Chapter Text

"Give the princess back, you monster!!" The red plumber and his green brother shouted after Bowser, who in his clutches was the beloved Princess Peach, crying for her heroes.

Bowser was gigantic again thanks to the Power Stars and is once more attempting to take over the universe. The third time's the charm, as they say. No Star Festival is safe for the people of Mushroom Kingdom. Bowser stood in front of the Mushroom Castle and towered over the brothers. Luigi gulped, while Mario braced himself and stepped forward. 

"GWAHAHAHA!!" Bowser cackled. "Don't think that this time it'll be any easier than the last time or the time before that!! I have finally found a power that can keep you idiot plumbers from wrecking my plan AND keep my reign over these stupid planets FOREVER!!" His voice boomed and shook everything around him, birds fled from nearby trees and Luigi lost his footing and fell to one knee.

Mario grimaced. He doubted it. He had pummeled and even pulled the ground from under this monster time and time again. This time wasn't going to be any different than what he was going to do now. 

"M-Mario..." Luigi placed a trembling hand on his brother's shoulder, "What do we do?!"

"I'll tell you what you'll do," Bowser butted in, snapping the fingers on his free hand making Peach started floating in a green bubble away from his gigantic palm that now began to omit a green aura. Bowser's other hand turned red in the same fashion before thrusting both of them outwards from himself and spread out his claws. With a swift motion, he lifted them up and the ground below the brothers began to shake violently. Luigi clung to Mario for dear life. Mario clenched his jaw and tried to keep a steady balance and a straight face.

The ground cracked and tore from the earth and floated upwards, higher and higher... until the Mario brothers were level-eyed with the Koopa King. He snorted in triumph. His eyes even glowed a little bit. Mario was baffled; what kind of power could get Bowser to be like this?!

"You'll leave and NEVER RETURN!!" he roared, swinging his green hand to the side as hard as he could, launching the clump of dirt out of the atmosphere as the plumbers' terrified cries slowly faded away into a small twinkle in the sky.

"MARIO!! LUIGI!!" Princess Peach threw her hand out after the brothers.

...

Mario couldn't feel anything. His eyes fluttered open, only for his chest to drop once he saw himself floating in the dark, cold, silent abyss of space. He sprawled his body out frantically and tried to eye something familiar to start swimming towards. He flipped himself on his belly --or his back, he couldn't tell what was up or down-- and immediately reeled himself back once he came face-to-face with a familiar pale yellow Luma. 

"Mario! Just the person I wanted to see!!" Baby Luma chirped, totally oblivious to the invasion of personal space. Mario's attention turned to the shine that hit his eye behind the Luma. 

It was the Comet Observatory... or rather...what was left of it. What used to be a blissful wonder full of life was now dead and stripped to its bare parts; bits and pieces of domes, teleport pads, flowers, and all kinds of steel floated in a bundle of what used to compose the great spaceship. Lumas flurried all over to keep the parts from floating away, bouncing them back with their pudgy little bodies. Who knows how long they were like this... This could only have been the work of Bowser.

Mario gasped at the sight. Baby Luma chuckled nervously, turning to it, himself. "...I guess we both got taken from our homes."

"Mario!!" "Is that Mario?" "We're saved!!" some Lumas cried out and rushed over to the red plumber. Mario simply gave them a blank look and shrugged. What could he do? He was practically as helpless as them. Who he really needed to see was Rosalina, but he couldn't find where she was. Mario asked Baby Luma about this and his face fell, then burst into tears. "SHE GOT LO-O-OST!!" The other Lumas surrounding the two cuddled up next to Baby Luma to comfort him. 

Pulling himself to a sitting position, Mario narrowed his eyes and put a finger to his chin in thought, then he gave Baby Luma a warm smile. He was sure that they could find his mother. Baby Luma tried to shake away his tears. "Are you sure we can find her? We don't even know where we are!"

"Look!" a yellow Luma pointed, directing everyone's attention to a planet far away from them. Mario and Baby Luma's eyes widened. "Maybe there's someone there who can help us!!" Turning back towards Mario, the group of Lumas squealed in excitement. "Mario," another yellow Luma said, "Would you mind helping us out?" Mario nodded. Baby Luma hopped into his cap while the Luma transformed into a Launch Star, sending Mario off to their only hope.

Chapter Text

Before he knew it, wind started to pelt Mario in the face. He lifted his hands to block it, but it cost him his steady streamline. His body tossed and turned and he began to lean forward. Mario pulled himself inward and landed firmly on his feet just in the nick of time. He sighed in relief and dusted off his overalls before observing the scene around him.

He could immediately feel a black hole's aura as it gently pulled him to the floor. It must be under him, or rather, at the core of this little planet. He was on a clunky sheet of copper-like material that was poorly bolted to others in its likeness in the shape of a sphere. The sky around him was fighting between being a blue sky or a clear view of space. Clouds overlapped the two and appeared closer to Mario than what he was familiar with. It felt very lonely. The silence was deafening.

Despite his fears and uncertainty, Mario set off. He hopped over gaping holes from previously being sucked in as well as not leaving any nook and cranny unchecked, even though this planet was practically smooth. There wasn't much to explore sadly. Before Mario took a second to think about where to go next, his eyes spotted something glittery a little ways above his head. Pull Stars! He reached out for one, and once it noticed the life force entering its gravitational field, the Pull Star hoisted Mario off his feet. Mario let the stars' connections to each other do the rest to carry him off the tiny planet and... back to space? 

Confused, Mario frantically looked around his body while the Pull Star had a hold on him. If it lets go, Mario would surely be sucked in by the black hole. A stray metal panel the same size as the ones from the planet floated out by itself, and Mario, with all his might, swung off and landed on it. It pulled him forward, and in that time before moving back, Mario looked ahead of himself. There were more of these pieces out here, just... floating. Further out was a cube-like planet rotating very slowly.

Mario tightened his cap and leaped forward to maneuver his way across the floating platforms, almost slipping off one after jumping too short, but thanks to Baby Luma's gift of granting him the power of the stars, he was able to have a second chance and make the landing. Other than that, it wasn't too difficult for the plumber to accomplish. He was very skilled in this area of parkour, after all these years. Next was the cube planet. It was constructed of all different kinds of panels now, shiny silver ones along with rusty and copper ones pressed together in a cube. Upon closer inspection, they didn't even look like they were screwed or welded together at all, which the plumber found very strange. Mario hopped on and realized that gravity wasn't going to keep him in one place. He would have to start keeping on top if he didn't want to fall off. 

There was nothing else past here, so where was Mario to go? Mario slipped again and threw his hands forward to catch himself at the edge and quickly pulled himself back up before his fingers slid off the panel face. Wait... there was something different about that panel. Mario waited for the planet to rotate back around before his suspicions were proven right: there was the familiar circular spiky shape Mario soon grew to recognize as the ground pound symbol! Now, what it was doing out here Mario had no idea, but he wasn't going to question it while the opportunity to bash it in was still there.

And bash in he did; the sudden impact broke the whole planet (if it could be called that, it was honestly just pieces of metal) to scatter away from each other and puff into smoke. Mario was again airborne in space. He waved the smoke away and waved it faster when he heard someone coughing. Baby Luma leaped out of Mario's cap. "Hello?! Who's there?"

It was a Luma. His eyes widened in excitement at the sight of two familiar faces.

"Y-Young Master Luma !" his gaze turned to the red hero, "And Mario too!! I can't believe I have finally found you! ...Well... I guess you found me after I got caught in between those metal pieces and couldn't get out. But I was sent off to find you!"

Baby Luma tilted his head. What could he mean?

"Captain Lubba noticed the galaxies going crazy and knew something was wrong and sent us all out to find you, Mario!" The Luma continued, "This must be the work of that monster again, isn't it?"

Mario furrowed his brow. Galaxies... going crazy?! No matter the case, he was more than grateful to have found somebody that could help him and the Lumas.

Mario and Baby Luma, along with Lubba and his starship-- still in the way Mario left it, with his countenance being it's front-- were able to get all the Lumas on board and the Observatory's remains collected in a net tied at the back. Mario was very glad to feel solid ground underneath his feet again. Thanks to the Luma they saved, they were able to contact Lubba, and he didn't hesitate to call back the rest of the search team and make haste towards their location.

The ship was just as cheery and well-oiled as ever. All of the Lumas flew around each other and made themselves acquainted while Mario tended to more serious matters with the ship's captain. 

"I wish we could have met under better circumstances, but here we are," Lubba shrugged. "I'm so sorry to hear what happened to you... to the both of you, to be exact," Lubba turned to Baby Luma at mentioning the both of them. "I would guess this was yet again the work of that big bad Bowser, right?" 

[Yeah...]              [Yup.]

Mario nodded solemnly.

Lubba sighed. "In any case, I'm glad I had the good sense to send my Lumas off to find you, or we would have all been in quite the pickle! Now-- before you ask, yes. I couldn't part with the beauty of this ship enough to recreate it without your face and its marvelous 'stache, so I hope you didn't mind me and my crew traveling the galaxies with your face on it, har har!! On the plus side, it might help us havin' some people recognize a familiar face, whether it be me that met them or you, from way back when!"

"This time around, we won't be needing Power Stars, since we're still all juiced up since the last time you came!" Lubba chuckled triumphantly as he moved from the hull of the ship to the helm, spinning the wheel promptly, gesturing for Mario and his friend to follow. 

As fast as Lubba's cheeriness came, it faded. "Now, about Rosalina's Observatory ..." he took a deep breath. "I hate to see it in the state that it's in, and that Rosalina, herself, can't be found yet, from what your Luma friends have been tellin' me. Space is a scary place when you don't have any way to communicate." He shook the mood off. "Well, in order to find her, first things first would be to start finding those pieces, amiright?"

[Yup!]                  [Right!]

Mario nodded.

"And what better place to start than right here where we found you? We can search starting from the closest galaxies to the farthest. While those ship pieces continue to fly off, they're bound to land on any nearby galaxies starting from this point! Rosalina might be amongst them, too! Whaddya say, Mario? Care to help us find some missing parts?"

[Yes!]                  [You bet!]

Mario pumped a fist in the air, while Lubba, with a chuckle, took that as a yes. "I'll help you lead the way, Captain!" Lubba grinned as he moved aside to make way for Mario to approach the helm. Mario loved this feeling. The revving of the engine underneath him as he stepped onto the panel, and the whirring of the boosters as they prepared to launch. The fast pace of his heart screaming for the thrill of adventure. Through all of the stress of having to save the princess, fight off Bowser's minions and avoid natural hazards, Mario came to enjoy little moments like these. Piloting Starship Mario was one of his favorites.

"Hang on, everyone!" Lubba cried out on behalf of the newcomers.

ZOOM! Starship Mario set off, whisking itself into space. 

Mario looked around as stars and space moved past him. The dark expanse of space surrounded the party. Mario was surprised at how bare it was in this little patch of the universe. There were lots of oncoming asteroids, though, so Mario kept an eye on them.

"Now, Mario, I have to admit, we didn't exactly leave this ship exactly the way it was. We added a few things here and there, like this galaxy radar ," Lubba said, as a circular patch of the floor opened up to allow a pole to emerge and settle in. The pole fanned out into a screen that fizzled on, immediately serving its purpose: showing his location. "It's pretty self-explanatory what it does. It helps you find galaxies as they get closer to you! Use this to your aid, Captain!"

Mario took a glance at the screen and was surprised at its findings. Behind this little asteroid belt was a galaxy! No, two galaxies; three-- five ?

"My," Lubba rubbed his chin. "That's odd. Why are all these galaxies clumped up like that? In all of my intergalactic traveling experiences, I have never seen so many galaxies so close together!" he chuckled nervously before giving the thing a pat, "Okay, maybe the thing isn't perfect... but if it's picking up at all, then surely a galaxy is up ahead! Be careful, Mario!"

[Mission: Get Starship Mario through the asteroid belt!]

Asteroids began to approach sparsely but grew to be thicker and thicker as Mario pressed on. He kept his eyes ahead of him.

On his left, Baby Luma tried to float up to see past the asteroids ahead of them, to no avail. Defeated, he returned to his normal height. "There's a lot of these rocks! Why can't we just blow straight through them?" he asked.

On Mario's right, Lubba chuckled. "I know we haven't encountered something like this before in our past adventures, Young Master Luma, but with my ship, we don't really have the luxury of turning into a comet to break through these. They'll break us before we break them , har har! We just gotta make the best of it and not crash! Keep up the safe driving, Mario!"

The ride was bumpy and filled with hard lefts and rights, but at long last, Starship Mario had safely traversed through their defenses and puttered into an open area. Mario brought the ship to a stop. 

"Look! I can see a galaxy!" "No way! I can see one over here, too!" Lumas started flying about and pointing in all directions. Baby Luma tugged on Mario's shirt and pointed ahead of him. Mario's eyes widened in surprise. He could see two galaxies just from where he stood.

"I knew my radar was on the money," Lubba gave an amused huff, "I never doubted it for a second! Having five galaxies literally surround us makes our mission that much easier!"

The galaxies that surrounded them were equally distant from each other. If you could play connect-the-dots, then these galaxies would create a perfect pentagon shape. They didn't look like galaxies Mario had been to before, which made him a little bit excited.

"Take your pick, Captain! Where should we go to first?"

The galaxy radar turned itself towards Mario. The ship, represented with a blinking green dot, was sitting in the center of a very thick asteroid belt, represented with a bunch of white dots placed in an ellipse-like shape around the corners of the screen. The galaxies that surrounded them were represented with blue dots. There was one brightly colored galaxy that caught the plumber's eye, so on the screen, he selected its location with his finger. The dot grew and transformed into a more detailed appearance of the galaxy while moving over to the left to make room for a text box that flew in from the right, as words flooded in with information about the place.

Twisty Treat Galaxy . Sounds... well, sweet! 

After setting course, a Launch Star appeared above his head, and without further ado, Mario locked in blasted off into the new galaxy.

Twisty Treat Galaxy

[A Melting Massacre!] {SELECTED!!}

Wind whistled past Mario's ears as he winced through bunches of clouds. Nearing the ground, the plumber tucks himself in to spin and land firmly on his feet.

Welcome to the Galaxy!

Light shone into Mario's eyes, which he blocked with his hand as he took in his surroundings. A forest of trees surrounded him and their thick leaves quickly blocked the sun for him. What Mario found weird was how the brown leaves stuck together whenever the soft breeze tussled them around. Some sap fell on Mario's face, making him jump a little. He wiped it off and took a closer look at the back of his finger. It was syrup! In fact, the entire forest he was in was made of solidified syrup... or what's supposed to be solidified syrup. Why was everything starting to melt?

Mario decided to press forward, hoping his questions will be answered.

Chapter Text

The sun shone brightly, casting its cheerful light across the brightly colored candy town laid in front of him. The colors were so vivid that Mario had to shield his eyes before slowly allowing his eyes to adjust. 

The hero was surrounded by colorful and cheerful energy, even though he was alone. Plant life holding similar likeness to the trees Mario was familiar with were as plentiful as the eye could see. Their long brightly-colored trunks twisted upwards from the ground in a spiral and broke out into tinier branches the farther up they went. Smaller strings hung from the ends of each branch, almost appearing like hair if it wasn't also brightly colored. A soft wind blew occasionally throughout the taffy tree forest, making the stringy leaves sway gently. 

Mario looked around for any sign of life. After wandering for a few minutes, he encountered a beaten path and followed it. Mario emerged from the forest and spotted a clearing farther ahead with a tiny candy village. He picked up his pace, collecting falling starbits from the now open sky, hoping to find some of those ship pieces. 

The town was as brightly colored as it was energetic. The people seemed to be one with their environment. Heat began to settle in, as Mario adjusted the collar of his shirt. He surely was not. How candy could withstand heat like this, the plumber could never understand. 

A taffy villager noticed him and greeted him. Mario reciprocates the gesture before asking him if he or anyone he knows has seen stray ship parts lying around. "Parts to a ship, eh?" The villager put a stringy hand to his chin, "Sorry, pal, I ain't got a clue. Apologies." Mario sighed and adjusted his collar again, fanning his face with his hand. What now? It was going to be a long trek around this whole planet if he didn't have somewhat of a starting point. Noticing Mario's behavior, the villager spoke again, "Yeah, something's been up with the weather recently. Everything's been normal up until a few weeks ago, when suddenly everything went super cold, then devastatingly hot... And it's stayed like this ever since. Normally, it would be autumn. I sure do miss seeing the colors change..." he finished with a sigh.

Mario hummed in thought. So maybe this temperature wasn't as normal as he once assumed. He asked the villager another question, to which he shook his head. "I have no idea what started it. If I did, then we would have been working on a solution. For now, without an answer, we're all graspin' at straws here."

"We're all going to melt and die!!" a bystander screamed from farther inside the village, to the villager's nervous sigh. "...A lot of us have already given up." The villager's face lit up, "Say, if you can help us find out what's going on, I'll tag along and help you find those ship pieces you were askin' about. How's that sound?" Mario nodded and the two shook on it.

[The taffy villager known as Kit has temporarily joined your party!]

Half an hour had gone by and Mario and Kit hadn't been able to find much of anything. They had traveled outside of the village and even into neighboring ones. Soon, a mountain range loomed over them, preventing them from moving any farther out. Up on a ledge halfway up a smaller mountain was something that glinted against the sunlight, drawing Mario's attention. But how could he get up there? The mountain was too rigid and steep. Kit put a finger to his chin and looked around. His face lit up when his eyes landed on a patch of wild pink and green flowers. 

"Mario," he beckoned for him to follow him over, "I got an idea. Come look at this."

Kit bent down and picked one of the flowers. It was a funky-looking one, for sure. Mario couldn't tell when its long petals started and when they ended.They appeared to loop around each other. Two strands of thick pink and green taffy coiled around its face, even slightly weighing the thing down. The candy villager held the flower up to Mario. "Have this. It'll let you climb the mountain and keep you from falling!" Intrigued, Mario took it and let the plant's power fill his body. He felt... oddly elasticky... like his bones vanished.

[You have transformed into Taffy Mario! Aim with ☆ and press A and B simultaneously to whisk yourself past your limits! Press A + B at two points to stick and hold them together, or turn yourself into a slingshot or bridge!]

Mario tapped his foot as he thought, looking around for a good spot to try this out. He throws his hand out and is taken off guard when he feels his arm extending past his familiar boundaries. He felt his hand stick to the rock. Mario looked at Kit in a confusedly panicked face. Kit laughed, "Now pull yourself up!" Mario did what he was told and he was whisked thousands of feet into the air. His body slammed against the stone and he held on for a moment to let his soul return to his body. 

Once recovered, Mario tossed his hand out a couple more times, slowly but surely getting the hang of what he was capable of. The sun glinted off of the object once more, and Mario climbed after it. He hopped onto the ledge with both feet, keeping one hand stuck to the wall for support. A big clunky silver screw sat at Mario's feet. The screw appeared to have been ripped from its place since it still had metal stuck in its grooves, a type of metal Mario had never seen other than from Rosalina's Observatory, so this had to be a ship piece. The hero turned to go back down but stopped when he heard a strange mechanical sound. Mario followed the sound with his eyes, which ended up being above him.

Apparently, the mountains here didn't get cooler as you climbed, but warmer. Mario kept climbing until he found the source of the noise, which was some sort of mechanism. It was a soft-edged cube, lined with dark steel. Each face was see-through, but not for long. It seemed to be filling up with melted candy inside of it. When it got full, the clear faces turned black and flashed a familiar Koopa king's red insignia before firing a couple of lasers at Mario, who unfortunately couldn't dodge in time. Mario lost his footing on the ledge he was on and stumbled down the steep mountain face until he hit the ground with a thud. The box grew a set of propeller blades and flew off. Mario narrowed his eyes in suspicion. This could only lead to bad things. 

Mario quickly met with Kit and they followed the flying box. They entered another forest and later encountered a clearing where a small fort sat, guarded by Koopa Troopas and Goombas. The two hid behind a large tree to come up with a plan.

"Who're those guys? ...and why're they takin' melted mountain sugar?" Kit thought out loud. Mario shrugged. He explained to Kit how he'd met Bowser's minions before. Mario peeked to get a second look at the fort. There didn't appear to be any doors visible to the naked eye. A square shadow appeared and moved in the direction of the fort over a Goomba then a Koopa Troopa closer to the fort. The flying box was still making its way to the base. The box flew over the fort until it reached a small landing pad. Once making a secure landing, the floor under it lowered it inside.

There's your entrance... but it was pretty out in the open.

"How do you think we're gonna get in there?" Kit asked, "There are two ways to go 'bout this... whaddya say, Mario?"

It took a moment for Mario to answer him. Kit was right, there were two options. Either they sneak--the harder way around-- or alternatively they knock all of the troops out and waltz in, which was the easier way. In theory. Mario frowned. There was no possible way to tell if there were more troops waiting for Mario's arrival. He had been jumped way too many times in his experience, and truthfully, he wasn't ready to knock around five green shells only to lose watch of one and get himself accidentally hit from behind. 

He let his candy friend know of the plan, and the two lept into action. With quick steps, the two snuck around to the back of the base and encountered a bare wall lined by bushes. The two searched around and even resorted to stepping into the bushes. A few starbits and coins later, they stumbled upon a cardboard bush that toppled over upon contact, cracking into pieces. Underneath its former shadow was a familiar 9-spiked star marking painted on top of a locked wooden trapdoor. Mario ground-pounded his way inside, with Kit hopping down after him. 

A sole light failed to display the countless amount of barrels with various colors and types of melted candy dripping from the lids down the sides. Kit's eyes widen in disbelief. "Is this melted candy from everywhere on the planet...? What could they be using this for?" he wondered out loud to himself. Mario looked around as well and even came across some coins and a 1-up hidden in some of the barrels hidden in the dark corners. Despite all the two found, neither of them was able to find any entryway further inside the fort. The cellar they found ended up being a sort of separate room altogether.

A loud grunt came from the door as it fell and slammed shut, trapping everyone in darkness. A dim set of emergency lights lining the edges of the ceiling flickered on. That grunt was one Mario recognized. He turned around to face the unexpected enemy. Boom-Boom grimaced and clenched his fists; in both hands, he held something similar to brass knuckles. At the knuckles were solidified pieces of candy shaped into spikes. He slung himself after Mario, who dodged and let him run into the stack of crates behind him, breaking them open and revealing a bunch of spiked helmets, also made from a different kind of solidified candy. 

Kit's eyes widened in disbelief. Before the candy villager could react verbally, Boom-Boom had already stood back up and whisked himself in his direction. Kit yelped and jumped behind a huge pile of crates, deep enough behind them that Boom-Boom's impact was softened by them. "I'm sorry I can't help, Mario!" Kit called across the cellar room, "I'm not much of a fighter. But I'm sure these thieves might have some Taffy Flower around here-!"

Boom-Boom grunted once again, eyeing the only opponent he could still see. Like a bull, he charged, and Mario dodged and spun open a nearby crate, revealing a bunch of candy-coated Koopa shells. Might have been for more defense. This candy, whatever it's made out of, has apparently been discovered to have a very impressive sturdy effect. Boom-Boom hit a wall and fell on his backside, dizzy. Mario propped one of the shells up into his hands with his feet and held it over his shoulder, looking back at his opponent and deciding to seize the moment. 

Mario quickly seized the moment and leaped forward. He picked up one of the candy-coated Koopa shells and hurled it at Boom-Boom's spiked helmet. The impact was enough to send Boom-Boom stumbling, and his helmet cracked slightly.

Boom-Boom's eyes filled with fury as he leaped back to his feet, now even more determined to take down Mario. He picked up a spiked helmet from the ground and placed it on his head, ready for another charge.

Unfazed, Mario readied himself as Boom-Boom charged again. With a well-timed jump, he evaded the attack, causing Boom-Boom to crash headfirst into the wall. The impact dazed him, leaving him vulnerable.

Recognizing the opportunity, Mario swiftly approached Boom-Boom and delivered a powerful jump, landing squarely on his head. Boom-Boom let out a groan, and Mario quickly backed away, avoiding Boom-Boom's retaliation.

As the battle continued, Kit's eyes darted around the room in search of anything that could aid Mario in the fight. He spotted something peculiar in the corner – a vibrant pink Taffy Flower tucked away behind some crates. With a burst of excitement, Kit grabbed the Taffy Flower and shouted to Mario, "Hey, Mario! Catch!"

With all his might, Kit threw the Taffy Flower over to Mario, who caught it in mid-air. He quickly allowed the flower to grant him his super-stretchy powers again. 

Now, Mario's next move was clear. He leaped forward and extended his arms like a slingshot, launching himself toward Boom-Boom with incredible force. The impact from Mario's feet landed squarely on Boom-Boom's spiked helmet, causing him to stagger back once more.

Unyielding, Mario followed up with an elongated punch, and Boom-Boom grunted in pain. His spiked helmet finally cracked and fell off, leaving him more vulnerable than ever.

With one final stretchy leap, Mario soared into the air and delivered a powerful stomp to Boom-Boom's head. The impact sent him crashing to the ground, defeated.

As Boom-Boom lay fainted, Mario noticed something glinting underneath all of the now broken wooden crates. A Core Ship Piece lay amongst the debris. Kit rushed over to pick it up but struggled to lift it past an inch. Mario tapped a finger to his chin in thought. Then it hit him. He shared his idea with Kit, who thought it was brilliant and that it would greatly help the village for now. But there was a challenge—how would they carry all this wood? Mario, still equipped with the Taffy Flower ability, offered a funny solution. Mario stretched out to act as a bag, holding all of the wood from the fight, and he allowed Kit to drag him back to the village. 

