Super Mario Sunshine Adventure

Episode 2: Venturing Through Corona Mountain

Shoving her red boot into the iron bars that separated them from the outside world, the pink hedgehog released a wordless cry of frustration. Panting like crazy, she kicked it again with her other foot, desperately trying to escape. Unfortunately, their escape wasn't going to come any time soon. Amy turned around to face Princess Peach who was just standing there while holding her umbrella over her head. She was twirling it around with a contemplative expression coloring her face.

"Peach!" shrieked Amy, sounding like a banshee.

Peach moved her eyes to her friend, mildly solemn. "What is it, Amy?" she asked her in a very questioning manner. "Do you want me to help you relentlessly bash the bars in when it's not going to work? I'm not going to do it, sorry."

"Well then!" huffed Amy, folding her arms. "I'll just do it myself!"

Right after that was said, Amy returned back to bashing the bars in. As soon as she started that nonsense up again, Shadow Mario appeared on the other side of the bars, gripping the Magic Paintbrush with one hand and glaring at them menacingly, almost cackling at Amy's futile attempts at escape.

"What are you doing?" laughed Shadow Mario.

Peach walked over to the bars after seeing the fiend. "Stop hiding behind that façade, Bowser Jr.," commented Peach, frowning in his direction. "Stop trying to look like Mario! We know who you are!"

Glowering at the princess, Shadow Mario performed a dramatic and overly loud sigh before grabbing his own face and pulling it down. Instantly, he returned to his true form and wore a bandana around his neck. He still had the Magic Paintbrush in his hand and he pouted heavily. "Sorry, Mama Peach!"

"I am not your mama!" cried Peach.

"Papa told me so!" Bowser Jr. spat out at his 'parent'. "Everything my papa tells me is true! My papa would never lie to me!"

Amy put her hands on her hips. "Apparently he's lying to you now, kid!"

"Can it, Aunt Amy!" Bowser Jr. jabbed his Magic Paintbrush in Amy's direction, causing her to flinch. "Don't ever call my papa a liar! He's truthful and honest!"

Peach sweat-dropped. "You're confused…"

"I AM NOT!"

The pink hedgehog pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes at Bowser Jr. "Think about it for a minute," Amy told him, holding out her hands. "How is it possible for Peach and I to be sisters?"

Bowser Jr. rolled his eyes. "Nah! Don't be silly, Aunt Amy," he commented, shaking his head from side to side. "You're not my mama's sister! You're my papa's little sister, so you are my aunt! Get it?"

Amy stared at him as if he had grown a second head. "You've GOT to be kidding ME!"

"That's…not possible!" Peach threw in, shaking her head. "Amy is a hedgehog and Bowser is, well, Bowser! So she can't possibly be your aunt! In addition to that, I can't possibly be your mama either! I'm a human, and I would remember giving birth to you!"

"Which she didn't!" added Amy.

Bowser Jr. stuck up his nose, crossing his arms. "Blah! Blah! Papa told me that Mario and his foolish friends caused you both to have amnesia and that's why you don't remember anything!"

"Wow…!"

"You can't listen to Bowser, kiddo," Peach told him, putting on a worried look. "He's lying to you! Amy isn't your aunt, and I'm certainly not your mama-"

"ENOUGH!" Bowser Jr. howled, cutting her off and waving his Magic Paintbrush in the air in erratic ways. "I don't want to hear it anymore! My papa is right and I'll always listen to him!"

Suddenly, the iron bars sunk into the ground and disappeared, allowing an escape for Amy and Peach. Amy quickly whipped out her hammer and was about to bash Bowser Jr. with it, but Bowser suddenly showed up from behind his son, looming over them all and giving them a threatening gaze. He seemed very on edge and there was a smirk on his face.

"Hey, son!" he greeted his child.

Bowser Jr. grinned. "Papa!"

"Bowser!" exclaimed Amy and Peach simultaneously. Amy still had her hammer out and Peach was holding her umbrella in a threatening manner.

Bowser leaned towards the two girls, the smirk becoming wider. "How's about you girls join my son and I in my hot tub, hmmmmmmmmm? It's very refreshing…!"

Amy and Peach screamed.

[Meanwhile…]

Fire.

That was the first thing that greeted them. There was lava everywhere and flames danced upon some of the platforms there. In addition to that, there were platforms that had Spikes jutting out from it and recoiling every few seconds. It was like they had ventured into the underworld.

