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Chapter 5:

The Plant and the Factory

––

Trickleback River
2:00 pm

Mario had completely lost track of how long they'd been walking through that tunnel, but finally a distant light appeared at the end. The group hurriedly raced toward it, stepping out of the darkness and back into the outside world.

He sort of wished they hadn't.

They had just come walking out of a large hill on the riverbank, and flowing by right in front of them was the Trickleback River itself – but it was clear that something was wrong with it. It was flowing much more slowly than it should have been, so bogged down was it with poisonous sludge. Its murky greenish-brown color reflected that as well.

"Ugh…" Dulia recoiled at the sight of it. "I had no idea it was this bad…"

"How are we gonna fix this?" Stubba asked worriedly.

Mario honestly didn't know. He hadn't been feeling confident before, but seeing the river like this was making him feel even less sure of himself…

"Well, first things first… let's find that factory," he addressed the group. "It can't be too far from here."

So they climbed out of the water and onto the riverbank, beginning the long trek upstream. They traveled mostly in silence, as the sight of the polluted river wasn't really putting them in the mood to talk. Everything in the atmosphere around them seemed to be similarly gloomy – even the sky was cloudy. Mario wondered if the factory didn't somehow have something to do with that.

They didn't have many enemy encounters to worry about, just a bunch of Cheep-Cheeps that would periodically come leaping out of the water in an effort to attack them. Dulia took care of them by Transforming into a Cheep-Cheep herself and squirting them right out of the air, and Snatchel joined in by Lassoing the offending fish and throwing them back where they came from.

As they walked along, the sun stayed in place from behind the clouds. They were traveling directly out of Soluna Town, and for the moment time was staying the same.

But no matter how far they walked, there wasn't a factory to be seen.

"What if that dumb broad messed up, and there is no factory?" Goomblaine grumbled after a long while. "What if we've been wanderin' around this dump for nothing?"

"Goomblaine, I'm sure that's not true," Mario said sternly, very much not appreciating his calling Peach a "dumb broad". "Peach knows what she's talking about. It can't be this much farther…"

"Oh, Mario… look over there!" Stubba suddenly piped up.

"Huh?" Mario looked and saw that the Clubba was pointing directly across the river. A bunch of trees had been lining the opposite bank, looking somewhat like a forest. Now, though, Mario thought he could make out a bunch of lights coming from within the trees.

"Whaddaya reckon that is?" Snatchel wondered.

"I'm not sure…" Mario squinted his eyes. "Actually… it looks like it could be some kind of village. Maybe we should go have a look."

Goomblaine looked disgusted at the prospect of wasting more time. "Why?"

"Because we're tired and grouchy, because we don't know if we're on the right track, and because we don't know anything about this factory and we need all the help we can get," the plumber replied shortly. "Now let's go, everybody."

The group crossed over the river by hopping across a bunch of lilypads that were floating lazily in place. As they reached the opposite shore, they started hearing a bunch of faint voices coming from somewhere in the trees, and the lights were brighter than before.

"There are people living in here," Hanner realized. "But how come we haven't heard about this place?"

"Come on guys, let's have a look," Mario said quickly, motioning for his partners to follow after him. They spent several minutes walking through the trees, and as they did, Mario began to get a strange feeling. This place wasn't an ordinary forest… it had an unusual, almost magical feel to it…

Then they finally arrived at the source of the voices, and Mario stopped dead and stared.

"Wait a minute… what is this place?"

Viney Valley
2:00 pm

Mario's team looked around in astonishment. You couldn't find a place more unlike Nova City if you tried. This village, as it seemed to be, was absolutely covered in plant life. There wasn't a single building to be seen; all the houses seemed to be enormous tree stumps or mushrooms with doors set into them. Every inch of the ground was covered in grass, and flowers of every imaginable shape, size, and color were springing up all over. The largest were over ten feet tall and towered over Mario and his friends, dripping with dew. The whole place had a sort of dreamy, hazy air.

Appropriately, all the inhabitants of this village were some kind of plant or fungus. There were numerous Goombas and Toads, of course, but there were also a few friendly and docile-looking Piranhas, some Pokeys… and most prominent of all, there were countless Crazee Dayzees.

"Wow…" Dulia said softly, looking as awed as everyone else. "I've never seen anyplace like this. It's like from a fairy tale or something."

"Yeah… it's beautiful here," Mario agreed. Then he frowned slightly. "Or at least… it would be, except…"

Except everything around them was dying. The grass was withering, the flowers were drying up and losing their brilliant color. Even the trees looked sickly and were starting to drop their leaves. The people living there were no better off. Most of them were walking around looking pale and weak, wearing expressions of despair. Some of them, to Mario's horror, were lying on the ground and appeared to be unconscious.

"What's going on here?!" Mario cried out.

"Oh… hello there," came a tired voice, and the team turned around to find a Toad walking up to them. "I never thought we'd get any visitors in a place like this. Welcome to Viney Valley… or at least, as much welcome as can be found."

"Viney Valley… I've never heard of this place," Hanner remarked. "Rodolfo didn't even mention it. Does he not even know about it?"

"Well, we are a well-kept secret," the Toad admitted with a shrug. "Hardly anybody knows about us, actually. We tend to live apart from the rest of the world. It's always been fine for us… until recently."

"Yeah, I can see that," said Mario, glancing around again and getting a chill. "What's happening to you guys? Why does everybody look so sick?"

"It's that river, ain't it," Snatchel said darkly. "These fellers are gettin' poisoned from the river. And since they live right next to it, it's messin' 'em up bad."

The Toad blinked. "Wait a minute – how'd you know about that?"

"It's happening in Soluna Town," Dulia replied morosely. "All the water there is getting poisoned too. Nobody can drink it anymore. It's awful."

"We came here to do something about it," Mario went on. "We're looking for the Poisoned Factory – that's what's polluting the river, isn't it?"

The Toad looked at the group in astonishment. "You really came here for that?" he asked. "I… I don't know if that's a wise idea. That factory… going in there is a death wish. It's so toxic in there, you couldn't possibly last."

Mario tried not to look uneasy. "Well, we've got to try anyway. If we don't, everybody in Chronoside is going to be in danger."

The Toad frowned reluctantly. "Well, if that's the case… you'd better come talk to the mayor. He knows best about what's going on around here… he can give you advice."

"That'd be great. Can you take us to him?"

"If that's what you really want… follow me."

So the group set off after him as they walked through Viney Valley. Mario almost started feeling sick just from looking around; the very village was wasting away before their eyes. There wasn't a happy face to be seen.

"There's so many people here… and they're all so sick," Stubba whispered, looking mortified. Mario nodded in agreement. In particular, he'd never seen so many Crazee Dayzees in one place. Most of the ones he'd seen were white, but the ones living here had petals in every color of the rainbow. Reds, blues and yellows cropped up all over. Of course, if they hadn't all been looking so sickly, it probably would have been a prettier sight.

"…This is gonna sound stupid," Hanner muttered after they'd been walking for a while, "but I don't like seeing all these Dayzees. They kinda… they remind me of her."

"Who?" Mario asked, then grimaced at his own stupidity. "Oh… you mean Maizee…"

Clearly he hadn't been speaking quietly enough. The Toad stopped dead and spun around, staring at them in horror.

"You – you know Maizee?!" he cried, causing several people nearby to turn and look at him. "You mean you've actually met her?"

"A few more times than we'd like, yeah. Why?" asked the plumber. Then he frowned in confusion. "Wait… how do you know about her?"

"We know about her because she used to live here," came another voice from behind them. "This was her home."

