As the group from the train station descended and the village began to level out before them, it became more apparent how big it was. The village itself, not a particularly huge settlement of wooden buildings around the central tree, took up only the center of the area. Instead most of the space seemed to be open ground — if the seemingly floating island on which the village sat could be called ground. Around it, the rest of the ground was nonexistent, fading into the open pit below.

   On level earth again, Mario finally came to a stop at the edge of the enormous crater, where Tommy and the others had already crossed the hanging bridge. Gazing at it skeptically for just a second, Mario glanced back to make sure Buddy was following, then plunged on ahead.

   Rope bridges — the infamously dangerous platform wasn't so bad in Mario's opinion; it wasn't like they were built to break. It was mostly in people's heads, and once you'd crossed them a few times you learned to get over it.

   Still, he wasn't sure if he'd want to live in a place that required crossing one on a regular basis. Especially as a pianta!

   The bridge didn't seem to like running very much. As soon as his eager feet hit the wooden planks, it swayed dramatically to the left, wobbled, and almost tipped him over the rope railing. Grabbing onto it in a half-hearted bid for safety, Mario couldn't help staring down into the seeming abyss below.

    There beneath the thin boards where he stood grew a plethora of giant mushrooms, some as large as a small house he would guess, sticking out of what seemed to be the side of the chasm wall. They weren't terribly far down — otherwise he wouldn't see them in the blackness below — and a sort of trail of them extended ahead to what looked like underneath the surface of the village itself. Past that, it really was a pit too deep to fathom.

   "What's the village actually sitting on??" he questioned now.

   "I explained, the branches of the great tree," Fludd answered. "Its trunk is yards thick and supports the entire village over the chasm. It grow out of the side of the cliff face as well — you can't see it because you're standing right over it."

   Lookin up to the blooming village ahead, Mario replied, "But that looks like solid ground, not a tree."

   "Yes, the branches have been heavily fortified and reworked to make a plot of land suitable for habitation," the machine went on. "It has been used by piantas for as long as they have been here. It used to be for protection, but now, it is more tradition than anything."

Mario marveled at the mushrooms below for a moment longer, awed by their unique colors and patterns in purple and green. Turning back to the bridge, he made for the village proper.

Where the bridge met land on the opposite end, he was somewhat surprised to find a small crowd of piantas gathered, standing around talking as if spectating some event. Tommy and the Doot Doot Sisters were parked near the trunk of some crooked tree that was somehow growing near the edge.

Curious, Mario stepped forward. Before he could ask a bystander what was going on, a huge insect — a bee, if he had a guess — swept by his head, narrowly missing him. Just when he thought it was safe, two more followed suit.

   Waving them away, he noticed that many other people were having problems of the same kind as they loitered at the village outskirts, outside the bounds of a low fence that enclosed the village. Close to him, he heard a woman indignantly raise her voice.

   "No no no! This is what happens to pets without discipline."

   Spotting her, a pianta holding hands with a smaller child, Mario eavesdropped. The little girl beside her, presumably her daughter, replied, "I want a pet, too."

   "No, darling... you're safe as long as you're here. NO PETS!"

   The girl lowered her gaze to a small pianta boy standing by her. "My mom is scary," she said in a loud whisper.

   She was seemingly ignored for the loud chatter the adults were having. "Honestly, now it's the chain chomps? I can't take much more of this," said a pianta man with a pack of mushrooms on his back.

   "Don't worry, that pup wouldn't hurt anyone!" the little girl spoke up, but she was ignored.

   "Great chomps of fire," the boy beside her scoffed. "If those big lugs come this way..."

   Now Mario couldn't stay out of it any longer. Approaching them with interest, he and Buddy inserted themselves into the little crowd. One of the nearby piantas instantly took notice of them and called him out.

   "Hey, mister! Think you could spare us a hand, here?"

   Not one to back down from a plea, Mario turned. "Sure... what's going on?"

   Someone he couldn't even see answered him. "This dear lady's pets have decided to go on a little rampage," the male voice spoke up.
"When they're chained up there's no problem, of course, but when they're on the loose we're in a heap of trouble. Oh, yes!"

   "Their owner always has burnt hands. It's pitiful," the mother pianta muttered nearby, swatting at a couple of fat bees hovering around her.

   Now Mario frowned. "Are you talking about the bees?"

   "Oh no, not the bees. They seem to be acting normal. We're talking about the chain chomplets! There's three of them running around the village!" she pointed.

   Suddenly, a flighty pianta woman in an orange outfit leaned over the small fence and yelled towards the buildings. "Bad chomps! Come back here!!" Sighing in quick defeat, she stood back and bemoaned aloud. "Oh my goodness, this is awful! Completely awful! My little darlings have nasty fevers and it's driven them all mad!"

   Turning to her, Mario raised an eyebrow and asked, "Do you know how to control them?"

   "Oh, well normally I grab their tails and spike them into the ground... but they're too hot to touch now! Ooh, it burns me up!"

   "It seems that someone is lacking the proper training..." Fludd remarked almost sarcastically by Mario's head. Luckily, the piantas were too noisy to overhear.

