Luckily for Mario and his companions, their train managed to put plenty of distance between them and Anti-Gal as it sped away from Green Station and the shaded area of the toybox to the bright and sunny area of Red Station. The area didn't seem to be all that different from the area around Blue Station, with both oversized and normal-sized toys littering the ground all around them. But, as they drew closer to their destination, Mario and his friends noticed that the scenery was starting to change. The soft, fun toys like stuffed animals and toy vehicles were slowly being replaced by things like foam swords and plastic maces, the massive wood blocks were arranged into defensive formations, and almost every building or playset they passed seemed to either be a castle, or in the process of being modified into a castle.

"Wow… is it just me, or has this playful paradise suddenly gotten a lot more intimidating?" Goommaria asked as the train kept chugging.

"Yeah… I had no idea that toys could be so scary," Koopie said as they passed by playsets covered in posters that read 'Recess is over'.

"You think this is scary? Please - this isn't even worthy of being my grandmother's dressing room," Bow scoffed. "Though, I'll admit that all these defences are… concerning…"

"Hey, wait! I think I see something up ahead!" Bombette spoke up. "Is that… uh oh. You might want to look at this, Mario."

Mario leaned his head out the train car window and saw that there was another castle up ahead in front of them, only this one had two differences from the others. Firstly, it was much bigger than the others, its colorful plastic bricks standing ten stories tall. Secondly, it wasn't off to the side of the tracks; it was sitting directly in the middle of them, with the tracks leading straight through it's open front gate into a large courtyard.

"Mama mia…" Mario whispered to himself as they approached the castle's shadow.

"W-what do we do, Mario? Should we turn back?" Koopie asked.

"No… the gate's still open, and this might be our only chance." Mario stepped back into the train car and walked to the Toad conductor. "Quick, speed up!"

"Huh!?" The woman in the black cap gasped. "Uh, if you say so."

Meanwhile, further down the tracks, the Shy Gal guards who were manning the walls were all mostly distracted, either playing games with each other or just lazing about. None of them were playing any physical games, though; General Gal had just decreed those illegal about an hour ago for 'making the mind weak'. So, they were all playing board games, from Peril, to Jombidan, and everything in between.

"Haha! I win again!" A soldier Gal in the main gatehouse said triumphantly as she slammed a white piece onto the packed Go board in front of her.

"Darn it… why is it that only white gets the extra points?" Her opponent, another soldier Gal, whined.

"I told you, it's because in Go… wait, do you hear something?" Both Gals turned towards the gatehouse's window and spotted Mario's train barreling towards at full speed, the vehicle's rubber bands being pushed to their very limits. "Aw, nuts! Intruders!"

"What!?" The Gal who lost ran towards a red phone that was mounted on the wall, but wound up tripping on her Go board on the way over. She quickly picked herself up, though, and grabbed the phone. "Attention Red Station! We are under attack! Everyone, to battle stations!"

The soldier Gal's voice rang over the loudspeakers of the entire castle, and Gals everywhere hastily began rushing to man the defenses. But, many of them were in the middle of some really complex games, so they either carefully tiptoed around their boards to avoid jostling things, or they kept playing to get in "just a few more turns". Those that made it to their stations quickly got to work, though, loading catapults full of giant rubber band balls and launching them at the incoming train.

Back in the gatehouse, the Gal who sounded the alarm slammed her telephone back down and quickly jumped onto the big red button that controlled the front gate. The plastic cogs of the castle began to grind as the wooden gate to the castle courtyard began to close. Mario and his friends all held their breath as the train raced to get inside before the gate closed too narrowly to pass through.

Then, just as they thought the gate was going to beat them, they slipped underneath and sped into the open courtyard.

"Yes! We did it, everyone!" Goommaria cheered as she and her friends jumped for joy.

"Uh… I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but… the gate to the main castle has already completely closed," one of the conductors pointed out. "So you may want to brace for-"

The Toad woman was cut off as the train collided with the massive wooden gate, and everyone inside expected it to derail. But, because it was just a toy being pushed by rubber bands, the train car just bounced softly against the door a few times before coming to a stop.

"Oh… well, that wasn't so bad," the Toad Conductor commented.

"Gals!" A voice suddenly shouted outside in the courtyard. "Ready the Pez-boxes!"

The area outside was suddenly filled with the sound of more plastic gears grinding as four blue pill box-like buildings began to rise up out of the ground from under hidden trapdoors throughout the courtyard. Each was roughly the same size as the train car, and had a large plastic head of a celebrity sitting on top; one had Mario, one had Luigi, one had Prince Peach, and the final had Queen Bowsa.

The strange machines all clicked as they turned towards the train and, all at once, their cartoonish heads popped up to reveal the cannons that were hidden underneath them. Loud cracking noises filled the air as they opened fire on the defenseless train car, peppering it with volleys of pink candy bricks. They were only candy, so they didn't pierce the walls of the train, but they did begin to dent it with time.

"That doesn't sound very good…" Koopie said nervously over the sugary assault on the train. "What do we do now?"

"Uh… is there any chance you can phase into the castle and open it from the inside?" Mario asked Bow.

"I suppose I could, but there's no guarantee I'd find the mechanism to open it in time," she replied. "I mean, not that I'd mind too much having ghosts for partners, but dead spirits are always so depressed and whiny…"

"That's definitely not an option, then." Mario peaked his head out one of the windows and looked up at the towering, multi-colored structure. It was clear that the Shy Gals weren't too picky about their building materials, as Mario could see several large bricks jutting out into the open air when they were too big to fit neatly into the fortress wall. "Hmm… say, does the train have any spare rubber bands?"

"Well, we keep them right under the main break, but what does that have to do with… hey!" One of the Toad conductors gasped as Mario opened the panel in the floor and began taking out as many spare giant rubber bands as he could. "Be careful with those! You could snap someone's eye out if you're not!"

"Don't worry, I'll be alright," he assured her before handing rubber bands out to everyone but Chompy and Bow. "Alright, here's the plan; if we can't go in through the front door, we'll just have to go over it. Use these to hook onto and slingshot yourself towards the big bricks jutting out of the front of the castle. Then, we'll break inside, defeat General Gal, and finally free the Toy Box! Any questions?"

"Yeah… how exactly are we going to avoid getting shot to sugar the moment we step outside?" asked Bombette.

"Don't worry, I can hold my own against a few candy-tossing brats." Bow floated forward and unfurled her fan. "Leave it to me; I'll give you all plenty of time to start climbing."

She disappeared and, a moment later, reappeared out in the middle of the courtyard, where she placed her fingers to her lips and whistled as loud as she could. "Hey, dimwits!" The Pez-boxes stopped firing and turned towards the ghost girl. "Your mothers all did their homework on time and liked black licorice."

"Hey! No one talks about my mom that way!" a Shy Gal in the Mario Pez-box fumed. "Get her!"

Their candy guns all opened fire on Bow but, before the Pez bricks could even reach her, she disappeared and reappeared somewhere else.

"Is that all that you've got?" Bow yawned and fanned herself. "I imagine you all get picked last in dodgeball…"

"Hey? How'd you know about that!?" The Pez-boxes opened fire on Bow again and again, missing every time and completely ignoring the train car as it sat by the castle gate.

"Great job, Bow!" Mario whispered. "Alright, we'll start climbing the castle now, and you Toads wait here for a chance to escape."

"Don't worry, we're good at doing that," one of the Toad conductors replied. "Good luck out there."

Mario nodded and jumped out of the train car, utilizing his power jump badge to go as high as possible so he could wrap his rubber band on one of the exposed bricks. He fell back down towards the ground a moment later, but the band stretched and slowed his fall before snapping back up and sending him flying even higher than before. Mario's remaining friends all promptly followed suit behind him, though Chompy just used her tail rather than a rubber band, and they began slowly making their way up the tall castle's face.

"Do do do doo…" Up above them, one of the Shy Gals inside the castle smiled to herself behind her mask as she opened one of the castle windows and sniffed the outside air. "Ah, such a wonderful day. The air smells as sweet as sugar, light is shining, the toy birds are- whoa!" The Gal cut herself off when a rubber band suddenly shot past her face and latched onto a brick above the window. "Eh?" She learned out the window and just barely avoided being hit by Mario as he flung himself upwards. "Ah! The intruders are climbing the castle! Everyone, panic!"

The Gal ran back into the castle and soon all the windows along its face were opening up for Gals to see what was going on.

"Ah, this isn't good! We can't let them get to the top of the fort!" A Gal in a red hoodie said to her friends as they looked out the windows of the upper floor of the castle.

"But what do we do? We don't have any long-range weapons up here. We don't even have any balls to throw any more," a Gal in a blue hoodie pointed out as she stood above a partially-completed game of Istanbob-omb.

"Hmm…" The Gal in the red hoodie scratched her chin for a moment before picking the board game up off the ground, pieces and all, and tossing it out the window towards Goommaria, who just barely dodged out of the way of it.

"Hey! I wasn't finished with that!" the Gal in blue complained, her red hair frizzling in rage underneath her hoodie.

"We're all going to be finished if we don't stop them from climbing!" the first Gal replied. "Quick, get more games to toss before they make it any further!"

The Gals swiftly got to work, picking up as many board games and boxes as they could, tossing them haphazardly out the window towards the climbing adventurers below. Gals on other floors of the castle soon joined in, and the air became a flurry of plastic pieces, cardboard, and cardstock. But, even though there were some close calls, Mario's party kept ascending in spite of the danger.

"Hey, don't throw that!" one soldier Gal shouted inside, just barely stopping another Gal from tossing a board game outside. "That's Twilight Townporium! I love that game!"

"But it takes so long to play that we never finish any games," the other Gal complained.

"I don't care!" the first Gal whined, grabbing another box. "Let's throw Settlers of Koopan instead!"

"What!? No, I love that game!" The soldier Gal grabbed onto the box her friend was holding and began to fight over it, completely missing Mario and his friends as they passed by their window.

"Whoo! We made it!" Goommaria sighed with relief as she landed on the roof beside Mario.

"Are you sure about that?" Koopie was shaking in her shell next to Bombette. "I still feel like I'm bounding through the air…"

"Don't worry, that will go away with time," Bombette replied, speaking as if she had a lot of experience flying through the air. "Now, let's get inside and finish this already!"

"Well, it looks like those bozos finally managed to make it up there," Bow observed as she floated invisibly in the courtyard. "Now, I suppose I should join-"

The ghostly heiress was abruptly interrupted by a loud crashing noise behind her. She and all the Shy Gals in the courtyard turned around and saw that the gate to the outside had been completely smashed, and standing in the rubble of it was none other than Anti-Gal.

"Where are you, Mario!?" She shouted at the top of her lungs. "I know you're here! I'm going to get my rematch with you even if it's the last thing I do! Rob me! Rob me! Rob meeee!"

"W-what's she doing here? Isn't Anti-Gal supposed to be on a top-secret mission?" A Gal in the Peach Pez-box asked in confusion.

"I don't know, but she took out our forward defenses! Let's get her before she destroys anything else!" shouted another.

"Uh... I guess I'll just leave you all to this…" Bow said awkwardly as she floated up towards the roof of the castle, the sound of candy flying echoing behind her as she went.

Back at the top of the colorful fortress, Mario and his other friends found a wooden door that lead to a dark staircase. It was very hard to see as they descended, but they kept going, knowing that it would be more dangerous to try going in another way.

"Man, it's dusty in here…" Goommaria observed as they walked. "What is this, some kind of attic?"

"I think so," said Bombette.

"Mmm… bark bark bark," Chompy said as the darkness became pitch black.

"Yeah, I agree," said Goommaria. "Koopie, do you have a flashlight in there we can use."

"Don't worry, I've got something that will do just the trick," came the reply.

"Thanks, Koopie," said Goommaria.

"Uh… that wasn't me who said that," Koopie pointed out, causing the group to come to a halt. They all then turned towards the source of the mysterious voice.

At first, they were met only by silence but then, slowly, a light began to appear in the dark room. Holding it was a woman - a Shy Gal - who towered over the group at over six-and-a-half feet tall. Rather than wearing the traditional Shy Gal combo of bright hoodie and white mask, she was wearing a flowing green-grey dress and a matching green-grey execution hood with a ghoulish smiling face painted over the front with black ink. In her left hand, she was holding up a massive lantern, four feet tall and made out of heavy iron and glass; the inside glowed with a haunting yellow light that was just barely bright enough to illuminate her whole body.

