Disclaimer: I do not own any of the material appearing in this story.
"Alright, that should be enough." A Sledge Bro said, putting all the debris in one pile. "Hey, how's the other pile doing?"
"Pretty good! We just need to figure out how to rebuild all of this now!"
"Ah, it won't take much time at all!" He smiled. "...Hey, did it get dark all of a sudden?"
Immediately, the Observatory came in for a landing and stood upright, which in turn, caused the rubble to fly everywhere.
"Ya know… you really gotta slow down on the landings. I think you've leveled this town twice." Sora said.
"Hmm? What are you talking about? My landings have always been safe." Rosalina said and then rubbed her chin in thought. "Of course… I don't really land in the middle of a town…"
"Ah, I wouldn't worry about it." Bobbery said. "Rogueport never looked better."
Nocturne sweatdropped. "Suuuuure… if you say so."
"Alright, let's-a go!" Mario said as they nodded.
"You coming too, Rosie?" Aerith asked.
"I've got nothing better to do. Why not?" Rosalina smiled as they headed for the Thousand Year Door.
BGM: Hall of the Thousand Year Door (Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door)
"My my my, if it isn't Mario and friends!" A voice said once they got to the Thousand Year Door. The mere architecture of the door was enough to fascinate Rosalina as she levitated toward it to curiously look at it while the others turned to Professor Frankly.
"Fascinating… of all my life, I've never seen such beautiful architecture." Rosalina mused.
"Frankly? What are you doing down here?" Sora asked.
"Oh, I've heard tales of cracks forming on the door so I had to see for myself!"
"Where's Goombella?" Koops asked.
"Ah, she came down with a cold so I told her to take it easy."
"Wait… she came down with a cold after we left?" Noire raised an eyebrow.
"Ah, you know how flus typically are. One moment you're feeling fine, the next moment, you immediately start feeling like you're dying."
"...Relatable." Noire nodded.
Frankly walked over to the door. "And since there are cracks forming, there is a possibility that the seal is weak enough that you can waltz right in!"
"Ohoho, yeah, that's a good one." Noire said as she walked over to the door, placing her hand on it and looked at Frankly. "If the seal was truly weak, then I would easily open this-"
Creeeeeeeaaaaaaak
"-door…" Noire looked at the door slightly open. "I'll be damned. Crump was right for once."
"I, too, thought he was joking… but apparently, he was not." Lightning said. "Now, let's move."
"Right!" Sora nodded.
"You go on ahead. I'll go check on Goombella, and if she's feeling up to it, we will come meet you on the other side."
With a nod, they all ran in.
BGM: Back to the Roots - Cackle Tower (Shantae and the Pirate's Curse)
"Oooof course it's dark and spooky. Why wouldn't it be?" Luigi groaned. "Alright, what's the name of this place?"
"Ooooh, this might be called the Palace of Shadow." Vivian said.
Luigi sweatdropped. "Definitely lives up to its name!"
"I must say, it has fine architecture if you stop and look around." Rosalina mused, looking around.
"You really admire architecture, huh?" Bea teased.
"Well, when you've been around for a thousand years, you tend to stop and admire the beauty in everything." Rosalina said.
"...I'm sorry, you're HOW old?!" Sora said in surprise, causing the Mario Bros to laugh.
Rosalina smiled. "You heard me~"
…She doesn't look a day over thirty, the HELL?! Bea thought.
"Goodness, I guess we do have an ancient beauty!" Aerith smiled.
"Ancient? I don't feel that old." Rosalina chuckled as they walked through the Palace of Shadow where they immediately came across some stairs where they slowly descended the staircase, but also noticed Swoopulas down on the ground, completely KO'd.
"What happened to these guys?" Nocturne asked.
"If I were to guess, someone's already here." Lightning said, readying her gunblade.
"I was gonna go with: Lack of blood supply and food, but that's… also a good guess." Koops said as they walked into the next room, finding themselves in an empty hallway.
"Oh, this doesn't look so bad." Luigi said.
"Definitely." Noire nodded as they both walked up, only to nearly get their feet impaled by rising spikes.
"Yagh!" They both yelped, taking a step back.
"Hmm…" Bobbery mused as he walked around the room as spikes rose up, except for an open area. "Aha. It's a spike maze."
