Author's Note and Disclaimer: Never owned Mario of any kind. Never will. It would be cool if I did though.

To Animefangirl11: Thanks for enjoying the story. I really appreciated the review. Also, you never know if Luigi might join up in the adventure (Wink, wink).

To DippyDaBugBear: Thank you for pointing out my error with Kammy. Grubba and Kid Yoshi, well, wait and see. You never know.


Mario speaks:

"It looks like there isn't going to be any wedding after all. Bowser of all people wrecked the party before it could even begin. I'm not too mad about it. I'm glad that Peach won't marry that creep, Darius. And what was up with that crystal that was handed to Peach? One minute it was pink then black, then nothing at all. But when I looked outside as I awoken from my unconsciousness, the Mushroom Kingdom looked different. Different as though the world is about to end."

Chapter Two: Gravity

What has happened to the Mushroom Kingdom? Why did this happen? Did this have something to do with that crystal, the Tierkreis? Mario wanted answers and he wanted them now! He left his house, Toad trialing behind, running straight toward the castle. As he ran through the town, he saw he wasn't the only one confused as to what was going on. But Mario didn't seem to care what the Toads were screaming about. He only seemed to care for himself. He continued to run toward the castle, Toad still far behind.

It didn't take too long before Mario reached the Mushroom Kingdom's castle. As he entered, he saw the only people in the castle were Peach, Darius, the Chanceller, Kammy, Bowser, Mallow, Yun, Daisy, Kalan, and Luigi. Darius seemed really banged up after being blasted by the bolt of lightning that emerged from the Tierkreis. As Mario shut the doors, everyone looked to him. Peach smiled and ran at Mario.

"Mario! You're alive!" Peach exclaimed, hugging him.

"It's good to see you too, Peach - er, Your Highness." Mario said.

Peach relinquished her embrace on Mario and the two walked to the group of people gathered. Bowser looked angered to see Mario had survived his fall, not to mention he was still infuriated that Darius was to marry Peach. Mario grabbed Darius by the collar of his shirt.

"Okay, buddy, start talking! What happened to our kingdom!" Mario shouted.

"I don't know what happened, sir! Why do you blame me?" Darius asked.

"Because that crystal was your treasure, right! Well, look at what it's done!"

"Mario! Stop!" Peach shouted.

Kalan cleared his throat, getting everyone's attention. Everyone looked at the attendant of the young prince.

"I do believe I can be of help there. But I'll only explain if you all stop trying to rip each other's throats out and sit down like civilized people."

Everyone did as followed. The other ten were waiting to hear what Kalan had to say.

"Well, Kalan?" Darius asked.

"Just a second," Kalan muttered. "Anyway, I know you're all wondering what has happened to the Mushroom Kingdom, so I'll get to the point. The Tierkreis was not just a treasure of our kingdom. It was a seal as well."

A seal? A seal to what? Bowser thought to himself.

"A millennium ago, a war broke out between the forces of the Sterling Kingdom and the Umbra Kingdom. The Umbra Kingdom was a kingdom filled with demons of unimaginable powers, their leader was someone by the name of Nerezza. She was the one who was to marry the first prince of our kingdom but he refused her. Nerezza had twelve strong demons by the name of the Makhy, each empowered by the Zodiac: Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces, Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, and Saggitarius."

"I see. But what does that have to do with the Tierkreis?" Daisy asked.

"I'm getting to that part. Anyway, Nerezza thought that with the Makhy on her side she would be able to conquer the Sterling Kingdom. She was wrong. Dead wrong. The Sterling Kingdom also had warriors that battled with the power of the Zodiac as well. We called them the Wuteyl. The Makhy and the Wuteyl battled for twelve days and twelve nights, each one dying by the end of each day. At the end of the twelfth day, the Makhy and the Wuteyl were dead. The only two remaining was Nerezza and Darius' ancestor, the prince Knayd. The two battled, the souls of their fallen warriors within them. In the end, it was Knayd who slayed Nerezza. As she died, her body shattered, leaving only the Tierkreis behind. The crystal was believed to hold the souls of the Makhy and the Wuteyl... but there was a catch to leaving this crystal behind."