"Wee hee hee… could it be? It's Mario!" The woman's evil cackle echoed through the room as she stared down at the plumber. "It looks like you're mine now… I won't be letting you go anywhere! Wee hee hee hee!"

"W-we're not scared of you!" Goommaria quickly shifted into a battle stance, her hard mushroom cap pointed towards the tall Shy Gal.

"Yeah! We've handled worse than you!" Mario took out his hammer and readied it. "Everyone, charge!"

Mario's friends all rushed forward at once but, right before they could reach her, the Gal's lantern went out and they wound up colliding with each other in the dark.

"Oof!" Bombette grunted as she ran into her friends.

"S-sorry!" Koopie apologized.

"Hey, who's hand is on my butt?" asked Goommaria.

"Bark bark!" Chompy answered.

"Wee hee hee… such foolish prey." The big lantern ghost and her light reappeared on the opposite side of the room. "The dark is my ally. You'll have to do better than that if you wish to defeat me."

"Alright… I'll admit that wasn't my best plan." Mario pulled himself out from under his friends and dusted himself off. "Okay, this time, take your time, everyone. Don't attack until you're certain you can hit."

"Oh, getting scared now, are we?" The Gal cackled to herself again as a gust of air lifted the hem of her dress a little. "Well, staying far away won't save you either."

She then raised one of her arms and then slammed her lantern towards Mario like a giant club, threatening to crush the poor plumber. He managed to dodge out of the way, but only just barely, and the lantern left a large dent in the floor where it collided.

"Mario!" A look of shock flashed over Bombette's face before it promptly was replaced by rage. Ther fuse ponytail lit on fire, and she threw herself at the Shy Gal with the intent to punch her as hard as possible. But, once again, the big lantern ghost turned off her light and dodged out of the way before she even came close. "F-fuck! She's fast!"

"Wee hee hee! That, or you're just slow!" The Shy Gal raised her lantern for another attack, this time aiming for Goommaria.

"Well then, I guess we'll just have to speed up!" the Goomba girl grunted. "Koopie! Can you hide inside for a little while?"

"N-not a problem!" Koopie yelped before ducking inside her shell.

"Mario quick! Come with me!" Goommaria grabbed Mario by the hand and jumped on top of Koopie's shell with him, and together they began to bounce around the room. Their movements were mostly random and crashed into several parts of the rooms, almost hitting their friends at some points, until Koopie's Shell made a beeline directly towards the lantern ghost and hit… her lantern?

"Gah!" The Shy Gal grunted with frustration as the blow managed to crack some of the lantern's glass, and then even more of the light inside leaked out into the room. "You'll pay for that one, you clowns! If it's light you want, then it's light you'll get!"

She lifted her lantern again, but instead of going out, it sent out a flash of light so bright that it blinded everyone in the room. Mario and the others all covered their eyes on reflex, but the big lantern ghost was unphased and dashed towards Mario.

"Gah!" The plumber grunted as he was picked up off Koopie's shell and pinned against a nearby wall, the massive woman's soft bust pressing hard against his chest. "L-let me go, you creep!"

"Wee hee hee… still not afraid of me, eh?" The Shy Gal leaned herself even harder against Mario, her hot breath hitting his face through her maniacal mask. "Heh, maybe I should take this old thing off then… most Shy Gals are afraid to reveal their faces, but I think a runt like you deserves some extra special treatment~"

"M-Mario!" Bombette cried out, her hand outstretched as the big lantern ghost began to lift her hood. But, just as she was about to reveal her mouth, she was interrupted by a loud crash. "Eh?"

They all turned towards the source of the noise and saw that someone had kicked down the door from the roof, and that someone was none other than Anti-Gal, her black hoodie spotted with Pez sugar.

"Finally, I've found you…" She said menacingly as she stepped into the room. "You might have run away, but I won't let you win! I have come to… to… boy, it's dark in here!" Anti-Gal began to shiver in fear as she looked around the room, her unadjusted eyes showing her nothing but darkness. "Uh, on second thought, we can do this later. Bye!"

"..." Everyone just stared at the open doorway for a few moments before Bombette abruptly tackled the tall Shy Gal, causing her to drop both Mario and the lantern she was holding.

Said lantern landed right where Koopie had managed to crack it, which caused the crack to widen and slowly branch out to cover its entire glass surface.

"No! The light! It burns!" The big lantern ghost covered her eyes and dashed towards a metal door that led down further into the castle, locking it behind her as the lantern fully shattered and revealed the source of the light inside… a girl.

"Yawn~" The girl that was trapped inside the lamp rubbed her eyes tiredly as she floated out into the open air and illuminated the whole room with her body. She was short, just a little over four feet tall, and her body was rather thin, but she was still clearly an adult. She had long blonde hair tied into pigtails, a frilled yellow tank top, tight yellow shorts, and blue shoes. She also had blue plastic gloves on, and her body seemed to be literally radiating energy despite how tired she was; she seemed to make the hair of those closest to her stand on their ends. "Mmm… what's going on here? Where am I?"

"Uh… hello there, miss," Bombette greeted nervously. "My name's Bombette. Do you mind if we ask what you were doing in that woman's lamp?"

"Lamp?" The floating blonde girl rubbed her eyes again and looked down at the shattered glass underneath her. "I was trapped inside that thing? Wow, that's terrible! The last thing I remember was going down to the Toy Box to play with some Gal Pals, like I usually do. They weren't there anymore, though, and right when I was right about to fly home… everything went dark."

"Home? You live in Toad Town?" Mario asked.

"Toad Town? No, of course not!" The girl giggled. "I'm from Sparkburg! You know, that big shiny thing in the sky?"

"Sparkburg?" Koopie blinked in surprise. "You mean… the sun?"

"Nope!" the floating woman replied. "People make that mistake all the time, but the light up there in the corner of the box isn't a lightbulb or star or anything like that; it's just where people like me live inside the toy box!"

"Ooooh, so that's how there's light in this place!" said Goommaria, a light of realization flashing through her eyes. "I never really questioned it before since, you know, we're inside a magical toy box, but now it all suddenly makes sense."

"Well, thanks for saving me, whoever you are!" The girl floated over to Mario and gave him a kiss on the cheek, a literal spark of electricity jumping off her lips as he did so. "Say, you look kind of familiar… would your name happen to be 'Mario'?"

"Yes, it is," he replied, rubbing the spot where she kissed him. "Why do you ask?"

"Eeeh! Oh my goodness! The real life Mario is actually here!" The blonde girl did the closest thing she could to a jump for joy without actually touching the ground. "I've heard all about you and your adventures! You're always saving Prince Peach and the Mushroom Kingdom, and right now you're trying to stop Bowsa from taking over the world with the Star Rod, right? Can I help?"

"Help?" Mario blinked in surprise. "Well, we could use all the help we can get, but are you sure you've thought this through? I mean, you haven't even told us your name yet."

"Oh! Silly me!" She floated up higher into the air and shined as brightly as she could as she struck a cool pose. "My name is Watt, and I'm a Li'l Sparky! It's so nice to meet you all! Not only am I a good source of light for dark places like this, but my electricity powers also pack quite the punch! Trust me, I'll be lots of help!"

"It's nice to meet you, Watt," said Goommaria. "And if you want to adventure with us, then you're welcome as far as I'm concerned."

"Yes! Thank you thank you thank you!" Watt pulled everyone into a group hug and nuzzled her face against them, causing all their hair to stand up from her electricity. "You won't regret letting me tag along, I promise!"

"There you all are," Bow suddenly interrupted as she phased into the room through a nearby wall. "Ah!" She winced and covered her eyes as soon as she spotted the Li'l Sparky. "Who on earth is that, and why is she hugging you?"

"Hi there! My name's Watt, and I'm part of Mario's team now!" the blonde girl replied. 'Who are you? Some kind of… ghosty goo?"

"Augh… she has a sunny personality to match her sunny body… how dreadful," Bow grumbled to herself. "My name is Lady Bow, and I would prefer it if you didn't get too close to me. Light and I don't mix well."

"Aww…" Watt hung her head and her light dimmed a little.

"Anyways, I came here to warn you about Anti-Gal but, judging by the state the door is in, I'm guessing she already got here and left," Bow continued.

"Yeah - for all her bluster, she's actually a bit of a coward deep down," Bombette replied. "The poor thing seems terrified of the dark."

"As she should be..." Bow replied. "But regardless, we should get going before she comes back. We have bigger mushrooms to fry than that girl." She then floated to the door that the big lantern ghost fled through and tried to open it. "Augh, of course they locked this thing… and it seems reinforced, too. Do any of you see any way we can all get through?"

"Oh, oh, let me help with that!" Watt bounced up and down in glee for a few moments before shining as brightly as she could, illuminating the whole castle attic. It was a mostly barren place, but now that they had more light, they did spot a large switch that was sitting in the corner of the room now.

"Huh… I wonder what this does." Koopie walked over to the switch and pulled it, causing the castle to shake for a few moments and the large wooden doors down below in the courtyard to start opening, pushing the train car in front of it away.

"Wa-oh! I guess this is our signal to get out of here!" one of the Toad conductors said as they threw their train into reverse and drove out through the hole in the front gate Anti-Gal had made. "Good luck out there, Mario!"

"Huh… well, it looks like we have another way inside now," Mario said as he opened a window and looked down into the courtyard.

"Yeah, but how are we going to get in without getting shot to pieces?" asked Goommaria. "Those turret things look like they're still working, and they look way too tough to even put a dent in them."

"Oh, oh! Let me help!" Watt volunteered. "Those things might be tough, but it looks like they're made of metal too! Just one touch, and my electricity can fry them completely, just you watch!"

"Well... that would be nice, but are you sure you want to do that?" asked Mario. "It's a pretty dangerous thing try and do, and I don't want you to get hurt."

"Thanks for worrying about me, but I'll be fine!" Watt gave Mario a quick salute and flew out the window. "Just leave everything to me!"

"Augh… I can't believe we let all those intruders escape," a Shy Gal groaned inside her Peach-shaped Pez-box. "What do you think General Gal is going to do to us when she finds out?"

"Well, we could always just say someone else was on duty," another Gal replied just before she heard a bump on the roof of the Pez-box she was in. "Hey, what was that?"

"Alright, Gals, it's time for the gloves to come off! Literally!" Watt removed the rubber gloves she was wearing and placed her bare hands onto the metal of the machine underneath her, closing her eyes as she concentrated. Power sparked through the air around her as she built up electricity in her hands and then released it all at once. Bolts of electricity jumped around inside the Pez-box like wrecking balls, knocking all of its gears and screws out of place while the Gals inside could do nothing but watch it all happen in a panic.

"Wha!? What's going on!?" A soldier Gal in a green hoodie shouted.

"I don't know, but no amount of bubble gum is worth this! I'm out of here!" One of the Gals inside kicked open the exit of the machine and they all fled outside. They made it just in time as well, as the Pez-box collapsed in on itself a moment later, never to be used again… well, aside from a few stray Gals that took all the abandoned ammo.

"Sweet! That worked even better than I thought!" Watt pumped her fist in the air and moved onto the next one shaped like Luigi. It met the exact same fate as the first one, followed shortly by the Bowsa and the Mario emplacements. "Alright, guys! It's all safe down here!"

"Wow, she actually did it," Mario said to his friends as he waved down to Watt. "Now we just have to figure out how to get down there without running into Anti-Gal again."

"Hmmm…" Goommaria cautiously walked back up the staircase to the roof and looked around. "That's weird… I don't see her anywhere. Where did she go?"

"There has to be a flashlight around here somewhere…" Anti-Gal mumbled to herself as she rummaged through one of the many piles of random toys scattered throughout the toy box. "Hmm, maybe I can turn this stuffed animal into a torch… I hope it doesn't talk."

"I suggest we stop trying to make sense of what a madwoman does and finally get this over with," Bow interrupted as she flew back outside. "I'd rather we move our adventure on to someplace less cheery already."

