Boy, this chapter was quite long! But there's something quite sweet at the end, which is something that most of you had been waiting for!
Enjoy! ;)
Chapter 9: Wind Soaring
[BGM: Memory 2 – Super Paper Mario]
One night, I dreamed about my own mother. I remember that in it, she was just retreating back from me with her back turned…
"Mommy!" I called out to her. "Where are you going?"
"Don't fret, dearest. I'm not going anywhere." she replied without turning around. "I'm always watching over you, like the sun in the day and the moon in the night."
A wave of sadness washed over me, and I desperately ran up to my mother and hugged her. "But… What about when it rains, and I can't see the sun or the moon?" I asked tearfully, as mother gently patted my head.
Then, after some thought, she finally turned to me with a smile and responded, "I will turn into a star in the clouds and wait for your tears to dry."
When I awoke from my dream, my face was damp with tears. I couldn't stop crying, even if I wiped my tears away. Luma happened to hear my sobbing and said to me:
"You have Star Bits in your eyes!"
Wiping my face, I replied, "These are tears, not Star Bits. I'm crying because I'll never see my mother ever again!" I sobbed hard after saying that. Whenever I think about mother… I would always have a sudden urge to cry, and I just can't help it.
That's because… my mother died from cancer when I was still looking for a comet back in my home. I remember how sad Zynthia was during the funeral; she couldn't hold back her tears. It took her several days for her to move on, and that's where she decided to move up to the Star Realm since she couldn't take it anymore.
By hearing my sobs, Luma began to cry too. "Mama, oh, Mama… Waaaah!"
The next few days, we continued to travel through the starry skies, and though we encountered many other comets, none of them held Luma's mother. At this, Luma was despondent and he began to cry again.
"Now, now, Luma. The rain clouds won't go away if you keep crying." I said, cradling Luma in my arms and giving him a gentle squeeze. "I'll give you a present if you stop."
"What present…?" Luma asked.
I gently closed my eyes and said softly, "I'll take care of you."
With those words, I felt a small spark in my heart. And this spark… indicated the start of my motherly role as of today.
[BGM End]
"*sniff* mother…" Rosalina shed a tear during her sleep, as she was lying down on one of the couches in front of the Library. Thankfully, no one seemed to notice… except for Melissa, who just so happened to be walking by.
"…Oh no." she thought, knowing exactly why Rosalina was crying like that, and she quickly rushes over to her to shake her awake. "Aunt Rosie, wake up!"
"Ah!" Rosalina jolted awake. "Melissa…?" she looked at her niece.
[BGM: Loneliness – Xenoblade Chronicles 2]
"…You had that dream again, didn't you?" Melissa asked, frowning.
Rosalina sighed sadly. "Yes…"
Melissa hugged her. "There, there… It's over." she felt Rosalina hugging her back. "It was just a dream, aunt Rosie."
"I know, but…"
"You would always have the urge to cry whenever you think about your mother. Yes, I know that." Melissa replied tearfully. "I also miss my mother, your sister, too… At least your mother had a natural death, unlike your sister. She was straight up killed, along with my dad…" tears also began to gush out of her eyes.
"Oh, Melissa…" the area around them was filled with soft sobs as the two cried while hugging each other.
Soon, the two decided to have a little chat in order to calm themselves down from that. Some members of the group even passed by them, but didn't even bother to pay attention since they thought the two were just having a normal private conversation and let them be. After a while, Rosalina and Melissa have finally calmed down and any signs of sadness on them faded away completely, and just in time too, because Kino eventually came in rushing over to them while Nene was following him from behind.
[BGM End]
"Miss Rosie! Miss Meli! Friends coming over with Grand Star!" Kino told them cheerfully.
"Kino! No interrupting private talky-talky!" Nene scolded.
"Oh, it's fine!" Melissa giggled. "We're coming over right now."
With that, she and Rosalina stood up from the couch and walked up to the center of the Observatory. There, they and rest of the gang looked up to see something coming over as they all smiled.
[BGM: To the Observatory Grounds 2 – Super Mario Galaxy]
Mario, Trifle, Kirby, Lacey, and the Dragon Quest Heroes flew around and landed on the Observatory, watching the Grand Star plunge itself into the beacon, turning it greenish-blue. A purple pipe gets lit and opened another dome on the back of the Observatory, and this one had purple walls with purple and white curtains that hang above and around it.
