11

Mario and Luigi were shocked as they entered the large room. Sitting and standing among the many pieces of furniture in the large lobby area were dozens of Koopas and Goombas trying to keep warm as the temperature inside the building complex continued to drop. The brothers knew that they only way they could get by without being seen was if they stayed hidden and stayed quiet. But with the already growing silence among the evil creatures, the brothers would find that task rather difficult, since they were all looking in many different directions. There was no doubt that the chances for getting caught were staggering, so they resorted to crawling and hugging the far side of the short wall enclosing the lounge area. Their target was the next doorway on the far side of the room that boasted a sign pointing them in the direction they needed to go to reach the center of the base. Mario and Luigi briefly lifted their heads to see what was going on in the lounge and were shocked to see Bowser sitting at one of the tables with his magical assistant, Kamek. They immediately crouched back down.

"Bowser is in here!" Mario whispered. "And so is Kamek!"

"I forget, who is Kamek?" Luigi whispered back. "Am I supposed to know who he is?"

"I suppose it's been a long time since either of us have seen him." Mario replied. "But I remember who he is. He's Bowser's evil assistant, and he was the one responsible for what happened on Yoshi's Island when we were still babies, at least the part where they kidnapped you and the stork. He used to fly around on a broom and he always carried with him his magic wand."

"What happened to his wand?" Luigi asked. "I didn't see him carrying it with him. Did he leave it back in Bowser's Castle?"

"Kamek would never leave his wand behind!" Mario said. "Either way, we should stay clear of any of these hooligans. Our doorway is just ahead, so we should be able to make it over there rather easily."

Mario and Luigi quietly dodged their way past the walkway leading into the giant lobby area and headed for the doorway they were after. Once they got through it, they found themselves in another long hallway with many other doorways leading into different rooms, most likely offices of some sort as far as the brothers could tell. Suddenly, the brothers were greeted by a sudden blinding flash of light that could be seen all around them. Mario and Luigi froze in their tracks, realizing that the power had been turned back on and they were extremely vulnerable to the Koopa enemy force.

"Damn it!" Mario said. "They figured it out!"

To make matters even worse, the dead cameras that were mounted on the walls came back to life and they were being watched by Bowser's surveillance. Panicking, both brothers began searching for another area to avoid the field of sight carried by the camera at the far end of the hallway and were suddenly surprised by the loud ringing of sirens.

"They found us!" Luigi said. "What do we do now?"

"Quick! Over there!" Mario shouted, pointing over to the men's restroom nearby. "We can hide in there!"

"What if they find us in there?!" Luigi asked.

"Just follow me! I think I might be able to get us out of here!"

"I knew that the Mario Brothers were here!" Bowser shouted in the lobby as the sirens continued to ring and the Koopas and Goombas rushed. "They were obviously the ones who turned off the power to get inside the building. They can't get very far now, though. Finally we'll be able to get our hands on those Crystal Stars!"

"First, we have to find out where they're at, exactly." Kamek said. "That shouldn't be too much of an issue, at least I would think."

"They can't be too far." Bowser said. "Our power generators are located very close to our current location and there's no way that Mario and Luigi could be on the other side of the base by now. The power hasn't been out very long."

"I'll go help the others find them." Kamek said.

"Don't worry, I already planning on helping them myself." Bowser replied.

Luigi followed his brother and quickly slam-locked the door behind them to avoid getting seen by the Koopa and Goomba guards, whose footsteps started making their way down the hall. With their hearts pounding in their chests, Mario and Luigi frantically searched the interior of the restroom to see if there was anything they could make use out of. So far, the only thing they could do was hide in two of the bathroom stalls and hope that the guards would not burst through the door and find them. The footsteps outside the door were now much louder.

"What do we do now?" Luigi asked. "They know we're in here!"

"What about that air vent that's above you, Luigi?" Mario called from the other stall. "Do you think you can reach that?"

