Drak and Luigi Write: The Story of how Luigi Became a Dragon (Part 6)

A Gift for a Dragon

            The next few days were, in Luigi’s opinion, the worst yet. He outgrew even his most oversized clothing overnight, waking up to the sound of fabric tearing as his pajamas fell off his body. Within another two days, he was too big to fit through doorways without squeezing. After he accidentally ripped a piece of molding off his bedroom doorway, he also realized how rapidly his physical strength was growing, too. By the fourth day, he could no longer fit in his bed comfortably no matter how he tried to lie. Which was annoying because every day, all he really wanted to do was sleep. The floor wasn’t nearly as comfortable.

            Mario was at a loss for how to help. They spent time in companionable silence, but little was spoken. There was no need, it seemed, to fill the air with words they both already knew were in each other’s thoughts.

            On the fifth day, Luigi realized he was going to have to go outside or become trapped in the house as he continued to grow. And then, who knew what would happen? He already couldn’t stand up straight indoors anymore.

            “Are you sure about this?” Mario asked, staring up at his younger brother.

            “It’s the only thing I can think of.” Luigi said, resisting the urge to shrug his shoulders. Last time he did that, he put a hole through the ceiling into the attic.

            Luigi had wrapped the largest blanket in the house around his body, compressing his wings flat against his ribs. They ached from the unnatural position, but at least he knew they wouldn’t get caught on the door jamb when he made his way outside. He had also wrapped his hands and feet in towels to at least try to protect the floor from his claws. “I-I should… should’ve done this y-yesterday.” He said softly, casting one last look around their home. He wanted to believe someday this would be reversed and he could come back inside. Wanted to. For now, though, he had no idea when that would be or if it would truly be possible at all. “It’s going to-to be a tight f-fit.”

            “Can I help at all?” Mario asked, his expression frustrated.

            “Uh… don’t get squished?” Luigi craned his head around – his neck had begun to grow longer as his body grew larger – to look at his brother.

            “…Thanks.” Mario smiled ruefully. “Some big brother I am, huh?”

            Luigi returned the smile sadly. “You’re the best ever, Mario.” With that, he turned back to the task before him. He took a few deep, steadying breaths. He suspected that, to fit through the door without damaging it too much, he would have to let most if not all the air out of his lungs. It would be really bad if I passed out halfway through. He thought, managing to take some amusement from the thought despite himself.

            He was able to get his head and neck out without any trouble. With some bending and wriggling, his shoulders and arms passed through. Now it was getting trickier: He had to get his wings through the door without hurting them. He started by dropping to his hands and knees, hoping the angle would make him slightly skinnier.

            Moving slowly and carefully, with many glances over his shoulder to check that he wasn’t about to hurt either the doorway or himself, he managed to squeeze his wings through… and then immediately got stuck.

He couldn’t take a deep breath now. Instead, he steeled himself against his anxiety and started to breathe out. More, more, more. His chest started to ache as he emptied his lungs. He fought the urge to take a gasping breath.

Then, he discovered one small problem in his plan: wrapping his feet in towels had left him with almost no traction, and his legs nearly shot out from under him as he tried to squeeze the rest of his body through the doorway.

Slowly, carefully, and agonizingly for his lungs, he wriggled and squirmed the rest of the way through the door. As soon as he felt his feet touch the ground outside, he took a deep, gasping breath. He almost collapsed.

“Weegie, you alright?” Mario called from inside.

“Uh-huh.” He replied, still breathing heavily.

“Oh, good. Your tail is still in here though.”

Luigi made a face at himself. “Well, at least that’s easy.” Still, he didn’t trust his tail not to do something unexpected. It had grown rapidly the last few days and was now longer than he was tall. It also had a penchant for mischief the rest of him most certainly did not share. Mario had tripped over it twice when it decided to swish across the floor at the worst possible moment, and it had knocked several pieces of furniture over as well.

