The sun peeked through the Mario Brothers' tent like a fiery halo. Luigi opened his eyes and sat up. His mind was a little fuzzy from the last remnants of a dream. It was a nice dream, something about walking through a never-ending meadow of flowers. The sun's vibrant rays sent a glossy, gold sheen all around the tent, blending with the falling leaves of autumn. The sound of the chirping birds brought a peaceful hymn to the green clad plumber's ears. The spooky forest of last night had transitioned to one of enlightenment.
Luigi took a deep breath and sighed with intense relief. The night was over. He had survived an entire night in the dreaded Forrest of Illusion. In a few hours; the gang would be packing up and returning back home. It was almost a shame. The forest is quite lovely during the daytime. The sound of yawning snapped Luigi out of his brief trance. He turned over to see Mario sitting up and stretching his arms.
A playful smirk formed on Mario's face once he had Luigi's attention.
"Well, Weegee, did Toadelly KedShrooms pay you a visit last night?"
"Very funny, Mario," Luigi laughed lightly. "Thanks for talking me into this trip! I don't even know why I was so afraid in the first place. This has been quite fun!"
Mario beamed at his little brother's positive response.
"You see! I told you everything was going to be alright! There's nothing to be sca-"
The sound of someone screaming interrupted Mario's sentence.
"WHAT THE HELL IS THIS!?" Toadette screamed out.
DK popped his head into the Mario Brothers tent.
"Oh, thank goodness you two are up!" DK said in urgency.
"What's the matter?" Mario asked.
"Uhhh…you better come take a look at this!" DK said as he dashed out of the tent.
Mario and Luigi looked at each other until Luigi finally shrugged. The sound of angry shouting could be heard outside the tent. The brothers quickly crawled out and headed over to the source of the noise—Wario and Daisy.
"I did NOT do this!" Wario spat.
"Sure, you didn't. Let me guess was it Toadelly KedShrooms?" Daisy sarcastically replied.
"Daisy, what is going…Ugh! Mama Mia! What is that fowl odor?" Luigi gagged as he covered his nose with his shirt.
A strong, musty rust like smell surrounded the area. Hundreds of flies and other bugs were crawling around the purplish red gook trail. The gang could only stand still frozen at the disgusting display around them.
"Holy shit! Did something die out here!? It smells like an animal's rotting carcass!" Birdo exclaimed while swatting flies away.
"This is so cool! Yoshi, let me see the camera, I wanna take pictures to document this," Dixie exclaimed.
Everyone looked at the monkey girl like she was some kind of psychopath.
"I think…I'm gonna be sick," Toad whined as he tried to move away from the horrendous stench.
"Eww, This junk is all around our campsite!" Peach freaked.
"What is this stuff?" Diddy asked as he ran his finger in the substance. He made a disgusted look on his face when he realized it was still wet.
"What the hell! Don't touch it, you have no idea what that crap is!" Dixie scolded as she snapped a few pictures.
"Ugh, it feels warm," Diddy groaned as he turned to wipe his paw on the grass.
"If I didn't know any better…"Yoshi trailed off as he closely sniffed the ground. "I would say that it's blood. And….it's still fresh like it has been sitting out here for only a couple of hours."
Everyone looked up at the dinosaur in horror.
"Are you saying that somebody just smeared blood all around our campsite last night, while we slept?" Peach nervously asked.
"Now, I KNOW I'm gonna be sick," Toad said as he leaned over to vomit.
"What kind of freak would do that?" Luigi asked looking around nervously.
"Let's ask the resident freak himself," Daisy said pointing to Wario.
All eyes were glaring on Wario now.
"I already told you! I. HAD. NOTHING. TO. DO. WITH. THIS!" Wario raged.
"Whatever Wario, We all know you and Waluigi would be the only jerks to pull off this kind of sick prank," Daisy said folding her arms.
"Speaking of Waluigi, where is he?" DK noticed.
