Dash gave them a police escort to the Cosmic Sunrise Hotel, which was lucky, because traffic was pretty ugly in this part of the space metropolis -- they passed by gluts of backed up traffic four lanes deep on the tubeway, and it all reminded Luigi of the congestion of New Donk City.

Plus, while taking the tube, they got a truly awesome opening view of the Hotel: dome-shaped, sparkling, and with a glass, crown-shaped facade, the coliseum-sized hotel seemed to swallow the packed city center like a man-made sun, reflecting the kaleidoscope of city colors beaming down from nearby skyscrapers and neon signs. It stood colossal over a web of interconnecting free- and tubeways, and as their carriage slipped down the tracks to join the traffic, they briefly entered a dark tunnel filled with speeding cars, spaceships, and tubes racing in all directions.

Even up: the navigation computer had them switch tracks, and abruptly they joined a train of other tube carriages sliding along a railway taking them into the ceiling of the tunnel. There was a strange moment where the track pulled them straight up at a ninety-degree angle, and then they leveled out and swept into one of several tunnels.

Eventually, they slowed and then stopped: the doors opened, and they stepped out. They were in what appeared to be a subway station, except not nearly as grimy or dark: the ceiling sparkled with chandeliers, the floor was wood, and there were Shy Guys in suits walking around, pulling totes of baggage and speaking into radios. One appeared as Mario and Luigi disembarked.

"Reservation?" he asked.

"Mario and Luigi," Mario said. "We're here for the Rainbow Walkers' celebration."

The Shy Guy eyed a pad on his clipboard: it appeared that even if you were the Mario Bros, you couldn't step foot into the Cosmic Sunrise Hotel without an RSVP. "I'll escort you to the ballroom," he said eventually.

"Have fun," Dash called -- he hadn't climbed out with them. "I'm heading back toooooooooo the statiooooooooooooon. Paperwooooooooork. Doooooooooon't wooooooooorry, Luigi, I'll make sure Nabbit stays loooooooooooocked up this time!"

The carriage closed and took off into the darkness -- a moment later, another pulled up to the station drop-off, carrying a family of Koopas.

"Let's head up," Mario said.

They followed the Shy Guy across a small sitting area, complete with a coffee stand, chairs, and an ATM machine. On the far wall was a sign pointing up that said "Lobby", along with a set of stairs, and they went up. At the top of the steps was a wide doorway, and the stone of the steps changed to colored linoleum. Luigi tilted his head, trying to decipher the pattern of the swaths of oranges and reds and dark blues sweeping outward from beneath his feet, but it wasn't until they were halfway across the room that he realized he was walking across the sun.

The floor of the Hotel was one giant painting, a painstakingly-crafted star starting in the middle of the floor and then radiating outward in expanses of red and orange set against a black background -- outer space, twinking with white and blue stars, just like right outside. As Luigi's eyes went from the floor to the walls, he was astonished to find that the painting continued to the ceiling, just like in an ancient cathedral: up here, glowing in swarming skylights, were the rest of the planets, even Pluto, arrayed in a long line all the way across the ceiling. Luigi craned his neck, struggling to take it all in.

"Watch out!" Mario said, catching his shoulder -- Luigi had been so transfixed by the art that he'd nearly run into an employee, a Yoshi pulling along a large cart of freshly-washed sheets. "I know, it's pretty amazing, isn't it?" his brother chuckled. "Enough to make you forget where you are!"

They stopped long enough for Luigi to take a picture, and then continued on, walking along one of the floor sun's radiant arms until they reached a pair of large double doors standing open. Beyond was a giant room, mostly dark except for a stage set up in the corner, where a toad and a Birdo were...trying to do what Luigi assumed was karaoke. He wasn't sure the notes coming out of their mouths could be qualified as singing, though. He tapped his brother's shoulder.

"We're not gonna have to do that, are we?" he asked.

Mario laughed, but before he could reply, the song ended, and Daisy came onstage and relieved the Birdo of her microphone. "Beautiful!" she said, with just a hint of sarcasm. "But let's put a pause on our next song, folks, because our guests of honor have arrived!"

Luigi hadn't realized that there was a crowd of Rainbow Walkers sitting in tables spread across the dark carpet until they all turned as one towards him and Mario -- unfortunately, the lights came on a second later, too, so Luigi couldn't rely on the dark to hide his red face. He glanced behind him -- She's not talking about us, is she?

To his horror, she was: "Mario, Luigi!" Daisy called. "Welcome, and congratulations on completing your Rainbow Walk! Why don't you come up on stage?"

