A/N: I HATE HIATUSES! DON'T YOU?

Seriously though, I've been going through withdrawal from this story. I've been depressed. Which should tell you how hellbent I am on finishing this thing, even if it ends my game. (But hopefully it won't.)

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The Temple of the Sun

00:00

"Well, we certainly have been waiting up here a long time," Peach sighed, pacing back and forth around the large room. "I just hate that we have no way of knowing what Mario's up to while we're in here."

"I sure hope he got out of that factory all right," Luigi muttered, sitting on the Aeon Clock and gazing at his hands. "That place sounded just plain spooky."

Peach briefly stopped pacing and gazed worriedly out the window. "You're right, Luigi… oh, I'm so worried about him. What if he got into more trouble than he could handle this time?"

"Now, Princess Peach and Master Luigi, we mustn't lose hope," Toadsworth said firmly. "After all, Master Mario has gotten through worse scuffles than this in the past. I only wish we had some idea of when to go back downstairs and start investigating again."

Peach was about to open her mouth to respond, when suddenly she was interrupted by a very loud crash coming from somewhere downstairs.

Luigi jumped in fright. "What in the – what was that?"

All three of them quickly crouched down in front of the huge clock and tried to listen. After a few more crashes that sounded suspiciously like expensive things being broken, they thought they could hear a very familiar Master of Night roaring something in fury.

Peach turned to the others. "Well… now's as good a time as any."

And so they opened up the passage and walked quickly and quietly down the stairs. They reached the bottom and peered into the hallway, and thankfully King Shroude was currently too enraged to even notice them.

"What do you mean you didn't go after Mario?" he bellowed at Jaff, who had the bad luck to be cowering underneath him at that very moment. "You knew he was heading for the Poisoned Factory and you did nothing about it? Have you not learned yet that Mario is never to be left unsupervised after everything he's done?"

"But – but it was your order, my lord!" Jaff pleaded, looking very unsure of himself for once. "You said yourself we shouldn't risk – "

"Don't be ridiculous. I gave no such order," Shroude barked at him. After fighting to contain his anger for a long moment, he finally drew back and sighed. "Oh, fine… I'll just have to roll with the punches, I suppose. I'm certain you three would have failed against him anyway."

Jaff winced at his words but said nothing, just looking guilty.

"Wow… I almost feel sorry for that guy," Luigi muttered.

"I don't," Peach said firmly.

"Now then, Jaff. If you're correct and Mario has found the Eve Soul, then things have just gotten very bad for you indeed. This is your last chance to stop Mario before… well, anyway. I'd rather discuss this where I'm certain no one can hear us."

After glancing around, he grabbed Jaff and pulled him down the hallway, stopping in front of a very ornate door near the end and pulling it open. He shoved Jaff through before walking in himself, then slammed the door shut behind him.

The instant he was gone, Peach and the others ran into the hallway.

"Come on, you two!" Peach cried, pulling Luigi along by the wrist. "They're probably talking about where the last Sun Soul is! We have to get in there and listen!"

"I get it, I get it!" Luigi panted.

As soon as they arrived at the door, though, all three of them deflated in disappointment. They had no way of getting in; it was latched shut by not one, not two, but four locks.

"Oh, dear," Toadsworth sighed. "He must be taking extra precautions after we've been gallivanting about all this time."

"He's smarter than he looks," Peach groaned. "Well, this is no good… now what do we do?"

"Zzzzz… Sniff-snort… huh-wha? Who are you guys?"

Peach, Luigi and Toadsworth turned in surprise and found themselves looking at someone they hadn't even noticed before. A rather overweight Darkstrider was sitting against the wall on the other side of the door, and it was clear he'd been asleep until just a moment ago.

"Hey… you guys are the prisoners, right?" he slurred. "Uh, you're not supposed to be down here, I think. Uh, yeah. I should probably report you guys."

Peach frowned at him, not feeling very intimidated. "I'm afraid not, mister… what's your name?"

"Huh? Oh, I'm Dorr. Get it? I'm called that 'cause I guard the door. Pretty clever, right?"