While they returned to Candy Village, however, to the villagers' surprise, it appeared as if only one man returned, dragging behind him a heck of a full sack. When the sunlight hit him as he emerged from the forest, it was none other than Kit, and Mario behind him, using his stretchiness to turn himself into a makeshift bag carrying all of the wood they found in the enemy's cellar, as well as the Core Ship Piece. All of the villagers pitched in to build what ended up being a big windmill, which helped cool off the town, bringing relief to everyone. Kit thanked Mario for his ingenious help, and Mario nodded in satisfaction.

MISSION 1 COMPLETE! 

°°°

Mission 2: "Harvesting Havoc"

The galaxy is back to normal and entering the festive autumn season. The natives greet Mario with warm smiles when he returns, especially Kit.

It is harvest season, where all types of candy are gathered. Mario takes some time to enjoy the festive surroundings as well as listen to Kit explain what the tradition is about. The candy harvested is used for infrastructure, personal housing, as well as food and medicine. They collect everything they gather into a big basket in the center of the town square.

However, in the blink of an eye, the big harvest basket went missing! The culprit quickly reveals himself to be Bowser Jr. himself, cackling wickedly as he rides on his personal airship with the big basket hanging in tow underneath it. A fleet of airships tag along behind him.

“Hahahaha!” Bowser Jr. laughed down at Mario, “You’re not getting this back! The less weight a galaxy has, the easier it is for my Dad to use his new power of controlling gravity to pull it wherever he wants! Then we can finally have our perfect empire!” Bowser Jr. holds out a stash of the stolen candy and eats some of it, humming exaggeratedly in delight. “This stuff is GOOD! I can’t believe you idiots thought you could waste this stuff on building boring HOUSES.”

Mario and Kit team up again to stop Bowser Jr., but the kid doesn’t come without backup. Koopa Troopas, Paratroopas, Goombas, and Astro Goombas rained down from the fleet of airships to slow the duo down.

Mario and Kit split up to take down each enemy, but notice very quickly that the candy stolen from their last mission is being used in the enemies’ armor, making them more difficult to knock out. After a few close calls with game-overing, Mario picks up on a pattern. Another Koopa Troopa marches towards Mario. In order to break the hard shell on his armor, Mario leaps over his head and ground pounds on his helmet. The Koopa is untouched, but with the buff broken, Mario can jump one last time to knock him out of his shell and kick him into Starbits like normal.

Mario and Kit kept being held back again and again, letting Bowser Jr. make his getaway! There had to be something they could do to reach the airship fleet before it’s too late!

“Psst!”

Mario looked around, failing to see anyone. Upon looking at Kit, he shrugged, “Wasn’t me.”

“Hey! Over here!” the voice spoke louder. 

From behind a Taffy Tree, a Luma pokes its head out and waves at Mario. The duo rush to meet him. Baby Luma leaps out of Mario’s hat to greet his long-lost friend. The two spin around each other in excitement of seeing the other again. “Man, I didn’t think I’d be seeing you again, Mario, but I’m glad I did! Have you found Mama ? I got lost after the Observatory was destroyed…” the Luma asked hopefully. Mario shook his head sadly. The Luma’s energy died a little but then he grew determined. “I still want to help! Allow me to turn into a Launch Star to get you closer to that airship fleet!” 

Mario nodded, and the Luma spun itself into a Launch Star, calling out, “Make sure Mama is safe, ok?” Mario nods. Baby Luma returns to Mario’s hat as Mario and Kit jump into the Launch Star and take off. 

THUD!

Mario makes a solid landing on one of the airships. Kit, however, had a rougher landing, tripping over his own feet and landing on his face. Pulling himself up, he groaned, “I’m okay…” 

The deck was littered with Boomerang Bros and Koopa Troopas, also equipped with that candy-coated armor. Mario and Kit work together to take all of them down. Kit finds a Sling Star at the helm of the ship that they could use to take them to the next airship. There were several airships following Bowser Jr. out of the galaxy, but the two of them hopped across each one swiftly, occasionally picking up some Starbits or a 1-up along the way. 

As Mario and Kit arrive on the airship before his own, Bowser Jr. panics and starts pressing controls on his ship to make it fly faster. Kit hijacks the helm of their own airship to follow after him. However, he couldn’t find anything that could make it fly faster, like Bowser Jr.’s ship. Kit presses a few buttons and eventually, a trapdoor opens on the opposite side of the ship, where Mario is standing. Startled, he steps back and made way for it. A cannon is lifted from underneath the deck and sits in front of Mario. 

“Mario, I’ll try and drive the ship if you try and slow his down!” Kit calls over. Mario understands the assignment, positioning the cannon at Bowser Jr.’s ship and firing away. 

Bowser Jr. squeals in shock at the first attack. His ship slows down significantly as a result. “Hey, not fair!” he cries, stomping his foot in anger. Then he huffs in frustration. “ Fine . I’ve got something up my sleeve, too.”

Bowser Jr. takes a big breath and spits a fireball at Mario and Kit. Kit swivels the helm to a hard right, dipping it in the air as well. Kit cheers when the fireball flies over them, making Bowser Jr. angrier. Bowser Jr. starts heaving in air for another fireball but struggles to create one after the first one. While he’s distracted, Mario lands another hit on Bowser Jr.’s ship knocking the wind out of him.

Bowser Jr. shakes off the inability to create more fireballs and resorts to calling forth three cannons from the side of his airship to fire at his opponent. Mario and Kit hang on for dear life, avoiding as many as they can. In the end, Mario and Kit’s ship takes some damage, but not as much as Bowser Jr.’s. “You know what, this isn’t worth it. We’ll meet again, Mario!!” In a fit, he storms off by ejecting the crow’s nest and flying off with it, leaving the ship to spin out and crash with the huge basket of candy. 

Kit breaks from the helm to meet Mario at the deck. “The candy! We have to take control of that ship so it doesn’t crash and ruin them!” He and Mario jump from the airship and skydive after the falling ship. Mario collects starbits on the way down as well.

They land on the deck and rush to take control of the airship, both of them pulling at the helm against the direction of the spinning. When the ship finally straightened out, the two discovered a bigger issue. The ship was heading straight for the village! Mario and Kit scream and spin the helm the other way to divert its course to some empty land away from the village. As the ship nears the ground, Kit presses a button to detach the basket from the ship, and they both jump off themselves, the ship exploding on the ground behind them like the cool heroes they are. 

The villagers rush out to greet them and check on the harvested candy. Aside from some minor losses, everything appeared to generally be alright, and Kit and Mario sighed in relief at the news. They take a moment to celebrate with everyone, too. Mario was even offered some candy as a thank you, which he gratefully accepted.

Several villager children run from their parents to explore the remains of the ship explosion, much to their parents’ protests. Mario watches them as they rush into the debris and look for treasure. And what treasure did they find: it was a piece of Rosalina’s Observatory! More specifically, one of its boosters. Now it made sense. That’s how Bowser Jr.’s ship was able to go so fast. The children bring it back and hand it to Mario hoping he could find some use with it, since they couldn’t tell what it was. 

MISSION 2 COMPLETE!

°°°

Mission 3: “A Bite-Sized Problem!”

Mario finds himself visiting Twisty Treat once again. When he arrives, he notices something concerning. There has been something or someone taking small bites out of nearly every single taffy tree trunk on the forest path to the candy village. 

The mustachioed plumber entered the village. One or two people greeted him, whereas everyone else was running around in a panic. Whoever was hungry didn’t stop at just trees… everyone was trying to keep their homes and shops from collapsing, thanks to their chocolate log supports had been eaten at, and are now prone to snapping apart anytime now.

Mario goes to help where he can. He even uses the power of the Taffy Flower to pull stuff in place for villagers to hammer them back together, and to climb to high heights to search for the culprit. 

Kit, of course, joins Mario in his effort to find them, as well. Mario was actually able to explore Taffy Town this way, by helping everyone steady their unsturdy buildings. There happened to be a library, a post office, and a really cute and quaint restaurant, as well as a neighborhood a little ways away from the town. 

After an hour or two, Mario and Kit found nothing to note. It was as if this person simply came and went, and the two were exhausted and at a loss.

Until…

A young candy villager runs towards Kit waving his hands to get his attention. Mario jumps down from his high spot to hear what the kid had to say, as well. 

“You’re not gonna believe it, but I think we found ‘em! And it’s a Luma! He’s out cold, so now’s the chance to grab ‘em!” the kid eagerly told them.

Kit and Mario gave each other confused looks. A Luma? Mario put a finger to his chin in thought. It couldn’t be a regular Luma… maybe it was a Hungry Luma. The two follow the kid across the town square to a deep crater at the edge of the forest. The three of them peer inside and find that the Luma was NOT a Hungry Luma. 

In fact… it was one Mario had never seen before.

“I don’t have much experience bein’ around Lumas and all, but uh…” Kit spoke, looking to Mario, “I don’t remember havin’ seen one like ‘at one before.” Mario shrugged in agreement. This Luma was a normal size, and… practically transparent. Like it was made out of a bubble. A cloud of color inside of him was the only thing helping the guy be more visible, like if someone dipped a colored paintbrush in clear water. 

…What kind of Luma was this guy?

Mario approached the Luma cautiously, taking one foot forward and leaning into it and tapping the little guy to wake him up, ready to jump back if needed.

The Luma was deep in slumber, but his eyes fluttered awake after a moment. He grumbled something Mario couldn’t understand [“ △▢△ ○ … ? ”] before coming to his senses and springing upright. “Oh, no!!” he squealed in a panic. “Oh, no, oh, no, oh, no!!!” he whimpered, looking around at the damage he had done absentmindedly. 

“I’m so sorry!!” the Luma deepy bowed apologetically, “I was so hungry, I…” he trailed off in thought, looking back up to see who exactly he was talking to. He turned a shade of cyan in fear when realizing he was face-to-face with people he didn’t recognize giving him (well, what the little guy interpreted as) mean looks. The Luma swooped back and spun, turning himself invisible. “P-p-please, don’t eat me!!!” he cried.

Forcing himself to shake off the initial shock at this Luma’s power of invisibility for a beat, Mario waved his hands frantically and shakes his head, telling the Luma that neither he or his friend were going to hurt him. 

“Are you sure..?”

Kit put his hands on his hips and nods. “We’re sure. Now come on out. You’ve got some explainin’ to do.”

The Luma slowly allows himself to reappear, hiding behind his ‘paws’. “...I didn’t mean to…” he muttered.

Kit stepped forward to approach the young Luma. “I believe you. But you still gotta tell us what happened. You can’t just go around eatin’ people’s houses, ya know!” he said. “You’re lucky it’s ust me and my friend Mario. I know other people are re-e-eal mad about this.” To that last comment, Mario elbowed him. Clearly this little guy was scared out of his mind, so mentioning that wouldn’t help. Kit gave Mario an apologetic look and shut himself up.

The Luma sighed, and looked off trying to recall his memory. “The first thing I remember… was my home being destroyed by some monster … and I was lost in space for days. I didn’t have any food, so I was getting really hungry after a while… I thought that was gonna be it for me, and I was going to be lost forever. It was when I finally landed here that I kinda… lost control of myself, I was so hungry.”

Mario and Kit’s expressions soften from their apprehensive looks. Mario frowned to himself. Sounds like Bowser’s doing. When asking the Luma how long he had been lost for, he shook his head. “I don’t remember… it was all a blur. Being in space doesn’t help with that, either.” 

A brief moment passed as Kit and Mario were left to their thoughts.

“Sorry to hear about that, kid, that must have been a lot for you,” Kit finally spoke. The Luma just nodded in response. 

“Well, are you full now?” Kit asked playfully, stepping out of the crater and gesturing Mario and the Luma to do the same. Following suit, the Luma nodded again, this time with a light chuckle, his inner cloud turning a shade of yellow.

The three of them looked around at the recovering town. “There’s still a lot of work to do, thanks to you. I’d appreciate it if you’d be willing to help us fix what you broke,” Kit kept his tone light as he spoke the Luma.

The Luma sighed. “I’ll help… It’s the least I can do.”

So the three of them did just that, repairing any chomped-off pieces of materials they found. Mario also helped nudge the Luma to apologizing for his mistake when met by frustrated or angry villagers. Everyone they met was quick to calm down and accept the apology, thankfully. Nobody seemed like they wanted to pick a fight, more of just them wanting to find out who made their buildings almost topple over.

Some of the things the Luma chomped on was so brittle that new material had to be brought in to replace it. Thanks to the harvest season, there was plenty of extra material to go around for occasions such as this. 

Mario used his Taffy Flower ability to wrap his arms around some extra chocolate logs and take them to someone’s shop all in one go. What caught Mario off-guard was watching the Luma move around supplies on his own. The objects lifted themselves from the pile they were stacked in in response to the Luma’s movements. Did he had some sort of telepathic power…? Mario wondered. 

Half an hour to an hour later, everything seemed to be as good as new. Everyone did their part, and even the Luma felt better about himself, and all was forgiven. However, the question still remained: Where was the Luma going to go now?

Kit immediately vetoes the idea of him staying in Twisty Treat, because of obvious reasons, which left it up to Mario. The plumber asks the Luma if he minded joining him in his adventure. The Luma shook his head, open to the idea. “I can experience the food of the universe !” he laughed. Then a thought came to Mario. 

Mario takes out a starbit and hands it to the Luma, telling him that if he tries it, then maybe he’ll stick to something more like this than something that was used for something important. The little one looks at it in wonder as if he’d never seen it before. He takes a bite and and his eyes sparkles in sheer delight as he goes and inhales the rest of it. “THIS IS SOOOOOOOOOOO GOOOOOOOOOOOD!! What is this stuff?” 

“That’s a starbit , my friend,” Kit explains to him, “Those things are everywhere. You won’t be without one on your adventures.” The Luma looks from Kit to Mario in disbelief. “Really?! Then count me in double!” he squeals happily, and everyone laughs with him. With that, Mario and the Luma set off and the villagers of Taffy Town bid them farewell.  

MISSION 3 COMPLETE!

°°°

Aboard Starship Mario...

“Welcome back, Mario,” Lubba greeted, his back turned to him at the moment, finishing a discussion with some blue and yellow Lumas. When he turns around after they fly off, he notices Mario has returned empty-handed. “No ship piece this time-?” his eyes move up and notice the new Luma, and they widen in wonder. “Who’s this little guy?” he asks eagerly.

The Luma slowly floats out from behind Mario to reveal himself. As he moves forward, he catches the attention of the Lumas close by, who start to gather around in awe. The Luma, who is very aware of this happening, tries to ignore it.

“I’m…” the Luma starts, but trails off. After a beat, it clicks. “I’m Sproxie !”

“Nice to meet ya! The name’s Lubba , and I’m normally the captain of this fine ship, but when Mario’s in town, the hull’s all his, isn’t that right?” Lubba greets the star child and then looks at Mario.

[You bet!]           [Right!]

“Where are ya from, kiddo?” Lubba continued. “I’ll admit, I’ve never met someone the likes of you.”

Sproxie hesitated, trying to find the answer, but he was met with a wall in his memory. “I… don’t remember.”

Lubba raised a brow. “You don’t remember? Mario, you didn’t mess with him, did ya?” he asked playfully.

[Explain what happened.]           [I didn’t! What happened was…]

“...Ah. I see. I was just messin’ with you. Thanks for fillin’ me in,” Lubba nodded, taking in the new information. “Glad to have ya with us on Starship Mario , Sproxie!” Lubba greeted the Luma child. “I’ll give you some time to settle in. I’d like to help you out with your memories, so don’t hesitate to meet me if you remember something, and I can help jog your memory with the rest of it!” he offers. Sproxie gives him a thankful nod, and flies away, but not too far. A bunch of Lumas waiting for the right time to meet him jumped at the chance the second the conversation was over. Some asked him questions or just said their hellos. Others flew around him, fascinated by his appearance. Sproxie was startled, but after a moment, he opened up and engaged in conversation with the Lumas. 

Now, Mario and Lubba were left to themselves. Mario asked Lubba if he had found Rosalina yet, remembering the Luma he had met before. 

“Rosalina? I’ve tried searching in some places, and you know her children are real worried about her, so they’ve been helping me out… but we haven’t been able to find a lick of anything.” Lubba perks up. “My hopes are still up. It could just be that she’s not in this little cluster of galaxies, but somewhere farther ahead. That’s why we need to keep moving through all these galaxies to collect as many of her ship pieces as possible, so we can get the heck outta here!”

To that, Mario nodded. Where to next?

Chapter Text

Where to next?

Mario looks at the navigation panel and takes a moment to look at the rest of the galaxies. There was one that displayed a preview of cherry blossom forest and tall mountains with snow peaks. Mario set course, only to have a pop-up stop him in his tracks.

[WARNING: This galaxy is experiencing extreme weather. Are you certain you want to fly to this galaxy?]

Mario looked at the panel in confusion, backing out from the pop-up and double-checking the galaxy’s 3D rotating preview. It was warm and sunny, from what he could tell. What was the error about, then? Extreme heat? Mario brushed it off. He’d been through worse. 

°°°

[MISSION 1: Search and Rescue]

Mario soars through space and enters the atmosphere. Instead of feeling the warm sun, he was met with rain pelting his back and face and harsh wind blowing him around. Mario is swept off-balance, his legs propelling underneath him making him spin helplessly in midair. Mario lands on his side, tumbling across the ground and finally stopping face-first into a big mud puddle. 

WELCOME TO THE GALAXY!

What a warm welcome.

Mario begrudgingly lifts himself up, spitting the mud out from his mouth and wiping his clothes off. He was soaking wet. He shields his face from the rain with his hand as he observes his surroundings. 

There weren’t any cherry blossoms, just stripped trees left behind. Left behind from what, Mario had no idea. He couldn’t see far past them either, since the rain made anything past them heavily foggy. Jagged rocks also littered the place, more often found in clumps of several small ones that were collected in a way that made large spikes, almost 3 times as tall as the red plumber. 

Was he sent to the right place? This was NOT what he thought to approach when he flew to this galaxy. A gust of cold wind sends a chill down his spine. It wouldn’t be safe to run around in a place like this. Mario decided to play it safe and walk to the nearest covering, cave, or anything . The whole galaxy, Mario came to find out, is very muddy and slippery, making it very difficult to get around. Mario stumbled around for a few minutes trying to figure out where he was or where he could even go from here.

Finally, Mario discovers an entrance to a cave in a mountain just a few long jumps away. A grateful smile grows on the hero’s face as he rushes inside and takes a breather. His pace slowed to a stop once he entered, leaning against the wall with his hand as he gathered his thoughts. As he wrings out his cap, Mario knew for sure that he would need to have a solid plan before going back out there. 

After a moment, Mario starts to feel alright again. He looks up and discovers that the cave he entered goes deeper inside. He glances behind himself, where the restless weather continues to wreck the environment outside. Deeming this short adventure to be the better survival option at the moment, Mario set off deeper inside the cave. Maybe this could also give him time to think about what to do next, he thought. Finding more pieces to Rosalina’s Observatory might as well just be out of his hands thanks to this wind and rain. 

The farther Mario traversed, the more the light from outside grew dimmer and dimmer. Until something from ahead of him started to glow. Mario came across a beautiful pink crystal that glowed magnificently against the darkness. Crystals growing from all kinds of nooks and crannies in all types of beautiful colors began popping up more and more plentifully throughout the cave as Mario continued. Little patches of bioluminescent plants also increased in commonality, and Mario was able to find some starbits and coins hidden among them at times.

It was at the end of the cave that Mario found something quite interesting. The end of the cave was rounded out and lined by plenty of those thick bioluminescent plants. As Mario searched for any other starbits hiding and came across--

A starbit is pelted in Mario’s face, making him stumble backward. Then plenty of others came after in rapid succession. Mario held his hand out to deflect all of them. In a panic, a yellow Luma flew out of the bush it was hiding in, squeezing his eyes shut in fear. Mario recognized his ally and tried to get his attention, but failed.

Baby Luma flew out of Mario’s cap in confusion, recognized his sibling, and flew in between him and Mario to stop him. “Hey, quit it! It’s us !” he cried out.

When he hears the familiar voice, the Luma stops and opens one eye. “Oh.” He instantly relaxed, tossing the remaining starbit into his mouth and eating it. “Glad to see you, Mario! That means not all hope is lost.”

“Are you okay? Are there any other Lumas here?” Baby Luma asks him. The Luma nods and answers, “Well, I was about to ask if you found anyone else… but I guess not.” To Mario and Baby Luma’s surprise, he continues, “There were a lot of us who were thrown out this way when the Observatory got destroyed… Maybe about 20 of us . It’s hard to get around this place, so I don’t think any of us went far. I hope everyone’s okay. You should definitely check in more caves around here.” 

Mario nods, and Baby Luma flies back into Mario’s cap. The Luma follows closely behind Mario as they travel back to the front of the cave. He takes a deep breath before running back outside to search for the other 19 Lumas.

It takes Mario to get the hang of it, but he manages to surf along mud if he gains enough momentum to move faster, which helps him a lot with getting places. It even helped him kick out Octoombas and Goombas that roamed the place. However, Mario did run into a lot of those tall protruding rocks while doing that, so he had to be careful. 

There were lots of caves, Mario came to find, with at least one Luma hiding in each one. Many times there were two or three Lumas all huddled into each other for warmth, and practically every time Mario was hit with starbits. Sometimes he was hit before he could find the Luma which helped Mario find them, which was kind of ironic if he were someone else that wanted to hurt them.

The Lumas asked Mario questions as they followed him around. The most prominent one was about the whereabouts of Rosalina, and Mario had to admit he didn’t know, to the Lumas’ dismay. This didn’t make the search any easier, since now Lumas deviated from the group to find their Mama. When Mario had found two more Lumas, three more would be missing looking for Rosalina. It became a huge game of round-up. Mario didn’t mind them looking for Rosalina; what worried him more was them being hurt or caught in something thanks to the weather being so bad. Along with some ship pieces the Lumas came across, a huge piece to Rosalina’s Observatory was found, thankfully. It was a torn piece of the tarp, all wet and stained with mud, but it could still be salvaged. …Maybe. What’s wrong with at least trying?

Fortunately, after a few hours, Mario finally gathers all of the Lumas and ship pieces and sets off back into space for Starship Mario. He soars through space and lands triumphantly on Starship Mario.

You found A Ship Piece!

Summer Blossom Galaxy

“Search and Rescue”

Mario and Baby Luma watched all the rescued Lumas zoom from them over to their other brothers and sisters, all of them spinning around each other happily. Sproxie, who was still among them, was introduced to the new Lumas and got acquainted with them. Excited to see Mario, he broke out from the large group to see him, unaware that he was in conversation with Lubba. Their expressions were between sad and serious. His pace slowed, second-guessing his intrusion.

“Hmm..." Lubba hummed in thought after hearing Mario's concerns. "I guess... some galaxies might stay the same, and others, not so much,” he sighed. “It all depends on where they came from compared to where they are now, which could be… well-- from practically anywhere . Sometimes that might make galaxies unfit to hold life anymore.” The purple luma’s eyes widened in shock at a sudden thought. “If that’s happening to more than one galaxy… I fear for Rosalina’s safety. I’m sure she can take care of herself, but I’m afraid she might get caught up in something very dangerous.”

Hearing that, Mario’s thoughts jumped to his brother, Luigi. Lubba was right. Rosalina and Luigi are in much bigger danger than either of them would anticipate. He hadn’t been worried for his brother before, since he knew he could handle himself until they met again. But now, there was so much uncertainty thrown into the mix that his brother might even…!

Lubba’s gaze catches Sproxie. His face lightens up as he gestures him over. “Don’t worry about it too much, Mario. It gives us all the more reason to keep searching,” he tells Mario, who is taken from his thoughts and responds with a determined nod. 

Sproxie approached the two sheepishly. “I’m sorry, but I heard a little about what you guys said." Composing himself, the star child added boldly, "I want to join you, Mario. On your mission. I want to help these galaxies as much as I can!”

Lubba smiles at the idea. “And it could help jog your memory about who you are, too,” he adds, and Sproxie nods eagerly. “Whaddya say, Captain?” The two lumas look at Mario for his answer. 

[Of course!]         [Welcome aboard!]

Sproxie squeals in delight and zooms around Mario, the outline of his silhouette glowing red and green alternatively for a brief period.

[The luma, Sproxie, has joined your party! He may not remember a lot right now, but he always knows what he’s gotta do!]

Let’s get back to it! With Sproxie following behind, Mario returns to the navigation panel and pulls up the map of galaxies. 

With two off the list, it made it easier for Mario to choose the next one. Mario selects a galaxy with a 3D preview of a cube, that wherever you were looking at it would allow you to see the inside of it. Low-resolution furniture, paintings, windows, and a single door decorated the space, the door opening and closing in a slow but repeating fashion.

Mario set course for that galaxy, and with Sproxie behind him, the team launched into space for Deja Vu Galaxy.

Chapter Text

[MISSION 1: Have I Been Here Before?]

As Mario enters the galaxy, the darkness of space turns into a sort of green void. This isn't new; some galaxies just have weird skies like that.

Mario hears Sproxie's laughter from his right. The little guy must really be enjoying the adventure already. From what Mario can gauge, this galaxy looks perfectly normal, which is a good sign. But the only planet here is... some giant floating box, with a very similar likeness to the preview from before. Mario spins himself into a ball just before sticking a perfect landing on his feet.

WELCOME TO THE GALAXY!

Ahead of the two is a short pathway leading up to a yellow-and-orange checkered door. Mario and Sproxie approach the door and go inside. The interior is very similar to a normal living room, containing chairs, side tables with a lamp to match, pictures on the wall, everything. On each wall is a door, too.

Sproxie becomes lost in awe looking at everything, unaware that Mario is already going to the first door he sees. When he hears the door open, Sproxie wakes back up and whisks back to Mario's side as they enter the room together.

