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HELLO PEOPLE! MAN, this has taken a DAMN long time! like, I've actually been busy for once, and I doubt it'll get any less busy from here, but well, here it IS at least! Chapter 7 of Paper Mario: The Metora Kingdom! ENJOY

After saving Princess Peach and Medreana, and settling things between the Metora and Yeast Kingdoms, Mario and Co. now know what their next objective is: Medreana’s sister Daria is a place known as Heaven Haven, and Mario and Co. must get there before Darameana and Delumer do. General Octoombaron tells them that they’ll have one of their plane’s setup, ready for morning. To skip to the next day, simply go to sleep in the barracks again, and head to the plane runway, south of the NMA HQ. However, once at the plane the next morning, they find that one of the engines of the plane is missing, so now what? Well, by heading to Anchor Valley, you can give Brago some parts you should have picked up from previous areas. By giving him a Toilet Tube, Metal Plating and a Propeller, Brago makes a new engine from the pieces.

But as you leave Brago’s house, you come across a familiar face... K. “You again! The one with that fishy name of, “K” was it?”. The woman gives serious look to Norahl “I’d rather not talk about my past... not yet anyway...”. K simply walks into Brago’s house, leaving Norahl to wonder “Who is she? And is she actually helping us? In fact, why? Hmmm”. Anyway, the group head back to the HQ, but find quite a shock when they get there... Ryguy quickly zooms out the base, pushing Mario and Co. to the side. A bunch of troops chase after him “Get back here ya traitor!”, but the soldiers are stopped by General Octoombravo.

“Let him go...” the general speaks “We have nothing to gain by keeping him here, and I doubt he’ll do anything of our concern from now on...” the General walks away with the other troops following. Snipeguy peaks out the gates and mutters “Brother...” he then turns to Mario “I wish... I wish I could say it their fault! That Delumer was controlling him as well, but no... Ryguy he... he actually did that, he killed Fragrey and no one can forgive him... I’m not even sure if I can... W-would you?” (This would be one of those dialogue choices) If you say “Yes” Snipeguy will feel a bit better and say that he’ll be able to forgive him soon, but if you say “No” Snipeguy will understand. Anyway, the group head to the plane with their new engine, in which it is quickly installed, and so Octoombeta hops in the pilot seat, with Mario and Co. in the back. “I hope none of you have air-sickness! It’s gonna be a pain to tidy that up!”. With that, the plane shoots down the runway and takes off into the skies, thus starting CHAPTER 7: AN UNSAFE HAVEN!!!

After a short flight, of viewing the areas of Metora below, the group arrive on a run way in the sky, surrounding by clouds as far as the eye can see. Everyone hops out the plane and gets ready to set off to the city itself: Heaven Haven. Mario and Co. (and Octoombeta) traverse across many platforms and clouds until they eventually reach Heaven Haven, but things are not as expected. There are many citizens either hiding or injured on the floor. “What could have done this?” Octoombeta gasps, Octoombravo curses “Darnit! We were too late! Stupid engine!”. Beta says she’ll go help the injured, while Mario and Co. explore the city in search of answers. Due to a lot of the city being destroyed (like broken bridges), you have to a little more creative with how you get around, and along the way, you also battle many enemies, which all appear to be Lakitufos and Espikots.

On the east edge of the city, a large floating castle is visible in the distance. “A fascinating place is it not?”, an old Strealoid man appears from behind and introduces himself as Stirlin. Norahl asks if he knows anything about what’s going on. Stirlin explains “A while ago, a Lakitot called Lacintosh who lived here in Heaven Haven showed up all of a sudden and began attacking the city in a large UFO-like machine. Through power and force, he quickly gained followers, and it seems that he has now gone to the Lunar Santuary” he looks over to the castle in the distance “No doubt about it, Lady Daria is in trouble...”. Norahl thinks “Okay, how can we get over to the Sanctuary, we need to stop him, PERIOD!”. Stirlin bows his head “Well, usually there’d be an airship here at the dock, but Lacintosh and his lackeys destroyed it, probably so nobody would follow him to the sanctuary”

“But we’ll have more problems if this carries on: you see, Heaven Haven and the Lunar Sanctuary were both built by strong believers, and so built this as an attempt to reach past the heavens and find Gorah City, but alas, it was a failure. But you see, the Lunar Sanctuary is where all of our resources are kept, so we’ll soon starve if Lacintosh has control forever. The other purpose of the castle is of course Daria, who citizen treat somewhat as a demi-goddess, I mean, Metoran’s from above are quite rare after all. The only other purpose of it is Lumeanio; the Metoran Moon God, as the sanctuary is also dedicated to him”. Norahl understands and tells the group that they need to find another way to get over to the sanctuary, so they should explore the rest of the city to see if they can find anything of use.

