Daisy reassured Wanda that they were only borrowing the clothes they were using as a disguise. The clerks of the local Crazy Cap clothing store would no doubt be grateful when she and Waluigi rescued them from their comas.
Waluigi looked surprisingly sharp in his high-end business suit and slicked back hair. "You clean up well when you put your mind to it," she told him. "You could pass for a mafia enforcer."
"You don't look so gruesome yourself," Waluigi said. "It's weird seeing you in something other than a gown or sportswear."
"Listen, when you have to EARN the gown you make a point to wear it." Although the suit she picked out for herself was expensive enough that she did not mind the change in costume. She wondered if she could get away with keeping the shoes without Wanda noticing.
They approached the tour bus. "Alright," Waluigi said. "It's show time,"
Daisy rapped her knuckles against the boarding door of the bus. The door swung open to reveal a giant crab glaring at them.
"Yar?!" Clawgrip growled. "Do ye be lookin' for trouble ye city-slickin' land-lubbers?!"
"Oh, far from it!" Daisy said, aiming to capture the smarm of a Chuck Quizmo. "It's not just me knocking, it's opportunity!"
"We could not help but hear that captivating music you all are playing," Waluigi said. "Tell us, is that an original composition? Is that a song you made?"
"Oh, uh." Clawgrip was caught off guard. "I suppose ye could say that." He pinched at his claws, flustered. "But it isn't just I. Me mates and I made that piece together, y'see."
"You seem like a busy arthropod, so let me cut right to the chase," Daisy said. "I'm Priscilla Darling and this is my associate Wallace. We're talent scouts for Kondo Records and we'd like to hear more about this little band of yours."
"Really?" Clawgrip looked touched. "Ye… really like it?"
"I can honestly say I've never heard anything like it," Waluigi said. "May we come in?"
Clawgrip stared, the gears turning in his head. "O-one moment!" He shut the door only to open it again. "Don't go anywhere!" He shut it again.
Daisy put her ear up against the door to hear a flurry of frantic whispers on the other side. She pulled away just before the door swung open again with Mouser and Tryclyde crowding Clawgrip to see.
"Come in, come in! Please!" they said.
The inside of the bus was spacious, wide enough to occupy both lanes of the road and a bit of the sidewalk. There were luxurious fold-out sofas and a mini-kitchen and more than enough overhead storage space to pack all those shy guys for travel. The 8-bit generals scrambled to clear dirty dishes off a pool table to make room to sit. There was the rat Mouser, that three-headed snake Tryclyde, the sidestepper Clawgrip, and a big fireball guy in a black domino mask who Daisy did not recognize. She kept an eye on Mouser and noticed him come back from the front of the bus without his wand.
"You heard our music on the ssspeakers?" Tryclyde said.
Waluigi sat down. "Truth be told, we heard you first while vacationing on scenic Isle Delfino. We just HAD to track you down when we found out you weren't signed with any of our competitors."
Mouser slugged Clawgrip in the shoulder. "See?! I TOLD you that ad campaign would pay off!"
"Oh my," the fireball said. "D-does this mean you're going to offer us a contract?!"
"Well, if it was just our decision, we'd make you an offer right now," Daisy said. "But our boss is a bit bearish and needs to make sure you're a good fit for the Kondo brand."
"What kind of brand do they want?!" Tryclde said. "We're flexible. VERY flexible. We can make this work!"
"Yar! Where be your artistic integrity ye yellow bellied sell out?!"
"Both of you numbskulls shut up and let me do the negotiatin'!" Mouser said.
"So this boss of yours gets the final say?" the fireball guy said. "Where can we meet this person, if you don't mind my asking?"
Right on cue, Wanda appeared in the doorway of the bus wearing a feather boa and a pair of sunglasses bigger than her face. She floated up to the pool table, cool as ice.
