Chapter 11: Dawn Over Toad Town

They'd spent close to a week in the Toad Town Tunnels. They'd been able to surface a few times to re-stock on supplies, but never close enough to Toad Town or Evershade Valley. Blue insisted that finding Mario's house was still their best bet.

This meant that, once again, they were camping out deep underground. They'd managed to find a part of the tunnels Peach had never seen, filled with massive glowing mushrooms and a crystal-studded ceiling that looked like the night sky.

They'd found an alcove that someone – Almost definitely the Mario Brothers – had camped out in before, and set up for the night. Dawn was amazed how something so beautiful could exist so far underground.

Something happened, and Peach awoke. She couldn't tell what it was – A fleeting burst of magic, a strange sound… Something had awoken her. She spent a few moments studying the cave to see if she could find the source of her sudden awakening, but nothing was out of the ordinary.

It wasn't long before she felt it again. This time there was no mistaking it. An overpowering rush of energy flowed through every fiber of her being. The shining crystals on the ceiling began to flicker, the mushrooms glowed far more brightly than they should.

It felt like everything was falling apart, but everything felt right… This power was familiar, someone she knew. Ever so far away, it could only be one person – Mario.

Everyone was awake now (except for Yellow), and the crystals and mushrooms were already fading back to normal.

"Pip-piplup?"

"What was that?" Dawn asked.

"It's Mario!" Peach said. She grabbed as many sleeping bags as she could and ushered them onwards. "Come on, follow me!"

"Hold on, princess." Blue was ignored as the princess ran off, Dawn close behind (Piplup fixing her hair as they ran). "… Okay, fine, you're in charge, no need to listen to me… Wait up!" He dragged his brother by the foot to catch up with the invigorated princess.

A right, a left, doubling back… The shock of energy had reawakened the old paths Mario had tread. She could feel them, follow them. If she was thinking clearly, she'd know that Mario was too far out of reach to find, but the energy was overpowering.

It didn't take half an hour before they reached an odd room, full of odds and ends and buzzing with magic.

"I know where we are," Blue said. "We're below Mario's house… I'm not sure how far down, though."

"What is all this stuff?" Dawn asked, picking up a metal rod with a jewel on the end.

"Weird magic junk that Mario's family has been collecting over the years," Blue said. "They've been around a lot longer than the country, so there's quite a bit of stuff here. Luigi's still finding new rooms whenever he gets bored enough to explore. That's a magic wand. By the looks of it, platinum base, diamond core, and decorated with pearls. Someone really liked throwing their money away. I'd suggest you put it down."

"… I dunno, a magic wand seems really cool," Dawn said, swinging it around a few times. Nothing happened. "I can't really do much on my own."

"It's harder than it looks," Blue warned. "Unless you've got some natural talent it can take years to learn. It took over two months of training with Mario for me to figure out how to use power-ups… That's not really the same sort of magic, but the point stands."

Dawn shrugged. "It's better than nothing."

Blue sighed. "Just be careful with it, alright?"

"No need to worry!"

Peach smiled, but Blue frowned. While Dawn's optimism was refreshing after Luigi's general attitude, magic wasn't simple. Most likely she'd cause problems she had no clue how to fix.

Latias was staring at the ceiling, having taken almost no notice of anything going on since they'd woken up. She crooned sadly, drawing Dawn's attention.

"Something's wrong up there," Dawn said.

"Toad Town's not far," Blue said. "But… Wait. Bowser's goons, of course! We need to get up there."

Bowser's army was there. But, contrary to their normal modus operandi, they weren't attacking the Mushroom Kingdom's capital at all. They might have been planning on it, but crisis has a way of bringing enemies together. A wormhole, like the one that had brought Latias here, had opened up over Toad Town.

This one, however, wasn't spitting out a young legendary Pokémon. This one was twice the size of Peach's castle and pulling in as much of Toad Town as it could.

"We need to go!" Peach yelled. She pulled out a leaf and held it up, but the only thing that happened was a few sparks of magic playing over the surface. "… Blue, the Super Leaf isn't working. Why isn't it working?!"

