Episode 3 Part 3
"I think the color's coming back to your face, Mario!" said Mallow cheerily.
"Awsm," grunted Mario through his burger. He appeared to be regaining his strength after the fuzzy attack suffered in the last challenge. Shy Guy, meanwhile was shoving his burger under his mask so he could eat it faster.
"Slow down!" insisted Toadiko. "You'll choke!"
"Om nom nom!"
Toadiko turned to Wolley. "Why are you eating so quickly?"
"Best. Burger. Ever," he gasped between bites.
"So isn't this the part where you start mentioning suspicious actions during the mission?" asked Mona.
Anderson shrugged. "I guess so, but I wasn't really there for it, so I have no idea what you guys did. What do you guys think?"
Wolley threw the remains of his burger down onto his plate. "Well I have a good idea of what happened before I was rescued, so I'll take a crack at it!" He hopped up onto the table, striking a pose.
"Get down, Wolley," groaned Timpani.
"Let's look at the most obvious first," he said, mimicking Anderson's voice. "Toadiko," he said pointing to the Toad.
"Hey!"
"Who knows how long she delayed the start of the mission? For all we know it could have been a two hour challenge and she waited thirty minutes to start! Not to mention her odd ferocity when fighting the fuzzies, very unlike her!" he accused.
"I told you they pushed me over the edge!" defended Toadiko.
Wolley ignored her. "And what about Shy Guy?" Shy Guy continued to scarf down food, ignoring Wolley. "Maybe his mask wasn't actually stolen by a fuzzy! Maybe he took it off and gave it to one so Toadiko would be delayed! And the fuzzy bite? Why didn't he move when it started to circle him? Did he want to sabotage the players? Or maybe he was trying to make himself look good and failed. I mean he just happened to find a spare key that opened Anderson's lock!"
"Valid points," muttered Shy Guy, having cleaned his plate.
"Will you get do-," began Mallow.
"Cloud boy!" interrupted Wolley. "Why did he only drop his torso when he was perfectly capable of freeing his legs? All that did was delay Shy Guy and Toadiko with screaming."
"I was passed out at the time," replied Mallow.
"Were you? That's up to everyone else to decide. And what about the dashing young lad, Wolley? How did he manage to make a plan to hit Mario's switch so quickly? Either molishness or brilliance!"
Daisy snorted. "Way to be modest."
"Lastly, Mario 'jumpman' Mario! Like Shy Guy, why did he just sit there while the fuzzy was about to bite him? Certainly a legendary hero would know to react to that sort of thing!"
"Sit down, Wolley," sighed Mario.
"As for the rest of you," began Wolley. "Perhaps the Mole didn't strike during that challenge. Only one of us knows!" Wolley bowed and hopped off the table and into his seat. "How was that, Anderson?"
"Really good actually," replied the host. "Good job!"
Wolley grinned. "'Twas my pleasure!"
"Anyways," said Anderson, addressing the whole group. "You all have the rest of the day off; feel free to explore Petal Meadows!"
Mario stood up. "Let's-a go," he said, walking out. He began to stumble a bit.
"Woah there!" exclaimed Mona, rushing to his side. "Let's get you back to your room," she said.
Mario sighed. "I guess I need to." He put an arm around Mona's shoulders for balance and they hobbled off.
"How are you feeling?" Toadiko asked Shy Guy.
"I-I probably need to go lie down," admitted Shy Guy.
"Okay, I'll help you get back!" said Toadiko, offering him her hand. "See you later Wolley, I'm gonna make sure Shy Guy is totally okay!"
"See ya," muttered Wolley.
Anderson sighed. "See, the second they take me out of the mission process, people get hurt," he muttered under his breath.
Daisy suddenly jumped up and yanked Timpani out of her seat. "Come on, we're gonna get you some cheaper clothes!" she announced.
"Um, sure," agreed Timpani as she was dragged out of the restaurant.
The only two players remaining in the room were Wolley and Mallow and an awkward silence quickly settled between them. Finally, Wolley spoke up. "So," he began. "I hear there's a great sherbet place here, wanna go get some?"
