Thanks to everybody who reviewed! In this chapter, Mario, Luigi, Peach and Tippi will try to save Bowser, and back at the castle Dimentio will visit Count Bleck in the dungeons and they will have a conversation. Enjoy!

...

The large, rusty metal gate slowly opened, grinding against the floor. Dimentio walked inside, shivering. Why did he make the dungeon so gloomy? He shook the thought out of his head and continued walking. He didn't know why, but he couldn't stop thinking about Mimi. He was evil, and he hated everybody. He didn't care about anyone. But he had realised lately that he didn't want to destroy Mimi. He realised he actually had...feelings for her.

"Wait, what am I talking about!?" He muttered, shaking his head. "I don't care about Mimi! I'm Dimentio, destroyer of all worlds! I can't believe I'm allowing that girl to enter my mind!"

He continued walking until he found the cell he was looking for. With a mischievous look in his eyes, he pulled out a key and inserted it in the lock, twisting it. Flakes of rust fell from the lock and landed on the floor. Dimentio pulled open the door and entered the cell.

"Hello, Blumiere." said The Jester. "How are you?"

Count Bleck, who was sitting on a metal bench, looked up and scowled. He stood up, his cape being blown up into the air before the tips of it rested on the ground again.

"What do you want?" He muttered. "Where are Mimi and Nastasia? What have you done with them!?"

"Calm down. Both of them are fine...for now." Smirked Dimentio.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Count Bleck narrowed his eyes, getting angrier and angrier.

"Nothing, nothing." Dimentio said with the same smile on his face.

"Dimentio, why do you want to destroy all worlds? You do know that if you destroy every world you'll be destroyed too, right?" Count Bleck pointed out.

"Of course I do, you idiotic fool. I want revenge. On you, your henchmen, and those pathetic heroes. You all stopped me from achieving my master plan, and this time nobody is going to stop me." Dimentio said.

"You're wrong, Dimentio. The heroes will collect The Pure Hearts and defeat you once and for all." Scowled Count Bleck.

"I doubt that, Blumiere. The heroes can't stop me. They are tiny compared to me, like a worm and a bird. The bigger one will always win." Dimentio said.

"I thought the same thing when I stole The Pure Hearts, but the heroes still defeated me." Count Bleck said.

"Yes, they did, but that's because you're pathetic, Blumiere. You were too focused on Timpani to concentrate on defeating the heroes." Dimentio muttered.

"Don't talk about Timpani." Count Bleck said angrily.

"Or what? You'll attack me? You can't, Blumiere. I used the power of The Chaos Heart to make me invincible." Dimentio laughed.

"You won't be invincible for long, Dimentio. The heroes will collect every Pure Heart and destroy your shield." Count Bleck said.

"Oh, alright then. Everything that happened to you will happen to me, will it? No, it won't. And do you want to know why?" Dimentio said, making Count Bleck scowl. "I'm not wasting every second of my time thinking about my love life. Oh No! Timpani hasn't returned! I'm going to destroy all worlds just because I can't find my girlfriend! Oh Dear! Pathetic!"

"Dimentio, I know you're not fully concentrated either." Count Bleck said. "Why do you look so distracted?"

"Be quiet!" Snapped Dimentio. "You're only saying that to make me nervous!"

"Yeah, right." Count Bleck rolled his eyes. "Can I leave now?"

"Excuse me?" Dimentio said, not believing what he heard.

"Can I leave now?" Count Bleck repeated.

"You idiot! You're going to stay here until I brainwash you, like a..." Dimentio couldn't think of a simile.

He pulled out a list and began reading it.

"Stay with me, stay with me..." Dimentio said as he looked for an appropriate simile. "...Like an umbrella with holes."

"What?" Count Bleck said, confused. "That doesn't even make sense!"

"I'm running out, alright!?" Dimentio cried. "Give me a break! Like a schoolchild being shouted at by his teacher!"

"Whatever. I'm not just going to sit here and wait for you to brainwash me. I'm going to escape with Mimi and Nastasia." Count Bleck said, when he sighed. "It's too late for O'Chunks..."

"Yes it is, and you better say goodbye to Mimi as well." He said.

I need to get rid of her as soon as possible. I can't let that girl get in the way of my plans. He thought to himself.

"You better not hurt her!" Count Bleck yelled.