"I think so." Luigi replied. "Is there going to be enough space through there for us to get out?"

"The only way we can find out is if you open the grate that's blocking it." Mario said. "There's a handle that you can use to do just that."

"No shit, Mario. I have eyes too!" Luigi replied. "Sorry…"

"Don't worry about it, bro." Mario said. "I know that you're tired from all the running around we've been doing lately."

Luigi stood on top of the toilet and reached up for the large air vent to make it come loose. He pulled the large handle, but was dismayed to see that it was shut tight by two large screws that bolted the grating shut.

"It won't budge!" Luigi said. "I can't get it open!"

"Remember the knife that you stole from Lord Crump?" Mario asked. "Try using the tip of the blade to undo those screws!"

Luigi took out Lord Crump's knife and started working on the screws. Just then, the brothers heard loud banging at the door as troops started trying to the break their way into the restroom. Luigi started to panic and his hand started becoming wobbly.

"Hurry, Luigi!" We don't have much time!" Mario shouted.

"I'm trying!" Luigi replied. "My hand keeps losing concentration!"

The banging on the door only became louder and Luigi only panicked more as he tried getting the screws out with the knife. After numerous attempts, he was able to finally get the tip of the knife blade inside the screw and turn it loose. After a few turns, the screw fell to the floor and Luigi started on the other screw.

"That's it, Luigi! You only need one more!" Mario said. "Hurry! You can do this!"

"I'm hurrying!" Luigi said in an irritated tone. "My hand keeps shaking!"

The banging kept getting louder and the brothers started to hear shouted coming from the hallway outside. Luigi kept attempting to lock the tip of the knife with the grooves in the screw with not much luck. Finally, Luigi was able to lock it in and frantically began unscrewing the second and final screw until the whole grate came loose. Luigi removed it and set it on the floor and motioned for Mario to follow him. Jumping up and pulling inside, Luigi found that the air vent was indeed wide enough for him and his brother to fit inside.

"Grab my hands, Mario. I'll pull you inside." Luigi said. "I think I know where to go from here."

"I'll be right behind you, Luigi." Mario said as he grabbed his little brother's hands. "You lead the way."

Luigi pulled Mario into the air vent and the two brothers started to quickly crawl through the warm air ducts and started looking for another opening that will lead them somewhere closer to where they need to go.

Meanwhile, back in the men's room, the Koopa and Goomba guards finally burst through the doorway after numerous attempts to break the lock. Now they were inside and one step closer to capturing the Mario Brothers, or so they thought. They looked around and were dismayed to see that the brothers were nowhere to be seen at all. A Goomba was the first to notice the grating on the floor, along with the empty hole in the ceiling leading into the air ducts above.

"The brothers have obviously escaped through the air vent!" said the Goomba. "They could be heading anywhere!"

"Not to worry, they won't be able to get that far if we have guards stationed outside every room in this building." said one of the Koopa guards. "If you ask me, that would be the best way to capture them." He took out his walkie-talkie and contacted Bowser.

"What is it?" Bowser asked through the device. "Did you find the brothers?"

"Not quite." Said the Koopa guard. "Somehow they managed to escape through the air vent."

"They what?!" Bowser asked in frustration. "Where are you guys right now?!"

"We're in the men's room." said the Koopa guard. "They can't be too far though."

"I sure hope they aren't!" Bowser said. "Order the others to station themselves outside the other rooms in this building. The brothers are bound to emerge inside one of those areas."

"Already ahead of you, boss." said the Koopa guard. "I'll be sure to get right to it."

"Excellent." Bowser replied. "I'm counting on you."

After turning off his walkie-talkie, the Koopa guard turned his attention to everyone else in the room.

"You heard the boss! Everyone station yourselves outside the other rooms and wait for the Mario Brothers to walk out!"

The other Koopas and Goombas did what they were told and started filing out into the hallway towards the other rooms to wait out the appearance of the Mario Brothers.