I really am on a writing roll. I finished three and a half chapters yesterday (02/03/2013), something I hardly do on a normal day due to time restrictions and complications, and now I finished the chapter I had half-finished today. I might finish this story before the end of March! :D

Mario and Luigi - A Superstar Story

Chapter 35: Seasonal Style

In the area to the north, the three natives were adjusting small parts of a giant hermit crab's green Christmas Tree-like shell, placing all kinds of decorations on it, even candy canes. One of them placed the Beanstar Piece on the top.

"How's that feel, Hermie?" they asked. "Like the look of it?"

"Oh! I get a good feel from that! Yethh, I do." Hermie chuckled as Mario and Luigi approached him. "Huhn? Who are you? Have you come to help me decorate, too?"

Hermie looked at Mario a bit closer.

"Why! Red clothes… And a muthtache, even… That meanthh…" Hermie gasped. "C-Could you be…"

Mario and Luigi looked at Hermie in slight suspense.

"THANTA CLAUTH!?" Mario and Luigi fell to the ground. Eventually, Mario and Luigi had the strength to get up again from being duped so badly. Mario shook his head in denial.

"Nope."

"Hermie! What is it?!" a native asked, jumping off Hermie's shell and looking at the Bros. "Oh, wow… On closer inspection, I see you have red clothes and a shiny mustache… Could you be…"

Mario jumped to make sure she was actually right.

"Wow! That jump! Pow! Then it's true! It's true! You're Mario of the Mushroom Kingdom! Stupendular!" the native gasped, turning to the two on Hermie's shell still decorating. "Mario of the Mushroom Kingdom is here! Party on! This is no time to be decorating!"

Split-seconds were all the trio needed before they had surrounded Mario from everywhere but west, as that was where Luigi was. Mario was sprinting in circles frantically as he was fangirled.

"WHOOOAAAA! OUTSTANDING! It's true! It's true! Can I touch your mustache?! Can I have your gloves?! That jump! It's gloriful! Grandular! I cannot WAIT to brag to everyone I know! This RULES! I absolutely MUST take a picture! Where's my camera?! Can I have a bit of your hair?!"

Luigi looked at the scene. He knew he had to get Mario out of there. He grabbed Mario and tried pulling him out. Hermie, who was watching all this, wasn't very pleased.

"Ahh… Oh… My decorationthh…" Hermie mumbled, crestfallen.

"Huh? Oh… You must be… The president of the Mario Fan Club?" one of the natives asked, the others stopping the harassing of Mario, yet he still sprinted in circles on the spot frantically, unaware of the attack ending.

Luigi looked at them.

"No! Wait just a second… Green clothes… Mustache…" one of them analysed.

"Hey… Any chance that you're… The random brother who always gets left behind?" another asked, walking around to Luigi's west side. The other two stood by Luigi's north and south sides to get a good look. Mario had stopped sprinting now, and realized what was about to happen. He waited.

"Luigi?"

Luigi jumped and nodded, then getting fangirled by the trio, instead.

"Wow! Are we lucky or what?! How old are you? What's your sign? And your hat size? What's your favourite colour? How do you keep that fine 'stache? Favourite snack? Where do you get your clothes? When's your birthday? OK, your waist? Any hobbies?"

"ARRGGHPTHH!" Hermie outraged. The natives ran behind Mario and Luigi, and they all looked at Hermie. "Ppthh! The decorating thtopped, and it ith all becauthe of you!"

"Sheesh, talk about an attention seeker." Mario muttered.

"If you want to cauthe trouble… then you're thtupid!"

Mario and Luigi got ready for battle. Luigi started things off by zapping Hermie's left claw. This seemed very effective. Mario burned Hermie directly with a fireball, then pounded Hermie's right claw when it tried to snap at him.

"Athpthpth! How fruthtrating! It ith time to thpeed things up!" Hermie decided, suddenly moving faster. He reached out his right claw at Mario again, and clawed him across the face. Hermie reached his left claw at Luigi, but he kicked it away frantically.

