Luigi landed in the middle of a thick bush. Thankfully, it cushioned his fall. However, he also seemed quite...tangled up at the moment.
"Oof! Owie!" Luigi squeaked out.
After squirming and kicking out for a few minutes, the little boy was free from the bush. Luigi frantically flailed around his arms as he tried to get into a clearing, only to start stirring up some pollen from the many MANY plants. The little boy didn't even have a chance to look at all of the pretty and exotic flowers surrounding him as he stumbled into a clearing, desperately wiping at his face.
"Ha-ACHOO!" Luigi sneezed. "Uh-oh, there's too- ACHOO! T-too much stuff in the a- ah- ACHOO!"
Poor Luigi couldn't stop himself from sneezing. He had jostled so many plants that his whole system had to be flooded with pollen by now. His nose was running and his eyes were watering, and he didn't really have anything to remedy it. Plus, this garden had probably thousands upon THOUSANDS of plants, so there was no chance he could escape the pollen without somehow finding and scaling the wall again.
"Ohh- ACHOO! -I'm gonna- ACHOO! -g-get found out before I- ACHOO! -find the ball!" Luigi exclaimed in a sneezing fit. "ACHOO!"
Carefully and cautiously, Luigi got to his feet. He figured that there was no use standing still and waiting to get caught by the scary blind guy who lived there, so he got moving, despite his now blurred vision along with loud sneezing that scared off almost anything within a several-yard distance...
- - - - - - - - - - Meanwhile...
Mario along with the other three kids stood around, all of them staring up at the wall Luigi had disappeared behind. One of the others had suggested ditching Luigi while they could, but Mario quickly silenced that notion with a punch to the stomach. The poor older brother felt awful knowing that he had gotten his brother into this mess.
In all honesty, this was probably the first time Mario felt a bit of protectiveness for his little sibling...though it was a little late for that now.
"Do you think he's still alive?" the redhead girl questioned no one in particular.
"I bet he broke his ankle or somethin' falling down," the green boy muttered.
Mario grit his teeth and shot the boy a glare, already balling up his fists.
"You better shut up before I break YOUR ankle or somethin'!" Mario spat.
Before Mario had a chance to march over and beat the crap out of the other little boy, the redhead shushed them.
"You hear that?" she asked.
All four of them paused for a moment, going silent. The little green boy took the chance to quickly shuffle away from Mario as his focus was turned toward the garden wall. Then, after a few moments, they heard it...
"ACHOO!"
Mario let out a long sigh of relief, recognizing his twin's voice.
"Oh thank gosh... He's okay," Mario said with a chuckle.
"For now," the little orange boy stated.
The older twin wasted no time turning and running at the orange boy, making him shriek and bolt as Mario charged at him with his fists ready. While Mario chased him around, the redhead and green kid kept their eyes on the garden as they started to wonder if Luigi actually COULD make it out in one piece...
- - - - - - - - - - Meanwhile...
Luigi kept trudging along as best as he could while sneezing every few moments. His eyes wouldn't stop watering. The second he thought he could make out where he was going, he'd sneeze and his eyesight would blur again. Poor Luigi hadn't made it very far into the garden... He didn't want to accidentally squish any of the pretty flowers by stepping on them. The thought of the nice plants that took probably forever to grow getting damaged made Luigi upset.
"If I just- ACHOO! -wait it- ACHOO! -out, I can- ACHOO! -find the ball and- ACHOO! -leave!" Luigi told himself.
As he wiped at his eyes with the back of his arm, he ended up tripping and falling over with a yelp. It didn't hurt as much as it did falling into the bush, but he could tell that he probably hurt a plant or two.
"Ohhh- ACHOO! -man!" Luigi exclaimed.
He sat there on the grass as he sniffled, now from pollen and being sad. Luigi felt bad knowing that he had most likely squished a flower or two... Thankfully, Luigi couldn't see through his blurred vision that he, indeed, had squished about six small blue flowers when he tripped.
