The Road Ahead is Calling

## **Plot**

Luigi, Squirt, and his friend Mason are playing with building blocks inside the castle. Peach comes down to tell the exciting news about the 100-year Star Festival taking place that night. She explains that it is an event that takes place in the kingdom every 100 years when a large comet passes by the planet and drops thousands of star bits into the atmosphere, causing a beautiful evening of shooting stars. The group expresses their happiness and excitement as they will be witnessing a once-in-a-lifetime event. Legends exist of those who say that on the comet is a celestial being, that of a lady, who controls wherever it goes.

The kingdom begins to prepare for the festival with a parade on the streets. Squirt and Mason begin chatting about who can collect the most star bits in a short amount of time. Daisy comes outside to express her joy as well and Luigi has the sudden realization that their date takes place on the same night as the star festival. Luigi shows signs of stress and is about to ask Daisy if they could change the date but is interrupted once Mario collapses onto the ground with Luigi soon following. Peach and the others quickly bring them inside the castle to comfort them but they both begin to levitate and violently twitch and their eyes open with white backdrops and are iris-less. Suddenly, Mario and Luigi are both transported into a completely white dimension and begin expressing their concern about their whereabouts. Mario mentions he isn't feeling something right and so is Luigi. They both look up and see the same comet seen from 'Ugly Future" flying towards them and they both see a silhouette of a woman before they suddenly snap out of their trance and wake back up. Peach and Daisy ask if they are okay to which they both as unable to give a straight answer.

That night, during the festival, Luigi's date with Daisy goes swimmingly despite him wanting to go out to see the comet. Mario and Peach along with Squirt and the rest of the kingdom are out in the open field ready to see the first glimmers of star bits fall towards the Mushroom Kingdom. Mario mentions that he feels bad that Luigi isn't able to see the event. Peach inquiries if he even told Daisy about it as she might not know about the event. Mario realizes this is a large possibility and sprints towards Luigi at the restaurant but before he can, he collapses once his mind begins to waver once more. Luigi back at the restaurant begins to become stressed as well and lets Daisy that something bad is about to happen. Daisy becomes confused and asks if he wants to go outside. They both bolt out of the restaurant and see Mario on the ground. The comet makes its appearance and Mario and Luigi duck for cover while the kingdom celebrates. Nothing bad happens except thousands of star bits falling over the kingdom. Daisy laughs it off, asking them if they were scared it was going to collide with the island. The bros become confused as to why they saw the vision they did.

In the middle of the night, Mario hears a voice calling out for him. He rushes to Luigi's room to ask him if he hears the same thing but finds him missing. He immediately begins to follow the voice and it leads him towards a giant observatory sitting still in an empty plot of plainland away from the kingdom. Mario finds Luigi and they both are in awe at the sight of the massive observatory. Small star species swirl around it and notice the pair examining them. They rush inside and suddenly the bros are transported inside a cozy library. There they meet the celestial lady whose name is revealed to be Rosalina, proving those legends of her to be true. She tells her life story that she comes and visits the her home planet earth every 100 years to see how much has changed. She reveals that the reason they were having odd episodes as well was due to her ship emanating energy from their minds. She also explains that time works differently on the comet so she ages only 10 years every time she visits the earth, which has only been 3 times thus far. Aiding her is her trusty luma who has been with her since day one. She explains that this time, she has come to warn the bros of a terrifying prophecy involving the fate of the world and why they are the only ones who can stop it as cliche as it may sound. She mentions that she saw very upsetting things in a vision, that showed her things that are bound to happen should they not succeed. Her vision included seeing a large portal opening in the sky, two interdimensional beings laughing evilly alongside a giant army full of monsters and aliens. She saw the Mushroom Kingdom in ruins and on fire, with the world being mostly on fire as well as entire cities being destroyed. Mario and Luigi assure each other that they will do their best with Rosalina pledging to help them on their mission.