All the Spirits within the mansion went outside to see Bowser Jr. The young Koopa prince was taken aback for a second, but still held his own. "Wow, Mario, you sure got a lot of new recruits! This feels a little unfair, don't you think?"

"Junior." Mario named a roll call.

"That's right!" Junior slammed his fists onto the Clown Car - making it swerve a bit. He quickly gripped it to regain balance. "And right now, I'm mad! I was totally gonna save the day when the whole city seemed off - but Kamek just HAD to send me to a 'safe place' and it turns out it's the same exact place but fake! And it turns out, YOU'RE PART OF THIS?!"

Miku turned her head away from Bowser Jr. to think. "Whole city seemed off... ahahaha, that might've been my powers.." Ahahaha, silly Miku, using her Spirit Powers for her own benefit... Wait, wasn't that applied to all Spirits?

Junior folded his arms, really not impressed by Miku's sense of humor. "Oh, har-dee-har-har!" He fake-laughed to mock Miku. "Very very clever. Well guess what? I DIDN'T ASK!"

Luigi, also part of the squad, chimed in. "Didn't you... do that? Three sentences ago...?"

"SHADDUP!" He slammed his Clown Car. Again. It wobbled a bit this time. Soon enough, he might fall out of it. "Now! Listen here! Mario and circus band of freaks -"

Tohka summoned her limited Astral Dress and summoned Sandalphon. Junior audibly gulped, but continued and corrected his mistake "Mario and FRIENDS... I'm sick of this! I didn't sign up for a SLICE OF LIFE story! I came here for the drama! The action scenes! Where's all that, huh? Stupid pink-hair-girl thinks she can change this narrative? Well, I'M GONNA CHANGE IT BACK!" He slammed his car a third time, and toppled out entirely, faceplanting on the floor.

Mario had to hold back a snort. However, Bowser Jr. was certainly not in the mood. He continued to speak his evil plan while face-first on the floor. "And by doing that, I mean kidnapping the one responsible for this." He pushed a button as a cage floated down from nowhere, holding Rinne captive.

Rinne herself blinked, looking around. "...How... did I get here? Why can't I use my Spirit Powers?"

Junior cackled. "BWAHAHAHA! You see, my dear pink-haired..." He trailed off. "Spirit? Man. Talk about a lucky capture! Anyway." He bumped the side of his fist on the cage. "This cage is filled with Kamek's magic! I never knew it'd be stronger in this fake world! It turns out it completely nullifies Spirit magic! Man, what a plot convinience, am I right? If you want her-"

Mario jumped and punched the cage's bottom with his iconic jump pose. The cage shattered in one fell swoop as Rinne quickly dashed and hid behind Shido.

Bowser Jr's mouth was left agape, and then he whispered.

"that was not as expected"

All the other Spirits transformed into their limited Astral Dresses and pointed their weapons. The Mario trio ready to square up against Junior. The young prince was sweating more than a heatwave. "Yeesh! This is REALLY unfair! Mario! You! Me! Mano de mano! On the school rooftop! Don't be late! I expect full attendance from you AND that schoolboy!"

Shido pointed at himself. "Me?"

And with that, Junior's clown car took off toward the school - after he got it off the ground. "Hasta la bye-bye, suckers!"

And then started an incomprehensable choir of mumbling and questioning who the heck that was - save for Luigi. Speaking of Luigi...

Luigi pounded his finger on the shoulder as Mario stumbled back. Luigi then asked. "You coulda told us that Bowser Jr. was a part of this, y'know! I was enjoying our relaxing epilogue!"

"Come on, this world isn't even-a real..." Mario thought.

WELL ANYWAY, doesn't matter to them, they don't need to know. "Aaaah... uh.. yeah, haha. Sorry. I'mma gonna fix-a it though." He raised a thumbs up. "You can count on-a Mario!" He smiled. "Don't-a worry." Mario ran over to Shido. "Hey, Shido. Let's-a-go?"

Shido was... confronting a crying Rinne? "In a minute, Mario. I'm helping her..."

Mario turned to the school, and before he ran off, he heard what Rinne was so sad about.

"...my role... shafted..."

Mario jumped through endless trees and bushes, grabbing onto branches and vaulting over them. He landed on the ground on his hands, then jumped higher. His acrobatics weren't seen much, but when he got to show off his moves other than just jumping, Mario surely knew his stuff. He landed on his feet in a clearing. He recognised this park.

Kurumi committed murder here. Mario stopped to ponder it. Why would someone who seemed so sweet at the time turn out to be a murderer...

...And siding with Bowser, no less?!

Now his morales were conflicting. Usually stories were much simpler in plot. Bowser kidnaps the princess, Mario saves her, wash rinse repeat, yadda yadda... but now he has to decide who's innocent in this collateral damage.