The sounds of Luigi crying and sneezing had definitely been attracting attention, and not just from the four others outside of the garden. Luigi had gotten the attention of someone from INSIDE the garden.
While Luigi sniffled and sneezed, what almost looked like a small creature made out of shadows slowly began to approach the little boy. The thing had heard Luigi as soon as he fell into the garden, though keeping a bit of distance. That was, keeping its distance until realizing that Luigi was a bit disoriented.
Despite the thing appearing to be what looked almost like a demon, it was just a curious kid. Well...actually literally a curious kid. The monster-looking thing was called Dimentio, he was only six years old, and he was very eager when it came to things and people from outside of the garden. After all, he's never been there before!
Luigi remained sitting on the ground as Dimentio approached, the latter keeping silent as he looked the little human boy over, his curiosity growing and growing...
"ACHOO!" Luigi suddenly sneezed.
Dimentio screamed in response to the unanticipated noise, triggering Luigi to start screaming as well. Both little boys stayed in the same place, screaming only for Luigi to sometimes interrupt with a sneeze, with no discernable ending in sight.
It took a few minutes, but the two little boys eventually ran out of breath, and the garden went quiet once again. Now knowing that he wasn't alone, Luigi quickly pulled his legs up in a defensive ball, knowing that he couldn't do much because of the pollen triggering his dumb allergies.
"I'm sorry- ACHOO! -I didn't mean to- ACHOO! -break the- ACHOO! -pretty flowers!!!" Luigi cried, thinking that he was in trouble.
The little boy burst out crying as Dimentio kind of just stared at him with wide eyes, unsure how to really comfort him. Luigi assumed that he had been caught by the owner of the garden, not some kid, and was ready to receive some kind of punishment.
"Hey, it's okay! You didn't breakded the flowers, they're gonna be fine!" Dimentio tried to reassure, though his grammar was a tad broken from lack of conversing with people.
Luigi sniffled, his fear turning into confusion as soon as he registered the new voice to be a fellow child's voice. He eventually stopped crying, now just sniffling and rubbing his eyes from the pollen as he desperately tried to see who it was that found him. It couldn't possibly be one of Mario's friends, he was certain of that...
"Who- ACHOO! -are you? Did you- ACHOO! -sneak into the garden too?" Luigi asked between sneezes. "I don't-"
Dimentio gasped and smacked a hand to Luigi's nose, keeping the little boy's mouth open.
"WOAH, you look even weirderer on the inside!" Dimentio exclaimed, clearly befuddled by the other boy's anatomy.
Luigi sneezed again, this time onto Dimentio's hand. Both of them remained still for a moment, frozen in awkwardness.
"Ewwwww..." Dimentio muttered, removing his hand.
Dimentio took his hand away and awkwardly wiped it onto the grass. Meanwhile, Luigi continued to sniffle and sneeze.
"I just- ACHOO! Do you- ACHOO! -know where- ACHOO!" Luigi quickly wiped at his face, annoyed by the allergies. "D-do you know how I can stop sneezing from the pollen!?"
The little boy then proceeded to sneeze rapidly as the monster-looking child thought it over. Poor Luigi was left in his prison of pollen on the ground until Dimentio finally thought something up.
"There's a pond where you can washded your face with water!" Dimentio suggested, improper grammar and all.
"Yes- ACHOO! -please!" Luigi practically begged.
"Okie!!! This way! I'll take you!" Dimentio excitedly exclaimed.
Before Luigi could even protest or question anything else, Dimentio had already grabbed him by the wrist and was dragging him through the dirt toward the pond in the center of the garden. Dimentio was so excited to finally have a chance to hang out with a person! However, he didn't really know how he was supposed to act around other people, let alone what to say...so there was that issue.
"Hey, does this make us frens now?! Are we frens?" Dimentio asked, still literally dragging Luigi along.
"Huh- ACHOO! Do you mean 'friends'? Well, I don't- ACHOO! -know why- ACHOO! -not..?" Luigi tentatively replied.
