A few minutes later, the two humans stood at the edge of a small cut in the cliff, staring downward into a shallow trench that dropped off into a narrow pathway down the white mountainside. Eyeing his companion skeptically, Mario shrugged.

"So are we going down?"

"Oh yes! But we cannot walk here; we have to slide!" Il Piantissimo said cheerfully.

"It looks like more of a drop than a slide," Fludd observed critically over Mario's shoulder. "Are you certain of its safety?"

The masked man waved an arm at the machine and laughed. "Of course! I would not lead the hero to a place of demise!" He gestured politely to the hole, never dreaming of going first.

"Uh-huh," Mario observed, nevertheless stepping forward. Pausing only a second at the very edge, he shrugged and remarked, "If there's no ground at the bottom, you'll never hear the end of it." And with that he jumped.

"Mario-!" Fludd cut himself off as the world jerked itself away from him, leaving him to process his own words.

Wind soared past his ears and threatened to take his hat as Mario positioned himself feet-first down the mountainside, leaning forward slightly to avoid crushing Fludd behind him. Although he'd expected it to be a rough, grating ride, he actually found to his surprise that the rock was smooth and allowed him to slide with ease.

As soon as he'd pushed off, a question he'd often been asked in his childhood popped into mind: If everyone was jumping off a cliff, would you?

Mario hardly thought that was applicable here, though. He didn't need others to tell him to jump off a cliff.

Focusing on the horizon far off to the sea on his right, which seemed to get higher as he approached the ground, Mario kept a steady balance and held on to Fludd. His only concern as he neared the bottom—he could now see there was a small landing—was that Il Piantissimo might be coming in close behind him. Therefore, as soon as he rolled to a less-than-comfortable stop on the stony ground at the cliff base, Mario sat up and scrambled out of the way to avoid being beaned by the man in cosplay.

Well, that was fun. Dusting himself off, he stood with a grunt and gazed back at the towering cliffs now above him.

"You all good, Fludd?"

"Okay if you are," the pump replied, and seemed like he wanted to say more but it never came. If it has to do with me jumping off cliffs, I'm all good anyway, Mario thought, turning his mind to the bay.

What had all been below his feet just instants before was now like gargantuan skyscrapers over their heads, blocking out the sun and the warmth he had experienced for most of his stay on Isle Delfino. Standing here in the shade, he almost felt it possible to get cold.

Watching the white peaks stab the sky, Mario became too enraptured with scanning for objectives—shine sprites and otherwise unusual commotions—to notice his guide slide onto the shore beside him. They had landed on a small (and it truly was small) shoreline close to the underwater drop-off. Looking across the crescent-shaped bay, he could see that there really wasn't much flat land anywhere.

"Here we are!" Il Piantissimo said proudly, as if Mario had been unaware. "What do you think?"

"Well, I've gotta start looking for shines," his companion replied, walking up to the water's edge now and peering dubiously into its depths. The water was standing so still he almost expected to see algae growing on its surface. The very top, which he could see his own reflection in, seemed to be mostly clear, like an outer layer; past that, he couldn't see more than a few inches deep for the violet and magenta shades of murk below. It almost looked like the heavy substance in a lava lamp, only this was enormous and still like a layer of silk.

"Is this stuff safe to swim in?"

"Hah! I do not not know. There does seem to be a precious lack of nokis around, though," Il Piantissimo mused, putting his hands on his hips. "Perhaps you should ask that one over there!"

Looking up to the place he gestured to, Mario noticed a lone noki standing atop what looked to be a small floating island or raft of some sort on the water, halfway across the bay. Just above it, the tower with the green shell at its top stood over the bay like a sentinel. Swinging around a stick, the noki was doing what appeared to be fishing.

   "Great, let's go!" Mario said, starting off down the shoreline without a second thought. Looking like he wanted to object, Il Piantissimo hesitated, then scampered after him.

"Ehm, excuse me, Mr. Hero," he said, paddling up alongside him in his costume feet. "If I may... I like a good exercise as much as the next adventurer, but poison water is not quite my thing. ...I think it is time for me to take a load off."

Without giving him a glance, Mario kept moving. "Is the water poisonous?"