Within the city itself, there is one house that is very different from the rest: a bright purple hut with a spinning blue rooftop... Mario and Co. head inside, although there doesn’t appear to be anyone in here. At the back of the room though, there’s a peculiar stone arch, surrounded by lights and other machinery... By pressing a button, the stone arch opens up and a portal appears. So what better to do then enter it? On the other end of the portal, the group are spat out in what appears to be a modern apartment. Here a familiar face greets you “Whoa, I wasn’t expecting someone else to come through here! Wait... I know you! Mario is it?” Mario looks up to see that it’s Merlock, a Merlotian he briefly met in Chapter 2.

Merlia (who comes out here) wonders why the portal came out here. Merlock explains “Ah, well my old friend Merliam has been living up in that flying city for decades now, but we’ve been communicating ever since Mario here managed to free us from that tyranny! Anyway, together, we managed to each construct a portal, one in Heaven Haven, and the other one here! So now he has finally made it back to the lands below! Isn’t that wonderful? I’m sure Merliam is eager to meet his wife and daughter; he’s heading to Merlot City right now!”. Merlia wonders in a half-shivering way “Merliam... I’ve heard that name before, Mario, I think we should go after him”. Though the groups wonders why, they agree, and so, you leave the apartment (via an elevator) and find out that you’re actually in Glimmer City.

You end up chasing Merliam to various areas such as Merlia’s old wooden house east of the city, then through the Sparkling Sands and finally, into Merlot City itself (and of course, Merlia is getting more and more suspicious each time). Merlot City is now almost completely rebuilt, but Merliam seems to be crazily going up to everyone, asking them about his “Wife and daughter”, but then not even giving them enough to time to respond before running off again. FINALLY, the group catch up in the throne room where Merliam is relieved to see Merlina again... even though Merlina doesn’t recognise him... “WHAT? B-but... it’s ME! MERLIAM! Husband of Queen Merlina, and father of erm... what did we call our daughter again?” Merlina’s face suddenly drops from happy to unimpressed. “MY NAME IS MERLIA!” Merlia yells across the room.

Merliam spins round to see his speechless daughter walking up the steps. “M-Merlia... of course... MERLIA! IT’S YOU!”Merliam runs in to hug Merlia, when Merlia quickly steps to the side making Merliam fall down the steps face-first... “That was a bit harsh” Merlina comments. Merlia shrugs “Seriously, you didn’t even remember your own daughter’s name?”. Merliam apologises “I’m SORRY! How could I forget, I mean, your name’s the same as your mothers, just without the “n” right? “. “Really, that’s how you remember me?” Merlia sighs. Merliam explains “Listen, I’ve been stuck in that so called “Haven” for over 30 years, you see, when Merlot was first attacked by the Strealoids, I was trying to escape with you to SAVE YOU! But when I realised I was cornered, I had no choice but to put you in the river and let you float down, hopefully to safety. After that, I got surrounded and as a last ditch effort to save myself, I activated a one-way portal, knowing I wouldn’t be able to return once I entered... and that’s how I ended up in Heaven Haven”

“I’m sorry” Merliam weeps on the ground “I should have stayed here, even if I got captured, I could still have been there for my people, and maybe even you... I-” Merlia suddenly throws her arms around him “It’s okay” she reassures him “I’m glad you’re back dad; that I did get to meet you in my life after all”. Merlina smiles and tells Merliam that Merlia is on an adventure with Mario and Co.. “Adventure eh?” Merliam smirks “Say, how about I make this up to you? I’ll help you on this “adventure” in any way I can! How about it?” Merlia agrees and explains their situation, and so Mario, Co. and Merliam all meet up in west Sparkling Sands at the ruins of the fallen airship from Heaven Haven...

Merliam thinks “With enough power, I could easily pull that thing right out of the ground telepathically, but there’s too much sand weighing it down... You’ll first need to find a way to get rid of it all, perhaps a few big gusts of wind would do it? I’m sure there’ll be plenty of sources for that in Heaven Haven right? Perhaps you should check there”. Guess what that means? BACKTRACKING!!! All the way back to Heaven Haven via the portal in Glimmer City, meet Merlock in Merliam’s house looking around, who asks if Mario and Co. need any help. Mario and Co. explain everything, and so Merlock points out “As you can see, parts of the city have become inaccessible, but perhaps you could somehow glide over some places, oh and don’t find these statues quite unusual?” he inspects a stone sculpture of what looks like a Paper Plane.

What you have to do here is bring Dooplund out, and Merlock suddenly has an idea “Hey, Doopla Ghosts can transform right? I know you’re probably used to imitating people, but do you think you could imitate this statue here? I mean, can you BECOME a Paper Plane?” Doopund wonders “Well, I’ll give it a try I suppose”. Dooplund tries it, and to the group’s delight, it works! And so Dooplund’s secondary ability has now been unlocked! “Glad I could of use outside of well, being Medreana’s assistant” Dooplund rubs his head in flattery. Putting this new ability to use, the group manage to reach other areas of the city, and soon find a Cloud Girl being attacked by Lakitufos and Espikots.

