Well, I finally decided to continue it. They're still in Brooklyn, but I'll be taking them to the Mushroom Kingdom eventually (maybe in another chapter or two).
Ten-year-old Luigi knew that he was late in coming home from school. He had had a special P.E. training program that had been given to him after they discovered his quick speed and high jumps. Mario, who had never liked athletics, had gone home without him. The younger twin was too tired to run home, so he simply walked.
Traveling through the streets, he saw an odd green pipe inside an alleyway that he had strangely never noticed before. Like most boys his age, Luigi was curious, and he dreamed of adventure. Therefore, it was only natural that he would want to climb through the pipe.
Luigi Mario crawled through the pipe. It was hot, and every once in awhile he would take off his hat and fan himself with it. It seemed like ages, but finally he saw a light ahead of him. He pulled himself forward, and his jaw dropped in surprise.
The place seemed old and dreary, with bits of normal water pipes lining the ceiling. Drops silently dripped from the pipes. The boy glanced around, amazed. He turned himself around and around, simply staring at everything. Then, when he turned around to go back into the pipe, he nearly screamed.
A round white something was blocking the exit to the pipe. Luigi spun around quickly, trying to calm his racing heart. He turned back around, only to find the white thing quickly heading towards him. He finally screamed, and bolted through the other exit – a door. He ran through the place, trying to escape the strange white thing following him. However, many more white things were around, and they saw him and began to chase him.
Luigi backed himself into a corner and looked like he was about to wet himself. He whimpered and closed his eyes. He was afraid of these creepy white things. He was afraid!
"Fire!" a voice shouted. Luigi heard some squealing, and kept his eyes shut for some more time before finally opening them. A man was standing in front of him, fire coming from his hand. The strange white things squealed before fading away. The man sighed, the fire leaving his hand, and turned around to Luigi. He held out a familiar green object – Luigi's hat. When had that fallen off?
"I believe this is yours," the man said. Luigi took the hat, put it on, and studied the man with curiosity. The man had dark brown and blue eyes – much like Luigi's own. There was also a blue hat with a 'T' on his head. Luigi thought he was hallucinating. The hat looked a lot like his.
"W-what were those...?" Luigi whimpered slightly. He never wanted to see one of those odd white round things ever again.
"Boos," the man said in a matter-of-fact tone. "They're a type of ghost."
"G-ghosts?!" Luigi nearly squeaked.
The man nodded. "Quite dangerous if you don't know how to deal with them. Good thing they don't like fire. But that aside. Where did you come from? There is supposed to be nobody here. You're lucky I decided to search this place today."
"I came through a big green pipe..."
"A big green pipe," the man repeated softly. Luigi nodded, slightly face burning. He thought that the man must think him stupid. "Well, there is only one such pipe here. It should take you back to where you came from. Do you remember where it is?" Luigi shook his head. "Fine then. I will take you there. But be careful. Should you ever find it again, I hope you are prepared..."
Luigi and the man traveled through the building towards the same pipe that Luigi had crawled through. The man stood in front of the pipe as Luigi climbed into it. "I trust that you can find your way back on your own?" Luigi nodded. "Alright. Go now, son. Oh, and you have a twin brother, right?" Luigi, confused, nodded again. "Tell him that a friend said 'hi' when you get back, will you?"
Luigi blinked. "Okay... Mister, what is your name?"
It was now the man's turn to blink. "You can call me Torrone." That was the last thing Luigi heard from him before he crawled through the pipe and finally emerged in the familiar streets of Brooklyn.
The man, Torrone, smiled as he watched the now empty pipe. "So, you did come back... when will I see you again, my son?"
Luigi was scolded by his parents when he finally made it home. They weren't really angry, but they had been very scared. Mario too had been scared. Luigi thought to tell Mario about the strange man and the ghosts he had seen, but for some reason he didn't want to be in earshot of their parents.
That encounter with the green pipe had done more than give Luigi an adventure. He had seen a man that resembled him and Mario. Not only that, he was now terrified of ghosts, and refused to go out on Halloween. The Boos had frightened him that badly. His adoptive parents didn't understand this unusual and sudden fear, but they learned to live with it.
Eventually, two years later, Luigi did tell his brother about his adventure. Mario was skeptical at first, but then realized that even if Luigi was making it up, the younger twin was convinced that it had really happened.
"I don't get why you were so freaked about a ghost," Mario said. "You weren't before."
"I tell you, that thing was trying to kill me!" Luigi argued.
"What about the guy you saw? What was his name, Torrone?" Mario asked, dropping the subject about Luigi being terrified of ghosts.
"Yeah... it was... weird. He seemed to know about me. He asked whether I had a twin brother. About you. He wanted me to say 'hi' to you. Do you know him?"
"...Luigi, I've never met anyone named Torrone..."
"There was something else. He also looked like us, and had a hat like ours. Except the hat was blue and there was a 'T' on it."
"...This doesn't make any sense! One, we have abilities that no other kid has; fast speed and jumping height, even if you are better at both of them. Two, we have good endurance. Three, you encounter real ghosts, even though it's a fact that they don't exist. Four, you meet a guy that could pass for our real father..." Mario broke off, realizing what he had just said. "Our real father... Luigi... do you think...?"
"I don't know what to think," Luigi said, shaking his head.
And that explain's Luigi's fear of ghosts. He really needs to call ghostbusters. And don't worry about Torrone. He's not really a major character; he might just pop in here and there. So, how was it?
