Time: 8:12pm, Monday, October 15, 2001 – Above Serenity Isle's Castle
"Okay, we're about to land!" Bowser announced to the other four characters, the four of them wide awake with a plan in their mind.
"I'll get the X-Naut suits out," Peach replied in the affirmative as she ventures off towards the closet located in the storage room. She returns with three typical white X-Naut uniforms, two pairs of handcuffs, two gags and two pairs of shackles. Their plan involves Mario, Peach and Toad wearing the X-Naut uniforms, while Bowser and Roy will be their 'bait'. The three of them will pretend that they captured Bowser and Roy, then lock the two Koopas up in a sort of jail or prison located inside the castle. Then during the night, the three of them will free the Koopas if the ruler of the X-Nauts will not. The freed Koopas will surprise them, so that's why they will be prisoners initially. It seems like a fool-proof plan.
"What's da point of goin' here in da first place?" Roy inquired with a confused look, "And why did I feel like I gained power durin' da trip here?"
Yes, Roy, along with Peach, felt a surge of power rushing through him towards the end of the trip. He doesn't know how to use the powers, but he does hope they will come in handy once they are needed.
"Simply to investigate this area and to make sure nothing goes fishy here. According to the documents we read in Sandstorm, this'll be the first place the shadow beings will take over," Peach informed.
"Okay… Well let's do this then…" Toad replied as he slips on the X-Naut suit. The suit has a perfect fit on the Royal Retainer, but the fitting of the other two suits for the humans prove to be a tough task. Peach eventually made it in, but both she and Toad had to help Mario.
"Alright Mario! Pull in the pasta!" Toad commanded as the three of them try to pull up the X-Naut suit over Mario. Finally, Mario is able to put on the suit, and the three of them proceed to put the handcuffs, gags and shackles on the two Koopas. With their 'prisoners' in hand, the three 'X-Nauts' exit out of the doomship once the coast is clear.
"Where we going?" Toad asked as the words the Koopas are saying are muffled.
"To whoever the leader is," Mario replied as both he and Toad hang on to Bowser, with Peach hanging onto Roy, "We need to get these two locked up."
Silence lingers among the group, with the five of them walking towards the huge castle of Serenity Isle. Several guards patrol the area, meaning the ruler must be in this citadel. One of the X-Naut guards, with the black X-Naut suit on, stops the group of five from coming in.
"Greetings comrades," the X-Naut greeted, "What's your business here?"
Peach, going along with a plan, speaks to the X-Naut guard, "We are bringing these two prisoners to Sir! They intruded on our island!"
The X-Naut pulls out a walkie-talkie and mutters a few words. After waiting for a response, the X-Naut pockets its walkie-talkie and opens the door for them, "Sir is waiting for you three. Bring the prisoners with you!" the guard dismissed.
"Thanks!" Toad replied as they stroll down a hall of the huge castle. The castle of Serenity Isle has a dark feel to it, not unlike Kastle Koopa. The main difference between Bowser's Castle and this castle, however, is that this castle does not display torches on the wall. Only the crimson carpet, dark gray walls and obsidian chandeliers hang down from the ceiling, with Bowser's head barely able to clearance under the chandeliers.
After venturing down the hallway and getting some help from the fellow X-Nauts infesting the hall, the three X-Naut 'heroes' drag their two prisoners up a flight of stairs, to the end of yet another similar-looking corridor, and knock on a big black door.
"COME IN!" a muffled voice yelled behind the door. Peach opens the door and walks in, having Mario drag Bowser and Toad to hold onto Roy. Behind the door, sat none other than Sir Grodus, who somehow has a body despite him losing it to the Shadow Queen only a year and nine months ago. By Grodus's side stands Lord Crump. Since the X-Nauts are not interested, at this moment, to capture any other nations on Plit, Crump is no longer the commander of the X-Naut army, but rather the main advisor of Grodus.
"Greetings sir," Peach greeted as she crosses her arms over her chest in an X-shape, displaying the X-Naut's sign; the same sign she forgot to do the first time she got captured by these fiends, "We captured some prisoners!"
Mario and Toad present Bowser and Roy to Grodus. The X-Naut leader rub his hands in a sinister manner, "Muhahaha! I have been warned of five people coming to this island. By their descriptions, these two things look like two of them! That must be no other than Bowser! I had to deal a lot with him when we went after the Shadow Queen. I don't know who the other one is, but they must be related somehow."
"Really sir? We're safe now?" Toad questioned in fake curiosity, "What about those other people in Ice Land and the Sage World?"
Grodus begins to laugh manically, "No need to worry about them soldier! The three Shadow Sirens stole the powers of the Sages AND they trapped the other group that explored Ice Land; the Sirens trapped them into the World of Shadow."
As he ends his sentence, his laughter slows down; Grodus glares at the three 'X-Nauts' and the prisoners they are holding.
"And troops, how'd you know about the other groups?! That was supposed to be classified information! We don't want the wrong source to get that information!"
"One of the guards told us," Peach lied, "Sorry Sir, I won't mention of it."
"Damn right you won't!" Crump called out as he faces Grodus, "Sir, we need to lock up these people. Not JUST the prisoners, but the three X-Nauts also!"
Grodus, however, shakes his head, "No. Just lock up the prisoners. Lock them up in the west prison of the castle."
"The west prison, sir?" Crump questioned Grodus's command, "The west prison is nice! We should throw the two, plus those three other X-Nauts, into the east prison! The walls there have a ton of peeling wallpaper, some spots of mold on the ceiling and the typical jail cells!"
