User:Gyroid X



Introduction
Welcome to my user page, home of all things to do with Paper Mario: The Darkness Within! From now on I'll post a chapter whenever I finish it, for even more intrigue!! So keep checking back here in case it's posted!!! Click here to go to my currently near-deserted talk page! Oh, and I finally figured out how to make a table of contents! Anyway, chapter 5 is comin, so hang in there! Hope you enjoy it!

Who's online? Let's find out...

Note: You may notice that chapters 1 and 2 are written with the subject as "they", while all later ones are written as "Mario". This is because it was originally "Mario & Co". So it'll be confusing. I'll fix it eventually.

Prologue: A Short Turn of Events
The game starts off with an opening sequence in a style similar to the other Paper Mario games, describing the main plots of the previous three games. Then it describes about how all those events would come together someday, when a disturbance from the so-called “Dimension of Abandoned Souls” emerges. It created a portal that could connect to any time and place. It was said that all the lost souls in this place were too scared to go near it…but one wanted revenge on those on the other side. This is that story…a tale of vengeance, love, and true evil…

Then the game starts, and after selecting profiles and stuff, then the story begins. Parakarry comes and delivers a mail letter to the Mario Bros. house (just for old time’s sake). Luigi comes out, collects the mail, and reads it to Mario. But no, it is not a friendly invitation from Princess Peach! It seems to be a warning letter…addressed to Bowser?! It says that Peach has a rare object and that Bowser must kidnap her during the royal procession…or else. In a state of panic, the brothers rush over to the castle, only to find that the procession is going on right now!! The player takes control of Mario, and enters the castle. Unfortunately, Mario doesn’t get a second to react as Bowser and Kammy Koopa rush into the palace, but tire down as the enter, saying that their transport is broken. Shortly after, Bowser’s alter-ego clone, Dry Bowser, enters and threatens to eat the princess if Bowser and Kammy don’t get up. Just as they do, however, Luigi enters and jumps on Kammy and Bowser, knocking them back down, but gets hurt jumping on Dry Bowser’s horns. Then Mario steps forward, and challenges the undead beast. An introductory battle takes place, where Luigi introduces Jump and Hammer Commands. But when Mario is on the verge of defeating Dry Bowser, he pulls one trick- he uses his spectral energy to make the battle in Freestyle mode, much more like Super Paper Mario battles instead of the action-command sequence. (You can switch between these modes at any time, even during battles.)

After the battle, Dry Bowser runs away, but it turns out the whole battle was more of a distraction, as Bowser and Kammy had already flown off with Peach, and it seems Luigi has gone missing as well. Mario exits the castle, and sits by a fountain, knowing his mission has failed. A Goomba named Goombierre comes and sits next to him, lamenting of his lost dreams. The two get in a “conversation” and after a while Goombierre joins your party. The two get up, reinvigorated, and walk out to Toad Town, the main hub of the game.

There are many things to do in Toad Town, providing every convenience there could be. After walking through the town a bit, Mario notices a group of Toads gathered around a manhole. They reveal a horrible truth: there’s a monster ravaging the sewers, and it’s kidnapped a huge group of Toads! Alarmed, Goombierre boldly says that Mario is not afraid, but soon notices Mario backing away. After the Toads tease the two for being chicken, Mario and Goombierre fall in anyway. The Toads realize there is minimal hope of the two ever coming back, and so they leave. But it turns out Mario and Goombierre survived the great fall, and are in a small room with a river of sewage. The two go into a nearby pipe, and the first chapter begins.

Chapter 1: Monster in the Sewers
The two find themselves in an area called the Old Toad Sewers, an old sewer system teeming with Goombas and Koopas. After battling their way through the sewers, they come to a little area with shops and such called Sewerville. They talk to the old Goomba mayor of the town, and he says that lots of Dry Bones have come up and taken some Koopas. Goombierre tells him of Toad Town’s similar situation, and that they might be related. The mayor sends you off to the east area of Old Toad Sewers, and you come across some of the Dry Bones that have been kidnapping the Koopas. However, you come across a huge gap, with the switch to lower a bridge on the other side. The two find themselves in a messy situation: a group of Dry Bones in their dead form are blocking the way back to town. Mario looks around, and notices a little house hidden from view. The two go inside, and meet a Koopa named Koopella, who is in a bit of a situation herself. Some Dry Bones were about to kidnap her, so she put out her shell so the Dry Bones would think she is in it. They fell for it, but she can’t come out without her shell on. The two look for her shell, and find that the Dry Bones who were blocking the way back to town happened to have her shell. But just as Mario is about to get it, the Dry Bones wake up, along with the head Red Bones, and the squadron attacks. Mario and Goombierre easily defeat the undead Koopas and retrieve Koopella’s shell. They return to Koopella’s house, and give her the prized shell. She hops out and joins Mario’s party out of thankfulness.

With Koopella’s help, the new team of three is able to cross the gap and gives chase to the Dry Bones squadron. They work their way through the long path until they reach the huge Dry Fortress. After grueling challenges, they reach the commander of the Dry Bones armada: the gigantic Mecha-Bones, a huge mechanical Dry Bones operating the whole fortress through his attachment to the fortress wall. The sinister beast congratulates Mario on his progress, but says confidently that the little plumber cannot stop him. But after a long and tiring battle, Mario proves the Mecha-Bones wrong, and demands the Toads to be freed. But it turns out that there were no Toads at all in the fortress, simply captured Koopas turned into Dry Bones servants. Mario bops the mechanical commander one last time, and Mecha-Bones self-destructs, dropping a strange key. The team returns to Sewerville, and tells the mayor about the whole incident. It turns out the key opens up a secret door to the lair of the Piranha Plants, known only as the Piranha Kingdom. Mario seeks out the door, and opens up the huge door, entering the Piranha Kingdom.

The Piranha Kingdom seems to be the opposite of the Old Toad Sewers. While Sewerville and surrounding areas were filthy and small, yet welcoming, the Piranha Kingdom was huge and modernized, with a cold, empty feel. Almost immediately upon entering, the team gets ambushed by a group of Piranha Plants, and narrowly fights their way to victory. They decide it must be the Piranha Plants behind this whole operation, and after the royal parade of the Piranha Plants, this turns out to be correct: the leader, Petey Piranha, is sucking away the Toads’ life force to power the kingdom! Aghast at this discovery, Mario attempts to attack the Piranha king, but is stopped as Petey sends all the Piranha Plants in the crowd to destroy the hero. The crew once again narrowly escapes impossible odds, but find that Petey Piranha has already been taken back to his mighty castle. The Piranha Plants notice Mario’s absence, and quickly find the plumber. But just before they obliterate Mario, the door to the Piranha Kingdom bursts open, and the huge army of Dry Bones floods in, waging war with the Piranhas, with the Red Bones as its’ leader. The Frost Piranha general and the Red Bones organize their armies into perfect lines, but sends them both back into a chaotic pile. But it seems the Piranhas have not forgotten about Mario, as they have sent a Putrid Piranha out to deal with him. After Mario beats this poisonous plant, a Dry Bones comes up and reveals the reasons for the chaos: the Dry Bones army has long been at war with the Piranha Plants, and they actually weren’t kidnapping Koopas, they were simply taking those who volunteered for the army to their fortress to officially making them members. He also tells him that this entire battle is actually a distraction so Mario can safely enter the castle. With the support of the Dry Bones, Mario proceeds into the castle to defeat Petey Piranha and end this all.

