Mario and Luigi - A Superstar Story
(Finale P2) Chapter 50: Bowletta's Inside Story
"Ugh…" Mario groaned, sitting up after that near-defeat experience on some green ground. There were raging flames to the north and south past bone-like fences, and past the flames were statues of what seemed to be Bowser faces. Then there was some red walling past that. "Where am I?"
He then noticed someone. A green body lying on the floor. Mario had a closer look, crawling over.
"Mamma mia!" Luigi was on the floor, and he didn't appear to be moving. "Luigi?!"
No response. Mario shook his brother. Luigi didn't even move. Mario stumbled to his feet, and pulled out a 1-UP Super. He st-
"Are you still conscious? Ugh… You're a persistent plumber!" a voice from behind growled, the source of it realizing what Mario was trying to do. "You're trying to revive him? I can't have that! I shall dispose of you quickly, and then eat you for lunch!"
Mario whirled around to see Cackletta… or at least her soul in the image of her glaring at him, though her eyes were a bit cross-eyed. She had two hands extending out of the puff of smoke that was supposed to be her chest, and there was a red thing being half-hidden in it. Just below that was the spirit-like tail that genies and spirits alike have, and she had a snake-like tongue with spiked teeth.
Her eyes had yellow as the background, and her pupils were purple, surrounding them both a white circle. She still had those two horn-like things on her head, too, and in general, she was purple.
Mario had stuffed the 1-UP Super into Luigi's mouth, and his brother who leaped to his feet quivered at the sight of Cackletta's Soul (who we will now refer to as Cackletta). Mario shook Luigi into shape.
"Don't go jelly on me! We need to take down this vile creature to end all of this! Go for the arms!" Mario said. "Wait, first, heal me."
Luigi shared a Max Nut with him. Mario nodded in thanks, and blasted Cackletta's right arm, destroying it. Her left arm flashed red, boosting its power, and it snapped itself, two fire bars snaking into the scene and going clockwise then anti-clockwise as they tried to hit the Bros who were jumping over them.
"Keep dodging them, Luigi!"
They stopped mid-way in a turn, getting the Bros off-guard and causing them to jump too early, so the fire bars snaked into a bro each, and left merrily, glad to do some damage. Luigi zapped the left arm out of existence before it could do anything else, and like Mario, his element seemed super effective against this arm.
Mario and Luigi ten shared a Super Nut as Cackletta charged up a growing blue ball of light, and shot it over at Mario when it was her size. Mario hammered the ball upwards when it was in reach, but it didn't blow up upon being counterattacked, and instead turned white, but got a bit slower.
"The ball has multiple layers?" Luigi asked.
"Apparently." Mario said, hammering it back up again and turning it yellow and smaller. He hammered it back up again, turning it red. "This is really getting annoying!"
Mario hammered it a fourth time, and it finally blew up, the plumber escaping damage. Mario and Luigi attacked the head of Cackletta with Thundercut Bros, the attack doing a fair bit of damage on her. Mario looked at Cackletta. She glared at him.
"Huh, she doesn't look like she's gonna hold back, and it doesn't look like she looks any weaker. So no attack-drop." Mario noted. "And I don't think Thunder Bros can even hit her."
Mario chopped Cackletta to bits with Chopper Bros, and all was left was the puff of smoke that was her chest. Then her red heart bulged out, exposed.
"That's Cackletta's heart!" Luigi gasped.
"Let's destroy it!" Mario said, pulling out his hammer… and ran at the heart, only for both Cackletta's arms to appear out of nowhere and flick him away like a bug. Her head appeared, too.
Cackletta shot up a ball of light at Luigi, and he hammered it in the air much like Mario did, managing to destroy it in four hits. Cackletta's arms stretched towards Mario and Luigi, one arm for each bro, and they tried to flick them.
Mario hammered the arm in front of him before that happened, and Luigi dodged the flicking, and counter-smashed.
"The nerve! Trying to flick us!" Mario was offended as Luigi glanced at him, however, Cackletta was not done, and flicked both Bros while they were busy being offended.
"So, what's first on our agenda? The arms or the heart?" Luigi asked. "If we go for the heart, we'll manage to do permanent damage and get closer to beating Cackletta, most likely. But if we can't finish her off in time, I bet she's gonna cover up her heart again, and beat us up."
