Paper Mario: The Temple of the Sun

by that one little guy

Mario goes on vacation in a far off country, where an evil villain's attack causes the world to be literally split in half. Now, it's up to our hero and his new partners to restore balance and save the worlds of Day, Night, and everything in between.

21. Chapter 3, Part V

A/N: Okay first of all, if you haven't heard the news yet… CLICK ON MY PROFILE PAGE RIGHT NOW.

This of course means that Temple of the Sun is now officially AU… or it takes place between SPM and the new game. Let's go with that. Anyway, I'm so hyped up on endorphins or whatever that I just had to write up the Chapter 3 finale and post it right now. And this is probably one of the most crazy-awesome parts of the entire story. So, enjoy!

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Mustard Mines

11:59 am

"Okay! The Mechaminer 2400, the crazy machine the Mousers have been using to mine all the gold outta this place!" Goomblaine loudly announced as he Tattled on their opponent. "Not only can it run us over with those wheels, it can attack us with each one of those arms comin' out of it – that means it'll attack us six times in a row unless we do somethin'!"

"HA HA! You got that right!" jeered one of the Mousers from atop the machine. "Maybe you fellers should just quit while yer ahead, huh? Then maybe we'll go easy on ya!"

"Don't listen to them, guys," Mario ordered his team, starting off by Spin Jumping on the machine. Then Hanner got in a Hammer Throw attack, and Goomblaine ran up and delivered a flawless Multibonk on the wooden frame, causing it to shake dangerously.

"What the – ! Oh, fine! If that's the way you wanna play it!" the Mouser snarled. Suddenly, the five arms of the machine that had been waving haphazardly around all lunged forward at the same time. Mario cried out as the pickaxe sliced at him, and his partners all jumped out of the way from the drills and jaws. Then, suddenly, the Mechaminer put on a burst of speed and came lunging toward them.

Hanner screamed, but they didn't have time to react before the monstrous machine ran them all over, flattening them to the ground.

"Ow… that… hurt," the Hammer Sis whimpered as the Mechaminer backed away from them.

"This thing is a lot tougher than it looks," Mario muttered, shakily climbing back to his feet.

"Aw, you folks gettin' tired already?" another Mouser laughed condescendingly. "I didn't think the sheriff of Golden Spur Ranch would go down that easy!"

"I ain't finished here yet!" Snatchel shouted at them. He charged toward the machine and rammed into it as hard as he could, causing the Mousers to cry out in surprise as they were sent rolling backwards and crashing into the wall. The Mechaminer shook even harder from the impact.

"If we keep attacking that thing, it'll break for sure!" Mario realized.

"Easier said than done!" Goomblaine snapped at him. Sure enough, the Mechaminer had come rolling forward again, its deadly arms lashing out at them a second time. Yelping in fear, Mario had to scramble backwards to avoid taking a drill to the stomach. He tried whacking the arm with his hammer, but that didn't seem to do much…

"Come on, guys!" Hanner pressed, throwing her hammer and hitting one of the Mousers squarely between the eyes. The Mouser snarled furiously and sent another drill at her, but she ducked into her shell just in time as the drill bounced harmlessly off of it. Meanwhile, Stubba frowned in concentration as he ducked underneath another wildly waving arm, running up to the Mechaminer and pounding it as hard as he could with his club.

"All right, now you fellers are startin' to get on our nerves!" the lead Mouser shouted threateningly. He pulled a lever and sent the Mechaminer charging forward, and Stubba was unable to get out of the way before he was run over again.

"Stubba!" Mario screamed, trying to run to the little Clubba. He was stopped in his tracks by another arm, which grabbed him in its metal jaws by his overalls. The plumber cried out in shock as the arm flailed him around before flinging him headfirst into the wall.

"Mario!" cried Hanner as she and the others ran up to him. "Are you okay?"