   "Has anyone heard from Gramps?" another voice suddenly rose. "He left for the spring ages ago, and he hasn't returned."

   Following her voice, Mario turned to the woman. "Is he in danger?" he asked.

   "Well, I don't know. Gramps is just so slow... not that it's weird. He does it pretty much every night."

   Mario made a thoughtful expression and looked over at the village. "I'll go take care of it," he said suddenly. "And I'll keep an eye out for your Gramps too. Where is the spring?"

   "Center of the village, base of the big tree," the woman replied. "Thanks for going to the trouble. Be careful out there."

   Without a reply, Mario turned and left the crowd a little ways, walking up to the short fence that surrounded the inner part of the village. Just beyond it, a wide path wound across the way and seemed to wrap around the buildings on the other side, leading into the village itself as well. Standing tall among the humble buildings, tree-like mushrooms grew interspersed about the village proper, providing natural covers from the elements. From somewhere within, small tremors and barking sounds reached them on the edge.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Mario asked slyly, jumping over the fence. The waiting piantas at the outskirts watched as the tiny human ran down the path and soon enough had disappeared from sight.

"...Man, is there any reason we sent a human? He's gonna get crushed by those things!" one pianta remarked after the fact.

Luckily, Mario was too far to hear; and he was too confident to have been affected by it anyway.

The main little square of Pianta Village, which Mario and Buddy entered in a short moment, was quaint and old-fashioned. The wooden houses looked like scarcely a step above log cabins, though these were painted with bright colors (harmless paint, he assumed) and they were made of some smooth, almost bamboo-like substance. As Fludd quickly informed him, the place was called the Plaza of Palms.

The whole village insofar as he could tell was populated with thick grass, minus the worn paths that looked often-trodden. Perhaps the most curious thing was the giant mushroom trees, most of which were fenced off, as they seemed to be growing out of deeper holes in the ground.

"What are those for?" Mario asked, gazing at one as he leaned over the fence.

"They appear to stem from the underside. I guess they don't want people falling down there," Fludd observed.

Mario shook his head, incredulous. "The whole village is built on a pretty risky ground, of course that's going to be a concern!"

Moving on a little ways, they came upon more elevated houses, built atop rock shelves that rose from the ground as if they'd been neatly organized. Thatched walls made of the same bamboo-like substance were often put up for privacy, and small bushes and trees decorated what must have been small residences. It was charming in a very rural kind of way.

"I'm starting to see why they're called piantas," Mario remarked.

"They are indigenous hill people," Fludd agreed.

Before they could make another move, a voice called out to them from the side of the path. "Hey, pal! You might want to get out of the road if you don't wanna be flattened!"

Mario glanced around and soon spotted his advisor nearby: a couple of piantas sitting underneath one of the tall mushrooms. Not understanding, he came closer.

"Huh?"

The woman who had yelled at him pushed up her glasses pointedly. "What are you, thick?"

Mario glanced away. "Well—

She sighed. "Chain chomplets. On the loose. Village animal lady can't keep them contained to save her life," she explained. "Now WE responsible citizens have nothing to do with them; we just deal with the consequences. Who are you, anyway?"

"I'm here to... deal with the consequences."

She raised her eyebrows. "Well... well. It's like I said, I have nothing to do with them... so leave... us... alone! You got that, mister?"

   He held up his hands defensively. "I'm not blaming you... sorry!"

   Scurrying away, Mario shook his head to himself. "Touchy," he muttered as Buddy hastened to follow.

   "Mario," Fludd said.

   "It's not my fault! These people have their own problems," he defended.

   "Mario, look ahead," the machine replied.

   Raising his eyebrows, Mario turned in the direction Fludd meant. Unfortunately, his exchange with the pianta woman didn't seem to have brought much good, as he had ended up right back in the middle of the path — where a large, angry orange animal was now running toward him at none too leisurely a speed.

   Mario jerked up. Run.

   Making for the side of the road, the human and the yoshi almost threw themselves into the grass and out of the path of the oncoming creature, which narrowly missed them with its sharp, knife-sized teeth. Rolling over quickly, Mario sat up and stared as the animal continued right on down the path to circle the little village plaza.

   "So I guess that was a chain chomplet," Fludd remarked when it had passed.

   "I've seen them before," Mario said, getting to his feet. "They're not so bad once you figure out how to avoid their teeth."

   It wasn't an exaggeration. He had scraped with them a few times in the past and nearly lost some limbs each time.

   Typically, chain chomps were aggressive, wild animals that reminded Mario a lot of wrecking balls and a bit of dogs. Unlike dogs, however, they weren't nearly as nice to keep as pets for obvious reasons. Just exactly what they were was less obvious.

