Super Paper Mario X
Chapter 33: A Crag in the Dark
After exploring around in the dark for so long, the group was definitely pleased to find a place that had some light to it. Zelda still wondered why flowers preferred to be underground, but no one could really answer that. The only thing they could do was keep marching forward. Right after Link claimed a Super Shroom for everyone, Mario found…well, what could only be described as a wannabe adventurer.
"Coming to you live…from the foul darkness that the Floro Sapiens call home. Lesser Cragnons would weep softly. No one has set foot in this cave and emerged alive. But some make history with sheer gall and willpower…and Flint is such a man!"
"This guy is like a Flavio all over again, I can already tell."
"CRAGLEY HO! Into the Floro Sapiens Cave of Doom! A Flint Cragley Cragtrotting Adventure!…no, wait a second, that'll never play well with the sticks. How about…"
The man continued to recite to himself as the group dared to approach him.
"CRAGLEY HO! Taste Danger! Flint Cragley Vs. a Recragginated Mummy in Floro Sapiens Central! …I wonder if that will test well with the weekend audience…Those Cragnons are fickle…"
"Hey! Helmet head!" Bowser roared. Flint Cragley whirled around and bellowed out his catchphrase upon sight of the unexpected visitors.
"CRAGLEY HO! Suddenly…out of the cave mists…mysterious, slavering creatures lurched into view! Did they hope to dine on fillet of Cragley? Would our hero meet their mandibles? Tune in after this brief commercial break to witness the torrid conclusion!"
"Look, we've seen a lot of tasty things in our day, and you are not one of them," Sonic stated.
"…great, cut, print, wrap it. Now what do you dolts want? What are you doing here?"
"What are you doing here, ya fruitcake? !" Kirby demanded to know.
Amy raised an eyebrow. "Fruitcake?"
"It fit at the time. Just roll with it."
Mario: We're looking for a Pure Heart.
Flint Cragley's outlook on them quickly changed. "Spectacular. Just fabulous! All-time coincidence, that's what this is! Just great to meet fellow adventurers, really, it is. I'm ecstatic about this. Listen, call me Flint. I'm a heck of a guy to know! Best cragtrotter of our time!"
"You can trot crag?"
"You may know me from "Flint Cragley, Cragtrotter", which airs weekly on Crag-vision."
"Yeah, we don't get that channel where we're from."
"That's why I pretended to be kidnapped! I'm filming another epic show! Unfortunately, my idiot crew wandered off somewhere…so unprofessional. I turned away for one second, and they vanished into the foul blackness of this cave… The worst part is, they have the key that'll get me deeper into this infernal abyss!"
He then pointed at Mario.
"You there! If you run into my crew, tell them I'm waiting and stomping impatiently! Pure adventure personified thanks you kindly!"
"Pffft, if we remember…but no promises!" Bowser snorted. Flint gestured to the green pipe, being the only way to get deeper into the caverns. Mario was the first one in, like he usually was, with everyone on his tail.
. ..
"Well…if they have the key that'll get them farther in this cave, then I guess we'll need to find them to get farther too," Zelda stated, holding the lock on a door in the lower areas of the cavern.
"Ugh, more searching and finding…" complained Ganondorf.
"And we barely have any knowledge on the Pure Heart," added Eggman.
"Besides the fact that a plant king has it," threw in Samus.
Mario sighed to himself and trudged onward. He was already seeing that this stretch was going to be a long one. Small murmurs moved among the crowd, but no one really had anything concrete to say. Samus took out spiked Buzzy Beetles that fell from the top of the cave while Sonic discovered yet another pipe that led even deeper into the caves.
. . .
"Please tell me we'll actually get to do something in this part," pleaded Link. "Watching Samus blast as tiny turtles isn't all that entertaining."
"Who else was going to kill them?"
"Let's just focus on getting out of here alive and finding the crewpeople…" Zelda decided, walking by them and continuing on. Samus smirked while Link held his breath.
Mario hit a block and obtained some more Pil Pals, one of which that attacked an oncoming Buzzy. Sonic raced up blocks on stair formation and jumped onto a row of blocks, while Amy tried and ended up getting trapped with a Spania. It instantly saw her, and aimed its two long spikes as it vanished in a blur of orange.
"Augh, NO!"
