A bright flash of light burst out in the middle of nowhere, more specifically in the grassy outskirts of the Mushroom Kingdom. When the light dissipated both Mario and Merlux appeared looking frozen in suspended animation; about fifteen seconds later the pair resumed proper movement.

"—Merlin something," Mario said before he realized that he and Merlux weren't in the volcano village anymore. "Uh Merlux? Think you can take us back to see Merlin?"

"…Oops, I forgot to mention something," Merlux said twiddling her fingers in embarrassment. "Grandmaster said that it could take a looooooong time to teleport back home. Teleporting uses up a looot of magic energy, especially when you're going to really far places."

"Crud. I know that my wallet's probably trashed by now but I should've asked him if it's okay. If not then it's gonna be a bi—…er, big problem for the both of us, especially me."

"Hmmmm…I can call him for you! That way you can ask him if—" It was just then that the light on Merlux's pendant went out, signifying a complete loss of power within the article. Both man and child were sorely disappointed at the complete inconvenience of the timing.

"Aw, who am I kiddin'? My wallet's probably worm food now if the rest of my old clothes were shredded. Oh well, I guess I'll just do what I usually do."

"What's that?"

"Pinch any penny that comes our way. That's how we Super Mario Bros. roll."

Theme: Pay or Fray

"Oh really?" a voice asked.

Mario immediately tensed and turned to the direction of the voice; it was just two rough-hewn goombas, one colored dark green and one colored brown. The duo looked like they wanted to pick a fight with the pair, but Mario had been through the scenario so many times that he barely reacted aside of a bored stare. Merlux – on the other hand – had never been in a fight, so she was a little nervous compared to the experienced adventurer. Regardless, she put on her best bravery face and gripped her magic staff tightly.

"Those pennies could belong to someone ya' know," the brown goomba said. "Ain't it kinda rude to just pinch them up like that?"

"Yeah," the dark green goomba said. "You never know whose gold you're snatching."

"I have a hammer," Mario said in a dull tone, brandishing the object in question. "If you want to fight me go ahead. I'll just bash you in like I've done with every other punk who came up and threatened me for the last…how many years now?" Though Mario meant to intimidate the clearly outmatched goombas, he legitimately stumped himself mid-sentence which only made them angrier.

"Watch what you say to us old man!" the brown goomba barked out.

"Yeah!" the dark green goomba followed up. "If you don't want us to fuck you up badly then—"

"I swear to the Star Spirits above that if you do not get out of my way then I will move you out of my way," the plumber warned, having lost his patience with the two. "And watch what you say to me, especially when I have a kid in my presence." It was just then that the two goombas noticed the little girl standing beside him, festering crooked and wicked smiles on their faces.

"Aw, that's your kid?" the dark green goomba asked in a faux-friendly tone. "What's her name?"

"Look," Mario said, "we're in a hurry, and you're holding us up."

"But we just wanna know what her name is," the brown goomba said. "We'll let ya' go right after."

"Um, I'm not supposed to talk to strangers, but my name is Merlux," the young girl said.

"Aw, what a cute little name for a cute little girl," the dark green goomba said maintaining his sugar-coated voice. "Where do you live girlie?"

"Nuh-uh, that's it," Mario said. "We're leaving. Now."

"Hey hold on—" the goombas didn't get a chance to finish speaking to Merlux when Mario took the girl by her hand and pushed past the two of them. Neither of them took kindly to that.

"Fuck is up with you old man?" the dark green goomba snarled. "You wanna get messed up‽ Huh‽"

"Tryin' to act tough with us‽" the brown goomba hollered. "C'mon man, let's jump 'em‼"

"Yeah‼" The two goombas ran up to Mario to conk him out with headbonks, but Mario's experience trumped their brazenness, ending the short lived attack with a swing of his hammer before they got within spitting distance of him. Merlux winced as both of the hoodlums were sent flying several yards from the hammer's heavy blow.

Theme Stop

Neither of the two goombas got back up from the blow, causing Mario to believe that he killed them (much to his slight displeasure); the groans and slight movements coming from them a couple of seconds later had him stand corrected.

"Did anyone…get the number of that…kart…" the dark green goomba slurred out in a daze before passing out. His brown partner-in-crime managed to stand up on his feet in a matter of seconds, looking slightly dazed at worst.

"Wha—What the Hell was that?" he said confused.

