On their way to find the fourth Pure Heart, the heroes entered the yellow door. Dimentio's continued assualts made them rather anxious. Would Bleck's minions be able to keep holding him off while our heroes searched for the Pure Hearts? Their quest would gradually become more difficult, as Dimentio and Count Bleck conspired to stop them...

CHAPTER 3-1

Soaked Hair and Wet Socks

A line was drawn.

More lines appeared, coming in pairs that formed long, twisty tree trunks. Large leaves were drawn on the trees and given a green hue as the trunks became a dull grayish-brown. Water splashed onto the ground, creating large gray puddles. A few large rocks were drawn and colored dark gray. The sky was gray as well. It was completely covered by flat stratus clouds, letting only a small amount of sunlight through the thick blanket. The ground was soaked and covered with tall grass, being a dull green. Finally, drops of rain began falling, soaking the area even more. The yellow door was drawn into existence, and our heroes stepped into this dreary swamp.

"It's pretty wet here," noticed Mario.

Tippi looked around. "This place is sure dreary," she reflected. "I feel depressed already."

"So we'd better find the Pure Heart, and fast," announced Bowser.

"Right," agreed Tippi. "Let's see..." She examined the area. "I feel the Pure Heart in this dimension...but it's very far away..."

"So we have to travel through this place?" complained Luigi.

"Yes."

"In the pouring rain?"

"Yes."

"In this soggy ground?"

"Yes."

"With this dreary overcast cloud cover?"

"Would you prefer the destruction of all worlds?"

"We've gotta find the Pure Heart and FAST!" Luigi ran as fast as he could in the soggy grass.

Tippi sighed. "Well, let's follow."

Our heroes walked through the pouring rain, the water from the soggy ground seeping into their shoes and making their socks wet. Bowser was a bit more comfortable, since he didn't wear shoes, but the water still made his feet feel cold. The only consolation was that the thick trees blocked most of the rain, preventing the heroes from getting any wetter than they already were. Even so, the water from above was occasionially too heavy for the trees above, and it cascaded down, causing our heroes to be drenched even more.

"I sure hope this rain stops soon," complained Peach. Her hair had been soaked, making her look quite different from usual.

"Well, it doesn't look like it," observed Mario. "The sky is covered in clouds from horizon to horizon."

"I'm not going to walk like this until we find the Pure Heart!" declared Luigi. "We'd better pray that we don't have to go through any waterfalls or rockslides or whatever, 'cause this is quite enough."

"Well, look on the bright side," said Bowser. "At least, if it's nothing like this until the Pure Heart, we won't have to go through any obstacles or fight some sea monster or robot horse or anything."

"Knowing Dimentio, though, he's probably already came here and protected it from us. Sigh..."

They continued walking like this for a while, and the rain showed no signs of stopping. Eventually, the sky grew darker, indicating that night was coming. Our heroes heard a loud thunder crash.

"We've got to stop somewhere for the night," advised Tippi.

"Where can we rest?" asked Luigi. "We'll never fall asleep with rain and thunder."

"Let's look for some kind of shelter." They kept walking, passing some large rocks. Finally, they found the perfect shelter; in a small space, just big enough for all of them, underneath one of the larger rocks.

"Let's stop here for the night," suggested Bowser. The others agreed. They crept into the small dry space, where they slept.

In the morning, the rain was still there, but it was only a drizzle, much to the delight of our heroes. They walked out into the open again and continued walking in the same direction. After a while, they stopped for some reason.

"Why'd we stop?" asked Tippi. Then they realized that they had been stopped by a huge hill, which they hadn't even noticed due to the thick trees. The hill was drenched and muddy from the previous day's downpour.

"My feet are stuck!" complained Bowser, whose feet were stuck in the mud. He managed to pull himself out after a few seconds.

"Watch out," warned Tippi. "The mud's flowing!"

And so it was. Slowly but surely, the mud crept toward our heroes. It was slow at first, but then it picked up speed.

"We've got to get out of here before there's a mudslide!" yelled Luigi. He ran to the side. The others followed, only to discover that the mud flow continued over in this direction since the hill was so large. It continued picking up speed until it was a full mudslide.

"Waah!" exclaimed Mario, desperately trying to avoid the rushing mud.

"First a rockslide and now a mudslide?" complained Luigi.

"AIIEE! HELP!" shouted Peach, who had been knocked over and was struggling in the mud.

"I'll get her!" announced Mario.

"No, I'll get her!" countered Bowser. He began rushing toward her faster than Mario could keep up.

"Fine," admitted Mario. He followed Luigi, trying to find where the hill ended.

"I think the mudslide ends over here," pointed Luigi. Mario followed him around the hill, only to be pushed in a different direction by the mud. "We can't just leave Peach and Bowser behind," said Mario.

"It's fine, we're coming," announced Bowser, who was a few yards behind them, with Peach.

"If we can get to the other side of the hill, we'll be safe," described Tippi. "At least, I think so..."

The mudslide was picking up in speed, and soon it was difficult just to stand up. "How are we going to make it?" asked Peach. "I can barely stand up!"

"Let's climb these trees," suggested Mario, doing just that. "We'll be safe, at least for a while."

The others tried doing that. However, Bowser's tree fell over. "Hey, Einstein, can you think of something I can do?"

"Well, you're big and strong, right? You can probably just push your way through."

"Whatever."

Mario and the others grabbed another tree and worked their way over to the other side of the hill. When they dropped down, Bowser joined them. They were still being pushed by the mudslide, but they were being pushed in the direction they wanted to go. Eventually, the mudslide stopped altogether.

"Now that was a close call," reflected Mario.

Our heroes continued through the environment. "The Pure Heart is closer," annoucned Tippi. "But it's still a long way from here..."

"Oh, just great," grumbled Luigi. He faced the others. "We're just going to be walking through this depressing place until we find the Pure Heart! I just know-OW!" He had walked right into a large rock with a huge drop after it where the landscape lost its trees and rocks.

Suddenly, our heroes heard gunshots and cannons in the distance.

-END OF CHAPTER-