The next chapter is here!
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Chapter 15: The first Star Cure
Thanks to the Boo-ray Machine, Mario and Co. are now able to proceed further into the Energy Hold to locate the first sage holding the first Star Cure. There was one big problem: this place was like a huge maze, filled with many rooms to explore.
As they were moving around this maze, Mario was thinking about the other Star Child they just found out, and spoke to his gang:
"Man, who would've thought that BOWSER was also a Star Child? I mean, he's a villain, and stars are mostly related to good people. How can Bowser be one of the chosen ones to become a Star Child?"
"Well, he does possess a great strength and can breathe fire like nobody else." Melissa told. "He's not so smart either, but I assure you he is the toughest creature who ever walk on the Mushroom World…"
"True that…" Luigi pointed out.
"His heart of pure evil has made him strong enough to defeat his foes. But every time Mario beats him, I feel that he grows weaker and weaker. Maybe that's why he's chosen to become a Star Child; to prevent him for losing his strength and recover quickly so that he could launch his next attack."
"Hmm, that makes sense. Gee… I've beaten him so many times that I almost never realized that. I never knew he'd recover so fast… Now I know because it's the power of the Magical Star in his heart that makes him recover some of his strength that he lost when he battles me…" Mario pondered.
"And with that, we now know two Star Children. There's still five more remaining, though." Yoshi said.
"I wonder if Fawful already knew that Bowser was a Star Child... After all, Melissa told us that he knows five of them."
"Yes. Fawful knew that Bowser was one of the Star Children. In truth, the reason he made Bowser inhale everything is that he was hoping that Bowser would also inhale the other Star Children inside of him. And because of his burly, aggressive and sometimes naïve personality, Fawful knew that Bowser would be the perfect host to hold the Star Children inside of him." Melissa explained.
"Wait! Then that means Fawful is using Bowser in order to bring the Star Children together!" Mario realized.
"Uh oh… If the other Star Children are inside of him, then that's not good, mate!" Donkey Kong warned.
"And worst of all, we already have a Star Child right here, that is Peach!"
"Uh, I didn't mean to change the subject, but what are those things?" Peach pointed to some nerve cell-like enemies called Napses coming to them.
"Alright, we'll worry about that later, so let's focus on finding the sage!" Mario said as he stomps on a Napse.
Later, they open up an odd door with a Star Panel, and on the next room, the Mario Bros learn the Drill Bros move, which was similar to the Baby Drill move, which allows Mario and Luigi to dig underground just like how their baby selves did in that previous adventure.
Once they finally open a door that has a complete star shape with the use of a full Star Panel, the heroes finally caught up with Durmite, and watched it fleeing up ahead. They wasted no time in following it.
They caught up with it again and were about to go after it, until Luigi stopped them:
"Wait! Guys! Let me catch it!"
"Okay!" Mario nodded.
Luigi then tip-toes slowly towards Durmite. But when he was close, Durmite stops and turns back, causing Luigi to cower in fright, making the rest of the group sweatdrop. Durmite tries to flee again, but Luigi tip-toes after it again, and once it stopped, he once again cowered in fright. Durmite then approaches Luigi's…tush, and sniffs it (I guess?) before latching its mouth on it.
"Uhh…" Luigi moaned.
"What the heck is he doing?" Wario whispered to Yoshi and Donkey Kong.
"No idea." Yoshi whispered back.
Durmite coughs after letting its mouth go on Luigi's bottom before walking again. Luigi once again tip-toes after Durmite and manages to catch it with his cap.
"Did you catch it?!" Mario wanted to know as he and the group approaches Luigi.
"I think I did-… WAAH! STOP IT! STOP IT!" Luigi screamed when Durmite tries to struggle to get out of his cap, causing it to move wildly with him. Soon, it stopped moving. Unknown to them, Durmite had actually dug into the ground in order to escape, so once Luigi lifted his cap, he of course found no sign of Durmite. "Hey! Where'd it go?"
Then, Durmite came out of the ground from behind them.
"There it is!" Donkey Kong exclaimed.
"Come back here!" Luigi called out as he once again traps Durmite with his cap. However, Durmite dug into the ground to escape and emerged right in front of Mario. "What the…?" Luigi turned around and did the same thing again, but Durmite digs into the ground again. "I don't understand…" Luigi murmured once he lifted his cap. He stands up and tries to look for Durmite, until Wario sassed:
"Face it, greenie. You'll never catch that bug like this."
"Yeah, Wario does have a point." Mario said. "It must've been digging under the ground when you attempted to trap it."
