"Now!"

The Hunter, the person in blue armor and the gunship all fired upon Ridley in unison. The energy beams and missiles hurtled towards the space dragon with incredible speed, giving him almost no time to react. Ridley reflexively took a step back, inadvertently stepping over the edge of the plateau they were on. This proved to be to Ridley's benefit, as he suddenly fell off the side of the mountain just in time to avoid getting hit. Unfortunately, Ridley's wings were still damaged, one frozen and the other with a hole burnt through it, which meant that he wouldn't be able to fly to safety. He could climb along the mountainside, though, and made his way to a small cave alcove set into the cliff. He wouldn't be able to stay hidden for long but at least this would give him a little more time to think.

Several blocks hung in the air above Ridley's head, similar in design to the ones that he had seen Luigi hit back when they had first started their journey. Ridley remembered how Luigi had been able to get a flower from one of the yellow question blocks which allowed him to gain the power to throw fireballs for a while. Ridley felt that the chances of one of these blocks holding a similar item that he could use would be slim but he had to try. So, Ridley jumped up and punched one of the yellow blocks with his raised fist. A coin popped out of the top as the block faded to brown. Ridley grabbed the coin, hoping that it would do something but nothing happened. So, Ridley hit another block and was rewarded with several more useless gold coins. The third block proved to hold something a bit more useful, however: a large red mushroom covered in white spots.

Ridley picked up the mushroom. It didn't dissolve at his touch the way that the Ice Flower from before had, so he plopped the brightly colored fungus into his mouth and swallowed it whole. It gave him an instant sense of renewed energy. His frozen wing suddenly began to thaw off while the hole in the other one healed itself. In a few seconds, Ridley was fully recovered and ready to get out of there. It wasn't a moment too soon, either, as the Hunter's gunship suddenly flew down beside him, with the Hunter standing atop it, ready to open fire again. Without hesitation, Ridley leapt out of the alcove and vaulted off of the ship before he could be attacked again. Ridley spread his wings and glided on the wind to get as far away as he could. Knowing that he would make an easy target if he were to just go straight ahead, Ridley began to serpentine his way down to a large forest that he spotted ahead, just across the bay. If he could make his way there, then he would be able to hide among the trees. For once, being small would actually come to his advantage. If he could just make his way down there.

Of course it wouldn't be that easy, though. Ridley had to roll out of the way of a missile fired at him from behind, followed by another. The Hunter seemed even more persistent than usual, which was not working to Ridley's favor. After managing to avoid several more attacks, Ridley was struck down by another missile. The explosive force caused him to tumble out of the sky in an uncontrolled freefall. Fortunately for Ridley, he had managed to make it far enough to reach the forest. Ridley crashed into the treetops before he could be attacked again, falling out of sight. Once he was on the ground, Ridley dashed across the forest floor as quickly as he could. He needed to be as far away from where he had landed if he didn't want to be found. And of course, Ridley had no desire to be hunted down and executed. For the first time ever, he had something other than himself to live for. Which was something that he still couldn't understand.

Once Ridley had managed to make his way far enough that he was sure it would be nearly impossible for the Hunter to track him down, Ridley dove into a large bush. Using his natural camouflage abilities, Ridley slowly changed the color of his skin to a dark green color. He had no idea how long he would have to stay hidden like this, or how he would even know when it would be safe to come out. All he knew was that he would have to stay there, completely still and completely silent, or else he was finished.

Time seemed to melt away as Ridley waited there. He lowered his body temperature in order to make sure that he could not be found using thermal tracking and was even able to slow his heartbeat to a near stop just in case that the Hunter could track it. Unfortunately, there was a reason that the space pirates referred to the Hunter as such and it was not long before Ridley could hear someone approaching. The Hunter had been able to follow the trail that Ridley had inadvertently left behind as he had hurried through the forest. The Hunter's bright orange armor stood out among the dark greens and browns that filled the forest as the Hunter approached the small clearing directly ahead of Ridley. They were so close that Ridley feared that even a small breath would give away his location as the Hunter looked around for any sign of him.

Ridley thought for a moment that the Hunter was going to move on and that he was safe, only to immediately be proven wrong as he found the Hunter's arm cannon pointed directly at him. Ridley barely had time to jump out of the bush as it was suddenly frozen by a blast of the Hunter's Ice Beam. He leaped over the Hunter's head and landed on the ground behind the Hunter, confident that he would be able to get at least one hit in before he could be attacked again. Unfortunately, he had not taken into account the extra speed and agility that the Hunter's new armor provided compared to the old Power Suit as the Hunter suddenly spun around and decked him in the snout, knocking Ridley flat onto his back. The Hunter dug an armored boot into Ridley's chest to pin him down. Ridley was sure that the pale blue light from the Hunter's cannon would be the last thing he would ever see.