Everyone turned their attention back to Wario.
"I don't know where he is, OK? He never came back last night," Wario nervously responded.
"What do you mean he never came back last night?" Mario asked with a raised eyebrow.
"He got up in the middle of the night and said he had to use the bathroom. I didn't think nothing about it and went back to sleep. I woke up this morning and it looked as if he never came back from last night."
"How do we know this is not some kind of setup?" Birdo asked suspiciously.
"I bet a million coins that Waluigi is hiding out behind one of those trees laughing at us right now. I swear Wario, I will beat the crap out of both you!" Daisy growled.
"Yeah, I wouldn't put it past you two to do something like this just to freak us out," Toadette accused.
"Idiots! For the millionth time, I have nothing to do with this! If Wally is playing a prank then he's on his own with this one," Wario yelled in annoyance.
"JOKE'S OVER WALUIGI! C'MON OUT RIGHT NOW IF YOU KNOW WHAT'S GOOD FOR YOU! Daisy screamed out into the woods.
"Oh My God! You guys have got to see this!" Dixie freaked.
The monkey girl was atop a nearby tree looking down at the campsite. She was snapping some bird's eye view pictures of the camp.
"What is it? I wanna see!" Diddy demanded as he climbed up the same tree as Dixie. "What are you looking—WOAH!"
"What? What is it!?" Birdo asked impatiently.
Diddy and Dixie didn't answer. The two stood still with their mouths open in awe.
"What in the world is wrong with you two?" DK asked as he climbed up the same tree. "What is the big deal?"
Dixie pointed down in the direction of the camp. DK could only gasp in shock at what was below him."
"Is that in the shape of what I think it is?" he asked nervously.
"I've got a bad feeling about this, Mario," Luigi whimpered.
"What the hell is going on up there!? You wanna share with the rest of us!" Wario spat.
Dixie scampered down the tree immediately. She pulled up the photo she took atop of the tree. The rest of the gang huddled around her to get a close look.
"Do you see what we see?" Dixie asked hesitantly as she held up the photo preview screen.
The gang gasped in horror at the picture. The blood was smeared around the campsite in a pentagon shape with their tents right in the middle.
"OK, I know my brother is a jerk but he is not some twisted psychopath. He would never do something this fucked up! Hell, I would never stoop to doing something this fucked up!" Wario freaked.
"Can we please just get out of here already?" Peach panicked.
"Peach's right. We should leave! The person who did this still might be out there," Yoshi shuddered.
"Relax everyone! There is no need to panic! It's most likely some young punks just playing some kind of belated Halloween prank. I wouldn't be surprised if it was just Bowser and his goons trying to mess with us. Let's just comely pack up our stuff and we'll be out of here," Mario ordered.
"Wait, we can't go! Waluigi is still out there! We can't just leave him. I don't even think Bowser is deranged enough to do something like this," Wario begged.
"We'll call the police once we get outside the forest."
"What if he is in trouble or hurt? I know he's a pain but he is still my brother. He's the only family I have and I could never forgive myself if I let something happen to him. How would you feel if it was Luigi instead?" Wario pleaded.
Mario felt sympatric for the plump man. He looked over at his cowering brother. He knew that if Luigi was missing he wouldn't rest until his little brother was safe and sound. He was a hero after all. It wouldn't be very heroic to turn his back on his friend, even if this friend was a total douche bag.
"I'll help you find your brother," Mario assured him. For the first time Wario actually smiled at Mario.
"Um, you guys have fun with that! I'm getting out of the Forest of Delusion!" Birdo replied.
"Birdo, we should help Mario," Yoshi suggested as he reached out to grab Birdo's arm. "We should all stay to help."
"But, I wanna leave! Can't we just split up?" Toadette offered.
"No. Splitting up is the worst possible thing you can do at a time like this, Toadette! We are stronger in numbers. We don't want to risk getting lost or worse," Toad gulped. "Besides, Yoshi is right. What if that person is still out there?"