"Urgh…" Mario sat up slowly, clutching his head. "This would be a heck of a lot easier if we could just get rid of those arms…"

"No kidding! We can't fight off all of them at once!" Hanner agreed. "We gotta detach them somehow, or something!"

"Yeah? How do you plan on doing that, genius?" Goomblaine snarled at her.

Mario's mind was racing. Their constant assault on the machine had proven its structure wasn't strong at all. There had to be some way they could get rid of the arms. There must be something they could do…

Then his eyes fell on Snatchel.

He grinned. "You thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Way ahead of ya, partner!" Snatchel replied with an eager smirk. Straightening out his hat, he raced up to the machine and shot out his lasso, roping one of the outreaching arms. Then he yanked backwards with all his might… and the arm broke off of the machine, flying across the room and crashing into the wall.

"WHAT THE HECK? Nobody told me that could happen!" the lead Mouser cried, turning to smack the one standing next to him. "THIS IS ALL YER FAULT!"

While the Mousers were busy bickering, Mario ran up to Stubba, who was curled up on the ground. "Stubba! Are you all right?"

Stubba quickly uncurled himself, covered in dirt but looking unharmed. "Oh, don't worry about me, Mario!" he giggled.

"Guys, look out!" Hanner shouted at them. Mario looked up in time to see the Mechaminer come barging forward again, and he grabbed Stubba and dived off to the side just in time.

"Okay guys, new plan!" Mario alerted his partners as he raced back over to them. "Snatchel, you get rid of the arms, and then the rest of us will be open to attack the machine. We can break this thing no problem if we all work together!"

"Yeah! I like the sound of that!" Hanner said with a grin.

"Well, we don't!" growled the lead Mouser. "Who says we're even gonna let you get that far? Get a load a' this!"

He pulled on a lever, and all of the remaining arms shot out at them at once, whirring and snapping. Everyone ducked and rolled out of the way, and then Snatchel leapt to his feet and twirled his lasso, yanking off another one of the arms.

"You gonna keep tryin' that?" he laughed.

"Grr… you just wait, Sheriff!" one of the Mousers snarled, shaking his fist. He started fiddling furiously with the levers, causing the Mechaminer to lurch erratically around as it swung its arms around in a wide arc.

"No, you numbskull! That ain't how you do it!" the lead Mouser snapped at him. Both of them started wrestling with the controls, all the while causing the arms to flail crazily in the air.

"…Something tells me they haven't had much practice with that thing," Mario decided, he and his partners watching the spectacle.

"Well, less work for us then!" Snatchel decided. One by one, he Lassoed the wooden arms and pulled them off the machine, until all of them were lying uselessly on the ground.

"YEAH! Way to go!" Hanner cheered, jumping up and down in excitement.

The lead Mouser looked up and realized what had happened. "What the – aw, dangit!" He smacked all of the other Mousers. "Yer all gettin' docked pay fer this!"

"How was that our fault?" one of them protested.

"Would you all just shut up already?" Goomblaine shouted at them, running up and mercilessly Multibonking the now-defenseless machine. Mario and his other partners all followed suit, attacking the Mechaminer with a barrage of their most powerful hits.

Finally, the assault became too much for the shoddy machine to handle. The Mousers all froze and stared down in horror as it let out a loud, dangerous creak, accompanied by the sound of splintering wood. Alarmed, Mario broke off his Power Bounce and scrambled backwards just in time to see the Mechaminer collapse in on itself and come bursting apart. Everybody screamed and ducked as wooden beams and wheels came whizzing over their heads in every direction, crashing into the walls before slumping harmlessly to the ground.

When the dust finally settled, Mario and his partners stood up and slowly approached the place where the Mechaminer once stood. Now there was nothing but four bewildered-looking Mousers sitting among a pile of broken wood.

"Well… that didn't go quite like we planned," one Mouser sighed.

"YAY! We did it!" Stubba cheered joyfully.

"Nice work, you guys!" Mario said with a grin, exchanging high-fives with his partners.

