Super Paper Mario X
Chapter 25: One Emergency After Another
"This planet really seems…on the small side…" Tippi trailed, gazing at the exterior of the planet they had landed on. It was for the most part desolate, but at least it had breathable air, meaning the group could take off their helmets for the time being.
"It's only small if you compare it to other planets- then it would be considered a dwarf planet and get mistreated by scientists," rambled Kirby. Tippi had no idea what Kirby meant, so she returned her attention back to Squirps.
"Just where do you intend to take us?"
"Somewhere on this planet should be an entrance to the Space Byway, squeeork! Yup! It's a shortcut to the Pure Heart!"
"Really…you don't say…and where might this entrance be?"
"Squeh squeh squeh squeh…you're gonna laugh, Squarg! IT'S…"
Dramatic pause.
"Squirps forgot."
Mario: *falls anime style*
"…"
"I knew we shouldn't trust this kid!" Ganondorf shouted to the sky. Mario got back off the ground and stared Squirps down.
"Don't look at Squirps like that! Everything's fine! I think there should probably be some clues around here somewhere, squirple…"
"What a wretch…" groaned Tippi. Half the gang snickered while Peach was prepared to scold Tippi for referring to Squirps as such- even if it was true. Everything was interrupted as Squirps' face suddenly twisted up in agony.
"HNNNNRG!"
"What is it? Do you remember something?" Tippi asked frantically. Squirps shook his head and started dancing around.
"No! I…I have to go potty! I REALLY have to go! I can't hold it anymore!"
"…are you kidding me?"
"You should have gone before we left!"
"I didn't have to go then!" Squirps shouted back, looking for the nearest restroom.
"Like there's really going to be a convenient toilet on a teeny-tiny random planet in space," scoffed Sonic.
"Maybe he'll find a tree."
"Let's…look for some clues ourselves…" sighed Tippi.
Mario: Yeah…
And so start their trek on the Planet Blobule. Wherever Squirps had ran off to, they were hoping he would take care of his business and- in Ganondorf's case- get lost. However, he didn't get far…because he was standing right next to a porta-potty.
"What the…"
"Okay, that's way too convenient. What the heck?"
"Squiiiiiiiiirps! It's occupied, squiiinkle! And whoever's in there won't come out!" Squrips wailed, still putting on a performance with his bathroom dance. "At this rate…Squirps is going to have an accident!"
"Well whoever is in there needs to come out!" growled Bowser, thundering up to the door and pounding on it mercilessly.
"Does anyone else find it weird that there even IS someone in there?" Amy asked, to which several of the others nodded.
"Heeeeere I seeeet, amore! Awaiting you, amore! No more, no more, amore!" the voice inside the restroom sang. Bowser took a few steps back and stared at the door, a confused expression plastered to his face.
"This is no time for some silly song, squirple! I've got a bathroom emergency here!" Squirps wailed.
"100 years ago, amore! I came in here to go, amore! So bored, so bored, amore! No toilet paper here, amore! I wait 100 years, amore! What for, what for, amore? Any paper please, amore? Just a sheet for me, amore! Implore, implore, amore!"
"Amore."
"I take it we have to find a piece of paper for him?" Zelda winced.
"Of course not! Who says we need to help him anyway? It'll just slow us down!" grunted Bowser.
"Like you guys don't slow us down enough already," Kirby giggled.
"I refuse to reply to that."
"Hey look- zero gravity!" Sonic interrupted, taking a small leap off the ground and jumping incredibly high. "It's just like back on the moon!"
"If it's like the moon, then I still can't balance on my sword," grumbled Link. "…but we can still, how you say, get a jump on things!"
Mario rolled his eyes while smirking as everyone else got on Link's case for the terrible joke. It was true- their jumps were greatly improved on this planet due to lesser gravity. It reminded Mario of Team Luigi once again- and once again, he was reminded of how they were no where to be found.
Meanwhile, while Mario was pondering important concepts, everyone else was enjoying their new jumping skills, especially the villains. Bowser even threw up his hands in celebration.
"Whee!"
