Chapter 8

8A - Tubba Blubba's Castle

"What if this castle has ghosts in it...?" Luigi wondered out loud as the group reached the front door. By now, Luigi had become visible again as the Repel Gel wore off.

"Luigi, for the third time, I'm absolutely sure that there aren't any ghosts in there. Tubba Blubba may have eaten every single one of them who tried to go inside," Mario replied. "Please don't be paranoid."

"I'm trying..."

Without hesitation, Mario pushed open the castle door and beckoned Luigi and Bow to walk in. The foyer was completely void of any furniture except for two walkways on the second and third floors. In addition, there were multiple Sentinels that floated within the foyer to catch any intruders and kick them out of the castle.

"Why don't you save that gel for later, Luigi?" Bow whispered, wanting to not let the Sentinels hear them; their backs were turned for the time being. "Reach your hand towards me if they see us."

"Uh, not to be disrespectful, but I'm not laying a finger on a ghost," Luigi replied.

"Suit yourself."

The group looked at both doors and quickly decided to go through the left-side one first. The walls and ceiling of the hallway looked dilapidated with various cracks all over the place.

"Is there some way to have the Repel Gel last a bit shorter?" Luigi asked Mario quietly.

"I think if you put it on just one arm, you'll be invisible for a minute and a half," Mario responded. "Just a little theory."

At both ends of the hall were two doors; obviously, Mario and friends went into the right-side room first. All that was inside were two giant white clothed tables. Not to mention that there were cobwebs on every wall corner.

"I wonder if Tubba Blubba's weak point has to do with laziness," Mario said. "Maybe if he was forced to clean everything up and be busy nonstop, he would get so angry and use up his invincibility within seconds."

"That's possible," Luigi agreed. "But at the same time, it doesn't make sense to me."

The group went back into the hall and slowly made their way to the other door, where two green Clubbas paced back and forth. Bow and Mario made themselves invisible while Luigi jumped behind one of the Clubbas, grabbed its mace, and batted both down the hall before tossing the mace at them.

With the Clubbas out of the way, the group went the left-side door, which led to an office study with a book on the big desk. Mario hopped onto the desk and looked through the book, which didn't have any writing on all the pages.

"Drat. I could've sworn it was Tubba Blubba's diary," Mario murmured as he hopped back on the ground. Back in the long hall, Mario and friends went through the next big door into the dining room. There weren't any chairs surrounding the table, but two Clubbas patrolled the room.

Luigi applied the Repel Gel to his right arm and used the 90-second time limit to deal with the Clubbas before rejoining Mario and Bow. On the west end of the dining room was a grandfather clock; it was chiming to indicate it was 7:30 AM.

"You know there's a secret if you see a clock or a bookcase," Mario remarked before pushing the clock to the right, revealing a hole half the size of a regular door. The room the clock concealed was completely dark except for the dining room's lights shining in.

The group was able to find a single treasure chest at the top-left wall corner; inside was a green key that was shaped like a four-leaf clover.

"I'm glad there aren't any traps in this castle," Luigi said.

"Don't jinx it, Luigi. You never know what'll pop out at us," Bow responded.

Since there was nothing else in the west hall, the group made their way back to the foyer; again, they barely managed to avoid the Sentinels because Luigi almost forgot to use his Repel Gel. After unlocking the right-side door, the group went into the east hall, which was completely empty. But there were some Clubbas walking up and down the hall.

Mario and friends had no problem with taking care of the Clubbas before going upstairs to the next floor. There were two Sentinels floating near the door to the first walkway, and as there was no way to defeat them, the group had to run quick through the door to not get thrown out of the castle. In the second floor's west hallway was a trail of Coins leading to a door in the middle of the hall.

"Don't do it, Mario..." Luigi whispered while eyeballing the Coins.

"But what if there's something in that room?" Mario asked.

"I know, but I wouldn't fall for it."

Mario ignored Luigi's warning and went to collect the Coins before approaching the door. Just as Mario got the last Coin, the door was blown open and knocked him over.

"What did I tell you, Mario?!" Luigi exclaimed while Mario stood back up. "Don't even apologize for ignoring me!"

"But you know I'm-" Mario started before Luigi interrupted.

"Shut the freak up!" Luigi retorted. "When are you gonna listen to me?"

"Eventually."

"Enough fighting, guys," Bow butted in. "Let's just move on."