"I really wanna get out of here!" Peach whined.
"Me too! This is getting really creepy. Why can't we just let the police handle this?" Luigi said.
"How about we search the forest for an hour? If we don't find Waluigi by then, we'll head back and call the police. Does that work?" Mario asked.
Everyone seemed to reluctantly agree to these terms. The gang wasted no time in packing up their gear. They wanted to get as far away from the blood stained camp as possible! Once everything was settled, the gang headed off in the western direction. Mario decided the past method was to simply trace the gang's steps from the previous day. Nobody seemed to object since this would lead them back to the entrance anyway. The sounds of Waluigi's name echoed throughout the forest.
"WAAALUUUUGIII!"
"Ollie Ollie oxen free!"
"Waluigi, where are you!?"
"Come out, come out wherever you are!"
"Waluigi! Are you out here?"
"Waluigi, you better not be hiding!"
"This place is ignoramus! This is going to be like finding a needle in a haystack," Dixie complained.
"Let's just face it. This is a lost cause," Diddy whispered to Dixie.
"I heard that furball!" Wario growled at Diddy.
"Ugh, I'm tired! Can we stop for a break?" Toadette sighed as she sat down on a log in exhaustion.
"It's been an hour, Mario. We should head back now," Luigi said looking down at his watch.
"No, we can't leave! You bunch of selfish assholes! You don't care for anybody but yourselves! How dare you give up on my brother?" Wario yelled.
"Excuse me!? We just wasted an hour of our lives wandering around trying to find your stupid brother! I hardly think that's selfish," Daisy spat.
"Wario, we are not giving up on Waluigi. It's been an hour and we have not found any clues to his whereabouts. This place is a colossal maze. It could take days to comb the entire forest by ourselves. We should head back to call for more help," Mario said gently.
"Besides for all we know Waluigi could be waiting by the van. We should go," Toad reasoned.
"Like hell we are! Nobody leaves until my brother is found! I don't care if we end up spending another night out here! No one leaves! NO ONE!" Wario demanded.
"Wario, I'm getting some bad vibes about this place. The fact that we have not found anything is clearly a bad sign. We need to let the police handle this," Peach offered.
"What is Toad is right and Waluigi has been hanging out by the van the whole time," DK said.
"Hmph! That wouldn't surprise me," Daisy said.
"Oh, fuck all of you! I know my brother better than anyone. He would never leave without telling me first. We are going to keep looking or else!" Wario threatened.
"For the love of shrooms! We have been searching all afternoon. If we have not found him now what makes you so sure we will find him in the next couple of minutes! We agreed to an hour and an hour has passed. Get over it and quit acting like such a damn brat," Birdo impatiently said.
"Shut up the fuck up Birdo! Was I talking to you?" Wario shouted.
"Don't you dare tell me what to do, fatass!" Birdo screamed back.
While the rest of the gang argued, Diddy and Dixie could only shake their heads in shame. Diddy looked over to notice that DK was staring out like a deer caught in headlights. He looked as if he was in deep thought.
"Hey DK, you OK man? You look kinda spaced out there," Diddy noticed.
"I think I see someone over there!" DK shouted causing everyone to jump.
"Where?" Mario asked.
"Look over there! It looks like someone is hanging out in that huge tree over there." DK pointed in the North West direction of the forest.
"He's right! I think I see it too!" Yoshi said as he squinted his eyes.
"Waluigi! Is that you!?" Wario screamed out.
"Wait, isn't that where we found that old dead tree yesterday?" Toadette inquired.
"Oh no! Not that creepy place again," Luigi said while trembling.
"Well, it figures that Waluigi would choose to hide out in that area. I am going to kick that guy's ass to the BeanBean Kingdom and back! Let me handle this you guys" Daisy growled as she stomped ahead of the group.
