Author's Note: This fan-fiction series is loosely based off of the Fan-game Super Mario Bros. X, if you read this story and like what you see from it, show your support to the fan-game and join their forums aswell as discord server.
I: Mysterious Place
Luigi, given his previous encounter with Meredith in which he was defeated, lied unconscious within his new, unknown whereabouts.
Soon enough however, the plumber opened his eyes; regaining consciousness.
"Huh, wha...what-a happened?" Luigi wondered. "Oh, oh yeah, that…that-a Rex Mage...he...he destroyed me…"
Luigi then instinctively dug his hands into his pocket, finding that his worst fear was realized.
"The compass frame, it's...it's-a gone…. He...he-a took it didn't he?" He thought to himself. "Wait, wait a minute…" Luigi realized as he then felt the ground below him, noticing it was rough and hard. "Where...where-a am I?"
Realizing this, Luigi investigated his surroundings further, realizing he hadn't tried to figure this out as of yet. Around him he found that stone walls surrounded him on both sides; and throughout the hallway were a number of torches currently lit. It seemed to be some kind of dungeon; not any kind that Luigi recognized however.
"Mario?!" Luigi first called out.
"Peach?!" Luigi then tried.
"Toad!?"
"Link!?"
"Hoops!?"
"A...anyone?"
Given the lack of a response, Luigi realized that indeed no one he was familiar with was around.
"I...I-a guess I'll have to find the way out on my own…" Luigi realized.
At that moment, Luigi heard what he thought were footsteps. They sounded distant, but he had heard them regardless.
"And…And-a fast…" Luigi said, as he hustled quietly.
Meanwhile...
II: Seaside Land
Mario, like he and Luigi had planned before, had made it to Water Land through the Subcon door.
"It's un-aforunate that me and Luigi got separated like-a that...but I can't stop-a now, it's-a time that I look for that-a warp whistle."
It was with that that the red-suited italian was off through the beach sands; intent on tracking down a mushroom house containing one of the warp whistles as sundown drew closer and closer.
Mario asked for directions as he went along the beach and through the usual obstacles one would expect when traveling through Water Land; fighting off Bowser's minions, avoiding jumps from cheep cheeps, finding secrets, and yes; even avoiding being eaten by the much dreaded Boss Basses.
In his travels through Water Land, Mario stopped at several Toad Houses; playing the games they offered, picking a box as he was told the contents would help him on his way, trying to line up pictures and playing the same card dart game he and the others played just a week back. Even through all of this however, he didn't earn a single warp whistle; nor did he earn any other prizes.
At one point in fact, he had stopped at a shop to see if by any chance they were selling one.
"Sorry Mario, I checked all of my cupboards, don't have any of these magic flutes you're talking about," The shopkeeper explained.
"Well that's-a unfortunate…"
"However, I do have a nine-pack frog suit deal for the simple price of one-hundred seventy coins!"
"Mmm, I don't-a think I can-a…" Mario began to respond to the offer. "Actually...I'll-a consider it some-aday perhaps."
"Here's my card if you change your mind," the shopkeeper said, handing it to Mario.
"Okie dokie, I'll be on my-a way now."
"Good luck on your mission!"
Mario then at that point left out the door to continue searching.
"Wow, it's no-a good, I can't-a find a warp-a whistle anywhere…" Mario stated, then looking at the ocean, where the sun was. "And the sun's very-a close to setting now."
Mario up ahead saw another mushroom house. Generally, the feeling one would get is that it doesn't mean much. However, for some reason he felt that this was the one; given how isolated it was as well as it's unusually colored roof.
Given that, he hustled over to the house, eager to see what he'd find within.
Meanwhile, at Peach's Whereabouts...
III: Lost Wilderness
The princess had emerged from the pipe in which she retreated in to escape the pursuit of the Koopa Troop, and caught her breath.
"Phew, good thing that I found this pipe…" Peach said to herself. "Where did it take me though I need to ask?"
Given this question, she decided to take a look around to see if she could work this out.
"Let's see...trees are everywhere...so this is probably a forest of some kind given the look of them…" Peach began analyzing. "There's dark brown soil beneath my feet…. Hmm, what forest is this though?" Peach began to wonder. "The Forest Of Illusion? Probably not, Dark Land likely has no warp pipes leading to Dinosaur Land…. I don't think this is the Stumping Woods either, it's too bright around here to be that place…. I guess the best thing to do at this point is just explore and see if I find anything..."
