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Description
  One thing you should keep in mind when you see the giant "Chapter 8" on this chapter title card: in Paper Mario: Double Darkness, this is only the second-to-last chapter, unlike the canon Paper Mario games (except for Sticker Star, which only had six, although this is arguably a good thing since there's less of it that way). So don't worry, I'm not stopping here.
    So, I already mentioned that Chapter 8 has taken a pretty major rewrite. This was mostly because, to put it mildly, the first draft was garbage. It included, among other atrocities, a level called Rainbow Road (already done), Dark Bowser as the final boss (also already done), and a scene where Darkblot "sacrifices" himself to ruin Mario's plan and then somehow shows up again at the end anyway. And I wrote all of this before I introduced the Nox, so when I did, it left huge parts of the story unresolved. It goes without saying that exactly zero of these things will happen here. The world still partially takes place in Bowser's Castle, but I promise, that's all.
    Here's the description for Chapter 8. WARNING: Really, really, absurdly high levels of reading ahead.

Characters (from left to right):
Specteira: The ruler of the Nox Empire. After being dumped into the present by the portal in the Shadow Spire, she joins Mario’s quest to recover all of the portal pieces in hopes of making it home and saving her empire from Darkblot. She acts as the game’s tattle, and can cast spells in battle which work more or less like special moves.
Shylington: The leader of the Guy Society, the Mushroom Frontier’s prestigious all-purpose nonprofit organization, and an optional partner. Darkblot wrecked their clubhouse and sent the other members fleeing for their lives, and Shylington has been looking for them since. His ability is to sense nearby treasure.
Mario: If you don’t know who this guy is already, I recommend you go and play some Paper Mario games before you continue reading this.
Infinnah T.: The brilliant and outgoing Toad astronomer who works at the Mt. Mushroom Observatory. She wrote to Mario about the Mushroom Frontier’s wild magic at the beginning of the game and helped him track the first eight Portal Pieces. Bowser abducted her and dumped her in the Caldera Sierra to keep her quiet about the last one.
Bowser.: The ruler of the Koopa Kingdom and Mario’s longtime archenemy. His crimes include kidnapping Peach, kidnapping Peach, kidnapping Peach... yeah, pretty much just kidnapping Peach.
King Darkonivus: A mysterious noble who showed up out of nowhere claiming to be the rightful ruler of the Mushroom Frontier. Really, the forces of time created him to accommodate for the rapidly-coming-true timeline where Darkblot conquers the Nox Empire. The boss of Chapter 8.

--CHAPTER 7 / CHAPTER 8 TRANSITION--
    Previously, in Chapter 7, Mario ventured into Arcana Jungle, cooperated with Dawn and Cawter to reach the Obsidian Temple, rescued Sprout and the rest of the villagers, and collected the eighth Portal Piece. Dawn is now the elder of Arcana Village again, and hopes to make Javros feel, if not openly welcomed, like he can at least get a second chance. Meanwhile, thanks to his contribution to the Obsidian Temple trip, Cawter has been promoted to work with his brother at the Shadow Spire. Mario says goodbye to everyone and heads to the Mt. Mushroom Observatory to meet with Infinnah T. and track down the final Portal Piece.
    But, when he arrives, he finds the place ransacked, the Celestial Cannon console smashed, and no sign of Infinnah T. anywhere. They’ve been sabotaged! Mario will have to get to the bottom of this quickly- the wild magic situation is still deteriorating, and they might not have much time left.
    Mario discovers footprints leading out of a broken window toward Bowser Road, and heads to the Shadow Spire dig site again for help examining them. Even more new wild magic allows him to reach another part of the site, where he finds Antiqua T. Once Mario returns the Obsidian Gearbox, the penultimate Portal Piece, to her, she agrees to let them borrow Cawlin and Cawter for a bit. Mario has helped both brothers, so they’re happy to return the favor. They take some casts of the footprints and determine that they were made by a giant, turtle-like creature, evidently indigenous to around Bowser Castle. They conclude that they’ve discovered a new species and scream excitedly. Mario’s conclusion is rather less optimistic.
