Luigi pondered deeper onto the tiny riddle Bowser had left them with.
“Two heads, five tiles off and three corners out,” he muttered to himself repeatedly, eyeing the two statues, the door from which they’d first entered back and forth.
“Um, Luigi…?” Yoshi noticed the green plumber from the corner of his eye. “What are you muttering about…?”
“There’s something about those two statues, and the door that we came in earlier—something’s off…,” he mumbled, not really talking to Yoshi at all.
The green dinosaur frowned. “ ‘Something’s off’? I don’t get it—what is it about those statues—and the door—that makes you think that—” Suddenly he stopped; he’d finally understood what his plumber friend was getting to.
He was having a sleuthing moment.
Go get ‘em, Luigi, Yoshi cheered in his head. There had been just few, but far precious times when his pal’s strange talent for solving puzzles and riddles had been the main reason they’d gotten this far.
“Aha! I got it!” Luigi exclaimed suddenly; this time Yoshi didn’t jump at the outburst—he’d already gotten used to his friend’s ability.
“What were you able to dig up?” Yoshi asked smoothly—at that point he was willing to go through practically anything his friend would be asking them to do.
“Remember what Bowser said—you know, just before he left us off to fight his battalion of underlings?” Luigi asked.
“Yeah, something about two heads, five tiles off…and…and…” Yoshi scowled, thinking hard. “There was something else—I can’t get it right because it really didn’t make sense….Something about three—”
“Three corners out,” Luigi finished. “Now, look at the statues.”
The green dinosaur raised an eyebrow. “Well, they look pretty much the same as the ones that we used the key jewel for in order to enter past the security system.”
“Yeah, that’s a-good, but look at the distance they have between each other, and the distance of the door that we took in the moment the entered inside the castle.”
Yoshi looked hard—it took a while. Then he finally said, “Well, if we were from the perspective of the gates, looking straight, I’d say that the door we had taken seems perfectly at the middle. And not only that, the distance looks too perfect, like a…triangle.”
“Now tell me, Yoshi—how many corners does a triangle have…?” Luigi pressed.
“Three,” Yoshi answered automatically, then his eyes bulged and shock dawned on him. “Wait—you’re not seriously telling me the triangle formation these two statues and the door make was what Bowser meant…?”
“It is,” Luigi insisted, “It has to be.”
“Okay, but what about the other two things mentioned—two heads and five tiles off…?”
“Notice the tiles on the floor?”
“Yeah, but...it’s not like it leads anywhere….”
“The two statues represent the two heads—mainly because they’re the ones that have heads—and starting from the first tile”—Luigi stepped toward the gates of the castle, as close as possible—while making sure that he was an equal distance between the statues—and looked at Yoshi. “Pal, I want you to stand your closest at the door that formed the triangle.”
Yoshi shrugged. “Okay, then….”
“Okay, good,” Luigi murmured when the green dinosaur positioned himself in front of the door; facing each other, they were now perfectly parallel. “Now I a-want you to walk forward, all while counting the tiles. And we’ll stop the moment we reach the fifth tile.”
The two walked forward, passing internally counting the tiles as they pass by them. Then they stopped, having passed by five tiles; there was a single tile that lay in front of them.
“Five tiles off,” Luigi confirmed, pleased that what he’d figured out was correct.
“So we have a single tile in front of us—what now?” Yoshi wondered.
“Let’s try to take off the tile,” Luigi suggested. He held out the key jewel they’d used earlier.
Yoshi gave the plumber a confused look, but he complied. Together with his pal, they tried to pull out the tile that was in front of them. To their surprise, there a slight click sound, and underneath was a dent.
“What…?” Yoshi gasped, too much in awe to say anything for the moment.
“I’m a-starting to think that this”—he put up the key jewel—“really belongs to that dent.”
Yoshi watched in amazement as Luigi bent down to place the jewel into the dent, and both their jaws practically dropped as it fit right into place, as if it was really meant to be there.
“I…I…,” Yoshi spluttered, trying to say something. “I…Wow, that’s really something.”
“I know,” Luigi breathed.
“But…what does that—” Yoshi had barely finished his sentence when a rumbling sound came from the door that had led them to the confusing labyrinth of endless hallways.
“It a-came from that door that we took,” Luigi said, stating the obvious.
“I wonder what just happened,” Yoshi wondered, then he said together with Luigi, “Let’s check it out.”
The duo ran toward the door and entered.
Shock ran across their faces. Behind the door…
…was a single straight, and short hallway, with the door at the very end.
