Missing- Chapter 3: Emile- Bowser's Castle

Chapter 3-Emile: Bowser's Castle
"Wait a minute…" a voice muttered. "Emile?"

Emile turned around. He couldn't see anything, but the person who had spoken was obvious. "Jon?"

"Uh, yeah."  Emile squinted, and his eyes adjusted so he could see. Jon was sitting on another mattress a few feet away. Emile stood, and stretched because he had been sitting for a while.

"Where are we?" he asked.

Jon stood up as well. "Do you think I'd know?"
"Well… I dunno, maybe."

"How did you get here?"

"I kind of fell."

He couldn't see him, but Emile could tell that Jon had rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, I saw, but fell from where?"

Emile pointed upwards, to the ceiling above his head. "I was sitting on the couch in the hotel room, then the floor shook, then I fell through some hole."

"The couch in the hotel room?"

"Yeah."

"But—" Jon stepped forward, and suddenly the lights came on. They were in a plain white room, with no furniture except the mattresses and a door. They both squinted, not used to the sudden brightness.

"Can't be, I was sitting on that couch." Jon said.

"What?"

"Yeah. Actually, what happened to you? You disappeared."

"I disappeared? You disappeared, not me."

"What?"

"Yeah, I tried looking for you, you were gone."

"Hm… did everyone seem to forget I exist or something?" Emile nodded.

"Wait, how did you know that?"

"The same thing happened to me, except you were gone."

"…"

"Someone, or something is messing with us."

"Before we try and figure anything else, maybe we should try and get out of here first." Jon nodded.

They both walked towards the door. When they reached it, Emile glanced at Jon uncertainly.

"What? Let's go."

"I'm just not sure we should just open a random door…"

"Got any better ideas?"

Emile racked his brains for a minute, and then shrugged in defeat. "Fine."

They opened the door, to find a long hallway, which looked almost the same as the room.

"Um, I guess we should go?" Emile said. Jon nodded, and gestured he go.

"No, you go first."

"Nah, ladies first." Jon said, grinning.

"Oh shut up!" Emile said, but he was smiling too. They both went in.

They walked in silence for a few minutes, but it seemed that they weren't even close to the end of the hall.

"So you were in a universe where I didn't exist, and now you're in a place with only me." Emile said to break the silence, grinning. Jon laughed.

"I'm not sure which I prefer." Emile laughed too.

"Good luck getting TheRunawayGuys episodes out in time."

"Psh, I'm sure Josh would be in charge of that. Or Tim, anyone but me."

"Suuure." Emile said sarcastically.

"Shut up."

Emile laughed. "I guess no one would trust you to do it anyway."

"Yeah yeah, let's go."

They walked in silence again. Their footsteps—which seemed like the only sounds that were made at all—echoed along the halls. They finally arrived at the end of the hall, but the only thing there was a button.

"What the hell?" Jon said, approaching the button.

"Do we… press it?" Emile said, walking up to the button as well.

"Well it's either that or sit here until we die or something."

Jon hesitated, the pressed the button. Holes on the floor appeared, and they both fell.

"Urgh, we need to stop falling." Jon said. He stood up, rubbing his arm which ached a bit from the fall. The floor wasn't that hard, and they didn't really fall from that high, but it still hurt.

"You okay?" Emile stood up, stretched, and nodded to say he was fine.

Then he noticed what Jon was wearing, somehow it had changed.
"Haha, nice hat." He said. Jon put his hand on his head, and took of the hat he was wearing and looked at it. It was round, with big blue spots on it. He looked down. He was wearing simple jeans, a blue shirt, and some brown shoes.

Emile felt his head for a hat, and sure enough, he was wearing one too. He took it off and looked at it. He was wearing a Mario hat, and he was wearing the same clothes as Jon except his shirt was red.

"Wait… blue clothes… Mario hat…" Emile said. He turned around and examined the room.

"Are we…" the room was brightly lit, but the light was coming from the floor. Was that… lava?!

There was a large green door behind them. It had torches next to it, and big handles. Above the door were some stones, some which made it look like it had horns. It looked oddly familiar.

"No way, we're in Bowser's Castle." Jon said. "From Super Mario Bros. Wii."