The Piranha castle is even more advanced than the city itself, and filled to the brim with deadly traps. There is even a dungeon that imitates endless levels of the classic Mario Bros. game (this is actually more of a minigame, as you must exit by going through one of the pipes the enemies come out of.) Eventually, you come across a strange area with an upside-down door. Confused as to what to do, Mario presses on, and eventually meets a spirit who grants him the Rotate Dimensional ability, where Mario can rotate certain walls and floor areas. With this new ability, Mario can proceed through all the dangerous puzzles and traps the Piranha King set in his castle. After battling his way through all sorts of enemies and solving puzzles (mainly utilizing Koopella and the Rotate ability). Mario finally reaches the tower where Petey Piranha resides. The huge plant monster shows no remorse at his kidnapping of the Toads to power all his high-tech devices and engages Mario in a great battle royale, doing everything from summoning a protective horde of Piranha Plants to actually swallowing the plumber. But in the end the great beast is no match for the power of Mario, Goombierre and Koopella. Petey Piranha, on the verge of losing it all, reveals his true motives. It turns out that this was all revenge for the Toads sending such a huge amount of soldiers down to exterminate some Piranha Plants, simply because they were scared. Petey Piranha frees the Toads, who overheard, and soon Red Bones comes up and they all make a three way pact- the Piranha Plants will remain neutral so long as the Toads and Dry Bones keep the peace. They all agree, and Petey Piranha brings Mario and Red Bones over to the grand balcony, and makes a major announcement to all the Piranha Plants and Dry Bones remaining in the streets. He says only five words: “The Thousand-Year War ends.” With this, everyone goes into a huge, joyful uproar, and the chapter ends.

The scene goes over to Bowser’s Castle, where Peach is imprisoned in a high tower. She sighs and looks over the bleak landscape, not knowing as to why she was kidnapped. She thinks it might be just like normal, but for some reason she feels it is not the reason this time. She walks around a bit, and then sees a strange phenomenon in the corner. She attempts to look at it, but it quickly disappears. After wondering a bit, she overhears a conversation between Bowser and a strangely familiar voice. She remembers who it might be, but decides it is impossible. With this scary thought in mind, she falls asleep and the scene ends.

Then a short monologue takes place. It says:

“It all started when we saw that great object in the sky. It looked, to describe it best, a red bulb. It came closer, and closer, and it was evident it was some sort of spacecraft. And it had no intention of stopping. I alerted the king of our town, because for some reason I was the only one who noticed. It was indeed a spacecraft, and as it came closer we could see similar bulb-like life-forms inside. They seemed to be in a muted panic, as the spacecraft caught on fire. Everyone cleared away, and we all waited for the explosion…that never happened. We looked where it was to crash, and it was instead making a huge hole. We knew not to think of it, but we were glad that we were safe.

“How wrong we were.”

The scene shifts to Mario in front of Piranha Castle, where Petey Piranha and Red Bones are saying their farewells. But then Mario asks how they are to get back, and Petey Piranha tells him of a secret room only accessible through Mario’s Rotate ability. From there all worlds are accessible, or so it is said. There is even a pipe leading to the Piranha Kingdom from there, and one to Sewerville and the Dry Fortress. Mario leaves in search of the room, and eventually manages to find it. He takes the first blue pipe (The second, third and fourth lead to Sewerville, Dry Fortress, and the Piranha Kingdom respectively.) and he ends up in a house of Toad Town. They get out and find that a huge group of Toads, thankful for the daring mission, have been out in search of Mario, and they sweep him off his feet, carrying him through the town. After a while, Mario is let down, and they praise him for all his heroic deeds. But a very shaky Toad comes and alerts Mario of another danger: Luigi has gone to an area called the Micro Zone and hasn’t been back for a week! Astonished, Mario asks for which way the Micro Zone is, and the Toad tells him it is east of the Town, across Asphalt Desert. Mario stocks up on supplies and heads out to rescue Luigi once more from the clutches of a giant house.

Chapter 2: The Four Elemental Kings
Mario comes to the Asphalt Desert, a huge expanse of blacktop inhabited with Pokeys, Dry Bones and Vultars (a vulture-like species, like Buzzar). The heat is overwhelming for the plumber, but he must carry on, especially as he sees the Micro Zone ahead, a magnificent fortress disguised as a house. But just as he is to reach the Micro Zone, he sees a brawl between a Spiny and a Buzzy Beetle. The two notice Mario, and attack him. After Mario deals a beating to the two, they continue their fighting, which apparently has to do with a feud between the Buzzy Beetles and the Spinies. Apparently the heads of the Micro Zone, the Lakitus, are throwing Buzzy Beetles instead of Spinies due to their more resistant shells. The Spinies used to live in the Lakitu Sky, where King Lakitu ruled. But ever since they were kicked out, there’s been no safe place- the Lawn Jungles are overrun by Toy DKs, the Big Freezer has a vicious Freezy syndicate, and the Spooky Attic has far too many Boos. Mario continues on, and finally sets foot into the Micro Zone.

The Micro Zone is protected by a huge, insurmountable fence, but there is a weak point. The team is able to climb the side of the Great Mailbox and enter out the back. They begin the treacherous climb, and eventually make it to the entrance of the Mailbox. But then Goombierre brings up that Lakitus are normally very bright, and would probably have some beast in it. Mario gathers up all his courage and opens the mailbox to find…Luigi? Luigi is sitting there, huddled up in fear. He looks to Mario and gives huge gratitude, but then suggests the possibility that he isn’t Mario. It’s easy to see Luigi is freaked out from the Micro Zone in general, and says that the only way to prove that it is the real Mario is if he beats Luigi in a battle. The plumber is a bit skeptical at first, but agrees and beats Luigi. After recovering, Luigi joins your party. With new courage, the foursome jump down the Great Mailbox and land flat in the Lawn Jungles.

The Lawn Jungles are infested with all sorts of insect enemies, and, as the Spiny in the Asphalt Desert said, Toy DKs. All these fierce enemies pose as a threat to Mario and Luigi’s survival in the Micro Zone, and it appears quite a few Buzzy Beetles patrol the jungles as well. After some time, a whole Toy DK squadron comes and attacks Mario. He barely manages to defeat the mechanical menaces, and it turns out that these were the ultimate defense for Buzzy Hill, the home of the Buzzy Beetles.

Upon approaching Buzzy Hill, they meet a Spiny named Spirell, who happened to be the same Spiny fighting with the Buzzy Beetle earlier. He says he would like to join your team. He has the ability to roll up into a ball, and Mario can kick him around and throw him places to activate switches. The two proceed into Buzzy Hill, and with Spirell and Luigi’s help, they can proceed further into the Buzzy fortress. After battling endless Buzzy Beetles and some brainwashed Spinies, the team comes to the chief Buzzy Beetle, known as Mega Buzzy. They engage in a battle, and Mario emerges as the victor. The team proceeds on, and find a secret tunnel that leads to the Micro Zone itself, the gigantic house.

