I was quick to shove Peach and Eggy off the arena, pushing them towards Lily and Gareth who quickly caught them before swerving to dodge Bowser's claws and sliding back, just out of range of his fire breath. He wasn't likely to hurt Peach but I didn't want to take that chance. As he caught his breath, I rushed in and spun my blade so I was holding it backwards before swinging up to smack him in the jaw making him stumble back before snarling and jumping up. When he landed, he created a small shockwave that brought me to my knees, giving him the opportunity to sock me in the face and make me fall backwards. Damn, he hits really hard. Getting back up, I reached for the sky, channeling my star power; if he can cause a quake, so can I!

"Earth Tremor!" I slammed my palm onto the ground and the entire arena shook violently before suddenly lurching up under Bowser's feet and making him fall backwards onto his spiky shell. Rushing in I smacked his giant shell with my blade making it spin.

"Woaaaaahhhhh!" I smacked it over and over again, making the shell spin faster and faster before gripping my blade tightly and swinging up, clipping the shell and sending him spiraling in the air before slamming onto the ground in a dizzy state. "Uuuuughhhhhh." Oof, he looks ready to barf.

"You ready to talk?" I asked and he nodded.

"Hoo! That's the Black Bruiser for ya!" Grubba announced. "Doesn't even bat an eye when some nut ambushes him!" No…I was a surprised…just used to it by this point.

Kammy Koopa was quick to hit Bowser with a spell to help his nausea as we all gathered outside the Glitzpit Arena.

"So you took up a wrestling career?" Gareth asked. "Figured I would have been the first one to do that out of us."

"You still are." I replied. "This is more regulated tournament fighting where anything goes. If it were wrestling, I wouldn't last ten rounds." Lily and Gareth nodded. It was just a fact of life that in a fist fight I was incredibly useless…maybe I should learn a martial art or something.

"But then why are you here?" Lily asked.

"I'm looking for something called a crystal star."

"Is that the treasure?" Gareth asked with an expectant look on his face.

"Kind of but not really." I explained poorly as I was unsure how these stars would be counted. Technically they're keys but they're pretty powerful on their own too.

"U-Um…Soren." Lily said grabbing my attention. "Where's Alice?" Right…they hadn't heard yet.

"I…don't know right now. She got captured by some goons trying to find the crystal stars." Lily gave a small gasp and Gareth looked downright shocked.

"How did they manage that?" Gareth asked. It was a fair question; Alice wasn't a girl who would go down without a fight, and we all knew she wasn't one to go down on any normal occasion.

"They had to be pretty tough or sneaky to actually capture her. But she has managed to contact me." I pulled out my scroll and showed the e-mails I had received from Alice. Lily gave out a relived sigh and Gareth chuckled with a smirk.

"Even captured she doesn't stay out of the fight."

"That's a good thing." I added. "She's been able to contact me which means she's not in too much trouble. The only issue I'm running into though is I can't send e-mails."

"That's classic damsel terms." Peach explained. "It's easy to send messages but incredibly difficult to receive them."

"Maybe we don't explain it that way when we meet back up with her." Lily offered. She had a point. Alice hated just sitting around and doing nothing and the damsel's role was pretty much that.

"Well, that sounds like her problem!" Bowser cut in. "Now hand over that map!"

"Not happening!" I yelled back. "The guys who kidnapped her are after them too. So unless I find them all, I won't find Alice, and that's not something I'm going to let happen!" Bowser glared back at me, baring his monstrous teeth the whole time; too bad for him I wasn't backing down on this one!

"Bowser." Peach interjected. "We really need this map. Please just let us keep it." She batted her eyelashes and leaned in, close to Bowser's face. I watched as his cheeks heated up before he backed up and cleared his throat.

"Whatever, I don't need that stupid map to find that treasure. I'll find those stars on my own!" Bowser stomped away in a huff, heading towards…a clown airship cup?

"Well, what now?" Gareth asked. I was glad to be back with them…but with Alice missing I was still worried.

