(Goomba and Cubed Cinder)
Chapter 1: Machine Test Goes Wrong
written by Goomba
“Ow, my back!” Goombilly exclaimed.
“Relax, we’re almost at the castle.” Goombella replied.
“Sorry, I can’t help, my bones aren’t as good as they used to be.” Prof. Frankly said, trailing behind the two.
Yes, these three Goombas are heading to Peach’s Castle. Princess Peach is tired of being kidnapped all the time, and decided to hire someone to invent a high security system for her castle. She did call E. Gadd, but he said something about working on “The Best Invention of all Time” so he won’t have time to make it. Thinking of all the other possible professors out there, she remembered Professor Frankly from Rougeport. Giving him a call and explaining the issue, Frankly happily agreed, and got Goombella and another college, Goombilly, to work with him on the machine. After they finished, they took a ferry to the Mushroom Kingdom, and are now carrying the machine to Peach’s Castle…well, except Professor Frankly.
“We understand, Professor Frankly.” Goombilly said in return.
The big weight of the security machine was making Goombilly’s red baseball cap slide a little off his head. He readjusted it a little when he stopped for a moment to rest, wiping a bit of sweat off of his square glasses as well.
“No time to rest Goombilly, we’re almost at the castle!” Goombella exclaimed, sweating like a heat wave hit due to the heavy machine.
“Come on, can’t we rest for a few minutes? My glasses are fogging up because of the buckets of sweat I’m dropping!” Goombilly said back.
“I’m sweating too, and you don’t see me complaining!” Goombella remarked “Besides, we’re only a few minutes away, so we’ll be completely better by the time we get there!”
Before the two could argue some more, Frankly came between the two to intervene.
“Will you two shut up already? It’s fine to rest, because we’re already at the castle!”
The two college Goombas shut up at the sentence, and turned around. Indeed, Peach’s Castle was located right behind them, with the three of them standing in front of the doors.
“Wow, I guess I never bothered to look up when carrying that heavy machine.” Goombella said.
“You think?” Goombilly said in return.
Professor Frankly decided to finally do something, and rang the castle’s doorbell. After five minutes, nobody came to the door.
“Maybe nobody’s here?” Goombilly said.
“Impossible. How can an entire castle be deserted? Peach is a princess, so there are probably many Toads and guards in there as we speak.”
“That’s a good point.” Goombella said.
“Besides, while we wait, why don’t we test the machine out? We never actually did a proper test run.” Frankly asked.
“Um, you sure about that Professor? We’re right in front of the castle, so some guards might think this is a threat.” Goombella said.
“I don’t see any guards around here, and nobody answered the door yet, so I think it’s pretty safe to try it out.” Goombilly replied.
“Better now then never!” Frankly said.
The two college Goombas finally agreed and detached themselves from the machine, finally giving them a good look of the thing. It looked like a huge metal capsule, with three grey tubes on the back. On the top appeared to be some sort of sensor, which looked like a big light bulb.
“I assume the big light will go off when a threat is nearby?” Goombilly asked.
“Exactly!” Professor Frankly replied. “It also has a defense mechanism built in if the enemy gets near the princess.”
“If that’s the case, then how will we test it out if it reacts only to the princess?” Goombella asked.
Professor Frankly raised both of his eyebrows, since he never actually thought of that.
“Ummm, maybe we could reprogram the machine temporarily so it focuses on someone else?” Goombilly asked.
An uneasy feeling would be expressed on Professor Frankly’s face once he heard that. Reprogramming the machine like this could be disastrous, making him feel like he had many rocks in his stomach. Frankly shook off the feeling so no one would notice his uneasiness.
“Ahem, that would probably be the only option at the moment, so I GUESS we could try that.” Professor Frankly answered, with a bit of uncertainty in his tone.
“Alright then, I’ll go rearrange some wires in the back.” Goombilly said. He headed to the back, while Goombella raised an eyebrow at Professor Frankly’s behavior.
Going to the back of the machine, Goombilly removed a metal plate from underneath the grey tube, which revealed many wires inside. Goombilly immediately went to work rearranging them, putting them in different slots so they would focus on one of them instead of the princess. After a few minutes of wire rearranging, he put the metal plate back on and headed back to the others.
“I believe I have reprogrammed the machine correctly.” Goombilly stated.
“We’ll never know until we try it out!” Goombella exclaimed.
Shaking off his nasty thoughts, Professor Frankly turned the machine on. The alarm and light bulb went off like normal, but then he noticed it starting to stutter and shake oddly.
“I don’t think the machine is supposed to move like that.” Professor Frankly said, getting a bad feeling in his stomach. “Goombilly, what order did you put the wires in?”
The machine started to shake more erratically.
“Well, I put the blue wire first, telling it to look for people other than humans. The yellow wire went next to tell it to search for Goombas, then I put in the black wire to tell it to alert the area when they come near!”
Professor Frankly went big eyed at that statement.
“YOU IDIOT!” Professor Frankly yelled. “YOU ARE NEVER SUPPOSED TO CONNECT THE BLACK…”
Dark smoke emerged from the machine, and bright lights crept out of each crack, multiplying by the second.
