Just four more chapters for me to finish this story!

Enjoy! ;)


Chapter 20: Infiltrating Peach's Castle Garden

Upon exiting the clinic, they heard a Toad's voice:

"DR. TOADLEEEY!"

The Toad rushed to the clinic's entrance, where he found the group.

"Oh! Everyone! You hear the huge news?! The blorbs are cured! They cured it!" the Toad exclaimed.

"We did, Toad." Peach nodded. "Looks like the Mushroom Kingdom is safe from the blorbs, at least."

"Yeah! Dr. Toadley RULES! Now the mall will be JUMPING!" he then rushes into the clinic.

"Well, the blorbs are all taken care of. Now all we have left to do is to defeat Fawful… So let's use the Miracle Cure to destroy the castle blockade!" *Melissa said.

"Hmm, you know, I think it's best for us to do some shopping first for items. Who knows what we will encounter up ahead?" Mario suggested.

"My bro has a point. We should look for the mall at the west." Luigi finished.

The group nodded and went to the mall.


Some shopping later…

"Did you get everything we need, Mario?" Yoshi asked.

"Yep. I bought a couple of Mushrooms, 1-Up Mushrooms, Nuts, Syrup Jars and Refreshing Herbs." Mario checked his items.

"Okay, I think we're set now." *Melissa stated.

"Let's go! To Peach's Castle!"

The group wasted no time in heading to the blockade. Once there, *Melissa takes out the Miracle Cure, and eventually, circles of red, yellow and green lights coalesce into the star before sending out a laser beam of these three colors at the Fawful walls, penetrating them. Then, the three small stars pop out of the star, destroying the walls in the blink of an eye.

"Not bad, huh…" Wario remarked.

"Let's go!" Mario said as everyone crossed the bridge.


They approach the gates leading to the garden. Peach opens them and everyone went inside. On the other side, they saw that everything in the garden was dull and deserted, the statues of Peach had Fawful's head on them, and Mechawful Bodies and Metal Mawful Moles were patrolling this dull garden.

"Whoa… Such a mess…" Mario looked around.

"My… What did Fawful do to my place after Bowser sucked us in?" Peach asked.

"Dull remodeling, that's what." Donkey Kong answered, not amused.

"Alright, so where is the door leading to the pedestal?" Luigi asked.

"It's located at the backyard, and of course, the Green Key will open the door there." Peach answered. "We'll have to go around the courtyard to reach there."

The group ventured in the gardens, solving some puzzles and fighting some Mechawful Bodies and Metal Mawful Moles that tried to get in their way. Soon, they noticed that the backyard became a trash site. There, Mario saw something hidden in all of this junk; it was a simple picnic basket with a strawberry wheel to open it.

"I wonder what's this? Maybe I should take it." He thought before picking up the basket.

Then, they saw a pink trash can in the middle of another pile of junk.

"Nothing but trash…" Wario stated.

"MUH MUH MUH!" suddenly, they heard Midbus' laugh.

He came in by a hover board, with Viverna flying at his side.

"You guys… You seem familiar. Have we met before?" Viverna smirked.

"Soon Fawful will have Princess Melissa and take over her castle. And you go no farther than how far you are!" Midbus said.

"What ARE you?! Do you have a KO wish?" Wario glared at Midbus.

"You amuse me. I have fought Bowser. You are much fatter." Midbus teased. That was too much for Wario: his eyes twitches in anger and growls:

"Well, bring it on, then! C'mon, give it your best shot!"

"You speak rudely. And I permit it just this once… Soon Dark Star's seal breaks. And soon means later! Try to interfere with it, and taste my wrath!"

"Mmhm… Send your special weapon, Midbus! I'll be lurking behind the scenes!" Viverna snickered as she flies away.

Midbus takes out a remote control and presses a button, causing the immobile trash can to spring to life, gaining mechanical arms, legs and two yellow eyes.

"He is of trash. And you are. You, trash. I call you trash." Midbus said. Go be trashy in this trash hole with this trash robot forever! Go! Super Ultra Great Mega Trashy Monster Junker Bot!" he presses another button, but that caused Junker's eyes to shut and become immobile, and the heroes looked at each other in confusion. "What?! Nothing?!" Midbus didn't believe that. "Move. MOVE! Stupid junk!"

Then, Junker's eyes opened, and the heroes immediately stood in their fighting stances. However…Junker pulled out a radio and pressed play on it…and out of all the songs to play…it had to be Jump up, Super Star, the main theme from Super Mario Odyssey… With that, Junker began to dance to it.

"WHAT?! No one pressed 'dance'! You are broken!" Midbus gritted his teeth.

