As soon as you heard the splash, you could feel yourself submerged in the cold water. Not a moment later, you swam to the surface, feeling slightly panicked as you splashed around.

"LUIGI!" Mario called. 

You quickly turned towards the sound of his voice, seeing him floating on a small crate. You quickly swam over, hopping on as well and shaking the disgusting water off of yourself.

You didn't completely get ejected out of the boat, which was your first fear, so that was good. However, you were in what looked to be a flooded basement, just like the one you dreamed about. Great. 

You coughed a few times to get the water out of your throat while Mario patted your back.

The ceilings leaked and spilled more and more murky water out into the lake of liquid you seemed to fall into. You didn't want to think about where that water came from.

You immediately felt a sense of dread and did not want to get back in the water, fearing that something was looming below, waiting to grab your ankle and drag you down. 

"Well, looks like we're swimming," Mario breathed, taking his red baseball cap off and looping the end through one of his belt loops. You did the same with your green cap. 

You weren't as pleased with the current situation as Mario seemed. You never were all that afraid of the water, but seeing as you just had a nightmare about this very situation... you weren't thrilled with having to swim through this.

"Well, since I jumped down the mysterious vent first, I think it's only fair that you-"

"Yeah, yeah, I get it," You muttered, rolling your eyes as Mario smirked and crossed his arms, quite literally waiting for you to test the waters.

You hated the situation you were in, but the fact that Mario was there to make fun of you made it a little more bearable.

You slowly and carefully kneeled down, then lowered yourself not the water, treading for a moment as you got your bearings. There was a wall to the left, so the only direction you could head was right. The water was colder than comfortable. You also didn't like how sticky and smelly it was and could only imagine what was in it to make it that way. 

About ten seconds later, you heard Mario shout "CANNONBALL!" And dive in like an Olympic swimmer. He resurfaced about a second later right next to you, patting you on the back and smiling. 

You rolled your eyes at him and asked, "Are you actually having fun?!"

"Uh, yeah!" Mario smirked, raising his eyebrows. "What's wrong with making the most of our situation? Just don't think of it as a creepy basement sewer and think of it as a fun pool party in the dark!"

"I hope you can hear how ridiculous you sound," You lightly laughed. 

Mario did have a point though. The two of you did have this habit of trying to find the fun in even the direst of situations. You probably would have been splashing around and having a great time as well if you weren't so afraid.

The two of you swam forward when you finally felt the ground. The water got shallower and shallower until you came up to a small ledge. Since it was too tall to get up to on your own, Mario boosted you. Once you were up, you turned around and reached down to him, helping hoist him up as well. Once the two of you were out, you looked forward, seeing a wall with a small crack in it.

"Welp, onward we ride!" Mario sang, grabbing your hand and leading the way, pulling his lighter out and flicking it on. "Yes! It still works!" He chimed after seeing the flame, clearly worried that the water wrecked it somehow. "Maybe you should test yours, Weegie."

"Okay," you shrugged, reaching into your back pocket for your lighter, only to find...

"Huh..." you breathed, checking your other pockets as well. You could have sworn that you just had it a moment ago. Did it fall into the water?

"Uh oh, don't tell me you lost it..." Mario trailed off.

"Okay... Then what do you want to talk about?" You replied, causing Mario to groan and roll his eyes at you.

"How did you lose it?!" Mario exclaimed, letting out a small huff and looking forward. "Whatever, at least we still have mine. We'll find you a new one when we get out of here or something."

You let out a sigh as well. It wasn't much, but those matching lighters were some of the only things you really had from home. They were special. Your parents gave those lighters to both of you on your most recent birthday with them, which was three years ago. You had been reluctant to use yours since you didn't want the flame to go out. Yet here you were, completely losing it. 

"Yeah..." You muttered, looking down at your feet. You were sure Mario could hear the saddened tone of your voice because a moment later you felt his arms wrap around you. His humorous tone faded away, replaced with a much softer, gentler one.

"Do you want me to go back in the water and look for it?" He asked.

You shook your head no. As much as you wanted the lighter back, you didn't trust the murkiness of the water and definitely didn't want Mario going back in alone. The lighter could be replaced. Mario couldn't.

"Alright then," Mario said as he pulled back, offering a small smile. "Then let's keep moving."

It was clear that the area you found yourselves in was not meant for people, since the ceilings were too low for most adults to fit. Your head almost touched the ceiling as you walked. Mario made fun of your tall height, and you joked about his shortness while the two of you walked. 

Eventually, the floor began to get damp again, covered in a thin layer of liquid that was about two inches deep. You were glad that Mario's lighter still worked because it warded off all the snakes slithering around in the shallow waters. You would have been scared since they moved even faster in the water, but they stayed as far away from the light as they could. The most unsettling part was the noises they made as you walked by. The hissing sound they emitted when the light touched their dark eyes.

After a while, the two of you came to what looked like a wall. However, there were a bunch of wood planks you could use as ladders to climb up. Your brother and you climbed up about ten feet, then saw a small window on the right, leading to what you could only imagine was ANOTHER room on this massive ship. You both worked to push the window open when you heard what sounded like a distorted roaring.

Maybe it was just water being drained...

"Hey, it'll be okay. I promise," Mario told you, giving your arm a reassuring squeeze. You briefly smiled at him, then crawled through the window, only to fall into another pool of deep, murky brown water. You felt a quick jolt of panic until Mario turned his lighter off and jumped in after, making a big splash.

"Whoo! I hope this counts as my shower!" He beamed, rubbing his arms as if bathing himself in the disgusting liquid.

"Um, gross," You replied, shaking your head and swimming forward when you both heard the same sound you heard before.

You both froze up for a second, just treading the water. 

