Chapter 2:

The Marvelous Mountain Race

––

Pietra Bluffs

8:00 am

Mario, Goomblaine and Hanner all climbed out of the Warp Pipe where the rest of the tour group was already waiting, and looked around in astonishment.

"Look at all those mountains…" Hanner breathed.

They were standing in the middle of a rocky terrain, and not too far off in the distance was an enormous mountain range that stretched far off in both directions. But from this vantage point, it was clear to see that one snowpeaked mountain was far taller than the rest of them.

"There it is! Glorious Mt. Tourmaline!" Clefford declared, quickly assuming his role as tour guide. "The largest mountain in Chronoside! First successfully scaled over a hundred years ago by Koopaul the Explorer! Nowadays, though, there's a trail that leads right to the top! Getting there should be no problem at all!"

"How many feet tall is it?" Mario asked curiously.

Clefford turned to glare at him. "How many feet tall is it?! HOW SHOULD I KNOW?!? I DO NOT WASTE TIME WITH SUCH TRIVIAL DETAILS!!!"

"I think my ears are gonna start hurting if he keeps doing that," Hanner grumbled.

"His face is gonna start hurting if he keeps doin' that," Goomblaine growled threateningly.

"Here's what our schedule is like, everyone," Morris announced. It was becoming increasingly apparent that he was the brains of the duo. "We'll climb halfway up the mountain, which will take us a day at the longest. Then we're going to stop at the famous Pebblegem Village, which is situated right in the middle of the mountain. It's a very popular rest spot for mountain climbers. Once we've restocked on supplies, we'll resume the climb the rest of the way to the top."

"Umm… are we actually going all way to the top?" piped up a female Buzzy Beetle. She sounded somewhat nervous, and everyone turned to look at her.

"What foolish question is that? OF COURSE WE'RE GOING ALL THE WAY!!! I need that shiny egg thing!!" Clefford snapped at her. "Uh… I mean… don't you want the full experience of the tour?"

"Well, I've just heard stories about that place," the Buzzy Beetle said shyly.

"Yeah, so have I," said someone else whose species Mario wasn't familiar with at all; he looked like a purple lump with a yellow tuft of hair. "Don't people say that there's, like, an Abominable Snowman living at the top of Mt. Tourmaline?"

Mario blanched. "Abominable Snowman?"

"Don't tell me you believe that," Goomblaine said to him in exasperation.

"Don't be ridiculous!! Of course there's nothing up there!" Clefford growled. "If there were, I most certainly would know about it already!"

"Uh, have you ever given a tour all the way up Mt. Tourmaline before?" asked Hanner.

Clefford blinked. "Well, erm… not a successful one…"

"Hoo boy. This was a mistake," muttered someone in the back of the crowd.

"THAT'S ENOUGH OF THAT!! This tour will go off without a hitch, and that's that!" the Cleft declared furiously. "Now let's go!"

And so the group set off toward the foothills of the mountain. It took them about an "hour" to make it there, and during that entire time Clefford continued to rattle off facts and statistics about the region. Mario began to suspect that he was making most of them up.

"Incredible thing about this mountain," the Cleft announced once they had finally reached the base of Mt. Tourmaline. "The thing is, it is so very tall, time actually passes as you go up it!"

Mario was stunned. "It does? How's that possible?"

"WHO CARES?!? All I know is that it's nearly ten all the way at the top, yes indeed!"

"If that's true, then that's awesome!" Hanner said with a smile.

"If it's true. This guy has a few loose screws," Mario said quietly to her as they started the long hike up the trail. "But I guess we're about to find out."

––

Mt. Tourmaline

8:00 am

The first leg of their memorable journey was an eventful one indeed. As the tour group began their climb, Mario and his partners slowly realized that Clefford had been right after all; as they continued to watch the sun, they saw that it was indeed climbing higher into the sky as they went.

"Isn't that something?" Hanner giggled.

"Yeah, real thrilling," Goomblaine muttered.

"Now then!" Clefford was saying in his overly loud and dramatic manner. "The trail up Mt. Tourmaline is famous for being fraught with danger and peril! All manner of dangerous creatures live around here, or so I've heard! But never fear! The great Clefford shall get us all safely through – HOLY RAPTUROUS RUINS, WHAT IS THAT THING?!?"