"Right! Let's-a-ago!" Mario said triumphantly as he took Bow by the hand so she could fly him back to the ground. Chompy came down with Koopie a moment later, while Watt flew up to take down Goommaria. Bombette, meanwhile, just jumped down from the top of the castle, apparently used to long falls like that.

"Okay, everyone - be ready for anything, okay?" Goommaria said as they all gathered around the open front gate.

"Don't worry! I was born ready!" Watt pumped her gloved fists in the air before heading inside the castle with her new friends.

Inside, they were greeted by something none of them expected. They thought that they were going to come across a throne room, or military bunker, or even some sort of evil prison. Instead, they found what appeared to be… a child's room, and a young one at that. There were a few stuffed toys on the ground, shelves lined with board games, like Squeek Trap, Dinosaur Land, and Connect 4-4,the floor and furniture littered with colorful blankets and discarded snack bags. The furniture itself was on the small-side as well, indicating that whoever used it wasn't very tall. And, over the unmade bed in the back of the room, they could see a crayon-drawn map of the Toy Box with all sorts of strange and impossible invasion strategies drawn onto it.

"Hmhmhm~" Humming suddenly began to emanate from the back of the room, interrupting Mario's staring and bringing his attention to a small door in the back of the room. There, a Shy Gal with blonde hair and tan skin, who was short even by Shy Gal standards, walked into the room. She was wearing nothing but her white mask and white bath robe. "Ah, nothing like a nice shower to get your world-conquering juices going! I wonder what I should do next?"

Not noticing that Mario was in the room, the Shy Gal jumped onto the bed and kicked her feet as she stared up at the crayon map on her wall.

"Hmm, maybe I should try to take Blue station again… or maybe I could make something else illegal. That was so fun to do that last time…" She picked up a crayon and began to doodle more on the map in front of her.

"Uh… hello there?" Mario spoke up. "Are you General Gal?"

"Wha-!?" The Shy Gal dropped her crayon and spun around in fright. "When did you get in here!? Where are all my guards!?"

"Well, my guess would either be running around upstairs expecting us to break in from the attic, or running away with as much stolen candy as they could carry," Goommaria replied.

"Listen, girlie… we don't really want to hurt you if we don't have to," Bombette said, stepping forwards. "We heard about you from the mayor-er, I mean mayors. We know you're just lonely and wish you had more friends."

"Yeah… so could you please just let the Star Spirit go and give up trying to take over the box." Koopie stepped forward and put a sympathetic hand onto General Gal's shoulder. "Then, maybe we could be your friends! We could even play some of your favorite games if you want."

"Grr…" General Gal shoved Koopie's hand off her shoulder and donned her general's cap that she kept under her bed. "You might be acting nice, but you're just like all those girls who refused to play with me deep down. None of you are taking me seriously! What, is it just because I'm cute, and not as big and terrifying as Bowsa? Well, I'll have you know that I can be just as evil as she is even if I'm short!"

"But… we didn't even mention your height," Watt pointed out. "And besides, you're taller than I am."

"Shut up!" Jenny furiously pounded her fists against her mattress. "Stupidheads like you always think you know better than me! Well, joke's on you! While you were busy being tall, I studied the art of war! And if there's one thing I learned from playing Koopas and Allies 100 times, it's…" General Gal backflipped onto the head of her bed where she quickly donned a spare white general uniform and ripped off the map on the wall, revealing a large red button that was hidden underneath. "... never let your guard down!"

She pushed the button and the whole room began to shake. The walls around them retracted into the ground, revealing a much larger room. In it, over a dozen soldier Gals were exercising or converting toys into weapons of war, and in the back they could see a large structure made of giant wooden toy bricks where an otherworldly light seemed to emanate. But, before Mario could stare at it for long, his line of sight to it was suddenly broken by a massive vehicle.

It was fashioned out of pink and red metal and stood atop four large wheels, and it was seemingly powered by a large green device with a lightbulb on it that sat towards the back. Its wheels twitched with anticipation underneath it as it sat there, as if just barely containing the power that it held. It would have been very intimidating, but its menace was somewhat dampened by the fact the machine was shaped like a giant stroller.

"Hut!" General Gal climbed up the side of the tank and sat herself down half-in and half-out of a hatch that sat on top of the vehicle. "You might have beaten my troops up until now, Mario, but that stops here! When I'm through with you, you're never going to look down on me again! No one is!"

"Uh oh… this isn't good!" Koopie partly hid inside her shell as the soldier Gals noticed the group and began surrounding them while General Gal cackled from atop her tank. "What do we do, Mario?"

"I don't know… but I think avoiding getting cornered is a good place to start," Mario replied.

"Good idea!" Bombette lit her fuse and used her magical energy to punch straight through the line of Gals around them. "Let's blow this fireworks stand!'

"Bark bark!" Chompy agreed, charging through the Gals in the opposite direction as her other friends took their chances to escape the encirclement as well.

"Hey! You can't run around like that! That's not fair!" General Gal whined, stomping her fist down onto the side of her tank. "Don't just stand there, you nincompoops! Get them!"

The other Shy Gals promptly saluted before giving chase after each member of the adventuring party, using whatever weapons they could to try and pin them down. Goommaria almost found herself pelted by peanuts, but Bow managed to save her with a well-placed invisible foot. Koopie nearly found herself buried alive underneath a hailstorm of blankets, but Mario managed to pull her free before she was put to bed. And Bombette was almost overwhelmed by Gals just piling on top of her, but Chompy managed to drive them away with some very aggressive licks.

"Hey! What are you doing?! This isn't being organized at all!" General Gal shouted in frustration. "You need to get into your formations, like I taught you!"

"Oh, right, I almost forgot about those," one of the soldier Gals replied, stopping in her tracks. "Gals! Execute squad formation Alpha!"

The soldier Gals all rushed together and formed a massive triangle in front of General Gal's tank, standing shoulder to shoulder with each other in a clear show of force. They then raised their toy weapons, from hockey clubs to baseball flails, and charged straight towards Mario and his friends. They likely would have done quite a bit of damage, but just before they reached him Watt flew forward and touched her bare hand to one of their shoulders. This caused electricity to flow not only through the Gal Watt was touching, but also every Gal in the group, paralyzing them. After that, all it took was one charge from Chompy's tough head to knock them all down like bowling pins.

"Gah! Absolutely worthless soldiers…" General Gal grumbled. "That's it! Form squad formation Beta instead!"

"Roger that!" The other Gals all saluted before running off into a back room and returning with long wooden sticks. At first, Mario thought they were spears, but he was proven wrong as they were all affixed to the Shy Gals' feet; they were stilts.

"Uh… you're seriously going to try and defeat us with stilts?" Mario asked as the Gals waddled over towards him.

"Yes, of course! It is a completely novel strategy and, therefore, you have no countermeasures to this!" General Gal replied. "I'd like to see you try to worm your way out of this one!"

Mario and his friends all blinked at the Stilt Gals for a moment before Goommaria stepped forward and pushed one of them, causing them to all fall down like dominos.

"Hey, you can't do that! This is an RPG! Use a real move!" General Gal complained. "Well, I didn't want to do this, but if you're not going to play fair, then I don't have a choice; time for squad formation Gamma!"

"Y-yes ma'am!" General Gal's battered troops stood back up and began to climb up on top of each other's shoulders, creating several large towers of Shy Gals. They then each took out a slingshot and began pelting Mario and his friends with rocks, making them all wince in pain.

"Well? Do you like what I came up with? I call them 'vertical firing squads'," General Gal asked gloatingly. "All the power of a firing line packed into less space! It's perfect!"

"Don't worry, everyone! I've got this!" Koopie stepped forward and shielded her friends with her shell. "Just figure out a way to beat them, and I'll protect you as long as I can."

"Hmm… say, Mario," Goommaria spoke up after a moment of thinking. "Why don't we try… wishing the Shy Gals were defeated?"

"... I'm sorry, Goommaria, but were you hit in the head while I wasn't looking?" asked Mario.

"No, I'm being serious," the Goomba replied. "Wishes have power in this world, remember? And while the Star Rod is currently gone, some of the Star Spirits are back in Star Haven. Maybe they have enough strength back by now to grant one wish?"

"Well… I suppose it's worth a shot." Mario closed his eyes and clapped his hands together. "I wish… that something would come to defeat the Shy Gals…"

"A pure wish from a pure heart… deserves to be granted," a disembodied voice replied, surprising Mario. His eyes blinked open and he soon noticed a strange glow emanating from the ceiling. Looking up, Mario saw that stars - literal five-pointed stars that glowed radiantly - were somehow falling from the ceiling, shaking the ground as they landed and sending glowing stardust in every direction.

"Wha!? What's going on here!? Is the sky falling!?" one of the soldier Gals shouted just before her vertical firing squad toppled over. "Ooof!"

"Okay, that does it! Every Gal for herself!" another shouted before they all dashed out the front door of the castle in a panic.

"Hey, wait! Get back here, you cowards!" General Gal shouted, her tank completely unphased by the starry assault. "Fine! If you want something done right, you and your war machine have to do it yourself!"

General Gal popped herself inside her tank and took control, driving straight towards Mario's party as the stars that fell began to fade out of existence.

"Oh crap! Duck!" Goommaria tackled Koopie out of the way as the rest of her friends scattered, unable to stop the blitzing machine.

"Just as I thought! All that heroic confidence of yours goes away the moment you face someone bigger than you!" General Gal said triumphantly as she kept driving around. "But I won't let you get away this time!"

The tiny tyrant pressed a button next to her steering wheel that caused the lightbulb on the back of her tank to glow even brighter than before. Then, with a deafening crack, it shot out lightning in all directions, scorching the ground near several of Mario's companions as they kept running.

"Huh? What are you guys so scared about? It's just electricity," said Watt. "Oh, right, my bad! I keep forgetting that stuff hurts other people. Here, let me take care of it!"

Watt flew over to the thundering lightbulb and, without even a hint of fear or hesitation, hugged herself to the device and began to suck on it like it was a giant pacifier.

"Mmm… volty~" She hummed contentedly into the device.

"Wha!?" General Gal frustratedly tugged at her controls to try and get her electric attacks to start up again, but nothing she did seemed to work. "Fine! Who needs electricity when you have these!?"

General Gal hit another button on her console, causing a cannon to appear underneath the bottom of the stroller. It swiftly took aim at Bow and fired a large black bomb at her, only missing thanks to her swiftly turning incorporeal. Mario and the rest of his partners quickly took cover behind whatever they could, just barely able to avoid the blast as General Gal fired at everything in sight.

"Ahahah! This is great! I should have just tried this from the start!" General Gal cackled, her officer's hat now sitting crooked on her head. "You better limber up those legs for kneeling, because there's no stopping me now!"

"Drat! I don't think I can get close enough to hit her!" Bombette shouted to Mario from behind the ruins of General Gal's bed. "So this is what it's like to be on the bad side of a bombardment…."

"Uh… Bow, do you think get close to her and start tearing out the gears in her tank or something?" Mario asked some nearby open air.

"I suppose I could, but that could prove very dangerous - I could be electrocuted, or my hand could be crushed between gears, and I can think of much worthier ways to ruin a manicure," Bow, still invisible, replied.

"Well… do you think the Star Spirits have enough power for another wish?" Mario asked.

"Maybe; but they're probably pretty tired, so I wouldn't ask for anything big," Goommaria replied.

"Hmm…" Mario peered over the wrecked jungle gym he was using as cover. "Well, she is in a giant stroller… I think I know what might work." He closed his eyes again and began to wish.

"A pure wish from a pure heart… deserves to be granted,"

"Hah! You call that a hit?" General Gal shouted as Chompy's tail bounced harmlessly off her armor. "That didn't even leave a dent! You might as well give up now or… or…" Jenny trailed off as the air seemed to fill with the sound of singing. The feminine voice was familiar to Mario, but to General Gal it was as if a thousand angels were singing directly into her brain, making all her rage and anger melt away. "You… you're gonna get… get… snore…"

After only a few moments of listening to the lullaby, General Gal slumped forward in her seat and fell asleep against her steering wheel and accidentally turned off the tank's ignition in the process. The whole machine then ground to a halt, stopping just before it could crush Goommaria under its wheels.

"We… we did it!" Goommaria jumped up from her hiding place in joy. "We actually did it! It felt like it took forever, but we actually freed the toy box!"

