Chapter 27: Thwomp Stomp
Toad and the gang came out of the painting.
"Wow, that was...an experience." Toad said.
"Yeah...so I don't think there are any more paintings here so, let's go upstairs." Yellow Toad said.
The four Toads walked upstairs and unlocked the door with the power of the stars. They walked up a spiral of stairs to reach the final floor. The floor was rather dark and ominous compared to any of the other floors, including the basement. Evil Bowser faces were seen plastered all over the wall with glowing red eyes. The room itself was pretty big, but was mostly empty besides a grandfather clock, openings on both ends, and the final Star Door next to a couple of photos of Peach. Toad then took a torch and lit it up to see better.
"Hey, guys! That door must lead to Bowser's Hideout!" Toad said.
They went to the door and started walking up a very long set of stairs. However, they were walking for a very long time and eventually got tired. They couldn't even see the top.
"How much farther?" Yellow Toad said.
"Here's a better question? How far have we even gotten?!" Toadette said.
"Let's check..." Toad said.
They saw that they barely made thirteen steps and screamed.
"Gwahahahahaha! You idiotic mushroom heads! Did you really think it would be that easy?! You need more stars to the 'endless' stairs!" Bowser said, offscreen.
"We've been doing that for NOTHING?!" Blue Toad said.
"Well, I guess we have got to find more paintings." Yellow Toad said.
"How? I didn't see a single painting on this floor." Toad said.
"C'mon, Toad! I was able to find Shifting Sand Land through the brick wall. There's gotta be something hidden in this room." Toadette said.
"I guess. But it's not gonna be easy because of how dark it is up here." Toad said. "We gotta really use our sense everybody! There's no time to waste!"
The four Toads got right to finding a hidden area. They tried feeling the walls, listening for strange sounds, and Toadette even tried climbing it. But Yellow Toad heard the tick tocking of the grandfather clock.
"Hey, guys, what about this clock?" Yellow Toad said.
"Not a bad idea. Let's try it." Toad said.
They all jumped up and surprisingly, the clock's face was a portal, so they entered it.
Tick Tock Clock
The heroic Toads landed inside the clock. It was a bit foggy in there, but they could see perfectly fine.
"Well, this day kept getting weirder." Blue Toad said.
"We didn't even have these kind of contraptions back in Double Dash." Toadette said.
"I can see the star shining through the fog up there. We've gotta climb to the very top!" Toad said.
They traveled through swinging pendulums, rotating blocks, spinning platforms and more as they made a long trek to the top of the tower. They had to stand on a minute hand and wait a very long while before they made it on top of a Thwomp where they claimed their star.