A Tale Of Love And Trust

Chapter 8: The Pure Heart

Somehow, Mario had found the strength to cross the desert's sweltering dunes.

Ahead was a sprawling complex of ruins rising out of the sand.

Thankful for the shade, Mario and Tippi ventured inside deeper inside.

They were the very ruins Old Man Watchitt had warned them about.

What dangers lurked in the shady corridors ahead?

"Mario, I can feel it calling... The Pure Heart is nearby..." Tippi explained. "But, wait... I sense something else emanating from the sand dunes. Be careful now, Mario... Something else is waiting for us ahead..."

"Alright," Mario responded, as they walked a little further into the Yold Ruins. It was a little quiet as Mario walked down a set of long stairs to a door. After going through the door, he found himself in another hallway with a much shorter ceiling.

After only walking a few steps, he narrowly avoided a Buzzy Beetle that fell from the ceiling. The Buzzy Beetle landed in front of him, and then he jumped on it, forcing it to go into its shell. Mario walked past the downed Buzzy Beetle, jumping over a small dip with quicksand in it.

"Um, Mario..." Tippi pondered.

"What is it, Tippi?" Mario asked. He hit a block that had a Mushroom in it, while trying to avoid a rotating fire bar.

"Well, earlier... you said there was something stressing you out other than all of this. Can you tell me what it is?" Tippi asked.

Mario stopped for a moment as he reached another door. "Uh... yeah... I'll go ahead and tell you..."

"It's okay, take your time." Tippi reassured.

Mario took in a breath as he prepared himself for the rather lengthy explanation, as we went through the next room, trying to avoid more rotating fire bars. "Well, yesterday morning I woke up like normal, except that the people I live with were gone."

"Who are they?" Tippi asked.

"Oh, they're my twin brother Luigi, and his girlfriend Violet." Mario answered. "And when I got to Peach's Castle wondering where everyone was. And it turned out to be my birthday..."

"Oh, that's nice." Tippi said.

"Do you see the problem?" Mario asked, as he had to pass by a door for now due to it being locked, and went into another door instead. This room had a couple Spiny Tromps in it that Mario had to avoid.

Tippi thought for a moment about what Mario just said. Twin brothers... birthday... and then it clicked. "Wait... wouldn't twin brothers have their birthday parties at the same time?"

"That's right. But he wasn't anywhere at the party. They didn't even acknowledge that it was also his birthday." Mario explained. "I found Luigi shopping at a grocery store and he didn't even know about the party. When we went back to the party, all signs of it being a birthday party were gone. There... there is just so much I don't know, a-and I... just want to know why. I want to know why Peach would go to such lengths to just..." Mario stopped talking, as he couldn't bring himself to say anymore. A single tear escaped his eye but he quickly wiped it away.

"..." Tippi wasn't sure what to say. All of this info was almost too much to take in.

"Let's just try to find the Pure Heart." Mario said, relieving some of the tension. He had gotten a key from a chest, which he assumed would go into the locked door he saw earlier. After going back to said door and unlocking it, he found a large room.

"I...I'm sure we'll get all of this figured out." Tippi said slowly.

"Hopefully." Mario said. He went through the room and found there was another door that was locked. Above it was a platform with an unlocked door. Mario went into that door, and there was a room with a Squiglet and a switch that was too high for Mario to reach.