"Even though I had to kiss Bowser, it was totally worth it to see the look on his face!"
Doopliss was running along in the Ancient Forest with the Light Prognosticus and a feeling of accomplishment. Of course, he was now legally married to King Koopa, but his master would be proud of him! Doopliss thought aloud (being naturally bad at keeping thoughts to himself),
"Now that I have this and I've lost Mario's gang, I can go back for the Dark one!" Doopliss looked down at the book he had just stolen and thought aloud again,
"You know…I've been doing all kinds of things to get this book. REALLY weird things! I think I have a right to at least know what it says…" Doopliss opened the book he had married Bowser to obtain and read the introductory page.
"The Light Prog…Progno…Progticus! By: Merloo, the Fourth Sage. Let those be warned who read this book of its dark counterpart, a text written from the ink of Hell. Oh, cool… The Dark Progtis is a powerful tome, promising those who read it eternal power. Those belonging to evil should not use this power, and the book should not fall into those evil hands. Good thingmy master isn't evil, just good at planning. However, those who read the Dark Progtis, or even hold its forbidden secrets, will never find happiness. Though the Dark Prognostis wields pure chaos, the power of love can conquer all. This text, written from the ink of light, is a guide to defeating that purest chaos.
"Whoa…this thing is SO cool! But if this intro is right, why would Dimentio want the Dark Progcus in his possession? A guy like Dimentio who's always smiling? Maybe he just doesn't know about its 'ink of hell' or whatever. Maybe I should let him know!" Doopliss opened up a telecommunication chat and said into the blue light that emerged,
"Hey Dimentio!"
"Doopliss? It's a pleasure to talk to you again!"
"You're gonna be SO proud of me, boss – I got the Light Progticus and the heroes have NO idea where I am!"
"Excellent! How difficult a task was that?" Doopliss remembered the charcoal taste of Bowser's puckering lips and responded,
"I don't wanna talk about it. So I read the intro of the Light Prognostis-"
"Prognosticus."
"Right. So I was reading the Progtis Intro, and it gave a pretty strong warning about the Dark Progtis. It said that whoever reads it or even holds on to it will never find happiness."
"That's not entirely true. Everyone I know that has read the Dark Prognosticus has become insane. Insanity can be fun at time."
"You become insane? Then why do you want it!"
"Don't worry; I know what I'm doing. I still require that book, and failure to retrieve it will be what makes you never find happiness." Doopliss was shocked at how happy Dimentio sounded, even when saying something like that. The shapeshifter replied,
"Okay, if you say so…I'll go get it." Dimentio warned,
"That is a wise idea, but do NOT read the Dark Prognosticus as you did the Light one. Even starting that book could easily turn you insane with the promises of power it holds."
"Oh, I'll be careful, then! Can I keep reading the Light Pro-"
"Prognosticus? Sure."
"Alright! Oh, by the way, how are those sirens I sent you?"
"Beldam's an evil lunatic and Marilyn's an idiot; just what I need. Your service to me is unparalleled!" Doopliss asked,
"What about the third sister? Didn't she-" Just then, Doopliss heard a roar from somewhere behind the trees. He blurted out,
"Oh, shoot! That was Bowser!" Dimentio repeated,
"Bowser? I thought you said they didn't know your location."
"They don't – and I better make sure it stays that way! Ciao!"
"Ciao!"
After hearing another roar from Bowser, Doopliss ended the telecommunication and ran away as fast as he could. The group of heroes, oblivious to his whereabouts, was wandering through the forest again. Bowser roared another fire blast and raced ahead of the others (even making Dashell jealous), yelling,
"When I find that shapeshifting freak, I'm gonna take off that goofy hat of his and shove it through his skull!" Mimi said,
"Calm down, Bowser! You're only married to the guy!" Bowser mumbled,
"Why does the Mushroom Kingdom have to be so advanced and allow our marriage…?"