"Oh! This song is my new JAM!" Mario cheered, as he started to dance to the music. In fact, the rest of the heroes just shrugged and started to dance too.

"Are you serious…" Midbus muttered.

"Wow! Who knew Pauline was such a good singer!" Peach exclaimed while dancing like if she was on a dance floor. "Turn it up high!" she told Junker, who nodded back and raised the volume.

"WHOOO!" the heroes cheered.

The volume was so high that it even reached Viverna's ears.

"What is going on here?!" she questioned as she flew next to the location and peeked on the other side of a wall, only to see the heroes dancing with Junker. She first got mad at that, until she saw Mario and Peach deciding to dance jazz together. "Hmm, actually, that couple really got some nice dance moves." She commented.

Back with the dancers, Luigi, Yoshi, Wario, DK and *Melissa watched Mario twirling Peach around during their jazz dance and their friends cheered for them.

"This should NOT be happening!" Midbus' eye twitched. "JUNKER! WORK WITH ME!" he smashes the button he used to activate the robot, but it didn't respond and instead, it would dance right next to Luigi and Yoshi.

"Well, I would say that this machine has some wicked dance moves." Viverna spoke back at the wall. "Especially when it's jazz."

Soon, the song ended, and everyone cheered with Junker high-fiving them…while Midbus was extremely pissed off:

"STUPID PIECE OF JUNK!"

He angrily smashes the remote control on the ground, causing Junker's eyes to become red.

"Oh. Well, good. Now you work." Midbus said pleased. "Trash these trashguys!"

"Aww, do we seriously have to? I was kinda of having fun back there." Yoshi questioned disappointed.

"Seems like it." Mario replied. "We've already had our fun, but that trash can robot is our enemy."

"Mario is right. Let's take it down!" Peach finished before Junker charges for them.

Junker summons six Junker Cans and they charge after each hero, but they countered back, with Mario and Luigi using their hammers, Yoshi hitting it with his tail, Wario punching it back, Donkey Kong's Giant Punch, and Peach's tennis racquet. Yoshi and Wario then threw an Egg Bomb and a Bob-omb respectively at both Junker's 'hands', blowing up inside and it received some damage, giving a chance for Peach to do a Peach Bomber at Junker's body.

Junker then sends out a bucket and it fell on Mario's head. Junker took this advantage to take out a Thwomp and throw it at Mario, now blinded by the bucket. *Melissa managed to push Mario out of the falling Thwomp's way just in time before removing the bucket from his head.

Junker sent out three Junker Cans and flipped them upside down to make a Cheep Cheep, a Bob-omb and a Scutlet come out and attack the heroes, but they dodged them. Junker then throw balls of metal scrap at them, but they moved out of the way, however, Donkey Kong managed to pick up one of the balls and hurl it at Junker, leaving it dazed, giving the chance for Mario and Luigi to attack it with the Jump Helmet.

Junker then did another trick: he uses his vacuum hands to suck Luigi and trap him in one of the four Junker Cans. Yoshi, Wario, Donkey Kong and Peach took care of Junker while Mario stomps the correct Junker Can in order to free his brother. They then worked together to defeat the other Junker Cans.

Just then, a Chain Chomp and a Fishbone came out of one of the Junker Cans and charged after Yoshi, Wario, Donkey Kong and Peach, but they dodged them.

"I think it's time to test this thing out!" Mario pulls out the basket he had found in the junkyard, the Snack Basket.

"A basket? Where did you find that?" Luigi asked.

"I found it hidden in the junk. Let's see how this works out!"

Mario tosses the Snack Basket into the air and it opens, sending out lots of sweets like donuts, ice creams, cookies and cakes. Luigi opens his mouth and proceeds to eat all of the falling sweets. Upon eating all of them, suddenly, Luigi became very huge and bloated, causing the rest of the group's jaws to drop.

"HOLY BANANAS! HE'S HUGE!" Donkey Kong's eyes widened so much that they popped out in cartoony-style.

Luigi jumped and landed on Mario, who used every strength he has to lift the abnormally fat brother up and toss him. Finally, Luigi body slams the ground, creating a HUGE shockwave, but not as huge and powerful as Wario's empowered Butt Smash, and it hit Junker.

"I don't know WHAT the heck happened, but that was awesome." Luigi smiled after he turned back to normal and high-fived Mario. He then turned around only to see the rest of the group still in utter shock and with their jaws dropped. "Uh…what?" he raised an eyebrow.

"Hey, look over there…" *Melissa pointed at Junker.

