So the orb our heroes were looking for was inside the casino? It seemed improbable, since after all, the orb was placed here long before the casino was built, but Tippi's senses had to be trusted. If they did find the orb, though, who could tell what would happen? Morris had attached himself to the group, and there was no getting rid of him. Our heroes just had to trust that they'd be fine, but without Maia, they could feel their confidence slowly draining away...
"Do you think we'll stick out in here?" asked Luigi.
The casino's floor was decorated with a red-and-gold diamond pattern. Hundreds of different types of gambling outlets were placed around the giant room; slot and game machines, card tables, and tons of variations. Various citizens were seated at the many games of chance. Most of them appeared to be middle-aged, and a few were seated at a bar to the side, presumably drinking some form of alchohol. "Why?" asked Mario. "Do we look too civilized?"
"At least be glad they didn't find the orb and put it up as a slot machine prize or something," breathed Peach. "That would
not be good."
"Right, Tippi," began Morris in his teenage-girl voice. "So where's that orb?"
"It's a bit to our left, and I think it's below where we were outside. How to get it, though..."
"Does the casino have a lower level?" asked Mario, turning in Paletta's direction. "We might be able to find it there."
"Well, I've never been in here," admitted Paletta. "I don't know. I guess we could look around and see." Her anger was thinly veiled.
"Let's go." Mario looked around for a sign that might tell him where a staircase was located. Not seeing one, he headed off along the right path, looking around. A sign near the center of the giant room indicated stairs to the far left. "It's to the left, guys."
Our heroes took a shortcut through the heart of the casino to reach the stairs. Something in their brains told them to simply walk ahead without investigating the surrounding gambling, except for Morris, who eyed nearly every betting machine around them.
Hmm. Maybe Dimentio can get some ideas from all these complicated games.At the left side of the casino, there existed two sets of stairs; one going up, the other going down. Our heroes descended the downward one, emerging in another room of the casino. This large room mostly contained tables for playing cards and placing bets. "Who would think the orb would be in a place like this?" wondered Luigi.
"I hope we don't look suspicious," stated Paletta as our heroes tentatively walked in the direction Tippi sensed the orb. "I mean, I'm too young to come in here by myself, and I hope people don't stare at two guys with identical-except-red-and-green clothing."
"The only suspicious person here is
you. People stare at crazy maids, don't they?" Morris smirked.
Paletta exploded. "I am
not a crazy maid! And for your information, I
have a brother, and his name's Raymond!"
"But I sure did a nice job of fooling Mario and those heroes for a few hours, didn't I? You're just sour because I picked you out of all the people in this city to act as a weird maid. What if I'd picked Cathy?" Morris bent his right knee slightly and extended his arms to the side with the palms facing up, while Paletta turned around, doing her best to act disinterested. "Would you still be crazy-mad at me, or would you just let Cathy deal with it? I wonder what she's doing right now. Are you even interested in your acquaintance? Or are you just absorbed in entertaining yourself like always?"
Paletta whirled around. "Shut up, Mor...Cathy! You're just exaggerating things to make me look bad. That, and you're annoying me." Paletta definitively turned back around and resumed following the group.
"Wow. You took that a lot better than I expected. Maybe you're not so selfish and angry after all?" Morris gently stuck his foot out and tripped Paletta.
"Agh!" Paletta picked herself off the floor, her face red. "You want a fight, is that it?"
Morris shrugged, artifically smiling. "I don't know. Do you? We can fight right here if you want. We'll probably get kicked out of the casino, though."
"Paletta, ignore that jerk." Paletta turned around to look at Tippi. "Some people just aren't worth your time. Why bother?"
Tippi's statement reminded Paletta of an instance that had occured in the past. "Huh. I never really thought of it that way. A couple weeks ago I got into a debate with this guy at a restaurant, and I just didn't stop. That guy seemed like a real nutcase, too. Maybe I should just ignore people like that."
"Remember, you don't always have to prove your point. If it just isn't working, forget about it."
"OK. I'll see."
