In this chapter, we're going to get back to Peach and Clyde. They'll want to find information about Tubba Blubba. Rumor has it is that he's invincible, but is he really invincible? Let's find out.

Perhaps sneaking their way around Peach's Castle could tell them something. They just have to avoid being caught by the guards. Perhaps going to the library would be a good source of information like it usually is.

Chapter 22: Glory Of Invincibility

At Peach's Castle, Bowser was dismayed to hear the bad news. Tutankoopa had been defeated. Seemed that he wasn't strong enough to beat Mario and his friends.

"Mario managed to rescue another one of the Star Spirits?" inquired Bowser.

Kammy nodded. It seemed that Mario was proving himself to be a hero as usual.

"Grrr...how did he manage to find the Dry Dry Ruins underneath the desert sands?" questioned the Koopa. He could have sworn that they were hidden rather well.

Kammy shrugged. Apparently Mario was good at finding things. Perhaps someone at the Dry Dry Outpost had told him something?

"You'd think that the heat would have eventually gotten to him, but nope, he simply continued on, along with his friend...that boy with the white hair!" exclaimed Bowser.

"He's got five more Star Spirits to go..." noted Kammy. Wasn't the next Star Spirit located in Gusty Gulch? There were a lot of Boos living there...though in retrospect they could try living in Forever Forest. It seemed like a more appropriate place for them to live in. There was even a mansion there for them to party in. And there weren't any green plumbers there to suck them up with a vacuum, either.

Perhaps she could get them to join the Koopa Troop. But they didn't seem too interested after one of Bowser's minions started gobbling them up. He had quite a ravenous appetite apparently...much like Yoshi.

"Well, it doesn't matter how many lives he has! His luck is about to run out. One of the Star Spirits is being guarded by Tubba Blubba, and he's invincible!" exclaimed Bowser. He'd like to see Mario beat someone who was invincible. He had already tried trying to beat him while he was invincible and he already knew how well that had turned out for him.

"Really? How is that possible?" inquired the female Magikoopa. She already knew how Bowser was invincible, but she was curious as to how Tubba Blubba was invincible as well. Was there another Star Rod somewhere? Last time she checked, there was only one Star Rod and that it was in Bowser's possession.

"A little help from my Star Rod. He was complaining that the Boos wouldn't leave him alone, so I made him untouchable and gave him the power to gobble them up. In return, he would guard one of the Star Spirits for me." stated the Koopa King.

Bowser proceeded to contact the five remaining guardians. They would want to hear about this.

The five remaining guardians appeared as projections.

They were wondering why Bowser had called the meeting. Once again, it seemed that one of them was not with them.

"Another one of the guardians has been defeated by Mario and Lincoln!" exclaimed Bowser.

"Another one?" inquired General Guy. "Who was it this time?"

"It was Tutankoopa!" exclaimed the Koopa King. So much for him ruling over the sands.

"Tutankoopa?" inquired Lava Piranha. In other news, he heard that Mario had been joined by a Koopa mailman. Why a mailman had joined him on his journey, he wasn't quite sure.

"I guess his reign has come to an end..." noted Huff N' Puff.

"I think I've probably been king for longer than he has..." remarked the Crystal King.

"Possibly..." nodded General Guy. Tutankoopa may have been a pharaoh, but unfortunately he didn't have an army on his side like he did. Perhaps that would have given him the edge...but it was too late to do anything about it now.

"No matter. As long as I'm invincible, I'm safe, right?" asked Tubba Blubba.

"You're not as invincible as me, but yes!" exclaimed Bowser. He'd like to see Mario and Lincoln get their hands on the Star Spirit now.

The five guardians disappeared.

"I guess Mario made Tutankoopa cry for his mummy..." noted Bowser.

Meanwhile...

Like his father, Bowser Jr. was feeling rather frustrated. It seemed that Lincoln had gained the upper hand once again.

"Lincoln and his family defeated Roy? I thought he was the toughest Koopa around!" exclaimed Bowser Jr. There was no way he could have lost to Lincoln's family.

"Well, he's not the leader of the Koopalings..." noted Clyde. That title happened to belong to Ludwig, who was the oldest of them.

"No fair! He managed to find another one of his sisters too! I hear that she's really gloomy and scary!" noted Bowser's son.

"She is, yeah." nodded the boy. He had met her personally. She always seemed to sneak up on people.

"Grrr!" exclaimed Bowser Jr. This wasn't fair. How exactly did Lincoln have ten sisters anyway? Not even the Koopalings had that many members.