"Oh lovely! Might as well have a spike ceiling while we're at it!" Noire snarked. "...You know what, to hell with this maze." She immediately went into her Black Heart form and flew across as the Bros took out Cape Feathers and flew across, Rosalina levitating over it, Sora used Flowmotion on the walls and wall kicked his way around… while Vivian pulled everyone else down and popped up on the other side.
"That… takes some getting used to." Lightning admitted as Noire went back to being herself and they walked into a room that had a split staircase and four torches, with Sora noticing one of them being lit and the others unlit.
"Hmm… what if we tried the lit torch next to the door?"
"Worth a shot." Bea shrugged as they walked through… and wound up in the same room, although the lit torch was on the upper floor.
"Wait… the same room?" Aerith wondered.
"Oh suuuuure, go into the door next to the lit torch. Really good idea." Noire rolled her eyes.
"Hold on a second!" Koops said. "The torch is no longer lit."
Lightning looked up the staircase. "Now there's a torch lit up on the upper level now."
"Sora might be on to something." Aerith said.
"Mhm." Bea nodded.
"Oooooor these torches are gonna lead us to the same room over and over again and it will lead us to insanity!" Luigi said.
"Bold of you to think we haven't been there yet." Noire said, hearing a snicker from Aerith as they went up the stairs and into the next room… or same room as they went through the door.
Eventually, they made it out and wound up in an empty room filled with scattered skeletons around. They even saw a few Dry Bones trying to pick themselves back up while another Dry Bones was trying to repair a Dark Bones by gluing him back together, but to no avail.
"What the heck happened?" Luigi asked.
"Something tells me… whatever happened to those Swoops, it applied to these Dry Bones as well." Rosalina guessed.
"I'm-a not liking this…" Mario said.
"That makes two of us. Is it too late to turn back?" Luigi asked.
"Yes." Noire gave him a deadpanned annoyed look, causing Luigi to sweatdrop.
"Worth a shot."
They walked into the next room, which was a long vertical room with long straight paths that would take them to the bottom of the room, and were filled with Bombshell Bill Blasters. However, these Bill Blasters were destroyed as some Bombshell Bills were laying lifeless on the ground.
"Goodness…" Rosalina mused.
"Ooookay, this is really starting to creep me out a bit." Sora admitted.
Bea cracked her knuckles. "I'm ready for whatever's about to be thrown at us." She said as they kept walking until they reached the bottom as they walked around the destroyed Bill Blasters and walked into a long passageway filled with firebars, where they would go under or around them, where one fireball in particular nearly singed a few hairs off of Noire's pigtails as they made their way through.
"Could've gone better flawlessly…" Noire mumbled as they walked into a new area, where the Riddle Tower was at.
"Oooh, an observatory?" Rosalina wondered in awe.
"Looks interesting!" Sora smiled. "I wonder if-"
HWOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAR!
"What the heck?!" Luigi yelped as the place rumbled.
Pause BGM
"That sounded like it came from that door!" Bobbery said.
"Let's check it out." Aerith said.
"How about we just stay here and be away from… whatever angry thing is behind that door!" Luigi suggested.
"Ooooh no, if we're going, you're going!" Noire grabbed Luigi's arm and dragged the plumber away.
Meanwhile…
BGM: More Danger! (Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door)
"ARE YOU SHITTING ME?!" Ryuji yelled as they were staring at a dark purple dragon in front of them. "WE GO FROM ONE EFFIN' DRAGON TO ANOTHER?!"
"What do you mean by "effin' dragon"?"
"Oh, it's simple, really. We took care of a bone dragon in a pit~!" Haru smiled nonchalantly.
"WHAT?! You killed my elder brother?!"
"HARU!" Ryuji yelled.
"What? Fighting dragons is exciting! Why not make it mad?"
"I mean… she's not wrong, especially if you've played Skyrim. Dragons make things cooler!" Futaba said.
"Leeeeet's just hope this one doesn't take us a while…" Ann hoped while Makoto squared up.
"I, Gloomtail, will proceed to make your lives a living hell for what you have done with my eldest brother! …Even if he was annoying and had a superiority complex!" Gloomtail roared.
Morgana bounced on his feet. "Let's rock!"
"Let's make things interesting." Akira declared. "PERSONA!"
End BGM
BGM: Rivers in the Desert - Scramble (Persona 5 Strikers)
Gloomtail breathed fire as everyone scrambled to get out of the way. "Alright, buffing up your defense!" Oracle declared as Queen jumped in and punched Gloomtail in the face hard enough to snap Gloomtail's head to the side. He let out a snarl and tried to bite down, but she jumped back as Noir swung her axe down on the dragon's foot.