"Oh!" said Mallow, surprised. "Sure, sounds cool!"
{Mallow and Mario's Room}
"Do you think the Mole had anything to do with that challenge?" asked Mona as she helped Mario onto his bed.
"I don't think so," muttered the plumber. "Even if they saw it coming, I get the feeling it was just as shocking to them as the rest of us."
Mona thought for a moment. "Wolley had a good point about you. Why didn't you get away from that fuzzy?"
"I-I honestly don't know," admitted Mario.
Mona cast him a quick, suspicious glance. "Well I guess you're right."
"Did you think the Mole did anything?" asked Mario.
"Well, I just don't trust the fact that Toadiko was alone for the beginning of it. Who knows what she could have done!"
"I guess," conceded Mario.
"And she's been a fairly consistent saboteur," continued Mona. "She failed her master challenged, caused us to lose Rooftop Run, and tried not to go on the first challenge!"
"Keep it down!" Mario suddenly shushed. "She might be in the room right next door!"
Mona clamped her hands over her mouth. "Oh, right."
{Wolley and Shy Guy's Room}
"I hate to be rude, but why didn't you get away from the fuzzy?" asked Toadiko.
"I didn't think it would attack," muttered Shy Guy.
"Hm?"
"Well other than the beginning, the fuzzies never attacked us, they were just there to scare us," explained Shy Guy.
"So you thought it was just trying to scare you?" asked Toadiko.
"Exactly. Though I'm not sure why it called me a strongest link," said Shy Guy, now laying down.
"Well you did manage to find Anderson's key," pointed out Toadiko. "They probably saw that as a huge deal."
"Hm, that makes sense," mused Shy Guy.
"Do you think the Mole sabotaged that challenge?" she asked.
"Not unless it was you or me," said Shy Guy, yawning.
Toadiko took a long pause before finally speaking. "I don't think you're the Mole," she said. Shy Guy didn't respond for quite a while. When she finally looked over, she noticed he had fallen asleep. "He's probably exhausted," she said to herself, tiptoeing out of the room. As she walked down the hall, she noticed the door to Mona and Daisy's room was open. Glancing inside, she noticed a journal sitting on the bedside table. She glanced around to see if anyone was looking before walking into the room.
She scooped up the Journal, identifying it as Daisy's. She flipped through the first few pages, seeing mostly evidence about Monty. The most recent pages started to show a wider assortment of suspects (Toadiko included). "All the information is so jumbled," she muttered to herself. Regardless of the disorganization, Toadiko spent several minutes trying to remember the various observations Daisy had made.
"Hey!"
Toadiko looked up in shock. "I-I."
"Don't try and make excuses, get out!" shouted Mona, snatching the journal from the toad's hands. Toadiko immediately scurried out of the room, leaving Mona alone. She sighed and put down Daisy's journal. "Suspicious," she muttered, getting out her own journal.
{Petal Boutique}
Timpani gave herself a skeptical look in the mirror. She was wearing a pair of light blue shorts and a light red (not quite pink though) t-shirt, an outfit that was far from her usual formal attire. "I don't know about this, Daisy," she said.
"Lemme see!" demanded Daisy. Timpani reluctantly opened the changing room door and Daisy looked at her for a moment. "Awesome!" she said. "Imma go get you a few more colors!" she said, running off.
"Daisy, are you sure I need all this?" asked Timpani upon the princess's return.
"Think of it this way," said Daisy. "Chances are we're going to end up visiting places way dirtier than here and when we do, do you wanna ruin a nice dress or some crappier athletic clothes?"
"Good point," said Timpani, closing the dressing room door.
After Timpani tried on some more outfits, the two humans left the store, arms laden with clothes. As they walked back to their hotel, they passed Mallow and Wolley exiting the sherbet store.
"Then the guy stuck out his tongue and ate me!" said Mallow.
"Ha, no way!" exclaimed Wolley.
"Those two seem to be getting along well," commented Daisy.
"I'm glad to see Mallow making friends," said Timpani. "He's really only been talking to Mario."