The group bounded through the planet, jumping on anything that got in their way. Amy crushed a Longator, Link found a hidden ledge with a Shroom in a ? Block, and Kirby was knocked right off the edge of a cliff thanks to Eggman's abrupt landing right next to him.
"…oops?"
"Kirby!" Amy cried, running over to the edge and peering down. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine! I found a door that needs a key though!"
"Really?"
Mario walked over to Amy and looked down as well- Kirby was pointing frantically at the red-rainbow door, locked up tightly. He then jumped up and leaped from wall to wall until he returned with the rest of the gang.
"Not much we can do with that yet though, so let's keep going!"
Mario nodded and was the first to make the daring leap over the gap. When he landed on the other side, he stylishly took out another Longator and saw a brown block suspended in midair. Link stumbled to a stop and, similar to what happened to Kirby, knocked Mario over the edge.
"Why is everyone having so much trouble making solid landings?" Peach asked, delicately floating to the ground with her parasol over her shoulder. Link whirled around and shook a fist.
"I tripped! Can't say the same about Eggman-"
"Hey! I'm not used to jumping, let alone performing such long-jump feats!"
"That's not a surprise," muttered Zelda.
Amy peeked over the edge again, looking around. "Where'd Mario go?"
"He's over there," Ganondorf said simply, pointing over the next gap. Mario reappeared from 3-D, then landed on the other side. The only way to climb up the side was to flip into 3-D, but it took longer than he had wanted it to thanks to another Longator. But now that he was on the next ledge…he found a statue.
Mario: ?
It was a small rock with a face and a mustache sitting on top of an identical rock, with the only difference being that it was larger. Above the statue was, how Mario described, a small white rip in space. It had an odd glow to it, emitting sparkles as well, and Mario wasn't sure was he was supposed to do with it, or what it was there for.
"Would you like me to use Tippi to see if she can find something?" Peach asked, once everyone caught up.
"That won't be necessary…" Tippi explained. "I can't reveal anything with my power, but I can say that that is…a dimensional rift."
"A dimensional rift?" everyone gasped in unison. Tippi nodded.
"Yes…it's hard to explain…basically it means there's something in a parallel dimension where the rift is, and if you can open it or flip it or something, then the object will come into this dimension for your use…"
"Wow, intricate," Link stated. "Do you think the reason it's there is because someone hid something there?"
"Who knows…but I think we should find a way to see what's behind it…"
Mario was definitely intrigued by it too, but like the locked door, there was nothing they could do about it now. What they could do was just keep on going, as boring as that sounded. They kept going forward, until they came to a stack of blocks, which Eggman figured out were blocking a door. Link and Amy worked quickly, using Boomer and Amy's hammer to break, bash, and blast them all out of the way. They all promptly headed through the door afterwards.
. . .
In the next area, it appeared that there was no way to go, so Team Mario took control and flipped into 3-D. When they jumped on the nearest ledge, the only way to go forward was through a super-thin crack in the cliff. Kirby grinned and summoned Slim, then maneuvered the gang through the crack.
"Holy springs!"
"Don't you mean holy rings?"
"No," Sonic retorted, still starting at the blue and purple Boing-Oings hopping around. "I mean holy springs."
"They're like alien Sproing-Oings!" gasped Kirby.
"Nothing we can't take care of," Bowser chuckled, blasting the foes with fire.
"Hey, a ? block," Zelda said, walking over to it and giving it a hit. A red flower popped out, and she broke out into a smile. "Ooh, how pretty! Hey, come here flower…"
"Zelda don't touch that!" Peach tried to warn her, but it was too late. The moment Zelda picked it up, time began to speed up.
"Why what's wrong withpickingthisflower? Ohnevermind…"
"Allright! SpeedspeedspeedspeedSPEED!" cheered Sonic, moving around faster than usual. "Isn'tthatgreat?"
"Whathe-OW!"
A remaining Boing-Oing quickly dodged Bowser's fire and hit him on the head, while Ganondorf knocked it out of the air with a swipe of his glowing purple fist. Meanwhile, everyone else went flying over the barren planet, red aftermaths streaking behind them in a blur. Sonic was having way too much fun- he then summoned Dashell's power, like Link has suggested, and they were going faster than ever thought possible!