"If we go for the arms, we'll take less punishment, but do less permanent damage and won't get closer to beating Cackletta overall, most likely, as that'll take up some time that could be spent attacking the heart." Luigi finished.
"Well, we should probably go for the safe route, and attack the arms. That and I want payback for how they flicked me." Mario admitted as he burned the right arm as Luigi zapped the left.
"It's a relief these arms are weak to our hand powers, they'd be a pain to fight otherwise, with all that flicking. My head's still spinning from that." Luigi groaned, stumbling away from the arm he just destroyed. Cackletta shot up another large blue ball at Mario, and he hammered it to bits after four hits. The hands reappeared and flicked the Bros three times.
"These hands are a pain! They re-spawned after we just destroyed them! Let's not waste time and aim for the heart!" Mario decided as they did Rally Bros, smashing Cackletta's heart four times with great force, and kept the heat on the heart with Swing Bros.
After getting Cackletta's head was healed by her exposed heart, her left arm sent in the two fire snakes again, and they snaked around in circles, trying to hit the Bros. Mario slipped, and one of the fire snakes got their wish, and they both snaked off for now. The heart healed the arms and head, then retracted back into her chest.
"Darn it! It's gone now!" Mario shook his fist in frustration. He looked at Luigi, and sighed. "Let's get rid of those hands again."
Luigi nodded, and they destroyed an arm each. Cackletta shot out a ball of light at Luigi, and he managed to stop the attack as they did before. Luigi then stomped Cackletta's head, and it felt like he just stomped a cloud.
Luigi was healed a bit. Splash Bros was done, and another big ball of light was nearly stopped. Mario had only managed to hit it three times before it got low enough to the point he couldn't take a swing at it. Mario was floored by the explosion, and Cackletta cackled. Luigi chucked Mario a Super Mushroom, and Mario lightly stomped Cackletta, who charged up another ball of light.
"Do some new attack, already!" Mario complained, bored of the same old move being overused like this as Luigi destroyed the ball of light that this time came for him. "OK, Luigi. I want you to stomp her head."
"Why?"
"Well, I think another weak attack will be enough to expose her heart again, so when that happens, we'll sick the heart with some Bros Move before her body parts come back." Mario explained.
"Well, that's a pretty smart plan. OK!" Luigi stomped Cackletta with his eyes closed as Cackletta had put on a scary face to mess with him.
Luigi slipped when he connected though, and the attack wasn't as strong, although he managed to trample her head a bit in an attempt not to fall before he slipped off Cackletta, and that did just enough damage for the head to disappear in a puff of smoke. The heart was exposed, and Cackletta's body parts reappeared.
"What?! I thought that was how things worked!" Mario didn't see this coming.
"Too bad, little boys! I don't play by the rules!" Cackletta cackled after not speaking for ages. She shot out another big ball of light at Luigi, which he stopped. She extended their hands at them.
The Bros hammered them away. Her right hand flicked a ball of electricity at Luigi, it knocking him to the floor and taking a bit of damage, the poor guy not seeing it coming at all. Luigi got back up, and did Rally Bros, striking four times.
Then Splash Bros was done to splash out the damage on the heart, too. Cackletta shot out the massive ball of light at Mario, and he stopped it with ease. The fiend's parts were healed by the heart, and her arms tried to flick the Bros, getting hammered away.
Cackletta flicked out a ball of electricity along the ground with her right arm, and it slithered towards Mario, zapping him as it went by. Rally Bros was repeated, getting in three consecutive hits.
"She's really tedious to fight…" Mario panted as he attacked the heart with Drill Bros, drilling at Cackletta's heart. Cackletta healed her body parts, and was counterattacked when she tried to flick the Bros.
"You know we know how to stop most of your attacks already, try something new!" Luigi urged, bored of the repeated attacks and getting hit by a fire snake of two that were summoned by Cackletta's left arm, but after that, he and his brother kept their guard high as they jumped over the fire snakes until they gave up and left the scene for now. The heart retracted back into Cackletta.
Mario destroyed Cackletta's right-hand hand, and Luigi destroyed her left-hand hand.
"FAWFUL!" Cackletta shouted. Just then, Fawful appeared, except he was purple like Cackletta.
"Whoa! It's Fawful!" Mario cried, then realizing the truth. "Wait, no, it's a smoke copy created by Cackletta."