Before she knew it, she had slammed Cudge's hammer down on the Spania right before it hit her. Blinking, she grinned, and noticed Mario reaching his hand down to help her out. She took it and he pulled her up.
"Thanks Mario!
Mario: Anytime.
"There's more where that came from," stated Bowser as Ganondorf raised his arms and created a wall of fire. It did nothing to the Buzzy Beetles in their path, but any other Spanias in the way were demolished. Eggman took care of the Beetles with well-placed shooting by his laser gun.
"Look at the ton of ? Blocks!" Kirby cried as he killed a Piranha emerging out of a pipe.
"I've seen more," Link scoffed as he hit each and every one of them. All of them were coins, except for one which was a Mushroom. Up ahead, Peach and Zelda were getting ready to float over a pipe with a Putrid Piranha over it, but Eggman had accidentally zapped the block that was going to help them reach the upper area.
"And so he strikes again," murmured Peach.
"Peach, give me a boost and I'll get rid of it!" Zelda ordered.
"All right…"
Peach cupped her hands together, helping get Zelda some air to jump over the Putrid Piranha. She summoned Nayru's Love as it tried to poison her, then when it stopped, Zelda fought back with Din's Fire. It died in flames, giving everyone access to jump over the pipe without worry.
"Okay, there's a door here, but more cavern up ahead…" Samus trailed.
"I say through the door- we can always come back," Zelda replied.
"Yeah, she said what I was going to say," added Sonic.
Mario: Through the door it is!
"Aw, what if I don't wanna go through the door?" whined Bowser.
Mario: Too bad! *shove*
"HEY!"
Mario grinned sheepishly and motioned for everyone to follow Bowser. When they did, they found something they weren't exactly expecting…
"Oh my gosh…it's a rollercoaster!" cheered Sonic.
"It's a mine cart you idiot!" Samus snapped back.
"I think it's a minercoaster," Kirby said bluntly.
"Or a rollercarter," suggested Link.
"Whatever it is," Amy butted in. "I think we're gonna have to ride in it."
"Shotgun!" shouted Bowser, forgetting his previous complaints and jumping in.
"Hey you can't do that!" shouted Peach.
"Yeah, there's won't be enough room for anyone else," snickered Zelda.
Mario burst into laughter while Bowser attempted to make room to prove Zelda wrong. Samus, however, had other plans…
"Move," she ordered, just about flipping Bowser out of the cart.
"I say we take control and ride in it," Link announced.
"no, we should! We have less people!" Amy disagreed.
"And we'll have more room," Zelda snickered again.
"I call shotgun then!" Sonic shouted, bounding into the cart with Link and Kirby jumping in after. Samus sat in the back with Kirby while Mario jumped in the middle. As soon as he was in, the cart started to move.
"All right! Woo!" cried Sonic and Link, slapping a high five.
"This is not a-"
Kirby threw up his arms. "Hands up! WOOT!"
The only thing about Kirby throwing up his arms (along with Sonic, Link, and eventually Mario) was that it flipped them into 3D, which increased the roller coasting experience.
"Yeah! Not just a ride…but a ride in 3D!" Link cried.
Samus rolled her eyes. "Oh brother…"
"Hey…there's a hole in the wall! And a fork in the road! And we're…going to the left?"
Everyone looked out the left side of the cart to what Kirby was talking about, and truth be told, the cart veered into the secret section of the cave. The five of them exchanged glances.
"Erm, what that supposed to happen?" Sonic asked.
Mario: *shrugs*
"AAAAH! GIANT ROCK ON THE TRACK!" shouted Link as he frantically pointed forward. They all started to scream and hold each other for dear life, but it was as if the cart had a mind of its own. Right before they collided with the stalactite, the cart dipped to the right and dodged the rock. Everyone blinked.
"…well that was lucky."
Their cart avoided two more obstacles before hitting the end of the track, inertia causing the group to fly out, hit the nearest wall, and fall into a pile.
"We really have a piling problem, don't we?" groaned Kirby.
Mario: Uh-huh.
"Off," Samus ordered, shoving her teammates off of her as they removed control. Teams ZAP and BEG appeared at their side.
"So how'd it go?" Peach asked.
"Let's just say it rocked," Link groaned. "We could also say we got a little off track-"
"Oh please stop now," pleaded Samus. She then noticed a wooden door to their right and started to open it. "Looks like we found a good place to explore…"
"Speaking of exploration…" Eggman began.
