It had been a good few hours since their last adventure. Foreman Spike, Guido, and Oglian were now out of the water and on land. Their travels this time had led them to a long path of dirt in the middle of a vast field of grass. It was a nice scenery, complete with clear skies and a brightly shining sun. However, at the end of this road lay the fabled Forest of Dheos. Their arrival there, Guido was less than looking forward to, but he really wanted his hammer back.

"So then I said to the guy, Oh, yeah? Well, my mouth, which is doing all the talking right now, he's got a cousin. He's right here, and he's got his own way of talking to strangers." Foreman Spike held up his fist to emphasize his point. "In a few minutes, the guy was talking with a fist full of broken teeth. Can you believe it?"

"Fascinating story, sir," Guido replied. "Um, about this Forest of Dheos; it's not as bad as they say it is, is it?"

"Don't worry, dear, we'll be fine," Oglian reassured.

"If you say so..."

"HEY!" Spike fumed. Everyone stopped walking. The man started glaring at his partner with his hands on his hips. Both Guido and Oglian were a bit nervous now. "You didn't hear a single word I said, did you?"

"That's not true, sir, I heard EVERYTHING you said, from the part where the guy got you mad to the part where you... punched his lights out..."

"Rrrgh! That's what you ALWAYS say! Well, I for one am getting tired of it." Foreman Spike rolled up his sleeve. Guido looked at his arm fearfully.

"Um..."

"This is it, Guido," Spike said threateningly, "broken jaw time!"

"Spike, you mustn't!" Oglian urged.

"Uh, uh," Guido stuttered, looking around frantically for a way out of this. He saw the forest at the end of the road. In his panic, for one brief moment, he swore on his life he saw something. The trembling Mario jammed an index finger in that direction. "Look, Spike! Look over there! Isn't that that one silver guy you were fighting earlier?!"

"Heh?" The foreman loosened the fingers in his fist some. He turned around and took a look for himself. At this point, there didn't seem to be anything more there than just trees, but the man couldn't ever pass up on an opportunity to beat up an old enemy of his, so he looked harder. "Hmm..." he said as he squinted his eyes and placed a hand above his shades. Now he could see something, too. Sure enough, it faintly resembled a man with silver skin and a striped uniform. Maybe even two of them. "Well shoot," the foreman mused. "You may be right..."

Spike turned around and faced his cohorts. "All right, guys, it's decided: we're gonna go over there and-" He stopped upon noticing Guido with his back turned towards him. The smaller man's shoulders were hunched and his legs were standing on their toes. "Hey!" Spike blurted accusingly. "You trying to run away?!"

"Ah, no sir," Guido sweated. "I'm just... doing my toe exercises."

"Well, hurry it up then," Spike replied. "We gotta teach that guy a lesson and soon!" The leader of the group turned around once more. He looked again. This time, he saw something else as well. It seemed even big, humanoid frogs could be seen walking around in this forest. "Ho, they've brought their friends along. This oughtta be interesting..." The man spun around and grabbed Guido by the arm. "Dang it, man, hurry it up! Have you any idea how many butts we could be kicking right now?!"

"Uhh..."

"Geez," the man spazzed. Now he was running as hard as he could. A befuddled Guido was being dragged behind him. In the rear was a very flustered Oglian. Now all three of them were running down this road as though their lives depended on it.

Lord, Guido lamented, someone save me from this crazy person...

Indeed, inside the Forest of Dheos, a rather large group of people were marching around. They were none other than the 100 aliens from the ship, each of them headed by the ever imposing Wart. The whole lot of them had undergone their fair share of tree-evading and even marsh-exploring. It was tiresome, yet the entire army continued to march. After all, this was a group of strength and high spirits. A few of them were even chatting away between friends.

"So, uh," the colossal Toonga said to Tobi and Tapoleon, "we're going to the moon, right? That glowy thing in the sky, right?"

"Of course, Toonga! Don't tell me you've forgotten the mission already?" Tapoleon answered. His gigantic cohort started scratching the top of his head, much like the purple ape that he was.

"Uh," he hesitated. "Nope. I didn't forget, but... We're not gonna be seein'... cheese there, are we?"

"Cheese?" Tapoleon scoffed. "Please!"

"No cheese?"

"No cheese."

Toonga stared blankly. His left eye started twitching and a vein was beginning to throb on his temple. Then the humungous alien started snarling and clenching his fists. When Tapoleon saw this, he just rolled his eyes. The ever cautious Tobi just started walking a little slower, falling behind the group in the process. Up front, Trigg could only barely make this out going on behind him. The suave sharpshooter heaved a sigh.

Gimme something to kill, he prayed. I need it...

Nearby the purple aliens, there were the silvers. Taking the lead was Katana. The man remained quiet and well-behaved for the most part throughout this march. Behind him, the easily excited Cloaker and Domino were refusing to shut up.

"I don't know, Cloaker," Domino said. "I know he was an asset to the group, but seriously... who needs him?"

"For shame, Domino!" Cloaker objected. "Maybe he WAS a narcissus, but you have no idea what that boy's been going through!"

"Defending him, are you?" Domino retorted. "That Cutlass? Have you any idea what he plans on doing to our beloved Smithy?"

Cloaker gasped and covered his mouth. "Not Smithy!"

Katana squinted his eyes when he overheard this. Cutlass and Smithy? he pondered. What in the world could be the connection?...

And next to the silvers were the frogs. The two up front were the worst of them all. Welt and Wartini were growling back and forth about something.

"BEER... "

"BLOOD!"

"BEER..."

"BLOOD!"

"BEER..."

"BLOOD!!!"

After that, the two were silent, although Welt was still gritting his teeth, making strange clicking noises, and shaking his fists beside him. Wartini was just dragging his feet with his tongue hanging out of his mouth. Then he said something again.

"BEER..."

"BLUH-"

"SHUT UP!" Two other frogs, a tall one named Wax and a short one named Wane, had had enough. After their outburst, the two head frogs turned their heads and glared at the other two. Wax and Wane glared back. Then Welt and Wartini faced forward again.

"BEER..."

"BLUH-"

"WE SAID SHUT UP!"

Beyond all the aliens, their rotund leader was feeling his nerves grating as he tromped through these woods and made his way around various shrubs and branches. It was clear even to him that few of his minions were the sharpest knives, yet he still chose to place his faith in them.

ALL OF THESE SOLDIERS ARE TOTAL BUFFOONS, he thought, BUT I BROUGHT THEM WITH ME FOR A REASON...

"Say, Wart," Katana said to him.

"YES."

"You didn't catch sight of a couple of guys and a Magikoopa, did you?"

"NO."

"Just checking..."

Even deeper into the forest, the Swoompires were again at work. The powerful Swampic was rapidly digging a huge hole in the ground using nothing but his bare hands, the shapely Swan was peering between two trees, and the lanky Swoosh was using his insane legs to hop from one section of the woods to the next. Elsewhere, Swine was furiously digging into an opening in a tree's trunk. Swoompster wasn't in it, but a ton of little worms were. The peckish Swoompire promptly shoved them all into his mouth and began to chew.

High above this part of the forest was the authoritative Duke Swuke. The humorless man was floating in the sky, having turned his arms and legs into pillars of swirling purple mist. Left and right, he scanned the area. His purple eyes were sharp, but they saw no sign of their missing teammate. One more place to look, and then we leave, he decided.

The Swoompires' desire to get their cohort back was running as strong as ever, but one of them was hardly contributing to the group. It was the elderly one with his back against a tree, his top hat covering the upper half of his face, and his mouth making loud noises.

"SNNRRKK... SNNRRKK..."

His mind was off in a mystical land full of all the blood and liver he could ever ask for, but his body was still in the Forest of Dheos. In a matter of seconds, a comrade of his had lunged to his side, and he didn't even notice.

"Hey, Sward," the competitive Swoosh urged as he knelt down and shook the old man by the left shoulder. "SWARD!" Still nothing. Frustrated, the humungous Swoompire finally just slapped the geezer in the face. At last, the aged man slowly awoke.

"Ahh, nothing quite like a good nap," he mumbled. Gradually, he shifted his face towards his towering ally. "Eh? You need something, Swoosh?"

"Do I need something? Forget about me, have you any idea what you're doing right now?!"

Sward took a long pause. "What am I doing?"

"NOTHING!" Swoosh exclaimed. "Duke Swuke is watching! He'd take your head clean off for slacking off if he got the chance!"

Another pause from the old man. "That so?"

"Agh, you're hopeless..." The irritated Swoosh stood back onto his long legs and turned around, rubbing the back of his head. Behind him, he could hear the eldest member of the group giving out a prominent yawn. "Hey, as long as you're here, maybe you can help me with something," Swoosh added.

"Yes, son."

"About those ghosts we met earlier," he began. "Nothing about them seemed... off, did it?"

The wrinkled Sward thought about it for a second. He faintly remembered a group of nine people floating around in the middle of nowhere. Some of them had some pretty big noses whereas others didn't have any noses whatsoever. All of them looked pretty pale. "Anything threatening about 'em, m'boy?"

"Not really, I guess," Swoosh stated. "It's just... I heard of a group called the Spookalings."

"... What of them?"

"I heard they openly declared war on Tondariya... Not even we would do something that huge... Would we?"

"Why not?"

"Uh..." Swoosh rubbed the back of his head some more. "No reason, I guess..."

"Buck up, boy," Sward advised. "Scared of a little fairy like Tondariya? Come now; you're the Swoompire of Pride. Show us some spunk."

An exclamation mark materialized above Swoosh's head. He suddenly bent his knees and jammed his fists in front of him. "RIGHT!!!" he bellowed. Sward nodded. He pulled his hat back over his eyes and began to nod off some more.

"SWOOSH! SWARD!" Both Swoompires jerked their heads up. The intimidating Duke Swuke was back on the ground and walking past them. "Pack up. Last area..."

The two Swoompires nodded and began to follow their companions. Swan bumped into Swoosh in the process, and the two yelled at each other. Afterwards, it was only a matter of time until they reached the final area and began to take their search for the missing Swoompster to the next level...

Meanwhile, a very excited Razeil was hopping from tree to tree. He had been keeping at this for a good deal of time now. The number of interesting things he had seen in these woods was too vast to count. Giddily, he stopped somewhere and peered beneath him. Down there was that group of nine from earlier, the Spookalings. He madly giggled to himself as he kept his distance and maintained a watchful eye. "One-hundred-and-twenty-three coconuts," he whispered to himself anxiously. "My mouth is watering..."

In the ghosts’ case, they had ways of their own to keep themselves entertained throughout this expedition in the forest. "Just a little longer," the Wereyoshi growled to his friend Jax. "I'll wait that long for some action around here." The small Il from Il Ville nodded in agreement.

Further away from them were the girls of the group. Each of them seemed to be ticked about something. "Those stupid little Raven things," Princess Cherry Blossom grumbled. "When I get my hands on them..."

"I know!" Dorreen fumed. "The nerve of some people! Taking away my parasol like that... RRG!"

"Forget about your parasol," the princess commented. "That staff was a family heirloom!" The girl heard a cynical snorting sound beside her. She turned and faced Capt. Spatula. "Got a problem, missy?"

"It was worth a few thousand," the pirate explained. "Why does it come as such a surprise to you it'd eventually be stolen?"

The princess growled furiously. She held out her hands as if to strangle her selfish partner. The captain just folded her arms and scoffed once more.

"You guys don't think my nose is too big, do you?" The two girls stopped and turned towards Yoshiki. The female Yoshi was worriedly patting at the facial feature in question.

"Oh, of course not, Ms. Yoshiki! It's the most lovely nose in the world!" Holy Troopa adjusted his glasses and pulled a sheet of paper out from behind him. "Here, I wrote a poem about your nose. Ahem...

"Your nose is like a rose
'Tis a fine nose
A nose that arose from-"

"NO NO NO! I HATE POETRY!" Big Boo wailed. "I JUST CAN'T TAKE IT!" It didn't take long for Holy Troopa and Yoshika to start bickering with him. All the while, the other three girls were continuing to gripe, and the remaining three people were starting to get a little annoyed, King Boo and the Wereyoshi especially.

For the love of God, someone shut them up, King Boo thought bitterly.

Up in the branches, Razeil was still giggling excitedly. "One hundred and twenty-three," he repeated. "I can't wait..."

Outside the Forest of Dheos, three friends were giggling crazily over the weapons they had just received. They were all swinging them around here and there, grinning excitedly as though multiple enemies would fall after each blow.

"So much power in a simple piece of metal," Goomba Prince admired. "I feel like a king again!"

"I can block the sun!" Razule declared. He flipped open his newfound parasol and held it high over his head. "No one's gonna rain on my parade now!"

"You guys are kidding yourselves," Ren said. "I got the best one..." The power-hungry Raven shouldered his new staff, closed one eye, and started aiming at different spots in the sky. Surely some unsuspecting birds were around for this. "Come on," he urged. Finally, he was able to lock onto something. The Raven laughed heartily. "Jackpot!"

FOOM...

Up in the sky, a devious, golden Yoshi was soaring through the air, courtesy of the strength of his powerful legs. His destination, the Forest of Dheos, was just a few meters away, but he was actually looking for something a bit more specific.

Hmm... he thought as he kept his eyes peeled for his real target. If I recall correctly, that brown Yoshi is on a hunt for seven people, and one of them is in this forest. If my calculations are correct, his travels would have caused him to meet someone beforehand, and the two should meet again right about-

FFWWOOSSHH! "AAUURRGGHH!" The Kroshi's concentration was destroyed. He had been nailed by something huge and burning, like a massive fireball. Now he was going down.

Down below, Razule and Goomba Prince were confused beyond redemption. Indeed, Ren had hit something, but it resembled a humanoid goldmine.

"Ren," Goomba Prince said, "what did you hit?!"

"D...Don't look at me," Ren said, just as dumbfounded as his friends.

"HIT THE DIRT!" Razule shrieked. The three jumped out of the way and WHUMP! The prize had crashed into the ground. The Kroshi bounced off the grass and started rolling around in an endeavor to extinguish the flames. In a few seconds, all of them were out. Now they were just scorch marks on his skin. When he stood up, he was as angry as a demon.

"All right," he growled, "which one of you hit me with that?!"

"It was Ren!" Goomba Prince blurted. "HE did it! Kill him, not me!"

"If you insist," the Kroshi seethed, cracking his knuckles. Ren was infuriated.

"Nice going, blabber-mouth," he growled. The Kroshi was quickly advancing on him, and the little Raven was not looking forward to a fight with this threatening man. The golden Yoshi had his fists held up when Razule suddenly dove between the two fighters.

"Hold it, hold it!" he protested. "We shouldn't be fighting; we should be sharing!"

"Shut up, runt," the Kroshi spat. "Your friend hit me. I ain’t letting him get away with that!"

"W-We'll compensate you!" Razule insisted. "Satisfaction guaranteed."

The Kroshi stopped and glared at the Raven-like creature. He looked behind him and saw Ren. Ren stared for a second, and he started nodding. Goomba Prince was confused. "All right, squirt," the Kroshi said, folding his arms. "What can you do for me?"

"I can tell you your fortune..."

The Kroshi cocked his eyebrow at the little man. "My fortune?"

"Trust me!" Razule continued. "I can see any apple for miles!"

The Kroshi heaved a sigh. He could still feel the fire burning. "All right," he said, "but this better be worth it."

"Oh, it's worth more than a thousand monkeys on a whale made of doughnuts!" The Kroshi stared at him impatiently. Razule laughed nervously, then cleared his throat. "Right then," he said and he closed his eyes. "In your future... I see..."

But a few miles away from the Boombateers were Xoshi and friends. The five of them were walking down a dirt road, enjoying the nice day and fearing not even the most deliberate of perilous possibilities heading their way. In fact, the quintet was just sharing things between one another. The setting was quite serene.

"I suppose me and Davey HAVE encountered much since the start of our travels back in our hometown in Grass Land," Chogun admitted. "We've recovered strange stones from Clefts, outlandish clothing from Gulpits... You name it."

"We were almost able to get these two gems from a giant monster that looked like it was made out of blue jelly, but it was too strong," Davey added.

"Ah, yes. There was a green one and a gold one, but... I guess the beast deserved them more than we did."

"Ho, you should have seen the thing me and White Rose took down in the Dry Dry Desert," Xoshi commented. "It was humungous! Do you remember that, White?"

The knight was actually paying little attention. He had his left elbow resting in his right hand. Two of his fingers were strumming the side of his face. Those two gems, he thought. It couldn't be... the ones from the legend...?

Xoshi stared at his spacey, white-garbed partner. "White? You alive over there?"

"The White Rose, some dignifying responses, if you will," Leif demanded, conking the swordsman on the head with a curled fist. This woke up the wandering knight with a start.

"Ugh... My apologies, Sir Xoshi, but no, I hadn't forgotten the Pokey. It was a gauntlet of biblical proportions, if my memory serves me correctly."

"Yeah, 'biblical proportions' sums it up," Xoshi quipped. "Although, it was really White Rose who did most of the work."

"Of course," Leif agreed. "His eyes possess the glimmer of an experienced warrior..."

The masked knight had quickly become the center of attention, yet his mind was still elsewhere. I remember hearing a lot of things, he speculated. Now it's as though history is finally coming alive...

In Xoshi's mind, there was a certain Star Warrior making an observation. You've become quite fluent with the new language, he remarked. Maybe you don't even need me anymore...

Well, I guess I have gotten pretty good and- Xoshi stopped. Wait... Come on, I couldn't POSSIBLY not need you anymore! You know so much!

Most of what I know isn't that important, Beel replied modestly.

Well... What IS important?

Take for instance... the names of the last two people we'll be tracking down and where we can find them...

... Yeah?

Yes, Beel answered. First off, after our expedition in the Forest of Dheos, we shall seek out Jeremiah Skai. His abode can be found-

"GAAHHH!" Chogun wailed. The others turned their heads toward him.

"What is it?" David asked.

"Some rock," Chogun wheezed, clutching at one of his bug-like feet. "Came out of nowhere and... got my foot..."

The others looked where the bug man had stepped. As a matter of fact, a rock was there; a jagged one with a few drops of blood on it. "Some others are popping up as well," Leif pointed out. The others looked ahead and saw it for themselves. The dirt path and the grassy field surrounding it was now infested with all kinds of jagged rocks popping out of the ground, one after another, like warts.

"I don't like the looks of this," Xoshi fretted.

"Everyone, stand back!" Leif ordered. The fivesome jumped back a few steps and watched this strange phenomenon take place. Gradually, the rocks were getting closer together. They were even getting bigger and causing the ground to shake. All Xoshi and friends could do was watch and wait.

The rising rocks shook everything for a few seconds more. Finally, the show was topped off with a massive explosion of earth. A tremendous boulder bigger than any the travelers may have ever seen shot up from the ground and blocked their path. On top of it was a notably smaller one, but it vaguely resembled a statue of sorts. The group looked up at it. They tried identifying it, but falling bits of dirt were getting in their eyes.

A crack popped open on the figure's chest. Then another, and another. In a matter of seconds, the entire stone figure was completely covered in fractures. Then FOOM! The thing exploded and the group could finally see who was beneath it. It was a very cocky-looking man they had all met back in Carnival Alley. His spear was there and everything.

"Labyrit!" Xoshi called out.

"Who?" Chogun asked.

"Yes, kiddies, it's me," the Bandit greeted. "We haven't seen each other in a while, now have we? Tell me: how many dreams have you been shattering while I was gone? Hundreds? Thousands?"

"Just tell us what you want, you weirdo," Xoshi retorted. "We don't exactly have time for you."

"Don't have time, you say?" Labyrit said. "Now, that's not very nice. I went through all this trouble to make this new maze for you..." The brown Bandit picked up his spear and pointed it at the front of the giant rock he was standing on. From there, a gateway made of stone opened up before the group. Each of them was surprised by this ability, Chogun especially.

"A... new maze?" Davey asked.

"Yes, and one more elaborate than you could ever imagine," Labyrit gloated. "Gentlemen, I give you..." He spread his arms out dramatically and yelled it out. "LABYRIT'S ELABORATE LABYRINTH: THE ILLUSTRIOUS ELIMINATOR!"

Xoshi and friends were shocked. Davey was just muddled. "What is it with this guy and all the tongue-twisters?"

"Your objective is simple," Labyrit elaborated. "You have three hours. You must split into groups of two. Each one is to find a pair of elemental stones, then destroy them with their opposing elements. I know you can do it, because I've been asking around; you all have wands... if not something similar..."

White Rose pulled out his red-tipped wand and looked at it carefully. Then he looked at Xoshi, who was just sweating. I hadn't even considered the possibility of us becoming well known, he thought. Is this the consequence of seeing the world?

"But," Davey objected, "there are only five of us! How do we get in groups of two?"

"Oh, that's right," Labyrit said with fake sympathy. "Well, don't worry; I'll go easy on you guys. After all, I was going to make it required that you take out all twelve of the stones, but... I guess just five will be fine."

Davey slowly nodded. Then the Viking of the group stepped forward. "And suppose we find and destroy these five stones," he said, "what shall be our prize?"

"Then you guys get to go on your marry way, and I won't bother you ever again."

White Rose raised an eyebrow at the dubious Bandit. "And if we lose?"

Labyrit pointed his spear at the brown Xoshi. "Then your little friend here will have no choice but to give me back my pendant."

The others looked at Xoshi. The brown Yoshi looked at them back through shifty eyes. "Look," he said to Labyrit, "if you want your pendant back that badly, then I could just-"

"No," Labyrit spat. "It was your wits that got you that pendant. Now it's your wits that will determine whether or not you deserve to keep it."

Xoshi stared at Labyrit without blinking. He looked away and sighed. "All right," he conceded. "We win... and you won't bother us ever again?"

"Ever again," Labyrit repeated.

Xoshi nodded. "All right then," he said. He signaled to the others with his hand. "Come on, guys," he beckoned. "Looks like we don't have much of a choice here..." The others nodded and began to follow their leader. Labyrit watched excitedly as the quintet entered the cave. He rubbed his hands together and chuckled mischievously.

"Little do they realize," he gloated, "there's a reason why they only have THREE hours..."

It was right in the middle of the ocean: a nice little island full of trees and safe places to hide. Somewhere deep inside this secluded forest was a base, a base with two oddly shaped backdoors. When Swoompster found these things, he couldn't have been any happier.

The diminutive Swoompire looked around himself in amazement. There were metallic walls, fancy-looking counsels, and all kinds of weird things the man couldn't have ever dreamed of. "Yeah," he breathed, looking around in astonishment. "This place is perfect. It's so quiet and clean."

The small man walked into the middle of the widespread room. He threw down his sack of orbs and withdrew three small ones, one red, one blue, and one yellow. He held them in the palm of his hand. The three things suddenly sprouted pairs of orange wings and sets of wide, staring eyeballs. Then they started fluttering around in midair like little bats.