Startled, Mario looked up the trail at what had freaked Clefford out. He groaned when he saw it.

"Geez, Clefford, they're just Spinies."

"Nope. They're Mountain Spinies," Goomblaine said matter-of-factly as he pulled out his phone and Tattled on them. "They're way stronger and more violent than normal ones, and their shells and their spikes are made out of stone."

"MORE VIOLENT?! YOU DON'T HAVE TO TELL ME!!!" Clefford screamed as the gang of Mountain Spinies began chasing him around.

"I guess we'd better take care of this," Mario sighed. Luckily, he'd stopped at one of the shops in Soluna Town and bought a few POW Blocks before they'd set off, and he pulled one of them out now and gave it a good hit. In an instant, the ground jolted in a mighty tremor and the Mountain Spinies all flipped over, totally helpless (unfortunately, so did all the Koopas and Buzzy Beetles in the tour group, as well as Clefford himself). Mario, Goomblaine and Hanner then quickly dispatched of the enemies.

"There. That wasn't so hard," said Mario.

"THIS IS HIGHLY HUMILIATING!!!" Clefford shouted from where he was stuck upside down, his feet kicking in the air.

Once Mario and his partners had helped everyone up, Clefford brushed himself off, trying to still look dignified.

"Yes, well, that was very good work," he grumbled. "All right then! Mr. Annoying Mustache Person and friends! I'm appointing you three as the official safety patrol on this tour! You take care of all the monsters on this trail! Sounds fair, yes? Maybe then you can actually earn your way in this tour group!"

"Isn't protecting people supposed to be your job?" Hanner protested.

"Whoever said anything like that?! Now quit complaining!!"

Mario reluctantly agreed, seeing as the three of them were the only ones suited for battling anyway. As they continued to journey up the mountain, he and his partners defeated all the other Mountain Spinies that attacked. Mario wanted to preserve his POW Blocks, though, so it usually fell to him and Hanner to use their hammers against the stone enemies. They also ran into Swoopers once in a while, and Goomblaine seemed to enjoy Headbonking them into submission.

As Clefford had said, the climb lasted for what felt like the better part of a whole day. Everyone in the group was getting exhausted, and they stopped only briefly to eat the lunches they had packed. Mario and his partners hadn't had that luxury, so they had to subsist on Mushrooms.

There was one good thing about the tour, though. Mario hit a conspicuous-looking Block they passed by, and was delighted to find that it held a Multibounce Badge.

"What I could really use right now is Spike Shield," he decided as he equipped it. "But this'll still make things easier."

After they'd continued on for a while longer, Mario was broken out of his bored and tired daze as he saw Morris was handing out lanterns to everyone in the group.

"What are these for?" he asked as he got his. It never exactly got dark around here, after all.

"It's a safety precaution. We're required to give them out in case of a rockslide. We might get caved in."

"A rockslide?" Hanner asked nervously.

"There've been recent reports of them. Which is strange, because they almost never happened before."

"Maybe it's the Abominable Snowman, exacting his horrible vengeance!" cried the purple man.

Clefford glared at him. "Would you cease and desist with that foolishness already! Honestly! This so-called Abominable Snowman is no more real than the Tooth Fairy!"

"The Tooth Fairy's not real?" cried a fully grown, deep-voiced Craw.

Clefford grumbled to himself, shaking his head. "Listen, all of you," he said. "There is nothing to be concerned about on this tour! There will be no monsters, and especially no rockslides!!"

The minute he finished speaking, the ground began to shake.

"I hate you," Goomblaine said to Clefford.

The shaking intensified, and Mario and everyone else looked up and gasped in horror.

A group of enormous boulders was rolling, tumbling, and bouncing down the mountain at breakneck speed, heading directly for them.

"HOLY COW!!" Hanner screamed.

"EMERGENCY!!" Morris bellowed, instantly taking charge as everyone else flew into a panic. "THIS IS NOT A DRILL!! THIS IS NOT A DRILL!! EVERYONE RUN THIS WAY DOWN THE PATH AS FAST AS YOU CAN!! NOW NOW NOW!!"

