People wanted me to continue this fanfic, so continue it I shall! I figured this was a good pun for the title as any. I could have called it Heart Attack but that seems a bit morbid for my tastes.

Although, there is a heart attacking our heroes in this chapter. You can probably guess who it belongs to.

Can they find a way to nullify Tubba Blubba's invulnerability? They just might find a way.

Either way, they don't want to disappoint the Boos of Gusty Gulch, now would they? They are not a snack!

Chapter 27: Heart To Heart

Using the key that they had obtained from Tubba Blubba, the party entered the windmill.

For some strange reason, they could hear the sound of a heart beating.

"Is that coming from you?" asked Lincoln. He didn't think that it was coming from him. His heart only beat that loudly when he was watching scary movies. Usually Lori watched those movies with her boyfriend Bobby.

Mario shook his head. His heart wasn't beating any louder than normal.

The deeper they went into the windmill, the louder the beating was. It seemed that they were gradually getting closer to the sound.

Just what was the source of the sound? It was kind of creepy.

Eventually, they found the source of the beating.

As it turned out, for some strange reason, there was an enormous heart inside the windmill.

Also, this particular heart had eyes. According to his biology teacher, hearts did not have eyes. And yet, this particular one did. It also wasn't shaped like a human heart, just a normal one.

Apparently, the heart happened to belong to Tubba Blubba.

Lincoln shrugged. Who was he to question video game logic? At least this plot was a bit more complex than a typical Mario game. Sometimes the story line of Mario rescuing the princess from Bowser made the story line a bit predictable.

"This wouldn't happen to be the source of Tubba Blubba's invincibility, now would it?" asked Lincoln. Perhaps if they managed to get Tubba Blubba to swallow his heart, he would lose his invincibility.

That would explain why he placed the heart inside the windmill and locked it inside. If people found out how his secret, he might as well not be invincible.

"Either way, I think we had better get ready to fight..." stated Lisa. The heart probably wasn't going to take their intrusion too well considering that Mario was with them.

Lily nodded. That heart looked rather aggressive.

The heart spotted them. It was rather surprised to see them. Wasn't the door locked?

"What's this? How did you manage to unlock the door to the windmill? I guess Tubba Blubba didn't take good care of his key..." noted Tubba Blubba's Heart. He might want to have a talk with him about that.

"They stole me!" exclaimed the talking key. Unfortunately, Tubba Blubba hadn't been able to stop them.

"Oh, I see! Apparently, Tubba Blubba couldn't keep you out of his castle...no matter! I'll do him a favor and deal with you for him! What do you think he'll say to that?" asked Tubba Blubba's heart.

The heart's eyes glowed red, and they fired a beam at Lincoln.

"Whoa!" shouted Lincoln. Luckily, he managed to avoid it in time.

The heart then jumped up and down, creating a pink shockwave.

Kooper was knocked down.

"Aah!" exclaimed the Koopa Troopa.

Quickly, Bombette helped him up.

"Thanks." said Kooper.

Fortunately for Lincoln, his flight ability shielded him from the attack.

Parakarry was safe from the attack as well.

And of course, so was Bow. She was always levitating.

Tubba Blubba's Heart noted that he would need to try a different tactic if he wanted to take down Lincoln. It seemed to work just fine against the rest of his family though.

However, his friends weren't so lucky.

"This heart is strong..." remarked Lynn. Fortunately, it wasn't invincible like Tubba Blubba was. Otherwise, why would he go through the trouble of hiding it in a windmill near his castle?

Lucy decided to step in.

She launched a fireball at the heart.

"Oof!" exclaimed Tubba Blubba's heart. It seemed that his enemies had a spell caster on their side.

In retaliation, Tubba Blubba's heart fired a beam.

The beam traveled across the floor.

"Aah!" exclaimed Kooper. That beam was dangerous. If it weren't for his shell, he likely would have been burned.

Fortunately, he managed to catch himself before he fell down.

Goombario was hit as well.

"I feel dizzy..." said Goombario. That beam packed a wallop.

Of course, he already knew of the potency of the heart's attacks considering how smart he was.

Lincoln punched Tubba Blubba's heart, knocking it backwards.

"Yeowch!" shouted Tubba Blubba's heart. Lincoln was one strong kid. Perhaps it would be best not to underestimate him. He was really strong for his age.

Of course, he probably shouldn't underestimate Mario either. They say that he was the hero of the Mushroom Kingdom.

Tubba Blubba's heart retaliated by dashing into him.

"Aah!" shouted Lincoln.

Tubba Blubba's heart was not only strong, but it was also rather fast. Of course, considering that hearts beat faster whenever someone was feeling frightened, perhaps the pressure of the battle was getting to the heart.

Bow decided to scare Tubba Blubba's heart.

"BOO!" shouted the ghost.

