SKW Dark Margin
Rayman comments, "And so begins the hike. Riku, Mickey, you guys said you were at a similar place to here at one point during Sora's adventures?" "Yeah, Sora ended up sealing the Door to the Galaxy of Hearts's Realm of Darkness at the end of his first adventure. With the two of us on the other side of the one way door." "Ouch." "The good news is, we ran into Keyblade Master Aqua down there after a little while exploring."
Sly says, "Uh, guys? I think some of Eggman's robots are down here. And they look like…" Peach comments, "They look like Bowser's troops." "Sonic responds with, "I'm not surprised Egghead got some help… So, Mario, Luigi, how do you usually deal with these when they're not robotic?" Luigi answers, "Try and get the Koopa to crawl into it's shell, then you can send the shell spinning into the other robots. The way to deal with the Goombas, well, that should be obvious." Sonic notices the Robo-Goomba's round head. "I think I see what you're saying." Sly says, "Murray, you're up!" "The Murray will send these robots to the chop shop!"
Gameplay begins, with Murray Thunder Flopping all over, Ratchet setting up for Robo-Koopa shell trick shots, and Mario providing support for Sora using a Fire Flower and his Mage Costume abilities. "And that's the last of them. Blossom, are we getting close?" "Professor Ruby should be just across that ridge." "Wait. Did you just call him…?!" "Did everyone understand what she just said? Professor R is…" Clank responds with, "A former Soul Prince. Ziggy says there's a 90 percent chance he used to be the Soul Prince of Flame. Mario's predecesor." Bentley responds with, "How did you get ahold of tech that Project Quantum Leap used?!" "You didn't see that Ziggy is now open source?" "News to me. Does Ian know as well?" "Last I heard, he does. I was doing some research after the slideshow." "You learn something new every day." Gameplay, with Sly platforming up the ridge. The Soul Princes finally arrive at the Mushroom Galaxy's Dark Margin, seeing a spirit (think Zelda Spirit Tracks) that looks like it has been waiting for them. For the Blessed Seven. "Professor Ruby?" "Ah, the new Soul Princes are here… and the embryo?" He has his eyes fixated on Luigi.
"The embryo? What do you know about my birth?" Ratchet comments, "This must be why Frankly was freaking out at the sight of Luigi." "Quite a bit.
Professor Ruby narration:
"My pregnant wife and I once worked Project Luna to understand the needed balance between light and darkness. I always worried for her well being, especially for the embryo inside her. Let's skip ahead to day 3 of the project. It was this worry for her, that made me accidentally pour the black and white substances we were working with onto a sonic eruptor. This caused a wave of energy to dispute throughout the lab. Miraculously, neither of us were hurt and neither was the embryo after an x-ray. On Day 4 of Project Luna however, my wife started feeling pain in her stomach. They did another x-ray test and saw not one embryo inside her, but two. It puzzled me quite a bit, but my assistant was happy either way because it meant she was expecting another child. Project Luna was put on hold for the time being because of the phenomenon.
A month had passed and the two embryos were left alone in their mother's womb, the second being slightly bigger. I was still trying to figure out how the second embryo appeared without being a zygote first or how it got there in the first place. An x-ray scan showed that both were male, despite them not being at the fetus stage. The future mother named the smaller one Mario and the bigger one Luigi. To solve the mystery of the mysterious unborn babe, I renamed Project Luna to "Project Luigi".
"Working Project Luigi for the next two months, we learned that combining light and darkness can cause a number of strange phenomenon depending on the situation, with some not even noticing. Through special radioactive devices, we discovered that both unborn children had been influenced by light and dark energy, the bigger one having more influence than the smaller one. It either way granted both of them unique powers that would be discovered in the future after they are born. After another month of research, my assistant retired from the project to be a mother, which I fully respected."
"The experiment ended without a conclusion. The mystery of the mysterious embryo still rattled in my mind, even many years after its birth. Although, I knew it would be the subject and its sibling that I would choose when the time was right." "Even after my assistant left, she would get me updates on the unborn kids, letting me continue Project Luigi. I prolonged the project after Luigi himself was born, having seemingly lost his light and dark inlfuence. Project Luigi was still continuing even after many years of no progress. For what it's worth, this project wasn't mentioned when a movie was made about the brothers. I think it was unknown even to the directors…" Ratchet comments, "I hope that movie did better than the holo-film about my first adventure with Clank… but, in all seriousness, you were planning to make Mario a Soul Prince since he was born?!" "Yes. Yes I was." Sora is lost in thought. "I've never seen a Nobody created… naturally. This adventure keeps being filled with firsts." Rayman comments, "We're here for a second reason." "The World Ring." "How did you know?!" "I've been keeping it safe in my homemade lab for the last little while. Along with some music I think you'll need." The Soul Princes follow Ruby to his lab. "I'm not even going to question how you put this together…" "Paracausality. I would give you that story, but we don't have a free 10 hours… where is it? Ah, someone check the trunk in the corner." Sora says, "Sly, would you like to do the honors?" Sly responds with, "On it." One treasure chest opening gesture later, the trunk is open, and a music box and a yellow ring is dug out.
Sly tells the group, "I found one of these music boxes at my old childhood home back in Paris, which ended up playing the music I needed." "So, on this box should be another important piece." "And, play." A 19 note melody that has got a bit of a cult following in the Nintendo fan community, Totaka's Song, plays. Luigi comments, "Weird. That melody somehow kept popping up everywhere me and my brother went. It got to the point where I had to write down everywhere I heard it.." Peach responds with, "So many late nights""Anyway, what's the plan, Blossom?" "Armless one, do you mind escorting me back to the throne room?" "And some say chivalry is dead. I'll see the rest of you at the ship in a little bit." Peach responds with,"You might want to wait a bit. Once we get back to Toad Town, I think Mario and Luigi need a break before the next World Ring." "Fair enough. Do the Toad Town shops accept bolts?" "You know, I've never actually asked. I'll send a message to the shopkeepers…" Ratchet smiles as we…
End Chapter