"Toomuchspeed! Toomuchspeed!" wailed Amy, who was rocketing across the ground on Carrie. "Itisprettyfunthough! Woohoo!"
"OMGatree!"
"Whocaresaboutthetree-thatthingjusthitmeinthehead!"
"It'scalledaChoppa-"
"Idon'tcare!"
"Lookabiggreendoor!"
"Agreendoor? Isaythat we should enter it!"
"Uh…Sonic and Amy flew off in that direction though…" Kirby trailed, glancing off to the right.
"Ah, they'll be fine. Maybe they can scope out more of the planet while we investigate the door," shrugged Link. Mario opened the door and poked his head in. Inside was what looked like someone's home inside a cave. A yellow inhabitant of the planet was in there, staring at the people who had just entered his home.
"Bloog…Aren't you fancy. Let me guess…you're hunting the treasure too, right? Well, go look for the elder. He knows stuff about things. Me, I plan on lounging…"
"Well he was certainly helpful!" Zelda exclaimed sarcastically.
"Apparently there's an elder on this planet though…" Tippi trailed. "Maybe he can be of help after all?"
"We'll have to find him first…" grunted Eggman as they exited the cave-house. "They can't make these things easy…"
"I know right?" sighed Kirby while shaking his head.
"Where exactly did Sonic and Amy go- it's a dead end!" Link noticed. "There's two pipes below that don't work, and no way forward, yet they're gone!"
Mario figured there was more that meets the eye, and took control. When he, Link, and Kirby flipped into 3-D, a hidden path was accessible, and led straight into a hole in the dead-end wall that was invisible in 2-D.
"They must have gone this way…" Kirby trailed, walking down the thin path. Once they removed control and reverted back to 2-D, Amy ran up to them.
"GUYS! Sonic's been paralyzed!" she wailed.
"Say what? !"
"We had crashed into a wall up ahead when time slowed back down and then this paralyzing whip came out of nowhere and shocked him in the back!"
"Man, everything bad really does happen to him-"
"Kirby! This is serious! Besides, more bad things happen to me," Link scoffed. He turned to Amy. "Where is he now?"
"Over there, lying on the ground. Hurry!"
Most of the group was quick to follow Amy, with the villains being the only ones to take note of a door that was just below where the were. Everyone else apparently disregarded it for the moment, and found Sonic sprawled out on the ground in a crater next to a Boing-Oing. While Kirby beat up the enemy, Zelda asked Sonic what had happened.
"This…whip came out of nowhere and gave me the shock of a lifetime!" Sonic gaped. "And no, that wasn't a joke. I can't move…wah…"
"Where could the whip possibly have appeared from?" Ganondorf asked. "It's all wall!"
"Sometimes even walls may lie," Link stated, flipping into 3-D again. Mario was quick to follow, and sure enough, there was a hole in the wall where something could have easily tazed Sonic. Mario stuck his head in, and he could have sworn he saw something running away. He quickly took control then ran through the hole, Kirby and an off-kilter Sonic flipping as well and following.
"What is it, Mario? What's going on?" Link asked. Mario gave no answer and starting jumping up, leaping back and forth from wall to wall, working his way up. He knew he had saw something…
"Whoa, I know this'll sound weird coming from me, but can we slow down?" Sonic groaned, nearly stumbling over with Amy quickly grabbing him for support. Mario shook his head and bounded over the edge of the wall.
"Huh, what got into him?" murmured Bowser. Peach just tilted her head. A door was up ahead, and Mario was quick to enter through.
. . .
"Dude, please slow down…I'm feeling as weak as I was after being beaten by the Armored Harriers for the tenth time!" Sonic exclaimed, falling to the ground with a defeated groan. Mario nodded and told everyone to stop- it was a dead end for whatever he was chasing anyway. However when he looked below, he instantly face palmed.
"There's a bunch of ? Blocks here…" Eggman trailed as he and his bashed them all. When Bowser struck the last one, a Mega Star popped out and Ganondorf absorbed it. All three of them exchanged glances before breaking out into a grin with one word on their minds: destruction.
"Oh great…" groaned Link.
