Holy crap, this took me forever to write! But I'm sure you might enjoy this chapter!

Well, again, enjoy! ;)

Chapter 7: Three Fights

[BGM: Delfino Plaza – Super Mario Sunshine]

"Is that true?! Only two Shines remain to collect in the plaza?! That's great!" Jewel exclaimed after everyone just came back to Bianco Square from lunch.

"It really is." Melissa nodded. "Only the 100-Coin Shine and the one at the Airstrip remain."

"The 100-Coin one can be done easily, but for the Airstrip one we'll need to gain access to Corona Mountain first…"

Melissa smirked. "Actually… I believe I can just fly my way over there, and then the ones who opted to stay in the plaza can go after the 100 Coins." she faced the others. "How does that sound?"

"Sounds good." Ren nodded, as the rest of the Phantom Thieves stepped in. "Leave the 100-Coin Shine Sprite here to us!"

"Alright." Melissa said.

Then, a D.E.B.S. message came up:

"…D.E.B.S. ALERT…A mysterious band of light has appeared in the area of the city's central dock. Local residents have been spotted gazing curiously up into the sky…"

"Oh, that's right! I almost forgot about that!" Jewel said. "That band of light will lead to a new course, Noki Bay!"

"I believe we can also quickly access Sirena Beach as well." Melissa added. "It's by heading into that red Warp Pipe up there." she pointed up.

"Huh… That's convenient." Trifle remarked. "How come you never mentioned that to us before?"

"Because that pipe was previously blocked with a giant pineapple, until I saw a Yoshi come over and eat it."

"Uh… a giant pineapple?"

Jewel sweatdropped. "Yeah… Don't ask."

"Anyways, who's going to check out that band of light?" Eight asked.

"Why don't you go, Eight?" Jewel winked.

"Well, okay…" Eight shrugged. "So, what do I have to do about it?" Jewel then walked closer to him and whispered something in his ear, which made his eyes widen in shock by what she just said. "Umm… You sure I won't go blind?"

"Don't worry, you won't!" Jewel assured, while everyone else except Melissa exchanged worried glances, wondering what in the world Jewel just told Eight that would make him go blind. "So, shall we all go?"

Everyone nodded as they all proceeded to split up, while Eight made his way to the plaza's central pier, where there was a column of light emitting out of a Shine Sprite painting on the ground in front of a dolphin fountain.

"This must be it." Eight said, stepping into the light and glancing up at the sky. "Sooo… I have to look up at the sun…?" he wondered before gulping nervously. "Okay, here we go…" taking all the courage he could muster, Eight shifted his gaze directly to the sun, and then a white light suddenly came in as he shut his eyes while also shielding them.

[BGM End]

[BGM: Noki Bay – Super Mario Sunshine]

Noki Bay is a place with steep cliffs, sea beds and tall structures above a massive pool of water and was located to the north behind the dolphin-shaped island's dorsal fin. As the name implies, this area is home to the Noki tribe, and it's said that this bay holds a tomb of an ancient Noki king, so there was apparently some history behind this place.

As soon as Eight opened his eyes, he was immediately greeted with a beautiful sight of the tall structures and the old ruins in front of him.

"Wow… This place is beautiful!" he smiled. Unfortunately, his happiness immediately faded away as soon as he looked down at the water below him, as it wasn't crystal clear as it should be, since it was now purple and clearly polluted. "Can't say the same for the water, though…" he frowned.

"Ahhh, welcome to Noki Bay, young man!" an old purple Noki greeted Eight. "Unfortunately, you came here at a bad time."

"I can see that." Eight noted. "And who are you?"

"Me? Oh, I am just an old man who loves nothing but fishing. But lately, I have had a terrible problem… Please look up there." he gestured with his fishing rod towards the cliffside on the right, and what Eight saw was a horrible sight; near the top of the cliff was a Monty Mole operating a cannon on top of a giant cork in the wall, and he was shooting out goop everywhere. There were goop drawings on the walls, and the path leading up to the cork was all covered up in that nasty stuff as well.

"Oh geez…" Eight trailed. "That's horrible!"

"You could say that again!" the old Noki caterwauled. "I don't know who did it, but someone corked our waterfall! This, no doubt, is why our lovely bay has become polluted! And I can't even fish! And so, I ask for your help. Yank that cork! Please fulfill this old man's wish… COUGH! HACKPTH! HACKPTH!" he coughed at the last sentence, making Eight flinch in surprise.

