Mario & Luigi: Partners in N Sanity

Chapter 11

The heroes were rather pleased with the way things were going. Coco had her laptop up and running, talking with Elvin. Elvin had been worried, since he was on the line with Luigi earlier. Mario decided to look for his baby brother, headed out with Baby Mario. The two of them looked around, seeing that Luigi was on the beach, holding Baby Luigi. Mario sat down next to Luigi, letting his baby self go to his baby brother. Mario turned to Luigi, whom seemed so distant.

He asked, "Luigi, what's wrong?"

Luigi perked up when he noticed Mario and answered, "Mario, I'm a big failure."

Mario started to ask, "What are you talking about Weegie...?"

Luigi interrupted, "I let them brainwash me and now Mr. L lives inside of my head... Even when I want to be alone, he is always there!"

Mario sighed and stated, "I know this whole thing has been hard for you but Nastasia did apologize for brainwashing you, remember?"

Luigi replied, "It's not that, Malleo. I do forgive Nastasia but if I hadn't been so stupid, I could've gotten out of there."

Mario responded, "Luigi, what happened at the castle happened. You can't deny that and you shouldn't."

Luigi was the one to sigh now and told Mario, "That might be true but I did almost kill everyone with my bare hands." Luigi saw Mario was about to protest but Luigi quickly cut him off, "And don't say that hypnosis can't make you do things you don't normally do. That's not true and you know it." He turned to the babies, seeing that they were splashing around on the waves. They laughed, making Luigi smile a little bit. He whispered, "At least he's still pure..."

Mario hugged Luigi tightly, surprising the man in green. Luigi returned the hug, bringing Mario close.

Mario commented, "I might not know what you are going through, Weegie. But let me just say this: you are good. It might have been me that defeated you, er, Mr. L but I did that to bring my brother back. And I am proud of you, Luigi."

Luigi's eyes went wide as he repeated, "You're proud of me?"

Mario nodded as he pulled away from the hug and stated, "Yes, I'm always proud of you." He paused and slightly teased, "Guess that means I'm always proud of Mr. L too."

Luigi had to chuckle but those words rang in the ears of Mr. L. While it was teasing, and the bandit knew that, he could also hear the seriousness in Mario's tone. Luigi looked at the babies, seeing that they were all wet.

He replied, "I think we have a duty to do."

Mario nodded in agreement as they got up the babies, headed back to Crash's house.

...

Back at Crash's house, Coco was watching over Nina as she was chatting with Elvin. He had given the N. Sanity Team the location of multiple time holes, including the one that had the Cobalt Star shard's energy coming from it. Coco was glad that Elvin was able to find them. Now all the others had to do was go back. But that's when something caught her attention. N. Gin had walked up to the house, surprising not only herself but Cortex and Crash as well. Cortex ran over to N. Gin as Mario, Luigi, and the babies returned to the house. Violet walked over to the boys, hugging Luigi. Luigi returned the hug, Mario turning to Aku-AKu.

He asked the magical mask, "Who is that?"

Aku-Aku explained, "That is Dr. Nicholas Gin, one of Cortex's cronies."

Luigi perked up at that and questioned, "Cronies? Cortex is evil?"

Crash interjected, "Was evil if he turned his back on Uka-Uka to save my sister and Aku-Aku."

Violet stated, "That must've took guts."

Coco replied, "Yeah, no kidding."

Cortex reached N. Gin and asked, "Nicholas, what are you doing here?"

N. Gin bowed respectfully and answered, "Forgive me, my Master. But I too have escaped the wrath of Uka-Uka. I took Tiny with me but he is lagging behind..."

Cortex stated, "You'll both be safe here with Coco and Nina. We've found our next destination."

N. Gin perked up at this as he questioned, "Wait, you are leaving?"

Cortex answered, "This is my problem. I'm going to help my friends take down Uka-Uka, no matter what." He turned to Crash and asked, "You ready?"

Crash answered, "I'm always ready."

Aku-Aku stated, "Then let us go back to the past."

Violet waved to Coco and gushed, "See you soon, Coco!"

Coco waved as she told them, "Get back safe!"

With that, Aku-Aku teleported them back in time.

...

As our heroes got to Yoshi's Island in the past, Crash had fully explained everything that he and Cortex had been through.

Violet commented, "That is a lot."

Mario nodded in agreement as he stated, "Agreed on that."

Crash asked, "Have you guys been busy with bad guys too?"

Luigi shook in fear and answered, "Always..."

Cortex chuckled as he replied, "Probably nothing like me."

Aku-Aku teased, "Big ego much?"

Cortex teasingly stuck out his tongue as the six of them started to look around. That's when they saw large footprints and a large egg that looked Shroob-ified. They entered a house, getting their picture taken. That's when they saw a girl Koopa.

She stated, "Aw, whatta lemon! And this film ain't cheap either! I was primed for a scoop, and all I get are whiskers, icy, fur, and a coupla sap babies!"

Mario asked, "Who are you?"

She answered, "Who? Me? Kylie Koopa, ace reporter! The Koopa Kronicle's best! You know about that giant egg, yeah? Why, it just appeared!"

Luigi stated, "Just appeared? More like just hatched."

Kylie nodded in agreement and replied, "Got a good point on that, greenie. But this dame's got a hunch it's connected to the Shroobs."

Violet responded, "Well, it does look rather Shroob-ish."

Kylie told them, "I thought I'd get the straight dope from the locals, but..."

Cortex perked up and asked, "But what?"

Kylie answered, "Are ya blind? This place is a morgue! Where is everyone?"

Crash stated, "We were about to ask you the same question."

Kylie hissed, "Listen furry, this dame ain't got time for some weird stuff."

Aku-Aku stated, "This whole situation has been weird."

Everyone nodded in agreement, not knowing that it was about to get even weirder.

...

Wishmaker1028: Got that right! Anyways guys, please read and review! And always think outside of the box!