And I'm Norman Whitesmith back in black (or a maroon bathrobe covered in rainbow stars, if you must know) and here to bring you another chapter of A Giant Problem. First off, I'll have you know that Pikminfan helped me write this. Heck, she's an awesome lady and has helped me with every single thing I've written to date, with an exception of two stories and one of them isn't published yet! Where she helps me is that I come up with a story idea and I don't always have a plot to follow, so I ask her for help with that. Then we throw ideas back and forth, and a story is born! She helped me with this and she is awesome. Where I fall flat in plot development is that when creating a story, typically my mind goes straight to an "ultimate evil has awakened" plot and I can't always think of a lighter one without all the death and doom. And that's where Pikminfan is there. I literally some nights wake up at midnight with a story idea and tell her about it and I get a response with some helpful ideas very quickly. She is really great. I have nothing else to say, so without further ado, Chapter 2.

Chapter 2: Growth Spurt

Luigi slowly opened his weighted eyes like a lazy cat slowly fishing for sardines in a pond. Suddenly, off key piano music jerked him out of his trance and Luigi sat up, looking around frantically for the source of the offending noise. Luigi's eyes finally rested on the professor in the corner of the room playing on an old dusty piano and looking back at Luigi expectantly as he pounded out a dreadful tune.

"For the last time, no! I'm not going to take up piano! Can you please direct me to where my clothes are?"

"Only if you try to do one of those impossible remixes of songs," replied the professor as he moved aside and beckoned Luigi over.

Luigi dragged himself over with a sigh and looked down at his arms before playing. Luckily, they had started to fuse back together, but they only partially fused. Luigi's upper arms had joined back together, which relieved Luigi because he now didn't have to worry about buying twice as much deodorant for his extra arm pits, but at the elbows the forearm split into two, creating a Y shape with the extra forearms. While Luigi was relieved that his arms were going back together, it was also much harder to maneuver his extra arms now and caused some difficulties.

Luigi began playing "Through the Fire and Flames" as fast as he could on the piano, and when he was done, got up from the piano that was now smouldering and passed a stunned looking professor and proceeded to look for his clothes. The professor very quickly snapped out of his trance and put out the fire and flames and directed Luigi to his clothes. Luigi absentmindedly started putting on his shirt, but paused when his arms got caught and had to strain to pull them through. But that lead to a different problem entirely, as Luigi noticed how freakish his arms looked inside the sleeves. It looked as if his arms had doubled in size due to muscle, but only his forearms had the extra muscle. How the heck was he going to explain that? Not to mention he had two hands sticking out of his sleeves!

Luigi tried to shove his gloves on over the two hands to perhaps make it look normal, but it only made it look like his hands under the gloves were extremely disfigured. He could only stare at his monstrous appearance as he put on his overalls so he at least had the dignity of wearing pants. But that was about all the dignity he had and Luigi felt the tears invade his eyes as he looked down at his arms and hands, feeling the discomfort of his skin rubbing together. Did this mean he had to live in a basement now? Should he gain a hunch in his back and practice saying "yessss massssster" in a voice that sounded like knives being dragged across a chalkboard? Should he start practicing living under the stairs now?

Luigi didn't hold back his tears anymore and began crying, panic rising in him the more he cried. Suddenly, a strange feeling overcame Luigi and he felt lightheaded and stumbled around before falling on the ground. The pain that coursed through his arms felt much like that of the laser's, and much like the laser, the pain stopped as suddenly as it started. Luigi sat up, his head spinning and arms filled with a dull pain. Luigi checked his arms and jumped up with glee. His arms had fused together again, though his fingers still felt weird.

Luigi carelessly pulled a glove off, revealing that his hand had ten fingers. Luigi would have screamed, but he was far beyond that point and simply shoved his hand back into his glove the best he could and started walking towards the exit.

"I'm just going to leave now. At least my arms fused back together and I think this means after some time my fingers will too. And also, that's the last game of Truth or Dare that I play with you. It seems that whenever I play it with you, I end up strapped to a metal table and get experimented on! But I do wish you a good day. Later!" Luigi said, waving to the professor as he left.

Luigi slowly climbed the ladder to the exit, slightly cringing at the weird sensations that having ten fingers gave. His hands still looked horribly disfigured under the gloves, but it was less noticable and hopefully nobody would notice him as he made his way home.

Luigi finally made it outside and inhaled the wonderful spring air, though the dark trees made him unable to savor the daylight. The trees creaked in the breezes and created an indescribable music. Luigi quickly exited the Evershade Valley forest and was blinded by the burst of sunlight. Luigi was on the border of Toad Town, close to home. The air rushed through his hair as he sprinted home, eager to see his brother and avoid prying eyes.