On the inside, the Micro Zone looks like, well, a house. Spirell says the Lakitu castle is on top of the house, and that a secret exit through the Spooky Attic will lead them straight to the cloudy castle. The team looks around for an entrance to the Spooky Attic, and they see one on top of the Big Freezer. But in order to get there, they must cross the Tile Plains, go into the Plasma Palace (“disguised” as a TV), and climb the Magnet Cliffs. The Tile Plains are mostly empty, but a few Fuzzies hop around, and occasionally a giant broom comes in and sweeps everyone up. Despite all this, Mario manages to make it to the entrance of the Plasma Palace.

The Plasma Palace is filled with dangerous traps, plus a few Lava Bubbles and Sparkys. The first half is mostly on a gigantic circuit board, where Mario meets another spirit who grants him the Flip Dimensional ability, where Mario can flip over areas of the wall or floor to discover secrets. The second half is in a dangerous sea of plasma, and at the end Mario finds King Spark, ruler of all Sparkys. He tells Mario of the four elemental kings: King Spark the king of electricity, Mega Buzzy the king of earth, Big Freezy the king of ice, and King Lakitu the king of air. He then says only the legendary hero of the ages could ever defeat all four kings, and Mario, fitting the mold for a lot of legendary heroes, battles King Spark and defeats him. King Spark dismisses Mario, telling him of the upcoming end of endings, where a single enemy will overturn the world, and only Mario can stop him. He then says three cryptic words: “The darkness within…”

The Magnet Cliffs were a set of magnets on the side of the Big Freezer. Mario could see a path that led to the entrance of the Big Freezer. Shy Guys ran amok here, for some odd reason wearing cowboy hats. Mario battled his way through the cliffs until he met up with an old enemy: Wario. Wario says he was here to meet Big Freezy, but has enough time to pound Mario to the ground. Wario and Mario battle and Wario loses once again. He runs off, saying that he’ll have his revenge. After this, it was only a short walk to the Big Freezer.

Just as they enter the Big Freezer, they notice a gang of Freezies attacking a Bumpty. Mario steps in and scares off the Freezies. The Bumpty gives his thanks and runs off, and the group continues through the Big Freezer. It seems to be a city entirely made out of ice and filled with rogue Freezies and a few Bumpty gangsters. After a while they reach the Freezy syndicate’s headquarters, where the Big Freezy resides. Seeing that they must help the poor citizens of this city, they go in to try and give Big Freezy a piece of their mind. They beat the Freezy guards at the door, and enter the headquarters. Inside is even colder than it was outside, and the team has a temperature meter. If they stay still too long, they will freeze and lose HP. They find the door to Big Freezy’s room, but it is frozen shut. They look around and find that there is a thermostat somewhere in the building. It seems to be heavily guarded, but traps are no match for Mario. They turn the thermostat all the way up, and immediately everything melts. They rush to Big Freezy and tell him to stop terrorizing the town. But Big Freezy is at an advantage because he has his own personal thermostat, and so the temperature outside does not affect him. The team battles him and stops his cruel reign once and for all. Mario proceeds on after the citizens of the Big Freezer give their eternal thanks.

Mario then proceeds to the Spooky Attic, the last stop before the Lakitu Castle. Mario sees the secret exit: a cannon which shoots him out the window and straight outside Lakitu Castle. The only way to get to that cannon is to take a lift car which leads straight there. Mario boards the lift car after paying 50 coins, but in the middle of the journey it gets attacked by Boos. Mario does a brave move, and climbs on the outside of the lift car to reach the back, where all the Boos are attacking. They all form together to make the Super Atomic Boo, and Mario has no choice but to defeat this gigantic spook. After a long and harsh battle, Mario drives off the Boos and the lift car can proceed as normal. It stops at the cannon, and Mario hops in while a friendly local Bob-Omb lights it for him. Mario blasts off and, with a spectacular crashing of the window, lands in the cloudy palace known as Lakitu Castle.

Mario storms the castle, overturning all the Lakitus in his way. With the support of all the Spinies, Freezies and Bumptys, Mario braves the castle’s traps and eventually makes it to the big boss himself, King Lakitu. The huge king rises up, and takes Mario with him for a battle on his own cloud. The king’s main attack is throwing Buzzy Beetles, which actually do minimal damage to the plumber. Mario gets the king in an outrage on the verge of defeat, and he refuses to fall. Eventually, though, King Lakitu is beaten, and he agrees to allow the Spinies to stay in Lakitu Castle. Spirell refuses, though, saying he’d rather like to be on an adventure than stay there. With that, the chapter ends.

The scene goes back to Bowser’s Castle, where we once again see from the point of view of Peach. She goes to the door to find that it’s open. She wanders throughout the castle, and overhears something about an Element Star, and that the jewel on her brooch is actually a piece of it! But then she hears a strange noise above her, and before she can look, it’s gone. She goes back up the stairs to the tower, and the scene fades away…

Another monologue comes, same as the last one. It says:

“We went down into the hole, and found that all the bulb creatures were disintegrated. The hole went deep, and we could feel the heat of our radioactive core. In fact, some of the pieces of that spacecraft were inside the core. We kept studying it, and found that those pieces were made of some metallic substance that reacted with many chemicals. Then we found a more grim truth.

“The core was to explode in ten days.”

The scene goes back to the entrance of Lakitu Castle, where everyone is bidding Mario and Spirell farewell. King Lakitu opens up a blue pipe, and says there are plenty more in the Micro Zone, including one at the Great Mailbox, one at Buzzy Hill, one at Plasma Palace, one in the Big Freezer, and one in the Spooky Attic. Mario goes down the blue pipe and back into Toad Town, to find a huge surprise: the whole town has been ravaged. Mario wanders the streets, filled with unconscious Toads. With Luigi’s Super jump, the team is able to reach a key to a locked house. They enter the house to meet an old enemy: Doopliss. However, he has settled and now runs a shop where he’ll transform into any boss you’ve battled before. Mario asks Doopliss of what happened, and he says a mysterious group of criminals came and attacked the town, looking for Mario and Luigi. They went into the Moonview Woods, a place of eternal midnight. Beyond there is an old laboratory, the Underground Lab. Mario and his crew set off for Moonview Woods to stop this rogue band…and to truly start their adventure.

Chapter 3: The Amazing Negative Squad
Mario ends up on a small cliff overlooking a clearing. He looks down and notices a familiar enemy: Mr. L. Mario is confused as to how Mr. L is even there, as Luigi is watching this too. Mr. L brings out his troops, who the team realizes are simply evil versions of Mario, Wario, and Waluigi. Mario jumps down, and the group introduces themselves with style. They are the Negative Squad, and they say they are the ones who wrecked Toad Town. Mr. L, who happens to be the leader, sends Mr. M to take care of Mario. During the battle, though, none of them can hurt each other. Eventually Mario must run away, and the team goes on through Moonview Woods.