"Woah! Sir, are you alright?" he asked in concern.

"I'm… *cough* fine… It was the air…"

Eight then put on a smile and knelt down to the old Noki's level. "Don't worry, I'll help you out. I'll gladly solve this problem so you can go back to fishing again!"

The old Noki's eyes perked up with excitement. "What's that? You'll do it?! Oh, thank you! Thank you so much! I knew I could count on you. Just beware that guy on the cork!"

"Understood!" Eight nodded as he stood back up and proceeded to jump over the platforms until he got to the large cliffs that jutted out of the side of the mountain, where he could see goop everywhere. "Hmm… A Water Flower right now would be nice." he mused. By looking to his right, he saw just the thing he needed: a lone Water Flower on the corner. "Ah! Perfect!" he exclaimed as he went over to it and absorbed it.

By wielding the power of water, Eight got to work on cleaning the goop while also slashing through some Swoopin' Stus that came out of it, and then he used Kaswoosh to propel himself up to the higher ledge above. There, he looked over at the goop drawings on the wall and decided to clean them off by shooting water at them, and by doing so, he ends up uncovering platforms that emerged out of the wall.

"I should've known that there was something up with those graffiti drawings… They weren't just mere decorations." Eight said to himself before leaping over to these platforms to get up higher on the cliff, and after getting rid of some more goop while also dealing with more Swoopin' Stus and avoiding the Glorpedoes rolling down, the Hero got to a platform connected by a large pulley to a pot in which he filled it with water to weight it down and make the platform he was standing on lift up.

Jumping off from the raised platform, Eight washed out more goop in front of him on the way up by belly-sliding on a large wave of water he conjured with his hands while he was surfing, and this wave even washed out the rolling Glorpedoes that were unfortunate enough to be on its way. At the end of the path up, he got on top of another ledge with a Kaswoosh, as the whirlpool destroyed the Glorpedoes that just so happened to come rolling in at this exact moment, and then he moved on the rest of the path while getting rid of the goop on the way.

It didn't take too long for him to reach his destination, where he came across the Monty Mole sitting in the cannon that was firing those Glorpedoes, and right below it was the giant cork the old Noki told the Hero about. The Monty Mole spotted Eight and proceeded to throw Bob-ombs at him, but he jumped out of the way and quickly casted Kaboom at the Monty Mole, and the explosion of vaporized water was strong enough to force the troublemaker into its cannon. Eventually, the giant cork came loose and was launched away, along with the cannon, by the high-pressurized water from behind it, and then a Shine Sprite came out of the water and flew over to Eight.

"Yes! I did it!" he cheered in triumph as he took the Shine Sprite before a portal showed up next to him. "Perhaps I should come back here for a later time to see if the water gets clean again." he said and went into the portal.

[BGM End]

At Ricco Harbor…

[BGM: Ricco Harbor – Super Mario Sunshine]

It seems that after Gooper Blooper was finally expelled from Ricco Harbor, there was no longer any goop in this port and so we can see many Piantas dancing and having fun around. While Yangus was going for the 100-Coin Shine Sprite by smashing crates to find coins inside and defeating some Klambers with Gold Rush, which consists of him striking them with his club weapon and steal more money from them than usual, Mario made it to the harbor's plaza.

"Seems like everything in here is a lot lively now." Mario smiled, seeing the Piantas dancing and selling fruit from the marketplace, until he suddenly noticed a Purple Yoshi resting nearby. "Oh?" he went over to him. "Hello there!"

"Yoshi!" the Purple Yoshi greeted Mario before turning his back to him. "Yo, Yo!" he requested Mario to get on his back.

"I believe he wants you to ride on him." FLUDD said.

"Ah, sure thing!" Mario nodded in response and mounted on the Yoshi's back.

[Cue the Yoshi variation of Ricco Harbor's theme]

The Purple Yoshi immediately started to take Mario to somewhere, which was to a series of metal platforms suspended over the water with a few Cheep Cheeps jumping off between them.

"Oh, uh… So, how are we going to-" Mario was cut off when the Purple Yoshi suddenly spits out purple juice at the Cheep Cheep in front of them, turning it into a purple Yoshi Platform. "Mama mia! I've never seen a Yoshi do that before!" Mario exclaimed in surprise as the Purple Yoshi proceeded to jump on the Yoshi Platform that started moving horizontally.

