Part Four:
Chapter 5: Rolling Down the Mines
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Mario had several questions he wanted to ask Geno during their walk towards the hills, but he didn’t want to seem too intrusive. It might come off as rude. Maria and Mallow were asking the questions he wanted to ask anyway.
“So that body is still made out of wood?” Mallow asked.
“This body is pure wooden,” Geno held out his arms. “Except for the clothes. They are cloth. Even this hair is a wood shaving.” He ran his fingers against the curls.
“What are you like?” Maria asked. “When you are not inhabiting the body of a doll. What is your true form?”
“I’m a star.”
“You are a large amount of plasma?” Maria asked.
“Ew,” Mario retched. The idea of living blobs of blood made him feel ill.” Sorry. I didn’t mean to insult you, but the fact you’re a large amount of the clear stuff in blood-“
“Not that kind of plasma,” Maria started to laugh. “The fourth state of matter. It’s burning charged gas. It’s also a type of the lamp. Those glass spheres with the purple laser streaks.”
“Oh,” Mario felt his face heat up from embarrassment.
“I am neither,” Geno shook his head. “I look like one of the star pieces, but I also have eyes.”
“You look like a starman,” Maria understood.
“Could you take over any form?” Mallow asked. “Like a stuffed animal, or a statue?”
Geno nodded. “I could have if they were present in Rose Town. I came to that location because of you three. You were already searching for the pieces of the star road.”
“Could you possess a living body?” Maria asked.
“No,” Geno shook his head.” Nor could I reanimate a corpse.”
“What about create a clone body from a dead person’s DNA, like a sample of their hair?” Maria asked. She had a sheepish smile when everyone looked at her. “He said he was a Starman. Next time I come here, I am bringing some DVDs from my world.”
Mario noticed smoke wafting from the hills. “Seems to be fire.”
“Could be from chimneys,” Mallow read from his map. “We are about to come up on Moleville.”
“Moleville,” Maria thumbed through her guide. “Home to the Mole people and the Molleville mines. The main source of coal for all the mushroom kingdom. There is also a mining cart game and they also sell fireworks.”
“How will they react to Mario?” Mallow asked. “Mrs. Buttons liked him, but she was from another land.”
“Most of the toads I have come across are a lot like Morel,” Mario said. He was ready to brace himself against even more racism.
The fear of the inhabitants reactions changed when Mario and the others saw they were not toads at all. The people were mole like creatures and their town was made out of tent like homes that were halfway buried into the ground.
“Howdy folks,” one of the moles greeted them. “We usually don’t get much visitors ‘round these here parts. If y’all are hungry I recommend Diggers grill. He sho grills up some mean burgers.”
“Why thank you,” Maria smiled. “We will check it out later. Are those burgers big?”
“Are those burgers big?” The mole laughed. “They are the thickest and juiciest throughout the whole durn kingdom.”
“Do they object to serving Koopas?” Mario asked.
“They don’t object to serving anyone, less you want and try t’ stir up troubles. Now you don’t want to cause trouble, now do you?”
“Of course not,” Mario shook his head. “I’m just asking cause the toads in this kingdom don’t really like my kind.”
“Oh heck we don’t judge based on species. Now we heard about some of those things the toads mention when regarding Koopas. Don’t know why they say such things. Now it might have something to do with that one feller. You know, that one king of Dark Land, but us moles don’t judge all because of him.
“Thank you,” Mario said. He liked these moles.
“Now I’d help you out with more information, but I’m late for my shift in the mines. Something crashed from above and caused a big ole mess.” He ran off.
“That thing that crashed from above,” Mallow repeated. “Could that be the piece of the star road?”
“I believe it is,” Geno said.
“Lets see how we can enter these mines,” Maria said.
They looked around for someone else who might offer some information, but they couldn’t find any adults. There were two little girls sitting next to one of the tents and from the way they raised their voices they were in the middle of the argument.
“It’s not fair,” the one little girl with a yellow bow pouted. “You always get to be Maria.”
“Because I play her the best,” the girl with blue bow said. “Now we don’t need no arguments.”
“Okay, why do I have to be the princess?”