“LOOK OUT!” Goombella exclaimed, but she was already too late. The machine exploded into many pieces of glass and metal, with the light enveloping the three Goombas, knocking out each of them.
Chapter 2: Ride of a Lifetime
written by Cubed Cinder
Goombella was the first to open her eyes. Having been knocked out, she had no
idea how long she was unconscious, but she felt that was the least of her
concerns. She immediately wondered of the condition of Goombilly, Professor
Frankly, and the security machine they had been transporting to Peach’s Castle.
First, she ran up to the professor and checked on him.
“Professor Frankly! Professor, wake up!” Goombella shouted as she gently nudged
her mentor. Frankly finally was able to wake up, albeit slowly given his old
age.
“Oooooooh... that was some explosion. I feel like I’ve been stomped on the head
several times over.” Frankly said.
“Professor, are you okay?” Goombella asked.
“Just a little sore, my dear... oof! But I’ll live, never fear. What about
Goombilly?” Frankly said.
“Over here.” Goombilly said as he approached the other Goombas.
“Whew... thank goodness you’re okay too, Goombilly. I would never forgive myself
if my students got hurt.” Frankly said.
“I wonder what happened. Is the machine okay?” Goombella asked.
Professor Frankly very quickly noticed the big problem his team faced,
literally. First off, he reported on the status of the machine.
“I’m afraid our machine is all in pieces.” Frankly said.
“Oh man! You’re right!” Goombilly said.
“Wait... something’s not right. The machine wasn’t that big, was it?” Goombella
said.
“I fear you know what else has happened, Goombella.” Frankly said. Goombella
took a good long look at the machine and then at the scenery around her,
particularly at the front door of Peach’s Castle.
“EEEEEEEK!!! We’ve shrunk!!” Goombella shouted. Indeed, the three Goombas had
been shrunken by the machine just before it blew to pieces. Frankly took his
best guess at how small everyone had shrunken, right as tears started to come
down Goombella’s eyes.
“If I had to guess, we’re no bigger than one inch tall. Maybe two if we’re
lucky.” Frankly said.
“Um... oops. Guess I got my wires crossed.” Goombilly said. He tried to make
light of this mess as best as he could, knowing he was to blame for the machine
blowing up and shrinking them. But Goombella wasn’t having any of it, and she
quickly changed her mood to that of rage as she started shouting at her partner.
“That’s not all that’s going to be crossed, you Goomoron! Now look what you’ve
done!!!” Goombella said.
“Me!? It was you that said the machine would react to EVERYTHING except the
princess! You should’ve thought of that before we left Rogueport!!” Goombilly
said.
“Oh sure! Call me an idiot, why don’t you? You’re such an egotistical jerk...
wanting to prove your so-called expertise in wiring!” Goombella said. The
shouting went on for another minute before the professor finally decided he had
heard enough. He let out a whistle louder than the voices of both his pupils.
“ENOUGH YOU TWO! You sound like little elementary Goombas during recess.
Besides... arguing will not get us any closer to our new mission, which is
returning ourselves to normal size!” Frankly said.
“He’s right. We can blame whoever we want later. We have to use the machine to
somehow return ourselves to normal.” Goombella said.
“But how!? The machine’s been blown to pieces! We’ll have to rebuild it!”
Goombilly said.
“And that will be a most impossible task given our current size. However, if we
can find the Generator, we can reverse engineer it to cure the shrinking
effect!” Frankly said.
“But what about the rest of the machine, Professor?” Goombilly said.
“One step at a time, young Goomba. We cannot do anything without the Generator,
so let us search for it pronto!” Frankly said.
“Right! Let’s split up. It can’t be far away from this mess!” Goombella said.
All three Goombas nodded knowing what they have to do and they split up in
different directions looking for the Generator.
The three Goombas had to limit their search to the bridge leading to the front
doors of Peach’s Castle, especially given their tiny size, but eventually they
all returned, all with bleak (and exhausted) looks on their faces.
“Any luck?” Frankly asked.
“Negative... I couldn’t find anything on my side of the bridge.” Goombilly said.
“Me neither. Professor... you don’t think the Generator flew into the water, do
you?” Goombella said.
“I would hope not, but I didn’t see anything floating in the moat you mentioned.
I’m starting to think the Generator may have somehow shrunken also and flown
inside Peach’s Castle.” Frankly said.
“Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s head inside!” Goombilly said.
“Wait! How do we get inside the castle to begin with?” Goombella said.
“Hmmm... our tiny size does give us the advantage of crawling into places we
normally can’t get into at our normal height. We can crawl underneath the doors
and get in the castle that way!” Frankly said.
“Good thinking, Professor! Wow... am I glad to be your student.” Goombella said.
“Yes, yes, but let’s not dilly dally. The sooner we retrieve the Generator, the
better our chances of repairing the machine!” Frankly said.
And so the three Goombas started charging towards the front doors of Peach’s
Castle. But before they could even prepare to dive underneath the doors... they
suddenly opened up! The three Goombas had to come to a screeching halt before
they crashed into a giant pink wall. As they all looked up, they realized that
pink wall was none other than Princess Peach’s pink dress shoes.
“EEEEK! The princess!” Goombella shouted.
“My word... it’s like looking up at Princess Apple... only she wasn’t this big!”