"You guys stay with Bowser. See if you can find any clues about where Alice is. Maybe look into the door these stars are connected to."

"A-Are you sure?" Lily asked with a look of worry. I nodded.

"We're more likely to come across clues if we're all looking in different places. Bowser probably won't be able to find any stars, so me and Peach will keep hunting them down. If you come across any guys with an X on their uniforms, shake 'em down for answers." Gareth smacked his fist against his palm and gave a toothy grin.

"With pleasure."

"Will you be okay?" Lily asked and I nodded.

"Yeah. I know we'll find her if we all do our best." Lily nodded.

"Okay. We'll do our part. Oh, give me a description of the X guys." Lily pulled out a blank journal and I described an X-Naut grunt as well as I could, following up with a description of Crump to be safe. Oh, I better not forget the Shadow Sirens, "…Okay. Is this about right?" It was a bit rough…but she had the basic idea of how they look and that was enough.

"That should be good."

"Then we'll get on busting some heads and taking some answers." Gareth added and I nodded. Eggy suddenly jumped up and down.

"Whack 'em an extra time for us!" Gareth gave a boisterous laugh.

"I like this little guy." Thought they'd get along like oil and fire. With a plan in place, I waved them goodbye as they took off with Bowser and Kammy Koopa back into the air in their clown copter…knowing Gareth we probably shouldn't stand directly under it.

"Shall we go back in?" Peach asked.

"Right…how did you convince Bowser to back down?" Peach giggled before winking and striking a pose.

"A girl's gotta know how to use her feminine charm." I chuckled at her answer making her giggle in response. Suddenly, my scroll went off in my pocket, "Another e-mail from X?" She was right on the money.

"gO tO tHe TeLePhOnE bOoTh OuT oN tHe PaViLiOn. FrOm X." I looked around the area and saw the booth it was talking about near the edge of the floating platform. When we approached it, I noticed a small brown parcel inside. Opening the parcel, I found a key inside, with a tag on it.

"Storage Room." Three guesses on where this went.

Stepping back into the arena, we made our way into the employee area, making sure not to attract too much attention as we made our way for the locked storage room. Before we could get there though, we were stopped by a mass of hulking muscle.

"Huh, it's you chumps." Rawk Hawk, "Good timing. Uncle Rawk Hawk's got some advice for ya. If you keep stealing the spotlight from me, you're gonna enter a world of hurt!"

"Not our fault we're more interesting than you." Eggi shot back.

"Zip it pipsqueak! Quit making a splash if you value your puny life!" With that said, Rawk Hawk stomped away, towards the Champs room before entering it and slamming the door behind him.

"Eggi, have I ever told you the secret of avoiding unneeded conflict?" I asked.

"No."

"Well, it involves stopping a sentence short."

"Aw come on, that's no fun!" This place is a bad influence on a young incubating egg.

we were quick to stick the key into the lock and slip into the storage room, making sure no one was watching us and closing the door as quietly as we could. Inside was a mountain of metal boxes with the arena logo on them. I could only assume they held any merchandise items or supplies for the locker rooms.

"Oh! Mmmmm hmm hmm hmm! If it isn't my favorite little cutie!" Suddenly, Ms. Mowze dropped from the rafters above us.

"I was wondering when we would see you again." I commented as Peach just glared at her and gripped my arm tightly.

"Who's this chick?" Eggy asked.

"Ms. Mowz, beauty thief." She replied giving him a little wink. "Make sure to remember it."

"You must have been the one causing all the noise." Peach said and Ms. Mowz huffed.

"Oh, please! No one heard ME! I'm the best mouse-burglar of all time! I'm silent!" Touchy subject I see, "It's quite obvious that someone else must have been monkeying about in here…" If it wasn't her…then maybe it was Bandy Andy?

"Maybe you got sloppy." Peach added.

