War for the Crystal Starman

(Chris Waters)

            The explosion of another bomb sent the Piantas and other tourists on the beach scattering, further disrupting what had been a calm evening on the shores of Isle Delfino.  The populus gathered were now in a full panic, as their idyllic vacation was crasheed upon by an unexpected threat: pirates.  Especially unexpected as the pirates in question were of the Black Sugar Gang, who were thought to have been disbanded long ago after their island was taken and their treasure hoards repossessed.  But here they were: Pirate Gooms carrying spears or small tridents, the boomerang throwing DDs, the snowman like Bucketheads...and among these were some creatures of the Mushroom Kingdom’s regular collection, including a few Koopa Paratroopas and even a pair of Hammer Brothers...all of which were storming the beach and beginning their raid for wealth among those nearby.

            Amidst all the carnage and pillaging, their leader showed herself, strolling through it all like a New Donker on an average day.  Clad in her two-purple colored attire, her long red hair flowing behind her, she walked with a grace that most had only seen from Peach or Daisy in the past, as if this woman saw herself as the Queen of Piracy.  Reaching the edge of the sand, where the boardwalk leading into Delfino Plaza began, she paused, turning on her heel to face her crew in action.  “Boys, whatever you take while I’m away you can keep for yourselves.” she told them.  “As soon as I return, we ship out again.”

            The unanimous cry of “Aye, Captain Syrup!” was all the confirmation that she needed as she turned back to the Plaza before her.  She had to admire how it was illuminated at night...how the glow seemed to enhance rather than darken the setting.  However, with how sprawling it was, trying to find one small thing in here without some help was akin to finding a needle in a haystack.

            Which, Syrup thought, might actually be something done in those big board game parties that were held in the Mushroom Kingdom every so often.

            Shaking that thought out of her head, Syrup touched the skull shaped buckle on her belt, channeling the power that was inside.  The eyes in the buckle started to glow, showing the activation of her hidden weapon: two shards of the Crystal Starman.  She hated having to hide the power that she had at her disposal like this, even after managing to find a second shard recently to go with the one she had before, but she knew that she didn’t have the power that she did when she had the whole jewel, when she could easily take out even other giants on her scale.  But then, there was also the major issue she had realized holding the whole jewel had: the madness.  Since that time, Syrup had remembered everything that she had done, and realizing that she was beaten by such a childish trap made her realize she wasn’t in the right frame of mind to appreciate the power she had and use it in the right way.  With recent excursions since then, including that whole ordeal in the Shake Dimension (and having to help Wario out to get what she want, even acting slightly cordial with him), not only had she amassed a personal fortune for herself that made traditional piracy meaningless for her (no need for money when you had a bottomless coin sack in your possession, after all), but it had put her in touch with higher level magic users.  She quickly learned that, while against the power of a fully charged and completed Crystal Starman there was a complete immunity to magical influence, in pieces one with significant magical skill could easily alter each shard to remove the curse, insuring that when it was complete once more, she would be in total control.

            The trick, however, was getting all the pieces, hence why she was on this island in the first place.

            Focusing on the two shards she had hidden in her belt, she made herself invisible to any onlookers, and grew raccoon ears and a tail, as well as a white P in the center of her chest.  She sighed as she touched the ears and tail, rolling her eyes.  ‘I will NOT miss these add ons’ she thought as she leapt into the air to take flight and begin her hunt.  She kept her powers focused, flying through buildings and looking, checking not only what was visible, but if her two jewels were glowing even brighter than before. It took a few trips through walls before she approached the lighthouse, and seeing the increased glow she new what her target was.  Gliding just below the light, she passed through the wall and landed, turning off her powers to focus more on her surroundings, eventually seeing the brightest glow come when she was near the staircase, she took a peek underneath it, and found a hidden lock-box there.  ‘Ah, there you are.’

            “STOP RIGHT THERE!”

            Syurp had to raise an eyebrow as this male voice suddenly called out at her.  Taking a peek down at the other staircase, she saw two Pianta police officers rushing upwards, their siren hats blaring at her.  A smile formed on the pirate’s face as she watched them approach, thinking that she was right where they wanted them.  Glancing over, she simply waved at the two.  “Sorry boys, you’re too late, I’m too powerful, and I have what I want.” she chided, her outfit shifting from purple to blue, as she threw numerous balls of ice onto the staircase, not only covering it with ice, but even freezing the officers’ feet to the stairs.  They continued to struggle to get free, to which Syrup simply waved down to them.  “Remember when I’m back in power to tell your children of this day.” she taunted, using her Vanish Cap powers to reach her hand in the lock box, pulling it back out and grinning as she got her prize: not one, but two shards of the Crystal Starman.  With her prize collected, she leapt out the window of the lighthouse, a jet hat forming on her head as she rocketed back to the beach, where her crew was still at it, stopping at seeing her land and rushing towards the ship.

            “STOP HER!” another Pianta police officer called out as a group of them rushed towards the beach.

            “Yeah, you couldn’t even if you wanted to.” Syrup said with a wave, leaping backwards into the ocean.  All eyes looked on, confused at what they saw, then gasped out at the scene that unfolded.  Rising out of the ocean like an ancient sea god was Captain Syrup, having combined the powers of a Super and Mega Mushroom together to be around the titanic height she was before, water cascading momentarily off her immense body until she used the third of her four gems to shift her body, a Frog Suit forming around her, her crew tossing her ropes attached to the mast.  With a final glance, Syrup blew a kiss to the onlookers, grabbed the ropes, tied them to her waist, then dove down to swim her crew away to neutral waters.  Syrup looked at herself as she swam, shaking her head again.

            ‘Ugh...I REALLY will not miss these extra looks when I get all the shards.’

            The next morning in his house in Diamond City, Wario (clad in his “biker” attire) was beginning the day by lifting some free weights.  Things had been quiet for him after dealing with the Shake King (as well as dealing with that “Traitorous” Merfle in his other house), and so he was getting himself ready for whatever came next, whether it be a new treasure hunt or one of those random gatherings that Mario liked to bring everyone together for in a vain hope of keeping peace in the world.  He scoffed thinking about those events, especially whenever they got together for those kart races, and how the population of the Mushroom Kingdom had voted on naming them “Mario Kart” in his honor.  ‘When I win the next one, they should rename it Wario Kart!’ he thought, gripping the handles of his weights a bit tighter.  ‘Then I can get them moved over here, convince some saps here to cheer for me, collect ticket cash from…’

            “Wario.”