After the Yoshi Platform moved to the next metal platform close enough, the Purple Yoshi jumped off to land on it, and then he did the same thing a few more times as they eventually got to the highest platform, and then the Yoshi spat out more juice to dissolve the Orange Juice Generator blocking the cage's entrance before happily hopping in, where Mario grabbed the Shine Sprite inside of it.

[Resume the normal variation of Ricco Harbor's theme]

"I'm… not sure how that was possible, but I'll take it!" Mario exclaimed as the Purple Yoshi jumped out of the cage and led Mario back to the marketplace. "You are hungry after that, aren't you?" Mario guessed as the Yoshi nodded. "Well, I won't stop you from enjoying your meal of fruits." he dismounted the Yoshi. "See ya!" Mario waved, as the Purple Yoshi waved back before parting ways.

As Mario walked back to the storage sheds, he looked around until he saw Yangus coming over to him while holding the 100-Coin Shine Sprite in hand.

"Oi! Mario!" Yangus called out. "I got it! The Shine Sprite after gettin' all those coins!"

"Good job, Yangus!" Mario praised, and then a portal showed up next to them. "I guess Ricco Harbor is done, now. So let's head back!"

"Right!" Yangus nodded and went into the portal first as Mario followed suit… but before he could even step into the portal, a laser came from out of nowhere and struck him.

[BGM End]

"GAH!" Mario yelled as he was launched away from the portal and crashing into some boats loaded with seafood in them, making the nearby locals gasp.

"Mario! Are you okay?" FLUDD asked.

"I'm fine… But what was that?" Mario wondered as he got up.

"I have finally found you, Mario." a voice said as Mario looked in front of him to see a person walking up to him.

[BGM: Cackletta's Theme – Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga + Bowser's Minions]

This person was a green-skinned man with pink sclera and black irises, meaning that he was possibly a Beanish, and short unruly red hair. He was wearing a white tuxedo, a white top hat, short white gloves and matching white shoes. On his right hand, he was holding a closed white and silver parasol that he was using like a walking stick.

Mario looked at that man closely, and his eyes narrowed in suspicion, as this man looked like someone whom he has already met before in a previous adventure, but he still wasn't sure yet.

"Who are you?" he demanded.

The man smirked. "Me?" he chuckled evilly before tipping his top hat. "I am Splutterton. And I am Cackletta's younger brother."

Mario's eyes widened upon hearing the name 'Cackletta', as Splutterton noticed this.

"Ah, I can see that this name I mentioned rang a bell on you, didn't it?"

Mario finally found his words. "You're… the brother of the Beanish witch, Cackletta?! The same one that I and my brother defeated on the adventure we had at the Beanbean Kingdom?!"

"Exactly!" Splutterton suddenly formed a scowl, revealing his razor-sharp teeth. "She was my older sister, and you and your stupid brother KILLED HER!"

"We had to! We couldn't let her take over the Beanbean Kingdom!"

"I don't care!" Splutterton shot back, and then pointed his parasol at Mario. "I shall avenge my dear sister… By killing you first!"

"As I expected. He's consumed by revenge." FLUDD stated.

"True." Mario nodded, fixing a glare at Splutterton. "So you want to fight me? Then I will fight you!"

"Show me what you got, plumber!" Splutterton barked, doing a 'come at me!' taunt.

[BGM: Demystify Feast – Touhou: Immaterial and Missing Power]

Mario ran forward as Splutterton proceeded to fire lasers from his parasol, but Mario slid underneath the lasers and when he got close to Splutterton, he did an uppercut to knock him back a little and then followed up with a wheel kick to knock him back more. Splutterton recovered and proceeded to again fire more lasers repeatedly, but Mario kept dodging all of them as he did a side somersault and drop kicked the Beanish to the floor.

"Agh!" Splutterton groaned as he whacked Mario on the leg to knock him back a little, causing him to wince a little. Splutterton then got back up and tried to whack Mario with his parasol, only to get water splashed onto his face instead. "Ack! Cough! Plebth!" he gagged as he coughed out water, before Mario did a flying kick to send him away as he rolled on the floor.

"Oof! Impressive…" Splutterton growled before he fired more lasers, but Mario again kept dodging them, including doing a matrix-style dodge on one of them as Splutterton next flipped his parasol around and aimed its hook part at Mario, as it launched off as a grappling hook to try to grab the red clad hero and bring him close… only for Mario to grab the hook and then Splutterton was dragged up to him as a result.

