A/N: Hey, look, another update already. You have winter break to thank for this.

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Starshine Circus

1:30 am

Mario's team and all the performers had returned to the circus grounds for a large amount of celebrating and relaxing. Dulia was having such a wonderful time with all of her friends that she never wanted it to end, but finally the inevitable happened and Mario decided it was time for his party to carry on with their adventure.

"So… you guys are going?" Benny asked unhappily as they were all standing around in the middle of the circus tent. "Well… gosh, we can't thank you guys enough for everything you did for us. We'll never forget you."

"Yeah, I guess you guys coming here was a good thing after all. Who knew," Imogen remarked.

"It was our pleasure," Mario assured them. "But now that you guys are all free, what are you going to do?"

Imogen smirked. "Well, we were planning on getting as far away from this circus as possible…"

"…But then we figured out, we don't know how to do much of anything else," Scamp finished.

Mario blinked. "Huh?"

"Yeah, we're staying here after all," Benny said with a smile. "Don't worry about us… Diavelli's gone. Things are gonna be completely different around here. This circus is going to be the way we want it to be."

Hanner beamed. "That's great! We'll be sure to come watch you guys whenever we can!"

Mario turned to his newest partner. "Is that all right with you, Dulia?" he asked. "I mean, once we're done saving the world, do you really want to go back to performing?"

Dulia smiled at him. "Oh… I'll be just fine, Mario," she promised. "As long as I'm with my friends, I'll be happy. I'm part of the Starshine Circus, now and forever!"

Benny frowned. "Oh, Dulia… do you really have to leave?" he asked plaintively, floating over to her. "I mean… I know you're off doing something important and all, but I'm really – I mean, we're really gonna miss you…"

"Don't worry, Benny," said Dulia, pecking him on the cheek. "I'll be back before you know it. Besides… this is something I have to do. You and Gen were always looking after me. Now I have to go and do this for you guys."

Benny stared at her with wide eyes as she said that. He briefly started shaking all over before he finally burst into tears.

"Oh – oh my gosh! Th-that's so – so beautiful!" he sobbed. Dulia was completely taken aback by his reaction and could only pat him on the back.

Imogen rolled her eyes. "Thank you, Benny. I was afraid this goodbye wasn't sappy enough already."

Dulia immediately noticed her. "And I'll miss you too, Gen," she said, walking over and giving her a hug. "You've always been just like a big sister…"

Imogen looked stunned at Dulia's display of affection. "Wait a sec – why am I feeling all emotional all of a sudden?" she protested. "I… oh, what the heck. Just be careful out there, kiddo," she said, ruffling Dulia's hair.

Mario smiled at this until Imogen noticed him and turned to him. "And you," she said. "If I get word that you let one little hair on her head get hurt…" She pounded her fist into her palm.

Mario blanched a little. "Uh… right. I'll remember that."

"Oh, you guys don't have to worry," Hanner said good-naturedly. "She'll be just fine with us."

"Wouldn't let anything happen to the little darlin'," Snatchel agreed.

"Yeah! If anybody tries to hurt her, I'll beat 'em up like this!" said Stubba, demonstratively swinging his club around and smashing it into the ground.

Even Imogen had to laugh at that.

––

––

Soluna Town

12:00 Noon

Once the team had bidden farewell to the circus and ridden the trolley back to Soluna Town, Mario had immediately returned them to the Daytime world, figuring Dulia would like to see the sun again. He was right. She laughed ecstatically as she scampered around town, twirling around and basking in the midday light.

"Oh, I've missed this so much," she sighed, ignoring the looks she was getting from passerby. "Mario, let's not go back to Nightside unless we absolutely have to, okay?"

"Well, we'll have to eventually," Mario told her. "But I can only imagine how awful it must be living in Nightside when you can still remember the sun… don't worry, all of that's over."

Just like last time, Mario's first course of action was to lead Dulia over to the Star Pedestal in the center of town. He pulled out one of the two Lumas he was still carting around, and it immediately hopped up onto the pedestal in excitement. Dulia was stunned when it told her it was willing to level her up out of gratitude.

"Oh… Mario! Are you sure you want to do this for me?" she asked, starting to blush.

"Dulia, of course! Everybody on this team gets to be leveled up, and you're no exception!" Mario assured her. Mollified, she watched and giggled nervously as the Luma started twirling around and the ensuing sparkles enveloped her in a bright flash.

Dulia was upgraded to Super Rank! She can now use Plasma Shield to protect Mario and absorb an attack!

"Oh, wow," Dulia marveled, gazing down at herself as the Luma ascended into the sky in a beam of light. "This is so cool! Now I can help you even more, Mario! That's so great!"