"What is this place?" Silver shivered, rubbing his arms.

Blaze was not affected by the heat around them, but she glanced at her partner. "Stop rubbing your arms. It isn't cold in here."

"No, no. This is a physical reaction to how disturbed I am about this place!"

"…Oh."

Sonic took a step forward, definitely disliking what he saw. "So this is Corona Mountain? Bowser's hideout? How could he stay in a place like this?"

"That's Bowser for you…" sighed Mario.

Pauline worried looked at her companions. "How are we going to get across? Those spikes look dangerous, especially those flames! I really don't want to fall in the lava!"

"Well, me and Sonic can dowse the flames with water, but…it looks like the spikes go back into the platform every few seconds," replied Mario, shrugging his shoulders and putting on a determined look. "We'd have to time it perfectly."

"Or we can just levitate across?" Silver suggested, raising a hand.

"You can't hold up too many people at once, Silver," Blaze informed the hedgehog.

Silver looked bummed out. "Oh yeah."

"I'll be fine," said the purple feline, stepping in front of everyone. "The flames won't affect me. I'll be able to step on the flames without any problem."

"I'll take the left. Mario, you take the right!" Sonic declared, dashing over to the left platform with the spikes jutting out every few seconds. Mario nodded and rushed over to the other one.

Pauline hesitated before following Sonic. Blaze went on Mario's side while Silver went over with Pauline and Sonic. As soon as the spikes disappeared, Sonic grabbed Pauline and jumped onto the platform. Mario and Blaze simultaneously jumped onto their platform and Silver simply levitated.

Leaping into the air with Pauline in his arms, the blue hedgehog thrust out a hand towards the next platform and sprayed the flames with water, instantly putting it out. Mario was using FLUDD's Hover Nozzle to spray the flames on the other platform that was producing fire. Immediately, the fire was put out and Mario stepped upon it while Sonic landed on the other one. Blaze was right behind the plumber, looking as ready as ever.

Twisting into the air like a vicious ballerina, the purple feline threw herself to the other platform that had flames coming out of it. The fire didn't harm her and she jumped to the next platform that was just a normal piece of structure. There was an Ultra Shroom there and she picked that up, storing it away. Mario was next to her in seconds and Silver landed next to them too. Sonic arrived with Pauline in his arms, but didn't release her because there were platforms to cross.

"That wasn't too hard!" Sonic stated, releasing a loud huff as he kept a firm grip on Pauline. Pauline had her arms wrapped around the blue hedgehog's neck and there was a wild look of fright coloring her facial features.

"Yeah," breathed Mario, sweating like crazy as he fanned himself with his red cap. "But it sure is hot in here!"

"You're telling me!" added Silver, out of breath.

Blaze peered at them indifferently. "Come on. We have to keep moving."

The next platform had flames blasting out of it, which Sonic quickly put out with his mysterious water abilities. Everyone landed on that platform, avoiding the horrendous Cheep-Cheeps that attempted to knock them into the lava.

"How do those things even live in here?!" Silver let out noisily, gaping.

"Who knows?" answered Pauline as her grip on the blue hedgehog tightened when they went soaring again. To the next platform.

Mario used FLUDD to put the flames out on the next platform and his feet touched the ground. He grabbed Blaze's hand when she landed next to him because she was about to topple backwards into the lava.

"Thank you, Mario." Blaze bowed her head at him.

"Don't mention it, Blaze!" Mario told her with a smile, putting his cap back on and trying to cool himself down somehow. That was impossible though because they were completely surrounded by lava.

There was another platform that had flames streaming from it, but they got past that with ease. After that one, they came across another platform that had spikes coming out of it. They had some complications with that one because they timed it wrong and had jumped off at the last minute, almost getting impaled by those horrific things!

As they reached another normal platform with a Blue Coin upon it, they could see seven more platforms of fires and spikes up ahead and everyone groaned loudly! "How many more of these platforms are they?" Mario complained as he snatched up the Blue Coin.

"Uh…I think there's about seven of them," responded Silver, pointing at each and every one of them.

"Bummer…" muttered Sonic, putting Pauline down for a moment to rest his arms. "You are heavy, Pauline!" Sonic told her, trying not to chortle in amusement.

