Icicle Mountain 2
Mario kept flicking fire balls in his palm as they walked the cold, morning snowfalls dripping through the trees. "Are you-a sure you didn't see the animal's face?"
"I could only see it from its side," Captain Toad said. "Are you sure you can't remember it doing anything to you aboard its ship?"
Mario rubbed his chin, pondering but coming up with no memory of the space that had happened in between being at the Town and arriving in the blistering frost land. He shook his head. "I have no clue what happened. I must-a had my memory wiped for some reason."
They made their way out of the forest and came to a dead end. A great mountain of ice stretched across the snow, reaching high and blending into the wintery heights of the sky.
Captain Toad shivered. "I don't think we'll be home anytime soon."
"Nonsense," Mario said, raising a fist. "We'll-a scale this thing in no time." Wah-hoo! Mario cheered as he bounced his way up the mountain.
"Err, Mario." Captain Toad took one small step up the mountain and slipped, yelping as he landed on top of his mushroom head.
Mario took his hat off and scratched his hair, looking around. "Aha!" He threw a fire ball at the base of the mountain, unfreezing the exclamation mark that was stuck beneath a layer of ice.
"Ah, good thinking." Captain Toad stepped on the exclamation mark. Green panels with frowny faces on them unravelled from where he stood, creating a pathway up the mountain. He waddled his way towards Mario.
"Watch out!"
Captain Toad looked behind him to see the panels disappearing. Even worse, a Mummy-Me was on his trail. He yelped, running as fast as he could on his little legs. Ice chunks dropped passed Mario. He glanced up, spotting two little figures staring down at him. The ice chunks hit the panels Toad ran upon. The Captain slipped over the edge, holding on to the panel by the tip of his fingers. "Argh! The roads disappearing!"
Mario pulled out F.L.U.D.D. and sprayed a stream of water that froze in mid-air. He ran towards Toad, catching his hand just as the panel he held flipped over and disappeared. He sprayed water at Mummy-Me, freezing him in place.
"Phew. That was close, Mario." Another chunk of ice dropped from above, shattering a hole in the frozen road they stood upon.
Mario glared at the pink and purple figures above. He grunted, bouncing up the mountain as he dodged out of the way of their icy bullets. He caught them up, forging a fire ball in his hand. The pink ice climber hid behind the purple one who trembled. Mario's anger faded. "What's-a wrong with you?"
"Your fire," Popo said. "We thought you were trying to melt the mountain."
"Why-a would I do that?"
Popo relaxed. "Sorry. It was our mistake." Nana moved out from behind his back and stood beside him. "We thought you were that monster who's been dwelling inside the mountain." Popo shook his head. "Ever since it arrived it's been setting fire to this beautiful work of nature. Every day now, this mountain grows smaller and smaller. Soon, it will be a puddle of slush in the ground."
Captain Toad yammered from below. They looked down. No sign of Toad. Only a hole leading into the mountain.