Time: 11:32pm, Tuesday, October 16, 2001 - Mushroom Inn
Lemmy, Iggy, Daisy and Luigi have been training their powers for a few hours. Lemmy originally wanted to do it in the street, but to keep their powers secret from the normal population in Jasper, the three remaining group members decided to go to a sparsely populated field.
Here, Daisy finds out that her powers are similar to Peach: She can throw things at a hypersonic speed, but that was about it. The power she got from Rosalina is more used for reuniting rather than for battle. Lemmy can do sudden bursts of cold air, which causes a nearby stream to freeze over. Meanwhile, in the streets, Luigi can temporarily paralyze people commuting in the street while Iggy sends out a huge gust of wind to lift up girls' skirts.
"HEY!" some girls screamed as they do their best to keep their skirts down. Then they all glare at the mesmerized Iggy, who just ignores their critical stares.
Satisfied with their powers, the four of them decide to hang out in the lobby of the hotel. After sitting there for a while, the four of them went up to their separate rooms.
In Luigi's and Daisy's room...
"It's cool that you got powers too!" Daisy squealed, "And a pretty useful one! That was nice of Klevar!"
"Nice of the Star Spirits in general. I wonder who else got their powers?"
"Well, I'm sure it's not just Skolar and Klevar who would come. The other five of them would somehow help, especially Eldstar."
After Daisy's comment, silence falls between the two of them, until Luigi finally decides that the both of them should go to sleep.
"Let's go to sleep. There's toothbrushes in the bathroom."
Toothbrushes! Daisy forgot those things existed! The whole world may recognize her deed, but her dentist... Well, might not like her so much. Dashing to the bathroom, Daisy tears open the wrapping around an orange toothbrush, puts a huge dab of toothpaste on the brush, wets it then starts brushing her teeth. Luigi took a much calmer approach, gingerly opening the packaging to the green toothbrush and putting the typical pea-sized amount of toothpaste on his own brush.
While Luigi brushes for about two minutes, Daisy brushed her teeth for at least ten. Both in curiosity and annoyance, Luigi stares at Daisy, long after he's done brushing his teeth.
"Daisy. They're not getting any cleaner at this point!"
"Mmmph. Sowy Weeg," Daisy gargled a bit. After her apology, she spits out the foam caused by the paste, washed out her mouth then rinsed her brush, "That's much better! I love having fresh breath!"
"It's nice isn't it? We're actually in a civilized place. Well I guess Bowser's Castle is more civilized than people think but... They don't have spare toothbrushes."
"Yeah. And I'd rather shoot myself than use a Koopaling's toothbrush!"
"Amen! Let's go to bed."
In the hotel room's bedroom contains a King-sized bed. Although Daisy likes the idea of sleeping in the same bed as Luigi, the green-clad plumber wanted to take a more conservative idea of sleeping in his own bed, mainly because he likes feeling more alone at night.
"A King-sized bed," Daisy cooed, "I always wanted to sleep in one!"
"Um yeah!" Luigi sighed, both in defeat and relief. He will have room, but at the same time he's sharing a bed with Daisy. Not that he hated her- oh no- but he just... Doesn't want to have any extramarital affairs. Daisy can easily see through him.
"What's wrong Weeg? You're not tired again? I kept you up until at least 1:30 this morning!" Daisy asked in concern.
Luigi just shrugged, "Iunno. Just promise me that you're just gonna sleep in there okay?"
"Ha!" Daisy guffawed, "You're a silly boy. Of course I'm just gonna sleep in there! Because I'm a princess, I am prohibited by Sarasaland law to do... Any of that until I get married."
"That's good."
"It's nice to see you be against that kind of stuff. Your brother would probably jump right in if Peach wasn't also a princess."
Luigi chucked out loud for a few seconds before continuing, "Oh man! I thought I was the only one who thought that!"
"I mean... It's not like he has... A maniac or whatever those behavioral scientists use for those guys, but he's definitely the typical man," Daisy clarified.
Luigi nodded as he thought about his brother's past romantic life. He never got to home base with any of his girlfriends, and probably not even third base... Whatever third base was. First base he definitely passed and he stole second base. Despite him being Mario, he still has a set boundary; a shortstop that's impassible until a wedding ring is shown.
