Super Mario Sunshine Adventure
Episode 1: Chain Chomplets Unchained
The endless ocean above was painted with the colors of various blues, whites tainting it here and there with their fluffiness. There was a small breeze passing through Bianco Square and it made the trees dance and the little grass sway gently. There weren't that many Piantas out, only a few. The sun still wasn't shining upon the island and there were still Shine Sprites to be found and restored. In addition to that mess, the massive Shine Sprite that was in the center of the place was still covered in dark goop, which was a completely awful sight to behold.
As Pauline walked along the sandy shore, feeling the warm sand get between her toes, she ruminated on what their next move was. Currently, she was just enjoying herself. The woman didn't want to think about what was next to come. Sure, they were so close in rescuing Amy Rose and Princess Peach, but heroes needed a break too! At the moment, Mario was looking around for an entrance to the next area, which was the last area they had yet to discover of Isle Delfino. Curious thoughts roamed the burgundy haired woman's mind and they became chaotic when she thought about what problems they would face next.
Did that make her uneasy? Nope. Not really. That would've made her tremendously apprehensive before when she had been journeying through Ricco Harbor, but not now. Thinking back to that time made it seem like it happened a long time ago when in reality it actually didn't. The female was lucky to have met Sonic and to have seen Mario again. She had no clue that Mario would even be there! Pauline had just been on vacation. That was all. It was like all of that had been planned by fate or something ridiculous like that.
Crossing her arms, Pauline enjoyed the way the cool breeze caressed her skin and tangled her burgundy colored hair. She lowered her gaze to the ground and just watched her bare feet sink into the sand with each and every step she took. The sand was warm and it felt nice. Soon, however, she would have to soak them in the cold seawater that brushed the shore gently. Pauline definitely disliked the sensation of sandy feet in shoes. That just didn't sit right with her. At all. Period. Enough said.
"Hey, Pauline!"
Halting, the beautiful lady turned around in the sand and almost toppled over by how close the individual was standing next to her. It was none other than Sonic the Hedgehog and he was just standing there with his hands on his hips, tapping his foot on the ground in an extremely impatient manner. The blue speedster wore a carefree smile and his green eyes were dancing with unhidden mirth.
"Hey there, Pauline," repeated the blue hero, still tapping his foot on the ground rapidly. "What're you doin' over here by yourself? I think Mario found the way to Pianta Village!"
"Um…Pianta Village? Is that the location we haven't visited yet?" questioned Pauline, strolling on over to the water and letting her feet soak in it. The female had a small grin on her facial features and she seemed highly content for some reason that Sonic the Hedgehog could not decipher! What was she so happy about?
Sonic brought a hand to his chin, arm wrapped around his stomach area as he stared at the female, watching as she got her feet wet in the seawater. The blue speedster zoomed to her side and then donned the same physical position, frown covering his face. "Uh, yeah."
"What took you so long to answer?" asked Pauline, raising an eyebrow but not looking at him.
Sonic shrugged his shoulders, conveying an expression that consisted of pure discombobulation. His green eyes were narrowed into slits as he just stared at her oddly. Pauline was about to open her mouth and question him about his unusual look, but Sonic beat her to it.
"Not that I'm complaining or anything, but…what are you so happy about?" Sonic voiced his question, resuming his action that showed him tapping his foot on the ground impatiently. "I mean, don't get me wrong, you have a NICE smile, I just…want to know. You seemed a little bummed out last night before we all went to bed."
And that was the truth. Pursing her lips, Pauline put her gaze back on her bare feet, seeing the water wash away the sand that was covering the skin. It was almost gone now and she held her heels in her right hand, ready to slip them on when she was done. Well, yeah, she had felt bummed out last night because she knew that, once they finally saved Peach and Amy, they would all go their separate ways. Pauline had so much fun on this adventure and just thinking about separating from them all made her very depressed. Of course, everyone asked why she had such a long face the other night, but she refused to respond to their questions. Instead, she fibbed.
