As promised, here's chapter 3-3. About partway through you might be able to tell where I stopped writing and started picking it up again every year or so. Even this chapter I will eventually rewrite when I get through the rewriting process, but until then please enjoy what I have.

Chapter 3-4 is hardly halfway done right now. It might be closer to two weeks for me to finish it if I'm lucky.

Having deterred the Red Beasts from eating them whole, Luigi and company had found themselves beneath the branches of a great, possibly ancient tree. Behind it was the silhouette of Fort Francis.

"This is gonna take a while." Bowser said aloud, the others agreeing as they prepared for the journey upward to the red winds.

Chapter 3-3

Up a Tree

Luigi hadn't truly considered how long the climb would be until it was morning.

Nobody in the group was particularly good at climbing begin with, which left all the heroes with a lot to be desired, but at the least they had a healthy breakfast laid out before them when they woke up. The culprit of the meal was an ant-sized person that lived in a small stump; Luigi didn't even know people could be so tiny until he met the man who waved for their attention and insisted that they'd need the energy to climb up.

"Climb one branch at a time." He suggested to the group, handing them a Peachy Peach, a Fresh Veggie, and a Horsetail for the road. They took that advice to heart as they circled the tree for the lowest possible branches and gradually neared the top.

It wasn't too hard to climb after some trial and error, and the eventual development of a tree-climbing groove, it was merely the wildlife inside the tree that proved to be an issue, as always. Luigi loved all living things, and he only hurt others in the name of defense or justice, but he was about three inches away from dropping that philosophy in the name of bringing the Crazee Dayzee to extinction.

Luigi despised Dayzees with a passion, as they always showed up in the most irritating places possible when he needed to get something done. Flower Fields was a fine, understandable part of the Mushroom Kingdom for them to appear, he'd even say they were helpful for people that wanted to fall asleep in a flowerbed. The Twilight Trail was a beyond bizarre place for them to be, but at least they didn't get in the way that much. Here though, in a giant tree, was not acceptable.

"I'M GOING TO PULL OUT YOUR STUPID PETALS ONE BY ONE WHEN I GET YOU!" Luigi yelled at the pink-petaled flower, who giggled cutely at him and promptly began to sing her iconic lullaby, putting Luigi to sleep for what felt like the millionth time already. He then fell back down several branches for what also felt like the millionth time.

"Can't you just lull them to sleep like you did before to make them stop?" Bowser asked Piccolo while Peach woke Luigi up.

"It only works on domestic species, wild animals are unaffected." Piccolo sadly replied, "We'll just have to tough it out."

"I'M TIRED OF CLIMBING UP AND DOWN BECAUSE OF THESE TONE-DEAF WEEDS!" Peach screamed. "THOREAU, COME HERE!"

Said pixl reluctantly followed her demand, giving her the same annoyed treatment he had been giving Luigi. Peach reached out to the branch the Dayzee was on, gripped tightly to it, and pulled it back just enough to not break the branch before releasing, sending the flower flying far away from the tree.

"There, problem solved." She nodded, continuing the climb on her own. The wild parakoopas and the jumbled up mess of green pixels that seemed to comprise another strange new species, the Tileoid, were significantly easier to deal with than the dayzees, but not nearly as prominent as them. One couldn't help but wonder if maybe flinging them away from the branches was disturbing a vital mutualistic relationship. Luigi would have to add that to his ever-expanding list of things to ask someone later when it came up.

Irregardless, the journey up to the canopy took a solid three hours and Luigi was not in the mood for the bat-woman that met eye-to-eye with him the moment his head was lifted over the last branch.

"You're laaaaaaate~"

Luigi screamed, banging his head against the woman's. Bowser caught Luigi before falling from the impact while Nastasia slid towards the middle of a plateau that connected to the tree's outstretched branches.

"How absolutely rude! Did nobody teach you manners, Man in Green?"

"Hello Nastasia." Luigi groaned. He'd already fought twice in this world, and the end of each world always brought a tough boss fight with it, so he was, again, not in the mood.

"Who're you?" Peach yucked. She herself may have been evil, but at least she had dress-code standards. "You look like you pulled out every other thing in a circus wardrobe and just...put on whatever you could fit into."