"Umm... it's probably nothing," Mario assured you. "Let's- let's move forward."

Despite your better judgment and the fact that your head was screaming at you to get out of the water, you swam forward, leading the way.

You didn't like how the two of you seemed to be swimming towards this noise.

"Mario, I'm very uncomfortable right now," You whispered as you swam.

"Don't be. Worrying won't help us. Just loosen up a bit!" Mario chimed, nervously laughing. 

You could tell right then and there that he too was just as afraid of you. 

Mario often would be just as scared as you were, but he had a better way of hiding it. He would get scared a lot, but would NEVER let his fears show.

There were a few floating suitcases and vases you swam past. You wondered what they were doing down there, but seeing as there were also a ton of floating crates you could only assume that they either accidentally fell down there, or that this room was originally intended for them and just flooded. 

However, as you swam past, it almost looked as if the suitcases and vases were moving. Not naturally floating around, but being forcefully moved, as if something was under them, pushing them out of the way.

"Mario... we need to get out of the water," You squeaked, starting to swim faster. You could see shadows moving below the water and slowly creeping toward you and Mario.

"Huh?" Mario asked, happily swimming around. "But why? I'm-"

"NOW" You exclaimed as the shadows picked up speed. Mario seemed to spot it as well because you both took off swimming and splashing as fast as you could. You just barely pulled yourself up and out of the water on the opposite side of the room before whatever that shadow was could drag you down. Mario however, wasn't a fast swimmer like you.

"MARIO!" You yelled, leaning down by the edge and offering your hand. 

He quickly grasped it and you pulled him up just in time to see an ugly, rotting, thin grey arm reach up from the water as if trying to grab the two of you. You shrieked and hugged your brother, stepping away from the water and crying, "I wanna go home, I wanna go home."

"Hey, hey, shh, it's okay," Mario comforted. "We're okay. We're together. Shh..."

It was hard to feel okay, but eventually, Mario was able to calm you down as you watched the shadow thing seem to disappear beneath the water. You would have been relieved that your encounter with the shadowy thing was over, but the two of you could hear it move beneath you, under the floor. 

It was clearly swimming to the next section, and you were likely going to meet again.

It felt like you were in one of those old-fashioned shark movies. The waters you were swimming in were infested by some creature, yet you had to swim anyway. The LAST thing you wanted was to have to get back in.

But... when you moved forward and saw more water, it looked like you really didn't have an option.

You swam through a few other areas without trouble. You had Mario go first, not because you were being cowardly, but because you wanted to be the last one out of the water so he had more time to escape. It helped you feel more at ease when you convinced yourself that he was in a safer position.

You were in and out of a few sections when you finally got to a big room. On the other side were a few items and what looked to be an emergency maintenance ladder. It looked like that was the place the Janitor would go to check on these lowest levels.

However, it was a long way across and you could see the shadow swimming around the water again. Now that you looked at it, it was shaped more like a person than anything else. 

There were loads of items floating in the water. Some barrels, some crates, and lots of things you could get up on to protect yourself from being dragged down into the depths.

The two of you quickly jumped in, swimming as fast as you could when the shadow growled and quickly chased after you. You both panicked and immediately pulled yourselves up onto floating crates, being sure to stay out of the water when possible. You both let out a sigh of relief when you felt something hit the crate from below, knocking you off. 

"Not good, NOT GOOD!" You exclaimed, swimming to the next nearest one. Mario split up from you and swam across the room, towards a small plank next to the wall. 

"Wait! Luigi! I have an idea!" Mario called, bringing his hands to his mouth to amplify his voice.

"Hit me!" You yelled back, jumping from one crate to another after the monster kept knocking them over. You quickly dived in, then got up on a barrel, breathing heavily from the adrenaline. 

"If we can get over to the maintenance area and out of the water completely," Mario explained, jumping off his platform and swimming over to another one just as the creature dragged the plank he was standing on moments ago down. "You can use your thunderhand. Electricity travels through water, so you'll shock the thing!"

"You mean you want me to kill it?!" You squeaked, slightly repulsed by the idea.

"Well, no! Just send enough electricity to knock it out!" Mario explained.

"You clearly have no idea how electricity and water work," You snapped back. 

"Well just think about it!" Mario exclaimed, slipping and falling into the water, only to resurface a moment later, coughing.

You were situated on a crate when the monster raised two hands, one on either side, and smashed the crate to bits below you, making you scream and swim towards the wall. 

The monster then quickly headed for Mario.

While the monster was distracted by Mario, you quickly swam to safety, finding yourself over by the maintenance ladder as Mario crawled up on a small piece of wood. 

The monster could have easily crushed that piece and dragged him down. You both knew it.

"Just do it!" Mario begged, clearly sounding terrified. "Luigi, it's gonna get me unless you do it!"

"But you're by the water!" You called back. "What if-"

"NOW!" Mario cries, as the creepy hands raised from the water to grab him. You squeezed your eyes shut and kneeled down by the water, activating your thunder hand and sending electrical waves into the water. The monster let out a high-pitched scream, then sunk down. You waited a moment, then pulled back, opening your eyes to see Mario, still standing alive and well.

He let out a sigh of relief. "Thank you," he said. 

You were happy to have saved him but couldn't help feeling guilty.

You just killed something. Yes, the thing was trying to kill you first... but that didn't change the fact that you killed it. 

"Hey, don't feel guilty, please," Mario begged, his eyes softening. "You did it to save me. Just focus on that. Alright?"

"Alright..." you trailed off when you suddenly heard loud footsteps on the ladder behind you.

A moment later, two large arms wrapped around you, and everything went black. The last thing you could hear was Mario cry, "LUIGI!"