After her duel with Kammy Koopa cost Rosalina her wand and her last apparent hope of returning Mario to the Mushroom Kingdom, the Mother of Lumas had returned to her home on the Comet Observatory to reflect on what she should do now. She already knew from experience that resetting the universe for something as 'insignificant' as a single life was far too drastic a measure and would lead to untold consequences that she was not prepared to face again. Which meant that at this point, it seemed like she would have to accept that he was gone. It wasn't like she could her way over there and bring the ex-plumber back to the world of the living. Then again, maybe she could?

That was Rosalina came up with a new plan. If she was going to go through with it, however, she would not be working alone. It was his fault they were in this position to begin with, which meant that it was also his responsibility to bring Mario back. Thus, Rosalina set out to track down the fake Mario to enlist his help, one way or another. This proved to be a more difficult task than she expected, however.

It never seemed to take Mario very long to rescue Princess Peach from Bowser's clutches, and it had already been several days since she had sent his murderer out in Mario's place. Thus, Rosalina decided that the best place to begin her search for Ridley would be Peach's Castle. She could tell as soon as she reached the front door that things would not be that simple, however, when she noticed that the guards were gone. Her first thought was that Ridley had gone back on his word and turned against the Mushroom Kingdom. He was a space pirate, after all, and they were not known for being trustworthy. However, the castle itself did not seem to be in any worse shape than when she had left, so she decided to investigate further before jumping to conclusions. With a wave of her new wand, the castle doors opened and Rosalina was stunned by the horror she saw inside.

The castle was a mess, but not for the reasons that Rosalina had been expecting. She floated cautiously down the hallways of the castle that was not filled with the telltale carnage of a pirate raid, but the telltale carnage of an absurdly wild party. Confetti was everywhere, there was paint streaked across the walls, the castle's decorations were in disarray and Toads were scattered about in places that Rosalina wasn't even sure how they managed to get to. The throne room seemed to have suffered the worst, with strobe lights and mirror balls everywhere. Only one Toad still seemed to be standing, a DJ operating sound system so loud and obnoxious that Rosalina was amazed she couldn't hear it from outside.

Rosalina spotted someone at the other end of the room and made her way over there, hovering a few feet higher above the ground than normal in order to avoid the filth that covered the floor. She did not want to know what some of those Toads had been eating to leave stains those colors. When she reached her destination, she was dismayed to see who she thought she had spotted sleeping on the floor, drool dribbling out the side of her mouth. With a groan and a swish of her wand, Rosalina condensed the moisture in the air into water, which splashed onto the woman's face, waking her up.

"I don't want to be a dinosaur!" Princess Daisy jumped awake, slowly taking in her surroundings before finally noticing Rosalina floating beside her. "Um… hi?"

"What. Happened. Here?" Rosalina asked Sarasan Princess threateningly.

"Um, well… you see, uh…" Daisy scrambled to come up with an explanation. "The Toads were, uh, panicking because Peach isn't normally gone this long, and, uh… I thought it would be good to find a way to get them to calm down… and I figured, well, a party might help with that, but, um… things got kind of out of control once things got started and, well, one thing led to another and before I knew it, well…"

"Never mind." Rosalina massaged her temples, feeling an astral migraine setting in from the sheer stupidity of the situation. "What happened to the Mario brothers?"

"I don't know," Daisy shrugged. "No one's seen them since they set out to rescue Peach again."

"Of course not," Rosalina sighed. "I don't know why I thought finding that stupid space pirate would be easy."

"What space pirate?" Daisy asked, confused.

"The one that's currently filling in for Mario," Rosalina replied without thinking. "I'm trying to track him down so that I can force him to help me bring the real Mario back from the dead."

"Mario's dead?" Daisy's eyes widened as she realized what she just heard. "How? Wait, what about Luigi?"

"Mario's dead!" A not-as-unconscious-as-Rosalina-thought toad that overheard the conversation screamed, quickly starting a riot as more Toads began to wake up.

"What? Mario can't be dead!"

"Mario's dead?"

"Where am I?"

