Super Paper Mario X

Chapter 45: Subterranean Vacation

"It's so dark here…I wonder what sort of world this is…" Tippi mused.

"Ah, the joys of fresh new terrain! Each new adventure is like an open canvas waiting to be painted on!"

"If new adventure is like that, then old adventures must be like canvases with paint already on them…and this paint is wet paint."

"What are you two talking about?" Tippi asked Luigi and Tails. Tails spread out his arms and started to wave them frantically.

"We just came from here!"

Mario was just as surprised as they were- Why were they back in The Underwhere! ? He was pretty confident that they didn't get a game over on their way to the seventh door…

"Huh? What in the…Hey! Wait, this IS The Underwhere!" Luigi exclaimed.

"Oh? So this is that place you told me about?" Tippi asked.

"Yeah!"

"Hmm. Then I wonder why the Pure Heart led us here…"

"Well…one Pure Heart leads to the next, right?" Tails questioned.

"Yes, that's correct…"

Luigi suddenly gasped. "Are you implying that there's a Pure Heart in the aftergame! ?"

"Uh-huh."

"I wonder where it could be…I mean, we've been just about everywhere in the Underwhere, and we've had no way to get any farther…"

"We could talk to Queen Jaydes again," Tails suggested. Luigi groaned.

"Yeah, then she'll think we really did get our games over and…hey, where'd my Bro go?"

Mario was already walking off. Tails casually flew after him while Luigi madly waved his hands in the air.

"Oh, come on Mario! You could at least tell us if you walk away!"

Mario, being the experienced adventurer he was, had already figured everything out and just decided to go at it. The only thing was, he hadn't realized that Luigi, Tails, and Tippi weren't following him.

"So I fell out of this pipe…Luckily, I landed in the sea, so I was totally okay," a Shayde was telling another Shayde as Mario walked by.

"Right, so lemme guess…you're gonna tell me you sank like a stone, right?"

"What are you talking about? I'm an incredible swimmer! I swim like a Cheep Cheep! That was what did me in! I looked just like a fish and BAM! Boss Bass snack!"

Mario appeared somewhat disturbed as Luigi caught up with him and dragged him to the red-rainbow door.

"C'mon, Tails, get outta that fountain!"

"But it tastes like orange juice!"

Mario: What's up with him and juice?

"It just sort of happened one day…"

. . .

In the next area, Mario told Tippi all about the maze of spikes, pipes, and broken land, and also about Luvbi staring him down like he was a walking piece of trash while being perched on her pipe. Tippi seemed oddly interested in the tales of Luvbi as Luigi bounced over the area and Tails carried Mario.

"Yeah, she was a pleasant one al lright…" Luigi groaned as he jumped on a Dry Bones.

"She has the outlook of a Nimbi…but the soul of a Shayde," Tails remarked with a shudder. "Cute and angelic on the outside, but pure badness on the inside!"

"I guess that's what happens when your father rules a heavenly paradise and your mother is the fearsome queen of Hades," Luigi shrugged.

"Oh, she doesn't seem that bad," Tippi stated.

"That's because you haven't met her!" Tails cried as he lifted Mario over some spikes.

Mario: She called me old!

"And she called all of us hairy…" Luigi whimpered. He rubbed his mustache. "I keep this well-groomed, thank you!"

Mario also explained to Tippi that Queen Jaydes was her mother, so they figured that her father was the King of the Overthere. He continued by saying that Grambi said Luvbi was missing, and Jaydes had them go on a hunt for her. Tippi looked slightly puzzled.

"That's a lot of worry, for their case…" she mused. "I mean, I understand the urgency of a missing child, but the way you say he reacted was a bit…odd."

"I'd react like that if my kid was running around somewhere in the aftergame," said Luigi.

"Well, Jaydes also said that she was shorthanded…maybe there's something bad going on around here if her servants are trying to take care of it," pondered Tails. "Maybe she didn't want Luvbi getting all caught up in trouble?"