What! Mario tried to tug him along, but Luigi dug in his feet. He hadn't agreed to do anything on a stage! He'd expected to just blend into the crowd and then collect some sort of I Did the Rainbow Walk! sticker at the end of the celebration. What new torture was this?

Somehow, despite the fact that he dug in his heels, Mario got him across the room and up onto the stage, in front of all of the Rainbow Walkers. Daisy was waiting there, grinning, and a strange noise echoed in the depths of Luigi's ears: was that applause? Strange. They'd just finished a Walk-A-Thon, like everybody else -- what was the big deal?

"Congratulations, boys," Daisy said. She pinned something on Mario's lapel -- a little pin that, what do you know, actually did say I Did the Rainbow Walk! -- but she handed Luigi something that was bigger and far heavier: a...trophy? It featured an androgynous figure heel-stepping, and was rainbow-colored, with a dark gold base. The plaque read, Rainbow Walk MVP.

Luigi looked from Daisy to the statue and back again, all as the crowd clapped enthusiastically. "Um, thanks?" he said

Daisy tilted her head at him, and then gave a knowing smile. "Folks," she said into the microphone, "I don't think he's seen the video!"

The applause turned to laughter -- Luigi's face turned beet-red, and the air left his body. Video? What video? Had someone recorded him in a humiliation situation again? Had he been shamed again, and he didn't even know it?

Heart hammering, he turned to run, only for Daisy to seize his shoulder. "Not so fast," she said. "Don't you want to see it?" She held her phone in her other hand, and something was pulled up on the screen. Something that looked terrifyingly like ToadTube.

"What, here?" he exclaimed. He edged backward. "Maybe later--"

Mario blocked him from behind. "Just watch it, Luigi."

Luigi whirled on him. "You've already seen it?!"

"Yes, and it's fine. Go on, take a look."

A little terrified, Luigi turned back towards Daisy, who thumbed the play button. He began sweating bullets as the video began, and it was made even worse by Daisy deliberately holding the microphone up to her phone, so that the video was broadcast to the entire room. Was she purposefully trying to make a fool out of him?

For a moment, the certainty of incoming humiliation blinded Luigi, so that he neither saw nor heard what the video was playing. Then he slowly started making sense of what was happening onscreen, and became confused.

First, he saw the blackness of outer space, and then a point of fire and light -- a giant explosion, blooming like a red flower and shutting out the stars. Whoever was holding the camera cried out in alarm, and then the view shifted across the sky, and Luigi saw himself wheeling down out of the sky. Then he saw Nabbit, lower in the sky, speeding along on his ejection-seat jetpack, and he realized that this was a video of him finally apprehending the villain after the OCPD had blown up the flying shroom.

And that's exactly what happened: he and Nabbit collided in midair and came spiraling down to the Road. The cameraman roared in alarm when they slammed and skidded across the Road and fell off the other side, and as the person rushed forward, Luigi heard several other pedestrians cry, "Was that Luigi?"

The cameraman sidled up to the very edge of the Road to peer down into empty space, just as Luigi and Nabbit came spinning back up, trampolined by the gravity wells. The gathering crowd parted as they crashed to the ground, and when the cameraman edged forward for a better view, Luigi heard himself say, "Nabbit, I'm placing you under citizen's arrest. So give up and go peacefully."

The video ended there, and when it did, the crowd cheered again, this time leaping out of their seats for him. Luigi stared from the video -- which was labeled "Rainbow Road Redemption" and had nearly three million views and 400K likes -- back to them, open-mouthed.

"Maybe now the trophy makes sense!" Daisy said. She squeezed Luigi on the shoulder. "We're proud of you, Luigi! You're the first Rainbow Walker to ever walk and put criminals behind bars at the same time!"

They cheered for him some more, and then finally let the Mario Bros find seats in the crowd. The karaoke started up again, and then Shy Guy waiters in fancy livery started around, delivering platters of Cheep Cheep cavalier and flutes of club soda to the crowd. Later there were two giveaways -- tickets to see the next Super Sluggers game -- a message from the organizers, and finally dessert. They ended around 9:30 PM, at which point Luigi was going bleary-eyed with fatigue. Mario led him to their reserved room, which Luigi was way too tired to take in, and tossed him on one of the beds.

"Take a nice long rest, Wee-gee," he said. "You can sleep in tomorrow -- you've earned it. And then... Maybe we can discuss going to that theme park before you take the first shuttle home."

Luigi grunted as he fell asleep, but wondered about that. Now that Nabbit was behind bars and he'd made it to Orbit City on his own power... The idea of staying here a little longer didn't seem so bad.

May 5, 2021

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Thank you for reading, everyone. This was a delightful little stress-free project, and I'm glad that I had it to turn to when I was hating my other writing projects. I hope you had as good a time as I did!