"Please, I always get what I need without anyone finding out." She gave me a subtle wink and I suddenly felt my face flare up at the implication of her words and gesture. "And speaking of, I've taken what I needed, and now I'll be on my way. You're free to whatever you like here." She skipped forward, grabbing me by the arm and pulling me out of Peach's grasp before giving me another kiss on the cheek and giggling to herself, "Until next time cutie." She leapt back as Peach swung her parasol at her, latching into a girder before shimming up and entering the open vent she must have come in through. I suddenly felt a cloth get pressed against my cheek before being vigorously rubbed.

"Man, she was forward." Eggi said bluntly.

"That woman is appalling." Peach muttered as she cleaned the lipstick stain on my cheek…was Ms. Mowz wearing lipstick before?

The lower level of the storage room was nothing too out of place, filled with storage boxes and supplies that weren't out of place for the arena. Eventually we did come across a switch on the back wall, and once we pressed it, a staircase descended from the roof, leading to an upper level with more crates and boxes. But the content of these boxes was…stranger. I couldn't quite tell what they went to but they were parts to a machine of some kind. Although they clearly weren't for lighting or P.A. systems.

"This is weird." I commented.

"Hey, what about this room?" Eggi asked pointing to another door with a lock on it. Obviously, it was suspicious but without the key we weren't going to figure out what was beyond it. I looked over to see what Peach was doing, only to find her near the vent where Ms. Mowz had just exited.

"Something wrong Peach?" I asked.

"I hear people talking." She replied. Moving over, I listened for anything and found I could hear people talking too. The vents must be carrying the voices. Maybe if we listen really carefully…

"…So you didn't find hide or hair of nobody in the storage room, that what yer sayin'?" That was Grubba's voice; I'd recognize those inflections anywhere.

"Yes, Mr. Grubba. It appears to be secure. Don't worry about it, sir. I've taken the necessary precautions. It was most likely a rat or something." …That must be Jolene.

"Well, no big deal either way. Ain't nothin' in there we'd miss too much anyway. Thanks fer stayin' on top of this, Jolene. Hey, an' by the way, any word on King K?" What?

"I'm afraid we still don't know the whereabouts of King K, Mr. Gurbba. And so…I deleted his spot on our roster per regulations. The Glitz Pit no longer has any official connection to KP Pete, a.k.a. King K. I have, of course, taken the same steps with all fighters who have gone missing." What's going on here?

"Hoo, fighters have sure been goin' missin' a lot lately! That's the fifth this year! What in tarnation's goin' on? I even heard some security ijit sayin' the Pit's cursed!"

"I doubt that, sir, but I certainly don't understand the disappearances." Something wrong is going on here.

"Well, fer the time bein', tell the other fellas that King K headed on home for a spell. If word gets out about missin' fighters, it sure ain't gonna be good fer business, no siree! Nasty rumors have a way of sendin' folks runnin' to the hills, know what I mean?"

"I understand completely, Mr. Grubba. I'll take care of everything, sir." With the conversation winding down, I backed away from the vent. This place wasn't just an arena, that much was for sure, and Grubba and Jolene were definitely hiding something…but what?

"Maybe we should get out of here." Peach suggested. "If they've been keeping tabs on this place then some goons could pop in at any moment." She was right. The longer we stuck around here, the more suspicious it was.

As we shuffled out of the storage room, we came face to face with Jolene who looked at us quizzically.

"What are you three doing?"

"We…got a little lost." I replied hoping she would buy it. She shuffled past us and turned the knob on the storage room before sighing and pulling out her key to lock it.

"These areas are off-limits to fighters. Please be more careful about where you go from now on."

"Yes ma'am." I replied…I wonder, "Ma'am, have you ever heard of something called the Crystal Star?" She stayed silent for a moment.

"…I don't believe I have, Mr. Black…good day." She was definitely hiding something…and we'll have to bee on our toes from here on out.

