Super Mario Sunshine Adventure
Episode 3: The Goopy Inferno
When the gang arrived in Pianta Village for the third time, they were not expecting Shadow Mario to show up unexpectedly and snatch FLUDD right off of Mario's back! When the whiteness around them vanished and their surroundings returned to color, Mario didn't have FLUDD and the poor plumber was frantically searching around for the intelligent device, feeling naked without him. When he couldn't find FLUDD anywhere, the red-capped hero released a wail of despair, dropping to the ground on his knees and planting his face in his hands.
"What happened to FLUDD?" questioned Pauline, a worried expression resting on her face as she looked around with her eyes.
Sonic slammed a fist into his palm, ireful. "It was that imposter! He took FLUDD away during our trip here! I don't know how or why he did it, but…that's what happened! I saw him! Didn't you guys see him?"
"I saw him!" Silver raised his hand.
Blaze bobbed her head in a nod. "I saw him too. There must be a reason why."
"Don't worry, Mario," Pauline said, getting down on one knee beside the plumber and placing her hand on his back. "You only have to rely on your impressive acrobatic skills. You're agile and you're fast. You can do things without FLUDD, you know. I know you can, Mario."
Mario appreciated her comfort and got to his feet with her help. He thanked her for it and then put his eyes on the long bridge in front of him. A frown crawled around his facial features and his blood boiled with fury. Why in the world was this even happening? All he wanted was a vacation! Gah! No! He couldn't think about that now! He had to get this over with! He had to find FLUDD! So, without another word, the red-capped plumber jumped forward and slid onto his belly along the bridge, doing a back flip afterwards and landing on his feet stylishly. As soon as his feet touched the ground, he was running.
"Whoa! Mario's definitely ready for this!" Sonic yawped, getting pumped up because of Mario's sudden enthusiastic actions. The blue hedgehog took off running, not going his fastest, but fast enough so that he was right alongside Mario. Blaze easily caught up with them and Silver just levitated over to them, not wanting to run because he was so slow. Pauline was right behind him, jogging and using her wind abilities to make her move faster.
As the five heroes made their way across the long bridge, the harmonious light from the full moon in the dark sky touched them with its gentleness. The humidity had gone down, but it was still kind of hot outside. There wasn't even wind to cool them off either, but the heat was tolerable. That was a very fortunate thing because they weren't sure if they would function properly if it was so hot. Oh, in addition to that, Blaze the Cat remained unaffected by how hot it was. It didn't bother her at all, really, which was awesome.
Suddenly, completely out of the blue, Mario stumbled sideways by some unseen force and almost went over the bridge. Sonic was there to snatch his wrist in his hand and keep him from blowing off. Mario's eyes were wide with trepidation as he glanced around. "What in the world?!"
"Hey!" Pauline exclaimed, eyebrows raised as she pointed at four enemies heading straight toward them, intent on blowing them off of the bridge. "They're Wind Duppies! They're trying to attack us!"
"Why?" questioned Silver, uneasy.
Pauline shrugged and thrust her palm out, using her wind power to push back one of the Wind Duppies that tried to smack right into them. "I don't know!"
"Well, they're in our way!" blubbered Sonic as he used his weird water powers to spray one of the Wind Duppies that tried to assault them.
Eventually, they reached the end of the bridge and even then the Wind Duppies were trying to rid them of this world. Mario could do nothing but nimbly evade while everyone else took care of the remaining Wind Duppies. When they were successfully out of the picture, the group of five put their attention on Pianta Village, truly appalled by what they were seeing.
The entire village's ground was covered in harmful, bright goop! It was just a huge mess and some Pianta villagers were standing on top of some of the big mushrooms to get away from the messy stuff.
"What the heck happened here?!" shouted Sonic, completely stunned.
"This is terrible!" Pauline pressed her hands to her cheeks, eyes going wide.
Blaze shook her head. "Shadow Mario…"
"That fiend did this!" Silver shook a fist in the air, not liking what he saw.
That red Pianta woman from before suddenly came up to them, a concerned expression painting her face. "It's really tough being mayor, don't you think?"
"I hope everything's going to be okay…" another Pianta trailed off as he stared at the goop all over the place.
"Now this is a sticky situation if I've ever seen one," commented a third Pianta, chortling. "Hoo boy!"
"Thanks to the mayor, everyone was evacuated safely," remarked a fourth Pianta, a blond mustache under his nose as he gazed at everyone. "Now the only one left is the mayor himself. How brave."
Sonic crossed his arms and donned an expression of bewilderment. "So," he drew out slowly, looking at his companions for confirmation. "I'm assuming that we have to get to the mayor first before anything else?"