[BGM End]
"You're back!" Red exclaimed, addressing Mario, Trifle, Kirby and Lacey. "How did it go?"
"Well, let's just say that we encountered and fought against Bowser's bratty child… and he even went into his Mario impostor form again." Trifle recounted.
"He trapped all of us into his goop, but if it wasn't for them who came in just the right time, we would be dead meat!" Mario added, directing to the Heroes.
"Ah, I knew that sending in the Loyal Bodyguards was a great idea!" Melissa exclaimed.
Mario chuckled. "I figured that you were responsible for that." then, he blinked. "Wait… Loyal Bodyguards?"
"Oh right, we still haven't told you about that yet." Eleven said. "Turns out that, while everyone in the Mushroom Kingdom was doing the preparations for the Star Festival, Jewel told us that she wanted us to be her special team."
Everyone, except Melissa, had their eyes open wide in surprise. "No way… Seriously?!" Trifle asked. "My beloved said that?!"
[BGM: Hero's Triumphant Return – Dragon Quest XI S]
"She did." Eight nodded. "She started by saying that she was already impressed with my fighting abilities ever since I first came to the Mushroom Kingdom on my own before meeting Eleven, Arusu and Solo right here."
"I then told my sister about the Heroes' journey of saving the Mario Brothers and Peach and how much potential each of them had in their disposal." Melissa added. "Considering the fact that the Heroes are from the same universe and share similar powers and attributes, they were allowed to be formed into a special team, and my sister did not want to waste such an opportunity!"
"Knowing her for a long time, she definitely wouldn't." Kirby chuckled.
"And with that, she named them The Loyal Bodyguards. Their role, as the name implies, is to protect her whenever she needed them. After all, a princess has got to have some bodyguards on her side, isn't that right?" Melissa giggled at the last sentence.
"True." Link nodded with a chuckle.
"Wow… I'm really happy for you guys." Trifle smiled at the Heroes. "You get to be my beloved's special team just like how I have my own!"
"Yeah, and we couldn't be even happier." Solo smiled back.
"Exactly!" Arusu chimed in. "We get to play an important role, and we're definitely making sure to live up to our team's name well!"
"Glad to hear it." Ren said. "Somehow, I'm having a feeling that we'll both be hanging together a lot in possible future adventures."
The rest of the Phantom Thieves glanced at Ren with confused looks. "What makes you say that?" Ann asked.
"I dunno, just a thought." Ren shrugged.
[BGM: Rosalina in the Observatory 2 – Super Mario Galaxy]
"Alright, now let's gather up to my aunt, because she has something to say." Melissa said and everyone did so.
"Thanks to you all, all of the domes on the lower level are working again." Rosalina said. "Once the Engine Room and the Garden on the upper level have power, the whole observatory will be working. Then the Comet Observatory will fly as a starship once again. And when all 119 Stars are restored, we will be able to fly to Mario and Trifle's special ones in the center of the universe…"
"So we just have two more domes remaining…" Trifle said. "We're not too far off now!"
"You're right!" Mario nodded. "But first, I think we should bring the Heroes up to speed." he said as the others nodded and proceeded to tell everything about their adventure to the Loyal Bodyguards, as well as having Trifle's team members, the Allies of Justice, Jack, Eira, and Kino and Nene introduce themselves to them.
"Huh, so you're all in yet another situation of Power Star collecting?" Eight asked, and then smiled. "You know I'm helping out again!"
"Is it true that you have collected Stars before, Eight?" Eleven asked.
"I have! And last time, I collected Shine Sprites, which are basically small suns."
"First stars, and then suns… What's next, collecting moons?" Arusu guessed.
"Hmm…" Solo mused. "Considering how this world works, it might seem possible to get the whole cosmic trio someday."
"Huh… Anyways, this idea of Power Star hunting does sound fun, so we're in too!" Arusu grinned while Eleven and Solo nodded.
"Trust me, guys, it really is fun!" Eight exclaimed excitedly… and then his stomach suddenly growled. "…Oh, sorry. That was my stomach." he blushed in embarrassment.