"We might find out when we go back to talk to her," Tippi decided as they reached the other side of the death pit. Mario let go of Tails and ran over to open the door.

. . .

"Ooh, not the river…" moaned Luigi. "I'm feeling queasy…"

"There's a boat there! We can just safely cross and not even have to worry about setting foot in the river if it makes you feel that bad!" Tails exclaimed.

Mario decided he had coins to spare as well and handed Charold the exact change. Charold nodded to himself as the group climbed up into the boat.

"Very sssmart of you…" he commented, climbing onto the boat as well. "A fellow I met thought he was going to be bold and run over the River Twygz…"

"Psh, what idiot would try to run over a river?" scoffed Tails.

"I don't know…but he panicked and he ssssssank…was probably dragged to the bottom of the watersss…"

"Ooh, his hissing is making the tale even more unsettling!" shivered Luigi.

"I bet he didn't even know what he wasss doing…he looked ssso dissscombobulated…" Charold then glanced at group with a creepy look on his face. "He had barely taken a ssstep on the water…he ssstarted to ssscream…and that wasss when…HE FELL IN!"

"WAAAAAH!"

Sploosh. Mario face palmed, Tails shook his head, and Tippi sweat dropped.

"Well, there goes Luigi…"

"Shouldn't we fetch him out?"

"I'm pretty sure he can swim himself. We'll go after him if needed."

Charold was courteous enough to stop the boat, and then it was simply a waiting game. Fortunately, they didn't have to wait long…but the sound of Luigi having an episode didn't really relieve them either.

"G-Guys!" he yelped, splashing around at the surface. "You'll n-never guess who's down there!"

"Who is it?" Tails asked seriously.

Luigi climbed back into boat, drying himself off and panting for air. "It's S-Sonic!"

SPLASH! Luigi was drenched again by a sudden rush of water as Mario and Tails dove into the river. He coughed, then wrung out his hat.

"For some odd reason, I feel like Link now…"

Meanwhile, Mario and Tails were on the search for Sonic. Unlike Luigi, he obviously couldn't swim, and Mario was still thinking about how miraculous it was that they had managed to get him through an ocean. Tails was looking for where Luigi had spotted Sonic, and he didn't find it until they were practically at the bottom of the river.

"Gah! Look, Mario!"

Sonic had gotten all tangled up in the Underhands, and now they were holding him prisoner against the walls of the river. Charold's description of him being out of it fit excellently, because Sonic didn't seem aware of where he was or what had happened. Mario tried to pull him free while Tails attempted to pull the hands off of Sonic's torso. They were having very little luck, however, and it seemed that the gripping was getting tighter.

"It's not working Mario!"

Mario gave a grunt in response and tugged harder. Tails pulled out his wrench and started whacking frantically at the hands, until he felt one grab his ankle.

"This is…the end…"

"ACK! It's talking! IT'S TALKING!"

Now Mario found that bit incredulous to believe, but now Tails was trying to wrench his ankle free from the iron grip of the skeletal hand. To top things off, Sonic still wasn't budging, and he still wasn't coming to…

Yet another splash emerged from the river, and Mario looked over his shoulder to see what was the cause of it. He saw Luigi swimming towards them, figuring he was coming to help. But when Mario looked back again, he wasn't there!

Mario: ?

"What's Luigi doing?" Tails demanded to know, kicking the hand against the wall. "Lemme go! Argh!"

Mario wouldn't give up on Sonic, but boy, the Underhands sure thought he was decent pray or something…that's when he realized other hands were swimming towards him, surrounding him at all sides. He almost had no idea what to do, but that was when he heard a vibrant battle cry and saw Luigi torpedoing up from the depths of the river.

"I've got 'im!" he said quickly, flying up into Sonic with so much force that it freed him. While Luigi brought Sonic back to the surface, Mario spun around in a circle, casting the advancing Underhands away from him. He then saw Tails still struggling with his Underhand, so he grabbed Tails' wrist and pulled him toward the surface. The plumber tossed the fox out of the water, which instantly killed the deadly hand.

"Wha-? !"

