The first thing Mario became aware of was that he was very sore. It broke in on his unconsciousness, pestering him until his eyes slowly fluttered open. A bright light shone into them, making a headache burst to life inside his skull, sending it pounding loudly in his own ears. He went to bring up his hand to his forehead, but a pain erupted there as well, sending fiery tendrils of agony shooting up his arm and into his entire body with a violent jolt. His eyes snapped open again, this time despite the light that offended them. He sat up with a gasp, his lungs aching as though it were the first breath he had taken in ages. It jostled his arm, hurting it more, and he tightly pulled it to his chest in an effort to ease the throb. After a moment, Mario looked down at it, worry etched in his expression. Gingerly pulling up his sleeve, he found there was a wound, wrapped snugly, but bleeding through the bandages. The skin that was visible above and below the injury was bruised, a mixture of unhealthy yellow and purple. He gazed at it for a long while, his mind a complete blank. He couldn't for the life of him remember where he had gotten the injury, or why he was soaking wet. His mind rushed, trying to recall the smallest of details to try and orient himself.

He had been...helping someone. Water. He was soaked. He had been...helping a woman...with her plumbing...Then there was...something...Something that frightened him even now...It had been a...A pipe!

Suddenly, it all seemed to rush back to him. The creatures in the sewers, Spike evicting them, helping the woman, and that huge frightening pipe. That unnatural opening that had swallowed him and Luigi-

"Luigi!" Mario's voice sounded oddly thick in his own ears, sending him into a coughing fit, in which he coughed up a fair amount of water. He struggled to his feet, feeling dizzy and lightheaded. He pulled himself up, steadying against what appeared to be a large, thick tree, Mario managed to keep his balance, letting out another cough before yelling out again. "Luigi?! Where are-a you?!" He received no answer. Only silence, other than the twitter of far off birds. Blinking hard to try and restore his blurry vision, the plumber began to take in his surroundings.

He was in a glade, green and lush with vegetation. The grass was long and soft, as though it had not been trodden on in years. Maybe never. It swayed gently in the wind, tickling at the legs of his overalls. The air was sweet with the smell of sun, dirt, and grass; a hint of some strong perfumed flowers adding to the sense of tranquility and quiet. Large trees loomed over him, blocking out a substantial amount of sky...But then, they weren't really trees he realized. Squinting in confusion before widening his eyes in surprise, Mario saw that they were mushrooms. Huge, enormous mushrooms, some as tall as oaks, while others, young and small, reached no higher than his knees. He pushed away with a start from the one he had been leaning on, looking up into its frilled underbelly. Its smooth surfaced body snaked down into the earth, steady and unmoving. As solid as any normal tree. Realizing that this was not natural, Mario focused his attention a little further away. Mushrooms sprouted as far as he could see, literally creating a forest of fungi, colorful and well shaded. And yet the place seemed full of light. The sun's golden rays seemed to shine through the large plants, making them glow slightly in a beautiful, iridescent manner. The sight nearly robbed Mario of his remaining breath.

"This is not-a New York!" he declared, mouth agape, and eyes wide, taking it all in. His mind snapped back to attention, his headache subsiding a little now that he was back on his feet. His arm still burned like fire, but right now he had more important things to worry about. "Luigi! Come on, answer me! LUIGI!"

"M-Mario...?"

The voice was weak, confused, and further away than Mario would have expected it to be. Moving on unsteady feet, the plumber moved to the right, stumbling through the tall grass that came up to at least his thighs. It tripped him up a bit, wrapping around his boots as he went, so thick it took actual effort to walk. Still holding his injured arm, he picked his way forward carefully. To fall would be very painful, not because the ground was hard, but because falling would jar his wounded limb. And he was in no mood to deal with that. He was in enough pain as it was, and he didn't want to be slowed down any more by his own weakness.

After a moment of fumbling, and calling out every once in a while, Mario very nearly stepped on his brother, who was lying sprawled on his back in the grass. His body had pushed the greenery down, damaging them, creating an area of flattened grass. Mario had come upon it so quickly, it was only a sudden jerk of his leg to the left that saved him from clomping down on Luigi's side.

"Luigi!"

