//------------------------------// // Chapter 8: Toad Square and Bowsers Awakening // Story: Mario, Luigi and MLP: Bowser's Inside Story and Chrysalis' Journey // by XLR8 Fox //------------------------------// As the group finally made it out of the tunnel, they see a Toad on one of many blue platforms, the toad turns to see them in surprise. “Master Mario! And Master Luigi! And the Equestrians!” he said excitedly, “You guys also got inhaled! Phew, thats kind of a relief! With you guys in here, we might actually have a shot.” he said. “But, what about the others?” Mario asked. “What? All the others?” he asked, “I think all of the Toads Bowser inhaled are gathered here…”. “All gathered here?” Mario questioned. “Folks are doing what they can. Y’know, scavenging stuff from inside Bowser, opening shops, problem is, this isn’t exactly a high traffic shopping zone” he said “Yeah, tell me about it” The group heard the new voice and flying up to them, was Rainbow Dash. “Rainbow Dash! You’re ok!” Twilight said happily. “Of course I am, I’m awesome, no way some big ugly turtle is gonna take me down!” she said confidently. “Wait, where's Pinkie Pie? As well as Kooper, Moonlight and the Princesses? They aren’t with you?” Twilight asked. “Sorry Twi, I woke up alone, except for all these Toads” she explained, “I was kind of waiting to see if any of you showed up, luckily you did” she said, glad some of her friends showed up ok. “Everyone got pretty antsy, sitting around doing nothing, opening up these shops was a nice diversion y’know?” the Toad said, “So c’mon, you guys, give us a lift and buy something, huh? Me, I’m gonna go scout around and see if I can’t find some more useful stuff” he said before walking to the tunnel. “Could you perhaps keep an eye for a Pink pony, a Red shelled Koopa, a changeling and the princesses for us?” Mario asked “Sure thing, see ya later” the Toad said before leaving. “Come on guys, lemme show you around here, been here for an hour or so and its not that bad” Rainbow Dash said as she began showing everyone around what was called Toad Square. The group explored around and even bought some stuff in the shops for their adventure, some Nuts which can heal everyone in the battle, some new gear, such as Picnic Wear overalls for the bros, they even tried some of the Emoglobin Juice on Toad was selling for 10 coins, it was surprisingly delicious. They then come across a shop that has a Diamond Dog as its owner, he was a German shepherd breed, he was wearing a black hat with a red band around it and a red and green plaid shirt with ripped off sleeves, he also had a robot arm instead of a normal left arm, there was also a special logo on the shoulder of the robot arm, his shop was selling special Pony gear. “Hey there” he said to them. “A Diamond dog?” Twilight asked, confused on how a Diamond Dog ended up in Bowser's body. “Yeah, surprise me too” Rainbow Dash said. “Nice to meet you all, my name is Mektaveus Armaldo, but you may refer to me as Mekarm for obvious reasons” he said as he moved his robot arm around. Luigi noticed the symbol on his robot arm, “Excuse me Mekarm, but was that arm made by a man named E. Gadd?” he asked. “Why yes, it was, E. Gadd had found me in town some time back and saw me with no arm, due to an accident I prefer not to say, so he opted to make a new arm for me, even equipped it with many tools for any situation if needed, but for now, I am selling special items that have mixed both Mushroom Kingdom and Equestrian Magic, for example” he said before he shows some hoof bands, “These special Hood bands, these little things were made in the Mushroom Kingdom with tough but stretchable material and infused with equestrian magic, here, these cost only 30 Mushroom coins” They decided to buy 3 Hoof bands, which went to Rainbow Dash, Rarity and Fluttershy, the special Hoof Bands increases the users defense by 10%. Everyone got Rainbow Dash up to speed on what’s been happening since they got inhaled. (Get it? Up to speed, because she’s fast-ok) “Sweet, I’d love to try out that Special Attack you got Mario!” Rainbow Dash said as they all approached another stall, however the Toad there looked nervous. “Hey...um, well, you see...Mario...well, Toadbert was gonna brief you on his current investigation of Bowsers body, but...he went off on some errand, and he never came back” the Toad said, “Oh man, I’m really worried… what could’ve happened…” he said, clearly worried. After looking through all of Toad Town, the