Reach for the Stars

## **Plot**

The Shadow Queen emerges from her coffin and demands to know who freed her. Sir Grodus alerts her that he along with his fellow X-Nauts have been worshipping her and never forgot their loyalty towards her as a goddess. She becomes flattered by the news but becomes upset that she has no human body as a vessel to possess and depart from her shadow form. Sir Grodus lets her know that he knows a person she could possess.

Back at the moon, Yes-Naut succumbs to his wounds and ultimately dies. Mario and Peach meetup with Rosalina who warns that they need to leave immediately. Peach requests that they shouldn't just leave Yes-Naut's body lying there but Mario insists they can't bury him even if they wanted to. Rosalina persists that they need to leave but before they could board the ship, Sir Grodus shows up with the Shadow Queen and they ambush the team. Grodus reveals Peach was the vessel he was referring to and the Shadow Queen suddenly becomes overjoyed at the sight of such. Before Mario or Peach could do anything, the Shadow Queen swipes Peach away, leaving both Mario and Rosalina fighting to get her back. She sucks Peach's life away and soothes into her body, becoming one with her form. Sir Grodus requests for a prize in return to which the Queen gives him the cold shoulder, citing she does what she wants and doesn't have to offer anything in return. Sir Grodus demands the Queen she pay them a hefty gift for their help but the Queen immediately zaps Grodus out of existence, killing him instantly. She reveals to the X-Nauts that she only wanted the cult to culminate over the years only for the sake of letting her free in the future, not caring about who has worshipped her. Shadow Peach takes in the sights of the Lunar Base and makes it her own, disengaging any involvement with the X-Nauts despite their hard workmanship. Shadow Peach threatens to take care of both Mario and Rosalina but the latter has them blown towards the Observatory with her magic.

Back at the Mushroom Kingdom, Luigi and Squirt realize the severity of the situation, with Daisy coming out to question what is happening. Luigi explains to her that the world is in grave danger and that they are gonna need a lot more help than they thought. Daisy is willing to join with Mason coming along for the ride as well. Squirt asks him how he was able to sneak out to which Mason replies that he took it upon himself and told his parents how he felt towards their rules. They surprisingly gave in to him and apologized, promising not to be too restricting on him from now on. This brings Squirt joy leading Luigi to remind them they need to hurry off. Just when Daisy asks how they can leave Earth and head towards the moon, a large rumbling occurs inside the castle. They run towards the area and realize its the rift that was torn from Mario and Bowser's battle. Luigi removes the furniture on top and before they have time to react, the rift immediately begins to suck in everything around it, including the group. They are blasted out towards a mysterious looking area. Luigi takes note that there are multiple openings that seemingly lead to a different location. Daisy immediately recognizes that the openings are different places back on Earth with other openings to other dimensions as well. They realize they have traveled to some sort of "vacuum" between time and space. A figure approaches behind them and introduces himself as Rich Switch, the overseer between dimensions. He tells them they are in an area dubbed, "Viewer's Point". He tells the group that they are free to travel through any dimension they want but must not alter anything in the other reality as that could prove dire consequences to their own. They keep this advice in mind and spot the moon as a dimensional opening but quickly revert once they realize they can't be outer space with no air which Rich quickly fixes by providing them the ability to breathe much like how Rosalina did. They charge forward toward the opening.

Mario tells Rosalina they have to go back and save Peach but Rosalina retaliates, saying they will be killed if they attempt and they should come up with a plan before anything else. Mario becomes infuriated, angry he couldn't help her stop from becoming possessed and taken. Rosalina calms Mario down and insists he did nothing wrong and there was not much he could have done regardless of how dire the situation could've gotten. Suddenly, the lumas come up towards Rosalina and tell her that the Observatory is being raided by unknown people. Mario and Rosalina prepare to fight but are relieved to find that it's the group from home. They reunite in delight and let the duo know that the rift back at the castle is an opening to viewer's point. Rosalina immediately becomes horrified at the news, explaining that if there was a rift torn between worlds, then it is only a matter of time before "he" arrives. When asked about who "he" is, the Observatory shakes and it's discovered that the moon is beginning to shake from the Shadow Queen and her shadow army from the Shadow realm heading towards Earth. This becomes a stunning discovery to the team that the thousand-year door was merely just another dimensional rift that was closed. The team immediately comes up with a plan to stop them and save Peach using the Observatory as a comet to stop them dead in their tracks.

Shadow Peach humbles the heroes, saying how horrible it must be for them to have failed. They are not far from Earth but ultimately clash with the comet from Rosalina who blasts a large wave of magic that stuns the shadow army. Shadow Peach unleashes a fury of attacks that almost destroy the Observatory from top to bottom. Rosalina becomes saddened by what is happening but presses on. Mario reaches into Shadow Peach's mind and attempts to reconnect with her, seeing that her mindscape has turned completely black and has lost "Peach" as a person. Shadow Peach whiffs off Mario and the Shadow Queen emerges from Peach's body. She tells Mario there is nothing he could do to bring Peach back as her entire personality has been drained. Mario continues attacking her with the two brawling in the empty confinements of space. Meanwhile, Luigi and Daisy fend off the shadow warriors, while Squirt and Mason do the same. Rosalina apologizes to the team before reluctantly having the Observatory move from the battle path due in part that the Observatory sustained heavy damage. This leaves Mario with no way to land as he continues fighting off the Shadow Queen. She ultimately gains the upper hand humbles Mario more, saying how pathetic it is that he let his lover become captured. Luigi seizes this as the opportunity to sneakily attack her from the back with a fiery fireball attack. Squirt and Mason play a tag-team move and trample the Queen who becomes vulnerable to an attack from Mario. This ultimately becomes the final nail in the coffin for the Queen who begins to dissipate along with the army. Peach floats in space with Mario begging her to awake from her coma. She does and hugs Mario dearly, telling him she is okay. The two then share their first kiss together.

The team returns to Earth and tell the kingdom that they are once again saved from evil for the time being. Luigi brings them to the rift which is now swirling but is in a controlled manner to where it isn't sucking everything in sight much like before. Luigi tells them that it is an opening between dimensions, in turn, they could use it to transport to other worlds. Rosalina becomes distraught at the sight once more, saying this is the one thing she feared. She goes on to explain that the evil she foresaw and warned the bros about now has a way of entering Earth and destroying their world. More unfortunate, there are potentially other different openings around the Earth. Rosalina lets the bros know that they are going to need to find out more about the Macroverse in order to stop the evil from coming. As a result, Mario and Luigi go into the rift opening with Rosalina with Peach residing in the castle at the request of Mario and Toadsworth.

Once they see the Macroverse and its horrific world, they forge on into the world, with their nerves at the top of their lists. Fawful tells Dimentio that the bros have proven to be a much bigger threat than he thought and that they may be closer to finding out the secret artifact they are looking for. Dimentio assures him that things will not go south, insisting that he should take a break, giving him a condescending back-handed compliment all the while.