Luigi winced at his brother's uncomfortably loud voice, emitting a soft groan in protest, but making no move to get up. He was dizzy, and had a headache that only made that fact worse. He was pretty sure that if he even tried to move, he'd greatly regret it. His stomach was churning, probably from how the world around him felt like it was swaying to and fro, and, after having not eaten in quite some time, that only made it more pronounced. His mind was foggy, and, like Mario, it took him a good few minutes to remember all that had happened. He opened his eyes slowly, looking up at his brother as Mario came to kneel beside him.

"You okay?"

Luigi nodded, immediately wishing that he hadn't. The world took another sudden twist. "J-Just a little d-dizzy...You?"

Mario sat back on his heels, placing his good hand against his forehead. He vaguely noticed that he had lost his plumber's cap. His hair was still wet and limp from the water in the pipe. "Same." He didn't mention that his arm felt as though someone were burning it with a hot poker. "Do...Do you remember what-a happened?"

Luigi blinked slowly, still staring up from his prone position on the ground. "We...W-We got-a sucked through that pipe...You were there..." His voice held a little relief when he said that, a sort of residual feeling left over from when it had actually been happening. Most of it was fuzzy. Luigi remembered swallowing a lot of water. And gripping Mario the best he could. The water had thundered through the pipe, getting in their eyes, and ears, and noses; dragging the two men along with it at a fantastic rate. Slamming against the sides had produced bruises that both brothers were only now just beginning to become aware of, and their lungs had hurt as, time after time, the current had pulled them under, robbing them of breath. But that was it. He couldn't remember anything else. "I-I guess we passed out," he surmised shakily.

Mario nodded numbly. He too couldn't remember anything beyond the wild ride in the terrible, green pipe-way. He remembered how scared he was. How dark it had been, with no way of knowing, other than by touch, if Luigi was still with him. He had been far more worried for his brother's safety than his own.

The red-clad plumber looked about them uneasily. His eyes kept drifting up toward the ominous mushrooms that towered over them. "This...This place isn't like-a anything I've ever seen..." He winced, pulling his injured arm closer. He was starting to shiver, though certainly not from the cold. The air around them was warm; bright and sunny, with a gentle breeze that whistled through the frills of the mushrooms. It wasn't a good sign that he was shuddering. He was in a lot of pain, and it was getting harder and harder to hide it.

Luigi seemed to sense the tenseness that had taken over his brother's body, and, slowly easing himself as carefully as he could manage, Luigi sat up. His head instantly gave a pounding protest, and he gasped, pressing his fingers to the bridge of his nose, where the dizziness was most concentrated. After a moment, the feeling passed, and, with a shuddering sigh, he lowered his hand and looked to his brother. And frowned. Mario was shivering visibly, his wet hair hanging over his eyes as he focused on the ground, staring into space as he seemed to be trying to pull himself together.

"Mario?"

The red-clad plumber startled, looking up and meeting his gaze with a jolt. The motion jarred his arm and he gasped, gritting his teeth in an effort to stop himself from releasing a string of choice Italian phrases. The edges of his vision darkened threateningly for a moment before clearing back to normal. "It's...I-It's nothing, Luigi. It's-a just - Ah!" He flinched as Luigi shifted to gently take his bandaged wrist. "Ahh...My arm," he managed to croak. Luigi inspected the injury with a sense of anxiety. He reached forward to take hold of the bandage, to undo it and take a proper look, but Mario shook his head and carefully pulled his arm back. "We had-a best keep it covered," he inhaled shortly. "Don't want it-a to get infected." Even though it was more than possible that it already was.

Reluctantly, Luigi nodded, sitting back on his own heels, mirroring his brother's pose. "What do-a we do now?"

Mario looked about them again, eyes trying to focus on the glade itself rather than the giant mushrooms above, which Luigi was only just noticing. "We need to find that pipe. It should take us-a back to where we were before." He struggled to his feet, secretly grateful when Luigi assisted him. Once standing, he felt a little better, and was steadier than before, most of his dizziness having passed. He looked his brother over quickly, making sure Luigi hadn't been hurt during their unexpected ride down the innards of that terrible bit of plumbing. Luigi seemed a little bruised, and he kept rubbing the back of his neck, but, otherwise, he seemed fine. "Come on, Weegee," he encouraged. "Let's-a go."