The two walk inside what appears to be a small garden, screened in on all other sides. The floor is a bronze-colored tile speckled with dirt and fertilizer. There are rows and rows of fruits, vegetables, and even some flowers potted in long troughs placed neatly in rows of three or four on either side of the room.

Some boxes and crates are set on the edges of the room or against some of the troughs. Mario breaks them open only to find either nothing, a single coin, or some star bits. Upon the last one, however, Mario finds the crate to be... shaking? Sproxie flies over and gently pries open the top, and Mario helps pull it all the way off.

Hiding inside is Hint Toad, trembling in fear, not realizing his cover has been blown. “Are you okay...?” Sproxie asks him, startling the poor blue toad to knock his glasses off his face. He feverishly grabs them and fixes them on his face to see the strangers clearly. His expression becomes relieved when he recognizes the red-clad plumber.

“I would have said better because you're here, but now I'm afraid that all of us are gonna be STUCK HERE FOREVER!!” he wails. “Every door is the same... and the whole brigade got lost!” he curls himself into a ball and rocks back and forth.

“Hey, it's alright,” Sproxie attempts to comfort him. 'We'll help you find the rest of your team.' Hint Toad stops rocking and looks up again. 'Really?' he asks hopefully. Mario and the luma both nod, and Hint Toad finally lets himself relax. With newfound energy, he hops out of the crate and stands alongside the two. “Let's go find everyone!”

The band of three exits the garden and reenters the living room. It feels... different. The first thing Mario notices is the sudden discoloration of the furniture. “Look!” Hint Toad points at the wall ahead of them to a picture that is entirely red, save the white circle in the middle with a red M in the center. “That picture changed to Mario's red M! When I was last in here, it was the Captain's face…” His eyes widen to a sudden realization. “Wait when that happened, we started getting chased by--!”

Something bumps into Mario's back and HARD.

“Th-Th-Those things!” the blue toad points at the enemy.

The red plumber turns around and comes face to face with a Cosmic Clone. He seriously does not miss these guys. Mario backs away and turns to run into the closest room he can. Mario throws open the door opposite the garden door and goes inside. Sproxie and Hint Toad follow close behind, and Mario quickly closes the door behind them to keep the cosmic clone out. Fortunately, the clone doesn't fight much once the door is shut, to everyone's relief.

The room the team finds themselves in is a kitchen, and they wander around a little bit. It's a normal kitchen, and Mario questions looking around in fear of Sproxie phasing inside some cupboards, and as Mario follows up with the little guy, he finds his cheeks stuffed with crackers, giving him a shy expression.

Suddenly, Hint Toad cries out in surprise, getting the other two's attention. Mario runs to Hint Toad, who was gaping at the contents inside the fridge. There is another brigade member stuck frozen inside the fridge! Mario breaks him free from the ice, and the green toad falls onto the floor in a shivering fit.

The green toad hops to his feet and thanks everyone, and is happy to see Mario and Hint Toad in front of him. “I thought this was a cabinet... but, I was wrong,” he admits sheepishly, earning a laugh from everyone else. “Thanks for helping me out, Mario!” Mario nods cheerfully in response, as if saying 'of course'!

The now team of four returns to the living room, and discovers the cosmic clone has now multiplied into two. Both of them spot Mario and follow after him again. Scared of the threat, the four of them dash into the third and last room.

Once again, the cosmic clones are stopped short at the slam of a door. “So the cosmic clones copy the newest person that's entered this place…” Banktoad scratches his green head. “And they seem to multiply... for some reason,” Hint Toad adds, thinking out loud.

“I wonder why that is,” Sproxie asks, looking at Mario, who’s puzzled, too. There is a pattern he isn't quite picking up on yet.

The room the crew enters now is a normal bedroom. There is only one bed, meaning only one person lived here. Supposedly. Who knows if the person who lived here lost the location of their home thanks to Bowser or not, making this place vacant.

The toads quickly make haste to find their comrade. Across from the door is a wide window, showing the strangely beautiful void of an emerald green sky. Next to it is a wooden wardrobe. To the left against the wall is the bed, and at the end of it is a chest. It's small and quaint, and all one person needed.

Spotting the bed, Sproxie fails to fight off his impulsive thoughts and jumps onto the pillows, laughing like a little kid. The other toads see this and decide to join in, as well. The day for them has been long and exhausting. Their mission, technically, is to find Mario, and now that they have, they can rest, right? Wrong.

“YEOW!!” a voice cries from underneath the pillows, making the three jump upright in surprise. Mario goes to take the pillows off, and the three quickly follow suit. Underneath it all is Yellow Toad, yawning.

Hint Toad and Banktoad are baffled. “Why are you sleeping under the pillows? Aren't pillows meant to be slept on?” Banktoad asks him. Yellow Toad only yawns again in response, stretches, and sits up. “I was hiding from the Chain Chomp,” he explains, to everyone's surprise.

“Not a cosmic clone?” Sproxie asks. Yellow Toad shakes his head. “Those guys disappeared for some reason like they reset or something. Anywho, I fell asleep while I was hiding. The Captain is still upstairs.”

“The Captain!” Hint Toad gasps. “He probably needs us! How do we get upstairs?”

Yellow Toad shrugs. “He found some levers around here that unlocked a way up, but I haven't been able to find them again, myself.” Judging from his attitude, it comes across as if he didn't even try to look.

Mario starts looking around for anything that looks like a lever. He opens the wardrobe and finds nothing but clothes. In the drawer underneath it, however, Mario finds a box. It opens up, revealing a switch. Mario flicks it, and a small bell-sounding ding sounds.

“That's it, Mario! You found one!” Sproxie cheers. “The other ones must be in the other rooms we visited! Let's go!”

Yellow Toad rubs his eye, still waking up. “You guys look for them... I'll hold down the fort here…” he says groggily.

Mario and the crew go back out from the bedroom, which spawns yet another Cosmic Clone when Mario sets foot in the living room again. The addition of a third clone makes it difficult for him to evade all of them, but eventually, he manages to slip inside the garden while the toads go to the kitchen.

Sproxie and Mario split up and look from top to bottom. A slow rumbling sound grows behind Mario. He turns around and cries out in surprise as he comes face to face with a Cosmic Clone! It makes it increasingly more difficult to find anything with someone following after you at your exact pace. That's what it is. He's been here before, which is why a clone of him is here. Why the living room has 3 clones, since that counts how many additional times he was in that room.

Underneath the troughs, around the wall-hanging rakes, shovels, sifting through the cabinets with gloves, goggles, and the watering cans underneath, Mario and Sproxie come up with nothing. However, the last thing the two haven't investigated is a rack holding garden supplies.

The tools don't really look like tools upon closer inspection. They look more like parts to something. Since Mario can't stay in one place, Sproxie goes to look at them. He picks up one piece, then grabs another and gently clinks them together to find where they fit. Then he gasps. He leaves to grab a third piece, but the two other pieces fall apart in his absence.

Now fiddling with three pieces, Sproxie looks to Mario hopelessly. “This looks like it's gonna be a lever, but…” the luma's colored soul fades to a slightly concerned blue, “There aren't any non-gardening tools here, are there?” Mario shakes his head.

Sproxie grabs the rest of the pieces and looks at them in thought. “How are we supposed to keep these things together..?” he thinks aloud. Then an idea strikes him. He sets the tools down on the ground and merges himself with one of the pieces, similar to Baby Luma with Mario's hat.

The piece glows red and rumbles, and slowly the other pieces begin to crawl towards it. Swiftly, the pieces put themselves together and form a red lever. Mario hesitates after the transformation, wondering if he should hit it now or wait until Sproxie separates himself from it.

The lever hops eagerly, drawing the plumber's attention and practically begging him to flick it. So he does, and a ding chimes. Sproxie returns from the lever as it falls apart again. To Mario's impressed yet baffled expression, Sproxie laughs, “I didn't know I could do that! I guess it's an instinct.”

Mario and Sproxie meet the toads who have also found and hit their lever, Mario being a bit irritated because yet again another Cosmic Clone spawned to follow him around.

Yellow Toad runs from the bedroom into the living room and begins to congratulate everyone before he notices the four cosmic clones chasing Mario and breaks out laughing. “That's where they went!! The Captain had about 8 Cosmic Clones on his back before we started getting separated. I guess they disappeared when you walked in.”

The floor starts shaking as gears start turning from inside the walls. The floor starts to ascend, introducing Mario and Sproxie to the second floor. The wall in front of the team has two doors next to each other. Those are the only doors on this floor.

Banktoad goes to open the left door, but it won't budge. “It's locked!” he says. Hint Toad puts a finger to his chin. “Then we need to find some sort of key.” The green toad moves to the right door and finds it is unlocked. 'This way!' he gestures to everyone behind him. As he steps inside, his eyes widen in shock as he immediately steps out, bumping into everyone behind him and knocking them to the ground like dominoes. Captain Toad comes flying out, immediately followed by a Chain Chomp's head slamming against the small exit, unable to pursue him farther.

Captain Toad lands on his back and takes a moment to catch his breath. His brigade stands over him worriedly. “Captain! Are you okay?!” The brigade asks. Captain Toad nods and stands himself up, brushing off his vest. “Yeah. I'm glad you guys are okay, too.”

He notices a familiar red plumber and gasps in excitement. “Mario! We found you!!”

Hint Toad clears his throat. “Well, technically, I found him.”

“Both of you are wrong,” Sproxie said, “We found all of you.”

A beat of silence follows before the toads break out in laughter. “Let's not worry about the nitty-gritty details,” Captain Toad chuckles, “Let's just be happy our mission of finding Mario is completed!” To that, all the toads cheered.

“Mario! I need your help with something,” Captain Toad turns to Mario. “Would you mind helping me stop this Chain Chomp? I don't think he likes me.” Mario nods. He can defeat Chain Chomps in his sleep. Well, at least back home. Maybe he should be a little bit more cautious here in space.

Mario, Captain Toad, and Sproxie enter the room again. The Chain Chomp's back is facing them, having calmed down, and now doing his own thing. There is a pile of gadgets and gizmos he's collected that he appears to be guarding.

“I think what got him angry was the fact that I took some of his stuff while he was asleep.” To Mario's unamused expression, he adds quickly, “But I did find where the key to the other room is! I just need some help getting into that vent,” he points, which was on the wall the pile of hoarded items was stacked against.

Maybe we can stack some of this stuff to lift him up there?" Sproxie suggests. "But how do we get the Chain Chomp away from there?" Then, Mario got an idea. As he explains it to Sproxie, his eyes widen. "Do you think I can do that?" the Luma asked. Mario nodded. "Alright," Sproxie said, bracing himself. "Let's do this!"

Captain Toad and Sproxie band together while Mario sets off to be the distraction. Mario waves his hands frantically and calls out to get the Chain Chomp's attention, and the creature immediately falls for it and chases after him. The longer the Chain Chomp charged towards the red plumber, the more he realized how big this thing was. Mario long-jumped just in time to not get hit as it ran into the wall instead.

Captain Toad and Sproxie book it to the pile of random stuff and search quickly through the pile for something sturdy enough to serve as a platform. Eventually, they find a TV, and Sproxie commands the captain to stand on it. The Luma flew up to the vent and merged himself with the metal barricade. Slowly, the TV started to rise in response to the sudden gravitational pull.

"W-Woah!!" Captain Toad cried, waving his arms about to find balance. When he was level with the vent, the door swung open, and Captain Toad crawled his way inside. Sproxie jumped out of the vent and returned to Mario's side.

Meanwhile, Captain Toad found the vents to be quite big, and that he could stand upright. He took out the note he found on the kitchen fridge reading "backup key" with a map quickly drawn underneath.

The challenging maze of vents wasn't anything Captain Toad hasn't taken on before. He's done many mazes in his lifetime, and this situation was no different. Whatever was on the other side of these vents should be a room that holds that spare key, and he was gonna find it!

Apparently, the Chain Chomp's weakness was its head. Poor thing. Mario observed that he gets dizzy for quite a moment after running into a wall before reorienting to reality. Mario didn't want to destroy it, but there had to be some way he could be slowed down or something.

Sproxie spotted a big wrench in the pile. "Maybe the guy wants to play?" he suggested. Then he pointed to a big wrench in the pile of random things. "Maybe if we play fetch, he will calm down." Mario nodded, that was a good idea.

Mario dodges the Chain Chomp's rushing attack again and takes advantage of his moment of dizziness to grab the wrench and wave it at the big guy. When the Chain Chomp comes to, he eyes the wrench and hops side to side playfully, eagerly waiting to play. Mario smiles a bit and throws the wrench across the room. The Chain Chomp follows after it like a bull in a china shop, grabs it, and returns to Mario with the wrench and places it at his feet. Mario picked it up and threw it again.

After some time, the vent started to rattle, and out popped Captain Toad with the key in hand. The Chain Chomp was slowing down with retrieving the wrench, and almost looked like he could fall asleep at any moment. The poor guy just didn't have anyone to play with. The captain hops down and slides down the pile of random stuff and puts his hands on his hips triumphantly. "I found the key!"

Mario and Sproxie cheer. Mario pets the Chain Chomp who smiles at him and then settles down to rest on the floor. The three exit the room to everyone's excitement. Everyone gathers around Captain Toad as he unlocks the left door and walks in.

The room had a lot of windows and was packed with sewing supplies. Whoever lived here must have taken pride in their sewing work. There were some half-done dresses sitting on some mannequins as well as tons of loosely laid about pieces of cloth. A table is set facing the wall where a sewing machine and some string was set in front of a chair.

Something exposed on the ground underneath layers of fabric glinted against the light from outside, catching Mario's attention. The object appeared to be metal, but nothing related to sewing. Upon closer inspection, it was a big piece to Rosalina's Observatory! Sproxie laughed, "We did it, Mario!" and the two high-fived. "Hey look," Yellow Toad looked out of one of the many windows, "The Starshroom is right there! We can get out of here now!"

Without delay, Mario, Sproxie, Captain Toad, and their brigade boarded the Starshroom, marking the successful conclusion of their adventure in this crazy galaxy.

°°°

The Starshroom nears Starship Mario and slows to a halt to park beside it. Mario and Sproxie met with Lubba, who was expecting him at the helm. 

You Found A Ship Piece!

Deja Vu Galaxy

“Have I Been Here Before?”

Lubba greets the two with a smile. “How was your first mission, Sproxie?” he asks the young luma, whose eyes light up instantly. “I learned something about myself!!” he explains eagerly, “I’m a magnet !!”

Slightly confused, Lubba asks him what that even means. “I can hop into things and pull them towards me!! I made a whole lever work!” Sproxie explains happily. Lubba nods, understanding the child better. “Wow… that’s not something I’ve heard a Luma do before… You’ve got a special power, kiddo,” Lubba says, sharing a smile with Sproxie. 

“Have you found Mama yet?” a yellow Luma followed by a few other colored lumas rushed to the three of them, all looking at Mario hopefully. Mario’s face fell as he shook his head. The Lumas sunk a little bit in the air. 

Sproxie perks up. “Well, we do have some of the pieces from the Observatory,” he says, trying to lift their spirits. “So we’re a few steps closer towards fixing your home..?”

The Lumas gave a grateful yet solemn look, and then floated away to leave them to their business. 

“Wow, you’ve got a lotta things to find,” Captain Toad walks into the conversation, having left his ship to the hands of his crewmates. He stops at Mario’s side. “I’m sure you’d appreciate some help, right Mario?” he adds, looking at him. Mario laughs and nods. There had been a LOT he had picked up recently. 

Captain Toad makes a triumphant pose. “Now that our own mission on finding Mario has been completed, I and my trusty brigade will be of service in finding these ship pieces! As well as keeping an eye out for Rosalina and Luigi.”    

“Any help we can get would be very much appreciated,” Lubba says, and Mario adds on with his own ‘thank you’. 

Captain Toad salutes the three of them before stepping out, announcing that he would start looking now, and he would see them later. Mario, Sproxie, and Lubba wave him goodbye and good luck. After a moment, a look of worry crept onto the purple luma’s face.

Sproxie notices this. “What’s wrong?” he asks him. Lubba shook his head. “It’s nothing big, but it has been bugging me…” he says, “With all of these parts piling up, we’re going to need someone who knows how to build ships.”

Mario got confused. Wasn’t it Lubba and his crew that made Starship Mario out of a busted up planet and asteroids? As he was about to ask this, Lubba cut him off. “I know, my crew isn’t half bad, and I have my full trust in them to build something spectacular,” he explained, “but… with a ship as unique as Rosalina’s, I’m afraid I might mess it up and make it permanently unusable. These pieces are one-of-a-kind, too, I’m sure.”

Mario nods in understanding. Lubba gestures to the screen on the navigator, and Mario and Sproxie step closer to read it. Lubba pulls up an image of a very metallic-looking galaxy, as if it was made by the people who lived on it. “This is Gearway Galaxy. If the information included with it is still true, then the people who live there are great mechanics and welders and such who have worked on various types of starships. Maybe there’s someone kind and willing enough to at least give us a start on repairs.

Mario nods again, and completes the selection of the galaxy and prepares to fly off. “Don’t worry, Lubba, we’ll find someone!” Sproxie called before following Mario as he took off. 

Lubba waved after them. “Good luck, you two.”

Chapter Text

[MISSION 1: “Obstruction by Suction!”]

Mario and Sproxie fly through the darkness of space and land firmly on cold, hard, metallic flooring. 

WELCOME TO THE GALAXY!!

The sky remains the darkness of space. Blue LED lamps illuminate the planet like street lamps. There is digital chatter coming from everywhere. It appears as though the two find themselves in the middle of some mechanical shopping or trading center; multiple stands on both sides of a pathway manned by Gearmos are selling various wares for mechanical tinkering. It is a bit overwhelming. Sure, Mario recognizes some of the parts thanks to being a plumber, but he needs to find someone who is familiar with all of it.

The two walk down the busy street, looking left and right to find anyone who looks like they know what they are doing. Mario and Sproxie stop a few Gearmos to ask what is going on or if they know an expert mechanic in the area. All they get in response are either no one knowing what they are talking about or selfish gibes like “scram!”. Mostly the latter.

As the day progresses, the crowd grows in size, like an afternoon rush. Before the two realize, they have been separated from each other. Mario fights through the crowd to reach his friend, but as Sproxie eyes the increasing number of strangers stepping in between him and Mario, he panics and spins himself invisible. Mario’s outreached hand falls as he watches the blank space for a moment, disappointed. Alright, I trust I’ll find you again , Mario thinks to himself and slowly allows himself to continue his mission solo.

Sproxie tries to find a place where he can be free from the crowd. In his rush, he completely bypasses a ‘WARNING: DANGER AHEAD” sign and stumbles upon a gaping hole in the metallic ground, and a black hole immediately underneath it. Exposed metal wires from the opening dangle in the direction of the suction.

Sproxie flies backward slowly in a mix of awe and confusion. Did the black hole do this? he thinks. Who builds stuff near a black hole and expects it to stay up? He looks ahead and finds a bigger black hole in the distance, taking up the space where a now abandoned mechanic’s workshop was. There are still half-standing walls and broken furniture littered around the perimeter that hasn’t been sucked up yet. It appears the workshop and the black hole have reached an equilibrium, or some form of an inanimate call for a truce. To keep himself safe, Sproxie tries to find another safer way to reunite with Mario, that isn’t near any black holes.

Meanwhile, in the trading center, Mario tries to learn more about the wares the Gearmos are selling. If nobody knows of a mechanic, then who’s using these parts? Is everyone gatekeeping him right now?!

“Get your steel right here!”

“Fiberglass! Come get your fiberglass!”

“Aluminum! Half price!”

Mario stops and turns into the seller closest to him. “Hey, interested in some freshly half-priced aluminum, I see?” the merchant Gearmo asks him.

[What is this for?] <      [I want to buy!]

“What, are you new around here?” the Gearmo gloats. “These parts are for your race car for the big race, which is today. Everyone’s been getting last-minute parts for their vehicles, so they can win that high-quality Ship Piece. Why, if I had my hands on that beauty, I’d never let it go. Imagine what great stuff I can mold that pristine metal into for my client!”

Mario is confused. Lubba said this place was where all kinds of mechanics were, like a big garage. Why does this place give more and more of the opposite kind of energy? Mario chalks it up to yet another one of the effects of having galaxies move around when they’re not supposed to and shrugs it off. However, that first-place prize caught his attention.

If he were to make any sort of progress here, it would be best to at least get that Ship Piece. But he’s not going to do that without Sproxie… if he’ll show back up. Mario hoped he was okay, and not too lost. Unlike Twisty Treat, this galaxy was made out of metal, which wasn’t very edible, so it would be difficult to be lost for long.

Mario ends the conversation and thanks the Gearmo for his time. He walked with the crowd to see where they were going, and it led to a metal loop-like platform that loomed overhead the start of a racetrack. Several Gearmos and their clunky-looking cars were set before the finish line as well as some filling in the floating spectator stands. Mario wondered if Sproxie was hiding anywhere over there.

As Sproxie kept taking in his surroundings, he entered a loop-shaped platform overlooking the finish line to a racetrack. Tons of Gearmos were lined at the guardrails waiting excitedly for the race to start. However, that farther down the track was broken. A black hole was smack-dab in the middle of the track, splitting it into two! How was this even raceable? Sproxie looked around to see if anyone else was in as much disbelief as he was. He soon came to notice that the public was split on it. 

“I can’t believe they’re still trying to put on the race, knowing these black holes are everywhere!” one Gearmo says to another next to him. “Those are nothing!” the other Gearmo replies, “I’d still be a part of the race if my personal mechanic hadn’t backed out at the last minute due to these so-called ‘hazards’.” The first Gearmo gave his friend an appalled look. “Are you insane?!”

Personal mechanic…? Sproxie wondered. He looked up and saw Mario standing across the floating platform and rushed to meet with him again. As he reappears in front of him, he scares Mario half to death with the suddenness of it. 

“I found you!” Sproxie smiled, “I’ve picked up on some stuff!! So-- This place is holding a race soon and we gotta join! There’s gonna be a Ship Piece given to the winner!” Mario nodded, even though he knew that already, and the two went to find someone to sign them up.

Mario and Sproxie found a referee Gearmo with a black-and-white hat and body to match, but he met their request with a shake of his robotic head. “Sorry folks. You can’t join unless you have your own personal mechanic… for liability purposes.”

Sproxie sighed. “Where can we find one?” he asked. The Gearmo hesitated to answer. “There are plenty around here… in fact, all of the mechants in the Trade Strip are mechanics themselves; that’s how they got their mechant licenses, after all. However, few actually want to participate the dangerous Black Hole Race. Best of luck to you both.” To this, Mario is floored. You’ve gotta be kidding me.

Mario and Sproxie turn around and stand staring at all of the merchants they could ask. It was a hefty number of Gearmos. But, if they were going to get that Ship Piece, they better start somewhere.

A long time passed as Mario and Sproxie split up to ask every single Gearmo they could. A majority of them said they already had clients and couldn’t take any more. Others just flat-out refused them out of their fear of the race. There was one who was willing to help them, but it would have been at the “low cost” of 9999 coins. Uh, who even has that kind of money?

The two travelers reunite empty-handed and discouraged.

Just as they were about to continue their search, a sudden commotion in the street caught their attention. A machine went haywire, whirring and clanging as a stray tire flew out into the street, causing chaos before losing its momentum and falling to the ground. 

Mario picked up the wheel and looked in the direction it came from. Apparently, there was more to the Trade Strip than he thought. The path curved around to another area full of little mechanic workshops. The one at the bend of the road closest to the two was most likely the place the tire came from. Why? Nobody else’s window was shattered just now. Plus, there were pieces of glass in the now slowly flattening tire.

Sproxie flies ahead of Mario in curiosity, with the plumber close behind. A silhouette of a small, round, flying creature frantically flies out from the hole in the window and almost runs into Sproxie to grab the wheel. Mario instantly recognizes the brown and blue-eyed luma. The plumber had never seen him out of his element like this. 

The luma stops in his tracks, looking up and recognizing Mario. “Mario! Is that you? It’s been so long! What are you doing here?” he asks. It was Polari, a bit more tired than his usual chipper self. He looks to Sproxie, “My apologies for almost running into you.” Sproxie shakes it off. “It’s alright, don’t worry!” he laughs.

Polari invites the two to follow him into his shop, which prompts Mario to ask how long he has been here. 

“Oh, I’ve only been here for a week or two. I found this shop and made it my own for the time being,” Polari answers, helping Mario roll the wheel back into the shop through the front door before flying off to a stack of wheels, “Would you mind putting this over here? Thank you.” Mario did as requested while Polari returns to his very worn welding table where a half-completed axel rested. 

Polari looks to the new friend in curiosity. “I haven’t met someone like you before. What’s your name?”

“I’m Sproxie, sir!”

In the background, Mario tries to hoist the wheel on top of the other ones, but the tower quickly fell over. Mario scrambles to set everything back up again while the lumas remain clueless.

“Nice to meet you, Sproxie, I’m Polari, Rosalina’s advisor.” he pauses for a moment. “Do you know Rosalina?”

Mario returns to the conversation while Sproxie makes a nervous expression. “The only thing I know about her is that she’s been missing,” he admitted sheepishly.

Polari gasped. “She’s still missing?”

Mario explains everything that’s happened so far to Polari, who nods in understanding. “Allow me to help you, then. You know the big race has one of those Ship Pieces as it’s 1st place prize, right?”

Mario and Sproxie nod. Polari continues, “I can be your personal mechanic, free of charge. I can The only thing I would need in return right now is the ensuring of Rosalina’s safety.”

