"Oh, Luigi! It's so good to see you!" Peach said as soon as she saw the disguised plumber. She ran up to hug him, but he quickly stopped her with a loud "Sssh" and finger in front of his mouth.
"Yes madam, everyone's happy when Luigi's Pizza shows up" Luigi said, adding a wink at the end of his sentence. "I'm afraid that it's not all sunshine and roses though; my boss'll throw me in jail if I don't get paid again".
Peach nodded knowingly, and went to get some money from her purse. "I'm sorry about that. Tell your boss that I'm sorry I couldn't pick it up in person, but I've been really tied up as of late" Peach said very carefully to ensure her true meaning was understood. "It feels like I have absolutely NO time to myself lately, so I'm sorry if your boss is feeling a bit neglected, but there's nothing I can do. He should probably start looking for new costumers, if he wants to stay in business".
"Alright then, I'll be on my way" said Luigi, stuffing his pocket full of the random amount of coins Peach had given him. "Have a nice day, and thanks for the tip!"
After the mustachioed plumber left, Peach sighed loudly laid back down on her bed, frustrated. She hated being helpless so much, and she wished, just this once, to be the one to save Mario instead of the other way around. Now, it seemed like they'd both need saving, and right now Luigi seemed like their only hope.
"Well, him and that robot fellow" Peach thought to herself. "What was its name again? I hope it's alright…"
Everything on Gelato Beach was standing still, save for the gentle ocean waves. Everyone and everything was petrified in anticipation, and barley a sound could be heard as they all waited. Then, a loud thud rang out, so loud it felt like it shook the island itself. Then another, and another, each increasing in strength and frequency.
F.L.U.D.D.'s pneumatic legs couldn't carry it fast enough, and as soon as it reached the palm tree line to the beach it shouted at the top of its speakers "Everyone, run for your lives!"
The robot did not need to explain, as the giant, green haired man burst through the palm trees behind it, charging with the unstoppable force of a train. While previously he had looked quite calmed and relaxed when he was sleeping on top of Shine Tower, now his face was red with rage and contorted with wrath, his white gloves balled up into fists, and steam was even shooting out of his nose and ears.
The people of Gelato Beach immediately panicked, and fled in all directions. Some swam out into the ocean, others took cover in the surf cabana, and some of the cleverer ones ran into the forest because they knew the monster had set its sights on the robot. Said robot was still running along the beach, still trying to calculate a way to survive this encounter. Spraying him had had no effect on the conductor, other than enraging him even further, and the moments the robot had to escape were quickly running out.
Eventually the giant man chased F.L.U.D.D. all the way to the cliff lining the eastern edge of the beach, but the robot kept running straight up the cliff face. Once it reached as high as its momentum would take it, the robot activated its hover nozzle and back-flipped over the giant's head, brushing against his sunflower as it did.
The result was the man smashing face first into the cliff wall, which caused him to fall back on his rear and begin rubbing his, now very sore, nose. When he got back up and looked around, the beach was entirely empty.
F.L.U.D.D. had taken the opportunity to hide under the nearby sand cabana, where many Delfino citizens were already cowering.
"What do we do?" whispered a Noki woman with a purple shell, scared out of her wits. "We can't stay down here forever. What if he finds us?"
"Or worse" interjected the archeologist from earlier. "What if he climbs back on top of the tower? It might not be able to take the stress and break, which would kill the last sand bird egg!"
"Well, if you want to go out there and fight that thing, be my guest" retorted a Pianta woman with red hair. "I, on the other hand, want to live long enough to see my grandchildren sprout".
While this conversation was going on, F.L.U.D.D.'s cameras kept scanning the beach in search of some kind of solution to this potentially deadly problem. The giant continued to stomp around the beach, its blue boots leaving gigantic footprints in the sand in its wake. It began brushing aside parts of the palm tree forest like they were blades of grass in search of the robot, and calling out "Where are you, little guy? Wiggler just wants to play".
Even though the green clothed man seemed so childlike at the moment, he was still quite terrifying, and everyone wisely remained in their hiding places, praying that it would eventually just move on.
F.L.U.D.D. was not going to take such a passive approach, however, and finally formulated a plan to get them all out of this sticky situation. The robot switched to its turbo nozzle band began powering it up. It then ran back out onto the beach to make sure no one was hurt by the blast of water, and fired its turbo nozzle.