The next few fights were tenser than before. Not only because of what we had found out, but just generally because we were reaching the cream of the crop. We were fighting against incredibly powerful enemies who pushed us to our edge more than a few times. But we weren't letting them stop us, and we made sure to beat everyone we went up against. More than that though, threatening emails became more frequent, filing my inbox with every victory even up to when we took first rank in the Glitz Pit; just one below the champion. Someone even tried to poison us with cake, but Peach was quick to pick up on something being wrong with it. It was just getting more and more stressful. This must be what the climb to the top feels like for the others. Although the text from X right before our match might have added a bit more than what others might experience. It informed us to remove the poster of our team that hung in the lobby; when we did we found another key which led us to the storage room door we couldn't open before. And behind it was the one thing I was most worried about.

"King!" Inside was a hollowed out looking version of my friends from the minor-league, King K and Bandy Andy. Luckily they weren't dead, but it was almost like all of their energy had been siphoned out of them. Andy's groans had us turn to him to hear what he had to say.

"Don't…get…near…the…ring…when…no…one…is…around." What the hell was happening around here!?

"Soren!" Peach's shout had me turn to see Jolene looking at us before gasping and closing the door. All we could hear were her heels as she ran away.

"This place is messed up." Eggi added and I had to agree…but we had to get to the end of it.

"…Come on, we have to go for the championship."

"B-But…what about this?" Peach asked looking a bit shaken. I put my hand on her shoulder in sympathy.

"I know…but this place is crawling with guards. We need to figure out what's going on, and I have a feeling we can do that if we become champions. There's something in the champs' room we need."

"…O-Okay…I trust you."

"Thank you…Eggi?"

"If mama has your back, so do I!" Alright, now we just needed to beat Rawk Hawk.

We followed the guard as he led us, like always to the ring. Our next match was up against Rawk Hawk and we were ready to take him on. Once we had beaten him, I was sure we'd be able to get what we needed. Although the guard seemed to be taking us a strange direction this time. He assured us it was because this was a special match, and led us to the other minor-league locker room, leaving us to wait. After five minutes passed though, we started to get a bit worried.

"Okay, this is stupid." Eggi said heading for the door, he jumped up and jiggled the knob, finding it refusing to move, "It's locked!"

"What!?" Peach gasped. "But we'll miss our match!" I'm willing to guess that isn't a coincidence.

"We need to find another way out of here and fast." I said looking around the room. It looked similar to the other minor-league locker room; the only big difference being the faded poster of Princess Peach in her regal dress near the left wall from the door.

"Mama is popular." Eggi commented.

"You have no idea." I added and Peach giggled nervously. Patting against the poster, I felt a strange give to it. When I pulled it off, behind it was a pathway leading to a small room and beyond that was a locker door that led into the major-league locker room next door. All three of us took the opportunity to quickly rush out of the room, shocking the door bouncer as we rushed for the arena as fast as we could. We came bursting through the double doors and up to the arena stage, landing on it with a slam that had the audience go quiet. Across from us stood Rawk Hawk, looking extremely pissed.

"Glad to see ya showed up! We've been waitin' fer ya to show!" A large cheer of agreement came from the crowd…and now that I looked around, every seat was packed with spectators ready to watch the title bout between us and Rawk Hawk…guess we better not disappoint. Rawk Hawk grabbed the microphone from Grubba.

"You should have just stayed away when you had the chance. Now it's time for you to feel the RAWWWWWWWWWK!"

"Well, it's time for you to get bruised!" I shot back making the crowd cheer. That first catchphrase went better than I expected it to.

Rawk Hawk didn't give us any wiggle room, swinging and kicking around to keep us from being able to retaliate or grouping up. But that didn't mean we were just going to let him keep doing it. I was quick to block his next kick with my blade, making him suddenly stop and giving Peach an opening to smack him in the back with her parasol before Eggi jumped up and smashed into his head from above.

"Rrrrrgh! You wimps should've stayed locked up, safe and sound!"

"Figured it was you." I shot back taking a swing that he blocked with his forearm. "I'm willing to bet you tried to poison us too."

