It was raining lightly, but the darkness of the clouds revealed a heavier fall was coming. Mud squished under their shoes, and a muttering voice came not too far ahead of them.
The voice belonged to Billdit, who was easily recognizable from the single red leaf that acted as hair. Mario recognized it from the arch in Rumbla. He heard the brothers walking behind him and turned to face them.
"Hey, what do you think you're doing? How'd you even get here?" He had a fiery energy about him. It was passion, and love, Mario could tell.
"Relax," Snoutlet said, coming from Luigi's hat again. "We're here to reconnect the islands to the new Uni-Tree. Oh yeah, Maykit and Willma wanted us to find you too. So I guess we're getting two things done at once, eh?"
"Maykit and Willma? So they're fine? That's a relief. I've been...busy."
"You were worried about them, weren't you?"
"N-no!...Yeah. I can't hide the fact I love my family. Even if I try to, I know it'll just be a lie." He placed his hands on his hips. "Alright, I think I can trust you since you know my family. What can I do to help?"
"Know the fastest way to the Lighthouse?"
"Well...there's a locked gate a bit further up the path. I can't figure out how to open it, but it's the only way up."
"Anything else we need to know 'bout this place?"
"Monsters. Everywhere. Some even turn invisible, so watch out for them. Oh, and near the gate, I heard a voice calling out for help...I'm not sure if it was a monster or what, but I'd be careful if I were you. And while you go get that Lighthouse, I'll hang back here and meet with May and mom when the islands are reconnected!"
"Sounds like the best option. Well, see ya!" Snoutlet faced the bros. again. "Alright, you heard the man. Let's figure out how to open that gate!"
Billdit was right about some monsters turning invisible. The bros. had a bit of a time figuring out when to jump or hammer them, but the pattern soon came to their realization. They simply had to listen for the footsteps in the mud and rain.
The gate was opened by four buttons on open flowers. Hitting blocks changed where the vines would grow, opening and closing new passageways. The gate slid open once all four buttons have been pressed, and a call came to Mario and Luigi as they headed up the path.
"Mario?! Luigi?! You're here too?"
Mario and Luigi looked up to see a Toad on a slightly higher ledge.
Snoutlet looked as well. "Huh? A mushroom? Is it poisonous?" His confused look changed to concern. "Wait. If we're seein' talkin' mushrooms, maybe we've already been poisoned."
Mario shook his head and waved his hands. "No! We aren't poisoned! That's a Toad! Did he come here from the Mushroom Kingdom when we were taken through that portal? How, and why here?"
"Mario, Luigi!" The Toad called. "I'm so happy to see you! Me and my friends were randomly sucked through a portal and dropped in the middle of these woods! Could you bring my pals to me please?"
"Sure!" Mario nodded.
"Thanks! I can see them from here. One's stuck between two thick vines, and one's over across a bridge."
Mario looked up. "But how are we going to get them up there?"
Luigi snapped. "Mario, I've got it! Toss me up there! There's a small ledge I can grab."
"Okay."
Mario crouched down, letting Luigi step onto his shoulders. He stood back up, adjusted how he held Luigi, and forced Luigi into the air. Luigi jumped off his hands and grabbed the ledge. He pulled himself up and gave Mario a thumbs up.
"Yahoo!"
"Nice idea, Weegee!" Mario cheered. "Now, I'll go find those Toads. You don't mind being thrown around a bit, right?"
"Of course not," the Toad said happily. "Do whatever you need, Mario, because I'm sure it'll work in the end."
Mario simply had to go back to the start of the small maze of vines and hit the block again. Once he had the first Toad, he tossed him up to Luigi. Luigi caught and carefully placed him on the ground, giving Mario a nod as to let him know he could keep going. He got the second Toad, and gently placed him on a button he spotted on his way back to the Toads and Luigi. The button activated a gate, that slid down when the button was pressed. Behind it was a large, stone fruit, which Mario tossed up to Luigi for them to use as a way to get up and down the ledge a little better. He then tossed the Toad to Luigi. The Toads cheered, spun in a circle, and thanked the bros. before leaving and heading to where Billdit was waiting.
Mario and Luigi made their way up to the Lighthouse again, as the rain began to pour more furiously. The mud became harder to walk through and the Lighthouse vanished behind dark clouds and heavy rain.
Mario and Luigi set up camp to wait out the storm.
"If there are Toads here, do you think that Peach is here too?" Mario asked.
"But how did they get here?" Luigi responded. "I thought that vortex thing was only over us."
"Maybe the answer will come later? Either way, answers or not, we need to keep moving."
