Paper Mario one and a half

Chapter 5

The capsule slowly opened containing the team of 3, and after 20 seconds, it was fully off. They jumped out, and walked to the tombstone. They set the Life Shroom on the grave, and the Life Shroom floated in the air and turned shades of green. It then grew 3 times bigger, and it very slowly lowered in front of the tombstone.

While it was approaching, a bit of lightning surrounded the Life Shroom, and finally, it sunk into the ground. After it was lodged into the ground, it suddenly shot a large green beam out of the soil. The beam started to grow wider, so the trio stepped back, trying not to touch it. Finally, it stopped, leaving behind a hold. And in the center was…

A key! But, where was Goombario! It looks like the trio was tricked, but they still took the key and approached the wall behind the tombstone, which was darker than the others.

"I don't get it, I thought Goombario was inside that spot!" complained Mario.

"Maybe he was brought back to life and took him to a new place! Maybe that's why we have the key!" said Bow.

"So, we must use this key to find Goombario… and save him?"

"Yes! And I think we are already finished with the first step of finding him!"

"What do you mean?"

"Ohhh come on, Mario! The wall! It is darker than the others! Look for something on this wall!"

"Okay."

So the team started to knock at the wall at all places, but nothing happened. Finally, Mario started to speak again. "This is taking too long! I'm just gonna nuke the wall so we can walk through."

Bow said, "Wait, where did you find a bomb?"

"It was with the key in the stone! This is what the 'dirt rock' was! A bomb!"

Kolorado butted in, "May I but in for a second? I think the bomb could send the ceiling on us, completely crushing our bodies!"

"No prob! We run through the hole, and leave before anything bad happens, right Bow?"

"Sure, I guess."

After that short talk, Mario walked up to the wall, dropped the supposively dirt rock, and pulled the string sticking out. There was a beeping noise, meaning it will beep faster the closer it gets to blowing up.

"RUN!" screamed Mario.

And all 3 ran as far back to the steep slope as possible. The thing started to beep very fast, and then, KABOOM! Pieces of rock were sent flying everywhere, along with the tombstone's large, stone pieces. The team got hit a little, but for the most part, it wasn't anything too bad!

They walked up to the smoked passage, and ran through the opening. Little did they know they stepped on a switch! They didn't notice and kept running to the door, which had a padlock on it. Mario unlocked it with the key and opened the door to an elevator, still having his key just in case.

They ran right into the elevator and used the key on the key hole and twisted it, and once they did so, the whole wooden elevator lit up, and connected to the wires with the wooden spokes. The elevator then shot up extremely fast, causing the elevator to catch on fire!

After they did Bruce Lee on the door, it broke open and jumped out to a tunnel. Following the tunnel, they at last came to stairs going up. The tunnel they went through was dark and rocky, but the stairs looked unusually like smooth, neat marble. They still walked up the steps and exited through the door at the foot of the steps.

They then entered a very, very dark tunnel. They walked through using one of Mario's Fire Flowers to just glow so it would give off light. After about 10 minutes of walking, they came to a dead end. After spending 3 minutes using special attacks to break the door, it broke apart, making an entrance into a very large tower.

The tower was huge, and it was hard to believe that it was underground! Mario said in amazement, "Wow! Look at the size of this thing! It looks to be at least 100 feet tall! I don't know about you, but I think it would be nice to explore around a little bit."

And as Mario said, they walked to the edge of the platform they were on, crossed the bridge hovering above the roaring waters, and followed the path to the foot of the tower. They then looked up, and it looked twice as tall! But that was because they were right in front of it. After trying to smash down the door, Mario gave up and sat on a nearby rock.

Suddenly, a giant hammer thing came swinging right at Mario, and smacked him in the stomach! Mario flew very fast and rammed into the wall. Mario was covered in scratches, and was loaded with bruises. Mario toppled onto his back, groaned, and threw up a little bit of blood (sick!). Mario's eyes then turned to total darkness.

"Mario! Mario! Wake up!"

"Old boy, we need you! Wake up, Mario!"

Mario's eyes adjusted to the picture of Bow and Kolorado leaning above them. "What… what happened?" he said in a very faint tone.

Bow explained, "You kind of got hit by some swinging thing, and fainted. Do you know how long you fainted? For 6 hours! He had to eat some bad-tasting food from Kolorado's backpack!"

"Did… did you find… anything?"

"Yeah, a key with an orb on its end. Chances were that it was the key for the tower. We also accidentally let the key drop right where the hole was, and it suddenly twisted on its own and opened a safe! We found a Jammin' Ultra, which I think might be the most tasty thing ever, since it was obviously combined with an Ultra Shroom and a Jammin' Jelly, the strongest items from our last adventure! Eat it, Mario!"

Mario did so, and he suddenly retrieved his strength and felt like a new man! With new found strength, Mario pushed them forward, opened the door, and made the team go into the tower with him.

This first room was very easy. Mario walked across the hallway to the door and went to the left switch, while Bow went to the door and went to the right. Kolorado went to the one above the door with the help of the hook, and they all pushed the switch down at the same time, making a key drop. Mario took the key and opened the door, and went inside, while the team followed closely behind.

This room was really, really huge, stretching from the first floor to the basement! Mario held Bow and Kolorado's hands, and they went to the edge of the ledge they were on and jumped 20 feet down, landing in the basement, which was right now a large metal platform.