"You're darn right I did!" He flexed, pushing my blade back and smashing into me with his fist before spinning and making Peach and Eggi back away so they didn't get hit, "That's what happens when you mess with me, baby! You meet the pain train!"

"What a coward." I said as I got back up. "Were you also the one sending us emails about the crystal star?"

"I don't know what you're babbling about…and I don't care! It's time to turn you chumps into my new bathmat! Prepare to get RAWKED!" He seemed to double his speed and intensity, striking at us with lighting strikes and laying into us with even more powerful strikes. We made sure to not attack him at the same time, remembering that's how he got us the first time we fought, but he seemed determined not to give us any chance to retaliate. We'll just have to go for one big hit he can't avoid then!

"Pink, let's blow him away!" She nodded, getting my meaning before rushing over and opening up her parasol, using it as a shield, "Eggi, hope you're hungry!" Rushing up, I batted Rawk Hawk forward, making him swing at me relentlessly and pushing me to the ground as he stood over me.

"I didn't even need to cheat to take you losers down. Hope you're prepared for the pain."

"No." I replied. "How about you keep it." Slamming my palms onto the ground, I pulled in my legs and kicked them against Rawk Hawks stomach, activating my boots and sending him flying towards Eggi who swallowed him whole. "Share with Pink!" Eggi quickly turned and shot Rawk Hawk at Peach with everything he had. "NOW!" When I said that, Peach retracted her parasol and converted it, before blasting her air cannon directly in Rawk Hawks stomach, sending him soaring into the air before slamming into the arena and creating a series of cracks along the entire stage.

"No…how could I lose…to these wimps…ugh." We…we did it. A chorus of cheers ran through the entire stadium as Grubba came over to stand beside me.

"Folks, this was truly, honestly, without question, no doubt, absolutely…the most legendary, amazin', improbable, history-makin' bout of all TIME!" As he went on Eggi and Peach came to stand beside me, "-And the victor in this match fer the ages was…THE BLACK BRUSIER, PINK PUNISHER, AND UNCRACKABLE EGG!" We just stood there together, soaking in the cheers from everyone around us and letting the moment wash over, "Congratulations, kids! Yer champions! Give 'em a hand, folks! The new Glitz Pit champs!" Our names were cheered through the crowd, people screaming their lungs out for us and for our victory, and while I was happy to have won, I noticed Grubba looking a bit nervous as we stood on a cracked arena floor. When I looked at the floor, I noticed a piece just below my feet had fallen through…and there was something below the ring, something big.

For me it was a blur of inconsequential information as we were led from the major-league locker room to the champs' room, the championship belt in my hands as we walked. All I was focused on was Grubba's office, and the fact that it was on the same hallways as the champs' room, with the storage room separating them.

"Here you are." Jolene said, leading us into the room. It was an overly decorated room that had me feeling a bit nauseous. Especially the marble sink and tiger print bedspread, but that didn't matter right now, the only thing that I was interested in was the ventilation shaft right above the closet. As she turned to leave, Jolene left us with one more comment, "I hope you find the room to your liking." When the door closed, I turned to Peach and Eggy who looked confused.

"What now?" Peach asked.

"I'm glad we became champs, but how do we find the star?" Eggi asked. I tossed the champs belt onto the bed and pointed to the vent above the closet.

"If I'm right, that vent should lead right to Grubba's office. We need to get up there and into that office."

"won't he just be in there?" Considering how worried he got about the cracked arena, I'm willing to bet he's going to be working on repairing that for a while.

"We've got time. Let's get in there." I climbed up the closet, standing on top of it and quickly removing the grating. The vent was large enough for us to at least crawl through. I went first, with Peach going behind me while Eggi took up the rear. Eventually we came to the office vent, which I quickly took off and hopped into Grubba's office, empty as I expected it to be. As the others made their way in, I rushed over to the desk and reached into the drawers, finding various files on fighters and employees, along with a set of schematics for a retracting arena cover. But below all of that was what I was looking for. A small file with blueprints that outlined a cage like machine with a dome above it; inside that dome was a picture of a crystal star.