"All right, Fangel, Fangie, and Fanget," the Swoompster said to the Fangs. "I want the three of you to remain here and keep on the lookout. I've got some errands to run. But, whatever you do, do NOT touch anything. All right?" The three bats nodded their little heads in reply. "Good," their master said to them. "I'll be going now. Bye..."

The man ran to the back of the room. He found the two Melon Bug-shaped holes in the wall and slipped through them. Then he spread his wings and flew away. The three little bats that were left behind looked at each other, shifty-eyed. Then they scattered and started flapping around all over the place. They kept ramming their faces into all the buttons on the consoles. Meanwhile, the huge telescope-like device at the center of the room started shining with little lights lining it.

Outside, the humungous lens of this device was glowing. It flickered a bit, and then it focused. Now there was a single bright light glowing in the center. Out of it was bursting a powerful laser. It was aiming at the sky...

In his lab on the moon, the very dubious Mad Scienstein was toiling away at a new invention of his. It was considerably smaller than the Giga Mole, but it looked equally interesting. Whatever it was, it appeared to be some small flying device with a bubble dome and rocket propulsion. The man himself was underneath it, fastening another gear on with a wrench. He pulled himself out from underneath the contraption and wiped his brow.

"Gonna be a while 'til the Giga Moth's completed," Mad Scienstein said exhaustedly. Then he just looked pensive. "Which reminds me... Whatever did happen to those two Crooks I helped earlier? Hopefully, they're not trashing that Giga Mole I gave them. I worked hard on that thing..."

The man mumbled to himself some more and slid back beneath the newer invention. He pulled and twisted at all the gears and gaskets that made the machine tick, and he stopped. As he remained perfectly still in the deep shade of his device, he would have sworn he could feel something huge was just miles away from him. It was almost as though his house was really atop a gigantic turtle and he hadn't even realized it.

After contemplating on the matter even further, he came to the conclusion he was NOT imagining things. There were vibrations deep beneath his feet, and it had been a while since anything remotely like this had happened.

Worriedly, the scientist pulled himself back into the open, got up, and sauntered on up to his giant computer built into the wall. He hovered his fingers above the keyboard and began to type in commands. "What is it this time?" the intellectual wondered. "It's not those carrots again, is it?"

A few passwords later, and the answer seemed to be right in front of Mad Scienstein's face. What he got on the screen was a computer-generated image of the moon's surface. Originally, the force field surrounding it looked like a desert full of yellow rocks and craters. Now its material seemed to be slowly transforming into a different substance, something white and reflective. Mad Scienstein watched all this in confusion and astonishment.

"My word," he breathed, scratching his goatee absentmindedly, "what is going on here...?"

Swoompster had been flying for a while now. The bat-like wings growing out of his back were starting to give him massive pains. He just kept telling himself to keep at it, and he'd be there in no time. Just when the pint-sized Swoompire was about to call it quits, he saw it right there, right before his eyes: Lavalava Island. "All right," the criminal dwarf elicited. "Now let's see if this place is as much of a tourist attraction as everyone says..."

The Swoompire swooped down and hovered above the trees. His wide eyes kept moving back and forth in search of anything that might be round and valuable. So far, nothing seemed to be of interest. All he saw was Yoshis, Ravens, and a whole lot of plants.

"Geez," the Swoompire moped. "I know it's around here somewhere..." Then at last he found it: the horde! "Ho yesss," the little man hissed as he dove in for a closer look. "What have we here...?"

Somewhere deep in the jungle of Lavalava Island, there was a small opening filled with tall blades of grass and other vegetation. In the middle of some of this shrubbery, there were a few nice, shiny things the greedy Swoompster would consider taking for himself. He zipped out from behind the leaves in the air and slowly hovered to the ground.

"Alrighty then..." The small Swoompire ran through the field and pounced. Lo and behold, his mitts were able to latch onto something smooth and expensive. Pumped on anticipation, he pulled himself back and took a good look at his find: a big, round, shiny, glass red ball. "So this is the Ultra Stone I've been hearing so much about; the legacy of the Ultra Ravens that fought a great evil long ago. But if one can be found here, then another can be found..."

Excitedly, the Swoompire took another pounce. As luck would have it, again, he landed on another sphere, just like the one before it. "YES!" the avaricious man belted. "Then that means...

"A-HA!" He found another one. In fact, after running around quite hectically throughout this field, the tiny man was able to get a hold of quite a few of these orbs. In time, he managed to push them all into a nice pile. He counted them and found 39 could be added to his collection. Yet he looked at this in confusion. "Thirty-nine Ultra Stones?" he asked himself. "Whatever happened to the 40th one...?"

"Is someone there?"

The miniscule Swoompire jolted. He jumped in front of the pile of orbs with his back facing them, and protected them with outspread arms. "Who is THAT?!" he snarled. "Out to take my orbs away, eh? Well, we'll see about that..."

The Swoompire reached behind him. He pulled out a golden ball. He released his fingers from it and the thing began to hover and glow between intervals. Swoompster chuckled to himself and glanced at whatever opponent was coming to him. "It's showtime..."

In a different section of the forest, three other individuals were continuing their march. Two of them were green, and one of them was dark orange. These three guys were Yoshi, Fyooshi, and Glishy. Right now, they were on their second day of trying to find Raphael the Raven.

His tree was still a ways away, but at least the road there was plenty interesting. In this vibrant place, there were vast stretches of marshes, countless kinds of trees and wildlife, and hordes of spiraling plants. All these things, Fyooshi could remember from that time he trekked through this place with Raphael the Raven. In the meantime, Glishy was continuing with his lessons for Yoshi.

"Those two guys we met earlier," he said, "Ebony and Ivory... They're actually not from around here. They're travelers, just like their parents. Word is, all four of them were from Yoshi's Island, but their children were born elsewhere."

"... Yoshi's Island?" Yoshi repeated slowly.

"Yes, though you might be more familiar with the term Yo'ster Isle, am I wrong?" Yoshi shook his head. "As I thought..."

Ebony and Ivory just came at a bad time, Fyooshi thought to himself, recalling when the island was attacked by the Koopas one year ago, following the events of the war. Stuff like this is happening all over the world...

Glishy scratched his chin and looked squinty-eyed. "Say," he said to Yoshi, "you wouldn't happen to be from that island, would you?"

"Yoshi's Island?" Yoshi asked. Glishy nodded back. "Yes."

"I thought so," the dark orange Yoshi replied. "So," he added, "how'd you get here?"

Yoshi heard what the man said and translated it in his mind. He thought about it, then said, "Ghosts."

Glishy was a tad confused. "Ghosts?" he repeated.

"And thieves," the green Yoshi clarified. Glishy just held his chin and made a humming sound.

I heard Ebony and Ivory were visiting Ninjaka one day, Fyooshi continued to think as he pushed another big leaf out of his way. The two fled, though. They say the place was-

SHHRRIIEEKK! The three Yoshies all jumped back fearfully. Their path had suddenly been blocked by a group of Hurt Plants, botanical creatures with huge, drooling mouths for heads. They were all baring their fangs at the group, dying for some fresh meat to rip into.

-attacked, Fyooshi thought, finishing his speculation from before. Then he turned his attention towards his partners.

"Okay, guys," Fyooshi said to his companions. "Let's just show these guys what we're made of and get this over with." Yoshi and Glishy nodded. The three Yoshis stretched, put their fists up, and ran forward. For a second time, the trio would prove its strength in battle...

Not long after entering the strange cave that had been materialized right before them, Xoshi and friends were able to happen upon a familiar sight: a set of six separate doorways lined up before them. Xoshi remembered all this clearly, but this time, there was a subtle difference. Above each portal, there was a pair of symbols, each one a different color, and each one representing a different element.

The first one had a white sun and a black moon above it. The second, a red flame and a light blue snowflake. The third, a blue teardrop and a yellow lightning bolt. The fourth, a gold star and a green leaf. The fifth, a silver hourglass and a grey explosion mark; and the sixth, an orange hexagon and a purple swirl. The group was quickly able to make its decision.

"Well," Xoshi said, tapping his lower lip, "I guess me and Leif will take the fourth one, Chogun and Davey get the fifth one, and White Rose takes the second one."

"Are you all right with this?" Chogun asked White Rose worriedly. "You'd be heading on in there alone. It could be dangerous!"

"I don't think we have much of a choice," White Rose explained as he began to walk towards the second door. "Besides... I've been through worse situations..."

"Don't worry," Xoshi reassured. "He'll be fine."

"All right then," Chogun replied.

"Let's get through this with the utmost of haste," Leif stated. "The Star Spirits are depending on us."

Chogun, Davey, and Xoshi nodded. Then the group split up and ran through their designated doorways, bravely taking Labyrit's challenge...

In White Rose's case, he was running madly through all the stone hallways of this extravagant dungeon. All of them were very oddly-shaped, full of twists and curves that seemed to constantly challenge the man's sanity. No matter what was coming at him, though, he held his ground and continued to navigate this ungodly place.

In my homeland of Ninjaka, the swordsman thought as he spun past another wide curve, there is a 300-year-old story telling that the nightmares will rise again. It will happen once a certain castle of great power is unveiled. It will happen once the 24 sacred treasures reappear and find new people to wield them... But what are they...?

The knight began his ascension of a large stone hill built into this unusual maze. He pulled out his Fire Wand and looked at it intently. When I held this thing for the first time, I felt something, the swordsman continued to think. It felt like something shot out from the sky and merged with my body. It was as if the gods themselves were telling me I was meant to wield it...

White Rose looked up. He saw a wide pit of stone spikes blocking his path. Squinting his eyes a bit, he strained his muscles, ran even faster, and leapt. As anticipated, he soared straight over the danger and landed safely on the other side. Maybe the others felt the same thing, he thought. And the lot of us... We're destined to find and fight this so-called oncoming evil... And the legends say it'll be a dark day once someone finds that all-powerful castle... But what does it all mean...?

Now the knight was sprinting his way into an enormous circular room in the labyrinth. He shook his head, feeling it becoming heavy with worries and uncertainties. Whatever the case, he decided, when the time comes, all will become clear. And until then, we simply must fight for survival...

The white-garbed traveler stopped in his tracks. He looked around himself, sensing something. His suspicions became clear once he noticed more things coming out of the ground, just as they did outside. They were made of stone, but they were all taking on more complicated shapes. In a matter of seconds, the knight was surrounded by a group of angry-looking stone Bandits. When White Rose saw this, he merely tightened his grip on his wand, making its red jewel start to glow brightly.

"Don't try to tangle with fate," White Rose growled. "You will only shorten your lifespan..." The Bandits then started leaping through the air, aiming their fists and feet for the knight's head, but he was faster. Swiftly, he spun around, blasting at the enemy with the power of his wand. Now they had a tsunami of raging flames to deal with, and this man in white was the mastermind of it all...

In a different part of the cave, Xoshi and Leif's incessant exploration of the place had led them to a particularly interesting room. This one was a long hallway with a wall at the end of it, and on that wall was a large symbol etched into the rock. It was circular, and inside it was a large star made of four big triangles. At the tip of each point was a jewel embedded into the wall. Each one was a different color, one for each of the twelve elements. Seven of them were glowing.

"So once all five of the stones are destroyed, this thing will... activate," Leif said as he observed the symbol.

"Yeah, but then what?" Xoshi asked.

"Then you have to stab the middle of it with your pendant..."

Xoshi and Leif turned around. In the doorway of the room, they found their way had been blocked by a peculiar group of stone Bandits. The one in the middle folded his arms and raised one eyebrow at the pair of heroes.

"Come get me if you want more information," the Bandit clarified. "Otherwise, you may never find your way out of this tunnel..."

Xoshi stared inquisitively at the Bandit. He reached beneath his saddle and pulled out the Penta Pendant he won back in Carnival Alley. "You know how to use this thing?" he asked.

The Bandit didn't answer. Instead, he snapped his fingers. After that, the two Bandits behind him ran forward and tackled Xoshi and Leif. Now the four were wrestling with each other on the ground. Slowly, the two good guys fixed themselves into the right positions and blasted the two Bandits off of them. The duo of enemies flew back and crashed into a wall. Xoshi put his foot down and Leif put his mace down. "You're serious?" the Viking asked.

Again, the head Bandit didn't say anything. He snapped his fingers again and the other two Bandits sprang back to life. Both were trying to break the limbs of the two travelers. "All right, fine," Xoshi growled as he punted his Bandit right in the jaw. "If you want a fight, you're getting one..."

Meanwhile, Chogun and Davey had found themselves before another trio of doorways. Davey turned towards his bug-like friend. "All right, which one now?" he asked.

Chogun placed two fingers against his forehead and thought for a moment. "That one," he said, pointing to the one on the right.

"But that's the third time in a row," Davey objected. "Are you sure-"

"If you wanna take the left one or the middle one, be my guest," Chogun said, and he began to stride towards the one on the right. Davey stood thinking for a second. Then he shrugged his shoulders and went after his partner. For them, at least, things were looking good...

Another burnt Bandit fell to the ground. That was the tenth one by White Rose's count. He knew one was left, yet he had put away his wand. When the eleventh enemy saw this, he smirked and leapt out of nowhere with his legs spinning wildly. The knight had foreseen this. SHINGG! He stood at the center of the room with his sword in hand. Behind him, both the Bandit's head and body had fallen to the ground. Now none were left.

Then another strange occurrence came. White Rose watched inquisitively as all the stone Bandits sank back into the ground as though it were water. Once this backwards exit of theirs was complete, the swordsman was alone again and he could continue his mission.

I can't die just yet, he thought as he walked towards the next door. There are too many things I have not yet seen...

BAM!!! Xoshi and Leif leapt back from the explosions from their elemental spells. The cocky Bandit in the doorway looked on emotionlessly at the way his two cronies had been beaten. One of them was lying unconscious in a big, steaming, star-shaped crater. The other was suffocating beneath the tangles of a large bush of thorny vines. Now that these two were gone, Xoshi pointed his fist at the leader, and Leif pointed his wand at him. The leader scoffed.

"You have won," he said, "so I'll tell you this: stab the emblem, then pray to the Star Spirits. They are your guides, after all..."

Leif stared at the intelligent Bandit. He slowly lowered his wand. "All right," he replied quietly.

"Wait a minute," Xoshi stated. "You gotta tell us: who exactly are you? Do you really work for Labyrit?"

The leader Bandit stared at Xoshi uninterestedly. "All you need to know is how to get out of here," he said, "and now you know that." The Bandit folded his arms and began to sink into the ground. His two downed cronies were doing so as well. "Goodbye..."

Xoshi made a choking sound and took a step forward as if to try to stop the Bandit from leaving, but it was too late. All three of the guys were gone. Now he and the Viking were on their own.

"Come on, Xoshi," Leif said, beginning to walk towards the exit. "We have to find that stone that Labyrit spoke of..."

Xoshi stood in the room and thought for a moment. Then he nodded and began to walk after his partner. He made special note to remain extra cautious of this place from here on out...

I don't know what that Labyrit is planning, he thought, but he doesn't have to go THIS far...

Yoshi, Fyooshi, and Glishy rushed towards their botanical nemeses with their fists clenched and their adrenaline flowing. In a flash, the two parties had exploded into a massive fury of Yoshi and Hurt Plant war. Yoshi kicked one of the Hurt Plants square in the jaw. Its head flew off and knocked one out behind it, having landed right on its head like a blunt cannonball. Yoshi gave out a yelp, suddenly feeling the searing fangs of one of the Hurt Plants biting right into his leg. He tried shaking the fiend off, but the hold it had was unwavering. Then Glishy flew out of nowhere and flattened the Hurt Plant into the dirt with a ground pound. The two Yoshis nodded to one another and returned to their respective battles.

Fyooshi looked around himself with sweat on his brow. He could see all those Hurt Plants growling at him with drool continuously sliding off of their fangs. The once magenta Yoshi was starting to have second thoughts about this. He wondered if there was a better way than to just throw his life away to these carnivorous plants. Then he saw a few of the green predators advancing towards him, seemingly with death written all over them. Fyooshi jolted, but then he realized something.

I'm the new leader, he thought, swallowing his fears and doubts. I have to prove that this is nothing!

Bravely, the noble dinosaur shot his tongue out at the forthcoming Hurt Plant. He gulped it down, turned it into an egg, and sent it flying at the next pest coming for him. When his eyes caught sight of one coming from the side, he quickly spun around and stomped on the thing repeatedly until it was a mess of flattened leaves smushed into the ground.

The dutiful reptile then heard the sound of more snarling and gnashing teeth. He turned around and saw an entire other mess of fanged plants wanting a piece of him. Fyooshi's face was covered in sweat, but his fists remained clenched tight.

Noshi, he thought as he boldly rushed towards the new battalion of Hurt Plants. I will carry your will on for you. Watch me!...

Yoshi and Glishy held their backs to each other. The next wave of Hurt Plants was about to be upon them. Frightening as they were, to the two Yoshis, this was just a flock of insects. The two tightened their fists and threw themselves upon the meddlesome creatures. Yoshi punted one and made it splatter against a tree. Glishy swung his tail around and took down three more in an instant. Then the two started running around, slurping up one Hurt Plant after another until all that was left of them was a bunch of eggs.

BAM! The next thing Yoshi and Glishy knew, Fyooshi was on his back, skidding on the ground between them. When they looked up, they saw some leaves fluttering to the ground. Several Hurt Plants had been taken down, but many others still remained. The green Yoshi and the dark orange Yoshi nodded to each other. They placed their eggs in their arms and let them fly.

In an instant, the sky above the Hurt Plants had been transformed into a barrage of these spotted projectiles. The little monsters said their prayers and felt the pain being hammered into their roots and their heads relentlessly. The storm carried on for what felt like one entire agonizing decade. When the assault was over, none of the Hurt Plants were still there. Victory belonged to the Yoshis.

Fyooshi sat up and got a good look at the handiwork of his two companions. Immediately, he realized how beneficial it was to have such formidable allies. He even started wondering how he was to keep up with guys like this...

SHHRRIIEEKK! All three of the Yoshis jumped up about ten feet. They spun around and saw one last Hurt Plant remained. The thing was foaming at the mouth and staring down Fyooshi's jugular vein. Yoshi and Glishy were about to pounce on this last enemy, but Fyooshi waved them down. The two companions stepped back.

Fyooshi stared at the final obstacle. It was charging towards him like a shark. The newly appointed leader gathered his wits and flexed his muscles. No fear, he thought, and he sprung high up into the air. The Hurt Plant below came to an abrupt stop and looked around in confusion. Then it noticed it was trapped in a shadow bigger than its own body and gulped. The rest happened in two seconds.

SPLAT! The Hurt Plant was no more. Fyooshi's ground pound worked like a charm. He got up and brushed the dust off of himself. Yoshi and Glishy ran up to him and started patting him on the back and shaking his hand.

"Good job, Fyooshi," Glishy said. "Now the entire jungle knows not to mess with us."

"Aw, it was nothing," Fyooshi replied, blushing.

"Right," Glishy said. The group reformed and they pointed themselves back in the direction of the designated area. "Raphael's just ahead. He's GOTTA be."

"Yeah..."

The three Yoshis returned to their journey. Yoshi was in the back, watching Fyooshi in interest. It's funny, he thought. He reminds me of me when my dad was teaching me how to fight...

Swoompster stood dead in his tracks. He thought he could take this new enemy on simply by jumping him when he least suspected it, but he didn't expect the opponent to be so... huge. He was at least ten times his own size, and he had a very deep-pitched voice to top it all off.

"Well?" Raphael stated. "I asked you a question: who are you and what are you doing here?"

"I, uh, I'm..." Swoompster's knees were shaking. His mind was racing frantically. In the midst of his erratic thoughts, very little was making sense, but he was able to catch on to one thing: maybe now's not the time. "The name's Swoompster, Swoompire of Greed!" the little man finally declared. "And you've been had!"

Raphael stared at the man inquisitively. "I beg your pardon?"

"PSYCHE!" Swoompster quickly turned around, dove into the grass, and commenced shoveling as many Ultra Stones into his arms as possible. Then the Swoompire spread his bat-like wings and took flight, cackling wildly. Some of the stones were falling from his arms, but the Swoompire seemed too delirious to care. Raphael watched confusedly as this unexplained stranger slowly disappeared.

"Odd fellow," he remarked. Then he started walking towards whatever it was the man was in such a rush to get a hold of. The giant Raven looked at them in awe and bewilderment. "Impossible," he whispered. "It couldn't be... Ultra Stones?!"

The massive bird picked up one of the stones and stared deeply into its lustrous red being. "All this time I thought the family's Ultra Stone was the only one in existence. I had heard rumors that several more were hidden somewhere in the Jade Jungle. I just didn't want to believe so many dangerous things could be lying around..."

Raphael thought deeply for a moment. Images of numerous Ravens fighting viciously with something great began to flow into his mind. The female one in the lead was just starting to come into focus when the enormous foul suddenly came out of his trance. He heard the rustling of leaves behind him. He turned around and saw three figures walking between the trees. It was none other than the three Yoshis he spoke with the last time he was in the village: Yoshi, Fyooshi, and Glishy.

"Ah! What a pleasant surprise!" Raphael said. He walked towards the group and greeted them. "Friends, what brings you here?"

"Oh, well, we were kind of wondering the same thing," Fyooshi answered. "We heard something going on over here, and we decided to check it out."

"Ah, that," Raphael elicited. "A strange little man was just here a second ago. I think he was trying to steal something."

"What was it?" Glishy asked.

Raphael walked towards the Ultra Stones. Yoshi, Fyooshi, and Glishy followed him. "These," the Raven pointed out. Fyooshi and Glishy were mystified. Yoshi was confused.

"Orbs?" the green Yo'ster said.

"Not just any orbs," Glishy explained. "Ultra Stones. They say they're all that's left of the Ultra Ravens, the heroes of this island."

"They faced a terrifying conqueror, then had their spirits sealed within these," Raphael added. "In theory, great power can be extracted from them if used properly. But the fact so many of them were just lying here..." Raphael shook his head, still feeling it heavy with ramifications.

"Raphael," Fyooshi spoke, "I thought the one you had was the only one. Your family had it for generations."

"I did, too," the bird replied. "Supposedly, me, my brother, and our mother, Ramona, are all descendants of the leader of that group, Rowena. The orb we had originally belonged to her. Now I find several more just like it..."

The group had become wrapped up in the mystery of these orbs. Fyooshi was feeling himself drifting further and further into it. Then he woke up and realized something. "Oh yeah, Raphael," he said.

"Yes?"

