Author's Note: ...I hate hiatus.


Well, things weren't exactly going great so far.

Daisy swore venemously as she loooked aimlessly around. Where the hell was she? She had never felt this lost back in Sarasaland, not even in the Mushroom Kingdom. The flower princess ran a hand through her hair as she blew out a long sigh. If only Luigi was here...

Suddenly, there came a wolf-like howling from behind Daisy, amongst the trees. The princess whirled around and reached into her pocket. She brought out an amber-coloured penknife and flipped open its blade. It wasn't much, but it was better than fighting with just her fists against what sounded like a giant pack of hounds baying for blood.

Daisy held up her hands and put her weight on her back leg, like her martial arts lessons had taught her. She backed away slowly, for she knew that wolves had heightened senses. And these ones sounded dangerous.

And then suddenly a jet-black canine burst out of the trees, followed by dozens more. Daisy struck out instinctively, jabbing her knife deep into the wolf's eye before throwing it off and whirling around. Her long hair whipped behind her. Stab stab stab, blood everywhere. Everything was a blur, wolves being thrown off only to be replaced by three more.

But she felt no pain. No razor-sharp teeth digging into her. No claws slashing across her face. They were just... launching at her. Distracting her, maybe? From what?

And then something clamped across her ankle. She screamed, twisting in her urge to get free. But then she felt something tugging. Her captor! She lashed out with her blade, but the wolves were already dispersing. She looked down at her captor, but she was already being tugged ferociously. Then there was a crack at the back of her head, and searing pain.

The last thing she saw before blacking out was some sort of fortress clinging to a cliff.


A knock echoed through the castle. Fortress. Thing.

Mario's head lurched upwards. D-Dude whirled around, one hand still on the door handle to Jaydes's quarters. Then, he said in a low voice, "Stay here."

Mario watched D-Dude run - with surprising speed - back the way they had came. He battled with himself, cursing himself for his indecision. Then, he let his heroes' instinct take over and ran after the secretary.

"Hey! D-Dude! Wait up!"

Skirting around a corner, Mario caught a flash of orange and blue before the secretary disappeared around the corner. Mario put on a burst of speed and rounded the corner expertly. He then came to an abrupt halt as he saw the main door, wide open, with D-Dude conversing with...

Notch and Mr L.

Mario saw L's eyes widen, then saw a grin spread across his face. The asshole waved.

"Hey there, fatso!" called the engineer. Mario fumed, and saw Notch stifle a laugh. However, the plumber couldn't help but smile slightly at the proof of his friends' survival.

D-Dude looked from Mr. L to Mario to Notch and back. After about three more rounds of this, the secretary sighed and ushered the two in.

"Friends of heroes are aquaintances of mine," he said grimly, shutting the gigantic door behind them with a snap. He then pushed the two along the hallway, Notch's diamond blade glinting.

"So... um... who exactly are you?" asked Notch, as D-Dude took the lead.

"D-Dude, m' friend," answered the D-Man. "Secretary of Her Deadliness, Queen Jaydes."

Notch paled. "Ah, Jaydes? As in... the Queen of the Underwhere Jaydes?"

"Oh yeah," smirked Mr. L, putting on a cocky grin. "Can't wait for you to meet her, Notchy!"

D-Dude's drawling tone interrupted their conversation. "Don't worry, kiddo. Guy. Adult. Whatever. Jaydes is fine enough as she is, trust me."

Notch shook his head bemusedly, then adjusted his fedora absent-mindedly. He looked at Mario and Mr. L, then frowned slightly.

"Why is headwear so popular around here?"

The other two looked at each other and shrugged.

"Well, those Toads and Toadettes really do enjoy their mushroom caps," murmured Mario.

"And I've never seen ol' pasta-downer here without his hat," added L.

Mario shot the cocky engineer a furious glance.

Notch laughed. It was a bit shaky, a bit forced, but mostly sincere nonetheless. Before anyone could continue the meagre conversing, however, D-Dude interrupted them.

"Welp, here we are."


The door was, admittedly, small. The size of a wooden door. In fact, it resembled a wooden door. Heck, it was a wooden door. Notch gazed at the familiar and homely sight wtih a gaping mouth. Of course, it wasn't of Minecraftian design, but it was close.

Suddenly there was a lurch of homesickness. How long had it been since he had heard the squawk of a chicken? The bleat of a sheep? The mooing and snorting of cows and pigs? Maybe even just the hiss of a creeper would have satisfied.

Notch shook away these feelings furiously. He was in the Mushroom Kingdom, now, wasn't he? And Brine, his younger brother, his very own sibling...

They needed to rescue him.

D-Dude reached out a hand and opened the door.


The walls were purple. Painted. Or maybe they had come like that. Ah, well.

Black drapes hung from the ceiling, casting a gloomy, depressing air around the gigantic, cavernous purple space. The corners were darker than the blackest heart. There was a stand in the middle of a room, facing the door, much like a stand you see in church, or maybe at a wedding. Or funeral, might be a fitting term.

On this Queen Jaydes leant on. It was fashioned to fit one book. One normal-sized book. And there were three hovering choices.

One, on the left, the black, ebony, blue-gemmed Dark Prognosticus. The right one, the pearly-white, gold-lined Light Prognosticus. And one in the middle, one that no-one, not even D-Dude, recognised.

A grey book, bound with leather, the shade of stormclouds. An emerald at each corner. An octagonal emerald as the centrepiece of the book's cover.

This, although no-one in the room knew its name, was the Grey Prognosticus.