"What is that?" Eggi asked.

"If I had to guess, I'd say a power siphon." I answered.

"Is that what happened to our friends?" Peach asked, referring to Andy and King.

"No question…and it's under the ring." Before I could continue, we heard the door open, and watched as Grubba strolled in and looked at us in shock.

"…Oh nelly…this ain't good." As quick as he showed up, he was that quick to leave, bolting out the door and prompting us to give chase, good to know he's the bad guy at least.

We chased him as he headed for the arena, which had been closed due to the arena getting so badly damaged. He hopped up onto the stage and we followed as he turned to face us, looking angrier than we'd ever seen him before.

"I gotta say, y'all are a coupla slack-jawed idiots, sniffin' 'round mu business…Now you know my big secret, I'm afraid yer gonna have to take a li'l ol' dirt nap!" The crumbling pieces of the floor seem to give away, and from the depths of the darkness came the siphon machine I had observed in his blueprints, only fully realized, and with the crystal star in the dome above it. Grubba moved into the strange machine and started pressing buttons on a panel.

"You've been using this thing to steal power from fighters!?" Peach said in complete shock. "How horrible! You're awful!"

"Yep doll face, I've been suckin' power from fighters with this baby! Keepin' my body forever young, son!"

"You scumbag!" Eggi yelled.

"You won't get away with this!" I added, drawing my weapon as Peach did the same.

"I'd like to see you try an' stop me! Watch this! MMMMMMUSCLLLLLLE UUUUUUUUP!" Before our eyes, Grubba grew five times in size, towering over all of us and breaking out of his suit, leaving him to look like a spike shelled monster, "MAAAAAACHO GRUBBA!" I shook a little bit as I looked at the massive enemy before us; no, can't let him spook me! "I'm gonna' snack on your energy just like Andy, just like King K, just like Prince Mush!"

Fighting Macho Grubba was reminiscent of our fight with Rawk Hawk, only this time our opponent was three times the size of him and double the speed somehow. It was almost impossible to dodge any of his strikes and doubly difficult to block or tank any of his hits. On top of that, he seemed to effortlessly dodged and counter any strategy we used against him. Avoiding being kicked by my boots, swallowed by Eggi, or blasted by Peach's air cannon.

"Y'all forget who watched all of your matches? Learned all yer skills? Knows all yer weaknesses?" Damn, he had all this time to study up on us in case he ever had to subdue us. Now he had a reason and all his strategies were trouncing us at every step. Fine, we'll get creative!

"Then let's shake it up!" I yelled pulling out my second wooden sword. Peach aimed her air cannon towards the ground and jumped before firing, sending her flying into the air before she deployed her parasol and began to float around Grubba, making it hard for him to focus on her. Eggi looked around before extending his tongue to grab various debris and swallow it whole, producing an egg which he swiftly lobbed at Grubba who could any block the sudden projectile. Taking the opportunity, I rushed in and used the charge in my boots to jump up to his face, striking with my first blade before swinging with the second and using the momentum to swirl around and make a double strike with both swords that had him stagger and giving Peach and opportunity to land and aim her air cannon at him, knocking him over with a powerful blast of condensed air. Grubba was quick to spin around on his back, making all of us step back as he got back onto his feet.

"Not bad kiddos. I expected as much from the champs. Yer a scrappy bunch ain't cha? That won't be enough to take me down though!" He seemed to swell for a moment before swinging down at me. I just narrowly dodged as his strike and was shocked as the impact of his fist sent cracks along the ground and make the girders above us shake. He swung wildly around at us, getting slightly faster as he did, and making all of us fear getting hit even once. I was going to need to stop him, good thing I had something that could do that! I jumped backward as he went for his next swing and extended my hand, gathering star power as I did.

