Pikpixie: I am so sorry for updating so late! Especially, to those who waited forever for this update. I had a lot to do with applying for college and all. But I won't bore you with any of that. On with the fic!
Disclaimer: I own nothing in this game! It's all pure Nintendo!
Chapter Three
Road to the Big Windmill
Mario and FLUDD materialized in a bright, sunny area. The plumber gazed around the path he was on, trying to seek out his shadow counterpart. But found no sign of him anywhere.
"Hey, FLUDD, do see Shadow Mario anywhere?" the plumber asked. FLUDD looked around and scanned the small area they were in. Even his scans came up empty.
"No. Maybe you should ask around and get some clues from the residents." the water pump replied. Mario frowned. He didn't want to ask but if it helped track down his counterpart and help clear his name then he had no choice but to do so. The plumber sighed.
"Great. All right, fine, I'll ask. But I swear, if any of them start griping at me that all this was my fault…" the Mushroom Kingdom hero began to growl.
"Mario, that's no way for a hero to act! Come on, we need to find Shadow Mario!" FLUDD scolded then looked up. He saw a couple of Piantas a little up the path, "I see a few Piantas up ahead! Let's go talk to them!"
The plumber sighed again and ran up the path toward the nearest Pianta. The blue Pianta noticed and paused in his walking. Mario ran up to him, paused in front of the Pianta, and panted. The hero of the Mushroom Kingdom opened his mouth to speak but the look on the blue Pianta's face stopped him. The male Pianta gave him a curious look.
"Huh? You're back again, are you? You seemed like you were in such a hurry the last time I saw you." he remarked.
Mario blinked in surprise, "I was?"
The blue Pianta nodded and walked away. Mario just stood there, confused. I came running by here earlier? No, that can't be right. I just barely got here in Bianco Hills…>the plumber thought to himself. Just then a female pink Pianta walked up to Mario and gave him a suspicious look.
"What's going on? Didn't you just come running through here with a big paintbrush? And now you've got that heavy device on your back…? Strange…" she said before she, too, walked away.
Mario froze. A paintbrush? I don't have a painbr- wait…Shadow Mario was carrying a paintbrush during our first encounter with him. Which means…yes! He is here! Now all I have to do is find him and get him to the police. Then my name will be cleared! >
FLUDD broke through Mario's thoughts with a gasp. Mario turned to his partner, confused. "What's up, FLUDD? I know Shadow Mario is here! We've got to find him!"
"I know. But this area has a polluting problem at a critical level!" the water pump yelped. The plumber's blue eyes went wide.
"Where?!"
"On the other side of the hill!"
"All right, let's go and clean up that area!" Mario replied and raced up the path toward the polluted area. On his way up the small hill, Mario failed to notice two sprinklers spraying water on the path, which of course he slipped on the water and went sliding down the hill face first. He zoomed past gold coins and another male blue Pianta, who stood on the grass next to the path. Mario cried out in alarm when he noticed that he was heading toward a river at a pretty fast rate.
SPLASH!
The duo plunged headfirst into the calm river. Mario swam up to the surface, sputtering and gasping for air. He swam back toward the path and carefully heaved himself out of the water and onto the path. He stood and removed his hat, squeezing the water out of it.
"Great, now I'm completely wet." Mario griped as he continued to squeeze the water out of his hat. FLUDD scanned the area up ahead before confirming his findings.
"Mario, my scans indicate that the pollution is on the other side of that huge white wall."
"Really? Well, how you expect us to get up there? Fly?"
"You can use the Hover Nozzle."
The plumber looked at the wall and judged the height of it, then shook his head. "That won't, FLUDD. The Hover Nozzle can't do it alone. The wall is too high."
"Guess we'll just have to find a way around it or through it. But first, we need to get to the other side of the river." FLUDD remarked.
Mario looked at FLUDD with a half glare. "I am not getting back in that river. I'm already wet as it is." He dug in his heels at the subject.
FLUDD looked around and spied a rope going across the river. He scanned it and found that the rope can easily support their combined weight. He gently tapped the plumber on the head with his nozzle, getting his attention. When the hero looked at him, the water pump pointed to the rope.
"Why not use that rope there? I've scanned it and it can certainly support our weight," the water pump advised.