"Hooray!" Watt cheered as she let go of the light bulb she was sucking on. "So? Did I prove that I could be helpful on your journey, Mario?"

"Yeah, I'd say you've proven yourself more than enough," Mario replied. "We'd be happy to have you as part of the team!"

"Yes, well, as much as I'd love to welcome our new glaring friend, we should probably free the Star Spirit before-" Bow began to say, but was interrupted by a loud crash.

Mario and his friends turned back towards the tank and saw that General Gal had managed to wake herself up and was now standing atop her tank with a strange pink gun in her hand.

"You… you think you could really beat me… that easily? Ha! I would ne…" General Gal fell asleep for a moment before snapping back to attention. "I would never be beaten like that! Now, you're all going to surrender to me, or you'll get a taste of my pop gun! One shot to the head with this will coat your hair in bubblegum that will be impossible to pull out! You'll all be forced to become bald losers!"

"Easy now, Jenny… it's over now," Koopie replied, doing her best to sound calming even as she shook in her shell. "Just put the pop gun down, before someone- eeep!" Koopie ducked into her shell just before a wad of gum could collide with her hair.

"Does anyone else want to try me? Eh? Eh?" General Gal waved her pop gun around almost drunkenly.

"Well, if you insist," a femine voice said from seemingly nowhere.

"Huh? Who said that?" General Gal looked around wildly. "Show yourself!"

General Gal's answer came in the form of six women swinging down from the ceiling on jump ropes, their feet all aimed squarely for the mad military commander. Four of the women were just random Shy Gals in red hoodies, but the other two women Mario recognized. One was a Shy Gal in a red hoodie with a familiar black top hat and monocle, and the other was none other than... Oaklie, the guardian of Forever Forest!

Together, their feet landed squarely on General Gal's side, knocking the pop gun out of her hand and sending her flying off her pink tank.

"Ooof!" General Gal landed almost face-first onto the ground, causing her mask to crack against the plastic floor. "Darn it! The Recesstance is here! Just wait until I call my reserve troops and you're all drawn and four-squared for tre-"

Jenny was interrupted when her mask abruptly broke apart and fell to the ground with a light crack. Every Shy Gal in her vicinity gasped in shock as the most sacred thing to Shy Gals of all sorts, their mask, had broken. General Gal started hyperventilating, the room shrinking from her perspective, as it seemed as though every eye was on her at once. "No, stay away, don't look!"

"Um, are you okay?" Mario asked, walking over to her, every other Shy Gal panicking about what he was going to do. "I hope you didn't hurt yourself the-... um… huh." Once Mario got close enough, Mario could finally see her face. She had soft blue eyes and some rather prominent buck-teeth, with lower canines that stuck out from her lips even when her mouth was closed.

"Wha-!? Nooooooo!" Jenny turned around as quickly as she could and covered her face. "Y-you saw it! You saw my real face! I can't believe this! I-I have to become a hermit now… I-I can't show my mask in society again now that a man knows that I'm so… so…!"

"Hey, calm down!" Mario interrupted. "I didn't think it was that bad!"

"You… you don't?" Jenny looked back over her shoulder a little, tears running down her cheeks.

"Yeah, so what if you have an underbite; I'm best friends with someone with an underbite!" Mario replied, glancing over at Goommaria. "You're still a very beautiful woman."

"Y-you mean that?" Jenny asked, turning around even more.

"I'm sure he does, but I'm afraid that doesn't really change the fact that you've been a mad dictator." Oaklie said as she approached her. "You might've banished me to the Forever Forest, but after finally finding immunity," she says as she holds up a hand-drawn 'Get Out of Banishment Free' card with General Gal's signature, "I'm finally free to restore order to our home, and let the Toy Box be free for all Shy Gals… sister."

"Wait… you're sisters!?" Goommaria gasped. "How come you never brought that up before?"

"Because you never asked," Oaklie replied. "Take her away, Gals. It's time she spent a long break in time-out."

Two Shy Gals swiftly put a bag over Jenny's head to protect her dignity and tied her arms behind her back.

"Y-you haven't seen the last of me, Mario! Genius like mine can't be contained!" she shouted as she was hauled away.

"Ah, such a sad story… even when given the chance to redeem herself, she still chooses revenge." The mayor lamented.

"Oh. Sorry about that, Ms. Mayor, it can't feel good to have one of your citizens turn out like this." Koopie said with a frown. But the mayor only seemed to become more disheartened.

"Actually, just between you and me, I'm the mayor of every station, so I'm responsible for all these miscreants," the Mayor replied.

"Oh, uh, really? Wow, I never would have figured that out." Said Bombette, trying to keep the sarcasm out of her voice.

"Though, I suppose I'm more responsible for General Gal than all the others... I am Jenny's mother, after all," She added with a pained sigh.

"... What?!" Everyone gasped in surprise, save for all the Shy Gals around. "I wouldn't have ever guessed..." Bow said.

"I tried my best to raise her, to do right by her, to help her be the best Shy Gal she could be. But I could never connect with her. If I had done something, anything different in raising her, she wouldn't be in the situation she's in today. I've… I've been a terrible mother." She sniffed, tears leaking out of her mask.

"H-hey, I know you tried your best!" Koopie tried to console her, but to no avail.

"I'm a failure!" The mayor cried, sobbing on the floor as the rest of the Shy Gals started to sniffle.

"C-come on, mom! If you're gonna start crying, then I'm… I'm... " And as Oaklie wept, the entire room erupted into a torrent of crying.

"This… feels really awkward." Mario said, not really sure what to do.

"Ugh, this is exactly why I left." General Gal whined, the guards to her left and right hugging each other in sadness. "You can't go 5 seconds trying to take over the world around them before everyone starts crying."

"Isn't it nice that there are people that care about you that much that they would be sad for your sake?" Goommaria asked with a wry shrug.

"I… never really thought about it like that." Jenny wistfully replied, scratching her head through the sack still on her head. "Maybe I'll think about this whole redemption thing while I'm in timeou-"

"MARIO!" An angry voice rang through the room as the door was sent flying, the Anti-Gal revealing herself as she stomped towards him.

"Oh Granby, not this again. Hey, Anti-Gal! We already beat General Gal, so just give up and go home already!" Bow shouted in exasperation.

"I don't care about that! Once an Anti-Gal is given a mission, it can't be ended until it's complete! And if you're not going to play by the rules, then I'll have to make you do it." She raised the bag of cookies and slowly approached them, twitching erratically all the while. "Take it take it take it take it takeit tak eitt ake it takei t t akeit ta ke it take it take it take it take it take i-"

"Q-quick, stop her!" Oaklie shouted towards her Gals, all of them rushing the Anti-Gal from all sides, only for her to blur out of sight for a second, taking them all down in mere moments… right before resuming her pace and her mantra.

"Okay guys, we might've lost really easily against her last time, but if we all work together, Bow and Watt included, we can get out of this ali-" Mario was about to finish his attempted rallying cry, but was interrupted by a very fussy groan.

"Ugggggggghhhh… Nita, are you seriously doing this over my cookies?" Jenny spoke up over all the tension. "I asked you to guard them because I needed to get you out of my hair. I don't even like chocolate chip!"

"I-i-it doesn't matter, G-G-General Gal!" The newly-named Nita replied erratically, inching closer to Mario and his friends. "Y-you trained all of us to follow your missions to completion, even at the cost of our lives! I couldn't stop this, even if I wanted to!"

"Yes, I know, I'm the best at everything in the world except for getting what I want. But it looks like you've forgotten something."

"What would that be, General Gal?" Nita asked, getting more and more off-kilter the closer she got to Mario.

Jenny pulled out a walkie talkie from her hood and whispered into it. "Take the shot."

"Copy that, General! 3" A sickly sweet voice replied from the other end.

"Wait, what did you just d-" Nita fell onto the ground as a piercing shot echoed through the room, her whole suit dyed in red.

"Never let your guard down." Jenny neatly replied.

"D-... did you just kill her!?" Mario replied, pure horror on his face, as were the rest of his friends.

"What? No, don't be ridiculous! She just got hit with a paint balloon." Jenny simply replied.

"Huh? What… happened to me?" Nita woozily stood up, Jenny strolling up with a hand mirror. "I… I've been?!"

"Yes, that's right. You've been demoted." Jenny replied with a sneer that could be felt, even through the sack.

"Oh, I… yes, of course… *siiiiiiggggghhhhh*" Nita seemingly deflated, losing all motivation to do anything as she sunk to the floor.

"Wait. Is that it? She's not going to attack us anymore?" Mario asked, completely baffled by what just happened.

"What's the point? Why would I want to finish a mission that's been given when we've already been defeated? It's not like I'm an Anti-Gal or anything..." Nita sighed from the ground.

"Psychological training. Only an Anti-Gal, after proving herself through her wits and determination, is allowed to wear a black cloak. But if she proves herself unsuited for the job, well... all she needs is a little color to liven up her perspective." Jenny added in playfully.

"Wh-... huh-... how did you even get them like this?!" Mario asked, outraged yet, concerned.

"Well usually it's a trade secret, but seeing as how I've been defeated and all, I suppose I could tell you." She gathers closely to Mario and whispers in his ear. "Tag. Lots and lots of tag."

"I… you… I give up, let's just go home." Mario threw his hands up in resignation.

"Mario, we can't give up, we haven't saved the Star Spirit yet!... Say, where is he, anyway?" Goommaria asked.

"... and that's all you need to do." A distant voice could be heard from the other side of the room, near the large crib-cage structure they spotted before.

"Over there, I'm guessing." Bombette replied as she and the rest of Mario's friends came to see what was there, Chompy dragging Mario and Nita along the way.

"Hmmmmm…" Oaklie hummed inquisitively, having gotten in Jenny's blindspot.

"H-huh,? What're you looking at?!" Jenny inquired hotly.

"You saved Mario and his friends from having to face off against your Anti-Gal when it had no direct benefit to you." Oaklie spoke in a sing-song tone.

"Y-yeah, so what?" Jenny asked, folding her arms.

"Maybe you're not beyond hope after all." Oaklie giggled before hugging her.

"Sh-shut up! I haven't given up becoming a dictator, you know?! Just take me to timeout already so I can plot my reven-"

"Jenny?" A Shy Gal in a top hat and monocle asked, shyly approaching.

"... What is it, Mayor?" Jenny asked her mom with suspicious apprehension.

"I know that I haven't been the best mom, and I don't expect you to ever forgive me, but… thank you for saving them." She said before pulling the both of them in for a hug.

"Y-yeah. No problem… mom." Jenny said, returning her hug after a while.

Once more, the corner of the room was filled with crying. This time, with Jenny included.

"D-do you really think that'll work?!"

A sturdy, blue-hued figure could be seen through the bars, donned in a sailor's outfit with stars patterned on it. He knelt down to the Shy Gal's eye level. "Of course. If you tell him how you feel, I'm sure he'll accept your feelings if he loves you."

"*Sniff* Thank you, mister!" The Shy Gal ran off moments later, quickly being replaced by another Shy Gal, and a long line of Shy Gals behind her.

"Um… what's going on, here?" Mario asked in confusion.

"Oh, this?" The Star Spirit said after noticing he had more company. "While I was imprisoned in that card, a Shy Gal freed me, but rather than letting me escape, she asked for love advice. It must've worked, because soon that was all I had to do with my time. Once General Gal found out, I thought that'd be the end of it, but she just kinda brushed it off. She still stuck me in this crib, though."

"Oh, allow me." Bombette threw Chompy by the tail and got her on top of the crib, pulling her back and slowly lifting up the gate, letting the spirit free,

"Thank you, you really saved me there. The name's Muskular." He said with a grin that seemed to have a star-patterned sparkle.

"Couldn't you have walked through the bars?" Goommaria questioned, stepping through them over and over to demonstrate.

"But who would these poor little sweeties turn to for love advice?!" Muskular gasped.

"Riiiight." Mario sighed in resignation. "So, are you ready to go to Star Haven?"

"Yeah, I guess you have a point, what with no one having any wishes and all. Bye girls!" He said with a cheerful wave.

"*Sniff* W-we'll never forget you!" All the Shy Gals in the vicinity cried, all except for Nita who just let out another sigh.

"Who could ever love a failure like me?"

