A/N: FINALLY, I get to update this! Sorry it's been a while. School was utter hell for me this term, and the prospect of eventually getting to write some more has been basically the only thing keeping me sane. My only advice to you guys is, NEVER EVER EVER take Molecular Biology in college.

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Fleetmont

6:00 am

Sergeant Sledge was sitting in his office in the center of town, filling out some more monotonous paperwork. Unfortunately, a lot of it happened to be concerning the various missing persons reports that had been coming in, which was doing little to improve his mood.

After a while, reading through all those names of people who would probably never be seen again became too much for him to handle. He sighed miserably, covering his face in his hands.

"Why on earth did I agree to let those two go?" he groaned, thinking back to Mario and Goomblaine. "They'll be goners, just like the rest of them."

"Hey, Sarge!" came an alarmed voice. Sledge looked up to see two Hammer Bros – one with a green shell, the other blue – open the office door and come staggering inside, looking frantic.

"What's the matter, boys?" he asked worriedly.

"Uh, okay, Sarge," said the blue-shelled one. "Y'know those two guys who were asking to go into the forest, and then you let them go?"

"Don't tell me… those birds got to them?" Sledge moaned, shaking his head. "I knew this was a bad idea! Oh, what do I do now?! What if their families and friends come looking for them? What am I supposed to say? They'll have my head on a platter for this – "

"Geez, Sarge, get a hold of yourself!" said the green-shelled one. "We don't know if those birds got them. We came in here because of Hanner."

"What about her?"

"You had her stationed outside the forest, remember?"

Sledge looked confused. He thought for a long moment before he seemed to remember.

"Oh, yes, that's right," he sighed. "That was just about the only job I could trust her with anymore. I mean, honestly, what self-respecting Hammer Bro loses their own hammer?"

The fact was, when Sledge had given Mario and Goomblaine permission to enter Fleet Forest, he had entirely forgotten that Hanner was stationed there. He had told her to guard the entrance because, frankly, he hadn't thought anyone would be stupid enough to want to go in anyway.

Hanner was, without a doubt, the least competent member of the Hammer Force. She always meant well, but she was constantly flaking out at her job, like the one time when the Fleetmont Shop had somehow been robbed during her guard shift. He'd tried to be lenient with her, but most recently, when she had sheepishly approached him and admitted that she'd somehow lost her hammer, well, that was the last straw.

She'd begged him not to fire her, so he'd had only one other option: give her a job where she couldn't possibly mess up.

"No one's going to pass by there. And at least this way she'll think she's being useful," he'd assured himself.

"Yeah, well, anyway, Sarge," piped up the blue-shelled Hammer Bro, snapping him out of his thoughts, "we figured you forgot about her, since you didn't mention her at all when you were talking to those guys. So we decided we'd better go talk to her ourselves so she'd know they were allowed in."

"And?"

"And… uh… she wasn't there."

Sledge blinked. "What?!"

"We looked all over the place for her!" the green-shelled one insisted. "But there was nobody at the gate, or anywhere else we saw! She didn't come back here, did she?"

"I haven't seen her," Sledge refuted their hopes. "But where could she have gone off to?"

"Well…" the blue-shelled one said reluctantly. "We were talking about that, and we think maybe… probably… she went off with those two."

"She what?!"

"She was always talking about wanting to go into the forest and lay a beatdown on those birds, remember?" said the green-shelled one. "She probably convinced those two to let her go with them."

Sledge groaned loudly, leaning hopelessly back in his chair.

"That girl is going to be the endgame of me," he lamented. "I thought at the very least, she was smart enough to know better than that."

"Should we go looking for her, Sarge?" asked the green-shelled Bro.

"Of course not. If Hanner's gone in there, there's nothing we can do," sighed Sledge, gazing miserably out the window. "Except hope that she somehow makes it out of there alive."