Moonview Woods is overrun with Crazee Dayzees and Hyper Goombas. It also seems that the Negative Squad forced some Koopas into their service, as many Negative Koopas roam the area. Eventually, Mario reaches the Underground Lab, but he finds the only way in is either through a very low passage which none of the team can go through or via the main door with a keycard lock. He tries to search for the keycard, but comes up empty handed. Mario attempts to go back, and winds up in Moonview City. There, Mario meets up with Wario again, and they battle once more. The plumber defeats his arch-nemesis, and is about to leave when Mona comes along and gets outraged that Mario laid a beating to Wario. She nearly attacks Mario when she notices that Wario has gone missing. Mona asks Mario what he’s doing there, and he tells her of his predicament. Mona offers her help and joins the team, able to use her Crawl ability to get through low places. With her help, Mario returns to Moonview Woods, and he approaches the Underground Labs. Mona crawls under the low passage and finds a circuit breaker connected to the keycard scanner on the door, and reprograms it to disable the lock. The door opens, and Mario approaches to see what lies within...

Right upon entering the Underground Labs, Mario sees a huge swarm of Laser Guys flocking to the exit. It seems that the Negative Squad had locked it from the inside as well. Mario continues through the Testing Area, where fallen Laser Guys who suffered the Negative Squad’s wrath flooded the area. After going through many traps and puzzles, Mario finds a dead end with a lone switch. He pulls it, and it seems nothing has happened. But then he finds that a huge swarm of Laser Guys, brainwashed by the Negative Squad, were just then activated, and the crowd surrounds Mario, giving him no escape. He is narrowly rescued by a Laser Guy survivor of the Squad’s mass enslavement named Lazey. He joins Mario’s partner party, able to use his long range laser attacks to hit switches and reflect off mirrors. If Mario hits a laser, he briefly has a laser aura around him, speeding him up and hitting any normally unusable switches. Soon, Mario meets up with Mr. M once more, and they have a serious battle. Mario emerges the victor, and goes deeper into the Underground Labs.

He goes into the Executive Area, where a group of prisoners are being held. Guarding the area is none other than Mr. W, who patrols the section along with his troupe of Negative Koopas. In order to free the prisoners from the cell, he has to find four keys while avoiding detection from the guards. Mario learns their route and manages to avoid being found. He sets free all the Laser Guys and Koopas and begins to lead the huge escape charge. However, just as he is about to exit, Mr. W comes and stops the rebellion. Mario steps forward to challenge his arch nemesis’ alter-ego, and defeats him just as he did to Wario. Mr. W flees with all his Negative Koopas, and continues on while all the captives escape to freedom.

The next area is the Manufacturing Area, the place where all the research and designs by the Testing Area are put into reality. In order to get through, Mario must hit a series of switches to rotate the mirrors to hit a solar panel to open a door. Using Lazey’s laser ability and Mona’s electric powers, Mario is able to configure the mirrors to the long path heading for the door. He proceeds to the main section of the area, where conveyor belts and other factory stuff abound. Mario just manages to make it through the maze of moving floors and rising platforms, when Mr. Upside Down L shows up and prepares a battle with Mario. The plumber defeats the dark Waluigi, and goes into the final area, the Command Area.

Here, Mario finds something cruel: the brainwashed servants are forced to battle against each other to find defects. At once, the Negative Koopas and Laser Guys attack him, but Mario sweeps them aside. Mario makes a disguise like a Koopa and takes one’s gear, and heads into the arena, storming aside all of the Negative Squad’s henchmen. After these battles, Mario searches for the head office, and comes face to face with the mastermind: Mr. L.

After a bit of mocking, Mr. L charges at Mario, but the Green Thunder is beaten just like the rest of his squad. Mr. L runs to the arena, with Mario in hot pursuit. The crowd cheers as Mr. L enters. He taunts Mario some more, and pulls out a control for his “ultimate weapon”: his master computer system called the LES. He commands LES to attack Mario, and the whole crowd goes in a huge uproar over Mario’s imminent defeat. Mario gets his game face on and challenges the computer. Though LES is armed with an infinite artificial intelligence and a huge weapons array, Mario defeats Mr. L’s last trick. Mr. L swears revenge and nearly bolts out, but after LES’ defeat, all of his servants came back to their senses and block Mr. L’s passage. He bumps into the crowd and a strange yellow shard drops to the ground. Mario picks it up, and asks what it is. (Actually, his partner asks what it is.) Mr. L tells him of the Element Star, an ancient mystical object that brings ultimate power to the beholder. It was long ago split into five pieces, the Electric Piece, the Fire Piece, the Ice Piece, the Earth Piece and the Iron Piece. But just as fast as Mario obtained the Electric Piece, Mr. M comes in and swipes it. He and Mr. L leave in an instant, leaving Mario confused. The Laser Guys congratulate Mario for freeing them, and the chapter ends.

A scene comes to Bowser’s Castle, where Peach is still being held. Bowser barges in and steals Peach’s brooch. He opens it up, and out comes a red shard: the Fire Piece. He hands her back the brooch, and hands it to the person who just entered: Mr. W. Mr. W laughs and storms out of the room and Bowser says he’ll keep Peach just for the fun of it. Bowser leaves in a hurry, and Peach sighs and looks outward, calling for Mario.

Another monologue comes, saying:

“I recalled our first exile. We had a member of the clan so power-hungry that he attempted to conquer the entire world, threatening to use his bizarre powers obtained through a chemical accident. We sent him out into another dimension, using a trickery of his own powers. He swore that he would have this world destroyed one day.

“We can only fear he will have his revenge soon.”

The scene goes to the main square of Moonview City, where all of its residents and the freed Laser Guys are thanking Mario for his outstanding work. Then an older professor comes and tells Mario that he must collect the other fragments of the Element Star before the Negative Squad does. He says that the Negative Squad already has the Iron Piece, but he knows for sure that the Ice Piece is at Mt. Frostbite. He also mentions that the Negative Squad said something about collecting the Fire Piece at Bowser’s Castle. Mario remembers that Peach was kidnapped, and leaves in a hurry for Toad Town.

When Mario takes one of the ways to Toad Town (Two blue pipes appear, one from Moonview City and one from the Underground Labs.), he finds the place fixed up, but strangely deserted. He goes up north, and notices a strange happening. Small pieces of pure white are appearing everywhere more and more frequently as he goes on. It is also occurring to the sides and in the sky. He finds where all the Toads have gone, to a spot where almost everything is white with spots of reality. They are all gathered by a single Toad who went too far and is simply an outline of black and white. Nobody knows what it is exactly, but they are sure it is growing at a steady pace. Mario asks one how to get to Bowser’s Castle, and he says it is south of Toad Town, on the Lava Sea. The passage leads to Gray Bluffs, and soon enough Mario will be able to see Bowser’s Castle. Mario heads south to rescue Peach and get the Fire Piece, and prepares for his imminent battle with his ultimate rival: Bowser.