    Without Infinnah T, it’s harder to search the area, but Mario figures out how to with his GamePad Positioning System. Dead trees, lava flows, and stone towers appear around the castle there. The castle itself only gets one addition: A large, menacing stone face. Specteira recognizes the area as Caldera Sierra, a range of extinct volcanoes. The Nox used it as a giant furnace for their metalworks. But, she says, the castle wasn’t around in her time at all. That’s okay, though, because Mario recognizes the face on it right away. It’s Bowser Castle.
    Mario returns to Bowser Road and heads through a gate that someone left open toward the castle. It’s time to discover what happened to Infinnah T., what role Bowser has in all this, and hopefully get back the last Portal Piece in the process.

--CHAPTER 8--
    Mario’s first stop is Bowser Courtyard (World 8-1). The area around the entrance of the castle, similar to 6-1 in appearance, has tons of Elite Koopatrols and Magikoopas patrolling it, so he’ll have to be cautious. When he arrives, he witnesses a mote of wild magic appear on a distant stone brick platform. It transforms into someone who looks similar to Darkblot, but taller and with a red cloak. He silently walks toward the front door of Bowser’s Castle. The guards try to stop him, but he effortlessly blasts through and proceeds into the castle. Unnerving as this is, Mario has to worry about Infinnah T. right now, so keeps going.
    After exploring for a while, Mario finds a Nox ruin full of pipes. Specteira recognizes it as the control room for the Caldera Sierra furnaces. Curious to see if it still works, she turns the power on, but since a bunch of valves are missing, the only effect it produces is a loud rumbling that prompts a troop of guards to investigate. Once Mario has fought them off, one of the Koopatrols turns to another and insists that they call for Bowser. He replies that Bowser still hasn’t returned from his excursion to Caldera Sierra. His delay is odd, since he was just going to drop off a couple hostages for safekeeping. Hearing this, Mario quietly heads out the back exit of the control room.
     To get through the volcanic mountains and the ancient forges of the next level, Caldera Sierra (World 8-2), Mario has to cross lava lakes and aqueducts, climb crumbling cliff faces, battle enemies such as Boos, Embers, and Lava Bubbles, and more. As Mario approaches one of the smithies near the top of a mountain, he notices Bowser! It seems that his prisoners have escaped, meaning Mario has a chance to save them without a fight. The last part of the level consists of searching the building while avoiding Bowser. Mario finds Infinnah T. hiding in an old furnace, along with the other escapee: Princess Peach! (Keep in mind, Mario has known nothing of Luigi’s exploits before now-- if he had, he probably would have returned to the Mushroom Kingdom right away.)
    After Mario and Peach have an overly sappy reunion, Infinnah T. gives Mario some important news. Before she was taken here, she managed to discover the final Portal Piece is inside Bowser Castle! Apparently, Bowser snatched her because he didn’t want Mario to find out and trash it like he trashed Koop Labs in Chapter 6. But as long as those guards are around, there’s no way they’ll be able to get inside, not to mention she and Peach will be trapped...
    Specteira’s plan is that if they can get the Caldera Sierra furnaces working again, they’ll be able to spray lava over Bowser Courtyard and force the guards to flee. To get it in working order, they’ll need to pull together enough Nox-made valves to operate the control room. She recalls four workshops around the Mushroom Frontier where they can pick some up, and Infinnah T. adds each to the world map for them. Ready to track them down, Mario exits the furnace... right into Bowser’s face. Everyone runs from the building just before getting scorched.
    While Bowser rages to himself about Mario, the screen pans to Luigi, who just witnessed the scene from his stolen clown car right overhead. For practically the whole game, he’s been trying to rescue the princess and prove himself as Player One material, but now Mario has beaten him to it. Again. Disappointed, he almost turns back home, but decides to stick around, just in case.
    Mario can visit the Nox workshops in any order, but three are noticeably easier. In Highrise Hill (1-5), he climbs onto magical clouds near Topsoil Town and platforms through moving clouds and wind to the workshop on the back of the grassy mountain. On Long Plank Pier (2-5), Mario uses his Paper Pontoon move to dodge waves and magic whirlpools on the ocean to a small island where the second workshop is. And on the Forgotten Trail (4-1), he finds the magically disconnected tunnels rearranged again, allowing him to navigate an new maze that leads to the third workshop at the top of an old mineshaft.