––

Fleet Forest

7:37 am

Eventually, traveling through the Nightside forest ceased to be an option for Mario and his friends. It was nearly impossible to see, and there were hazards all around them that they needed to keep their eyes on. Indeed, the instant Mario warped the three of them back to Dayside, they saw they had almost fallen into an impassable ravine.

"Well, that's great," he sighed. "How do we cross this thing?"

"Oh, don't worry about that," Hanner assured him. "All members of the Hammer Force have clearance to get past here. See that switch over there?"

"Uh, yeah…" said Mario, squinting to look at the blue "!" Block on the other side of the ravine.

"Well, watch this," Hanner said with a smile. She drew her arm as far back as it would go before hurling her hammer clear across the ravine, hitting the block perfectly.

Suddenly, a papery piece of the background ripped away, revealing a wooden bridge behind it.

Mario blinked. "Wow. Impressive."

"No big deal," Hanner said brightly, leading the others across the bridge.

They hadn't walked much farther before Mario ventured to speak up again. The prospect of the split world was still weighing heavily down on his mind, and there were plenty of things still confusing him. One thing, though, he thought was particularly important.

"You know what I wonder?"

Both his partners looked at him.

"Those Budgies… the ones we fought… they were in Nightside, right? They said they were protecting the Sun Soul. But we first heard about it in Dayside, didn't we?"

Goomblaine raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, so?"

"So, it can't be in both places at once, can it? That wouldn't make any sense."

"Huh… you got a point there, Mario," Hanner agreed, scratching her head. "You probably can't split a thing like that in half."

After thinking for a moment, her eyes lit up. "Ooh! Ooh! I bet I know!"

"Congratulations," Goomblaine grumbled.

"Mario, you said there's two versions of everybody now, right? Wouldn't that include those Budgies?"

"Uh… I suppose…"

"Well, maybe there is no Sun Soul in Nightside after all. But those Budgies who live there still think there is."

Mario wondered where exactly she was going with this. "Why would they think something like that?"

"Because, silly!" Hanner laughed as though it were obvious. "There is a Sun Soul in Dayside, and the Budgies here are guarding it – so their other halves know about it too! I mean, it only makes sense!"

Mario and Goomblaine both looked dumbly at her.

"Oh, come on, guys," Hanner sighed, rolling her eyes. "What I mean is, if one half of somebody learns about something, then I bet their other half automatically knows about it too. I mean, they're the same person, after all."

Mario thought about that. "I suppose that could be," he decided. "But I think it'll be a while before we figure out everything about halves of people."

"Yeah, that's true. I guess we – "

Hanner was quickly cut off by the telltale sound of wings flapping overhead.

"Not them again," Mario groaned. All three of them looked up at the sky and saw a flock of Pudgy Budgies overhead, rapidly approaching them.

"Just perfect," Goomblaine sighed.

"We're getting into the deepest part of the forest now," Hanner reminded the other two. "They must be getting desperate to stop us."

All at once, the Budgie at the front of the flock let out a furious squawk and dived straight out of the sky. Mario reacted quickly and swung his hammer at it, striking it before it could attack them.

"We WAAAAAARNED you!" it shrieked in fury, struggling to reorient itself. "You told you all to leave, and you ignored us! You'll PAAAAAAAAY for this!"

"Don't be stupid!" Mario shouted at it. "We beat you guys before, and we'll do it again!"

Hanner, in the meantime, was staring up at something else in the sky, looking very, very frightened.

"Uh… Mario?" she said weakly, pointing.

A shadow suddenly plunged over the trio as something massive flapped by overhead, blotting out the sun. Mario and Goomblaine instantly looked up and saw exactly what Hanner was staring at.

Flying directly towards them was an enormous monster of a Pudgy Budgie, at least ten times the size of any of the others. Rather than simply being a head with wings, this Budgie appeared to be a full-fledged bird, with a long, craning neck and a muscled body. The other Budgies were flapping loyally around it as it approached them and let out a deafening war cry.

"Oh… my…"

"RUN FOR IT!!" Goomblaine screamed.

