8B - The Invincibility Secret

"Can we go back the way we came?!" Luigi asked.

"I'm thinking about-" Mario started to reply before they heard Tubba Blubba storming toward him, Luigi, and Bow.

"Hey, you! Stop it right there!" Tubba Blubba yelled before punching the door open, causing the group to freeze in place. Before they knew it, Tubba Blubba jumped up and slammed his feet on the walkway, breaking it in half.

Mario acted quickly and took out his Super Leaf to transform into Raccoon Mario. He then grabbed Luigi, who was screaming while plummeting to the foyer. Bow quickly went down with the Mario Bros. and went to open the front door before Mario and Luigi landed safely.

Meanwhile, a group of tan colored Boos had just arrived at Tubba Blubba's castle.

"At last, we've arrived at Tubba Blubba's Castle! Are you ready, everyone?" one of the Boos said. "Be brave! We must do all we can to help Lady Bow!"

"But...what exactly do we do?" another Boo asked.

"This is no time to lose our nerve, Victor!" the first Boo responded. "Our dear lady is fighting against Tubba Blubba himself! We mustn't-"

"COME BACK HERE!" Tubba Blubba's voice boomed through the door before the walkway impacted the floor. Mario, Luigi, and Bow then exited the castle and slammed the door shut.

"Don't go in!" Mario ordered the Boos. "Tubba Blubba's lost it!"

"You mean he's chasing you guys?!" Victor questioned.

"Yes! We found the secret to his weak point, but we can't explain now!" Luigi replied.

"It's at the Windy Mill!" Mario added in before the Boos threw themselves against the door.

"No! It's too dangerous! He's a madman! He'll eat every last one of you!" Bow cried before Tubba Blubba pounded the door.

"Grruuuur! Why won't this door open?!" Tubba Blubba shouted.

"I...don't know how long...we can...keep holding this...!" the first Boo groaned. "Don't worry about us! Just go!"

Luigi immediately ran ahead while Mario and Bow tried to catch up with him. Seconds later, Tubba Blubba pounded the door a bit harder, knowing that the Boos are holding the door shut.

"I smell delicious ghosts! Open the door!" Tubba Blubba exclaimed.

"Oh God! He's gonna bust down the door!" Luigi screamed.

"Hang on!" Mario said before running up to Luigi's side and grabbed his hand before leaping up and flying toward the Windy Mill. Boo followed behind the Mario Bros.

"Don't look back!" Bow told Mario and Luigi. But Luigi looked back for a second and saw Tubba Blubba breaking the door open and shoving the Boos down his gullet, causing Luigi to panic.

"Fly faster!" Luigi turned his head forward again; he was already sweating from worrying about Tubba Blubba's rampage. A half minute later, Mario saw the Windy Mill and floated down to the entrance before Luigi took Yakkey out of his pocket and unlocked the door. He then threw Yakkey toward the gate to Boo's Mansion while Bow and Mario ran inside.

Luigi was the last to go in the Windy Mill and slammed the door shut before throwing his back against it, panting profusely.

"Okay..." Luigi murmured. "He can't get us in here..."

"You all right-y, bro?" Mario asked, having seen Luigi out of breath.

"Yeah. I was just rushing too much." Luigi wiped the sweat off his forehead.

"Do you want to sit down for a couple minutes?" Mario offered.

"No. We need to keep going," Luigi replied. "If we don't find that secret, we'll never get anywhere." Luigi walked up to the open well in the middle of the room and looked at the bottom. "Down here."

Luigi hopped down the well with Mario and Bow behind him. The group ended up in a small passageway with a few Hyper Goombas roaming around. They managed to bypass the Goombas and found themselves in a dome-shaped room with an open tree trunk in front.

"Don't go near that trunk," Luigi warned Mario and Bow. "Something might rise out of it."

Luigi was right; within seconds, a thorned red heart with black and yellow eyes rose up on a small platform.

"What is that...?" Mario whispered to Bow.

"That must be-" Bow started to answer before the heart spoke.

"Who are you three?"

"We're...the...Mario Bros..." Mario hesitated.

"The what?! Are you here because someone told you I'm the secret strength of Tubba Blubba?!" the heart asked with disbelief.

"No. We didn't know you were the secret," Bow answered. "How is that?"

"All right. The truth is the Tubba Blubba you've seen is just a shell and I've been controlling him from here all this time," the heart explained. "Why would you even trust me to tell you that?"

"We just wanted to know the secret to his weak point, and we got it," Luigi responded. "Can we leave now?"

Suddenly, the door behind the group slammed shut.

"I can't let you out of here knowing the secret of my 'invincible' body!" the heart declared. "Sorry, but here we go!"

To kick off the battle, the heart shot some of its thorns at Mario and Luigi, but Mario deflected them using his raccoon tail; the thorns didn't hit the heart.

Luigi then took Mario's hammer to try to attack the heart, but it was quick enough to jump out of the way.