The two men made there way through the tall grass, stumbling and shifting as they went, trying not to trip and fall. Luigi kept a hand on Mario's back the whole time, in case he lost his balance and fell. Luigi hoped his hold on Mario's overall straps would be enough to spare him that agony. They wandered about, trying to locate the green pipe that had brought them to this strange place. The very air seemed different, and not just because it was country and they were from the city. And it wasn't even the great, looming mushrooms. It was the very essence of the place. The way it felt against one's skin, and moved in and out of one's lungs. As though it was energized by far more than they had ever felt anywhere else. Everything was so bright and colorful; new and clean. Like a world untouched by man. It was calming, and tranquil, though that did little to settled the nerves of the two plumbers. No matter how hard they searched, they could not find the pipe. All that existed was tall grass and mushrooms, catching the sunlight in perfect peace. Mario even found a trail of flattened grass where he had, apparently, been deposited from the pipe and had rolled to the spot he had awoken in. But, even then, by following that trail, it led to absolutely nothing. It was a dead end. The same went for where Luigi had awoken.

They moved further and further into the forest, all the while disbelieving that they could have tumbled so far from the pipe, and yet, no matter how far they went, there was no sign of the thing. It was as though it had disappeared into thin air, leaving them behind. But Mario refused to accept that. Leading the way, hand cradled against his chest, Mario was quickly becoming more and more panicked. Luigi followed his example, whimpering slightly at each turn they made that only made it more and more apparent that the pipe was nowhere in sight. They kept going, making their way through the darkening mushroom forest. Light cascaded down toward them, becoming finer as the sun slowly began to set behind the horizon line.

Set?

Mario paused in confusion, checking to see that, yes indeed, the sun was setting. In New York it had been early morning. Had they really been unconscious for that long? Just how far away from the city were they? His questions were met in his mind with only silence. A terrible silence. He wanted so much to understand what was happening, but nothing was providing them with any answers. Just more questions. More questions and more worries. And so he did what he saw as the only sensible thing. They kept walking. They were bound to come across someone before too long, and then they could figure out where they were, as well as the shortest route back to the city. As they went, the brothers took in the unusual sights, talking softly, as though afraid to shatter the peaceful scenery around them.

"Where do you think we are, Mario?" Luigi asked, looking up at a particularly large mushroom, even for here, towering above them like something right out of the prehistoric era. It was at least three or four stories tall, bulked in a way that made it seem inadvisable. He had never heard of any plant, other than a tree, growing to such an impressive scale. And it truly baffled him.

Mario carefully stepped over a fallen mushroom, which lay right across their path, partially hidden by the tall grasses. It was old, and not terribly big; rotting like any normal tree would. It didn't smell, other than the faint scent of moist, decaying loam. "I don't-a know, Luigi," Mario answered uncertainly. "But we will. I promise." And promises were something Mario never made lightly. He trod ahead, confidence in his step that he didn't feel in his heart. He was feeling more and more confused, and more and more agitated. He knew that their life back in New York wasn't much at this point, but it was still home. It was where they belonged, and they needed to get back. They just had to.

Luigi nodded, shifting his eyes downward as he also stepped over the fallen fungus. He regarded the object with a sense of disgust and wonder, scrunching his nose at it when he saw that it had a series of rotting slime beneath it, slowly eating it away. "Don't you think these things are a bit...big?" He indicated the mushroom with a hesitant gesture, as though he were afraid to hurt the inanimate object's feelings.

Mario glanced above them again. "Yeah...Way too big." Like any Italian, he liked mushrooms sitting atop a good, warm pizza; or nestled deep within the cheese of a filling lasagna. But this was a little much, he had to admit. As far as he knew, mushrooms just didn't grow that much under normal circumstances in America. Under normal circumstances anywhere. It was unnatural. But also beautiful. It almost made it feel like they were in another world. Mario shook the thought from his head, regarding it as nonsense. He huffed a little as they began climbing up a grassy hill. It was moderately steep, luckily; he didn't feel he'd have been able to handle anything more. His muscles had started to protest loudly, complaining of the beating he had taken in the pipe. And yet, Mario's curiosity was very strong. Always had been. The world he was seeing around them was filling him with a sense he had never experienced before. He paused a moment, taking in a few breaths halfway up. He waited for his brother to catch up, who appeared just as worn out as he felt. "You know, Luigi...This-a place feels...strange..."