Frankly said to himself.
“(sigh) Never listen to one of Toadsworth's lectures on Princess safety again.”
Peach said as she took a breath of fresh air. She then looked down by her feet
and saw the many pieces of metal laying by her feet.
“What the? What are all these pieces of metal doing here? The bodyguards even
slacking on cleaning up!” Peach said as she took a couple steps forward, then
kneeled down and brushed the metal fragments together with her gloved hands.
Of course, down below, the three Goombas had to frantically dodge Peach’s shoes
and then her hands as she pushed the metal fragments around.
“Look out!” Frankly said.
The three Goombas were able to get out of the way, and they watched as the
‘giant’ Princess Peach gently scooped up the metal fragments (at least the ones
that wouldn’t puncture either her gloves or her skin). Goombilly suddenly had an
idea.
“Hey, wait! I have an idea that will let us get into and around the castle
faster! Why don’t we ride the feet of the giant princess?” Goombilly said.
“What!? That’s crazy talk, young Goomblad! We can’t possibly survive such a ride
at our size.” Frankly said.
“We may not have a choice, professor. At this size, we have to do the impossible
to survive.” Goombella said. Frankly just sighed. His students were right. There
seemed to be no other way at the moment.
“Alright, but I still insist this is a reckless idea.” Frankly said. The Goombas
had to move fast, knowing Peach could stand back up and head inside her castle
at any moment. Fortunately, they all made it after dodging Peach’s hands.
Goombella and Goombilly easily climbed on top of Peach’s feet, but the two had
to help Professor Frankly as he struggled to climb up.
“(sigh) Such a curse to have so little strength in these old bones.” Frankly
said.
Just as the three micro Goombas had secured themselves onto Peach’s foot (as
best as they could), the princess stood back up and carried the metal fragments
inside the castle. Almost as soon as she got back inside, Toadette came walking
up towards the princess.
“Oh my! Peach, what is all that in your hands?” Toadette asked.
“Some metal fragments... I guess from a broken machine. I don’t know how they
got there. They were just laying outside the front door when I opened it.
There’s still some more outside.” Peach said.
“I can have the guards clean up that area immediately! Do you want me to dispose
of all that trash in your arms, your highness?” Toadette said.
“Yes, of course! Oh, and tell Toadsworth I’ll be in the kitchen if he needs me.”
Peach said.
“Yes, Princess Peach.” Toadette said as Peach dumped the handful of metal
fragments onto Toadette’s small hands. She quickly marched off with the
fragments in hand while Peach headed towards the kitchen to have her lunch
break.
Peach didn’t waste any time in the kitchen, already taking out two slices of
bread and her favorite toppings and preparing her sandwich. The three Goombas,
who couldn’t see much overhead because of Peach’s dress being in the way, felt
now was the time to drop themselves from their ride.
“I think it’s best we depart our ride now that we are in the castle.” Frankly
said.
“I agree, Professor. We could definitely use the princess’s help too!” Goombella
said. She and Frankly were the first to hop off Peach’s foot, but just as
Goombilly was about to do the same...
“Whew... my feet are sore. I better take these worn out shoes off.” Peach said.
She turned to the right and simply kicked her shoes off.
Goombilly was about to hop off Peach’s right foot when it suddenly swung upward,
flying him off the shoe and high into the air.
“Goombilly!!!” Goombella shouted in fear, watching her fellow student fly
helplessly in the air. As Goombilly screamed out in terror, he closed his eyes
thinking he was going to land straight to his death.
Instead, he felt himself landing on something very soft and very smooth.
Goombilly opened his eyes and saw he was still alive.
“I... I’m alive! But where am I?” Goombilly said. He looked down and gulped
nervously... he was sitting on the top of the very sandwich Peach had been
preparing. And worse? Peach was picking up that sandwich and holding it in front
of her face, which Goombilly saw nothing but. Goombilly tried escaping, but his
feet were buried deep in the bread, leaving him almost motionless.
“Well, as Mario would say, Bon Appétit!” Peach said with a smile. She opened her
mouth and moved the sandwich towards it. As Goombella and Frankly both thought
about the worst possible scenario... Goombilly did the only thing he could do at
this point.
“HEEEEEELLLLLLLLPPPPPPP!!!!!!” Goombilly shouted.
Chapter 3: Goombilly for Lunch
written by Goomba
Goombilly continued to struggle to get his feet out before Peach consumes him. Unfortunately, his feet were stuck pretty tight in the bread, making his feet almost unmovable.
“C’mon, I need to get out of this!” he thought.
Finally, after trying a few times, his left foot gets freed, making him a little satisfied.
“Okay, now for the…”
Just before he could start working on his right foot, Goombilly was completely shrouded in darkness. He found it difficult to breathe and the floor was all slimy. Goombilly knew immediately what happened.
“Shoot, I’m too late! I’m already getting eaten!” Goombilly said to himself.
Barely noticing a shot of white above him due to the darkness, Goombilly slipped out of the way before a tooth could crush him, making his adrenaline increase by the second. The amounts of food in Peach’s mouth didn’t help either, for some would start sticking on his body, making it more difficult to move.