    Finally, he returns to 6-7, the Koop Labs Rocket Pad. The last time he was here, he had done serious damage to it, including stealing their rocket and humiliating Dr. Kook’s second-in-command, Laser Boo. So when Mario runs into Laser Boo again, he’s immediately called out and attacked. He must fight through KooPHDs, Roboos, Koopatrols, and more as he heads from the labs up the mountain path to the workshop. There, not only does Mario collect the final valve, but he finds the escape pod Dr. Kook used to flee the Space Base at the end of Chapter 6. Looks like Mario hasn’t seen the last of the mad scientist. But it isn’t all bad news: Laser Boo is so relieved to see his friend survived that he calms down and lets Mario go.
    Now that he has the valves he needs, Mario meets up with Infinnah T. and Peach, who are hiding out inside the control room in 8-1. Operating the mechanism is the World 8 minigame, and it consists of directing the flow of lava through the correct pipes using only the four valves Mario has. Once he solves all five phases of the game, a huge pipe sticking out of the top of a distant mountain smokes and spouts lava and washes over Bowser Courtyard.
    Mario, Infinnah T., and Peach emerge onto the deserted courtyard. Infinnah T. thanks Mario, encourages him to get that Portal Piece quickly, and heads home. Peach starts toward Mt. Mushroom too-- but seconds later, Bowser Jr. and Kammy Koopa swoop down from the sky in their clown car, now accompanied by Dr. Kook as well, and grab her again! They laugh at Mario and exclaim that now that Bowser’s three favorite minions are all working together, nothing can stop them! The kidnappers fly into Bowser Castle, and Mario chases after.
    Mario is finally inside Bowser Castle (World 8-3), but he’s still a long way from the Portal Piece, and now he has to find Peach as well. And it looks like Bowser may not be the only threat either. In the foyer, Mario sees the figure that appeared from nowhere at the start of the chapter battling a squad of Elite Koopatrols. He magic-blasts them away with little effort, pauses to wonder to himself what all these Koopas are doing in his castle, and moves on. The Koopatrols seem pretty worried about the intruder. If they don’t get rid of him soon, they say, Bowser is going to blow a gasket.
    Bowser’s Mushroom Frontier base isn’t quite as big as the one Mario’s used to, but it’s still nearly twice the size of the other chapter dungeons. It incorporates fire jets, spikes, lava pits and fountains, and a huge list of enemies including Elite Koopatrols, Boos, Bombshell Bills, Bob-ulks, Embers, Lava Bubbles, and four unique types of Magikoopa. In addition, Bowser Jr., Kammy Koopa, and Dr. Kook have each set up traps in hopes of catching the mysterious intruder. They range from a collapsing bridge inspired by the one Bowser keeps dying on to a mechanical gauntlet made of Meckoopa’s recycled parts. The three “favorite” minions seem preoccupied with the other guy, which is good, since Mario can make it through most of the castle without fighting them.
    In the throne room, Mario catches up to Bowser, along with yet another unexpected face: Luigi! Mario’s brother has come to save Peach and complete his quest. Bowser, who’s really not in the mood for this, knocks him out the window in one swipe. He’s even more annoyed when Mario appears as well (this is his third intruder today, after all) and complains about Mario’s inability to cooperate. He had no problem with letting Mario have the Portal Piece. But of course now he wants the princess too. Well, if he insists on doing things the hard way, so be it! Bowser is one of the toughest minibosses in the game, but Mario beats him.
    Bowser is about to reluctantly let Mario pass when the intruder appears, apparently in a hurry. Screaming that “it’s close”, he heads out the side door and up several floors to the giant Bowser head. He reaches into its mouth and pulls out the Portal Piece. When he notices Mario and Bowser behind him, he orders them to stand down and leave Darkblot Castle. Bowser gestures to the head to prove it’s really his castle, The intruder insists that he’s mistaken: it’s the head of the great founder of the Dark Empire, Darkblot (it clearly isn’t). Mario’s pleas for the Portal Piece are no more effective. He then turns back to Bowser, blasts him out of the way, and runs farther up the castle.