Mario's team turned around in time to see a well-dressed Bub-ulb come walking out of a nearby mushroom-building. Because of his rotund body he couldn't wear an actual suit, but he did have a white collar on and had a tiny little flower where his lapel would have been – which was somewhat redundant, as he had a very large, dark blue flower growing out of his head. He was also wearing a brown pork pie hat, which had a hole in the top so the flower could stick out of it.

"Fidela, who are these friends of yours?" he asked curiously, then noticed the group regarding him carefully. "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't introduce myself. I'm the mayor. Mayor Bulbin. It's a pleasure to meet all of you."

"Good to meet you too," Mario said respectfully. His partners nodded.

"Mr. Mayor, I brought these people here to meet you," the Toad (or Fidela T., as his name seemed to be) spoke up. "They say they want to go to the Poisoned Factory."

Bulbin turned to stare at Mario. "Why on earth do you want to do something like that? Don't you know about that place? It's too dangerous!"

"We know it is. But we have a job to shut it down. There's something we need to rescue from that place." Mario tried to steer back to the original topic, the one that was nagging incessantly at him. "Excuse me sir, but… you say Maizee used to live here? Can you possibly tell us anything about her?"

Bulbin and Fidela both glanced warily at each other, wearing deep frowns and looking very reluctant to speak.

"Yes, I can," the mayor finally sighed. "You'd better all come inside. You too, Fidela. This is going to take a while."

––

The thing that came closest to describing the mayor's office was a treehouse, perched high up in the branches of a majestic willow tree. In order to get there, Mario's party had to ascend a huge, snaking vine, hopping up the large leaves that functioned as the steps of a spiral staircase. From there they walked across a rickety wooden bridge, which gave them a view of almost the entire village. The bridge led them up to the front porch of the surprisingly well-built treehouse, and then the entire group crowded their way inside.

"Oh, hiiiiiii, Mr. Mayor!" greeted a Dayzee with bright pink petals who was already standing in the room. "Oh, you brought friends! That's totally swell! Can I get you guys anything?"

"No, that's quite all right," Bulbin replied curtly. "Everyone, I'd like to introduce you to my secretary, Pollena."

"Hello there!" she chirruped, waving eagerly at Mario's group. They very awkwardly waved back.

"Ahem… Pollena, why don't you wait over there for now. I'm having an important discussion with our guests," said the mayor, trying to sound polite. She nodded and pranced off to another part of the room.

Bulbin carefully seated himself down into one of the chairs. "So, Maizee…" he sighed. He looked intensely weighed down with knowledge he would rather not have. "Well, if you're interested in the factory, you'd better know the whole story. You see… Maizee is the one running that factory. She's the reason the river has been poisoned."

Everyone was shocked into silence.

"But – but – how? Why?" Hanner finally sputtered out.

"It's simple, actually. You see, Crazee Dayzees, being flowers, are a very vain and self-absorbed species."

Mario glanced over at Pollena, who was currently fawning over her reflection in a hand mirror. "Yeah, I can believe that."

"Well, she was worse than any of them," Bulbin went on. "Even before all this started, she was notoriously power-hungry. She wanted to control all of Viney Valley – no, I'd say all of Chronoside. She has quite the complex."

"That sounds like her," Mario grumbled.

"But what does the factory gotta do with all that?" asked Snatchel.

"Well, in her quest for power, it wasn't long until she discovered that factory," the mayor recounted. "None of us know who built it, or how long it's been there, but for as long as we can remember it's been abandoned. Until she got in there. She started the whole place up, and she learned some truly shocking things…"

"Ooh! Ooh! Are you talking about Maizee?" Pollena asked urgently, dashing over to join the group. "Did you tell them about how she's doing all those experiments with the poisonous stuff?"

Mario stared at her. "Wait… what?"

"Pollena, please," the mayor said shortly, then turned back to Mario. "Well, unfortunately, she's right. Maizee's been experimenting with the poisonous chemicals in that factory. The very ones that are being spewed into our precious river. You see, she found out… ingesting that poison will not always be fatal. If it's done the right way, it can actually make a person stronger, and imbue them with poisonous powers and abilities."

The group looked horrified. "You're joking," said Mario.

"Oh man, I wish," Fidela sighed miserably. "No, it's definitely true. We've seen it ourselves, with those three guinea pigs of hers. The ones she's been doing the experiments on…"

"Wait – you mean those Piranhas? Those things she's always carting around?" Goomblaine protested.

"The very same," Bulbin confirmed with a nod. "They weren't even Putrid Piranhas to start with. They were normal ones. But Maizee got her hands on them and wanted to see just how powerful this poison could make them… she's been giving it to them ever since, and they've been getting stronger and stronger…"

Goomblaine shook his head. "I knew those freaks were way too strong to be normal," he grumbled.

"But it's not all good for them," Bulbin pressed on. "For even though the poison may make a person more powerful, there are… very serious repercussions."

"You lose your mind," Mario guessed, thinking back to the Polluper Blooper.

Bulbin nodded morosely. "She's been trying to figure out a way to eliminate this problem… a way for the poison to give person the increase in power without the mental decay."

"And we think… once she's done that…" Fidela ventured, swallowing hard before going on. "She could make an army. An unstoppable one. There's no telling what she could do with something like that."

No one spoke for a moment. There seemed to be a tremendous weight pressing down on everyone in the room.

"How do you guys know all this?" Mario finally asked.

"It's no secret," Bulbin said frankly. "She doesn't care who knows… it's not like there's anything we can do to stop her." He gazed despondently at the floor. "After all, that poison had the lovely little side effect of getting into our river and diseasing all of Viney Valley… and if what you've told me is true, then the rest of Chronoside will follow soon after."

Stubba was starting to look very upset. "But… but how come nobody's stopped her?"

"Oh, we've tried," Fidela promised him. "People tried to go to that factory and confront her… and they never came back out. She's just too strong for us."

Mario still wasn't satisfied. "So why don't you all just leave?"

"We can't," Bulbin said simply. "Nowhere else in Chronoside has enough plant life to sustain all of us… and besides, we're all too weak to make the journey at this point."

"If we stay, we'll die… if we leave, we'll die…" Fidela shook his head, looking almost overcome with hopelessness. "Oh, what are we supposed to do?"

Suddenly Pollena's eyes lit up. "Wait – I know!" she cried. "We should take Viney Valley… and PUSH it somewhere else!"

Everyone stared at her.

"…Or, y'know, we could just go shut down the factory for you," Hanner spoke up after a moment.

Bulbin frowned. "You're still entertaining that idea? Even now that you know what's at risk?"

Dulia nodded dutifully. "We're heroes. It's what we do. We've gotta help you guys out somehow." Goomblaine just rolled his eyes, obviously not agreeing with her sentiment.

Mario was nodding as well, and he was about to assure Bulbin that they would do everything in their power to put a stop to this…

But then he remembered it. All the color drained from his face.

"Wait… oh no…" He looked at his partners in horror. "Guys… Peach said that the Sun Soul is in that factory… and Maizee…" He swallowed. "That means she must have it."

They all stared back at him.

"Oh, no," Hanner groaned, looking horrified to realize Mario was right. "This is bad… this is bad bad bad… she's been hounding us for those things, and she had one all along?"

"Excuse me? Did you say Sun Souls?" asked Bulbin.

Mario turned to him. "Yeah… we've been collecting them, and Maizee wants them for herself. We never found out why, though…"

"I might be able to answer that," the mayor said glumly. "These Sun Souls… they're very powerful, aren't they?"

"They're about the most powerful things in the world right now," the plumber confirmed.

