I've Got the Strangest Feeling This Isn't Our First Time Around

6

The first thing Luigi registers upon waking up is that he's not in the Dream Lab.

The second one being he's in a bed he doesn't recognize, and not in the lab's fuzzy pajamas.

In seconds, he's pushing the covers off and getting up, and yep, he's in a pair of boxers, too.

Upon hearing a coffee maker, he follows the noise and stumbles his way to what he's hoping is the kitchen.

"Morning!" Mario says cheerfully, where he has a mug ready. "How are you?"

"Like I fell off a mountain." Luigi says flatly.

"Good." Mario says cheerfully. "Hungry? Making coffee, and I make damn good biscotti." He holds up a plate.

Luigi, however, has a more pressing issue that needs addressed.

"Uh, excuse me, but who's bedroom did I just walk out of?"

The demand makes Mario's smile slip as he says, "Mine. Who else?"

"And where were you?"

"Watching yo—ow!" Mario winces as Luigi slaps him, only for Luigi to also grab his own face in confusion.

"Wait, why did that hurt me too?" then he shakes his head. "Forget it. I was passed out!"

"Oh please, I'm the last person you need to be worried about!" Mario rolls his eyes. "I was monitoring you to make sure you woke up with no side effects!"

"And these?" Luigi gestures to the clothes he's wearing.

"The lab technicians did that and brought you to my house." Mario explains, cutting off whatever else Luigi was gonna say.

"Then why don't I remember anything?"

"Nothing?" Mario repeats, then decides to risk asking, "You don't remember waking up in the lab or...hugging me?"

"I what ?" Luigi's aghast.

"Okay, rude." Mario says, but Luigi's already apologetic.

"No, you're right, I...walking through the Koopa's dreams affected me more than I expected."

"No kidding." Mario says thoughtfully as he sips his coffee.

"Rest assured, that will never happen again." Luigi says a little too quickly as he sits down.

"Good to know." Mario pushes the plate over to him. "Eat one of those and put some hair on your chest. Snoozemore wants us back at the lab."

"Morning, Dream Team!" Pauline says to them as she joins them in the conference room. "While you two were having a little siesta, we've been digging around, and we found something."

She pulls up two photos on the projector. "Wendy 'Kootie Pie' Koopa, brother of Lemmy Koopa. Known for helping Bowser from time to time, but Lemmy's always had a knack for explosives. Other than working for Bowser, they didn't really have anything to their own name. But then Wendy disappeared."

"I saw it!" Luigi interjects. "She started climbing some kind of mountain, she was arguing with the other guy, talking about how someone ruined something."

"Wendy was on the verge of making a groundbreaking device that was going to be the answer to restoring environmental decay. Sound familiar?" She pulls up another photo. "Star Hill."

"That's the mountain she vanished on." Luigi confirms. "She was so upset."

"If someone destroyed her research and ambushed her on this mountain, maybe Lemmy was tracking them down and forcing them out of hiding."

"Mm, yes." Snoozemore agrees. "But what about the other squadrons?"

"Put me back in." Luigi says immediately. "I'll find them."

"Once again, putting the cart before the horse." Mario rolls his eyes. "Nightmare chunks are called that because they trap the subconscious inside their trauma. But when a mind has a strong will, it can possess the ability to wake itself up. The downside being the nightmare chunk takes all the mind's trauma with it, leaving an irreversible blank slate. So."

"We can't dreamwalk through his dreams anymore." Pauline clarifies.

"Ugh." Luigi sighs in exasperation, putting both hands behind his neck and closing his eyes.

Then he remembers.

"Stars. A fountain." He says suddenly. "I saw those two flash before my eyes right before I woke up. It was important to Lemmy."

"Did you feel anything?" Mario asks.

"Just that it was like a beacon." Luigi replies. "Wherever that is, it's important."

"Mm, no." Snoozemore says. "I've had teams in multiple kingdoms working diligently looking for fountains with stars on them. Which is most of them."

"Then they missed something." Luigi scoffs.

" We don't even know how many kingdoms there are in this world!" Mario snaps. "You think you do?"

"Hell yes." Luigi says confidently.

"Ooh, can I come too?" Pauline pipes up.

"Mm, no." Snoozemore shuts that idea down. "Our job is to wake them up, not chase after them."

"And we don't even know of anything we saw in there is real!" Mario points out. "Who knows how long Lemmy was trapped in there? For all we know this is all a coincidence and these are just fantasies he invented to cope with his sister's disappearance!"

"Oh it was real." Luigi won't let anyone say otherwise. "I saw everything."

But once again, no one takes his side, so he rolls his eyes,

"Fine. I don't need you."

Then stands up, "I'll find it myself."

Pauline tries to stop him, "Luigi, wai--", but Mario puts out a hand to stop her.

"No, let him go." Mario shakes his head.

"Don't be an idiot." Pauline snaps as she grabs his arms and drags him to follow Luigi out of the room.

"Luigi, wait!" she calls right as he makes it to the pipe.

When he doesn't jump in, she goes on, "I don't have to tell you how bad it would be if people found out what we're doing here, do I? That's why we only wake them up. If anything is discovered to be connected to us, there's nothing stopping it from falling into the wrong hands. You wouldn't want that on your conscience, would you?"

Luigi steals a glance at Mario, who's still trying to get out of Pauline's grip, then says, "It won't be." And jumps in the pipe anyway.

"Now to have a very long talk about implementing the psychological test." Mario says, trying to pull away once again, to no avail.

"Oh no you don't." Pauline snaps, grabbing his arm tighter. "Go after him, and don't let him out of your sight."

Mario wants to argue, but at Pauline's serious look, just nods and jumps in the pipe as well.

"Luigi!"

The call behind him makes Luigi groan, but he just turns around with his arms crossed, still not backing down.

"You know we have to find that fountain."

"Did you not hear anything Snoozemore said?" Mario says. "He already has teams searching multiple worlds!"

"And they're all missing it, with only the fountain and the stars as a clue. So I'm taking matters into my own hands."

When Mario still looks at him skeptically, Luigi drops all pretenses and says,

"Mario, please. You said all I had to do was trust you, and I did. So why can't you extend me the same courtesy?" then just to really sell the point, "You said this could escalate to an act of terror, did you not?"

He's got him there. After a moment, Mario sighs and days.

"Fine. You win. Where do we start?"