A/N: Welcome back, folks! I know it's been a while since I last posted a few more chapters. These should've been up late last seek, but for the past several days FFN hasn't been letting me in so I couldn't post them. But here they are, better late than never.

I do also have a quick PSA to share about the MGTU, but I'll put that at the end of these chapters, you've waited long enough to read them. As always, please read, review, and enjoy!

I do not own Super Mario.

Chapter 79: Rock and Roll

The next morning, I woke up to find Baby Luma sleep-floating next to my bed. Had he ever done that before? I'd certainly never seen him do it, but then again, I'm not watching him all night either. I'm more focused on getting my own sleep, thank you very much.

And as I hastily made the bed, he started sleep-mumbling. "One batch…," he said semi-coherently. "Two batch…penny…dime…."

I'd only been half-listening, but at that I stopped and turned towards him. Had he just quoted a line from The Punishroom in his sleep? I thought he hated that show. Maybe he did. Maybe all this meant was that even though he hated it for whatever stupid, immature reason, it was still sticking with him subconsciously.

Although that in turn raised the alarming question of whether I quote Hallmushroom Christmas movies in my sleep. Whenever they're on I tune them out to the best of my ability, but you never know.

I finished tidying the bed, brushed my teeth, and then, since Baby Luma was still asleep (I don't think he's ever slept this late before), I headed up to the helm to see if my cap and Kevlar had arrived. Sure enough, they were waiting for me next to the Totals Sign, so I unpackaged them, cut out a piece of Kevlar, and attached it to the inside of the cap. Ahh, that felt better. I'd missed that reassuring, protective feeling off Kevlar against my head.

Then, since Baby Luma still wasn't up yet, I had breakfast.

Then, since Baby Luma STILL wasn't up yet, I decided to figure out where I'd go Power Star-hunting that day, and just not actually go there until Baby Luma was awake and accompanying me. So, time to take stock of all the available galaxies in World 4.

Supermassive…nope.

Flipsville…done.

Honeyhop…nope.

Hungry Luma…nope.

The Village…nope.

Chompworks…nope, not to mention the entirely valid possibility that, even were I to attempt the second mission there, it would involve returning to the Chomp-shaped planet, and thus be rendered incompletable by me and Bartholomew blowing up the Top-Mothership.

Which was really a shame, because even if I didn't attempt the second mission, maybe I'd be able to redo the first one and milk infinite Power Stars out of the seemingly infinite supply of Golden Chomps on that planet.

But even as I thought that, the logical (or, rather, well-versed-in-the-stupidity-that-passes-for-logic-on-these-adventures) part of my brain knew that, no, even if I got 100 Golden Chomps over to the Chomp hole, I wouldn't be getting any more Power Stars from the Golden Chomps than the one I'd already collected.

Sigh.

As much as I hated to admit it, with all those galaxies ruled out, it looked like I was finally going to have to head back past the end of World 3.

So, on that note, I reluctantly grabbed the steering wheel and flew Starship Mario back through the portal to World 3.

When I emerged out the other side of the portal, I was relieved to see that the world looked the same as it had when I'd left it – no signs of visitors from other universes overrunning the world. I also immediately noticed that there was once again no Prankster Comet orbiting the Cloudy Court Galaxy, so I guess it had left in favor of some galaxy from Worlds 1 or 2.

Time to play process of elimination with the World 3 galaxies, then.

Tall Trunk…done.

Cloudy Court…nope.

Haunty Halls…preferably nope, but we'd have to see.

Freezy Flake…better than Haunty Halls, at least.

Rolling Masterpiece…done.

Hungry Luma…was whining for 1000 Star Bits, and I only had 724. I briefly thought I'd be able to pull it off if I withdrew the 344 Star Bits I had in my account with Banktoad, but then I remembered I didn't have 344 Star Bits in my account, I only had 167 because I'd wasted the other 177 bribing Lumalee to accompany me to the Freezy Flake Galaxy last time after Baby Luma got stabbed by one of those Spiky Spikepecker nutjobs in the Cloudy Court Galaxy. And 724 + 167 was…oh gosh, I think I've forgotten how to do math. All I know is it's not 1000.

See, this is what being around idiots 24/7 does to you: massacre your brain cells.