"She's not going to be like this forever, is she?" Bow asked exasperated. "I wish someone would just cheer her up already!"

"A pure wish from a pure heart… deserves to be granted," A voice echoed from seemingly nowhere.

"Ah, that's my cue." Muskular approached Nita and laid beside her. "Hello miss, what's your name?"

"... Nita."

"Ah, Nita, that's a neat name," he said, laughing at his own lame joke. "I'm sorry to say, but I'm afraid you're asking the wrong question."

"... What?"

"Before you can get someone to love you, you need to be able to love yourself. If you can't have self-respect, it'll be difficult to accept any respect someone gives you." Muskular replied.

"But how do I do that when I've lived so much of my life under another…?"

"Well, think of the first thing you want to do, anything that your wildest dreams could imagine, and try to achieve it. It could be anything as simple as finishing a book, running a marathon, making a friend, o-"

"I think I know what I want to do now." Anti-Gal approached Mario with a somewhat awkward gait. "Um…"

"Oh, hey... what's up?" Mario asked, hoping to whoever was listening that she wasn't going to ask him to rob him again.

"I was wondering if you'd be interested in having another companion."

"... what?"

"I know that we haven't gotten on the right foot… ever. But I've spent as long as I can remember wanting to fit in, to do something right. I thought I could finally have a chance one I became an Anti-Gal, but that hasn't worked out at all. So I thought, maybe… since you guys seem to get along, if I could join you guys and do things right, I could finally be appreciated!" Nita said with a hidden grin.

"That's… not exactly what I meant, but it's a start I suppose." Mukular opined.

"Well… I'm a bit weirded out, if I'm being honest, but I guess I could get over it with time. What do you guys think?" Mario asked.

Everyone looked really unsure; they weren't completely against it, but they weren't exactly ecstatic about it either… except for the most non-static static one of them all.

"U-u-um..." Watt was shivering in her boots, and not just from her surplus energy. "I appreciate you for wanting to change, and I'm all for that, but… you were really scary from before! Plus, you were part of the organization that locked me up in that lantern thing! I don't think I could stay in the party if you joined!"

"Oh… well, I guess that's fair. I wouldn't want to get in the way if we're both in the party. I don't want you to choose between us, Mario, but if that's the case..."

"Hmmmm…" Mario started thinking in hard contemplation.

A/N All right, those are the two picks for this chapter, Watt and Nita (apologies to that one person who wanted Jenny to be the second pick; this was already decided a while ago). Watt functions the same as she does in the base game, except she obviously doesn't need to be held to do the stuff that she can. Personally my favorite of all the Partners in PM64, she breaks through defenses, energizes people, lights up dark passages, reveals hidden items, that sort of thing. She can also charge things up with her electricity.

With Nita, she's a former Anti-Gal, one of the strongest enemies in the game, but unable to reach her full potential at the moment due to how she was demoralized. Over time as she regains her confidence and learns to focus her abilities to a new creative outlet, she'll be able to tap into her reserves, but for the moment, she'll just be mildly competent and decent at dodging. Who knows, maybe she'll even give the team some pointers?

So yeah, make sure to vote if you want to help decide which girl gets picked. Now onto the Bad Ends!

Addendum: Since there were 5 Guest votes for Nita in the span of 6 minutes, I'm disabling the Guest Reviews and discounting all prior guest votes. Next time I'll just make a poll like everyone else.

Bad End 1

"Wee hee hee… such foolish prey." The big lantern ghost and her light reappeared on the opposite side of the room. "The dark is my ally. You'll have to do better than that if you wish to defeat me."

"Oh really? Well, two can play at that game, you know!" Bombette shouted in challenge. "How are you going to defeat us if all you do is run away?"

"A very good question… to which I have the perfect answer~" The tall woman lifted the lantern up into the air again and turned some kind of switch on the back. The lantern then began to shake and spark menacingly, causing Mario and his friends to cover their eyes in preparation for an attack.

Then, just like that, the light was out again.

"W-wait, where did she go?" asked Koopie.

"I don't know," Goommaria replied. "Chompy, can you smell- oof!"

The short Goomba girl was cut off by a strong punch to her stomach that caused her to keel over onto the ground and soon her friends met similar fates before they could react. The only one who was spared was Mario, who could do nothing but look around the darkness in desperation for some kind of way to escape.

"G-girls? Are you still there?" Mario called out. "Anyone?"

"Wee hee hee~" was all the reply Mario got before a bag landed on his head and the world somehow became even darker.

When Mario woke up again, he found himself tied to a bed. Or, at least he thought he was tied to a bed, he couldn't actually see to confirm that. The room, or dungeon, or whatever he was trapped in was just as dark as the castle attic was, and he couldn't even see his own whiskers right in front of his face.

"Hngh! Mmmph!" Mario grunted quietly as he tried and failed to free himself from the ropes binding his hands.

"Oh, so you're finally awake?" a familiar voice suddenly said behind him. "That's good. Even if it's dark in here, it wouldn't have been any fun at all if you were asleep the entire time."

"Wha-!?" Maroi gasped, his skin nearly jumping off his skin in surprise. "H-how long have you been standing there?"

"Oh, don't worry, you don't need to know that," the big lantern ghost replied, the sound of her voice and the soft bouncing of her large breasts being the only indication of where she was in the room. "So, how do you like your new home? Cosy, isn't it?"

"New home? W-what are you talking about?" Mario struggled even more, but again it was fruitless.

"Isn't it obvious? General Gal rewarded me with you for stopping your attack on Red Station. You're mine now~" Big lantern ghost placed her hand onto Mario's chest and began to rub, and he shivered at the warm sensation. "You can call me Sepulchre, by the way. And you and I are going to be spending a lot of time together."

"W-what are you going to do to me?" Mario asked, frightened.

"Whatever I want to, of course. You are my toy, after all." Sepulchre's laugh echoed through the room. "But don't worry, I promise to take good care of you. I always keep my toys in mint condition, so you won't have to worry about being hurt. In fact, you're practically going to be living a life of luxury."

"Life of luxury!?" Mario asked in disbelief. "A life of luxury where I can't even see anything?"

"Oh, please, it's not that bad," the tall Shy Gal assured him. "After all… with your sight gone, that means that all your other senses are more sensitive." She began to rub Mario's chest more sesually. "Am I right?"

"Hmmm!" Mario didn't want to admit it, but he was already starting to get aroused from this simple, gentle touch.

"Wee hee hee! I can smell how excited you're getting!" the ghost Gal cackled. "Tell me - can you smell me as well?"

"N-no, of course not," Mario replied.

"Well then…" Mario heard the bed creak a little and then suddenly something soft and silken press against his mouth and face. "How about now?~"

"Hmmmph!" Mario gasped in surprise as he realized that Sepulchre was now sitting on his face, her pussy only separated by her thin panties over his mouth. The scent of her sex quickly invaded his nostrils, overwhelming his mind with lust for a few moments as his cock hardened and created a tent inside his overalls. He quickly recomposed himself and tried to shake Sepulchre off his face, but she was simply too large and too strong to move. All he could do was mumble helplessly into her muff as she ground teasingly into his nose and mouth.

"There? Do you have any trouble smelling it now?" the Shy Gal asked, her panties quickly soaking through with arousal as she kept grinding. "Hmm? No answer? Maybe I should just try even harder, then~"

"Mmmph!" Mario did his best not to focus on the Gal's strong pheromones, but in the dark there was simply no way he could do anything else. He could feel himself grow even harder as her juices started to wet his nose, and his shaft even began to leak a little despite not even being touched.

"Alright, I can definitely tell you're smelling me now." Sepulchre reached back and stroked Mario through his overalls. "Good~". She then pulled herself off Mario and left him alone in the dark again. "Now for the really fun part!"

Mario wasn't sure how long he waited there before something finally happened, as the dark seemed to be warping his sense of time a little. However, he eventually felt a hand reach his chest and unbuttoned his overalls, pulling up his shirt. He tried once again to escape, but his squirming did little to stop Sepulchre from pulling down his pants and revealing his hard cock to the darkness of the room.

Once his dick was free, the Shy Gal wasted no time in straddling Mario's hips, at which point he realized she was naked from the waist-down as he felt her bare skin against his. He let out a grunt of surprise and pleasure as she felt him rest on top of his shaft, pressing it hard between his stomach and her dripping snatch.

"Ah! Now this is what I live for! The feeling of a man's torch pressing up against me! It's extra sensitive right now, isn't it?" Sepulchre playfully moved her hips from side to side. "I can tell~ I can feel it twitch with each little movement I make!"

"P-please… s-stop this!" Mario grunted, unable to deny Sepulchre's words. "This… is torture!"

"This? Torture? No, my dear. This…" There was a moment of silence before Mario suddenly felt a feather run along his bare chest. "... is torture~"

"N-no! Qu-quit it!" Mario couldn't stop himself from whining and grunting as Sepulchre lightly traced his chest with the tip of the feather. Mario never considered himself ticklish, and under most circumstances he wouldn't even feel this touch. But in the dark, his skin felt extra sensitive, so the simple feather became his entire world as it teased his pecks. "I-I'm begging you!"

"Begging? Really?" Mario felt the feather slow down. "And what will you give me if I stop?"

"I… I'll let you do… it…" Mario replied reluctantly.

"Wee hee hee! Foolish little man! There's already nothing stopping me from doing that!" the big lantern ghost pointed out, grinding herself against Mario's shaft again for emphasis. "You're going to have to do better than that if you want me to be… softer with you."

"W-what am I supposed to give you? My soul?" Mario asked in disbelief.

"Well, that would be a good place to start," Sepulchre replied teasingly.

"F-fine… s-stop it with the feather… and I'll be yours forever," Mario replied, not really meaning what he said, but desperate to get her to ease up.

"How sweet of you!" Mario finally felt the feather leave his chest. "Alright, I'll take that deal, but I warn you… no-takesies-backsies~"

Mario let out a sigh of relief as the teasing finally stopped, but he didn't have much time to catch his breath before he felt Sepulchre move again. This time, she lifted herself up off Mario's groin and gripped his cock with one hand, pointing it straight up towards the ceiling. He could feel something very hot hovering over his dick as well, and a familiar scent wafted from that direction towards his nose. Mario couldn't see it, but he could imagine the Shy Gal move her panties to the side and aim her dripping pussy towards his swollen tip.

He expected her to just drop herself down and impale herself on his dick all at once but, to his surprise and frustration, she paused to let the anticipation build up.

"J-just do it already!" Mario eventually begged when the seemingly endless wait became unbearable.

"Good boy~" Was all Sepulchre said in response before finally dropping her hips. Mario let out a loud gasp as he was sheathed inside of her, the Gal's wet, warm walls squeezing down much tighter around him than he expected a woman of her size to be able to. Not only that, but his enhanced sense of touch let him feel every single fold and bump inside her pussy, giving him an enhanced feeling of ecstasy unlike anything he'd felt before.

"Heheh, I can feel your dick twitching like crazy inside me! You must really like it in there, huh?" Sepulchre placed her hands on Mario's chest and began to thrust herself up and down. "Hee hee, I can already tell that you're going to be a very fun toy!"

"Hmmph!" Mario grunted as he felt the Gal start to move up and down, bouncing her thick ass against his groin and squeezing her walls hard around his dick whenever he fully impaled her. He could hear her breasts swing through the air as well, but without the ability to move his hands, all he could do was imagine how truly massive they were as she used his dick like a living dildo.

"See? Isn't the dark so much better than the light? I bet this feels better than fucking a dozen women at once," Sepulchre asked sultrily, the pace of her thrusting hips steady and powerful.

"It… it does! It feels… so good!" Mario admitted. "Does… does it feel that way… for you too?"

"Of course it does! Why do you think I first got into the dark?" Sepulchre replied, her voice just audible over the sound of her slapping hips. "The feeling of your light pole inside me… how each thrust drives my clit absolutely crazy… even after all this time, sex in the dark still feels absolutely incredible. The only difference is that now I've gotten better at stopping myself from squeaking like a toy like you~"

"Gnhh…" Mario turned his face away in shame, but he still couldn't stop himself from gasping as the Gal kept fucking him.

