Castle in the Sky:

The seven Kruna Yura had split up and scoured Evershade Valley for any sign of Chrysanthemum Sindograss, MAE's commander-in-chief. They had last seen her with them in MAE Command Center's Heavenly Hall, but she had since slipped away in the midst of the chaos that had transpired because of Gabriel Soul. Daisy, Warra, and Ramona went through the trees and fields nearby, while Bowser and Athelstan looked through the MAE Command Center wreckage. Marut searched the land with an overhead view in the cool night sky, an eye out for both Chrissy and the Alkemei Ankh. But the last time anyone had caught sight of the Ankh, it was sailing far off into the distance following Gabriel Soul's destruction and not looking like it would slow down any time soon. The best the Kruna could do for now was hope the Ankh would not end up in the wrong hands.

With her ankle still bothering her greatly, Neva sat against one of the fences along Gatehouse Road and stared at the bright moon, mindful of the wound in her back. A set of seven stars glistened above to the right of the moon, one star red, another blue, another a silvery-black, yet another a tanish-brown, a fifth one green, then a bright white-blue, and the final one a white-hot gold. All seven of them floated spread out in the night sky, twinkling and sparkling. Soon, an eighth one drifted into view. A vibrant, deep purple, the dark star seemed to complete the existing set of seven. However, it stayed the most distant, as if something was preventing it from joining the rest.

"I need a looooong vacation after this," Neva heard Athelstan say. She turned and saw Bowser and Athelstan stepping out of and away from the remains of MAE Command Center. Bowser disbanded the fire around his Flare Sword, a source of light he had sparked to help them see through the darkness a little better.

"Well, no body," said Bowser. "So, presumably, she got away..."

"Unless she got crushed into nothing," said Athelstan.

Marut dove down from above and set his feet on the grass near the group. "Can anyone sense anything other than us?"

"No..." said Ramona, walking back with Daisy. Warra soon returned as well, but found nothing noteworthy to report on. That meant Chrissy was gone, and no one had a clue as to where she could have fled to.

"Ah, never mind her," Daisy eventually said. "We don't gotta worry about her anymore."

Bowser scowled. "No you did not just say that."

"What?" Daisy asked. "You think she's a threat to anyone? We just got through trashing her whole organization, wrecking her tech, cutting down her workforce, and demolishing her supercomputer. What can she really do? She knows she can't do anything now. She knows she lost. All she can do now is integrate herself into society as a normal person and leave all this MAE business behind."

"Yeah, I'm sure that's exactly what she has in mind," muttered Neva.

"I dunno, Daisy," said Athelstan. "We've all seen how stubborn she is. I think we needa track her down."

"I shouldn't have saved her," grumbled Bowser. "I should've just let her suffocate under that sandstorm attack..."

"Heh, you guys are really that worried about her?" said Daisy. "Please. After what she just got through seeing and experiencing, she learned her lesson, I'm sure. Like Grekka, and Elkon, and Marissa, and the Black Mages."

"And what about Kokoro, huh?" said Bowser. "And King Boo?"

"Where is King Boo?" asked Marut.

Neva squinted, confused. "I don't know..."

"Haven't seen him since the Bellbridge night..." murmured Ramona.

"You can't compare Chrissy to them," said Daisy. "Those two are in a different category."

"Oh, are they?" grunted Bowser. "Just because they're exponentially more powerful than her doesn't mean they don't share the same mindset. I don't think us effectively ruining her short-lived life is gonna sit well with her."

"Agreed," said Athelstan. "And she didn't exactly spend this whole night apologizing, did she?"

"She spent a good long while crying and begging for us not to touch her," grumbled Neva. "Aside from that, she didn't seem to act any different towards us."

"Maybe seeing what happened to Dr. Ezhno will make her change her attitude," said Ramona.

"Who knows," said Athelstan. "It seemed to me like she had more regret over herself and her failings over any actual wrongdoing..."

Daisy frowned. "At least she won't be able to show her face in public again once we report all the dirt we've got on MAE and everything we've found tonight. Still got all the records and evidence and stuff we snagged, Athelstan?"

