Super Mario Sunshine

Chapter 36 - Straight from the Eel's Mouth

The afternoon had been quite uneventful for Il Piantissimo in Noki Bay that day.

   After guiding the hero to his certain destiny, which he believed was his good deed for the day, the running man had parted from his charge on the shore by the cliff slide. With Mario and his magic talking water pump off saving the day, Il Piantissimo was left to warm up for their next rematch.

So far it had been pretty quiet, with only a single noki or two showing their faces and the boathouse out of commission. And evidently the hero had not found a way to fix the bay yet, given that the water still ran a dozen shades of violet like a shimmering mermaid's tail. He wondered what was taking so long and if perhaps the hero had found trouble.

Surely nothing he can't handle, Il Piantissimo assured himself.

Which was why he was not so surprised to see the plucky human come sliding into shore from the cliff slide later that afternoon, covered in black goop and grinning from ear to ear.

Jogging over, Il Piantissimo laughed and called out. "Ho HO! So you have returned!" he exclaimed, stopping to stare as the boy picked himself up from the ground after the long plunge. Switching his machine's nozzle, he turned and looked at the masked man in surprise.

"But the question is, where have you returned from??" Il Piantissimo questioned.

"Ah, so you're still around," Mario responded with a familiar snicker. "I've been off doing what you told me. I'm 'saving the bay.'"

"Yes, that I do not doubt, except that I do," the other man replied. "And by that I mean, in case you have not noticed the bay is still lacking in the fresh water section."

"I know, it's a work in progress," Mario snorted as he adjusted his arms around a book he was carrying and turned to the water.

"Well did you find that noki you wanted to see?" Il Piantissimo wanted to know.

"The elder? Yes. Speaking of, you didn't happen to see him anywhere around, did you?" the boy asked.

"He was over there on the shore fishing earlier, I believe," the masked man replied. "Then he got up and left for the cliffs." Pointing up towards the waterfall's source, he shielded his eyes. "A couple of nokis started putting up these ropes across the towers. Perhaps if you are bold enough, you can climb them to the top!"

Huh? Mario gazed upwards at what he indicated. Sure enough, several white tightropes—he couldn't imagine they were clotheslines like those he'd seen back in Windmill Village—were strung over the water high above them, reaching out across the bay from tower to tower. There were perhaps about a dozen of them in all between the three towers and the cliff they attached to. Reaching at all different heights, they suddenly made the entire bay seem very accessible.

   "Hm." Pausing suddenly on realizing what the pianta-man had just said, Mario did a double take. "...Was that a challenge?"

   "For me? Oh no. I am a horizontal challenger only. But you have no problem with heights, I take it, Mr. Hero?"

   Mario squinted at his smart tone. "No, I don't. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got a bay to clear." Stepping past the man to make for the distant tower, he started walking off.

   "Yes! Make it good and clean for our next race!" Il Piantissimo reminded.

   Without turning around, Mario chuckled. "If you're lucky!"

~

   By the time Mario and Fludd had made it back over to the central raft at the base of the green tower, the young noki Aldo had already spotted and flagged them down.