A New Secret
Episode 16: A Paper Christmas
This is the special Christmas episode. Check the notes after the ending to see what happened in episodes 11-15.
"Mario! Goombella!" called a voice.
Mario and Goombella ran up to the voice, which had come from Lunastar. "What is it?" said Goombella.
"Look!" Lunastar said, pointing to something she was wearing. Mario and Goombella looked at it. It was a silver necklace was two gold jingle bells on it around Lunastar's neck.
"It's pretty!" said Goombella.
"I'm wearing it for Christmas," said Lunastar, her eyes sparkling, "Today is Christmas Eve, you know."
"Oh, that's right!" said Goombella, "Come on, Mario, we need to look Christmassy too!" So they both ran into different places.
When they came back, Mario was wearing red and green instead of red and blue. Goombella was wearing holly in her hair and a red and green scarf. "How do we look?" she said.
"Awesome," Lunastar said.
Suddenly, Vivian came out of the shadows, wearing a Santa hat instead of her usual hat. "Hi!" she said.
"Hi Vivian!" Goombella said, "So you decided to join us for Christmas?"
"Mm hmm hmm!" Vivian laughed, "Of course!"
"That's great!" said Goombella, "Now we can all celebrate Christmas!"
Just then, someone else ran up to them. It was Crystolo! "Hi guys!" he said, "I wanted to join you for Christmas!"
"That's great!" Lunastar said, jumping. It looked like there would be a lot of friends here at Christmas.
"Oh wait," said Lunastar, "we should still go see Toadle, shouldn't we?"
"Yeah," said Goombella.
"Don't worry, we'll wait for you," said Vivian. So Mario, Goombella, and Lunastar put on their swimming gear and went in the water. The water was not frozen, but it was very cold. So they were glad when they made it to the ancient room. They jumped out of the water and took off the swimming gear. They looked around for Toadle, but did not see him.
Then they could see a glowing light where Toadle would be, and then he appeared from it. "Merry Christmas early!" he said, "I'm glad you made it here. Now I will tell you where to go next. You must go to a place known as Aqua Forest. There you will find the spirit of Crysta, the Crysteer. She is the sixth spirit, and she will lead you to the last spirit. Good luck." Then he disappeared.
"Aqua Forest?" said Lunastar, "That's an unusual name."
"I wonder what that place is like?" said Goombella, "Come on, let's go talk to Prof. Frankly about this." So they put the swimming gear back on and returned to Rogueport.
When they got there, they took the swimming gear back off and told Vivian and Crystolo they had to talk to Prof. Frankly. Then they went to him and told him about what Toadle had said. "Aqua Forest?" he said, "Hmm, I think I've heard of that place." He got out a book and looked at it. "Ah, yes, Aqua Forest," he said, "It's a large forest with trees somewhat scattered apart. There is also, of course, a small town known as Aqua Town near it. Aqua Forest got its name from being near water. Many people fish by the coast."
"Interesting!" said Lunastar, "I just hope there aren't any strange monsters there like the last times."
"Well, we can't be sure," said Prof. Frankly, "Chances are there will be one trying to stop you from freeing the spirit. But we'll just have to see."
"Okay," said Lunastar. Then she, Mario, and Goombella left. They went back to Vivian and Crystolo. "Okay, we're back," said Lunastar, "But what are we going to do?"
"Hmm," said Crystolo, "Maybe we could have a parade or something."
"Great idea!" said Lunastar. They all began to walk around Rogueport. They finally got the chance to look around at their surroundings. Rogueport was a very busy place. There were people walking around everywhere. Christmastime made the place seem so friendly and happy, even if it was full of thieves. Tomorrow, Christmas, was the best day of the year. Everyone seemed joyful on that day. Snow was falling everywhere, but the five friends did not feel the cold. Happiness was all they could feel.