All three of them took off racing through the forest and screaming at the top of their lungs. The smaller Budgies quickly caught up to them and were continuously scratching and pecking at them as they ran, and it was all they could do to swipe them frantically off. They didn't even need to turn around to know that the Budgie leader was hot on their trail; they could hear its massive wingbeats not far behind them.

"WHAT DO WE DO?!?" Mario shouted, shielding his head with his hands.

"We have to hide somewhere!!" Hanner shouted back, swinging her hammer around in a desperate attempt to ward the Budgies off.

"Well wherever that is, don't shout it!" Goomblaine yelled in exasperation.

After leaping over several logs and crashing through one bush after another, the group was running out of energy, but their predators were showing no signs of relenting.

"ARGH!" Goomblaine suddenly cried out as he tripped over himself, falling forward several feet before crashing to the ground. A gang of Budgies was instantly upon him, and though he shouted in protest, he had no way to defend himself.

"Oh no – " Mario skidded to a stop and turned around, running directly toward Goomblaine. He swung his hammer at the attacking Budgies, successfully scattering them, and then grabbed the Goomba and took off after Hanner once again.

"What are you doing?!" Goomblaine demanded.

"Saving you! What's it look like?" Mario shot back.

Goomblaine looked at him in a mixture of wariness and annoyance, but said nothing.

"Guys! Guys! Hurry! Over here!" came Hanner's voice from far ahead. "I found something!"

Goomblaine immediately wrested himself free of Mario's grip and ran after Hanner himself, leaving the plumber to follow him. Eventually they caught sight of Hanner, who was jumping up and down while frantically pointing at a large tree.

"In here! Quick!" she cried. As he ran closer, Mario realized that the tree had some kind of doorway in it. Was it hollow inside?

"Come on! Hurry up or you'll get us killed!" Goomblaine shouted over his shoulder at Mario. Without missing a beat, he dashed inside the doorway and vanished, and Hanner quickly followed after him. Mario was the last one in.

As soon as all three of them were safely inside, they stood panting in the sudden darkness, not daring to move or make a noise. They listened for the sound of Budgies outside, but everything was silent.

"Do you… think it's safe?" Hanner whispered after a long while.

"I'll go check," Mario muttered.

He stepped forward and very cautiously peered out of the tree.

"Uh… Hanner…" he said slowly, "is there something special about this tree?"

"Huh? I don't know, why?"

"Because I think it just warped us."

Stunned, Goomblaine and Hanner both scrambled forward and looked out of the tree along with Mario. Sure enough, they now found themselves in a completely different and unfamiliar section of Fleet Forest. On the bright side, there were no Pudgy Budgies to be seen… but on the other hand, they were now completely lost.

"Wow," Hanner remarked. "I guess we just walked into a Teleporting Tree. I didn't think those things were real."

Goomblaine stared incredulously while Mario smacked himself in the forehead.

"You mean you knew about this and you didn't tell us?!" he shouted at her.

"Hey! I said, I didn't think they were real!" Hanner said defensively. "I've just heard stories about these things, okay? People used to say that if you go too far into the forest, you'll be lost for all eternity, wandering between the Teleporting Trees."

Mario groaned and slid into a sitting position. "Just terrific. Now how will we ever find that Sun Soul?"

Hanner was suddenly stroking her chin thoughtfully, not looking overly concerned at their situation. "Or… wait… was it that you were lost for all eternity? No, wait, I know! If you lacked confidence in yourself and didn't know where you were headed, then you were lost for all eternity. But if you had a clear goal in your mind and no fear in your heart, then the Teleporting Trees had the power to take you exactly where you wanted to go."

Mario raised an eyebrow. "Now, are you sure about that?" he asked.

Hanner nodded vigorously. "Yeah! I'm totally sure that's how it goes. And since we have a clear goal, if we keep walking through the Teleporting Trees, they should eventually lead us directly to the Sun Soul! …Right?"