"8-bit bigness time!" cheered Kirby.
"Which isn't really a good thing when it's the villains that have the power…" Peach stated unsurely. Bowser broke out into a mad cackle as he grew ten times his size, turning into an 8-bit version of himself while Eggman and Ganondorf did the same.
"They are so repulsive- especially Ganondorf," jeered Zelda with her arms folded.
"But their power must increase ten-fold when they're that size!" gasped Amy.
"RAMPAGE!" Ganondorf shouted as he tore through everything in that particular area. "YEAH!"
"GRARGH! I'm slower than usual!" complained Bowser, barely making a dent in the destruction. "What, am I suddenly made of lead or something?"
"I can move just fine," Eggman stated lightly, grinning as he took out any enemies he came in contact with. Mario made a notion for the rest of the group to follow, and so they jumped away from the door (except Sonic, who rolled himself over the edge then later admitted it wasn't a good idea).
Mario saw the blue flash once again, but it went as quickly as he had seen it.
When they reached the other side, and Team BEG's brief mega-ness wore off, Mario spotted a door on a high ledge. They could get up here without any problems thanks to the lowered gravity.
"Hey, cool another-DAH!"
"Another Dah?"
"Link!" Zelda screamed as he apparently suffered the same shocking fate as Sonic. Everyone ran to his side, except the villains who continued to complain that they were too slow. Mario noticed another flash of blue suddenly fall onto the ledge with the door, holding a gun that was pointed at the group. The holder of the gun was breathing deeply.
"Hey…who's that?" Sonic asked, looking up and seeing the gun holder as well. Everyone glanced in said direction, but the figure jumped up, flipped above them, and landed behind them.
"Well, well, well…what do we have here?" it said, approaching them with a hidden minute smile. The entire group just gaped as she strutted up to them. Her blonde hair draped her face and shoulders, which she quickly fixed by brushing all but two strands behind her ears.
With a closer inspection, it was obvious she was Samus.
"Holy crow! That's Samus?" Link gawked, staring with wide eyes. "I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that she was shooting at us-"
"You took me by surprise…" Samus explained, putting the gun away and folding her arms. "After what I've been through I'm afraid to let my guard down…especially when I saw people that looked like you."
"Geez, Sammy looked so attractive that I didn't even know it was her!" Sonic called. Amy overheard and promptly smacked Sonic over the head.
"Is this another friend of yours?" Tippi asked.
"Yes- she's the one that Sonic brought up earlier," Peach explained. The atmosphere around them slowly seemed to get odd as they noticed something…different about Samus. Not just the fact her hair was actually down for once, but more likely the fact that she was sporting a light blue body suit rather that a metallic orange suit of mass destruction.
"Miss Aran…what happened to your Power Suit, if I may ask?" Eggman wanted to know, asking the question no one else dared to mention.
"Yeah, without it on you're a lot prettier-"
Amy tackled Sonic to the ground and went crazy. Everyone stepped away from the duo and focused all their attention on Samus. She was noticeably starting to get a bit unstable.
"I assume you know…about the Void if you're here…" she started slowly, voice faltering. Everyone nodded.
"Yeah, that's the whole reason we're here," Link explained.
"I went to investigate…thinking that it was just another black hole…when he appeared…"
"He?"
"Who he?"
Samus just shook her head.
"Samus, who was it?"
Samus stared fiercely at the ground, gritting her teeth, before snapping her head up and spitting out, "A guy named Dimentio…"
Everyone broke out into an uproar.
"Dimentio did that to you?" Sonic guffawed, shoving Amy away to gape at Samus.
"He got to you too?" Peach gasped.
"If we see that creep again, I'm going to burn him into dust…" trailed Ganondorf while clenching a fist.
"I tried to attack him with my Zero Laser…but it had no effect at all!"
"Holy cow, that's terrible!" Kirby wailed.
"I used the laser too long…it got stuck…and then my suit couldn't contain it and it shattered into eleven pieces…" Samus continued, barely wanting to recall the tragic event. "I almost died…but for whatever reason Dimentio saved me and sent me to this planet, and I've been trying to look for pieces of my suit, mainly my helmet and my arm cannon…but all I found was my right arm so far…"
"You poor thing!" Zelda gasped, kneeling by her side and putting her hair back up in its original ponytail style. "No wonder you're so lost and confused!"
