Fanfiction Super Ridley Bros 2: Subcon Nightmare

Previously, on Super Ridley Bros:

Ridley, captain of the space pirate ship Alectys, received a transmission from an unknown world outside of Federation space, designated SMB-985. Answering the call, he was hired by the local warlord King Bowser to assassinate the local hero, Mario. After finishing the job and taking Mario's hat as proof of his deed, Ridley visited the Mushroom Kingdom to taunt the locals with their hero's death. However, ingesting a sample of local fungi permanently altered his physiology, shrinking him to the size of a human. Combined with an unknown enchantment placed upon Mario's hat, Ridley found himself mistaken for the late Mario by anyone who did not already know his identity or could see through such illusions.

With the local Princess Peach being abducted by Bowser once again, Ridley found himself forced into taking Mario's role in rescuing her, alongside a growing list of unlikely allies.

Luigi, Mario's brother who eventually found himself having to cope with the knowledge of his elder twin’s death and what that meant for his own sense of mortality.

Roshi, a shy member of the Yoshi species with self-worth issues developed by years of being bullied for being overweight.

Rosalina, a cosmic sorceress of mysterious origins who failed in her quest to revive Mario.

Daisy, Princess of Sarasaland and Luigi's long-time paramour, who accepts his proposal late in their journey and finds herself bonded to the ghost known as Roger, granting her spectral powers.

Samus Aran, Ridley’s former nemesis who was once the poster child for the Federation before being banished after uncovering a web of conspiracies and cover-ups, as well as her teammates Armstrong Houston, Joey Apronika, Diesel and ADAM.

Through their many adventures on the way to Dark Land, they uncovered the truth that the Mario that Ridley killed was an imposter, the real Mario having already been dead through unknown circumstances.

After finally defeating King Bowser and his forces, Ridley surprised everyone by vying for a peaceful conclusion, his experiences in this world having changed him for the better. Through negotiations, a political marriage was arranged between Princess Peach and King Bowser to consolidate their kingdom’s resources and put an end to their war.

With their adventure now over, our heroes went their separate ways. Samus left her teammates behind to investigate a mysterious call she received, traveling to the planet ZDR where she teamed up with her redeemed X Parasite clone now going by the name Justine Bailey, and the former space pirate Kraid Junior. Together they defeated the vile Raven Beak and his plans to conquer the galaxy with Samus as his pawn, while also ensuring that the X Parasites remain extinct save for Bailey.

Meanwhile, Luigi and his employees visited his old mansion to clean it up in preparation for his wedding. While vacuuming the study, Luigi found himself trapped within the magical tomb known as the Grimoire of Souls where he was forced to live through a thousand-year war between the Dark Lord Dracula and the Belmont family of vampire hunters who stood against him. At the end of this traumatic adventure, Luigi teamed up with Death and other allies to defeat a fragment of Chaos posing as Dracula to stop it from unleashing its evil upon the world once again. Back in the real world, Luigi found himself with the memories of his adventure and a replica of the famous Vampire Killer whip.

With their latest trying adventures behind them, our heroes look forward to a peaceful break. The day of Luigi and Daisy's wedding draws near and with it, celebrations. But, dark forces are on the move with plans to invade the waking realm. What new trails await our heroes?

Super Ridley Bros 2

Subcon Nightmare​

Spoiler: World 1-1: Down the Rabbit Hole

World 1-1: Down the Rabbit Hole

Ridley flew through the skies, a gentle breeze brushing against his face as he glided along the wind. He loved flying, both the sensation and the freedom that it brought. He’d never had the chance to realize that before, in his previous life. A rogue bioweapon turned pirate didn't have room in his blackened, shriveled heart. But with his new lease on life, Ridley could finally take the time to enjoy the simple pleasures in life.

He looked down at the endless expanses of emerald fields. He didn't recognize where he was but it was beautiful. Smiling, Ridley flapped his wings to gain a bit more height.

Nothing happened.

Ridley flapped again. He still didn't move up at all. Confused, Ridley turned back to check his wings. They weren't there.

Ridley stared at his bare shoulders for a moment before it finally settled in. He didn't have wings. But if he didn't have wings, then how was he flying?

The simple answer, he wasn't.

Ridley suddenly fell out of the air, no longer capable of holding himself up. Thankfully, there was a tall mountain directly underneath him to break his fall. Weirdly tall, considering that the surrounding area was mostly flatland. Of course, the mountain itself seemed oddly flat. More like a model of a mountain made out of really tall boxes. But that was a good thing, he just needed to guide his fall into the center of the-

Ridley crashed into the corner of the mountain, tumbling down the sheer cliff side until he bounced off a lower peak and continued falling. He ended up tumbling down the entire mountain, bouncing from one plateau to another until he finally crashed into ground level, a mangled heap of limbs. He might have stopped but the world around him still felt like it was spinning.

“Ridley?”

He poked his head out from under the crook of his arm to see a mustachioed man in overalls, a green shirt and a matching hat with a capital ‘L’ on it.

“Hola, boss.” Ridley worked on untangling his limbs before finally standing up and working the kinks out of his back. His wings were still mysteriously missing but at least his long, spear-tipped tail was still there. He also had his hat, a red twin to Luigi's but with an ‘R’ instead. It was modeled after the one once worn by Luigi's late brother, Mario, who Ridley had spent a while impersonating after he thought he'd killed him.

“Are you alright?” Luigi asked him.

“Been better, but I’ll live,” Ridley replied before popping his neck with a loud crack. “By the way, where are we?”

Luigi looked around nervously for a moment before turning back to the purple space dragon. “I was-a hoping that you would-a know. I’ve-a never seen this-a place before.”

“Well if you haven't been here, then I certainly wouldn't have,” Ridley pointed out. “I haven't gone anywhere on this planet without you.”

Just then, a chubby yellow tyrannosaur in green shoes and a red shell on his back ran out from around the corner of the mountain. He was also wearing one of the hats that served as part of the Mario Bros Plumbing uniform, green like Luigi's but with an ‘r’, lowercase to distinguish it from Ridley's.

“Guys!” Roshi called out as he ran up to them. “Guys, where are we?”

“That's-a what we were just-a wondering,” Luigi said.

“You guys are here, too?”

The trio turned to see a tall, blonde woman in a blue crop top and matching shorts walk up to them.

“Samus?” Ridley questioned. “You, too?”

“Wait, is that really you?” Roshi asked. “You look different. More like that other lady, uh, I forgot her name.”

“What?” Samus instinctively reached up to her face and started feeling it in her hands since they lacked anything that she could use as a mirror at the moment.

“Huh, that’s right.” Ridley tilted his head as he noticed it. “You look like you used to.”

“Wait, do I have my real face back?” Samus’ eyes widened in stunned shock, though Ridley noticed that one of the corners of her mouth twitched up slightly. “How?”

“I-a don’t know, but where’s-a your armor?” Luigi asked, noticing the conspicuous lack of pseudo-magical alien power armor that she usually wore.

“Probably the same place as Ridley's wings.” She shrugged. “That's a really weird look on you, by the way.”

“I don't like it.” Ridley absently reached behind his shoulder, grasping at air.

Luigi frantically dug his hands into the pocket of his overalls. Whatever he was searching for clearly wasn't there.

“Sara’s gone, too!” he said.

“Who's Sara?” Samus asked.

“The boss’s new imaginary friend,” Ridley explained.

“Should your wife be jealous?” Samus joked.

“From what I've studied of human mating rituals, they should get along very well.”

Luigi stiffened at that, turning red.

“I feel like I'm missing context but also I don't care,” Samus said dryly before pointing her thumb back over her shoulder. “Anyway, there's a door around the corner. Doesn't look like it goes anywhere but it seems to be the only thing around for miles and magic’s a thing now, so who knows?”

“Worth a shot.” Luigi shrugged. “It's-a not like we have any other leads.”

Samus led the assembled plumbers around the side of the perfectly square mountain. Sure enough, there was a doorway standing there. It wasn't attached to anything and Ridley walked around it to confirm that there was nothing behind the red wooden door. The handle seemed to be made of solid gold, as well as the large, old-fashioned knocker. Other than that, it seemed like a perfectly ordinary door apart from its strange placement.

“Who would build a door out here in the middle of nowhere?” Roshi asked.

“Someone who forgot to build the rest of their house?” Ridley suggested with a shrug, then rested his hand on the knob. He opened the door and had to blink a few times. He leaned to the side to look past the frame. It was the same as before. Then he straightened up and looked through the open doorway into the hilly landscape full of waterfalls and more boxy mountains. “Magic.”

“My scan visor isn't picking anything up,” Samus said.

“You don't have your Scan Visor!” Ridley pointed out.

“That's why it isn't picking anything up.”

“Should we-a go through?” Luigi asked, glancing around at the others.

“It's not like we have anything else to do.” Ridley shrugged.

“Alright, then-a here we go!”

The four of them stepped through the doorway, leading further into this strange, unknown land. The door slammed shut behind them and vanished from sight.

* S * R * B *​

The previous morning:

When Ridley had agreed to be the best man at Luigi's wedding, he hadn't been prepared for how much work that would be. Especially since this was on top of his court-ordered community service. And he didn't get paid for either, apart from room and board.

“What do you mean, you're running late?” Ridley yelled furiously at his phone, as he walked through the woods around Luigi's house. “You're the maid of honor!”

“Look, I’m sorry!” Came the woman's voice on the other end. “I love my little brother and I'm looking forward to finally meeting my soon-to-be sister-in-law, but I'm also the mayor of the biggest city in the US and that comes with certain responsibilities-”

“You have a responsibility to your family!” Ridley shouted. “They're the only family you have left, or have you forgotten!?”

“No, I…” Pauline Mario sighed in defeat. “Look, I’m going to be there tomorrow for the wedding, no matter what happens. But I won't be able to make it to the bachelorette party.”

“But you're supposed to be in charge of that!” Ridley pointed out.

“I’ve been busy,” Pauline defended herself weakly. “You’ve already got the bachelor party ready for tonight, right? Just combine them.”

“That's not how that works and you know it!” Ridley stood there for a minute, waiting for her response. “Hello? Pauline? You still there?”

“...I’ll have to call you back, something just came up.”

The phone clicked and Ridley stared at it. Did she really hang up on him? The nerve.

“You don't have to put up with this kind of thing, do you, Bow Wow?” he asked the big black ball tethered to the other end of the chain he was holding in his other hand. Luigi’s pet chain chomp barked twice and tried to bite his head off. “Yeah, didn't think so. Well, probably time to head back to the house.”

Ridley pried the beast’s jaws off of him and began to head back to the clearing where the Mario Bros Plumbing headquarters was, aka Luigi's house. While Luigi and his bride-to-be would be moving into his old mansion when they got back from their honeymoon, the youngest Mario sibling was kind enough to let Ridley and Roshi continue living here without him for the time being.

Speaking of Roshi, Ridley could see the friendly yellow dinosaur outside the red-roofed cottage, watering the back garden. Roshi waved as he spotted Ridley walking up to him, then froze up when Bow Wow suddenly shot forward. Fortunately, despite his wiry frame, Ridley was more than strong enough to hold the chain chomp back.

“I'm not going to miss that thing when he's gone.” Roshi shook his head. “I'm glad Luigi's taking him with him when he moves.”

“Whaaaaat?” Ridley gave a mock gesture of surprise. “Are you saying that this vicious beast out for blood isn't a ‘good boy’?”

Bow Wow proved the point by biting Ridley's arm up to the shoulder.

“I have no idea why anyone would keep one of these things as a pet,” Ridley said as he marched over to the stake that usually kept Bow Wow in place. “Even gronkats aren't this much of a hassle and those things like to eat eyeballs.”

“The more I hear about space pirate culture, the worse it sounds.” Roshi shook his head as Ridley returned sans chain chomp.

“Yeah.” Ridley gave a nostalgic sigh. “Part of me still misses the old days, though. Not the killing and stuff, though. The things I’ve done still keep me awake at night.”

Roshi shivered as ominous music began to play in the background. Ridley pulled his phone back out of the tool belt that he’d recently taken to wearing to see who was calling him. Pockets were nice but he refused to wear proper clothing.

“Huh, don't recognize the number,” Ridley muttered to himself before answering. “This is Super Mario Brothers Plumbing, where plumbing’s our game. We’re not like the others, who get all the fame-”

“Cut the singing,” a gruff-sounding toad cut off Ridley's rehearsed intro. “Is this the kingdom's extraterrestrial invasion specialist?”

“No, this is Ridley,” the purple alien replied.

“Well, according to my records, you're the guy I'm supposed to call,” the annoyed toad said. “This is Lieutenant General Fly T. of the Mushroom Kingdom Air Force.”

“We have an air force?” Ridley asked, genuinely shocked.

“Haha, very funny,” Fly T. said dryly. “Now, we’ve got a large, unidentified object heading into our airspace from outer space. We suspect this to be the first step of an alien invasion.”

“Uh-huh, yeah, let me just get back to you in a sec.” Ridley ignored the Lieutenant General’s protests as he put him on hold, making another call. After a few seconds, the recipient picked up.

“This is Samus,” the bounty hunter said.

“Hey, this is Ridley. Are you the ship currently headed for the Mushroom Kingdom?”

“Yeah, we’re here for the wedding tomorrow,” Samus explained. “I also brought along some guests.”

“Okay, good, I’m just going to connect you to my other call real quick. Hold on, how do I do this?” Ridley fiddled around with the buttons on the old flip phone he’d managed to get at the Toad Town Market shortly after settling in. “Ah, here we go.”

“-does he think he is, hanging up on me? So just because this new hotshot somehow managed to-”

“Hey, Lieutenant General,” Ridley said, cutting off Fly T.’s rambling, “this is Ridley. I got in contact with your supposed alien invaders.”

“Alien invaders?” Samus repeated, clearly offended by the remark. “Who do you think I am?”

“This is Samus Aran, who is an invited guest for tomorrow’s royal wedding,” Ridley explained for the air force toad’s benefit. “Which means that you're going to let her in, right?”

Fly T. muttered something incoherent but probably offensive. “Very well, you're clear to land at the Toadstool Royal Airport.”