“Because I need someone to rescue, Glycerin.”
“But I don’t want to be the princess. Can’t I be Pauline instead?”
“If Dyna were here you could be, but I need someone to rescue.”
“Can’t we use a doll instead, Trini?” Glycerin asked.
“No, now you can be the princess or we can wait for Dyna. Where did she go?”
“She went into the mines,” Glycerin said. “She said she is going to find the shooting star that fell there.”
“What shooting star?”
“The one she saw the other night.”
“You believe what she said?” Trini raised her eyebrows. “She said she saw Princess Peach fall out of the sky near Booster’s tower.”
“The princess,” Maria and Mario repeated.
“Excuse me,” Geno approached the girls. “Do you know where the entrance to the mines are?”
“Sure,” Trini nodded. “Just go straight ahead. Ya can’t miss it.”
“Star piece number three here we come,” Maria said.
The two girls were right. The entrance was right ahead and there were a few moles leaving it. One of them seemed to be worried about something.
“Pa,” a mole lady ran up to him. “Did ya find them?”
The mole man shook his head. “Sorry Ma. I looked everywhere. We are going to regroup and look for them again.”
“They are going to get hurt in there,” Ma mole said. “Especially if they get too close to where Punchinello has holed himself up. He has a mite temper. I can’t believe set took her little brother with her. I’m going in there myself and look.”
“No Ma,” Pa held her back. “I can’t have all three of you getting lost.”
“We’ll find them for you,” Maria said.
“Yeah,” Mario nodded. “We were seeking out something that belongs to my friend.” He pointed at Geno. “We’ll also look for your children.” The idea of little kids being lost in the mine frightened him. He couldn’t imagine if Bowser Junior was lost.
“We’ll we thank you folks for lending a hand,” Pa mole said. “But you don’t know anything about navigating around mines, now do you?”
“Are you kidding?” Mario placed his hand on Maria’s shoulder. “Do you not know who she is? This is Maria, the great heroine of the Mushroom Kingdom. There is nothing she can’t do.”
“Uh Mario,” Maria swallowed.
“Your that Maria?” Ma asked as several of the other moles surrounded them. “Do you think you can find my babies?”
“Don’t worry ma’am,” Maria grabbed her hands. “We will do our best.” She turned to the others. “Lets go.”
“Wait up,” Mario ran past her. “Don’t forget I go in first.”
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Mario didn’t want to admit it, but he was lost. He didn’t know where they were going and he didn’t know how to get out either, but he couldn’t tell everyone that.
“We’re lost,” Maria said.
“No we are not,” Mario said when found another corner to turn. “We just don’t know where we are going.”
“Isn’t that the definition of lost?” Geno asked.
“No,” Mario shook his head. “That just means that we do not know where we are, and I know where we are.”
“Okay,” Maria folded her arms. “Where are we?”
“We are,” Mario looked around. He saw the sign he wanted to find. “We are at the exit.” He pointed to the sign. It was in front of a spring. “We leave and see if we can get a map.”
“Are you sure this is the exit?” Mallow scratched his head. “It looks just like a wall.”
“Only one way to find out,” Maria was ready to jump on the spring.
“Wait,” Mario grabbed her by the shoulder.
“What?” Maria asked. “Let me guess you go first?”
“Exactly,” Mario said.
“Let’s just jump together.”
“Fine,” Mario held her hand and the jumped on the spring at the same time. They were launched at the same time. Their heads struck stone and once again Mario felt his mind fill with darkness.
He awoke when he felt someone shake him.
“No money on this one sir,” an odd voice said.
“Whatever,” a gruff voice answered. “We have enough. Now lets go.”
“Huh?” Mario opened his eyes to watch a purple crocodile and several bandits run off.
“They just took our money,” Mallow pointed at the crocodile. “That was the same guy who took my wallet.”
“He set us up,” Maria rubbed her head. “Placed that spring and sign there.”
“What are you the narrator?” Mario asked. “Lets get him.”
“I’m very sorry,” Geno said after they had started running. “Mallow and I tried to keep them from stealing your coins.”