"From what I can tell by observation, it does appear to be tainted by some toxic substance," Fludd said, looking down at the surface that seemed to undulate purple beneath the motionless exterior. "But unless I get a better look, it's hard to say how dangerous it is."

"...Yes. This is really overstepping my duties, at any rate. So until we know what is going on, I will remain here and practice till our next race!" Il Piantissimo decided.

Now Mario chuckled. "Our next race?? You want me to hand it to you again?"

"But of course! We must race again, in a different terrain; and this time, I won't go so easy on you!" Mario still seemed amused, so he kept talking. "Of course, I will make it worth your while. I know what you like!"

Mario gave him a sidelong glance. "If you can get me more shine sprites, I'm all yours," he said.

"Excellent! Then we have a deal! I will discover where the sprites are hiding, and you will fix the bay!"

Mario raised an eyebrow. "I didn't say that."

Il Piantissimo laughed and pointed at him. "Ah, but you implied it. Besides, it is the only way we can both get what we want! This bay is in unspoken peril! Is not helping the helpless in a hero's job description?"

Mario finally stopped and crossed his arms, but he couldn't fully hide his amusement. "Then I guess it's lucky we came here today, huh."

"Of course, Mario! I do not intend for you to fail!"

"Only when we're racing," Mario replied with a smirk as he turned and headed down the shoreline.

~

Guess it's back to work again then, Mario thought to himself as he and Fludd parted from their guide and made for the inner bay. Of course, Il Piantissimo was completely right about Mario's mission. He had every intention of getting to the bottom of the bay—in more ways than one, perhaps.

Given that there wasn't much immediately to do in the vicinity, seeing as there were no real buildings or sounds to follow, their first logical destination was a small wood hut that they found built into the rock cove a short distance along the coastline. Announcing its presence was a small wooden sign posted in front that read

MUDBOAT RENTAL
-90,000 COINS-
Mudboats are fun! Come aboard!

   Mario couldn't help gawking in disbelief. "90,000?? That's ridiculous!" he commented aloud. You could probably buy a mudboat for less, whatever a mudboat was.

   "Oh, greetings!" a friendly voice interrupted his complaints. "I didn't think we'd have much traffic today. Ordinarily I'd be up for a little haggling, but I can't help you today I'm afraid."

   Surprised by the sudden intrusion, Mario looked up to see what must have been the stand's owner lumbering out of the hut to perch himself by the railing. He mightn't have given a second thought to it, except that the creature that addressed him just happened to be a tanooki.

   For a second Mario was apprehensive, remembering his encounter with tanookis in Delfino Plaza. Hadn't they been boat dealers too? And running an underground shine sale business! Mario reminded himself, aghast. Perhaps these guys were related.

   Determined not to be played, he stepped forward as the creature waited pointedly for an answer. This one was plump and inviting, with fuzzy chestnut-colored fur and a darker 'mask' around his white raccoon eyes. He wore nothing but blue pants and a yellow sash around his neck. Fanning himself casually with a straw hat, he raised his eyebrows.

   "Why is that?" the human asked at last.

   The tanooki shrugged and gestured to the water. "I live here and rent boats usually, but all my boats washed away in that pollution, so I'm having a rough time of it now."

   "Oh," Mario said, unsure what else to say. "Did they melt or what?"

   "Yeah... kind of. Mudboats are pretty sturdy, but this stuff just ate right away at their integrity. I don't know what's going on." He fanned himself again, more out of a desire to do something than to get cool.

   Mario wanted to say something about how he'd never get business with those prices, but he didn't. Who knew, maybe it was a tourist trap for rich people.

   Instead he said, "I'm sorry to hear that. I'm here to try to fix it, you know."

   "Well good luck," the tanooki replied. "You can't set foot in that stuff. Well, you can, but don't say I didn't say I told you so."

   "Why not? What does it do?" the human wanted to know.

   "Technically? We don't know. It just happened overnight. Realistically, it has really decomposing properties like I said, so I'm gonna guess it'll like digest you or something."

   Raising an eyebrow in disgust, Mario nodded. "Well, thanks for the warning."

   "No problem. Be careful!" the shopkeeper waved.

   Turning now back to shore, Mario looked out again to the lone noki across the bay. Digest you? Well, this just got a tad more complicated.