Goombilly knew he couldn’t keep this up forever, because the combination of saliva and teeth would immediately bring the death to him, Peach’s mouth was closed, so he knew jumping out was also out of the question, and Goombilly’s air was slowly running out.
He knew there was no way out, since all the ways of escaping were blocked off. He might as well jump down the crevice of Peach’s throat to get his death over with…
…but then he saw a sliver of hope.
He knew studying in Biology class at Goom University would pay off someday, for he saw a dangling object at the end of Peach’s throat.
“If I remember correctly, the dangling object at the end of the mouth is called the uvula. Hitting it would make the user throw up.” Goombilly thought.
Goombilly hated the thought of hitting Peach’s uvula to get out, but he really didn’t have much of a choice. If he was going to get out, this would be the only option.
“Alright, I only have one shot at this, and I’ll most certainly be digested if I miss.”
Goombilly had a worried look on his face, but then the saliva would start pushing him to the crevice of Peach’s esophagus.
“Man, I wish I did more Headbonking lessons!”
With that said, Goombilly launched himself in the air, aiming his head at the uvula…
Meanwhile with the other Goombas, the two were standing near one of table legs, with Goombella crying her heart out for the loss of one of their group members.
“Why did that have to happen?! He didn’t deserve to die like that!” she sobbed.
“At this size youngster, almost anything can come out and kill us. Heck, even getting crushed from a cookie crumb at this size would be enough to kill us!” Frankly said.
Goombella hated to admit it, but he was right. Everything is in their most fragile state at the size they were at, and almost everything now has a chance to kill them. She sniffed a few times before speaking.
“You’re right, the death of one of us was inevitable.”
“That is correct Goombella. Now we can’t keep mourning over the loss of Goombilly, we have to find the Generator and return ourselves to normal!”
Just before they could get going, they noticed sharp coughing noises coming from above them. Looking up, they noticed Peach was coughing erratically, even causing some food to come out of her mouth.
“Look out!” Goombella exclaimed. She and Professor Frankly started to dodge the falling food, all salivated. Goombella had to drag Frankly a few times because he was going slower.
“*sigh* I sometimes wish I was younger these days.” he said to himself.
After Peach coughed one more time, the two started to hear small screaming. They both thought they were hearing things, until it started to get louder. Looking up again, they saw a familiar sight.
“What in blazes? Is that who I think it is?” Frankly said.
“IT IS! IT’S GOOMBILLY!” Goombella yelled with joy.
Goombella almost went teary eyed until she saw he was falling close to them. Using her own body as a cushion, Goombilly landed on the ground with his eyes all dizzy.
“Goombella, did you always have a twin?” Goombilly asked, head all dizzy. Goombella smacked Goombilly with her ponytail and readjusted his square glasses.
“Am I alive? I didn’t expect to survive the horror I was in.” he asked.
“YES YOU ARE! I’M SO HAPPY YOU’RE STILL ALIVE!” Goombella exclaimed, landing a big kiss on Goombilly’s cheek. His face went red with embarrassment.
“Even I’m at a loss of words right now.” Frankly said. “But we mustn’t dilly-dally, we must find that Generator!”
Just before they could head off, Toadette came into the kitchen coming to Peach’s side.
“You alright, your highness?” Toadette asked. “I heard noises coming from here.”
“It’s alright. I must have accidentally coughed while eating, that’s all.” Peach replied. Toadette looked over the mess she made.
“I’ll call some other Toads to clean this up, because I need to work on cleaning up the hallways upstairs!” Toadette said.
That sentence caught the three Goombas attention. Frankly deduced the Generator did fly up, so maybe it flown to the upper floors.
“Looks like we get another ride fellas!” Frankly exclaimed. After this incident, he didn’t want to ride on someone’s feet again, so he pointed to Toadette’s ponytails instead.
“At least I’ll get a workout from this one!” Goombilly replied. With that said, the three Goombas dashed over to Toadette, and each one jumped up and attached themselves to Toadette’s ponytails. Like before, Goombella helped Professor Frankly up.
“Better hold on for this one!” Goombilly exclaimed.
After that, Toadette ran off to the upper floors, with the three small Goombas holding on to her ponytails. They hoped the Generator would be near, before one of them DID die…
Chapter 4: Musical Stomps
written by Cubed Cinder
Toadette walking into her music room, looking over the many instruments that
populated what was known around Peach's Castle as Toadette's Music Room. When
Toadette quickly swung her head around to look another way, the three mini
Goombas all lost their grip and went flying through the air.
"WHOOOOOA!!!" all three Goombas shouted as they all landed inside one of the
trumpets on the floor. Toadette, meanwhile, was looking around and saw dust
almost all around the room, including old music sheets she had been meaning to
throw away it felt like ages ago.
"Ugh... this place is dirtier than a cafeteria after Yoshi has raided it! If I
don't stop procrastinating, I'll never get this place cleaned up." Toadette
said. She then stepped out of her room, and once she was gone, the three
shrunken Goombas came crawling out from inside the trumpet, landing on the
floor. They looked around wondered where in the castle they were now.
"Hmmm... I wonder where we are now?" Professor Frankly said.
"It looks like we're in some kind of music room." Goombella said.
"Gee, what was your first clue?" Goombilly said in an obviously sarcastic tone.
