Toad rushed up to Mario, who stared back at him in horror. Toad couldn't untie him, but he managed to rip the tape off Mario's mouth.
"Toad! He's got you too?"
"Not quite, but if we don't hurry up, he will."
Toad and Mario worked quickly to cut through the tough rope. Just as Toad was about to cut the last strand of rope with a sharpened stick, Count Bleck floated into view.
"Ah, I see you've found him, mushroom boy," Count Bleck said. Toad dropped the stick, ready to run. However, Mario, who had freed his left arm, reached for the stick and cut off the last strand of rope.
"Thought you had finished us off?" Mario rose to his feet. "Well think again!"
"Oh, please, this will be easy. I apologize for having to defeat you a second time, Mario."
Count Bleck rushed at Mario, and tried to whack him with his staff. Mario jumped out of the way, and punched Count Bleck in the jaw. While Count Bleck yelped with pain, Mario shouted over to Toad.
"C'mon, let's find some fire flowers! I know there's some in here!" and they ran off to search.
When Count Bleck had regained his focus, he went immediately after Mario. But before he could find either of them, Toad found a fire flower sitting under a tree. He meant to grab it for Mario, but it jumped into his body as he touched it. Toad felt a strange sensation, like he was going to melt into the ground, but then the feeling wore off, and he felt more powerful than ever.
He ran around the forest, searching for Count Bleck, and soon found him firing curses at Mario with his staff. Count Bleck heard his footsteps and turned around, but Toad surprised him with a set of fireballs that flew out of the red dots on his head. As Count Bleck screamed in pain, Mario kicked him in the head from behind.
Toad and Mario appeared to be dominating the fight, but then Count Bleck unleashed a stream of curses all around him. One of them hit Mario, who fell to the ground, squirming uncontrollably. Count Bleck rushed at Toad, whose reflexes weren't improved from the fire flower. Toad was whacked with Count Bleck's staff, and he was sent flying backwards into a tree. When he had recovered and was sitting up against the tree, Count Bleck had already approached him, ready to release another curse.
But suddenly he gripped his head, screaming in pain, and fell down onto his side to reveal Mario, who had gotten a fire flower. Without a moment to spare, Toad jumped over Count Bleck and ran to Mario. Together, they produced an extremely large fireball, capable of slashing its flames through the whole forest.
Before Count Bleck could get up, they launched the giant fireball directly towards him.
The fireball exploded on contact with Count Bleck's body, and the whole forest was lit ablaze. Only Toad and Mario were unharmed by their own ability. After a few seconds, the smoke slightly cleared to reveal Count Bleck's body, lying motionless on the burning grass. Besides the burning flames, the whole forest was silent. Then, suddenly, the ground shook as if there was an earthquake.
"The time bomb! It's going to explode!" Toad realized. Toad and Mario ran to Count Bleck, and forced him awake.
"Tell us now! How do we disarm the bomb?" Mario demanded.
"It's no use… you weaklings have failed…"
"No! You're the one who has failed! Now tell us how to do it!" Toad shouted.
"Hehe… you fools…" Count Bleck smiled, not giving any information. However, Toad caught his eyes shifting to the left, and Toad followed his gaze to find a switch on a stone wall.
"That wall! This way, Mario!" Toad yelled over the sound of the shaking earth.
They sprinted to the stone wall to find a switch shaped like a circuit breaker, with the time on the bomb inscribed. The time read "0 d, 0 h, 0 min, 30 s"
The switch was turned upward, towards a label that read "Grow". The bottom of the switch was labeled "Shrink".
"I… I used it when I was building the bomb… So it wouldn't be… noticeable…" Count Bleck was growing weaker.
"Now, Mario!" Toad shouted. Together, they moved the heavy switch downward, towards "Shrink". The ground was still shaking, and timer counted down the final twenty seconds.
With ten seconds left to spare, Toad gripped Mario's arm, trembling. They both closed their eyes tightly as the final seconds ticked away.
Then, the crystal wall that sealed the forest exploded, as Toad and Mario flew backwards. Shards of crystal and tree bark flew in every direction. Toad landed on the burning grass face first, and his vision slowly faded to black.