Bulbin nodded thoughtfully. "We've heard her talk about those things," he explained. "We don't know what they are exactly, but it sounds like she wants to use them for a power source. Some way to keep the factory running indefinitely, so that it never runs out of energy."

"Never?" cried Dulia. "But that's impossible!"

"I highly doubt that," Bulbin sighed. "And if she actually managed to do it… well, I don't want to think about that."

Mario felt all his energy draining out of him as he was confronted with this terrible truth. "That explains it," he said simply, hopelessly, collapsing back in his chair. "That explains why she's been following us. That explains everything."

"Well, that tears it," Snatchel decided, jumping to his feet and looking very dangerous indeed. "We ain't wastin' another minute hangin' out around here. We're goin' over to that factory and endin' this nonsense once and fer all! I don't care how strong this gal thinks she is, she's goin' down!"

"You're right," Mario agreed firmly, standing up as well. "We finally know what she's been after all this time… and it's worse than we ever thought. We have to stop her before it's too late."

Bulbin shook his head. "I see you're not going back on this," he remarked. "Well, if you're certain about this… first of all, you have to get inside the factory. As you probably know, it's at the source of the river. It's situated at the very top of a waterfall, in the center of a large lake."

Goomblaine frowned. "What? We gotta go climb up a waterfall?"

"It's not as bad as it sounds. There's a key that'll open up the waterfall for you," Fidela spoke up. "But to get it, you have to defeat the creature that was set up to protect it. Though that shouldn't be too hard for a group of adventurers like you guys."

"You'll find the key by following the path at the very back of the village," Bulbin clarified. "Once you have it, just bring it to the waterfall… you should be able to figure it out from there."

––

With that, Bulbin led Mario's party out of the treehouse and back down to the main area of Viney Valley. As they arrived, Mario noticed a small, narrow trail at the very back of the village that seemed to lead away to some unknown location. The ground on this trail was covered in small mushrooms.

"That's the way to the Leaf Stone – the key you need for the waterfall," the mayor explained to him as he led everyone up to it. "Although… you might have a little trouble getting there. We've been having a small issue…"

"Of course you have," Goomblaine muttered contemptuously.

"You see, the path branches off multiple times. There's only one right path that will take you to the Leaf Stone. It's actually quite strange…" He frowned, looking thoughtful. "I think we used to have a way of navigating through there… but nowadays, it seems none of us can remember it anymore."

Mario raised an eyebrow. "What are you talking about?"

"I'm sorry. I know it makes no sense." Bulbin shook his head. "It had something to do with all those mushrooms on the ground, though. That's all I can tell you."

"Hmm…" Mario thought about this. "That's all right. Don't worry about it, sir…"

He trailed off. Something had suddenly caught his attention from the corner of his eye, and he felt his gaze slowly traveling over.

There was a young Crazee Dayzee lying against a tree, looking feverish and near death. The poor thing was just a kid, probably only Dulia's age, if even that. His pale violet petals were wilting and drooping, and his face was deathly pale. Even in his unconscious state, he looked anguished.

"Mario? What's wrong?" asked Hanner.

He couldn't even answer that. He didn't know why this particular one had caught his attention; there were sick Dayzees all over. Still, as he slowly walked up to him, he couldn't shake the feeling that there was something important about him…

"Who… who is this?" he asked Bulbin.

"Him?" the mayor looked down at the little Dayzee. "He's just a child who lives here. His name is Daymien, I think. Why do you ask?"

"Daymien…" Mario crouched down and touched the comatose Dayzee on the forehead, frowning in sympathy. "I… I don't know. I was just curious. Sorry."

"It's awful, isn't it," Fidela remarked. "Not even the kids are safe around here. I never thought things would get so bad in a place like Viney Valley."

"He's badly poisoned," Bulbin sighed. "Just leave him, Mario. Not even the most potent Tasty Tonic is going to help him in this condition."

Mario kept gazing down at Daymien in concern, only reluctantly standing back up.

"All right… I guess we'd better get going," he muttered. "Thank you so much for everything, sir."

Bulbin gave him a nod and led Fidela away.

"What the heck was that all about?" Goomblaine hissed at him once they were out of earshot.

"I… I'm not sure…" Mario tried to get his thoughts together. "I just… oh, forget it. It's probably nothing." He straightened himself out. "Okay. You guys heard what Bulbin said? They used to use the mushrooms to guide them through that trail."

"Yeah… they used to, but they can't remember how anymore." Dulia cocked her head in confusion. "What d'you suppose he meant by that?"

"Actually, I've got a pretty good guess," Mario replied, leading his team back over to the entrance to the trail. "I actually recognized those mushrooms. They're very special ones."

He pulled out the Aeon Hourglass with a smile. "They glow in the dark."

As his partners' faces lit up in comprehension, Mario tipped the hourglass over and transported them away.

––

Viney Valley
2:00 am

Mario quickly decided that he much preferred Viney Valley at night. In the darkness, it was harder to see that all the plants were dying and withering. The atmosphere was also livened up a little by a bunch of small lights, like will-o'-the-wisps, floating in the air around their heads.

It pained Mario so much to see how beautiful this place was, and how much it was suffering. He couldn't let this place die.

"Woah… you're right, Mario!" Stubba marveled, and Mario turned to see what he was looking at. He smiled; just like he'd thought, the mushrooms on the ground were giving off a pale green, bioluminescent glow.

"I knew it," he said confidently. "All we have to do is follow the mushrooms, guys. They'll lead us to the right place."

"All right then! Let's get crackin'!" said Snatchel, and the group immediately set off down the path.

Before they left, though, Mario suddenly felt a nagging feeling inside of him. Before he could stop himself, he quickly glanced over his shoulder at the large tree, where Daymien had been lying back in Dayside.

There was no one there…

––

The group walked down the narrow path, and sure enough, it branched off into three different trails almost immediately. But the glowing mushrooms were illuminating what they took to be the correct path, and so they followed it. This happened several more times, and along the way Mario noticed a glowing group of sparkles in the air and promptly added another Luma to his collection.

Finally the party arrived at a dead end, walking into a small clearing. There was nothing in it save for a large, nondescript bush right in the middle.

"Uh… isn't there supposed to be someone here we're supposed to fight?" Mario wondered, looking around. "Hello? Is there anybody here?"

In response, there suddenly came a ruffling sound from the bush. Its leaves and branches were shaking slightly… and then, suddenly, a voice came out of it.

"Yo. Wassup. I'm Bushwhack. What can I do ya for."

Mario blinked. "Wait… are you the guy we have to fight?"

The bush momentarily stopped shuffling. "Huh? You just came here to fight?" It sounded disappointed. "Well, that's just typical. I guess you guys just came here lookin' for the Leaf Stone, huh?"

"Uh… I…"

"I shoulda guessed. That's all anybody ever comes here for," it grumbled. "Nobody ever drops by to say hi to ol' Bushwhack. Nobody asks how Bushwhack is doin'. Nope. It's all fight fight fight, every time."

Mario was at a loss for words. His partners were looking very confused.

"Uh… I'm sorry?" the plumber said lamely. "Really, I didn't know you felt that way."

"Ah, what do I care," snapped the plant known as Bushwhack. "Whatever. If it's a fight you want, let's just it over with."

And then, suddenly, the oversized bush turned a hundred and eighty degrees… revealing a demonic-looking face on the other side. Then it began shaking violently, and two arm-like branches shot out of either side of it, each one tipped with a smaller bush.

"Okay! Let's boogie!" it shouted, waving its arms around crazily and jumping at Mario. He and his partners immediately leapt into battle stances.

"All right, this freak's called Bushwhack. But you knew that already," Goomblaine muttered as he used Tattle. "It's the thing that's guarding the Leaf Stone. Nothin' fancy here. All it can do is jump on us or smack us around with those big arms."