   Chain chomps were rather unintelligent, spherical creatures, with huge rounded bodies made of some unearthly hard plating, typically in black. The ones Mario had seen before ranged from about the size of a yoshi to the size of a bus — and these 'chomplets' appeared to be about halfway. Usually chain chomps were all head, with two staring eyes like pools on its face and a gaping mouth of razor-like teeth big enough to swallow a person whole; but the one that had just passed was a different story. Instead of the chain that often trailed from the hook on their backsides, this one appeared to have a little rounded body as well, or perhaps a tail, separated by a spiked red collar around what must have been its neck. Judging by the high-pitched sound of its yelp, Mario would have guessed they were young pups.

   "Well then," Fludd said, none too discouraged. "What do you recommend?"

   Mario dusted off his backside. "She said they were hot with fever," he thought. "And that guy was definitely the hottest-looking chain chomp I've ever seen. Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

   "They require a doctor?"

   Mario hid his laugh. "No... water gun time!" Without waiting for Fludd's approval, he sprang forward after the puppy that had just turned a corner. Excited, Buddy followed after him.

   "I've never really dealt with friendly chain chomps before..." Mario was saying as he darted down a village street. "...But if these guys are babies, we cool them off, they should be good to go back to their owner. Simple enough, huh?" Rounding another building corner, he came to a stop when he found himself before a large rock wall. He appeared to have found a small backstreet near the rear of the village. It wasn't exactly a dead end, but it might as well have been for him: sitting there before him almost as if in wait were three large, orange chain chomplets.

   Now he could see that the only reason they were orange was because they were sweltering, the heat nearly igniting the metal on their bodies. He could also see that they could easily do damage to the village by crashing into walls, since they were big enough to fill the street.

   "Simple enough," Fludd said.

   As Buddy came slinking around the corner in pursuit of his owner, he instead met the same frightening encounter: all at once the pups looked up and seemed to notice them, though only out of one eye at a time due to their separated placement.

Then the barking started. "Arf! Arf! ...ARF!"

   Buddy, clearly a bit overwhelmed by the display, stepped back and stared from behind Mario's legs. What kind of creature was this? He couldn't understand what they were saying, but they didn't seem happy... and they were so loud!

   Mario, meanwhile, didn't appear too dazed by it all. Instead, he immediately took Fludd and opened water on them, hitting the nearest first with a powerful spray near the face. Instantly upon contact he heard the shockingly loud sizzle of water against hot metal. He watched in satisfaction as the almost glowing metallic color began to darken, the puppy's hue threatening to change into the duller black of an ordinary chomp.

   He had thought that the chomplets would enjoy the feeling and calm down for him on the first try. For a brief second, it even seemed that was the case.

   Nope. The next second the chain chomplet bolted, turning tail with a loud screech before retreating down the path with both its friends in tow.

   "Hey! Get back here!" he yelled, knowing it was no use. Quickly turning anxiously to Buddy, he said, "Alright Buddy, can you help me out? I need to cut off those guys so I can spray 'em again!" He pointed back in the direction they had come from. "You go that way?"

   At first the yoshi lifted his head and looked at Mario quizzically, as if he didn't understand; but the next, he shook his little tail and slowly turned back, apparently to do as asked. Without saying a word, the dinosaur trotted off down the path towards town, leaving Mario's side for the first time.

   "Do you think he will actually understand to chase the chomplets?" Fludd asked. "What if he gets hurt?"

   "He won't," Mario replied confidently. "He's got a lot of instinct in him, and he's very smart already. He knows what I'm doing here." Pausing to sniff dramatically, he added, "They grow up so fast!"

"Yoshis maybe. I don't think the same is true for chain chomps."

With a knowing grin, Mario turned and started down the street after the puppies, nozzle at the ready. "I can take a hint!"

The next few minutes were nothing short of a wild goose chase for Mario and Fludd. While it soon became clear that Buddy had indeed taken his task of helping them round up the creatures, as they bumped into him several times in their mindless run around the village, it also became obvious that anyone with inferior running skills could never accomplish the task. Despite Mario's fleet feet covering ground across the village in good time, it still took several minutes to actually hit one of the chomplets head on. It was as if nature was mocking them; never had he met a chain chomp that only ran away from people.

As expected, the village was pretty much cleared out, as most of the people he guessed were standing by the outskirts. However, he still spotted a few piantas hiding about, mostly under and on top of the large mushrooms.

   It finally came to a head when he practically crashed into a guy who was walking right down a village street as if it were a leisurely evening.

Mario, unfortunately the smaller of the two, ended up thrown back against the ground from the impact. "Oof! Watch it!" he grouched, stirred to irritation by a new bruise on his backside. Sitting up to face his roadblock, he asked, "Don't you know there's dangerous—

   The pianta man, however, was in no better a mood to deal with disruptions. "What do you want, huh? Would you just stay out of my way?"

   Mario frowned and might have said something less than polite as he rose to his feet, but he never got the chance. The irritated man pushed past him and was gone in a second, leaving Mario standing in the empty path with a sour expression.

   "Well," he said, turning around. Taking off in the opposite direction, Mario soon became aware of the nearby sound of flowing water. The spring? Heading for what he thought was the center of the village, Mario looked up when he remembered what the lady had told him: base of the big tree.

