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Chapter 12: A bad face-to-face

As soon as the group arrived back at the Town, a Toad from up ahead announced:

"THE MALL IS OPEN! Construction's done!"

"Sweet! That means we can go there any time to buy some supplies!" Mario exclaimed.

"That's great! But for now on, we'll have to reach Dr. Toadley's office." Peach said.

However, when they went to the west part of the Town, they gasped in shock when they saw more blorbed Toads.

"OH MY GOODNESS!" Peach yelled in shock.

"The number of blorbs is STILL growing?!" Luigi didn't believe that.

"We have to get to the office as soon as possible!" Starlow told.

"Who opens a shopping mall at a time like this?" a female Toad grumbled. "So stupid! Everyone's down with the blorbs!"

"Yeah, the blorbs are not cool." A Toad shook his head. "But hey, that's why this is the EXACT time to cheer everyone up!"

"Yeah… True…" the female Toad muttered.

"Wait, Fawful said something about shopping… Did he meant that?!" Donkey Kong questioned.

"Oh no… I think so…" Peach lamented.

"That Fawful… I'm NOT forgiving him for that!" Mario growled as he clenches his fist. "Hurry! To the office!"

They wasted no time and reached Dr. Toadley's office. They went inside.


"That little cut on the back of my head is totally healed! Thank the doctor for me! And thank you, too…" a young Toad thanked Dr. Toadley's intern.

"Well, Dr. Toadley would like to keep an eye on it, so pop back in for a checkup next week." The intern said.

"Heh… Hope you help me then…" the Toad left.

"OK! Next patient!"

Then Mario and Co walked to her.

"Oh, what's this? Mario, Luigi, Yoshi, Wario, DK and Princess Peach!" the intern was surprised. "Is something ailing you today?"

"Actually, we're here to see Dr. Toadley." Mario told.

"The doctor can only see one patient at a time. I'm afraid you'll have to come in one by one."

"Sorry, but we have some sort of emergency, so we need to see him all at once." Luigi said.

"*sigh* we really shouldn't… For that, you really need an appointment… If you don't mind me asking, what ails you all? You seem quite healthy…"

"Oh boy… She won't let us see the doctor… Hmm… Hey! I have an idea!" Mario thought. "Well, you see…" He then fakes on having a sore throat by coughing, leaving the rest of the group confused.

"Sore throat! That could be an early symptom of the blorbs!" the intern exclaimed.

The group then saw Mario secretly winking at them, and they got what he meant.

"Oh! That reminds me! OWWWW! My chest hurts! It's affecting my heart!" Luigi fakes on having chest pains.

"No! Chest pains?!" the intern was shocked.

"Oooooh… I feel like I'm gonna throw up…" Yoshi fakes on having nausea.

"Nausea?!"

"My head hurts like hell…" Donkey Kong fakes on having a headache.

"Headache?!"

"Ugh… I'm feeling weak… Getting out of strength… And my muscles aren't helping…" Wario fakes on having muscle weakness.

"MUSCLE WEAKNESS?!"

"Oh no! Just look at my skin!" Peach fakes on having acne. In truth, she used makeup on her face.

"AND ACNE?!" the intern was now panicking. "This is an emergency! If you all get blorbed, the kingdom's doomed! You all must see the doctor immediately! Come with me!" she rushed inside the room where the doctor is.

"Good thinking, Mario!" Peach exclaimed. "Now, let's go see the doctor."

They all nodded and went into the room.

Oddly enough, Dr. Toadley's room feels more like a fortune teller's room as the group walked in with the intern.

"Doctor, your next patients are here." The intern said to him. No response. "Uh… Doctor?"

"GRAVE ILLNESS!" Dr. Toadley suddenly spoke, startling the group. "Do this group have an incredibly grave illness? Yes. Will there be catastrophic results if we do not cure their ills? There certainly will."

"But, doctor-…"

"Silence! You all harbor a virus most deadly." Toadley interrupted Mario. "Is it most gradually emerging? It most certainly is."

"Uhh… How does he know about our illness if he's facing away from us?" Luigi asked.

"This crystal imaging is how the doctor diagnoses patients." The intern explained.

"Oh."

"Watch carefully."

Toadley starts to move his hands on the crystal ball as he speaks:

"Yes… Do I see it? I do. And did it emerge? It did. A most deadly virus that will surely spell your doom… It is…called… BOWSERITIS!"

