Chapter 3: The First Secret Stars
Mario, Luigi, Yoshi, Donkey Kong, Mallow and Geno leapt through the portrait and found themselves back in the Mushroom Kingdom. "So, Mario, where to now?" Mallow asked. "We head back to the main hall." Mario said as he started to walk out of the room. "Uh, why?" Donkey Kong asked in confusion. Peach told me about a bunch of secret locations in the kingdom. If we're going to find the Power Stars, there's bound to be some hidden inside the castle too." Mario explained. Luigi, Yoshi, Donkey Kong, Mallow and Geno looked at each other in confusion before shrugging it off and following their leader.
As they returned to the main hall, they made their way up the stairs and walked up to a door with a star with a 1 on it. "Uh, what are you doing, Mario?" Luigi asked. "It's simple, Luigi. We need at least one Power Star to unlock this door. Observe." Mario said. He held out the Power Star and the door's magic lock started reacting to its power, slowly unlocking and opening. "Come on." Mario said. As the heroes entered the room, all they found was a room with stained windows of Princess Peach. "Huh? It's just an empty room with windows of the princess." Donkey Kong said in confusion. "Wait, what's this? There's a note on the wall." Luigi said. The group looked at the note as they started to read it.
Mario! My friends! My castle is in great peril. I know that Bowser's the cause…and I know that only you and your friends can stop him! The doors in the castle that have been sealed by Bowser can only be opened by Star Power. But there are secret paths in the castle, paths that Bowser hasn't found. One of those paths is in this room, and it holds one of the castle's Secret Stars! Find that Secret Star, Mario! It will help you and your friends on your quest. Please, Mario, you have to help us! Retrieve all of the Power Stars in the castle and free us from this awful prison! Please!
"Yoshi?" Yoshi said in confusion. "Secret Stars? I guess we should be so lucky that Bowser wasn't able to find all the Power Stars." Geno said. "Okay. But if one of them is hidden in this room, then where do we start?" Donkey Kong asked. "I think I know where." Mario said, staring at the third window in the room. "What is it, Mario? You know something?" Luigi asked. "Follow me!" Mario called as he leapt into the window and disappeared. That shocked the others. "There's a secret entrance in the window." Mallow said. "Uh…I'm going in!" Luigi shouted as he leapt into the window. "Yoshi!" Yoshi shouted as he followed. "Geronimo!" Geno shouted as he followed. "It is on like Donkey Kong!" Donkey Kong shouted as he followed. "Hey! Wait for me!" Mallow shouted as he followed last.
Just then, as they landed, they found themselves standing atop a giant slide. "What is this?" Donkey Kong asked in confusion. "It just looks like a giant slide." Mallow said. "Oh, it's more than a giant slide. This thing's our ticket to our first Secret Star." Mario said. "What do you mean?" Geno asked. "Peach told me about challenges like this once. If we make down the slide at a precise moment of time, we win the Star." Mario explained. The others looked at each other, stunned at this information. "So, what say you guys? Shall we slide?" Mario asked. Nodding to each other, they joined Mario by the edge of the slide. "Then here we go!" Mario shouted as they hopped down the slide. As they slid, the time started counting up the seconds. "How many seconds do we have to make before we reach bottom?" Luigi asked. "At least 20 seconds. As long as we don't skid off the slide." Mario said as they continued. Donkey Kong and Mallow were having a blast.
As they reached the finish line at the bottom, they reached precisely 20.6 seconds. The Power Star appeared and landed on the platform nearby. "We did it! We got the star!" Luigi cheered. "Oh yeah!" Donkey Kong cheered. As they cheered, Mario grabbed the Power Star and stared at it. But then, he felt a strange presence on the platform. He looked up at the Item Box floating above the platform. "Uh, Mario? What are you doing?" Luigi asked. "Come on, man. We got the Power Star. Let's get out of here." Donkey Kong said. "Not yet. There's something I want to check out first." Mario said, walking under the box. "Uh, that's just an Item Box." Geno said. "Looks can be deceiving." Mario said. He leapt up and tapped the box. Just then, another Power Star emerged from it. The others were shocked by this. "Princess Peach sure knows how to hide a Power Star." Geno said. Mario nodded as he picked up the other Power Star. "Wow. And just like that, we now have 3 Power Stars." Luigi said. "Right. We're going to need every Power Star we can get. Including the secret ones." Mario said as he disappeared. The others soon followed.
