Act 2: The Empty Lake
Mario and Psy Guy are walking toward the forest back to Merlon's house to show him their prize. But they don't know that they are being followed. Secretly behind them is a green figure. The figure is far behind and is trying to figure out what he is following. He looks hard and finally realizes he is following Mario. The figure is happy to see Mario again, but before he can go up and see him, he looks up and sees a Shy Guy with a jetpack who i holding a ray gun. The figure sees he was aiming at Mario. The figure rushes after the Shy Guy.
"Say good night, Mario," the Shy Guy quietly says. He aims and is about to fire when...
"LOOK OUT, MARIO!"
Mario and Psy Guy turn around and see the figure and the Shy Guy, who Mario sees has a ray gun. He jumps and punches the Shy Guy. He is launched back at the figure, who jumps and ground pounds on the jetpack. It begins to jiggle.
"Oh no!" The jetpack launches up and the Shy Guy goes with it. Mario thanks the figure, only to realize that the figure is...
"Yoshi!"
"Yup. It's me, Mario."
"How did you end up here?" asks Mario.
"Well, after the Wizzard sent us into the black hole, I ended up in a forest with lots of melons. So, I figured I would have some. After I grabbed one, something threw a pebble at me. I turned and saw three angry-looking Ukikis. I get a little worried, so I swallowed it and formed an egg, and I threw it at them, to show I mean business. But one of them grabbed it and threw it back at my head, which knocked me out for a while. When I woke up, I lost my train of thought for a second, and remembered I was in the forest. After walking around, I found you. But I didn't quite know it was you yet, so I followed and figured out that it was you. Then the Shy Guy attacked," explains Yoshi.
"Wow. That was a long story. Anyway, you should come with us and have Merlon explain everything."
They head back to Merlon's house and see he is reading a book.
"Ah, so nice to see you. I thought I'd pass the time by reading. Anyway, have you brought back the Pure Star? And who is this with you?" asks Merlon.
"Yes, we brought back the Star, and this is Mario's friend, Yoshi," answers Psy Guy.
"Ah, so you’re the Yoshi I sensed was on the island with Luigi, Peach, and Bowser. Well, that’s one friend down, three to go. But one Star down, and nine to go."
"Yeah, now, could you explain all this Pure Star stuff to Yoshi? He doesn't have a clue what is going on," says Mario.
"Of course." Merlon explains everything to Yoshi about Merlevil, his minions, and the Ten Pure Stars.
"Well, I'd be happy to help," says Yoshi.
"Excellent. Now, Psy Guy must sense where the next Pure Star is," Merlon explains.
Everyone looks at Psy Guy, who is already trying to sense it. After about 20 seconds, he opens his eyes. "I saw the Pure Star. It seemed to be in a lake," Psy Guy says.
They look at Merlon, who knows what Psy Guy is talking about. "I must've sent the next one to the bottom of Luminous Lake. Now, hurry along, before one of Merlevil's minions gets to it," says Merlon.
Our heroes, with Yoshi as the new member, head for the forest to find Luminous Lake.
Meanwhile, someone is seen falling out of the sky. This person is wearing a jetpack. He lands with a *thud* and slowly gets up.
"Oh man, that is the last time I try to sneak attack someone," the figure says. He looks around and sees he is staring at a lake. The figure gets wide-eyed as an evil grin spreads on his face. "Perfect. I have landed where I must complete my mission! Oh Shy Bot!" exclaims the figure.
Then pounding noises are heard. From the forest, a robot that looks like a Shy Guy emerges and looks down at the figure.
"Use those new drain hands I installed!" The robot puts its arms out, and the hands slide into the robot. Then, in their places, two drains come out. The robot walks near the lake and puts the drains in, then starts sucking all the water out of the lake.
"Hehehehehe! With the water all gone, finding the Pure Star will be easier! Plus, I have the perfect plan to stop Mario!" The figure looks down at the lake and see that a quarter of it is already gone. The figure is pleased. Finally, the robot has sucked up all the water.
"Now, build a giant, circular dam, and fill it with the lake's water!" the figure exclaims. The robot switches one of its hands with a shovel and starts digging a giant hole next to the lake. Then, after the hole is dug, the robot starts to reach within itself and bring out metal walls. It starts putting the walls around the hole. After he puts the walls up, it fills the dam with the water. The figure then pulls out a button.
"Excellent. I hope Mario likes taking baths, because this will be his last one! Now, come!"
Both the figure
and the robot jump down into the hole, starting their search for the Pure
Star.