“I’ll meet you there,” Ridley said. “Don't want to cause another incident after you land.”

“Good, the big guy's going to want to see you.”

“Big guy?” Ridley parroted, though Samus had already hung up.

“If this goes south, it's on your head, not mine,” Fly T. muttered before hanging up as well.

Ridley just sighed and slipped the phone back into his pocket before turning to Roshi.

“You know where the airport is?”

“What airport?”

* S * R * B *​

After asking for directions in town, Ridley flew over to the airport with Roshi in tow. It didn't take long after that for the two to find that the far-most terminal had been cordoned off and guarded by security guards.

“What do you want to bet that this is us?” Ridley gave his companion a sideways glance.

“Um, five coins?” Roshi shrugged after hesitating slightly.

Ridley stared at him for a moment. “That was a figure of speech.”

“Oh, right.” Roshi blushed slightly.

“Halt, this area is for authorized personnel only.” A guard raised his hand as the two walked up to him.

“Hello, my name is Ridley,” Ridley introduced himself politely, brushing his hand over where his primary heart was located in his chest. “You killed my father, prepare to die.”

“What?” The toad was clearly taken back by that.

“He's joking.” Roshi shook his head dejectedly.

“I don't even have a father,” Ridley mused, scratching his chin in thought. “I was made in a lab by a black ops Federation research team. I suppose you could consider them my fathers, but then that would mean that I killed my father.”

“We're here to see the… um, aliens.” Roshi glanced at Ridley, who the guard was staring at in open-mouthed horror.

“If you're waiting for me to take offense to that, then you're going to be here a while,” Ridley said. “I will proudly admit that I am an alien. I am an extramushrestrial lifeform!”

“I don't think that's a word.”

The guard grabbed a walkie-talkie and put it to his mouth. “Um, sir, we have a situation. Over.”

“What is it?”

The guard jumped as the reply came not from the speaker but from a few feet behind him. A surly-looking toad in a green jacket, with a black pencil mustache marched over to them.

“Hello, my name is- Ow!”

“You’ve gotta stop using that joke,” Roshi said as he let go of Ridley's tail.

“If quoting movies from the mythical long-lost planet of Earth that I illegally downloaded with my boss' Wi-Fi is wrong, then I don't want to be right,” Ridley declared triumphantly. “My space pirate days may be behind me, but a part of me will always be a pirate!”

“You must be the specialist.” Lieutenant General Fly T. massaged his temples. He was simultaneously too old for this crap but too young to retire. “Right this way.”

Roshi and Ridley followed the Lieutenant General outside, where a large spaceship had just landed.

“Hm, this is new,” Ridley noted as he studied the unknown ship. “Federation design. Likely a research vessel from the hull markings. Large cargo hold suggests that it's meant for transporting large amounts of materials… Looks like an evolution of the Shuruppak-class freighters. That suggests a weak point on the upper back of the port hull, where the armored plates can be pried apart to create an opening inside. From there it's a straight shot to the secondary cargo hold, which can be manually opened from the inside to allow a raiding party to board. Wait, no. Looks like they fixed that vulnerability. Smart.”

“Um, we’re not raiding the ship,” Roshi pointed out.

“Huh? Oh, right.” Ridley snapped back to his senses. “Slipped into old mindsets for a moment there.”

The main cargo bay’s primary door slowly opened, revealing several humanoids waiting in casual clothing. Before they could exit the vehicle, however, a loud roar pierced the air. Roshi and the others shuddered at the loud sound unlike anything they'd ever heard before, while Ridley's eyes widened in recognition.

“Kraid?” He would recognize that call anywhere. The fellow space pirate captain was Ridley's oldest comrade and, though he never would have admitted before, his closest friend. “No, that's impossible. Kraid’s dead, unless… Junior!?”

The giant green saurian came into view as the door continued opening and Ridley couldn't believe his eyes. Last he had seen his friend’s son, he hadn't even reached Ridley's old height. Now? He stood at least as tall as his father. They really did grow up so fast.

Before he’d even realized it, Ridley had dashed past the other visitors on all fours and was standing directly in front of Kraid Junior. The giant stared back down at him.

“Where have you been?” Ridley gasped up at friend’s son. “I thought you were gone!”

Junior grumbled a reply.

“Ah, that would explain it.” Ridley nodded and turned to where Samus and her companions were staring at him. “Thanks for rescuing him.”

“Yeah, no big deal.” Samus smiled and shook her head. “I saved his life, he saved mine. I’d say we’re pretty much even.”

Junior growled softly.

“Of course you can stay here!” Ridley told him without even thinking about it. “Well, I suppose finding a place for you might be a bit tricky but we’ll manage.”

“Now, hold on just a ‘shroom pickin’ minute!” Fly T. yelled angrily as he walked into the ship, arms crossed. “We are not allowing unknown alien lifeforms onto our planet! We don’t even know what their intentions here are or what effect their presence will have on the local environment. They could be planning an invasion! Or riddled with unknown pathogens! For all we know, they could be planning to lay eggs in our chests or something!”

He poked Samus in her exposed navel during that last comment and she had to visibly hold herself back from beating the ever-living daylights out of him. Ridley, for his part, just stared at the officer incredulously.

“I’m an alien,” he pointed out. “That space witch that’s here sometimes, Rosalina, is an alien. Frak, even Luigi is technically an alien since he’s from Earth!”

“Not to mention that most of us have already been here.” Samus stared daggers down at him. “We helped rescue your princess, in case you forgot.”

“Or so you say.” Fly T. narrowed his beady black eyes. “But I don’t-”

“Lieutenant General!” Ridley snapped, standing at attention and causing the mushroom-capped toad to instinctively do the same. “You admitted earlier that I am the Mushroom Kingdom’s ‘Extraterrestrial Invasion Specialist’. Now, I don’t know I how ended up with that position but that means that I am the authority when it comes to matters of alien lifeforms and what to do with them, correct?”

“Sir, yes Sir!” Fly T. saluted him.

“And I, in my expert opinion, believe that it is safe for these alien lifeforms to visit this planet and the Mushroom Kingdom in particular,” Ridley continued. “Now, unless you have any further objections, I suggest you let them go.”

The Lieutenant General scowled at him but held his solute. “Yes, sir.”

Once he had left, Roshi walked up beside Ridley and the two were properly able to welcome their visitors.

“Sorry about the cold welcome,” Ridley shook his head. “I have no idea what that was about.”

“Don’t worry about it,” one of Samus’ companions said. A tall, burly redheaded man with a bushy beard. Ridley seemed to recall his name being Armstrong Houston and like Samus, he’d forgone his usual power armor in favor of a more casual outfit. In his case, a blue and black jumpsuit. “Not the most hostile greeting we’ve ever ever had.”

“Man, that guy was a jerk.” The blue-haired boy in a green tracksuit, Joey Apronika, said as he hovered overhead. Ridley was a bit surprised to see that he still had the Cape Feather powerup he’d been given during the battle against Bowser last time.

It seemed that Samus hadn’t brought along her mechanic this time, or even her usual ship, which just left one member of their group who Ridley hadn’t had a proper introduction to yet, a woman who looked suspiciously like a younger Samus. Ridley wasn’t good at determining human ages but he’d put her as being just past the adolescent phase. Her hair, which was bright green, was in a choppy bob cut and she was wearing a red and purple version of the bodysuit that Samus generally wore under her armor. More distinctive than that, however, were her yellow eyes with distinctly inhuman vertical pupils and which seemed to glow faintly in the dark. To say nothing of her scent, which wasn’t like anything that Ridley had smelled before.

“Ah, you must be the sister that I’ve heard nothing about,” Ridley said to her. “What are you?”

The ‘woman’ seemed to tense up at the question. “Well, that’s a bit of a long story…”

“This is Bailey and she’s a shapeshifter who helped me out on my last mission,” Samus summarized. “The sister thing was her idea but honestly I don’t mind that much. That’s all that you really need to know for now. Oh, and I brought my pets with me this time. Hope you don’t mind.”

“What?”

A trio of blue monkey-like creatures suddenly jumped from the ceiling, tackling Ridley to the floor. As he pulled them off and got back to his feet, a tall green bird trampled over him, followed by a smaller one.

“Hey! No!” Samus yelled at the alien animals, which Ridley vaguely recognized from his time on Zebes as etecoons and dachoras, respectively. He had assumed that those species would have gone extinct when the planet blew up. “Behave yourselves!’

“Oh, and the robot is mine,” Bailey added before Ridley spotted said robot walking up to them. It was a tall bot with a slender frame. Mostly black but with mismatched patches of armored plating over its body, red and green on the arms, blue and yellow on the legs, with purple on its torso and cyclopic head. Overall, it looked like something that had been patched together with spare parts. “I named her Emmy.”

“Well, at least this one’s under control.” Ridley grumbled before ‘Emmy’ immediately proved him wrong by walking up to him and stabbing him in the arm with a giant probe spike that shot out of its eye, sucking his blood like a giant mosquito. “I stand corrected.”

* S * R * B *​

Luigi paced back and forth in the master bedroom of his mansion, going over everything in his head. The wedding had seemed like it was still so far away but it had now finally settled in that it was only tomorrow. Thankfully, he wasn’t getting cold feet or anything. While his proposal had been a spur-of-the-moment thing brought on because he thought that he was going to die soon, he really did love Daisy and he wasn’t going to back out of this now just because it turned out that he wasn’t dying anytime soon after all. No, he was just stressed out trying to make sure that everything was ready.

“Are you alright, Master?” A woman’s voice asked, coming from the magical black whip draped over the bed.

“I’ll-a be fine,” Luigi waved his hand dismissively as he continued to pace. “And I told you not to call me that.”

“Right, sorry. I may be just a copy of the original Vampire Killer but I still have most of its memories and habits,” the whip said. “Though I don’t think that the real Vampire Killer can communicate with its wielders like this.”

That was another thing that Luigi was struggling with. Not only was he about to marry the love of his life and by extension become a part of another country’s royal family, but he was also now the founder of a new clan of vampire hunters or something, wielding a copy of the mythical Vampire Killer whip used by the secretive Belmont clan back on Earth. He hadn’t even known that vampires were real.

“It’s-a fine, Sara,” Luigi replied.

“Why do you insist on calling me that?” the whip asked.

“Because-a calling you the Vampire Killer just-a doesn’t sound right,” he explained.

“Whatever suits you, I suppose.” Sara paused for a moment. “Someone’s coming.”

Luigi turned, feeling like his heart was about to jump out of his chest. He jumped to the bed and grabbed Sara, preparing for a fight. He could hear footsteps outside before the door creaked open and… oh, it was just his friends. Luigi let out a sigh of relief.

“Boy, you look agitated,” Ridley said as he strode into the room.

“I told you that we should have knocked.” Roshi shook his head.

“What are you-a doing here?” Luigi asked them.

“You need to check your watch more often,” Ridley told him. “It is time.”

“What?” Luigi started to panic again, checking the cheap wristwatch he kept under his glove. “But the wedding isn’t until tomorrow!”

“No, not that.” Ridley shook his head, to Luigi’s confusion. “It is time… to party!”

The groom-to-be blinked a few times. “What?”

“The bachelor party,” his best man elaborated. “The party which I was left in charge of planning. It is time for it to commence.”

“But I-a told you I-a didn’t want a bachelor party.”

“No, you said that you didn’t want ‘one of-a those rowdy stag parties where-a guys get drunk and do things that-a no honest man who’s about to pledge themselves to-a the woman they-a want to be with should-a do’,” Ridley corrected him. “And you’re not getting one of those. We got cake, which I will point out does not have any surprises inside, non-alcoholic cider and a selection of soft drinks, and a few games that I pulled out of the game room. None of the cursed ones, though. We checked.”

Roshi shivered. “That jungle one was horrifying.”

“And also now burned to a crisp.” Ridley placed a calming hand on his friend’s shoulder. “We’ll never have to go to that awful, awful place again. Oh, and we’re limited to the west wing.”

“What’s wrong with the east wing?”

“Nothing’s wrong,” Ridley replied quickly, raising his hands. “We’re just double booked. Due to circumstances that I am not privy to for some reason, I ended up in charge of the bachelorette party as well, so I’m holding that one in the east wing. Samus is currently overseeing things on that end for me, so it shouldn’t be a problem.”

“Wait, what happened to Pauline?”

Ridley shrugged. “Come on, everyone’s waiting.”

* S * R * B *​

Bowser looked up from the card in his hand to study his opponent wearily. The old man just sat in his chair with a goofy grin on his face, his eyes hidden behind the thick frames of his glasses. Finally, he reached forward and grabbed a card. His eye twitched slightly, giving himself away. Professor E. Gadd grabbed his other card and placed it down on the table along with its match.

“Looks like I win!” the professor said triumphantly.

“Gah, I hate this game!” Bowser fumed angrily but managed to keep himself under control. His new therapist seemed to be working wonders for his temper. Instead of lashing out, he simply reached for the small plastic cup in front of him. It turned out that he’d already finished it off, though, so he turned to the refreshment table instead. “Hey, it looks like we’re out of drinks!”

“What?” Ridley looked up from the game of Parcheesi he was playing with Roshi, Joey and a talking suitcase that had introduced itself as Stuffwell. The suitcase was winning. “Oh, I’ll get right on that. Merlon, take over for me.”

The cloaked figure whose only discernible features were a bushy white mustache and glowing yellow eyes walked up to him and held a hand out. “It’s dangerous to go alone, take this.”

Ridley accepted a shining yellow trapezoidal crystal from the fortune teller.

“What’s this?” he asked.

“That’s a star piece,” Merlon explained.

“What does it do?”

“It’s shiny and you can collect them. My grandson Merlow collects them, actually. He’s known to trade star pieces for the badges that he used to collect, which can have various effects on the person who wears them such as changing the sound they make when they walk or making them resist heat or cold. Why, back when my grandfather’s grandfather was still a boy, they-”

“Shiny collectible, got it.” Ridley slipped the crystal into one of his belt pockets and walked over to Roshi. “Hey, can you give me a hand? We can grab more bottles together.”

“Yeah, sure.” Roshi walked up to him and the two headed out of the room.

“I’ll-a come with you,” Luigi said as he quickly ran after them.

