Chapter 14

CHAPTER 14

" P aige!" Dewey shouted. "Go for it!"

She shook her head but pushed herself to race across the space. Bubbles burst from the turtle's shell. Paige side-stepped one but never quit running toward the turtle.

The bubbles would disappear if she could squash her now. And she didn't want to go through another painful few minutes waiting for another chance to attack.

Instead, she barreled forward, flung herself into the air for a third time, and landed square on the turtle's head. It howled in pain before it crumpled to pieces on the floor and melted away.

The remaining bubbles blinked out of existence.

"Paige, you did it!" Dewey shouted. "You defeated her. We won!"

In the corner of the room, a treasure chest appeared.

Dewey buzzed to it. "We won something!"

"Uh, maybe don't–" Paige said as Dewey flipped open the chest. His eyes went wide as he stared inside, and he gasped .

"What is it?" Paige asked as she meandered over, finding the walk longer than she expected with her short legs.

Dewey grinned at her as he rubbed his paws together. "It's a frog suit. Yeah, baby, we're back in business!"

Paige leaned over the box and peered in at the green suit. She reached a hand toward it, and the moment her fingers touched the fabric, she found herself wearing it and sitting in a crouched position. "What the–"

She didn't finish her statement as the airship blinked out of view, and she tumbled through the air.

She caught sight of Dewey, also in a green frog suit, falling above her. "Oh, no, I hope we're not tumbling through time again."

"No, we're falling into–"

Before Dewey could finish his sentence, she slapped into deep water, sending a massive splash up as she sank.

Dewey fell into the water after her. She kicked toward the surface, her green frog legs making swimming easier. She shot out of the water and gasped for breath.

After her lungs no longer burned, she spun in a circle, searching for anything she could crawl out of the water onto and seek shelter.

A green frog suit-clad Dewey surfaced a moment later. "What are you doing? Let's get a move on."

"I'm looking for a way out of this water."

Dewey clicked his tongue. "I'm starting to think you never actually played Super Mario Brothers."

Paige rolled her eyes. "I did so. What's that have to do with anything?"

"Then you should know there's a water world. And you have to swim under the water to get through it."

"Yeah, well, I had a cheat code, and I didn't have to surface for air unlike in real life."

"Oh, well I didn't know you were a big cheater," Dewey said with a shrug. "You know what they say, Paige. Cheaters never win."

"I don't know. I won many, many levels with that cheat code."

"Too bad you don't have one now. Come on, let's go. I scouted a path past the first set of Cheep Cheeps, then we'll have to dive low, go under a wall of seaweed, and come back up. We'll probably need to surface there. Unless we run into a Blooper. Those are wild cards."

Paige shook her head as she tried to imagine the journey. She hoped she could hold her breath that long. "Wait. What are Cheep Cheeps and Bloopers?"

"Cheep Cheeps are the fish that patrol, Bloopers are the ghost-like octopi that roam around."

"Oh, yeah, those. I hope I can handle this."

"Come on, chin up, Paige. You've got the frog suit. We're golden, swimming will be a breeze."

Paige heaved a sigh before she bobbed her head up and down. "Alright, ready."

Dewey counted to three, and they dove down into the water. Paige opened her eyes, spotting the strange large-lipped fish swimming back and forth in the water.

She kicked her frog legs and zipped past one before she rose toward the surface to swim past another. After bypassing two more, she reached the seaweed wall. Her lungs already burned, but she forced herself to dive toward the floor and skim it as she passed underneath the barrier.

As soon as she cleared it, she kicked her powerful legs and headed to the surface. She shot out of the water, gasping for breath. Dewey appeared next to her.

"Okay, only two-thirds left to go."

"Ugh," Paige let her head fall back against her shoulder blades. "This is a killer. And how am I supposed to beat a turtle with these stupid frog legs? "

"We'll have to figure it out. At the very least, you should be able to jump nice and high."

"No, the frog suit made anything on land worse. Way worse. I gotta ditch this thing before we face off with the Koopaling."

"Let's not be hasty. Come on, we've got another underwater sprint to make. We'll surface on the other side of that rock wall for a final breath before we head into the final stretch."

Paige followed the direction his green claw poked. It looked so far. She dug deep for the strength she'd need to swim underwater past the enemies they faced.

With a nod, they both descended below the surface, ducking and dodging the creatures that sought to destroy them. Dewey came dangerously close to an encounter with a Blooper but managed to narrowly escape at the last second.

They made it to their next checkpoint, and, after a brief rest, continued to the final point. As they passed by a bloated, giant Cheep Cheep, Dewey pointed to a pipe along the sea floor. Bubbles escaped his mouth as he called her name, muffled by the water.