            The portly figure cried out in surprise at hearing a voice speak out, then again as he accidentally lost grip on one of his weights and having it land on his foot.  Wincing and trying to rub out the pain he felt, he hopped around on one foot to face the source of the voice, seeing a mirror like portal floating on his wall, a seemingly expressionless girl with black hair done in two side ponytails and wearing a red dress stared back at him.  Despite the look of this girl, Wario’s reply came with anger.  “Dang it, Ashley, I told you never to call me this way!”

            “You never answer your phone.” the young witch answered without missing a beat.  “Turn on your TV to the news, it’s important.”

            The fact that Ashley, whose powers usually meant that things weren’t much of a threat to her, felt that a situation was important enough for her to actually get him involved was concerning.  Whereas normally Wario would want some sort of compensation (usually in the form of gold or jewels) to do something, he knew he’d be tempting fate with that with a magic user of her skill.  So, he heeded the witch’s request, sitting down on the couch, and surprisingly being greeted by the face of Mona, wearing a white business jacket over a red top of some sort, reporting the news against the backdrop of an island resort.

            “Officials report that while the activities of the Black Sugar Gang were mostly isolated to this beach area, the activities of their leader, Captain Syrup, are much more grave despite less taken.  As you will see from this video footage we received,” Mona reported, the image of the young redhead reporter being replaced by a video of Syrup escaping the lighthouse in her raid. “it appears that the pirate captain had managed to get a hold of shards of the Crystal Starman that Delfino officials had hidden away under suggestion of Princess Peach.  The pirate captain’s super-powered escape was too fast for tracking purposes, but we are told…”

            Wario shut off the set before Mona could finish giving her report, not wanting to hear the rest of it.  He clenched his fists as he sat there, teeth gritted a bit, managing to say the name “Syrup” just barely.  Not only had he remembered their last encounter, but how much she had cost him when she had the full power of the Crystal Starman at her disposal.

            “You know what you have to do.” Ashley spoke up as he seethed.  Leaping off his couch, Wario turned to the portal to be face to face with the young witch.

            “You bet I do.  I don’t care what realm you send me to, I want to get as far away from all this as possible.”

            While any other person who had heard him say that might have reacted with visible surprise, Ashley only raised an eyebrow at his reaction.  “Wario…”

            “Look, save for that globe dimension thing, the last time she and I met she smashed and melted my last castle, hence why I don’t have one anymore and don’t even bother!  ...well, that, and the cost of upkeep, but still.”

            “Wario…”

            “That and the fact she almost squashed me numerous times when she had that power, and thanks to that stupid clown I had to fight I don’t have the protections that genie gave me anymore, it’s not worth risking it!”

            “Wario…”
            “I’ll go to some other place, get some treasure, and let those mushroom morons deal with things.  Either they…”

            “WARIO!” Ashley’s voice suddenly boomed, vibrating the entire house, her hair white and her eyes red.  “YOU. WILL. HELP. STOP. HER.”

            Wario froze in place at this, jaw dropped and eyes wide: Ashley, as far as he knew, never raised her voice like this, so when she did he knew she was serious.  He had faced many twisted and possibly demonic beings in his travels: Rudy the Clown, the Golden Diva, Terrormisu, the Black Diamond...but this girl’s demeanor and tone was such that those beings paled in comparison.  Stammering a bit at trying to find the right words to react to this, he reached a yellow gloved hand to the phone, quickly dialing, then waiting for the answer on the other end.

            “Yeah, Waluigi, get the warp pipe ready.  I’m coming over.” he told his sometimes partner in crime, pausing to sniff his body.  “...after I change clothes.”

            “...and while still concerned for everyone affected by the raid and working to compensate them, officials are relieved that the effect on the island wasn’t as bad as when Bowser Jr. framed Mario.  We can only hope that things stay that way with Syrup on the move as she is.  For DTV, this is Mona on location at Delfino Island.”

            “Aaand clear!” the Pianta that was serving as her emergency cameraman told her.  “Is there anything else that you need, miss?”

            Mona slipped off the white suit jacket that she was wearing, getting back down to the red one piece swimsuit that she was wearing.  “No, that will be all.” she commented.  “Thanks for the help on such short notice.”

The group of Piantas waved to her as she turned from them, sighing softly.  ‘What a way to start my free vacation.’ she thought as she headed back to Delfino Plaza.  She had hoped that winning a one week vacation in her school’s fundraiser raffle would allow her to get her mind off of her various part time jobs as well as her other commitments, but that was before the attack that happened while she was on the other side of the island.  She had just been enjoying watching some shooting stars on the balcony of her hotel room, completely unaware of the chaos that was going on until she heard the sirens below her.  As if sensing what happened, the station manager of Diamond Television called her up, begging her to get a report on the incident as soon as she could.  She was getting a bonus out of it, but losing some time to just relax still stung.

‘Though I could have been one of the victims…’ she pondered, remembering what actually did happen.  She had heard of Captain Syrup before, especially after her attack on Shroom City a while back (which she was sure Wario embellished the story of his involvement about when he told the story) but never in her wildest dreams did she ever expect that she would ever be so close to her actions.  Especially not close enough that Joe called her from Diamond City to get a report on it for the news, despite everything.  ‘I better just get the chance to relax from now on without anything else crazy happening to me.’ she thought as she turned a corner.

“OOF!”

Mona fell to her backside as she bumped into someone close to her own size, who she could barely see as she fell in a similar way.  The redhead was quick to get up to her knees and apologize.  “I’m so sorry, I didn’t see you there!” she said as she looked over to the figure she bumped into.

“No, it was my fault, I saw sightseeing and not paying attention.” another female voice replied.

‘Wait a second…’ Mona blinked in recognition of the voice, getting a good look at this woman: black hair, red bikini top and white beach blanket around her waist...the outfit may have been different, but Mona immediately knew who it was just by the face and voice.  “Hey, you’re Pauline!  I saw you at Super Mini-Mario World’s grand opening!”

The black haired woman chuckled softly as she got to her feet.  “I guess I just can’t get away from people knowing me.” she commented with a tone of amusement in her voice.  “Yeah, that’s me.”