So, taking care to keep his movements nice and slow and easy, he crawled further out of the house on his hands and knees until his tail was completely clear of the house. Finally, he allowed himself to collapse, flopping down on his belly with his limbs sprawled out around him and his chin resting on the ground just beside Mario’s racing kart.

Mario walked up beside him and squatted down. “Well, you made it. Feeling okay?”

Luigi snorted. “Not really.”

“Maybe this will help.” Mario stood up and walked a short distance away. Luigi could hear something rustling but wasn’t interested in moving enough to turn his head to look.

A shadow fell over him and a second later something green and soft landed across his face. It smelled familiar. “Mario? Did you just dump my blanket on my face?”

Mario laughed. “Yep.”

Luigi lifted his head up, the blanket tumbling open and sliding partway down his long neck. He looked over at his brother, who was looking quite pleased with himself. He smiled. “Thanks.”

“There’s more. It just isn’t here yet.” Mario said, smirking.

“What are you up to?”

“You’ll see.”

. . .

            Luigi had to admit, after spending so long indoors, it felt good to breathe fresh air again. The sun felt nice on his fur, too.

            He was sitting just in front of their house, his tail coiled carefully around him so it couldn’t try to trip Mario again, and the blanket Mario had brought outside for him draped across his knees. He had unwound himself from the other blanket, and the towels, that he had used to facilitate his exit from the house. His wings felt much better now that they could stretch out.

            Mario sat beside him on the ground, legs stretched out in front of him. For the first time, Luigi fully realized just how much bigger he was now. He had always been taller than his brother, from the time they learned to walk onward. But now it was ridiculous. And he wasn’t even done growing yet!

            “So, uh, what’s up with this ‘surprise’, bro?” He asked, trying to distract himself from his thoughts.

            Mario looked up at him and smirked. “You can’t expect me to tell you in advance, Weegie. That’s not how surprises work after all.”

            “Okay, okay.” Luigi capitulated. “I just feel a little awkward just sitting out here though.” He glanced up and down the street, which was conspicuously empty. He had expected most of their toad neighbors to turn out once he set foot outside their house, finally overcome by curiosity. “And suspicious.” He added, turning back to his brother.

            “Suspicious?” Mario tried a little too hard to make his face innocent.

            Luigi gestured broadly. “Everything. Where is everyone, hm?”

            “Uuuuhhh…” Mario grinned sheepishly. “…You’ll see.”

            “You’re terrible.” Luigi resisted the urge to smack his brother on the shoulder, afraid if he did, Mario would go flying.

            “You’ll thank me later.” Mario winked.

            Luigi shrugged and contented himself to wait, since he really had no other choice.

            After a few minutes, he caught himself fidgeting with the blanket and stopped. He tried folding his hands in his lap. Soon he was fidgeting again anyway. He sighed.

            Mario looked up at him. “You okay?”

            “Yeah, I guess it’s just waiting.”

            “Aw, I’m sorry.” Mario reached out and put his hand on Luigi’s knee, the only part of him he could currently reach. “It won’t be too much longer, I’ll tell you that much.”

            Luigi smiled and carefully put his arm around his brother. Well, it was more like just his hand. Close enough.

            The wait didn’t seem too bad now, though Mario’s insistence on keeping whatever he had planned a complete secret made Luigi’s patience wear painfully thin.

            Before he was entirely sure what he had heard, Luigi felt his ears prick up. Somewhere up the street was the sound of voices. A lot of voices. Luigi looked back at Mario, feeling alarmed. “Mario, what did you do?”

            “Relax, bro, it’s not a… well… super big party or anything. I promise. But you know, everyone but Peach and I have been missing you.”

            Luigi groaned. Mario was right, of course. It was his own fault for insisting on hiding inside the house until he physically couldn’t. Most of the residents of the Mushroom Kingdom were used to both brothers constantly showing up in one place or another. Even during peace times, they usually spent their time (when not engaging in sporting events) happily working together to help out their fellow citizens and generally keep the kingdom nice. Though Luigi considered himself to be tagging along with Mario, it didn’t change the fact that he was always out and about… until recently, that is.