Mario went to the middle and punched the switch, which caused Flood #2, for the pipes on the sides opened up, spraying water into this room! The water level rised and the team were somehow stuck at the bottom, so they would drown any minute!

Apparently, they were stuck to the wall by some very strong glue. They tried to fight it, but it was no use! They now only had 3 minutes of air left, and the flood was finished, ending right below the platform that they entered the room on.

"Ohhh no, we are gonna die!" said Mario in a quiet voice, and thanks to the water, no one heard him.

Mario...

"What the!" exclaimed Mario.

This is Bow. I'm using the Mind Shroom I found on the floor to talk to you telepathically. You see, we are about to be killed unless we do something fast! I was thinking of somehow getting the glue off, but NOT evaporating the water, so I think we are stuck. If only we could make the glue more watery where the water can help us escape!

"That's it!" said Mario, and in a flash, he suddenly got angry and got even madder! The water was boiling, but it was going to pay off! After about 30 seconds of powerful anger, Mario glowed... and transformed!

Super Sa-… I mean, Fire Mario charged up a fireball and shot it at the glue, making it watery, meaning he could slip out. He swam and helped the other 2, and with only 30 seconds of breath left, they swam as hard as they could to the surface. With 5 seconds left, they emerged from the water, swam to the ledge opposite the one they entered on, and lied there for 1 hour.

Finally, one hour later, they had awoken, with all their strength back. They used the key to unlock the door and entered to the next room.

This one was very easy to solve. There was nothing but a staircase in front of them, and they had to get up the staircase and unlock the door. The only problem was the dark purple/black puddle in the middle of the room, which was… moving! Mario walked up to it, and a purple hand suddenly popped out of the puddle and grabbed Mario's skull!

Bow said, "Eek! It's a Floormaster! These things have 0 HP, 0 DEF, and their attack only is to send you back to the beginning of the dungeon. Wait, did I say it had 0 HP!"

Mario, still aware he would be dead soon, charged and turned into Fire Mario, making the hand release his skull. Fire Mario started to charge a huge fireball, and in the meantime, Bow and Kolorado were distracting him with rocks. Suddenly, it reached out and grabbed Kolorado and took him in the puddle!

"KOLORADO!" screamed Bow and Fire Mario. FM decided they would save Kolorado after this fight, and Bow agreed.

The fight continued, where Fire Mario was avoiding the hand strikes while charging the ball while Bow distracted a bit with some quick Smacks so it wouldn't grab her while she was smacking it. Finally, in 10 minutes, the fireball became a hot blue and white, and it was about 10 feet tall. FM told Bow to move, and she did.

"WHITE FLAME!" screamed FM, and shot the mighty ball of fire at the Floormaster. The fireball was approaching, and the Floormaster… grabbed it! It was a war of pushing it, and it was tied, but Bow knew FM couldn't last for long, so she started to look for some form of help… probably light. She finally decided to look out the window, and she saw a small yellow dot.

Knowing it was a trap, Bow moved her eye away as a large yellow beam shot out of the fake glass window. Using her fan, she reflected it at the Floormaster, which seemed to do great damage. It stopped pushing, and some of the black was becoming grey. The fireball finally hit it, ripping through the Floormaster, making it drop a silver key.

Fire Mario took it, and he then realized that the fireball was still going! He told Bow to move, and the fireball smacked into the glass window, making a huge fire explosion, and sending sharp spikes everywhere, which FM and Bow dodged, except one, which simply cut along FM's shirt, not touching the skin. After this cool scene, they looked at the rubble… and found a time bomb!

They heard the door open after picking it up, and they froze. They twirled their face in horror, and died of relief when they saw it was only Kolorado!

"Old chap, I already got out, for it was simple! So, I bet that thing died, judging by how it is gone and the fact that the window thing in the corner is shattered. Well, onward!"

They walked forward, used the Silver Key to open the door, and went through to a short room with a wall. Knowing what to do, Fire Mario put the time bomb by the door and pressed the button, showing only 1 minute! They ran back to the room filled with water, swam to the other ledge, and waited. About 5 seconds later, an explosion roared, and 10 seconds later, they saw the door suddenly turn a bit red.

Fire Mario turned back into normal Mario, and they walked back to the room, revealing a switch behind the smoke. After pushing it, it showed 1 minute again! They returned to the water room and waited. The water level rose to the third floor, meaning they were almost done! They climbed up the ladder to the ledge and went through.

This place was simply a long hallway. They walked to the end and entered the metal elevator, used the old key, and they went up to the top floor, the roof. They got out and walked around until they found a stone bridge.

Walking across, they finally came to a door at the end. They opened it, only to continue in another dark stone tunnel, this time a bit warmer than the others.

"Wow, it is really hot in here!" said Mario.

"Agreed." said Bow.

"We are almost done with our journey!" said Kolorado.

They walked down the walkway all the way to the end, where they found a lava pit in front of the door. Swinging across with Kolorado's hook, they finally disattached it from the rope the hook as used to keep it up, they took a deep breath, and Mario walked up to the stone door and pushed it open.

Mario recognized this area at once. This was the area in front of the lava pit where he fought the Lava Piranha, so they were in Mt. Lavalava! Wow, what an odd setting! And fully emerged from the lava pit was none other than Lava Piranha himself, waiting to take out Mario.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Well, this was Chapter 5! Please R&R, and try to wait for the release of Chapter 6, for this story gets better and better!