Mt. Tourmaline
9:42 am
Clefford and the rest of the tour group were hiking cautiously along the mountain trail, wary of how close they had come to the very top. The air was cold and biting, and the sun was now hidden behind a sky of gray clouds as snow came floating down.
"What a moment of triumph this is!" the Bald Cleft declared proudly. "In just a matter of time that egg will be mine, and I shall be the richest Cleft in the world! HOO HA!! I can buy and sell the rest of your sorry selves!!"
Morris covered his face in his hands while everyone else exchanged looks.
"And best of all, that mustachioed ne'er-do-well is nowhere to be found!" Clefford chuckled to himself. "I suppose I showed him a thing or two! No one messes with Clefford! We'll probably never have to deal with that lout ever – "
At that very instant, there was a blinding flash directly in front of Clefford, and Mario, Goomblaine, Hanner and Stubba appeared out of nowhere.
"DEMONS!!!" shrieked the purple man.
"What in the – WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?!?" Clefford bellowed at Mario. "How do you have access to teleportation technology, and why on earth haven't I heard of it?!?"
"So much for keeping a low profile," Hanner grumbled.
Mario gulped, looking at the group staring at him and realizing that this was probably the worst possible place they could have appeared.
"Uh… sorry, no time to talk. Gotta run."
Clefford was stunned. "What the – AFTER THEM, YOU FOOLS!!!" he screamed as Mario and his partners scrambled up the path, trying to get away from the Cleft as quickly as possible.
"Dude, what's your problem?" demanded the Koopa. "Those guys aren't doing anything wrong! Why exactly are you trying to stop them?"
"Yeah! You're being a jerk! Who says we should be helping you?" agreed the Buzzy Beetle.
Clefford turned to face the group and narrowed his eyes. "Very well. I was hoping it wouldn't come to this, but… if you all help me, you get a complete refund!"
Silence.
"AFTER THEM!!!" shrieked the Koopa, and the entire group tore up the mountain after Mario's team.
––
"Uh, Mario," Hanner said nervously, "I hate to be a downer, but I think they're chasing after us."
"Yeah, I see it, Hanner."
Mario's party was racing along the precipitous rocky path, which was growing more and more narrow and winding more and more tightly around the mountain as they grew ever closer to the top. It wasn't really helping their nerves that there was now an angry mob pursuing them.
"Come on! If that moron of a Cleft gets there first, we're through!" shouted Goomblaine, who was racing on ahead of the rest of them.
"What'll they do if they catch us?" cried Stubba. Hanner was holding tightly onto his hand and pulling him along.
"Nothing I really want to picture right now!" she responded, panting under the weight of her shell.
For the next several minutes, the mountain was engulfed in a mad race to the top. Mario's team and Clefford's group were scrambling up the trail, hopping over boulders, hoisting themselves up onto rocky ledges and climbing up series of jagged peaks. Rocks and pebbles were skittering and sliding down the path as the tumultuous pounding of footsteps shook them loose, and frantic and confused shouts were filling the air.
"We're almost there, guys!" shouted Hanner, pulling Stubba up onto a ledge along with the rest of them. "We're gonna beat them, I know we are!"
Mario looked anxiously above his head. Hanner was right; the very summit of the mountain was directly above them. It was an enormous stone landing big enough to fit dozens of people, and next to it was a massive, arching cave set into the mountain face.
Suddenly, Hanner let out a yelp of surprise. The other three turned to her as she frantically reached into her shell and pulled out the Dawn Soul. How she had fit it in there was anybody's guess.
"Mario, guys, look! It's glowing!"
Sure enough, Hanner's Sun Soul was giving off a brilliant, pink-orange light that illuminated the entire mountain face. It hadn't shined so brightly since she had first found it.
"Put it away, stupid! They'll see it!" Goomblaine hissed, and she fumbled and obeyed.
"Why's it doing that?" asked Stubba.
"Well, I'm not an expert, but my guess is that it's reacting to the Sun Soul up there," said Mario, pointing up at the enormous cave above their heads.
"Then we must be getting close!" Hanner cried. "Come on, guys, we're running out of time!"
They raced off again, clambering up what little was left of the steep, rocky trail. Every step was a grueling effort. The blustery wind was blowing snow in their faces, and the air was so thin that Mario was growing lightheaded.