Mario looked uneasily at the rope. "Are you sure?"
FLUDD nodded. "Of course. My scans are never wrong."
"Well, alright." Mario walked toward the rope and the male blue Pianta noticed how nervous the plumber was and called out to him.
"You want to try climbing the ropes?" the Pianta asked.
"Yeah."
The Pianta laughed good-naturedly. "It's easy! Never fear! Just get up there and bounce around. You'll be fine."
Mario smiled at the helpful Pianta. "Alright, thanks!" He climbed on top of the rope and after getting used to the bouncy pattern of the rope, he began to cross it.
"Hey, why not bounce across? It'll be faster." FLUDD asked.
"Alright, let's try it." The plumber began to jump on the rope, bouncing the rest of the way to the other side of the clear river. When he landed on solid dry land, the plumber laughed a bit. "Hey, that was pretty fun to do."
FLUDD nodded in agreement before returning to his dormant mode, where he is still active but not being used at all at the time. As Mario turned to thank the male Pianta again, the water pump saw a female orange Pianta gazing at something on the white wall.
"Mario, there's someone here who may help us." Mario's partner called. The plumber turned around, saw the Pianta as well and walked up to her.
"Excuse me. But can you tell me how to get to the other side of the wall here?" Mario asked politely.
The female Pianta blinked and nodded. "Alright. There's a trail here that connects to the Big Windmill." she replied.
Mario's hopes rose.
"But the goop made it too dangerous so the door's been closed."
The plumber's heart sank. Great. Now how was he going to clean up the mess?
The Pianta spoke again after seeing his disappointed expression, "You might be able to get through by using the water wheel up ahead." She winked and pointed out where to go.
Mario smiled and thanked her before running off toward the water wheel. After encountering a few minor enemies (defeating them were easy. All he had to do was bounce on their heads), Mario reached the water wheel. He watched the wheel's motion for a few seconds before figuring out how to use it to get to the other side of the wall. Mario didn't have to wait long before one of the wheel's spokes came to him slowly. He jumped onto it and rode it to the top and jumped off and onto the wall.
"Well, that was easy." Mario laughed before setting his gaze on the meadow. But once his eyes settled on the area before him, his jaw dropped. The entire meadow was covered in brown goo!
"Ahh! You weren't kidding about Bianco Hills having a huge polluting problem, FLUDD!" the plumber yelped. FLUDD didn't answer. He was looking at the red mark below Mario's boots.
"Mario, look below you. There's a red mark I can't make out."
The Mushroom Kingdom hero stared down at his feet and noticed the mark as well. He stepped away from it and growled. It was the red 'M' symbol Shadow Mario used.
"All right! That is coming off now!" he hissed and sprayed it.
The red 'M' melted away and left behind a blue coin. The plumber stared at it before he picked up and looked at more closely. Other than the fact it was basically the same as the gold coins, this one was different. And it wasn't just the color that made it different; it was the symbol that was engraved into it. It was a star symbol. And Mario had a sudden feeling that these kinds of coins are going to be important and he should hang onto them.
He pocketed the coin and jumped off the wall. He landed on the only clean patch of the area and set to work on cleaning a path for him to search for the source. But as he neared the path leading to the Big Windmill, a huge ball of brown paint came barreling towards him. His eyes widen at the object and he dove out of the way before it could crush him. He landed in the brown paint but at least he wasn't flattened like a pancake. He sat up and watched the ball continue rolling in a straight line and spread paint around.
"What in the world was that!?" he cried.
"I'm not sure, Mario." FLUDD replied, "I didn't get the chance to scan it."
"Well, whatever that was nearly flatten me into an Italian pancake. Do you know where the source of this mess is?"
FLUDD scanned the immediate area they where in and pinpointed where. "Yes. It's coming from near the Big Windmill."
"Really? I bet its another Polluted Piranha."
"It is."
"Well, let's go check it out FLUDD."
The duo raced over to where the Big Windmill was and spotted, yet another large mass of brown paint that was spiting out the large balls of paint. The plumber aimed and sprayed the mass, which only responded by spiting out another large ball. Mario sprayed at it, hoping for it to dissolve like all the other paint his sprayed before but only to find out that it didn't and it ran into him, knocking him back. The hero shook his head to clear it and took a closer look at the huge ball. What he saw disgusted him.