After a few moments, Cathy's voice again came from behind Paletta. "This is a really run-down casino, isn't it? I never would've thought it was like this when we were talking about it outside the other day."
"Would you...what? Are you trying to make...whatever! Shut up!"
That didn't even make sense. Does he think he's getting entertainment out of this or something? What a weirdo. I think I'm on the right track."It's around here somewhere..." Tippi hovered near the wall in a corner. "It seems like it's behind this wall."
You know, thought Luigi,
Cathy's sort of cute, too."That probably means there's a secret entrance or something." Mario reached out and touched the area with his hand, pulling it over the area to feel for a hidden panel or something of the like, but didn't detect anything. "I don't think there's anything here. How do we get there? Maybe...no, she's out of commission for now." Mario felt it was best to avoid mentioning Maia's name while Morris was around, even though he apparently already knew about her.
"Step aside. I'll do this." Morris shoved himself through the group to a spot in front of the wall and transformed into B-A Omega. He extended a knife-sharp blade from his left hand and moved it toward the wall.
"Just what do you think
you're doing?" Our heroes, Paletta, and Morris swiftly turned to look in the voice's direction. A cigar-smoking man was seated at a slot machine near them, facing away from the slots. "You wouldn't happen to be one of those outlaws who're always trying to deface our casino, would you?"
"What? What are you talking about?" Morris turned to face this person.
"Whoa there. You're some sort of robot? You and the gang who sent you aren't gonna vandalize this place on my watch." He made a "beating up" gesture with his fist.
"Uh..." Morris pointed at the slot machine behind him. "Look! A Wild Card!"
"A Wild Card!?! Where?!?" The man, in a blur, glued himself to the chair while Morris quickly tore a large rectangular hole in the wall. Our heroes dashed inside the revealed passageway while Morris deftly replaced the wall. He changed back into Cathy.
"What was with that guy?" asked Peach. "He scares me."
"He had that casino-addict air," related Tippi. "He probably thinks anyone who's ever done anything bad in this casino is some kind of evil vandalizer. This place is like another world inside. The city's called Sereniburg...I guess that's everywhere except this casino."
Our heroes were now standing in a dim, murky passage. "I guess the orb's here," remarked Luigi. "It's down this passageway, isn't it, Tippi?"
"Yes, it's closer here. This is probably where it was hidden."
Our heroes carefully walked down the featureless passage, eventually turning a corner to the right and coming to a dead end made of solid rock. "There's...nothing here," uttered Peach.
"Yes there is," argued Morris. "Isn't there, Tippi? It can't just end like this."
"I do believe there's something here..." Tippi revealed the outline of a door. "That door was hidden. The orb's very near here..."
The group proceeded through the door into a small room. There was nothing in this room except for a small pedestal, on which rested a green glass sphere. "That's it!" exclaimed Peach. "Another orb!"
"That's it!" repeated Morris. "MY orb!" He bolted to the pedestal and swiped the glass orb. "Thanks for helping me find this orb, heroes." He tossed the orb upward, catching it in his hand. "I'll be seeing you."
"Wait just a moment!" Paletta dove toward Morris, tackling him and forcing him to drop the orb.
"Rraaa! Get off me!" While Morris and Paletta struggled, Mario moved toward the orb. "Oh no, you don't!" Morris extended his free leg and kicked the orb away from Mario's grasp. It richocheted off the wall and headed back toward Morris, who caught it. "Impressed by my mad skills? I trained for hours after you guys beat me." He wrestled himself free of Paletta's grip and stood up. "Including that pathetic Mimi. Now that she's kicked the bucket, I'm the only awesome shape-shifter around here," Morris changed back to his original form, "and I'm going to take this orb. See ya, losers."
"Not so fast." Mario simply took the orb out of Morris's hand.
"Oh, you want to do this the hard way?" Morris geared up for a fight. "I'll show you the hard way. You guys have half of your original ranks, and adding a
crazy maid isn't gonna help. Nope. I'll make sure that orb goes in
my hands, and
MY hands only!"
