Published on April 2nd, 2011.
Replaced (ver.1) on July 3rd, 2015.
Chapter 28/60
The Shy Guy's Toy Box
Trials in the Toy Box Arc (2/6)
The team screamed down from the top and landed roughly on the ground. Once everyone recovered from their fall, they scanned around their surroundings. It was not what the team expected when being inside a box.
Everything looked colorful; some consisted from blue to yellow, yellow to green, or red to blue. Some parts on the wall were windows that opened and closed automatically while the gears were shaped in a four-petal flower. They noticed black drawings of faces and flowers around them too. Two Toads in black uniform were standing at their station, which looked like a blue railroad station. The evidence was the railroad tracks that led to the northwest and northeast; however, a railroad cart and a track to the northwest were absent. The sounds were the sounds of mechanical ticking and pumping noises like being in a factory.
"Raise your hand if you didn't see this one coming," Eddy said as everyone raised their hands. "Figures."
"All right," Mario said. "Let's-a-go!" First, they went to speak the conductor at the Blue Station. The conductor informed the team about their train being missing. Without the train, they could not access the other three stations. Ed was disappointed that he could not ride the "Cho-Cho". The group took the first path and saw a bunch of different colored Shy Guys on their way. They were normal ones, but they were tougher than the ones in Toad Town. Fortunately, the team defeated them with no sweat.
However, there was a Shy Guy dressed in black who was guarding a treasure chest. "Don't take another step!" he said in rapidity. "It's my treasure! All mine! No one can take it! Go away! Go away!"
The team just stared at him until Kooper spoke up. "Then we'll force you to hand it over!" he said as the team got into their battle stance.
"Are you sure about that? Huh?! Huh?! Do you dare fight me?! An Anti Guy?! A Deadly Guy?! You're-" Ed smacked down the Anti Guy with his hammer. Unbelievably, when the Anti Guy charged and slammed to Ed, Ed was sent flying to the wall. His attack was so powerful that Ed's Mega Rush Badge started to pulse in light, indicating his life was in danger. The others could not believe that their strongest member was defeated so easily. The Deadly Guy was the most formidable foe they had ever faced.
"I feel...pain," Ed said, groaning.
Kooper and Bow darted at the Anti Guy. "You're gonna pay for that!" they said in anger. Kooper dealt damage to the Anti Guy with his Shell Shot, but he counterattacked Kooper with a deadly punch. Kooper was also sent flying next to Ed, unconscious. Bow slapped the Anti Guy from behind. Anti Guy tried to punch back, but she disappeared and reappeared next to the team.
"That was close," Bow said and panted, wiping off her sweat.
Double D pulled out his Snowman Doll and read the inscriptions. "'When winter comes, snow shall fall,'" he said. "'When snow falls, a snowman shall fall from the dark heavens!'" He threw the Snowman Doll above the Anti Guy. The Snow Doll grew to five times its size as it stomped on the Anti Guy. He broke out the snowman, but the damage appeared to be successful. The Anti Guy charged straight to Double D. With death coming closer, Double D knew he was going to be seriously injured. However, a mystical white light enveloped him. When the enemy slammed Double D, he was pushed back to the wall. Although that attack dealt damage to him, it was not a fatal blow.
The Anti Guy gaped widely. "Impossible!" he said. Double D silently thanked Merlee for her magic back in Dry Dry Outpost. The Anti Guy tried to punch again, but Parakarry flew in and grabbed Double D out-of-the-way. Mario and Goombario had their charged power increased when the Anti Guy was busy. They moved forward and inflicted huge pain against the Anti Guy. The Anti Guy jumped up the air in acrobatic style and struck hard to Goombario's head.
"Eddy's Dynamic Bounce!" Eddy and Bombette said as the Anti Guy saw them behind. Bombette exploded while Eddy flew up to the air and activated his Power Bounce Badge. Eddy jumped up and down repeatedly on the Anti Guy until Eddy canceled his attack.
"You're...pretty good..." the Anti Guy said, groaning. "But...I can still fight!"