Naturally, Mario and Co. jump in to help the poor girl. After a quick battle, the girl thanks you, and introduces herself as Cloudia, but she sighs “When is someone gonna sort this out?”. Mario and Co. reassure her by explaining their plan to get the airship back. Cloudia jumps with joy “Really? And you’ll even batter that jerk Lacintosh? Oh, thank goodness, well actually, you’ll should probably know something; well, y’know like Lakitus and Lakitots have clouds they sit on? Well, I, WAS one of them clouds, and I ‘belonged’ to Lacintosh. Thing is though, I’m... well, I’m scared of heights... I know, it’s pathetic. But even so, Lacintosh was quite willing to help me overcome my fear, so that we could both fly like all the others”.

“But Lacintosh also spent a lot of his time working on some sort of machinery, and for the longest time I had no idea what it was. But then, he showed me the final model; it was basically a flying saucer. He told me that he had made it to help me overcome my fear, but that was a lie... because eventually he turned around and told me that I was useless, and that he had only made the UFO for him and him alone, just so he could finally fly like the rest of the Lakitots! And then guess what? All the other Lakitots thought he was cool with his machine, and so they became ditching their own clouds so that they could have their own, and they all started buying the machines off him! ERGH! Disgusting!”

Cloudia says that she would fly the group over to the Lunar Sanctuary if she weren’t afraid of heights, but wants to help anyway because she needs to “confront Lacintosh” herself. So with that... CLOUDIA JOINED YOUR PARTY, as the final required party member in the game.

With Cloudia now on your side, Mario and Co. head back to the Airship Wreck in the Sparkling Sands, where Merliam is waiting. Using Cloudia’s ability, you begin blowing away all the silver sand that's covering the Airship and also manage to open the way inside of the ship. Merliam suggests “you'll have to get rid of the sand inside of the boat as well!”.

Inside the airship, Mario and Co. continue getting rid of the sand until eventually, enough of it is cleared, and the boat is light enough to be lifted. Everyone regroups outside the ship, where Merliam tell Merlia “I need your help with this too. I don’t have enough power to lift it all by myself”. Merlia hesitates “But even with your help, my levitating abilities aren’t strong enough to lift objects this large”. Merliam ponders for a moment before handing Merlia a Red Jewel, which he says should increase her abilities. So, the father and daughter combined their magic abilities, and slowly but surely drag the Airship from beneath the silver sands. The engine automatically switches on (because the sand is no longer clogging it), and so the Airship is ready to go! Mario and Co. hop on, but Merliam stays behind “I’m glad I could help you Merlia. I’m going to stay in Merlot for now, but I’ll still be rooting for you no matter what! I have faith that you’ll succeed!”

Merlia smiles “Alright dad! You didn’t disappoint me, so I won’t let you down either! Thanks for everything!”. And so, the airship sets off into the skies, until soon reaching the docks of Heaven Haven. “Well done” Stirlin congratulates “Now you can finally reach the Lunar Sanctuary and end this madness!”. Get prepared if you need to, and once you’re ready talk to Stirlin, and the Airship will set sail into the distant sunset, where the Lunar Sanctuary sits in the clouds. Upon arrival, it is now night time, making for quite a mysterious and heavenly dungeon, both light and dark... Throughout the dungeon, there are many puzzles involving Moonlight. Part way through the dungeon, Mario finds the Spike Boots, which allow the player to walk on spikes, which makes for some interesting puzzles where Mario stands on top of Spike Balls and rolls them around.

Eventually, the group find a Metoran dressed in pink, who is no-doubt, Daria. However, she is being chased by guess who? Lacintosh himself. Daria is soon cornered by Lacintosh in his UFO “Stay put! I’m just following orders! I believe your brother wanted you captured!”. “So it was the work of them after all” Norahl adds up. Cloudia quickly intervenes “HEY JERK! Yeah! It’s ME! And I’m not letting you bully ANYONE else!!!”. Lacintosh grunts “Grrr, oh are you still on that? Haha, take the hint Cloudia, I’ve moved on, and you should too!”. While Lacintosh is distracted, Daria quickly rushes out the room, “WHAT?! Grrr, outta my way!” Lacintosh zooms past Mario and Co., chasing after Daria. “Get up slackers!” Norahl orders “Get after him!”.

Mario and Co. run through the final parts of the dungeon, until they eventually reach the very top of the Lunar Sanctuary, at the sight of a full moon in the background. Lacintosh has left Daria with nowhere else to run, but Cloudia attempts to get his attention again “I’m not done with you yet! Come on! I know you used to have a heart! What the HEY are you REALLY doing this for?”. Lacintosh laughs maniacally “You’re right, there is more to it! It’s not just because I wanted to fly quicker and easier... I made so much off this baby it’s not even funny! Actually no, it is quite funny to think I may have ended up spending the rest of my time helping you: a useless cloud who can’t even do what she was practically born for!”