“What, no!” Ridley objected. “This whole party is for you, you should go enjoy it.”

“I know but I-a need to-a stretch my legs, anyway. Besides, this is-a my house.”

“Fair point.”

The trio of plumbers quickly made their way into the cellar, where they found the stash of cider that Ridley had hidden away in the corner. To their surprise, however, they were not alone down there.

“Samus?” Ridley asked questioningly as the bounty hunter in question turned to them. “What are you doing here?”

“Same as you, I would imagine,” she said, holding up two bottles. She then let out a very unlady-like yawn. “Oh, sorry. I don’t know where that came from.”

“Alright, then I guess we’ll all just grab some… just grab some…” Ridley’s tongue rolled across his mouth as he yawned so big that someone could have stuck a goomba in there. “Man, those things really are contagious, aren’t they?”

“Would anyone mind if I just… lie down for a second?” Roshi fell flat onto his stomach, snoring loudly.

“I didn’t think that we’d partied… partied that hard?” Right, Luigi?” Ridley turned to see that Luigi had also managed to fall asleep, curled up on the floor. “What…”

Ridley found himself growing exponentially more tired by the second to the point where he was having trouble standing up. He couldn’t detect any sense of gas or other agents that could explain this strange phenomenon.

“You know, that sounds like a good idea.” Samus slumped into the corner of the basement, closing her eyes. “Just gonna… rest mah eyes a sec’.”

Ridley dropped to his hands and knees, unable to keep standing. Were they under attack? Was this some kind of spell? Just what was going on?

…Well, he supposed he could figure that out after a quick nap. After all, he was just too tired to do anything else. He laid his head down on the cold floor and closed his eyes. Then he was flying through the skies, a gentle breeze brushing against his face as he glided along the wind. He loved flying, both the sensation and the freedom that it brought. He’d never had the chance to realize that before, in his previous life. A rogue bioweapon turned pirate didn't have room in his blackened, shriveled heart. But with his new lease on life, Ridley could finally take the time to enjoy the simple pleasures in life.

See you later, space pirate…​

Welcome back to Super Ridley Bros! I’ve been waiting to get to this storyline for years and I’m so excited to finally be able to get started on it. A new adventure lies before our heroes but what new trials shall they have to face? A story of nightmares, visions of the past and future, enigmatic star warriors, vengeful mice and singing toads (not the mushroom people kind) awaits!

Welcome… to the Subcon Nightmare!

 

Whoops, looks like I forgot to post the last chapter. Here you go.

Spoiler: World 1-2: Royal Visitation

Ridley stepped through the strange red door and almost immediately fell off another cliff. He picked himself up from the ground while the others climbed down what looked like an overgrown bean stock to reach him.

“I miss my wings,” Ridley complained as he spat dirt out of his mouth. “Anyone know where we are, yet?”

“No, I’ve-a never seen this place before.” Luigi shook his head before offering Ridley a hand up.

Looking around, wherever they were now seemed fairly similar to before. The grass was the same shade of emerald, the sky was the same intense azure and the mountains in the distance were just as weirdly blocky as the one Ridley fell down earlier. Though the terrain was rougher and there were plenty of waterfalls here, as well as signs of life nearby. Perhaps they would be able to find someone to help.

“For now, I suggest that we seek out higher ground,” Samus suggested. “That way we can get a better view of the area to look for any recognizable landmarks.”

“I don’t know, this place seems pretty distinctive,” Ridley scratched his chin as he continued looking around. “I’m pretty sure that if any of us knew where this place was, we would know it by now.”

“Maybe we should ask them?” Roshi suggested.

“Ask who?” Samus turned to him.

“Them.” Roshi pointed and, following his direction, the others spotted a group of diminutive masked figures clad in red and blue robes riding towards them on the back of large pink birds that reminded Ridley of the dachoras that had run him over earlier.

“Shy Guys?” Luigi tensed up and looked ready for a fight.

“You know these people?” Ridley asked.

“Yeah, they’re-a all over the place back home,” Luigi said. “They’re-a usually working for-a Bowser.”

Ridley nodded. “Well, that shouldn’t be a problem, then. Bowser’s on our side now.”

“Oh, yeah.” Luigi relaxed and let out a sigh of relief. “I-a keep forgetting about that.”

Then a cannonball soared over their heads, proving that the approaching Shy Guys were as hostile as Luigi initially assumed. The four displaced individuals dove for cover before the enemies could reach them.

“Karablast, where's a gun when you need one!” Samus ducked behind a wooden pillar sticking out of the ground.

“Hah, imagine having to rely on weapons,” Ridley chuckled before standing tall and opening his mouth wide to launch a volley of fireballs. Nothing came out, though, and he ended up swallowing the next cannonball instead. “Gagk, no, why? My hubris!”

“Quick, see if you can-a find any power-ups nearby!” Luigi called to the others while crawling away.

“Is this a power-up?” Roshi reached for a patch of red grass poking out of the ground and yanked it up, revealing an oversized turnip. “Huh, guess not.”

The thundering of bird feet grew louder as the pack of Shy Guys reached them. The apparent leader of the group, dressed in blue, raised his hand to signal the others to stop.

“Hark, vagrants!” the Shy Guy addressed them in a deep voice that felt at odds with his diminutive form. “You trespass in the lands of King Wart!”

“Who?” Luigi asked.

“You are all under arrest!” the blue Shy Guy continued, completely ignoring the plumber. “Come quietly to face your punishment or we will be forced to resort to violence.”

One of the Shy Guys, dressed in gray robes and with a cannon built into the mouth of his mask, shot Ridley.

“Hey!” Ridley snapped back to his feet and pointed an accusatory finger at the Shy Guys. “Is this how you treat foreign dignitaries?”

“What?” The leader seemed to stare at him, his expression completely unreadable behind his emotionless white mask.

“You heard me!” Ridley took a step forward, getting into the leader’s face. “We, my good sir, are ambassadors sent here on behalf of the Mushroom Kingdom's honorable Princess Peach to negotiate trade rights with your King Wart. Now, do you really want to be known as the guy who started an international incident just because you decided to shoot first and ask questions never?”

The blue Shy Guy turned back to his men, clearly thrown off by the unexpected outburst. Luigi and Samus, meanwhile, shared a confused look before deciding to just play along with Ridley's bluff.

“You four are from the Mushroom Kingdom?”

“That’s right.” Samus walked up beside Ridley, folding her arms and straightening her back to look as imposing as she could muster, which was significantly so. “I'm sure your King is expecting us, did you not get the notice that you were supposed to pick us up?”

The Shy Guy spared one last glance at the others before turning back to the two and pointing. “Sick ‘em.”

* S * R * B *​

“Well, that certainly could have gone better.”

It hadn’t taken much for the Shy Guys to overpower Ridley and the others through sheer numbers and the four now found themselves tied up and dragged along the ground towards a tall mountain off in the distance.

“I will never recover from this humiliating defeat,” Samus moaned. “Seriously, those guys are like, three feet tall.”

“Well, hopefully we can-a get this all-a sorted out after they-a bring us to their king,” Luigi suggested hopefully. “I’m-a sure that we can-a just explain what-a happened and get this whole-a thing cleared up.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that,” Samus shook her head.

“Hold on a second,” Ridley hissed. “I think I can cut through these ropes with my tail. Just a little bit more, and…”

Unfortunately, one of the gray Shy Guys heard him and turned around, shooting him in the face with another cannonball.

“...Ow.”

* S * R * B *​

After what felt like several hours, the Shy Guys finally slowed to a halt at what looked like some sort of scout camp, where they threw Ridley, Luigi, Roshi and Samus into an iron cage that would have been small even if there was only one of them in there. With all four, they barely had enough room to breathe.

“Okay, I think I can pick the lock on this thing, I just need to-” Ridley got shot in the face again. “WILL YOU STOP THAT?”

“Only if you stop trying to escape,” the guard replied.

“Hey, has anyone else noticed that there’s no sun?” Roshi asked, prompting everyone else to look up as best as they could.

“Hey, you’re-a right,” Luigi gasped. Sure enough, despite the bright blue sky up above pockmarked by the occasional fluffy white cloud, there was no sign of a sun up there. Which of course raised the question of why it wasn’t dark outside.

“Of course, there’s no sun,” one Shy Guy said. “We don’t have one of those.”

“You don’t have a sun?” Samus repeated. “How is that even possible? I’ve been to countless inhabited worlds and I’ve never seen one that doesn’t have some kind of sun. Well, except Aether but Aether was just plain weird.”

“So, I take it that means where’s not on SMB-985 anymore?” Ridley asked.

“I have no idea what that means,” the guard confessed. “But you’re in Subcon, now.”

“Subcon? SUBCON!” Ridley panicked. “...Never heard of it.”

Before the Shy Guy could explain, a chorus of trumpets sounded and all of the guards stood at attention. Like something out of a fairy tale, a large red and gold carriage rolled up to them. A small bird-like creature with large eyes and dark blue feathers sat at the front, holding reigns that seemed to just be suspended in midair as there was nothing visibly pulling the carriage.

“Introducing his eminence, the king of dreams, leader of the 8-bits and all-around cool guy, King Mamu Wart and his entourage!” the bird shouted as the carriage door opened.

A massive green toad, the amphibious kind, not the mushroom kind, stepped out. The large golden crown sitting atop his head signified him as the king that had just been introduced, with his thick, gold-trimmed blue robe and the shining medaling hanging around his neck adding to the look. He was followed by a pink dinosaur-like creature with a red bow on her head, who was similar in appearance to a yoshi save for the canon-like muzzle she had in place of the usual bulbous nose. Then came a large grey mouse in sunglasses, followed by a red three-headed hydra, a living ball of fire and, finally, a giant orange crab. Notably, the carriage didn’t seem remotely large enough for them to have all fit inside.

“Ugh, what is it this time?” King Wart grumbled as he walked over to them. He stopped in front of the cage that Ridley and the others were trapped in, his gaze settling first on Luigi and Samus. “Huh, what’s this? Hylians?”

He seemed almost excited for a moment before his eyes narrowed and he scowled.

“Hm, no… the ears are the wrong shape. Humans, then.” The king then turned to Roshi and finally Ridley. “And let’s see… this one’s a yoshi and… I have no idea what you are.”

“No one does.” Ridley would have shrugged but he didn’t have enough room. “I’m one of a kind.”

“Interesting…” the giant toad man scratched his chin in thought. “Well, what are you waiting for? Let them out of that cage!”

The Shy Guys practically tripped over each other, rushing to follow his orders. Soon, the four captives found themselves lined up in front of the king and his cohorts. While Wart seemed genuinely intrigued by their presence, the same could not be said of the others. The dinosaur seemed to glare at Roshi while the rat had his scowl firmly fixed on Luigi and the other three looked similarly hostile.

“So, what’s your story?” Wart asked them. “What are you doing in my lands?”

“That’s-a the thing.” Luigi shrugged. “We-a don’t know. We’re-a not even sure where-a ‘here’ is.”

Wart nodded thoughtfully. “Well, that is to be expected for new arrivals. It’s not every day that you lose your connections to the waking realm and end up here, in the dream world.”

“The what now?” Ridley asked.

Wart looked the group over, a look in his eye. Pity? Ridley wasn’t quite sure if that was it. Finally, the amphibious being started to turn back towards his ornate carriage and motioned for them to follow.

“Come, I will explain on the way,” he said as he hopped inside. “You are likely hungry and tired. We shall have a feast in your honor back at my castle and rooms will be prepared for you. It’s the least I can do after how poorly my men have treated you.”

The gang spared glances at each other but no one seemed to find any reason to object. Or rather, they weren’t in any position to be able to turn the offer down even though it simply wreaked of a trap.

Ridley was the first to climb in after Wart. Once he was inside, he understood how there had been so many large beings inside the almost comically large vehicle. Somehow, they’d found a way to completely disregard Euclidian physics to make the interior of the no-doubt magic vehicle several times larger than the exterior. It was like stepping into a large, very luxurious limo. Ridley slid into a seat opposite King Wart as the others lined in after him. Wart’s entourage spilled in last before the door closed and they rode off. Even with everyone in there, it was still rather spacious.

“Drinks?” the king asked as a white-cloaked shy guy with a red bowtie passed around glasses of… something. Ridley took one and gave it an experimental sip. It tasted like… s’mores? “Oh, where are my manners? I’ve forgotten to introduce myself. You may call me Wart. I am the king of these lands which we call Subcon but there’s no need to address me with such formalities. You are guests.”

“Hello-a, Wart.” Luigi nodded. “My name’s-a Luigi and these are Ridley, Roshi and Samus.”

Ridley would have preferred not to give out their names so readily to these shady strangers but it was too late now. Wart held out his hand to the pink dinosaur, apparently signaling for her to introduce herself as well.

“I’m Birdo,” she squawked.

“Mouser,” the rat nodded curtly, still keeping his gaze focused intently on Luigi for some reason. Though his eyes remained hidden behind his pitch-black shades.

“Weee arrre Trrryclyyyde,” the red serpent hissed with all three of its mouths its left head gestured to the fireball. “Annnd thisss onnne isss Frrryguuuy.”

Fryguy gave a whistle of confirmation.

“Yeah verily, my name is Clawgrip,” the crab said with a flourish of his claws. “‘Tis a pleasure to meet you, fine sirs and dame.”

“Dame?” Samus cocked an eyebrow.

“And now that we’ve exchanged pleasantries, it seems only fair that I explain just where we are,” Wart said. “Subcon is not a kingdom that you would be familiar with for we are not in the world you came from. And I don’t just mean planet.

“The Dream World, Dream Land, the Sleeping Worlds, the collective unconscious. This realm has many names. It exists parallel to the waking world that we all originally hailed from and is made from the dreams and minds of those who remain there. Or perhaps it is this world that shapes our minds and dreams? That is an age-old question. This is Subcon, the land that corresponds to your world. Though there are as many lands here as there are inhabited worlds back in the waking.

“How we get here varies. For some of us, we lost all hope and direction in our lives until eventually, we had nothing left but to retreat fully into our dreams. For others, we were pushed here, unwanted by those around us.”

Birdo noticeably winced at that.

