Hey guys! I finished this chapter a bit early so you guys are getting a bit of an early present! Sorry if this chapter is short, but I think it turned out fairly well. Let me know what you guys think!

Chapter 2

Hitting the Ground...Falling?

After almost a half hour of falling, Mario finally hit the ground. He had been unconscious for the entire fall, so he didn't know that he had been knocked out of Princess Peach's castle and had fell. Mario had landed in a forest clearing, seemingly in the middle of nowhere. All of the sudden, the seven Star Spirits' image appeared around Mario. Obviously, because they were sealed away, they couldn't be there directly, so they used some of their remaining power to project their images around Mario.

"Oh thank Heavens! He's been gravely injured, but he'll recover!" exclaimed an orange star with a pink bow whose name was Mamar.

The next star, a yellow star with a mustache, wasn't as optimistic. "But Bowser has the Star Rod! Now he's mightier than Mario. It's hopeless! All is lost!"

An older looking star with a large mustache calmed everyone down by saying, "Everybody just calm down. As long as we keep it together there is always hope. Now our fates are in Mario's hands. We must try to revive him. Gather round everyone. Send Mario your power!"

All of the Star Spirits did as they were told, sending all the power they could to the fallen plumber. Some star-shaped sparkles appeared nearby, but other than that, nothing happened. This exhausted the Star Spirits, because they really didn't have much power to begin with.

"Phew… that's it. That's all we can do for now. Mario… please get up… please," pleaded the older star. The Star Spirits, now drained of all power, disappeared one by one.

Meanwhile, at a nearby house, a young goomba named Goombaria was playing outside of her house when all of the sudden, she heard a loud crashing sound. Naturally, she followed the noise by ear to go investigate it. "It really sounded like something fell around here," said Goombaria. She then noticed the unconscious Mario. Not knowing that it was Mario, she began to walk toward the body. "Oh, who could that be?"

She began to look around the unconscious Mario to see if she could find any clues to recognize him. "This red hat… this red shirt… those overalls. Could this really be Mario? It must be!" Goombaria then tried every possible method to wake him up, including shouting, lightly nudging him, and even resorting to a light headbonk or two. She began to panic slightly, saying, "Oh no! He won't wake up! Oh, oh! What am I going to do?" She ran back to her house, and along the way, she screamed some of the names of her family members. "Dad! Goompa! Goombario!" She screamed.

Mario was still sleeping, but this time, he was in the warmth and comfort of a Toad House, which is basically an inn. Soon, the older Star Spirit from the group of Star Spirits that tried to revive him appeared in his dream. "Mario… can you hear me Mario?" the Star Spirit asked. "I'm Eldstar, a Star Spirit… I have something very important to tell you. It concerns the princess, and all of the Mushroom Kingdom. But sadly, I haven't the strength to talk to you here. Mario, I need to have you come to Shooting Star Summit. Please… Mario… we Star Spirits will be waiting for you at the summit." Eldstar then vanished from Mario's dream. Just moments later, Mario finally woke up. He climbed out of bed, looking for the Star Spirit that appeared in his dream. A few seconds later, a Toad opened the door, and was filled with joy when he saw Mario standing up.

"Oh… Mario! I'm so happy to see you awake!" The Toad exclaimed with joy. "You haven't opened your eyes for days! Everyone's been worried sick!"

"Oh. Well where am I?" asked Mario.

"Oh, this place?" replied the Toad. "This is Goomba Village, a tiny village just to the west of Toad Town. The only residents that live here are me and a single family of Goombas." The Toad saw Mario's look on his face, but calmed is fears when he said, "The Goombas that live here are just the nicest folks you'll ever meet. They're the ones that found you unconscious in a forest and carried you here to get better!

"Whew… that's a relief. Anyways, a star with a mustache told me to go to Shooting Star Summit. Have you seen him?" Mario asked.

The Toad was confused. "Huh? A star with a mustache told you to go to Shooting Star Summit? Well I didn't see anything like that, and I'm certain no one came in or out of the house! I wonder Mario… maybe you just had a dream." The toad continued when he saw the quizzical look on Mario's face. "Although, it could have been some sort of message from a Star Spirit. They live in Star Haven. Shooting Star Summit is the closest place to Star Haven… so that would make sense. Anyways, I'm glad you've recovered. Those Goombas sure would be happy if you paid them a visit."

Mario took in all of the information and thanked to the Toad. He then went out the door and looked around. The Toad was right, besides the little toad house, the only other house of this "village" was the house of the Goomba family. Knowing that he needed to get going, he trotted up to the gate that lead to Goomba Road, which was the quickest way to Toad Town from Goomba Village. By the gate was a goomba who was working on the gate.