"That's Nastasia." Luigi said, never feeling happier to be standing on a relatively flat surface.

"You're Nastasia?" Bowser asked.

"Yes, I am! You may also call me the Ringleader of Darkness!" The ever-sassy woman posed like a recently landed acrobat.

"Well, I was partially right about the circus thing." Peach chortled, receiving an offended look from the opposing woman.

"Not to be mean Miss Nastasia, but we're kinda busy. If you could please move..." Bowser had started with a begging tone. He already felt weary of this woman and he hadn't even known her for a full minute yet.

Nastasia interrupted, laughing boastfully. "No way! Tempo has delivered me to fight you! Don't think I'll go easy like my co-workers. Unlike them I actually have full intent to end your games. The Mistress might not know, or be proud of that, but it's the least I can do to ensure things are made right in the universe."

"Why?!" Luigi exclaimed. "What good is ending me going to do if your mistress needs me alive?"

"Wouldn't you like to know!" She continued to laugh as tauntingly as possible.

"As it turns out, I would like to know, actually."

Nastasia stopped, and put a hand beneath her chin in thought before chuckling to herself. "Too bad! You'll have to piece that together yourself when I deliver you into the Afterlife."

She charged at the group of heroes at a blinding speed while their guards were down. When they managed to collect themselves from the attack, they realized they were no longer on top of the Dotwood Tree.

The new area was an infinite plane with an eyesore-shade of yellow-green covering the gridded ground. Despite the lack of a sun, the sky was a bright green color with many wavy patterns decorating it in the absence of clouds.

"I hope you like what you see~" Nastasia asked, once again several feet away from her opponents. "Mistress Tempo's beloved assistant crafted this place himself. Any thoughts?"

"From what I've learned since two days ago, I think your army is addicted to green." Peach said dryly.

"Oh Princess Peach, always the sassy one! I assure you our fondness for green is a simple string of coincidences, but I'll admit I'm offended by your lack of interest in where we are! Welcome to Dimentio D, your battleground for today." Nastasia waved her hand around in a show-offy fashion. "This Dimension was constructed with the purpose to increase physical and magical strengths, I do hope you'll all try to keep up long enough for me to end your games with dignity."

"Now you wait just one min-AAAHT!" Bowser attempted to protest, but was immediately bodied by the tiny bat woman and left pathetically toppled on his back. "How did you do that? You're only a third of my own size!"

Nastasia snickered as she decided on who to attack next, "It helps to have somebody as heavy as O'Chunks act as your sparring partner on occasion...think fast!"

Luigi had no time to retaliate when Nastasia beelined for him at an inhuman speed and shoved him onto the ground with much pride. Yes, she shoved him, like a bully on a playground.

Since Peach was the last left, she was significantly more prepared for Nastasia's next attack and used her parasol as a shield when the bat-lady charged for her. Nastasia hit the 'shield' at full force, and yet it remained unscratched, allowing Peach to wrestle with her opponent in an attempt to knock the other down.

Luigi had managed to steady himself onto his feet and flip Bowser rightside-up again during the ladies' tussle, and yet the two were still going at each other with full force when he was done. This should not by any means have been possible since Princess Peach was inarguably the most powerful human in existence as far as anybody in the Mushroom Dimension was concerned, with Luigi having enough luck and followers on any given adventure to match her through brute force alone. One would think someone like Bowser would be a match for her in battle, but even he knew better than to underestimate the Princess herself.

Despite all of this, Nastasia was holding her ground like a rock embedded into the earth. Actually, it looked like Peach was about to lose to Nastasia, which did not bode well for Bowser and Luigi at all, so they did the only logical thing that came to mind: ramming into Nastasia at full force.

The woman screeched out in pain. She was a bullet in this Dimension: High speed, high strength, no defense. It made sense really; if Mimi was a brick wall with poison on her side, and O'Chunks was practically a glass canon without his armor to keep him safe, then Nastasia using Dimension D as a means of packing a punch while already being very fast was a perfectly logical conclusion to make.

If this place increased strength though, did that mean-?

"Luigi, where are the pixls?" Bowser asked.

The plumber looked around, not a single glittery companion was following them.

"Have you checked over here?~" Nastasia teased.

