Who Cast the Sneezing Curse?

CHAPTER ONE


It seemed like just another normal morning in the Mushroom Kingdom, at first. Mario was one of the first people to wake up, and he didn't think anything was wrong. After getting ready for the day and putting on his regular clothes, he went over to his window and opened it.

"Wow... what a beautiful day," Mario thought to himself. Judging by the perfectly clear skies and warm weather, he had absolutely no idea just how this day could go wrong. Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath through his nose to breathe the fresh air...

But then, his eyes shot open. His nose began to twitch as a massive sneeze began to build up. He figured it was something in the air, but he couldn't focus on that. Mario began to inhale, with his breath hitching and head tilting backward as he prepared to unleash the sneeze, which he was afraid was going to hurt.

"Ahhh... HaaaaAAAAAAAH... AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH-CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"

As he expected, the sneeze did hurt, and it could be heard from pretty much anywhere else in the house. It did no real damage, however, aside from blowing Mario a few inches backwards. A few seconds later, he managed to recover and catch his breath. Afterwards, he sniffled and brought a hand up to his face to rub his nose.

"Mama mia. Where'd that one come from?" Mario asked himself, wondering what caused him to sneeze like that. He hadn't even tried to hold it back, and yet, it still came out just as loud and powerful as it would be had an attempt to stop it had been made. "Must have been something in the air..."

After he had finished saying this, his nose twitched again. Another sneeze was coming, but Mario didn't want to comply. He could still remember just how big and loud the first sneeze was, so this one was probably going to be even worse. So he tried to fight the sneeze, lest it be even worse than what he had gone through just seconds ago.

"Ah... Aaaaaahhhhhh..." Mario brought a forefinger to the underside of his nose and tried to fight the sneeze, but it wasn't working. In fact, it seemed to make the urge to sneeze even stronger, unusually enough. "HAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH...!" Mario removed his forefinger and tilted his neck as far back as it could go as he waited for the sneeze to escape. "HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH-CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"

When Mario released the second sneeze, the force didn't blow himself anywhere, but instead caused nearly every object in the room to shake for a few seconds. After this effect had finished, Mario recovered again and rubbed his nose on a forefinger; the same one he used in his failed attempt to stop the sneeze. As he did, he realized that the base of his nose had turned a very light pink, and he gasped in mild fear. Were these sneezes from an allergic reaction, or was he coming down with something? He didn't know if either of these were the case, but these sneezes certainly weren't normal, so he was going to need Luigi's help with this situation.

Mario exited his bedroom and decided to go to the living room. Along the way, he let out a couple of loud sneezes, so he briefly entered the bathroom to take a couple of tissues and put them in his overalls' pockets before leaving. When he made it to the living room, Luigi was already there and sitting on the couch.

"Luigi, I need your help," Mario stated, but Luigi didn't respond. "Luigi?"

Rather than saying anything, Luigi sniffled once, then brought a hand up to his face and rubbed his noticeably pink nose. Mario was slightly confused, but also concerned. Maybe something had happened to Luigi as well. Mario went up to the couch that Luigi was sitting on, not noticing that his brother's nose was twitching slightly.

"Luigi, are you feeling okay?"

"Haaaaah..." Luigi inhaled once, tilting his head back. "HAAAAAAAAAH...!" He inhaled again, and it was only at this point did Mario realize what was going on. Luigi was going to sneeze, and not in a way that Mario would usually expect from him. "HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH-CHIYOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"

Luigi released an uncharacteristically powerful sneeze, which was powerful enough to shake the entire room, and loud enough to be heard throughout every single room in the house. And he didn't cover his mouth. Mario was completely shocked by what he just heard. When was the last time Luigi had sneezed like this? Neither of them could remember, but what they did know was that both of them had this problem, and they needed to do something.

"Ugh..." Luigi sniffled again and rubbed his nose on the side of his hand. He blushed slightly as well, due to having embarrassed himself with the powerful sneeze. His sneezes usually sounded a little different from Mario's, in that he tried to make them sound "cute" so that anybody who heard them would approve, but that sneeze certainly wasn't it. "Sorry about that. I'm not feeling so good."

"I was gonna ask you about this problem I have, but it looks like you have it, too," Mario said.

"What's that problem?" Luigi must have been clueless if he could ask that without stopping himself or guessing what the situation was. He did ask it at a good time, though, because Mario needed to sneeze again.