"Yeah, true," Luigi admitted, "A dainty princess like Peach is still with him. That means his... brain and heart are in the right places."
"I agree," nodded Daisy, "I mean, Mario. He's such a studly man. He's courteous, kind, always pushing mountains to save Peach..."
Luigi's smile is wiped off from his face; he isn't really a fan of hearing about his brother. Sure, Luigi loves staying out of the spotlight, as being a hero is much tougher than it seems. But all he hears is Mario, Mario and, last but not least, Mario.
"But remember, you saved the most famous hero not once, but TWICE!" Daisy smiled as she rubs a hand on Luigi's cheek, "And that makes my little Weegie a great hero!"
Luigi's smile returns to his face as he looks at Daisy's eyes, "And you Daisy... You're a sporty tomboy, but at the same time, you're a nice, caring woman."
"Aww shush Luigi! You're too cute when you say nice things!" Daisy replied as she immediately gives Luigi a kiss. After the kiss, Daisy settles into her bed, "Well well Mister Sleepyman! It's time for bed!"
"Yeah. I'm tired all of the sudden," Luigi agreed as he lays down on the other side of the King-sized bed.
~7~7~7~7~7
Meanwhile, in the next room...
"This room has a weird vibe to it," Iggy complained as Lemmy stretches out on the couch watching a hockey game.
"Why's hockey on? It's October!" Lemmy completely waived off Iggy's question, "Well I like hockey, so either way..."
"LEMMY! Did you hear what I said?"
"Wu-what Iggy?" Lemmy asked as he snaps out of some sort of 'trance'. Iggy shakes his head at his brother's foolish behaviors. Iggy is stressed about this whole thing now that he finally found out the correlation between the number 'six' found in their journey. True or not, they are at least coincidental...
"Are you seriously ignoring me? I expressed a valid concern and you wave me off as if I'm a pesky housefly!"
"Sorry, it's just that I'm so into this game- OH MY GOSH! THEY SCORED!" Lemmy screamed in excitement, and probably waking up the other hotel guests.
"Whatever. You're no help. I'm going to bed. And if you find me dead in the morning, then it's your fault for ignoring me!" Iggy spat as he turns to go towards the bathroom.
"'Kay! Good night Bro!" Lemmy quickly dismissed, still mesmerized by the hockey game, "C'mon you idiot! Get the puck into the stinking goal!"
"All right, I'm sick of this," Iggy fumed as he comes out of the bathroom holding his toothbrush with a glob of toothpaste on it. He puts the toothbrush on a table near the couch, picks up the TV remote and turns the TV off. Of course, he gets jeers from Lemmy.
"Hey! Turn that back on! He was about to score!"
"Lemmy," Iggy retorted, "I've been trying to talk to you for the past several minutes, and you've been doing nothing but watching that stupid game!"
"Hey!" Lemmy said in a high-pitched, offended voice, "Hockey is NOT stupid! How dare you make fun of Ice Land's sport?!"
"It's making you ignore me! Don't you feel like this... weird presence in the room?"
Lemmy remains silent for a few seconds before he finally speaks up, "Yes, I feel a weird presence, now that you mention it."
"And what does it feel like to you?" Iggy questioned, relieved that his brother is finally understanding his feelings.
"To me, it's called You Turned Off the Hockey Game So It's Silent. The cure to that feeling is you turning it back on!" Lemmy stated with a smart-aleck smile planted on his face. Iggy, seeing as he's not getting anything helpful from his 'twin' brother, does a dramatic sigh of defeat, turns on the television and continues to brush his teeth.
"You're hopeless, Lemmy," Iggy agonized as he runs the toothbrush to his teeth, "You care more about a stupid two-hour game than your own favorite brother's health and sense of security."
"HE SCORES AGAIN! YES!" Lemmy screeched in happiness, completely ignoring Iggy's complaint.
"Sigh..."
~7~7~7~7~7
Within the past few hours, the seven have made their way up from the shadow realm and made their way through the somehow-still-functioning portal. They jump into the portal; all of them end up in the same cave in Ice Land that they were in before the happenings. Anguished by the events they endured, all seven of them pass out in the cave.
~7~7~7~7~7
Time: 7:01am, Wednesday, October 17, 2001 - Ice Land cave.