They looked over in shock as their pixls were writhing on the ground in front of their foe, surrounded by the red rings that Luigi had immediately recognized from his encounter with Bonechill. The pixls growled, totally animalistic in nature.

"Strange…I thought he would've been here…" Nastasia frowned as she looked through the small army, like she was disappointed in what she had. It shifted into a unnerving grin, and she giggled. "Sick 'em."

The pixls got up and attacked with an abnormal ferociousness.

"Good luck with fighting two battles at once!"

"That's cheating!" Bowser cried, having to hide in his shell to avoid being completely bullied by tiny fairy creatures. It seemed they hadn't the sense in this state to use their powers, which was good for Luigi and his two companions, otherwise they'd be in real danger. Not that they weren't already in real danger, but Nastasia's threat levels under normal circumstances were tantamount to a mosquito, one that had a tendency to drain people of their sanity.

Digressions aside, Peach was now on bug-swatting duty, or Pixls swatting in this case. There was no relation to the previously mentioned mosquito that was Nastasia. No, it was Luigi who was to be dealing with the primary source of their woes at this time.

"Are you scared?" Nastasia asked with a fowl little grin, "You should be. I've waited far too long for the moment to crush you beneath my dainty little feet, I'll relish in that moment."

"What the heck is your problem?!"

"Honestly? Hahahaha, as if you don't know! I hate your entire existence, Luigi." She launched herself in his direction, ready to strike.

"Okay, so you're just not going to tell me." He waited until the last moment to dodge and swung his hammer with as much strength as he could muster. "That's fine, take your time. You'll spill the beans on your plan eventually, all bad guys usually do."

She cried out in pain again, but stood her ground. She glared daggers at Luigi as some poor attempt to intimidate the man before ramming him in the gut. That was only the beginning of the fast-paced pummelings she was going to inflict on him.

"Oh, believe me Man in Green," A hit in the face. "I've got quite a few bones to pick with you." A slide that tripped him into the ground. "It's just a matter of deciding which one of those little nuances I want to use as my reason to completely decimate you."

It only took a few seconds for him to ache everywhere at once, especially in places he didn't think could ever ache.

"That's good," Luigi chuckled despite being floored. "You'll probably need one of those 'nuances' as an excuse after you get all that soot off your face."

"What soot?" She asked. For some reason it was getting increasingly hot for her. She spun around just in time for a fireball to graciously say hello to her face, followed by a bomb, also thrown at her face.

As expected, her face was totally covered in soot.

When she could finally see again, Nastasia noticed that her face was utterly planted into the same floor Luigi had been lying on before. She groaned, and peeked through the shattered lenses of her glasses to watch her assailants regroup.

"Good work guys." Luigi sighed in relief.

"You look horrible!" Peach exclaimed to him.

"How horrible?"

"Like you ate a bunch of bees."

Nastasia let out another groan, louder this time. It got the heroes' attention.

"Nice fight lady, but it looks like Team Luigi is number one." Bowser grinned widely.

"How? How? This place was supposed to make me stronger, much stronger! And the pixls, how were you able to to defeat so many foes as once?"

"Those little dainty thing?" Peach asked, "They don't have a lot of defense, all we had to hit them with a strong enough attack and they go down like flies." She was notably picking up each pixl one by one.

The shorter woman grumbled, "But even then, how did YOU-" she pointed at Luigi, "-manage to hold against me for so long? My strength should have increased by a significant amount! Dimentio made it to work that way! Unless…wait, no!"

"Well…" Luigi scratched his chin, a smile on his face, "You said this place increased physical and magical strength…you didn't say it was specific to just you or your teammates. If that were the case, you probably could have mopped the floor with us."

"Oh I get it!" Bowser exclaimed, "It doesn't just work with you and your friends…"

"This dimension makes everybody stronger regardless of which side they're on, talk about a stupid blunder…" Peach finished the rest of the group's thought.

"…yes…yes of course…" Nastasia frowned, "…well, no matter." She shakily stood herself back up. "Perhaps that was a rookie mistake on my part, but once I recollect my strength I will make sure to actually destroy you."

Charging forward again, Luigi and the others braced for an attack that didn't come. Their visions spun around again, and when their eyes focused they were back at the top of the Dotwood Tree.

