Chapter 4-Tick Tock-Beating The Clock
Mario and Co. finally headed off to the Clock Tower to meet up with Professor E. Gadd who had prepared a way for the group to get up to the Clock Face. Though they have experienced a hardship against an unexpected foe, the group shook off the pain and braved their way forward in order to not lose sight of their ultimate goal. They looked ahead seeing the Professor who was standing next to a rather large crate which was placed directly in front of the Tower.
"Ah, greetings Mario, my boy!" The Professor waved hello, "Oh and hello Mario's company! I see you have all successfully recovered!" He walked over towards his crate, "Ms. Adira told me all about your predicament, I have just the right gizmo that can assist you on your trek upwards!" E. Gadd smacked the crate causing it to open up revealing a gadget that looked like a water powered rocket. "This is F.L.U.D.D, this is an ecofriendly machine that will make you take lift into the heavens with just a sudden burst of water!" He picked up the object giving it to Mario, "The best thing about it is that it recycles water! Your friends can hold onto you too, the jet of water is strong enough to lift all of you up! You should strap it against your waist so I can show you how to use it…" Mario tied the belt across his waist; E. Gadd took Mario's hands and placed it onto the pump handles. "Mario, all you need to squeeze down on to these handles and once it builds up enough the thing will burst into a splash of water launching everyone up to the top!"
"Okay, I got it, Professor," Mario got into launching position, "Everyone grab on!" His friends gathered around, holding on tight onto Mario as he pressed down on the handles. A whirring sound could be heard from the back of F.L.U.D.D as water rushed into the rocket. Once it finally reached bursting point, a sudden torrent of water rushed out of the nozzle causing everyone to fly into the heavens. After the water stopped flowing, the group was suspended in mid-air…eventually falling at the ridge in front of the Clock Face. "Ouch…!" Mario got up rubbing his backside, he looked down the tower seeing Professor E. Gadd waving at them.
"Nice work, Mario!" The elder called out to the plumber, "I shall be heading back to my research now! Good luck on your adventure! If you need me, you know where to find me!" The Professor walked off into the Castle's direction, snickering. "Haha, my invention worked!"
"Alrighty, everyone, looks like we've made it!" Mario faced the clock face, "Let'sa head inside and get this over with." He poked the wall causing it to ripple, the plumber then placed both arms through eventually leading to his whole body being consumed by the clock face. "Mama mia!" A thud was heard.
"Mario!" Luigi leapt up and ran into the clock after his brother, "Holy ravioli!" Another thud was heard. "Owie owie owie…."
"I assume if we do the same just going in there blindly we'll probably plummet too, Lina, grab on," Goombert looked at the Bomb-Omb who was blushing at him. "A-Ah…well if you don't w-want to…"
"Goombert and Lina sitting in a tree K-I-S-S-I-N-G, first comes-" Aika was cut off by Goombert quickly shushing her. "Awwww….no fuuun!" The Love Bubble pouted.
"U-uh…let's go then, I'll go fir-" Goombert felt someone holding onto him, it was Lina, "…!" He nodded then went into the Clock face.
"H-Hey! Wait for meeee!" Aika quickly followed the duo into the Tower, as she entered she saw that the flooring was a lot further down. She saw Mario and Luigi face flat on the ground. The Love Bubble flew down while Goombert glided down with Lina holding onto him. "Maweo! Weegee!" She started poking the Bros with her toes. "Maweoooo! Weegeeeee!"
"They're out cold again?" Goombert bobbed his head to one side raising a brow, "Heh…well this'll be a good opportunity for payback…" Lina looked over at him knowing exactly what he was thinking, even if she found that a pretty mean thing of him to think, Mario and Luigi had to wake up so she lit her fuse and exploded startling the bros.
"Mama mia!" Mario leapt up, looking at everyone, "Oh-we're here!" He wiped the dust off of his overalls and took a look around.
"Yoooow!" Luigi sat up, "Great golden plungers in the sky! That-a startled me!" He got up looking upwards at where he came from, "How are we supposed to get back up there-oh yeah! Mario still has F.L.U.D.D!"
