Chapter 8:
Out of the Flying Land and into the Fire.

-Masamune-

Several sparks had approached the brothers and yoshi, and were pulsing with electricity.

"Yoshi?" Luigi said, rather than asking.

"Sorry..." Yoshi murmered "I'll pop if I eat anymore"

"Dang..." Mario muttered "I-a suggest we-a run!"

The three began running madly from the sparks, only to be met by a trio of Shyguy's on their Autobombers. Mario grinned, and leapt on to one of the Shyguy, threw him off and boarded Autobomber. Luigi followed suit, Yoshi tried as well, but only succeeded in destroying the Autobomer and killing the Shyguy in the blast.

"Yoshi, you-a wait here!" Mario commanded.

The two directed the machines small control towards the sparks and started destroying them left and right. Finally the remaning sparks fled from the two plumbers, leaving their fallen comrades to freeze.

"Well..." Luigi sighed after climbing off the Autobomber "We-a should take-a these with us, they-a could prove-a handy"

"What about me?" Yoshi asked.

"You... will-a have to walkd-a, you are-a faster than we are-a on foot anyhow" Luigi answered.

Meanwhile...
Geno and Jinx were met with dissapointment, when Mallow explained Mario left on it, and it hadn't returned since.

"Very well..." Geno said "We shall take another path..."

"There is no other path" Mallow said "My studies has all the information around here, and..."

"There is one..." Geno interrupted "Hinopio wished to be able to transport people to the Koopa land. And it was granted"

"Then were off to the volcano" Jinx replied "We leave now"

"Please, let me come with you" Mallow said "You know it's dangerous Geno!"

"Very well," Geno said "But let's hurry!"

-lzn64-

Mallow took the lead, seeing as though they were in HIS kingdom, and proceeded to lead them to edge of his kingdom. The unlikely group breezed past the guards at the "entrance" to the volcano, with some assistance from one of Mallow's princely gestures, and soon they found themselves standing far above the crater of the Barrel Volcano.

"Now," Mallow said, turning to his partners, "This is where it really gets scary."

"We have to jump," Geno informed Jinx, gesturing toward the crater.

"I see." Jinx replied solemnly. "That is quite a jump..."

"Well," Mallow retorted, "I am not afraid!"

Geno remembered a few incidents involving Mallow and those words, but opted not to bring them up. He only nodded at the prince and gestured for him to go ahead. Mallow turned even whiter than he already was, if that's possible, but didn't back down, surprisingly.

He took a deep breath, and launched himself off the cliff. He yelled in panic as he fell, but Geno was already impressed enough to ignore that minor detail. He hopped off next, closely followed by a quite fearless Jinx.

They fell through the enormous crater of the volcano, and as they did, they noted the significant rise in temperature. Geno landed on the hard, rocky ground, in a crumpled heap, and the cosiderably smaller Jinx gymnastically twisted his body to land gracefully on his feet. Seeing as though Geno's body was that of a doll, though, he picked himself off the ground, unhurt. They both then turned slowly to see Mallow standing at the entrance to the cave, his puffy, marshmallow like body unhurt.

"I think it's darker in there than I remember," he remarked, peering in fearfully.

"Nonsense," Geno replied, "but it does seem a lot hotter than before."

"I've never been here before," Jinx said amiably, "but I'm willing to give it a shot. And that means we have to go in, not just stand here and talk."

"Right." Geno agreed, taking the lead.

"Okay..." Mallow sighed, apprehensively following his comrades into the tunnel.

After a few rooms, it became apparent that it was indeed hotter than it had been. Geno turned a corner, and stopped abruptly. Jinx and Mallow nearly ran into him, but stopped themselves just in time. Mallow was about to ask what was wrong, but when he looked over Geno's shoulder, the situation explained itself.

"Oh no!" Mallow cried in surprise. "How did that happen?"

"A recent eruption, probably," Geno replied, surveying the situation.

