Angry9Guy
If you're referring to Mario choosing to try and revive Bobbery, then that was the good decision.
breath20k
Well, not that kind of CPR. Especially when someone's not really dead.
Dark Doctor
Good for you!
LiamTheYoshi
Yup. Next stop: Pirate's Grotto.
mariobroultimate
I have a Super Mario RPG adaptation coming soon, so I guarantee you that infamous scene will be featured. And I hate fetch quests with a passion too; just as much as I hate running gags.
Nataly Guardado
Mario: *hugs you back* Oh, thank you, Nataly. You're very sweet. I'll admit, it was one of the most disgusting things I've done in a while. But rest assured, this won't scar me for life.
StarlitDuck
Thank you, StarlitDuck. I appreciate your observations.
...
AUTHOR'S NOTE
Hello there. I apologize for the long wait between this chapter and the previous one. There's been a lot of personal stuff going on for me, but luckily, I'm glad to resume where I left off. One thing to point out: you'll see in some chapters that I placed a date after each title. I decided to edit those chapters mainly to have Mario not be too emotional and to address some feedback as well. I also did the same for my past fanfics. Overall, I appreciate whatever concrit you provide me even if I take it too hard at first. Thank you.
...
Chapter 38: Grotto Depths
The time is 2:29 AM. Inside the first room of the grotto's cave was a series of rock ledges resembling a downward staircase.
Before anyone could ask where the staircase would lead to, a ghostly voice oohed from out of nowhere, startling Mario and friends.
Although his biggest fear was ghosts in general, Luigi didn't get too scared of the ghostly voice.
"That doesn't sound good," Mario said.
"No, it doesn't..." Luigi agreed in a monotone voice.
They eventually reached an abrupt end of the staircase with a deep pit below. There was no other option but to jump to the bottom, which they did. In front was another doorway; this one led to a lit-up underground cave with a deep pool and some mini sunken ships in the background.
There were also some Lava Bubbles traversing the area. Since the Mario Bros didn't have any water-based powerups on them, their only option was to evade the Lava Bubbles.
Halfway through the first part of the cave was a line of spikes that rose up and down. Mario came up with an idea for Vivian to hide him in her shadow so both can traverse the moving spikes without getting hurt.
The next part of the plan involved Luigi tossing Bobbery over the spikes into Mario's hands. Vivian went back to where Luigi was standing and helped him to the other side as well.
"Good work, guys," Mario complimented everyone.
Finally, the group crossed a wooden bridge, which had two Bill Blasters on the far end. The last time Mario and Luigi saw a Bill Blaster was at Koopa Bros Fortress where Mario destroyed three of them using an Invincibility Star.
"I got this," Bobbery declared as he approached the Bill Blasters. He blew himself up, taking out the Bill Blasters easily.
Apparently, Bobbery's explosive attack was just as powerful as Mario's invincible strength.
The following area had another wooden bridge, which connected to a stone platform. There was a water creek in the middle flowing through a sluice gate on the right. The only way to open the gate was using a winch up ahead, but the winch's handle was broken off.
"Where are we going to find the gate handle?" Vivian wondered.
It was obvious that it would be a daring task since the four weren't the only ones in the grotto. There was a group of Buzzy Beetles and Lava Bubbles through the archway in front.
To everyone's surprise, the Buzzy Beetles' shells were enough to extinguish the Lava Bubbles during the short fight.
Climbing up another rocky staircase to their left, Mario and Co saw a blue ! Switch stationed on an elevated platform next to a metal door. Mario threw Bobbery onto the platform with the latter blowing up the switch to open the door.
The next area was a short corridor with spikes protruding in and out of the right-side wall. Again, Vivian hid Mario and Luigi in her shadow, taking them to the end of the corridor. She also helped Bobbery across during a second roundtrip.
"See how easy it is when I'm around?" Vivian pointed out. "Making a run for it won't work since the spikes are moving at a fast speed."
"Good point," Mario agreed.
Just ahead was another open cave with small wood planks serving as bridges across three stationary platforms. Mario and friends came across a large sunken ship after crossing the planks. There was a giant hole in the ship's side leading into the ship itself.
"I hope the gate handle's in here," Mario said, leading everyone into the ship.
But as he entered the ship, Mario noticed a familiar object and let out a sigh of disgust. "Seriously? Another one of those?"