"Up, up and away!" someone said. The Anti Guy saw Ed behind him with his hammer. With the combination of Power Smash Badge and Mega Rush Badge, Ed sent him straight to the wall. It was so powerful that the Anti Guy flew straight to the other side of the wall. Mario checked up closer to the wall and saw the Anti Guy unable to move.
"He's done," Mario said. Those who were injured ate several Mushrooms and Super Mushrooms. Mario opened the chest, and it contained four Star Kids. Mario, Double D and Eddy wanted to have three Badge Points while Ed requested to increase his health capacity. Mario also took out an orange badge shaped in a triangle with a fist as its picture.
Goombario awed at this. "Now that's a rare badge," he said. "That's a Power Plus Badge, which increases your strength." Although the team suggested to give it Double D, he did not need it since he rarely fights with his hands or legs. In the end, Eddy took the badge, but the badge required six Badge Points. So far, Eddy has three Badge Points from his new upgrade.
"Once I level up, I'll be strong as Ed!" Eddy said, adding his new badge on his shirt.
"You'll be me?" Ed asked.
"I'm not going to be dumb, Ed." The team resumed on and fought more Shy Guys along the way. They reached a dead end where they were in a playground. There were giant toy blocks scattered in this room. The Shy Guys here were running with an item on their hands. The team decided to split up into four groups.
Mario and Goombario chased after the first one who was carrying a calculator. Goombario used his Headbonk move, following up with a Power Jump from Mario. The second one (with a Cake Mix) was far from Ed's position, so Ed used his Power Ed Shot to send Kooper straight to the Shy Guy's face. The third Shy Guy, with a Mushroom, was hiding behind a toy cylinder block laying down. Parakarry pushed the block until the Shy Guy was stuck between the block and the wall. Double D swiped the Mushroom and retreated back. Eddy and Bombette finished off the last Shy Guy, who had a Maple Syrup in his hand.
"So far, so good," Bombette said. The team regrouped back to the entrance of Blue Station.
"I'll take this calculator back to its rightful owner with Goombario," Mario said to the team. "The rest of you will continue on to the second path." Everyone agreed to Mario's plan. Mario and Goombario used the springboard to exit out the box. The rest of the team headed to what Mario ordered.
Kammy Koopa zoomed to the end of the Blue Station's second path. She lifted up her wand and shot out a magical beam in front of the treasure chest. A plain-looking Mushroom guarded the treasure chest. "Here we go," she said, then cackled. "This Mushroom should stop Mario from proceeding any further..." She frowned a bit. "But it is strange. Is Mario really afraid of this?"She shrugged. "Well, whatever. It's King Bowser's order. Time to head to the next station." She zoomed out of this place and flew to the next station.
Meanwhile, the team fought off even more Shy Guys. They encountered a new type of Shy Guys. It was a Shy Guy dressed in a court jester costume known as the Groove Guys.
"I wish Goombario was here right now," Double D asaid. The Groove Guys performed a dizzy attack, striking to all the team members. Most were in a state of vertigoes, but not Eddy. Eddy used his Quake Hammer Badge to stop all their enemies. Parakarry and Kooper slammed every Guys with their shell bodies. Once the team regained from their dizziness, they resumed on. There were toy blocks as obstacles of this path. The team had to use the jack-in-the-box to lift themselves over the blocks. Ed wanted to keep them, but the team had to continue forward. In the middle section of the room, they encountered one Shy Guy and two Shy Guys with balloons attached to them.
"It's a shame, really," Parakarry said. "They think they have an air advantage, but they're wrong!" He zoomed to all the balloons the Sky Guys equipped. They fell down the ground and became regular Shy Guys. Eddy and Ed jumped on all the Shy Guys, leaving their partners to finish the job. After navigating through the building, obtaining a Star Piece and a Thunder Bolt, everyone found a Mushroom in front of the chest.
"Huh?" Kooper asked. "What's a Mushroom doing here in front of that chest?"
"You think it's poisonous?" Bombette asked.
"Ed is hungry!" Ed said, devouring the Mushroom in one gulp. "Good tasty Mushroom!"
"Whoever placed that Mushroom is an idiot," Eddy said.
Double D opened the chest and took out a blue key. "Could this be an item stolen by the Shy Guys?" he asked.
