Took me a while, but I finally finished this chapter!
Enjoy! ;)
Chapter 5: Toadwood Forest
After the ride in the time hole, the past and future heroes, alongside a fairy named Veronica, arrived back at another part of the Mushroom Kingdom's past: Toadwood Forest.
This place is a spooky and humid forest located west of Shroob Castle. There were many trees, rocks resembling Yoshi Eggs, and an odd factory at the deepest part of the forest. The heroes were fazed by this place. As they walked onwards, they started a conversation:
"So the forest has also been taken over by the Shroobs… That's not a good thing." Mario said.
"Yeah, they probably won't stop until they conquer everything in the Mushroom Kingdom." Sonic guessed.
"That's a fair point, Sonic." Tails pointed out.
"Say, is it just me, or are those trees looking…odd?" Luigi glanced at the trees; some of them seemed that they were strapping something… But what?
He decided to take a closer look at one of the trees, and…
"H-Help…!" a Toad voice was heard, startling both Luigis.
"Wah! Tree talked!" Baby Luigi flinched.
"Wait a minute… Did I just hear a Toad's voice from the tree?" Mario questioned while staring suspiciously at the tree. He walked closer to it, and saw that a body of a Toad was indeed strapped to the tree's trunk! Baby Mario then playfully pokes the Toad's body, but it didn't seem to move.
"No motion…" he replied quietly.
"Hold on… Guys! Remember back at what happened at Hollijolli Village? I think that all of the Toads that the Shroobs abducted are taken here! But why do they need those poor innocent Toads for?" Tails pondered.
"I can answer that to you." Veronica said in a distressed tone. "You see, the Shroobs are masters of high-tech and genetics, so they used their abilities to genetically-engine those trees and place all of the abducted Toads in them." She then faced away the heroes for a bit while continuing. "All of the Toad species have some sort of life force called vim. When the vim is extracted from a Toad, it resembles a green liquid with transparent images of sad Toad spirits."
"That sounds…dark." Young Sonic remarked.
"Indeed. Now, take a look at the ground." Veronica directs the heroes to a strange brown cable installed in the ground and some sort of lime-green liquid was flowing inside. "This root leads to a series of network roots under the ground. See that lime-green liquid inside? That's the vim. Those trees are extracting the vim out from the Toads, where it is transported by its roots to the Vim Factory, located at the heart of the forest. Without their vim, the Toads lose their coloration and slowly become part of the trees before dying."
"That's horrible!" Young Tails whimpered.
"And now the Shroobs are using the vim as their fuel for their Shroob Saucers with special chemicals." Veronica turned back to the heroes. "It is said that a bio-mechanical Wiggler robot is the one who converts the vim into fuel and transfers it to the Saucers."
"So that's the reason why the Shroobs are capturing the Toads…" Tails confirmed.
"If this keeps going, there won't be any more Toads to govern the Mushroom Kingdom…" Mario lamented.
"Now I can't imagine the Mushroom Kingdom without Toads…" Luigi whimpered.
"Alright, you're able to see the past, present and future, right? Could you tell us what happened exactly to Peach and Amy once they've arrived at this time period?" Sonic said.
"If you really want to know… Very well." Veronica replied while closing her eyes. "As soon as they arrived in this time, they were attacked by the Shroobs…"
Flashback…
Shortly after the younger heroes had fled with Baby Bowser to the Koopa Cruiser, E. Gadd's time machine had just arrived at the past version of Peach's Castle, which was wrecked by the Shroobs. The machine's doors open, and Peach and Amy came out. They became shocked by the castle's state.
"Oh my goodness! What's happened here?" Peach questioned in shock.
"EEEK!" Amy suddenly shrieked. "Peach! Look over there!"
The girls saw a group of Shroobs coming towards them. They stopped a few inches away before opening way to their leader, Princess Shroob.
"Who are you?" Peach asked in a frightened tone as Princess Shroob approaches her and Amy.
"S-Stay away from us!" Amy backs off, alongside Peach.
Princess Shroob then raised her arms, and began to charge some sort of energy.
End of Flashback
"…Princess Peach and Amy Rose were separated from each other by the Shroobs." Veronica continued. "I can't seem to detect Amy anywhere, I'm afraid…but I do know that Peach was taken to somewhere on the Kingdom's past. To where exactly, I don't know…"
"I knew it…" Mario growled under his breath.
"Veronica, back to the Toads' situation, should we check the factory?" Tails asked.