"WHOA!" Splutterton yelled in surprise as Mario prepared himself and pulled his fist back for a winding punch. "Ah, crud…" Splutterton trailed before he got punched hard in the gut. "AAAAARGH!" he yelled, as not one, but seven Shine Sprites flew out of his pocket by the punch as he fell right into the water.

[BGM End]

"Holy crap! That's a lot of Shine Sprites he had!" Mario exclaimed as he looked at the 7 Shine Sprites on the floor as he quickly grabbed them all, and then he quickly ran to the still-active portal to leave. Shortly after Mario left, Splutterton pushed himself out of the water.

"Drat… I failed." he muttered, pounding his fist in frustration. "I guess it's up to the others of our organization to stop them… And they better not fail!" he said and used his parasol to draw a portal before going into it.

Gelato Beach…

[BGM: Gelato Beach – Super Mario Sunshine]

The Watermelon Festival was happening at the beach, and all the Piantas and Nokis were having a good time as most of them were gathered at the Surf Cabana to enjoy a watermelon smoothie. Jessica was also at the Surf Cabana and she was enjoying an orange and mango smoothie, while the Inklings were roaming around the entire area to get coins for the 100-Coin Shine Sprite.

"So, what is this Watermelon Festival about?" Jessica asked the female Pianta at the Cabana.

"It's about a competition to see who can grow or bring the largest watermelon to the Surf Cabana!" the female Pianta replied. "And… let's just say that the Piantas who participate in this contest are pretty competitive…"

"How competitive are they?"

"Well, I just overheard that this one right there traded watermelons with that one so that he would get the bigger one." the female Pianta pointed.

"Oh… Now that wasn't very nice. Plus, that's cheating!" Jessica commented sourly.

"Then, why don't you prove these highly competitive Piantas wrong by participating in this contest too?" the female Pianta winked.

Jessica blinked. "Huh?"

"Yeah! And in fact, I just figured out how to get that Shine Sprite out of that glass container! Just bring the largest watermelon right here, and if we put it on the juicer, the juice might flood the container and bring the Shine Sprite out of it!"

"Hmm… I guess that could work." Jessica mused and then stood up from her seat. "All right, I'll participate in this contest and bring the largest watermelon this beach can offer!"

"Great! I'll let everyone here know!" the female Pianta said as Jessica took off to go look for the largest watermelon somewhere.

Meanwhile, back with the Inklings, they were on the island with tall palm trees and a swing attached to one of them, as this was the last place they came over to get the last remaining coins for the 100-Coin Shine Sprite to appear.

"Finally, we got 100 coins!" Inkling Boy exclaimed as he had the Shine Sprite in hands.

"Woomy!" Inkling Girl cheered. "Now, come on! I wanna have some watermelon smoothie after doing this!"

"Same here!" Inkling Boy said as they proceeded to head back to the main beach… only to suddenly hear the sound of a missile coming over to them. "Uh… Do you hear something?"

"Yep…" Inkling Girl trailed, and then she looked up to see an Octorpedo coming right for them. "LOOK OUT!" she yelled.

[BGM End]

The Inklings quickly ran out of the way just in time as the Octorpedo exploded on impact at the spot they were on. They looked over at the spot in surprise, and then heard the sound of a flying machine as they looked up and their eyes shot wide open at what they saw in front of them.

The flying machine in front of them was an exact replica of the Octobot King that DJ Octavio had, except that the one inside of it was an Octoling-Human hybrid boy with blue hair combed up into a mohawk and dark blue eyes. He had a blue tie dye t-shirt with a psychedelic swirl in the middle, a pair of black and red headphones hanging around his neck, a long-sleeved black undershirt, washed out jeans, and indigo blue sneakers.

"Gyah ha ha!" he laughed. "Well met, Inklings!"

"You…" Inkling Girl gasped, before glaring at him, "You must be the rumored Octonio, son of DJ Octavio!"

"Wait, you think that's him?!" Inkling Boy asked.

"Bingo! She's absolutely right! However, I was given a different name after meeting my new master… I am now Chuckole!" Chuckole grinned.

"…Chuckole?" Inkling Boy raised an eyebrow. "That name sounds a little stupid."