"Aww, don't be like that, my dear! I didn't mean to insult you." Sepulchre reached down and placed a hand gently onto Mario's chin. "You're actually rather adorable when you moan! In fact…" The Shy Gal gripped Mario's shoulders and leaned down so that her soft tits rested against him. "I want to see just how much I can make you scream!"

Using her grip on his shoulders as leverage, Sepulchre began thrusting herself as hard as she could, swallowing Mario's cock inside her again and again as she assaulted his dick with an endless stream of pleasure. She moved so quickly that Mario suspected she would have been a blur if he could see her, and she soaked his dick so much with each thrust that the bed was starting to stain with her arousal.

And, of course, the whole time Mario had to deal with his enhanced senses. Not only did it feel amazing to have her soft breasts resting against his chest, but his dick was so sensitive that he could swear he could actually see the inside of it with his mind. It was as if there was a camera linked directly to his dick, giving him a perfect view of the inside of her pussy as her walls parted and squeezed around his dick again and again. It was a mind-numblingly erotic sight to behold, and it rushed him ever closer towards a powerful orgasm.

"Mmm, you're becoming addicted to my body, aren't you?" Sepulchre leaned forward and kissed Mario briefly on the lips, sending a spike of ecstasy through his body. "That's good… because you won't be interacting with anything besides my body for a long time~"

"B-but what about my friends? W-what about Peach? W-what about exercise?" Mario asked, though he was barely able to form proper sentences with how overwhelmed his mind was.

"You don't need to worry about those silly little things anymore, my dear. I promise that I'll take good care of you~" Sepulchre adjusted herself so that her breasts rested directly on Mario's face, smothering him in her supple flesh and womanly scent. This seemed to be enough to overwhelm the plumber's mind as, after that, all he seemed to be able to do was grunt and thrust weakly up into the Shy Gal's hips.

"That's it… give in to your dark desires!" Sepulchre encouraged while her wet walls strangled Mario's dick with every thrust she made. "Let your whole world become nothing but lust, sex, and darkness!"

"Hnnngh!" Mario grunted one last time before he felt himself explode inside her, his dick coating the inside with layer after layer of his thick white seed. Mario felt his toes curl as the orgasm seemed to last forever, his heightened sense of touch making this his strongest orgasm he had ever felt. Sepulchre's orgasm followed shortly behind and, although hers wasn't quite as loud as Mario's was, it was still quite powerful, and it sent shivers through her that shook her body from her head to her toes.

"That's it… let it all out… good boy~" Sepulchre wrapped her arms around Mario's head and held him between her breasts until she felt his dick finally stop twitching inside her. "Have you realized what a good decision being my private little pet is yet?"

"Yes… I have…" Mario replied, his voice almost as if he was in a trance. "This… is a paradise… that I will never leave."

"Perfect." Sepulchre pat Mario on the head before finally letting him go and getting up off the bed. "Now, if you'll excuse me for just one moment, I have something I need to take care of. Don't worry, I won't be long, and we'll be able to keep having fun when I get back. So long~"

Mario waited until he no longer heard Sepulchre's footsteps before he finally made his move. While he was being raped, the bond on his right hand had come undone, and he swiftly used the freed hand to untie the rest of his bonds and free himself from the bed entirely. Now able to stand again, he got up from the bed and tried to find anything that could be used as a light - and he found exactly what he was looking for in the form of a lamp on a nearby table.

He didn't hesitate to turn it on and, when he did, he finally got to look at the room he had been trapped inside. He was expecting it to be a concrete dungeon but, instead, he found himself in a bright pink, fluffy room filled with what seemed like a thousand plush animals, most of which were pony-shaped. And, in the far corner of the room, Mario could see Sepulchre herself, wearing her hood and nothing else, kissing a yellow pony doll with plush pink hair.

"Uh…" Sepulchre abruptly stopped kissing her doll when she realized that Mario was staring at her. "Uh… could you please not tell the other Gals that I live like this?"

The End

Bad End?

"M-Mario!" Bombette cried out, her hand outstretched as the big lantern ghost began to lift her hood. But, just as she was about to reveal her mouth, she was interrupted by the sound of a door opening. "Eh?"

They all turned towards the source of the noise and saw that the door to the roof had been sprung ajar, only for the door to swiftly close, the last thing they saw of the outside world they saw being a shadowy figure dashing inside.

"Hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh…" A ghastly groan resounded within the confines of the room, its newest occupant invisible to all, except for one.

"And who exactly are you supposed to be?" The big lantern ghost let go of Mario and turned towards where the figure appeared to be. "Actually, don't bother answering that. I don't bother to learn the names of bugs."

The big lantern ghost lumbered over to it and raised her lantern over her head, ready to bring it down on its head like a ton of bricks. But the blow never came, instead abruptly stopped by a red metal object in the now-revealed Anti-Gal's hand; a turned-on flashlight.

"..." Anti-Gal stared up stoically at the lantern that almost crushed her, her breathing strangely heavy, but she clearly wasn't having any trouble holding her flashlight up.

"What?!" The big lantern ghost flinched a little in surprise but quickly recovered. "Why you… I'm going to make you regret leaving your post like that, you little-"

The big lantern ghost didn't have time to finish her sentence, as Anti-Gal suddenly disappeared from sight.

"Huh?" The big lantern ghost looked around in confusion. "What's going on?"

The next noise that echoed through the attic was a loud thwack as the side of Anti-Gal's flashlight collided with her stomach.

"Ooof!" Her breath was pushed right out of her body and, before she could even recover, more blows came. Mario and his friends all watched in amazement and fear as Anti-Gal's red flashlight assaulted the larger Shy Gal from every angle, moving so fast that their eyes could barely keep up with it.

And then, just as quickly as the fight started, it came to an end, with the big lantern ghost again standing alone in the middle of the room with Anti-Gal nowhere to be seen. At first she seemed to be completely fine, but after only a few moments, she fell straight forward, landing onto her face with a deafening thud and revealing Anti-Gal holding her flashlight behind her. The lantern crashed to the ground a moment later, swiftly fading away and leaving Anti-Gal's red flashlight as the only source of light in the room.

"Uh… should we thank her for doing that, or should we start running away in fear?" Koopie whispered in the dark.

"I'm not sure," Mario replied. "And I'm a little too scared to find out."

"..." Anti-Gal turned towards Mario and his friends and stared for a few moments, completely still… right up until her flashlight went off, and she was suddenly left shivering in the dark. "Gaaah! Stupid cheap flashlight… I knew I should have changed the batteries on this months ago!"

Without so much as a "Goodbye", the black-cloaked Gal dashed back out through the door she came in from, taking cover in the light outside just as Lady Bow phased into the attic.

"Aaaah! I hate the dark so much!" they could hear Anti-Gal whine to herself as her footsteps faded into the distance, leaving Mario and his friends once again confused, but once again able to fight another day.

The End

Bad End 2

"Gah! Absolutely worthless soldiers…" General Gal grumbled. "That's it! Form squad formation Beta instead!"

"Roger that!" The other Gals all saluted before running off into a back room and returning with long wooden sticks. At first, Mario thought they were spears, but he was proven wrong as they were all affixed to the Shy Gals' feet; they were stilts.

"Uh… you're seriously going to try and defeat us with stilts?" Mario asked as the Gals waddled over towards him. However, that was all he was able to say before true hell began for him.

The Stilt Gals, while un-intimidating at a distance, up close they proved to be shockingly agile, pummeling Mari's chest with the blunt ends of their stilts and sending him flying across the room as a result.

"Mario!" Goommaria called out in shock just before she received the single worst Goomba-Stomp of her entire life right to her forehead, and she was knocked out cold. Bow was the next to face their wrath, being bound by a special anti-ghost restraining jacket that one of the Gals fired out of a T-shirt gun.

Koopie did her best to react quickly before they reached her, but the turtle girl proved to be too slow and wound up with her and her shell being used as soccer practice for two of the Stilt Gals. As she was kicked around the room.

The only partners who managed to put up any kind of fight were Bombette, Chompy, and Watt, who fought back to back to try and stop the Stilt Gals from getting behind them. Watt would zap at Gals who got too close, Chompy would swipe at their stilts with her tail, and Bombette would deliver punches powerful enough to shatter their stilts into chopsticks. But, even this dynamic trio couldn't put them off forever, and they soon found themselves helpless as the Stilt Gals rushed them all at once and they became buried under a mountain of splinters and women.

"Ha! I knew buying those things wasn't a waste of time! Good job, me!" General Gal pat herself on the back before hopping out of the tank and heading over to where Mario's half-conscious body lay on the ground. "Throw those other miscreants in the deepest, darkest, most gym-smelliest dungeon we have! I don't want to ever see them again!"

"Right away, General Gal ma'am madame general president sir ma'am!" One of the Stilt Gals saluted Jenny and almost fell over in the process. "And what should we do with Mario?"

"Oh, don't worry, I have some fun plans for him," General Gal said devilishly as she stood over Mario. "Trust me; I'm a general, so my plans are always great."

"Augh… Mamma mia… remind me never to make fun of people on stilts again…" Mario groaned and clutched his forehead as he regained full consciousness. "Wait… where the heck am I?"

Mario sat his sore body up and found that he was back in General Gal's room, which seemed to have been completely rebuilt and reorganized since he had passed out. When he looked down at his body, he expected to find himself bound or strapped to some kind of torture device but, instead, he was just sitting in a giant bean bag chair shaped like a puppy dog.

"Ah! Perfect timing!" General Gal, wearing her bathrobe rather than her military uniform, walked into the room carrying an armful of books and boxes. "I was hoping that you'd be awake by the time I got back."

"Jenny? What's going on?" Mario rubbed his eyes. "Where are my friends?"

"Ha! Right here, of course!" General gal replied, putting down her things onto a nearby table.

Mario looked around in confusion. "They're… not invisible or too small to see, are they?"

"Grr, that's not what I meant, you idiot!" Jenny raised her voice but quickly took a deep breath to calm herself down. "What I meant was that you don't need those losers that you used to know anymore. Now, you have the best possible friend in the whole world; me!"

"... are you serious?" Mario asked.

"Yep! I know, you don't deserve it, but I figured I may as well show some mercy to the man who nearly defeated my army," Jenny replied. "You have permission to thank me now, by the way."

"..." Mario stared in silence for a moment before standing up and raising his right leg. He was planning on punting the shortstack all the way across the room, but he stopped when he heard what sounded like the cocking of a plastic gun. Glancing to his left, he could see a soldier Gal hiding behind a bookshelf with some kind of dart gun pointed directly at him, and something told him he didn't want to find out if it was loaded with foam or something else. "Uh… thank you so much, General Gal."

"Please, we're friends! Just call me Jenny!" General Gal sat onto a beanbag chair shaped like a kitten and opened one of the boxes she brought with her. "Now then, what should we do first together? Try to put together a puzzle? Paint some figurines? Oh, or I could show you some of my favorite romance comics…"

"Uh… how about we just start with a board game," Mario interrupted, hoping to steer the conversation away from romance.

"Ooooh, an excellent choice. Let's start with something simple; 99 Days In the Siege of Goomba City." General Gal cleared the table and opened one of her boxes, revealing a board that was as big as she was and a collection of more miniatures than Mario could count. "Don't worry, the rules are pretty simple, and I can explain them to you as I set it up. You see, this game is a semi-co-optional turn-based RPG siege simulator with real time elements where the goal is to-"

"... unless you accidentally take the objectives in the wrong order, then the Fremen win," General Gal said after two hours of explanations as she finally put the last miniature in place on the board. "Any questions?"

"Zzzz…" General Gal looked up from the board for the first time and noticed that Mario's eyes were shut and he was snoring peacefully in his beanbag chair.

"What!?" Jenny grabbed a riding crop that she hung from the wall and whipped it hard against the ground. "Hey! Wake up!"

"Whu? Huh?" Mario blinked the sleep from his eyes and looked around wildly.

"You bastard… did you even listen to a word of what I was saying?" General Gal asked, her voice turning dark and grave.

"Wha? Oh, yeah, of course I was!" Mario lied. "I was just resting my eyes for a moment."

"Really?" General Gal tapped her foot. "Then what happens when the third building gets toppled over?"

"Uh… Yahtzee?" Mario relied, sweating.