"Sounds good," said Mario. He quickly jumped backwards as Bushwhack came charging at him, swinging its arms. As he tried to get away, Stubba ran forward and performed a Club attack on it, and Dulia slammed into it with her Head Missile, knocking it off to the side.

"Oh, of course," it sniffed at them. "You're fighting six against one. Totally uncool, guys."

"Oh, just cram it already!" Goomblaine snarled, immediately running up and Multibonking it. Bushwhack retaliated by smacking him with one of its arms and sending him flying.

"You know, you're really not very nice," Mario remarked as he prepared to Power Smash the bush over the head. But before he could, Bushwhack caught him by surprise and swept his feet out from underneath him. He cried out and toppled to the ground.

"YAAAAAH!" Bushwhack bellowed, jumping high into the air in an attempt to flatten Mario. Luckily, Snatchel roped him in with Roundup and yanked him to the ground before he got the chance, and then Mario rushed up and delivered a whack with his hammer.

"Man, what is with you guys?" Bushwhack demanded. "Don't you wonder how I feel about all this? No, of course you don't! Nobody ever asks Bushwhack how he feels! I'm just dumb old plant waiting around to be – "

"WE GET IT!" shouted Mario's entire team. Bushwhack just scowled and threw itself at Mario again, tackling the plumber to the ground and knocking the wind out of him. Mario gasped and curled up in pain.

"I'll teach you!" it shouted, backing up and charging at the downed plumber. It let out a furious cry and threw itself into the air – only to slam into a shimmering pink force field that had suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

Mario blinked, realizing that the force field was encasing him in a sphere. "What the – "

"HEY! You cheater!" Bushwhack shouted at Dulia, who had just created a Plasma Shield to protect Mario. "You can't do that! That's totally cheap!"

"Oh, sorry," said Dulia, looking guilty.

Goomblaine stared at her incredulously. "Don't apologize to that thing!"

"Huh? …Oh, right! I'm not sorry!" she snapped, glaring at Bushwhack.

The bush looked exasperated. "GAH! You're all a bunch of idiots!" it screamed. It dashed right at them, but they easily sidestepped it. Then all it took was one good Spin Jump from Mario, and it let out a defeated groan and toppled over to the ground.

"All right! Nice job, everybody!" Mario congratulated his team.

"Yeah, yeah, whoop de doo. Congratulations," the surly bush muttered. "Here. Take your stupid Leaf Stone and go."

It reached into itself and pulled out a large, polished gem that was colored a majestic dark blue and carved in the shape of a leaf, dumping it unceremoniously into Mario's hands.

"Now go on and get," it ordered. "Oh, and tell everybody back in the village how I'm doin'. If they ask, that is. Which they won't. Of course."

And with that, it retracted its arms back into its body and turned around, thumping down on the ground and regaining its semblance of a plain old bush.

"…Well, he was a real charmer," said Hanner.

––

After that, the group set off back down the trail, going back the way they'd come and following the glowing mushrooms just as they'd done before. Nobody said anything most of the way, but eventually, Hanner broke the silence.

"So, Mario… you sure you don't want to tell us what was up with you and that kid?"

Mario stopped walking. "What?"

"Yeah, you seemed mighty interested in him," Snatchel remarked.

Mario saw all his partners giving him curious looks and finally sighed in defeat.

"I… I honestly don't know what happened back there, guys. But I looked at him, and I got this feeling… you don't remember seeing him here in Nightside, do you?"

His partners looked surprised at the question.

"Well, not really… but maybe he was there, and we just didn't notice…" Hanner looked at him strangely. "Why, Mario? You… you think maybe he's…"

"I don't know. Like I said… it was just a weird feeling. Maybe it's nothing," Mario replied softly. "Come on, guys, we should get going."

They walked quickly along the rest of the way, without saying anything else to each other. As they began to approach the village again, however, Dulia suddenly froze up.

"Do you guys hear that?" she whispered. "It sounds like… I hear screaming! And it's coming from the village!"

Mario looked at her in fright. "What?"

"Yeah! I hear it too!" Stubba realized.

"Oh no…" Mario shook his head. "Come on everybody, we have to run!"

They dashed down the path as fast as they could, and sure enough, without moments Mario heard the screaming as well, which just made him put on an extra burst of speed.

He was afraid, and at the same time, exasperated… why did some disaster have to follow them everywhere they went?

Finally they came bursting back into the main area of the village, and they all stared in horror.

The village was in an uproar. Everyone in Viney Valley who wasn't too sick to move was running around frantically, shrieking in terror and desperately looking for a hiding spot to protect them from the intruders that were suddenly in their midst.

The only one who wasn't running was Bulbin. He had fallen to the ground and was now staring up in horror and trying to scramble away from the three very large, very deadly-looking Putrid Piranhas that were towering over him.

"No…" Mario whispered, feeling his blood run cold. "Not again… not now…"

Standing on the head of the center Piranha was an all-too-familiar purple Dayzee.

"What – what do you want with me?" Bulbin almost screamed, sounding hysterical. "Please, have mercy – leave this village alone! Why won't you listen to reason?"

Maizee was glaring down at him, and Mario thought he'd never seen her so angry. Her expression was one of unbridled hatred.

"I'm tired of you getting in my way," she said to Bulbin through tightly clenched teeth. "If I get rid of you, then the rest of Viney Valley will follow. You've impeded me for the last time."

And just like that, the Piranha on the right lunged forward and grabbed Bulbin in its huge mouth. His scream was cut short as the Piranha burrowed underground and vanished.

Chaos broke loose.

"NO!"

"THE MAYOR! SHE'S GOT THE MAYOR!"

"Hey! You let him go!"

Mario was surprised by his own voice. He was surprised to find that he was charging directly towards the Piranhas, not even thinking of how strong they were and how futile it was and how he'd probably have his game ended in an instant…

But Maizee didn't attack him. As he ran at her, all she did was glance down at him and say, "If you want him, come and get him."

And the remaining Piranhas vanished back underground, taking her down with them. Mario threw himself at them, but they disappeared an instant too soon and he thudded painfully onto the hard ground.

"No…" he muttered, clenching his fists and trying to ignore the still-panicking citizens all around him. "No…"

"What's going on here?" cried Fidela T., running up to Mario. "Who are you? What are you doing in Viney Valley?"

"It was him! He must have sent Maizee after the mayor!" a female Dayzee shrieked hysterically.

"Oh just shut your yaps, would ya?" Snatchel demanded, asserting his authority and trying to regain control. "We got nothin' to do with her! We've been tryin' to fight her too! Now if you want yer mayor back, you can start bein' useful and tell us where she took 'im!"

"She must have brought him to the factory… that's where her base of operations is," Fidela moaned, clutching at his head. "I never thought this would happen… she actually took him away from us… we really are doomed."

"Hey! Don't say that!" Mario snapped at him. "Don't tell me you're going to give up just like that! Now look! If we hurry and get over to that factory right now, we still have a chance to save him!"

"What? Mario, think about this!" Hanner protested. "What if she only kidnapped him because she knew we'd go after him? What if she's just luring us into a trap?"

Mario shook his head. "It doesn't matter. We have to go to the factory one way or another. This doesn't change anything. And if she thinks she's going to stop us, then she's wrong."

Mario clenched his fists, feeling his resolve and determination build up like nothing he'd ever experienced before. He glanced at his partners, and they stared at the serious look on his face.

"This is it, everybody. We're going to that factory… we're stopping her, and we're getting that Sun Soul. And we're ending this once and for all."