Finally, panting with exhaustion and fear, the foursome managed to scramble safely up onto the large stone landing.
They made it. They were at the very top.
"Okay," Mario breathed. "The Sun Soul has to be right in that cave. Let's get in there and – "
"NOT SO FAST!!!"
Mario flinched at the voice. He groaned loudly and hopelessly as he turned around. Sure enough, Clefford was standing there glaring up at him, and from the sound of it the rest of the group was close behind him.
"It all ends here, you pusillanimous buffoon!" the Bald Cleft snapped at him. "I've made it this far, and that thing is rightfully mine! You'll never get your mitts on it!"
"Ugh! Don't you get it?" Hanner said in disgust. "We're not after that thing for ourselves, stupid!"
"Yeah! It belongs to one of the Guardians!" Stubba added, stepping forward fearlessly. "Mario said so! So you can't have it, you meanie!"
Mario stared down at Stubba. He wasn't sure why, but suddenly he was glowing in pride at the sight of the little Clubba.
Clefford glowered at him. "What? Stop talking nonsense! It's far too late to get me to fall for a ridiculous yarn like that! Now, Mustache Man! If I have to fight you for that thing, I will!"
Mario stared at him incredulously. "I'm not fighting you!"
"You have no choice!" Clefford declared, sidestepping between Mario and the cave entrance. "The only way in there is through me! And I don't plan on losing!"
Mario shook his head. They were out of time. If Clefford stalled them any longer, the rest of the tour group would be there, and it would all be over. He was all out of ideas…
And then he remembered – he still had one last POW Block.
"I really didn't want to do this, Clefford," he sighed, drawing it out. "But you forced it on me."
Clefford stared up at the POW Block, and as he realized what Mario was about to do, his eyes flooded with horror.
"Oh…"
Mario whacked the POW Block, and the entire stone landing lurched violently beneath them. Clefford was flipped upside down, totally immobile and helpless.
"CHEATER!! YOU CHEATER!!! SUCH COWARDICE!!! I'VE NEVER BEEN SO DISGUSTED!!!" he bellowed, but he was completely ignored as Mario, Goomblaine, Hanner and Stubba raced past him and directly into the cave.
––
Mt. Tourmaline
9:59 am
The inside of the cave was huge and vaulting, the arched ceiling at least fifty feet above their heads. Although he didn't see anyone or anything else, Mario got the suspicion that they weren't alone.
"So, where is it?" Goomblaine asked impatiently, a little taken aback by how much his voice echoed.
"It has to be here somewhere," Hanner said in confusion, looking around. "We're at the very top of the mountain, just like Peach said!"
"What if somebody stole it already?" Stubba wondered fearfully.
Mario had been wondering about that too, but now he just shook his head. "That can't be it. We're the first ones here. There's not another person up here."
"Uh… except for him."
"Huh?" Mario turned to face Hanner, who was staring up at something and looking very, very afraid.
He slowly followed her gaze, and his eyes bulged.
Something huge, wide, and lumbering was standing in the shadows, glaring down at them. It took one step and passed fully into the light, and the ground shook with the force of several POW Blocks as it did so.
Its entire body was covered in thick, shaggy white fur. A pair of razor sharp fangs protruded from its jaw as it growled at them. Even as it stood in a slouch with its knuckles dragging on the ground, Mario nearly fell over as he craned his head up to stare into its eyes.
Stubba shrieked.
"It – it – IT'S THE ABOMINABLE SNOWMAN!!!" Hanner screamed.
"You mean that thing's real?!" cried Goomblaine. "Geez, I ain't ever gonna hear the end of this one…"
"WHO ARE YOU?" bellowed the enormous monster, immediately silencing the group. "WHY YOU IN MY CAVE? YOU ANNOYING GUYS WHO WAKE ME UP?"
As Mario heard its voice, he blinked. Though it was loud, booming, and deep, there was something that sounded strange about it… it sounded…
Female?
"Hanner," he said cautiously, "I think that Snowman is a Snowlady."
Hanner's eye was twitching. "WHO CARES?!? SHE'S STILL GONNA EAT US!!!"