“I can’t believe this,” Yoshi muttered, “This wasn’t like a while ago….”
“It’s just like the last level at World Eight,” Luigi recalled. “Like those times when you need to figure out exactly which route you need to take, and what pipe you need to enter in order to get to the right way to Bowser—otherwise you’ll just be walking circles.”
“I’m a little surprised Bowser still stayed with the old set-up,” Yoshi said in awe. “I kind of thought that he would remake everything.”
“Still…,” Luigi murmured, narrowing his eyes at the door, very obvious, at the end of the short hallway, “I’m not sure why he bothered confusing us. But then again…” He looked down, and his next words sounded more like he was talking to himself, as if he were alone. “With everything we’ve gone through, everything we saw deceived us. Maybe it’s best if we try to look beyond what we normally see.”
“What…do you mean…?” Yoshi said, trying to break into Luigi’s reverie.
“Just look—back at Yoshi’s Island, there were so many eyes, yet if we looked hard, only several of them can help defeat that monster. At World Seven, when I fell into that illusion, it seemed so real I could almost believe it. At the Mansion”—he flinched—“when King Boo showed all those images of Mario and everyone else suffer, they looked so real I almost thought off giving up—it was so real it made you fall into his trance and give up.”
Yoshi flinched as well, pricked by the memory.
“And now this”—the thin Mario bro gestured to the door waiting evidently at the end—“When we came as is, we only got confused because it only made us walk in circles, just like back in World Eight. But when we got back to whence we came, and looked hard, we found a totally different way behind that door.
Yoshi nodded. “I guess after everything we got ourselves into, it would make better sense if we try to look beyond our plain sight—if we treated all this with a ‘what you see is what you get’ attitude, we’ll be sure to fall into a trap sooner or later, or worse, take a quick trip to the dungeon together with everyone else.”
“Exactly.”
“But what do we do now, Luigi?”
They still hadn’t moved so much as an inch closer toward the door at the end of the hallway, then for a second of deafening silence, uncertainty swept across the duo’s features.
“Well, I a-did say we need to be careful, but I guess there are times when we need to see what will happen next.”
Yoshi grinned—his plumber pal really had grown throughout the course of their journey. “Don’t worry—I’m with you all the way.”
Luigi winked. “You’ve always been. Now let’s a-go.”
“Two heads, five tiles off and three corners out,” he muttered to himself repeatedly, eyeing the two statues, the door from which they’d first entered back and forth.
“Um, Luigi…?” Yoshi noticed the green plumber from the corner of his eye. “What are you muttering about…?”
“There’s something about those two statues, and the door that we came in earlier—something’s off…,” he mumbled, not really talking to Yoshi at all.
The green dinosaur frowned. “ ‘Something’s off’? I don’t get it—what is it about those statues—and the door—that makes you think that—” Suddenly he stopped; he’d finally understood what his plumber friend was getting to.
He was having a sleuthing moment.
Go get ‘em, Luigi, Yoshi cheered in his head. There had been just few, but far precious times when his pal’s strange talent for solving puzzles and riddles had been the main reason they’d gotten this far.
“Aha! I got it!” Luigi exclaimed suddenly; this time Yoshi didn’t jump at the outburst—he’d already gotten used to his friend’s ability.
“What were you able to dig up?” Yoshi asked smoothly—at that point he was willing to go through practically anything his friend would be asking them to do.
“Remember what Bowser said—you know, just before he left us off to fight his battalion of underlings?” Luigi asked.
“Yeah, something about two heads, five tiles off…and…and…” Yoshi scowled, thinking hard. “There was something else—I can’t get it right because it really didn’t make sense….Something about three—”
“Three corners out,” Luigi finished. “Now, look at the statues.”
The green dinosaur raised an eyebrow. “Well, they look pretty much the same as the ones that we used the key jewel for in order to enter past the security system.”
“Yeah, that’s a-good, but look at the distance they have between each other, and the distance of the door that we took in the moment the entered inside the castle.”
Yoshi looked hard—it took a while. Then he finally said, “Well, if we were from the perspective of the gates, looking straight, I’d say that the door we had taken seems perfectly at the middle. And not only that, the distance looks too perfect, like a…triangle.”
“Now tell me, Yoshi—how many corners does a triangle have…?” Luigi pressed.
“Three,” Yoshi answered automatically, then his eyes bulged and shock dawned on him. “Wait—you’re not seriously telling me the triangle formation these two statues and the door make was what Bowser meant…?”
“It is,” Luigi insisted, “It has to be.”
