"As the tired out group had intended, they made it back to their place of residence, and slept through most of the day, given their lack of sleep the previous night beforehand. It wasn't until the day was over halfway through that the group were incited to get to their preparations for their trip, within a couple hours, they had their carriers, holders, and what have thee prepared, and to the spot in which the planes departed, they departed. They arrived at nightfall, their flight booked to leave soon."

"Okay, so i'm pretty sure that we've packed everything we need for this trip."

"Hundred percent?" Hoops asked. "You are a bit forgetful, maybe double check incase you forgot something?"

"Hmm, you could be right, maybe I should," Mosaic responded.

"Nah, I think you did a good enough search, Mosaic, we should be good," Rosy added.

"Easy for you to say Rosy…given how organized your bag usually is," Hoops replied.

Rosy stroked her fur in the bug's direction in acknowledgement, in which the crawler rolled his eyes.

"I'll check the cases again just in case," Mosaic ultimately responds.

As he's doing this, Berry begins to tell Rosy something.

"Oh? What's going on Berry?" she asked.

Berry continued, finishing his statement.

"Oh wow, you're right, I'll ask," Rosy said in response. "Mosaic, are you sure the plane's leaving at ten o'clock tonight?"

Looking up from his task, Mosaic responded.

"Yeah, I think so, that's what the ticket said anyway, here it is if you're curi-" He began to say, then being cut off by a sudden voice that flooded into the airport halls.

"Ten o' clock flight, plane number eighty-nine, booked for the destination, Sarasaland, will be leaving within five minutes. Repeat, Ten o' clock flight, plane number eighty-nine, booked for the destination, Sarasaland, will be leaving within five minutes." declared a worker on the speaker.

"Ah, I'd think that answers your question," Mosaic instead said. "Let's get going," he then said, getting his own packaging and the others getting theirs.

As the group made their way to the takeoff port, and eventually, the airline, a bit of discussion was had between them.

"Hey, Mosaic, I had actually been meaning to ask this," Rosy began.

"Eh? What happened?" Mosaic asked.

"Something i'm realizing is that, well...we kinda are going on this trip on a whim, we should really do something to inform Team S.M.B.X on where we are since we never really mentioned to them that we were going to go on this trip, I mean, you only told us you were planning on us going on this trip earlier today for crying out loud," Rosy explained.

"Oh," Mosaic responded. "I actually did think of that and decided that a good idea would be leaving them a note on the door that they can read that tells them where we went."

"Ah, I suppose that works."

It is around here that the group had made their way to their seats in the relatively crowded seating area, and the plane had taken off, oncourse to Sarasaland.

"I wonder what Sarasaland will be like, and what we'll see there and such…" Hoops thought allowed.

"Hmm, I'm not sure, but I imagine it'll be a beautiful place to see regardless," Rosy responded.

"...hmm, Mosaic, do you know anything about what Sarasaland is like?"

"Ah? No, not at all actually, all I know about it is that Daisy rules over it."

"Speaking of her, is she the one we're planning on seeing?" Rosy asked.

"Indeed it is, I figure we should at least try to get acquainted with her," Mosaic responds. "She seems to know Mario, Luigi, Peach and Toad pretty well given how much we've heard them talk about her, but we have yet to meet her in person ourselves, so what I figure is, why not do it now?"

"Those are good reasons for us to go see her, but what else are we planning to do after that?" Rosy replied, then asked. "We shouldn't just stay there that one day and then go."

"I'm thinking after that we'll do a fair amount of sightseeing there, and if there's any other tourists attractions there, well, we may as well check them out."

"I suppose that is a good way to unwind, after having to deal with fighting off Bowser's troops and the 8-bits all the time, and then when we're not doing that, dealing with a number of other things too, to just not think about it in this case," Rosy stated. "What do you think about this Hoops?"

"Eh, it sounds like a decent plan regardless," he responded.

Berry then asked a question, when he had been silent this whole time.

"When will we get there? I think we could ask a flight usher about it," Rosy responded.

"Good idea, I'll do it now," Mosaic added in.

Mosaic signals down the flight usher, a Toad in the appropriate attire and asks the question.

