined to use its power could. He had taken by force from one of the two stone guardians. The other guardian was Princess Lime, the younger sister of Princess Peach.
Knowing that he would probably be defeated by the Mario Bros. if he tried to kidnap the Princess again, he was searching for every source of power he could find. He had the remains of the Star Rod, which he used in Paper Mario, and needed to charge it up again. That's why he sent Dupli Doo to find the Red Power stone.
Sleepy Steve, a Clubba, was patrolling Blubble Lake. He was on patrol duty for an underground society that keeps the peace in the area, The Bubble. He was getting tired. He lied down on the ground, and fell asleep. In that time, Bowser's Koopa Corps came up, picked him up, and carried him to a cell in the Bowser's Castle dungeon, and locked him inside.