"YAAAY FREN!" Dimentio squealed.
Luigi could only groan in response by now, his nose clogged, his eyes watering non-stop, and his behind hurting from being dragged. He didn't say anything, but Luigi admitted that this other kid was REALLY strong to be able to pull him along.
"Sooo, fren, since we's gonna take a little bit to get to the pond, why're you in the garden?" Dimentio asked with a smile filled with sharp-looking teeth. "Where did you come from? Do you live nearby the garden?"
The little boy being dragged slowly processed all of the quickly asked questions. Despite dragging Luigi around, Dimentio didn't seem the slightest bit winded.
"Uhhhhhhhhhhh..." Luigi trailed off, not knowing where to start.
- - - - - - - - - - Meanwhile...
Mario was pacing back and forth outside of the garden wall where Luigi had hopped inside. The only thing that was keeping him from scaling the wall himself was the other kids reassuring him that as long as Luigi was sneezing, it meant he was fine. However, that didn't help ease his worrying much...
Mario was still quite mad about his "friends" making his little brother go into a spooky and dangerous garden, and he made it show with the way he crossed his arms with a harrumph. Every time one of the others tried speaking to him, Mario shot them a glare, and they were all starting to get annoyed with the silent treatment.
"Come ON, Mario. You can still hear him sneezing up a storm, he's FINE," the orange kid stated.
Mario pretended not to listen, closing his eyes. The orange and green boys both groaned in response to being ignored.
"Way to be a baby about it!" The green kid snapped.
This got Mario's attention.
"Baby?! You guys are the babies!" Mario retorted.
"Nuh-uh!" The orange boy replied.
"YUH-HUH!" Mario shouted back.
The three boys went back and forth like this for a while before they started to get physical and wrestle. As Mario started to chase around the other two, the redhead girl noticed that someone else was approaching the cabin, and it definitely wasn't a kid.
"Uhh boys?" The girl tried calling out.
The three didn't pay attention as Mario tackled the orange kid to the ground, making the kid scream as the green boy struggled to pry Mario off.
"Take it back!!! TAKE IT BACK!!!" Mario screeched at them.
"NUH-UH- Ow!!!" The orange boy yelped.
On the forest trail, heavy boots made the dirt crunch as the new arrival neared, his purple cloak flying a little in the slight breeze. He hummed a little as he went, a small smile on his face as he returned to his home with a bag in one hand.
"BOYS! Someone's coming!!!" The redhead girl harshly whispered.
All three boys immediately stopped their roughhousing and snapped to attention. Sure enough, all three of them watched as a man in a purple cloak with purple hair breached the forest area. The boys and girl scattered, hiding in the nearby trees and bushes while trying to stay quiet. After all, they knew the rumors, and they did NOT want to get caught by a scary blind guy!
Well, Adrian, the "scary blind guy" in question, was actually on his way home from visiting his daughter. He had done a little shopping in town on the way back, hence the bag. While he couldn't see the children who had just been hovering around his garden wall, he had heard the sudden rustle of the bushes.
"Hm? Seems like some small animals might've been visiting the garden," Adrian said aloud to no one in particular with a chuckle.
While some animals were pests, he loved it whenever he came home and heard his son excitedly exclaim that he made a new "fren" in the garden. The little boy's broken grammar always gave him a good laugh and a smile. Though he was slightly thankful that it was just animals that got into the garden.
However, off in the trees and bushes, Mario and the other kids watched in horror as Adrian walked up to the cabin's front porch and went inside. They knew that it was only a matter of time before Luigi was caught, especially with all of the sneezing! This made Mario panic... He didn't want to lose his only brother! What was he thinking!?
"I think the baby is as good as Game-Overed," the green kid stated as they all emerged from their hiding spots.
The orange boy nodded frantically with wide eyes, looking shaken. Mario was in the middle of panicking, trying to figure out what he could do to save Luigi.