"If I have to, I will." Dimentio said, turning around. "Well, it was nice talking to you, Blumiere. But now I must leave, like a leaf dropping off the tree in Autumn."

"No, get back here!" Cried Count Bleck, but he was gone. "Great..."

He walked towards the bars and began shaking them, but as he expected, nobody came to his rescue. He tried using his magic, but then he remembered Dimentio had used a magic spell to take it away. Then he realised something and clicked his fingers!

Magic spells!

...

Mario, Peach, Luigi and Tippi continued to look around for the throne room, but found nothing.

"We've been looking for an hour and we haven't even found any clues to where Bowser is!" Peach cried.

"Maybe there's a secret room or something?" Suggested Luigi.

They walked down a set of stairs, hoping to find Bowser or Saff's Family. But when they made it to the bottom there was nothing there.

"What? This base is stupid! There's barely anything in it!" Luigi muttered.

"Well, we better head back up." Mario said and they began walking up the stairs.

Suddenly the stairs turned into a slide and Mario, Luigi and Peach slid down it, Tippi following, concerned. They made it to the bottom and looked up angrily. They saw King Rocko standing on a balcony, looking down on them. Two Rockoes stood to the side of him with their spears. He raised his arms into the air, laughing.

"Haha, do you really think I could be so stupid!?" He laughed. "I knew you were here all along! And now I have trapped you! Don't even bother to get your friend back. He's already in the truck and he's about to be taken away!"

"No!" Cried Tippi.

"Where's the Chief? Chief! CHIEF!" Roared King Rocko.

Another Rocko, about half the size of King Rocko, ran onto the balcony, panting. He put down his spear and placed his hand on his forehead as he tried to catch his breath. He looked up at King Rocko.

"Yes, Boss?" Chief Rocko asked.

"Watch these prisoners while I drive the truck to the Tandoo Village." King Rocko ordered.

"Tandoo..." Whispered Tippi. "The village Saff lives in is the Sandoo village..."

Then she realised. The villages are in alphabetical order.

"Of course, Boss." Chief Rocko nodded.

"Good. I'll see you later." King Rocko said, leaving the balcony with the other two Rockoes.

"Great. We're doomed." Muttered Luigi. "We're never gonna Bowser back, and we're stuck here."

"Don't say that, Luigi. We've made it out of worse situations." Mario said, looking up at Chief Rocko. "Maybe one of us can distract Chief Rocko while the rest of us climb up onto the balcony."

"Yeah, but who?" Tippi asked.

Then they all looked at Peach.

"What?" She said in confusion, wondering why everybody was staring at her.

...

"Hey, handsome." Peach winked at Chief Rocko.

Chief Rocko stopped watching Mario, Luigi and Tippi and glanced at her for a moment. Well, it wasn't just a moment. He continued to stare at her.

"What do you want?" He scowled.

"Oh, I just wanted to talk to you." Peach said, smiling.

"Y-you did?" Chief Rocko said, trying to stay focused.

"Of course!" Peach nodded.

While Peach was distracting the Chief, Mario and Luigi tried to climb up the rock wall, but it was extremely difficult.

"Come on, guys! Think about Bowser! Think about Saff! Think about the world!" Tippi encouraged them.

"Tippi's right, Luigi. If we don't do this then Dimentio will destroy all worlds!" Mario said.

They continued to climb up the slippery wall. Meanwhile, Peach continued to flirt with the Chief, even though she hated doing it.

"Ugh, will they hurry up already?" She muttered.

"What did you say?" Asked Chief Rocko.

"Oh, nothing. So what's your name?" Peach smiled at him.

"Randy." He replied. "Randy Rocko."

"Are all of you in the same family?" Questioned Peach.

"No. Why do you ask that?"

"It's just every Rocko's last name happens to be Rocko." Peach said.

"Yeah, it's really strange. So, what's your name?" Randy asked.

"Peach. Princess Peach." smiled Peach.

"Wow, you're a princess? Sweet!" cheered Randy, when he stopped and cleared his throat. "Ahem. You're a princess? Which Kingdom do you rule?"

"It's called The Mushroom Kingdom. I came here to...visit different worlds. I wanted to see King Rocko, but he called me an intruder..." Peach sighed.

"Oh...right." Chief Rocko said, starting to feel guilty.

