The world fluxed around Gancena, distorting everything but herself and her items. For a moment, everything around her went mostly dark, with shimmers of colors in the distance. Then the image of the sky above gained stars, and the ground below her turned to dirt. Then the fluctuations stopped.
The first thing she noticed was the adorable little house in front of her with a big wooden sign saying "MARIO" over the front door. His house. His and Luigi's house.
Her first instinct would have been to knock on the door, but it was already late at night. Then she looked back down at her phone to see if there was a new prompt. There was.
Congratulations on using your first rip! Set previous location as "Home?"
Yes No
Gancena tapped "Yes."
Saving…
Your previous location has been set as Home. You may tap Home anytime to return, but if you are not near an existing rip, a new one will be created.
A new tab appeared at the bottom of the screen reading "Roster."
Use this Navigator to find and fill out those who belong in a certain group of people. You should be able to recognize it.
The Roster tab was highlighted.
Tap here.
When Gancena did, eight distinct boxes with dark silhouettes appeared.
You may tap any square to remind yourself of who's who, if necessary. More information will be added when you fill roster slots.
Good luck.
The prompts vanished entirely, leaving Gancena on the Roster screen.
She did indeed recognize the silhouettes: the original eight of the Super Smash Brothers. And nothing else… what of the first hidden four? Why start with the first roster when the franchise was well over fifteen years old?
Why was she being asked to basically recruit everyone?
Gancena glanced back up at the Mario Brothers' house. She supposed she could try knocking… hopefully they weren't already asleep, but even if they were, they were probably personable enough to excuse it.
Gancena took a deep breath, walked up the porch steps, and looked back down at the app. She tapped Mario's square curiously. It came to the top and center of the screen, the other seven fading away.
Mario
Super Mario Bros.
The rest of the profile was filled with question marks. Gancena couldn't scroll anywhere.
Gancena went through the other seven—Donkey Kong, Link, Samus, Yoshi, Kirby, Fox, Pikachu—finding their profiles were just as barren, listing only their names and the game franchise they were from. Gancena looked back up at the door and decided there wasn't really anything else to do but knock and see what happened.
She took a deep breath and did so, a little more forcefully than she usually would've. She waited. Seconds went by and there was no response.
One more time and then I try something else, she decided.
She knocked a little harder and longer, sincerely hoping nobody was asleep. She counted to ten and still nothing had happened.
Chances were that no one was home, then. Surely one of the Mario Brothers would have heard a knock like that in a house that size. Gancena sighed and turned, stepping back off the porch. Now what?
Gancena fiddled around with the app some more, switching back to the Maps tab. She was located right next to the rip, as expected. She noticed a path going from the house into the nearby woods. She swiped along it, seeing where it went, and found that it went straight to one Toad Town, which itself sat very close to one Princess Peach's castle.
"A-ha!" Gancena exclaimed. Surely Princess Peach could help her locate Mario—and Luigi, too, if he and the other hidden Smash fighters appeared in the roster later. Even if it was late at night, she could return later. And it was probably a good idea to set up an extra rip there. Maybe.
Regardless, Gancena adjusted her shoulder bag and set on the road to Toad Town.
Over the molten rock that was once Planet Zebes, with a brave rendition of the Brinstar theme to match, Fox McCloud dropped down from an Arwing and Mario emerged from a pipe. They landed onto a floating stage with multiple platforms. A voice counted down from three.
They were told nothing, but they knew what to do.
They came at each other immediately with strong attacks. Fox was a bit faster, and when Mario recovered, he put up his shield against a smash attack and took the next opening to grab Fox and throw him towards the edge of the stage. Fox grabbed on immediately, jumped, and launched himself towards a higher platform with a Fire Fox.
Mario followed with a Super Jump Punch, knocking a couple quick hits on Fox as he passed through the platform.
A Ray Gun appeared with a subtle ping on the highest platform. Mario noticed it first and made a Super Jump Punch for it, grazing Fox on the way. Fox followed with a Fire Fox, knocking the Ray Gun out of Mario's hands right as he'd grabbed it. Fox immediately fired twice. The first hit. Mario rolled out of the way of the second one.
