Lost Amongst Lava (Open)

[The Vision]

Luigi stepped through the portal and panted. "Mamma mia," he whined, and started fanning himself with his hat. It was outrageously hot in this place. There were crags and cliffs jutting out in every which direction, and they were all squeezed by sweltering, air-warping lava. The sheer heat seemed to choke breath here. A colossal volcano seemed to be constantly erupting in the distance, billowing smoke and dust into the heavens. Luigi sighed. This was, after all, the only logical place for Bowser to be. And wherever he was, Mario was trying to get to.

Maybe he could find Mario here?

Luigi started running forward, leaping high over cracks in the ground and the rivers of molten rock. Gravity felt different here, but nonetheless, the famous Mario Bros. jumps were still working. He flew high, fist proudly in the air, sailing through the boiling winds. He decided to give one more long jump, letting himself slide a bit, then using the momentum to launch himself forward.

"YE-HEY!" he shouted.

He landed at the edge of a particularly big cliffside. Luckily, it was parallel to another one, allowing for some easy Wall Jumps. Luigi scaled the cliff in a matter of seconds, then wiped sweat off of his brow. He fanned himself with his hat again, then ran his fingers through his hair before donning the cap.

"Hanh?" he said, looking down. A giant crack was dissecting the otherwise intact (though craggy) cliff surface. There was a gentle, red light flashing from inside.

Lava didn't flash.

Luigi felt panic rise in his chest again.

There was someone there.

"Maaaario?" he whispered, "Maaario?"

Suddenly, an explosion of gas from a steam vent caught him by surprise. Heat burned Luigi's back, and he felt the familiar stinging pain on his buttocks. In shock and pain, Luigi flew straight up in the air, crying, "OWOWOWOWOW!" Out of control, Luigi flailed and sprinted around, trying to put out the fire on his butt. After a while, fortunately, his pants were no longer on fire. Unfortunately, his feet were no longer on anything.

The plumber in green slowly tipped his head down to see why he felt like he wasn't standing on anything. He got a simple enough answer.

He wasn't.

"Oh no," Luigi said to himself. Then, he fell.

"AAAHHAHAHAAAHHHH" *konk!* "OOHOOWAHAA" *whump!* "YAWWW" *meow!* "MAMMA MIAAAA"

Painfully, Luigi landed on top of something soft. He managed to push himself up and rub his head, which was pulsing in pain. "OOoohhOOohoh," he moaned.

He stood up with great effort and managed to adjust his cap. He had fallen into the pit, clearly. It was much longer fall than he expected. The tunnel was very much in reach, and Luigi realized he could easily hop between the walls, when he realized that there shouldn't have been anything soft in the mountain to begin with.

Luigi looked down and saw a man - another one of those "normal-sized" ones - with rough black hair that climbed down the back of his neck. He was lying down on the ground, groaning.

"Waaah!" Luigi exclaimed, then stooped over to examine the man. Luigi shrugged. He was probably fine. Luigi simply said, "Soh-ree!" and looked around himself.