"Ma'am, how long will this flight be before we reach Sarasaland?"

The Usher responded. "Oh, only nine hours."

"ONLY nine hours? It's going to be morning by the time we arrive!" Mosaic responded.

"Welp, this is gonna be a long flight…" Hoops shared.

"May as well try to make the best of it…" Rosy added.

Eventually however, each of the group fell asleep, feeling it was better to sleep on the plane, given they were all still sleep deprived from their activities the previous night. And as such, the group rested as the plane carried them to Sarasaland.

"It was in this moment however, that back at home, fate would arrive upon Team S.M.B.X in the form of a virtual carried voice. The Mosaic group had chosen a bad time to take an extended period of time off like they did…"

The Next Early Morning, at Mario's Pad...

Mario and Luigi were both sleeping silently in their respective bunks, like the two of them normally would.

The silence however was broken by a loud ringing noise.

"Huh, huh, wha, what's-a that?" Mario said aloud, being woken up by the ringing.

With a quick turn to the left, the plumber quickly found the source of the noise, his phone. Seeing this, he quickly picked it up and answered.

"Whoever is-a calling, you better have a good reason for calling us this-a early," Mario stated, not a fan of being woken up so soon.

"Heh Heh Heh, so I guess that means you're there, correct?" the voice on the other end said.

"Wait...I recognize this-a voice…" Mario stated. "E. Gadd! Why are you-a calling me at-a five forty-five in the-a morning?"

"Funny thing there my whickersnapper," E Gadd began to explain.

"Whipper-asnapper?" Mario asked, correcting him.

"Potato, Po-tot-o," E. Gadd responded. "I actually tried to contact your buddy earlier, what was his name...Moscow?"

"...Mosaic?" Mario asked.

"Ah yes, Mosaic. I tried to call him a bit earlier, but he didn't pick up, didn't respond, nothing…"

"That's-a...odd," Mario replied. "But umm, why are you calling-a me then?"

"Heh, well, I'll save the details there, but I'd like you, green stache, and your other buddies to meet with me as soon as possible, I've found some intriguing stuff on that there thingy your friend gave me the other day."

This got Mario's attention, despite his semi-delayed reaction, and he responded "W-Will-a do I-a guess…"

"I'll be waiting, toodles!" the professor responded, then hanging up.

After putting the phone back up, Mario lied back down, covering himself in his blankets, closing his eyes again.

At about fifteen minutes past six was when Mario had woken up and decided it was the time to make his move, waking up Luigi and passing E. Gadd's info to him.

"We're...going-a back to that scary forest again?" Luigi asked.

"Just to talk with-a E. Gadd I-a guess…" Mario answered.

"Oh...O-akay…" Luigi responded.

The two bros after grabbing a quick breakfast made their way out of the pad, and through the warp pipe, this very pipe leading them to the direct outskirts of Toad Town.

Though Mario knew where the pipe was, Luigi was a bit confused on where it was that his brother was going to lead him.

"Hmm, something tells me Toad is-a over in Toad Town in the main square right-a now," Mario stated. "Let's go get him real quick."

"Okie dokie…" Luigi said, just going along with it.

When the two made their way into the town square, they indeed saw Toad there like they figured they would, in which he seemed to be staring at the water in a fountain, lost in thought.

"Hey-a Toad!" Mario shouted.

This immediately caught Toad's attention, causing him to look up and over at the source.

"Oh! Umm, hey Mario! Hey Luigi! So, what's up?" Toad asked.

"We just-a got a call this morning from him."

"Who Mario?" Toad asked.

"Umm, Professor E-a Gadd," Luigi answered for him.

"Oh, him, what about?"

"He wants us to-a meet him at the place he met with us the other-a day," Mario informed.

"Huh, that nerve racking place again?" Toad thought aloud. "Well, okay…"

"Think we should-a ask Princess Peach to come along too?" Luigi asked.

"Ah umm...don't worry about it, she seems to be too busy too at this given moment."

"Oh...I guess we-a tell her later what's going on?"

"I'd suppose so, it's not like we can't."

