This one took a while since I had many things to do at the morning.

Enjoy! ;)


Chapter 3: Beneath Pi'illo Castle

Once the group was done taking their time at the castle's lobby, they all went back to Broque Monsieur and Princess Jewel standing at the middle of other accessible rooms.

"Done with zee sightseeing? Very well, zen! Attention! Princess Peach and companions! Zere is an attraction space just ahead of here, oui?" Broque Monsieur spoke.

"And in it, we have prepared the special event for you. So we ask that you try it, please! And enjoy!" Jewel finished.

Eventually, the door at the middle opened up, and everyone went in.

On the other side, there was a platform having the appearance of a stage with no lights standing in the middle of the room.

"What is this room?" Kirby asked.

Suddenly, the lights went out as a buzzing noise came in.

"What what?!" Toadsworth looked around confused.

"Mmm-yes, welcome! To Pi'illo Island!" Dr. Snoozemore's voice came in.

Everyone then looked up ahead and saw a movie screen. The projector turns on, showing Dr. Snoozemore on the screen. Everyone looked astonished.

"I am the administrator of this island, Dr. Snoozemore… Mm-yes, and I should like to tell you of the island's lore…"

"Who's that?" Sonic whispered to Jewel.

"He's Dr. Snoozemore, the island's proprietor." Jewel whispered back. "Right now, he's studying about the missing Pi'illo people. For some reason, he knows more than I do about this island's story."

"And why is that?"

"I… I absolutely have no memory about my past… I can't remember a thing! Neither from where I came from…"

Sonic felt bad for Jewel. As the movie screen started to show the whole island in black and white, Mario and Luigi noticed that their younger selves could barely see because of the Toad's caps blocking their way. They then decide to pick each of their toddler selves up, carrying them on their laps. Baby Mario and Baby Luigi made a nod to their older selves as thanks, and they nodded back.

With that, everyone listened closely to Dr. Snoozemore's story as he begins to tell it:

"A long time ago on this island… The Pi'illo folk lived in this place and called it the Pi'illo Kingdom. But then, over a short span… The Pi'illo Kingdom suddenly fell and was no more… What happened to the Pi'illo Kingdom? Mm-yes, this question lingers… It is but one of the mysteries that we are actively trying to solve today… Indeed, another of these mysteries sleeps deep within Pi'illo Castle… Some say a treasure hides there since the time of the Pi'illo Kingdom… The deeper passages have only recently been discovered. What treasure do you suppose sleeps in this cazzzzz…zzZZzz."

Since the doctor fell asleep, the movie ended. The lights turned on again, and Peach walks closer to the platform.

"Oh my! Fascinating!" she beamed. Then, she actually steps onto the platform. "So there's a treasure sleeping somewhere in this castle! What sort of treasure do you suppose would sleep here?"

However, no one in the room noticed that the movie screen split in half, revealing a secret passageway with tracks behind the platform.

"Your Highness, please! Step down at once! I sense calamity!" Toadsworth trailed as he stepped on the platform.

"You know, he does have a point." Jewel stated as she also steps on the platform.

Suddenly, the platform does a rumble, with orange rockets appearing on both sides, and eventually, it blasts into the tunnel.

"OH NO!" Starlow yelled.

"Peach! Toadsworth! Jewel!" Yoshi cried out.

"It took off with them!" Sonic's eyes widened.

"Oh, that's bad!" Ribbon Girl whimpered.

"You!" Starlow growled as she flies close to Broque Monsieur's face. "Why is there a moving rocket platform there in the first place?!"

"Ah! Oui! I must tell you, back zere we found zis ancient hidden area. Zat platform was only recently installed for zee exploring… But it is in zee testing place! Or at least it was…" Broque Monsieur explained. "Zee pressure of zee petit footsies activated zee mechanism, honh? Oui! Tecnology, c'est magnifique!"

"Never heard of anyone talking about technology until now…" Sonic sassed.

"So just what's back there, anyway?" Starlow asked. "Nothing dangerous, right? RIGHT?"

"I have not gone back zere myself. Non. Too damp for moi. But I hear… Zere is something back zere, oui. Something protects zee treasure…" Broque Monsieur pondered.

"Great… Princess Peach, Toadsworth and Princess Jewel are in there with some ancient thing?!"

As Starlow was saying that, the same platform came back. But, of course, there was no one riding it.

"Platform is back!" Baby Mario exclaimed.

"With no one…" Baby Luigi added.

"Mario! Luigi! You have to get after them, and quickly!" Starlow insisted.

"Leave it to us." Mario nodded.

"We'll go too!" Sonic said as he, the babies, Kirby and Ribbon Girl stepped forward.

"Right."

"Wait, aren't you coming, Yoshi?" Luigi noticed that Yoshi was the only one who didn't step forward.

"Nah, I'll stick around and look for food." Yoshi shook his head. "Good luck, guys!"