"Oh, this is just perfect!" the lead Mouser growled. "I can't trust you fellers to do anythin', can I? Come on, let's clear outta here while we still can!"

Mario heard that and snapped back to attention. "Not so fast!" he declared, stomping his foot down in front of the lead Mouser to cut off his escape. "First, you're going to tell us what you guys did with that Sun Soul!"

"Yeah! We know you guys have it, so don't even try playing dumb!" Hanner chimed in.

The Mousers looked unsurely at each other before the lead one's face lit up in understanding. A wicked smirk grew on his face.

"Ohoho… I reckon yer talkin' about that dang ol' glowy egg thing we found down here?" he laughed tauntingly. The alarmed looks he got from Mario's team told him he was right, and he grinned in triumph. "Ha! After we got word that the sheriff was down here bustin' the place up, you really think we'd be plumb fool enough to just leave it down here where you could just nab it back? Heck, it don't take a genius to figure out that thing was worth more than all the gold in here put together!"

"Why you little…" Mario growled in frustration.

"You dirty rodent!" Snatchel snarled, grabbing the Mouser. "You'd better tell us what you did with that thing!"

"Oh, it's long gone by now," the thief laughed, enjoying the heck out of torturing the sheriff like this. "We sent it someplace safe, far away from here! I'd like to see ya try and find it now!"

He thrust himself out of the sheriff's grip, landing safely next to his associates. "Our job here is done, fellers! Let's clear outta here! You know where to go!"

"Hey – wait! Where do you think you're going?" Mario shouted after them, but the Mousers ignored him completely, cackling to themselves as they took off through the hole that the Mechaminer had ripped in the wall.

"Come on, guys, we have to catch them!" the plumber yelled at his partners, following the Mousers through the wall with the others close behind him. When he got to the other side, though, he stopped in surprise.

They were standing at the bottom of a long, winding tunnel that led all the way back up to the top. He could ever so slightly make out a shaft of light coming from the very top, meaning the tunnel led back outside. But the thieves were nowhere to be seen; somehow, they were already gone.

"But – but, where'd they all go?" Stubba protested, looking around in confusion.

"And what'd they mean by, their job here is done?" Goomblaine growled to himself. "What're those jokers planning now?"

"I don't know," Mario sighed. "But I think we'd better get out of here fast, guys. We have to follow them. And we have to find that Sun Soul."

And so Mario and his partners raced up the tunnel as fast as they could go, feeling the air grow cooler and lighter around them as they neared the top. Finally they reached the exit, and they stepped out of Mustard Mines into the blazing sunlight.

"Oh… thank goodness!" Hanner sighed, flopping over onto the ground. "Sweet, sweet sunlight! I thought we'd never get out of that place!"

Mario wished he could be as happy as Hanner, but looking around, he was currently preoccupied with the fact that there wasn't a single Mouser to be seen. The guards and the patrols were all gone; Mustard Mines was deserted.

"Boy, they sure cleared out of here fast," he muttered to himself. "But where could they have gone?"

He very quickly got his answer.

"Mario! Look over there!" Stubba cried, tugging on his sleeve and pointing off into the distance. "There's some Yoshis coming over here!"

"Huh?" Mario and the others looked where Stubba was pointing and saw, sure enough, a group of five Yoshis racing through the desert at breakneck speed, throwing up an enormous cloud of dust behind them as they ran. They were heading directly for Mario's team.

"Are they dangerous?" Hanner wondered.

"I don't think so," Mario said with a shake of his head. The closer they got, the more sure he was that he recognized the one in the front.

Snatchel blinked in surprise. "Dusty?" he exclaimed. "That you, partner?"

"Oh, Sheriff! Thank goodness we found ya in time!" Dusty cried as he and the others pulled up in front of Mario's party. "Listen, you gotta get back to town, right now! The Mousers – they've taken over everything! They stormed the whole town!"

