Most of the brawlers were considered to be heroes. For example, in many of his adventures, Mario recused Princess Peach from Bowser, including the Mushroom Kingdom and even the galaxy. Being the incarnation of the Hero's Spirit, Link saved Hyrule from Ganondorf, the incarnation of Demise's hatred. Pokemon Trainer Red stopped Team Rocket from advancing in their evil, selfish plans. Ness saved his world from Giygas. While Roy managed to lead an army against Bern, Marth reclaimed his kingdom and defeated Medeus, and Ike helped Princess Elincia reclaim Crimea from King Ashnard.
Now, Luigi was hero. He aided his brother Mario and a few of his journeys and even rescued him once from King Boo. Despite the heroic acts, Luigi was considered to be a coward, not a hero. Why?
Unlike most of the mentioned heroes, who were brave and selfless, Luigi was a bit... Cowardly and timid. He was the type of person who jumped at the sight of his shadow, locked his doors when he heard Ike snore loudly in the middle of the night, and run at the sight of a tiny, harmless, spider.
Due to Luigi's flaw, many of the other brawlers love to pull pranks on him and watch his reactions for their own amusement.
One night, Mario and Luigi were making dinner for the other brawlers.
"Luigi, can-a you take out the trash for-a me?" Mario pointed to a trash can, which was overflowing with useless junk.
Luigi looked outside. It was pitch-black, indicating that it was dark. "D-D-Do you really want-a me to take out the trash-a? It's-a kinda dark..."
"Luigi, it's-a not that bad!" Mario encouraged. "Besides, if-a anything happens, I'll-a come to the rescue!"
"Ok, i-if you-a say so..." Luigi swallowed nervously as he carefully took the bag of trash out.
Hesitant, Luigi dragged the stuffed bag towards the back door. His hands shaking, he took the door handle and shakily pulled the door open. The only things he saw outside were jagged shadows. A few crickets were chirping calmly, convincing Luigi that everything was well.
"Weeell... It's-a just the dark-a!" Luigi said to himself, trying to calm down. "I just-a need to take out the trash-a and walk back-a in the mansion!"
Swallowing his nervousness and trying to stay brave, Luigi carefully walked into the darkness. He eyed the trash cans near the side of the mansion.
Step by step, Luigi precariously went closer to one of the trash cans. The only thing that seemed to watch him was the large moon looming in the clear sky. The crickets continued to chirp, assuring Luigi that everything was still fine.
Luigi unevenly opened a trash can and quickly dumped all the smelly garbage into it. As he slammed the trash can shut, and anxiously looked around his creepy surroundings.
"Well, I did-a it!" Luigi cheered to himself with a beaming smile. "Nothing-a didn't scare me this-a time!"
Relieved that nothing spooky lunged at him in the middle of the night, Luigi was about to calmly walk back into the kitchen when suddenly, the door slammed shut. Luigi jumped and tried to open the door, however it was glued shut! Luigi anxiously looked around. The crickets froze and stopped chirping and a large, gray cloud covered the moon.
"Ooh boy..." Luigi knocked the kitchen door. "Mario? Can-a you open the door? It's-a locked!"
There was a suddenly crash. With a high-pitched, girly squeal, Luigi quickly looked around. What was happening?! Was it a Boo? A Redead? A group of Risen hiding in the bushes?
"Who's there?" Luigi anxiously asked out loud.
"Ooooooooaaaahhhh..." a ghostly, mysteriously voice groaned.
Luigi fretfully looked behind him and didn't see anything. The eerie voice moaned again, causing Luigi to look at the source of the distant wail. It emitted from one of the trash cans.
"Don't worry, Luigi." Luigi said to himself as he nervously went towards a trash can. "It's just-a your imagination!"
Hesitant, Luigi reached for the lid of the trash can, before pausing. Well, maybe he should get Mario first! He felt safer with his brother by his side. But, Mario might laugh at him and assure that there were no ghosts. That would add insult to Luigi's reputation as a coward. Luigi was sick of being called a coward!
Trying to stay brave, Luigi quickly opened the can's lid. His eyes widened and he began to shake as he saw its contents. Instead of seeing a black bag of trash, he saw a ghost gaze creepily at him. Although it looked like a stereotypical Halloween ghost; pure white sheet with dark, beady eyes and an innocent smile, its features were enough to frighten Luigi.
"Ahh!" Luigi jumped and turned to flee, only to see two more ghosts surround him, moaning and wailing in the night. The first ghost slowly got out of the trash can and surrounded the frightened Luigi with its pals.
"Maaaaaariooooooo!" Luigi screamed panicky as the three ghosts corner him against the mansion.
Luigi's scream for help echoed throughout the Smash Mansion. Some of the brawlers heard his shout and quickly rushed to the scene. Others stayed where they are, as they sensed that Luigi was just overacting over something.
Mario was the first one to arrive to the scene. As soon as he opened the door, Luigi ran into him, knocking him over.
"Luigi!" Mario exclaimed, getting up. "What's-a wrong?"
Link, Roy, Pit, Fox, and Falco arrived and listened to Luigi's story.
"There are ghosts, everyone!" Luigi pointed to the three ghosts, who were strangely looking at him. Unable to hold in their laughter, they began to giggle quietly.