Mona was almost starstruck at seeing this woman before her: after Mario and Bowser’s continual conflicts, the interactions between Mario and any of the Donkey Kongs over the years were the stuff of legend, and a center of a few of them was this woman.  Mona just sat on her knees in awe as Pauline got back up, then noticed the younger woman staring.

“Are you all right?”

“Er, yes, sorry!” Mona was quick to reply, getting back up to her feet.  “It’s just, well, I’m from Diamond City, and except for Wario we don’t really get that many celebrities over there.”

“Ah, yeah.  I did hear that that city tended to keep to itself for the most part.  Hopefully that changes sometime.” Pauline replied thoughtfully.  “But what brought you out here…” she paused, looking at the redhead for a name.

“Oh, I’m Mona.  I won a vacation here that...well, has had a rough start thus far.” she informed, glancing to the beach, Pauline sighing and looking in that same direction.

“Yeah, that pirate and her crew…” she sighed.  “Luckily they didn’t do worse, and I’m guessing that she won’t have any interest here anymore.”

Mona cocked her head at the confidence in her voice.  “You seem pretty calm about this whole thing, Miss Pauline.”

Pauline smiled softly to the teen.  “After all the things I’ve been through, I’ve learned that there are times when things seem dark, but you just have to do what you can to brighten things up and trust that there will be people who will help to make things right in the end.”

“...huh, I like that.  That’s good advice.” Mona smiled

“It’s how I was raised and what I’ve learned after...well…” she shrugged, knowing Mona knew what she meant.  “Wanting to help others after that is why I’ve decided to get into politics recently.”

That caught the young woman off guard.  “Politics?”

“Yes.  I’m planning on running for mayor of New Donk City next month.”

Mona couldn’t believe her ears.  Not only had she met a world-renowned face, but one that might be running a whole city in the near future...the city where so much business got its start, and was so connected elsewhere.  “Wow.” was all that she could get out verbally, much to Pauline’s amusement.  A thought came to the potential mayor’s mind at seeing her starstruck nature.

“Hey, since we’re both taking some time off before getting back to our everyday lives, do you want to hang out a bit?” she offered.  “My day is free to show you around if you’re up to it.”

“I...er...YES!” was the reply that came from the stunned woman, who quickly stood up and joined Pauline as she led the way back into the city, loving that something was going right for her now.

As the two headed off to tour around Delfino, neither woman were aware of the scene that played out overhead.  From the ocean flew a Para-Goomba, a net stuck to its foot that had (to its ignorance) four shining jewel shards stuck in it.  The flying creature was trying to shake the net off, being weighed down from flying as high as it could, and thus was completely oblivious as a tongue smacked onto its head, pulling it and the net to the waiting maw of a Delfino Yoshi waiting on a roof.  The force and the speed of the Yoshi’s tongue grab was enough to shake the net enough to loosen the four jewels, sending them falling down to the plaza below, and landing two per woman into the hair of Pauline and Mona.  Despite the height they fell from, the weight of these shards was light enough that neither was aware, as they continued on with their day, both taking two shards of the Crystal Starman with them.

“Are you absolutely sure something like this is safe?”

Professor Gadd looked over at the dubious Toadsworth, pointing a wrench in his direction over the kart he was working on.  “I assure you, sir, that my Gravity Discs will not have any discernible flaws, and will bring a new feeling of exhilaration to the next Mario Kart races.”

“That is exactly why I will not enter such an event.” the aged Toad commented.  “After Delfino Island and that whole time travel situation, I have way too much excitement in recent years.”

“Ah, you worry too much, Toadsworth.” the scientist countered, standing up and wiping his hands clean with a towel.  “If these old bones could react as well as before, I wouldn’t hesitate to test my skill out there.  Hmm, maybe when I become a ghost myself someday.”

Toadsworth chose to ignore that comment, shaking his head.  “You’re more than welcome to.  I am quite done with that kind of excitement for two lifetimes.” he commented, turning to walk away.

As if the world was listening to him and decided to play a prank in retaliation, Toadsworth was immediately greeted by the appearance of a green warp pipe sprouting from the ground, causing the official to tumble backwards into Gadd, knocking both of them down.  Despite that situation, the aged assistant to the princess tried to compose himself.  “What is the meaning of…”

He stopped himself when he saw a figure leap out of the pipe, clad in yellow and purple, landing with a thud that would have sent him back down were he any closer.  Toadsworth didn’t even need to see the figure’s face to immediately recognize who it was.  “Wario!?”

At speed that one would not expect of someone his size, Wario rushed over and grabbed Toadsworth by the front of his vest, lifting him up off the ground with one hand to get him eye to eye.  “I’m gonna say this just once: get me to either Peach or” he winced a bit at saying the next name, barely able to get it out despite the situation “Mario right away.”

Seeing Toadsworth caught off guard and just dangling in surprise, Professor Gadd made his way over.  “My boy, such hullaballoo is not necessary.” he assured, getting a side-glance from Wario.

“Who are you supposed to be?” the twisted figure demanded.

“Professor Elvin Gadd at your service.”

Wario dropped Toadsworth unceremoniously upon hearing that name: he had heard of Gadd..heard the name mentioned at some of those big party events that he liked to raid, but more notably remembering hearing about how Gadd Industries helped build up Diamond City in recent years.  Of course Wario would deny that and say that he was responsible for what happened, but he was aware of Gadd’s contributions, even if he wanted to downplay them.  “Oh yeah, Crygor mentioned you a few times.” he said offhandedly to keep up appearances.

Gadd chuckled.  “Ah, Crygor.  It’s been a while since we collaborated on a project.  Last I had heard he was trying to get his granddaughter into the field.  I wonder…”

“Look..” Wario interrupted, annoyance on his face at Gadd’s tangent.  “Either get me the princess, get me…” he pointed to a nearby bush that was trimmed to resemble Mario, not wanting to have to say the name again “...him, get me someone who can, or get out of my way.”

Toadsworth walked back up to Wario, having finally recovered his bearings of what just happened.  “What in blazes could YOU possibly want with either Master Mario or Princess…”

“Syrup is back in business.”

The aged Toad froze in place at that, before looking to Gadd, who seemed slightly confused.  “Professor, can that Kart you are working on hold three at once?”