"We need to get outta here before the blind guy finds us too!" The redhead exclaimed.
"Y-yeah! Mario's brother is probably gonna snitch on us!" The orange kid added.
"Wait! We can't just- just LEAVE him in there!!! He could get hurt!" Mario shouted.
Their arguing was broken up by the sound of Luigi's shrill cry coming from the garden. Mario went wide-eyed and froze like a deer in headlights at the sound of his brother's scream. Meanwhile, the other three kids took it as the signal to run, effectively ditching Mario.
"I'M-A COMING, LUIGI!!!" Mario yelled.
Wasting no more time, Mario sprinted out from his hiding spot and clung to the wall, quickly scaling it in fear that his brother was already in trouble. He would deal with his traitor "friends" later. For now, he needed to save his brother from whatever horrors he might be going through right now!
- - - - - - - - - - Meanwhile...
Luigi squealed as Dimentio splashed cold water from the pond onto his face, the sudden temperature change from hot to frigid cold stunning him. The little boys then started giggling as Luigi wiped at his face.
"Heyyy, I wasn't ready!" Luigi exclaimed with a laugh.
Dimentio continued to chuckle as he sat himself down next to Luigi by the pond. The two of them had trekked through the garden together for about ten minutes or so, and that was all the time they really needed to be "bestest frens", as Dimentio called it.
Luigi didn't have any friends, and Dimentio didn't have any friends, so they concluded that they would now be friends to fix that. However, it was still a tad awkward because Luigi hadn't even seen what he looked like yet...
"Didja know that there's fishes in the pond too?" Dimentio asked Luigi with a smile.
He crawled over to peer into the water as Luigi coughed and shook his head, his wet hair sticking to his face.
"I named the fishes," Dimentio stated proudly as he began to list them. "Gummy, George, Gary, Gene, and you'll never guess the goldfish's name!"
Luigi laughed and rolled his eyes, or at least rolled them as much as he could with his eyes closed.
"Lemme guess, Goldie?" Luigi asked.
"What? No no no, it's Bubble," Dimentio stated. "Its name is Bubble because it's chubby like a bubble, hehe."
"Oh," Luigi replied.
As Luigi splashed some more water on his face to wash off the remaining pollen, the two boys could hear the sound of a wooden door creaking open a good ways away.
"Dimentio? Dimentio, are you out in the garden?"
Dimentio perked up with a smile and a happy gasp at the sound of the new arrival.
"Daddy!!!" Dimentio cheered.
"Daddy?" Luigi wondered out loud.
Luigi yelped in surprise as Dimentio suddenly squeezed him into a hug, making him gag a little.
"Yaaay! I can show daddy that I made a new fren!!!" Dimentio exclaimed.
Dimentio continued hugging Luigi as if he were a plush toy, both of the little boys giggling now. Luigi laughed and pushed at Dimentio.
"Hey, I'm all sopping wet! Let me dry off at least! Get off!" Luigi jokingly replied.
Meanwhile, Mario had effectively breached the garden wall, and he was following the sound of Luigi's squealing and yelling. The poor boy was in full brother-panic mode, desperately searching for any signs of life... well, besides the plant life.
Mario emerged from the bushes and thick plants, now at the center of the garden where the pond sat, surrounded by many pretty and colorful flowers of all shapes and varieties. Dimentio and Luigi were laughing and play-shoving each other now, the latter giggling until landing on his behind with an "oof".
"Hey, let me get a chance to use my eyes! Hold on! Hold on!" Luigi quickly said.
"Okay! Okay!" Dimentio replied, mimicking Luigi's tone while wearing a smile on his face.
The boy finally managed to shove his wet brown hair back and rub his eyes free from the pollen, his vision finally clearing up. He continued to laugh to himself as his eyes became less blurry, his laughter fully trailed off by the time his eyesight cleared. Now, Luigi was able to get a good clear look at the "little boy" he had made friends with.
