A/N: Sorry if it took too long to write Chapter 9. Thanks so much for all of your reviews! I really appreciate it!

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Chapter 9: Mystic Egg

A goomba had shown them the way. A rather old goomba with glasses that made him look like some kind of mad scientist, in fact. This goomba just happened to go by the name of "Professor Frankly." Doopliss and Fawful had randomly bumped into him while in Rogueport, and he had caught the tail end of Doopliss' rant about Mystic Eggs. Fortunately for Fawful and Doopliss, the goomba had informed them of where to find the item that they needed. Unfortunately for Fawful and Doopliss, he had gone on for about an hour on a myriad of topics that had little to do with their current situation.

So now Doopliss and Fawful found themselves in a strange forest known as "Boggly Woods." The primary reason for it being strange was the fact that all the trees were perpetually in blossom, and all the blossoms were white. Combined with the black tree trunks, the whole scene created a rather unnerving, and vaguely creepy, picture.

"Where is the goomba of much talkingness saying we are to be getting the Mystic Egg?" Fawful asked Doopliss, breaking the silence.
The duplighost looked distractedly at a tree that he viewed as being an identical copy to the one next to it. "The guy talked about some big tree thing," he muttered, "but I see a lot a' things like that in this weirdo place, and not one of 'em's and bigger than the rest." Doopliss scoffed. "Show's what that idiot knew, eh Slick?"

Fawful didn't answer, and it wasn't just because his name wasn't 'Slick.' He and Doopliss were in a rather large clearing at this point, and Fawful was now staring at something that was on the apparent horizon.

Doopliss glared. "Hey, what are you starin' at, Slick? Did ya just see somethin' that finally pushed you over the fine line between unstable sanity and full-blown insanity?" He then said under his breath, "Ah, never mind, I think you passed that line a long time ago-" The duplighost stopped talking, as he had finally seen what Fawful had been looking at.

There was a huge tree on what seemed to be the horizon of the forest. Like the many other trees in Boggly Woods, it had a black trunk and white blossoms. However, unlike the other trees in Boggly Woods, it was also the size of a small providence located somewhere in eastern Europe.

Doopliss stared at this rather fascinating sight for a few seconds, and then noticed that Fawful had continued to stare at the tree. "Hey, Slick, it's not that interesting. D' you think that's where that old goomba was talking about when he said to get the Mystic Egg thingy from a big tree?" He examined the tree for a few more seconds. "Yep. That tree's pretty darn big. So, how d' you think we're gonna get over there? I mean, there appears to be quite a...um...canyon between us and it."

The duplighost was right. For some unknown reason, there was a large drop separating their part of the forest and the humongous tree that was their goal.

Doopliss then began searching for something that he apparently thought he would find in one of the bushes.

"What are you having the lookingness for?" Fawful asked, apparently having lost interest in the tree by this point.

Doopliss decided to answer, despite the fact that it was usually his policy not to answer questions that he considered to be stupid. "If you must know, I'm lookin' for a pipe. There has to be one around here somewhere, 'cause I have a feelin' that that tree's an important place to go. And if it is an important place to go, there will; of course; be a pipe leading to it in case any legendary heroes have to go there." He paused for a second. "You know, to help them save the world."

"I am not knowing what you are talking about."

"I'm sorry that my vocabulary is a little to complicated for you to understand, Slick," responded Doopliss. He then said proudly, gesturing to a pipe, "Well looky here! Looks like I found our ticket to that tree over there, eh? See, ya know this pipe's gotta lead to that tree since there's an outline of a pipe over there on the horizon. You can just barely see it." The duplighost looked questioningly at the bushes that were blocking his way to the pipe, and then to a small gap in the bushes. He scoffed. "Ya see, that gap there is for people who can't climb, which is obviously not me. I mean, seriously. Who would let a bunch a' bushes interrupt there way to the great and wonderful tree of legend that obviously contains within it's hollowed core the Mystic Egg of-"

Fawful stared.

"I was doin' the 'adventure game' thing again, wasn't I?" Doopliss asked rhetorically. He then proceeded to make his way through the bushes. "C'mon, weird guy. We're not gonna get anywhere if ya don't follow me, ya know."

At that, Fawful followed the duplighost into the pipe that would help lead them to the Great Tree of Boggly Woods.

The tree itself was even bigger up close, sadly enough. Doopliss hadn't thought it possible. However, it was possible, and he would now have to face that fact.

Fawful and Doopliss made their way up to the large tree, noticing that there was a door in the trunk. It was rather odd to see a door in the trunk of a tree, especially a door that seemed to be electronically operated.

Doopliss immediately approached the door and then turned to Fawful. "Watch and observe. As I press the 'A' button, this door will come open so that I may go inside! That is the magic of technology!" A few seconds later, the door slid smoothly open.