"I thought he was playing another trick on me which is why I went after you guys…" Samus continued to explain. "Sorry about that…I didn't want to take any chances.
"It's fine- that's something you would do anyway," Sonic shrugged. "In other words, good to see ya again, Sam!"
"It's actually good to see you guys too, you know…" Samus sighed. "It's been pretty quiet in my part for awhile…"
"We have to stop meeting each other like this," Peach stated.
"Huh?"
"There's a ton of things that happened," Eggman explained, scratching his head. "I'm not entirely filled in, though…"
"Neither am I," Zelda added once she was finished with Samus' hair.
"Hmm…hey Samus, would you mind handing me the piece of the Power Suit you managed to find?" Eggman asked.
"Why are you so interested in it?" Sonic questioned, giving the doctor a sideways glance.
"It doesn't matter to me; it's useless anyway…" Samus sighed, handing the piece to Eggman. Eggman took it into his possession, then put out his ray and aimed it at it.
"Okay, better change to scan first…"
He hit the small switch, then pulled the trigger. Everyone, especially Samus, watched as his laser gathered data, then sent it to the small screen on his remote control for his mech. Eggman nodded, then pulled it out and looked at what it said.
"Yes, the rest of the pieces of your Power Suit haven't been scattered too far away from each other, and since you have one, there's ten other parts to find. Once all your parts are back together, your Power Suit should automatically reform and you can don it once more."
"Really? That's good to hear, I guess…but how am I supposed to find them?"
"With the help of us, perhaps?" Peach suggested, smirking.
"I don't want to drag you guys into my own problem, certainly after I attacked you-"
"What are friends for?" Kirby cheered. "SAMUS GLOMP!"
Before Samus could even respond, Kirby jumped on her back and smothered her in a hug.
"So…you guys are willing to help me?"
"Of course! Even though you'll gain back your cannon and blast us to pieces…" replied Sonic cheekily.
"We'd be bound to run into a part of your Power Suit either way anyway!" Link pointed out.
"Besides, you could stick with us," Amy added. "You can't go wandering around space when you're vulnerable like this!"
"I'm not that vulnerable," Samus scolded, standing back up and pulling out her gun. "Didn't you see how easily I wiped out Sonic and Link with this thing?"
Sonic and Link muttered something under their breath.
"So will you be joining us?" Bowser groaned, looking up at the sky and hardly acknowledging her. Samus revved up her weapon and nodded.
"It probably wouldn't be very smart if I didn't…"
"(Zero Suit) Samus has joined the team! Lacking a Power Suit, Samus must currently rely on a stun-gun, a paralyzer whip, and her combat skills. When Team Mario takes control, she can enter the third-dimension. Due to lacking her suit, Samus currently has no battle ability."
Samus gave Link a look and raised an eyebrow. "…what was that?"
"Intro. We all get one, except Peach," Kirby shrugged.
"Well, anyway, you might as well brief me of your current standing…" Samus sighed folding her arms. "What are you people up to at the moment?"
Amy stepped forward and instantly went into theatrics explaining the entire situation to Samus, starting from just how the void got into the sky in the first place, then about how they were all sent to different dimensions, then about what happened to Zelda, and all their previous adventures toward getting Pure Hearts. By the time Amy was reaching the end of her story, Samus was drooling and her eye was twitching before she decided to turn to Mario.
Mario: Trying to find an elder to get off this planet.
"Thank you. Now…an elder you say? I know where he's at."
"You do? Where?" Peach asked excitedly.
Samus pointed to the door on the ledge. "Through there. There's a green door that leads to his house. I know because I've nearly turned this planet upside down looking for pieces of my Power Suit. Perhaps with your help, I can find pieces that I wasn't able to before…"
"At least what you're doing sounds more interesting than what were doing," Ganondorf stated gruffly. "Were trying to get some guy in an outhouse some toiler paper while our green squid thing is doing a potty dance."
"Green squid thing?"