Fox turned, fired, approached Mario, and performed a Smash attack that sent Mario flying straight up.
With a cry, Mario flew into the distance until the point of his disappearance became a star in the sky.
The magma hadn't even started to rise.
This game's winner was Fox.
Gancena entered Toad Town and was pleasantly surprised to find quite a few of the people still out and about, even with most shops closed and only some houses with lights on. But the lights were definitely on at Princess Peach's castle, so tall, regal, practically glowing. Even from across the moat, the stained glass portrait of the princess shone beautifully.
Gancena felt a tug at her heart. She hadn't really stopped to let the gravity of her situation sink in, but she also felt there wasn't time just yet. But she still stared at that portrait until she happened to pass by a pair of Toads walking the opposite direction.
One said: "I saw Luigi run through here earlier, but he looked upset. Went straight for the castle without even stopping."
Gancena turned and looked, catching the other saying "What do you think it was about?"
She could hear that the first Toad was responding, but they were too far away for her to make anything else out. At any rate, Gancena was a little more confident in her decision to go that way.
Two more Toads, in guard uniform and holding spears, stood at either side of the castle bridge. Gancena stopped. "Hello."
"Good evening. Have you any business with the Princess?" one asked.
"Nothing scheduled, I'm afraid. But I'd heard Luigi came through here looking upset and, uh… I was wondering if it was connected to something I'd been asked to do."
The guard quirked a brow. "How so?"
"Well…" Gancena pulled her phone back out of her bag and pulled up Mario's information. "Take a look," she said, holding her phone out.
The Toads came closer and looked. "Mario?"
"But it's empty?"
"Yeah. This app—program said I need to look for people represented," she said, tapping back to the main Roster tab, "on this page. I'm not entirely sure why, but if I can't ask Mario about it, then perhaps I could ask Luigi or the Princess?"
"What should we do?" the second asked the first.
"Let's let the Princess decide." The first looked back at Gancena. "Follow us, please."
"Okay."
The first guard led and the second beckoned for Gancena to follow. When Gancena started moving, the second guard fell in behind her. She understood.
The castle foyer was very familiar, with multiple doors to either side of the approaching party and a tall staircase in the center, leading up to a huge door. From the other side, a fairly loud voice could be heard nearly babbling.
The first guard knocked. "Excuse us, Your Highness." the first guard said.
"Yes?" came the voice of the Princess.
"A stranger has come looking to speak to one or both you and Luigi, Your Highness. She says she's looking for Mario but can't find him."
"Oh! Yes, one moment." A brief silence. The door opened and there stood Princess Peach, eternally pretty in pink. "Let her come in," she said.
"Yes, Your Highness," said the guard. Both guards stepped away from Gancena and returned down the stairs.
Gancena swallowed and stepped through, glancing at Luigi, puffy-eyed and wringing his hands. Gancena turned to close the door to see Peach already doing so. "Oh, let me—"
The door shut. "Hm? Oh, no, it's all right." Peach approached a huge desk and turned back to Gancena. "What did you have to say?"
"Uh… hi," Gancena managed.
Peach blinked. "Hello."
"My name's Gancena. I already know who you are. I mean, it's hard not to," she stammered. "But, uh, I'm looking for Mario."
"Well… he's not here. We're not sure where he is," Peach said.
"Eh?"
Peach turned to Luigi, still wringing his hands. She gently placed a hand on his shoulder. "Luigi, maybe you should tell her what you told me."
"R-Right," Luigi said. "Well, uh, Mario had come up here yesterday—I mean, he does almost every day—we both do—but, uh, he never came home. I thought maybe something had happened and he had to start another adventure, because, well, i-it's happened before, but nobody seems to have seen anything like that, and I don't know where he is or if he's all right and nobody does and, uh—" Luigi stopped, his eyes glossing over with frantic tears.
"So Mario is missing?" Gancena said.
"Yes!" Luigi managed, voice warbling. He sniffed and wiped at his eyes. "I'm sorry, I just…"
"No, don't worry about that," Gancena said. She approached and put her hand firmly on his shoulder. "I'll find him, Luigi. I swear I will."
Luigi sniffed again. "Are you here to find him?"