“Wait, so you're an actual mechanic?” Sproxie asks, and Polari freezes. “Well, er,” he stammers giving himself a short moment to collect his thoughts, “Not exactly.” He clears his throat, “However, I have some experience when I was helping Rosalina and the other lumas first build the Observatory… but I’ll admit. I’m pretty rusty.”

“Does that even count?”

Polari lowered his voice a little. “As long as I look like I know what I’m doing, then the Gearmos won’t bat an eye.” 

Personally, Mario didn’t mind. Just finding another familiar face who just so happens to be able to build something was enough for him. The three of them get to work to build the kart in time for the race. As they worked, Polari answered any questions Mario or Sproxie had.

To Sproxie’s questions, Polari explains more about what he’s discovered about the galaxy. This galaxy used to have a thriving business building or fixing otherworldly clients’ machinery and/or vehicles. It was a first-come-first-served service, but one mechanic could work on a few projects at the same time. 

The personal mechanic system was put into effect rather recently, in response to the aftermath of what they call “the Earthquake” which sent their galaxy far away from all of their customers. It was a very strict way to keep their economy stimulated. The galaxy also ran into several black holes, sucking out huge chunks of the place, so resources became incredibly limited, as well.

And to answer Mario’s questions, the brown luma explains what he knows about the upcoming race. Racing was something the galaxy was known for, before and after the Earthquake, and the racing industry got even more attention. The track had 4 new obstacles, all being black holes, so the lap count was reduced to only one for… survival purposes. Polari admits that they shouldn’t be running the race at all, or find something different to do instead. Despite all the danger, mechanics took it as a challenge to make the best kart.

As Mario fixes the last piece onto the kart, the trio share high-fives. The victory ends prematurely when the kart fell apart again. 

“Oh. Well,” Polari hums to himself, “They certainly won’t take a kart that’s not put together well.”

An idea came to Sproxie. Eagerly, he looks at Mario. “Hey! What if I can fix the kart? Remember what I was able to do last time?” Mario thinks for a moment, then he remembers the lever in Deja Vu Galaxy. He nods at Sproxie, gesturing to the kart, and Sproxie hops right into it. The pieces outline in red and rattle against the table and slowly crawl on top of each other, recreating the kart.

Polari is in awe. “Fascinating…” he speaks breathlessly. “Let’s move it to the track, Mario,” he adds in a clearer voice. Mario smiles and the two roll it out.

°°°

The track was suspended in space, independent from the galaxy itself. He had to use a Launch Star to get there. He and Polari submitted the kart to the referee Gearmo, and he gladly had it transported to the track for them. Polari went to watch Mario in the floating spectator stands as Mario walked onto the track and slipped into the driver’s seat of the kart.

There were 4-5 other Gearmos lined up alongside him on both sides, all wearing goggles and setting up their karts as well.

This wasn’t like any galactic race he’d participated in before. He wasn’t surfing atop a stingray, nor was he hanging on to a large bird gliding around and hoping he was guiding him the right way; this , Mario was more familiar with. Just him, a kart, and the road, and the matter of who won was all up to sheer skill. This wasn’t anything unlike a simple Rainbow Road. 

Well… if you didn’t count the black holes that sucked up half the track. But, pssh, what’re a few black holes?

The horizontally hanging stoplight affixed on the right pole of the finish line lit up one red light, along with a beep. 

Mario put his car in drive and set his foot on the brake. 

BEEP. The second light turned. 

Mario took a deep breath, his second foot hitting the gas by instinct. Sparks started revving up at the car’s hind wheels.

The third light turned, and then all three lights flashed green. Mario let go of the brake and launched into an early lead, to the other racer’s groans and angry shouts. However, his lead may not last long. 

Ahead of him, was the track’s first black hole. The suction made the ends of the track bend upward, so Mario hoped he could take advantage of that. If he’s able to trick off it to get the height and momentum required to jump over it, he might not die.

Surprisingly enough, his plan worked. His kart slams against the road again as it boosts farther ahead. In his rearview mirror, a lot of other Gearmos were able to overcome the black hole, too, except one. Mario winced. Bro was prolly dead now. Nope. Don’t think about that. Stop it.

The next obstacle was a loop-de-loop. A black hole sat in the negative space of the loop, so it would require a lot of speed to have the inertia keep Mario’s kart on the track and not fall into the black hole. 

As Mario approached the loop, he tried to do mini-boosts by drifting side-to-side. He hoped it would be enough. He enters and does his best to focus on staying on the road and letting the inertia work for itself. 

A horn beeps a couple of times behind Mario glances at his rearvew mirror. A Gearmo in a blue kart was closing in on him, taking advantage of a slipstream he got from Mario. 

Mario swerves to the right to avoid being bumped, and the Gearmo laughs in passing. Mario’s kart lost a bit of momentum from that, and the frame started shaking. Some pieces rip off and fall into the black hole. Mario tries to get some more mini turbo boosts to get the hECK OUTTA THIS LOOP BEFORE HE DIES.

In a few seconds, Mario is right-side-up again. He leans forward to check the damage on his kart. There had been some metal plates and some screws that slipped out, but his kart wasn’t rattling, and everything still seemed alright enough to keep going.

The Gearmo ahead of him is cruising in first place, always just a smidge away from him. Mario tried to speed up, but his kart sputtered. Mario’s foot lifted from the gas pedal and returned to it slowly. The last thing he wanted to do was hurt Sproxie trying to tax this kart to the max… if that was how this whole thing worked. He wasn’t sure. It was better to be safe than sorry.

There was a moment of peace for as long as this straightaway allowed. Some of the other Gearmos have also started to catch up to Mario. The racers drove along a bend, nearing the halfway point of the race. 

At the elbow of the turn was another black hole, pulling the racers closer to the inner part of the track. Mario drifted along the track, easing his car to the wider end of the track to keep his kart from getting any more deteriorated. 

Some Gearmos didn’t take the hints and yet another Gearmo was killed by his stupidity. The other Gearmos slowed down and started copying what Mario was doing. In their panic, Mario was able to break away from them a little bit more and catch up to that guy in 1st place.

Mario took advantage of the boost he built up from his drift to help him return to the front of the race. His kart bumps against the Gearmo’s, and the robot  aggressively bumps back. 

The end of the race was drawing near. Mario had counted 3 black holes so far… so where was that last black hole?

Mario’s eyes looked far down the road all the way to the finish line --which was now in view-- trying to pinpoint any early signs of a black hole, but no such signs appeared. The Gearmo laughs mischeviously again, as he slows down and swerves behind Mario to jump off of the road entirely. 

Mario watches in confusion, but slowly realizes that the robot was trying to access a shortcut, lined with booster panels. The narrower path began from under the track before pulling up and over the track. 

That’s when Mario saw it. Where there was most likely going to be some sort of trick ramp, was a black hole. It was above Mario, but right in front of the Gearmo. 

Rip ig

Mario hears some skidding before an explosion. Something falls from the higher road back to the main road with Mario. The Gearmo has ash on his metal face and lost an arm. He’s disappointed and waving his other hand-- or rather, fist-- at Mario as he passes the finish line in first place. Mario cheers at his victory!

°°°

Standing at the top of a podium was a happy Mario, gladly accepting quite the hefty Ship Piece from the referee Gearmo. Polari joins him on one side, and Sproxie appears out of thin air on the other side just in time for a commemorative photo. And with that, the three return to Starship Mario. They land at the helm of the ship to Lubba, who was waiting for them.

You Found A Ship Piece!

Gearway Galaxy

“Obstruction by Suction!”

“Well, wouldja look at that!” Lubba chuckles, “You met someone that can help out, right?”

Mario nods, stepping back so Polari could float forward. As he introduces himself, Lubba’s eyes widen. 

“It might sound crazy, but I feel like I’ve met you before,” the purple luma admits. 

“It is possible,” Polari hums, nodding, “It must have been in passing as both of us traveled the cosmos. I’m glad to finally meet you properly, despite the conditions we’re under.”

Lubba wears a huge grin. “Heh, me too! Welcome aboard, pal! Let’s save the universe together!”

Polari smiles back, until his thoughts turn to more important matters. “Speaking of which, I came here with Mario and Sproxie to help in finding Rosalina. Mario said he couldn't find a mechanic on Gearway due to the changing culture. I’m not the best at fixing ships, so allow me to help in the search for Rosalina. She may know what to do about her Observatory.” Polari told the purple luma. 

Lubba nods cheerfully. “Hey, go right ahead, pal. We’re gonna need all the help we can get.”

As Polari moves to speak again, he was interrupted by a couple of lumas rushing over to see him, squealing in joy. Polari laughs as he greets the two lumas, asking about their welfare. The lumas smile and spin in the air before tugging at him to follow them. 

To Lubba’s chuckle, Polari clears his throat, “Er, excuse me for a moment.”

“No worries,” Lubba waves them off.

Polari lets himself get dragged off by the star children, leaving Mario, Sproxie, and Lubba to themselves. 

Mario looked at Sproxie, and the clear-colored star child caught his gaze and blinked back. “What?” 

Mario pointed his head towards the other lumas, and Sproxie hesitated. His usually cheerfully yellow-colored soul faded into a somber blue. “I know they like to hear my stories about our adventures but— I dunno…” he looked down at his little hands. “That Polari guy seems to have been around a long time. My home was destroyed… If he doesn’t know who I am… then…” he looked back to Mario. “…Am I all there is of my kind? Will I ever remember who I am?”

That’s a big question. Mario opened his mouth right away to respond, but he thought against it. As much as he would hope that wasn’t the case, there wasn’t any guarantee it was true, and he didn’t want to lie. 

It wasn’t like he, nor anyone else on Starship Mario was going to give up searching for lumas like Sproxie, but if worse came to worse, Mario was sure he’d find a new home with his new friends. Mario expressed those thoughts to Sproxie, and the luma’s expression softened slightly.  

Mario continued to mention the luma’s newfound ability to pull broken objects together, like the lever at Deja Vu Galaxy, and more recently the kart in Gearway Galaxy. That was a step forward. To that, a lighthearted expression grew on Sproxie’s face. “You’re right, Mario,” he laughed a little before giving a ‘smile’, “I have made some progress. Thanks, I needed that.” 

Despite having been cheered up, Sproxie remains by Mario’s side as he consults Lubba on where to go next.

“Last and definitely least is one of Bowser’s bases,” Lubba answered, as the holographic map followed with the appropriate visuals. The base was what Mario expected it to be: represented with a big replica of Bowser’s face. Not much information, if at all, was provided past that, since this place wasn’t really a galaxy.

“Ready to take it down, Mario?” Sproxie flew in front of Mario towards the helm, looking at him eagerly. Mario nodded and he went up to take the helm and set course for Bowser Jr’s Gravity Fort. 

Chapter Text

Mario and Sproxie fly into the base. Their faces are met with the stinging heat of lava and fire. Normal for Mario. Entirely new to Sproxie. The luma winced and hid behind Mario as they neared the ground. 

WELCOME TO THE GALAXY!!

This place looked exactly how Mario saw others from his past adventures. The flooring, the enemies guarding every corner, (more description here). Even the obstacles seemed rehashed. It disgusted Mario to think that out of all the places Bowser changed thanks to his gravity powers, he left his own territories untarnished.

Sproxie and Mario were able to evade all of the obstacles rather cleanly. The luma was in awe of Mario’s skill in handling each obstacle. Sproxie gathered that he had encountered these same things countless times before. 

However, there were some times when there weren’t any good ways to get across a pit of lava. In those cases, it was up to Sproxie to pull together a platform for Mario to jump across. 

Near the end, some gravity sections affected Mario’s ability to stay on the ground, sending him to the lava-coated ceiling at times. Sproxie acted quickly to keep Mario from getting hurt.

Then they finally reach the end. On the top of the stairs to a circular platform with Bowser’s visage at the center, Bowser Jr. waited for Mario’s arrival. His expression lights up with a mischievous smile when he sees the plumber and his new luma friend.

“There you are! Took ya long enough,” he sneers. Mario gives the young Koopa an unimpressed look. 

“My dad trusts me to get rid of you before you become a problem. Good thing I love clobberin’ ya, I’d do it again and again!” Bowser Jr. continues. With a mischievous laugh, he jumps for his clown car to swoop underneath him and catch him. 

He whisks into the sky and raises his hands as red and green power surrounds them. The ground underneath Mario started to rumble. Circular pieces from the floor lifted from the ground. Their ends are spiked and hover over Mario and Sproxie threateningly. 

Sproxie gasps. “Bowser Jr. can use gravity powers, too?” he asked out loud. 

“Watch and weep!” Bowser Jr. laughs again, throwing his hands downwards. Rocky spikes fall down on Mario. Fortunately, by reading their shadows, Mario dodges all of them as they fall back to the ground. Some don’t return to their exact positions, remaining exposed. Mario spin-attacks one it hits Bowser Jr. 

Bowser Jr. squeals in pain, before shaking himself off. The boy reaches for more chunks of ground, in a more concentrated location this time. One after the other, each spike flies after Mario, most of them breaking upon impact. Mario runs from them as they land in his wake. When the collection of spikes run out, he runs back towards the few left standing to spin-attack them and send another piece of rock hurdling in Bowser Jr.’s direction.

Another cry of frustration from the young boy. Bowser Jr. lets the other spikes fall apart except one, and with a clenched fist, he makes it the anchor point for the rest of the rubble to collect itself into a bigger spike. 

Mario gulps. The kid points with his hand, sending the spike toward the red-clad hero. There wasn’t going to be an easy way to dodge this one. An idea came to Sproxie. Without warning, he merged with the floor, and Mario was suddenly weightless, but the large spike was, too. 

“What?! Are you kidding me?!” Bowser Jr. cries, trying to keep himself upright in the anti-gravity. Mario grins. Thanks, Sproxie.  

Mario swims to the top of the spike. As if on cue, Sproxie leaves the ground and joins Mario as he ground-pounds through it —and for a final time— spin-attacking the floating debris into Bowser Jr. He topples over onto his shell, flailing his arms and legs in a tantrum. 

After a moment, Bowser Jr. hopped back on his feet and threw Mario a scowl. He jumps off of the platform and, after a beat, flies back into view riding his clown car. 

“Don’t get too confident. That was just a warm-up! You won’t be as lucky next time!” the kid shouts at Mario, before flying away.

As Mario watches Bowser Jr. fly away, Sproxie takes attention to something glinting in his eye. He turns around, and finds a huge Ship Piece floating right behind them. 

“Mario, Mario! Look, a Ship Piece !” Sproxie points and Mario turns around and smiles triumphantly upon seeing it. 

The two pick up the large metal chunk and return it to Starship Mario.

°°°

“Well done, Mario and Sproxie!” Lubba chuckles, greeting the two yet again after their adventure. Polari accompanied him this time, too. As the Ship Piece they collected flies off to join the others, the purple luma continued, “This is starting to be quite the collection of parts, eh?”

Mario and Sproxie nod. 

“Are you sure that Starship Mario can keep carrying all these parts?” Sproxie asks, to Lubba’s hesitant response. Panic flashes before composure returns to him. 

“We can cross that bridge when we get to it,” he finally answers the young luma. Lubba turns around to face what lies ahead of the ship, and the two heroes follow suit. 

“For right now, we got more important things to take care of,” he says, “Like blowing this popsicle stand and moving to the next one.”

“The next one…?” 

Lubba nods matter-of-factly. Polari takes the opportunity to fly over to the navigator panel at the left of the helm. Everyone moves over, as well. 

Polari turns it on and a map appears showing the current surroundings of Starship Mario. “I’ve done some exploring outside where we are, and it appears to be that Bowser created more clusters with galaxies like the one we’re in now.”

The image of the cluster swipes off screen, and a new cluster map replaces it, with 4 blurred galaxies labeled with question marks.

“ Rosalina could be in one of these galaxies,” Polari finishes. 

A low rumble of a starshroom ship engine slowly approaches Starship Mario and parks next to it. Captain Toad waves from inside through the circular window. “Hey, Mario! We did some searching and found some Ship Pieces !”

5 Ship Pieces shoot from the Starshroom and land near Mario, who collects them and sends the Toad Brigade a grateful wave. The other brigade members squeeze to the window and all wave back. 

Captain Toad pushes them back. “We’ll keep an eye out for any more we come across. See ya later!” 

With that, the Starshroom starts up again, starts flying again with a putter from the engine before shooting back into the stars. 

Lubba laughs at Mario’s predicament, trying to hold all the pieces in his hands that blocked half of his face. “Let’s hope we find her soon. We gotta talk to her about how she wants us to handle all these ship parts.”

Chapter Text

Mario, with Sproxie not too far behind, approaches the helm of Starship Mario. The engines rev up and the ship blast off into the stars. As Mario steered, Polari helped with directions through the abyss of space. After a few minutes, an asteroid belt shows up ahead.

“Here it is,” Polari explains. “This is the asteroid belt guarding the next few galaxies. We need to get through them to get inside.”

Mario nods with determination. As the ship got closer to the belt, Mario leaned off the gas. 

“Wow… It’s a bit more congested than the last one,” Lubba comments to no one in particular, his attention set to the front of the ship.

Sproxie flies slightly closer to Mario. “Be careful, Mario!”

Mario takes a deep breath and concentrates on moving slowly through the asteroids. It wasn’t too difficult, but it required more attention than the previous asteroid belt around Cluster 1, that’s for sure.

To everyone’s relief, Mario is able to enter the new cluster without a scratch. Mario slowed Starship Mario to a stop, and everyone, including him, admire the new galaxies that now surround them.

There are four galaxies here, if you counted the base Bowser created to safeguard the place. 

Lubba laughs in amazement. “I don’t think I’ve seen these galaxies before, in all my travels.”

“They must be newer galaxies, then,” Polari adds, and Lubba nods.

There was a galaxy that looked like a beach with a palm tree and a red “X” in the sand, one that looked like it was entirely made out of sewing tools, scraps, and thread, and one that was probably entirely made out of water.

Then… 

“Hey Sproxie, where ya goin’, lil guy? Don’t leave us in the dust, har har!” Lubba laughs heartily, startling Sproxie in his tracks. The star child had started slowly drifted off from the ship, mezmerized with something. He looks back, and his eyes widen at how far he had flown from the ship. He returns hastily with an apologetic expression on his face.

“Sorry, I didn’t know I was flying away…” he explains, then looks back to an empty spot in the cluster, not a galaxy, but possibly the remnants of one. A large collection of broken architecture and ground floated there instead. Sproxie’s voice softens. “...I feel like it’s pulling me. … I want to go there.”

Mario, along with Polari and Lubba, give him a confused look, going back and forth from the collection of debris and him. After a moment, Mario shrugs nonchalantly, and the other lumas follow suit. 

Polari flies to the map and presses some buttons. “Odd…” he says, “The map doesn’t say anything about it. It could just be some mismatched debris from all the cluster-making nonsense.”

“Whatever it is, it used to be a galaxy, right?” Sproxie asks. Polari nods. “You’re right. It could be. But if you’re going there, you two have to be careful. If I can’t identify a galaxy, I won’t know what hazards await you.”

Mario and Sproxie smile. “I have Mario with me. So we’ll be fine!” Sproxie smiles with confidence. Polari smiles himself. “Good luck, then.”

Mario and Sproxie hop into a Launch Star and blast off into ??? Galaxy.

Chapter Text

[MISSION 1: “Hunt for the Missing Tools!”]

The place was sadder up close than it was from looking at it far away. 

WELCOME TO THE GALAXY!!

The darkness of space drowned out any leftover hope and light this galaxy once appeared to have. There were remnants of marble pillars and structures floating around aimlessly; blown up clusters of grass and dirt huddling close to each other. It reminded Mario a lot of Space Junk Galaxy, but also shared similarities to Gusty Garden Galaxy. 

Whatever this galaxy used to be, it was once a grandiose place.

Mario watches his feet, treading lightly across the debris, while Sproxie’s eyes remained dead ahead slowly drifting away again, farther and farther ahead of Mario. The plumber lifts his hand and calls after him, but it was no use. The star child is already out of earshot. All Mario can do now was follow him… wherever he’s going.

Sproxie finally stops, to Mario’s relief. The two stand on a large grassy spherical platform as Sproxie examines a chest-shaped box wedged deep in the grassy platform. He approached it alongside Sproxie, looking at it carefully while the luma slowly moves around to study it from all angles.

From Mario’s understanding, it looked like a red toolbox. It even had a black handle connected by metal hinges at the top. The lid sat lightly on top of the stripped lock, like it had been forced or broken open somehow.

“ Stay away from him, you fiend !” a voice shouts, swiftly followed by a barrage of small asteroids at Mario. Sproxie gasps as Mario scrambles away to avoid the attacks. 

A moment of silence passes. Mario takes that time to right himself and dust off his hat. 

The translucent luma child looks after the source of the attack, despite him finding anyone immediately. “Hey, we’re not your enemy! We don’t mean any harm!” Sproxie calls out.

“I wasn’t talking about you, child,” the voice says, their tone shifting to a calm, reassuring one. The being behind the voice slowly makes themselves visible. 

Appearing out of thin air is a luma. 

He was slightly bigger than most, similar to the size of a Hungry Luma or Lumalee. He had three thick tufts of hair across his forehead, just barely brushing against the top of his eyes. 

Most importantly, he was see-through .

Sproxie’s eyes widen in shock.

“You’re like me…” he breathes in astonishment.

The luma zips down to Mario and Sproxie’s level. He takes an unfriendly glance at Mario before turning his attention to Sproxie again. “Are you okay?” he asks. Sproxie gives a nervous and confused expression, looking between him and Mario. 

The luma stranger hesitates, looking back at the young luma’s expression in his own form of confusion. “Did you come here with anyone else?” he asks.

“Yes,” Sproxie responds, “I came with my friend, Mario,” he gestures over to Mario, who waves hello to the cautious luma. 

The luma furiously shakes his head, “I mean other Crystal Lumas.”

“Crystal Lumas?” Sproxie echoes, lost. “Wait-- there are more of us ?!”

The luma nods matter-of-factly. “Well, of course. There are thousands of us… It’s common knowledge…” he stops talking for a moment, his thoughts taking his attention for a moment. 

Then he asks, “When were you reborn?”

Again, Sproxie’s is confused.

The luma huffed to himself. “Okay, so I guess very recently. After this happened.” he threw a ‘hand’ at their surroundings. He turns to Sproxie, “It’s not your fault you don’t know what’s going on. You were interrupted on your journey home.” 

At a sudden thought, the luma gasps and composes himself, clearing his throat. The luma turns more towards Sproxie, to include Mario. “My sincerest apologies, I hadn’t even thought of introducing myself. Please forgive me.” 

The luma gives a formal bow. 

“My name is Travix, the King’s royal adviser. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” 

Mario raises an unimpressed eyebrow at Travix. Sure he was .

“Woooah… You work for a king !” Sproxie says in awe, then moves to introducing himself, “I am Sproxie, and this is my friend, Mario!” Mario smiles.

Travix softens at the plumber’s friendly gesture. “My apologies, Mario. I’m still a bit shaken about what just hapepned my home, and let that affect my perception of others. If Sproxie trusts you, then I will, as well. Can I ask how did the two of you cross paths in the first place?”

Mario explains while Sproxie continues to watch Travix in awe, putting off Travix a little bit. 

The moment Mario finishes his explanation, Sproxie flies into Travix’s personal space.

“How much do you know about Crystal Lumas? I need you to tell me everything!! Please please pretty please ?” the star child asks eagerly. 

“Er…” Travix hesitates, “I’d be happy to tell you everything, but I know from experience that telling you everything at once would be overwhelming. How about this: Ask me one question. Any question.”

Sproxie’s face lights up at the opportunity, but hesitates, appearing stuck on what to ask. Too many thoughts at once. He looks at his surroundings and an idea strikes the little luma. 

“What was this place?” Sproxie asks Travix. 

Mario perks up, interested in Travix’s response.

Travix nods. “That, I can gladly answer.”

The three turn to look at the vast rubble and debris floating around them.

“This is-- was Push & Pull Galaxy, my home, and the home of the Crystal Lumas,” Travix begins, “When a Crystal Luma is reborn, by instinct they return here. I guess since the galaxy’s now destroyed, that instinct got… ‘disconnected’, for lack of a better word. Thousands of Crystal Lumas are undoubtedly to be displaced throughout the galaxy, including you.”

“Huh… so that’s what that feeling was…” Sproxie stares off into the debris-filled abyss, lost in thought. “What destroyed it?”

Travix’s expression grew dark. “A monster found our galaxy somehow. It was also able to harness our sacred power, the power to command gravity , and use it for its own evil schemes. Its reign over this power is ruining many galaxies’ ways of life. I call all of this the Gravity Crisis.”

Sproxie and Mario glance at each other with knowing looks. 

“You must be talking about Bowser,” Sproxie says. 

To Travix’s confused look, Mario explains how Bowser’s been known to cause chaos many times before, even on a galactic scale a couple of times. 

Travix furrows his brow in thought. “If he’s known for kidnapping a princess, maybe he kidnapped the king, too…” the luma thinks out loud to himself, “That can explain how he has control over gravity, by taking and abusing his divine powers for his own selfish gain.”

Sproxie overhears this. “You’re looking for a king, and we’re looking for a princess,” the star child smiles, spinning around Travix before stopping in front of him, “Why not work together to find them?”

Travix hesitates to respond for a moment. Then, once he makes a decision, he nods firmly. “You’re right. Most importantly, you are owed the information you were robbed of. I’m not opposed to joining your crew. It would be much better than making a starship from scratch. Speaking of, where are my tools?”

Sproxie turns around to look at the red chest from earlier. He moves out of the way, allowing Travix to see clearly behind him, revealing it.

Travix’s eyes widen at the broken toolbox, rushing to its side. “My poor toolbox…” he sighs, lifting the broken lid to find none of his tools in there anymore. Travix looks up at Sproxie and Mario. “It must have broken open in all the destruction.”