            Sure enough, a small crowd was approaching. And several people appeared to be carrying… Luigi couldn’t make out yet just what it was. Something large. He glanced back at Mario questioningly, but his brother just grinned back at him silently.

            Luigi watched the crowd approach, recognizing princess Peach at the head, and most of their neighbors close behind. The babbling of multiple conversations grew louder as they got closer.

            Realizing he was going to have to do something other than sit there, Luigi gathered up the blanket in his lap and, with nowhere else to stick it without getting it dirty, draped it over his neck. He then stood up and tried not to fidget.

            Normally, he didn’t mind crowds and parties. Normally, though, he wasn’t the center of attention and could always slip away if he felt overwhelmed. Or just hide behind Mario who, no matter how he insisted they were viewed equally as heroes by their neighbors, was without a doubt the more popular of the two.

            There would be no slipping away this time, even if he somehow didn’t remain the center of attention. And he doubted Mario would let him try to shift the attention away, either.

            Peach waved to them as she approached, the multicolored crowd of toads behind her fanning out as they gradually pulled up to a stop. The crowd was so large, most of them were still standing in the road, blocking it completely. “Hello Luigi! Hello Mario!” The princess called cheerfully.

            “Mario! Where do you want us to put this?” Luigi glanced from Peach, to whom he was waving and trying not to smile too awkwardly, to the group of toads who had separated themselves from the rest of the crowd and were each carrying a bulky cloth bag almost too big for them. Whatever this was, they weren’t going to let him figure it out prematurely.

            “Oh, this way, follow me.” Mario hopped to his feet and waved them over to him. He paused and looked over his shoulder at Luigi. “Be right back.” He then took the lead into their home’s back yard.

            Luigi craned his neck to watch them until the roof of the house blocked his view. I wonder how long it’ll be before I’m taller than the house. He mused.

            “Now now, Luigi, it’s impolite to spoil a surprise.” Peach chided with a gentle giggle.

            “Are you in on it too?” Luigi asked, turning back to her.

            “Of course! I think most of the kingdom is… at least tangentially involved at this point.”

            Luigi felt his face growing hot under his fur. “So… I’ll be the last one to know whatever it is you’ve cooked up?”

            Peach giggled; evidently, she didn’t need to see his face turn red to know he was blushing. “Well, maybe not the last one to find out… Professor Gadd and Toadsworth are still out in the hills with their research…”

            Luigi couldn’t help but chuckle. “Oh, good, so at least someone around here besides me doesn’t already know.”

            Peach smirked at him. “Consider it payback for keeping most of the kingdom in the dark about your…” She trailed off and looked thoughtful, evidently trying to decide how to phrase the rest of her sentence.

            “Dragonification!” One of the toads declared, to laughter and sounds of agreement from the crowd in general.

            Dragonification. Well, I guess it’s not wrong. Luigi smiled first at the princess and then at the toad who had helpfully coined the new term.

            “Yes, that works.” Peach agreed with a nod.

            Luigi shrugged. “I was having enough trouble finding clothes to wear inside, let alone…” He trailed off, knowing full well that the half-truth wouldn’t get past the princess.

            “Oh Luigi, I’m just teasing. But we have missed you, and you have missed plenty yourself over the past few days.” Peach said, her voice losing its joking tone.

            “I guess that’s true.” Luigi glanced around at the crowd milling about. Based on the myriad of glances his way, quickly turned away when they noticed him looking at them, every single toad in the kingdom was aching with curiosity. It suddenly occurred to him that at least someone was going to try petting him… and he was surprised to realize he didn’t mind the idea.

            “Okay! We’re set back here! Luigi, normally I’d make you wear a blindfold but I don’t want you to trip, so you can come back now!” Mario’s voice echoed from the back yard.

            “I guess we’re relocating then.” Peach grinned. She turned and waved to the milling crowd. “Party in the back yard! Guest of honor first!” She then turned back to Luigi.

