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

65

"We went straight into Elara's lab." Luigi tells Mario in the dreamscape. "She's hunched over a Petri dish."

"How does she look?" they hear Spike ask.

"How does she look?" Mario repeats.

" Wait, why do we need to know how she looks? " Pauline asks in their earpieces.

"She's covered head to toe in biohazard gear." Luigi replies.

"That's why. "

"Sample check." Mario orders.

"Normal vitals. "

"Whatever you do, do not open that glass box." Mario begs.

"What?" Now Luigi looks at him. "What am I missing here?"

"Power Up Mushroom scientist in biohazard gear?" Mario starts. "Whatever's in that box, we want nothing to do with it. Must've flown under the radar."

"Do I need to wake up?" Luigi asks.

"Pauline?"

" We're good. "

"Okay, can't wake up yet." Mario decides. "The Dream Lab is constantly monitoring everything. We're safe. For now."

"Mm, no. This is too risky. All non-relevant personnel, leave the Dream Lab immediately. "

"Don't listen, Weeg." Mario stays focused on Luigi. "Focus."

Luigi nods, then focuses on Elara, who appears to be breathing heavily as she takes off her mask.

"She just took off her breathing mask." Luigi narrates for Mario.

"What?" Mario looks. "Why would she do that?", then, "And her gloves too?"

"And the suit." Luigi finishes, as they both stare in horror as she reaches for the Petri dish.

"She's about to expose herself to something." Mario informs the team, watching as she opens the dish.

"Look closer at the data on the dish. "

Both Mario and Luigi nod as they will themselves closer.

"See anything?" Mario asks Luigi, who leans in.

"Uh...Sample, 1/24, 15:45." Luigi reads.

"She's about to open another one." Mario says suddenly, right as they watch Elara do it. "What do you see, Lu?"

"PM-086x9?" Luigi reads.

"Spike? What do we got?" Mario asks in his earpiece.

" PM—poison mushrooms. The other number refers to its potency. 9 is the highest. " Spike tells them.

"Why is she poisoning herself? "

"I don't know, but she's putting on a capaciflector." Luigi tells them, watching as she hooks on the sensors and slips the breathing mask over her face.

"Testing her respiratory rate." Mario realizes, then, "And the results aren't what she was hoping for."

Just then, an alarm can be heard, but from what they can see, it's not happening in Elara's dreams.

"What is that?" Luigi looks around.

"Not good." Mario says, panicked. "You need to wake up, now."

Luigi nods and closes his eyes as he waits for the pinch.

"What just happened?" Luigi asks as he gets up from the bed.

"The sensors found something." Pauline explains.