Now, a few hours after all that, the light to a new day is shining all across the near-arctic, mountainous region, causing all seven of the heroes to wake up.
"Ugh... How long have we been asleep..." Violent questioned, stretching her arms and fluttering her feathers.
"No idea," answered Ludwig with a shrug, "But we need the sleep. We don't know what today or tomorrow can bring."
"Yeah. So, um... How do we destroy the portal?" Alex questioned.
"Vell, in vun of my books, I read all about portals. Vhether zey go to good places or bad, zey alvays get destroyed by ze opposite element zey are in. If no opposite is evident, zen ze veaknesses of ze person who made it, in zis case ze shadow beast, vill kill ze portal off."
"So, since we're in an icy place, fire will destroy it?" Larry asked. Morton, testing this, used his firebreath on the portal, but the portal isn't destroyed.
"Not just fire. Look outside; zis place probably never rains, nor does it get much plants," Ludwig continued, giving a hinting stare at both Wendy and Larry. The two of them eventually get his message.
"Oh, right," Larry stuttered a bit as he points at the ground right below the portal, causing little plants to come up. He then points to another area a bit of a way from the first patch, and plants also grow there. Morton then burns the patch farthest from the portal, which causes numerous particles of smoke to fill the cavern. Coughing for fresh air, the group move closer towards the exit of the cave as Wendy points at a pillar of smoke. An actual raincloud forms, thanks to the smoke, and the rain causes the plants by the portal to grow bigger. Finally, Morton spits more fire at the plants, causing the whole mini forest near the portal to burn. As the plants burn, the portal begins to shrink until it completely disappears!
"Great job siblings!" Ludwig applauded, "Now ve have vun more portal to go! Let's make our vay to Serenity Isle! Zere should be a pipe zhere since Peach et al are zere."
~7~7~7~7~7
Mario, Peach and Toad are lounging in the West Prison with Bowser and Roy. They chose the West Prison due to its cleanliness and the fact that it's rarely used; since Serenity Isle is an island, there's no easy way to pass the coastlines, so any intruders in the past simply got shot down rather than taken to the prison.
"Okay Bowser. You got it recorded?" Toad questioned.
"Yeah I did fungus head. Here it is," Bowser presents the tape player radio. He rewinds the tape for a bit, then hits play. Immediately, Grodus's voice is heard on the player.
'All right, guys, we got to focus here. We need to do this as fast as we can.'
"Yes we do, captain,' an unidentified voice replies, 'Time's running out.'
'And we need to do it as fast as possible so nobody can catch us,' Grodus's voice says, 'I have a strong feeling that Crump and those three X-Nauts are on us. Probably the prisoners too.'
'Crump's easy to take out once we rule the world. And if Crump will be easy, so will those other three wimpy X-Nauts,' a deeper voice replied.
'Shoot! If both Crump and the X-Nauts are on us, that means the prisoners aren't locked up!' Grodus exclaimed in fear, 'But it seems as if Crump and those three X-Nauts aren't getting along. The X-Nauts probably locked up the prisoners while Crump locked the X-Nauts up. Makes our job easier!'
'What's your strategy sir?'
'We will unleash-'
'MUSKULAR IS AWESOME AND BOWSER IS A MERE MORTAL WHO WILL NEVER BE AS AWESOME AS MUSKULAR!'
'BOWSER? MUSKULAR? Guys! They're on us!' Grodus's voice cried in fear as he walks towards the door, 'Where the heck are my guards?! Whatever! Time to get them!'
*END RECORDING*
The five characters sit there in pure shock. No wonder why Eldstar and Kalmar told the two not to trust anyone here! They all thought Crump was an enemy while Grodus was an ally for them. It turns out to be quite the opposite!
"So you guys figured out my clues eh?" a mysterious voice bellows out from the staircase in the prison, "I knew you'd figure out the crud I was telling you. Oh, the magic of indirect clues. Who else would say that the warp pipe blocker was in the basement?"
"Crump!" Peach exclaimed, "You're on our side!"
"Well... Umm... Yeah I guess you can say that. I'm against Grodus and Jabrael, if that's what you mean. Am I exactly on your side? Naw," Crump muttered, "But even if I dislike you guys, I, as well as the world, need you five."
"Why didn't you lock us up in the West Prison like Grodus said?" Bowser questioned, "And why did you throw all five of us in?"