"Ghosts?" Roy asked out loud. He looked at Pit. "They don't look scary..."
"I know..." Pit replied.
"Ghosts?" Mario glanced at the ghosts, whose giggling turned into hysterical laughter. "I don't think-a that they are ghosts!"
Mario went towards one of the ghosts, took its white bed sheet, and pulled it off, revealing an uproariously laughing Ness. Luigi's pale face turned pink in embarrassment. The other brawlers looked at Ness, trying to hold in their laughter.
"Ness?!" Link exclaimed, raising an eyebrow. "Wait a minute..."
Toon and Villager threw off their sheets as they giggled uncontrollably. Unable to hold in their laughter, Roy, Pit, Fox, and Falco erupted into an explosion of laughter. Roy and Pit were rolling on the floor. Fox and Falco were chortling so hard, they thought they were going to wet their pants.
"Children!" Link exclaimed sternly. "Never do that again!" he scolded. "You had us all worried!"
Sadly, Link couldn't get the hysterical child brawlers' attentions. He was a bit shocked at why the children did this. Yes, Luigi had the reputation of being cowardly and afraid of everything, however that did not grant them the right to humiliate him!
"Hey Luigi, are-a you ok?" Mario asked his younger brother, trying to reassure him.
"Maybe." Luigi replied, burying his face into his hands. "Oh, Mario! I can't believe I fell for that!"
"It's ok, Luigi!" Mario replied with an uplifting smile. "We all get-a scared sometimes!"
Luigi suddenly turned to leave the scene.
"Hey, Luigi! Where are you going?!" Mario asked.
"I'm leaving." Luigi sighed unhappily. "I just-a need some time alone."
Luigi left the kitchen, unable to erase the humiliating laughter, embarrassment, and terrifying moment from his thoughts.
Meanwhile, Lucas, Nana, and Popo were laughing loudly (giggling quietly in terms of Lucas.) at their recent, uploaded video on YouTube. They repeatedly watching poor Luigi's frightened, humiliating reaction to their well-thought, planned prank.
"Hey look! Our video has over one-hundred-thousand views in just one jour!" Popo pointed out, trying to calm down.
"That is awesome!" Nana exclaimed. "We might be famous on the internet!"
"Hey, do you think we hurt Luigi's feelings?" Lucas softly spoke up.
"Nah, he'll get over it!" Popo replied carelessly. "Besides, the other brawlers make fun of him all the time!"
Luigi somberly walked down the lonely hallways. Whenever he passed by another brawler or a visitor, he looked away, not wanting to make eye contact. He already had enough disgrace and did not want someone to bring that dreadful memory back.
Although it seemed that he didn't mind being humiliated, Luigi slowly wished for a bit of respect. His self-esteem finally hit rock-bottom. All of the brawlers were respected by their peers, including the frightening Bowser and the erratic, strange Game & Watch. But him? He was shamed, looked down, teased, and laughed at by the other brawlers, despite respecting others back! Just because he was cowardly and spineless did not mean that he deserved shame and lack of respect!
Sick of the negative feelings swirling in his stomach, Luigi finally let it burst out of the cage in his heart.
"Why can't-a I ever get some-a respect?!" he cried out, leaning against the wall. He slowly slid down to the floor. "Everyone makes-a fun of me just because I get-a scared easily! I'll-a do anything for some respect, even if I have to pay all of-a my Smash Coins?"
Luigi sighed loudly before continuing his way. Unbeknownst to him, a certain, evil plumber overheard him.
"Hey, Luigi!" a voice whispered out loud. Luigi turned around and saw Wario.
"Oh, hey Wario." Luigi quietly replied, going towards Mario's archrival. "What-a do you need?"
"I heard your-a problems." Wario sneakily said.
"Yes, everyone doesn't respect-a me!" Luigi responded, shaking his head miserably. "They do nothing but-a laugh at me!"
"Hey, I think-a I can help you!" Wario said with a tricky smile. "I have a great-a deal for you!"
"What-s it is?" Luigi asked. He was a bit suspicious. He was told by Mario to never make deals with Wario.
"I can-a sell you some respect." Wario explained. "In a matter of time, everyone will-a respect you! What-a do you say? Deal?"
Desperate for even a bit of respect, Luigi said, "Deal!" He shook Wario's hand.
"It's-a deal!" Wario replied with a grin. "I'll-a see you tomorrow for your first dose-a of respect!"
As Wario quickly hurried away, Luigi gasped. "Wait, Wario! What-a do you mean, respect?!"
It was too late, as Wario vanished.
"I forgot to ask-a him the price of respect..." Luigi sighed, burying his face into his hands.
Author's Notes: Don't worry, Luigi! I'm a bigger coward than you!
In case you guys don't know, this fanfic has been hanging in my brain for a while. I was going to start on it after finish the sequel to Hollow, but I couldn't wait! So, I decided to upload the first chapter!
Like The Brawling Times, this fanfic will mainly focus on the brawlers and maybe the visitors. So, this story isn't going to have a lot of descriptions and whatnot. Hopefully, this won't bore everyone to death!
Story Questions:
What are you afraid of? (Personally, I'm afraid of doing poorly in my classes, spiders, cockroaches, and scary movies.)
Had you ever been in the same situation as Luigi's?
What do you think Wario meant by "selling respect to Luigi"?