"…Now that you said it, I'm starting to feel hungry too." Arusu said.
"Well, we haven't eaten anything for a long while." Solo said. "Not to mention that we were basically in a coma not too long ago."
"I'm getting hungry too." Mario added, with Luigi nodding.
"Oh, the brothers' gluttony side is showing up…" Melissa thought.
"Honestly, me too." Rosalina giggled as she walked over to the Kitchen. "I'll go whip up something in the kitchen for us."
"I'd like to prepare some ramen too, so let me join you." Min Min said.
"Of course."
"You know, I have a better idea for this." Melissa interfered. "How about you all have a picnic instead? And I know the perfect galaxy for it!" she pointed at the map. "This new galaxy in the Bedroom dome, Gusty Garden!"
"Oh, that's a great idea!" Rosalina clasped her hands. "What do you all say?"
"Sounds fine to us!" Eleven nodded. "Plus, we'll get to experience how it's like to venture out in space!"
"So true." Solo threw in. "To think that there's an endless void of stars and galaxies beyond the skies in the first place…" he awed as he looked over to the vast space from behind. "Not to mention the fact that we can even breathe in space, but I guess that's another unique thing in this world."
"Imagine how Medea will react when I tell her I went into space." Eight chuckled.
"She'll definitely be surprised, for sure." Arusu chuckled back while playfully elbowing Eight, and then the four laughed together.
"These new guys sure are a lively bunch." Rosalina thought. "Well, how about you boys head over to Gusty Garden to go find a spot?"
"You got it!" Mario replied as he, Luigi and the Heroes went towards the Bedroom dome… although Luigi had glanced back for a moment to look at Daisy.
[BGM End]
Ever since that incident from previously, Daisy had been avoiding him. She didn't even look at Luigi during the explanation before due to her quarrel with him. He knew he had to make up to her somehow, but not through talking since she's too stubborn to listen. But with the mention of Gusty Garden, that gave him an idea as to how he could make up to her: giving her flowers. Flowers are always present in any garden, and Luigi knew that if there's one thing that Daisy simply cannot resist are flowers. When flowers are in front of Daisy's face, all that stubborn and hot-blooded attitude of hers is completely thrown away, and her sweet and energetic side show up in an instant.
"Daisy… I know you'll forgive me for what I'll be giving to you." Luigi thought before turning back to face the Bedroom, as he and the others went in.
"Hey, while those guys are having their picnic, the rest of you can collect more Power Stars in the meantime!" Polari suggested to the others. "Why don't you give Dusty Dune and Honeyclimb a go? Oh, and there's also a Fast Foe Comet at Beach Bowl!"
"Fast Foe, huh?" Sonic grinned. "I'll be doing this one!" he then dashes off to the Kitchen, while the group consisting of Trifle, Shulk, Ren, Morgana and Yusuke opted for Dusty Dune and Link went for Honeyclimb since climbing is one of his specialties, and then they all took off to the Bedroom.
[BGM: Observation Dome – Super Mario Galaxy]
Inside the Bedroom dome is a purple starry wallpaper with some purple curtains hanging on the walls, a purple circular carpet with light blue triangles on the floor, and a red carpet leading up to some steps, where a large canopy bed stood on top.
The group who'll be having a picnic obviously arrived in here first and used the Pull Star above, where the Heroes glanced around in awe at the spacey view surrounding them all, before they all blasted off to Gusty Garden Galaxy. Shortly after, the other group came in next, and then Trifle, Shulk, Ren, Morgana and Yusuke launched over towards Dusty Dune Galaxy while Link went to Honeyclimb Galaxy.
[BGM End]
At Gusty Garden…
[BGM: Gusty Garden Galaxy – Super Mario Galaxy]
This breezy galaxy features many grass and plant-themed planetoids scattered around, in which many of them can be accessed by riding the wind gusts with a Floaty Fluff. The sky in this galaxy is perpetually swirling with a light gray foggy hue in the bottom, while the upper part displays a blue sky.
The group landed on the starting planet, and were amazed at the sights. "Wooow…" Luigi awed. "This place…is perfect!"