She was making such great stride it was only a matter of seconds before she reached the area before the others. Sure enough Waluigi's silhouette came into view as she approached the sinister tree. The area was as silent and eerie as it was the previous day. Waluigi's body was hunched over in the fetal position atop the nearby branch.
"You fuckin moron! I KNEW that was your idea of a sick prank! Well, the fun's over. Get your ass out of that tree right now!"
No answer.
"Damnit Waluigi!" Daisy screamed as she kicked the tree.
"Daisy? Did you find Waluigi?" Luigi called out a few feet away.
Daisy turned around to answer her boyfriend, who was only a few feet away with the rest of the gang.
"Yes, his stupid ass will not come out that tree! I guess he knows I'm gonna-"
Daisy felt something bump into her causing her to jump forward a bit.
"Waluigi, I am REALLY going to…"
Daisy turned around and screamed the loudest she has ever screamed in her entire life.
"Daisy!" Luigi freaked as he ran ahead of the group. Everyone else ran just as well to keep up.
"Daisy, are you…WHAT THE FUCK!"
Everyone stopped and screamed at the sight before them.
Waluigi's body was hung by a rope from the tree branch. The tight noose around his neck held the bloody limp body in place as it swayed back and forth. His eyeballs were missing, so, fresh blood oozed out of the hallow eye sockets onto his shirt. Even more frightening than Waluigi's appearance was the message behind him. Carved into the tree bark in bold letters were:
I'M WATCHING YOU.
"I'm getting out of here!" Toadette shrieked as she bolted down a pathway.
"Toadette! Stop! Don't get too far ahead or you'll get lost!" Toad shouted running after her.
"Toad! Toadette! Come back here!" Mario screamed as he chased the two toads. Peach, Daisy, Yoshi, Birdo, Luigi and Wario followed Mario.
"Should we follow them?" Dixie asked hesitantly.
"Would you rather stay here?" Diddy gestured to Waluigi's body.
"Guys! Wait for us!" DK called out as the kong trio followed pursuit. Dixie stopped and gave one last final look at the sight behind her. She could have sworn she saw a smirk on Waluigi's face. That was not there before…
"Dixie! Come on!" Diddy yelled as he grabbed Dixie's arm pulling her into the forest thicket.
Toadette ran until she was out of breath. She stopped and fell to her knees, gasping in big deep breaths. She tried to force out the scary image that was present moments ago.
"It's not real…it's not real…it's not real. I'm dreaming…This is only a dream. Any minute I'll wake up in my sleeping bag," Toadette kept saying over and over again.
"Toadette? There you are! What the hell do you think you were doing just running off like that," Toad scolded.
"I wanna wake up! I wanna go home! This is not real. It can't be! Please tell me it's not…" She then sobbed as he pulled her into a hug.
"It's gonna be alright. I will not let anything bad happen to you," Toad promised but he was not so confident himself. He just knew he couldn't let Toadette know that.
"Toad? Is everything alright?" Mario asked as him and the rest of the gang arrived at the scene.
"Why the hell would anything be alright!? We just saw Waluigi's dead body back there!" Peach freaked.
Toadette's sobs grew even louder. Toad tried to shush her to calm her down while Daisy patted her head comfortingly.
"Holy shit! That was the most horrifying thing I have ever seen in my entire life!" Yoshi exclaimed.
"Did he commit suicide?" Diddy asked.
"Why would someone gauge their eyes out and then hang themselves?" Birdo said.
"No, Waluigi would never do that to himself. This was clearly murder! You saw that message someone carved into the tree." Wario raged even though a few tears were forming at his eyes.
"That means whoever did this is still out there, watching us right now," Dixie realized in horror.
"I WANNA GO HOME!" Toadette wailed.
"Everyone, please calm down! Panicking will only make the situation worse. We need to stick together. That means no more running off!" Mario said.
Suddenly a rustle was heard in the nearby bushes. The gang snapped their heads in the direction of the noise. It sounded like someone was walking towards them.