The monster snorted in annoyance. "OF COURSE ME LADY! ME FRIEDA ICEFANG!" she growled. "AND ME KNOW WHO YOU ARE! YOU GUYS WHO MAKE ALL THOSE ROCKSLIDES!"
Mario was shocked. "What?! That wasn't us!"
"ME NO CAN SLEEP WITH ALL THOSE ROCKSLIDES!" Frieda said accusatorily. "YOU GUYS NO SHOULD BE HERE! ME PUNISH YOU NOW!!"
Without further warning, she started beating her chest and roared in fury. Though Hanner was having a panic attack and Stubba was crying out in fear, Mario recognized that they couldn't flee this fight.
Goomblaine immediately Tattled on her. "That's Frieda Icefang, or the Abominable Snowman, or whatever the heck she is! She's the famous monster who lives on top of Mt. Tourmaline. Usually she attacks by slamming her fists down on people, but she's also got a killer icy breath that could freeze you solid! So if she uses that, get out of the way, genius!!"
"Thanks for the tip," Mario grumbled.
Sure enough, the first thing Frieda did was lunge toward them and pound the ground with a massive fist. Everyone jumped out of the way in time, and Mario quickly ran back up and delivered a Power Smash right on her hand. She yelped in pain and jerked her hand back.
"YOU GUYS MAKE ME MAD!!" she roared threateningly. She started slamming her fists down in every direction, trying to pick off the members of Mario's team, but they evaded her every blow. In the meantime, Hanner got in a Hammer Throw that hit the Abominable Snowlady directly in the face, and Stubba pounded one of her fists in a very painful-looking Club attack.
"I'm telling you, you've got the wrong guys!" Mario shouted desperately. "We didn't cause those rockslides!"
"YEAH, RIGHT! ME NOT STUPID!"
All of a sudden, she wound up and swatted her huge hand at the group, hitting all four of them at once. They all screamed in shock as they flew backwards and skidded across the stone floor. Mario winced in pain, slowly climbing back to his feet as Frieda advanced on them.
"Oh, no!" came Stubba's cry. "Hanner, get up!"
Mario whipped around. Hanner was lying sprawled on her shell, unable to get back up. Not even she was safe from a Koopa's most famous weakness.
"I'm okay, Stubba," she promised, struggling to flip over. "I promise! Just look after yourself!"
Frieda quickly took advantage of the moment, letting out a roar and slamming her fist right down on Hanner and Stubba. Luckily Hanner rolled out of the way just in time, and with a thrill of panic, Mario grabbed Stubba and pulled him away at the last instant.
"Stubba! You have to be more careful!" he insisted. "You nearly gave me a heart attack!"
Stubba looked up at him in shock. "You were really… worried about me, Mario?"
Mario groaned and shook his head. They had no time to be talking about this now…
But, yes. He really was worried about the little Clubba. The last thing in the world he wanted was to see Stubba getting hurt.
He was snapped out of his thoughts by Frieda. She let out another bellow and came charging toward them again, only to be stopped in her tracks by Goomblaine. He leapt onto one of her huge fists, bounced off of that and started Multibonking her on the head. She growled in frustration and attempted to swat him away.
"ME TEACH YOU GUYS!!" she declared. She swiped Goomblaine away with a flick of her wrist, sending the Goomba slamming into a stone wall. He slid to the floor, looking stunned.
"Oh no – Goomblaine!!" Mario shouted, attempting to run toward him.
He was stopped short as Frieda stomped directly in front of him, opening her massive fanged mouth. A sound like a whistling wind emitted from inside it, and suddenly she blasted out a frozen icy gale.
"YIKES!!" Hanner screamed, ducking into her shell just in time. Mario grabbed Stubba and threw both of them to the ground, shielding the little Clubba protectively as he prayed the arctic blast would miss him.
It didn't.
It was cold… horrifically cold. Mario let out a choked gasp as the blast hit him full force, driving the air out of his lungs and encasing ice all over his body. He winced as he felt himself growing immobile.
"Mario!!" Stubba screamed, scrambling out from underneath him, unharmed.
Mario looked at him helplessly. "Stubba…"
Frieda wasn't finished with him yet. Now that he was defenseless, she looked ready to deliver the final blow. She stomped toward him, ignoring Goomblaine and Hanner's efforts to halt her in her tracks.