"What?! How dare you make fun of my new name!" Chuckole shot back. "You two were the ones who ended the life of my dear father! So I spent months building this machine as a homage to him… and now check it out! I call it, the Octobot King 2.0!" he smirked and pulled out two stalks of wasabi. "Now, let's get this show on the road!"

"Oh, here we go again…" Inkling Girl sweatdropped.

[BGM: I Am Octavio – Splatoon]

"As my dear father always used to say… I'MA REMIX YOUR FACES!" Chuckole declared, putting on his headphones as he started playing the turntables.

The Octobot King 2.0 started firing Octorpedoes at the Inklings, but they shot the missiles with ink to destroy them, and then when Chuckole used his machine to punch them, Inkling Girl quickly shot ink at the fist to send it back to him.

"GAH!" Chuckole yelled.

"The method is still the same? Too easy!" Inkling Boy grinned, then nearly dodging the Octorpedoes coming from the Octobot King 2.0 before quickly shooting the other fist sent at him, and Chuckole received the blow again.

"Ugh, COME ON!" Chuckole growled. "Alright… now you made me angry!" he said and an octopus-shaped missile was launched at the Inklings, as their eyes widened before quickly shooting it together to send it back at Chuckole, only for him to reflect it back at them as this basically turned into a game of tennis until the Octoling-Human hybrid got hit. "ARGH!"

"Come on, now! You're fighting exactly like your father!" Inkling Girl exclaimed.

"Urgh… You slimy little hipsters!" Chuckole shook his fist angrily at them. "I am just getting started!" he said and then brought out a Killer Wail.

"Move!" Inkling Boy hollered as he and Inkling Girl quickly got out of the way before the Killer Wait fired, but it missed both Inklings as a result, and then Chuckole proceeded to send out both the machine's fists at them as they shot them back at him, only for him to put up a shield to block them, much to the Inklings' surprise.

"Seriously?!" Inkling Girl flinched.

"HA! I told you I'm just getting started!" Chuckole teased before sending out some Octocopters and Octobombers at them, while launching out more Octorpedoes.

[Pause BGM]

Meanwhile, Jessica was going up the hill, as she was in her Water Flower appearance due to finding and absorbing one along the way, and when she got to the top, she saw what was probably the biggest watermelon she has even seen.

"Oh. My. Empyrea." Jessica awed. "It's perfect!" she said as she carefully pushed it down the hill, where it came to a gentle stop on the beach. "Good! Now to-" she suddenly heard a Cataquack coming over to her as she desperately moved out of the way, only for the Cataquack to walk up the watermelon, flip it up in the air, and it came crashing down with a splat.

"Oh, come on! That was the only one!" Jessica complained as she turned around… to see that another similar watermelon was growing from the exact same spot she found it. "Oh… Well, never mind!" she shrugged as she decided to play it safe this time, so she pushed the watermelon towards the hill's road, but when it got caught to the corner of the stairs… it just randomly exploded for no reason. "WHAT." she deadpanned, and when the watermelon regrew, she decided to push it down the hill and slide next to it… but she faceplanted on the sand due to the high speed. "OOF!"

She quickly got back up, only to witness the same Cataquack doing the same thing from her first attempt. "Argh!" she growled in frustration.

After several failed attempts later, Jessica decided to launch the watermelon away by smacking it hard enough with her whip. The watermelon was launched all the way, as Jessica quickly surfed down the hill to see that the watermelon landed just a few feet away from the Surf Cabana.

"Phew, alright…" Jessica sighed in relief… buuuuut a nearby Cataquack just so happened to pass by and proceeded to flip over the watermelon into the air.

*SPLAT!*

Unfortunately, for Jessica… that was the final straw. Her eye twitched as her whole body trembled, her Tension going up in a very fast speed, making her whole body get surrounded in a purple aura… before she finally let out a loud scream as her Tension level reached 100, the aura around her becoming intense and her face filled with rage. Without even hesitating, she let out her strongest magic spell, Magic Burst, in order to get rid of these annoying Cataquacks quicker. However, thanks to the Water Flower, Magic Burst came out as a HUGE explosion of water, creating massive waves once it splashed down to the ground that washed away all the roaming Cataquacks in the beach… and the giant waves were also heading directly to the island where the Inklings were fighting Chuckole.

[Resume "I Am Octavio" BGM]

"Face it! You're already feeling tired!" Chuckole taunted as he kept sending more Octorpedoes, Octocopters and Octobombers at the Inklings, who were having trouble taking care of those due to tiredness.