   There it was, of course, towering over the entire village and encompassing it in a faint shadow from its leaves high above. Mario had no concept of how a tree could grow on a landmass on top of another tree, but he wasn't asking any questions. Soon enough he came upon it, an enormous aged palm with a trunk that spanned more than a yard wide. Its surface was covered with smooth brown platelets typical of palm trees, some of which harbored brittle-looking fungus as he followed its growth skyward. It was also riddled with decorations of some sort: festive carvings dotted its surface with drawings of suns and other things. On the ground, on the other hand, he found the trunk fed partially from a water-filled basin in the ground which could only be the village spring.

   Pausing to walk up to its tiny bank, Mario saw that it was little more than a pond, several yards wide still with a small drain-off river running across the village somewhere; but it was still very cool and peaceful. Staring at it for a moment longer, he wondered where its water came from.

   Sensing a movement nearby, Mario looked up and found to his surprise that he was not alone. Only a few feet away, sitting in the middle of the spring was a tiny manmade island with a single little palm tree growing on it; and perched there at its base, feet swinging lazily in the water, was an older blue pianta man with a graying mustache.

   Mario straightened, remembering something else. Taking a step forward, he asked, "Gramps?"

   Jolting up in surprise, the pianta noticed him on the bank and squinted. "That's me," he said in a perhaps amused tone, "but I don't think I'm your Gramps."

   Mario cracked a smile. "No no. I'm a... tourist, I guess. I was—

   "Tourist? So you're here to check out our old village?" The old man chuckled and gazed up at the tree. "Well, here's a piece of info for you. You see this giant tree right here? It's been growing here since before anyone can remember. Staple of our tiny town!

   "And this spring here? It's been here just as long, too. It draws its water directly from the roots of the stem tree. Comes from straight underground!"

   Ohh. "That's some nifty plumbing," the boy remarked.

   "Sure is. But it's empty during the day, you know. At midday they direct the water from here to Pianta Hot Spring north of the houses and heat it up," Gramps pointed. "So that's only open at daylight hours. And at night..." He leaned back a little more and splashed his feet. "Best relaxation spot!"

   Mario grinned half-heartedly at the old man's enthusiasm, but he couldn't forget his task at hand. In fact, seeing the cold water below, he was suddenly struck with an idea.

   "Excuse me, Gramps, but I was actually here to help out with the chain chomplets," he explained. "And I needed to tell you that a woman in the village wanted to check on you."

   Gramps opened his eyes. "Oh, Angela. Yes, my granddaughter is always worrying needlessly. You think an old man can't sit by the water by himself?"

   Something about his indomitable spirit made Mario keep smiling. "No sir, not at all," he replied. "I was just checking for her. Actually, if you don't mind... could I borrow the spring for a few minutes? It's a bit risky, but it's our best shot."

   Gramps seemed to like that idea. "Sure thing, boy. What did you have in mind?"

~

   The ground trembled faintly beneath the buildings across Pianta Village as the chain chomplets ran amuck, the latest mishap in a long series involving the crazy pet lady. Overhead, shaking like the leaves they were hiding in, some piantas watched the drama unfold from above in the safety of small trees and mushrooms. One pianta, starting to get sick of the wait doubled with the repetitive clanking and barking, peered carefully over his mushroom's edge. I wonder how long I have to stay here... I'm getting hungry.

   It had been a pleasant evening and a good time for a stroll — until the chomps had gotten out, raging and rampaging like mindless infants. The extra hiding time was really a time-waster, in his opinion. But it wasn't like this had never happened before.

   Just when he thought he might risk sliding down and making a break for his house, a maddened barking arose from around the nearest corner; there appeared a chain chomplet, red-hot and scrambling to get somewhere. Before it had got too far, a tiny human came chasing after it, and before a second had passed he shot the giant baby with what looked like a water gun. Hopeful, the pianta leaned over the edge to watch.

   "They seem to be avoiding you, Mario!" Fludd called over the uproar.

   "I know!" Mario laughed, as if it hadn't been obvious. "No problem, Fludd!"

   A few minutes and one half-thought-out plan later, Mario had begun to solve the chomp problem. His water from Fludd wasn't enough to calm the creatures down, as he had quickly learned; however, it could be enough to at least cool off the little chain tails behind them, leaving them open to drag away. Chasing them down with this in mind, Mario had soon managed to accomplish just that, rendering the chomplets' backends vulnerable.

   Even with this done it still wasn't smooth sailing. The chomps were so big and fast that only with Buddy's herding help — the dinosaur turned out to be invaluable in blocking off the creatures' paths around the village — Mario was able to reach and grab onto the babies at last.

   Then came perhaps the trickiest part: getting them into the water. He understood why most people didn't keep them as pets; they were far too heavy for an average toadstool or noki to control, but piantas... That's still up for debate, Mario thought slyly as he gripped the chomplets' stubby tails. With that, he would begin to drag them towards the spring for a final wash down.

   Pulling the things along probably looked harder than it was, or so Mario thought. Sure, they were many times his size, but they were just babies, and no real match for his upper arm power anyway. Mario had lifted and pulled much heavier loads before. It was — rather literally — like a walk in the dog park.

