In this chapter, the protagonists are going to sneak their way through Tubba Blubba's Castle. Tubba Blubba made sure to guard the castle from intruders, though for some strange reason it didn't stop the third Star Spirit from escaping. He's a crafty one, that Star Spirit.

Meanwhile, Morton is going to try to convince the citizens of Gusty Gulch to join Bowser's cause.

Chapter 26: Hide And Boo Seek

As soon as they entered the castle, they noticed that there were Sentinels nearby. Ironically, they happened to be ghosts much like Boos, even though Tubba Blubba was their natural predator. Perhaps Tubba Blubba was making sure that once Morton reclaimed the Star Spirit, it wouldn't escape again.

Apparently, they would throw them out if they got caught. They were similar to the guards that were now stationed inside Peach's Castle.

However, they had a weakness...they couldn't see Mario or his friends if they were invisible. And if they couldn't see them, they couldn't throw them out of the castle.

Bow was eager to exploit it.

Sure enough, one of the Sentinels spotted Mario.

His eyes widened in surprise. It was none other than Bowser's greatest enemy.

"Hey, it's Mario! I better toss him out...he might eat Tubba Blubba's pasta!" exclaimed the Sentinel.

Quickly, he attempted to grab Mario and toss him out of the castle. Granted, carrying him would probably be rather difficult considering how heavy he was...but he was willing to try it anyway.

Mario wondered if the Sentinel realized what he was here for.

Bow casted a cloaking spell, and Mario and his friends suddenly disappeared.

The Sentinel wondered where they had gone.

He scratched his head.

"Funny, I could have sworn that I saw Mario and Lincoln just a few seconds ago...are my eyes playing tricks on me?" asked the Sentinel.

He decided to go elsewhere. Maybe he would find Mario if he looked around the castle.

"That was a close one..." noted Lincoln.

Unlike the Clubbas, the Sentinels took their jobs rather seriously.

Perhaps if the Clubbas weren't so sleepy, maybe the Star Spirit wouldn't have escaped.

But as it was, Tubba Blubba was unaware of the Star Spirit's location...which were with his favorite snack, the Boos.

Speaking of the Clubbas, one of them was currently taking a snooze.

"Zzz..." murmured the sleeping minion.

Perhaps it would be best to take them down. It would be easier to assault Tubba Blubba's castle if he didn't have support from his loyal Clubba soldiers.

Mario decided to ambush one.

The Clubba woke up and swung his mace at him.

"Darn it! I was dreaming about me having a million coins!" exclaimed the Clubba. He was literally swimming in them...and defying physics.

It was a dream so it didn't have to make too much sense.

"I wish I had that much money..." said Lola.

Fortunately, Mario ducked underneath it.

"You do realize that Tubba Blubba is invincible, right? What makes you think that you stand a chance against him?" asked the Clubba.

He had decided to join Tubba Blubba since he had no chance of beating him. Why stand in his path when you can stand alongside him?

"We're trying to figure out his weakness..." stated Lisa.

Personally, the Clubba wondered if Tubba Blubba had a weak point. It seemed rather unbelievable that somebody would be completely invulnerable to all forms of attack. He had his doubts that the Star Rod truly made Bowser invincible.

"Well, he does have that key he always guards...just like he used to guard that Star Spirit...whoops! I said too much!" exclaimed the castle guard.

"Something tells me we should try searching for that key..." noted Lincoln. Chances are it was around the castle somewhere.

However, it seemed like it would take them a while to find it.

Lincoln headbutted the Clubba and he was knocked out, releasing Star Points.

"I need a new job..." murmured the unfortunate Clubba. Not that he did his old one well.

Also present were Spikes, which looked similar to the Clubbas. However, they seemed to prefer attacking from a distance.

Also, for some strange reason, they carried spiked balls in their mouths. Because of this, it was typically preferable to hammer them than to try jumping on them.

They weren't as sleepy as the Clubbas, so it looked like they would be a bit trickier to deal with.

One of them rolled a spiked ball towards them.

They were actually more dangerous to Lincoln than the Clubbas were, since they could launch spiked balls at him from below.

"Ow!" exclaimed Lynn. Those spiked balls were prickly.

In retaliation, she punched the Spike in the face.

"Oof!" exclaimed the unfortunate Spike.

The Spike released Star Points.

Another Spike tossed a ball at Parakarry.

