Super Mario Sunshine

Chapter 39 - Chasing Shadows

   It had been a relatively uneventful morning for Bobby the sailor and his fellow workers in Ricco Harbor.

   At least, compared to yesterday.

   Ever since Gooper Blooper had been put to sea by that outrageously gutsy human guy, the harbor had been reawakened with the standard busyness of seafood trade: huge ocean liners moved in and out of the port all morning, loading enormous crates with thousands of pounds of cargo (AKA fish), and construction had semi-resumed on the storage tower (the foreman could always find excuses not to be working). If you could hear yourself over the shouting sailors and the noise of clanging metal and honking cargo ships, you would realize it was just another boring, normal day in Ricco Harbor.

   Until the human guy returned.

   Bobby and his co-worker had been assigned to sort and pack fresh catches by the loading zone on the west side of the harbor, where a transport vessel was already docked and waiting for the ten crates of calamari it had come to pick up. It was a fairly relaxing job compared to the other guys', who were stuck cleaning the animal cages in some of the other ships.

   At any rate, with Gooper Blooper gone and his horrid black ink gone with him, the harbor couldn't afford to sit still any longer. They had a few days' deficit to make up for, and Captain Jenkins was not a patient man.

That was why Bobby was so busy working he didn't notice anything out of the ordinary until his friend pointed it out.

   "Hey Bobby, you remember that crazy daredevil guy?"

"Uhh, yes?"

"...He's up on the catwalks again."

"What?" Half-dropping the crate he was moving, the surprised pianta turned back to stare up at the metal frameworks hanging high above the shipyard, from here appearing as a massive hodgepodge of blue and red beams. From where they stood near the entrance to the subway station, it took more than a good minute for Bobby to figure out what his companion was talking about. Bloopers—regular sized ones—sometimes ended up crawling around up there, stray ones having slunk out of the underlying ships or climbing the equipment straight out of the water. Their movement was a common enough sight on the catwalks, but—

Finally Bobby spotted him: a small humanoid figure, little more than a speck from down below, moved across one steel girder towards the hanging cage in the center. He was barely discernible and far beyond earshot, but one look at the way he carelessly leapt from one beam to another confirmed any doubts.

"It's that little dude!" Bobby exclaimed, stopping his work now to rest a fist on his hip. "What's he up to now?" Sharing a glance with his co-worker, he added, "I hope that beast didn't come back!"

The other pianta shook his head, squinting to watch. "Naw, if he had, Captain Jenkins would be throwing a fit," he said. "I just wonder how he's going to climb that cage?"

"...Cage?" Bobby asked. "What do you mean?"

"Yeah," his friend replied, pointing. "See, he's trying to get on top."

"...What are you talking about, no he's not," Bobby frowned, shielding his eyes now. "He's all the way back at the fruit tanks."

There was a second of confused silence as the two piantas tried to make sense of each other.

"OH, I see..." Bobby realized, catching sight of what his friend was talking about. "But..." He trailed off, eyes flitting back and forth now across the high girders.

"What the world?"

Bobby turned, wide-eyed, to stare at him. "Wait a second... If he's there, then who's that guy??"