"Bowser got bored and started to run on the track after you guys," Ganondorf moaned.
"Hey, it was a good workout! And besides, I found something of interest!"
"What did you find this time Bowser?" Kirby questioned.
"Well, after you guys disappeared into the wall, I kept going straight forward, and I found a pipe at the other end!"
"After tripping over the end of the track."
"Hush. So when I entered the pipe…I found a bunch of those Cragnon things…and they have little plants growing out of their heads and they were all zombified and I couldn't even kill them when they attacked me!"
"Zombified Cragnons?" Sonic gaped.
"WITH PLANTS! ?" gasped Kirby. "The horror!"
"That must be what the Floro Sapiens are doing to them," Zelda explained.
"The only question is why…" Tippi trailed. "We have to get to the bottom of this."
"Well duh! That's why were entering this conveniently placed door."
Through the Conveniently Placed Door-
As soon as they entered, a sunflower chucked its head at them, Samus blasting it out of the air with a charge beam.
"Great. These guys are infesting this area…"
"Oh come on I bet it's not that- AUGH!"
"…Oh Link…" sighed Zelda, after Link had stepped over the edge.
"Are you alright?" Peach called down.
"No worries! Not like this is the first time or anything- OH JEEZ! ZOMBIE SHROOM! THEY'RE EVERYWHERE!"
Moments later, a ladder suddenly appeared at the edge of the cliff, and the rest of the group climbed down to where Link was. He was currently slashing at the Zombie Shrooms with the occasional shout of "Die!" Once he took care of that, Mario surveyed the new surroundings. The cavern basically went in a downward direction, but Mario noticed there was a ledge toward the top that none of them could reach. But for now, he chose the low way…
…and nearly got pelted with the heads of yellow and red Floro Sapiens. Kirby jumped in front of him and battered them off with Barry, but just up ahead were mind-controlled Cragnons like Bowser had talked about.
"Remember, don't hurt them…" Peach warned.
"It's a dead end down here anyway; let's turn around," grunted Samus. Peach glanced at the ground, then looked at Mario, who was staring upwards, thinking about the upper path.
"No…it's not…"
"Peach…?"
The princess hurried back to the start of the room, jumping toward the ladder and gripping the first rung. Everyone followed Peach in a hurry just to keep up with her. When she reached top of the ladder, she leapt off of it, pulled out her parasol, and glided over the room. Mario grinned- so that's how you got over there.
"Wait for us!" Zelda and Amy called back, gliding after their leader. When the female trio landed in the upper area, Peach removed control, and everyone else saw that there was more to the room.
"huh, I was wrong…" Samus trailed.
"Wouldn't be the first time!" snorted Sonic, who was quickly met with a cannon to the face. "You really need a new way to threaten people…"
"Why? This method works just fine!"
"…so?"
Mario defeated a Floro Sapient, obtained a coin from a ? block, and jumped off the rightmost ledge into a slightly lower area. Right in front of the group stood the sound guy.
"Whoa! Where in crag did you guys come from? …Serious. Who are you, brah?"
"You part of that idiot's crew? Get back and report to your boss, you lazy worm!"
"Way to be upfront about it, Bowser."
"Whuh? You know where director is? !" Mario nodded told him and filled him in on Flint's location. "Oh, that where he is…Thanks. Hornfels head back now. But first…you see other crew Cragnons? With little sprout on top of head?"
"Uh…yeah. They were trying to kill us."
"Floro Sapiens using sprouts to mind-control Cragnons…"
"Called it," Zelda stated proudly.
"They see you, they attack! Don't let you guard down, brah! Crag you later!"
With that, Hornfels started running back to Flint and leaving the gang to find the other crew member.
Back in the Area that Came Before the Cart Room *pant pant*-
"Do we go to the right now?" Kirby asked, killing a Piranha residing in a pipe outside of the first door (second if you count the one they had originally entered from.)
"Of course! Who knows what else is over there!" Sonic exclaimed, bounding over the pipe, landing on the other side of a small gap, and kicking around an onslaught of Buzzies. Well, Mario wasn't going to argue with that. The other member of the crew was probably up ahead. He spun into 3D since a ton of pipes were in his way while Team ZAP glided over them all and Team BEG awaited to pop up next to them.