"Huh?" Mario questioned. One goomba was still fine enough to stand up and think clearly after taking a metal hammer to the face while the other one likely wouldn't wake up for the next week or two. It caused Mario a fair bit of unease at the apparent ineffectiveness of his hammer's strength.

"Ha! Yo' shit ain't got shit on me fatass!" the brown goomba taunted. "I'm surprised that it hit me as hard as it did, but I got a surprise for ya'! Unless ya' hit me with magic, you ain't doing jack shit to me!" The plumber would have immediately knocked the laughter out of the hoodlum if he had access to anything magical, but right then Merlux tugged on his clothes with a wide smile as showed him her magic wand.

"I can only use helper magic right now," Merlux began explaining, "but that means that I can help you use magic moves against that mean mushroom man using bad words." Said "Mushroom Man" snickered erupted into uncontrollable sniggering, goading the child in the midst of his laughter to use her helper magic.

"Oh yeah?" the brown goomba asked. "Go on then; give it your best shot kiddo. I dare ya'." Taunting the girl further, he pointed his non-existent chin out at her with a "right here" gesture. With her confidence boosted, Merlux poured her magical energies into her magic staff while aiming it at Mario. The aquamarine jewel encrusted atop of it pulsed several times with a brilliant ruby sheen, right before a fiery-colored light shot out from it into the target. Within him, Mario could feel the powerful magic coursing throughout him, and then a familiar fire from inside ignited with such force that Mario thought he was alight with flames. Looking at him now, he most certainly looked as though he was blanketed in intense fire.

"Now you have magical fire powers!" Merlux cheered. "Teach that mean mushroom man a lesson!"

"With pleasure…" Mario said, flashing a sadistic grin of his own at the remaining Goomba. Outstretching one arm while rearing the other one back, the plumber charged up a fireball while the brown goomba stared on with newfound horror.

"Ey, wait a minute man, we can work this out," the goomba said trying to dissuade Mario from wrecking him. "Come on, that whole stint wasn't anything too serious right?"

"Oh sure." For a minute it looked as though Mario was only threatening the goomba. "Just another Tuesday for me."

"Wh-what do you mean by that? What do you do on Tuesdays?"

"This." With no second thoughts or sympathy for the young punk, Mario flung the fireball ahead, watching it sail on to its target. A high-pitched squeal rewarded the man's honed accuracy, followed by a bout of intense sobbing. Merlux found it hard to feel angry at the goomba after that but Mario was unaffected by the tears, crocodile or otherwise. Having had enough of the hoodlum, the plumber took his little friend by her hand and began leading her away from the scene, at least until said hoodlum had cut his sniveling out.

"Y-You…You'll pay for this…" he rasped out half-pissed half crying. "Get 'em!"

"Who?" Mario asked. "Your little friend taking a beauty nap over there?"

"Naw, us," someone else said right behind Mario.

On reflex the plumber spun around to see who had suddenly popped up behind him. Seven goombas who all looked like your typical gangster crew had somehow appeared with no indication that they were ever there, and while Mario could hardly be surprised that it was more goombas there was something strangely familiar about them, especially two of their members.

"Who're you?" Mario questioned. "Don't tell me some tough-looking thug crew is playing bodyguard for this punk."

"Yep," the magenta-mohawked leader spoke. "Kid over there paid us a pretty penny to look out for 'im."

"He's gonna be asking for a refund soon if you don't beat it. Seriously, I am not in the best of moods to deal with tough guy wannabes."

"Wannabes eh? You don't really know us that well do you?"

"Don't know, don't care. C'mon Melux, we're out."

"What if I told you that we're the 'Poisonous Purple Prose Posse'?" That made Mario stop right in his tracks; he's done some research on the group before and found out that they're the most wanted criminals in the Mushroom Kingdom; how he didn't recognize them on sight was beyond him. A pillaging gang with a hint of terrorism and anarchy thrown in, they were deliberately easy to track down but harder to take down and even harder to keep locked up. They somehow always escaped and they even managed to recruit two new members the last Mario heard of them. It always took the military's involvement to stop them, and despite always being put away in maximum security prisons they were never there for any longer than a day. Normally he wouldn't be too nervous about running into them, but at the moment he had Merlux with him and the gang was notorious for their cruelty toward children. This begged the question of why they were protecting one in the first place.