"STOP!" The entire fight ground to a halt giving us an opening for a three-pronged attack; Eggi grabbing our large enemy with his tongue and launching him upwards, followed by Peach hitting him with a parasol spin that had him spin around in a dizzying manner that gave me an opportunity to rush in and hit him with a double flurry strike he couldn't avoid.

"Not too shabby Black. You got showmanship, an' that's GOLD in this biz! But I 'aint out of this fight yet son! TIME TO GET SERIOUS!" We all watched in horror as the monstrous man grew in size again, almost eclipsing the ring he stood on. At this point we were back to fighting Hooktail but with better mobility and reflexes. His next swing was unavoidable; all Peach and I could hope to do was block it and we were still sent flying into the back wall along with Eggi.

"Ugh…Sweet…Treat." I willed up my remaining star power and spread it across the three of us, allowing us to stand back up if only barely.

"He's…way too big." Peach said through shaky breaths.

"And…too strong with that star power." Eggi added equally exhausted. They were right though, we needed to cut his siphon if we wanted to beat him. He seemed to be guarding that thing though…we needed to push through.

"Peach, how much of a charge do you have on your air cannon?"

"Only about half." That won't give us a lot of time…but it might just be enough.

"Alright….get ready to blast it when we get close enough. Eggi, I need you ready to throw him."

"…Okay."

"On it!" We all readied ourselves before rushing forward. Grubba reeled back, readying a finishing punch. He launched it at us and Peach shot the rest of her air cannon, slowing the punch just enough for me to activate my counter badge and take the remaining energy of the punch into my body. It almost threatened to tear me apart which is why I was quick to whip it back at Grubba's fist, making him stagger and giving Eggi the chance to rush forward and grab Grubba with his tongue and throw him away from the machine. I rushed towards it and jumped up to grab the star, feeling something rush through me as my fingers made contact with it.

"Let me help." I didn't recognize the voice, but as it said those words, a surge of power rushed through my body. As it did, I turned to see Grubba rushing at me before launching another punch at me. Without even thinking about it, lept back down onto the arena floor and swung both of my blades, creating a massive shockwave of energy that ran over Grubba causing him to stop in his tracks. I watched as he stood in shock for a full minute before collapsing to the ground, completely defeated.

As I took a deep breath, letting go of all the tension I felt, I could feel the swell of power in my body dissipate. The same must have been happening to Grubba, as I watched him shrink back down to his initial size and groan in an attempt to get back up.

"Noooo…How'd this happen? How could a perfect bod like mine lose to such a twig?"

"Never underestimate your opponent." I shot back. "No matter what they look like." I could hear him give a weak chuckle.

"Great fight there. Great…fight." Peach and Eggi regrouped on me, and we all watched as Grubba just lied there in defeat. He thought that his eternal youth would save him…but that energy wasn't his, and I think that's how I was able to beat him-

"Champions." We turned to the familiar voice; finding Ms. Jolene standing nearby, "…No, I mean…Soren, Peach. Please allow me to offer my earnest thanks for defeating that foul Grubba."

"Jolene?" Eggi asked in confusion. In that moment, I felt every event click into place.

"You're X." I said out loud. Jolene chuckled at this before stepping onto the arena floor.

"…I'm sorry I had to get you involved in all this. But I needed to know the truth about this arena by any means necessary."

"But why?" Peach asked.

"…Before Mr. Hawk took the title of champion, a toad named Prince Mush held the title. He was undefeatable, always giving his all. His fans loved him…and so did his sister. That's part of the reason he even became champion, to support me and our parents…then he went missing. There was no trace of him left behind…we were devastated." Suddenly her sad expression changed to one of anger, "But I knew my brother. He wouldn't have left us without a word like that! So I got hired on as the manager for this arena, and investigated in secret for his whereabouts. During one of those investigations, I saw Mr. Grubba use this awful machine to transform himself…I'm sure you know how demoralizing it is to see that. I was ready to give up…then you two showed up, and started climbing the ranks faster than anyone. Even in your more tense matches, you always seem to pull through. That's why I decided to guide you; if anyone could stop Grubba, it was you."

