A/N: …Well, at least I made you guys wait a month after this last update instead of the one before it, right? ^^;
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Poisoned Factory
3:29 am
Mario obviously didn't know his way around the factory at all, but his latest teammate certainly did. Without her, he might never have found out that they had only explored the front half so far. There was actually an outside "courtyard" that led over to the back half of the building, and that was where they were headed now.
"At least we'll get to go back outside for a little while… though I don't suppose it smells much better out there," he sighed, swinging his arms as he went. "So you think Bulbin's over there somewhere?"
"Yes, over there is where all the poison comes from. That's where he usually works," Maizee replied, walking right at his side. "But we don't have much time, Mario. Now that he knows you're coming for him, I'm afraid he's going to abandon all his precautions and do something desperate…" She trailed off, looking uneasy.
"Don't worry. We'll stop him before he does anything," Mario promised her, trying to be assuring. She gave him a light smile, but it looked halfhearted.
He couldn't help but notice that she was sticking close to him and seemed reluctant to go near the other partners. She wasn't a shy person, so she must have still been feeling guilty… or else she was still preoccupied with her son.
At that moment, Mario noticed the other partners wandering off to their left and exploring the place as they headed over to the door. He expected Maizee to hang back like she had been doing, but suddenly she glanced over at them and seemed to remember something.
"Oh… would you excuse me just a minute, Mario?" she asked. Mario was surprised to realize she was looking right at Snatchel.
"Wait a minute," she said, quickly walking up to him. "I… I wanted to talk to you."
He immediately stopped and turned to her in surprise. "Huh? Me?"
She looked a little bashful. "I wanted to apologize for being so disrespectful to you at Mustard Mines… you must know I didn't mean any of it, but still. Especially if you really are the sheriff," she said sincerely. "What's your name again?"
Snatchel looked completely flustered. "Uh… I can't remember."
"Nice going there, Cowboy Casanova," Hanner snickered.
"Uh, guys… we have a bit of a problem," came Mario's voice. The partners looked and saw he was standing in front of the door they needed to go through, but there was a force field cutting it off.
Maizee quickly turned to look at where Mario was standing. "Oh, that… that's not a problem, Mario. Stand back for a minute."
He quickly obeyed, and he and the other partners watched as Maizee stood in front of the door. She closed her eyes in concentration for a moment before starting to sing – and then suddenly, the sound of her voice caused the control panel creating the force field to short circuit. It began letting loose a shower of sparks and a loud crack, and the force field flickered and vanished.
"Wow… that's a nifty little trick," Mario said in approval as they headed through the door.
It was an immense relief to be back out in the open for a moment, though just as Mario had suspected, the smell was as bad as it had been inside. It was also blustery and cold out; Mario shivered and hugged himself as a wind whipped by them, blowing smoke along with it.
It was also much darker outside than in… and Mario almost didn't see that they weren't alone.
"EEK! What are those things?" Dulia cried out, scrambling backwards.
Mario looked and stared. The courtyard was absolutely swarming with an enemy species he'd never laid eyes on before. From what he could make out from the factory lights, they looked basically like sentient globs of green sludge with oozing mouths and big wide eyes, and they were covering just about every visible surface as they slid around, babbling in loud cacophonous voices.
"Oh dear…" Maizee sighed.
"Just great. Those things're Goozes," Goomblaine griped as he Tattled on the strange enemies. "They're made outta the sludge that's getting spewed from this place, but it's gotten so strong that they've started coming to life."
"They've what?" Mario cried, then turned to Maizee. "You didn't mention that!"
"I was hoping it wouldn't come up…" she said nervously as the Goozes quickly stopped what they were doing and glared at the intruders.
"Looks like we gotta fight these things to get past, huh?" Hanner remarked, gripping her hammer carefully. "Well, they sure don't look very strong."
"Yeah! I bet I can take 'em!" Stubba said confidently. He grabbed his club and marched right up to the nearest Gooze, which stood watching him dumbly and looking harmless…
And then it shot out a poisonous tendril from its body at lightning fast speed, latching onto Stubba.
"AAAAAAAAHHHHHH!" Stubba screamed, thrashing to get free as at least a dozen other Goozes started inching toward him. Within seconds they had all wrapped their tendrils around him too, threatening to completely swallow him up.
"Stubba!" Mario cried, charging blindly forward and sending the Goozes flying with one furious swing of his hammer. Unfortunately, now that he'd gotten their attention, the entire army of poisonous creatures fixed their eyes on Mario's team and began oozing inexhorably toward them.