"What happened to Mario?"

"Huh, Mario is missing?"

"Whose shoes am I wearing?"

"Mario freaking died?"

"How did Mario die?"

"Mario knows about timed hits! Wait, what's going on?"

Rosalina regretted opening her mouth as she waved her wand again. In a flash, she and Princess Daisy were both standing in the middle of Toad Town's northern square, where everything was calm for the time being.

"So, what was that abo-mph!" Rosalina quickly put her hand over Daisy's mouth before the princess could finish her question.

"We are not starting another mass panic," Rosalina whispered, placing a finger over her own mouth.

"Oh, right." Daisy pulled Rosalina's hand away.

"Do you know which way 'Mario' and your boyfriend went when they left?" Rosalina asked. "We should be able to track them down if we can follow their trail."

"Luigi's not my boyfriend!" Daisy replied defensively.

Rosalina glared at the princess. "I've been to your personal resort. I've seen the giant golden statues of you two dancing together, one of which has you as babies for some reason. To say nothing of the one at your castle that has Luigi wearing nothing but a fig leaf over his admittedly impressive-"

"You made your point!" Daisy quickly cut her off, her face bright red. "And I heard they were last seen heading down Goomba Road."

"Then that's where we're going," Rosalina replied. "Lead the way."

"Why me?" Princess Daisy asked.

"Because I don't know this area very well. Besides, do you really want to stick around when that spreads?" Rosalina cocked her head towards Peach's Castle.

"Oh, right," Daisy relented. "It's this way."


The two women followed a long winding road that eventually led them to a small fortress inhabited by Goombas. The doors were locked but that didn't stop Rosalina from knocking them clear off their hinges with a wave of her wand. Once inside, the two quickly stumbled into a room where three giant Goombas were playing video games. The largest of the three was the standard Goomba brown, with a white mustache and a scar across its left eye and a crown on its head, plus a stubby pair of wings sticking out of its sides. The other two were a bit closer to regular Goomba size but one was blue while the other was red. The trio were so focused on their game that they likely wouldn't have noticed Rosalina and Daisy enter the room if Rosalina hadn't blasted the door open.

"HEY, WHAT'S TA BIG IDEA HERE?" The crowned Goomba demanded as he stood up and faced the invaders. "YOU DO YA THINK YA ARE, BREAKING INTO MA CASTLE LIKE DIS? DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHO I AM? I'M DA PARAGOOMBA KING!"

"Yeah, who do you think you are, breaking into Goomba Castle?" The Red Goomba asked.

"Didn't your mama ever teach you that breaking into people's homes is rude?" The Blue Goomba chimed in.

This proved to be exactly the wrong thing to say to Rosalina and before Daisy even had a chance to realize what was happening, all three Goombas were lying in a bruised heap on the ceiling.

"Never talk about my mother that way," Rosalina paused and took a deep breath, trying to calm down. "Wait, what were we doing again?"

"We're looking for Luigi and Mario," Daisy reminded her.

"Ah, right," Rosalina pointed her wand threateningly at the Goombas. "Where are the Mario Brothers? We know they came this way!"

"AH'LL SHOW YA, AH'LL SHOW YA!" The Paragoomba King sobbed. "JUST DON'T HURT ME ANYMORE!"

"Or us!" The Red Goomba begged.

"I'll never talk about your mama again, I'm sure she was a lovely and intelligent woman who raised you well," The Blue Goomba added.

"Very well," Rosalina swished her stolen wand and the three Gommbas crashed back down onto the floor. "Where did they go?"

"DEY WENT THIS WAY!" King Paragoomba quickly flew out of the room and everyone else followed.

The group made their way into the large chamber where King Paragoomba had tried to fight Ridley and Luigi just a few days prior. Rosalina and Daisy stayed close to the self-styled king while the colored Goombas ran off to the side.

"NOW!" King Paragoomba yelled, signaling his underlings to activate the trap door.

The floor gave way underneath their feet. Rosalina reflexively reached for Daisy, the only one actually standing on said floor, and managed to grab the Princess by her hair.

