Super Mario Sunshine Adventure

Episode 3: Red Coins in a Bottle

The next day the quintet ventured back to Noki Bay to get through the next challenge and to retrieve the next Shine Sprite, hoping that it would be easier this time. The last time was when they had to go through the tricky ruins, but that was so easy. All they had to do was navigate through the paths and fight a giant Blooper; no big deal.

Anyway, even though their day consisted of Noki Bay, they had no idea what they were going to come across next. In addition to that, their day did not start off well. Well, that was only for Sonic and Pauline. They were introduced to the next day and that day contained the argument of Sonic and Pauline. Sonic the Hedgehog was still miffed about being pushed to his death and Pauline was upset because Sonic wouldn't just let it go.

Usually, the blue speedster would easily forgive someone, but it seemed that he was having difficulty doing so this time. Sonic really didn't understand why the ravishing woman would push him into a hole like that all because he made a rude remark. Yes, he did admit, it was rude. However, that was no reason to get pushed into a hole!

Okay, it seemed that Sonic the Hedgehog was now complaining, but wouldn't anybody be whining and blabbing because they got pushed down into a dark hole where a Shine Sprite happened to be hiding in? Sonic kept on going and on and on about how he could've died and all that nonsense and it was irking Pauline to no end. In addition to that, it was causing her guilt to increase tenfold. Sure, the woman masked it with annoyance and vexed actions, but she was feeling sad and a massive amount of guilt inside. Sonic was her friend and she really liked him; she didn't want him to hate her.

As they arrived in Noki Bay that day, Blaze, Mario, and Silver were totally becoming fed up with Sonic and Pauline's bickering and they seriously just wanted them to make up and be friends again. That seemed unlikely though, which was sad. They were arguing about something very stupid and unnecessary. Mario was almost tempted to whack Sonic in the face and spray Pauline in the face with FLUDD.

"What if I broke my neck, huh? HUH?!" Sonic uncharacteristically yowled.

Pauline threw up her hands, scowling. "But you didn't!"

"It was a huge possibility!" Sonic shot back.

"But that wasn't the outcome, wasn't it?" bit out Pauline, anger evident on her features.

"The fact that it was a possible outcome means something!" hollered Sonic.

"Why can't you just drop this?"

"Because I was almost killed…!"

Trying to ignore them, Mario, Silver, and Blaze casually strolled on over to the ancient Noki elder who was still holding his fishing rod and wearing his stupid hat. The only thing different about the guy was that he wasn't snoozing and there was a glass bottle sitting next to his feet on the ground.

"When do you think they'll stop their senseless bickering?" questioned Blaze, eye twitching due to her irritation.

Silver looked worried. "I don't know…"

"Beats me," Mario input.

Blaze just breathed out a sigh and looked at the old man that was standing in front of them with the bottle. The princess could still hear Sonic and Pauline yelling and hollering at each other from behind them. The feline was greatly disappointed in Sonic's behavior. Why on Earth would he be arguing with someone like that and over something so silly? Blaze had never seen Sonic arguing like that and it was very uncharacteristic of him too. The cat had thought the blue hedgehog was quick to forgive someone, but now…she was definitely having second thoughts.

"I've got it! Yes!" hollered the old Noki creature, cackling madly as if he had just won the lottery. "I surely do have it! What have I got?"

"Dentures?" Mario guessed.

"Money?" Blaze raised an eyebrow.

"A highly sophisticated contraption?" threw in FLUDD.

"Oh! Oh! I know!" Silver waved his gloved hand in the air wildly as if he were in a classroom full of students and wanted to get the teacher's attention. "A fish?!"

The ancient male stared at them for a very long moment before slowly shaking his head. "Why, the answer to our polluted ocean problem, of course!"

"Oh…" Everyone drawled out.

"And the answer is you five!" blurted out the old Noki man. "You must go to the ocean floor!"

Sonic had been in the middle of sending a nasty retort Pauline's way, but he stopped abruptly when he heard what the old guy said. "WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY?! THE OCEAN FLOOR!?"

"Oh, wow! Are we going to be submerged?!" Silver belted out, eyes going wide with fascination.

Pauline blinked several times in astonishment, removing her attention from Sonic momentarily. Oh, she wasn't finished with him yet. "Underwater?"

"That…is not possible." Blaze scratched her head.

Mario nodded. "She's right."

"Of course, that is impossible for you," responded the old guy. "…at the moment."

Sonic started flapping his arms about like a bird, mouth open and sputtering like a fish out of water. The blue hedgehog looked absolutely ridiculous. He honestly did not want to get into the water. At all. He was freaking out.

"Therefore, I've made an area for you to hone your skills!"

Everyone stared at him. "HUH?"

"Boop-bop-boop-bottle-dee-BOO!" The old man started dancing around like a lunatic, creating these strange noises. "Tah-daaa!"

Nothing happened.

The quintet just eyed the old man as if he had gone senile, but then something magical happened! Water helmets appeared on their heads and they fit perfectly!

"Whoa…!" Silver was awestruck.

"Well…I guess this is convenient," added Blaze.

"Weird!" Mario put in.

"I wasn't expecting this…" trailed Pauline.

Sonic wasn't having any of it. "I'm not doing this! Get this thing off of me!" The blue hedgehog tried pulling the helmet off, but it was refusing to budge.

