In this chapter, our heroes will seek out the Cloudmaking Machine so they can destroy it.
If they can destroy it, they'll be one step closer to stopping Huff N' Puff.
They'll also meet a new party member.
He's the last of the Mario party members.
I will admit that there are a lot of protagonists in this story. But I do my best not to leave anyone out of the spotlight.
I wonder if the Chapter 6 arc is going to be the shortest.
Important events are still happening in this chapter though. As usual.
Chapter 43: Walking On Sunshine
"So…what's the problem?" asked Lincoln.
"Huff N' Puff and his minions have built a cloud machine that has blocked me from entering the sky!" exclaimed the sun.
"Oh no!" exclaimed Watt. That was not good news for the residents of Flower Fields. After all, did the plants not need the sun? Personally she happened to like the sun herself.
Surely there was something they could do about it. Was Mario not the hero of the Mushroom Kingdom? There was a reason why he was so famous around the kingdom.
If there was anyone that could stop the machine, it was him.
Though he of course had a lot of friends these days. And it probably wasn't a one-person job, saving the kingdom.
"I need your help to destroy the machine." said the most prominent star in the sky (though far from the biggest)
The machine was fireproof so he didn't think his beams of sunshine would do anything.
Lincoln nodded.
"We'll take care of the machine." spoke the boy. It looked this was their next step in rescuing the sixth Star Spirit.
On the way to the machine, our heroes encountered another Lakitu.
But this Lakitu was different from the rest.
Unlike other Lakitus, he had hair. And he also wore sunglasses. Which was weird considering the sun couldn't go into the sky.
Mario remembered the days that for some reason a Lakitu was always following him around with a camera.
At least that Lakitu was friendly. It was good to know that not all Koopas were out to get him.
The Koopas of Koopa Village could attest to that.
Yoshi, Luigi, and Wario had met that Lakitu as well. It was surprising that he followed them to places like Lethal Lava Land and Cool, Cool Mountain. Those environments weren't known for being friendly. Though given that he had a cloud he would at least not have to worry about falling in the lava.
The first thing our heroes noticed about Spike aside from his unique appearance was that he had way more health than a regular Lakitu. So the fight was going to take a lot longer.
He also had a variety of different attacks he could use against them.
For example, he could attack with lightning.
Spike was definitely no ordinary Lakitu.
Mario leapt on top of him. His hammer was ineffective against Lakitus, and Spike was no exception.
However, it would take more than one jump to knock Spike off his cloud.
Spike zapped the heroes with lightning.
"Ouch!" exclaimed Lola.
Her hair stood in end.
"That smarts!" shouted Parakarry.
"Aw man!" complained the girl who dressed in pink.
Now she was going to have to brush it.
At least she had a hairbrush on her.
Luckily, Luan was immune.
Spike scratched his head curiously.
Why wasn't she affected?
The Loud comedian threw a pie at Spike's face.
It was a direct hit.
"My shades!" exclaimed Spike.
Unfortunately for him, having custard in his face made him vulnerable. And he didn't have anything to wipe it off with. Though it was surprising what you could fit in a Lakitu Cloud.
Mario jumped on top of him.
"Ow!" exclaimed the Lakitu. He knew what a jumper Mario was. Flying enemies should not throw caution to the wind when they were up against that plumber.
He blew Mario away with a tornado.
And yes, he was fighting like Mallow from Super Mario RPG.
Spike was not a prince among Lakitus though.
Lakilester also hit Leni with one, but that didn't seem to hurt her at all.
"Again?" questioned the Spike.
Lincoln punched him.
Eventually, Spike realized he was not going to win this fight.
Partly because two of the Louds had an immunity to one of his powers. He wasn't sure, but they definitely had an advantage when it came to defense.
"I surrender!" exclaimed Spike.
He pulled a white flag out of his cloud.
"You know when to fold them? That's good for you." noted Bow.
She recalled Jr. Troopa, who didn't know when to quit. Something told her that they would encounter him again in the next chapter. And perhaps in the final chapter.
"To be honest, I've grown tired of the cloudy weather. I enjoyed it at first but then I wished for the sun to come back." spoke Spike.
So he had another reason to stop fighting other than his exhaustion.
Lakilulu suddenly arrived on scene. She was Lakilester's girlfriend.
And yes, Lakitus came in both genders as well.
You learned something new every day.
"Please be easy on him! He was just doing what Huff N Puff told him to do!" exclaimed Lakilulu.
"I don't think he should listen to him. Why does he obey him?" asked Sushie.
"I got a sunburn once." noted Lakilester. Now that the clouds were in the sky it wasn't going to happen again.
"That's it?" asked Kooper.
"Well, there was also the fact that all the Koopas seem to work for Bowser these days." noted Spike. So he decided to join one of his top minions.
"Do you know anything about how Huff N Puff fights?" asked Lisa.
This would be useful information. Something told her that Huff N Puff was a powerful opponent. It would definitely be a good idea to prepare for the fight before they went in.
After all, was he not the guardian of the sixth Star Spirit?
"He splits into Ruff Puffs when he's damaged." explained Lakilester.
They would want group attacks to prevent him from healing.
Otherwise the fight would likely drone on.
As our heroes continued their search, some Fooly Flowers rolled towards them.
It seemed not all flowers in the Flower Fields were friendly.
These flowers had sided with Bowser.
Oh wait, they already knew about some of the flowers being unfriendly. They had encountered the Crazee Dayzees. Lola noted they were bonkers…though maybe she was being a tad hypocritical.
As it turned out, Lakilester could be used by our heroes to get across hazardous terrain.
Such as brambles, for instance.
Our heroes managed to find the machine, though local Tolielip had given them unhelpful directions. It was impressive that the Koopas had the technology to control the weather.