Mario watched in terror as she lifted up her fist. He felt like he was seeing it in slow motion. For a long, horrible moment it hovered there, and then it came plunging down, engulfing Mario in its shadow.
He squeezed his eyes shut, preparing for the end –
And heard Frieda bellow in pain.
His eyes flew open. Frieda was cradling her hand and howling in agony as she staggered backwards. He looked down at himself in complete confusion, deciding he hadn't been hurt.
Then he felt his eyes drawn to Stubba, and he realized what had happened. The little Clubba was using Spike Guard, holding his club high above both of their heads in a defensive position. Instead of hitting either of them, Frieda had slammed her fist directly down on the club.
"Are you okay, Mario?" he asked in concern.
Mario nodded slowly, looking at him in astonishment. "Yeah… I'm fine."
As the feeling slowly returned to his body, he unsteadily got to his feet. Goomblaine and Hanner quickly ran to his side as he faced Frieda, who was now looking severely weakened.
"I say we finish off this freak of nature right now!" Goomblaine snapped impatiently.
"Couldn't agree more!" Hanner declared. All four of them scrambled forward and unleashed their most powerful attacks on the Abominable Snowlady. Stubba had a determined look set into his face as he bashed her with his club at every angle he could manage.
Finally, after taking one Power Bounce too many from Mario, Frieda let out a strangled groan and started staggering and swaying dangerously, completely disoriented. The ground shook with every step she took.
"Uh oh… get out of the way, guys!!" Mario cried.
All of them raced backwards to safety just as Frieda came plummeting down. She crashed onto the hard stone floor with a force that threw Mario and his partners several inches off the ground.
As everything fell still, Mario's group stood frozen in fear for a moment. Finally, they cautiously turned back around and approached her, waiting silently for her to move. But aside from her labored breathing, she was still.
"Did… did we win?" Hanner asked breathlessly.
"I think," Mario replied, though with the utmost caution. Gazing at Frieda lying there in a daze, he started to feel guilty. She wasn't the real villain, after all… but they'd had no choice. That fight had been self-defense.
His thought was cut short by an explosion that rocked the cave and sent him and his partners flying forward and crashing onto the ground.
"Unbelievable," came a cold, chilling voice from directly behind them. "Unbelievable. You actually won?!"
Clutching at himself in pain, Mario turned over onto his front and found himself face to face with the three Darkstriders.
"You're an even bigger nuisance than I thought," Jaff spat at them. "I thought for sure that Abominable Whatever would waste all of you!"
"Well, you thought wrong," Mario said firmly. He tried to look strong, but that blast of dark energy had been incredibly powerful. From the sight of his partners lying wincing on the ground, none of them had the strength to stand.
"Yeah… we beat your stupid friend," Goomblaine growled weakly. "Feelin' pretty dumb now, aren't you?"
Jaff only laughed in response, in a humorless and sinister voice.
"You're the ones who should be feeling dumb!" he snarled. "You should've known better than to disobey us! If you'd just surrendered without a fight, maybe we would have spared your lives. But now that you've pushed us this far, there's nothing stopping us from ending all of your games right now…and theirs too."
Before Mario could wonder what he meant by that, the leader of the Darkstriders suddenly snapped his fingers. Two clouds of black smoke puffed up out of nowhere, and when they had cleared, there were suddenly two creatures standing in the room that hadn't been there before. Pell and Nobb were each gripping tightly onto one.
They were two Clubbas, one pink and one blue.
"MOMMY!! DADDY!!" Stubba screamed, forgetting all about his pain and racing toward them.
"Stubba?!" cried the pink one, but the little Clubba didn't get any closer before Jaff leapt in his way, snarling. Stubba skittered to a stop, frozen in fear.
"What's this?" he cackled at the sight of Stubba. "This is the best help you could get against us, Mario? A little baby?"
Stubba glowered up at him. "Just 'cause I'm little doesn't mean I can't do anything!"
"All right, I've had enough of this," Jaff growled. "Conversation time is over. Mario, you've caused too much trouble for us to let you live. You and your friends are all about to have a very unpleasant Game Over – starting with these two." He turned to Stubba's parents. "I'm going to let you watch them die, just so you can spend your last moments knowing it was all your fault."