"I believe that some introductions are in order," the leader said. "Th' name's 'Purple'. My li'l bro right over there is 'Pint-Size', the lanky one's named 'Palm Tree', the big guy right there's 'Pot Belly', mah girl here's 'Priscilla', and these newbies are Paul and Penny. Nice t' meet'cha Mr. Mario." Mario didn't really care for who was who; just the fact that they were protecting a child raised more than a few questions for the plumber.

"What is this kid possibly paying you to play bodyguard for him and why?" Mario questioned. "Does he know what you do to kids?"

"He knows," the leader said. "Scary lil' punk got sick o' other people tellin' 'im what to do and ran away from home into the streets to be 'nother big time wannabe, prol'ly woulda ended up eatin' lead 'fore a day o' two passed. That's when he ran into us and paid us to knock the block off o' anyone who has somethin' to say to 'im. His balls-for-brains bud over there wasn't covered though, heheh…"

"A runaway eh? Figures. Look kid, you need to go back home instead of running around with mobsters and straighten your life. They'll kill you for sure once they're done with you, and then what'll you do?"

"What'chu say to me old man?" the punk replied. "You think you tough 'n shit‽ Huh‽"

"Pipe down pipsqueak," the gang leader said, "you ain't tough for shit either. You paid us so you don't have to deal with this shit, remember?" The comment got the young goomba quiet, not wanting to tick off his employers. The gang returned their attention to Mario and Merlux, explaining their employment further. "Speaking of pay, kid found a real pretty crystal-lookin' thing 'fore he ran into us. Woulda made a mil if some shady ho hadn't swiped it from under our noses a while back."

'Crystal-looking thing?' Mario thought. 'Could it be one of the…nah, it can't be. Larry has it…Or—and I hope not, the idiot ended up losing it and this kid paid these punks with it to protect him, right before it was stolen by someone else.'

"Psst, Mister Mario…" Merlux whispered, "do you think they're talking about the Essence of the Goddess?"

"I hope not kiddo," Mario replied while keeping his eyes on the gang, "otherwise we've got some hard searching to do. Also, these guys are looking ready to fight right now, so stay back."

"Okay…"

Theme: Jay-Z—Encore (Instumental)

"Ya' know," the gang leader started, "it's rude t' whisper when someone's right in front o' ya'. Ah well, it's not like we're askin' ya' to be a goody-goody, else this part of the job wouldn't be as interestin'…"

"Hang back Merlux," Mario said, "I got these creeps."

"Okay," the girl replied. Merlux stepped back a few paces away and held her staff tight, ready to spring to Mario's aid.

"You goons are so going to pay for all the lives you screwed over!" Mario shouted, provoking them with arms stretched wide and his hammer in hand. "You're going down hard, and you're not getting back up this time!"

"Y'all heard him," the gang leader said, "the little mouse is right there. So, what are we cats waitin' for? It's dinner time." All seven goombas reached behind themselves for their weapons, holding them as if they had invisible arms before circling Mario like lions cornering their prey. The man didn't falter, holding a solid battle stance as the seven crooks closed in. Eyeing each one, he waited to see who would be the first to strike; Palm Tree and Pint-Size lunged out at him with bloody barbed-bats, and he easily dodged each one and struck back with his hammer. Though they went down hard, they weren't out just yet, and his retaliation only served to piss them off.

"You want it, you got it!" Mario declared. Pot Belly decided to charge him and he retaliated with his hammer, but the weight of the stocky goomba impacting with the metal hammer when Mario swung caused the plumber to stagger backwards a bit, leading Paul and Penny to gang up on the plumber. These two in particular looked very familiar to Mario; they were the newest recruits of the criminal crew who had exceptional talent for goombas of their young age. While they never harmed anyone seriously like the other members, they were effectively the brains after the leader himself, and they were actually nice to other people as an added difference. If there were any kind or merciful goombas in the gang, it was those two.

"I don't know where you two think you're going with this," Mario said, "but you better knock this shit off or else you'll end up like the rest of your little ring of rabble-rousers."

"Since when were you the type to swear Mario?" the young male goomba Paul with rounded teeth asked. "I thought you were the Mushroom Kingdom's paragon?"

"Everyone has a bad day, and this is one of them."

"Well, we'll try to make your bad day a little less bad, m'kay?" the female goomba Penny with a single fang said with a wink. Mario could have sworn that he recognized these two teenagers from somewhere before, but they attacked him so he didn't have much time to think on it. Paul tried to headbonk Mario but flatly missed, and Penny rocketed herself toward the plumber with her helmeted head. Now Mario absolutely swore that he had seen the techniques before, though this created enough of a distraction for the older female Priscilla to get in a cheap shot on Mario.