"This is the end, Ridley." The Hunter said. "At long last, this is finally the end."

Yoshi suddenly and unexpectedly ran out into the clearing, Luigi riding on his back. The small green dinosaur jumped into the air and bounced off of the Hunter's helmet, sending the Hunter stumbling back. Luigi hopped off of Yoshi's back and the two stood defensively between Ridley and the Hunter.

"Leave-a my brother alone!" Luigi demanded.

The Hunter fumbled around for a moment. "I think that y'all… er… that you just hit me harder than I thought. Did you just say something about your brother?"

"Of course I-a did!" Luigi snapped. "I-a told you to-a leave my brother alone!"

"Look, bub. I don't know what you're talking about. Now get out of my way!"

"No!" Yoshi yelled. "We're not letting you hurt Mario!"

"Mario?" The Hunter was getting more and more confused. "Who's Mario?"

"That would be me." Ridley replied as he got back onto his feet. "Sort of. It's a long story."

"What? I don't… Huh?" The Hunter was having trouble processing what was being said. "What's even going on right now?"

"I'd-a like to know-a that myself." Luigi said. "Why are-a you attacking Mario?"

"Look, I don't know who this 'Mario' person is!" The Hunter sighed. "That thing that you're trying to defend is named Ridley and he's a dangerous pirate!"

"Oh, I-a think I see where the confusion here-a is." Luigi acted like he suddenly realized something. "We're-a not pirates, my-a brother and I-a just got a ride from-a some pirates earlier because we-a got caught in a storm."

"Look, I don't know what lies this monster has been feedin' ya, but that clearly ain't your brother!" The Hunter's natural accent was starting to slip through due to frustration.

Luigi clenched his fists tightly and stared at the ground in silence.

"And I don't know what you're talking about!" Yoshi yelled back at the Hunter. "Everyone here knows who Mario is! He's got to be the greatest hero ever!"

"Except-a he isn't-a really Mario, are-a you?" Luigi asked sorrowfully as he turned to Ridley.

"No, no I'm not." Part of Ridley actually felt relieved to finally tell Luigi this, though he didn't know why.

"What?" Yoshi was alarmed by this sudden turn of events.

"I-a knew it." Luigi looked back up again, tears streaming down his cheeks. "I-a realized a while ago that-a you weren't him, but-a… I-a didn't want to accept-a it. If you-a aren't Mario, then that-a means that-a he's…"

"Dead." Ridley finished Luigi's sentence.

"What?" Yoshi repeated.

"I was hired to kill him by the one you call Bowser." Ridley explained. "After finishing him off and collecting my payment I decided it would be funny to put on his hat and taunt everyone at the castle. But then I somehow shrank down to human size before arriving at the castle and everyone acted like I really was this Mario person. I was confused at first so I tried to play along until I could figure out what was going on but then the next day that stupid space witch confronted me. She was about to kill me when the Princess was kidnapped again and she decided to force me into pretending to be the Mario until she could find a way to somehow bring the real one back. She made it painfully clear that if I were to kill anyone else or let anyone find out that I was a fake, then she'd kill me."

"I-I can't believe it." Yoshi slumped onto the ground.

"Well, that's probably the craziest story I've ever heard, which is saying somethin' considering all I've been through before." The Hunter prepared to fire at Ridley again. "But I guess that's comin' to a close, now."

"No!" Luigi stepped in front of the Hunter's arm cannon as it was about to go off.

"What?" The Hunter quickly stopped charging the attack. "Why would you defend him after he just admitted to killin' your brother?"

"I-a don't know." Luigi admitted. "I-a should hate him for what-a he's done, but I-a just can't. After traveling with-a him these-a past couple days I-a just… I-a don't know. I've-a always been nothing more than-a Mario's sidekick, even-a since we were-a kids, but now… now I-a feel like I'm-a treated like an equal. Even with-a the bad, I can-a still feel that there's-a good in him."

"Good?" The Hunter seemed almost outraged by the very notion. "You have no idea what he's done! All of the lives he's taken, all of the trouble he's caused for so many planets. When I was a child, he and his band of pirates came to the minin' colony where I lived to take everything that we had. My father gave his life tryin' to stop them and he even ate my mother right in front of me."

