The Journey into You

In the land of the golden coins, Mario was determined to put an end to the reign of terror that the nefarious Wario had caused and get back his right to own Mario Land. He had already explored a gigantic tree, a terrifying pumpkin world, an oversized house, deep below in the sea and high above the outer limits of space. But the last challenge Mario was to face in order to get a golden coin was one that was decidedly more challenging and bizarre than he had any right to anticipate. Or at the very least, one he wasn't quite ready to face off against.

He had first seen it when he was high in the tree. It was an imposing figure that looked an awful lot like him. It wasn't a perfect match however. It was in shades of gray as if the colors had been washed off. The arms were too long and the hat was too big, covering the giant Mario's eyes. It stood completely in place, seemingly not looking at anything in particular. Although Mario found it odd when he realized that it was facing in his general direction. He found it even stranger when he was able to see it through the windows of the oversized house and high in space. Mostly because it still faced his direction. It wasn't moving from its spot but it knew where Mario was. And once the relatively benign challenges were over, Mario came to the conclusion that the giant figure was the last challenge to overcome before he had to beat Wario.

And so after a long walk, Mario had finally reached the towering figure. It both moved and stayed still at the same time. It kept its position firmly but Mario spotted that underneath the large pants and overalls, there was something squirming underneath. It was like the wind was blowing as hard as it can on the clothes, although the wind wasn't passing through today. On his travels, he took note of the fact that the golden coin was firmly placed on the insignia of its hat. So armed with a rope and hook, Mario was prepared to scale to the top of the figure as one would scale a mountain. Making a large jump onto the black shoe, Mario then went to aim his rope to a high part of the figure's leg. But before he had the chance too, he soon realized that he was sinking into the shoe. It had given way to something that felt like the flesh equivalent of quick sand. He fell in quickly too, Mario could barely throw out the rope when he had already reached chest deep within the shoe. And then it all became black when Mario fell all the way in.

And then darkness. Mario awoke to find himself within a tunnel. He still had his rope and hook beside him. Remembering he still kept a flashlight in his pocket from his plumbing days thanks to his brother's insistence of keeping it, Mario was ready to take on whatever was inside this place. It helped him see the damp and gray walls that he assumed were merely rocks. The tunnel was a lot more cramped than previously realized. He'd have to crawl on his elbows to make it through. And when he got close to the floor to travel, he took note of how wet the floor felt. It was mushy too. At least it meant that he wouldn't be hurt too much when traveling.

He kept the flashlight firmly by the side of his head with some tape, using it as a makeshift miner's hat. The only thing he heard was liquid dripping at some point further down the tunnel. His sense of smell was assaulted by what smelt like the old and aged smell of rotten lettuce. At times he needed to hold his breath so that his chest could squeeze through the more tight cracks. Eventually he reached a curved part of the tunnel that went upwards. The space leading upwards was wide enough for Mario to throw the rope upwards and start traveling up the hole. He often needed to squish his legs together in order to shimmy up the rope and at times had to hold his breath for a couple minutes straight to wriggle past some tight spots. After what felt like half an hour of climbing upwards, he eventually reached the top and climbed out of the hole. But now Mario faced the complete opposite of the problem he was working against before as the flashlight barely helped him see in front of him due to how expansive the place was. If he had to guess for where exactly he was, this would be where the stomach was.

He couldn't walk too far around the bottom of the room as there were pools of liquid that bubbled and boiled by his side. His only logical guess was that those puddles were stomach acid. While the darkness helped mask the size a bit in terms of how far Mario could walk, there was no end to how high Mario would need to climb. If he was in the stomach of the figure, he'd need to keep climbing until he reached the end. Keeping the torch firmly stuck around his head and keeping the rope by his side, Mario was prepared to climb the wall. Along the way he spotted a few odd bits of teeth he could keep his fingers held onto. Because of the fact that the only thing Mario had in terms of keeping himself safe was a hook that'd keep him somewhat anchored on the wall for moments at a time, Mario climbed up the wall carefully so as to not fall into the pools of stomach acid on the floor.