"Unbelievable… that was one of the first rules I explained! You weren't listening to anything I was saying at all!" General Gal began to stomp her foot like a brat. "Do you have any idea how long I've waited to find the time to play this game? How long I've searched for someone to play this with? I put aside my whole day for this, and you just fell asleep during the rules' explanation!"

"H-hey, don't worry! I'm sure I can figure out the rules as we go," Mario tried to reassure her.

"You idiot! Not knowing the rules is against the rules!" General Gal gripped her blonde hair so tightly she almost pulled it out. "That's it! If you don't want to play the games that I want to play, then you'll just have to entertain me another way!"

"What do you mean by-" Mario was cut off as General Gal leaped across the table and into his lap, sending miniatures flying as she jumped across the board.

"Isn't it obvious? The conqueror is about to claim her prize!" Jenny said as intimidatingly as she could as she tried to unbutton Mario's overalls. They proved to be pretty difficult to undo with her hands covered by her robe sleeves, but after a minute of fumbling, she managed to unbutton them and began pulling his overalls down. "Haha! Look at you; completely helpless to stop me while I prepare to make your body mine~"

Mario sighed at that statement; he knew full-well that he could easily defeat General Gal one on one, but as long as her soldiers kept watching them, he had to keep acting like he was completely helpless.

"Aha! So this is your boy thing!" General Gal said triumphantly as Mario's pants and underwear were tossed to the side, revealing his semi-hard shaft. "A real-life penis… it's a lot more… fleshy than I thought it would be." She poked the rod curiously.

"Well, yeah - you didn't think it would literally be 'hard as a rock', did you?"

"N-no! Of course not! As if a genius like me would ever make a mistake like that! Now, prepare to face my special erotic strategies!" General Gal pulled back her robe sleeves and began to rub Mario's cock with her bare hands, doing her best not to appear too inexperienced with her technique. Her hands didn't feel all that good, but the hidden guards around the room convinced him that it was in his best interest to start gasping regardless. "Heh, such a pathetic man… this feels ten times better than your pathetic old friends could do, huh?"

"Y-yes… your technique is… f-flawless, Jenny! Ah!" Mario made sure to punctuate his sentence with an extra sensual moan to flatter the Gal's ego.

"Heh, why thank you! It comes from a lot of practice," Jenny lied as Mario's shaft reached full-mast. "And if you think this is good, just wait until you get a load of this!"

General Gal crawled herself off Mario's lap and took off her robe, leaving her completely naked except for her mask. Her skin was tan and smooth, but her breasts were small even compared to other Shy Gals, barely even appearing as bumps on her chests. Jenny somehow didn't seem to know that, however, and leaned forward to try and place Mario's cock between her tits.

"There! Take that" Jenny taunted as the front of Mario's shaft slid against her chest. "Let's see how long your dick can last under the touch of a world-class tit job!"

"Uh…" While the feeling of his dick rubbing against Jenny's chest did feel good, he wasn't sure it could really count as a titjob. Instead of being completely submerged in an ocean of soft titflesh like he would be with Bombette or other busty Mono, it was more like Mario was lightly dipped into a small puddle of tits. He wasn't going to cum from this anytime soon, but it was still enough to make a drop of precum appear on his tip.

"P-please, slow down!" Mario 'begged' as his precum began to sliken the center of Jenny's chest. "I can't take much more!"

"Don't bother trying to beg for mercy - after insulting my game like that, you don't deserve it," General Gal taunted as her tit(less)job continued. "I'm going to make you paint my chest white, and you are going to love it!"

General Gal placed her hands onto her biceps so that her arms wrapped around the back of Mario's cock and he could feel even more stimulation as she moved. She then moved herself up and down as fast as she could, as if attempting to jack him off with her entire upper body - but since she was never one for exercise, she tired out about halfway to Mario's orgasm.

"Haah… haah…" Jenny let go of Mario's dick, sweating and panting. "Actually… maybe I do have some mercy in me after all. What do you say I show you inside my… secret high command bunker?"

Jenny climbed back onto Mario's lap and let her pussy slide against the top of Mario's hard cock, slickening it with her juices and allowing him to get a good feel for how warm she was down there.

"Th-that sounds like it would be… fun," Mario replied, careful to police his tone so he didn't upset her.

"Alright… hold still, and I'll get you past security~" The shortstack on Mario's lap adjusted her position so that her soft lower lips were right above his tip. But, just before she could thrust herself downwards, the door to her bedroom suddenly opened.

"General Gal, Ma'am!" A soldier Gal in a blue hoodie walked in and saluted.

"Augh… you better have a good reason for coming in here, or else it's no cookies for you for a month!" General Gal shouted over her shoulder.

"S-sorry, ma'am, it's just… your troops just finished conquering the whole toy box," the frightened soldier replied. 'And you personally ordered me to let you know so you could give your big victory speech."

"Ah, that's right… I did plan on giving that as soon as possible so I could start gloat- er, I mean leading… but then again, I was finally about to have some real fun." Jenny looked back at Mario and a devilish new idea wormed its way into her head. "You know what… why don't we just do both?"

"Ma'am?" The Soldier Gal tilted her head in confusion.

"Never you mind - just go get all my troops together, and I'll start my speech shortly." Jenny hopped off Mario's body and began to put her military uniform on.

"Yes, ma'am! Right away, ma'am!" The soldier Gal saluted and ran out of the room.

"Phew…" Mario sighed and relaxed into his chair, but the brief relief he felt quickly went away when Jenny grabbed his hand and began leading him out of the room. "W-wait, what are you doing? Where are you taking me? And… why aren't you wearing pants?"

"Don't worry, I have a plan," Jenny replied. "All you have to do is stay low and stay quiet. Think you can handle that?"

Mario swallowed and nodded as he kept following her. Jenny led Mario up a long flight of stairs to a balcony that overlooked the courtyard outside - and there, Mario could see that it was packed to the brim with Shy Gals wielding toys-turned-weapons.

"I said keep down!" Jenny scolded Mario and forced him to duck low enough so he couldn't be seen over the railing of the balcony. She then brought Mario's attention to a raised podium with a large chair sitting behind it. General Gal motioned towards it with her head and wiggled her eyebrows behind her mask, letting Mario know exactly what she had in mind.

Mario let out another sigh and sat down on the chair, making sure to keep his head low enough to keep his hat out of view and his hips forward enough so that General Gal would have unrestricted access to his dick.

"Thank you very much~" General Gal sat her bottomless booty onto the chair, her head coming just above the podium to meet her microphone and her labia resting just above Mario's cockhead. "Ahem… Ladies and Gals! I stand here before you, not as just your General anymoooore!" Jenny's body shivered as she slipped Mario's tip inside her, stretching her lips wide and stimulating her clit. "Now, I also stand before you as your liberator, your master… your undisputed ruler!"

"Mooka-locka, Hooka-locka, hee - Ha! Mooka-locka, Hooka-locka, hee - Ha! Ha!" the crowd shouted in unison, making the castle shake with their warcry - and causing Mario's dick to vibrate as well.

"But… we will not stop at just conquering this toy box… as fun as it is here," General Gal continued, using her grand gestures to the audience to help cover up the fact that she was now thrusting herself up and down on Mario's hard dick. "No longer will the people outside treat us as if we are just little kids! We will show them once and for all that we are women! In fact, Shy Gals are the womanliest women of them all!"

The crowd shouted in unison once again while Mario felt General Gal's walls clamp down hard around his cock.

"Once our armies are ready, we will march out from this box and make Toad Town ours! After that, each and every Gal will have their own Toad or human boyfriend to help clean your rooms, cook your food, and play with you whenever you want!" General Gal shouted into the microphone, making Mario realize that he was just getting a taste for what was going to come for countless other men. "And then, we'll see who looks down on who!"

The crowd really seemed to go wild at that thought, with dozens of Shy Gals loudly cheering about what they wanted to do with their future husbands and how they'd somehow get 'revenge' against people they had never even met or even cared about before that day.

"And then once Toad Town is ours, we'll make sure that the name Gal is respected from every corner of the globe! The entire planet will be our playground, both figuratively and literally!" Mario could feel Jenny grow extra wet as she announced her imperialistic ambitions. "And then, the world will no longer know us as Shy Gals… we will be known as… the Brave Gals!"

With that, General Gal ended her speech and the crowd broke into its longest cheer yet. Jenny sat there and soaked up the praise gluttonously, all the while subtly fucking herself on Mario's cock as hard as she could without getting caught. At that point, Mario wasn't quite sure what turned her on more; the feeling of his dick pumping in and out of her tight hole, or the sound of her soldiers endlessly exalting her. Either way, it only took a few more minutes of thrusting for General Gal to get herself off, triggering an orgasm that shook her body and caused her warm walls to clamp down like a vice. This added stimulation sent Mario over the edge as well, and soon he was pumping Jenny's womb full of thick seed while an army of Shy Gals unknowingly watched.

"Alright, I think that's enough for now." General Gal turned off her microphone and hopped off Mario's cock, allowing his cum to slip out and run down her short legs. "So, did you have fun? Can you see how good of a friend I am yet?"

"Ooooh…" Mario groaned in reply as he fell off the chair, still a little tired from the orgasm he just had.

"What, no 'thank you'? I let you have sex with me during the biggest speech of my life, and you're not even going to thank me for it?" General Gal asked, her legs still shaking a little from the sex. "Well then, maybe you'll finally learn to appreciate how gentle I am with you if I give you to someone who'll be more rough first."

"W-wait, what's that supposed to mean?" Mario asked, but General Gal refused to answer and just dragged Mario back into the castle. There, she led him down to the training area, where dozens of her Soldier Gals were still in the middle of exercising.

"Alright, Gals! I've got a present for you!" Jenny pushed Mario towards the nearest group of Gals. "I know I said this one is mine, but I decided to let you all have him for a little while."

"W-wait, seriously?" The group of Gals stopped doing their jumping jacks and turned to look at Mario. "You mean it, ma'am?"

"Yep - but only for 24 hours," Jenny clarified. "And since there are about fifty of you here, you better make sure your time with him counts."

Mario sweated nervously as he felt all the Gals stare at him, their lustful gazes noticeable even behind their masks. Then, in an instant, they were upon him, tossing off their hoodies, bras, and panties in an attempt to have sex with him first.

"Hey, out of the way! I want to do him first!" a Gal with long black hair shouted as she ground her bare pussy against Mario's right leg.

"No, it should be me! I'm going to be on guard duty forever until my promotion, this is my only chance!" Another Gal with blue hair said as she smothered Mario's face with her small tits.

"Hey, what about me? I'm the one who's still a virgin!" asked a desperate Gal with brown hair while she tried and failed to line up Mario's cock with her dripping snatch.

"What!? But we had sex just a week ago?" Another Gal who Mario couldn't even see in the crowd smothering him complained.

"Our pussies didn't touch, so that doesn't count," the brunette straddling Mario shouted back.

"Didn't that mean anything to you!?" came the sobbing response

The brunette Gal just ignored her friend and thrust herself downwards onto Mario's dick, taking it as deep inside her as she could and immediately started to thrust as quickly as possible.

"Alright, have fun, Gals, and remember; if he ever 'tires out', just stuff a mushroom in his mouth and he'll be ready to go in no time," General Gal said as she walked away. "Have fun~"

Mario spent the next day being constantly raped by the Soldier Gals, forced to be hard almost constantly as they rode his body. They pinned him hard to the ground and each tried to squeeze as many orgasms as they could out of their brief times with him, though all their constant competition meant that very few of them actually wound up cumming at all. The only one that wound up orgasming consistently was Mario, who was so overwhelmed by pleasurable sensations that he was practically just a semen-shooting fountain by the end of it all.

When Mario finally regained enough of his rationality to tell where he was again, he looked around and noticed that he was in the exact same beanbag chair in Jenny's room that he woke up in when he was first captured by Jenny. He was about to try and stand up, but the General in question walked back into the room at that very moment, again wearing her robe and carrying a selection of books and board game boxes with her.

"Ah, so you're finally back again! Having you as a barely-concious fuck toy was fun, but unfortunately you made about as good of a gaming partner as tree stump." General Gal put her things down onto her table and sat back down in her kitty bean bag chair. "So, are you ready to start taking my games seriously?"

"Y-yes ma'am," Mario replied, defeated.