   Fortunately Fludd was paying attention. "I doubt it could consume you so quickly, with all the complex elements and lipids that you are composed of. Nevertheless, I don't recommend trying it. Mario, you might be able to cross on those floating houses," he spoke up, lifting his head over Mario's. "They make a rough path to the tower."

   Frowning, Mario stared across the water. He could see the platforms Fludd was indicating—the circular floating buoys he had seen scattering the bay—but he didn't see any houses. "What are you talking about?"

   "Those stone platforms are the noki houses," Fludd explained. "They live in underwater homes that hug the water's surface like floats. I bet you could use them along with my hover nozzle to make it across."

   Mario paused for only a second. "Wouldn't that be walking on people's roofs?"

   "Has that bothered you before?" Fludd replied.

   "...Touché," Mario grinned, switching to the hover nozzles. Walking along the water's very edge to get as close as possible to the nearest platform, he gathered his strength and jumped out over the silent expanse.

   The buoy didn't give beneath his feet nearly as much as he thought it would. Instead of rocking violently side to side as he expected floats to do, the platform was almost rock solid, swaying only lightly as his weight pulled it down on one end. It was whitewashed like most of the surrounding walls in the bay, only this was engraved with a flower-like design that gave it the appearance of a big sand dollar. Balancing himself in the very center—it was only a few yards wide—he looked ahead to his next jump.

   Although he never felt anything below, Mario still got a snicker out of imagining how possible nokis could be shaking in their beds beneath his feet as he powered his water jets over their ceilings. As he made his way steadily along, he kept his eyes primarily on his target and not on the festering danger all around him. Once, his hover nozzles gave out just as he was reaching the edge of one, landing half his heel in the lavender swamp, but his quick tilting seemed to save him from any adverse effects.

   As he got closer, Mario could see that the platform he was heading for was several times larger than the others, making for a nice floating landing at the base of the overhanging shell tower. Although he was making a considerable amount of racket, the noki he was heading for still didn't turn around, seemingly busy stirring a fishing line around in the mire below.

   When his feet finally hit the 'solid' safety of the large platform, Mario let out the breath he hadn't realized he was holding and switched Fludd back to just one head. Well, that wasn't so hard. Then he started for the noki.

   This platform was so large he could hardly feel it moving as he walked across its etched surface into the shade of the cliffs overhead. Clearing his throat, Mario called out.

   "Excuse me—

   "Huh?? Who's that?" Quick as an athlete the noki whipped around, fishing hook dangling dangerously by his head as he yanked it out of the water. Squinting, the noki took in the boy before him with a quick glance that appeared long accustomed to appraising things.

   He was an older noki man, with a long white beard that swirled down into a point close to the ground. His purple shell matched the domed bowl hat that shaded his eyes, making his dark circular glasses just visible beneath. He had dark browned skin that seemed to scream of a life lived in the sun.

   Looking down at him—the noki was a good head below even Mario—the human tried again. "Sorry. I came from the shore," he pointed back towards the cliff. "I don't mean to trouble you, but... could you tell me what's going on here? Where can I find the source of this pollution?"

Now the man adjusted his glasses, looking up at his visitor with a surprisingly energetic interest. "The source? Oh, are you here to help?"

"If I can," Mario replied earnestly, which was his way of saying 'of course.' "I came over from—

"Ahhh, welcome! Master Mario, I presume?" the noki interrupted now, leaning on his fishing rod like a cane and holding out a hand to shake.

For a second Mario was taken aback. "How do you know my name?" he asked.

The man waved a hand at him. "Oh, we have heard much about you! Yes, and all of it good!"

His hand was still out, so Mario finally shook it. "All the way out here?" he asked, relaxing a bit. Someone who wasn't angry at him?

"Oh yes. Even we nokis like to stay in the know with happenings around our corner of the world!" Flipping his fishing rod around, he chuckled. "To be honest with you, I met your friend the other day... Toadsworth, his name was? He told me you might be here to help eventually."

Ohh, that explains it.

The noki continued. "I understand you're something of a weird-predicaments expert?"

Mario tilted his head. "Well, I... yes."

"Excellent!" He jerked at his rod. "As for me, I am just an old man who loves nothing but fishing. But lately, I have had a terrible problem... with all this pollution, the fish are no longer biting! I'm concerned that they will never come up again."

