Curse of the Crystal Starman

(Chris Waters)

NOTE from author: For those wondering, Captain Syrup was the villainess from Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3 and Wario Land 2.  A picture of her as well as a brief bio, which I'm using only slightly for this story, can be found here: http://www.mariomonsters.com/captainsyrup/

Anyway, ON WITH THE STORY!

'Damn it, if I have to go through another one of these blasted tunnels I think that I'm going to go insane.'

Captain Syrup continued to walk down the cavernous tunnels that she had found on Moss Island, where she was told that the Crystal Starman was located.  However, for the past three hours, all she had been doing is traveling through tunnels, searching, solving mysterious puzzles and fighting off undead warriors: not something befitting of a pirate captain of her standards. 

Then again, a lot of things haven't been going as good for her as she would have hoped, and she could put the blame solely on one person in her eyes: Wario.  Until he came to Kitchen Island to take the giant golden statue of Princess Toadstool that she had stolen, her life had been a dream world.  Then, that one incident changed everything for her.  She had to get used to hiding in the streets, finding new ways to build her forces again.  She managed to get them as high as she could before going for another strike onto Wario, but unfortunately for her Wario once again managed to foil her plans yet again.  Since then, she has been in exile, trying to find the perfect way to rise up to the dominance that she once had.

That's when she found a journal floating around in the bay near her ship...one of the Royal Family journals, and from the looks of it one from a time before she was even born.  Inside, the words of Queen Mango talked about how her parents told her the story of the Crystal Starman: a power-up item created centuries ago and said to contain the powers of all other power-ups, giving the user the ability to have all the powers at once.  There was also a mention of a request from her father that it should never be used unless for extreme emergencies.  Of course, Syrup didn't care about the concerns of the Royal Family: she just wanted the power that would come with an item like that.

However, coming to a dead end after three hours of searching did NOTHING to improve her mood about having to search for the object.  Rage filled the brunette pirate queen's body, feeling that she was just ripped-off in the fact that there was nothing there, and the floor was solid rock. The rage came out in the form of an almost primal scream of rage.

"WHERE IS IT!?" she yelled at the top of her lungs, slamming her fist HARD against the cave wall.  "It's supposed to be RIGHT HERE!" she continued, yelling to no one in particular, continuing to hit the wall in anger.

Fortunately for her, as she did that, one of the walls that she hit slid to the side, revealing a secret chamber that she didn't expect to see.  Inside this chamber, on a pedestal, was a large treasure chest, and she had a pretty good idea of what was inside.  Syrup's heart was almost up into her throat, and was beating faster than it ever had before.  Slowly she moved her hands to the chest, noting that the thing was towering over her at 7 feet tall (compared to her 5'8"), and struggled to start opening the chest.  When the lid finally fell back, she eagerly jumped inside, like she was a kid at Christmas opening presents, seeing the prize she was looking for.

And there it was, attached to a solid gold chain, shimmering in the dim light of the cave: The Crystal Starman.  A perfectly flawless diamond in the shape of a starman, almost as big as her entire body.  The glow that this jewel radiated made the normally strong-willed captain a bit weak kneed.  Eagerly, she reached into the chest, grabbing the chain and pulled with all of her might.

The Crystal Starman didn't budge.

'Oh great, not ANOTHER problem.' She thought to herself, putting her feet on the sides of the chest.  "Come on you damn thing, you're coming with me!  I have revenge I need to get out!"

Still, no matter how many times she pulled on the chain, the Crystal Starman would not budge from inside of the chest.  Syrup proved to be determined though, brushing back her black hair out of her eyes, and adjusting her attire, before diving in again.  Instead of grabbing the chain this time, after stretching her arms out, she put her hands around the jewel itself, pulling with all of her might.

Since her eyes were closed as she pulled, she failed to realize the fact that the Crystal Starman was starting to glow, as did her entire body.  She just pulled as hard as she could, and finally managed to get it free from its prison.  Happily, she started to drag the item towards the exit of the cave, ready to make her long trek out.  However, as she was dragging, she noted something strange: the trek seemed to be getting easier and easier for her as she walked.  Fearing that the item was breaking off how she was carrying it, she looked back...

...and saw that the Crystal Starman seemed a lot smaller than when she first grabbed it.  Worry took over, as she quickly leaned over to pick it up, examining to make sure there was no damage.  Fortunately, there was none, but still it seemed smaller.  As she looked, she was surprised to see it get smaller than when she picked it up just a second ago, and watched as it continued to shrink.  'What's going on here?' she thought.  'Does this thing shrink for the user to...'

*THUNK!*
            Syrup yelped in surprise (yet, for some strange reason, not pain) as she felt her head hit something.  Quickly she turned her head up to see what she hit, and when she did, she nearly fainted in surprise.

She was face to face with the ceiling.

'Wait a second...' she thought.  'Of course, the legend: all the power ups at the same time!  This must be an effect of the Super Mushroom!' she thought.  'And I didn't feel the pain due to Starman power, which means...'

Noticing that the cave she was in was getting rapidly smaller and smaller due to her growth, Syrup focused on her hands, concentrating to test her powers.  Sure enough, after a few seconds, fire started forming in her hands.  Quickly, she threw the fireballs at the stone wall, the intense heat melting them a bit, but not enough to escape.  'Well, at least I know they work.' She thought.  'What can I use...hmm...got it!'

Focusing again, Syrup watched as her right hand formed into a metallic version of itself, an effect from the metal caps.  She looked at her left hand, and moving it, formed a hammer...from the Hammer Bros suit.  Before she could run out of room and no longer move, the ever growing pirate captain slammed both her metallic fist and the hammer into the rock she started melting, watching as 5 feet of solid rock crumpled at her one strike.  She quickly dove out of the hole that she made before her new entrance collapsed and trapped her once again.  She had JUST enough room to move, and any second of a delay would have trapped her inside.  Relieved, she returned her body to normal flesh and blood, preparing herself to push off the ground and stand up.

It was at that moment that she quickly realized that she wasn't even standing on solid ground.  In fact, she was hovering a good 3 feet above it.

'Wow...I have all the flight powers too!' she thought, a huge grin forming on her face.  The legend, obviously, was true.  She had the power of ALL the power-ups: Super Mushroom, Fire Flower, Starman, Super Leaf, Frog Suit, Tanooki Suit, Hammer Bros. Suit, Cape Feather, Super Flower (from Super Mario Land), Super Carrot, the hats that Wario used against her, the three caps from Mario's quest to rescue Peach from inside the castle...all of them!  Grinning, she floated down to the ground, standing up, looking over to the cliffs that she was just inside.  She had heard from travelers that visited this place that the height was 200 feet.  She was pleased to see that, when she finally stopped growing, they didn't even come up to her chin.  She was massive compared to everyone and everything else: a 250 foot tall goddess with powers beyond anyone else's.  Smiling, she put the Crystal Starman around her neck, the jewel about the size of a marble to her now, and dove into the water, turning her body invisible and swimming like a frog towards civilization. With all this power at her side, she knew exactly how she'd use it.

She'd use it to get revenge.

"999,998...999,999...one million gold coins!  What a haul!" Wario exclaimed gleefully, as he was counting the contents of the bag that he had found washed up on the beach.  Life had been good for Wario recently, despite some troubles at the various sporting events that were set up by the Mushroom Kingdom.  After all, his new business of Wario Ware Industries was booming, with all the technologies selling like mad and giving his bank account a huge boost.  Then, there was the treasure that he found washed up ashore: a huge bag of gold coins, as well as a small chest that Wario, in his ever greedy mind, figured was filled with some hidden treasure.  Turning to his left, he saw his brother Waluigi with the chest, examining it.  "Hey, you gonna stare at the thing all day or are you actually going to open it?" he asked his brother impatiently.

"Hey, you want it done fast and possibly damage these things, or you want it done right?" the lankier brother retorted.  Looking back to the chest, he finally got an idea of how to open it, reaching into his overalls pocket, and pulling out a small Bob-Omb.  "There we go...right in here...and..."  A few seconds later, a small explosion went off, and the lock was blown clear away, the lid popping open to reveal a whole chest of jewels.  Needless to say, Waluigi's eyes started bugging out at seeing this wealth, and Wario was not far behind in doing the same.
            "Man, with all these jewels, we could be even richer than Princess Toadstool!" Wario noted, drool coming from his bottom lip as he said that.

"Heck, we could be the richest people in the entire Mushroom World!" Waluigi noted, looking very similar to his brother on this matter.

"And best of all, since no one knows about these treasures, we can't get taxed for them!" Wario said with a huge grin.  "There's no one that can stop..."

The vibrating of the entire castle shook both of the greedy siblings off of their feet, confusing them and causing them some confusion.  Between vibrations they tried to get up, standing with the help of tables and chairs to lean on.  "Wario, I thought you said that this place never had earthquakes!" Waluigi protested.

"OK, so I was wrong!  But at least it's not someone attacking us."

That comment by Wario proved to be both a premonition and bad news...

...as Captain Syrup easily pulled the roof of Wario's castle off with her bare hands, marveling at the added strength she got by the Bull Hat Wario had used before, making her even stronger by scale than before.  Throwing the castle top away with ease, she peered into the castle, searching for her target.  She found him standing in fear, next to a figure in dark blue and black, and had to laugh at how miniscule he looked.  She had seen him on a similar scale before when on her genie's shoulder or in one of her contraptions, but this blew all that way.

"Hello there, Wario." Syrup said, grinning so her now person-sized teeth were showing, the pure whiteness glistening at them.  "Remember me?"

It was an amusing show for the giant captain, seeing Wario nearly panic at the threat that was before him, while the other figure just stared.  The skinny figure turned to Wario.  "Wow, you know her?" he asked with a smile.  Syrup stifled a chuckle, as it was apparent that whoever this was had an attraction for her.  It would be his undoing if he was an ally of Wario.

"Shut up, Waluigi!" Syrup could hear Wario say to the figure...now with a name.  "That's Captain Syrup...you know, the one who I GOT this island from?"