            Luigi felt himself sweating as all eyes turned expectantly to him. Trying to look less nervous than he felt, he started to walk around the house to the back yard. He could hear the footfalls of the dozens of toads, not to mention Peach, following him.

            He stopped dead and Peach accidentally walked into his tail – though he didn’t register that until later – his mouth falling open when he saw what Mario’s surprise was.

            “Well? Do you like it?” Mario was standing to one side along with his helpers.

            “There’s no way you did all this in one sitting!” Luigi exclaimed once he found his voice.

            Erected in the back yard was quite literally a dragon-sized reproduction of Luigi’s bedroom from inside the house, complete with walls and roof. One wall was missing, allowing him to see inside.

            Mario and the toads beside him all laughed. “Wellllllll… true… We had all the hardware set up but I couldn’t risk you actually looking out a window and noticing too many details…” His brother admitted sheepishly.

            “You’ve been taking advantage of how much I’ve been sleeping.” Luigi accused, though his tone was anything but accusatory. His vision started to blur with unshed tears. He did not want to break down crying in front of the entire population of Toad Town but didn’t seem to have a choice in the matter as the first tears dripped free from his eyes to streak down his cheeks and snout. “…Thank you…” He managed to get out.

            “Uh, it-it closes up, too, so you can keep the weather out.” One of the toads said. He ran over to the new structure and pointed to a stout rope hanging from one corner. “Just pull on that and it’ll roll a door down.”

            The rest of the party was starting to politely filter past him. A few hands patted him here and there on his legs – since that was the only part of him most anyone could reach when he stood up – and a great number of complimentary comments started up. Most of them were directed at Mario, praising his creativity and how well the finished product turned out.

            Luigi did his best to wipe his tears away and swallow the unshed ones. He could get emotional later. “How long… how long have you all been working on this?”

            “Er…” Mario smiled sheepishly and rubbed his hands together.

            “We started planning it the day after we found out about your… aheh, Dragonification.” Peach smiled and patted Mario’s shoulder encouragingly. “Mario’s idea, of course.”

            “Dragonification?” Mario echoed.

            “It fits.” Luigi said with a shrug. “I can’t believe you managed to keep this a secret from me this whole time…”

            “It wasn’t all that easy, either.” Mario admitted. “Every time you’d get down, I wanted so badly to tell you about it just to cheer you back up.”

            “Well… you were right, bro. I’m glad you made me wait to find out.” Luigi smiled down at his brother.

            “I’ve only known you our whole lives, Luigi. I figured it would be best this way.” Mario chuckled. “C’mon, quit standing there and give it a look over!”

            Luigi needed no further encouragement. Stepping carefully to avoid hurting anyone in the crowd of toads (and periodically checking that his tail wasn’t getting up to any antics on its own), he approached the new structure.

            It was, if anything, still too big for him. Which was just as well. Everything was arranged to be a perfect replica of how he had his bedroom furnished in the house. The only thing missing was the stack of books that inevitably built up on his desk whenever he delved into a new fascination. Too bad I never read up on dragons… He thought with mild amusement.

            Even the bedclothes were identical to his old ones. Just to compare, he pulled his blanket from around his neck and laid it out atop the new, much larger one already spread across the mattress. This elicited laughter from the crowd.

            He turned back to the assembled toads, Mario, and Peach. “How did you even get some of this in place?” He asked, gesturing to the bedspread.

            “Why do you think we had a dozen people working on the finishing touches?” Mario laughed.

            “And why so many of us were involved in general?” A toad in the crowd added.

            “I guess you’d have to be.” Luigi chuckled, still impressed, and deeply touched, by the gesture. “Thank you… thank you all… so… so much…” He could feel the tears coming again, and this time he didn’t try to hold them back.

            This was evidently also anticipated as a box of tissues was helpfully offered a few seconds later.

            Luigi smiled in thanks to the toad holding the box as high up as his little frame allowed, and sat down on the floor of his new room (his new room!) to be a little closer.

            The tissues were really too small for him, but he made do the best he could.

