"Hmm. Something is-a telling me that it's-a not going to be easy." Mario said to the party as they shoved shrubs aside to enter Jade Jungle. It was a huge jungle, with lots of thick foliage lining - and sometimes covering - every path.
A loud noise sounded from behind a small bush. The party looked around, but couldn't find anything. Then, a Shy Guy with a spear sprang out at them!
"That's a Spear Guy. They don't take too well to us walking through the jungle like this." Black snarled, pointing at the Spear Guy.
"It's nothin' a sledgehammer won't fix!" Sam shouted, taking out his sledgehammer and swinging it at the Spear Guy. It knocked him to the floor with titanic force.
"We have to be careful. I don't like jungles." Lady Bow said, straightening one of the ribbons on her head. She floated in the middle of the party, so that she couldn't see what was going on in the masses of tangled trees and entwined shrubs.
The party then stopped in front of a huge rock blocking their way. Spiky Dagbert paid close attention to the detail of it.
"You know, this could be a door," he explained, "and if we know a code or have a key, we should be able to pass." Thinking it wise to take his advice, Black and Sam both looked at the rock, seeing if there was a way to move it aside before they thought of keys, codes and other things. They found a chink in the surrounding rock. Sam and Black thought that that would be a perfect place to use some sort of implement, like a crowbar.
"Alright guys, then try it!" Spiky Dagbert said, and so Sam and Black found a strong thick twig, which they wedged into the chink and pulled hard on it. The rock didn't want to shift.
"Ugh. This thing won't be movin' soon." Sam said, shaking the pain out of his hands.
"Try again!" Spiky Dagbert said, and so Sam and Black got hold of the makeshift crowbar again. This time, they pulled sharply together. The rock moved, but only slightly.
"Pull harder!" Spiky Dagbert shouted.
"What do you think you are, a slave driver? You're not bossin' me around that easily, pal." Sam said in a slightly angered tone.
"Sorry, Sam. OK guys, try pulling harder!" Spiky Dagbert said, and so Sam and Black mustered more strength and pulled on the makeshift crowbar sharply. The rock moved slightly more than last time, but it was a meagre difference.
"We're-a gonna need more muscle power." Mario said to Spiky Dagbert.
"No, Mario. They'll shift it in time." Spiky Dagbert said, and then he turned back to where Sam and Black were standing.
"You're gonna have to pull harder, guys!" Spiky Dagbert shouted. Sweating profusely, Sam and Black positioned themselves for another pull. They pulled sharply, and the rock moved again. It was still only a minor judder.
"And again! Keep at it, guys. Hercules is now officially a wimp!" Spiky Dagbert shouted. He'd added in some pep talk to keep them going. Even with Spiky Dagbert's dose of pep talk, neither Sam nor Black felt like doing any more.
"My back hurts. My arms hurt. My legs hurt. My head hurts." Sam grumbled.
"I've got enough sweat in my shell to submerge a submarine in!" Black snarled with a depressed tone to his voice.
"Aw, c'mon! It's almost moved. Look!" Spiky Dagbert shouted. Sam and Black looked at the rock, which had moved to reveal an entrance. However, the entrance was still four-fifths blocked.
"Almost moved? Look at it! It's still blockin' that gap!" Sam shouted at Spiky Dagbert. Mario tried to explain the situation to Spiky Dagbert.
"Look, you see-a... the entrance is-a still blocked by that-a big rock. We're-a gonna need more muscle power."
Spiky Dagbert didn't heed Mario's advice.
"Right! Sam! Black! Pull again!" he yelled. Sam and Black pulled again, but they just couldn't muster any strength to shift the rock even slightly.
"No more. I can't keep goin' like this." Sam panted.
"Yeah, and my arms are killing me." groaned a rather tired Black. Spiky Dagbert shouted at them again to pull, but Black didn't move. Nor did Sam. Instead, they stared at Spiky Dagbert, their eyes flaming.
"Hey hey, guys, don't give me evil looks. Keep pulling that twig!" Spiky Dagbert shouted.
"Don't you get it? We're exhausted! So, why don't you listen to Mario and have someone else do it?" Sam retorted.
"You guys are the strongest we got." said Spiky Dagbert.
"Ugh. But even a bit of extra strength could shift this thing. Fine. I'll ask someone." Black snarled, walking over to the rest of the party.
"You look strong. Come help me and Sam move this rock." Black sneered at Parakarry. The Paratroopa obeyed, and he flew over to the twig wedged in the chink near the rock.
"OK. On the count of three, we'll pull together, right?" Sam said. Black readied himself.
"One!" Parakarry grabbed hold of the twig.
"Two!" Sam them readied himself to pull.
"Three!" All three of them pulled sharply on the twig. The rock moved, then slid back to reveal a dark passageway.
"What did I tell you, Spiky Dagbert? We just needed that bit extra muscle power." Sam said to Spiky Dagbert, and then he turned to Parakarry and thanked him.
"Well, what are we-a standing here for? Let's-a go!" Mario said, and then the party entered the passageway, not knowing what lay ahead...