"That's right." Syrup confirmed.  "And now, it's time for me to take back what is rightfully mine!" she finished with an evil grin, leaning forward into the castle now, her chest taking out a section of the wall.  Wario and Waluigi backed up to an opposite wall, reaching into the pockets of their overalls.

"Not if we have anything to say about it!" Wario defiantly replied, and the two threw Bob-Ombs like mad at her.  They watched as the items hit the giant captain's body, exploding on contact, the area where she was being replaced by smoke.  "Yeah, that got her!" Wario said.

Waluigi nodded.  "That'll teach people to attack the Wario Bros.!"

"Oh, you two are brothers?" the booming voice of Syrup said from behind the smoke.  "Then this will be DOUBLY enjoyable for me!"

Wario and Waluigi blanched at hearing that voice come out, looking back up to where Syrup's head last was.  They found out too late that they were looking in the wrong area, as the lovely yet destructive hand of Syrup broke through and grabbed both Wario and Waluigi.  Syrup easily lifted them up to her face, glaring down at them.

"So, you two work together in things, huh?  Birds of a feather and all that?" she asked, glaring down at them.  Neither Wario nor Waluigi answered, both in fear of what their words would cause.  They got even more fearful as Syrup started grinning again, lifting her head.  "Well in that case, it's time for you two to fly!"

Using the entirety of her strength, Syrup suddenly threw Wario and Waluigi towards the ocean, sending the two of them flying at high speeds away from Kitchen Island.  A sigh of satisfaction came over her at seeing this.  "That...was enjoyable." She said to herself, before turning back to see Wario's now roofless castle.  It was time to do some...remodeling to the island.

Castle Toadstool was quiet at the moment, as morning had just broken about 2 hours ago.  Most of the workers in the castle were out, going to do some errands or spend time with their families on this Saturday.  That gave Princess Peach Toadstool plenty of time to just sit back and relax in her flower garden, lazily watching the clouds float by high above.  She had a feeling that, as long as Bowser didn't attack today (which she doubted that he would, as he was a creature of habit and rarely, if ever, attacked on a Saturday), things were going to be peaceful.

Her feeling about this matter was suddenly shattered upon hearing a pair of panicked wailing coming from the distance, getting louder and louder as it got closer and closer.  She quickly got up to her feet, looking over to the horizon, and saw two familiar figures get closer and closer, until finally they crashed into the side of Peach's castle.  Before the princess had time to react to it, her faithful retainers, as well as a rushing Mario and Luigi surrounded her.

"What the heck was that?" Mario quickly asked as soon as he was close enough.

"We heard that sound all the way from our house!" Luigi also questioned.

Peach sighed.  "I honestly don't know, but whatever it was crashed into the side of the castle, over there." She replied, pointing to the sidewall.  Mario and Luigi quickly rushed over to that area, the rest of the group following.  As expected, what they found were two figures that they didn't usually let into the castle, and who looked worse for wear than usual.

"Ow...my freaking head..." Wario said as he slowly stumbled up to his feet.  He was about to turn and run back to where he came from, when he realized that he was in the midst of a group of people that...well, to be honest, he didn't exactly care for.

"All right Wario..." Mario began.  "What's the deal with you being here?"

"There, that's much better!" Syrup thought out loud as she surveyed her version of urban renewal.  A few minutes ago, hundreds upon hundreds of Wario statues made out of gold littered the landscape that she now had complete control of.  Now, after using her newfound firepower to melt all of them, those statues were re-formed into a life size one of herself...completely flawless in showing off her beauty in her mind.  Some gold was left over from the creation, so instead of just tossing it, she molded and forged it into a golden cutlass: completely unnecessary for a woman of her stature to have, yet she felt it gave her an heir of dominance.  Then, after making sure that every bit of treasure was removed (her greed still around even at this new size) and placed into a pouch on her hip, she went through the slow and calculating process of destroying Wario's castle, using mostly her feet, but sometimes blowing onto the towers and almost laughing at how easily they were destroyed.  Soon, what was once a dominating structure was nothing more than rubble, and even that was destroyed once she planted her massive rear on top of it.  She leaned back onto her hands, smiling softly.  Her revenge against Wario was complete.

And yet, something just didn't feel right.  Syrup, though having achieved her revenge, felt like it wasn't enough.  She felt like she needed to do more, like there was someone that she was missing in her path of revenge.  But who?  Who had wronged her, she wondered as she stroked the Crystal Starman, not realizing that the item was glowing as she thought.

The answer to her question suddenly hit her like a cannonball to the head: Bowser.  Ever since she got started terrorizing the oceans, she had always felt that Bowser was taking the majority of the attention in the Mushroom World, taking it away from her conquests.  The way he would, even after getting his butt solidly handed to him numerous times by Mario, always command respect made her feel SO angry...made her feel wronged...

'No more.' Syrup said to herself, clenching her fists as she stood, determination in her eyes now.  'It's time that I showed that overgrown iguana what TRUE power is!' she concluded in her mind.  Marching with determination towards the ocean, she prepared herself to take another swim, this time planning to go towards Dark World.  She wouldn't stop until she had gotten her need for revenge fulfilled.

'And there will be no one to stop me!' she thought as she dove into the water, causing MASSIVE tidal waves to splash against the shores of Kitchen Island.

"...and that's the entire story, I swear it!" Wario finished explaining with help from Waluigi.  "We swear to it!"

A conference of Mario, Luigi, Peach and Toadsworth was gathered into the conference room of the castle, listening to the story of the two greedy brothers about why they were here.  By the look on their faces, none of the four seemed to believe the story.

"What utter nonsense!" Toadsworth balked.  "You honestly expect us to believe that preposterous story?"

"IT'S THE TRUTH!" Waluigi protested.  "You think that we would lie about something like that?”

"YES!" both Mario and Luigi said in unison.

"...should have seen that one coming." Waluigi commented in a low voice, slumping into his chair.

"ANYWAY..." Peach began, trying to further the conversation.  "Do you have any proof on you to confirm your story?  I mean, with your past reputation as well as how strange your story does sound, it is hard to believe."

Wario angrily stood up from the chair that he was sitting in, slamming both of his hands onto the table and nearly cracked it.  "Just check out Kitchen Island!  I'm sure that she has already ruined everything that I have worked for over there with her own egomaniacal ways!"

Peach had to pause at seeing how Wario reacted to her question, not expecting such a response.  She turned her chair around, motioning for Mario, Luigi, and Toadsworth to do the same.  "What do you think, Mario?  Can we trust them?"

Mario thought a bit.  "Honestly, I think we can for once.  I've known Wario for a long time, and I have never seen him so adamant about something.  There has to be at least some semblance of truth in his story."

"But Mario, seriously..." Luigi began.  "...a giant Captain Syrup attacking him?  Even if she was using a Super Mushroom, she wouldn't have become as tall as they said she became."

"That's why I noted SOME truth." Mario noted.  "Most likely they were both attacked by Syrup, lost, and don't want to admit the truth, so they just made that story up to cover themselves."

Peach nodded.  "I agree.  So for now we..."

The slam of a door being opened and two panicked looking Mushroom People, Toad and Toadette, quickly rushed into the room.  The look on their faces made it seem like Bowser was attacking the castle.

"Princess!  Mario Brothers!  We've got a major situation!" Toad quickly informed.

"What is it?  What's wrong?" Mario asked, standing up and getting ready for whatever may come.

"It's...it's...well, you just have to see it to believe it!" Toadette quickly replied, both she and Toad grabbing Mario's hand and dragging him towards the living room to show him.  Peach, Luigi and Toadsworth quickly followed, thus leaving Wario and Waluigi alone in the room.

"...well, I guess that's over with." Waluigi noted.  "We should probably get going."

"Yeah, good idea." Wario agreed.  "Let's see if there's a good bar around these..."

Before they could finish formulating their plan, Mario and Luigi briefly returned to the room and grabbed the greedy twosome by their ears, dragging them out of the conference room to join the rest of the group.

The firing of cannons towards the lava lakes of Dark World rallied Bowser's troops together rather quickly.  It was rare that a good majority of the troops were would be needed while still at home base, but this was a very rare emergency.

A very lovely looking rare emergency, but a rare emergency nonetheless.

Captain Syrup was treading her way through the lava seas off the coast of the Valley of Bowser, chuckling to herself at the fact that the usually lethal substance did nothing more to her than give her the feeling that she was taking a hot bath.  Thankfully, the volatile substance did not affect her clothing either, as she did not enjoy the thought of people she didn't think were worthy enough seeing her naked: towering over them was enough.  As she continued her march to the shore, she finally noticed the gathering army that was waiting for her and firing (with no effect) cannonballs at her.

"Aw, how cute!" she exclaimed in a mocking tone upon seeing them.  "Bowser was kind enough to leave all of his toy soldiers out for me to play with!"  She learned quickly that they didn't appreciate being called toys, no matter what the opposition was.  The troops valiantly fought against her, trying to in some way, shape, or form damage this destructive goddess that was approaching them, yet had no affect on her whatsoever.  Syrup finally made it to the shore, walking onto the dry land and letting the magma flow down, missing the front line of the opposition by just mere inches...which was just the distance between her toes and the troops. 

"You know what I used to do to do to toy soldiers when I was a little girl?" she asked with a smile, before letting her smile turn into a dark smirk.  "THIS!"

The troops had no time to react, as Syrup suddenly turned around, and dropped down right on top of them, crushing every one that didn't get out of her way under her rear end.  She purred happily at the feeling of crushing under her, grinding her rear down a bit more to make sure those she crushed were done for good.  A few managed to survive her first barrage like that, but a quick transformation to metal and another grind ended that resistance.  Finally relaxed and comfortable in her sitting position, she looked around to see the reactions from the rest of the forces.  She was pleased to see them going into a panicked, frenzied state.

"That’s right you pests!" she called down to them as she returned her body to normal.  "Cower in fear before me, for I am more powerful than anything in history!"