Luigi finally arrived at the small house that smelled of pinewood and didn't have time to go inside before Mario rushed out to greet him. Luigi instinctively hid his hands behind his back as Mario sped up to meet him. Mario's eyes seemed to be alight with stars and he looked so happy that he was going to burst with joy.

"Luigi! Guess what!"

"What?"

"Well, guess!"

"I can't guess if I have no idea what's going on!"

"Fine. I'll tell you. Today the princess and I were talking and then she... asked for my hand in marriage!"

A sudden wave of worries swept over Luigi. If Mario was King, then he'd be an instant target for any usurpers that were against non-Royal marriage. The familiar queasy feeling overcame Luigi and his fingers had a burning feeling travel through them. Luigi wasn't an idiot and knew his fingers were fusing back together. While that was a relief, Luigi didn't realize he was falling to the ground until he saw the grass rush up to meet his face and everything went black.

XxX

Everything felt tingly as Luigi woke up in his bed. He sat up and looked around until his eyes rested on his nightstand where he saw a plate of cookies that Mario had made. Luigi picked up one of Mario's famous cookies and took a bite. Terrible as always. But then again, how could cookies turn out well if pasta and red sauce are main ingredients? Luigi smiled as he finished off the cookie. Mario always meant well. But if he was to be King, lots of things could go horribly wrong. Lots. He wasn't necessarily the sharpest knife in the drawer and that could get him in real trouble. As Luigi continued to worry, the tingling feeling that he was feeling increased in intensity, but subsided very quickly. Was it just him... or did his clothes feel suddenly tighter? Luigi shrugged it off and got up, ready to face Mario. He exited his room and rushed down the stairs to see Mario sitting in the den and watching TV. Luigi took a seat next to him.

"Oh, you're up! That was a pretty nasty spill you took back there," said Mario as he turned off the TV and faced Luigi, "And I think it's pretty obvious I said yes. I'm going to be moving to the castle to be with her. And before I forget-" a phone ring from in the hallway interrupted Mario and he quickly excused himself to answer it. Luigi got up and followed Mario into the hallway like a ghost and waited to talk to him. Mario quickly chatted on with the person on the other end of the line and finally said his goodbyes before slamming down the phone on the hook and turning to Luigi with a big grin on his face.

"Well, Luigi, of course you're the best man, but guess what? Daisy's going to be the bride's maid and is going to be there! Also, they want you to do a speech," said Mario excitedly, "What I was trying to tell you earlier was that Peach has been thinking about this for awhile and decided that we needed to do this asap before Bowser kidnaps her again. So the wedding's tomorrow and while you were gone, we did the rehearsal! isn't this great!"

This was all going so quick! To be proposed to in one day and also do the wedding rehearsal was absolute madness! Mario must have woken up at 4am with a tuxedo on! Not to mention it had been awhile since Bowser attacked, and as with all villains, he'd probably attack at the worst possible time! Luigi felt queasy and felt tingles all over, but he was determined not to pass out this time. The feeling passed luckily, though Luigi's clothes definitely did feel a lot tighter, and Luigi didn't realize that he had his eyes closed until he opened them and looked down at Mario. Mario had a look of shock and confusion on his face as he looked at Luigi.

"Luigi..." Mario started as he looked at his brother.

Luigi looked even more confused than Mario, wondering what Mario was so shocked about and why his clothes were suddenly so tight. Then it dawned on him. His perspective seemed a bit too high up. Luigi looked down at his body and screamed. Although the sleeves on his shirt were always well-fitting, but now his sleeves only reached mid-forearm, with his arms looking like they were too big as well as too long for his sleeves. His overalls also looked like they were a few sizes too small and the pant legs only reached his shins, revealing his candy cane colored socks.

Luigi looked at Mario with fear as a dominant trait on his face and slowly backed up. He was about eight feet tall now and didn't know what was going on, but didn't want to stick around Mario to find out.

"Luigi..." Mario started again as he advanced towards Luigi.

Luigi turned around and tried to make a run for it, but quickly tripped and fell to the floor before he could get far. Luigi tried to get back up, but the tingly painful feeling hit him again and he fell back to the floor.

"Luigi!" he heard Mario yell as Mario rushed to his side, "What's happening?"

Luigi felt his clothing slowly get even smaller and heard a few distinct ripping noises.

"I don't know," Luigi strained to spit out between his clenched teeth, "Get me outside. Quick."

