Super Mario Sunshine Adventure

Episode 6: Piantas in Need

Sonic tapped his foot on the ground rhythmically, performing an act of one who was immensely impatient and desperately trying to figure something out. The blue hedgehog's green eyes were glued to a certain purple cat. He watched as she just sat there in the chair, breathing heavily and trembling every now and then. Her eyes were wide with undisguised trepidation and her lips were parted as if she were going to say something. In addition to all of that horribleness, her face was unusually pale. It didn't seem right to Sonic at all. Blaze was always calm and collected, always level-headed in dire situations. She never portrayed fear easily, so he wanted to know what was up with her. Ever since she came back from her little adventure she hadn't spoken and just looked like a ghost. Silver was extremely worried about her and tried to get her to talk to him, but she wouldn't say a word. Pauline and Mario tried to do the same, but she wouldn't speak to them either.

The speedster was worried about his friend and he hated seeing her this way. He wondered why she couldn't just talk to Silver about it since they were best friends and all, now boyfriend and girlfriend. Well, apparently, she didn't want to engage in a conversation with anyone and she definitely did not want to talk about what happened with her the other night, which disappointed him and made him crestfallen. Still, Sonic vowed to get to the bottom of it soon enough. That reminded him of Pauline too. There was something up with her. Sure, she concealed her problems with merriment and determination, but Sonic still noticed that there was something wrong with her. That usual shine to her eyes was gone with each passing day and that concerned Sonic a lot. Why were his friends so disturbed? Why couldn't he do anything about? Sonic wanted to make his friends happy. He hated having someone sad, and he especially hated it when they cried too!

Watching Blaze closely, Sonic observed as she reached across the table and picked up her silver fork. She raised it into the air and then slowly stabbed a piece of a pancake. The fire conjurer brought the syrupy piece to her lips and shoved it into her mouth, chewing on it slowly and then swallowing it. Once through, she dropped the fork on her plate and then started working on her cup of milk. Silver was sitting next to her with a deeply concerned expression occupying his facial features. The hedgehog from the future was quietly picking at his own breakfast, glancing at his girlfriend every now and then. Mario was sitting across from them, hungrily devouring his breakfast and holding a delightful conversation with Pauline and FLUDD. The burgundy haired woman was sitting next to Mario, finishing up her plate of fruit and veggies.

Sonic wasn't eating. He leaned against a wall while his arms were crossed over his chest, much like how Shadow always did. His foot was still constantly tapping the ground as he watched Blaze. The blue hedgehog wasn't eating because he had already finished his breakfast. Hey, Sonic ate as fast as his feet moved. That's how it was. Anyway, he sighed through his nose as he narrowed his green eyes, waiting for Blaze to start speaking. Last night, she had returned in a daze, ghost-like. They had just finished feeding the pink Yoshi all of the fruit from the fruit tree and the Yoshi had fallen asleep with an enormous belly full of fruit.

"Blaze?" Silver's voiced hesitantly. "Blaze? Are you okay? Will you just talk to me please?"

Sonic ceased his foot tapping, leaning forward and eagerly waiting for Blaze to respond to Silver. When she didn't and completely ignored her own boyfriend, Sonic let out a dramatic sigh and zoomed over to the table, slamming a fist into the table and causing it to rattle vigorously.

"Sonic!" gasped Pauline, catching her plate before it dropped to the ground. "What do you think you're doing?!"

"Mama mia!" Mario shouted, gripping his cup of orange juice to prevent it from spilling everywhere.

Silver's eyes jumped to the blue hedgehog. "Sonic, what're you doing?!"

Sonic ignored them all and just kept his attention on a stunned Blaze who was staring back at him. An uncomfortable look appeared on the female's face and she lowered her gaze to her lap, refusing to look at the male any longer.

"Blaze, keeping everything bottled up is not going to solve your problems," Sonic told her, his voice coming out gentle and friendly, even though he was kind of annoyed inside. "We're your friends, and we just want to help. Tell us what happened to you last night."

Blaze said nothing.

Sonic frowned. "Blaze-"

"Piantas…chucksters…tossed me…" mumbled Blaze, burying her face in her hands.

Silver soothingly rubbed the cat's back. "What? I don't understand…"

"I don't either…" Pauline said worriedly.

Blaze shook her head, taking her hands off of her face and sighing heavily. "I was…I was in one of those special stages," she replied quietly. "There were Piantas EVERYWHERE and…and they referred to themselves as chucksters…!"

"Chucksters?" Sonic looked dumbfounded.

"What? WHAT? What did these fiendish 'chucksters' do to MY Blaze?!" Silver bristled, about ready to go on a rampage.

"Dude, chill." Sonic gave him a look.

"Holy macaroni…" Mario was also giving the hedgehog from the future a look.

Silver rubbed the back of his neck and chuckled sheepishly, cheeks coloring. "Heh…sorry!"