An irate look appeared on the beautiful woman's face and she smacked Sonic in the head, causing him to yelp loudly. "I am not heavy! How rude!"

Sonic rubbed his head. "So violent!"

"Hmph!"

Anyway, the group eventually made it past the irritating platforms that were obstructing their way and made it to a long strip of concrete. There was a crate sitting off to the side and some water pouring from an unknown faucet. Mario refilled FLUDD with that water and got a drink of it too; the others did the same.

"Now we move forward!" FLUDD remarked after a long time of not speaking.

"Yo, FLUDD?" Sonic spoke, as he broke the crate open with a Spin Dash. "Why don't you talk much?"

FLUDD turned his head to look at the speedster. "I do not know, Sonic."

"Well, you should talk more!" piped up Pauline as she fixed her hair and adjusted her red dress.

"Yeah, we like talking to you," input Silver, nodding his head with a smile on his face.

"Yeah!" put in Mario.

Sonic nodded his head at FLUDD. "You don't have to be afraid to talk around us more, FLUDD. We're your friends and we'll always have time to listen to what you have to say."

FLUDD felt genuine happiness by their words and nodded his head again. "Okay!"

"Right, now let's move on!"

Silver approached a wooden boat floating on top of the lava and gave it an incredulous look. "Um, guys?"

"Yeah, Silver?" asked Blaze, marching over.

Silver pointed at the wooden boat. It didn't look like it was enough room for everybody, but that wasn't the problem. "How is there a wooden boat sitting on top of boiling hot lava?!"

"This defies all logic," commented Sonic, zooming over to stand next to Blaze.

Mario hopped over with Pauline. "Nothing makes sense. It's best not to try to figure it out."

Everyone totally agreed with that statement.

So, the quintet piled into the wooden boat, careful not to accidentally trip and fall to their definite death within the lava below.

"How in the world do we get this thing moving?" asked Sonic, grimacing from the heat.

Pauline raised her hands. "I'll take care of it."

Using her mysterious wind powers, the burgundy haired woman was able to create wind, pushing the boat forward. It required all of her focus and concentration, so she didn't speak as she moved them through the searing hot lava, avoiding the large, burning structures that were trying to obstruct them.

Silver looked over the edge of the boat at the lava, pursing his lips as everyone was quiet. The hedgehog from the future wondered why everyone was so silent! They were almost there to reaching the end of their journey! Shouldn't they be happy?"

"Row, row, row your boat gently down the stream," sang Silver suddenly, swaying from side to side. "Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, life is but a dream!"

"Uh…" Everyone, except Pauline, was staring at him.

"What?" Silver grinned at them. "Just trying to lighten up the mood!"

Sonic watched him for a long moment before opening his mouth and singing, "Row, row, row your boat gently down the boiling hot lava stream. Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, life is but a dream!"

"Row, row, row your boat gently down the hot stream," Mario joined in, almost chuckling. "Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, life is but a nightmare!"

"Row, row, row your boat gently down the stream," Blaze decided to get into it too, giving her own version of the song. "Unfortunately, unfortunately, unfortunately, unfortunately, life is but a dream!"

Pauline who had successfully got them across the lava lake, put her attention on them and dropped her hands to her sides. "You guys are hilarious, you know that, right?"

Sonic struck a pose. "We try!"

"Ahem, anyway." Mario got out of the boat and stepped onto the concrete. He found FLUDD's Rocket Nozzle sitting there and there were four Blue Coins floating around them, which Silver collected for him with his powers. "Let's move on!"

"Where to?" asked Blaze, looking around. "I don't see anything?"

FLUDD bounced on Mario's back. "How about up?"

In unison, everyone threw their heads back and looked up, seeing clouds up there, which was highly weird, but nobody questioned it. Mario grabbed Sonic's wrist and used FLUDD's Rocket Nozzle to blast them up there to one of the clouds.

"Whoa! Give me a warning next time, will ya?!" Sonic caterwauled, giving the plumber a look.

Mario shook his head. "Whatever!"

Pauline floated up there using her wind abilities and Silver helped Blaze up there with his telekinesis.

"This is really weird…" mumbled Blaze. "How are there clouds in here?"

"It's best not to question it, Blaze…"

Blaze sighed, but agreed.

The heroes continued to venture upward, unsure if they were getting close to the end or not.