Cloudia cringes in anger “T-that’s what you think? That’s all we were born for? Yeah, well guess what, I’m the reason Mario is even here right now! And I didn’t need to fly for that!”. Lacintosh cackles “Ha, but if you could fly you might just have gotten here in time! Come to think about it, I probably wouldn’t be doing all this if you could just DO WHAT YOU’RE SUPPOSE TO! But to tell the truth, this is much more fun. That Black Luma that came to me and gave me this offer, this mission, it was the perfect way to put my inventions to the test, so how bout’ I finish what I started eh? Which is of course YOU!” Lacintosh’s UFO then folds out to gain a pair of legs and 4 arms, each with purple spike balls as the fists. “I’ll give ya flying lesson! RIGHT TO THE OTHER SIDE!” and so begins the boss of Chapter 7 against Lacintosh and his “Spinebot”.

After the battle, the Spinebot explodes, leaving Lacintosh on the floor. Lacintosh then drags himself up with his lasting strength “Does this change anything? I mean, you’re still scared of heights right? Pfff, hahahahahaha! Just face it, you’re useless! You can’t fly! And you NEVER WI-” *SMASH*, Cloudia suddenly sends Lacintosh flying miles away into the starry skies. “YEAH? WELL MAYBE I DON’T NEED TO FLY! FLYING IS NOT MY ONLY PURPOSE YOU JERK, GO HAVE FUN WITH THAT FLYING JUNK OF YOUR’S, BECAUSE YOU AIN’T EVER GONNA GET ANY REAL FREINDS NOW!!!”... Every stares in discomfort “Oh, sorry, did I overdo that?” Cloudia gives a small smile “Thank you Mario, all of you, from now on, you’re my true companions, my real friends, thank you for all you’ve done”.

Daris also thanks you “I’m sorry for running away like a coward, I wish I could have helped you somehow, but thank you anyway, I am aware of what my brother is doing, and well... it is unacceptable, brother or not... I just hope that when this is all over that...” Daria weeps a little “that I can meet all my family in a true way, even just once... And I need your help for that Mario. there’s only one more heir to the throne you need to find before Darameana does: the eldest brother, Nerabul. Please, take this, after this” Daria gives Mario a moon shaped key, simply known as the Moon Key, thus triggering the END OF CHAPTER!!!

YOU GOT A SIBLING KEY!!!

Interludes

The game now switches to Bowser who is joined by an army of his minions from the Mushroom Kingdom. Bowser yells to his minions in the Plasma Temple "How's the machine converter-thingy doing!?". Kammy Koopa flies up to him, telling him “it's not quite ready yet your Impatienceness”. Two minions then show up who are holding a struggling Metoran. "This guy was causing trouble! We caught him trying to shut off the generator!" explains the grunting Koopatrol. The Metorian speaks "You fool, it is nearly the day of the sacrifice, you're disrespecting the great sun god Plasmarha! You’re going to destroy the entire lake!".

But, Bowser being Bowser, doesn't listen and tells his minions to get him out of his sight. Kammy Koopa asks what the plan is and Bowser explains "While my minions finish up on that converter, I'll be heading for Princess Peach, after all, it's been too long since I last kidnapped her! And what’s a great world conquering tool without a damsel in distress to go along with it? Gwha ha ha!". One of his minions then reports that the princess is in Auroraport, and so Bowser jumps in his Koopa Clown Cart and rides off...

Back in Heaven Haven, which is now safe again, Cloudia decides she wants to continue travelling with Mario and Co.. Octoombeta also says that she helped out every injured citizen she came across, to which Octoombravo replies “You did good Beta”. Beta grins “Ha, how flattering! Besides, weren’t you the one who went after the bad guys?”. “E-yea-yeah! I kicked, bombed and battered their sorry butts” Bravo shows off. Cloudia remarks “Aww, aren’t you 2 cute?”. “WHAT?!” Beta and Bravo both exclaim. Octoombeta then lets off a big giggle “Come on, get in the plane already, who knows? We might get another promotion!”. With that, the group fly back to NMA HQ.

Once back on land, Norahl suggests “We should probably head to Aurorapor because eh... erm, it’s the main hub-town? What? You gotta better idea? Don’t question it! JUST GO!”. So Mario heads back through Gamma Plains, with another successful mission under their belts, what could possible go wro- ...Octoombravo abruptly gets a haunting call from his walky-talky... it’s Snipeguy...

“L-listen you gotta come quick, West Anchor Valley! I-it’s Ryguy...”. “Oh great, now what’s he done” Octoombravo wonders. Snipeguy stays silent for a moment before saying “I... I don’t how to say this b-but m-my brother, R-Ryguy... he... H-he’s dead...”

...