"Haha, very funny. Maybe I should just bonk that sarcasm right out of your
head!" Goombella said.
"Focus, my pupils! I do not wish to spend another minute at this puny size!
We've got to continue our search for the Generator!" Frankly said.
"(sigh) He's right. We should get finding right now." Goombella said. The three
Goombas all started to walk out of the gigantic music room, not wanting to be a
part of any more instruments like the trumpet earlier.
However, the 'giant' Toadette was back, this time armed with a vacuum cleaner.
All three Goombas gulped nervously.
"We're not doing any finding with that thing sucking us up..." Goombilly said.
As Toadette reached down and flipped the switch to activate the vacuum, the
normally calm and collected Frankly made the call on what to do.
"RUUUUUUUUUUNNNNNN!!!!!!!!!!!!" Frankly shouted. Just as the Goombas took off
running away from the door and the vacuum, it turned on and Toadette began to
move it around the room. The chase felt like it went on forever, even though
only a minute or two had passed with them dodging the vacuum as well as Toadette
herself, who was humming a tune usually played over the loudspeaker during a
Mario Kart race.
After another turn by the Goombas, they realized they were not too far (and yet
they were given their current size) from the door.
"The door! We can make it!" Goombilly said. All three nodded and began to go
into a full sprint towards the door. However, Frankly once again began to
quickly tire out. In fact, he collapsed onto the floor, trying hard to catch his
breath. Goombella looked to her side and noticed the professor wasn't there.
"Professor!? Oh no!" Goombella shouted as she looked back and saw Frankly laying
down. Worse... the vacuum was headed directly for him. Goombella started running
the other way.
"Goombella! What are you doing!?" Goombilly said.
"Saving the professor! What else!?" Goombella said.
"Ugh. What a crazy lady." Goombilly said as he simply stood in his place and
watched the rescue attempt play out that was sure to end with both of them
getting sucked in by the vacuum.
Goombella was able to get to Frankly, but the professor was too tired to move
much, if at all. The slow pace by both Goombas almost surely sealed their fate
as they watched the massive vacuum approaching them, almost deafening them with
its loud sound.
But then it stopped. The vacuum suddenly stopped its march towards the two. It
even got quiet as the vacuum was shut off. The only sound the two would hear was
Toadette's voice suddenly speaking out from above.
"Huh? Little bugs in my music room! Oh dear! This simply won't do!" Toadette
shouted. By the time Goombella wondered what she fully meant by little bugs, she
looked up and saw Toadette lowering a foot towards her and Frankly!
"Professor! Look out!" Goombella shouted. She and Frankly were luckily able to
get away before Toadette crushed them. They scurried to the right, out of
Toadette's line of sight, so they could wait until she went back to vacuuming.
Goombilly, on the other hand, simply feared for the worst. Toadette's movements
happened so fast, he thought for sure his compatriots had been crushed to their
deaths.
"Oh man oh man oh man. I tried to warn Goombella, but would she listen?
Nooooooooooo!!!" Goombilly shouted. He was so distraught with himself that he
almost didn't notice Toadette suddenly focusing her eyes on him.
"Eeeeek! Another bug! I'll crush you too!" Toadette said. She quickly stepped
forward, and by the time Goombilly snapped back to reality, he saw Toadette
towering over him and lowering her foot down. Goombilly made a dive at the last
moment to get out of the way, but in doing so, he landed awkwardly on one of his
legs. He shouted in pain as he felt it pop.
"Owwwww!!" Goombilly shouted.
Toadette, meanwhile, saw she hadn't crushed the 'bug,' but noticed it wasn't
moving down by her feet and so figured it was dead anyway.
"So much for that little bug. Now where did those other two bugs go?" Toadette
said.
Where did they go, you ask? After briefly hiding under one of the musical sheets
and then quickly realizing she could find them there, both Goombella and Frankly
took shelter behind one of the nearby drum sets, looking up both in awe and in
fear of the giant Toadette (especially when her feet were so close to them at
one point). Once she walked to the other side of the room, Goombella and Frankly
made a dash for the door, first approaching the injured Goombilly.
"Come on, Goombilly, let's go!" Goombella shouted.
"Ow! My leg!" Goombilly said.
"Ugh! Just grab onto me, will you?" Goombella said, grunting as she now had to
support an exhausted Goomba (Frankly) with one arm and help another one walk on
a broken leg (Goombilly) with the other. It was a tough stretch, but the three
tiny Goombas were able to make it to the hallway without being spotted by
Toadette.
The three nudged themselves against the nearby wall, all trying to catch their
breath from a near death experience. As they did so, Goombilly once again felt
the need to apologize.
"Darn it, I'm sorry, everyone. I'm so ashamed I got myself into trouble again."
Goombilly said. Goombella, rather than berate him like she's been doing for most
of the time, simply patted her partner on the back.
"Forget it, Goombilly. This is not exactly a normal situation for any of us."
Goombella said.
"She's right. Anything can come out and kill us at the size we're at!" Frankly
said.
"Well, I guess we better hurry up before something else kills us..." Goombilly
said as he nursed his sore leg.
"We better not stick around as determined as that girl Toad is. We need to find
a place to hide for now." Frankly said.