"MWAHAHA!" Bowser laughed in the crystal ball. "Somebody page me?" but it turns out that the voice also came from…behind our heroes? They turned around…and saw Bowser at the entrance!

"BOWSER?!" the heroes yelled in shock.

"Indeed! A virus most vile shows itself at last!" Toadley said as he turns around. "And is this the virus that plagues you? It is. And is it a pox on body and soul? It is."

"A pox? You're a pox!" Bowser hissed.

"I must be frank with you. Bowseritis is powerful. Recovering from it takes quite a bit of time. I'm prescribing ten days' worth of antibiotics. Take these three times a day. With food, preferably."

Bowser then dashed towards Toadley and knocked him into the air. Luckily, the heroes jumped out of the way to avoid getting launched too. They glared at Bowser.

"Mario! Green 'Stache! Dino boy! Fatso! Oversized ape! And Princess Peach! So you dolts wanna get the Dark Star, huh? AND you're trying to protect Peach? No way! Both the Dark Star and Peach should be mine! THEY WILL BE MINE!" Bowser roared.

"Bowser! We don't have time for fighting! Fawful is a more superior villain than you! Also, didn't you forget that we're supposed to work together?" Mario growled.

"Hmph! Don't you remember back at Cavi Cape? That once you're out of my bod, I would beat you in person? And you accepted that? Well, this is where it will happen! I have no idea how you got out, but it doesn't matter! THIS ENDS HERE!"

Bowser then proceeds to punch Mario, but he jumped over his arm to avoid it. He quickly hammers Bowser's hand, giving the chance for Luigi to stomp him on his head and Yoshi to do a Yoshi Bomb. Bowser then tries to attack them with his Goomba Storm. The heroes had a bit of struggle to avoid all of these Goombas, but Peach managed to knock some of them at Bowser with her golf club.

"Hm. Didn't expect you to be a fighter, princess." Bowser scolded.

"I am able to defend myself sometimes, you know?" Peach glared at him before doing a Peach Bomber at his chest, knocking him backwards.

"UGH!" he groaned from the impact. "Stupid little pests! Time to get burned!"

"That sounds bad! Hurry! Grab on to me!" Starlow said.

The heroes grabbed onto Starlow's legs and she flew upwards as Bowser tried to breathe fire at them. Since there was a lot of smoke, Wario took the opportunity to give a special gift for Bowser:

"Surprise!" Wario dropped a Bob-omb right in front of Bowser.

"Oh, crud…" Bowser sweatdropped before the Bob-omb blew up on his face. The heroes quickly went back down.

"Get knocked on your shell!" Donkey Kong smirked as he does his Giant Punch at Bowser's chest, and now he was lying on his shell to the floor.

"Let's give him a special surprise, Luigi!" Mario grinned as he pulls out a barrel cannon with a half red and half green arrow printed on it. "Yoo Who Cannon!"

Mario threw the cannon, and as he and Luigi disappears, eight cannons materialized. Out of each cannon came out either a Mario or a Luigi. There were four Marios and four Luigis in total.

"Yoohoo!" the Marios and Luigis taunted as they waved.

"What the hell?!" Bowser's eyes widened.

Then, one of the cannons rose up and aimed at Bowser, launching a Luigi at him. Another one rose up, this time launching a Mario at Bowser. The process continued until all of the Marios and Luigis were launched. With that done, Bowser faced defeat on the ground.

"Still…don't have…my…A game…" Bowser groaned. "So…very…weak…"

"And that's why you should never mess with us, Bowser." Mario crossed his arms. "No matter what, we'll always defeat you."

"Very…funny…"


Later…

"I see. So that is the reason you have come to me." Toadley said once the heroes explained everything to him. "If nothing is done, will the Mushroom Kingdom fall? It will."

"We heard word that you know all there is to know about the Mushroom Kingdom." Peach spoke. "We were hoping you might know how to break down the barriers at my castle…"

"Hahahaha! Heeheehee! Whoahohoho! Hohohohohoho!"

"Those laughs kind of creeped me out…" Yoshi whispered to Mario.

"I agree." Mario whispered back.

"IMPOSSIBLE!" Toadley suddenly announced, making the entire group jump in startle.

"Hey! Don't startle us like that!" Peach exclaimed.

"Is there anything I don't know? No. The answer to that is no. However! All my skills and magic powers are for naught in the face of certain realities… Those barriers are absolutely, TOTALLY un-knock-downable… Because of whose power? Fawful! Fawful!"