"Yeah…he says his name is Squirps," Link explained. Samus placed a hand to her chin as she made her way to the door on the ledge.
"Really? Sounds familiar, actually…"
"You might know who Squirps is?" nearly everyone gasped. Samus held up her hands and shook her head.
"Easy people. Let's slow down and think this through first…one thing at a time, and I'm guessing the first thing we need to do is get to the elder of the planet."
"And your Power Suit pieces?"
"We'll keep an eye out. I've combed the place but it won't hurt to double check anyway. Let's get to it. I think I know my way around here pretty well by now."
If Samus knew what she was doing, like Sonic had suggested, then who was Mario to refrain her from helping, especially since she was willing to do so? In fact, he was so thrilled that the final member of his team had made a comeback that he wanted her to feel as welcome as ever. Mario made a gesture for to carry on and received a nod in return. Samus made an epic jump onto the platform and motioned for the rest of the group to follow her through the door.
. . .
"Whoa, what are those things?" Amy asked, seeing pink "radio heads" walking around.
"They're called Boomboxers," Samus explained, jumping down and taking them out with her paralyzer whip and a well-placed kick.
"I think I crushed one of those during our super short rampage," recalled Ganondorf. "They are so annoying…"
The small trek continued on, mainly with Samus explaining things about the planet and taking out the enemies. She explained that she had been incredibly weak when she landed, but also mentioned that she seemed to be adapting well without her suit. When they reached a rather tall pipe, she threw up her hands, and swapped into 3-D. Kirby instantly claimed a candy bar (appropriately named "Space Food") and returned back to the second dimension.
"Is that the door you were talking about, Samus?" Tippi asked, seeing a green door on a high ledge.
"Yup, that's it. I don't think we'd all fit in there, though…"
"We should go, just in case there's something dangerous in there," Link said cautiously, referring to Team Mario.
"We can't go in just because there might be something dangerous?" Zelda huffed. "We can take care of ourselves!"
"I'm just looking out for ya…"
"And since Samus claims that's where the old man lives, we can't send Team BEG in there," added Sonic.
"And why not?" questioned Eggman.
"Do we even need to recall the goldfish incident?" Kirby retaliated with folded arms.
That did it, Team Mario was the one to go in. Mario was the first to space-leap onto the large pipe, then continued his bounding onto the door platform. Link, Kirby, Sonic, and Samus were quick to follow after. When Mario opened the door and poked his head through, he found the elder…who was a purple creature with bushy cloud-like eyebrows.
"Those eyebrows are sure-fire proof of an elder if I ever seen one," Kirby stated, sitting on Mario's head while he peeked through the door. Mario made a small face before stepping into the room with Kirby rolling onto the floor. Sonic scratched his head.
"…does that even make sense?"
"Not really sure- let's just ask the guy what he knows."
"Careful- you know how old people are…" Samus warned.
"Isn't that the truth…" trailed Link. Mario took their words into consideration as he walked up to the elder, perched high in his chair.
Mario: Hi!
Kirby: Hiiiiiiii!
"Greetings, young explorers…Welcome to this remote land. You must be bushed, blooog…" the elder rambled. "I'm what's known as an active senior explorer. The name's Blappy. I'm 72."
"WOW, that IS old!" gasped Kirby.
"In my youth, while everyone hunted for snacks, I hunted the Big Treasure of Space. It's big. It's treasure. And it will be mine at last! I found a clue in the space ruins! So, explorer to explorer…I'll cut you a deal, bloog…This clue for 1,000 coins! YOU BUY IT!"
"We can't even hold 1,000 coins!" squawked Sonic. "Are you crazy?"
Mario: Too rich for my blood.
"What? Too expensive! Well, maybe a little, bloog…hackpth! Bleepth! Sorry. I've got a touch of lard-lung. Anyway, I'll cut you a deal: how's 100 coins?"
Mario: You're shady…
"Don't try to go too low," said Samus.
"How low can you go? How low can you go?" sang Kirby while dancing around.
"Why aren't you looking for the treasure yourself anyway?" Link inquired. Blappy looked offended.