"What about the nokis?" Mario asked, remembering how they lived primarily underwater as well. "Where are they all?"

"Oh, some are down in the caverns," the noki replied. "It is still mostly clear down there, because the toxic bubbles rise and settle near the surface. Most of the rest have left the bay because they believe it's too dangerous. My issue is that the fish won't come to eat anymore, leaving me with no fishing to do!"

Priorities, Mario thought. Instead he said, "Where is the pollution coming from, do you know? I noticed it's only here in the bay."

"I have a few theories. But first! Please look up there," the man said, pointing to the soaring cliff behind them.

High above their heads, about halfway up the face of the rock wall, a small landing—little more than a shelf or protrusion in the rock—jutted out of the mountain like a tiny staircase. Situated there, just visible from where they stood, Mario could see what looked like a large machine of some sort; perhaps a lookout post or observation deck.

"I don't know who did it," the noki man went on, "but someone corked our waterfall!"

"Waterfall?" Mario repeated.

"Yes!" The man was indignant. "Our bay is famous for its beautiful natural waterfall that flows out of the cliffside caverns in the mountain. The opening where it typically comes out is right there," he gestured, "but someone has blocked it up! This, no doubt, is why our lovely bay has become polluted! And I can't even fish!" Turning back now with a sudden calm to the boy before him, he clung to his fishing rod almost desperately. "And so, I ask for your help. Yank that cork! Please fulfill this old man's wish... HACKPTH!!" With that, he suddenly burst into a coughing fit that caused Mario to back up a little.

Mario had no plans of refusing, but he could still recognize theatrics when he saw them. Holding up his hands, he glanced back at Fludd and tried to resist a smirk.

"Alright, I'll go check it out," he said appeasingly. "Don't worry about it. But before I do—

"You'll do it? Oh thank you! I knew I could count on you. Your friend there did highly recommend you, but I wasn't sure. You can take the pulley lift on the side of the tower right here," he said, jerking to the tower behind them. "Just beware that guy on the cork! He can't be a friendly!"

Mario paused half a second to process that, then continued. "But sir, I did have a question. Have you seen any shine sprites around the bay recently?"

"Shine sprites?" The noki glanced at him a bit closer. "What do you want with those? You know they are our island's most precious resource!"

"That's exactly why," Mario replied. "There's a shortage of them in the plaza and I'm trying to find them."

"Well, can't say I have lately... but you might see some up in the cliffs. Lots of great places to hide. And on the way, do you mind cleaning up that graffiti? Thanks."

What? Returning his eyes to the cliffs, Mario spotted what might have been some bright splashes of color along the cliffside path. Of course.

"Okay," he said, pouring on some skepticism. "But those cliffs are pretty steep!"

"Oh, you'll be alright I'm sure. We traverse them all the time, and since you're not so big yourself I'm sure it won't be too difficult. Thank you again!" Then he turned his attention back to his fishing rod and muttering at the water below, as if he'd had enough of talking.

"Um... you're welcome?" the human replied, still trying to figure out what the man meant by 'not so big'.

Mario knew he wasn't as tall as even the average adult human. It was awfully presumptuous to suggest that he didn't know, given that he'd spent most of his life among humans looking up.

But, a few awkward moments in high school aside, when had that ever really been anything but an advantage?

~

With his mission set before him, the only thing Mario really had to do now was figure out how he was supposed to scale the mountain—literally.

The waterfall's origin appeared to be located at the end of a narrow cliff path that led up the rock face, which appeared to begin at the rightmost end of the bay. So, as it was his only lead so far, he guessed that the first thing they needed to do was start climbing the tower.

A few more leapfrog-hops across the roofs of unsuspecting noki residents, whose homes were conveniently scattered across the water leading up to the green tower's base, landed Mario right where he wanted to be. Upon reaching the enormous pillar—it almost looked like it was made of marble—Mario had to stop a second to stare up its seemingly miles-long trunk, which was carved with all sorts of decorative swirls and folds. From where he stood, he would guess it had to reach over a hundred feet above water alone. Still wonder what these towers are for.