"Boy… Way to put a gloomy spin on things…" Starlow sassed. "The way things stand, we can't get anywhere near the castle… And the fate of the kingdom teeters on the brink…"

"Is it too early to give up? It indubitably is. I lack the power to break the blockade, that is true. But does the crystal hold another message? It does."

"It does?"

"STAR CURES!"

"Star Cures?" the heroes tilted their heads.

"Star… Star Cures… Three Star Cures… Three sages hold three Star Cures… They'll cure all the world's ills…" an image of the three Star Cures rotating showed up in the crystal ball.

"So all we have to do is find these three cures?!" Starlow asked. "Can the cures destroy the Dark Star, as well?"

"Silence. First, the blorbs that assail the Mushroom Kingdom… The Star Cures are the only means to stopping the blorbs. And with the three Star Cures, surely you will have power… The power to break the castle blockade? I believe so. Will they help you destroy the Dark Star? I do not know. But one thing is crystal clear. You must get the Star Cures."

"They'll cure the blorbs?! We've got to get them!" Peach said.

"So, where are the Star Cures?" Luigi asked.

"There are three sages. There are three cures. Each holds one." Toadley answered.

"Okey, right! Gotcha! Where are the sages?"

Then, the crystal ball shows an image of a forest.

"A vision emerges! One is likely in a forest!" Toadley exclaimed.

"A forest… Dimble Wood!" Starlow confirmed.

"MWAHAHA!" Bowser's laugh came in.

"Oh, right… He's still here…" Mario sweatdropped.

"That's all I needed to hear, baby!" Bowser grinned. "So I just need to grab three Star Cures?!"

"What? YOU can't find them!" Starlow hissed. "You know we'll find all three!"

"Aw, cry more, you big baby! You're just ticking me off! You're about as annoying as that Chippy thing in my gut! Well, whatever. OK, chumps! Nice guys finish last! You can stay with Peach for now, but I'm getting those three cures and then I'll come back to take her!" he then leaves the clinic.

"Hey! What sort of person is the first sage, anyway?" Yoshi asked.

"Hmm… Yes, indeed… That would take a lot of explaining…" Toadley said crestfallen.

"Hmm… Maybe Melissa might know!" Mario told Starlow.

"You're right! She knows everything star related, so she might be a good person to start asking!" Starlow beamed.

Just then, something shows up in the crystal ball.

"Wait! It emerges!" Toadley called out. "An image emerges! Look! Is this the first sage? It most certainly is!"

"Hey! We've seen that before!" Mario remarked.

"Yeah! It was that giant bug that I was beaten by!" Wario added. "But is that thing a sage?"

"Has this crystal ever been wrong? It certainly has not. The bug is indeed one of the sages, of that I am sure. How sure am I that it has one of the cures? 100% sure." Toadley said.

"But it's not in the forest at all! It's inside Bowser's body!" Starlow yelled at Toadley's face. "Bowser ate it in Dimble Wood and now it's in Bowser's body! That crystal of yours is totally off the mark!"

"Are you an expert in crystal reading? You are not. Are you out of your league? You are. Was the bug in the forest? It was. And that means the crystal speaks the truth. Moreover, now that you know the sage's true location, you will beat Bowser to the punch!"

"He has a point there." Luigi threw in.

"Oh, yeah… I guess that's true. It's pretty lucky the first sage is inside Bowser's body! We can just head back inside and grab the Star Cure from that bug-sage thing!" Starlow exclaimed.

"So, what are we waiting for? Let's go back…inside Bowser's body." Mario let out a sigh.

"But lucky is that Melissa might be worried for us! We've been out of his body for a long time!" Yoshi said.

"Yeah… I guess you're right." As they left the clinic.

"Is it annoying that I got mixed up in this? It is." Toadley sighed.


Outside…

The heroes saw Bowser punching through some construction billboards to head to the east, where Dimble Wood was located. Then, Mario saw a crack in the wall that was inaccessible before Bowser destroyed the billboards. He hammered it, and to their surprise, an orange pipe was revealed.

"Look at this pipe… It's like the one in Bowser's!" Starlow pointed out. "How lucky! We can move on!"

"Seems as though Bowser is headed for Dimble Wood…" Peach pondered.

"Yeah, but that loser has no idea the sage with the Star Cure is inside him!" Wario smirked.

"Well, let's go in!" Yoshi exclaimed as they all jumped into the pipe.

To be continued…


The hunt for the three Star Cures begins! Until the next chapter! Please review.