"Aah!" shouted Tubba Blubba's heart.

The heart was paralyzed with fear. Perhaps Tubba Blubba was secretly afraid of Boos.

This gave the party an opportunity to attack it.

Bow slapped the heart multiple times.

"I'm being attacked by a Boo. I find this to be ironic." noted the heart, recalling its owner's appetite.

The heart suddenly began to beat.

Hyper enemies began to enter the room.

"Oh no! It's summoning enemies!" exclaimed Lana.

"Let's get' em!" shouted one of the Hyper Goombas, advancing towards our heroes.

"I guess we better get ready to hold them off." noted Lola. That way they wouldn't be overwhelmed by their sheer numbers...as well as their hyperness.

Fortunately, they knew at this point that they could hide themselves from the hyper enemies whenever they charged up by using Bow.

One of the Hyper Goombas lunged at Lily.

However, she whacked it with her rattle.

"Ow!" exclaimed the Hyper Goomba, who was now stunned. He wouldn't be dashing into them for a while.

Also present were Hyper Paragoombas. They needed to find a way to shoot them down, or they would be overwhelmed by their charged up attacks.

Bow slapped one of the Hyper Paragoombas in the face.

"Ow! Ow! Ow!" shouted the Paragoomba as he was pelted by Bow's fan.

The Paragoomba collapsed on the ground.

"Time for me to charge my mega attack!" exclaimed Tubba Blubba's Heart.

"That doesn't sound good." noted Lincoln.

Sure enough, Tubba Blubba's heart seemed to be preparing for a nasty attack.

Bow realized that now would be a good opportunity for her to step in. It was times like this when her Outta Sight ability was pretty useful.

Quickly, she hid her comrades from the attack.

She did so not a moment too soon, as at that very moment, Tubba Blubba's Heart finished charging.

"Now you're going to get it!" exclaimed the heart.

Immediately, it launched a series of hearts at its foes.

"That's one nasty attack." remarked Lynn. It was a good thing that they were protected.

Unfortunately for the hyper enemies, they weren't protected. They ended up taking a beating.

"Wait, where did that plumber and that boy go?" asked Tubba Blubba's heart.

It then realized that it had struck its comrades by mistake.

"Oh no..." said the heart.

Seizing her opportunity, Lucy launched a magic spell at the heart.

"Aah!" shouted the heart.

Since Tubba Blubba's heart had taken a beating, it decided that it would make a break for it. There was no point in fighting a battle that it couldn't win.

"That's it, I'm out of here!" shouted the heart.

"Where's it going?" asked Bow. They were in the middle of a fight!

Fortunately, it knew where it could find Tubba Blubba. He was in his castle, most likely.

"You think we should follow it?" asked Lincoln. Something told him that heart was rather important. Perhaps they should try to catch it.

"Seems like a good idea to me." noted Bow. Of course, they might end up bumping into Tubba Blubba, but perhaps he won't be so invincible when they encounter him again.

Eventually, they found themselves back outside the windmill.

"Where's the heart?" asked Kooper. It seemed to have vanished.

Perhaps it was hiding from them?

"Right over there." said Lisa, pointing to the heart.

As it turned out, the heart was looking for its owner, Tubba Blubba.

"Tubba Blubba! Where are you?!" shouted the heart.

Fortunately for Tubba Blubba's heart, it was discovered rather quickly by its owner.

He seemed rather surprised to see his heart.

"What's this? How did you get outside the windmill?" asked the Clubba. Perhaps it had decided to flee once Mario decided to unlock the door.

"I need help!" exclaimed the heart.

"Alright, hold your horses." said Tubba.

Tubba Blubba picked up his heart and swallowed it.

His heart sighed in relief.

"There we go!" exclaimed the giant Clubba.

Curious, Lincoln wondered if Tubba Blubba was no longer invincible. Somehow, he seemed...weaker.

He decided to try attacking him.

"Ow!" exclaimed Tubba Blubba.

"I guess he's not invincible anymore..." noted Lincoln. This was a pleasant surprise for him.

It seemed that now that Tubba had been reunited with his heart, he could now be harmed. Perhaps swallowing his heart had turned out to be a mistake.

Bow sighed in relief. She had been worried for a second that she was going to be eaten. But perhaps she was now safe.

Tubba Blubba was surprised at the occurrence. He was expecting the punch to simply bounce off of him. And yet, it did not.

What exactly was going on?

"Wait, what happened to my invincibility? I thought Bowser made me invincible so I didn't have to worry about the Boos...what is going on here?" asked Tubba Blubba.

Perhaps now that he had consumed his heart he was no longer invincible.

Unfortunately, he couldn't simply spit it back out. It was still recovering from its battle with Mario and Lincoln.

It looked like he was going to have to dirty his hands a bit.

Tubba Blubba slammed his hands against the ground, producing a shockwave.