"There's something over there!" Peach said hiding behind Mario.
"Who's out there?" Mario called out.
There was no response. Uneasiness washed over the group. Everyone huddled closely together.
"What if it's the murderer?" Luigi whispered.
"I'll handle this!" Mario said stepping forward. "Alright, show yourself! If it's a fight you want then bring it on!"
The figure jumped out of the bushes on the other side causing the group to scream out in surprise. It turned out to be none other than the infamous Koopa king himself.
"Ah Ha! I finally found you! Err, well, actually I wasn't looking for you. Well, I was but then I wasn't," Bowser rambled.
"Bowser, what the hell are you talking about?" Mario said trying to steady his breath from the sudden surprise.
"Have any of you seen Junior?"
"Junior? Why would we run into Junior?" Luigi asked confused.
"Well, we came out here to scare the pants off of you dweebs last night but then we got separated and I can't find him anywhere. I have been wondering around this stupid forest all night. I thought I was lost until I heard your voices," Bowser confessed.
"How long has he been missing?" Peach asked.
"Who freaking cares! Did any of you seriously forget about the fucked up shit we just saw a few moments ago!? There is a psycho on the loose!" Birdo yelled.
"What are you going on about?" Bowser asked impatiently.
"Long story short: we woke up to a blood stained campsite this morning and found out Waluigi was missing. So, we spent an hour looking for him only to find his dead body hung in a tree with his eyes gauged out," DK explained.
"Ew, are you serious?"
"Yes, and the culprit left us a message that he or she is watching us," Yoshi added.
"What the hell?" Bowser began get really worried now. "We...we have to find my son."
"I am sick of being in this cursed forest! I just wanna get out of here already!" Toadette exclaimed.
"Chill out Toadette! Bowser, we are on our way to the police now. I suggest you come with us," Daisy said.
"Yeah, I wouldn't want to be stuck out here alone with a psychopath," Toad obnoxiously blurted out.
"Toad!" Peach hissed while giving him the death glare.
"What! My son is all alone with a madman out there!" Bowser hyperventilated.
"It's OK, Bowser. I'm sure Junior is fine. He's a smart and tough kid," Peach reassured.
"Yeah, I'm sure he is waiting right outside of the forest," Luigi added. The rest of the gang tried to smile despite thinking the worst.
"Then it's settled. Let's get out of here! So…um, which way?" Diddy asked looking around.
"I think we came from that direction," Daisy said pointing to the north.
"No, I think it was more like that direction," Wario said pointing to the east.
"Oh shit…"Dixie swore.
All of the directions looked the same. There was no way to tell each pathway apart from each other. Each path had the same colored flowers and equal number of identical trees and bushes. Everyone scrambled around and offered their different theories. Honestly, no one had clue.
"Seriously, can anyone not remember the direction we just came from?" Luigi asked.
"Mario, you know the way, right?" Peach asked nervously.
Mario looked around and even he was stumped. "Well, we kinda got off course when we chased after Toadette."
"Thanks a lot Toadette!" Birdo snorted.
"Hey, back off! This is not her fault. That was pretty damn traumatic back there!" Toad argued.
"Yeah, but what idiot just runs off from the group," Wario retorted.
"Oh Ho Oh! You are one to talk! You were the one that wanted to stay in this freaky forest!" Toadette lashed out.
"Alright! That's enough! Stop fighting! We need to work together and have our wits about us if we want to find the way out of here," Mario said.
"I know a way out," Bowser said smugly.
"OK…" Daisy pressed on.
"Clearly, I'm the only smart one. I brought a map!" Bowser said arrogantly.
"Congratulations. Now will you please show us so we can get out of here already!" Birdo snapped.
Bowser snorted but reached behind him to grab his backpack. "Hmm...That's odd. It was just here," Bowser frowned digging further into his bag. He searched every compartment thoroughly much to the annoyance of the Mario gang.
