Chapter 8: Boggly Woods
"So, where to, guys?" Goombella asked in the morning.
"The pipe leading underground." Double D answered. "We have to go to Boggly Woods and find that next star."
They ran down the streets of Rougeport, until the successfully made it to the pipe.
Mario jumped into the pipe, followed shortly afterwards by the rest of the guys.
"So, where do we look?" Nazz asked.
"I don't know. All we know is that it is somewhere underneath the city." Double D responded.
"Well, that helps." Nazz said sarcastically.
"Cheer up, Nazz-girl." Rolf said with a smile. "Compared to the duel with the beast Hooktail, this cannot be as difficult, yes?"
"I hope not. What we went through back there was hard enough." Koops said.
A couple hours passed before they stopped and accepted the truth.
"Let's face it, we're frick'n lost!" Goombella complained.
"Yeah. We've been down here for like, two hours now. It's clear we're not going to find any pipe down here." Nazz said.
"We can't leave now people. As we complain, a Star is waiting along with kids lost in another dimension. We can't quit." Double D told them.
"Double D's right, there has to-a be a lead around this place." Mario looked around.
Squish
"What was that?" Koops asked.
"Probably nothing, keep going." Double D said.
Squish
"You hear that? I swear there's something out there." Koops said.
"Maybe you're right. Anyone there?"
This was answered with a rapid succession of squishing noises. Double D found the source of the squishing, he saw a small, gray-colored thing out of the corer of his eye traveling through a hole in a nearby wall.
"There, something went through that hole." Double D said, pointing to the hole.
"Well, we sure as heck can't fit in that tiny thing!" Nazz said.
"Yes, but we can go through there." Double D directed their attention to a door behind bars.
"Um, no we cannot." Rolf pointed out.
Mario, Goombella, Koops, and Nazz turned to paper and walked through the bars.
"How in the-" Rolf started, but Double D cut him off.
"Rolf, hang on." Double D grabbed his shoulder.
"What in the name of Nana are you…" Rolf stopped talking.
Double D was now flat as paper, and Rolf did the same somehow. He asked no questions, that is until they walked through the bars and returned to normal.
"How in the name of Nana did you do that?" Rolf asked surprised.
"Long story." All but Rolf said back.
The six of them traveled down the door and into the next room. They saw the small gray colored thing they heard. It looked at first like a slug, with two beady eyes. It stood on all fours and in its head, a single long antenna with a green sphere of light hung. A few darker gray stripes lined it's back.
"What is that?" Nazz asked, though Rolf suddenly smiled.
"Please leave me be!" It said with fear as it walked back onto a wall.
They didn't expect it to talk to them.
"Hey, who are… what are you?" Nazz asked, kneeling down.
"Just leave me alone!" It asked, in a corner. "Just leave me be, X-nauts!"
Double D gasped. "X-nauts! We are not those horrid creatures!"
"What? Then you won't hurt me?" It asked with a little hope in its voice.
"No." Double D said, shaking his head.
"Thank goodness!" It said, sighing in relief.
"So, first of all, who and what are you?" Goombella asked.
"I… my name is… Punio, and-"
"This is a Puni." Rolf suddenly said, making everyone look at him.
"Rolf? How did you know that?" Double D asked.
"In Rolf's country back on our world, Rolf's people knew Punies as legendary and mystical creatures. It's a pleasure to actually see one!"
"Someone is actually pleased to see me?" Punio asked.
"So, what-a brings you to this place?" Mario asked.
"Well, I come from Boggly Woods." Punio said.
"That the place we're trying to find!" Double D said.
"Really. Then, perhaps you can help me out?" the little puni asked.
"Yes, I would be honored." Double D said.
"You see, the rest of the punies, we were attacked by some evil guys called X-Nauts who were looking for something called a Crystal star. They imprisoned them all, including my little sister, but I managed to escape their grasp." Punio explained.
"The X-nauts! We are enemies with them! Maybe we can help!" Nazz offered.
"Thank you so much!" Punio said.
"No problem. Do you mind telling us how to get there, though?" Koops asked.
"Better yet, I'll show you." Punio said.
He walked into another hole in a wall, and a second later, a door appeared leading elsewhere. Rolf gasped and said something in his language.
"So, are we ready to go now?" Goombella asked.
"All set, follow me." Punio said, emerging from the door.
They all walked through the door and emerged through the other side.
"There's the pipe!" Nazz said.
"Yes, now let's get going!" Rolf said. He put his hand on the floor, and allowed Punio to climb up his arm and onto his shoulder.
They jumped into the pipe one by one, leaving Double D in the rear.
