Super Mario Universe

5 | Bowser Jr.'s Airship Armada

Mario and Rosalina looked oddly at the little brute who had just walked onto the Comet Observatory.

"Well?" Bowser Jr. asked, like he was waiting for something. "Aren't you gonna welcome me aboard?"

"You are not ever welcome aboard the Comet Observatory, under any circumstances!" Rosalina said. "You must leave at once!"

"Oh, relax. I'm just hear to ask a message from my father," Bowser Jr. told them.

Mario and Rosalina nodded.

"Do either of you two know where we can find an Ultimate Star?" Bowser Jr. asked.

"What?" Rosalina asked in disbelief. "Why do you all want one?"

Ultimate Stars are stars that are extremely powerful. Most galaxies are born from a explosion, but Ultimate Stars have the power to rearrange planets into a single Galaxy, with anyone, or anything at its head. The only one Mario knew where it was was in:

"The Mushroom Museum in Toad Town," Mario mumbled to himself.

The two didn't say anything.

"Well, tell me! I know you know where one is!" Bowser Jr. yelled.

The still continued to stay silent.

"If you don't tell me in five seconds, then I will blow this Comet Observatory to pieces, along with you all!" Bowser Jr. said. "Five!"

"Oh, no!" Rosalina yelled. "Mario, do tell him! I think there's one in the Mushroom Kingdom!"

"There is," Mario said. "But I would never give it to Bowser."

"This wasn't Daddy's idea. It was Kamek's. Four!" Bowser Jr. crossed his arms.

"Either way, we can't give it to them," Mario told Rosalina.

"But we will have a chance if we do," Rosalina said.

"Three!"

"Do it!" Rosalina yelled.

"Two!"

"Okay..." Mario sighed.

"On-" Bowser Jr. started to announce when Mario interrupted him.

"It's in Toad Town!" Mario yelled. "In the Mushroom Museum!"

"Really? It's that close?!" Bowser Jr. laughed to himself. "I could go get it right after this if I wanted to!"

"Leave," Rosalina told him. "Your guy's plans aren't gonna work. Ever. It failed the first 492 times!"

"But this time things are different. We don't want just the Mushroom Kingdom. We need the universe at our command!" Bowser Jr. announced.

Rosalina started laughing. "You don't need the universe at your command," she said. "It's too big to control everything in it!"

"But we've already started," Bowser Jr. justified her. "We've already started our plan and it's working!"

"How?" Mario asked.

"Well," Bowser Jr. started, but stopped himself. "I don't have all day to stand around and chit-chat with you all day! I'm leaving!"

"Suit yourself," Mario told him. "I'll see you soon!"

Mario and Rosalina started to walk away when Bowser Jr. yelled at them. "How dare you walk away from me, the unofficial prince of the Mushroom Kingdom!"

"You're not even unofficial. You're nothing. Please leave, and take your airship buddies with you," Rosalina said.

"That's it! No more disrespect from you two!" Bowser Jr. yelled. He walked over to a cannon on his airship. "This goes as your official punishment!" He loaded the cannon with a cannonball.

"What are you doing?!" Rosalina gasped.

Bowser Jr. ignored her and aimed for the beacon, the center ball of glowing star dust that keep the Comet Observatory in motion. Then he pushed the cannon on.

"You are NOT ruining my observatory!" Rosalina gasped. She went and blocked the beacon, but then once the cannonball came out Mario jumped at her. "Look out!!" he yelled.

They fell onto each other on the ground, but the beacon stopped working. The observatory's power began to turn off.

"I hope this fixes...your electricity bills, if you have any," Bowser Jr. laughed. "Sayonara!" he yelled to his cabin mates to steer the airship flotilla in the other direction, then they all flew away into the darkness of space.

"Mario!" Rosalina cried. "The Comet Observatory is falling!"

Mario felt that the observatory was in fact falling through space, as there wasn't any power to hold the thing up any longer. "We have to get out of here."

"The Golden Pipe," Rosalina said. "But what about all the Lumas?"

"We can worry about them later," Mario sighed. He took Rosalina's hand and they ran off to Lumastein's quarters where the Golden Pipe was.

"How goes it? Is that weird kid gone?" Lumastein asked curiously.

"Lumastein, there's no time to talk," Rosalina hugged him. "Mario and I are leaving the observatory for a few days. The power is out, but everything should be fine until I get back."

"You can't leave!" Lumastein said. "Who'll be in charge?"

"I'm putting you as the temporary boss of this Comet Observatory," Rosalina told him.

"Yay! I have waited for this moment for a long, long time!" Lumastein laughed.

Rosalina opened her mouth to say something, but Mario stopped her. "We need to go now."

"I understand," Rosalina said. "Goodbye, top Luma."

"Goodbye," Mario turned to Lumastein.

"We'll see you soon!" Rosalina said, jumping in only after Mario did into the Golden Pipe, and fell into whatever waited for them inside...

--🌎--

Mario and Rosalina emerged in...nothing.

They weren't in anything anymore. Everything was white. For all the directions they looked, white seemed to go on forever.

"What is this?" Rosalina asked. "We're not even in the UNIVERSE anymore!"

"Never mind that," Mario said, pointing in a direction. "Look over there!"

Rosalina looked and saw a...group of doors. There were six of them.

Rosalina looked at the headers above the big, brown doors. "Pi'illo Kingdom," she read. "Sprixie Land. The Mushroom Kingdom. Islé Delfino. Planet Frostbite. And ???"

"Luigi is in the Pi'illo Kingdom," Mario told her.

"Let's go save him," Rosalina said. She started walking to the door headed Pi'illo Kingdom.

"Should we just open it?" Rosalina asked out of curiosity. She twisted the doorknob.

Mario grabbed her hand. "Together," he told her.

They opened the door, and tumbled out into the Pi'illo Kingdom, confused and lost. Where was Luigi? What was happening in the Mushroom Kingdom? And could Bowser's evil plans be stopped?