"What was that about them not being strong?" Goomblaine snarled in exasperation as they all started backing away.
"They're not strong… not by themselves, anyway," said Maizee. "But they're never by themselves."
"Okay then…" Mario was starting to get nervous. "Uh, Maizee, you don't know how we can beat these guys, do you?"
"Well… they hate light. They only come out in dark places," she offered. "But that's not going to help us if the sun won't even – "
She broke off in confusion when she saw the delighted look on his face. "Mario?"
She blinked in surprise as suddenly pulled out the Aeon Hourglass and quickly tipped it over. The entire group disappeared in a blaze of light just as the first Gooze launched itself at them.
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Poisoned Factory
3:30 pm
As Mario's vision cleared, he wasn't surprised to find that the scenery wasn't much better during the day. The smoke still filled the air and the dismal gray clouds still covered the sky, meaning the sun was nowhere to be seen.
But it was light out, and that seemed to be good enough. There were no Goozes anywhere.
"Phew… what a relief," Mario sighed, relaxing.
Maizee didn't look quite so comfortable. "What in the – " She whipped her head around. "What's going on? Mario – what did you do?"
She stared at the hourglass in his hands. "What… what is that thing?"
Mario looked back at her. "Oh, Maizee… you still don't know what's really going on, do you?" he realized. "I guess we'd better fill you in…"
Maizee looked away from the hourglass and up at him, quickly noticing the concerned look on his face. "Mario? What's going on?"
Mario couldn't help but feel sorry for her. This whole time, she'd had no idea what it was she was really being forced to fight against. He'd have to break this to her gently.
"Well… it's about the Sun Souls. What they're really for," he began. "They actually belong to the Twelve Guardians…"
So he explained the whole thing to her as cautiously as he could. Just as he'd predicted, she looked utterly horrified.
"You… you can't be serious," she breathed. "Someone would actually do a thing like that? Why, why that's completely blasphemous! And I…"
Then the full implications of what he'd said seemed to hit her, and she looked even more upset.
"And all this time… you've been trying to bring the Guardians back… and I've been getting in your way…" She stared off into the distance, looking drained. "I've done even worse things than I thought… oh, Mario…"
"Maizee, it's not your fault, remember?" Mario assured her, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Anyway, at least you know the truth now. But… Bulbin does have a Sun Soul in the factory somewhere, right?"
She nodded firmly. "Yes, and I know exactly where it is. I'll take you right to it," she promised him. "He's not getting away with this."
"Just out of curiosity," Dulia spoke up, "you never, uh… went anywhere near it, did you? You never touched it?"
Everyone looked at Maizee in interest, but she just looked perplexed at the strange question.
"No, of course not. Bulbin always kept it for himself," she replied. "Why do you ask?"
Dulia and the others looked a little disappointed. "Oh, no reason…"
"Okay, can we shut up and get going now? I'm gettin' ready to puke from all this stench," Goomblaine cut in impatiently.
"Right. We'd better hurry and go," Mario agreed, and the group walked across the eerie courtyard and over to the door on the other end.
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Poisoned Factory
3:31 pm
The second part of the factory had an identical layout to the first, containing three upper floors with doors that branched off in all different directions. As Maizee explained to them, the door they were looking for was on the top floor, but it was being held shut by three hydraulic wheels somewhere within the building.
"There's on one each of the upper floors," she concluded as the group was navigating its way through another maze of conveyor belts. "Don't worry, I'll show you where each of them are. I could find my way around this place in my sleep by now."
They quickly found the room containing the first staircase and ascended to the second floor. Luckily, they weren't blocked off by force fields in this part of the factory. The team still had a large array of poisonous enemies to deal with, but with Maizee around they weren't nearly as big a threat anymore. She was often able to subdue them with a single Lullaby, sending them dropping to the floor, out cold.
Finally they arrived at a very large room on the second floor and skidded to stop in surprise. The room here had no floor at all, only a bunch of huge gears lying parallel with the ground floor. They were turning around and around as they ran the conveyor belt on the lower floor, and the only way the group could even get to the other end of the room was by jumping across them.
"Well, we gotta get over there somehow," Dulia said resignedly. Everyone's eyes fell on the hydraulic wheel resting on the other side of the room. It had a thick metal pipe snaking out of its top, leading to somewhere far above them.
"Oh, great…" Mario groaned, gazing out at the quickly rotating gears. "We have to jump across those things? I'm getting sick just looking at them."