"I have the blasting of your faces of disgustingness!" Fawful shouted.
"He still speaks like Fawful, though." Luigi said as they were pelted by waves of blasts twice. Fawful flew near Mario.
"My chortles' guffaws have at your face!" Fawful said. Mario sighed, and smashed the copy to smoky particles. Mario and Luigi stomped Cackletta, and she called for Fawful again, getting blasted by another wave.
"My face laughs at you!" Fawful taunted as he flew by Luigi.
"Quit saying the same thing!" Luigi cried, smacking the copy to particles again. Mario and Luigi stomped Cackletta once again, and her head disappeared, the heart being exposed in that small puff that was meant to be a chest. "Well, looks like she did some new attack, bro."
"It's better than fire snakes, I'll say that much." Mario stated.
Cackletta's arms and head returned, and her eyes flashed, her right eye going high, and left eye going low. Mario and Luigi were dumbfounded as they heard ticking in the background after a moment, until they saw lasers coming at them.
Mario tried to jump, but he was frozen in place, as was Luigi, who closed his eyes and waited for pain… that never happened, as the laser skimmed the tip of his hat. Mario however, was beamed in the face, yelping in pain as his moustache was suddenly boiling hot. Luckily, he managed to keep it, but the spot below his nose was seething hot.
Cackletta's eyes went haywire, her right one going high, and her left going low. Luigi noticed this, and jumped. Mario prepared to jump, but Luigi intervened.
"Bro, don't jump!" Luigi warned as he suddenly froze in mid-air. "Watch her eyes! When one is high, she's aiming high; so you don't jump! If it's low, she's aiming low; so jump! The right one is for you, and the left is for me! That's how this attack works!"
A laser shot over Mario's head, and another hit where Luigi once stood. Luigi sighed in relief that he got things right. Mario did the same, and thanked his brother as time unfroze. Cackletta's arms extended towards Mario and Luigi, and they were stopped before they did anything… twice.
They then struck five times with Rally Bros, witling down the heart's health further. Mario then gulped an Ultra Mushroom just to be safe, and Cackletta started creating balls of light around her everywhere.
The red ones headed for Mario, the green Luigi, some of them they blocked, others that bombarded them, but in the end, the Bros survived the onslaught of balls of light in really good shape.
Cackletta healed her parts again with her heart, then her right-hand hand flicked a ball of electricity at Luigi successfully, though it didn't really do much. Rally Bros was done once again as it was the most effective Bros Move Luigi led, and struck twice. Cackletta started panting.
"Hey, she's nearly finished!"
"It's time to end this foolish game!" spikes appeared on Cackletta's heart. "Time to heal up all this damage!"
"We can't let her heal! Quick, we need something that can hit hard, and penetrate spikes!" Luigi said.
"Drill Bros!" Mario exclaimed. "That might just do enough damage to end this! Quick, get into position!"
Mario waved his hand, signalling he was about to start, and Luigi was ready, bent down and everything. Mario hopped on to Luigi's back, and bounced off it, spinning into the air as Luigi ran forward and got into a low crouch. Mario flew overhead Luigi, and dropped down on to him, Luigi pushing him with all his might back into the air, and Mario flew overhead Cackletta's heart.
"Time to end this!" Mario shouted, drilling into Cackletta's spiky heart, dealing DOUBLE damage.
"Lucky you're a doctor, bro." Luigi said as Cackletta looked pale from Mario's drilling. "You'd need to be one to do legal heart surgery."
Mario bounced off Cackletta's heart, and landed on Luigi, the two high-fiving each other as Cackletta exploded.
"NO! MY AMBITION! MY PLAN! MY EVERYTHING! CURSE YOU MARIO BROTHERS!" Cackletta screamed as she disappeared.
. . .
On the outside of Bowletta, she suddenly felt absolutely wrong on the inside. Like she had a serious stomach-ache.
"Gahhhh! What? Huh? HEY!" Bowletta cried. "What's happening to me?!"
Bowletta coughed up Mario and Luigi like sour tablets that just couldn't stay in there, and exploded to the floor.
"EEYARGH!" Bowletta was on her back, groaning and moaning before Mario and Luigi. "It can't be! Impossible! I… No… How could I… And to this filthy little pair! HOW COULD I LOSE?"