"There's something I've been meaning to ask you. See, while you were away, a giant Melon Bug came out of nowhere and started attacking the village. Then-"

"A Melon Bug, you say?" Raphael interrupted, looking pensive. "Hmm... I hope that doesn't mean..."

"Look, I don't know what you're thinking, but that's not the part that bothers me," Fyooshi elaborated.

"Oh yes, of course..." Raphael moved back towards the Ultra Stones and picked a few of them up. "Could you help me with these? We shall move them to my room. We'll be more comfortable there."

"Ah, good idea," Glishy quipped, and he began helping Raphael with the legendary spheres. Yoshi was doing this as well. Fyooshi observed this for a few seconds, then shrugged his shoulders. He grabbed the last of the balls and followed his friends. For now, he reasoned they'd be dealing with this smaller matter, but he knew all his questions would be answered later. The group of four disappeared into the trees with the fabled Ultra Stones...

Deep inside the maze, two men had been running for what felt like a very long time. At last, their run of hallways and doors had led them to the very room they had been looking for. It was a small place, and sticking out of the far wall was a small ledge with two large dimples in it like a pair of bowls. Each one had a large, irregularly shaped rock, similar to the Sun Stones that had been lighting their path. The one in front of Chogun was green and had a mild glow to it. Davey's was a shade coming somewhere between yellow and orange. It, too, had a radiant glow to it.

"So these are the stones Labyrit wanted us to get," Chogun mused. He raised his Energy Wand and waved it a little. "So all we have to do is blast them with our wands, right?"

"If I recall correctly," Davey said, scratching his chin, "while light is the opposite of shadow, fire of ice, water of lightning, and earth of wind, plant's would be energy, and star's would be time." The boy raised his Time Wand and started making its gem glow. Chogun nodded.

"Then we're on the right track," he added. The two partners pointed their mystical weapons at the rocks and concentrated. Then BAMM! Both rocks exploded. In their wake were little pebbles and flames. Chogun's were grey and Davey's were purple. The two felt satisfied, and they put their wands away.

SHHEEOOoommm... The two treasure hunters looked around. The sound they just heard was like a machine powering down. It confused Davey, but Chogun had a hunch.

"That room we found earlier," the bug man said. "Let's check it out!"

"Right." The duo ran out of the room. All the while, Davey made sure to stick close to his friend. He knew better than anyone why this was such a good idea.

I'll bet the others haven't even found the stones yet, the young treasure hunter thought as he and Chogun rounded another corner...

As a matter of fact, the other three members of the group really were still struggling to work their ways through this stone dungeon. White Rose was concentrating on it as hard as ever, but Xoshi's mind was elsewhere. As he continued to follow Leif's lead, he couldn't help but notice something in this place he found to be a very familiar sight: Sun Stones, keeping every inch of the way in this realm illuminated.

That reminds me, the brown Yoshi thought, striking up another conversation between him and the Star Warrior. You said earlier that Sun Stones can only be created by people with earth-elemental powers... Does Labyrit really have them?

He actually possesses all twelve of the powers, Beel replied. Xoshi's eyes widened.

What?! he blurted. How's that possible?!

Well... He may look like an ordinary Bandit, but he's actually much more than that. He's a demi-god.

Xoshi's eyelids spread apart even further. His eyeballs had even become in danger of popping right out of his head. H... He... the Yoshi stammered. He's a WHAT?

A demi-god. In short, like a god, but not quite.

You know, Xoshi commented, I had heard of something called the Twelve Gods of Chaos. He's not related to them... is he?

Well, just so you know, they're not the only ones in history to have ever achieved such a rank. In fact, some say there are actually about a hundred others who have pulled it off.

W... Wow...

Believe it or not, it's not that high a number, Beel clarified. Becoming a god is extremely hard to do. Thousands have died trying to do it... or worse...

Xoshi and Leif stopped in front of a pair of doorways. The two stared at the two options before them, then agreed to take the one on the right. Xoshi asked Beel another question. So... How exactly do you become a god?

Through a very complicated process called absorption, Beel elaborated. Becoming a god is actually the same thing as becoming a one man army of 120. Anything below about 80 percent of that is considered to be of demi-god status.

So Labyrit's only like the one man army of 50?

Something like that, Beel answered. Then he seemed to take the discussion in a bit of a different direction. Xoshi, do you know what a 'forbidden technique' is?

Yeah... Something someone can only use two times, right?

Exactly. Do you know why that is?

Uh... I don't know.

It's because using a forbidden technique is the same thing as transforming 50 years of your life force into an extremely powerful spell. In other words, both times you use it, you shorten the amount of years you have left to live by a significant amount. And since people tend to only live up to about a hundred, the second time is often when they die.

Oh... But what does this have to do with becoming a god?

Absorption is when you take someone and make their body, their consciousness, their powers... everything... and make it a part of your own. You also increase your own lifespan since you're adding theirs to yours. Gods are people who have done this multiple times. And with that many life expectancies at your command...

Xoshi placed a hand against the side of his face in shock. Woah...

That's right, Beel said. You become a being who can live for an indefinitely long time. You can also cast these spells any number of times you want...

Oh man, Xoshi gasped. He and Leif ran down another hall and took a left turn. Wait, the Yoshi thought. Wouldn't that mean you can kill a god by just... making them use the forbidden technique over and over again?

That's one theory, Beel stated, but it's actually not a tactic that scares them. For every forbidden technique they use, they can just absorb another person. For them, it's no difficult task as they've done it dozens of times before. Also, each time they use the technique, it's only a few years they lose. The memories and abilities of the people they absorbed... they remain. So, you see, there are literally thousands of ways in which gods are incredibly dangerous beings.

Hmm, Xoshi thought. And Labyrit... He's absorbed people of all twelve of the elements?

Exactly, the spirit said. Thankfully, though, he only uses them for mazes like these...

In another section of the labyrinth, White Rose had found the thing he was looking for: a big, light blue stone on a ledge coming out of the wall. There were tiny broken pebbles of some rock that was red and pink next to it, but the knight could tell it was ultimately of no importance. He drew out his Fire Wand and pointed it at the stone that remained.

Here goes, he thought. BAM! Red flames shattered the rock, and the swordsman could hear a strange noise in background. Thinking of a certain room he had found earlier, he began to head back...

BAM! Two more rocks were taken down. Xoshi and Leif watched contentedly as the two became silver pebbles with gold flames and grey pebbles with a mess of thorns growing around them. When the two heard the strange noise, they nodded to each other and ran off. Perhaps now the intricate maze would unfold and have the group freed...

Meanwhile, outside the maze, Labryit was standing in the middle of a vast stone balcony sticking out from behind the stone structure. He smiled deviously and tapped the ground with his spear. Before him were six emblems of the twelve elements engraved in the wall. He snickered to himself, picturing the progress of the five people he captured. "One more hour, cretins," he said to himself. "Then we'll see what you think of my elaborate labyrinth..."

The Kroshi stared at Razule very fixedly. The Raven-like creature looked very confident. Ren looked bored as usual, and Goomba Prince looked a bit frightened. "So that's it?" the golden Yoshi asked. "That's what my future has in store for me?"

"You know it like a xylophone on an airplane!" Razule replied.

The Kroshi's lips were still tightly nit. He stared at Razule some more. Then he glanced at his two companions in turn. "Fine," the Kroshi said. "But if that time comes and nothing happens, I'll kill you. THEN we'll be even."

"Sure thing!" Razule said. The Kroshi gave him one last glare. Then he rocketed into the air and began flipping off towards a new destination. Razule watched him with great concentration. Once the strange, golden man was gone, he heaved a huge sigh of relief. "Thank noodles!" he said. "That was scary!"

"Yeah, well," Ren piped up. "We should be going now. Maybe those two people we're waiting for are at the fortress now."

"Ah... Capital idea, Renny Boy..."

Now the Three Boombateers were back on the road. The Forest of Dheos was gradually fading away behind them. Their business there may have been officially done, but something was still bothering Goomba Prince to a tremendous degree. "Hey, Ren," he whispered. "Is Razule really right? Will his prediction come true?"

"Of course it will," the greedy Raven stated. "You should know... Both he and his illegitimate mother are descendants of one of the greatest psychics of all time..."

Chogun and Davey had found the room. In front of them was one of the emblems of the twelve elements. This time, all twelve of its gems had lit up. Surely this spelled good news, but, other than that, the pair of travelers were finding themselves at a complete loss as to what it was they were to do now.

"That blasted Labyrit," Chogun cursed. "Is this another one of his tricks?"

"Well, we can't give up just yet," Davey added. "We have at least a half hour left. Shall we search for clues until then?"

"No," Chogun decided firmly. "I sense we'll only be getting ourselves in even deeper if we leave this point..."

White Rose grunted harshly as he tripped over something. Prying himself off the ground, he looked behind him. What he saw was undeniably a strange sight: there were rocks growing out of all the walls, floors, and ceilings behind him. Slowly, they were connecting with each other and forming bigger, more solid rocks. His paths were disappearing one by one.

That Labyrit, he thought darkly as he continued to run through the passages. He didn't hold back when he made this place...

At that moment, Xoshi and Leif themselves were finally before that special emblem once more. The brown dinosaur could faintly tell what was coming next. It was making his heart beat faster and his bones started to tremble. He swallowed deeply, feeling anticipation tearing away at his mind.

"Ah, yes," Leif said proudly. "Just what we've been looking for. Xoshi, I'll need that pendant of yours. I believe I've dealt with things like this before..."

Xoshi just held his breath. His fingers twitched uneasily by his side. Xoshi, what's wrong? Beel asked.

I tried not to think about it, the young Yoshi said, but it's been bothering me ever since me and Leif paired up. This place... it's the one from the dream, isn't it?

Well... It could be...

Labryit's on the other side of that wall, Xoshi explained fearfully. If what you said about him is true... I'm no match for him. I could even die.

Well...

"Xoshi?"

The Yo'ster snapped out of his trance. He quickly whipped the pendant out from underneath his saddle and jammed it into the Viking's hand.

"Thank you. Now stand back!" Xoshi shifted a few feet away from his Marinotropolan companion. The Viking stood a few feet in front of the center of the emblem, held the pendant out before it in his right hand, and closed his eyes. "Hear me, great Star Spirits," he prayed, "lend me your power! Vanquish the evil that stands before us..."

Xoshi watched all this uneasily. Both the pendant and the lines in the emblem were beginning to shine with an eerie green light. Leif could see it through his eyelids. Realizing what he had to do, he approached the symbol on the wall and lifted the pendant up. He stabbed the center of the seal with the small trinket and stood back. He and Xoshi watched in amazement as each of the stones in the emblem took turns shining even brighter. Then beams of light started shooting out from cracks in the lines. The two travelers shielded their eyes. Then they could feel a deep rumbling beneath their feet as if the earth was splitting open. Xoshi's heartbeat was pumping erratically. He didn't know what to expect.

I don't know what to tell you, Xoshi, Beel said, other than just... brace yourself...

All right...

FWOOSH! A huge beam of light shot out at the duo, but they remained unharmed. Sensing no danger, the two put their arms down and blinked their eyes open. Now they could see that the emblem had split open like a double-door. Beyond it was nothing more than a stone balcony.

Xoshi picked his pendant back up. The two of him and Leif walked through the door and onto the balcony. They found themselves wandering around on it in confusion. "Is this it?" Xoshi asked. "Do we wi-"

"Xoshi! Look!" Leif pointed ahead of them. As it turned out, Labyrit was here, but he was all covered in bruises. He was lying on the ground, barely able to move. The culprit was standing beside him with his back turned towards the heroes. Labyrit's spear was in his hands.

Xoshi looked on at the intruder. Again, he could feel terror clutching at his throat. At first, he was afraid of what Labryit was capable of. But who was this stranger that had defeated him with such ease?

"Who are you?" the brown Yo'ster called out. "What are you doing here?"

The stranger turned around. It was a golden Yoshi covered in spikes and jewelry. He stared deeply into Xoshi’s eyes. It was almost as if he was telepathic. Xoshi could feel chills going up his spine. "Xoshi, right?" the Yoshi said.

"Y-Yes," Xoshi said slowly.

"I'm the Kroshi... and I've got a message for you..."

Xoshi stared determinedly at the Kroshi. "Yes?"

The Kroshi closed his eyes. He bobbed his head up and down in thought and tapped the back of his head with the spear's dull end. At last, he opened his eyes. "In 24 hours... one of us will be dead." Suddenly, Xoshi could feel every cell in his body becoming frozen solid. The Kroshi laughed when he saw this. "Excited, huh?" he remarked. "Well, it's not gonna be me... I'm powerful..."

"How dare you say that?!"

Xoshi, Leif, and the Kroshi turned their heads. Chogun, along with Davey and White Rose, had run onto the balcony as well. Two of the other emblems here had opened up for them.

"Xoshi is a great man," Chogun declared. "How do you know he'll go down so easily?!"

The Kroshi scoffed. "You don't know me, either," he retorted. "I can tell with just a glance I'm beyond his level... I'm a god..." Xoshi and his four friends immediately became silent. The Kroshi laughed some more. "Yeah, and on top of that, I've got this magic spear, so if any of you want to take me on, you're gonna have to cross..."

The Yoshi lifted up the spear and jammed it into the ground. BBOOOMM! The five heroes leapt back. The entire balcony had been split in two by some strange earthquake. The half that the Kroshi was on fell to the ground. Labyrit's unconscious body had rolled right off of it, but the Kroshi still stood firmly atop it. The five friends could feel even more distanced from him.

"...this line..."

"HOLD IT RIGHT THERE!"

The six people on the two balconies looked up. Two more unexpected guests had arrived, via broomsticks. Kammelina and Kammeo had returned with a vengeance.

"Kroshi, we've had it up to here with you," Kammelina threatened. "We summoned you. It's your duty to take down those aliens whether you want to or not!"

"Aliens?" Davey repeated quietly.

In response to the witches, the Kroshi just calmly looked at something to his right with his eyes. He put his gaze back on them. "Well," he said slowly, "you can nag all you want, but... I'm out of here. Angel Mountain awaits!"

"WAIT!" Kammelina blurted, but it was too late. Like a shooting star, the golden Yoshi was off again. Kammelina started snarling loudly, clenching both her teeth and her fists. "That windbag! Where does he get such arrogance?!"

"Um, Sister," Kammeo piped up.

"What is it, Kammeo?! Can't you see I'm busy drowning in my rage here?!"

WHAM!!! The elder witch didn't see it coming. Her skull had been bashed in and she was out like a light. As limp as a rag doll, she flopped onto the broken ledge unconscious. Leif landed right behind her, proudly holding a bloody mace on his left shoulder.

"I told you," he exclaimed, "they don't call me Leif Erripipe the witch hunter for nothing!" Defiantly, the muscular Viking held his mace up high and wound it up for the final blow.

"NOOOO!!!" Kammeo screamed. BAASHH! A seismic explosion of broken rocks ensued. Leif had missed. The unconscious Kammelina and her broomstick were now in the hands of her younger sister. Leif glared at them spitefully. "Glare all you want, witch hunter," Kammeo spat. "We're outta here!

True to her word, the young Magikoopa zipped off like an overgrown fly. Leif squinted his eyes in hatred at them. Once they were gone, he closed his eyes, hung his head, and sighed.

Xoshi watched this powerful comrade of his worriedly. White Rose slowly walked up to his reptilian friend and put a hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry, Sir Xoshi," he said. "I know that what that fortuneteller said is haunting you, but we've been through worse things than this. We won't let you die, even if it kills us."

"No," Xoshi replied, calmly taking the knight's hand off his shoulder. "I'm not the only one who's feeling desperate right now..." The Yoshi walked away from the silenced group and up to the edge of the balcony. He jumped off of the thing and flutter-kicked his way onto the giant broken rock. He approached his Viking friend and put a hand on his arm. "Hey, don't sweat it," he said. "That Yoshi said he was going after Angel Mountain, right? Well, after our business here in the Forest of Dheos, that's where we're headed. Anywhere the Kroshi is, those witches will be, right?"

Leif picked his head up slightly and looked Xoshi in the eyes. "I don't know how you know all this," he said quietly, "but if there's one thing I'm sure of, it's the fact the Star Spirits really did mean for us to be in this together..."

Xoshi smiled and slapped the man on the back. "That's right," he said. "We gotta remember: the Star Spirits are counting on us!"

Chogun, Davey, and White Rose watched this in high spirits. This had been a very trying experience for all of them and the sun was starting to set, but it had become clear that nothing would ever be impossible for them as long as they had the will power. All five of the friends felt empowered... But something felt amiss to Chogun...

"Wait a minute," the transformed man interjected, "what about Labyrit? Do we get to keep the pendant, or not?"

The group just looked at the downed Bandit and the stars above his head. Whatever he was, right now, he was a pitiful sight. "Aw, let's just leave him," Xoshi decided. "The guy's a jerk anyway..." The others nodded. Then the group proceeded to climb down from the disorienting maze so their venture into the woods could begin at last. They had all worked extremely hard for this moment. Now the real action could begin...

Deep down underground, a trio of thieves were walking through the hallways of a dank cave. It was definitely a foreboding place, but it took more than that to get the group down. "So you're a Kremling?" Crookie asked.

"Yes," Crania replied. "You can only imagine the stigma that comes from being one."

"Aw, come on," Sackle threw in. "You think you got it bad? We're Crooks. Day in and day out, we gotta deal with the fact that, when people see us, they automatically assume we're with Sparva and we're gonna do her bidding for her, or something."

"Really?" Crania said. "Are you sure people don't think ill of you just because you're always stealing things?"

"Yeah, and what about that Mad Scienstein guy we met, Boss?" Crookie added. "He didn't mind us too much."

"The world hates us, and you know it," Sackle responded. "That's why me and Blifit became thieves; the world was obviously not going to accept us either way."

"Oh?" Crania said. "Was she from another race with a bad reputation?"

"She was an 8-Bit, so yeah," Sackle explained. "People always thought we made an interesting couple, a spawn of Sparva with a spawn of Tondariya. Oh, the craziness."

"Um," Crania paused, "what do you mean?"

"Come on, you know... Back in the day, Tondariya and Sparva were archrivals with each other. They hated each other. You didn't know that?"

"Well, you know," Crania answered. "I was never big on history, so..."

"Psh! Women..."

A temple bulged in the side of Crania's head. She turned menacingly towards the blue thief. "What was that?"

"I said you're a woman, so-"

"You know what? That reminds me," Crookie blurted out, desperate to stop the fight. "Speaking of Tondariya, Boss, why don't you tell us about the time you personally met her?"

Crania cocked her eyebrow at the head thief. "You met her?" she said. "But... she's dead."

"No duh she's dead," Sackle concurred, "but I met her. I kid you not."

"Get out."

"No, see, it all happened at the end of the War of the Shy Gang... When that big explosion hit, I was sent flying. Then I got sucked into this wormhole, I think."

"... What?"

"I'm not joking here. I was flying through this vortex... and then I landed in this cornfield. I looked around, and when I found some people, I asked 'em what's going on. Turned out, I was in the Mushroom Kingdom and the war was over. But what happened to Blifit? Rumor has it, she's dead. I don't believe it. I think she's probably back in her lair right now, looking at all the junk she's collected. So I caught the next plane to the Clover Kingdom. Then you know what happened?"

"What?" Crania asked, playing along.

"Right when the plane was taking off, this... trumpet thing opened up in midair and sucked the plane in. The next thing we knew, me and all the passengers were in this world made out of brass. The freakiest thing, I tell ya.

"We got out and we were greeted by this man with a spear. He told us he was the Shy King and our vessel had been added to Tondariya's collection. We thought this is some cruel joke, but he told us there was a way for us to go back to the real world: all we had to do was play some guy named Zeerko in a game of laser tag, or something, but we had to make sure not to fall off the cliff, or there was no telling what would happen.

"We were given all these vests and laser pistols, and the game began. We were sent running loose in this weird maze that looked like it was made out of brass instruments, or something, and chaos broke out. We kept trying to track down this Zeerko guy, but he was freakishly good. He just kept picking off all the players, one by one. Before I knew it, I was the only one left, so when I found I was hiding in some corner waiting for this nutcase I had no chance against to hunt me down like the dog I am, did I brave up and take the weirdo head-on? No, I've got better ways to throw my life away. I ran like crazy and jumped off the cliff.

"Then what happened? Another trumpet sucked me up. I was transported somewhere else. I landed right next to Crookie here, and he had problems of his own."

"Oh yeah, I remember Crookie telling me about that," Crania commented.

"Yeah," Crookie commented. "We’ve got a lot of fond memories..."

Suddenly, the group stopped dead in their tracks. All three of them could hear it: the sound of a loud, ghastly moaning echoing through the halls of the cave. There was only one person this tormented voice could belong to...

"All right, guys," Sackle said, "we're gonna run into that room up there, and we're gonna have us a little run-in with our old friend Blifit. Just remember, she's dead, and she's not too happy about it, so keep on your toes."

"Right," Crookie and Crania said simultaneously.

"Good kids," Sackle responded. "Now let's move out!"

The trio of thieves sped off. It wouldn't be long until they settled this with the angry, vengeful Blifit...

It was getting dark out. Xoshi and friends had gotten themselves a ways into the forest, but nothing had happened. The group decided they were just going to have to double their efforts.

"How about we split up?" Xoshi said. "If it's been a long time and we still haven't found him, we'll just meet back here..." Xoshi tapped the ground with his foot. In front of where he tapped it was a small sledgehammer lying in the dark green grass. "Are we all clear on that?"

"Yes," said the other four.

"All right then," said the brown Yoshi. "Let's do this!" Just like that, the five of them were off. With this new clique now traversing the forest, the entire place had become a time bomb waiting to go off...

The moment came. Four old friends had finally come back to the room. Everything was still there, just as it had been when this all began. The piles of broken machines, the strewn about screws, and even the wrecked Giga Mole. The three thieves were having deja vu just by looking at it. To top it all off, there was Blifit floating in the center of this place. The ghostly woman was drooling puddles of a thick, blue liquid.

"You cretins," she snarled. "Who gave you permission to escape?!"

"Look, Blifit," Sackle said as he stepped forward. "I don't know what happened when you died, but that's no excuse to be hanging around here for eternity, capturing whatever random people you can find."

"Have you ever died?!" Blifit asked.

"Well," Sackle said slowly, "no, but how can you say this is what you really want? Are you really just gonna stew down here being mad for the rest of eternity?"

"I'm dead," Blifit rasped, holding her hands out like claws. "I can do whatever I want!" Now the woman was starting to transform. She grew larger and more muscular, looking more ghastly by the second. Once the spell was complete, she looked like an overgrown, floating, transparent hunchback in a blue robe. Crookie and Crania were acting extremely cautious.

"All right, Blifit," Sackle sighed. He reached behind himself and pulled out eight knives, four for each hand. "Looks like I'm gonna have to get this into your head the hard way..."