"Suspicious if you ask me," whispered Daisy.
{Wolley and Shy Guy's Room}
Wolley walked into his room grinning. "Hey Shy Guy!" he chirped. No response. "Shy Guy?" he said, walking over to the actor's bed.
"Booyeah!" Shy Guy suddenly shouted, jumping up. Wolley screamed in shock. "I feel… foolish," muttered Shy Guy, sitting down on the bed.
"I take it you're feeling better," commented Wolley.
"Evidently," said Shy Guy.
"Wahoo!" came a cry from another room.
"I suppose Mario is too," added Shy Guy.
{Darklanders}
For dinner, the contestants had been called to a restaurant that served traditional Darklandian dishes that had "food hotter than Bowser's breath and drinks colder than his heart."
"Actually, Bowser's heart is surprisingly warm," commented Mallow.
"And claiming otherwise would earn you a bad reputation in Darkland," added Shy Guy quietly.
"Well there's a number of reasons as to why we're here," said the waiter, serving some Piranha Plant tea.
Timpani took a sip of the tea. "Goodness this is unbelievably cold!"
"We're a hit in deserts!" said the waiter as he walked away.
"Mama-mia! This hits the spot!" said Mario, gulping down the drink.
"Are you two feeling better?" Anderson asked Mario and Shy Guy.
"Oh yeah!" said Mario, giving a thumbs up.
"Affirmative," muttered Shy Guy.
"Wonderful!" cheered Anderson. "You're lucky we didn't have any challenges," he said, winking.
"I can handle them now, I think!" said Mario, confidently striking a pose.
On the other side of the table, Mona was whispering something in Daisy's ear. "What?" screamed Daisy.
"What's the matter?" asked Anderson.
"Toadiko was reading my journal!" shouted Daisy, pointing at the accused. Everyone gasped and turned towards the toad, who shrunk under the glares of her fellow contestants.
"I don't believe it," gasped Wolley.
"Toadiko is this true?" asked Anderson. Toadiko nodded, eyes glued to the ground in shame. "Well, Ms. Shroomose, I'm afraid that's a clear violation of the rules and while you will not be executed for it, I will have to remove 5,000 coins from the Team Pot."
"What?" squeaked Toadiko.
Toadiko: I didn't realize there was a penalty for looking in someone else's journal, I just wanted to know what she was thinking!
"I'm sorry, rules are rules."
Team Pot
84,000 coins
(minus)
5,000 coins
Result: 79,000 coins
Possible: 137,000 coins
"Nice going, Mole!" snapped Daisy.
"Way to go," said Mona glaring.
"I'm sorry!" squealed Toadiko, bursting into tears. "I didn't know this would happen, my curiosity got the best of me!"
Wolley patted her on the back. "There, there. It's alright, we've all cost the pot some money at some point and I'm sure they'll forgive you for it soon," he soothed.
"I'm so sorry," she moaned, looking up at Daisy. Daisy warily looked back, clutching her journal. Toadiko sighed and put her hand in her hands.
Wolley looked around for a while as an awkward silence came over the table for a minute or so. Finally he spoke up. "I know what will cheer us up. Mallow," he began.
"Huh?" replied the Nimbian.
"Why don't you tell the table what being eaten feels like?"
Ten minutes later, Mallow had the whole table laughing. Even Toadiko's mood seemed to be improving. "And then he immediately spit out Bowser, shouting 'Yuck! How repulsive!'"
"Let's not forget that I'm apparently sour!" added Mario.
"Or that Peach is peachy!" finished Mallow, getting one last laugh out of the table.
"Well now that spirits are back up," began Anderson. "I believe it's time to announce the last mission of episode three!"
"Sweet!" said Wolley.
"Lay it on us," said Shy Guy.
"This mission is called Castle Crashers and it's worth 30,000 coins!" said Anderson.
Mona practically choked at hearing the number. "30…30,000," she gasped.