Mario grinned. He wished everybody could be as enthusiastic as she was.

With nothing else to take care of, the plumber led his team over to Rodolfo's house just like he always did, but as he knocked on the door he was confused to find that no one was answering. He tried opening the door himself, but it was locked.

"He's not home?" asked Hanner. "That's not like him! Where could he be?"

"I knew he'd flake out on us," Goomblaine grumbled.

"Mario? Oh, Mario! Over here!" came a voice from across the street. Surprised, Mario turned around and saw Rodolfo, along with Peach, Luigi and Toadsworth, sitting at a table outside a small café and waving at them. Each of them had a small glass of water in front of them.

"Oh, there you guys are," Mario said in relief as his group walked across the street and joined them.

"Sorry if we worried you, Mario. I hope you don't mind us getting out of the house for a while. It was getting quite cramped in there," Rodolfo chuckled. "So, then! I see we have another teammate with us!"

"Oh, she's positively precious!" Peach fawned, dashing over to Dulia and maternally straightening out her clown collar. The Duplighost looked a little uneasy.

"Don't worry. She does this a lot," Mario muttered to her. "Uh, so anyway, Peach, can you tell us where the next Sun Soul is?"

Peach's smile fell slightly. "Well… you might not like this, Mario," she replied. "We all found out that this one's being held in some factory, at the source of the Trickleback River. It sounds like a very dangerous place."

Mario looked puzzled. "A factory? Rodolfo, do you know anything about that?"

"No, I can't say I can," Rodolfo replied with a shake of his head. "But if Princess Peach is correct and it's at the source of the Trickleback River, it shouldn't be at all hard to find. That river is the single most important landmark in the country, after all!"

Mario quickly handed Rodolfo the map to see what he meant. The Doogan unrolled it over the table and gestured at a thick blue line that ran through the country, going northeast out of Soluna Town before bending to the southeast, which was its origin. Countless smaller rivers and creeks branched off along its entire length, spidering out and covering every region of the country. Mario realized he'd noticed this river every other time he'd looked at the map, but had never thought anything of it.

"So, we're going to have to go upstream to get to the source of this river," he interpreted. "And then what? We don't have any idea about this factory, wherever it is. We should have a better idea of what we're getting into."

Rodolfo shrugged. "I'm sorry, Mario, but I'm afraid there's not much else to find out. Perhaps during your travels up the river you'll find someone who can give you more information. Until then, you'd better just – "

He was very abruptly cut off by Peach. She had been in the middle of taking a sip of her glass of water, when suddenly her eyes bulged and she violently spat the water out with a look of disgust.

Mario turned to her in shock. "Peach? Are you okay?"

Peach had dropped her glass and was now panting as she grabbed at her throat. "There's… there's something wrong with that water…" she gasped.

Mario frowned. "What?"

Confused, he reached down and picked up Peach's glass. Ever so slowly and carefully, he brought it up and smelled it – and the odor was so repugnant that he jerked backward and literally threw the glass out of his hands.

The worst part was, he recognized that smell.

"The water…" he muttered as everyone stared at him in fright. "It smells like… it's been poisoned."

Before anyone could say anything else, they suddenly heard a series of loud, confused shouts coming from inside the café. The entire group rushed inside and realized what was going on. Back in the kitchen area, the sink that the employees were using to wash dishes was suddenly spewing out a disgusting green-black sludge. All the customers gasped and screamed, and several ran right out the door.

"M…Mario? What's going on?" Stubba asked nervously.

"Oh no… oh no oh no…" Luigi whimpered as he realized something. "Princess Peach… that factory… it was called the Poisoned Factory, wasn't it?"

Everyone stared at him.

"Everyone meet back in my house," Rodolfo said quietly.

––

"This is worse than I feared," the Doogan fretted, pacing back and forth in his living room where everyone else was seated. "I've turned on my own faucet and asked my neighbors, and we're all having the same problems. Ladies and gentlemen, something is poisoning the water in Soluna Town."

Stubba whimpered in fear and held tightly onto Hanner's arm, but she wasn't looking very reassured herself.

"But Rodolfo, what does this have to do with the factory?" asked Mario.

"Weren't you listening, Mario?" Rodolfo cried, throwing up his arms. "The Trickleback River is the source of water for all of Chronoside! And this Poisoned Factory, as it seems to be known, is located at the very source of the river! The only logical explanation is that the factory has been polluting our precious river, and now we in Soluna Town are feeling the effects!"

"But that means – " Snatchel realized. "That river goes through the whole country! Yer sayin' everybody in Chronoside is gonna get poisoned if we don't do somethin'?"