She bobbed her head up and down, hoping the pipe wasn't filled with water, and she could take a breath.

She kicked her strong, green legs toward it and swam inside. A few moments later, she spilled into a dark cavern. Dewey tumbled in behind her. From her frog-like crouch, she glanced up at the glowing boxes in the room.

"Paige!" Dewey exclaimed. "A treasure room! Come on!"

He hopped across the floor and leapt up to hit one of the boxes. "Dang it, just a coin."

Paige tried to walk forward, but she could only move in frog hops. She bounced her way across the room and flung herself on top of the first box from which Dewey had claimed the coin .

With another few hops, she rammed into the bottom of a glowing box. An amber leaf popped out of the top.

Dewey fluttered higher and gasped. "Paige! You found a leaf. Quick, jump up and grab it so you can ditch your frog suit."

Paige forced her mind to recall what a leaf did from her video game days. She wasn't actually going to end up in a fox suit with a tail that killed enemies and the ability to fly short distances, was she?

She hopped over to the edge of the row of boxes she stood on and leapt to the leaf above. An electrical surge jolted her as the frog suit melted away, replacing by exactly what she had expected. She stood at her normal height again, the correct size and no longer squatting like a frog.

"Nice," Dewey said with a grin.

Paige eyed him in his fox suit. He spun in circles, letting his bushy tail whirl around.

"We'll really take the bad guys out with this."

"How are you doing that?" Paige asked.

"Simple, just turn a little and it'll spin you automatically."

Paige turned toward her left and found herself spiraling around in circles. She stopped her spinning and shook her head. "Whoa."

"And you should be able to fly if you get a running start. Try it out."

The corner of her lips turned up, and she nodded. She hurried to the other end of the line of blocks and turned back. She ran along the row and flung herself into the air with her arms extended. She floated in the air across the room, able to stay high above the floor for several seconds until she slowly descended back down to the bricks below.

"I did it. I can fly!"

"Yep. Now, let's clear out this room and use our new skills to get through the lava world. That should be it. Then we'll be free."

"Gosh, I hope so. I can't believe this place is real." Paige finished collecting all the coins on the bottom row of boxes while Dewey finished off the top. He landed on her shoulder and together, they proceeded into the pipe in the corner of the room.

When they emerged, a wave of heat smacked Paige in the face. "Wow, it's roasting in here."

The acrid scent of sulfur filled the air. Paige wrinkled her nose at it. "And it smells."

"It's the lava. Come on, let's find Bowser and stomp on him so we can get home."

Paige wiped at a bead of sweat on her brow before she proceeded forward. Suddenly, the fox suit seemed like a terrible idea. She fanned herself as she approached the first hurdle, a large lava pit bubbled and boiled. She'd have to jump over it onto the bricks on the other side.

"That's a pretty big gap. You'll have to fly." Dewey fluttered off her shoulder and started over the lava pit when a fireball shot out of it before plopping back inside. "Whoa. Going to have to time it right. I'll go first, then you fly across."

"Okay," Paige said with a nod, retracing her steps so she could get a running start.

Dewey waited for the fireball to shoot up in the air again. When it reached its peak, he darted across, successfully arriving on the opposite side.

"You're turn. Start running when the fireball shoots up."

"Got it," Paige said with a nod. She lunged back, preparing to take off.

The fireball shot upward. "Go!"

Paige scrambled forward and launched herself in the air. She flew upward and smacked into the silvery bricks that formed the ceiling. She continued to rub along them until she reached the other side with Dewey.

When she landed on her feet, he perched on her shoulder again. "Good job. Now to get past these lasers."

Paige narrowed her eyes at the long, red laser beam that spun in a circle. When it came toward her, she dashed down the corridor, escaping it while it made its round above her head.

"Good job. Okay, now just–LOOK OUT!" Dewey pointed a now-furry digit in front of them. A round ghost stood frozen with its eyes closed. "The minute you turn your back on that Boo, it'll chase you. We have to get past it and run to the next chamber as fast as we can."

"Right. Okay, I'll get a running start now, jump over that lava pit, and get to the door on the other side."

"Wait, wait," Dewey cautioned. "There's something wrong here. This is way too easy."

"Maybe not. I mean, we have made it past a big lava pit with a fireball and a laser already."

"Big deal. Did you ever make it to a lava palace in Mario, Paige? They are notoriously difficult, and we can't afford to lose our raccoon suits. We need all the chances we can get with Bowser."

"This is so ridiculous," Paige said with a shake of her furry head.

"Here's how we're going to play it. We walk up to the Boo super cool-like. Then, we spin around and keep our eye on him until I can test the lava pit for hidden dangers."

Paige sucked in a breath as she prepared for the maneuver. "Okay, I'll keep my eye on him."