    Mario continues to tail him to the Bowser Castle Battlements (World 8-4), the highest walks and towers of the castle. As he arrives, a quick cutscene happens where Bowser Jr., Kammy Koopa, and Dr. Kook peer out of the tower where Peach is being held. Worried that Mario is getting too close, they decide they have to do something. Meanwhile, Mario continues after the intruder. This level isn’t terribly long, but it’s not easy, either.
    The intruder stops at the top of the tower directly above the Bowser head. From this vantage point, Mario can see that its “hair” is a huge fire pit. The intruder notices him, and begins to recount for him an ancient prophecy. The original Darkblot prophesized that many millennia in the future, the last of the Nox would reawaken and attempt to overthrow the empire with their remaining artifacts. They would collect eight. But then, a great king would sacrifice the ninth into the flames of Darkblot Castle, and assure the security of the Dark Empire forever. He, Darkonivus XIII, is that king, and destroying the Portal Piece here is his destiny.
    Finally, Specteira connects the dots and theorizes that Darkonivus really is right. Darkblot’s plans to take over the Nox Empire are finally coming to fruition, so the forces of time inferred that there should be one of his descendants ruling the Mushroom Frontier and created one! With this chilling notion in mind, Mario turns to Darkonivus and prepares to cheat fate.
DARKONIVUS
Tattle Entry #143
That’s... well, honestly, I’m not sure. According to himself, he’s King Darkonivus XIII, the ruler of the Dark Empire. It’s hard to judge if this is true, since he really just exists in a different timeline that’s crashing down over ours. If we don’t defeat him, he’ll be right soon enough, that’s for sure. Maximum HP is 120, Attack is 11, and Defense is 0. Like his ancestor Darkblot, he'll use dark magic to attack, heal himself, and grant various status effects. Make sure you have plenty of healing and refreshing items! Darkonivus is a terrifying opponent, with terrifying goals to match, but no prophecy of Darkblot’s is going to stand in our way! Don’t hold back now, Mario!
    Once Darkblot has been thoroughly stomped, he utters a few last words of how the Dark Empire will live on no matter what the party does, stumbles backward into the Bowser head brazier, and upon hitting the flames, explodes back into motes of wild magic, leaving behind the final Portal Piece. Mario walks up...
    ...but before he can claim it, Bowser Jr., Kammy Koopa, and Dr. Kook swoop down again! They taunt him, dare him to try and take it back, and fly back into the level. Once again, Mario chases after the Portal Piece, this time to the very top of the castle. The minions challenge the party for the artifact, and they agree to one last battle.
    As Mario finishes mopping them up, Bowser appears again and is even angrier to see his highest-ranking minions provoking Mario for no reason. They explain that, when they saw Mario complete his first goal, they knew he would come after Princess Peach next. They were just trying to distract him. Well Bowser replies, then WHERE IS SHE?! Everyone turns to the tower where she was being held, and sure enough, it’s empty. But then, Peach flies out of a side window in a clown car, with none other than Luigi piloting it! Mario waves to his brother as he flies off triumphantly back toward the Mushroom Kingdom.
    Realizing that he’s lost once again, Bowser no longer has any reason to fight Mario. He apologizes for his minions putting him through way more trouble than necessary and has them hand back the Portal Piece. As he disappears down the stairs with Bowser Jr., Kammy Koopa, and Dr. Kook, he warns them that they’re in for the biggest punishments of their lives. Mario picks up the artifact left behind...
***YOU FOUND A PORTAL PIECE!***

--LUIGI INTERLUDE--
    High above the ocean, Luigi flies back toward the Mushroom Kingdom with Peach, his quest complete. The princess thanks Luigi for his help and praises his courage against all the challenges. It was amazing how he fought through all those guards! And that final jump into the clown car! It turns out all Luigi needed to be Player One was a bit of self-confidence. As they close in on the Mushroom Kingdom coast, Peach plants a kiss on Luigi’s forehead and his part of the story ends.