group decided to go and search for their missing friends as well as Toadbert. They traveled through the tunnels before coming across an area full of bones. “This place…” Starlow said before noticing something ahead, “Will you guys wait a moment?” she said as she floated on ahead. “What the…” they heard her say, “This can’t be… Yeah it must be!” she then came back. “Sorry for the wait, I found something up ahead that bugs me” Starlow said. “What do you mean?” Rainbow Dash asked. “It’s faster to show you than to bother explaining, head in there” Starlow said. “Well, lets-a-go!” Mario said. “Okay” Luigi said as the group then journeyed on through the area. As they move through the bones, they see a giant yellow button like thing. “This! This is the thing! The sticking-out part... it seems to be connected to Bowser's major nerve.” Starlow said as she turned to the group, “If we can stimulate this thing, something will happen…” she said. Mario was thinking for a second when he got an idea, he pulled out his hammer, he pulled it back before slamming it into the nerve. Everyone felt the entire ground shake before they heard- “YOWCH!” Rainbow Dash smirked, she had put two and two together and decided for a little payback, she turned around and then bucked the nerve, sending another pulse through Bowser. “YAAAARGH!” Outside, Bowser was now wide awake and holding his gut in pain. “Whoa, what did I eat?!” he said to himself, “That’s some serious pain going on down there!”. Back inside everyone heard Bowser talk, “Oh you don’t even know” Rainbow Dash said as she and Mario hit the nerve again at the same time, hammer and buck together. “YAAAARGH!” Starlow looked up, “That got him up” she said before yelling to Bowser, “HEY! HEAR ME?”. Back outside, Bowser heard her voice, but couldn't pinpoint it where exactly, “What the-- HEY! Is somebody there?!” he looked around, it was so dark where he was, couldn’t see a thing for now, “Who is that?! Where am I?!” he demanded. “Don’t bother looking! I’m actually down here! Inside your body!” Starlow said, however this did not sit well with Bowser. “You gotta be kidding! It’s in my BODY?!” he said in anger before looking to his own body, “HEY YOU! IN THERE! WHAT ARE YOU?! WHY ARE YOU IN MY BODY?!” he demanded. “You don’t remember? At Peach’s Castle...?” Starlow asked. “Peach’s Castle?” Bowser questioned before trying to remember, 2Mario pounded me at Peach’s...I got chucked into a forest…” he then looked to his body again, “I don’t remember the rest…” he said. “Oh… you don’t?” Starlow asked. Bowser thought more before he remembered something, “Wait--I ate a weird mushroom from some weirdo in the forest” he said, “Weird forest mushrooms… From some weirdo…” … “I DON’T GET IT!” he said angrily, “I don’t get what happened to me at ALL! This is stupid!” Bowser said. “You're telling me” Rainbow Dash mumble, not wanting to draw attention. “And you, partying in my body like you own it, How dare you?!” Bowser said, clearly not happy someone is in his body. Starlow looked to the group, “This is really lucky, lets not tell him yet that he inhaled us” Starlow said before speaking to Bowser, “Maybe I should explain who I am later… It’s a long story…” she said. “Whoa, hold it! Long? I hate boring stories…” Bowser said before suddenly remembering something, “Hey, wait! You! You in my bod! I’ve heard your voice before…” Everyone in the group suddenly got nervous at this, “Oh...uh, really? Weird” Starlow said, trying to make it not obvious. “Listen, to change the subject, uh, where are you right now?” she asked Bowser then realized he had the same question, “Oh yeah, right! Where am I?” he asked before looking around, he saw he was in a dark cave of sorts. “Kind of a dim, dank cave” Bowser said, “What in the world am I doing in a dim, dank cave?!”. “A cave?” Starlow asked before turning to the group, “This is just weird...he doesn’t remember inhaling us at all, he doesnt know where he is right now, what happened up there?” she wondered out loud as everyone began thinking on what could have happened. Starlow then spoke to Bowser again, “Hey, up there! First, shouldn’t you find a way out of that cave?” she said. “Hrmph! I was gonna do that anyway, genius!” Bowser said. Starlow turned to the group, “Lets let Bowser do his thing for a while.” Everyone agreed, if they were gonna figure this all out, they better let Bowser do what he wants for now. Bowser looked around before he saw an exit of the current area, he then went to the exit.