6

Mario and Luigi continued running through the forest for almost an hour when they finally decided to take a break. It was still very dark outside and the moon was finally starting to fall towards the western horizon as the early morning hours were kicking in. Mario felt his stomach growl uncontrollably as he struggled to think of anything else but food. He had never missed a meal in his life. Luigi tried thinking of a way to overcome his phasmophobia to get his mind off of food, but all he could think of was spaghetti! He was already missing the days he spent at the Club 64 with his brother when he would order the largest plate of spaghetti they have. He missed all of it, and so did his brother. When the brothers caught their breath, they continued their trek through the forest at walking pace. They did not dare to stop and fall asleep again.

"Hey, Luigi." Mario said. "I forgot to tell you what I dreamed about the night before. I'm glad I just remembered it."

"Let's hear it." Luigi said. "Does it have anything to do with food?"

"No!" Mario said. "Well, not really."

"What happened?"

"Well, I was walking in a strange part of the Mushroom Kingdom and I happen to come across this strange brown leaf that was on the ground. The first thing I did was pick it up and I realized that it smelled like cinnamon. Then, I took a bite from it and felt a tingling sensation in my ears and around my tail bone. I felt my ears and soon realized that they had grown hairy, like that of a raccoon. I also had the tail of a raccoon!"

"So, you're saying that you turned into a raccoon?" Luigi asked.

"No." Mario said. "But I was then caught in a freak wind storm that blew me over the edge of a cliff. I tried to make it back over to the ledge, but I realized I didn't have to because I flying through the air for some strange reason! Turns out that the raccoon features I now possessed were helping me stay alive."

"Is that all you remember from it?" Luigi asked.

"Yeah pretty much, but I also remember that we both had badass-looking moustaches on our faces and we were wearing hats with the letters of our first initials on them!" Mario said.

"Wait, I was in your dream too?" said Luigi.

"Yeah." said Mario. "You also took one of those strange leaves and turned somewhat into a flying raccoon."

Luigi shook his head and smiled.

"Sometimes I just can't figure you out big bro." he said. "You're an enigma. Have you been doing mushrooms?"

"Of course, not!" Mario said. "Who do you think I am? Waluigi?"

"No!" Luigi said. "You're nowhere close to having his horrible accent."

"Oh, yeah." Mario said. "He has lots of trouble with the letter 'I'."

"Here's an example."

Luigi cleared his throat as Mario stood and waited for Luigi to do an impersonation of his cousin. Then, Luigi blurted out a sentence in Waluigi's accent.

"Walueegee's a weenner!"

Mario busted up laughing as Luigi said the words. It was hard to tell whether he was talking to Waluigi or not! He fell to the ground and continued laughing the hardest he has ever laughed in his entire life. Mario helped himself off the ground and wiped the tears from his eyes.

"W…where did you learn to…to do that?!" Mario said, still struggling to keep a straight face.

"Years of practice." Luigi said. "I even do it in the shower."

Mario continued to laugh. Then, after a few moments, he was finally able to reduce it to chuckling.

"So, what was 'Waluigi' trying to say right there?" he asked.

"Translated, he was saying that he is a winner." Luigi said. "Of course, we all know that he isn't one, because he cheats at everything!"

"True." Mario said. "At least he has his own language!"

The brothers laughed as they walked through the dark forest, which did not seem dark at all to them because of their high spirits. Just then, they came across a sign with writing on it, but it too dark to see it from far away. They walked up to it and read it:

WARNING!

RESTRICTED ACCESS.

AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY.

THOSE WHO ARE UNAUTHORIZED WILL BE KILLED INSTANTLY.

SO FOR YOUR OWN SAFETY, WE ADVISE YOU TO TURN BACK NOW!

"Who in their right mind would post a sign like that up in the middle of the woods?" Luigi asked.

"I bet this is where Bowser and Lord Crump are looking for the first Crystal Star!" Mario said. "This must be some sort of heavily guarded archeological dig."

"I'm scared, Mario!" Luigi said. "I don't like the looks of this place! Let's turn back!"

"Are you kidding me, Luigi?!" Mario said. "It says in the book that the Crystal Star is located somewhere here! We can't let Bowser get a hold of it!"

"But he has a whole army of Koopas in there!" Luigi said.

"Then, we have to sneak our way around them if we do see any." Mario said. "I can't guarantee whether or not Bowser's forces are in there, but we can at least hope that they aren't."

"I'm still very scared!" Luigi said.

"Come on, Luigi!" Mario said. "This is for your Princess Daisy! Remember, Bowser took her away from you and he took Peach away from me! We have to do this for the princesses!"

Luigi stood and thought about it for a few moments, remembering all of the fun times that he and Daisy have shared, right up to the last few hours before she was kidnapped. The choice was obvious.

"You're right." Luigi said. "Let's go kick some Koopa ass!"

"Now that's what I like to hear from my brother!" Mario said.

The two brothers ignored the sign and began following a dirt path which would eventually lead them up a tree-covered hill about half a mile away.

"Mario?" Luigi said. "Do you think we were destined to be heroes?"

"I don't know." Mario replied. "But I know one thing for certain. Bowser is destined to go to Hell!"

Mario's dream is a precursor of things to come in the future, Super Mario Bros. 3 to be exact. Could it be that Mario has a special ability that he doesn't know about? Can he predict the future? I'll let you be the judge of that one.