"But Mr. Rodolfo! Who on earth would build a factory right at the source of the river, if they knew something like this would happen?" Dulia protested.

"Someone who doesn't give a lick about the consequences, that's who," the Doogan sighed, shaking his head sadly. "There's more than enough people in the world like that, I'm afraid."

Goomblaine just rolled his eyes, not seeming very concerned about all this. "So lemme guess. We gotta go be a bunch of heroes and shut down this dumb factory before everybody dies or somethin'."

"If anyone can do this, then it's all of you," Rodolfo agreed with a nod. "Perhaps it's only a coincidence that the Eve Soul has been hidden within that factory, but perhaps not. Either way, Mario, this quest of yours has just reached critical importance. If you don't rectify this, and quickly, the entire country may reach a state of emergency."

"Okay then. We'd better get out of here before things get too crazy." Mario pushed out his chair and stood up. "Uh, Rodolfo, what's the quickest way we can get to the river, anyway?"

"Well… normally I wouldn't recommend this, but time is obviously not on our side. The absolute fastest way is to travel to the sewers underneath Soluna Town. They empty out into the river, and with any luck, from there you'll be able to follow it all the way to the factory. And remember, not only do you have to find the Eve Soul, you have to shut that horrid place down."

"Please be careful out there, Mario," Peach pleaded, holding her hands to her chest. "I'm so worried for you. Something truly dangerous is going on."

"Don't worry, Peach… we're coming back, I promise. Have I ever let you down before?"

With that, Mario quickly led his team out Rodolfo's door and into the street. As he did, he couldn't help but realize that the feeling of excitement he normally had at starting a new leg of the adventure was entirely absent. As they set out, he and his team were feeling nothing but dread.

––

As they set off down the street, the group saw that things were very quickly going downhill in Soluna Town. Everyone was either running around in a panic or shouting at each other in agitation and fright.

"This is awful," Hanner fretted as she looked around. "Mario, we gotta do something about this, and fast! This town can't last long without any water!"

"I know, I know," Mario muttered, rubbing his head in exasperation. "Guys, everybody stay together. I don't want us getting split up in the middle of all this."

They plowed through the town, trying their hardest to ignore the confusion and chaos going on around them. Mario's heart was hammering. The capital city of Chronoside was falling to pieces all around him. If they couldn't make it to this factory and put an end to it, King Shroude might become the least of their worries…

"Guys! Look over here!" Dulia alerted the group. They had arrived in the northeastern part of town, and now she dashed over to the middle of the road where a large manhole cover was set.

"I guess that's our way into the sewers," Mario decided, wrinkling his nose in distaste. "I hope it's not too filthy down there."

"What do you care? Aren't you supposed to be a plumber?" Goomblaine snorted. Mario ignored him and walked right on top of the manhole cover, wondering how to get down there. It was set firmly into the ground, and he didn't think he could pull it out…

"Hmm… aha!"

He immediately flipped into the air and performed a Spin Jump on the lid, causing it to flip over and send him plummeting into the sewers. His partners stared after him, then quickly followed him down one by one.

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Soluna Sewers

12:00 Noon

"Yuck…" Mario grumbled, lifting his head up off the wet floor and getting a look around. It was wide and spacious down here, but on the other hand, it was also dark, dank and smelly, and there were a bunch of leaky pipes running above their heads.

"Is this really the only way?" Hanner complained, looking thoroughly uncomfortable as she glanced around. "Let's hurry up. It's really gross down here."

"Wow, really? I didn't notice," Goomblaine snapped.

Mario had to agree with Hanner and quickly urged the party on their way. As they traipsed through the sewers, they found that the place was populated largely by Gloombas, as well as a few Shady Koopas here and there. As always, Mario couldn't understand why anyone would choose to live in a place like this.

Their journey was mostly uneventful and consisted mainly of plowing blindly in what they thought was the right direction. Every once in a while they'd have to hop from platform to platform or climb in a Warp Pipe in order to travel further through, and once Stubba had to smash down a wall in order to clear their way. They picked up a Maple Syrup and a Power Rush Badge along the way, but that was about it.

Finally, they found what they were looking for.

"Guys, look!" said Mario once they'd emerged in another room, pointing at what held his attention. There was a shallow waterway set into the floor, and some very disgusting-looking water was flowing through it. As they ran alongside the waterway, they eventually saw that it led up to a deep water-filled trench, and behind that, a very tall and wide semicircular tunnel that was sticking out of a wall.

"Do we have to go in there, Mario?" asked Stubba as they all peered into the large tunnel. Most of them shuddered as they saw it was pitch black and impossible to see to the other end.