Chapter 4: Return to Bowser's Castle
Mario takes the short path to Gray Bluffs, a dead forest filled with Boos and pale enemies. He makes his way to the edge of Gray Bluffs to come face to face with the Lava Sea. Mario sees Bowser’s Castle, but the bridge is up and there seems to be no way to cross the lava. Mario hits a nearby switch which opens up a hidden path somewhere in the woods. Mario follows the way intrigued, and after a while finds himself at a little village of mixed peoples, including Bumptys, Twilighters and Yoshis. One of the Bumptys welcomes him to the place called Highcrest Town, filled with people who appreciate the nearby Dead Woods’ “beauty” and spend a lot of money moving in. He also mentions a visitor from Sarasaland. Mario looks around the town and notes the gatekeeper who says Mario has no business beyond that point. He continues on and meets up with Daisy, who says she’s there on vacation. Mario tells her of the fact that Peach was kidnapped, and Daisy joins along to help Mario find her. Using Daisy’s ability to float across gaps, Mario manages to reach the castle.

Mario ventures through the halls of Bowser’s Castle, defeating all the enemies that come in his way. After a while Mario reaches the central gardens, where he sees a huge locked tower. Finding no way to open it, Mario presses on, going towards the back of the castle. He comes across a room where he finds a key, but a wall quickly comes down and blocks the door. As Mario continues on, he reaches the place where prisoners are kept, and finds that his old partner, Lady Bow, has been taken. She says the only reason she can’t just go through the bars is that Dry Bowser came along and put a curse on her, but if she can get out she will regain her powers. Mario finds a hidden passage leading to the control room, and hits the switch to open the jail cells. Unfortunately, this not only releases Bow, but all the other prisoners as well, and they all go off in a huge uproar, waking up Billy, the Bullet Bill guard. Mario returns to Bow to retreat the area, but is then stopped by Billy, who rounded up all the others. Mario fights Billy, who is eventually beaten. Bow thanks Mario and joins his team, being able to hide Mario from enemies and allowing him to pass through blocked passages. Mario passes through the blocked off door, and opens it from the outside. All the prisoners leave the area, opening the drawbridge and escaping. Mario, back in the central plaza, is able to reach the dungeons, where a prisoner told him of a key to open the door to the tower. Ever closer to his goal, Mario goes down into the dungeons.

Though at first the dungeons weren’t all too special, it turns out that the area is actually the lava filtration system for the Lava Sea. They see a few bridges to cross the lava, but they are moved out of the way, so Mario has to venture through the area to find switches to move them. After moving all three bridges, Mario meets up with Dry Bowser, the apparent overseer of the dungeons. He remembers Mario from the castle raid and challenges Mario to a battle. However, Mario overcomes the skeletal Bowser and obtains the key to the central tower. However, upon obtaining the key, the lava in the area begins to rise as the filtration system breaks down. Mario quickly escapes and heads to the door teach Bowser a lesson.

Mario unlocks the door and ascends the tower, defeating all of Bowser’s goons along the way. He goes to the elevator block, but finds that a strange block is in the way. Mario searches around the castle and finds the switch to make the block disappear. He ascends once more, and finds that two more of these blocks are in the way. After finding both the switches, Mario is finally able to go up to the topmost room, where he meets up with Bowser, who tells him that Peach is in the room just past there. Mario and Bowser engage in a battle, just like old times, but ultimately Bowser loses. Mario continues on to the stairs, and opens the door to Peach’s cell. Immediately upon entering, Peach rushes over to Mario, and thanks him for saving her. Mario asks about the Fire Piece, and Peach opens up her brooch and gives him the Fire Piece, and the chapter ends.

The scene goes over to an unknown base, where Mr. M is simply walking about when Mr. W enters. Mr. M says that the project is going smoothly, and orders Mr. W to head out to Mt. Frostbite, where he knows for sure the Ice Piece is. Mr. W leaves and Mr. M laughs to himself, saying that Mario’s doom awaits him…

Then another monologue goes on, saying:

“We found the signature of the spacecraft. It traced back to a strange satellite very far off in the cosmos, very literally on the other side of the universe. We made a huge spaceship that could propel us that far, attached to a rig that could carry all of our people. Another was built to carry supplies. After all, we wanted revenge on those who destroy our planet. Besides, how menacing could a simple satellite be?

“And yet I still worry…”

Mario is preparing to leave the room when a huge rumbling comes, and something is heard downstairs. Mario goes through the door and sneaks over to a hiding spot, and sees Mr. L depart from a Brobot-like airship, asking Bowser where the Fire Piece is. Bowser says that he got knocked out and that Mario probably already took it and Peach. Mr. L goes in a rage and says that Bowser will be severely punished, and drags him into the airship. He sends out two guards to watch over the entrance while they prepare for takeoff. Mario rushes out and fights through the guards to board the airship, with Peach at his side. However, upon entering, the guards managed to sound an alarm before passing out and loads of the Negative Squad’s goons come to the boarding dock. They all pile on to Mario, preventing him from moving. Peach then cries out for Mario when a few guards take her away. Soon the guards overpower Mario in his desperate attempt to escape, and he slips away…

Mario wakes up in a holding cell of the airship, and sees Mr. L coming up to mock Mario in his attempts to collect all of the pieces of the Element Star before the Negative Squad. He points out that they already have three pieces, including the Fire Piece they stole from Mario, and the other two are very close in their grasp. Mr. L laughs and walks off, leaving Mario alone in the nearly empty holding cells, with the only other few captives being Fuzzies. Mario calls out for Peach, but he gets no response. Bow comes out and suggests that she could just get Mario through the walls, but it turns out Mr. L made precautions against that and put spectral deflectant on the bars. Mario simply waits in the cell until he hears a crash from above, and Wario drops in through the hole in the ceiling he made. He mockingly congratulates Mario on his being captured, and pounds another hole in the floor to the storage area. Mario drops down the hole to see Wario about to pound another hole, saying he knows how to get out of the castle. He completes the ground pound, and sees that the airship is already in flight. He yells out as he falls all the way down to the thickest part of Moonview Woods, and a huge dust cloud comes up. Mario continues through the airship, to find Peach, reclaim the Fire Piece and make Mr. L pay once and for all.