"WHAT?!" Mario's team all cried out at once.

"But how?" Mario protested. "I mean, how could this happen? The Mousers were just over here!"

"You mean nobody could stop them?" Hanner asked in alarm.

"I dunno how it happened," Dusty moaned helplessly, shaking his head. "It all happened so sudden – me and the other fellers here just barely made it outta there with our lives! All I know is, if you ain't there, Sheriff, we don't stand a chance against 'em! You gotta get back there now and lay the law down on them no-good varmints before it's too late!"

"You bet yer britches that's what I'm gonna do!" Snatchel snapped, storming over and climbing onto Dusty's back. "C'mon Dusty, let's ride!"

However, the red Yoshi didn't move at all, except to turn his head and give Snatchel an apologetic look.

"Uh… look, Sheriff, I think the world of ya and all, but… both you and I know that not even you know how to ride me."

Snatchel frowned. "You gotta be jokin'…"

"In fact, there ain't ever been but one feller who could do that." Dusty suddenly turned and directly faced Stubba. "Whaddaya say, little partner? Can I give ya a ride back to town?"

"Oh, you bet!" Stubba agreed, looking thrilled.

Mario was stunned. "Well, I didn't see that one coming."

Snatchel facepalmed. "Well, this is humiliatin'…"

––

Mustard Trail

10:38 am

"WHEEEEEEEEEEE!" Stubba cheered as Dusty galloped back through the desert at the speed of a motorcycle. Anyone else would have been flung off a long time ago, but the little Clubba was having no trouble hanging onto the legendary steed. Mario and his other partners were each riding one of the other Yoshis, unable to take their eyes off Stubba.

"How does the little feller do that?" Snatchel called over to Mario.

"I'll tell you when I figure it out!" Mario shouted back.

––

Golden Spur Ranch

10:00 am

Finally, Mario was able to make out the town approaching in the distance, and his blood ran cold when he started hearing a series of frantic screams and cries coming from within. As they arrived at the gate, Dusty literally rammed into it and sent the doors flying open, and then he and the other Yoshis skidded to a stop. Mario and his partners jumped off their rides and stared in horror.

Golden Spur Ranch had been thrown into chaos. The Mouser Gang was racing around and wreaking havoc, tying up the hapless civilians or perched on the roofs of buildings, firing their guns into the air. The townsfolk were running around screaming and frantically trying to get away, only to be captured and tied up by the sinister rodents one by one.

"This here town is ours now!" one of them laughed from his perch atop a water barrel. "And you folks had better remember it!"

"How could this happen?" Mario cried.

Snatchel was looking severely cheesed off. "CAN'T THIS DANG TOWN DO ANYTHING WITHOUT ME?!"

Just then, one of the Mousers standing nearest them took notice of them. "Well, lookie here!" he snickered, alerting all of his fellows. "Look who finally decided to show up! It's the sheriff and his ragtag band! You fellers are just in time fer the show!"

All the other Mousers stopped what they were doing and turned to glare at Mario's group. Trembling nervously, the five of them immediately crowded together in a circle, standing back-to-back with each other and facing the gang of outlaws surrounding them on all sides. All the townsfolk who weren't tied up stood frozen, too afraid to do anything to help.

"All right, I'm only gonna say this once," Snatchel growled at them. "You varmints got no business here, so I suggest you all clear outta here now before I run y'all out on a rail! Who's the leader a' this here stunt? I wanna talk to him face to face!"

In response, the Mousers did nothing but chuckle amongst each other… and then, further up the street, a tall figure came striding into view. Hanner was the only one facing him, and her eyes widened when she saw him.

"Wait a minute – Snatchel! Isn't that your deputy?"

Snatchel instantly spun around. "WHAT?!"

"HOO-WEE! You sure are some kinda fool, Sheriff!" Bronson called over in a mocking laugh. "Clearin' outta town and leavin' the whole place to me like that! Me and the gang here couldn't hardly ask for an easier time takin' the place over!"