"Tomorrow night you all will be stationed in Hooktail's Castle. In the dragon's former nest atop the highest tower there will be an orb you must protect at all costs. If it is safe by sunrise, you win the coins. If it is broken," Anderson paused for dramatic effect. "You get nothing!"
"Protect it from who?" asked Mario nervously. Anderson threw a picture onto the table. "Mama-mia." The picture showed Bowser, a Goomba, a Koopa Troopa, a Monty Mole, a Paratroopa, and a Lakitu.
Mario: I'm sick and tired of seeing Bowser already!
Timpani looked at the picture. "That is some awful handwriting," she commented.
Bowser had wrote "Here's Bowser!" at the top and circled his minions, writing "These guys x a ton!"
Anderson handed out a key to each player. "These are the keys to room 105 in the Petal Inn. In there you will find eight Super Scopes, additional instructions, and a map of Hooktail's Castle to plan your strategy on." He thought for a moment. "Oh and I wouldn't stray too far from town tonight, Bowser and his troops are camping out not too far from here and they're not exactly nice," he said, trailing off.
"This sounds like an easy mission for the Mole to sabotage," Daisy said nervously.
"Indeed it is!" agreed Anderson. "So be mindful of who you place where." With that note, the players started looking around nervously.
"30,000 coins on the line," muttered Shy Guy. "There's no way the Mole won't strike," he concluded.
"I'm actually more worried about Bowser's troops than the Mole," said Timpani. "I'm not sure how much 'a ton' is, but I assume it's enough to keep us up all night."
"No problemo!" insisted Mario.
"Maybe not for you," argued Timpani. "But what about the rest of us?"
"Right," sighed Mario.
"Not everyone can be Mario," added Mallow.
"To war!" Wolley shouted overenthusiastically, holding his drink up. Nobody bothered to cheer him. "You guys are no fun," he sighed.
Finally their food arrived. "If yer' facing Bowser, you better get used to some heat!" joked the waiter.
Shy Guy took a bite of his Jalapeño Steak. "Hooooot!" he screamed. He grabbed his tea, stuck it under his mask and chugged the whole thing.
"Er, better get you guys some more drinks," the waiter said, grinning sheepishly.
Mario nervously took a bite of his meal (also a Jalapeño Steak). "It's not so bad," he said, eating more. Shy Guy gave him a look of horror.
{Room 105}
The room was fairly barren. On the far wall hung eight Super Scopes, just as Anderson had promised. In the center there was a large table containing a piece of paper, a large diagram of Hooktail's castle, and figurines of each of the contestants.
"What do we do with these?" asked Mona, holding up the figure of her.
"I think we can use them to show what room we'll be in," guessed Timpani.
Mario picked up the instructions sheet. "We can defeat enemies by conventional means or by using the Super Scopes. With the Super Scopes, Goombas and Monty Moles take one hit, Koopas and Paratroopas take 2 hits, Lakitus take 3, and Bowser takes 100!"
"Jeez," said Wolley, paling.
"Flying enemies cannot fly directly into the nest or onto the bridge leading to it though," Mario said thankfully.
"So who do we want to put in the most important spots?" asked Toadiko quietly.
"I'd say we put Mario in the nest," said Wolley. "He said he was a good shot and he has the most experience with these guys."
"Agreed!" said Daisy.
"Definitely," agreed Timpani.
"Are you up for it, Mario?" asked Mona.
"You bet!" said Mario, tipping his hat.
"Well Shy Guy and I should probably be in other important places since we're two of the best shots out of us," suggested Daisy.
"That sounds good," said Mallow, shrugging.
"Sure," agreed Timpani.
Mario placed his figurine in the nest and then moved Daisy's to the bridge. "We can have Daisy as a last resort before anyone gets into the nest," he said. He grabbed Shy Guy's figurine and put him at the front door. "Since Shy Guy's the most accurate, I figure he can stop the enemies as they approach the castle."
"I-I think I can manage that," said Shy Guy.
"Hey, I'm pretty experienced fighting Bowser's baddies, I wanna go somewhere important!" insisted Wolley.
"He could take the stairs to the second floor," suggested Timpani. "It looks like it will be harder to fight them after that point."