Mario rolled back to his feet after hitting the yellow ball back towards Princess Peach, who was clad in her more relaxed sports attire rather than her normal dress.  It had been a while since Bowser’s most recent attack, so the two of them decided to enjoy what little down time they knew they both had by having a friendly little game of tennis to hone their skills, using a private court enclosed in a cage behind the castle, with only a few Toads watching on just in case of emergency.  Peach chased down the ball as it headed back to her side of the court, leaping in the air and smacking it down with her racket to return the volley to her constant rescuer, landing and getting ready for whatever Mario’s return would bring.

Or so she would think, as Mario managed to hit the ball with his racket in just the right way, causing it to curve in the opposite direction that Peach was heading for the chase.  The Princess gasped, skidding in her run as she made a failed attempt to change direction, catching the sight of the ball bouncing a second time on the court just as she was about to complete her turn, falling to her side slightly instead.  Mario was quick to rush over to the next.

“Sorry about that, Princess.” he said with concern in his voice.  “Are you all right?”

Peach nodded to Mario as she got back up, rubbing her thigh.  “Oh, I’m fine.” she assured.  “That’s a new trick though.  I’ll have to watch out for that at the next big tennis gathering we have.”

Mario chuckled and rubbed the back of his head at that.  “Yeah, was just something I worked out practicing with Luigi a few days ago.” he admitted.

Peach just smiled at him, first softly, then to Mario’s confusion, a little more...well, evil wasn’t the right word considering her nature, but it was definitely a smile that had a bit of a plan in mind behind it.  “Speaking of stuff to work on, there’s something I wanted to try out, if you’re willing to be surprised.”

Mario was confused by the princess’ words: usually when it came to a surprise, it came in the form of some sort of party, or a cake she had baked, or something of that nature.  Here on the court, however, none of those seemed to be a likely option.  “What sort of surprise?”

Peach just headed back to her side’s back corner of the court.  “Serve to me and you’ll see.” she called, glancing to the two Toads and nodding, to which the returned the gesture.  Confused yet intrigued, Mario got back into position, grabbing another ball from the bucket behind him, and when he was sure that the pink-attired princess was ready, he tossed the ball into the air and smacked towards her with the racket.  Peach braced herself, nodding to her two attendants once more as she returned Mario’s serve, then ran close to the Toads, as they reached into a bag and pulled out something.  Mario, in the process of chasing the ball down to return it to Peach’s side of the court, managed to see what was going on just barely.

The Toads had tossed a Mega Mushroom to Peach, which she had activated immediately.

Mario’s blinked a bit as he hit the ball, everything seemingly going in slow motion from that point on.  The ball sailed back to Peach’s side, where she stood ready, her body expanding outwards and upwards, going from the slightly taller than him regal figure she was to one that rivaled some of the statues that Toads made for her out of love.  Sure, it wasn’t the biggest he had ever seen her at (both the whole incident in Shroom Town, not to mention that one time he snuck in to rescue her after using a Mini Mushroom sprung to mind), but it was still a massive difference in size compared to him.

And a massive difference in power, as well, as she returned his shot with extra force that Mario was not prepared for.  Taking the hit in the chest, he was sent flying backwards, not stopping until his back hit the cage around the court.  Peach gasped out at seeing what she did, dropping her racket (which shrank down when out of her grasp) and rushed over.

“Mario!” she called out with concern, kneeling her currently towering frame next to him, trying to cup her hands under him to gently lift him up.  “I’m sorry, I didn’t know my…”

Mario just laughed a bit at this as he was lifted up. “Oh, it’s fine, it’s fine.  Just felt like one of those days when I go to rescue you.” he noted, to which Peach blushed a bit.  “You were right though, this was quite the surprise.

Peach giggled.  “Yeah, I don’t know why I thought of trying this in the game, but…”

*CRASH*

Mario and Peach both gasped out at the sudden nose, as smashing through the door to the court came a rather unexpected sight (which sent the two Toads running): Wario driving a rather new looking model of Kart, throwing the door he had crashed through aside, while clinging onto the back of the kart were both Toadsworth and Professor Gadd, the former of which had a look of terror on his face.  Before the currently giant princess could react or get up, the kart reached her shoes, which were angled like a ramp in her current kneeling position, and the tires underneath switched from the sides to underneath the kart with a strange glow.  Rather than crashing into the footwear, the kart managed to ride up this makeshift ramp, continuing to ascend up her feet, then reaching her backside (causing a gasp of surprise from her) and continuing the ascent up her back.  Wario was desperately pressing something on the floor of the kart to prevent a crash into the blonde ponytail awaiting them, before Peach moved Mario into her left hand and grabbed the vehicle in her right, bringing it up carefully to eye level.  Despite her attempt at being gentle, she could still hear the cries of surprise from both Wario and Toadsworth at this action.  Professor Gadd, however, just chuckled and seemed to stay calm.

“Well, this was certainly an interesting test.  At least I know I need to work on the brakes in hover mode.” he noted as the princess set them back down on four wheels, Mario leaping out of Peach’s hand to land next to them as the effects of the Mega Mushroom began to wear off.

“What’s all this all about?” Mario asked as the three figures got off of the kart, while the now normal-sized Peach stepped up behind him.  Toadsworth stepped forward to speak once he felt secure on the ground.

“Master Mario, we have a situation of grave ACK!”

Wario’s impatience got the better of him as he grabbed the back of Toadsworth’s vest, flinging him back relatively gently by his standards (which still almost caused him to hit the court’s cage wall), stepping forward himself.  “Look, Syrup is back on the hunt and she’s got two more shards.” he bluntly stated.  “And the only reason I’m even here is a crazy witch kid…”

Peach and Mario turned to each other, ignoring Wario’s complaining, upon hearing the news.  “I’ll go to Sarasaland and get Daisy.” Mario immediately suggested.  “She’s with Luigi, had something she wanted his help with.

“Sounds good.” Peach replied with a nod, then turning to look past Wario.  “Professor Gadd, is there any way that you can detect if Syrup is approaching the Mushroom Kingdom ahead of time?”

The short scientist stroked his chin in thought.  “Perhaps, but I would need to scan the energy signature of a Crystal Starman shard.” he admitted, sounding concerned.  Hearing this, Peach looked over to the recovering Toadsworth, nodding to him and holding out her hand.

