As I flew back to Delfino Plaza, I noticed a new structure on the Eastern side, a lighthouse. A crowd of Piantas was gathering around it. I landed next to the portal, and headed over to them.

"What's going on?" I asked one of them when I arrived.

"The lighthouse reappeared! It disappeared when the Shines did, but now it's back!"

"Thank you," I said.

"It's all in a day's work for Jim Exposition!" he said proudly, then turned back to stare at the lighthouse.

I made my way through the crowd, moving towards the lighthouse, but was stopped by police barricades that made a perimeter around it. There were cops holding the perimeter, and scientists scanning the building itself, trying to figure out what had happened.

I stood back and watched as they talked with their supervisor about how everything seemed to be normal, but then a scream from the back of the crowd caught everyone's attention. Everyone in the crowd turned and screamed, but I couldn't see over them. Then they all started panicking and running about wildly, and I struggled not to get trampled. A blackish-blue figure whizzed past, and I instantly recognized it as Shadow Mario. I tried to give chase, but couldn't work my way through the crowd (I don't know how he could). I managed to catch a glimpse of him creating a portal on the lighthouse before a large body hit me, knocking me out.

When I came to, it was near sunset, and the beach was almost entirely deserted, save for the scientists, cops, the Mayor, and a doctor, who was making sure I wasn't dead.

"Are you alright, Mario?" The Mayor asked.

I held my throbbing head in my hand. "Mama Mia, I feel like I got hit by a truck. What happened?"

"You got hit by Truck, the island's Heavyweight Champion, and blacked out."

I sighed at the irony.

The doctor finished treating my wounds, and I got up, but I realized that FLUDD was no longer on my back. "Where's FLUDD?!"

One of the scientists came up, carrying FLUDD. "We're trying our best, but it seems like he's going to be out of commission for a while." He gestured to the rest of the scientists, who were crowding around FLUDD. FLUDD was badly damaged, with a broken tank and bent shaft (And that's just what I could see), and the scientists were trying to figure out how to fix him.

I went over as fast as I could (what with my bruises), and knelt next to him.

"Mario," he rasped, his voice clogged with static, "get him."

"What?"

"Get Shadow Mario. He stole one of my parts when he whizzed by, and I can't properly function without it."

"O-okay..."

I shakily stood up, walked to the portal, and went in.

I found myself on a small island a few feet from the shore of a serene beach. There were palm trees, a large amount of weird duck-like creatures roaming the sands, some small plants that looked dehydrated, a path leading up to a plaza on the hill, and three solar panels surrounding a tower that had a large egg in an opening. There was also a sign on the side of the tower that read, "Welcome to Gelato Beach, home of the Cataquacks and the mythical Sand Bird's Egg!"

Without FLUDD, this might be harder than the last two places.

I then spied Shadow Mario atop one of the solar panels, laughing at me and holding up the part he stole. Suddenly, he stuck out a very long tongue and waggled it in my general direction (don't know why, it's probably a cultural thing). I ran towards him, but surprisingly, he continued to waggle his tongue, staying where he was.

What was his game?

I jumped onto the solar panel he was on, but suddenly, he leapt up and did a ground pound, causing the whole thing to pivot, and launching me straight into the giant egg (which cracked it). Luckily, it only hurt slightly, so I was able to get up without any problems. He leapt onto the second one (without his weight, the first one pivoted so it reflected the sunlight straight at the egg), and I followed suit, only this time, I was on the higher end, so I ground pounded, launching HIM into the egg instead. This was when I realized what he was doing:

He was trying to get me to break open the egg.

Before I could act further, he leapt onto the third solar panel (this one having some Cataquacks on it), and started playing around with the part he stole. It looked like he was trying to figure out how to most effectively break it, but then he realized something. He went over to one of the Cataquacks (which seemed somewhat friendly to him) and held up the part, trying to get it to eat it.

Trap or no, I had to stop him.

I leapt over to the third panel, and he immediately ground pounded it, which once again sent me straight into the bird egg.

And it broke.

My head spinning, I looked up as a baby bird made entirely out of sand spread its wings, broke the top of the tower (which revealed a Shine that had somehow gotten stuck in there), and took off into the dusk sky.

Suddenly, I felt something metallic hit my lap. I looked down and saw the part (which I now saw was labelled 'McGuffin') sitting there. I looked at Shadow Mario, but he was already gone.

He had gotten what he wanted.