"You mean that black chest?" Bobbery asked, seeing the black chest. "What's wrong with it?"
Mario didn't answer Bobbery's question and walked up to the chest.
"Oh, sweet, sweet salvation! I thought no one would ever come! I had given up!" a male teenage voice called from inside the chest.
Mario frowned, knowing he already heard similar speeches from the other chests. "Just spare us the prelude and 'curse' us already! I don't know why or how we found you!"
"How did you know I was gonna do that?" the voice asked.
"You're the fourth chest we've come across," Luigi answered.
"No, seriously! Hang on a sec! Can't you just listen to my spiel for a little bit? I've been locked here forever, bored stiff, doing nothing but practice this speech!"
"You're full of lies, you stupid jet-black container!" Mario shouted.
"Oh yeah? Well, you're full of unfun, you fatty onion-faced burgero!" the male voice said.
Mario's eyes widened upon hearing the voice insult him back. He never liked anyone questioning his physique. "What? What did you just call me?"
"You heard me!"
Mario clenched his fists, wanting to literally knock some sense into the chest. "Oh, you better apologize or I'll-"
"Okay! Okay! I get the picture! Sheesh!" the voice interrupted Mario. "All I wanted was to see the faces of two unlucky souls when I popped out! Is that so much to ask?"
"No, but-"
"Then what are you waiting for?" the voice butted in again. "Just open it, already. You know what the key looks like, Mr. Seen-It-All-Already! Some ghost here has it... So just beat him, get it, and we'll get this farce over with."
Right on cue, a ghostly voice oohed from outside the sunken ship. Nobody was fazed by the ooh.
"Very well, Mr. Such-A-Waste-Of-Time," Mario said. He went outside to find where the ghostly voice came from while everyone else stayed inside the ship.
...
We could've spent the last ten minutes looking for the Crystal Star... Mario exaggerated in his head.
Just then, a blue Ember appeared to Mario's left. The Ember proved to be no match since the man in red obliterated it with one swing of his hammer.
A black key fell out of the fading flames onto the ground; Mario picked the key up and took it back inside.
...
Meanwhile, the chest overheard Mario walk back in and assumed he found the key. "Yeah, yeah. Whoop-dee-doo. You got the key. Party time. Now let me out, already."
Here we go again... Mario said to himself as he unlocked the chest.
The Mario Bros anticipated the lights going out right as the chest lid lifted up. Instead, however...
"Action!" the male voice called, puzzling everyone. "Lights out! 'WHEEHEE! FOOOOOLS!' Cue Scary Yellow Face!"
Mario and Luigi tried to keep straight faces hearing the voice's stage directions.
"'You dopes fell right into my absolutely brilliant trap! And now you will SUFFER! Oh, yeah! I am so EVIL! You fools will be cursed forever for your appalling stupidity!'"
Vivian also was on the verge of laughing.
"'You will rue the day you opened this chest of DOOM! So! B! E-'"
Finally, the Mario Bros and Vivian couldn't hold back their laughter anymore, interrupting the voice's "evil speech".
"Hey! Stop laughing! I'm not finished yet!" the voice retorted. Nonetheless, he decided to resume where he left off. "'B! E! C! U! R! S! E! D!'" Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! 'Wheeheeheeheehee! Now you're cursed, but good! Feel the terror of your fate!' Go Away Scary Yellow Face! Lights on! Cut!"
By now, all but Bobbery were chortling their heads out, even crying as a result of the heavy laughter.
Bobbery started to walk out of the ship with a disappointed look on his face.
Vivian quit laughing, seeing Bobbery walk away.
"Mario was right... This was a waste of time..." Bobbery grouched as Vivian caught up to him.
"Admiral, loosen up," Vivian said. "Can't you take a joke?"
"Not if there's an important mission going on..."
...
Back in the ship, Mario and Luigi had just about calmed down.
"Did he just...?" Mario questioned.
"Yeah. It was a prank to begin with. No curse at all," Luigi replied. "I kinda saw that coming."
Suddenly, Mario saw a metal handle with a wood grip inside the chest. "Well, I'll be damned."
"What?" Luigi walked up and noticed the handle too. "Nice! Just what we need!" He picked up the handle.
"I guess all we need to do is open that gate," Mario stated. Before leaving the ship with his brother, he took one last look at the chest. "I still hate you and your friends."
...
"Are you finished?" Bobbery asked.
