Been a long time, ne? Too long... I finally got around to updating this again, though! I'll try to work on it more; it is going to be a LOOONG story, I'll tell you that right now!

This chapter's a bit short, and I don't think the quality's as good... And though they don't rescue a Star Spirit in this one, they will in Chapter 8! Can you guess who? (Shouldn't be that hard...)

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Chapter 7: A Close Call

Betrayar and Wart were talking on the phone once again, discussing Cucumbersome's unfortunate demise.

"I can't believe it" Wart was shocked, "One of my best I really expected that Potatocide would be the first to go! Not Cucumbersome"

"Not only that," Betrayar muttered, "That idiot Deceptar banged himself up pretty well in the Dry Dry Desert. He's resting here for a few days. The problem is, he did seem to have a pattern in where he was going, and Mario and his friends figured it out. THEN they found and rescued Twink!" Betrayar sighed with despair. "Once Deceptar's ready to leave again, I guess I'll have to start telling him where to go."

"Where will you try for next?"

Betrayar was studying a map. "Well, I have no clue as to where the Star Spirits are," he answered, "But if we take over the two capital cities in North and South Mushlandia, then we'd have good control over everything!!"

Wart tried to think. "And the capital cities are uh"

"Toad Town and Mushroom Kingdom," the star answered, "Where the royal Toadstool families live."

"Oh, yeah! Isn't there other royalty too, though?"

"Yeeeeesss sort of But don't worry about them," Betrayar assured him, "Once the two main towns are taken over, the others will fall quickly!"

"What about the Boos? And that kingdom of marshmallows in the clouds?"

"Don't worry about them," Betrayar repeated. "The Boos are secluded in the Forever Forest, so we'll just get them later. Your Carroboscis can't find their mansion, anyway. As for that kingdom in the clouds, that's such a tiny, peaceful kingdom I wouldn't worry."

"OK" Wart still sounded uncertain. "So where will you send Deceptar next?"

"Mushroom Kingdom. Tell both Carroboscis and Potatocide to come to Toad Town to take it over. Using Carroboscis' brains and Potatocide's brawn, I'm sure they can pull it off!"

"Even if Mario shows up??"

"Even then."

Wart gulped, still unsure. "OK, whatever you say, Betrayar"

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"I think I see light over there, Master Carroboscis!" a turnip exclaimed. "Maybe that's the way out!"

"Nice," Carroboscis agreed, "But, where exactly is over there'?"

"OVER THERE!" The turnip pointed with one of the leaves on top of its head. Carroboscis, of course, saw nothing.

"There's nothing there, just one of those creepy white flowers," the carrot told it. "Keep going this way."

"We need a map," a pumpkin grumbled.

"What we need is a GPS," Carroboscis muttered. "Everyone, this way!"

Carroboscis was SOOOO embarrassed. Surely, someone with his mental capacity wouldn't get so easily lost, right? Well, after a mere ten minutes in the Forever Forest, Carroboscis and his army were hopelessly lost, without so much as a map to help guide them.

Carroboscis had entered the forest in hopes of finding the Boo Mansion or a Star Spirit. Whichever came first. So far, they had found neither

They had at one point run into this weird old man almost entirely covered with a long, white moustache. The man had warned them that the forest was full of dangers, and offered to guide them out. Carroboscis' pride wouldn't allow him to do that, so he just told the man to back off and leave his sight.

Maybe I should have just heard that guy out, Carroboscis thought. I'd do anything to get out of this stupid—

BRIIIING! BRIIING! BRIIII-

Carroboscis took out his cellphone and answered it. "Hello? Carroboscis speaking."

"Good, so I see you didn't meet with an untimely defeat"

"WART!!!!!!!!!!! I haven't heard from you for weeks!"

" I just called five hours ago"

"Well, it seems like weeks," Carroboscis was a bit embarrassed, "What's going on?"

"Where are you?"

"In this terrible, terrible place called the Forever Forest"

"You're still there?!"

"Yes, boss, I got a little, well"

"Lost?"

"Yes"

"Hmm" Wart thought a moment, "Have you found the Boo Mansion?"

"No, boss"

"Do you know the way to Toad Town?"

Carroboscis sighed. "No, THAT'S WHY I'M LOST!!!!!"