Gloomtail roared where Noir rolled out of the way as Joker proceeded to shoot at him, all the while Skull wrapped electricity in his nailed bat and swung it at his body while Fox slashed at him.
"Let's see how you like this!" Gloomtail breathed fire on the ground, creating a wall of fire and launching it at Morgana and Panther, but they jumped out of the way while Panther threw fireballs of her own to get Gloomtail's attention, where he tried to crush her with his foot but she gracefully backflipped.
"Special delivery~!" Oracle said, pressing a button as a cannon came out of Prometheus and fired a large bomb into his mouth, where it exploded and causing Gloomtail to roar in pain as he then breathed fire at Oracle, but she moved out of the way and fired lasers at him.
Gloomtail snarled, unleashing a poisonous breath attack at Joker and Fox, but they dodged the attack as Joker used Eigaon on him. The dragon snarled and attempted to bite down, but Joker jumped back as Queen jumped to his head and unleashed Atomic Flare at him.
"RAAARRRGH!" Gloomtail snarled as the Phantom Thieves regrouped.
"What's wrong? Can't handle a little atomic punch?" Skull taunted.
"Heheheh…" Gloomtail chuckled as he started to charge up. "I'M JUST GETTING STARTED!" He yelled.
"Uh oh! He's charging up!" Oracle exclaimed.
"TASTE OBLIVIOOOOON!" Gloomtail breathed fire at them, but the flames suddenly went around them.
"It's wrapping around us?!" Morgana wondered.
"You looked like you could use a hand." A voice said as they turned to see Rosalina aiming her wand at Gloomtail and the heroes all jumped in.
"Wait, the Phantom Thieves? What the heck are you guys doing here?" Luigi asked.
"Thought we could do a bit of exploring in here after the Pit of 100 Trials. Ran into this guy shortly after!" Fox said.
"Hooktail? He's looking a lot more emo all of a sudden." Koops said. "...Wait, didn't we kill him though?"
"WHAT?! You slaughtered my sister?!"
"...That was a girl?!" Sora said in surprise.
"Didn't sound very womanly to me!" Luigi said.
"Well, that's… good to know." Mario rubbed the back of his head.
"First you kill my older brother, then you kill my youngest… I was wondering why she wasn't writing back!"
"Dragons can write?" Aerith wondered.
"First time I've heard about this!" Noire said.
"...I can see Dragonite doing it." Bea thought aloud.
"ENOUGH! I will now slaughter you all!" Gloomtail roared loudly as he opened his mouth.
Luigi pulled out the Diamond Star. "Not original, but it'll get the job done!" He said, throwing the Diamond Star into his mouth.
"What'd you do that for?!" Noire said in shock.
"Wait for it." Luigi said as the Diamond Star activated and unleashed crystal spikes, piercing through Gloomtail's body and shredding through it easily.
"Hgrrrrk! What…?!"
Bea grimaced. "Gruesome!"
"Eh, I've seen worse." Lightning shrugged as the crystals disappeared as Gloomtail grunted, staggering to his feet.
"Hahahaha… is that… the best you can do…?!" Gloomtail growled.
"Hmm…" Rosalina telekinetically pulled out the Crystal Star. "I thought I felt immense power from this one." She said. "Everyone, you may want to take cover from this!"
"...Holy crap, I don't know what's going on, but Rosalina's absorbing that Crystal Star's energy! Her power is doubling… no… tripling!" Oracle warned. "We may have to duck!"
The Crystal Star sprinkled its energy into Rosalina, her eyes glowing brightly. "I have one question for you, dragon. Have you ever felt the impact from a supernova?"
"Rrrgh… no… what does that have to do with your demise!"
"Would you like to find out?" She asked, her hair glowing brightly as the sun as she absorbed all the energy from the Crystal Star.
"Wait, did she say… supernova?!" Queen said in surprise.
"DUCK AND COVER, PEOPLE!" Skull yelled. "SHE'S GONNA BLOW!"
Once everyone ducked, Rosalina raised her hand up in the air to conjure up a Neutron Star as she threw it down toward Gloomtail. Gloomtail responded by breathing fire at it, but it proved to be useless as the Neutron Star slammed into the ground and unleashed a powerful intergalactic explosion as Rosalina put up energy fields for everyone in the room.