"TAKE THIS!" exclaims Mario. Mario, Psy Guy, and Yoshi are seen fighting a pack of Spear Guys. Mario hammers one of them. Yoshi and Psy Guy use a combo with Yoshi's eggs and Psy Guy's psychic energy to make the eggs move at a faster speed and hurt enemies a lot more. The Spear Guys fight back by throwing spears at them. Psy Guy stops them and sends them back. The Spears Guys stand strong. Mario starts to spin and hammer at the same time, taking out many Spear Guys. Yoshi starts eating some and throwing more eggs, and Psy Guy fires energy balls at them. When most of the Spear Guys are gone, the rest get scared and run off.
"Maybe we should've taken a right at the fork in the road," says Mario.
"No, we would've ended up taking the longer path to Luminous Lake. I know that those Spear Guys caused us trouble, but this is the quickest way," explains Psy Guy.
"Let’s keep moving! Those Spear Guys could come back with some backup!" exclaims Yoshi.
Our heroes move on and find themselves climbing and swinging on vines to avoid deadly Piranha Plants. They eventually make it to a cave. "Luminous Lake is just on the other side of this cave," Psy Guy says.
Our heroes enter the cave and find out that it is very dark. Psy Guy lifts his hand and lets off an orb of light. They can now see that they are face to face with three paths.
"Great! Now what do we do?" questions Yoshi.
"We have to split up. Here, take these." Psy Guy forms two more orbs of light and gives them to Mario and Yoshi.
"Thanks. Now, I'll take the right, Yoshi, you take the left, and Psy Guy, you take the middle," Mario tells his friends. They all agree and take their paths.
Mario is seen walking slowly through his path. He looks calm, but inside, he is very nervous. He goes deeper down the path he chose, and just when he thinks he is safe, he is wrong. A horde of Swoopers see the light and attack Mario. Mario tries to swat them away, but is having a hard time doing so without dropping the orb. Then it hits him. He holds the orb up high and the Swoopers get scared and fly the opposite direction Mario was coming from. Mario moves on and sees a light, so he rushes for it.
Yoshi is walking on his path, and is looking around nervously. He has the strangest feeling that he is being followed. He turns around and sees nothing. He continues, and hears laughter. He turns again and sees nothing, but when he goes to move on, he finds himself facing three Boos. The Boos make their scary faces. Yoshi jumps back. The Boos laugh. Yoshi tosses his orb at one Boo, who catches it and yells in pain. All Boos hate the light, so the three Boos throw the orb and run away. Yoshi takes his orb back and moves on.
Psy Guy is walking, and being very cautious. He slowly turns the orb in all directions to ward off anything that might hate light. He then hears a low rumbling sound. He keeps moving. The rumble is getting louder. Psy Guy is now completely nervous. He can then hear the rumble completely now. He looks down and sees three Red Chomps (if you can't remember them, they were fought at the Glitz Pit). They are all sleeping, but are blocking the path to the lake. Psy Guy uses psychic energy to lift the Chomps carefully. He slowly moves them out of the way, being very careful not to wake them. He slowly puts them down. Unfortunately, one of the Boos that Yoshi warded off comes through and is still screaming from the light he saw. The Red Chomps open their eyes and see Psy Guy. They growl and charge at him. Psy Guy jumps out of the way just in time. The Chomps turn around and charge again. Psy Guy shoots an orb of energy at one Chomp, which gets knocked out, but the other two keep coming. Psy Guy fires another energy ball and hits another Chomp, who also gets knocked out, but the last one is able to get a bite off of Psy Guy. Psy Guy tries to shake him off, but no avail. He then shuts his eyes and uses his psychic powers to throw him off and into a wall. All three Chomps are knocked out, and Psy Guy moves on.
When he makes it out, he finds Yoshi and Mario waiting for him. "Thank goodness you're all right," Mario said, relieved.
"Anyway, I think you might want to take a look at the lake," Yoshi says, pointing at a giant hole. Psy Guy looks at the lake and sees nothing but a big hole. He looks around and tries to figure out what could've caused this. Then he notices a giant, circular, metal wall. He levitates himself to view the inside. When he reaches it, he sees all the water from the lake. He levitates back down to tell Mario and Yoshi what he saw.
"The lake's water has been sealed into what looks like a giant dam. Someone must've sucked up all the water and put it into the dam to make finding the Pure Star easier. But the question is, who would be able to suck up all that water? Nobody could be able to do that."
"Well, there is only one way to find out," says Mario, looking at what used to be a filled lake. "We have to head down there, find who is responsible, and get the Pure Star."
