The Surge [SPM Halloween Story!]

(9) The Team Reunion

The man in green held his breath until he finally jumped out of the other end of the Warp Pipe, a wide smile on his face as he did.

"Yahoo!" Luigi cheered.

Luigi landed on his feet and turned his head to see Dimentio practically get ejected from the blue-colored Warp Pipe. The jester yelled in surprise and clung tightly to his umbrella and scarf until he landed with a "THUD" onto the ground. The man in green couldn't help but wince in response as Dimentio brushed himself off, floating back upright, despite the jester not being able to feel pain from that, being a ghost.

"I swear to Grambi, pipes have simply never agreed with me," Dimentio sighed.

Luigi chuckled a little in response, smiling as he brushed a little dirt from Dimentio's black scarf.

"Well, you'd probably be as used to it as I am if your job was to be a plumber," Luigi laughed.

"I would rather stick with my prior jobs as a mercenary, court jester, and later a minion, thank you," Dimentio teased with a grin.

The man in green only grinned awkwardly in response as Dimentio laughed. Luigi HOPED that Dimentio was just joking about that mercenary bit...

Both Dimentio and Luigi couldn't help but flinch as a shrill scream rang out through the town.

Looking towards the town, the two of them could see that they had just been spotted by the townsfolk, a Flipside woman currently trembling as she pointed at Dimentio. Before Luigi could even think of trying to explain and calm people down, all of the Flipside residents in sight ran for their homes and slammed the doors, locking them up tight.

Luigi winced as he saw that the place now looked empty, save for maybe one older Flipside gentleman asleep on a bench.

"Yeesh..." Luigi murmured. "I didn't know that THAT many people would... recognize....."

The man in green trailed off as he looked over at Dimentio to see that he looked on the verge of tears.

"Oh my gosh-! U-um, i-it's alright! Th-these people are just scared because they don't know any better! Th-they don't know the actual you!" Luigi frantically explained.

Dimentio took a deep breath, trying to steady himself before he ended up crying. That was the last thing he wanted at this point.

"It's alright... I know that was not the intention behind it, they only know the one side of the story..." Dimentio murmured.

The ghostly jester frowned as he subconsciously lifted a palm to his mask, running his claw-like hand over his porcelain-covered cheek.

"It just... surfaces a bad memory or two, I suppose," Dimentio dismissed, shrugging it off as he did. "Never mind that. Have you heard from your brother about the others? Has he found them all yet?"

Luigi hummed in response, pulling out his phone.

"I don't know, let me check," Luigi stated.

The man in green quickly opened the lock screen, going to his messages to find one sent from Mario about half an hour ago.

Mario: i got them all to the flipside library

Mario: we just got together after grabbing lunch

Luigi's stomach couldn't help but rumble a little at the reminder of lunch. The green plumber blushed a little in embarrassment as Dimentio looked his way.

"Er... Do you need to stop for lunch..?" Dimentio awkwardly asked.

The man in green laughed sheepishly as he put away his phone, waving it off.