We arrived in Pinna Park, Eldoris setting us down just by the entrance. We could already see the baby Sand Bird, which was sucking on the top of the carousel. Luckily, the park was closed at the moment, so the only Piantas there were the Security Officers, who were just staring at it in bewilderment.
"There you are, my little baby!" She cooed to her child.
He looked up and recognized that she was the same species as him, and he waddled up to her. "Mama?" he asked.
"Yes, I'm your mama." She hugged him, and they had a tender moment of reunion.
I took off my hat in awe.
Eldoris then turned to look at me. "Oh, how can we ever repay you?" She then got an idea. She reached into herself and pulled out a Shine, then placed it next to us. "Here. I don't know what it is, but I'm sure you'll know what to do with it."
I looked at it, then back at her. "Why, thank you, ma'am! It was our pleasure! If you need anything else before the month is up, just ask for Mario and FLUDD!"
She waved goodbye, then she and her son took off.
The Officers were stunned.
I wiped away a tear, then reached out to touch the Shine, but before I could, a large metal hand grabbed it and yanked it away. I gasped, then turned around and gasped again.
There, standing in the bay, was a large Bowser Mech.
"A Bowser Robot?!" I was stunned. There had been almost no signs of Bowser's handiwork so far (apart from the obsession with kidnapping Peach), so this really came out of left field.
FLUDD scanned the device. "I can sense two life signs inside."
Suddenly, the top of the robot opened, revealing the cockpit and its occupants, Shadow Mario and –
"Princess Peach!" I shouted at the sight of my best friend (and potential love interest) in the clutches of the villain again.
She was tied up again, and she was in her pajamas, so her floating powers were useless.
Shadow Mario pulled some levers and hit some buttons, and the robot's hands quickly came around me, trapping me in their grip. The arms lifted me so I was eyelevel with my dark imposter.
"Who are you?! Are you Bowser?"
"No."
Both Peach and I were stunned into silence. The voice that came out of him was far too young.
He reached for his face and pulled apart his disguise (it was rather easy, considering it was paint). His blue façade gave way to reveal something that did resemble Bowser, but at a much earlier age. He also wore a bandana with a crudely drawn mouth on it, and all his hair was up in a ponytail-Mohawk combo.
"I'm not my dad!"
"Your dad!?" Neither of us were aware that Bowser had any kids (We'd thought the Koopalings were, but they were actually just hired by him).
"That's right! I'm Bowser Jr., and I'm here to steal back Mama Peach!"
And both of us laughed.
"What're you laughing at?" He asked, trying his best to sound intimidating.
Peach struggled to speak through her laughing, "You think I'm your mama?!"
"I know you're my mama! Dad told me so himself!"
This only made us laugh even harder.
"That's really sad!" I laughed.
Bowser Jr.'s face reddened.
"Look, kid," Peach said, "I'm pretty sure I'd know if I was your mama. After all, I'm the woman!"
"And what does that mean?" Obviously, he was still very young.
"Just – never mind, it's not worth discussing right now."
Bowser Jr. turned back to face me. "Look, I'm going to take her back now. And with this paintbrush, there's nothing you can do to stop me!"
I stopped laughing as he held up his paintbrush. FLUDD and I instantly recognized the logo emblazoned on the side.
"Prof. Gadd Labs!?" FLUDD and I shouted at the same time.
He pulled some levers at hit some buttons, and the robot winded up a throw that most likely would've ended up killing me, but before he could, I heard a familiar call.
Eldoris and her son had come back!
They landed right beside the mech and looked in at them.
"What're you doing?!" Bowser Jr. turned white at the sight of it.
"You should've waited until I was out of eyeshot to attack my friend."
Her son grabbed Bowser Jr. in his beak and spit him onto the beach. Then she pried the arms of the mech apart and caught me in her talon, and set me into the cockpit. I untied Peach (again).
"Thank you Mario! And, uh..." She looked at the towering Sand Birds that had just rescued them.
"I'm Eldoris. And this is my son, Pinna."
I chuckled at the realization that she'd named him after the place we found him. Peach petted Pinna, then they took off again.
"Now, what'll we do about this mech?" Peach asked.
I had an idea. "Maybe we can figure out how to work it, and with this thing under our control, keeping Bowser Jr. at bay will be a cakewalk!"
She nodded, and we headed over to the control panel. We quickly realized that there were a ton of buttons (I still can't understand how Jr. had operated this thing so effectively!). I pressed a button and she flipped a lever, and one of the legs kicked out, putting the robot off balance. We tried to get the leg back down, but only succeeded in kicking it out even further, and the robot toppled over into the ocean. We quickly climbed out and got back onto the shore, and we watched as the robot jerked and sputtered, then went motionless.
I chuckled, "So much for that idea. But hey, if every steak were perfect, we wouldn't get meatballs."
"That sounded like an out of place reference to something that doesn't exist yet," Peach pointed out.
"Hey, I've gotta fit in a meatball reference somewhere!"
Suddenly, Bowser Jr. screamed, "No, no, no! The sand bird was supposed to get mad and tear apart the island looking for her baby, or at least make a very difficult platforming level, but you ruined it!" He then screamed in anger, then pulled a radio out of his shell. The radio that I'd received from the Officer earlier (which was surprisingly intact, despite me getting trampled) caught his message: "Abort mission! Abort mission! Pick me up, then retreat to Corona Mountain!"
The boat that had picked him up earlier zoomed up to the beach, and Bowser Jr. jumped on. We tried to stop them, but the boat zoomed off again.
"Aw, darn!" Peach said, "He got away!"
"Well, at least he didn't get you." I chuckled, then added, "And now, we know where they're going."
Then a glimmer of light caught my eye. The Shine that Eldoris gave me (and the mech had subsequently grabbed) floated out from the remains of the mech and to the beach right beside us. We touched it, and soared off back to Delfino Plaza.
We landed on an empty space on the boardwalk (as a portal to Pinna Park had yet to be made), and headed to the hotel, exhausted.
It was the best sleep I'd had during our entire trip.