Then Peach realised that she may as well try to obtain some information on The Pure Heart.

"Have you heard of something called The Pure Heart?" The Princess asked.

"The...Pure...Heart?" Chief Rocko said, starting to get nervous.

"Yes. It's a heart-shaped stone." Peach continued.

"Yes, I-" Then he stopped. "Um...I mean...nothing."

"Um...okay?" Peach said, confused.

"...Okay, you broke me! I found it on the floor outside the base and I took it in for King Rocko. Then he sold it to the Tandoos!" Chief Rocko explained. "I would give it to you as a gift if I could!"

"Well, you could help me get it back..."

"How?"

"You can let me out of here."

"I'm not sure if I can do that..."

"But you said-"

"Alright, fine! I'll let you out!" Chief Rocko muttered. "But I'm only letting you escape! Don't tell The King!"

"Of course I won't!" Peach said. "You can trust me."

"I'll go get a ladder." Chief Rocko said, turning and walking off.

Mario, Luigi and Tippi watched him leave, and when he was out of sight they stood up and rushed to the end of the balcony, looking down.

"Peach!" Tippi yelled.

"Guys, hurry! He'll be back soon!" Peach said, getting nervous.

"Don't worry, we'll be quick." Mario reassured her.

Luigi stood on the balcony. Then he jumped off. Mario quickly grabbed his legs, stopping him from falling.

"Come on, Princess! Grab hold!" Said Luigi.

Peach grabbed Luigi's hands firmly and Mario began pulling them up. Peach tried her hardest to hold onto Luigi, but it was extremely difficult. Then Chief Rocko walked back onto the balcony.

"Hey Princess, I got you a-" He stopped, staring at Mario.

Tippi gasped. Chief Rocko ran towards Mario.

"Hurry, Mario!" Peach cried.

Chief Rocko was about to stab Mario with his spear but Tippi got in his way and messed up his aim, making the spear fall over the balcony walls and land in the dungeon-like room that Peach was being helped out of. Chief Rocko punched Tippi, making her zoom backwards and hit the wall. Then he hit Mario, making the plumber turn around in shock, dropping Luigi and Peach. They landed on the floor, groaning in pain.

Chief Rocko attempted to push Mario over the balcony walls but he dodged the attack, punching him in the face. Chief Rocko staggered backwards dizzily. Then Mario jumped into the air and landed on him, making Chief Rocko cry out in pain. Thinking he was defeated, Mario turned around, but Chief Rocko wasn't done yet. He grabbed Mario and pushed him, making Mario tumble into the wall. Then Chief Rocko pulled out another spear.

"I keep an extra one, just in case." He grinned, getting ready to attack the plumber.

Luigi was watching all this happen and clenched his fists angrily. He couldn't watch his brother get killed without doing anything! He turned around, looking for something to attack Chief Rocko with. Then he spotted the spear that had fallen into the room.

"Peach, give me a boost!" He ordered, holding the spear firmly in his hand.

"Luigi, what are you going to do!?" The Princess cried.

"Just do it!"

Peach sighed and crouched down. Luigi climbed onto her back and jumped into the air. He landed on the balcony wall, spotting Mario and Chief Rocko.

"I'm going to get a raise after this!" Chief Rocko laughed, lifting up his spear.

Mario squeezed his eyes shut in fear.

"Take this!" Luigi cried, leaping from the balcony wall and hitting Chief Rocko with the blunt end of the spear.

Chief Rocko stumbled backwards. Luigi landed in front of Mario, scowling. The red plumber slowly opened his eyes and gasped.

"L-Luigi?"

"Don't worry, Mario. I'll handle this." Said Luigi and jumped towards Chief Rocko.

Luigi was about to attack Chief Rocko again, when he slammed into the wall right next to him. Mario face-palmed. Chief Rocko laughed and kicked Luigi away. Mario picked up the other spear and hit Chief Rocko with it. Chief Rocko backed away for a moment before attacking Mario with his spear. That's when Tippi woke up.

"W-what's going on?" She asked to nobody in particular, fluttering upwards to see better.

She gasped. Luigi was unconscious, Peach was still trapped in the dungeon-like room, and Mario and Chief Rocko were fighting each other.

"I have to do something..." Tippi whispered.

She glanced upwards, noticing something.