Luigi didn't realize he had fallen on the entryway carpet until he saw Mario fling open the door and grab the ends and pull the rug out with much strain, Luigi squeezing his eyes shut as he got pulled. Luigi felt the grass underneath him and sighed in relief when the growing feeling subsided. He laid there in his front lawn wishing he could die or at least take a nap, but was interrupted from his tiny pity party by a small poking sensation on his shoulder. Luigi opened his eyes and tried to sit up and heard a small yelp and some shuffling as something moved out of his way quickly. Luigi finished sitting up and felt a small poke at his side. Luigi looked down to see Mario, who was a lot smaller than him and at his side with a very concerned look on his face.

Luigi stood up and heard some more ripping as he did so. Most of his clothes had ripped off while he was growing, exceptions being the taters of his shirt and overalls clinging to him, and his underwear which had seemed to change size with him. Looking down, Luigi realized he seemed to have doubled in size and was looming over Mario.

"Luigi, what happened?"

"I don't know," whimpered Luigi as he started to cry.

The tingly feeling came over him once more, but briefly to where he didn't feel pain. Luigi knew he had grown again, which only caused him to cry more, his big tears splattering on the ground. Luigi felt something squeezing his calfs and looked down to see Mario hugging him.

"Lean down here, Luigi. You need a hug," said Mario as he spread his arms wide to accommodate for his little brother's size, though I'm not quite sure little is the word for him anymore.

Luigi tearfully nodded and plopped to his knees and embraced Mario, still sobbing. Although Luigi was practically crushing Mario, Mario knew he had to comfort his little brother. Even it it meant getting crushed by Luigi by a hug where Mario could barely get his arms around Luigi's neck due to his size.

"What am I going to do?" wailed Luigi, "I'm a monster!"

"Hey, it's okay little bro. I'll love you no matter what and you're no monster. I think that the growing may be connected to your anxiety levels and I might have something to fix your size as long as you don't get worried again." Mario rushed off into the house, leaving Luigi on the lawn, feeling a bit better but still crying.

Mario rushed out of the house holding a weird pink mushroom with a pacifier in its nonexistent mouth and a cloth.

"Here bro, take this mini mushroom. It should restore you to your proper size as long as you don't get too worked up again," said Mario as he shoved the mushroom into Luigi's outstretched palm.

Luigi ate the mushroom and felt the ground rush up to greet him. Luigi looked around and with a cry of joy realized that he was his regular height again and was instantly mobbed by Mario with the cloth as he dried Luigi's tears.

"Come on bro, let's get you into some fresh clothes and what say you that we have a movie night tonight, alright? I did kind of just dump the wedding thing onto you and it had to be stressful for you."

XxX

Luigi and Mario sat on the couch together eating popcorn and having a great time. Mario was holding Luigi close and making sure his every need was attended to. This utterly puzzled Luigi as Mario never did this. That's not to say that Mario never did anything for Luigi, but rather Luigi had to do something himself most times when it came to the home entertainment department. But why the sudden change of heart? Then it hit him.

'Mario is going to have to live in the castle now. This is his last time at home enjoying time with me. Although I'm not quite sure what the growing stuff was about, though I have a sneaky suspicion that E. Gadd's beam had something to do with it, it's clear it came from stress and Mario is blaming himself over it. He thinks that he caused all of it to happen somehow. He's doing this to try to make me feel special. I'm a horrible brother...' thought Luigi as he felt the tingly sensation come on again.

Luckily Luigi was able to push it away, but not after a miniscule change in size that was barely noticable. He decided to focus on the movie and the comfort of his brothers presence, rather than his worries.

XxX

Mario knew that he had to be responsible for the size change. Not to mention when it first happened that Luigi tried to run away! Where did he go wrong with his little brother to where he didn't feel that he could trust him for help? He needed to at least try to make it up to Luigi. The tiny size and weight shift didn't go unnoticed to Mario and he only held Luigi closer.

Man, I was going into this intending on it being a complete comedy, but then this type of stuff comes along! Oh well. These little stories of mine are popping up mainly because of me not having a computer and I can't write very long stuff on a phone. I'm officially announcing that my main stories and main stories that are coming up (Kitsune Curse, King Boo's Curse, I'm Not Him, If He Failed, and Echoes of Yesterday) are now on hold until I have a computer again. I'm sorry about that, but life has a funny way of screwing me over. And I'd also like to thank the three people that read every story I put out: Pikminfan, unnamed guest (I'm guessing it's the same person), and Rockster. Thank you guys for your reviews and help. Couldn't go

do it without you guys. With that, please review and tell me how I did and anything encourages me. Other small stories will continue as usual. I have nothing else to say, so Norm out. And remember that true friends are ones that you blackmail! In that case, I've got plenty of true friends!