Peach then began to do just that and wandered along through the mysterious trees, not sure what to expect.
As she walked however, eventually, she heard something rustling; stopping her in her tracks and quickly found the source of the rustling was a set of nearby bushes.
"H-Hello? I-Is someone there?" Peach asked towards the noise. "I...I hope I haven't been tracked down…"
The rustling in the bush got closer and closer; and soon enough, it stopped and the rustling within the bushes revealed itself. It was a Hoopster, a red one to be exact.
"O-Oh...it's...it's just a Hoopster…" Peach said. "W-Well...one little Hoopster isn't a big deal I'd suppose," Peach continued, trying to keep cool and continuing on. "I think I'll just be on my way and-"
At that moment, much more of the rustling in the bushes from before spread throughout the surrounding trees and bushes.
From out of the bushes, and down the stumps of the trees, came not one, not two, not three...it was too many to count; came a bunch of Hoopsters of varying colors. These Hoopsters blocked Peach's way, and when she turned around, intending to go the other way, more of the basketball-sized beetles blocked her path, a couple of them holding what appeared to be spears.
Unlike how Peach would usually react to a singular hoopster, a whole colony of them was a different story. She found she was unable to move and shivered in place.
"U-Umm...n-nice beetles...you...you guys d-don't want to h-hurt a n-nice, i-innocent g-girl, r-right?" Peach tried to convince the bugs.
Several of the Hoopsters instead in response charged at and lunged onto the frightened princess, restraining her.
Peach tried to get free, finding struggling useless.
"I-I...suppose…" Peach thought. "I could use my…. Wait...no...no! I...I threw away my frying pan..." Peach then realized as she tried to think of ideas.
As Peah realized just how hopeless her situation was, more Hoopsters latched onto her and surrounded her, and the ones holding the spears approached closer to her, to her indimiation.
"Why do you dwell on our ground human?" One of the hoopsters finally asked.
"Yeah, don't you know these woods belong to us?" another said.
Peach however was not sure how to respond to these questions that were being asked to her.
"You plead silence?" one of the Hoopsters asked. "Don't think you'll have to do that in a minute," the same one then said, then raising their spear up. "Not once I-"
"All of you! Stop this at once!" a loud, booming voice suddenly overtook.
Suddenly, all of the hoopsters which before had seemed to practically breathe down Peach's neck let off of her in response to the voice's request and lined up in a way in which the requester could pass through.
Said orderer was a Hoopster; navy blue in color, and a very big one too. Large enough to where he made a thud with each step he took.
"W...Would you be…" Peach began to ask.
"If you're going to ask 'their leader', fair maiden, then yes, yes I would be," The large hoopster responded. "Sorry that my clan bothered you like this…"
As the giant insect eyed Peach for longer, he eventually then once again spoke up.
"Wait...you look familiar…. Could you perhaps be...Princess...Peach?"
"Oh...I...I am, but, how'd you know?"
"Anyone would recognize the Princess of the kingdom," the gargantuan beetle responded. "What way could I make this up to you, if any?"
"Well...for starters, think you can help me get back to my castle?" Peach asked.
"You have a castle huh...perhaps...where would it be?"
"Well, in a place called Mushroom Plains…" Peach responded.
"Mushroom Plains hmm?" the clan leader began to think aloud. "Our clan...may know where a pipe leading there would be...follow us."
"Okay…" Peach responded, following the gloved creature's instructions.
"All of you too; follow me," the hoopster leader ordered his underlings.
Not questioning given the context was clear, the other Hoopsters began to follow their superior's lead.
Meanwhile...
IV: Friendly Meet
By now, Toad had made it to the bottom of the mountain and was on his way back to the Mushroom Plains from the Donut Plains.
As he continued en route however, up ahead he saw two individuals he wasn't expecting to, nor had he had seen for a couple of days up until now.
He made his way over to them, listening to what they were saying.
"Where could he be I wonder? Being late like this isn't like him."
"Perhaps he got lost trying to find the path...he hasn't seen it much you know…"
"Oh! Hey Striker! Hey Elemental!" Toad said, calling out the names of the two discussing.
"Ah?" Striker said, looking in the direction of the voice. "Toad? What's he doing here?"
"I wouldn't know…" Elemental responded.
Striker then gave Toad a sign that coming over was alright, which he did.
"Long time no see little guy," Striker began.
"It's been two days…" Toad quietly said. "Anyway, what have you guys been doing here? I usually don't see you guys in the northern half of Donut Plains."
