Chapter 9: The Imperfect Storm
"How long does it take to get there, anyway?" Peach asked Nino. She really didn't like the idea of traveling by boat in the dark, not with all the sharks, real or not, roaming around the Island. Nonetheless, she wanted to support Mario and help save Tina, for she had helped them free the people of Bianco Hills.
"It's going to be a long ride," replied Nino, "Noki Bay is on the complete opposite side of the island. We should get there in about three hours."
Peach groaned. She was stuck on this boat for three hours, surrounded by these strange creatures that resembled Yoshi, but were definitely not. They looked completely evil, and Peach wondered why Mario trusted them.
"Peach," began Mario, "Nino was telling me about what happened on the Blooper Jet. Are you sure about what you saw? It just sounds weird…"
Peach was getting annoyed that nobody believed her, but she was still convinced that was she saw was real. "Look, there's something weird about those sharks. They're just not real. I think somebody may be after us, or maybe even somebody on this island! Why do these sorts of things always happen to us?"
Mario smiled and then began to talk again. "I believe you, Peach. It's pretty obvious that somebody's after something or someone on this island. And you're right, these kinds of things do always happen to us, but we always manage to get through them, no matter what the challenge. We'll get through this somehow, I know we can."
Peach was glad that somebody finally agreed with her, and began to look on the brighter side of things. "You're right, we always manage to beat whoever we're up against, and I know this won't be any different."
Mario smiled, and then decided to lay down on one of the seats, and within minutes he fell asleep. Peach couldn't blame him. It must be around 9:00 P, she thought to herself, and she decided to lie down as well.
Mario opened his eyes more than an hour later, having no idea what time it was or where they were. All he knew was that many large, dark clouds were coming this way, and Mario did not see these as a good sign; he had never rescued anyone in the rain before. "Nino, where are we? Are we almost there?"
Nino turned around to look at him. "We're getting pretty close, Mario, but there's so much wind. We were almost blown off course! There's definitely a huge storm headed in our direction." Nino looked worried, as if he might not be able to get them there, or as if he may crash yet another boat.
Mario heard Peach awake behind him, and after she fixed her hair and brushed off her dress, she began to talk. "Mario, I had this terrible dream, people were being eaten by sharks, we were being attacked, and I had spent way too much money at the Plaza! Oh, it was terrible…wait, where are we?"
"Mario chuckled, but then replied. "Peach, I'm pretty sure that did happen, well…how much money did you spend? Anyway, we're on a boat to Noki Bay, remember? To save Tina?"
"Huh? What? Oh, OH!" Peach began to look around the boat and remembered all of the Zoshis surrounding her, and she shrieked in surprise. "Sorry, I'm just tired, forgot where we were, just too much chaos. So, are we almost there?"
Just then a large wave rose from the gentle water and crashed right next to the boat, getting some of the Zoshis towards the back a little wet. More waves began to form due to all of the wind, and the boat began to rock more and more.
"Nino, is this going to be a problem?" Mario asked, worried about the safety of everyone on the boat. "Are you sure you can get us there?" Mario began to notice small raindrops falling from the sky.
"No problem Mario," replied Nino, steering the boat more cautiously now, "Just a little rain, I've seen worse!" The rain began to fall a little faster, soaking everyone who was not able to fit under the small roof the boat had.
"Don't worry about us, we're used to the rain," said Zoshi, who was letting Peach and Mario under the roof and rain-free. "You guys need to stay dry; you don't want to get sick on your vacation." Mario had forgotten that they were even on vacation. He just wanted to go home.
As the rain began to fall harder and harder, the wind began to blow even faster, causing the boat to rock uncontrollably. "Mario, how do you expect to save Tina in these conditions?" Peach asked Mario, looking scared and worried. "How do you expect to get to the top of Noki Bay?"
"We'll get there somehow, we have to! Just try and stay dry for now! There's nothing we can do about this storm, we'll just have to wait until the storm passes!" Mario had to scream so Peach could understand him; the rain was falling so hard it made it impossible to hear anything else. "Nino, are you ok!"
