Super Paper Mario X
Chapter 20: The Battle Through Fort Francis
"So this is where that dweeb Francis lives? Psh, what's this castle got over mine? !" sneered Bowser, not impressed by the exterior of Fort Francis.
"Do you think Tippi's all right? I still worry…" Peach trailed nervously. Mario turned to Peach and gave her an assuring nod.
Mario: Oh yeah!
Meanwhile in Francis' Room-
The creepy chameleon was snapping a photo of the poor rainbow butterfly trapped in a cage.
"Nerr herrr herr herr! This so hi-technicaaaaaal!" he exclaimed in his nerdy way. "It's a totally undiscovered digibutterfly species! Nerrr! I must document it!"
Tippi, in a hushed tone, whispered "Peach…" under her breath.
"Yes! Shake that thorax! The forum guys will be soooo jealous when I post these shots online!"
Back with the Gang-
"All right, time to break in and enter, people!" Kirby declared while striking a pose, one arm raised defiantly in the air.
"The front door's locked…" announced Amy, trying to bash and batter the lock with no luck.
"I bet we have to find some complicated nerd-way to get in," stated Link.
"Ha, in that case Eggman is all we need," snorted Ganondorf.
"Ha ha ha."
Mario looked around the fortress- there had to be some way in, or at least an extra key lying around somewhere. He then flipped into 3D to see if there was anything in that dimension- and what did you know? There was a cleverly hidden pipe, covered in 2D by a lighter section in the wall.
"Hey Mario, need some backup?" Kirby asked, flipping into 3D as well. "Bowser, Eggman, and Ganondorf are in a spat again, and everyone else is trying to clear up things for Zelda. I don't even know if they noticed you flipped…"
Mario happily welcomed Kirby to follow along, then motioned toward the pipe he discovered.
"Wow. Francis is good."
Mario: *sigh*
Down the pipe was a darkened underground room, with nothing in it but a red and white block and a switch. Kirby blinked, threw Thoreau at the block, then threw the block at the switch. A chest appeared.
"Well that was anti-climatic!" he complained as Mario kicked the chest open and claimed the key. "Good thing I decided to come along- you would have needed Thoreau!"
Kirby held out Thoreau and started looking thoughtful. "In fact…I think maybe you should take Thoreau back. I kinda want Slim now."
Mario shrugged and traded Slim out for Thoreau. Thoreau was glad to be with Mario again, while Slim seemed content with following Kirby and spun around eagerly in his hands.
"Hey, does Slim remind you of Bow and Vivian?" Kirby asked out of curiosity. Mario said that Slim reminded him more of one of his old curses rather than his previous partners' abilities.
"Yeah…I guess, but if we stand still, Slim can hide us from damage, like Bow and Vivian used to! And make us paper-thin too, but…"
"It's true, yesiree!" chimed Slim. "Who're these lasses yer speaking 'bout anyway?"
"One is my girlfriend and the other is…well…a really, really good friend." Kirby then noticed Mario smirking in the corner and gave him a look. "Aw, whatever! Let's get this key in the lock."
When Mario and Kirby returned, it was still Eggman vs. Bowser and Ganondorf over "what qualified as a nerd", while Zelda was asking a ton of questions and Link, Sonic, Peach, and Amy couldn't really supply the answers. Kirby blinked again then turned to Mario.
"Do you think they would notice if we opened the door?"
Mario: Probably not.
Kirby trotted over to the lock on the door, put the key into it, and unlocked the door. It was certainly loud enough…but no one noticed.
"HEY! We got the door open!" Kirby cried, pointing frantically. All commotion stopped and all attention was directed at the door.
"Whoa, when did that happen?" questioned Bowser.
Mario groaned to himself and opened the door.
"I still would like to know how Link decides our fate or whatever…" Zelda grumbled, replying to some previously mentioned statement.
"I'm the Man in Green in the Light Prognosticus!" wailed Link dramatically. "And Amy didn't help by pointing out the possibility I may have already royally screwed us!"
"And we also pointed out the possibility that you may not even be the Man in Green!" Sonic protested.
"Heh, look at this sign," snickered Ganondorf, completely ignoring anything else at the moment. "It says "No entry unless you are a super genius like me or a totally hot babe. STAY OUT!""
"Well, I suppose that means I can enter-" Eggman started to say.
"You can't enter- you're not a totally hot babe!" Bowser pointed out. Sonic burst out in serious laughter in the background.
"I meant I can enter because I'm a super genius!"
"You're not that either."
"Grrr…why am I always the target for ridicule in this team?" Eggman complained. "I'm superior to all of you!"
Inside the Fort One Debate Later-
"We can't just go from Point A to Point B, can we? Someone always has to make a scene before we can continue on with anything!" rambled Link.
"I totally won that debate, so I'm not complaining," Ganondorf replied stubbornly with his arms folded.
"Is it always like this?" inquired Zelda. Peach folded her arms and nodded.
"We usually get going again when Mario tells everyone to focus."
"And I take it you tend to lose focus quite a lot…"
Mario at least took note of the foyer- a robotic maid-cat was lurking around, staring up at him and mewing with wide cat eyes. Even Mario thought it was a tiny bit odd for a nerd to have robot cats dressed up like maids. Either that, or Francis just had terrible taste.
"Welcome home, master!"
It must have been automated.
"Well, anyway, I think I'm just going to enter this obvious door-"
Mario stopped Link by holding up his hand.
"What is it, Mario?"
Mario told Peach and Bowser to go on ahead. Bowser raised an eyebrow while Peach delicately asked, "Why?"
"I'm sure he wants us to explore every possible inch of the castle so we can find Tippi more efficiently," Zelda declared.
"It's all the same to me, not that we really get a say in anything," muttered Ganondorf.
"If you think we should, then I won't test your judgment," Peach decided, spinning on her heels and entering through the door. Amy giggled excitedly as Zelda, Bowser, Ganondorf, and Eggman piled in after. Mario grinned to himself once they were gone, but then took control and flipped into 3D.
"Okay, could you fill us in on what's going on?" Sonic asked. Mario walked over to the door in 3D, then jumped right over it to a secret area that would be impossible to notice in 2D. Kirby gasped dramatically.