"Maybe in that room across the hallway?" Goombella said, pointing out the
gigantic door that was indeed across the hall from Toadette's room.
"Hey, it's better than here!" Goombilly said.
"Then let us not waste another second! Onward!" Frankly said. With Goombilly
being supported by both Frankly and Goombella, the three mini Goombas all made
their way towards this door knowing they were small enough to crawl underneath
it. As they approached the door, all the Goombas started to feel a weird force
of energy like it was coming from some sort of machinery...
Chapter 5: Bad Hair Day
written by Goomba
After carrying Goombilly for who knows how long, Goombella finally gives away, although Goombilly didn’t care, for he knew carrying someone takes a lot out of you. Goombella got back up after resting for a few seconds.
Soon enough, the three Goombas managed to go under the door into the next room. It seemed to be a huge guest bedroom, with a few cabinets and drawers placed around the place. On the bed was what looked like a lady, but since the Goombas were too small they couldn’t make out a lot of details.
Professor Frankly wrinkled his face, like he was feeling something of some sort.
“It’s here. This old Goomba knows it is here.” he said.
“It is? I guess the energy we felt was coming from the Generator.” Goombella said.
“So do you know where exactly it is in here?” Goombilly asked.
Frankly went silent for a moment, then spoke up.
“It’s on the bed, somewhere near the top.”
Goombilly’s eyes nearly popped out after he said that.
“Are you kidding? There’s a gigantic lady sleeping on the bed!”
“We’re going to have to take our chances. If we ever want to return to normal size, we must find the Generator!”
Goombilly made a huge sigh, while Goombella was uneasy about Frankly’s statement.
“Well, okay then, how are we going to get on top of the bed at this size?” Goombella asked.
Goombilly took a look around, and came to a uncomfortable solution.
“Well, I do see one of the lady’s feet hanging down…”
“Are you seriously saying we have to climb up the woman’s leg? Preposterous!” Professor Frankly exclaimed.
“There’s no other way up there. It’s our only option.”
Frankly sighed, knowing his student was right.
“Alright, but we are doing this only to get back to normal!”
With that said, the three small Goombas headed over to the gigantic foot. Goombella was actually thankful that Goombas have no noses, because the foot stench would have easily grossed them out. Doing a small jump, Goombella managed to barely grab onto the big toe, almost managing to fall off when it swayed a bit. Goombilly went next, and even though he had a broken leg, he managed to latch on as well.
“Guess some of those Headbonking lessons did pay off!” Goombilly exclaimed.
As Goombilly started to inch his way up the foot slower than normal, due to his broken leg, Goombella stayed at the end of the toe in case Professor Frankly needed help. His jumping was slightly shorter than Goombella’s and Goombilly’s, but when Goombella extended her own foot for Frankly to grab, Professor Frankly managed to latch on to Goombella, who pulled him up on the toe.
“Phew, I should work out more!” Frankly exclaimed.
“Well, you’re going to get a head start on it.” Goombella replied, looking up at the massive leg they have to climb up.
“Then let’s get started. The sooner we get back to normal, the better!”
With that said, Goombella and Frankly slowly started to inch their way up the foot. Goombilly was further ahead, due to Goombella waiting for Frankly, but because he had a broken leg, he was climbing slower than both of them.
By the time Goombilly was up to the kneecap, Goombella and Frankly were right behind him. Frankly started to sweat and sway side to side a bit, but Goombella stayed under him just in case he couldn’t make it.
“Don’t worry professor, I’ll make sure you don’t fall off.”
After some extra climbing, the three Goombas manage to make it on top of the leg and onto the bed. Now they can finally make out who they have been climbing up.
“We were……………climbing a sleeping Princess Daisy the entire time?!” Goombilly exclaimed in astonishment.
“Looks like it, and in her sports wear!” Frankly replied.
“Don’t tell me the Generator is somewhere on her, is it?” Goombella asked.
Professor Frankly made a saddened look.
“Since she’s taking up most of the bed, it’s almost illogical for the Generator to be somewhere not on her…”
Goombilly’s face turned slightly green at the thought, thinking the Genrator may be in some…gross places, and due to his near death experience in the kitchen earlier, he felt very uneasy going any further.
“Soooooo…ladies first?” Goombilly said, chuckling in a very nervous way.
Goombella rolled her eyes at Goombilly’s remark, noticing his cowardice.
“Wow, what a gentleman.” Goombella replied with an obvious sarcastic tone in her voice. With that said, Goombella carefully walked slowly across the top of Daisy’s legs, hoping to not wake her up. Goombilly and Professor Frankly followed suite, but Frankly was shaking his head at Goombilly’s fear of going across Daisy.
The Goombas thankfully didn’t encounter any troubles going across Daisy’s midsection. Goombella almost managed to fall in Daisy’s navel, but Goombilly managed to pull her back despite his broken leg.
Finally, the Goombas reached Daisy’s head, which surprisingly didn’t wake her up, and carefully moved around her face. Goombilly hurried to get around Daisy’s mouth, for he didn’t want another near death experience.
“It’s feel the Generator’s energy coming from in there!” Professor Frankly said, motioning ahead of him.
Goombella and Goombilly look ahead and notice where Frankly was pointing to. Both of them put on a puzzled expression.
