EPISODE 4-2

Dimentio hovered high up, miles above Flipside, where the air met the sky. It was pretty much the same up there as it was down here, except with less ground. It wasn't that hard to find the source of the trouble- just follow the shambling black clots.

The source of the trouble, he was surprised to learn, were Fly Guys- that is, Shy Guys with balloons wrapped around their middles to make them fly. They had comically large pairs of scissors they were using to cut chunks out of the sky. Two of them sliced the holes, two of them rolled the sky up like carpet, and a whole group of them were holding the rolls, waiting for the job to be finished.

"Hello, there!" he called.

The Fly Guys reacted in surprise.

"Oh, I do apologize," Dimentio said in a friendly voice. "I didn't mean to startle you."

"Eek," said one of the Fly Guys. "I almost dropped the whole batch of sky."

"Yes, I've been meaning to ask you about that," said Dimentio. "Why, exactly, are you taking the sky?"

"We need it," said a Fly Guy.

"Why do you need it?"

"None of your business."

"That's not really a reason," said Dimentio.

"Now ask me if I care."

"I don't think I need to ask that question to know the answer." Dimentio pondered the situation for a little bit as the Fly Guys continued to cut the holes. "I think you would be better off putting the sky back now," he said smoothly.

"Buzz off," said the Fly Guy.

Dimentio put his hands together, and then opened them up. Between them, he had a bright burst of purple, yellow, and black. It was the same attack he had used against Count Bleck; now it sizzled and crackled dangerously, waiting to be used against the Fly Guys.

"No," said Dimentio. "I do believe you would be better off putting the sky back, right now."

The Fly Guy took one look at Dimentio's hands, and then waved his arms frantically at the other Fly Guys. "Get the glue sticks!" he shouted. "Quick! Get the glue sticks, man!"

"Ah ha ha ha ha," said Dimentio. "Marvelous. You take care of that, and I'll just be on my way, then. Ciao."

"So, explain this to me," said Merlon. He offered a seat to Bleck, with Tippi resting on his hat, and took his own easy chair across from them.

"Well," said Count Bleck. "It's difficult to explain when I don't know what's going on. We were sent somewhere by the Pure Hearts, but we decided to leave, and she reverted back into a Pixl."

"I see," said Merlon. "I can think of a few reasons that may have happened. Tell me about the place where the Pure Hearts sent you."

"It was a wonderful place," said Count Bleck. He smiled involuntarily as the memory of that amazing place came back. It had been perfect in every way. "We appeared on a hilltop, overlooking a pristine valley—"

The door opened and Mimi stuck her head in. "Sorry to bother you, Count," she said. "We found out its Shy Guys taking the sky. Dimentio got them to put the sky here back, but it's still missing everywhere else. You said you wanted me to check in when we found out, so I'm checking in."

"Yes, thank you," said Count Bleck quickly. "I think you can handle Shy Guys. Do you know where they live?"

"No, none of us know."

"I do," said Tippi. "I'll take them there."

"I'd prefer it if you stayed," Count Bleck said quietly.

"I'll be back," she whispered. "You don't need me for this, do you?"

"Well… that is… uh…"

"It's all right, Blumiere," said Merlon.

Calling Count Bleck by his old name, his true name, had a calming affect. Count Bleck visibly relaxed, and gently lifted Tippi off of his hat. "Go with them," he instructed confidently. "And for goodness sake, call me if something goes horribly, horribly wrong. That's why I came."

"Gotcha," said Tippi. "What if something only goes horribly wrong?"

"Hmm… use your best discretion."

"Right. Okay, then, goodbye."

Mimi tapped her foot impatiently. "Well, let's go, then! I'm getting real bored here!"

"You'd do well to learn patience," said Count Bleck.

"Patience, nothing! I haven't had a chance to take a shower yet!"

Shy Guys come mainly from two places- Subcon and Shy Guy Toy Box. Since I'm not entirely sure that Subcon exists, given the hazy continuity of Super Mario USA, Tippi decided to check for the sky in the toy box first. She took them to Toad Town, where the toy box supposedly was.

Today was a quiet day. None of the toads were scrambling around, which was a sure sign that everything was okay. Toads were such peaceful folk that even the slightest disturbance would have them completely wound up, scrambling around in a panic.

Tippi teleported them to a residential area of Toad Town. It was such a peaceful place there. Green grass, trimmed trees, quiet houses, and a nice cobblestone path all set the scene for a tranquil settlement where you could really just relax and let the days go by. It was the polar opposite of rough and tough Rogueport, the last town they were in. Just being in Toad Town made you feel welcoming and cozy. When it wasn't under attack, it was picture-perfect.

"Keep your heads down," said Tippi. "Shy Guy Toy Box is in one of these houses. It should be an empty one."