"Oh yeah!" Athelstan replied, patting his Hammerspace Belt. "Right in here."

"Good," Daisy replied with a nod. "And then after that...we need to figure out where to find Andrew."

Ramona gave a nod herself as well. "Because the one we faced earlier was just a clone."

"How about it, Neva?" said Daisy. "When do you wanna get started on looking for Andrew?"

"Pfft, fat chance any of us find him," said Neva.

"What do you mean?" said Daisy. "You don't know that!"

Neva gave Daisy an annoyed look. "So then how were you even planning on finding him?"

"I don't know – I mean, I had a plan, but it looks like that fell through. The Universal Database is almost certainly destroyed now...so trying to find one of the Black Mages to take to Rosalina and recalibrate Ramona's Motomeru just got considerably more difficult..."

"Exactly. So once again, we're back where we started. He's gone. And...I think I can accept that now."

"He's not gone! We just haven't found a way to find him!"

"And where would he even be?" Neva asked. "Kidnapped and hidden somewhere? Who'd do that? Really? And for what? He's just gone. He could very well be dead at this point."

"Oh c'mon, Neva! It's not that bad..."

"It's not good or bad anymore. It's just...whatever. The sooner I move on, the better."

"Maybe we could see about tracking down some sort of backup archive of that database!" said Athelstan. "It could be an online source, or it could be in offline storage on some special hardware. Or better yet, I remember Rosalina having a book in the Cosmic Archives that has on record just about every Alkemei there is, so maybe we can check that book out and see what it says about the Motomeru. Then we can try to reprogram the Motomeru ourselves!"

"Not a bad idea at all!" Daisy said. "It can't be that hard, can it? In fact-"

"No," said Neva. "That's it. No more. I needa move on and stop thinking about him. And I'm looking forward to not having him on my mind all the time and haunting me. I need to get myself straightened out, and get some kind of normal life together. I shouldn't be obsessing and getting worked up over someone I'll never see again."

Daisy sighed. "Whether or not you're still into him is one thing – but he's still a friend. You're just gonna turn your back on him? Just like that?"

"No one's ever finding him," mumbled Neva. "What am I turning my back on? Look, guys...he's not coming back."

Daisy growled and turned to Ramona. "Hey, Ramona, you think Andrew's still out there, don't you?"

"He is, actually," said Ramona. "I wasn't sure earlier, but I can feel it. He's somewhere."

"Then that's good enough for me," said Daisy.

"I just hope he's not in danger yet," said Warra.

"Hmm? Yet?" asked Daisy.

"If he's missing but still alive after all this time, then that means someone must have taken him," said Warra. "And for a reason."

"But what reason?" asked Bowser.

"Who knows," said Warra. "The person in question can't be trying to use him as ransom or to lure us into a trap. Otherwise, we would've at least been tipped off to something. But no trace left? That must mean they just wanted him. And only him. But then that makes you wonder again: for what reason?"

"Does he have any enemies?" asked Athelstan.

"The same enemies we have," said Bowser. "Kokoro, who doesn't seem to know where he is either, and King Boo."

"Then, it has to be King Boo," said Daisy. "He's been gone for just about as long as Andrew, and they don't like each other very much."

Warra nodded. "Yes... But King Boo doesn't like us either. Even though he does dislike Andrew the most, he should be going after all of us, not just him. Yet, he's been nowhere to be seen. None of us have encountered him. So it can't be him."

"Man, what a mystery..." murmured Daisy.

Warra looked at Ramona. "If you know something that we don't, Ramona, now would be the time to say so."

Ramona had been anxiously staring at the ground, but glanced up when Warra addressed her. "Why me?"

"You know him best," said Warra. "You're essentially siblings; so if you know anyone who could have a grudge or vendetta against him who could be responsible for his disappearance, tell us now."

Before Ramona could reply, Neva spoke up instead. "Uh, how about we get outta here so I can go to the hospital?! I'd rather not spend the whole night here and watch the sun rise!"