"No! You can't!" Mario cried frantically, trying to get to his feet only to topple over again. It was no use.
"Pathetic," Jaff regarded him with a shake of his head. "I'm going to enjoy making you watch this, Mario."
He strode over to the two Clubbas, opened his hands, and prepared to launch a lethal blast of dark energy.
It was then that Stubba decided to give a demonstration of his new Hyper Bounce attack.
Curling into a ball, he launched himself at Jaff at mach speed. The leader of the Darkstriders shrieked in shock and pain as Stubba crashed into his head, sending him staggering and collapsing to the ground. Bouncing off of Jaff, Stubba flew at Nobb and struck him as well, and then bounced off of him and hit Pell.
But Stubba wasn't done yet. He continued to bounce off the three Darkstriders time and again, slamming into each one in quick succession, ricocheting back and forth like a pinball and moving too quickly for the eye to trace.
"Woah," was all Hanner could say.
When it was all over, Stubba skidded to a stop and uncurled himself, glaring at the Darkstriders who were now all lying sprawled on the ground.
"Don't you ever hurt my mom an' dad!" he shouted. "Or Mario! He's my friend!"
"Grrr…" Jaff growled, attempting unsteadily to stand back up and bristling in absolute fury. "So! The kid thinks he's cute, huh?"
"I'm adorable!" Stubba said proudly.
Hanner burst out laughing. "YEAH! You tell 'em, Stubba!" she cheered.
Jaff staggered to his feet. "I'm not going to be beaten by a little brat like you!! I should've ended your game then and there when we sent that rockslide down on you and your obnoxious parents!!"
At that very moment, a long, looming shadow fell directly over Jaff and the Darkstriders, causing their leader's eyes to bulge as he stared off at nothing, too afraid to look up.
"WHAT THIS?" growled Frieda from where she was towering over him. "YOU BLUE GUYS MAKE ROCKSLIDES?"
Jaff slowly turned to face her, looking very sheepish and very frightened.
"Uh, well… you see… about that…"
"YOU SAY MUSTACHE GUY MAKE ROCKSLIDES!" roared the Abominable Snowlady. "YOU BIG LIAR! ME NO LIKE LIARS! ME GET RID OF LIARS!!"
All three Darkstriders screamed, scrambling to get away as Frieda took one lumbering footstep toward them. They didn't stand a chance.
"No – no – don't – AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!" Jaff shrieked as Frieda made one enormous swiping motion with her hand, striking all three of them at once. Their screams were cut short as they each exploded in a burst of black smoke, which slowly faded away and left no trace that they had ever been there.
"Holy – " Hanner was stunned. "She – she didn't kill those guys, did she?"
"I don't think so," Mario said quietly. "Those guys are tough. They'll be back."
"Well, who cares," Goomblaine grunted. "Hopefully they're not stupid enough to come messin' with us again."
Frieda suddenly turned her attention over to Mario. "ME SORRY, MUSTACHE GUY," she said contritely. "ME NOT MEAN TO BEAT YOU UP. ME HOPE YOU OKAY."
"Oh…" Mario checked himself over and decided there was no harm done. "Uh… don't worry about it. No problem."
Hanner smiled. "Heh heh… I guess she's not as abominable as I thought. She's just misunderstood."
"Yeah, most mythical creatures are like that," Mario agreed.
"Stubba!" came another voice, and the little Clubba turned to find himself looking at his parents, freed once and for all from the grip of their captors.
"Mommy!! Daddy!!" he cried, sobbing in relief as he raced into their arms.
"Oh, Stubba… we were so worried about you," said his mother as she held tightly onto him. "I don't know what happened to us, but those awful blue things wouldn't let us get back to you."
"What a big boy you are," his father remarked. "You got up here and beat those guys all by yourself. We're so proud of you."
Stubba beamed up at them. "Don't worry, Mom an' Dad. I won't let anything bad happen to you, ever."
Mario smiled. "What a relief. He's back with his family after all."
Then suddenly, for the first time, he remembered their task at hand. "Say, Frieda… uh, do you happen to have some kind of glowy egg thing with you? We kind of need it. That's the reason we came up here."
Frieda looked surprised. "HUH? YOU MEAN THIS THING?"