"How?"

Mario shrugged, beginning to move on once more, taking one step after the other, arm still held in his hand. "I don't-a know. It's like...like everything's much clearer. More...real. Like I've-a been asleep all my life and-a now I'm awake." He gave Luigi a slightly embarrassed look. "It's just a feeling, but I-" He suddenly cut off, coming to a complete standstill at the crest of the hill, right beside a large cluster of two-story high mushrooms. He let go of his arm in shock, both limbs coming to hang limp at his sides as he stared straight ahead, as though all his energy had been stolen from his very being. He was in total awe and surprise.

Luigi, who had been a few steps behind, ran into his brother with a grunt, stumbling back at Mario's solidity. "Oof! Hey! M-Mario? What are-a you-" But his voice died out as well as his eyes followed that of his older sibling, overcome by the scene that spread before them. His breath caught in his throat, eyes opening wide to nearly twice their normal size.

They stood on the crest of a large hill, which stood at the very edge of a much larger hill. In fact, on the opposite side, it was more like a mountain, sloping down into the healthy land below with gentle grace, filled with more enormous mushroom forests and a deep, blue cove that slipped off into the distance; the sea. Then the valley swept back up opposite the plumbers into a series of high-peeked formations of rock and foliage, unlike anything they had ever seen. The setting sun had turned the sky a brilliant red and orange mix, with bits of maroon that stretched out into eternity. Great, majestic shadows spread out from the landmass, shrouding half the valley in a sweeping bluish grey. But that was not what caught their main attention.

Below, nestled into the side of one of the taller mountainous formations, stood a castle, shaped and lighted as if it had been cut right out of a fairy tale book. It's whitened stone sides, even from that distance, gleamed into the light of the setting sun, turning it a rosy hue. It's tall, capped steeples, decorated with banners that fluttered in the wind, were the perfect example of medieval masonry. There was no mote, that could be seen, but what appeared to be a large staircase moved gently down the slope, turning into a pale dirt path. The path snaked its way down the side of the mountain, until it reached patches of thick, red-capped mushrooms. It wound its way through them, splitting off at points, much like the streets in New York, only less organized. And yet, as the sun slowly began to lower behind the landscape, blips of light began to flicker into existence within them, revealing them to be more than plant life, but homes made within the vast trunks of the fungi.

All in all, the sight was truly breathtaking. But it did more than that. From this vantage point, Mario and Luigi could see for many miles, stretching off into a hazy horizon without end. Faded mountain ranges, hidden valleys, and winding rivers could be seen, going on to what looked like the very edge of the world. There was no New York in sight. No tall buildings, no hotels, and no busy streets. Nothing modern. Nothing that even remotely resembled normal civilization even existed for as far as the eye could see. For the first time, the brothers realized just how far they had been carried.

And for the first time, they wondered if they'd ever get back.

"That's...That's a long-a way down," Mario commented, leaning forward slightly to peer over the steep incline before them. He didn't have the heart to bring up what he was really thinking. He felt the bottom drop out of his stomach as Luigi answered his words with stuttering question.

"W-Where's-a New York, Mario?! I-I don't-a s-see it!"

Mario's anxiety quickly escalated, stirred by the panic in his brother's tone. He knew Luigi was a very sensitive sort, and these past few days had been a lot for him. Heck, they had been a lot for him! But they couldn't afford to break down now. Not out here in the middle of who-knows-where. It would be dark in a matter of minutes, and he didn't think it would be good for either one of them to spend yet another night out in the elements. "I-I don't-a know, Luigi! Just...Just calm down! We'll get out of-a this, you'll see." He had lain a hand on Luigi's shoulder, trying to force his words to hold more effect, but it didn't work. Luigi, pale and frightened, pushed his hand away, stepping back, his eyes wide and gaze flitting between his brother and the valley far below them. He had reached his tipping point.

"M-Mario! We're lost! We don't-a even know where we are! Cosa stiamo andando a fare?!*" He launched into a long tirade of shivering Italian, so fast and jumbled that even Mario couldn't catch it all. He sat down on the hard ground, curling in on himself, completely overwhelmed, head held between his hands, muffling his words even further. Mario crouched beside him, sighing and speaking in Italian himself, trying to ease his brother's hysteria. He gestured with his hands, as he always did, wincing when it pulled on his injured wrist. But he ignored it, on the verge of being overwhelmed himself. This was not what they needed right now.