"NO REFUNDS!!!" Clefford added as he scrambled to get away.

Everyone screamed and attempted to run to safety, but they were too late. All at once, the boulders reached the ledge directly above them and flew off, crashing down all around them and scattering the group.

"GOOMBLAINE!! HANNER!!" Mario shouted, frantically trying to find them, but he couldn't even hear himself over the crashing of the boulders and the screams of the others. Everyone was taking off without him, but he couldn't go anywhere without his partners!

"Mario!" came a cry. He whipped around in time to see Goomblaine and Hanner pinned against the wall as the rocks fell around them. Now there was a shower of pebbles streaming down as well, and tripping over those would be very dangerous.

"Guys! Over here!" Mario alerted them, but suddenly realized that the boulders were falling too violently for them to be able to escape down the path now. The rest of the tour group had vanished.

Not knowing what else to do, he darted over to them and pressed himself up against the wall as well, but that would only keep them safe for so long…

And then he saw it.

There was a cave a few yards up the path. Its mouth was barely bigger and taller than he was, but they could still fit through it.

"This way, you two!" he shouted, grabbing Hanner by the wrist and pulling her along. They ducked and dodged as the rocks kept falling, more violently than ever now, threatening to completely crush them.

They were almost there – they had to make it –

"In here!!" He shoved both his partners into the cave, then threw himself in at the last possible instant.

There was one more loud crash, and then everything was still… and dark.

––

For a long moment, Mario sat panting in the sudden pitch black, too terrified to move. His lantern provided hardly any illumination at all; he could barely see a few feet in front of his face. He had no idea where his partners were.

"Guys?" he called hoarsely. "Goomblaine? Hanner? Are you guys all right?"

A pair of affirmative grumbles came from somewhere else in the darkness. Mario saw two more lights coming from a ways away, and finally Goomblaine and Hanner came trudging up to him, each holding up their lantern.

"Okay, what just happened?!" Goomblaine demanded. "We nearly got flattened!"

"I'm not sure exactly what happened. All I know is, that was most definitely a rockslide," said Mario. "Now listen, you two. It's extremely important that we don't panic, all right?"

"Who said anything about panicking?" Goomblaine asked irritably.

Holding his lantern up high, Mario walked toward what he thought was the mouth of the cave, with Goomblaine and Hanner trailing after him.

"Why's it so dark in here?" Hanner wondered, sounding nervous.

Mario had suddenly come to a stop. "That's why," he said grimly.

His lantern was illuminating the mouth of the cave – or at least, what used to be the mouth. It was now completely covered up by a fallen boulder. There was no way out.

Hanner's eyes bulged. "We're – we're trapped in here?!" she cried. "We're stuck here for the rest of our lives?!"

"Hanner, what did I say about not panicking?"

"We're gonna run out of food! We'll starve to death!!" she shrieked, clutching at her head. "No, no – we're gonna run out of air first! We'll suffocate!! We're gonna die slowly and painfully and no one will ever know what became of us!!"

"Hanner – "

"OH MY GOSH!! WE'RE GONNA DIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIE!!!" Hanner was running frantically back and forth. "I'M TOO YOUNG TO GET A GAME OVER!!!"

"WOULD YOU SHUT UP?!?" Goomblaine bellowed at her.

"Guys, please!!" Mario snapped, and that was enough to silence them both.

"Now look," he said. "As long as we all promise to remain calm, we'll find a way out of this. I think we should explore the back of the cave and see if there's any other way out of here."

Goomblaine and Hanner both nodded.

"Okay. Now let's go."

All three of them slowly set off into the cave, holding up their lanterns and exploring every nook and cranny they could find. It was much bigger in here than it had looked on the outside. Eventually, as the cave grew wider, they split up and went in different directions, with Hanner going straight down the middle.

Mario treaded cautiously along, warily watching the light in his lantern as it flickered. He had to keep it burning. If all three of their lights went out, they were done for – there was no getting around that.

Not that having them lit was getting them anywhere. Mario cast his light all over, and all he could see were walls and ceiling. There wasn't an exit anywhere in sight –

"Oh my gosh – MARIO! GOOMBLAINE! GET OVER HERE!!"

Mario was so startled he nearly dropped his lantern. "Hanner?!"