MINIBOSS
Morris
Morris brought his leg upward in a sudden move and released the orb from Mario's hand. "That's our orb, and we're taking it!" Paletta dove toward Morris again, but the shape-shifter routinely produced a sharp blue stone and sent it flying at Paletta, knocking her across the room. "Oww! You never told me you could do that!"
"Why would I need to? I like surprises, don't you?" Morris rose into the air, producing a ring of the stones that surrounded his body. "Nyah! Try to get your precious orb, heroes."
"Maybe I will!" Luigi readied the Super Jump and aimed toward Morris, knocking him away. He wrestled the orb out of Morris's hand. "I've got it, M-" Before he could finish, Morris attacked him with another rock, sending him bowling over. He was still clutching the orb in his right hand, however. "Mario! Catch!" Luigi tossed the orb in Mario's direction. As Mario moved to retreive it, Morris expertly aimed one of the stone weapons directly at the orb, causing it to lurch off course. The minion dove and scooped up the orb. The nearby Peach went for a surprise attack, swiping at the orb with her parasol. The orb dropped in front of Morris.
"Grab it!" Mario and Peach both went for it, slamming into each other in the process.
"Ha ha. Idiots!" Morris picked up the orb again in time for Mario to whack him with the hammer. Paletta, recovered, dove into the mix and took the orb out of the distracted minion's hands. When Morris moved to take it again, Mario nailed a jump attack.
"Who has the orb now, Morris?" Paletta taunted, displaying the green sphere.
"You guys are still up to it, huh? I thought the lack of actual fighting would've gotten to you by now. I guess I just have to keep at it!" Morris produced a line of blue stones in midair and aimed them all for Paletta. She dove forward, missed by all the stones.
"Gee, Paletta, you're good," complimented Luigi.
Paletta smiled. "You guys are better. I just tried something I saw."
"Say goodbye to that orb." Morris swiftly kicked the stone out of Paletta's hands near the ground and again took the orb after it bounced off the wall. Paletta retaliated, grabbing Morris's arm in an attempt to make the minion drop the orb, and placing her other hand on the orb to wrench it from Morris's grasp in a sort of modified arm-wrestle. It lasted only a few seconds, though, as Morris kicked Paletta's feet from under her, causing her to lose balance, fall over and release her grip on the artifact. "Now who-" Morris turned back to the heroes, only to be body-slammed by Luigi. The orb flew up in the air.
"Mario! Catch it!" urged Paletta.
Mario ran for the orb, jumped onto the pedestal, and caught the orb in mid-drop. "We've got to secure this thing."
"And just how do you think you're going to do that?" Morris attacked Mario with another stone assault and claimed the orb. However, he was quickly assaulted by Mario's hammer. Mario swiftly grabbed the orb and placed it behind his back. Morris again rose into the air, surrounding himself with a ring of rotating blue stones. He flipped into 3D and sailed around the room, performing the same trick he had used several times before. This room was much more cramped, however, making avoiding the barrage much more difficult.
"I'll take this cheater." Mario too flipped into 3D.
"Wow, I never saw you do that," remarked Paletta.
In 3D, Morris sent several of the sharp rocks at Mario. He knocked several away with the hammer, sending them back at his attacker, but Morris did manage to get one good shot in that loosened Mario's grip on the orb. The shape-shifter quickly took the orb again. "You might as well just give up. I mean, there's no possible way we could settle this. Aside from you defeating me, of course. Which isn't going to happen."
"Or maybe it will? You never know. We defeated you every time before, as you remember." As Morris flipped back into 2D, Mario flipped as well and threw his hammer at Morris. The startled minion dropped the green orb, which Paletta dove and caught.
"I've got the orb, guys." Paletta threw the orb to Mario.
"Argh!" Morris descended to the ground, folding his paper-thin arms. "I just can't keep my hands on that orb. Of course, you can't either, but that's beside the point. Hmm. I think I know what to do." Morris suddenly aimed a stream of blue stones toward Mario, knocking him over. Paletta again reached for the orb, but Morris swiftly kicked her hand away and took the orb for himself. "Catch me if you can, heroes! And butterfly thing! And crazy maid!" Morris changed back into Cathy and bolted out of the room in the direction of the casino.