            By the time he stopped crying, there was a pile of used tissues on one side of him, and a pile of empty tissue boxes on the other. Mario and Peach were standing on either side of him, hugging him as best they could, while many of the toads had organized themselves into a fire brigade of tissue boxes, all pulled from one of the large bags the toads had arrived with. If he wasn’t afraid of starting himself crying all over again, Luigi would have laughed.

            “Feeling better, bro?” Mario asked.

            Luigi smiled down at his brother. “Feeling the best I’ve felt in a long time, actually.”

            “Oh good!” Peach pumped her arm in the air.

. . .

            That night, once the “not-a-party” as Mario dubbed it, wound down and everyone returned to their respective homes, Luigi slept in his new bed. It was strange to be in a bed that was actually too big for him after spending several days with the opposite problem.

            When he woke, the bed was closer to the right size. I hope I don’t outgrow this, too. He thought worriedly.

            He stretched and got up, almost tripping over his tail. Someday, he would figure out how to make it do what he wanted. Someday.

            Sighing as his tail responded to his thoughts by swishing all on its own, he straightened up the bed as best he could without accidentally tearing something with his claws. He found himself holding his original blanket, which he had kept with him through the night, and smiling fondly. He spread it out atop his new blanket as he had done the day before.

            He then turned and almost walked into the wall before remembering how the door to this new room worked.

            Opening the door, he stepped out into the back yard. It then dawned on him that he wasn’t sure where to go from here. Mario was probably still asleep. If it’s as early as I think it is… Maybe it’s later than I thought. He mused, recalling just how much he had been sleeping since his body had begun its rapid growth.

            Walking around the side of the house, he peered through the kitchen window to see if Mario was up and eating his breakfast.

            Sure enough, there was Mario. He wasn’t eating yet; he was still cooking.

            Luigi thought about tapping on the window, then decided against it. He still wasn’t sure of his new strength and didn’t want to accidentally break the window.

            As it turned out, he didn’t need to do anything to get Mario’s attention. His brother chose that moment to turn around, and then just about hit the ceiling when he saw Luigi unexpectedly looming outside the window.

            Luigi winced as he could hear Mario’s startled shout even from outside. A few seconds later, the window opened.

            “H-hey bro…” Luigi smiled sheepishly.

            “Ah… uh, I guess I won’t be needing coffee today.” Mario said, his attempt to laugh coming out nervously.

            “Sorry.” Luigi’s shoulders slumped.

            “It’s not your fault.” Mario waved his hands dismissively. “I… kind of forgot you weren’t in the house now. And I thought you were still asleep. And… uh… smaller.”

            Luigi’s tail shifted as he internally cringed despite Mario’s reassurances. “Still, I should have thought about how it would look…” He smiled awkwardly. “You’re not used to turning around to a dragon peering in through the window yet.”

            Mario laughed, a genuine laugh this time. “I suppose that’s true. …Well, what would you like for breakfast then? And please don’t say raw meat.”

            Luigi cringed again at the memory of that very awkward craving. Thankfully, it had yet to come back. “No, definitely not that.” He shook his head. “I’m not really sure. Just woke up. I guess whatever you’re already making?”

            “Do dragons like oatmeal?”

            “How should I know?”

            They both laughed. “Alright,” Mario said, “But if you don’t like it, don’t try pawning it off on me. I’ll be full.”

            “I’m sure I’ll figure something out.”

            “Oh! Hang on just a second.” Mario suddenly dashed out of the kitchen.

            Luigi sat back, almost on his tail, and waited, wondering what all the crashing and shuffling coming from inside could possibly mean.

            Then his ears pricked up as he heard the sound of the front door opening. Leaning to one side he peered around the side of the house. “Mario?”

            Mario came huffing over, something big, awkward, and strangely flat in his hands. It almost appeared to be trying to get away from him. Almost.

            “What in the world are you doing?” Luigi asked, eyeing the thing and wondering if he should offer to take it away from his brother. Maybe not, I might break it.

