Daisy ran out onto the beach waving her arms. "Help! Mario! Help!"

Mario stopped in the middle of smashing coin blocks. His attention snapped to her. Daisy was unsure if he was just that tuned to pick up cries for help or if the guy just had a real thing for damsels. He backflipped off the rooftops and raced toward her.

"There's a bunch of piantas chained up in the courthouse!" Daisy said. "We gotta help them!"

If Mario had any suspicion about why she was here, he did not show it. He hopped around like an excited dog and followed her to the courthouse. Inside, piantas struggled on the floor bound and gagged. Mario toddled in and tugged the bindings off the nearest hostage without hesitation.

"Oh! Mario! Thank goodness you're here! They were forcing us to make band merch!" The pianta shivered. "But that's not even the worst part! Some strange woman showed up and gagged all of us for some reason!" The Pianta looked over Mario's shoulder at Daisy. "Wait! There she is now!"

Daisy bolted out the door just as Waluigi drove up on a forklift and blocked the door with a shipping container. He and Daisy leapt onto the sides of the building to hammer boards over every available window and exit until the whole building was locked down tight.

"Nailed it," Daisy said, wiping the sweat from her brow.

"Cut the wordplay," Waluigi snarled. "There's work to do."

Daisy looked up into the sky and spotted Wanda fluttering back from her recon work.

"Did you figure out where that Mouser guy is broadcasting from?"

Wanda dropped altitude. "Yeah, I think. There's a radio tower on the outskirts of town," she looked at the boarded-up building. "What's going on here?"

"We trapped some enemies in there," Waluigi said. "Don't worry about it."

"Oh, okay."

"Lead the way, squirt!" Daisy said, stretching. "Let's settle this like heroes!"

The three sprinted through town, rounding Mount Corona, until a tall thin tower poked out over the foothills. Festive signs read "Delfino Emergency Broadcasting System." The sound of that clumsy garage band music grew louder as they approached. Ninji, star shaped baddies in black jumpsuits, and tweeters, masked birds with bat wings, patrolled the entrance outside.

"Grab 'em!" Waluigi said, still charging.

Daisy yanked the nearest minion off its feet and, following Waluigi's lead, hurled the minion face first into the front door of the radio tower. The doors burst open, giving way to a foyer where rows of computers on standing desks were lined up with piantas clacking away on keyboards.

"Reblog faster, slaves!" A shyguy said as it cracked a whip. "Promote our band to every corner of the Social Media!"

"I'm going as fast as I can!" A pianta woman said, on the brink of tears. "You try typing with mitten-shaped hands!"

"Halt right there, criminal scum!" Daisy said.

"You think you're going to get away with promoting your band?!" Waluigi said. "Not on our watch!"

"Wha—Who are YOU guys?" The shy guy said, cracking its whip again for the heck of it.

"Good guys here to stop you!" Wanda said.

"Yeah!" Waluigi said, then punched the shy guy as hard it fell over. Waluigi then stomped on his face over and over until he stopped moving. Daisy stooped down and frisked the key off him.

"Remember," she said as she unshackled the piantas, "You were rescued by Princess Daisy and Waluigi. If you enjoy being saved, be sure to tell the news crews how cool we looked."

The shy guy let out a wheezing laugh. "Fools," he said, cracking its whip feebly into the air. "You think you can stop us? DJ Mouser can see all of this on the security cam…"

The music cut out. "That's RIGHT kiddos," Mouser cackled out of the overhead speakers. "Looks like we got some nobodies trying to steal our spotlight. You want to dance with us? Fine. Let's tango!"

A mechanical whine whirred up in the speakers.

"What's that noise?" Wanda said.

Waluigi tensed and swung toward the exit, shoving Wanda and Daisy out the door to escape. The beat dropped and a techno dance number blasted through the speakers at full volume, engulfing the whole room in a blinding rainbow light.

Daisy climbed to her feet. She took a moment to shake a dazed Wanda awake and hoist her back into the air.

"Thanks," she said, floating a bit unsteady. "Where's Waluigi?"

They peered back into the foyer entrance to see the pianta hostages dancing to the rave music. Waluigi was among them, spinning and gyrating with exceptional rhythm and poise. Every lock step, hip thrust, and heel turn was on beat and performed with unrestrained passion. Daisy gawked in amazement.

"Nice moves," she said. "I didn't know you can dance like that."

"Of COURSE I can," Waluigi said, huffing from exertion. "That isn't the problem! The problem is I can't stop myself!"

The piantas guffawed in distress. "My body is moving on its own!" "I don't even like dance music!" "Someone help!"

"It must be some kind of spell," Wanda said.

"Then do something about it!" Waluigi shouted. "Magic it so I can quit!"

Wanda zipped around to examine him and frowned. "It should stop if we can shut off the music."

Mouser laughed over the music. "Just try and silence these jams, shrimp! I'll have you and the rest of this island dancing to my tune!"

Daisy shoved past the dancers and raced up the stairwell on the far side of the room. If she could get to Mouser before he cast another spell, she could put a stop to this right now.