"Oof!" Mario stumbled for a bit before facing the attacker. "For a lady you sure aren't worried about breaking a nail or two aren't'cha?"

"If I had any, I'd be sure that they're breakin' off in your insides darlin'," the woman replied. She cracked her studded whip in Mario's direction as if aiming for him, but much to his horror she was aiming at Merlux. The young mage didn't see the attack coming and ended up with her foot snagged.

"Help me!" the girl screamed.

"Merlux!" Mario was about to run toward the girl to free her right before nearly taking a bat to the back of his head. He kicked Palm Tree away from him only for Merlux to slip closer toward the gang's leader. Having about enough of the gang's shenanigans, Mario tossed his hammer at Priscilla before running toward his partner. Purple could only stare in disbelief that Paul and Penny did nothing to help Priscilla as the metal hammer hurtled toward her, never mind that she was fast enough to dodge the projectile herself.

"What is you twos doin'?!" Purple barked out. "Get the lead out'cha heads and stomp this fool!"

"Sorry!" Penny apologized. "Won't happen again sir!"

"Too late for that now!" Now Merlux was freed and Mario was on the warpath. Pint-Size tried to stop the man only to get the classic Goomba Stomp in return as the plumber reached for his weapon. With his hammer in hand, Mario handed the hoodlums a glare with as much hate as he could muster. Seeing how the man had nearly taken out two of their members with ease had the group worried, and Paul and Penny decided that before things got rough that they should talk him down.

"Hey, hold on man," Paul said. "Look, we get your point. We'll stay out of your way okay? Just, please put the hammer down."

"Wha—who said you were the ones calling the shot newbies?!" Purple snapped. "We ain't leavin' t'ill this fool gets stomped like he did my bro!"

"Well you know what?" Penny said, "we are! C'mon Paul, we're outta here!" Purple could not believe how rotten his luck had gotten in short order; the two biggest brains of his group were leaving and they were already down one member with or without Paul and Penny. Kidnapping Merlux right then and there seemed out of the question, and Palm Tree and Pot Belly were unlikely to do any real damage to Mario. The gang leader had long knew that Mario was not a force to be trifled with but he had his contract to the kid goomba: he was brash but not stupid, and when the newbies thought a situation was so bad to warrant a retreat then he was not going to take chances with their enemy.

'You know what? Fuck this shit,' Purple thought bitterly. 'We better get outta here before things go down the crapper.' "Ey fellas, the new guys are right," he finally said out loud. "Let's scram!" This led to the other members' confusion but who were they to question their leader? If he wanted to bail then they'd bail with him.

"Wh-what? B-But, what about—"

"Find some other dumb fucks to play bodyguard for ya! We're fucking done!" Purple hurried over to his little brother and prepared to hightail it out of the area before Mario had the chance to unleash his wrath. As he turned to leave however, there stood Paul and Penny in his way. "What, you's comin' with us or not?"

"Nope," Paul said.

"Matter of fact, you're not going anywhere either," Penny said. "Ready, 'Paul'?"

"Whenever you are." The pair of goombas twirled on the spot, cloaked in a magic light for a brief second before they revealed themselves in full. Gone were Paul and Penny, and in their place were two young goombas that Purple didn't recognize.

"The Hell're you two supposed to be?" Purple questioned, "Magic explorers or somethin'?"

"Goombario, Goombella?" Mario said. "I knew that you two looked familiar!"

"Howdy man!" Goombario greeted. "Long time no see!"

"I'd love to chat like old times but we've got ourselves some criminals to round up eh?" Goombella said.

"What in the Hell…" Purple had to be visibly fuming by this point; two of his members turned out to be friends with his gang's worst enemy, and he suddenly got the feeling that he and his crew were lured out in the grasslands by them. "Don't tell me you four planned this whole thing out?"

"Actually, we had received an anonymous tip that Mario was headed through the grasslands," Goombario answered.

"When we heard about that we jumped on the opportunity. If there's anyone who can lock you guys up for good, it's him."

"Wait, you mean you two—"

"Yep; the only reason we joined your little gang was to arrest you in the first place."