"I am not knowing what you are having the talking about," Fawful said, as he had still not mastered the mysteries of Breaking the Fourth Wall. However, he followed Doopliss into the tree nonetheless.

"Just what do you two think you're doing barging into our home like you own the place!" Demanded an annoyed, elderly voice.

Both Doopliss and Fawful turned to see a small, gray...thing...yelling at them.

Doopliss pushed Fawful aside, saying "Let me handle this, Slick." He addressed the annoyed senior politely, "Ma'am, you must understand that my strange companion and I had to come into your lovely-" The duplighost paused to looked around at the 'decour' of the hollowed out tree. "-abode. You see, we're trying to save the world."

The gray creature gave Doopliss an extremely strange look at this statement, and then said "Well, us Punis don't really have anything that would help you with that kind of task, although we used to have a Crystal Star. Some young lad has it now, though. Can't remember his name for the life of me!"

"Ah, yes. That happens," replied Doopliss distractedly. "However, I-"

The puni cut him off. "Don't get smart with me, whippersnapper! Why, I remember the day when my memory was sharp as a whip! Sharper!"

"That's nice," Doopliss began, "but we're lookin' for an item of sorts. Think ya could help us find it?"

The puni looked annoyed. "If you can tell me why I should help a couple a' rebellious young louts who find it perfectly appropriate to burst into a poor Puni Elder's house, than maybe I'll consider aiding you two."

Doopliss groaned. This old hag was being a real pain in the- "As I was saying," the duplighost replied, trying not to lose his temper, "We gotta find a Mystic Egg. Do you keep one 'a those somewhere in your tree somewhere, or somethin'?"

"I think we might have one of those in this old tree somewhere," responded the Puni Elder. "But I wouldn't know where to find them. That young lass Petuni's the only one who ever gets 'em, and she'll give 'em out if you can ask her a question that she can actually make sense of. Seems to have trouble doing that, though, if you ask me."

Doopliss looked around. "Uh, yeah. Can you tell us where this 'Petuni' is then, geezer?"

Apparently, calling the Puni Elder "geezer" was a mistake. "WHAT DID YOU JUST CALL ME?"

Doopliss flinched. "Um...A Puni who is aging gracefully and showing absolutely no signs of it?"

"I'll have you know that I'm a lot younger than I look!" The Puni Elder informed Doopliss. "Why, back in the day, young puni lads used to come for miles around just to ask for my hand in marriage! I remember this one handsome fellow by the name of-"

Sadly enough, neither Fawful nor Doopliss was thinking about a handsome young puni. In fact, Doopliss was now thinking that the Puni Elder had probably practiced telling this story repeatedly to anyone who would listen. No one would dare tell her to be quiet, considering she happened to be extremely frightening when she was angry.

"Where are we having the finding of the 'Petuni?'" Fawful demanded, interrupting the Puni Elder's fascinating story about her youth, which most likely would have lasted for several hours.

The Puni Elder glared at the interruption, but answered the question anyway. "I have no idea where Petuni is. None of us do. The girl got herself lost, and we haven't seen her for several hours, at least."

Doopliss laughed in a somewhat exaggerated manner. "Hours? Doesn't it, ya know, take days for a kid to be considered 'missing?'"

"Now, that would usually be the case," began the Puni Elder wisely, "but whenever Petuni doesn't show up for longer than fifteen minutes, her brother has to make a worldwide search and rescue mission out of it. That Punio may not be ready to become the new Elder, after all."

"But we are needing the 'Mystic Egg'!" Fawful protested.

Doopliss agreed. "Yeah. The thing can't be that hard to find if some kid gets 'em all the time, as you say." He looked annoyed. "Of course, that sorta ruins my idea of the Mystic Egg being a key item in an adventure game if they're common enough for one of you 'puni' people to find them..."

"I'LL HAVE YOU KNOW THAT-" began the Puni Elder.

"Whatever I said wrong, I was kidding!" Insisted Doopliss. He really did not enjoy being yelled at by the Puni Elder. Everyone else yelling at him was annoying, too. As everyone knew, he was never wrong. So yelling at him, other than for the purpose of being an adoring fan who couldn't control him or herself, was much frowned upon by the duplighost.

Fawful had been just standing there for the longest time, listening to Doopliss and the Puni Elder talk, when another puni had come "running" up to him, looking as if he had just been accidentally released from an insane asylum.

This particular puni had stripes on his back and a green "puff" at the end of his antenna. "Please help me!" Demanded the puni desperately, "my sister has gone missing, and no one will help me look for her! Please help me find her! I can only imagine what might be happening to poor little Petuni as we speak!"

Fawful stared, and then remembered the name "Petuni" from the discussion that Doopliss and the Puni Elder were having at this moment. "Is the sister that you are having in the posession of the Mystic Egg?"

