Hi this is Frederic Marile! This here is Legend of the Clouds: Chapter Two: Part Six. Part six, dude! Okay, that was weird.

Disclaimer: I don't own the Mario series, unfortunately. I only own all of my original characters. Which means I have complete power over them. But askage on your part will probably entail my permission for you to use them. So let's go!

The party, with its newest addition made in the form of Snow T. (which Mario had definitely not expected but not argued with), trudged towards the mountain tiredly. If it was possible, Mario thought it had seemed much shorter a trip the first time. But no one spoke, although Mario could tell each and every one of them (himself included) wanted to suggest they set up a place to sleep. One problem: they didn't have a tent or anything of the sort. They hadn't known that a giant octopus was going to block their only fast exit out, so they hadn't thought to bring camping supplies. Of course, they could sleep on the ground…and they probably would have to before long.

The first person to finally speak was Koopetto, oddly enough. "Do you think this Octobust guy is expecting us to come?" Not only was Koopetto an unlikely candidate for first one to talk, but Mario thought the question was an odd one.

But then he thought-maybe Koopetto had a point. This freak of nature with invisible wings had reasons to expect them, and reasons to expect them not to come. For one, he probably knew Mario's face because he worked for Troy. On the other hand, he could have believed himself to have scared the party out of pursuing him.

"Hmm…" was all Mario said however. After a moment he continued, having made a decision. "I bet he thinks we'll come. He probably knows we're after the Fragments, so we'll be waiting for us."

"Yeah, you're right," Koopetto replied, nodding and then dropping the subject.

"So let me get this straight," Snow said suddenly. "We're gonna kill an octopus…and we're gonna get a cloud for it." Mario nodded.

"That makes a lot of sense," Snow remarked sarcastically.

"I remember this mountain is supposed to be called Fever Peak," Goomessa told the other. "Maybe it is a volcano…"

"I told you about the guardians, right?" Mario asked.

"Yeah you did," Snow answered. "Who's the next one supposed to be?" she inquired curiously.

It suddenly hit Mario that it had never occurred to him to ask Gillis last time they had seen him who the next spirit guardian would be. Gillis had been so happy and talked so much that Mario had hardly got a word in edgewise. Not that it mattered; they would certainly meet him or her soon enough. Still, he decided it might do him good to think back to meeting the guardians. While the party continued to walk towards the mountain, he remembered the enthralling (although also rather awkward) time when he had seen them. He remembered Amber of course, sadistic but practical, and the Toad, calm and orderly. Who were the others? Right-he remembered the Yoshi, rather annoying but optimistic; the Boo, refined and polite; the Bob-bomb, proud and laid-back. The other-Mario thought for a moment and then recalled the Fuzzy, both eccentric and energetic; and the Star Child, kind but serious. All different and varying, they were.

They were what Luigi would call "quite a crew" and HOLY SHITAKE MUSHROOMS LUIGI! It pierced Mario like fire that he hadn't thought about his brother since Troy had come to the party and hit him with the darkness or whatever it was. Where was Luigi? Was he okay? What had happened to him after Troy had vowed to spread the darkness through the Mushroom Kingdom? Mario's head went fuzzy with thoughts and questions. He couldn't believe he had completely forgotten about his own brother.

He was so frustrated and horrified that he didn't even see the giant log. He walked head-on into it, falling backwards and onto the ground. He shortly got up and brushed himself off, looking up afterwards to see all three of his partners staring at him blankly. Goomessa blinked a few times and asked, "Are you deaf or something?"
Mario looked back at them, embarrassed. He must have been so lost in thought that he hadn't heard them tell him to stop. He was getting into a habit of humiliating himself on Lucifer's Isle…

"How are we supposed to get rid of that thing, anyway?" Snow wondered out loud.

"Dunno…" Goomessa replied, looking at the log forcefully as though willing it to roll away.

Koopetto suggested they push it together. Their combined strength would be enough to move it, he said.

But it wasn't. Snow folded her arms and blew out a breath out frustration. Goomessa jumped as a stream of cold air hit her. "What was that?" she asked cautiously to no one in particular.

Koopetto shrugged and Mario looked around for some sort of trap that Octobust had set to freeze them or something.

Snow raised her hand. "That was me," she said. "I'm a little shivery today."

The others nodded. But how were they going to get rid of this giant slab of wood? They could turn around and take a different path through the forest…Yes, they'd have to do that.

But right as he was about to suggest they turn back, he was struck by a new idea. "Snow, if you can breathe cold air just by being cold, even on this tropical sunshine place-or tropical cloudy place anyway-then do you think you could breathe hot air by being warm?"

Snow looked confused at the question, as though Mario wasn't making any sense. "I suppose so…"

Goomessa stepped forward. "Mario, I know what you're trying to do, but I don't think it's gonna work. Snow can't just suddenly be warm."

"You're right…"

Snow unfolded her arms and began to hum. Mario turned and asked, "What are you doing?"

"I sometimes hum or sing when I'm trying to think," Snow replied.

Mario nodded and paced, trying to think. They would have to a different way instead.

But he was interrupted again from saying so when a small red hue began to appear around Snow. Mario jumped. "What is that?" he cried.

Snow stopped humming. "Whaddya mean?"

"That thing that was…I must be really tired, I'm hallucinating," Mario decided not to finish the first sentence.

"No, I saw it too," Goomessa whispered. "Snow, keep humming. I want to know what that was."

Snow continued, and before long the ring appeared around her again. Mario walked into it and jumped back immediately, holding a burn in his hand. Then his eyes lit up. "I think…we've found our way past this thing. Snow, keep singing and walk into that log."