The Koopa King was quite upset being married to a guy. He didn't care that he was adventuring with Mario and the goody two-shoe heroes, something he never wanted to do again (except for the dessert rewards, of course). The only thing he wanted to do was to find Doopliss and become a widow by any means necessary. And if Merlon wanted the book Doopliss was holding so badly, then he could have it.
Even though Doopliss was far ahead of the heroes, he was unintentionally leaving clues as to where he was running. Both Tiptron and General O'Chunks were skilled at tracking prey; O'Chunks trained with a squad of Little Mousers in the tracking arts when he was a general, and Tiptron was just plain useful. Together, they could find discrepancies in the forest floor like snapped twigs and crumpled leaves. Unfortunately, Doopliss floated most of the time, so the robot and general were mostly guesstimating. The two guesstimators said,
"On account of Doopliss' levitating tendencies, the track is incredibly hard to follow…"
"Eye, dis be 'arder don a concrete fruit cake!"
The heroes pressed on and followed a vague trail of broken floor decoratings that seemed to be moving in an aimless pattern. As they continued pursuing it, the trail became more and more unusual. Some of the sticks were burned instead of crushed and tiny piles of ash started to appear. Eventually, they passed by a few trees that were burnt to the ground. Tiptron examined one of those trees and concluded,
"The bark still feels warm and some of the scorch marks are still fresh…this tree couldn't have been set on fire more than fifteen minutes ago…" Mimi added,
"It couldn't have been a forest fire. Then there'd be a lot more damage!" Bowser bragged,
"It couldn't have been MY fire or else the whole forest would be burnt to cinders!" Peach asked,
"So, is Doopliss setting off fires? But fires leave such an obvious trail behind!" Tiptron responded,
"He could have copied Bowser and is setting fires for fun…he doesn't seem like the type to think ahead. But if he needs a speedy getaway, why Bowser…?" Bowser shot back,
"Hey, I can be quick!" Peach scolded,
"Oh, hush, Bowser!"
"Sorry, Peach…"
"It's 'The Pink Wonder' now!"
"I wish I had put you in that cage instead of Doopliss."
Mario interrupted the divorcees and their bickering with an exclamation mark. The red plumber noticed a shadow in the distance ahead of them. He ran towards it, thinking it was their escapee, but realized as he got closer that it wasn't Doopliss at all - it was Vivian, the Shadow Siren. Vivian saw Mario, exclamation marked and asked,
"Mario! Is that you?" She glided over to Mario, kissed him on the cheek, and continued, "Mario, it's so good to see you again! It's been…three years, right?" Peach saw the shadow siren (kissing Mario, much to her displeasure) and told the other heroes,
"We weren't following Doopliss. We were following an old friend instead!" O'Chunks seemed angry with himself as Vivian continued,
"I can't believe I get to see you again! …At least I saw some old friends today…" Peach could tell there was something unusual in her voice, and thusly asked,
"Is there something wrong, Vivian?" Vivian answered,
"My sisters are gone!" Peach exclamation marked and repeated her statement as a question,
"Beldam and Marilyn are gone?"
"Yes! So, I was at the Twilight Town Market buying some Life Shrooms like Beldam wanted me to. There was only one left in stock, so I bought it and went back home. But when I got back…our house was burned to the ground!" Vivian sat down and started sobbing, Peach comforting her. She continued on through tears,
"I don't know if it was a fire or an explosion or what, but when I got there…my sisters weren't there!" Peach said,
"That's terrible!"
"I'm not sure if my sisters are gone missing, or gone…gone. So, I'm looking for them in this Ancient Forest just to make sure. Beldam may have blamed a villager for what happened and left for a new home – she's been much nicer lately, but something like that might make her go back on old habits." Peach asked,
"Is Twilight Town near here?"
"Yes, it's right on the south-east edge of here, actually. Right above Twilight Trail." She cried a few more tears and continued,
"I know they're probably…dead…but I won't give up yet! …If only I had given Beldam the Life Shroom she wanted before what happened! It wouldn't have done them much good to have only one, but it would have been something. If I had gone to the market sooner, then there would probably be three Life Shrooms left in stock, and I would have been home before the incident…" Peach comforted the siren,
"Don't blame yourself for what happened. It's not your fault!" Mimi added,
"Yeah…Vivian! Her name's Vivian, right? You didn't blow up the house!"