“Of course, Princess.” he acknowledged, reaching into his vest and after a moment pulling out a thin black jewelry box, Peach’s crown symbol adorning the top of it.  Quickly he rushed up to the Mushroom Kingdom Monarch, opening it for her and revealing three jewel shards of varying shapes, glowing with a strange energy.  All eyes watched on as Peach picked them up, tying them up with a string to put around her neck.

“Peach, when did you get those?” Mario asked, a surprised look on his face.

“I’ve had Captain Toad and Toadette keep an eye out for these while they were out on their travels.” she explained as she held the makeshift necklace over to Gadd, who had pulled out an object that resembled a Nintendo DS Lite upon seeing this.

“Most impressive.” he commented, taking the string and setting the shards on the bottom screen of the device.  There was a hush among the group as Gadd pressed a few buttons on the device, then cried out with satisfaction before handing the necklace back to her.  “With this data, depending on supplies I can find nearby, I should have an accurate radar and sensor ready within the hour.”

“That’s good.  Toadsworth, you go with him and help him out, get him whatever he needs.” Peach pretty much ordered, showing some of her leadership skills that she rarely liked to display.  “I’ll get changed and wait here for everyone to get back.” she added, making another motion with her hand, and the two Toads who were watching (and shuddering at hearing the news of Syrup’s return) came over with a quick-change cabinet from Crazy Cap.  As she stepped back inside, Mario approached just enough for her to hear his next words.

“Peach, what if Bowser tries to make a move while I’m away?” he asked, knowing that the Koopa King’s attacks at some times could seem random.  Peach didn’t reply to him at first, waiting until she was back outside, now in her regular dress attire with her hair relaxed, looking like she had gotten fully cleaned up in the matter of seconds she was inside.

“Bowser knows the threat the Crystal Starman, especially in Syrup’s possession, poses probably better than any of us, since he was there first hand for what she did to his kingdom.  He won’t try anything crazy if he knows.  But if he doesn’t know…”

She touched the three gems, now being worn around her neck, closing her eyes.  All that were watching had to back up a bit, the Toads getting the quick-change cabinet out of the way, as Peach’s body once again started to expand, onwards and upwards like a vine.  She soon matched the height she was at moments ago with the Mega Mushroom, and even then her size surpassed that.  When that was finished, she was roughly around double the height she was when using the Mega Mushroom.  To add to this, her dress suddenly shifted in color from its pink theme, moving to a white dress with red highlights, her hair somehow going back into a ponytail in a process.  The titanic princess looked down at the group of four in front of her, who were all staring up in surprise.

“...I’ll be ready for him.” she finished.

“...well, that settles that then.” Mario nodded, motioning for Toadsworth and Gadd to join him.  “Let’s-a go!” he added, hopping into the kart’s driver seat, Gadd quickly joining in, followed by the reluctant Toadsworth.  Mario gave a quick wave to the princess as he drove off through the opening, heading to the castle to drop them off, leaving Peach alone...save for one purple and yellow clad figure who was beginning to stroll towards the opening he made as well.

“Well, you all seem to have things set up, I’m getting out of here before I WAH!”

Peach had grabbed Wario by the back of his overalls, easily hoisting him up from the ground to her face.  “No, you’re going to stay here.” she informed him as he dangled from her fingers.  “If I have to fight Syrup before anyone else gets here, I’ll need you make sure everyone else stays safe in the process.”

Wario struggled and squirmed, waving his arms in protest.  “Hey, I’m not some hired hand for you!” he bellowed in annoyance.  Peach cocked her head at these words, then smiled as an idea formed.  Closing her eyes to focus on her shards once more, her entire body and outfit shifted in color, skin and cloth both appearing to be covered in a metallic pink texture.  Wario’s struggling stopped as he watched on in confusion as the super powered princess leapt over the court’s cage, landing outside gently somehow, then raising her hand with a finger pointed at a stack of brick boxes.  With a flick of her hand, a giant pink fireball shot out, crashing into the blocks upon impact, turning them from their square brick form into a stack of gold coins twice as tall and wide as Wario.  She reverted herself back to her fire flower form, smiling and motioning with her free hand to the stack.

“...well, not one unless the price is right, and that’s a REALLY good start!” he replied in his own way of accepting things.

“Good.  You and Waluigi can…” she began, then realized what she said, looking around the ground.  Not seeing a certain figure, she raised an eyebrow.  “Wait, where is Waluigi anyway?”

“She’ll never find me in here.” the lanky figure in dark clothes said to himself as he twisted the top off a silver ball taller than he was.  “She’s Wario’s problem, not mine this time!” he reasoned.  He remembered what Wario told him over the phone, and knew that there was no way he was going through all that hassle with Syrup all over again.  Having left a note after setting up the warp pipe, Waluigi had made his retreat to his choice of hideout: the giant pinball machine in his name that doubled as a race course.  He cackled in satisfaction as the top of the ball came off, a chair with a TV and some snacks, as well as a generator behind it all, waited for him inside.  “No matter how big she gets, she’d NEVER think to look for me in here.  Waluigi, you’re too smart for your own good sometime!” he continued to talk to himself, convincing himself of his safety as he hopped inside, grabbing the lid to seal himself back in.

“...he’s preparing a plan B.” Wario lied to Peach, though in the back of his mind he wished he could have done the same thing.

In his chambers in his castle, Bowser lifted up the new plans he had drawn up for the next action on Peach and the Mushroom Kingdom, looking them over a bit, then growling and breathing his fire breath upon them and reducing them to a pile of ash.  “Not good enough.” he grumbled, grabbing a new sheet of paper to start again.  His last action against the Sprixie Kingdom was too different from what he normally tried, and left him open to having four problems to deal with rather than just Mario at worst.  He needed to try something a bit more traditional, yet still new enough that Mario wouldn’t be able to immediately ruin things for him, if at all.  He just need to focus, to have his full attention on…

“LORD BOWSER!” the voice of a Lakitu called out as the door to this chamber was swung open suddenly.  “I have urgent news!”

Bowser roared in anger at this intrusion, leaping from his chair and landing with a crash in front of the cloud-bound creature.  “I said no interruptions when I’m scheming!”

The Lakitu backed up in fear at his king’s reaction.  “S...sorry milord.  But this is urgent...it’s the Code S you wanted us to report on!”

Bowser backed up from his aggressive stance upon hearing that.  “Are you ABSOLUTELY sure?”