Ooooooooooh!!!!! OHHHHH!!!!!! YES! DAT CLIFFHANGER!!! Ooh boy! THIS IS WHERE IT GETS DARK! Which is funny because this chapter is admitidly a bit more light hearted really, anyway, please tell me what you thought of this chapter in the comments (that is if you ARE one of those people who believes PM fangames don't HAVE to look official to be worthy of any praise -_-)

Paper Mario - Nintendo (C)
TMK - ME (C)

Description

HELLO PEOPLE! MAN, this has taken a DAMN long time! like, I've actually been busy for once, and I doubt it'll get any less busy from here, but well, here it IS at least! Chapter 7 of Paper Mario: The Metora Kingdom! ENJOY

After saving Princess Peach and Medreana, and settling things between the Metora and Yeast Kingdoms, Mario and Co. now know what their next objective is: Medreana’s sister Daria is a place known as Heaven Haven, and Mario and Co. must get there before Darameana and Delumer do. General Octoombaron tells them that they’ll have one of their plane’s setup, ready for morning. To skip to the next day, simply go to sleep in the barracks again, and head to the plane runway, south of the NMA HQ. However, once at the plane the next morning, they find that one of the engines of the plane is missing, so now what? Well, by heading to Anchor Valley, you can give Brago some parts you should have picked up from previous areas. By giving him a Toilet Tube, Metal Plating and a Propeller, Brago makes a new engine from the pieces.

But as you leave Brago’s house, you come across a familiar face... K. “You again! The one with that fishy name of, “K” was it?”. The woman gives serious look to Norahl “I’d rather not talk about my past... not yet anyway...”. K simply walks into Brago’s house, leaving Norahl to wonder “Who is she? And is she actually helping us? In fact, why? Hmmm”. Anyway, the group head back to the HQ, but find quite a shock when they get there... Ryguy quickly zooms out the base, pushing Mario and Co. to the side. A bunch of troops chase after him “Get back here ya traitor!”, but the soldiers are stopped by General Octoombravo.

“Let him go...” the general speaks “We have nothing to gain by keeping him here, and I doubt he’ll do anything of our concern from now on...” the General walks away with the other troops following. Snipeguy peaks out the gates and mutters “Brother...” he then turns to Mario “I wish... I wish I could say it their fault! That Delumer was controlling him as well, but no... Ryguy he... he actually did that, he killed Fragrey and no one can forgive him... I’m not even sure if I can... W-would you?” (This would be one of those dialogue choices) If you say “Yes” Snipeguy will feel a bit better and say that he’ll be able to forgive him soon, but if you say “No” Snipeguy will understand. Anyway, the group head to the plane with their new engine, in which it is quickly installed, and so Octoombeta hops in the pilot seat, with Mario and Co. in the back. “I hope none of you have air-sickness! It’s gonna be a pain to tidy that up!”. With that, the plane shoots down the runway and takes off into the skies, thus starting CHAPTER 7: AN UNSAFE HAVEN!!!

After a short flight, of viewing the areas of Metora below, the group arrive on a run way in the sky, surrounding by clouds as far as the eye can see. Everyone hops out the plane and gets ready to set off to the city itself: Heaven Haven. Mario and Co. (and Octoombeta) traverse across many platforms and clouds until they eventually reach Heaven Haven, but things are not as expected. There are many citizens either hiding or injured on the floor. “What could have done this?” Octoombeta gasps, Octoombravo curses “Darnit! We were too late! Stupid engine!”. Beta says she’ll go help the injured, while Mario and Co. explore the city in search of answers. Due to a lot of the city being destroyed (like broken bridges), you have to a little more creative with how you get around, and along the way, you also battle many enemies, which all appear to be Lakitufos and Espikots.

On the east edge of the city, a large floating castle is visible in the distance. “A fascinating place is it not?”, an old Strealoid man appears from behind and introduces himself as Stirlin. Norahl asks if he knows anything about what’s going on. Stirlin explains “A while ago, a Lakitot called Lacintosh who lived here in Heaven Haven showed up all of a sudden and began attacking the city in a large UFO-like machine. Through power and force, he quickly gained followers, and it seems that he has now gone to the Lunar Santuary” he looks over to the castle in the distance “No doubt about it, Lady Daria is in trouble...”. Norahl thinks “Okay, how can we get over to the Sanctuary, we need to stop him, PERIOD!”. Stirlin bows his head “Well, usually there’d be an airship here at the dock, but Lacintosh and his lackeys destroyed it, probably so nobody would follow him to the sanctuary”

“But we’ll have more problems if this carries on: you see, Heaven Haven and the Lunar Sanctuary were both built by strong believers, and so built this as an attempt to reach past the heavens and find Gorah City, but alas, it was a failure. But you see, the Lunar Sanctuary is where all of our resources are kept, so we’ll soon starve if Lacintosh has control forever. The other purpose of the castle is of course Daria, who citizen treat somewhat as a demi-goddess, I mean, Metoran’s from above are quite rare after all. The only other purpose of it is Lumeanio; the Metoran Moon God, as the sanctuary is also dedicated to him”. Norahl understands and tells the group that they need to find another way to get over to the sanctuary, so they should explore the rest of the city to see if they can find anything of use.