Description
Chapter 5:

The Plant and the Factory

––

Trickleback River
2:00 pm

Mario had completely lost track of how long they'd been walking through that tunnel, but finally a distant light appeared at the end. The group hurriedly raced toward it, stepping out of the darkness and back into the outside world.

He sort of wished they hadn't.

They had just come walking out of a large hill on the riverbank, and flowing by right in front of them was the Trickleback River itself – but it was clear that something was wrong with it. It was flowing much more slowly than it should have been, so bogged down was it with poisonous sludge. Its murky greenish-brown color reflected that as well.

"Ugh…" Dulia recoiled at the sight of it. "I had no idea it was this bad…"

"How are we gonna fix this?" Stubba asked worriedly.

Mario honestly didn't know. He hadn't been feeling confident before, but seeing the river like this was making him feel even less sure of himself…

"Well, first things first… let's find that factory," he addressed the group. "It can't be too far from here."

So they climbed out of the water and onto the riverbank, beginning the long trek upstream. They traveled mostly in silence, as the sight of the polluted river wasn't really putting them in the mood to talk. Everything in the atmosphere around them seemed to be similarly gloomy – even the sky was cloudy. Mario wondered if the factory didn't somehow have something to do with that.

They didn't have many enemy encounters to worry about, just a bunch of Cheep-Cheeps that would periodically come leaping out of the water in an effort to attack them. Dulia took care of them by Transforming into a Cheep-Cheep herself and squirting them right out of the air, and Snatchel joined in by Lassoing the offending fish and throwing them back where they came from.

As they walked along, the sun stayed in place from behind the clouds. They were traveling directly out of Soluna Town, and for the moment time was staying the same.

But no matter how far they walked, there wasn't a factory to be seen.

"What if that dumb broad messed up, and there is no factory?" Goomblaine grumbled after a long while. "What if we've been wanderin' around this dump for nothing?"

"Goomblaine, I'm sure that's not true," Mario said sternly, very much not appreciating his calling Peach a "dumb broad". "Peach knows what she's talking about. It can't be this much farther…"

"Oh, Mario… look over there!" Stubba suddenly piped up.

"Huh?" Mario looked and saw that the Clubba was pointing directly across the river. A bunch of trees had been lining the opposite bank, looking somewhat like a forest. Now, though, Mario thought he could make out a bunch of lights coming from within the trees.

"Whaddaya reckon that is?" Snatchel wondered.

"I'm not sure…" Mario squinted his eyes. "Actually… it looks like it could be some kind of village. Maybe we should go have a look."

Goomblaine looked disgusted at the prospect of wasting more time. "Why?"

"Because we're tired and grouchy, because we don't know if we're on the right track, and because we don't know anything about this factory and we need all the help we can get," the plumber replied shortly. "Now let's go, everybody."

The group crossed over the river by hopping across a bunch of lilypads that were floating lazily in place. As they reached the opposite shore, they started hearing a bunch of faint voices coming from somewhere in the trees, and the lights were brighter than before.

"There are people living in here," Hanner realized. "But how come we haven't heard about this place?"

"Come on guys, let's have a look," Mario said quickly, motioning for his partners to follow after him. They spent several minutes walking through the trees, and as they did, Mario began to get a strange feeling. This place wasn't an ordinary forest… it had an unusual, almost magical feel to it…

Then they finally arrived at the source of the voices, and Mario stopped dead and stared.

"Wait a minute… what is this place?"

Viney Valley
2:00 pm

Mario's team looked around in astonishment. You couldn't find a place more unlike Nova City if you tried. This village, as it seemed to be, was absolutely covered in plant life. There wasn't a single building to be seen; all the houses seemed to be enormous tree stumps or mushrooms with doors set into them. Every inch of the ground was covered in grass, and flowers of every imaginable shape, size, and color were springing up all over. The largest were over ten feet tall and towered over Mario and his friends, dripping with dew. The whole place had a sort of dreamy, hazy air.

Appropriately, all the inhabitants of this village were some kind of plant or fungus. There were numerous Goombas and Toads, of course, but there were also a few friendly and docile-looking Piranhas, some Pokeys… and most prominent of all, there were countless Crazee Dayzees.

"Wow…" Dulia said softly, looking as awed as everyone else. "I've never seen anyplace like this. It's like from a fairy tale or something."

"Yeah… it's beautiful here," Mario agreed. Then he frowned slightly. "Or at least… it would be, except…"

Except everything around them was dying. The grass was withering, the flowers were drying up and losing their brilliant color. Even the trees looked sickly and were starting to drop their leaves. The people living there were no better off. Most of them were walking around looking pale and weak, wearing expressions of despair. Some of them, to Mario's horror, were lying on the ground and appeared to be unconscious.

"What's going on here?!" Mario cried out.

"Oh… hello there," came a tired voice, and the team turned around to find a Toad walking up to them. "I never thought we'd get any visitors in a place like this. Welcome to Viney Valley… or at least, as much welcome as can be found."

"Viney Valley… I've never heard of this place," Hanner remarked. "Rodolfo didn't even mention it. Does he not even know about it?"

"Well, we are a well-kept secret," the Toad admitted with a shrug. "Hardly anybody knows about us, actually. We tend to live apart from the rest of the world. It's always been fine for us… until recently."

"Yeah, I can see that," said Mario, glancing around again and getting a chill. "What's happening to you guys? Why does everybody look so sick?"

"It's that river, ain't it," Snatchel said darkly. "These fellers are gettin' poisoned from the river. And since they live right next to it, it's messin' 'em up bad."

The Toad blinked. "Wait a minute – how'd you know about that?"

"It's happening in Soluna Town," Dulia replied morosely. "All the water there is getting poisoned too. Nobody can drink it anymore. It's awful."

"We came here to do something about it," Mario went on. "We're looking for the Poisoned Factory – that's what's polluting the river, isn't it?"

The Toad looked at the group in astonishment. "You really came here for that?" he asked. "I… I don't know if that's a wise idea. That factory… going in there is a death wish. It's so toxic in there, you couldn't possibly last."

Mario tried not to look uneasy. "Well, we've got to try anyway. If we don't, everybody in Chronoside is going to be in danger."

The Toad frowned reluctantly. "Well, if that's the case… you'd better come talk to the mayor. He knows best about what's going on around here… he can give you advice."

"That'd be great. Can you take us to him?"

"If that's what you really want… follow me."

So the group set off after him as they walked through Viney Valley. Mario almost started feeling sick just from looking around; the very village was wasting away before their eyes. There wasn't a happy face to be seen.

"There's so many people here… and they're all so sick," Stubba whispered, looking mortified. Mario nodded in agreement. In particular, he'd never seen so many Crazee Dayzees in one place. Most of the ones he'd seen were white, but the ones living here had petals in every color of the rainbow. Reds, blues and yellows cropped up all over. Of course, if they hadn't all been looking so sickly, it probably would have been a prettier sight.

"…This is gonna sound stupid," Hanner muttered after they'd been walking for a while, "but I don't like seeing all these Dayzees. They kinda… they remind me of her."

"Who?" Mario asked, then grimaced at his own stupidity. "Oh… you mean Maizee…"

Clearly he hadn't been speaking quietly enough. The Toad stopped dead and spun around, staring at them in horror.

"You – you know Maizee?!" he cried, causing several people nearby to turn and look at him. "You mean you've actually met her?"

"A few more times than we'd like, yeah. Why?" asked the plumber. Then he frowned in confusion. "Wait… how do you know about her?"

"We know about her because she used to live here," came another voice from behind them. "This was her home."