“I have video evidence, sire!” the Lakitu assured as he lifted up the camera on a fishing line he carried, then yelped as the Koopa King quickly snatched it from his grasp, attaching it to a monitor he had on his desk.  A few seconds in, and the screen lit up, showing the scene from Delfino Island: Captain Syrup’s crew raiding, the pirate wandering off, then after a few minutes, returning with her new acquisition in hand.  He snorted gruffly at seeing just what was in her grasp.

“Not this time, pirate.” he sneered at her image, not caring that she wouldn’t hear him say that, moving to one of the walls of the chamber and grabbing a hidden panel on it, opening it up.  “Tell the Troops to all be ready.  I have something special for the captain if she decides to show up again.

The Lakitu looked worried.  “Sire, last time she showed up here…”

Bowser grinned, turning to face the worried minion, a thin black box in one of his hands.  “Last time, I didn’t have THESE!” he boasted as he opened the box up dramatically.  The Lakitu looked in, confused.

“A piece of paper, sire?”

“What!?” The Koopa King spun the box back around to face himself, seeing the aforementioned paper sitting where what he had originally stored inside was.  Dropping the box and reading the note, his anger only grew at reading the message.

Lord Bowser,

I am borrowing these gorgeous gems you had here for a night on the town.  Haven’t decided which town yet.  I’ll return them when I get back.

Wendy

If Bowser could have channeled the heat of his fire breath into his hands, he would have incinerated this paper right then and there.  Crumbling it up and tossing it instead, he stormed to the doorway, shoving passed the Lakitu on the way, not turning to him as he gave a new order.  “Tell Junior to watch the place until I return.” he said with clenched fists, as he stomped towards the vehicle bay.

“Come on Luigi, we’ll never get there before dark if you keep moving so slow!” Princess Daisy called back over her shoulder at the younger of the two Mario Brothers who was following her.  She stood and turned on top of the sand dune, her yellow dress flowing as she did so, adjusting her safari helmet she had placed over her crown, to see what was the hold up.  Luigi was struggling, as he had a massive pack on his back, with the supplies that she had put in there as best she could beforehand (though she still couldn’t figure out how to get the shovels fully inside).

“Daisy, please hold on.” he requested.  “This bag isn’t that light for this kind of travel.”

Daisy simply smiled and rolled her eyes as she walked towards him, taking his gloved hand into her own and pulling him along.  “You’re cute when you act helpless, you know that?”

Luigi blushed a bit at the “cute” comment, though in the heat of the Birabuto Desert it was hard to tell.  “Anyway, you’ve told me this was important, but you didn’t tell me why.” he noted as he was drug along by the brunette princess.  She smiled, and when they reached the bottom of the dune, she pointed out to the horizon.

“That!”

Luigi held a hand above his eyes to focus on what she was pointing at, squinting a bit to make sure he saw what she did.  It was hard to make out with the glare of the sun on the desert sand, but after a moment he spotted it.  Shimmering in the distance, standing out with its unique gleam, was a silver triangle shape sticking out of the ground.  “Is that a pyramid?”

“Not just A pyramid.” Daisy said with enthusiasm.  “That’s the top of the Silver Pyramid of King Sarasa!  It was thought to have been lost in a sandstorms centuries ago!”

“King Sarasa?” Luigi asked, apparently confused by this.

“The first King of Sarasaland!  Ages ago, he managed to unify the four kingdoms together in an age of peace and prosperity.  This pyramid was his palace in those days!” she noted.  “Though obviously it’s much bigger than what we see, it’s pretty deeply buried in there, so it’s up to us to dig it out and show off true Sarasaland history!”

“I see.” Luigi said with a smile, understanding her actions now, adjusting the bag on his back.  “So you brought me here to help you dig it out then?” he noted, pointing to the two shovels sticking out of the bag.

“Well, that and to take care of any ghosts that may have decided to slip their way in here over the centuries.” she said nonchalantly, patting the bag with a smile.  That made Luigi’s eyes widen, as he quickly stepped back and set the bag onto the sand, opening it up quickly, moving some extra supplies out of the way…

...and finding, waiting for him to use again, the Poltergust 5000.  He cried out a shriek of terror at seeing that device, falling backwards and backing up quickly, to which Daisy had to rub her face with her hand in embarrassment.

“Luigi, come on now.  You…”

“No, no, no.  No more ghost hunts!  I’ve had enough of that for a long time!” he shuddered as he sat, pulling his knees to his chest and hugging them to his body, starting to rock a bit in place as he remembered his last few dealings with the supernatural.  His cowering was interrupted as Daisy walked over to him, grabbed him by the ear, and pulled him upwards, forcing him back up into a standing position.

“Snap out of it already!” she chided.  “You defeated King Boo and his minions on your own TWICE already.  What could possibly be in there that would be worse than that?”

Luigi was about to stammer out an answer for her (one that he was sure she wouldn’t like, but he needed to say anyway), but salvation came for him when he spotted something behind her in the sky.  Unlike with the pyramid, he recognized the object right away, and who was in it.  “MARIO!” he called out, waving for attention, causing Daisy to let go of his ear and see for herself.

“Luigi!  Daisy!” Mario’s voice called out from his plane, the Sky Pop.  “We have a situation back at the Mushroom Kingdom we need you for!”

The two both looked at each other, confused, then back up to the airborne older brother.  “What kind of situation?” the younger Mario brother asked.

“Captain Syrup has been spotted with…”

Whatever the rest of that sentence was, Luigi didn’t the chance to hear it as his world suddenly became a blur.  Daisy had put a hand on his shoulder upon the word “Syrup” being spoken, then without warning her body ballooned up in size to Mega Mushroom proportions and she grabbed him in her right hand.  He only had a moment to glance at her as she did this, noticing a strange glow coming from behind the collar of her dress, which was quickly covered up as a yellow cape formed around her neck and flowed out behind her.  Making sure Luigi was safe in hand, Daisy made a beeline for the Sky Pop, leaping upwards when she felt she had enough momentum and taking to the air.  Mario was watching the scene unfold, having to adjust his flight path as the giant princess became airborne.

“You have Crystal Starman shards too!?” he asked the obvious.

“Of course.  I wanted to be ready for this.  Plus, it keeps me from getting abducted at times.” Daisy commented as she gently set Luigi on the plane behind Mario, then popped open the cape with her hands.  “I’ll meet you guys back at the castle!” she called, bouncing back and forth with the cape in the air and leaving them behind.  Luigi clung tightly to the one seater plane, watching on with his brother as she flew off.