"You will never escape from here," Blifit growled in a now deeper-pitched voice. She raised two shaking fists high up into the air. "NEVER!" BOOM! The fists came down like two seismic flails. The three thieves jumped back. It had only been a few minutes, and already they were fighting for their lives. With this monstrous woman right before them, they had no choice but to unsheathe their weapons and leap into the fray...

Back in the Forest of Dheos, Xoshi and friends could tell the sky above them was only getting increasingly dark. This search had gone on for some time, yet all five of them were turning up empty-handed. It was quickly turning into a hopeless situation for the group.

In all honesty, Chogun thought as he emerged from a massive nest of some thick, scraggly bushes, I'm not sure if I'm willing to believe all this stuff about the Star Spirits and who they happen to be enemies with. Just who is this "oncoming evil", anyway? What does he want...?

Davey steadily climbed down a tree. He jumped off its trunk, landed on the knoll, and began to walk downhill. Those two witches we encountered earlier, the boy thought, they said something about aliens. They're not the oncoming evil... are they...?

Leif was walking through an aisle of tall trees and rocks. His eyes were constantly scanning his surroundings. First witches, and now Bandits and golden Yoshis... The Viking stopped in his tracks. He could hear the flapping of wings and a high-pitched shrieking. Instinctively, he shot out his mace and swung behind him. WHACK! A bundle of blood and broken bones fell to the ground. It was only a Swooper. The towering witch hunter scoffed and put his weapon away. Too many annoyances...

White Rose stood firmly atop a branch way up in the air. With one hand propped against the trunk and one hand over his searching eyes, he kept on the lookout. Blast, the knight thought. No sign of him. The swordsman shook his head, turned around, and started planning his next route. May as well start heading back...

Suddenly, the brave warrior felt a sharp, stinging pain driving into his back. He grunted and, before he knew it, was hurtling through the air. The knight landed on the ground below with a crash. Agitated, he forced himself back up and took out his sword. When he looked up, he saw the culprit: dozens of little Swoopers and Swoopulas flapping around, watching him like a vulture. The mysterious swordsman knit his brow.

This could get ugly...

Xoshi was standing in front of the designated hammer, tapping his foot with his arms folded. He was the first one back and the others were certainly taking their sweet time, whatever they were doing. The brown Yoshi was getting anxious. I can already see the moon, he thought, looking up through the leaves. Hmm... It almost seems different tonight...

You know, if I'm not mistaken, Beel piped up, this is a Mario Land hammer...

Huh... Wonder what it's doing all the way out here...

"XOSHI!"

The brown dinosaur looked up. Coming out from behind the trees, Leif had finally returned. Chogun and Davey followed shortly. The four friends formed a circle around the hammer and talked it over.

"So, what do we do?" Leif asked. "There's no sign of the man anywhere."

"And what about White Rose?" Chogun added. "He's not back yet!"

"Maybe we should set up camp," Davey suggested. "The fire could draw them both to us..."

Xoshi shifted his eyes and starting tapping his temple with his finger. He didn't like the idea of being stuck doing anything without White Rose. The two of them had undergone much together. Three other friends were near him, yet he still felt alone somehow. "Well..."

"HEY!"

The quartet turned around. Coming towards them was a different group of people, this one consisting of two mustachioed men and a female Magikoopa. The man up front looked very serious.

"That's my hammer over there!" Guido said.

Chogun raised his eyebrows. He pointed to the weapon on the ground. "This thing?" he asked.

"Yeah, that's it," Guido replied. "Can I have it back, please?"

"Oh. Sure thing..." The bug man got to work on kneeling down and handing the tool back to the Mario. Meanwhile, Foreman Spike was just standing around, turning his head and scratching it.

"Gosh darn it," he grumbled. "Where'd that guy go? I got something I wanna give him... in my fist..." Chogun and Guido nodded to each other. Xoshi was staring pensively at the latter. Foreman Spike, though, was more preoccupied with different matters. He suddenly noticed how silent Oglian was being. "Hey, woman," he said, "what's up with you?"

"Th...That man," the Magikoopa said, pointing to Leif. "That's Leif Erripipe... the witch hunter!"

"Who?"

"Ah, so you know who I am..." Leif calmly strode towards the foreman and his trembling partner. "You don't need to worry, ma'am. I don't sense the stench of one of the Twelve Gods of Chaos on you."

"Oh, thank goodness," Oglian breathed, placing a claw over her chest. "You have no idea how many times I've been accused of working for Veyran..."

"Yes. People can be narrow-minded..."

Now that Guido had his hammer back, he was walking back towards his two traveling companions. Then something came up and he stopped. "Wait a second, guys," Xoshi said. "That's him. That's the guy we're looking for."

Chogun, Davey, and Leif started staring at Guido. Foreman Spike and Oglian were staring at Xoshi. The foreman looked annoyed. "What?" he stated. "You need him for something?"

"It's a long story," Xoshi said as he approached Guido. The Mario was looking very confused. "Believe it or not, the entire world is in danger. Someone or something is going to attack it. The Star Spirits call it the oncoming evil. Whatever it is, it's not something that can be stopped easily..."

Guido shifted his eyes around. His fingers squirmed around his hammer's handle. "Actually," the little man said, "ever since I met this guy named Marlukin... I've been suspecting such a thing..."

Xoshi nodded. "Legend has it, only seven people can stop this thing. Chogun, Davey, and Leif here- and one other- they're all members of that seven. You are, too, Guido..."

"So," Guido said, "the Star Spirits... They want me to save the world?"

"I know it's asking a lot," Xoshi responded, "but I don't wanna see what happens if we don't do this for them."

Guido tilted his head down, his mind heavy with conflicting thoughts and feelings. "I see..."

Foreman Spike broke up the session. He scoffed and held his hands out skeptically. "Come on, Guido," he interjected. "Are you really gonna take what this weirdo says? The Star Spirits already want you for something: you're gonna travel with me so we can save Mario and Luigi from Kamek! Isn't that enough?"

Xoshi squinted at the foreman. Memories were starting to flow into his consciousness. Mario and Luigi, he said? the Yo'ster thought. Kamek...?

"But," Guido said, "if we do that, it only benefits Mario Land. If I go with this guy..."

"Oh, SHUT UP!" Foreman Spike pulled out his sledgehammer and slammed it onto the ground. All eyes were on him now. "Gimme a break. You and all your stupid little 'what if' questions. Why do you always have to make things so complicated? It's time for you to wake up, Guido. The entire world does not center around you. You're Mario Land. We're Mario Land! All the other countries on this godforsaken planet can go jump off a cliff. Now, are you gonna wise up and fight for your country, or are you gonna run off with these guys in fairy land?"

Guido gave the foreman a very long, firm stare. However, unlike on any other day, this time, there was no trace of fear in his eyes; only pity.

"Stop staring at me like that," Spike growled. He raised his sledgehammer menacingly. "You wanna die or something?!"

"Gentlemen, this is no time for fighting!" Now everyone's attention had been turned towards Leif. He had his mace out and he looked serious. "I smell witches... and warlocks..."

The two groups looked around. At first, nothing in the vicinity looked noteworthy. Then something appeared on both sides. Xoshi and the others were now surrounded by 15 different people. Half of them were Swoompires. The rest were all ghosts.

"So, we meet again!" Swoosh said in amusement.

"Never mind that," the Wereyoshi growled, starting to walk in Xoshi's direction. "I've got a few choice words for this guy right here."

"Me, too," Yoshiki declared, floating after the Wereyoshi...

"Duke Swuke," Leif cited, staring the tremendous man in the eye. "It is an honor..."

"Likewise, witch hunter..." The lanky Swoompire looked over the menacing Viking, but only for about two seconds. His attention was suddenly stolen when he noticed the young Davey looking around in confusion. The imposing Swoompire leader smiled at the sight and licked his lips slowly. "That young lad," the Swoompire purred, "would he be a friend of yours?"

Leif glared at the man inquisitively. "What of it?"

"Let me taste him..."

Foreman Spike was looking around frantically. He couldn't believe how badly the sudden appearance of these strange people could change everything. "What is going on?!" he demanded. "And who's that lady over there?" He pointed to Capt. Spatula. "She doesn't have anything to do with that Capt. Sugar, does she?"

"And just what would you know about my daughter?" the lady pirate threatened. Foreman Spike looked shocked.

"Daughter...?"

"Yeah, she's my daughter. You didn't do anything to her, did ya?"

"Well, I almost did," the foreman replied. "The little rat was asking for it anyway..."

The air in the woods was growing more fervent by the second. Leif and Duke Swuke looked ready to kill each other, as did Foreman Spike and Capt. Spatula. The others were looking either confused or eager. Meanwhile, two old enemies, Xoshi and the Wereyoshi, were staring each other down.

"Just tell me one thing," the Wereyoshi said, "how did you survive the blast?"

"I don't know," Xoshi said bluntly, "but we don't exactly have time for you guys right now."

The Wereyoshi scoffed. "Buddy, where you're going, you've got all the time in the world..."

"Now hold on a second," Yoshiki said. "You're not the only one who wants to get even with this guy..."

The Wereyoshi stared at his pink partner for a second, then sighed. "All right," he said. "We'll do this together..." The paranormal Yoshi started cracking his knuckles. The ghostly Yoshi next to him was cracking her neck. Xoshi was just sighing in annoyance...

"AGH! GET HIM OFF ME!"

All heads jerked towards Duke Swuke. The vicious Swoompire had Davey pinned to the ground. His fangs were bared and aiming for the boy's neck. Davey didn't have a prayer...

WHACK! The huge Swoompire was sent sprawling. He skidded across the grass and collided with a tree. Slowly, he lifted himself up and wiped the blood off the side of his face. Leif was standing in front of him, a mace dripping with a red liquid being held in his right hand. "Keep your hands off of him," the Viking threatened.

The gigantic Swoompire wiped the blood from his mouth and grinned. "So long has it been when one was able to strike me down," he purred. "You are good, my friend..."

Chogun was helping Davey off the ground. "Are you all right?" he asked.

"I'm fine. I'm just startled, is all..." With Chogun's arms keeping him standing, the young boy glared at Duke Swuke, who was preoccupied with Leif. Davey couldn't believe how, in just a few seconds, he was able to despise a man so harshly. "That guy," the boy growled, "he's worse than Belome..."

"Watch your mouth, ya little creep!" Chogun and Davey looked up. Another Swoompire was glaring at them intently. This one was fat and bald. "That's Duke Swuke you're talking about. He's the only man in existence fit to take Count Dheos's place!"

"Count Dheos?" Chogun repeated. "That monster that nearly overtook the Clover Kingdom hundreds of years ago?"

"GGRRUUUHHH!!!"

WHAM! A gigantic, black blur flew into sight and slammed a meaty fist right into the bug man. Chogun went flying. Davey was staring in fright and disbelief at the towering Swampic. The overgrown behemoth was panting heavily like a demon gone mad. Sward, Swan, and Swoosh had walked up right behind him.

"Well, you stupid ape, for once, I agree with you," said the seductive Swan. "Anyone who insults Count Dheos deserves to die..."

"You got that right, woman," Swoosh said as he cracked his knuckles.

"I can't remember what that young man said, but it angers the blood," Sward commented as he walked towards Chogun with his cane.

Guido was in a state of panic. First, Foreman Spike was the one causing him trouble. Now these people had shown up, and the direness of the situation had increased tenfold. The brown Yoshi was taking two other Yoshis, and his three friends were taking the Swoompires. He could only imagine what his personal two companions had in store for them. I have to help them, he thought bravely. He tightened the grip on his hammer and started running in Chogun's direction...

"Now hold on!" Oglian blurted, diving in front of Foreman Spike before Capt. Spatula could do anything to him. "This young man didn't do anything to you or your daughter. Why must you all be acting like this?!"

The female pirate ghost just scoffed. "What is it, Granny?" she said. "You wanna die, too?"

"Spatula, save some for us!"

"Yeah!"

Princess Cherry Blossom and Dorreen had floated to the pirate woman's side. She looked at them both and shrugged her shoulders. "All right then," she said. "But you'd better not get in my way..."

Foreman Spike clenched his teeth angrily. He refused to believe his prey had been taken away just like this. He badly wanted to kill something, and it showed...

"Oh, don't worry, big guy..." The foreman looked up. King Boo and Big Boo were now floating towards him. Both were sporting mischievous grins. Jax was walking towards him as well. "We won't let you be left out. After all, we the Spookalings have a rule: any enemy of our friend is our enemy..."

Foreman Spike grinned back. He hoisted up his hammer and prepared to fight. "That's a good saying..."

Meanwhile, Holy Troopa was merely hovering high up in the trees, watching the anger unfold before him. It had all started with that brown Yoshi from before, the gigantic Viking, and the man with the sunglasses. Now numerous deaths were going to grace this forest, as the undead Paratroopa could tell. Whatever, he thought to himself, I'll have no part in this. I don't have my weapon with me anyway...

"GGRRUUHHH!!!" The fighting had begun. Just when Chogun was barely on his feet again, the ground before him exploded once more. Swampic had slammed a titanic fist into the earth and the bug man found himself jumping back, trying both to get away from this mutant behemoth and to avoid bumping into any of the trees.

"Insufferable fool," Chogun griped. He pulled out his axe, watching Swampic's moves carefully. The ape was slowly advancing on him. Swan and Swoosh, on the other hand, were much faster.

"That's enough, Swampic," Swan said. She lifted up her left hand and turned it into a black-feathered demonic swan. "Let us have a crack at him..."

"No way, woman, he's mine!" Swoosh objected, holding his fists out before him and tightening them. Swan scowled at him.

"No," she hissed, "He's MINE!"

"MINE!"

Chogun's eyes popped wide open. He jerked his axe up in front of his face, preparing for the sudden attack of the evil Swan’s and Swoosh's spell. Suddenly, there was a loud BANG, and the insect-like man was safe. He put his weapon down and saw that Guido had leapt in just in time. Both attacks had been deflected by his hammer.

"You all right, sir?" the Mario asked, panting a bit.

"None of that 'sir' stuff, please," the man replied. "Just 'Chogun' will do." Guido nodded.

Swan and Swoosh had become flustered. They had thought it impossible for their moves to be so deftly pushed aside. Now it was this young man with the hammer they were angry with. "You thinking what I'm thinking?" Swoosh asked.

"Yeah," the woman responded as she flicked her wrist, making her damaged swan get back up off the ground. "Until mustache guy is gone, bug guy's gonna have to wait..."

While Swan and Swoosh were headed for the nervous Guido, the lumbering Swampic was slowly walking towards Chogun with his fists clenched. Nearby, the elderly Sward had found a nice tree to place his back against. He yawned once he reached it, stretched, and slid into a sitting position. "Go get 'im, Swampic, m'boy," he mumbled. "Show 'im what the Swoompires're made of..."

Also within the vicinity, Davey was pulling his gun out on Swine. Leif did the same with his mace against Duke Swuke. All this, and Foreman Spike was gladly preparing for battle against the three of King Boo, Big Boo, and Jax. It was the trembling Oglian who was left up to Dorreen, Capt. Spatula, and Princess Cherry Blossom. Fists were being clenched, guns were being stroked, and many a fierce glare was going around. Even the air before them was starting to catch fire...

"The one who defeated Leif Erripipe," Duke Swuke pondered aloud. "Has a nice ring to it..."

"As does the one who defeated Duke Swuke, Swoompire of Lust," Leif retorted.

"Those sunglasses of yours," King Boo said to Foreman Spike, "they remind me of the last guy I fought: a blue Yoshi with a deep voice..."

Foreman Spike's eyes widened. "You know that guy?!"

"Well, maybe I do, maybe I don't..."

Now a mood of bloodlust was sweeping the forest. Xoshi growled to himself, sensing another vicious battle around the bend. Following Leif and Foreman Spike's example, he tightened his fists and anticipated the enemy's next move. Then...

WHACK! "GRUUHHH!" With a chop into the ogre's left arm with his axe, Chogun had begun the real fighting. The fury of all the people in the woods exploded. Swampic was making craters in the ground with his fists, causing Chogun to jump back even further each time. Davey fired rapidly at the ghastly Swine. Many of his bullets had gone right through his chest, but no blood was coming out and the man was still standing. He grinned mischievously at his diminutive opponent as the holes closed up on their own. Davey was dumbfounded. Now both he and his partner were in a bind...

Guido ran frantically around the trees. Swoosh was after him, as well as an entire flock of Swan's demonic birds. At one point, in a panic, he leapt up and latched onto an overhanging tree branch with his hands. Swoosh and the birds sailed right beneath him. The humble Mario breathed a sigh of relief. Then BAM! A blast of pure air slammed into the man's chest. He flew backwards and went skidding across the grass. He struggled to get back up, but then the evil swans started swarming him and pecking at his face like crows. The man was just barely able to roll out of the way. Quickly, he hid behind a tree, his hammer being held tightly in his hand. He panted and sweated, knowing full well two very formidable opponents were headed his way...

WHOOSH! Leif took another swipe at the dreaded Duke Swuke with his mace. A look of shock befell his face. He was certain that blow got the man dead-on, yet this did nothing at all. In fact, his mace was being held just below two vast pillars of a strange, purple smoke. The unusual clouds floated away from the flabbergasted man and slowly became more dark and dense. Seconds later, they had transformed into the vanished Duke Swuke. He smirked cockily at the bewildered witch hunter, almost daring him to become even angrier. He did...

Foreman Spike immediately started swinging his hammer around like crazy. Having seen this countless times before, both of the Boos he was facing just kept twirling around his blunt weapon and cackling at his dismay. The agitated man grit his teeth and prepared for another swing when BAM! A hard blow had connected with his stomach. Jax jumped away in triumph, bouncing up and down with his fists up, ready for more. The winded foreman knelt down, wheezed, and glared at the little man. Then BOOM! Two more forces had got him in the back of the head. He had only just caught a glimpse of two white figures laughing away. The foreman decided he'd have to hold little back...

In Oglian's case, the woman was not fighting at all. She felt no urge to fight. Only panic and confusion was surrounding her. Questions wrought her brain in the midst of the mayhem. How did this happen? Why had it come to this? Suddenly, WHACK! An instantaneous sharp pain had slammed onto her face. The surprised Magikoopa looked up and saw the culprit: Princess Cherry Blossom, though she was quite a few feet away. The female ghost smirked and began to crack her knuckles with her arms stretched out before her. To the innocent old Magikoopa, those pale arms looked to be made out of some sort of rubber. Then she saw the other two ghost girls behind her also dying to make their move. The female Magikoopa gulped upon realization: she'd have to unleash a certain weapon...

Xoshi nimbly flipped out of the way. Both Yoshis he was up against had attempted a fist in his face, but the duo of ghosts merely punched air. Their heads instantly spun in their enemy's direction. Sensing running away would benefit him in no way at this point in time, the brown Yoshi held out his right hand and made a golden flame burst into life upon it. With his eyes, he pinned two imaginary targets on the two that were running towards him. He reasoned he could beat them again if he had done it once before. Then suddenly...

"ALL OF YOU, STAY WHERE YOU ARE!"

The four groups of people that had just got it on with each other became still. They turned their heads and saw a new force approaching. It was a troupe of aliens, no fewer than 100. The one in the lead, Wart, had a malicious, toothy grin on his face.

"THERE'S NO NEED TO BE ALARMED," he said. "YOU ARE MERELY ABOUT TO BE ENGAGED IN A TEST OF STRENGTH..." The aliens behind him all chuckled deviously. Each of them were stroking their weapons and punching the palms of their own hands repeatedly. "THOSE WHO PASS," the giant frog continued, "WILL RECEIVE AN HONORABLE POSITION AMONGST US. THOSE WHO FAIL... WILL RECEIVE DEATH!" The aliens laughed some more. The air was beginning to grow heavier with killing intent.

Princess Cherry Blossom stared at this new group confusedly and leaned over to her father. "What's going on?" she asked. "Who are these people?"

"They're all members of the Gonnic Gang," King Boo replied, turning his attention away from the flustered Foreman Spike and towards his daughter, "aliens with enough power to be the 13th God of Chaos. I met them during the final battle of the War of the Shy Gang. Man, this brings back memories..."

"Wait a minute," Oglian uttered. She walked away from the devious Dorreen, Capt. Spatula, and Princess Cherry Blossom and approached this new group of enemies. She pointed to Wart accusingly. "It's you," she elicited. "You're the one..."

Wart looked down at the woman inquisitively. The aliens behind him looked just as easily bemused. "I BEG YOUR PARDON, MADAME?" he asked, almost mockingly.

"You're the one who took my precious great-granddaughter away!" Oglian hissed. Wart, however, still didn't look phased.

"MY DEAR WOMAN,", the frog said, "I HAVE DEFEATED AND CAPTURED MORE PEOPLE THAN YOU COULD EVER IMAGINE. I CAN'T BE EXPECTED TO REMEMBER THEM ALL..."

"I hope for your sake that that doesn't include me," King Boo said as he floated towards the frog himself. Now everyone in the woods was even more confused. "How's it going, Warty? Remember me?" The high-ranking Boo took off his crown and smiled greatly. Wart raised an eyebrow at him.

"WHO ARE YOU?"

"It's me. King Carroo. King Carrot's son." The Boo put the crown back on his head and stopped smiling at the frog. "You killed me."

Quite a few of the people looked greatly surprised, including Xoshi. "Killed him?" he uttered. "That's how he died?"

Wart grinned heartlessly at the crowned Boo. "DID I?", he said. "WELL... PERHAPS YOU WERE NOT THAT VERY STRONG, THEN..."

"Rrrr-AUUGRRGHH!" The Boo instantly flung his ghostly fins out, slammed into the giant frog's chest, and sent both of them sprawling across the ground, non-stop. Then a cataclysmic WHACK sounded. King Boo went spiraling off the amphibian's body. The agitated Wart put his foot down and pried himself back onto his feet. All his alien minions were staring at him now. Their imposing, green leader snorted and adjusted himself.

"WELL?!" he bellowed. "ALL OF THEM. THEIR BLOOD WILL BE OURS TONIGHT!"

A mighty cheer surged forth from the crowd of aliens. Whatever bloodlust had already been in the forest at the time had suddenly become increased exponentially. Some of the fighters were horrified by this.

Is this what happens when people come here? Xoshi wondered. They go crazy and fight?

Just like Belome Rock, Beel commented. This place is cursed...

Wart fired a pointing finger in the direction of Xoshi, his friends, and all the people they had bumped into in this forest. A seismic roar escaped his lips. "ATTTAAAACCKK!!!" Now a stampede of armed space aliens was surging through the woods. The opposing side forced itself to prepare for this new battle. Before they knew it, Chogun and Swampic were tangling with some frogs of their own. Davey and Swine had some purple aliens; Guido, Swan, and Swoosh had some silvers; and the rest was scattered. The entire forest had been transformed into a war zone.