"Ow!" exclaimed Parakarry.

However, Mario whacked the Spike on the head with his hammer.

He began to see Starmen.

"It's times like this when I wish I had a helmet..." noted the Spike. Although to be fair, his shell protected him from back attacks pretty well.

On the subject of spikes, there was a room that was filled with them.

There was a treasure chest at the end of the room.

The question was how they were going to open it without looking like a Pokey.

"How are we going to get past all those spikes?" asked Kooper. He doubted Mario could simply jump over them. There were simply too many.

Lincoln tried to fly over them...

...only to discover that there were spikes on the ceiling as well.

"Ow!" exclaimed Lincoln.

Apparently Tubba Blubba had thought things through.

"Let me try..." stated Bow.

As it turned out, the spikes didn't affect her because she was a ghost.

She brought back the key.

"This should help us get through the castle..." noted Lisa.

The only question was...which door does the key belong to? Something told her that the key didn't belong to the mill.

Chances are the key to the mill was somewhere where Tubba Blubba could keep a close eye on it.

However, as they left the room, they heard loud stomping noises.

"What was that?" asked Parakarry.

As it turned out, it was none other than Tubba Blubba, the lord of the castle himself.

It seemed that he wasn't munching on Boos for the time being. While this was good news for the residents of Gusty Gulch, this did not bode well for them.

Now that Tubba Blubba had returned to his castle, it looked like their mission was about to become more complicated.

"We better hide!" exclaimed Lana. Knowing Tubba Blubba, Bow would definitely be on the menu.

Quickly, Bow hid the party from Tubba Blubba's sight.

"I wonder if Morton has found the Star Spirit yet." questioned the enormous Clubba.

As it turned out, Morton was taking advantage of the crisis that Tubba Blubba was creating.

He was trying to coerce the Boos into joining Bowser's minions. He could use their help since Mario was collecting the Star Spirits that his minions had scattered throughout the Mushroom Kingdom.

"If you don't want to be eaten by Tubba Blubba, I suggest you join the Koopa Crew!" exclaimed Morton.

The Boos wondered what they should do. It was rather tempting...but their idol Bow had chosen to side with Mario, Bowser's mortal enemy.

They wouldn't want to stand against her.

"Why do I get the feeling that my castle is being invaded? I already lost the Star Spirit so I don't see why Mario would come here..." noted Tubba Blubba.

Tubba Blubba went to another room.

"Is he gone?" asked Lynn.

"I think so." nodded Bow.

"Now that I think of it, doesn't Bowser have a castle just like this one?" asked Kooper.

Mario nodded. The difference was that Bowser's Castle was full of lava. He wasn't sure what was with Bowser and boiling lava.

It would probably be best if they didn't make too much noise. It might get Tubba Blubba's attention.

And considering that they were on a stealth mission, that would not end well for them.

Granted, Bow could shield them, but if she was eaten by Tubba Blubba they would be up a creek without a paddle.

They noticed that there were several spider webs in the castle.

There was also a dining area, but it seemed like Tubba Blubba hadn't been eating there recently. He was already full after eating so many Boos.

Lily decided to drink the milk that was in the fridge. It was delicious and fresh.

"Would it kill Tubba Blubba to clean up every once in a while?" asked Lola. Since he was invincible, it probably WOULDN'T end his game.

"I don't mind how filthy the castle is personally." remarked Lana.

"Of course you don't." answered Lisa.

Unfortunately, there happened to be Piders hanging from the ceiling.

"Hey! It's that fat plumber Mario!" exclaimed one of the Piders.

Perhaps there was a reason why there were so many spider webs in the castle.

As soon as they spotted Mario, they began to spit webs at him.

Mario quickly ducked.

Lily pulled out some safety scissors and began cutting at the webs.

The Piders began to fall.

"Oof!" exclaimed one of the Piders.

Kooper then quickly launched his shell at them. No point in letting such an opportunity go to waste.

Curious, the party began to hear the sound of yawning.

As it turned out, Tubba Blubba was getting ready to take a nap.

"All this Boo devouring is making me feel tired...I hope the Star Spirit shows up soon..." said Tubba Blubba.

With that, Tubba Blubba went to sleep.

He began to snore...very loudly.

Bow sighed in relief. It looked like they wouldn't have to worry about him for the time being.

For now, they needed to find the key to the Windy Mill.