"Good! Buuuut just to make sure you're not lying to me, how about we make our games a little more interesting?" Jenny opened the box to Siege of Goomba City and began setting it up. "Every time you lose a game to me, you have to take a punishment. And every time I lose a game to you, I owe you a favor. That way, you'll have motivation to actually try and beat me instead of just going through the motions of the game. How does that sound?"

"W-well… I guess that's okay… though I don't have much choice in the matter," Mario replied, adding that last bit in quietly.

"You bet your cute butt you don't! Everything I say is literally law!" Jenny replied cheerily. "Now, to go over the rules again…"

"Ahaha! And with that, the last building falls, and your last Goomba is stomped! I win!" General Gal gloated evilly as she knocked over the last plastic ower on the board. "Though, I have to admit you put up a pretty good fight… much better than I expected, honestly."

"Really? Does that mean you won't punish me?" Mario asked, his brain a little sore from trying to keep up with the game's rules.

"No, I still will." General Gal walked over to Mario and started pulling his clothes off once more. "But I promise I'll be gentler this time~"

Mario swallowed and sat back in the chair as General Gal straddled his waist and impaled himself on his shaft.

"Ooooh, yeah, that's exactly that spot~" General Gal said with a shiver as she felt Mario's pole slide along her sensitive folds. "It feels good for you too, doesn't it? Heh, I bet you've never had someone who was as much of a woman as me before. Don't be afraid of moaning, no one will judge you for submitting to such a formidable pussy~"

"Aaah!" Mario grunted loudly. General Gal was certainly tight - even tighter than he expected a short woman like her should have been - but saying that she was 'more woman than he ever had before' would be grossly exaggerated. In fact, Mario suspected that he could have literally sent the Gal flying if he thrust his hips hard enough but, again, he knew that trying to resist her would only end badly, so he did his best to act as if this was the single lay of his life to keep Jenny happy.

"Hehehe… I can go even harder if you beg~" General Gal teased, wiggling her hips from side to side.

"H-harder… please!" Mario replied.

"Alright, but don't say you didn't ask for it!" General Gal lifted her tiny rear and slammed it down onto Mario's groin as hard as she could, though the impact only made a light slapping sound instead of the resonating thwack that she heard in her head. But Mario kept moaning, and so she kept going, wringing Mario's dick with her tight hole as hard as she could. Sweat ran down across her tan skin as both their breathing grew more and more intense, until…!

"Aaaaaaah!" General Gal cried out as she felt Mario's seed hit her womb, sending her into orgasm instantly. Her body shook like a leaf on Mario's dick, seemingly cumming with each spurt of his thick jizz, until he finally began to soften and she slumped off his body onto the floor.

"A-are you alright?" Mario asked, sitting up in his beanbag chair.

"Y-yeah… of course I am…" She replied, cum still dripping out of her as she pulled herself up using her board game table. "W-what about you? I didn't tire your dick out too much, did I?"

"Uh… I think I'm still good," Mario replied honestly.

"Alright, good… because this time…" Jenny reached for a new board game box and slammed it on the table. "We're going to be playing 'Mafia de Pianta', and I do not hold back."

For the next few weeks, Mario adjusted to his new life as General Gal's 'friend'. He'd go with her to her speeches, ride with her in her pink 'command buggy' around the toy box, and he'd spend almost every night playing board games with her and being raped every single time he lost. And that happened so frequently that Mario almost began to get used to it, though Jenny seemed to cum harder each time they were together.

But then, one day, while they were playing the game Monodemic, Mario did something he didn't think was possible; he won.

"Wait… no, that can't be." Jenny picked up the game's rule book and hastily flipped through it, but everything confirmed her worst fears. "I lost… but… that's impossible! I never lose! I'm too much of a genius to lose!" She began to stomp her foot on the ground while a hidden Shy Gal sniper prepared to blow a dart at Mario.

"H-hey now, there's no reason to get upset! I, uh, just got lucky!" Mario said hastily. "I think you deserve a few extra points, don't you?"

"No! Don't you dare patronize me!" General Gal whined. "If you won, you won, and that means…you get a free… favor from me…" She spoke that last part very quietly. "But I swear, that won't happen again, you hear me!?"

"A-a favor?" Mario swallowed nervously. "Well… could I see my friends again?"

"I said a favor, not an indulgence," General Gal replied dryly.

"I thought so." Mario sighed. "Well then, how about… I get to touch you for once?"

"W-wait, really?" General Gal took a step back in surprise.

"Yeah; I think if I'm going to be your 'friend' for the rest of my life, I might as well find out what it's like if the shoe were on the other foot," Mario replied with a nod.

"Well, okay… but don't come crying to me when I turn out to be too much woman for you once again!" General Gal stripped off her clothes and stood in front of Mario. "Well? You're not chickening out alre-ooooh!"

General Gal was interrupted by her own shivering as Mario ran his hand across her body, touching her of his own free will for the very first time. His hand ran across the smooth skin of her ribs, gently prodded her breasts, and curiously poked one of her cheeks.

"H-hey! Who said you could touch me like… th-that!?" General Gal asked, jumping back.

"Uh… you did?" Mario answered.

"R-right, of course did… I was just testing you with that question is all." Jenny looked away in embarrassment. "You may continue."

"..." Feeling bold for once, Mario picked the short Gal up off the ground and brought his face to her chest, latching his mouth onto one of her breasts and licking one of her nipples hard.

"Aaaah! Th-this is so humiliating!" Jenny whined as she tried to hide just how good Mario's touch felt. "Y-you better believe… I'll show no mercy… in our next game! Aaaah!"

Mario wasn't listening to her at this point and figured if the guards watching them were going to shoot him, then there wasn't anything he could do about that. So, throwing caution to the wind, he reached down towards Jenny's naked, exposed pussy and began to play with it, rubbing her clit carefully while one of his fingers massaged her labia to try and get her moist enough to slip inside.

"Gyaaaah! H-hey, that… actually feels… really good!" Jenny admitted, one of her feet resting on Mario's stomach. "H-how come you never touched me like this before?"

"Well, because I always lost before," Mario pointed out. "It would have been rude to be in charge then, and besides… you were having fun then too, right?"

"Well, yeah, but… this… oooh!" Jenny shivered again as her juices began to coat Mario's hand. "This is already so good! You haven't even put anything inside me yet, but I'm already so… aaah, aaaaah!"

"You've… never let someone else take the lead in bed before, have you?" Mario asked.

"O-of course not! I'm the general, after all! I'm always supposed to take the lead," Jenny replied bashfully.

"Well then… I guess you've never had someone do this before, have you?" Mario shoved his index finger into Jenny's box and thrust it in and out of her hard, eliciting her loudest scream yet as her walls clamped down like a vice around his digit. Her hips shook from side to side on reflex to try and get Mario's finger out of her, but he refused to relent and began forcing it as deep inside of her as he could go.

"Gyaaaah! That… that is completely different than anything I've ever felt before!" Jenny admitted as a line of drool dripped down her chin and out from under her mask. "Why… why does it feel so good!?"

"Hmm… I think it's because you just happen to like rough sex," Mario explained casually as he managed to force the general through a quick orgasm. "But since your body is so small, there's only so much roughness you can embody before you tire yourself out."

"Hey! I'm not small! I just… have a short stature!" Jenny whined. "And you better show me more respect or… or…. Eyaaaaaah!"

Not wanting Jenny to sic her guards on him, he decided to change the subject in the most abrupt way he could - he pulled his finger out of her wet snatch and slammed her down onto his dick hard, impaling her all the way to her womb in one fell swoop. She had fucked Mario plenty of times before, so she had no trouble accommodating his length, but the power and speed of his thrust was unlike anything she had ever felt before. Her walls were stretched so far so quickly, and the feeling of her clit colliding with his groin made her cum instantly once again.

Then, not missing a beat, Mario began to thrust her up and down on his groin while standing, like she was just a sex toy for him to use as he pleased. Jenny clenched her teeth behind her mask to try and stop herself from moaning too loudly, but this proved to be futile as her moans kept pouring from her mouth like water from a fountain.

"Aaah… you… you have some nerve… acting like this… with my body…" Jenny moaned, her legs flopping around uselessly whenever her groin slammed into Mario's. "Why I ought to… ought to… p… p…" The general trailed off as she felt another orgasm incoming, and her mind began to have trouble forming complete thoughts. It was feeling like her brain was turning into mush, and that all she was capable of doing was letting out an occasional moan while her tight pussy walls kept spasming around Mario's dick again and again.

For fifteen minutes this went on, with Mario forcing himself inside her tight box again and again, completely drenching his groin with her arousal. He tried his best to hold on as long as he could, and compared to Jenny he did an incredible job of that, but eventually he felt himself get close to the edge. So, he slammed Jenny down onto his cock one last time and held her there as he filled her with shot after shot of his thick semen. Jenny couldn't help but cum at the same time, and then kept cumming until Mario's dick finally softened and he pulled out of her.

"Phew… uh… thanks for letting me do that," Mario said a bit awkwardly as he put Jenny back down.

"D-don't worry… it was nothing," Jenny insisted, though it took her a moment to be able to sit upright again. "A-anyways, let's keep going. The day… is still young, after all… and I want to play… Blackjill."

"Huh? I… won again?" Mario asked in surprise half an hour later. "But… that was so easy."

"What? Please, I don't know what you're talking about; only the very best can ever defeat a genius like me," Jenny insisted as she reached down to take off her clothes once more. "But since you did beat me again, I suppose you want another 'favor' now, don't you? Don't be shy - after all, you did earn this~"

"Augh… Mamma Mia…" Mario sighed as General Gal crawled onto his lap and began snuggling him. "I guess trying to turn the tables backfired on me after all…"

"Aw, don't be like that," Jenny replied. "Would it make you feel any better if I let you fuck my throat?"

"Hmmm…" was Mario's ambiguous reply.

"I know warm milk always helps me calm down~" she added, rubbing his dick with her hand now.

"Well… it would be a good opportunity to get her to be quiet…" Mario thought to himself as she stood up.

"That's the spirit! Show me what you can do with that - gulk, ulllk!" Jenny was cut off as Mario moved her mask slightly to the side and shoved his dick hard into her mouth, stretching her throat hard as he bottomed out inside it. She made sure to take special care to keep her teeth out of the way to make sure that he could thrust smoothly in and out of her gullet and build up speed quickly.

"Mmm, mmm!" Jenny moaned contentedly as she fingered her clit, relishing both the feeling and the taste of Mario's dick inside her mouth. It was humiliating and degrading to be used like this, for sure, but she had to admit to herself that she was actually starting to enjoy that part of this. She was enjoying the feeling of Mario's bigger, more powerful body dominating hers, to thrust in and out of her with careless abandon. Even the slight gagging she felt when he pressed all the way inside her, cutting her air off for a few moments, seemed to make her feel even hotter than fucking Mario herself did.

Mario, for his part, decided to just focus on pleasing himself, gripping her head to use as leverage to thrust into her throat even harder. The loud swallowing and gagging noises Jenny made whenever he thrust worried Mario a little, but he decided to let the Gal test her mettle and refused to hold back.

Mario finished after a few minutes straight of fucking her throat, depositing a load of sperm as thick as jelly inside Jenny that she lovingly played with using her tongue as Mario pulled out of her and left a long string of cum on her mask.

"Aaaah… now that… is what I call a good glass of milk~" Jenny said after she swallowed and licked her lips. "I can't wait to have another before bed."

Mario would spend most of the rest of his life with Jenny, the General slowly transforming from his domineering captor to his submissive fuckdoll, until eventually she was letting him rail her senseless against the walls of her bedroom every single day. But even when she had her ass submissively pointing into the air for him to rail, Mario knew that he was only allowed to do that because she wanted him to. So, even if he was mostly 'on top', he knew that he was still the Gal's boytoy.

And so he spent the rest of his days living a double life at General Gal's side, her doting boyfriend in public and her domineering partner in bed, all while her conquest of the outside world continued unabated. And while Mario never did get the opportunity to see his friends again, he would by the end of his life know the rules to more board games than any man had any right to know; rules that he'd wind up teaching to his and Jenny's many children.

The End

All right, just as a reminder, it's time to vote whether you want Watt the Lil Sparky or Nita the Anti-Gal as the next party member. Hope you enjoyed!