"Well…" Pauline looked as though she didn't want to reply to that question. She bit down on her bottom lip and hurriedly slipped her heels on, not caring if her feet were still wet. At least, the sand was completely gone. "I…uh…well…" How in the world was she supposed to tell Sonic that? What would he think? Would he laugh at her? No. Sonic didn't seem like the kind of guy that would laugh at her negative feelings. Pauline opened her mouth again to say something, but she couldn't form any words. She wasn't ready to speak of this. She didn't even want to talk about it. It made her too sad. Besides, she was smiling and feeling quite dandy today because those feelings had left her. However, the query that Sonic sent to her caused those feelings to come back because of thoughts of last night.
Sonic tapped her arm to get her attention again, seeing that she was becoming uncomfortable and struggling to come up with an answer. The hedgehog shook his blue head and gave her a crooked grin, sending her a thumbs-up. "Hey, don't worry about it, Pauline. You don't have to tell me," Sonic told her sincerely, still grinning. "Just…if you need someone to talk to, you can come to me, okay?" That was when Sonic realized that he had told Amy that one time too, before she was kidnapped with Peach. There had been something wrong with the pink hedgehog and she had been behaving weirdly. Sonic was still interested in knowing what was up with her. He would have to ask her after they rescued them. Well, that was if he remembered.
"Alright…" Pauline gave Sonic a small smile.
Sonic flashed her a smile and a peace sign and was about to talk about something totally different, but Mario, Silver, and Blaze approached the duo. "Guys! Guys! GUYS!" Silver wailed, flapping his arms about wildly.
"What? What? WHAT?" hollered Sonic.
Silver hopped around like a maniac. "Mario found the entrance to the, um…what was it called again, Blaze?" Silver grabbed the purple furred cat's arm and yanked on it in an annoying fashion.
Snatching her arm out of his grasp, the cat smoothed down her clothing and then folded her arms. "Pianta Village."
"OH YEAH! THAT'S RIGHT!" Silver was obviously hyper for some very odd reason. "Pianta Village, yeah! Yeah! Mario found the entrance to…uh…"
"…Pianta Village…"
"YEAH! PIANTA VILLAGE!"
Pauline instantly released a guffaw, covering her mouth with the palm of her hand at her friends' antics. She could see the obvious annoyance painting Blaze's face and could see Mario introducing his face to his palm. That just made her laugh harder. Sonic, however, had his hands on his hips and was sending Silver an odd look.
"So, mind telling me who gave the guy sugar?" Sonic wanted to know, eyebrow raised.
"No one," responded Mario flatly.
"Apparently, he found himself a candy shop and pretty much devoured almost everything in there…" retorted Blaze dryly, looking a tad bit embarrassed for Silver.
Pauline laughed. "Hilarious!"
"No. It's not." Mario deadpanned.
FLUDD bounced on Mario's back, currently using the Rocket Nozzle. "Can we please get back to what we were about to discuss? Mario has found the entrance to Pianta Village."
"Where?" asked Sonic.
"It is a crimson Warp Pipe located at the top of the structure that the large Shine Sprite is hanging from," answered FLUDD quickly.
Silver jumped for joy. "ALRIGHT! BRING IT ON!"
"Hey!" Sonic snapped, totally offended. "That's MY line!"
Silver stuck his tongue out at the blue speedster and then started hopping away like an energetic rabbit. Sonic watched him and then exchanged a glance with everyone else.
"…let's just go before Silver gets himself into trouble," said Blaze after sighing heavily.
"Yeah, sure."
"Okay."
"Alright."
So, the four of them went after Silver, dreading multiple possibilities. Fortunately, when they reached their destination, Silver was happily chattering away with a Pianta woman. The woman seemed highly irritated as she spoke to the happy hedgehog.
"And then, and then, and then, and then…and then…AND THEN…!" Silver kept running his mouth, hands clenched into fists in front of him, eyes wild.
"And then…?" The Pianta woman gave him a nasty look.
Silver suddenly burst out laughing, doing a goofy dance. "And then we KISSED!"