"Ow!" Daisy shouted involuntarily.

"You had one chance," Rosalina pointed her wand at the Paragoomba King again, the red jewel glowing brightly.

"DON'T HURT ME!" The Paragoomba cowered in fear. "DEY WENT DOWN DIS WAY, AH SWEAR! AH PULLED THE LEVER AFTER DEY BEAT ME AND DEY BOTH FELL INTO DA CAVES BELOW! AH DON'T KNOW WHERE DEY WENT AFTAH THAT!"

"And why should I believe that?" Rosalina cocked her visible eyebrow.

"IF AH WERE LYIN', THEN YAH'D JUST COME BACK AND HURT ME!" The Paragoomba King pointed out.

"True," Rosalina considered. "I suppose I can give you the benefit of the doubt, for now, but you clearly already know what's going to happen if you're lying to me."

"Can you please stop pulling on my hair?" Daisy yelled at Rosalina.

"Oh, of course," Rosalina looked down at her companion and released her grip, causing Daisy to fall, screaming, down the pit.

"That's not what I me-e-e-a-n-t!" Daisy's voice trailed out as she plummeted down into the old caves.

"If we don't find them, then I will be back." Rosalina glared at King Paragoomba one last time before diving after Daisy.

King Paragoomba's let out a huge sigh of relief and slouched to the floor as the Goomba Brothers hesitantly walked over to him. "AH THINK DAT AH'VE HAHD ENOUGH AH DIS, BOYS! WE'RE LEAVIN' THE MUSHROOM KINGDOM AN' NEVAH COMING BACK TAH DIS CRAZY PLACE!"


Rosalina swooped up just as she was about to hit the rocky ground and looked around at the desolate cave. Daisy was leaning up against a large stalagmite while clutching her aching behind, but other than that the place seemed deserted.

"Why did you drop me like that?" Daisy asked furiously as she tried patting her messed-up hair back into place. "That flippin' hurt!"

"Why didn't you just use your dress to slow your fall, like what Peach does?"

"What makes you think that I know how to do that?"

"I just assumed." Rosalina pointed down the tunnel ahead of them. "If they ended up down here, then they must have done that way. Let's hurry."

The Sarasalandian Princess reluctantly followed Rosalina as they made their way through the old tunnels until the way eventually opened up into a large pit of lava far below them. The only way across to the other side was an incredibly narrow ledge around the edge, across which was another tunnel that appeared to lead outside.

"Please tell me we don't have to get across this thing." Daisy stared down into the molten abyss and could have sworn that it was staring back at her.

"Do you have any better ideas?"

Rosalina floated to the edge of the pit and held out her hand, which Daisy begrudgingly grabbed onto. She felt like a great weight had been lifted from her body as Rosalina dragged her through the air, flying over the lava and through the tunnel's exit out onto a sunny beach. Daisy set foot on the sandy shore as Rosalina glanced around at their surroundings.

"Any sign of them?" Daisy asked.

"No," Rosalina grumbled in reply. "Any tracks they may have left have been washed away by the tide. If I had to make a guess, though. I would say that they went out to sea."

"What makes you say that?"

"It's a sunny day out," Rosalina pointed out, gesturing to several chunks of ice that could be seen floating in the ocean. "Unfortunately, they don't appear to have left a trail for us to follow thanks to the waves."

"Oi, you lasses lookin' fer somethin'?" The sound of a distinctly reptilian voice caused both women to whip around and assume defensive positions as they spotted the crocodile that had spoken. "Hey, I'm not lookin' fer a fight!"

"Who are you?" Rosalina pointed her stolen wand at the newcomer, preparing to blast him if she didn't like his answer.

"Ah'm a member of the Kremlin' Krew," the reptile replied, gesturing to a ship docked further down the beach. "Now would yah kindly put that thing away before yah hurt someone, namely me?"

"Pirates," Daisy muttered disdainfully.

"We are looking for someone," Rosalina answered the Kremling's initial question. "You wouldn't happen to know where the Mario Brothers are, would you?"