            “It’s a folding table.” Mario puffed. He must have had quite a time getting it out from wherever he had stashed it. “I got it so we can still have breakfast together.”

            Luigi felt his eyes watering. “Did you think of everything?”

            “Well, no, because if I had, you wouldn’t still be a dragon.” Mario replied, setting the folded table down and beginning to unfold the legs.

            If Luigi had been thinking more clearly, he wouldn’t have done what he shortly found himself doing for fear of hurting his brother. Instead, he simply lunged forward and scooped Mario up in a great big dragon hug and tried not to soak him with tears.

            “Mmmmmrrrffff…” Mario wasn’t protesting, exactly, but Luigi still gasped and almost dropped him, realizing what he’d done.

            Mario took a deep breath once he wasn’t being squeezed quite so tight. “I love you too, Weegie.” He chuckled breathlessly.

            Luigi sniffed a couple times – it didn’t matter why he started crying, his nose always joined in the waterworks too – and then somewhat reluctantly put Mario back down. “S-sorry… did I hurt you?”

            Mario surprised him with a laugh. “You kidding? That was nice, bro. Really nice. I guess I kinda hadn’t realized it, but I missed our hugs since you outgrew me.”

            “Don’t say it like that!” Luigi exclaimed, horrified by the very concept of “outgrowing” his twin brother.

            “You know what I mean, Weegie.” Mario chuckled. “You’re kinda hard for me to hug these days.”

            “Well, I’ll just… just have to do that more often then.” Luigi smiled.

            Mario smiled back. “I’ll hold you to that. …Well, maybe not literally but… uh, I’m gonna just finish setting this up and then get back to cooking.” He laughed self-deprecatingly and, true to his word, finished setting up the table and then dashed back inside.

            “You’re gonna wear yourself out if you keep running everywhere.” Luigi commented through the window once Mario returned to the kitchen.

            “I do a lot less running nowadays than I did before Peach managed to come up with a treaty even Bowser would agree to.” Mario replied, collecting more ingredients now that he was cooking for the both of them.

            “I guess that’s true. But that’s a good thing.” Luigi said, smiling. Even if it had been indirectly responsible for he and Mario finding the stone that started this dragon transformation, it was nice to be at peace and actually have time to relax and not worry.

            “You’re cheerful this morning.” Mario remarked, and Luigi realized he had been humming happily.

            “Yeah, I guess I am. I was just thinking about how nice it is, that we’re at peace now.”

            “Yeah…” Mario sounded distracted. “Yeah.” He seemed to pull himself back to the present and nodded sharply.

            Luigi considered pressing to find out what had Mario distracted, but his brother was in the middle of cooking now so he decided to wait.

            It was hardly lost on Luigi as he watched his brother through the window that Mario was still distracted. Usually, either of them could go through the motions of cooking and maintain a conversation without any trouble. Now, Mario was not only silent, but he kept almost making basic mistakes. Mistakes neither brother would ever make on a dish as simple as oatmeal with fruit. Luigi frowned worriedly as he watched Mario almost burn himself for the fifth time.

            He took a breath to finally say something, then decided against it yet again, for fear of making Mario’s distraction problem worse.

            Finally, Mario finished and leaned through the window with a large mixing bowl filled with oatmeal held between two oven mitt-clad hands. His earlier demeanor was gone, replaced with a smile. “Here you go!”

            Luigi smiled back and held out his hand to accept the bowl.

            “Uh, it’s hot.” Mario warned. But when the hot bowl touched his palm, Luigi felt no pain.

            “Not too hot.” He replied.

            Mario shrugged and withdrew from the window. A short time later, he appeared around the side of the house with his own bowl.

            “You going to eat standing up?” Luigi remarked as Mario set his bowl down on the folding table.

            “…Oh.” Mario pulled a face. “Uh, be right back… again.”

            Luigi chuckled as Mario trudged back into the house to get a chair. When his brother returned, however, he had sobered. “So, what’s on your mind?” He asked as Mario sat down.

            Mario paused halfway through reaching for his spoon. “Uh.” He suddenly looked nervous.