"Mario's right. So let’s get searching!" exclaims Yoshi.
Our heroes head toward the empty lake and jump down. But the lake was very deep, so that means that they are going to land very hard. When they get closer to the ground, Psy Guy softens the landing by holding Mario, Yoshi, and himself with his powers, so they land softly. They look around and see some giant footprints heading into a tunnel. They follow the prints into the tunnel. On their way through, they find Zeostars, Cheep Cheeps in need of water, Bloopers trying to find water, and a Lava Lotus shooting fireballs everywhere. Our heroes try to avoid them.
Then they find an even bigger tunnel. They head in, but this time, they hear laughter. They start running toward the laughter. They finally see another hole and jump down. This hole isn't as deep as the one they first jumped down. When they land they see a Shy Guy with a jetpack, and a giant robot. The Shy Guy is holding something, and that something is the Pure Star!
"Bwhahahahaha! I found it! I found the Pure Star before Mario and his friends! Come, Shy Bot, let us show Merlevil our prize," says the Shy Guy.
When he turns, he sees Mario and Co. He jumps back at the sight of them. Psy Guy takes a good look at him. Then it hits him. That is the same Shy Guy that ambushed them back when they were heading for Merlon's. Mario and Yoshi notice this too.
"Hey, you're that same Shy Guy that ambushed us! Who are you?!" questioned Yoshi.
"Hehehehe. I am one of Merlevil's minions. I am Mechanic Guy!"
"You’d better hand over that Pure Star!" exclaims Mario.
"Or what?" asks Mechanic Guy.
"Or else we’ll beat you for it!" says Psy Guy.
"Not so fast!" says Mechanic Guy, pulling out a button. "Make one move, and I'll press this!"
"What does it do?" asks Mario.
"This little button will release all of the water in the dam into the lake, so all of you will drown!" explains Mechanic Guy.
"But how did you get the dam built?" asks Yoshi.
"Hehehehe. Thanks to my Shy Bot, of course. Now, I'll be off. Come, Shy Bot." Mechanic Guy starts his jetpack, while Shy Bot activates the rockets built in his feet. They both fly off, taking the Pure Star with them. They reach the surface and Mechanic Guy heads for the dam.
"Hehehehe. They didn't think that I would release the water once I made off with the Pure Star! Time for Mario's last and final bath!"
Mechanic Guy presses the button. The metal wall starts to lift, and water starts slowly pouring out. Eventually all the water starts pouring in.
Down in the lake, our heroes are heading back to where they entered. But by the time they reach the halfway point, they start to hear water. They look ahead and see the lake's water heading their way.
"RUN!" yells Psy Guy.
Our heroes head back the way they came. When they run past them, the lake-dwellers have seen the water coming and are happy to see water again, but our heroes aren't.
"I knew he would try something like this!" exclaims Psy Guy.
"What do we do now? We are going to die!" exclaims Yoshi.
Psy Guy looks around and then up. He sees the hole that Mechanic Guy and Shy Bot flew out of. "Hold on!" Psy Guy grabs Mario and Yoshi's hands. He then closes his eyes and all three of them start to levitate out. Mario and Yoshi look down and see the water filling up the hole. Psy Guy speeds up and they reach the top of the lake.
Mechanic Guy looks over and isn't too happy. "GRRRRRRRRR! NOW I'M MAD! KILLING YOU BY FILLING UP THE LAKE AGAIN DIDN'T WORK, SO I'LL TAKE CARE OF YOU THE OLD-FASHIONED WAY!" yells Mechanic Guy in anger.
He walks toward Shy Bot, and is sucked in. A glass dome comes out of Shy Bot's head, with Mechanic Guy in it. "I WILL DESTROY YOU WITH SHY BOT!" Controls appear around Mechanic Guy and he takes control of Shy Bot. Mario, Yoshi, and Psy Guy get into fighting position.
BOSS: Shy Bot
Mechanic Guy presses a button and one of Shy Bot's hands turns into a ray gun. Mechanic Guy presses another button and the Shy Bot starts firing a ray at our heroes. Psy Guy jumps in and makes a force field of psychic energy. Psy Guy motions for Mario and Yoshi to go in separate direction to confuse Mechanic Guy. Mario goes left, and Yoshi goes right. Mechanic Guy wonders what they are up to. Mario finds some berries and grabs them. He throws them over Shy Bot's head. Yoshi sees the berries and starts eating them. Five eggs are formed. Yoshi aims and fires at the glass dome. Mechanic Guy isn't too happy about that. He turns to Yoshi and presses a button that changes Shy Bot's other hand into a cannon.
