"That sounds...intense." Connie handed the brothers a cup of hot coco. "Here, since you got stuck in the rain."

"Thanks!" Luigi said, taking the cup from her and taking a sip imminently. "Ooh, hot-hot!"

"Luigi's had a dream-vision before," Mario explained. "And from what I got, this one was like that."

"The weird part is, Zokket's name sounds familiar," Connie mentioned. "Maybe it's just me..."

"Do you think he could have been the one to destroy the Uni-Tree?" Arc asked.

"Probably," Billdit answered. "If he's evil, he probably knows how to."

"This is a long shot..." Mario said, rubbing his neck. "But maybe Zokket has magic? A lot of the villains in the Mushroom Kingdom have magical powers. And I'm assuming a lot of them turned evil because the power got to their heads."

"You can see the Uni-Tree from here," Connie said. "You can tell me wither this was done by magic or not."

Shipshape curved with the current, and the Uni-Tree came into view. It was distant, but clearly visible. The view made Mario gasp and Luigi drop his coco.

It sunk beneath the waves, branches drooping. The giant light bulb in the middle, the main source of Connectar, was shattered. Purple lines followed the shape of the tree's rotting wood, creating deeper cracks along its surface. A heavy feeling sunk the brother's hearts, and Mario nodded slightly to Connie; unable to tear his gaze from the tree.

"That's..." Luigi started. "Scary."

"Imagine how hard it was for them," Mario said. "Seeing their entire world crumble to bits because of some sick freak! Connie, I'll make sure we stop Zokket, okay?"

"Mario, you don't have to help us if you don't want to. I know this is asking a lot of you two..." Connie fiddled with her hands.

"Connie, we've saved the multiverse from complete destruction before. I think Weegee and I got this."

"Mario! Luigi!" Arc called from the cannon. "I found the next island!"

Mario and Luigi hurried over. "Thanks, Arc!"

"What island is it?" Connie asked.

"Florall Island," Arc explained. "It's pretty big, and is known for its year-round spring weather and beautiful flowers. The monsters there would probably just be Seedles and other plant-based ones."

Mario looked at the island through the telescope. "I see some pretty big flowers there."

"That's one of the ways they quickly move around. There are sturdy flowers used as bridges and floating ones used as propellers for reaching high places."

"Interesting. Ready to go, Weegee?"

Luigi nodded. "Yep!"

The Lighthouse was relatively close to the front of the island, mainly because what Arc meant as big was more like "long." Paths curved out to all sorts of sides of the island, while the path to the northern side was pretty short. However, their journey came to a very quick stop, as the bridge flowers to the Lighthouse were sealed tight, and a gate blocked the spot Luigi needed to stand if they wanted to smack those buds open with flying fruit.

While making their way, Mario heard another Toad call for the brothers. He was on a higher ledge as well, however this one was easily reachable through the process of walking up a small slope. Only one obstacle stood in their way now, a gap between the Mario Bros. and the Toads that was too wide to jump. Mario looked at the gap, trying to guess if they could jump it if they ran first.

"I could go over there," Snoutlet suggested.

"Wait, Mario," Luigi said. "I have an idea. Remember Pi'illo Island?"

Mario nodded.

"Pillow...? I don't remember no place named Pillow..." Snoutlet muttered.

"The Tornado move!" Luigi said excitedly. "We can use that here!"

Mario slammed the side of his fist into his palm. "Great idea, Weegee! That should be enough to get us past this pesky gap!"

"Great!" Luigi said. "I'll hop on."

Luigi climbed onto Mario's shoulders, and Snoutlet retreated back into Luigi's hat. Mario and Luigi worked together to spin to the other side. Snoutlet left Luigi's hat.

"That was cool! What was that?"

"A Bros. move," Luigi said.

"They're helpful," Mario continued. "It usually takes some sort of revelation or something before we can use them though. I don't know why."

"Mario," one Toad said, "where is this place? And is that a flying pig?"

"NOT A PIG!" Snoutlet yelled.

"This is Concordia," Mario explained. "I don't know how we all ended up here, honestly."

"But once we get the Lighthouse connected," Luigi said happily, "you can come visit us on Shipshape Island!"

"That sounds good!" The Toad said.

So they continued off to unlock the gate. Thankfully, it didn't take long. A simple hit to the block and the gate slid down. Luigi and Mario stepped onto their respected platforms and hit the surprisingly hard fruit at the buds. The fruit came from a small flower on the ground, which shot the fruits into the air. Mario and Luigi walked across the new bridge and headed to the Lighthouse. Large pink flowers, which were used for elevation, granted them access to the top of the Lighthouse. Mario looked out to the horizon. The view was wonderful.

Reality seemed to...glitch. Instead of seeing the ocean's horizon, he saw Concordia in the distance of Florall. The Lighthouse was lit, and two people sat on the stairs leading to it. Mario could hear their voices. He was wide awake, so this must have just been a vision of sorts.

"Ms. Cozette, I got you these flowers. I heard you liked them and I decided to give you a bouquet of them." That voice sounded familiar...

"Oh my. These are rare flowers. You shouldn't have pulled them without confronting me first." Cozette had a calming voice.

"Oh no! I'm so sorry, Cozette! I messed up! How can I be a Wattanist if I can't even protect the small plant life?!"

"Don't beat yourself over such a small matter," Cozette said calmly. "It was a simple mistake, and that's all it will be."

"But what if I put a species into extinction?" Cozette's friend seemed like quite the pessimist.

"You will survive. Many plants have gone through trial, and they've made it out alright. You can do the same, little sprout."

"Cozette..."

Cozette rose to her feet. "Come. We need to head to the Uni-Tree. There's something I need to do there." She walked down the stairs and out of view.

"But Ms. Cozette..."

Mario slowly walked to the Concordian. Who was it? Why did they seem familiar?

"I love you..."

Mario snapped out of it when Luigi grabbed his shoulder. "Mario? Where are you going?"

"Huh? Oh, sorry. I thought I saw something. Let's get the Lighthouse and head back."