"Nah, we should be asking you that," Elemental replied.
"Oh, well me? Err...it's kind of a long story…"
"That's alright, fire away," Striker responded.
"Wait, I don't remember ag-" Elemental began.
"Well basically, early this morning, the Mario Bros as well as Link had caught me while I was on a break from my work at the Mushroom Castle, we went to to the Stumping Woods where E. Gadd was,-"
"E. Gadd? Who's that?" Striker asked.
"He's...a scientist, at least he tries to be one I hear," Toad responded.
"Ah, I see," Striker responded.
"And learned some things about this compass frame we found, that it's from some ancient tribe of sorts," Toad continued.
"Oh, Mosaic or one of the others had mentioned that to me the other day, so that's what it was?" Striker had asked.
"Yeah, he asked me to go to this mountain to investigate the place a bit and well…" Toad continued. "It was interesting...that's all I'll say."
"Ah…" Striker responded.
"Not gonna tell us...alright...understood…" Elemental commented.
"Anyway, what had you guys been doing up here?" Toad asked.
"Well, we were wanting to hang out with Glow today, play a game or two, but yet he hasn't shown up yet." Striker answered.
"Well, he's probably just running late…" Toad responded.
"He can be late...but not fourty-five minutes late Toad…" Elemental explained.
"O-Oh…that...that is odd…."
"And he also hasn't contacted us about it or anything," Striker continued.
"Wow…" Toad said in response.
"On the subject...think you can do us a favor Toad?" Striker then asked.
"Oh, I...I guess I could…"
"Think you could go check on him for us?" Striker asked.
"Wait what? But doesn't he live all the way over in Desert Land? You guys realize how long it'd take me to get to him from here right?"
"Umm Toad-" Elemental began.
"No, it's alright; since I have nothing else to do anyway, I'll just go over to The Mosaic Group's neighborhood and-"
"Toad, Toad, there's no need for that. You can just take the subcon door over here in Dinosaur Land," Elemental explained to Toad as the latter was about to leave.
"Subcon door in...wha?" Toad responded.
"Yeah, there's one down on the lower base of the Dino Mountain that heads to...I think it's the desert area of Subcon?" Striker added.
"It's...It's on Dino Mountain?" Toad asked.
"Yeah, shouldn't be hard to find," Striker continued.
"...where do you find it?" Toad asked, not the most amused at this.
"Well, I'd say it's like...a few paces north, a few west, a couple meters north, and then…"
"Striker...let's just take him there instead of explaining it to him vaguely like this…" Elemental added.
"Ah, good idea…" Striker responded.
The jersey wearing dragon then mounted the magic-wielding ostrich, taking Toad along with them as they headed there, riding up to the mountains, climbing them a bit and going through the minor obstacles in the way of it.
Some time later, they made it to said spot of the mountain in no time flat, right at the edge of a cliff.
"There it is Toad," Striker specified, pointing it out.
"Well...okay, thanks for the help you two, I'll be sure to check that Glow's doing alright I suppose," Toad responded. "Though, I gotta ask something."
"Ah?" Striker replied.
"How'd you guys know about how to get to Subcon?"
"Oh?" Striker answered, thinking about his question for a bit. "That's kind of an interesting story, it kind of relates to why Elemental and me even know each other."
"Oh...that's actually really interesting, I was kinda wondering how you, a Rex, a usually Dinosaur Land native creature, and Elemental, who's an Ostro, who's normally only native to Subcon would have even become friends to begin with,"
"Yeah...well it is kind of related to that," Elemental commented. "Also, you mean, 'And I' Striker…"
"True...my mistake I suppose…" Striker responded, putting a hand over head, embarrassed.
"I may be interested in knowing something about it another time; Is it alright if I get going for now?" Toad asked.
"Ah, yeah, definitely, we did kinda ask you to do this to begin with," Striker responded.
"Sure, we're not really in a hurry to write you a verbal biography, so it's no issue," Elemental answered.
"Well,"-Toad stated as he began to open the door to subcon-"I'll see you guys- OFF!" Toad then shouted, realizing he fell as no solid ground was on the other side, as was typical of Subcon doors.
"Think he'll be alright?" Striker asked.
"I've seen him survive worse...yeah, I think so…" Elemental responded.
"And with that...the group each continued on their separate paths...seperate stories, separate pieces to a big, underlying puzzle…"
To Be Continued...