"Well, yes. I can sense a Cobalt Shard somewhere in that horrid place." Veronica answered.
"Really? Sweet! Then we should definitely check inside!" Sonic grinned.
"Yeah! We should!" Young Sonic grinned back.
"*sigh* if you say so, then follow me." Veronica sighed deeply before flying to the path leading to the heart of the forest with the heroes following her.
Of course, they had to fight their way through enemies like Boo Guys, Elasto-Piranhas, and Koopeleons in the forest to get to the factory. After solving a puzzle involving fire to burn out the trees blocking the way leading to the factory, they finally reached the heart of the forest, where a bunch of spikes were placed around, and saw some Shroob Saucers flying directly to the Vim Factory, possibly to refill their fuel tanks.
In order to enter the factory, they had to break the circuit that was guarding the front entrance by activating the two antenna towers located at the top left and right corners of the area. Once both circuits were broken, the heroes entered the factory.
The Vim Factory is a factory built by the Shroobs before the arrival of Peach and Amy to the past. Certain chemicals are mixed with the vim extracted from the Toads to produce fuel for the Saucers, and this place is where this process occurs. The being who transports the fuel to the Shroobs' UFOs was a robotic Wiggler-like Shroob, who stays at the top floor of the factory. The factory's layout basically consists of purple walls and many machines at the later rooms.
Why later rooms? Because once the heroes set foot into the factory, two Hammer Bros wearing what appears to be mind-controlling helmets blocked their path instantly.
"AREA RESTRICTED. ALL NOOB INTRUDERS 2 B HAXORED BY US L33T HAMM3R BROZ!" the Hammer Bro on the right spoke in a robotic voice.
"WE R TEH SHROOB ALLIES. WE ROXOR U AND THEN ROFL. THEN U AM CRY." The Hammer Bro on the left continued. "WE RECEIVE ORDERS THRU ANTENNAS ON THESE L33T HELMETS. THEY R HOTNESS. WE MUST OBEY ALL ORDERS. WE LIKE 2 PWN NOOBS 4 TEH MASTER SHROOBZORS. U = NOOBS. BROZ = L33T. PREPARE 4 TOTAL PWNAGE. WOOT! WOOT! WOOT! WOOT!"
Suddenly, a nose-like vacuum came down from the ceiling just a few inches away from our heroes.
"What the-?" Luigi eyed the vacuum above them.
Just then, the nose vacuum begins to suck in…the adult heroes!
"WAH!" they screamed as their heads were sucked into the nostrils. The young heroes and Veronica gasped at that.
Then, the nose vacuum started to drag away the adults to the left.
"NOO!" the young heroes cried out as they pursued after their older selves, but they were out of reach and they were carried away to another room. The two Hammer Bros went towards the youngsters and Veronica and the one on the left spoke:
"NOOBZ STILL R NOT PWNED. CONTINUE PWNERSHIP UNTIL ALL NOOBZ R PWNED."
"TEH ESCAPE IS IMPOSSIBLE. WE R 2 L33T. WE OWNZ JOO. U WILL GET FLATZORED BY R L33T HAMMERS." The other one finished.
The youngsters had no choice but to fight by their own against the Hammer Bros so that they could save their adult selves from a slaving fate. Thankfully, they had Veronica to help them.
The Hammer Bros first executed an attack together that was similar to the Knockback Bros. The youngsters dodged the attack and Young Sonic and Young Tails attacked them by Spin Jumping at them at the same time.
When the Hammer Bros were about to execute their attack again, Veronica used her powers to freeze them in place, giving the chance for Young Sonic and Young Tails to do a Spin Dash and Baby Mario and Baby Luigi finished them off with their Green Shell Attack.
The Green Shell also managed to knock off both Hammer Bros' helmets, breaking them, and they were back to their normal states.
"So the Shroobs must of have placed those helmets on them for mind-control…" Veronica guessed.
"I kind of felt bad for them…" Baby Luigi said.
"Whoa… My helmet antenna! It's broken! Oh, man, YESSS!" the Hammer Bro on the left cheered once he got up.
"Hey… Mine broke too! Talk about lucky! I mean, didja HEAR what was coming out of my mouth?" the other Hammer Bro replied once he also got up.
"I know, dude! Seriously, who talks like that?! Anyway, I think these tots freed us!" he directs to the group of youngsters.
"Ya think? You little taters trashed our antennas?"