As a showing of her power, the raven-haired titaness laid back slowly, stretching out every inch of her 250-foot tall frame, then playfully (or just cruelly, depending on your point of view) started to roll around.  The sheer tonnage of her body made her a human steamroller, crushing everything in her path with her body: chest, rear, tummy, hips all being used for demolition.  When she finally stopped rolling and stood up again, she saw that her path of destruction had laid waste to just about half of the ground forces that were trying to oppose her.  Satisfied, she started her march towards Bowser's castle, idly having her hands rain down fireballs to the ground below, adding further carnage at her feet.  She had just made it to the bridge leading to the castle when she suddenly was somewhat blocked off by small creatures at face level to her: Bowser's Air Brigade had finally arrived.  Knowing that they would be no match for her, she was about to just plow through them like they weren't even there, but the rumbling of her stomach quickly changed her mind on that matter.  It was then she remembered that she hadn't eaten anything in the last 14 hours.  She looked down to her stomach, then to the air forces (who had started attacking, but were having the same amount of luck as the ground troops) and came to a decision.

"Aw, how nice!  Someone brought out the snack tray for me!" she commented with an evil chuckle to her voice.  Immediately, she began to inhale deeply, catching about 20 or 30 of the aerial forces in the stream of her suction.  They tried to get away by flying in the opposite direction, but the power of her lungs prevented them from getting away, and soon Koopa Paratroopas, Para-Goombas, and Lakitus were all in her mouth.  She felt so powerful at the moment it was almost scary, especially at the feeling of the tiny figures flying around inside her mouth.  Their lives were hers to decide on, and she decided on making them food.  Using her tongue, she horded them all into the back of her mouth, and with one powerful gulp swallowed each and every one of them whole, licking her lips afterwards.  "Mmm, now THAT was a treat!" she rumbled out in a low voice, before marching forward again.  Almost all of the troops, in fear of their lives, stayed out of the way of Syrup as she made her way to the castle.  The one notable exception was a contingent of Hammer and Sledge Brothers standing at the castle gates, reading their weapons and flinging them with all their might at her.

"You call those hammers?" she scoffed as she raised her hand.  After a few seconds, her own version of a Hammer Brothers hammer formed into her hand, larger than 100 of the others put together.  "THIS is a hammer!" she finished, and carelessly dropped the weapon down onto them.  They managed to scatter out of the way before they were crushed, but Syrup didn't really care, as they had left the castle unguarded for her to attack.  Knowing that there would be no more opposition between her and the castle, she started to slowly saunter towards the castle, making sure to over-accentuate her feminine form as she did before reaching to pull her cutlass out to the ready.  "Oh Bowser, come on out little lizard!" she taunted in a low, sultry voice before swinging her blade right at the roof of the castle, making a clean cut.  After pushing away the severed roof with her foot, she peered inside to find her prey...and found him sitting in his Clown Car, a modified cannon under his arm and aimed right at her.

"Get away from my castle NOW!" Bowser demanded, obviously either oblivious or uncaring about the size differential at the moment.

"Oh?  What will you do if I decide not to?" Syrup questioned, stifling a giggle at the moment at how cute the Koopa King looked.

"Then my Magikoopa will have to cut you down to size!" Bowser replied.  "NOW!" he called out, pointing to a figure that was behind Syrup.  She quickly turned around, only to see a Magikoopa in a blue robe firing off a spell right at her.  For the first time since gaining her new power, Syrup was worried: physical attacks she knew would have no effect on her, but she had no idea about magic...

The group at Castle Toadstool watched on with bated breath at the scene that was playing out on the news.  They had seen every bit of Syrup's power and destructiveness, and while everyone seemed concerned about what was happening, it was Peach who looked the most worried.  She had heard stories about such a power, but up until now didn't believe that they were true.  As she saw the Magikoopa that Bowser snuck in behind her fire off its spell, she knew that this would be the ultimate test.  She clenched her fists tightly, waiting to see what happened to Syrup when the spell hit.

To confirm her worst fears, before the spell could even hit, the necklace that Syrup was wearing started to glow, and the spell that was aimed at her giant body got absorbed right into it.

'This is bad.  This is VERY bad!' the Mushroom Kingdom princess thought.

She didn't believe it, but she was happy about it.

She didn't have any reason to worry about the attack of the Magikoopa, as the spell that it cast at her didn't even touch her.  Now, Captain Syrup was standing there, currently unopposed by anyone that could TRULY stop her, ready to finish of the job that she was going to start.

"TRY IT AGAIN!" she heard Bowser shout from the castle, ordering the Magikoopa to attack once more in the hope that this was nothing but some blind luck.  She quickly turned to face the wizard of Bowser's troops, and before he could get his wand at the ready, she simply backhanded the magical creature away into the distance.  With that out of the way she turned back to Bowser, who at the moment was dumbstruck at what he was seeing.

"And now, 'your majesty'," she began, leering down as she did "I will accept your complete and unconditional surrender."

Bowser, after shaking the shock of what he saw out of his head, glared back up at her defiantly.  "You won't get such satisfaction from me!" he bellowed, starting up his Clown Car and raising his cannon to attack.

"In that case, GOODBYE!" the giantess pirate replied, turning her fist metallic and slamming a hard punch straight down on top of him.  The force of the attack was not only great enough to send a minor earthquake through the immediate area, but it knocked Bowser so far into the ground that she couldn't even see him anymore.  Satisfied, she returned her fist to normal and turned to the now weakened forces of the Koopa King.  Joy filled her heart upon seeing the fear and respect that she now commanded out of them: heck, some of them were even bowing to her!  She tilted her head back, ready to laugh dominantly, but paused upon seeing a Lakitu with a camera floating by.  She could tell by the fearful expression on its face that he had watched and recorded the whole scene, and he was most likely broadcasting this all around the Mushroom World.  With that knowledge, she looked right into the camera, ready to address everyone.

"As you have just seen," she began, trying to sound as formal as she could. "I have now become the ruler of Dark World.  I did this as an act of revenge: revenge against Bowser for taking attention away from me and my various conquests in favor of his pathetic crusade against the Mushroom Kingdom.  However, don't think I'm just going to stop with this place alone, oh no.  People all around this world have wronged me, and I plan on extracting my vengeance against each and every one of you pathetic mortals!  So tremble in fear, because today begins the reign of your new ruler: CA..."

She paused a moment, her mind shouting to her about a fact: captain, while a good title for someone on the sea, was only a modest title at best for a conquering goddess like her.  Hell, even the rank of admiral would be nothing to her now.  She quickly thought about what would be good for her, and once it came to her a smile came to her face once more.

"Make that the reign of EMPRESS Syrup!" she concluded, then started to laugh loudly, her laughter causing the Lakitu to accidentally drop the camera to the ground below.

Back at Castle Toadstool, the group just sat there in slight disbelief of what they just saw.  All was quiet for a few seconds, but Wario quickly broke the silence.

"See!  I told you that was what happened to me, but did any of you take my word for it?  No, of course not!  Never trust poor old Wario, even if he's tellmmmph!"

Mario's hand over Wario's mouth quickly ended the tirade from the yellow and purple clad figure, allowing him to think.  After a few seconds, he turned his attention to Peach, who just had her face buried in her hands at the moment.  "Luigi and I will gather up what power-ups we can to prepare..."

"No, that won't work." The princess interrupted, sounding very depressed as she said that.  Everyone gave her a look of surprise at her saying that.

"What do you mean it won't work?" Luigi questioned.  "We have to try, don't we?

"She means that power-ups will not work in this attack." A new female voice suddenly said, and entered the room.  Everyone turned to see Princess Daisy, with a somber expression on her face, walk into the room.  Peach was the first one to address her.

"I take it you saw what happened too?" Peach asked, and got a reply in the form of a nod.

"I never thought that this day would come." Daisy noted with a lowered head.  "We have a lot of planning to do."

Peach nodded back in return, then looked around to the rest of the room, where she saw the Mario and Wario brothers were both looking confused.  "I think we should tell them what's going on." She told her friend.

"Yeah, you're right, it would be best if they knew the full implications of what was going on." Daisy agreed, before looking over to the others as well.

"Well?  What is going on?" Mario asked.  "And why did you say that power-ups wouldn't work in this situation?"

"Because we know all about the source of Syrup's current powers." Peach replied.  "And we know the implications of the power."

"Well, don't keep us waiting, tell us!" Waluigi impatiently demanded.

The two princesses pulled up chairs in front of the TV, making sure that they could talk to everyone at once.  "A thousand years ago," Peach began to narrate, "the ruler of the Mushroom Kingdom at the time, King Basil, had a council of wizards make a special magical item.  This item was to be a gift to his wife, Queen Parsley, for their wedding anniversary."

"Because he was going away to fight in the Great War of the time," Daisy continued, "he made sure that this item would protect his wife from danger.  So, he had the wizards incorporate every known power-up item in existence into the item, so she would be protected.  Also, it would be able to absorb magic, and thusly render any power-up neutralized if used in the vicinity of the necklace while being worn."

"As a safeguard for people who would be jealous of her power, the King also ordered that the jewel be on a necklace, and that it could only be removed by a member of the Royal Family.  Also, he had a curse that, if someone other than those of royal blood were to put the necklace on, madness would take over that person and they would be unable to think straight, thusly being unable to think straight and be an easier to subdue threat."

"After weeks of toiling, the wizards finally completed the item: a star shaped diamond a little bigger than a marble.  They dubbed it the Crystal Starman, and the king presented it to his queen as soon as it was ready.  What he didn't expect was the reaction that the queen would have to it."

"As soon as the jewel touched Queen Parsley, a reaction went over her body.  King Basil could only watch in shock as his wife grew and grew, quickly dwarfing even their 200-foot tall castle.  She ended at 250 feet tall, taller than anything anyone had ever seen at the time.  Amazingly enough, the Crystal Starman grew with her, now on scale to her body."

"While King Basil and the rest of the royal workers were worried about the queen's safety, Queen Parsley started to enjoy her size and new feeling of power.  She did, however, want to save this power for when it was truly needed, so she attempted to remove the necklace.  It didn't budge."

"It was then that King Basil realized the errors of the creation of the Crystal Starman: he only had it so royals would be able to use it without harm and be able to remove it.  Queen Parsley, before she became queen, was simply a peasant woman, and thusly didn't have the royal blood."