He looked above them. There was a red pipe. A few feet away was the black Bowser flag, still unclaimed. Jon and Emile had been dressed as Mario and Toad.

Jon looked up the red pipe. He didn't see anything.

"Are we still even in the building, or did we get teleported somewhere else or something?"

Emile shrugged, looking up the pipe as well.

"I think we have to defeat the boss..."

"You can't be serious. It's Bowser. We're video game characters, it's not that easy."

"I don't think we have a choice."

Jon sighed. He approached the flag, and touched it. The symbol of blue Toad replaced Bowser's face.

"Hmm, maybe the game mechanics still apply."

"What happens if one of us dies though?"

"I don't want to know."

"Wait, isn't there a power-up here?" Emile went towards the rightmost wall, and hit his fist to the space above his head. A block appeared and a fireflower popped out.

"Do you want it or should I get it?" Emile asked.

"Well, seeing as I'm sort of more fit than you, you should probably get it."

"Hey!" he said. He got the fireflower anyway.

"You ready?" Jon asked as they both stood in front of the green doors.
Emile nodded. Jon pushed the doors opened, and they went inside.

They ran, until they reached the small wall and crouched behind it.
"What are you…" Jon looked ahead of them. "Oh shit right, the fireballs."

They ran, dodging the fireballs. Emile had a bit of trouble getting out of the holes, but otherwise they were okay. Finally, they reached Bowser. Emile smiled.

"That effigy of Bowser looks so much cooler in real life." He said, glancing at the wall to their left. Jon looked at it, and smiled. "Never thought I would actually see it."

A wall closed the hallway behind them, Bowser roared, and the fight began. Bowser attacked them in the same pattern, going a few steps forward, firing a fireball or more, taking a few steps back, firing a fireball or more, than every once in a while he jumps high enough for them to pass under.

They dodged and ran, sweating from the heat. "Jeez, it's so hot in here!" Emile said.

"Well yeah Bowser's firing fireballs and there's lava underneath us, you wouldn't exactly expect it to be cold." Jon said, jumping over a fireball.

Somehow, they both survived and were able to get to the platform with the button, which Jon jumped on. Bowser fell, the princess wasn't actually the princess, hell broke loose, you know the drill.

They both stared as Bowser became huge and roared again. This part probably wasn't going to be as easy.

They ran, jumping up platforms and dodging more fireballs. They were also able to get some more powerups. At one point, Emile lost his balance and almost falls of the platform. "Shit!" he exclaimed. Jon grabbed his hand before he fell and helped him up.

"Thanks." He said before running again. Jon looked at the star coin glittering above their heads, not even thinking about getting it. But this moment of hesitation made him get hit by a fireball. He got powered down, and became a midget.

Jon swore loudly. Emile turned his head to see what was wrong, and he almost fell over laughing. He was a bit ahead, so he could pause for a while.

"What?!" Jon said, irritated.

"It's—you—look—so—ridiculous—tiny—"Emile said between breaths. He couldn't stop laughing. Jon rolled his eyes. "Look, let's just go."

They navigated the level surprisingly well, but Emile lost his balance jumping on a moving platform and fell into the lava.

"Oh craaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaap!"

"Emile!" Jon shouted, taking a step towards him but then remembering he was still being chased.  He took a deep breath, and willed himself to stay calm.

Emileisn'tdeadhe'snotdeadnotdeadnotdeadnotdead

He kept going, repeating the thought in his head. As he ran, he heard a soft voice. "Let me outta here!" He looked up and saw Emile in a bubble, floating towards him. Jon couldn't help but grin, seeing him as a midget too.

It came closer and popped. "Oh cool, we still have lives!" Emile said.
"Yeah but I don't want to find out how many we have left."

They continued on, dying once or twice, but it didn't seem like they ran out of lives. Maybe they couldn't? Neither of them wanted to risk it.

Finally, they reached the huge button, and jumped on it. Bowser flailed his arms and fell. Peach was released from her cage, and she floated down. Emile snickered, Jon rolled his eyes at Emile's immaturity.
Peach each gave them a kiss on the forehead—or the air above it.

"Just like in the Let's Play, hmm?" Emile said, grinning.  A flash of light appeared, and they both passed out.