"Ugh, he sure is putting a lot more effort than his father!" Inkling Boy groaned as he dodged an Octorpedo.

"Yeah, I don't know how much we can handle hi-…" Inkling Girl cut herself off when she suddenly heard the sound of violent waves coming from behind them. "You hear something from behind us?"

"Uh…" Inkling Boy looked back to see the massive waves coming at them. "Oh, SHOOT!" he yelled in panic.

Chuckole then watched the Inklings suddenly run behind the palm trees before hanging on to them for dear life, which confused him as he hadn't yet noticed the waves coming due to him having his headphones on.

"Eh? What are you two doing?" he questioned… and then a looming shadow came on top of him. "Huh…?" he paled up and looked back… to see the giant wave about to splash down onto him. "HOLY SQUID!"

[BGM End]

The wave came crashing down on him, destroying the Octobot King 2.0 entirely as pieces of it were now on the ground once the wave receded. It also revealed that Chuckole was now sprawled on the sand with seven more Shine Sprites lying in front of him.

"Uuuugh…" Chuckole groaned.

"Man, what a tidal wave that was!" Inkling Boy remarked once he and Inkling Girl let go of the palm trees.

"I'll say!" Inkling Girl nodded in agreement, and then she saw the seven Shine Sprites in front of Chuckole. "Wow! Look at all those Shine Sprites Octonio had with him!"

Inkling Boy quickly picked them all up. "We call dibs on these!"

It was then that Chuckole got back up and saw all the destroyed machine parts around him as he looked over in horror.

"NO! My precious machine!" he cried before glaring at the Inklings. "Squid you, Inklings! Look at what you've done!"

"We didn't even do anything." Inkling Girl said. "It was you who was stupid enough to not notice a giant wave coming after you."

"Hey! I'm not stupid!" Chuckole scowled. "This won't be the last time we'll meet! I swear it!" he said and then he changed into his Octoling octopus form and swimming away.

Back at the main beach, all the drenched locals watched in shock as Jessica, who has calmed down after letting out all her anger, was now casually pushing the giant watermelon towards the Surf Cabana, which was the only building in the area that wasn't harmed by the waves.

"Whoa! Now, that's a big ol' watermelon like I've never seen!" a brown Pianta exclaimed. "I don't even need to get out the caliper for this one! You win!"

The watermelon was suddenly tossed up at the juicer, where it was shredded up and the juice it produced pushed the Shine Sprite out of the glass container and landed right in Jessica's hands.

"Now, I can make the best watermelon juice for the Shine Sprites! The yearly tradition is safe, thanks to you!" the Pianta said. "And, for winner's prize, here you go!" he hands Jessica a glass of watermelon smoothie. "A free watermelon smoothie for you!"

"Thank you." Jessica accepted the smoothie and started drinking it.

Pinna Park…

[BGM: Pinna Park – Super Mario Sunshine]

"What in the world…?" Angelo wondered as he had looked up to see tons of large pink balloons depicting Bowser Jr's face at the roller coaster, so he decided to head over to the roller coaster manager and ask him, "Excuse me, but what is up with those balloons?"

"Oh, that's because we're holding a game about popping all twenty balloons with water rockets while riding on the roller coaster!" the manager replied. "We did this to celebrate the re-opening of the roller coaster! You wanna give it a try, young man?"

"I can give it a shot." Angelo nodded.

"Excellent! Do you think you can do it in three laps?"

"I believe I can… but I won't be needing water rockets for this."

"Oh, really? And what, pray tell, will you use?"

Angelo smirked and took out his bow weapon. "I have my ways."

"Uh, okay…"

[BGM: Red Coin Challenge – Super Mario Sunshine]

Meanwhile, Toon Link and Greninja were in a secret course after getting an Orange Yoshi to an empty spot on the merry-go-round. The secret course had a background with sunflowers and many moving Yoshi Blocks were the main gimmick. While Greninja was doing the secret course normally, Toon Link was going for the 8 Red Coins.

During the section with the Yoshi Blocks, Greninja crossed them swiftly while Toon Link had to use his hookshot to get the Red Coins around the area, and then both got to the section with the orange blocks arranged into a structure. Greninja just climbed up to the top to claim the Shine Sprite, and Toon Link got the remaining Red Coins to get the Red Coin Shine Sprite. They both left the area after accomplishing their task.

