StarlitDuck

They will encounter soon enough. I promise! I've just been leading up to it.

LiamTheYoshi

Aster was offended by the 'bodyguard' term because he felt that Kamella was underestimating both him and Mario. They're not moving on from Space Junk yet. There's another boss in this galaxy that will disgust those with arachnophobia.

nintendoscript15

Thanks for the idea for AP's advice! But yeah. It did spell her end. A shame for her.

Amethyst Goldenwind

I'm not sure if Kamella will have a fight two. If you ask me, she kinda looks out of place in Deep Dark.

Well, if you remember, there's one more boss in Space Junk Galaxy. I think you know where this is going.

KazamaFam2006

I have no familiarity with Blazblue, but yeah. He's been transformed into a cyborg.

Space Junk Galaxy really means a lot to Aster, because it was the galaxy that kept him at peace. So seeing the peace be disrupted by an airship fleet breaks his heart.

If that split moment of free will at the end of Chapter 16 wasn't an indication of what Alex is internally going through, I don't know what is.

Chapter 18: Tarantox's Tangled Web

[BGM: Space Junk Road - Super Mario Galaxy]

After having destroyed the airship fleet invading Space Junk Galaxy, their remains had become a part of the junk floating endlessly in the void. It was a somewhat sad and beautiful spectacle. However, Mario and Aster weren't sent back to the Observatory as they usually would. Instead, they landed back on the two Starshrooms.

"That's strange. Why are we still here?" wondered Mario.

"Usually something like this is a sign that we still have unfinished business to attend to," Aster explained. "We may have destroyed the ships, but there must be someone else causing chaos around here."

"MARIO! ASTER!" Captain Toad panicked as he approached the heroes, whilst short of breath.

"Toad? What's wrong?" worried Mario.

"It's Jeff! He's… He's… He's been toadnapped!" Captain Toad explained in between breaths.

"Toadnapped?!" "Do you know who took him?" Mario and Aster respectively reacted.

Toad took a moment to catch his breath. Then he pointed towards a purple and green virus-shaped planet in the distance.

"I don't know. But I saw something carry him toward that planet over there! You think he's ok? Aster, do you know what's on that planet?"

"I've never been to that planet before. It always gave me bad vibes compared to the rest of this galaxy. But I heard it was inhabited by a venomous spider queen known as Tarantox," said Aster.

"SPIDER?! Oh no! Jeff's gonna be eaten!" Toad hyperventilated at the thought of his crew member and friend being eaten up by a venomous spider.

"Calm down, Toad! We will save him!" Mario assured. "Let's a go!"

Both heroes started by taking the same Pull Star path they did in the first mission. But instead of heading towards the lava transparent planets, they landed on a transparent maze planet where a Hungry Luma awaited them.

"Hey, you! Yeah, you! Got any tasty Star Bits? If you feed me a bunch of Star Bits, I'll burst with snacky happiness and then transform! I'm famished! I need 50 Star Bits to curb the hunger pangs!"

Both heroes shrugged and stuffed him with that amount of Star Bits.

"That's it… I'm stuffed! Here we go! TRANSFOOOORM!"

The Hungry Luma turned into a bright light, in which the duo covered their eyes from. In its place appeared four wooden planets in the shapes of the heads of Mario's past friends. Yoshi, Aqua, Daisy, and Wario. A pink Launch Star appeared.

"Why do those planets look so familiar?" Mario suspiciously noted.

"I'll check out those planets. You explore this maze," Aster directed which Mario agreed to.

[BGM: Space Fantasy - Super Mario Galaxy]

Aster took the pink Launch Star and landed on the Yoshi planet first. He had to stomp on every Goomba and try to rack up points for consecutive Goomba stomps while not touching the ground. Though he had to watch out for the steam shooting out of Yoshi's nostrils.

Once all the Goombas were beaten, Aster took a Sling Star to the Aqua planet. This planet was covered in a layer of shallow water, and Cheep Cheeps were bouncing all over the surface. He did get smacked in the face once, but beating them was no problem.

The next Sling Star took Aster to the Daisy planet. Only one enemy inhabited it: a single Pokey. Aster just had to kick a coconut over to knock the Pokey down, jump over the quicksand in Daisy's "hair", and stomp on its head.