End BGM
Meanwhile, up at Rogueport…
"Dearly beloved! We are gathered here today to witness a beautiful moment in this family's history. My daughter, Francesca and my son-in-law, Frankie, to be wed in holy matrimony in the sight of any god or goddess out there in this world. Should there be any objections to this union, speak now or forever hold your pea-"
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
Immediately, the ground beneath them exploded and sent everyone flying as the underground explosion was enough to cause a massive sinkhole to show up on the western side of Rogueport.
"...Holy smokes, I'm glad I survived that!" Lucky said.
"What the fock was that?!" Gloria wondered as she was at the lottery herself.
"You know what. Forget the ticket. You were lucky to survive too. Here's a Zess Dynamite on me!"
Gloria picked it up. "Uh… thanks, lad?"
Don Pianta got out of the rubble as did the rest of the mafia Piantas. "What the devil just happened!"
"I think that's a sign that this marriage is gonna be explosive, boss!" Tony said.
"Marrying my man with a bang… best wedding ever~!" Francesca exclaimed.
I hope that doesn't mean our marriage is immediately on the rocks. Frankie thought.
"Ahem, now then! May I have the wedding rings?"
"Of course! They were right… right…" Frankie looked through the rubble. "I could've sworn they were right here! Where did they go?!"
"You mean to tell me… you lost. The wedding rings. On our big day."
"Not my fault the town exploded!"
"But you lost 'em! Do you even love me, Frankie?"
"Oh here we go again… of course I love you, doll face!"
"Prove it! Say that you love me."
"I love you."
"I'm not hearing it nine hundred and ninety nine more times!"
"Wh-WHAT?!"
Don Pianta groaned. "You sure take after your mother…"
At the Rogueport Sewers…
The large doors were flown off of their hinges as pillars crumbled, the Pit of 100 Trials caved in, the town in the sewers was completely leveled and buried the residents underneath…
And as for Bowser's crew, they were blown out of the Palace of Shadow. "Uuuugh… what was that…?" Bowser groaned.
"I don't know… and frankly, I don't want to know…" Captain Goomba groaned.
Back in the Palace of Shadow…
"Oh dear…" Rosalina said once she turned back to normal, seeing that nothing had remained of Gloomtail. "I may have gone overboard." She sheepishly rubbed the back of her head while returning the Supernova power back to the Crystal Star.
"Oh, I'm sure it didn't do too much damage. Hopefully." Sora said.
Rosalina nodded. "Here's hoping." She said as the Phantom Thieves turned back to normal.
"Sooo… I'm guessing you guys did all that carnage back there?" Mario asked.
"Ah, so you've seen our handiwork." Yusuke said. "Yes, that was us."
"Geez, we were worried it was some kind of monster!" Noire said.
"That depends on who the monster could be." Ryuji said. "Could've been Makoto, could've been Haru… could've been the cat." He mumbled with a teasing smirk.
"What was that?!" Morgana glared.
"Regardless, I'm assuming you have all the Crystal Stars?" Makoto asked.
"Yeah, but now Peach and Kairi are deep in this place where Grodus is waiting for us." Sora said.
"Well, since we're all here, might as well take him on together." Akira said as they nodded.
"Hmmm… what does this button do?" Haru wondered, curiously hitting the ! switch as they felt a rumbling happen nearby.
"That sounded like it was coming from the cosmic tower or whatever it's called!" Futaba said.
"Let's go!" Sora said as they took off.
Once they got back to the Riddle Tower, however…
"Mwehehehehe! This is the end of the line for you!" A voice said as Beldam approached them, along with Marilyn and Frankly.
"Frankly? What are you doing-... wait a minute…" Noire growled. "DOOPLISS!"
"Yes. The freak in the sheet knocked the professor and his student upside the head. They're nursing their head bumps as we speak." Beldam said as Doopliss turned back to normal.
"Frankly, I'd rather not be called that…" Doopliss mumbled.
"Now then, without further ado, we shall-"
Vivian snapped her fingers as Beldam and Marilyn were Fiery Jinxed. "AIYEEEEEEEE!"
"GUUUUUH!"
"Beldam, you talk too much. Marilyn, I'm sorry."
"I'm noticing you forgot to catch me on fire." Doopliss said.