"So we'll need another strategy to catch it?" Luigi asked. Unknown to him, Durmite was actually sticking its mouth on his bottom again.
"Totally."
"Well, if that's the case, then we should get going."
But then, as soon as Luigi walked past them, they noticed Durmite on his bottom.
"Uh, Luigi…" Mario mumbled while staring at Durmite.
"What?" Luigi turned around, and Durmite detached from his bottom, landing in front of him. "Aha! There you are!" he once again uses his cap to trap it.
However, Durmite used its method of escaping and emerged out of the ground next to the exit; and was heading there.
"Oh no, don't you dare!" Luigi hissed, leaping after Durmite. Unfortunately, Durmite managed to escape into the tiny narrow passage before Luigi's hands could reach it. For a comic-relief moment, it even farted on Luigi's face before leaving.
"It can even FART?!" Wario's eyes widened.
"Look who's got competition!" Donkey Kong smirked.
"Shut up!"
"*sigh* oh well…" Melissa let out a sigh while shaking her head.
Later…
The heroes reached the end of the Energy Hold, where they found Durmite up ahead. Durmite once again tries to flee, with Luigi leaping after it followed up by Mario next. Yoshi, Wario and Donkey Kong also decided to join too.
"ENOUGH!" Durmite suddenly spoke, making the group jump. "Persistent men, aren't youuu? What is it you want with meee?"
"Wisdurm! Don't you remember me? It's me, Melissa!" Melissa said. "We need you because we need your Star Cure to break the barrier caused by Fawful who's after the Dark Star!"
"Hmm? The Dark Staaaar? Fawfuuul? The Star Cuure? Ahhhh… Traaaagic. Truly traaaagic. My sympathiesss. So let me get this straiiight; you want me, a sage, to give you, a nobody, the Star Cuure?"
"That's right!"
"I don't know about thaaat… Even if you're our known princeess, what physical proof do you have that your story is truuuue? Why should I believe youuuu?"
"But, Wisdurm-…"
"This Star Cure was entrusted to the sole care of me, Wisdurm! Why would I hand it over to men who lack any credibiiiiility?!"
"I could tell you, but I can't let my friends hear me. So hand us the Star Cure and I'll tell you."
"Hmmmmmmmmm…. You're quite persistent to meee, Melissa. This troubles meeeee. Your friends chase me without flaaagging. And now you demand the Star Cuuuure… Rather brazen, methiiiiiiinks…"
"How dare you say that!" Luigi growled, stomping his foot madly.
"Tut tut! Lost our temperrrrr? Somewhat childish, nooooo? And yet amuuusing! Regrettably…"
"Listen, my brother can sometimes lose his temper. So let's take things smoothly, alright?" Mario insisted.
"Very wellll… If you are so insistent that I give you the cure, we will battle for iiiiit."
"Wait, what?!"
"A battle with Wisdurrrrrm… The winner will own the Star Cuuuuuure."
"Okay, we'll accept it."
"Yes? Then we beginnnnn. Wisdurm battle sequence STAAAAAAAAAAART!"
Durmite then turns into Wisdurm, which is a pink version of her big Durmite form and she was also holding a magic wand on her tail. While she was transforming, she was attacked by Mario and Luigi's stomps, Yoshi's Egg Throw, Donkey Kong's Headbutt, Wario's bomb throw, Melissa's Shooting Star, and Peach's Vegetable.
Wisdurm then summons a pink heart above the heroes. The heart then shows an image of Mario before falling down at him, but he breaks it with his hammer. Wisdurm then shoots a laser of colorful stars from her mouth at them. But when the heroes were dodging the moving laser, Wisdurm uses her wand to make each of them switch places, causing Wario and Donkey Kong to bump at each other in the process.
"Ugh!" they groaned from the impact.
Mario and Luigi quickly attacked Wisdurm with the Yoo Who Cannon, causing her to shrink back to how she looked previously. Wisdurm then spits a long web-like thing from her mouth and uses it to swing at the heroes, but Peach knocked her back with her golf club.
Yoshi does the Egg Roll attack at Wisdurm, followed up by Donkey Kong's Hand Slap. But having Wisdurm take this much damage caused her to transform back into her medium pink sized form with the wand on her tail.
She then sends another magic trick: she fires two green orbs from her wand at Mario and Luigi, and once both spells hit them, they shrunk! The rest of the heroes gasped at that, but even more when Wisdurm was about to ram straight to the shrunken brothers.