"Well, that's a bunch of gibberish!"

The strange voice was unexpected, coming from behind the brothers, causing both of them to startle terribly. Mario and Luigi gasped, jumping to their feet and turning, all in one frantic movement. They hadn't expected to meet anyone here, after hours of wandering without seeing a soul. The forest had even been void of living critters. They hadn't even seen a squirrel, or bird, though they had heard a few slight chirps that indicated that they were present. But the voice of a perfectly capable intelligence had been far beyond anything they had been expecting. And what they saw froze them to an even higher level of shock.

Two creatures, only slightly shorter than Mario, stood posed in a stance of threatening uneasiness. Mario's heart leaped in his throat, finding that they closely resembled the monsters in the sewers that had torn his wrist. At least, in that they were turtle-like, but the similarities stopped there. These two were far different, in both appearance and feeling. For one thing, their eyes did not stare blankly into space like those in the sewers had done. These eyes held intelligence, and the fact that they had spoken proved that, at least to some degree. Another observation of note was that they stood on two legs. They both wore green fabric shoes, though most of that was hidden in the tall grass. Upon their heads sat what looked almost like helmets, whether for safety or uniform purposes, neither brother could tell. A turtle shell clung to their backs like armor, looking very sturdy and protective. They stood there, eyeing the brothers curiously, but also with a strong underlying sense of suspicion.

The bigger of the two swung out a hand toward its partner, slapping it up side the head with an angry hiss, eyes glinting dangerously. "Now see what you've done!" he scolded angrily in a snarling tone. "We were trying to sneak up on them and you just had to open your big mouth and give us away!"

The other rubbed his head ruefully, staring down at his feet in a mix of indignation and defense. "Well, it was gibberish! You heard it!"

Mario stepped slightly in front of Luigi, shielding him despite the fear that had gripped his own soul. Flashes of memory of the sewers flooded his mind, and his mouth went dry. He had never been so scared in his life as he had been that night, though now was becoming a close second. His eyes fell to the hand of the first, more aggressive creature, noticing that he was armed with a crude-looking hammer-like object. It was made mostly of a grey, stone head, tied with green vines to a carves shaft. It looked bulky, and clumsy, and not in the least bit sharp, but no less effective. It was what it might be 'effective' in that made Mario nervous. They resembled something crossed between the war hammers of the dark ages and the clubs of the bygone days of the caveman. Both disconcerting traits on any weapon.

"W-Who are-a you?!" he found himself shouting, his accent even more pronounced in his fear. It didn't come out half as forceful as he would have liked, and the creatures at once fixed their large eyes upon him, making Mario even more nervous. "And w-what-a do you want?!"

Both creatures grinned at one another, exchanging knowing glances as if at some hidden joke. Brandishing their weapons and taking a menacing step forward, they became far more predatory than before. Small though they may be, they looked stronger than their size suggested. And Mario had learned his lesson in outer appearances since their escapade in the sewers below New York. Involuntarily, Mario took a step back, bringing Luigi with him. The more leader-like of the two gave the two brothers a fake smile that sent chills down Mario and Luigi's spines.

"Oh, you needn't be afraid of us, small humans." He spat the word oddly, a strange look coming into his eyes at the word. His expression became curious, but still equally hostile. "We won't hurt you...What we want is simple. We want you to come with us. Our King will be very interested in...meeting you."

Mario looked over his shoulder a moment, catching Luigi's frightened gaze before turning back to their visitors. "We'd rather not...If that's-a all the same to you. We're lost...We're trying to get-a back home. To the city." He wasn't sure why he even bothered telling them that. It wasn't like they would care. But his anxiety was making him think irrationally, blowing on the smallest flame of hope that maybe, just maybe, they would tell them how to get back to New York.

The creatures looked confused, before that confusion turned to dark frowns. The smiles had left their faces, and their hands had now tightened around their weapons with evil intent. What little had existed of their pleasantness had died away, leaving only scorn and cruelty.

"You are coming with us," the first insisted, again taking a threatening step toward their prey.