Turning his attention to the cliff, Mario saw the path forward: a large, spiraling staircase that fanned upward around the tower's central pillar, made of what seemed like giant clamshells of some sort. As he walked across the surface of the bottom step, he looked down and thought he could see luminescent pastels shimmering in its surface under his feet: hidden greens and purples and pinks caught light and reflected back at him, almost as if he was treading on a sheet of pearls.

The steps themselves were also so huge that Mario soon found he couldn't walk them like a normal person; instead, he had to climb, swinging one leg up to the next edge and hoisting his body up. How did the nokis ever climb these things?

   Luckily, it wasn't but a few steps away to the promised lift the noki had told him about. The tower, as it hugged up right next to the cliff, sported a small landing for pickup; the method of pickup, however, was unlike anything Mario had seen. The pulley system appeared to be made of two large clay jars, deeper than Mario was tall, hanging by thick ropes over two small wooden platforms. One hung low just over the landing, as if waiting for its next passenger; the other one hung up and out of reach. Gazing up into the overhanging rock, to which the system was anchored, Mario guessed that one was supposed to stand on one platform and fill the opposite jar with something heavy.

   "You think your water can weigh that down, Fludd?" he questioned, more as a joke than anything.

   "There's only one way to find out," Fludd responded, not catching his tone. As Mario hopped aboard the hanging raft and took aim at the pot above, he was almost amazed that the ropes could hold such weight. The jars looked like they weighed hundreds of pounds, minus the weight Mario added.

   "It's a good thing I didn't have a huge breakfast," Mario jested as the pot began to fill with water. Holding on to the lift's meager rail, he watched in satisfaction as the jars began to sway a moment later, the weight beginning to elevate him.

   "Huge, no. But it was unbalanced," Fludd replied nonchalantly from his back.

   The ropes squeaked noisily overhead as the pulleys worked against the weight. Mario couldn't repress a smile as the platform slowed to a halt at the top of the cliff edge. Gauging the distance briefly, he jumped from the basket and disembarked for the relative safety of the narrow cliffside.

   "But how am I supposed to find the energy to save the world without a huge breakfast?" Mario complained.

   "Eat something easy to digest," the machine replied as if Mario was taking notes. "You'll have more energy."

   "Thanks, Fludd." Pausing for a breath, Mario looked around to scope out his move. The small outcropping they'd landed on was pleasantly quiet; covered somehow with green grass, the cliffside formed a small 'staircase' of shelves in the rock that led upwards towards the top of the bay far above. The whitewashed walls were adorned with moss and algae in varying colors, reminding Mario of the hidden tunnels they had mentioned earlier. He wondered what was inside, if anything.

   "I still don't think I can operate long without a good Italian entree," Mario went on, beginning to climb the ledges to his left. "How's spaghetti sound? That's my favorite."

   "Not so good for overthrowing world-domination plots," Fludd said over his shoulder.

   Mario pulled himself to a higher level and took a deep breath. "Whatever." Looking around, he noticed something colorful up ahead that caught his eye.

   "Hey look," he said, running forward and inspecting the ground. "Looks like we're on the right track."

   "If it isn't Junior's paint," Fludd remarked, looking down at the pink and orange swirls of goop that scattered across the grass at their feet. "I wonder what he was doing here."

   "You think he's responsible for the waterfall?" Mario asked, realizing it was a pointless question. Jumping for the next ledge, he just managed to pull himself up. When he did, he was rewarded with a dripping handful of pink goop.

   The platform he had reached was a tiny swampland, coated with the same goo across the entire ledge; what was more, those horrid little paint creatures that bubbled out of its surface had already begun to appear. As soon as Mario got to his feet, they made obnoxious cooing sounds and began slithering towards him.

   "Goobles," Fludd commented. "Don't fall!"

   "No," Mario said, grabbing his handles and moving forward. So it was to work again.

   Scchhhwerp! With their strange bubbling noises, the globular little goobles with their different colors emerged from the paint and slunk towards him, some occasionally making a bold jump before being obliterated by Fludd's spray. It had been quite a while since they had encountered the little things, or at least it felt like it. Mario guessed that perhaps they only formed in the non-scalding ooze, which this thankfully was.

   Unfortunately, despite his quick cleanup job, he was unable to completely avoid the big splashes of paint they shot at him, resulting in nice pinkish-tangerine stains on his overalls, gloves, and... everywhere.

