Antasma

Antasma is an evil bat king and one of the main antagonists in Mario & Luigi: Dream Team.

Birth
At one point, many years ago, Antasma was a normal bat living on Pi'illo Island. However, he once fed on the nightmares of a Pi'illo, and continued to feed on nightmares afterward, slowly turning him into the nightmarish being he is in Dream Team.

Sealing in the Dream World
Setting his eyes on the Dark Stone in hope of seeing his wishes coming true, Antasma stole it for himself. The Pi'illos, along with the Zeekeeper, fought Antasma and managed to imprison him into the Dream World; however, just before his seal was complete, Antasma shattered the Dark Stone, causing the chunks to rain down all over the island. The shards of the Dark Stone turned all the Pi'illo they touched into stone, causing the demise of the Pi'illo civilization and triggering most subsequent events in the game.

In Luigi's dream
Antasma first appears on the blimp ride to Pi'illo Island at the beggining of the game during a nightmare dreamt by Luigi. He initially appears as his pillow form and after swatting almost everyone off the blimp transforms into his humanoid form and attacks Mario. After a brief battle, Antasma is defeated, but pierces through the bottom of the blimp as he floats away, causing it to plummet towards the island, at which point Luigi's dream ends.

First visit to the Dream World
Antasma is not seen again until Prince Dreambert's pillow is found in the basement of the Pi'illo Castle and Luigi sleeps on it, opening a a portal to the Dream World. From there, Antasma calls out to Princess Peach, and proceeds to suck her in when she approaches the portal. Mario gives chase into Dreamy Pi'illo Castle, but Antasma distracts him with Dreamy Mario he creates on the spot, and opens up a hole to Dream's Deep after Mario defeats his counterpart, which he promptly departs to and seals up behind him. Despite this, Mario manages to save Prince Dreambert whose Nightmare Chunk is found later on in the Dream World, who explains to Mario what had transpired the last time Antasma had tried to conquer the world and worries that the Bat King Antasma was Peach's kidnapper.

Chasing Antasma
With the help of Eldream, Mario manages to reach Dream's Deep, and it doesn't take long for Mario, Dreamy Luigi, and Prince Dreambert to reach Antasma; before he can react, however, Bowser appears from behind and gives him a solid punch that knocks him away briefly. Antasma retaliates by leeching Bowser's face and screeching loudly, flooring everyone except Bowser, Dreambert, and himself. He reveals that he had kidnapped Peach to exploit her power and escape the Dream World so he could conquer the Real World, but that the appearance of Bowser who, unlike Peach, is both strong and evil, caused him to change his plans, and he suggests that they work together. Bowser initially disagrees to this and insults Antasma, but Antasma ultimately convinces Bowser to form an alliance on the basis of giving him greater powers. Antasma then possesses Bowser, and together they manage to defeat Mario and Luigi before leaving the Dream World.

Stealing the Dream Stone
After defeating the Mario Bros., Antasma and Bowser head for Dozing Sands to acquire the Dream Stone (the counterpart of the Dark Stone). The Bros. attempt to stop them, but arrive too late, and the villains get the stone and take it to Mount Pajamaja.

==== The brothers sign up for a tour to the mountain's summit and in the end find Antasma - now accompanied not only by Bowser, but also by Kamek and the Elite Trio, at its peak. To channel the Dream Stone's power, Private Goomp turns on a set of speakers that begin to play the Dreambeats, which promptly puts everyone on the island to sleep except for Antasma, Starlow, Prince Dreambert (all three seemingly immune to the noise), Bowser (due to covering his ears) and Mario (who has to actively resist the lullaby). Luigi, who did not manage to resist the noise, falls asleep and with Mario's assistance rolls to a nearby Dreampoint, which Mario enters in order to escape the noise.

After the Dreambeats subside, the Bros. exit the Dream World to immediately encounter Antasma and Bowser by the Dreampoint, who gloat over their now usable Dream Stone. Upon the realization Peach was in danger, the Bros. hurry to Pi'illo Castle in order to protect Peach, who would surely be Bowser's first target. Back at Mount Pajamaja's summit, Antasma and his new allies begin discussing what to wish on the Dream Stone to conquer the world with. Antasma suggests that they wish for an impenetrable castle; when this is quickly approved of by everyone else, Antasma wishes for this, which leads to the instantaneous creation of Neo Bowser Castle. Antasma then takes the castle for a 'test-drive', blowing up several islands near Pi'illo Island with a large laser cannon situated on the bottom of the castle, sending the inhabitants of Pi'illo Island into a panic.

Although he is mentioned repeatedly after the creation of Neo Bowser Castle, Antasma only reappears again once the Bros. invade the castle. He first appears shortly after Kamek scrambles the castle's doors, ripping open a portal to the Dream World to allow Kamek to escape from Mario and Luigi. After Antasma hides Kamek away for the third time and he is defeated, Antasma convinces Bowser to fall asleep on him to use his powerful dreams to power the castle. When the Bros. finally reach the duo, Bowser's dreams are providing such great power that Bowser himself is invulnerable to real world attacks, and the Bros. are forced to enter Bowser's dream to wake him up and weaken Antasma.

After Giant Bowser is defeated, Bowser is awoken and Antasma carries him to the next floor. Upon the Bros. arrival, Antasma prepares to fight them alongside Bowser, but at this point, Bowser throws Antasma to the ground and betrays him, revealing that he had been using Antasma all along. Declaring the castle and the Dream Stone to be solely his, Bowser warps to the top floor using the Dream Stone he claimed, leaving Antasma to swear revenge for his former partner's betrayal and then challenge Dreambert to a duel. After a duel in the real world proves indecisive, Antasma rips open another portal to the Dream World and flees inside while warning Dreambert that he has grown stronger. Dreambert follows and is quickly defeated. In Dreambert's stead, Mario enters Antasma's Dream World and confronts him; with the assistance of Dreamy Luigi and Dreambert, Mario eventually defeats Antasma. When Mario leaves Antasma's Dream World, Antasma follows a few seconds later, inflates like a balloon, then bursts and dies, ending his evil schemes for good.