"Holy cow! How did you even know about that?"
Mario: Instinct.
"There must be something of value here if Francis has it hidden like this…" Sonic deduced, peering into the pipe. "Are we going down?"
"Of course we are!" cried Kirby, jumping in first. Sonic shrugged and entered too. Link turned to Mario, who was pointing eagerly at the pipe.
"You never cease to amaze me."
Mario gave a sheepish shrug, Link grinning and heading on down. After double checking everything, Mario followed after.
Teams ZAP and BEG-
"Holy door!" gawked Amy, staring at the huge cat door looming before them.
"Yeah, this castle ain't got nothing on mine," scoffed Bowser. "For a nerd, this place is so totally…feminine!"
"That's a double negative, meaning that you just said this castle does have something on yours," Eggman pointed out.
"Oh yeah? Well you used a double positive!" Bowser shot back. Ganondorf smacked his forehead.
"If it's a double positive, it'll still be positive! Even I know that."
"Then how does the double negative work?"
"They cancel each other out," added Zelda. Bowser's mind went blank for a moment.
"…whatever! Now, what the heck are we supposed to be doing anyway?"
Peach ignored the squabble going on behind her to peek into one of the two key holes in the large door. There was constantly flashing and silent muttering going on inside, meaning that something certainly was happened. With a quick look, Peach discovered Francis having a field day with photos.
"Schweet…the resolution on these images is just breathtaking! Nerrrr…it's so hi-technicaaaaaal!"
Peach recoiled in repulse, but then wondered just what he was so crazy snapping pictures of. Inching her way over to second keyhole, she felt her heart stop.
There was Tippi.
"Eeek! We've got to unlock this door and get the heck in there!" she suddenly cried, repelling herself away. "That's where Tippi and Francis are!"
"Makes me wonder where the keys are- there's two of them obviously, since there's two keyholes," pondered Zelda.
"I doubt in here…" Eggman muttered absentmindedly, too busy studying the technology of the nearest cat-bot.
"The keys to Master's door?" it suddenly chirped. "Just keep going up, up, up until you find two doors. Each key is behind each door, meow!"
"Excellent information…to your doom! Mwahaha!" cackled Ganondorf.
"C'mon, let's hurry!" Peach exclaimed, rushing for the next door. "We need to help Tippi!"
"ACK! Peach, don't go too fast- we won't be able to keep up!" wailed Bowser, trying to hurry after. Peach's determination to save Tippi kept her going forward, however, and she threw the door open to the next room. To her disappointment, there was nothing in there but another Meowmaid.
"Aw man…"
"This room isn't empty, Peach…" Zelda trailed, sidling up next to her. She pointed up, Peach turning her head in said direction. There was an upper area above their heads, plus the sound of something trampling around up there…
"How are we supposed to get up there?" Amy asked, tapping her foot. "There's probably something in 3D, but we all seem to lack that particular ability…"
"Um…what are they doing, exactly?" Peach questioned, glancing over to the villains.
"How'd they even beat us in here?"
"All right! Try to stand on your tippy toes! I've almost got the edge!" Ganondorf called down to Bowser, whose shoulders he was balancing on. Bowser was looking to be in a ton of pain.
"Oom…I dunno who would be worse- you or Eggman on my shoulders! Eggman may be fat, but dang you've got bulk!"
"Stop insulting my mass!" Eggman shouted. Bowser raised an eyebrow.
"Mass? What the heck does that have to do with anything?"
"Technically weight is how much gravitational force is being exerted on you, not how much matter you're made of or contain, which is mass. See the difference?"
"No, you're still fat all around," Ganondorf replied bluntly. "As for you, Mr. Chunky, this all happens to be muscle-"
"Just grab the edge already before I drop you!" Bowser demanded, straining to keep Ganondorf up while Eggman casually watched from the sides. Zelda shook her head while Amy facepalmed.
"There must have been an easier way to do that…" Peach trailed while sweat dropping.
Finally, Ganondorf latched onto the edge and pulled himself up…only to be pushed off by a huge pink Meowmaid with a blaring siren on its head right back onto Bowser, landing in an awkward pile.
"MEOW!"
"Wasn't…expecting…that…" panted Ganondorf, eyes wide as saucers.
"I wasn't expecting to get instantaneously crushed either," Bowser scowled, promptly throwing Ganondorf back off. "That didn't work. Whadda we do now?"
"We use the delicate approach," Peach responded, walking over to where Bowser once stood with Amy and Zelda following. "You girls know what we're doing?"
Zelda nodded while Amy grinned and gave a thumbs up. Ganondorf stood up and folded his arms.
"If you three think that you can get up there despite the fact that cat-bot is up there, then you must be-"
Peach and Zelda crouched down low, hands extended and cuffed as if they were performing some sort of cheerleading move. Amy then ran forward, placing her foot in Peach and Zelda's palms, to which the princesses simultaneously flung her in the air. Amy continued to grinned eagerly as she was suddenly leveled with the Meowmaid, who tried to launch a bomb at her. Moving forward, Amy smacked the bomb right back then slammed into its head with her hammer. The Meowmaid toppled over in a constant fit of meowing, giving Amy and a chance to lean over the edge and help up Peach and Zelda as well.
Bowser, Eggman, and Ganondorf just gawked.
"Now, you want to try the shoulder thing again now that we've dispatched the Meowmaid?" Peach asked lightheartedly. Eggman had to smirk at that- Ganondorf slammed his fist into the nearest wall while Bowser's palm made contact with his face.
Team Mario-
"Wow, this is interesting," announced Sonic as they entered the hidden chamber. Just like most of the other underground chambers, it was hued in blue. Up ahead was another pipe, which Kirby tried to test but he couldn't get through. Mario figured that it came out from somewhere…
"Hey, there's a dimension-switching block here…" Link trailed, motioning to the yellow block floating in mid air. "I wonder why it's placed above this bed of spikes, though…"
"Something's on the other side, I'm sure of it!" exclaimed Kirby.
"Plus there's a sign up there- it might have useful info," Sonic added.