"So that's why it's been getting easier for the cops to track us down…"

"Took you long enough to figure that out." Just Goombario or Goombella alone were in a league far above the Poisonous Purple Prose Posse, all thanks to their adventuring with Mario and taking on the likes of Bowser among other powerhouses. Each gang member was tough enough on their own but against any of Mario's group individually they were done, and now they had nowhere to run between the two adventuring goombas and Mario; of course, the gang was not about to go down without a fight.

"I hope y'all's familiar with the sayin' about the mouse and the cat," Purple said.

"You mean the saying about how 'it's dinner time for the cat'?" Mario retorted. "A cornered mouse may still bite the cat, but it's clearly outmatched in a one-on-one fight. A five to three advantage doesn't work against what is basically the strength of five individual goons going up against the strength of twelve experienced heroes split into three heroes. You may outnumber us but we're made of better stuff than you so strength in numbers doesn't apply here, meaning you're screwed."

"Oh yeah? Well smarty-pants it ain't five against three, it's seven against four."

"'Seven against Four'?" As far as Mario knew it was just him, Goombario, Goombella and—quickly he snapped his head around to see if Merlux was still there, finding the little girl right behind him for shelter. Though scared, she was determined to help him and his friends out. "Oh shoot…" he said aloud, then wondered what Purple meant about seven of his crew. Out of the corner of his eye he spotted the younger two goombas from earlier crowding his crew along with their hired bodyguards.

"I remember you sayin' that five individuals don't stand a chance against three people with the strength of four in 'em," Purple went on, "but you left out the fact that one of you four is a complete weakling, and there's seven of us here ready to pick her apart with ease. You may be stronger than us, but you can't be everywhere at once…" Mario realized how right that was; Merlux was almost kidnapped by just the five gang members when he was by himself, and even though Goombario and Goombella showed their true colors the gang has effectively made up the difference including one goomba who was invincible against anything but magic.

"How'd that goomba over there get up so fast?" Mario wondered. "A metal hammer to the face should have knocked him out for another week or two at least." Purple refused to give any more details that could undermine his crew and sensed that the goomba who hired his gang was about to open his big trap again and blurt out important details, shooting a dirty look at the blabbermouth goomba to keep it shut to keep Mario from decimating his team. Of course, he completely forgot about that the two turncoat goombas would be more than willing to spill the beans.

"Priscilla's the healer of the group," Goombario said. "If we want to take these guys out, we better get to her first."

"Sucks that we don't have our own healer," Goombella said.

"I can heal!" Merlux piped up. "If you get hurt, I'll pick you right back up!"

"Nice to know kid," Mario complimented genuinely, "though we're gonna need you to stick behind us okay?"

"Okay."

"Alright you two, triangle formation!" Mario commanded. The two goombas quickly put their backs against Merlux and shielded her from the gang, pulling out the weapons they stole from the gang. Now Mario and his crew were ready for the assault.

"Let's finish what we started shall we?" Purple said right before lunging at Mario with a wicked-looking sword, slashing at the plumber whiled followed up with Priscilla lashing out her whip at his legs. He easily deflected and dodged the couple right in time to block Pint-Size who was hurtling toward him like a cannonball. Goombario and Goombella both fended off the Palm-Tree and Pot-Belly who had teamed up with the adolescent goomba pair, making sure not to seriously harm the latter two and to really put the hurt on the former two. Merlux watched out for whenever her teammates were injured and quickly healed them of their injuries, also providing elemental boosts to their attacks to deal with anyone who happened to be weak against a specific magic element. Over a course of a quarter of an hour, each hooligan showed signs of exhaustion getting to them. The two hoodlum goombas were the first two, followed by Palm Tree and Pot Belly slowing down considerably, then Priscilla had worn herself out, and finally Pint Size found his strength leave him. Soon enough even Purple was slowing to a steady crawl, and by then the reality of his gang's situation had finally hit him; they were fighting a losing battle. Mario and his partners were simply too good at working together like a team, and Merlux was constantly rejuvenating them through her magic wand to keep them on their toes.

"Now!" Mario suddenly yelled. With little warning outside of his shout, the three veteran adventurers lunged out at Purple and tackled him with as much force that they could muster. Before the gang leader had a chance to regain his bearings Mario punted him skyward, followed by springboarding Goombella up towards the goomba like a missile. Goombario simply waited for the ruffian to fall back down to Earth.

