Author's Note: I do not own Nintendo, or any of its characters. The following story is based on Mario Party 8.

Mario Party: Underground

Chapter 4

Everything was blurry and dark. Mario rubbed his eyes and blinked a couple times but his surroundings were still unclear. He could tell something was strange, but he just couldn't put his finger on it. Then he realized that he was barefoot, his shoes nowhere in sight. He felt the cold, stone floor beneath his feet. Finally, his eyes readjusted to the dark. He looked around to see that everything was made out of stone. The floor, walls, and ceiling. He was in a long, windowless corridor that was completely silent except for the sound of dripping water.

drip… drip… drip…

Mario took a whiff. The air had a horrible stench. It smelled foul and rotten. He didn't know why, but he could feel the presence of death lurking around in the dark corridor.

drip… drip… drip…

He began to walk along the narrow hallway, looking for doors or any sign of humans.

drip… drip… drip…

As he walked, the dripping water began to get louder. The water was drawing closer. He began to notice that his mouth was extremely dry. His tongue was like the bottom of a dried up lake, being rough and cracked.

Drip… Drip… Drip…

Mario began to run. He began to think about the cold water, entering his mouth and dribbling down his chin, and the cool sensation of hydration.

DRIP… DRIP… DRIP…

He looked further down the corridor as he ran, and he saw the glistening surface of the puddle of water. His tongue was hanging out of his mouth. Finally, the puddle of clear water was at his feet. He knelt down and cupped his hands in the water, pouring it down his throat. Mario began to feel refreshed. He lapped up more and more water until he thought his stomach would explode. He stared at his reflection on the surface of the water. He looked different. His hair was black, and his face was covered in dirt. Suddenly, something caught his eye. He saw a bit of leather above his head. He reached up for it and grabbed it. He tugged on it, but it was attached to something. He quickly turned around and suddenly shock flowed through his body. He found himself staring into the face of a man. Not just any man. The person's skin was gray and flaky. His eyes were sunken in and his mouth was stretched into a horrible scowl showing his rotten, yellow teeth. Then Mario realized what the man was. It was a corpse. Mario was frozen in terror, his eyes so wide that they almost popped out of their sockets. The dripping water stopped, and all was silent.

"Run," the corpse whispered. Before the corpse could even blink, Mario was already sprinting down the corridor full speed, without even thinking of looking behind him. He couldn't hear the horrible corpse running after him, but Mario still kept running. His feet began aching, getting cuts and scrapes as they scampered over the uneven stone floor. Suddenly, Mario howled and he fell forwards, cutting his knees and elbows. Ignoring the pain at his limbs, he grabbed his ankle and he looked at the dirty sole of his foot. A thick piece of glass had penetrated deep into his skin. He firmly grasped the piece of glass and he yanked it out of his foot, blood oozing out of his wound. Mario winced as he got back on his feet when dirt entered the gash in his foot. He limped farther down the corridor, trying to get as far as possible from the terrifying corpse. Finally, he took a break looking around for any signs of more dead people.

Was it my imagination, or did the corpse really talk? Mario thought. Why is he after- Mario's thought was interrupted by a series of footsteps getting closer and closer by the second. "Oh no," Mario gasped. He began to run in the opposite direction, ignoring the intense pain in his foot.

"Ha-ha-ha," said a faint voice behind him. Mario looked back to see if the corpse was catching up. There was nothing in sight. He turned back around and jumped of shock. The corpse was standing right in front of him, looking straight into Mario's eyes with an evil smile on his face. He suddenly, darted out his hand and closed his fingers around Mario's neck. He slammed him up against a wall while Mario tried gasping for air. All Mario could smell was the gagging breath of the corpse. When the living carcass brought his face close to Mario's, Mario took his chance. He quickly swung his fist as hard as he could, striking the corpse across the face. To his surprise, the corpse's head went flying off with a sharp crack and it landed on the floor. Mario quickly ran over to the quivering head and he jumped up into the air landing on its face. The head squished underneath his feet and let out a pop as the skin burst open from the pressure, sending a wave of blood and gore pouring out. A horrible stench began to clog up the hall. Mario got tangled up in the horrid odor becoming queasy, and not much later vomiting out all of the food he had eaten that morning. He decided to run away from the corpse and try to get out of the haunting corridor. He ran and ran for what seemed like hours, but when ever he turned around, he see that the corpse was no farther than it was. He began to hear quiet voices humming through the hall.

"Where the hell are we?" said one voice.

"I don't know, is everyone OK?" said another voice.

"Hey shut up, Simmons." grumbled another voice.

"Hey what the hell is Mario doing?" Mario recognized the voices but he couldn't quite tell who they were.

"Mario! Wake up"

"Damn it, Mario! What the hell's a matter with you"

Mario suddenly saw a flash of bright light. He closed his eyes and shielded them with his arms from the intense flash. Suddenly all of the voices were clear. He opened his eyes and he found himself lying on a dirt floor. Wario, Yoshi, and Toad were all surrounding him.

"It's about time you woke up!" yelled Wario.

"Huh?" Mario was confused. He had just been in a horrible dungeon-like corridor filled with corpses and strange voices. Then it became clear to him. It was a dream. Mario got up and the four competitors began to explore the vast space in which they were in. It was just a dream. Mario sighed with relief as he disappeared into the shadows of the strange room.

To Be Continued…

Reviews are greatly appreciated! Without reviews I won't update. Sorry it took so long for this update. I have been on vacations all summer. Thanks!