Dimentio smiled at Luigi, but seeing the other little boy's expression change from a smile to shock with wide eyes unnerved him a little. Luigi had seen plenty of "weird-looking" folks in the village, but he had never seen anyone or anything that looked like Dimentio before... Was this really the kid he had been talking to for the past several minutes? That couldn't be right, Dimentio didn't look anything like a normal kid, let alone look like any sort of person.
"Ummmm..." Dimentio trailed off, awkwardly tapping his pointy fingers together as Luigi stared. "Luigi, you okie dokie?"
Dimentio moved closer to Luigi and Luigi shuffled a little away before he even realized he moved. That little movement was enough for Mario to see and conclude that his little brother was being threatened as he rapidly approached them.
"LUIGI!!!" Mario yelled, not caring if Adrian heard him now.
The little boys heard Mario coming, but neither of them were ready when Mario suddenly lunged forward and tackled Dimentio head-on. Luigi squeaked in shock but was easily drowned out by Dimentio's scream of surprise. Mario had mistaken Dimentio as a monster attacking his little brother, and now he trying to defend Luigi as if his life was in danger if he didn't.
Adrian heard the commotion and quickened his pace toward the noise, some frantic alarm going off in his mind telling him that things were horribly wrong. He heard Dimentio let out a scream and his heart sank quickly.
"Dimentio!?" Adrian called out, now panicked. "Dimentio, say something!!!"
The only response he heard was loud crying, and that was all it took for him to take off running towards the pond where the boys were.
Mario was holding his arms over Luigi protectively as he glared down at Dimentio, who was on the ground crying after being hit. The older brother had not only tackled him away, but also managed to land a few blows before Dimentio quickly backed away and curled up in hopes of protecting himself.
"Don't hurt my brother, monster!!!" Mario shouted, giving Luigi a defensive hug.
"Mario, no-!" Luigi tried protesting, though his cries couldn't be heard in the chaotic mix.
Adrian burst onto the scene, his eyes wide and filled with panic, and the rest of his body language just came off as downright scary to Mario and Luigi. Both Mario brothers screamed in fear, the "scary blind guy" having finally caught them.
"AAAAAAAHHH! THE BLIND GARDENER!!!" Luigi screamed.
"HE'S GONNA GAME OVER US!" Mario exclaimed.
Adrian didn't have any time at all to figure out what was going on. All he knew was that his son was screaming and crying and that he could hear two more little boys who were most definitely NOT supposed to be in the garden! Not seeing any other option, before Mario and Luigi could try and run away, Adrian snapped his fingers, and two plants quickly sprouted out of the ground and grabbed ahold of the Mario brothers by their wrists.
"Don't try and run, I'm not letting you leave until I figure out what happened here!" Adrian exclaimed. "Now stay still so I can find you!"
Mario and Luigi tried struggling despite the command to stay put, but the plants were too tough to get shrugged off. Adrian fumbled around until he finally grabbed ahold of both little intruders by their collars as if they were stray animals. Dimentio continued lying on the ground curled up, crying and crying as he covered his head, scared out of his mind. Adrian was in a panic: He didn't know what to do with these two little kids who had gotten into the garden, but he knew that they had to have done something bad to cause this much chaos in the place!
"Dimentio, please stay put for a moment, daddy has to get these two children out of the garden, but I will be right back!" Adrian frantically tried reassuring his son.
Dimentio didn't seem able to acknowledge anything right now as he remained in his protected position on the floor while crying. Adrian let out a shaky breath and quickly whisked the two Mario brothers away with him as he went back to the cabin. Mario thrashed and kicked in the air as Adrian carried them through the house while Luigi stayed still, shivering as if he was cold when in reality he was just scared of what would happen to them.
"Let us go! LET US GO!" Mario exclaimed, still trying to put up a fight.
Adrian shook his head, a deep frown on his face.
"I don't know who you two are or why you decided to go into my garden, but I want you both to go home and don't you DARE come back unless it's to give a really good apology!" Adrian scolded.
