Mario and Marth's pair had prevailed over the spirit of Charlotte Aulin, and with the young witch on their side the prince and plumber pressed on past the crossroad. They continued westward from the crossroad, further from their friends and deeper into the unknown world and every step they took made them feel like they were being watched from afar. After some time descending from their starting area, Mario and Marth came upon a fork in the road, with one path leading them further west up north while the other took them south toward the east.

"Hmm… You guys wanna go up-a north and see what's up there?" Mario asked the group, wanting to wait for them to reach a majority decision before moving on.

"Actually, my intuition tells me that we should take the southbound path," Marth said. "Galeem is situated in the furthest north in this world, and it would be an ill-bound journey to march straight toward where its best forces may be lying in wait. In such a situation, it would be better-advised to head south instead where we may encounter less of Galeem's strongest puppet fighters."

'Sound judgment, Prince Marth,' Charlotte Aulin said in agreement. 'What do you say little fellow?' The Eevee spirit nodded and purred in kind, mostly because Charlotte was lightly scritching them under their chin.

"Hey, that's-a not fair; you're petting the little guy and-a influencing their choice!" Though Mario complained, it was in light-hearted humor at the situation, and he yielded to the overwhelming decision. "Alrighty then, lead-a the way Marth."

"As you wish. Everyone, let's journey on." On the Hero-King's command the rest of the group took off with him southward, leaving the crossroad behind them on to new pastures. Curious about the workings of their new ally's original world, Marth decided to make with small talk with her.

"So, Miss Charlotte Aulin," Marth began speaking, "you've mentioned that you were in service to the church as an ally of the House of Belmont. I'm none too familiar with the clan."

'Ah yes, the House of Belmont—more commonly referred to as the Belmont Clan. From what I have read the founder of the house's current incarnation was a man named Leon Belmont, a man who—after a tragic betrayal of his friend—swore his house to defending our world from the dark lord Dracula.'

"Ah yes, Dracula. I've heard the name, albeit through Bram Stoker's novel of the same name."

'Oh, that novel? I do feel that many crucial details behind the truth of Dracula were not accurately represented in it.'

"My-a guess is that the book was-a written without the knowledge that the real-a deal actually existed."

"Perhaps, though that does beg the question: how exactly is it that the book appears in all of our disparate worlds?"

'I could never begin to know the answer for myself, but the important part is that there are some accuracies retained in it.'

"I see. So, concerning your alliance with the Belmonts, where exactly do you fit in?"

'Well, my dear friend Johnathan Morris is closely related to the House of Belmont through the Morris Clan he hails from.'

"There are two clans?"

'Yes. The Morris Clan is oft considered to be an offshoot of the House of Belmont, though they Morrises do not possess the Belmonts ability to utilize the Vampire Killer at its full strength—without a grave price.'

"I see… And, as for you…? What lineage do you hail from?"

'I myself am a distant descendant and offshoot of the Belnades Clan—a clan consisting mostly of powerful witches allied with the House of Belmont. The earliest recorded member of the Belnades Clan is Sypha Belnades, husband of Trevor Belmont.'

"I remember Simon Belmont mentioning that name once or twice as the man who first defeated Dracula."

'I…beg your pardon, but, did you say "Simon Belmont" told you this—as in the most renowned of the House of Belmont?'

"The very same."

'But…how? I wasn't aware that he…er, I apologize, but, you said you were Prince Mars Lowell, and I am unfamiliar with that house. How is it that you personally know Simon Belmont?'

"That's because-a Marth here isn't-a from your world. Ol' Simon and-a Richter were invited to this world for a tournament along with lots-a others, myself and-a Marth included."

'"Marth"? But, I thought you said that—'

"'Marth's' a bit of a nickname some others have made for me—mostly stemming from confusion properly pronouncing my name, but I don't mind it much. Sometimes I catch myself saying Marth from time to time as well."

'Oh, I see. But still, I never knew about this whole tournament ordeal.'

"That's likely because this was the first someone from your world had been invited to participate in it. Simon and Richter both are proving to be quite the popular crowd picks for newcomers."

'Ah, that is to be expected I suppose. Johnathan would have loved to participate, though, I suppose that…due to recent…events…the tournament has been canceled…?'

