Disclaimer: All assets of the Mario Movie belong to Nintendo and Illumination.

Chapter 5: Isekai

Mario rubbed his eyes as he glanced around. Luigi lay next to him as he groaned. "Oh, man. That hurt!"

"I'd say," Mario said. "Thanks for saving me." Luigi nodded. "Though I have no idea where we are. Deeper into the sewer system, I'd say?" That wasn't too far off from the truth considering the pipe system around them stretched onwards for miles, and Brooklyn was a huge city, so needless to say, they were trapped in a maze of pipes that zigzagged across each other. "Well, our plan failed, and I doubt we solved the flooding. I suggest we start looking for a way back up, like a set of stairs or something. Do you have flashlights?" Luigi nodded and pulled out said objects. "Good. Let's-a go." The two brothers began to search for an exit among the maze-like sewer system, but it was hard to tell how far below they were. It was highly doubtful that people rarely came down here in the first place, but because these pipes exist, that meant that there had to be some sort of exit. It was the only explanation.

After 30 minutes of searching upon every crevice and corner, as it was best to leave no stone unturned, their search started to become fruitless, especially since they had the risk of becoming lost with every second that went by. If only they had a map of some sort. Well, using their phones to pull up one wasn't an option considering there wasn't any reception underground, so their only hope was to find it and hope they didn't become lost.

Two hours after they fell, Mario decided to pause to rethink their strategy. "OK," he said, "Clearly wandering around is getting us nowhere. We've been searching for the past two hours and had no luck. We need to change up our strategy because we've wandered these same halls for hours. The only reason we haven't become lost was because we backtracked to where we fell. I think we need to start narrowing down our search until we find something. I don't care what, as long as we get above ground, then we can let our phones do the rest."

He spent the next couple minutes narrowing down all the possible directions they covered and didn't cover. "I think if we start going south southwest, there's a chance we might discover something, right, Luigi?" There was no response. "Luigi?" Mario glanced around, not finding any sign of the plumber. "Luigi!" This was weird. Luigi was right next to him a couple minutes ago, and now he was suddenly gone? Did he explore more of the pipe maze? That seemed logical, but Luigi would've said something before wandering off. He wouldn't have an incentive not to consider he relied on Mario, who was the brains of this operation. And there was no way of knowing where he went, so Mario started somewhere. He continued to yell out Luigi's name to no avail. But he paused as something peculiar caught his eye. It was some sort of strange, green pipe that stood out from its dark and gray cousins. What was this pipe? It seemed very out of place for a pipe like this to be down here. But that was what caught Mario's attention. The fact that it was out of place was enough to pique someone's interest and Luigi was no different. Maybe he went this way thinking this was a way out? Possibly. He cautiously approached the pipe and low and behold, there was evidence in the wrench that laid on the ground. Mario picked it up, but something swept him off his feet as an unknown force dragged him through the pipe. Mario scurried against the floor as he fought against the force, but it dragged him through as he screamed.

He gazed around his new surroundings. Clouds of many colors filled a never ending void. The weird part was other currents that were spread out, but seemed to lead to other pipes. What was this place? Why was such a place like this near Brooklyn? Well, he had to find Luigi. And sure enough, Luigi was far away from him as he flailed helplessly in the air. "Mario!"

"Luigi, I'm coming!" He moved his arms in a freestyle-like manner as he slowly closed the gap between the two. Luigi held out his arm as Mario closed in on it, and he grabbed it, interlocking them with a tight grip as the two spun through the air.

"M… Mario," Luigi said, quivering, "Where are we?"

"I don't know." He sighed. "Why did you wander off without telling me?! You made me worried sick!"

"I'm sorry! I thought this was an exit because I stumbled upon it earlier, but it looked weird, so I didn't want to mention it, but I wanted to see if it would get us above ground, but it sucked me in the moment I stepped inside the pipe. I'm so sorry, Mario! I always do this! Why do I-"

"Luigi, stop. Berating yourself isn't gonna get us out of this situation." He glanced around at the void. "I had no idea such a place like this existed near Brooklyn. Was it always here?"

"I don't know. There are more pipes, too. Do you think they could take us home?"

"There's no way of knowing where they lead. We shouldn't push our chances. Let's just ride out the current and-" Luigi's hand started to slip from his grasp.

"Mario, I'm slipping!"