   Looking at his splattered arms and boots, Mario sighed. "Great. I can't even wash in the bay."

   "You've had worse," Fludd input unhelpfully. "But if that's the biggest of your concerns, wait until you find whatever caused the pollution."

   "Hah. I can't wait," Mario said, adjusting his hat brim and ignoring the unavoidable goo he was getting everywhere. He wasn't really concerned—not even about his hat. That's what washing machines were for, after all. Whenever I get to use one of those again.

Aside from the goop all over the ground, there was also some scattered across the wall. At first Mario thought it was mindless splatter, but as he walked along eliminating it, he began to pick out shapes.

"Hey look, I think this is a dune bud! Or maybe a cataquack." He washed it away without a second thought. "And this looks like spaghetti! Mama, I'm hungry. And this looks like... paint," he added, taking out a huge splash of nothing that was plastered on the cliff edge.

"It all looks like paint," Fludd said, just as Mario knew he would.

For a second Mario paused, wondering how he was going to reach the next step; it was rather high. But just as he was getting the last of the graffiti on the wall, a sudden rumbling shook the area.

What the... ohhh... of course! he thought, watching in delight as the walls he had sprayed began to shake and bubble with a familiar and strange energy. The ledges were submerged in goop!

He and Fludd stood and watched for a moment as the cliffside appeared to open up for them overhead, small rock protrusions erupting from the wall in a zig-zag fashion upwards.

Well that answers that problem. "I guess someone doesn't want us up here," Mario concluded, heading forward.

"I bet Junior planted lots of minions around the island to keep us at bay," Fludd commented.

"That's a good bet," his owner replied, hoisting himself to the top of the stone jungle gym. He'd thought perhaps he was almost there, but it appeared not: instead, another rope pulley awaited him.

Activating it the same way he had the last one, Mario and Fludd soon arrived at another winding path, first going right and then left again up a widening slope covered with ooze. Plowing through it and taking out a large wall decoration shaped like a giant octopus, they soon found themselves at another wall.

This time, he had to scale a particularly steep cut in the path without the aid of magic hidden ledges: one he doubted he could make by climbing. "Perhaps my hover nozzle can propel you up enough," Fludd suggested.

   But Mario had his own ideas. Suddenly turning away from the edge, he crouched down as if gathering his strength; then, without warning, he sprang up, jumping backwards with the force of a frog released from a spring. Kicking his feet over his own head, he backflipped up and beyond the anticipated ledge, landing cleanly on his feet again at the top.

   "Impressive 360," Fludd commented. "How did you do that?"

   Grinning only slightly smugly, Mario turned and headed on, washing up small goop stains along the walls and ground here and there. "I learned it in my 'Saving the World 101' class," he joked. "But really, I don't know. It's just something I've always been able to do."

   "You certainly have a prowess for jumping," Fludd replied as Mario ran a hand along the rock wall, pausing to peer into a small crevasse which seemed to hide an opening within. Mario grunted in reply, then attempted to reach his arm into the small gap.

   "Mario, it is ill-advised to stick your arm into an unexplored hole," Fludd said.

   "No, I think I hear water in there," the human replied, trying to see. "Really."

   "Well, this is clearly not the entrance," Fludd said. "Perhaps we will find a way in later."

   Reluctantly giving it up, Mario made a face and turned back to the path at hand. "Alright, alright..."

   The oddly peaceful quiet solitude of the cliffside returned as Mario headed on for a minute in silence. With no chattering residents or gushing waterfall to fill the air, the only sounds were the low bubbling of any nearby goop and the far distant roar of the wide open sea to their left. He found it kind of nice for once to be away from the island's heavy hustle and bustle to just travel with Fludd.

   Until suddenly Fludd spoke again. "I can never quite piece you together, Mario," the machine said quite abruptly.

Taken by surprise, Mario glanced over his shoulder (with little success) and chuckled. "Why?"

"You care so much about some things, but have a complete lack of caution regarding others," the machine pointed out. "It is almost as if you do save the world on a regular basis."

"Not the whole world so much," his owner said matter-of-factly, stopping at yet another painted wall art in his way. "But my kingdom, yes. Hey look, this one's like Isle Delfino!" He pointed to the large pink graffiti dolphin on the rock, as if it was showing them the way.