Halfway through the climb was when he began to see monsters. Faces embedded within the walls that were frozen with a variety of expressions. Disgust, sadness, happiness and fear, all of them dotted the walls and tried to throw Mario off by biting at him. He didn't dare look closely at them, in fear of looking into those faces and seeing himself in them. One frightened face managed to lick his flashlight as he got up, nearly knocking it off of his hat and turning it off in the process. He had to let his fingers climb up the wall at a fast pace so as to not be caught by the faces again before turning the light on. When Mario could see again, he looked up above to see an end to the hole he was climbing up. After a couple more minutes of climbing, he got to the top and gave himself some rest. His arms were worn and the rope was starting to fray. But the journey had to continue and Mario eventually kept up the pace and walked down the cramped tunnel.

Eventually he had another hole finished, a less grueling climb than the other ones but one that only led itself to something peculiar. It led to an exit. Or at least, a view of the exit. As he was now in the mouth, tall and thin teeth that were in front of the exit managed to serve the same purpose as jail bars for Mario. He could at least see that it had begun to rain on Mario Land. If he couldn't get through the teeth then that means he still needed to climb. Using the flashlight to look around the ceiling, Mario noticed that past the hole he had climbed up, there was another one that must've led into the nasal canal. If he got up there and then got to the brain, he could sneak his way out of the ears and grab the final coin. He just needed to enact the first step of the plan and swing himself to the wall with the rope and hook.

Taking his time to aim and throw the hook, Mario managed to get it hooked. With a running start, he jumped and aimed to make a soft landing on the wall. But because of the slippery tongue he ran on, he slammed himself into the wall onto his side. The torch was knocked off of his head and it fell down into the hole below. With a sigh, Mario simply crawled up the rope and let himself into the darkness of the nasal canal. Thanks to the meager amount of light that would come in from the nostrils, Mario could just barely see the last hole he needed to climb before reaching the brain. With one more swing of the rope, Mario held himself up with it and climbed to the final hole. Just as he reached the top, he checked the rope to see how it was. It looked like it could only take one more swing before breaking for good.

But now that he had reached the brain, it was time for Mario to find the ear canal. He could feel the slimy and warm presence of the brain beside him so he opted to walk around it to find the ear, starting with the right side. It was hard for Mario to tell whether or not he was the only thing breathing within the space. No torch meant that he had to rely on sound and touch to make his way around. It didn't help that the floor was on a permanent slope, forcing him to walk carefully to avoid slipping into the brain. Eventually he saw a distant light coming from a tunnel and made his way there. Once he reached there, he looked deep inside of it to see that the outside world was just in his grasp. All he had to do was crawl through it and he'd be free.

But then he heard a monster breathe. And then it laughed. Looking back behind him, he saw what the brain had looked like. Teeth were jutting out of the many folds of the brain with many tongues lapping out of those folds as well. It all looked gray, mushy and decayed. And to the left of the brain from where Mario once was, was the monster. It looked very close to the giant figure. Except the hat was gone. And instead of a head full of hair, was an exposed brain where teeth and tongues were. It didn't have hands anymore, only teeth. Mario looked into its glazed eyes. Eyes with pupils the size of his hands. And then he saw the tall and thin teeth in his mouth that reminded him of rusty nails. He had to run. There was no other option.

But the strange figure simply laughed and ran after him. He knew it could outpace him somehow, he knew that if he just ran in a circle, the creature would just catch up to him. He couldn't crawl through the tunnel because the creature could grab him easily. But then a moment of strange clarity came. The rope! If he threw the rope over the brain and walked over it, he could evade the creature and leave the horrid place. Whether or not it came out of a genuine place of cleverness or desperation, he wasn't sure. But it was something he needed to do and fast before he was caught.

So with one strong throw, Mario got the rope stuck on the other side of the brain and then immediately began his ascent. He never reached the top. As soon as he was able to start climbing, he found himself sinking inside. A tooth he had decided to try and stand on gave way and broke off to the floor. Even with that lost tooth, Mario found that there were more of them inside the brain. Something he learned quickly when they began to scrape at his skin as he kept sinking. Tongues lapped up at his cuts and exposed and broken skin as he couldn't stop sinking. He reached the center of the brain when the teeth reached his bone but he still sank deeper into the body.

The feeling of sinking never stopped.

Even as he woke up, standing in the rain on Mario Land.

With the island around him so much smaller than he remembered.