At a closer range, Mario could see that, like the monster that had bitten him, these had curved, beak-like mouths. It had been too dark to see them before, the sun having now almost left, leaving most of the land in shadow. A little light still remained, but only just barely. His heart plummeted as the creature pulled a long, strong looking rope from behind him. Whether he had been hiding it all that time or if he had taken it from his shell, Mario didn't know. And he didn't care. Pressing himself and Luigi back a few more steps, he fixed their attackers with a glare that he had used so many times on Foreman Spike. "No! Leave us alone!" It was the best he could come up with at the moment, feeling that each step the creature took was making their chances of survival that much more endangered. But, despite his warning, both were now advancing on the brothers, smiling evilly in the falling darkness.

Luigi gave a whimper, edging as close to Mario as he could. He was trembling, afraid that, like the monsters before, would strike unexpectedly. He had no wish to be bitten by anything with a beak even half as large and sharp as those these creatures possessed. He edged back, pulling on Mario gently. He was afraid that his brother would rush forward, and try to fight these things off. Which, in all likelihood, was probably exactly what the red-clad plumber was planning, scared as he was. Luigi didn't want Mario being hurt any more than he already was. So he edged back a bit more...Then let out a loud cry of shock. With a sudden stumble, he found that he was no longer standing, but tumbling down the steep slope of the other side of the enormous hill. Rolling and bumping against the ground, gaining speed with each passing second. His brain suddenly realized that he had stepped right over the edge of the hill's crest, causing him to fall right off.

And the cry of surprise and pain beside him told Luigi that Mario had been taken with him.

The two creatures gave a grunt of surprise, blinking at the now empty ledge, before they both released an angry snarl. Stowing their ropes, they gripped their hammers, jumping of the ledge in pursuit. They managed to keep their balance, surfing the dirt, leaving a trail of dust billowing out behind them. Their eyes glinted in the dark, fixed upon the two humans ahead of them.

The fall seemed to last forever, as though they had fallen into some bottomless canyon. Mario was barely conscious, the constant somersaulting and rolling having caused more pain than he had ever felt to shook through his arm and up into his upper body. He could barely breath, his stomach lurking dangerously with each turn his body took. He wasn't even sure what had happened, but he didn't appreciate the sensation at all. His thoughts still on his brother's safety, Mario tried to gain control of his fall with minimal luck. Then, all at once, he had stopped moving, having landed on his back with a force that knocked the wind out of him. He lay there a moment, feeling dizzy, as if he were still falling, coughing weakly. He felt someone take a hold of him, and he kicked out, thinking it was the enemy. He heard a gasp as the hands let go, before Luigi's wheezing voice brought him into a slightly better focus.

"It's-a me, Luigi! Come on, Mario! We have-a to get up! They're coming!"

Again the hands latched onto him, and this time Mario didn't fight them. He allowed himself to be jerked to his feet, doing his best to try and stand himself. His legs felt brittle, like uncooked spaghetti, and his entire arm and side was numb, but he managed to get his body working enough to get moving again. His vision was blurred, so he had to rely almost completely on Luigi's guiding hand as they raced off into what appeared to be a continuation of the mushroom forest.

Luigi forced every once of his remaining energy into propelling him and his brother forward. Behind them, reaching the bottom of the slope just as the brothers reached the fringe of the forest, was the two creatures, who were sending angry shouts in their direction. With a sudden turn to the right, Luigi tried to move at a faster pace, feeling guilty when Mario let out an agonized gasp. But they couldn't slow down. The whole situation reminded him terribly of their experience in the sewers, making him wonder if all these circumstances might be connected. Not that he had time to really think that possibility through. He could hear the heavy footfalls of the enemy behind them. No...In front of them!

Pulling up short, Luigi gave a start as another creature appeared before him, coming at him at a run. This one was slightly smaller, and less threatening, having smaller shells and no weapon in hand to be seen. But an enemy was an enemy, and Luigi wasn't going to hang around and see what it wanted. He lurched forward, this time to the left, racing along with renewed desperation. It was becoming harder and harder to make Mario keep up, seeing as he was barely even with it any more. Luigi had to change his direction three more times, creatures popping up in various places in front of them unexpectedly. It slowly dawned on the younger plumber that the first two's shouts had not been directed at them, but rather had been the call to alert their fellow companions. Luigi was beginning to tire, his every turn met with yet another creature in pursuit.