"Where's he going?" panicked Paletta. "We've got to get him!" Our heroes sped after Morris, running through the hatch Morris apparently hadn't bothered to replace.
Morris was heading in the direction of the staircase. When he reached it, he turned and rushed up the stairs. "What is he doing?" wondered Peach. Morris briefly turned his head, glancing at our heroes, then disappeared up the stairs. Our heroes followed him, ignoring the suspicious glances the nearby gamblers were riveting into them. As our heroes ascended the staircase, they couldn't see Morris on this floor.
"He must have gone upstairs!" Mario bolted up the stairs to the second floor, leading the others. They emerged in a large room, dimly lit by blue lights. Several people were gathered around a thick square pillar at the room's center.
"What was that glass thing, missy?" asked one of them. Then, scrutinizing "Cathy" more closely, he asked, "Aren't you too young to gamble here?"
"Young? You have no idea what you're dealing with, buster. I'm 20
times as old as you are!" As our heroes reached him, Morris changed into his normal form, provoking gasps from the surrounding audience. "Yeah, you like that, heroes? I just fed your orb to this gambling machine. If you want it that badly, I guess you could follow me, but this pillar is too cramped for you to fit inside. Looks like the countdown starts soon."
"Countdown? What?" questioned Paletta.
"This is the casino's main event every night. I saw its advertisement when I was looking around the casino. You put your wagers in these little devices, and they shoot up to the top of this pillar way above in a tower over the ceiling. Then they're scrambled, mixed, and matched, and whatever happens to your money is what you're stuck with. Double, triple, quadruple, none, whatever. And that orb is gonna be impossible to grab, except for me, because I have awesome shape-shifting powers. So, see ya, heroes. Countdown's almost started!" As the crowd watched, Morris cracked his neck, rotated his head and extended long spider legs from his head. He sheared a hole in the glass with one of the legs and crawled into the pillar's interior as a countdown was displayed on the glass, beginning at 120. The pillar began descending.
"I'll get the orb," assured Mario. "You all wait here. I'll take care of it."
"Mario, are you sure?" worried Peach, but she was powerless to stop Mario from jumping into the pillar and initiating a chase to the top of the gambling device.
BOSS
Morris
Mario leaped atop one of the internal decorations as Morris attached himself to the side of the pillar's interior. There were various tubes and rectangular prism-shaped decorations inside the pillar, so at least Mario had footing, but it wasn't easy footing. "Why even try?" dared Morris. "You'll fall anyway. See ya." He began climbing the pillar, not moving as quickly as usual due to its downward motion. Mario jumped from the pillar's bottom on top of Morris, landing on a stable decorative foothold. "Let's see how you like this!" Morris aimed a large, spear-like stone toward the hero, who jumped it and angled for a thin tube protruding from the side wall.
"You can't get me with those, Morris. I've been dodging those ever since I fought Mimi in Merlee's Mansion." Mario hopped to an adjacent platform.
"Trying to pull ahead of me, are you?" Morris continued climbing. "Have a taste of this!" Morris duplicated his head, bringing the new head into swift contact with Mario. The hero briefly swayed, almost losing his balance, but jumped at the last second, nailed Morris's duplicate head, and landed on a platform above. Morris tried a new tactic. He extended his legs directly to the other side of the pillar, bringing his body to the other side and smacking into Mario. Mario was knocked back, grabbing onto a nearby ledge with his fingertips. He carefully pulled himself back up while Morris continued climbing. They had now reached the point where the pillar met the ceiling. The countdown had fallen to 105.
I have to keep Morris from going up too high! Mario jumped across a few of the adjacent platforms, accidentally hitting the back of a panel on the wall. The button set off a miniature slot machine that displayed three types of tubes. When it had stopped, several of those tubes extended from nearby walls. "What's going on here?"