"Sounds good," said Mario. "What do you think, Wolley?" he asked.
Wolley grabbed his figurine and put it on the second floor stairs. "Awesome!"
"I can go here," Mallow said, pointing to a room suspended several floors up. "The height won't bother me." Nobody protested so the Nimbian's figurine was placed there. It was then decided that Mona would take the main stairwell to the third floor and Timpani and Toadiko would team up in the large passageway through the first floor where the Dry Bones used to reside.
"So it's agreed then?" Mario said once all the locations had been established. The group nodded in agreement, some voicing their yeas. By that point it was already past eleven, so the tired team made their ways to bed, resting up for the big mission. Mario suddenly stopped on the way to his room. "Hey Shy Guy?"
"Huh?"
"How confident are you in your guess on the Mole?" asked Mario.
"Er, uh, that's… secret," muttered Shy Guy.
The players spend most of the next day resting, only occasionally going out to eat or relieve their boredom. Late in the afternoon, Mario headed for the door of his room. "Hey Mallow, I'm gonna go s-say goodbye to Koops, this may be the last time I see him in a while," he said.
"Okay, see ya," said Mallow sleepily.
{Hooktail's Castle}
By eight p.m. when the sun was beginning to set, Anderson had rounded up all the players and brought them to Hooktail's Castle. He handed each player a Super Scope, night vision goggles, and a headset. "If you want to talk to the others, flip this switch," he instructed, pointing to a switch on the side of the headphones. "I should warn you all, while they won't try to kill you or hurt you too badly, Bowser's minions will fight you, they want to prevent you from stopping them and so don't expect them to just walk by passively!"
The players nodded solemnly. "Time to go to war," Wolley said.
"You have twenty minutes to get in place," said Anderson. He turned away from the players and began to walk back to Petalburg. "Good luck!"
Mario, being the player who had to go the farthest, guided everyone to their respective positions. He gave them quick instructions on which exits they wanted to protect and finally entered what used to be Hooktail's Nest. In the center stood a large crate atop which was a pedestal holding a gigantic, glowing green orb.
The players waited and waited, their anxiety growing until finally Shy Guy began to see Goombas on the horizon. He put his night vision goggles on and flipped on his mic.
"Here they come."
He looked through the scope, carefully aiming and finally pulled the trigger, shooting a ball of light that struck one of the Goombas.
"What are we dealing with?" asked Mario.
"Goombas," replied Shy Guy simply.
"How many?" asked Mario.
"Countless," groaned Shy Guy. He rapidly shot into the crowd, looking around. "They're coming from all sides."
"Just Goombas?" asked Wolley.
"For now," said Shy Guy. As they got closer he tried sweeping through them with a rapid fire option, but the crowd was simply too big and soon the Goombas were within a few feet of him.
"Outta the way!" growled one Goomba, lunging for him. He punched it out of the way and kept firing at the every advancing crowd.
Shy Guy: There's something about this moment that makes me forget my fears. Something that makes me act more like a hero.
"There's just too many," cried Shy Guy. "It looks like Bowser brought his whole army! They're going to get past me, but I'll take out what I can."
"Keep trying, Shy Guy!" cheered Toadiko, secretly hoping he could take out all of the enemies before they got to her.
Shy Guy was forced back onto the front doors. He tried his best to fight them off, but soon they started pushing past him and into the castle. "They're getting in," he announced. "Toadiko, Timpani, get ready," he said worriedly. Fearing he wouldn't be able to fight well from the middle of the crowd, he jumped onto a Goomba, trying to hop from one to the other as he shot.
Several rooms in, Toadiko stood, shaking with fright. "This is so scary," she whimpered.
"We'll be fine," said Timpani, unsure of herself.
The first Goomba entered the room. "Aaaaaah!" screamed Toadiko, firing a charged ball of light at it, which easily knocked it out. More soon flooded the room and Toadiko and Timpani both tried to fend them off with rapid fire. As they fought more and more of the minor minions, Toadiko began to become visibly braver.
