Luigi is not in this game.

Chapter Four

Loud ringing, head throbbing, can't see. Andres tried to wiggle his fingers with little outcome. All his muscles ached painfully as if a semi-truck just hit him. His eyes fluttered open, vision blurred. He felt sand under him and noticed green hills draping his vision. Another lump of a human lay not too far away from him.

"Lacey?" Andres croaked out. It couldn't have been though. The figure seemed much taller, and their hair was brown and short instead of long and blonde. He was wearing navy blue overalls and a green shirt and hat- oh my god, Luigi?

The sudden shock made Andres shoot up into a sitting position. He was gazing around his surroundings. A large area surrounded by mountains, a river led into a pond nearby, trees scattered the land, and in the far distance, he could see a massive castle towering over everything.

"Oh no." This can't be happening. He glanced down at his hands, which were covered in white gloves. He was wearing blue overalls with a red shirt. He looked directly in the sun, his breathing becoming heavier. This is a dream, this is a dream. Wake up this is a dream. His eyes remained comfortable, not even the sun would burn his eyes. It must be a dream if I can't feel pain.

Andres heard a slight shuffling near him. He turned his head to see the little green man moving around. Where's Lacey? He thought as the man sat up, rubbing his eyes. He looked over at Andres, eyes wide.

"Andres?" He said, tilting his head to the side. No, she said.

"Lacey?!"

"You sound different." She said, looking around. "Everything is different."

"Yeah, you sound different too." He grunted. Standing to his feet, the reality around him started to sink in. Was he really supposed to be with her all the time now? "How do we get out?"

"You're guess is as good as mine." Andres's mind raced with ideas on how to get out. Well... why should I have to get out? Then he remembered. Rose! He couldn't leave her. He really did have to get out. Besides, he didn't want to be stuck in one place forever. Especially with Lacey.

Andres turned back to Lacey. Her eyes widened, then partially shut as she glanced solemnly at her hands. Reality was setting in for the both of them now. "I would suggest getting back the same way we got in here, but if there's an N64 we don't know about in this game then we're stuck." He said.

"You think we could play the levels? Like in real life?" Lacey suggested. Andres stared at her. "Is that stupid?"

"No, that's not a bad idea." He lowered his voice. "Let's just go look around." He led the way up the sandy slope and out of the hallow. A dirt path led them to the front of the castle bridge.

"I never thought I'd see this in real life," Lacey said. This time, Andres did strike her with a side eye of stupidity. No kidding. Instead of voicing his thoughts, he walked to the castle doors and opened them. Just as he expected, a staircase in front of him led to the second floor, and doors littered around. Toad sat at the side of the hallway, idly standing. Andres walked up to him and started talking. He already knew what he was going to say, Bowser captured the princess and all the stars and he needed to help. But now he has an extra hand. Maybe this could go by faster.

"Where do we want to start?" Lacey asked.

"Easily the Bob-omb level," Andres said. "We need stars from here to do any other one."

"Right." Lacey followed Andres into the Bob-omb room and stood on the platform. He reluctantly pushed his hand through the painting. It disappeared in the ink and it rippled like disturbed water. He glanced over at Lacey with a this can't be happening look, but she said nothing. Her blank stare was fixated on the painting, nothing behind her eyes. He ignored it and jumped all the way through the painting, blacking out.

Andres and Lacey awoke standing on the other side, his eyes still blurry from the transition. "I don't think I'm gonna get used to that if that happens every time we walk through a painting," Lacey said.

"For real," Andres replied, gazing around the new course. "The easiest one I can think of is to beat the bomb king."

"Really? We have to pick that guy up with our bare hands. We're not hiding behind a screen anymore." Lacey took a step back.

"I think anything we do in this world is going to hurt eventually."

"I guess you're right." She reluctantly followed Andres up the dirt path, avoiding the walking mushrooms, or more like the walking mushrooms avoided them. They seemed to be more afraid of the humans than the other way around, as they scuttled off when noticing them. The massive Chain Chomp came into view. Andres's heart began to race. I don't think I want to figure out if we can feel pain. Without a second thought, he sprinted past the aggressive ball of fury. Massive jaws filled with razor-sharp teeth snapped behind him, and two loud barks forced a rotten taste up his throat. He stopped just before the stairs to catch his breath. He turned around to Lacey, who looked just as terrified. The fear melted into exhilaration.

"HAH!" Andres shouted. "Just run across, you'll be fine! It's not like we haven't done this before."

"NOT IN REAL LIFE!" Lacey ran to Andres but tripped over a stone and faceplanted in the dirt. Oh god. Andres shot out his arm and grabbed Lacey by the sleeve of her shirt and yanked her out of the way.

"STUPI-" Andres stopped himself. "Ugh, come on. I'm glad you're ok." He muttered.

"...Thanks," Lacey whispered. Andres pretended to not hear and drug her through the field of tiny walking bombs. They didn't seem to notice, peacefully trodded and rolling around in the grass. The ground started to rumble rhythmically. Andres glanced over at the iron fence. He could see the massive black boulders rolling back and forth in the dip. He perfected the jumps to get across, but that was in the safety of a chair. Now this was his reality, and he certainly didn't want to experience getting flattened.

"I think it's just another 'run for your life' type thing," Andres said.

"Well, don't you always jump over?" Lacey said. "Y'know, like the 'yahoo'!" She imitated the jump in place.

Andres stared at her. "Ok, maybe." He shrugged. "Super jump." He took a few steps back, then he sprinted off the edge, pushing his foot off the ground and into the air. But no magical power jump got him across. He smashed into the ground below him, the rumbling louder. He sat up and let out a distorted noise of panic consisting of mostly half-curse words. He scrambled through the dirt and dove for the edge on the other side of the dip. He hauled himself up and laid flat on his stomach. Andres pushed himself to his knees and turned his head towards Lacey.

"Thanks!" He shouted.

It took much time of dodging bombs, canon balls, and mushrooms until they got to the top. Standing in front of them was their first boss; King Bomb. "Ok," Andres started, brushing the dirt from his shirt. "We just have to throw him a few times and we get a star."

The two approached the bomb, who started to monologue after realizing humans were there. The king charged toward the both of them. Andres jumped out of the way and tried to run behind him, but the bomb kept swivling his head.

"I'll distract him, you grab him!" Andres shouted over the heavy, stomping feet. His palms were becoming increasingly sweaty under the white gloves.

"Got it!" She shouted back. A few moments went by and Andres was still dodging the king's attacks.

"What's taking you so long?" He rounded the side of the bomb and found Lacey trying to get up off the ground. "Hey! What happened?"

"I don't know!"

"Just grab him, it's not that hard!"

"I know, it just-

"Come on, this is taking too long." Andres slid behind the king and grabbed at him. He heaved him above his shoulders and gasped in shock at the sudden burst of strength that overwhelmed him. His muscles jerked forward and threw the bomb across the green mountain. He landed with a thud.

"Holy shit!" Lacey breathed as the bomb disintegrated into nothing. The only thing left was a hovering yellow star, waiting to be grabbed. Andres ran over to it and plucked it from the air.