Hearing what Silver said, Blaze marched right over and grabbed her arm, yanking him away from the lady and apologizing for Silver's unnecessary behavior. Chortles of amusement were still pouring from the hedgehog's mouth and Blaze tried to talk some sense into him, frustrated and beyond embarrassed. The others just nonchalantly walked over to the giant structure that the massive Shine Sprite was located at. On top of the structure, there was a red Warp Pipe.
"How are we going to get up there?" questioned Sonic, green eyes sparkling with curiosity.
Mario gave him a look. "Rocket Nozzle."
Sonic snapped his fingers and winked at FLUDD. "Oh! I knew that!"
"Sure you did…"
Pauline gave them both a look. "And, well, I can just fly up there because of my mysterious wind abilities."
"Maybe I could try my Sonic Wind technique to push someone up there!"
"I highly doubt that would work, Sonic…" trailed Mario, raising his eyebrows.
Sonic shrugged.
Anyway, Mario grabbed Sonic and used FLUDD's Rocket Nozzle to blast up into the sky and on top of the structure. Once on there, Pauline joined them and soon Blaze and Silver. Mario and Sonic worked together to wash the black goop off of the massive Shine Sprite and then they were rewarded with a Shine Sprite, surprisingly!
Snagging it out of the air, Sonic held it up victoriously, triumph written all over his face. "Too easy! Piece of cake!"
"Oh wow!" yawped Silver, running over to the red Warp Pipe that led to Pianta Village. "Look at…look at all of the colors swirling around in there!"
Blaze let her hand meet her face as Silver continued to act silly. Why was this happening? The purple cat had no clue. At that moment, the feline was done with Silver's foolishness and she didn't even react when the poor hedgehog fell into the Warp Pipe and disappeared within the strange colors swirling about inside of it.
"It's strange how we're so close to the mountain that Amy and Peach are being kept in, and yet, we can't get inside…" Pauline caterwauled, staring at the reddish mountain behind them.
"Don't worry. We'll get in there soon," blubbered Sonic, making his way over to the Warp Pipe and putting the new Shine Sprite away.
Pauline nodded to what he said.
"Well, let's-a go!" Mario declared, jumping into the pipe and disappearing. Sonic, Blaze, and Pauline all followed the red plumber to Pianta Village…
So…it was dark when they got there, which was something they weren't expecting. It had been daylight back where they were! It was very weird, but they didn't question it. Instead, they just took in their new surroundings with understandable curiosity.
There was a long, wooden bridge in front of them that led to Pianta Village and they could see fires burning. It looked as though they were moving, but they weren't sure from where they were standing. Mario observed it for a moment before turning around and finding a black painted M on the mountainside behind them.
"Every time…" the plumber mumbled as he used FLUDD to wash off the M, receiving a Blue Coin right after.
"Where's Silver?" Blaze demanded to know, looking around frantically.
Pauline touched the cat's shoulder in a comforting manner. "Don't worry, Blaze. Silver probably went on ahead into Pianta Village."
"Great…" drawled Blaze.
"Fabulous!" added Sonic, throwing up his gloved hands.
Mario pushed past them and started walking along the bridge, expecting the others to follow, which they did. As soon as they reached the end of the bridge, there was a Pianta man with a black mustache standing there, a hat resting on top of his head. He seemed a little concerned.
"Yo!" Sonic greeted the guy in a cheery manner, waving a hand at him and zooming around impatiently. "'Sup?!"
"Hey, you four!" boomed the Pianta man. "Think you could spare us a hand here? We asked another weird guy that came by here not too long ago to help out and, well, he's not doing such a good job…"
Blaze grumbled, "Silver…"
"What's the problem, sir?" asked Pauline.
"This dear lady's pets have decided to go on a little rampage," responded the guy.
Sonic sent him a perplexed expression. "What?"
"The bees?" Mario guessed.
"No, not the bees." The man shook his head. "They seem to be acting normal."
"Then what is it…?" Mario pressed.
