The washed-up thing on the beach was a capsule, purple with a yellow seal. It bore some sort of insignia. A voice came from it, crying for help. Speaking to it revealed that there was a Concordian named Arc trapped inside, and they needed a hammer to free him. Willma had come to visit Shipshape at that moment, and explained that her children, Billdit and Maykit, could forge hammers for them.

"Maykit is on Twistee Island, and Billdit is in Raynforest," she explained.

So they fired to the first island they saw. The next island led right to the town. Some Concordians stood on a small platform, looking at a strange, two-colored sprout. Mario looked at it as well.

"That's the Twisten Sprout," one explained. "It's usually tall and pretty, but lately, it's looked so small and sad."

The other waved to the brothers. "Hey. I haven't seen anyone from off-island in a while. My name is Zack. This here is my friend, Sunny."

"It's nice to meet you," Sunny said. "I hope the Twisten Sprout can grow soon. It makes me so sad seeing it drooping like this."

"Don't worry," Luigi said. "We'll fix the plant, and Concordia."

"Oh? Fix Concordia? I didn't think that was possible!"

Zack smiled. "Good luck. Monsters have been on the prowl lately, and not to mention the fact the Great Lighthouses are closed up now."

"Oh yeah," Snoutlet said, "that's another problem. The Great Lighthouses are the main connectin' points of Concordia, and without them, I don't think we'll be able to fix it. There's a Great Lighthouse per sea."

"Take care," Sunny said, waving.

Heading down the path to the right, they came to a very small town. The central square had Concordians crowded around it, but they were loosing interest and leaving. Mario and Luigi walked up to the stage.

"My hair...it's lost its groove..." A yellow Concordian lie on the ground, depressed and whining about hair wax.

"You two, I need your help!" A blue Concordian hurried to the brothers. "My name is Emmit, and with those mustaches...You must use some sort of wax to keep their shape, right?"

"Yeah," Mario said, "but it's mustache wax."

"Oh, that won't work at all. You see, Dyode is a dancer, and he was going to help recover the Twisten Sprout with his dance. But without his hair wax, he doesn't feel like he can dance."

Mario chuckled a bit. "Understandable, I wouldn't want people seeing me with a droopy 'stache."

"Where can we get him more gel?" Luigi asked.

"There's a store in the forest that sells it. Why it's located there is beyond me." Emmit pointed towards the woods. "Be careful, there are monsters and bugs around."

"Those won't be a problem for the Mario Bros.!" Snoutlet said, puffing out his chest. "Isn't that right? None of you are scared of silly little bugs, are you?"

They both shook their heads.

"Great, let's get that gel!"

They headed down the path. Bugs skittered past, leaves and sticks crunching under the bros. feet. They encountered slightly different monsters in this part of the sea, but they were still relatively weak overall. They heard a scream ahead.

"Oh no!" Mario gasped.

"Do you think somebody got attacked by monsters?" Luigi asked.

They followed the scream to a small clearing, and saw a purple Concordian on a high ledge, shaking in her boots. Small bugs looked up at her.

"Just some buggies?" Snoutlet asked. "She must be pretty afraid of 'em. These things are harmless."

Mario went over and hammered the ground near the bugs. They scattered. "You're okie dokie now!"

She screamed again. "B-big green and red bugs?! Save me!"

"Bugs?" Snoutlet questioned. "We're not bugs! We're here to help you!"

"G-get away from m-me!"

Snoutlet sighed. "Looks like there's a path behind her. We might have to go around to talk to her. She might know how to get that wax."

Traversing a small maze of bugs, they made it to the ledge she was cowering on. She was about to scream, then calmed down.

"Oh, you're not bugs, you're outsiders!" She fixed her hair. "Apologies for how I acted before. If you couldn't tell, bugs are the bane of my existence."

"To cut to the chase," Mario said, "do you know where we can get some hair wax?"

"Oh, my name is Spiralia, and I'm the one who makes that hair wax you're looking for!"

"Why the woods, if you're so afraid of bugs?" Snoutlet asked.