With this said, the three made their way out of Toad Town the way that they came in, and continued on the way to Colorful Hills to find the pipe from the other day, when they weren't too far from the hills, they passed by a tree and noticed someone laying back on it, hands behind their head.

This someone was none other than Link, who also had his eyes closed, seemingly thinking through a number of things.

"Huh, what's Link doing here?" Toad asked aloud, somewhat asking the others as well.

Luigi gave a shrug, not knowing what to say.

"I don't-a know…" Mario inputted. "Hey-a Link!"

Hearing this, Link opened up his eyes, seeing Mario on the ground.

"Oh...hey Mario…" Link responded.

"What are you doing in that-a tree?" Mario asked.

"Just thinking…"

"...Do you...want to-a tell us what?" Mario questioned.

"...I'm good…"

"Alright then…" Mario replied. "Well, do you want to tag along with the three of us?"

"Where are you headed?"

"To see-a E. Gadd, you know, that scientist-a guy," Mario informed.

"Oh...that guy...I suppose," Link replied, then jumping down the tree and following with the group.

As the group continued on their way to the Colorful Hills, it not being far by now, a thought crossed Toad's mind and he decided to ask Mario about it.

"Hey, Mario, wouldn't bringing Yoshi along be a good idea?"

"Oh umm, to be completely-a honest, I actually don't know where he ran off to."

"...You don't?"

"Yeah...ever since we saw him at the-a game the other day, he kinda just-a slipped away somewhere once it-a ended."

"I see…"

"If I had to guess, I'd think he's-a on some kind of extended date with his girlfriend."

"Girlfriend? Do you mean…?"

"Yeah, I mean-a her."

Meanwhile...at Yoshi's whereabouts...

As was Team S.M.B.X's suspicion, Yoshi had indeed taken a ferry booked for Chocolate Valley, Dinosaur Land, and he'd had brought a date with him, this date being none other than the pink...dinosaur like creature, Birdo, having a name the same as her species for an unclear reason.

Yoshi started the conversation by asking Birdo a question.

"Oh? Umm...umm...what did I want to talk to you about?" Birdo responded to Yoshi's question, able to understand him.

Yoshi affirmed this being his question in response.

"Well...I'll...I'll try to put it into words as best I can, okay?"

Yoshi responded that whatever she needed to say, it's alright, she can say it.

"Well here it is," Birdo began. "Did I ever tell you that...well…" Birdo tried to say, not sure if she wanted to say. She eventually then turned to the nearby railing on the ship and leaned on it, looking at the sea.

Yoshi was puzzled at this and asked what the issue was.

"Well...I...I feel...lonely…"

Yoshi was surprised to hear this and asked why, and for how long she's felt like this for.

"For...for years…" Birdo slowly responded.

Yoshi has concern about this, given this is something Birdo never really said.

"Why I feel like this, it's well...I don't really have anyone I truly connect with…other than you..."

Yoshi found a lot of surprise in this, and asked about some individuals, seeing if this was entirely true.

"Mario? Luigi? Them? They and their other buddies I only ever really saw as acquaintances, not really friends…"

Yoshi understood, staying quiet to let Birdo continue.

"And well...there is someone I know, and…"

Yoshi asked who it was.

"Well...they're...like...kinda my friend but...not really?"

Yoshi wasn't sure how to respond to this hearing it.

Starting to tear up a bit, Birdo continued. "And well, it feels like...no one else cares for me...like they find me weird or something, and want nothing to do with me…"

Yoshi then began to have a sympathetic look on his face, showing concern.

"And sometimes, it feels like you're the only one I have," Birdo continued. "Like...I...honestly don't know what I'd do without you…" Birdo said, then letting herself go as she went from shedding several tears to straight up crying.

Seeing this, after a bit, Yoshi decided he shouldn't leave her like this, and said some words of encouragement in his language and walked next to her, and began to stroke her in the back a bit, comforting her.

"...Oh…" Birdo spoke, only now noticing. "T-thank you Yoshi…"

Yoshi then told Birdo that she'll be okay, as he's there for her.

II: The Puzzle Frame

Back To Team S.M.B.X's perspective...

By now, the four guys had made it to the front door of the temporary lab of Professor E. Gadd, Mario giving him a knock.