“Okay, but what about the other two things mentioned—two heads and five tiles off…?”
“Notice the tiles on the floor?”
“Yeah, but...it’s not like it leads anywhere….”
“The two statues represent the two heads—mainly because they’re the ones that have heads—and starting from the first tile”—Luigi stepped toward the gates of the castle, as close as possible—while making sure that he was an equal distance between the statues—and looked at Yoshi. “Pal, I want you to stand your closest at the door that formed the triangle.”
Yoshi shrugged. “Okay, then….”
“Okay, good,” Luigi murmured when the green dinosaur positioned himself in front of the door; facing each other, they were now perfectly parallel. “Now I a-want you to walk forward, all while counting the tiles. And we’ll stop the moment we reach the fifth tile.”
The two walked forward, passing internally counting the tiles as they pass by them. Then they stopped, having passed by five tiles; there was a single tile that lay in front of them.
“Five tiles off,” Luigi confirmed, pleased that what he’d figured out was correct.
“So we have a single tile in front of us—what now?” Yoshi wondered.
“Let’s try to take off the tile,” Luigi suggested. He held out the key jewel they’d used earlier.
Yoshi gave the plumber a confused look, but he complied. Together with his pal, they tried to pull out the tile that was in front of them. To their surprise, there a slight click sound, and underneath was a dent.
“What…?” Yoshi gasped, too much in awe to say anything for the moment.
“I’m a-starting to think that this”—he put up the key jewel—“really belongs to that dent.”
Yoshi watched in amazement as Luigi bent down to place the jewel into the dent, and both their jaws practically dropped as it fit right into place, as if it was really meant to be there.
“I…I…,” Yoshi spluttered, trying to say something. “I…Wow, that’s really something.”
“I know,” Luigi breathed.
“But…what does that—” Yoshi had barely finished his sentence when a rumbling sound came from the door that had led them to the confusing labyrinth of endless hallways.
“It a-came from that door that we took,” Luigi said, stating the obvious.
“I wonder what just happened,” Yoshi wondered, then he said together with Luigi, “Let’s check it out.”
The duo ran toward the door and entered.
Shock ran across their faces. Behind the door…
…was a single straight, and short hallway, with the door at the very end.
“I can’t believe this,” Yoshi muttered, “This wasn’t like a while ago….”
“It’s just like the last level at World Eight,” Luigi recalled. “Like those times when you need to figure out exactly which route you need to take, and what pipe you need to enter in order to get to the right way to Bowser—otherwise you’ll just be walking circles.”
“I’m a little surprised Bowser still stayed with the old set-up,” Yoshi said in awe. “I kind of thought that he would remake everything.”
“Still…,” Luigi murmured, narrowing his eyes at the door, very obvious, at the end of the short hallway, “I’m not sure why he bothered confusing us. But then again…” He looked down, and his next words sounded more like he was talking to himself, as if he were alone. “With everything we’ve gone through, everything we saw deceived us. Maybe it’s best if we try to look beyond what we normally see.”
“What…do you mean…?” Yoshi said, trying to break into Luigi’s reverie.
“Just look—back at Yoshi’s Island, there were so many eyes, yet if we looked hard, only several of them can help defeat that monster. At World Seven, when I fell into that illusion, it seemed so real I could almost believe it. At the Mansion”—he flinched—“when King Boo showed all those images of Mario and everyone else suffer, they looked so real I almost thought off giving up—it was so real it made you fall into his trance and give up.”
Yoshi flinched as well, pricked by the memory.
“And now this”—the thin Mario bro gestured to the door waiting evidently at the end—“When we came as is, we only got confused because it only made us walk in circles, just like back in World Eight. But when we got back to whence we came, and looked hard, we found a totally different way behind that door.
Yoshi nodded. “I guess after everything we got ourselves into, it would make better sense if we try to look beyond our plain sight—if we treated all this with a ‘what you see is what you get’ attitude, we’ll be sure to fall into a trap sooner or later, or worse, take a quick trip to the dungeon together with everyone else.”
“Exactly.”
“But what do we do now, Luigi?”
They still hadn’t moved so much as an inch closer toward the door at the end of the hallway, then for a second of deafening silence, uncertainty swept across the duo’s features.
“Well, I a-did say we need to be careful, but I guess there are times when we need to see what will happen next.”
Yoshi grinned—his plumber pal really had grown throughout the course of their journey. “Don’t worry—I’m with you all the way.”
Luigi winked. “You’ve always been. Now let’s a-go.”