“What the heck just happened?” Luigi questioned, to which Mario just shook his head.

“Some days, it’s best not to question these things.” Mario replied, flying in pursuit of Daisy, being careful of his brother’s precarious position.  Luigi closed his eyes during flight and turned is head, thinking back to the last few minutes.

‘Syrup is back...I can’t believe I’d rather be ghost hunting that deal with her again.’

Syrup stretched her arms out as she sat down at her desk, having the window open in her cabin to enjoy the sea breeze flowing against her body.  After a moment of relaxation, she casually set her Crystal Starman shards on her desk, opened up her personal journal, then grabbed her pen to begin writing.

I’m so close to getting back all the power I had before, and I am now thinking back to what I had the last time I was in power.  It’s strange to look back at everything as you reach the pinnacle once more, ready to reclaim you position of greatness, but I feel I have learned so much in that time.

Syrup paused her writing a moment to look at a painting of herself that one of the crew had made for her, back when she took Bowser’s Keep from him: a stylized shot of her using it as a throne while laughing.  A small smirk came to her face as she remembered that takeover, before she continued writing.

Being that I now have all the wealth and riches I need thanks to the Shake Dimension’s prized possession, focusing on re-taking Dark World will be my first goal.  The various attacks of the Koopa King against the Mushroom Kingdom and its people have ruined chances to take prizes from the lands in the past, as while I respect the skills of my crew they are not an armada like his forces are.  Heh, it’s funny though: blondie might actually not care if Bowser was deposed were I not in possession of power she feels jealous I…

Syrup shook her head as she realized what she was about to write, taking a breath.  ‘Calm down, that’s not where we’re going again.’ she thought, then continued.

Whatever the case may be, I must be ready before I set forth again, especially since I have discovered that the invincibility from the Starman power in the jewel only lasts a few seconds at a time.  The magikoopa I have paid off to help me purify my shards of the curse has informed me that there are still 11 shards out there, and I can guess that the two princesses have a good share of them. The trick now will be to find the remaining ones, which…

“Captain, I have a report!” a voice called from the other side of the door, much to Syrup’s surprise.  Standing to open the door, she saw a Spear Goom balancing a tablet on the end of its spear, looking rather anxious.

“Must be important to interrupt my private time.” she noted dryly, taking the tablet from her minion and looking upon it, expecting nothing too major from it.  What she saw instead quickly made her eyes widen.

There they were...three of them.  Two humans and one koopaling...gigantic, powered up, fighting.  And most importantly to her, with a certain glow emanating from their bodies in certain places.  Syrup quickly stepped over the Goom that reported, eyes narrowed, heading to a nearby intercom system.  “All decks, prepare for a full turn about! We’re heading back to Delfino Island!”

“Come on Doc, how much longer will this be?” Daisy, returned to her normal size, impatiently pacing in the warehouse that E. Gadd had made into a makeshift laboratory for himself.  E. Gadd was working on a rather large computer display, his hands slightly blackened from some of the materials he had used, with Toadsworth standing by with supplies and tools for the inventor.  Sitting in the back of the room were Mario, Peach, Luigi and Wario (who was hiding his reluctance of being a part of this whole thing by counting the gold coins that Peach had given him to participate), all waiting for the final word.

“Patience please, Princess.” Gadd commented.  “It won’t be much longer, and then we can see everything that is going on.”

Daisy clenched her hand in a fist at this.  “Every moment that we stand here is…”

“Daisy, please calm down.” Peach said, standing up and walking to her fellow princess.  “We all know the potential threat that we have to face here.”

“Right, right.” Daisy replied.  “But it’s still annoying, just waiting here and not doing anything.”

“Seems like a good move to me.” Wario said under his breath...before getting elbowed in the side by Mario, who then stood up and walked over to the professor.

“Anything that I can help with?” he asked, wanting to ease the tension that some had in the room.

“Actually, all I need is this to be plugged in and we’re ready!” Gadd exclaimed, motioning to Toadsworth for do the actual plugging in.  Gadd hopped into a chair, prepared to activate the machine, as all in the room crowded behind the scientist. A whirring of machinery filled up the room, as the screen lit up with a grid like pattern, as well as the shape of various lands in the world appearing.  “And now, we just have to add the data and…”

Almost immediately, six diamond shaped lights appeared on the screen in the ocean, distant from the Mushroom Kingdom, moving away from that area at a steady pace.  “Is that her?” Luigi asked nervously.

“I believe so.” Gadd noted.  “The obsession that someone like her would have and the time that she had would equal that collection being isolated into one area.  With that we can…”

“If that’s her, what’s that?” Wario interrupted, pointing towards the shape of Delfino Island on the screen, where 6 more glowing lights were visible.  Gadd, surprised by this sight, quickly moved his hands across the control panel to gain a visual feed of what was going on.

“Oh my…” is all he said at seeing the image of Pauline and Mona fighting against Wendy in Delfino Square, towering above it all and sending everyone in a panic.  Watching as Wendy grabbed a fruit stand and threw it at Mona’s face, while Pauline was pulling herself up from getting shoved back into a storefront nearby. If they didn’t know it was so real, they would have thought it was a movie they were watching.  Mario was the first to break the silence.

“Syrup must be heading towards them, and they must have the other shards.” he noted, not caring how obvious it would have sounded.  “Luigi, Wario, we’ll try to stall Syrup. Princesses, could…”

Mario soon realized that neither princess was still in the room, as Daisy was dragging Peach outside by the arm, before the two of them activated their shards to gain their immense size and cape flight again.  He could JUST make out Daisy telling Peach, with an almost smug know-it-all tone, “I knew waiting wasn’t helping!”

The quick panic run of the Piantas came just in time as Wendy had grabbed the charging Mona, throwing her over her shoulder into the street below, shaking the foundation of the buildings all around her as she landed.  Mona grunted in slight pain and surprise at being caught off guard by the Koopaling, more annoyed that she got tossed around like that.  Wendy laughed with a hand to her mouth at this though.  “Oh please, I’ve fought Mario a few times, you think YOU’D be a GACK!”