"Genius," Peach grumbled. "Anyway, mister Dorr, we need to find out where that last Sun Soul is, and I'm sorry, but you're not stopping us."

"Yeah, what she said," Luigi added, not sounding as confident.

In response, Dorr just stood up and stretched a little. "Uh, sorry guys, but that's not gonna happen. King Shroude has me guarding the keys that open this door. I mean, I guess if you could figure out which key goes in which lock, then maybe you could get in. But King Shroude says he's the only one smart enough around here to figure that out."

"I'm not surprised. You Darkstriders aren't the brightest bunch," Peach said frankly. "But I'm sure we can figure out your little puzzle. Just try us."

Dorr just shrugged. "Yeah, whatever."

Peach blinked as he pulled out a ring of four different keys. They all looked ancient and ornate, and each one was colored differently: one red, one yellow, one green, one blue.

"Okay. You get three hints. If you can figure it out on the first try, you can go in," he said nonchalantly. "Otherwise, I'm gonna have to give you a beatdown. Or something."

"Just give us the hints," Peach snapped.

"HINT NUMBER ONE!" he shouted with a sudden fervor, causing Peach and the others to jump back in shock. "The blue key doesn't go on the bottom! HINT NUMBER TWO! The yellow key goes between the green and blue keys! HINT NUMBER THREE! The red key goes third from the top! Got all that?"

Peach was stunned. "Uh… I think so. Hang on…"

She drew back and conferred with the other two for a moment. After running it over they decided they had the right order, and Peach turned back to Dorr with a determined look.

"All right, give me the keys."

Dorr just shrugged and handed them over. Peach stuck the keys in the locks, from top to bottom: Blue, yellow, red and green.

She, Luigi and Toadsworth beamed as all the locks clicked.

Dorr looked pretty unconcerned. "Huh. That was pretty good. Okay, whatever, you can go. But we're gonna take over your world and stuff, just so you know." And he sauntered off without another word.

"Good minions are hard to find, it would seem," Toadsworth remarked. Peach just shook her head and pulled the door open ever so slightly and she, Luigi and Toadsworth peered through the crack.

King Shroude was standing in meeting room, which was similar to the one where Luigi had met Rizz for the first time. Jaff and Rizz were standing on either side of him and were glaring at each other in utter contempt; it was only being in the presence of their king that kept them from tearing each other's throats out right there.

"Now listen, you two," the Master of Night said sternly. "I've called both of you here because this matter with Mario has reached a critical point. With every Sun Soul he has stolen from us, he has grown in power. Now he only has one left to recover, because the two of you have failed to stop him at every turn. This is unforgivable."

Jaff shook his head desperately. "My lord, Mario hasn't beaten us yet!" he insisted. "My team has been holding back until now. We've underestimated Mario and his friends, but it won't happen again! To keep him from finding the Dusk Soul, we shall attack him with all our might!"

Shroude nodded in agreement. "That's right. You will."

Jaff briefly paused, then blinked in surprise. "Wait… you agree?"

"Yes. In fact, I'm sending every Darkstrider in this temple after Mario. No more games. It's time to attack him with all our fury, so that he may understand our true strength. And you are going to be leading them."

Jaff grew an excited look and nodded eagerly. "Thank you, my lord! I swear I shall work to earn this great honor!"

Rizz frowned. "And what am I supposed to do in the meantime?"

Shroude turned to her. "I was talking to you too, Rizz. When I said you would be leading the assault, I meant both of you. You're going to be working together."

There was a very laden silence.

"WHAT?" both Darkstriders finally exploded.

"Absolutely out of the question!" Rizz snarled, bristling. "I refuse to work with this incompetent fool!"

"Rizz, your track record against Mario has been no better than Jaff's," Shroude reminded her. "Frankly I expected it of him, but I had much higher hopes for you."

Rizz stared up at him in horror. Jaff, while delighted by the look on her face, wasn't any happier about this arrangement than she was.

"My lord, I don't need her help! My team has this completely under control!"

Shroude gave him an unimpressed look. "Is that so… remind me again, Jaff. Where did your team hide the Dusk Soul? Surely it must be someplace even more dangerous than the Poisoned Factory, correct?"