"Anyway, go on, Blaze…" Sonic waved a hand at her.

"These chucksters threw me around like a ragdoll!" Blaze yawped in response, throwing up her hands and shaking her head, trembling. "I…I'm terrified of heights…that's mostly why I was so…so frightened. I feel so foolish."

Sonic leaned back. "So that's why!"

"Oh no!" Silver put on a guilty expression. "I totally forgot that you were afraid of heights, Blaze!"

Pauline stared at Blaze oddly. "Wait a minute…scared of heights and you're a cat?"

"Yep…" Blaze replied shamefully.

Mario clapped his hands. "Well, I don't blame her. Everyone is afraid of something."

"Mario's right!" commented Sonic, nodding in confirmation at Blaze and giving her a thumbs-up. "All that matters is that you're brave enough to face your fears, which is something that you did, Blaze! Awesome job!"

Blaze peered at him, shock written on her face. "Huh?"

"You heard what he said, Blaze!" Silver told her, wrapping his arms around her in a hug. "You did an awesome job!"

Blaze leaned into the hedgehog and shut her eyes, a smile appearing on her face. "I…guess you're right."

Anyway, after the sappy moment was over, the five heroes traveled back to Pianta Village. When they got there, they were confronted by a frantic Pianta!

"Oh, no!" he cried hysterically. "I just went away for a bit and now look…!"

"What happened?!" Everyone chorused, panicking.

"I can't believe it! Another fine mess! And it's a doozy!"

Everyone calmed down immediately.

"Oh…it's just Shadow Mario creating havoc again," talked Sonic, shaking his head.

"When will he learn?!" Mario wailed, fed up.

Pauline put her hands on her hips, irate. "Well then!"

"Why are we always cleaning up messes?" questioned Silver, pouting.

"Because it's our job!" Blaze retorted.

"Some of the villagers are trapped in that burning ooze!" yelled the Pianta, flailing his arms about. "And I just finished evacuating everyone a little while back! What in the world is happening? I think I may just start crying…"

Sure enough, the male Pianta sunk to his knees and started weeping, holding his big hands to his chest and shutting his eyes. Everyone awkwardly went over and patted his back, trying to cheer the guy up.

"Hey, now, no tears!" Sonic remarked.

Mario nodded in agreement. "Yeah, there's no need for the waterworks!"

"Don't cry, sir!" exclaimed Pauline, putting on a sad look.

"We'll figure this out!" Silver told him.

"Exactly," said Blaze.

Sniffling uncontrollably while the tears poured from his eyes, the Pianta gazed up at them sorrowfully. "I'm sorry to trouble you time after time, but please…" He bowed his head and sobbed. "Could you find the time to help us out again? Ten villagers are trapped in the slime! You must hurry!"

"Of course we'll help you out!" Sonic was appalled that the guy even felt the need to ask such a question!

"We're on it!" Mario announced, throwing a fist into the air.

The man cheered up instantly and jumped to his feet, grinning widely in satisfaction. "Great! You've got three minutes to do this! GO!"

Sonic was already gone while everyone just stood there with flabbergasted looks on their faces.

Casting out a hand at the first goop-covered Pianta he saw, water splashed out of his palm and onto the little girl Pianta, quickly cleaning her off. She jumped for joy and squealed happily, refreshed and relieved.

"Thank you for helping me!" she squeaked.

Sonic winked at her. "No problem!"

Then the hedgehog was off to the next victim. He cleaned the woman off rapidly and she barreled into the poor hedgehog, wrapping him up in a tight hug. "Thank you, sweetums!" she gleefully said, giving Sonic a wet smooch on his cheek.

"UGH! YUCK! Yeah, yeah, you're welcome, lady, ugh!" Sonic pushed her off of him and rubbed the back of his hand along his cheek where the female kissed him.

Not wanting to be near the woman anymore, the speedster sped to two more Piantas that were covered in burning goop. They flailed about and spat out gibberish, totally disgusted. Sonic easily cleaned them up with his mysterious water abilities and they were smiling in no time!

"Thank you, sweetums!" shrieked the girl Pianta, going in for a smooch like the last one.

Pressing his palm into her face, Sonic shoved her back and put on a terrified look. "Uh, yeah, no way!"

"Whew! You saved me! Thanks a bundle!" the lime green male Pianta commented gratefully.

Sonic just nodded at him and hurriedly ran away from the pair, quickly finding another Pianta that was soaked in the goopy mess. The hedgehog sprayed her with water and got her all cleaned up. As she jumped for joy, the blue hedgehog made sure to keep his distance.

"Thank you, sweetums!" she exclaimed merrily.

Sonic simply gave her a thumbs-up and moved on to the next Pianta that was in need of his help.

So, basically, the rest was all the same. Sonic managed to save all of them before the three minutes were up and he got numerous Blue Coins and a Shine Sprite when he was done! The mayor was truly ecstatic and tremendously grateful!