"Didn't you just go through all this on the inside?" Mario wondered to himself. "I mean, sheesh, talk about being repetitive. Cackletta's soul, at least, what was left of it, shot out of Bowletta's open mouth, and folded up, exploding. Bowletta suddenly started morphing, and Bowletta became just Bowser again. A door to the northeast opened.
Luigi poked Bowser's exposed stomach as he was on his back. It stayed firm, and didn't jiggle. Mario pulled Luigi away from poking Bowser, and hopped down the ledges, wondering what to do next until Prince Peasley flew into the room, flashing the area as usual.
"Cheers to the superstar siblings!" Prince Peasley greeted. "I have just finished rigging this castle with an explosive device!"
A sweat drop dripped down Mario's face when he heard that.
"WHAT?!" Luigi gasped.
"We must escape before it blows up and falls from the sky! Make haste! I will meet you at the castle entrance!" Prince Peasley flew to the north. "Three minutes!"
Mario and Luigi followed him into the outside, high-jumping up to the door outside, where he was nowhere to be seen when walked through. Mario and Luigi high-jumped up a ledge to the north, dropped off to the east, and headed south back inside.
They ran down some stairs, and Mario hammered Luigi underground and he popped up almost instantaneously into the barrel afterwards, and Mario noticed a high up button to the east.
"MOVE!" Mario picked up Barrel Luigi like he was Donkey Kong, and ran up the stairs they were near, dropping down two levels and placing him before the button. Mario hopped on to the barrel Luigi was in, and smashed the button, the door onwards opening.
Mario picked up Luigi before he could break out of the barrel, and like DK, carried Barrel Luigi to the opened door back outside. By then, they had two and a half minutes left. Mario scrambled up a ledge after going north then west, then headed south back inside, to find themselves at the entrance of the castle.
Mario smashed Luigi out of the barrel, picked him up, and ran dramatically in slow motion across the bridge to Blablanadon who was waiting casually. Mario hurled Luigi on to the bird, and Mario jumped on his head.
"H-Hurry! Prince Peasley told me everything! We've gotta get out of this place! Now!" Blablanadon urged, speaking the same language as Mario; hastiness.
"FLY BLABLANADON, FLY!" Mario ordered as Blablanadon took flight, getting the Bros out of the castle with 2 minutes and 12 seconds remaining. "LIVES ARE ON THE LINE!"
As they got further and further away from the castle, Mario calmed down.
"Sorry about that." He scratched his head as they flew towards the castle that was in sight. "I just didn't want to get blown up after all this hard work…"
Luigi nodded.
. . .
Meanwhile in the throne room, Bowser had woken up.
"…Whoa… Wh-Where am I?" Bowser scratched my head as the images of all the times he had taken control of Bowletta flashed through his mind, in each moment being unaware truly of the events or location. "Wh-What have I been doing?"
CRACKLE-RACKLE! BOOM BAM! RUMBLE BRUMBLE!
"Whazzat?" Bowser asked no one in particular, confused at the rumbling and exploding.
Bowser's Castle had shaken from the exploding of the devices planted on it, and exploded in one big blast after a few seconds of this, the castle's jetpacks becoming broken and thus the one thing keeping it in the air not working led to the castle falling into the ocean.
Bowser was sent flying out of the castle beforehand, the blast sending him so far that he directly shattered the very fourth wall in construction, and slid down it groaning as he fell from it into the ocean too… landing near some divers investigating an underwater eruption, and being taken back to Beanbean Castle to examine.
. . .
Beanbean Airport
Peach bowed as to say goodbye to Queen Bean, Lady Lima and an escort Bean from the castle as she stood beside Mario, Luigi and Toadsworth, who were all in front of the plane Peach flew here in, about to leave.
"Take care, everyone!" Peach said to the Beanbean Kingdom trio. "Please come visit us in the Mushroom Kingdom someday!"
"Princess Peach, you ave a fine group of friends." Queen Bean stated. "I am quite envious!"
"Toadsworth!" Lady Lima cried.
"Lady Lima!" Toadsworth cried.
They ran at each other to have a goodbye hug after all the fun times they've had during the peaceful moments of Mario and Luigi's adventure. Peach was slightly caught off-guard by how suddenly they did this, and gasped quietly. Mario walked up to the escort Bean, recognizing him.