Within the city itself, there is one house that is very different from the rest: a bright purple hut with a spinning blue rooftop... Mario and Co. head inside, although there doesn’t appear to be anyone in here. At the back of the room though, there’s a peculiar stone arch, surrounded by lights and other machinery... By pressing a button, the stone arch opens up and a portal appears. So what better to do then enter it? On the other end of the portal, the group are spat out in what appears to be a modern apartment. Here a familiar face greets you “Whoa, I wasn’t expecting someone else to come through here! Wait... I know you! Mario is it?” Mario looks up to see that it’s Merlock, a Merlotian he briefly met in Chapter 2.

Merlia (who comes out here) wonders why the portal came out here. Merlock explains “Ah, well my old friend Merliam has been living up in that flying city for decades now, but we’ve been communicating ever since Mario here managed to free us from that tyranny! Anyway, together, we managed to each construct a portal, one in Heaven Haven, and the other one here! So now he has finally made it back to the lands below! Isn’t that wonderful? I’m sure Merliam is eager to meet his wife and daughter; he’s heading to Merlot City right now!”. Merlia wonders in a half-shivering way “Merliam... I’ve heard that name before, Mario, I think we should go after him”. Though the groups wonders why, they agree, and so, you leave the apartment (via an elevator) and find out that you’re actually in Glimmer City.

You end up chasing Merliam to various areas such as Merlia’s old wooden house east of the city, then through the Sparkling Sands and finally, into Merlot City itself (and of course, Merlia is getting more and more suspicious each time). Merlot City is now almost completely rebuilt, but Merliam seems to be crazily going up to everyone, asking them about his “Wife and daughter”, but then not even giving them enough to time to respond before running off again. FINALLY, the group catch up in the throne room where Merliam is relieved to see Merlina again... even though Merlina doesn’t recognise him... “WHAT? B-but... it’s ME! MERLIAM! Husband of Queen Merlina, and father of erm... what did we call our daughter again?” Merlina’s face suddenly drops from happy to unimpressed. “MY NAME IS MERLIA!” Merlia yells across the room.

Merliam spins round to see his speechless daughter walking up the steps. “M-Merlia... of course... MERLIA! IT’S YOU!”Merliam runs in to hug Merlia, when Merlia quickly steps to the side making Merliam fall down the steps face-first... “That was a bit harsh” Merlina comments. Merlia shrugs “Seriously, you didn’t even remember your own daughter’s name?”. Merliam apologises “I’m SORRY! How could I forget, I mean, your name’s the same as your mothers, just without the “n” right? “. “Really, that’s how you remember me?” Merlia sighs. Merliam explains “Listen, I’ve been stuck in that so called “Haven” for over 30 years, you see, when Merlot was first attacked by the Strealoids, I was trying to escape with you to SAVE YOU! But when I realised I was cornered, I had no choice but to put you in the river and let you float down, hopefully to safety. After that, I got surrounded and as a last ditch effort to save myself, I activated a one-way portal, knowing I wouldn’t be able to return once I entered... and that’s how I ended up in Heaven Haven”

“I’m sorry” Merliam weeps on the ground “I should have stayed here, even if I got captured, I could still have been there for my people, and maybe even you... I-” Merlia suddenly throws her arms around him “It’s okay” she reassures him “I’m glad you’re back dad; that I did get to meet you in my life after all”. Merlina smiles and tells Merliam that Merlia is on an adventure with Mario and Co.. “Adventure eh?” Merliam smirks “Say, how about I make this up to you? I’ll help you on this “adventure” in any way I can! How about it?” Merlia agrees and explains their situation, and so Mario, Co. and Merliam all meet up in west Sparkling Sands at the ruins of the fallen airship from Heaven Haven...

Merliam thinks “With enough power, I could easily pull that thing right out of the ground telepathically, but there’s too much sand weighing it down... You’ll first need to find a way to get rid of it all, perhaps a few big gusts of wind would do it? I’m sure there’ll be plenty of sources for that in Heaven Haven right? Perhaps you should check there”. Guess what that means? BACKTRACKING!!! All the way back to Heaven Haven via the portal in Glimmer City, meet Merlock in Merliam’s house looking around, who asks if Mario and Co. need any help. Mario and Co. explain everything, and so Merlock points out “As you can see, parts of the city have become inaccessible, but perhaps you could somehow glide over some places, oh and don’t find these statues quite unusual?” he inspects a stone sculpture of what looks like a Paper Plane.

What you have to do here is bring Dooplund out, and Merlock suddenly has an idea “Hey, Doopla Ghosts can transform right? I know you’re probably used to imitating people, but do you think you could imitate this statue here? I mean, can you BECOME a Paper Plane?” Doopund wonders “Well, I’ll give it a try I suppose”. Dooplund tries it, and to the group’s delight, it works! And so Dooplund’s secondary ability has now been unlocked! “Glad I could of use outside of well, being Medreana’s assistant” Dooplund rubs his head in flattery. Putting this new ability to use, the group manage to reach other areas of the city, and soon find a Cloud Girl being attacked by Lakitufos and Espikots.