"No matter. Dad told me that Tubba Blubba is invincible. There's no way that Lincoln can beat him. Just like he can't beat my dad while he has the Star Rod! There's no need for any more Koopalings to fight Lincoln now!" exclaimed Bowser Jr.

"Really? Where is he?" asked Clyde.

"He's in Gusty Gulch. Apparently he likes munching on the Boos too. Wait, aren't there Boos working for Bowser? I'm not sure if he should be eating them." answered Bowser Jr.

Although...maybe Bowser could blackmail them into joining the Koopa Troop. Surely they would find that preferable to being devoured by Tutan Blubba. He had such a big appetite. Of course, Tubba Blubba was rather large so it seemed rather natural that he would eat so much.

Bowser Jr decided to go play with some blocks. They were so much fun to play with.

Clyde began to wonder for himself about what he had just heard.

"How exactly is Tubba Blubba invincible?" asked Clyde. Something told him that Tubba Blubba didn't have access to a weapon as powerful as the Star Rod.

Clyde decided to go talk to Princess Peach. Was Tubba Blubba truly invincible? There had to be some sort of weak point that they could exploit.

He snuck his way into Princess Peach's room. Luckily, he didn't get spotted.

"Yes?" asked Princess Peach.

"Mario managed to rescue another one of the Star Spirits..." explained Clyde.

"He did? That's good..." noted the princess. The closer that Mario got to rescuing her, the better.

"The only problem is that the next guardian is invincible..." answered the boy.

"What? He is? Then how is Mario supposed to beat him?" inquired Peach. This seemed like an insurmountable obstacle. Of course, Bowser was invincible too and she got the feeling that Mario could take him on...once Mario got his hands on all seven Star Spirits of course.

"Surely there must be a way..." remarked Clyde. Mario and Lincoln couldn't get the Star Spirit if they couldn't beat Tubba Blubba. And if they couldn't beat Tubba Blubba, Bowser was out of the question.

"I hope..." nodded the princess. It was bad enough that Bowser was invincible, but now it seemed that one of his guardians was invincible too.

Surely there must be a way to get past his apparent invincibility.

Perhaps she and Clyde should look around the castle for information.

At that very moment, Twink approached Peach.

"Should we investigate?" asked Twink. There might be some valuable information that they could learn about where they were keeping the Star Spirits.

"Alright, but we need to be careful. Bowser has guards all over the place." noted Princess Peach.

Apparently, Bowser didn't want Princess Peach escaping the castle. Of course, it was hard to escape her own castle when it was in the middle of outer space. If only she had a rocket of some kind.

Princess Peach and Clyde decided to sneak their way outside.

Sure enough, there were guards looking around. It would be best if they stayed out of their sight. They weren't fighters like Mario and Lincoln were.

"I'd rather be fighting Mario than looking around a castle all day..." noted a Koopatrol. It was such an honor to get to fight that Italian gentleman...even if they never seemed to beat him.

"You can fight him if he makes his way here." answered a Boomerang Bro. Personally he found that to be rather unlikely considering that they were all the way up in the sky, but wishful thinking was nice.

Fortunately, there was a way open to the library. Apparently, Bowser's minions didn't think that Peach would go there. Why would she want to read a book in a crisis like this?

They decided to head there for information. It seemed liked the best place to be.

They discovered that there were two guards talking to one another. They were a Hammer Bro and a Clubba.

Fortunately, they were too busy conversing with each other and did not notice them.

"Did you hear what happened recently?" asked the Hammer Bro.

"Yes...apparently, one of the Star Spirits managed to escape its guardian...seems that the magic imprisoning him was unstable..." noted the Clubba.

"I guess we should probably look for him..." remarked the Koopa. Granted, there wasn't much that he could do without his fellow Star Spirits, but it was better safe than sorry.

"Yeah...it's a darn shame really. There was no way that Mario could have beaten the guardian...he's invincible!" exclaimed the sleepy minion. He'd like to see Mario try to fight Tubba Blubba when he couldn't even touch him.

"Actually, I heard a rumor that Tubba Blubba has a weakness...he keeps it under lock and key though." answered the Hammer Bro.

"What weakness is that?" inquired the Clubba. If Tubba Blubba was invincible, why would he have a weakness?

"I don't know, but I hear that he's hiding something inside a mill..." noted the hammer-wielding Koopa. Fortunately, the door to the mill was locked, so perhaps they didn't need to worry.

"I see..." nodded the mace wielder.

"Wait, one of the Star Spirits escaped?" questioned Peach. That was rather fortunate. Perhaps he could make his way back to Shooting Star Summit.

"If that's the case Mario better find him before Bowser does..." remarked Twink.

Clyde nodded.

However, at that very moment, Bowser entered the library. He wasn't happy about what he had been hearing lately.