Before the man could answer, a female Pianta almost ran into them from her relentless pacing, a worried and impatient expression dancing along her facial features. "Gramps is just so slow…! He left for the spring ages ago, and he hasn't returned. Not that it's weird. He pretty much does that every night."
"Every night? Geez Louise!" Sonic input noisily.
"Why is this girl telling us this again?" queried Pauline, a frown decorating her face.
Blaze was just as lost as her. "No clue…"
"Um…where is this spring?" asked Mario, totally interested in it. Hey, maybe he could relax in this spring, yeah?
"Where's the spring?" the girl Pianta echoed. "Center of the village, base of the big tree."
Mario gave her a very big smile. "Thank you!"
"You're welcome!" replied the Pianta lady.
"Oh my goodness!" shouted another Pianta lady. This female's skin was a very reddish color and she looked like any other female Pianta, but was dressed in orange. "This is awful! Completely awful!"
Sonic sped over to her and stood in front of the lady, attentive. "What's the problem, ma'am?!"
"My little darlings have nasty fevers and it's driving them mad!" wailed the woman. "Normally, I grab their tails and spike them into the ground…but they're too hot to touch now! Ooh! It burns me up!"
"Don't worry! We'll figure this out!" Sonic promised her, striking a pose.
The lady appeared thoroughly grateful. "Oh, will you? Thank you! Thank you so much! But…another hedgehog like yourself came on by here. I'm not sure what he's doing, but he said that he would help out…"
"That's Silver!" Blaze exclaimed.
"Wait…what exactly are your pets?" Pauline asked the woman, sounding serious. "What kind of animal are they?"
Mario nudged her. "I think I have an idea."
"What?"
"Chain Chomps!"
Pauline sighed loudly. "GREAT!"
"Look at all of that goop!" Sonic lifted a gloved finger and pointed at the paths that made up the village. There was bright colored goop all over the place. The goop didn't seem touchable either and it was all just a big mess!
"DANGER! DANGER!" one of the villagers yowled from atop an overgrown mushroom.
"Wait, where's the danger?" asked Blaze, searching around with her eyes. She still didn't see her boyfriend anywhere and she was beginning to worry about him. What if he got hurt? Oh boy…
Suddenly, completely out of nowhere, a flaming red hot Chain Chomp came bounding down the path that they were standing in front of, barking and slobbering all over the place, clearly burning up! If they had been standing on that path, they would've gotten run over!
"That's the danger!" Mario announced, placing a hand over his heart.
FLUDD nodded his head. "Certainly."
"What was that thing?" Blaze wanted to know, watching as the red Chain Chomp disappeared around a corner, taking another path.
"That, my feline friend, was a Chain Chomp…" answered Mario, sighing.
"A very aggressive Chain Chomp," threw in Pauline, grimacing outwardly.
That didn't seem to sit well with Sonic the Hedgehog. "What are we supposed to do about that?"
"Well…she said that they were too hot to touch, so I assume that we must spray them with water…" Mario suggested, shrugging his shoulders.
"The full moon looks so delicious…Mmmmmm…" a male Pianta dreamily stated from on top of an overgrown mushroom, staring up at the full moon in the sky in some sort of trance.
"Okay, we got a loon over here…" coughed Sonic.
Mario rolled his eyes. "I've seen stranger things…"
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH….!"
A loud and horrendous howl of agony penetrated everyone's ears and they whipped around in the direction of where it was coming from! Once they did, they found another flaming Chain Chomp heading towards them on that same path, but there was something totally different about it!
Silver was on top of it…!
…on fire!
"Holy macaroni!" yelled a stunned Sonic.
"Oh no!" wailed a terrified Pauline.
"Mama mia!" yowled a shocked Mario.
"SILVER!" screamed a horrified Blaze.
Reacting quickly, the blue hedgehog and the red-capped hero jumped forward towards the raging Chain Chomp and the hollering Silver. Sonic cast a hand out, water blasting out of his palm and drenching the flaming Silver and the red Chain Chomp. Mario pulled down the trigger on FLUDD and released some water on them too.