“It’s…in Daisy’s hair? Are you sure about that?” Goombilly asked Professor Frankly.
“Well, there’s no where else ahead of us sadly.” Frankly replied.
Both Goombas did a deep sigh, for they knew there was no where else ahead of them. Goombilly put on a nervous expression, and started to sweat a bit.
“So…ladies first?”
Goombella looked over and frowned at Goombilly again.
“Not this time, bucko!”
Before he could react, Goombella bashes Goombilly into the jungle of Daisy’s hair, grumbling to herself as she goes in after him. Not wanting to be alone, Professor Frankly heads in last.
The three Goombas found it very hard to see through Daisy’s strands of hair, with most of their sight being blocked by lines of light brown. Because of that, the three Goombas stuck tightly together to avoid getting lost.
“So…hard…to navigate!” Goombilly said, accidentally getting his mouth full of brown hair.
“I’m surprised you’re doing this with a broken leg!” Frankly exclaimed. “I would usually be crying in pain doing this if I was you!”
“Well, I guess I’m pretty bold then!” Goombilly replied. However, in truth, he was in a lot of pain. The climb up, walking across Daisy’s body, and going through her hair was very painful, but he didn’t want to express it. He didn’t want Frankly and Goombella to be focusing on him when there still is a bigger problem with being shrunk and all.
It took the Goombas a little while, but a weird blue light caught Goombella’s attention.
“I think I see something over there!” she exclaimed.
“Hmmmm, could that be it?” Frankly wondered.
Brushing through the massive strands of hair, the three Goombas make it to the source of the light. Indeed, a battery shaped capsule would be giving off the blue light, with a few switches on it.
“Yes, that is it! It’s the Generator!” Frankly exclaimed with joy, heading over to where the machine rests.
“So, how will this thing put us back to normal size?” Goombella asked.
“I’m glad you asked, my student.” Professor Frankly replied. “You see, I always had an assumption that the wrong person would accidentally get hurt by the security machine, so I programmed an emergency reverse module into the Generator that would heal anyone who was accidentally hurt by it. All you have to do is flip the switch on the back of the Generator, and it will reverse any injury!”
“Wait, you said it cures injuries.” Goombilly said. “But will it cure us of our shrunken state?”
Professor Frankly felt immediate uneasiness in his stomach, but didn’t show it.
“Well, I never expected this shrinkage to happen, but I’m sure it will be able to bring us back to normal size.”
“You mean you don’t know if this can cure us?!” Goombella exclaimed in panic. “I can’t go back to Rougeport smaller than a bread crumb!”
She started to shed a few tears, thinking about all the terrible things that would happen if it didn’t work. Noticing this, Goombilly went over to her and got in front of her face.
“It will be alright, for if this doesn’t work, at least you’ll have one Goomba at your side.” Goombilly said calmy to Goombella.
Goombella looked through her watery eyes to Goombilly, puzzled by what he said. Why is he acting calm when they might get stuck like this until they die? It just wasn’t like him to go up to her and say those words. Could he…no, that couldn’t be why, but what if it is? All those years at the University of Goom, and she was completely oblivious?
Goombella shook off the thought, and wiped away her tears. She smiled at Goombilly before giving him a big hug.
“Thank you Goombilly, that was very kind of you…” Goombella said.
“No problem, for I have to treat one of my classmates with respect, right?” he replied.
“Alright then, let’s change back!” Frankly exclaimed.
Suddenly, the ground around them started to shake erratically, and the strands of hair swayed back and forth along the ground. The Goombas quickly latch onto a strand of hair to avoid falling, while Frankly did the same while holding the Generator.
“Ugh, that really needed a nice rest after working out on the tennis court!” a voice boomed overhead. The ground around the Goombas shifted again, and they held on the hair for dear life.
“Dear Grambi, I think Daisy finally woke up!” Goombilly exclaimed.
“Thank you for explaining the obvious!” Goombella replied.
Meanwhile, a shadow appeared over Goombilly, and Goombella managed to find out what it is just in time.
“LOOK OUT!” she yelled to Goombilly, releasing her grip on the strand of hair she was on, allowing her to jump and hit Goombilly away as three large fingers came down and rubbed on the spot he used to be on.
“My head is a little itchy today.” Daisy’s voice boomed in the three Goomba’s ears. “Well, nothing like some good shampoo from a shower to help that.”
The three Goombas felt like their stomachs have been tied in a knot once they heard that. Turning back to normal while Daisy is in the shower is…going to be bad, so they knew they had to turn back now.
“We have to get out of her hair NOW!” Professor Frankly exclaimed.
“We can’t just turn back on her head!” Goombella replied. “We’ll crush her head!”
Thinking quickly, Goombilly came up with a solution.
“Hey, why don’t we get to an edge of her scalp, jump off, and change back while we are falling?”
“WHAT?! Jumping off at this size?!” Professor Frankly exclaimed.
“Do you want us to be crushed by Princess Daisy’s oversized fingers?”
Frankly knew time was short, so he did the next best thing.
“Alright, but I’m holding the Generator!”
“Fine, then let’s hurry!” Goombilly exclaimed.