"You're the one who gave me that badge, weren't you?" Mario recalled the moment as he asked the Bean.
. . .
"Mario! Luigi!" a Bean called. "Lady Lima has asked that you also take this along with you."
The Bean placed a Bean Badge in Mario's hand.
"That thing is a badge. If you equip it, you'll be a little stronger in battle." The Bean explained. "Different badges have different effects, so… For now, if you get a badge, make sure you equip it! To equip it, open your suitcase."
"Badges make you stronger? That's awesome!" Mario chirped happily as he opened the suitcase
"To equip badges, look in this compartment." The Bean said, then pointing at a mirror. "Using this, you can see the gear and the badge you're equipped with. OK, Mario! Time to equip the badge I just gave you! Open this flap. This is where all the badges are placed. Normally, you'd pick a badge… It's simple this time, since you only have one right now…grab it, and you'll equip the badge!"
Mario equipped the Bean Badge.
"Now you're all set! Good luck! And be careful!"
Luigi gave the Bean a poke.
"Oh, uh… Sorry, Luigi, but if you want your own badge, you'll have to go buy one at the store." The Bean explained nervously as he ran back to the castle.
Luigi was poking the air now, and Mario just pushed him onwards.
. . .
"Wow, you actually remembered me, Mario. Though it WAS Lady Lima's idea." The Bean stated.
"Well, I'd like to return the favour, to be honest. That badge was helpful for the time I used it." Mario admitted, handing the Bean the Beanstar Badge that took him through the part before the last stretch of his adventure. "So take this, you deserve it."
"Really? Thanks, Mario! I'll treasure it always!" the Bean ran off with the badge merrily.
"Besides, Luigi DID buy me a new one before we entered Bowser's Castle, anyway. So I have that instead." Mario thought to himself as Prince Peasley flew into the scene, and Luigi ran up to him to high-five him, but Prince Peasley had flown high into the air on the blue pillow.
"Princess Peach! Mario Bros!" he exclaimed. "I must thank you all! Accept this gift from me to mark our parting!"
Prince Peasley flashed the area, as a signal for some Beans above to drop a large parcel, causing the group to jump in shock.
. . .
"…and then Fawful and Bowletta thought I was you, then they swiped me instead!" Luigi chuckled as he recalled possibly the best thing he did in that adventure. Mario, Peach and Toadsworth laughed at this merrily as the plane set off, with the parcel Prince Peasley gave them tied to the tail of the plane with a metal chain.
Bowser's head popped out of the parcel, and he sneezed.
. . .
The plane flew over Hoohoo Mountain, Blablanadon waving as he flew by.
"Ah, I remember our little ascent on Hoohoo Mountain, and how we meant Blablanadon." Mario recalled, then shuddering. "Though those lovebirds by the waterfall nearly ended me back in the village."
"Don't forget how there was a murder in the village. That was pretty scary stuff."
. . .
Mario bashed a block with a Mushroom, and was too impatient to wait for Luigi before bashing a Bros Block, only getting one coin. He left through the exit, bashed some blocks for some coins, a Mushroom, some Syrup, some more coins and a Mushroom, while interrupting a love scene near a waterfall in Mario's haste. The couple chased him all the way back to where Luigi was left behind, grabbing him and jumping off the edge, where the couple growled and said they'd get their revenge.
"Phew…I'm never doing that again…" Mario said while panting. "Never, ever, ever mess with people in love, words to live by."
. . .
They entered a house to pass the time, and it had a female villager there.
"Hiya." Mario waved.
"Having a house right above a bridge is strangely convenient. You can dump the owner...er...I mean the garbage...right into the water." she said, correcting her "mistake".
Luigi: O.O
"The heck?" Mario gasped.
"Uh, no, it's not like that at all!" she cried, trying to stop the Bros from freaking out.
"That's not right. That's just not right." Mario shook his head, pacing back and forth.
"YOU PUSHED THE OWNER INTO THE WATER? WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU?" Luigi asked.
"You're a murderer! A no-good, dirty, rotten murderer!" Mario accused.
"Get out! Get out! Get out!" she shouted, pushing the Bros out of the house and locking the door.
"Um..."
"Er..."
"That was...awkward."
"Can we pretend that never happened?"
"Let's."
. . .