So, with all my options weighed, I figured the Freezy Flake Galaxy was the best place to go.

And then, since Baby Luma STIIIILLLL wasn't up yet, I went down to my cabin and whacked him with a pillow to wake him up.

And instead of the "Oh, who, what, what's going on?"-esque reaction I expected, Baby Luma's (still yellow) eyes shot open and he started slugging me in the face. Which shouldn't have hurt, given the miniscule size of his appendages, but against all odds, it somehow did.

"OW!" I shouted, grabbing him and throwing him off me. "What the heck, man?"

"I could ask you the same thing," Baby Luma said. "If you think you can hit me while I'm asleep and I'm not gonna hit you back, you've got another thing coming, buster."

I picked my pillow up and put it back on my bed. "Well, it's after 10:00A.M. I'm ready to start adventuring for the day, which I can't really do without you."

"Oh," Baby Luma said. "And by adventuring, you mean…Power Star-collecting, I presume?"

"Yeah. What else would I mean?"

Baby Luma glared at me for another second, then shrugged. "Okay. Let's go." He floated over to me and hopped under my cap.

I hesitated for a second before leaving my cabin and heading back up to the helm. I was slightly wary of how chipper Baby Luma suddenly seemed not even a minute after he'd tried to break my face. I just hoped he wasn't planning some secret, Lubba-type revenge like taking a dump on my head while he was under my cap.

As I headed down the hall to the helm, I vaguely wondered where the Toad Brigade was, since I hadn't seen them all morning and that was nothing short of unprecedented. Then again, who was I kidding? I knew darn well where they were: exploring more of the rooms Baby Luma had created that they had become so infatuated with.

As I walked onto the helm, Baby Luma asked, "So where we going today?"

"The Freezy Flake Galaxy," I said.

"Oh. It sounds rather cold there."

"It is. I've been there once before, after you got stabbed by that Spiky Spikepecker, when I asked-" Bribed. "-that annoying Lumalee to fill in for you."

"Well, that's what happens with substitutes. Alright, come on, let's go get this Power Star already."

Yeah, something still felt off about Baby Luma. But then again, who knows? Maybe he was just going through his rebellious teenage years or something. Or, since he was still somehow a baby despite being eight years old, maybe this was more like the Luma version of the terrible twos. The terrible tens, maybe? Although that sounds more like it would be a nickname for a decade. Gay Nineties, Roaring Twenties, Terrible Tens. It fits right in with them.

Sorry. Something something rambling thoughts, as usual.

So upon flying to the galaxy, I saw that the second mission was titled "Sorbetti's Chilly Reception." Oh great, are you kidding me? A boss fight?

Now, don't get ahead of yourself, Mario. You also thought the first mission in this galaxy would be a boss fight just because it had "Bowser" in its name, but it wasn't-

Oh shut up, Voice of Reason, just let me panic in peace!

And for that matter, what the heck was Sorbetti gonna be? A giant sorbet? How was I supposed to fight a sentient sorbet? By eating it? And what about the "Chilly Reception" part of the mission title? Was sort of reception were we talking about here? A wedding reception? Oh gosh, I hoped not. Weddings are so boring.

Despite my newfound reservations about the level, I selected the mission and flew towards the galaxy.

On my approach, I saw that the same three main planets from last time were visible: the small one with the cabin on it, the larger one with the ice slide that led down to the snow fort, and the lava one with a few small islands on it. But this time I saw a few other planets floating above the others, so I assumed I'd be heading there at some point in this mission.

I landed on the Starting Planet, and immediately noticed another change from last time I'd visited this galaxy.

Instead of a Fire Flower, the cabin's porch was occupied by something I assumed was a new power-up. It was a mushroom, that much was certain, but its top was dark grey and rocky. I reluctantly walked over to it and grabbed it. Immediately, my cap and overalls turned rocky (but not much heavier, thankfully), and a message appeared telling me I'd turned into Rock Mario and that, just like with the Spin Drill, I have been robbed of my ability to Star-Spin, as any attempt to do so will instead allow me to "roll over my enemies."

…Um, okay, I guess. Whatever that meant.