Luigi leaned over the boat and caught Tails before he crashed back into the water.

"Heh, thanks Luigi…" he chuckled when he was safe back in the boat. Mario popped out moments later, Luigi helping him back into the boat as well.

"hey…you found him…" Charold remarked. Tails blinked, then turned to gape at him.

"You mean Sonic was the one you were talking about! ?"

"Apparently ssso…"

"Oooh, he'll be fine!" Dashell assured, flying frantically around Sonic. "I mean, his love for life is huge! He'll fight for it! Seriously!"

"He must've ended up by the river after we left," Tails deduced, removing the watch from Sonic's wrist and proceeding to tinker with it. "He was still pretty dazed, but thought he was fine…"

"Does that normally happen after you…ya know…?" Luigi wondered, trying to get Sonic to wake up.

"Well I'm pretty sure he was alive when he arrived, like the rest of us…" Tails said while giving him a look.

Mario gave him a firm pound on the chest and suddenly Sonic was sitting up and hacking up water.

"ACK! …urgh…what the…"

"Hi Sonic!" Tails and Luigi chirped, Mario waving at him. Sonic blinked once, coughed again, then turned back to the group.

"Eh? Tails? Luigi? What're you guys doing here?"

"Before we answer that, do you even know where you are?" Luigi asked.

"Well…I'm on a boat-"

"I meant the place!"

"Um…no?"

"We're in the Underwhere, Sonic," Tippi explained. "Dimentio did you all in and sent you here, but it turns out your games are not over after all…"

"Dimentio just teleported us here, Sonic!" Tails exclaimed.

"Wait…how do you know that Dimentio was the one that got me?" Luigi asked. Tails' pupils shrunk.

"Erm…I was just speaking generally."

"Oh, okay."

Sonic grabbed his head and groaned loudly. "Oog…who pulled me out of the river? I barely remember it happening, but I know it did…Was it you, Tails?"

Tails shook his head. "Nope! It was Luigi!"

Sonic glanced at Luigi and gave him a thumbs up. "Thanks Luigi. I owe you one!"

"Heh, it was nothing…I was just in the spur of the moment…"

The boat finally docked on the other side of the river, and Tails and Luigi carefully helped Sonic out of the boat, since he was still a bit lightheaded. Mario hopped off the boat and started to explain everything to Sonic as he held the door open for his three friends to get through.

Jaydes' Palace-

"Okay, so you arrived in Dead World twice? ! Wow."

"We think we were sent back here because a Pure Heart is here as well," Tails explained, handing back Sonic's watch. "We don't know where to go though so we were going to talk to Jaydes when Luigi fell out of the boat and discovered that the Underhands had you trapped in River Twygz."

"Nearly gave me a heart attack…" muttered Luigi. Sonic nodded, strapping his watch back onto his wrist.

"And then there was this girl name Luvbi who-"

"Is right over there…"

Mario looked past Sonic, Tails, and Luigi, only to see said Nimbi flittering about her mother. She disappeared briefly for whatever reasons, and Mario took that chance to speak to Jaydes with her intervening.

"Greetings, welcome to the…wait, why have you returned! ?"

"You're Queen Jaydes?" Tippi replied. "My name is Tippi…I'm a friend of Mario's…We…we've come to find the Pure Heart that is hidden in this world…"

Jaydes went dumbstruck. "What! ? You're collecting Pure Hearts? !" She then snapped out of shock and looked the group over. "Hmm…Now that I take a long look at you…I realize you just might be the heroes mentioned in the Prognosticus…but could you really be…the ones?"

"That's us!" Sonic exclaimed. "And thanks to Mario, I now know everything that went on and is happening now!"

"So…Does that mean you have a Pure Heart for us, Queen Jaydes?" Tippi inquired further. Jaydes frowned slightly and turned away.

"The location of the Pure Heart is a matter of utmost secrecy, I am afraid. There is nothing I can tell you…If you really must know, you will have to speak to Grambi, king of The Overthere."

"MOTHER!"