"Give it up, plumber!" Chief Rocko roared as he deflected Mario's attacks. "I've already defeated the guy in green and the wretched bug!"

"Wretched?"

Both Mario and Chief Rocko looked up. Tippi was fluttering next to the big chandelier.

"Nobody calls me wretched."

Tippi used her wings to slice the rope that was holding the chandelier up. Mario and Chief Rocko screamed in terror.

"Run, Mario!" Tippi yelled.

Mario quickly dived out of the way, but Chief Rocko didn't get out of the way in time.

CRASH!

The chandelier landed on the balcony, glass flying everywhere. Mario picked up Luigi and leapt over the balcony walls to avoid the glass, landing next to Peach. Tippi flew out of the way. Chief Rocko was nowhere to be seen. Then, one lonely rock rolled out from underneath the chandelier.

"He's gone, guys." Tippi said.

Mario and Luigi climbed up the wall again, helping Peach up.

"Phew, that took quite a long time..." Peach said, when she suddenly looked up. "Bowser!"

The four ran through the door, entering the long corridor once again. Then they ran through it, looking for Bowser, hoping he hadn't been taken to the Tandoos yet. That's when Peach remembered something.

"Guys! I almost forgot to tell you something!" Peach panted as they ran. "Chief Rocko told me something about The Pure Heart!"

"Really? What?" Tippi asked.

"He said King Rocko sold it to the Tandoos!" Peach said.

"Oh No! We have to get it back!" Luigi cried.

"But how?" Mario asked.

"Maybe we can sneak onto one of the trucks and drive over to the Tandoos?" Luigi suggested.

"That's a good idea, Luigi." Nodded Mario. "But first we have to rescue Bowser, Saff's Family, and any other Sandoos we can find."

They ran and ran, but didn't find the dungeon or King Rocko's throne room. They passed many Rockoes on the way, but they managed to avoid them and continue running. After running for about ten minutes, they eventually came across a staircase leading upwards that none of them had seen before. They dashed up the staircase, hoping it would lead to the dungeon. They opened a door and ran inside, gasping in shock. Hundreds of Sandoos were in the room, chains attached to their legs and arms. Most of them looked battered and bruised. Mario, Luigi, Peach and Tippi looked around, feeling sorry for all of them.

"You guys look for Saff's Family. Bowser obviously isn't here." Sighed Peach. "I'll try and get some information on where Bowser is."

The other three nodded and walked off. Peach walked towards a man who looked extremely hungry.

"Are you okay?" She asked.

"H-have you c-come to s-save us?" The man asked, shivering.

"Yes, we have. I'll try and get these chains off you." Peach said and began fiddling with the chains. "So, have you seen a big turtle recently?"

"A big turtle? Yes, I have. Eight Rockoes came in and took him away about twenty minutes ago." The man said.

Peach gasped in shock. The chains dropped off the man.

"Thank you." She said and ran off.

She ran over to Mario, Luigi and Tippi.

"Guys! Guys! I found-" She stopped, seeing an extremely thin woman sitting on the ground with two children sitting beside her. "Is that..."

"Saff's family." Tippi nodded.

"Don't worry, we'll get you out of here." Luigi smiled.

"Thank you..." Whispered the woman weakly.

Peach helped the woman while Mario and Luigi helped the children. Soon all three of them were free.

"Let's help the others." Tippi said.

After about fifteen minutes every single one of the Sandoos were free.

"Follow us." Mario said and they all ran out of the room and down the staircase.

They ran through a corridor, staying in the shadows so none of the Rockoes would see them. They made it to the hole and crawled through it. They climbed up the tunnel, seeing the sky at the end of it.

"We're almost there." Tippi said.

They all crawled out of the hole and across the bridge. Suddenly, they heard a noise. It sounded like somebody was cutting something. They glanced at the end of the bridge and gasped. Two Rockoes were at the end of it, laughing. Both of them were cutting the ropes that were attached to the bridge.

"Run! Run!" Mario cried and all of them dashed across the bridge.