"Well…"Birdo said stomping her foot.
"It's gone. How can that be!? I was just looking at literally a few minutes before I ran into all of you! How could I have lost it?" Bowser freaked.
Everyone groaned.
"Now, what are we suppose to do?" Dixie asked uneasily.
"My tape!" Luigi exclaimed.
"Say what?" Daisy asked.
"My tape, Remember? I put red tape on the trees to mark our path!" Luigi shouted happily as he pointed to a tree in the southern direction with red tape on it.
"Luigi, I never thought I would ever say this but you are a genius," Wario admitted.
"Yah! That's my Weegee!" Daisy cheered running over to give him a kiss on the cheek.
Luigi blushed as everyone gave him their sincerest form of gratitude.
"Nice thinking Weeg! Everyone let's follow the tape trail!" Mario said leading the way.
The gang walked for what felt like hours. Nothing seemed to different for the gang. Miles and miles of trees stretched on in every direction. If it was not for the red tape trail there would have been no way to decipher the maze.
"Are we almost there? I don't remember walking this long," Toadette complained.
"Yeah, we have been walking for at least three hours now. It only seemed like it took an hour yesterday," Yoshi pointed out.
"I agree! We should have been to the van a long time ago!" Peach said.
"Something does seem different. I mean the Forest of Illusion can be confusing but I remember always being able to find my path back in the day," Mario said.
Bowser didn't seem to be paying attention. He would call out for Junior's name every other few minutes or so.
"Funny, I don't remember taping that many trees, "Luigi said.
"Well, at least we know we are going in the right direction," Daisy smiled at him.
Luigi returned the smile but was still a bit unsure of the situation.
"So, Diddy. I wonder if Toadelly KedShrooms was behind everything that happened today," Dixie said.
"How would you figure?"
"The pentagon shaped blood was a sign of witchcraft, Waluigi's death and Junior's disappearance. This can't all be coincidental."
"Please don't talk about this anymore," Toadette whined.
"Do you still believe in that hookey urban legend? There is no such thing as Toadelly KedShrooms! This is obviously the work of a psychopath," Birdo reasoned.
"I don't know Birdo. I mean it is kinda odd that all of this is happening now."
"So, who's to say this couldn't have happened in Mushroom City or anywhere else?"
"True. But you gotta admit that there is something unnatural going on."
"Look, I refuse to believe there is witchcraft upon us!"
"Um, Luigi how many trees did you tape?" DK asked looking ahead from atop a nearby tree.
"Just a few. Why?"
DK pointed ahead of the gang.
"Mama Mia!" Luigi exclaimed as he looked ahead.
Every single tree in the forest had the same red tape mark on its bark. The gang looked around in every single direction. There was not a single tree without a tape mark. They were completely speechless this sight. As if things weren't confusing enough, this just doubled the illusion for the gang.
"OK..I..I didn't do this! I don't have that much tape! There is no way!" Luigi freaked out.
"Still don't think something's unusual?" Dixie said to Birdo.
"Holy shit! What is going on?" Daisy asked nervously.
"M-Mario! How do we get out of here?" Peach asked looking around frantically.
"I..I don't know," was the dreaded response.
EOC.
A/N: Things will start to get creepy next chapter and on. For those that follow Dark Bones Walking, I am about 75% finished with the next chapter. I will try my absolute hardest to have that one up in the next week.
The sun peeked in my bedroom window, lighting my hair like a fiery halo. I lifted my head from the pillow, my curly hair tumbling down my back like a waterfall. The suns vibrant rays sent a glossy, gold sheen all around the room, blending with the falling leaves of Autumn. The sound of the rhythmic waves tumbling in the surf brought a peaceful hymn to my ears, as I opened my window to engulf the cool Miami breeze. I closed my eyes yet again, the suns waking rays warming my body.
i don t know it s just an idea