   Gramps remained on his hill, watching with impressed pleasure as the human slowly picked off each chomplet and delivered it to the spring as promised. It was more force than cooperation that got them into the water, but once they had jumped in — albeit only halfway submersed — there was no going back. In seconds their color began to darken to the normal black sheen he expected of chain chomps, and they fell immediately quite calm and pleased to just sit in the water. On dragging his last one of the three over, the spring looked almost full to overflowing. Paired with Gramps sitting there before them with his palm tree, Mario thought it would have made a pretty funny picture.

   "Well, good job boy, you did it! Though I'm not sure if these critters will stay still for very long," he mused, watching them almost yip in excitement.

   Mario, releasing his hold on the chomplet's tail, grinned at him as a small wave of water splashed over the bank, nearly hitting the older man. "Well, they will if they know what's good for them," he replied, dusting his hands off.

"Remember, always be kind to your pets," Fludd instructed as if to a class.

Another voice broke in. "Hey, you got them! Nice work, man!" Walking up to the bank where Mario stood, the young pianta man with the backpack full of mushrooms stood by to observe his work. "Not SO tough when they're calm, huh?" Turning to Mario, he went on, "To tell the truth, the old gal bugs everyone around here. The owner, I mean," he added when Mario appeared confused. "That's why no one around here wants to talk to her. But boy, don't mention her pets though, or she'll let you have it!"

Mario, more amused than frightened, snorted. "Only a very specific kind of person should keep these things. I speak from experience," he crossed his arms.

"You've owned one before??"

"Oh, no. I've nearly been maimed by one before," Mario clarified.

"...Oh boy," he remarked.

"Oh!! You found the water! Of course, smart thinking, darlings!" With an exaggerated screech, the chomplets' owner suddenly appeared on the path behind them, and now threw herself anxiously to the riverbed. "You've been naughty again! Yes, I hope you're doing well, but you can't simply wreck the village every time you have a fever! Oh no!"

Watching her overdone display of parenting, Mario and the other piantas glanced at each other skeptically. Oblivious to their stares (and apparently also to the guy who helped her), the woman soon eased into the spring a little ways and began leading the chomplets out by their collars. Mario was surprised by how they now seemed satisfied to follow her lead.

Before another minute, several more of the villagers showed up at the tree base.

"Are the chain chomplets all calmed down yet?" asked a little girl who had appeared from hiding in a nearby tree.

"All clear here, missy," Gramps called. "As long as Miss Glutton for Punishment can keep a hold on her animals!"

The animal lady turned to glare at him, not letting go their collars. "Hmph! Well, Mayor Russo has no problem with it!" she retorted.

"Correction: he tolerates it," the mushroom pianta spoke up beside Mario. "Speaking of, we should probably inform him that you caught the things."

"Good idea," Mario said. He didn't know the mayor, but it would probably be a good idea to let the villagers go back to their homes. That was the main point, after all.

Now the animal lady seemed to notice Mario for the first time. "Oh, you... you helped get them rounded up? What's your name, now?" she asked innocently.

Resisting the urge to roll his eyes, he replied, "Mario... don't mention it."

"Oh. Okay. Well, thank you anyway, Mario," she said graciously. "Are you a visitor to the village?"

"You could say that," he said, crossing his arms. "I actually came with the Doot Doot Sisters... they said I might find shine sprites here. I was trying to gather them up for the Shine Gate."

"Shine Gate? Ooh, you mean the one in Delfino Plaza?" animal lady asked. She clearly did not get out much.

Now a small crowd had gathered around the spring to get closure on the chomplets. A young man nearby spoke up.

"Hey, you wouldn't be the guy who was causing that vandalism trouble down there, would you? I heard they were having problems with the weather and stuff because of shine sprites."

"No no, that's wasn't me," Mario said in horror, feigning surprise. "I'm actually the guy they sent to help fix the problem. So... so do you know of any shines around here?"

"Oooh," animal lady suddenly gasped. "Actually... I do have one of those. I found it the other day — or rather, my little darling did!" Patting one of the chomplets affectionately, she left him hanging.

Mario cleared his throat. "Ma'am, is there any way I could get that? The police in the plaza have need of them," he said. It wasn't really a lie.

"Well... I don't really know what's going on down there, but you did help us out... I guess so! I have no use for it," she decided, digging into her skirt pocket. A moment later, she produced none other than one of the glowing sprites that he so highly coveted. Alright, it really did pay off!

"Thanks!" Tossed on air his way, Mario caught the prize and quickly tucked it away before anyone else could object. It seemed to sparkle even more in the dark; he wouldn't be surprised if people a mile away could spot it.

Wait... the dark? Snapping his head upwards, Mario stared at the sky — and was greeted with a widening blanket of thick grays and navies. The enormous, cloud-stuffed periwinkle sky from earlier had seemed to vanish, making the village — the whole island, even — feel somehow quieter. It wasn't any less big, but it did certainly feel different.

"Oh," he said aloud, forgetting what they had been talking about. "It's getting late, isn't it??"