Mario steps up with a determined smile, offering his help in looking for them. Sproxie joins in. 

The royal adviser looks at the two and smiles. “Thank you. I appreciate it. With your help, we’ll find the tools in no time! I’m looking for a wrench, a screwdriver , a hammer , and a saw.”

Mario and Sproxie set off in one direction while Travix went in another. It took several minutes to find everything, but Mario, Sproxie, and Travix were able to meet again with all of the missing tools.

“So, you build things?” Sproxie asks, reading Mario’s mind. 

This could be the mechanic they’ve been looking for! 

Travix nods. “I tinker with many things. Recently, I’ve been working on quality of life upgrades…” his voice trails off, as he takes one last look at his destroyed home. “...I guess they don’t really matter now.” He closes his toolbox.

“You mentioned building starships earlier?” Sproxie asks.

Travix looks surprised. “ Starships ?” he laughs, “Haven’t worked on one of those in centuries.”

Silence falls. Sproxie is still looking at Travix waiting for a de facto “yes” or “no”. 

Travix looks back at the child for a moment.

“Don’t tell me that this entire time your ship was broken .”

“I-it’s not-! Well, yes, but-- Tell him, Mario!” Sproxie sputters. Mario sighs and explains how ONE is destroyed and they’re collecting pieces for it, and ANOTHER one is still intact, the one they’re driving across the universe.

Travix nods again. “Alright. Do you think any of its pieces have found their way here? Let’s find one.”

Mario was sure a Ship Piece was around somewhere.

The three split up again to find it. Mario and Sproxie hop across more destroyed terrain, climbing up marble pillars to long jump to the next batch of floating platforms. Sproxie hops into a small platform, using his newfound powers to pull other small platforms towards them. 

Along with the platforms came enemies. Spoings and Pumpkin-headed Goombas made no hesitation to disturb the duo. After some quick spin attacks, they were reduced to starbits.

The enemies returned more and more in waves. Mario and Sproxie fight them off, but soon the number grows to be overwhelming. Too many Spoings are bouncing around, knocking into Mario’s back and making him run into a pumpkin Goomba. Sproxie scrambles to find something to merge into to help pull them away, but the ground was bare. 

“Where are these guys coming from?!” Sproxie asks.

“UP HERE!”

Sproxie and Mario look up, when POOF!

A Pull Star appears above them. 

Mario throws his hand upwards, calling upon the star, as it lifts him from the ground, just barely avoiding another Spoing attack in the process. 

POOF!

Another Pull Star appears next to Mario.

POOF! POOF! POOF!

A line of Pull Stars lure Mario away from the danger, and deeper into the galaxy. Mario follows after each one, the previous Pull Star disappearing behind him as he went. Sproxie follows closely after Mario.

The Pull Stars lead to a small mini-planet hovering above a large Spoing web. Mario twists himself free from the Pull Star’s grip and lands on the planet. 

The Pull Star is engulfed in a puff of smoke! But instead of disappearing, it returns to its normal form: Travix!

The royal adviser points to the web. “These creatures must be trying to make this place their new home. Although it is destroyed, this is still my kingdom, and I won’t let outsiders take it! We have to kick them out!”

Mario nods with determination. This isn’t new to him. These Sproings are basically an invasive species due to how many places they show up uninvited. 

Travix transforms into a Pull Star again, leading Mario and Sproxie to the web. Similar to previous instances, a sproing queen rests in the middle of it. Luckily, she doesn’t detect Mario and Sproxie’s trespassing yet. 

Mario immediately takes off, knowing what he’s looking for. There are 4 webby slingshots placed equally distant from each other around the edges of the web. Mario jumps in one of them, but as he does, it’s slippery instead of sticky! Mario’s grip falters and he lands on his face.

Sproxie flies over to him worriedly. Mario stands up, gives him a quick thumbs-up, and brushes himself off. He eyes the queen, who’s slowly waking up. Her eyes flitter open. She doesn’t like what she sees. She roars in anger, calling forth a small force of Sproings to stop the intruders. This queen only appears to have one weak spot, as opposed to others with several, which is an advantage.

An idea hits Sproxie and he merges with the slingshot, giving it a gravitational pull. 

Mario jumps into the slingshot again, now successfully being able to stick with it. 

A sproing bounces closer and closer to Mario and Sproxie, about to knock Mario off of the slingshot! Sproxie winds up to fling Mario, and the sproing is about to land on top of them.

Suddenly, the sproing stops in midair. Confused, it wriggles its frail limbs to escape. The sproing is flung backwards, knocking into another sproing, and both of them POOF into a pile of bouncing starbits. 

Out of thin air, Travix unveils himself to Mario and Sproxie. 

“I’ll handle these guys. Focus on the Queen!” he tells them before disappearing again.

Mario and Sproxie refocus and shoot after the Queen. Even though she was facing them, it was faster to shoot past her than run around to knock her weak spot.  

Sproxie flies with Mario to the other side of the nest, merges with the other slingshot, and sends Mario straight into the weak spot!

The queen writhes in pain, and then disappears in a puff of smoke. The rest of her sproing army follow suit, all leaving behind starbits in their wake.

At the center of the web was a Ship Piece, glimmering against the light in all it’s glory. 

Travix joins Mario and Sproxie as they climb the web to reach it. Mario grabs the Ship Piece, and they all fly to Starship Mario.

°°°

“My, how I missed seeing new faces on board the ship! Make another friend, Mario? Or did he sneak on? It was like he poofed outta nowhere!” Lubba guffaws. 

You Found A Ship Piece!

Push & Pull Galaxy

“Hunt for the Missing Tools!”

Mario and Sproxie, now accompanied by Travix, are back at the helm of the ship. Joining them also was Polari, next to the navigation panel. Surrounding them are curious lumas from both the Comet Observatory and Lubba’s crew.

Travix flies forward, bowing shortly in regard to both of them. “It’s nice to meet you. My name is Travix. Mario and Sproxie offered their help in finding my missing king, and in return I will help rebuild your destroyed starship.”

At this, both Lubba and Polari gasp. 

“Glad to meet ya, Travix! The name’s Lubba.” Lubba greets with a warm smile. Travix gives him a short nod.

“We have been looking for someone that could help us, and your help would be very much appreciated,” Polari says. “My name is Polari. I am Rosalina’s right hand.”

Travix stops for a moment, recognizing the name. “The Mother of the Cosmos. I’ve heard many stories.” 

Polari nods. “Nothing in the universe could compare to her. But unfortunately, like your king, we have yet to find her.” he looks off in worry for a moment before composing himself again. “Let me guide you to where we keep our collected parts.” The brown luma flies past the clear luma, who follows behind down to the underground garage.

“I’m happy for ya, kid,” Lubba laughs, “You’re not alone like you thought. There’s probably thousands of little guys like you!”

Sproxie beams in excitement, jumping and spinning around. 

Mario enjoys the moment, then he starts booting up the navigation panel for the next galaxy.

“Where to, captain?” Lubba asks.

The navigation panel blinks and makes a little chime. An additional tab at the top of the screen appears for the first time, showing a little (!) beside it. It’s a messages tab. The first message is coming from Captain Toad!

          “Hey, Mario!
               I just found out about this new instant messaging feature on the Starshroom!

               I hope you can get this in time. We found some pieces to Rosalina’s ship over

               here in Murky Pocket Galaxy. Whenever you can, come by and help us take

               them all back!

            - Captain Toad”

Well, can’t have an easier mission than that, Mario thought. The red plumber changes tabs back to the navigation screen and finds and selects a preview of a swampy land. The trees stand upright as moss and kudzu grow off of them. In a narrow stream next to the tree flows dirty rocky water, spilling into the galactic abyss. 

He selects the galaxy, and he and Sproxie fly off.

Chapter Text

[RECAP:]

Travix stops for a moment, recognizing the name. “The Mother of the Cosmos. I’ve heard many stories.” 

Polari nods. “Nothing in the universe can compare to her. But unfortunately, like your king, we have yet to find her.” he looks off in worry for a moment before composing himself again. “Let me guide you to where we keep our collected parts.” The brown luma flies past the clear luma, who follows behind down to the underground garage.

“I’m happy for ya, kid,” Lubba laughs, “You’re not alone like you thought. There’s probably thousands of little guys like you!”

Sproxie beams in excitement, jumping and spinning around. 

Mario enjoys the moment, then he starts booting up the navigation panel for the next galaxy.

“Where to, captain?” Lubba asks. 

The navigation panel blinks and makes a little chime. An additional tab at the top of the screen appears for the first time, showing a little (!) beside it. It’s a messages tab. The first message is coming from Captain Toad!

“Hey, Mario!
I just found out about this new instant messaging feature on the Starshroom! I hope you can get this in time. We found some pieces to Rosalina’s ship over here in Murky Pocket Galaxy, but were kinda stuck here now. Whenever you can, come by and help us take them all back!

Captain Toad”

Well, can’t have an easier mission than that, Mario thought. The red plumber changes tabs back to the navigation screen and finds and selects a preview of a swampy land. The trees stand upright as moss and kudzu grow off of them. In a narrow stream next to the tree flows dirty rocky water, spilling into the galactic abyss. 

He selects the galaxy, and he and Sproxie fly off.

[END RECAP]

[MISSION 1: Trudging Through the Mud]

Mario and Sproxie fly through space and enter the galaxy. It felt… heavy. Were they flying faster? BRACE FOR IMPACT--

WELCOME TO THE GALAXY!

Mario lands face-first in mud. He pushes himself up, but he can’t move. It’s like his body is pushing back against an elephant sitting on him. The plumber uses a burst of strength to push himself to the side and lay on his back. Gasps for air.

There was a weight crashing down on his lungs. He could barely move his arms upwards. Mario looks at his surroundings.

No matter how hard he tried to fly back up, the baby crystal luma was sinking in the air. Giving up, Sproxie’s little body plops against the ground at full force.

The whole galaxy looked like it was being pushed down by an invisible weight. The trees shown in the galaxy preview were more lively and upright than here. He could hear the creaking of wood. In reality, they looked sad and defeated. 

Mario can’t move at all anymore. Like he’s melting into the ground. Mario’s breathing turned into full-on heaving for air. His vision started going black…

…

“.....ar…o……”

“....Ma……io….!”

“Mario!”

Mario’s eyes open. He sits up. Sproxie and Baby Luma are in his face. Mario leans back in surprise, but greets the lumas. Close behind is Lubba, who breathes a sigh of relief. 

“You okay? Talk about being flattened like a pancake. How the heck can anyone live in a galaxy like that?” he says.

Mario shakes his head, then stands up. Baby Luma hops back in his cap as Mario adjusts it.

Travix appears out of nothingness, startling Lubba. Travix isn’t phased by his abrupt intrusion, instead focusing on Mario. “I’ve never seen something like that before. I assume this is just another effect of The Gravity Crisis.”

Mario nods. Makes sense. 

“I think I have an idea. I’ll make an add-on for the Navigation Panel so it can detect changes in a galaxy’s gravity intensity.”

Sproxie coos in admiration. “You can do that?”

Travix shakes his head. “I can’t guarantee, but I can always try.”

“Perfect!” Lubba chimes in. “Then let’s er… take a break from that galaxy for a second and pick somewhere else to search for the time being.” 

Mario agrees. Anywhere but there.

The next galaxy that looked interesting was one with fabric lining the ground. There were needles with thread sewing two patches of green fabric together, along with a thimble and some scissors.

Sure, why not? This place better not insta-kill him like last time.

…

[MISSION 1: Patching Up with Scraps]

Mario and Sproxie enter the atmosphere. Mario embraced the ability to breathe. It felt normal here, which he was very grateful for. He moves in for a smooth landing.

WELCOME TO THE GALAXY!

Hm. The grass feels funny. It feels like… pants. 

Large pieces of multiple shades of green cloth cover every inch of this place, representing grass. The sky was blue, holding up a yellow sun, sewn into the clouds. It’s as if cloth and patchwork were the…

Well, the fabric of this reality.

There are sewing needles and thimbles and balls of yarn decorating the area Mario found himself in. Some Octoombas stood at their post defending some of the yarn. 

Mario runs over to investigate. The Octoomba charges a spit attack from his little snoot, but Mario spin-attacks him before he can follow through. Sproxie follows close behind to collect the starbits in his wake. 

When the plumber nears the yarn, and it glows gold and hops around a little bit. Out from the corner of his eye, a needle from farther away, nearing a cliff, hops in place, almost like it’s yelling “pick me, pick me!”. Mario steps away from the yarn, and both objects become stationary. 

Hmm…

Mario walks behind the ball of yarn and positions himself juuuust right…

WHACK! The ball of yarn goes flying from Mario’s spin attack right up to the needle. A loose end of yarn was knocked out, and when coming in contact with the needle, loops itself through the little hole!

The needle is planted next to what looks like to be the beginning of a bridge, or what was left of one. Only two strands of rope on each side remained connected, keeping this planetoid connected to another one up ahead.

“There has to be some sort of way we can make the bridge walkable again…” Sproxie thinks aloud.

Mario looks to his right. Another needle needing a yarn friend sat there, all lonely. If he got them both hooked up with some yarn… maybe these needles could sew something together.

Mario runs back out to find another ball of yarn. There were plenty of them, but they were guarded by Goombeetles. This’ll be easy!

KLOK! Spin attack! The Goombeetle spins on its head. Mario jumps over it, and ground pounds the little dude. The Goombeetle disappears in a puff of smoke, but the ripple effect from Mario’s attack disassembled the ball of yarn into a clump! 

Sproxie flies over to it. He lifts up a few strings, and they fall out of his paws. “It’s not glowing…” he sighs. Mario makes an awkward face. Oops. 

Mario looks around again for another ball of yarn. Honestly, just look for enemies. After a moment of running around, Mario and Sproxie approach another ball of yarn, this time set on a circular patch of lighter green “grass” guarded by a group of 5 piranha plants.

At Mario’s presence, they salivate and reach as far as they can and chomp down. A few feet off. Give ‘em an A for effort.

Mario spin attacks one, knocking the piranha plant out. He continues down the line for the next two, while Sproxie tries to take the last two himself. 

“How did Travix do it…?” he muttered to himself. He phases into one Piranha Plant, giving him a gravitational field. The Piranha Plant next to him gets nervous, sweat flying off their person as they felt a strong force pulling them close to their friend.

However, due to their planty nature, the Piranha plants couldn’t really… move.

Sproxie exits the critter, tired. The piranha plant looks at the violator with sharp teeth. 

CHOMP!

Sproxie squeals and turns invisible to avoid the near attack. He reappears by Mario’s side. Mario sighs good-naturedly. The poor thing. With two flicks of a spin attack, all of the plants are down, and the ball of yarn is free for the taking!

Mario spin attacks it to knock it close to the needle by the to-be bridge. It slows down to a stop

halfway to its destination…  but the ball slowly moves again, then disappears behind a dip in the terrain, following a route off the map. NO NO NO NO CRAP CRAP CRAP Mario and Sproxie book it to catch up to it, but the next time their eyes lay upon it, it’s rolling off the cliff into the void. 

Sproxie shoots over to the empty needle by the “bridge”, creating a gravitational field. The ball of yarn stops, and slowly rises and rides against the planetoid until it can slide across the ground again. And slide it does. Sproxie exits just in time to get pelted in the face by the yarn ball. He squeaks in surprise and rubs his little face.

With that, the second ball of yarn unites with its needle friend and weaves itself through its little hole to prepare for epic sewing!

Both needles rise in the air and cross each other to make an X. Then, they descend and get to work! 

They bob and weave and zig zag around each other. There was a fallen strip of fabric that was hanging off the edge that Mario couldn’t see. They lifted it up and sewed it back together with the ropes, all the way down to the end. 

Upon finish, a line of starbits appear along the bridge. 

Sproxie’s eyes light up. He shoots down the bridge collecting all the starbits he could while Mario followed behind him.

They’re standing on a comically large wooden trinkets container. The cubby doors were made of glass, and they stored all kinds of knickknacks underneath the heroes. Some cubbies stored spools of multicolored string, others had needles, scissors, or thimbles. 

On the other side of the container, there is an empty cloth propped up waiting to be embroidered. 

Mario looks out again. Among the sewing supplies, there are also cubbies set to be traps, manned with Goombas, Koopa Troopas, and Octoombas. Like the one underneath him now. The plumber made accidental eye contact with the bunch of Goombas underneath his feet, staring angrily into his soul. A little unsettling.

However, hovering above every cubby was a THWOMP. Their shadows loomed over the items inside, as if defending it.

“Looks like we need to collect some things and bring them to that cloth!” Sproxie suggests. Mario nods. Sure, that tracks. Let’s do it!

A Thwomp twitches above them. Mario steps back, making way. The Thwomp CRASHES down, destroying the thick glass! However, the glass is able to prevent the Thwomp from falling any farther, protecting the contents inside the cubby.

As it rises, Mario and Sproxie are able to view the inside clearly. Its a few spools of thread! Namely yellow, orange, and—

Green. 

A small twinge of sadness falls on Mario’s heart. 

“Come on, Mario! We need to hurry before that thwomp smashes what’s inside!” Sproxie says. Mario shakes himself out of it and nods. 

He and Sproxie jump inside. 

“Which color—?” Sproxie looks at the spools, but upon looking back at Mario, finds him already collecting the spool of green thread. “Oh! Alright,” the crystal luma laughs.

Bam! Done. And we’re outta there! Mario backflips out, narrowly avoiding the Thwomp crashing down, crushing the other spools in the process. 

“Next we need a needle, right?” Sproxie asks. Mario nods. As they run across the wooden partitions between each cubby (to avoid triggering any Thwomps), they scour. 

Needle… Needle… Needle—

IS THAT A TOAD???

Mario skids to a halt. Yes. That’s a whole toad stuck in an encasing of ice inside one of those cubbies! And he’s not alone. Mini Mecha Koopas are guarding him. Well, not for long!

Mario runs across the glass over the cubby, triggering a Thwomp to fall and break it open. Sproxie follows Mario as he runs back and jumps inside. 

WHACK! The ice shatters, and the Toad is freed. He sighs in relief and looks at his surroundings. “Whew! I thought I was a goner!” He looks at his rescuers. “Thank you! I appreciate your help! I was worried I wouldn’t be able to see my little Chompers again!”

Mario’s eyes widen. Chompers…! From Deja Vu Galaxy? With those ANNOYING COSMIC CLONES??????

“What cosmic—“ he shakes his head “What?” The Toad puts a finger to his chin, confused. “I only expected to be gone for a few hours, but I’ve been stranded from my house for a few weeks now. Who knows who or what might have began squatting there. I need to get back home—!”

Three mini mecha koopas waddle up and open their mouths, each charging up a blast of fire. 

The three turn around to face it, and Sproxie immediately takes action, merging with the wall opposite them to yank them backwards and SMACK against the wall, stunning them. Next, the crystal luma spin attacks them, knocking them back forward, gaining the attention of the Thwomp. CRASH!! And they’re broken into pieces.

The Seamster Toad clears his throat. “Sir, do you think you could help me get back to my home? If you’ve been there recently, then you know where its new location is, right?”

Mario nods. Of course! He gestures for the toad to join them, and the seamster happily obliges, escaping the cubby with them.

[The sewing master known as Seamster Toad has temporarily joined your party!]

Now then, we still need to find a needle…

Seamster Toad raises a matter-of-fact finger. “I remember where they are! Follow me!” He runs ahead of Mario and Sproxie, and they follow him up a few rows and across a few columns to reach a collection of TONS of needles. The toad approaches the ledge, but hesitates. “I’m going to get poked if I jump down there.”

Mario is also stumped. “Don’t worry!” Sproxie says, “I got this! Hang on!” The crystal luma flies underneath the Thwomp. The thwomp falls and breaks the glass! Sproxie turns invisible, phasing through the enemy.As the Thwomp rises again, it develops a red glow around it. But slowly, the pile of needles slowly start rising in the air. Seamster Toad tries to reach for one, but can’t quite get there. Mario reaches, and is able to grab one! Seamster Toad cheers. The group of needles drop, and Sproxie emerges from the Thwomp. Mario shows Sproxie the needle, and he smiles. “Awesome!” He looks at everyone, “Is that all we need?”

Seamster Toad shakes his head. “This galaxy does that kind of silly stuff when I visit, too. Logically, we would need to find a thimble.”

Sproxie laughs. “Thimble. That’s a funny word.”

“It’s very important!” Seamster Toad explains. “Thimbles are what you put on your thumb as you sew so you don’t poke yourself!”

“Do you know where a thimble is, sir?” Sproxie asks. Seamster Toad hesitates, then ultimately shakes his head. “I kinda forgot where those were…” he admits. "I always had my own and it hasn’t broken yet.” Then it’s back to the old fashioned way. Mario leads the way to the next item, wherever it is.

As they run around, Mario’s feet suddenly stand over nothing. The next thing the plumber knows, he’s falling into a cubby! Mario lands on his rear-end, and slowly stands back up. Staring back at him was a horde of Goombas staring at him with thoughtless angry eyes.

Hey, guys.

They all clamber after him. Mario scrambles to his feet and steps back. Just as he’s about to unleash a spin attack--

CRASH!

The goombas disappear underneath a Thwomp. Mario laughs at the unfortunate situation. However, BUMP! Mario is pushed forward. Ouch!

He turns around and sees a stray Goomba actively attacking him. One spin attack later, Mario prepares to backflip out of there, but he hears something metallic

CLINK on the ground. Upon further inspection, the piece of metal turned out to be something the Goomba wore as a hat, that very suspiciously resembles a thimble. Huh. Interesting.

Mario grabs the item and meets back with Sproxie and Seamster Toad again. “I must have disturbed so many Thwomps on my way to find the needle,” Seamster Toad apologizes. “I’ll be more careful.” Mario shakes his head, as if saying 'no worries!' and holds out the thimble he found.

“No way!” Seamster Toad exclaims. “Of all places… Well, let’s sew everything together!”

And with that, Seamster Toad is GONE. He’s already with the blank cloth on the other side of the map.

Not too long after, Mario and Sproxie catch up with him. But something catches

Sproxie’s eye… making him linger behind.

Mario and Seamster Toad take out all of the supplies they collected and set it in front of the blank cloth. Reacting to the supplies, a stitching stencil magically appears via a sort glow. Seamster Toad grabs the needle, thread, and thimble and gets to work!

Off in the distance, a cosmic humanoid figure lingers, watching. Sproxie looks at it in curiosity. “Hello?”

No response.

Sproxie inches closer. “Can you talk?”

Again, no response.

“Well, I’m a friend. My name’s Sproxie. If you’re lost, we can bring you to our ship and help you find your home,” Sproxie tries again, but there was still no answer. In frustration, the luma mutters, “Who are you?”

POOF! A Launch Star appears above the newly embroidered cloth.

“Hey!” Mario calls, taking Sproxie’s attention away from the mysterious being.

The stitching pattern was a big green L. Mario gives a double take. Out of all the possible patterns… he missed his brother. But he’s brave. He’ll survive. And one day they’ll be reunited.

Sproxie flies back to Mario’s side, and the band of three fly away.

With a clean landing, Mario, Sproxie, and Seamster Toad now stand on a large floating wooden ring. Along the inside are several hooks. Seamster Toad’s face lights up with an idea. “It’s a loom, like the one we just did together!” he beams. “But what and how are we sewing this time? Our resources have been exhausted now.”

POOF! POOF! POOF! As if on cue, hordes of Octoombas, Mini Mecha Koopas, and Goombas spawn all over the loom. Right side up, sideways, even upside down— or was anything really upside down?

Mario runs into the fray, knocking out any enemy in his way. A spin attack here. A ground pound there. Sproxie joins in, eyeing two Goombas standing next to each other marching over to Mario’s turned back. A thought springs to the luma’s mind. Sproxie flies to one Goomba and knocks into him, stunning him. He merges with his body and amplifies its gravitational pull. The second Goomba slowly slides against the floor, then gets dragged. Startled, he starts running away, but he can’t go anywhere. The second he gives up, his body

flings backwards—

Past the first Goomba.

Sproxie pops out. Oh great.

THUD! The goomba rams into Mario’s back mid-jump, knocking him over. Sproxie winces and rushes back to his side. “I’m so sorry, Mario!” he panics. Mario gets back up and squashes an Octoomba. A coin pops out and he swipes the coin to replenish his health. Looking back at the Luma child, he gives an unimpressed look.

After that, all the enemies had been defeated. Some balls of yarn were left behind in some enemies’ wakes, and in two places across from each other on the loom:

POOF!! POOF!!

Spin Drills appear! Seamster Toad runs towards a nearby Spin Drill, and observes it curiously. “What is this strange thing?” As Mario and Sproxie catch up to him, the toad looks curiously at the heroes for the answer.

Mario smiles, recognizing the Spin Drill. He looks out, across the loom where he can

see a glimpse of the other one. The ball of yarn closest to him glows and hops in place. He looks at the multiple Spin Drill-sized holes, then the idea strikes him.

He hoists up the Spin Drill, holding it over his head, and disappears into the ground.

Mario shoots himself across the loom, but in his wake, a thread follows him all the way through the loop on the other side. Sproxie and Seamster Toad cheer at Mario’s discovery.

Mario follows each empty hole and weaves some thread through them using the Spin Drill. After weaving the eighth thread, they lock in and transform into a perfectly woven white cloth! Starbits explode at the center as Mario regroups with his friends.

“Good job, Mario!” Seamster Toad cheered, as Sproxie gathers all the starbits. Mario smiles as a ‘Thank you!’ Seamster Toad loses his footing a little bit. “Say,” he nervously chuckles, “This is very difficult to stand on.”