Naturally, Mario and Co. jump in to help the poor girl. After a quick battle, the girl thanks you, and introduces herself as Cloudia, but she sighs “When is someone gonna sort this out?”. Mario and Co. reassure her by explaining their plan to get the airship back. Cloudia jumps with joy “Really? And you’ll even batter that jerk Lacintosh? Oh, thank goodness, well actually, you’ll should probably know something; well, y’know like Lakitus and Lakitots have clouds they sit on? Well, I, WAS one of them clouds, and I ‘belonged’ to Lacintosh. Thing is though, I’m... well, I’m scared of heights... I know, it’s pathetic. But even so, Lacintosh was quite willing to help me overcome my fear, so that we could both fly like all the others”.

“But Lacintosh also spent a lot of his time working on some sort of machinery, and for the longest time I had no idea what it was. But then, he showed me the final model; it was basically a flying saucer. He told me that he had made it to help me overcome my fear, but that was a lie... because eventually he turned around and told me that I was useless, and that he had only made the UFO for him and him alone, just so he could finally fly like the rest of the Lakitots! And then guess what? All the other Lakitots thought he was cool with his machine, and so they became ditching their own clouds so that they could have their own, and they all started buying the machines off him! ERGH! Disgusting!”

Cloudia says that she would fly the group over to the Lunar Sanctuary if she weren’t afraid of heights, but wants to help anyway because she needs to “confront Lacintosh” herself. So with that... CLOUDIA JOINED YOUR PARTY, as the final required party member in the game.

With Cloudia now on your side, Mario and Co. head back to the Airship Wreck in the Sparkling Sands, where Merliam is waiting. Using Cloudia’s ability, you begin blowing away all the silver sand that's covering the Airship and also manage to open the way inside of the ship. Merliam suggests “you'll have to get rid of the sand inside of the boat as well!”.

Inside the airship, Mario and Co. continue getting rid of the sand until eventually, enough of it is cleared, and the boat is light enough to be lifted. Everyone regroups outside the ship, where Merliam tell Merlia “I need your help with this too. I don’t have enough power to lift it all by myself”. Merlia hesitates “But even with your help, my levitating abilities aren’t strong enough to lift objects this large”. Merliam ponders for a moment before handing Merlia a Red Jewel, which he says should increase her abilities. So, the father and daughter combined their magic abilities, and slowly but surely drag the Airship from beneath the silver sands. The engine automatically switches on (because the sand is no longer clogging it), and so the Airship is ready to go! Mario and Co. hop on, but Merliam stays behind “I’m glad I could help you Merlia. I’m going to stay in Merlot for now, but I’ll still be rooting for you no matter what! I have faith that you’ll succeed!”

Merlia smiles “Alright dad! You didn’t disappoint me, so I won’t let you down either! Thanks for everything!”. And so, the airship sets off into the skies, until soon reaching the docks of Heaven Haven. “Well done” Stirlin congratulates “Now you can finally reach the Lunar Sanctuary and end this madness!”. Get prepared if you need to, and once you’re ready talk to Stirlin, and the Airship will set sail into the distant sunset, where the Lunar Sanctuary sits in the clouds. Upon arrival, it is now night time, making for quite a mysterious and heavenly dungeon, both light and dark... Throughout the dungeon, there are many puzzles involving Moonlight. Part way through the dungeon, Mario finds the Spike Boots, which allow the player to walk on spikes, which makes for some interesting puzzles where Mario stands on top of Spike Balls and rolls them around.

Eventually, the group find a Metoran dressed in pink, who is no-doubt, Daria. However, she is being chased by guess who? Lacintosh himself. Daria is soon cornered by Lacintosh in his UFO “Stay put! I’m just following orders! I believe your brother wanted you captured!”. “So it was the work of them after all” Norahl adds up. Cloudia quickly intervenes “HEY JERK! Yeah! It’s ME! And I’m not letting you bully ANYONE else!!!”. Lacintosh grunts “Grrr, oh are you still on that? Haha, take the hint Cloudia, I’ve moved on, and you should too!”. While Lacintosh is distracted, Daria quickly rushes out the room, “WHAT?! Grrr, outta my way!” Lacintosh zooms past Mario and Co., chasing after Daria. “Get up slackers!” Norahl orders “Get after him!”.

Mario and Co. run through the final parts of the dungeon, until they eventually reach the very top of the Lunar Sanctuary, at the sight of a full moon in the background. Lacintosh has left Daria with nowhere else to run, but Cloudia attempts to get his attention again “I’m not done with you yet! Come on! I know you used to have a heart! What the HEY are you REALLY doing this for?”. Lacintosh laughs maniacally “You’re right, there is more to it! It’s not just because I wanted to fly quicker and easier... I made so much off this baby it’s not even funny! Actually no, it is quite funny to think I may have ended up spending the rest of my time helping you: a useless cloud who can’t even do what she was practically born for!”