"This is the only place where I can get the materials for the wax quickly. There's a mushroom in these woods I use in the wax to make it work well." She looked down from the ledge. "Oh, if I jump off, I'll break my legs or something! But how do I get down?"

Luigi picked her up.

"Oh? You're going to carry me? Just be careful not to take me near any bugs and we should be fine."

Mario and Luigi passed her between the two in order to avoid the bugs, and safely took her to her store. She flicked her purple hair.

"Thank you so much, you two gentlemen!" She shuffled around in the stand. "Now, for your payment..." She handed Mario a small metal tin filled with hair wax. "Here, take this on the house. I think you'll need your money for better stuff than this silly old thing."

"Are you sure?" Luigi asked. "Don't you need the money for more materials and such?"

"It's fine! All my materials are gathered here right in this forest! So go on, enjoy the Twisten Sprout!"

They headed back to town with the wax, and handed it to Emmit when they arrived. Emmit thanked them a lot and gave it to Dyode. Mario, Luigi, and Snoutlet watched as Dyode put the wax in his hair.

"I'm back, baby!" He jumped to his feet, pumping a fist into the air. "Thanks for recovering my groove!"

Mario gave him a thumbs up as Luigi clapped.

"Now, because you helped me, can I help you in return? Of course, a true groove never vanishes, but it does take a while to return. How about you join me on stage and groove with me, eh? We'll put that Twisten Sprout back the way it was, maybe even better! Waddaya say?"

"Yah!" They both agreed.

Dyode and Emmit showed them a simple dance, which took the brothers a bit to finalize the rhythm just right. The Twisten Sprout burst from the ground, giant leaves sprouting from the tangled body. The Concordians in the crowd cheered, and Dyode gave Mario and Luigi a double high-five.

"Nice dancing! If I ever need help grooving up the stage again, I know I can ask you, baby." Dyode winked, giving them a small salute. "Emmit told me you were collectin' up the islands to reunite Concordia. Good luck with that, baby. It takes hard work and bravery to do somethin' like that."

"Thanks!" Snoutlet said. "Mario and Luigi are here to help!"

They hopped up the leaves, which were surprisingly sturdy, to the steps to the Lighthouse. They saw Maykit, standing alone and reciting bittersweet poetry to herself as she stared at the horizon. They spoke to her, telling her that Willma was worried for her, that they were reconnecting Concordia, and their need for a hammer.

Mario and Luigi pulled the plug from its stand, and they rode back to Shipshape and formed a connection. Mario and Luigi high-fived. Maykit arrived by pipe, which connected Shipshape to all the Connectar-linked islands.

"Thanks you, brave heroes, for uniting our paths." She bowed. "Now, as an equal payment, I will work straightaway on your hammers."

She pulled out a metalworking kit. She recited one more poetic verse, then began to hammer and build furiously. Connie, Snoutlet, and the Mario bros. watched in horror. She held up the two new hammers.

"Here you are, may the Great Conductor bless you on your journey."

"Great Conductor..." Snoutlet muttered.

"If it wouldn't trouble you," Maykit started, "could you also find Billdit? I don't want mother being alone on Rumbla Island."

"Of course!" Mario agreed.

"Thank you."

Mario nodded as she walked off to the central area, to set up shop.

"Mario, Luigi," Connie said shyly. "Do you have time now? I'd like to hear one of your stories and following Arc's ocean map will still take a bit to get to Raynforest...Of course, we need to save Arc first..."

"I can tell you and Arc about me vs. Bowser, when we save them," Mario said.

"But let's save them first."

The brothers walked down to the beach, hammers ready. Mario hit the capsule first, then Luigi, then Mario once more. The capsule shattered, and Arc fell to the sand.

They got back to his feet and bowed to the twins. "Thank you for helping me! From now on, I promise I will be a great help to you!"

Connie waved. "Welcome to Shipshape Island. As you probably heard, we're working on restoring Concordia."

Arc nodded. "Yes. I don't quite know how yet, but I'll try my hardest to help."

"Thanks for the ocean map, kiddo!" Snoutlet said. "It's been pretty helpful so far!"