"Oh, sorry, Neva," said Daisy. "We should get moving. There's nothing left for us here, right?"

"Not anymore," said Bowser.

Taking into account time zones, the Kruna Yura's trip east in the Koopa Cruiser to complete their round trip and return from the eastern world to the Mushroom Kingdom ended in an early evening arrival the next day. Much of MAE's technologies, products, and enhancements remained, but all of their robots and artificial intelligence had shut down. Townspeople had spent several hours cleaning up the randomly discarded mechanical bodies littered about the streets. By nightfall, Daisy and Ramona had escorted Neva to Peach's Castle following a trip to a local hospital to get her ankle checked out and fitted with a cast and walking boot. Peach herself had already gotten to work with the other Kruna and some of her associates, going over the Kruna's discoveries and MAE's secrets.

With Ramona and Neva heading straight to bed, and the others busy formulating the means to publicly unveil MAE's truths and restore the Kruna's reputation, Daisy left the castle and headed to her own home for the night. On her walk through Toad Town, she saw several large trucks parked throughout the streets. Many residents and workers gathered the last of the inactive, disabled MAE robots into the trucks.

Hopefully, they'll take them someplace where they'll get recycled, thought Daisy. This'll all be over and put behind us soon enough...

As she continued through the streets, Daisy's mind relayed memories of the clashes throughout MAE Command Center. Everything about the ordeal bothered her, including Kokoro's dirty move on Neva. However, her mind focused mostly on the Mother Computer, as well as what became of it under the Alkemei Ankh's influence.

We need to put into perspective the nature of just what we had to deal with at the end, Daisy said in thought. An extremist ultra computer is one thing and bad enough on its own, but what it ultimately evolved into is what's the most concerning.

Daisy grasped her Alkemei Vranzer, the Pendant of Fate. I still don't understand how this works...but I have an idea now, at least... As long as I have the will, then this pendant will help me get to where I need to be...or where I'm trying to go... It will give me a way, a route; but it's up to me to do the rest... So this could actually be a fate-altering Alkemei after all. And if it is, then this may be even more powerful than the Ankh... Manipulating fate could be more powerful than creating life...

Daisy stopped walking and looked to the stars. Maybe instead of trying to figure out where Andrew is, all we really need to do...is have the Vranzer guide us. Not Ramona's Motomeru. Maybe the only thing keeping him away from us...is me...and all I actually need to do is put all my willpower into the thought of him being here with us, just like how I had thought hard about us having the power to beat the Mother Computer, or when I thought hard about jamming a Crystal Smash into that thing and shredding it apart...

Yawning, Daisy directed her focus back in front of her and resumed her short trek home. If that's the case, then no wonder I could never activate the Vranzer when I wanted to. It's so obvious now – the Vranzer isn't like other Alkemei! Maybe instead of trying to force something with power, I should've been focusing on influencing through thought and intention more instead... So if I focus on the thought and intent of getting home, then I'll get there faster so I can eat and go to sleep sooner.

Unfortunately for Daisy, she returned home to a mostly barren fridge. Dejected and too tired to even bother getting into her bed, Daisy crashed on her couch and decided to wait until morning to go out and get food. She fell asleep with an arm and a leg hanging off the side, but stayed asleep throughout the night. Soon after she dozed off, her Vranzer generated a faint, sustained glow...

"Daisy!" a familiar voice called out. "Daisy! Earth to Daisy! Ha, get it?"

Daisy awoke to find herself flat on her stomach on a landmass in the middle of a field of clouds. She saw several other similar earthy and rocky masses in the backdrop of the pink sky, including many above her and one nearby that held an elaborate castle that seemed like a fantastical creation ripped straight out of a fairy tale. A young man standing in front of Daisy in all-black reached his hand out to her, and she grabbed it and let him pull her up. She pieced the voice she had heard and the appearance of the shadow wielder in front of her together to realize that Andrew was there with her.

"Andrew?" Daisy said. "How did I...where... Is that actually you?"

"Whatcha mean?" asked Andrew. "I'm about as me as I can get."