"He suddenly started moving faster!" Mario noticed. "We better stay on edge. That kind of power is dangerous. We better watch out."

Luigi charged up a ball of electricity behind Mario, bounced off his head, and zapped the ground, hurting Hermie and his claws through Thunder Bros.

"His speed may be rising, but his defences are dropping now!" Mario noted. Hermie faked out Luigi by going for Mario initially, then switching over to his other claw and clawing him, but then was counterattacked by Mario when he tried going for him.

"Time to try my newly created move, Fire Bros!" Mario chanted. "You know what to do, right, Luigi?"

Luigi nodded. They went over this during lunch very carefully. Mario charged up some fireballs, then hurled one in an arc at Luigi who had his hammer ready. He batted it at Hermie, and he was burned. This was repeated three times before Mario ran out of fireballs.

Hermie charged at Mario, and shot out his right claw at him, only to fake him out and retract it before contact, sending out his left claw at Luigi, yet he managed to notice this and kick away the ambush.

Hermie sped up, and burped two pink bubbles at Luigi. He smashed one to…whatever juices those were that dropped in the sand, but the other splashed him in the face. Mario winced. Mario burned Hermie's left claw, Luigi zapped it, and it was put out of commission, bandages wrapped around it now. Hermie clawed Mario with his right claw as muffled laughter came out at the suddenness of the bandages appearance. Another Thunder Bros lowered Hermie's defences further, yet he fought on with his right claw.

Mario jumped over one claw attack, then counterattacked the other. Hermie sped up some more. Mario stomped Hermie's right claw, and jumped over a claw attack. Luigi zapped Hermie's right claw, and once again, bandages appeared, wrapped around that claw, too.

"It's almost as if your electricity is super-effective against Hermie's claws." Mario noticed. "You always seem to get those bandages to appear, putting the claws out of commission."

Mario and Luigi performed Vacuum Bros on Hermie while he was generally exposed to attacks, and snagged a Lucky Ribbon.

"Wow! We actually snagged something!" Luigi gasped as Hermie groaned in disappointment, shooting out three bubbles. Mario hammered one, but both Bros were blasted by one afterwards.

Luigi smashed a curled up Mario into Hermie, performing Knockback Bros. Mario signalled for Fire Bros, and started charging up some fireballs. He then hurled each of the four he had charged up in an arc at Luigi, and he smashed them down to Hermie. After that, Hermie hid in his shell.

"What's he doing in there?" Mario wondered.

"Probably decorating." Luigi shrugged. "We should leave him be for a while."

"I think he's healing. You know, his bandaged claws and all? We should do him some housewarming, if you catch my drift." Mario winked. Luigi winked back, and carefully zapped Hermie's shell. Mario burned it. Fire caught on to the whole shell, but it stopped once Hermie popped out, his claws back in action. "He WAS healing!"

"What are you doing to my pretty decorathion?!" Hermie questioned. "No more, thtupids!"

Mario was faked out, yet Hermie switched to his other claw and snapped Luigi…twice. Mario was snapped, then pounded away the right claw, ending Hermie's onslaught of claw attacks. Knockback Bros put Hermie's lefty back out of commission, and Chopper Bros assisted with putting the righty out of commission, too. Hermie then hid in his shell to heal.

"If he can heal, so can we!" Luigi chanted, sharing a Nut with Mario, then watching his brother burn the shell again.

"What are you doing to my pretty decorathion?!" Hermie questioned. "No more, thtupids!"

He clawed Luigi, but was stomped by Mario, who ended the onslaught early.

"Wait, bro, if he was healing in there, do you think he fixed his defense problem?" Luigi asked. Mario nodded. "Then unfortunately, another Thunder Bros is in order."