In that case, Mario gave the yellow block a whack and sent it flipping into 3D, considering they couldn't get beyond the spikes in 2D. Following the block, Mario discovered there was an upper area in 3D, enabling them to get over the spikes. Link, Sonic, and Kirby saw where he was going with it and jumped up too. However, Sonic caught note of the sign he had spotted earlier, and now that he was at eyelevel with it, he could read it.
"For Francis' eyes only…Room on the right: 2323. Room on the left: 2828..." Sonic read. "Huh, sounds like a set of passwords or something…"
Team ZAP and Team BEG-
"Grah! Stupid cat things…" Bowser grumbled upon finally entering the next door, burning three blue robots out of commission. Eggman winced at the sight of such delicate technology being dispatched so easily.
"Look at that! There's two doors dangling on the walls!" Zelda gaped. "I don't even want to comprehend how that's even possible…"
Sure enough, two light red and gold doors were hanging off the ivory walls, slightly swaying from the movement going on below.
"Is there any way to knock them down, perhaps?" Amy pondered.
"Most likely." Ganondorf aimed more purple orbs and another set of Francis' servants.
"What did they ever do to you?" Eggman shouted in their defense. Ganondorf gave him a quizzical look.
"They were trying to eat me alive- it was only natural I took care of them first!"
"I must ask him how he made them…"
"Oh, please don't go "I can't hurt a fellow nerd!" on us when the time comes to confront him."
"At least I take interest in technological advances, unlike some people who reply on power and magic…"
"Bowser…" Peach trailed, once again tuning out Ganondorf and Eggman's latest argument. "I bet if you ground pounded, it would be enough to rattle the doors down to the floor! Can you do that for us?"
Bowser folded his arms and violently shook his head. "No. I don't think so."
"Can you do that for me?"
"Why didn't you ask that sooner? Of course I will!"
Peach put on a blank face while Zelda and Amy started snickering under their breath. Bowser enthusiastically jumped up under the right door, then crashed into the ground after a devastating spin. The rumble and shaking he had caused did exactly what Peach predicted- knocked the door down. Peach smirked and placed her hands on her hips.
"Well what do you know?"
Bowser stormed under the left door, then knocked that one to the ground as well. And now that both doors were accessible…which one would they go through?
"…we could split up?" suggested Amy. "We could go through the right door while you check out the left?"
"There's a key behind each of these doors anyway, so we'd probably save some time if we split up," Zelda added.
"What do you think?" Peach asked Bowser. Bowser thought it over.
"Eh…I dunno. I'll have to consult my lackeys."
"I wonder if 'lackey' is Bowser's term for 'friend'," Zelda whispered to Amy who giggled in response.
"I think we should split up- get away from them for awhile," proclaimed Ganondorf.
"It would be to our benefit," Eggman included. Bowser nodded and threw a fist up in the air.
"Then splitting up it is!…don't get caught in some nerd trap, Peach."
"I'm sure I'll be fine," Peach answered, slinging her parasol over her shoulder as she, Zelda, and Amy headed into the right door.
"This'll be fun!" was the last thing they heard from Amy. Ganondorf then suddenly mulled over the situation.
"Hmm…I do enjoy their lack of company, but I'm not entirely sure if they can handle it alone…"
"I trust them- they certainly know how to get around things, trust me…" grumbled Bowser. "They used to sneak around my castle all the time…er, Peach's castle, but it was under my command at the time. And in the sky."
"Long story short, they'll be fine, right?" Eggman interrupted. Bowser gave a firm nod and opened the left door.
"That's exactly what I'm saying."
Team Mario-
Sonic heard Kirby suddenly start panicking after he made sure to memorize the codes, and jumped down onto the other side to see what was going on. Apparently that was a bad move.
"No, Sonic! We can't get back across now!" wailed Kirby.
"Well thanks for informing me of that before I jumped!"
"Am I the only one that noticed the thing behind these bars?" Link questioned, pointing to said thing behind bars.
Mario: I was staring at the obvious giant switch in the corner.
"HEY THERE!"
All four of them jumped at the shout, and with another look, they figured out it had plainly come from the prisoner in the cell.
"You seem friendly! If so, give me a hand! If not, give me a hand anyway!"
"Is that a Pixl?" Link asked with a closer look. Kirby nearly shoved him out of the way just to poke at it.
"Aw, it's kinda cute! And it's a girl Pixl!"
"Tippi is a girl Pixl too, ya know," Sonic reminded him.
Mario attempted to jump onto the switch, but to his very horror it turned out that they would've needed Bowser and Thudley to get the job done. When the other three saw the worried look on Mario's face as he started randomly kicking and hitting the switch, they too caught onto the problem.
"…maybe we should have brought them with us?" suggested Kirby meekly.
"We didn't know that we would need Thudley!" Sonic said. "I bet they're deep in the fort now, however…"
Team BEG (after defying logic)-
"How did we get up here?" gaped Eggman as he rapidly fired lasers at another Meowmaid. "Not only was this upper part way too high for us to do the "shoulder thing", but there wasn't even anything to climb up from!"
"Don't question it- just accept it and try to get rid of this thing!" Ganondorf responded while forcing another wall of fire in the Meowmaid's direction.
"It's not going down, so I'mma just walk around it to get to the door…" Bowser trailed casually, Eggman and Ganondorf giving him looks as they continued to launch their strongest attacks at it.
"This isn't working either!" Eggman groaned in a frustrated manner, getting tired of his onslaught of lasers.
"Maybe we should go with Bowser's plan…"
Ganondorf fought back against the maid one last time, then used Bowser's tactic and snuck right by it. It then glared angrily at Eggman, who quickly stopped firing lasers and followed after the duo.
"Way to leave me behind!" he huffed angrily, slamming the next door behind him. "Eh…where does this lead to, anyway?"
"Apparently a balcony," shrugged Ganondorf. "There's more fort over there, but there's no way to get across."
"That switch looks suspicious though," Bowser said, pointing upwards. "Now how are we going to hit it?"
"I'd say we need that one Pixl that throws things but he's in Team Mario's possession."
"Who needs that wimpy Pixl when we got me and my Egg Laser Gun?" Eggman cackled insanely.
"Was it necessary to add the "Egg" in front of laser?" Bowser asked.
"Yeah, all that does is emphasize how lame it is," added Ganondorf.