[BGM End]

Back with Angelo, thanks to his great aiming skills, he was successful in popping all 20 balloons before completing three laps on the roller coaster.

"And that's all of them." he said as he returned to the start of the roller coaster, where the cart stopped moving.

"You did it!" the roller coaster manager exclaimed. "What great aiming skills you have! I'm impressed! Well, here's your prize!" he hands out a Shine Sprite.

"Merci." Angelo smiled as he accepted the Shine Sprite.

At the beach area…

[BGM: Pinna Park Beach – Super Mario Sunshine]

Jewel and Trifle were taking a stroll together at the beach in order to take a break after going for the 100-Coin Shine Sprite together, as both were eating cotton candy that they bought at a stall in the park. The Sunflower Kids noticed the pair's presence and one of them greeted:

"Hiya!"

"Oh, hello there!" Jewel greeted back, while Trifle was surprised to see sunflowers talking.

"Isn't the sunshine just great?"

"It sure is!"

"Say, you two are pretty close together…" another Sunflower Kid mused. "Are you two dating?"

As soon as they heard this, Jewel and Trifle flinched in surprise as they started to blush.

"What?! N-No, no, no! We're not a couple!" Jewel stuttered.

"Y-Yeah! We're just good friends, really!" Trifle threw in.

"You sure about that?" another Sunflower Kid asked. "I think you two look great together!"

"Come on! Admit it!" another one spoke up. "You two like each other! We can see it in your hearts!"

"Uhh… U-Umm…" Jewel blushed hard, as well as Trifle, before both exchanged a shy glance at each other.

"I really want to tell her that I have a crush on her, but… I don't know how she would react to that…" Trifle thought, his mind racing. "Maybe I should find a perfect time to say that, but not in front of these teasing sunflowers…"

"Does Trifle really like me? Is he really my type…?" Jewel thought. "I've never been on a relationship before, so I don't know how this works… But he's kind of cute, so maybe this relationship thing might not be so bad at all..."

"Please forgive those kids, you two." the Great Sunflower spoke to the pair. "They just can't resist teasing others…"

"Oh, it's fine. I guess…" Trifle replied, still blushing a little.

Just then, the Sunflower Kid at the farthest end of the beach noticed something coming over from the distance. "Hey… Is that a purple flame, I see?"

[BGM End]

This caught both Jewel and Trifle's attention. "What purple flame?" Jewel asked alarmed.

"Over there!" the Sunflower Kid pointed up to the purple flame coming… where it suddenly made a turn and was heading straight for Jewel and Trifle.

"Watch out!" Trifle yelled before dragging Jewel along with him to avoid the flame, as it hit the ground where they were standing on previously.

"Holy smokes! What was that?!" the nearest Sunflower Kid questioned.

"At last… I've found you, dreamy princess…" a woman's voice said as everyone turned to its source.

[BGM: Nightmare Lullaby – Mario & Luigi: Dream Team]

Approaching Jewel and Trifle directly head on was a woman with long black wavy and slightly puffy hair, a golden crown adorning her head, a pale skin with dark makeup on her face, and yellow eyes. Her outfit is identical to the one the Shadow Queen wears after possessing Peach, but the dress is colored black with purple detailing, her long evening gloves are purple, and her high-collared cloak is purple with a red bottom and the fastening looks just like the one of Antasma's cape, complete with the bowtie.

"Who… Who are you?" Jewel asked cautiously.

The woman chuckled darkly. "My name…is Kamori. Fellow daughter of the bat king, Antasma."

"Wait, Antasma?!" Jewel's eyes widened.

"You've heard this name before?" Trifle asked.

"Yes! He's the one who caused the Pi'illo folk to go temporarily extinct and tried to conquer the world! Thankfully, I and my friends defeated him for good, but I never knew he had a daughter!"

"So you didn't know, huh?" Kamori formed a scowl. "Well, you can already tell that I'm not happy at all for my father being dead. After the demise of my father, I had found a new powerful leader and now I'm working for him… and this leader was the same one whom my father has been working with before getting betrayed."

"You mean… Bowser?!"

Kamori smirked. "Correct."

"Then how come he didn't betray you as well?"