"Make that platform work again!" Starlow said to Broque Monsieur.

"Euh… Oui. Very well." He replied.

Mario, Luigi, Sonic, Kirby, Baby Mario, Baby Luigi and Ribbon Girl all stepped on the platform as it took off like last time.


Once the platform reached its end, it came to an abrupt stop, and everyone was launched towards the wall. Mario and Sonic just wall-jumped off the wall, Kirby just floats away, Ribbon Girl kicks off the wall and stretches her arms like two springs to grab Baby Mario and Baby Luigi in her hands before they both hit the wall…and Luigi unfortunately faceplants into the wall.

"Phew, that was close!" Kirby sighed once he releases air from his mouth to deflate.

"Thanks, Ribbon Girl!" Baby Mario thanked.

"No problem!" Ribbon Girl replied while winking.

"Hey, where's Luigi?" Mario asked while looking around.

"I think he's still on the wall…" Sonic sweatdropped.

Everyone watched Luigi slowly sliding down the wall until he landed on his bottom on the floor.

"Oooooogh…" Luigi groaned as he got back up, looking dizzy.

"Are you okay?" Mario asked in concern.

"Yep, I'm fine." Luigi replied upon shaking it off.

"Say, is it just me, or did I just saw your arms stretch when you caught Baby Mario and Baby Luigi?" Sonic questioned to Ribbon Girl. "That reminded me a lot of my Werehog ability…"

"Oh, right! I forgot to tell you. You see, in the world where I'm from, there are special people who possesses arms like this. However, it is unknown how this originated. Believe me, I was kind of freaked out when I discovered that my arms could stretch like that, but I finally got used to it." Ribbon Girl explained. "With that, I am more than a singer; I am also a fighter competing in the International ARMS League Championship Tournament held every year. I was champion at the third tournament so far. I was about to win the second one…until Ninjara beat me at the semifinals and took the belt."

"That's cool! What weapons do you have with you, then?"

"I only have my three signature ARMS with me: the Sparky, the Popper, and the Slapamander. Each one has different element types. The Sparky is electric, the Popper is wind, and the Slapamander is fire."

"Neat!"

"Alright, changing the subject here." Starlow interfered. "What is this place?"

The group found themselves standing in a dark underground dungeon area. The walls and the floor were still made of stone, but some bricks in the walls looked displaced and some tiles on the floor were missing. Gloomy blue carpets were replacing the lobby's bright pink carpets and there were also vines growing out of some parts of the walls and ledges.

"For some reason, this place is creeping me out…" Kirby stuttered a little.

Just then, the flame turned purple as a dark orb with purple eyes appeared within the flames.

"Again they come… Poor fools…" it spoke.

"Speaking of creepy…" Luigi paled.

"Look upon the ghost that haunts this castle… My name, whispered in horror, is Smoldergeist… Long have I wandered these dark passages… And long have I guarded these hidden ways… None may pass through to what lies within… You must suffer the fate of all intruders! Those who trespass meet…THIS!" the flame turns back to normal.

"What the…?" Mario breathed.

Everyone looked around…until three Grombas dropped behind them from the ceiling!

"Yikes! Look behind you!" Baby Luigi flinched.

"WHOA!" the rest of the group dodged the Grombas' tackle just in time.

"What an ambush!" Sonic said surprised.

"You know what? I'll just take those guys like this!" Kirby steps forward and inhales one of the Grombas, turning into Stone Kirby, with a hat made of stone and small double horns decorating both sides of the hat. Everyone looked astonished at Stone Kirby as they watched him turning into a stone block to crush one of the Grombas before defeating the other one with a Stone Uppercut, where he turns his hand into a large stone fist.

Once the three Grombas were defeated, Kirby disables his Stone Copy Ability.

"That was…impressive!" Ribbon Girl appraised.

"Thanks!" Kirby thanked. He then explained to everyone about his inhaling and copying powers. Once he was done, Smoldergeist showed up again and spoke:

"This is not over… No. Your doom awaits deeper within! None may approach the revered one…" it disappears. Eventually, a door opens.

"Peach, Jewel and Toadsworth must have gone ahead…" Starlow guessed. "This place looks sketchy… I don't like this one bit. Let's head deeper!"

"Yeah!" everyone nodded and pressed on.


A LOT of walking and more disturbing Smoldergeist encounters later…

"HELP US!" the group suddenly heard Peach's voice up ahead after emerging out of a room.

They saw Peach, Jewel and Toadsworth surrounded by four versions of Smoldergeist rotating around them.

"Peach is in danger!" Starlow warned as she and the group rushed towards the trio. "Princess Peach!"

As soon as the Smoldergeists saw them, they instantly vanished.

"Did they just disappear?" Baby Mario tilted his head.

"Well… What matters is that they're safe." Ribbon Girl shrugged.