"Well, we owe this victory to you then." I said holding up my wooden swords. "I don't think I would have done half as well as I did if you hadn't given us our new gear." Peach nodded in agreement. Jolene smiled at us before turning to the fallen form of Grubba and glaring at him as she stomped over.

"Sir…no, Grubba. I want answers, right NOW! What did you do with my precious little brother? You know who I'm talking about, so tell me!"

"Urrrgh…Prince Mush…he…he discovered the secret of my…power-suckin' machine…I had him…urgh…disappear. He ain't round these parts no more." The look of visible horror on Jolene's face almost made me want to move forward to hug her…but she quickly recovered…slightly.

"I…suspected as much…oh…poor sweet Mush."

"No…" Peach weakly said.

"Isn't their anything we can do?" Eggi asked. Normally, I'd say no. When someone is gone, they're gone for good…but this isn't my reality, and even more than that, these crystal stars have shown to be a strange power…maybe we can. That energy that ran through me couldn't have come from nowhere, and it was immense. Maybe…maybe he's still there.

"We might be able to." I said and Jolene gasped. "Keep him in that thing. If he can siphon power, maybe we can siphon the excess in him." I looked at the control panel, finding it to be a mess of different codes and numbers…come on, Grubba is a simple guy; he must have simple controls, "Jolene, how good are you with computers?"

"B-Basic data entry and organization…why?"

"That's still something. I need to figure out what command prompt he would have used to siphon power. Do you think you can do that?"

"I-I might be able to." She stepped up and started rapidly typing against the keyboard before opening a text document. "These must be the commands to activate the machine!"

"Try to siphon out the excess power he has, we don't want him to die." She nodded and started typing away again. I moved to stand in front of Grubba.

"Ain't no way you can undissapear a person." He said weakly.

"Maybe…but these stars aren't normal. If you used one to make someone go away, I'm willing to bet we can use it to bring them back." Before he could retort, the machine came to life; siphoning away at Grubba who could do nothing but lie there. I reached out my palm, trying to channel what star energy I could muster, suddenly feeling the star from the machine as it ran its energy through me. It felt like a power boost that was giving me the energy to call out the strength of the fighters he had absorbed…better not let this power lift go to waste then! The energy that came off Grubba swirled before gathering in front of my hand, the energy growing larger and larger as the combined power of every fighter Grubba had absorbed pooled out of him. I could almost feel my mind threatening to collapse under the weight of this much energy…but I couldn't give up.

"Soren!" Peach cried as the energy began to crackle around me, singeing the already badly damaged arena and making my hand begin to heat up until it was almost burning. When I watched the machine die down, having drained all of Grubba's stolen energy, I let go of my grip. As I did, I was blasted backwards as chunks of it diverted off, flying out of the arena and towards destinations unknown, leaving only the remaining amount of energy that had stayed behind in the form of a toad.

"M-M-M-" Jolene chocked to get the words out as the light died, leaving the full form of her brother, "MUSH!" She rushed at her brother, burying herself in his chest as he stood there confused.

"…Huh? Sis? Am I…back in the Glitz Pit?"

"Yes…yes, you're back…you're back." Mush's confused expression softened as he rubbed his siters head.

"Yeah. I'm back. Don't worry, your brothers right here." We watched this tender moment, feeling proud of what we were able to do, before turning back to the now destroyed machine, Grubba still alive in the center. The star stood above the debris, ready for us.

"Finally." I said, stepping forward and touching the star with my hands. Unlike last time, I didn't feel any new power course through me, but that was probably because it had done that earlier so I could receive the strength to save Mush. I already had a new power, but being able to hold the star was still a swelling moment. We had fought a lot of people to get this thing…and now we had it.

"So…" Peach and I turned to Eggi who was holding the championship belt with the fake star on it, "…can I keep this?"