"'Postponed' is a more apt term. Once this Galeem fellow has been defeated, we will work on a way restoring this world so that the tournament may resume once again. We'll need all the help we can get in setting right what has gone wrong."

'And I shall lend you my aid in anyway I can. Though my physical prowess is not so great, as a descendant of the Belnades Clan my magic shall help lower our foe's ranks.'

'Vee, Eevee!'

"Thank you both. It's always comforting to gain new allies on a journey like this; this reminds me of the wars I've fought back home against the Shadow Dragon Medeus."

"An adventure's not an adventure without-a meeting some new friends along the way am I right?" The trio continued chatting as they headed further south into the deep valley, making a right turn further in. Up ahead was another large volume of light clouds obscuring part of the world, and another hostile puppet fighter was guarding it—that being a rather Giant King Dedede in green standing around looking dumbly. Behind him was the spirit giving him power, a rather large green creature itself with bright red lips under its beady black eyes and a protruding belly button from its yellow belly. The sight of it was none too strange for Mario and Eevee, having seen similar creatures back in his own world; for Marth and Charlotte Aulin on the other hand, the strange creature elicited a failing struggle to contain laughter and disturbed cringing respectively.

'What—what even…' Charlotte Aulin had trouble believing what she was seeing—a big-lipped alligator thing had parked itself on the ground and stared off into the distance without so much of a shred of "lights on upstairs" on its face. It just looked so…dumb—almost as if it was drawn for some child's storybook. To her right Marth was close to losing it, despite having known a cartoony cast for quite some time. "This creature is…atrocious…"

"Calm-a down guys, Don Bongo's-a big pushover; he's so weak even a baby Yoshi can take him." The statement only made Marth snicker harder and Charlotte's face scrunched further in disgust. It didn't last long until Don Bongo finally laid eyes upon the gang, and whatever peaceful skygazing he was enjoying was cut short as he felt himself slowly rising to his feet, taking incredibly sluggish steps towards the heroes with no less of a space-out expression. When he finally reached the party, he took a few labored breaths and spoke through King Dedede's unshakeable southern drawl.

'Try ta dodge mah bouncin' blubbah,' Don Bongo said. 'Just don hit mah lips o' rubbah.'

'I…beg pardon…?'

"The thing is his-a lips are his weak spot, and they swell up like-a balloons when you pop 'em. Smack 'em three times and he goes pop like a piñata, at least that's-a how the storybook goes."

'…What.' It was at this point that Marth couldn't contain himself anymore and promptly fell to the ground in a hysterical fit. 'He must be struck three times in his lips? And he just…explodes afterwards? I…I don't… How is it that such a creature can even begin to exist?'

"Welcome to-a my world sweetie. Here, lemme take the big guy." Mario stood to the front of the group and challenged Don Bongo to a fight. Though it seemed that he simply didn't hear Mario, Don Bongo raised his now-massive hammer and brought it down to the ground, shattering it within seconds and sending everyone plummeting down below. Soon Mario found himself on solid ground that belonged to the Yoshi's Story arena, and Don Bongo stood to the other side of the field; Marth and Charlotte Aulin found themselves suspended above a deep abyss by solid clouds, watching the fight about to unfold. With Eevee at his side, Mario readied for battle against the big-lipped alligator.

Don Bongo was quick to start off with tossing a Gordo at Mario, only to have it reflected back at him via cape. Thinking quickly, the big guy inhaled it and spat it back out at Mario who narrowly dodged the speeding bullet of spikes. Though Don Bongo tripped over himself he did manage to catch Mario by surprise and sent him flying way offstage, chuckling at the happy accident and patting his belly in satisfaction. Mario was quick to make it back onstage, and Don Bongo's response was to bring the hammer down on him, but he was far too slow to get a hit on the nimble plumber. Mario's responded by charging his partner F.L.U.D.D. to the max to save for later while Don Bongo looked on in confusion, unsure of whether he squished Mario. He got his answer in the form of something hitting him from behind and twirling his body around; in his confused haste, he ran in the wrong direction and nearly did himself in running offstage, and even with his new body's ability to float he found himself spun around in the wrong direction again followed by a harsh torrent of water pushing himself quite the distance from safe ground. Much to his fortune a helpful cloud rose from under his feet and was carrying him back to safety.

