Chapter Two: A Rugged Road
Mario set out to Prism Island to reawaken Huey, and along the way, he thought about what he would say.
When he reached Port Prisma, he found the big paint stars were still in position, and Huey in his Thing form was still there.
Knowing that Huey would probably get mad if he was hit over the head with a hammer, Mario simply tapped on the top, waking him up slowly.
"Ah... that was a nice nap," he said upon awakening. "Oh, hey Mario! What could you be doing here?"
"Well, I'm-a here for multiple reasons. The first of which is that the Mushroom Kingdom's paint has been drained!"
"WHAT?!"
"And that's not all! Apparently the Shy Guys are behind this!"
"How do you know it's not Bowser's idea?"
"I told him to look for their base!"
"What about Luigi?"
"He's-a back home, probably watching the news."
"Oh. Well, I guess we have to-"
"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!"
"What the?!"
"Help me! Someone help me! Aaaaah..."
Mario and Huey rushed off to the east to find a pair of slurp guys slurping up a Toad's paint.
"Ahhh... that's the good stuff!" one said. "It sure is a shame that this paint is put to bad use by creating Toads!"
"Hey! Who are you and what are you doing here?"
"Oh, it's Mario! We ought to take his paint to-" he was cut off by Mario stomping on him, squishing him under his weight.
"We've got to find a way to get the mega paint stars," Huey said.
"Mega paint stars?" Mario was confused.
"Yeah, mega paint stars. They are the source of paint in and of itself."
"Oh."
Mario walked out and headed back to the Mushroom Kingdom, going to the most red area possible, the Rugged Road. There resided old ruins that seemed to be a source of red paint, but it was rumored that there was a guardian who made sure the paint wouldn't get into the wrong hands. Explorers who survived the encounter described a giant, lava-red dragon that appeared out of the lava and attacked after eating a giant, red star-shaped object, most likely a decoration.
"Mario, we better go check out those ruins, as they could very well hold the paint star," Huey said.
Mario nodded.
They got access to the volcano, which was normally reserved for those that needed to get access.
Traversing the warm earth and avoiding random volcanic rocks, they scaled until they found a Shy Guy Cache, and it had a black one with red hair, with a jar of an unidentifiable liquid in his stubs.
"There's Mario! Quick, attack!" he screamed.
Mario whacked them away, and seeing his army was defeated, he went on to attack by himself.
He began by stealing Paint Points and cards from both heroes, and then shot it back at them.
"This is insane! Using one's own blood, sweat and tears against them!" Huey shouted.
Mario used his jump and hammer to defeat this shy guy.
"Ow ow ow! Uncle!" he cried. "I give up!"
Mario decided to spare him.
"..."
"Mario, what are you doing? Lay the final blow!"
"..."
The shy guy was bewildered, wondering why Mario was sparing him.
"...fine. I'll join your side," he said at last. "I'm Trash."
Mario, with his new partner, continued until he found the Ruby Burner, which was where garbage was burned and melted down into a more useful form.
They ventured through, battling the guards that were strewn around the area, and were guarding the entrance to what appeared to be a trash compactor.
"That... does not look like fun," Huey said silently.
Once they ran through right after a smash, they found the main chamber, within which there was a flaming trash can.
A shy guy flew in on a hovercraft, clearly surprised they made it through.
"Ah, looks like you're stuck until you figure out a way past this place!" he said. "Now go! Super ultra mega monster Junker bot of destruction!"
The pile of garbage in the flames started to form a giant bipedal monster with four arms, no head, and eyes that peered out from under a lid.
After a series of beeping noises, it began to speak.
"I AM THE JUNKER. I WILL DESTROYING YOU," it said. "HA HA HA HA HA!"
Mario dodged the fists that came slamming down, and rammed them with the platform that could move around the circular incineration chamber.
After destroying all four fists, it began to attempt to blast him with a laser. But Mario tossed shards of metal to crack the crystal ball responsible for the laser, and after losing this laser it lowered down and began shooting missiles from its eyes.
Destroying these eyes, he caused Junker to rear back in pain and slowly fall down into the bottomless pit below the incineration chamber.
"CURSE YOU, MARIO!" It screamed as it sank below. "YOU'LL RUE THE DAY YOU MESSED WITH THE JUNKER..."
As it fell, it shot out a red big paint star, which would take them to the Crimson Castle, the supposed location of this mega paint star.
"We've got to hurry," Huey said. "Who knows when they'll strike next?"
Mario and Trash headed forward out of the dump and used the big paint star to lead them to the mega paint star.
They followed it up the summit of the volcano, and upon nearing the peak, they began to see what appeared to be a castle on the horizon. The red tint of its masonry looked gorgeous when mixed with the orange and purple and gray sky, making it seem grander than it was in reality. Crimson Castle was upon them. They used the big paint star as a key to open the gate, which was made of a red glass like material, and they rushed through the entrance.