When Double D jumped in, he noticed this pipe was different. As he fell, he felt everything losing color, becoming black and white. It was a strange feeling one gets when they enter a new place and see things differently. He continued to fall into what seemed like a void until he at last hit land.
"Oh, what an experience!" Double D said.
He looked around with his friends and saw the forest surrounding theme. It would look like normal woods had it not been for the complete lack of color. "Boggly Woods. Interesting."
"Well, now I should show you to my tree." Punio said. "Rolf, it's that way." He pointed his antenna to a huge tree of in the distance.
"Yes, Rolf sees it." Rolf said. "Well, shall we progress?"
They walked into the woods. Everything around them was strange and weird, though Rolf seemed just fine adjusting to it.
"Not much farther now." Punio encouraged.
"So… we have arrived in these accursed woods…" A chilling voice said.
They looked and saw three shadow girls nearby.
"Who are they?" Double D asked quietly.
"Those are called Shadow Sirens." Goombella explained to Double D.
"Vivian! Now that we have arrived, we shall carry out our orders! Give me the picture we were supposed to use to find our enemy!" Beldam yelled at her younger sister.
"…" The one named Vivian didn't respond.
Beldam saw she was wearing a necklace. She took this to her advantage and grabbed Vivian by it, pulling her towards her.
"DON'T YOU DARE TELL ME YOU DON'T HAVE IT!" Beldam shouted.
"Please, you had it last!" Vivian pleaded.
Beldam wouldn't hear it. She thrust her sister down to the ground and punched her hard in the face.
"I cannot believe we are related!" Beldam shouted at her sister.
"I'm sorry, sister." Vivian said.
Beldam let her go. "Now get up, you weakling, and do as your told!"
"…yes sis." Vivian said, getting up slowly.
"Now, we have to look for that picture! As payment for your foolishness, I will confiscate that little necklace of yours!" Beldam practically ripped the necklace off of her poor sister's neck as she gave a quiet whimper.
All the while, the third sister said nothing.
"Hey there!" Double D said, running to the group, unaware of the conversation they had. He ran to Vivian, who he noticed was crying. "Are you okay?"
"Go away!" Vivian shouted to him, near tears. "Let me alone!"
By the tone of her voice, it was obvious Vivian was both scared and untrusting.
"Get lost, we're busy!" Beldam shrieked at the team, making them run away.
"Who were they?" Nazz asked as they continued to run.
"No idea. Forget them, they obviously don't want us around!" Goombella said back as they ran father.
Double D looked back once more to get a view of the one they called Vivian, who was on the ground on her knees, crying. It was completely against his will to leave someone like that, but he had more important matters to attend to.
They arrived at a huge tree in a clearing.
"So, this is where you live?" Nazz asked.
"Yeah, but… what's this?" Punio asked. He noticed where the entrance was, a huge red metallic door was with a red light on it.
"It appears to be a security door of sorts. I wonder why someone installed it on a tree…" Double D examined the door.
"The X-Nauts are probably responsible for this." Goombella said.
"Man, we're in a pickle." Koops thought out loud.
"No, confused turtle-boy. We're in Boggly Woods." Rolf corrected Koops.
A moment of confused silence fell them all.
Finally, after a minute or so, Punio broke it. "Wait, I heard there's a secret entrance of some sort somewhere around here."
"Well, as far as I can tell, there's no sign of a secret entrance." Goombella said.
"Well, it's not like it's going to say, "secret door" in big neon lights or something." Punio said.
"So, any ideas?" Koops asked Double D.
"No, I have to admit, I draw a blank here." Double D confessed.
"Wait, maybe I know someone who can help us find it!" Punio said. "There's this lady who lives in the forest, I think she is called Madame Flurrie. She has… magic powers, if that's what you want to call them, powers of the wind."
"Well, it's worth a shot." Goombella said.
They walked away from the tree, and deeper into the woods. Rolf allowed Punio back onto his shoulder again.
"This way." He directed his attention to a path into the woods.
"Right, come along." Rolf told the rest of the group, who walked behind them.
Just then, out of the woods, they heard a screeching.
"What was that?" Koops asked, a little nervous.
Just then, a creature that looked like a Venus flytrap, and two that looked like a cloud with another that looked like a rock with a spike and feet appeared.
"A pale piranha, a cleft, and two dark clouds." Goombella stated, after quickly checking her book. "You can't jump on the pale piranha, or it'll bite ya, and the cleft has a high defense, but not on its underside, so try to turn it over. The clouds are up in the air, so you have to jump at it."
"Thanks." Rolf said, putting Punio down on a safe spot. "In honor the punies, Rolf shall smite you!"
