Author's Note: I know, it's been a LONG time since I've updated. Hopefully, I'll be able to write more of this story.

Super Mario Sunshine Adventure

Episode 2: The Boss of Tricky Ruins

"I dislike Noki Bay," remarked Sonic, his tone wrapped around disdain and contempt. "There's too much water. I don't like being surrounded by so much water. I just know that Noki Bay is going to give me nightmares when this is all over! I'm SERIOUS, guys!"

Mario resisted the urge to roll his eyes as he and his four partners reappeared in Noki Bay, ready to tackle the next challenge of the area. For some reason, the water was still horribly polluted and, for some strange reason, there was black goop all over the place. It reminded the plumber of a certain boss they had fought before. "I do not want to think about that…" muttered Mario.

"Think about what, Mario?" Pauline popped up out of nowhere at his side, her burgundy hair blowing gently in the wind around her face. She was smiling at him beautifully. "You seem like you've got a lot on your mind!"

"Ever since this whole fiasco started I've had a LOT on my mind…" mumbled Mario.

Pauline shrugged. "So have I!"

The red plumber was about to reply back to the burgundy haired woman's statement, but then was interrupted by a Noki resident of Noki Bay.

"Mario, thanks for all your help earlier!" commented the Noki villager, waving his hands about in a very jovial manner. "That was truly spectacular!"

Mario grinned widely. "No problem!"

Sonic crossed his arms over his chest in a firm fold, kind of like how Shadow does from time to time. "Why does Mario always get all the credit?"

"Beats me." Pauline shrugged, a frown coloring her face.

"We aren't as recognized as Mario, apparently…" trailed Blaze, hands on her hips.

Silver threw up his hands. "It doesn't matter to me!"

"Would you mind being my new teacher?" questioned the Noki guy, eyes going wide behind his glasses. Right when Mario was about to answer his query, the Noki shook his head and laughed sheepishly, looking embarrassed. "I mean…Never mind! My grandpa's up ahead and he wants to tell you something."

"Alright then…" Mario moved away from the Noki and started walking past him; the others followed him silently. Mario wondered why they had gotten so quiet all of a sudden. FLUDD hadn't said much either.

Silver rushed ahead suddenly and put a hand over his eyes to shield them from the sun's harsh light. "Oh! I see the old guy! He's way over there across the water!"

"We can use the platforms to get across!" Pauline exclaimed, smiling from ear to ear. "It shouldn't be too hard for us, but I don't know about Sonic."

Blaze trekked ahead of everyone. "Be careful not to fall into the water. It's contaminated right now."

"Do you guys honestly expect me to jump on these platforms with the huge possibility of falling into the WATER?!" Sonic wailed, flapping his arms about wildly. "I can't do this! You guys are going to have to leave me behind!"

Mario rolled his eyes and grabbed Sonic by the arm. Right after that, he jumped on the first platform while dragging a hollering blue hedgehog with him. The red plumber jumped to the next platform and kept doing that, the others following close behind. Mario then found his feet landing on a trampoline and he went up high while Sonic screamed in his ear. The poor plumber thought that his ears were going to bleed.

Anyway, Mario collected all of the coins in the air and then finally he reached the other side of the water where the old man was at. Silver tumbled next to Mario and Pauline stumbled a little bit, grabbing Mario's shoulder to steady herself. Blaze landed gracefully, arms folding.

"Excellent! Way to go, Master Mario!" howled the grandpa while holding his fishing rod. The guy was still wearing his hat and he was simpering. "You have returned our waterfall to normal. Bravo!"

"It was a team effort!" Sonic piped up, trembling all over from his seemingly near death experience. That experience had been Mario dragging him along the platforms to get to the other side. Sonic the Hedgehog had been truly terrified.