“And for yet others, their journey was far more violent.”

Mouser flinched as if remembering something painful.

“So, my new friends,” Wart held his hands out invitingly. “Please, share your stories with us. I know that it may be painful but we have found that it is always better to share the pain of your tragedies, to better adjust to your new lives in the land of lost souls.”

Ridley looked around at the others, who seemed just as confused as he was. They hadn’t been brought here by any sort of great tragedy or pushed here or anything like that. Ridley opened his mouth to voice that confusion-

-and instead, he bore his entire life story, from the moment of his creation until that night in Luigi’s basement when they all fell asleep. Luigi went next, followed by Roshi and finally Samus. They all shared, in excruciating detail. More than any of them would have ever shared under normal circumstances. There was something very, very wrong. Ridley wracked his brains, trying to figure out what it was but he could only come to one conclusion.

The drinks had been spiked. Some sort of truth serum, or perhaps magic. Whatever it was, it forced them to comply. But did it simply force them to share their life stories or were they compelled to do anything that Wart or his lackeys asked of them? The lack of knowledge scared him.

“I see.” Wart steepled his hands together after hearing their stories, deep in thought. It had to have been hours since they’d gotten into the carriage with him but Ridley had no idea how long it had actually been. His sense of time felt off, distorted. Like a dream, he realized. “Well, it seems that your circumstances are quite unusual, even by our standards. No pain, no sorrow. You have lives worth returning to. People who still care for you. You are, none of you, lost. But I do think that I know how to help you to return to your world.”

“How?” Luigi asked as the carriage suddenly came to a halt.

“Legends tell of an ancient artifact called the Star Rod,” Wart explained as he exited the vehicle. “It was said that it could bring dreams to life though, in truth, its power was that it could open the boundary between the waking realm and this one. In other words, whoever possesses the Star Rod has the power to pass between the two realms at will, as well as to allow others to do the same.”

As Ridley stepped outside along with the others, he found that they were parked in front of a large cave built into the side of a mountain. Something felt off about it though. It looked almost as if shadows were drifting out of the cave like a drafty breeze. His first thought was that was impossible but then it occurred to him that if this really was some sort of dream world, anything could be possible.

“Unfortunately, the Star Rod was lost,” Wart continued. “A mysterious masked knight, the Star Warrior, stole the rod long ago from its resting place in the Fountain of Dreams. Some say that he feared the rod’s power. Others say that he wanted it for himself. Regardless, all versions of the tale always end the same. The Star Warrior retreated with the Star Rod into the Cave of Nightmares, never to be seen again.

“A prophecy was laid out that it can only be retrieved by four heroes from the waking world. Red, Green, Yellow, Blue. And wouldn’t you know it, you four match that very description. This feels almost like fate, does it not?”

What it felt like was that he was trying to coerce them into a dangerous mission to retrieve some forbidden relic and then stab them in the back later to take it for himself. But of course, Ridley wasn’t about to say that straight to Wart’s face, or with his goons nearby.

“So, I take it this creepy cave is the ‘Cave of Nightmares’ and you want us to go get the Star Rod for you?” Samus asked sarcastically.

“Well, yes. I wasn’t exactly being subtle about that,” Wart replied. “It will be dangerous but I am sure that you will be more than capable of handling whatever trials the nightmares throw before you.”

Well, it didn’t seem like they had any way out of this, so Ridley had no choice but to nod in compliance. The others reacted similarly.

“Alright, we’ll-a do it,” Luigi said.

“Good, good.” Wart gestured towards the cave. “Then I suggest you get a move on.”

“Yeah, yeah, we got it.” Ridley shook his head and walked into the cave. The others followed suit.

Inside, there was darkness. Not the normal darkness that comes with being in a cave, that would be normal. No, this was something more.

“So, we trusting this guy at all?” Ridley asked, mostly rhetorically once he was sure they were out of earshot.

“Yeah, no, not at all,” Samus replied.

“No, he’s-a shifty as heck,” came Luigi’s response.

“I don’t like how that one girl kept staring at me,” Roshi said.

“Yeah, that’s pretty much what I thought.” Ridley sighed. “So, what’s the plan? Wait in here a while and escape after they finally leave so that we can figure out what to do? Find this ‘Star Rod’ thing, if it's even here, and then use it to get back home before that king and his cronies can take it from us?”

Ridley waited for a response from the others. None came.

“Guys? Guys?”

Ridley looked around, to no avail. Even with his enhanced senses, he couldn’t make out a thing in this darkness. Nothing in the infrared spectrum. No scents. He couldn’t even taste the wind that blew past. There was nothing but blackness and the void.

And then it was lifted like a veil. Ridley’s senses returned in full. He was in a cave, as to be expected, but one that seemed oddly familiar to him. The purple sheen to the stone, the heat of lava further down, the faint trace of berithenium on the air.

This was Zebes, the lower regions of Norfair. He was in the caves where he had fought Samus, the Hunter, both times that he had visited this miserable planet. But that was impossible. Zebes was gone, the planet itself destroyed by Mother Brain’s ridiculous ‘I’ll take everyone with me’ policies that meant that a series of large-scale detonation charges were pumped directly into the planet’s core when Samus killed her. There was nothing left but scattered rocks and other space debris. So how?

Footsteps. They were coming closer. From the distinctive metallic sound and that familiar rhythm of the steps… There was only one person it could be.

“Samus?” Ridley turned to the source of the noise. “When did you get your armor back? Where are the… others…”

The armored figure that walked out into the tunnel before him was not Samus, though the thing was similar in appearance. The stylization of its shining silver armor was different. Organic. Hostile. Distinctive blue veins and lights pulsed from under its outer membrane. Signs of the corruption. He’d had the misfortune of having crossed this thing before. He had been enslaved by it, like the rest of his people. Bent to follow its will.

The Dark Hunter stepped closer, as unsettlingly quiet as always. Ridley’s trial had begun.

Spoiler: Chapter Notes

I had been planning on having at least another chapter before getting to the Cave of Nightmares but I didn’t have any ideas of what to do before then so I decided to just jump straight into it. This next arc has been one of the moments that I’ve been most looking forward to these past few years and I’m excited to finally get here. I hope that I can live up to my own expectations with the next few chapters.

 

Spoiler: World 2-1: Welcome to my Nightmare

Luigi had no idea where he was. It seemed to be a building of some kind. Clearly old, though he has no idea how old. It was like someone had taken an old castle from the medieval ages, spliced it together with a Victorian mansion and furnished it with random decorations from every era. More troubling than that, though, was the layout. An endless web of sprawling hallways that didn't lead anywhere but to more halls. He couldn't help but think back on stories he’d heard as a kid, of the Minotaur in ancient Greek myth. Trapped in a labyrinth its whole life until it was slain by Theseus.

But was Luigi Theseus, or the Minotaur?

He continued to wander the dimly lit maze, moving from candlelight to the bold electric lights you might see in a mine, to gas lanterns. At first, it seemed that he was alone, so signs of anyone or anything else in there with him. Then he started to hear noises. Shuffling, footsteps, moans and bumps. He preferred the quiet.

After wandering the labyrinth for what felt like an eternity, Luigi finally found a door. An old wooden door that felt strangely familiar to him but he couldn't quite place where he had seen it before. He opened it to see what was on the other side and froze.

He had just stepped into Mario Bros. Plumbing. Not the house that he and his brother had built together in the woods outside of Toad Town. No, that was Super Mario Bros. Plumbing. This was the old Flatbush apartment basement where Luigi and his brother had first set up shop back in the old days when they were just a pair of young New Yorker plumbers out to make a name for themselves. The lopsided stairs, the collapsed brick wall that led out into an old subway tunnel, the big open sewer pipe that gave them direct access to the city's sewers. Even the old bathtub garden was exactly as he remembered it with a few sunflowers in bloom.

But Luigi knew for a fact that the old apartment building had been condemned and demolished shortly after they’d found that old warp pipe to the Mushroom Kingdom and permanently moved there. It shouldn’t have been possible for him to be in a place that had been torn down and no longer existed.

Luigi wandered the old basement, memories of a much simpler time flooding his mind like a dam had just burst. The quirky neighbors and customers, their electrician roommate, the giant sewer rat that would sometimes sneak in… or was it an alligator? It was hard to remember after so long.

Then he heard breathing. Airy, ragged breathing coming from the sewer access pipe. Luigi turned to the source of the noise just in time to see a shadowed figure shuffling closer. He could just barely make them out in the dim light.

“Mario?” Luigi recognized the overalls, the red shirt and the hat that his brother had always favored. But it couldn’t have been him. The way it moved was all wrong. It limped forward, stiff and awkward. He recognized those movements from a far more recent memory, his time trapped in the Grimoire of Souls, and his heart practically stopped as he realized what he was looking at.

The smell of rotting flesh hit Luigi mere seconds before the monster walked out into the light. Its flesh had withered away, putrid and green. It was his brother but as Luigi already knew, Mario was dead. The zombie shuffled towards him, slow but determined. Luigi panicked and ran for the door, only to find that it had locked behind him. With his back literally against the wall as Zombie Mario crept ever closer, Luigi scanned the basement looking for anything that he could use to defend himself.

Seeing his old toolbox sitting on top of a pile of broken bricks, Luigi ran around the room to get to it. He dug through the green metal box before finally pulling out his largest wrench, gripping it firmly in his hands. His knees shook as what was left of his brother’s corpse closed in on him but he held his ground, bracing himself to attack with the improvised weapon.

No matter how much he tried to rationalize that it was an undead monstrosity and a perversion of his brother’s legacy, however, Luigi found that he couldn’t bring himself to attack it. Instead, he took a few steps back towards the rusty, dirt-filled bathtub in the corner.

An arm shot out of the soil as Luigi backed into the cracked tub, grabbing him by the strap of his overalls. He pulled away, wrestling out of its grip as a second Zombie Mario rose from the garden soil. Luigi jumped back and tripped over an old oil can, falling flat on his back. He rolled to his feet and looked around, seeing that there were at least five of the undead monsters now, all disfigured imitations of his late brother. They had him surrounded as they shambled towards him from all directions.

Out of options, Luigi gave an audible gulp and jumped over the collapsed brick wall behind him, making a mad dash down the abandoned subway tunnel. He needed to get out of there, find the others and come up with a plan.

“Going somewhere?”

Luig nearly ran headfirst into a large, round mass of shadows but managed to slide to a stop before he crashed headfirst into it. A pair of shadowy purple eyes glared down at him above a fanged mouth from which a bulbous blue tongue hung out.

“K-k-king Boo?”

Luigi scrambled back to his feet and ran the other way, pursued by the giant ghost. He wasn't sure how long he ran before he finally reached the light at the end of the tunnel. Turning around to see that King Book was still hot on his heels, Luigi hurried outside of the man-made tunnel and out into-

This wasn't New York. Luigi found himself in an old, abandoned village that he suspected was somewhere in eastern Europe. Probably Romania, or somewhere around there. A tall, haunting castle cast its shadow over the town, which seemed all but abandoned save for a man sitting at a table outside a small café, whose face was hidden behind a large newspaper with the headline ‘Royal Wedding Cancelled’ printed in big, bold letters. Sitting on the table in front of him was a glass of red liquid that was too thick to be wine.

“You know, it says here that you're dead.” Dracula neatly folded up his paper and set it down on the table before finishing off his drink. “Perhaps I should make that a reality.”

* S * R * B *​

The world was on fire around her. The screams of her dying friends and family pierced the air and everyone she had ever known died a slow, agonizing death. Samus could practically taste the blood in the air.

“NO! Get away from me!” the three-year-old screamed as she tried to crawl back, away from the monster standing over her.

The ashen dragon crept ever closer, its harsh golden eyes shining like burning coals as it absently chewed the bloody mess of mangled flesh in its crooked toothy jaws. If Samus had tried eating as messily as that, her mother would have scolded her for her bad manners. But it would have been hard for Virginia to raise a fuss when she was what it was eating. The monster spread its dark wings, blotting out what little sunlight remained that wasn’t already obscured by the clouds of smoke billowing around them.

Samus soon found herself backed against a wall. The burning remains of what had once been her family’s house, her home. Now it was little more than a pile of ash and melted steel. With nowhere left to run and nowhere left to hide, Samus simply curled up into a ball and rocked back and forth, crying her heart out.

“M-mama!” she cried out desperately. “Papa! Someone, help!”

“They’re gone.” The monster fell forward onto its hands so that it could get even closer. If Samus held out her hand, she would have been able to touch her mother’s leg hanging out of his mouth. Then the monster suddenly jerked his head upward and loudly swallowed what was left of Virginia Aran. “There’s no one who can save you now. There never was.”

“No!” Samus recoiled from the beast.

“No one has ever been able to save you. Not your parents, not the Chozo, not Adam. Not even you. They all just end up prolonging your suffering.” The monster stuck its tongue out, its breath so putrid that Samus nearly passed out from the smell, and licked her face. Samus shivered as blood smeared everywhere and matted her hair. “Yet no matter what happens, I am always there. No matter what you do, no matter how hard you try to run and hide, I am there. I am the only real family that you’ve ever had.”

Samus finally couldn’t take any more and rose to her feet, ducking under the monster’s legs and running as fast as her stubby little legs could carry her. She needed to find somewhere to hide. She needed to find someone to protect her. A gun to defend herself. Anything!

The monster simply turned and laughed, following but not chasing her. It had no need to chase her. She could never truly run away from him.

“What do you think you’re trying to accomplish?” it asked with a voice like ice. “There is nowhere that you can go where I won’t be waiting. Face it, my child…”

She tried to run to the shipyard. Her Papa would be there waiting for her, right? She just had to get to him and he’d protect her from the monster. That’s what Papas did, right?

Samus scrambled up the loading ramp of the largest ship, headless of the smoke billowing from inside. She coughed and hacked as she ran through the burning hallways until at last she found her Papa, obscured by the smoke. She jumped into his outstretched arms, ready for him to take her away from the monster and the badness that followed in its wake.

“...You are mine!”

But the figure she ran to was not her papa. Rodney Aran was already gone, just like everyone else in her life. Samus struggled as the monster pulled Samus into a tight embrace but it was no use.