"MAMA MIA!" Mario yelled with a high-pitched voice.
"HELP!" Luigi also yelled with a high-pitched voice.
They tried to use their hammers to keep them away from Wisdurm, but despite taking damage, that wasn't enough, especially with our brothers in this size. Suddenly…
"I'll NOT let you trample over them!" Donkey Kong came out of nowhere and grabs hold of Wisdurm's head. He struggles to push her back, but she seemed too strong, even for a very powerful ape. "URRRGH! Dang! How are you so strong?!"
"We could try to finish her while DK is holding her, but we are too small!" Luigi told Mario.
"If only we could break that wand, then the spell on us might break…" Mario pondered.
"I feel that DK won't be able to do anything in this state… Well, in that case, I shall help him!" Melissa thought before concentrating.
Just then, a golden aura appeared around Donkey Kong.
"Hmm? This aura… Is that the aura of the Star Children?! Does that mean I'm one of them?" Donkey Kong questioned, still holding on to Wisdurm. "I'm feeling…stronger than before! Unngh… Here it COMES!"
Thanks to the extra strength with the Magical Star's power, Donkey Kong managed to lift Wisdurm above his head. He throws her hard to the ground, causing her magic wand to break in half by the impact on the floor. With that, Mario and Luigi returned to their normal sizes.
"Yes! We're back! Thanks a lot, DK!" Luigi exclaimed.
"No problem, mates!" Donkey Kong replied.
"Now that we're in our normal size, we can finish that sage!" Mario pulls out a large pink ball with white stars printed on it. "Let's-a go! Super Bouncer!"
"Okey-dokey!" Luigi nodded as he hops on the ball.
Mario then spikes the ball and Luigi aims himself at its center in order to make it fall over Wisdurm. The ball then bounces off and Mario spikes it back into the air. The brothers continued this rally until Wisdurm shrinks back to her caterpillar form and faces defeat on the ground.
"Guh… Bluh… Gack… Haff…" she gagged.
"See? We always defeat any sort of thing that attacks us!" Mario grinned.
Then, Wisdurm was enveloped in a bright light and she morphs into her true form: a cute and delicate butterfly.
"Oh my! She's so cute!" Peach squealed.
"Heh heh heh heh…" Wisdurm giggled. "So you have bested me on the field of baaaaattle. That victory has earned you the right to see me in my true forrrrrrm. Wellll? Not too bad looking, hmmmm?"
The boys were speechless, since Wisdurm looked so cute in that form. Both girls watched them looking at Wisdurm in awe, making them giggle. Wisdurm continues:
"Now thennnn… I am one of the guardians of the Star Cuuures. We sages knew the day of the Dark Star awakening would come, and so awaited the Star Childreeeen…"
"The Star Children? We were actually trying to look for them. So the sages are related to the Star Children as well?" Mario asked.
"We have met many times, as you all well rememberrrr… The day Bowser ate me along with the giga-carrot was the day our fates crosssssed… It is clear we are connected by a fate that is beyond our poor comprehensionnnn…"
"Please! Your…Sageness! Please give us the Star Cure so we can break the barrier and stop the Dark Star!" Starlow begged.
"Of coursssssse… Here, take iiiit."
Wisdurm then hands the Red Star Cure to our heroes. Just two more cures left!
"I wish you luck finding the other two Star Cuuuuures… And Melissa, it was good seeing you agaaaain." Wisdurm bids farewell to them.
"Whew! Finally! We got one of the Star Cures…" Starlow sighed in relief.
"That leaves two more." Melissa said.
"Say, DK, did you really get a golden aura when you managed to hurl Wisdurm back in the fight?" Mario asked.
"I did, mate! Does that make me a Star Child?" Donkey Kong questioned.
"Yes." Melissa nodded. "I gave my blessing to you so that you could hurl Wisdurm and restore Mario and Luigi back to their normal sizes. So that makes you one of the Star Children, DK."
"I'm actually a Star Child? Sweet!"
"Just four more! We're so close!" Yoshi exclaimed.
"Well, with that out of the way, what do you all say we get out of here?" Starlow suggested.
"Oh yeah!" Mario nodded.
They all left the Energy Hold throughout a shortcut opened up by Wisdurm when she left, leading them to another area: the Joint Tower.
This area is located somewhere in Bowser's chest. The ground was bones and we could see some cells of something at the background, probably the skin cells. There were many nerves in the ground on the 'tower' part. Once the heroes made their way to the top, a voice called for them:
"Guys!" it was from Toadbert, standing all the way down. "You found your way here too, by boogity!" he then climbs up until he reached where the heroes were standing.