"King Basil, feeling that if he didn't act quickly his kingdom would be in trouble, quickly requested that the queen lean down so he could remove the necklace from her.  Queen Parsley, thanks in part to the madness that was pat of the curse, saw this as a threat: that the king didn't think that she would make a good ruler and would misuse her new power.  In defiance, she marched away from the kingdom before he could reason with her, going right towards the battlefield he was planning to go to."

"King Basil quickly attempted to pursue his wife and queen, knowing the havoc and chaos that she could cause with her new size and power.  What he didn't account for was her added speed from her new size, as even his fastest steeds couldn't catch up with her in time.  When he arrived at the battlefield, he saw that Queen Parsley had pretty much annihilated the opposing army, thus winning the war."

"However, Queen Parsley didn't stop there.  Seeing the king arriving filled her heart with anger, as she felt that he doubted her new power, thinking that she wasn't fit to be a good Queen.  The madness of the Crystal Starman caused her to do something that no one expected: she attacked King Basil."

"After knocking the king off his steed, she vowed to make their kingdom fear and respect her, and marched out to the kingdom to prove her point, not caring who or what got in the way."

"Desperate to stop his queen and save his kingdom, the King and his loyal knights came up with a daring plan.  As the knights distracted the Queen, hoping to catch her off guard, King Basil had a catapult set up, and launched himself at the back of the Queen's neck.  She was too pre-occupied with the battle to realize that her husband had undone the latch of the necklace, until it was too late."

"The Crystal Starman fell to the ground with a thud, for some reason not reverting to its original size as it did.  The Queen, however, did start to return to normal, both in body and in mind.  When she completed her reverting to normal, she had two requests...forgiveness, and that the Crystal Starman be hidden away so it could never fall into the wrong hands."

"King Basil took the second request VERY seriously, and had his knights drag the Crystal Starman into a magic proof chest.  King Basil alone set sail for Moss Island, where he dragged the chest into the royal caverns.  Only he held on to the secret of the location, not even telling his wife for fear that she may have an urge to find it."

"Though he didn't tell anyone at first, he decided that should the kingdom be in serious trouble, someone should know about the secret: a member of his bloodline.  So, when his son Prince Parsnip was of age, he told him the location, and to only use it in case of an emergency."

"Since then, the secret was passed down through the ages to the descendants of the King, and they were told never to let that secret be told to anyone else but those of his bloodline." Daisy began to conclude.

"Daisy and I, being cousins, are the last two who knew the secret." Peach said.  "And that's the whole story."

Mario and Luigi both had to gather their bearings after the two princesses finished the history lesson, amazed by the story.  "Wait, if what you're saying is true, how could..."

"That's a good question, and we just don't have the answer." Daisy said, interrupting Luigi before he got a chance to finish.

"Right now, it doesn't really matter." Mario noted.  "There has to be some way to stop Syrup before she causes more havoc upon the rest of the Mushroom World.  After all, if what you said about the madness is true, she's just going to keep getting more insane by the second."

Peach looked over to Toadsworth briefly, who himself was in shock about what was just told.  "The only way I can see stopping Syrup is to remove the necklace from her...and Daisy and I are the only ones that can do it."

"Absolutely out of the question!" Toadsworth blurted out suddenly, ending his time as a silent observer.  "There is no way I will allow the Princesses of the Mushroom Kingdom and Sarasaland respectively risk their lives against some monstrosity bent on destruction!  There has to be some other way!"

"T-Worth..." Daisy began, knowing how much he hated being called by that name  "If there was another way, we wouldn't even bring this suggestion up.  This is the ONLY way, and there's nothing you can say to change our minds."

Silence filled the room for the moment.  Toadsworth was about to protest once more, but unfortunately realized that Daisy was right.  Mario, hearing some creaking of wood behind him, spoke up.  "If we're going to do this, we're going to need a good plan." Mario then turned his head to the source of the squeaking, seeing Wario and Waluigi trying to sneak out of the castle.  "And we're going to need all the help we can get."

"Harder, slaves!  I can barely feel you down there!"

Syrup, now dubbing herself an Empress, watched with amusement as she had complete control of what was once Bowser's kingdom.  The soldiers that she hadn't destroyed during the initial battle were all assigned to new jobs...mostly remodeling the horrifically hideous statues of Bowser into her own image.  Those that didn't have such a task she gave one better: after taking off her shoes, she forced them to massage her massive soles.  She felt so powerful, so unopposed.  This place was hers to command and control.

Yet, she still felt this wasn't enough.  Her greed (and, unknowingly to her, the madness that was taking over her) was starting to affect her once again.  She knew that she needed more, that there were still people out there that she needed to get her revenge on.  'Now who else do I need revenge on?' she thought, moving her feet down and idly pinning down the troops that were doing their best to please her under her bare soles.

The answer came to her, and hatred took over VERY hard: while she may be respected now as the most feared forces on the planet, Princess Peach Toadstool of the Mushroom Kingdom still was one of the most respected women.  Everywhere she turned, she saw Peach getting respect and love of the people, while Syrup was mostly unknown except for those who traveled the seas.  'Well, it's time to put an end to THAT once and for all!' she thought, moving her feet to put on her shoes, and reached down to pluck up a nearby Koopa Troopa.

"Slave, what is the quickest route to the Mushroom Kingdom?" Syrup half asked, half commanded.

"W...we...we usually take that, Empress Syrup!" the Troopa quickly replied, pointing to a massive warp-pipe nearby: obviously created to allow Bowser's airships to go through.  Syrup looked curiously at the pipe: it would be a tight squeeze, but she would be able to fit through.

"Excellent.  Soon, I will get my revenge on that prissy princess once and for all!" she stated, dropping the Troopa down with little care if he survived before flying towards the pipe.  She felt enjoyment and pleasure all over her body, as her mind thought of all the things that she would do once she arrived at the Mushroom Kingdom.

'This is going to be so much fun!' she thought, starting to laugh as she entered the pipe.

            "Evacuation complete!" Toadette reported to Princess Peach in a planning room inside the castle.  "All citizens have been relocated to either Yoshi's Island or Nimbus Land."
            "Very good Toadette." Peach nodded, sounding relieved to hear that news.  "Now get yourself out of here as fast as you can.  I don't want to see you hurt."

            The female mushroom person nodded, and ran off, as Peach went back over to the table in the room, where the Mario, Luigi, Daisy, Wario and Waluigi were all waiting for her, the last two not looking pleased about being dragged into this situation.  "All right, the Mushroom Kingdom is clear." She informed.

            "Oh good, I'll go check on them!" Waluigi said, and started to make his way to the stairs, only managing to take two steps before Daisy grabbed him by the straps of his overalls.

"Not so fast slim!  As strange as it may sound, we may need your help for this."  With Waluigi put into his place for the moment, she turned her attention over to Mario and nodded.  The heroic plumber returned the gesture, before pulling out a set of figures and putting them onto the table. 
            "All right, my feeling is that Shroom City will be the first place in Syrup's path when she gets here, so the line must be drawn there." Mario began, adjusting the position of the figures a bit.  "When Syrup arrives in the city..." he continued, as Peach climbed onto the table, playing the part of Syrup in this case. "...Wario and I will provide a distraction, holding her off until..."

"Now wait a minute!" Wario interrupted.  "I never agreed to do something like this!  I've had enough of that crazed pirate wench for TWO lifetimes, let alone ONE!  You can just count me OUT of this!"

"What's the matter, Wario?" Daisy started to taunt.  "Afraid you'll get beaten up and humiliated again?"  She had to smile just a bit when she saw the rage-filled expression on his face.

"What!?  Me, afraid?  Far from it, little girl!  I'll take that egomaniacally titaness down and..."

"ANYWAY!!" Mario quickly interrupted, ending the rant before it fully got off the ground.  "As I was saying, Wario and I will provide the distraction for Syrup..." he said, moving the figures of himself and Wario in front of Peach's feet.  He then takes figures of Luigi, Waluigi, and the two princesses...as well as a prop building...and sets them up on the table near Peach.  "Luigi and Waluigi will start part two of the plan." Mario explained, motioning for his younger brother to continue.  Luigi, despite having a nervous expression on his face, began to explain the next part.

"Waluigi and I will take the princesses to the top of a nearby building, climbing up the outside walls as not to get trapped inside the building in case of an emergency." He noted, gulping at the thought of that happening going through his mind as he put the figures on top of the building.  "From there, we make sure Peach and Daisy safely land on Syrup's body."

"Once they're on..." Mario continued, putting the Peach and Daisy figures on the back of Peach's neck.  "Luigi and Waluigi will join Wario and myself in the distraction efforts, keeping Syrup from noticing, until it's too late, that the necklace is being removed."

On that, Peach jumped off the table, dropping a second Peach figure into the fray to represent Syrup shrinking, then looked to the rest of the group.  "Any questions?"

"Yeah I have one!" Waluigi blurted out.  "What's in it for Wario and me for doing this?"

The Mario Brothers let out an exasperated sigh, knowing that they should have expected such a comment.  "All right, besides not having to worry about the threat of a giant, revenge-filled pirate queen stalking you for the rest of your lives..." Mario began "I'm sure that we can find some type of suitable reward for helping us."

Wario's eyes widened in interest of hearing this.  "Just what type..."

Before that question could be finished, Toad suddenly burst into the room...having been playing lookout for the castle.  "She's here!" is all he needed to say to them.

"All right everyone, you know your roles.  Let's do this!" Daisy said.  Mario, Luigi, Wario and Waluigi walked out of the room, and Daisy was about to follow...but she paused when she saw Peach sitting at the table, looking at the figures.  "You OK, cuz?"

"...You know, this may sound strange...but I'm actually wondering just what it would be like to actually be as big as Syrup is right now." Peach admitted softly.  "Isn't that weird?"

"...maybe.  But if so, I've kinda had that thought myself.  Now's not the time to worry about that right now, though." Daisy reminded.

"Right, sorry.  Let's get going." Peach noted, placing the figures back down.  However, as the two princesses left the room, they both still had lingering thoughts about being gigantic in their heads...

Syrup stretched her massive body out a bit after she finished her sojourn through the, to her, cramped interior of the warp pipe.  It was a tight fight, and a tough journey, but that didn't matter now.  She was on the outskirts of Shroom City...the first place in her path to ultimate conquest.