She would never be able to get away from Ridley. She never could. No matter how much she fought, no matter how many times she defeated him, he was always there.

* S * R * B *​

Roshi curled up in the old straw hammock that had once been his childhood bed, trying to cry himself to sleep even though it was still midday. He would have locked himself away in his room if he could but the primitive huts of Yoshi Island’s main village lacked such luxuries as locks or doors. He didn’t even have any way of closing the window to drown out the cacophony of children’s voices shouting from outside.

“Fatso!”

“Chubby!”

“Burt!”

He’d had to deal with this for as long as he could remember. Meanspirited children and even the occasional adult jeering and making fun of him for his weight. It wasn’t his fault. Really, it wasn’t. He ate half as much as any other Yoshi his age and yet somehow managed to pack on twice the pounds. Whatever it was that the rest of his kind had that allowed for their signature endless stomachs, he’d simply been born without. He didn’t even mind that much, except for the name-calling and constant bullying that it had led to when he was a kid.

His parents had tried to help him by giving him a pen pal. The chief of Lava Lava Island’s Yoshi village, who was afflicted by the same condition as him. And he did find comfort in knowing that he wasn’t alone, that another of his kind had not only been through everything that he had but been able to thrive and become a leader. A true hero among Yoshis.

But Roshi wasn’t the chief. No matter how hard he tried, he’d never been able to overcome his own self-doubt and fear. And when the opportunity had finally come, he’d run away. Instead of facing his problems, he’d gone off to the Mushroom Kingdom to start a new life. Sure, he liked his new home and the people who he would call his friends but did they feel the same way about him?

“Can you believe that idiot?” The voices outside changed, the young Yoshis replaced with the familiar raspy chuckle of a certain former space pirate. “He actually thinks that he can stand beside us!”

“I-a know!” his boss laughed. “He-a can’t even realize that-a we just keep him around as a joke.”

Roshi rolled over and tried to cover his ears. It wasn’t true! It wasn’t!

“I think I’m getting tired of him,” the bounty hunter lady said. “Maybe we should just ditch him and move on. Leave him here.”

“I have a better idea,” the deep growl was less familiar to Roshi but he was still able to recognize the King of Koopas, “why don’t we roast the little piggy? Hold a luau?”

“What a lovely idea!” Princess Peach cackled in delight. “That’s all that a plump little piglet like him is good for, anyway!”

That was enough. Roshi had to get out of there, immediately. His life depended on it!

Roshi tried to get out of the hammock but fell face-first onto the floor before scrambling to his feet and running out of the dirty hut. He didn’t see anyone as he hurried into the forest but their voices, mocking and cruel, continued to follow him.

“Oh, look, he’s running away again!” Ridley taunted.

“It seems that’s all he can-a do!”

Roshi’s breathing turned heavy as he lumbered through the woods. He’d never had much in the way of stamina and it didn’t take long for him to wear himself out. He tried to fight it but eventually, his fatigue grew to be too much for him and he was forced to take a break and rest on a fallen log, gasping for air while his legs felt like they were on fire.

“What a disappointment,” Roshi’s father’s voice sighed.

“Why couldn’t we have had a normal child?” his mother's voice asked.

Roshi’s heart pounded, feeling like it would burst out from his chest, but he found the strength to get up and continue. He twisted and turned around the trees until at last he reached a cliff overlooking a rushing river. He turned to find another way, only to see the bushes behind him start to shake. Something was coming.

Roshi took a step back, towards the sudden drop, when a shadowy figure popped out from the foliage, followed by another and another. Dozens of small, amorphous black creatures stared at him through beedy, lop-sided eyes, the only feature he could make out from them apart from their gaping, toothy grins.

Roshi had never actually seen a Fuzzy before but he knew that he’d always been warned never to approach one. He’d been told that they released a spray of powdery spores when touched that poisoned your brain and caused you to hallucinate. Even when he had no idea what they were, he’d always been terrified of encountering one. It wasn’t until much later, as an adult, that he’d finally seen pictures in a book of Dinosaurland wildlife that he’d finally had an image to put to the name. The book hadn’t mentioned anything about the spores, strangely enough, but did talk about how aggressive and mean they could be, which only heightened his fears.

And now he was surrounded by them.

The black Fuzzies bounced and hopped along the ground, coming steadily closer to him as more and more of the small furry creatures emerged from the forest. Roshi instinctively took another step back. The ground crumbled beneath his foot and he realized that he was about to fall. And with the swarm of Fuzzies approaching from what felt like every direction, Roshi had no way to get away from the ledge.

The next thing Roshi knew, he was falling. Then there was a splash and everything went dark.

* S * R * B *​

Ridley dove into a pool of lava, the Dark Hunter right on his tail. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t manage to shake her for more than a few seconds at a time. Looking back on it, he’d never been able to escape an encounter with the real Hunter unscathed, or even alive for that matter, and this thing that took her form was far more relentless and merciless than the real Samus could ever be. Not to mention that he was currently nearly powerless. With his wings mysterious gone and his plasma breath not working for some reason, he might as well have been human. All he had were his claws, his tail and the red cap that was somehow not catching on fire or melting. Ridley could’ve done without the dream physics but of course he had other, much more pressing concerns than that.

As Ridley swam through the current of melted rock, remembering the cavernous layout from his previous visits to the real Zebes, Dark Samus jumped in after him. That wasn't ideal, nor was the fact that the tunnels of Norfair weren't complying with his memories of the area. He had no idea where he was going.

After a while, he slipped through a crevice into one of the deeper magma veins, then promptly fell out of the lava stream into a large cave. He scrambled to his feet and bolted along the wall into a side tunnel just as Dark Samus landed on the ground on one knee. The mysterious phazon demon slowly rose to its feet, turning its head to where Ridley had just vanished before slowly trailing after him.

It would have been useful if Ridley had any idea who or what Dark Samus actually was, any knowledge at all of how he could fight it or at least fend the monster off. But the Dark Hunter had always been an enigma to the Space Pirates. It had simply shown up one day out of nowhere and swiftly took over nearly their entire operation, practically in an Urtagian solar cycle. All he knew was that it was of Phaaz and that he could still recall what it was like to be under that thing’s thrall all too well. That was not something that he ever wanted to experience again.

After a few minutes, or maybe they were hours, Ridley ducked around a corner into what proved to be a dead end. The sound of armored footsteps echoed behind him as he frantically searched for a way out. Seeing no other way, Ridley felt pressed to rely on one of his lesser-used abilities. He jumped up to the roof and curled up as his skin gradually shifted into the same hue as the rocks around him. His camouflage ability was practically useless when the enemy had scanning capabilities or relied on senses other than sight, which is why he so rarely used it, but perhaps he could get lucky and the thing would miss him.

Of course, he wasn't going to be that lucky, though. Dark Samus found him immediately and Ridley barely had time to drop out of the way of a phazon blast from its arm cannon. He tried to scamper around the Dark Hunter and run off in the other direction but Dark Samus twisted around and grabbed him by the back of his neck, digging its clawed fingers into his flesh.

A familiar burning chill coursed its way through his veins as raw phazon was pumped into his system. He tried to struggle, to resist the corruption and its influence, but his own body betrayed him. Somehow, despite everything, a lingering dependency on the parasitic toxin had remained within him and he found, to his horror, that his body openly welcomed the phazon’s return. His five remaining limbs went slack, ignoring the signals his brain was trying to send to fight off the bodily invasion. But no matter how hard he struggled, he couldn’t move or do anything to fight its influence.

Finally, after the damage had already been done, Dark Samus released its grip and Ridley collapsed onto the scalding stone ground, hacking and wheezing as he rose to his knees. A sickly feeling wrenched its way up from his stomach through his esophagus and Ridley found himself heaving over as he had been so oversaturated with the volatile parasitic mutagen that the extra phazon in his system was violently expunged through his mouth, the glowing blue poison forming a puddle at his knees.

The false Hunter continued to stand silently over Ridley, watching its new pawn with a dispassionate gaze as he slowly picked himself back up. While Ridley may have been able to move again, his actions were no longer his own. He was under its control once again, at the beck and call of his returning master.

Ridley stretched his arms and legs as metal plates bubbled out from under his skin, covering his body. Then he suddenly hunched over and his back violently ripped open. A shining pair of artificial wings burst out, glowing orange membranes held on metallic frames. The pain of his transformation was indescribable and yet Ridley was forced to endure as his mind remained active throughout the entire thing. He struggled to remind himself that this was just a dream, a nightmare, and that none of it was real.

Then a hollow groan echoed through the cavern as Dark Samus issued a command. ‘Submit. Obey. Destroy.’

Omega Ridley replied with a mechanical growl, unable to do anything else. He was a slave to the Prime’s whims, no matter how much he tried to fight it. He was nothing but a living marionette, his strings its to control. Ridley wanted to scream, to cry, but he couldn’t. Instead, his body followed its master through the darkened tunnels, up, until at last they came to the surface. They weren’t on Zebes anymore, though.

Dark Samus rose into the air once they were outside and Omega Ridley had no choice but to follow. Through the cloudy night sky, Ridley could clearly make out the vibrant green hills and flowing rivers of the Mushroom Kingdom. Princess Peach’s castle and the surrounding town were up ahead in the distance.

‘Destroy. Infect. Assimilate.’

Omega Ridley obeyed the orders he was given. Soon, these lands would be nothing but smoke and ash at his feet. And Ridley was forced to watch as there was nothing that he could do to stop himself.

Spoiler: Chapter Notes

This chapter and its follow-up are the parts that I’ve been most looking forward to in this story. And, now that I think about it, the only parts that I really had all that fleshed out. I’m now feeling like I should have spent more time outlining this story and figuring out what I want to do apart from some vague ideas. I guess I’ll be spending the next few weeks working that out in better detail.

I was originally going to have each Nightmare be a character created from each character’s fears. Nightmare Samus for Ridley, Nightmare King Boo for Luigi, Nightmare Ridley for Samus and… Nightmare Fuzzy for Roshi, with that last one being something of a joke character based off of the idea that Roshi was afraid of Fuzzies (the Yoshi’s Island enemy) but doesn’t know that they’re different from Fuzzies (the Super Mario enemy). In that version, the four Nightmares would have actually followed them out of the cave when they left and continued to chase them down for a while. I ended up changing things pretty significantly since then, though. While Samus’ nightmare is pretty much the same as I originally envisioned it, everyone else’s have changed, with Luigi’s now being focused on a fear of death (and the undead), Roshi’s now being focused more on his general insecurities and history of being bullied, and Ridley’s now being focused on the events of Prime 3 and memories of his past self.

 

Spoiler: World 2-2: Overcoming the Nightmare

The natives of Camex III were a primitive yet resourceful race of reptilian humanoids who had only recently discovered how to grow and cultivate their own crops instead of relying on hunting and gathering for their food. They lived peaceful lives in tightly knit communities, caring for and supporting one another. The world they lived on was a hostile one but they would have overcome any obstacles that came their way and flourished into a mighty civilization.

Unfortunately for them, their planet was also a prime source of Bendezium.

The Alectys set down in the fields just outside of the largest Camexian settlement. Calling the place a village would have been a little too generous. The natives, of course, had seen the massive spaceship descend from the heavens and the more curious members of their tribe came out to investigate what this new thing was. They were startled when the bay doors opened, descending into a ramp. Some of the camexians fled, the smart ones, while the others stayed behind and watched as strange beings descended upon them.

Captain Ridley walked down to them, his lieutenant staying by his side while the other crew members followed with their weapons drawn. One particularly foolish native stepped forward to greet Ridley, holding up a large glowing crystal to him as a peace offering. Ridley took the gift gently, examined it closely then used it to bash the camexian’s skull in. The other natives panicked and began to flee but were quickly mowed down by a volley of energy blasts. One camexian, the fastest runner of their people, managed to get out of range fast enough to avoid getting killed right away and headed for the settlement to warn the others. Ridley turned to his lieutenant and nodded.

Samus took off after the survivor, gun in hand. She didn’t bother to use it, though, as she caught up to the alien on foot and tackled it to the ground. She imagined that it was probably begging for its life as it struggled to get out of her grip. Its survival was never an option, though, and Samus jammed the barrel of her energy gun into the pathetic creature’s mouth before pulling the trigger. She remained silent as the resulting viscera splattered over her and she rose to her feet. Turning, she saw her captain and his crew catch up to her.

Ridley looked down at Samus’ work and nodded in satisfaction before rubbing his hand against her cheek. Samus preened at the affection and leaned into her master’s hand, letting out a soft purring sound before he pulled away from her and they turned to the settlement.

By the time the planet’s second sun rose over the horizon, they had slaughtered every camexian around for miles and burned their settlement to the ground. By the time the excavation team arrived to dig up the precious minerals underneath, Ridley was sitting comfortably atop a pile of corpses and chewing on the remains of the first native he had killed. After a moment of consideration, he snapped off a leg and handed it down to his daughter nuzzled against his leg. Samus greedily took the offering and sank her teeth into the fresh meat.

A lifetime spent within the nightmare had utterly broken whatever was left of Samus Aran. All that was left of her was the feral Space Pirate that had been groomed in her place. Only a miracle could have snapped her out of it.

And a miracle, she received.

Samus looked up as she caught a flash of light out of the corner of her eye and dropped the bloody limb she’d been eating. Narrowing her eyes, she saw several humanoid figures approaching them. Turning to her father, she saw that Ridley had also noticed them and was bracing himself for a fight. Samus followed his lead and put the helmet of her pirate armor back on before pulling out her gun.

As the strangers approached, Samus caught a better look at them. One was clad in the dark navy armor of a Federation Marine but the other two had chozo armor. Strange, considering that they had already wiped the chozo into oblivion. Samus had been a part of the team that had led the extermination campaign against them on Zebes, or so her false memories told her.

Ridley roared the order to attack and rushed into battle alongside the other Space Pirates gathered. Samus moved to follow just behind him but was held back as a hand grabbed her shoulder. She spun around to strike whoever dared touch her, but hesitated.

Samus found herself staring into the deep blue eyes of a rugged-looking human man with short, sandy-brown hair. Beside him stood a fair-haired woman whose green eyes seemed to pierce through her very soul. The woman suddenly pulled Samus into a deep hug and she felt the fog over her mind clear at last as her real memories flooded back to replace the false nightmare.