They reached the front door and Adrian nudged it open, careful not to break the wood.
"Do your worst!" Mario spat.
"P-please don't!" Luigi corrected.
Adrian huffed and tossed both of the boys out the door. Mario and Luigi screamed as they flew off the porch, only to land in a soft bed of plants and leaves that broke most of their fall. The Mario brothers lay on the ground stunned, surprised that they seemed to have been let off the hook so easily.
"Now both of you think about what you've done! If I catch you again, I'll- I'll-! Erm..." Adrian paused, struggling to come up with a decent punishment that could be given to children. "I..... I-I'll tell your parents!"
With that, Adrian slammed the door on them and locked them out. The Mario brothers sat on the ground for a moment, both of them processing that they were somehow still alive after getting caught. Mario gave himself a pat-down, concluding with a sigh of relief that he was unscathed before turning to face his brother.
"Weegie, you okay?" Mario asked.
Luigi paused for a moment before sniffling and starting to cry again. Mario shuffled over and hugged his little brother, trying to reassure him that he was okay.
"Let's go back to the house," Mario told him. "Don't worry about losing the ball, those meanie jerks don't need it anyway."
- - - - - - - - - - Meanwhile...
Adrian quickly made his way back through the house and into the garden. He could still hear Dimentio quietly sobbing, so he just followed the sound back toward the pond.
"I swear, my hair is going to turn grey in no time at this rate..." Adrian muttered to himself as he ran a hand through his hair. Then again, he might pull it all out from stress first.
Making his way through the garden and being careful not to damage any of the flowers, Adrian finally returned to the center of the garden. Dimentio had stopped sobbing now, but he was silently crying as he sat curled up by the pond.
"Dimentio, are you still here?" Adrian asked, tugging on his cloak's collar.
"N-no..." Dimentio squeaked out.
Adrian let out a breath, shaking his head as he sat down beside Dimentio. He gently scooped up his kid into his lap, being careful not to hurt him.
"Where are you hurt?" Adrian calmly asked, holding out his palm.
Dimentio sniffled and took his dad's hand, placing it against his face. Adrian gently ran his thumb over where Dimentio placed his hand, frowning to himself when he felt a bruise. It seemed that he had gotten a black eye from the struggle.
"Your eye?" Adrian asked.
Adrian continued to carefully feel around that side of Dimentio's face. With another sniffle, Dimentio took his dad's hand and brought it to his chin. Adrian felt nothing but scaly-textured skin until he felt something a bit sticky and liquidy on his son's face, making him shudder.
He was bleeding a little.
"Dimentio-" Adrian started.
"Why am I not n-normal..? Is there something wrong with me..?" Dimentio asked.
This question caught Adrian off-guard.
"Dimentio, why would you think something like that?" Adrian replied.
Dimentio sniffled, nestling deeper into Adrian's arms.
"I can't go outside, other kids are scared to come inside, a-and no one likes looking at me..." Dimentio trailed off. "I thought I could make a fren..."
Adrian remained quiet for a moment, unsure how to respond. He knew that Dimentio had some understanding that he was a bit different than the "norm", considering how different he looked compared to his father, but he knew that he would never be prepared to answer that question. To him, Dimentio was just his son, and there was nothing the matter with him, but everyone else was determined to say differently...
"There is nothing the matter with you. You're my son and just a little boy, my little diamond," Adrian stated. "Everyone else just... has trouble understanding that."
Dimentio remained silent as Adrian gently hugged him, wrapping him up in his cloak.
"I'll make sure to fix the garden's walls, don't you worry. This won't happen to you again," Adrian reassured. "I won't let them hurt you."
He rocked Dimentio back and forth a little as the little boy started to cry again, clinging to his dad. Adrian let out a breath and ran a hand over his cloak, slowly getting an idea. He had plenty of materials he could use...
"I won't let them hurt you," Adrian quietly repeated.