The next room the group entered was an abandoned bedroom with the addition of the trap that busted down the door: a red boxing glove on a spring. Apparently, the trap was motion-activated and went off as soon as Mario was within inches of the knob.

Mario and Luigi searched through the two dressers on the right side, only to find shrunken clothes and dirty socks.

"Bro, why are we even rummaging through dirty clothes?" Luigi questioned with irritation.

"I thought there would be a hidden note in one of the drawers," Mario replied. "Why are you so ticked off?"

"I don't know. I may have gotten up on the wrong side of the ground." Having found nothing again, the group proceeded down the west hall again and entered a staircase room leading to the third floor. At the top of the stairs was a Yellow Question Mark Block containing another green clover-shaped key.

"Who leaves keys out in the open when he doesn't want any intruders in the castle?" Luigi asked.

"It's Tubba Blubba's laziness," Mario answered. "Maybe we need one more clue to confirm it unless we find a completely different secret on this floor."

The next hallway had more Clubbas than the other rooms downstairs; about eight were seen walking up and down.

"You think we can take out those guards in a minute and a half?" Luigi asked Mario quietly.

"If we're fast enough, yes," Mario responded.

Without further ado, Luigi applied the Repel Gel to his left arm before running with Mario and Bow toward the Clubbas. Because the Clubbas had trouble hitting the group with their maces due to them being invisible for the most part, they accidentally hit each other and defeated themselves easily.

"That was a clever idea," Bow said. "Imagine doing that to Tubba Blubba and watching him fall over every time he attacks us." The group laughed for a few seconds before moving on.

On the other side of the third-floor hallway was another locked door, which Mario unlocked before he led Luigi and Bow into the final room. It turned out to be another bedroom, but it was longer in size and included a round white clothed table and a wooden cabinet behind the bed.

"There better be an actual secret in here," Luigi said. "If we don't find-"

Suddenly, a series of loud thumps interrupted Luigi, causing the group to freeze in place.

"That must be Tubba Blubba!" Bow exclaimed before heading toward the cabinet. "Over here!"

Mario and Luigi barely made it behind the bed before Tubba Blubba marched into the bedroom.

"Hmmm, I might be in trouble," Tubba Blubba said to himself. "That Star Spirit ran away...and now I think someone suspicious is in the castle... I sure don't want to make King Bowser mad. After all, he's a scary-looking Koopa." Tubba Blubba walked over to his bed before climbing into it.

"He did make me invincible, but if I screw up, he might change me back to normal," Tubba Blubba sighed. "Oh well. Time for some beauty rest." He laid on his bed and began to fall asleep.

"Don't speak louder than a whisper," Bow instructed the Mario Bros. "Tubba Blubba will kill us if we accidentally wake him."

Luigi went to the cabinet and slowly opened it to reveal a single treasure chest. He set it on the ground before opening it. Inside was a yellow key that hopped up and down. Luigi grabbed the key and held it in front of his face.

"Who are you?" Luigi asked.

"Hi there... I'm Yakkey, a faithful and chatty follower of Master Tubba Blubba. My very important job is to guard his valuables," Yakkey introduced himself.

"How can you guard Tubba Blubba's stuff when you're the size of his foot?"

"Because I can. That's just that," Yakkey replied before stopping to think it over. "Wait a minute... You three don't look like you work with Master Tubba Blubba..."

"Yeah. So what?" Mario questioned.

"That means you've come here to steal me: the magical key that unlocks the door to Windy Mill at the foot of Gusty Gulch? And furthermore, your goal is to find out if there's a secret inside that Windy Mill?" Yakkey asked quietly.

"You mean the windmill near the Boos' village?"

"That's it. Now, are you really wanting to find that secret or not?" Yakkey demanded calmly.

Mario and Luigi took several seconds to make a decision while Bow stood by for now.

"Yes. We need to know Tubba Blubba's weak point," Mario said.

"Hmm... You're quite honest, aren't you?" Yakkey remarked.

"We were born to not-" Mario started to say before Yakkey screamed at the top of his lungs.

"HELP! MASTER TUBBA BLUBBA! THIEVES!"

"Shut up, Yakkey!" Luigi angrily whispered. "You're gonna-"

"Grrrgh? Hmmmph? What's all the noise? Five more minutes, Mom..." Tubba Blubba mumbled while sitting up a small bit.

"Oh no! He's awake!" Bow exclaimed. "Let's get outta here!"

Luigi stowed Yakkey in his overalls pocket while Bow led him and Mario out of Tubba Blubba's bedroom in a jiffy.