"I got him, I got him!" the young goomba chanted in mock football fashion, somehow catching Purple with a jump and rolling in the air before slamming him into the ground. "Yeah, Touchdown!" With the whole gang down the veteran heroes did a minor celebration of headbutting.

Theme Stop

"Yeah, we finally got 'em!" Goombella hollered.

"Good work everyone," Mario congratulated. "Though there's still the matter of finding a place to keep these creeps from busting out again."

"Oh, don't worry about that part. We already have the perfect place in mind."

"These guys aren't going to be staging grand thefts anymore anytime soon," Goombario said. "Sure, they'll be fed 'cause hospitality and all that, but they're not getting out again unless they want to turn over a new raccoon leaf."

"That's good news to hear."

"Are they going away forever?" Merlux asked.

"Definitely," Mario answered. "If they wanna be nice then we'll let 'em out but if not then oh well."

"That's a little sad…"

"Don't worry about it too much kiddo. They're bad people and this is what they deserve. By the way, you did really good out here for your first real fight."

"Th-thank you Mister Mario!"

"Aw, that's precious," Goombella cooed seeing the young girl's face brighten up like the sun. "Who is she Mario?"

"Oh yeah, I forgot to introduce you guys to her. Goombario, Goombella, this is Merlux. She and her mentor Merlin helped nurse me back to health after my…disastrously one-sided fight with Bowser. Right now she's helping me locate the Essences of the Goddess, crystalline artifacts that only the descendant of the Goddess of Light can use, so that we can find out where in the Dark Lands that Bowser's hiding."

"Crystalline artifact?" Goombario wondered. "I think I know what you're talking about; it's about as big as me and Goombella, it's really brilliant and glowy, and it's vividly colorful right?"

"Exactly. I heard that some 'shady ho' swiped it from you guys. You know where she went?"

"She headed West from here into the City of Angels," Goombella said. "I'd be careful going there if I were you; the place is in a state of severe poverty for most of the people there, and there's a pretty nasty clash between the upper-class and everyone else below them."

"The girl that stole the Essence of the Goddess is also a pretty big problem," Goombario cautioned. "She was smart enough to dupe us and make off with some of the stuff we were planning to give to you."

"Eh, that doesn't sound too bad," Mario said. "I mean, sure—she's smart, but it's not like we're dopes ourselves right?"

"That's not all either," Goombella said. "See, she's also got this prosthetic arm of hers, and it's really tricked out. With it she was able to knock us all out at once and get away without a scratch." That gave Mario pause for a moment; a thief with a mechanical arm that let them single-handedly take down an entire gang that included some of his friends was not someone to take lightly. "Luckily for you she's not all that hard to spot if you've got her in your sights—her prosthetic arm is pretty noticeable so you'll know her when you see her."

"As much as we'd love to come with you," Goombario began, "we've got some criminals to round up and take back to HQ. We finally got jobs as detectives and researchers thanks to you and Professor Frankly, so we're pretty busy these days."

"Oh, congrats guys!" Mario said. "I so glad that you're finally making your place out in the world. It is kinda too bad you can't come with me but you've got things to do. And besides, you don't have to worry too much about me. I'll be fine with just Merlux; ain't that right kiddo?"

"Yup!" the girl said. "I'll make sure you're always alright Mister Mario!"

"Aw, she's a real sweet kid," Goombario said. "When're you ever going to kids like her for yourself one day Mario?"

"Pfft, I don't know; ask Peach or something."

"Can't ask her until you get her back you know, so do what you Super Mario Bros. do and…oh." What was building up to be a joke immediately turned the atmosphere solemn over the memory of the incident days back. In one night thousands had their lives taken from them, Luigi and Daisy chief among those casualties, in an act of unprecedented bloodshed since the last Mushroom Kingdom war had ended over a millennium ago.

"Hey, Mario?" Goombario asked. "You gonna be okay?"

"We're so sorry about what happened then…" Goombella said to console the man. "If you ever need any support, you know you can call on us right? It doesn't matter when or where—we'll be there for you."

"Yeah…I know—Thank guys. Well, I don't wanna keep you here for too long, so I'll be seeing you guys soon. Take care."