"So, this is the city nicknamed 'The Big Fungus', huh?  How...puny." she said in a condescending manner, hoping that everyone in the city heard her.  She began her slow, purposeful march towards the city, making sure that the welcome sign was crushed flat under her foot as she did.  "While there were many buildings that were wider than she was here, there were very few that got up to her height.  She felt like she was on top of the world, and planned to make everyone in her way aware of that fact.  She continued her march forward, then leaned in to peer into the nearest building, wanting to see the shocked and fearful expression on onlookers faces.

To her shock and dismay, there was no one inside.

"What the...that's impossible!" she called out, using the power of the Vanish Cap to put her head through the building without destroying it.  Sure enough, the building was completely devoid of life with the exception of plants.  Angry and confused, she began to search through buildings nearby, hoping to find any sign of life to intimidate.  Unfortunately for her, there was nothing but empty rooms.

"There's no one here, Syrup." She heard a tiny male voice with an Italian accent begin to say.  "We were smart enough to have everyone evacuated from the city before you arrived."

A scowl formed on the massive face of the pirate queen as she solidified herself, destroying the building she was in with her massive head and neck.  She turned around slowly towards a building that was behind her, seeing a figure in a red hat and blue overalls standing there.

"Well bra-vo Mario." She sarcastically commented, walking right up to the side, giving Mario the chance to see her massive cleavage up close.  "I guess you decided it would be too gruesome a sight for the people to see me kill you and take over this city.

Mario didn't take any steps back from Syrup, despite the immense size and even more immense power difference between the two of them.  "No, I just didn't want them in harms way when I end your reign of terror once and for all."

The plumber hero had to brace his stance when Syrup began laughing, that mere action shaking every building in the city and causing car alarms to go off.  "Oh now THAT is rich!" she stated between laughs, before leaning down to be face to face with Mario.  "You actually think that you can stop the Syrup Revenge Tour?"

"I don't just think it, I know it!" Mario boldly replied, then smirked to continue sarcastically "Your majesty!"

That statement did little, if anything, to help Syrup's already bad mood.  "And what makes you think you alone can stop a goddess like me?"

"Who said I was alone?" Mario retorted, then quickly watched as Syrup started to lose her balance.  She attempted to stay on her feet by pinwheeling her arms, but Mario was prepared for such an eventuality...leaping off the building edge and planting a double footed kick right on her forehead.  Even with the comparatively small size of Mario, the force of the blow plus the lack of footing was enough to topple the giantess backwards into the buildings she was just looking through a few seconds ago.  Mario used her forehead as a slide down, jumping off just before the crash landing down onto the street, and landed right next to Wario.  The portly greedy figure was brushing off his hands at his work, smiling at seeing what he did.

"MAN that felt good!" Wario beamed.  "That'll teach her to wear better footwear in battle!"

"Don't gloat too much, Wario." Mario warned.  "That won't phase her for long and you know it."

As if on cue, the massive figure rolled backwards and back onto her feet, not caring about what got flattened in her wake.  "That's it!" she almost roared out.  "Now I'm REALLY angry!"  The heat that was radiating from her hands actually started to melt nearby structures that were still standing.

"OK, remind me again...why were WE the ones picked to do the building climbing?" Waluigi begged to know as he and Luigi scaled the wall, Peach on his back and Daisy on Luigi's.

"Because our brothers have more experience adventuring than we do, and can dodge the attacks easier." Luigi stated as they climbed.

"Besides, you two being less known makes it an advantage: she won't expect you to be helping." Peach added, then blinked at what she said.  "Um, no offense."

Those answers seemed to satisfy Waluigi for the moment, as he quickly glanced over to the scene of the battle, curious on how things were going.  However, the distance and height they were at only allowed him to see Syrup.  How big she was compared to him...how easily she could...

"WALUIGI, LOOK OUT!" Luigi, Daisy, and Peach all called out at the same time...just a second before a small flame from one of Syrup's fireballs caught him on the foot.  The pain from the burning seemed to motivate him, and he shot up the rope like a madman, screaming all the way.

"...well, that got him to work." Daisy noted as Luigi continued climbing to catch up.

The streets of Shroom City were quickly starting to resemble a war zone with the amount of damage being done to them.  Syrup, in the pursuit of Mario and Wario, carelessly was throwing hammers and fireballs towards them, not caring what got destroyed in the process.  If it wasn't for the fact that the two former friends turned rivals were riding in Wario's car, at least one of the massive projectiles would have hit them.  Mario looked back while hanging onto the back of the car, and saw that Syrup's strides were actually causing her to gain on them.

"Wario, I'm sure that you have SOME types of weapons on this thing.  So now would be a good time to put them into use!" Mario noted.

"Are you nuts?  You know weapons won't work against her!" Wario reminded while driving.

"Who said anything about targeting her?  I'm going to target the street that she's walking on!"

"Oh, in that case..." Wario reached forward, pressing a button on the dashboard.  Mario blinked a bit in surprise, as a platform that he was standing on slid away, and in its place came a sit-down cannon unit.

"All right, here we go." Mario said to himself as he climbed into the seat and started the aiming process.  Thankfully, just like games made by his company, Wario made the controls for the cannon simple: two buttons controlled the horizontal movement, two the vertical, and one big red one in the middle the firing process.  Seeing that Syrup was about three steps away from turning them into pancakes, Mario didn't even bother aiming the first shot, and was pleased to see the Bullet Bill that came out hit Syrup in the stomach, knocking her back just enough for them to pull away.  Mario took the time to aim the next shot, moving quickly as he positioned the nozzle of the gun right at the street, in the path Syrup would be stepping.  He waited patiently, and just before her foot was about to land in the spot he was aiming at he fired, watching as the street opened up, and Syrup fell into it up to her waist...

...right in front of the building where Luigi, Waluigi, Peach and Daisy were waiting.

"Now's our chance!" Peach noted as she approached the ledge.  "Let's go, Daisy!"

"Right behind you, cousin!" Daisy called back, watching as Peach jumped down, using her dress to float down.  Daisy was about to follow, but paused momentarily and looked back to Luigi.  'This may not work out...' her mind told her.  'So just in case, you better...'

"Daisy, what' wrommmph!"

Luigi never got the chance to finish his question, as Daisy suddenly pulled him in tightly, planting a deep kiss on his lips as she did.  When she pulled away, she jumped off the side of the building, following her cousin.  Luigi, in the meantime, was standing there dumbstruck.

"...how come you got a kiss and I didn't?" Waluigi asked angrily.

"Do you REALLY want an answer to that?" Luigi questioned, as they started to make their way to the side of the building.

"What kept you?" Peach asked as Daisy landed next to her on the back of Syrup's neck.

"Just something personal I had to do, that's all." She replied, then looked up to see a giant chain fastener.  "This must be it." She noted, walking up to it.

"Let's do this quickly and get out of here." Peach requested as she followed her cousin.  "I don't want to be here when Syrup starts moving again."

Fate would not be on Peach's side in this matter, as the surface that was Syrup's body started moving under them...

...as she pulled her body out of the hole that Mario had made, seething in anger at being humiliated like she was.  She saw the tiny car they were in speeding off in the distance, a good twenty steps running for her.  Deciding to take a shortcut, she used the Vanish Cap power, making her body into particals...

...causing Peach and Daisy to have nothing to hold to and forced them to start falling.  Panic arose for both of them, as they realized they probably wouldn't survive the fall.

"Daisy, I want you to know, I'm sorry for being such a snobbish brat to you when we were kids!" Peach quickly said as they fell.

"And I'm sorry for breaking your Pretty Princess Castle toy because of it!" Daisy replied, before she and Peach embraced in a hug, preparing for the worst.

Instead of crashing down onto hard concrete, however, they landed somewhere soft.  Somewhere cushy.  Both princesses opened their eyes, blinking a bit, then looked to see where they landed.  Their faces then turned red upon seeing that they landed on a now solidified Syrup's rear.

"...well, the end was different than I expected." Daisy joked in spite of herself.  Peach just sighed, not amused by the joke, then started to climb up Syrup's back to get back where they were.

Syrup was going to take a shortcut through the buildings to get into Wario's car's path, ready to teach them exactly what happened to those who defied her, but something caught her eye as she turned.  On top of the building that she was about to pass through were two figures: one clad in green and blue, the other in black and blue.  She rematerialized and leaned forward, giving the two men an impressively intimidating sight.

"Well now, if it isn't the lesser known brothers." She confirmed after seeing they were Luigi and Waluigi.  "And just what do you two think you're doing?"

Luigi and Waluigi (especially Waluigi) fumbled for words at first, but were quickly jarred into talking when Syrup slammed her hand in front of them, leaving an impressive indentation into the roof.  "Um...we were just up here to...give you a present!" Luigi quickly said.

"Present?" Waluigi asked, sounding confused.  "What do...oh, right, a present!" he agreed, getting what Luigi had in mind.  Syrup glared down at them.

"Oh really now?" the giant Syrup questioned, smirking.  "Let's see it then."

"All right.  Waluigi, give her the present."

"If you insist, Luigi." In one fluid motion, Waluigi reached into his pocket and pulled out one of his remaining Bob-Ombs, flinging it at Syrup's face.  As soon as the explosion went off, Luigi and Waluigi jumped off the building, diving forward towards Syrup's body.  They managed to land right onto the pouch on Syrup's hip, and Luigi pulled the string holding it on as fast as he could.  As the pouch fell, he glanced up to make sure that Peach and Daisy were safe, relieved to see that they were before the pouch crashed to the street below.  Luigi jumped off, getting ready to run, but stopped upon seeing Waluigi looking at the contents of the bag.

"I recognize this!  This is Wario's treasure!" the lanky dark-clothed man stated.  "She stole our hard earned treasure right from under us!"

"Worry about that later!  Right now we have to get out of here!" Luigi reminded, grabbing him by the arm and pulling him away.  Luckily for them, Wario's car drove up just in time, and they jumped on the back just before the Bob-Omb smoke dissipated.