Frowning in a discombobulated manner, the old Noki turned his gaze on the blue speedster. "What's that?" he blabbed. "The ocean's still dirty? Strange…"

Sonic's green eyes narrowed. "That's NOT what I-"

"It looks like my theory was way off!" The old individual cut him off, coughing violently. "Hyo, ho, ho HACKPTH!"

Silver grew concerned. "Are you okay, sir?"

"I'm fine!" the Noki boomed. "Ah! That's okay. I think I've got a lead on the real cause…"

"What is it?" asked Pauline, hands on her hips with a contemplative expression coloring her face.

"Now, this may not seem like much of a reward, but…I'm going to reveal to you one of Noki Bay's deepest secrets!" The prehistoric man told them, sounding all excited.

Blaze appeared baffled. "And that would be…?"

"You see that over there?" asked the male, pointing a hand in another direction and showing them a tomb that was obviously not easy to get to. There was a Shine Sprite floating in there too, but it was trapped, unfortunately. "This bay actually contains the tomb of an ancient Noki King!"

"What kind of reward was that…?" Silver looked highly disappointed and he was pouting.

"There's a Shine Sprite in there!" shouted Mario, giving Silver a look.

Silver stuck his tongue out at Mario childishly and Mario stared at him for a very long moment before putting his attention back on the old man. "You were saying?"

"When you spray water on the wall paintings, a path usually opens."

Everyone leaned in close, listening. Their interests was now piqued and they seemed totally curious.

"It's almost like magic! And one path leads to a hidden Shine Sprite!"

Sonic eyed him weirdly. "Um…we know that."

The old man went on as if Sonic hadn't even spoken. "Honest! This is all true! Maybe…"

"Maybe what?" Pauline wanted him to continue.

And then…the old man dozed off into a deep sleep…while standing. The quintet of heroes just stood there, unable to do or say anything for the time being. Their minds were still trying to comprehend the fact that the old Noki had just fallen asleep in the middle of talking while standing. When their minds finally absorbed that it was actually happening, they all glanced at each other and blinked in unison.

"Er…should we go on and find a way that leads to the Shine Sprite?" questioned Silver, examining everyone's facial expressions.

"Yes, Silver," sighed Blaze.

Sonic tapped his foot impatiently on the ground, arms folded across his chest as his green eyes scanned the area and the unique structures of Noki Bay. "So, where do we start? The ancient man said something about spraying water on the wall paintings?"

Mario gave his blue companion a nod. "That's right. He said that spraying water on the wall paintings usually opens up a path…somehow."

"There's one!" screeched Pauline, pointing her index finger at a wall painting way up on the wall. It was a brownish color and they couldn't tell what kind of design was on it.

"Leave this one to me," remarked the blue hedgehog, stepping in front of Pauline and lifting his hand, aiming his palm at the painting. "Here we…GO!"

Water erupted from his palm magically and it splashed all over the painting from above. Droplets of water came down on them and it didn't even wake up the sleeping old man. As soon as the water made contact with the painting, something absurd happened!

Right before their very eyes, parts of the wall pushed itself from within. It came out, revealing a path that led upward. It was crazy! Anyway, Mario was the first one to react to this as he ran over and started using the newly made walls to jump back and forth to get to the top.

"How is this even possible?" Silver asked as he levitated to the top with complete ease.

Sonic quickly scooped up Pauline into his arms and dashed up the wall with his supersonic speed. Pauline clung to him tightly as he did, not expecting that at all. Her eyes were wide and she seemed a little shocked. Sonic smirked at her astonished expression. "What? You look so frightened! Ha!"

"I just wasn't expecting that!" Pauline retorted, a frown jumping onto her features.

Blaze copied Mario's actions by using the walls to get to the top. Nobody answered Silver's question and that disappointed the hedgehog from the future.

"Mario!" FLUDD spoke up suddenly.

"What is it, FLUDD?" Mario looked over his shoulder at his friend.

FLUDD bounced a little bit. "There is a Blue Coin underneath us on one of the edges. Be careful."