"... Did you even hear what I just said? I'm against Grodus," Crump repeated himself in annoyance. Crump immediately began to soften up a bit, "Grodus controls the West Prison, and I control the East. I threw you into the East because that crack on the north wall bothers me. Sometimes I even see a bit of dark smoke coming out of the cracks. Scary stuff if you ask me. Plus, I can have the keys to your cells instead of a password-protected cell that only Grodus knows the keycode to. As for throwing all five of you in, I did that so you five couldn't do anything idiotic unless I both had my eyes on you AND give you hints."
The five characters nod in understanding, "That makes sense now," Mario pondered, "So how are we gonna defeat Jabrael?"
"We? I'm trying to defeat mainly Grodus," Crump corrected. However, before any of the five characters can object to his sentence, Crump disappears from the prison. Shaking her head in both agony and frustration, Peach finally speaks up.
"I guess the best we can do is to wait for the others. That may take awhile," the princess informed, pulling out four objects from her pockets, "Until then, let's just sit here. I smuggled sandwiches in."
At the mentioning of sandwiches, the four other ravenous heroes perk their heads up as they grab a sandwich from Peach. The five of them sat on the floor in the West Prison, inhaling the sandwich as if they never ate for days straight.
~7~7~7~7~7
Time: 1:12pm, Wednesday, October 17, 2001 - Alex's Magic Carpet
After the seven destroyed the portal in Ice Land, Alex takes out the magic carpet from her shell. Surprisingly, the shadow beasts haven't taken the carpet away when Alex and the others were captured. Ditto for the winter coats that the seven are currently wearing.
After a couple hours on the carpet, most of the group is asleep. Even Alex is asleep, but not before she allows Larry to pilot the mystical carpet. Wendy opens her eyes and observes her surroundings: She sees Morton and Reeka sleeping at the back of the carpet, along with Ludwig, Violent and Alex sleeping in the middle of the carpet, towards the front. Larry, who's the only other one not asleep, is piloting the carpet.
"Larry! Alex let you drive this?" Wendy questioned.
"Yeah. According to Ludwig, I have to move WSW. He also said 'S64W' or something like that but he shook it off when I asked him what it meant."
Wendy raised an eyebrow, "And... Umm, is that something important?"
"Hey. If it was, he would've repeated, don't you think?" Larry dismissed her question as he continues to pilot the carpet. Wendy simply stares at the ground; they are no longer on snow-covered ground, but rather a semiarid landscape with patches of sand and sagebrush. Feeling a sudden blast of warm air, Wendy removes the winter coat she still has on.
"How much longer? It looks like we're in Pipe Land!"
"We're around there; I think it's western Dark Land, so we're close!"
"And... How do you know?"
"Not many places here on the Mushroom Continent has deserts except for eastern Desert Land, southern Dark Land, the inland areas of continental Water Land and this area. The mountains of north-central Pipe Land causes a rain-shadow effect in this region, leaving it to be a desert, despite its higher latitude," Larry informed. Wendy decides to believe Larry; the gardener may not excel at many subjects, but geography's one of his strongest subjects, along with the more in-depth geology and botany.
"So we're in western Dark Land then..." Wendy repeated as Larry nods.
"Yep. Since the only geological activity in this area are geysers and hot springs every now and then, it's actually not dark compared to the rest of Dark Land. Did you know the volcanoes of Dark Land spew out millions of tons of ash a year, yet almost no lava? They've been doing that for over 1,900 years!"
"Interesting!" Wendy nodded at Larry's fact until she finds a small fault, "What about the Lava Pits by our castle?"
"They're caused by small openings in the crust that connects to the mantle of Plit. There's almost no pressure difference between the atmosphere and the mantle at that point, so magma just simply floods the area without causing an eruption."
"So is Dark Land the only place in the Mushroom Continent with active volcanoes or something?" Wendy questioned, "Is that how Dark Land is cursed?"
Larry remains silent for a few minutes. Through all his studies, there's almost no sign of Dark Land being cursed, despite the historical documents in Desert Land saying otherwise. Finally, he speaks up to Wendy.