All the while, a lone creature stood high atop one of the trees. He looked down upon all the chaos and giggled delightedly to himself. "All one hundred and twenty-three of you," Razeil said gleefully, "fight. FIGHT! HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!..."

In the underground cavern, Crookie was stretching his arms and Crania was pulling out a wrench. Their monstrous enemy, the ghastly Blifit, continued to growl and drool blue ooze. Sackle stared carefully into the lost woman's eyes. The thief silently cursed to himself; behind those cold eyes, there was nothing...

The female behemoth let out a gigantic roar and swung at her three adversaries. Crookie and Crania jumped away, but Sackle leapt over. He landed on the dirt-covered ground and slashed towards the femme fatale's chest. The monster grunted in annoyance. Sackle had merely scratched her. The woman raised both arms into the air and prepared for a smash-hit. Sackle quickly hopped away. BOOM! A circle of destruction had materialized in the ground, but the three pests remained. Blifit was confused.

Then BAM! WHACK! Crookie had sent a punch in the villainess' face while Crania got her from behind the head with her wrench. The ghost was in a world of pain, but was far from out. Angered significantly, she flung out her arms to the side and spun around. BAM! Too slow for it, both Crookie and Crania were knocked back from the blow. Sackle watched in shock as they flopped to the ground. He glared at the vengeful woman as she turned on him, already up for another devastating strike...

Get it through your head, Blifit: we're only trying to help you, the thief thought as he wiped some blood off of his knives. You don't have to hurt your friends!

Xoshi, Yoshiki, and the Wereyoshi put their fists up. An angry mob of about 30 different purple aliens had surrounded them. The odds looked horrid, but the trio had to maintain its composure. Now the aliens were flinging themselves upon the three-some, brandishing knives, clubs, and spears. Thinking quickly, Xoshi flipped back and kicked one of them in the face. The Wereyoshi grabbed one by the scruff of his shirt and slammed him into the ground. When three purples came flying towards Yoshiki, she merely shot into the air and slapped all three of them in the face with a spin of her ghostly tail. The three Yoshis landed and looked around. Still more were coming.

"Pity we're such bitter enemies," the Wereyoshi remarked. "We'd have made a great team..."

"Shuh. Like I'd team up with you if my life depended on it," Xoshi retorted.

"Well put," the Wereyoshi smirked. Another wave of purple aliens came hurdling towards the group, and another round of blows ensued...

With a heavy chop, Chogun had taken one of the frogs' arms clean off. Behind him Swampic was busy pounding another one flat into the ground. One other frog had sprung through the air and was spiraling towards the bug man like a big, green cannonball. The treasure hunter saw him in the nick of time, pulled out his wand, and unleashed a tsunami of pure white energy. FFOOOMM! Burnt to a crisp, the alien frog was sent down in flames. Chogun stood back with his axe poised before him. Hearing a constant mashing sound behind him, he looked behind himself and saw Swampic was still beating on the same frog.

"Honestly, what good are you?" the transformed man commented. "Can't you tell he's not getting back up?"

Swampic stopped what he was doing and started looking confused. "Gruh?"

"SO! YOU TWO THINK YOU'RE PRETTY HOT!"

The unlikely duo turned towards a new enemy. Other aliens were backing away from this two-some, but one pair had bravely stepped forward: Welt and Wartini.

"YEAH! WE'RE GONNA KILL YOU... AND THAT BIG UGLY APE... AND THAT GIANT SWOOMPIRE RIGHT THERE! ALL EIGHT OF YOU ARE DEAD!"

Chogun shifted a bemused look back to Swampic with his eyes. The overgrown Swoompire seemed to be engaged in an intricate counting game with his fingers. Chogun rolled his eyes. Then BAM! For one brief moment, it was raining mud and chunks of grass. Both the treasure hunter and the Swoompire looked up. Welt had stamped down extremely hard in the most potent of aggravation.

"PAY ATTENTION!" the insane frog snarled. "GET YOUR SITUATION CLEAR: YOU'RE GONNA DIE!!!"

"YEAH! HURRAY FOR WINE!"

"GYYAAAAHHHH!" Now the frogs were stampeding towards Chogun and Swampic. In response, the two simply raised their axe and fists and beckoned this new fight with their minds.

I can't believe I'm working alongside this overgrown ingrate, Chogun thought as he and Welt began their skirmish...

TSEW! TSEW! TSEW! Very easily, one by one, Davey was picking off aliens with his laser pistol. Behind him, the hefty Swine was transforming his arms into elongated tentacles of green ooze and using them to bash more hapless aliens' heads in. Both were proving to be worthy adversaries pretty quickly. Some of the aliens were even starting to get scared now.

"What's the matter, pussycats?" Swine called out, grinning towards a particular group of trembling frogs. "Come on... I'm just getting started!"

"Enough..." Suddenly, all the other aliens were standing down. The lot of them had cleared a path as a new foe walked into view. It was none other than the deadly Trigg of the laser pistol. He stood firmly and strummed his fingers against the gun at his side. "Kid, it's been a while since I've seen someone with your skill with a pistol... Mind if I go one-on-one with you?"

Davey pointed to himself with his gun. "You wanna fight me?"

"That's right..."

"Yeah, boy, you'd better watch it! That man will blast your brains out in a second, he will!"

"Duh, that's right!"

Two more purple aliens walked in. It was Tapoleon and his simpleminded companion, Toonga. Trigg merely acknowledged them with a glance. "The kid's all yours, Triggy," Tapoleon said cockily. "Just leave the fat guy to us!"

"Duh, yeah!"

Trigg watched half-interestedly as Tapoleon brandished a whip and as Toonga began to stretch his lanky arms. Swine watched them warily as they approached him. Now Trigg's gaze was back on the young Davey. "I'll give you one minute," he continued coolly. "By that time, you'd better be far away from here. I've been known to kill my prey instantly..."

Davey cocked his eyebrow at the skilled sharpshooter. "Are you crazy?" he remarked. "You want me to run away? You call that a fight?"

"Fifty-nine seconds..." Trigg slowly pointed his gun at the air. Davey was confused. Then BAM! The boy jumped to the side. He had no idea what had happened, but now there was a large, steaming hole in the ground beside him. "Fifty-eight seconds..." Trigg pointed the gun behind himself. BAM!!! A hole even larger than the last had just appeared on the other side of Davey. Now the picture was clear. Davey grit his teeth, turned tail, and fled.

Smart boy, the accomplished gunner thought, watching maliciously as his opponent sped through the woods. Now the game will be more interesting...

Guido and his team were doing nicely. One swing of his hammer, and the Mario had sent a less than fortunate silver alien careening right into a nearby tree. Swan's demonic birds were pecking a few others' faces off and Swoosh was even using his tremendous height to pound a few flat using nothing but his feet.

"Don't think we're doing this for your sake, little man," Swoosh said to Guido as he kicked another space alien's face in. "Once we're through with these guys, you're next!"

"I don't care," Guido grumbled as he back-knuckled one silver that tried coming at him from behind.

"STOP IT, YOU TERRIBLE WOMAN!" Guido and the two Swoompires looked up. Two more annoyances had appeared. These ones were Cloaker assisted by his good friend Domino. "Always beating up on the men in this world... Have you no feelings?!" Cloaker wailed.

"Hey, it's not that I've got a problem with men," Swan said. She walked a bit closer to the hot-headed Domino and kicked aside one alien that had fallen to the ground. "I've got a problem with loud, obnoxious, boastful pigs. A lot of them just happen to be male."

"Still thy tongue," Cloaker growled. He pulled out his sword and raised it proudly into the air. "Come, Domino! Let us incur a most incomparable pain upon this wretched being!"

"Aye, my comrade! Let us-"

BAM! Guido and the other two's eyes popped out. In a flash, the dubious Cloaker and Domino had been turned into pancakes by a lumbering silver alien carrying a mighty sledgehammer of his own. He had rippling muscles, a completely clean-shaven head, and a look in his eyes reeking of murder. "Call me Slam," the imposing extraterrestrial growled. "I'll pass on the woman and the string bean... The little one's mine..."

Guido stared cautiously at this new approaching menace. Swan and Swoosh just looked insulted, Swoosh especially. "'The tall one' would have done just nicely, thank you very much," the Swoompire complained.

"Quiet, you man," Swan ordered. Steam started to pour out of the taller one's ears. Then Cloaker and Domino's heads popped out of their flattened bodies.

"Look at that Slam," Cloaker said admiringly. "Not quite the Smithy we adore, but... Oh, mercy!"

"Your little friend doesn't stand a chance!" Domino snickered.

The two Swoompires shot two fatal glares at the pair of aliens. "We are NOT friends with him!" Swoosh exclaimed. He and Swan leapt through the air and aimed for Cloaker and Domino. The aliens nodded to each other, unleashed their sword and magic, and the battle began...

CHING! Red hot sparks flew from the two sledgehammers. A bead of sweat trickled down Guido's face as he stared into Slam's eyes and tried to push his heavy weapon back. "This one is good," Slam purred. "I'm glad I took it..."

Guido scoffed and shoved Slam off him, panting drastically. I'd rather have the yellow guy from the ship, he thought bitterly, and the two fighters crossed hammers again...

Leif swung his mace to the right and bashed one frog square in the temple. He sensed another lunging towards him, and he spun around and punted him in the jaw. His enigmatic partner, Duke Swuke, had two frogs in his clutches. Both were floating in the air with rings of purple smoke around their necks. They were choking. The duke smiled sadistically. The two frogs he had then ran out of air and passed out. The Swoompire dropped them to the ground as he turned the smoke back into his arms. Leif started glaring at the man after grabbing another frog, flipping him over, and driving him into the ground.

"Your fighting style disturbs me," Leif commented. "Are you fighting out of self defense or just the thrill of it?"

"It's a battle, my dear Leif," the duke replied. "We should be enjoying ourselves..."

Leif took his gaze away from the tall Swoompire and punched an incoming frog in the face. "Hmph. What pains me is that you may be right."

Duke Swuke laughed cruelly as one more frog came charging after him. He impaled his heart using nothing but his clawed hand. "I'll hand it to you," he purred, "you are more the admirable man than I had originally perceived you to be..."

Foreman Spike surged a massive wave of killer intent through his muscles and into his hammer. The result was a seismic CLANG. His blow had been blocked by a strong blade. "Come on, tell me where he is!" the foreman demanded. "I'll beat your face out!"

"Specify your demands, simpleton," Katana growled. "Just who are you looking for?!"

"You know perfectly well who I'm looking for, pretty boy!" Spike pulled his hammer away and swung at the alien's legs. Katana jumped over the blow. "He's got silver skin and white hair, just like you!"

"You ARE an idiot," Katana grumbled. He took a merciless swipe at the man with his sword, and the fight continued...

Not too far away, the four of Big Boo, Jax, Dorreen, and Capt. Spatula were going wild against numerous other silver aliens badly wanting some undead carnage. The Boo was flying straight towards them and headbutting them in the stomach, the Werewolf was employing some tripping techniques, and the two girls were strangling some with their ectoplasmic tails. Only Princess Cherry Blossom wasn't fighting.

"Cherry, what's your deal?" the pirate woman suddenly asked once her enemy fell to the ground. "Don't just float there; there's plenty of alien to go around!"

"I'm just worried about my dad," the princess explained. "He may be a ghost now, but is he still able to fight the man who killed him?"

"Well," the pirate stated, letting her teammates do all the fighting for this one second, "I'll tell you this: whatever will happen, will happen..."

"That's what worries me..."

A vast assortment of chaos was surrounding him, but Wart stood firm. Before him were the two that wanted him dead the most badly: Oglian and King Boo. King Boo was wiggling his fins at his side. They were practically already around the giant frog's neck, choking the life out of him, but it was the Magikoopa who made the first move. The frog and the ghost were suddenly watching as she shoved a clawed hand into the air. They waited a few seconds, and then something happened. An object appeared in the purple sky beyond the leaves. It grew larger as it swooped further and further towards the ground. Then WHAMM! A sizable, leopard-like creature landed. Its fur was made out of a synthetic pink fuzz with purple spots. It also had a fanciful pair of bird-like wings growing out of its back.

"This is my pet," Oglian explained, "Scarvus the Sky Leopard. My apologies, but I'm afraid he won't go easy on you."

Wart grinned. "WELL THEN," he said. "SHALL WE BEGIN?"

"HAHH!" King Boo blasted himself forward with his fangs bared. Wart quickly retaliated with an uppercut. BAM! The ghost was sent spiraling away once more. Then the alien frog heard a bloodcurdling roar and turned to look. Now the leopard was stampeding towards him. It sprang through the air with its claws and fangs out. The frog merely thrust one hand out and used it to clasp the cat's mouth shut. Its paws landed harshly on the cold ground, but it continued to fight against the powerful amphibian. Wart then spun his own arm around, slamming the overgrown cat into the ground and away from him. Before long, though, it was unleashing another monstrous attack...

King Boo was rubbing his sore stomach. He floated up to the side of Oglian in a state of pure aggravation. "Don't think too highly of yourself, woman," he warned. "That man killed me!"

"I know," Oglian replied, ever holding her hands out and twitching her fingers. The leopard seemed to respond to their movements. "I presume many others seek justice against this man. It seems only natural two of them like us would eventually find him and fight him. Whatever path it was in life that man chose, this is where it led him. Therefore, right now, it's our duty to give him everything he deserves. The rest is up to fate..."

"Heh. Talkative woman..." King Boo turned back towards the fight. His eyes widened suddenly. The leopard had just sent the villainous frog tumbling with a powerful swipe to the chest. The ghost became intrigued. "All right, I'll say it: you're good, and I don't think I'll be able to take him alone."

"There's a good lad..."

WHACK! Two karate chops later, and the two of Yoshiki and the Wereyoshi had succeeded in bringing down another pestering pair of purple aliens. One tried coming at Xoshi from behind and ensnaring him in a headlock, but the crafty brown dinosaur slammed him into the stomach with an elbow. The winded alien heaved and staggered away from him. Xoshi then spun his tail around and knocked the enemy off his feet. Gradually, the remaining aliens were starting to grow more fearful of these three Yoshis they were against.

"Come on," the Wereyoshi growled. "Didn't you wanna test my strength? I'm just getting started..."

None of the aliens said anything. Most of them had become too afraid of this trio of adversaries. Then one of them finally walked into the field out of nowhere. He was tall and sleek, and half of his face was covered with long, dark purple hair. He looked full of confidence. "I'll take you on," he said, pulling out a gigantic silver scythe. "I'm interested in the three of you. It's been a while since the last time I got a good fight in..."

The other aliens were all starting to murmur excitedly, stating the alien's name over and over again. The Wereyoshi was starting to get anxious himself. Clearly, this was no pushover that had challenged him.

"The name's Trann, Trann Reaper," the alien introduced. "I'm the last thing my enemies see before I kill them."

"Well, good luck with that, buddy," the Wereyoshi responded. "I'm already dead."

"Ho, I don't plan on killing you," Trann explained. "If I did that, I wouldn't be able to drag your unconscious body back to Tito, now would I?"

Xoshi and the other two became inquisitive. "Tito, huh?" the Wereyoshi repeated.

"Yes, he's our leader. Once he gathers an unbeatable army using all the most powerful fighters on the planet Tronnajus, the galaxy will be helpless. Already, we've got 47 people. Just three more, and it'll be a nice round 50."

"Heh. Well then, what are you waiting for?" the Wereyoshi said. "The three you're looking for are right here. Come and get us..."

Trann smiled at the Wereyoshi. He readied his scythe and started charging towards him. The Wereyoshi watched intently and prepared a retaliation. In the next second, the two were right in front of each other. Trann swung at the Yoshi using the blunt end of his scythe. The ghastly Yoshi backflipped out of the way and lashed his long tongue out at the alien. Trann swatted it aside with one powerful fist. The Wereyoshi was startled. He was about to attempt another move on his fierce opponent when he felt a dynamic kick slamming into his jaw. Now the undead Yoshi was flying through the air in great agony. Trann smirked once more, then jumped into the air. The Wereyoshi was still flying when the formidable alien sent another kick his way, this one drilling into the back of the dinosaur's head. BAM! He crashed to the ground and was out like a light. The other aliens were cheering for Trann's efforts.

"You monster!" Yoshiki yelled out. "I'll show you!"

Trann scoffed as the female Yoshi started flying towards him. While holding his scythe underneath one arm, he used the other to grab the woman by the neck and throw her to the ground. It all happened so quickly, it may as well have been a flash of purple and pink light the audience saw. Now both of the Spookaling Yoshis were down. The aliens cheered even louder.

"Honestly," Trann said cockily. "Aren't you guys supposed to be ghosts? Sorry, but you don't pass the test. Now let's see how brownie over here fairs..."

The extraterrestrials loudly expressed their approval. Pure excitement was rushing them. As for Xoshi, he was nervous. All he could think of was how hard it was to defeat those two the last time they met. Now he was the one about to face the prowess of Trann.

These aliens, Xoshi thought, they're not the oncoming evil, are they?

I'll tell you who it is later, Beel replied. Right now, concentrate on a way to beat him.

All right...

Meanwhile, a lone knight stood amidst a now inactive battlefield. Several Swoopers and even Swoopulas had come for the mysterious warrior, but all of them had received more than they bargained for. All that remained of them now was the furry little winged corpses surrounding the man.

White Rose squeezed his tightly wrapped fingers around the hilt of his sword. Sweat moistened his brow and his eyes were ever on the lookout. Is it over? he wondered. Then the swordsman heard three very loud thumping noises above him. He snapped his head up and saw a trio of new opponents. All three were Swooper-like creatures over ten feet tall. Their fur was black and their gargoyle-type wings were red. Their gaze rivaled the endless fury of an inferno.

SHOOM! The three giant bats spread their massive wings. They leapt off the tree branches and went flying towards White Rose like a set of bloodthirsty missiles. The man quickly readied his sword once more and prepared for more carnage. Swoopzillas, he thought darkly. This is just the beginning. I can only hope the others are more well off than I...

Sackle, Crookie, and Crania were doing their best to maintain their intensity. The seismic Blifit floated before them, still drooling puddles of blue ooze. She lifted up one ghostly fin before the trio and beckoned them with it. With that, the three thieves were charging once more. Sackle had his knives out and was ready to hack through the ghost's stomach with it. Deftly, Blifit flipped away from the strike. When she wasn't looking, Crookie flew out of nowhere and slammed one solid fist into her gut. The monster was floating backwards and staggering when Crania suddenly leapt up and walloped the abomination in the face with her wrench. Blifit roared in fury. The other three just stood back.

"Blifit, it's over," Sackle called out. "You can't beat us. Now move on and let us pass."

"Can't move on," Blifit snarled. She was starting to breathe very heavily as though she were attempting an embodiment of a hurricane. "Something's out there... No one must face it!"

Sackle stared confusedly at his former partner. "What?"

"I must protect everyone," the demonic woman heaved. "No one must face what's out there!"

"Blifit, what's out there?!"

SHING! The thieves sprang to the side. What was once empty space beside them had now become a gigantic flower of glaring icicles. When they turned their attention towards the ghoulish Blifit once more, she did it again. She took a deep breath and fired. SHING! The three criminals scattered. Had that last one have got them, all three of them would have been imprisoned in a statue of ice.

"Blifit, you just don't know when to quit," Sackle growled. He pulled out some more knives and began another assault against the deranged woman. This time, though, the Snifit was retaliating with a blizzard that was gradually freezing the entire underground maze...

WHAM! Chogun suddenly found himself clinging to his own axe for dear life. He felt like he had nearly been thrown off a cliff by a train. In the middle of his shock, another green fist flew his way. The little man jerked his head away. Then another fist came at him and he jumped back. Welt grinned sadistically. He then started chasing the bug man with a nonstop barrage of kicks and punches. All the man could do was dodge.

When he looked around himself, Chogun could see a tree looming in from behind. If all went wrong, he could tell he'd just be pinned to that tree's trunk, baring the mercilessness of Welt's attacks. He reasoned he'd just have to improvise.

Welt continued his never-ending onslaught. His smile gradually grew bigger as he pictured a bloody pulp materializing before him. He even licked his lips. Then CHING! The frog shrieked. He had let his guard down for one split-second, and now there was a huge, bloody gash on his tongue. He looked up and saw his bug-like opponent going for another swing. "OH NO, YOU DON'T," the alien frog fumed. WHAP! He grabbed the heavy weapon's neck with his hand before it could cleave through his face again. "I TOLD YOU... YOU'RE GONNA DIE!"

BAM! With an explosive kick to the gut, Chogun was torn away from his axe and sent flying backwards. WHAM! His back hit a tree and the man fell agonizingly to the ground. He shook his head and looked up. Now Welt was directly above him with his axe in his hands.

"YOU'RE GONNA DIE, YOU LITTLE RAT! GONNA DIE!" WHACK! The frog blasted a large chunk of wood out of the tree's trunk, but nothing more. When he turned his head, he noticed his prey was now on the run. The amphibious killer grinned deviously. "SCARED... SCARED! I LOVE IT! HA HA HA!!!..."

Also running for his life, Davey found himself hurtling over more bushes and giant rocks than he ever thought possible. Dirt and sweat were caking his skin and his clothes, but he felt he'd be dead by now had he have gone with any other alternative. He could sense the demented Trigg was somewhere behind him. It would wrack him with fear if a plant suddenly exploded near him without explanation. What was that man's power?

The boy found a ledge and jumped down. He ducked beneath the balcony of grass and earth hanging over him and pulled out his gun. He was holding it very closely as though it were his life. "Come on," he breathed, desperately trying to reawaken his strength, "I'm waiting. Come and get me."

TSEW TSEW TSEW! Davey saw three gigantic lasers in a row fly out of nowhere. The first one moved like a spiral, the second like a zigzag, and the third like a trail of glowing squares flying in midair. CRACK! They all hit a tree of their own. The young Davey saw three giant towers of wood explode in a tsunami of fire, and they went hurdling into the steep trench below. When Davey looked into it, he got the feeling of a bottomless pit.

"Boy, don't disappoint me..." Davey jolted, flew back, aimed his gun, and fired. TSEWW! CRACK! He managed to sear off a tree branch and maybe a few blades of grass, but nothing more. Trigg was unharmed. "Your eyes tell me you're better than this. Why are you holding back?" Like he always did, he pointed his gun somewhere where Davey clearly wasn't, but his gaze was still on him.