"Howdy Mario! Feeling better? Feel free to rest in our house," the goomba, whose name was Goompapa, said. Mario then explained he needed to leave so he could go to Shooting Star Summit. "You have to leave right now? Oh, Shooting Star Summit? Something important, no doubt. Well, I believe that the summit is near Toad Town. You'll have to wait a bit. I have to fix the gate before you can head out to the east. That earthquake the other day really did a job on it. Did you feel that quake? Shoot! I thought the sky was falling. Just relax and don't worry. I'll have this fixed in a jiffy," Goompa babbled on. As Mario walked away, he could here Goompapa grumbling, "The hinge on this gate is kind of tricky!"

Having absolutely nothing to do, Mario decided to take up Goompa's offer to rest in his house. The house was very nice looking, with many quaint, wooden antiques strewn around the house. An older goomba named Goomma was asleep in one of the wooden beds, so Mario tiptoed through the house to the door on the other side of the house. Outside was a veranda suspended over a small forest. Off to the side was another older looking goomba named Goompa who was currently fixing the veranda. Mario, not having anything better to do, decided to go talk to him.

Goompa appeared startled when Mario got his attention. After regaining his composure, he began to speak. "Oh, you startled me! Hm, yes, Mario, isn't it?" Goompa said. "So you've awakened at last! Good, I knew you'd pull through! Call me Goompa. I'm the Goomba Grandfather, so… I'm Goompa. I'm sorry, but would you mind giving me details later? I'm pretty busy fixing the veranda." Mario just nodded and walked back to the front yard.

When Mario reached the front yard, a Goomba with a blue hat walked up to Mario. "Hey Mario! I'm Goombario, you're biggest fan! You don't know what this means for me to meet you, seriously." Mario blushed slightly from the compliment. Goombario continued, "Oh! My dad was looking for you. He said the gate was fixed."

Mario was pretty happy about that, and replied with "Alright, that's great! Thanks for telling me!" He then walked over to the gate while Goombario sulked, thinking he wouldn't get a chance to talk to his idol again. When Mario reached the gate, Goompapa and Goombaria were waiting by the gate.

"Oh, what a job! Sorry to keep you waiting. The gate is finally fixed," said Goompapa. "If you take the road straight ahead, you'll reach Toad Town. I believe Shooting Star Summit is just beyond there. It's too bad you can't stay, I feel like I just met you. But, duty calls, I know. Come back and visit if you can."

Goombaria also threw in, "Best of luck Mario."

Mario had taken two steps when suddenly; out of nowhere, a shrill cackle was heard. Kammy Koopa (the magikoopa that was with Bowser when he beat up Mario), who was on her broom, flew right above the gate. Mario was genuinely shocked that she had come all the way out to Goomba Village to find him. Eventually, Kammy stopped flying, gave an evil cackle, and then began to speak. "My instincts were right. Mario, I can't believe you're walking on your feet after taking such a beating from King Bowser. You're a hardy one, all right! I was smart to come here and check on you."

"What's that Daddy? What's that weird flying thing?" Goombaria asked. She was both scared and curious, and really wanted to know what that "weird flying thing" was.

"Weird? Why you little… I am a beautiful Koopa with a beautiful name: Kammy Koopa! I wish I had time to teach you a lesson, brat. But no. Mario, hear this! It is useless for you to try and save Princess Peach. Ridiculous! Laughable! As you have seen, King Bowser is more powerful than even you can deal with this time! Here's a gift from him!"

Kammy cackled softly before using her magic to create a giant yellow block. When she raised her magic wand, the block was raised with the want. She spent a few seconds aiming the block, and then she lowered her wand, which caused the block to fall at a high speed, flattening the gate.

Kammy cackled again before taunting Mario. "Mario! You will kneel and weep when you see the wonderful changes King Bowser has made. The worlds are ours now!" Kammy cackled once more, then flew off into the clouds.

Goompapa was not happy, to say the least. "I just fixed that gate. Nobody say gate to me. Kammy Koopa, that fiend!" Goompapa mused angrily.

"Well isn't this just great," Mario whined. "What am I going to do now?"

Goombaira, after being quiet for awhile, spoke up. "Dad, we've just got to do something, right? Mario's gotta save the princess. No one else can do it!"

"Hey, I have an idea!" Goompapa exclaimed. "Maybe we can break the block with Goompa's hammer! I think he's fixing the veranda with it. Could you please go ask him for it?"

Mario nodded, and went back through the house to reach the veranda. Goomma was snoring loudly, so Mario tiptoed to the back of the house to reach the veranda. Mario stepped out the backdoor, expecting a veranda. But when Mario stepped out, there wasn't a veranda, just empty air. Moments later, gravity kicked in, and Mario fell into the woods below.

Alright, so that's the end of the second chapter. Next time. we'll see where Mario lands after another fall. Please remember to review!