Rolf reached into his pockets and took out some what looked like a large bag. He slammed it hard onto the pale piranha with a loud clang. It sounded like it was full of rocks. Double D remembered the ways he attacked were similar to his duel with Eddy a while back at the cul-de-sac, as he swung the bag of rocks in the same way as he did with the fish he once used.
"Nice job." Nazz said. Rolf stood in a proud stance, thought the pale piranha wasn't out yet.
This time, Nazz ran over to the pale piranha and delivered a right hook to its side. It fell, and Nazz joined Rolf's proud stance.
"Heads up!" Goombella shouted.
She jumped in the way of one of the clouds coming to strike them, in an anger wanting to avenge their friend. The other cloud approached Goombella again to weaken her, but Double D charged at it and deflected the attack with his rod. Mario equipped his power smash badge and slammed the cleft. It instantly smashed through its defenses and KO'd it.
That left the question of the two clouds. One of them suddenly started glowing, as if to charge up its energy.
"Not good." Goombella said.
"Time for a change in-a plans!" Mario said.
Koops retreated into his shell, and Mario lifted him, tossing him right at the enemies. He struck both and caused them to disappear into the air.
"Victory." Rolf said, allowing the little puni back onto his shoulder.
"Good job, guys!" Punio congratulated them. "Let's go, Flurrie's isn't that far from here!"
"Hm… it looks like we found the place!" Koops said, looking at a house in the woods.
"Odd. Unlike the black and white woods, this house is colored." Double D said.
"This Madame Flurrie mustn't be of this place to have a house like this, yes?" Rolf asked Punio.
"No. She used to be an actress, as far as I've heard. I think she's here on retirement or something to that extent." Punio said.
"So, let's check this out." Nazz said. They walked into the house. It looked very posh, decorated with many pieces of furniture.
"I got to admit, this is one nice house." Goombella said as she walked in.
"Madame? Madame Flurrie? Are you here?" Punio called out.
No answer.
"Perhaps she took a walk in the woods."
"Maybe not, though. Let's investigate." Double D suggested
They approached a door, as Rolf allowed Punio back on the floor.
"Madame Flurrie?" He called again.
"Punio, is that you?" A feminine voiced asked from the other side.
"Yes, hello!" Punio said back. "Flurrie, I have a request to ask of you!"
"Yes?" Flurrie asked.
"My family and friends: They've been captured and our tree has been taken over by a mean group of people called X-nauts. We need your wind powers to look for a secret entrance to the tree." Punio explained.
"Yes, I'd love to help. Honest, I would!" Flurrie said, sounding empathetic. "But I have a situation of my own. You see, I've lost a necklace of mine, and I simply cannot go into the open without it!"
"Oh, I know how you mean. Like, if I don't get my face perfectly looking right in the morning, I can't leave!" Goombella said.
"Punio? Who else is with you?" Flurrie asked curiously.
"A group of other people who I recruited my rescue mission." Punio said.
"Wait, hold on a moment. You've lost a necklace? I think we saw someone earlier with a necklace, perhaps it's yours?" Double D asked.
"What, you know where it is! Please, if you can, be a dear and find it for me. If you do, I will do whatever you ask!" Flurrie asked.
"Deal." Nazz said. "Come on, we gotta find those three shadow sirens we saw earlier.
"See? I told you, you had the picture all along!" Vivian said, as her sister gave her an ugly face.
"Didn't I already tell you, you will NEVER talk back to me, you rotten, little inferiority!" Beldam grabbed her sister mercilessly and threw her to the ground again.
"…yes sister." she said, getting up.
"Now, let us see who we have to find!" Beldam held the picture out.
It was a picture of a man with a red hat, a mustache, and…
"Wait, he was one of those people who passed by!" Vivian said.
"There's no need to state the obvious!" Beldam spat.
"I am sorry, sister." Vivian apologized.
"If you are really sorry, you'll shut up and do as your told, understand?" Beldam shouted, holding up a fist.
"Yes." Vivian sighed.
"Hey, look!" Double D shouted, as they ran near the sirens.
"Aha! We finally got this chance!" Beldam said with a smile.
"What?" Koops asked.
"Now, if you give us your Star and map, we will just be on our way." Beldam said.
"How did you know about that?" Nazz asked. "I bet you three work for those X-naut people, don't you?"
"You would win that bet." Beldam replied. "So, are you going to give us the star and map, or are we going to battle this out!"
"You mind telling us who you are?" Double D asked.
"I am Beldam, shadow siren leader. I am a sorceress of shadow and ice." Beldam's arms started glowing a dark blue. "This one is Marilynn, sorceress of shadow and thunder."