Some Rocky Wrenches were by the machine.
It seemed they were in charge of keeping it running.
There were also Mechakoopas.
And Bullies.
It seemed that Bowser was aware that the heroes would try to destroy the machine.
Or perhaps the flowers. They wanted the sun to come back, after all.
So it seemed that he was making sure that the machine was guarded.
The Bullies charged towards our heroes.
Sushie used Tidal Wave to knock the Bullies away.
Luckily she had fast reflexes.
The Mechakoopas spat out fireballs at them.
Luckily, the toy Koopas could be tossed at other enemies. Including other Mechakoopas.
However, their small size made them harder to hit.
Some Magikoopas showed up to provide support for enemies.
It seemed that the Bowser Baddies were coming in waves. On account of the added difficulty from Lincoln and his family being included.
It looked like our heroes might want to use healing items. All these minions were wearing them down.
The Red Magikoopas cast their magic on the Bullies.
Somehow, they seemed angrier than usual.
This made the heroes feel concerned.
"I've been feeling breezy lately." noted Leni.
Suddenly, she launched a whirlwind at the Magikoopas.
The Magikoopas gasped in shock and fell off their brooms.
"Keep doing that, Leni!" exclaimed Lincoln.
"I didn't know I could control the weather." noted Leni. It made her feel strong.
"Well, we can do a lot of things in this video game that we can't do in our world." spoke Lincoln. It was surprising. Who would hsve thought he would gain the power to fly?
Being in this world had its perks.
Still, they thought it would be a good idea to get back home. The Mario world had its dangers though it was a bit sugary.
And their parents and friends would most likely want them to come back.
Eventually, the Bowser Baddies decided to retreat.
It seemed they knew when to fold them.
Now that the guards were gone, our heroes wondered what would work best for destroying the machine.
There were a variety of ways they could go about it. Though the machine was fireproof.
"I'll give it a try." said Bombette.
She lit her fuse.
Bombette detonated in front of the machine.
The machine was blown to bits.
It was doubtful that the Koopa Troop could repair the machine after that. The parts had flown in all directions.
"Way to go, Bombette!" exclaimed Lincoln. He knew that he could count on her.
Well, he could count on anyone on his team. But he was definitely grateful.
Bombette winked at Lincoln. She was glad she could help.
Shortly afterwards, the clouds began to disappear.
Sunshine was returning to the fields.
"I feel so proud of us!" shouted Watt. They had served the sun well.
"Hooray!" exclaimed the flowers. Now the Flower Fields could go back to the way before…assuming Huff N Puff didn't build another cloud machine. But they had faith our heroes could stop him.
Sunshine had returned to Flower Fields.
The Bowser Baddies looked around, curious as to what was happening around them.
Our heroes had succeeded in bringing the sun back to the fields. Their efforts had definitely paid off, like it had when they had recovered the first five Star Spirits.
This would definitely be good for the plants.
But there was still one more thing that our heroes needed to do to save Flower Fields.
They had to stop Huff N' Puff.
Besides, did he not have the sixth Star Spirit? They couldn't just leave him to his fate.
The sun approached them.
"Well done, heroes! I knew I could count on you!" applauded the sun.
If he had hands, he would be clapping.
The flowers began to cheer as well.
They were so happy to be reunited with the sun.
"I hate to crash your party, but I think it's a bit early to be celebrating." noted Lincoln.
"How come?" asked Lily.
"We destroyed the machine, but Huff N' Puff is still out there." pointed out the boy.
Until he was defeated, Flower Fields was not truly safe. What was to stop him from building another one? Chances were he still had the blueprints for them.
"I see your point. But you should be able to reach him now." pointed out the sun.
Our heroes nodded.
Meanwhile, Huff N' Puff noticed what was happening.
It was sunny once again.
"What happened to all the clouds?" asked Huff N' Puff.
Did something happen to the cloud machine?
Perhaps he should talk to his minions about it. He did have an insurance plan on it.
Chances are the machine might need repairs.
He wondered if Mario and Lincoln had something to do with it. Had they managed to discern its location and wreck it?
It then occurred to him that they were plausibly planning to take his Star Spirit. Like they had done to five other guardians before him.
Well, he wasn't going to let them have it if he had anything to say about it.
After all, was it not his job to guard the Star Spirit? Besides, the heroes had rescued enough Star Spirits as it was.
He would make sure to rally his troops and have them make a stand against the heroes.
If all else failed, he would fight the heroes himself.
Our heroes grew a beanstalk so they could reach the clouds.
It was time to fight Huff N' Puff and save Flower Fields. And the sixth Star Spirit.
Though given the added difficulty, they would have to get past the defenders first.
But our heroes could handle a challenge.
Wendy O. Koopa noticed that the heroes were coming.
She had brought a telescope.
"How did they manage to grow such a big beanstalk?" asked Wendy.
Well, she would make sure to alert the minions.
Though when she did so, she found out Huff N Puff had beat her to the punch.
As such, she decided she would be ready in case he failed.
Though considering how strong he was, she had doubts he would fail.
Now that the cloud machine has been destroyed, our heroes can reach Huff N' Puff.
But the way to him is going to be guarded, because of the added difficulty.
I figured this arc was kind of short so…
As a side note, you can probably guess why I included the Shine Sprites.
But in case you haven't, the plot of Chapter 6 in Paper Mario is similar to Super Mario Sunshine. I don't think they copy and pasted the plot though given the different gameplay of the two different titles. That I like.
As a result of the actions of a minion of Bowser, an area is shrouded in darkness, so Mario fixes things.
Luckily, Mario wasn't framed in this adventure. Though he was accused of an even more serious crime in the chapter after that. Talk about irony.
If he had FLUDD, he probably wouldn't be using Sushie in combat, now would he?