Toadiko: This must be how Mario feels out on adventures. Fear starts to vanish once you're fighting enough of these guys.
Timpani tried taking out chunks of enemies with charged shots while Toadiko sprayed the front lines with rapid fire. That seemed to work to an extent, but the duo was slowly being backed towards the back wall.
Outside, Shy Guy was doing his best to fend off the swarm of Goombas when in the distance he saw bits of green appear on the horizon as well as some tunnels being dug towards him. "I think Koopa Troopas and Monty Moles are approaching," he announced.
The Moles took him by surprise, easily coming close to him without being noticed, but unfortunately (for them) they tended to jump out of their holes fairly high, giving Shy Guy the chance to stop them. As the Koopas approached, he jumped on some and kicked them through the crowd, turning them into an effective means of defense. He noticed some of the Monty Moles trying to climb up the walls, which forced him to cover a larger area with his Super Scope.
Back inside, the Goombas finally made their way past Toadiko and Timpani, making their way to the stairs. "Well it's about time!" commented Wolley. He aimed the Super Scope and quickly blasted some Goombas. "This is gonna be intense," he grunted as the Goombas tried to climb the stairs. He looked back at where the Goombas were entering from, only to see countless Goombas pushing their way past the first three contestants. "Mmmm gulp!" he said.
Toadiko was trying to fight back a swarm of Koopas who had pushed her back to the doorway of Wolley's room. "Waa!" she cried as a Koopa pushed her to the ground. Unfortunately for the Koopas, Wolley witnessed this event. His fists clenched tightly.
"Kooooooopaaaaaas!" he roared, firing several charged shots at the group responsible.
"Yo Wolley," came Mona's voice over the headset. "You're already letting Monty Moles by?"
"What?" snapped Wolley, trying to suppress the oncoming fungi. "I haven't seen any Moles!"
"They must be climbing into the second floor," said Shy Guy, turning to shoot some Moles off the wall.
"It feels wrong attacking guys who look just like Monty," said Timpani grimly.
"He would be cracking jokes about it if he were here," assured Daisy. "Just fight them off!"
More and more minions were getting to the top of the stairs and Wolley was having trouble fighting them off. He tried kicking Koopas into chunks of enemies, but that only stopped a few. Eventually, some of the Goombas managed to make their way past Wolley, shoving him as they went. "Sorry Mona," said Wolley. "You've got some more guys headed your way."
Wolley: The amount of minions in this mission was just staggering. Bowser really pulled out the stops for this!
"Got it!" replied Mona, picking off the few Moles who were making their way from the second floor. Soon she saw the Goombas enter the stairwell. She began firing from the top. "Yeeeehaw!"
Outside, Shy Guy was doing all he could not to get buried in the army that was assaulting them. Suddenly, a spiky ball crashed down in front of him. "The Lakitus are here," he announced. A Paratroopa wooshed by him and into the door. "So are the Paratroopas." He tried to shoot down the flying enemies, but most of them flew out of range going to the second floor (which was mostly safe for them) or straight up to Mallow's room.
"Yikes! The fight's come to the third floor!" announced Mallow, quickly aiming his Super Scope.
A few enemies flew into Mona's stairwell. She was soon bombarded with Lakitus and Paratroopas, which proved to be distracting enough to let some of the ground troops pass through. "Jeez, the flying ones are making things much harder!"
"Yikes!" exclaimed Mallow as the ground troops made it to his room.
On the bridge leading to the nest, Daisy was managing to fend off the enemies that got through Mallow's room. "You should be safe for now Mario!" she assured him.
"Guys," breathed Shy Guy. "I think we have a problem."
Another voice signed onto the headsets. "Heeeeeere's Bowser!"
A/N: Well this is certainly an intense mission! Will the gang manage to fend off Bowser and his baddies? Will the Mole strike? Who will be executed? Who is the Mole? All these questions (except for that last one) will be answered in the next chapter! Please leave a review letting me know what you think of the mission, the chapter, and the identity of the Mole!
Oh and I've linked to a new clue on my profile, go check it out!