"Perfect for a picnic, indeed!" Mario nodded. "So, any suggestions for a good place?"
Everyone scanned around their surroundings, while Luigi was secretly gathering some flowers from the large flower patch without the others noticing, and then Eight eyed at the Puzzle Cube planet in the distance. "How about up there?" he pointed up to it.
"Sounds good!" Mario agreed.
"But how will we get there, though?" Arusu wondered, and it was at this moment that a Star Bunny hopped over to them as they looked down at it.
"Hiya! Welcome to Gusty Garden!" it chirped. "See those big pink fluffs? These are Floaty Fluff, and you can use them to fly over to other planets in this galaxy! Just let the winds carry you!"
"I guess we have our answer." Eleven said as they walked up to the cluster of Floaty Fluffs in front of them, where Mario spun to make them open their buds and rise into the air before he grabbed onto one of them and started to be taken away by the winds.
"Wooooo!" he cheered as he spun to go up a bit higher. "Hey, this is fun!"
"Wait up, bro!" Luigi called out as he grabbed onto another Floaty Fluff along with the Heroes and followed Mario, with Luigi doing the same as his brother did by spinning to go higher while the Heroes used Woosh instead.
Eventually, they all landed on the Stone Pieces planet that was filled with Piranha Plants where they knocked them out before using more Floaty Fluff to travel over to the Curve Planet. There, Luigi first knocked out more Piranha Plants before picking up some more flowers from their flower beds and quickly ran to grab a Floaty Fluff to catch up to the others, as they were making over to the Bean planets. And on these Bean planets, the only way to travel between them was using Sproutle Vines, as these allowed the group to reach each planet's gravity pull… and that sort of caught the Heroes by surprise since this was their first time adventuring in space.
"You guys okay? You're all looking a little stunned…" Mario asked once they landed on the last Bean planet.
"Nothing, it's just… something about venturing in space is way different than venturing in the Mushroom Kingdom…" Solo remarked.
"Oh, I see what you mean. Every planet around here has its own gravity, and it's even possible to walk around their undersides."
"Like if we were upside down?" Eleven asked, as Mario nodded in response.
"Well, that's totally not disorienting at all…" Arusu muttered.
"Space is weird, let's face it." Mario shrugged as they walked up to the Spiny Piranha Plant to take it out and a Launch Star appeared in its place, and they used it to fly over to the Puzzle Cube planet where a Star Bunny awaited them.
[BGM End]
"Hey! Think you can catch me, boiyoing?" the Star Bunny said.
[BGM: Chase the Bunnies! – Super Mario Galaxy]
"Wait, wha-" before Arusu could finish, the Star Bunny already started hopping away.
"…I think we have to catch it." Eight stated the obvious.
"Oh, for Rubiss' sake! Can't we have a nice picnic in peace?!" Arusu groaned. "Fine, let's just get this over with." he said and before anyone knew it, he casted Acceleratle on himself and basically dashed to where the Star Bunny went as it tried to hop away, but Arusu was faster and eventually, he snatched up the Bunny by its ears.
[BGM End]
"Ack! Watch the ears, pal!" the Star Bunny exclaimed.
"Can we just get to the point, already?" Arusu demanded impatiently.
"OK, OK, you got me! Here, take this Star, boiyoing!" the Bunny hands him a Power Star.
"Oh, hey! I'll take it!" Arusu exclaimed and takes it, and then he puts the Bunny down.
"Well, I'm going back to my burrow." it said and hopped away, and Arusu made his way back to the others at the starting point; the area with the fountain. To his surprise, he saw that Rosalina and Min Min were already there, with Rosalina setting up the blanket while Min Min was pouring ramen from her cooking pot into the bowls.
"Hey, Arusu!" Eight waved chipperly as Arusu walked over to him. "You came back just the right time! So, did you catch the bunny?"
"I did, and it gave me exactly what we're collecting!" Arusu grinned while showing the Power Star.
"Oh, neat! Now come on, let's dig in!"
And with that, they all did so as they were having a pleasant time eating and catching up with one another, while Luigi looked over at the flower bouquet that he made with the flowers he picked along the way, hoping that these will help Daisy forgive him.
