Meanwhile, in the dark stormy night, a flying Bowser Kingdom can be seen, as its fiery eyes glow and it reveals the castle full of lava inside. A loud rocking sound could be heard until it was revealed inside there were several minions of the Koopa Clan partying as many strange creatures ran amok.

Bob-ombs, Goombas, Koopa Troopas, Koopas, Pirahna Plants, Hammer Bros, Chain Chomps, and Bats. The band Koopas are playing rocking music with their instruments, all dressed gothic.

Bowser sits on his throne with Kamek beside him, nodding to the beat. He then grins and stands up.

"My army!" Bowser shouted out with pride. He points to the red, green, and blue-shelled Koopas as they cheer on him.

"Koopas!" Bowser continued." Yeah!" the Koopas cheered.

He then points to the brown mushroom-like creatures as they snarl at each other. "Goombas!" Bowser shouted out.

He later points to the two spiky turtle-like creatures with red spiked shells as they appear excited to be acknowledged by the king. "Whatever those things are!" Bowser continued.

This caused them to frown, feeling down." After years of searching for the Super Star, it is finally ours!" Bowser declared.

" Yeah!!" Bowser's army cheered." I am now the most potent turtle in the world!" Bowser continued.

" Yeah!" Bowser's army cheered again but louder.

" Soon, we will arrive at the Mushroom Kingdom..." Bowser started." Yeah!!" Bowser's army cheered even louder.

" Where, after years of being sworn enemies, I will ask their princess to marry me in a fairy-tale wedding!" Bowser continued." Yeah...!" Bowser's army cheered.

They stopped cheering upon hearing the "marry" part and the music." Yeah..." one Koopa said.

" Did he say marry their princess?" another Koopa asked." Doesn't she hate you?" a third Koopa added.

Bowser deflated and frowned." Of course, she hates me. But that makes me love her all the more.", Bowser replied.

Though Kamek noticed how he said it, it sounded more like a lie as he could see it in his eyes as they look... distant and desperate.

" Her heart-shaped bangs, the way she floats in the breeze, her immovable tiara. And when she sees this star... Oh ho ho ho, wedding bells!" Bowser continued. The red Koopa raised his hand.

" Well, what if she says no?" one Koopa asked. His response was getting fired, as he turned into Dry Bones.

The red Koopa beside him gives a deadpan look with a nod as if saying, "You had it coming." Then I will power up with this star and destroy the Mushroom Kingdom!" Bowser growled.

His army cheered again." Yeah!!" Bowser's army cheered again.

" Prepare yourselves for the best wedding ever. It's going to rock!" Bowser continued.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the Dark Lands, Y/N lands in the forest and looks around, cringing at how no leaves on the trees are filled with dead branches. She heard some noises and quickly hid behind the dead bark.

Her eyes widened to see Luigi with the Shy Guys, as his wrists were tied up with one of the Shy Guys holding onto the ends of the rope, pulling him. Luigi looks back, and the Shy Guy makes a noise as if telling him to keep going, which he does.

Y/N quietly follows after them and sees the blimp as they lead him inside before taking off into the sky. Y/N quickly summons her wings, flies after the blimp, and manages to be onboard as she holds onto the rope, hiding from their sight.

Luigi glances down at what appears to be an abandoned kingdom, not knowing Y/N is holding to the bottom of the blimp. He starts remembering when he was a kid when he built his own castle out of bricks.

~ FLASHBACK ~

Baby Luigi fixes his castle in the park as he did the final touch by placing a flag on top when a blonde bully in his sunglasses takes his flag. He blows Raspberry and kicks his castle, breaking everything he had been working hard on.

Baby Luigi covers himself from the blow of the destruction he caused and lands on his butt, cowering. The bully laughs and points at him, wagging the flag.

Just then, Baby Mario comes up behind him and pushes him, jumping on his back and taking back the flag. He lands beside his brother and hands the flag back to him, glaring at the bully.

The bully spits out the brick and glares at them until he is karate chopped by Baby Y/N. He turns, and she kicks him in the chest as if telling him to go away, or he will regret it.

The bully quivers in fear and runs away. Baby Y/N and Baby Mario turn to Baby Luigi with a smile as if saying he's okay as long as they're here.

Baby Luigi smiles back at them with appreciation.

~ FLASHBACK ENDS ~

Luigi gets saddened and looks down at his tied wrist before sighing as they head towards a flying fortress. Y/N looks at the defense with a mix of determination and amazement.

She wasn't expecting there to be a castle made out of lava. As they go inside, she quickly hides behind the balloon before the Shy Guys and Snifit escape the blimp, with Luigi following them by the rope.

Y/N quietly follows behind, while hiding at certain places where she can't get caught, as they head towards the throne room.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back to Peach's castle, horns play a fanfare as Mario and Peach exit the court to a crowd of Toads. He gasps at how packed the Toads are as they cheer.

Peach leans down to him. "They're all counting on us. No pressure.", Peach assured him before walking through.

Mario watches her momentarily before following her as he and Peach pass through the crowd, who give Mario curious looks. He gives them a nervous chuckle until they stand beside the Warp Pipe.

They turned to the Toads as they stopped cheering. Peach starts the speech.

"My Toads! Our days of terror are almost over! With the help of the Kong army, we will stop--" Peach declared. A blue Toad raises his hand, causing Peach to stop mid-movement.

"Uh... Who's he?" Blue Toad asked. Mario gives another nervous chuckle as Peach glances at him momentarily before throwing her fist up.

"He's not important!" Peach replied. The Toads start cheering again as Peach enters the pipe.

Mario weakly waves goodbye and is also pulled in. They both start walking through the Mushroom Forest.

"Nervous?" Peach asked. "Who, me?" Mario scoffed.

