Chapter 4: The Big Bad… Cloud?

The three heroes left Faire Square early in the morning, hoping to make good time in reaching their destination. They actually did manage to reach Flower Fields around noon, surprisingly without being attacked.

Right on the border between the Mushroom Plains and Flower Fields, there was a small town, known as "Windmillville". It certainly lived up to its name, with half the building being windmills. It was quite a pretty place, rather open and full of flowers.

It was also completely empty. Mario, Luigi, and Peach walked down the dirt roads for a few minutes, looking for any signs of life.

"This is eerie," Luigi said, as they reach the large yellow windmill in the center of town.

"I know," Mario agreed. "What happened here?"

Peach seemed worried. She walked forward, and knocked on the door of the big yellow windmill.

"... Who's there?!" yelled a scared voice from inside.

"Princess Peach!" Peach answered. "Let me in!"

A few tense seconds passed before the door slowly creaked open, and an odd figure beckoned them to come inside.

[break]

"What happened here?" Mario asked the strange person sitting across from them.

"Well… oh my, where to start…" The creature said. It was a bit odd-looking, to say the least. He had green skin, was shaped like an onion with feet, and had a blue flower growing out of his head. It was the first time either of the Mario Bros had seen a Bub-ulb, though Peach was apparently familiar with them.

"Well, I'm the mayor's assistant," the Bub-ulb said, "My name is Bubler. This morning, everything was just normal… The mayor and her husband were eating breakfast with their daughter, Daisy. I was cooking up my own breakfast, when it happened."

He took a deep breath. "We were attacked by… I know you're not going to believe me, but cloud monsters! They were kinda brownish, and whenever someone upset them, they just zapped them with electricity from their mouths! They knocked me out and took everyone else… I don't know why they left me," he admitted. "But… I don't know what to do! I can't go get them… I just hope they're all okay…"

Mario and Luigi looked at each other. Saving people from monsters…? That was just up their alley.

"We'll help," Mario said.

"You can count on us," Luigi agreed.

"Of course we'll assist in any way we can," Peach added.

"Thank you," Bubler said. "I can't thank you enough… Oh, wait! Here," he gave them a bean. "This is a magic bean. Plant it, and it will make a beanstalk leading into the sky. I bet that's where they went. But don't plant it here, it needs fertile soil… Ah! You can ask Wise Wisterwood. He's a bit of a walk to the west of here."

Mario, Luigi, and Peach thanked Bubler for his help, and left to find Wise Wisterwood, whoever that may be.

[break]

As it turned out, Wise Wisterwood was an absolutely gigantic tree. That could talk. He didn't actually waste much time talking, though. He just told them there was a patch of fertile soil near him, and that he'd seen the cloud monsters (which he referred to as "Ruff Puffs") taking the townspeople to the clouds directly above.

Within minutes, the heroes were climbing a beanstalk into the sky. Luigi was in the lead, hopping from leaf to leaf with agility, while Mario was helping the princess climb.

"He's a pretty good jumper," Peach noted.

"Never seen anyone best him," Mario replied, as he jumped to the next leaf and held his hands down to pull Peach up. "People used to call him 'Frog' when we were kids."

"I can see why," Peach said as she climbed up. Luigi had just done an odd kicking jump that took him well over fifty feet in the air, easily landing on one of the solid clouds at the top of the beanstalk.

Mario, meanwhile, had stopped on the last leaf. "Hm… I can get up there, but you wouldn't be able to reach me, so… Hm…"

"Oh, just carry me. You seem strong enough."

"... If you say so," Mario said, picking up Peach. He ran a short distance forward, and made a hop, skip, and landed right on the edge of the leaf. For an instant, Peach was afraid they'd fall, but Mario JUMPED into the air.

Peach wasn't entirely sure what happened next. One second, she was in Mario's arms, the next she was swirling around with a flash of colors, and then she collapsed onto the cloud, dizzy.

"Sorry," she heard Mario's voice saying. "The Triple Jump is kind of hard on passengers..."

Peach stood up, brushing herself of. "Triple…?"

"We invented it," Mario said. "Like the Double Jump - Can you do that?"

"No," Peach said bitterly.

"Oh… Well, take that, and add another jump. It's about twice as high as the double jump, and I don't know anyone but us who can do it."

Before Peach could reply, a cry for help was heard.

"Come on," Mario said, running off. Luigi ran ahead of Mario, and Peach was left following the two through the beautiful, if a little boring, cloudy landscape.

The source of the sound soon became apparent - Stuck inside cages all around on a large cloud were people of all sorts trapped in cages. Floating above the center of the fluffy platform was a large, brownish cloud creature. In its hand, it held a cage containing…

Mario's heart skipped a beat. In the cage was a red-haired girl, dressed in simple orange athletic clothes.

Who also happened to be human.

[end chapter 4]

jakeroo123: Whew! That took… awhile. Both me and E have started school again, so… Well, it was a bit harder for both of us to find time to write. I'm glad it's finally done though. Sorry it's short, but… Well, I thought that was a good enough place to end. Hopefully the next won't take so long. Also, introducing the first completely original character for this story: Bubler! Who really has a very minor role. And, in the next chapter, Daisy comes into play! E's really excited about her favorite character.

elisheva: sorry again for the delay. daisy is my fave so :D