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

8

"—ake up!"

The light slapping of his face is ultimately what wakes him up, and as he opens his eyes, he sees Mario leaned over him, looking worried.

"You okay?"

"Mhm." Luigi pushes him away, and they both march over to where the Sniffit is.

"Tell me you weren't stupid enough to hold your meeting in the same place twice." Mario says.

"There was someone with you when Lemmy Koopa confronted you about his sister." Luigi barrels right in. "Where are they?"

"Word to the wise: don't steal from people trying to do good." Mario says. "Or pyromaniacs."

"That makessss no sense." The Sniffit says.

"Wendy's Entropy Erosion device." Luigi snaps. "You ambushed her and stole it, and made her disappear to keep her quiet."

"We had nothing to do with that." The Sniffit replies.

"The crater behind us says otherwise." Mario says.

"The other creature with you. What was it, and who was it?" Luigi won't let them get sidetracked.

After a moment, the Sniffit says, "A Sssssshy Guy. None of them have namessssss."

"Where is he?" Mario pushes.

"Ssssstar Hill. That'sssssss another one of our meeting spotsssss."

But right as Mario and Luigi start to leave, the Sniffit demands,

"Who are you?"

It's ridiculous, but Luigi can't help but reply, "Wendy's avengers.", before running to catch up with Mario.

"So the Shy Guys get wind of Wendy's device and sell her out to the Shadow Sniffits, who then ambush her and steal it for their own gain." Mario summarizes as they walk towards Star Hill.

"The Sniffits keep pretending to make the world a better place profiting off of other people's inventions, the Shy Guys get paid handsomely for tracking it down, and Wendy gets nothing." Luigi continues.

"And Lemmy gets to flex his pyrotechnics muscles." Mario finishes, then looks around. "We can't let anyone climb this hill."

He goes over to the sign and pulls out a marker and a piece of paper, then tacks it on over the welcome sign.

Closed.

"Heh. Good boy stooge defacing property?" Luigi jokes. "Gotta say, I'm not hating this whole other side of you."

"I'll take that as a compliment." Mario says as they make a sun for the summit. "And if I were a Sniffit...", he starts walking along the path, "I'd keep the secret entrance right about..." he feels along the mountainside, pushing his fingers in, but right when he thinks he's got it, a hand grabs him.

"Wait."

Mario looks up, watching as Luigi closes his eyes to concentrate.

Hssssssssss.

Then he opens his eyes, "We're wasting time. They're not inside the mountain. They're on top of it." And makes a run up the path.

As they get closer, Luigi says, "We're close.", right as they both hear it.

Hsssssssss .

In seconds, they're running right for it, only to be stopped dead in their tracks when they see a horrifying sight:

Piles of Bob-Ombs, surrounding a group of red creatures in masks.

"Mamma mia..." Mario is agape.

Luigi attempts to approach, reaching out to try and pull one of the red creatures out, but is quite suddenly yanked away.

"NO!" Mario shouts. "The hissing is from an already lit Bob-Omb running loose among them. If we don't find it, it's gonna wake the others up and blast us all to kingdom come."

"That...is not good." Luigi admits, then says to the masked creatures, "We're gonna get you out of here."

"Did you not hear me?" Mario says, attempting to pull Luigi away. "I said there's a Bob-Omb running loose among a pile of sleeping ones, ready to send us all to the Underwhere."

Luigi only turns his head in exasperation and says, "Mario, shut the hell up and go home, okay?"

"Oh I don't think so." Mario grabs Luigi's arm tighter. "Not unless you're coming with me."

Luigi looks at the piles of Bob-Ombs again and says, "You're smarter than this. Can't you figure out how to get all of us out of here?"

"I'm a Dreamwalker's companion, not a demolition expert!" Mario reminds him, then suddenly remembers, "Wait, wasn't there a hissing noise in Lemmy's dreams?"

Luigi's eyes widen, "Yeah, there was!", then squeezes them shut tightly, putting his hands over them.

"Now what are you doing?" he hears Mario demand.

"Having Oneiric Disorientasia."

Hsssssssss.

"Paper and pen. Now." Luigi says suddenly, opening his eyes as he snatches them from Mario.

He starts scribbling, with Mario watching in confusion, before Luigi says,

"It's in there!" Luigi points, and wastes no time going over to a pile of Bob-Ombs, ignoring the, "Wait!" from Mario as he disappears behind it, and a second later, the hissing stops.

After a heartstopping moment, Luigi comes back over, holding up the Bob-Omb in triumph.

If Mario wasn't in shock, he'd be screaming at Luigi for his recklessness.

"The Bob-Omb was ordered to walk in a pattern. It spelled out 'Kootie Pie'." Luigi points.

But before he can say anything else, he feels his eye burn, and when he reaches to touch, his hand comes away wet.

"Hey Lu?" Mario's voice cuts through. "Let's get back to the lab, shall we?"

Luigi only nods once, then follows Mario back through the pipe.