"Y'mean you were in charge of the bad guys this whole time?" Stubba accused furiously.

Mario looked back and forth between the mice and the rat. "Y'know, in retrospect, this should've been really obvious."

Snatchel was dumbfounded. "I can't believe this, Bronson! I trusted you!"

"Yeah, well, we all make mistakes, don't we?" the Rat Funk chuckled. "Well, except me, that is. I ain't ever come up with a more perfect plan! I figured if you ever got word a' the Mousers clearin' out Mustard Mines like that, it was only a matter of time before you just had to go there yourself!"

"Wait – what?" Goomblaine demanded.

"I don't believe this," Mario fumed. "This whole time, the Mousers taking over the mines was just a distraction to get Snatchel to leave town! He planned this whole thing out!"

"Well if that ain't the most low-down, dirty bilge rat I ever saw!" Hanner exclaimed angrily.

Every single person present turned to stare at her.

"Uh… sorry. I think I've been here too long," she muttered, blushing furiously.

Snatchel had very clearly had enough of this. "All right, now you listen here! All of ya! This here is my town, and nobody else's! And I won't stand for no bunch a' nogoodnicks like you tryin' to take it from me!"

"And neither will we!" Mario added as he and his partners stood fearlessly together. "We'll fight you for this town, if that's what it takes!"

"Is that so?" Bronson remarked with a sneer. "Well, this I gotta see."

He pointed directly at them. "Sic 'em, fellers!"

All at once, the Mousers roared in fury and came charging en masse toward Mario and his group, who were more than ready to meet them.

"YEE-HAW! Time to dispense some Wild West style justice on these guys!" Hanner cheered as they all rushed forward and the armies clashed.

And so began the famous Battle of Golden Spur Ranch that would be spoken of in ballads and legends for ages to come. Mario swung his hammer furiously around, sending the Mousers flying by the dozens. When that didn't work, he busted out his Multibounce attack, stomping on them in quick succession as easily as though he were playing hopscotch.

Goomblaine was putting up an even better fight. The number of gang wars he'd been in had left him well-equipped to take on multiple enemies like this. The Mousers ganged up on him and threw themselves at him, but he ducked and dodged their every blow, then spun around and Headbonked the one who was unfortunate enough to be standing nearest to him.

But nobody was having more fun than Stubba. During their battle, some of the confused Mousers thought they saw a small green blur whizzing back and forth, not realizing it was Stubba until he crashed into their heads. The little Clubba was performing his Hyper Bounce and slamming into dozens of Mousers in every direction, laughing and cheering all the while as he sent them sprawling.

"All right, fellers! No more messin' around!" one of the Mousers snarled as he and several others ganged up on Hanner. "The sheriff is one thing, but this girl is gonna wish she never stuck her nose in our business!"

"Oh, please. You guys need to learn who you're dealing with!" Hanner said snidely. To demonstrate, she unleashed her Shrink Hammer on her attackers, hurling a barrage of hammers at them. As each one was hit, they suddenly shrank to a quarter of their original size, and yelped in shock and fear as they realized what had happened.

"Ha ha! Still think you can take me?" the Hammer Sis laughed, towering over them.

"Now, wait just a dern minute!" snapped one of the Mousers in a comically high-pitched voice. "We may be small, but there's still a ton of us! And I don't reckon you'd enjoy havin' a bunch of us little mice crawlin' over you!"

Hanner quickly blanched. "Aw crap…"

"Yeah! LET'S GET 'ER, FELLAS!" shouted another Mouser.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!" Hanner screamed as the army of miniature Mousers dogpiled on top of her.

Of course, later on there would be no doubt in anyone's mind that the sheriff was fighting the most fiercely of all. When he wasn't plowing into the Mousers, he was whipping out his lasso, roping them and throwing them clear out of the battle before they even knew what had happened. Not one of the thieves could even get near him.