Mario's team turned around in time to see a well-dressed Bub-ulb come walking out of a nearby mushroom-building. Because of his rotund body he couldn't wear an actual suit, but he did have a white collar on and had a tiny little flower where his lapel would have been – which was somewhat redundant, as he had a very large, dark blue flower growing out of his head. He was also wearing a brown pork pie hat, which had a hole in the top so the flower could stick out of it.

"Fidela, who are these friends of yours?" he asked curiously, then noticed the group regarding him carefully. "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't introduce myself. I'm the mayor. Mayor Bulbin. It's a pleasure to meet all of you."

"Good to meet you too," Mario said respectfully. His partners nodded.

"Mr. Mayor, I brought these people here to meet you," the Toad (or Fidela T., as his name seemed to be) spoke up. "They say they want to go to the Poisoned Factory."

Bulbin turned to stare at Mario. "Why on earth do you want to do something like that? Don't you know about that place? It's too dangerous!"

"We know it is. But we have a job to shut it down. There's something we need to rescue from that place." Mario tried to steer back to the original topic, the one that was nagging incessantly at him. "Excuse me sir, but… you say Maizee used to live here? Can you possibly tell us anything about her?"

Bulbin and Fidela both glanced warily at each other, wearing deep frowns and looking very reluctant to speak.

"Yes, I can," the mayor finally sighed. "You'd better all come inside. You too, Fidela. This is going to take a while."

––

The thing that came closest to describing the mayor's office was a treehouse, perched high up in the branches of a majestic willow tree. In order to get there, Mario's party had to ascend a huge, snaking vine, hopping up the large leaves that functioned as the steps of a spiral staircase. From there they walked across a rickety wooden bridge, which gave them a view of almost the entire village. The bridge led them up to the front porch of the surprisingly well-built treehouse, and then the entire group crowded their way inside.

"Oh, hiiiiiii, Mr. Mayor!" greeted a Dayzee with bright pink petals who was already standing in the room. "Oh, you brought friends! That's totally swell! Can I get you guys anything?"

"No, that's quite all right," Bulbin replied curtly. "Everyone, I'd like to introduce you to my secretary, Pollena."

"Hello there!" she chirruped, waving eagerly at Mario's group. They very awkwardly waved back.

"Ahem… Pollena, why don't you wait over there for now. I'm having an important discussion with our guests," said the mayor, trying to sound polite. She nodded and pranced off to another part of the room.

Bulbin carefully seated himself down into one of the chairs. "So, Maizee…" he sighed. He looked intensely weighed down with knowledge he would rather not have. "Well, if you're interested in the factory, you'd better know the whole story. You see… Maizee is the one running that factory. She's the reason the river has been poisoned."

Everyone was shocked into silence.

"But – but – how? Why?" Hanner finally sputtered out.

"It's simple, actually. You see, Crazee Dayzees, being flowers, are a very vain and self-absorbed species."

Mario glanced over at Pollena, who was currently fawning over her reflection in a hand mirror. "Yeah, I can believe that."

"Well, she was worse than any of them," Bulbin went on. "Even before all this started, she was notoriously power-hungry. She wanted to control all of Viney Valley – no, I'd say all of Chronoside. She has quite the complex."

"That sounds like her," Mario grumbled.

"But what does the factory gotta do with all that?" asked Snatchel.

"Well, in her quest for power, it wasn't long until she discovered that factory," the mayor recounted. "None of us know who built it, or how long it's been there, but for as long as we can remember it's been abandoned. Until she got in there. She started the whole place up, and she learned some truly shocking things…"

"Ooh! Ooh! Are you talking about Maizee?" Pollena asked urgently, dashing over to join the group. "Did you tell them about how she's doing all those experiments with the poisonous stuff?"

Mario stared at her. "Wait… what?"

"Pollena, please," the mayor said shortly, then turned back to Mario. "Well, unfortunately, she's right. Maizee's been experimenting with the poisonous chemicals in that factory. The very ones that are being spewed into our precious river. You see, she found out… ingesting that poison will not always be fatal. If it's done the right way, it can actually make a person stronger, and imbue them with poisonous powers and abilities."

The group looked horrified. "You're joking," said Mario.

"Oh man, I wish," Fidela sighed miserably. "No, it's definitely true. We've seen it ourselves, with those three guinea pigs of hers. The ones she's been doing the experiments on…"

"Wait – you mean those Piranhas? Those things she's always carting around?" Goomblaine protested.

"The very same," Bulbin confirmed with a nod. "They weren't even Putrid Piranhas to start with. They were normal ones. But Maizee got her hands on them and wanted to see just how powerful this poison could make them… she's been giving it to them ever since, and they've been getting stronger and stronger…"

Goomblaine shook his head. "I knew those freaks were way too strong to be normal," he grumbled.

"But it's not all good for them," Bulbin pressed on. "For even though the poison may make a person more powerful, there are… very serious repercussions."

"You lose your mind," Mario guessed, thinking back to the Polluper Blooper.

Bulbin nodded morosely. "She's been trying to figure out a way to eliminate this problem… a way for the poison to give person the increase in power without the mental decay."

"And we think… once she's done that…" Fidela ventured, swallowing hard before going on. "She could make an army. An unstoppable one. There's no telling what she could do with something like that."

No one spoke for a moment. There seemed to be a tremendous weight pressing down on everyone in the room.

"How do you guys know all this?" Mario finally asked.

"It's no secret," Bulbin said frankly. "She doesn't care who knows… it's not like there's anything we can do to stop her." He gazed despondently at the floor. "After all, that poison had the lovely little side effect of getting into our river and diseasing all of Viney Valley… and if what you've told me is true, then the rest of Chronoside will follow soon after."

Stubba was starting to look very upset. "But… but how come nobody's stopped her?"

"Oh, we've tried," Fidela promised him. "People tried to go to that factory and confront her… and they never came back out. She's just too strong for us."

Mario still wasn't satisfied. "So why don't you all just leave?"

"We can't," Bulbin said simply. "Nowhere else in Chronoside has enough plant life to sustain all of us… and besides, we're all too weak to make the journey at this point."

"If we stay, we'll die… if we leave, we'll die…" Fidela shook his head, looking almost overcome with hopelessness. "Oh, what are we supposed to do?"

Suddenly Pollena's eyes lit up. "Wait – I know!" she cried. "We should take Viney Valley… and PUSH it somewhere else!"

Everyone stared at her.

"…Or, y'know, we could just go shut down the factory for you," Hanner spoke up after a moment.

Bulbin frowned. "You're still entertaining that idea? Even now that you know what's at risk?"

Dulia nodded dutifully. "We're heroes. It's what we do. We've gotta help you guys out somehow." Goomblaine just rolled his eyes, obviously not agreeing with her sentiment.

Mario was nodding as well, and he was about to assure Bulbin that they would do everything in their power to put a stop to this…

But then he remembered it. All the color drained from his face.

"Wait… oh no…" He looked at his partners in horror. "Guys… Peach said that the Sun Soul is in that factory… and Maizee…" He swallowed. "That means she must have it."

They all stared back at him.

"Oh, no," Hanner groaned, looking horrified to realize Mario was right. "This is bad… this is bad bad bad… she's been hounding us for those things, and she had one all along?"

"Excuse me? Did you say Sun Souls?" asked Bulbin.

Mario turned to him. "Yeah… we've been collecting them, and Maizee wants them for herself. We never found out why, though…"

"I might be able to answer that," the mayor said glumly. "These Sun Souls… they're very powerful, aren't they?"

"They're about the most powerful things in the world right now," the plumber confirmed.