Mario turns his attention to his feet and presses his weight into the flimsy material. It’s kinda like a trampoline. Above the team appeared four pairs of bobbys flying above them, as threads connect each pair above them.

“Ah, I see.” Seamster Toad recognizes the objects’ formation. “Follow me!” he calls

to Mario, before jumping up a tremendous height and out of sight.

Mario shields his hand against the sun, but still ends up losing him. Might as well just get going.

One, two, three hops and a heavy ground pound launch Mario into the sky!and onto the first of four trapeze lines. Mario waves his arms frantically to maintain balance. Sproxie merges himself with the line, and it becomes outlined in green.

Mario felt lighter, and quickly leveled himself. Facing Mario on the flat end of a bobby sat a mini mecha koopa. Mario’s eyes widened.

No. No you don’t. Don’t you dare.

At the sight of the plumber, the mini mecha koopa charges up a fire attack.

Mario stares daggers into them. Since it’s mechanical, it can’t register such feelings, so it spits fire anyway.

Fire travels up the thread. Mario bounces up to the next one.

Another mini mecha koopa, this time placed behind him, revs up for an attack of his own. Mario bounces up again.

A mini mecha koopa faces him, but a little bit behind on the memo. While he recognizes Mario’s presence, the plumber is throwing starbits past him.

Over his head.

Behind him.

Frustrated, Mario winks and aims with his thumb.

ZING! ZING! ZING!

CLANK! CLANK! CLANK!!

Finally— Oh, right!!!!! It doesn’t work!!!!!!!

Angered, fire bleeds from the mini mecha koopa’s iron maw nope nope nope

Mario bounces to the final and highest strand of thread. Not seeing a mini mecha koopa right away, he turns around to find him.

Sproxie catches up with Mario. “I can try and get rid of him for you!!” Mario hesitates and gives him a look conveying ‘respectfully, no please’. Sproxie sighs. “That’s fair.” With one last hop, Mario enters a Sling Star and flies off.

Another “grassy” field. However, instead of hills, there are wooden blocks jutting out of each fabric, like it shoved it’s way from underneath.

Seamster Toad already awaits them with a smile.

At the end of this flat plain is a perfectly landed starshroom on a block of wood, with a large sack of sewing supplies leaning against it.

“I found my ship!” the toad beams.

Sproxie’s eyes widen. “Mister, you have a LOT of stuff in that bag.”

With a nervous hum, he replies, “I like sewing. A lot. I wanted to get a few more things before leaving… but now I have paid for my greedy mistake. I just want to go home.” Under his breath, he adds in relief, “Good thing Chompers doesn’t need to eat or he’d be dead…”

The trio set their best feet forward. The final stretch!

SNIP SNIP SNIP!

“YIPE!”

Seamster Toad and Mario spring back from getting their toes clipped by large animated scissors cutting across the grassy fabric. it cuts a corner and completes a square. The square of fabric peels away and flutters into the void.

Farther out are more animated scissors, cutting up the road ahead of the heroes.

Mario long-jumps across the first gap, and sprints around others in active creation.

A line of starbits appears, and Mario follows its guide to reach the end.

When approaching a large wooden block, everyone takes a moment to breathe. A divot in the wood holds Seamster Toad’s starshroom and a Ship Piece surrounded by circles of string.

Giggling, Sproxie rushes to the Ship Piece and spins around it. “Hey! Look!”

Seamster Toad rushes to his ship and hugs it. “Ship sweet ship.”Mario grabs the Ship Piece, and it dances around him as he and Sproxie begin to float.

Mario, Sproxie, and Seamster Toad celebrate with a victory cheer and head to their homes!

°°°

Mario and Sproxie fly in with the Ship Piece, landing safely on Starship Mario.

You Found A Ship Piece!

Patch Scrap Galaxy

“Making Patches from Scraps”

“Amazing job, Mario! Was the gravity to your liking?” Lubba laughs.

Sproxie sighs and laughs. “Much better than the last one.”

“You’re back. I’ve prepared something for you,” a voice speaks from beside Sproxie, making him jump. “AAH! Where did you come from?”

Moving to face Lubba, Mario, and Sproxie, he replies, “I’ve been here the whole time.”

From behind him, he pulls out a pair of boots. They look kind of clunky, but appear to have been made with Mario’s shoe style in mind. Around the ankle, there’s a spherical dial with two colored sides, one red, and the other green. Lubba’s eyes widen in awe.

“I made these boots for you,” Travix says, “They will accommodate to each abnormal gravity change.”

The crystal luma gestures to the Navigation Panel next to the helm.

“I also upgraded the Navigation Panel to give you updates on changes to a galaxy’s gravitational pull from the Gravity Crisis. Take a look.”

Mario walks to the panel, with Sproxie peeking over his shoulder.

He selects Murky Pocket Galaxy again, and instead of a simple bio next to it, an additional badge was attached next to the galaxy’s model. This badge was red, and had animated red arrows moving downward.“This red badge signifies heavy gravity. That means the galaxy has more gravity than normal. The same principle applies for a green badge. Green badges signify light gravity; a galaxy has less gravity than normal.”

Mario nods. Lubba hums in thought. “So how do we get the boots to work?”

Travix nods and explains:

“The boots can’t be adjusted once in the field, so it’s important to configure them before you enter a galaxy.

“For Murky Pocket Galaxy, I’d suggest you configure your boots to the light setting. That way, the gravitational fields cancel out, and you will be able to walk around normally.”

Travix holds the boots to Mario, who takes them and puts them on. He checks out the new look, looking at both sides of each foot, then each sole. Huh, that’s interesting. With its current configuration, the boot’s soles are red.

By this point, other nearby lumas have gathered around them to observe this wicked cool technology.

“Mario, what happens when you turn the dial?” Sproxie coos eagerly.

Mario turns the dial with a click.

YYORMMMM!!

A buzz shakes through Mario’s body, but it slowly dies after a moment. He hops a little bit to stomp out the excess tingles. He feels boosted with amplified energy in his feet.

Travix nods once in finality. “I hope this helps your adventure, Mario.”

Mario tips his hat as Travix disappears again.

“Man,” Lubba says, “that Travix guy sure knows how to make cool stuff. It evens out his coldness.”

Mario and Sproxie nod. Baby Luma jumps out of Mario’s hat.“Do you feel that?” the luma child asks Mario. Sproxie looks around blankly, then shakes his head. Mario tilts his own.

Baby Luma pouts a little. “I can feel Mama! She’s close by!”

Mario and Lubba gasp. “If she’s somewhere within this cluster,” Lubba says, “Then we need to get hustling! Gravity’s getting crazier and crazier.”

The plumber nods. Baby Luma nods in determination before returning to Mario’s cap.

Consulting the Navigation Panel again, Mario returns to the screen Travix showed him, displaying info on Murky Pocket Galaxy.

He sets the destination, and he was off! Flying into Murky Pocket Galaxy.

Let’s try this one more time.

Chapter Text

[Mission 1: “Trudging Through the Mud”]

Wind WOOSHES against Mario’s ears. He braces for the steadily increased gravitational pull.

THUD!!

Mario lands on his feet in the ankle-deep mud, but his weight was uneven, causing him to slip forward to one knee and stick his arms out for balance. When he straightens himself, he stands up and dusts off his overalls.

WELCOME TO THE GALAXY!

First thing on Mario’s to-do list was to get to dry land. He trudges through the mud until he reaches a grassy embankment. The long grass was up to Mario’s waist.

Sproxie huddles against Mario’s arm, gaining the plumber’s attention. He’s slowly sliding down his arm. He struggles to fly any higher. He gives Mario a sad look, the cloudy color of his soul even turning blue to match.

“Mario… I can’t fly like this…” he whimpers. “I really am trying! But I can’t help but sink.”

Dang… that’s right.

Even though Mario can survive the heavy gravity with his new Gravity Boots, Sproxie wasn’t given anything. Hopefully it wasn’t an oversight, and it was Travix suggesting Sproxie had more to learn about his heritage… or something.

Mario catches Sproxie and holds him back up to his face, giving him a reassuring smile.

He thinks for a moment. He can’t really carry him the whole time, he’d need both of his hands to use his Star Power.

He lifts one of his gravity boots, looking at the child and gesturing with his head to it.

“You want me to bond to it?”

Mario shrugs. I mean, only if you want. It might help keep you from getting lost, too.

Sproxie thinks, then nods. His blue hue warms up to a determined yellowish-green. “Alright. Let’s try it!”

Mario nods, and Sproxie slips into the frames of Mario’s Gravity Boots! They are filled with a warm surge of power.

SPROXIE HAS BONDED TO YOUR GRAVITY BOOTS!

IN GALAXIES WITH ALTERED GRAVITY, SPROXIE WILL

BE UNABLE TO HELP MARIO NORMALLY. WITH SPROXIE

BONDED TO MARIO’S GRAVITY BOOTS,

HE CAN MAKE THEM GLOW .

                                                                 (A)

IF THAT HAPPENS, TAKE A LOOK AROUND.

SOMETHING INTERESTING MIGHT BE NEARBY!

                                                                  (A)

Mario resumes his adventure, looking out and above himself. Not like he could even see his own feet in this tall grass.

This whole galaxy is held together by this large dark tear-shaped rock, where everything sits at the rounded base and the thinner end stuck out up top. It appeared like a handle to a bucket. Large holes have eroded through the top end of the rock to give it that look.

Although, lighter colored rings along the rock walls appear lighter and lighter before reaching the ground indicate that this galaxy wasn’t always this flat or pressed down.

Ready to move forward, Mario does, sparking some starbits to erupt from some of the groups of grass. He reaches his hand out to collect some, missing others before continuing on.

Mario’s boots light up.

He stops and turns around, collecting the rest of the starbits. The boots die down again.

The grass looked more drained in color the more Mario traveled. The bright greens started fading into a dry, dead brown. Following the color change, it brought him to a clearing to a dark, murky pond.

The grass blended into a sandy bank. Even the sand was dirty, and a faded brown instead of a warm tan, speckled with black stones and broken shells.

An extremely thin, yet tall tree trunk grows at the edge of the shoreline, creating an arch with its trunk, its snapped branches dangling close to the ground.

A crystal containing a Bee Mushroom floats closer inland, in the center of a circle of pebbles.

A Whittle is looking out over the water.

“Man…”

Mario stands next to him. What’s going on?

The whittle sighs. “No more friends.”

That’s when Mario noticed a dock extending from the shore into the pond with an old grass-woven boat sitting all deflated at the end of the dock.

Upon closer investigation, it was pretty clear that the boat couldn’t hold itself up anymore due to the increase in gravity. It was practically smooshed.

Another whittle standing next to the boat hangs its head. “Mechanic Gone. Boat broken.”

The cloudy water is riding close to the top of the dock, threatening to flood it.

Out across the water are large lily pads scattered about. Some extremely tall yet thin trees poke out from the depths of the water, leaning over and attempting to provide shade, despite their branches being too skinny and malnourished to provide any of the sort.

The lily pads were too far for Mario to jump to, even for a good long jump and spin-attack trick.

Mario thinks for a minute, then looks back at the Bee Mushroom encased in glass.

He runs over and breaks it open, grabbing the Bee Mushroom inside it.

[You transformed into Bee Mario! Hold (A) to buzz around!]

He runs back to the dock and leaps as far out as he can. The gravity almost shoots him into the water, making Bee Mario’s wings work double time to make sure his feet don’t touch the water. His flight meter is also depleting doubly as fast.

Remarkably, Bee Mario reached the first lily pad, however a bit off-balance. Landing right on the edge, Bee Mario had to stick his arms out and wiggle them to make sure he wouldn’t fall backward and touch the water. Thankfully, the attempt was successful.

This water is vast, and speckled with large lily pads and tall, thin trees sticking out from underneath the lake. Farther ahead are some small sandy islands.

Bee Mario leaps from lily pad to lily pad. Eventually, the distance between them grew farther and farther apart. Eventually, Bee Mario was stuck, and needed a new strategy.

After looking around for a moment, he took notice of the trees. There was tree sap sticking to the side of the trunk. Is it the same as honey?

The hero jumped and flew over and clung to the sticky sap. He climbs up until he reaches a branch he can stand on. From there he jumps to another tree and climbs back down, jumping on the next lily pad.

Close by is a small, sandy island with a green tube sticking out in the middle. Bee Mario flies over and enters the tube.

Inside, Bee Mario flips and lands on his feet.

Wooden planks separate Mario from the other half of the house waiting to be discovered underneath. This floor had one chair, a table, and a lamp on top. There’s even a small bookshelf on the opposite side.

This sand hill… is someone’s house.

Bee Mario ground-pounds through a trapdoor, revealing the basement floor of the house.

Now, the floor was made of glass. It was like you were in the ocean.

There’s a wardrobe to Mario’s right, and to the left…

“GAH!!” A penguin jumps from his bed, a book flying out of his hands.

The plumber freezes.

The penguin slams his book down. “What in the name of—! Who are you?!”

Bee Mario blinks.

This is some dude’s bedroom.

“I can’t SWIM anymore, and now I can’t NAP. What-? You just enter anyone’s houses any time you like? Get out of my house!” The penguin throws his book at Mario.

OUCH. Oh that actually hurt. It’s almost as if he got hit by the book a second and third time he’d be doing this whole mission over again kinda hurt.

Bee Mario raises his hands in defense, and also in apology. He backs away and buzzes through the trap door, and once again to exit via the tube.

Emerging back to the surface, Bee Mario leaps from the tube and collects himself for a moment.

“WAH!!”

Bee Mario looks up. Around. Where’s that coming from?

Bee Mario’s boots start glowing, but faintly. He points his foot in one direction. The glow dies.

Points it in another direction. Warm.

Turns around and points behind himself. Warmer. He heads that way.

A few lily pads and trees later, Bee Mario finds himself crawling across a branch to reach another branch to a nearby tree. As he continues, the branch slowly gets weighed down more and more. His boots gradually get brighter.

Bee Mario uses his weight to fling himself to the next branch, then begins his descent. At halfway down the tree trunk, he jumps off and lands on a lily pad.

The lily pad tilts to the plumber’s weight, and begins sinking. Bee Mario jumps high in surprise and lands on the higher end. Something black was corroding through it. In fact, this whole area of water here was this thick, black tar-like substance. Gotta have quick feet.

“HEY!!” The voice cries again, this time a little louder.

It seems to be coming from another sandy mini-island a bit farther ahead. This time, a tree looms over it, hanging its branches like curtains.

Bee Mario hops here, there, climbs, jumps, and finally lands on the small island. He looks around, trying to hear the voice.

Bee Mario’s boots glow brightly. He walks through the curtain of branches and examines the tree. A large hole is in its trunk. The boots glow really bright.

“HELP ME!!”

The voice echoes from inside. Bee Mario jumps and climbs inside.

Bee Mario lands on his feet in what seemed to be a small nook. Candles sit at varying levels around a chair with a blanket hanging over the back of it. A ball of yarn and a needle sit on the seat cushion.

Quivering next to the chair stood Captain Toad.

“AAH!! A BEE!!” The toad jumps, then zips away to hide behind the chair.

Bee Mario just stands there, watching him.

A moment passes.

Captain Toad sticks his head back out, then sheepishly creeps back over.

“Oh, it’s just you, Mario. Sorry.”

Bee Mario shrugs. Alright man, why were you screaming help if you are completely fine?

“I thought I saw eyes… big scary red eyes staring at me from underwater. So to make sure I was in good condition to find my crew, I have decided to stay in here for the time being until they leave,” Captain Toad says.

“…”

“…and I’m stuck in here. Can you help me out?”

Figures. Bee Mario nods.

Captain Toad jumps once and cheers.

[The mighty Captain Toad has temporarily joined your party!]

The duo exits the tree, returning to the sandy “front lawn” of an island.

At the edge of the shore, Captain Toad and Bee Mario stop look around. A trail of billowing smoke rising into the air gets the yellow-and-black clad hero’s attention. It seems to come from something against the murky beach farther down the shoreline.

He sets off, Captain Toad following behind, running across the beach.

Finally, they arrive at the starshroom, which was being worked at by Banktoad, and assisted by Hint Toad. Yellow Toad, of course, was laying down underneath the ship, napping instead of fixing the wiring.

Banktoad looks up and lights up when he sees his captain. “Look! It’s Captain Toad! And Mario!”

“I’m glad everyone’s okay. Now, let’s hand Mario the ship piece we found!”

Silence falls. Banktoad and Hint Toad look at each other.

“No,” Captain Toad sighs, “It did not—“

“It got broken and scattered around this dangerous place, yes,” Hint Toad admits.

RIP.

Turning to Bee Mario, Captain Toad says, “Mario, you don’t mind collecting them while we repair the ship, do you? And we can all fly back together to Starship Mario again.”

Bee Mario nods. Brb gang

As he nears the shore, his boots glow faintly. Hmm…

He steps closer to the water, before walking waist deep and ground-pounding deep into the water. Farewell, Bee Mushroom.

Murky green-ness surrounds Mario. He holds his hands in front of his face, but still sees nothing but yucky green. Reemerging, Mario returns to shore. So… how is Mario supposed to follow the boots’ guiding light if he can’t see anything?

After running around aimlessly for a good while, Mario begins messing around and finding out.

He returns to where his boots began glowing once more, and ground-pounded one of the lily pads nearby. Water fills it and the lily pad begins to sink.

Mario follows the lily pad down. Somehow, in its wake, it cuts through the water, creating a clear peep-hole in the shape of a cylinder surrounding Mario. Thanks to this underwater all-seeing veil, he could tell where he was going and navigate himself to the sea floor if he wanted. He didn’t know how that was possible, and frankly, I don’t, either.

The boots began glowing brighter. Sea floor it is.

It wasn’t an easy way down, either. The descent slowed; something started eating away at the bottom of the lily pad, as the whole platform slants. Mario slips a little and regains his footing. It’s a clump of that corrosive black tar again!

Now smaller, the lily pad escapes its grasp and continues its way down. Mario takes a more cautious approach and steers the rest of the lily pad with his weight, moving from side to side to avoid the ever-increasing number of tar blots.

Mario enters a bubble of light, and the lily pad disappears from underneath Mario’s feet. He sinks into a clear bubble, crystals decorating the ground. The sea floor.

They glowed white, and by some supernatural force, they glowed extra bright, reflecting what little sunlight was able to reach them. For a moment Mario wondered what the water would have been like if it had stayed clear. Another effect of the Gravity Crisis? Who knows.

Swimming around, Mario finds some crystals with a luma and a penguin stuck inside. Breaking both open, both characters express their gratitude, the penguin swimming back up to shore, and the luma transforming into a Sling Star for Mario.

He didn’t take the transportation right away. His boots were still glowing, meaning a part of ship piece was nearby.

The more Mario explored this area, the more he discovered how expansive and intricate it was. The formation of these crystals seem like they’ve overgrown, but they also resemble a coral reef. 

He swims through a small opening, entering a clearing with a small ship piece in the middle of it. Mario spins through the water, flinging himself to it and collecting it instantly.

Mario returns to the Sling Star and flies outta there!

He lands on a sandy island, this one being a bit larger. A circle of flowers surround Mario. His boots glow again, almost excitedly. He sighs. Alright fine.

Mario spins in place and collects the starbits flying from the petals, the boots dying down once the collecting was completed. He finally takes a look at his surroundings.

He had made a circle and returned back to the dock from earlier. However, from this angle, Mario notices a small shed he hadn’t seen coming in initially. 

Going to investigate, Mario opens the door to reveal a bunch of junk piles kept inside. Despite nothing being here, Mario’s boots start to glow again.

With no better ideas, Mario begins sifting through the trash. After a moment, he comes across a crate hidden under a huge pile shoved back in a corner. Inside was a Fire Flower! Ha, nice.

[You transformed into Fire Mario! Shake [] to shoot fireballs.]

Using the fiery power-up, Fire Mario burns the rest of the trash until finally! A part of a ship piece flies out, and he catches it and pockets it.

Fire Mario makes eye contact with the same whittle from earlier when exiting the shed. He’s eyeing him warily. Don’t tell me he was keeping that trash on purpose.

The fire flower wears off.

The whittle’s eyes Mario even more suspiciously.

Mario waves at him. At that, the whittle just turns back around to look out at the water again.

Let’s hope he wasn’t saving that trash on purpose. Please.

Mario runs by the crystal carrying a Bee Mushroom and flies off again, adventuring in a different area than last time. Eventually, his boots start to glow faintly.

Whenever he neared trees was when the glowing really persisted, so by the time he reached the next one closest to him, he began climbing up its trunk.

To get a better look on where he’s climbing to, Bee Mario takes a rest stop on a branch and looks up.

There isn’t anything shiny around on this tree…

He looks around. Something glints in his eye.

A lone tree, set apart from lily pads and other trees, stood tall, standing apart from the rest of the slumping trees. Sitting at the very top was a shiny ship piece.

CREEEAK.

There was no way he could reach it from here… but if climbed up this tree a little more, he might just be able to land it.

CRACK!!

The branch falls underneath Bee Mario’s weight. He scrambles to the tree trunk, trying to grab onto any sap to avoid losing all his progress.

Finally, Bee Mario reaches as high as he can on the tree. Next, he positions himself, back facing the tree, then—

He kicks off, launching himself into the air towards the lone tree. Using his limited flight stamina carefully, Bee Mario successfully latches onto the tree trunk, sighing in relief.

“AAH!” Something squealed above him. A yellow star child leaps up from its spot on a branch to fly upward. “A bee!!”

Oh come on. Not again!

Just as Bee Mario reaches his hand out to stop the luma, he was long gone. Oh well.

Bee Mario begins his climb, making use of any sections of tree sap and sets of branches, as long as he was careful of the time spent standing on them. He even discovered a 1-up!

Reaching the top, Bee Mario rediscovers the luma, who is scared at the sight of such a large bee. He quivers in fear, squeezing his eyes shut. “Please don’t sting me!”

Bee Mario collects the third small ship piece and waits on the luma.

After a moment of nothing happening, the luma slowly opens his eyes again. “Oh, whoops. It’s just you! Boy, am I glad to see you! Can I follow you back to Mama?”

He hesitates. Surely he’d understand. She’ll be found eventually, but for now, it’s always best to help her out by rounding up any and all of her star children he can find in her absence.

Bee Mario nods, and the Luma cheers. He tells the child where he can stay in the meantime, and he flies off towards the Starshroom.

He watches after the luma, then when he’s out of sight, he realizes how high up he is and steps back. It’s kinda dizzying. But… it would be fun if—

Bee Mario jumps off the top of the tree, plummeting to the open water below. He starts to fall faster, and faster until—

SLAP!!

Mario feels like he was hit by a truck. Oh yeah. There’s still heavy gravity here. Completely submerged, Mario struggles to find which way is up or down. That hurt so bad it’s almost if he did it two more times he would die or something.

Through the murky water was some light. Mario reaches his hands out to it as it grew bigger… then multiplied. Bright red dots became a pair. Then multiple pairs.

Small black blobs accompanied the red dots, two moving with each bodOH MY GOSH ITS BONEFINS

Mario scrambles to swim away, barely able to dodge the closest one’s attempt to take a bite out of him. When believing to be at a fair distance, the plumber turns around again to count the pairs of red dots. Seven pairs.

How did these idiots even wind up here? Prolly Bowser again. Let’s get rid of them.

If we can find a shell in these disgusting waters.

Mario spins, propelling him forward in a direction he couldn’t really discern. He finds a wall and uses it to find the sea floor, glistening with crystals. Maybe if Mario can’t find any shells, he can get them stuck in this crystal reef.

Weaving through crystals, Mario hears two explosions. Five to go.

Before he knew it, he was about to swim straight into a spiky wall. He ground-pounds, dropping deeper in the water. Two more bonefins, right on his tail, fail to turn in time and fall apart. Three to go.

A thought hits him. Maybe ground pound could also be used for offensive purposes? It’ll be difficult underwater, but it’s worth a shot. And there’s plenty of “spikes” these idiots can be bumped into.

It took a while, but with a little extra work and juking them out, Mario successfully succeeded in knocking two into crystals, breaking them.

There was one left, but Mario couldn’t see him right away. A frightened chirp slices through the water. Mario swims in its direction and finds the glowing red eyes of last bonefin chasing after something.

Mario swims over and catches the bonefin in a ground-pound, knocking it into a cluster of crystals, destroying it. Finally.

The other party stops swimming, realizing the threat was gone, and swims back to Mario. It was a penguin! “Thank you, Mario!” It smiles cheerfully. He reaches his fin back and pulls out a star piece for Mario. “I found this earlier, and I thought you’d like to have it, so it’s yours!”

Mario gratefully takes the star piece, thanking the penguin.

Above water, a red cap shoots up from underwater, falling lopsided on Mario’s head. He adjusts his cap and swims to shore. That’s the fourth piece. One more to go.

With nothing better to do, Mario returns to the Starshroom to check in on things. Upon arrival, he was greeted happily by the crew.

“Mario!” Banktoad approaches him. “We found a pipe! We don’t know where it goes, but it sounds really peaceful on the other side.”

As the plumber is guided to the pipe, Yellow Toad has his head stuck in it, practically sitting upside down.

“Yellow Toad!” Banktoad whines, while Yellow Toad pouts, crossing his arms. “So Toads don’t fit in this one,” he mumbles.

Banktoad and Mario grab each of Yellow Toad’s feet and pull him out. He lands on his rear-end, and sighs in relief. “Thanks guys. Now I can go back to sleep…” He lays down right there on the grass. “Let me know when we … zzzzzz….” Aaand he’s out.

Banktoad sighs and shakes his head. “Oh well. Anyways, the pipe is yours. Hopefully there’s another ship piece in there.”

Mario nods a “thank you” and enters the pipe.

Mario exits, feeling a shift in gravity, in the upside-down way.

