Watch The Comet Fly

A fanfic by

kribble the mighty

Author's Note: This is my first fanfic. I plan to write a whole bunch of stories with these characters, which may happen, but it may also peter out (like so many other of my ideas), and school and stuff may screw up my writing but if I do write them, which I hope I will, then I sincerely hope that you will read it and review it. Thanks! (By the way, if you flame, you will be ignored, so don't even try it please.) And now, please enjoy! (One more thing: the beginning is mainly a highly dramatized version of the Super Mario Galaxy opening with both Mario and Luigi instead of just Mario; after that part, it's all Luigi except for one part when Luigi rescues Mario.)

The summer wind blew through the Mushroom Kingdom, and a man in green sat alone on his roof, looking up at the blood-red sunset in the infinite field of sky. He was not especially noticeable, except for three distinguishing things: a bright green paperboy's cap with an L emblazoned in white on its crest, a green sweatshirt with blue overalls, and an impressively thick mustache. His eyes were faded blue, and they had somewhat of a wistful look about them he watched the tangerine sun sink through the darkening sky. He heard someone approaching, and looked down at his front path quickly, seeing another man dressed similarly, except the newcomer was dressed in red, had an "M" on his cap, and was somewhat shorter and stouter than the man in green. "Hey, bro!" said the man on the roof, waving to his brother. "Hi, Luigi!" said the brother. For that was the man's name: Luigi, Mario's brother and partner in times of great need for the Mushroom Kingdom. Luigi slowly crawled across the slippery roof to the trapdoor that led down into the attic, and climbed down the ladder. He stretched, and then dropped down from the attic into his own room. Making his way downstairs, he noticed, as he came into the living room that Mario was agitated. "What's wrong, Mario?" asked Luigi. "Well…I'm worried about the Star Festival," replied Mario uneasily. "I have a feeling something terrible is going to happen…something Bowser-related. Do you remember what happened last summer?" "Oh yeah, the Isle Delfino incident," recalled Luigi, "that was unlucky, especially as it came right at the start of what should have been a relaxing vacation." "Yeah, but Luigi…I think something even worse is going to happen. I just don't feel right about this," said Mario uncertainly. "Okay, well then, why don't we go together? I didn't really want to go, but if you feel that strongly about it, we should probably make sure we're both there to stop it before it gets really bad. Even if it is Bowser-related, if we come prepared, then we should be able to stop his plans before they get off the ground," said Luigi in a reasonable tone of voice. Mario agreed, and, the following night, they set out together for the Star Festival. As they moved through the celebrations, grabbing the shining star bits left and right, something ominous caught Luigi's eye. A fleet of airships, flying the flag of Bowser. Luigi immediately went into full-blown panic mode. He wasn't sure what he was going to do; but he did know that he had to warn Mario now. "Mario!" he hissed in his brother's ear. "Look!" Mario's eyes followed the path of Luigi's finger, and halted upon the airships, buzzing through the sky like a horde of locusts. His pupils dilated, and he set off running full tilt toward Peach's Castle. Luigi hesitated a moment, and then followed, at an even faster run. Just as they both entered the castle courtyard, the noise of the airships shattered the air around them. Cannonballs shaped like meteors crashed through the town and the two brothers ran even faster. But it was too late; Bowser had deployed an odd-looking ship with a sinister appearance. It hovered over the castle for a fraction of a second, and then three massive lasers blasted out of nodes on the bottom. It cut through the land around the castle, severely loosing its hold on the earth, and the airships shot wicked black chains just as Luigi and Mario jumped inside the castle. The brothers were thrown into the air, out the open front door, and onto the bridge. Luigi opened one of his eyes cautiously, looked down, and immediately felt giddy. The airships had moved out of the atmosphere of the planet, and were moving into deep space, dragging the castle, the helpless Mario Bros., and Princess Peach along with them. But with the suddenness of a summer rainstorm, Kamek, who was flying around the castle making sure all loose ends were tied, spotted the Bros. hanging on for dear life to the bridge. With an evil cackle, Kamek aimed an unpleasant-looking spell at Mario, who was instantly thrown off the castle at the explosion, and just barely managed to get one hand on the bridge. "Mario!" Luigi screamed, and hurled himself towards his brother, trying to hoist him back up, where they both could, hopefully, defeat Kamek. Kamek, who was unaccustomed to such bravery from Luigi, snarled and blasted another explosive spell at him. He never had a chance…

II.