Nino, who was holding onto the steering wheel of the boat, and seemed to be being thrown around by the storm, looked at Mario with a smile on his face. "I'm fine, Mario, we'll just have to get through this!" At that moment a large wave had crashed right on the boat. Nino was sent flying towards the back, Peach was tossed onto a small Zoshi, and Mario, not ready for the wave, was sent flying off the side of the boat.
He fell awkwardly into the water, and after a few seconds underwater he rose up to see he wasn't far from the boat. "Mario, MARIO!" Peach shouted, horrified by what had just happened, "Swim towards us, quickly! Before a shark gets you!
At these words, Mario began to swim very fast towards the boat, but with the wind blowing him left and right and the rain making it hard to see, he wasn't getting much closer to it. After minutes of struggling and fighting the rough waters, Mario was able to grab Nino's hand, and he pulled him up just as a shark jumped out of the water and tried to take a bite out of Mario.
Both he and Nino landed with a thud on the ground, and Mario heaved a sigh of relief. "Thanks Nino, you saved my life! It's a good thing you came with us!" Everyone looked at Mario, glad that he was ok and that he was not eaten by a shark.
"It's no problem, Mario sir. I'm glad I could help. Look, you can see the bay now! We'll be there in no time!"
Mario and the rest turned to see the beautiful Noki Bay. It was very hard to see it now, but Mario could still make out the tall shell towers and the steep cliffs that he had traveled on once before. Minutes later the boat stopped at the rocky shore, and everyone got out. The storm had finally calmed down, and it there was now only tiny raindrops falling from the sky.
"Ok," Mario began, looking at the waterfall high above him, "We have to make our way up to the waterfall, that's wear Tina is. I've been there before, but it's not going to be easy. Let's get moving, everyone.
Mario began to lead them the way he had traveled last time he was here. It was then when he realized how useful FLUDD was; it was very hard for him and the others to navigate up to the top. However, Mario was amazed by the flexibility of the Zoshis, who were able to jump over large gaps and high into the air. Peach was doing very well also, but Nino was the one who was struggling. He needed the help of the others so as not to be left behind, but after what seemed like an eternity they reached a springboard that looked like it would take them right to the waterfall if they used it.
"Look, look, Tina!" Mario shouted. "I can see her, she's over there!" He jumped right on the springboard and landed perfectly on the other side, and was followed by the others, some who didn't land as pleasantly.
As they got closer and closer to her, Peach began to feel strange about all of this. "Mario, why is she just standing there? I thought she was captured…?" Mario looked at her, but then kept moving.
"She must have escaped!" he replied quickly, "Tina! Tina! We're here! Are you ok?" As they got closer to her, they saw that she was crying, but Mario didn't know why.
"Tina, what's the matter?" he asked her, sounding very concerned. "What happened?" She looked up at him, tears rolling down her face and blue shell.
"Mario…" she began, still crying, "I'm so sorry…they made me…I didn't have a choice…they were going to hurt Pablo…no choice…" and she began to burst into tears.
"Tina, what are you talking about," Mario asked her, now worried, "Tina, what did you do?" At that moment, Mario turned around and saw that all of his friends had been gagged and tied up by Koopas, and then, in front of everyone, Mario saw the enormous outline of the King Koopa, Bowser himself.
"Good work, Tina!" Bowser shouted happily. "Mario came right to you, just like you said! Well Mario, I'm afraid the game's over, and I have finally won. There's nothing to do. I've captured almost all of your friends, even that Princess that you thought was dead! Don't worry, you'll all be as good as dead soon enough. You've finally lost!"
Mario couldn't believe it. He looked at Tina with anger in his eyes, trying to figure out what to do next. "Peach, Nino, I'm going to save you guys, don't worry!" he shouted. Then, not sure if this was even going to work, he grabbed Tina's arm and ran towards the cliff. "You're never going to get away with this Bowser, I'm sure of that!" Then, he jumped off of the cliff and into the water, still holding onto Tina's hand. As he fell, Mario realized he should have listened to Peach and not have come here at all.