"I… am Vivian, sorceress of shadows and fire." Vivian's hands started glowing a weak red.
"I told you NEVER to speak unless instructed, you filth!" Beldam shouted at her sister.
"…yes sister. I do as you say." Vivian reluctantly said.
"Fine, we'll-a fight!" Mario said. Everyone took out their weapons.
"Go!" Beldam instructed.
Vivian who was in front attacked first, running over to Goombella and throwing a punch. Goombella defected the blow with her helmet. Marilynn traveled over to Double D, and struck his with a punch, only this one hit him. Beldam traveled over to Nazz and prepared to strike, but Rolf valiantly jumped in the way and struck her with his bag.
"Blizzard!" Beldam shouted, with both hands pointing at the group. Ice and snow started falling from nowhere.
"Oh man, it's cold!" Goombella shivered.
"Poppycock!" Rolf shouted, unfazed.
He leapt into the air and hit Beldam who lost concentration and dispelled her ice attack. Mario jumped into the air and landed his hammer on Marilynn. Goombella jumped onto Vivian, who took the hit and started panting.
"Now we got her! Double D, take your rod and slam it as hard as you can on Vivian! That should finish her!" Goombella said.
Double D ran at her with rod in hand. However, he suddenly felt a change in heart when he saw her, still with tears down her face. He hated to see anyone hurt like so. He looked over to see Beldam, who was snickering as the fight went on. Double D had a new target. Just before he was about to hit Vivian, he jumped right over and landed a very hard, determined blow on Beldam instead.
"You wretched, little boy!" Beldam shouted at him.
"You were supposed to hit Vivian!" Goombella shouted.
Double D ran back. "Uh… sorry, I missed?"
"Uh!" Goombella groaned.
She jumped on Marilynn and ran back. Nazz ran to Marilynn as well, only this time, she got grabbed and thrown back to Rolf, who both flew back onto the ground.
"Thunder!" Marilynn called out, with one of her large hands pointed into the sky.
A second later, a bold of lighting crashed and shook up the group long enough to allow Beldam another punch on Nazz.
"Vivian, attack them now!" Beldam demanded.
She went over to Double D, and punched at him, but Double D deflected the blow with his rod and used it to push her away. Mario took his hammer and went for Marilynn. She this time fainted and fell to the ground.
"Nice." Goombella said, looking at the situation.
She failed to noticed Beldam coming near and land a punch on her.
"Don't you dare!" Double D said as she noticed Beldam prepare to whack her again.
He took his rod and slammed it one her head, knocking her to the floor.
"That just leaves this one." Nazz said, noticing Vivian was the last one up. "Koops, a quick shell toss aught to finish her!"
He nodded and retreated into his shell. With a quick toss, he hit Vivian, knocking her down as well.
"And that is checkmate!" Double D declared.
Rolf quickly ran ahead of him.
"Now, inform us!" He grabbed Beldam. "What is your mission? What are you three-who-perform-witchery and these X-nauts attempting to do?"
"That is for me to know and you to find out, sucker!" Beldam said.
Just like that, she sank into the ground and vanished.
"What?" Rolf asked. The other sisters vanished too by then.
"Hey, they dropped their necklace they had!" Nazz said. They looked and saw the necklace they once had.
"We'd best take this to Flurrie, yes?" Rolf asked.
They returned to Flurrie's and into her house, and to the door Flurrie was behind.
"Thank you." Flurrie said. "Please, if you would leave that by the door."
Koops placed the necklace at the door, and they stood back. The door opened, and a hand reached out to grab it, as she shut the door afterwards.
"Yes, and now for a proper introduction!" Flurrie said. A disco light above them suddenly turned on, and swing music started playing.
The door opened, and out came a woman who looked to made entirely out of cloud. She wore her necklace and some earrings and had blue-ish hair. She seemed rather large for someone her size.
"What the-" Nazz started.
"Ah, so you're the people who found the necklace. Thank you." She turned to Mario.
"Oh, I suppose it's only fair to reward you. How about a kiss, handsome?" Flurrie asked.
"WHAT!" Mario sounded mortified.
"Oh yeah, it's only right! Come to me, baby!" Flurrie shouted, running to him.
As she ran, she knocked everyone else out of the way, and started kissing Mario. Double D turned away so he wouldn't see, though he was reminded of the Kanker sisters.
Finally, when Flurrie stopped, she left Mario completely speechless. He was on the floor gasping and coughing for air. Finally he got up.
"Was that-a-really necessary!" Mario shouted.
"Yes! So, now are we off to save Punio's friends and family or what?"
"…yes." Mario coughed.