"L-man." "L-man." "L-man!" Luigi slowly came to. He looked around and saw a bunny standing over him. Now isn't that odd, he thought. A bunny, talking. And then all the memories of the previous day came rushing back. He jumped up, shaking. "Wh-where a-am I?" he inquired of the rabbit. He was terrified that something had happened to him or his brother – that he was in some afterlife right now, or that his brother was. "It's all right," said the bunny soothingly. "You're safe." "Well, I sure as hell don't feel safe!" Luigi snapped. " Tell me where I am!" The rabbit smiled mischievously. "I will tell you…but you'll have to catch me first!" Giggling, the animal began hopping away from Luigi at high speed. Luigi tore after the bunny, a manic glint in his eye. He was going to find out where he was, and what happened to his brother, and be damned to all the bunnies in the world. Finally, his hands trapped the rabbit, and the creature agreed to talk. "You're in the Gateway," said the bunny unhelpfully. "The Gateway to what?" said Luigi, annoyed. "The Gateway to the Comet Observatory." said the animal. And before Luigi's eyes, the rabbit spun in midair, and melted into an adorable star-like being. Luma, said Luigi's subconscious brain to his conscious, and also said, a second later, How in the Mushroom Kingdom do I know that? He had no time to contemplate these thoughts, however, as more Lumas appeared out of nowhere, all of them saying, "Come see Mama! Come see Mama!" and with surprising strength, they carried Luigi to the top of the tower, which was at the apex of the small planetoid. As he approached the balcony, he could see a glowing figure. As the small star beings set him down, the figure turned towards him.

His heart stopped.

It was Princess Peach…

No…, he corrected himself. It was not Princess Peach. But this girl looked eerily similar to her. Her dress was a light blue, she carried a star wand, wore odd earrings that looked like a mix of star and cross, and her hair completely obscured her left eye, but other than that, she could have been Peach's twin. Now that he looked more closely, however, she looked less like Princess Peach than he had originally thought. Her face was more delicate, thinner and looked sadder. She spoke, and he shook himself out of these reflections soon enough to catch her last word. " – you." Luigi looked quizzically at her and asked, "I'm sorry, what was that?" She blinked and looked perplexed. She said slowly, "I said, wayfarer, welcome, I have a question I would like to ask of you." She had an odd mode of speech, at least odd to Luigi, who was used to informal language, even from the Princess. Toadsworth was a different matter, but Luigi didn't really talk to Toadsworth much unless the situation required it; Luigi winced as he saw he had missed the girl's comment again. "Um…I'm sorry, I missed your question." he said sheepishly. She looked annoyed for a moment, but she quickly composed herself. She said in a grand tone of voice, "I require your assistance in a matter of the utmost importance. Please follow me." She climbed onto an odd, star-shaped device, and it launched her through the heavens to a small, metallic, planetoid. "Easier said then done," muttered Luigi, looking apprehensively at the strange machine, but he climbed on nonetheless.

Nothing happened.

"What am I supposed to do now?" he said, irritated. "You spin," said the Luma who had found Luigi. "And how am I meant to do that?" demanded Luigi, growing more irritated by the second. "Here, I'll help you," said the Luma, which happened to be silver, and he dove under Luigi's hat. Seconds later, Luigi knew how to spin, and did so, causing the device to send him flying through open space. As he flew, he suddenly knew the name of the machine, Launch Star. He was beginning to be frightened. How did he know all this? He had no time to think about this because at that moment, he landed on the planetoid. The girl was standing there. "Hello," she said sarcastically, "how kind of you to appear at last." Luigi, who was angered by her arrogant manner, opened his mouth to retort, but was cut off by the girl. She said, in an urgent tone of voice, "Time is running out. You must retrieve the Grand Star, so we can return power to the observatory. After we have done that, I will tell you more about me and my business. Now go. Hurry!" Without waiting for a response, she pushed Luigi onto another, smaller, and somewhat less obtrusive star, which she quickly told him was called a Sling Star, and he launched to a larger, more ominous planetoid. As soon as he landed, he saw a pipe leading into the center of the planet. Unpleasant visions swam through his befuddled mind of what could lie in wait inside the spiky metallic orb of a planet, and he groaned aloud. Nonetheless, he jumped toward the pipe and slid inside. That was where the adventure really began…