"What?" Blue said, grabbing the leaf. The leaf glowed faintly as he attempted to use it himself, but it died down and nothing happened. "Oh no… Gadd was right! I didn't believe him, but… gah!"

"Guys?" Dawn asked. "What's going on?" She was ignored, Peach and Blue too engrossed in their conversation.

"You knew this could happen?" Peach asked. "… How did Gadd know? A portal that disrupts power-ups?"

"The portal doesn't have anything to do with it!" Blue said. "Gadd thinks that Mario and Luigi's energy is what makes power-ups work at all. I didn't believe him, but clearly he was on to something! Whatever energy they left behind is gone, which means…"

"No one can use power-ups until they're back," Peach said. "We need to get down there… Blue, do you think you could rip some of the fence slats out of the ground?"

"What are you planning?" Blue asked, but obliged.

"Luigi once told me he built this fence so it could be used as snowboards in case of emergencies," Peach said, hopping on top of one of the slats.

"… What sort of emergency…" Blue trailed off. "What made him think this was necessary?"

"When we got invaded by those crazy rabbits from another dimension, the house got buried in an avalanche of ice cream and maple syrup," Peach said.

Blue was silent for a moment.

"Contemplate the realities of Mario and Luigi's life later, surf down a rocky cliff to save your hometown now," Peach said as she kicked off.

"… Right. Dawn, stay safe!" Blue grabbed Yellow, still fast asleep, and kicked off after Peach.

Dawn was alone on the mountain with the Pokémon. Piplup was tugging Dawn's leg, asking her if they could do anything to help. Latias was completely lost.

"I… Guys, I want to help, but we need a plan… Latias, what moves… Oh, right, the Pokédex!" Dawn scanned Latias. "Safeguard and Psywave… That's not much, but I think I've got an idea. Piplup, I'll need your help, too!"

Piplup and Latias stood (or floated) at attention.

"Alright, here's the plan. That thing's spinning, right? Piplup, when you use Whirlpool, what do you do to make it smaller or bigger after you've already made one?"

Piplup's eyes lit up. "Pip-pip-lup?"

"I don't know if it'll work, but we've gotta try. There's lots of people down there. Come on, let's get going!"

Peach jumped off of her snowfence, letting it plunge into some bushes as she slowly floated to the ground. Blue arrived moments later, preforming a wall jump as his own fenceboard smashed against a wall. Blue quickly dropped his sleeping brother in the street.

"Hello," Rosalina said, as she appeared beside them. "Sorry to be short, I'll be with you in a moment." She vanished again.

"I'll never get used to that," Blue said. "What are we supposed to do about that thing?"

"First, we need to get as many people as we can out of here," Peach said. "I'm sure Rosalina's handling some of it, but she's probably focusing on keeping that thing from getting any bigger! You go talk to Bowser's troops, see if they can get people to the Koopa Bros' fortress. The port's the furthest from the vortex. Yellow, I need you to gather people over there. I'll get people healed up and send as many as I can to safety. Understood?"

"Yes, Ma'am!" Blue said.

"Got it, Princess!" Yellow, for once, was awake.

"Let's go!" Peach was off, levitating as much rubble as she could out of the way. She quickly found some injured Toads and healed them up, telling them to get to port.

Rosalina appeared again. "I apologize for earlier, Peach. I take it you have a plan?"

"We're evacuating the Toads to the port and that old abandoned fortress out east. Blue's trying to get the Koopa Troop to cooperate, I don't know how that's going."

Rosalina vanished and reappeared ten seconds later. "They're flying to port now."

"Thank you," Peach said. "Can you help get any Toads you find to port?"

Rosalina nodded. "I've already evacuated the castle to Lavalava Island… Quite a distance, I know, but it's safer than here. It'll be far easier to get them to port while keeping the portal in check. Speaking of…"

She was gone again, and Peach went on helping out injured Toads. After a couple of minutes, Rosalina returned.

"How are things looking?" Peach asked.

"These portals have been appearing all over the planet these past few days. I am unaware of their origins, but I've been incredibly busy containing the damage. This one is far too large and powerful to simply dispel."

"I think Mario has something to do with it," Peach said, as she levitated a broken house and sent more (thankfully uninjured) Toads on their way.