"Ooh! Giant rock!" Link exclaimed, jumping in front of one.
"It looks awfully suspicious…" Samus pondered, looking it over. "Yeah, it's covering up a door!"
"Oh no! What if the other crew guy is stuck behind there? !" Amy gasped.
"Then we'll have to come to his rescue!" Link announced, dropping his bomb companion in front of the rock. He snapped his fingers, and with a mighty explosion, the rock burst into several pieces. Amy nearly kicked the door open, and Link and Samus piled in after.
"Hooray! Coins!"
"Psh, coins?" Link scoffed. "Man, I thought there'd be something of interest in there!"
"Coins are interesting," Amy defended as Samus gathered up the money. "One day, coins will have your back!"
"Hey, Rupees are all I need, Amy."
"If you say so…" Amy shrugged, exiting out of the room. Samus grabbed Link's arm and started to drag him out the door back to the rest of the group.
"What do you think you're doing? I have the ability to walk you know!"
Meanwhile-
While Amy, Samus, and Link went to explore the hidden room, the rest of the group continued to press onward. Sonic ran over everyone, hopping on blocks that no one else could reach. Eggman fired at the enemies lingering about while Mario, Peach, and Zelda collected anything and hit the ? Blocks along the path.
"How come I always have to kill the Piranhas?" Kirby whined, smacking into another one with his hammer.
"Because you're the best at it," Peach assured.
"Hey, I got rid of that one back in the Bitlands, remember?" Sonic pointed out, jumping down next to them.
"You poisoned it to death!"
"It was a very efficient defeat."
As they discussed that, Bowser and Ganondorf were taking on a group of Spanias.
"Where did Amy go? She's always going on about how she wants to be the one to kill things off," huffed Ganondorf as he burned one of the monsters.
"Yeah, then we could just kick back and not do anything," Bowser agreed, scorching another.
"And if you didn't do anything, you'd have us to answer to," Zelda threw in while walking past them.
"Stop eavesdropping on us!"
"I can't help that I just so happened to be passing by-"
"Oh, whatever!"
Zelda, Bowser, and Ganondorf started up another argument, but Mario ended up just letting that one go since he knew Zelda would emerge victorious. He found a spring in front of a large wall, and it was obvious what he had to do. It was sort of like back in Lineland! Mario hopped on the spring, crouched down, then shot himself upwards. He flipped over the wall with style, and once everyone saw him do that, they were quick to hop on the spring as well.
"I dunno, I'm still not very good with springs…" Link said, once he, Samus, and Amy caught up. He cautiously put his foot on the spring…only to be body slammed by Bowser and Ganondorf, causing the three of them to go flying upwards into the roof of the cave.
"That was so unnecessary!" Link scowled, now aching everywhere.
"You were taking too long." "Hey, this is sort of fun!"
"You think a lot of random things are fun, Bowser," sighed Eggman. When the three of them came back down to the ground with a large boom, the rest of the group turned around, and realized they had hit a dead end…
…with the exception on the yellow block sitting in the middle of the floor. Amy twirled Cudge's hammer between her fingers.
"I've got this one guys!"
Kirby looked worriedly at his own hammer. "…I'm too scared to even attempt to hit the yellow block…"
Amy gave a hearty swing, everyone ducking when the broken pieces of the block went flying everywhere. The block being gone revealed another wooden door, so Mario grabbed the handles and pulled it open.
. . .
"Hey, look. Another mine cart."
"Can we go in it this time, please?" begged Peach, Zelda, and Amy.
"But what if there's a place where we need to go into 3D?" Kirby asked. "Just think of all the redoing we'd have to do!"
"Besides, what if I wanna ride in it?" Sonic and Link dared to ask at the same time.
Peach, Zelda, Amy: Too bad! *jump in*
"H-hey-" "We were just kidding!"
The three girls turned to Mario, who simply shrugged and told them to go on ahead. He didn't think there'd be any need for 3D, to be honest.
"Thanks Mario!" Team ZAP exclaimed before shoving off. Bowser angrily stomped his foot.
"I wanna ride in the next one."
"I don't think there will be a next one," Ganondorf said bluntly.
"Who asked you, Mr. Dark Rain Cloud?"
"Besides that, the odds of us all fitting into one cramped space like that are extremely low," Eggman pointed out.