"Alright, we're heading to Raynforest Island next." Mario pat Connie's shoulder. "Connie and I were about to share a story. Want to join?"

"Sure," Arc said.

Mario grabbed a stool and placed it down. "Alright, ready?"

Connie and Arc nodded.

"Alright, so this story is about me and my rival. Back in the Mushroom Kingdom, we have a giant fire-breathing turtle! He is the great and mighty Lord Bowser, and he leads his army with an iron fist."

"That sounds dangerous," Arc said.

"Oh, he's tough all right," Luigi said. "But that's nothing Mario and I can't handle! I used to think he was scary, but after getting to know him, he's really not too bad."

"So, the story starts when Weegee and I were trying to fix a city-wide plumbing problem when we were sucked into another world! I was dropped off right at the Mushroom Kingdom's door..." Mario narrated.

"While I was torn from Mario and taken to Bowser's castle," Luigi continued. "I was captured pretty quickly..."

"While I worked my way to meet Peach, the princess of the Mushroom Kingdom."

"Is she a mushroom?" Connie asked.

Mario laughed. "No, she's human. But her citizens are mushrooms! Anyway, with Peach and Toad by my side, we headed out to stop Bowser. Not only did he have Weegee..."

"But he also had the Power Star!" Luigi threw his hands into the air. "And with the help of the Power Star, he would be unstoppable. Mario and Peach got the Kong family to join their side..."

"So we tried to storm Bowser's flying castle by using a secret road. But Bowser was prepared and snuck up on us first. We lost and Peach was captured. But with the help of Donkey Kong, I managed to get to Bowser's Castle just in time to see..."

"Bowser was trying to marry Peach!"

The two gasped. "So he loved her?" Connie asked.

"Very much so," Mario said happily. "He loved how sweet and gentle she was, and being the tyrant he is, he got a little greedy and wanted Peach, and the world, for himself."

"He sent a Bonzai Bill after Mario," Luigi resumed, "which chased him around and around. Mario brought it to the pipe that took us to the Mushroom Kingdom, and it exploded!"

"What happened?" Arc asked. "Were you able to get back home with the pipe gone?"

"Well," Mario stroked his mustache, "the worlds collided. Bowser went on a rampage, destroying New York to a crisp. He beat me pretty good too. And just when I thought it was the end for me..."

Luigi smiled a bit. "I fought my fear and protected Mario from Bowser's fire. Together, we got the Power Star and took out Bowser."

"However, he has come back plenty of times since then. But that's a story for next time."

"Your lives around so eventful," Connie said. "I wish I could do more, like you two. But I can't do much except take care of the Uni-Tree and activate the Great Lighthouses for you..."

"Connie," Luigi said, "but that's plenty! If it weren't for you growing this new Uni-Tree, we wouldn't be restoring Concordia right now! If we do have to fight against a great, big, evil person, you're brave enough already to fight against that."

Mario nodded. "Yeah, it's a good trait. Take Luigi, for example. He's terrified of ghosts, and he faced his fear and battled them to save me...three times! And I'm sure your mentor will be proud of you too. I get it, it doesn't feel like you're doing much, but you've already helped a lot!"

"You really think so?" Connie asked, a bit flustered. "I didn't think about it like that."

"Fighting against evil is a big job. But I think that if anything like this happens in Concordia happens again, you'll be brave enough to stop it." Mario pat her head. "You've got to believe in yourself. I know that's what your mentor would have wanted."

She pushed up her hat a bit. "Thanks, Mario. That made me feel a bit better. But we're almost to the next island. So let's get you over there and back to fixing Concordia."

Mario gave her a thumbs up and a smile, then headed to the cannon with Luigi. "She's cute. Reminds me of Olivia a bit."

"How're they doing?" Luigi asked. "I haven't seen them since a few days before we came to Concordia, and I don't want anything bad to happen..."

"They're probably fixing things up with the Origami Craftsman now. Olly's a brave kid, I'm sure he can do this. Ready to head out, Weegee?"

Luigi playfully shoved him. "Only if I get to be in the front this time!"

"Dream on!"