"Dark Land isn't the only land, no. Pipe Land and Desert Land can experience severe eruptions, along with earthquakes, due to both places being on a fault line. That might be how Dark Land's cursed actually, as the ash makes Dark Land much darker and colder than it should be. Except around lava pits, of course."
"Interesting. Well I'm going back to sleep before my mind explodes from all this new stuff," Wendy yawns as she puts her head down on the carpet. Not even a minute later, Wendy started catching some Z's.
Ignoring the noise emitted from his three sleeping siblings, along with his three newfound friends, Larry looks at the map Ludwig provided him.
"We should make it to Jasper by 4PM," Larry announced. He receives six different pitches of snores in response.
~7~7~7~7~7
Time: 3:30 PM, Wednesday, October 17, 2001 - Jasper, Pipe Land.
Lemmy and Iggy are in their room, both of them sharing a large platter of chicken tenders from a local diner; the chicken pieces are accompanied with salted French fries.
"Oh my gosh Iggy! These fries are awesome!" Lemmy exclaimed as he grabs more of the French fries. These fries are different from what he's used to; the diner uses garlic sea salt instead of the typical salt other places use. That specific seasoning, as well as the firmness of the fries, is what makes them exceptional.
"The chicken's not bad either! I mean, the chicken isn't Dark Land style, but it's still good!"
"I get sick of all that buffalo sauce, bread crumbs and pancake batter Dark Land uses on their fried chicken," Lemmy admitted, "Having just plain ol' bried chicken Pipe Land is famous for is great! I love the idea of baking and frying the chicken at the same time!"
"Whoever thought of bried chicken was a genius! Although I really do love Belgian pancake batter as the chicken coating," Iggy responded.
Lemmy only gives a little nod as he stuffs his face with more fries. Iggy raises his eyebrow at Lemmy packing his mouth with a load of fries, but decides not to say anything related to his brother's current eating behavior.
"So Lemmy, anything out-of-the-ordinary happen to you today or yesterday?"
"What do you mean?" a confused Lemmy questioned as he consumes more fries after his muttered interrogative sentence, "In this room or outside?"
"In this room. I'm trying to relate all this six crap."
"Well," Lemmy confessed, "The toilet clogged up but that was about it. Man, that thing was overflowing with black water-"
"Wait! Black water?" Iggy blurted, "That's not good Lemmy!"
Lemmy continued to act scared, but he has to try his best not to crack a smile at the joke he's telling Iggy, "It was scary! I just thought that it was just dark but now that I think of it... The toilet water was black also this morning."
"This isn't good Lemmy!" Iggy repeated, "Jabrael must be at the fringes! We have to hurry!"
Shortly after his outburst, the fourth-oldest Koopaling opens up the door in haste, slams it shut and runs towards the room both Daisy and Luigi are in. Iggy pounds hard on their door, pausing only to see if stirring is heard in the room. When the sound he hoped for is absent, he once again knocks hard on the door.
"Coming! Geez!" a feminine voice is heard as the door opens, revealing Daisy with a towel around her body, "What Iggy?!" Daisy whispered harshly, "I'm trying to take a shower!"
"Daisy! We need to go to the Pipe Maze! Lemmy said there was black water in the toilet!"
"... Umm what?" Daisy implored, "What do you mean?! What time is it?"
"About 3:45PM," the Koopaling informed. Daisy immediately begins freaking out.
"CRAP! CRAP! AND TRIPLE CRAP! I need to get dressed! I'll tell Luigi to get ready too! See you in a few minutes!" Daisy shouted as she slams the door in Iggy's face.
Now that he has both Luigi and Daisy getting ready, Iggy returns to his hotel room, where he sees Lemmy casually eating the fries.
"Geez! Coulda waited for me!"
"Sorry Lemmy... Adrenaline rush. But we need to head down to the Maze."
"Okay! Let me finish these fries real quick-" Lemmy tried to reply, but Iggy instead smacks the fries to the ground, "Hey!"
"This isn't time to sit here stuffing your mouth with fries! We need to go down to the Maze now!"
"Geez, Mister Bossy," Lemmy pouted as he opens up the door and walks out of the room. Out in the hall, he sees both Daisy and Luigi, the two of them in their same clothes despite Luigi having taken a shower. Not surprising, as none of them packed extra clothes for this trip. Daisy, unfortunate as she is, couldn't start her shower due to Iggy knocking on her door.