Then TSEW! Davey watched as another beam appeared. This one looked like a snake of light looping around in midair, conveying that it had a mind of its own. Then the laser turned on Davey and the boy panicked. He spun around, latched onto the edge of the cliff, and threw himself up. BAM! The boy went somersaulting. He skidded on the ground for a second, but, at this point in time, minor injuries couldn't bother him. When he looked back for one second, he caught a glimpse of Trigg's expressionless face and his gun pointing behind him. Adrenaline surged through the boy's veins and he was bolting off once more. TSEWW!

Just keep running, boy, Trigg thought. Soon enough, I'll be tasting your true power...

BANG! Guido sent himself flying away from his overtly powerful opponent. So many clashes had ensued between their two hammers, the Mario was starting to wonder if he was in a battle or a steel mill.

"It seems these two hammers like each other," Slam commented, but Guido could barely hear him. He wished he'd stop mumbling. "Flesh ripping... Bones smashing... That would be good..." His hammer was being raised once more and Guido became extremely alert. He kept his eyes on the enemy and got himself mentally prepared. Then the two fighters rushed towards each other and began the cacophony again. Their solid metal hammers ricocheted off each other, their feet spun around like mad, and their teeth grit until they were practically tearing into their own gums.

First Marlukin, and now these guys, the Mario thought. You were right, Oglian; there ARE people out there worse than the Koopas...

Back in his fight, Wart was just standing there with a heartless smile on his face. King Boo and Scarvus were rushing towards him and he was barely even moving. Then a pair of fanged fireballs were split-seconds away from his face and BAM! He knocked them both to the ground with a double-punch. King Boo and Oglian winced from the man's power. King Boo was the first to get back up. He floated in midair for one second just to give his nemesis a cold-hearted stare. Then he curled his left fin into a fist so tightly, the air looked as though it were rippling around it. The ghost concentrated fiercely on turning his own fist into a projectile of mysterious blue and purple flames. Then he aimed for the man's grinning face and launched.

Wart did something very unexpected. He stuck his long, amphibious tongue out and spun his head around. The rest was a reverberating THWACK. King Boo stood petrified in his hovering. The cannonball of darkness he had just formed was soaring into a completely different direction. KA-BOOM! The blast struck one of the trees. The entire thing was split in half. That, and a colossal bouquet of branches and leaves were falling right out of the dusk sky. King Boo and Oglian pictured it squashing the lot of them. Then Wart suddenly rocketed himself straight up towards it and tore a powerful fist into a key branch.

CRACKK! The sound was almost deafening. The bouquet had been torn into a million little sharp pieces, and they were coming down onto the battlefield like a rain of razor-sharp thorns. Instinctively, King Boo and Oglian merely ducked and tried shielding their entire bodies with their arms. This helped but minimally. Bloody scratches and tears were forming all over their bodies, and the storm still wasn't over. The rain was just barely letting up when Wart finally came back to the ground with an earthshaking slam. King Boo and Oglian were rapidly becoming exhausted from this fight.

"IT'S A SIMPLE QUESTION," the giant frog stated. "DO YOU DESERVE TO LIVE? ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS PROVE IT..."

King Boo floated back up from the ground while prying off a particularly large wood chip from his arm. Oglian shook off some dirt and forced her wrinkled hands into another position. Scarvus was back on his feet as well. Wart was still smiling. His two opponents abhorred the sight.

I won't stop until you give her back, Oglian thought.

Come on, pal, you know you wanna be a ghost just like me, King Boo added. The two vengeful fighters continued to strive towards Wart's downfall...

In his own battle, Foreman Spike could see Katana's deadly sword swinging for his torso. The man jumped out of the way and flipped his sledgehammer up. CHING! Katana's blade ran right into it. The foreman shoved the silver alien off of him, spun around, and fired a kick to his solar plexus. The alien took the hit head-on, and it winded him, but he forced himself to fight on through such dire pain. He flipped his sword through the air and made a large gash form across the foreman's chest. He yelped out in agony.

"Tell me where he is!" the imposing Mario demanded. "Now!"

"I told you, I don't know who you're talking about!" Katana seethed as he swung once more at the foreman.

"Come on... He's really arrogant and kinda girly-looking. His name is... Gutless or Cutesy, or something."

Katana gasped and stopped himself from taking another swing at the foreman. "You mean Cutlass?"

CHING! Katana stopped Foreman Spike's hammer from smashing his face in the nick of time with his blade. "YES!" the foreman hissed when he heard the name. "Now tell me where he went!"

"YOU tell me!" Katana retorted and attempted a dismemberment of his opponent's legs...

Xoshi spun through the air, feeling pure shock and horror surging through his body. All Trann did was one chop to the front with his massive scythe and the ground exploded. Now he was hurtling through the air for what felt like forever. Then BAM! His stomach rammed right into the tree. The Yoshi fell to the ground, winded. The aliens laughed at his predicament. Trann chuckled as he strode towards him, swirling his scythe around.

"Come on, kid. You're the last one standing. Don't you wanna play hero and take me down with all your might?" the alien taunted.

Xoshi gathered up his strength and pried himself back onto his feet. He wiped his mouth and glared at the purple reaper. Trann smirked and cocked his eyebrow in return. Xoshi scoffed and concentrated. He summoned up the power that had served him so unquestioningly these past few days and turned it into a flickering golden fireball floating in his right-hand. Trann eyed the phenomenon with mild interest.

FWOOSH! Xoshi hurled the star spell straight for the alien's gut. To him, though, the attack was nothing more than a reflection of light in his eye. FWING! The reaper spun his scythe around in an instant and sent the star rocketing towards the sky. Xoshi's spell had been neutralized. The Yoshi stared at the man with his jaw dropped. The aliens were laughing even harder now.

"That's an impressive ability you've got there," Trann said as he twirled his scythe around like a baton some more. Then with a prominent whooshing sound, he snapped it into place behind him. He stared at his brown enemy with mischievous eyes. "I wonder if it's on par with mine...?"

Trann held out his right hand and uncurled it. Xoshi stiffened with surprise when he saw its next trick: it created a floating wisp of purple and white flames vaguely resembling a skull. The audience was getting excited. "Beautiful, isn't it?" Trann remarked. "Yes, with proper training, ANYONE can awaken the powers within them..."

Trann started swirling his hand around, causing the ball of white fire in his hand to jump up and down repeatedly. When Xoshi watched more carefully, he noticed each rotation was making the fireball replicate itself. Soon enough, the man was now holding about 20 different skulls hopping around in just one hand. The sight was virtually terrifying.

"Tell me, hero," Trann taunted, "do you have what it takes to point your sword at death, to fight it to the death, and live to tell the tale...?"

SHOOM! Trann hurled the fury of flaming skulls at the brown Yoshi. They came at him like a swarm of undead crows. Relying almost purely on reflexes, Xoshi saw the attack, thrust both his palms out, and fired. The rest happened in a maelstrom of gold, white, and purple fireworks detonating in midair. The crowd was dazzled. When the spell faded, Xoshi was panting. Trann grinned.

"That right there," the man gloated, "that's the kind of fighter I've been dying for..." The reaper materialized another set of flaming skulls and Xoshi snapped. He turned his entire right arm into a voracious tentacle of golden flames and went charging towards his purple assailant. The crowd cheered and started shouting to see some blood. The battle's intensity had risen to its next level...

Holy Troopa watched everything high up in the trees with his rear-end parked and his arms folded. Everything looked so disgusting, yet he had never before seen any such vigor in his entire life. The only thing that compared to this was during that final battle in Vedgia. This time, though, it wasn't the matter of the Shy Gang, the Death Sickles, the Evil Clowns, or the Super Mushroom League. Not even Princess Shokora, Naji, and Shmy Guy were involved. As for Blifit and Sackle, they were elsewhere.

On the other hand, though, the Gonnic Gang was still here and the Super Mushroom League had just been replaced by the Spookalings. The rest had been so by these 14 new people. Now there were Yoshis battling purple aliens, ghosts battling the silvers, and Swoompires battling the frogs. The undead Paratroopa found it mildly amusing how all this had been brought upon from one root: the desire to survive.

But was everything really that simple? Did fate really mean for these five groups to clash? Whatever the case, the Troopa reasoned it was only the loss of those who couldn't keep their heads together in this accursed forest...

"You stayin' out of the fight, too?"

Holy Troopa jumped. He didn't know that, up here in the trees, one other was beside him. It was one of the purple aliens, Tobi, but he didn't look too dangerous. "What are you doing here?" the Paratroopa inquired, somewhat on edge. "Aren't those your comrades down there? Shouldn't you be fighting beside them?"

Tobi waved his hand pettily. "I'm one of them, but... I don't fight. I'm afraid I'd just get killed."

"Same here," Holy Troopa remarked. The two non-fighters watched as Leif and Duke Swuke simultaneously sent two more frogs flying with a swing of the mace and a swipe of the claws. There were so many screams of agony and angst in this forest, it was as though the portal to the next world had just opened up.

"Pesky kids," Holy and Tobi heard from below. The unmotivated Sward was still trying to get some sleep by this tree. "Don't know when to keep the noise level down..." The two in the tree heard this and four more silver aliens had been stricken down courtesy of the other Spookalings. As soon as that happened, though, eight more enemies were upon them. This fight didn't end.

"Let me let you in on a little secret," Holy said to Tobi. "A long time ago, I went to Belome Rock. Rumor has it, the place is cursed. It bleeds whenever someone in the Clover Kingdom is going to die a horrible death within the next two days. Well, two days after that..."

"The battle of Vedgia took place," Tobi guessed.

Holy nodded. "Yeah. Now I'm starting to think the mountain may have made a similar prediction two days ago."

"I know what you mean," Tobi commented. "Two days ago, the lot of us had a little adventure against an ancient spirit named Tondariya. Two of our men, Naji and Cutlass, disappeared in the process. Well, that's behind us now, but it seems that if it's not one thing with us, it's another..."

Holy Troopa slowly nodded. Only two of the three names mentioned he recognized, but no matter what, he couldn't keep his eyes off the fight. Wartini had just crashed a bottle of wine into Swampic's eyes, and while Tapoleon was hardly anything of a match for Swine, Toonga was proving to be a very difficult opponent. "It's just a never-ending carousel ride with us, isn't it?" Holy remarked.

"And we could jump off, but that wouldn't stop it," Tobi replied. The two continued to watch as the battle raged on like an erupting volcano...

Sackle quickly found himself in a bind. He tried scampering away from Blifit's next wave of freezing cold breath, but he only ended up wiping out on some more of the ice and crashing into a frigid stone wall. Everything was spinning around. He could only make out two upside-down figures vaguely resembling Crookie and Crania fighting the monster. The blue-capped thief scrunched his eyes shut and clenched his fist tightly. Blifit...

The monster finished covering every inch of the floor. Now the arena was completely frozen, and anyone who had feet like the other two was going to have to pay for it. Crookie didn't care. He twisted his neck around, jumped onto a ramp of pure ice, and slid into the air with his fist reared back. Unfortunately, Blifit saw him too soon. She spun around and smacked the diminutive thief in the side of the head with an outstretched fist. Now Crookie was sprawling around hopelessly on the icy floor. One pest remained.

"Crookie!" Crania shouted in fear. The thief didn't answer, but Blifit was starting to float towards the Kremling woman with large arms hanging out like a bear's. Crania snarled and picked up her wrench. "You despicable wretch!" she yelled and charged forward. She attempted a swing to the behemoth's gut, but two tentacles suddenly whipped around her neck and pulled her off the ground. The wrench slipped away from the woman's fingers, clattering to the frozen ground. Now Crania was struggling in vain to pry Blifit's ghostly hands off of her neck.

"You must die," Blifit growled. "You can't leave. You can't face what's out there. I won't let you!"

"Guys," Crania croaked weakly, "help me!"

Still on his back, Sackle opened his eyes angrily. All right, Blifit, he thought vengefully, I don't even care anymore. You asked for it...

Swampic fired a meaty fist towards the wily Wartini. BOOM! The ground exploded into a mess of grass and soil, but Wartini was still unharmed. The frog had just hopped away. Swampic angrily turned to look where he had gotten to, and the amphibian had already gotten started on another bottle of beer.

"YER FUN TO PLAY WITH," the staggering frog stated. "I JUST KEEP GETTING DRUNKER AND DRUNKER AROUND YOU, DON'T I?!"

Swampic roared and slammed both fists down on his target. BAM! Still no dice. The frog was laughing heartily.

"THAT THE BEST YOU GOT? MAYBE YER NOT THAT BIG. MAYBE I JUST DRANK TOO MUCH..."

Swampic snarled ferociously and began hurling a never-ending barrage of punches at the pestering toad. The ground was gradually being torn apart and some of the trees were being shattered into a million pieces, but the overgrown Swoompire still couldn't hit that frog. As for his teammate Swine, on the other hand...

THUMP! The two of Toonga and Tapoleon were now out like a couple sacks of potatoes. They fell to the ground and a curious, green ooze that had been covering their mouths and nostrils magically slid right off their faces and onto the obese Swoompire's wrists. They turned back into his hands and he scoffed smugly. "That's what you get for tangling with the Swoompire of Gluttony..."

"Ah, yes, but what happens when you meddle with Slicer and Dicer?"

Swine looked up. Now a purple-hooded guy and his goofy-looking swordsman partner were staring him down. Behind them were another unconscious couple just like Toonga and Tapoleon: Swan and Swoosh. Swine looked genuinely agitated. "You did this?" he asked.

"That, we did!" Domino boasted. "What are you gonna do about it, fat man? Flatten us with your blubber?"

THOIP! Cloaker was laughing until this: Swine had turned his right arm into a long beam of sticky slime and the end of it was wrapping around where Domino's face would be without that mask. The wizard was starting to slowly lose consciousness. "Sorry about that," Swine mocked, "but were you saying something about my weight just now...?"

KRISSH! Five bloody holes had now been formed on another frog soldier's chest. He fell backwards from Duke Swuke's vicious claws, flopped onto the ground, and stayed there. Leif was bashing more people's heads in with that mace of his, but the head Swoompire wasn't interested in that. He turned around and saw how his troops were doing. Swampic was growing steadily frustrated with Wartini, Swine was taking care of Cloaker, and Swan and Swoosh had been taken care of by the former and his accomplice.

Most likely, the tall Swoompire thought, Sward is parked somewhere, resting his eyes at a key time like this... One frog came leaping through the air, aiming for the duke with a particularly solid metal club. The Swoompire didn't even look at him and the back of his fist had already met the man's face. BAM! Another frog was down. Perhaps the aliens and the Swoompires are evenly matched...

At the moment, Chogun was wishing he could say the same for himself and Welt. He had been running tirelessly for an indefinitely long amount of time now. Trying desperately to catch his breath, he remained in the shadow of one of the larger trees in the woods. Shimmering in his hand was the Energy Wand. Badly, he wanted to send a blast of pure pain hurtling towards the demonic frog, but he couldn't tell where he was now. The bug man kept his eyes peeled. Had he really lost him...?

"SURPRISE!!!

"AUGGH!" KA-BOOM! Chogun hadn't been thinking. He heard that pest's voice, turned, and fired. Now another tree in the Forest of Dheos was destroyed and Welt was still nowhere in sight. The bug looked around fervently.

"YOINK!"

The wand had been snatched right out of Chogun's hands. He instantly spun around in a panic. Now both his weapons were in the deranged Welt's hands.

"OOH, NOW YOU'RE HELPLESS," the frog taunted. "AND DON'T THINK I DON'T KNOW WHAT THIS IS..." The amphibian waved Chogun's Energy Wand. He looked at it quizzically and somewhat fearfully. "IT'S STAR ROCK. IS THERE A LOT OF IT ON THE MOON? WHO KNOWS, BUT IT CAN BE USED TO MAKE STAR WARRIORS... AND POWERFUL SPELLS. BUT SOMETHING DUMB LIKE THIS AIN’T GONNA DO SQUAT TO ME. YOU KNOW WHY?!"

Chogun said nothing and merely kept his frozen gaze on the frog.

"BECAUSE IT'S NOTHING BUT MIND POWER!" Welt explained. He tossed both weapons aside, much to the dismay of Chogun. "YOU NEED THIS," said the frog as he flexed a muscle on his left arm and held it tight. "LIFE. IT'S NOT JUST WHAT MAKES YOUR HEART BEAT; IT'S WHAT GIVES YOUR MUSCLES AND EVEN YOUR SKIN THE WILL TO FIGHT..."

Welt flipped his hands into delicate positions and stepped towards Chogun like a skilled martial artist. "IN OTHER WORDS, LITTLE MUTANT," the frog continued, "IT DOESN'T MATTER WHO SENT YOU; YOUR BRAIN IS NO MATCH FOR MY BODY!"

BOOM! The treasure hunter couldn't dodge it. Welt's fist came crashing through the air like lightning and detonated into his chest. The transformed man was sent reeling. Chogun quickly clasped onto the ground with his claws to stop himself, and promptly regurgitated right on the ground. Welt cackled at him. Dazedly, the man looked up. Welt's fist was still out, but it along with its arm was now wrapped up in coils of magic, light green bolts of electricity. Chogun gasped. He remembered something similar happening to him the fateful day he turned into this insect version of himself...

"WELL, YOU LITTLE ABOMINATION?" Welt threatened. "DO YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES TO CONQUER THE POWER OF LIFE?!"

The frog thrust out his left fist and rocketed it into the tree. BOOM! The blow connected harshly. The vibrations shook throughout the entire plant and its trunk split open. The whole thing went toppling over and it was all thanks to Welt. Chogun turned blue in the face.

I don't know if I can do this, the man thought. I feel like I've just awakened a sleeping dragon...

Davey stayed high up in the trees. He leaned his back firmly against the trunk and his gun was very close to his ever perspiring face. His eyes darted back and forth as he looked down. He looked as though he were trapped in a nightmare. Then he saw a blur of purple rush by and the boy fired. TSEW! He may have burnt a few leaves to a crisp, but that was it. The boy looked around some more. He saw the black boot of a soldier. TSEW! He broke a branch right off. Then he saw a pistol aiming towards him.

TSEW! Both guns were fired at once. Davey didn't have even a second to pray; he was instantly hit.

With an unfathomable amount of pain coursing through his right arm, the gun flipped out of Davey's hand and he went flying off the tree. In the next two seconds, he'd hit the ground, but at least there was nothing there but soft grass...

WHAM! Davey landed painfully and rolled onto his back. Everything was spinning. He felt like he had just been hit by a building. Whatever it was that got him, it had become clear to the young man now: it was practically an inevitability that these aliens would make it to the title of "Thirteenth God of Chaos", though he only knew scarcely of such a group...

TSEW! Davey's eyes snapped open. Was that an O-shaped laser he had just seen? He had seen all kinds of lasers now, but...

"Snifit?!" the boy called out in a shaky voice. "Is that you?!"

"Snifit, you say?" Davey shrunk. He realized there was still no one around here except the twisted Trigg. The gun-toting alien was slowly striding in his direction, talking from a distance. "Sorry, friend, but I'm not him. I did fight him once, though..."

Trigg stopped walking. Davey gasped. He knows Snifit?!...

"It all happened during the final battle one year ago," the alien explained. He started fiddling with his pistol absentmindedly. "While the captain was left with a strange woman named Princess Shokora and the commander, a man named King Carroo, I got an 8-Bit by the name of Snifit. I told him he couldn't keep cowering behind the name of Tondariya forever. He told me he was only fighting out of concern for his friends. An admirable individual, I must admit..."

Trigg's words were only floating in and out of Davey's ears. Very little of what he was saying was making any sense. He knows Snifit...?

"We couldn't finish the battle, though," Trigg went on. "We ended up suddenly piling into the spaceship for our own good. Apparently, someone or something was 'gonna blow'. I don't know how Snifit survived, but he did...

"Months later, we deployed our attack on Thornton in Mario Land. The commander was able to bag a little Magikoopa that time, but me..." The alien stopped and laughed. "I got Snifit. What a coincidence, eh? We were glad to see each other. We had been honing our skills since our last confrontation. Now the time came for our test...

"I was surprised by the growth he had undergone those past few months. However, it wasn't enough. You see, I had something he didn't..." Trigg stopped fiddling with his gun for one second. He pointed it directly at Davey's face. The boy became petrified with fear.

TSEW! BAM! Davey's eyes were still shut. All he felt was some hot clumps of dirt falling on top of him out of nowhere. Then he forced his eyes open and saw what happened: a moat had instantly been formed around him. It looked like his outline.

Trigg twirled the gun around in his right hand confidently. "I found out how to force my will into non-living things. That Welt may look down on such a thing, but it can work wonders. For instance, it's how I can see things I'm not even facing. It's how I can change the shape of the laser I'm firing." The gunner stopped flipping the gun around and grinned. "I can even control how fast or how slow the light goes, so my prey can never tell how or when he's going to die..."

Davey's foggy mind struggled to comprehend the situation. He is, he thought, too much...

"You get it now, I see," Trigg gloated. He pointed the gun right back at the boy's face. "Snifit didn't stand a chance. I captured him and got promoted for it. A better symbol of great power, I know of none..."

Davey stared down Trigg's barrel, too scared to move. This can't be happening, he thought. The aliens have already won...

Meanwhile, White Rose was defiantly holding his sword in his hands and beckoning the next Swoopzilla with his glaring eyes. The giant beast hissed and swooped down to snatch his torso in its fangs. Once the knight saw this, he jumped into the air, flipped onto the monster's back, and swung his sword. SHINK! The creature's unsightly head flew off, spraying a thick, dark liquid everywhere. The rest of the body went crashing into the ground like a flaming airplane, but the swordsman just jumped off at the right time.

Now only one Swoopzilla was left. It hovered high up in the air, just below the leaves. It met its eyes with White Rose's. What happened next was a deafening shriek. The winged creature had opened its mouth up wide and now waves of pure sound were blazing through the air and ensnaring the mysterious White Rose in a field of deadly vibrations. The warrior concentrated fiercely to hold his ground and reach for his wand.

Fire burns everything, the brave man thought, and he thrust forward a powerful maelstrom of flames and death. They bore through the soundwaves like meteorites against the atmosphere. The knight forced out one last surge of concentration and the barrier was broken.

FWOOSH! The entire bat went up in flames. It flapped its wings desperately, but that only made the fire worse. Finally, the creature plummeted to the ground as an oversized, lifeless fireball... that was starting to set wood and blades of grass on fire. White Rose stared at this in fright.

I underestimated this thing, he thought, looking at the wand in horror. Now I've caused a forest fire!

The knight jumped back suddenly. The flames were now starting to sweep towards his feet. The unforgiving glow of blue and red was everywhere now, and the swordsman wasn't sure what to do next. We need help, he thought, starting to make a break for it. Badly...

Presently, Xoshi and Trann were putting on quite the show. No matter what they did, the audience ate it up. They all yelled and cheered as though this were the fight of the century. Trann thought otherwise, though. The two of him and his opponent may have been turning this battlefield into a constantly exploding spiral of gold and purple fireworks, but, to him, this was no more than child's play.