Mario advances through the more familiar Negative Koopas and the more recent Negative Fuzzies, presumably the reason for the Fuzzies being hostages in the holding cell. After a while, Mario comes to the elevator, and finds the airship is divided into 5 levels, with Mr. L being on floor 1 at the top. However, floors 1 and 2 are restricted access, requiring a keycard to proceed. Mario first goes to floor 4, which is the holding cell area, with guard quarters on the other end. All the guard quarters are empty, though, and Mario sees why: all of them are by the hole in Mario’s cell that allowed him to escape. One of them spots Mario, and he winds up in a massive progressive enemy fight, going through all 20 of the goons. After they all lay defeated, Mario searches around but finds no keycard among any of them. Mario goes up to floor 3, where the managing section is. After searching through the hallways, all Mario can find of note is a door to the upper storage area, but has a huge gap and can only be reached high above. However, since the airship is in motion, wind is flowing up through the gap. Daisy comes out and says her parasol can’t absorb wind, but she remembers Peach getting a wind parasol at some point. Mario continues to search through the rooms, and finds a secret passage in a seemingly average room. It leads to a passage where Peach is being specially held. Mario opens Peach’s door, and she runs up to Mario, thanking him for freeing her a second time, this time kissing Mario on the cheek. Peach says she refuses to be separated from any of the group from that point on, and joins your team, able to use her wind powered parasol to float across wind. (She cannot float across gaps with no wind, however.) With Peach at his side, Mario continues on to unlock the secrets hidden in the airship…

Using Peach, Mario and the team is able to quickly get up to the upper storage room, which has an opening to the second floor. Ironically, they find an elevator keycard right there. They see that the second floor is where the pilot operates the craft. Mario rushes over to the elevator, but finds that only the pilot and the Negative Squad leaders have the special card to get to the top floor. Mario takes the path to the pilot’s room, and attacks him. The pilot puts up a decent fight, using basic Negative goons and unique ways, so far as to making a working humanoid fighter out of them. However, Mario overcomes him and takes his special keycard, going up to the top floor to settle things once and for all.

When Mario arrives on the top floor, Mr. L is chasing Bowser around the area, and eventually traps him near the front. Mr. L turns around, expecting the pilot, but is somewhat shocked when he sees Mario coming up. However, he simply says he would love Mario to see this, and so he uses a Negative Zone on Bowser, and he flies shortly up into the air, before landing in inverse coloring. Mr. L orders his new creation, which he calls Negative Bowser, to attack Mario. Negative Bowser uses his Negative Zone powers to amp up his attack, and sometimes shoots smaller Negative Zones at Mario. Despite this, Mario manages to defeat the fiend, and Bowser regains his normal coloring in a massive, inverted explosion. Bowser looks around, confused, but then the ship gives a huge lurch and Bowser flies out the window, and Mr. L topples into the wall. A grunt comes up and says that the controls are busted due to the explosion, and that they’re going to crash. Mr. L and a bunch of grunts rush over to the escape pod, realizing that they don’t need the airship since the whole point of it was to deliver stuff so they could destroy Mario. And since they believe Mario would be destroyed by the crash, they see no purpose in the supplies. They blast off, leaving Mario in the falling airship. They see the ground approaching, and Daisy rushes over to the busted window and tells everyone to hang on. Almost right when the airship crashes into the ground, Daisy jumps off and floats safely to the ground, which happens to be in the middle of Highcrest Town. Mario notices all the citizens rushing over to the crashed airship, which is blocking the entrance. Some workers come up and say that they’re going to help get it out of the way. However, they state that it will take a while, and tell Mario to come back at a later time. Mario goes off to explore the town, and upon going into the east area, sees a bunch of people near the gate, who then turn around and see Mario, whom they state just ran through the gate with a bunch of Fuzzies just a while ago. Mario goes over to the gate to investigate this strange scenario, because as Mario will find out…he’s about to be in the midst of a huge crisis…one that could shape just how the battle between him and the Negative Squad will unfold.

Chapter 5: A Very Fuzzy Problem
Mario arrives in the Dead Woods, filled with more powerful Dark enemies, like Dark Puffs and Pale Piranhas, but still contains Clefts. After going through the area, Mario comes across a large gap that Daisy is not able to cross. But just as Mario turns back, he sees a rustling in the bushes and Waluigi comes out to ambush them. He says he and Luigi still have a score to settle, and battles Mario and his crew. After a short battle, Mario defeats Waluigi and he falls to the ground. He asks Mario why he would be in a place like this, and he explains to him about his quest for the pieces of the Element Star, and about the recent situation, where a Mario look-alike kidnapped the hostage Fuzzies aboard the airship. Waluigi says that an adventure was just what he was searching for, and he joins your team, despite Luigi being there. He uses his long-jump ability to cross big gaps, so he can easily leap the canyon in the way. With Waluigi on his side, Mario continues on.

(Just to explain this, Waluigi’s long jump does not surpass Daisy’s parasol. It’s complicated, but I’ll try to explain. Imagine a large gap, just like the one mentioned, with a cave in one of the walls. Mario and Co. are on the side without the cave. Now, if you use Daisy, she will float steadily forward, but also down. Since she is going down, she obviously cannot reach the other side of the gap; she can only reach the cave. However, if you use Waluigi, he does a very long jump, but after it is done, he falls straight down. If you use it at the very edge of the cliff, he can reach the other side, but not the cave. In simpler terms, imagine a rectangle. The team is at the top left. Daisy can land at the bottom right corner, but Waluigi can reach the top slightly away from the edge. It’s kinda hard to grasp, but if you think about it, it makes sense.)

Mario arrives at the Master Tree, a gigantic tree in the depths of the woods. He sees a Fuzzy hopping along, saying that a man in red just like Mario passed by with all his friends earlier. He says that the red man may also be trying to brainwash the tribe leader, Fuzzy Buzzy. Mario heads into the tree, and finds it has been converted into some kind of headquarters. Right when he enters, he sees the mysterious man in red, who of course is Mr. M. He spots Mario and mutters to himself, but runs over to an elevator, which he then locks. Mario is forced to go the normal way up the stairs, which leads up to floor 2. Mario finds a map and sees the tree is now a 10 level base, with floor 10 being the top of the trunk. The elevator only leads to floor 4, while a second one there goes all the way up to 10. Mario solves many traps and puzzles to ascend the steps, along the way seeing Fuzzies in large experimental tubes being sent some strange glowing liquid. Eventually Mario gets to floor 4, where he sees Mr. M loading some Fuzzies into those tubes. He turns to see Mario, and simply laughs and presses a few buttons on a control panel. Something happens with the Fuzzies, and soon they bust out of the tubes, slowly transforming. After a short while they all turn into Smorgs, and fuse together to make the Smorg V1. Wordlessly revealing his plan, Mr. M heads off through the second elevator, leaving Mario to deal with the Smorg. After a tiring battle, Mario defeats the monster and continues on, knowing he must stop Mr. M’s obvious plan…to use a Smorg army to obliterate everything.