“That doesn’t matter now,” Mario said. “You take care of the bandits. I’ll take care of Croco.”
“Are you sure?” Maria asked. “Mallow and I have dealt with him before.”
“Lets just say that there is one thing that us reptiles understand.”
It wasn’t long until they had caught up to the thieves. Mario didn’t wait for the others to attack the bandits. He leapt with his mouth wide open and landed on Croco’s tail. He sank his teeth into the base.
“Yeeeeeouch,” Croco cried. “Get off, get off, get off.”
Mario refused to let himself be removed, despite all the shaking around from Croco. He was not going to open his mouth until the purple thief agreed to give back what he took from him.
“All right,” Croco sniffled. “I’ll give it back.” He dropped several bags of money. “Please let go.”
Mario released his teeth and slid onto the ground. “Don’t piss me off a gain,” He snapped his teeth. He watched as Croco and bandits had fled. “Yuck. You can tell when someone hasn’t bathed in a while.”
“I thought there was an understanding between reptiles,” Geno said.
“There is one thing to understand,” Mario corrected. “The bases of our tails are very sensitive, and I don’t have to worry about being bit there because my shell is covering it.”
“Great,” Maria picked up one of the money bags. “We got our money back, but now we are even more lost.”
“We are not lost,” Mario lied and looked around. He saw a flicker of light in one tunnel. “There’s a light.” He ran down the tunnel without waiting for the others.
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The light did not come from outside. It came from something better. It was the third piece of the star road and it sat there in the corner, twinkling and glowing. Mario couldn’t belive his luck. Now they just had to find the kids and a way out of the mines.
“We did it,” Mallow walked up to the star. “We found the third star piece.”
“Star piece?” A large creature landed in front of the star. He was a purple character shaped like a bomb. He even had a fuse sticking out of him. “So this the name of my new treasure.”
“That isn’t yours,” Mallow pointed at him. “That belongs to Geno.”
“Technically it belongs to everyone,” Geno said.
“It seems you lost it,” the odd creature said. “And finders keepers and losers weepers. It is mine now.”
“Listen big guy,” Mario said. “We just want that piece without any trouble.”
“Big Guy,” the creature shook. “What do you mean by that? Are you saying that I’m fat?”
“I’m saying you are big,” Mario frowned. “You are taller than me.” That wasn’t saying much.
“Defensive much?” Maria asked. “You must be Punchinello.”
“That I am,” the creature nodded. “Now leave before I get angry.”
“Looks like we are going to have to fight him, Maria,” Mallow said.
“Maria?” Punchinello blinked. “The Maria who rescued Princess Peach? Are you the Maria who also saved seven other kingdoms and the Yoshi’s of Dinosaur Land.”
“I did,” Maria chewed her bottom lip. “But I wasn’t alone. I wouldn’t have gotten far without Pauline.”
“The Maria is in front of me,” the bomb creature laughed. “If I kill her then I’d be famous. Oh yes. The newspapers will have my face on it. Punchinello, the killer of the Maria.”
“Over my dead body,” Mario stepped in front of her.
“And you are?” Punchinello pointed at him.
“I’m Mario and you will have to face me, Mallow and Gino before you get to Maria.”
“Mario?” Punchinello laughed again. “Aren’t you one of King Bowser’s generals? I will be double famous if I kill the both of you.”
“Why would you want to be famous for something like that?” Geno asked.
“Because he’s crazy,” Mallow said. “Geno, used your beam.”
Geno became illuminated and pointed at Punchinello. A beam of light shot forward and struck the enemy.
“You think that can stop me?” Punchinello pulled out four Bomb-ombs. “Attack.”
“These guys are easy,” Mario smacked one with his new brass knuckles.
“Yeah,” Mallow took another one out with his cymbals.
“I got a better idea,” Maria loaded up another fire flower and ignited another bomb-omb. “I don’t like this purchase. I want to make a return.” She threw the smaller bomb back at the larger one.
“Clever,” Geno picked up the fourth and threw it at Punchinello.
The enemy was knocked on it’s butt by the blast. “So you think you are tough? Time to whip out the big guns.” He pulled out four larger bomb-ombs. “Attack them.”