"Huh?" Punio gave Fawful a look of utter horror for a few seconds and then glared. "I don't have time for this! If you're just going to stand there making fun of me, then I'll never find my sister! I don't have time to talk to rude people like you!" At that, he pushed past Fawful and decided it was time to interrupt the conversation that the Puni Elder was having. "Oh great Elder! Petuni is still missing! I don't know what could have happened to her!"

The Puni Elder slowly turned to look at Punio. "Now, now, Punio. No need to panic. I'm sure your sister will show up some-"

"She won't!" Shouted Punio hysterically. "I know she won't! She's lost and we'll never find her if we just stand around talking like this!"

The Puni Elder looked knowingly at Punio for a few seconds, and then said, "Then I guess we'll never find her, eh?"

Punio shrieked loudly in frustration and then scampered off to the other side of the "room," shouting such things as "You'll see! You'll all see!" and "When I find Petuni, she'll never talk to any of you ever again!She'llonly speaktoher loving brother, who actually cared enough to go looking for her when she was in grave danger!" With that, he entered a pipe, obviously wishing it was a door so that he could slam it.

Everyone stared as Punio went, rather thinking that he was overracting just a tad. Maybe more than just a tad. Perhaps a lot more.

At that point, a small female puni came into the room, looking around. "Has anyone seen my brother lately?"

"Is your name being 'Petuni?'" asked Fawful.

"Yes. Do you know where Punio is?" She asked, giving Fawful a strange look.

Doopliss pushed Fawful aside as always and addressed Petuni. "Yes, of course we know where your brother is. Sadly, though, we have a favor to ask of you before we let you go."

"And just what might that be?" The puni sounded rather skeptical when she said this.

Doopliss wondered if he came across as one of those sleazy guys who stand on street corners trying to get you to buy Timeshare...or watches. "We need a Mystic Egg to save the world. The word on the street is that you've got lots of 'em. So, do ya think you could spare one for the better cause?" The duplighost paused for a second. "The better cause, of course, being the ultimate survival of the world as we know it?"

Petuni suddenly brightened. "Of course I'll give you a Mystic Egg! But you have to ask me a question, first! C'mon! Ask!"

Doopliss thought this a rather easy task Petuni was asking him to perform, but he asked her a question nonetheless. "What's my name?"

Petuni looked exasperated. "Not that way! You can only use the combinatinon of words that I give you to ask me a question! For example, for the first word of your question, you can only choose 'Mario, Luigi, or The X-Nauts.'"

Doopliss listened to the combination of words, and then said, "Um, okay. The X-Nauts decorate which room the best?"

Petuni pouted. "I dont understand that question at all! Can't you give me a question that I can understand better?"

Doopliss glared. "Okay...Luigi likes which person the most?"

"Why can't you ask a question that I can understand? It has to be easy, you know! I don't know everything!"

"Obviously," remarked the Duplighost under his breath.

Fawful, meanwhile, had been listening the whole time. After Doopliss had asked what seemed like a hundred different questions, all of which Petuni couldn't understand, he came over and said, "'Mario likes which person the most?' That question is not making the much senseness. It should be 'The fink-rat of red is having the liking of which person the most?"

Petuni smiled happily. "The answer to that question is 'Peach!' Am I right?" No one answered, but the puni didn't really seem to care all that much. She then pulled a white egg with gray stripes out of seemingly nowhere and gave it to Fawful. "There's your Mystic Egg! Now where's my brother?"

Doopliss was visibly annoyed at Fawful, as he obviously believed his spotlight had been stolen from him. He gestured towards the pipe in the far corner of the room. "Your brother went in there. You better hurry. He seems dangerously close to having a heart attack, and I doubt there are any ambulances in this forest."

"Not again," muttered Petuni, scampering off towards the pipe.

Doopliss snatched the Mystic Egg away from Fawful, stored it in who-knows-what, and began dragging his comanion out of the tree, saying his goodbyes to the Puni Elder as he did so. "See ya 'round, geezer! Glad we had that talk, but even gladder that we ain't having it anymore!"

From behind the closed door of the tree, Doopliss could clearly hear the Puni Elder yelling, "WHAT DID YOU JUST CALL ME?" This caused him to speed up visibly.

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Lord Crump was rather annoyed. He had finally escaped from that horrible cave, but it had taken a much longer time to do so than he had hoped. Therefore, he was now going to plan some sort of revenge on the duplighost who had left him on Keelhaul Key. He had currently decided that the best way to do this involved the Shadow Sirens, but he didn't know where they lived. If he had known where they lived, he probably would have constantly been directly outside their house, since Vivian lived there. This probably would haveforced them to file a restraining order. Therefore, he satisfied himself byhanging aroundby the Fresh Pasta stand in Poshley Heights, as the Shadow Sirens always seemed to go there.

If he had been smart, he simply would have asked around about where the Shadow Sirens lived. However, he was not.

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A/N: The next chapter was supposed to be the last one, but I'm not sure if it will be. It's still a possibility, though. :)