"Are you finally done telling your stupid ghost story?" Prince Mario asked once King Boo and Bleck caught up to him and Peach. "Bleck, you didn't have to sit through all of that. They're all just made-up tales he uses to pass the time and freak people out."

"Oh, shut up," King Boo laughed. "And for your information, the little pixl liked it. I think I'm his favorite."

"I don't have a favorite," Bleck corrected. "And if I did, it would be Peach. But I really did like the story... it made me think. About myself. And that was strange."

He seemed to shake the thoughts off, then floated out in front of the group. "We're approaching the Whoa Zone. The Chaos Heart fragment is near, I can feel it!"

Peach let out a sigh of relief. As fun as flying was to her, she was starting to miss the ground. That was her home, after all. She liked feeling rooted and grounded in the world beneath her. Fly too high, and you just might get lost.

Daisy used to talk about flying. It was her dream to explore the stars while Peach dreamed of exploring the world.

Peach missed her friend dearly. The heroine hoped to find her sidekick soon. They needed her to be that fourth hero. When Peach thought of heroes, Daisy was the only other name that came to mind. They were best friends, almost like sisters.

When the heroes made it to the Whoa Zone, the gravity seemed to turn back on, bringing them back down to the ground. Prince Mario seemed slightly disappointed while Peach let out a sigh of relief. Bleck and King Boo both remained unaffected as Peach and Mario set their makeshift space helmets aside, no longer needing them. The Whoa Zone looked different from the rest of outer space too. It was cleaner and brighter. The gash in the sky was easier to make out, likely because of the lack of debris. Plus, in the rest of outer space, there were so many stars and streaks of light that it was hard to tell which ones were supposed to be there and which one was the gash made by Countess Tippi.

"We need to be careful," Bleck breathed. "Some know this place as the Space Graveyard."

"Oh, that reminds me of a tale when—"

"No, you already told one space-themed ghost story!" Prince Mario exclaimed, cutting King Boo off abruptly.

The ghost king scoffed at him but fell silent.

"Anyway," Bleck awkwardly continued. "Pierre explained this place to me. He said that legends claim it consumes all who enter. He instructed me to avoid it at all costs."

"Well, it's a great thing we're heading in, then," King Boo laughed.

"We've got no other choice," Bleck said. "The Chaos Heart fragment, I can sense it in here... and at the end of the day, what's worse; going against one of his wishes, or failing to get that fragment and letting him down?"

"Bleck's right," Peach said. "We wouldn't just be letting Pierre down, we'd let everyone down. Everything is riding on this adventure, the fabric of all our worlds. We can't turn back because of a scary legend."

Bleck nodded proudly at her as she pushed forward, taking the lead. Not that it was something she needed to take, she had been practically assigned the role of the leader from the moment the adventure started.

The Whoa Zone felt like a maze, but Peach was used to dealing with mazes. And, as luck would have it, King Boo was fairly skilled in creating the said mazes Peach often dealt with, so the two of them proved very useful in traveling through the strange place. King Boo hated to admit it, but sometimes it felt like maybe they really could make a good team. If they were friends, of course, which they weren't. The moment this adventure ended, he was going to go right back to being the main bad guy. It was what he was born to do. Or, more accurately, what he died to do.

"Guys, we're close!" Bleck chimed, floating forward toward an open area. He took the lead and seemed to glance around himself.

Peach frowned as she and the rest of the heroes stood back, waiting for something to happen when suddenly there was a distant laughter.

"Is that Countess Tippi?!" Prince Mario started to ask, when a dark shadow flew down from the sky, landing right next to Bleck.

The pixl gasped and scrambled back to the heroes, clearly spooked.

"Who are you?!" Bleck demanded, his voice shaking just slightly. 

Peach moved forward, pushing him behind her slightly to keep him safe.

The mysterious figure looked over at the group of heroes. She had her hair tied back and a black cap on. She also wore a bright orange bandana and a black jumpsuit, complete with steel-toed boots, silver gloves, and a black mask over the top half of her face. She quietly laughed to herself, then crossed her arms, tapping her foot.

"I'm told I'm to be called... Ms. D," she breathed. Her voice was slightly raspy, yet there was this smooth and slightly uplifting quality to it. "Although, I prefer to be called the Desert Bloom. I'm one of the more... let's say promising of Countess Tippi's little minions."

Peach shook her head. Countess Tippi? Now she was sending people all the way to space, all to stop her and the other heroes from saving the world? She was really going all out on her plan.

"Now... it's to my understanding that this works one of two ways," Ms. D continued. "You can either give up and go home... or I get to have at you. Taking a look at the cute little squad of princes and kings you've got, I highly suggest you just turn around now. No use in forcing the royalty to get their hands dirty—"

"Oh, please. I could take someone like you down easily," Prince Mario snapped, well aware of the fact that he likely couldn't.

Ms. D giggled quietly to herself, placing one hand on her stomach and another over her mouth.

"Aw, that's cute, Your Majesty. Real cute. But, just because you're in red, doesn't mean you're strong."

She clapped her hands, making a large metal contraption that looked almost like a spaceship, but a very strange one of that.