"Yep!" Baby Mario nodded.
"You bet!" Young Sonic gave thumbs up.
"Right ON! Seriously, thanks! You saved our bacon. We were…not right in the head." The Hammer Bro on the left thanked. "So listen, you gotta let us thank you by hooking you up with these spare hammers!"
The Hammer Bros handed a hammer to both babies. Despite having a metal head, they weren't that heavy. At least for the babies.
"Wow! Thanks a lot!" Baby Mario thanked with a big smile.
"You're welcome, dude!" the Hammer Bro on the right replied. "Now YOU can be Hammer Bros! But we'd better teach you how to use 'em first."
The Hammer Bros taught Baby Mario and Baby Luigi the basic Hammer Swing, to smash any obstacles in the way, and the Baby Drill, where both baby brothers drill underground to pass under closed gates and find all sorts of buried things, like beans.
With those new hammers, the youngsters and Veronica moved on into the factory to rescue the adult heroes, who were taken somewhere into it. After solving a series of puzzles involving the use of the hammers, they soon reached a room with a giant tree, and saw the adult heroes' heads sticking out that tree's nostrils!
The babies broke the orbs strapped to the tree's roots, and eventually, the tree blew out air from its nostrils, releasing the adult heroes, who bounced around the room before colliding their heads with each other.
"UGH!" they groaned from the impact before falling on their butts to the ground.
*THUD!*
"Ow…" Luigi groaned as he rubbed his head.
"Is everyone okay?" Tails asked.
"Yeah…" Mario responded.
"At least we're out of that disgusting vacuum that looks like a nose." Sonic said as he and the rest gets up. "But who saved us?"
"Peek-a-boo!" Baby Mario said playfully as he jumps and tugs on Mario's pant leg.
"Babies!" Mario exclaimed with a big smile.
Mario picks up Baby Mario and begins to toss him into the air just like last time in Baby Bowser's Castle, Luigi picks up Baby Luigi and hugs him while crying and cuddling his cheek, Sonic and Young Sonic high-fived, and Tails and Young Tails did a double high-five as the young fox was flying with his tails (just like in the ending scene from Sonic Generations). Veronica stood there on the back, watching the two versions of the heroes having fun while smiling.
But then, another one of those nose-like vacuums came in and it blew out two Spiny Shroopas, making the heroes flinch before going into the battle.
The Spiny Shroopas tried to jump over the brothers, but the baby ones countered with their hammers, leaving the adult brothers surprised.
"Whoa! You actually got hammers?" Mario asked.
"Those two Hammer Brothers back there gave them to us!" Baby Mario explained.
"If that's the case, then I have an idea."
Mario went towards one of the Spiny Shroopas and lifted up Baby Mario above his head before the toddler smashed the Spiny Shroopa with his hammer and the help of his adult self, killing it instantly. Luigi then did the same to the other Spiny Shroopa with Baby Luigi.
"That was a close one!" Sonic let out a sigh.
"Neat trick, me!" Baby Mario exclaimed.
"I've learned a lot about using a hammer on my previous adventure at my time." Mario smiled.
"Well, we've finally reunited with the adult heroes. Now we can move on." Veronica interfered. "After all, you all want to shut down the operation and find the Cobalt Shard… Right?"
The heroes nodded and they all proceed further into the factory.
Later…
After many puzzles and beating down enemies, the heroes finally reached the supply room, where they saw a strange green Wiggler-like creature who appears to be taking a sip of the vim. Once it did, the back of this Wiggler was connected to cables with two electrical outlets that transported the vim it just slurped to the Shroob Saucers up above.
"That must be how the vim supply process works here, right, Veronica?" Mario guessed as he and the other adult heroes walked to the Wiggler.
"Yes, that Swiggler is the one who transfers the vim fuel to the Saucers." Veronica nodded.
"That kinda looks gross, if you ask me…" Sonic cringed a bit.
"Well, we have to find a way to make this process stop if we want to save the Toads." Tails said.
"Yeah, but how do we get-… OH NO!" Luigi eyed at something that was probably bad at the last sentence, causing his eyes to widen.
Confused at first, the rest of the adult heroes shifted their gaze at the same direction as Luigi, and also had their eyes widened.
They saw Baby Mario lifting his hammer, about to hit the cup that the Swiggler was drinking of, with Baby Luigi, Young Sonic and Young Tails panicking from behind.
"MARIO! What the heck are you doing?!" Young Sonic shouted.