"Assuredly," Rosalina said. "This portal certainly has the flavor of his power. I believe he accidentally ripped a hole through time and space itself… It may be difficult to close without his help."

"That's going to be hard. He's gotten himself into another dimension… Is that everyone out?"

Rosalina disappeared for a moment. "Yes, I believe that Yellow and Blue are the only Toads remaining in the town proper. They'll arrive shortly. If I may ask, what exactly is going on above the castle?"

Peach looked to see a very quick red blur with a familiar blue-haired girl perched atop it, flying in a spiral around the edges of the portal. "Dawn!"

"Alright, Latias, a few more Safeguards should give us a big enough barrier! Piplup, are you sure you're ready for the next part?"

"Piip-luurp!"

"Great! I knew I could count on you. Okay, Latias, bring us down right next to the pole on top of the castle." As they neared it, Piplup jumped off and grabbed on. "Do you have a good grip, Piplup?"

The little penguin nodded, determination in his eyes.

"Great! Hold on, and use Whirlpool! Make sure you're spinning opposite the portal, okay? Latias, we need to back off and follow the current!"

The Whirlpool attack and the Safeguards worked together just like Dawn had planned – She'd managed to produce a miniature tornado spinning opposite the portal, with Latias' speed helping to keep the wind even and fast.

"Latias, use Psywave on any uneven bits in the Whirlpool!" Dawn said. "Piplup can't hold this up forever, and we've got to make this count!"

Latias trilled her agreement.

After more of this, Dawn realized something. "It's not enough… It's not growing as fast as it was, but we won't stop it at this rate. Keep it up, you two, I'm going to try something!" She pulled out the wand she swiped, and concentrated on the huge portal. She twirled the wand above her head in the same direction she and Latias were spinning, and the tip glowed with unearthly blue light.

Glowing geometric blue shapes appeared around the edge of the portal, spinning around it. It didn't reverse the portal's growth, but with the three of them working together they were able to at least stop it from getting any bigger.

"It's working! Keep it up, guys, we're almost there!"

"I believe that's enough, actually." A new voice spoke, soft but echoing. The woman that had appeared before dawn in the snow was in front of her again, hovering there and easily keeping pace with Latias. "The portal shouldn't start growing again if you stop now."

"I… Okay, Latias, Piplup, let's stop! To the roof!" The lady was, thankfully, right – When Piplup and Latias stopped, the portal didn't start pulling everything in or growing larger again. Dawn dropped to the roof, panting from the effort. She'd never have guessed how much magic would take out of someone.

"Providing a counterforce to the portal – clever, yet deceptively simple," the lady in blue complimented Dawn. "Most would simply throw magic at it to overwhelm it. I, myself, tried to stop it directly with my own abilities… With it stabilized, that would be trivial, but it would have taken me quite some time to get to this point without you. Thank you… Dawn, I believe Peach said? I am Rosalina."

"Um, yeah," Dawn said. "And this is Piplup and Latias."

"Intriguing…" Rosalina studied Latias. "I've never seen the likes of her before."

"That's not surprising…" Dawn said. "We're, um… Kind of from another dimension?"

Rosalina nodded. "Yes, that explains a lot… Mario and Luigi… They've ended up in your world, and you here." She looked to the portal hovering in the sky above. "Somewhere through there, I can find them… You can go home… I can end this chaos."

Yellow came over the edge of the castle, clutching a strange blue block with a propeller on the top in his hands. Blue and Peach were clinging to his legs as he spun.

"Everything's spinning," Peach said, stumbling as she landed.

"Hi, space witch!" Yellow toad said, as he sat down and yawned. "You'll… Fix everything, right…?"

"I'll certainly try," Rosalina promised.

"Dawn fixed everything," Blue said, amazed. "And you got the wand working so easily... How?"

"It just… Felt right," Dawn said. "I don't know how to explain it."

"Sometimes, that's just how magic is," Peach said, having recovered from her bout of dizziness. "The question now is… What do we do from here?"

"Princess, as one of your personal guards and advisors, I'd like to submit my own suggestion." Blue pulled out the DS, and pressed it into Peach's hands. "Go after them, and get them back."