"After I showed him what I can do, he made a deal with me. A deal in which as long as I can find new powerful allies besides me, he promised that he would not betray me or them. And now, I and my other allies with me are here…" she formed purple flames on her hands. "…to stop you from getting ahold of more Shine Sprites! Your road ends here!"

It was then that Trifle suddenly stepped in front while having his staff-turned-sword out. "Not a chance!" he pointed his sword at Kamori. "I might not know you well, but you are not ending our lives right here!"

"Trifle…" Jewel whispered.

"Hmph, sounds like someone here is trying to play the hero." Kamori scoffed.

Trifle looked back at Jewel. "Jewel, you're with me, right?"

"Oh, y-yes!" Jewel nodded and stood in a fighting stance as well.

"Alright, fine then! Let's see what you can do against me!" Kamori exclaimed.

[BGM: Night of Fate – Kingdom Hearts]

Trifle ran up to Kamori to slash her, but she jumped back and proceeded to fire purple fireballs at him, only for Jewel to quickly douse them with her Water Sapphire while also covering Kamori with water in the process as she tried to get it off, but then Trifle slashed her.

"AGH!" Kamori yelled, and then she got hit by energy bullets coming from Jewel's Energy Rock Crystal as Trifle went over to slash Kamori again, but she suddenly fired purple lighting at him to send him flying back, and then Jewel proceeded to blast her with pink blasts from her Blast Pink Tourmaline.

Kamori gracefully dodged the explosions of pink glitter before summoning an Antasma-shaped large purple clawed hand from the ground, and made it extend over to Jewel to punch her away, then she fired lightning at her in point blank range as she screamed in agony.

"How pathetic. Is that all you can do?" Kamori questioned, but then Trifle recovered and fired a sword beam at her to make her recoil a bit, before slashing at her repeatedly.

"How dare you hurt Jewel like this!" Trifle growled as he kept slashing her, until she fired purple flames at him to force him to get away from her.

"That's it! I'm ending this!" Kamori exclaimed and fired more purple lighting at Trifle to stun him in place before doing the same with Jewel, but she quickly brought out her Shield Tanzanite to create a shield around her to reflect the lightning back at Kamori as it struck her hard. "AAAAARGH!" she yelled, and then Jewel shot more lightning at her with her Lightning Topaz to force her to remain stunned in place. "CURSE YOU, PRINCESS!" she yelled.

"Trifle, now!" Jewel hollered.

Trifle recovered from the stunning, and, hearing Jewel's words, wasted no time in slashing through Kamori to finish her off.

[BGM End]

With the last blow, Kamori collapsed to the ground, releasing the seven Shine Sprites she had with her. Trifle and Jewel quickly picked them up, and after that, Kamori slowly started to get up.

"Nnngh… You two were lucky that we didn't fight in the dream world, where I am much stronger…" she groaned. "If Lord Bowser also fails to stop you… then I will be back…and things will be different next time!" she scowled before retreating by creating a portal and going through it.

"Good riddance." Trifle said. "You alright, Jewel?" he glanced at her.

"Yes, I am." Jewel smiled. "Thanks for helping me, Trifle."

Trifle merely replied with a chuckle, causing the Sunflower Kids to sigh lovingly.

"I totally ship them, do you?" one of the Sunflower Kids whispered to the one next to it.

"I sure do!" the other whispered back.

"Ah, those kids…" the Great Sunflower rolled its eyes playfully.

To be continued…

And here we have the introduction of three members of the secret evil organization! And all those Shine Sprites they dropped? They're supposed to be the Shadow Mario episodes and the Blue Coin Shine Sprites at once, so now I can get to the 120 Shine counter with no problems!

Anyways, about those three villain OCs in this chapter, two of them, those being Splutterton and Chuckole/Octonio, belong to my friend FrenchMarioBros, the same one who owns Trifle, while Kamori belongs to me! For those who didn't catch the meaning of Kamori's name, her name is a play on the word "komori", which means "bat" in Japanese. Considering that she's the daughter of the bat king himself, that name makes perfect sense.

Because this chapter was getting too long, I unfortunately was unable to include Sirena Beach in here as I said in the previous chapter. But hey, considering that I'm done with Ricco Harbor, Gelato Beach and Pinna Park all at once (as well as all the Shines in Delfino Plaza being done), that means I'm able to freely cover the three remaining courses (Sirena Beach, Noki Bay, and Pianta Village), starting in the next chapter!

Oh, and which one of those three fights did you like the most? ;D