Love at First Bite

## **Plot**

Blumiere tells the heroes more about his dark past involving the Darkness Tribe and his father. When asked what happened to him, he admits that he killed him while under the influence of the Dark Prognostigus but also alludes that the murder might've been something he wanted to do anyway. He explains further that his father wanted to spread darkness everywhere they roamed, and forced this ruling on him as he would have to take the throne someday against his own wishes. During the story, a mail letter read from Squirt says that they've all been invited to have a vacation at a private mansion outside of the kingdom, due to the recent events that have occurred. Most of the team is ecstatic to hear the news as they have been thirsting for entertainment and relaxation but the bros are extremely suspicious on the matter, questioning on who is hosting the event. Luigi in particular is extremely on edge, asking the team if they remembered the last time he had to go to a mansion. Peach tells them that there is only one way to find out and the bros decide to go along. Lizel and Blumiere decide to stay behind along with Tony. A charter bus awaits those who want to leave.

Along the way toward the mansion, Squirt reads from a brochure that there is a whole backstory for the mansion. Apparently, two love-struck lovers named Agatha and Arthur were married at the mansion and decided to buy it as a wedding gift for them both. Unfortunately, Arthur tragically died and Agatha soon followed, dying of a broken heart. Luigi sarcastically comments that it sounds like the perfect destination to release stress and tension. They arrive at the mansion in a little under an hour, with Mario noting they are quite far in the countryside with a single farmhouse on the other side of the road.

The group enters the mansion and are greeted by the owner Hellen Gravely. He gives them a grand tour of the mansion and tells them they can choose wherever they want to sleep. During the rest of the day, everyone begins exploring the mansion, finding things to entertain themselves with. Bowser finds a private training room complete with dummies and weapons. Squirt and Toadette find a pink rose-filled room with a heart-shaped pool and beautiful statues shooting water out of their mouths. Toadsworth finds himself a study and begins exploring all the books it has to offer. Leroy and Rosalina find themselves a space-themed room where Rosalina learns Leroy is obsessed with astronomy which causes the two to immediately click. That leaves just the bros who haven't found anything within their pleasure range. That is until Mario spots a dance floor and meets an entire other group of people who say they were planning on greeting them at a better time. Hellen tells them that before inviting the heroes, they decided to invite the island's most powerful leaders from each respective city. Mayor Joy from Pinville, Mayor Florence from Little Fungitown, Mayor Tori from Fungustown, Mayor Grace from Shroomapolis, Mayor John from Fungiville and ofc, King Toadsworth and the heroes from the Mushroom Kingdom. They all give their gratitude and support for everything the heroes have done. They all invite the heroes for a dance on the floor. Everyone agrees to attend.

That night, everyone dances their feet off with the bros eventually getting into the groove despite their continued suspicions about the mansion itself. They go into many different dancing styles such as salsa, the worm, and the robot. Luigi begins to feel queasy, saying he may have had too much nacho cheese and excuses himself to the bathroom. After more dancing, Squirt accidentally tumbles back out the main hall and sees a shadow race past the hallway. He thinks it's Luigi and dismisses the situation to go back to dancing. Mario wonders where Luigi is and asks around. He begins to worry about his whereabouts when nobody seems to know where he is. Suddenly, Mayor Florence screams and says that she saw something. Turns out to be Mayor John unconscious with a bite mark on his neck. Everybody begins to suspect there may be a vampire on the loose. Hellen assures everyone that they "vampire-proofed" the mansion before they invited them and she chalks up the situation to an unfunny prank played by one of them. Over the next day, everyone begins to be suspicious of each other, with the bros relishing on the fact that it was a bad idea that they ever came in the first place. Peach argues with them saying that they just wanted to catch a breather from all the stress they've been enduring over the past month alone. The group begins to argue about whose idea it was and whether they should just leave or not. During their clamoring, the other mayors tell the heroes they need to attend a mandatory meeting. Mario assures everyone else they will talk later.

The police want to have every piece of information they can get from the night before. They ask Mayor Florence first about what happened and she explains that she went out to the balcony to get some fresh air from the dancing. She and John were talking out there when he said he needed to make a brief call to someone. After about 5 minutes, she says she began to worry about him since he said it would be brief. She opened a bedroom door where she saw him enter and saw his body with the bite mark. They then ask Luigi on what he saw or heard. He says that when he went to the bathroom, he heard weird noises coming from the air vent but thought nothing of it, but is now wondering if he heard the murder taking place. Squirt is next, explaining he saw a shadow but says it might have been Florence running to the bedroom but she says she didn't run to the door, saying she walked. After that conference, they are all dismissed.

Mario is keen on leaving but Peach says they must find out what's happening so it doesn't happen again. Mario says that it isn't their burden to bare but the others debate that at this point it already is. Mario is overruled in this and decides that it's the only choice they have, besides they are the heroes of the land. That night, things continue to go bump in the night with doors seemingly closing on their own, loud bangs alerting some of the heroes awake. Mario and Luigi awake in their pj's and Luigi grabs a saucepan as a form of defense. He and Luigi start their way down the hallway after hearing more screaming coming from the dance hall. Someone opens the main doors which causes the duo to dart behind furniture. They overhear a conversation between a woman and a man, conversing about "the deed that needs to be done". They both wonder what they could be alluding to with Luigi wanting to know who it is but accidentally knocks over a mop which Mario luckily catches before it's able to drop and create noise. The woman and man leave, Mario tells Luigi he needs to be more careful but he says he is too stressed to be thinking about anything. It's here where Mario realizes that they really do need to leave as the stress they've been dealing with has just followed them there. Mario then goes to check on the source behind the screaming and sees another body, this one of Mayor Florence with a bite mark on her neck.