"Allow me to introduce you," Daisy said. "This is Francisca Money-coin, CEO of Kondo Records. It took a LOT of work to talk her into meeting you today. She is very rich AND very famous."
The 8-bits were star struck. They also wanted to be rich and famous.
"It's an honor to meet you Ms. Money-coin," Mouser sniveled. "Can I call you Fran?"
Wanda sneered. "No."
"O-oh. Well, would you like to hear some of our music? Our lead vocalist isn't here but we have plenty of demo tracks to give you a taste of what we can—"
Waluigi waved him off. "Ms. Money-coin is FAR too busy to listen to music. It's beside the point, really. A good music career is about the marketing, not the sound."
Daisy leaned in to whisper to Waluigi.
"Keep 'em busy. I'm going to search the back."
He nodded in response.
"Tell us about how the band first got together," Waluigi said. "Who are the 8-bits? What are they? Tell us your story. Tell us everything. But try not to bore Ms. Money-coin or we'll leave immediately."
The goons were frozen in silence, terrified. The fireball was the first one to drum up the courage to speak.
"W-well, I'm Fryguy. I used to be a podoboo lava bubble. I wasted my youth jumping around in lava all day. But then I met Wart, and I think he sensed how bad I wanted to make it big playing electric guitar. He used magic to make me HUGE. That's half my goal right there! So now I'm working on the guitar part."
Daisy let all the attention fall on Wanda. She inched around the table to snoop while they were distracted.
"Now me, I use to just be a little mouser. Wart fixed it so I'm large now which means I get to be Mouser. How do you like that? I handle accompaniment instruments but what gets me fired up is adding the flash and booms to the show. Special effects are where my heart is at!"
"We used to be a snake with only ONE head," Tryclyde said. "NOW look at us!"
Daisy slipped into the other room. It appeared to be the cockpit or bridge of the battleship class tour bus. There was a huge coal furnace sitting cold in the center of the room and a ladder leading up to a hatch in the corner. A bunch of levers, controls, and a steering wheel sat in front of a vast windshield. She searched the room for that wand. It could not have gotten far. The conversation went on in the other room.
"I'm sensing a pattern with these stories," Waluigi said.
"I haven't even gotten to tell ye about when I was only a wee regular crab!" Clawgrip said.
"Inspirational," Waluigi said. "I see that you all owe this Wart guy quite a bit. So it's you four and him that are the on stage performers?"
"Well, we USED to have a back-up singer," Fryguy said. "But she split to focus on her stage career. We're still taking auditions for a replacement."
"We can worry about that later," Waluigi said. "You've told us where you came from, but what about the now? Who ARE the 8-bits? What sets you apart from other bands? What drives you?"
A dumb silence fell over the group.
"I dunno," Mouser said finally. "I guess we're all little guys who wanna make it big, y'know?"
"Yesss. And Master Wart will make sure we will not be ignored! By any means necessary! If we must destroy reality and the world of dreams then so be it! We will be seen and heard, or all will suffer!"
"Say fellas, how would you like some coffee?" Fryguy said. "We got coffee, tea, and juice."
"I'd like some juice please!" Wanda said, breaking character.
Daisy rolled her eyes. She rummaged through the glovebox of the bus and grinned to herself as she pulled out the wand. The red dream gem was stuck on the tip to power it. She pulled at the gem, trying to twist it free, but it was stuck hard.
"Hey lady!" Fryguy barged into the room. "You want somethin' to drink?! I just found out we got soda too!"
Daisy yelped and dropped the wand. It hit the floor with a crack and the dream gem rolled toward the guitarist. He looked down at the broken wand, then up at daisy, then down at the dream gem, then up at Daisy again.
"Excuse me missy," he said, "Just WHAT do you think you are doing in here?!"
"Uh," Daisy said, stalling, "Looking for coffee?"
Waluigi shoved his way into the room ahead of Tryclyde and Mouser. "Y'know I think you boys are a good fit for Kondo records!" he said. "Let's negotiate your signing bonus!"