And then Mario fell.

He dropped like a stone, without so much as a shout or cry. Luigi was jolted backward as his brother lost consciousness and fell to the ground in a heap, the pain in his arm and body having become too much for him to bare. Luigi tried to lift him back up, but Mario was limp, and a moment later, it didn't matter. Creatures had surrounded them in seconds, each leering at them with anger and curiosity. Luigi pulled Mario to him protectively, trembling so hard his teeth made an audible clacking sound. As the creatures with the hammers came closer, breathing harshly after their run, Luigi shrunk further into himself.

"Heh," the first spoke, slightly out of breath, but smiling in his victory. "You two are fast...But not fast enough." He came forward again, rope in hand once more.

Luigi's eyes widened. He glanced down frantically at his brother, hoping and praying that he would come to and handle everything. Mario was braver than he was, and had been in a few fights. With him awake, they might have had a chance. But now, as the creature approached, Luigi realized that that wasn't going to happen. Mario was completely out. He wouldn't be waking up for quite some time. Something within Luigi gave a sudden twist. He felt his panic turn into something stronger, something he couldn't quite explain. But it instilled in him a feeling of strength and determination. His face went from one of fear to one of serious defiance, to an extent that would have put Mario's own scowl to shame. He waited until the creature was almost upon him, before Luigi did something he never would have imagined himself doing before.

Luigi pulled back his leg and kicked the creature as hard as he could.

The enemy gave a startled yelp, stumbling back into his hammer-wielding companion, sending them both sprawling. The smaller critters gave cries of startlement, pulling into their shells like their turtle counterparts. Luigi took his chance. Gripping Mario tightly, he shifted his brother onto his back, pulling himself to his feet and taking off once more. Part of him wanted to laugh at what he had done, while the other half was still in shock in that he had tried something so hazardous at all. He felt momentarily spit over it, as though he couldn't tell whether it truly had been him in the first place, making him slightly disoriented. The feeling only lasted a few moments, however, and soon Luigi was racing along just as frightened as before.

Mario wasn't, by any means, light, but he was a good deal smaller than Luigi, at least in height. Carrying him might not have been easy, but it was possible. Luigi kept him on his back as he ran, stumbling along as his adrenaline began to simmer down to a tired exhaustion. He was beginning to feel his energy leave him again, his moment of bravery spent. He began to slow, the angry shouts behind him adding no speed to his legs. He couldn't go on any longer. Oh, well. At least he had tried.

But then something caught his eye through the thick stems of the mushroom forest. Stone...But not just any stone. Cut, stacked stone. A wall of stone. Praying that it belonged to a place filled with friendlier folk, Luigi put every ounce of all he had into the remaining thirty yards between him and the structure. As he neared it, he saw a huge, arched, wooden door, castle-like in design. It was a fortress, or gate, but it didn't matter as long as it could give safety. Unfortunately, it was closed, but torchlight above on the parapets told Luigi that there were people up there. It might be another long shot, but he had no choice.

As he broke the cover of the forest, with just a few stone throws to the gate, Luigi began to shout at the top of his lungs. "Help! Help, open the gate! Please! We're being attacked! Please, help!" He ran right up to the gate, pounding on it with one hand while balancing Mario on his back with the other. He could hear the creatures in the forest, coming ever closer, their shouts far more angry than before. They hadn't taken kindly to his trick, and were now even more hostile in their intents. Luigi threw himself at the gate with even more fervor. "Please! Just let-s us in!" He gasped when a hammer, thrown from behind him, hit the wood, just barely missing his head. "PLEASE!"

He closed his eyes, fully expecting to be grabbed and beaten to a pulp by the horde on monsters that hounded them. But then, with a creaking groan, the great wooden gate shifted, opening just enough for multiple hands to reach through and take hold of him. Stumbling in through the structure, Luigi heard the gate slam shut behind him, he and his brother now safe inside. With a nervous laugh, Luigi felt his head grow light, and a moment later he was on the ground, Mario on top of him, unconscious.


*"Cosa stiamo andando a fare?!" means: "What are we going to do?!" in Italian.

Wow! That ended up being really LONG! But that's alright. I just couldn't make myself quit in the middle of all the action! ;)