"I know of your many formal accomplishments defeating Bowser and such," Fludd went on, "but not so much your background. Where did you learn to fight like that?"

Now Mario couldn't help smiling. "Well, they sure didn't teach it in plumbing school, I'll tell you that. No, I don't think you ever really learn."

"By that you mean...?"

"Well, sometimes being a good person means doing what must be done—even if it's hard, even if you don't know how. I had to climb a skyscraper once when I was a teenager to help a friend of mine... and I never really stopped improvising since."

"So you were always this recklessly bold," Fludd concluded.

Mario hoisted himself over the next ledge. "Using your abilities to help people isn't always reckless," he argued. "I like to call them... noble risks." He turned to walk ahead and stopped in his tracks.

There past the ledge opposite him was the awaited waterfall—or at least what was supposed to be the waterfall—a huge hole in the cliffside, blocked off by what appeared to be an actual giant cork, wider than Mario was tall. Situated on a small outcropping just over that was a familiar weapon: one of those island cannons, manned by none other than a Monty mole.

And sitting between him and that, a whole mess of goobles and—surprisingly—little bloopers guarded the gap in a lake of goop. At the edge Mario could also see what looked like a springboard for vaulting over to the cannon.

Don't mind if I do. "So you see Fludd," he remarked as the creatures all began to close in, "when someone has the ability to fix things, he should."

"I suppose we should be doing a lot right here then," the pump said, and Mario almost imagined he was smiling.

The mess was quick work for the likes of them at this point, although the little bloopers were a bit stubborn to chase off. They were small, just like the ones he had ridden in Ricco Harbor, only they were white—a variety Mario knew to be more dangerous. Enough warning with Fludd and they eventually backed off and dove into the bay below.

With his defenses taken out, the mole inside the cannon screeched and went on the offensive, rotating his barrel around to face the intruders. For a brief second Fludd thought they might be in serious danger, but a quick look at Mario eased his concerns.

Like the one they'd fought back on the Pinna Park beach, the cannon fired only short range; and they were only small time bombs, at that. As the seconds ticked down on the digital interfaces, Mario ran over, picked one up, and launched it back across the gap. On contact with its red metal exterior, the bomb exploded, sending a small but firm blast rocking through the cliff to the cork's core. In the poof of smoke that ensued, the cannon's metal plating plummeted to the waters of the bay far below his feet, along with the pilot who was also toppled in the explosion.

   Success! Mario thought triumphantly. He was just about to start forward to figure out what to do about this cork when another sound issued through the area: a brief, low craaack.

   Fludd offered an explanation. "I think the blast hit the—

   BOOM!

   With the force of a hundred stampeding yoshis, the fissure in the giant cork abruptly gave way to the pressure of the built-up water inside the mountain. In an enormous torrent that rivaled a few waterfalls Mario had seen in his day, the cliffside hole erupted with a night's worth of pent-up water, falling to the bay below in a wild explosion of crashing droplets before calming into a graceful arc. As it reached the bottom, Mario looked over the edge to see it begin breaking up the stagnant waters below in a huge ripple effect.

   "Mission accomplished," Mario stated, once again wishing he could high-five Fludd. "See, and not a—

   "Mario!" Fludd yelped suddenly, but a second too late.

   At that instant another time bomb, which had supposedly landed near them on the ground and gone unnoticed, blipped down to zero.

   Blam!

   "MAMA!!" Mario screeched at the top of his voice, scrambling backwards at the poof of black smoke and orange flame that licked at his side. Standing his ground a safe distance away, he dusted his gloves and stared at his clothes, which were now ash-stained atop the pink goop. Trying to brush off his arms, one of which had nearly gotten roasted, he coughed and threw an agitated glance backward.

   "And that's why we watch where we step," Fludd concluded.

   Mario, not in the mood for smart comments, rolled his eyes and stepped forward, surveying the cliff above him. They were almost to the summit again, now that he looked; the grass-coated clifftops that he knew would greet those who scaled the climb were just a stone's throw above them now.

   "Hey, do you get any shine sprite readings?" Mario wanted to know.