Luigi once again performed the charge, bounce and bomb combo, and Hermie's defences were once again lowered, yet he did get back at him by snapping the plumber. Mario got back at him for that by stomping Hermie's claw, then they did Swing Bros on him, knocking a candy cane off his "decorathion". Mario snagged it, and gnawed on it, finishing it in record time.

Mario stomped Hermie's claw attack, and Hermie retreated before he was counterattacked further. He sped up, then came back to snap Luigi…twice. Mario stopped this through counterattacking, and that even put Hermie's right claw out of commission.

Luigi walked up to Hermie, and smashed his mug quite hard. He screwed up his face, and exploded in defeat, Luigi rolling back to Mario's side.

"Well, that works." Mario said.

Mario levelled up to Level 25! Mario got an extra +3DEF!

Luigi levelled up to Level 25! Luigi got an extra +3POW!

"Appthh! Hackthh!" Hermie groaned, lying in a pile. One of the natives tended to him.

"Please excuse Hermie… He's a little… kooky." They said, the others covering Hermie's face with their bodies, facing the Bros.

"Gee, I'm sorry, fellas…" one started. "I guess we were in the wrong…"

"Anyhoo, I'm sure you two must have had some reason for coming here…"

"Yeah, we sorta came here looking for that thing on the top of Hermie's shell." Mario pointed out.

"Huh? The bean-thing on the shell?"

"Well, whoop-de-doo. What's so important about that thing?"

"We need it to save a certain princess and stop a certain dragon-witch's plan of world conquest…" Luigi trailed.

"Wow! Did you hear that, Hermie?" the two natives blocking Hermie parted to let him speak clearly.

"Uhhnnn… Ith that tho? Then I thuppothe I have no choithe…" Hermie realized, and nudged his shell forward, causing the Beanstar Piece to drop off and land before the Bros. They snapped their fingers, jumped, spun and posed.

"BEANSTAR!" they both chanted.

You got a Beanstar Piece! Only 3 more to go!

"And after decorating thingth tho well, too…" Hermie moaned as the Bros made their leave south.

"But we tried so hard…"

"What? You're leaving already?" a native asked. Mario and Luigi nodded. "I don't see why you can't stay and relax, personally."

"Superstars are busy people, I'm sure." A native stated, walking to the west part of the small island they were on, and pointing to the west. "If you're going back, this way should be a shortcut."

Mario and Luigi looked at Hermie, it looked as if he had something to say.

"Don't you have anything to replathe the bean-thing with?" Hermie asked. Mario and Luigi shook their heads. "If you happen to find thomething in your travelth, I really hope you bring it back here."

"Looks like we have a reason to come back here eventually." Luigi realized as they headed west, Luigi sliding off some white squares in the sand and tripping over two blue and white circles that followed.

"Is that some new type of crab?" Mario asked, pointing at whatever Luigi tripped over.

"No idea." Luigi dusted off the sand. "And is it me, or do I feel very watched?"

"It's just you. I don't notice anything that could unsettle you to the point of that thought, since there's no one here but us, and those Beans off in the distance that I can't even see any more." Mario stated, pulling Luigi along to the west.

There was a Boo Statue. They pushed it, and stones made a bridge again. "I really do wonder how that works."

Mario and Luigi crossed it, and headed north to a green pipe, entering the pipe junction again, and heading from Pipe 8 to Pipe 3.

Beanbean Castle Town

They headed back to Toadsworth in the castle.

"I beg of you! You must find the Beanstar Pieces so we can save dear Princess Peach!" Toadsworth begged, pacing back and forth.

"Uh, we came here for some guidance." Mario stated. "Any ideas on which one to go for next?"

"Oho! Seeking wisdom, I see! Quite commendable, Master Mario!" Toadsworth glanced at the map. "I recommend you head forth towards the southernmost Beanstar Piece. Surely that will yield great results!"

Mario nodded in thanks, and dragged Luigi out the castle, their next target realized, and now their new destination.