"Let's head back, everyone," Bow said. When the team reached back to the station, they saw Mario and Goombario sitting on the stairs. They noticed Mario with a new badge on. It was a square with the Star Pieces to make it look like another square inside.
"How's it going, Mario?" Eddy asked.
"I returned the calculator and received a new badge," Mario said. "It's called I Spy, which alerts me if a Star Piece is nearby. I found four Star Pieces after that."
Eddy grinned. "Sweet! Gimme, gimme, gimme!" Mario reluctantly give Eddy the Star Pieces, much to Eddy's delight.
"Did you guys find something?"
"All we found was a key," Kooper answered. "It could be from someone in Toad Town."
"We'll go while you two stay here," Double D said. Mario and Goombario agreed with the plan while they watched the team flying off from the box.
Back at Toad Town, the team exited out of the abandoned house. "Any ideas who's the owner of this key, Sockhead?" Eddy asked Double D.
Double D was examining the blue key in his hands. "I can't identify where this key is supposed to be. Keys comes in many different shapes; it can fit into any keyhole if it is the right size."
"That sucks... We might have to talk to everyone." The team decided to enter the second shop in Toad Town, which was next to where they are.
The Toad manager was found at the far end. "If you purchasing an item here, then I'm afraid I can't help you," he said with an apologetic face.
"Why?" Parakarry asked.
"See that door behind me?" The team looked to see a door with a lock attached. "One of the Shy Guys stole my storeroom key, so I can't access my storeroom."
Double D gasped. "What a coincidence!" he said, presenting the key to the manager. "Could this be your key?"
The Toad managed widened his eyes. "Th-that's it! Oh, thank you so much!" He grabbed the key and unlocked the door. "As a reward, you can take anything inside my storeroom." Everyone went inside and spotted three useful items: Snowman Doll, Volt Shroom and a Dizzy Dial. There was also a toy train as well, so Ed decided to have it for himself. The team left the store and headed back to the abandoned house.
"Prepare to lift off!" Ed said, playing with his train. "Check your fuel and hold on tight because we're going beat the aliens!" When Ed entered the room with the box, he accidentally tripped to the floor, releasing his toy train into the box.
Meanwhile, Mario and Goombario played around with the giant toy blocks near station. They actually spelled "Ario" with those blocks.
"I claim this box in the name of ,e and Mario!" Goombario said with a beaming smile. Suddenly, they heard a giant sound coming from the railroad track. When they turned around, they saw a train on the tracks. The rest of the team came by shortly.
"That was very fortunate of you, Ed," Double D said, smiling at him.
"How did you get that train?" Mario asked. They told him and Goombario a short story. With the train ready, they talked to the conductor and boarded in the train. It was very crowded with nice people, plus the conductor, in it. Fortunately, almost everyone can handle it as the train headed to the northeast station.
"Where are we heading?" Double D asked the conductor.
"This train will lead you to Pink Station," the Toad conductor replied. "Shy Guy's Toy Box is an oval area with four stations. The Blue Station is at the south, Pink Station is at the east, Green Station is at the north and Red Station is at the west."
"Can't...breathe..." Eddy said.
"Losing...oxygen..." Double D said.
After a minute of riding, they finally stopped at Pink Station. Everyone let out a sigh of relief after getting off that cramped train. This area was the same thing, except the station's roof was pink. A lever switch was located behind two glass walls at the other side of the track.
"This is not good," the conductor said, frowning. The team saw the railroad track missing part of its track. "We had a broken track a long time ago, so we fix it by flipping it over. Someone must've turned the lever back."
"I guess it's our job to fix it," Mario said. "All we have to do is flip the lever, and it'll be a piece of cake."
"Cake? Where?" Ed asked as everyone ignored him as they explored the area. They found a chest which contained a mailbag, much to Parakarry's delight. Mario also found a Star Piece underneath the floor.
Kammy Koopa approached the treasure chest with her magical broom and materialized a Thunder Rage. Unlike a Thunder Bolt with a cloud, this item was a thunder bolt shape with no clouds. Still feeling doubts about this, she decided to brush off her doubts for the final time and zoomed to Green Station.