"Mamamia!" exclaimed Mario. Tubba Blubba was really strong even without his invincibility.

Not only that, but he was rather fast despite his size. They had already learned that when he was chasing them inside his castle. It was a good thing those Boos showed up to help them when they did.

Still, he seemed weaker than his heart was.

Tubba attempted to grab Bow in order to eat her...

...but Bow moved out of the way, and he ended up grabbing Bombette instead.

"Huh?" questioned the oversized Clubba.

Shrugging, he decided to eat the Bob-Omb...

...which turned out to be a mistake.

Bombette exploded in his mouth.

Tubba Blubba's eyes widened with shock.

"Aah! That's way too spicy!" shouted Tubba. Perhaps he should stick to eating Boos.

The Clubba spat Bombette out.

"I could use a little help here!" exclaimed the giant Clubba.

Several Clubbas exited the castle so they could attack Mario and his friends.

They were rather confused that Tubba Blubba needed their help.

"I thought you were invincible!" shouted one of the Clubbas.

"I had it, but I lost it..." said Tubba Blubba.

One of the Clubba scratched his head. How exactly did that happen?

This was rather unfortunate for them. They were hoping to take a nap. But it looked like they would have to nap some other time.

They began to attack Mario and his allies.

One of the Clubba swung his mace at Goombario.

"Ow!" exclaimed Goombario.

Another Clubba swung his mace at Bow, but he missed. He had a hard time hitting flying targets with his mace.

"Nah nah!" exclaimed Bow, sticking her tongue out.

The Clubba frowned.

Kooper went into his shell, and knocked back the Clubbas.

The Bowser Baddies gasped as they were struck by Kooper's shell.

Realizing that Kooper was a threat to him, Tubba Blubba punched Kooper.

He was knocked into one of his castle's walls.

"Ow..." said Kooper.

However, Lynn whacked him with a baseball bat in retaliation.

"Aah!" shouted the enormous Clubba.

His minions attempted to attack Lynn, but she launched baseballs at them.

They were forced to retreat.

Bow slapped Tubba Blubba repeatedly with her fan.

The giant Clubba decided to surrender. Without his invincibility he wasn't sure what to do against Lincoln or his siblings.

"Alright alright, I give!" shouted Tubba Blubba.

He began to spit out the Boos that he had eaten previously.

"We're free!" cheered one of the Boos.

"I just wanted to fight back against the Boos that were bullying me!" shouted the Clubba.

Tubba Blubba started to cry.

Lincoln comforted him.

"Are you going to keep eating Boos?" asked Lucy.

Tubba Blubba shook his head. Although, now that his invincibility was gone, what was to stop them from bullying him again?

"Maybe you should stop bullying him." suggested the girl.

The Boos nodded. Perhaps they had been too hard on Tubba Blubba.

"Since we rescued you from Tubba Blubba...do we get the Star Spirit?" asked Lincoln.

Bow nodded. She was a ghost of her word.

Sure enough, Bootler showed up with the Star Spirit.

However, before he could give it to Lincoln, Morton suddenly grabbed it.

"Oh no!" exclaimed Mario.

A wide smile formed on Morton's face.

"Thanks for saving me the trouble for looking for this!" shouted Morton. Bowser would be so happy to have the Star Spirit in his possession once again. Hopefully his next guardian would do a better job than Tubba Blubba did.

Lincoln sighed. At least they had gotten a lot of Star Points for defeating the giant Clubba that was plaguing Gusty Gulch. Hopefully he and the Boos could make peace.

"Maybe we should have done this back at your mansion." suggested Lucy. That way the Star Spirit would have been less likely to be discovered.

Then again, some of Bowser's minions had broken into the mansion before.

Bow sighed. Well, considering Mario and Lincoln helped her with her problems, maybe she could help them with theirs.

Morton retreated to his airship, which was flying high in the sky.

"Why didn't we notice that before?" questioned Kooper.

"I guess we were focused on fighting Tubba Blubba." noted Goombario.

Well, it was time to board the airship before it flew away.

Quickly, they grabbed onto the anchor and went aboard.

I hoped you liked this chapter. Personally it felt a bit like a Valentine's Day special to me. Maybe it was because of the giant heart. It looks like Tubba Blubba won't be eating Boos anymore.

You're probably surprised that Tubba Blubba is rather sensitive despite his large appearance. Don't worry, the Boos will be leaving him be.

I'm sure that the citizens of Gusty Gulch are grateful for our heroes' help.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Of course, you can probably guess what's going to happen in the next chapter, right? I figure I'll probably throw in an intermission as well. The chapter will probably be short otherwise.

And yes, Tubba Blubba was stronger than he was in the actual boss fight with him. I figured it would be more entertaining if he put up more of a fight...and called for his Clubba soldiers, I guess. The bosses sure like to call flunkies in their fights, do they?