Mario's eyes lit up at this knowledge and he nodded his head. "Thanks a lot, FLUDD!" The red plumber lowered himself down to the edge and grasped the Blue Coin with a huge amount of easiness.

Anyway, once everyone was in the same location, they all rounded a corner and found another wall they had to jump. Sonic carried Pauline again, much to her dismay, and Silver just simply levitated. Blaze and Mario did all the jumping. Sonic did all the running and carrying. Mario found two more Blue Coins and there were quite a few more paintings on the wall that were just begging to be sprayed with water. Sonic and Mario easily took care of soaking the paintings.

A lot of structures moved and even more paths were revealed for them to take. Plus, they came across some mini Bloopers and an M painted on one of the walls. Mario got rid of the painted M on the wall in a very irked fashion while everyone else took care of the Bloopers.

"What are Bloopers doing up here anyway?" Silver sent a query to everyone while using his telekinesis to fling three Bloopers over the edge. They squealed loudly and slammed into the ground below.

"Who knows?" Blaze responded as she used her flames to whisk away a Blooper.

Pauline flung a hand out and took advantage of her wind abilities, causing two more mini Bloopers to fly high into the air and then plummet to the ground. When she was done, she smoothed out her dress and ran her fingers through her hair, fixing herself up.

When they were finished with that, they continued to make their way up, following the paths, collecting Blue Coins and regular Coins. Eventually they ran into a giant…Blooper, which was very surprising!

"How did this big thing get up here?!" yowled Sonic as he was struck in the face by one of the giant Blooper's tentacles.

"Blaze, look out!" Silver did a levitating dash in the air to rapidly get in front of the purple feline. He held out his gloved hand and ceased an oncoming assault from another one of the Blooper's tentacles. The hedgehog was using his powers to stop the tentacle in midair.

Blaze watched Silver closely. "You didn't have to do that, Silver, but it's very appreciated."

"Aw…"

"Why don't you stop all of them, Silver? That way, Mario can get to the cork in its mouth and pull it!" Sonic yelled while wrestling on the ground with one of the tentacles.

"Ah? Right!" Silver conjured up more of his powers and stopped all of the tentacles. It required a lot of energy since the Blooper was fighting against it, but he managed.

It really didn't take too long for the team to get rid of the Blooper. Sure, the Blooper tried to make a comeback, but they just easily stopped its assault like they did the first time. By the end of the short battle, everyone was covered in black ink, which was disgusting.

"Ew! Ew! It's all in my hair!" Pauline complained, putting on a ferocious pout.

Sonic sputtered, spitting out some black ink that had gotten into his mouth. "What are you whining about? We were the ones who were fighting! You just stood there!"

"Oh, be quiet!" Pauline held out her hand and summoned her wind powers.

Sonic let out a massive yell as the wind pushed him into a hole that the Blooper had been covering. The blue hedgehog's wail could be heard all the way down until they heard a loud crash. Pauline rushed over to the hole with wide eyes. "Oh my gosh! Sonic!"

"Why would you do that?" Blaze asked the burgundy haired woman, shaking her head.

"I…I was just…I don't know…!" Pauline struggled to come up with an excuse. "I didn't even know that hole was right there!"

Mario peered over the edge and down into the hole. "You alright down there, Sonic?"

A loud groan could be heard.

"What if he was dead?" Silver panicked.

Everyone rolled their eyes. "He's not dead."

"Sonic! Please say something!" Pauline exclaimed, feeling terrible for what she had done.

Another groan was heard.

"He's dead!" Silver collapsed to his knees, hands hiding his face.

Blaze whacked him in the back of the head. "He's NOT dead!"

"Ow!" Silver whined.

"I'm fine, guys!" Sonic called up to them. "I found the Shine Sprite though, so we're good…finally."

Pauline sighed hugely in relief.

"BUT I REALLY DON'T APPRECIATE BEING PUSHED DOWN INTO A HOLE!"

Pauline grinned sheepishly.