The ropes got thinner and thinner. The group, along with the Sandoos, continued running. Then the ropes snapped and the bridge fell. All of them tumbled towards the sharp rocks below. Mario knew this was the end. He had failed. Dimentio would use the power of The Pure Hearts and The Chaos Heart to destroy all worlds, and nobody would survive. His brother would die. The Princess would die. Bowser and Tippi would die. Merlon would die. The Sandoos would die. He would die. Everybody in The Mushroom-

He stopped moving. He slowly opened his eyes. He was floating in mid-air. At first he didn't know what was going on, but then he looked up. He was clutching onto Luigi's legs. Confused, he also looked down. The Princess was below him, holding onto his legs. A Sandoo was holding onto her legs, and so on. Then Mario realised what had happened. Somebody had grabbed hold of the cliff, and then somebody else grabbed hold of them, and then somebody else grabbed hold of them, and so on, until they were all holding onto each other. The Sandoo at the bottom of the line was only an inch above the razor-sharp rocks.

"Phew, that was close." The Sandoo wiped his forehead.

"Can somebody pull us up?" Asked another Sandoo, and soon everybody was talking.

"SHUT UP!" An elderly Sandoo yelled, making everybody stop making noise. "Look, we're THIS close to being impaled by spikes. Will everybody just be quiet and wait until the person at the top pulls us up!?"

Everybody nodded, embarrassed.

"Thank you." Muttered the Sandoo.

Mario looked to see who was at the top of the line. It was Luigi. He was sweating and his fingers were slowly slipping.

"Come on, Luigi! You can do it!" Mario yelled.

Luigi desperately tried to pull himself up, but it was no use. He sighed as his fingers slipped and he fell.

But he didn't fall. Just like Mario, he opened his eyes and looked up. Saff was standing there, clutching his hand.

"Don't worry, I've got you!" He said, trying his hardest to pull them up. "I need help!"

Then something terrible happened. A Rocko was standing behind Saff. Luigi noticed it and gasped.

"Saff! Saff!" He tried to warn him, but it was too late.

The Rocko pushed Saff. He stumbled forward, flipping over the cliff edge. Everybody screamed as they all began falling again. Then somebody grabbed Saff's collar and pulled him back, making him choke. He landed on the floor, coughing. He stood up and turned around, seeing hundreds of Sandoos pulling everybody up. Soon all of them were up.

"Let's get out of here." Whispered a Rocko to the other one.

They both turned and began quietly walking away, but Mario spotted them.

"Let's get them!" He roared and everybody picked up the Rockoes and threw them off the cliff.

The Rockoes screamed as they hit the ground, smashing into pieces. Everybody turned around and walked off.

Mario, Luigi, Peach and Tippi walked towards Saff's house and smiled. Saff was standing outside, hugging his wife and daughters.

"I thought I was never going to see you again!" He cried as he hugged his wife.

"Me neither!" His wife smiled.

Mario, Luigi and Peach walked up to Saff with Tippi fluttering next to them. Saff looked at them and smiled.

"Thanks so much." He said. "I'm sorry I couldn't find any information on The Pure Heart for you."

"Don't worry." Peach smiled. "We got some information while we were in King Rocko's base."

"Hey, isn't that King Rocko over there?" Saff's wife pointed to the end of the village.

Just like she said, King Rocko was standing by five trucks at the end of the town. He was ordering his henchmen to haul crates onto the back of the trucks. They noticed that some of them were filled with Sandoos, but there was one crate that stood out from the rest.

"What IS that?" Saff's wife asked, confused.

"EEEK! IT'S A MONSTER!" One of the daughters turned around and attempted to run away, but she accidentally slammed into the other one and they both dizzily fell to the ground.

Mario, Luigi, Peach and Tippi gasped.

"Bowser!" Peach cried.

She was right. The turtle was crammed into a crate all on his own. He was sitting down, muttering angrily to himself.

"Okay, we're all set, Boss. We'll see you later!" A Rocko got inside the van Bowser was in and drove off, the other four vans following.

"Come on, guys! We have to catch up!" Peach cried.

"Bye, Saff!" Smiled Tippi as she followed Mario, Luigi and Peach.

Saff waved goodbye and went inside his house, his wife and daughters close behind.

The four vans drove up the mountain. Mario, Luigi, Peach and Tippi followed them, leaving The Sandoo Village behind.

...

I hope you enjoyed this chapter! This chapter was longer than the other ones. Next chapter will have the group enter the Tandoo Village and find the two things they've wanted most. Can you guess what? Also, Mimi and Nastasia will try and use the magic spells in the drawers to escape Dimentio's Castle.