"Ahhhhh... AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH..." Mario inhaled, then reached into his overalls pocket, pulled out a tissue and held it over his face, expecting to sneeze into it. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH-CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"

Despite that this next sneeze was covered - or attempted to be covered, it was still just as loud and powerful as the last several sneezes that had been released. Mario just had to sniffle and blow his nose before saying something.

"It's the weirdest thing. I keep having to sneeze, and I do it really, really hard."

"Me too," Luigi said.

"You think we might be coming down with something?"

"Gosh, I don't know... but I did hear a lot of our friends sneezing outside, too."

"Wait, what?!" Mario couldn't believe what he had just heard. "We gotta figure out what's going on and stop it!"

"You know, I think we're just sneezing because... I don't know... maybe we're just allergic to something."

"That's got to be impossible. I'm not allergic to..." Mario was interrupted by the arrival of another sneeze, and he began to inhale. "Ahhhhh... AAAAAAAAHHHHHH..."

"Mario?" Before Luigi could ask if he was okay, he suddenly realized what would happen. "Oh, no..."

"LUIGI... HAAAAAAAAAH... HELP...! HAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH--!" Just before Mario could sneeze, Luigi got up and shoved a forefinger under Mario's nose. The sneeze was stopped just moments before its release, but Mario still looked sneezy, as though he knew exactly what would happen if that finger was removed from his face. But for now, the sneeze was stopped, so Mario breathed a sigh of relief and wiped his forehead with his hand. "Thanks."

"Don't worry about it," Luigi responded, mistakenly removing his finger from Mario's nose. "You know, just because you're not allergic to anything, doesn't mean you won't be--"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH-CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!" Unexpectedly interrupting his brother's sentence, Mario released another monstrous sneeze, and didn't cover it this time. It almost felt like his brain was going to be flung out, but the least that happened was that the room shook from how loud the sneeze was. A few seconds after recovering from the sneeze, Mario sniffled again and rubbed his nose on his forefinger.

"Wow. Bless you, Mario," Luigi said politely, despite looking terrified from how huge the sneeze was.

"--doesn't mean I won't be sneezing all the time?" Mario finished Luigi's sentence for him. "Then what do you think's making us sneeze so much? The fact that people keep talking about us?"

"Haaaaaaaah... AHHH--! GIMME A...!" Luigi inhaled to sneeze again, and gestured Mario to give him a tissue before it was too late. His brother did as he was told, and once Luigi had received the tissue, he held it over his mouth and nose as he prepared to explode. "CHHHHHHHHHIYOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!" Despite his best efforts, Luigi just couldn't keep his sneeze from becoming as loud and powerful as Mario's had been. A few sniffles and a nose wipe later, Luigi responded. "I don't actually believe that you can sneeze just because somebody's talking about you, Mario."

"But still, we've gotta find why we're sneezing so much. Come on!"

With that, Mario and Luigi left their house and headed off into the Mushroom Kingdom. They sneezed a few times along the way - sometimes from the light of the sun and sometimes from the pollen in the air - but they ignored their sneezes for the most part. They couldn't help but wonder if anyone had sneezing problems worse than they did...


CHAPTER TWO


When Mario and Luigi made it to the Mushroom Kingdom, they quickly realized that they weren't the only ones who were sneezing. Wherever they looked, people were constantly either sneezing or needing to sneeze. Even if some of them covered their mouths, their sneezes were all impossibly loud and powerful. It didn't matter who did it; males, females, adults, kids... everybody was sneezing nearly every sixty seconds. Toad and Toadette were caught sneezing and blowing themselves backwards. A few sneezy Yoshis tried to hold in their sneezes by covering their noses, but they failed and ended up sneezing some strong, un-Yoshi sneezes. Neither Mario nor Luigi could believe what they were witnessing.

"Mama mia! You're right, Luigi!" Mario said. "What's gotten into everyone?"

"Haaaaah..." Luigi inhaled, then put a hand over his mouth and released another extremely loud sneeze. "CHIYOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!" The other characters in this scene, not including Mario, either didn't hear the sneeze or were too busy with their own sneezes to care. Luigi sniffled and rubbed his nose on his forefinger.

"Uh, bless you," Mario said.

"I have no idea what's going on, Mario, but everybody's got it," Luigi said, wiping his hand on his sleeve to clean the spray off of his hand. "Maybe even Princess Peach."