"No, I mean, is that really you, standing there?" asked Daisy, holding her head. "And...how did I get here?"

Andrew shrugged. "I dunno. It's your dream."

"My dream? I'm dreaming about you? So you're not actually here?"

"Probably not. But you're probably too tired to wake up anyways, so why not stick around?"

Daisy gave an uneasy smile. "Stick around where?"

"We're up in the clouds," replied Andrew. "You know. Like that twinkle star nursery rhyme." He paused and gazed up at the sky. "Hey, you think there's some place out there called 'Twinkle Star?' That'd be a sweet name! Maybe it's all cosmic and astral and junk. Like, all of its ground looks like some kind of map of outer space."

"Strange place to have a dream," said Daisy.

"Yeah, but you have some freaky dreams every now and then, right? Kinda makes me wonder if we should feel awkward that I'm here this time. Should I be concerned?"

"I hope not. Look, I don't get what's going on. Just why are you in my dream?"

"What? You don't miss me? Some friend you are."

"I didn't mean it like that! I mean...this just seems kind of random."

Andrew made a soft smile. "Does it?"

Daisy stared at him, at first thinking the question had an obvious answer but then stalling her response in wonder. Andrew did not give her much time to answer, speaking up again before she did and essentially making his question rhetorical. "That's a cool new Alkemei," he said. "I bet it helped out a lot already."

"I'm not sure, really," Daisy said, peering down at her glistening Vranzer. "But I feel like whatever it did, or has been doing, it did just enough of to help turn things in our favor."

Andrew shook his thumb in the direction of the floating castle behind him. "Good. You'll need it working for when you figure out how to get there."

"Why? What's in there?" asked Daisy.

The grand doors to the castle opened up, and a vortex of shadows and sparkling magic created an intense suction funnel. However, the vortex did not seem to pull on anyone but Andrew. As the vortex reeled in Andrew, the Kruna Yura of Shadow's body broke apart and dissolved into a purple and black mist that soon disappeared altogether within the castle. The doors then shut, and Daisy no longer heard or sensed Andrew's presence.

"Hey! Wait!" Daisy yelled. "Come back! Andrew!"

"I don't think he went in there on his own accord," Bowser said.

Daisy turned around and saw Bowser and Marut walking towards her. "Hey, how'd you guys get up here?"

Marut shrugged. "Don't know dude, it's your dream. You tell me."

"Guys, we gotta get into that castle and bust Andrew outta there!" said Daisy, vehemently pointing at the floating building looming ahead of them.

"But how?" asked Bowser. "We can't fly."

"Oh, wait – I can!" cheered Marut.

"Great, you'll fly us over there!" said Daisy.

"Okay!" replied Marut.

And then Marut just stood there, grinning. At no point did he activate his Furaito. After some time had passed with Marut doing absolutely nothing, Daisy glared at him.

"Marut?" Daisy said.

"Yeah?" Marut said, still grinning.

"Aren't ya gonna fly us over there?"

"Yup!" Marut replied.

"Today?!" Daisy yelled.

"Well, I'm trying, but I can't."

"Why not?"

"Well, you ever have those dreams where you suddenly can't do something, and you don't know why? Like, running? Or lifting something heavy that you should be able to lift in the first place?"

"I think so."

"Yeah, I got some of that goin' on."

"But it's not your dream!"

"Yea-hea, I know!"

Daisy raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms. "Then how are we gonna get to that castle?"

"Maybe we can't," said Bowser. "At least, not yet."

"Why ya say that?" asked Daisy.

"It could be like a video game!" said Marut. "In certain games, there's special places you can't go to towards the end of the game because you need to meet special conditions or requirements first to unlock them. Could be anything too, like finding certain items, or learning some special ability, or doing stuff in some specific places. And until then, you can't actually get to where you want to go. And there's no cheat codes or anything like that that I know of, so we can't just sequence break reality. Even if the reality is open-world at first, the players still can't get to those special areas without fulfilling those special needs."

"Well that sucks," said Daisy.