Description
  One thing you should keep in mind when you see the giant "Chapter 8" on this chapter title card: in Paper Mario: Double Darkness, this is only the second-to-last chapter, unlike the canon Paper Mario games (except for Sticker Star, which only had six, although this is arguably a good thing since there's less of it that way). So don't worry, I'm not stopping here.
    So, I already mentioned that Chapter 8 has taken a pretty major rewrite. This was mostly because, to put it mildly, the first draft was garbage. It included, among other atrocities, a level called Rainbow Road (already done), Dark Bowser as the final boss (also already done), and a scene where Darkblot "sacrifices" himself to ruin Mario's plan and then somehow shows up again at the end anyway. And I wrote all of this before I introduced the Nox, so when I did, it left huge parts of the story unresolved. It goes without saying that exactly zero of these things will happen here. The world still partially takes place in Bowser's Castle, but I promise, that's all.
    Here's the description for Chapter 8. WARNING: Really, really, absurdly high levels of reading ahead.

Characters (from left to right):
Specteira: The ruler of the Nox Empire. After being dumped into the present by the portal in the Shadow Spire, she joins Mario’s quest to recover all of the portal pieces in hopes of making it home and saving her empire from Darkblot. She acts as the game’s tattle, and can cast spells in battle which work more or less like special moves.
Shylington: The leader of the Guy Society, the Mushroom Frontier’s prestigious all-purpose nonprofit organization, and an optional partner. Darkblot wrecked their clubhouse and sent the other members fleeing for their lives, and Shylington has been looking for them since. His ability is to sense nearby treasure.
Mario: If you don’t know who this guy is already, I recommend you go and play some Paper Mario games before you continue reading this.
Infinnah T.: The brilliant and outgoing Toad astronomer who works at the Mt. Mushroom Observatory. She wrote to Mario about the Mushroom Frontier’s wild magic at the beginning of the game and helped him track the first eight Portal Pieces. Bowser abducted her and dumped her in the Caldera Sierra to keep her quiet about the last one.
Bowser.: The ruler of the Koopa Kingdom and Mario’s longtime archenemy. His crimes include kidnapping Peach, kidnapping Peach, kidnapping Peach... yeah, pretty much just kidnapping Peach.
King Darkonivus: A mysterious noble who showed up out of nowhere claiming to be the rightful ruler of the Mushroom Frontier. Really, the forces of time created him to accommodate for the rapidly-coming-true timeline where Darkblot conquers the Nox Empire. The boss of Chapter 8.

--CHAPTER 7 / CHAPTER 8 TRANSITION--
    Previously, in Chapter 7, Mario ventured into Arcana Jungle, cooperated with Dawn and Cawter to reach the Obsidian Temple, rescued Sprout and the rest of the villagers, and collected the eighth Portal Piece. Dawn is now the elder of Arcana Village again, and hopes to make Javros feel, if not openly welcomed, like he can at least get a second chance. Meanwhile, thanks to his contribution to the Obsidian Temple trip, Cawter has been promoted to work with his brother at the Shadow Spire. Mario says goodbye to everyone and heads to the Mt. Mushroom Observatory to meet with Infinnah T. and track down the final Portal Piece.
    But, when he arrives, he finds the place ransacked, the Celestial Cannon console smashed, and no sign of Infinnah T. anywhere. They’ve been sabotaged! Mario will have to get to the bottom of this quickly- the wild magic situation is still deteriorating, and they might not have much time left.
    Mario discovers footprints leading out of a broken window toward Bowser Road, and heads to the Shadow Spire dig site again for help examining them. Even more new wild magic allows him to reach another part of the site, where he finds Antiqua T. Once Mario returns the Obsidian Gearbox, the penultimate Portal Piece, to her, she agrees to let them borrow Cawlin and Cawter for a bit. Mario has helped both brothers, so they’re happy to return the favor. They take some casts of the footprints and determine that they were made by a giant, turtle-like creature, evidently indigenous to around Bowser Castle. They conclude that they’ve discovered a new species and scream excitedly. Mario’s conclusion is rather less optimistic.