Before Bow could attack, the heart said, "Hey you! Lady ghost! You look quite tasty. Stick around after the battle because fighting makes me hungry."

"Ugh! You wish! You don't have a chance, you ghost-gobbling freak!" Bow snapped.

"Oh, I don't have a chance?" the heart responded sarcastically. "How about I do this great attack? It's impossible to avoid." The heart proceeded to charge itself up, emitting a powerful light; the group had to shield their eyes for a brief second. The heart was now glowing a greenish-yellow color, ready to unleash its next attack.

"Go ahead. Try me."

Before Mario and Luigi could do anything, the heart leaped up and pieces of heart tissue began to swarm around Luigi.

"What are these things?!" Luigi exclaimed. Before Mario could answer, the tissue pieces covered Luigi and squeezed him so tight, making it hard for him to breathe.

"M-Mario... Get... P-Please..." Luigi gasped.

Mario took a couple seconds to think it over. He didn't want to hit Luigi with his hammer, but at the same time, he felt it was the only way to stop the tissue pieces from suffocating Luigi. He swung the hammer at Luigi so hard that the tissue pieces dissipated almost instantly. Luigi collapsed on the ground and went into a coughing fit.

While Mario tended to Luigi, Bow rushed up to the heart and slapped it with her fan six times shouting, "How dare you try to kill my companion?!"

The heart was stunned for about five seconds before it dashed toward Mario; he acted fast and swung his hammer so hard, knocking the heart into the wall behind it.

"You touch my brother again..." Mario threatened the heart.

"Or else what...?" the heart replied before the door opened, allowing it to retreat down the passageway. "I'm getting outta here!"

"Get up, Luigi!" Mario said while helping Luigi on his feet. "That heart's getting away!"

Even though Luigi wanted to take a moment to catch his breath, he pushed himself to run after the heart, who wall-jumped up the well. After Mario and Bow caught up with Luigi, they scaled the well back into the Windy Mill.

Back outside, Tubba Blubba paced back and forth, waiting for the group to show up in front. The Windy Mill's door opened, but it was the heart that hopped outside.

"It's time to reunite!" the heart declared before it leaped into Tubba Blubba's mouth and bonded with his system.

Just as Mario, Luigi, and Bow exited the Windy Mill, Tubba Blubba marched up to them and said, "Oh yeah! Now I'm feeling good! With my heart and body united, there's no way to beat me!"

"Wait a second..." Mario said to himself while Tubba Blubba made his boast. "His heart's the weakness!" He turned to Bow and snapped his fingers; she then flew up to Tubba Blubba and slapped his face continuously with her fan.

"Eeeeoooow!" Tubba Blubba cried while Bow was slapping him. Mario took the small opportunity to charge Tubba Blubba and ram his hammer into his stomach, causing him to fall on his back and spit up every Boo that he ate.

"Yes! We finally did it!" Luigi cheered.

"Serves you right, Tubba Blubba!" Mario taunted before high-fiving Luigi and Bow; his Raccoon form wore off seconds later.

"Oh no..." Tubba Blubba moaned while slowly getting up. He began to tear up due to his stomach hurting from Mario's attack. "With my heart and body united, I'm not invincible anymore... Now I'm back to "not invincible" Tubba Blubba... And I just threw up all the ghosts I had eaten..."

"I'm actually a really sensitive guy trapped in a huge body," Tubba Blubba cried. "I don't wanna be invincible anymore if it means I have to fight guys like you!" Tubba Blubba ran off back to his castle, crying his eyes out.

"Gwaaa ha ha ha! After all this time, everyone who got eaten has returned safely!" Bow said.

"I still don't like being around ghosts," Luigi reminded Bow.

"I know you don't, Luigi. It's all right. We Boos best not scare old Tubba Blubba anymore like we did every night and day; he was a downright coward after all."

"How did you feel when we fought Tubba Blubba and his heart?" Mario asked.

"That was a pretty invigorating experience. I've never felt so full of excitement before!" Bow answered. "It was also a learning experience because now I know how to go about in the outside world."

Bow stopped speaking to think of what to do next.

"You know something? Before me and Bootler give you back the Star Spirit we promised you and Luigi last night, I just realized that you need more help saving the other Star Spirits, so I can't stay home for the rest of your adventure," Bow told Mario.

"Well, we've got some spaces left on our team," Mario responded. "We'd appreciate you being with us until the end."

"No problem." Bow hurried over to Boo's Mansion to get Bootler.

"Only four more left, bro," Mario said.

"Where will we find the next one?" Luigi asked.

"Twink will tell us after we get back to Toad Town."

About two minutes later, Bow and Bootler came back to Gusty Gulch with Skolar in his playing card.

"I wish you and my lady the best of luck out there," Bootler stated. "Please be safe."

Without hesitation, Luigi grabbed the card, causing a white light to shine from the sky; Mario, Luigi, and Bow rose toward the light with the card before fading away.