Prologue Part 1: Starly of the Twilight
Mario was sitting around at his home, lounging about as usual. Luigi was out shopping and would be back by dark.
Mario sighed lightly. It has been the same thing, everyday. He longed for another adventure. Even going out with Luigi would do. Bowser, for some reason, wasn't even trying to kidnap the princess.
Plumbing and carpentry
were the only activities Mario was good at, besides rescuing some princess.
With that to try to look forward to, he fell asleep, not aware of the three
suspicous figures outside his house.
Prologue Part 2
Lurking outside of Mario's house were three Goombas. These were most likely to be minions of Bowser. One of them was wearing an umbrella hat.
"You've got it, right?" said one.
"Yeah."
"Well of course you do! This mission would be a failure if you didn't have it!"
The umbrella-hatted Goomba stumbled clumsily to the porch of the house. In his imaginary hands was a Bob-omb, unconcious, yet with a lit fuse.
"You'd better do this right!" on of the three called. "Or he'll have us roasted for sure!"
The fuse of the Bob-omb was getting smaller. The umbrella-hatted Goomba had to place the Bob-omb fast. Slowly and gently he placed the Bob-omb near the front door, on the porch. Mission accomplished.
But then the fuse disappeared just as he was about to leave. The Bob-omb exploded too early.
Before it did, the Goomba scanned the frontyard, searching for his friends. They weren't there. His Goomba friends had ditched him.
The Bob-omb exploded.
Mario's house was blown to bits.
And he, with the
Goomba, was blown into space.
Prologue Part 3
Luigi was having a good day. He had goneto three sales and finally bought everything he needed.
Tonight Mario and he were having pasta for dinner. Luigi smiled to himself. He may not be as courageous as his brother, but Mario couldn't match his cooking skills.
Luigi paused. He remembered a moment from a few months ago.
"Luigi, you stay behind. I need to go save the princess."
"... Is... cooking skills... all I'm good for...?" Luigi asked himself.
"This is no job for you..."
Luigi continued to stay stationery until he shook off the flashback and continued on his way. When he neared home, he expected to be filled with a familiar joy.
But instead, he was filled with fear.
His house was
blown to ruin.
Prologue Part 4
In a room of darkened sapphire, a woman was standing, facing a wall in thought.
A Toad with a blue cap walked up to her. "Milady? There's an unconscious Goomba and an unconscious man outside. Did you summon them with your magic?"
"Yes." Before
her companion coud ask why, she said, "The Dark has taken physical form.
I summoned those two to be heroes who will save Light from Dark."
Prologue Part 5
When Mario woke up, the first thing he saw was a sparkling shade of blue. He woke up with a start, taking a while to realize that the walls and floor were made of sapphire. It was very strange to him. Everything else in the room: the tapestries, table, the bed he was lying in (he seemed to be in a bedroom), etc. were all the same shade of sparkling blue. Perhaps they were coated with the same type of sapphire.
Cutting to the chase, Mario leapt out of bed and tried to remember what happened. He remembered that he fell asleep, and that this was followed by a loud noise and extreme pain. It was probably a bomb. And then he'd ended up in some sapphire-coated room.
For some reason, he didn't get any injuries from the explosion.
It was then that he saw an umbrella-hatted Goomba lying unconscious on a bed nearby. He looked odd...
Forgetting about the Goomba, Mario suddenly realized what he had been hoping for. A new adventure. He was about to explore the sapphire building. He ran to a door to the left of his bed.
He opened it...
...forgetting that unconscious Goomba...
...forgetting the fact that he was in a weird, sapphire room...
...forgetting that he was strangely healed of injuries...
...and yet again, forgetting about his brother.
And through the doorway, he was face-to-face with a pale woman.
"My name is Twilighter
Starly."
Prologue Part Six
The woman called Twilighter Starly led Mario to another sapphire blue room, having him drag the still unconscious Goomba along.
Twilighter Starly looked mysterious indeed. She had long, black hair and was wearing a solemn, dark blue dress. On her head was a crown jeweled with sapphire. Her dress had a dark blue, starlike brooch. She also carried a staff that had an orange semicircle at the top with triangles lining its edge. It looked like a setting sun.
"Your name is Mario, isn't it?" Starly asked.
Mario nodded in reply. He wondered what was going on.
Just then the Goomba woke up. "...? What's going on?" He met Starly's stare and went silent, hoping to hear what was happening.
"Welcome to Twilight Castle. My name is Starly," she said, still glaring at the Goomba.
Turning back to Mario, she said, "I summoned you both here with magic, while you were flying unconsciously. You're about to go on your next adventure."
Mario felt his pulse grow faster. Just what he wanted, a new adventure.
Twilighter Starly
started to explain the situation. "There are three spirits in the world:
Light, Twilight, and Dark. Only when that spirit has a body to move around
in, will it have an active, "awake" status. Only Twilight currently is
awake... The problem is that Dark found a body to unconsciously possess...
and regained active status."
Prologue Part Seven
Mario wondered what he was supposed to do.
"Well, Dark is out to takeover the world," Starly said, sensing Mario's confusion. "That means he wants the world to be in eternal darkness."
So that's what he needed to do, then. Destroy this Dark guy.
"I don't think so." For the first time in a while the Goomba talked, as if he were reading Mario's mind. "If the world is going to be in eternal darkness, than Light and Twilight would probably have to be destroyed. And Light's in an inactive status, so we'll probably have to find that spirit before Dark does."
The Goomba met Starly's glare again and flinched. "I'm right, aren't I?" the Goomba said.