"I'm supposed to warm you up, first, but I've been working on this for a hot minute and if I beat you too quickly, then you'll never get to even see it! And where's the fun in that?" she asked, stepping back as the machine landed in front of her.

"My Jaydes, what is that?!" King Boo asked. Not even Bowser's silly little son who was obsessed with building big and overcomplicated machines could build something so completely ridiculous yet frightening.

"Aw, do you like it?" Ms. D asked. "I have a special bond with this fine piece of machinery. You know, I've always had a special interest in building. Of course, living in shadows means you don't get to do the things that interest you. Oh, no, no, I always did what others wanted. Always did what was expected out of me. No one ever saw me for what I was good at, no one ever asked me what I wanted to do with my life. But that ends tonight. I've spent too long in the shadows, so why don't you join me in the biggest shadow of all!"

She quickly hopped into her machine, then allowed it to take off, pulling her up to the stars, into the infinite sheet of darkness. That darkness quickly spread, soon swallowing the entire Whoa Zone. Peach and Mario quickly scrambled for their helmets as Bleck observed the mysterious foe, trying to get a read on her.

The robot's defenses were too high for any of the heroes to do physical damage on their own. Not even King Boo's spiked balls he could summon at his will would be able to do anything. But, one thing the pixl was able to notice was the overwhelming surge of power the robot was running on. It was fully charged, enough so that it wasn't in danger of running out anytime soon. The heroes might be able to use that to their advantage.

"Peach, check the backpack!" Bleck quickly cried out. 

"Okay!" Peach exclaimed, taking off her backpack and fumbling through it. "What is it I'm looking for?"

"A small laser gun," Bleck explained, floating over to her and glancing over her shoulder. "Pierre used it a long time ago, during the Space Cowboy thing I told you about, remember? It's designed so it can't hurt people, but I remember him accidentally pointing it at someone's phone, which made it explode. Don't worry, he bought them a new one, but if we use it against this robot we just may be able to overload its circuits and make it go boom!"

Peach nodded, then reached down and pulled out what looked to be a super old, tacky toy. Why did Pierre even pack this in her bag? What were the odds that it would come in handy?

"That's the one!" Bleck chimed. "Fire!"

Peach nodded, then pointed it at the large robot in front of her, pulling the trigger and firing. A green laser flew across the dark sky and landed in the center of the machine

"Ha! A toy? Really?!" Ms. D asked, laughing out loud. "Oh, I'll show you what real lasers look like!"

She laughed to herself and slammed her hand down on a large button when the interior of her ship suddenly flashed red.

The girl in orange looked around, confused. She let out a frustrated huff, then slammed her fist down on the button she hit before over and over again as her machine started shaking. A deep black smoke started to form as the metal cracked.

"You need to get out of there!" Peach yelled when the entire creation suddenly erupted into flames.

The black void of space fell away and the heroes all landed back in the Whoa Zone as Ms. D jumped out of her machine, landing in front of them and falling onto her face.

"Are you okay?" Prince Mario started to ask when she started groaning loudly, clearly not having expected to lose so quickly.

The prince jumped back behind Peach as the heroine stepped forward. Ms. D looked smaller than before, she didn't seem so intimidating anymore.

She was just a person...

"Look... what you said... it sounds like you're a very talented girl," Peach said. "And... if the countess won't let you out of the shadows... then you need to leave. Your skills are being wasted—"

"The countess?" Ms. D asked, scoffing and picking herself up. "The countess is the one who's going to rid the world of all the darkness, including the shadows I've been forced to hide in. People only cast shadows because there's darkness for them to cast. If I stick to the countess, then they'll be gone."

"That's not the way to do this, though," Peach begged. "If you want out of the shadows, then step into the sun! And everyone casts shadows, Ms. D. Just look down!"

"I don't need you to save me," Ms. D spat, stepping back. "Thanks for the heroic speak, Ms. ShadowCaster, but you're wasting your words on me."

She looked back at Prince Mario and King Boo, nodding slightly.

"All of you are pathetic," she mused. "Pathetic, worthless, and stupid. Don't you know who you're working for?"

"Don't YOU know who you're working for?!" Bleck asked. "Everything will be destroyed!"

"Maybe that's what I want," Ms. D mused. "Or maybe I just want what was promised, a world without shadows. I doubt any of you would get it. You're the shadow casters, not the ones who have to live in the darkness you create."

She bowed slightly, then turned away.

"I'll let you off the hook for the rest today, I suppose. You're not worth my energy right now. But remember this... when Fortunes smiles next, she'll smile right here, on the Desert Bloom."

She briefly turned back to blow a kiss, then sprinted off. Peach briefly ran after her, holding her arm out and telling her to wait, but by then Ms. D was gone.

The heroine let out a sigh and placed her hands on her hips.

That girl... her anger, her desires, they were all real. And... hearing her explain them made Peach's heart feel heavier.

"I wanted to help her..." Peach trailed off.

"We are helping her," Bleck assured her as he floated up to her side. "By saving the world, we'll be saving her too. She just doesn't know it yet."