"Oh, I'm not the one who you should be worrying about~!" Vivian said as Doopliss saw Noire brandishing her sword with malicious intent in her eyes.
"Uh oh!" Doopliss whimpered.
"You guys deal with those clowns… this is personal." Noire glared, her sword catching on fire as she pointed it toward Doopliss. "You've caused me so much shit in this adventure. Stealing my identity, flaunting my body around like you just didn't care… caressing my chest like the perv that you are… AND LET'S NOT GET ME STARTED ON THE SHIT YOU PULLED IN THE EXCESS EXPRESS!"
"Hahahaha… let's make this even!" Doopliss said, immediately transforming into Noire.
"...He's dead." Lightning said.
"I'll give him a five second head start to start running." Koops said.
"Too generous. Four!" Nocturne said.
"A millisecond." Bobbery nonchalantly said.
A shadow cast over Noire's eyes. "And now you have the audacity to transform into myself again… you really are a god damn glutton for punishment. Let me ask you something… does a bedsheet like you bleed?"
"Uuuuuh… where are you going with this?"
"DO YOU WANT TO FREAKIN' FIND OUT?!" She yelled, immediately transforming into Next Black.
BGM: Absolute (Megadimension Neptunia VII)
"W-wait a second! Since when could you do that…?!" Doopliss whimpered. "And why am I hearing boss music all of a sudden?!"
Next Black lunged, viciously slashing at Doopliss but he blocked with his sword as the two of them clashed, but Next Black parried him and slashed him several times before doing a Lacy Dance attack.
Doopliss was knocked toward the ground but recovered, sliding on his feet as she threw fireballs at her but she slashed the fireballs with her sword and deflected them, before lunging at him with a Fall Slash and Volcano Dive combo, with the resulting fiery explosion knocking Doopliss away.
Doopliss recovered as he charged at her, quickly slashing but Next Black sweep kicked her and punched him in the face to send him flying into a wall. Doopliss got back up and decided to mix things up by transforming into Nocturne and quickly ran over to her and attempted to flutter jump, but Next Black jumped up and slashed him away, only for Doopliss to quickly transform into Sora.
"Heh, get a load of this, slick!" Doopliss said, Airstepping toward her and slashing her but she stopped the faux Keyblade with just her hand and tightened her grip to shatter it as his eyes widened in surprise as she kicked him in the crotch shortly after, which was enough to make Sora shudder.
Next Black snapped her fingers, summoning the Ruby Star and unleashed Art Attack on him, proceeding to pelt him with a Triple Inkstrike, then she jumped up in the air as she proceeded to throw a Booyah Bomb down, covering him up in ink before summoning the Killer Wail 5.1.
"Gaaaah!" Doopliss grunted, switching to Mario to avoid the Killer Wails, but Next Black summoned a Trizooka and shot him in the face, sending him flying back as she flew down, summoning the Ultra Stamp and slammed it into him on the ground, crushing him as she smacked him into the ground numerous times before she jumped back.
"This is the end for you!" Next Black flew toward him. "DIAGONAL BLADE SWORD DANCE!" She yelled, summoning four swords as they surrounded her and proceeded to slash him several times from all over as she then dive bombed him to finish him off… but not before punting him into the water for good measure.
"Witness the power of a CPU goddess!" She declared as she turned back to normal.
End BGM
"Haaaaaaaaaa… that was cathartic." Noire smiled as she turned around to see Beldam and Marilyn KO'd. "Oh hey, you already knocked them out?"
"Oh, we knocked them out about two minutes ago. You were just taking your sweet time." Akira said.
Noire chuckled. "Damn right I did." She turned toward the Riddle Tower, the door having been opened thanks to Haru. "So… shall we go in?" She asked as they walked right in where Rosalina decided to go to the top floor.
BGM: Tower of Riddles (Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door)
"Fascinating…" Rosalina's eyes sparkled while everyone else examined the rest of the Riddle Tower. She slowly walked over toward it and levitated up. The planets that rotated on the orrery was enough to fascinate the cosmic woman.
"I'll never get tired of this." She said as she spotted a keyhole. "Hmm?" She wondered as she went over to it. "Curious…" She mused as she spotted a chest as she walked over and opened it up to pull out a key.
She walked toward the keyhole and put it in, which caused more keyholes to show up while the key she had shattered upon unlocking it. "Hmm… oh! I wonder if we could have Sora do this." She said, telepathically calling everyone up where most of them came, except for Futaba. "Where's Futaba?"