"Peach?!" To say that Mario didn't take this well might as well have been an understatement. "Oh, no. Not Peach! Anybody but--"

"HEEEEEEEEEEEET--" An extremely loud, feminine inhale filled the air and interrupted Mario's sentence, followed by an equally loud and somehow still feminine sneeze, both of which were from none other than Princess Peach herself. "CHHHHHHHHHHHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!"

Mario, Luigi, and pretty much everybody else could feel the ground shaking beneath them with the power of the sneeze. Mario and Luigi recognized that voice and looked around for who it came from. Then, they saw Peach, who had a bright red tinge on her nose and looked embarrassed from the power of her sneeze. In her hand, she had her pink handkerchief, and she blew her nose quietly into it before wiping her nose. She could see Mario and Luigi running over to her, and both of them couldn't believe what they had just heard.

"Oh, my gosh! Peach!" Mario said. "I've never heard you sneeze like that before!"

"Me neither!" Luigi agreed, and then thought he was being impolite. "Uh, I mean... bless you?"

"I am so sorry, boys," Peach said with a mild sniffle. "I don't know what's causing me and everyone else to sneeze like this, but it's making us all miserable." She then noticed that Mario and Luigi's noses had both turned a bright red as well. "Oh, dear, does it look like you two have the same problem as well?"

Before either of the plumbers could answer her question, Mario's nose started twitching again. Another sneeze was coming on, but he really didn't want to give in to the urge. Not in front of the love of his life, the princess he always rescued. Mario began to inhale and shoved his forefinger under his nose, but the sneeze was coming whether he liked it or not. And it was going to be a big one.

"HaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAH... AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH..." Mario removed his forefinger, and aimed his head at the ground while Luigi and Peach could only look on in concern and fear. Then it came. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-CHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"

Mario released another horribly loud and powerful sneeze, which not only caused the ground to shake some more, but also caused Luigi, Peach, and some other unfortunate onlookers to cringe. After a few seconds, Mario managed to catch his breath as his forefinger snapped to his nose and rubbed a few times.

"Oh, my. Bless you, Mario," Peach responded.

"Thanks. Well, unfortunately, both of us have exactly the same problem as you," Mario said.

"Is there anything you can do to help us figure out what's causing us to sneeze?" Luigi asked.

"I'll tell you one thing," Peach said. "Someone has told me about a curse that somebody has cast on the Mushroom Kingdom. And if I recall correctly, the curse is causing us to sneeze at random times."

"Then who cast it?" Luigi asked.

"I'm afraid the answer to that question is: who knows who cast it?"

"I bet it was... was... HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH... HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH...!" Luigi inhaled to sneeze again and turned away from Peach at the last second. "HAH-CHIYOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!" After another loud sneeze, Luigi rubbed his nose on his hand and turned back to Peach. "I bet it was Bowser."

"I think it may be Bowser, too. He is evil, after all..."

After hearing this, Mario and Luigi decided that their mission was to defeat Bowser. They had done this at least a million times before, but it was what they did best. Mario and Luigi started to head out of the town square, with Peach unleashing another loud and feminine sneeze that caught them off-guard, but they otherwise ignored it. Along the way, both Mario and Luigi sneezed at random times, and they were always loud and powerful sneezes, but they usually forgot about them the second after they happened. They continued to hear others sneeze as well, but they did their best to ignore them, even when they started getting annoyed with it.

However, only when they met up with Wario did one of them finally take a moment to lose it. Their rival was inhaling, getting ready to sneeze, and not even bringing up an arm or hand to cover his mouth as he never did so when he sneezed, even in public. He didn't look like he could fight the sneeze, either.

"Huuuuh... HAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH... HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH-CHHHHHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!" Wario sneezed directly onto Mario, and then blew him to the ground. Mario seemed more annoyed that he had been sneezed on than how his rival had just blown him down.

"Jeez, Wario, don't sneeze on me like that! It's gross!" Mario said as he got up.

"Sorry, bub, but I can't help it! This dang curse is driving me crazy!" Wario said as he rubbed his nose on his arm.

"Ugh, whatever. I don't have much time for this. We've got to get to Bowser's castle."

"Oh, sure! The bad guy we all know and hate is under this!" By the time Wario had finished this, Mario and Luigi had already left. He called out his next words, hoping that they would listen. "Hey! Mario! Luigi! He's not! He's not the one who put the curse on us! Somebody told me!"

To Wario's dismay, Mario and Luigi weren't even listening anymore, as they were more focused on the mystery that they were trying to solve.

TO BE CONTINUED...