Eggman frowned to himself while striking the switch (and a flying Meowmaid) with one of hit lasers. Apparently that did the trick, as a huge bridge extended from their 'balcony' and slowly made its way to connect with the distant side of the fort. After what seemed like hours of waiting, the bridge was final safe to walk on.
"Took long enough," growled Bowser, being the first one to cross.
One really long walk later-
"Hoo boy! I should come here more often to get a workout!" Bowser exclaimed while performing some stretches.
"Don't even conjure up some joke about me, either," Eggman spat, directed more at Ganondorf than Bowser.
Anyway, on the other side of the fort was an important looking room, yet the only thing worth mentioning there was a green Meowmaid, and it was safe to admit it looked scarier than the previous ones before- including the huge pink ones with the siren heads.
"You have reached the door to Master's private room," it explained. "For security purposes, you must confirm your identity."
"Uh oh…"
Ganondorf pushed Eggman up to the front. "You're the smart one- there's probably going to be a bunch of nerd related questions involved, so you're answering."
"Answer the following security questions with either "true" or "false"."
Before Eggman could get a word out to Ganondorf's abrupt proclamation, the questioning began.
"Video game soundtracks are totally hi-technicaaaaaaal!"
"Probably true," Eggman answered, thinking like Francis most likely would. Bowser and Ganondorf had their fingers crossed.
"Episode 127 of "The Grodus Chronicles" is pretty much the schweetest thing ever."
"True…?"
"One day, I will own all of the "Starship X-Naut" Series 3 collectible action figures."
"True."
"Everyone knows action figures are manly dolls," Ganondorf scoffed, Bowser punching him in the arm. "HEY! What did I ever-"
"Now you must enter the passcode."
All three of them froze.
"Uh…we seem to be lacking such vital information…"gulped Eggman.
"Punch some numbers or something!" Ganondorf demanded. "It's most likely something nerdy and complicated anyway!"
"You are subliminally putting me down, I know it!"
"What? I'm actually not! … this time, at least. Just take a very well-educated guess!"
"Actually, I think I can help in this category," Bowser revealed, stepping forward and up to the Meowmaid. "I believe the passcode is… 9-0-0-0."
Eggman and Ganondorf twitched. "9000? !"
Bowser struck a confident pose. "I'm sure that's it. Trust me."
"I don't think I want to…" admitted Eggman, catching sight of the Maidmeow preparing to go crazy.
"MEEEEEEOOOOOW! MEEEEEOOOOW! MEEEEEEOOOW! You are not the Master! Deploy security measures!" it blared.
The floor disappeared under Team BEG's feet, causing them to drop into a lower chamber…that contained a Chomp.
"BARK! BARK! BARK!" it said, already trying to take a bite out of them the moment they hit the floor. Regaining their senses quicker than humanely possible, the trio jetted to the right side of the room to get away from Chomp.
"Whoa nelly…"
"Okay…not really sure what to make of that, but apparently 9000 was not the code…" concluded Bowser. He took another step back upon another attempted assault from the Chomp, only to trip onto a large button that rested behind him. Ganondorf took note of the button's immense size, then stepped on it as well. It was just enough to push it in to get it to activate and reveal their only means of escape- a pipe behind the dreaded Chomp.
"Accidents can be useful!"
"Well, I sense a Chomp-destruction coming up," sighed Eggman as Bowser continued to try and upright himself, but he was stuck lying on his shell. Ganondorf caved in and helped him up, to which Bowser repaid with by spewing flames in the Chomp's direction. Ganondorf summoned more magic to attack it while Eggman fired his laser, but the lasers reflected off the Chomp's steal exterior and went haywire throughout the room.
"Holy-" Ganondorf cut off, a laser nearly singing his face. The Chomp charged at them again, but the chain binding it to the small post prevented any attacks. Bowser took an initiative, grabbed its chain, then chucked it to the other side of the room. Ganondorf threw a random block that was lying on the ground at it for added effect.
"Quick! Through the pipe before it tears us limb from limb!" cried the doctor, scrambling into the pipe.
"Right behind you!" called Bowser. The Chomp gathered itself together and, with its new freedom, made Ganondorf its next target. The Dark Lord of Evil sprinted into the pipe just before he had his entire leg chomped off.
Team Mario-
"After all that time thinking up some sort of plan, are we sure this'll work?"
Mario: No, but we'll do it anyway.
"All together now…JUMP!"
"DOGPILE!"
All four of them attempted to activate the switch by jumping onto it all at once…but it only resulted in Link body slamming the switch -which didn't move- and three people crashing on top of him.
"Ooh…that was such a fail…" Sonic groaned, luckily on top belly first. "That was our worst fail yet…"
"Think of how I feel!" gasped Link on the bottom. "Get off! OFF!"
Sonic rolled onto the floor, followed by Mario staggering dizzily to ground and Kirby sliding off like a pancake.
"We are definitely not as robust as Team BEG…" Sonic continued to moan. "I bet they could at least get the stupid switch to budge."
"It's not my fault I'm small, soft, cute, and pink!"
"It's not my fault I'm a totally fit and attractive hedgehog."
"And it certainly isn't my fault I'm a studly, good-looking specimen of a man-"
"Don't flatter yourself too much," murmured Sonic.
Mario: Amen.
Link pouted and folded his arms disdainfully as Kirby suddenly picked up moaning and groaning back on the other side of the spikes. Peering over, he saw Team BEG emerge out of the pipe he couldn't get into.
"It's a miracle!" gaped Kirby. "Look, it's Team BEG!"
"Team BEG?" "How'd they get here?"
"That was so full of…pain…" lurched Bowser.
"You're the one that wanted to charge right on through!" Ganondorf snapped.
"HEY! Over here!" Link called, waving his arms up and down frantically. Eggman pushed himself up off the ground and saw Team Mario waving anxiously at them.
"The heck? How'd you get over there?"
"We came down through a hidden pipe behind the front door, found a path in 3D, found the password for two doors apparently, and now we're stuck over here and we can't free this Pixl without the help of Thudley so could you please send him over-"
"KIRBY! Take a breath!"
"Heeeeeeeeee- sorry."