It was a normal for the team to battle opponents, obtaining items, gathering coins, and earning fighting experiences. Along the way, Bombette slammed forward into a Shy Guy. A Shy Guy with a floating cup ship appeared and healed its teammate with its golden radiant ray.
"They must be Medi Guy," Goombario said. "As you can see, they heal their allies."
"What's with the Shy Guys having 'Guy' in their names?" Eddy asked. Mario jumped on to the Medi Guy, making him crash to the ground. Bow and Ed used Ghost Ed, vanishing and pummeling the two enemies. The Shy Guys did not stand a chance against that attack. Similar to Blue Station, they have to use the jack-in-the-box to advance forward. While on their way, they opened a chest and took out a blue diamond badge with 5 holes on it.
"Another rare badge! That's a Defend Plus Badge, which increases your defense."
"A perfect badge for myself, don't you think?" Double D asked. Most of the members allowed Double D to wear it, since he had eight Badge Points at this point, minus five. After passing through colorful buildings (by tricking the Shy Guys to open a secret passage) and defeating more Shy Guys, they made it to the other side of this path. Before they could actually make it to the end, the team found a badge composed of ice, which it was shaped like a snowman. Goombario explained it was an Ice Power Badge, which protects the user from fire and deal twice the damage to fiery enemies. Since it only costs two points, Mario, Ed, and Eddy decided to play Rock, Paper, Scissor. In the end, Eddy won the game. The team continued on and saw a Thunder Rage guarding the chest. "Another one?" Double D took the item to his inventory.
"What do you mean?" Mario asked.
"There was a Mushroom guarding the chest in Blue Station," Parakarry answered.
"And it was delicious!" Ed added while slurping. Double D unlocked the chest and took out a frying pan.
"This must belong to that chef in the restaurant," Goombario said, then everyone went back to the entrance of Pink Station.
"Parakarry and I will return these items to its rightful owners," Double D said as they boarded on the train.
"Take care," Mario said, waving those two back while they headed back to Blue Station, and then Toad Town. Everyone else resumed to the second path, which involved going around the track to activate the lever switch. Although they proceeded with caution, two Shy Guys got off from their hiding spot and launched a surprise attack. These two successfully slammed their hammers to Ed and Mario.
"Spy Guys!" Goombario said, gasping. Kooper used his Dizzy Shell to inflict dizziness to the Spy Guys. Goombario and Eddy took them down with a Headbonk and a Power Bounce. Once Mario and Ed recovered, they proceeded forward, but stopped at their tracks. It was a Shy Guy, but he was obese, or excessively fat. He had a knife and a fork on his hands. Strangely, the team did not feel hostility from him.
"Holy moly..." Eddy said in awe.
"He's as humongous as Jimmy when he was a sumo wrestler!" Ed said with his hands in the air.
"Uh...excuse us, but you're in the way," Bow said to the obese Shy Guy.
"Sorry..." he said in a deep voice, "but I'm so hungry that I can't move from this spot. Everyone calls me Gourmet Guy, by the way."
"Wanna half-eaten pretzel?" Ed asked, offering a pretzel from his jacket, which emits a strange odor. The team backed away from him, but Gourmet Guy ate it without hesitation.
"It's not enough to fill my belly. It's okay, I guess."
"Okay?!" everyone, except Ed, asked in disbelief.
"Look, pal!" Eddy said, stepping in. "Either you move that big fat butt of yours, or we're gonna kick your butt!"
"But I'm so hungry..." Gourmet Guy said, quivering his lips.
"Argh!" The team realized they could not go around it as long as the Gourmet Guy was sitting from his position. After three minutes of doing nothing, a train passed by, which was Double D and Parakarry. After a minute, they came by shortly.
"What's the hold up?" Double D asked with a cake on his hands.
Bombette pointed at the Gourmet Guy. "This guy won't move unless we fill up his stomach with food!" she answered with a scoff.
Double D smiled. "Well, this is convenient. I happen to hold the sweet taste of all mother nature's food."
"Let's hope it works," Kooper said as Double D offered his cake to the Gourmet Guy.
