Mario and Falcon reentered Altea back in the castle library. There, Shadow, was once again nose deep in a book.
"Mario. Falcon. Nice to see you. Mario, I've got some interesting information I found. Falcon, welcome to Altea. It's our base of operations for now," Shadow said.
"Hmmm... looks nice. I'm going to find an area to train. If you bring Ryu here, I'll be ready for a rematch," Falcon grinned, then turned and left the library.
"So... you've got something?" Mario asked.
"Yeah, I found this earlier, so I decided to take a look. It's about..."
"Excuse me, Shadow?" Robin suddenly called. Hearing this, Shadow and Mario met Robin outside the library.
"Is something up Robin? I was trying to discuss something with Mario," Shadow said.
"I found something interesting. Fox told me you found what you're looking for here in the library. Is that right?"
"Yeah. What are you getting at?"
"Well, recently, we were checking Zelda... the one who was injured by Waluigi... and we may have found why Waluigi attacked her."
"Really? What is it?" Mario asked.
"She had this in her possession," Robin replied, opening his hand, revealing a shining green stone. Shadow's mouth dropped open. Mario's eyes widened.
"That's.... how did...," Shadow stuttered.
"The Time Stone?" Mario gasped.
"Yes. Now, can I trust you two to keep this in your possession?" Robin asked.
"Yes. I'll hold it," Shadow said. Robin nodded, putting the stone in Shadow's hand, then left. Mario and Shadow glared at the stone.
"Well, this answers the 'why.' But the question is 'how?'" Mario said.
"Well, all that matters is that we have one of the Power Stones. We know Waluigi has at least three. We need to get the other three before he does," Shadow replied.
"Well, I'm on it," Mario said, getting ready to set the device.
"By yourself? What about Falcon?"
"Let's give him time to get used to the place. I can take this solo... oh no..."
"What's wrong now?"
"The device is all shaken up again. So it looks like I'm going to to just go with whatever and hope it goes okay," Mario said, setting the device to one that looked okay. Upon seeing the portal, he dashed through.
Later... Mario appeared in a place he didn't recognize.
"Great... Now what? Where do I start looking?" Mario asked out loud. That was when he noticed purple auras starting to surround him. These purple auras began to group up, and form into a familiar shape. Mario recognizes the purple auras immediately.
"Wait... Primids? What are they doing here???" Mario was stunned. He knew that they shouldn't be here. Master Hand was the one who'd created the Primids. Now Master Hand was gone. Had Waluigi found a way to create them? Mario shook his head. He had no time to worry about that. He was surrounded. Plus, the Primids were practically harmless. Mario was able to wipe out most of the Primids. He missed one, who happened to be giant. He ran toward Mario with booming steps, much to Mario's horror. That was when an unknown force sliced the giant Primid in two, causing it to disappear. The person who defeated the Primid landed in front of Mario. He had spiked blonde hair. He wore a navy shirt and pants, with gray boots. But what stunned Mario the most was the giant sword that he had with him.
"Gotta say, that was a close call," the stranger said, his voice sounding kind of monotone.
"T-thanks. You kind of startled me," Mario replied.
"Sorry 'bout that. Anyway, the name's Cloud. Cloud Strife. Nice to meet you," the stranger said, extending his hand, which Mario shook.
"Thanks. I'm Mario. Say, have you seen these around here before?" Mario asked. Cloud shook his head.
"Can't say I have. Don't seem like much of a threat though. What of 'em?" Cloud returned.
"Then it has to be him...," Mario said quietly to himself. But it was loud enough for Cloud.
"He? Have you seen these before?" Cloud asked. His tone had remained the same.
"Well, yes, I have seen these before, but where they're coming from is a definitely different." Mario answered. He told Cloud everything that had happened in the past two months. From Master Hand to Waluigi and his Power Glove, and his plan to conquer the world.
"Hm.... a guy gets a lot of power, then plans to destroy the world? Where have I heard this story before?" Cloud said, rubbing his chin.
"Wait, you know someone like that?"
"Yeah. His name was Sephiroth. He was never a loser. He was pretty strong. Then he happened to get stronger," Cloud explained.
"Yikes."
"But that's not the end of the story. It ended when I beat Sephiroth. Multiple times."
"You did?"
"Yeah. So if you want, I can help you take this Waluigi guy," Cloud offered. Mario thought about it. He didn't know much about this Cloud guy. For all he knew, he could be lying about this whole Sephiroth guy, or made up beating him.
"Eh, who am I kidding? With a sword like that, he's definitely no pushover," Mario thought. He nodded.
"I accept your offer. We need all the help we can get right now," Mario said.
"Cool. Where to now?"
"I'm about to blow you mind. You ever heard of dimensional travel?"
"Can't say I have."
"Prepare to be amazed," Mario grinned. Pulling out the device, he set the coordinates for Altea. He and Cloud headed back to their base of operations. Mario now felt a confidence booster. They would be okay.