"Whew… You guys came to us! Oh, I'm so relieved…" Peach sighed in relief.

"Phew…" Toadsworth sighed. "Master Mario… It was a close shave, to be sure!"

"I helped Peach and Toadsworth flee to this chamber but we were surrounded…" Jewel told.

"I'm glad you're OK…" Mario said. "But danger aside… This place is mysterious, no?"

"True… Even I am not familiar with this secret area…" Jewel puzzled. "And that thing over there…" she directs to a chamber where an odd-looking pillow was resting on a pedestal and there was a Zeekeeper statue behind it. "Such strange architecture… I wonder what it is?"

"Look! In front of the statue!" Starlow pointed. "Check it out!"

The group walked towards the pedestal, where they saw the pillow, which was dark purple and some kind of dark aura was emanating from it.

"That's it? We came all this way for a pillow?" Sonic sassed. "Don't tell me that's the treasure!"

"Well, if it isn't the treasure, then why would it be resting in a pedestal like this one and be heavily under guard?" Ribbon Girl pointed out.

"Ribbon Girl has a point." Mario agreed as he took the pillow. "At least it's treasure, right?" he smiled.

"I guess." Sonic shrugged.

"Hey, what about these?" Kirby eyed at three sparkly pink and yellow feathers that dropped out from the pillow at the floor.

"I'm not sure, but these feathers do look pretty." Jewel smiled as she took the feathers.

"Yeah! Sparkly feathers!" Baby Luigi chirped.

"Maybe they'll be useful for something. Alright, let's get out of here."

However, as soon as they walked down the stairs, all of a sudden, an earthquake came.

"That doesn't sound good!" Luigi gulped.

"Who touches things without my leave?!" suddenly, the Zeekeeper statue spoke. "Insolent little rats! Stop your meddling! None may lay a hand on the revered one! Here! Pay the price of your transgression!" the Zeekeeper statue does a jump, frightening Peach and Toadsworth as they jumped back.

Just then, before their very eyes, the four Smoldergeists appeared around Mario and Luigi!

"WOAH!" Mario yelled in shock.

"Mario! Luigi!" Peach cried out.

The four Smoldergeists charged up their flames and spread them in four circles simultaneously. The brothers dodged the circles of fire by jumping over them. The Smoldergeists then fired part of their flames at each brother, but they dodged them.

"We can't linger like this! We have to take them out!" Mario demanded.

"Hold up! They're all on fire! How are we going to attack them?" Luigi questioned. "We'll roast our feet if we try to jump on them!"

"Don't worry, guys! I know what to do!" Ribbon Girl came in. Her arms were now extended like in the game and she had two firecracker-like gloves on her hands. "My Poppers have the wind element, so they can blow out the flames!" she then runs towards the Smoldergeists and shouts: "LET IT BLOW~!"

She instantly aims both fists at the Smoldergeists, sending out a gust of wind. Not only did the wind blow out the purple flames, but also dealt a good amount of damage to the four Smoldergeists thanks to the little stars that came out from her Poppers. This left both Mario Brothers astonished.

"Golly… That was…" Luigi was out of words.

"…Impressive?" Ribbon Girl winked while turning around. "Well, I'll leave the rest to you, Mario Brothers!"

"Thanks for the help, Ribbon Girl. We really appreciate it." Mario thanked. Ribbon Girl made a nod before heading back to the rest of the group.

The four Smoldergeists, now looking like simple dark orbs on the floor, tried to attack the Mario Brothers by just rolling towards their feet.

"Nice try!" Mario teased as he and Luigi stomp them as soon as they reached under them. "Hey! Now that they're on the floor, we can try attacking them with this item I've packed in before our travel!" Mario pulls out a red Koopa Shell. "Red Shell!"

Mario places the shell close to his feet and kicks it to one of the Smoldergeists, bouncing back towards Luigi next once it hit one of them. Luigi kicks the shell towards another Smoldergeist and the process goes on. When there was only one Smoldergeist remaining, the shell moved towards Mario, and he did a very powerful charged kick, defeating the last Smoldergeist.

"You did it!" Ribbon Girl clapped. "Super Mario Brothers, indeed!"

Then, the Zeekeeper statue behind them rumbled again and spoke:

"Arrghh… I failed… Why…did…I…fail…" it then went immobile.

Eventually, a passage possibly leading to the exit of the dungeon opened up.

"Do you think it's really safe here?" Peach asked.

"Possibly not. Just look at all the traps we've encountered!" Sonic answered. "So we better get out of here ASAP!"

"Hmm… Master Sonic, the princess is still concerned, so we both shall remain here." Toadsworth said. "Would you all mind terribly seeing if the coast is clear?"

"Sure, Toadsworth." Jewel nodded.

The group then went out to the bridge to exit this dark dungeon.

To be continued…


The next chapter will show the interesting part of the story: the first Dream World! Until then! Please review.