“This is just too easy,” Mario jumped on one. “Almost as easy as taking care of Mack.” He threw it at Punchinello.
“I don’t know if I should be happy that you got rid of him without me,” Maria knocked out another and threw it at the purple bomb. “Or upset that you hogged all the fun.”
“You might want to thank me,” Mario said. “It wasn’t that much fun.”
Geno and Mallow threw theirs at the same time. The explosion resulted in not just knocking Punchinello off his feet, but also sent him rolling backwards.
“That’s it,” Punchinello said after he stood up. “No more Mr. Nice Guy. I’m gonna summon my big bomb he’ll blow up the entire mines he is so tough.”
“You will end up destroying yourself,” Geno pointed out.
“I don’t care,” Punchinello grinned. “I will still be famous posthumously.” He raised his hands. “King Bomb come to me.” He waited for a few seconds. He looked up. “King Bomb come.” Nothing appeared. “You stupid bomb.” He pounded against the wall. “Come down here when I call you.” He kicked the wall. A giant bomb-omb fell from above and landed on him and crushed him.
“Wow,” Mallow said. “Do you think he is even breathing?”
The fuse on the bomb was ignited.
“Everyone seek shelter,” Mario pushed Maria to the ground and covered her with his body. He closed his eyes as he waited for the blast. The explosion wasn’t as loud as he had thought it would be, although there was a bit of ringing in his ears after.
“Not that powerful,” Geno stepped out from behind a rock. He was covered in soot.
“Yeah,” Mario rolled off of Maria. “I guess I still owe you one.”
“What?” Maria stood up. “I would say that we are even.”
“Guys,” Mallow pointed to a hole in the wall. On the other side was a small mole girl with a red spotted bow on her head. She was carrying a baby mole on her back.
“It won’t budge,” the mole girl was pushing against a mining cart.
“You guys get the star,” Mario walked up to the girl. “Are you Dyna?”
“Yeah,” the little girl kept pushing. “These carts are fun to ride. I brought Myte to ride with me.”
“Lets see if I can give it a push,” Mario grabbed onto the back. “This might be our ticket out of here.”
“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Maria asked. “I’ve seen this movie.”
“Another DVD you plan on showing me?” Mario pushed.
“Yeah,” Maria shoved along with him.
“We got the star piece,” Mallow said.
“Good,” Mario continued to push. The cart was still stuck but it could move. “You and the kids can get in the cart. While Maria, Geno and I can push.”
“Gotcha,” Mallow crawled inside along with the mole children.
“Ready?” Mario asked.
“We are ready,” Geno assured him.
“Okay, everyone push.” He pushed the cart along with Maria and Geno and once his friends had crawled inside he jumped in after them.
The cart zipped along the rails like a roller coaster. Mario could see why the kids like riding inside them. It was fun, except it’s a little risky without safety bars and seatbelts though. His theory did turn out true. The rails did lead outside.
“Uh oh,” Maria shouted and pointed to where the rails stopped. “Everyone hold on.”
The cart slid shot off the edge and flew through the air. The soared above the town before the fell towards one of the tents.
“We are home,” Dyna said before she and Mite fell through the tent first, followed by Mallow and Maria, then Gino and finally Mario. One by one they landed on a bed and bounced off. “Lets do that again.”
“No,” Mario shook his head.
“Dyna,” Pa Mole ran into the room.
“Little Mite,” Ma followed him. “Dyna, what were you thinking.”
“I wanted to give Mite a ride,” she pointed to her baby brother who was laughing. “See? He is happy.”
“What is wrong with you?” Ma smacked her daughter. “You are grounded for the next two weeks, young lady.”
“Not in front of Maria,” Pa said.
“Oh Maria,” Ma hugged her first before the others and Mario. “I need to thank you all for rescuing my babies.”
“We don’t need any-“ Mallow started but Mario placed a hand on his mouth.
“We just need a small bite to eat,” Mario said. “Directions to Diggers and some information.”
“I’ll treat you to Diggers,” Pa said. “And what kind of information do you need?”
“We need to find this Booster’s Tower,” Maria said.
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