Jaff suddenly looked mortified, realized he'd been led straight into a trap. As Rizz looked expectantly at him, he lowered his gaze to the floor and spoke so quietly it was hard to hear him.

"…The… the Seashell Hotel, my lord."

After staring at him for a moment, Rizz burst out laughing.

"A hotel! The final Sun Soul, our last stand against Mario's forces, and you hide it in a hotel? Oh, you never cease to amuse me, Jaff."

"It's not just any hotel!" Jaff screamed desperately. "The Seashell Hotel is famous for its size! It's one of the crowning achievements of architecture in Chronoside, even larger than our fortress! And we hid it on the very top floor!" He turned wistfully to Shroude. "My lord, trust me when I say it was the safest place in the region to hide the Sun Soul from Mario."

Shroude merely shrugged. "You may be right. But it doesn't change the fact that you'll be working with Rizz this time. Finding the Sun Soul in a place like that would be difficult enough on its own… but with a full army of Darkstriders at our cause, Mario doesn't stand a chance."

He nodded in satisfaction. "Now then. You two, go rally the forces and prepare to move out… and do not fail me this time."

Jaff and Rizz nodded reluctantly, realizing he wouldn't be swayed. They prepared to leave before Shroude added one more thing.

"And don't forget," he said seriously, "I'm still not convinced either of the ones you two have found are worthy of guarding my greatest treasure… if you are wise, I'd suggest you continue testing them. Rizz, this may be the perfect opportunity for you to bring out that Magikoopa again."

"As you wish, my lord!" Rizz agreed. She and Jaff quickly vanished out of the room, and with that, Shroude began waving his scepter above his head and vanished right along with them.

Peach slowly drew away from the door and turned to look at her friends, wondering just what they thought of all this.

"So… the Seashell Hotel?" Toadsworth said thoughtfully. "Princess, isn't that one of the places you were blathering on about on the way here?"

"It certainly is!" Peach agreed, nodding furiously. "The Seashell Hotel is part of a very famous resort on Palmy Balmy Beach. It's normally a wonderful place to vacation, but… it sounds like the Darkstriders are going to make things difficult."

"Well, the good news is, Mario made it out of the factory all right," Luigi spoke up. "The bad news is, he's about to go up against about a hundred of those blue guys…"

Peach sighed and shook her head. "Come on, you two. We'd better go back upstairs before we're caught."

And so the three of them reluctantly turned around and trudged back up the stairs, deciding there was nothing else they could do now except wait. Peach was starting to feel very weary as they reached the top.

Oh, Mario… things just keep getting worse out there for you. Please get out of this okay… I just want all this madness to be over… so I can see you again.

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Soluna Town

12:00 Noon

"BACK! BACK, YOU VILE BEAST!" cried a very valiant (or possibly very stupid) Koopa who was currently throwing a bunch of empty cans at Bowser. "I won't have you defiling our precious town any longer! Stay back, I tell you!"

Bowser wasn't even paying attention to him, the cans glancing off him like they were nothing. "Sheesh, where are those blue guys, anyway? They're totally late! I'm getting bored out of my skull here!"

Finally the Koopa gave up his attempt and just ran for his life. Bowser kept on walking until he arrived at the area near the center of town where the Star Pedestal was located, surrounded by park benches.

"Well, whatever. I guess I can just chill while I'm waiting for them," he decided. He promptly flopped down onto one of the benches, only for it to instantly shatter under his weight and send him to the ground with a thud.

He glared down at the pile of timber beneath him. "Sheesh. Shoddy workmanship."

"King Bowser! There you are!"

Bowser glanced over his shoulder and found Jaff, Pell and Nobb glaring up at him. "Hmph. About time you wusses got here. I'm a busy man, you know!"

"Well, King Bowser, it would be much easier to find you sooner if you weren't constantly moving around," Jaff growled in exasperation. "Now perhaps you will start taking this seriously when I tell you that you are about to receive the final test."

That did get Bowser's interest.

"Woah! Are you kidding? Finally!" he laughed. "Geez, took you losers long enough! Guess your king finally caught wind of how totally awesome I am, right?"