"Yes," yipped Mario, frowning. "But we don't know where he is though…"
"We should split up!" Pauline suggested, clapping her hands and looking ready.
Blaze glanced at them. "Well, who's going with who?"
"Blaze, can I stay with you?" asked Silver timidly as he stared down at his shoes. The hedgehog knew that the purple feline was still aggravated with him and that made him kind of sad.
Blaze did not respond.
"Um…" The burgundy haired woman interfered, stepping between Blaze and Silver. "I'll stick with Mario while you, Blaze, and Sonic start looking around here. Sonic can start cleaning up the goop with his water abilities…"
Sonic sighed loudly. "That's going to take forever!"
"Well, would you rather have goop all over the place?" Pauline shot back.
"No…"
"Okay then."
Mario nodded his head at what the pretty lady said and then started walking around the whole goop. Pauline was already behind him. Sonic, Blaze, and Silver started getting rid of the goop and searching for the mayor themselves. As Mario and Pauline journeyed around Pianta Village and away from the harmful goop, they came across a square shaped hole in the ground with a brown Pianta man standing next to it, looking down into it as if it were the most interesting thing ever.
"This should lead you to the mayor," he spoke after capturing the sight of the plumber and the ravishing woman. "At least I THINK so…"
Mario put his eyes on the hole. "What? That hole in the ground there?"
The Pianta man nodded. "Yeah. You can move some gates. This may help, but…"
"But what?" asked Pauline wonderingly.
"If you try to cling for too long, the gate'll fall off!"
"Yikes!" yapped Mario.
The Pianta nodded his head again. "You'll have to jump to safety at some point, so be careful!"
"We'll be careful." Pauline promised the male before getting into the hole with Mario's help. After the two successfully made it down to the bottom, they could see the grate beneath their feet.
The red-capped hero stood there for a long moment before jumping up and then delivering a devastating Ground Pound into the grate underneath their feet. Pauline gasped loudly as the grate flipped and then, before she knew it, they were hanging from the other side, a huge and seemingly endless drop below. Pauline didn't get a chance to hang onto the grate, so Mario grabbed her hand and held her while he clung to the grate with one hand.
"Pauline…!" Mario forced through gritted teeth, struggling to keep her up. "Grab onto the grate so I won't have to hold you the entire time! You're heavy!"
Pauline was offended. "Well!"
Despite being insulted, the burgundy colored hair woman reached up and grabbed the grate with her free hand. She released the plumber's other hand and grabbed on with that too, hanging from the grate with her fingers. It was tough because she wasn't that strong, but she managed. Mario immediately started moving forward, moving one hand after another and still clinging to the grate.
Danger was already present as they collected the trail of Coins in front of them as they moved on. There was a red shelled Electro-Koopa clambering along the grate upside down. Its shell cackled with electricity and it hissed heinously at them, irate for some odd reason.
"Ah! What are we going to do about that thing?" Pauline was beginning to panic.
"It's alright! Just follow me!" Mario responded as he continued to move forward. He moved around the Electro-Koopa and then continued on his way, seeing at least three Klambers crawling around the grate nastily.
A scream ripped through Pauline's throat and poured out of her mouth as she saw the Klambers and she almost released her hold on the grate. She hung on tightly with her fingers and started trembling all over, petrified.
"Oh please." Mario rolled his eyes. "Don't tell me you're scared of those things!"
"Don't you remember Ricco Harbor?!"
Mario rolled his eyes again.
Anyway, the duo continued their miniature journey on the grates, avoiding Klambers and Electro-Koopas. They didn't get hurt, but Mario was sure that his ears would've started to bleed if they stayed down there much longer because Pauline kept screaming every single time she saw a Klamber roaming about on the grates.
They made it back to the surface and to a spot where there wasn't any goop. It seemed that Sonic, Blaze, and Silver didn't get to that part yet, but Mario jumped on top of a structure and Pauline followed. To their surprise, FLUDD was sitting there waiting for them on the ground.
"FLUDD!" yelled Mario.
"Mario!" FLUDD greeted his friend.
Simpering happily, the plumber picked up FLUDD and quickly put him on, joyful that he had his device back. Pauline was clapping and smiling at the two of them, merriment coloring her facial features.
From there, the three of them got on top of the large yellow mushroom that was present and found a Pianta man standing there, covered in goop and shaking himself off, disgust occupying his features. Mario easily cleaned the guy off by spraying him with FLUDD.
"Whew! You saved me! Thanks a bundle!" He thanked them kindly, jumping for joy. Then, without warning, the Pianta handed over a Shine Sprite!
Mario's eyes got big as he reached over and took the Shine Sprite from the man. "Wait…are you the mayor?!"
"Yes!" the mayor responded cheerily.
Mario and Pauline exchanged a look.