Wiggler spotted F.L.U.D.D. immediately, and took off running after the miniscule yellow robot. F.L.U.D.D. turbo nozzle was more than enough to allow the robot to run circles around giant, though that wasn't its intention.
"What's he doing?" asked the Noki woman from beneath the sand cabana.
"Leaving us for dead, probably" responded the Pianta redhead. "Can't say that I blame him, but that means that we're all still stuck here".
While F.L.U.D.D. had enough power and water to escape out into the ocean if it wanted to, it wasn't about to let Shadow Mario scare it off. Instead, the robot started to zip across the beach at near sonic speeds, leaving a thick trail of water behind it.
Wiggler tried his best to grab or crush F.L.U.D.D., but he missed every time. His frustration continued to build until his face had turned back to bright red, and steam started shooting out of his head again. It eventually started to come out with such force that the giant started to whistle like a train, and he began picking up speed like one too.
F.L.U.D.D. was not scared as it ran around though; it had calculated that it would be done long before Wiggler became fast enough to become a legitimate threat. When it felt that it had done its work, F.L.U.D.D. propelled itself to the spit of sand jutting out from the beach, turned around, and started waiting.
"I've got you now" Wiggler said, staring down at the insignificant robot from the main beach. But before he could reach down and grab it, the entire beach he was standing on suddenly burst up. When F.L.U.D.D. ran around the beach with its turbo nozzle, it was evenly watering all of the dune buds so that they would all implode at the same time and send the beach rocketing skywards.
"Ahhhh!" Wiggler yelled as he was tossed a good twenty meters through the air. When he hit the ground, the beach shook even harder than when Wiggler jumped down from Shine Tower, and a cloud of dust and sand was sent billowing up into the air, blinding anyone unfortunate enough to be looking at the scene.
Even F.L.U.D.D. with its mechanical eyes was blinded, unable to see through the thick coating of sand that now covered the front of its body.
"Augh! I hate it when that happens" F.L.U.D.D. said, simulating annoyance and disgust.
After hosing itself down, the robot peered through the dust and saw that the giant was still moving. That was definitely a problem, since F.L.U.D.D. doubted that even Wiggler would be foolish enough to fall for the same trap twice. So, it switched back to its hover nozzle and approached the angry green giant carefully.
Wiggler was thrashing around in the crater in he had made, arms imbedded in the sand and unable to get back up. He stopped struggling when F.L.U.D.D. floated onto his large red nose, and they just stared at each other for a while, unsure of what to do or say.
Suddenly, F.L.U.D.D. felt Wiggler's nose throb under its feet, and it almost looked like it was glowing. F.L.U.D.D. looked at Wiggler with a knowing look.
"No!" Wiggler pleaded.
F.L.U.D.D. raised its right foot up into the air.
"Please don't do it!" the Giant screamed.
The robot brought its pneumatic foot down and caused the nose to burst, and the rest of Wiggler to turn into sand and start melting away. A Shine Sprite rose out where the nose used to be and began floating up into the sky, and back to Delfino Plaza. It cost a small chunk of the beach, but F.L.U.D.D. had finally managed to defeat all the monsters Shadow Mario had created, though there was still no sign of the actual perpetrator anywhere.
F.L.U.D.D. was already starting to run a bit low on power from such an exhausting day, so it decided it would probably be best to begin charging now and start searching for Shadow Mario early the next day. The android made its way back to the dumpster it had slept by the previous night and tried its best to disinfect the area.
"Hey, what are you doing?" asked a blue haired Pianta man who followed F.L.U.D.D. back to behind the house.
"Oh, is this your domicile?" responded F.L.U.D.D. "I'm sorry, but I couldn't find anywhere else to recharge my batteries. If you want, I can go search somewhere else".
"No, that's fine, but why don't you just go to the sand cabana? They let tourists recharge their electronics there all the time, and it's a lot safer and cleaner than doing it out here" the man explained.
"I cannot do that; the last time I entered the sand cabana, they immediately threw me out for attempting to save their lives yesterday. After saving them again today, they'll probably react even harsher than before" said F.L.U.D.D.
"I wouldn't be too sure about that" the Pianta explained. "I'd try giving them another chance".