"Eheheh…not exactly…" Mario held up the broken device, "Poor thing shattered after our fall, so it's out of commission now…but there's no time to sob over that now, after we find the next page, we might be able to find a way out later!" He looked downward from the ledge, "Oh gosh…it'sa too dark to see down there!...Maybe my fire flowers could light the way…" The plumber shuffled through his pockets and pulled out a fire flower making him flash red and white. Mario's hat and shirt turned white while his overalls turned red, he held up his hand and snapped his fingers causing a flame to form over his hand. "Well, we should head down now." He stepped on the pathway that was strung against the wall leading down in a spiral pattern; he used his other hand to call his team over. "What are you waiting for? Let'sa go!" Everyone dashed towards him; they began walking down the clock way path. Some time had passed though…
"Hey…do you hear that?" Lina whispered to Goombert. He shook his head giving her a 'I don't know what you're talking about' look. "Are you sure…?"
"I'm sure, don't worry about anything Lina, Mario has us covered if we were to run into any trouble…" He paused for a moment, his ears began to twitch. A mechanized sound could be heard in the distance; it got louder and louder as the group trudged on. The sounds of gears grinding and the clock ticking could also be heard too, some wind was mixed in with the sounds of the internals of the tower.
"Guyssss….are we there yeeeet?" Both Luigi and Aika were becoming impatient and childlike. Mario and the others just stared at them; the expressions gave off the 'Really?' statement.
"We have quite the ways down you two," Mario sighed staring at the hall dropping downwards, "It'sa so dark though and that sound of clanking metal is-a really getting on my nerves!" Suddenly, a weird shell shaped object trundled out from the darkness quickly swerving across the floor at Mario. "Yoooow!" It struck Mario in the leg, causing the flame to go out while Mario grabbed onto his leg trying to rub the pain off.
"Mario! The light you dunce-!" Goombert yelled, his voice was high-he probably got hit in the unmentionables.
"Oh yeah! Sorry!" Mario snapped his fingers sparking up the fire again; he saw Goombert lying on the floor with tears running down his eyes, the boy was biting his lip trying not to scream. "Heh…" Mario only chuckled since the Tanoomba was rude to him just a few moments, but then he regretted that because he knew that being hit down there hurt pretty bad…So the plumber helped the Tanoomba up with his other hand, "Hey, kid you alright?"
"Y-yeah…" Goombert's voice lowered back to its normal octave, "*cough* But what was that thing that charged at us?" He looked ahead; there were two yellow dots of light piercing through the darkness, an ear grating sound could be heard "Oh no it's gonna charge at us again!" Everyone scattered but still remained in the radius of Mario's light. The shell chased after Luigi.
"Waaaaah!" Luigi started running in a circle as the shell trailed after him, the young plumber leapt up and stomped on it bring the shell to a halt. Limbs emerged from the holes, and then a head and tail popped out as well. The enemy was some kind of robotic Koopa, it gave a blank expression just staring at the group with its eerie yellow eyes which lit up a good amount of area which gave Goombert an idea.
"I think it's time to tattle!" Goombert took a look at the foe, "Alright, the thing probably functions just like a normal Koopa judging by its attack patterns! And just like any Koopa who'd get jumped on, we could probably flip it over if we stomped it! Maybe Lina can blow up the thing to bits! So let's get it on the ropes!" Mario nodded then proceeded to jump on the foe flipping it over, the Robo-Troopa was struggling to try to get up, it just laid there squirming and wriggling its limbs.
"Oh no you don't!" Lina lit her fuse and charged at the bot blowing the thing up into several piece causing the light to go out leaving only Mario's flame light. Goombert walked over to the head piece and picked it up, he disassembled it to investigate the bot's internals.
"Mario, light." He ordered as he squinted his eyes staring at the machine's so called 'brain', Mario held the flame over the Tanoomba looking at what the boy was trying to do. "Okay, so that's how it functions…if I just do this, than rewire that there…and apply something here…and voila!" He held up a lantern that he made from the robot's parts, it gave off a brighter light than Mario's flame.
"Wowie!" Aika was amazed, "Yay more light!"
"Huh, now that's something," Mario's eyes widened, "Did E. Gadd teach you how to do something like that? That's a pretty neat trick you did there dude."