The entire cavern, which had been passable on their earlier adventure because of a handy rock bridge, was entirely filled with lava, wall to wall. Steam rose off the the superheated substance, and the air shimmered in the space above it due to the heat. Geno shook his head sadly.

"There's no way we can get past here," He stated, turning to his companions.

"Sure there is," Jinx replied, "we simply haven't found it yet."

"No, really, unless Hinopio decides to stroll quite far from his usual cave, which he never does, we're stuck. We might as well just turn back."

And as he was about to do just that, a rumble sounded throughout the cavern. Geno backed away from the cave entrance, nearly tripping over the rocks scattered over the floor. Far down the tunnel, a loud crash was heard.

"What happened?" Mallow asked, his eyes wide.

"If I'm not mistaken," Jinx replied, "it sounded like a cave in."

"Stupid Earth gravity," Geno muttered, as tendrils of dust trailed from the cave entrance.

-Masamune-

Meanwhile, in Sub-Con...
The plumber duo and their reptilian companion had been walking onward, with no apparent direction for several hours now. Their Autobombers had completely froze over, rendering them useless, and Yoshi was dangerously below his usual body tempature. With their ally barely able go on, Mario and Luigi took it upon themself to drag the poor creature through the nearly endless icy tundra.

Several more hours passed, Yoshi was now babbling on about something. Mario and Luigi barely were able to go on either, but the single thought of something happening to their dear freind, Peach was the only thing that kept them going. Mario was the first to fall, his body still weakened from his death and reunion with his body. Luigi as prompted to find some way to warm his freinds. Luigi draged his brother over to Yoshi, who had also fell asleep, having no energy to stay awake. Before Luigi was able to get out of earshot range of his freinds, a sinister cackle echoed around him.

Behind Luigi, and behind his two friends stood Wart, evil and ugly as ever.

"You pathetic Fools!" Wart cackled "You should know better than to enter the land of dreams when you know Wart is still alive!"

"Get... away..." Luigi half-mumbled, barely able to see straight, much less able to do anything remotely intelligent. Finally he hit his limit and collapsed ino the icy ground. Mario, Luigi and Yoshi were now at the mercy of the evil royal frog of nightmares, Wart.

-Ditto McCloaker-

And in Barrel Volcano...
At Barrel Volcano, Geno, Jinx, and Mallow sat gloomily and pondered their situation. Mallow had attempted to summon a cold breeze into the volcano to cool things down, but even his royal powers of weather control were no match for the geothermal oven of the center of the world. Small but ever spunky, Jinx had hopped around and examined every inch of available ground between the walled-off entrance and the giant sea of lava. He saw nothing. Finally, he threw down his pointy green hat in frustration and began to literally hop with rage. Suddenly, a soothing hand rested upon his shoulder. An inexplicable calmness came over him, and he looked up to see his benefactor. He saw Geno, calmly standing over him, his large, green eyes, painted on his face, yet seeming, in their own soft way, to convey in their simplicity, pure understanding and a sad compassion. The mystical spirit, embodied in a simple doll, address the dwarf.

"Calm yourself, friend Jinx. In this heat, one cannot afford to expend their energies too freely. There comes a time when each living thing reaches the extremity of it's ability to change things."

Jinx listened to Geno's words. The strange, simplistic little doll seemed now more than ever to embody the spirit of childlike hope and magic. The time-wizened Jinx seemed to feel a stirring, deep from within his sturdy old body, that he had not experienced for a long time. It was strange to him, who had spent his life learning to depend only on himself, to feel again the childlike yearning for some sort of heavenly advocate to quell his fears and keep him safe. He felt a warmth and trust he had not experienced since he was on his mother's knee. These emotions conflicted with the wize-cracking, self-sufficient attitudes that his many years had instilled within him, and, finally, he stared hard into Geno's eyes, and asked a question that all children ask...

"...When we can't do anymore for himself, what is there left to rely on?"

Geno met Jinx's gaze without flinching, as he gave his answer...