Once that was done, they instantly cooled down and the Chain Chomp was back to its normal color, which was black. Silver slumped forward on top of the Chain Chomp and had an expression of relief painting his face.
"That," he said wearily. "Was a bad idea!"
Blaze was already over there to him and she helped him off of the Chain Chomp, giving him a very concerned look. "Silver! What in the world were you thinking? That was…that was very foolish of you!"
"I…I'm sorry, Blaze…" An apologetic look appeared on Silver's face and he became very downcast.
Blaze shook her head, defiant and unwilling to forgive so easily. "No, Silver! You have been acting so childish lately! I cannot tolerate it any longer!"
"I said I was sorry!" Silver looked worried now.
Shaking her head again, the purple cat moved away from the hedgehog and the calmed down Chain Chomp, going back over to the others who were just watching.
"Hey, Silver, you okay?" asked Sonic, rushing over to him and inspecting him for any wounds.
"Do I look okay to you?!" Silver snapped at his blue comrade, obviously upset.
Sonic put his hands up. "Sorry Charlie!"
Silver huffed and bowed his head, sadness overtaking him. Mario and Pauline moved closer to the Chain Chomp and Mario was about to touch it, but the Chain Chomp turned red again and its tail lit up in flames. Before the red plumber could move out of the way, the Chain Chomp smacked into him…hard!
Mario let out a cry of pain as he stumbled to the ground, getting burned terribly and losing two pieces of his Life. The Chain Chomp continued on its way, barking and bounding crazily and leaving a trail of hot goop.
"Mario!" Pauline was already at his side. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine…ow…" Mario got to his feet. "I know what we have to do now."
Sonic jumped over. "What?"
"We have to take these Chain Chomplets to the spring…somehow!" declared the plumber, raising a fist into the air. "It's the only way to keep them cooled off! Otherwise, they'd burn up again!"
"That is easier said than done…" Blaze muttered, still upset with Silver.
Silver was moping behind everyone, not saying another word. There was shame and guilt in his eyes and he was fiddling around with his gloves.
"We could always use Silver…" commented Mario, bringing his gaze over to the sorrowful hedgehog. "I mean, he has those psychic abilities of his."
"Oh yeah!" Sonic snapped his fingers, chortling. "Good thinking, Mario!"
Mario just grinned.
Then, everyone looked at Silver expectantly, excluding Blaze the Cat. Silver raised his head and then stared at them all. After a long moment of contemplating, Silver let out a massive sigh and slumped forward a little bit, defeated. "Oh, fine…" he said quietly. "You just have to dowse them with water first…"
"Great!" Everyone (not Blaze) cheered.
So, they got to work.
Sonic started using his own water abilities to clean the goop up off of the path and Pauline was helping him out by using her wind abilities to push all of the goop into one place. Mario, Blaze, and Silver took care of the Chain Chomplets.
Finding one storming towards them, Mario used FLUDD to spray water on the thing and it instantly calmed down, returning back to its natural color. As soon as that was done, Silver grabbed a hold of the baby Chain Chomp with his special technique. It wasn't too difficult for him because there wasn't any resistance from the Chain Chomp. Silver lifted it up into the air and then brought it to the spring.
"Aaaah!" breathed a blue Pianta man as he sat within the spring, just enjoying himself. "So comfy. So nice. So relaxing. This is cooooool!"
"I'm sure it is…" mumbled Blaze as she signaled for Silver to dump the Chain Chomp into the spring.
Silver didn't even look at her as he released his hold on the Chain Chomp, letting it splash into the water below. As soon as it did, the Chain Chomp turned an ivory color and just stayed there in the water, cooling off completely.
"This spring always hits the spot!" gloated the man, waving his hands about. "It's completely refreshing! No better place than to cool down right here! Yep."
Silver dusted his hands off. "One down, three to go!"
And that was it.
It really didn't take long for them to complete their task. There weren't that many Chain Chomplets roaming about and Sonic and Pauline quickly took care of all of the harmful goop on the paths. As soon as all of the Chain Chomplets were safely inside of the spring, the group was rewarded with a Shine Sprite!