Wendy quickly joined Mona at being down on the street, having been hit in the back of the head while she was boasting.  She turned her head to see Pauline, momentarily smaller in scale than the other two giant ladies, with a blue helmet and shell adorning her body and a white boomerang returning to her.  The raven haired woman quickly switched to become the same size scale as Mona and Wendy afterwards, a slight smirk on her face.  “You know, you talk too much.”

Pauline almost immediately regretted saying this when she saw Wendy’s mouth open, and had to leap out of the way when a fireball came right towards her, only managing to dissipate the flame by throwing an abandoned fruit cart in the path.  ‘Forgot she could do that, crazy turtle girl.’ she thought to herself as she shifted her powers again, shrinking slightly but having her dress change to white as she matched another attempted fire blast with a fireball of her own.  While this went on, Mona started to get back up, brushing street debris off of her body, looking around.

‘All right, let’s see if you like THIS!’ the young redhead thought, reaching towards the nearest building and grabbing a water tower off of the top of the building.  Waiting for a break in the fire war, Mona quickly rushed in when she had the chance, pulling and casually tossing the lid to the tower away and flinging the inner contents into the open mouth of the Koopaling.  The reaction of the Koopaling girl caused Mona to burst out in laughter, watching as she started coughing out smoke from her doused throat.  Pauline in the meantime started to approach her, hands reaching down towards the jewels that adorned Wendy's neck.

“These don’t suit you.” she commented as her hand was about to touch Wendy’s necklace and strip her of her powers.  Just before the actual hand could touch it, however, Pauline’s wrist was grabbed by the smooth hand of Mona’s.

“Hey, MY idea stopped her, that should be MY prize!” Mona protested, pulling Pauline’s hand away as she reached it.  Pauline managed to free her wrist quickly before shooting an icy glare at Mona.

“What does that have to do with anything?” she almost growled out at the younger woman.

“I should get the credit for this!” Mona replied, fists clenched as she spoke.  “You have enough attention with all the stuff you do!”

Pauline rolled her eyes at this, moving to push Mona back.  “You’re acting like a child, Mona.  This isn’t…”

Pauline barely managed to get out the word “isn’t” as she and Mona were suddenly tackled down to the ground by Wendy, who while her body had gotten slightly smaller now temporarily shimmered with a metallic sheen, adding weight and force to her attack.  Both human women gasped out for air at the force of the tackle as Wendy stood up, returning to the full gigantic size that she was before.  Clearing her throat, she glared down at the two women.

“I’m not going down that easy.” Wendy commented, her claws bared as she watched them getting back up.  There was an uneasy tension in the air as the three giant figures stared at each other, the wind and some sound of residual fire burning the only sounds anyone could hear.  A glance between the two humans, as if to say “temporary truce” after the argument they had just had, was all that was needed before they charged at an equally charging Wendy.

...and all three suddenly were stopped as a blast of ice hit the ground, freezing the ground and causing all three to slip onto their backsides.  Another giant shadow came over them, growing ever bigger as the figure that it belonged to lowered in from the sky.  The purple clad figure, currently clad in a yellow cape, glanced between the three women below her.

“I believe” Syrup began “you three have things that belong to me.”

“Daisy, slow down!” Peach exclaimed as the two were gliding over the waters towards Isle Delfino.  “You don’t even know what you’re going to do when we get there!”

“Sure I do!” Daisy called back, turning in mid air, shifting her flight power from the cape to a P-Wing to face Peach while talking.  “I’ll go in and hold off the other four while you sneak in and swipe their gems, then get Little Miss Pirate captured and call it a day.  Simple as that.”

Peach had to raise an eyebrow at her fellow princess’ idea.  “Daisy, last time we faced someone like this we had the advantage in a two on one fight, and still needed help.  You expect that to change when there’s now a disadvantage like that.”

Daisy’s smile of excitement faded when she heard Peach put that into perspective the way she did, pausing to think.  “Well, maybe they’ll be too busy in-fighting and we can…”

Peach switched her own powers to the P-Wing as she stopped herself and touched Daisy’s hand.  “Look, I know you’re eager to get out there.  You’ve always been the more eager of us when it comes to things like sports and such.  But I think we can both agree that a situation like this calls for a level headed approach to things, right?”

There was a moment of silence in the air between the two princesses, before a resigned Daisy sighed and nodded.  “Yeah, guess you’re right.  So, what’s your plan then?”

“...um, I actually hadn’t gotten that far yet.” Peach admitted.  “I was just trying to calm you down first.”

If Daisy were on the ground at that moment, she would have fallen flat on her face at this blunt admittance by Peach.  “Well, then we should…”

“Daisy, look out!” Peach suddenly called, trying to reach for her as she turned, unable to have the physical contact needed to pull her out of the way as she watched a pink spiked shell, about the size of her own body, crash into Daisy’s body, knocking her backwards and towards the water with a splash.  Peach could only stare on wide eyed at the scene that unfolded before her, trying to make a motion towards the water to make sure that the yellow clad princess was OK…

“GRAAAAH!”

...before having to fly back as the massive form of a VERY angry looking Koopa emerged from the water, towering at beyond Mega Mushroom height, resembling a monster movie that was shown to her in the past.  The water cascaded down, Wendy’s massive face glaring in the direction that she came from.

“I’M NOT FINISHED WITH YOU YET!” the Koopa girl almost roared out, Peach having to hold her ears from the volume from being so close, before starting her march back towards Isle Delfino.  The focus in her eyes even ignored the fact that Peach was both smaller than her and easily in reach, more concerned about what just happened back on the island to send her this far out.

It also prevented her from realizing and equally huge Daisy had emerged from the water and grabbed her tail, pulling to bring the Koopaling crashing down with a monstrous splash, forcing Peach to take up even higher into the sky.  “Not so fast, fire breath!” she said, then looked up.  “Peach, go on ahead.  I’ll keep her at bay!”

“Daisy, what about…”

“Look, I have her now, and I can keep her from getting the others when they get here.  Go!” she said, then gasped as she barely avoided a claw swipe from the enraged Wendy.

“I am SICK of you HUMAN girls MESSING UP MY DAY!” Wendy raged at Daisy, charging forward to knock Daisy backwards again.  Peach could only watch on for a moment, Daisy still motioning for her to go on, before she took a deep breath and took off for Isle Delfino once more, one thought permenting in her mind.

‘If Wendy’s over here, I can’t imagine what things are like over there.’

To be continued...