“M-Mama?” Samus’ eyes widened. “Papa? What are you doing here? How are you here? What’s happening?”

Virginia Aran pulled away and shook her head. “I don’t know, but we’re here for you. We’ll always be here for you.”

And then Samus broke down crying. The hideous, almost demonic dark armor of a space pirate trooper fell away from her as she dropped to her knees, leaving behind her old blue Zero Suit. Both parents knelt down and embraced their daughter in a family reunion that shouldn’t have been possible. After a moment that felt like an eternity, Samus finally found the strength to dry her tears and rise back to her feet.

“It looks like the others are going to need a hand,” Rodney Aran said, pointing a finger over the battle raging on behind them.

Samus turned to see Ridley and his underlings facing off against the three armored figures and it suddenly clicked in her mind who they must have been.

“I’m sorry,” Samus shook her head. “But I have to go.”

“We understand.” Virginia nodded, a sad look in her eyes.

“Go kick some butt.” Rodney smiled and patted his daughter on the back. “Show those frakers who’s boss.”

“Honey, language!” Virginia snapped at her husband but Samus just laughed it off.

“I will, Papa.” Samus brushed her hair back and took a confident step forward. An armored purple and white boot landed on the ground as her latest design Power Suit manifested around Samus in a flash. “I’ll show them all what happened when you mess with an Aran!”

The Hunter reborn charged into the fight, striking down three pirates before she’d even reached them. One trooper tried to stab the marine officer in the back with an energy blade, only to find himself shoulder-checked at mach speed by Samus, tumbling along the ground before getting vaporized by a blast from her arm cannon.

“You sure kept us waiting, Lady,” Commander Adam Malkovich grumbled before shooting another pirate in the base of its spine. “I trained you better than that.”

“I know, I know.” Samus whipped around and blasted two more pirates. “Good to see you, too.”

“I’m glad to see you back on your feet,” the shorter of the two chozo, Old Bird, said as he hurried over to them. “How are you doing?”

“Better than us, I would assume.” Gray Voice muttered as he followed close behind.

“Hm, it looks like we’re down to just the commander, now,” Commander Malkovich said, turning his gun on Ridley, the last pirate standing. “Everyone, stay sharp!”

The mighty space dragon let out a furious roar, spreading his wings out in a display of intimidation. There was little left that he could do at this point, though. Samus aimed her arm cannon directly at his chest, charging up a blast as her chozo mentors and old commanding officer did the same. Four energy blasts fired at once, twisting around each other and convalescing into one. The nightmare Ridley let out one final howl of pain as he was torn apart at the molecular level, leaving nothing behind but an ashen stain on the ground.

The nightmare had ended and Samus was left with the five most important people from her past standing around her. For the first time in a very long time, she felt truly safe. Safe enough to let herself cry once again, as five comforting hands reached out.

* S * R * B *​

If there was one thing that Luigi was good at, it was jumping. Ever since he was a kid, when he and Mario would occasionally shoot hoops with the other kids in the neighborhood, he was always the best jumper. As an adult, he’d only gotten better at it and his high jumps had proven an invaluable skill through most of his adventures with his brother. That skill hadn’t been much use lately, though, since his recent adventures hadn’t required it as much as usual. But at the moment, getting chased around an abandoned country village by a murderous vampire, he found himself parkouring his way from rooftop to rooftop. After a while, it seemed that Dracula had managed to lose track of him, so Luigi hopped back down to ground level and snuck into an old shop through a back door.

Maybe if he layed low for a while, Dracula would give up and leave? But with his luck, probably not. Still, at least now he had a chance to slow down, catch his breath and actually think. Just what was happening?

Luigi realized that he was in some sort of old kitchen. He’d apparently entered a restaurant of some kind. Looking around to make sure that the coast was clear, he poked his head out into the main dining room. To his surprise, it wasn’t empty. A few patrons were scattered around, seated at several tables. Luigi knew that he couldn’t just leave these people here without warning them of the nearby danger and walked out into the room.

Every head turned to face Luigi and he gulped. They weren’t people at all but more zombies. Luigi immediately turned around and ran out of there before they had a chance to chase him. He stumbled along the back alley behind the building and without thinking about it, had walked back out onto the main street. Thankfully, Dracula didn’t seem to be there. However, in his place were even more zombies, as well as walking skeletons, ghosts and other various monsters.

He had to get out of town, so Luigi ran along the street, dashing, swerving and jumping out of the way of all the undead monstrosities trying to hunt him down. Finally, he managed to reach the edge of town and made a break for the woods. However, a wall of dark flames suddenly burst out from the ground ahead of him and Luigi was barely able to react fast enough to slide to a halt before getting burned to a crisp.

“Ah, there you are.”

Luigi turned, to see the large and imposing figure of Dracula approaching him. The vampire wasn’t running so much as gliding along the ground. With nothing left to do but fight, Luigi pulled himself back to his feet and held his fists out in an old boxing pose. His form was terrible, of course, but he tried his hardest not to look scared.

“Hm, perhaps the Belmont blood does run through your veins, after all,” Dracula scoffed as he slowed to a halt. “Most men would be cowering in fear before me. Not that it matters. You’re just a pale imitation of your brother, unworthy of trying to live up to his legacy.”

“And what would you-a know about my brother?” Luigi tightened his stance and gritted his teeth. “Mario doesn’t have-a anything to do with this!”

“Oh, doesn’t he?” Dracula scoffed and flared out his cape, which fell back down to reveal Zombie Mario standing beside him. “And what, exactly, do you think ‘this’ is? We’re in your nightmare, after all.”

That was right! The Cave of Nightmares! This was all just an illusion conjured up to keep them away from the Star Rod, none of it was real.

“Real or not, it doesn’t matter,” Dracula said as if responding directly to Luigi’s thoughts, distracting him from a flash of light in the distance. “You’re never getting out of here aliv- OW!”

A metallic clang rang through the air as Dracula stumbled forward. He’d just been smacked across the back of the head by a frying pan of all things, clutched firmly in the hands of a familiar tanned princess.

“Don’t you ever threaten my Luigi, you… whatever you are!” Princess Daisy smashed her heel into the vampire’s back before storming off to stand beside her fiancee. “It’s okay, honey, I’ve got your back. Now, what exactly are we doing?”

“I’m-a not entirely sure but I-a think we’re-a fighting my nightmares,” Luigi replied. “I-a love you.”

“Love you, too, dear.” Daisy readied her frying pan.

Dracula rose to his feet with a groan, scowling at the couple with his intense red eyes. “Really? The sheer audacity! King Boo, to me!”

A giant crowned ghost suddenly appeared at the vampire’s side, opposite Zombie Mario. Behind them, Luigi could see the rest of the undead horde closing in. The plumber closed his eyes for a second and let out a sigh.

“Run!” he shouted to Daisy. “I’ll-a hold them off!”

“What, no!” Daisy turned to him. “I’m not leaving you here, alone!”

“He’s not alone, but you’re right that you shouldn’t leave.”

Suddenly, a dark-haired woman in a white and blue dress materialized at Luigi’s other side.

“Huh, who are you?” Daisy asked the new arrival.

“Sara?” Luigi recognized the spirit of Leon Belmont’s lover. “What are you doing here?”

“Wait, you mean the whip you’ve been carrying around lately?” Daisy asked. “This is her?”

“That’s right.” Sara Trountoul nodded, before holding her hand out to Luigi. “Grab on!”

Luigi did so without hesitation and the woman before him disappeared, replaced with the familiar black leather whip with a green gemstone embedded in its hilt.

“We’re definitely having a long talk when we get home.” Daisy shrugged and turned back to the monsters, raising her frying pan.

“When we-a get home, we’re-a getting married,” Luigi replied seriously. “I-a don’t even care when the wedding’s-a scheduled, we’re-a having it as-a soon as we-a wake up!”

“You got that right!”

Dracula sighed, raising a hand to his temple. “Are you two lovebirds actually going to fight or are you going to just keep standing there and ignore us? Actually, you know what, I don’t care. Get them!”

Zombie Mario suddenly lunged forward, gnashing its teeth and clawing the air. Before the monster could reach them, however, it was struck hard by a giant yellow fist and sent flying into the air until it was nothing but a twinkling star on the horizon.

“I’ve been wanting to do that for years.” Bowser huffed proudly as he pumped his fist overhead, nearly knocking over the blonde woman in a pink dress sitting on his shoulder in the process. “Whoops! Sorry, Peaches.”

“I'm alright.” Princess Peach patted him on the head gently, then jumped down to the ground.

“Where are you people coming from?” Dracula roared furiously, before unclipping his cape and tossing it aside.

“It doesn't matter!” King Boo replied, floating overhead. “We’ve still got the advantage!”

The giant ghost dove down, only to flinch as he took a lash across the face from Luigi's Vampire Killer, followed by another. King Boo backed away out of reach, only to find himself getting dragged back with a wave of a magic wand. Rosalina hovered over from behind Luigi as he twirled the Vampire Killer overhead. The whip ignited through the magic imbued in the green gemstone and struck King Boo one last time. The ghost burst into nothingness before their eyes.

“Well, this is different,” the aloof cosmic sorceress muttered as she fell into line with the others.

Dracula growled, clenching his fists. “Fine, it seems that if I want anything done around here, I’ll have to do it myself. Have at ye- Hrk!”

The vampire stumbled forward as a thin blade pierced through his shoulder from behind, then yanked it back out and jumped to the side. A white-haired figure in black slashed his sword through the air, turning to face the image of his father.

“Alucard!” Luigi cried out hopefully, not expecting to have ever seen the dhampir again.

“Do I know you?” Alucard asked inquisitively.

“I… I-a guess not.” Luigi shook his head, realizing that this was not the one he knew from his time in the Grimoire but somehow the real Adrian Tepes. “It's a long story.”

“One which I am assuming has something to do with how you got that whip,” Alucard replied.

“Hey, are we going to stand around talking all day, or are we going to kick some monster hiney?” Daisy asked.

“Yeah, I’m here to kick butt and take names,” Bowser agreed. “And I don't actually care about anyone’s names.”

“A bit crass but I’ll stand by that sentiment,” Rosalina swished her wand through the air.

Luigi sighed but smiled. “Alright, then. We can-a talk later. For now, let's-a go!”

The assembled party then proceeded to decimate the undead horde of Luigi's nightmare until only Dracula remained. The Dark Lord stumbled back, weakened throughout the fight.

“Begone, Father.” Alucard commanded as he lowered his blade against the nightmare Dracula's chest. “You don't belong in this world. Return to the memory from whence you came.”

“I will…” the vampire stared up at his enemies defiantly, spitting up a bit of blood, “...never be a memory.”

Alucard thrust his sword through Dracula’s stomach, Luigi struck his whip across his chest and Bowser slammed his foot down on his head. The nightmare was no more.

“Now, would someone please explain what's going on?” Princess Peach asked once the fighting was over and everything was finally able to relax. “One moment, I’m at my best friend's bachelorette party, the next I’m locked up in a cage by Shy Guys and then suddenly I’m here.”

“Yeah, same here,” Daisy said as Rosalina nodded in agreement.

“I think they had pretty much the whole Mushroom Kingdom in there,” Bowser said. “But those weren't my Shy Guys, I can tell you that much.”

“Wait, you were-a all locked up?” Luigi asked. “Ridley, Roshi, Samus and I ended up in a field somewhere. I thought we were the only ones.”

“I was filing paperwork in my office when I ended up here.” Alucard shook his head and reached into his breast pocket to pull out a small white card that he held out to Luigi. “I’m not sure what’s going on but I feel like we’ll need to have a very long talk after all of this is done. Contact me whenever you get the chance.”

Luigi took the business card, which he noticed was printed in both Japanese and English, with the name ‘Genya Arikado’. He thought that was strange but chose to simply tuck the card away in his front pocket for the time being.

“Alright,” Luigi looked around at everyone gathered around him, “All I-a know is that-a we're in some kind of-a dream world. We were-a tasked by someone called-a King Wart to find an artifact called the Star Rod. He’s-a probably the one holding everyone prisoner but I-a have no idea why.”

“Well, we better go give this so-called king a taste of his own medicine.” Daisy slammed her fist into her hand.

“It would probably be best to ere on the side of caution for now,” Rosalina argued. “At least until we can learn more of the situation. There’s no telling what could be waiting for us if we charge in recklessly.”

“We should probably find the others, first,” Princess Peach pointed out.

“Agreed.” Luigi nodded his head. “Now, let’s-a get out of here.”

* S * R * B *​

The Mushroom Kingdom lay in ruins. Pools of radiant blue phazon were everywhere, from which glowing vines spread out to cover the land. Every living thing had been either eliminated or infected. And Ridley has been forced to watch as he had done most of it himself.

Omega Ridley flew circles around the towering form of a Leviathan, which rested just outside what had once been Princess Peach’s castle. The Dark Hunter was inside, networked to the rest of the planet’s corruption and overseeing SMB-985’s conversion into a new planet Phaaz.

Ridley had long since given up trying to resist. He had been forced to watch himself slaughter and kill his way through everyone that he knew and cared for. Luigi? Speared through the chest by his tail. Daisy? Melted by plasma breath. Peach? Torn apart by a corrupted Bowser. Roshi? Head bitten off. And so the list went on.

No matter how hard he had tried to take back control of his body, he hadn’t been able to so much as flex a finger under his own will. Eventually, he’d simply broken under the stress. Now, he was barely even conscious as his cyborg body glided through the air. All he could think about was the horror of what he’d seen himself do and the guilt of how good it had felt to do it. He had forgotten what kind of monster he was but the monster had not forgotten him.

There was a flash of light and Omega Ridley turned to face it. Ridley stirred back to alertness as he watched something descend from outside of the atmosphere. Some kind of meteor? Perhaps a spaceship? Ridley didn’t know and Omega Ridley didn’t care. He flew out to intercept and destroy the invasive object despite the irony of that statement. Ridley hoped that it was Samus, come to rid this planet of phazon and finally finish him off once and for all. Or Bailey? She was supposed to have the Hunter’s memories and abilities. Rosalina? He didn’t care who, so long as someone was able to stop him.