"Oh!" Gourmet Guy said, eyes bulging out and mouth gaping. "Ohh... Ohh! Amazing! Simply amazing! Absolutely tasty!" He ran around the whole room, defying the laws of gravity. He was even running on midair. Finally, he exited out of the box with a huge jump like a rocket. A cookbook landed on Double D's hands. For the team who had witnessed this, it was incredibly awkward. No one did not know what to say. The team picked up from where they left off and crossed over the railroad tracks. Along the way, there was another type of Shy Guys. This one was different from the rest since this Guy was literally on fire.
"It's a Pyro Guy!" Goombario said, gasping. "He must be the strongest out of all the Shy Guys!"
"Step aside, ladies!" Eddy said with a smirk. "Your hero shall save the day once again!" With the Ice Power Badge equipped and Power Bounce Badge tapped, Eddy jumped on the Pyro Guy with no sweat.
"Nice job, Eddy!" Bombette said, hopping up and down. After passing through obstacles, they finally found the lever. Mario pulled the lever back where the broken railroad track flipped over. With that, they could travel to Green Station. The team went back to the train and headed to Green Station.
"Green Station, passengers!" the conductor said to the team. "Here we are!" The train stopped in front of the station. Moments later, everyone fell out of the train.
"I can't feel my arms anymore," Kooper said, rubbing his right arm.
"I cannot tolerate this anymore!" Bow said, seething with rage. The team scanned at the tracks and saw part of the tracks empty.
Eddy groaned. "Here we go again," he murmured. Everyone also saw four blocks, which were green, yellow, red, and blue with a picture of stars. Unfortunately, they could not do anything about that, so they continued on.
Kammy set out her last item, which was a Super Soda. "That's three items," she said. "Now I'll have to go back and wait for the results." She finished up her task and zoomed out of the box.
The team saw a giant yellow conveyor belt in front of them. There were also fences along the way, but there was one fence that blocked the entire belt. The fences appeared too small to fit through, and climbing them would be dangerous because of its height.
"It's look like we have to rely on Team Ed," Goombario said.
"We're counting on you, Ed," Mario said, nodding.
"Don't mess this one up," Eddy said, crossing his arms before frowning. "And make sure you gather all the coins."
"Ignore Eddy," Double D said, then smiled to Ed's group. "We're relying on you three to complete the task."
"You can count on me, everyone!" Ed said as he stepped forward to the conveyor belt, but tripped down while the belt carried him away. Kooper and Bow followed Ed.
"He has doomed us all," Eddy murmured.
Meanwhile, Bow and Kooper managed to pick up Ed, but they slammed against the fence.
"North to Alaska!" Ed said, then laughed. Bow had to slap Ed to regain his senses, though Ed was still grinning.
"Focus, Ed!" Bow said as she grabbed Ed and Kooper and made them transparent. They were able to pass through the fence and move on. They took down a yellow Shy Guy, who was carrying a mysterious note. No one could read it, and Kooper concluded that they needed a smart person to translate it. After the conveyor belt, Team Ed saw a giant red slot machine.
"Let's test our luck," Kooper said, hitting the block to activate the slot machine. The three slots spun and started to slow down. The first was a star and the next was a star, too. Team Ed stared at the last slot which slowed down to the final star. Suddenly, it moved to a Shy Guy, so their award was a Mushroom.
"How unfair!"
"The bestest prize ever!" Ed said, eating the Mushroom. Team Ed proceeded forward where there were moving blocks ahead. After careful navigation and stumbling (not to mention another Star Piece), they took the Super Soda with no questions asked.
Kooper opened the chest and obtained a dictionary. "This must be the last thing that was stolen from the Shy Guys," he said.
"We better go back with the others," Bow said.
"Follow the leader!" Ed said, running off. Later, the rest of the team saw Team Ed on their way here.
"'Bout time you got here!" Eddy said, raising his hands in the air. "Did you realize how long we have to wait?"
"Eddy, it was only seven minutes," Double D said.
"Fat chance! It felt like hours to me!"
"So what did you three brought?" Mario asked Ed's group.
"We've found a doggy disk and a tissue," Ed answered, presenting the items he had found.
"That's...a dictionary and a paper," Parakarry said.