'Thank ya' Mistah Cloud!' Don Bongo said, eliciting an annoyed groan from Charlotte and more laughter from Marth.

'Must he be so childish?' the young witch complained.

"I must admit, it is rather humorous," Marth said. "Look at him! He looks so—"

'Stupid.'

"Not the word I would have used."

'But it is true! Look at him: those unfocused and dopey eyes, those big and ugly lips, the monstrously fat girth, and his simpleton way of speech…!'

"Now, now, Miss Aulin, that last part is how all children speak in their younger ages."

'But he looks and acts nothing like a child!'

"At least not a human one." The realization of Marth's words hit Charlotte Aulin and suddenly the nasty things she was saying were starting to fade from her mind. "Remember, this big fellow is from Mario's world, where many things that would look childishly bizarre or doesn't make much sense to people like us are commonplace where he's from. For all we know, that Don Bongo Mario spoke of could very well be a child, or rather than that he's more likely a 'bad guy' from a small children's book. He can't help the way he looks or acts."

'…Oh… I never thought of it that way…'

"It's okay if he seems strange to you, but keep in mind that in this world we would get the chance to meet all sorts of things that we'd have never dreamed of, and that includes more of the sillier and light-hearted things we rarely get to see with all of the bloodshed and darkness we constantly deal with. If anything, a critter like him would be more than a much welcome change from the usual enemies we face where I hail from. He may not be a horrid monster like the ones you've faced, but let's take things like this with a smile and laughter alright? You never know when it'll end, so be happy that we get to encounter something quirky like him instead of having to face nothing but the grim and fell monsters of the darkest fiends." Charlotte had never thought Marth capable of such words after having lost himself to an uproarious fit of laughing, but what he said was right after all. Charlotte was so used to fighting minions of Dracula for so long—combined with everyone teasing her for being young and not taking her as seriously because of it, that she started developing an intolerance to the lighthearted and simple childish things of life. "I'd actually love for every once in a while all I'd need to fight are comical critters who explode into colorful sparks and rainbows and they'd reappear later as nothing grave comes of it instead of constantly having to fight other living beings—many of which are either pure evil, terribly misunderstood, or tragically forced to fight you, all of which are to the death. This is not to say that Mario's world is full of sunshine and rainbows, even when it is most of the time, but spending some time in a world like his would be all the vacation from bloodshed I could really use outside of this tournament."

Back with Don Bongo and Mario, the plumber was faring fine despite the big guy's speed boost from taking one too many hits, but he had to be extremely careful since this was a giant King Dedede he was dealing with; one stray hit from his hammer could easily spell his doom, and without the nameless spirit friend Kirby had made he was without any spare stocks on him. Moving in to finish the fight quickly, Mario focused on breaking Don Bongo's shield with constant pressure on it. Fortunately for him, Don Bongo was none too smart to realize what was happening and in no time his guard was crushed, leaving him vulnerable against Mario's assault.

"Alrighty, it's-a game over for you fella!" Mario charged F.L.U.D.D. up to the max once more and ran up to the other side of the edge where Don Bongo nearly teetered over and grabbed him by his foot, swinging him over the edge, and when Don Bongo tried making it back to the stage he flicked out his cape at him and followed it up with F.L.U.D.D.'s high-pressured torrent of water, creating a sizeable distance between Don Bongo and the stage he was trying to get back to. Using his speed increase he was able to Super Dedede Jump back to where if he could land he'd be fine, but of course Mario had expected for him to do this. Mario met him halfway in the air and readied his meteor knuckle for him, smashing the alligator dead in his lips for extra measure and sending him plummeting down to where no cloud could save him. Far out of sight, he ended up exploding into light once again since the last time he had been beaten, but to his own surprise he didn't mind it all that much; at least he didn't have to be forced to fight against anyone he didn't want to fight anymore, and at least he was beaten with the goofiest cross-eyed smile on his face.