"Ready? We gotta go!" Luigi informed as he, along with the three others, rush off towards the Pipe Maze.
~7~7~7~7~7
Time: 3:57pm, Wednesday, October 17, 2001 - Jasper, Pipe Land.
"We're here!" Larry shouted in happiness as the magic carpet lands outside of the pipe leading to the Pipe Maze. However, he sees that the other six are still asleep. Sighing, Larry bonks each of them on the head, causing all six of them to wake up in a fit.
"Ow!" Alex, Reeka and Wendy cried out.
"Vatch zat hand!" Ludwig complained.
"What's your deal dude?" Violent questioned in an angry voice.
"Do that again and I'll throw you in a ditch!" Morton threatened as he stretched out his limbs.
Ignoring their not-so-nice remarks, Larry again informs them, "We're here. Now can you stop threatening me and being rude? We need to be this thing called a team again."
"Ohhhhhh..." the other six slowly reply as they still remain dumbstruck. They almost forgot about their mission, as if the six of them entered into a sleep that caused amnesia. Larry nodded as the glass around the carpet deactivates. 'Gotta love E. Gadd's technology,' Larry thought to himself.
Everyone gets off of the magic carpet and continue to watch Alex roll up the carpet, putting the now-rolled-up carpet in her shell; about half of the medium-sized carpet pokes out above her shell. They're about to walk off when everything is situated, but a certain group of adventurers stop them.
"Whoa! Is that you guys?!" a feminine voice shouted as four familiar figures dash towards them. It was Daisy, Luigi, Iggy and Lemmy!
"Hey! You guys got the message too?" Wendy questioned.
"Yeah. We were told by the operator yesterday to come back around 4PM. As you see, we're a tad late."
"Ve just came here to see if zere vas a pipe," Ludwig explained, "By ze way you guys seem, I reckon zere is a pipe?"
Daisy nodded her head as she continues to walk, the other characters eventually following her lead, "There should be. Let's check it out!"
After her explanation, Daisy, along with the others, jump in the warp pipe to enter the Pipe Maze.
~7~7~7~7~7
Time: ?
"So, stars, did you all give some of your powers to the powerless ones?" Eldstar questioned, "They need the powers from both us and the Sages if they're to stop Jabrael."
"Yes we did," the other star spirits replied in a monotone voice.
"Me and Eldstar also told Peach, Mario and Toad to not trust anyone," Kalmar told the others as they all jump a little. Apparently Star Spirits jumping is their way of nodding their... pointers.
"I also played a trick on Bowser and his son. Because of my trick, they were able to see that Grodus is indeed the enemy," bragged Muskular. The other Star Spirits jumped in the air again.
"All right. It seems like everything's according to plan. Let's just observe and step in if anything's needed," Eldstar dismissed. At the mentioning of this, the six other Star Spirits all zoom off into six different directions, leaving Eldstar to sit at the meeting area alone, "Good luck you guys... The time is currently at hand..."
~7~7~7~7~7
Time: 4:38pm, Wednesday, October 17, 2001 - Serenity Isle Castle
"So are we gonna go to Grodus's room?" Toad questioned, "It feels so weird walking around here without our X-Naut suits!
Peach thought about the question that her trusted henchman uttered before finally nodding her head, "Yes and no. Me, you and Mario will go to Grodus while Bowser and Roy will find Crump."
"Okay. Seems fair," replied Toad as the three of them escape from the West Prison and go down a few corridors.
"These corridors creep me out. The red carpet and gray walls remind me of Bowser's castle," Peach admitted as the group walks up some stairs towards the throne room. Without hesitation or knocking, the three of them burst into the room, where they see Grodus and the three Shadow Sirens.
"Well well well, look at these three rats. Looks like I need an exterminator!" Grodus announced as he sees the three, "Say, where's your two 'prisoners'?"
Mario, Peach and Toad pause in fear; Grodus already knows their plans! The three remain speechless while Peach, both the Princess and the Diplomat for the Mushroom Kingdom, tries to throw words together in her head to make a compelling sentence.
"Well, um," Peach attempted, "It was an accident. We only came here to talk-"
"What do you think we're doing now?"