"That's because Bowser's huge, you're fat, and I'm studly," Ganondorf explained. He and Eggman started shouting at each other afterwards while Bowser planted his face into his palm. Team Mario just shook their heads.
Meanwhile, Peach, Zelda, and Amy were enjoying the carting experience. If anything, their cart ride was better than Team Mario's! It had loop-de-loops, steep slopes, broken tracks (which made Link flinch several times), and several hills. The girls had so much fun they nearly forgot to remove control.
"Sheesh, we could hear you cheering all the way from over there!"
"Well, it was fun," was all Amy had to say about it.
"It's over now though," Samus stated, throwing the next door open and marching inside.
. . .
It was another room similar to the one that Hornfels was in, but not quite the same. Mario felt that if the other crew guy wasn't in here, then who knew where he would be. He jumped down to the bottom of the room, where he hit another ? Block. A Zombie Shroom jumped out and started running around, disappearing into a crowd of Floro Sapiens and brainwashed Cragnons. When Link chased it down to kill it, he flipped into 3D and found a hidden room on the far side of the area. Running over, Link located a single Spania card, which would make killing the annoying creatures a heck of a lot easier.
"Link! Where are you; we need Boomer!" he heard Peach call.
"Coming! Eh…where are you?"
"Up here, Link!" Zelda cried. Link looked up- the rest of the gang was on top of a row of blocks toward the top of the room. Amy was frantically hitting against a wall that was in their way, but it looked like it was going to take some explosive power to get by. Link sent Boomer up to the gang while he started to climb after. Ganondorf ended up grabbing Boomer and throwing him against the wall. It burst upon contact, clearing the way for the crew.
"Here's your Pixl back," Ganondorf huffed, tossing Boomer over his shoulder and into Link's palms. Boomer landed with a grunt, making Link glare back at his arch foe.
"Just be a little less careless next time…" he murmured under his breath as he released Boomer back into the air.
"What's his deal, sss-BANG?"
"I've been wondering that for years."
When Link returned to the rest of the group, he was just in time to meet the other crew member, who happened to be the camera guy.
"Hey. You not mind controlled? You escape from "Processing Center", brah?" he asked, looking surprised.
Mario: *is just as surprised as camera guy is*
"Processing Center?" Sonic questioned. "What Processing Center?"
"Monzo maybe ought to take director there. Maybe sprout on head mellow him out…"
"You're Cragley's other minion, right? The guy wants you back there, on the DOUBLE!" Bowser shouted.
"I really don't think Flint refers to them as 'minions", but okay…" Peach sighed, shaking her head.
"I wanna know more about this Processing Center," grumbled Sonic.
Samus nodded in agreement. "Me too…"
"Hey, you guys actually agree on something!" cried Link. Samus narrowed her eyes.
"You act like it's the first time or something…"
"Well, it's certainly very rare!" Kirby added to be helpful.
Monzo paid no attention to Peach or Team Mario and solely focused on Bowser, gaping. "Whuh? You know director? So that where he was…aww…he told Monzo "Wait here!" But Monzo bet he forgot one second later. Job of Monzo really lame. Thanks, brah. Monzo head back now."
"What about the Processing Center! ?" wailed Sonic, falling to his knees. "Don't you think that's sort of an important aspect to SHARE! ?"
"Easy there, Fido, it's not like we won't see him again," said Samus.
"Yeah…they have the key to get us out of here…" Zelda recalled.
"Uh oh…" Link breathed, coming to a terrible realization. "You know what that means?"
"One…"
"Two…"
"Three-"
"BACKTRACKING!"
Back at Flint Cragley-
"Luckily we have the ability to bypass backtracking, huh?" Link said cheerfully while Mario groaned. The moment the group had returned, Flint had started up on a monologue.
"In a miraculous turn of events, I was reunited with my faithful camera Cragnons. But there was no time for celebration! We had to swoop to the aid of the kidnapped! With danger nibbling our heels, we ventured deeper into the forbidding cave…To do so, we used the key to the last unopened door in the forsaken labyrinth!"
"Beautiful. Can we have the key now?" Bowser asked. Flint nodded and turned to Hornfels.
"So, um…you DO have the key, right? Lemme grab that."