"You too." With goodbyes said the pairs went on their separate ways, hoping for the best for each others' journeys. Mario was comfortable with not saying anything else until they reached his destination, but the silence was killing little Merlux. She really wanted to tell Mario that everything was going to be okay, that they'll find someway to bring back all the people who were killed, and that they'll get beat the Dark God and get Princess Peach back home safely. Then again, saying all of that may not have made him feel better; Star Spirits above know how much of a cliched line that was, so all the girl could come up with was a tight hug. It certainly surprised Mario, stopping in his tracks to look at his partner clutching him tightly, quietly sniffling with the first sign of tears in her shut eyes. Despite how she looked, Mario simply smiled at her before lowering himself to her level.

"Hey, cheer up kid," the plumber said to her as he tousled her hair. "I'll be fine. I've lost some people I love, but I'll see them again soon. This Dark God guy must think he's got me beat down, but he's in for one Helluva surprise when we eventually find him, so smile for ol' Mario eh?" The young girl looked up to Mario, hope burning in each others' eyes despite the differing expressions. It wasn't long until Mario's infectious smile found it's way on Merlux, and it was with a bright pearly smile that Merlux knew that the two of them would be alright. "Attagirl. Now, let's go find this 'City of Angels'." Now the pair was in a cheery mood, and Mario even let the little mage girl piggyback off of him, running off toward the West where their first Essence of the Goddess was held.

The "City of Angels" was anything but, though Mario had been forewarned by his goomba companions; the outer ring of the city was the epitome of poverty with its dilapidated streetways and housing everywhere one could look, and neither Mario nor Merlux dared let their eyes linger for long on the misfortunate alley-dwellers.

"G-Gosh…" Merlux whispered. "It's really scary here Mister Mario…"

"No kiddin'," the plumber replied. "How is it that I'm just hearing about this place? It's looks like it's been like this for years…"

"Ey, muscle man," a random thug called out to Mario while approaching him. "You lookin' to start somethin' in our turf?" It was a burly hulk of a man with more than enough fire in his eyes to kill Mario on the spot if he wished. Merlux reflexively hid behind the plumber's leg but gave a glare of her own; Mario just gripped his hammer tightly in anticipation of another fight but tried to avoid starting one.

"I'm just passing through here," he honestly answered. "We're looking for some female with a prosthetic arm; she took something valuable from us and we want it back."

"Female with a prosthetic arm? You ain't serious are ya'? What'chu got against amputees eh?"

"What are you, an amputee yourself?"

"What's it look like short stuff?" Sure enough, Mario's eyes caught the sight of the man's makeshift peg-leg and glass eye. None of it made the man any less intimidating to look at.

"Oh. Well, we have something against a specific amputee. Don't know her name but she ran this way. And I've heard that she's got a really huge prosthetic arm."

"Hang on, you ain't talking about—"

"So you know her? Are you one of her associates?"

"Hell naw! What'chu think I look like, her homie?!" The man caught the way Mario stared at his artificial limbs and already knew the connection he was making. "Naw, it ain't even like that."

"Who're y'all talking 'bout, Snatchelle?" a female hoodlum asked sauntering up to the group.

"That's this thief's name?" Mario had a funny feeling he knew just what type of girl this crook was just from her name. "Lemme guess, she's a bandit isn't she?"

"That easy huh? Yea', she a bandit, but she ain't any normal bandit see?"

"That girl is a ho of a ho, no lie."

"That doesn't sound good."

"That ain't even the worst of it. She got this huge fake arm of hers that does all kind of crazy shit man. How the Hell some street rat like herself got a nice shiny arm like that while everyone else out here is balls-deep in shit living is anyone's guess."

"She recently got this arm of hers didn't she?" Mario wanted to get some answers out of these two people to gauge who he'd handle this "Snatchelle" once he found her, but they weren't in much mood to talk anymore.

"Pretty much. She played us for cards and made off with the last of our valuables. We couldn't sell that stuff for much anyways but it meant somethin' to us ya' know?"

"Huh, that sounds pretty rough. Hey, if I see her I'll find someway to get her to hand over her stolen goods for you. Next thing after that is figuring what's up with this city's wealth inequality."

"…Seriously man? You don't even know us like that."

"Hey, I can't help it."

"What did this girl take from you?" Merlux asked.

"My ma's and pa's rings."

"My sister's necklace."

"Those sound pretty valuable," Mario pointed out.

"Like I said, we can't sell 'em for much out here even if we wanted to. No one's got much money to buy shit."

"Oh, I see now. But still, if they really mean that much to you then we'll be sure to get these items back for you." Mario meant every word of what he said, and despite the hoodlums not believing him at first there was something in his tone the second time around that changed their minds a bit.