    Without Infinnah T, it’s harder to search the area, but Mario figures out how to with his GamePad Positioning System. Dead trees, lava flows, and stone towers appear around the castle there. The castle itself only gets one addition: A large, menacing stone face. Specteira recognizes the area as Caldera Sierra, a range of extinct volcanoes. The Nox used it as a giant furnace for their metalworks. But, she says, the castle wasn’t around in her time at all. That’s okay, though, because Mario recognizes the face on it right away. It’s Bowser Castle.
    Mario returns to Bowser Road and heads through a gate that someone left open toward the castle. It’s time to discover what happened to Infinnah T., what role Bowser has in all this, and hopefully get back the last Portal Piece in the process.

--CHAPTER 8--
    Mario’s first stop is Bowser Courtyard (World 8-1). The area around the entrance of the castle, similar to 6-1 in appearance, has tons of Elite Koopatrols and Magikoopas patrolling it, so he’ll have to be cautious. When he arrives, he witnesses a mote of wild magic appear on a distant stone brick platform. It transforms into someone who looks similar to Darkblot, but taller and with a red cloak. He silently walks toward the front door of Bowser’s Castle. The guards try to stop him, but he effortlessly blasts through and proceeds into the castle. Unnerving as this is, Mario has to worry about Infinnah T. right now, so keeps going.
    After exploring for a while, Mario finds a Nox ruin full of pipes. Specteira recognizes it as the control room for the Caldera Sierra furnaces. Curious to see if it still works, she turns the power on, but since a bunch of valves are missing, the only effect it produces is a loud rumbling that prompts a troop of guards to investigate. Once Mario has fought them off, one of the Koopatrols turns to another and insists that they call for Bowser. He replies that Bowser still hasn’t returned from his excursion to Caldera Sierra. His delay is odd, since he was just going to drop off a couple hostages for safekeeping. Hearing this, Mario quietly heads out the back exit of the control room.
     To get through the volcanic mountains and the ancient forges of the next level, Caldera Sierra (World 8-2), Mario has to cross lava lakes and aqueducts, climb crumbling cliff faces, battle enemies such as Boos, Embers, and Lava Bubbles, and more. As Mario approaches one of the smithies near the top of a mountain, he notices Bowser! It seems that his prisoners have escaped, meaning Mario has a chance to save them without a fight. The last part of the level consists of searching the building while avoiding Bowser. Mario finds Infinnah T. hiding in an old furnace, along with the other escapee: Princess Peach! (Keep in mind, Mario has known nothing of Luigi’s exploits before now-- if he had, he probably would have returned to the Mushroom Kingdom right away.)
    After Mario and Peach have an overly sappy reunion, Infinnah T. gives Mario some important news. Before she was taken here, she managed to discover the final Portal Piece is inside Bowser Castle! Apparently, Bowser snatched her because he didn’t want Mario to find out and trash it like he trashed Koop Labs in Chapter 6. But as long as those guards are around, there’s no way they’ll be able to get inside, not to mention she and Peach will be trapped...
    Specteira’s plan is that if they can get the Caldera Sierra furnaces working again, they’ll be able to spray lava over Bowser Courtyard and force the guards to flee. To get it in working order, they’ll need to pull together enough Nox-made valves to operate the control room. She recalls four workshops around the Mushroom Frontier where they can pick some up, and Infinnah T. adds each to the world map for them. Ready to track them down, Mario exits the furnace... right into Bowser’s face. Everyone runs from the building just before getting scorched.
    While Bowser rages to himself about Mario, the screen pans to Luigi, who just witnessed the scene from his stolen clown car right overhead. For practically the whole game, he’s been trying to rescue the princess and prove himself as Player One material, but now Mario has beaten him to it. Again. Disappointed, he almost turns back home, but decides to stick around, just in case.
    Mario can visit the Nox workshops in any order, but three are noticeably easier. In Highrise Hill (1-5), he climbs onto magical clouds near Topsoil Town and platforms through moving clouds and wind to the workshop on the back of the grassy mountain. On Long Plank Pier (2-5), Mario uses his Paper Pontoon move to dodge waves and magic whirlpools on the ocean to a small island where the second workshop is. And on the Forgotten Trail (4-1), he finds the magically disconnected tunnels rearranged again, allowing him to navigate an new maze that leads to the third workshop at the top of an old mineshaft.