Shy Bot fires the cannon and a high speed cannonball comes out and heads for Yoshi. Yoshi throws an egg at the cannonball. They collide and explode. Yoshi throws two more eggs at the glass dome. The eggs hit, and the glass dome is starting to crack. Mechanic Guy pulls a lever and Shy Bot flies into the sky. He pulls another lever and his hands come back but are aimed at Mario. He presses a button and the hands fire like rockets at Mario. He sees the hands and remembers Lord Crump doing something similar with his robot Magnus. Mario jumps, and lands on one of the hands. Both hands head back for Shy Bot. This gives Mario an idea.
When the hands reattach themselves to Shy Bot, Mario jumps and lands on the dome. He ground pounds on the dome, which cracks even more. Mechanic Guy gets furious. He pushes two buttons at the same time, and Shy Bot starts to spin wildly toward the ground. Mario hangs on for dear life, but eventually loses his grip and falls. Luckily he is caught by Psy Guy's psychic power. Shy Bot lands and out from his back comes three claw-like hands. Each one grabs our heroes. The claws bring our heroes in front of Mechanic Guy.
"I have had enough of you pests! But mostly you, Mario! You destroyed my first machine, and that made me mad!"
"That mecha hand you gave to Taboo was worthless! It exploded on its own!"
"Not that! The tank!"
"What are you talking about? Other than the hand, this is the first of your inventions I've seen!"
"Hmmm. You don't have a very good memory. Oh well. It’s time to end this! Feel the wrath of my Shy Bot!"
Mechanic Guy pulls a lever. The chest of Shy Bot opens and behind it is a ray gun. Our heroes start trying to get free from the claws, but to no avail. The ray gun starts to charge for the blast. Mario and Yoshi are struggling even harder to get free. Psy Guy just looks at Yoshi and notices that he has one more egg. He levitates the egg and sends it into the hole where the ray is supposed to be shot out. The egg clogs the ray gun, and Shy Bot starts to jiggle.
"OH NO! SHY BOT'S GOING TO BLOW!" yells Mechanic Guy. He breaks the dome, which is very easy after Yoshi and Mario have cracked it, and starts his jetpack. He flies out and watches in horror as his Shy Bot is about to blow, but realizes an upside. Mario and Co. are going to die in the explosion.
But what Mechanic Guy doesn't know is that Psy Guy has formed a force field in the nick of time right before the bot explodes. Smoke flies everywhere and Mechanic Guy is proud. When the smoke clears, he gets very upset. He spots Mario and Co. in Psy Guy's force field. Mario spots him, and finds a leftover piece from Shy Bot. He throws it and it hits Mechanic Guy. He falls and lands in front of Mario. Mario searches his pocket and finds the Pure Star. Mechanic Guy gets up and sees Mario has the Star.
"Uh oh. This isn't good. Not only did you destroy Shy Bot, but Merlevil will get upset with me! Until we meet again, Mario!" Mechanic Guy flies up and disappears.
"Well, I got the Pure Star. So let’s head back to Merlon's," says Mario.
Yoshi and Psy Guy head for the cave, but Mario stays behind, wondering what Mechanic Guy was talking about...
Flashback
"I have had enough of you pests! But mostly you, Mario! You destroyed my first machine, and that made me mad!"
"That mecha hand you gave to Taboo was worthless! It exploded on its own!"
"Not that! The tank!"
"What are you talking about? Other than the hand, this is the first of your inventions I've seen!"
End Flashback
Mario pondered this. Then he realizes that Yoshi and Psy Guy have left. He rushes after them.
"I am not happy, Mechanic Guy! I trusted you, and you failed!" says an unhappy Merlevil.
"That guy is tougher than he looks! Plus, he had a Yoshi and Shy Guy that could use psychic powers!"
Taboo joins the conversation. "Don't mention that Shy Guy ever again! He is the one who turned my elemental ice card against me!" he says angrily.
"Okay, since none of you have worked out so far, Kemak is our last hope until you guys get something better! Speaking of Kemak, where is he?" asks Merlevil.
"I'm right here," says a voice. Kemak appears on his platform. “It is a good time for sending me, I have just finished the resurrection spell. Once I come back, I shall perform it. Now, I am off, and I shall do better than you guys did!" He disappears and his cohorts hope he fails after that comment he made.
What will happen when our heroes come face to face with Kemak? Will they win, or lose? And where in the world are Bowser and Luigi? Find out in the next act.