"What do you mean that the Star Spirit escaped?" asked Bowser. He gave Tubba Blubba invincibility and this was how he repayed him? Perhaps he had picked a poor choice in choosing him to be one of the Star Spirit guardians.

"Lord Bowser!" exclaimed the Hammer Bro. Apparently he had listened in on their conversation from outside the library.

"There is no excuse for this. I want a search party sent immediately! Maybe have one of the Koopalings lead it..." answered the Koopa King. He wasn't going to let Mario have this one.

"Yes, of course!" nodded the Clubba.

At that very moment, Bowser spotted Peach, Clyde, and Twink.

Peach gasped in surprise.

"What are you three doing here? Back to your rooms!" exclaimed Bowser. It seemed that not only could Tubba Blubba not be trusted with the Star Spirit, but the guards couldn't be trusted in guarding Peach and Clyde.

Bowser pulled out the Star Rod, and Peach and Clyde were transported back to their rooms.

On the lighter side, they had found some valuable information. Perhaps there was a way to beat Tubba Blubba after all. It that was the case, Mario had a chance of taking him on.

"I swear...I make Tubba Blubba invincible and he gave me this? Then again Clubbas are known for being lazy...I can't really expect anything less from them." shrugged Bowser.

A few minutes later...

"Bowser has requested that one of you search for the Star Spirit. Tubba Blubba let it out right out of his grasp and I bet Bowser is rather cross with him. But for now we must search for the Star Spirit.." explained Kamek.

"That sounds boring..." noted Lemmy. Where exactly could the Star Spirit could have gone anyway? And why didn't Tubba Blubba keep an eye on him? Was he so sleepy that he couldn't be trusted to guard a Star Spirit? Most Clubbas were slackers...except for the White Clubbas. They didn't seem so sleepy.

"How did Tubba Blubba lose something so valuable?" inquired Iggy.

"I guess we couldn't rely on him..." answered Ludwig.

"But he's supposed to be invincible!" exclaimed Wendy.

"I suppose I could search for the Star Spirit...I don't really have anything better to do..." noted Morton.

"Good...why don't you take your Clown Copter and search for him?" questioned Kamek.

Morton nodded. He would take some members of the Koopa Troop with him.

He wasn't going to let that Star Spirit get far. Besides, they had lost two Star Spirits to Mario already. They didn't want to lose more.

"Where was the Star Spirit headed?" asked Morton.

"Some spooky forest called Forever Forest, I believe." answered Ludwig. He wasn't sure why the Star Spirit would want to hide there, but whatever kept him safe from Bowser's minions.

"Then I'll be heading towards Forever Forest! He can fly, but he can't hide!" exclaimed Morton.

Morton immediately left Bowser's Castle.

Meanwhile at the Dry Dry Desert...

"Thank you for rescuing me, Mario and Lincoln! I'm sure that Eldstar will be glad to have me back at Star Haven..." noted Mamar.

Mario nodded.

"I heard that one of the Star Spirits managed to escape...you should go look for him." answered the Star Spirit.

"Do you know where he's headed?" asked Lincoln.

"I think it's a spooky forest somewhere..." answered the female Star Spirit.

"That's totally my hiding spot." remarked Lucy.

Lincoln knew his sister too well.

"I'm going to give you the ability to lull enemies to sleep. It should be useful against the Clubbas. They're always sleepy." noted Mamar.

"Maybe Bowser isn't paying them enough." noted Lana.

Immediately, Mario gained the ability Lullaby.

"Good luck, Mario. Rumor has it is that the next guardian is invincible...but it's just a rumor. I'm sure that you'll be fine." said Mamar.

Mamar flew back to Shooting Star Summit.

Now that Mamar had been rescued, it seemed best for them to head back to Toad Town. There they could decide where to go next.

They made their way back to Toad Town.

Suddenly, Luigi approached them.

"Hey, Mario! We just got a letter...of course, I'm not sure how we got the letter since Parakarry is traveling with you, but it was addressed to you!" exclaimed Luigi.

"Is this about winning a free mansion in a contest that we didn't enter? I don't think Mario's falling for the same trick twice..." answered Lincoln.

"No, it's not. Although...it does seem to have been sent by a Boo." noted the green plumber.

Curious, Mario decided to head back to his house in order to investigate.

Lincoln and his sibling followed, along with Mario's party.

How is Mario going to defeat Tubba Blubba you ask? You'll find out...in due time of course. Of course, considering that the Star Spirit had escaped, maybe they don't need to fight him...or do they?

Also, who could have sent Mario that letter?

In the next chapter, we're going to see what the letter Mario received is all about.