"I know…you're right. Thank you, Peach and…"
"Mimi."
"Peach and Mimi! Thank you." She looked back at Mario and added,
"Thank you too, Mario."
Vivian kissed Mario a second time and set back out into the forest, off to try and find her sisters again. Peach was a little irritated at Vivian, but she still felt sorry for her. Once she left, the heroes embarked to find their escapee. Luigi gave a thumbs-up to the lipstick kiss on his brother's cheek, but then put his hand down when it looked like Peach was about to rip it off. Luigi mumbled to himself,
"I liked the old, non-heroic Peach better…" Mimi asked Peach,
"How did you know her, anyway?" Peach explained,
"I met her in the Palace of Shadows." Mimi responded,
"The Palace of Shadows? I think I've heard of that place…the one with the ancient demon or whatever? What were you doing there?" Peach paused, so Bowser answered,
"She was captured by some alien king thing." Mimi said,
"She was captured? …Okay, that makes sense." Peach added,
"Yes, but the Pink Wonder hasn't ever been captured! Me and her have nothing in common!" Mimi thought to herself,
"'Me and her have nothing in common'…did she just use improper grammar?"
While the heroes were in search of Doopliss (and becoming more annoyed with "The Pink Wonder"), the runaway ghost and the Light Prognosticus were still in the Ancient Forest. Doopliss was looking for a secret place to hide his prize. Doopliss had to find a spot that none of the heroes could have access to, even with the use of Dottie. Plus, Mario's flipping ability could give them access to places Doopliss wouldn't think were even possible to hide in. So, Doopliss had to transform into Mario and flip-check every hiding spot he found.
"This cave isn't any good…O'Chunks could move that boulder out of the way and they'd catch me in a dead end. I could make a tree house…nah, too obvious."
Doopliss ignored the cave he was by and kept walking. No matter what secluded location he could squeeze into, the heroes would know and get the Light Prognosticus from him. He didn't want to get Dimentio angry, even if he was dead. He knew Dimentio was a master of planning, and if he was dedicated to escaping death, he would.
The ghost continued his search for a perfect hiding space when he found a patch of thick shrubs. Doopliss jumped in the middle of them, and after crushing the life out of some poison ivy (taking one damage), he concluded,
"This spot is perfect! Nothing suspicious about a couple of shrubs in the middle of an otherwise-blank field!"
Doopliss looked out of his new 'perfect spot' to see a shadow far in the distance. After straining his eyes, he realized that the shadow was a silhouette of Mario. He ducked down, but the figure's head turned towards him.
"Darn it! Mario found me! Why isn't he with the other heroes, anyway?"
The figure ran to Doopliss and stood directly above him. Doopliss trembled out of his shrub patch to look, but the figure wasn't Mario. It was literally a shadow, a pitch-black version of the red plumber he had mistaken her for. Doopliss asked,
"…Mario?" The mysterious figure corrected,
"No, my name is Shadoo."
"Shadoo? Who are you, and why do you look like a black version of Mario? Not that black versions are worse or anything, but how do you have his exact shape?"
"I copied his form. You see, I'm a shapeshifter."
"You're a shapeshifter? No way! So am I! Watch!" Doopliss then turned into the same form Shadoo was copying, only in color, and said,
"See, look! I'm you! Well, I'm Mario! We're Mario!"
"So I can tell." Doopliss then turned into Peach and said,
"I used this form to trick Bowser into marrying me! Cool, huh?"
"…Very impressive."
"Thanks! Wait, when did you meet and copy Mario?"
"I fought him back in the Flopside Pit of 100 Trials."
"Flopside? I've been to Flipside, in this dainty princess form, but not Flopside. What's it like?"
"The exact opposite of Flipside. There was a dungeon there deep beneath the city, more like a prison, really…and I was thrown in there."
