In this chapter, our heroes are going to enter the Forever Forest, which is like a maze. It seems that the Boos actually want their help with something, even though the Boos that Mario has seen in the past are working for the Koopa Troop. Unfortunately for them, they're going to have to make their own way to the mansion.
Why exactly are the Boos requesting their help?
Chapter 23: Forest Maze
Heading back to Mario's house, our heroes uncovered a message delivered to Mario. Luigi was nearby...and he looked like he had seen a Boo. His face was pale and there was sweating coming down his face.
Perhaps he should go get his Poltergust. Unfortunately, it was Professor E. Gadd's laboratory right now. It sure was nice of the professor to help him rescue Mario.
"Marrrioooo!" exclaimed Luigi.
"Hmm?" questioned Mario. Was he frightened of something? There wouldn't happen to be a spider in the house, now would there?
Mario decided that he should ask his brother what was the matter. He was the older brother so he figured he should give his younger brother some support when he needed it.
Although, he wondered why his brother seemed to cry like his baby self all the time. Was he depressed?
"Another Boo came! He said that he was a huge fan of Mario and he wanted his-a autograph! He also asked if Mario got the letter we sent him. By the way, whatever happened to-a Parakarry?" inquired Luigi.
Personally he was hoping that he wouldn't be visited by another Boo anytime soon. They gave him the shivers, much like Shiver Mountain.
"I'm on an adventure with Mario right now. Seems that unless we rescue the seven Star Spirits, I won't be receiving my promotion..." said Parakarry.
Mario decided to check the mailbox.
"Dear Mario, we desperately need your help. A monstrous Clubba by the name of Tubba Blubba is devouring the residents of Gusty Gulch. He's after us Boos for what we did to him a while ago...for more information, please meet us at Boo's Mansion in Forever Forest. It shouldn't be far from Toad Town. Lady Bow wants to speak with you in person. We know that you're collecting Star Spirits so we have something that will be worth your while. Sincerely, Bootler."
"The Boos are requesting our help?" asked Goombario. He thought that the Boos were working with Bowser. Why were they asking them for help?
"I wonder what they ever did to that Clubba." remarked Kooper.
Well, the Boos probably didn't want to ask Luigi for assistance. He had a bad reputation amongst the Boo community.
"We get to go visit a mansion? I've always wanted to visit one." remarked Lola.
"They said that they know that we're collecting Star Spirits and that they have something that's worth our while...what do they mean by that?" asked Lana.
"I guess we'll just have to visit the mansion in order to find out..." noted Lisa. Apparently, their mansion was located at Forever Forest, wherever that was.
"That seems like an odd thing for a Boo to do...asking help from Mario." noted Bombette. To his knowledge, typically Boos worked for Bowser. But apparently these Boos weren't working for him, since Tubba Blubba was in league with the Koopa King. Wasn't he one of the Star Spirit guardians?
"I suppose if they want us to help defeat Tubba Blubba, we should go visit them..." noted Bombette. If they couldn't beat Tubba Blubba, how could they beat Bowser the Koopa King?
"I suppose we should help them. But a haunted mansion in a haunted forest? That seems like a frightening place..." remarked Lincoln. It seemed like the sort of thing that you would find in scary movies.
"Sounds lovely." remarked Lucy.
Fortunately, they could go to Forever Forest from Toad Town, so they didn't have a long way to go. It looked like they didn't need to board a train this time.
"I didn't think our journey would take us through a haunted forest..." questioned Kooper. Personally he was more used to forests that WEREN'T haunted.
"Bowser hid the Star Spirits throughout the Mushroom Kingdom, so I think it's safe to say that we're going to be in all sorts of places." remarked Goombario. They still had five Star Spirits left.
However, the forest was being guarded by a Toad. It seems that they didn't want people to wander into a haunted forest...at least not without realizing what they were getting into.
Besides, the Boos probably wouldn't let them inside the mansion without an invitation.
Of course, there was also a haunted mansion in the Boo Woods, but that wasn't anywhere in Toad Town. It was someplace else. It was also filled with treasure too, even if the mansion wasn't actually real. Luigi made quite a bit of money off of that. He used it to buy a mansion of his own, though as it turned out he decided to stay at his house with his brother.
Maybe Lola would like to visit it once their adventure was over.