"...A higher power."

With that, Geno broke his gaze with Jinx, and stepped solemnly toward the lava. He raised his delicate, wooden hands, and prepared to intone... a wish...

Back in Rose Town, the rain continued to drum drearily against the windows of the Inn. Young Gaz went to the window, and stared out into the torrent, glistening against the moonlight, hoping to see some glimpse of his dear friend. None came to him. He turned his gaze to the cloudy night sky.

The cursed clouds were as thick as ever. They rolled in clumsy clumps over the village. The few holes were so thin that Gaz could barely see the moon. He focused at the sky, and began to pray deeply within himself for the safety of Geno. He blinked, and suddenly, he saw something. He looked straight up, and his eyes opened wide. Directly overhead, there was a part in the clouds wider than any other. Through this chink in the cumulus armor, Gaz could glimpse quite clearly the starry heavens. Without warning, a silvery something streaked across the sky.

Remembering back to when he was very young, he could hear his mother telling him about the wishing potential of shooting stars. Just as the phenomenon passed beyond the curtain of clouds, Gaz wished fervently upon that one star. In that one moment, he summed up all his yearing for the safety for Geno, for his friends, for his family, for his mom, and for the whole world. In less than a moment, the shooting star was gone, but Gaz remained focused upon the sky. He waited for a second, peering directly up at the empty blackness for several tense seconds. And, just as he began to doubt, there it was.

Gaz' eyes dazzled as he beheld the largest, brightest, purest star he had ever beheld. It appeared from nowhere, framed against the solitude of the night sky. He had never seen anything as beautiful. All the rest of the village was in slumbery darkness, save for Gaz's room. He stood there, transfixed in awe, for an indeterminable amount of time, looking at it. It swelled, brighter and brighter, and it seemed that Gaz, of the whole world, the sole observer of this miracle, was bathed in it's silvery, divine light.

Deep in the volcano, the walls began to rumble, and, to the trio's awe, the rock wall to one side began to split straight down the middle. Rocks fell everywhere, but none posed any threat to the heroes. Geno was momentarily shocked. He hadn't expected such quick results to his entreaty. He recovered quickly, and simply gestured for the others to follow him. They did, and emerged again, above ground, to find themselves at the bottom of a treacherous, dry valley. The walls were U shaped, and a giant river ran through the center. A few cacti and plants grew along it's shore.

"This is Horeshoe Canyon," Geno explained. "We must scale that far cliff. From there, we will be able to get across to the Koopa's Kingdom."

Mallow said, "That sure is tall."

Jinx chuckled and proceeded to march in it's direction. "Well, then, we'd best get climbin'!"

They all followed him. Geno trailed a step behind however, slightly puzzled. The Star Road was supposed to have supreme say for granting wishes. However, all guardian spirits who attempted to intervene directly with human affairs were allowed to make 3 personal wishes, to interfere directly with human events. After the third, that spirit would perish. Geno had never made a wish before, but it seemed to him that the path had opened for them before he had even decided HOW he was going to get them out.

Well, he thought as he marched, a wish is a wish.

-lzn64-

When Mario awoke, he was first aware of two very bad things. One, it was so dark that he couldn't tell if he was opening his eyes or not. Two, he was extremely cold.

He sat up, blinking furiously, trying to see something in the absolute blackness that surrounded him. He stood up, unsure of his feet, and hadn't taken two steps before he ran into the wall. He changed directions, picking his feet up higher than normal so as not to trip over anything. It didn't take him very long to discover that he was in a very small cell. Without heating, apparently. He ran his hands over the wall, walking around the perimeter of the tiny box. He soon found the metallic door, and consequently the tiny window protected by bars, designed to let air and food in to the prisoner.

He heard coughing somewhere, nearby or far off, he was too cold to tell. But nonetheless, he mustered his energy and called out his brother's name. The reply was weak, but it was there. And it was definitely Luigi. There was no use trying to talk, they were both smart enough to know that they should be conserving their energy-- and their body heat.