She inched her way toward the ghost-like creature. The moment she stepped past it, he twisted and barreled toward her with an open mouth full of teeth.

She whipped around to face him, and the creature stopped, closing its mouth and eyes and floating frozen in the air.

"Good job. Now, I'll check out this…WHOA!" Dewey backtracked. "Yep, there's a fireball in there just waiting to take us out."

"Great," Paige grumbled. "I'm going to have to race past the Boo and leap over this with the right timing."

"Just remember, as soon as you land, turn around and face it so it'll stop, then we'll run to the doorway."

Paige offered him a smirk and a shrug. "I'll just walk backward. See how he likes that."

"You can't. Elemental planes block that sort of stuff."

"Are you serious? That makes no sense."

"Try it," Dewey said.

Paige tried to inch her way backward but found it impossible. Every time she tried to take a step back, she swung around and walked forward. "Well, that's annoying. Okay, fine, we'll do what we have to do. You fly across now, and then I'll come behind you."

Dewey bobbed his head up and down before he fluttered to the edge of the lava pit. After the fireball shot out of the red-hot magma, he zipped across to the other side. "Your turn."

Paige narrowed her eyes at the Boo in front of her. She'd need to pass underneath him and hurry behind him a few steps to get the running start she needed to fly across the lava-filled chasm.

She approached the ghost creature and dashed past it.

"Look out! He's on your tail!" Dewey shouted.

Paige whipped around, stopping the thing in its tracks. Only now the problem she faced was that it stopped right in the middle of her path. She couldn't make it past the bubble-like specter without ducking under it or leaping over it.

"I'm trapped," she called to Dewey .

"Yeah. You're going to have to let him get closer to you, then try. Turn around and let him get a good run at you."

"Seriously? I don't want him any closer than he already is." She wrinkled her nose as she stared at the thing. She couldn't afford to lose her handy raccoon suit before her battle with Bowser.

"Come on, Paige! Quit stalling."

"Okay, okay. Give me a minute." She blew out a long breath. She could do this. She'd channel her inner Drucinda. The woman would probably laugh in the face of a Boo. She tried to give it a smirky smile like she'd seen on the part-Valkyrie's face so many times before.

An evil laugh burst from her. She sneered at the white ghost and laughed louder.

"Wh-what are you doing?" Dewey called. "Are you having a mental break?"

Paige rolled her neck and cleared her throat. "No. I was…working up my courage."

"By laughing at the Boo?" Dewey squashed his fleshy eyebrows together.

"Shut up," she said as she shook her limbs. "Okay, here I go."

She lifted a foot to turn away from the creature when Dewey shouted, "Wait!"

He flung his hands out, his eyes wide.

Paige froze with a grimace on her lips. "What?"

"I was just thinking about this. I think you should run away from him. Let him follow you a good way so you have some leeway when you dash past him again this way."

Paige considered the plan. "You're right. I need time to fly across and flying is slower than leaping, landing, and turning around to stop him."

Dewey nodded. "Good luck. "

Paige sucked in a deep breath before she spun and hurried away from the Boo.

"Here he comes," Dewey warned. "He's above you. You should be able to get past him."

Paige ground to a halt, her feet slapping against the gray bricks of the lava castle's floor. She whipped around, stopping the Boo in his tracks as he hovered in the air over her head.

With a deep inhale, she burst forward and raced past it. The moment her eyes were no longer facing him, he twisted to chase after her with his sharp, pointing teeth showing.

"Run!" Dewey encouraged.

Paige hit the edge of the chasm and flung herself in the air. She flew across as the Boo raced toward her. When she touched ground on the other side, she hurried to spin around, stopping him in his tracks as he floated above the lava pit.

She wiped a bead of sweat from her hairline as she puffed for breath. She doubled over and braced herself against her thighs. "Whew. That was rough."

"If you think that was rough, you ain't seen nothing yet, sister. We still have to face Bowser."

"Yeah, I know. I hope this is easy. I'm getting used to stomping on these things. If I can get two clear hits in before he does any damage."

Dewey chuckled at her. She shot him a glare, and he sobered. "I mean, right, yes. That's…an awesome plan."

"Come on, let's go finish this." Paige raced toward the doorway and ducked inside of it before the Boo could catch them. They found another hallway filled with Boos, lava pits, and laser traps.

After battling their way through it together with a few mishaps that nearly cost Paige her raccoon suit, they found another doorway .

They stepped through it finding a throne room. A massive turtle with a shock of red hair on his head lounged on the throne.

A puff of smoke escaped his massive nostrils as Paige stepped closer. He rose from the throne, towering over her as he stomped forward.

Paige's heart pounded as she faced her final battle to return to the real world.