"A-Ah no…" The Tanoomba looked the other way all flustered from the compliment, "I usually tinker with things on my own time, so…I'm a-able to figure out how to disassemble and reassemble stuff…" He shook his head, "Well! Back to the adventure!" The Tanoomba hand Mario the light so he could lead. The group ran into some trouble with several Robo-Troopas had attacked the group but it wasn't anything they couldn't handle, just a simple jump tipped the scales in the heroes' favor. They eventually made it to a large clearing, the floor had a clock face design on it and there were clock hands that remained completely still at 12 o' clock. At the edge of the room there was a stairway leading deeper into the tower, as the group made their way towards it…a sudden alarm went off.
INTRUDERS! INTRUDERS! INTRUDERS HAVE ENTERED THE PREMISES! INTRUDERS MUST BE STOPPED! ALL UNITS REPORT TO AREA 2B POSTEHASTE! WE MUST HANDLE THE INTRUDERS AT ALL COSTS! THERE IS A 100% CHANCE THEY ARE HERE TO STEAL OUR KEEPER OF TIME! INTRUDERS MUST BE ELIMINATED, CHANCE OF SUCCESS AT ELIMINATION IS 100%! ELIMINATE THEM! ELIMINATE THEM! ELIMINATE THEM!
"Ugh! That voice is so annoying!" Goombert was becoming frustrated, "C'mon let's head out of here!" They tried to enter the stairwell but the entry to it had sealed up. "Aw maaaan what now?!" The walls opened up…well not really walls now; they were actually doors that pooled in a bunch of robotic enemies. The area suddenly lit up revealing how deep inside Mario and Co. had actually made it, they looked around themselves being surrounded by Robo-Troopas and a brand new enemy known as the Mecha-Chomp.
"Oh crud," Mario looked around at the number of enemies they were about to fight, "There's only five us versus…"
"One…two…three…four…he y you stop moving I think I counted you twice!" Luigi was counting them which made Mario and Goombert glare at him. "Oh, heh heh, sorry…wrong time?" He shrugged, smiling with embarrassment. Everyone took their fighting stances.
"I guess this is an all are nothing fight!" Lina said with determination, "But I'm sure we can take em' all!"
"That's the-a spirit!" Mario smiled, "Goombert! Do you have a tattle log for the new enemy?"
"I was just working on it Mario," Goombert observed the enemy, "Okay, that's a Mecha -Chomp, when attacking, the LED on its head cycles between red and green, eventually stopping on one of the two. The Mecha-Chomp then throws its head at the appropriate target: Mario if it is red, Luigi if it is green and probably some other colors for the rest of us…If a Mecha-Chomp is damaged; it starts to malfunction, meaning that the colors it displays will be for the opposite targets: red for Luigi, and green for Mario; it may be confusing for everyone considering we're pretty much all different colors…"
"I think we still have it under control though!" Mario nodded with reassurance, suddenly the clock hands started moving, "Huh?! More trouble? Looks like we're going to stay mobile during this battle! All right Team, let's go!" Everyone split off into various directions attacking the enemies, while avoiding the itinerant scalding hot clock hand that swept the area. Mario starting using his fire power blowing up all the bots that he could while Luigi stomped their heads causing them to malfunction. Aika somehow managed to put the bots to sleep with her lullaby while Lina ran in blasting them into pieces. Goombert smacked off the bots' heads with his tail slap attack and he even rewired a few to fight for him temporarily; although they all blew up in the process. Mario and Luigi performed bro combos against the enemies which led to them being swept away easier. After the long battle, the hands stopped moving around 6 o' clock…the stairway was still sealed off though. The door where the enemies emerged from opened up once again, this time a clock themed monster pranced out.
It's 6 o' clock! Time to fully recover! The Mini-Boss already had full HP!
"Mama mia, this guy reminds-a me of someone…." Mario thought for a moment, "Nope doesn't ring a bell!"
"Focus, Mario, something seems off about this Clock's battle style," Goombert tattled his enemy, "This mini boss goes by the name 'Count Down'. Seems he has a different attack every 'hour' that passes, I have no idea what he has in store though, sorry, so just keep on your toes."
