Author's Note: A new ark being written in a new notebook! It's blue, my favorite color! Well, on with the ark!

Chapter 37: The Door to Flowers

Enter Pax:

The sun was beginning to set as we reached the docks of Toad Town.

"Thanks again!" I said to the whale as we all jumped off.

"No problem!" the whale replied before diving back into the water.

"So I suppose we just stand around and wait for some disaster to happen," I said.

"Why do you figure that?" Goombario asked me.

"It seems to be a pattern," I shrugged. "We return to Toad Town, get a short breather, then some random Toad runs up to us and says-"

"Mario, we need your help!" a female voice shouted.

"Yeah, that," I said. "…wait, what?"

I turned around to see a female Toad with gardening gloves running up to me.

"Oh Mario!" she said. "Thank the Stars you're here! Something terrible has happened!"

"What is it?" I asked, pulling out my hammer and preparing myself for battle. "Have monsters infested Toad Town again?"

"Worse!" the female Toad said.

"Bowser came back and is terrorizing the town?" Bombette asked.

"Worse!" the female Toad said.

"Mario's gone missing inside a haunted mansion Luigi won in a contest and it's up to him, using Professor E. Gadd's device, the Poltergust 3000, to enter the mansion, defeat all the evil Boos inside, and save his brother Mario before it's too late?" Parakarry asked.

"…I'm right here, you know," I said.

"And that's just insulting!" Bow said. "Not all Boos are evil, you know!"

I didn't hear exactly what Bombette muttered, but apparently Bow did, as she glared at the pink Bob-omb.

"Even worse than that!" the female Toad said.

"Then what?" I asked. "What's happening?"

"It's just so terrible!" the Toad said. "You see… the flowers are all wilting!"

We all stared at her.

"…that's it?" I asked. "That's the huge disaster that's happening?"

"Yes!" the Toad said. "Isn't it just horrible?"

"That's not the exact word I was looking for…" I said.

"Sorry, but… a few flowers wilting isn't exactly a disaster," Sushi said.

"WHAT?" the female Toad shouted, getting in Sushi's face. "You listen, you stupid fish! It's not just a few flowers, it's every single flower in town! And without flowers, many animals won't be able to find anything to eat and DIE! And the animals that eat those animals will die out too! And soon that'll effect us and we'll starve! And without flowers, light and carbon dioxide won't be converted into oxygen and we'll all suffocate! Do you WANT everyone to die out, PUNK?"

"Uh… no?" Sushi said.

"Then you have to help!" the Toad said, grabbing me by the arm and dragging me off. My friends followed behind.

Enter Coron:

"Oh Tom…" a female Toad said to a male Toad. "I love you so much."

"And I love you too, Gwen," the other Toad said. "I love you so much, not even a plane crashing into me could stop my love for you."

Gwen smiled gently and leaned in to kiss him, but then looked into the sky, screamed, and ran away.

"What?" Tom asked before looking into the sky to see a plane crashing toward him.

"I DIDN'T MEAN IT LITTERALLY!" Tom screamed to the heavens before getting crushed by the plane. The door opened, and we all jumped out.

"You couldn't have made the landing a little softer?" I asked, rubbing my sore head.

"I'm so sorry, Coron!" Iuka said, worriedly running up to me. "Are you okay?"

"Personal space," I said, holding out my arm to stop her.

"Right," she sighed dejectedly. "Personal space, I know."

"I think we landed on someone," George said, looking down under the plane.

"And we should care why?" I asked.

George didn't answer as he reached under the plane and pulled out a paper-thin Toad. He shook the Toad once, and he poofed back up, unconscious but alive.

"Oh yay, he's alive," I said unemotionally before placing my hand on the ground and searching for the Dream Keeper's tracks.

"Oh, he's so caring…" Iuka sighed dreamily.

"…do do realize he was being sarcastic, right?" George asked her.

"Don't ruin it for me," Iuka replied.

"Good news," I said, standing back up. "The Dream-Mario's closer than we had originally thought. If we hurry, we'll be able to ambush him."

"Yay, ambush!" Jr. Troopa cheered.

"Um… why are we ambushing this guy again?" Iuka asked.

"He made a fool out of us!" Jr. Troopa, King Goomba, Red Koopa, and General Shy Guy said simultaneously.

"He stole Bow from me…" Nottaboo said.

"I don't even know how I got here," George said with a shrug.

"What about you, Coron?" Iuka asked me.

"None of your business," I replied as I began following in the Dream Keeper's tracks. Iuka sighed before following.

Enter Pax:

"Whoa, this place has gone to the dogs…" I muttered as I looked around the flower garden the female Toad dragged me to. She wasn't kidding when she said every single flower had wilted. It looked like a graveyard with how dull and gloomy it looked.

"You see?" the female Toad said. "This is just terrible! All the flowers are dying!"

"Alright, but… how are we supposed to help?" Bombette asked.

"He told me why they're dying," the female Toad replied, pointing to a giant bulb with feet and a face, who was standing nearby.

"…is that a giant flower?" Goombario asked.

"Bulb," the plant corrected. "Our world, the Flower Fields, is being destroyed by one of Bowser's minions! He seems to be using some strange machine powered by a magical card to ruin the flowers!"

"The Star Card!" we all said to each other.

"The what?" the bulb asked.

"…nothing," I replied. "So, where are these Flower Fields?"

"It's in another dimension," the bulb said. "Usually, you need four magic seeds planted with love to open the door, but the author's too lazy to do that, so I apparently hold the power to open the door myself."

The bulb then turned away and strained, building up power. He released all the power and, in a flash of light, a door appeared.

Enter Coron:

"AUGH!" I screamed, gripping my head and dropping to my knees.

"Coron!" Iuka said. "Are you alright?"

"DO I LOOK ALRIGHT, DERSHOONGA?" I snapped at her.

I didn't question the pain, I knew very well what it was.

Someone opened a gate to another Dream.

Enter Pax:

"Hurry!" the bulb grunted. "I can't keep this door open forever!"

"Right!" I nodded. "Come on, guys!"

With that, we all dashed through the door.

Author's Note: I apologize for the late update (I usually post these chapters around 6:00 AM, EST) and for the fact that, since I haven't played Paper Mario in awhile, I forgot a lot of the stuff that happened in the Flower Fields part. So, I'm just gonna be wingin' it. Until next time, this is Pax the Dreamer, signing out!