"No, you aren't!" He tightened his grip on Luigi's hands. "I'm not gonna let you go! I swear! We're gonna make it through this together!" Even with the tightened grip, that wasn't enough to keep the two together, especially when the centrifugal force started to pull the two apart as they spun faster through the air. Eventually, Mario lost his grip as the two separated towards different directions as the two shouted their names. Within seconds, Luigi was gone from Mario's view. "No! Luigi!" He cursed to himself. Great. Not only did he have no idea where he was and would end up, but Luigi was now by himself. Just great. He didn't like that Luigi was by himself. Mario stuck up to all kinds of people that dared lay a finger on him, but now Mario feared for his life, especially since he would also end up in an unfamiliar land. How was he gonna survive? Well, the current was about to come to an end as all that Mario could pray for was that they somehow ended up in the same place, but that was highly unlikely. He closed his eyes as he went with the flow of the current, hoping for sunshine and rainbows at the end of the tunnel.

Mario groaned as he sat up, his head panging with pain. What happened? The last thing he remembered was that he was flying? It was a bit fuzzy, but he remembered that he was holding onto something. Wait. He gasped. Luigi?! Where was he? They got separated, but he couldn't remember where he went. "Hello? Luigi? Where are you?!" He checked his phone and tried calling him to no avail due to no reception service. He growled. OK. Then the next best thing was to determine where he was. He was surrounded by a lush, green plains area with huge mushrooms that sprouted as tall as trees. Wait, mushrooms? The very sight of them made him want to barf, and he hated mushrooms. It was also a very populated area with all kinds of creatures roaming the place. So, he knew what this place was but he didn't have a name for it. He began glancing around as he casually threw Luigi's name out there. He might not be here, but there was no shame in trying. He glanced at an odd blue and white mushroom. He scratched his head as he cautiously approached it.

"Luigi?"

"Don't touch that mushroom! You'll die!" Mario jumped back at the sound of a high pitched, squeaky voice. He glanced at the creature that stood in front of him as it collapsed on the ground, bursting from laughter. "Oh my gosh! I can't believe you fell for it!" As it continued laughing, Mario got a closer look at said creature. It looked to be a cross between some sort of fungi and a man with its red and white spots on top as it hoisted a backpack on its back. A mushroom man, perhaps? The mushroom man stood up. "Sorry. Thanks for the good laugh." It chuckled. "Such a good prank." It glanced at Mario, who was still flabbergasted as he didn't speak, even though it did. "What? Goomba caught your tongue? You can speak, can't you?" It shrugged. "Oh well. It was fun while it lasted. Well, I'm out of here."

"Wait!" Mario decided to speak up then because the best thing he needed to do was to get intel. If he could narrow down the places of where Luigi could be, then maybe the search could become much easier, meaning he had to rely on a native for that information, despite its, or his based on the voice, goofish personality.

"And he speaks!" the mushroom man said. "And here I thought you were deaf."

"I'm not deaf. I need to know where I am. Can you tell me? Is it near Brooklyn?"

He scoffed. "You really don't know? This is the Mushroom Kingdom, the most famous kingdom in the whole entire world! Also, I've done much research on this world and I never heard of this 'Brooklyn'. I have no idea where that is." Mario sighed. That was his worst fear confirmed. He truly was in a new world. And the worst part was he didn't know if Luigi was also in this world or if he ended up in an entirely different one. Hopefully the former was true. He shook his head. Luigi was the one known to berate himself, but this time it was Mario's fault. It was all because he had something to prove which ended up in their situation. Granted, they wouldn't know about a whole new world underneath the sewers of Brooklyn, but still. Well, Mario had to keep those negative thoughts at bay. Luigi could be here, and even though that was a big if, he had to hold onto it. "Wait!" the mushroom man said. "I figured it out!"

"Figured out what?"

"You're not from here, aren't you?"

Mario snorted. This guy wasn't the best at putting together context clues, was he? "Of course not."

"I knew it! Well, since you aren't from here, then maybe I can give you a tour of the Mushroom Kingdom so that you can be-"

"Look, mushroom man. No offense, but I don't have time for a tour. I have more important things to worry about."

"Sorry. How about we start over?" The mushroom man held out his hand. "I'm Toad."

Mario shook his hand hesitantly. "Mario."

"Ah," Toad said. "'Mario.' Kinda rolls off the tongue." He said his name a few times with emphasis of rolling the r of his name to which the plumber responded with a roll of his eyes.

"Can we focus, please?"

"Right, sorry. So, you said you aren't from here? How did you even get here?"

"Well, my brother and I tried to fix a flooding problem by going underneath the city, but we didn't exactly fix the problem and we ended up further below the sewers. My brother then stumbled across a strange pipe and went through it. I followed him, but we got separated. That's the gist of it."

Toad pondered for a few moments. "Interesting. Was it like that pipe over there?" He pointed to a pipe that stuck out of the side of a cliff. Mario glanced at it and gasped. It was the same green pipe he came out of.

"Yes! That's it!"

"I understand now. You fell into a Warp Pipe. Those suckers are quite quirky in how they work. You start at one end and end up somewhere else entirely. I still have no idea how they work." Well, considering that Mario came out of that pipe, it wasn't too much of a conjecture to assume it could take him home. But that still didn't help with finding Luigi even with that information.