"Getting rid of the fuel, obviously!" Baby Mario replied.
"NO! Don't do it!" Baby Luigi protested.
"What if you anger the Wiggler?!" Young Tails warned.
Baby Mario didn't listen to them and by swinging his hammer, he knocked down the glass, spilling all of the fuel on the floor. Of course, the Swiggler was not happy at all and did a loud roar as his body becomes red and grows a bit:
*ROOOOAAAR!*
"YIIIIKES!" Baby Luigi shrieked as he runs to his older self and tugs tightly on his pant leg. Luigi gave Baby Luigi a piggyback to calm him down.
"Nice going, Mario! You just created an even bigger problem!" Young Sonic hissed.
"How would I predict that?" Baby Mario questioned, trying to make an excuse.
"It doesn't matter! Let's just hurry and take care of that Wiggler!" Sonic demanded and stood in his fighting position.
The cables detached from the Swiggler as he begins to suck in air into his either nose or mouth before sending out a purple cloud of smoke towards the heroes. Thankfully, both Sonics got rid of the smoke by Spin Jumping on it.
Then, two Dr. Shroobs showed up on both sides and tries to attack the heroes by shooting out lasers from their guns, but the heroes jumped over them. Both doctors then pulled out a red and a white mushrooms each.
"Guys, be careful; if you stomp on them, they'll drop the mushroom they're carrying and it will land in the vim. If the red mushroom lands in last, the Swiggler will drink it and become stronger." Veronica warned. "So you'll have to knock the white mushroom in last."
"Got it!" the heroes replied.
Mario and Baby Mario stomped on the Dr. Shroob carrying the red mushroom, and it fell into the vim, followed by Luigi and Baby Luigi stomping on the Dr. Shroob carrying the white mushroom, and it also fell in the vim.
The Swiggler drank the vim, and it became neon green and weaker because of the white mushroom that landed in last, giving a chance for Young Tails to Spin Jump on its head. To get rid of the Dr. Shroobs faster, Tails shot at both of them with his arm cannon, which left his younger self astonished.
"Did you seriously shoot at them with an arm cannon?!" Young Tails asked in surprise.
"Yep! This is the latest high-tech arm cannon I've made by myself!" Tails said.
"Cool! I've always wanted an arm cannon!"
"Maybe I could invent one for you sooner."
"INCOMING!" Sonic shouted out loud as shockwaves caused by Swiggler's stomping was coming after the heroes. They quickly jumped over them, but the Swiggler was so pissed that his guards were destroyed that he continues to create more shockwaves.
"Hold still!" Veronica casts her time-stopping spell and the Swiggler was frozen in place.
"That was so god damn close!" Sonic removed his sweat from his forehead.
"Mario! Luigi! Baby Mario! Baby Luigi! Use this!" Veronica uses her magic to summon a Fire Flower on her hand and tosses it into the air.
"A Fire Flower! Thanks, Veronica!" Mario thanked her as the Fire Flower dissolves and its particles falls over Mario, Luigi and their baby counterparts' heads.
The brothers' clothes, including their baby selves, changed to their Fire Flower appearances, and the four begin to charge up their fireballs and shot as many as them at the frozen Swiggler. Once the time-stopping effect wore off, the Swiggler was already defeated and the Fire Flower effect on the past and future brothers wears off.
The Swiggler faces defeat on the ground before exploding into another Cobalt Shard.
"Hey! It's the second Cobalt Shard!" Tails exclaimed.
"Great! We now have two pieces!" Mario said as he takes the Cobalt Shard.
"Woohoo!" Baby Mario and Baby Luigi cheered.
"Sweet! Let's take it and-… Huh?"
However, Sonic was interrupted when a familiar figure zoomed past him and began to run in circles, catching everyone's attention:
"Eh?" Luigi did.
"Hm?" Mario did.
"Waa?" Baby Luigi did.
"Wha-?" Baby Mario did.
"What the-?" Young Sonic did.
"Wait a minute! Is that…?" Young Tails recognized the figure.
The figure couldn't stop running in circles and it made the heroes just stand there and keep their eyes on it. Because of that, they ended up becoming dizzy, and the two Cobalt Shards flew out from Mario's pocket and it landed on the ground. Once the figure stopped running, it revealed that it was actually Baby Bowser and he snatched the two Cobalt Shards!