This was his town, after all, and if he didn't fight for it, then who would?

Suddenly, Mario heard an unfamiliar chorus of determined cries, and he managed to tear himself away from the heat of battle in time to see something amazing. Fueled by the bravery of the sheriff's gang, the townsfolk had joined in the fight. They had untied themselves and were battling the Mousers every way they knew how, whether it was smashing them with bottles or just punching them in the face. Mario quickly realized that the Yoshis, led by Dusty, were fighting back as well, plowing through the crowd of rodents as they gulped them and spat them out.

He burst out laughing. "Boy, this is really something!"

"But where's Hanner?" Stubba wondered from next to him.

"GET 'EM OFF ME! GET 'EM OFF ME!" Hanner shrieked as she raced by, the shrunken Mousers still swarming over her. Mario sighed, grabbed her and shook them off.

"Thanks, Mario!" she said sweetly before charging back into the fight.

The battle wore on like that, and it very quickly became clear that the Mousers weren't going to win. The combined determination and might of everyone in town was obviously too much for them to handle.

"I can't believe it! We're actually winning!" Mario cheered.

Clearly Bronson couldn't believe it either. "All right, that does it!" he bellowed, his voice ringing out over the chaos of the fight. "This here is between you and me, Sheriff! You call off yer friends and face me like a man! Mousers, back off!"

They looked more than happy to oblige. Very few of them were even left standing, and they staggered away from their respective battles and collapsed to the ground in exhaustion. The townsfolk quickly tied them up with the same ropes that had been used on them.

"What're you talkin' about?" Snatchel asked suspiciously.

"You heard me! You and me, in a good old-fashioned showdown! Winner takes all! You accept?"

"What? Oh, come on! You're just playin' dirty because your stupid gang lost the fight!" Goomblaine accused him.

"Yeah! We won, fair and square, so just deal with it!" Hanner agreed.

"Oh, I wouldn't say you won just yet," the deputy chuckled. "Y'see, I just got a hold a' somethin' we found in the mines. I was told you fellers might be interested in it."

He pulled something out of his vest, and everyone gasped.

The object in his hands looked just like the Sun Souls belonging to Hanner and Stubba. It was the same egg shape, had the same silver waves, and shone with the same light. But its color – a pure, brilliant yellow – was the most breathtaking thing about it.

"Whaddaya say, Sheriff? You win, you get the town and this pretty little egg. Sound fair?"

Before Mario could even open his mouth, Snatchel had already responded.

"I accept."

The entire town erupted into astonished murmurs and whispers, most of them looking incredibly frightened.

"Snatchel, are you sure about this?" Mario asked him in a low voice. "He's obviously just trying to get you by yourself so we can't help you."

"Oh, I know that, Mario. And that's how I want it. There are some things a man has just gotta do by himself."

Mario nodded in understanding. "Of course. I guess it wouldn't be a Wild West adventure without a showdown at high noon."

"But it's only ten," Stubba said in confusion.

"Figure of speech, Stubba."

"All right then, Sheriff," Bronson said with a smirk, stepping out into the middle of the street and pulling out a gun. "When you feel like it, you draw."

Hanner's eyes widened. "Wait a minute! Snatchel, you can't fight him like this! He has a gun!" When he didn't look worried, she prompted, "And you don't have a gun?"

"Hanner's right. You have to get a weapon or something – " Mario began, but the sheriff cut him off with a shake of his head.

"I ain't never used violence to uphold the law," he said firmly. "If I did, I'd be no better than that old sidewinder. I got this handled, don't you worry." He smiled and winked at them.