"I think so, Stubba," Mario said regretfully. He'd just noticed a wooden sign set in the floor that read "To Trickleback River", with an arrow pointing right into the tunnel.

"Well, let's get it over with then," Hanner sighed, taking one tentative step into the ankle-deep water. Everyone else followed her in, and they were just about to head into the tunnel when…

"BLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOP!"

Hanner jumped back in fright. "What the heck?"

"Oh no…" Mario groaned as he felt a rumbling beneath them. "Not this again…"

The water within the trench began to churn violently, and then suddenly, an absolutely enormous Blooper came exploding out from underneath the surface. It threw up a shower of filthy, murky water that drenched the entire group (and caused Hanner and Dulia to shriek in disgust) and towered over them, waving its tentacles erratically.

"Holy calamari… look at the size a' that thing!" cried Snatchel.

"Of course. We're in the sewers. Guess I should've seen this one coming," Mario grumbled, pulling out his hammer.

But as he looked, he realized there was something very wrong about this Blooper. It was completely covered in a thick layer of poisonous sludge that it didn't seem able to remove; if you didn't know Bloopers were white, you wouldn't be able to tell from looking at this one. For some reason it wasn't looking directly at them, either; its eyes were rolling around in its head, as though it were dizzy or just plain couldn't think straight.

"Uh… hi there," Mario began timidly. "Uh, we're trying to get to the river… you don't think you could, you know… be a pal and move out of the way for us?"

"BLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOP!" the Blooper bellowed in response, immediately rushing the group.

"Didn't think so," Mario grumbled as the battle commenced.

Goomblaine pulled out his phone. "Okay chumps, listen up! This thing's called the Polluper Blooper! …Man, seriously, who comes up with these dumb names… It can either whack us around with those big tentacles or shoot poisonous ink at us! And 'cause it's covered in that gunk, you can't even touch that thing or you'll be poisoned!"

"What? Are you serious?" Mario cried. "All right, fine… Hanner, Stubba, looks like we're the only ones who can attack this thing."

Hanner and Stubba both gulped but courageously stepped forward. Mario took the initiative and made the first move by pounding on the Polluper Blooper's tentacle, taking care not to touch it. The Blooper immediately responded by smacking him with the tentacle, throwing him off his feet and sending him splashing down into the water.

"Gross…" he complained, standing up and finding himself covered in the Blooper's toxic sludge. He quickly snapped to attention as he saw Hanner throwing a Shrink Hammer at their opponent. In the blink of an eye it decreased to the size of a regular Blooper, and the horrible stench in the room thankfully decreased along with it.

"Good idea, Hanner," Mario said with approval. The Blooper trumpeted in anger at this turn of events and tried to charge at her, but then Stubba ran up and ferociously Clubbed it over the head. With its attention torn between the two of them, the Polluper Blooper was getting disoriented.

"I feel awful just standing here… can't we do anything?" Dulia fretted from the sideline.

"If you wanna ram your head into that thing, be my guest!" Goomblaine retorted sharply.

Meanwhile, Mario ran up again and repeatedly pounded the Blooper with his hammer. His other two partners went to work on it as well, but they immediately broke off in fear as they felt a rumbling. They couldn't get back in time before the shrinking effect wore off and Blooper ballooned back up to its original size. Mario and his partners were violently thrown back from the wave that this generated and went plunging into the water again.

"Oh, perfect," Hanner muttered as they slowly stood up. After her little trick, it was looking more furious than ever.

Mario was grasping at straws to figure out a way to safely attack the Blooper. He frantically dug around in his pockets and pulled out a Thunder Bolt he hadn't ever used, holding it up high and zapping the huge beast. It roared in pain and quickly turned its attention to him, spewing out an enormous spray of ink.

Mario leapt out of the way in a panic, and he was glad he did. That ink was hissing like acid.

"Mario? …Mario, look out!"

"What?" He turned to face Hanner, but she'd warned him too late.

"YEAAAUGHHH!" he screamed as he felt himself being pulled off the ground. The Polluper Blooper had grabbed him in its tentacle as was squeezing him in a death grip, thrashing him around in the air.

"Mario!" Stubba screamed, frantically pounding on the Blooper's other tentacles, but it completely ignored him. It continued to whip Mario back and forth before it finally hurled him out of its grasp, sending him splashing into the water with a scream.

He sat up, and he was immediately hit with a wave of nausea that caused him to double over in pain. The Blooper hand gripped him for too long. He was poisoned.

"Mario, Mario, are you okay?" Stubba cried, loyally splashing over to him.