            “C’mon, bro, no hiding things from each other, remember?”

            Mario put his hands in his lap, but Luigi could tell he was fidgeting. “I don’t want you to take this the wrong way…”

            Luigi frowned. “Take what the wrong way?”

            Mario took a couple breaths, like he was actually struggling to work up the courage to speak. “I… I’m worried… about you… uh… being a dragon.”

            Luigi decided not to say anything, unsure exactly where Mario was going with this. So far, it seemed he was only stating the obvious.

            Mario looked up at him, trying to read his expression. “I-in… several ways.” Then, the words started spilling out of him. “What if we can’t find a way to reverse this? What if you’re stuck like this? What’s Bowser going to think? What if he uses this as an excuse to start another war?”

            “Why would he do that??” Luigi, despite wanting to reassure his brother, was alarmed by the thought.

            Mario shrugged helplessly. “It was just… something I thought of when we were talking about how nice it is to be at peace now.” He sighed heavily.

            “W-well,” Luigi began, trying to keep himself from sounding too alarmed, “For one thing, he has to find out first. Which, he won’t, at least not anytime soon. Unless someone tells him, that is.”

            “And I don’t see why anyone would…” Mario said. “He might ask about why we haven’t been attending any of the usual kart races and other events but I doubt anyone would… uh… volunteer that.”

            “And he probably is too busy enjoying beating everyone else, without us there to keep him in line, to ask any questions anyway.” Luigi said, rolling his eyes. He didn’t like Bowser in the best of times.

            “But… that… still doesn’t help with our other problem.” Mario said, staring intently at his breakfast as though the answer to his worries would spring from the oatmeal.

            “Not eating won’t help either.” Luigi remarked, then pointedly picked up his spoon. Then dropped it, caught it, and dropped it again. He huffed to himself in frustration. His hands were too big.

            “Want a different spoon?” Mario offered, smiling wryly.

            Luigi sighed and smiled sheepishly. “Yes please…”

            While Mario dashed off once again, Luigi tried not to dwell on his brother’s worries too much. He didn’t want to admit it, but he shared the first one. If he were to be totally honest with himself, he didn’t mind being a dragon as much as he had thought he would. Even so, he didn’t want to stay a dragon for the rest of his life, either. And he knew that if they couldn’t find a way to reverse this transformation, Mario would start blaming himself for what had happened even though Luigi had come with him to explore the cave voluntarily.

            Luigi blew out a deep sigh and accidentally blew his spoon clean off the table. He groaned and carefully got up to retrieve it, not wanting to accidentally upend the table next.

            He was still looking for it, lying sprawled on his belly with his head in a bush, when Mario returned.

            “Uuuhh, what are you doing?”

            “I lost the spoon. I’m looking for it.”

            “Oh. How did you… nevermind.”

            “I need some more light.” Luigi lamented. “I’m pretty sure it’s in here somewhere but I’m not sure where.”

            “I’ll go get the flashlight.”

            Luigi rolled his eyes to himself at the sound of Mario taking off at a run again. And back again. “Bro, you’re going to wear yourself out. And your breakfast is going to get cold at this rate.”

            “I can always reheat it.” Mario replied, switching on the flashlight and shining it along the ground under the bush. “How’s that?”

            Luigi spotted something gleaming in the additional light. “Ahah! There it is.” He carefully reached one hand forward and scooped the spoon up. He then carefully wriggled backwards until he was clear of the bush. He held the spoon out triumphantly, ignoring the fact that he had scooped up a dragon-sized handful of dirt along with it.

            “Well, that needs washed, for sure.” Mario laughed and plucked the spoon out of Luigi’s hand.

            Luigi laughed. “Maybe someday I’ll be able to pick up little stuff like that without so much trouble.” He said as he carefully dumped the dirt back where he got it and dusted his hands off.

            “I hope this one will work okay.” Mario said, gesturing to the serving spoon he had brought.

            “Thanks, Mario.” Luigi smiled. “Wanna try this again?”