Cloudia cringes in anger “T-that’s what you think? That’s all we were born for? Yeah, well guess what, I’m the reason Mario is even here right now! And I didn’t need to fly for that!”. Lacintosh cackles “Ha, but if you could fly you might just have gotten here in time! Come to think about it, I probably wouldn’t be doing all this if you could just DO WHAT YOU’RE SUPPOSE TO! But to tell the truth, this is much more fun. That Black Luma that came to me and gave me this offer, this mission, it was the perfect way to put my inventions to the test, so how bout’ I finish what I started eh? Which is of course YOU!” Lacintosh’s UFO then folds out to gain a pair of legs and 4 arms, each with purple spike balls as the fists. “I’ll give ya flying lesson! RIGHT TO THE OTHER SIDE!” and so begins the boss of Chapter 7 against Lacintosh and his “Spinebot”.

After the battle, the Spinebot explodes, leaving Lacintosh on the floor. Lacintosh then drags himself up with his lasting strength “Does this change anything? I mean, you’re still scared of heights right? Pfff, hahahahahaha! Just face it, you’re useless! You can’t fly! And you NEVER WI-” *SMASH*, Cloudia suddenly sends Lacintosh flying miles away into the starry skies. “YEAH? WELL MAYBE I DON’T NEED TO FLY! FLYING IS NOT MY ONLY PURPOSE YOU JERK, GO HAVE FUN WITH THAT FLYING JUNK OF YOUR’S, BECAUSE YOU AIN’T EVER GONNA GET ANY REAL FREINDS NOW!!!”... Every stares in discomfort “Oh, sorry, did I overdo that?” Cloudia gives a small smile “Thank you Mario, all of you, from now on, you’re my true companions, my real friends, thank you for all you’ve done”.

Daris also thanks you “I’m sorry for running away like a coward, I wish I could have helped you somehow, but thank you anyway, I am aware of what my brother is doing, and well... it is unacceptable, brother or not... I just hope that when this is all over that...” Daria weeps a little “that I can meet all my family in a true way, even just once... And I need your help for that Mario. there’s only one more heir to the throne you need to find before Darameana does: the eldest brother, Nerabul. Please, take this, after this” Daria gives Mario a moon shaped key, simply known as the Moon Key, thus triggering the END OF CHAPTER!!!

YOU GOT A SIBLING KEY!!!

Interludes

The game now switches to Bowser who is joined by an army of his minions from the Mushroom Kingdom. Bowser yells to his minions in the Plasma Temple "How's the machine converter-thingy doing!?". Kammy Koopa flies up to him, telling him “it's not quite ready yet your Impatienceness”. Two minions then show up who are holding a struggling Metoran. "This guy was causing trouble! We caught him trying to shut off the generator!" explains the grunting Koopatrol. The Metorian speaks "You fool, it is nearly the day of the sacrifice, you're disrespecting the great sun god Plasmarha! You’re going to destroy the entire lake!".

But, Bowser being Bowser, doesn't listen and tells his minions to get him out of his sight. Kammy Koopa asks what the plan is and Bowser explains "While my minions finish up on that converter, I'll be heading for Princess Peach, after all, it's been too long since I last kidnapped her! And what’s a great world conquering tool without a damsel in distress to go along with it? Gwha ha ha!". One of his minions then reports that the princess is in Auroraport, and so Bowser jumps in his Koopa Clown Cart and rides off...

Back in Heaven Haven, which is now safe again, Cloudia decides she wants to continue travelling with Mario and Co.. Octoombeta also says that she helped out every injured citizen she came across, to which Octoombravo replies “You did good Beta”. Beta grins “Ha, how flattering! Besides, weren’t you the one who went after the bad guys?”. “E-yea-yeah! I kicked, bombed and battered their sorry butts” Bravo shows off. Cloudia remarks “Aww, aren’t you 2 cute?”. “WHAT?!” Beta and Bravo both exclaim. Octoombeta then lets off a big giggle “Come on, get in the plane already, who knows? We might get another promotion!”. With that, the group fly back to NMA HQ.

Once back on land, Norahl suggests “We should probably head to Aurorapor because eh... erm, it’s the main hub-town? What? You gotta better idea? Don’t question it! JUST GO!”. So Mario heads back through Gamma Plains, with another successful mission under their belts, what could possible go wro- ...Octoombravo abruptly gets a haunting call from his walky-talky... it’s Snipeguy...

“L-listen you gotta come quick, West Anchor Valley! I-it’s Ryguy...”. “Oh great, now what’s he done” Octoombravo wonders. Snipeguy stays silent for a moment before saying “I... I don’t how to say this b-but m-my brother, R-Ryguy... he... H-he’s dead...”

...

Ooooooooooh!!!!! OHHHHH!!!!!! YES! DAT CLIFFHANGER!!! Ooh boy! THIS IS WHERE IT GETS DARK! Which is funny because this chapter is admitidly a bit more light hearted really, anyway, please tell me what you thought of this chapter in the comments (that is if you ARE one of those people who believes PM fangames don't HAVE to look official to be worthy of any praise -_-)

Paper Mario - Nintendo (C)
TMK - ME (C)