Our heroes kept a lookout for the rogue rubber ball while the train made their way down the tracks. They still couldn't figure out what the ball was doing, and where it came from.

"I wonder if King Koopa has anything to do with this?" Luigi asked.

"I don't know," Mario said. "This doesn't really seem like his style. A little too juvenile for him, I think."

"We'd just better find it before it hurts someone, or does some major damage," the Princess said.

"There it goes!" Toadette called out. "It's going into the zoo!"

"Everybody split up," Mario said, as the train stopped at the entrance to the park zoo. "One of us is bound to find the ball. Princess, you, Toad, and Toadette go left. Luigi and I will go right."

"Right," the others said.

The group split up in order to search. The Princess, Toad and Toadette were the first to spot the ball. It was laying in a cage, directly next to a large Bengal tiger.

"Let's go!" Toad shouted.

"But, Toad, it's in the tiger's cage!" the Princess shouted.

"How else are we gonna get the ball if we don't go in?" Toad asked.

"Okay," Toadette said. "But we have to be real careful."

Toad was about to reach into the cage to grab the ball. It bounced around, and hit Toad on the head. Then it bounced away, getting away before Toadette and the Princess could go after it.

"I hope Mario and Luigi are having better luck than we are," the Princess said.

As a matter of fact, Mario and Luigi were having worse luck! The ball bounced around and finally made its way to the giraffe's cage. It was perched on the head of the tallest giraffe.

"Holy ravioli!" Luigi shouted. "How are we gonna get it now?"

"We go in there and climb that tree," Mario said, pointing to a tree nearby.

Mario started climbing the tree, however, the giraffe happened to choose the leaves of that tree for his lunch.

"I hope that giraffe doesn't bite into that branch," Luigi said.

And with their rotten luck, the giraffe bit into the branch Mario was sitting on, trying to get the ball.

"Uh oh," he said. Then, he fell to the ground. The ball bounced off.

"After it!" he shouted, climbing up another tree in order to get out.

"Maybe the Princess, Toad, and Toadette are having better luck," Luigi said.

When the Princess and the two Toads reached the bird house, they found the ball. They cornered the it outside a vulture's cage.

"That thing makes me nervous," Toadette said.

"Yeah, let's just grab the ball and get going!" Toad shouted.

Toad and Toadette reached for the ball. The vulture screeched and started flapping his wings, and kicking his feet. The Toads screamed, and retreated from the cage, scratched and bruised. The ball just bounced outside.

"Apparently, that ball has a sick sense of humor," Toad said.

"There it goes," the Princess said. "It's heading for the sea mammal exhibit."

"That's Mario and Luigi's territory," Toad said. "Hopefully, they'll get it!"

At that moment, Mario was climbing the fence behind a tank with a beluga whale, looking around, hoping the ball was in the near vicinity.

"There it is!" Luigi called.

"Where?" Mario asked.

The ball zoomed forward, and hit the red-clad plumber in the back of the head.

"Why you little . . ." Mario growled, reaching for the ball.

"Watch out, Mario!" Luigi yelled, as Mario started to climb up to the top of the fence. "That could be dangerous!"

Mario lunged toward the ball, but that move turned out to be a big mistake.

"Oops," he said, while in mid air. Then, he plunged downward. "Whoooooaaaa!"

Mario landed in the tank. He emerged spitting water out of his mouth.

"Yuck!" he shouted. "I wonder how deep this tank is?"

"Probably ten or twelve feet deep," Luigi said. "I'd help you out, but I can't reach you from here."

"Oh, thanks a lot," Mario said, sarcastically. "I'll just swim. If I don't end up with hypothermia first. This water's freezing!"

Suddenly, the whale appeared right behind Mario, but he didn't notice it at first. Luckily, Luigi did.

"Ma-ma-ma-mario . . . . ." he said, nervously.

"What is it, Luigi?" Mario asked.

Luigi just stammered nervously, and pointed. Mario gave his brother a weird look, and turned around to see what Luigi was pointing at. When he saw the white whale behind him, his eyes nearly popped out of his head.

"Nice boy," he said, a little nervously. "Don't mind me, I just dropped in by accident. What do you say you help me get back on dry land?"

The whale nodded, and Mario climbed onto his back. Once at the edge of the tank, Mario climbed off the whale, walked over to another fence, and climbed over.

"Thanks, paisano," he said, wringing out his cap. "Listen, have you seen a red rubber ball come by this way?"

The whale clicked, and pointed with his fin. The Bros. ran off, and regrouped with the Princess and the two Toads at the train.

"What happened to you, Mario?" the Princess asked. "You're soaked!"

"Don't ask," Mario said. "Let's just go find that stupid ball."

"There it is!" Toad called.

The ball bounced down the train tracks, and into a tunnel. The group hopped on the train, trying to follow the ball as closely as possible. It was a good thing the tunnel had lights or else they'd never be able to find it.

"Uh oh," Mario said.

"What?" Luigi asked.

"The ball just bounced into a tunnel I've never noticed before," Mario said. "Not to mention we're on a track that wasn't here when we set the train up, either!"

"That's weird," Toadette said. "This train runs automatically! How can that happen?"

"Who cares?" Toad asked. "Let's just get that stupid ball and get this over with!"

The train continued moving, following the ball, though not knowing why they were still doing so. While they were on the move, the train suddenly began to pick up speed.

"Is it me, or is this thing moving faster?" Luigi asked.

"It's not just you," Toad said.

"What's going on?" the Princess asked.

"I don't know," Mario said, "but at least we're catching up to that ball!"

The train began to move faster and faster, until our heroes were almost right on top of the ball. The ball finally stopped, and the train was heading for a dead end.

"Mario!" Luigi shouted. "Put on the brakes!"

"I can't!" Mario shouted. "It's an automatic pilot driven train! It doesn't have brakes!"

"Use the emergency brake!" the Princess shouted.

Mario grabbed onto the train's emergency brake, and pulled, but it was stuck. It wasn't going to move for anything.

"I think the emergency brake is broken," he said. "I can't stop!"

"This could hurt," Toad said.

Our heroes braced themselves for the impact. The crashed through the wall, and derailed. Thankfully, since it was only a kiddie train, it didn't cause much damage, except the boys were thrown from it, and onto a mound of grass.

"Ooh, I think I hit my head!" Luigi moaned, rubbing the side of his head.

"Yeah, on my head!" Toad replied, rubbing the top of his head.

"Is everybody okay?" the Princess asked.

"Yeah, I think so," Toadette said. The others nodded in agreement.

When everybody was finally on their feet, they went ball hunting. Toadette spotted it over a hill.

"Let's go catch it!" she shouted.

"Right," Mario said.

"Wait a minute!" Toad shouted. "Could somebody please tell me why we're running after this thing?"

Our heroes stopped, and looked at each other. It was true, they didn't have the slightest idea why they were running after a red rubber ball, that apparently had a mind of it's own. The ball came back and slammed Mario in the side of the head, knocking him off his feet.

"That ball apparently has a cruel streak," he said. "And that's a good enough reason for me!"