Finally, Aster landed on the Wario planet, where the eyes, W, and teeth were lava. Aster had to beat the lil' cinders by kicking near them to strip them of their fire power. Then kick again to defeat them.

With all enemies defeated, Aster claimed a hidden Power Star.

[BGM: Power Star Get - Super Mario Galaxy]

YOU GOT A STAR!

"YES!"

[BGM end]

Aster was then teleported to the entrance of an arch where Mario was awaiting him.

[BGM: A Tense Moment - Super Mario Galaxy]

"Hey! You're back!" he greeted. "I found a Launch Star and it took me here. What were those planets like?"

"It was just an enemy rush. Nothing special," said Aster with a straight face and mild disappointment. "Anyways, let's move ahead."

The two defeated a few Spoings that got in their way, then encountered a strange white, elastic substance. Mario touched it and caught his hand in it.

"What the?!" Mario struggled to pull it out, but to no avail. "I-I'm stuck!"

"Don't panic! That's a Sling Pod! I'll handle this!" Aster closed his eyes and the Sling Pod swung back. He opened them up again and Mario went flying towards another stone planet where he got stuck in another Sling Pod.

"Gah! Thanks, but I'm still stuck!" Mario yelled out.

"Hold on! I'm coming!" Aster inserted himself and pulled the Sling Pod back. He launched himself over to where Mario was stuck. Then he pulled back that Sling Pod and flung Mario over to an abandoned rocket ship. Aster followed.

"Whew! Thanks!" Mario breathed a sigh of relief.

"No problem! Next time, think of it as a Pull Star and concentrate your mind," Aster advised.

Mario nods and they used the next Sling Pod to break into the Phantom Boss Spider Zone where Tarantox was said to reside. The inside of this planet was filled with all sorts of weird, alien fungus that smelled like a rotten Goomba plunged from the toilet. A huge web filled up the entire inside of the planet, with a huge mound of silk filling up the center. Mario felt his stomach and guts twist and churn just from being here. Aster's cheecks turned a little green as well.

"Let's find Jeff and the Star and get the high tail outta here!" Aster whispered, in which Mario nodded.

"Eek! I'll be eaten! Someone help me!" a toad's voice screamed.

To the duo's relief, they found Jeff tangled up in a Sling Pod.

"Jeff! Don't worry! We'll get you outta there!" Aster assured. He focused his mind and flung Jeff towards the silk in the center, freeing him.

[BGM end]

"EEEK! Thanks guys! Just what IS this thing?!"

"I don't know, but I think we could-"

Mario was interrupted when he saw the mound of silk in the center crack open. Emerging from it was a huge spider-like alien. It had three wide oval eyes, wings, and a Snifit-like mouth. Its feet were similar to suction cups. It had horizontal stripes on its body and five glowing buttons on its sides, one much larger than the others. The spider roared and jumped frantically from having its slumber disturbed.

[BGM: Confront The Source - Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon]

"It's the spider queen, Tarantox!" Aster announced.

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!" both Mario and Jeff screamed in horror whilst hugging each other closely.

"Jeff, you stand back where it's safe! Mario and I will handle this creature!" Aster ordered.

Jeff obeyed and standed back. Tarantox began by spurting green acid out of her round mouth. The two heroes dodged by walking up in the direction of gravity on all sides of the planet.

"I think those glowing green spots on her body are weak points! Let's-a use the sling pods to hit them!" Mario observed.

"You read my mind!" Aster complimented. "Let's do it!"

The galactic duo used the sling pods all over the web to hit each of the green bulges on Tarantox's body. Each hit irritated her and made her cover her eyes. Next they aimed for her back, which was a huge glowing red and green bulge. Hitting this made her flip over, revealing three red spots on her belly.

"Now's our chance!" Aster announced.

Mario and Aster used Sling Pods from opposite sides of the planet to take out all three red spots at once. Tarantox wasn't done yet, for she flipped back over. Now her four spots on the sides were throbbing rapidly with green acid spurting out. Now she fired acid out of not only her mouth, but her green spots as well. Mario was caught off guard by this, and was hit by the acid.

"YEOOOWWW! IT BURNS!" he screamed.

"MARIO!" Aster picked up the plumber to keep him from getting hit again. "You gotta be more careful, pal. Aliens can be very unpredictable."