"We are now," Luigi replied. "Back to the gate."
This time, Luigi led everyone back the way they came, eventually arriving at the winch. He then attached the handle to the winch and cranked it to open the sluice gate.
Another ghostly voice oohed as soon as the gate was fully opened.
"By Chowderton's cheeks!" Bobbery exclaimed. "That dreadful voice again... Those ghosts must be near..."
Without further ado, everyone hopped into the water and swam through the gate.
The next area was pretty much open waters with a small number of floating barrels. Before the group could swim forward, they heard someone cry out from far away.
"Hey! Something's coming! There! Floating on the water!"
Mario and friends assumed there were stranded sailors up ahead.
"Are those...? HEY! OVER HERE! SAVE US, PLEASE!"
"We're coming!" Mario called out, barely seeing a worn-down ship with Toads aboard it. "Hang on!"
The Toads started shouting Mario's name, recognizing his voice immediately. As Mario and friends swam closer to the ship, they saw a wood dock several feet away from the ship.
Then, Luigi came up with an idea: he decided to take some of the floating barrels and form a path between the ship and dock for all the Toads to cross. His guess was to use three barrels.
Mario assisted Luigi in forming the barrel path before directing the Toads to walk across to the other side.
"Is everyone good?" Mario asked.
"We're fine! Thank you for saving us all!" one of the Toads said, prompting his crewmates to cheer.
After Mario and friends got out of the water, they were about to talk with some of the Toads about what happened.
Suddenly, Mario gasped with excitement, seeing someone special within the crowd.
...
"I don't know how those guys did it, but thank the Stars we're saved!" a pink Bob-omb with straight blonde hair told a blue Bob-omb.
"Yeah. I thought we'd be stuck forever."
"BOMBETTE!" a familiar voice cried out.
Bombette turned to where the voice came from. "Mario?"
Within seconds, Mario emerged from the crowd and hugged Bombette tight. "IT'S YOU!"
"Mario! What a surprise!"
"God, I missed you so much!" Mario exclaimed before letting go of Bombette.
"Me too!" Bombette said. "It's been years now!"
"Hey, Bombette!" Luigi greeted Bombette upon revealing himself.
"Luigi! How could I ever forget you?" Bombette asked as Luigi hugged her too.
"You never have."
Mario noticed the blue Bob-omb standing next to Bombette. "Who is he?"
"This is my boyfriend Buster," Bombette introduced Buster.
"Pleasure to meet you and your brother, Mario," Buster stated. "Bombette told me all about you two and that adventure she went on back then."
"Ditto. I'll never forget when you saved me from the Koopa Bros. That was one of the happiest moments of my life."
"How long have you been together?" Luigi asked.
"For almost two years," Bombette replied. "I had another boyfriend, Bruce, shortly after Princess Peach's party. But we broke up at the end of the year; things just didn't work out between me and him. Luckily, Buster came along and he was just the right match for me. Right, Busty?"
"Don't push it," Buster chuckled with embarrassment.
...
"Thanks for saving us too," another Toad thanked Vivian. "We came here looking for that pirate treasure, and then... Well... Our ship got surrounded by ghosts out on the ocean... And we all ended up here!"
"Same. It was very scary for me, Mario, and Luigi," Vivian explained. "I thought we were all gonna die."
"But we made it out okay," Bobbery added in. "And that's all that matters."
...
"The ship we were on got a little too close to this island... And now look at us!" Bombette said. She was telling her side of the story to the Mario Bros. "Still, I'm amazed the rumors about Cortez were all true! Which means...he's nearby!"
"Speaking of Cortez, me and my bro are seeking the pirate's treasure because it might contain a Crystal Star," Luigi said.
"Really?" Buster asked. "Well, I think the treasure is right in there, watched by Cortez's spirit..." He turned to the archway behind the crowd. "I'm sure you'll be able to take care of him, though! Besides, Cortez is the one that trapped us on that raft, so smack him one for us!"
"I wish I could come with you guys," Bombette said.
"Me too. But I think it's best if you stay with the others," Mario advised Bombette. "Just ensuring your safety."
"That's understandable. Well, good luck in there. We'll be waiting for you until then."
"Okey-dokey." Mario beckoned for Bobbery and Vivian to meet up with him.
And with that; the Mario Bros, Vivian, and Bobbery proceeded through the archway. They were getting closer and closer to the fifth Crystal Star.