In this chapter, our heroes are going to try to get the Star Spirit back from Morton. I know what you're thinking? They defeated the invincible Tubba Blubba! How can they lose to Morton? Well, in case you hadn't noticed, Tubba Blubba's personality didn't match his fearsome appearance. Morton Koopa, not so much.

Did you know that one of the Star Spirits is located in a toybox? It's weird. But to be fair General Guy guards the Star Spirit rather well. You'll want a party member that can pierce his defenses...luckily, Mario recruits one in that particular chapter.

I know that people wanted me to continue this fanfic so I'll see what I can do.

Chapter 28: Skolarship

"The Star Spirit has to be around here somewhere..." noted Lincoln.

On Morton's airship, there were enemies waiting for them. If they wanted to reach him, they would have to go through them first.

Some of them were Clubbas, like the ones in Tubba Blubba's Castle.

One of the Clubbas swung their maces at Mario.

However, he ducked underneath it and whacked him with his hammer.

"Ow!" shouted the Clubba. Luckily, he avoided becoming dizzy...which would leave him a sitting duck.

"You sure we shouldn't have signed up to be Tubba Blubba's employees?" asked the Clubba. He was afraid of heights, and they were on an airship all the way up in the sky.

"You know how easily scared he gets." answered another Clubba. A tiny spider could scare him. He wanted a boss who wasn't such a baby.

Also present were some Broozers. They seemed to think of Mario as some sort of punching bag, based on the boxing gloves they always seemed to wear whenever he was around.

However, they preferred to bully Luigi. Scaring him was a lot easier than it was Mario. Mario seemed to be fearless.

Having said that, sometimes they had to be cautious, such as when he had the Poltergust. They mostly stayed away from him whenever he had it, which fortunately wasn't that often. Things would be easier if Luigi and E. Gadd had never met.

"These friends of yours, Bow?" asked Lincoln.

"They're not friends of mine, they're just bullies." answered Bow.

One of them swung his fists at Lincoln.

He ducked underneath it and gave him a punch of his own.

"Ow!" exclaimed the Broozer.

Another rolled barrels towards them.

Mario was reminded of the days where he fought against Donkey Kong. At the time, Pauline was his girlfriend. Sadly, they didn't work out as a couple. Things seemed to be working out between him and Princess Peach though.

He had captured Donkey Kong to prevent him from causing more trouble, but unfortunately Donkey Kong Jr. had freed him. Fortunately, he seemed to have become a hero of his own these days. It was weird.

Lily bonked a Broozer on the head.

"Ow!" exclaimed the Broozer. Personally he was surprised that a baby like Lily could be such an effective fighter.

Also present were Spikes.

They spat out spiked balls at them.

"Oof!" shouted Lana.

Lola swatted the spiked balls away, and they hit some of the Spikes.

"Ow!" shouted one of the Spikes.

Parakarry dive bombed into them.

"Do you have my package?" asked one of the Spikes. He had been waiting for it.

Parakarry nodded.

"Finally!" exclaimed the Spike.

There were also Spinies as well.

Mario whacked them with his hammer.

They rolled in their shells towards the heroes.

One of them hit Bombette.

"Ow!" exclaimed Bombette.

In retaliation, she exploded, flipping them upside down.

This allowed Mario to jump on their bellies...which was actually more effective than hammering them.

"You think we'll have a Lakitu as a partner someday?" asked Kooper.

Mario shrugged.

They noticed that the warp pipe to Morton was just up ahead.

The heroes went down the warp pipe.

Unsurprisingly, waiting for them in his chamber was Morton Koopa.

He seemed happy to see them.

"I'm going to clobber ya!" exclaimed Morton.

"Not on my watch!" shouted Lincoln.

Morton fired a pink fireball at Lincoln.

He ducked underneath it and punched the big Koopa right in the face.

"Oof!" exclaimed Morton. The punch knocked him backwards.

However, he retaliated by slamming his fists into the ground.

Slamming his fists produced a shockwave.

Fortunately for Lincoln, he could simply fly over it. So could Parakarry and Bow.

However, his teammates weren't so fortunate.

"Ow!" shouted Goombario.

"Help! I've fallen and can't get up!" bellowed Kooper.

Lincoln helped Kooper to his feet.

The shockwave made Lily dizzy.

Luckily, she didn't throw up.

Bombette narrowly avoided the shockwave.

"That was a close call." noted Bombette.

Morton then rolled into his shell and hit Lincoln.

"Ow!" shouted Lincoln.

"Haha!" laughed Morton.

"Hey! Nobody bullies my younger brother except me!" bellowed Lynn.

"Whatcha going to do about it?" asked Morton.

Lynn punched Morton in the face.

"OW!" bellowed Morton. Lynn may have been smaller than he was, but her punches still packed a wallop.

Lynn might actually surpass Lincoln in strength, he thought.

She then followed with a kick.

Morton fell on his shell.

"Oh no!" shouted the Koopa.