In the meantime, Peach and Daisy continued to make their way back up to Syrup's shoulders, holding on to whatever they could grab as they made their climb.  It wasn't an easy task though, as they really had few choices on what to grab.

"Man, why did she have to wear so little clothing?" Peach wondered.

"Yeah, tell me about it.  Even I don't usually were that little when in public." Daisy agreed.

"I guess we should be thankful she was at least wearing SOMETHING." Peach said.  "Could you imagine having nothing but flesh to grab?"

"Ugh, I did NOT need that image." Daisy noted.

"Right, sorry.  Anyway, we should be safe at the top part of the outfit."

The two princesses finally got to that point a few seconds after Peach said that, clutching on for their safety.  This proved to be perfect timing, as Syrup began moving again.

Syrup was tired of playing games with the Marios and Warios.  She needed revenge, and she didn't like wasting time like she was.  Seeing that the building she was standing near was now devoid of her enemies, she grabbed it by the base and pulled it right out of the ground, not knowing or caring about the debris falling on her foot.  She held the structure high above her head, looking around for her target.  Just a bit up the road was Wario's car...just what she was looking for.  Using all her enhanced strength, she flung the building as hard as she could at them.  The resulting crash sent her four miniscule foes flying out of the car and into the street.

"Hah!  Bullseye!" she beamed, before marching towards her foes.  Seeing the car that had allowed her enemies to elude her just laying upside down on the street, she took the opportunity to crush it under her foot.  A sick smile on her face formed as she ground it into the ground with her foot, watching as Wario's jaw basically dropped to the ground.  "The car was just a demonstration!" the titaness warned.  "If you don't surrender now, your fates will be the same!"

Mario stepped up to her, showing no fear despite what he just saw.  "I told you before, Syrup...we will stop you no matter what!"  Looking back briefly, he saw that he was getting agreements from Luigi and Wario on this.  Waluigi, however, was trying to sneak back...but stopped on seeing the glare Mario was giving him.

"Well then..." Syrup began as she pulled out her gold cutlass.  "I hope..."

The four men below suddenly got worried when Syrup stopped talking, her face scrunching in confusion.  They all did a collective gasp of worry when she reached to her back...

...her hand getting dangerously close to a semi-terrified pair of princesses.

"Blast!  I think she felt us!" Daisy said, clinging to the halter top's strap with all her might.

"We'll have to get off of here before she gets us!" Peach commented.  "We'll land back where we did before.

"Fine by me!" Daisy agreed.  Just as Syrup's hand was about to grab them, the two princesses made a jump for it, aiming to land on Syrup's posterior once again.

They never made it though, as the hand quickly spun around and caused them to land in her palm.  The hand clutched at them tightly, then moved around to Syrup's scowling face.

"I thought I felt something back there!" she stated as she began to examine the two women in her hand.  "So this whole battle was just a diversion so you two could steal MY Crystal Starman.  You two were so jealous of my power that you wanted to relieve me of it!  Well, I stopped you, and now I will get my revenge!"

"Syrup, the Crystal Starman is cursed!" Peach yelled at her.  "If you keep wearing it, you'll go completely mad within a week!"

"LIAR!" Syrup yelled back, squeezing her hand tighter (but not crushingly so) around their bodies.  "You want my power for yourselves!  You want to try and make people forget about the greatness that is me!  Well, that's not going to happen!"

The giantess pirate lifted her princess-filled hand higher up, an insane grin on her face as she did so.  A plan came to her mind on how to deal with these two once and for all, and nothing was going to stop her.  She made that fact abundantly clear after sheathing her sword and having her hand rain down fireballs at the four below, encasing them in a dome of fire.  With that out of the way, Syrup licked her lips in anticipation.  "Little girls, it's time that you paid for your crimes against me!  I just hope you both taste as sweet as you act!"

The screams of fear from Peach and Daisy caused Syrup to laugh evilly, before opening her hand and allowing the two princesses to free-fall towards her open mouth.  She closed her eyes in anticipation, savoring the fact that soon she would devour two of the Mushroom World's most influential women.

However, after a few seconds of waiting, she didn't feel anything entering her mouth.  Confused, Syrup opened her eyes to see what happened...and got a Bullet Bill right in the eye as she did!

Peach and Daisy both had their eyes closed at the moment, not wanting to see the gruesome fate that awaited them.  Thus, they were both caught off guard when, instead of landing on the soft and wet surface of Syrup's tongue, they were grabbed in mid-air by something hard and scaly, then were set onto a solid surface.  Both of them opened their eyes at about the same time that Syrup did, seeing it was, of all people, Bowser who had caught them and attacking Syrup.

"Bowser?  How is this possible?" Peach wondered out loud, VERY confused at the moment.

"Yeah, good question." Daisy noted, then gagged a bit.  "And why do you smell like a landfill?"

"That giant bimbo hit me so hard that I ended up in the sewers, OK?" Bowser angrily replied.

"BIMBO!?" Syrup rumbled upon hearing this.  "You DARE to talk about Empress Syrup like that!?"

Bowser barely had time to avoid Syrup's hand from grabbing them, putting full power into his Clown Car to keep it moving.  "Hey Peach, where's that blasted plumber at?  I thought for sure he'd be here to try and save the day." Bowser asked, obviously referring to Mario.

"He and the others got trapped in a fire dome!" Peach informed, pointing down to that area.  Bowser didn't say a word, simply nodding at that.  While using evasive tactics to avoid the hammers that Syrup had started to throw at them, he approached the dome below.

"What are you doing, you whacked out lizard?" Daisy quickly demanded to know as she began to feel the heat.

"You'll see." Was the only think the Koopa king said in reply.  Once close enough to the dome, Bowser began to inhale deeply, keeping his mouth aimed at the dome as he did.  The plan he had in mind worked, as the flames from the dome quickly got sucked into his mouth, freeing the four prisoners inside.

"Good job!" Mario complimented.  "Now hurry and get them to the back of Syrup's neck!"

"WHAT!?  Are you mad?  I'm..."

"No time to argue, just do it!" Mario snapped back at Bowser, diving out of the way of another hammer.  Bowser, knowing he wasn't going to get an explanation or have someone hear his protests, grumbled as he begrudgingly decided to follow Mario's suggestion.  Mario, in the meantime, turned his attention towards an, at the moment, untouched section of buildings.  "Luigi, remember lesson 5 of plumbing?" he asked his younger brother.

Luigi blinked a bit, surprised that Mario would bring that up at a time like this.  "Position is the key, but what does that..."

"It's simple, we're going to get a better position to distract Syrup!" Mario replied.  "Wario, you and Waluigi stay down here and offer ground support."

"What?  Why should we?" Wario angrily queried.

"If you do, we may let you get your riches back." Luigi replied, as he followed his older brother towards a nearby alleyway.  Wario, upon hearing about riches, had a new found determination in his heart.

"All right brother, you heard the man!" Wario said, before charging in to Syrup once again.  Waluigi followed closely behind, looking up towards Syrup's face as he ran, a thought going through his mind.

'I REALLY hope I live through this.'

Syrup watched on at the scene below her, confused and yet curious at what was going on.  How could, after everything that she had done to them already, these insects STILL want to challenge her might.  'They're not taking me seriously!' her warped reasoning came up with.  'I'll get my revenge on them for that too!' she thought to herself.  She readied her hand for another fireball attack, but stopped mid way.  They would be expecting fireballs and hammers, as that's the series she's been using since the start.  Thinking about Daisy being one of the "threats" to her power gave her an idea on how to strike unexpectedly, then she noted the position of all seven members of her opposition.  'Let's see how they like THIS!' she thought, and fired!

"Oh no, not these too!" Daisy cried out, as Syrup fired out her new projectiles.  They were to Daisy, despite the scale difference, all too familiar.  They came from a power-up that only could be found in Sarasaland.  They were Superballs.

"Bowser, I hope this thing has EXCELLENT steering on it, because we're going to need it!" she informed him.  Bowser was about to scoff at the comment when he saw the balls hit the ground, but quickly went quiet when he saw them ricochet off the street and off of buildings.  "Hang on ladies, things are about to get a lot bumpier around here!" he warned, and started to wildly dodge the incoming attacks.

Mario and Luigi, in the meantime, were having a lot harder time avoiding the massive spheres as they jumped from building top to building top.  "I had a bad feeling she would be using these things eventually." Mario noted.  "Surprised it took her so long."

After another jump to avoid attack, Luigi looked over to his brother.  "At this rate, we're going to lose all the ground we have and FAST!"

"Let's try getting to the other side of the street!" Mario thought.  "If we can do that with no problem, then we'll have twice as many places to land!"

"...Mario, I know the heat of the battle might be..." Luigi paused a moment to jump again. "...affecting you, but neither of us can jump that far!"

"We can if we work together!  Just follow my lead!" Mario replied, waiting for just the right moment.  "All right, high jump NOW!" Mario called out.  Luckily, Luigi took the cue and used the high jump technique that they had learned in the Beanbean Kingdom, pushing off before another superball hit and destroyed the building they were on.  He managed to get them halfway across the street, right in front of Syrup's body.

"And now, SPIN!" Mario called, flipping up to Luigi's shoulders, and using their spin-jump more in mid air to carry them the rest of the way.  They just narrowly avoided Syrup grabbing them in mid air, and landed safely on a building top across the street.  Luigi looked over to his older brother, a look of relief on his face.

"Remind me to stop doubting you on these things." He said, to which Mario just smiled and nodded.

"Oh yeah, sure...offer ground based distractions.  Don't mention that our enemy not only can crush us with her feet, but some weird metal-like balls of death!" Wario complained, as he and Waluigi were basically dancing around for their lives.

"Well, at least down here she isn't really thinking about us!" Waluigi noted.  That statement caused Wario to blink and stop in his tracks.

"Hey, you're right!  Meaning she won't expect another attack on her feet!  Let's move!"

Waluigi honestly didn't expect Wario to say that, but didn't have time to argue as he was grabbed around the wrist and dragged into a charge at Syrup's massive feet.  Wario was cackling madly the entire way of his run, evil intentions on his mind of what he would try to do once taking Syrup down.  However, a superball heading right for both of them forced him to stop, letting go of Waluigi.