"GWAH HA HA! LOOOOSERS!" he laughed. "Thought you could get away with stealing MY treasure from MY castle, did ya? It's payback time! I'll take MY treasure…plus whatever you just picked up as compensation!"
"What a spoiled child he is…" Veronica thought after she got rid of her dizziness while glaring at Baby Bowser.
"Prince Bowser! Let's scram!" Kamek suddenly came in flying on his broom.
Veronica watched Baby Bowser leaving with his Clown Cart while following Kamek out of the factory.
"Ooh… Could this day get any worse?" she whimpered.
"Cruel fate!" Stuffwell came out of Mario's pocket. "We finally succeed in recovering the second shard and now this happens… Shame cycle initiated. We must return to our own time and rework our strategy."
"No worries, Stuffwell. I can take everybody back to the present with my magic. But first, they have to snap out of it first…" Veronica sweatdropped. Stuffwell jumps back inside Mario's pocket.
Soon, the heroes shook their heads to get rid of their dizziness.
"Ugh… What happened?" Sonic groaned.
"Baby Bowser just swiped the two Cobalt Shards…" Veronica told them.
"He WHAT?! OH CRAP!"
"Just our luck… Now where did they went off to now?" Mario questioned.
"I'm not sure, but we better head back to the present and tell the news to E. Gadd." Veronica said. "Come close to me; I'll use my time-traveling magic to send all of us back quickly without the use of a time hole."
Veronica concentrates and a bright while light engulfed the group. The light grew brighter and the heroes vanished from sight.
Once they opened their eyes, they found themselves riding a much different version of the vortex: it was now bright light-blue with a sparkling white spiral. After the vortex ride, they reappeared at the castle's garden instead of the room where the time hole leading to Toadwood Forest currently was.
They wasted no time in heading to the throne room, where E. Gadd was waiting for them.
"About time you all showed!" E. Gadd turns around. "Ran into some persnickety obstacles, did you?"
"A lot, to say the least…" Young Sonic sweatdropped.
Stuffwell came out and immediately told the Professor:
"I am deep in a shame cycle, Professor. We nearly had a pair of fragments, but... That young Bowser fellow made off with them both."
"Heh heh heh…" E. Gadd laughed. "Now, now, no need to get your leather lathered. There've been new time holes popping up here faster than toast on Sunday morning!"
"Wait… You mean…" Veronica was speechless.
Then, two earthquakes came in and four new time holes showed up in different rooms of the castle.
"Wow… Hold up, now that more time holes showed up, I'm getting a reading of another Cobalt Star energy from one of them…"
"Really? From which one, Veronica?" Tails asked.
"It's from the time hole at the second floor of the castle. I bet that time hole will lead us to where Baby Bowser made his escape in the past."
"If you say so… Mario! Luigi! Sonic! Tails! We must chase! We MUST have redemptitude!" Stuffwell demanded.
"Heh heh heh…" E. Gadd laughed again. "Look now, before you rush off, I think it'd be wise to survey the rest of the castle. And another thing! There's a noisy feller from the past running around with a baby and a child."
"That sounds like Toadsworth! Eh… Our Toadsworth, I meant!" Young Tails gasped. "And he's still with our Amy and Peach!"
"Can you all make sure there's no hoopla out there?" E. Gadd requested.
The group nodded and went outside. There, they found both Toadsworths trying to entertain a crying Baby Peach, with Young Amy standing on her side. They managed to do it successfully by doing what they called the Toadsworth Twist. Mario and Luigi found that move quite interesting and they asked the Toadsworths to teach it for then. With that, the older brothers learned the famous Spin Jump, just like from their previous adventure at the Beanbean Kingdom.
With this new move, the heroes followed Veronica to the current time hole located at the second floor, in the castle's library. They jumped in, ready for their next destination in the past.
To be continued…
I decided to not include Toadiko and Toadbert into my story because it would make the plot too complicated for me. Maybe that's also a reference of how both characters doesn't show up in the Super Mario-Kun manga series, where in the volumes showing the story of Partners in Time have a lot of differences compared to the original game. Some of those differences will be applied to my version of the story.
I was quite disappointed that Baby Mario and Baby Luigi's clothes doesn't change when they use a Fire Flower in the game (which explains why Mario and Luigi's clothes doesn't change as well), so I decided to include that missing opportunity in here!
Two Cobalt Shards were found! But it looks like Baby Bowser stole them... Next chapter taking place in Yoshi's Island coming soon! Please review.