"Ho ho ho, no need for that my fellow Mario, the door's open."

"Oh…" Mario responded, he and the other three letting themselves in.

"Alrighty Professor E.-a Gadd," Mario began. "What do you have to-a show us? Is this connected to that frame Mosaic gave-a you a bit ago?"

"Oh ho ho, indeed it is Mario," E. Gadd began. "But umm, where's Princess Toadstool?"

"She's busy…" Toad responded.

"...Yeah…" Mario added, a thought lingering in his mind.

"Well okay then, still, it's time to spill the beans, so listen up you four."

The four did exactly that, all putting a hand to their ears.

"To start off, this artifact that your buddy gave me...it's a frame for a certain guiding object…"

"Wait…it guides you...it's round…" Link began. "Is it…"

"Right you are elf boy, it's the frame to some kind of ancient compass."

"A compass huh? That's...a bit arbitrary…" Toad added.

"Well...what's the-a catch?" Mario asked. "This can't just be any-a ordinary old compass right?"

"Heh, And you're indeed right there fella."

"O..." Mario replied, intrigued to hear this.

"For one thing, take a look at the sides," E. Gadd asked of the group, then showing the sides of the compass, exposing tiny holes of some kind.

"Huh, there's holes on it...like something goes there…" Toad analyzed. "Do you know what goes there?"

"I...didn't find anything to suggest what might," E. Gadd embarrassingly answered.

"Oh…I see…" Toad replied.

"Okay, and what-a else?" Mario asked.

"I'll tell you now, ho ho."

"Let's-a hear it."

"...This compass, from what i've researched, is bestowed with many strong, probably magical powers."

"Wow, no way…" Toad responded.

"Mama mia..that sounds like-a something…" Luigi stated.

"...that's what they found?" Link stated, thinking aloud.

"What are these-a powers exactly?" Mario asked.

"I...I don't know, hahaha."

"Oh…" the four all stated simultaneously, disappointed.

"From what I've read in this ancient book I have though, it bears some kind of powerful magic in it."

"But...but...didn't you just-a say…-" Luigi began.

"The only issue there," Prof. E Gadd continued, ignoring Luigi. "Is well, as you can see my dear youngsters...this compass is empty! The pieces are all gone!"

"I...can-a see that…" Mario replied.

"Me-a too…" Luigi added.

"Yeah...it is…" Toad commented.

"...Yeah...that's clear…meaning?" Link asked.

"What this means is, no pieces, no powers. No magic, zilch, nada, nothing!"

"Oh...makes sense…" Link responded.

"So umm, where do we-a start to find the pieces to the-a compass?" Mario asked.

"Hoo hoo hoo, I thought you'd ask that," E. Gadd replied. "The needle should point you to where the nearest shard is."

"That's-a very helpful…" Mario said. "Are there-a any places you recommend for us to start-a searching?"

"Oh indeed there is my fair Mario fellow," E. Gadd answered. "During my research I found that there's two places worth checking out. A mountain and a pyramid."

"Oh? Sounds interesting...what about them?" Toad asked.

"From what I know mushroom, both have some kind of connection to this compass that the group found, and by visiting these two places, maybe you guys could learn a thing or two on that thing, heh."

"Well, where-a is this mountain and-a pyramid exactly anyway?"

"The mountain is actually...the Dino Mountain over in...that place where all those dino people gather."

"...Dinosaur-a Land?" Luigi asked.

"Ah yes, that's the name, thank you my fella Luigi."

"And the pyramid?" Toad asked.

"Hmm...the pyramid should be...somewhere in Desert Land I think."

"Somewhere? So you don't-a know where it-a is?" Luigi asked, a bit frightened by this.

"Well, not exactly, my dear fellow, though I was able to get a hold of these two maps, one for the mountain and one for where that pyramid may be, heh."

"Okie-dokie…" Luigi replied.

"You-a did? That sounds-a handy!" Mario stated.

"Well, they're also a bit aged and worn, so, they may be a bit less handy for that reason...just like me…"

"Oh…" Link commented. "Well...I personally think we should take the maps, helped me out many times where I'm from."