    Finally, he returns to 6-7, the Koop Labs Rocket Pad. The last time he was here, he had done serious damage to it, including stealing their rocket and humiliating Dr. Kook’s second-in-command, Laser Boo. So when Mario runs into Laser Boo again, he’s immediately called out and attacked. He must fight through KooPHDs, Roboos, Koopatrols, and more as he heads from the labs up the mountain path to the workshop. There, not only does Mario collect the final valve, but he finds the escape pod Dr. Kook used to flee the Space Base at the end of Chapter 6. Looks like Mario hasn’t seen the last of the mad scientist. But it isn’t all bad news: Laser Boo is so relieved to see his friend survived that he calms down and lets Mario go.
    Now that he has the valves he needs, Mario meets up with Infinnah T. and Peach, who are hiding out inside the control room in 8-1. Operating the mechanism is the World 8 minigame, and it consists of directing the flow of lava through the correct pipes using only the four valves Mario has. Once he solves all five phases of the game, a huge pipe sticking out of the top of a distant mountain smokes and spouts lava and washes over Bowser Courtyard.
    Mario, Infinnah T., and Peach emerge onto the deserted courtyard. Infinnah T. thanks Mario, encourages him to get that Portal Piece quickly, and heads home. Peach starts toward Mt. Mushroom too-- but seconds later, Bowser Jr. and Kammy Koopa swoop down from the sky in their clown car, now accompanied by Dr. Kook as well, and grab her again! They laugh at Mario and exclaim that now that Bowser’s three favorite minions are all working together, nothing can stop them! The kidnappers fly into Bowser Castle, and Mario chases after.
    Mario is finally inside Bowser Castle (World 8-3), but he’s still a long way from the Portal Piece, and now he has to find Peach as well. And it looks like Bowser may not be the only threat either. In the foyer, Mario sees the figure that appeared from nowhere at the start of the chapter battling a squad of Elite Koopatrols. He magic-blasts them away with little effort, pauses to wonder to himself what all these Koopas are doing in his castle, and moves on. The Koopatrols seem pretty worried about the intruder. If they don’t get rid of him soon, they say, Bowser is going to blow a gasket.
    Bowser’s Mushroom Frontier base isn’t quite as big as the one Mario’s used to, but it’s still nearly twice the size of the other chapter dungeons. It incorporates fire jets, spikes, lava pits and fountains, and a huge list of enemies including Elite Koopatrols, Boos, Bombshell Bills, Bob-ulks, Embers, Lava Bubbles, and four unique types of Magikoopa. In addition, Bowser Jr., Kammy Koopa, and Dr. Kook have each set up traps in hopes of catching the mysterious intruder. They range from a collapsing bridge inspired by the one Bowser keeps dying on to a mechanical gauntlet made of Meckoopa’s recycled parts. The three “favorite” minions seem preoccupied with the other guy, which is good, since Mario can make it through most of the castle without fighting them.
    In the throne room, Mario catches up to Bowser, along with yet another unexpected face: Luigi! Mario’s brother has come to save Peach and complete his quest. Bowser, who’s really not in the mood for this, knocks him out the window in one swipe. He’s even more annoyed when Mario appears as well (this is his third intruder today, after all) and complains about Mario’s inability to cooperate. He had no problem with letting Mario have the Portal Piece. But of course now he wants the princess too. Well, if he insists on doing things the hard way, so be it! Bowser is one of the toughest minibosses in the game, but Mario beats him.
    Bowser is about to reluctantly let Mario pass when the intruder appears, apparently in a hurry. Screaming that “it’s close”, he heads out the side door and up several floors to the giant Bowser head. He reaches into its mouth and pulls out the Portal Piece. When he notices Mario and Bowser behind him, he orders them to stand down and leave Darkblot Castle. Bowser gestures to the head to prove it’s really his castle, The intruder insists that he’s mistaken: it’s the head of the great founder of the Dark Empire, Darkblot (it clearly isn’t). Mario’s pleas for the Portal Piece are no more effective. He then turns back to Bowser, blasts him out of the way, and runs farther up the castle.