After Don Bongo's defeat, the landscape slowly shifted back to normal, and the party found themselves standing exactly where they were before the fight had begun, and the clouds that Don Bongo once stood guard in front of had cleared out, revealing a vast gorge full of mushrooms and spirits perched atop each one. Before the heroes could advance forward the spirit of Don Bongo descended from above, free from his prison. The jolly fellow was simply overjoyed to be free again and wanted to repay Mario and friends with a big smooch, much to everyone's embarrassed horror. Mario managed to easily convince the alligator to wait until they took care of important things, and everyone was spared the embarrassment of having Don Bongo plant his big lips on them. With everyone settled down, they continued to journey ahead into the mushroom gorge, quickly finding themselves face-to-face with another spirit blocking their progress further in; a single Wario with a blue-green biker jacket and blue pants sat down on the lookout for any passerby. This puppet fighter housed the soul of a Chargin' Chuck, one of the many soldiers in Bowser's Koopa Troop that Mario occasionally ran into. Taking a good look at the aura emanated off of both spirit and puppet fighter alerted Mario to things he had never taken stock of before.

The Wario puppet fighter and the Chargin' Chuck spirit were giving off a reddish aura that clung tightly to their bodies, and a glowing white delta symbol with an outline over it was plastered on the front of the Wario's shirt. He had seen similar auras given off by Charlotte Aulin and Don Bongo, but looking at it more closely now had Mario wondering about the significance behind it. Wondering which spirit he should take into battle to confirm this experiment of his, Mario eventually decided on the newly rescued Don Bongo to assist him.

"Hey big fella, you think you got some-a fight left in you right now?" Don Bongo nodded his head in response. "Alrighty then, let's-a go greet our guest eh?" Don Bongo had transformed himself into a small sphere of mostly blue light and flew inside of Mario, filling him with a different kind of power than what Eevee had provided him with before; he could feel that he wasn't as physically as strong as before but he felt tougher, and something about his firebrand seemed stronger than before. Confident that he had this fight in the bag, Mario approached the Wario sitting on lookout, but something about the puppet fighter seemed off to the others watching; the way he casually sat down all hunched over and looking behind him when it looked like nothing else was there was a bit disconcerting.

The Chargin' Chuck himself didn't expect to be put in such a gnarly situation so soon, the last thing he remembered being a good day for some football with his homekoops, though he did admonish one confused Chuck over him bringing a baseball to football practice. Just before they could get anything done they had felt a wicked earthquake which threw off all the boys, and not long after was a bright ray of light or two ripping through the sky at breakneck speeds. When one of them took one of his star teammates he made the issue for the rest of them to drop what they were doing and make a break for it back to the castle, seeing that there was nothing they could do for their fellow Koopa. Unfortunately for him, he got to watch as beams of light zoomed by and vaporized all of his teammates and leaving him all alone out on the field, and despite his best effort to run back to King Koopa and inform him of what happened he finally felt a blast of light tear through him and shred him into nothing. The next few events were some he wish he could forget—being turned into a ghost and shoved into the body of Wario and made to fight for some god of light was sure to put a damper on his mood, and not one to listen to anyone but his king he merely sat at where he was dispatched and waited for something to happen that would free him from his prison. He wasn't expecting to see Mario of all people casually stroll up to him however, and when he did control was promptly snatched from him as he looked behind himself and gave the signal. In a second he made a flourished clappin' leap as three more false Warios revealed themselves from behind him in a splittin' formation. Each Wario glared menacingly at Mario, ready to tackle him clear out of the mushroom gorge.

"Should-a seen this one-a coming…" Mario groaned, not liking the four-to-one disadvantage he was at. Just as he was ready to fight the four goons, he heard Marth walk up beside him.

"You'll not have to fight these turtles alone my friend," Marth assured. "Miss Aulin, may I call upon your assistance?"

'You need only ask my Prince,' the witch replied. Transforming herself into a bright red ball of light, she flew inside Marth and granted him a portion of her power. Since he could not utilize magic himself he could not bring out her full potential, though he swore that he would not waste the strength she was giving him either way.

"Are you ready to do this Mario?"

"Already ready Freddie," Mario replied. Before either of the two men could properly react, they felt themselves being body slammed into by the four Warios and were put flat on their backs. As they stood back up from the sucker punch, they looked around and saw that they had changed locations yet again, this time being that of a regular overworld battlefield from Dinosaur Island. The Wario quartet was quick to charge at Mario and Marth, and the front of the pack found himself being repelled by Marth parrying the blow, though he was quickly trampled over by the remaining three. Mario had jumped out of the way of the rushdown and came back down with his Mario Tornado clothesline, scattering the Warios in different directions before lifting his friend up off the ground.