"Nah, that's good game design," said Marut. "If everybody could just get to the end of an adventure right away, then what's the point in playing the game? That sounds like some mad wasted cash for only thirty minutes of content."

"But this isn't a game," said Daisy.

"Exactly," said Marut. "If this was a game, there'd be cheat codes. I don't see cheats anywhere around here, dude."

"Talk about a breath of fresh air," said Athelstan, sliding down a layer of clouds from above. He landed onto the same landmass as the others and joined them. "Don't these high altitudes just invigorate your lungs and cleanse your whole system out?"

"Oh, hey, Daisy," said Ramona, now standing on Daisy's right and waving at her. "You're here too?"

"Yeah, why wouldn't she be?" said Bowser. "It's her dream."

Daisy groaned. "Alright, you guys; what do you think we should do?"

"About what?" asked Ramona.

"That castle!" Daisy stuck her finger straight at the floating structure. "Andrew got sucked into there!"

"Why doesn't Marut just fly us over there?" asked Athelstan.

"Weren't you listening?!" barked Daisy.

"To what?" said Athelstan. "I just showed up."

Daisy haphazardly flopped onto her back. "You guys are usually more dependable than this..."

Ramona smiled. "Aw, sorry, Daisy. We're as confused as you are."

"And how's that?" asked Daisy.

"How are we supposed to know that?" Warra said with a shrug, suddenly now standing behind Daisy and facing away from the group. "This is your dream, not any of ours."

"Alright, alright – I get it!" snapped Daisy, flailing her arms and legs about.

"Daisy, your dream sucks," Neva said, sitting on the edge of their hovering landmass and kicking her feet back and forth. "Why'd you have to put us up here? I thought you'd at least be dreaming about forests and caves, not some stranded sky islands in clouds."

Daisy sat up. "I don't remember asking for your commentary."

"I think Ramona has a point though, Daisy," said Bowser. "How can you really expect us to give you any answers when we're just characters in your dream?"

"Wait," Daisy mumbled, giving Bowser a blank look. "So you mean this whole time, I've basically been talking to myself? In my sleep?"

"Yeah, what's wrong with you, weirdo," said Neva. "Get a grip."

"Neva, maybe we're here for a reason," said Ramona.

"To help her realize her brain's full of dirt clods?" said Neva.

"No, but to help her realize something," said Ramona.

Marut gulped down handfuls of popcorn from a large bag he now held, speaking with his mouth full as he chewed. "Hmm...nah, I think we're just here to get wrecked by that dude over there."

The seven Kruna all gazed at the castle and saw someone standing in front of its doors and by the edge of the landmass holding it. From what they could tell, the figure had a decidedly feminine figure and did not seem much taller than Neva. However, she was made almost entirely of a dense, flowing, purple and black fog of darkness and golden, glistening magic with two piercing neon gold eyes and a loose and animated mane. Purple, outward-facing crescents sat under the girl's eyes. Her hair spiked and stiffened but mostly split outwards instead of up, extending a little and making the lowest spikes thick but ribbon-like, with some of the topmost hair lifting symmetrically across both sides of the body to resemble wings and horns. Daisy sensed from the new dark figure a clouded but potent level of power. Actually, Daisy sensed two separate and distinct powers from within the woman once she focused on her energy signature long enough.

"Who's that?" murmured Daisy. "That's not the Shadow Queen...is it?"

"No, not quite..." Bowser said under his breath.

"I can't tell if she's friendly or not," said Daisy. "It's weird. I feel like she's harmless. But at the same time...I also feel like she could cause a lot of destruction."

Strangely, Ramona felt the most disturbed with the new figure's appearance. Daisy glanced at Ramona when she heard Ramona shaking and whimpering. The Kruna of Light's reaction seemed familiar, making Daisy think back to the day the two of them had just recently spent together out and about in the Mushroom Kingdom. But Daisy did not give it too much thought, for Ramona tended to be more timid and worrisome than the others. With the potential threat now staring them down however, Daisy understood Ramona's fright.