"Toadbert! What were you doing here?" Peach asked.
"So I've been investigating this area, and I discovered that this region controls the body slam!"
"Body slam?" everyone except Toadbert tilted their heads.
"Yes, by boogity! Body slam! If my calculations are correct, the body slam somehow doubles Bowser's weight while airbone. With that doubled weight, Bowser can slam into the ground with incredible force!" he directs to the three pressure points under the ground. "You see these three pressure points? If you stimulate them, you'll awaken the body slam… But right now the pressure points aren't active… Stimulating them right now wouldn't have any effect."
"I guess we'll have to activate those pressure points with something in this area." Mario thought out loud. "Luigi, let's see if we can find something!"
"Okay." Luigi nodded. He looked around and saw some sort of wheel made of bones on the right side of the area. "Hey! How about that wheel?"
"Hmm… Our Spin Jump could work on it."
Mario and Luigi did their Spin Jump at the wheel, causing it to turn and an energy sparked in its neuron, following its trail until it reaches the 'tower', activating the three pressure points, as they started pulsating.
Outside, Bowser began to feel something weird in his body again.
"Hey! My body feels…not right! What's going on in there?" he asked.
"The pressure points are active! Well done, by boogity!" Toadbert congratulated. "All right! Try stimulating those three pressure points, and we'll see what happens!"
Mario and Luigi used their Drill Bros move on all pressure points to let their energy spark in their single neuron. Once they were done, the energy flows into the neuron on the very bottom, causing the whole place to shake and the 'tower' broke apart. Wait, broke apart?
"Uh oh…" Luigi gulped.
"AAAAAAAAAHHHHH!" everyone screamed as the large platform fell all the way down. The sharp end of the platform touched some sort of core, causing Bowser to feel something good in his chest.
"OOOOOOH! What's going on?! That feels GREAT! Feels like power is building in my abs!" Bowser exclaimed.
"Looks like something's happened to Bowser." Starlow guessed.
"Body slam, by boogity!" Toadbert said from up above on a ledge. "I guarantee you he can do body slams now!"
Hearing that, Starlow calls for Bowser:
"Hey! Can you hear me?! You can do body slams!"
"Chippy?! What was that? Body slams?" Bowser questioned. "…What do I do?"
"You, uh… Uhhhh…"
"Just jump in the air, and while there, you ground-pound with your body!" Toadbert explained.
Bowser did as he was told, despite not recognizing Toadbert's voice at all, and he then learned the Body Slam, making him capable of activating switches that are hard to press by just stepping on them.
"GAHAHA!" Bowser laughed in glory. "I did it! That was awesome!"
"Maybe you should try that move out around there?" Starlow suggested.
"Huh. Yeah. Let's slam something."
Bowser tries this move on the nearby pink switch, and that eventually removed the wall blocking the way out of the tower.
"Not too shabby! I can use this!" Bowser remarked.
"That's good for you." Starlow said.
"Alright, I've wasted enough time! To Dimble Wood!"
"Aw, but we already got that first Star Cure…"
"You WHAT?!" Bowser's eye twitched in anger.
"Oops…"
"Thanks a lot, Sta-… I mean Chippy!" Mario glared at Starlow.
"How… HOW DID YOU EVEN FIND IT?! WASN'T IT AT DIMBLE WOOD?!"
"Well, the thing is, you actually ate the sage with the Star Cure alongside with the carrot you ate. The sage was what was causing you that stomach ache." Mario explained.
"So the first Star Cure was INSIDE MY BODY all along?! Goddammit!"
"Bowser, could you please calm down? Remember that we're working together! If we get the Star Cures instead, we should be able to break the barrier at Peach's Castle! After all, you want to take it for you, right?"
"Hmm… I guess you're right, Mario. Fine, I'll leave the Cures with you." Bowser sighed. Then, something came into his mind: "Hold on, if I recall, since you're the ones who's gathering the Cures, I think I've snatched one of them from an old Koopa and kept it with me at my castle in a safe!"
"You mean you have a Cure with you already?"
"And that old Koopa must be Kuzzle! So you stole from him?" Melissa asked.
"Yeah, I ended up trashing his house since I was in a rage, and stole the Cure from him. Well, I'll head back to my castle and find the safe."
Bowser then leaves the tower.
To be continued…
Another Star Child is revealed! And one of the Star Cures was obtained! Until then! Please review.