Mario goes on through the passages of the Master Tree, battling individual Smorgs along the way, who can fuse with other Smorgs to boost their attack power. After opening the way to three stairwells, Mario arrives at floor 6, where he sees a huge Fuzzy with a Buzzy Beetle shell on his head in a huge test tube. Mario busts him out with his hammer, and Fuzzy Buzzy falls out, still slightly dazed. He sees Mario and says that he was doing all of this, and attacks him. Mario manages to beat the half-Smorg Fuzzy, and soon he returns to his senses. He goes up to try and beat Mr. M for his torturing of the Fuzzies, and Mario gives chase to him, battling all the Smorgs and Negative Fuzzies in his way. He soon arrives at floor 10, where Mr. M awaits him. He shoots a blaze at Fuzzy Buzzy, knocking him to the floor. Mario hops over to his evil counterpart, and challenges him to a battle. Though Mr. M has many of the same attacks as Mario, as well as the power to use a Negative Zone, Mario defeats him. He lays knocked out on the floor, dropping the Electric Piece. Mario picks it up, at last having two pieces of the Element Star, and heads over to the cannon at the edge of the tree, which blasts him back to Highcrest Town, and the chapter ends…

The scene stays at the top of the tree, however, where a bunch of Smorgs hop out of the elevator and see Fuzzy Buzzy and Mr. M unconscious. A few carry Fuzzy Buzzy back inside, but most of them stay by Mr. M. They say something to each other, and start to crowd over Mr. M. In the flood of Smorgs, Mr. M says that all is going according to plan, and that Mario is wrong about an army of Smorgs…

Back in Highcrest Town, Mario tells all the residents of Mr. M’s plan to destroy all with the Smorgs, which were actually modified Fuzzies. He says that Mr. M would probably destroy Highcrest Town first, since it was right there. Mario notices the workers are having trouble breaking down the airship. But then Toadia comes along and sees the giant Luigi head airship. She asks the workers why they would ever destroy it, and suggests that they simply move it. The workers all agree on this, and head to the side to try and move it. The mayor calls Mario over, and gives him 100 coins in return for his efforts and basically saving Highcrest Town and maybe even the world from total destruction. Mario heads back to see the workers, but then notices one of them and Toadia has gone. Mario heads back to where the mayor just was, and finds that he disappeared too. Mario keeps going around, noticing that people are constantly disappearing whenever they leave his sight, and soon all but the innkeeper and shop manager have gone missing. He goes in the east part of town and notices that a bunch of Smorgs are holding Toadia, and crowd around her. They all back off, and Mario sees that Toadia now has a different coloring and has a slight blue aura around her. She says that this is only a demo of the true potential of the Smorgs and effectively the Negative Squad. She warns that if Mario keeps interfering in the Negative Squad’s plans, then the same fate will happen to him as all the other citizens of Highcrest Town, and he will serve the very people he was hopelessly fighting, and will be consumed by the power of Mr. M and the Smorgs. She is then taken away by the Smorgs, and Mario gives chase to them, realizing there was much more at stake then he thought.

Mario rushes through the Dead Woods, now infested with Smorgs who only serve to impede him. He quickly arrives at the Master Tree, where the interior has been completely ripped apart due to the destructive nature of the Smorgs. They also cut down the power lines, because the lights keep flickering on and off, thus hindering Mario’s progress even more. The stairs have been blocked off, so Mario takes the elevator, hoping the remaining power will be enough to get him up to the top. As predicted, it only gets him up to floor 2, so he climbs out of the elevator and navigates the shaft, using hidden switches to create platforms so he can get to floor 4. After a long while, he opens the door and finds a huge group of Smorgs awaiting him. They all start to flood onto him, when something blasts into them and they fly off. Mario sees that it was Billy, the prison guard from Bowser’s Castle. He says he was chasing Mario all over the place to get him back to the castle, but Mario tells him the castle has already been cleaned out and Bowser is nowhere to be found. Billy sighs and says he came all this way for nothing, but Mario suggests that he could be of help to him. Billy refuses at first, but gives in eventually. With Mario being able to use Billy as a controlled projectile, he is able to progress further to uncover the truth behind the whole plot…

Mario attempts to use the elevator to get to floor 10, but the power has gone way down and the stairs are blocked off. However, Billy gets an idea to use the Electric Piece to connect it to the power core. He takes the map and finds a shaft on this floor that leads to the power system. Mario gives him the Electric Piece, and navigates him through the shaft, eventually reaching the main power core, where he inserts the Electric Piece. Immediately the whole place turns light and the power goes way up, but an alert sounds saying the power system is overloaded. Billy removes the Electric Piece and finds it sent enough power to last them through the journey. Mario is about to go to the elevator when a huge group of Smorgs come and form together to make the Smorg V2. Mario runs for the elevator, and narrowly escapes the Smorgs attack. However, at about floor 8, the elevator stops, and Mario climbs out, expecting to have to navigate the shaft once more. However, he finds that the Smorgs have stopped the elevator, and so Mario goes to destroy it once and for all. Though the Smorg V2 is far more powerful than the V1, Mario still manages to overcome it and the elevator continues on to the top of the tree.

The elevator arrives at the top and Mario steps out to brace what he might see. However, all he does see is Mr. M, but notices he has been Smorgified. Mario steps back but Mr. M launches a string of Smorgs from seemingly nowhere and grabs him back. Showing off his new control over Smorgs, he battles Mario, sure he will destroy him with his immense power. But Mr. M and his Smorgs prove no match for Mario, and Mr. M, enraged, flies off using his Smorg power. All of the remaining Smorgs revert back to the citizens of Highcrest Town, and Mario explains what really happened, that Mr. M was actually planning to convert all the people in the world into Smorgs he would use for his own power. Mario, along with all the other citizens of Highcrest Town, are stuffed into the cannon as a Fuzzy resident of the Master Tree lights the fuse. They all blast back to town, and the chapter ends.

The scene goes to another unknown base (as the previous one was the Master Tree), where Mr. M is giving his report to Mr. L. Mr. L goes into an outrage about him losing the Electric Piece, but then is told about Mr. M’s new control over Smorgs, and says that he has thought of a new plan. He sends Mr. M off to make sure Mr. Upside Down L is doing his job in the Nothing Zone, and to check on Mr. W at Mt, Frostbite. Mr. M simply sends off a group or Smorgs to do both jobs, and says he has better things to do. Mr. L just sighs and leaves, worrying if the Smorg thing might be a problem.

Then another monologue comes (what did you expect?), saying:

“We stayed around to enjoy the last days on our planet. My wife and I had already packed everything we would ever need, but she still said it wasn’t enough. She said the planet was the only thing that could make her truly happy, but I simply said that our kind must not deserve the planet if the gods decide it must be destroyed. She just looked back at the mountains nearby, where she grew up as a child, and then said words that meant so much at the time you would think it was from the gods themselves.

“’Maybe the one we exiled has managed to trick the gods…’”

Then the scene goes back over to Highcrest Town, where the mayor and pretty much everyone are expressing their thanks for saving the world twice, though one of them points out that technically he only saved them once. Then they all hear a huge shout from the entrance, where Toadia is rejoicing over the airship moved to the side as a tourist attraction. She says she will run it like a museum, and will charge everyone 500 coins to go on a full tour. But she whispers to Luigi that it doesn’t apply to him, since the museum is made in his honor. Mario leaves for Toad Town, and once he arrives, still finds people in somewhat in a state of shock from the Nothing Zone invading the town, but they have recovered somewhat. However, it is nearly to the center of town, and so they urge Mario to hurry up with whatever it was he was doing. Mario heads to the entrance to Mt. Frostbite, where the adventure amps up for him…

