Longing for the Past

## **Plot**

Mario, Luigi, and Rosalina are hiding behind a large rock in the Macroverse while trying to stay hidden. A giant monster rolls by, shaking the ground ever so slightly. They crouch and Rosalina tells the bros they need that her sense of the evil is sparking even more now that they are inside the dimension. Mario and Luigi begin to also have a clear sense of danger come amongst them. They spot Fawful flying on his headgear across the landscape and wonder why he is in that particular dimension. Rosalina explains that the Macroverse is seen as a prison to those of the multiverse and so when a person is punished, they will be banished to said dimension to live out their days for all eternity. They see Fawful enter the tower where he and Dimentio reside. They follow him carefully and climb the tower, doing their best to remain vigilant and unseen. Rosalina ultimately decides to float them up using her magic. They overhear Dimentio and Fawful talking.

Fawful reports to Dimentio that he has been searching far and wide for evidence of the bros' presence in the Macroverse. Dimentio ponders on where Fawful has been fighting the bros to which Fawful replies that their battles have been falsely held on a planet called Mordir. Fawful then quickly leaves and heads towards the Earth rift which he interestingly decides not to tell Dimentio about. Mario notes this and inquires on why Fawful wouldn't want Dimentio to know about the Earth opening. Luigi and Rosalina believe it is so he can keep Earth to conquer for himself. They use this as enough information but are almost caught by Dimentio as he hears rustling. Rosalina blasts them off towards the bottom of the tower, leaving Dimentio puzzled but seemingly unaware of their presence.

The team return back to Earth using the rift and come to Peach who tells the team about what happened to Squirt during their time off-planet. The team becomes surprised and offer to have a dinner with him but Peach insists that Squirt is doing just fine and is doing an activity with Richard at the moment. Toadsworth tells Peach that their kingdom inspection is due and as a result they leave rather quickly. Rosalina is psyched to hear that Peach has helped fixed the Observatory, embracing a hug to her and returns back to help the lumas fix it more. This leaves Mario and Luigi with nothing more than to just relax for the time being, something that haven't been able to do in a long time.

That night, Mario begins having odd dreams and visions. One particular vision shows a first person view of Mario being on what appears to be the stargate to Rosalina's observatory. He is unaware of what the location is until he suddenly begins falling down, ending up back in the Macroverse. Suddenly, a mirage of Dimentio appears, ominously saying he knows where he is now, and that a war is coming. This awakens Mario, who is about to tell Luigi what happened but ultimately decides not to tell him as he fears it would only stress him out more.

The next morning, Mario begins feeling odd once more, entering another vision but this time instead of a threatening message from Dimentio, he is transported to an unknown location on Earth, he sees a rift opening and it is revealed that the location has a giant mushroom plaque, stating it is from the Mushroom Kingdom. Mario decides to tell Luigi about this particular vision and asks him if he has had any visions ever since they left the Macroverse to which he replies he has not. Mario tells Peach about what he saw and she becomes intrigued, saying that she has seen something from the description of Mario's vision in the kingdom's history book. Turns out, it is a large plaque that talks about the victorious battles the kingdom has won over the years. Mario becomes confused as to what battles it could be referring to and Peach tells him the story of The Great Fungi War. It has been said for generations after that the kingdom was attacked by all other territories of Mushroom Island and had no choice to fend for itself. It won fairly and declared its independence from the rest of the island. However, it becomes increasingly odd to Mario once he discovers that the location the book says is that it is in York, England. Mario becomes eager to travel there but Peach hesitates against the idea, saying that if he goes to viewer's point, he may experience more visions. Mario insists he will be fine, with Luigi adding that he will join him. They both dive into the rift and ask Rich Switch which portal leads to York to which he replies that the location has a deep rooted history within the Mushroom Kingdom, revealing there are also other locations that share the same standing. This puzzles the bros but they forge on.

*York, England*

The bros arrive and find that the rift is hidden behind a barrel in an alley. They admire the architecture of the different location, adding that its medieval themes make it stand out. Mario tells Luigi that they need to find the plaque as quickly as possible to find out more clues. They go throughout the city, meeting locals and asking if they have seen the plaque to which a majority haven't. They end up in the countryside with green fields and broken-down remains of medieval castle walls and weapons. They pass a row of wheelbarrow cannons, a guillotine, but suddenly, Mario and Luigi both have another energy channel surging through them, they are taken through a vision showing them the exact location of the plaque. Mario uses his memory trace to quickly find it before he forgets with Luigi quickly following behind. They end up finding it behind a large rock with overgrown vegetation. Mario and Luigi admire the rock, asking why it out of all things would want to be found. Mario goes to touch it only to suddenly be transported once more to another location, much like what happened when he traveled to the badlands to find out more about Bowser's past. Mario is met with a star sprite who calls itself, Starlow, and that she will tell him "everything".

*1276*

A great battle is taking place with knights on horses with their swords and armor fending off against bandits while peasants flee for their lives. An entire village is in flames with a knight taking a wailing baby under his wing and to safety. Two soldiers walk down a corridor and enter the throne room of King Arthur. They tell him that the war is heading into dire territory and they must forfeit to prevent anymore lives from being taken. King Arthur denies this plea and forces the war to continue so long as they succeed in winning. The knights of the round table each take a weapon and head out to fight. A knight tells King Arthur that he has observed something from behind the castle. They go to investigate and find the rift that Mario and Luigi used to travel there in present time. They admire the rift more until it suddenly bursts open and creatures from the Macroverse begin making their way into the world. The knights are proven useless against them and retreat as a result. The creatures then suddenly begin to return back into the rift. Starlow then shows Mario the literal writings on the wall by showing portraits in a museum that contain paintings of knights and people bowing down to an all-mighty being. Mario examines it closer and is horrified to see that it's Dimentio. Luigi tries to wake up Mario who is in a trance but to no avail. He tries to pull Mario but ends up falling down, observing a strange light in the sky. He doesn't pay it much more attention and continues to wake up Mario. Mario asks Starlow how long has the Macroverse existed to which she replies that it has existed as long as time itself, and way before Earth was even a planet. Starlow then takes Mario to other locations where rifts have been opened, explaining that Dimentio has tried time and time again to reach into Earth by opening "gates" around the planet, seeing if any one of them would let him in. Due to the abiding punishment given from the Star Sprites, the most powerful entities in the universe that watch over it, Dimentio can't spread his madness and chaotic energy over to Earth. Mario becomes nervous, asking Starlow if there is any way they could stop Dimentio from getting to Earth if his curse were to break. Starlow shows a solemn expression and answers that if Dimentio were to find a way to break the curse, there would be no way to stop him. Mario makes a horrified expression and wonders if they can banish him, why can't they just redo the curse. Starlow replies that it doesn't work like that, a curse can only be inflicted once. She says that she also needs to show him one last thing, transporting him across towards the Mushroom Kingdom in the year 1578. There, King Mushroomton ll orders that they keep their little secret hidden beneath wraps for the time being. Mario asks Starlow what secret is the kingdom hiding to which Starlow says that she cannot reveal what the secret itself is as that is something he needs to find out for himself before poofing away, leaving Mario to awaken from his trance. Luigi explains that he has been trying to awaken him for over 10 minutes and was about to call the police. Mario urgently tells Luigi they need to return back the kingdom.