    Mario continues to tail him to the Bowser Castle Battlements (World 8-4), the highest walks and towers of the castle. As he arrives, a quick cutscene happens where Bowser Jr., Kammy Koopa, and Dr. Kook peer out of the tower where Peach is being held. Worried that Mario is getting too close, they decide they have to do something. Meanwhile, Mario continues after the intruder. This level isn’t terribly long, but it’s not easy, either.
    The intruder stops at the top of the tower directly above the Bowser head. From this vantage point, Mario can see that its “hair” is a huge fire pit. The intruder notices him, and begins to recount for him an ancient prophecy. The original Darkblot prophesized that many millennia in the future, the last of the Nox would reawaken and attempt to overthrow the empire with their remaining artifacts. They would collect eight. But then, a great king would sacrifice the ninth into the flames of Darkblot Castle, and assure the security of the Dark Empire forever. He, Darkonivus XIII, is that king, and destroying the Portal Piece here is his destiny.
    Finally, Specteira connects the dots and theorizes that Darkonivus really is right. Darkblot’s plans to take over the Nox Empire are finally coming to fruition, so the forces of time inferred that there should be one of his descendants ruling the Mushroom Frontier and created one! With this chilling notion in mind, Mario turns to Darkonivus and prepares to cheat fate.
DARKONIVUS
Tattle Entry #143
That’s... well, honestly, I’m not sure. According to himself, he’s King Darkonivus XIII, the ruler of the Dark Empire. It’s hard to judge if this is true, since he really just exists in a different timeline that’s crashing down over ours. If we don’t defeat him, he’ll be right soon enough, that’s for sure. Maximum HP is 120, Attack is 11, and Defense is 0. Like his ancestor Darkblot, he'll use dark magic to attack, heal himself, and grant various status effects. Make sure you have plenty of healing and refreshing items! Darkonivus is a terrifying opponent, with terrifying goals to match, but no prophecy of Darkblot’s is going to stand in our way! Don’t hold back now, Mario!
    Once Darkblot has been thoroughly stomped, he utters a few last words of how the Dark Empire will live on no matter what the party does, stumbles backward into the Bowser head brazier, and upon hitting the flames, explodes back into motes of wild magic, leaving behind the final Portal Piece. Mario walks up...
    ...but before he can claim it, Bowser Jr., Kammy Koopa, and Dr. Kook swoop down again! They taunt him, dare him to try and take it back, and fly back into the level. Once again, Mario chases after the Portal Piece, this time to the very top of the castle. The minions challenge the party for the artifact, and they agree to one last battle.
    As Mario finishes mopping them up, Bowser appears again and is even angrier to see his highest-ranking minions provoking Mario for no reason. They explain that, when they saw Mario complete his first goal, they knew he would come after Princess Peach next. They were just trying to distract him. Well Bowser replies, then WHERE IS SHE?! Everyone turns to the tower where she was being held, and sure enough, it’s empty. But then, Peach flies out of a side window in a clown car, with none other than Luigi piloting it! Mario waves to his brother as he flies off triumphantly back toward the Mushroom Kingdom.
    Realizing that he’s lost once again, Bowser no longer has any reason to fight Mario. He apologizes for his minions putting him through way more trouble than necessary and has them hand back the Portal Piece. As he disappears down the stairs with Bowser Jr., Kammy Koopa, and Dr. Kook, he warns them that they’re in for the biggest punishments of their lives. Mario picks up the artifact left behind...
***YOU FOUND A PORTAL PIECE!***

--LUIGI INTERLUDE--
    High above the ocean, Luigi flies back toward the Mushroom Kingdom with Peach, his quest complete. The princess thanks Luigi for his help and praises his courage against all the challenges. It was amazing how he fought through all those guards! And that final jump into the clown car! It turns out all Luigi needed to be Player One was a bit of self-confidence. As they close in on the Mushroom Kingdom coast, Peach plants a kiss on Luigi’s forehead and his part of the story ends.