"You sure are lucky we happened to come to your rescue then!" Bowser exclaimed smugly. Ganondorf rolled his eyes.
"We're only here because Bowser thought he was so sure of the password to the door on the left, and we were sent through a trap room with a pipe that led here," Eggman explained. Bowser fumed at his own stupidity.
"Why in the world did I say 9000? …it was probably over 9000! I'm so dumb…"
"One-third of that statement is correct," mumbled Ganondorf.
"Hey, why isn't Team ZAP with you?" Link asked.
"They went through the right door, since we went through the left."
"They're somewhere ALONE?"
"Easy, it's not like they're unable to take care of themselves," shrugged Bowser.
"Looks who's talking, considering you kidnap them constantly- all three of you!"
"Just send Thudley over here so we can free this Pixl who most likely has a power than can get us back over there," Sonic sighed, holding his hand out. Bowser turned to Thudley, then nudged his head over in Team Mario's direction.
"Here I go- with girth!"
Thudley jetted over to Mario, who quickly accepted him into his possession. He jumped back onto the blue block, did a flip in the air, and with Thudley's power finally activated the switch. The bars trapping the Pixl slowly lifted up, said Pixl quickly flying out.
"FREEDOM!"
"Freedom rocks!" cried Thoreau.
"Freedom is the greatest thing ever!" Dashell agreed.
"Oh, finally I'm out! I didn't know what I was going to do! Thank you, thank you! I've been shut up in there forever…You'll never catch me in there again," she sighed.
"At least you had room to move around- we were all stuck in chests sss-BANG!" exclaimed Boomer.
"I must repay you! I'm at your service. I'm sure you can find a use for my talent!"
"You can get us over the spikes, right?" Kirby asked hopefully. The Pixl suddenly put on a blank face.
"Hold on a second. Before we get all friendly, we should see if we are on the same page."
"Ugh, come on!" growled Ganondorf.
"I don't want to wait all day!" Bowser roared as well.
"You met Francis right? What do you think of the guy? Your first impression?" the Pixl continued. Team Mario all exchanged glances and pondered over what to say, which irritated Team BEG to such an extent that they shouted out their own answers.
"Greenish?" "Nerdy." "Awesome!"
Bowser, Ganondorf, and the rest did a double take and gaped at Eggman.
"…what? His technology is somewhat impressive. Though it isn't comparable to mine."
"O-kay then…"
The Pixl nodded in response. "Ah, I see. I see. Anything else about him catch your eye?"
"He's a photo fanatic?" "He's into butterflies." "He's irresistible!"
"The heck Eggman? !"
"I'm trying to shake things up a little!"
"Awkward…"
"Oh? Yes, I see how you could think that," the Pixl stated, making Kirby faint. "So…sum it up. What do you think about him?"
"He's a monster?" "He's a tech geek." "He's a stallion!"
"Why are they even answering in the first place?" yelped Sonic, still taken slightly aback from Eggman's latest comment.
"You were too slow," Bowser replied, sticking out his tongue.
"So you think Francis is a…greenish nerdy awesome irresistible butterfly-loving photo fanatic? Basically, a monster of a geeky stallion?"
Mario: *sweat drops*
"Perhaps we should have thought our answers through…" chuckled Eggman nervously.
"You called him a stallion of all things!" howled Ganondorf.
However, despite their odd answers, Carrie seemed totally thrilled.
"Well…imagine that! You and I feel the same way about him! We've got great harmony. Yep, I think we'll work together perfectly. Together, nothing can touch us!"
Carrie circled around Mario exuberantly, until Kirby suddenly snatched her out of the air and used her ability.
"All right! We can go over the spikes while we ride Carrie!" Kirby cheered, already driving around like he was in a car. Carrie giggled.
"That is correct! I hope you make the most out of my ability!"
"How are all of you going to fit on one tiny square?" Eggman questioned.
"We could take turns-"
"But that'd take too long!" Ganondorf blared. Link instantly jumped on, feet placed on either side of Kirby.
"Then it looks like we're all going at once!"
"Am I the only one that senses disaster?" sighed Sonic, climbing onto Link 's back. "Hi ho!"
Mario sensed something bad as well on the horizon, but grabbed Link's wrists and balanced carefully on the edge of Carrie. She was plainly meant for only one person, let alone a whole team.
And it certainly didn't help that Kirby wanted to see how fast she could go.
"NO KIRBY-" Link wailed as Carrie suddenly tipped upward. Kirby may have had the advantage by having the edge to grip, but Mario and Sonic were gripping Link who lacked something to grip.
"Whee!"
"This could prove to be entertaining," smirked Ganondorf. "If only we had some popcorn."
"WAAAAH!" "Link, don't you dare fall!" "Kirby, slow down!" "This was a stupid idea!"
Mario: Mama mia!
"We're almost there- no worries!" Kirby said cheerfully, completely oblivious to the fact that Link, Sonic, and Mario were teetering on the edge of falling into the spikes.
"With me, you can get to places in a hurry!" Carrie explained.
"Not as fast as I can," boasted Dashell.
Link glared down at Carrie. "You're still not a car!"
"Fall!" "Crash!" "FALL!" cheered Team BEG. One tiny little problem- they weren't going to fall, but they were certainly going to crash…right into the bad guys.
"AUGH!" "WAH!" "OWA!" "OOMPH!" "HEY!" "YOW!" "GWARG! ! !"
It was an explosion of heroes, villains, and Pixls, but luckily all of them flipped over the pipe rather than back into the bed of spikes. Eggman didn't go very far and landed on the pipe, Ganondorf, Mario, and Sonic landed on the floor, and Bowser, Link, and Kirby slammed into the wall.
"Wow…" Kirby sang dizzily, sliding down the wall in an upside down position. "…that was totally neat! Can we do it again?"
"No. Don't do it again…" hissed Ganondorf.
"It was fun!"
"It was not fun-"
Carrie reverted back to her non-platform form and started laughing.
"I must agree- I haven't had that much fun in ages! It feels good to actually be able to do something again!"
"Speaking of doing something," Link huffed, picking himself up off the ground and grabbing his back. "We have to catch up with Team ZAP before they reach the pass code room and end up here and then there's this whole cycle of us doing the same thing over and over and not being able to catch up with each other."