"She's trying to solve a riddle. Need something?" Akira asked.
"Yes. There are keyholes all around this orrery. I was wondering if we could have Sora unlock them with his weapon."
"Well, it's worth a shot." Sora said. "Of course, that's gonna take a while."
"I have an idea." Mario said as they turned to him, where he pulled out a Double Cherry. "Perhaps this might be of some use."
With Futaba…
"Mmm… that's the last one, now if I can just figure out the code here…" Futaba rubbed her chin, rubbing her head as she whipped out her laptop and started typing a bunch of guesses. "No, that doesn't make sense… no, nah… ugh, what? Forget that…"
"Complete All Seven So That We, The Great Ones, Master of Shadow and Dark Can Live Again by the Stone. Stones Have Power of Stars. We Know the Stars Spurn Us And That the Skies Lie but the Stars Bring Balance…"
"...What the hell does that even mean?" Futaba wondered. "I've concluded that this must have been an ancient city of some kind, and the stars this riddle is referring to could possibly be referring to the Crystal Stars…"
She folded her arms. "Aaaagh, but what are these Great Ones the riddle is referring to?! Skies that lie?! Aaaargh! Where's another genius like me who could help me out with this!" She sighed. "Well, it could be worse… I could be rerouting an entire network for the whole planet after I unwittingly helped someone hijack it, but come on, I'm not that stupid…"
Futaba rubbed her chin in thought. "Of course, hacking into the Mushroom Kingdom's network just to see how it ticks and proceeding to add firewalls of my own does sound tempting… no no, don't go there."
She looked back at her laptop. "Gaaaah! What could this all MEAN!"
Suddenly, the ground underneath her rumbled. "Huh?" She wondered as the Riddle Tower shook as in a corridor nearby, the floor started to cave in and transformed into stairs, leading into a secret passage.
End BGM
Soon after, Futaba heard footsteps as she turned her head to see everyone coming down the stairs. "Figured it out?" Ann asked.
"Nope, I'm drawing blanks. What'd you guys do… and why does Sora look weirded out?"
"So many clones of myself…" Sora hugged himself. "I'm never eating cherries again for as long as I live!"
"Huh…?" Futaba tilted her head. "...Oh! The Double Cherry, that makes sense."
"We might have opened up a new passageway." Bobbery said.
Futaba put her laptop away. "Really? Alright, let's rock!"
"Let's-a go!" Mario exclaimed.
Resume Back to the Roots BGM
Once they got out of the Riddle Tower, they headed back to where they previously fought Gloomtail, but saw the stairs that lead down a secret passage. They proceeded to head down and into a new room, where they saw mechanical engineering all over the place.
"I wonder if this place was technologically advanced…" Makoto said.
"Probably!" Futaba shrugged as they walked around the new areas, solving the puzzles in the room while dealing with a few Wizzerds and Chain Chomps until they managed to get through a door where a long hallway awaited them.
"I'm not liking this." Lightning said, using Curaga on them all as they moved on ahead and walked up a small flight of stairs.
End BGM
"Welcome, everyone. You've made it!" A voice said as everyone readied themselves as Grodus was sitting on his throne.
BGM: Grodus' Theme (Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door)
"There you are." Sora said as he looked up and saw Kairi and Peach behind him. "Kairi! Peach!"
"Sora!" Kairi smiled.
"You made it!" Peach smiled warmly.
"Thunderbolt. You dare betray me again?" Grodus asked.
"I've gained immunity to your brainwashing… and for the record, it's Lightning."
"Hmph, so be it. I see you have decided to come, cosmic princess. Do you have an answer for me?"
Rosalina aimed her wand at him. "I think we both know the answer to that."
"So be it!" Grodus got up from the throne. "I have to thank you for bringing the Crystal Stars to me. With them, I will use them to make the Shadow Queen obey me!"
"Ah yes, waking up a dark power just to have them serve you. Because that goes over so well." Akira snarked.
"Hmhmhmhm…" Grodus raised his staff. "Ready or not, heroes. For I, Grodus, will-"
End BGM
Suddenly, the ceiling started to crack above Grodus. "Hmm?" He wondered as suddenly, Bowser and his group came crashing down. "WHAT THE?!" He quickly backed up as Bowser and the others landed.