"Those slot machines can be activated by the viewers. They mix and match that money further. These tubes and things are supposed to represent the path the money takes. Just randomizes things a bit more, doesn't it? Including your potential to beat me." Mario realized the myriad added tubes only made it more difficult to climb the pillar. He was still several feet behind Morris, and the countdown had dropped to 98.
There's more than a minute and a half left. That's enough time, Mario hoped. He grabbed a nearby tube, swung his body around it, and landed on a higher-up platform from which he could reach Morris. He jumped on the giant spider's head, using it to bounce to another platform and pull ahead of the minion.
"Hey! Who said you could get ahead of me?" Morris produced a large wave of blue stones. Unlike the previous times he had done this, the wave ran vertically, making it ever more dangerous for Mario. He was hit by one of the stones and knocked onto a nearby platform, almost at the same level as Morris. "Have a taste of this!" Morris withdrew his legs, surrounded his head with stones, and spun around the pillar like a top, making him almost impossible to avoid due to the crowded arena. When Mario had been hit a few times, Morris again attached himself to the right side of the pillar and extended his legs. "Had enough?" The minion pulled ahead of Mario.
74. Still fine... While Mario continued jumping the platforms in an effort to catch up, Morris activated another slot. A ring of tubes encircled the pillar.
"How're you going to get through that, huh?"
Mario didn't feel like answering Morris, but he knew how to climb this. He jumped at one section of the tubes, grabbed onto it, and swung his body upwards, striking Morris directly. Morris had been damaged to the point where one of his legs fell off.
Maybe I should just attack Morris. Mario planted his feet onto another nearby tube and struck Morris with the hammer, only to be met in the face by a large blue rock. Mario lost his balance and fell from the tube, catching it with his left hand. Scrambling back up took more time than he wanted, but he managed to jump ahead to the tube and onto another platform. They'd now broken the ceiling of the casino, able to view the nearby area of Sereniburg from above, but the pillar would soon fall back through the ceiling.
Oh! That's right! He's probably going to get there when the counter's about...30 or so? Mario looked over at one of the neon orange counters, which now displayed 61.
I've got to hurry it up! Mario desperately jumped to another nearby platform while Morris continued activating more roulettes. They created more obstacles for Mario, but since he was below Morris, there wasn't much else to get in the hero's way. Soon he'd almost reached Morris's level.
"You're persistent, aren't you?" Morris produced two heads and sent another rock wave Mario's way. He jumped to a tube on the opposite side of the pillar and slammed both heads with the hammer. He then went for Morris himself, knocking out another leg. "You can't do anything to me! I'm almost there!"
38...37...36...
Morris had just about reached the top of the pillar. Various tubes, gears, and techno-thingies were sorting the money around. One of these was the green orb. "There it is!" Mario jumped to a nearby platform, only to be blocked by Morris.
"I'm taking that orb now. Have fun." He reached upward to grab it.
"No!" Mario jumped onto Morris's leg, clinging onto it. His weight pushed it down and prevented Morris from extending it to the orb.
"Get off my leg, jerk!" Mario planted his feet onto a nearby tube, yanking the leg off after a few seconds.
Now for the orb! Mario jumped to the highest platform he could reach and attempted to grab the orb. Morris blocked his move with a frantic stone attack and moved another leg toward the orb.
25...24...23...
Mario and Morris had been lowered back into the ceiling. If the countdown ended, the orb would be placed in a random spot at the pillar's bottom, and there was no telling what Morris could do then.
20 seconds to go... Mario again grabbed onto Morris's leg and jumped from there to nail his head. He bounced off the ceiling and came back to repeatedly hit Morris. He was left with only one leg.
16...15...14...
"Ah-ha!" Morris extended his final leg, coming close to getting the orb each time. It was being tossed around the top of the pillar, making reaching it difficult.
Come on. Think. How can I loosen his grip?The hammer, Mario.10...9...8...
What? Maia? Is that you?Yeah. I have a little more power now, but it's not much. Use your hammer now! She immediately left Mario's mind, and Mario didn't question. As they sank below the rim of the ceiling, Mario tossed his hammer in the direction of the orb.
5...4...3...