"Thank you Mario. Why don't we try this: I'll take on the two to my left and you get the two to your right."

"Not a bad idea." The two men worked to keep the Warios apart from each other, with Marth's dancing blade keeping the tacklers at bay as Mario made like a matador using his cape to against the bullies' bulldozing. Despite the two-to-one disadvantage and an early trampling marathon the heroes suffered for a minute or two, quality over quality clearly ruled the battlefield as one Wario from each of the two pairs were bested in a just a short matter of time, and the remaining two were met with much difficulty getting any sort of hit on either Mario or Marth. In short, the goons were made fools of themselves as they continued bum-rushing the heroes with no real strategy behind their attacks. Mario had managed to trick his remaining false Wario foe into nearly running himself off the ledge, but to his misfortune he was struck from behind with a firebrand thrust from Mario, sending him flying far off the stage. When he tried to recover via his motorcycle, Mario had simply pushed him off of his own bike with F.L.U.D.D.'s high-pressured water before he could jump off of it, leaving him falling to his doom.

Marth had no less ease in disposing his foe, maintaining perfect poise as he poked at his opponent with Exalted Falchion, not allowing the false Wario to get in a single blow in edgewise. The fight was soon finished when Marth initiated the setup his dreaded "Ken Combo", tossing his enemy into the air before leaping up at him and taking a false swipe. This had enough force to place the false Wario over the abyss but not far enough for him to evade the next attack that hit him; Marth's blade came slashing down at the false Wario from above, slicing deep into him and plunging him down into the dark below. In a bright explosion, the battle was over in a flash and the battlefield returned to normal. Back at the mushroom gorge, the heroes awaited the Chargin' Chuck's spirit to descend upon them, watching him fold his arms at them as he scrutinized their forms. Eventually, the koopa footballer nodded his head and knocked his fist twice over his left breast before extended it towards them. Grinning ear to ear, Mario walked right on up to the koopa and bumped fists with him, glad to have another ally on his side; though Marth was not too familiar with the fist bump, he gently reciprocated it nonetheless, leading to the spirits of Eevee and even a giggling Charlotte to do so as well—Don Bongo's hands were rather too big for it proper but the koopa appreciated the gesture either way.

"Alrighty, our-a team is-a growing stronger and-a stronger, eh Marth?"

"Indeed. It does me well to see us all come from different backgrounds and still unite together for a good cause."

'Perhaps it may only be due to the dire situation we all face,' Charlotte added, 'but, perhaps, that is the beauty of it all—no matter our personal differences, we manage to stand hand-in-hand when everything is on the line.'

"War makes for strange bedfellows an old adage would say, so in this vein I suppose we are at war… Gods, this takes me back…"

"Don'tcha worry about it-a Marth, you got-a us with you, and this'll be-a no different; we'll-a stomp this-a Galeem creep, right?"

"Yes, we will. I just hope that this isn't too similar to my own battles back home…" No one needed Marth to tell them that he'd rather this journey not be wrought with back-to-back backstabbing and death everywhere one looked. Despite his best efforts to be uplifting, the war had never truly ended for the hero-king, so he was grateful that he still had old friends and new allies to help him carry the day. Mario, Eevee, and Charlotte each gave him a sympathetic hand and bright smiles. "Thank you my friends; you honour me with your compassion and courage. We will win this battle, on my honor as a king of Archanea. Galeem will meet its maker by our hands."

"That's-a more like it! Who's-a with him?"

'By the magicks of my forefathers and foremothers and in our Holy Father's name shall we depose this terror of light, I swear it on the divine powers vested within me.' Eevee, Don Bongo, and Chargin' Chuck gave their own affirmations to show their support being from an eager battle stance, a firm pat on the gut, and a silently raised fist respectively.