Meanwhile, at Dusty Dune…
[BGM: Dusty Dune Galaxy – Super Mario Galaxy]
This was a desert-themed galaxy, having large seas of sand, floating sand structures, cacti planets and pyramid-styled planets all over the place. Despite being in space, it was incredibly hot in here, as if it was an actual desert.
"Sheesh, why is it so hot?" Trifle questioned once he and the others landed on the starting planet. "I get it, it's supposed to be a desert… But we're in freaking space, for god's sake! How is this possible?!"
"Must be simply logic from this world." Yusuke said.
"Yeah, let's just roll with that." Shulk shrugged.
"Plus, it's not as hot as back at Futaba's palace." Ren admitted.
"Agreed." Morgana nodded.
They then took a good look around, with Shulk seeing several tornadoes up ahead as he went for those, ignoring the Pokey Heads that just showed up in the middle as they were taken care of by Ren and Morgana, with the latter making sure to collect the Star Bits they dropped, and while the duo was dealing with a Pokey that appeared afterwards, Trifle and Yusuke looked behind them to see a Launch Star as they went into it. Then, after Ren and Morgana defeated the Pokey, a Launch Star appeared as they got in and blasted off to the Ring planet.
Landing there, Ren immediately got to the Sling Star in the middle between the four rolling Boulders, while Morgana went to the underside to find a Hungry Luma that asked him to feed it 20 Star Bits. He did it so, and the Hungry Luma transformed into a pyramid planet.
"Oooh, I can totally bet there's a treasure over there!" Morgana grinned greedily before using the pink Launch Star to blast off to the pyramid's interior.
Back with Ren, he had just finished collecting the Blue Star Chips around the Speedy Sand planet to create a series of Pull Stars, and after these took him to another planet that split up in two directions, he went with the right path and got into the Launch Star at the end. It took him to the Maze planet where he could see the Power Star in plain sight up ahead, but there was quicksand in front of him so he went to the underside and got past several obstacles on the way, mainly Thwomps and Tweesters before making back to the topside again. From there, he simply ran straight up to the middle and used Arsène's Wings of Rebellion to fly up straight to the Star.
"Gotcha." he grinned and began to fly off with it, where he ran into Morgana on the way, who had a Green Star with him. "Oh, hey. Where did you find that?" Ren wondered.
"Just went into a pyramid and gathered five Silver Stars that united to form this green Star… while the sand below and above me kept rising or lowering constantly." Morgana shuddered at the last sentence before grinning again, "But hey, if this Star doesn't scream 'treasure', then I don't know what else this can be!"
"Maybe Rosalina or Polari might know about it." Ren said as they flew off together back to the Observatory.
[BGM: Space Athletic – Super Mario Galaxy]
Meanwhile, Shulk was traversing an underground area full of sandy slides, Brick Blocks and Thwomps, and he soon came upon a Fire Flower after going up some Brick Blocks that worked like steps.
"Hey, isn't this…?" his eyes perked up, as memories of his participation in the fourth Smash Bros tournament rushed into his brain. "What was this called again? A Fire Flower?" he asked to himself, remembering that this was one of the items present in the tournament. "Wonder how this little flamethrower will help me out." he wondered as he picked up the Fire Flower in order to hold it out in front of him, but he ends up absorbing it instead, much to his surprise. "What the-?!" he flinched before he looked down, and saw that his clothes had turned orange as fire was painted on his jacket while his hair sported a few red streaks, and when he activated the Monado, a blade of fire came out instead of the usual light blue energy beam blade.
"Uh…" he blinked. "This is new…" he trailed and then looked over at the Piranha Plants on the sandy slide and on the ceiling, and since their backs were turned away from him, he decided to attack the first one with Back Slash, but thanks to the Fire Flower, a stream of fire suddenly came out of the Monado's blade once it struck the Piranha Plant, and this resulted in the rest of the Piranha Plants getting burned up by this fiery stream as it traveled all the way down the slide.
"Whoa!" Shulk exclaimed in shock and looked at the Monado. "…Okay, I can totally get used to this!" he grinned as he went down the slide to reach the Sling Star at the very bottom, until he heard a noise as he turned around to see a giant Boulder rolling down towards him. He still had the Monado out, and so he ran up to the Boulder and sliced its core to destroy it, and then he made it to the end of the slide and used the Sling Star to launch himself up into the Warp Pipe on the ceiling.