Mario and Goomblaine glanced at each other with equally hopeless looks.

"Man, you'd better be right about this," Goomblaine growled at her. "I knew takin' you on was a mistake."

Hanner frowned. "Look, let's just look for the next tree like this one, okay? We'll make it through here fine, I'm sure of it."

––

From there, the trio's journey through the forest very quickly went downhill. Just as Hanner had said, there were indeed more Teleporting Trees to be found, but they were few and far between. Except in occasional cases where two of them were close to each other – such as when they walked into a tree at the bottom of an insurmountable rocky ledge and came out at the top – there seemed to be an endless trek in between each one.

And no matter how many they walked through, they didn't get any less lost.

"Hanner… I really don't think this is working," Mario sighed after a long time. "We've been traveling through here for hours – well, you know what I mean – and I'm pretty sure we haven't gotten anywhere near the Sun Soul."

"Yeah, and we're running out of stuff, too," Goomblaine testily reminded the Hammer Sis. "We're almost outta Mushrooms, thanks to your little detour."

Hanner stopped walking and looked imploringly at them. "Guys, come on!" she begged. "I know I'm right about this, I just know it. All the stories say, you just need a clear idea of what you want."

Suddenly, she noticed something up ahead.

"Look!" she alerted, pointing at it. "There's another Teleporting Tree right now! This one'll take us there! I'm sure it will!"

Mario shook his head. "Hanner, please. Just give it a rest. I really think we'll be better off trying to reorient ourselves and getting through this forest the normal way."

Hanner looked deeply upset. "You guys don't believe me?" she asked. "Look, let's just go through this one more, okay? If we don't find the Sun Soul then, well, then I guess I'm wrong. But I just know this is the right one!"

Hanner looked utterly insistent, and Mario sighed heavily when he realized she wouldn't take no for an answer.

"Okay, okay," he agreed. "Come on, Goomblaine, let's go."

Hanner confidently led the other two up to the doorway of the tree. When they got there, they all paused briefly. The Hammer Sis took a deep breath.

"Here goes nothing."

She walked into the tree, and the other two followed after her. After finding themselves in the darkness of the tree's interior, they quickly turned around and walked out the same way they had come.

All three of them gasped. They were…

…in the middle of nowhere.

"What? No!" Hanner cried, almost sounding pleading. She dashed ahead of Mario and Goomblaine and looked around desperately, but there was no Sun Soul to be seen anywhere.

"No…" she moaned, finally coming to a stop and gazing dejectedly at the ground.

"I'm sorry, Hanner," Mario sighed, walking up to her and trying to forget that they were now more lost than ever.

But she just frowned at him.

"No you're not," she accused. "You never even believed me."

"I believe you thought you were right."

"Why can't you guys just trust me?!" she shouted, and Mario was stunned by her sudden burst of anger. "I know I'm not the smartest girl in the world, but I can at least do some things right! Sarge at least understood that. I know he trusted me."

"Yeah, sure. That's why he had you guarding the entrance to a forest nobody ever goes into," Goomblaine scoffed.

Mario and Hanner both looked at him in complete shock and horror. He didn't seem to notice, though. On the contrary, the moment he heard his own words, his eyes lit up in triumph.

"Hey, that is it, isn't it?" he realized. "That's why you were guarding the forest! That's why you thought nobody was allowed in, even when your boss said it was okay for us to go!"

Suddenly, Goomblaine was doubling over laughing. "Oh, that's rich! He had you on some dumb fool's errand this whole time! And you were so stupid, you actually fell for it!"

Mario was filling with rage. "Goomblaine, shut up!"

Hanner looked utterly devastated. "That's not true!" she protested. "Sarge would never do that to me!"

"Yeah? What else is a Hammer Bro without a hammer good for?" Goomblaine jeered at her.

"That wasn't her fault, Goomblaine, and you know it!" Mario snapped.

Hanner didn't hear either of them. A roaring in her ears was drowning out every other noise. She clutched her head and shook it violently, begging for it not to be true.