"Well I've got the passcodes, so we're good," Sonic replied confidently.
"Great, that means we need to climb back up and make our way through the left door again…" realized Eggman with a shudder.
Team ZAP-
Peach, Zelda, and Amy frowned at the sight they had been staring at since they had entered the door- a large bed of spikes lie in their path.
"So much for 'we can handle this'…" Zelda sighed.
"I bet Team BEG is long gone now…" groaned Amy.
Peach folded her arms, the frown refusing to remove from her face. "Well this is great."
Teams Mario and BEG-
"Okay, what are you doing?' Link asked, bewildered by the sight of Ganondorf on Bowser's shoulders back in the first room beyond the large, double-key cat door (which Kirby had been just as in awe at as Amy was).
"What? This is how we got up here last time!" Bowser informed.
"What would you do without us?" sighed Sonic as Mario raised one hand, took control, and teleported into 3D. It was revealed that there was steps in 3D, making getting up there tons easier.
"Wow, I'm still in shock they even managed to get up there," whistled Kirby.
"The girls must have too," Sonic pointed out.
"I find it more likely the girls figured out what to do, then the villains tagged along," claimed Link. Mario shrugged- who knew?- and headed on up the steps. Once the four of them were in the upper area, they removed control and Team BEG popped up next to them.
"…okay, that was so much simpler!" cried Ganondorf. "Where were you when we needed you?"
"Getting the passcodes that you also need," retorted Sonic, opening the door and ushering everyone through quickly.
"So this is the area with the double doors…" Kirby sighed in awe, taking a look around.
"Yeah, the doors were hanging off the walls until I knocked 'em down," Bowser informed. "That left one is the one we entered, while the right is where Team ZAP is at."
"Should we go through the left one to get it over with or into the right one to follow the girls?"
"I vote right!" yelled Link.
"I want left!" called Ganondorf.
"Erm…should we split up again?" Sonic asked sheepishly. "The villains, Mario, and Kirby can go back through the left while Link and I go hunt down the girls faster. Plan?"
"Plan," replied Kirby.
Mario: Okay!
"Just remember- your code is 2828!" Sonic reminded them.
"I've got it memorized now," assured Eggman, waving his hand in a careless fashion. "And if you are asked any questions, the answer is always "true" to everything.
"Good to know," Link muttered back, vanishing through the right door with Sonic. Carrie giggled to herself and followed after Link- she simply had a hunch that she would be needed…
"You know, maybe Sonic should have gone through the left one," pondered Bowser, breaking the moment. "We could have sped right over the bridge!"
"Yeah, but he'll find the girls faster since he went right!" Kirby countered. "I hope they reach them before the girls are asked to give the passcode…"
Mario told Kirby not to worry, then allowed Bowser to lead the way.
Team ZAP + Link and Sonic-
Link and Sonic burst through the door at mach speed, minds so filled with thoughts of it nearly being too late for Team ZAP that they didn't take into consideration the possibility that they may have been standing in front of the door the whole time.
Therefore, the duo crashed into the trio and nearly knocked them into the spikes.
"WHAT THE-?" all five of them cried at the same time. Link reacted quickly and grabbed Peach and Zelda before they toppled over, Sonic doing the same and snagging Amy's wrist.
"Holy rings, that was way too close…" Sonic gagged, eyeing how close Amy was to the spikes.
"What is the meaning of this?" Peach demanded to know, glancing over her shoulder to give Link a questioning look.
"Long story short, you need our help to get through this area, all right?" Link explained briefly. "We-"
"Ahem?"
"Okay, Sonic found out that you're going to need a passcode when you reach the end, but apparently you were stuck anyway and there was no reason to panic…"
"Thank you for the near death experience- I've had enough of those lately," Zelda said gruffly, smoothing out her dress.
"Tell me about it! Death always seems to be around the corner-" Sonic started to ramble, until Link covered his mouth.
"Anyway, it seems to me that these spikes have you stumped?"
"Yeah! There's no way over them!" Amy said, pulling herself together. "Have any ideas?"
"We don't just have an idea-"
"We have me!" cried Carrie, flying out of nowhere. Amy excitedly started jumping up and down.
"Ooh, how cool! A new Pixl!"
Carrie flew over to Amy after hearing her excitedly squeals.
"What can this one do?"
"Take you over spikes and stuff," Sonic replied simply.
Zelda nodded, bemused. "That's…nifty."
Link then turned fretfully to Sonic. "Erm…are we all going to try to fit on her again?"
"Why not? Besides, Kirby isn't driving this time!"
"Are you sure this is okay…" Peach trailed nervously, still staring fretfully at the spikes.
"We already tried it once, and we managed to get across, ever with a reckless driver!" Link assured. "We should be good this time around!"
Amy was already in position on Carrie, Sonic gripping one of her shoulders and pumping a fist into the air. Peach nervously made her way beside Amy, standing on one foot, while Link grabbed Sonic's other wrist and stood on Carrier the same way Mario had.
"I swear we do the impossible everyday…" sighed Zelda somewhat hesitant.
"Just latch onto me, Zelda," Link said, motioning for her to come on. "You won't fall, and if you do, I'd make sure you won't get hurt, okay?"
Zelda stared at the ground for a moment, then looked back and nodded. "Okay. I trust you."
Link grinned. "Now that's good to know."
Once Zelda had herself in a piggyback position on Link, Amy told Carrie to move onward. Despite the heavy load, Carrie didn't seem to have any trouble at all in getting them over the spikes and onto the other side in a jiffy.
"Why was that trip shorter than the first one?" Sonic asked as they all climbed off. "This one was all quick and painless…"
"Maybe the first one was longer so we could build dramatic effect?" Link shrugged. "I dunno, really- Amy, Carrie is not a car! That's exactly what I told Kirby!"
Amy, who was hovering around on Carrie having a blast, quickly braked to a stop. "Eh…sorry…but you've gotta admit she is pretty neat!"
"Not as good as me!" Dashell continued to boast. Amy jumped off Carrie so Carrie could float over to Dashell.
"You might be fast, but at least I can glide right over danger if I need to," she hummed contently, no malice visible in her tone. "Other than that, sure, you beat me in speed any day!"