"I did what?" It was now Ridley's turn to not believe what he was hearing. He had killed the Hunter's parents? When had he done that? Did this mean that he was responsible for creating the Hunter?

"Of course you wouldn't remember it!" The Hunter started to laugh hysterically. "For me, it was the day you destroyed my life and killed everyone I ever knew, but for you, it was just an average day! Because that's just the kind of depraved monster you are! I'm sure you probably don't even remember the K-2L colony!"

"K-2L?" Ridley did remember that particularly disastrous mission all too well. "You mean the afloraltite mining facility? But that's impossible. There were no survivors other than… no, you can't be…"

"I am." The Hunter confirmed Ridley's fears. "That little girl who was so naive that she thought the scary monster that came to her small settlement could be her friend, only for you to turn around and try to kill her. She was taken in by a group of Chozo that passed by shortly after you left and was raised to be their final gift to the universe, a living weapon to take on threats like you. She grew up to be me. I'd take my helmet off now for a dramatic reveal, but you wouldn't recognize my face. I don't even recognize the face that looks back at me in the mirror anymore. Not since the X."

"I-I can't believe it." Ridley stared blankly at the Hunter, remembering the face of that terrified little girl so long ago. It was a face that had been burned into the back of his mind ever since that day. "I'm so… sorry?"

Ridley couldn't believe what he had just said.

"Sorry that you let me live?" The Hunter asked.

"You said that wouldn't remember what happened on K-2L, but you couldn't be further from the truth." Ridley tried to find a way to put his feelings into words, but it was hard when he had never felt anything like what he did now and had never been one to discuss any feelings other than hunger and spite before. "I've never been able to forget what happened. The memories have always haunted me on some level, especially the way you looked at me after I devoured your mother. Your eyes were filled with a determination and rage I had never seen before then, or since. I always thought it was because of how horribly things turned out for me when the mines exploded and killed all of my crew. In fact, I'm sure that was the main reason, possibly even the only reason at the time. But things have changed a lot for me recently. I'm starting to see things differently. I've completely forgotten what I was trying to say. Anyway, if it's any consolation at all, I was never going to kill you that day. Although that probably isn't a good thing since my plan was to kidnap you and force you into serving under me before the explosion ruined that plan. I am a monster, aren't I? Samus, I believe your name was? I know you could never forgive me for what I've done. I don't even deserve your forgiveness or for you to spare me. I just ask that you not hurt anyone else here. As impossible as this sounds, I think I've actually started to like the people here."

Ridley took off Mario's hat and wrung it in his claws. Yoshi and Luigi suddenly took a step back from him, clearly startled as they finally saw Ridley true appearance for the first time. Samus lowered her arm cannon, stunned at all she had heard. After taking a moment to process everything, she raised it again.

"Fine, I wasn't planning on hurting anyone other than you, anyway."

Before she could fire at Ridley, Samus was suddenly struck in the back with a large melon. The fruit splattered across her armor, sending juice everywhere and causing Samus to stumble.

"What was that?" Samus yelled as she turned around to see Roshi standing at the edge of the clearing, having just thrown the melon at her. "Who're you?"

"Oh, um… I'm Roshi." The yellow dinosaur waved, clearly embarrassed. "And I, uh… didn't really catch all of what just happened but… uh, Ridley, was it? Ridley was nice to me when we met earlier today, and no one's ever nice to me. I would appreciate it if you didn't kill him, please?"

Samus lowered her arm cannon again and sighed, relaxing her posture somewhat. "Fine. I don't know what exactly's happened here, but this clearly isn't the same Ridley that I've fought so many times before. Honestly, I feel like making him finish whatever's going on here would be a worse punishment than just killing him, anyway."

Kamek observed what was going on from atop his broom, flying up above the Forest of Illusion. The plan was to hire Samus to take out Ridley before he could make his way to Bowser's Castle, hopefully eliminating Luigi and any other potential threats in the process. Things were not turning out as expected, however, and at the rate things were going now this entire plan was about to backfire hard. If Kamek didn't find a way to stop this quickly, he would be in serious trouble when he reported back to Bowser. The Koopa King had used Kamek as a backscratcher when he first told him that Ridley had seemingly teamed up with Luigi after Bowser had kidnapped Peach again. And that was still preferable to what he had done to the Goomba's that had the misfortune of reporting Peach's escape the night before that.

The bespectacled magikoopa looked around frantically. His gaze settled on the entrance to the Valley of Bowser and a crooked smile formed across his beak-like mouth as an idea formed in his head.