The flying projectile slammed through the machinery, knocked out Morris's final leg, and destroyed the mechanical arm which held the orb. The glass sphere fell directly into Mario's hand.
2...1...JACKPOT!
The pillar stopped as Morris fell to the ground, defeated. Various amounts of money were placed in the slots.
Morris groaned, returning to his original form. "I can't believe this. You just got the orb at the last second 'cause you had a hammer. I'll be back, heroes. You haven't seen the last of me!" The minion flipped out.
"Whoa," exclaimed one of the waiting gamblers. "That sure spiced up this routine."
"I saw you, Mario," reported Paletta. "That was awesome! You put that jerk in his place!"
Mario stepped out of the pillar through the broken section of glass. "I had a little help from Maia. She was able to tell me to throw the hammer."
"Great work," congratulated Luigi. "We've got three of those orbs. Now we just need to go back to Flipside and-"
"What?" interrupted Paletta. "You're leaving?"
Tippi looked at Paletta. "Well, yes. I suppose we have to. You remember everything we told you, don't you?"
"Yes, but..." Paletta looked downward. "It was so great having you guys here. And seeing that minion being punished. It was...exciting! And I like exciting."
Mario rested his hand on the excited girl's shoulder. "It was nice meeting you, too. For real."
Paletta raised her head and smiled. "Yeah, I guess. It was fun while it lasted. I guess there's no other choice, is there? You have to save all worlds."
"That we do," agreed Tippi. "But we're not going to forget you. You made things...well...very interesting."
"Oh, me?" Paletta could barely contain her large smile. "Well...thanks. Thanks a lot. I'm glad I could help."
"You're welcome, Paletta," wished Luigi. "And maybe we'll see you again. The portal to this dimension will still be open as far as I know."
"Oh, yeah. That'll be good. I'll see you then."
"Goodbye, Paletta," finished Tippi. "Hopefully we can see each other again soon."
ORB GET!
-END OF CHAPTER-
Dimentio and Morris had concocted a plan to freeze Mario in his tracks once and for all, but in the dimension of the third orb, Mario and the others prevailed, with the help of their new
true friend, Paletta Vibe, as well as the mysterious-as-ever Maia. With three orbs in hand, only two remain, three less than the number of Pure Hearts our heroes had needed to find at this stage. Yet the heroes were unable to uncover anything about the backstory of Tedac's dimension. With whatever vague connection to Amtakan that might be implied, it is evident our heroes have not seen the last of that dimension's impact. Perhaps one of the final two orbs will connect some of the pieces-but of course, "pieces" could mean one of several dozen things on this adventure...
"And then it must have been
her or something. I mean, how else would that guy know to throw his hammer into all that stuff? We were, like, in a tussle or something. I didn't even know what was happening. She's letting him cheat, that's what."
Dimentio lowered his head and sighed. "Would this have anything to do with your popcorn addiction, Morris?"
"What? No. It's not like they got away or anything.
They confronted
me."
"Trying something new, huh?" questioned Bowser. "Those heroes gave us a taste of our own medicine."
"So now what do we do?" asked B-A Omega. "Those heroes already have three out of the five orbs. We didn't even think they could get two of them."
"Ah ha ha ha. Already, another plans awakens in the deepest recesses of my mind. Do you recall the plan Blumiere and I staged in the Dimension of Refuge?"
"Oh, yeah," agreed Alpha. "That one was a real whopper. A death trap, a mental weapon, a couple more death traps..." The robot emitted a sighing noise, despite lacking the vocal processes to truly sigh. "It just makes me want to PUT A BANANA IN MY EAR!"
"Yes, that plan. Now, in that plan we attacked the heroes with a mental weapon in an attempt to dissolve their group. We did manage to get Bowser," Dimentio formally twisted his hand toward Bowser, "but otherwise, the plan wasn't much of a success. However, if we modify the basic idea a bit, we could hit the heroes where they're weak and do a large amount of damage. Minions, have you noticed Mario when he's introverted? He isn't used to this demanding of a task, and it's gotten to him. If we assault him mentally, we may just put him out of commission."