"We'll see about that. As I'm sure you are aware, King Bowser, this final test is the most important of all. While you have proven that you are without a doubt strong enough to defeat Mario, our lord must still be assured of your loyalty to him."

Bowser blinked. "Huh?"

"Yeah! We can't have you go off wailin' on Mario without his say-so," Pell agreed. "If you're gonna work for King Shroude, you gotta go by the book."

"If you fail this test, then King Shroude will see to it that you are not allowed within a mile of Mario, under any circumstances. By force if necessary," Jaff said in a low voice, as serious as ever. "Do we make ourselves clear?"

Bowser frowned at the three Darkstriders before finally rolling his eyes. "Fine. I get it. So what's the big test then, huh?"

"Simply this."

And then Jaff suddenly grabbed Bowser by the wrist and hauled him to the ground.

Bowser had to resist howling in pain as some horrible agony suddenly exploded through him. Jaff was doing something to him, focusing all his power into his grip… Bowser's whole arm was going numb with icy cold as the Darkstrider dug his nails into his wrist… everything was going foggy and there seemed to be a chorus of distant screams filling the air…

"Do you swear on your very life that you will serve our lord without question, no matter the cost to yourself?" Jaff roared at him in a voice that seemed to be amplified a thousand times. Bowser couldn't even tell where he was anymore… all he could see was blurry images and smoke… so much smoke…

"Y… yeah! Yeah, I do!" he groaned. It was an impossible effort just to get the words out.

"Do you swear that you will never subvert the wishes of our lord and never pursue an agenda against his, under penalty of death?" Jaff went on, his voice drowning out every other sound.

Oh, what was going on? Why was it so hard to even open his mouth? Bowser was doubling over in pain… there seemed to be a demonic wind whipping around him, coming from nowhere…

"Yes! Yes already!"

"Do you swear that you have the ability to carry out any wish our lord asks of you? That you have not lied about your strength, understanding that failure or weakness will carry the same penalty as treachery?"

If Bowser hadn't been so set on beating Mario once and for all, he wouldn't have had the strength to speak anymore. But he was, and he did.

"YES! NOW MAKE IT STOP!"

And then, amongst the icy wind and smoke and fog, against the screams that may or may not have even been there, Jaff nodded.

"Only those with true ability could have passed that test. Congratulations, King Bowser."

And with that, he released his grip on Bowser. Just like that, the word suddenly returned to normal around the Koopa King, who instantly collapsed to the ground, gasping in exhaustion.

"With that, you have passed the final test. You have proven yourself worthy of serving our lord," Jaff said calmly as Bowser struggled to collect himself. Geez, what had those freaks just done to him?

"Uh… okay, fine," he wheezed, staggering to his feet. "I guess that wasn't so bad… now you guys gotta hold up your end of the bargain! Now I finally get to wail on Mario, right? Just point me in the right direction! I'll maul that plumber into next week!"

"Not so fast. As I was saying, you will be granted the opportunity to battle Mario… if the need arises. But I must tell you, it will not."

Bowser's smile instantly fell. "What? What are you talking about, ugly? I thought we had a deal!"

"The deal has been altered. We're about to catch Mario off guard at his next destination and lay a full-fledged assault against him, with all our numbers." He smirked. "If, by some unthinkable miracle, he manages to defeat us there, then we will have failed in all our efforts and the task of defeating him must fall to you."

He took a few steps backward, along with Pell and Nobb. "But like I said… that won't happen."

Bowser stared at them with his jaw hanging open, and before he could even protest they had already surrounded themselves in smoke and vanished out of the air.

After a long moment Bowser finally found his voice.

"What the heck? COME BACK HERE, YOU COWARDS! NOBODY DUPES KING BOWSER!"

He stomped over to where they had been standing, whipping his head around furiously to try and find them, but of course they were long gone.

Finally he couldn't contain himself any longer and just threw his head back and roared. "GRAAAAWWW! I HATE THIS COUNTRY!"

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A/N: With any luck the post chapter will be up in a few days too, since a) you guys had to wait so freakin' long and b) I want to churn out as much as I possibly can before Paper Mario 3DS hits this story with a canonball. (Heh, get it? Canon-ball? *banned for life*)