Does Kurumi have a tragic backstory he doesn't know about? Is Kotori planning to kill Shido? Mario doesn't know! He-

"Ara ara, is someone having a mid-life crisis all alone in a phony world?"

Mario immediately raised his fist as he turned to the voice. Gothic red and black. A frenzied nightmare. He gave the stink-eye. "Oh, it's just-a you, Kurumi." Speak of the Devil.

"Just-a-you?" Kurumi parroted. "That's an awfully rude method of introducing me, Mario."

"Hooh?" Mario retorted back. "You, Kurumi... Or just a simple clone. A little messanger girl?"

"Zafkiel." She called out. A giant clock appeared behind you. "Unfortunately for you, Mario, I'm real." She pointed her gun at him. "And I've got a few questions for you."

"Right back at-a you, Kurumi. I'mma gonna start. What's the hubbub with you and-a Bowser? You got somethin' going on? You sure he's not the one you're-a hitting on instead of Shido?"

"Eugh, no." Kurumi fake-gagged. "He's a beast. We're more aquaintances, looking for the same goal of killing the First Spirit."

Mario clenched his fist. Kurumi continued.

"Although I doubt you have-"
"I've met her."

...

...

...

Kurumi's gun was pointed RIGHT on Mario's forehead. Life or death situation right here. "Tell me everything. You know. Right now."

Mario grinned. "Kill-a me and you'll never know."

Everything went silent.

...

...

...

However, Kurumi didn't pull the trigger, which gave Mario the green light to talk. "What... what exactly are you curious about-a Phantom?"

"..." Kurumi hesitated for a moment. "You must have a way to kill her."

"...what"

Luigi folded his arms and nervously stepped to and from each border of the Itsuka household. "Getting worried here..."

Peach pondered out into the distance. "You think Mario is okay out there?"

"Quite the opposite, princess." Luigi responded. "Who knows what he's dealing with out there?"

Tohka peered into the conversation. "Umu... you guys deal with this stuff too...?"

"Yeah." Luigi turned to Tohka. "All sorts of crazy wacky stuff. I do believe this world's on par..."

"Uuuu..." Tohka thought. "Do they have tasty food there?"

"If you count the spaghetti?"

Tohka turned to the Itsuka household and shouted. "Shidoooo! Can we go to the funny other world after this whole thing?"

Shido burst out the house after confronting Rinne. "Not sure that's possible! Need to catch up to Mario! Bye!" He sprinted down the road.

"Mario, you're hesitating..." Kurumi tapped her foot. "Tick tock goes the Zafkiel, you know how the saying goes..."

Mario finally blurted out. "I don't know!"

"Hmm... You don't know, you say. Perhaps I'll feast on you and take your power. You are definitely packed with that stuff..."

But just before Kurumi did... Someone bashed her aside, knocking her aim off-course! It was a fair dainty princess striking back...

Mario gasped. "Peach?! But why...?"

"Why?" Peach got ready to fight a Spirit. Definitely a different experience than Bowser. "She was planning to kill you in this epilogue and nobody was going to bat an eye. I can't let her hurt you, Mario."

Peach can't be ready for combat, right?! Regardless, Mario got up on his feet. "Thanks... I'll-a get back to the real world." He dashed off.

He arrived to the front of the school and experienced MAJOR survivor's guilt. These friends of his falling to the Spirits. They need to get home FAST. So, with an eager motivation, Mario looked up at the floating Bowser Jr, right on top of the school.

"Well well well, if it isn't my good ol' pal Mario! You're fresh outta luck! I've boobytrapped this school and now it's a trap-infested maze! You'll never-"

Mario crouched down.

"What are you doing."

Mario started to flash colors.

"Mario, what are you doing."

Mario jumped up high, gripped onto the edge of a window, then twisted his body upwards so he was handstanding on the edge, then jumped up with his hands to land on the railing. Junior's mouth dropped to the ground. "All that careful planning wasted..." He then shook his head and was absolutely furious. "Alright, you, Mario! You wanna GO, MATE?! YOU WANNA FIGHT PLAYIN' DIRTY?!" Junior pulled out his hammer and then went to whack Mario...

only to be bonked on the head by the smooth end of Shido's Sandalphon.

At this point, his eyes were gigantic and welled up with tears on the bottom. "Buh-buh-buh-buh-buh-BUT IT'S NOT FAAAAIR!" He turned his head to Shido, with the ugliest damn crying face of all time. His nose was clogged too. "Snrrrk-you - you bullies!" He jumped back into his Clown Car. "Alright, now you REALLY want to fight dirty?! Behold!" He pulled out his pocket watch he got from Aiana. "When all things fail-"

Mario pulled out a Fire Flower and shot a fireball at the pocket watch which knocked it out of his grasp.

Junior seriously got angry, body movements and everything. "Hey! What'd I do to you?!"