"Come on, you runt!" Trann yelled to Xoshi as he easily swerved away from another flying ball of gold fire. "Show me what you're REALLY capable of! Show me that you can take out a single man! No, show me you can take on an entire army! DO IT, NOW!"

Xoshi grit his teeth and hurled one last golden fireball at his enemy's face. This one missed as well, but he didn't pay for it. Trann then swung his scythe at him and CRACK! It stopped in midair, or so the alien thought. He looked closer and noticed how Xoshi was now holding a spear made out of golden, sparkling energy. The scythe couldn't penetrate through it. Trann grinned.

"That's it, hero," the alien taunted. "Pull that power out! Blow me away!"

Xoshi furled his brow and flung Trann's scythe away. Then he swung at him with his sharp staff. Trann dodged it and started fighting back with his own weapon. Now the two were a cyclone of power and metal repeatedly clashing. The audience was growing steadily more eager...

Up in the trees, Tobi and Holy Troopa were unable to keep their eyes off the battle themselves. At this point, not even they could tell who was going to win.

"Who is that person?" Tobi asked, stricken with awe. "How can he stand fighting a man like Trann? He must have monstrous strength!"

"That's Xoshi from Yoshi's Island," Holy explained. "Me and my friends dealt with him a little while ago. Rumor has it, he's on the same level as the man who took down Bowser, Yoshi, descendant of the original Yoshi. Personally, I prefer to keep away from a man like that..."

"I see..."

Trann went for the hundredth swing. It was crashing down on Xoshi when he thrust his spear upward and snagged the thing's blade with it. Using all his strength, he forced the weapon to slam into the ground the opposite way. Trann could only barely hold on. Xoshi kept his eye on him and fired another attack. He used his spear in the ground to swing himself in a circle and blast both feet into the enemy's chest.

BAM! Now Trann was sprawling away from his weapon. All according to Xoshi's plan. He ripped his spear out of the ground and started marching towards his sinister opponent. Trann, however, was still going. SCREE! Xoshi barely got away in time. Even though he was on his back now, Trann was again firing multiple shots of his flaming skulls. The brown Yoshi danced around them for a bit, then decided to improvise. He reared his arm back and sent the spear flying.

THUNK! The crowd gasped. Trann stopped firing his skulls. Instead, he was now clutching at the golden spear lodged in the right side of his chest. Xoshi stared at his suffering spitefully. He felt it wouldn't matter if such a man died right then and there. But then he started laughing...

"Wonderful!" Trann wailed. "This is WONDERFUL! I've finally found the perfect fighter! Countless battles I've fought, and of all of them, the one with the brown Yoshi is the kicker! That seat next to the commander is as good as mine. I've never felt so alive! HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!"

Xoshi stared at the maniacal alien in a cold sweat. He couldn't tell if he was winning this fight or not.

Trann stopped laughing, pulled himself up, and ripped the golden spear out of his chest. The instant he did so, the magical weapon disintegrated into dust in the air. Then he forced himself to stand up in spite of the bleeding hole in his chest. "WELL?!" he called out to all the aliens in the audience. "Let's do this. One little Yoshi... and we will have everything! Money, power, a throne amongst the elite! We will become beacons of victory for the Gonnic Gang! And when our captain seizes the universe, we will have the power to claim what is ours! We will be UNSTOPPABLE!"

"Unstoppable," the aliens in the crowd started to murmur. Xoshi looked around at them. They were all mumbling the word as though it had been centuries since the last time anyone spoke it. The more they said it, the more excited they became. They were even starting to pick their weapons back up, their eyes gleaming with insanity.

"Unstoppable..." Xoshi looked harder. Now even the aliens he and the two Spookalings had taken down earlier were getting off the ground, charged up with a new fighting spirit. More and more aliens with that murderous look were starting to crowd the Yoshi. He felt like his darkest fears were starting to come true.

"Unstoppable! Unstoppable!" It was like a chant now, and all of it was aimed towards Xoshi. Was he really going to survive this?

In the middle of the chanting, Trann threw his arm out, pointed at Xoshi, and screamed at the top of his lungs. "ANNIHILAAAAATE!!!"

Xoshi blinked and instantly regretted it. In the next second, all he could see was flashes of purple and brandishing weapons. It was all around him and it was gradually ripping him apart. He could feel his skin being hacked at with knives, steel bats plowing into his gut, and even sets of teeth biting into his tail. These aliens had become ten times stronger than their normal selves, and Xoshi was at their mercy.

Like that, hero? Trann thought exhaustedly as he slowly knelt to the ground, panting heavily. I can take take away people's lives just as easily as I can give it right back to them, a power more fit for royalty than even anything Wart could shell out! Now fall to the darkness and become our slave...

In the middle of the blood fest, Xoshi was slowly losing it. Beel! he called out desperately. Quick! Tell me what to do! I'm going to die!

Xoshi, I'm afraid there's only one thing I can do, and it's not a pretty sight...

I don't care! Just do it!

All right...

Back in the cave, the danger was reaching its peak. Crania was still trapped in Blifit's merciless claws and her face was starting to turn blue. Just a few more seconds of this torment, and it'd all be over for her. Sackle hardly knew her, but he still felt the urge to stop all this. He got off the ground, unsheathed eight more knives, and prepared for the final blow.

All right, Blifit, he thought grimly. Time to-

-CRACK! A loud noise disrupted the thief's senses. He couldn't tell from where it came, but there was still a woman in dire need of saving right in front of him.

Whatever, he thought as he squatted and aimed for the heart. It's over...

CHING! Blifit's eyes widened. Her grip loosened and Crania fell to the icy floor, finally free from the woman's grasp. She was clutching at her throat, coughing and wheezing, when she looked up and saw Sackle had not moved a muscle. He was still standing there in his pre-attacking stance, only now there was a look of shock on his face. Crania looked at Blifit and saw why this was.

The job had already been done. There was now a big, frosty icicle sticking out of Blifit's chest. The ghostly woman was still writhing in pain from the blow. Then SHUNK! The frozen weapon was pulled out from behind and Blifit keeled over in midair. A pale blue light began to surround her. The femme fatale had been defeated. Her victor was standing right behind her, giant icicle in hand.

"That oughtta teach ya to mess with my friends," Crookie spat. He tossed the icicle aside and it shattered into a dozen frigid pieces.

"Crookie!" Crania breathed excitedly. "You did it!"

"I did?!" Crookie looked at what had become of Blifit. Instead of the hulking, blue monster they had all fought, she now seemed to be nothing more than that strange light floating in midair. "Oh," Crookie said, rubbing the back of his head. "I guess I did..."

"Yeah, way to go, genius," Sackle grumbled. "You just killed a close friend of mine!"

Crookie looked horrified. "Uh... I did...?"

"You didn't..."

Suddenly, everyone's eyes were on the light. Finally, it had taken on a form. It resembled the original Blifit, back when she was still alive, but she still floated like a ghost. Around her, the ice was starting to melt. The three thieves were awed by this sudden phenomenon. Then the fading woman began to speak to the leader.

"Sackle, I'm sorry for all the trouble I've caused you. When that explosion hit, I took it head-on. When I came to, I was on the brink of death. I was willing to give anything to have my life back. That was when a man named King Carrot approached me..."

"King Carrot?!" Sackle repeated. "Ruler of Vedgia?!"

"That's right. He told me I could have ever-lasting life if I just offered my soul to the great King Turnip. Little did I know it takes more than blind devotion to a god to achieve ever-lasting life...

"In death, all I could think about was all the mistakes I made in the past. I wanted money more than anything. Because of that, I kept sticking my neck in places where it didn't belong. A woman named Merlydia even told me not to go to Vedgia... but I did anyway..."

"Merlydia?" Crania said.

"The descendant of Merlauren, sister of Merlar, and one of the greatest psychics of all time," Crookie briefly explained.

"She told me everything... She told me a second Trondaga was coming. It's called Sahndaga and it all begins in Vedgia...

"So that's why things have been so screwy lately," Sackle realized.

"Sackle, I didn't want anyone to make the same mistake I did. I didn't want them attempting to take on something bigger than the entire world itself only to die before they were even ready. I began to develop the mentality that I had to do what it took to prevent anyone from doing this, even killing them. I reasoned it was better than the alternative..."

"Blifit..."

"But now I find I'm only reducing myself to what I've always hated all these years: someone telling you what to do and what not to do..."

Crookie and Crania's hands were clasped together between them. They stood there silently as Sackle slowly nodded his head. "Yeah," he said. "I know what you mean..."

"Well, Sackle... I feel I can go now. I've made up my mind: I don't care if you wanna strike it big or save the world, or whatever; just do me a favor and... remember me..."

Crookie and Crania looked greatly saddened. They had only recently met this woman, and already she was disappearing. Sackle, on the other hand, just looked directly into the woman's eyes and nodded. "You got it, babe."

Blifit bowed to her former partner as though it were the end of the play. She stayed in that position until all that was left of her was a few sparkling snowflakes hanging in the air. They gently floated to the ground and disappeared into the cold water. Sackle knelt down and took off his hat. Crookie did the same thing. Crania just slipped off her bandanna.

Don't worry, Blifit, Sackle thought, once we make those millions of coins... we'll use them to create a place where none of this trite exists... just like how we always wanted...

BAM! Guido finally got a good hit in against the brutish Slam. When the lumbering alien was about to swing his hammer down onto the Mario's head, he flipped into the air and socked him right in the jaw with a kick. The ogre was staggering backwards now, but Guido could tell this beast was still far from defeated. The huge silver man promptly stopped reeling, shook his head, and fixed his demonic gaze once more upon the smaller Guido.

"It hurt me," the creature mumbled. "I didn't know it could do that..."

Guido's face turned red with frustration. He yelled out an infuriated battle cry and came stampeding towards his larger opponent. CHING! The hammers were clashing once more. Each blow came as quickly as the last, yet, just as quickly, they were blocked and countered. Would this fight never end?

FWOOSH! Both fighters jumped back suddenly. An unmistakable pain had just swept past their feet and it dawned on them almost immediately. "A forest fire," Slam mumbled. "How interesting..."

Guido looked around in a panic. The fire was slowly engulfing all the grass around them, and even the leaves. In the worst case scenario, this dark and foreboding forest would quickly become a peckish inferno...

WHAM! The sensation of cold, hard steel and blazing flames slammed into Guido's chest. It hurt like a thousand knives. The Mario was sent careening through the air and into a deeper section of the woods, this one being the source of the raging flames...

Slam grinned to himself as the flames licking the end of his now glowing red hammer faded away. "How I love the fire," the monster said to himself. "Always gets the job done..."

Guido forced himself off the ground. He still couldn't believe how badly that burned. Now the entire front section of his outfit was scorched black, and he could only imagine the damage on the inside. Then the soldier snapped out of his daze and noticed how much bigger the flames behind him were. His eyes widened in horror.

"GUIDO!"

The man jolted. He didn't notice how White Rose had been sprinting towards him this whole time. "Wh-Who are you? How do you know my name?" he stammered.

The knight skidded to a stop and explained it quickly. "It doesn't matter. We need your wand's power. Now."

"My wand?!" Guido blurted. "I don't have a wand!"

White Rose stared at him. "Xoshi didn't give it to you?"

Guido looked at him quizzically. "You mean that brown Yoshi?"

CRACK! A huge tree suddenly broke in half and crashed to the ground in flames. Now the path was blocked for Guido and White Rose.

This is getting from bad to worse, White Rose thought darkly...

SHING! SHING! SHING! Cloaker swung his sword non-stop at the gelatinous Swine. Not a single one of the blows had any effect. Each time, the blade went right through him like green jelly and the Swoompire remained unharmed. Frustration quickly crept up on the alien's senses.

"I must defeat you!" Cloaker panted. "I must defeat you! I MUST!"

BAM! The silver alien got a solid fist square in the nose. Cloaker looked dazed for a moment, then dropped his sword and fell to the ground in a heap. Swine huffed exasperatedly at the unconscious man. "Useless little twerps," he griped. "They're hardly even worth my time..."

WHAP! A cold hand suddenly latched onto a scruff of the rotund Swoompire's robe. He looked behind him and saw a barely alive Domino pushing himself to his limits. "You fiend!" the wizard croaked. "Cloaker, dear friend, I shall avenge your pain!"

FOOM! "AAAUUUGHHH!" Domino instantly leapt off of Swine and started rolling around in the grass madly. Swine was confused for one second, then a tad worried. He looked up and noticed the fire that was spreading throughout the woods.

Not like this, thought the Swoompire of Gluttony...

Leif and Duke Dwuke were also becoming worried about this newfound problem. It left them disoriented and open, but, for the moment, no new frogs were going to dare taking them on.

"Where did this fire come from?!" Leif demanded.

"Count Dheos, your beautiful forest," Swuke stated distantly.

"HEY!"

The witch hunter and the warlock turned and faced another problem: two more frogs were left: Wax and Wane. In spite of everything, they were looking to be pretty confident in themselves.

"Don't think the battle's over just yet, Tronnajans!" Wax proclaimed.

"As long as there's still some life in these bones, the Gonnic Gang will never fall!" Wane declared.

Leif and the duke stared at this new duo. Their eyes exchanged looks for one second, and then they decided on two more targets. Leif lifted up his wand and Swuke lifted up his hand. Ready as ever, the two amphibians put up their fists, not knowing of the crushing that awaited them. Then...

Swampic and Wartini heard it. Guido and White Rose heard it. Swine, Domino, Leif, Duke Swuke, the Spookalings, the aliens... All of them heard it coursing through their ears: the sound of running water, quiet at first, and then it began its ascension into the disastrous sound of a tidal wave bigger than anything. When the fighters stopped to look, they saw life and death rushing towards them like a gigantic sideways avalanche. The forest was being flooded...

Hmm... Slam thought as the water came like a massive hurricane. I wonder if I'll survive this...?

FFFOOOMMM!!!...

For what felt like an entire day in just one minute, everyone in the dreaded Forest of Dheos remained trapped beneath the merciless onslaught of a runaway ocean. Those who were quick enough held on to something tight and held their breaths...

The storm was over now. The sudden explosion of water was drifting off into the distance, and everything had been reduced to utterly drenched shambles. Broken tree branches, leaves, blades of grass, clumps of dirt, unconscious fighters... they littered the entire forest. Only the few that were still standing could wipe the water from their eyes and look once more at their opponents. Now, albeit sopping wet from the ordeal, Foreman Spike, Oglian, King Boo, and others could restart the fighting. The forest was silent for one second only for the war to pick back up again. All this, and the deranged Razeil continued laughing it up on his little tree branch.

"FIGHT!" the crazed Raven crowed. "FIGHT UNTIL YOU DIE!"

Big Boo shot himself forward like a white cannonball and blasted another silver alien in the gut. Jax threw a punch at one, but the man caught his fist in his own and kicked the dwarf's face in. Dorreen knocked another one upside the head with her tail and Capt. Spatula was biting into one of their heads. Princess Cherry Blossom was still looking on at her father in worry...

Swine, Duke Swuke, and Leif were all still standing, but they also looked greatly agitated. By now, Domino had stopped running around like crazy, but both he and Cloaker had still been swept away by the tide. As for Wax and Wane, although they had been to fight with everything, they too had gone with the water. Only a select few fighters remained standing.

"It was nice fighting with you," Duke Swuke said curtly as he twirled some locks of sopping wet hair out of his eyes with his pointy fingernails. "Now I must leave you for another day..."

The tall Swoompire strode off. Swine also had somewhere else to be. At this point, Leif was alone. He worried for the others' safety. Only the strongest fighters are left now, the Viking reasoned solemnly. I fear the worst...

Back in the middle of the woods, the drenched Guido and White Rose remained standing around in complete shock and disbelief. "Wha... What was that?!" Guido elicited.

"I... I'm not sure," White Rose replied. The fire was gone now, but the two heroes did not feel they were in the clear. Something still seemed to be amiss...

Guido and White Rose snapped out of it. Somewhere behind them, they swore they could hear the sound of a man's hoarse coughing. Now worried, the two travelers looked each other in the eye and took off towards the source of the sound. With any luck, they'd be able to help at least one person this day...

Deeper into the forest, the purple aliens were starting to back away in fright. Even Trann looked spooked. One second, a gigantic tidal wave was gushing through the forest. The next, their brown Yoshi of an opponent was glowing strangely with a fierce, golden light. He almost looked as though he had become a star. Even the Yoshi himself was awestricken.

Beel, he thought, what's going on?!

I'm going to do something I've only done once before, the Star Warrior replied. Now listen closely because I may never get a chance to tell you this again...

WHAT?!...

Guido and White Rose had found the source of the coughing. Their search had led them to a person lying in the grass, struggling to breathe. His body was covered in countless bruises, cuts, and wounds. The Yoshi looked as though he had just fought the nightmare to end them all and had only been able to return from it barely alive. Guido and White Rose helped the purple Yo'ster sit up.

"Are you all right, friend?" White Rose beckoned. "Speak to us!"

"Th-Thank you," Naji rasped. Apparently, even his throat was badly suffering from numerous wounds. "I just wanted to speak with one last person... Anyone... That's all..."

"No, you shouldn't talk!" Guido insisted. "We're gonna get you some help. Just hold on!"

Naji laughed weakly and coughed some more. "No... I'm pretty sure this is it..."

Meanwhile, Xoshi's body was starting to glow even brighter. The aliens were still petrified with fear and confusion. After this, you must head for Angel Mountain and the Gulpit Tunnel, Beel explained, doing his best to make this quick. Find Jeremiah and Christopher, give them the Air Wand and Ice Wand. After that, only the oncoming evil remains. You will find out who it is soon enough...

Beel, what are you saying?!

I only regret that I have not yet finished my battle with Titotal Gonnic... Then again, it's likely he does not remember Princess Shokora...

"I just need your names," Naji whispered. "That's it..."

Guido stared at the Yoshi with quivering eyes, but complied with his request just the same. "I'm Guido. Guido Acqua."

"People just call me the White Rose."

"All right then, Guido..." Naji weakly lifted one hand up to his face. He slipped the slightly scuffed-up shades off and placed them on Guido's ears and nose. "Kame Shades," he said. "Your enemies'll never be able to sneak attack you again. And you..." For White Rose, the purple Yoshi took off his blanket. "It's a Koopa Cloak. Magikoopas use 'em sometimes. It allows you to turn your elemental spells into any kind of element. This one works on fire-types... like me..."

White Rose nodded. He unfastened the white cape around his own neck and tied on the new one, but he put it on backwards. The knight preferred the white side to be the one on top.

"Two things," Naji garbled. "Tell my friends on Lavalava Island, Noshi and Fyooshi, that I'll miss them..."

"Don't worry," Guido said quietly as he poked his new shades so they'd balance on his forehead instead. "We'll do as you tell us..."

"And if you ever find a guy named Cutlass... tell him Naji sent ya... Then destroy him. I'd appreciate it..."

"Um..."

"Don't worry," White Rose responded. "You have our word..."

Naji smiled. "Thanks, guys..."

The moon was out. The downed Wereyoshi could see it hanging loftily above the leaves. He pried one weakened hand off the ground and reached out to it, begging it for power. He didn't want to help the one called Xoshi, but he knew he had no choice. "Come on," the Wereyoshi urged. "Why won't it work?! WHY?!..."

By now, Trann was starting to become increasingly frustrated. The enemy may have been glowing a strange color for some time now, but that's all he was doing. His minions were given an order, and they weren't obeying it. "IMBECILES!" the power-hungry alien shrieked. "GET HIM! HE'S NOTHING MORE THAN A MERE YOSHI!!!"

"He's right!" one purple alien yelled. He brandished a spear and yelled  heartily, "LET'S GET HIM!"

"YEEAAHH!!!"

The aliens were charging once more. Xoshi's heartbeat was erratic. He couldn't tell who was going to die. Xoshi, Beel added, I'm going to tell you something my good friend Shmy Guy once told us...

Naji suddenly bent forward and hacked crazily. Large amounts of blood were flying out of his mouth and splattering on the ground. Guido and White Rose urged him to get a hold of himself. "I'm all right," he insisted. "I'm just gonna tell you something a friend of mine once said..."

"Whatever you do..."

Stars started flying rapidly off of Xoshi's body. Naji's eyes were starting to roll back into his head...

"Don't let the world fall into the wrong hands..."

BBBOOOOOOOOOMMM...

Night had long since fallen. Only a veil of dark blue and thousands of little stars hung high above over the weary heads of the Clover Kingdom. From a distance, things were peaceful like a small trail of running water.

However, right now, one thing was shining even brighter than the full moon in the sky. Even from far away, the Three Boombateers could see it. Deep inside the infamous Forest of Dheos, a new star had been born. It was as big as the temple on Kariboo Island and its radiance was more brilliant than gold. All three of the dubious characters were observing the phenomenon from miles away, and they were rendered speechless.

"Ren?" Goomba Prince asked. "What's going on?"

"I have no idea, Prince."

"It's Xoshi," Razule stated. His two partners started staring at him. "He has now become one with Sahndaga..."

Swampic and Wartini winced from the light. Swine and Duke Swuke were also reeling from it. All of the fights had once again come to a standstill. First, it was because of the water. Now it was because of the star...

All three of King Boo, Oglian, and Katana had become majorly disoriented. Wart and Foreman Spike were as well, but they quickly decided they weren't going to make the same mistakes as their opponents. The battle was gradually reaching its end...

Xoshi stood firmly with both arms covering his eyes. Slowly, he opened them up and put his arms down. Finally, he could see what the result of this spell was: a whole battlefield full of dead purple space aliens. Their bodies were motionless and their limbs and weapons were strewn all over the place. Spears, guns, and swords alike were covered in purple blood. Yoshiki and the Wereyoshi were nowhere to be found. Xoshi's body was becoming increasingly sweaty. He felt like he was starting to suffocate...

"You're in it now, hero..."

Xoshi spun around. His clothes had been torn to shreds and wounds veiled his entire body, but Trann was still there. He was crouching down and staring at his brown rival from atop a tree branch on the other side of the opening.

"You've become a marked man," Trann declared. "I can see it all now... From this day forward, your name's going to be spreading all across the lands like a plague. Soon, everyone will fear the name of the man who single-handedly took down 30 of Titotal Gonnic's best men in an instant. And those who don't fear it... they'll want you... They'll come after you, hero. They want that same power you used to defy death. You'll have to outdo yourself thousands of times, over and over again, just to stay alive. In time, you'll find yourself trapped in a maze of endless torment, and the only way out is to tell the heavens they won't be taking your life for another million years... or ever... That's the life I see in you...

"Hero... Tell me your name..."

