Chapter 10
10A - About Lavalava Island
Back up in Peach's castle's master bedroom, she was sitting on the balcony again, staring at the skies.
"Are you okay, Princess Peach?" Twink asked Peach.
"Yeah. I just zoned out for a minute," Peach replied. "You know what it's like to look at something amazing like a sunset, but your eyes fixate on it so much that you can't go back to reality until someone snaps you out of it."
"That's true." Peach got up from her chair and stretched her legs before walking back inside.
"I was just thinking... Maybe those guards have stopped paying attention to us again, so how about we sneak out of here? We might be able to find more news to help Mario and Luigi," Peach said.
"Do you think it's still safe to use that secret path?" Twink asked.
"I believe so. Maybe Bowser forgot already that the path exists. I mean, he might have a bad memory."
"That's possible," Twink responded. "I guess we'll just get out of here again. Where to?"
"Follow me." Peach and Twink went through the secret path again and exited through the office. This time, Peach thought about going to the living room on the first floor, which houses a giant-screen TV.
"This is the castle's living room," Peach stated quietly after slowly shutting the living room door. "In here, we watch all kinds of movies and play video games whenever I have friends over."
Peach turned on the light dimmer switch and dimmed the lights to the lowest setting. She then went to the video cabinet and rummaged through the DVD box. She eventually found a DVD case that read, "Bowser's Star Rod Plan".
"Make sure to turn the volume all the way down," Twink said.
"Not a problem. I'll see if there are subtitles on this DVD."
Peach proceeded to turn the TV on and load the DVD. On the main menu were three options: "Play Movie", "Scene Selection", and "Settings". Lucky for Peach, she found the "Subtitles" option in the settings menu and turned them on before going to the list of scenes.
The thumbnails and scene titles depicted Bowser going through his to-do list of his plan to kidnap the Star Spirits. Peach chose the scene called, "Trapped in a Volcano". It was obvious that Bowser was standing inside a volcano at that point. Before playing the movie, Peach turned the volume nearly to 0, but kept it at a level where she was able to hear the audio.
"Greetings, my fellow minions!" the on-screen Bowser reported. "This is King Bowser speaking from inside Mt. Lavalava here on Lavalava Island. What a volcanic chamber this is!" Bowser scanned his surroundings for a moment. "It's like I'm standing inside a sauna!"
"Anyway, now that I've taken care of that blue Star Spirit in Shy Guy's Toy Box, I thought what better way to trap the ponytailed Star Spirit than to take her inside an active volcano," Bowser went on. "In fact, I've rigged the volcano to erupt as soon as those Mario Bros. come across the Lava Piranha holding the Star Spirit hostage."
"Where is Lavalava Island?" Peach questioned.
"I have no idea, but I bet Mario and Luigi will get some answers after I tell them what we know," Twink replied.
"Wait a minute. I just realized something. Maybe Mario and Luigi will have no idea how to even get to Lavalava Island," Bowser said. "It's literally in the middle of the ocean! Not even close to Dinosaur Land!"
"All right. I think I've said enough. Just continue to sit tight, my minions. There's no need to take action right now unless Princess Peach tries to escape her room again. Don't play dumb with me, or else! Gwahahaha! See you soon!"
The screen cut to black before a message faded into view, "To Princess Peach, don't get your hopes up! There's no way in heck that Mario and Luigi will reach my castles!" Peach quickly paused the movie after the message appeared on the screen and took out the DVD before turning the TV and lights off. This is so that whoever visits the living room next will be fooled that nothing was touched.
"Okay. Now to sneak back into my room," Peach said. She slowly opened the door and avoided the Koopatrols flashing their flashlights while patrolling the foyer. Peach's heart was beating faster and faster because of her being worried that someone would spot her.
Peach placed her back against the left wall and slowly moved left to the office study's door before opening it enough for her to barely squeeze through. She then hurried back down the secret path before turning on the fireplace.
"Yes! Finally!" Peach exclaimed while pumping her fists in the air. "We got the info we needed without getting caught!"
"And not one guard even cared to look harder for intruders," Twink added in.
"Oh geez. You don't even know how excited I am," Peach said while fanning herself; she was sweating while walking to and from her room. "I'm actually sweating right now."
"Well, I'll let you cool off while I go tell Mario and Luigi about Lavalava Island."
"Good idea, Twink. Bye," Peach said before Twink left her room to find Mario and Luigi. She proceeded to walk into her bathroom to take a shower and reapply her face makeup.
"You know, being inside a dungeon isn't that bad after all," Jim said out loud while sitting next to his cell's bars. He had a small smirk on his face. "I mean, who needs to live a regular old-school life when you can isolate yourself from the world? Who cares about being an author writing stupid books about childhood adventures? Ha!"
"Jim, are you okay?" Toadsworth called out from his bench. "You sound like you're-"
"Oh, back off, you worthless Toad!" Jim interrupted. "I don't want to hear your annoying anxiety!"