"Oh. I see Well, if you ever find your way out of the forest, we need you to get to Toad Town to help take over"

"Take over?!" Carroboscis exclaimed, "Hmm, I could do it, if I ever find the town"

"We sent Potatocide there already, so I suggest you find your way out of the forest and into town!"

"Understood, sir. And if not that, I'll take over the Boo Mansion and Gusty Gulch. That would work, too, wouldn't it?"

"Hmm, yeah, it would. Since Lady Bow is an important figure on this planet and she owns the mansion and seems to rule the Boos in that area!"

"Yeah, and a lady couldn't be that hard to defeat, could she?" Carroboscis chuckled. "Well, we all have work to do; talk to you later, boss!"

Carroboscis hung up and put the cellphone away. "Well, we still have no idea where we are," he told his troops, "but we have two full missions this time!"

"What are they?" a pumpkin asked.

"Well, we need to either A: find Toad Town and take it over or B: find the Boo Mansion and kidnap their mistress so that we rule the Boos. I vouch for plan B, since kidnapping a young lady couldn't be that hard and would be great practice, but whatever place we find first, that's what we'll attack."

As Carroboscis was soon to find out, though, kidnapping Lady Bow was not as easy of a task as he thought

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Meanwhile, in Toad Town, Mario, Peach, Luigi, and the others were trying to figure out where to go next.

Parakarry, Mayuri, and Fauna had left to go to Nimbus Land just to check on events there. No one had heard from King or Queen Nimbus or even from Prince Mallow for two days, so they were a little worried.

"You don't know where a Star Spirit, is, do you?" Mario asked Twink.

"For the last time, NO!"

Peach was a bit more gentle with the Star Kid. "Twink," she softly asked, "Is there any way you can use your power to try to communicate with the other stars?"

Twink frowned, thinking. "I, I could try," he answered. "But I don't know if it would work. Since we don't have the Star Rod right now, our power is really small compared with what it should be."

But Twink would try. He closed his eyes, focusing as hard as he could. Are there any Star Spirits around? he thought. Please answer!

He felt a response! A very faint one, but one nonetheless.

Unfortunetely, it was so faint he couldn't tell where it was coming from or even who it was.

So he continued focusing. Please, come again? Can you just tell me who you are and where you are?

Another response, just as faint.

Twink tried again. Just tell me where you are!!

The response was still faint, but the star mentioned something about a haunted forest Twink tried one last time, but he had used all his power. "Well"

"Did you get anything?" Peach asked.

"A very faint response; in fact, I don't even know who it was, just they mentioned something about a haunted forest'."

"Haunted forest?" Peach turned to Mario and Luigi. "Suppose it meant the Forever Forest?!"

"Probably" Mario faltered, "That terrible haunted forest that Bow made us go through, just to get to her mansion and spook us with those other puzzles she laid out?"

"Yeah, that place!"

"How could anyone forget?!" Mario muttered.

"I guess we should just check it out, then," Peach suggested. "But, ah, some of us should stay here"

"To protect Toad Town?" Pararera asked. "I could do that. Just take Cloner and Dupliana with you."

"Yes!" The two Duplighosts just mentioned high-fived.

"Duplighosts in the Forever Forest," Cloner chuckled, "This should get interesting"

"I'll stay too," Mario offered.

Everyone looked at General Guy. "The Shy Squad, in a haunted forest?" he seemed to think about it. "That would probably be quite a situation, I'll admit"

"Will you go or not?" Peach pressed.

"Um, hmm, yes, your highness, I will. Who in the Shy Squad is willing to go?!"

Not one word from the entire squad of fifteen Shy Guys.

"No one offers?"

Still silence.

"Ok, since no one is volunteering, the entire squad must go!"

Gasps of fear, but no one argued.

"We're set then," Peach finished, "Luigi, Twink, General Guy, the Shy Squad, these two Duplighosts, and I are going into the Forever Forest!"

"Just one thing!" Twink looked at Princess Peach. "Does anyone know their way through the forest??"

"Uh, no," Luigi answered, "but that's half that fun, ha ha"

Meanwhile, in the Forever Forest, Musty had just shown Wario and Waluigi how to get to the Boo Mansion from his little shack, and then Wario, who vouched that they shouldn't visit the Boos, led them to the top of Gusty Gulch.