The first thing he felt was stillness. Then a gentle breeze. He was still outside.

He was on the bottom side of the galaxy, staring straight into the sky that was now all around him, not hidden by a pocket of rock.

A large circular dip in the terrain is in the center of this small hidden area, covered in grass and decorated with several multicolored flowers. Surrounding the natural pavilion was small streams of water, occasionally branching off and falling upwards, like reverse fountains, disappearing into the abyss above.

Most of all, what familiar old landmark sat there, lodged into the ground at a slant, perfectly blending in with the grass as a hill in it’s own right, was—

The Terrace.

Mario approaches it warily. Observing it’s broken state. The wood had broken and split near the base, creating a caping hole on it’s right side. He steps inside, and the light from the sky only illuminated half of the room, creating a weird, “what once was” feeling. He slides his hand across the walls.

There was no pull star, and the mural was scratched and beaten. Cobwebs, although very few, lingered around the edges of the walls and the floor, as well as one dangling from the ceiling.

As Mario neared the center, a small floating blue light emerges. Mario looks at it curiously.

The light expands, and Mario looks away to shield his eyes. The light fades, turning into a full-body cosmic figure. Faceless, and hands held to its chest.

Mario’s boots start glowing like crazy, as if Sproxie was pointing frantically at it himself. Are you seeing this?!

Stunned and confused, Mario waves at it, offering a greeting. The figure doesn’t react.

After a delay, the figure’s hands move from its chest, holding something enveloped in a white glow. The light clears, revealing the final ship piece fragment.

“Thank you for helping restore our universe,” it speaks, then disappears.

All five ship fragments leave Mario’s pocket and swirl around each other, fusing into one big Ship Piece, and finally descending to Mario for him to collect.

Who… or what was that?

Well, he wasn’t going to get any answers all alone. Let’s take this, return to the crew, and return to base. Maybe Lubba, Sproxie, Polari, or Travix know something.

°°°

Mario flies in with the Ship Piece, and lands safely on Starship Mario. To the gravity change, Mario wiggles his arms and lifts his feet to get re-accustomed. Sproxie springs out from the boots and does a happy spin. From behind, Captain Toad’s Starshroom ‘parks’ close by.

You Found A Ship Piece!

Murky Pocket Galaxy

“Trudging Through the Mud”

“Okay.” Lubba speaks, not even a second after Mario lands. “Tell me. What’s it like?”

Mario takes a second to figure out what he’s talking about. In his silence, Sproxie pouts, “It’s stupid. I have to bond with the boots.”

To that, Lubba laughs with a hint of sympathy. “Sorry, lil’ guy. I’d assumed you knew how to navigate it on your own, being a Crystal Luma and all.”

Sproxie tilts his head to the side, indifferently. “Maybe I have yet to learn something. Travix said something like that earlier.” then a thought reminds him— “Oh! Mario!! Those cosmic figures! You saw him too, right?”

You could see when merged with my boots bro?

Sproxie laughs nervously, “Okay, I felt it. They had the same aura that the other ones I met recently had.”

Hold on, when did you meet others? Was it today?!

“Cosmic figures? Reminds me of those Cosmic Clones you mentioned to me once on our last adventure. How they were a real pain.” Lubba says.

Sproxie shakes his head. “They weren’t like the ones in Deja Vu. These ones were… nice.”

The purple luma laughs. “Whaddya know. Those lil gremlins CAN have a change of heart.”

The sound of a group of chattering lumas approach the helm area. Among them was Polari, eager to see Mario and Sproxie’s return. “Any news on Rosalina?”

The duo shake their heads regrettably.

Polari frowns in thought, then composes himself, determined. “If she really is in this cluster like I thought, then she’s bound to be in the next galaxy, Palm Plage Galaxy.”

Mario nods and Sproxie eagerly whisks over to the Navigation Panel. Joining the luma, the red-clad hero selects the last galaxy they haven’t visited yet.

Representing Palm Plage Galaxy was a 3D preview of a spherical ocean with a small sandy island sitting on top, adorned with a sole palm tree, a red X, and a small black-colored pirate flag planted in the sand. The water around the island appeared wavy, but not too aggressive. But that’s not promising anything when Mario actually pays a visit.

To his surprise, there were no emergency pop-ups. Time to mess around and find out. Mario shuffles his boots off and sets them off next to the Nav Panel.

Mario and Sproxie lock into the Launch Star and blasted off into space towards Palm Plage Galaxy!

Chapter Text

[Mission 1: Surfing the Waves with Aqua Berry!]

Warm wind fell on Mario’s face. Sproxie’s laughter was heard underneath the whirring air of the new atmosphere.

The galaxy looked… normal. There was warm sun and many bright beaches, just like the description. As he got closer, Mario could spot some boat docks, with some pirate ships anchored by them.

Mario spins himself into a ball just before … sticking himself deep into the sandy floor.

WELCOME TO THE GALAXY!

Mario wrestled against the sand to get his arms loose, then spun himself up and out of the predicament.

The two travelers were on the sandy coastline of a vast ocean. Along the coast ahead of the two was a dock with a lot of different styles and sizes of pirate ships anchored by it.

Just above the horizon, a large moon shone. Mario furrows his brow in confusion. He looks to the sky and finds the sun, but an additional moon! Sproxie “ooh”s at the discovery.

Wild. Ok. Noted.

Water brushes against Mario’s feet, briefly lapping over the shoes before pulling back to sea. Mario watches the tide. The water pulls back… farther… and farther… until it finally gets caught in another wave pushing it up the shore again.

Insane tide. Was this how things had always been, or was this a part of the Gravity Crisis?

Walking a little farther away from the tide, Mario and Sproxie find the beach littered with washed-up crates, driftwood, seaweed, shells, you name it.

Approaching some in curiosity, Mario WHACKS them open with a spin attack, sprouting a handful of starbits that Sproxie promptly collects.

Red and blue crabs travel along the shore, along with some Koopa Troopas that Mario and Sproxie made mental note of to avoid running into them as they began to gather as much loot as they could from the crates.

A few more, and Mario uncovers some coins and even a 1-up.

The two continue traveling up the beach towards the dock.

Next to it, there’s a sign that reads: “STAY ON YOUR SHIP! NO TRESPASSING!”

Ship? Lo and behold, anchored next to the dock were a few beautiful grandiose pirate ships.

Stopping to admire the amazing ships, something glints in Mario’s eye.

“Mario, look! Is that what I think it is?” Sproxie points in the direction of the pirate ships.

Through the windows of a captain’s quarters shone a Ship Piece, reflecting the sun ever so often as it hovers in place.

“We have to find out who owns that pirate ship and talk with them!” Sproxie and Mario share a nod.

•••

The tavern was filled with rowdy pirates, either sitting at tables playing cards or talking at the bar with a cold drink.

Sproxie flies close to Mario.

They stop by a group of pirates playing darts, who appear intrigued by the two outsiders. Upon asking about the owner of the pirate ship, however, their semi-inviting demeanor shifts to aggression, making Mario quickly back off.

When approaching the next foul-smelling pirate, of whom was a roughed-up penguin sitting at a table in an active game of cards with his friends, laughs in their faces. “You want some of Requin’s treasure? Ooooh! You’re in for it now!” he turns to his penguin comrades, throwing a thumb in the plumbers direction. “This rapscallion thinks he can take your treasure, cap’n!”

A larger penguin wearing a large— and beautifully decorated— pirate hat raises his gaze to the intruders who so rudely interrupted his game of cards, revealing an eyepatch over his eye.

His [RATED PG DRINK] slams against the table, some droplets scattering across the cards. “Who dares?!”

Mario steps up, and after a quick glance at his expressionless yet bold face, Sproxie manages a stoic expression of his own.

Captain Requinador eyes the plumber up and down. “Who is zis unfashionably red-clad scallywag? Don’t you know red’s not in style?”

The pirates stare at him. Mario shrugs.

Sproxie flies in front of him, clearing his throat nervously. “Sorry but, we couldn’t help but notice an important Ship Piece in your ship. It’s really important that we have it, is it alright if you… give it… to us…?” the crystal luma cowers at the captain’s increasingly evil glare.

“You want MY treazure? You think that you can HAVE MY treazure? When i found it fair and square? Don’t make me laugh!” Captain Requinador breaks out into hearty guffaws, the rest of his crew following suit, and doing so very loudly.

A pirate sitting next to him whispers something in the Captain’s ear, making him grin devilishly. “Oh really?” he mutters. The pirate leans back and they share mischievous glances.

“Alright. We’ll have a compromise,” the captain offers, relaxing slightly. He beckons for the two to come closer. Mario and Sproxie step forward some more.

He grimaces at Mario for not looking the part of a deck hand. Musky mustache and flimsy overalls. Dull boots. “I’ll have you two be my deck hands in our next voyage. The deck is pretty dirty after hauling so much loot. How’s zat?”

[Ok!]                  [Works for me!]

“Perfect. Now you’ll have ze luxury of seeing my beauty up close. But! If you ever try and steal it, I will feed you to the water beast!!” he threatens.

He and his crew share knowing looks, further confusing Mario and Sproxie.

Glancing at each other, the two agree to accept the offer in hopes that terms change to more favorable odds for them.

•••

“Welcome to my luxurious ship! She’s a beauty, is she not?” Captain Requinador throws his hands out wide to gesture to the deck the lot of them now stood on.

Sproxie admires the ship next to Mario as they both stand in front of the captain.

“Now, to properly introduce my crew.” the captain said, first gesturing to two penguins wearing brown bandanas. They raise their fins as their hellos, albeit as impersonal as possible.

“These are the deck hands you’ll be working with,” the captain begins, then points high in the sky. Mario and Sproxie shield their eyes against the sun to look up the mast at a crows nest where another bandana-clad penguin waves down at them. “This is ze lookout. He lets us know about any danger. We ‘ave … a lot of enemies.”

“What about the ‘water beast’?” Sproxie asks, earning a bout of laughter from the crew.

…and nothing else.

“And zis is ze map guy,” Captain Requinador concludes, gesturing to the rough looking penguin from before. “And finally, Do NOT,” he glares at the two, “go below deck at all costs!!”

Sproxie’s gaze darts to the grate trapdoor in the center of the deck, then back to the captain, who had obviously observed the whole thing. “You, little creature, are really testing my kindness,” he remarks before walking to the ship’s helm.

Mario steps forward and asks a question of his own, regarding the voyage’s destination.

“We’re going to get more treazure of course! this map leads us through very dangerous waters, but i have a feeling that we’ll make it through and find glory!!” he finishes the sentence like a battle cry, earning a chorus of cheers from the crew, as if this was routine.

Sproxie leans close to Mario’s ear, the soul inside his crystal-like body adopting a twinge of blue. “It’s probably obvious, but something fishy is going on and I don’t like it.”

Mario nods. They have to keep an eye out for each other if they plan to get anywhere near the Ship apiece.

The deck hands reach overboard to heave up a large chain.

The sails lower, catching wind and pulling the ship forward.

Mario looks past Captain Requinador to the shining aura hiding in the captains quarters behind him.

We’re going to get that Ship Piece.

They sail for a moment. Mario and Sproxie enjoy the breeze and the sun. It’s been a while since they’ve been in a galaxy that was somewhat normal.

Eventually, Requinador and the rougher-looking pirate feel satisfied enough with their navigation to leave the wheel for the moment for a straightaway.

“How’s ze water looking?” Requinador calls up.

“No hazards, cap’n!” the penguin above calls back down.

The captain dons a grin. “Perfect. Now to relax.” he sighs, walking to the front of the ship where a lone beach chair laid. He lays on it, props his fins behind his head, and closes his eyes.

“What do you think could be down there?” Sproxie’s whisper pulls Mario’s attention back.

The hero glances at the grate trapdoor. Maybe a key to the captains quarters?

Sproxie lights up. “It’s definitely the key. There has to be a way we can sneak down there,” he thinks aloud. “Maybe I can use my powers.”

Mario nods quickly. Good idea.

PLOK! Mario’s nose is swatted with the stick-end of a mop. The source? one of the deck hands.

“Start mopping.”

Mario takes the mop and rubs the sting from his nose. They look across the whole deck— it was spotless, save a few barrels that sat next to small staircases leading to the elevated decks on either end of the ship.

Sproxie turns back to the deck hand. “Where, though?”

“Anywhere. Just clean, that was the deal,” the penguin spits.

Mario sighs and shrugs at the infinitely confused Luma before getting to work right where he was.

The crystal luma huffs, turning his attention to the sea. He squints at something out there—

PLOP! Sproxie’s vision is blocked. He pulls the weight off his face to discover that he was now holding a wet rag.

“You too, weird bubble creature,” added the second deck hand, walking up to stand next to his crewmate, the two sharing a laugh.

The star child’s soul flashes a deep red. “Hey! I’m a luma! We’re pretty common!” he shouts.

“Now clean,” the deck hands order before walking off in the same direction as the captain. Approaching a barrel, the two took turns pulling out beach chairs of their own and setting them down on either side of Captain Requinador.

Mario and Sproxie watch them, unamused. Then, an idea hits him.

Less supervision…!

He elbows Sproxie, who perks up and watches as Mario nods his head towards the trapdoor.

Getting the message, the two creep slowly over towards it.

“What do you scalawags think yer doin’?” A pirate shouts.

Mario freezes. Sproxie turns invisible.

Now approaching them was the navigator. “I knew the cap’n made a mistake bringing up goin’ below deck. Because now you’re thinkin’ ‘bout goin’ down there, ain’t ya?”

Reappearing, the two slowly shake their heads.

“Don’t you dare. I’m watching you!” He narrows his eyes at them. “Keep mopping!” he adds, throwing a fin at their cleaning supplies.

Mario frowns but complies for the time being, mopping very very veeeerry slowly.

Sproxie huffs under his breath. “Where’s his beach chair?” He looks at his rag and thinks for a moment. “Hey. Throw me.”

Before Mario knows it, the crystal luma merges with the rag. He scrambles to catch it, as if letting it fall to the floor would hurt the little guy.

He crumples the rag into a ball, and aims at the grate—

BOOM!

The ship rattles, swaying intensely to the side.

Captain Requinador shoots upright in his chair with a yelp in surprise, along with his two crewmates.

Barrels topple over and roll across the deck. The rag slips from Mario’s hands as he struggles to keep upright. Sproxie emerges from the rag on the floor, disoriented.

As he recovers from the disorienting turn of events, he’s smacked face-first by a rolling barrel.

“ENEMY SHIP AHEAD! NINE O’CLOCK!” The scout calls at the top of their lungs, pointing their fin to the ships left, where indeed another ship was firing at them.

“Who dares?!” Captain Requinador shouts.

“It’s your old landlord!”

“WHAAAT???” the captain shrieks, peering over the edge of the ship to see that another had come into view: a ship traveling the opposite direction firing cannon balls at them.

The decal on the front of the enemy ship resembles the face of a Shine Sprite.

On the deck are three piantas wearing bandanas of their own, manning their own cannons aimed dead-center at Requinador’s ship.

Standing ferociously behind them is a slightly larger pianta with long leafy dreads underneath a captain’s hat, waving his hooked hand at the penguin crew.

He reaches in his pocket and pulls out a megaphone, yelling:

“REQUINADOR!! YOUR RENT IS DUE! YOU CAN’T HIDE FOREVER!”

Rushing to the edge of the deck, Requinador yells back, “And you’ll ‘ave it when I cash in zis next treazure! You cannot rush ze art of treasure-finding!”

Dissatisfied, the pianta captain raises his megaphone in the air along with a battle cry.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Cannonballs explode from the enemy and fly in the air.

Screams rip from the penguin pirates, scrambling all around Mario and Sproxie. The two deck hands wheel in cannons from who knows where and lines them against the edge of the deck.

Captain Requinador stands next to the cannons, keeping watch of the ever-approaching enemy ship. The two are almost directly across from each other.

“READY THE CANNONS!” Captain Requinador orders.

“AIM!!”

The deck hands line them up, lifting the ends with their fins.

“FIRE!”

.

.

.

Nothing.

“What is ze problem?!” Requinador snaps. “Um… we don’t have any matches…” says one of the deck hands sheepishly.

“What do you mean ‘we don’t have any matches’?”

“I mean,” the deck hand points towards the now completely empty deck, barrels and all. “We had some Fire Flowers in the barrels, but we can’t find them now.”

“You!” The captain throws a pointed fin at Mario and Sproxie. “When I told you to clean, I didn’t mean destroy our supplies, too!”

Mario is confused. What

“They fell off when the ship got attacked! We didn’t do anything!” Sproxie flies ahead, quick to defend.

Captain Requinador scoffs. “Maybe zat’s the problem. New job! Starting now: get these cannons to fire!” he demands. “And quickly!!”

Mario and Sproxie look around, but the deck is too clean. They don’t know where to look.

“Hey! Down here!”

Mario and Sproxie look down the grated trapdoor under the deck to see the navigator pirate hiding down there.

“Hey, what are you doing down there?” Sproxie asks, earning a quick and loud SHUSH.

“That’s none of yer business. I-I was… goin’ ahead and ch-checkin’ for fire flowers, ya see?”

Mario and Sproxie don’t believe him for a second.

The trapdoor opens slightly, enough for a fire flower to emerge and land on the deck. “Yer lucky I found one. Now light those cannons! …I’ll be right down here. Away from… all that.” And with that, the door shuts itself back.

Mario doesn’t hesitate to transform into Fire Mario and light each of the 3 fuses.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The cannons shoot out 3 cannonballs successfully, earning a hearty and triumphant laugh from Captain Requinador as he observes each cannonball collide with the oncoming cannonballs, cancelling out each attack.

On second glance… hold on a second…

Were one of the cannonballs green?

This only enraged the Pianta Captain even more, making him throw his hands and stomp his feet in rage. He throws his hooked hand out again, and out come another set of cannonballs.

Just like last time, a green one is among the other two as a third.

Coconuts don’t hurt as much as cannon balls…

Mario wonders, gaze looking at the fuses, and the fireball in his hand.

He lights two of the cannons, leaving the third untouched.

BOOM! BOOM! Cannonballs down!

“You fool!” Captain Requinador gasps, shielding the sun from his eyes as he watches the third “cannonball” continue uninterrupted. “What are you doing?!”

Ignoring him, Mario runs to the end of the third cannon and jumps high, catching the coconut with a well timed spin attack. The coconut soars back through the air, smacking against the head of the pianta who shot it, knocking him dizzy and out of commission, making the opposing captain very pissed off.

He is practically fuming, with a reddened face, and heat steaming from his ears so much you could swear you heard a train horn with it.

“How dare you attack my men?! I’ll attack with double the force!!” He wails, calling forth another barrage of cannonballs.

Just as swiftly, another coconut was bashed into another one of his men.

The pianta captain gasps, watching the coconut roll off his men’s heads and onto the floor. He picks it up in disbelief.

“Why are we loading our food rations IN THE CANNONS?!”

“Sir,” the last-standing crewmate interjects, “We don’t have that many cannonballs left…”

“WHY NOT?!”

The poor pianta shrinks back. “…because we might have used half of them the last time we crossed paths?”

The captain runs a hand over his face.

“It was your JOB to RESTOCK!”

“We haven’t docked on land since, cap’n! I didn’t get a chance to restock!”

“DON’T TALK BACK TO ME!” The captain barks, stepping behind a cannon of his own, pushing a downed crewmate to the side with his foot in the process. “Just… fire whatever we got! I don’t care!”

“Yes sir!”

boom! boom!

One coconut and one cannonball come flying over to Requinador and his crew.

Requinador yanks Mario down from the cannon, almost knocking him off balance if it weren’t for the penguins anger-filled grip keeping him upright.

“Don’t put your dirty plumber shoes on my shiny new cannons!! Do you know how much they’re worth?!” he shouts.

Less concerned about the berating as he is about the incoming projectiles, Mario tries to pull away from the captain’s grasp, to no avail.

Sproxie’s gaze moves between the cannonball and coconut then to Mario nervously. Deciding that there wasn’t any time for Mario to deflect either projectile, he decides to move in himself.

But how?

If he merged with the cannon, that wouldn’t do any good, at the most he could lighten its gravitational field, but that would leave the cannonball and coconut suspended in the air.

He looks up at the ship’s mast.

Maybe he can slingshot it. Use gravity to spin it around orbit.

He leaps into the ship’s mast. Here goes nothing.

He amplifies the gravitational field, just in time to keep them from colliding with the ship. Observing this out of the corner of his eye, Captain Requinador stops yelling at Mario to watch this strange spectacle in awe.

They fly upwards from their downward trajectory and keep their momentum as they whisk around the mast. Sproxie jumps out just as the projectiles have curved around back towards the Piantas’ ship.

The Pianta Captain watches in horror as he watches both cannonball and coconut hit his ship, then bonk him in the head, knocking him out cold.

BOOM!

The final remaining pianta scurries to the hull of the ship and starts sailing away.

Captain Requinador along with the rest of his crew cheer, as Mario dusts off the sleeve of his shirt in offense, side-eyeing the captain. Sproxie flies over to him excitedly. “Mario! Did you see that? Did you see what I did?” he asks eagerly. Mario smiles and nods, giving the crystal luma a thumbs up.

The cheering continues as Requinador turns back to glance at Mario and Sproxie, unaware of his gaze.

“Zat power…” He turns back to face his crew. “Is very interesting…”

For the next few minutes, it was smooth sailing. Captain Requinador, as well as his two deck hands were back on their beach chairs soaking up the sun, leaving Mario and Sproxie to… well, do nothing. Again.

They take this time to explore what they can.

…and find nothing much that’s out and the open.

This has clearly got to be some joke. At least no one is breathing down their necks this time, so the two enjoyed the view of the ocean and the complimentary breeze from the side of the deck.

Dark clouds begin looming overhead. Next thing they know, they’re right over the ship.

Rain starts drumming against the deck. The water starts to get rougher.

“STORM HO!”

The ship sways, and Mario stumbles and clings onto the center post on the deck. Sproxie keeps close to Mario.

Captain runs to the hull and takes over navigation pirate’s steering. He laughs heartily. “Here we go, men! We’re getting close!”

Close to what?

“Oh, ho ho! To ze treazure, of course!” The captain replies. “But before we get zere, we ‘ave to navigate zis rocky water!”

Mario and Sproxie look out to what is now, indeed, very rocky water.

“The weather shifted really fast. I don’t think this is normal,” Sproxie comments to Mario.

Mario shakes his head. Something else is at play here. Something the captain already knows.

CRUNCH!!

The ship scrapes against a large rock in the water. Captain Requinador frantically whirls the helm in the other direction. Agitated, he looks at Mario— no, Sproxie. He throws a finger at him. “YOU! Bubble creature! pull our ship out of this current! Use that er… magic power of yours!”

Sproxie is confused. “What?”

“Zat slingshot power for ze cannonballs! Slingshot us out of ‘ere!” He continues. Sproxie’s eyes widen. He looks to Mario, who nods.

Sproxie flies out to the front of the ship, Mario following after as far as he can. “Can you help me pick out which rock to merge with?”

Mario gives the crystal luma a determined nod.

The two work together, with Mario pointing at rocks jutting out of the water, timing them so that the farther the ship was from it, the stronger the pull was, and the quicker they progressed through the rough waters.

The crew cheers when they get through it and enter smooth waters again. The sun returns. All but Captain Requinador, brow furrowed in thought.

“What’s wrong, captain?” Sproxie asks.

Captain Requinador shakes his head. “We’re not out yet. Only at the center. Ze Guardian of the Treasure lives at ze center of the storm.”

“Guardian?” Sproxie echoes, gulping anxiously.

The ship starts to sway again. Farther out ahead of them slowly forms a whirlpool.

Sproxie clings to Mario’s shirt. “What’s going on?!”

The whirlpool grows in size and strength.

The captain frantically spins the wheel to the right.

“‘Ere she comes!” Captain Requinador shields his face with a fin from the dusted up droplets of water. It was like it was raining all over again, but this time it was coming from all the chaos in the whirlpool.

The rumbling feels like a tsunami underneath the crew’s feet. Then, as quickly as it rose, it subsided, only for—

SPLASH!!

Out of the whirlpool shoots a WHIRLIGILL, THE WATER DRAGON!

It has a long worm-like body, and looks similar to Gobblegut. Instead of bellyache bulges, it has flared-out gills in place of them going all the way down his noodle-like body.

It roars at the crew, tilting the ship with its sheer power.

The ship slowly starts moving towards the whirlpool current.

“We’re gonna get pulled in!!”

“Turn the sails to ze wind!!” The captain shouts.

The two deck hands and Mario grab at ropes and pull at the sails, turning them to catch wind pulling them outwards.

The water dragon swims up and takes a bite out of the smaller sail on the ship. Everyone screams.

Captain Requinador grimaces at a thought. He sticks his fin in his pocket and tosses Mario a large golden key. “Go below deck and open the case with a dinosaur egg. It’s our last resort.”

Sproxie is confused. “I thought you said—“

“I don’t care what I said! Get the egg and see if it does somezing or we’ll all go under!” He shouts.

Mario and Sproxie pull the grate open and drop below deck.

The sound was dampened. The creaking of wood fighting to keep hold against such torrential water surrounds them. There are several barrels sprawled all over the place, most on their sides, rolling to and fro as the ship leaned left and right.

Nothing seemed to stand out immediately.

“What are you doing down here? This is my spot!” The navigation pirate chides them from behind.

Sproxie huffs. “We got permission from the captain, okay?”

Mario raises the golden key to him. You know where this goes?

The penguin shrugs. “Cap’n’s got fifteen of those things. Good luck.”

Bro.

Mario and Sproxie begin pushing around barrels, until they uncovered a lever underneath a phony barrel. Mario pulls the lever.