"They're trying to trick us!" Fryguy said. "They're after the dream gem!"
Mouser pointed at Daisy. "Wait! I THOUGHT I recognized you! You're that Peach look-a-like!"
"No, you idiot!" Daisy said, blood boiling. "I'm Princess Daisy. D-A-I-S-Y!"
Waluigi face palmed at her confession. Oops.
"Protect the dream gem!" Tryclyde said. "Dessstroy them!"
Daisy scooped the gem off the floor and tossed it to Waluigi before the 8-bits could surround her. Fryguy moved to block the way out. Waluigi danced through a flurry of fireballs spat by Tryclyde. He passed the gem back to Daisy, but Mouser snatched it out of the air. Daisy tackled him to the floor and the dream gem went skittering.
"Wanda! Think fast!" Waluigi said as he kicked the gem straight through Fryguy's flames.
"Whoa what?" Wanda spilled her juice as she watched the dream gem bounce off Clawgrip's head and down the corner pocket of the pool table. Clawgrip glanced around in confusion.
"Battle stations!" Mouser shouted into a radio transceiver. His voice boomed over the bus's speakers. "All hands on deck! Fryguy! Start the engines!"
"You got it squeaker!" Fryguy said. Daisy jumped out of the way as Fryguy charged into the coal furnace on the bridge and hopped inside. All at once the room lit up and his flame body roared, powering the tour bus. Automated turrets lowered from the ceiling and shyguys crawled in through the windows.
"Let's get out of here!" Waluigi said. Daisy followed him out into the main cabin. They spotted Wanda with her arm stuck down the hole of the pool table.
"Where's the dream gem?!" Daisy said.
"It's stuck down here!" Wanda said. "Eek!"
She flew out of the way as Clawgrip raised one of his giant pincers and smashed the pool table to smithereens with one bellowing "YARR!"
Daisy covered her face as wood and shrapnel flew everywhere. The bus rumbled to life under her feet. Clawgrip scuttled left and right, sizing up whether Waluigi or Daisy was the bigger threat. He charged Waluigi. Daisy was so insulted she grabbed a pool cue and broke it over Clawgrip's head.
"Yow! Ye dented me carapace!"
Waluigi seized on the distraction and fished the dream gem out of the remains of the pool table. He held it up in triumph only for it to be knocked from his hand by one of Tryclyde's fireballs and bounced out the door of the bus. Everyone elbowed, shoved, kicked, and fought to be the first one out the door to chase it and got caught in the doorframe as a mass of flailing limbs. Wanda flew over the heads of everyone and snatched it off the pavement outside. Her eyes darted every which way as she tried to figure out what to do.
"Just fly!" Daisy said. "Get it out of here!"
Wanda nodded and zipped away down the roadways of New Donk City. Mouser, Clawgrip, and Tryclyde pulled away from the door and then shoved Daisy and Waluig out.
"End of the road, bozos!" Mouser said. "Try not to get run over!"
The door slid shut. The air brakes hissed. The tour bus started to move and Daisy and Waluigi had to scramble to get out of the way. The behemoth machine mowed down streetlights, park benches and signs as it picked up speed to go after Wanda. Daisy ran to keep up, but once the bus got going it was tearing through the city too fast. It disappeared around the corner, blasting music.
Daisy turned to Waluigi, out of breath. "They're… gonna catch… Wanda if we don't… do something!
Waluigi glanced around. He stepped out into the street and extended an arm. "Taxi!" he said.
A cab sped to a halt next him within moments. The driver popped his head out the window and tipped his fedora.
"Where ya headin' mac?"
Waluigi popped open the driver side door and dragged the cabbie out into the street.
"Hey what's the big idea?!" the guy said before being dunked into a dumpster. Waluigi hopped into the driver's seat.
"Get in!" Waluigi told Daisy. "We'll go after them!"