"We reached the summit! Yeah!" Mario cheered as they filled up their HP and BP again.
"I can see Peach's castle from here!" Luigi called from the north-east side.
"I can see some Hoohoo Blocks, a bird and an egg." Mario replied.
Luigi ran over, tripped on the stairs and hit a Hoohoo Block in the open to the right.
"Fooooools!" the bird suddenly yelled out. "What're you kicking that for? That's a really rare stone! It's called a Hoohoo Block! And I'll tell you, anyone who tries to kick a Hoohoo Block down the mountain is a thief in my book!
"By the way, who are you?" Mario asked.
"Huh? My name? Oh… Right! I'm called Blablanadon!"
. . .
"You can actually see the castle from the peak. It's a great view when you have the time." Luigi said. "Mario told me he saw it when he met up with Blablanadon before we stormed the castle."
And thus, the plane, alongside Blablanadon, flew over Teehee Valley, the Starshade Bros, the doctor from the Little Fungitown Embassy, the owner of the arcade in Little Fungitown, the Toad playing Super Smash Bros and a fair few other Toads were pointing at the plane from the ground.
Prince Peasley flew beside the plane, being in the valley as they flew by. He, like Blablanadon, waved.
"Remember that crazy escort mission, Mario?" Luigi asked, lightly chuckling. "Peach was tearing through those enemies like a dog through a ball!"
"What's that?! How dare you endanger the princess' health, Master Luigi! That was most rash of you!" Toadsworth scolded. "Though on the other hand, I should be grateful the Princess righted your shameful wrongs and managed to defend herself... this time."
. . .
Mario and Luigi high-fived each other, and hopped up to where Peach was squirming about. Luigi untied her, and she sat up. They all had a group hug.
. . .
"Sorry about that. I didn't realize you had stopped soon enough. I'll do my best to make sure it doesn't happen again!" Peach apologized as a Gritty Goomba snuck up on her. It jumped at her, but Princess Peach wasn't having it. She pulled out a frying pan, and smashed the creature in the face, instantly defeating it.
Peach levelled up to Level 23! Peach got an extra +4 POW!
Mario and Luigi's jaws were dropped. Peach smiled.
"Like I said, I'm going to do my best to make sure that doesn't happen again." Peach said, putting her frying pan away. "I'm not defenceless, you know."
. . .
Mario and Luigi looked back at Peach, and she had apparently untied herself during the battle. Peach shrugged.
"I may as well quicken the process if I get myself captured." Peach said as they group-hugged, and left the underground area.
. . .
The Snifit tried shooting a spiky ball at Mario, but it missed and ended up shooting a mushroom at Luigi who caught it gracefully. The other Snifit wasn't interested in grace, and spat a spiky ball at Luigi, stopping the silly act. Mario bowled a large fireball at the Snifit who did this, and it was knocked over. As it was violently jerked back, it shot a mushroom at Mario by accident, and the plumber caught it with a baseball glove he suddenly managed to put on.
"Aaaaand you're out!" Peach whistled with a pink and blue whistle. Luigi chuckled, and drill kicked the first Snifit, knocking it out. He then followed up by back-flipping, then ground-pounding the other Snifit. It dropped a Red Pepper…which Mario picked up and stored away.
. . .
As Mario sent Luigi underground with a smash of the hammer, Peach (who was waiting by the gate) noticed a Gritty Goomba approaching her.
"Aw…are you hungry?" Peach asked, pulling out her frying pan. It nodded, and Peach smashed it out of the valley with a ear-piercing crack caused by the smack of the frying pan. "There. I dished out some damage for you. Hope you liked it!"
. . .
"The most memorable part was how Luigi, while I was in a dire state, journeyed to Guffawha Ruins just to help me. Once again, thanks for that." Mario thanked as they flew over the Gwarhar Lagoon, seeing the natives there with Hermie and Spangle happily playing his guitar. Hermie waved at them. By this point, the plane was flying solo again.
"I remember when we first met Hermie. That was chaos." Luigi winced, recalling how he was mobbed violently, physically and verbally.
. . .
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!"
. . .
"And that's when we got the first Beanstar Piece." Luigi said. "Then we met Spangle and made Hermie happy again.
. . .
"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.
. . .
They smashed 'em up with their new shiny hammers, and headed east. They found some Syrup and a miniature pink starfish with a small blue guitar around him.