"Whuzzat? ! You cragging me? You never gave key…"
"Oh. Hm. Really?" he shifted his gaze to Monzo, who jumped in place.
"Whuh? What? Key?"
"Yes, genius, a key. Wait…don't tell me you don't have it either!"
"Uh, yah, brah, had key, but…"
"Ah, yes, so you DO have it! Good show, good show, yes. Give it here. Quickly now."
"No brah…HAD key but not HAVE key…"
"You…you LOST it? !" Flint swapped into monologue. "A tragic crew blunder ruins Cragley! Had the gods of adventure forsaken us? !"
Monzo was appalled. "Nah brah! See…Cragley say, "You lose this, so Cragley hold onto it." Cragley got key, brah…"
Upon seeing the death glares being forced upon him by the gang, Flint started to panic slightly. "Preposterous! If such a claim were true, there would be evident in my pocket, which there ISN'T."
Flint even shoved his hands into his pockets to prove his point…until his fingers brushed against something. Eyes shrinking, he whipped out the key and held it over his head.
At the same time, the group tackled Ganondorf to the ground.
"Let me at that no good son of a sausage! LET ME GO SO I CAN TEAR HIM LIMB FROM LIMB!"
"'Kay, I wanna roast him to a third degree burn as much as the next guy, but have some sense about this," Bowser replied calmly.
"CRAGLEY HO! A miracle struck! As if by magic, the long-lost key returned to my pocket! The cave defied Cragnon comprehension! It was a place of purest miracles!"
"After seeing that, Flint seems more like a Kolorado to me."
"Dude, he still reeks of Flavio-like instinct."
"What if he's some freaky combination of the two? !" winced Kirby. "Brr…"
"Lucky turn of events, finding that key…I'm sure everyone contributed somehow."
"Cragley spaced, huh?" Hornfels whispered to Monzo.
"Yah, totally. Right in pocket."
"Figures, brah. What a crag."
"Yah, serious. Big surprise."
"Now, onward! We must make our way to the last unopened door to the horrid depths…If my research is correct, and it always is, then this key should open that door. Of course, through the door may lie a trap that will devour us all…Ho ho HO!"
"He laughs like you," Ganondorf said to Eggman once he had calmed down a few degrees. Eggman wasn't even going to bother responding to that one.
"C'mon! Let's just open the door already!" Amy sighed impatiently. Flint instantly rushed over to her and stared her down.
"What's that? You say you want to open the door no matter what may lie in wait? Tremendous! Such bravery!"
Mario: Wait, what-?
"I was planning on opening the door myself, but since you seem so passionate…not that I'm afraid or anything. Don't be ridiculous. I mean, that's laughable. As a felloe cragtrotter, I know the heady thrill of the hunt! I'll yield to your lead!"
"What hunt! ?"
Flint tossed Mario the key, Mario lifting up a hand and claiming it for his own in a swift move.
"We'll head down first and await you by the door. Come down when you're ready. See you in two ticks!"
Flint, Hornfels, and Monzo jumped down the pipe and were on their way. Mario stared at the key, making a face at Flint's previous reactions, then followed them down the pipe.
"I'd just like to know what any of this has to do with a hunt."
At the Locked Door-
"What horrors crouched behind this door! Excitement slathered the cave walls…" Flint motioned to the door. "So, uh, yeah. Go ahead and open it now."
Mario: Well then!
He jammed the key into the lock, causing it to unlock and fall onto the floor with a clink. Ganondorf was the last one in, and when he saw Flint start to follow, Ganondorf shut the door…and Flint ran straight into it.
"HaHahah! That takes care of my revenge for him wasting precious time out of our lives!"
"MINE CART!" Bowser shouted, shoving Zelda and Sonic out of the way while he jumped into it. "Oh yeah! Make room for Bowser baby!"
"You could have just said "Excuse me", you know!" Sonic huffed while getting up from the floor. Link was helping Zelda back to her feet while Ganondorf and Eggman ran for the cart as well. Unfortunately, the force of them both jumping into the cart with what little room it had left caused it to start moving.
"Heh, this should be fun to watch," smirked Samus, sipping a Shroom Shake.
The cart instantly plunged downward, Bowser throwing up his hands and calling his voice into the wind. The force of the cart plummeting and gaining speed caused Eggman to fly out the back, hanging onto the edge of the cart since his life probably depended on it.