Chapter 6: The Menace of Mt. Frostbite
Mario trudges through the Frostbite Plains, where all he can see is an endless field of snow. But after navigating through the snow and defeating loads of ice enemies, he finally sees three mountains jutting through the ice. Mario rushes over to them and finds them nearly insurmountable due to the steepness of the rock and all of the ice surrounding it. But then he sees a cave etched into the western mountain, with a small sign nearby saying “Mt. Blizzard”. Mario goes into the cave, encountering enemies such as Gloombas and Ice Lanterns. After navigating his way through the dark, he finds the end of the cave, to see it is actually on the side of the mountain, with a long bridge leading to the eastern mountain, Mt. Shiver. Mario progresses along the bridge, but is then stopped in his tracks when Mr. W falls from the sky, and tosses the bridge around. He says that since Mario didn’t heed the Negative Squad’s warnings, he will destroy him once and for all. However, Mario trumps his eviler arch-enemy, and Mr. W runs off towards Mt. Shiver. Mario gives chase to him, knowing his quest for the third piece of the Element Star was not going to be easy…

Mario soon arrives at Mt. Shiver, setting foot in a big city carved into the mountainside. Upon getting there, he is approached by a Freezy businessman, who tells him to make a donation to Freezycorp, the main product circulation business of the area. He asks him for 10,000 coins, but Mario refuses and runs off. Mario then notices a big gathering by the center of town, and Mario sees Mr. W and Wario having a big fight. Mario jumps in and says it was his job to defeat the Negative Squad, and fights Mr. W once more. However, after the first turn, Wario jumps in and says that he’ll make it his own job to defeat the Negative Squad if he can beat Mr. W. Mario accepts, and Wario suddenly realized he basically forced himself to join their team. But Wario defeats Mr. W anyway, and once more he runs off, this time to the northern mountain, Mt. Frostbite.

Mario ascends the mountain, winding through both its caves and steep paths. Along the way, he meets a Bob-Omb named General Blast, who says he dropped his axe somewhere on the mountain. He can’t ascend any further without it, and if he falls he will surely explode. Mario heads down to find his axe, which he eventually does, and gives it to Blast. He climbs up, and happily dances around, but accidentally explodes and breaks a huge glacier. It creates a giant cave, and Mario thanks him for the help in progress. Blast says he used to blow up lots of things when he was younger, but his doctor said it was bad for his fuse pressure. But he then laments over his lost exploding days, and Mario tells him that on his journey he might need some stuff exploded, and so Blast joins his team. With his exploding sidekick’s help, Mario continues through on the perilous journey to the peak of Mt. Frostbite…

After battling his way through all the icy enemies in the caverns, Mario eventually winds up at the peak of the mountain, where he sees Mr. W cornering an old Freezy, asking where the Ice Piece is. The old Freezy says that he doesn’t know, and so Mr. W prepares to throw him off the mountain. However, the Freezy sidesteps him and so Mr. W falls off instead, landing in the snowfield below and making a huge crater. Mario goes over to the old Freezy, and asks if he’s all right. The Freezy lurches forward, and says that he, the Freezy Guru, would never be overcome by the likes of Mr. W. He walks over to the back of his small house, and looks at a giant egg in his backyard, saying Mr. W kept looking at it. One of Mario’s partners goes over to the back, and tells them all to see what’s there. The Freezy Guru examines it, and is about to say it’s a bomb when it explodes right then. A monstrous icy Piranha Plant hatches from it, and attacks Mario. Mario overcomes the Ice Piranha, and it falls, unconscious, to Frostbite City, and in a matter of seconds becomes a tourist attraction. Mario heads back down to the city, where everyone asks what happened, and before Mario can answer, a Freezycorp businessman comes and says that the Ice Piranha’s landing caused one of their prototype machines to break. Since it was technically Mario’s fault, he sends Mario to find the five parts in the snowfield. Mario heads down and searches through the deep snow until he finds all five parts, and he goes back up. However, he sees the Ice Piranha has disappeared, and notices the guards in front of the Freezycorp building rushing inside. Mario enters the unguarded building, finding his adventure is far from over yet…

Mario goes through the Freezycorp building, finding it strangely empty. Mario keeps ascending floors, but realizes that every time he climbs the stairs, he returns to that floor. Mario searches around and finds a Dimensional Spirit, who grants him the Skew ability, which allows him to stretch the surrounding area for a short while. Using this, he finds a hidden passage, showing the true way up to the second floor. Up here, he sees a huge presence of guards, who seem to be very secretive about something. Upon arriving on floor 10, he sees a bunch of people gathered around a captured Rosalina, who is in stasis in a power tube. Her powers are being siphoned away and used to power the building. Waluigi steps up and kicks away all the scientists, then frees Rosalina. She quickly awakens and thanks Waluigi for saving her. She quickly kisses him and then flies off, leaving pretty much everyone shocked. With that strange note in mind, the team continues on.

As Mario advances further and further up the building, he notices some Negative Squad goons, which become more common as he ascends the building. This is explained as he reaches floor 20, where he sees Mr. W talking with the head of Freezycorp, who has fallen victim to a Negative Zone. They see Mario, and the head of Freezycorp says they should call security. But Mr. W goes to an access panel on the wall, which makes a section fold back revealing the beaten Ice Piranha. Mr. W uses a Negative Zone on it, which not only makes it more powerful, but makes it three times as big. It wakes up and launches out of the roof, and Mario looks out the window to see it rampaging around town. Mario jumps out the building, and goes off to face the giant Ice Piranha. It uses it’s new Negative Zone powers to add to its icy powers and control over Frost Piranhas, but it eventually falls to Mario and returns to its normal size. It spits out a strange blue shard, the Ice Piece, which Mario then grabs. The Freezy Guru comes along and says he remembers feeding it to his Piranha Plant during the winter since there was nothing else to eat. After thinking it died, he buried it in his yard, but the Ice Piece gave it the power to merge with the snow. Mr. W crashes down, and goes in a rage over losing the Ice Piece. He runs away from the city, and the chapter ends.

The scene goes to the Negative Squad’s base, where Mr. W reports to Mr. L. He is disappointed with his incompetence, and says that he only hopes Mr. Upside Down L will not fail so badly with finding the Nature Piece. He sends everyone away, saying he needs time to think. Everyone leaves, and Mr. L looks out a window at the Nothing Zone beyond him. He says he only wishes his fate was not true, and leaves. A voice lingers behind, saying that at last he has found Mr. L’s weak spot…

Again, a dialogue thingy. You should know this right now has absolutely nothing to do with the plot, and barely does at any point. Anyway, it says:

“We destroyed the satellite today. Hundreds of little star creatures scurried around, running for their lives. Amidst all the chaos, I saw a mysterious lady in blue calmly heading towards a small escape pod, shooting off to a planet barely visible in the distance. We saw several of the bulb vehicles, but none of the creatures that seemed anything like the ones we saw in the one that destroyed our planet. Among all these thoughts, I can only ask myself one question…Are we doing the right thing?”

Now we’re back in Toad Town, bla bla bla, just as normal. Mario goes north and sees nobody by the Nothing Zone except for Mr. Upside Down L. He sees Mario and dashes into the Nothing Zone, saying he must get the Nature Piece. Mario gives chase to him, and the next chapter starts…

Chapter 7: Into the Nothing Zone
Coming...

To be continued...