"OK, I'm getting REALLY sick of these things!" the yellow clad figure yelled out, and when it was close enough he punched the superball with all of his might, sending it flying in another direction.  "YEAH!  That felt good!"

"I'm sure it did." Waluigi began.  "But did you ever think about where it would fly to if you did that?"

"Huh?" Wario quickly glanced back up, seeing that the superball he hit was about to hit Bowser's craft.  "...ah crud."

"All right, get ready ladies!  I'm gonna try to circle around her for your goal!" Bowser informed his passengers.

"Thank you for your assistance, Bowser." Peach said to him, bowing her head thoughtfully.  "When this is over, I'll make sure that..."

"INCOMING AT 6 O'CLOCK!" Daisy suddenly blurted out.  Peach and Bowser looked over the side of the Clown Car, seeing a superball approaching them at high speeds.  Before Bowser could even make an attempt to move out of the way, the projectile hit and flung both princesses out and towards Syrup.  In the meantime, Bowser was forced to make a crash landing, right next to the Warios.

Peach and Daisy, at that moment, had to make a desperate dive for Syrup's body, hoping that the pirate queen didn't realize what happened to them before they could land somewhere relatively safe.

"Peach, just making sure, where are you trying to land?" Daisy quickly asked.

"Right now, doesn't really matter!  Just reach out and grab something!" the pink clothed princess replied.  Praying in their hearts that Syrup didn't decide to snatch them up again, both princesses reached into the air in front of them, making a grab for whatever they could.  This time, fate WAS on their side...as they managed to grab something before getting grabbed themselves.

"Whew, that was close." Daisy noted, then blinked, feeling what they grabbed.  "Um, Syrup didn't turn metal, did she?"

Peach looked over to Daisy, confused.  "No, why?"

"Because we're on something cold and..."

Peach and Daisy quickly looked at each other with a shocked expression, then down at what they were touching.

They had landed right on the Crystal Starman.

"...hoo boy.  THIS will be interesting." They both said at the same time.

Syrup was pleased with herself.  She managed to knock Bowser out of the sky, forcing him to perform a crash landing into Wario and Waluigi, and now she once again had the two princesses close at hand.  Getting to them was something that she could do at her leisure.  All that remained before eliminating these pests was to neutralize the Mario Brothers, and that was easy for her.  She had been allowing the two of them to continue with their aerial acrobatics without seriously going after them, wanting to save them for last.  Now, however, she reached out into the sky and captured them in mid-air, then plucked Mario away from his brother with her index finger and thumb.  The glare that she gave him would have frozen even the hottest parts of Desert Land.

"Well Mario, it seems that your pitiful rebellion against me is at an end.  Any last words before you have the honor of being my lunch?"

The reply came from a voice that was DISTINCTLY not Mario, right before a fist on her scale nailed her in the jaw, knocking her back and causing her to lose her prisoners.  Recovering with her rage and powers combined, she looked up, and had to rub her eyes in disbelief, making sure she wasn't seeing things.

Standing before her, on the same massive scale that she was at, were Peach and Daisy.  The former was holding the Mario Brothers in her hands, the latter rubbing her fist.  Peach carefully squatted down, and gently set the two tiny heroes down.  "We'll take it from here." She said with a cute, yet billboard-sized smile.  "Please get Bowser and the Wario Brothers out of the way."

"Right!  Good luck, you two!" both Mario and Luigi said at the same time, before running off.  With them out of the way, Peach stood back up, standing next to her cousin in preparation.

"Your reign of terror ends NOW, "empress"." Peach declared.

"I knew it!  I was right!  You two were so jealous of my power that you had to have it for yourselves!" Syrup accused, pulling her sword out.  "Well you're not going to take MY Crystal Starman without a fight!"

"That power was created by the royal family for peaceful purposes, not so revenge-sick pirate women could go on a rampage!" Peach replied.

"It's not who CREATED it that matters, it's who USES it!" Syrup replied angrily, swinging her blade right at them.  Peach, surprised, jumped out of the way in time, cracking an untouched section of street under her weight.  Daisy, on the other hand, tried to get in the blade's path, lifting her hands to catch it.

"Daisy, what are you doing!?" Peach questioned, shocked by her cousin's brash actions.

"We have the powers of the Crystal Starman from touching it, Peach.  That sword can't hurt..."

A kick to the stomach by Syrup knocked the wind out of Daisy, causing her to crash right into a bank.  The yellow-clad princess struggled to get back up to her feet, debris falling from her dress and falling at least a hundred feet to the ground.

"I don't get it...we touched the Crystal Starman, so we're invincible now, right?" Daisy asked, confused by this turn of events.  She looked over to Peach, who was wide-eyed at something that she saw.

"I don't think we held on long enough for the powers, Daisy.  Look at your hands!"

Daisy blinked a bit, and did as her cousin asked.  Sure enough, the gloves were sliced open where she grabbed the sword, and blood was coming out of them.  "What...what does this mean?"

Syrup took it upon herself to answer that question, grinning like the cat that ate the canary.  "It means, little girls..." she began, her blade in one hand and fire in another "...I'm going to have SO much fun torturing you!"

2 miles away, concern was at high.  Mario, Luigi, Wario, Waluigi and Bowser were watching the scene with the three female titans, and were worried about the news that Peach and Daisy were comparatively weaker and had fewer powers than Syrup.

"We can't just sit idly by." Mario concluded.  "They tried to help us while we distracted Syrup, now it's our turn to return the favor."

Knowing all too well by now that there was no arguing with his brother, Luigi just nodded.  "Do you have an idea?"

"I do, but we're going to need something." He turned to the other three.  "Any of you have a giant elastic band on you?"

Bowser spoke up.  "Yeah, hang on a second." He said, ducking into his shell.  After a few seconds of fiddling around, he came back out, holding a MASSIVE rubber band...looking even large for the scale that the massive women were at.  "I bought this for Junior for a slingshot."

"Perfect!  Now we can..."

Wario suddenly verbally butted in.  "Hold on just one second, you can count me and Waluigi OUT of this one!"

"What are you babbling about, Wario?" Luigi exasperatedly questioned.

"We have been almost crushed, burned, and sliced numerous times already, and have STILL gotten nothing out of this!" Waluigi explained.  "Not anymore."

"We're going to re-claim our treasure and get out of here.  You three can do whatever you feel like." Wario finished, as both he and his stick of a brother turned to leave.  As they did, they were unaware of Mario looking over to Bowser, nodding to him then to the would-be deserters.  The Koopa King simply nodded, and before they could get too far away, he grabbed them both and held them down to Mario's eye-level, as the red clothed plumber looked at them.

"Look, right now I don't care about how greedy and selfish you are, because it doesn't matter.  You honestly think that, if we lose here today, Syrup is just going to forget about you two?  I'll answer that for you: NO!  She will hunt you down wherever you go until she's SURE that you two have been eliminated.  And while she's hunting you, you two will be thinking 'If only we helped back at Shroom City, then we would have been safe!  Do you REALLY want that future, or one where you can enjoy your wealth in relative peace?"

The shocked expressions on the faces of everyone at Mario ranting like this told the whole story about the situation.  Wario and Waluigi gulped a bit, and nodded.  "Alright, we'll help, we'll help!" Wario said, NOT looking happy about this. "But there better be a good reward for us for putting our butts on the line ONCE AGAIN."

Bowser let go of the two money-hording brothers, letting them stand on their own two feet, before leaning over to Luigi? "Is he like this often?"

"Not often, thankfully.  But there are times he gets WORSE."

Bowser now realized why Mario was able to beat him so many times, and just blinked in surprise.

Peach and Daisy were starting to feel like human punching bags against Syrup.  Every time they attempted to get close enough to remove the Crystal Starman, Syrup and her superior strength and powers kept them at bay.  Daisy tried to dive in head-on at the self-proclaimed Empress, only to be caught in mid air and slammed face first into what WAS once a great skyscraper.  Peach, trying to take a stealthier approach, attempted to grab the chain while she was distracted.  Syrup was ready for that though, as she saw Peach's massive shadow and grabbed her before she could get too close.  Never losing her twisted smile, she flew up into the air, holding the Mushroom Kingdom princess close, then flipped upside down and drove Peach head first into the pavement.  The fully powered pirate laughed dominantly at how easy she was taking care of both her rivals.

"Come on now girls, can't you do any better than that?" she taunted as she landed back on her feet. "After all, there's only one of me!"

Peach and Daisy, after shaking off the pain and debris, started to move closer to each other to regroup.  "This is crazy!" Daisy claimed while wincing.  "How are we supposed to stop her when she's so powerful?"

"We have to work together." Peach deduced in a low voice, trying to stay out of Syrup's hearing range.  "We'll sandwich her, you getting behind her and me in front."

Daisy nodded.  "Here's hoping it works." She said as they stood up, looking over to Syrup.  The pirate captain, seeing that her rivals hadn't surrendered yet, scowled in return.

"Still wanting to oppose me?" she questioned angrily.  "I guess that you two haven't learned your lesson yet."

The two princesses didn't bother replying to that, instead just deciding to go on with their plan of attack.  Both of them charged in from the front, hoping to catch Syrup off guard.  As they hoped, Syrup stood at the ready for a frontal assault, leaving her backside seemingly off guard.  With a boost from Daisy, Peach leapt up into the air, landing behind Syrup and preparing to charge from behind.  The Crystal Starman user didn't SEEM to notice the plan, until she was JUST about to be hit.  That's when she took the moment to use her vanish powers again, watching with a bemused expression as her two rivals charged head first into each other.  She took a few steps back before solidifying herself again, turning her body to metal again before grabbing their necks and flinging them across the city.  What had once been Star Stadium now served as a cushion for their landing, and not a very good cushion at that.

"Nngh...Peach, do you have a plan...whatever letter we're up to now?" Daisy questioned.

"To be honest...no.  I'm all out of ideas." Peach admitted, wincing at any attempt she had to get up.  Looking over, she could see that Syrup was taking her time approaching them, demolishing buildings without care as she did.

"Then that's it...we've failed." Daisy dejectedly stated.  "Oh well, it was fun while it lasted."