"That's cool and all, but that's not what I'm worried about."

"You said you mentioned a brother?" Mario nodded. He wasn't totally clueless after all. "Did you see where he ended up?"

"No. I have no idea where he is. I don't even know if he's in this world. That's why I need help. I need to find him asap."

Toad nodded. "Then it's settled. I'm gonna take you to see the princess. She knows the lay of the land for this place. She can help you out. Come on, Mario! Follow me!" Mario smirked as he followed the adventurous organism. If this princess was able to help him, then that would bring him one step closer to Luigi.

Elsewhere

Luigi groaned as he sat up. "Ugh. I feel like I'm trying to get over a hangover. Where am I?" He glanced around at his surroundings. Black, gnarly trees covered the dense, foggy area as the moon glowed high in the sky against the dark and foreboding night sky. "Hello? Mario?" He squinted but was barely able to see anything. "Gosh. Where the heck is my flashlight?" He glanced at his bag and sighed with relief. It didn't fall out, otherwise, navigating this place would be a nightmare. Heck, who was he kidding? This whole place was a nightmare. He wandered the area. "Golly day. Where the-" He almost fell into the lava as he darted to the other side as he jumped from a sinking rock. "Great. Just great. I don't know where I am, and this place looks like a haunted mansion. Mario! Where are you?!" All his ears heard was the echo of his own voice. He growled. Where was he? Where was even here? Oh, how he wished he had the answer to all those questions, but he didn't, and he hated the foreboding atmosphere of this place as he scurried, trying to find some type of new scenery. After a couple minutes of wandering, the plumber's mind grew into desperation as he started to pant. "Mario! Where are you?!" His light started to flicker in and out. He shook it violently as he tried to turn it on, but as the light returned, something moving caught the corner of his eye. He glanced around the forest, trying to find the figure until he heard bones creaking. He turned around to see some sort of skeleton staring into his soul. Its eyes sprang to life as it charged maliciously at the plumber with its arms sprung out. He screamed and ran away, other skeletons rising from the ground as they ran en masse at Luigi. Luigi glanced around as he ran. Shelter. He needed some shelter, and fast with the skeletons catching up to him. Where was some? He sighed with relief when a castle came into view. There! He veered his body towards said castle, jumping over lava rocks as the skeletons closed in on him. He ran through the door and slammed it shut as the skeletons banged on it with loud rams as thunder cracked the night sky. Luigi backed away from the door, assessing the situation before taking a breather. "Thank goodness." He chuckled. "Take that, skeletons!"

"Who are you?" Luigi froze in fear as he slowly turned around, staring at mask-like creatures as they stared ominously at him even though the plumber couldn't see their eyes. He screamed and backed up as they walked to him. "Who are you?" one asked. "Answer me!"

"L-Look," Luigi said. "T-This is all a b-big understanding. I understand that I'm on your territory, but let's p-pretend I wasn't here, yeah? That sounds good? It d-does to me, so I'm-"

"Not going anywhere!" shouted a new voice. Something flew into Luigi as he crashed into the wall. Luigi stared at a blue shelled turtle creature as he hoisted him by the neck, causing him to choke. "Who are you? Are you a spy for Princess Peach?"

"Who?"

"Don't feign ignorance with me! Answer my question!"

"I don't know who you're talking about! I just stumbled upon this place and I don't know where I am! That's all! I swear!"

"Unlikely story." He glanced at the mask creatures. "Explain."

"We found him wandering in here. He was huffing when he did. We were about to apprehend him when you showed up."

"Of course," the turtle muttered. He squeezed Luigi's neck. "Listen here. I don't know who you are, but you're encroaching on Darkland territory. There will be consequences for your trespassing. We'll let Lord Bowser decide what to do about you. Shy Guys, tie him up." He threw him across the ground.

As the now-named Shy Guys tied rope around his back, Luigi glanced at the turtle. "Please, sir-"

"You will address me by my proper name when you speak to me!" he hissed. "It's the Koopa General to you! Get that through your dumb skull!"

"But I just wanna find my brother and go home! Please!"

The Koopa General huffed. "Home? Give me a break. If I don't deal with this situation, it's off with my head. You're here for a reason, and we will get to the bottom of it. Get moving."

Luigi sighed as he was shoved. Mario. Where are you?

And now we officially entered the Mushroom Kingdom, though at this point in the film is where the pacing drastically picks up, but that's gonna change with this rewrite. Also, we met Toad. When watching the movie the first time, he definitely seemed the type to do pranks, especially when Mario first meets him, and I can't wait to go deeper into his character. You'll have to wait and see what I do with him next time.

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