Xoshi stared sternly into Trann's eyes and stated it. "Xoshi. Xoshi Quasar."

"Xoshi Quasar..." Trann chuckled to himself with a devious grin on his face. Finally, he stopped and held out his hands as if to reach out to Xoshi. "Welcome to the real world..."

WHUMP! The demented alien fell out of the tree, crashed to the ground below, and stayed there. Now Xoshi was alone. He hesitantly lifted up his four-fingered hands and stared at them in desperation. Beel, he thought, tell me what to do...

There was no answer.

BEEL?!

Still no answer. Xoshi dropped his hands to his side and fell to his knees. He grit his teeth, smashed both fists into the ground, and hung his face so low, all he could see was black. Tears were streaming from his eyes...

Meanwhile, Tobi and Holy were sitting in their tree with dropped jaws. The last vision they had just beheld had become burned into their minds. Now they didn't know what anything was anymore.

"We've gotten ourselves in too deep," Tobi said fearfully.

"No, WE'VE gotten in too deep!" Holy argued.

"I've got to tell Wart."

"I've got to tell King Boo!"

The two jumped down from the tree, landed in front of the resting Sward, and sped off. The slow-moving Swoompire awoke with a start and saw the two running away. "Heh, it's raining dwarfs and Paratroopas now? What's next?" The Swoompire stood up and stretched. He grabbed his cane, adjusted his top hat, and began to walk away himself. "Well... Might as well see what Duke Swuke's up to..."

BAM! Foreman Spike finally got a good hit in against the skilled Katana. His sledgehammer had gotten the alien hard in the side of the head. Now his sword was out of his hands and the man was lying on the ground with a big bump on his head.

"Gotcha, you whelp!" the foreman gloated. He proudly stashed his hammer away and started pointing to the alien's face. "Now tell me where Cutlass is!" Katana didn't say anything. His mouth was hanging open, but it was just as silent as his weapon. "Uh... Guy?" Spike said. "Come on, I didn't hit you THAT hard... Well, maybe I did, but... Ah, forget it..." The foreman finally walked away and left Katana alone. "I wonder how Oglian's doing..."

SHLUCK! Oglian was in a bind... literally. The instant she let her guard down, Wart's huge, sticky tongue was wrapped around her body. Even her arms and hands were stuck. The Sky Leopard, Scarvus, could only flop to the ground lifelessly now. "Old lady!" King Boo yelled.

"Don't worry about me," the Magikoopa said with a subtle smile. "You're still alive, aren't you?"

CRACK! Wart's tongue snapped loudly as it rocketed right back into his mouth, taking Oglian's body with it. Both King Boo and Foreman Spike had seen this, yet both could only sit back and stare in horror. GLUMP! Wart swallowed the kindly old witch and his mouth spread into a malicious, toothy smile.

"ALL OF YOU," said the giant frog, "YOU'RE GOING TO DIE..."

"RRAAWWGGHH!" King Boo and the foreman screamed bloody murder and started bolting towards this heartless beast. Then...

"WAAAARRTT!"

"KIIING BOOOO!"

BAM! Tobi had leapt out of nowhere, landed atop Foreman Spike's head, and smashed him into the ground like a Goomba. Holy Troopa, on the other hand, had flown right over them both along with Wart. Now he was in front of his ghostly superior. Both he and the alien were babbling incoherently in front of their leaders.

"We gotta get outta here!" Holy blurted.

"There's a guy here, and we can't take him!" Tobi confessed.

"We're as good as dead!"

"You gotta do something!"

"ALL RIGHT, FINE!" King Boo yelled. Both Holy and Tobi were silent now. "Get the others. We're getting out of here. I don't think we'll be able to last another minute here, anyway."

"Yes, sir!" Holy Troopa saluted his boss and flew away. King Boo almost immediately started following his example.

"THIS AINT OVER, WART!" he called back as he flew away. "MARK MY WORDS: YOU WON'T DIE PEACEFULLY!"

Finally, both the ghosts were gone. Only Wart and Tobi were left. The giant amphibian of the pair looked around. Only now did he realize how many of his troops had been taken out. The frogs were nearly gone, and all four of Toonga, Tapoleon, Cloaker, and Domino were unconscious. He could see Wartini was still battling Swampic, but Swine and Swuke had recently joined the side of the tremendous Swoompire. Things weren't looking good.

However, Swan and Swoosh were also down and a good portion of the silvers were still going at it with the ghosts. As for the others, they couldn't be seen right now, but Wart held faith in their victories. Nonetheless, Tobi had still come to him with urgent news: they were losing this fight.

"Sir?" the diminutive alien squeaked.

Wart took a deep breath and bellowed out a terrifying roar that resonated throughout the entire forest. "PROUD MEMBERS OF THE GONNIC GANG!!!" he raged, louder than a tornado. Tobi was covering his ears. "FALL BACK! THE BATTLE ENDS HERE!!!" Tobi heard it, Wartini heard it, and the silvers heard it. The invaders of the Forest of Dheos were finally starting to clear out...

THUNK! Welt fired the axe at Chogun. The weapon landed too close to his head and became lodged in the ground. The wand was thrown on top of his chest.

"HERE'S YOUR STUFF BACK, WEAKLING," the insane frog grumbled. "NOW STOP BEING SUCH A WEAKLING..."

Welt sped off. Chogun only felt slightly relieved. He tiredly lifted his hands up and covered his face with them. I couldn't even put a scratch on him... I'm worthless...

TSEW! Trigg had pulled the trigger, but again, Davey was unharmed. This time, the laser just went sailing off into the night sky. Where it would wind up, no one knew. Davey just remained lying on the ground, panting and staring at his enemy.

"Well, kid," the skilled sharpshooter said, "I guess this is goodbye. It was fun messing with you..." The alien put his gun away and began to walk in the opposite direction of his victim. "Just remember," he said as he continued walking, "if you wanna reach my level... you're gonna have to reach Snifit's first..."

Davey watched exhaustedly as the alien disappeared. When the man was gone, the boy flopped his head back onto the ground and panted fervently. Snifit, he wondered, what have you gone through...?

"DAVEY!"

The shrunken man couldn't turn his head to look, but Leif Erripipe was now running towards him. He continued to lie there, stare vacantly, and breathe. Finally, Leif was crouched down in front of him, looking very serious.

"Heaven have mercy," the Viking uttered. "What happened to you?!"

Davey didn't say anything. He glanced at the muscular witch hunter, gulped, and continued panting. Leif sighed and began to pick the boy up.

"Don't worry," he said as he slung the boy over his shoulder and began to carry him off like a dead seal. "The next time our swords cross, we'll be much stronger. I guarantee it..."

Davey barely managed a smile upon his worn-out face. Heh heh... He's kind of like Big Guy...

In the opening where the greatest of the battles had been fought, Xoshi was still on the ground. His cheeks were moist with salty tears and his mind was cloudy. Only two words came to him, clear as a bell. Titotal... Gonnic...

Further away, a makeshift grave stood. It was a simple thing, being comprised of only a motionless person and a white cape tossed over his body. Here, the great Naji would rest. Guido and White Rose had only known him for a few minutes, yet they owed him everything. It was he who stopped the fire and passed his will onto two new, fierce warriors. All he had left to do now was to join his friends, Beel and Shmy Guy. All three had been waiting...

Meanwhile, the two who had picked up the torch in Naji's place were returning to their journey. Guido and White Rose finally found another living soul after walking away from their adventure. Their stroll led them to an opening in the woods, littered with dead purple aliens. The two were horrified by the sight. What was worse was that in the center of it all appeared to be Xoshi.

"Sir Xoshi," White Rose said in disbelief as he strode closer to the Yo'ster, "you did all this?"

"No," Xoshi mumbled, still burying his face in the ground. "Someone else did it. All I did was watch..."

"Someone else, you say..." White Rose scratched his chin. Guido continued to look around with his eyes wide in horror. "Who was it?"

"No one. I'd rather not talk about it..." Xoshi pushed himself onto his feet with his back still facing his two teammates. He wiped his face off with his arm and began to walk off. "Come on," he said, barely audible. "The others are waiting..."

Guido and White Rose watched worriedly as their leader slowly walked away with hunched shoulders. He hadn't even given them a passing glance. Was he going to be all right? Guido and White Rose looked at each other. Hesitantly, they too started to walk in Xoshi's direction...

Back at the section of the forest where the whole battle began, the last few aliens were beginning to clear out. The forest was steadily growing emptier. Wart and Tobi were two of the few that were still there.

"SO A BROWN YOSHI NAMED XOSHI IS ON THE LOOSE," the overgrown amphibian summarized. Tobi nodded. "WELL THEN... I HAVE A SPECIAL ASSIGNMENT FOR YOU, TOBI..."

"Yes, sir?" the alien saluted.

"RETURN TO THE SHIP," the frog instructed. "TELL TITO EVERYTHING YOU SAW. SPARE NO DETAIL."

"Sir, yes, sir!" Tobi saluted his commander once more, turned around, and scurried off. Wart watched for only about a second. Then he turned around and began to waddle his own way out of the forest. Along the way, he was met up with by the six Swoompires. Two of them were still unconscious.

"So, alien, what do you plan on doing now?" Duke Swuke drawled.

"WE WILL CONTINUE WITH THE PLAN," the toad replied. "WE SHYSSES WON'T HAND THE GALAXY OVER TO YOU TRONNAJANS."

"You can have the galaxy," Duke Swuke answered. He and the other Swoompires began to walk away. "We Swoompires just want the world..."

Outside of the forest, King Boo and the remnants of his minions were hiding away behind a ledge bordering the outskirts of the Clover Kingdom. Jax, Dorreen, and Capt. Spatula were all tending to their wounds, but Big Boo and Holy Troopa were too busy flipping out in front of their crowned leader. Apparently, their two Yoshi friends had gone missing, and they weren't back yet.

"What if he's being attacked by all those Swoopers in there?! I heard those things are gigantic!"

"What if Xoshi's gotten to her?! I'll kill that scum if I find even one mark on her!"

"BOTH OF YOU, SHUT UP!" King Boo ordered. His two subordinates became silent. The ghostly king was holding his red crown in one hand and using the other to massage his head wearily. "If you're that worried about them, go out and look for them. Yeah, and take these with you..." The royal Boo reached into his crown and pulled out two walkie talkie-type devices. He handed them to Holy Troopa and Big Boo. "Vedgie Talkies. Never leave home without 'em," King Boo explained. "Just give us a call when... whenever. We'll be at Clubba Fortress."

"All right, Boss, thanks!" Holy Troopa obliged. He and Big Boo nodded to their king and flew off into the night. King Boo tiredly put the crown back on his head and sighed heavily. The next thing he knew, thin, delicate arms were wrapped tightly around him.

"Hey! Cherry, what's your deal?!" the king spazzed.

"Nothing, Daddy," the princess said as she placed her head against her father. "I'm just glad you're okay..."

"Sheesh..." King Boo extended a fin and rubbed his daughter's back with it. "Kids..."

In the forest, Leif now had both Chogun and Davey slung over his shoulders. He wandered into the main area and found a stagnant Foreman Spike lying face down. He kicked the man and urged him to get up. "Come on, now, we don't got all day," the Viking patronized.

"Gah... Ugh... What time is it?" the foreman mumbled as he rubbed his head.

Leif stared at the muscular foreman pityingly. Then he saw someone approaching out of his peripheral vision. He turned around and became gladdened by the return of his friends, Xoshi, Guido, and White Rose. He waved to them, being careful as to not drop Chogun in the process. Unfortunately, the trio looked as though it had seen better days. Leif was concerned.

"You all seem so melancholy," the Viking said. "Why is this?"

"Um," Guido started, but he didn't know what to say. White Rose took it from there.

"Something happened to Sir Xoshi, and he does not wish to speak of it..."

"Hm," Leif replied. "I see..."

Off to the side, the foreman was still trying to collect himself. He was standing around, rubbing the back of his head repeatedly as though he was trying to remember something. "Man, that guy must've done a number on me," he rambled. Then he remembered what happened before that: a pure-hearted old Magikoopa being eaten alive. The foreman's eyes lit up as he snapped. "THAT MURDEROUS BLOB OF MUCUS!" he yelled. The others jumped back. "How dare he do that to Oglian?! He'll pay for this! I swear to God, he'll pay!!!"

Leif's eyes widened to immense disbelief and lament. "That old sorceress," he said shakily. "Dead...?"

"He'll pay..." Spike held his fists tightly to the point of rattling with fury. "One way or another..."

"Um... Boss?" Guido said meekly. Spike jerked his head towards him and glared.

"WHAT?"

"I made up my mind..."

Spike looked a little confused. "You what?"

"I made up my mind," Guido repeated. He was very hesitant to look the man in the eye. "I think I'll go with these guys. I think they need the help. And I'm sure the country would appreciate it if I protected it and everyone else from such evil people like Marlukin and those space aliens..."

The foreman stared very seriously at the smaller Mario. He acted like he was ten feet tall. "Have you any idea what you're saying, Guido?" he threatened. "You were given an order. The king and the queen gave you an order. The entire country gave you an order! Are you telling me you're turning your back on all that for these low-life strangers?!"

Xoshi finally picked his head up. Now, like White Rose, Leif, and even Guido, he was just staring at this man with relentless disgust. "You know, Spike," Guido said bluntly, looking at him in the eye for once, "I met a lot of people today. Some of them were vicious. Some were cruel. Some were just downright insane. Some of them were about 50 times worse than Kamek or any of those stupid Koopas ever could be..."

There was a pause. Guido and Foreman Spike took a moment to stare at each other intensely. Guido continued.

"But you know what? I also met people who were 50 times better than you. Then again, I guess that's not too hard to accomplish..." Foreman Spike narrowed his eyes at his former subordinate. Guido went on. "Spike, I don't care what you think of me from now on. All I ask is that you change. Because frankly, I don't think someone like you deserves to serve a great country like Mario Land..." Guido tilted his head down and shook it. He gave the foreman another piteous look. "I don't even think you deserve to avenge Oglian's death..."

Spike bore his teeth and whipped out his sledgehammer. The others gawked at him as he raised it above his head, readying a powerful blow against Guido. "I'll show you worse than Kamek!" he seethed.

BAM! A massive sledgehammer swung down, but Guido remained unharmed. Instead, Spike was the one who had been pounded flat into the ground. His assailant lifted his hammer back up and stared Guido down mercilessly. There were bloody scratches and torn clothes all over him, but it was unmistakable: Slam had returned.

"I must finish this," the crazed alien growled. "I must paint my hammer red with its blood..."

He raised his hammer up and everyone panicked. Xoshi just woke up, yanked out the Water Wand, and shoved it into Guido's left hand. The Mario was flabbergasted by the mystic energy he felt in his body afterwards. "What the-"

"Just use it!" the Yoshi urged.

Slam swung downward. Guido had only a split-second to react. Relying on little more than instinct, the Mario jammed the wand towards the behemoth's torso, focused, and fired. SHAAAAHH! A solid beam of hazardous white water exploded forth and tore straight through the treacherous Slam. The monster screamed in agony and dropped his hammer. He looked down and stared at the bloody hole in his gut.

"Mother of Mercy," the alien uttered. He fell onto his knees, looking dazed. "Trann... I failed you..." BOOM. The overgrown killer landed on his face. At last, he was down for good. The others were proud of Guido's deed.

That's the power of fate, White Rose silently commented. Guido just stared at the teal gem atop his new wand, overcome with awe. What was this weapon he had just received...?

<center>FIVE DOWN
TWO TO GO</center>

Meanwhile, Razeil was watching interestedly as this newly formed group of six congratulated one another on a hard won battle and commenced walking out of the woods. "Hmm..." he said to himself, reflecting upon all he had seen this day. "Well, we certainly had quite a few ringers today." The Raven turned around and began hopping away from branch to branch. "Now time for some warm milk and a little shut-eye..."

On Lavalava Island, the four of Yoshi, Fyooshi, Glishy, and Raphael were sitting around, enjoying themselves on one of the giant tree's humungous branches. This peaceful place had once belonged to the power-hungry Ren, but now it was in good hands. The four protectors of the island sat back with each other and looked at the stars.

"So it's only a matter of time until Tondariya starts to whip out the big guns," Glishy summarized after hearing Raphael's explanation of what the Melon Bug's appearance meant.

"Yes," the giant Raven replied. "We must be prepared for that fateful day..."

"But, Raphael," the worried Fyooshi interjected, "what am I supposed to do?"

"I beg your pardon?"

"I'm the new leader of the Yoshis," the painted dinosaur fretted. "I'm not sure if I can handle that kind of responsibility. Can't I just make someone else the leader?"

"We all want to escape our responsibilities from time to time," the Raven stated as he continued to eye the stars. "Sometimes, we feel that, in spite of everything, we're nothing more than ordinary men with scepters in our hands too big for us to wield. We'd like to pass it on to someone else, but if every leader did that... we would have none."

Fyooshi nodded. Glishy listened further and Yoshi was rubbing his chin in thought. "I know it seems like the world has turned its back on us when things like this happen," the Raven elaborated, "but ironically it is actually the world itself that is the reason behind such things. People need someone strong to look upon when a time of crisis is at hand. They need someone who can shamelessly represent them. They need someone to remind them why they're all fighting..."

Fyooshi stared intently at Raphael. "What are we all fighting for?"

"A peaceful life," the Raven answered. "What else?" Fyooshi pensively placed one hand over his mouth and hummed. "Just remember, Fyooshi," Raphael continued, "no matter what, power is only what you make of it. And don't forget that you're not the only person in this world who knows what pain feels like."

"I... I think I know what you mean..."

Yoshi watched the increasingly speculative Fyooshi interestedly. He was still trying to get the hang of this new language, but things were starting to make a little more sense around here. They're just like us, he reasoned. They care for their family and friends because they fear something might happen to them...

Foreman Spike was still lying on his back in the middle of the Forest of Dheos. By now, he was the only creature in there still with his eyes open. He stared at the leaves and the night sky, hearing Guido's harsh words echoing in his mind. It angered him like nothing before. More than anything, he wanted to clobber that disobedient underling of his.

But he was no longer his underling. He was with that Xoshi guy now. He couldn't believe how the six of them would just leave him lying there like this. He wished the worst upon them. He hoped and prayed something terrible would happen to them the instant they returned to Silicon. Foreman Spike smiled to himself as he pictured the lot of them being sneak-attacked and stabbed to death, if not some feat of great humiliation.

Then the foreman stopped smiling. Once again, his situation had become clear: he was alone now and he had only his tendency to abhor things without thinking to owe for it. Was this really what he had going for him? Did the Star Spirits really favor the rest of the world over the Mario Land he had always served? Was he meant to just whither away in this doomed forest?

"Heh. Not likely," the foreman said to himself. At last, he got off the ground, stretched, and massaged his wounds. "Guido, you're a bigger fool than I thought," he remarked. Slowly, he began to walk away, treading a path towards an escape from this gloomy forest. "I'll do it," he declared out loud. "I'm gonna show him Mario Land needs a tough guy like me..."

Outside the forest, Xoshi and friends were quietly walking through the night. Guido, Leif, and the unconscious Chogun and Davey were taking the lead. The brown Yoshi and the white knight were in the back.

"That tidal wave that suddenly came through the forest," Guido commented to Leif, "I didn't think I'd be able to survive it. It was almost like it spared my life on purpose!"

"Bah! Water is nothing for a Marinotropolan like myself," Leif said. "I could have fought a thousand of those frogs in such a condition."

"Sheesh! Now I'm kind of glad I had to fight that Slam guy; he could've been you!"

Guido and Leif laughed. From behind, Xoshi was smiling at them subtly. He felt proud that he could be surrounded by such admirable people.

"So, Sir Xoshi," White Rose spoke up, "what is it that really happened back there? You seemed quite distraught."

Xoshi took a deep breath and sighed. "Nothing really," he said. "It's just... I saw a great person sacrifice himself in a way I didn't think was possible. And... before he died, he entrusted all the loose ends in his life upon me..."

"What was his final request?"

"He told me... to not let the world fall into the wrong hands..."

White Rose smiled. "Then all we have to do is stick by each other..."

Xoshi beamed. He looked ahead and saw Chogun and Davey grumbling amongst themselves, still being carried by Leif. The two had awoken thanks to the Viking laughing loudly at Guido doing an impression of the deranged Slam. Already, the Yo'ster was starting to feel a little better. He looked up to the stars and the moon hanging overhead and made a small prayer.

Beel, he thought, thanks for everything. I'll do my best to carry out your will from now on...

As for Labyrit, he remained lying in the grass, all battered and bruised. In his daze, one thing remained clear to him: luck was not on his side this time. Once again, he had failed. That brown Yoshi only continued to get in the way of his ambitions.

"It should be me!" he hissed to himself. "I should be the Star Purity! How dare he take that pendant away from me?!"

"Enough, Leeboh..."

Labyrit snapped his head up. At a dark time like this, eight people stood before him, all of them Bandits just like him. Three of them were the stone Bandits Xoshi and Leif fought. One of them was the stone Bandit White Rose fought. The rest were from Carnival Alley, including Jammit, Pammit, the Bandit with the mustache, and the silver Bandit that Davey fought.

"You!" Labryit spat. "What are you doing here?!"

"We're regrouping, Leeboh," continued the lead stone Bandit. "Tondariya needs us. The time of her awakening is nigh..."

The lead Bandit threw up some dust from his right hand. The dust sparkled and began to swirl around the group of nine like a miniature tornado. The clique was engulfed for one second, and then the winds dissipated. The true forms of the Bandits were revealed. The stone Bandit was really Shy King, his two cronies were really the two Melon Bugs, and the other stone Bandit was really Kreezo. The silver Bandit was a hooded man that looked nearly identical to Kreezo, only his robe was silver and he had numerous guns at his disposal. Jammit was really a green-hooded figure, Pammit was pink, and the other was a darker shade of pink with a mustache made out of flames. As for Labyrit, his outfit remained relatively unchanged. Essentially, he was just another man in a hood. These were the nine strongest minions of Tondariya.

"I can't go yet," the being once known as Labyrit insisted. "I can't forgive that Xoshi for taking my destiny away from me..."

"Relax, Leeboh," Shy King reassured. "If we can't exact revenge against the Yoshi... his little girlfriend in Silicon should be more than enough..."

Leeboh tilted his head downward in thought. Then he stood up and nodded. "All right then," he said, somewhat optimistically. "I guess I could let down the charade for a little while..."

"There's a good Sandman..."

Shy King tapped the grass with his spear. Again, the white clouds appeared out of nowhere and they encased the entire group within a windy spiral. The tornado spun around, then disappeared, taking the nine hooded people and their two Melon Bugs with it. The group had flown off to another realm. Exactly where they went or when they'd return remained shrouded in mystery...

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