[Resume "Dusty Dune Galaxy" BGM]
Immediately after the Warp Pipe dropped him outside on a different area, which just so happened to be the underside of the starting planet, Shulk used the Launch Star and landed at the bottom of a huge tower with a sandy waterfall.
"I wonder if the Star is at the very top…" he mused while looking up at the tower and then proceeded to climb it up, riding a few tornadoes and using Monado Jump when necessary. Once he made it to the top, he saw a Power Star trapped in a crystal. "Aha! There it is!" he exclaimed as he went up to it and slashed open the crystal, freeing the Star as he took it, and that's where the Fire Flower finally gave up its power. "Well, time to head back!" he said and flew off.
Now with Trifle and Yusuke, they got to a planet where they pressed down a switch to make a series of large brick blocks rise from the sand, as a Cluckboom tried to blow the duo up with bomb eggs only to get shot down by Yusuke, and then they got into the Launch Star to fly off to a Disk planet. There, they proceeded to grab the Star Chips after pressing down a switch to make a tower rise up and took off in the reformed Launch Star, reaching the Sand Tide planet. Trifle immediately cut down the Giant Prickly Plant to create another Launch Star, while Yusuke collected the Music Notes after stabbing a stump with his katana to make a Sling Star appear, taking him to another Disk planet.
From there, he just pressed down a switch to make another tower rise and reveal a cage containing a Power Star, where he proceeded to summon Goemon and destroy the cage with a Rising Slash.
"Easier than cleaning my brushes." Yusuke said and grabbed the Star.
Cutting back to Trifle… he found himself in a tight situation as you're about to find out now.
[BGM: Speedy Comet – Super Mario Galaxy]
"Sure, leave me forcing to rush my way up as soon as I get in here!" Trifle complained as he was inside the large structure and was climbing his way up (or maybe down considering he's upside down at the moment…?) while the sand below him was rising.
He had to destroy a few boxes on the way to clear the path for him, and when he finally reached the end where the Star was… he accidentally sprained his ankle on the way to it by tripping on a misplaced brick.
"OW!" he yelled, feeling shriveling pain. "D-Dammit…" he cursed while holding on to his ankle with one hand… and the sand was still rising. "Oh crap, come on!" he exclaimed while using his unharmed leg to get up and managed to barely touch the Star, and then he flew out of the structure with the Star by breaking through the glass with extreme force.
[BGM End]
"Man, that was close! Now get me out of this place so I can receive treatment for my ankle!" he said and then flew off, desperately wanting to get away from this hot galaxy.
Later, back at the Observatory…
[BGM: Reminiscence – Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition]
(Timestamp – 0:00 ~ 2:33)
It was time. Luigi was going to muster up all his courage to hand Daisy the flowers he picked up back at Gusty Garden Galaxy, and then hope she'll be willing to listen to him and sort everything up. He was told by the others that Daisy was right now sitting behind the Fountain, and so he went there by using the warp pad and silently walked over to Daisy, who was sitting on the edge looking over at the nothingness of space in front of her.
Taking a silent deep breath, Luigi began, though rather nervously, "Daisy…?"
"What do you want, Luigi?" came Daisy's cold reply, refusing to look at him.
Luigi was already expecting this sort of response, and so he cautiously started to hand the flowers in front of Daisy's face while saying, "I, uh… have something for you."
The moment Daisy's eyes met this beautiful flower bouquet, her cold and stoic look immediately went into a complete one-eighty, as her eyes widened up with a bit of emotion coming back to her while silently gasping, and then she took the bouquet.
"Those flowers… They're so pretty…" she whispered in awe. "Luigi… Where did you find these?" she asked, glancing a little bit at Luigi.
Even though she wasn't fully looking back at him, it was still enough for Luigi to smile a bit. "I… found them at the new galaxy where I, my bro and the Heroes went to have a picnic."
"What was it called?"
"Gusty Garden Galaxy. It was a perfect place for you, since it mainly has many sorts of flowers over there!"
More emotion seemed to come at Daisy as she furthered her glance at Luigi even more. "Really?!"