At the simple raise of a hand, the shadowed girl cast all of the Kruna out of the air. The barreling bombardment of shadow power that flew at the Kruna launched them off the suspended section of land and into a plummeting descent out of the sky world. As they dropped further, the Kruna saw all hints of a land within the clouds disappear. The realm above now resembled a normal sky; but the world below accelerated at the Kruna evermore quickly with each passing second.

"DAISY! DO SOMETHING!" Neva screamed.

"What can I do?!" yelled Daisy.

"I don't know – it's your dream, mud-mouth!" barked Neva.

"Hey, yeah, I'm dreaming!" said Daisy.

"Nah, ARE YOU?!" growled Bowser.

"And this falling thing is something we've already dealt with!" said Daisy.

"Aren't dreams about falling supposed to wake you up?!" shouted Athelstan.

"Got a better idea!" Daisy replied. "Marut! Put a gust up!"

Marut smiled and whipped his body around in a wicked twirl, unlimbering his Gust Boomerangs in the process and sweeping a colossal updraft through as they neared a forested field. His great gusting burst of wind slowed everyone's stop to a slow float and scattered them into a spread out landing on the grass. Once sure that the others had landed safely, Daisy peered up at the sky. She saw no castle among the clouds and sunset.

"Rad job, Marut," said Daisy. "But it looks like that castle's a no go."

"For now," Marut's voice echoed.

Daisy gasped and glanced all around her. All of her fellow Kruna had vanished, leaving her standing alone in an open field full of trees, lakes, and aged stonework ruins spanning several stories tall. The warm, autumn-esque coloration of the landscape seemed quaint and tranquil; yet, almost unconsciously, Daisy entered her Nova Form. She herself wondered why she bothered transforming, for she looked at her body in bewilderment. Then she noticed her Vranzer shining in earnest.

"The Vranzer..." Daisy murmured. "Now what's it doing?"

A new body materialized a short distance in front of Daisy. The body mirrored Daisy's current Nova Form state to an exact dimension, at least in terms of silhouette. However, the new figure seemed to be made entirely of bronzed, gold-glowing earth elementals and materials. The size of the earthen Daisy's eyes also appeared notably larger and brighter, paired with spikier hair. In a way, the Daisy copy seemed like an earth version of the shadowed girl her and the other Kruna had encountered in the world above.

A booming clash crunched in the sky, scattering light power and shadow power everywhere. Daisy looked again to the clouds, eyeing what appeared to be a battle between a light wielder and a shadow wielder. Several successive similar clashes transpired before the light counterpart of the shadowed girl and the earthen Daisy floated down through a gap in the clouds. Heavenly light shined on the girl made of light as she descended along a faint and translucent but massive image of a giant beanstalk.

A multitude of voices all hit Daisy at once as the heavenly light spread across the pink sunset and the tree-laden field of lakes and ruins. The voices called out to her calmly but in broken speech, many of the voices from people she knew. But the words came too quick and in too jumbled of a mess to decipher just who said what. She just knew she heard Bowser, Athelstan, Warra, Ramona, Neva, Marut, Andrew, Peach, Rosalina, Polari, Lubba, Wario, Waluigi, and Toadette. Even Mario and Luigi snuck in too. The more the voices spoke, the more the world around Daisy brightened and faded away.

"Daisy!"

"We must find him-"

"Eight together-"

"Castle of dreams-"

"The SOUL-"

"Alkemei Ankh-"

"Master Pendant-"

"The forbidden realm-"

"Kokoro-"

"Seal-"

"Osiris-"

"The False Angel-"

"The Shadow Queen-"

"Dreaded return-"

"Chaos-"

"Absolute Zero-"

"Gaia Nova-"

"Ascend-"

"Lumo Nova-"

"Upheaval and breakdown-"

"Balance and renewal-"

"Ramona-"

"Pure of heart-"

"Go further beyond-"

"Vranzer-"

"Stop The End-"

"True potential-"

"For a friend..."

…

"I'll miss you..."

And then Daisy woke up. It was morning. A peaceful sunrise brought new light.