Noëlle was unaware that there was an underground sewer pipe damaging Brooklyn this evening. She was at her secret spot underground where no one would find her if she wanted to be alone. All of a sudden, she heard bricks crashing and people groaning and speaking unintelligible words. She took a look while hiding to see who it was. She couldn't believe her eyes.

"Mario bros?" she whispered to herself.

They were now passing a massive green pipe.

"It looks like no one's been down here for years," Mario said to his brother who didn't answer. "Luigi?" Mario saw that his brother was nowhere to be seen and found the pipe wrench in the green pipe. "Luigi, are you in there?" He looked at the tunnel again. "Luigi!" The wrench fell out of Mario's hands and got sucked in from the pipe. Noëlle saw the commotion and saw Mario getting sucked in too and began screaming. Her eyes widened when she saw he had disappeared too. Her instinct told her she must save them despite not knowing them so well. So, she walked up to the pipe and was glad that it started to suck her in too, to where she didn't know. All that mattered was saving the Mario brothers.

LATER

Luigi groaned while scratching his head and observed his surroundings. It looked like a dark land full of dead trees and grass. Then he heard screaming coming from the pipe. Out of it came Noëlle. She was skidding until she almost hit head first into a tree but didn't, much to her relief.

"Phew," she said. "That was close."

"Noëlle?" Luigi said.

"Luigi!" She turned to him and got up immediately, wiping off dirt from her blue hoodie and jeans. She helped him up. "Are you all right?"

"Ah, barely," He found his cap and put it back on. "But, wait a sec. What are you doing here?"

"I saw you guys get sucked into that pipe and I've come to help you and your brother."

"How did you know we were down there?"

"Look," she said, getting serious about their current situation. "Why don't we start looking for Mario while I tell you along the way?"

"Got it," he said, fetching a torch from his equipment bag.

Noëlle walked along closely with Luigi.

"Mario?" she called out.

"Mario, where are you?" Luigi said. His arm got attached to a tree branch. Noëlle tried to help him but he got free and almost tripped into lava. They bumped into a tree; awakening bats that made the travelers scream as they flew into the sky. They cautiously continued their search.

"So," Noëlle began after Luigi switched the torch back on. "I was basically down underground at the same time when you guys found that big pipe. I found a secret passage of sorts in the city a few months ago and started to go down there whenever I felt like I needed privacy and space."

"Kind of an odd place to go for that kind of thing, not to mention a little late at night?" He asked curiously.

"Well," she smiled. "Firstly, I can look out for myself, and second, I am odd," she made a funny face that made him chuckle. "Is it helping?"

"Is what helping?"

"Trying to be funny while we are in a spooky place looking for Mario?"

"Yeah," Luigi grinned at her. "Sorta. Thanks."

"Pleasure," she said. Then she saw something bony when the light touched it. "Uh, what was that?"

The torch went out and Luigi struggled for a second until it worked again and right in front of them appeared a little bony dinosaur looking creature that let a tiny roar. Luigi yelped at the sight of it.

"Run!" Noëlle said.

As they were running, Luigi had to leave the equipment bag behind to run faster. Good thing he and Noëlle did track at school because they had good stamina.

"Watch out!" She called.

But it was too late. Luigi hit a tree branch which bounced him back and hit the creature, causing it to fall into pieces. The youngest brother retrieved his hat from the bony dino's head and laughed triumphantly. "Ha ha, yes!" He picked the head up. "You just got ha-Luigi'd!" But he spoke too soon for its eyes lit up and repaired its body back to its original structure.

"Oh, shucks," Noëlle said worryingly.

More of them appeared from the dirt like animated corpses and from the faraway trees, almost surrounding the travelers. Noëlle found a stick to defend Luigi and herself, quickly hitting one before it grabbed the youngest brother.

"We gotta keep moving!" She said, leading the way and Luigi ran alongside her.

"Look, up ahead!" He said.

"A castle!"

As they reached closer, they had to hop over stone platforms lying on lava. A creature hit one of the platforms and Luigi hit its head away. They finally made it but had to hold the door together from a lot of the creatures and pulled the lever to close it at last.

The travelers were breathing heavily from that experience and looked around inside the dark castle.

Noëlle let a sigh. "Phew. Thank goodness for this place to keep those things out."

"Yeah," Luigi said, taking a seat close to the stairs, looking nervous, exhausted, and chuckled in relief. "I need a quick rest."

"Yeah, me too," she sat next to him. There was silence for a moment until she spoke. "This castle would be cool if you had a Halloween party, huh?" She looked at him but Luigi looked like he was in deep space. She put a hand on his shoulder. "Are you okay?"

"Hmm?" He turned to her. "Sorry, I was just thinking."

"About what?"

"Everything that's happened today. Our very first call, our first job being a disaster, the pipe that took us here, those dino things outside. And now, figuring out how to get back home."

"Yeah," she said. "We will get back home somehow, right after finding your brother. If it makes you feel any better, today was not the way I wanted to go either."

"How do you mean?"

She sighed deeply. "Earlier today before I saw you guys at the pizzeria, I was thinking about my dad..."

Luigi waited for her to continue.

"Today is two years ago when he passed away."

"Oh, Noëlle. I'm so sorry."

She gave him a brave smile. "Thanks, Luigi. But I'm the one who should be apologizing."

His face turned into confusion.

"Sorry, that right now I'm not fulfilling his promise."

"What kind of promise?"

She looked at him again. "To live my life to the fullest. Which is hard if you feel unsure about certain things in life. Don't get me wrong, I'm a tough cookie and I love life. But right now, I feel..."

"Stuck," they said at the same time which surprised both of them. They smiled at each other for a moment until a thunderclap erupted from outside, revealing small creatures with black and white masks and red hoods, which the travelers couldn't see because they were behind them. They swiftly managed to gag the travelers and bind their hands with ropes.