Bulbin nodded thoughtfully. "We've heard her talk about those things," he explained. "We don't know what they are exactly, but it sounds like she wants to use them for a power source. Some way to keep the factory running indefinitely, so that it never runs out of energy."

"Never?" cried Dulia. "But that's impossible!"

"I highly doubt that," Bulbin sighed. "And if she actually managed to do it… well, I don't want to think about that."

Mario felt all his energy draining out of him as he was confronted with this terrible truth. "That explains it," he said simply, hopelessly, collapsing back in his chair. "That explains why she's been following us. That explains everything."

"Well, that tears it," Snatchel decided, jumping to his feet and looking very dangerous indeed. "We ain't wastin' another minute hangin' out around here. We're goin' over to that factory and endin' this nonsense once and fer all! I don't care how strong this gal thinks she is, she's goin' down!"

"You're right," Mario agreed firmly, standing up as well. "We finally know what she's been after all this time… and it's worse than we ever thought. We have to stop her before it's too late."

Bulbin shook his head. "I see you're not going back on this," he remarked. "Well, if you're certain about this… first of all, you have to get inside the factory. As you probably know, it's at the source of the river. It's situated at the very top of a waterfall, in the center of a large lake."

Goomblaine frowned. "What? We gotta go climb up a waterfall?"

"It's not as bad as it sounds. There's a key that'll open up the waterfall for you," Fidela spoke up. "But to get it, you have to defeat the creature that was set up to protect it. Though that shouldn't be too hard for a group of adventurers like you guys."

"You'll find the key by following the path at the very back of the village," Bulbin clarified. "Once you have it, just bring it to the waterfall… you should be able to figure it out from there."

––

With that, Bulbin led Mario's party out of the treehouse and back down to the main area of Viney Valley. As they arrived, Mario noticed a small, narrow trail at the very back of the village that seemed to lead away to some unknown location. The ground on this trail was covered in small mushrooms.

"That's the way to the Leaf Stone – the key you need for the waterfall," the mayor explained to him as he led everyone up to it. "Although… you might have a little trouble getting there. We've been having a small issue…"

"Of course you have," Goomblaine muttered contemptuously.

"You see, the path branches off multiple times. There's only one right path that will take you to the Leaf Stone. It's actually quite strange…" He frowned, looking thoughtful. "I think we used to have a way of navigating through there… but nowadays, it seems none of us can remember it anymore."

Mario raised an eyebrow. "What are you talking about?"

"I'm sorry. I know it makes no sense." Bulbin shook his head. "It had something to do with all those mushrooms on the ground, though. That's all I can tell you."

"Hmm…" Mario thought about this. "That's all right. Don't worry about it, sir…"

He trailed off. Something had suddenly caught his attention from the corner of his eye, and he felt his gaze slowly traveling over.

There was a young Crazee Dayzee lying against a tree, looking feverish and near death. The poor thing was just a kid, probably only Dulia's age, if even that. His pale violet petals were wilting and drooping, and his face was deathly pale. Even in his unconscious state, he looked anguished.

"Mario? What's wrong?" asked Hanner.

He couldn't even answer that. He didn't know why this particular one had caught his attention; there were sick Dayzees all over. Still, as he slowly walked up to him, he couldn't shake the feeling that there was something important about him…

"Who… who is this?" he asked Bulbin.

"Him?" the mayor looked down at the little Dayzee. "He's just a child who lives here. His name is Daymien, I think. Why do you ask?"

"Daymien…" Mario crouched down and touched the comatose Dayzee on the forehead, frowning in sympathy. "I… I don't know. I was just curious. Sorry."

"It's awful, isn't it," Fidela remarked. "Not even the kids are safe around here. I never thought things would get so bad in a place like Viney Valley."

"He's badly poisoned," Bulbin sighed. "Just leave him, Mario. Not even the most potent Tasty Tonic is going to help him in this condition."

Mario kept gazing down at Daymien in concern, only reluctantly standing back up.

"All right… I guess we'd better get going," he muttered. "Thank you so much for everything, sir."

Bulbin gave him a nod and led Fidela away.

"What the heck was that all about?" Goomblaine hissed at him once they were out of earshot.

"I… I'm not sure…" Mario tried to get his thoughts together. "I just… oh, forget it. It's probably nothing." He straightened himself out. "Okay. You guys heard what Bulbin said? They used to use the mushrooms to guide them through that trail."

"Yeah… they used to, but they can't remember how anymore." Dulia cocked her head in confusion. "What d'you suppose he meant by that?"

"Actually, I've got a pretty good guess," Mario replied, leading his team back over to the entrance to the trail. "I actually recognized those mushrooms. They're very special ones."

He pulled out the Aeon Hourglass with a smile. "They glow in the dark."

As his partners' faces lit up in comprehension, Mario tipped the hourglass over and transported them away.

––

Viney Valley
2:00 am

Mario quickly decided that he much preferred Viney Valley at night. In the darkness, it was harder to see that all the plants were dying and withering. The atmosphere was also livened up a little by a bunch of small lights, like will-o'-the-wisps, floating in the air around their heads.

It pained Mario so much to see how beautiful this place was, and how much it was suffering. He couldn't let this place die.

"Woah… you're right, Mario!" Stubba marveled, and Mario turned to see what he was looking at. He smiled; just like he'd thought, the mushrooms on the ground were giving off a pale green, bioluminescent glow.

"I knew it," he said confidently. "All we have to do is follow the mushrooms, guys. They'll lead us to the right place."

"All right then! Let's get crackin'!" said Snatchel, and the group immediately set off down the path.

Before they left, though, Mario suddenly felt a nagging feeling inside of him. Before he could stop himself, he quickly glanced over his shoulder at the large tree, where Daymien had been lying back in Dayside.

There was no one there…

––

The group walked down the narrow path, and sure enough, it branched off into three different trails almost immediately. But the glowing mushrooms were illuminating what they took to be the correct path, and so they followed it. This happened several more times, and along the way Mario noticed a glowing group of sparkles in the air and promptly added another Luma to his collection.

Finally the party arrived at a dead end, walking into a small clearing. There was nothing in it save for a large, nondescript bush right in the middle.

"Uh… isn't there supposed to be someone here we're supposed to fight?" Mario wondered, looking around. "Hello? Is there anybody here?"

In response, there suddenly came a ruffling sound from the bush. Its leaves and branches were shaking slightly… and then, suddenly, a voice came out of it.

"Yo. Wassup. I'm Bushwhack. What can I do ya for."

Mario blinked. "Wait… are you the guy we have to fight?"

The bush momentarily stopped shuffling. "Huh? You just came here to fight?" It sounded disappointed. "Well, that's just typical. I guess you guys just came here lookin' for the Leaf Stone, huh?"

"Uh… I…"

"I shoulda guessed. That's all anybody ever comes here for," it grumbled. "Nobody ever drops by to say hi to ol' Bushwhack. Nobody asks how Bushwhack is doin'. Nope. It's all fight fight fight, every time."

Mario was at a loss for words. His partners were looking very confused.

"Uh… I'm sorry?" the plumber said lamely. "Really, I didn't know you felt that way."

"Ah, what do I care," snapped the plant known as Bushwhack. "Whatever. If it's a fight you want, let's just it over with."

And then, suddenly, the oversized bush turned a hundred and eighty degrees… revealing a demonic-looking face on the other side. Then it began shaking violently, and two arm-like branches shot out of either side of it, each one tipped with a smaller bush.

"Okay! Let's boogie!" it shouted, waving its arms around crazily and jumping at Mario. He and his partners immediately leapt into battle stances.

"All right, this freak's called Bushwhack. But you knew that already," Goomblaine muttered as he used Tattle. "It's the thing that's guarding the Leaf Stone. Nothin' fancy here. All it can do is jump on us or smack us around with those big arms."