Kalan slowly turned toward Peach and pointed a finger at her. Peach jumped and gasped.

"The crystal was NOT to be touched by anyone who has or had evil in their hearts. Anyone who was plagued by evil who touched the crystal would shatter it and release the fallen Makhy and Nerezza so that the Twelve Day War would begin again. Luckily for us, the Makhy's bodies were crystalized and won't be much of a threat as long as we unite them back into the Tierkreis. However, if we are to fail, Nerezza will return, twice as powerful and twice as deadly."

Daisy and the other looked at Peach strangely. Only Luigi and Mario knew what happened to Peach in the adventure at Rogueport. She was possessed by the demon the Shadow Queen, the one who nearly condemned the world to darkness. But even if it were for a while, Peach was still plagued by evil. Now everyone knew why the crystal shattered.

"It's not true! I was never truly evil! I was possessed!" Peach cried.

"It doesn't matter. Now that the crystal has shattered, we have twelve days to reunite the crystals back into one so that Nerezza may not return. If she does, both of our worlds will be destroyed. I say now would be a good time to try and track down the shards now." Kalan said.

"Perhaps I could be of help."

To everyone's surprise, Professor E. Gadd, the crazy scientist from Mario and Luigi's adventures, appeared at the doorway. Luigi put his hand on his head and shook it.

"Not you again." he muttered.

"Professor E. Gadd, nice to meet you again. What are you doing here?" Peach asked.

"Do you know him?" Darius asked.

"He helped me recover my voice from an evil witch one time. He's also helped Luigi save Mario from ghosts."

"Thank you for your kind words, Princess, but now is the time that I explain why I'm here. You see, I too am familiar with the story of the Makhy and the Wuteyl. I think I can be of service to find the shards of your crystal, Your Highness." the professor said.

"How so?" Darius asked.

The professor grinned mischieviously and started to dig through his pockets. This was confusing everyone in the room. What the hell is he doing? Kammy and Bowser thought. After a minute of digging, the professor pulled out a red device that looked like a Nintendo DS, pen and all.

"A DS? How is that going to help us!" Bowser shouted, flames emerging from his mouth.

"Whoa, calm down there, hot head!" Mallow shouted.

"It's not a DS. This, my friends, is what I'd like to call the E. GaddStar CrystalScanner, or EGSCS for short. However, this is just the prototype and it hasn't been tested yet."

"Then try it out already!" Kammy shouted.

"Shut up, hag!" Daisy hissed.

Kammy and Daisy glared at one another, Daisy rolling up her sleeve, ready to fight with the old crone. She wasn't afraid to get a little dirty. While they were arguing, E. Gadd was turning on the EGSCS. It seemed to work out fine. With the pen in hand, he started to move it across the screen, obviously trying to find a shard. Mario and the others, who were arguing, looked over his shoulder, wanting to see too. Finally, after three minutes of looking, the device beeped.

"EUREKA! I'VE FOUND A SHARD!" E. Gadd shouted, thrusting a fist to the sky, nearly hitting everyone.

"Really? What one and where?" Kalan asked.

"There is one in the Rose Town Forest! It says, by the scanner, that it is the Crystal of Aries! Anyone here born from March 21st to April 20th?"

Everyone looked at one another. Eventually, Bowser raised his hand.

"I see then... Your Highness, you did say that only those who were born in the month of the chosen Zodiac may touch the crystal, correct?" E. Gadd asked.

"Of course." Darius replied.

"Then that meansBowser will have to go to the Rose Town Forest to get it." Yun said.

"Precisely! So, you better get going soon! We don't have all day to waste!" Kalan shouted.

Now it was official. A new journey was about to begin again. This time,Bowser had to team up again to find the Aries Crystal shard in the Rose Forest. It won't be a long journey, but the travel would be hell to his legs. He had to get to the Rose Forest before the day was over. But how?


Author's Note: I'm back! I decided to bring back this story because I know I was unfair to all of you who liked this story and it all of a sudden going "poof" on you. I'm very sorry. I wasn't having a good year. I will update as soon as I can, until then, R&R. No flaming. Okay?