"I'm old! I'm portly! And I DID look. Bloog! I just didn't find anything…Blaaapth! Uh, I mean, fine. 10 coins."
Mario: I'll buy it!
Blappy gave Mario the scroll, and the plumber suddenly had four faces peering over his shoulders to get a look at what it said.
"By rock man's noggin, when outer space is reversed, the door secret hides…" Samus recited.
"I'm through with you, bloog. Go home now!"
Back Outside-
"So, did you find anything useful?" Peach asked.
"Nah, just got insulted by the elderly. The usual," shrugged Link.
"You must be kidding!" Zelda exclaimed.
"He is- we got a paper with a clue on it, saying something about reversing outer space, whatever that means," Sonic explained with a shrug.
"…this may be a long shot, but could it have something to do with that dimensional rift?" Tippi wondered. "Though if that has anything to do with anything, then we'd need to find a way to, sort of, flip it."
"And we still need to get Squirps into the bathroom," added Amy.
"There's no way the kid held it in that long!" barked Bowser.
"If he had an accident, I'll fry him if he gets too close to me," Ganondorf growled.
Back at Squirps and the Really Weirdly Placed Outhouse-
After a massive amount of backtracking and a small mini-adventure involving slow flowers, faster flowers, square caterpillars, and a meaningless inhabitant, the group returned to where they had left Squirps. On the way back, Mario took note of the white rip above the statue's head again, then quickly hurried to catch up with his friends.
To their relief, but not necessarily Squirp's, he didn't have an accident.
"All right, so may I please be informed of why there's a green squid dancing crazily in front of a really weirdly placed outhouse?" Samus asked, staring at Squirps with a raised eyebrow.
"He has to go to the bathroom," grumbled Sonic.
"And apparently whoever's in there has been hogging the only bathroom of the planet for at least one hundred years," added Bowser. "Guess he didn't have much of a life."
"Why?"
"He needs paper, we are led to believe," Zelda sighed, rubbing her temples.
"Squirps is gonna explode soon!"
"Any paaaaper, please, amore? Just a sheet for me, amore! Implore, implore, amore! Paaaapes, papes, amore! Love the papes, amore! Oh more, oh more, amore!"
Samus scratched the back of her head and pulled out the Ancient Clue. "Uh…would this work?"
"You're willing to let someone use an Ancient Clue with valuable information to be used as a substitute for toilet paper?"
"Do any of you have any better ideas?"
Mario: Nope. *swipes*
He took the paper from Samus, then slid it through the crack of the door. Whoever was in there burst out into song once more.
"Fleep has a-waited for you! At last we meet, mi amore! My sweeeet, sweeeet paper!"
Insert flushing sound.
"And now we do part, amore! For down you depart, amore! No more, no more, amore!"
"Sq-Squirps can't take it anymore! Squirps will burst! Evacuate all personnel!"
Squirps plowed through the crowd and blasted through the door, slamming it shut behind him just as the occupier flew out.
"RELIEF!"
"It's a Pixl! A weird, rectangular Pixl!"
"Eet's a paper miracle! Fleep is a-fleeing good! You bring Fleep the happy? Fleep has been awaiting so long for you, amore! Si, for this momento!"
"We've got a Spanish Pixl! ?"
"We Pixls are helpful tools, si? But we choose no masters, be they good or bad! Still, Fleep has the passion to be used for something, so… Fleep waited here, amore! And you found Fleep, amore! Oh, thank you deep, amore!"
"Can we get going now, amore?" groaned Samus.
"From this momento, you and Fleep are as one! We shall never part! Fleep follows you, amore! Companion true, amore!"
"How unfortun- OW! It wasn't necessary for you to punch me…" grunted Ganondorf, rubbing his arm and glaring at Zelda. Fleep, meanwhile, spun around in sparkly circles around Mario, making it official that he had joined their team. As Mario held the new Pixl over his head, he asked who wanted possession of Fleep.
"I don't even really know what that is…" trailed Samus.
"Ooh, I'll take him!" Eggman exclaimed, waving his arms rapidly. Fleep seemed content with that and floated over into the doctor's palms. "…now what does he do?"
"On the back side of the sad is the happy! We will find it! You and Fleep, amore!"