"Wear this, and you can stay underwater for much, much longer!" boomed the old guy. "Use that FLUDD to get around and get red coins. But don't overdo it! If you run low on air, here's what you do…"

Respectfully, everyone got quiet, including Sonic (even though he didn't want to) to hear what the old Noki had to say. "Just grab some regular coins to refill your meter, okay? Now, shall we get started?"

"Yeah, sure." Mario nodded.

"Wait, where's this area of yours?" asked Silver, peering around the area in wonderment. "I don't see anything! And how did you even 'create' this area in the first place?"

The old Noki rolled his eyes and pointed at the bottle next to his feet. "It's in there, whippersnappers!"

"Huh? In this tiny bottle?" Silver questioned, trying hard not to burst out laughing as he got closer to the thing, leaning down and peering inside. "You cannot be serio-AHHHHHHHH!"

Suddenly, Silver was sucked into the glass bottle and was never to be seen again…

…Just kidding. Of course he'd be seen again! Sheesh!

But everyone still freaked out.

"SILVER!" screeched Blaze, eyes going wide with shock and fear as she ran over to the glass bottle. "Silver, no! Silver! Silver, speak to me!"

"Mama Mia!" cawed Mario, mouth open in a ridiculous gape.

Pauline sauntered over numbly. "Wh-What just happened?"

Sonic dashed on over and was purely concerned for Silver. He forgot all about his fear of water and momentarily forgot that he was fighting with Pauline. "How is that even possible?" the blue hedgehog wondered out loud, sticking his hand inside the bottle. "Maybe I can gra-WHOOOAAAAA!"

Sonic got sucked in like from a vacuum cleaner.

Mario pushed out a sigh from his mouth and walked over. "We have no choice, guys."

Then he got sucked in.

Pauline and Blaze exchanged an uneasy glance before shrugging and following Mario into the small bottle. Yes, it defied all logic.

Everyone found themselves submerged in cool water in a gigantic bottle that was floating in the sky in the middle of nowhere, clouds showing at the bottom. Inside of the bottle, there was sand at the bottom of it and other obstacles. There were even fish swimming around and Red Coins could be seen floating about and some were hidden, of course.

"This is so…COOL!" Silver cheered, swimming around gracefully and using his powers to move much quicker underwater. He grabbed a Red Coin nearby and put that away. "One down, seven to go!"

Blaze rapidly swam over to him, getting over her shock of how such a tiny bottle could contain all of this. She wasn't even going to question how all of this was possible. She was just going to go with the flow. "Silver! Are you okay?" Blaze asked him, sounding deeply concerned for him.

"I'm good, Blaze!" responded Silver, giving her a thumbs-up. "I found the first Red Coin!"

Blaze let out a sigh of relief. "Good."

"Were you worried about me?" asked Silver, smiling a little bit at the purple cat.

"I…" Blaze turned her head away from him so he wouldn't see her red cheeks. "…a little."

Silver's smile got bigger. "Aw!"

"GET ME OUTTA HERE!"

"Calm down, Sonic! It's just water!"

"HELP ME! TAILS! KNUCKLES! ANYONE!"

Mario rolled his eyes and decided to ignore Sonic while he helped Silver and Blaze collect the rest of the Red Coins. Mario was still tripping about how the small bottle could hold all of this, but he wasn't going to say anything about it. A lot of strange things happen in his world.

Sonic was shaking uncontrollably and couldn't even calm down enough to help out with gathering all of the Red Coins. His green eyes peered everywhere from within his glass helmet, almost panicking. He fearfully watched as a school of fish swam around him.

"So you can ride on water, but you can't be in it?" Pauline asked the blue hedgehog, having her arms folded. Her burgundy hair was gently floating all around her and she was slowly sinking down to the ground. "I thought you were the Blooper-Surfing Legend? I guess not."

"Oh, can it!" Sonic bit back.

Pauline pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes at the blue hedgehog. "You really shouldn't be afraid of water anymore. This whole adventure consists of water!"

"So? I don't care! You would never understand! You don't understand anything!" retorted Sonic childishly, kicking his legs all over the place to swim. He couldn't even do it. Sonic was flailing about in the water as if he were in space.

"Are you seriously still mad at me about pushing you down that hole?" Pauline queried, frowning.

Sonic rolled his green eyes. "Well, duh!"

"Look, I apologized already! Why can't you just let it go, Sonic?" Pauline hissed at him.

"You know why!"

Pauline felt like hitting him, but she refrained from doing so. "You're acting like a baby!"

"Oh yeah? Well, you're acting like an ice queen!" Sonic shouted, and then realized how lame of a comeback that was. He narrowed his green eyes and pursed his lips, crossing his arms over his chest and allowing himself to float down.

Pauline cackled at him, shaking her head. "Worst comeback ever."

"Can it!"

"Nope."

"Wow, nobody has EVER gotten on my nerves like this before. You're the first! You must be special!"

"I have a feeling that's meant to be an insult…"

Sonic snapped his fingers in a very sarcastic manner. "There ya go!"

Growling, Pauline answered, "I've had it with you!"

"I've had it with you!" the blue hero shot back.

"I've had with both of you!"

Simultaneously, the blue blur and the beautiful woman turned around to face Mario, Silver and Blaze. They had collected all of the Red Coins and had the Shine Sprite with them. The red plumber had his hands on his hips firmly and there was an annoyed expression dancing along his facial features.

"Enough of your babbling!" Mario yelled, angry. "We've collected all of the Red Coins and we have the Shine Sprite! Now let's get out of here!"

Sonic shut his mouth and so did Pauline, but the two of them did not look at each other.

Oh boy…