It's been almost 2 years since I updated this. 2 years. Most of my readers might have left or something, I don't know. What I do know is that I want to finish this story. It's a great story, and I've got quite a few chapters backlogged from some time ago. So, enjoy.

CHAPTER FOUR

By now it was evening. The moon shown bright in the sky; its beams of light shining down upon the ocean's water, casting a magnificent reflection. The islanders had dined on some lobsters and other aquatic creatures that had crawled upon the beach and were finely cooked over the bonfire.

"Alright, listen up," said Kelvin. He stood up as if to give a speech, but he noticed that most of the islanders were already asleep. With this, he coughed slightly, stood back, covered his ears, and let out an ear-piercing girl-like scream. Immediately, everyone awoke. "Good," he continued, "Now that I have your attention, we must act quickly. I highly doubt that those creatures that attacked Quizmo and Luigi were the only ones on the island. For the creatures not to have approached Quizmo and Luigi when they first voyaged to get some nourishment means that they most be moving in closer and closer to our location as time goes on. If we don't act quickly, they will soon ambush us and devour us all. We must relocate ourselves to another part of the island." The islanders started to bolt crazily in all directions. "Halt!" commanded Kelvin, "We must journey together. I say we traverse in the direction of the volcano, since we can't go through the jungle until the wildfires stop, and the only way to make them stop is to kill the dragon who is causing them!"

"How in the hell are we supposed to do that? We have no weapons…all we have is fish! What are we supposed to do? FLOUNDER IT TO DEATH?!" complained Wario.

"Well, YOU have a weapon. Maybe YOU should fight it," replied Kooper.

"There is one more matter we must discuss…It would appear that Neil has gone missing. I last saw him going after Quizmo and Luigi during their first solo voyage into the jungle," stated Kelvin.

"We never saw him," replied Chuck Quizmo.

"We must keep an eye out for him as we journey to the volcanic region of the island. At any point, if it starts raining fire, head for shelter," said Kelvin. The pack agreed, and drifted off into a quick slumber.

As dawn broke out, the team went off to where the volcano is. Lead by Gogeta (of course), they seemed to make pretty good progress. Of course, nothing good ever happens to any of these people, and another rain of fire broke out about a quarter way through the journey.

"What are we supposed to do now?" said Waluigi, "We're trapped here! These fires are gonna burn the whole place down!"

Kelvin only laughed at Waluigi. "Remember how everything went back to normal after the fire? That's what's gonna happen here! All we have to do is find shelter…." Obviously, no plants would make do of their shelter. After several close calls, Mario found a small cave. No one refused the opportunity of surviving, and a quick dash to the cave might have saved their lives. Until, that is, Quizmo noticed something.

"Oh my god!" he yelled, "That cute little animal we found! WE HAVE TO GET OUT OF HERE!" Only Luigi and Quizmo knew what kind of danger they were in, and ran out of the oven and into the frying pan (almost literally). No one else knew why Luigi and Quizmo were afraid of such a small animal, and stayed there. Luigi and Mr. Chuck Quizmo were dodging the fire almost supermanly, refusing to go even 100 ft. close to the cave. The fired died down eventually, and the two ran to see if anything remained of their friends.

"You think anyone's alive?" asked Luigt.

"Of course not, the big one must have torn them all into 3 pieces." replied Mr. Patch.

Once the two entered the cave, they were shocked to see……they were all perfectly fine! "Um…why did you run out of the cave?" asked Toad. The group quickly questioned the duo's sanity, then left for the volcano.

"Ha ha!" snickered Wario "Chuck Brown is scared of a tiny puff ball!" Chuck Quizmo was reaching for his gun, but was stopped before anyone noticed.

10 hours into the trip, no sign of Neil. The group decided to sleep right at the edge of the jungle for the night, and spend the next day in the volcanic region. The night was an endless one, each of the 9 knowing they'd have to slay a dragon in a day or so. Eventually, the panic knocked each and every one of them out, and refreshed for the next morning. The group of 9 all officially crossed the line to the volcanic region, to be met by the strange tiki again.

"YOU!" screamed Wario. "I believe we have some business to attend to" Wario reached for his pocket knife, only to not find it.

"I took it from you last night so you wouldn't use it rashly" said Kelvin "Unfortunatley, I am much better at fighting with shurikens and my bare fists. I'll give it back to you once we get to the dragon."

Wario was now in rage. "WHAT ARE YOU? SOME KIND OF NINJA?"

Before Kelvin could answer, the tiki spoke. "SILENCE!" it bellowed. "Welcome to the volcanic region of Syntarr. It is here where I must tell you this. One of your kind is disloyal!" This was news to Luigi and Chuck Quizmo, but the rest had their suspicions. "In order to reach the dragon, you must take the red path. Do not take the blue or purple path, or you will probably meet certain death."

This confused Mario. "How can you probably meet certain death? It's either you do or you don't!"

The tiki ignored Marrio, and continued. "Remember, the RED path! The dragon will not expect you. Take him by surprise!" And with that, the tiki went back underground.

"How are we going to kill the dragon?" asked Chuck Quizmo. "We have no weapons! I would presume a switchblade useless on something so gargantuan."

Wario, up to his usual jokes, made a suggestion. "We can get the ninja guy to shriek the dragon to death! Honestly, how did you get your voice so high?" This time, Kelvin went for the switchblade, but was stopped before he could attack Wario.

"If you do not stop making fun of me," said a rather calm Kelvin, "Your switchblade will be fed to the lava!" Wario grumbled and kept his mouth shut.

"By the way, where do you think the blue and purple paths lead to?" asked Mario. Of course, no one in the group knew, and no one wanted to know. They decided to take the tiki's advice and just follow the red path. The problem was, a giant gap separated them from the paths, and a pot of lava was ready to cook anyone who made contact with it. A bridge had to be made. Kelvin, the man who can build anything from anything, was already on the go. He instructed everyone how to build it, and in no time, a bridge was made.

"OK, everyone" said a rather proud Kelvin, "One at a time! This bridge isn't the London Bridge, y'know." The group was rather confident about their bridge, then, as they all remember the London Bridge falling down. "I mean," Kelvin said, "The Washington Bridge!" The group finally got it, and Mario was the first to walk it.

"This is a pretty sturdy bridge, guys! I think we'll all make it! Were actually gonna reach the….WAUGH!" His sentence was cut short by a cut bridge. It snapped right behind him, and he flew right under his goal. Donkey never had a good grip, and bridge just happened to be very slippery. And down he went. Falling, falling, falling into the pit.