Across the room one of the walls reveals a secret door sliding open and revealing a secret room.

“Ooo~” Sproxie hums.

The two walk inside and find a large capsule with a see-through electric barrier. Inside is a familiar green-spotted egg in a nest.

AYOOOO

Mario pulls out the key again, and it unlocks.

Free from captivity, Mario gets closer and breaks the egg open, and Yoshi jumps out.

“Thank you for rescuing me!” Yoshi looks around the small room curiously, “But where am I?” He shakes his head, as well as the question from his mind. “You got any food, like a berry? I’m starving!”

Mario and Sproxie turn to look at the dozens of disorganized barrels.

Welp.

CRASH!! THWACK!!

Mario spin attacks through all the barrels.

Nothing.

Starbits.

More nothing.

Coins.

A green shell. Ooh!

Mario lazily throws the green shell at another barrel, and it explodes, dropping a round purplish-blue berry. It made Mario think of a tomato. And long, wavy stringy seaweed-like leaves crawl up the berry from the bottom of it, waving in the non-existent wind.

In all it’s splendor, it glows and rotates with all the time in the world, waiting to be eaten.

The ship leans to the side, hard. Mario, and Yoshi tumble off their feet (Sproxie is, again, unaffected).

“ ‘urry up, you buffoons! Or you’ll never get close to my treazure!” shouts the captain.

Mario hops onto Yoshi’s back and Yoshi eats the berry. The dinosaur transforms: his skin turns into a deep blue, and his shoes a solid yellow.

Returning to the deck, Captain Requinador eyes the small, weak-looking dinosaur skeptically. “Zis frail zing was in zat egg?” He wonders aloud, but shakes it off, shooing the now trio away, pointing out to the ocean ahead of them.

“Go in there, latch to somezing, and pull us out!” he demands, as his two deck hands move in swiftly behind the trio to lay down a wooden plank behind Mario.

The plumber panics a little. Sproxie gasps. He flies forward, but he freezes, meeting with multiple swords pointed towards him. Yoshi cowers, leading Mario to give him a gentle pat on his arm to reassure him.

The longest one being Captain Requinador’s own. He wears a smug grin, pointing his sword directly at Mario’s face.

“Either you do as I say, or we all go down.”

Sproxie turns to Mario desperately. “We can’t let them do this! Can we?” he adds anxiously. Mario shakes his head, and braces for a fight.

Surely this new Yoshi form can fight, right? Maybe that’s why its power hasn’t activated immediately like times past.

A RUSH OF WATER CRASHES over the plank, destroying it and leaving nothing behind and drowning Mario’s cries.

The ship sways, and picks up an external current outside of the whirlpool. The captain’s eyes raise, but his composure is quickly restored by a loud, hearty laugh.

“Thanks, imbéciles! You did your job wonderfully, being worthy enough to be Whirligill’s snack!! Now with ‘im distracted, ze treazure is all mine!!” He calls out to nothing in particular, as there’s nothing left to see anymore.

.

Mario’s hat emerges, alone, in the water.

.

.

The ship sails away, as the captain’s laughs echo in the wind.

.

.

.

Something breaks out from the water far away, fighting the roaring current with enormous splashes.

.

.

It swims closer…

.

and closer…

A gloved hand swipes up the hat from the water.

Riding on the back of Scuba Yoshi is Mario, very much alive, alongside an angry Sproxie, squinting his eyes against the roaring waves.

“There they are!” the crystal luma points ahead of them to a pirate ship sailing away, his soul flaring a deep red.

Mario shakes out the water from his hat, letting the wind do most of the work.

Baby Luma pops out of the hat, immediately lost in his surroundings. He shakes himself out of it to focus on Mario. “Mario! Are you okay?” Mario nods reassuringly, setting the cap back on his head. Yeah. Are you?

Baby Luma snickers, shaking himself off, “I think I got a little wet. But I’m okay.” Mario laughs as Baby Luma hops back into Mario’s cap with one last “good luck!” for everyone.

Mario’s attention returns to the pirate ship sailing away from them. The Ship Piece glimmers against the sun from the window of the Captain’s Quarters.

Yoshi hasn’t been this efficient in the water before… This must be that power the Aqua Berry gives him! When coming in contact with the water, Yoshi’s feet press together to turn into propellers. His arms plant themselves against his sides.

The dude’s like a torpedo!

Team Mario swim diagonally against the current and the crazy waves, slowly inching outward.

Slowly, their speed decreases. Huh? Mario checks Yoshi’s feet. They didn’t seem to be puttering out anytime soon. Could the current be—?

SPLASH!!!

Out from the center of the whirlpool is WHIRLIGILL— THE WATER DRAGON. Its likeness is very similar to Gobblegut’s. They could be relatives. Its whole body is a light to deep blue, and in rings around his body are gills instead of bellyache bulges, flared out in anger at the intruders in his waters.

He ROARS at the trio before diving back underwater. The current picks up, and Mario grabs Scuba Yoshi’s shell, holding on for dear life. They swirl closer and closer to the middle, before SHOOP!!! They’re sucked underwater.

[AIR: 100%]

Scuba Yoshi blinks, his eyes turning into headlights.

Rrrrumbbbbllee…

Mario follows Scuba Yoshi’s gaze to find Whirligill—

HEADING RIGHT TOWARDS THEM.

SMACK!!

Mario is pushed off Scuba Yoshi, who has returned to his normal form. In muffled cries, the poor guy doggy paddles aimlessly in fear, slowly rising to his surface.

The red hero spins underwater, propelling himself closer and closer after Yoshi, who is getting close to tangling himself inside long strands of seaweed growing from the sea floor.

When finally in range, he grabs the front end of his shell.

An Aqua Berry floats towards them. Mario watches in confusion, and relaxes when he sees Sproxie pop out of one of the seaweed leaves. Yoshi takes the fruit by his tongue and eats the berry. The team’s back in action!

[AIR: 65%]

Whirligill is coming back around. His eyes find Mario again, gaze filled with hunger.

He charges.

!!! Shake []!

The water dragon charges at Mario and Yoshi again! Yoshi quickly twists into a drill, gaining enough speed to evade the charge.

THUD!!

The water dragon slams his head against the sea floor, creating a big sand cloud around him. He whimpers in pain.

The sea floor is very decorated, Mario observes. Multiple areas have groups of seaweed gathered around, like tall bushes. Multicolored shells are speckled along the sand, some even caught up in Whirligill’s crash.

The water dragon shakes his head out and angrily spits out the sand caught in his mouth.

All along the circular arena are Aqua Berries waiting to be plucked from the floor.

Swimming around in the water is a mix of Cheep Cheeps and Bloopers.

The fins under Whirligill’s head shrivel up against the sand cloud, and he shakes like a dog to get them out.

Gears start turning in Mario’s head.

[AIR: 33%]

He guides Scuba Yoshi to approach an unsuspecting Cheep Cheep. He sticks out his tongue and stuffs the Cheep Cheep in his cheeks.

Mario looks around for Whirligill, who is moving swiftly around the arena. With a good open shot of the monster’s gills, Scuba Yoshi spits out his catch.

As it travels through the water, the Cheep Cheep flails around, trying to regain control over its trajectory. He slows and slows… until he rights himself right next to the water beast. Just as he swims away—

CHOMP!

The fish is eaten by Whirligill. The gills that were once hindered by the sand grow back at full health. The dragon’s gaze snaps to Mario viciously as he turns towards them and begins inhaling water.

Scuba Yoshi drills to the side to escape the current and they explode above water.

[AIR: 1%…………………………………………………100%]

Rising from the center of the whirlpool, Whirligill locks on and fires a beam of water at them!

Like a dolphin, Scuba Yoshi evades the beam by drill-boosting along the top of the water. It’s for only so long that Scuba Yoshi could keep drilling. The beam of water kept a consistent pace with the heroes. Getting too dizzy, Scuba Yoshi slows down to a doggy paddle.

As the water beam nears Scuba Yoshi’s tail, Whirligill runs out of water. Whew. Frustrated, it slips back underwater.

Scuba Yoshi pulls himself together and the trio dive back underwater. The first thing they spot is an innocent blooper that Scuba Yoshi doesn’t hesitate to pull in by the tongue.

The next thing the trio sees is the water dragon eyeing them angrily. Mario adjusts his hold on Scuba Yoshi as they charge towards it. The two entities swim around each other, waiting for the other to strike. The circle gets smaller and smaller until Whirligill accidentally pokes itself in the eye and shocks itself. Now!

Scuba Yoshi spits out the blooper. The squid cuts through the water like butter and pierces one of Whirligill’s gills. In response to the pain, they flare out and shrivel back.

For a finishing blow, Mario drives Scuba Yoshi closer to drill into the gills really good. Whirligill howls in pain.

Starbits erupt! Sproxie doesn’t hesitate to do his job and collect them all for Mario.

The fight continues, and through increasing speeds in the current, Mario, Scuba Yoshi, and Sproxie work together to knock out each of Whirligills five gills. 

Upon the final hit, Whirligill slows down and keels over, its body turning white and exploding into a puff of smoke. The whirlpool calms, and the waters are now stilled.

Mario, Scuba Yoshi, and Sproxie resurface.

Sproxie looks around with a frown on his face. “Where did Captain Requinador sail off to? Let’s catch up to him!”

Mario and Scuba Yoshi nod.

•••

The sun shines on the Legendary Island like it, itself, is a treasure. Requinador’s ship is anchored by the shore.

The Ship Piece reflects the heavenly light from far away.

Mario, Scuba Yoshi— or now just Yoshi, and Sproxie reach the shore and collapse on the sand in exhaustion. Well, all except Sproxie, of course.

As Mario and Yoshi recover, the crystal luma discovers that the sand is a pure white— not tan-colored like sand normally is. He picks up some in his paw in curiosity.

Once the sand falls out, the star child looks up. To their left was Requinador’s ship, completely unattended, and on their right farther down the beach was some driftwood. Ahead of them was a jungle that appeared… pretty untamed.

Mario turns over and lifts himself up to his knees, then fully upright on his feet. Yoshi follows after. Sproxie points to the ship.

“That’s the mean guy’s ship! Let’s see if we can take the Ship Piece without him knowing!”

Normally, Mario wouldn’t do something so low as to steal something, he preferred to get things the honorable way. Mainly for his conscience and prevention of any consequences further down the road.

But this was Requinador. He definitely stole that. Plus, that was a part to Rosalina’s Observatory so like.

He was just stealing it back. A righteous theft, if you will. Rosalina’d understand.

Hopping on Yoshi’s back, the trio head to Requinador’s ship.

Upon arrival, the ship was so far up shore that there was no easy way to jump on the deck. Mario even tried to backflip, kick off the wall and spin, but to no avail. (Huh? What’s that? What’s an Infinite Flutter Jump, you say? Don’t attack my narrative ever again. 🫵🏻Shut up.)

It seemed the only way up was to climb by the anchor, which Yoshi couldn’t join Mario for.

Hopping off, Mario bids Yoshi a quick goodbye as he climbs up the chain. Mario and Sproxie hop onto the deck and book it for the door to Requinador’s captain’s quarters.

Mario tries the door. It’s locked.

He spin attacks it. The door doesn’t budge.

Sproxie flies into the mast and creates a gravitational field. It pulls the door, but the hinges are strong as an ox.

He then turns invisible and phases through the door. “Aha!!” He laughs, turning to face the door—

It has 3 deadbolts.

All locked in place by a lock requiring a key. The navigation pirate wasn’t kidding, good lord.

The luma returns to Mario. “I guess we need a key,” Sproxie pouts. Mario frowns. Yeah. Guess we do.

In defeat, the two slide down the chain back to the beach, only to find no one waiting for them. “Where did Yoshi go?” Sproxie wonders.

For a second, Mario was worried, but past experiences catch up with him.

That’s right. In times past, Yoshi returns to his egg when Mario’s not around. He must have returned to his egg while waiting for them.

Shoot. IM SORRY YOSHI

Mario runs down the beach towards the driftwood, solely because it was something else on this beach… and he wasn’t ready to enter that dense and chaotic of a jungle yet.

Instead of finding a nest, Mario finds a disturbance in the sand next to the driftwood. Something other than that piece of wood wound up here.

Something glints in Sproxie’s eye closer to the shore. Something shiny had washed up. He flies over to examine it. He picks it up and puts it in his mouth, but upon chewing on something hard, he pulls it out of his mouth.

“This isn’t a starbit…” the kid pouts, getting Mario’s attention. What is lil' bro doing?

He holds out an open hand to the crystal luma, who hands over the mysterious object, which wasn’t so mysterious at all. It was a silver crown with red and blue jewels around it. Mario gasps, eyes widening.

He knew exactly who this belonged to. Meaning…

Mario takes the crown and pockets it. He looks back at the disturbance of kicked-up sand, and his eyes take notice of and follow a trail of small footprints leading into the jungle.

Could this be her?

•••

The jungle was pretty thick. While Sproxie had the luxury of turning invisible to phase through all the brush, Mario was left to fend for himself, holding a hand out to block anything from hitting his face as they traversed forward.

Mario checked the dirt frequently to make sure they were still following the footprints. They were hot on her trail until her tracks merged with kicked up dirt and mud.

The two stop. Sproxie reappears. He flies down, getting a closer look at the ground.

“Something happened here. Could she have fallen?”

Mario looks ahead of the disturbance, and there were no footprints to be found continuing on in the same direction they had been walking in.

Getting an odd pulling feeling, Mario walks around the disturbance, hoping that looking at it from a different angle will help.

And help it did.

Clear as day, as if having the last laugh, was the impression of large webbed feet amongst smaller ones squished underneath it.

“Those prints could only belong to a penguin.” Sproxie says, frowning. “Whoever we were following must have run into that mean Captain Requinador!”

The multiple sets of footprints change direction, and the two don’t hesitate to follow after it.

After a minute or two, they stumble upon a cave. Well, it was more of a rock who had seen better days. It had been hollowed out, plus suffered from holes carved out from the top. Whether it had been erosion or other treasure-hunters breaking their way in to find potential treasure, Mario had no clue.

They fend off a few bats who dared to swoop down and attack them, as well as collect some ice-trapped starbits that somehow made their way down here.

The sounds of the jungle slowly died away as Mario and Sproxie explore deeper and deeper into the cave. Opposed to Spring Blossom Galaxy, there were vines and moss instead of bright crystals, which made it hard to see after a while.

As the light slowly fades away, Mario had spotted small abandoned campfires and matching tents pitched alongside them. Remains from previous travelers?

At this point, the only thing guiding them were the sounds of a muffled conversation deeper within.

.

.

Mario’s lone footsteps echo.

.

.

Light slowly returns. Does this cave have an exit?

.

The light increases until—

They enter an underground clearing. Light shines into their eyes, making Sproxie wince and Mario shield his with his hand.

Their eyes adjust.

“Hah! How much money would zis be worth?” a greedy voice echoes.

The ground is covered in treasure. Scattered gold coins, jewelry, even some unopened treasure chests build up into a hill at the center. Judging from the long, chimney-like tube in the ceiling jutting upwards from the center of the nature-made room, both the light and the treasure must have entered from the outside.

“Give that back!” chitters a voice that could only belong to a luma.

In the middle of it all was Captain Requinador and his men having a heyday.

Or… was it a struggle?

“‘Ey!! Give zat back, you annoying little cretin!!” The captain roars, stuck in a tug of war with a yellow luma over an object Mario couldn’t get a good glimpse of right away. Another yellow and a blue luma are repeatedly hitting him on his head and fin.

They jump into the rocky clearing and walk towards the scuffle.

The two pull hard, and the stick-like object flings from both their grips, flying in the air and landing at the edge of the hill, rolling down to hit Mario’s feet.

The plumber picks up the object.

This was Rosalina’s wand.

Clambering over the hill towards his treasure, the penguin freezes upon seeing an unamused Mario and Sproxie. “Gah—!? Y-you again!! Why—?! How—?!” he sputters.

“Captain…?” A voice calls from farther away. Captain Requinador steps back and looks off to the side to the unseen crew member. “WHAT?!”

“She’s waking up, captain!! What do we do?”

Stuck between one problem and another, the captain hesitates, glancing to Mario, then back to the side again. He scurries off, kicking up gold coins in his wake. Mario and Sproxie break into a sprint after him.

“No! You’re not gonna hurt Mama!!” One luma cries out, ramming into the captain with all his might, making him slip on the coins and fall on his side.

The other two lumas fly to the two deck hands standing guard in front of an unconscious cyan-clad body on the treasure-ridden floor. They panic when the lumas grab them and pelt star bits at them.

Sproxie watches the conflict anxiously. Then an idea hits him. He looks around and spots a treasure chest a ways behind him. He zooms off. Mario turns around to find where he went, but the crystal luma already merges with the object and amplifying its field.

Requinador is pulled upright from behind by an unknown force. He turns around and laughs triumphantly. But that feeling is short-lived, as he’s slowly being pulled backwards. Then it clicks. “Wait—! No!! NO WAIT!!! BUBBLE CREATURE, DON’T DO THIIIIIIIIIIIS—!”

The captain, along with his crew, get yanked from their positions and clash against a treasure chest, breaking it open and leaving them dizzy and out of commission.

Sproxie emerges and giggles to himself at the damage he caused.

A 1UP mushroom rolls out of the chest, one that the child happily grabs and returns to Mario. The red-clad hero gratefully takes the gift.

The three lumas watch the event in awe. “Woah… That was so cool!” “I haven’t seen that before!” “How did he do that?” They whisper. Sproxie shrinks back, anxious.

The cyan-clad body shifts. A groan. The children’s attention turn to their mother. Mario runs to Rosalina’s side. Sproxie hesitantly follows Mario at a slower pace.

“Mama?”

“She’s awake!” The lumas chatter amongst themselves.

Rosalina sits up and rubs her eyes. Her hair is a bit disheveled and her broach and earrings are gone. Baby Luma jumps out of Mario’s cap and runs to his mother.

She didn’t get a chance to open her eyes before she was bombarded with hugs from the four lumas. A laugh escapes her as she instinctually raises her hands to pull them close.

Her eyes open weakly as they part, looking at each luma closely. “Are you three okay?”

They nod instantly. “We’re okay! It’s mostly thanks to Mario and his friend!”

“Mario…?” Rosalina’s eyes brighten at the plumber’s name. Her gaze moves beyond her immediate vicinity to land on Mario. She smiles at him. Mario smiles back.

“Are you okay, Mama?” The blue luma asks nervously. Rosalina nods.

She shifts her feet to sit underneath herself and puts a hand in front of her in an attempt to stand. She falters forward. Mario reaches a hand out, but the three lumas catch her by the arms, preventing what would have been a painful face plant.

Slowly, Rosalina works to her feet. Once she regains her balance, the lumas let her go. Her dress was … just absolutely and positively ruined. The once long and flowing garment has been reduced to a jaggedly torn-up mess that would even rival a certain brunette friend of Mario’s. Her sleeves are asymmetrical— one sleeve was torn much higher up her arm than the other.

Rosalina checks herself, and in shock, raises a hand to her chest, her ears, and her head as she discovers what she no longer has.

“This crazy guy was trying to rob you! We tried to stop him, but he had more friends than us.” The blue luma tells her.

“But Mario and his friend came in just in time and helped us put a stop to them!” A yellow luma adds cheerfully.

Rosalina looks beyond everyone to see Requinador and his crew, still out cold across the clearing. Then she turns her attention to Mario again. “Thank you, Mario, for helping us, yet again.” Mario rubs the back of his head sheepishly, while gesturing to Sproxie. This little guy did all the heavy-lifting.

Smiling warmly, Rosalina’s gaze turns to Sproxie. “Ah, I see. What’s your name, little one?”

“S…Sproxie.”

“Thank you, Sproxie.”

A warmness builds up in Sproxie’s soul, turning a bright yellow. “It was nothing…” he replies bashfully.

Mario digs in his pockets and holds out Rosalina’s crown and wand to her.

She takes her wand gratefully, while Baby Luma snatches the crown from Mario’s hand, shocking the man. Baby Luma flies in front of Rosalina, holding the crown out to her. Catching the hint, Rosalina lowers her head, and Baby Luma crowns her. She stands upright again and boops his face with a short laugh. Baby Luma spins in place gleefully, giggling. “I’m glad to see you’re safe with Mario.”

“Let’s go home, shall we?” The Mother of the Cosmos raises her wand, summoning a Launch Star just underneath the open rock chimney.

•••

Mario and Rosalina, with the five lumas following close behind, walk down the beach. Requinador’s ship was just up ahead.

Engaged in conversation with Mario, Rosalina nods solemnly. “I don’t remember much during the crash. The next thing I remember afterwards is washing up here. I’m very grateful you have been looking for the scattered pieces to my Comet Observatory, and most of all, my children in my absence. We will find all of them. I will make sure of it,” she adds, mostly to herself.

As the group pass by Requinador’s ship, Sproxie taps Mario’s shoulder. “You think Miss Rosalina will help us get her Ship Piece from Requinador’s room?”

That’s right.

Mario turns to Rosalina, who had already turned her attention to their hushed conversation upon the mention of her name. “Tell me where to go.”

In the next couple of minutes, everyone climbs aboard the deck. Mario and Sproxie guide everyone to the door, which upon trying, was still unfortunately locked. Not much of a surprise, of course. It was mainly for demonstration for Rosalina.

Rosalina approaches the door and inspects it.

“The door is bolted, and those bolts are locked from the inside, so I can’t change them.” Sproxie explains.

Rosalina taps her chin with the tip of her wand in thought. “A trapdoor must be somewhere. How else could the captain leave his room and keep it locked from the inside?”

Lumas help the duo look around.

Because the captain’s quarters was up a few stairs, it wasn’t considered the deck. Meaning, Mario and Sproxie didn’t clean anything up here. So when Mario almost slips on the floor while busy investigating the wall around the captain’s door, it took him completely by surprise.

Taking from how icy blue this slip-n-slide style mat was, this must have been hidden from view at one point.

Thanks to the rough waters— or the cannonball fight before that— something must have knocked whatever was guarding this section of the floor, and the small doggy door set against it along the floor.

In other words, Requinador’s way in and out was by moving a barrel, crate, whatever used to block the trapdoor, and then sliding using the mat to enter through the trapdoor.

Something only a penguin can do. Mario wouldn’t admit it, but that was pretty clever.

Even though Mario couldn’t enter the short trapdoor, a luma could.

Thanks to the Ship Piece’s small size, Sproxie, with the help of a few lumas, fly out of the trapdoor with it in tow.

Everyone cheers. Let’s get out of here!

°°°

Mario makes a swift landing on Starship Mario.

You got a Ship Piece!

Breaking Waves with Aqua Berry!

Palm Plage Galaxy

“Why, it ain’t Captain Mario’s ship if it’s missing it’s alien egg!” Lubba guffaws.

Yoshi’s egg has returned to the nose of Starship Mario!

The purple luma double-takes when he notices Mario didn’t return alone. Following behind Mario was Rosalina, landing next to him (as gracefully as she can in her current state).

“Rosalina! You’re okay!” He exclaims.

Upon hearing their mother’s name, all of the Observatory Lumas rush to her side, swarming all around her in a chorus of gleeful cheers. Among them was Polari, who, despite himself, abandoned all professional behavior to embrace and enjoy the long-lost company of his closest companion. In the midst of it all is Rosalina’s echoed laughter.

She missed everyone so, so much.

“It’s a pleasure to cross paths once again,” Rosalina nods towards Lubba gracefully. Despite her dress still covering her up modestly, she presses both of her hands to flatten over her dress anyway. “Thank you for taking care of everyone. Forgive me for how I look. I wish there had been better circumstances.”

Lubba shakes his head and laughs. “No need to flatter me. Just doing my job as captain, is all. I’m more glad you’re safe and sound! I’m not the best at fashion, but we’ll see what we can find.”

The two exchange grateful smiles.

Joining the reunion from a distance is Travix, having overheard the heightened source of noise from the helm. He observes silently, subtly captivated by Rosalina’s presence.

The purple luma then raises his paw, a signal for everyone to stay where they are.

“Now, next order of business—!” He stops, a thought coming to him. He flies close to Rosalina.

“You remember how to build your Observatory, amiright?” he whispers quickly.

Rosalina giggles. “Of course. I was there every step of the way.”

“Perfect. Had to make sure.”

“Pardon the intrusion,” a voice interrupts. Travix floats closer to the group, now having all eyes on him. He turns to Rosalina and ‘bows’ slightly. His tone is strictly professional.

“I’ve heard much about you, Rosalina. I wanted to formally introduce myself.” Travix holds out a paw to her. “I am Travix, King Ghalos of the Crystal Lumas’ right-hand man. I’m also responsible in taking part in repairing your ship, as per my agreement in exchange for residing here. While Mario and Sproxie have been gathering parts, I have been storing them in my home galaxy for safekeeping.”

“Whew,” Lubba sighs, where only Mario, who was standing right beside him, could hear. “I was wondering where they started going off to. That would’ve been bad.”

Mario looks over, concerned.

“A king…?” Rosalina mutters to herself as she takes his paw. “I regret to say I haven’t crossed paths with a Crystal Luma before. I’m looking forward to getting to know you.”

Travix tenses and withdraws his paw. A beat too late, Rosalina pulls her hand back, too, quickly composing herself.

One luma speaks up, “Wait, Mama! How are we supposed to rebuild a ship that we don’t have all the parts to?”

Rosalina shakes her head reassuringly. “Don’t worry. We can rebuild it in sections, and work up. That’s how it was originally built.”

Lubba returns to where he was before and clears his throat again. “Alright, crew, let’s begin repairs on Rosalina’s Observatory!”

Everyone cheers. HOORAYAAYYYYYYYYAYAYAYAYYYYY