Melon's Adventure: LOOK OUT BELOW! (p7)

BOOM!

The explosion of Hookbill the Horrible's giant shell shatters the sky and leave's Melon's ears ringing. All at once there's chaos; Hookbill himself-- once a giant terror, and now shrunken down to a pitiful koopa-- plummets off the platform they battled on. Lakitus fill the sky of their lair in a frenzy, shouting in panic and split between fleeing, or diving to try and grab their boss mid-fall. There are giant shell fragments everywhere, splintering like shooting stars all around, and Melon has to concentrate hard not to get hit. He jumps from the crumbling stone platform to land on a hovering sphere, but the moment his weight hits it the number on it's side begins to tick tick tick.

7... 6... 5...

Melon makes a frazzled sound while whipping his tail, tapdancing his paws anxiously, glancing everywhere. Looking for anything that could serve as something to keep him and baby Mario from plummeting to the hard earth below, but he sees nothing.

4...

With little choice, Melon barks at baby Mario to hang on before he begins sprinting, hopping like a bunny on each platform as its countdown continues.

3...

They're quickly running out of ground. Melon's heart pounds as he runs, and he sees the end of the line.

2...

He's fallen from high heights before, but this is really cutting it close! Melon only hopes he has enough magic to cushion their fall. And as the final platform comes up, Melon grits his teeth--

...1.

--and leaps.

He expects them to plummet just as Hookbill did. And for the most part, they do, clouds and fragments zipping past them and the wind whistling in their ears. But suddenly, Melon feels Mario shifting around on his back; he can't really see what the boy is doing, and immediately feels panic when the arms around his neck are suddenly gone.

Did Mario lose his grip?!

Melon doesn't get the chance to look; Mario's weight has vanished from his back... only for a strong hand to grasp his paws, and suddenly, Melon is no longer falling.

He's flying.

Melon blinks once, twice, three times, before he snaps his eyes up above him. If he hadn't seen it with his own two eyes, he wouldn't've believed it. Mario meets his look with a starry, fiery one of his own. He gives the binkie a single chew.

Melon isn't the one flying. Mario is.

The baby carries him as if he weighed little more than a bag, a brilliant yellow cape billowing out behind him as he pulls up. Melon can't help but wonder how how how? But as they pass the tearfully Hookbill in their descent, a memory flashes through his mind.

The Super Star fruit... that had to be it! Hookbill ate half of one to get larger before he attacked. Mario must've picked up the leftover while Melon was occupied with the battle.

However it happened, Melon felt a proud grin stretch across his face. His previously panicked barks became ones of excitement, and he kicks his paws in a mimic of a Flutter Kick.

Down they go!

-----

Unbeknownst to either baby Mario or Melon, little red-faced creatures land atop the clouds behind them. Glowing white eyes watch the pair's decent as they disappear into the trees, followed only by the echo of Melon's barking.

The Tweeters chirp at one another before they take off in the opposite direction...

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Part 7 of Melon's Adventure is here! :) I took a little longer than I wanted to release this part, but it's largely because I didn't know how to write the story blurb. It eventually got written though, and I'm just happy to finally be able to share it with ya'll! owo

This one is a lot more of a combination of multiple levels instead of one specific one. All of the parts are, honestly, but this one is a little different in that it includes a level that was a boss fight. Speaking of; since Kamek and Bowser are not the ones behind Mario and Luigi's kidnapping in this iteration, I had to get creative with how Hookbill grew as big as he did. Enter the Super Star Fruit! I wanted to include Super Baby Mario in the story somehow, so the Super Star Fruit (or at least that's what I'm calling the powerup) gave me a convenient way to have SBM as well as an explanation of how Hookbill grew without Kamek's magic aid.

Also, tiny lore bit: The Super Star fruit effects creatures differently, so the abilities they gain from eating it will vary depending on the individual! For Hookbill, it gave him super strength and gargantuan size. For Mario, it makes him invincible for a short amount of time and super strong with the ability to fly. If Melon were to eat it, he'd sprout a pair of temporary feathered wings and gain the ability of a breath attack.

But yeah! If you'd like to read the story from the beginning as a refresher, you can do so HERE! :)

Thank you all so much for your patience! More to come soon! owo