"Nice to see that everyone's on the same-a page," Mario said raising his own fist in declaration. "Let's-a go guys; we got lot's-a more spirits and-a friends to save!" With the group being emboldened on their quest, they continued marching on in their quest. Along the way they ran into a couple of more spirits more than happy to lend the heroes their aid: Gryll the super star stacking champion and an Iridescent Glint Beetle that proved to be instrumental in freeing the spirit of Master Belch, neutralizing the sticky floors of his makeshift lair in the sewers. With the living pile of vomit's defeat, the blinding clouds obscuring the area further north and west were lifted somewhat, revealing checkered cliffs to the north and a familiar face further west guarded by three spirits.

"Hey, look guys; that looks like-a PAC-MAN!" True to the plumber's words, up ahead beyond the mushroom gorge and before another set of bright clouds was PAC-MAN, surrounded by at least a dozen fighters with their possessor spirits hovering above them (a shy Isabelle standing with a female Corrin, about nine tiny Mr. Game & Watches, and a white Donkey Kong with bunny ears). Rather than look sad in any fashion, the group seemed to be lively and chatting with one another, though they did spare the occasional glance every which direction as a likely result of Galeem's hold on them. With so many fighters so close to one another, the group considered it unwise to progress further without reinforcing their own numbers, and so they began a backtrack into the mushroom gorge through a different route to see what else awaited them.

"Hm? Hey, everyone, I think I see a treasure chest further south," Marth exclaimed. "Should we go claim it?"

"Eh, sure, why not? It could be pretty useful-a stuff in it."

'One must also take caution as it could be a trap we would spring upon ourselves if we are not careful,' Charlotte warned, properly suspicious of treasure chests simply lying around.

'Gyork! Gyork! Gyork! She could be right you know…' Belch commented in a disgustingly smarmy tone, spitting out a rancid belch and phlegm every other syllable and he left muck in his wake much to everyone's pure disgust, even Don Bongo's. Mario and Marth could only look at each other in discomfort as everyone else held their noses tight from the puke's stench.

"War most certainly makes for strange bedfellows…" Marth whispered once again to the plumber seeing the muck monster tailing them.

"A living pukepuddle though? Now I've seen everything, and that should say something…" Doing their best to be cordial with Master Belch (or just refusing to acknowledge him in Charlotte's case), the group eventually made it to where they had spotted the treasure chest having climbed up and down several large mushrooms, and with Mario's adventuring skills ever ready he cracked the chest open with ease, revealing loot most curious. Inside were what had to be hundreds of green hexagonal pieces with the letters "SP" branded on each one.

"Huh. Perhaps we've stumbled upon some sort of currency," Marth figured. When the hero-king knelt down to pick up the pieces, all of them suddenly disappeared, replaced with a single sack that jingled full of them apparently. "Well then, I suppose we can make good use of this in the near future, though I do find difficulty seeing how."

"Maybe they got a shop around here-a somewhere."

'Better not lose it now… Don't want us all to be flat broke do you? Heeg! Heeg! Heeg!'

"I'll…hold on to this very tight. Thank you, Master…Belch…"

'You're most welcome… Ghar! Ghar! Ghar!'

'Please, dial it down a little,' Marth internally pleaded. 'Nearly every word that comes out of your mouth makes me feel horribly sick to my stomach…' Having secured their loot (and after making sure he wasn't about to lose his breakfast to the puke), Marth made for the command to move forward. A little deeper in and the group discovered a trail of mushrooms down from the treasure chest that progressively got smaller the further out they reached, and on the very last one was another fighter they knew well.

"Gods, that looks like Captains Olimar and Alph over there! Look!" To where the hero-king pointed, the gang's eyes met the lone forms of the Pikmin captains and their multitudes of Pikmin surrounding them. Both miniscule men simply sat on the ground with their backs up against each other's and their heads hung low, and even their Pikmin weren't feeling it today. "Oh, if only we could get over there; there's not enough space for us to jump to them, and I don't think that even they can fly over here with all of their Pikmin…"

'If only my magicks could allow these mushrooms to grow then we could reunite with our comrades,' Charlotte bemoaned. 'But, alas, it is not meant to be…'

"Then it's-a settled. We'll look around a bit more and see if we can find a spirit who could help us out." Following Marth's lead back out through the mushroom gorge, the group was headed back out through the northern end of the fungi, but to their misfortune they ended up running into another hostile spirit barring their path further, one who had been anticipating their inevitable arrival…