Here's where things get interesting!

Enjoy! ;)


Chapter 3: The Trash Pit

"WOOOOOAAAAAH!" Mario screamed as he was falling down inside some sort of tunnel.

He fell and fell, until he landed…on a soft spot?

*RUMBLE…*

A loud rumble was heard…

*RUMBLE…*

…followed up by another one…

*RUMBLE…*

…and another…

*RUUUMBLE!*

…until it ended with a louder one, which woke Mario up.

"WAH!" he woke up in a startle.

He then looked around at his surroundings: it looked like he was standing in a dark and dank place and his feet was touching on what appears to be flesh. The background was showing many rocks, mushrooms, bushes and other objects stuck in a spider web-like…thing, as well as what appears to be many intestinal villus above. There were also pieces of wood and rocks carved into the flesh Mario was standing on. Ew…

Turns out that our hero is inside his archrival's body. More specifically, he landed in a place called the Trash Pit, which might be located in Bowser's large intestine, since we can see the path probably from the small intestine at the background.

"Where am I? This place looks…nasty." Mario cringed a bit, his voice echoes around the place. Just then, he heard a faint groaning voice:

"Ugh…" it was from Donkey Kong. So that means Mario wasn't alone.

"DK!" Mario runs to him. "You okay?"

"I'm fine…" Donkey Kong stands up. "But where exactly are we, Mario?" he asked as he looks around.

"I'm not sure…" Mario answered. "But we won't find any answers by just standing here."

"You're right. There's a passage for us to go through right there."

They both nodded and went through. At the other side, they caught glimpse of a strange yellow stuff in the ground, and they of course were grossed out by that.

"Geez! This place is getting nastier and nastier every time!" Mario cringed again.

"Yeah, I might be a curious ape, but I'm NOT touching that stuff!" Donkey Kong shook his head.

"Good thing there are platforms above us to cross."

They jumped on the platforms to cross over the yellow stuff and reached to the next area of the Pit. There, they saw something up ahead yelling:

"HEY! LEMME GO!"

They saw that it was Starlow who yelled, but she was engulfed in an amoeba-like thing.

"NOW! RELEASE ME!" she yelled more. "RRRGH! NOT how to treat a lady! YAH! QUIT IT! That…tickles! QUIT IT! NOW!"

"Is that Starlow?" Donkey Kong asked.

"Yes! But how do we get her out of that…squishy thing?" Mario puzzled.

"Just leave it to me!" Donkey Kong grinned and slammed his hands strong enough to create shockwaves at the cell, making it pop, freeing the poor Star Sprite. The duo quickly went to her.

"Oof!" Starlow shook her head to snap out of her dizziness. She then noticed Mario and Donkey Kong. "Mario! DK! You saved me!"

Suddenly, a Goomba-like globule came down from nowhere and cornered the trio by surprise.

"What the heck is that?!" Mario flinched.

"It looks like a Goomba…except egg-yolk shaped." Donkey Kong pointed out.

"Look out! It's about to attack you!" Starlow warned.

This globule-like Goomba, called a Goombule, charged after the duo, but they dodged it. Mario then did his signature Jump Attack at the Goombule and it exploded in watery-like bubbles.

"That's it?" Mario didn't believe that. "Usually it takes me two stomps to defeat a Goomba!"

"Then maybe it's not a regular Goomba?" Donkey Kong guessed.

"Hmm… DK might have a point there." Starlow confirmed.

"How can you tell?" Mario asked.

"I'm pretty sure we're inside Bowser's body."

"WHAT?! Oh, good lord…"

"After Bowser inhaled me, I woke up and wandered around, and then that amoeba thing grabbed me out of the blue."

"Hey, what about the others?" Donkey Kong asked.

"Hm? The others?" Starlow questioned. "I don't know…"

"Great… We're now somehow shrunk in this place and it makes look like a gigantic maze…" Mario sighed.

"Shrunk?" Donkey Kong raised an eyebrow.

"Of course we are shrunk, DK! For everything in here to look huge like that, we'll have to be in the size of an atom!"

"Well, I bet everyone else is in here somewhere, but…" Starlow said. "Right now I have no clue where anyone is…"

"Hmm… Who knows how in the world THAT happened, but one thing's for sure… If we don't find the others soon, we're all in BIG trouble!" Donkey Kong exclaimed.

"Whatever the case, we better press on. Who knows we'll find someone nearby?" Mario suggested.

"You have a point. Let's go." Starlow finished as they pressed on.


They encountered more Goombules as they moved on. Soon, they reached an area where Mario saw a familiar face up ahead that made him gasp in shock:

"*gasp* Luigi!"

They saw the man in green hung by a nasty pink tentacle thing with his face covered by the same cell-like thing that engulfed Starlow.

"Oooooooh…" Luigi moaned.

"Hey! Luigi, why are you goofing off up there?!" Starlow questioned. Another moan from Luigi came in response.

"Don't worry, mate! We'll help you!" Donkey Kong assured as he helps Mario climb on his hands and lifts him up to Luigi. Mario then grabs his legs and manages to pull him down, unknown that the pink stuff's remains have created two deformed Goombules.

"Luigi! You're okay!" Mario exclaimed. But Luigi still didn't wake up. "Hey! Wake up, Luigi!"

"Eh?" Luigi opened his eyes and stood up. He turns around and notices his big brother. "MAAAARIO! I WAS SO WORRIED THAT I'D BE ALONE!" Luigi bursts into waterfall tears as he hugs Mario while kneeled on the ground and crying on his shoulder.

Mario, being the big brother, returned the hug and gently rubs Luigi's back to make him feel that he's close. "There, there, my little bro. I'm here." He spoke in a soft tone.

But their moment would cut short when the two Goombules materialized from the remains, in which Donkey Kong noticed.