"Stubba – " Mario weakly tried to gesture to the little Clubba that he had to pay attention to the fight, but he never got the chance. In an instant, Stubba was swept up in the Blooper's tentacle as well.

"HEY! Let go of him!" Hanner shouted, frantically throwing hammers at it. It responded by turning and spraying her in the face with its poisonous acid, causing her to shriek and collapse into the water.

"…Well, this ain't goin' well," said Snatchel, he and Dulia looking horrified.

The Polluper Blooper finally threw Stubba out of its grip as well, sending him plummeting into the water next to Mario. He tried to stand up, but he was suddenly growing very pale and almost sobbing in pain.

"Mario…" Hanner whimpered, trying to crawl over to them. All three of them were poisoned, and if the Blooper had its way, they wouldn't live long enough to suffer from it.

"NO! We have to help!" Dulia cried out, trying to race over to them only for Snatchel to hold her back.

"Now don't go flyin' off the handle like that! Mario knows what he's doin'." He gazed worriedly out at the plumber. "C'mon, partner…"

Mario's strength was rapidly depleting; he couldn't even get out of the way as he saw the Polluper Blooper towering over them, ready to finish them off. On either side of him, Hanner and Stubba were looking equally helpless.

This couldn't be how it ended. Not like this –

Then he remembered.

"Hanner," he croaked out, "I think it's that time again."

She looked at him, realized what he meant and immediately nodded.

They grabbed hands and shouted, "Second Wind!"

Just like before, a rainbow-colored wind suddenly spawned out of nowhere and rapidly spiraled around the three of them, throwing up the water around them. As it did, Mario felt strength flooding back into his body as the poison dissipated. The wind rose up and finally vanished, and Mario leapt to his feet, completely energized.

"Yeah! That's much better!" Hanner cheered as she and Stubba jumped back into action as well.

Dulia looked astonished, and Snatchel gave her a smile. "Y'see? Mario's got quite a few surprises…"

"Okay, I'm through messing around," Mario decided. He raced up to the Polluper Blooper and hammered its tentacle again, learning from his mistake and jumping backwards before it could snatch him up. Stubba pounded on a different tentacle, and before it could retaliate, Hanner threw her hammer out and struck it in the face. It bellowed in anger and swept Hanner's feet out from under her like it had done to Mario, causing her to yelp and topple over.

"Guys, we've got to work faster! Don't give it room to attack!" Mario ordered. He hammered the Blooper in the tentacle yet again, then gestured to Stubba to do the same. Hanner quickly climbed to her feet and started throwing hammers with all her might.

Mario grinned and saw his plan was working. With all three of them attacking it once, the Polluper Blooper couldn't concentrate and couldn't fight back. And before too long, it had taken more hits than it could handle.

"BLOOooOOooOOoooooo…" it groaned, swaying around for a long moment and looking more dazed than ever.

"Oh no… get back, everybody!" Mario shouted, running backwards before the Blooper finally toppled over into the water. It threw up another enormous splash and drenched Mario's team for the second time (much to their annoyance), and within a moment it had vanished and the water was completely still.

After a long moment had passed and it didn't reappear, the group relaxed a little.

"Man, that was gross," Hanner groaned, wringing out her braids. "Glad that's over."

"Yeah, he was scary. I – hey! Stop it, Hanner!" Stubba protested, fidgeting violently as she started drying his face off with her sleeve.

Snatchel was looking out at the water, scratching his head and looking thoughtful. "Is it just me, or was that thing actin' kinda strange?"

"You mean besides the whole trying-to-kill-us thing?" Goomblaine snapped at him.

"No, he's right," Mario agreed, gazing down into the opaque water where the Blooper had vanished. "It was acting strange. It seemed like… I don't know… almost like it couldn't think clearly or something."

"It must've been all that sludge on it," Dulia said sympathetically. "That poor thing… that stuff was probably scrambling its brains. I bet it didn't even know what it was doing."

Mario nodded slowly, lost in thought. "And it that's true," he said, "we've got even less time than we thought. If everybody who comes in contact with the water is going to end up like that…"

He trailed off, unsure of how to finish. He looked at his partners, and it was clear they all understood the gravity of the situation as well as he did.

"Let's hurry up and go, guys," Hanner said quietly.

Everyone nodded in agreement, and one by one, they jumped over the trench and filed into the tunnel. Mario's heart started pounding as they went farther and father and the light grew dimmer and dimmer… until finally they were swallowed up by the darkness, afraid of what awaited them on the other side…

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A/N: I hope you're ready for this one, guys. I think Chapter 5 is the most important one so far.