Rogueport was covered in Christmas lights and decorations. It was almost as if it was a completely different place. Everybody was clearly ready for the holidays. Mario, Goombella, Lunastar, Vivian, and Crystolo walked back and forth a few times, and then stopped. "What do we do now?" Crystolo asked, somewhat to himself.
"I don't know," said Lunastar. Everyone looked up to see the sun starting to set. The day had surprisingly gone so fast... "Ah, I know!" said Lunastar, "Why don't we sing a few carols? I'm sure everyone will like to hear them as the day ends."
Everyone thought that was a great idea. So they sang some carols they had sort of made up, real songs and tunes with some more Mario-themed words. Everyone who passed by smiled and watched them, hearing their songs. They were very happy, and they could just feel the joy that was bursting from Rogueport and everyone there. It was a truly great Christmas Eve. Eventually, it was dark and everyone was growing tired. They stopped singing. Mario, Goombella, and Lunastar went to the inn. Vivian disappeared into the shadows and Crystolo went back to Crystal Fields.
Lunastar was the first to wake up. Hey! It's Christmas morning! she thought to herself, smiling and stretching a little. Soon Mario and Goombella were awake too. "Come on!" said Lunastar, jumping, "It's Christmas! Let's go back outside!" So they went outside. When they got outside, they got a surprise...
There was a large crowd of people outside! They were all familiar-Vivian, Crystolo, Prof. Frankly, people they knew from Crystal Fields, Mibala Island, Zalshi Town, and Yeru Park-even Merluno, Merluna, Goomel, Koopyn, and Toadle were there! There were people from Rogueport and many other towns too. And the biggest surprise of all was...all their friends who had disappeared were there! Even Dragolan must have been feeling generous.
"Great!" said Lunastar, "We're all together here-what a wonderful Christmas surprise! Now why don't we sing one more Christmas carol-to celebrate this happy day and our friendship!" So they all got together in a large group and got ready. Then they began to sing:
(G=Goombella, L=Lunastar, All=everyone at once)
L: We wish you a Luna Christmas, we wish you a Luna Christmas, we wish you a Luna Christmas,
G: And a Goomba New Year!
L: We wish you a Luna Christmas, we wish you a Luna Christmas, we wish you a Luna Christmas,
G: And a Goomba New Year!
All: Good tidings we bring, to Mushroom Kingdom. Good tidings for Christmas,
G: And a Goomba New Year!
L: We wish you a Luna Christmas, we wish you a Luna Christmas, we wish you a Luna Christmas,
G: And a Goomba New Year!
All: Good tidings to you, to all of the world. Good tidings for Christmas,
G: And a Goomba New Year!
Everyone laughed and cheered. Shouts of "Merry Christmas!" could be heard all through Rogueport. And everyone had a wonderful Christmas.
Since the last episode of this series I posted here was episode 10, here is a quick summary of what happened in episodes 11-15:
Episode 11: Mario, Goombella, and Lunastar go to Zalshi Town, where they discover that Creatures called Gorukages are causing trouble in the town. They find a friendly Gorukage named Gorugo who can turn into a moth. He wants to help them.
Episode 12: They go with Gorugo into an office building to stop the Gorukages. They defeat the Gorukages, but the building explodes. Mario, Goombella, and Lunastar barely escape, but Gorugo does not make it out. Everyone is sad. They free the spirit of Koopyn, the Koopa.
Episode 13: They return to Rogueport. They find out they have to go to a place called Yeru Park next. They talk to Prof. Frankly. He tells them there is a secret room they have to find to get there.
Episode 14: They go to Yeru Town, a busy place where a lot of Yoshis live. They find a jack-in-the-box and then get the strange feeling that it's following them.
Episode 15: They go to Yeru Park. They search for the next spirit, but find nothing. The jack-in-the-box begins to talk and grows huge. They fight it and defeat it, and free the spirit of Toadle, the Toad. Toadle tells them that the jack-in-the-box was really an evil ghost who had been pretending to be a jack-in-the-box. They return to Rogueport.
Merry Christmas!