Mushroom guy glanced at him. "Yeah, it's almost ten o'clock," he replied, checking a watch. "Time for us to turn in."

"Especially you youngsters!" Gramps added, smiling at the few children who were present.

"Aw, seriously? We're on summer vacation now," one boy whined.

Mario hid a small grin. It had felt like forever since he'd been forced to follow a strict bedtime — his parents had been rather lenient from quite early on. Of course, Mario no longer had proper 'summer breaks' anymore either.

"Oh, it's already late enough," scolded the woman who must have been his mother. "Besides, the adults have to do some planning for the Fluff Festival!"

"But mom, you said you'd let me stay up late for festival practice! I think I'll try to stay up until dawn this time!"

"Oh no you don't," his mother responded. "You can practice another night."

"Fluff Festival?" Mario interjected curiously.

A middle-aged purple pianta with a mustache addressed his question. "The entire village is getting ready for the annual Fluff Festival," he explained. "Even us old folks start getting excited about this. Heh heh. If you're lucky enough to still be around, it's happening next week. ...Oh, and before I forget... I am NOT the mayor," he added pointedly. "People always think I'm in charge or something, but I say hogwash. If you're looking for the mayor, he lives over by that yellow mushroom near the front of town. He's the one supposedly doing all the planning."

"Okay," the human grinned. "So you have an annual festival too!" Isn't that the second or third one I've heard of already? Still interested, Mario asked, "What exactly is it?"

"Oh, it's a music and dance fest," the pianta mother joined in. "Anyone who's anyone can come out and enjoy some live music and good old-fashioned island partying. Lasts all day."

"Hmm," Mario said thoughtfully. "Why's it called that?" He was already thinking it might be a fun thing to take his friends to — and the princess. Of course the princess.

"Of course," the woman said. "You don't know about the fluff. Well, around this time of summer, we get an abundance of colossal dandelion puffs around the village, and some of the stalks are so large they can lift you off the ground when they catch wind. It only lasts a few weeks, so we enjoy it while it's here." Smiling at her son, she added, "And you'll notice it's begun coming in around the outskirts."

"Neat," the human replied. "I'll remember that!"

Another woman standing critically by the spring and observing the chomplets snorted at this. "Yeah, everybody's so darn festive... I say, bah! It's just a bunch of plants. But what can you do?"

"Don't be a downer, Lil!" a pianta man told her. "I love fluff! So puffy... Grab hold and say goodbye."

"Ooh, I want to learn the fluff-fluff dance!" the little girl squealed. "Yeah! I'm going to take lessons from my friend's sister!"

Just then, a shirtless pianta guy who had mysteriously appeared snickered at them. "Whatever. I'm not going to be in the least bit merry. Nope, not at all. Not merry. You can't make me!"

The mother shook her head disapprovingly. "Ignore him," she advised. "He's the one who likes to rain on tradition, poop on parties, and turn the children into daredevils."

Mario held back laughter at this. Every town had to have at least one of those types, he supposed...

"Anyway, at festival time, we really do let loose, believe you me," the mustache pianta said, turning back to Mario. "But enough about that. You said you were here to look for shine sprites, correct?"

Straightening up, Mario nodded expectantly.

"Well, have you tried the village underside? It seems the most likely place," he said.

Mario furrowed his brow. "What do you mean exactly by underside?"

"Oh, the underside world below the village!" another man broke in now enthusiastically. "It has fungi beyond compare. Truly! There are some enormous mushrooms growing down there. You can kind of see them on your way in, but the best way to get down is through one of our 'ground holes'... for lack of a better word."

"As a youngster, I had many adventures on the underside," mustache man mused fondly. "Today's youngsters have no interest in it now. Kids!"

Mario adjusted his hat brim. "Well, if you'd show me how to get there, that'd be great," he offered. "I'd like to check it out!"

The pianta raised his eyebrows. "Really? Well, that's fantastic son. But it's dark now, and I highly recommend waiting until it's daylight. You wouldn't want to go down there now without knowing what you're doing. I can't show you now."

On hearing this, Mario internally sighed. So much for not having rules. Still...

Studying the ground carefully, Mario fell into thought. It was dark now — any trace of the sun had been replaced instead by a much fainter white light as the first stars were beginning to appear across the sky. Like it or not, it would be rather difficult to track down many shine sprites anywhere like this.

And on top of that, he probably should rest at some point. He had told the toadstools he would — and he had meant it — but he had been hoping to accomplish more before the day was up! He'd scored one more, yes — but it would be too late to save the princess now before the island shut down for the night...

No... this was exactly what he'd hoped to avoid.

For a few seconds that probably confused the piantas, Mario stood in silence. Finally, he lifted his head. "You're right," he said at last. "I'll have to continue tomorrow." He felt a small weight of guilt place itself on his chest, but he ignored it. It was just how it had to be.

"Um... So you're all turning in," he said. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Alright, sounds good, partner," the mustache pianta said, already getting ready to leave. The crowd seemed to take that as their cue to go home, and most of those who hadn't already started breaking up. Animal lady had long since left with her chomplets, which was a relief to all of them.