Fortunately, they managed to find it. It was in a treasure chest next to Tubba Blubba's bed.

"I got it!" whispered Lincoln.

Quietly, the party exited the room. Hopefully Tubba Blubba wouldn't notice that his key was missing.

Incidentally, Lily had also fallen asleep herself.

"Now let's get out of here." said Lincoln.

Personally he was glad that Tubba Blubba hadn't thrown away the key. Otherwise they probably wouldn't be able to find it.

What was he hiding inside the mill anyway?

However, as they began to make their way back to the entrance, they suddenly heard a high-pitched voice.

"Hey! Who are you?" asked a mysterious stranger.

"Who said that?" asked Kooper.

"Wasn't me." answered Goombario.

Bombette looked around.

"It's me!" exclaimed the key.

Lynn gasped.

"Is this key bewitched?" inquired Goombario. He wouldn't put it past Kammy Koopa.

"A talking key?" asked Lincoln.

Lana gazed at the key in astonishment.

"That's right! The name's Yakkey!" exclaimed the talking key.

"Yakkey?" inquired Parakarry.

"Are you some sort of science experiment?" asked Lisa.

"Maybe you're the work of a poltergeist..." said Lucy.

"Don't look at me!" answered Bow.

"You're using me to find Tubba Blubba's weakness, aren't you?" asked Yakkey.

"Well..." answered Lincoln.

As it turned out, Tubba Blubba had been worried that he might lose his key just as he had lost the Star Spirit, so he used magic to make it a magical talking key.

"Intruder alert! Intruder alert! Intruder alert!" screamed Yakkey.

Mario quickly pressed his hand on Yakkey's mouth.

However, the damage had been done.

At that very moment, they heard yawning.

"Huh? Who said that? I could have sworn I heard someone screaming about an intruder..." noted Tubba Blubba.

He then noticed his magical key was missing from the treasure chest.

"Hey! My magical talking key is missing!" bellowed the invincible minion.

It then occurred to him that the intruder might be Mario. Perhaps he wanted to open the Windy Mill to discover the secret of his invincibility.

"Wait a minute! I bet it's Mario! He's here to find out my weakness! And he probably brought his friends with him too! I have to stop them!" shouted the giant Clubba.

"This is bad..." said Lana.

"We've got to get out of here!" exclaimed Parakarry.

"And fast!" shouted Lincoln.

Quickly, the party began to race out of the castle.

"Mario? Where are you?" asked Tubba Blubba.

"You think you can use your cloaking abilities to hide us?" inquired Lucy.

"I'll do my best..." nodded Bow.

Quickly, she used her invisibility spell to cloak the party once again.

However, at that very moment, Yakkey broke from Mario's grip.

"They're here! Here, I'm telling you!" shouted Yakkey.

"On second thought, I'm not sure if that's going to work..." noted Lincoln.

"If we can't hide, then we run!" exclaimed Bow.

They continued making their way out of the castle.

The Clubbas wondered why the castle was suddenly experiencing earthquakes.

"What's going on?" questioned one of the Clubbas.

Perhaps it would be best if they evacuated the castle.

Quickly, they made it to the front door.

Fortunately, it seemed that the local Boos were willing to assist them.

They were keeping the door shut to hold Tubba Blubba off.

"What's wrong with the door? I don't remember locking it like I locked up the Windy Mill...although now that I think of it, that probably wouldn't have been such a bad idea." noted Tubba Blubba.

"Run for it!" exclaimed the Boos.

"But...what about you?" asked Bow.

"Don't worry about us! Worry about yourself!" shouted the foursome.

"I'll remember your sacrifice then." answered the green Boo.

"Don't let it be in vain!" exclaimed the heroic poltergeists.

Leaving the Boos to hold off Tubba Blubba, the party stuck Yakkey inside the locked door.

"Hey! Watch it!" exclaimed Yakkey.

They then entered the mill.

It was time to figure out Tubba Blubba's big secret.

Curious, they began to hear the sound of a heart beating.

They wondered where it was coming from.

"Is that coming from you?" asked Lucy.

"No, I'm doing fine." answered Lincoln. Although...being chased by Tubba Blubba DID raise his heart rate.

Perhaps if they searched the mill, they would find out.

Since Tubba Blubba's castle has spider webs, I figured why not include Piders from Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door?

I hope you have the heart to read the next chapter. Heh heh.