With that said, the three Goombas started to rush through the many strands of Daisy’s hair, narrowly avoiding Daisy’s fingers as she scratched spots around them. Goombilly was a bit slower than Goombella and Frankly due to his injury, but still maintained a fast pace.
Soon enough, the three Goombas made it to an edge of Daisy’s scalp. Frankly looked at how high up they were (At their size) and shivered with fear.
“Oh my, that’s REALLY high up.” he said.
“C’mon professor, you have to do it with us!” Goombella exclaimed.
Soon enough, a shadow of Daisy’s oversized fingers loomed over the Goombas. Goombilly made a face at Frankly that said “Hurry up!”
“Ermmmm…………” Frankly stuttered in fear.
The fingers started to come closer, until Goombilly couldn’t take it anymore. He pushed Professor Frankly and Goombella off before going off himself, narrowly missing Daisy’s fingernails digging into the spot where they once were.
Now the three Goombas were tumbling through the air, heading for the wooden floorboards.
“AAAAAHHHHHH!” Frankly exclaimed as the wind rushed by him. Goombella and Goombilly weren’t freaked out.
“Quick Professor, flip the switch on the Generator!” Goombella exclaimed.
Professor Frankly heard Goombella’s plea, calmed down, and quickly pulled out the Generator.
“Alright, you two come over here and hold on to the Generator!”
The two Goombas heard Frankly and steered themselves in the air to where Frankly is. Once everyone got a hold of the Generator, Professor Frankly flipped the switch on the back.
“PLEASEWORKPLEASEWORKPLEASEWORKPLEASEWORK…” Goombilly thought as the wind rushed by him.
Suddenly, the Generator started to beep, and the blue light from before emitted over the Goombas. They had to close their eyes from the light, but each of them started to feel a weird sensation. Goombilly started to feel the wind die down, so curiosity got the best of him. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing.
“It’s actually working! WE’RE TURNING BACK TO NORMAL SIZE!”
With that said, Goombella and Professor Frankly opened their eyes as well, and saw the same results.
“Finally!” Professor Frankly said.
After a few more seconds, the three Goombas landed on the floor, but thanks to the Generator, they were back to their normal size. The Generator also grew with them.
“Phew, what a big mess up.” Goombilly said. “I’m really sorry I got you two into this, I really thought the black wire was supposed to make it work…”
Goombella goes up to her college friend.
“It’s alright Goombilly, mistakes happen.”
To show her appreciation, Goombella plants a small kiss on Goombilly’s cheek, causing his face to shrivel up and turn pinkish red.
“Looks like we have a little romance on our hands!” Frankly replied.
Before Goombilly could retaliate, Princess Daisy, who was next to them the entire time scratching her head, looked and saw the three Goombas, while made her a bit surprised.
“What the, how did you three get in here? I thought I had the door locked!” she exclaimed.
Goombilly laughed weakly.
“It’s, uhh, kind of a long story.” he said.
Epilogue
“I almost ate you?! Oh my!” Princess Peach said, listening to the Goomba’s story, with Toadette and Daisy listening as well.
“Ummmm, yeah, sorry I had to make you puke, but it was the only way to get out without being swallowed.” Goombilly replied. Toadette then took her turn to speak.
“You were the bugs that I found in my music room? I had a feeling you weren’t bugs when I saw you…” Toadette said.
“It’s alright, although you did manage to leave a mark on this guy over here…” Goombella said, motioning to Goombilly. With that said, Goombilly showed his broken leg to Toadette and the others.
“I’m so sorry about that! I shouldn’t have been so aggressive to you!”
“Well, I would also do that if any bugs entered my property, so you’re alright.” Goombilly replied. He looked over to Princess Daisy, expecting her next.
“So, you were walking on me while I was asleep?” she asked. “Did you end up going through…well…”
“Heck no! I’m not that kind of Goomba!” Goombilly exclaimed. “Besides, I didn’t want to risk death again.”
“Just make sure to take a shower instead of scratching next time.” Professor Frankly said, giving Daisy a small wink. She giggled at the sight of the old Goomba do that.
“I’m sure Mario and Luigi will enjoy hearing this story.” Peach said.
“Go ahead and tell them, they have been on wackier adventures than this.” Professor Frankly replied.”
With that said, everyone cracked up laughing from that, but a burst through the castle gates interrupted the happy moment.
“I DID IT, THE GREATEST INVENTION EVER!”
Shortly after that outburst, Professor E. Gadd entered the room, with a weird type of square machine with him.
“Sorry I had to skip out on making a security system for this place, but this idea just had to be made into an invention!”
Peach took a look at the machine.
“What does it do?”
“I’m glad you asked! This machine basically allows you to insert mushrooms into it, where they are sprayed with a liquid of my own creation, which makes it so when you eat it, you won’t lose height when you get hit! You can even eat more of these mushrooms with my liquid on it, and you’ll grow even higher! I call it “The Mushroom Stacker!”
The three Goombas couldn’t believe what they just heard. A machine that makes special mushrooms that don’t make you lose height when you get hurt by something, and you can eat more to grow bigger? Didn’t they just experience huge things already?
The three Goombas couldn’t stomach the thought, and faint on the spot.
“What? Was it something I said?” E. Gadd asked.
“It’s kind of a long story.” Daisy replied.
END