"Really? Why?"
"After one thousand years of waiting in solitude, I fought Mario, Luigi, Bowser and the princess you're copying-"
"Copying well, right?"
"Right. I fought that group of heroes, and they defeated me. However, a pipe dropped down and escorted them back to the surface. They thought I was dead, but I actually copied Dottie and hid by a treasure chest. The pipe was still there after they left, so I snuck out."
"Wait, was Dottie that tiny-afying pixl that was with them?"
"Er, yes. So, I escaped from that wretched prison and am now here."
"That's so cool!" Doopliss turned back into his normal form and asked, "So, what are you doing now?"
"…Nothing, really."
"Do you wanna be friends?"
"Friends? Uh, I suppose…"
"Awesome! What shapeshifting games should we create and then play? We could play rock, paper, scissors by actually transforming into them! There aren't any scissors here, but we could just play with that rock over there and the paper in my book!"
"Rock, paper? I don't think that would quite work…how about a different game?"
"You know of one?" Shadoo smirked (unbeknownst to Doopliss since she was pitch-black) and answered,
"Yes I do; it's called 'Darkness'. For it to work, you need to copy me and obtain my pitch-black appearance."
"Alright!" Before Doopliss could copy Shadoo, a second shadow approached them. It was Vivian. She looked at the shapeshifting ghost next to a shadow of Mario - a familiar sight. Vivian scolded,
"Doopliss? I can't believe you copied Mario again! Didn't you learn your lesson the first time?" Doopliss said,
"What? No, that's not Mario!" Vivian used her Fiery Jinx on the two of them, knocking them both to the ground, and yelled,
"Return him to his form at once…please."
Before Doopliss could even get up, Shadoo ran away from the two of them. Vivian tried to go after her, but Doopliss blurted out,
"That's not Mario! It's not it's not it's not!"
"Then who is it?"
"A random pure-black shapeshifter that I just met two minutes ago!"
"…"
"It was!"
"And what was that book he was running away with?"
"A book? He didn't have a…oh shoot." Doopliss looked at his empty hand, then at the fleeing Shadoo, then at Vivian, and yelled,
"AFTER HER!" Doopliss started running after the shapeshifter, but Vivian stopped him and said,
"Here, let me help!"
Vivian used her veil powers to go underneath the earth and quickly glided in front of Shadoo. She reappeared and used a Shade Fist on her, knocking her to the floor. Doopliss caught up to them and huffed,
"Cool!" Shadoo was down, but wasn't out. She quickly transformed into a dark version of Vivian, grabbed the Light Prognosticus from the forest floor and used Veil. While underground, she took the form of Luigi she had copied in the Pit of 100 Trials and Super Jumped through the earth (while underneath Vivian.) Vivian was nearly knocked out as Shadoo landed back on the ground, Prognosticus still in hand. Doopliss yelled,
"Hey buddy! That's not what friends are for!"
"Friends? We aren't friends!"
"But didn't we have fun together? Remember, just the two of us?"
"That was for two minutes!"
Shadoo then copied Doopliss' form and head butted Vivian (thusly knocking her out). She told the other shape shifter,
"The only way you'll be able to compete is to copy me. You won't defeat me, but you'll have a better chance!"
"Then maybe I will!" Before Doopliss could copy Shadoo, Vivian regained consciousness using the Life Shroom she was carrying. She said, with only 10 HP supporting her,
"It's no use, Doopliss. You can't beat your equal."
"Yeah…yeah, you're right." Shadoo scowled (unbeknownst to the others there since they couldn't see her face) and mocked,
"Good luck, Doopliss!" Shadoo sped off with the Light Prognosticus in hand, but this time, Vivian was still too weak to chase after her. Doopliss stayed behind to make sure that Vivian was alright. By this time, Shadoo was far ahead of him, as was the book Doopliss needed. He helped Vivian off of the ground and she said,
"Thanks, Doopliss…say, you seem a lot nicer than when I fought you at Creepy Steeple."