Dashell blinked, then laughed nervously since he wasn't all too sure how to respond to that. Carrie just simply grinned. Boomer snickered silently to himself. Peach was certainly amused by the Pixls' actions, but continued onward nevertheless.
Unlike the leftmost door, the right door was apparently was lower in the terms of difficulty, since after the spike room was instantly the room with the creepy green Meowmaid. Zelda's jaw dropped.
"After all that waiting…if we had just had some way to get over the spikes…"
"Hey, that was actually a good thing," Sonic said. "If you hadn't waited, you wouldn't have had the passcode to get by this thing, now would ya?"
Zelda shook her head. "No, I guess we wouldn't…"
Link stepped up to the Meowmaid and, unsure of what to do, gave it a kick.
Peach rolled her eyes. "Does no one do anything carefully anymore?"
"Or think things through," Amy threw in, Carrie returning to her side.
"You have reached the door to Master's super-secret lair," the maid informed them. "Only Master is allowed inside. You must confirm your identity for security purposes. To confirm your identity, answer "true" or "false" to the following statements."
"Remember that Eggman said they were all true," Link recalled, Sonic stepping up to the maid and giving Link a thumbs up.
"Starship X-Naut" comics are never to be removed from their plastic sleeves!"
"True?"
"Role-playing games should be no less than 180 hours long, not counting side quests!"
"Psh, that's definitely true!"
"Fanny packs are both practical and stylish!"
"…true…"
"Please enter the secret passcode."
"2323," Sonic answered with pride. The maid hopped up and down excitedly.
"Welcome home, Master! Master's fantasy fortress is safe from intruders."
The wall in the background briefly changed to a green screen with a meowing cat face, then reverted back to normal- with the addition of a new door.
"Dang, Francis certainly pulled out a few stops for this place…" whistled Sonic.
"All this protection just for keys to him room!" exclaimed Zelda.
"It's like a nerd cave in here!" gawked Link, who had his head sticking through the door.
"Link, it's actually only an elevator," Peach pointed out as she and Amy carefully stepped in. Link sweat dropped from embarrassment.
"…w-well it probably leads to some sort of nerd cave!"
"That, I can agree with," the princess nodded. When they all reached the room that supposedly held the first key, they were only half-surprised to find several posters plastered to the walls, a ton of useless knickknacks on the shelves, and a huge but generally harmless bluish-grey Meowmaid pacing around.
"What. A. Dork."
"You said it."
"There's all sorts of girly pictures in here…and why does he have a poster of Bow and Bootler?" Link gawked once again, ripping said poster right off the wall. "I'm so taking this for Kirby…"
"He's got that Petuni girl you told us about too," Sonic added.
"Stop stealing his nerd-chandise and focus on finding the key!"
"Excuuuuuse me, Princess-"
Zelda gave him a look which was returned with an apologetic and pleading grin from Link.
"They key is up there…" Amy trailed, pointing to a nearly invisible shelf with a small chest sitting atop it.
"There's three ways to get that," Peach began, looking thoughtful. "We could toss Amy up there, use the freaky cat maid robot to jump off of, or-"
"All right!" Sonic interrupted as he wall jumped off the right wall and spin dashed toward the chest. He skidded a bit on his landing, but he was able to retrieve the key nevertheless.
"-that. That's the third option."
Teams Mario and BEG-
"…how in the world did you get to the top in this room?" questioned Kirby, in the first room after they entered the left door.
"We really have no idea, seriously."
"Well, let Mario and I take control…we'll figure something out…"
"Hmph, good luck," the trio of bad guys huffed back, all striking the same irritated arm-folded pose. Mario raised his arm, he and Kirby flipping into 3D, and finding a platform. They jumped onto it, then swapped back into 2D.
Problem.
"We need Team ZAP for this part…" Kirby trailed as he started at the other ledge that could only be reached by gliding. He then looked thoughtful. "Or do we…?"
He took Mario's hands, then inflated himself and hovered right over the small gap.
"I'm so smart!"
Mario smiled in amusement, then once they were safe on the other side swapped into 3D once again. Now Mario was even more puzzled about how Team BEG managed to get by the first time- there was no possible way up there without flipping into 3D or gliding! Bewildered, Mario and Kirby climbed to the top…where the Meowmaid was still going on a rampage.
"AAAH! AAAH!"
Kirby instantly panicked, sucking in the first meowbomb being thrown at them, then spat it right back. The Meowmaid was briefly stunned, giving the duo a chance to flipped into 3D one last time to get around it, then removed control and entered the next door.
"The great bridge- we meet again…" groaned Bowser.
"At least walking over it is faster than when it built itself," stated Eggman.
"Darn it! We should have totally brought Carrie…or Dashell," Kirby exhausted. Mario lead the way, crossing the bridge and ducking under flying Meowmaids whenever necessary. Finally when they reached the door on the other side, they returned to the room where Bowser, Eggman, and Ganondorf were dropped into the Chomp chamber.
"It's the creepy green Meowmaid that asks a bunch of questions!" gasped Kirby, cowering in fear.
"How do you know that?"
Kirby gave Eggman a look. "Hello? You told us!"
"…did we?"
"I don't even remember…" Bowser trailed.
"Just activate the stupid cat again…" grumbled Ganondorf. Mario walked up the robot and wave his hand in front of its face.
"You have reached the door to Master's private room," it explained. "For security purposes, you must confirm your identity. Answer the following security questions with either "true" or "false"."
Mario nodded and waited for it to state the questions again.
"Video game soundtracks are totally hi-technicaaaaaaal!"
Mario: So true!
"Episode 127 of "The Grodus Chronicles" is pretty much the schweetest thing ever."
Mario: True.
"One day, I will own all of the "Starship X-Naut" Series 3 collectible action figures."
Mario: True.
"Now you must enter the passcode."
"2828, if Sonic was correct," Eggman recited.
Bowser pouted in the corner. "That is so not over 9000..."
"Welcome home, Master! SecuriMeow missed you!" it suddenly chirped. Like in the other room, the back wall briefly turned into a green screen with a meowing cat face, and when it disappeared, a new door was now accessible. Kirby cheered and charged in, Mario and the villains exchanging glances and following after.