"Don't give up yet, ladies!  There's one more plan to try!"

The two "good" giantesses looked down at the ground, seeing Mario waving to them.

"Mario, what are you doing here?" Peach asked, her face mere inches away from his body.  It took all of Mario's resolve to not get weak-kneed at the impressive, beautiful, yet intimidating sight.

"We have a plan that we think may help to stop Syrup once and for all." He told them, looking over to see Syrup getting ever so closer to them.  "Just lead her down Flower Avenue.  We'll take care of the rest!" Mario finished.

"All right, we'll do it." Daisy replied with a nod, she and Peach both starting to stand at the same time.  The red-clad hero of the Mushroom Kingdom made sure to jump out of the way, not wanting to either get accidentally stepped on or nailed in the head by debris.  As he left the scene to return to the rest of the group, he had to take one last look back at the two princesses...especially Peach.  One thought went through his mind...

'Mama Mia, that's an amazing sight!'

Syrup just didn't get it: after all the punishment she had put them through, Peach and Daisy were STILL getting up.  She had already proven them the futility of their efforts to oppose her, had destroyed at LEAST a quarter of the city without even trying, and yet she was still being challenged.  That alone drove her madness even further to the breaking point.

"STOP UNDERESTIMATING ME!" she shouted in an almost primal fashion, causing nearly every glass object in the city to shatter.  "I WILL DEFEAT YOU NOW!" she finished, raising both of her hands in the air and building them up with power...combining a Superball and a Fireball together into one weapon.  Peach and Daisy watched the scene with a twinge of worry, but continued with their plan, hope in their hearts.

"Quick Daisy, we have to get to the secret super weapon!" Peach began, starting to back up and hoping that Syrup wouldn't catch on to the bluff.

"Yes, the one we use in extreme emergencies that can stop ANYTHING, and was made ESPECIALLY to stop the Crystal Starman!" Daisy continued, joining in the act.  "It's our only hope!"

Syrup's eyes went wide upon hearing this, not knowing if the two of them were bluffing or not...but believed that they weren't bluffing when she saw them starting to run off.  Not thinking things through about a possible trap, she started to chase after them, not about to let them possibly cost her the power she had!  Peach and Daisy smiled a bit at seeing their trick worked perfectly with the ever-increasing madness of the Crystal Starman on Syrup as they made their way through the tight city streets.  It took them a little while to find Flower Avenue, as the streets below looked different to them than it usually did.  However, spotting Mario and Luigi waving frantically from a low window gave them the cue they needed.

"There they are!" Mario called as the royal duo started turning down the street.  "Everyone get ready!"

Despite the immense rumbling in the ground from three 250-foot tall women running towards where they were, the unlikely group of five still stood tall, ready to execute their plan.  They watched from the ground as the massive high-heels and flowing dresses of Peach and Daisy passed by them, followed by Mario giving a signal to everyone.  Immediately, the five rag-tag heroes pulled at the elastic band...held on one end by Bowser and Waluigi, the other Mario, Luigi and Wario.  Prayer came from the minds of all five as they hoped this would work.

Syrup didn't even bother wondering why Peach and Daisy were just running around the city seemingly aimlessly and hadn't reached their weapon yet.  All she knew was that she needed to end this once and for all and finish achieving her revenge at long last.  Her twisted smile returned to her face as she raised her hands, combining fireballs and superballs into one in each hand, targeting...

...and completely missing the fact that there was an elastic band at her feet, causing her to crash face and chest first into the city streets.  If there was a Richter Scale Detector nearby, it would have read at LEAST a 6.0, and the in the streets was a perfect indentation of her face and chest now, going many feet deep into the street.  Before she managed to get back up, Daisy leapt up and landed on her back, hooking Syrup's arms behind her to keep her at bay, as Peach walked right up to her face.

"Your reign of terror ends now, Syrup." Peach declared.  Syrup scoffed a bit as she struggled from under Daisy.

"You know you can't defeat me!  Once I'm free, you'll suffer unimaginable pain at my hands!" the self-proclaimed Empress bellowed.

"Not without your source of power!" Daisy replied, causing Syrup to blink in confusion, then look to see where the Crystal Starman was.

She had just enough time to see it resting on the streets, Peach's foot right in front of it.  Before she got a chance to react, the Mushroom Kingdom princess slammed her foot and all of her body weight on top of the jewel.  Syrup's face quickly went pale upon hearing the cracking sound, and there was only one reaction that she could give that fit the moment.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

"They did it!" Mario called out, pointing over to where the three Giantesses were, watching on as their bodies rapidly shrinking down.

"Wow...I can't believe we won!" Luigi noted, blinking in surprise.

Bowser, Wario and Waluigi all watched on as well, looking as the once gigantic females quickly started to return to their normal heights.  Wario and Waluigi were about to charge in towards the scene of battle, but Bowser quickly grabbed them by the back of their shirts.

"HEY!  Let go of us!" Wario began to protest.  "This is our chance to take her!"

Bowser was about to give an answer, but as soon as the three women were down to about 6' tall (just a few inches near all their normal heights), there was an explosion in the location of where the Crystal Starman was.  From that point, blasts of light flew in all directions, leaving good-sized holes in the buildings that remained standing.  Everyone was busy looking at the pieces that were flying around in the sky that they were unaware of the fact that one of the pieces flew right to Syrup, imbedding itself into her hair...as well as a piece getting imbedded into Peach's broach.  The five heroes rushed over towards the princesses and the pirate, ready to help any way that they could.

"What...what did you do to me?" Syrup questioned weakly, slowly getting up after Daisy got off her back.

"We saved you from going completely insane." Peach replied.  "The Crystal Starman was already starting to make you lose your mind."

Syrup was about to argue that point, but thinking about it made her stop.  It was true, she realized, that she wasn't herself during that time: she didn't think out her attack plans, she simply acted on an almost primal instinct and rage.  Had her head been clear for the battle, she deduced, she would have easily won that battle.  She turned her attention back to the princesses, and sighed almost dejectedly.

"Well, normally I guess someone would thank you in a case like this." She began, getting to her feet.  "However, since I'm a pirate and need to escape..." she suddenly plowed through between the two of them, catching them off guard and knocking them on their posteriors before trying to make her escape.  Unfortunately for her, she not only fell into a hole in the street made by her body, but was also quickly surrounded by everyone that was opposing her.  One word came to mind at this.

"...damnit."

"Reconstruction of Shroom City has started up.  Everything should be rebuilt and repaired by the end of the week, if everything goes to schedule."

Peach leaned back in her chair as she listened to the reports from Toad about things that were going on.  It had only been a few hours since the battle with Syrup, and the recovery process was already beginning.  She and Daisy were sitting on one end of the conference table, Mario and Luigi on the side to their left, and Toad, Toadette and Toadsworth on their right.  Bowser had already returned to his lair, and Wario and Waluigi were back at their castle, counting their reward.

"That's good news, good indeed." Peach says.  "The sooner that we can get the evacuees back to their homes, the sooner that we can put this situation behind us."

"Wait, can we really put this behind us?" Luigi asked.  "There was the matter of the Crystal Starman pieces."

"He's right, Peach.  I mean, we only got that one that flew into your broach.  We don't know HOW many more there are out there." Daisy stated.

"Plus, there's the fact that we don't know if there's still any power in those things." Mario noted.  "If someone were to stumble upon one of these pieces..."

Peach sighed.  "I get it..." she says, leaning back.  "Toad, Toadette...I want you to take the piece of the Crystal Starman that was in my broach to Vault 9.  It'll be safe there."

"Understood, Princess." They both reply, taking the piece that was sitting on the table and carrying it down.  Toadsworth looked to the princess with concern.

"We've already moved Syrup to our highest level prison, and have guards around her cell at all times.  If she even attempts to get out, we'll know about it." Toadsworth reported, sounding a bit relieved at that fact.

"Well, that's a relief." Mario noted.  "At least with her incarcerated, there's no chance of HER finding out that the pieces of the Crystal Starman are still active."

"Let's hope you're right, Mario." Peach said, making a gesture that the meeting was over.  Toadsworth stood up, leaving the room first, followed shortly after by the Mario Brothers.  Daisy remained with her cousin in the room, walking over to her with a concerned look on her face.

"So, you're worried too, aren't you?"

Peach simply nodded softly.  "I didn't want to tell them about this fact, but I'm pretty sure that Syrup has a piece of the Crystal Starman on her."

Daisy blinked a bit.  "How can you be so sure?"

"Because that piece of the Crystal Starman that I found in my broach?  Well, it started to react in a weird way around her.  As if it sensed that another piece of itself was nearby."

"Well, if that's the case, then we need to question her about it!  Get that piece away from her in case there ARE powers in it so she..."

Daisy's worst fear about the situation came true upon Toadsworth entering the room.  "Princesses...Syrup has escaped!"

Freedom.

Since the battle against the Special Forces that were joined together in Shroom City, the former Empress thought that she would never have that sweet embrace of the free air again.

But the story about her time with the Crystal Starman wasn't over just yet.  A piece had been drawn to her, imbedding itself in her hair.  Discovering this secret was the greatest thing that had happened to her...as now she had the means to have the powers, plus the mental control.

Sure, her powers were limited severely without the rest of the pieces.  She only had the ability to use one power-up at the time...like the ability of flight via cape feather, as she was using now.  Or the Vanish Cap power, which she used to escape her cell for the most part undetected.

Soaring through the skies above Shroom City, she saw the devastation that the battle between herself and the two princesses had caused: waste lay all around.  Buildings crushed into dust, streets with various craters in the shape of her body parts...and one thing came to her mind.

'It won't be long before I have that power once again.' She confidently said.  'I'll find the remaining Crystal Starman pieces, I'll find a way to remove the curse, and I WILL rise to power once again!' she confirmed to herself as she took higher to the air.

"YOU HEAR ME WORLD?" she shouted at the top of her lungs.  "ONE DAY SOON, YOU WILL ONCE AGAIN WORSHIP EMPRESS SYRUP!"

Her laughter rang through the night sky as she flew off, going into hiding again...for now.

END