And so Mario and his other partners could only stand back and watch in anticipation and fear, along with the rest of the town, as the sheriff and deputy faced each other. Everyone recognized that the fate of the town was hanging on the outcome of this fight. Everything was deathly silent. No one dared to move. The sweltering hot sun beat down and the tension filled the air. An obligatory tumbleweed blew across the street as the opponents glared at each other from under their hats, wondering who would move first, and when –

And then the silence was shattered as Bronson let out a furious cry, pulling the gun out of his holster and preparing to fire –

And before his finger had even found the trigger, a lasso had come shooting up, tightening around the handle and yanking the gun clear out of his hands. Then the sheriff snapped the rope like a whip, whacking him in the side of the head with his own gun. He cried out in pain before crumpling to the ground, very soundly defeated.

There was a lingering moment of stunned silence… and then, all at once, the entire town flew into a celebration as whoops and cheers of joy filled the air. Hanner and Stubba linked arms and began dancing around in a circle, and several random people started throwing up their hats or firing pistols into the air. Even Mario was swept up in it before long.

Amidst all the excitement, Snatchel chuckled to himself and walked over to Bronson, slapping a pair of handcuffs on him. "By the power vested in me as sheriff of Golden Spur Ranch… y'all are under arrest, partner!"

"Dangit…" he muttered. "I shoulda known you'd be too stubborn to give up that easy."

"Well, we all make mistakes, don't we?" the sheriff replied without missing a beat. "Oh, and I'll be takin' that back too," he added, picking up the Sun Soul.

Mario broke off from celebrating in time to see Snatchel walking back over to him, holding the Sun Soul out graciously. "Mario partner, I believe this belongs to you."

Before Mario could respond, the Sun Soul suddenly began glowing fiercely, emitting a bright yellow light, as though it had been waiting for just this moment.

Snatchel looked at it in surprise. "Uh… is it supposed to do that?"

"Well, actually, yeah," said Mario, not even trying to contain his smile. Hanner and Stubba were grinning as well, looking absolutely thrilled.

"You see, there's something we haven't told you," Mario went on. "That Sun Soul… well, it doesn't really belong to me… it belongs to you."

Snatchel tore his gaze away from the Sun Soul and stared at him. "Wait… what?" he cried. "W-what're you gettin' at, Mario? You – you mean I'm – "

"Oh, we've been waiting so long for you to find out!" Hanner burst out happily, unable to contain herself any longer.

"Yeah, you're a Guardian just like me an' Hanner!" Stubba giggled in excitement. "That's okay, right?"

Snatchel was just looking more and more dumbfounded. "Wait a minute! Y'mean you – y'all knew it was me this whole time? And ya didn't even tell me?"

"Oh, come on! You would never have believed us anyway," Hanner laughed.

"Yeah… we figured it was best to just let the facts speak for themselves," Mario agreed.

Snatchel had no idea what to say in response to that. Instead, he just turned back to stare at the Sun Soul that was still glowing in his hands. And the longer he looked at it, the more he wondered how he'd ever gone so long without it.

"Oh, Mario… I reckon this means I'm gonna be stickin' with you and yer posse for quite a while, don't it?"

"Uh huh."

Then he looked up at them and smiled. "Well, then, it's a good thing I've come to like you fellers."

Hanner grinned. "YAY! We all love each other!" she cheered as she threw an arm each around Mario and Snatchel, accidentally throwing them all off balance and causing them to collapse to the ground.

Mario found the Sunhigh Soul! His Star Power is now 3! With Snatchel's help, he can now use the special move, Miracle Grow!

~END OF CHAPTER~

The Wild West was a dangerous and mysterious place, fraught with enemies at every turn… Armed with diligence and determination, Mario and his partners were able to rescue the town of Golden Spur Ranch from the clutches of the sinister Mouser Gang. With three Sun Souls now in his possession, Mario's quest is halfway complete… but it will only be more difficult from here. Where could the adventure possibly lead him next?

To Be Continued…

––––

A/N: Master of Randomness, you totally called it.

And with that, my favorite chapter is over… darn :( Well, I hope you all enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Which is quite a lot. And there's plenty of adventure and excitement left in this story, so don't go anywhere. As a matter of fact, Chapter 4 should be pretty epic as well.