Once it was in range, Omega Ridley activated his missile launchers and bombarded the unidentified falling object with a barrage of high-powered explosives. Ridley’s hopes were dashed as the ruined remains of whatever it was scattered and burned. Omega Ridley turned to resume his post. Ridley should have known better than to get his hopes up.

Then something hit Omega Ridley with enough force to nearly knock him out of the sky. The cyborg space dragon whirled around in the air to face his attacker just in time to get kicked in the jaw. He hadn’t even gotten a good look at whatever it was, just a blur. He managed to reorient himself as his enemy hovered in the air in front of him with its- her wings.

She was mostly humanoid in appearance, dressed in an oddly casual outfit of a red and yellow jacket over a blue shirt with a four-painted star on it and plain jeans, as well as sturdy brown boots and a pair of white gloves. Despite the mundanity of her clothes, though, the woman herself resembled what ancient humans would label a demon. Purple skin, draconic wings and a spear-tipped tail that swayed from side to side. At the same time, she also resembled what the humans would call an angel, with her sharp features framed by long golden hair that matched her intense, piercing eyes. It was her smell that gave away who, or rather, what, she was. But that was impossible for more reasons than one.

“Is that all you’ve got, old man?” the woman taunted. “I don’t remember you being this weak!”

Omega Ridley let out a fierce howl before charging through the air. The woman ducked under his outstretched claws and circled around to his back before striking him with an ax kick. The cyborg let out a mechanical roar before spinning around and firing a blast of plasma breath at her. She responded by shielding herself with her own wings, completely unfazed, before diving down and catching his neck in the crook of her arm. The two hurtled towards the ground.

A crater was formed where Omega Ridley slammed into the earth, while his attacker was able to pull up just in time to avoid making impact before landing softly in the ground. Omega Ridley pulled himself up, staring down the unexpected arrival before his chest panels opened up to fire two more missiles. Her eyes widened as if caught offguard by this attack but she was able to expertly jump over them. However, these missiles were designed with target tracking capabilities and they turned around in the air behind her. Ridley thought for a moment that the stranger hadn’t noticed this but then she ducked beneath them before they could reach her. Instead, they hurtled straight into Omega Ridley.

The resulting explosion was strong enough to knock him flat onto his back and the purple-skinned woman followed up by immediately tackling him and pounding him with her fists and spear tail. To Ridley’s surprise, she packed enough force to start physically denting Omega Ridley’s armored plating. It seemed this mystery woman had what it took to defeat him after all.

“Come on, I know you can do better than this!” she yelled furiously as she continued whaling on him. “Put up a fight, old man! And I’m not talking to this bucket of bolts!”

That caught Ridley’s attention. Was she really trying to get him to resist the phazon’s control? But he had struggled as hard as he could against it to no avail.

Omega Ridley grabbed the woman and flung her to the side before rolling onto his feet. She tumbled along the fractured ground before rolling to a stop and pushing herself back up. The two stared each other down for a moment, fierce determination burning in the challenger’s eyes before they both charged.

“Astral!” A radiant golden light engulfed the woman’s fist as she drew it back. “Punch!”

Omega Ridley was sent crashing back into the dirt by a downward strike straight into the middle of his head. Whatever energy she had charged that attack with seemed to seep into him and wreak havoc on his systems.

The cyborg pushed himself back up onto his feet as the purple woman stepped back from him, readying herself for another round. Omega Ridley leaned forward and bared his claws while letting out a garbled roar. Then it tried to take a step forward but couldn't. Ridley held himself back, finally able to regain some level of control over his body.

“There you are.” The woman planted her hands on her smiled and smiled confidently. “Now show that faker who's boss.”

Ridley and Omega Ridley fought for control of their body, jerking and shifting as both tried to override the other's actions. Eventually, Ridley managed to get the upper hand and raised both hands back over his shoulders, firmly grabbing the two cybernetic wings. Then he pulled, as hard as he could, until at last he managed to tear the artificial limbs out, trails of robotic viscera streaming behind them as he tossed the wings aside. That was the final straw for Omega Ridley's domination over his body as Ridley systematically ripped every last chunk of metal from his flesh. To say that it was painful was the understatement of the century. Every single nerve felt like it was on fire as his flesh knit itself back together. But eventually, he was whole again.

Well, mostly whole. He was in more or less the same shape that he had been before entering this literal nightmare. With that done, he turned his focus back to his mysterious savior, who was rifling through one of the inside pockets of her jacket.

“Think fast!” She pulled something out and tossed it to Ridley. He caught the object and turned it over to find that it was a familiar red hat with an ‘R’ on the front.

“I have a lot of questions,” Ridley told her as he put the cap on his head, finding that it was exactly the right size.

“What, no ‘thank you’?” She smirked.

“Alright, fine. Thank you.” Ridley groaned. “Now, who are you and, more importantly, how are you?”

“My name's Astra and I'm doing fine,” she said. “Bit of an odd experience for me, though.”

Ridley just glared at her. “That's not what I meant, and you know it.”

The strange woman apparently named Astra just laughed. “Yeah, yeah, I know. But you should probably be more specific.”

Ridley closed his eyes and sighed. “I'm assuming that you got that winning personality from me?”

“I prefer to think of myself as being my own person.” Astra shrugged.

“So, my nose isn't lying to me, then?” Ridley asked. “But how? Your existence should be impossible and I’m pretty sure that I would know if I had… a daughter.”

“Magic?” the living anomaly suggested. “Look, I don't think any kids really that interested in how their parents… you know… Also, I think I’d be from the future, from your perspective. Or maybe just one possible future, I’m not really sure how that stuff works out. But just in case, promise me that you’ll hook up with my mom, so that I can be born. Please?”

“No,” Ridley said flatly. “That's not happening.”

“Eh, you’ll come around.” Astra waved her hand dismissively before looking around. “Let's see… this would be when you were trapped in the Dream World, right?”

Ridley nodded.

“Okay, neat.” Astra then paused. “So, whose butt are we kicking?”

“My nightmare, apparently.” Ridley turned to the Leviathan and broke out into a run, Astra gliding along above him.

“That's not very specific but I’ll go with it.”

It didn't take them long to reach the phazon structure. Ridley had to climb up the side of the planetary parasite to reach an opening while his supposed future daughter flew in after him. The two navigated the twisting, pulsing corridors leading into the central chamber where the Dark Hunter would be waiting.

“Hey, since we're in the dream world, should we try summoning our personas?” Astra asked as they approached the door-like membrane leading further in.

“Summon what now?”

“Oh, wait, nevermind.” She shook her head. “Way too early for that. Forget I said anything.”

Deciding to ignore that entire exchange, Ridley tore open the membrane and dropped down into the central chamber where Dark Samus hovered, waiting for them.

The dark silver and blue figure rose from the ground, drawing in the ambient phazon scattered about the area. Ridley wasn’t in the mood for a proper boss fight, though, and charged the nightmare before it had a chance to finish its charge up. He hacked and slashed at it with his claws, scraping and denting the Dark Hunter’s armor.

Dark Samus aimed her arm cannon straight at Ridley’s head and he jumped back in time to avoid taking the blast. Now that he was off of it, the creature hovered off the ground, preparing again to get ready for battle. Astra was the one to attack it this time, ramming into the Dark Hunter from behind with a shoulder tackle before grabbing its arms and wrapping her tail around its waist.

“Hah, take this, faker!” she yelled.

The Dark Hunter struggled to break free of the future girl’s grip but Ridley joined in on the assault by locking his elbow around its neck and squeezing as hard as he could while pulling up. While this strategy likely wouldn’t have worked on the real thing, the artistic liberties provided by the dream logic meant that together they were able to pop the Dark Hunter’s head clean off with enough force. Father and daughter both backed away from the gooey corpse they had just made together, sickly blue phazon leaking out of the thing’s neck hole.

“That was so much easier than it should have been,” Ridley commented.

“That’s the power of teamwork!” Astra said cheerily. “And being totally fraking awesome!”

“Language,” the alien being that would eventually be her father snapped, prompting a chuckle from her.

“Since when do you care about that?”

“I don’t know,” Ridley admitted. “It just kind of came over me.”

Astra smiled and flew over to him, tackling Ridley into a hug. Ridley recoiled at first but after a moment, returned the embrace. Eventually, they pulled away again.

“Hey, make sure that you hook up with my mom, okay?” Astra looked up at him. “Preferably sooner than later, okay? I’m pretty sure that all of my friends’ parents should be together already by this point and it would be kind of awkward to be left out.”

Ridley just glared at her. “If your mother is who I think she is, that definitely won’t be happening. You do realize that we’re barely on speaking terms, right? I’m not sure that you could even call us friends. I’m really not sure how you could have happened in any timeline, even if I was physically capable of procreation.”

His heir apparent flapped her wings to rise overhead and gave him an angry pout. Then she dropped back down and gave him a face that he was pretty sure was generally known as ‘puppy dog eyes’.

“Oh, come on! Please?”

Ridley stared into those glossy golden eyes, doing his best to keep a hardened expression. Eventually, he was forced to relent and let out a sigh.

“Okay, fine.” He turned away. “We’ll see how things go but don’t expect much. We go together like oil and water.”

“Eh, I’m sure it will work out. You two were meant for each other. But just in case, you should learn to play the drums. It’ll help,” Astra said with a smile before going in for another hug, resting her head on his shoulder. “Love you, Dad.”

“I’m afraid that I can’t really say the same, yet.” Ridley hesitantly patted her back. “But you do seem to be growing on me, so there’s that.”

“Well, that’s about all I could hope for at this point, I guess.” Astra pulled away from him. “See you later, old man.”

“Yeah, whatever, runt.” Ridley’s dismissive attitude was betrayed by the smile curling on his lips. “I’m sure you’re going to be a handful.”

“At least two,” Astra smirked. “Oh, and never forget who and what you are. That’ll be important soon.”

Spoiler: Chapter Notes

It feels weird to have finally written this chapter. I’ve been looking forward to it for years. In fact, it’s the main reason I wanted to do this storyline in the first place. Otherwise, I probably would have skipped straight to what’s going to be Super Ridley Bros. 3: Mushroom Civil War. But for now, let’s break this chapter down.

Space Pirate Samus was an idea that’s been floating around in my head for years but wasn’t supposed to have been a part of this storyline. I was thinking about having her be part of a Mirror Universe, inspired by the one from Star Trek, and she likely would have been a secondary antagonist in SRB4. But as I’ve further developed my plans for this series, I realized that probably isn’t going to fit as well as I originally hoped. Meanwhile, my initial draft for this chapter’s opening scene wasn’t really clicking with me and was overall just plain weird, but then I realized that using Space Pirate Samus for this would work well. I still may end up using the Mirror Universe idea for a later storyline but that version of the character will be pretty different from this one. Anyway, I had Samus be saved by people from her past to thematically show how much the past weighs on her and who she is. Plus, her present allies have already gotten plenty of time to shine, so it wouldn’t have been as interesting.

I already talked about Luigi’s nightmare in the last chapter’s notes so I won’t go into that again here. He gets saved by his present allies, symbolizing his connections to the expanded cast and the overall influence he has on the world around him. More importantly, though, was that if I gave him the past allies, then that would be an opportunity for Mario to explain the mysteries surrounding his death and we can’t have that, yet. Getting to the bottom of that mystery is going to be one of SRB3’s big plot threads. Oh, and we get our first glimpse at the real Alucard here. This was originally going to be a cameo to lead into him being a supporting character in Luigi’s next spin-off (I don’t have a title for it yet but it’s going to focus on Luigi and Daisy getting dragged into an adventure while on their honeymoon) but changed my mind about him simply walking off after they defeat Nightmare Dracula.

Samus got help from the past and Luigi got help from the present. So naturally, Ridley got help from the future and that help came in the form of… his daughter? I was also thinking about having some more future kids show up here (Luigi and Daisy’s oldest son, Mario III; and older Bowser Jr.; and Peach and Bowser’s fight child together, Plum) but decided that there was already too much going on here. I went back and forth a lot on how much I wanted to reveal about the character that I eventually decided to call Asta (I went through a few names before settling on that one). Originally, I was going to be much more vague, with Ridley claiming that her existence should be impossible, and her visual similarities to her parents being the only clue to who she was. As I was writing it, though, I decided to go ahead and confirm that she’s Ridley’s daughter while leaving her mother’s identity ambiguous for now. There should be a few possibilities based off the clues I provided and I’m curious to see who can correctly figure it out in the reviews/comments or on my Discord (invite code available in my author bio).

Oh, and before anyone asks, the line about personas was just an Easter Egg, not foreshadowing. I realized while working on an earlier chapter that the dream world would be considered part of the collective unconscious and therefore summoning personas there should be possible. But I felt that it was too early in the series to introduce those and I don't currently have any plans to add them later, so I decided to just throw in that line as a bit of a joke. For those curious, Samus' persona would be Amon Ra, the bird-headed warrior sun god of Egyptian mythology who battles a serpent every night, while Ridley’s would be Apep, the aforementioned serpent. Luigi would have Remus, reflecting his Italian heritage and his status as the less well-known member of a pair of famous twin brothers. Not sure about Roshi or anyone else, though.

Next time, we’ll be checking in on how Roshi’s doing before moving on to what comes next.

 

Spoiler: World 2-3: With A Little Help From My Friends

The river rapids beat across a bed of jagged rocks and fallen branches like a current of death and destruction. The water tossed and turned as it flowed across the jungle as a rainstorm raged on overhead, flooding the river and making the already treacherous waters even more hostile.

It was all that Roshi could do just to keep his head above the surface as he was dragged downstream. He thought for sure that he would drown until he finally managed to grab hold of a low-hanging branch of a tree that still stood firm enough not to snap under his weight. It took all of his strength to pull himself out of the violent waves but eventually, he was able to climb onto the rocky shore.

He collapsed onto the hard, cold ground and gasped for air as he stared up at the dark clouds overhead. Roshi felt like he could just lie there forever but soon he heard a rustling in the trees nearby and rolled onto his feet.

