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Mario and Luigi continued through air ducts in search of a way out. They already knew that emerging somewhere else in the building would almost certainly lead to their capture, so they decided to look for a route that would take them outside, though they were unsure if there was an opening that would take them there. Still, they pressed onward and felt the warm air blow past them. The very same rush of warmth made the brothers sweat profusely in their heavy jackets, which made their tight surroundings almost unbearable.

"There's got to be a way out of here!" Luigi said as he continued leading the way. "There's no way there can't be a duct that leads outside."

"What makes you say that, bro?" Mario asked as he continued following his brother.

"In other words, I'm hoping that there is an opening that will take us outside." Luigi replied. "I'm just trying to stay on the positive side, here."

"Trying making a right turn at the next junction." Mario said. "That should take us to where we are headed, if I'm not mistaken."

"What makes you say that?" Luigi asked.

"I'm just following my instinct." Mario replied. "Do you have a better idea?"

"Other than going straight, not really." Luigi said. "But I will trust you on this one."

After about a minute of crawling through the metallic ducts, the brothers reached an intersection where two duct pathways came together. Luigi did what Mario suggested and made a right turn and Mario followed close behind. Luigi soon came across another grate opening leading down into one of the rooms inside the building. Looking down, Luigi could see two Goombas talking to each other. He stopped and started listening in on their conversation.

"What's the holdup, Luigi?" Mario asked, after which Luigi turned around and signaled him to be quiet. Mario did what he was told.

Down in the room below, the Goombas stood in the center of the room, waiting for the brothers to pop their way down from the ceiling duct and into the room they were standing in. They both studied the grating in the middle of the ceiling, but they were unable to see through the narrow slits, even though they suspected that they heard something above them just a moment ago. The ruckus had since stopped and they assumed that the warm air inside the vents was to blame. After all, metal does tend to expand when it heats up. They were now just talking about their nightly shifts and the usual "how are things going" things that most everyone tends to bring up at the beginning of a conversation. They were both tired and fatigued from their late hours, so the words spoken by each Goomba tended to slur a bit. One of them just recently took out a small flask containing some sort of alcoholic beverage.

"So the Mario Brothers are trapped somewhere in the air vents?" the drinking Goomba asked as he took another sip from his flask.

"Well, yeah!" said the other Goomba. "Didn't you see the grating on the floor in the men's room? It was unscrewed from the ceiling! Who else would've done that?! Rosalina, the legendary Star Princess?!"

"No need for the sarcasm, dude! I was just asking a simple question!" said the drinking Goomba. "I'm beginning to think that they're nowhere near our section of the building, because I haven't seen or heard anything come from the grate above us. Should we go check somewhere else?"

"It's all up to you." the other Goomba replied. "What do you think we should do?"

"I think we should go somewhere else, this place is getting too boring for me." said the drinking Goomba, who closed the lid of his flask and put it back in his jacket pocket. "Let's go further down the hall."

With that said, the two Goombas made their way out of the room and turned right down the brightly illuminated hallway and proceeded to check the other rooms that have yet to be checked.

Back in the air vent, Mario and Luigi waited for the Goombas to go away before crawling further down the warm passage. Their suspicions of the Bowser's Troops were now proven to be correct: they were indeed going to every room of the building to check and see if they would emerge from the air ducts and back into the open where they could be easily seen. However, the brothers had other plans.

"I was going to say drop into another room if possible, but I guess it's too late for that now." Mario said. "We really need to find a path leading outside to the center of this base. Do you think we could be close to reaching it?"

"Maybe, if we're lucky." Luigi replied. "However, I do have the feeling that we should be getting closer to where we need to go. Just keep following me."

"Okay."

The brothers kept crawling quietly straight ahead past more grate barriers that opened up into other rooms in the building, in which Koopas and Goombas alike gathered and waited for them to climb out. But the brothers were much smarter than they were and they continued past the openings until they reached another intersection with vents leading both left and right. Just ahead of them was a grate blocking another vent passage, from which colder air seemed to be making its way into the warmer vents. Luigi took out the knife to unscrew the screws on each side the grate barrier and struggled to stretch his arms in the tight space of the vent.

"I'm pretty sure that this grate is blocking the passage that will take us out of here and back outside." Luigi said. "Can you feel the cold air coming in back there, Mario?"

"Yeah, I can feel it. It's starting to make me shiver a little." Mario replied. "Damn, I was just getting used to the warmth too! Now I have to get used to the cold again."