"I think so. I think that's why I have this program on my phone…" she trailed, showing him and Peach the Roster screen. "Look, see? That first silhouette is Mario. And I'd have to guess that he's not the only one missing… I wouldn't be surprised if that's what happened to the other seven, too."
Luigi and Peach looked over the screen, taking it in. Peach asked, "What is this? Who sent you?"
"I don't know. It just appeared on my phone. I used it, and now I'm here. Look—" She switched back to the Maps tab and scrolled from their current location to the Mario Brothers' house. "See the little rip there? That's where I came through, but it was there before I even used it."
"Our house?" Luigi wondered aloud.
"Yeah. I haven't had much time to think over what it might mean." Then Gancena remembered the hidden four, and Melee. "But I also wanted to mention that this may just be the start of something big and strange."
"How so?" asked Peach.
"See…" Oh, here we go. She was going to have to break the news of the existence of the multiverse. She'd written about it plenty of times, and had thought about it many, many more times, but it was a different story when the reality was staring you in the face.
But, Gancena realized, Luigi and Princess Peach were some of the best people to explain it to. They'd had their fair share of weirdness come their way, including alternate worlds. Maybe.
So Gancena decided to rip the bandage off. "Where I'm from, your world exists only in video games."
"Video games?" Peach asked. "But you came here through a program on your cell phone?"
"Yeah. Like I said, I'm not sure where it came from, but it has to be related to video games. Very specific ones, at that. Look here…" Gancena pulled up the Roster tab, then thought about it and returned to the Maps, pulling back from the map of the Mushroom Kingdom. "See how these symbols are connected to totally different maps?" She zoomed in on Hyrule's map, the closest one that wasn't also linked to the Mario universe. "Each is connected to a different world that I saw in a different game. I mean, yours, Donkey Kong's, and Yoshi's are all connected—" Gancena stopped short.
There was a rip in Hyrule, far out in one of the fields.
"Why are these people being taken?" Peach asked.
"I'm not entirely sure, but I do know this: these eight first came together in a crossover between all their games where they would fight for sport."
"What kind of fighting? Is my brother gonna be okay?" Luigi immediately asked.
"He should. The fights aren't too rough. They're very… game-y. I'm not sure how to describe them. But, like, nobody is ever grievously injured or anything."
"Where do they take place? You said it was a crossover, right? Meaning anything from any of the original games can appear?"
"Yeah. There are various stages, and most of them are either in or around the worlds… I think. At any rate, they're certainly themed after the games…"
"That might explain what happened over Yoshi's Island," Peach said.
Gancena looked back up. "What?"
"People were describing it as a tiny floating island high in the sky. But when investigators flew closer to try and look, they couldn't get on it. They said it was like invisible walls were surrounding it…"
"That might be a stage…" Gancena thought aloud. She returned to the Maps tab and clicked on the one Yoshi's symbol was attached to. She saw a rip immediately, right above the silhouette of a large island. "A-ha!" she said, grinning. "I think I know where I need to go next, then."
"You think Mario might have gone there?" Luigi said.
"I'm not sure… but I agree with Her Highness. I think this tiny island people are talking about may be connected to what I'm trying to do, and therefore to Mario's disappearance. Luigi. Princess Peach. I'm asking a lot of you by asking you to believe me. Do you?"
They paused. Peach brought a hand to her face and said, "Well, there's no other explanation for any of this right now. I suppose I do."
Gancena's brow furrowed. "You suppose?" she fretted.
"Well, no, I do. But even with what you told us, we still don't know much about what's going on. It's a lot to take in."
Gancena sighed. "Fair. But I thank you. There's a lot that could go wrong by trusting someone you just met, and yet you seem to be okay with that."
Princess Peach smiled. "It's our way."
"Oh, yeah," Luigi added. "It's how Mario and I knew that this place was home."
Gancena smiled at that. Then she continued, "Either way, you should keep an eye out for anything else odd just like this. I need to keep searching for Mario and the others, but I'd like to come back at some point tomorrow and check on you. Just in case. Is that okay?"
"Do you think whatever's happened to Mario could happen to us?" Peach asked.