Aster decided to ignore the green spots this time and just aim for the back. Once he flipped the spider over, Aster aimed for the three red spots again. Upon hitting them again, Tarantox let out a screech in defeat as she was sent flying out the back of the planet and exploded, leaving her web behind to be blown in the solar winds. A Star flew over to the center where the spider was. Aster used a coin to heal Mario and Jeff approached them.

[BGM: A Chance to Grab a Star! - Super Mario Galaxy]

"Are you guys ok? That was terrifying!" Jeff shivered.

"We're fine. Now, let's get you back home. Your brigade is worried about you," said Aster. They used a Sling Pod to claim the Star.

[BGM: Power Star get - Super Mario Galaxy]

YOU GOT A STAR!

"WAHOO!"

"YES!"

"YIPPEE!"

[BGM end]

Ghostly Galaxy

[BGM: Interlude - Super Mario Galaxy]

Meanwhile, Luigi was receiving his torture from two of the boo sisters, Boothany and Boolinda. They were letting Swoopers feast on his clothes, leaving behind all sorts of rips and tears. All the while, the two ghosts were cackling at the green guy's misery.

All of a sudden, Boothany stopped laughing when she received a notification on her phone. Looking through it, she suddenly grew a smile from ear to ear and waved her stubby arms around like an overexcited genki girl.

"What are you so fussed up about?" Boolinda asked with suspicion.

"It's the Spooky Speedster! He's touring over Ghostly Galaxy, and will be having a huge race here, TODAY! We can finally get his autograph!"

Both girls squealed like typical high school girls when they thought about their crushes. Luigi groaned from hearing this despite the pain he was in. To his relief, Boolinda shooed away the Swoopers.

"Alright, Greenie. I hope you feel lucky, because you're getting a break from the torture. Our sister's gonna babysit you while we're gone. No funny business with her, alright? Or it's gonna get worse from here!" Boothany ordered.

"O-Okay!" Luigi confirmed.

"Where is Bootrix anyway?" the other sister wondered. "She's been in that changing room for hours."

"Right here!"

Bootrix floating out of the changing room, slowly. Looking a little ashamed, she came out without her makeup from earlier, and only a single pink bow on her head.

"Where is your makeup?!" Boothany demanded in a strict tone.

"I washed it off. It just isn't me," the youngest sister complained. "Besides, who are you to force me to wear makeup when you two don't wear any yourselves?!"

"We don't need makeup because we actually have hair! You however, look ugly and plain without makeup!"

"And the bow doesn't cut it!" Boolinda added in agreement.

"Well, you know what?! I don't care what you think! I want to impress Luigi with who I am, and that's what I'm gonna do!" declared Bootrix.

This garnered a facepalm from Boothany. "Bootrix, I can't count how many times we've been through this! We're not trying to 'impress' our victims, and get all kissy faces with them!"

"Yeah! We torture them until they can't breathe, then we dispose of their bodies!" added Boolinda.

"Screw you both! I can do whatever I want!" Bootrix snapped, earning her a slap from both of them.

"Fine, toots! Stay that way and guard our prisoner."

"But… wh-why can't I go with you?" Bootrix whimpered.

"We need someone to watch our prisoner to make sure he doesn't escape. Besides, we can't be seen with an unattractive freak show such as you!" Boothany answered in a cold tone of voice.

"Bye, loser!" Boolinda teased as they both left. Bootrix was left sobbing on the stone floor of the window sill. Luigi saw the whole thing and shed a tear out like the last drop of a faucet. What is this? Did he… feel bad for a ghost? But he's supposed to be afraid of them. But then again, ghosts were once alive, so maybe there's still some heart and soul deep down. Right?

"Bootrix…? Are… Are you okay…?" Luigi asked with concern.

"H-Hi… Luigi…" Bootrix wiped up her tears. "I-I wish I could kiss you… But my sisters will kill me if I do…"

"No, no. It's okay. I'm not looking for a relationship or anything. I already have a girlfriend back at home."

"Oh… You do…? I-I'm so sorry! I didn't know…" she solemnly apologized.

"It's okay. We can still be… friends... I guess. Y-You wanna talk?" Luigi offered.

"O-Okay…" she agreed.

[BGM end]