"Uuuungh… why did the floor give way…?" General Guy wondered.
"I detected a lot of cosmic radiation in that room, but I wasn't sure what was the cause of that…" Kamek mumbled.
"It was suffocating to say the least…" Bowser mumbled.
"BOWSER?!"
"Huh?" Bowser looked around. "Hey! Nice of us to drop in! BWAHAHAHA!"
"Xigbar?!" Sora said in shock.
Xigbar readied his weapons. "Heheheh, nice to see you again, kiddo." He said, aiming his Arrowguns at him. "Now, let's see if you-"
Suddenly, Bowser grabbed Xigbar by the head. "Hey! What are you-" Bowser threw Xigbar into a wall hard enough to get him stuck in said wall as he then breathed fire to make the wall crumble on top of him to bury him alive.
"I only needed you to get me to the Crystal Stars and Peach. Now that I have, your services are no longer required!"
BGM: Bowser's Theme (Super Mario 64)
Bowser turned to the group, smirking. "Now then! It's time we started pummeling each other. And lookie here, one minion for each of you!"
"...With all due respect, I think we're still a bit outnumbered." Yellow said.
"Who cares! We get to fight!" Red smirked.
"There's that cosmic woman we have to be wary about though…" Captain Shy Guy pointed out.
"Aheheheh… go easy on us?" Junior said with a small whimper.
"Now that I have you right where I want ya… let's settle this like old times, Mario!" Bowser smirked.
Mario's fists burst into flames. "Bring it on-a!" He said as the two of them lunged at each other.
Suddenly, Rosalina got between all of them. "All of you! Stop this at once!"
End BGM
She even had managed to grab Mario and Bowser by the ear/horn. "Ow/Watch it!"
"I understand that you two like to clobber each other and normally, I wouldn't mind seeing you kill each other like usual. However, this is no time to settle a rivalry. Besides… the more you fight, the more Grodus is getting away with Peach and Kairi."
Grodus froze, being halfway through the stairs with some Grodus X's carrying both of their cages. "...Uh oh." He slowly turned to see everyone turning their attention to Grodus.
"...Truce for now?" Bowser asked.
"Truce-a."
"Good." Rosalina let them go as Bowser turned around.
"YOU THERE! RELEASE THOSE GIRLS AT ONCE!" He roared as Grodus lost all color and quickly took off with the girls in tow as everyone charged at him.
Once they got into the next room, they cornered him. "Ha! Dead end!" Aerith smirked.
"Oooooh you are in for it now~!" Haru said with a hint of sadistic gleefulness.
"Um… guys?" Bea spoke up. "What's that… tomb right there?"
"Gack… Gack… GACK ACK ACK ACK!" Grodus cackled. "This is the tomb of the Shadow Queen! You dare mock me for what I am about to do, cosmic space queen? We will see how has the last laugh! BEHOLD!" He opened up the tomb.
"Grodus, NO!" Rosalina yelled as darkness shot out of the tomb.
BGM: Shadow Queen's Theme (Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door)
A dark hand rose out of the tomb, and another hand followed as a ghostly figure emerged from the tomb. Grodus fired lightning bolts on the cages to shatter them as the darkness wrapped around the two.
"RISE SHADOW QUEEN!" Grodus beckoned as the Shadow Queen fully emerged from the tomb. "Your feast for these two women. I believe they will make a fine host. Or perhaps you could go for the cosmic goddess that is before you."
"Like hell you're getting close to Rosalina!" Bea growled as Koops and Nocturne got in front of her.
The Shadow Queen said nothing as she lowered herself to Kairi, but due to her status as Princess of Heart, her light blocked her from doing so.
"Ah… her light is strong enough to hold me back. Perhaps the pink one will do."
Sora got in a stance and AirStepped toward the girls, grabbing the both of their arms and yanking them away in another AirStep. "Not happening!"
"You fool!" Grodus said. "You DARE mess with the ritual?!"
"She doesn't look so tough!" Bowser declared, when suddenly, from the Shadow Queen's darkness, called upon the Heartless as they appeared in vast numbers.
"The Heartless?!" Sora said as Kairi immediately sprang up and summoned her Keyblade while Peach readied her frying pan.
"These creatures… they will do."
The Shadow Queen raised her arms up in the air, sucking up all the Heartless as she consumed them all one by one. As she did so, the entire land shook as she transformed.