"It's entirely possible. See… these eight were just the starting cast of one of the games in my world. Four more could be unlocked, and Luigi is one of them."
Luigi jumped. "Wah! Me?"
"Yeah. It's not the Mario Brothers without Luigi. But then in the sequel to that game, Princess Peach is part of the cast. So if the entire cast of this game is supposed to be gathered… I mean, the program's not asking me to look for you two, but it is asking me to look for Mario, and he's missing. I just want you to be careful… I sincerely don't know who or what took Mario."
"We'll all be careful, then," Peach said, lightly clenching her fists. "And yes, you can come back tomorrow. I'll make sure the guards know to let you in. In fact, let me…" Princess Peach dashed behind her desk, immediately took out stationery and a pen, and began writing.
"I, uh, I might be at home," Luigi said, "but please, come tell me if you learn anything about what happened to my brother."
Gancena nodded. "Sure thing. I'd best get to looking at that island. I'll tell you what I find tomorrow."
Princess Peach folded the stationery in half and took it to Gancena. "Here. Show this to any guard who questions you and they'll let you by."
Gancena peeked inside. The letter read:
This is Gancena. She has my permission to enter the castle to come speak to me.
-Princess Peach Toadstool
Underneath was Peach's signature, light and elegant. Gancena smiled. "Thank you. And thank you for letting me speak to you."
Peach nodded. "Good luck."
"Many thanks, Your Highness. And Luigi: remember, there's a rip by your house. Be extra careful if you decide to go home."
Luigi stood a bit taller. "Right. Thank you. Be careful out there."
"You, too. Good night. And stay determined!"
Gancena turned and delicately opened the door, trying to think if there was something else she needed to add. She couldn't think of anything. She instead glanced back down at her phone as she shut the door behind her.
As Gancena descended the staircase, gently slipping Peach's letter into an outside pocket of her bag, she almost immediately tapped the rip above Yoshi's Island, but immediately remembered the warning about creating rips. It hadn't said anything about the dangers of too many rips, just that there would be one created wherever Gancena activated the Navigator.
And while she'd initially thought about making a rip here, Gancena definitely didn't want to risk Luigi or Princess Peach or anyone nearby being endangered because she opened a rip in the middle of the castle. She wondered if going home first might be a better, safer route. She tapped the Home command at the bottom of the screen.
Warning: A rip will open at your current location. Return Home?
That wasn't what Gancena wanted to do. She sighed.
No
Gancena supposed, then, that the safest thing to do was to go back to the Mario Brothers' house and use the rip there to get to Yoshi's Island.
Gancena tugged her satchel back into place and began the long march back.
Some time after, Luigi left the castle, realizing there wasn't much else he could think to do but keep his eyes open and wait for Gancena to come back. But he heeded her words about the rip near his house and entertained the idea of staying at the inn that night. Peach encouraged him to do so.
Peach herself remained in her room, thinking everything over. She wasn't particularly worried about being taken. That wasn't a new experience for her. But she was definitely worried about Mario and Luigi. There wasn't much else she could think to do for them, either.
What kind of people would Mario have to fight? Would he really be okay? And what if Luigi was taken and added to it, like Gancena had said? What if they had to fight each other?
And Gancena herself… Peach and the Mario Brothers had encountered plenty of people from plenty of odd places, all with their own goals and missions. Gancena seemed nice enough, and it was good to know that someone out there had a better idea of where to start looking for Mario, but even she seemed a bit unsure of what to do. Hopefully she'd find something without getting lost or hurt.
There was a knock at the door. "Princess Peach?"
"Yes, Toadsworth?"
"May I come in?"
"You may."
Toadsworth entered in a hurry, his cane held in his hand. "The guards have spotted a strange structure in the sky, much like the one above Yoshi's Island! Please come and see!"
Peach gently lifted the front of her skirt and immediately ran forward, Toadsworth following behind as quickly as he could. They dashed outside to the courtyard where multiple guards stared at the sky some way away from the castle.
Peach spotted it right away. It seemed small, resembling a castle spire with a few platforms around it. One platform attached to the spire moved slowly from one side to the other.
A small, floating island.
"Gancena…" whispered Princess Peach.