"Sounds good," said Mario. He quickly jumped backwards as Bushwhack came charging at him, swinging its arms. As he tried to get away, Stubba ran forward and performed a Club attack on it, and Dulia slammed into it with her Head Missile, knocking it off to the side.

"Oh, of course," it sniffed at them. "You're fighting six against one. Totally uncool, guys."

"Oh, just cram it already!" Goomblaine snarled, immediately running up and Multibonking it. Bushwhack retaliated by smacking him with one of its arms and sending him flying.

"You know, you're really not very nice," Mario remarked as he prepared to Power Smash the bush over the head. But before he could, Bushwhack caught him by surprise and swept his feet out from underneath him. He cried out and toppled to the ground.

"YAAAAAH!" Bushwhack bellowed, jumping high into the air in an attempt to flatten Mario. Luckily, Snatchel roped him in with Roundup and yanked him to the ground before he got the chance, and then Mario rushed up and delivered a whack with his hammer.

"Man, what is with you guys?" Bushwhack demanded. "Don't you wonder how I feel about all this? No, of course you don't! Nobody ever asks Bushwhack how he feels! I'm just dumb old plant waiting around to be – "

"WE GET IT!" shouted Mario's entire team. Bushwhack just scowled and threw itself at Mario again, tackling the plumber to the ground and knocking the wind out of him. Mario gasped and curled up in pain.

"I'll teach you!" it shouted, backing up and charging at the downed plumber. It let out a furious cry and threw itself into the air – only to slam into a shimmering pink force field that had suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

Mario blinked, realizing that the force field was encasing him in a sphere. "What the – "

"HEY! You cheater!" Bushwhack shouted at Dulia, who had just created a Plasma Shield to protect Mario. "You can't do that! That's totally cheap!"

"Oh, sorry," said Dulia, looking guilty.

Goomblaine stared at her incredulously. "Don't apologize to that thing!"

"Huh? …Oh, right! I'm not sorry!" she snapped, glaring at Bushwhack.

The bush looked exasperated. "GAH! You're all a bunch of idiots!" it screamed. It dashed right at them, but they easily sidestepped it. Then all it took was one good Spin Jump from Mario, and it let out a defeated groan and toppled over to the ground.

"All right! Nice job, everybody!" Mario congratulated his team.

"Yeah, yeah, whoop de doo. Congratulations," the surly bush muttered. "Here. Take your stupid Leaf Stone and go."

It reached into itself and pulled out a large, polished gem that was colored a majestic dark blue and carved in the shape of a leaf, dumping it unceremoniously into Mario's hands.

"Now go on and get," it ordered. "Oh, and tell everybody back in the village how I'm doin'. If they ask, that is. Which they won't. Of course."

And with that, it retracted its arms back into its body and turned around, thumping down on the ground and regaining its semblance of a plain old bush.

"…Well, he was a real charmer," said Hanner.

––

After that, the group set off back down the trail, going back the way they'd come and following the glowing mushrooms just as they'd done before. Nobody said anything most of the way, but eventually, Hanner broke the silence.

"So, Mario… you sure you don't want to tell us what was up with you and that kid?"

Mario stopped walking. "What?"

"Yeah, you seemed mighty interested in him," Snatchel remarked.

Mario saw all his partners giving him curious looks and finally sighed in defeat.

"I… I honestly don't know what happened back there, guys. But I looked at him, and I got this feeling… you don't remember seeing him here in Nightside, do you?"

His partners looked surprised at the question.

"Well, not really… but maybe he was there, and we just didn't notice…" Hanner looked at him strangely. "Why, Mario? You… you think maybe he's…"

"I don't know. Like I said… it was just a weird feeling. Maybe it's nothing," Mario replied softly. "Come on, guys, we should get going."

They walked quickly along the rest of the way, without saying anything else to each other. As they began to approach the village again, however, Dulia suddenly froze up.

"Do you guys hear that?" she whispered. "It sounds like… I hear screaming! And it's coming from the village!"

Mario looked at her in fright. "What?"

"Yeah! I hear it too!" Stubba realized.

"Oh no…" Mario shook his head. "Come on everybody, we have to run!"

They dashed down the path as fast as they could, and sure enough, without moments Mario heard the screaming as well, which just made him put on an extra burst of speed.

He was afraid, and at the same time, exasperated… why did some disaster have to follow them everywhere they went?

Finally they came bursting back into the main area of the village, and they all stared in horror.

The village was in an uproar. Everyone in Viney Valley who wasn't too sick to move was running around frantically, shrieking in terror and desperately looking for a hiding spot to protect them from the intruders that were suddenly in their midst.

The only one who wasn't running was Bulbin. He had fallen to the ground and was now staring up in horror and trying to scramble away from the three very large, very deadly-looking Putrid Piranhas that were towering over him.

"No…" Mario whispered, feeling his blood run cold. "Not again… not now…"

Standing on the head of the center Piranha was an all-too-familiar purple Dayzee.

"What – what do you want with me?" Bulbin almost screamed, sounding hysterical. "Please, have mercy – leave this village alone! Why won't you listen to reason?"

Maizee was glaring down at him, and Mario thought he'd never seen her so angry. Her expression was one of unbridled hatred.

"I'm tired of you getting in my way," she said to Bulbin through tightly clenched teeth. "If I get rid of you, then the rest of Viney Valley will follow. You've impeded me for the last time."

And just like that, the Piranha on the right lunged forward and grabbed Bulbin in its huge mouth. His scream was cut short as the Piranha burrowed underground and vanished.

Chaos broke loose.

"NO!"

"THE MAYOR! SHE'S GOT THE MAYOR!"

"Hey! You let him go!"

Mario was surprised by his own voice. He was surprised to find that he was charging directly towards the Piranhas, not even thinking of how strong they were and how futile it was and how he'd probably have his game ended in an instant…

But Maizee didn't attack him. As he ran at her, all she did was glance down at him and say, "If you want him, come and get him."

And the remaining Piranhas vanished back underground, taking her down with them. Mario threw himself at them, but they disappeared an instant too soon and he thudded painfully onto the hard ground.

"No…" he muttered, clenching his fists and trying to ignore the still-panicking citizens all around him. "No…"

"What's going on here?" cried Fidela T., running up to Mario. "Who are you? What are you doing in Viney Valley?"

"It was him! He must have sent Maizee after the mayor!" a female Dayzee shrieked hysterically.

"Oh just shut your yaps, would ya?" Snatchel demanded, asserting his authority and trying to regain control. "We got nothin' to do with her! We've been tryin' to fight her too! Now if you want yer mayor back, you can start bein' useful and tell us where she took 'im!"

"She must have brought him to the factory… that's where her base of operations is," Fidela moaned, clutching at his head. "I never thought this would happen… she actually took him away from us… we really are doomed."

"Hey! Don't say that!" Mario snapped at him. "Don't tell me you're going to give up just like that! Now look! If we hurry and get over to that factory right now, we still have a chance to save him!"

"What? Mario, think about this!" Hanner protested. "What if she only kidnapped him because she knew we'd go after him? What if she's just luring us into a trap?"

Mario shook his head. "It doesn't matter. We have to go to the factory one way or another. This doesn't change anything. And if she thinks she's going to stop us, then she's wrong."

Mario clenched his fists, feeling his resolve and determination build up like nothing he'd ever experienced before. He glanced at his partners, and they stared at the serious look on his face.

"This is it, everybody. We're going to that factory… we're stopping her, and we're getting that Sun Soul. And we're ending this once and for all."