The maniacal, shadowy forms of a swarm of fuzzies hopped out from the forest, having somehow managed to track him down after his fall into the river. Roshi ran as the giggling furballs relentlessly chased after him. His legs felt like they were on fire but he couldn't stop, couldn't slow down for even a moment.

“Help!” he cried desperately even though he knew that nobody would come. He was alone. All alone. There was no one who could help him, let alone anyone who would.

Then he tripped, falling face-first into a slick patch of mud. He quickly flipped over onto his back and tried crawling away from the looming swarm gathering around him but to no avail. A shower of beady eyes and toothy grins rained down upon him. Roshi closed his eyes as he braced himself for the inevitable.

But it never came.

Roshi heard a series of muffled thumps and sharp grunts over the rain and hesitantly opened his eyes. Ridley was crouched over him with a pained grin on his face as the fuzzies repeatedly slammed into his back.

“Hey, buddy,” Ridley smirked. “Holding in okay?”

“Huh, what are you doing here?” Roshi asked.

“What does it look like?” Ridley winced as the fuzzies continued their assault, then turned his head to the side. “Hey, now would be a good time for you to join in, you know!”

An energy blast shot by alongside a familiar ‘fwish’ sound and at once every fuzzy caught in the blast was vaporized out of existence, greatly thinning the swarm. The red, purple and white armored figure walked up behind them. It took a moment for Ridley to recognize Samus, as her armor looked completely different than it had the last time that he’d seen it.

“Looks like the cavalry just arrived,” she said before shooting down a few more of the furry black creatures.

One fuzzy managed to jump around from the side and nearly struck Roshi only for it to burst in a puff of fur as the sound of a whip cracked through the air. Luigi walked over and held out his free hand towards Roshi. Roshi accepted it and stood up.

“Are you-a alright?” Luigi asked him.

“Oh, yeah,” Roshi replied sheepishly. “I’m fine. But what are you all doing here?”

Luigi turned to strike down several more fuzzies with the Vampire Killer before replying. “It looks like we’re-a here to help you out. And that-a shouldn’t be a problem with all of us here.”

Roshi opened his mouth to ask what Luigi was talking about but it seemed that he didn’t need to. Another group of fuzzies was suddenly flattened by Bowser falling on top of them. Those that had managed to avoid the impact were pulled together with a wave of Rosalina’s wand before getting minced by a white-haired swordsman in black that Roshi had never seen before.

“I think that just about takes care of them.” Roshi turned to see Princesses Peach and Daisy walking up behind him, with the head of the Mushroom Kingdom being the one who’d spoken.

“No, it's never this easy.” Ridley shook his head. “I’d give it about three… two… one…”

Nothing happened.

“Huh, maybe that was it.” The ex-space pirate shrugged. “Alright, we’ve clearly got more people here than we came into this cave with, so what happened?”

Luigi looked around at their allies before responding. “I'm-a not really sure. I was fighting Dracula when everyone suddenly showed up to help me.”

“The same thing happened to me,” Samus said. “Minus the Dracula part. I’d rather not talk about what I had to do but my parents and… other important people that I’ve lost. They helped me get through my challenge but they seem to be gone now.”

Ridley looked around at everyone somewhat awkwardly. “Um, yes… Same with me. I had to fight the Dark Hunter, long story we don't have time for right now, and I was rescued by… Kraid. The original, not Junior. Obviously he's not here now, though.”

“So…” Roshi tried to process all of that. “Those must have been the trials we were supposed to face? And we all got help from people we care about but only the ones who are still around are… well, still around?”

“It would seem so.” Rosalina nodded, which made Roshi feel a bit better. She always seemed to have a good idea of what was going on.

“Right.” Ridley nodded. “So, now what? How do we get out of here?”

“I believe that I can help with that.”

Everything went black before a single ray of light seemed to cut through the darkness like a sword. The darkness fell away and they were no longer in the jungles of Yoshi’s Island.

* S * R * B *​

Ridley tried to regain his barrings as he looked around. They seemed to be back in the Cave of Nightmares. Or, more likely, they’d never left the cave but whatever illusions, enchantments or general nonsense they had been dealing with was now gone. With a quick headcount, he saw that everyone was still there. Himself, Samus, Luigi, Roshi, Rosalina, Daisy, Peach, Bowser, whoever that white-haired guy who smelled like blood was and the tiny round knight with a gray mask and blue cape.

Wait, that last one was new.

“Who are you?” Samus pointed her arm cannon at the stranger.

“I am not important.” He stared up at her without a hint of fear or hesitation in his glowing yellow eyes that peaked out from behind his mask. “But it seems that you are. I was beginning to lose hope.”

“Yeah, that’s not really an answer.” The barrel of Samus’ cannon began to glow as she charged up her shot.

The stranger sighed and shook his head. “Very well. You may call me Meta Knight. I was once a member of the Star Warriors, who protected this world from an ancient enemy. However, I am now little more than the guardian of the Star Rod, here to ensure that it does not fall into the wrong hands.”

“Oh, so you’re the one that King Wart mentioned,” Ridley said, remembering what they’d been told when they’d been coerced into entering the cave. “Wait, but that would mean that you’ve been here for, what, hundreds of years?”

Meta Knight seemed to regard him coolly for a moment before nodding. “I have not kept track of how long it has been but I do know that it has been quite some time.”

“Why are you so small?” Bowser blurted out, crouching down on his stomach to try and make eye contact. Indeed, Meta Knight appeared to be less than a foot tall.

Meta Knight just glared at the king intently.

“More importantly,” Luigi tried to steer the conversation back on track, “we might-a have a problem. We were-a sent here by a giant frog calling himself-a King Wart, who’s after the-a Star Rod. We-a don’t know the full situation but we’re-a pretty sure that he’s a bad guy who-a might be holding our people-a captive. We-a don’t know what he wants, though.”

“That is troubling news,” Meta Knight replied. “The Star Rod cannot fall into the hands of those who would misuse its power. But the Star Rod itself has deemed you worthy of protecting it or else it would not have sent you aid in your trials.”

“What do you mean?” Roshi asked him.

“Only four of you entered this cave,” Meta Knight pointed out before walking over to a white and pink-striped wand with a yellow star at one end. He picked up what must have been the Star Rod and held it out for them to see. “But the Star Rod somehow sensed your presence and activated, using its power to call forth your allies to aid you against your nightmares. It would not have done that if it did not find you worthy of its help. So now, I request that we work together to protect not just this Star Rod but all of the dreamlands from threat. I fear the enemy may return soon and I will not be able to fight it on my own. In return, I will do my part to assist you as well.”

Ridley shared a look with the others and it seemed that they were all more-or-less on the same page on this.

“We’ll-a help,” Luigi told him. “But we need a plan. King Wart’s probably waiting to-a ambush us the moment we set foot outside of-a this cave.”

“Assuming that we do step out of the cave,” Ridley pointed out. “That Star Rod thing is supposed to be able to open portals between the real world and this one, right? Why don’t we use that to get out of here?”

“Both of our worlds are just as real as each other.” Meta Knight shook his head. “But more important than that, the Star Rod cannot leave the dreamlands at this time. The reason I have had to protect it for so long is not just to stop those with ill intent from abusing its power but also because it is maintaining the seal on the enemy. If something were to happen to it, then that seal would be broken and this land would fall to a nightmare far greater than anything you have ever faced so far.”

“Hey, you don’t know us,” Ridley huffed. “We’ve been through some pretty wild stuff. But, yeah, probably best not to do that.”

“We may not be able to use it to return to our own worlds but could we use it to escape to somewhere more secure in this one?” the red-eyed swordsman asked.

“Hmm… I suppose that could work,” Meta Knight agreed.

“Wait, who are you?” Samus turned to the stranger.

“You may call me Alucard,” he nodded politely as he introduced himself to everyone. “I am not sure why I am here but it is clear that this is important. I will do what I can to aid you all.”

“Wait, but if we just leave through a magic portal or whatever, won’t this Wart guy just come after us?” Bowser spoke up.

There was a lot of back and forth as everyone weighed in on coming up with a plan but even they were able to come up with something. Now all they had to do was pull it off. Of course, that was going to be easier said than done.

* S * R * B *​

King Wart waited impatiently outside the entrance of the Cave of Nightmares. It had been a while since he'd sent those pawns in to grab his prize and he was beginning to think that they'd succumbed to their nightmares and been lost just as everyone else he’d sent in there. He was just about to tell the other members of his gang to pack up and leave when movement out of the corner of his eye caught his attention.

At last, the purple dragon stumbled out of the cave, followed by the two humans and the Yoshi. They looked as they had when he had sent them in there, though perhaps a little worse for wear. More importantly, though, none of them seemed to be carrying the Star Rod.

The King put up his friendly facade as he walked up to greet them, while his gang stayed behind near the carriage.

“Ah, there you are!” Wart said as he reached them. “I was beginning to get worried. How did it go?”

Ridley just stared at him through dead eyes. “It wasn't there.”

What? That couldn't have been right. The Star Rod had to have been in that cave. It must be! All of Wart’s plans revolved around finding that stupid rod!

“What do you mean?” He did his best not to sound like he wanted to tear someone’s head off, which he did. “Are you sure?”

“We checked that whole thing top to bottom,” Samus replied. “There's nothing in there!”

“I almost drowned,” Roshi shuddered. “Please, don't make me go back in there.”

“We-a each had to endure our worst nightmares,” he explained. “It was-a awful but we-a managed to get through it. But then we-a just found ourselves in a dead end and a small pedestal where the Star Rob must have been but it’s-a not there anymore.”

Wart had to force himself not to growl as he turned away from them. He’d been planning this for so long, how could his prize have already been taken away from him? They needed to find that blasted rod if he was ever going to fulfill his goals. He marched back to where his gang as they turned to him, waiting for his instructions.

“Well, since that didn’t work out, I guess we should probably get going,” Ridley said as he and the others started to walk away. “Thanks for your help but we’ll have to find our own way home.”

“You’re not going anywhere.” Wart turned around with a swish of his cape, causing the hapless pawns to freeze in their tracks. Hah, pathetic creatures. “If the Star Rod wasn’t in there then you four are of no use to me. And if you aren’t of use then I see no reason to let you go free.”

“Oh no, this is such a surprise. Whatever will we do?” Ridley gasped in an obvious show of mock horror.

Wart didn’t exactly care for that tone but it didn’t matter. He opened his mouth wide and began to sing. As he belted out the opening notes of one of the first songs he’d ever learned, the winds picked up and clouds formed overhead. The peons before him were startled as by the sudden storm as the rains came down. Then he switched tunes, so something he’d learned far more recently. A crudely made wooden manakin of himself popped up in front of him followed by several more as he continued the elegy. Finally, he switched to the song he’d spent so long writing and the puppets sprang to life. The soon-to-be prisoners tried to fight back as his army attacked them but he’d successfully managed to catch them off guard. It didn’t take long before they’d been subdued once again.

“Take them,” Wart ordered his underlings. “I don’t care what you do with them.”

His gang members ran forward. Mouser grabbed Luigi, of course, which was no surprise given the grudge he held. Birdo went for the yellow yoshi, which he found interesting. Tryclyde and Clawgrip ended up carrying off the human woman, which left Fryguy with Ridley. However, Wart stepped forward again and crouched down for a closer look as the so-called dragon.

“On second thought, I think I’ll take this one,” Wart muttered. “He seems interesting. I think we may be able to recruit him.”

* S * R * B *​

Princess Peach stepped out through the magic portal alongside everyone else, finding herself standing on a bright yellow path running alongside an ornate fountain of some kind. Looking around, she found that they were surrounded by an assortment of strange purple trees and short white towers. Up above, several different aurora-like phenomena danced across the starry skies, a rainbow of color amid the sea of darkness.

“What is this place?” Daisy asked, standing next to Peach.

“I’ve never seen anything like this,” the pale swordsman, apparently named Alucard, looked around in amazement.

“This reminds me of your observatory, Rosalina,” Peach said as she turned to the aloof woman.

“The architecture does seem similar, which should be impossible,” Rosalina noted before turning to the mysterious Meta Knight, who was flying up to the top of the fountain using a pair of batlike wings that seemed to have somehow replaced his cape. “Is this the Fountain of Dreams?”

“Indeed.” Meta Knight nodded as they all gathered around him. “We are at the very center of the Dream World, the fountain from which all dreams originate and the original resting place of the Star Rod. This seemed the best place to hide for the time being as anyone looking for the rod would have already found this place empty long ago.”

"Definitely pretty but not the prettiest thing here,” Bowser said and when Peach turned to him, she saw that he was looking straight at her with that smile of his. She felt her heart flutter and had to turn away. It was weird how quickly she’d turned from being creeped out by him to blushing like a schoolgirl whenever he tried being romantic.

“Oh, get a room, you two.” Daisy rolled her eyes. “This is bad enough without you reminding me that tosoro mio is out there risking his neck with the others.”

That got Peach to snap out of it and she returned her attention back to the others. The situation was dire and she needed to remain focused.

Meta Knight placed the Star Rod at the top of the fountain so that it stood straight up and at once the reflection on the water’s surface seemed to change. The image of the fountain of dreams was replaced by a vision of Peach’s subjects where being held prisoner. It hurt her to see her people bound and caged like animals. She wanted nothing more than to go to them and try to rescue them but it would be too dangerous. For now, they all had to simply watch and wait until the proper opening.

“This may take a while,” Alucard said. “I think I’m going to look around for some chairs.

Spoiler: Chapter Notes

Sorry that this chapter’s a bit shorter than usual. I’ve been hit with a bad case of writer’s block and ended up cramming most of this the day before I post it. Doesn’t help that I didn’t spend nearly as much time as I should have outlining this story and only have a vague idea of what I’m doing for most of this. Part of me is considering putting the story on hiatus so that I can focus on my other stories for a bit while I plan this one out in more detail and/or get my groove back. But that’ll be a last resort and I’ll try to keep going as long as I can.

In retrospect, I feel like I should have had this story and the upcoming Mushroom Civil War flipped because that one feels like a more natural continuation of the original plot while this one may have worked better if the characters and their dynamics were a bit more fleshed out. Oh, well. Live and learn, as they say. Although that’s more of a Sonic phrase than a Mario one.