"Oh no, it's her," Luigi yelped, shifting his position to next to Mario. Luvbi returned and smiled in the presence of her queen of a mother.

"My things are packed and checked thrice! I am ready to return to The Overthere!" she then blinked and noticed Mario, Luigi, Sonic, and Tails staring in fear at her. "…Oh, me! Thou returnest? Did thy game truly end this time?"

"An idea strikes…" Jaydes murmured to herself before turning back to Mario. "Could you fine heroes take Luvbi back to The Overthere for me?"

Before any one of the four could bluntly refuse, Tippi spoke up. "Take her back? Why ever would you need us to do a thing like that?"

"A monster was once held beneath here…but a recent earthquake freed it. Once it escaped its prison, it began to wander this realm freely. Of course, I could never send my daughter alone with such a savage beast on the loose."

"A monster that the Queen of the Underwhere even fears?" Sonic questioned in disbelief while Luigi winced.

"Yeah, you know, I think I might just stay here-"

"Oh please Luigi!" Tails exclaimed. "It can't be any worse than Crepe, right?"

"…well thanks for bringing the image of him back into my mind."

"…if you would take her back," Jaydes continued. "I would gladly open the way to The Overthere for you. I will also alert Grambi that you are coming to ask him about the Pure Heart. What say you? This is a fair bargain…"

"Well, I'll sound like Tippi, but we DO need that Pure Heart…" pondered Sonic.

"But I don't want that Shayde in a Nimbi disguise following us around!" objected Luigi.

"Maybe if we're lucky she won't talk to us," Tails suggested, getting Luigi to roll his eyes.

"Yeah right."

Mario turned to Jaydes and gave her his promise that Luvbi would be returned to The Overthere safely…even if she had called him old. Queen Jaydes broke out into a genuine smile.

"…I thank you. With this monster about, my D-Men and I are busy trying to contain the damage…"

She and Luvbi then stepped back a ways, Jaydes summoning a violet door in the area where they once stood.

"Just go through this door and keep heading upward to reach The Overthere," Jaydes explained. "And make sure Luvbi arrives safely in the care of Grams…I mean…Grambi."

Luvbi flew over to the group and giggled. "Hee hee…but avert thine eyes whilst we climb, lest thou succumbeth to my cuteness!"

"Or thy vainness…" grunted Tails.

"Oh please," lurched Tippi. "They're not that superficial…"

Luvbi smirked. "Oh me, a sharpened tongue. Thou art jealous? Dost thou pine for yonder hair twins?"

Mario and Luigi: :P

"For whom dost thou pine the most? The red one? Or perhaps the green one?"

"Well, she just met me, so I'd assume-"

Mario poked Luigi to get him to be quiet as Tippi started to stutter.

"Wh-What! ? I…"

"Thy cheek grows red and thy manner flustered…A crush, hot as a thousand suns, burns deep within thy heart! Yea, verily."

"Can we just go through the door that's right there?" whined Sonic. "That's what I'm pining for right now…"

"Alas for thee, methinks. Anyway, movest on!"

"Whew, thank goodness…" Tails trailed as he opened the door. Luigi was feeling slightly jittery while Mario maintained an extended smack of his forehead. Fortunately for him, the end of the area was up ahead, signaled by the Star Block. Before Luigi or Tails could even question what the object was, Mario jumped under the Star Block and continued on.

. . .

"I sought out a prince, but nay! What I found were ancient men of hairy cheek and barely clothed animals. …'Twas a horror, yea, and one that left my breath stricken in my throat."

Luvbi kept up this refrain as she traveled with our heroes. She seemed less than happy. Still, she DID seem to have a lot of energy…

"Hasten thy chubby legs! Time waits not for those who slack!"

"Why you little-"

"Easy there, Sonic…"

Luigi, on the other hand, was elated that he and his brother were finally reunited, and the same went for Tails with Sonic. But Peach, Bowser, and the rest of the crew were nowhere to be found…Were they safe?

…So thought our heroes as they made their way slowly to the Underwhere Road.