A great battle was underway.

It was happening all over again.

Beings of all races, all creeds, all colors faced each other in some of the most intense comment there ever was. Koopa against Koopa. Human against Human. Bob-omb against Bob-omb.

For all of the glory that was being wrought, it was a time of great terror as well. The sheer carnage of kicked shells, of chomped chains, of bobs bombed... No living being could look upon such a scene and feel good about it. In fact, most would not be able to summon the courage needed to attempt to look.

This was the scene of the Great Dark Land Battle.

Bowsette, Lordess of House Toadstool, Mighty General of the Grand Unity Army on one side. Morton Koopa Sr., the fearsome foe of a thousand generations on the other. It was a battle between titans. A duel between Celestial Dragons that would result in the fate of the entire Earth.

It would be a day long remembered. The Mushroom Kingdom gone, Bowser's Kingdom dismantled... The fallen women and men on all sides... The face of the planet would change forever.

Heroes would be made. Thwomp King, Flutter, Princess Toadstool, Iggy. And in return, villains would be made as well. King Bob-Omb. Mad Scienstein. Morton himself, of course.

But for now, the battle was currently raging in the most glorious of times that history could deliver.

And then...

In the middle of it all...

A machine appeared.

It did not make any bright flashes or dazzling portals. Instead, it simply appeared. One moment there was dark grass in a plains singed with fire and blood. The next moment, there was a large machine sitting on top of that grass, atop that fire and that blood.

In front of that machine was one person who had joined in on the fighting.

Toadiko.

Toadette's ex-girlfriend. Princess Toadstool's childhood friend and a former cook in the employ of the Mushroom Kingdom's Royal Bakery Brigade.

She had been swept up in the chaos of these last few years since Bowsette appeared on the scene and wreaked havoc on the Earth. After the turmoil of Toadsworth's betrayal, after the fall of the Crystal King, after the rebellion of the Dry Dry Republic, so much of the world had changed in a complete and non-reversible way. Toadiko was barely involved in any of that. She was just a simple woman minding a simple life... And for some reason, that had led her here.

Toadiko had joined her friend in this ultimate fight. She had devoted herself to facing the trials and tribulations of liberating Dark Land from the clutches of Morton Koopa, even if she didn't understand any of it. Even if it was so far beyond her scope of knowledge that it felt like a dream to be on the battlefield at this very moment. So Toadiko became a Knight of Toadstool just like everyone else.

She hacked a Mini-Thwomp in half with her mace and saw the machine. An eerie sense of curiosity overcame her. What in the world was something like this doing in the middle of a battlefield? How did something like this get here?

What... was it?

As she approached, that eerie sense heightened. It was like the machine was calling specifically to her.

She reached out her hand and...

Just kind of...

The screen turned on. A hologram of an elderly, decrepit, scarred male Toad stared her in the eyes.

"My name is Captain Toad," the man in the hologram said. "Whoever you are receiving this, I must warn you. I must give you as much information as I can deliver. Please listen to what I have to say."

"Yes," Toadiko said. "What do-"

It was merely a recording, so it interrupted her, saying, "The universe is in danger. It was always in danger, that is. The Earth has been destroyed. We are nothing but a ruin in a dying cosmos, all thanks to her. Everything she wrought has brought to us every terror against which we always fought. I never thought... Listen. She's a blot on our existence. A hero she is not."

"Wh...what?" Toadiko was so, so confused.

What was going on?

The message then delivered its final lines, and everything changed: "You must find the Lordess Bowsette and kill her. If she is not stopped now, then the universe will end up like it is now, here, for me, in my time. To save us all, you must kill her. Please tell no-one what you are planning. And certainly do not tell them why. You, whoever you are, are our final hope."

"M...me?" Toadiko asked the recording.

"Yes, you." Captain Toad lowered his head. "My time is gone. It is up to you."

The recording finished. And then the machine crumbled into dust.

Toadiko found herself alone. The armies had long since moved on from this sector, continuing their battle elsewhere. It was just Toadiko, the dust of this machine, and the carnage of war on the ground around her.

She couldn't help but cry, but she didn't know why.