"Yep." Luigi nodded.
Daisy looked back at the flowers. "Wow… I sure missed a lot of stuff while I was sitting here doing nothing…" Luigi could've sworn he heard a light chuckle from her, causing his eyes to perk up and before he knew it, he had involuntarily sat down next to her. "Uh, Luigi?" Daisy blinked as she looked at him.
Luigi finally noticed what he had done and it caused him to jolt. "O-Oh, er…" he murmured nervously. "I-I don't know what came over me…" he looked away from her. "I'm sorry, I should leave you be… Besides, it's my fault for starting this quarrel in the first place…"
"No…"
"Eh?" Luigi was about to get up, until what he heard back from Daisy made him stop nigh immediately.
"I'm the one who should apologize, not you." Daisy said. Luigi looked back at her, and to his surprise, he saw the look of remorse on her face, which was enough for him to remain sitting down next to her as he listened to her attentively, "Luigi… I'm sorry for lashing out at you back then. I didn't realize I was losing control over my anger, and that almost made me…well, not the me as you know. And besides, there was a small part inside of me that wanted to apologize to you sooner after you apologized to me, but my stubbornness kicked in… and… a-and…!" unexpectedly for Luigi, Daisy started to break down into tears; something that was quite rare for someone as hot-blooded and aggressive as her.
In fact, Luigi didn't get surprised at all despite that; in fact, he was actually smiling softly. "Daisy…" he said, opening his arms for her as she quickly accepted and hugged him, as a few tears slid down to Luigi's shoulders but he didn't care. "It's okay… you're forgiven." he hugged her back.
"Oh, Luigi…" Daisy whispered before they parted. Once they did, Daisy was now smiling. "Thank you… Both for accepting my apology and for these flowers."
"You're welcome."
(Timestamp – 2:34 ~ 3:26)
Then, something came into Daisy's mind and she asked, "Hey, Luigi… Can you do me a favor?"
"Hm?"
"Will you take me with you to that Gusty Garden Galaxy next time?"
Luigi would never turn down a favor, especially from his girlfriend. "Of course."
These next few moments only consisted of Luigi and Daisy gazing at each other's eyes lovingly, as the camera zooms out to right below the Fountain, revealing the rest of the group, with Trifle having a plaster cast around his sprained ankle. They have heard everything the couple just said and they all smiled to each other, happy that everything was sorted out for those two.
"Well, about time things have been sorted out for these lovebirds." Melissa smiled. "Come on, let's leave them alone." she said as everyone nodded and walked away.
To be continued…
*Taking a deep breath* Okay! So, first of all, if you checked Jewel's bio in my profile, you can see that the Loyal Bodyguards was already present there as her special team (just like with Trifle and his Allies of Justice) but that name was never mentioned in the previous stories until now. For now on, the Dragon Quest Heroes will be referred sometimes as Loyal Bodyguards in the next following stories after this one!
Second, since the Bedroom is the dome with the most amount of Stars, I knew I had to cover up at least one mission from one galaxy so that I can fit the rest in the next chapter to deem the Bedroom complete. And so this idea of a picnic in Gusty Garden came up!
And third... There you have it, Luaisy fans. Daisy has forgiven Luigi and I made sure to make this forgiveness as heartwarming as possible (even picking the perfect music for it) to make up for her lashing in the previous chapter, which might have made some of you upset (one of my friends, LiamTheYoshi, included). Well... the main reason I made Daisy lash out like that is partially my fault: in my headcanon, I tend to portray Daisy as stubborn and aggressive because I was inspired by how she was portrayed in Mario Strikers Charged, and I honestly liked that portray of hers since it helped her differentiate a lot from Peach and that I think it fits with her tomboyish personality. So I'm really sorry if I made you upset, and I hope you can forgive me.
Next up, the rest of the Bedroom's galaxies and missions! Will Jewel be found there? Find out next time!
Trivia for this chapter:
1. The part where Arusu mentioned about "collecting moons" is obviously a reference to Super Mario Odyssey.
2. Shulk referring the Fire Flower as a "little flamethrower" is a reference to how the Fire Flower item worked in the Smash Bros series, where any character can hold it out in front of them to make it spew out fire.