Junker went haywire and dashed crazily at the other pile of junk behind the heroes, and it came back holding a large safe, tossing it to the other side of the large junk pile. Once the safe hit the platform on the other side, it broke, freeing Bowser, who was lying on his belly, unconscious.

"Bowser! His safe got tossed into this junk depository!" *Melissa told them.

"Oh, that poor turtle ended up here? How unfortunate…" Viverna came back with Midbus.

"You again?! What do you want?!" Wario hissed.

"It rages me how you trashed Junker, but this is far from over!" Midbus said.

"That's what you'll see!" *Melissa growled as she flew next to the evil duo.

"Hmm? HOLD ON A SECOND!" Viverna saw something suspicious in *Melissa. She ended up noticing the rose brooch that was on *Melissa's head when she turned into Starlow. Her eyes widened as she spoke: "That rose brooch… *loud gasp* Midbus! That is not a Star Sprite! That's the real Princess Melissa in disguise!"

"WHAT?!" Midbus yelled.

The heroes gasped in horror; Viverna has found the real Melissa right in front of their eyes!

"Oh… I really should of have removed my brooch before disguising myself…" *Melissa thought saddened.

"At last, I've found you, Melissa!" Viverna smirked evilly. "Now, remove this worthless disguise!"

"Hey! I'm not worthless!" Starlow came out of hiding and glared at Viverna.

"So the real Star Sprite was hiding all along… Well, time for the fun to begin!"

She creates a green poisonous cloud and sends it at *Melissa, causing her Starlow disguise to be removed. Melissa gasped once she returned to normal, but even more when Viverna wrapped her up with vines growing from the ground.

"Now that you've finally showed up, it's time to break the seal on the Dark Star and take over Melissa's Castle! Midbus! Let's go!" Viverna demanded.

"Yes, Lady Viverna." Midbus nodded while grinning evilly. "Soon, darkness will reign over the Mushroom Kingdom! MUH MUH MUH!"

Viverna picked up Melissa and takes off into the sky while carrying her, causing the vines to strap off of her.

"MELISSA!" the heroes cried out.

"Heroes!" Melissa called out. She then pulls out her rose brooch from her gown and a window from her pocket. "Catch!" she tosses both objects down, with Mario catching the window and Peach catching the brooch. "Place my brooch at the pedestal to access my castle immediately! And Mario, what you're holding is another item that I made; the Magic Window! Please hurry!"

Soon, Melissa, Viverna and Midbus were nowhere to be seen. Now Mario, Luigi, Yoshi, Wario, Donkey Kong, Peach and Starlow were the only ones standing in this area.

"Melissa… No…" Peach whimpered. "The Dark Star will be freed, and now the only thing remaining is for it to absorb the power of the Star Children, and darkness will cover this world… I'm afraid it's too late…"

Mario then looked at the Magic Window at his hand and the rose brooch on Peach's hand. He then spoke in a determined tone: "No. It's not too late yet." Everyone looked at Mario as he continues: "Look, we might not arrive in Melissa's Castle in time and we might not know the last Star Children, but we can still chase after Fawful, who could be residing in the Star Realm right now. We still have time to reach the door at the backyard and open the shortcut. Isn't that right?"

"That's it! After all, we do have Melissa's brooch and the Green Key!" Starlow exclaimed.

"Mmhm! So, what are we waiting for? The sooner, the better!"

"Right! The door is right over there!" Peach pointed.

The group walked to the closed green door and Mario inserts the Green Key into its keyhole. The door opens, and they found a circular field with a blue, yellow and pink star-shaped pedestal at the middle. It had a circular hole in it, probably where the brooch is inserted.

Peach approaches the pedestal and inserts the brooch on the hole. Eventually, the pedestal glows, and a white trail of stars showed up right in front of it, leading up to the skies.

"This is it; if we travel to this road of stars, we can reach Melissa's Castle in no time." Peach said.

They were about to walk on the road of stars, until Mario spoke:

"Wait, I think we should let Bowser head there instead."

"What?! Are you crazy, bro?!" Luigi flinched.

"Why, Mario?" Starlow asked.

"That's because he might stand a better chance at storming Melissa's Castle. Besides, he'll end up taking us along, since we'll remain in his body for the rest of this infiltration."

"Right… You might have a point there." Starlow nodded. "Let's go!"

They found a pink pipe right to the left of the pedestal. They went inside.

To be continued…


Who would expect that I took the part where Junker started to dance into a whole new level? I wrote this small dance party to add more humor to this story.

Oh no! Melissa has been kidnapped! The next chapter will reveal the last two Star Children, but I'm pretty sure it's obvious of who they might be! Please review.