After a period of time, Mario heard large, heavy steps approaching. He ceased his worrying about his friends, stood, and looked through the bars, his eyes scanning the darkness.

He didn't have to wait very long.

A pinpoint of light, which started at the far side of the dungeon, slowly made its way closer. Faint shafts of light filtered into Mario's cell, accenting the giant torch-bearer's impressive frame. An ugly snout poked into the plumber's cell, peered in with red, glittering eyes, and then was gone.

Mario was rubbing his eyes in disbelief, when suddenly, the door creaked open and the disgusting creature stepped inside. Mario was not the easiest person to scare, but at the sight of this being, he prepared to attempt to break the World record for loudest scream. When the creature saw Mario take his breath, he crossed the room, impossibly quick, and covered his mouth, smothering the scream.

"Shhhhhh!" The creature growled. "Do you want to get out of here or not?"

It didn't wait for an answer, though, and dragged a very amazed Mario out of the cramped cell. Two more of the creatures stood outside, each holding a torch-- and a prisoner. Mario opened his mouth to ask just what this was about, but was silenced with a look. The largest creature, obviously the leader, motioned for them to follow him.

The creatures led them through a confusing array of ice-covered passages. They were remarkably sure footed on the slippery floor, while Mario slipped and slid over the ice. Eventually, as his energy ran out and his falls became more frequent, one of the creatures opted to carry him. He was only half awake for most of the journey, but was aware of leaving the tunnels, and after that, feeling a rush of warm wind.

When he was again fully aware, the first thing he noticed was that he wasn't freezing. Then he was aware that there was a fire cooking food nearby. Then, at last, he saw his brother. Luigi was awake, looking at him with a concerned expression on his face.

"Are you all right?" He asked, without moving.

"Always." Mario replied, and then, the unspoken thought that had been on his mind was voiced. "What happened to Yoshi?" He asked, worry creeping into his voice.

"I have no idea," Luigi replied quietly. "Our... rescuers haven't been around."

"I see." Mario said. "Then we go to them."

"Right." Luigi agreed.

They walked cautiously out of the tent, squinting at the sunlight. They caught sight of one of the creatures that had saved them the night before, and walked up to him, looking much braver then they felt.

"So," the creature said, "you're finally awake. Thought you'd never wake up." He sat down, and motioned the plumbers to do the same. "I know you must be brimming with questions right now. Before you ask, I'd like to tell you a story. It starts soon after your first escapade here." Mario jumped in surprise.

"You think I don't know who you are?" the creature asked in amusement. "I know exactly what you did for us back then. Now, let me tell you what happened..."

The creature's story started bright enough, with tidings of the peace Sub-Con brought to the Land of Dreams, after being released by Wart. He told of how the 8-bit club once again was an emblem of loyalty and goodness, and how the people had prospered. Then, his story turned to darker times. Wart, furious at being defeated, once again managed to take the dream machine and manipulate it to his own vile uses. Instead of merely toying with it this time, he went all out. Among the creatures he created, these mutated snifits were born. The evil creatures roamed the land, and chaos ruled. Sub-Con was overwhelmed, too weak to call for outside help. Homeless, purposeless hordes of both lesser and greater creatures wandered aimlessly, plundering and looting wherever they went. However, the mutated snifits were accidentally created smarter than average, and rebelled against the chaos that Wart so revelled in, staging a resistance. Their ultimate goal, of course, was to save Sub-Con and overthrow the new king of Dreams, Wart.

After the story concluded, Mario and Luigi sat in stunned silence, absorbing it all. A minute passed, and then the creature stood up.

"You must be worried about your friend." He said. Mario and Luigi nodded, scrambling to their feet. "Come with me," the creature said, gesturing for them to follow.

Mario and Luigi headed toward a larger tent, still absorbing the tale they had been told, and worrying for their friend, whose condition was as of yet unknown to them.

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