"We can't, the Professor said that the connection between worlds is too unstable," Princess Peach said.

"Our world has greatly stabilized these last few days," Rosalina said. "… I believe that it can recover on its own, but I can feel the instability of the world on the other side even from here. This portal, for the moment, is stable. I need to do work to fix this, and Dawn can't stay here forever. This is our best chance, and I'd be most honored to have one of my dearest friends beside me."

"… Alright," Peach decided after a few moments. "I'm coming. Blue, Yellow… Gather the rest of the brigade together. You five are in charge while I'm gone."

"Understood, Princess," Blue saluted.

Yellow half-opened his eyes and gave a thumbs-up.

"I'll close the portal behind us once we're there. Dawn, Princess… If there is anything you need, tell me now. We don't have much time, but I can easily gather whatever we need."

Peach nodded. "Thank you, Rosalina. There are some supplies in my castle. Blue, Yellow, get going. I'll see you once this is all over."

"Wait!" Dawn said, pulling out her Pokédex. "Here. It's a Pokédex – It can identify Pokémon. If there's any others around here, that'll help you find them."

"But, this is yours…"

Dawn shrugged. "I can just get a new one, or borrow one of Ash's old ones. He's got like ten of them. It's not a big deal, so there's no need to worry."

"If you say so." Blue nodded. "Princess! Don't forget to call. We'll do our very best from here. Any orders?"

"… Tell the people that I'm off with the Mario Brothers to try and get power-ups working again, and the portal has something to do with it. That's not entirely true, and I don't feel good about lying, but…"

"It's better if everyone thinks the Mario Brothers know what they're doing," Blue said. "Trust me, Princess, I know. I've spent more time with them then most… Definitely more time awake," Blue looked pointedly at his already-sleeping brother. "Good luck on your journey."

"Come, Princess, let's get those supplies." Rosalina took Peach's arm, and they vanished.

"Good luck to you, too, Dawn," Blue said. "And thanks, again. I guess this is goodbye."

"See you around," Dawn said.

"Well, not likely, but… See you," Blue said. He grabbed the Propeller Block and the sleeping Yellow (somehow holding on to both with great skill), and spun down to the castle grounds below, leaving Dawn, Piplup, and Latias alone on the roof.

"I guess we're going home," Dawn said. "Do you think everything's alright?"

Latias trilled again.

"That's right… There's something going on. I'll see soon enough, I guess…" Dawn trailed off. "You guys seemed really worried about that. Oh, I wish Meowth were here… Wow, I never thought I'd say that."

"Piip-lup!" Piplup patted Dawn's leg reassuringly.

"You're right, Piplup. No need to worry!" Dawn said brightly. "It's a new adventure, a new journey! Ash wouldn't back down, and neither will I!"

Dawn looked to Latias again. "I hope that we're able to figure out whatever's had you so worked up… I'll do my best, no matter what, okay?"

Latias just looked sad, and Dawn once more wondered what on earth was going on.

... Well, Dawn's going home. And Peach and Rosalina will be in the Pokemon world. That should be interesting, right? Sorry this chapter took so long. I got more focused in writing ahead again than on proofreading.

Mario doesn't usually directly cause disasters, they just tend to follow him and his brother around. Some of the stuff that actually happens is really weird, like when the ocean flooded over or a hole in time closed just because it was inconvenient for the Bros.

Rocker on: Pokemon Mystery Dungeon had several animated specials, so it's fair game! For Rescue Team, the protagonist is a male Squirtle partnered with a male Charmander. Explorers, male Piplup with male Chimchar. Finally, for Gates, a male Oshawott partnered with a female Pikachu.

No, no AZ, I don't think. As far as I'm aware, AZ doesn't even exist in this continuity.

They're inherently magical creatures, but they don't necessarily have magical abilities - Using magic, including power-up transformations; requires training, concentration, and effort. Power-ups only come naturally to Mario Brothers. Some people do have natural talent for magic, but that only gets you so far.

When Mario or Luigi uses an evolution stone, it'll be identical to one of their normal items. So a Fire Stone just results in Fire Mario, nothing special. A Water Stone would probably result in something entirely new.