"Geez," Musty commented, "This place is even more run-down than it was before It looks nice, heh heh"

"Who was that Tubba Blubba guy you were talking about?" Waluigi asked.

"Tubba Blubba? The guy who lived at the castle before you guys did?"

"Yeah, him!"

"He was this big turtle-like creature who was afraid of everything, and we Boos just loved to go and spook him, even beat him up sometimes!" Musty sighed at the fond recollection. "Those were the days"

"Yeah, just like we want to do to Mario! Nya ha ha ha ha ha!" Wario and Waluigi started their evil laugh.

"And what was this stuff about the Star Spirits?" Musty asked. "They got kicked out of the Star Haven?"

"Yep," Wario answered, "We want to find one before that mean lady ghost does."

"Her name's Bow," Musty reminded them.

"Whatever."

Wario and Waluigi gave Musty a tour around their new castle, then packed some more supplies and left for the forest, with Musty as their guide.

"Ok, to get started, let's wander around this area today," Musty suggested, "and look for a sign that anything fell around here. Understand?"

"Yep!" the other two answered.

They searched for nearly an hour, but found nothing at all. Wario was starting to get a little discouraged, when

"LOOK!" Waluigi gasped, "What in the world is that?!"

Waluigi was pointing to a strange carrot-looking monster up ahead of them.

"Ew, that's the most repulsive carrot I've ever seen," Kaphooey muttered.

Carroboscis was too busy trying to chart where the sun was to notice. "This would be a lot easier," he mumbled, "if you could see the sun at all"

"Hello~," Musty tried to get his attention, "It's NIGHTTIME!!! What on earth are you doing?! Are you lost?"

"Huh?!" Carroboscis was quite startled. Seeing the threesome with their two birds, the carrot got an idea. "Yes, I'm lost. Do you happen to know the way to Toad Town? Or better yet, what's closer: Toad Town or the Boo Mansion?"

"Boo Mansion" Musty faltered, "Why do I have a feeling that you're planning to do something bad?"

"No! I'm not, really, I'm not!" Carroboscis lied. "I, uh, am just looking for someone who is willing to sell me a GPS."

"A what?" Musty, Waluigi, and Wario had never heard of a GPS before.

"It stands for Global Positioning System', you idiots!" Kaphooey told them. "You use it to tell where you are!"

"That's right," Carroboscis agreed, "But could I get uh, could I get a map at the Boo Mansion?"

"I don't know," Musty truthfully answered. "Guys, let's go!"

Once Musty thought they were out of earshot of Carroboscis and his allies, he softly exclaimed, "Those guys are up to something! I can feel it, and I'm rarely wrong!"

"Not everyday that you see a carrot around here, is it?" Wario agreed. "But, uh, what should we do?"

"We'd better get to the Boo Mansion," Musty suggested, "To warn Bow and the others!"

Wario and Waluigi looked at each other. "Do we have to?" Waluigi asked.

"YES!!! Come on!!!!!" the three of them raced to the mansion.

In a nearby bush, a turnip had been listening.

"Master Carroboscis!" the turnip gasped, "They're going to the Boo Mansion!"

Carroboscis grinned. "Good," he said, "Let's follow them!"

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"OK, so how many is that?"

Igor counted by twos. "Two, four, six, eight, ten, twelve Nope! Won't do! They ordered thirteen, not twelve!"

"What?! That can't be right!" Franky grabbed the order form to look it over again. "It says twelve!!!!"

"No, thirteen," Igor pressed, "They changed it because 13's our lucky number!"

Franky was still confused. "Well, whatever But I didn't see another apple around here, did you?"

The two Boos were busy at work trying to fill an order for 13 apples from a Boo in Gusty Gulch. Franky had picked every remaining apple off the Boo's apple tree, yet the order called for one more.

"Oh, well, I guess we can't fill their order all the way," Igor lamented, "We'll just put a note in there."

Igor wrote out the note, sealed the box, and gave it to Franky to deliver.

"Why me," Franky grumbled, "I always get to be the delivery Boo when Parakarry's gone"

He didn't get very far when he ran into Musty with a frantic Wario and Waluigi. Franky recognized his fellow Boo immedeately.