I walked around the cabin and saw that the same Star Bunny from last time I was here was still inside it. And without any invitation, verbal or otherwise, to do so, he started yammering away at me. "Someone said there's a snow monster with a red nose out there! I can't go outside with that thing on the loose!"

First you're blaming supposedly creepy snow statues for your decision to stay inside, and now rumors about a snow monster? Why can't you just admit you're an introvert who doesn't like to go outside and leave it at that? No judgment, I'm the same way, but seriously, his refusal to admit what was blatantly obvious from the outside was just getting annoying at this point.

Also worth noting: I think that's the longest string of words I've ever heard a Star Bunny speak without uttering at least one "Boiyoing!"

I folded my arms. "Oh really? A snow monster? Like the snow monsters you were rambling on about last time I was here?"

The Star Bunny furrowed his brow. "What? Last time you were here? I haven't seen you here before, boiyoing!"

There it is. Knew it was coming sooner or later. "I was here life a week ago and you were in this same cabin, talking about how you didn't want to go outside because of a bunch of snow statues you thought were creepy."

"Oh, I think I see the problem, boiyoing! I wasn't here a week ago. Most of the time my buddy Simon lives here, and he just Airbnb-ed the place out to me for the weekend, boiyoing!"

Okay, fine. Two Star Bunnies with blue ears happen to be in the same cabin during two consecutive trips I make to the galaxy and are both scared of snow, but they aren't the same Star Bunny. Not unbelievable at all, nothing to see here.

Let's see, the tree stumps that were here last time were still here, but I remember they did nothing particularly useful then and I doubted they would now either. There was a snow Goomba statue next to the cabin, though, and I was pretty sure last time the planet's Launch Star had been in one of those things. Maybe it was again.

Of course, that left the question of how to access the Launch Star without the Fire Flower I'd used to burn through the statues last time.

Maybe that was what the Rock Mushroom was for.

I got right next to the Goomba statue and, still not entirely sure how this worked, Star-Spun. Suddenly, a rocky shell coalesced around me and I started rolling around the planet. Oh come on, I could hardly even see where the flip I was going! I'd obviously missed the Goomba statue, but given how quickly I was moving and the fact that half the time my face was being mashed against the ground, I couldn't tell where the heck I was going.

What felt like an eternity but was probably just several seconds later, I crashed into something headfirst and the rocky shell around me vanished. Oh…owww…. Some good my Kevlar cap was doing me when my FACE was the only part of my body exposed!

I rubbed my head and looked up to see that…oh. I'd rolled into the Star Bunny's cabin and, dang, left a pretty sizeable indent in the side. The Star Bunny hopped over and gasped. "Look what you did, boiyoing! Be more careful where you're rolli – AAAH!"

The wall I'd crashed into suddenly caved in, followed suit by the snow-covered roof, burying the Star Bunny under a heap of logs, shingles, and snow.

Yeeeah, I should probably try to get out of here before he could free himself.

I ran back over to the Goomba statue. Okay, so now that I knew what the Rock Mushroom did, maybe I had to be facing in the direction I wanted to roll before I Star-Spun. Previously I'd thought I just had to be near my target and spin and it would…I don't know, flatten everything around me with rocks or something.

Come to think of it, even though I couldn't see myself from the outside when I was in Rock Mario form, this power-up seemed suspiciously similar to part of my final battle with Bowser in my first galactic adventure, when he summoned a rocky carapace around himself and went rolling around the planet after me. Had Bowser secretly harnessed a Rock Mushroom to use during that battle with me?

Huh. And here I thought Super Mario 3D World was the first time Bowser had decided to play dirty and use power-ups against me.

I faced the Goomba statue and rock-efied myself again, then rolled straight towards it. I burst back out of my rocky shell again when I (almost immediately) rolled into the statue, which exploded into several Star Bits and a couple giant snowballs.

Maybe the Launch Star was on the underside of the planet.

Sure enough, on the underside was another Goomba statue that exploded into a Launch Star once I rolled into it. And once I hopped into the Launch Star, the effects of the Rock Mushroom wore off. Oh, okay, so this was one of those power-ups. Well, that was certainly helpful, because something I didn't think of until I was already in the Launch Star was that, if the power-up hadn't worn off, I wouldn't have been able to Star-Spin to activate the Launch Star.

Anyhoo. On with the mission.