"Come over here quick!!" came Hanner's voice from several yards away. "I found something – no, someone!"

Mario hurried over in the direction of her voice, and he saw Goomblaine doing the same. They stopped next to Hanner, who was holding up her lantern and pointing at something a few feet in front of her.

"There's a little kid in here!" she cried in alarm. "A little Clubba kid!"

Mario instantly felt a twinge of unease. "What? A Clubba?"

Hanner raced up to the prone form she had been pointing at. It was nearly impossible to see in the dim light, but as he looked, Mario realized there was indeed a little Clubba lying curled up on the ground.

He was very obviously young. He was only half the size of most members of his species, and his club, which he was gripping onto for dear life, was accordingly miniaturized as well. Furthermore, whereas most Clubbas had a mane full of bushy white hair, this one had only three little hairs sticking out of the top of his head.

He was gazing up at them, trembling in fear.

"I can't believe there was somebody else in here," Hanner said softly. She put her lantern on the ground and crouched down next to the Clubba. "Are you okay? Oh my gosh, you poor little baby."

For a minute, he didn't look like he was going to answer. Mario began to wonder if fear had made him mute. After a moment, though, he slowly lifted his head and looked up at Hanner.

"I'm not a baby," he said, sounding peeved. "I'm six!"

Hanner blinked. "Oh… I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings."

Still not wanting to leave him alone, she scooted over and patted him on the head. "What's your name, little guy?"

He only frowned slightly in response.

Hanner looked confused. "What's wrong?"

The little Clubba fiddled with his miniature weapon. "…My mom an' dad said I'm not supposed to say my name to strangers," he said reluctantly.

"…Oh. Okay," said Hanner, not really sure how else to react.

He seemed to be reconsidering, though. Who knew how long he'd been all alone like this. He just had to open up to somebody, and Hanner, at least, seemed nice enough.

"…I'm Stubba," he finally said.

Hanner broke into a grin. "Stubba! What a cute name!" she squealed. She grabbed him and attempted to start tickling him, but he began squirming violently in protest, forcing her to let him go.

"Do you know where my mom an' dad are?" he asked urgently.

Hanner looked surprised. "You mean, you don't know?"

"Wait a minute. What are you doin' in here all by yourself, kid?" asked Goomblaine. He sounded not very sympathetic, but still much more patient than he was around Mario and Hanner.

Stubba looked between all three of them with tears in his eyes. "I was with my mom an' dad," he said helplessly. "We were just going on a walk! I promise! But then there were all these rocks that fell down the mountain!"

"Another rockslide?" Mario pondered. "I thought those didn't happen often."

"I dunno where my parents are!" Stubba cried. He was actively sobbing by now. "We got separated when all the rocks came falling down! I ran away and I found this cave, but I couldn't find my mom or my dad! I dunno where they went!!"

Hanner looked horrified. "Oh, no… you poor thing," she said. She pulled him into a hug, and this time he didn't protest.

After a moment, she looked up at the plumber. "Mario, we're gonna keep him with us, aren't we? We can't just leave him here all by himself!"

"That snot-nosed kid? Are you jokin'?" said Goomblaine.

Hanner glared at him. "Goomblaine! For Pete's sake, show a little sympathy! This kid needs somebody to look after him until we can find his parents."

She turned to Mario again. "Isn't that right, Mario?"

"I… well…"

Mario was finding himself at a strange loss for words. If Stubba had been any other species, he would have said yes, but…

He didn't like Clubbas. He didn't trust them. His past experiences with them had ruined any chance of that ever happening.

Hanner seemed to sense something wasn't right. "Mario… what's the matter?"

"Oh, nothing," he managed to force out. "Yeah, we can keep him, of course."

As he said it, he felt his stomach start to clench.

Hanner nodded approvingly and turned back to Stubba. "You can stay with us for now, okay, Stubba?" she said. "We'll help you find your mom and dad. I promise."

Stubba looked up at her. "You promise?" he said weakly. "Well… okay."

Hanner smiled. She pulled Stubba to his feet and led him over to Mario and Goomblaine.

Stubba Joined Mario's Party!