His Clown Car started rapidly expanding... Until it turned into a mech with feet and a giant cow hammer. "Meet Mecha Jr.! My favorite birthday gift, from Papa... papa..." For a moment, he froze. "Yeah! From Papa! And now you're gonna get smashed!"

Shido, without even a moment's hesitation, ran in. "Sorry, kid, but Origami's already taken that spot-!" He plunged Sandalphon into the mech. Junior just grinned.

"Oh, wow, your little sword poked my machine. I won't let you CUT it like butter, though! That'd be a WASTE OF MONEY!" He whacked the cow hammer at Shido, sending him back.

Shido, on the ground, turned to Mario. "You know this machine?"

"Yeeeeup."

"And why didn't you tell me about it's defense?"

"Thought it'd be-a funny. Now it's time to get-a serious!" Mario, still in Fire state, jumped up and launched fireballs. Junior aimed his mech and opened the hatch, bringing it in to the core. He then opened a second hatch as turrets and ROCKETS launched at Mario. "Mama-mia!"

Shido raised his hand as soon as he got up. "Zadkiel!" which created a wall of ice to shield Mario. The plumber noticed and pulled out his last Fire Flower, using his spare hand to grab a chunk of ice and stuffed it into the Fire Flower, creating an Ice Flower, which he then absorbed. He launched some ice balls at Mecha Jr. The prince expected this, as the ice balls practically did nothing. He sent out some turrets - which Mario did expect. He froze the turrets and picked them up, holding his hands directly above his head. He then chucked the frozen turrets directly into the hatch where they came from, which caused the machine to sputter.

"Nggh-! The controls won't respond!" Junior audibly complained, which was a wrong move to say in front of two people who were battling him. Shido plunged Sandalphon into the hatch as well, which Junior knew would not end well. In which case he bailed the machine and sure enough, Mecha Junior exploded. "And your manners are AWFUL as always, Mario!"

Mario folded his arms and replied with a smug tone. "I remember that-a machine being a lot harder when I first-a fought it."

"IT WASN'T EQUIPPED TO DEAL WITH EDGY SWORDS!"

Mario suddenly flipped his jump to handstand as Shido bounced on Mario and launched off his feet, creating a boost and plunging Sandalphon into the Clown Car.

"You... YOU! OH NO YOU DON'T!" Junior jumped out of the Clown Car promptly before it exploded in glory. He tucked into his shell, while Mario jumped onto his feet and pulled out his hammer, and spun too. They clashed and spun around the entire school rooftop, tearing it up. Thank goodness this was a fake reality. Anyway, Junior got out of his shell when he was a safe distance from Mario, and pulled out his magic paintbrush - JUST in time to counter another Sandalphon slash. And then the paintbrush broke, so Junior pulled out his hammer to swing at Shido, jumped back to avoid an incoming Mario attack, and shot a fireball - which Shido deflected with Sandalphon.

A lot to take in - Junior shivered a bit, and then realised he was surrounded by Zadkiel's walls. He breathed a gasp when he saw Mario burst through a wall to hammer Junior in the face.

Junior painfully went flying through a Zadkiel wall, and landed on the ground, his hammer destroyed, and his body battered.

Mario ran towards Junior, which Shido had to FORCEFULLY recoil Mario by the overalls. "Mario! He's just a kid!"

"I know!" Mario broke free of the grip by swatting Shido's wrist and pulling out a Super Mushroom and absolutely YEETED it at Bowser Jr, healing the kid. Junior got up groggily.

Mario folded his arms. "You have a lot of-a explaining to do, you-a know."

"Wait! Wait!" Junior held his arms up in a surrender position. "You gotta help my papa!"

"Huh...?"

"I mean, he coulda licked it himself, but... something happened to him! He's REALLY not himself anymore!" He flailed his arms. "Just the other day, he... he... he punted me off the roof! Like I was some basketball!"

Shido poofed away Sandalphon. "He'd do that to his own child?"

Junior shook his head. "Not unless he was corrupted."

Mario adjusted his folded-arm position. "Yeah, I think we-a figured that out a long time ago. Get up."

"Huh?"

"Get up."

"But why?"

Mario smiled. "You're on our-a side now. Welcome to the club!"

Junior... paused. And then he ran up and hugged Mario. "Please, save my papa..."

Mario turned his head to the side, noticing a portal. Shido commented on it. "Seems like Rinne got all set up. I'm gonna miss her, but..."

Junior sighed. "I ruined everything."

Mario got up, setting Junior down from the hug. "You did not. Now... hop on in. Back to the real world we-a go."

Shido nodded, grabbed Bowser Jr's hand, and jumped through the portal.

Mario looked into the sky. "I'll save your papa for you." He then jumped through the portal -

and just before he made contact with the portal -

reality glitched.