"Mario Brothers?" the Kremling repeated while scratching his chin contemplatively. "Can't say the name sounds familiar… Wait a minute, I have 'eard o' dem before. I think those are the ones which 'elped us out not too long ago. Last I saw 'em was when the Kaptains dropped 'em off on, um, I think it was Yoshi's Island over in Dinosaur Land."

Rosalina let out a startlingly loud sigh at that and grumbled. "Thank you for the information."


"What… what happened here?" Daisy wondered aloud in horror as she looked down at the devastated remains of Dinosaur Land from where she and Rosalina hovered in the sky.

"I'm not sure that I want to know," Rosalina let out another sigh, which was beginning to become a habit. "I'm going to kill that space dragon when I get my hands on him."

With that foreboding remark, they dropped down to the nearby Yoshi's Island, landing in the middle of a small village that seemed oddly calm considering what must have just happened to the nearby landmass. Spotting an older, authoritative Yoshi nearby, Rosalina hovered over to him to get some questions answered.

"Can I help you?" The elder Yoshi asked as he spotted the two as they approached.

"I have two questions," Rosalina stated. "One, what happened to Dinosaur Island? Two, do you know if the Mario Brothers passed by here recently?"

"Yes, a couple of our younger villagers met with Mario and Luigi recently, one of them choosing to aide them on their journey. As for what happened, that's a bit of a long story and I don't really know the details myself."

"Please try to tell us what you can," Rosalina's polite phrasing did little to hide her growing impatience.

"Well, it started shortly after Mario and Luigi passed through. Someone spotted a UFO up in the maintains and there were a number of explosions on the far side of Dinosaur Island. Shortly after that the Valley of Bowser seemed to rise up from the ocean and fought the UFO, causing the destruction that I would assume you've already seen for yourself. But just as quickly as it had risen, the Valley fell back into the sea and the UFO flew over here. The aliens or whatever they were dropped of one of the Yoshis that had joined the Mario Brothers while brothers themselves and the other Yoshi went with the aliens."

Rosalina grimaced as she listened to the old Yoshi's story while Daisy was awestruck by what she was hearing.

"Luigi was abducted by aliens?" The Saraslandian Princess gasped.

"No, they all went willingly." The elder Yoshi clarified and pointed into the distance. "The flying saucer went that way. I think they were headed to Darkland."

"Well, at least he seems to still be on task," Rosalina muttered to herself and turned her attention back to the elder. "Thank you for the information. We'll be on our way now."


"Are you sure we're still headed the right way?" Daisy asked her companion as they flew over a large expanse of rocky hills.

"We're about to find out," Rosalina slowed to a stop. "I think I just found the spaceship."

Rosalina set Princess Daisy gently on the ground as they approached the unknown vessel, which appeared to have taken quite a beating. The orange ship had been heavily patched up and was clearly in no state to take off anytime soon. At first, it appeared to have been abandoned until a large man in blue armor stepped out from inside the ship.

"Hey, you there," the man called out to them. "You wouldn't happen to know if there's a space station in this sector that can do tow jobs, do you?"

"I told you I can fix this thing myself!" An angry voice yelled from inside.

"The ship was more damaged than we expected and we don't have the parts to make all the repairs, despite what our mechanic may think."

"That depends on what you're doing on this planet," Rosalina replied.

"Oh, right, I suppose I should introduce myself," the man looked apologetic. "My name's Armstrong Houston. The voice you heard earlier is Diesel and I sent Joey to scout out the area since the ship's scanners were damaged when we were shut down. We were hired to hunt down a notorious space pirate who was spotted on this planet that goes by the name Ridley. But when we got here and tracked him down, it turned out that Ridley isn't the dangerous criminal he once was and we were double-crossed by our employer, some local ruler named Bowser. Our leader, Samus, decided to team up with Ridley and the group he was with to take down Bowser but we were shot down here."

Rosalina considered the stranger's story carefully. "So then where are Ridley and the others now?"

"I'm not sure," Armstrong shook his head. "They went after whatever it was that attacked us, but I don't know what happened to them after that. I haven't been able to contact Samus since then, which has me worried but there's not much we can do until he can get ADAM here up and flying again."