"Aw, don't worry about that, Mario. I'll do it!" Snatchel immediately volunteered.
Mario gave him a look. "You will? Are you sure you can make it over there?"
"Oh, c'mon, partner, I've handled wild Yoshis a million times trickier than this!" He glanced over at Maizee to make sure she was watching him. "Here I go!"
He started jumping fearlessly and agilely across the room… and made it about halfway before he was suddenly flung off the spinning gear and down to the ground floor. "AAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!"
Maizee just stared down dumbly after him. "Oh dear… he doesn't think things through, does he?"
Hanner doubled over laughing while Dulia blushed and giggled uneasily. "Poor Maizee… she doesn't even know when somebody's flirting with her!" said the little Duplighost.
Several minutes later, Snatchel came bursting through the door again looking very ticked off, but Mario had already hopped across the gears himself and turned the metal wheel. As he did, there was a deafening hissing sound that came from the pipe, sounding like the release of a large amount of pressure.
Maizee beamed in approval. "That was wonderful, Mario!"
Snatchel deflated. "Oh, come on…"
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On their way back to the main area, Mario suddenly noticed a tall, zigzagging staircase leading up the wall of the room they were in.
"Hmm… where does that go, Maizee?"
"What? Oh, I'm actually not sure…"
Mario strained to look up at the very top of the staircase, and when he saw where it led up to, he looked excited.
"Hey, there's a big chest up there!" he realized. "Hang on a second, everyone. I'll be right down."
"What on earth is he doing?" Maizee wondered as the plumber took off like a rocket.
"You clearly don't know the first rule of adventuring. Open every chest you find," Hanner said jokingly.
"I thought the first rule of adventuring was to go into every house you find, because for some reason the people living there probably won't care and might actually give you stuff," Dulia remarked, cocking her head. "Am I the only one who's noticed that?"
"Yeah, that's probably a rule too," Hanner muttered.
Meanwhile, Mario had reached the ledge at the very top of the stairs and smiled in anticipation as he pried open the large chest. He guessed that it was another upgrade waiting for him… and it turned out he was right.
"Guys! Guys! Look what I found!" he shouted a minute later, dashing back down the stairs and grinning. "Are you ready for this?"
He reached into his pocket and dramatically pulled out…
Hanner blinked. "Mario, that's a rock."
Mario frowned. "It's not just a rock! It's an Ultra Stone!" he protested, holding up the red spherical stone for the group to see. "We can use this to upgrade you guys even more!"
Stubba looked delighted. "Oh, really? You mean we can get even stronger? That's so neat!"
"Uh… yeah, it should be really useful," Mario agreed, watching the little Clubba run around in excited circles and trying to imagine him being even more destructive than he already was.
At any rate, Mario didn't even have to wait long to find the next Luma; he noticed the glimmer of sparkles right next to the stairs leading up to the third floor. Just as before, the smog and Poison Puffs were beginning to fill up the air as they went up, and so they plowed their way through as quickly as they could.
Eventually they worked their way down a long and very dark hallway that was cut off with a force field at the end. Maizee was able to disable it the same way she'd done to the first one, and Mario quickly ran up and turned the wheel that was on the other side. But as they were heading back…
"Oh, great… those Gooze freaks are back," Goomblaine grunted.
Mario stopped where he was. "They are? I don't see any… where are they?"
"Try right above you?"
Mario froze and slowly looked up in time to see a group of Goozes hanging off of the ceiling, cackling in bubbly voices as they corroded away one of the huge pipes running across.
Mario blanched. "Uh oh – AHHHHH!" he screamed, leaping back just in time as the pipe came completely loose and crashed to the ground, sending up a spray of steam and completely cutting off their escape. The Goozes let out wicked laughs and sloughed off into the shadows.
"Oh my goodness – Mario, are you all right?" Maizee cried, running up to him.
Mario tried to calm his heartbeat. "Oh, yeah… I've nearly died plenty of times already. Don't worry."
The Dayzee turned to look at the thick pipe that was now sprawled across the floor. "Well, that's good… but now we're stuck over here. How are we going to get back? I don't imagine any of us are strong enough to move that."
Mario rubbed his chin and looked thoughtful for a moment before he seemed to get an idea. "Hmm… you're right. We can't move that thing."
And then he withdrew the hourglass. "Which is why I say we cheat."
His partners grinned as he turned the hourglass over and transported them away.
