They were here, again. The thick air made Mario's skin crawl with dread. The nearby gears ground with his heartbeat. The sharp, bitter smell of burning metal filled the room, as if it came from his fear, erupting in flames. The obstruction of smoke swirling around him, making the neon green switch barely visible. It was as if his fear and dread of the thought of what would happen next manifested into the to room itself.
Mario walked on to the green switch. The crane carried him and his party over to the room containing Smithy. The menu flashed, just like before. Mario knew what to do this time.
"Do you want to Continue?"
"Yes" "No"
It was then his item menu flashed. Mario's menu had almost infinite items, glitch items, debug items, everything. Items just started swapping, as if the menu had a mind of its own. Mario realized what was happening, the entity was trying to wrong warp. By the time he realized this, however, it was too late. His vision went dark, and he felt something change around him.
Mario woke up, looking at a grey sky. The snow around him gently swallowing his body. The freezing mist reached his face as he sat up, clinging on to his skin. Mario dusted off some of the smoothy falling white. Where were the others? He noticed something in the distance. A wood cabin. He slowly shuffled to the cabin, the frigid snow below holding back. Upon closer examination, the wood cabin was almost frozen, but only the top layer of wood. By the time Mario got to the door of the warm, inviting cabin, he felt numb, all except for the frozen needles he felt jabbing at his skin.
Geno opened the door and quickly pulled Mario inside, shutting the door behind them. "Mario! How long were you out there? You're almost blue!" Mallow scolded, "We were worried!". Geno went into a hallway with a quick pace. Mario looked around the cabin. The room was made of rich, dark wood, shaped almost rectangle-like. There were 2 couches made out of a maroon leather, all arranged around a coffee table made of wood and frosted glass. A pool table was also nearby, for whatever reason. Mario sat down on the couch adjacent to Mallow.
It was then Geno arrived carrying blankets, with as much of a concerned expression he could probably achieve. He placed the blankets on to Mario and sat next to him. Peach then arrived with a less concerned look, arriving from the same hallway. She sat next to Mallow. A deep pain burned into Mario's skin, and he let out a soft cry. "Mario? Are you okay?" Geno whispered. "He has frostbite, from what I can tell anyway." Peach explained, "When recovering people feel a burning sensation, or in Mario's case, pain". Mario slowly nodded, slightly recoiling from a sting. Geno put a hand on Mario's shoulder. "Well, we can't leave until he's recovered, can we?". Everyone turned their attention to Bowser, who was holding a tray of cookies. He presumably baked them with stolen ingredients from the kitchen.
No-one scolded him for it. What are you going to do, teach him a lesson for making you cookies? He placed the tray on the coffee table and sat on the couch with Peach and Mallow. Everyone said some sort of thank you, including Mario, but he said a little weak one, to no-one's surprise. They were going to be here for a while.
Everyone told stories, especially Mallow, who told the most out of anyone. Once Mario was well enough to speak, he contributed as well, telling of all his adventures and glitch shenanigans. After a couple hours of this, Mario started to be lulled to sleep.