Double D took these items from Ed. "Intriguing..." he said. "I never seen this type of cursive handwriting before, but I can't decipher it. Everyone, I'll be back soon to deliver these items."
"What?! We have to wait more?!" Eddy asked.
"Be patient, Eddy. You need to comprehend that, or there will be terrible consequences." Double D and Parakarry stepped inside the train, rode to Blue Station, and jumped out of the box.
At Toad Town, Double D recognized this dictionary belonged to Russ T. when he met him before he went to Dry Dry Desert. He and Parakarry walked to Russ T.'s house. "Russ?" Double D said.
"Oh!" Russ T. said in surprise. "You're the one who I gave my book to you."
"Yes, well, we have your dictionary back."
"R-really?" Double D took out the dictionary and handed to him. "Thank you so much, young scholar! By the way, I haven't even heard of your name yet."
"You may call me Eddward, or Double D. I've also come here for you to assist my quest." He gave Russ T. the note.
He examined it for a moment. "Eureka! This writing is in a language of the Shy Guys. I can translate this for you."
"What does it say?" Parakarry asked.
"'Hit yellow, green, red, and then blue.'"
Double D widened his eyes. "Why, there were blocks that specifically matched what you just said!" he said. "Thank you for your wisdom!"
"It's no big deal, Eddward. Let me give you this." After he gave Double D a Star Piece, Double D and Parakarry went back to the box to return back to Green Station.
"I hope that haven't waited that long," Parakarry said.
"If you say something like that, something bad will happen," Double D said. They got off the train and saw something unexpected. Mario and Goombario were sitting on the stairs as normal, but the real problem were the other five. Ed, Kooper, and Bow were being chased by Eddy, who was carrying a toy block as a sword. Bombette ran next to him with her fuse lit up.
"It wasn't me!" Ed said. "It wasn't us!"
"Shut up, Ed!" Eddy said. "I know you did it!" They ran around in circles while the rest stood there watching.
"Do...I want to know?" Double D asked Mairo.
"I...think you shouldn't know," Mario replied with a worried look.
"It's...hard to describe," Goombario said. Double D and Parakarry decided not to look further into this.
"Oh! Uh, have you found anything, Double D?"
"I want you to hit those blocks in this order: yellow, green, red, and blue." Mario pulled out his hammer and struck the blocks in order. The walls next to the empty tracks formed a track that fits on the track. Even though they could go to the last station, the others were not ready.
Mario sighed and frowned. "Double D, do you have a Dizzy Dial on you?"
"I sure do." Mario received Double D's Dizzy Dial from him and threw it to the five. The five were trapped inside an invisible semi-sphere. Everything inside were spinning around like crazy. When it was done, the rest were inflicted with dizziness, minus Eddy.
"What the heck was that for?!" Eddy asked.
"To stop your animosity!" Double D replied, putting his hands on his hips. "I have no idea what's going on, other than the fact we had wasted an item, but we're ready to move forward." The rest had to cure the others before they could continue. Everyone boarded on the train and rode to Red Station.
In the original, the Anti Guy did not speak so fast. Toy blocks were not there in the Blue Station area. Spy Guys have a different costume.
Level 7 to 8
Mario [20 HP | 15 FP | 15 BP up]
Badge Points left [3]
Badges equipped [Power Jump (1), Smash Charged (1), D-Down Pound (2), Damage Dodge (3), Spike Shield (2), Multibounce (1), Power Rush (1), I Spy (1)]
Ed [20 HP up | 20 FP | 12 BP]
Badge Points left [4]
Badges equipped [Hammer Throw (2), Close Call (1), Shrink Stomp (1), Power Smash (1), D-Down Jump (2), Mega Rush (1)]
Double D [20 HP | 15 FP | 15 BP up]
Badge Points left [3]
Badges equipped [Pretty Lucky (2), Refund Badge (1), Zap Tap (4), Defend Plus (5)]
Eddy [15 HP | 15 FP | 18 BP up]
Badge Points left [1]
Badge equipped [Feeling Fine (3), Dizzy Attack (2), Power Bounce (2), Quake Hammer (1), Money Money (7), Power Plus (0), Ice Power (2)]