   "Yes. They've been quite stationary," Fludd responded. "Mostly what I'm getting seems to be inside the mountain though."

   "How about up there?" Mario pointed. "You think maybe there's a path in from up there?"

   "It's perfectly possible," the machine replied. "Is your arm alright?"

   Mario brushed it off. "Yeah, it'll be fine." Wincing briefly as he dusted a black stain off his shoulder, he stepped forward to the rock wall. "I'm just gonna climb up there real quick..."

   "Mario if you're not in prime condition then I don't recommend—

   "I said it's nothing, and I just want a look," the human replied defensively, resorting to footholds as he climbed up the short outcropping. "I think I hear something."

   "I'll be frank, I don't think that's a good—

   "You worry too much," Mario assured, pulling himself with a grunt over the top edge. Made it! Rolling over from his stomach, he sat up in the grass and rubbed his bare arm.

   Ow. Man, I need to watch it. He really liked having a left arm, and it had been in some brutal close calls lately. He'd never hear the end of it if he came home injured.

He was just about to get to his feet when another sound caught his attention; a sound that felt somehow familiar and very, very bad.

Fludd lifted his head up. "Mario—

SCRAACK! With a screechy gurgle, a huge white-and-blue speckled tentacle came slamming down onto the ground just inches from Mario's head, jerking him to attention. Scrambling upwards, the human turned head-on to face...

"Oh, come on," he muttered.

"Gooper Blooper??" Fludd questioned, taking in the monster before them. "He made it all the way over here now?"

"I guess that explains the unfriendly bloopers," Mario said, reaching for Fludd and carefully edging away. "But I think I get the advantage this time!"

   Their guest from Ricco Harbor was messy and boisterous as he had been the day before, with black ink coating his squid-like face and squirming tentacles seemingly flying everywhere as he threw a little tantrum in the grass. It took a second for Mario to realize, much to his chagrin, that the blooper seemed to have an accelerated regrowth process; the extra-long tentacles, which he had dismembered the previous time they'd tangled in Ricco Harbor, had all been replaced with ample substitutes.

   "Oh boy," Fludd remarked over his shoulder. "Well, I guess we know what to do."

   "Is this a good time to mention that I'd like a lemonade?" Mario spoke up.

   "Sugar," Fludd reminded him as Gooper smashed a heavy appendage on the ground by his feet.

~

   A few minutes and a good amount of running and dodging footwork later, Mario ducked as the giant squid swung a large paddle-like arm for his head. Jumping back to avoid the slap, he lunged when the squid took a second's pause.

"Not so tough without your tentacles, are you," he grunted, gripping the blooper's rubbery leg with both of his gloves. Yanking on it with all his might, Mario had to maneuver his feet around the jittering tentacles already scattered across the battleground.

Streeeetch—

With an awful squeaking sound, the blooper's leg tore away, sending Mario tumbling backwards onto his rear... into a big puddle of black goop.

"Fun," he muttered under his breath. Scrambling back to his feet, he ran forward to finish up the job.

Like last time, Mario figured that he could probably chase him off by snapping the blooper's suction-like mouth back at his tiny face. Which he could have tried sooner, except success was highly unlikely until he eliminated some of the twenty-foot tentacles barring his way first.

"For such a big guy, your face is real out of reach," Mario grunted, spraying the blooper's eyes that blinked purple from beneath his ink-covered visage. With the pair fast advancing on him, Gooper Blooper began to squirm and squeal with agitation. He had experienced this before... and he was none too eager to get out of there.

With a final squawk of disapproval, the giant blooper slithered backwards towards the cliff, shooting disdainful glares back at them. Then, like a wounded spider, he suddenly sprang upwards on his remaining limbs, launched over the edge like a small torpedo, and dove headfirst down into the icky bay beyond.

Mario didn't bother to go see where he had landed. "And stay this time!" he hollered in the general direction, before sighing for a breath and sinking down to sit in the grass. He couldn't bring himself to care about the mess or the slight burn in his arm anymore, or the long and treacherous climb down he'd probably have to make. He didn't care about the bright sunshine that began to beat down over the brim of his hat, or the bay or where the blooper went or any of that.

Right now he cared only about the wonderfully familiar tinkling of a stray shine sprite freed from its prison, emerging from the ink as if to reward him.