"Yeah, yeah. Thanks for the flattering, but I need that book!" Doopliss groaned and sat down where Vivian was. He explained,
"I was getting that book for my master. If I don't have it, he's gonna kill me!"
"I didn't know you had a master of your own. Where is he?"
"In the Underworld."
"…I see."
"I know it seems weird to obey a master's commands when he's dead…wow that does seem weird when you say it out loud…but he's a really nice guy! And he's planning to escape death!"
"Is that even possible without the immediate use of a Life Shroom?"
"If anyone could do it, he can! But, he told me to get the Light and Dark Progticus for him, or else he'll kill me!" Vivian chose to ignore his logic as he continued, "Say, where are your sisters, anyway? All this talk about masters killing me reminds me of Beldam-no offense." Suddenly, Vivian sat down next to Doopliss and started sobbing. Doopliss exclamation marked and asked,
"Whoa, what's wrong?" Vivian wouldn't answer him.
"Where are your sisters?"
"…They're with your master."
"Beldam and Marilyn know my master?"
"No, I mean they're in the same place as him."
"So…"
"Dead! My sisters are dead!" Vivian started bawling.
"Oh! Oh. Sorry..." Vivian started crying into Doopliss's chest (which Doopliss didn't mind all that much) and continued on as best as she could,
"I'm not even really sure if they're dead or not! I was at the market and when I returned out house was burned down and I couldn't find them anywhere!"
"Oh, I'm really sorry…"
"That's why I'm in the Ancient Forest. I'm looking for them, in case they decided to find another place to live."
Doopliss wouldn't tell her this, but he kinda wanted her sisters to die for a while now. Beldam was nasty, cruel and much less attractive than Vivian was. He had no regrets killing her and Marilyn. Of course, he played dumb so Vivian wouldn't become suspicious of him, and was quite good at it (being dumb helps, of course). Besides, killing Vivian's sisters is what led to her to travel with him. The siren said,
"I know you don't like them that much, but I love them! They're my sisters, and I want to be with them!" Doopliss said,
"Alright, I'll help you find Marilyn and that witch - er, Beldam. But I still need to get the Light Prognos that Shadoo took from me!" Vivian offered,
"Well, since we're both looking for someone in the Ancient Forest, why don't we look together?"
"I like that idea! I mean, uh, that sounds...good!"
Vivian smiled and got up to start searching with him. They followed where Shadoo ran off, but she was definitely long gone. Neither of them was good at tracking like Tiptron and O'Chunks, so they were mostly wandering around in hopes of finding something promising. They had to move slowly since Vivian was still at only 10 HP. She broke the ice and asked,
"So what was your master like?
"My master? You mean Di – the dead one? Oh, he's a really neat guy! He's always trying some way to…make life easier for us."
"How so?" Knowing very well that Vivian was on the side of good, Doopliss didn't want to say that Dimentio tried to destroy all worlds. Just to be safe, he didn't even tell her what his master's name was. But he pretty much told her everything else he knew about him.
"He was a master of manipulating, and could always find a way to get what he wanted."
"Sounds a lot like Beldam…when did you meet him?"
"When I was made – he created me! I don't know exactly how, but my first memory is of him telling me that he made me to be his servant."
"Sounds a lot like the Shadow Queen."
"Actually, he created me around the same time that the Shadow Queen appeared."
"Really?"
"Yeah! When I was created, Di – de master of mine talked to me for a few minutes, and then we saw the Shadow Queen attacking the area that was once Rougeport. The Shadow Queen was the one who made you and your sisters, right?"
"Yes, she did. She created us only two weeks after she had appeared – by that time, she already had full control of Rougeport and many areas neighboring it."
"That means we're practically the same age!"
"Wow, I guess you're right!"
They both laughed, but Doopliss' smile abruptly ended when he saw a little blue light appear. The voice sounding from it said,
"Doopliss? Are you there?" Vivian asked,
"What was that?" Doopliss panicked,
"Oh, it's PROBABLY NOTHING! Nothing at all!" Vivian said,
"I thought I heard someone calling your name. And what is that blue light hovering next to you?"