Nastasia was nowhere to found, it was very strange.

Peach huffed, "What an annoying woman. I have enough nerve to just punch her next time she shows up."

"I…actually wouldn't mind that." Luigi spoke up, "She's the reason we had to destroy Bonechill. He hadn't done anything, other than be at the wrong place at the wrong time."

"That's reason enough, idiot." The princess crossed her arms.

"W-What?"

"You heard me, Luigi."

"I…don't understand."

"UUUUUGH." She growled loudly, startling Bowser and Luigi. "I wouldn't expect you to. I'll explain it to you later. I want DOWN this tree NOW."

The could all agree to that. They had spent more than enough time in the treetops to last a lifetime.

"Piccolo said we have to ride the Red Wind to get to our destination, I can certainly see why now…" Luigi said while pointing outward.

From up here, they could see…everything! The scattered bastions, the Tile Pool, distant mountains and hills, and right ahead of them was an incredibly-sized fort.

"That must be Fort Francis." Luigi reasoned. "Piccolo, how do we ride the red winds? What does that even mean?"

He looked in his inventory, most of the pixls were still dazed from the fight, but Piccolo was able to flutter out and assess.

She hummed. "A good question. It's been a while, and my head is still spinning…I'm having a hard time remembering. I think it had something to do with the leaves…"

"Get some rest. We'll figure it out from here."

Piccolo nodded queasily and returned to join the other pixls.

It was strange to mention the leaves. It reminded Luigi of Yold Desert, when he plucked a leaf from the red tree to navigate the storm. He looked up at the branches around them.

Most of the leave were green, but a few of them from the very, very top of the tree were a bright red color.

"Strange." Luigi mumbled.

He climbed upwards a bit and began to notice the wind picking up. It was powerful, he could be pushed off if he didn't hold his ground.

Luigi grabbed a large leaf off a nearby branch, it was a healthy shade of green similar to the color of his hat. A wind this strong could probably lift him up with the leaf's help. He grabbed both ends of the leaf and held it aloft, the wind started to drag Luigi along, and then the leaf broke in half.

He looked at the two halves of the leaf.

"Wind's too strong, dummy." Said Peach, "It was a good plan, I'll admit, but I don't think it's gonna work. I'd use my parasol, but I don't think it can carry extra passengers. Also I don't share my stuff with idiots."

Luigi sighed and looked at the red leaves again, discarded the halves of the other leaf, and started climbing.

"What are you doing? Ya trying to get knocked down again? I ain't helping you with those dayzees if you fall again!"

Luigi ignored her and kept climbing until he could reach a red leaf. It was the same color as Mario's hat. Luigi frowned a bit before grabbing the brightest leaf he could find. He used his legs to hold onto the branch while letting his now free hands grip both ends of the leaf. The wind tugged at it tightly, and after several seconds of waiting the leaf didn't even tear slightly.

"Climb higher!" Luigi shouted, "Take one of the leaves up here!"

Peach and Bowser looked to one another, the latter followed his friend's lead. Peach sighed and did the same.

"On the count of three…" Luigi spoke with a focused tone. "We let go of the branches and let the wind carry us away. Okay? One…"

"Three!" Peach let go immediately. She cackled as the wind launched miles away in a second.

"Oh…that's strong strong wind." Bowser whispered, "Well, let's get going then." He set off second, leaving Luigi to take up the rear.

Rapidly, yet with grace, the trio flew closer and closer to Fort Francis.

"Almost there…don't give up on us Blecky." Luigi furrowed his brow while staring ahead.

…

"Drat…double drat…triple even!"

Nastasia poked her head out of the foliage of some branches just below where she had encountered the heroes, nursing a migraine.

"I thought defeating them would be easy with the information I know…then again…no, it makes sense. I didn't know the details of that place, even before…well, I still have plenty of chances at least."

She looked around. A Dayzee strutted up to her curiously, and started to clear its throat. Nastasia didn't give it the time of day, instead kicking it right off the edge of the tree.

"Plants. Not a fan of them…" She huffed, "Stupid Dayzees…"

Without further comment, Nastasia warped away from the Dotwood Tree.

No further updates right now. I just hope everybody that's reading this is enjoying it.