Given this, the inventor handed Mario the maps.

"And with that said my plucky group, I'll also lend this thingamajig to you all," the inventor then said, also handing the compass frame to Mario.

"thank-a you," Mario formally replied.

"And well...be sure to hold on to those things, you don't want to lose them. Otherwise, you're most definitely not finding those pieces."

"Plus, don't we kinda not want the frame to fall into the wrong hands?" Toad pointed out. "Imagine if Bowser got a hold of this thing…"

"You're...You're-a right Toad," Mario acknowledged. "...maybe we should have someone hold it that the Koopa Troop wouldn't expect to?"

"Link?" Toad brought up.

"...I'd prefer to not…" Link answered.

"How about-a you Toad?" Mario asked.

"Umm...n-no...I...I couldn't handle it…" Toad replied. "I'd...I'd probably lose it, you know? Screw it up...like I do alot…"

"I...I-a see…. Well I can't-a a hold on to it for obvious reasons. So umm..." Mario began, looking in the direction of Luigi, who had his back turned, pretending to whistle. "Luigi, how about you hold-a on to it?"

Luigi heard this, and began to object. "What! B-Brother, w-w-why-a me?"

"Well, you're the best option here I-a feel," Mario answered. "Link and Toad don't feel responsible about holding on the compass frame, i'm too obvious of a person to keep something important like-a that on, and plus, given that you're...you know…"

"A coward?" Luigi asked.

"Umm...y….yeah, a-a coward…" Mario, though hesitant to, affirmed. "I doubt that the-a Koopa Troop would expect you to be holding on to-a something this important."

"...True…" Luigi responded.

"So come on-a brother, please this one time, take one for the-a team," Mario tried to convince.

After some brief thought, Luigi gave the answer. "I...I'll-a do it…"

"Yeah, that's the-a spirit Luigi!" Mario congratulated Luigi on, giving him five.

"So it's settled between you four correct? Green pistachio is holding the important mcguffin, and you're all going to go off and search for the pieces I presume?"

"As soon as we get-a word to Princess-a Peach and the Mosaic Group, that's the-a idea."

"...I...I-a guess so…" Luigi filled in.

"Probably so…" Toad added.

"...I guess we're overdue for another adventure," Link said. "Atleast...these three…"

"Heh, well my humble group, I hope the best of odds go to you on your conquest."

"O-a...kay E, we'll be seeing you off-a now," Mario responded.

"Toodles to you too!" E. Gadd replied.

"Goodbye," Toad said.

"...See ya…" Luigi added.

Link just gave a nod as the group made their way out of E. Gadd's lab, back into the woods, and soon enough, back to the familiar lush, green fields of Mushroom Plains.

"Well about time something different came along…" Toad said. "I was wondering when E. Gadd would get back to us on what that thing was."

"Going to be-a honest, I was wondering the same-a thing," Mario said.

"Maybe we should-a call Mosaic and his buddies about-a this?" Luigi asked.

"Hmm, E. Gadd mentioned he had trouble contacting him, and I was going to wait until later to contact him for that reason, but I guess it-a doesn't hurt to try again," Mario replied, then pulling out his phone and dialing Mosaic's number.

Back at the Mosaic Group's flight...

The plane by now had completed the nine-hour flight to Sarasaland and landed, in which the Mosaic group departed from the plane as well as the airport, making their way directly outside and surveying the scenery.

In all directions, they saw repeating scenery, there was alot of sand, rocks, cactuses and pyramids as far as could be seen, and by looking close enough, it even looked like there was some distinctly question mark marked blocks here as well, some opened, others not. In a number of ways, the landscape resembled Desert Land back over in the Mushroom Kingdom, this however wasn't Desert Land, but was a part of Sarasaland.

"So here we are it seems, Sarasaland, it's...something from what I can see to start off," Mosaic commented.

"I think what we should start with is figuring out what part of, or to be more accurate, which kingdom of Sarasaland it is that we're in," Rosy stated.

"Kingdom? Does this imply…" Mosaic began.

"From the quick research I did on the place while we were on the plane, yeah, Sarasaland consists of four or so different kingdoms, and each of them seem to be known for a different thing."