"I like where you're going with this," offered B-A Omega. "Sort of what we did with the Refuge, but to the max or something! I love it."
"In fact, minions, here's a reminder that both of the remaining orbs are located in that very dimension. It's likely that the orbs were hidden in the more remote areas to the south. The area to the south of the desert and the Refuge itself contains no land, so I am not quite sure whether they're more easterly, located south of the mountains, or to the west, below the area the heroes visited a while before then. But, we just need to follow the heroes wherever they're guided. Bowser, how would you like a role in this plan?"
"I'm on it, baby! I've been itching to get into the action ever since those pesky heroes stomped me."
"Your enthusiasm is a plus, but let's not overestimate ourselves. The heroes have proven their strength again and again, and we can't underestimate them either. Come, Bowser." Dimentio and Bowser vanished.
"Hey, Morris," began Omega. "Come here. There's something I've been wanting to tell you for a while."
"What is it?"
"Well, there's a reason I didn't tell you about this before, but..." Omega tilted his mechanical head downward, contemplating how to place his words. "Nah...never mind. It doesn't matter now."
"What? What is it, Omega? You can tell me."
"No. Not yet. I'm not sure if I'm ready. See ya." Alpha and Omega flipped out.
"I gave him some of the greatest advice a human can give, and this is how he repays me?"
"Shut your trap, insolent traitor! We're going to show you what happens when you mess with Amtakan's plans."
"Traitor? You mean it wasn't
his decision to go insane and everything?"
"That doesn't matter. It's him we're loyal to now, and that's the way it's going to remain."
"You're just deluding yourselves. He's a madman now!"
"Maybe he is. But if so, he's a brilliant madman. He knows how to make this world a better place."
"Do you really believe that drivel he spews out constantly? He knows how to make himself sound convincing. He's just trying to-"
"Whatever! Listen, either you're going to give in now, or we're going to destroy you. Your power is no match for the strength Amtakan gave us."
"There's no way you can stop us from going on with our plan. Even if you defeat me here, Amtakan's going to be stopped. That's an absolute."
Our heroes exited the yellow door atop Flipside Tower. "Funny," remarked Luigi. "The color of the orbs isn't matching up with the doors anymore like the Pure Hearts did."
"There's only five of them," pointed out Tippi. "The next two are probably blue and violet, if we follow the pattern..."
The group descended through the elevator down to the second story of Flipside. "I see you've returned once again," stated Merlon. "And with the next orb, may I presume?"
"Indeed." Mario displayed the green orb while Tippi related what had occured to our heroes in the dimension of the yellow door.
"Oh ho, is that so, heroes? It looks like Dimentio really pulled something new out of his sleeve this time."
"Yes, indeed. I wonder if he's going to try something even worse next time..."
"Well, there's no need to worry, heroes." As soon as Merlon finished speaking, an earthquake rattled Flipside, and The Void again ballooned.
"The Void..." uttered Tippi. "It's gigantic! It has to be at least the size it was the first time Mario and Luigi returned from The Underwhere..."
"In that case, heroes, there's no use in delaying even a moment. Let's get to the top of Flipside Tower and let Maia show us the way to the next orb."
Our heroes and Merlon again ascended Flipside Tower, and Merlon activated Maia's portal at the green door. "Does it seem like we're rushing too headstrong into things?" asked Luigi. "I mean...well...we might have to prepare for whatever we find in this dimension."
Once you enter that dimension, Mario, you won't be able to leave for a while. Make sure you're ready both physically and mentally.Mario told the others what Maia had communicated. "It sounds like we'll be tried harder than ever before. We'd better be ready."
Merlon shifted. "Well, here's hoping you return in time to stop The Void. I honestly don't know how we're going to stop it, but...I suppose Maia has a solution. Remember everything you've learned so far, heroes. I know you'll be successful, even if you need to spend a long time in that dimension."
Those were the last words our heroes heard before they entered the dimension of the green door...possibly not to return until The Void had nearly swallowed Flipside.