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Poisoned Factory
3:47 am
Without the fallen pipe to get in their way, the group made their way to the final staircase and ascended to the very top floor. Before long they had walked through a door that led them to a large, mostly nondescript room… but on the other end was an enormous, circular metal door at least six inches thick. It looked like the door to a safe.
"That's where we want to go… and there's the last wheel," said Maizee, noting the hydraulic wheel just to the left of the door. "I… listen, everyone…"
The group turned to her. "Before we go in there… I just wanted to say, thank you. From the first time I saw all of you, I always hoped you'd be the ones who could shut this awful place down… and it looks like you really are. I never should have doubted you for a minute."
"What, you're surprised? C'mon, we're Team Mario!" Hanner laughed. "And anyway, we wouldn't have made it this far without you!"
"Yeah! We're awesome! Nobody can beat us!" Stubba cheered, running up and giving Maizee a hug.
She was so shocked, she didn't move.
Stubba quickly realized something was wrong and looked up at her in concern. "…What's the matter?"
"You all right, Maizee?" asked Mario.
"Oh… yes… it's nothing," she quickly promised them. "It's just, I… you've all been so wonderful to me, even after everything… and I…" She hesitated. "I've just been here for such a long time, I almost forgot what it was like to be…"
"Part of a family?" Hanner prompted her with a smile.
Maizee looked at her in surprise. "A family… is that what this is?"
"'Fraid so," Mario replied. "And that means you can't get rid of us, no matter how hard you try or how annoying we are."
Stubba frowned. "But we're not annoying… are we, Mario?"
Maizee saw the very concerned look on his face and actually started laughing. And it was a genuine, mirthful laugh.
"Of course not, sweetheart," she promised Stubba, ruffling his three little hairs. "All of you… Mario, I think you and your friends are the most wonderful people I've ever met. I… I never thought I'd be lucky enough to have friends like you."
She started blinking back tears, and Mario realized that the misgivings she'd had toward them before were completely gone. "If anyone can help me save Viney Valley… I know you all can. I wouldn't put my faith in anyone else."
Hanner was grinning. "Aww! GROUP HUG!" she cheered, dashing forward only for Mario to grab her and haul her back.
"Maybe some other time, Hanner. We've still got stuff to take care of."
Hanner looked sheepish. "Yeah, you're right."
"I'll go turn that last wheel. You guys just wait here."
His partners obediently stood back and waited as Mario walked over to the other end of the room. He paused in front of the wheel and, before he turned it, glanced back at his partners and saw them talking quietly to each other.
He watched Maizee and smiled. "It's really something… no matter how many partners I get, they never stop surprising me. I never would've guessed she'd turn out to be such a nice person."
Mm… well, you're quite full of surprises yourself, Mario, said a somewhat older female voice. I'll bet she never would have guessed she'd meet someone as wonderful as you!
Mario blushed. "Oh, stop it. You don't need to flatter me like that."
Why, who's flattering? It's the truth, darling! laughed a second voice. You're loyal and kind, and so very charming! She's a lucky one!
"…Well, I'm glad you feel that way. But right now all I'm worried about is helping her out and clearing her name."
And I'm sure you'll do just that, the first voice replied. I know certainly helped me, more than I could ever repay you for! Although I suppose looking after a bunch of kids isn't quite as hard as what she's been through…
What we're trying to say is, we have faith in you, Mario dear, the second voice chimed in. Fate brought you together for a reason. Whatever's happened in the past, she couldn't be in better hands.
"I sure hope you're right," Mario muttered. He stood back and looked at the wheel. "Well… here goes."
He tightly gripped the wheel in both his hands and gave it a hard turn. Just as the other two had done, the pipe that extended out of it let out a loud hiss… and Mario could see that the pipe snaked right over to the door.
Ever so slowly, accompanied by a grating metallic creak, the door swung open.
His partners stopped what they were doing and stared. Mario quickly walked over to join them.
"I can't believe it… we actually made it this far," said Dulia.
Mario smiled. "Well, we are heroes, after all," he replied. "You guys ready? This is really it. No turning back."
"We're right behind ya, partner," Snatchel said loyally.
Maizee nodded firmly. "It's time to make Bulbin pay for what he's done. I've stood back and let this happen long enough."
Mario looked at his friends in approval. Whatever Bulbin had planned for them on the other side, they were a team. They would face it together.
The group slowly crowded through the door… and with a deafening clang and a hiss, it slammed shut behind them.
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A/N: Yes, not only did you have to wait a month, you had to wait a month for a boring dungeon-crawling part. Sorry 'bout that.