It's 7 o' clock! Dinner Time! The Mini-Boss unleashed a huge splash of water bursting into a gigantic explosion causing severe damage to Mario and his Party. (As well as cancel out Mario's fire flower power up)
"Ugh!" Mario grunted, "Okay, we need to try to knock this thing out before the next hour!" He took out his hammer dashing towards the Clock, "Luigi boost!" Luigi ran over to spot Mario tossing his brother into the air, he leapt up and took out his hammer ready to slam down on the boss, Mario span around then slammed his hammer onto Luigi causing both Bros. to slam down onto Count Down causing a decent amount of damage. Goombert leapt on top of Lina who exploded launching the Tanoomba a good amount upward while Aika flew up getting ready to launch the boy downwards, once he got into sight the Love Bubble sky dived into him forcing him at the Mini Boss.
It's 9 o' clock! Time to take a break! The Mini-Boss lagged.
Goombert slammed down onto Count Down with a strong force then leapt up and performed multiple tail slaps that did three times as more damage than it did before. Mario ran over to the Boss and leapt on Him, Luigi doing the same.
"Mama mia, Mario, how much HP does this thing even have?" Luigi frowned at the Clock which was still ticking for its next attack. Mario leapt up and smacked the Clock with his hammer causing springs to blow out.
"I think we're-a finally able to scratch the surface!" Mario clenched his fists in hope. "C'mon guys! We can do it!" Everyone took turns attacking the Mini-Boss.
TICK TOCK TICK TOCK TICK TOCK…
It's 10 o' clock! It's Time to Garden! The Boss released a Petal Blast, everyone started scrambling…but the petals scattered everywhere touching them transforming them into mushrooms well except for Goombert since he was already half mushroom to begin with.
"Oh my glob-everyone!" Goombert looked at everyone in their mushroom form, "You guys alright?" Everyone was silent, they remained still. "Ugh! Now I have to fight on my own…" Goombert leapt up to headbonk the Boss, he kept attacking as fast as he could until the Boss could reach the next hour hoping that he'd be able to finish Count Down off before the next outburst.
DING DONG
It's 12 o' Clock! It's High Noon! The Mini-Boss summoned a large, yellow orb that attacked all members of Mario's party, doing significant damage.
"A-ack…" Goombert was on the ropes, "Are they going to return to normal soon?" He looked at the Mushrooms which were all toasted…he made a disgusted face, "I just need to hang on just a little longer…" He started rustling through his pockets…"I know I didn't want to resort to this but…" The Tanoomba pulled out a mysterious leaf placing it on his head. *POOF* He turned into Mario, "Okey dokey! Let'sa go!" The clone took out a hammer and leapt up, he mimicked one of the moves he had seen Mario used before and smashed the Clock inflicting a good amount of damage causing a poof of smoke to appear.
It's asdkflajsfksljfsdfk…The Mini-Boss ceased to function.
After Count Down's defeat, Goombert removed the leaf from his head and hid it away once more. He looked over at his friends who were back to normal from their mushroom states; they awoke to see that Count Down had been dismantled for good.
"You-a…You beat him?" Mario stared at the Tanoomba with an impressed look on his face, "Now, how'd ya do that?"
"Eh…lucky shot I guess." Goombert shrugged, "We should probably get going now." He looked to see if the stairwell was unblocked, which it was. "Well everyone? What ya waitin' for?" The boy made his way down the stairs.
"Huh, well waddya know," Mario was wide eyed, "He was able to take down a boss on his own…without any items." Mario saw that none of the items have been touched.
"Well, not all bosses require items to beat them Mario," Lina defended Goombert.
"Hey…but Goombert is pretty suspicious though," Luigi butted in,"I can't put my finger on it though…something had seemed off about him since the very beginning of this whole adventure…"
"But Luigi, we all seemed suspicious when we first got into this tower," Lina added, "And Aika was pretty suspicious in the previous chapter (no offense Aika) but look at her now."
"Oh okay, if you say so," Luigi shrugged.
"Hey!" It was Goombert who climbed back up the stairs, "What are you all waiting for?! Let's go!"
"Okay, okay, don't get your tail all up in a knot," Mario frowned, "Let'sa go." He began to lead everyone down the stairs.
As the group made their way down, they began to notice how much darker it began to every step they progressed with. An unusual beeping sound could be heard from the Clock Tower's basement…and an odd robotic voice repeating…"Go back…"