Snow looked confusedly at him again but complied. The log sparked for a few seconds. Snow's eyes went wide but she didn't stop. The log caught fire after a moment. It spread quickly and burned the entire log down in a matter of seconds. The party looked down at the ashes in shock. Snow finally quit humming and stared as well.

"That was pretty," Goomessa commented.

"Yeah, I burned down a log. How fascinating," Snow joked.

"Wow. I can't believe you could do that," Mario said, turning to Snow. "That really was amazing."

Snow smiled and murmured a thank-you, well, we should make our way to that mountain don't you think.

Mario simply nodded.

Goomessa walked to Mario's side. "Mario," she whispered, "you look troubled about something. You do that a lot. What's up?"

Mario looked up at the question. "I don't know, really…maybe I'm just too tired to think."

Goomessa looked at him with a mixture of pity and dole before suggesting the party advance as Snow had said.

As the made the trek, Mario rolled over the day's events in his head. It had been quite a day. Mario felt he could fall asleep while he was walking. It had been hours since they had left Levi for the entrance, and it seemed the walk was much longer than when Mario and Goomessa had left by themselves.

Were they going in the wrong direction?

If they were walking the wrong way, Mario would murder himself. But he could swear they were going the same direction he and Goomessa had gone.

And then he fell. Flailing his arms wildly, he tumbled down a sloping wall of mud and hit the bottom of a ditch headfirst. Shaking dirt off his head, he made an effort to stand. But he slipped on the mud and fell on his face again.

He heard someone sliding down the mud also. Looking up, he saw Goomessa looking down at him with the same piteous face as before. "Do you, like, have knobs on your ears that turn them off or something?" For some reason, Mario felt the lack of smugness in her tone made embarrassing himself again even worse. He got back up with her help and thanked her awkwardly.

"Hey!" Snow called down. "How are you gonna get out of there anyway?"
"I think…I'm not sure," Mario answered.

But before the party could ponder the solution, the ditch suddenly rumbled. Mario and Goomessa spun around to see what was happening.

Some five Ice Perris exploded out of the middle of the hole. Before anybody could process what had happened, four of them hopped madly at the party.

The fifth stared at them with narrowed bead eyes. Mario was surprised to find it was different from the others in that it was bright blue instead of white, and its eyes were red instead of yellow. "That's a Perri Ringleader," Goomessa explained. "They have 10 HP instead of 5, but their otherwise just like their lessers.

"You're moustache-man, aren't you! This is what you get for killing little Benny!" the Ringleader shrieked. Apparently many more things could talk than Mario knew.

"Benny?" Mario echoed, but a Perri was on top of him before he could say more.

If he had not had Koopetto and Snow with him this time, he and Goomessa would be…not very happy with their lives. With all of his partners' help, he dispatched the first four Perris. The Ringleader finally jumped into the ditch, were Koopetto and Snow had fallen by now. "How could you!" it squealed. Mario could tell it was female.

Snow stepped-or scrambled-forward and yelled back at the Leader, "I'll scream! We'll scream if you come any closer and then my sister Levi will come and…um…"

"Do you actually think I care what your sister plans to do?" the Leader demanded. "If you try to kill me, me and my other friends will scream and King Octobust will come and beat you up! How do you like that?"

Snow whimpered.

"There are a lot more of us then there are you," the Perri Ringleader said triumphantly.

"Okay, guys, plan," Mario instructed. "Get rid of this guy!"

The Ringleader laughed and bounded easily out of the ditch. Mario and his partners were not so lucky. After slipping down the wall again, Mario blew out a breath and said to his friends, "Okay, guys, new plan. Snow, sing!"

Snow looked dumbfounded for a moment but then grinned. She sang for a moment and the same red ring they had seen around her earlier appeared again. The dirt dried quickly, and the party was able to advance towards the Leader. It pivoted on one hind paw and hopped away. "Guys, guys! The moustache is-" it shouted, but it was muffled in the middle of it by Mario's hammer crashing down on it.

I wonder if I can control this thing," Snow thought aloud. Bracing herself for a burn, she grabbed the ring. To her surprise, she was able to hold it. She threw some of it at the Ringleader, who cried out in pain. It hopped back to its feet and jumped at Snow, but Goomessa and Koopetto intercepted it, each delivering a blow before it reached her. The Leader fell to the ground and made no further noise.

"Great," Goomessa muttered, "now all the rest of them know we're here too."

"It's okay," Mario assured her, "Octobust knew anyway, so the other enemies would probably find out soon enough."

"Yeah," Goomessa agreed briefly. "I bet the mountain is somewhere near here, though, so maybe we can get there before anything else finds us."

"Probably," Mario replied.

They were right; it was only another twenty minutes or so before they found themselves at the base of the mountain again.

"Well, here it is," Mario told the two who had not traveled the first time.

"It's nice," Koopetto commented.

"Yeah it is." Snow nodded. "If only that sky would clear up."

"The entrance was somewhere around here," Mario mumbled to himself. "To the right I think…"

Before long he stumble upon the entrance once more, his partners right behind him. Now that he looked at it more closely, Mario thought it looked as though someone had carved this entrance quite recently. Weird…

"Well, let's go inside," Goomessa suggested quietly.

Mario nodded and let the way inside Fever Peak, ready to challenge Octobust and take back what was rightfully not theirs.

I think that's it! Sorry this part took so long, but school is a gigantic jerk (take from five to nine to do my homework my foot). Whatever, you got the part, so tell me what you think please! Have a good day!

By the way, I still haven't got a single suggestion for the name of a guardian, and it's not gonna be too long before Amber's name is going to be set in stone. So either you guys really like my ideas for names, or you don't care whether they have names or not.

Whichever it is, have a nice day.