"Was Luigi with them?" Daisy asked nervously.

"That's the guy with the green hat, right?" Armstrong paused as Daisy nodded. "Yeah, it was him, Samus, Ridley and a yellow lizard guy. I don't remember his name."

"Tell us which way they went and I can have my Lumas pick up your ship to be repaired at the Astral Observatory," Rosalina offered.

"Thanks, but before I accept I'm going to need to know what you want with them," Armstrong replied.

"Of course," Rosalina nodded. "I need to make sure that Ridley's staying in line and aide them in rescuing the princess that Bowser has abducted. And I think that Daisy wants to make sure that her boyfriend is safe."

"Luigi's not my boyfriend," Daisy said defensively, earning a one-eyed glare from Rosalina. "Well, not officially, anyway…"

"Alright, I guess I'll trust you. Even if your intentions were bad I'm sure Samus could handle herself," Armstong laughed. "We may not be able to get in contact with her but ADAM's sensors are still picking up her location. I'll show you where they are."


Rosalina and Daisy flew through the air once again on their search for Ridley and Luigi, now sure they knew where they were going. They quickly approached the area that the ship's computer had indicated Samus was, which would hopefully be where they would finally find the ones they were trying to find. They stopped, however, as they witnessed a Koopa magically grow to a massive size off in the distance where they were headed.

"Yep, that's probably where they are," Rosalina grumbled. "What have they gotten themselves into now."

"I think that's one of Bowser's kids," Daisy remarked, vaguely recognizing the blue-haired turtle. "Or are they his kids? I've never been quite clear on that."

"Wait here, I'll deal with whatever this is." Rosalina gave a quick swish of her hand and Daisy began to slowly float back down to the ground.

"Hey, wait!" Daisy called out as her companion rushed ahead. "Ugh, now I have to walk. Wait, these aren't my shoes."


By the time Rosalina had gotten there the giant Koopa had already been taken care of, so she landed beside him with much more force than usual due to her frustration over how long it had taken to track down Ridley. However, she at last found herself face-to-face with the alien dragon.

"What have you guys been doing?" Rosalina had a tough time trying to keep her composure. "I've been searching everywhere for you!"

"What have you been doing?" Ridley turned her question back at her.

"I asked you first," Rosalina replied angrily.

"We've-a been on our way to-a rescue the princess," Luigi hastily explained before another fight broke out. "But-a other things-a keep getting in our way."

"Mostly the fact that we've been held prisoner here for, what, a week? Two? I've lost track of time." Ridley added.

"You've… what?" Rosalina was caught off guard by that. "That's… unusual behavior for Bowser's forces."

Ridley shrugged. "I guess I'm just considered a bigger threat than a fat man in overalls. Then again, from all I've heard so far, Mario was a much bigger threat to those people than I would have expected. Oh, by the way, everyone here knows I'm not Mario but they figured it out themselves, so I didn't break my end of the deal."

"I don't even care about that anymore," Rosalina sighed before turning to a person in armor similar to Armstong's. "I take it you must be Samus. We ran into your team on the way here and sent them to the Comet Observatory to finish repairing your ship, which is currently in orbit around the planet."

"Thanks," Samus nodded. "But who's 'we'?"

"Hey!" Everyone turned to see Daisy running up to them. "What's the deal, you just totally ditched me back there!"

"Anyway," Rosalina ignored her. "I've pretty much run out of ideas on how to bring back Mario, but I do have one more thing that I want to try. If we stop by a Ghost House on the way to Bowser's Castle, I think we may be able to find a way."

"Oh, sure, what's another detour," Ridley replied sarcastically. "I'm sure that the captured princess we're supposed to be rescuing wouldn't mind if we just go off and do something else entirely instead. Again."

"Ah, she'll be fine," Daisy waved off Ridley's comment, catching her breath. "The way Peach talks about it sometimes, you'd think that being kidnapped was like a vacation to her. Just don't tell me that we'll have to walk all the way there."