She reached somewhere within her fur and pulled out a very familiar-looking object.
It looked like Hanner's Sun Soul, but its coloring was different. Rather than being the deep and rich color of a rising sun, it was a brighter, more vibrant orange-yellow that spoke of a warm and brilliant morning. But with its shining light and silver swirling waves, it was every bit as beautiful.
Mario smiled. "That's it, all right."
"YEAH, YOU GUYS CAN HAVE IT," Frieda said generously. "ME NO WANT IT. ME TRY TO EAT IT. NOT WORK SO WELL."
She bent down in order to give it to Mario, only to grow a shocked expression as it floated right out of her hand. Mario, on the other hand, didn't look surprised at all, and only watched knowingly as the Sun Soul floated directly away from him and towards a certain other person.
Stubba suddenly noticed something bright and shining out of the corner of his eye, and he turned away from his parents to see the Sun Soul hovering directly in front of him, glowing urgently in his presence.
"Oh… Mario!" he said in awe, immediately taking it in his hands and hurrying over to the plumber. "This is the Sun Soul, right? Are we gonna give it back now?"
This was it. Mario couldn't keep the truth from him any longer. Unsure of how to begin, he took a deep breath.
"Stubba," he said slowly, "there's something important I haven't told you about the Guardians. You see… not too long ago, a very bad man went and killed them."
Stubba stared up at him in horror. "He what?!"
"But it's not all bad," Mario went on quickly. "Because now there's going to be six people who are going to replace them. And that's who the Sun Souls belong to."
Stubba seemed to understand that, but momentarily his face clouded in confusion. He looked down at the Sun Soul in his hands, remembering how it had floated over to him so loyally, and suddenly started feeling a connection to it stronger than anything he'd ever felt before.
"Then how come…"
"That Sun Soul went over to you," Mario informed him, "because it's yours."
Stubba looked horrified.
"M-m-me?!" He cried out. "B-but I… why me? I can't be a Guardian! I'm not big enough! I mean, I don't even know how!"
"It's okay, Stubba," Mario assured him, getting down next to him. "Nobody really knows how to be a Guardian."
"Yeah… I sure don't," Hanner said with a chuckle.
"Hanner?" Stubba looked at her in surprise, then turned back to Mario. "But… but I can't do it, Mario! I won't do it right! I'm too scared!" His eyes were flooding with tears. "How come somebody grown up can't do it?"
"It doesn't matter how old you are. All that matters is that you're brave, and kind, and you'll always do the right thing. And that's good enough."
"And besides, you won't do it by yourself," Hanner added encouragingly. "We'll all be here for you, the whole way."
Stubba looked unsurely between his three teammates. "Really? All of you?"
Mario nodded and, for the first time, gave Stubba a genuine smile. It had taken long enough, but seeing the pure-hearted little Clubba fighting selflessly by his side and defeating the Darkstriders – and seeing him now, clutching the Sun Soul so closely to himself – had finally convinced the plumber of what he should have realized a long time ago.
What had happened in the past didn't matter anymore. Stubba was a loyal and wonderful companion, and a Clubba. And that was more important than anything else.
"We'll always be here for you, Stubba," he said, making the Clubba's eyes shine with delight. "I promise." And he hugged him.
Stubba cheered and hugged Mario back. Hanner let out a long "Awwwww" while Goomblaine looked ready to start gagging.
Mario found the Morning Soul! His Star Power is now 2! With Stubba's help, he can now use the special move, Freeze Frame!
~END OF CHAPTER~
After a long and grueling journey, Mario finally recovered the second Sun Soul high up the slopes of Mt. Tourmaline. Shockingly enough, the infamous "Abominable Snowman" turned out to be a new friend to Mario and his team. But what has become of the Darkstriders, not to mention their mysterious leader? Certainly they haven't been defeated yet, and Mario's next encounter with them will only be more dangerous than ever…
To Be Continued…
––––
A/N: Yaaaaay! I actually finished two whole chapters of this crazy thing! I'm on a roll!
I'm glad so many of you like the story, but you know I'm always open to constructive criticism. If you like it now though, you're going to like it even more later. Trust me, I haven't even GOTTEN to the good chapters yet. Just you wait… :D