"Jim! That's so rude of you!"
"Oh, I'm rude? Heck no! I've been the nicest boy in the world!" Jim exclaimed. "Can you do me a favor and stop being nice to me?"
Suddenly, Jim started talking to himself in a deep voice as if he was sitting with another guy. "Jim, listen to yourself! You're literally taking things the wrong way!"
"No, I'm not! YOU'RE taking things the wrong way! Don't try to act positive to me!" Jim shouted.
"Oh boy..." Toadsworth muttered. "I knew this was coming..."
"But that's how you should live your life. Thinking negatively will hurt your mind," Jim said in his deep voice.
"You know what's hurting my mind?! It's your voice, Mij!" Jim yelled, having named his contrasting figment.
"Mij? Thanks for naming me that. This goes to show how different we are."
"Jim, can you quiet down, please?" Toadsworth requested. "I want a moment's peace."
"Listen to him, you fool. He's trying to help you."
"I just said I don't want any help!" Jim shouted. "Stay out of it! And that includes you too, Toady!" Jim smirked again at his insult to Toadsworth.
"What has Bowser done to him...?" Toadsworth asked himself.
It's now 9:05 AM. Mario, Luigi, and Watt reappeared through another light beam and landed outside the abandoned building containing the toy box. Muskular was waiting for their arrival.
"Ah, fresh air again!" Muskular sighed with relief. "After being cooped up in there for so long, I could really use some outdoor exercise. My name is Muskular. Mario and Luigi, I must thank you for saving me. Now it's my turn to help you. Behold!" Muskular raised his arms up, causing Mario and Luigi to sparkle for a few seconds. Then, Mario's Star Power Band's Star Energy was refilled completely before being increased by another unit and reached as far as the fourth white button from the center of the band.
"My gift to you is the power known as 'Chill Out'," Muskular explained. "What it does is lower the defenses of certain enemies that are usually hard to fight easily, and it costs two units of Star Energy to use this power."
"Does that mean it'll make it easier to take down Bowser with that power?" Mario asked.
"Slightly easier. But that's after the Star Beam reverses Bowser's Star Rod power," Muskular replied. "Call on me whenever you find yourself in trouble. I'll always come quickly to aid you in battle. Now, I'm going back to my dear old Star Road..."
"Mario! Luigi!"
Mario and Luigi turned to see Twink fly in from behind.
"I have news... News from the castle..." Suddenly, Twink saw Muskular and became shocked. "Honorable Star Spirit!"
"Hi," Muskular greeted Twink. "I believe you are... Twink, no? You're the youngster who recently ascended from Starborn Valley up to the Star Road." Twink hearing Muskular say his name surprised him even more.
"What?! You remember my name?!"
"Hahaha! Why, of course! We're like family!" Muskular chuckled. Twink teared up a small bit.
"I... I... I'm so touched!"
"Hohoho! Don't make such a fuss, lad. I'm sure you'll go up to do great things!" Muskular reassured Twink. "I must take my leave now. Goodbye."
Twink took a few moments to compose himself after Muskular left for the Star Road.
"Oh golly... I talked with Muskular, the honorable Star Spirit..." Twink murmured. "I rarely have such a chance, even at the Star Road... I'm shaking..."
"Are you okay, Twink?" Luigi asked.
"Kind of. It was just mind-blowing," Twink responded.
"What were you gonna tell us?" Mario questioned.
"Um... Oh! I remember now. Just earlier, me and Princess Peach went to her living room and we found this movie that Bowser made about him kidnapping the Star Spirits and stealing the Star Rod."
"What did he say was next after the toy box?" Luigi asked.
"We saw Bowser standing inside a volcano known as Mt. Lavalava, which is located somewhere in this place called Lavalava Island," Twink explained. "It seems that one of the honorable Star Spirits is being held there. I hope it will be of help."
"Your info's always full of help, Twink. Don't worry about it being useless," Mario said.
"Thank you, Mario. I'm more than glad to be you and Luigi's messenger. As always, I wish you good luck. Princess Peach and I will keep looking for useful information."
After Twink flew back to the Star Road, the group immediately started back to the pipe leading to Mario's Pad because Luigi needed to put his diary back in the basement.
"I hope the Shy Guys didn't write anything in my diary," Luigi said after walking inside.
"Me neither, bro. Why don't you check all the pages?" Mario asked. Luigi took five minutes to look through all his diary and double-check to make sure he didn't miss anything. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that the pages after the most recent writing were blank.
"Thank God. I guess the Shy Guys didn't have any pens with them. Maybe they just treated it like a regular book before stowing it away."
"That's a nice place you got, Mario," Watt said after flying all over the house. "I like how you organized your stuff."
"Thank you, Watt." Mario replied.
"Can I change my clothes, Mario? I feel like the spray tan is wearing off," Luigi requested.
"Go for it. I'll be in the living room until you're ready."
Luigi quickly went into the bathroom to shower up and wash the spray tan off his skin before changing outfits.