What stood before them all was a woman with black shoulder length hair that covered her left eye, her eyes were a dull blue color. She wore black lipstick and nail polish while also wearing Ztar earrings and a Ztar choker. She wore a black skin tight bodysuit with a gray trimming. There was a Ztar Belt Buckle on her waist and wore gray knee high heels while also wearing gray fingerless gloves that went up to her elbow with a Ztar back on her hand. There was also a crown on her head with a Ztar on the front of the crown.
"Hahahaha… oh, it feels so good to be back in this body." She chuckled. "Never would I have imagined I'd see it again."
"So this is your original body?" Grodus asked.
"Indeed."
"Very well. From now on, you will obey me. Shadow Queen, destroy these fools!"
The Shadow Queen raised an eyebrow, putting her hand on her hip. "Beg pardon?"
"What, are you dense? DESTROY THEM!"
The Shadow Queen summoned a nail filer, casually filing her nails. "Yeah… no."
"What?!"
"I'm a being of pure darkness, genius. What do you think would happen? You think I'd just wake up and be all buddy buddy with a being of outdated technology? Please… I got better things to do."
"You WILL obey me or so help me, I will put you back in this tomb!"
"Let me ask you something." She summoned a shotgun pistol. "How about you die and I go back to not giving a fuck about you. Sound good?"
"That is IT! I will not tolerate this for a second longer!"
Shadow Queen smirked. "Suit yourself." She said as she proceeded to shoot him up as he put up his defenses, but the Grodus X's were quickly destroyed as she proceeded to shoot him in the face to knock him down. She then snapped her fingers as a dark bolt of lightning struck him to destroy him.
Rosalina sighed. "Fool…"
"Now then… what to do with all of you?" She wondered. "Oh, I know!" She conjured up a wave of darkness. "How about you become my garden gnomes!" She said, firing a wave of darkness that struck them all, where they would immediately get turned to stone right after, however she snapped her fingers to free up Peach.
"Wha?! No! You killed them?!"
"What? No, I didn't kill them. I just simply turned them to stone. They'll be fiiiiine." The Shadow Queen waved her off. "Do I look like the type of woman to kill somebody just for the sake of edginess?"
"You killed Grodus!"
"Meh. He's a computer. You can just get a new one." She shrugged it off.
"But no… I guess not…"
"Exactly. If I did, then what kind of shitty story writing is that? Now if I turned them into stone, now THAT is creative writing! Killing for the sake of edginess? Boooooriiiing! Thats just trying too hard." Shadow Queen chuckled before grabbing Peach by the collar. "Now then, I brought you out of the stone prison because I need a new change of scenery. Rogueport is so dull. Perhaps the Mushroom Kingdom will do nicely!"
"No! I will not allow you to harm my Kingdom!"
"Oh, I'm afraid you don't have a choice. Unless you want your friends to suffer a humiliating fate!"
"Wh-what kind of humiliating fate…?"
"Who knows. Pin the Bullet Bill on the Koopa, dehorn the big strong Koopa, draw permanent marker on pigtail over there… hell, the red mustache guy would be great as a hotel manager where all the guests are annoying as hell, maybe I'll throw in a few opera singers who are bad at singing! …Say, I wonder if there are any Lost Levels I can throw in…"
"ALRIGHT, STOP!" Peach yelled. "Don't… don't humiliate them… I'll… I'll take you to the Mushroom Kingdom if it means sparing my friends…"
"That's a good girl. I knew you'd see my way." Shadow Queen smirked, wrapping her and Peach in darkness. "Let's go pay the Mushroom Kingdom a visit." She said, the darkness shooting out into the ceiling as they launched out of the room and into the remains of Rogueport.
Peach groaned, pulling out a red small Warp Pipe. "The Return Pipe. For some reason it would not work on the moon, but… this will take us to the Mushroom Kingdom…" Peach tossed it into the ground as it opened up.
"You will show me your castle." She ordered, forcing Peach into the Warp Pipe as she jumped in shortly after, leaving behind the petrified heroes in the Palace of Shadow.
The fight for the Mushroom Kingdom is on!
Ibuki: Go get 'em! ...Once they're un-petrified that is.
By the way, I got a question. What brought you here to this side of the area? I thought you'd be comfortable hanging out in SRS.
Ibuki: Eh, she got bored. Aaaand you looked lonely, so she thought she'd accompany you here.
Aww, you're sweet.