Berry gives his opinion hearing this briefly.

"I agree that it's an intriguing fact, I was somewhat intrigued to hear this myself," Rosy replied to Berry's input. "But anyway, considering the desert-like geography of this place, I believe that the plane landed in the Birabuto Kingdom."

"Birabuto Kingdom huh? What genius thought that exotic name would attract tourists?" Hoops opinionated.

"It was enough to bring us here in all fairness…" Rosy answered.

Hoops just remained silent in response.

"Well, anyway, what I wanted to ask about Sarasaland consists of four...kingdoms. Does this imply that Sarasaland is bigger than the Mushroom Kingdom?"

"I wouldn't say so, based on the articles I've read on it, they're all much smaller than the Mushroom Kingdom is."

"Ah, makes sense."

"However, if you were to combine the four size wise, it's probably about the size of the Mushroom Kingdom, or a bit bigger."

"Sounds about righ-" Mosaic began, before he was interrupted by a continuous ringing sound. "...Oh boy, my phone's ringing, would make sense that it rings right when we arrive…" Mosaic ranted a bit, but checked who it was anyway. "Mario huh? What's this about…" Mosaic stated, accepting the call. "Hey Mario, so, what's up?"

"Hey! You-a answered!" Mario enthusiastically declared. "I wanted to call you-a to tell you something."

"Oh? What exactly?" Mosaic asked.

Mosaic then remained silent as Mario filled him in.

"Wow...so...that thing we found in the pyramid…that's what it was? A magical compass?"

"...What…" Hoops said, interested in the discussion.

"Yeah, very-a crazy right?"

"Well...We'd love to help you guys out, but the issue is that, well, we're on vacation."

"Vacation? Where'd you guys-a go? Don't tell me you guys went to-a Isle Defino…"

"Oh, no no no, we went to Sarasaland," Mosaic responded.

"Good-a move Mosaic, good-a move…"

"What makes you sa-wait a minute..."

"Yeah...I have-a history with that-a place…"

"You do…"

"...yeah...any-away, Sarasaland is a nice-a choice, somewhat varied landscape, and maybe you'll meet-a Daisy there."

"We actually plan to."

"Oh? Well hopefully that goes-a over we'll. I'll catch you-a later."

"You too, see ya." Mosaic replied before hanging up.

Back to Team SMBX...

"So Mosaic answered I'm assuming?" Toad asked.

"Yeah, and I now know where him and his-a buddies went off to," Mario answered.

"Did they go to-a Sarasaland?" Luigi asked.

"Yeah, they-a needed the vacation I suppose," Mario informed Luigi. "and they probably aren't going to be-a-back for at least a couple of-a days."

"So we're-a going it alone…" Luigi stated.

"Sure looks that-a way," Mario answered. "Anyway, let's-a go tell the Princess about this now."

As such the group of four began to make their way to Mushroom Castle. As they made their ways there, they discussed a bit with one another.

"Um, Mario, I had a question if you don't mind," Link asked quietly.

"Hmm? About-a what exactly?" Mario responded.

"I don't mean offense to him but...why is Luigi such a coward?"

"Oh…" Mario replied.

"Like...I notice with doing almost anything, even the slightest bit brave, it seems to freak him out, and he never wants to do it…"

"Yeah…"

"Well, is there a reason for that?" Link asked.

"To be honest, I don't-a remember why or when he got how he-a did, but he wasn't-a always this way," Mario replied.

"He wasn't?" Link responded.

"Yeah, awhile back, he was-a of the more moderate, and there wasn't too much that got him too scared, atleast too-a much."

"Do you think we could try to get him to work back towards that? It's something I'd want to see myself to be honest."

"Not gonna lie, I want to-a see him get-a back to that point myself but...it's something he's-a struggled with for a very good while at this-a point, atleast over like...nine years by now if i'm counting that right…"

"That's rough, getting out of a bubble like that can be tough, but I feel it can be done...if you just push yourself."

"Huh? Link...you-a talk like you've been in a position similar to-a Luigi's before…"

"...I am?" Link asked.