Luigi lie down on his sleeping bag. "I wonder if Peach is doing alright..."
"She took out a witch on her own," Mario said, "and helped us stop Bowser and other villains a few times. I think she's fine. If we're lucky, she's on a safe island. One not riddled with monsters."
"Yeah...But I'm worried about Concordia. This is probably a villain we've never faced before, so can we actually stop them?"
Mario covered himself in the sleeping bag. "That's what we thought about Cackletta, Fawful, Dimentio, Antasma, and plenty of other guys. Even Smithy had us thinking that. But I think we're fine, Weegee. But I do get why you're worried. I was pretty worried when Dimentio forced me to fight you..."
Snoutlet snuggled Luigi's hat. "You two sound like you've been through a lot."
"We have. But the Mario Bros. have beaten every trial from here to the Mushroom Kingdom! Weegee is just a bit worried. But I get worried sometimes too."
"I don't blame you." Snoutlet looked to the top of the tent. "I've been getting this bad feelin' since we left Rumbla Island. And it's gotten a bit worse since then. I wonder what's makin' me feel like that."
"Speaking of which, I saw a figure scoping out Rumbla Island when we were about to get the Lighthouse. I wonder if that feeling and that figure are connected..."
Luigi snored.
"Uh-" Snoutlet moved away from him slightly. "Maybe he has the right idea. The storm should be cleared up in the morning. Maybe we should get some sleep."
"Yeah. Night, Snoutlet."
"Night!"
"Just a bit more..." A voice in his dream.
"Soon..." He didn't recognize it.
"Isolation..." It sounded confused.
"Concordia will be nothing..." It plotted vile things.
"Master..." It worked under someone. But voice sounded slightly different...
"Construction..." It worked on something.
"Search for them..." It was looking for someone?
"Those two are..." Wait. Where's the rest?
"Stopping plans..." Vile plans, probably.
"Team..." It didn't work alone.
"Of course, Master Zokket." A clearer voice? And who was Zokket?
Mario assumed Zokket was the first voice, the one that was a bit hard to hear. Was this a dream, or a vision? Mario slowly walked down the hall, the voices coming slightly clearer.
"We'll put a stop to the joy in this world, by your request." End joy? Why? How?
"Isolation..." Zokket's voice didn't become any clearer. In fact, it seemed further away. "Glohm..."
Glohm? What was that? Mario remembered Link mentioned something about "Gloom" during their last meet-up for a Smash Bros. championship, but it sounded a bit different...Plus, how would a threat to Hyrule come to Concordia? Gloom was gone now that Link stopped Ganondorf, so how would Zokket get their hands on it?
"End..." End Concordia, most likely. Zokket sounded like yet another cliché villain.
Mario placed a hand on the doorway. Listening, he realized they stopped talking. He slowly peeked into the room. A flash of purple and red came to him. He jolted awake.
"Waah!"
"Mario?" Luigi asked right away. "Are you okay?"
"It's nothing. Just a nightmare. I think the worry's getting to me."
Snoutlet pat Mario's shoulder. "Well, the rain let up, so we can keep goin'. Thankfully, you got a full-night's sleep, even with that nightmare, so I wouldn't think too much about it."
As they headed up to the Lighthouse, Mario thought about his dream. Zokket seemed to be the vile leader, but he mentioned a master. Perhaps he was addressing himself as master for his troops? The purple and red could have either been his minions or himself. The last thing he saw before he woke up was...
A mask.
A silver mask. Pointed at the bottom, with a large top hat covering the top. Red glowing eyes peered into his soul, anger and pain behind them. Was that Zokket? The last thing he mentioned before going to sleep was seeing that figure above Rumbla Island, and Zokket mentioned looking for two people. Could that have been him? Were the bros. the people Zokket told his minions to keep an eye on? Would Mario and Luigi run into them in Raynforest?
"Mario?" Luigi asked, interrupting his thoughts. "You seem nervous. Are you thinking about your nightmare?"
"Yeah. There's just a lot to process. I think somebody's looking for us, if it was a dream-vision like yours with Antasma."
"I would expect that," Snoutlet said, at the top of the Lighthouse. "You're repairin' Concordia, and somebody obviously doesn't want it to be together. So I wouldn't be surprised if the big bad's watchin' you. It's a little creepy though."
"You'd be surprised how many villains watch the heroes," Mario said with a chuckle. "Grape watched Peach, Olly, Bowser, Dimentio, and a million others have watched me."
"We can discuss the dream with Conster when we get back to Shipshape. Let's connect this island!"
"Right."