She fluttered to one of the houses and looked in the window. "Aha! Just as I thought. This is the one." She went up to the door and waited for a moment. "Uh… could one of you please get the door for me?"

O'Chunks, in a gentlemanly fashion, opened the door and ushered Tippi and Mimi in, before entering himself in front of Dimentio. Inside, the paint was peeling and the floor was cracked, signaling that the house was abandoned. There was no furniture.

"This can't be it," said O'Chunks. "There ain't so much as a bare button in this place."

Tippi thought carefully, and then said, "This is not an empty room. There's a door hidden in here. Let me make it visible for you."

Then she went to the wall, and touched a certain place.

"Oh, wow!" Mimi said excitedly. "That's a cool trick!"

On the far end of the wall, they could see a hidden door built into it just a few inches above the ground. When touched, it spun around, giving the Shy Guys access to a hidden room behind. One by one, they jumped through the hole and came out on the other side. This room was empty, too, save for a bright and colorful toy box right in the center.

"I see," said Tippi. "They shrink down tiny and go into the toy box to play. Get it?"

"Ah, I read yeh," said O'Chunks. "The Shy Guys are all runnin' around way down in there like wee little bugs."

"Yes, like that."

O'Chunks picked up the toy box and began to shake it vigorously. "Ey! Get out 'ere, ya punks! Yeh messed with the wrong force when yeh started cuttin' out the sky!"

"O'Chunks, please!" Tippi shrieked. "Control yourself!"

O'Chunks put the box back down on the ground. "Yeh have teh know how teh talk their language," he said. "They need teh know we mean business."

Mimi opened the toy box, and at once an entire crowd of Shy Guys jumped out, suddenly changing from ultra tiny to normal sized. Most of them looked incredibly dizzy; a few of them were bruised a little.

"Hey!" said the Shy Guy spokesperson, stepping up. "What was that about?"

"What'dya mean, what was that about?" O'Chunks growled. "Yeh up an' yanked the sky outta the sky!"

"Yeah, so?" the Shy Guy said defensively. "It's not like you need all the sky."

"You can't take things that don't belong to you," said Tippi. "The sky belongs to everybody. You can't take it for yourself."

"But there's no sky in the toy box!" the Shy Guy whined. The others murmured in agreement. "Is it so wrong to want a little sky of our own?"

"Nothing wrong with wanting," said Tippi. "The problem started when you graduated from wanting to taking. Why don't you just go outside?"

"There's no toys there."

"Well, you're going to have to make some choices," said Tippi. "And sacrifices, just like everybody else in this world. Now, we're here to take the sky back. Are you going to hand it over?"

The Shy Guy quickly sized up O'Chunks, Mimi, and Dimentio. Then he turned around and looked at the small mob of Shy Guys behind him. He did a quick headcount and then said, "I think we can take you."

"Oh, they're just beggin' to taste me chunks!" said O'Chunks, cracking his knuckles.

"Doesn't matter, though," said the Shy Guy. "The sky isn't here anymore."

"What?" Tippi asked in surprise.

"Yeah," he continued. "We were swipin' some foggy sky from near Bowser's Castle, and he came out and got real mad. When he found out what we were doing, he took all of our sky for himself."

"Um… why?"

"Cause he's greedy." The Shy Guy shrugged. "We don't understand Bowser."

"He's mean and scary!" another one piped up.

"And he smells like hot dogs," a third one added.

"Yeah, hot dogs," said the spokesperson. "So he got all our sky, and we were just starting over when those guys," he gestured to the side of the group, "came back and said they had to glue it back in place."

Dimentio raised his hand. "That was me," he said.

"They'll go back out again once we find some better sky," said the Shy Guy.

"I'm sure they will," said Dimentio.

"Now, if you don't mind, we're going to go back into the toy box," said the Shy Guy. "We have a whole lot of block towers that have to be set up now, thanks to you. Unless you wanna fight us."

"NO," said Tippi loudly, with a quick glance to O'Chunks. "Why don't you just go back into your little toy box, then?"

The Shy Guy, glared at them for a moment, and then gestured to the other. Two by two, they all jumped back into the box, shrinking down to the size of a speck before hitting the bottom. The lid slid back on top of them.

Dimentio snapped his fingers, and an enormous boulder appeared on top of the toy box.

"Dimentio!" gasped Tippi.

"They'll be fine," he assured her. "This will only hold them until they forget what they were doing before."

Mimi shook her head. "Well, what if they get hungry or something?" she asked.

"Are you kidding me?" Dimentio scoffed. "They have more food down there than we do in our whole dimension… mostly candy, but still."

"Well," said Tippi, "I'll go tell Count Bleck what happened. I promised I would come back to him, anyway. You get a head start on getting the sky back from Bowser, all right?"

"Check," said Mimi. "Get the sky back from Bowser."

Tippi nodded, then took a second glance at the boulder, sighed heavily, and disappeared. The others left right behind her.