As people started to disappear, a pianta woman he hadn't seen before suddenly appeared at Mario's side. "Hey, you," she said in a whisper. "You said you're looking for the shines, right?"

Excited again, Mario nodded. "Yeah, you know of some?"

"Well, maybe," she whispered back. "This is just between you and me, okay? You better not tell..."

Mario nodded again.

"You know the mayor's wife? Well, she has a secret cash stash. I know because I've overheard someone talking about it."

Mario glanced around and then back at her.

"I know the mayor's not very well to do, and so I think whatever it is his wife's got, it's probably under the radar for a reason," the lady went on. "So if you're feeling audacious, you could see if the mayor knows something."

Mario was staring at her in thought. "Oh, uh... hm. I'll keep it in mind," he said. "But I'm not sure that's—

"Shh! I don't want anyone to know I told!" she scolded. Then, without another word, she slunk away.

~

Walking alone down a path in the rear side of the village, Mario finally had a peaceful moment to take stock. He had some leads, and things were looking good... except for the time of day. Why did this have to happen?

It was only getting later, and Mario was willing to bet the trains weren't running anymore. It was just as he'd said: there was no way he was going back to Sirena Beach for the night. He'd planned it that way, but that was about as far as the plan had got.

Some sort of musical bug filled the humid air with its chirp as Mario competed for supremacy. "Okay, Fludd," he sighed, perching his hands in his pockets as he strolled down the street. "What now?"

"It is your call," the machine replied. "Aren't you going to keep shine hunting? Or will you do the responsible thing and stop for the night? You know your body has been up and active for over twelve hours. You cannot keep functioning at peak performance if you—

"I know, I know," he interrupted. "I just... hated the idea of making her spend a night with them." He lowered his head as he walked aimlessly along. "And furthermore, what am I supposed to do? I think it's too late to find an inn vacancy here."

"Yes, that could prove challenging, especially given the upcoming festival," Fludd agreed.

Mario sighed. "It's alright, we'll be fine. I'll find us a place."

Before Fludd could ask what he meant by that, a shout from up ahead grabbed their attention. "Oh! No! Bad yoshi, get back!"

Jerking to action, Mario looked up. There, near the rocky ledges at the back end of the village where a small tree was growing, a pianta woman was anxiously shooing a purple yoshi away from the plentiful fruit that was piled at the trunk. For a second Mario doubted. Purple?

Not wasting any time, he called, "Buddy!"

Instantly the dinosaur looked up and saw him, then cooed happily. Mario raced over to him.

"So this is your yoshi?" the woman asked breathlessly.

Mario grinned and rubbed his shoulder. "I think so... he was pink when last I saw him."

The woman nodded. "Yes, he was snacking on this fresh crop we had going here," she said. "I was supposed to make sure no one ran off with it, but... I guess there's no harm in giving away a few pieces. It just means less I have to carry." She suddenly grinned. "It'll grow back soon. Say, do you want to take any?"

At the very mention of food Mario's empty stomach leapt in excitement. Boy, it sure has been a while! He had never even eaten a proper dinner, now that he thought about it. Forgetting the courtesies in his sudden onset of starving man, he quickly dove into the pile and came up with no less than a pineapple, some sort of melon, and an entire bunch of bananas.

Trying to avoid drooling, he said a quick thank you and jerked to Buddy to follow. The woman watched him in surprise as they headed out, but he didn't care.

As they walked west a little, they soon reached what must have been the very far corner of the landform; ahead of him a very large, thick-trunked tree slanted from the ground at a jarring angle and stretched over an unseen precipice. Past the place where the path ended, a rather large field of tall grass waved gently in an evening breeze until it, too, gave way to the drop off.

"Wow. Can you imagine living on such a tiny piece of land?" he remarked.

"That tree there appears to be part of the underlying support," Fludd said. "It seems to have grown straight through."

"Woah. And it looks like there's a little observation deck up there!" he squinted into its distant leaves, but it was too dim to tell.

Finally, tucked by the tree's base was a small concrete patio or stone structure of some sort — it looked like a pool or hot tub at first glance — that was built into the ground. Over its empty basin was a towering half-statue of a pianta. A lone pianta janitor was there now, scrubbing down the ground with a broom.

Interested, Mario called over. "Hey, is this the hot spring?"

Pausing in surprise, the man looked up. "Huh? Oh, yeah, but it's—

"Not open now," Mario said. "That's okay. Just wanted to see."

"We open in the morning," the janitor replied, resuming his task. "I'm just here because of the job. Gotta clean every day, or else things get slippery and dangerous!"

Mario chuckled to himself. Don't I know it. "Okay. Well thanks!" He waved.

Wading almost waist-deep into the green grasses that grew by the village outskirts, Mario began to make his way back towards the front of the village, heavy fruits in tow. Buddy followed him, much more frisky as he attempted to catch a few blue moths that fluttered on the wind around them, stirred from the grass.