"I know how that feels. " Luigi said as he loosened the left screw. "Trust me, I'm feeling it right now as well. It reminds me of the time when Wario and Waluigi stole our winter coats during the winter we had record lows in the Mushroom Kingdom. Do you remember that?"

"How could I not remember that?" Mario replied. "We were so sick after being in the cold, that we were living off of chicken soup for a whole week! Now that I think about it, it really did more good for us than bad. It's almost as if that incident prepared us for what we're going through right now."

"I guess you could say that." Luigi replied as he took the left screw out of the grate and started working on the right screw. "But Wario and Waluigi eventually got what they deserved after that little episode that happened right before the king's funeral. I wonder how they're enjoying their jail sentence."

"I just hope that they learned their lesson." Mario replied. "They needed a good scare from the authorities, wouldn't you say?"

"Absolutely!" Luigi said. "However, I can't but wonder what Bowser could've done to scare them."

"He probably wouldn't hesitate to kill anyone that goes against his ideology." Mario replied. "We would know, because we've lived through a couple of Bowser's attacks. And I'm sure most people would agree with us too."

"Who wouldn't?" Luigi asked as he finished working on the second screw. Finally the screw came loose and Luigi was able to free the grate from the walls of the vent and reveal the hidden vent beyond. The brothers continued crawling forward and felt the temperature of the air around them plummet as they neared another bolted grate. By the time Mario and Luigi reached the second grate barrier, they were once again able to see their breath, and the air inside the vent was so cold that their hands were starting to get a little numb, even though they were wearing their white gloves on. With Lord Crump's knife still in his hand, Luigi started unscrewing the bolts of the second grate and felt cold wind blow through the narrow slits.

"I think we're almost outside, Mario!" Luigi said. "Just two more screws to loosen and then we can crawl out of this vent!"

"Hopefully this will take us to the dig." Mario replied. "And hopefully we have easy access to what lies beneath the ground. Only then will it be possible for us to find the third Star. As of right now, I think the only threat we have to deal with are a few Koopa Troops and maybe a few Goombas."

"But what about Bowser and Kamek? They know that we're stuck inside the vents right now!" Luigi said. "I'm surprised he hasn't used his fire breath to torch us or even sear us to death in the time we've been crawling above the ceilings of all those rooms inside this building."

"I'm sure he has reasons for not doing that." Mario said. "But thank goodness he hasn't done that to us yet. Otherwise, we would have literally been toast a long time ago! Guess I better knock on metal while I can, huh?"

"I believe the expression is 'knock on wood'." Luigi replied. "I learned it while we were still in school."

"Damn!" Mario said. "Luigi out-schools his brother once again!"

"Hey, you do better at a lot of other things than me." Luigi said. "Don't be so harsh on yourself. You're definitely a better athlete than I'll ever be! And that's a fact!"

"Now you're just being harsh on yourself!" Mario replied. Luigi said nothing.

Luigi finally unscrewed the last screw and removed the grate barrier. He was now looking out into the center of Bowser's base which consisted of a large snowfield and a few large holes in the ground where the archeological dig had been set up. Lamps and large outdoor shelters had been set up to accommodate the needs of the diggers during work hours. Looking out into the field, Luigi did not see any Koopas or Goombas running loose on the dig. However, looking around the perimeter of the base on top of the buildings, Luigi could see Koopas operating the large searchlights, so the brothers were going to have to remain in the dark. Snowflakes were still falling from the dark and cloudy nighttime sky and the cold wind was still blowing strong across the snowy landscape.

"What are you waiting for, Luigi? Let's get out of here!" Mario said from behind.

"Sorry, I just had to check for any possible danger." Luigi replied. "The only thing we have to worry about are those searchlights."

"Gotcha." Mario said.

Luigi did a front flip out of the vent opening and landed in the snow on both feet. He motioned for Mario to come and he ended up doing the same maneuver. After they made it safely to the ground, the brothers started walking over to the dig.

Hey everyone! I just want to quickly point out that this will mark the hundredth chapter of The Rising of Two Heroes! Thank you to all who have been patiently awaiting my updates and giving me feedback! And don't worry, there is still a lot to come! The story is far from over :)

So far, Mario and Luigi have escaped the Koopas and Goombas, as well as Bowser and Kamek by traversing the air vents and finding their way back outside and in the center of Bowser's Snowbound outpost where most of the digging for the third star has been taking place. Their next objective is to avoid getting caught in the searchlights and dive into the unknown icy depths underground... Who knows what kinds of surprises will be lurking down there! Mario and Luigi will soon find out.

Again, thank you guys for reading my story! See you in the next chapter... One hundred chapters and counting! :)

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