Lynn then leapt on his belly.

"Aargh!" shouted Morton.

He quickly helped up to his feet.

Morton shielded himself using his arms.

Mario attempted to strike him, but it seemed that he was planning to counterattack.

Sure enough, he grabbed Mario and tossed him at Lisa.

"Ow!" shouted Lisa.

"Oof!" exclaimed Mario.

However, this made Lynn angry once again.

She threw a football at him.

"OW!" shouted Morton. It seemed that Lynn was the biggest threat to him, what with her physical strength and agility.

He pulled out a boulder and smashed it, sending several rocks in the heroes' directions.

One of them hit Lola and the other hit Lana.

"I broke a nail!" shouted Lola.

This made Lynn furious.

She unleashed a series of punches on Morton.

"Ow! Oof! Aah! Eek!" shouted Morton as he was pummeled.

Morton fell from his airship, crash-landing into Tubba Blubba's Castle. Lynn had trounced him thoroughly.

He landed in the spike chamber.

"OW!" exclaimed Morton. Those spikes were pointy.

Tubba Blubba wondered what had made that noise.

He hoped that it wasn't any more of the Boos.

Shortly afterwards, the card containing Skolar appeared.

Lincoln grabbed it and he was released.

"Thank you for rescuing me." said Skolar. Personally he thought that they should rescue Muskular next. He happened to be located somewhere in Toad Town so they actually didn't have to travel far for a change.

Perhaps Bowser wanted to hide a Star Spirit that was right underneath their noses. That wouldn't be a bad idea. All the other Star Spirits seemed to be a long distance away from Toad Town, however.

If they managed to rescue him, they would be about halfway through with their adventure.

"Do you still want to travel with us? Your butler probably wouldn't approve..." noted Lincoln. He always seemed to be worried about her. Perhaps he would get along with Toadsworth...if Toadsworth wasn't frightened by him.

"To be honest, living in that mansion was getting kind of boring. I want to do something exciting!" exclaimed Bow.

"Okey dokey!" shouted Mario.

"What do you mean Mario and Lincoln defeated Tubba Blubba? I thought he was supposed to be invincible!" exclaimed Bowser. He still didn't think he was as strong as he was (not least due to his chickenheartedness similar to Luigi), but still.

Kammy wasn't sure. Although, considering that the Star Spirit had managed to escape from it, perhaps he wasn't such a good guardian.

"Rumor had it that he had a secret that could potentially threaten him if it was discovered..." noted Kammy.

Bowser sighed. Perhaps Tubba Blubba hadn't been so invincible after all.

"I guess this calls for a different plan. We need to find out Mario and Lincoln's weaknesses...and exploit them!" shouted the Koopa King. He knew that Poison Mushrooms seemed to work wonders against him. For some strange reason Mario always seemed to automatically collect every power-up he received, even things that could potentially harm him.

However, his troops were out of stock at the moment.

If not even Tubba Blubba was invincible, then surely Mario and Lincoln weren't invincible either.

Bowser went to inform the other guardians of the bad news.

They were rather surprised at the occurrence. Just how did Mario defeat someone who was invulnerable? Could it be that Tubba Blubba wasn't invincible after all? Rumor had it that he had a secret weakness.

"Tubba Blubba was defeated? Whatever happened to his invincibility?" asked General Guy. It seemed like a foregone conclusion that the heroes would lose against him. And yet, they didn't.

It looked as if they shouldn't underestimate Mario...Bowser had made that mistake before and it had cost him.

Now that they thought of it, did the Star Rod have a weakness as well? Theoretically it made the wielder invincible...but something told him that Mario and Lincoln were gathering the seven Star Spirits for a reason.

Crystal King shrugged.

"As long as they don't gather all four seeds, I think I'll be safe..." noted Huff N' Puff. There was no way that Mario was going to be able to enter Flower Fields without them.

However, he got the feeling that some of the Bub-Ulbs had decided to leave the field since he decided to block out the sun there.

"You think Mario would dare enter an active volcano?" asked Lava Piranha. Personally he thought it would be rather foolish to take such a crazy risk. Not to him, of course. He was immune to fire.

Just in case, he had Piranha Plants throughout the volcano. They would alert him if they found any sign of Mario.

"Possibly..." answered the general of the Shy Guys. On the other hand, a toy box didn't sound so threatening.

However, it was in the last place that Mario would look.

Meanwhile, Peach and Clyde wondered who was guarding the Star Spirit. It seemed that a lot of his followers wanted Bowser to grant their wishes. He wondered what the next guardian had wished for.

Perhaps Bowser would inform them of the whereabouts of the Star Spirit if they spied on him. That seemed to work well...even if they had a habit of getting caught.

As a side note, Clyde noticed that Peach happened to resemble Lori.

However, he didn't want to get between her and Mario. He was always saving the princess no matter how many times she got kidnapped. He should cut him some slack...even if the princess was rather attractive.