"Grah! SLOW THIS THING DOWN!" Ganondorf roared, the back half of his body dangling over the side of the cart. Bowser was completely oblivious to his fellow fiends' fate and just enjoyed the ride. Upon seeing the track twist into a loop, Eggman let out a terrified shriek. He was now flapping upside down while Ganondorf nearly fell out of the cart.
"Are we nearly done yet?" wailed the doctor, now only gripping with one hand and it was starting to get rather difficult.
"Why are ya trying to make it end quicker? Woo hoo!" cheered Bowser. "Everyone! No hands!"
"No thank you!" Eggman shouted back.
"More like no feet for me…" muttered Ganondorf, whose face was smashed into the bottom of the cart by this point. Finally, the cart started going up a steep slope, Eggman practically dragging on the tracks. When the cart hit the stopper, Ganondorf went flying out first, only to be smashed by Eggman and finally Bowser.
"Why do I always end up on the bottom? !" shouted Ganondorf, struggling to pull himself out.
"Let's go again, grah ha ha ha ha!" Bowser laughed.
"Please…no…never again…" Eggman panted, slumping on the floor.
The Following Room-
"Ugh, there's still more to traverse!" whined Kirby, hacking at a Floro Sapient with his Final Cutter. "Oh well…"
"Maybe it won't be that long…" Amy trailed, holding Cudge curiously. There was large rock in their way, but the peculiar thing about it was that it was the same size and shape as a yellow block.
"Go ahead! Hit it! See what'll happen!" Cudge encouraged.
"Okay then…"
She swung Cudge's hammer, and to her surprise, she managed to break the block. A ? block was revealed behind it, and Zelda gave it a whack.
A Mega Star popped out of it.
"Everyone, hold on!" Link instantly ordered, right as everyone was about to burst into a fight over who should get it. "Who had it last time?"
"Wasn't it Team BEG?" Peach asked.
"Yeah, we got it right before we met up with Miss Aran over here," Eggman replied, pointing to Samus as if he needed extra proof.
"Then it's our turn!" Sonic cheered as he plowed through the star's containment, obtaining the Star and causing his whole team to grow into large 8-bit monsters of destruction.
"Oh yeah, this'll be fun…" Samus trailed as she went on a rampage. The other two teams held each other for support- now that she was huge, Samus' missiles were fifty times as deadly! Every time she shot one, a large BOOM rattled throughout the caverns.
"Ha! Take that, stupid bricks and monsters!" Kirby laughed maniacally.
"It's not even fair- Samus demolished mostly everything!" Link complained.
"I just enjoy the increased height," Sonic admitted as he ran around like a maniac. Eventually, the bigness wore off, and the five of them fell to the ground, now drained of power. When they glanced up, they realized that they were at a dead end.
"Wha-what? ! But this was supposed to take us to deeper parts of the cavern!" Samus gasped.
"We've been lied to!" Sonic shouted. "What is the world coming to? !"
Mario held off from panicking for a bit, turning around and locating the rest of the group. Amy gave a small wave when she saw Mario looking, then slammed her hammer into a block that he and his team had bypassed. When it shattered, a door was now accessible. Mario smiled and quickly ran over- this wasn't a dead end after all.
"Hey! Where's he going?"
"I dunno, let's follow anyway."
Link, Sonic, Kirby, and Samus got up off the ground and ran after Mario, who ran after the rest of the crew who had entered the hidden door. When he poked his head in, Mario found a room filled with blue crystallites, and the Star Block.
"What do you know?" Amy said with a shrug.
"Whew! I almost thought it was the end of the world!" exclaimed Kirby. "Nice to see that it's all good."
Yeah, Mario agreed silently in his head as he hit the Star block. It's all good…for now.
. . .
"You want REAL danger? How about my duel with the foul Rainbowzilla? !"
As the heroes descended into the Floro Caverns, Flint Cragley entertained them all.
"Boss. BOSS! Cragnons heard that story 255 times, brah…You making my crag hurt."
"Brah, if you count the time we weren't tied up, then it 256 times."
Mario and Co. glanced over at the weary faces of Flint's crew as they delved deeper. But a light grew…Was it a ray of hope from the Pure Heart, or an evil illusion?
Another chapter of Chapter 5 down...next week is the final one then the dreaded boss. DX