"... Talking?" Peach answered in a question, "But-"
"No. We're done talking. You invaded my privacy, my security, and most of all, my trust in your species of this planet," Grodus stated in a surprisingly calm voice, "Time for Her Majesty to take over this blasted world!"
"Grodus, why're you doing this? She's probably using you!"
"Using me? Peach, get real. Me and her are pals. NOW! JABRAEL! Come to life!"
Grodus points his staff at a metal pipe that seems to be going into the floor; several streams of dark lightning bolts hit the pipe, which travels down towards the bottom.
A huge noise is heard from the basement, followed by the castle starting to shake; a devastating earthquake is taking place!
"Hahahahahaha!" Grodus laughed as he exits the room and goes down the stairs, "Get me if you can!"
"Oh no you don't!" Peach cried. She, Toad and Mario chase Grodus down the stairs and out of the still-shaking castle.
~7~7~7~7~7
"I know you four want to go to Serenity Isle," the same toad operator informed, focusing his attention on Lemmy, Iggy, Luigi and Daisy, "And I'm glad to say that whatever was preventing the pipe from popping up in Serenity Isle has been destroyed."
Daisy smiles and does a little hurrah at the news, "That's great news! Which one is it?"
"Since Serenity Isle is an island," the toad started, "It will be in the section with the yellow pipes. Let me show you. Are you four in the same group as these other seven?"
"Yeah," replied Iggy, "They're tagging along with us."
The toad smiles and gives a quick nod, then strolls over towards the area with several yellow pipes. On one of the pipes is labelled 'Serenitatem Insula'.
"As you see, we still haven't changed its ancient name..." the toad informed the group, "Now jump in and have fun!"
None of the characters move; Daisy looks at the operator in an awkward way.
"Umm..." Daisy questioned as she turns a bit red, "Do we... Have to pay for this? I'm new to all this..."
The toad smiles at them, "You are royalty, so are the Koopas. Luigi's a local hero. That bird thing is your friend. You all go free."
While Violent growls at being called a 'bird thing', Daisy smiles and thanks the toad as she and Luigi jump into the yellow pipe, eager to finally approach the end of this weird, yet blissful, adventure.
~7~7~7~7~7
Time: 4:51pm, Wednesday, October 17, 2001 - Field outside of Serenity Isle Castle.
Bowser and Roy are out on the field with Lord Crump, the three of them confused about the shaking going on. With a scared look on his face, Crump turns towards the two Koopas to break the news to them.
"Guys... Jabrael's spirit is coming!"
Bowser and Roy also show scared looks as they realize the reality. At the same time, Grodus comes to the field followed by Peach, Mario and Toad.
"Get... back... here man!" Toad panted.
Grodus pauses at the middle of the field, standing in front of the six characters. Grodus starts to shake his computerized head.
"Crump, I can't believe you. You betrayed me, you traitor! When Jabrael makes me one of the Dark Lords, then I'll give you a cushy prison! And maybe a cushy death! But cushy isn't a promise!"
Crump, however, starts laughing instead of expressing terror, "Buh huh huh huh huh huh. Grodus, you really think you and your cruddy self can take over this world? Look at Mario! He saved the world several times!"
"Well, this is an exception. Jabrael's gonna win! And I'll be one of her henchmen!"
"You said that with the Shadow Queen," the giant purple X-Naut informed, "And you see how well that went? Guess where her spirit is?"
"I don't care if that stupid Goomba girl bottled her spirit up and put it in some random library! That's not gonna happen to Jabrael!"
"Whatever," fumed Crump as he stomps over towards Grodus, "I'm tired of your crud. Time to see some power-"
However, at this time, the three Shadow Sirens pop up from the ground; Beldam then casts an ice spell, efficiently freezing Crump in his place.
"Muhahaha. That little twerp looks cute frozen," Beldam giggled, "Anyway, Grodus gave the spark to open the now-charged portal; now it's time to summon My Queen! SISTERS! LET'S CHANT THE SPELL!"
Much to the panic of Mario, Peach, Toad, Bowser, Roy and the frozen Crump, the three Shadow Sirens start chanting a sort of spell.
"Surgite, Regina! Habes occupare mundi! Surgite, Regina! Caelum est tibi!" the three Shadow Sirens chanted. After the chanting ends, black steam starts coming out of the Serenity Isle castle.