The next morning, police are once again called and take her away. Mario and Luigi both tell the others they need to leave immediately and that they just don't need to deal with any more stress, adding on that Luigi is feeling worse than ever. Peach says that what if they are suspected as leaving so soon would seem suspicious but begins to understand more through their persistence with the others agreeing on the severity of the situation. Just before any of them can announce their departure, however, everyone notices that Toadsworth has gone missing. Peach tells everyone that the last she heard of him was that he said he was going to use the bathroom. They all head over to the bathroom and see Toadsworth's body with the same bite mark the bros saw last night. Horrified at the sight, Peach goes over to him and asks Rosalina if there is any way she can revive him. Rosalina then says that he still has a pulse, further leading to the suspicion that Florence and John may very well still be alive too. The group then decides to not tell anyone else about Toadsworth, deciding to wait the bite out to see what will happen, with Rosalina inspecting it. That night, they all decide to stay in one room and stay awake so they can't be taken away, with the only exception being the bathroom but they must let everyone know and have a buddy go with them. The first to fall is Squirt who insists he has been holding his pee in all day and needs to go "badly". Toadette partners with him and along the way they joke on how funny it would be if it was some prankster just really into Halloween time no matter the year. Squirt heads inside while Toadette waits for him. Out of the corner of her eye though, she spots something lurking around the corner. Back at the main room, Rosalina says that the bite seems to be generating some sort of supernatural energy, not that of a normal human being or animal. This confuses everyone even more but then the group hears a large creaking noise and Bowser goes to inspect it but they quickly dismiss that idea considering he is the largest one. Rosalina floats over to the hallway to see nothing but is horrified to see that Toadette is no longer where the bathroom is. She knocks on the bathroom door to see if Squirt is still there which he is but tells him what's happening. This causes Squirt and the others to panic which in turn awakes all the other mayors. Mayors Tori and Grace begin to blame each other for being the culprit while Mayor Joy blames the heroes, saying it's suspicious how they want to leave so soon, proving Peach's point earlier. Bowser tells her to mind her business before he needs to deal with everyone in a "self-civil manner". Just before anyone could say anything else, more creaking is heard which makes everyone hide behind more furniture. Turns out it was just Squirt exiting the bathroom but he is quickly caught by an unseen force. This causes everyone to go amok and run around, causing a ruckus around the mansion. One by one, the guests are taken leaving only Mario and Luigi alone.

They enter the main hall and gaze upon the large portrait portraying Agatha and Arthur but Luigi notices something. The ring around Agatha's finger is the same one Hellen Gravely is wearing. The terrifying discovery comes to light when Hellen, appears behind them, revealing herself to actually be Agatha Barker, the wicked witch of Mushroom Island. The bros become confused as to how she can still be alive but she explains her backstory. Growing up she had a sister named Glinda and they shared a "bond more stronger than anything in the universe". One night, however, that all changed.

*Salem, Massachusetts April 1693*

At the height of the Salem witch trials, Agatha and Glinda's mother was to be executed since she was caught doing witchcraft according to the local town heads. She insists that she was just trying to make fire for their fireplace. Everyone refuses to believe her and they execute her by hanging in front of her children who were also next to be hung. Agatha persisted against the hanging but was overruled by the adults and thus her sister was also hung. Agatha was next but suddenly, a strange entity-like energy reached down to her and caused her to emit a supernatural aura, in the process giving her special abilities. Everyone becomes more spooked by this and hangs her but she does not die, instead vowing revenge on the townsfolk before killing everyone. She than began terrorizing those who dared come near her but proved to be more annoying than threatening. So, she decided to seek out her own home on an island where nobody can find her, the island being Mushroom Island. When asked about Arthur, she says that he was "the worst husband anyone can find" and seemingly ended his life as well, saying her cover-up story is just that, a cover-up to lure unsuspecting victims to her lair. She says that she can only obtain more energy though bites and if those bites are filled with pure emotion such as love, she could get even more power. The bros find out she bit Arthur not through the power of loving him, but the love of wanting more power itself. They demand to know where the others are and she says that while they aren't dead, they soon will succumb to the wounds, adding there isn't anything they can do. This angers them both and the bros fight her off with the fight ending in Agatha being pinned down by knocked down furniture. Luigi attempts to grab her ring, as he finds out that's where most of the power is kept inside but she resists and knocks him down, ready to bite him as well. Mario then realizes what she said about the power, if bitten through intense emotion, it can be transferred. With this information, Mario pins her down and bites her in the neck, causing her to scream in pain. All the energy is then transferred to Mario with lightning and the entire mansion beginning to fall apart. However, unlike Agatha, Mario isn't one filled with hatred and evil, as a result he is able to balance out the power and use it for good. He explains that he is sorry for everything that happened to her and that she can still find the help she needs to live a happier life. She refuses to hear this and dashes toward Mario who reluctantly is forced to trap her inside the ring itself.

They find the others and Mario finds out that he has the ability to heal the wounds, putting an end to that problem. The next morning, all the mayors thank Mario and Luigi for their help and say they are sorry they had to go through yet another dangerous situation. Mario's witch powers then begin to falter and says that someone has to bite him much to the confusion of everyone around. He explains that Florence and John need to be resurrected before it's too late, leading mayor Joy to be the one to bite. She takes the power and says she will revive them as soon as she can, prompting them to leave immediately. Mario and Luigi then wonder why it worked so quickly, with Luigi saying she may have a crush on Mario much to his disgust.

Back at the Observatory, unaware to Lizel and Blumiere, the spider-like entity sent by Dimentio finds the dark star and steals it away.