"Yes," said Starly, still glaring, "but Light is somehow... scattered. Her default form is broken into seven, and for some reason it's scattered all over Plit. I don't know what her default form is, though. An inaminate object, perhaps."
"Oh, you mean the Light Brooch?" the Goomba piped up eagerly.
Mario twitched. What were those two talking about?
Starly twitched as well, but in slight frustration. "I suppose that's it. When a spirit is inactive, it converts itself into a brooch. Light is currently sleeping in seven different places right now, but if you bring back all seven, you'll be able to awaken her. Then she could go into hiding as well. Be careful, though. Dark is trying to find Light right now, and has sent agents even worse than him to do the job for him."
The Goomba piped up again. "You're talking to Mario, right?"
"Oh no, I'm talking
to you, too.
Prologue Part Eight
Mario did not fully understand what was going on. Where was he supposed to find this Light spirit, and how? And did he have to bring the Goomba along? This was worse than the Crystal Star mission.
"How are we supposed to do this, anyway?" the Goomba asked.
"Go to a place called Cloud City," Starly told. "It's a city that used to thrive in the clouds, like Glitzville. Then something happened that made it fall to the ground. Somewhere in there is the first Brooch Piece."
"Are we really up for this?" the Goomba asked.
"If that's the case, why don't I test you outside? Then you'll know if you're ready or not."
Starly led Mario and the Goomba through a series of blue sapphire rooms. Occasionly they would come across a blue-capped Toad or a blue-shelled Koopa who would politely bow to them.
After several minutes of walking, they came to a door leading outside.
"Behold, the Twilight Dimension."
Mario and the Goomba couldn't believe it. Every part of ground was cursed with barren rock. The strangest thing was the sky, though. The land seemed cursed, but the sky seemed to be blessed with an eternal sunset. The sun didn't dare to move.
And before they could say anything, the ground near their feet was immediately in flames.
The attack was
from the staff of Twilighter Starly.
Prologue Part 9
"What do you think you're doing!?" the Goomba exclaimed.
"I told you, I was going to test you. Or don't tell me..." Starly said, "you're not up for it?"
Jumping into battle mode, Mario's mind raced. If she was testing them, he was probably going to have to defeat her.
The feeling of it was so familiar. Mario was used to fighting ever since he saved his ex-girlfriend from a psychotic monkey. Fighting was what he loved... more than anything else. The look on his face made it so obvious. He was drowning in his greed for adventure...
"Do you love fighting the most?"
Mario was taken aback. Peach was standing where Starly stood. Mario was in the Mushroom Castle, reliving a flashback.
"Aren't you going to answer?"
Back to reality, Mario realized that he was still in the Twilight Dimension. Starly was the one who asked the question.
"C'mon, Goomba..." Starly thought, "you need to show even a bit of teamwork to pass..."
Mario nodded. Of course he did.
"Do you know what you're saying? You're lying, aren't you?" asked the Goomba.
Starly smiled, not showing it. Mario and the Goomba needed to get along to pass her test. Starly asked Mario the question so the Goomba could answer. Of course a hero wasn't power-hungry.
"There was a time when you were fighting us Goombas... but you looked liked you always fought for someone, even if it was yourself! What you do for someone can't be what you like!" lectured he.
Mario was surprised by his words, and smiled. He needed to think things through before he said them. Mario nodded to the Goomba and went back into battle mode.
Starly was finally convinced that they could work as a team. "Then show me how well you can work together."
The battle continued.
"Mario, do you love fighting the most?"
"Of course
I do, since I always save you in the end."
Prologue Part 10
The battle between Starly and Mario and the Goomba continued to rage on. Starly threw three fireballs with her staff, which Mario and the Goomba dodged. This continued again and again until Starly finally did her trump move. Before they knew it, Mario and the Goomba were surrounded by flames.
Mario looked around him to find a way out, when he saw the Goomba.
"Hold on, Mario," he said, looking through a book he pulled out from his hat. "Lessee... Found it! ... Twilighter Starly... has magical abilities... holds the Sunset Staff, a staff with fire power... and never takes her eyes off her opponent. I have an idea. The inferno she surrounded us with blocks us from sight. If you hit me high enough with your hammer, I can go over it and headbonk her from high up! She's too busy scanning the inferno for us, anyway."
Mario wasn't surprised, but impressed. The Goomba had the common Tattle ability, but he didn't expect him to have information on a witch from a different dimension. He also had devised a plan from scratch! Perhaps he was smarter than Goombario and Goombella combined!
At that the Goomba
was sent flying. The Goomba was able to travel over the fiery wall, and
hit Starly with an aerial headbonk!
Prologue Part 11
"So we have to go to Cloud City, right?" asked the Goomba. "How do we get there?"
The battle had ended a few minutes earlier. Starly healed their injuries with a sort of healing magic.
With her staff, Starly pointed to ground nearby. Emerged from it was a fiery portal, with flames that didn't burn.
"Through that portal. Once you get the first Light Brooch piece, I'll summon you back here," she explained.
The umbrella-hatted Goomba put his foot into the portal, but fainted from the shock of the non-burning flames.
"Mario, the fate of Light in the world depends on you and the friends you will make. It will be dangerous, though. The Dark spirit sent agents; common folk who are worse than demons," Starly said.
Mario nodded to her and was about to go, when Starly said, "Mario, take the Goomba with you."
Dragging the Goomba along, Mario smiled to himself. He waved bye to Starly and went through the portal.
A new adventure…