"Now this is a nerd cave," Bowser gaped. It was worse than the other room merchandise wise- plushies of Vivian, Yoshi Kids, Petuni, and even Pennington loitered the shelves! Not to mention the thousands of tapes with whatever nerd content they were filled with…
"ooh! There's a Yoshi Kid that looks like Spike!" Kirby cried, floating up to the nearly-invisible shelve with the chest on it. Kirby, oblivious to certain things as usual, ended up standing on the very chest that contained the key to try and reach the red Yoshi doll. "Sonic would love to see this!"
"Are your really going to steal a geek's treasure?" Ganondorf scoffed.
"Hey- who knows how much the stuff in this room could be worth!" Eggman defended.
"You would know."
Mario noticed the bluish-grey Meowmaid simply marching around- he was glad it wasn't attacking, but why was it even there? As Bowser tried to break up Ganondorf and Eggman once again, Mario jumped off the maid and was able to reach Kirby on the shield with the key.
"I got it! I got it!"
"You got the key?"
"No, I got this Spike plushie!"
Mario grabbed Kirby's wrist, placed him off to the side, then opened to chest and claimed the key.
Mario: I got a Fort Francis key!
What finally got the baddies to quit bickering was the sight of Kirby cuddling the little red Yoshi doll.
The Double Door Hall-
In an odd twist of fate, Mario, Kirby, Bowser, Eggman, and Ganondorf had exited out the left door the same time that Link, Sonic, Peach, Zelda, and Amy had exited their door. The two sides briefly started at each other before shouting out, "We've got one of the keys! …what? That means we've got them both!"
"I found a Spike plushie!" Kirby proclaimed, holding up the red Yoshi plush. Sonic was literally over to it in a second.
"It looks just like him! …kind of creepy that Francis had something like this in his fort."
"Yeah, like a whole bunch of posters," Link added, whipping out the one he had snatched. "…like this one with Lady Bow and Bootler on it-"
"GIMME!" Kirby exclaimed, tearing the poster out of Link's grasp. "Oh man, this is so going on my…bedroom…wall…that I don't have anymore…"
"What do you mean by that?" Zelda asked, tilting her head. Kirby clutched the poster tightly to his chest.
"M-My world was devoured by the Void…" he explained slowly. "…it was one of the first worlds to go…"
Before anyone could figure what to say after hearing that, to their relief, Kirby quickly comforted himself.
"Aw man! Now that I think about it, I should have grabbed that Vivian plushie!" he turned to Sonic, who hadn't exactly let go of the Spike doll. "You're totally lucky I was thinking of you first!"
"But hey, you've got your girlfriend on a poster," Sonic retorted brightly, trying to lighten up the atmosphere again. Slim hovered over Kirby's shoulder, trying to get a look.
"Is that lass Vivian?"
"Ha ha, no, that's Lady Bow- my girlfriend. The purple shadow doll with the red hat in the other room was Vivian…man I'm going to keep kicking myself! I totally want that now!"
Slim whistled. "That's one's a beaut, however. The shadow girl was right cute as well…"
Kirby was now blushing. "Yes they're both attractive- don't mention it, please!"
"I still can't believe there was a Pennington doll in that room as well…" Thoreau trailed. "By the sounds of it, you guys apparently knew him too!"
"I had to bunk in a room on a train with that guy!" Sonic exclaimed. He glanced down at the Spike plushie and grinned. "He had to endure that torture too…"
Dashell was darting around, trying to get a look at Sonic's possession from all angles. "Who is this, again?"
"Well, it's only a red Yoshi…but it looks like my Soul Partner Spike! I saved him from being turned into a hot dog while he was still in his egg!"
"What exactly could he do, anyway?"
"For being so small, the kid was tough- and fast," Sonic explained. "He was a combination of you and Carrie, sort of- he'd carry you and go fast at the same time! Not as fast as me, but it was still pretty impressive."
"Reminiscing is so emotional!" wailed Kirby, hugging the poster even tighter. "WAH!"
Amy, who was sitting on Carrie and listening intently, spoke up. "Wow, I wish I'd had the chance to get a partner like that…"
"I…had a weird connection with Goombella, if you remember," Zelda recalled. "But…I don't think it was strong enough…"
"What are we even talking about anyway- I'm confused!" Bowser shouted angrily.
"Don't hurt yourself in your confusion," murmured Link.
"…meh, it's nothing too important anyway," Sonic said, the Spike doll now sitting on his head. "We've gotta get back to the partners we've got now, even if they're only Pixls."
"You don't really like us, do you?" Boomer sighed sadly, too upset to do a "sss-BOOM" or anything of the sort.
"Why would we not like you?" Peach asked, walking over to Boomer and holding him in her hands.
"You talk so highly of these past partners…" Dashell trailed, for once in his long life not being in high spirits. "…are we not good enough?"
"Heck yeah you're good enough!" Sonic protested. "In fact, it's because of you guys that we can look back on some of the more good times we've had…"
"We've never had a good time," Team BEG chimed in unison.
"That's not our fault," Amy huffed in return.
"Think about it like this- if we didn't like you, would we bother to take you with us?" Link asked. "You're totally useful- plus each of you is unique…"
"Would we be striving so hard to save Tippi?" Peach questioned, which seemed to get everyone to recall just what they were here for anyway- besides the Pure Heart.
"I s'pose you wouldn't," Slim finally said, nodding.
"You wouldn't have wasted all that time trying to save me, either!" Carrie exclaimed.
"Well now that we have the two keys, how's about we go save another Pixl?" Zelda suggested lightheartedly.
"I can easily agree to that one," smirked Peach.
"I just wanna get the Pretty Heart or whatever it's called and get out of this nerd paradise…" Ganondorf sneered under his breath.
"So what're we waiting for?" Kirby asked, jumping onto Carrie with Amy. "Let's go!"
"Yeah!"
The two took off down the hall excitedly, heading back to the large cat door that was the only entrance into Francis' room, and Peach was not too far behind them.
Unlock the door, enter the room, get back Tippi.
Mario wondered if it was as easy as it sounded.
We'll see, Mario...because next weekend we've got ourselves a boss! 8)