When they saw once again the rope bridge leading to the steep hill, Mario began to scope out the terrain. He didn't want to park right out in the open of course; he didn't want anybody to see or otherwise disturb him. Soon he spotted a decent-sized tree near the west corner of the island, out of the way but not swamped in tall grass. Instantly attracted, Mario made for that.

It was a nicer spot than he realized. This 'tree', while probably another of the branches of the village's underlying support, stretched out large leaves over a good area, providing him with shade for the morning. As it also looked right over the cliff edge, the spot gave a fantastic view of the green hills beyond the sinkhole; and here, he was close enough to them that he could also just see the horizon far away. For a moment the sight awed him: where the dark blue sea met a deeper black sky, the shape of Pinna Island — and specifically the huge Ferris wheel — stood out in the night. Now it was illuminated faintly with dozens of tiny lights glistening on the ocean's surface, making Pinna Park look like an enchanted island.

"Mama mia," he breathed. "I'm not gonna complain about sleeping here!"

Fludd seemed surprised. "You are stopping here? Are you sure?"

"Can you think of a better place?" Mario asked, dumping his fruit crop on the ground by the tree. "I'm fine. I've slept in worse places." Chuckling, he plunked himself at the base of the tree and promptly began feasting on his catch with Buddy standing by, waiting eagerly for anything Mario would give. Luckily for the yoshi, he had brought along the whole pineapple for that purpose.

Several satisfying minutes later, with everything devoured and Buddy restored to a bright yellow hue, Mario stood up and began to unstrap Fludd. He didn't complain about having to carry him — not one bit — but still, as he lifted the weight off he couldn't help feeling a different kind of pain descend: a weary soreness that seemed suddenly apt to penetrate his every muscle. Placing the machine gently by the tree with Buddy, he walked over to the edge and stretched out, trying not to whine at every ache that tried to crush him all at once.

Turning back to his friends a minute later, he grinned to see Buddy now curled near Fludd, eagerly smelling the remnants of the fruit for anything tasty. Walking past them, Mario said, "I'll be right back, okay?"

Fludd, alarmed, lifted his head and almost seemed to sit up by planting his arms to the ground a bit. "Where are you going?"

Slightly bashful, Mario shrugged and replied, "Oh, I'm just... gonna go water that bush," he made a vague motion.

"It seems odd for you to do so without me," Fludd remarked.

There was a brief moment of silence, and then Mario got it and burst into laughter. "Yeah, well, trust me on this one. Just give me a minute."

It was less than a minute before Mario returned, quickly sinking down beside Fludd against the trunk. Looking the whole tank over in curiosity, almost as if he'd never really seen it, he suddenly began gazing into the glass reflection.

Fludd was confused. "What is it?" he asked.

"You don't happen to be equipped with some sort of razor blade or something, do you?" Mario asked.

"I am not that kind of weapon, Mario. Why?"

The human laughed again. "No no, I just wondered... I should've gotten into my luggage. Really should've shaved when I had a chance." Twisting up his face, he attempted to see his reflection in Fludd's tank a moment longer, then shrugged and gave it up to lean back. He knew he had another day before it really got bad, anyway.

Taking a deep breath of the fresh night air, Mario put up his arms behind his head and stared out at the black expanse of tropical sky. By now a kind of heavenly display had revealed itself, spangling the entire view with twinkling pinpricks of stars. Still high above, showering down a thick beam of soft light through the palm leaves, the thickening white moon stood proudly over the entirety of Isle Delfino.

Was he really on the highest point of the island? Given his view of Pinna Park, he could believe that. Glancing backwards briefly at Pianta Village behind him, he saw with satisfaction the sleepy little buildings surrounding the great tree, with an occasional little fire burning over the tops of mushrooms or outside doorways. He couldn't hear the spring, but now in the quiet, he could faintly hear the ocean, gently crashing on itself all around him. He really couldn't have asked for anything more peaceful.

A cool breeze passed his face, rustling the grass below him and stirring his mind to other things. At the same time, it lent a kind of sorrow to the situation: it couldn't be a vacation yet. The princess was out of his keeping; with her absence everything lost its sweet edge. His heart picking up, he stared out at the large wisps of purple-grey clouds that sailed near the horizon still. She was out there now... somewhere. Doing who knew what?

The impatience and concern biting him, threatening his anger to come back, Mario suddenly rolled over onto his side and sighed again. He hated having no control.

As if sensing his irritation, Fludd spoke up. "Do not worry, Mario. We will continue tomorrow. The princess will be fine, if what you have said is true."

Mario gave a halfhearted smile. "Thanks." Still not moving, he added, "Goodnight, Fludd."

"Buonanotte, Mario."

Raising his eyebrows in surprise, the boy held still as he heard Fludd fold into his low-power mode. By his feet, he felt Buddy lay down and spend about two minutes trying to find the perfect sleeping position.

Gazing upwards one last time at the bright night sky, Mario let his breathing slowly become soft. Goodnight, princess.

Turning back to his side, he rested his head against the smooth trunk and closed his eyes, dropping instantly into a carefree world.