"I DON'T CARE CRUMP! I want my prisoners to be comfy!" Grodus shouted at Crump, "Your ideas are so stupid! You wanted to throw in the three X-Nauts just for knowing extra information!"
Mario, Peach and Toad all sigh in relief, thankful that Grodus is on their side of the issue. Crump begins to grumble at being rejected, eventually giving the five a hateful glare.
"Is there anything else you three want?" Grodus asked.
Mario, Peach and Toad shook their heads.
"If you guys know about the two groups who ventured off to Ice Land and the Sage World, then you three should know where the west prison is. Until then, move OUT!"
Mario, Peach and Toad give the X sign with their arms again as they drag out Bowser and Roy, asking for directions onto the west prison.
~7~7~7~7~7
Time: 8:30PM, Monday, October 15, 2001 – Bowser's Castle.
Iggy, Lemmy, Daisy and Luigi are in Ludwig's room, browsing through some books that can potentially help them. Now, these books don't exactly contain the same documents that the Library of the Underground Dungeons in Sandstorm contains, but they still can be useful.
"Ewyuck, another book about overthrowing Church rule!" Iggy cried out in agony, "There's no books here!"
"Yeah. Tell me about it!" Lemmy agreed as he throws out a book about symphony composers of the 1700s, "Useless junk!"
"Useless Junk indeed-WAIT GUYS!" Luigi exclaimed, "I think I found something!"
Lemmy, Iggy and Daisy gather around Luigi. Luigi is holding a black book in his hands, titled Light Overpowers Dark.
"Look! It talks about weaknesses of shadow figures! If I recall, both Nature and the Star Spirits have told us Jabrael's a shadow spirit! Look at these weaknesses!" Luigi continued.
Lemmy and Iggy nod their heads at the weaknesses as Daisy reads them out loud, "'Weaknesses include every element: light, wind, water, heat, earth and cold.' Wait why is cold on there when there's a supposed portal in Ice Land? Plus, cold is just a lack of heat!" the desert princess questioned.
"I don't know!" Luigi shrugged.
However, Daisy reads the second page from Luigi's shoulder, "'Shadow figures may leech powers from others who possess the same power to not only gain power, but to be immune from the same elements.' So THAT's why Jabrael wants the power of the Sages!"
"With the Sages, her only weakness would be earth attacks. Wind is mainly pressure caused by a combination of many atmospheric phenomena such as imbalances in both heat and moisture. But I don't know if the Sages work TOGETHER at all, let alone with pressure differences. They seem to always be AGAINST each other. Except for three cases: water and nature, along with nature and light, and light usually translates to heat, of course…" Iggy lectured, "So wind MAY be something the Star Spirits could also have priority over the Sages, along with the earth element."
"… The elements are so confusing! So are the Sages!" Daisy exclaimed, "But I guess since we have the powers of the Sages, we can be safe!"
"Even though we don't know how to use the powers! But I guess that's a good thing…" Lemmy continued, "We'll know when time comes I guess."
Daisy nods her head as Iggy and Luigi still rummage through books, this time finding other information that can be useful.
"Here's some book about rodents… Yeah that won't help us," Luigi muttered as he tosses the book behind Ludwig's bed.
"Rodents. That's what those X-Nauts look like," Iggy joked as he throws another book – this time about symphony composers – towards Ludwig's bed.
Luigi laughed out loud for a few seconds before composing himself, "Joking aside… What other stuff can help us?" the green-clad plumber asked.
"Oh! Here's a book on… These things called 'History of Plit'," Iggy informed the group. At the mention of the book's title, Daisy and Lemmy surrounds Iggy, "This might be useful."
Daisy nodded at the spectacle-wearing Koopaling, "Let's see if anything interesting is in there."
Iggy browses through the novel, the fourth-oldest Koopaling desperately finding some sort of useful information, but only stumbles upon an interesting fact.
"Oh wow. 'Plit's history is made up of twelve ages. Ninety-nine percent of all our known history is from our current age, the Twelfth Age. Not much is known about the other eleven ages; several scientific theories and historical educated guesses popped up over the years. However, we do know this: the uniting of the Lands of the Mushroom Kingdom ended the Eleventh Age and started the Twelfth Age, nearly 1,988 years ago.'," Iggy read out loud to the group.
Daisy nods with interest, apparently impressed, "Wow! So two things: first, the 'calendar restarting' as Nature put it was actually the beginning of the Twelfth Age. We are only 2001 years into the Twelfth Age! The calendar probably did this ten other times if the same is true! Second, this book is terribly outdated; it's thirteen years old!"
"I don't think much changed in those thirteen years Daisy," Luigi muttered, "If I remember right, 1988 was about three years after we ended up in the Mushroom Kingdom again. First time in the Mushroom Kingdom since me and Mario were toddlers!"
"The Star Spirits or the Sages probably know a ton about the different ages. We'll ask them sometime," Iggy pointed out, "But for now let's use the information to our advantage."
The other three nod as they throw the books onto Ludwig's bed.
"Where do we go now?" Lemmy asked.
"Remember the vision? We all met at Serenity Isle on that day! We need to head over there! But how?"
"… We can try the Pipe Maze," Iggy suggested, "They should have pipes everywhere. Plus King Dad and Mario probably already made a pipe lead towards there…"
"But we should rest first…" Lemmy suggested, the other three characters agreed. Before Lemmy and Iggy went up to their typical rooms, the two of them show Luigi and Daisy their separate guest rooms.
"Thanks Lemmy," Daisy thanked as she lies down on the queen-sized bed in her room.
"No problem!" Lemmy smiled as he left the room. He sees Iggy walking out another guest room; must be Luigi's temporary quarters.