Suddenly, they both heard another calling noise. Only this time, the noise wasn't from Dimentio – it was from Luigi. The heroes had caught up to Doopliss without even realizing it, since they kept accidentally following Vivian's trail instead of his. And now their trails have intertwined. Doopliss panicked as the blue telecommunicating light turned off, but then had an idea. He told Vivian in a fake-surprised voice,
"Oh, hey, it's Mario's gang! Why don't you go say hi?"
"Don't you want to come with? I'm sure they won't attack you or anything."
"No, I've got to…uh…use the bathroom anyway!"
"Um, okay…don't worry; I won't tell them that you're here." Vivian glided through the ground to reach the heroes again, while Doopliss thought aloud,
"Okay, she was grossed out by my comment, but it worked!" Just then, the blue light flashed again and Dimentio's voice echoed,
"Doopliss, is everything alright?"
"Yeah, I just couldn't talk at the moment. We should really work out a signal for this type of thing."
"Later. Anyways, have you obtained the Dark Prognosticus yet?" Doopliss looked towards his empty hand, and stuttered,
"…So about that signal-"
"I asked you a question, Doopliss."
"…Can you do that thing where you say 'And I appear like a bl-"
"Doopliss, answer the question. Have you the Dark Prognosticus yet or not? It's fine if you don't; I just feel like checking up on your progress."
"Yeah, about that…I kinda don't have the other one anymore, either…" Dimentio sighed, and asked without ever raising his voice,
"The heroes took it from you again? Now that it was stolen, they'll guard it much more carefully, you know."
"Actually, someone else took it. Her name was…Shadoo, I think." This time, Dimentio spoke a little more urgently,
"Shadoo? Did she have a pitch-black appearance?"
"Many pitch-black appearances!"
"Oh…I threw her in the Pit of 100 Trials a millennium ago."
"You mean when you created me?"
"Very shortly after. Doopliss, listen to me carefully. Shadoo will bring no good to our mission. Under no circumstance should you tolerate her presence, and NEVER, EVER copy her form!"
"Why?" Before Dimentio could answer him, Vivian interrupted the conversation and glided next to Doopliss in the shadows again. Doopliss said,
"Oh, hi, Vivian!" The telecommunication light was turned off by Dimentio after Doopliss spoke. Dimentio knew that he was with Vivian. "So, how was talking to Mario again?"
"I talked to them right before I ran into you, actually. And they said that they were looking for something."
"…Looking for what?"
"A white book. Wasn't that the one that Shadoo took from you?"
"Oh, uh-"
"Peach told me that the book was stolen from them. Doopliss, why did you have it?" Doopliss stuttered,
"Well, I was…actually, I was getting the book for them!"
"Didn't you say that your master needed it?"
"That's because my master is – King Toadstool! I'm fighting for the Mushroom Kingdom now!"
"But you said your master was dead. And that he created you a millennium ago."
"That was my – first master. Today's King Toadstool is my second master, Beldam being my third. But my first master was the great ancestor of the current king!"
"Really? Why didn't Mario know about that?"
"Because I serve them in secret! I'm secretly helping them find the Light Progis! That's why I don't want them to find me – cause it's a secret!"
"Oh, that's really nice of you! You've really made a 180 since Twilight Town!"
"…So…"
"You've really changed! For the better!"
"Oh, yeah, totally!"
"So, we should go retrieve the King's book back from Shadoo."
"Oh, yeah, totally!"
The two of them ventured onward, Vivian growing closer to the shape shifter. Doopliss enjoyed this, but couldn't help thinking about his lie. Sure, it may have tricked Vivian into searching with him, and sure, it may give him more of a chance to hit on her, but for how long? One slip-up and Vivian would know that he made the entire thing up. Doopliss didn't know how long he had before she found out, or how long it would take to make her his girlfriend, but he did know that once she found out, he would have to get rid of her. One way or another, she would have to go.