"Geez! It's a Piranha Plant head! Gross!" the red plumber yelped and sprayed the mass again 'til Polluted Piranha emerged.
The huge "plant" creature let out an inhumane roar, as it stood tall. Mario only glared at it and sprayed its mouth when it opened. It yowled in pain and coughed up another paint covered piranha plant head. The Mushroom Kingdom hero dove into shallow end of the lake that surrounded Polluted Piranha at three sides. The massive ball barreled down at him and Mario froze in fear. He was going to be crushed!
Hhhhiiissss!
The plumber blinked in surprise as the painted head dissolved into the air when it touched the lake. But how? I sprayed it with FLUDD and it didn't dissolve. He looked at the pool and noticed that it went up to his neck. Oh, I get it now. The stream of water sprayed by FLUDD was too small and weak to stop it but the lake is much more deeper. It'll dissolve instantly if it touches it.>
Polluted Piranha opened its maw to cough up another ball and Mario sprayed it before it could. "Mrrrraaalll!" it roared out and small army of Droplets began to come after Mario as the creature dove back into its base to recover.
(A/N: Nothing more annoying than the Droplets, eh?)
Mario tried his best to ignore them as they jumped all over him, though most didn't make the jump and ended up in the lake. He stood still, his face mostly covered in paint as he waited and watched for Polluted Piranha.
Suddenly, the slimy Piranha Plant erupted from the mass and made a lunge at Mario, startling him. Its speed was incredibly fast for such a huge beast, but Mario was able to spray anyway, hitting it directly in the mouth.
"Mrrrraaallll!" it howled in agony as it dissolved into the air. The duo sighed now that their enemy was gone.
Rumble!
Rumble!
The ground quaked violently as something rose from the murky depths of the goop. It rose higher and higher 'til it's tip met with the end of a bridge. It was the hill that led to the Big Windmill! Mario freed it! And something else emerged from the goop that was once Polluted Piranha. It was small and a shiny gold…. Another Shine Sprite!
The plumber swam out of the lake and ran up the hill to get the little island guardian. He snagged it, spun around once and did his famous victory pose, holding up the Shine Sprite.
"Shine!" Mario laughed then gasped as the tiny sun symbol pulled away from his grip. It slowly spun around him as if to check him over and almost seemed to smile at him. It cooed at Mario as it began to spin around his body more rapidly. The plumber looked confused, as the Shine Sprite became a blur.
"FLUDD, what's it doing?"
"I'm not sure," the water pump answered.
Suddenly, the Shine Sprite disappeared into thin air taking Mario and FLUDD with it through a special warp…
THUD!
Mario landed on his rear on solid ground somewhere. He was still a bit dizzy from the fast pace of the warp the Shine Sprite led them through.
"FLUDD, where are we?" the plumber muttered dizzily with his eyes still closed. The water pump gazed around and looked rather surprised.
"We're back in Delfino Plaza."
"We are?"
"Welcome back! We're so glad you're safe, Mario!" came Princess Peach's voice, directly behind him. He stood up and turned to her. She still carried the umbrella and smiled warmly at him. He returned the smile.
"This vacation's just been a whirlwind of bizarre events, huh?" the princess continued. Mario sighed inwardly.
You're telling me. Guess the Shine Sprite warped us out of the Bianco Hills.> he thought.
"And now the boat to the hotel isn't even running!" she added with a whiny tone. Mario mentally gave her an irritated look just as Toadsworth waddled up to him.
"This island seems to be the victim of a bad turn of fate. Oh my, yes…" the old Toad murmured. The plumber thought a little.
My thoughts exactly, Toadsworth.> Mario agreed.
Pikpixie: (shoving something huge back into the fic.)
???: Kiyyaaa! (refuses to go in)
Pikpixie: (shoves harder)
Shadow Mario: Psst! You're on!
Pikpixie: Huh? (Looks at readers) Oh! (Tosses the large object at Shadow Mario)
???: Kiiiyyyyaaaaa!!!!
Shadow Mario: Ahhhh!
Pikpixie: Hey, guys! How was that chappie? Good? Bad? Whatever? Anyway, you guys know the drill! R & R please!
Shadow Mario: Get this thing offa me!
???: Kiyyyaaa!