Mario tried talking to the Toad standing in front of the forest, but it looked like he wasn't accepting visitors.
"You want to go inside the forest? Sorry, but you're not allowed in there...it's full of Boos. They're scary. I just saw one not too long ago. He said that he was frightened of someone named Bubba Chubba or something like that...he was worried that he was going to be lunch." warned the Toad. Who exactly would want to eat a Boo? And did they taste like cotton candy?
Of course, he could probably just look at them and they wouldn't move, but since they were scary he didn't like looking at them. By the way, why did they have such long tongues? He wasn't quite sure. At least they could eat ice cream quickly.
Mario handed the Toad the invitation to the mansion.
"You were invited to the mansion? Well, I suppose if the Boos want your company, I shouldn't be stopping you. Mind you, the forest is rather confusing. You should probably ask someone for directions. Unfortunately. I don't have a map of the forest." noted the Toad.
Apparently, there was a reason why they called it Forever Forest.
It was rather dark inside the forest, with hardly any sunlight. It looked like the forests in the horror movies that Lucy liked to watch.
From the looks of things, Lady Bow liked to live in scary places.
However, they had a problem. How were they going to get through the forest and make it to Boo's Mansion? They didn't want to waste their time walking in circles.
Fortunately, there was someone nearby that they could ask for directions.
"My name is Oaklie. How can I help you?" asked Oaklie.
"We're trying to get through the Forever Forest." answered Lincoln. Unfortunately for them, the Boos had not told them how to get through the forest. That would have been helpful.
"It's a rather confusing place...you're not going to get anywhere if you don't know where you're going..." noted the Toad in the forest.
"Got any advice?" asked Lisa. It seemed like getting through Forever Forest was going to take them a while.
"I suggest you pay attention to your surroundings...it will help you get through the forest." said the Toad.
Lincoln and Lisa nodded.
They decided to look around to see if there was anything suspicious.
Goombario spotted something.
Apparently, there were flowers growing somewhere in the area unlike everywhere else. They were rather pretty to look at, especially in a scary forest such as this.
It seemed like this was the correct path.
They followed it and made their way deeper into the forest.
They continue to look for anything that was out of the ordinary.
However, as they discovered, there were enemies inside the forest.
A Forest Fuzzy suddenly slid down a tree.
"Meork!" exclaimed the Fuzzy.
"These guys again? Don't tell me that they're after my shell..." remarked Kooper. He still remembered the day that the Fuzzies had raided their village. At least nobody had been hurt, other than their dignity.
"The only Koopa we've encountered here is a Koopa in an egg shell..." explained one of the Forest Fuzzies.
"A Koopa in an egg shell? Wait a minute..." questioned Lincoln.
Unfortunately, these ones were stronger than the ones that they had encountered back at Koopa Village. Fortunately, it still seemed that kicking Kooper at the Fuzzies worked well.
One of the Forest Fuzzies latched onto Goombario's face.
"Get it off!" exclaimed Goombario.
"Yum! Flowers!" shouted the Forest Fuzzy.
It looked like these Forest Fuzzies were a threat to their flower points.
Mario quickly hammered it so that it couldn't do any more harm.
"Thanks." said the Goomba.
Fortunately, they had Parakarry on their side, so they could try kicking his shell at the Fuzzies as well.
Another one of the Forest Fuzzies latched onto Lily.
"Wah!" exclaimed Lily. She wasn't looking forward to losing some of her precious flower points. She needed those for special attacks.
Fortunately, Lisa shot it with her duck hunt gun.
"Whew!" shouted the baby girl.
Using Kooper and Parakarry, the party drove the Forest Fuzzies away.
"Retreat! Retreat!" exclaimed the Forest Fuzzies.
Kooper spotted something that was different in the area. Next to one of the paths was an owl sitting on a tree.
"Hoo hoo! Hoo Hoo!" exclaimed the owl.
"Maybe I can ask him how many licks it takes to get to the center of a Tootsie pop..." questioned Lana.
They followed the owl and it led them deeper in the forest.
Meanwhile, Jr. Troopa was searching for Mario and his friends. He heard that they had gone into a dark, spooky forest, so he decided to look for them. He had just gotten a pair of wings so now seemed a good time to battle them again.