"Are you saying you can…flip things?" Tippi asked. Fleep nodded.
"Because there's no way he's call "Fleep" for nothing!"
"Si! Si! I can find hidden objects in separate dimensions!"
Mario: Just what we needed!
"Cool! Now we can possibly move forward!" cheered Thoreau.
"This is great, seriously!" Dashell exclaimed.
"Is that all y'all used for?" asked Slim.
"I think he's got more girth than just for doing that," scoffed Thudley.
"Is it true? Is there more that you can do?" Carrie practically sang.
"I can also confuse enemies with my magnifico flipping powers, amore!"
Slim fluttered around excitedly. "How thrilling!"
"I'm way better, sss-BOOM!" bellowed Boomer.
"So, if what you say is true…" mused Eggman, watching Fleep intently. "…then I suppose we'd better head back to that rip, huh?"
"We can finally figure out what's behind that thing!" threw in Kirby.
Amy jumped on Carrie and was already off. "Let's get to it! C'mon!"
Samus watched Amy ride away on Carrie, then shook off her stare and started to follow, until the sound of a flush rang out and Squirps emerged from the bathroom.
"Phew…Squirps needed that. OK! Let's go look for the entrance to the Space Bypass, squibble!"
"Hmmm…" Samus pondered, taking a closer look a Squirps. "I really do think I've read about his kind somewhere, but I can't remember what it said…"
"Is there any chance he might be luring us into a trap?" Ganondorf asked almost too eagerly. Samus shook her head.
"No, his race is a kind-hearted and innocent one, that much I know…"
"Plus I already claimed that his intentions were good," Sonic added. "I'm just not sure of what they are…"
Mario glanced down at Squirps, who simply gave a grin and started heading off. The plumber raised an eyebrow at this action, but made no comment on it and led the gang back to the rock statue. When they got there, Kirby and Amy were waiting anxiously.
"Okay, let's give Fleep a try…"
Eggman traced a square in the air, then pointed at the sparkling white rip. Fleep used his powers to flip it, and brought the key to the door into their dimension.
"Whoa, that was amazing…" gaped Barry as Mario scooped up the key.
"Meh, it wasn't that impressive," snorted Bowser.
"We can finally get past that locked door we keep walking by…" trailed Zelda.
"Thank goodness- one can only handle so much backtracking…"
. . .
Once they had returned to, and unlocked, the door, Mario took a step into the previously unreachable part of the tiny planet. A ton of Fuzzies were bouncing around something under a rather large blue rainbow-hued tree.
"That's some of the only plant life on this planet," Samus mused. "There's a few greenery here and there, but otherwise its completely barren…"
"What are those Fuzzies jumping around though?" Link asked, trying to see. "Must be something interesting…"
"I've got it!" Zelda called. She cast a hand out toward the Fuzzies and shouted, "DIN'S FIRE!"
Almost instantly, the black soul-sucking creatures burst into flames, scrambling around before succumbing to a fiery death. Peach spotted what they were surrounding, and trotted over to pick it up.
"Hey Samus, isn't this your helmet?" she asked, observing the object. At the sound of a potential piece of her Power Suit, Samus ran over and looked over Peach's shoulder.
"YES! That's it!" she suddenly cried, swiping it out of Peach's grasp and placing it on her head. "At least now I'll be able to journey into space to look for some pieces without having to worry about my air supply…"
"I wonder why the Fuzzies were so interested with it," pondered Kirby.
"Probably because they haven't seen anything like this before," Samus guessed. "Now there's only nine more parts to find…"
"And there's only one way to find some more!" Sonic claimed, nudging Mario over to the nearby Star Block. Mario gave a nod in return, then trotted over and gave the block a whack.
. . .
Mario and friends headed to the Space Bypass in search of the Pure Heart. How did Squirps know about this secret route? Our heroes stared suspiciously at him.
"Why are you staring like that?" said Squirps. "Are you falling for Squirps? !"
In the darkness of space, the eyes of Squirps glinted mischievously…
Samus returns IN SPACE! How totally unpredictable! 8D (and now Chapter 4 is halfway over! Hooray!)