"Huh? What are you guys talking about?" Toad asked the two, inserting himself in the discussion.

"Oh, we were discussing-a...an-a subject…"

"Were...you talking about me?"

"Oh, no, of course-a not."

"Okay, well regardless of what you guys were discussing, I don't think I mind too much if-"

It was at this exact moment, that Toad's speech was interrupted. For, at a distance, some kind of loud thundering billowed in the distance.

"W-What is-a that?" Luigi frantically stated.

"What is-a what Luigi?" Mario asked.

"I...heard a sound...it sounded like an-a….booming of some-a kind…" Luigi answered.

"I don't hear any-" Toad began, before he was cut off by another distant booming.

"Wait a minute, I heard it too!" Toad then said. "It sounds like it came from...Mushroom Castle…"

"No...No-a way...we're...we're-a not…" Mario began. "To the-a castle!" Mario then commanded the group, in which they all then rushed in the direction of the loud sounds, praying that the noise wasn't what he thought it was.

III: Again?

The group of four all rushed their way into the town, over the bridge, to the castle, and see smoke coming from the castle, and a crowd of Toads standing outside, looking at the castle with distress.

"...Someone bombed the castle?" Link stated. "That's awful!"

"...You'll get used to it…" Toad replied.

"Well...maybe we should-a ask a Toad what happened?" Luigi brought about.

"Don't-a see why not, let's ask this Toad right-a here." Mario answered, then tapping the Toad to get their attention.

"Hey so-a, buddy, what happened?"

"...guess…" The toad answered.

"Hmm, let's-a see, so...the castle was attacked…" Mario began to analyze.

"Yes…"

"And you guys are all out-a here because...Oh-a no...no-"

"Umm, where's Peach? Wouldn't she have told us about what happened to the castle and who attacked by now?" Link asked, not being used to this.

"Welp, there's your answer right there, the Princess has been...Kidnapped again by-"

"MAMA-MIA!" Mario exclaimed, this being the billionth time he's heard this, then fainted.

"Brother...are you-a okay?" Luigi asked.

"Yeah, come on bud, it's not the worst thing to happen," Toad said to the passed out Mario.

Mario quickly woke up from his unconscious state, in which the Toad figured he could finish now.

"By...the Koopa Troop..."

"...What-a way did the airship go…" Mario nonchalantly asked.

"That way…" the Toad replied, pointing west.

"Towards-a Dark Land huh? Well...let's save her again I guess...come on-a gang…" Mario told the group, leading them to the outskirts of Mushroom Plains, where they discussed their plans.

"Okay, so here's the-a plan," Mario began. "I think that we should-a split up."

"...Split up?" Link asked.

"W-W-What?" Luigi replied.

"I gotta ask the same thing, why split up?" Toad added.

"My idea is-a basically well, someone has to go rescue the princess, but at the same time, I don't think we should-a completely drop Egadd's discovery either and should look into the places he asked us to go to."

"But isn't Peach being held hostage something that we seriously sho-" Link began to ask in a serious manner.

"Eh...don't worry about it Link..." Toad asked, in which Link mainly felt confusion in regards to.

"What i'm-a thinking is that me and-a Luigi go after the airship to rescue Peach, while you two go check out the two-a spots Egadd pointed out to us," Mario said toward Toad and Link.

"Huh…" Link commented.

"Hmm, doesn't sound like a bad deal, i'm for it," Toad inputted.

"Glad I dont-a have to go to one of those places alone atleast…" Luigi stated.

"Yeah...you wouldn't have-a wanted to knowing-a you, which is why the two of us are-a staying together…"

"...Suppose there's nothing wrong with doing it this way," Link eventually inputted.

"Guess it's an-a deal," Mario then said, handing the two maps to Link and Toad. "You-a two discuss how you'll go about that," Mario told the two. "We shouldn't-a spend too much more time here, the airship-a getting away! Come on-a bro!" Mario then shouted frantically, rushing in the direction of the airship, giving Luigi a sign to catch up, in which he did, though hesitant in doing so.

As a result, the objective had been made clear among the group, despite their initial plans of sticking together, they split the tasks, and went on their respective ways.

To Be Continued...