"Uh, well, hey there, fellas. I'm the famous starfish star, Spangle… I'm, uh, pleased to meetcha."
"Well, hi, I guess." Mario shrugged.
"Whoa, now! I tell ya, since I first came here 365 days ago… I ain't seen a soul! Y'all are the first folks I've seen!"
"I guess it's because you were behind two very hard rocks that were just broken by our very powered up hammers. I think that in itself explains why you've yet to see anyone." Mario stated the facts.
"Uh, lemme tell ya… Even a star from way over that big ol' sea… needs a stage to stand on. Unh! Yeah! That's right, baby! Now, uh, tell me fellas… Don't ya'll know a place that'd suit a shining' star like me? C'mon, now!" Spangle urged, eager for an answer.
"What kind of place?" Luigi asked.
"Yeah… That's right… A place for a shinin' star like me… Like the top of a festive tree!"
"WELL! We know just the place!" Mario exclaimed.
"Uh, what's that, now?! You know just the place? Well, hot dog, baby! I'm ready to rock 'n' roll!" Spangle cheered. "Uh, say, fellas… Looks like you got yourselves a big ol' suitcase… so how 'bout you let me crash in that thang, baby?"
Spangle jumped into the suitcase Mario opened, and closed it. They ran over to Hermie, who repeated what he said about finding something to replace the Beanstar Piece with.
"Did you bring thomething to trade for the bean-thing? Ehh?" Hermie asked, watching Mario pull out Spangle.
"Hey, now! Are we there yet?" Spangle asked. He locked eyes with Hermie, and they were both interested.
"Whoa, nelly! Now that's what I call a festive tree! Amazin'! I'm headin' straight to the top, baby!" Spangle jumped on top of Hermie. "Woo-HOOOO! This is great, baby! I'm a-rockin' this stage!"
"You guyth never fail!" Hermie chuckled.
. . .
"Don't forget about when we got the other Beanstar pieces." Mario reminded. "How we designed that weird shirt, fed those Yoshis and defeated Popple again after that Colosseum challenge."
. . .
Luigi got yellow, restarted, then swiped all six Designbombs, along with a Bean floating with some headgear that was only there for a split-second, but was still caught. Luigi getting brown with a Fawful face on the front. It was so entrancing it looked like it could steal souls... almost literally. Mario and Luigi nearly jumped when that face popped out of nowhere. They looked at Harhall for a response.
"AMAZING! I LOVE IT!" Harhall shrieked. "It screams entrancement! I just know this will steal the hearts of my adoring public! I have chortles, they would scream!"
"Wow." Mario had no other words.
"Splendid! We're all done here! This means must pay you with a bean-like thing, as promised! Go next door and get your pay!" Harhall ordered, leaving west. Mario and Luigi followed, after Mario let out the rest of the water he had in him.
There, by the tree and design bodies, was Harhall. Above, was the Beanstar Piece in a cage.
"See! Here is the bean-like thing I promised you! Take it with you!" Harhall unlocked the cage's flooring, and let the piece fall out before the Bros.
They snapped their fingers, jumped, spun, and made a pose as they got the piece.
"BEANSTAR!"
You got a Beanstar Piece! Only 2 more to go!
"Ah, nice work! You guys are incredible! If I need help again, I'll be coming to you!" Harhall promised. "Be ready for that!"
Mario and Luigi nodded as they headed out.
. . .
"I'm so hungry… I want to eat fruit…" a red Yoshi panted.
Mario fed it a Bean Fruit.
"Wow! Fruit! Thank you!" the Yoshi thanked, swallowing it. "At first, they taste just like beans, but then the flavour of fruit oozes out… Bean Fruit is the best!"
The Yoshi created an egg, a Neon Egg.
"Oh, you can take that."
Mario then fed the other six, and headed back to Boddle.
"Hmm. Well done… I did well asking you two. My, Neon Eggs are beautiful. On the sign you go!" Boddle put all seven on the seven spots he could put stuff up on. "Wah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! You did it! You did it!"
. . .
The sign was up on the wall, and it looked flashy and amazing.
Shouts of "Hooray!", "It's complete!", "I have watching!", "Amazing!" and "Awesome!" were heard.
"Thanks to you two, my theater is now complete! Marvelous!" Boddle thanked. "Very well! As promised… Here is your reward!"