But hearing it from Goomblaine, she realized it was. Every word of it.

Mario didn't trust her. Goomblaine didn't trust her. Not even her own boss trusted her.

She wasn't good for anything.

"This is all my fault!" she sobbed. "I can't believe I've been so stupid!!"

And she raced blindly into the Teleporting Tree.

"Hanner – Hanner, wait!" Mario cried, running up to it and peering inside. But she was already gone.

After staring hopelessly into the empty tree for a moment, he remembered whose fault this was and rounded on Goomblaine.

"Now are you happy?!" he demanded. "How could you possibly be so insensitive? Now she's lost all by herself, and we have no idea how to find her!"

"Oh, come on. We're better off without her anyway," the Goomba replied, not looking the least bit sorry.

Mario had to resist the urge to bust out his hammer. "Goomblaine, don't you get it?! She's got no supplies, no food, and there are Pudgy Budgies out there! Anything could happen to her! No matter what trouble she's caused, she's our responsibility, and we are finding her!!"

––

Hanner ran through the forest, squeezing her eyes shut and crying all the while. She didn't know where she was going anymore, and she didn't care. She couldn't bring herself to stop.

She realized everything now. What a miserable excuse for a Hammer Sis she was. How she'd never been good at her job, no matter what she tried. And just now, how she'd gotten the three of them hopelessly lost because she thought she believed in a dumb superstition.

Now they'd never find the Sun Soul, and the world would never be saved, and it was all her fault.

Finally she was too exhausted to run any further. She slowed to a stop and finally collapsed to her knees, crying in shame, in helplessness, in despair.

Despair. She was in utter despair.

And so when the sky suddenly grew dark around her yet again, and the foreboding sound of wingbeats, louder than ever before, filled the air around her, she had neither the will nor the strength to fight back.

––

"This is hopeless," Mario muttered, pushing and shoving his way through the bushes. "She could be absolutely anywhere by now. We'll be lucky if we ever see her again."

"Trust me, I did us a favor," Goomblaine said stiffly.

"You think breaking her heart did us a favor? We needed her, Goomblaine! If we have to fight those Budgies again, we can't win without her!"

"Speaking of which," Goomblaine sighed, looking up at the sky as he was alerted by a familiar sound.

"No," Mario groaned, bracing himself and gripping his hammer. "We can't fight those guys anymore. We're not strong enough."

But as the flock of Pudgy Budgies flew by overhead, Mario was stunned to see that they were completely ignoring him and Goomblaine. They seemed to have their attention fixed forward, not even noticing their prey below.

And then came a whoosh of beating wings, and the giant Budgie appeared behind the rest of them, letting out a caw.

And clutched in its talons was Hanner.

"Marioooooo!!" she screamed down at him. "Help me!! Help me, please!!"

Mario's eyes bulged. "Hanner!!" he cried, racing off after the flock without a second thought. With a stunned look on his face, Goomblaine followed after him.

"Hanner! Wait!!" Mario shouted desperately as he ran, but it was no use. The Budgies were flying far too quickly for him to keep up. Though he scrambled through the foliage as fast as he could, it wasn't long before the entire flock vanished into the distance. Along with them, Hanner's screams faded into silence.

"We have to save her somehow!!" Mario shouted at Goomblaine, desperately trying to think of a solution.

"Well, I'm open to any ideas!"

Mario groaned loudly, leaning against the nearest tree and pounding violently against it. He had to think of something now, he had to, he had to –

And then he opened his eyes and realized just what kind of tree he was pounding on.

Goomblaine looked strangely at him. "You don't really think that's gonna work, do you?"

"It's our only chance," Mario replied, walking over to the doorway of the Teleporting Tree and standing directly in front of it.

Maybe Hanner was right about this after all…

I need a clear idea of what I want… a clear idea…

"We have to save Hanner!"

He charged into the tree.

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A/N: Next update: Boss battle #1.