Stubba is a little Clubba baby who's very innocent and doesn't like fighting. Nonetheless, he wants desperately to be useful to Mario and is loyal and dependable despite being so young. He can use his club to destroy cracked walls and surfaces, or any other obstructions blocking Mario's way. In battle, he can repeatedly whack a ground enemy with his Club attack, or use Spike Guard to prevent foes from jumping on him or Mario.

"Well, terrific," Goomblaine sighed. "In case you guys forgot, though, we're still stuck in here."

"Hmm…" Hanner looked thoughtful for a moment. "I wonder, maybe we can bust out of here now?"

Goomblaine stared at her. "How?"

"Maybe our new friend can help us," the Hammer Sis suggested. Holding onto Stubba's hand, she led him up to the mouth of the cave where the boulder was. Surprised, Mario and Goomblaine followed after them.

"Okay, Stubba," she said, "do you think you can use your club to break this big rock?"

Stubba stared up at it. "I dunno…"

"Please try," Hanner said encouragingly. "We don't know if we can get out of this cave any other way. If you can break it, you'll be our hero."

Mario had to admit, he was really impressed with Hanner. She knew just how to talk to the little Clubba.

At the same time, though, he felt guilty. He should have been the one looking after Stubba, not Hanner… but he could barely bring himself near the guy.

Stubba looked up at the rock for a little while longer, looking nervous. Finally, though, he nodded to Hanner.

"Okay… I can try."

He stepped forward, gripping his club uneasily. Mario watched doubtfully; he didn't really think someone as little as Stubba could break a rock that big –

And then Stubba bashed the boulder with all his might, and an enormous crack appeared in it.

"Woah!" Hanner gawked. "Do that again, Stubba!"

He nodded and whacked the boulder again and again, until finally, it burst into gravel and crumbled apart. Light instantly poured into the cave.

"YEAH!!" Hanner cheered, racing out of the cave into the sunlight. Mario, Goomblaine and Stubba followed after her, and she picked up the little Clubba and swung him around.

"You did it, Stubba! That was amazing!" she gushed. "You are one strong little guy!"

Despite himself, Stubba was actually giggling at the attention. "All Clubbas can do that!" he insisted.

"Well, I'm glad," said Hanner as she put him down, "or else we'd have been stuck in that cave forever!"

Mario wasn't paying attention to them. He was looking up and down the path, but just as he had feared, there was no sign of Clefford or the rest of the tour group anywhere.

"Guess he was telling the truth," he muttered. "If you fall behind, you get left behind."

Hanner realized what he was talking about and frowned. "Aw, man… how are we supposed to get all the way to the top now?"

"Are you guys lost?" Stubba asked in concern.

"Yeah, we kind of are. We have to go all the way up the mountain, but we don't know how to get there."

"Oh! Oh!" Stubba started jumping up and down in excitement. "Maybe we can ask my nana! She's really smart. I bet she knows how to get up there!"

"What happened to looking for your parents?" asked Goomblaine.

"We can look for his parents at the same time," Hanner replied, and Stubba looked extremely hopeful. "I'm sure there somewhere on this trail. They can't have gone too far away."

"Oh, you really think so, Hanner?" asked the little Clubba.

"You bet. We'll find them in no time," she said cheerfully. "But can you show us the way to your village, Stubba? You're from Pebblegem, right?"

He eagerly agreed, and so they followed after him as he marched up the mountain trail.

––

"Man, how long have we been walking?" Goomblaine griped after some time. "I'm exhausted."

"Stop complaining, Goomblaine," said Hanner. "I'm sure it's not much farther." She hated to admit it, but she was getting extremely tired as well.

"I think we'd better stop for a while," Mario decided.

"No way! We gotta catch up with the tour group," Hanner insisted. "Besides, Stubba's doing fine, isn't that right?"

When she got no reply, she looked down and realized that Stubba was sleepwalking.

"Uh… okay, maybe we should stop."

They looked around until they found another little cave in the mountainside, and after making doubly sure there would be no additional rockslides, they went in.

"Are we there yet?" Stubba asked sleepily.

"No, Stubba, we're stopping for a while," Hanner told him. "We're gonna take a little break and then we'll go the rest of the way, okay?"

Stubba was too tired to do anything but nod in response.