"Hey, mates… Sorry to interrupt your moment but we've got trouble in here!" Donkey Kong warned.

The brothers pulled away from the hug and glared at the two Goombules.

"Mario! Luigi! Stomp 'em!" Starlow said.

The brothers stomped on each Goombule and they exploded.

"Really? Dying in one hit?" Luigi was confused.

"That's because those Goombas were globules." Mario told him.

"Globules? Wait, don't tell me…"

"Yep. We're inside Bowser's body."

"OH. DEAR. GOD… Mario… You just predicted the future!"


Flashback (Partners in Time story, chapter 8):

"Well that's a first, getting eaten by a monstrous Yoshi." Tails said.

"Yeah, but what's next? Getting eaten by Bowser?" Mario questioned.

"Oh, hell no! *sigh* good lord, Mario… Don't give any funny ideas when we get back home." Luigi glared at him.

End of Flashback


"That was just a joke! I would never predict something like that! I'm pretty sure that it was just pure coincidence!" Mario said.

"Were you mates talking about your last adventure where you traveled through time?" Donkey Kong guessed. The brothers nodded.

"Phew…" Starlow flew forward, accidentally knocking Luigi down in the process. That didn't make him too happy:

"HEY! Watch it!" he got up and yelled angrily at Starlow. She didn't notice that and continued:

"Even inside Bowser's body there are enemies to fight." She then looks down at the angered Luigi. "Hey, Luigi!"

"Eh? What?" he questioned normally, but still a bit angered.

"Have you seen Princess Peach and the others anywhere?" Starlow asked.

"Sorry, but I haven't." Luigi shook his head.

"Hm… Not you either, huh…"

"Looks like they'll be tough to track down… Especially in a place like this." Mario stated as he looks around.

"Well, let's go ahead and try to look for Princess Peach!" Starlow said.

"And our mates." Donkey Kong added.

Everyone nodded and went on ahead. They overcame many obstacles and more Goombules to fight. Later, after riding an elevator, they noticed a crate with a hammer symbol on it, as well as large crates blocking a path.

"Wow, looks like Bowser inhaled all kinds of junk, huh?" Starlow said.

"Yeah, no doubt about it." Donkey Kong agreed.

"Hey! Look at this crate!" Mario walked towards the crate with the hammer symbol. "Luigi, are you thinking what I'm thinking?" he turned to Luigi.

"Yup, this crate definitely holds our gifted hammers." Luigi concluded.

"Gifted hammers?" Starlow raised an eyebrow.

"Oh yeah! Luigi and I received those hammers as gifts from our younger selves after that adventure!" Mario explained.

"Oh, I see…"

"Now if only we could break it open…" Luigi inspected the crate.

"I got this!" Donkey Kong smashed the crate with his fists, freeing the hammers.

"Wow! Nice job, DK!" Mario complimented.

"No problem, mates!" Donkey Kong replied.

With that, Mario and Luigi picked up the hammers on the ground.

"Thanks again, Baby Mario and Baby Luigi for handing them to us!" Mario thought happily.

Now with the hammers back, the brothers were able to break the crates up ahead and move on.


After solving puzzles involving hammers and beating two new enemies; Elite Goombules and Spike Blops, the group finally got out of the Trash Pit. They found another area up ahead and decided to check it out.

They have entered an area called Toad Square, located somewhere near Bowser's diaphragm and heart where some Toads have established item and equipment shops and a healing drink stand. This area was filled with blue mushroom-like platforms and more of that yellow stuff at the very bottom, which is confirmed to be mucus.

"Finally we made it out of that messed-up area!" Starlow exclaimed.

"Thank god! I was getting grossed out by all of that!" Luigi sighed in relief. "Except we probably won't see the light of the day until we find a way to get out…"

"Yeah… I'm kinda missing the daylight right now." Donkey Kong lamented.

Soon, none other than Toadiko noticed the group coming inside the square and turned around.

"Mario! Luigi! DK! Starlow!" she exclaimed. "You guys also got inhaled!"

"Toadiko!" the group exclaimed back in unison.

"That's kind of a relief! With you guys in here, we might actually have a shot." Toadiko said.

"Toadiko, have you seen the others?" Donkey Kong asked.

"What? All of the others?" Toadiko tilted her head. She then responded: "Well, for your friends, I'm not sure, but I think all the Toads Bowser inhaled including me are gathered here…"

"Really?" Mario was surprised.

"Yup!" a Toad came next to Toadiko while nodding. "Folks are doing what they can. Y'know, scavenging stuff from inside Bowser, opening shops…Problem is, this isn't exactly a high-traffic shopping zone."

The group became speechless and looked at each other. Donkey Kong interfered:

"Of course it isn't; there is barely any population in here. Bowser would have have to inhale EVERY Toad in order to make this work."

"DK has a point." Mario pointed out.

"Everyone got pretty antsy, sitting around doing nothing…" the Toad continued. "Opening up these shops was a nice diversion, y'know? So c'mon, you guys, give us a lift and buy something, huh? Me, I'm gonna go scout around and see if I can't find some more useful stuff." He then leaves.

"We'll be glad to do some shopping in here. Glad that I found some coins that Bowser also inhaled scattered around that place!" Mario remarked.

"Plus, this place looks like it's the safest one, by far. Maybe if we want to take a break, we could gather back here." Luigi suggested.

"I agree with you, Luigi." Donkey Kong agreed.

"You guys can take your time and look around." Toadiko smiled. "Also, Bowser is still asleep, right? I saw a location right next to this square that leads to Bowser's major nerve."

The heroes went to each shop to buy some supplies. After they were done, they followed Toadiko's advice and went into the next location.

To be continued…


Next chapter coming by tomorrow! Please review.