Sure enough, he was talking about what appeared to be a toybox that was populated by Shy Guys.

"You're having Shy Guys guard the fourth Star Spirit? I don't recall them being fighters..." noted Kammy Koopa. They seemed more like clowns.

"Did I mention they have a general?" asked Bowser.

Perhaps he had chosen them to guard the next Star Spirit.

Bowser spotted Clyde and Peach.

Peach gasped.

However, he actually seemed happy to see them this time.

They were confused.

"There you are! I could use your help with something!" exclaimed Bowser.

"Hmm?" asked Peach. Bowser was requesting THEIR help?

"I need to find out Mario and Lincoln's weaknesses so they can't get the fourth Star Spirit!" shouted the Koopa King. General Guy would do his best to keep the Star Spirit from falling into their hands...but after Tubba Blubba's defeat, he wasn't sure his army would be able to pull it off by themselves. Besides, it seemed that the Shy Guys would rather play with their toys than guard something for him.

Clyde thought about what he should answer.

He came up with a solution.

"I know that Lincoln happens to hate comic books!" exclaimed Clyde.

"He does?" asked Bowser.

"Uh-huh!" nodded Clyde. He thought they were poison.

Bowser took that in consideration.

Wait, if Lincoln hated comic books so much, then why did he dress like a comic book hero?

Eh, it was probably nothing.

"Anything I could use against Mario?" asked Bowser. Things would be easier if he only knew his weakness. Personally he thought that he had no weaknesses...which didn't work in his favor.

"He hates spaghetti!" exclaimed Peach. He thought the meatballs were too spicy.

"Duly noted." said the Koopa King. Perhaps the Shy Guys could throw spaghetti at him. He would love to see his reaction.

Clyde wondered if Bowser would catch on to them.

But it appeared that he wasn't.

"Do both of them share a common weakness?" asked Bowser.

"I'd say mushrooms!" shouted Peach.

"I know! I'll use an Ultra Shroom!" exclaimed the Koopa King.

"Good idea!" nodded Clyde. He was surprised that Bowser was falling for this to be honest.

"Well, hopefully this will assist the general and his Shy Guy army in keeping the fourth Star Spirit out of Mario's gloved hands...and that Lincoln boy too..." noted Bowser. Though he and Mario had a personal grudge, Lincoln was annoying.

Just in case, he went to inform the Koopalings of Morton's failure to see if they would be willing to send another Koopaling. They haadn't really been expecting Morton to lose since he had Tubba Blubba with him, but perhaps they would be willing to go anyway.

"Why don't you two go back to your rooms now? We're getting tired of calling the guards." said Kammy.

Peach and Clyde shrugged and decided to do so. They already had the information they needed, anyway.

Just in case using Mario's weaknesses didn't work out, Bowser asked Bowser Jr to send another Koopaling.

"Morton got clobbered? I always thought he was big and strong..." noted Wendy. But unfortunately, he wasn't strong enough.

Lemmy volunteered to battle the heroes next...because he liked to play with toys. Going to the Shy Guy's Toybox sounded like it would be pretty fun.

"Why are the Shy Guys so shy anyway?" inquired Ludwig. He always wondered why they kept wearing those masks instead of showing people their true faces. Personally he liked his face.

"How the heck should I know?" answered Wendy. She wasn't a scientist.

"Good luck out there, Lemmy!" exclaimed Iggy.

"I'm going to have fun!" shouted Lemmy. He looked forward to playing with the heroes...which would be fun for him but not for them.

Bowser Jr decided he would go as well.

He was looking forward to fighting the heroes.

His dad would be so proud of him if he managed to defeat them.

Meanwhile...

At a toybox hidden inside Toad Town, several Shy Guys were starting to emerge.

"Are you ready to have some fun?" asked one of the Shy Guys. He was looking forward to this personally. It was time to paint the town as red as they were.

Another Shy Guy nodded. For once the Shy Guys were leaving their home and they weren't being..shy.

Besides, they wanted to know what went on outside the toybox. Sure, their toybox was fun, but exploration was fun too.

Quickly, they ran into the city and began to cause trouble.

"Oh noooo!" exclaimed one of the Toads.

What were they going to do?

Hopefully Mario and Lincoln would get there soon.

They could REALLY use their help.

Inside the toybox, Luan wondered what was going on.

Why was everyone leaving?

Perhaps it wasn't such a good idea for Bowser to ask advice from Peach and Clyde how to beat Mario and Lincoln. Well, he won't be making the same mistake again. In the next chapter, our heroes are going to return to Toad Town...but something has gone wrong. You can probably guess what.

I figured Lemmy would be appropriate for Shy Guy's Toy Box. I once read a similar fanfic where the Koopalings were bosses in each of the seven playgrounds, but I made some changes based on what I felt would be appropriate for each level.

And yes, I referenced the scene where you can give Bowser advice to how to defeat Mario...it can be either good advice or bad advice...but knowing the player they would probably pick the latter.