Mario and Luigi snapped their fingers, jumped, did a spin and posed again.
"BEANSTAR!" they cheered.
You got a Beanstar Piece! Only one more to go!
"Excellent! We're going to be rather busy preparing for our grand opening! Pardon us!"
. . .
Popple smashed Luigi with the hammer, sending him back to Mario, who jumped over the incoming Luigi and heard him crash into the statue. Mario smashed Popple in the face, and that knocked him out cold.
Mario levelled up to Level 26! Mario got an extra +3BP!
Luigi levelled up to Level 26! Luigi got an extra +5DEF!
Mario tried taking back his gloves, but Popple rolled on to his hands, and the guy was pretty heavy. The plumber sighed, and walked back to Luigi, who was a few steps away and had retrieved the Beanstar Piece from Popple.
They snapped their fingers, jumped, spun and posed as a bush rustled and flew off.
"BEANSTAR!"
You got a Beanstar Piece! You have all four pieces! Hurry! Back to Beanbean Castle!
"…N-No! B-But I'm not giving up, see?" Popple jumped to his feet and drilled out of sight. Mario and Luigi walked past the statue in a haste, jumping down via drop-off.
. . .
Mario and Luigi held up all four Beanstar Pieces, Queen Bean and Toadsworth watching. The pieces floated in the air, and began rotating in a clockwise fashion. A yellow ray of light emanated as the pieces moulded together, once again becoming the Beanstar as a pillar of light shot out from the castle, nearly blowing everyone away.
The Beanstar is revived! You got the Beanstar!
"Hmm… So the Beanstar is finally back to normal…"
. . .
The plane then flew over some leaping Cheep Cheeps, and they flew over Bowser's non-portable Castle, where a bunch of minions were waiting outside, cheering and howling at Bowser from the ground.
"Hey! Bowser's the present?!" Luigi gasped, peeking out the window, looking back at Bowser.
"Green stache! Drop me off here!" Bowser ordered, then sneezing.
"Uh, guys? Bowser's the present, so we might want to drop him off here." Luigi stated.
"Well, I've got an idea." Mario said, peeking out the window and looking at Bowser.
"MARIO! What's the holdup?" Bowser asked. "My minions are needing their great and mighty king! Drop me off!"
"We can't exactly do that… so here's an idea. I'll blast this chain with my fireballs, and you'll blast it with your flame breath. If we do that, we'll burn this chain off and everyone will be happy." Mario explained. Bowser nodded. "So on the count of three. One. Two. Three!"
Mario blasted the chain with a large charged fireball, and Bowser blasted the chain with a beam of fire, focusing it on the chain and not damaging the plane at all.
Soon enough, the chain fell off, and Bowser cheered as he fell into the mouth of the Bowser head on the top of the castle, landing in his throne room. The troops cheered, most of them running inside to greet their ruler.
The plane then flew over Toad Town… where it was now night-time.
"You know, seeing Toad Town here makes me realize how homesick I feel now. It's good to be home." Mario said as they left Toad Town and was approaching Peach's Castle.
"Well, I guess this ends our adventure." Luigi said as they flew on to the landing site on the roof of the castle smoothly.
"Thanks for everything, Mario and Luigi." Peach thanked, waving them goodbye as they left the castle walls, and soon were approaching their house in the distance.
"Good job, bro." Mario praised as they entered the house. "You did great."
"Thanks, bro." Luigi said as they got into their respective beds, having a good night's rest, and thus, like Luigi said, ending their adventure… their great tale... their Superstar Story.
As you can probably tell, the latter half of this chapter was mostly a trip down memory lane, due to the way the credits of this game plays out.
Well, I guess that's that. It's been a truly fun road with this story, and I'm glad that it took off somewhat well. Thanks to all who supported me, whether you reviewed, followed, favourite or even just read silently, it all helped me write that extra word, and for that, I'd like to say thanks.
And to those who find this story after its completion and all you people of the future who read it, I thank you just as much for making my first story as successful as it was and continues to be! ^-^
Now, with M&L4 coming out, the idea of a sequel has popped into my mind, though it would have anyway eventually, if you ask me. While your thoughts won't exactly sway where I stand on a sequel, what do you think about one, and maybe even a whole series somewhere along the line? Share your thoughts, if any!