"Yes. A little." Mario continued. This made Peach giggle at his response.

"I still can't believe my sister left on her own. She could be killed!" Mario exclaimed. After Mario finished training, he had a major freak out after finding out Y/N was gone, and Peach had to calm him down.

"Your sister is strong. I can assure you she'll be okay.", Peach reassured him. "I guess..." Mario said.

Suddenly, they heard someone singing and turned to see Toad dancing up behind them. "♪ We're goin' on an adventure! ♪ (normal) Come on, guys! (scatting)", Toad sang.

"Hey, Mario!", Toad greeted. Peach turns to Mario.

"You know this guy?" Peach asked. "Uh--" Mario started.

"We're best friends.", Toad happily said. "But are we?" Mario asked.

Toad holds up his finger to Mario and turns to Peach. "Don't worry.", Toad said emphatically.

"I... Will... Protect you.", Toad continued. "A Toad brave enough to join me.", Peach said with admiration.

"I fear nothing.", Toad said. "Well, that settles it. You're coming with us. Let's move!" Peach said.

Peach and Mario runoff. Toad grabs a Biddybud and spins it around.

"Ha-ha-ha! ♪ I said we're goin' on an adventure, woo! ♪", Toad sang. Toad tosses the Biddybud behind him and runs after Peach and Mario.

Mario hopes Y/N is okay as he, Peach, and Toad travel through various lands. They end up looking over a mist-covered mountain range.

"Pretty incredible, huh?" Peach asked, placing her fists on her hips. "Mamma Mia.", Mario said, admiring the view.

"I'll never let anyone ruin this.", Peach declared.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile, Bowser plays piano on a floating rock platform with stars around him like he's in a galaxy. He plays beautifully and gracefully as he glances at the picture of Peach.

When nothing came out, Bowser was about to sing as if his mind had gone through something else. He keeps playing as he looks saddened.

Distant childhood memories rushed back to him, a face returning to him from his past. As Bowser played his piano, he couldn't help but let his mind wander to the past before he took his role as king seriously when he was still just a child when he met her.

He was so lost in thought that he didn't even notice Kamek coming in. "Sire?", Kamek asked, snapping Bowser out of his thoughts and causing him to jump a second.

Quickly regaining his composure, the giant Koopa breathed in. "What?" Bowser asked.

"The report from our intelligence. A mustachioed human and a non-mustachioed human have arrived in the Mushroom Kingdom.", Kamek said, causing Bowser to huff in anger. "The princess has been training them. They are up to something, sire!", Kamek finished.

The two sit silently before Bowser pats the bench seat next to him. "Sit. Jam with me.", Bowser asked, causing Kamek to smile slightly.

Bowser begins to play the Underground Theme while Kamek plays the Coin sound effect. "These, uh, humans. Where did they come from?" Bowser asked a speck of hope in his voice.

"We... aren't sure?", Kamek said unsurely. "Does the princess... like him?" Bowser asked again, referring to Mario.

Kamek looks at the king in disbelief. "Sire! Look in the mirror! You have nothing to worry about.", Kamek assured with a smile.

"I know that. I'm not threatened.", Bowser said rather calmly. Kamek then recalls something as they play the piano together.

"Sire, is something bothering you lately?", Kamek asked. Bowser glances at him in confusion.

"What do you mean?" Bowser asked. "You've been acting strange recently. Especially when you made a speech about marrying the princess, you didn't appear thrilled about it.", Kamek replied.

Bowser was surprised at his observation and glanced away. "I don't know what you're talking about.", Bowser lied, causing Kamek to look at him weirdly.

"Bowser, I raised you. I know you. You're thinking of something...", Kamek said, using his grandpa's tone, as he sat on the piano seat. "Tell Grandpa what's going on.", Kamek said, causing Bowser to groan, as he knew he couldn't escape when Kamek used that tone.

"Well..." Bowser started, thinking about the girl as he rubbed the back of his neck bashfully. "There is this girl, other than Peach.", Bowser continued, surprising Kamek.

"Oh!", Kamek exclaimed, surprised, not expecting that sudden change in events. "We only met once as kids, but she inspired me to be the king I am now.", Bowser said as he sighed dreamily.

"Even when we were young, I fell for her at first sight. And she is smart, fun, and..." Bowser continued. "Pretty?", Kamek offered as Bowser described the girl.

"Beautiful!" Bowser exclaimed, excitedly slamming on the piano keys to talk about the girl. Kamek looked at his king (and grandson) with a fond expression as he continued.

Bowser's hands were waving around as he described her. "She's got these eyes that just... And this hair, wow... And her smile..." Bowser said before he sighed dreamily.

"I have only felt like this towards her.", Bowser confessed. "You, my boy, sound head over heels for this girl.", Kamek said with a smile.

"When do I get to meet this charming young lady of yours?", Kamek asked, causing Bowser's dreamy expression to drop into a frown. "I don't know where she is; I only saw her that one day. And it was years ago since then.", Bowser replied sadly.

Bowser quickly snapped out of his sadness and glared. "So, you don't know about those humans, right?" Bowser asked.

"Uh... Not yet.", Kamek replied. "I see..." Bowser said.

After playing, Bowser slams the piano lid on Kamek's fingers, causing Kamek to scream in pain. "Find out who they are, and WHAT THEY'RE PLANNING!!!" Bowser ordered, slamming his fist on the piano cover.

"I'm on it, sire. May I lift the cover?", Kamek groaned out. "Not yet. Pain is the best teacher.", Bowser said, walking down the floating stairs with a smirk.

As Bowser leaves the piano room, Kamek moans in pain. Bowser reached into his shell and pulled out a piece of paper that was folded several times.

It was a picture of young Y/N, sketched in charcoal, that seemed faded.