"MUSTY!!!!!" he exclaimed, dropping the package, "What, why, where, how?! I mean, what are you doing here?! I haven't seen you for ages!!"

"Since the Stone Age?" Musty joked, "It hasn't been THAT long!!!"

"Where'd you go off to?" Franky asked. "Even Lady Bow was wondering where you were. She said you probably left here to go back to Vanilla Dome."

Musty shook his head. "I stay in a shack not far from here," he answered. "My humble but very lonely and comfortable home. Bow asked about me?"

"Yeah, she was pretty worried at first but doesn't seem to care much now."

"Typical Bow," Musty muttered, "Anyway, um, let's see, what did I Oh! Yeah! We came to warn you about"

"An evil carrot coming to the Boo Mansion."

"Yeah, that's right!" realizing it wasn't Wario or Waluigi who had spoken, "Eh what?"

They turned around to see Carroboscis! "You are such fools," the carrot was saying, "We followed you here, and we've come to take over this nasty little forest!"

Franky was as wide-eyed as a Boo could possibly be. "Um, uh LADY BOW!!! WE'RE ABOUT TO BE ATTACKED!!!" He freaked out and flew into the mansion, with Musty and the other two close behind.

"Shut the door!" Musty hissed, then, "Darn!! No lock!"

"What's going on?!" Bow had just emerged from her third-story room, Bootler trailing behind. "Wha? Musty?"

"Hey, I'd love to stop and chat, but" Musty didn't finish, for Carroboscis had flung the door open.

"AHA!" the carrot exclaimed, "There's not even a lock on your cute little door! TURNIPS! GET EM!"

Bow kept her cool. "How are you and your turnips going to get us?" she scoffed. "Everyone! TURN INVISIBLE!"

All the Boos did so, which left only Wario and Waluigi as visible targets.

"Ah, crud," Wario muttered, "What do you suggest we do?!"

"Kaphooey!" Waluigi commanded, "Use your annoy attacks!"

"Gladly! Well, you see, guys, the other day I was with these two freaks and we saw" Kaphooey continued rambling, and the turnips turned to each other, utterly confused. Kaphooey would not stop talking, so one by one, the turnips gathered around Carroboscis.

"FIGHT THEM!" Carroboscis exclaimed. "Don't let that bird get to you!"

The turnips began to heed Until the chandeiler hanging over their heads mysteriously fell.

"Yeah!" Musty, the one responsible for the downed chandeilier, turned visible again. "Losers!"

Carroboscis was dazed, but got back up. "You'll pay!" he growled. He tried to lunge at them, but stopped suddenly. "OW! What just hit me?!"

"Do you want to know? Gwa ha ha ha ha!" The invisible Lady Bow continued to beat Carroboscis with her folding fan. "OUT, I SAY!" in the creepiest voice she could muster, "I can do worse than this!"

"That's what she told me," Wario mumbled under his breath.

Carroboscis took the hint. "Um, OK, but I'LL BE BACK!" Carroboscis fled with his remaining veggies.

Once he was gone, Bow and the others turned visible again. One of Bow's bows had become untied, so she hurried to straighten it. "I'll bet he'll be back," she said, "I just hope he doesn't come back soon"

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Meanwhile, Peach's group was hopelessly lost in the haunted forest

"Keep going, troops," General Guy was encouraging the Shy Squad, "The faster you go, the faster we'll be out of here!"

"Try to keep contacting that Star Spirit," Peach advised Twink. "That should help us find him or her."

"I'm trying!" Twink squeezed his eyes shut. Where are you? Who are you? We're coming to save you!

Hurry not too late

Twink stiffened. The signal was stronger. Who are you? he asked again. Tell me your name!!

I Misstar

"Misstar!" Twink exclaimed. "Keep going, guys! We're really close!"

"Misstar?" Luigi looked up at the little star. "What about her?"

"She's the one out here! I can tell we're close; the feeling of her presence is stronger."

"Keep going!" Peach pressed. "I see the Boo Mansion just up ahead!"

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Well, that's all for this chapter... Stay tuned for chapter 8, which will come sooner or later.... Hopefully sooner.