"We're team Super Mario; we always save the day!" Merlux said losing her previous apprehension around the two strangers. This gave the two strangers pause at the mention.

"Ey, wait a minute, you're the Super Mario Bro., the same one who's flyer than a Parakoopa?"

"The same guy who chucks Bowser's sorry shell around for a livin'?"

"The one and only. I've got a new getup, I know, but a certain Koopa's got a shiny metal hammer to the head with his name on it."

"You mean 'with my name on it'," a new female's voice said.

Theme: NICKI MINAJ—ROMAN'S REVENGE (INSTRUMENTAL)

"Huh? Who said that?" Mario looked around to identify the owner but didn't see the owner. The two hoodlums knew full-well who it was, however, and they either cringed or sneered.

"Aw Hell," the man snarled. "This bitch again?" Before Mario could ask the man if he was talking about his target, he heard what sounded like a bomb being shot at them, yelling at everyone to move. While Mario and Merlux escaped the attack fine, the two alley-dwellers weren't as lucky, having their legs blown off in the explosion. Too much in a shock at the atrocity just committed, Mario wasn't prepared for a hook to his face from a giant mechanical fist. The plumber was knocked soundly on his rear, dropping his hammer. Normally Merlux would have ran up to Mario and helped him out but she went for his hammer first, grabbing the weapon before the mechanical hand from nowhere caught it. The tug of war between girl and hand didn't last once the hand flipped out a switchblade from near its wrist. This made Merlux jump back in fear and the hand quickly retracted itself with its new loot. All the little girl could do was watch in horror as Mario's trusty weapon found itself in the hand of a bandit perched on a small house's roof. Said bandit looked nothing like how Mario would have ever expected: a white sleeveless gown exposing the brown-skinned extremities and a fair deal of cleavage, hot pink boots with stiletto heels, splotches of different paint colors everywhere, long and wild platinum-blonde hair with pink colored tips, a white mask with more paint and makeup covering everything but the mouth, and most jarringly was the right arm being a large and blocky prosthetic arm made of what looked like diamonds. In both of the bandits hands was the hammer the bandit had just stolen in the mechanical arm and a typical bandit's sack in the other.

"Grrr…so you're Snatchelle…" Mario groaned, not having forgotten the two now legless street residents. "Pretty rotten trick you pulled off there."

"All's fair game in these streets," the bandit said. "Anything that ain't nailed down outta turn a profit."

"So you're willing to steal treasured keepsakes of people worse off than you. You kind of people piss me off to no end."

"And I'm supposed to care? Out here it's every ho for themselves. Don't like it? Well, boo-hoo; cry me a river."

"Give these people their stuff back!" Merlux yelled. "Stop being mean to them!"

"Kid, watch what you say to me if you don't want me sendin' you home cryin' to mommy."

"Threaten her again and I swear I will rip that fake arm of yours off and slap you stupid with it," Mario growled.

"What'chu think you can do without your hammer?" Snatchelle laughed before tossing said object in her bag. "Whatever, I've got somewhere to be and I don't want you tailin' me. So piss off." The bandit wasted no time opening the bicep chamber in her prosthetic arm, firign off a round of bombs ready to explode. By then Mario was already trying to drag the injured to safety but he wasn't fast enough to carry them all out of harm's way; Merlux thought fast, erecting a magical barrier with her staff to shield her and the others from the attack. After the bombs went off and when the barrier came down, Merlux and Mario made a break for it hoping the smoke was enough to conceal their escape route. Lucky for them Snatchelle had no intention of pursuing them, hopping off to new locations to despoil.

"Whew," Mario sighed in relief. "We somehow made it out of there in one—oh…" The two alley cats were in severe pain despite Merlux's attempt to heal them. She could stop the profuse bleeding and numb the pain for so long though. "Thanks for keeping them alive Merlux. We've gotta get them patched up real soon and find somewhere safe to put 'em."

"Y-You're welcome Mister Mario," the girl said, still rattled from the events that had transpired just seconds ago. "Do we have to find that mean girl again?" Nobody wanted to run into their attacker again, but Mario knew they they had to; Snatchelle had an Essence of the Goddess and his hammer, and the plumber didn't want to think what she could do with both items in her grasp. Eventually, they would have to track her down and put her down if necessary; he just hoped that he would be much better prepared for her when he did.

"Yeah…We've gotta find her again, and best believe when we do, she's done."