However, he did not have a map of the forest, so it looked like he was going to have a hard time.
"Maybe I should have asked that Toad for directions." noted Jr. Troopa.
Some Boos appeared...however, they had an insignia of Bowser's face on their cheeks. It seemed that they were affiliated with Bowser.
One of them licked Lola in the face, giving her the chills.
"Hahaha!" laughed the Boo.
Lola shivered.
"Isn't your brother frightened of Boos?" inquired Lincoln.
Mario nodded. Still, Luigi was actually better at fighting Boos than he was. That Poltergust had captured dozens of them.
Another Boo tried that on Lucy.
However, it had no effect.
"Huh?" inquired the Boo.
Lucy then cast a spell on the Boo, causing it to deflate and fly away.
"I think Lucy might be good at Boo hunting herself..." noted Lincoln. It seemed that she was the only one who wasn't frightened of the Boos.
The Boos began to turn invisible.
"Where did they go?" questioned Lincoln.
Suddenly, one of the Boos hit Lincoln.
"Ow!" exclaimed the boy.
"We're going to need to find a way to decloak them..." said Lisa.
Fortunately, Lily had that covered. She splashed milk on the Boos and they began to drip milk.
"Aww..." said the Boos.
Mario jumped on the Boos and they decided to retreat.
Curious, they noticed a Bub-Ulb who was hiding in a corner. It seemed that the Forever Forest was giving him the creeps.
"Are you...Mario and Lincoln? I have something for you. I have second thoughts about living in this forest..." noted the Bub-Ulb.
"I don't see why you're complaining." answered Lucy.
"Thanks." said Lincoln.
"Do you know how to get through the forest?" inquired Lisa.
"Well, if you follow this path, you should be able to get deeper. You're probably heading to Boo's Mansion, right? Personally I would stay away from Gusty Gulch on account of the monster living there...however, he only seems to target Boos." noted the Bub-Ulb.
"Wait, what are Bowser's minions doing in the forest?" inquired Bombette.
They were about to find out.
Soon, they discovered Morton, who was riding a Koopa copter. He was talking to one of the Boos.
"Any sign of the Star Spirit?" inquired Morton.
"We've searched the forest but it seems that it goes on forever and forever...why does Lady Bow live in this place anyway?" inquired the Boo.
"Probably because it's dark and spooky. Keep looking! Mario can't get his hands on it and neither can his friends!" exclaimed the bulky Koopaling.
The Boo nodded and continued to search for the Star Spirit. Where in the forest could he possibly be?
"Perhaps we should get that Star Spirit before Bowser's minions find it and return it to Tubba Blubba..." noted Goombario.
Again, they decided to see if there was anything that they could use to determine the correct path.
Eventually, they found something different.
Apparently, there were eyes in one of the tree stumps.
"I wonder what's in that tree..." questioned Lincoln.
At that very moment, a Shy Guy came out of the tree stump.
"OK then..." said the boy.
The heroes followed their path. They got the feeling that they weren't far from the mansion now.
Suddenly, some Dry Bones attacked them.
They tossed bones at the party.
"Ow!" shouted Lincoln.
"More of the undead, eh? This is my type of forest." noted Lucy.
Bombette exploded on one of the Dry Bones, scattering bones everywhere.
"Keep doing that." said Lincoln.
Suddenly, Lana's Chain Chomp began to bark.
It lunged towards the Dry Bones.
The Dry Bones panicked and began to run away.
Apparently, Chain Chomps liked the taste of bones, much like dogs in Lincoln's world.
"Good boy!" exclaimed Lana.
Once again, they searched for the correct path through the forest.
They found a beehive nearby. They wondered why bees would want to live in a forest like this.
They decided to follow the path closest to the beehive.
Eventually, they managed to reach the mansion.
Unsurprisingly, it looked rather spooky. It wasn't as frightening as the mansion Luigi had gone inside, however.
"Well, this is the place..." said Lincoln.
Mario knocked on the door.
A Boo answered the door.
"Mario...welcome..." said one of the Boos.
The Boo beckoned them inside.
Together, everyone went in.
It looks like our heroes have made it to Boo's Mansion...now all that's left is to find Lady Bow. She has to be inside that mansion somewhere. She also said that she has something that our heroes want...but what could that be?