"Don't wake me up unless it's important," Goomblaine grumbled, sliding against the wall.

Mario sat himself down a little ways away from the others, letting out a sigh. He'd been walking so long his legs were going numb, and it was a relief to finally get to sit down for a while.

Absentmindedly, he watched as Hanner sat down next to Stubba, putting her arm around him until the little Clubba had nodded off.

As Hanner saw him looking at her, though, she frowned.

"Hey, Mario," she said, gently putting Stubba down and walking over to him. "You've been acting really weird lately. What's the problem?"

Mario cursed at himself inwardly. "Problem?"

"Yeah! You've been acting really cold around Stubba," she accused him. "What's the deal? I thought you were a really nice guy, but you've been treating him like he's carrying the plague or something! You won't even go near him!"

Mario frowned. He'd been found out. There was no point in hiding it anymore.

"I'm sorry, Hanner," he sighed. "It's just… I've had a lot of bad experiences with Clubbas in the past."

Hanner blinked. "Bad experiences?"

"Yeah… you had to be there, really."

How was he supposed to explain this? Twice now he'd had an encounter with a monstrous Clubba that could easily have been fatal. The first one had been invincible, which was bad enough – but what he'd done to himself to achieve that status was so horrifying it still gave Mario nightmares even now. And the second one had seemed friendly at first, even an ally of sorts – before he turned out to be a deceptive, two-faced monster responsible for nearly killing more than a few people.

Since then, he could barely even stand to be around Clubbas. There were just too many bad memories.

"Well, guess what, Mario," Hanner said with a disapproving look. "Stubba told me that his whole village is full of Clubbas. So you're going to have to deal with them, whether you like it or not. I'd suggest you get rid of your prejudices right now."

Mario guiltily lowered his gaze to the ground. Hanner was right, of course. He felt completely terrible. There was no reason for him to act like this.

"Well, see you in a little, I guess," she muttered, and turned and walked back.

Mario sighed and turned away from her, but he couldn't bring himself to fall asleep. He kept staring up at the ceiling of the cave and trying to calm his mind, but his thoughts were racing and his guilt wasn't letting go.

He looked over at the others. Goomblaine was snoozing off by himself, and Stubba was cuddled up against Hanner.

Mario looked long and hard at the little Clubba. He tried to convince himself that he was being an idiot, that Stubba was just an innocent little kid and there was nothing to worry about…

But he couldn't get the voices out of his head.

"What's this? Did someone tell you my secret? That the 'invincible' Tubba Blubba outside is just a shell, and I've been controlling it all this time? …That's it!! I'll never let you out of here knowing my secret!!"

"Whaddaya think, Gonzales? I've been using this here power-suckin' machine to drain all them other fighters dry! With all that energy, I'll stay young an' buff forever!!"

Mario groaned and covered his face in his hands.

"What's wrong with me?" he lamented.

Oh, come on Mario. There's nothing wrong with you.

Mario's eyes widened. All of a sudden, those other voices had gone away – and he couldn't have been happier to hear the one that had replaced them. It was young, female, and bubbling with personality.

Heck, I remember Tubba Blubba too, and he freaked me out! But, this guy's nothing like that. He's a little sweetie!

"I know, I know," Mario sighed. "And I know it's not fair to him for me to be acting like this. It's just… old habits die hard, I guess."

That's not the right attitude at all, said the other voice Mario had been expecting, this one much older and male. I rather think that boy is going to be very important to your little quest, don't you?

Mario smiled slightly. "He's a little different from you two, you know."

You just mean he doesn't have our explosive personality, the first voice giggled. Aw, that doesn't matter. I bet he helps you all the same.

Of course she's right, agreed the second voice. It might be hard for you, Mario, but you should never let the past control the way you live in the present. Take it from me.

"Yeah… you guys know best, don't you?"

The voices didn't say anything after that, but that was really all Mario needed to hear. He yawned and stretched, and within a few minutes he had fallen asleep, feeling much better than he had before.

––––

A/N: I hope Stubba came off as cute rather than annoying. You're supposed to like the little guy.

Unfortunately, school has now started (it does that sometimes), meaning I'm back to being without a reliable update schedule. But I think you know I wouldn't drop this.