The six heroes are speechless as more black steam leaks out of the castle. So much steam is being let out of the castle that the sky above them is turning darker and darker.
"Guys..." Peach gasped, "The sky's turning dark... Oh no! But why?! The Star Spirits said not until October 18!"
"It is October 18, silly," Grodus guffawed, "You forgot that Serenity Isle's timezone is 22 hours ahead of the Mushroom Kingdom's!"
"So it's really 3pm on October 18... Oh no..." Peach cried out in shame.
~7~7~7~7~7
Meanwhile, in Green City, Grass Land...
"Howdy neighbor!" Peach's cousin Apricot greeted a random male toad as Apricot walks her dog. Hearing her jolly greeting spiced up in a minor country accent, the toad smiles at her, waves, and starts talking to her.
"Apricot... Right? Peach's cousin?" the toad questioned. Apricot nods her head, her dirty-blonde hair ruffling a bit during the process.
"Yep! That's me!" Apricot confirmed in a cheery voice.
"You seem so happy, despite your own cousin having the throne over you."
"Well, being a princess isn't fun and games. There's serious work that's needed, and well... It's more fit for Peach than me. I rather live here and farm my apricots!" Apricot informed. The toad nods his head in understanding as Apricot continues to talk, "Today's just a beautiful autumn day that the Star Spirits gave us, isn't it?"
"Yes!" the toad agreed full-heartedly, "Not a single cloud in the sky, the Sun's shining on this nice day despite it being October 17-"
Suddenly, a dark-purple cloud appears in the sky, covering the Sun! It looks as if the cloud stretches on for miles!
"Oh no! The sky... It's dark!" Apricot cried out as she tries to calm her barking dog. Meanwhile, the toad looks around in confusion.
~7~7~7~7~7
In Rolling Hills, Desert Land...
"I don't know officer... It's been about 72 hours since she went missing..." Alex's mother cried as she sits in the interrogation room. At the other side of the table, two police officers, both of them sledge brothers, are trying to ask her questions.
"Are you divorced?"
"No," Alex's mother replied in a melancholy voice, "We're separated due to my husband's work. He lives in Pipe Land while I live here."
"Do you know if she would sneak off to Pipe Land?" one of the police officers continue to grill her.
Alex's mother sits in thought for a second before shrugging, "I haven't talked to my husband since Sunday night. He's been awfully busy, so I doubt he can help out Alex if she snuck off there. However, her best friend, Reeka, lives there. I should call her mother..."
During her explanation, one of the sledge brothers is looking outside the window, "We will call her promptly. Please tell us her phone number-"
The sledge brother pauses as he sees a huge purple cloud appearing in the sky, causing the Desertlandian sky to turn dark.
"W-w-what's going on...? Alex's mom questioned. The two sledge brothers shrug their shoulders and run off to an available telephone.
~7~7~7~7~7
In Metallic City, Pipe Land...
"Okay!" E. Gadd smiled, "I think I finally mastered an SPF 6,726,372,482 sunscreen! Let me try it out!"
E. Gadd applies some of the sunscreen on his skin.
"Now to walk outside and bathe in the Sun- wait! There's no Sun?! What gives?! What happened to it?!"
~7~7~7~7~7
In Jasper, Pipe Land...
"Thanks for coming over for coffee today, Mr. Schwab," Reeka's mom smiled as she hands him a mug of coffee with a gingerbread cookie. Both of them are sitting on Reeka's mom's front porch just enjoying the warm sunshine and the gentle breeze.
"No problem Mrs. Van Driel. I see you're ready for the holidays!"
"Oh yeah! It's my favorite holiday of mine," Reeka's mom replied, "Just the idea of being with family... Umm, speaking of, did you hear of Alex and Reeka recently?"
Alex's dad shook his head as he dips the cookie into his mug, stirs it around, and eventually bites off the moist portion, "I haven't heard of them since Monday morning."
"Do you think... They got lost in Ice Land with the others they are apparently with?! I heard they had a record snowfall either yesterday or today!"
"I hope not," Alex's dad hoped, "But they are with a group. We can always look for them-"
Suddenly, the skies turn dark, completely conquering the sunlight desperately trying to pierce through a massive dark-purple cloud.
"Oh no..." Alex's dad cried out, "It's... The shadow apocalypse!"