Chapter 9

Ouroboros

General Karnage winced when he touched his head, there was pain there, a lot of pain, he had a massive headache which was down to being kicked across the hall and smashing his head against the wall a few days earlier.

Bowser had fared worse, he was thumped on the head a number of times by a falling Thwamp, but he seemed okay, after all he had a thick skull.

Being humiliated by this new shadow like character who calls himself Green Thunder hasn't gone down well with the Koopa King, he locked himself in his own quarters and shouted and yelled for days before he was calm enough to come out. When he did he took one look at his empty safe, slammed his door and began his tantrum all over again.

After about a week he seemed calm enough to leave his room at last, just so long as no one mentioned the words, Green, Thunder, or talked about coins then he was okay.

Curiously though Bowser was now hanging out with this Magikoopa that Karnage had never seen before. There was something odd about that character, he didn't know what though he just couldn't put his finger on it. It could be that each time he sees the Magikoopa he seemed to get more and more paler, and the fact that his limbs slowly became more stiff as time went on, a stiffness that vanished within 24 hours, this new Koopa was very odd. He didn't seem to eat or sleep and flies had started following him around. You could tell when he was coming because he seemed to be giving off a subtle odour which was probably what the flies were attracted to.

The one creepy thing about him though was that his lips by each day seemed to pull his face into some kind of grin showing the rotting teeth underneath. It reminded him of Fawnful's Magikoopa's from a couple of years back but this was clearly not one of his, this one had a brain of sorts.

Suddenly Bowser had given out an ultimatum, all his Koopa commanders were to report to him in a secret meeting place that was so secret Bowser had forgotten to write it down on the message. Kanrage at first wasn't going to go, he had better things to do but while in the corridor he bumped into another Koopa Commander. This one was kind of a rival, he was about his size with a green shell and blue eyes.

"Hello Sugar" Karnage said deadpan, the approaching Koopa's left check twitched nervously when he said it.

"That's Captain Sugar to you" he bit back. Captain Alexander Sugar was his full name, he wanted to be called Alexander as in Alexander the Great, but when Karnage started calling him Captain Sugar everyone started calling him that. Calling him simply Sugar however was a name Karnage had for him.

"And where are you going in such a hurry?" Karnage asked not really caring about the answer, he just wanted to get on his nerves.

"To the meeting of course, it's being held in Bowser's throne room, but of course you wouldn't know about it would you, you think you've got better things to do then listen to our Koopa leader." Sugar said, if he could sound any more like a backside kissing little weasel then he would be a weasel. But he was right, now that Karnage knew where it was he'd have no choice but to go, he'd prefer not to but he didn't want Sugar to think he was incompetent.

"Not at all, I was just wondering what was taking you so long. Bowser keeping you busy?" Karnage asked before suggesting "Got you and your squad to clean out the sewers?"

Sugar gave him an acid look before saying "Twice actually." He paused clearly thinking of something else to say "It's good training for the men, they must be ready in any conditions."

"Call me sceptical Sugar" Karnage said sarcasm heavy in his voice "but I don't think Koopa's have much call for crawling around dank, dark tunnels that are covered wall to wall the brown slurry from Bowsers royal toilet bowl."

"Ah, that's what you think Karange" Sugar jumped up at his chance to get his own back "My Koopa's could be sent on a dangerous daring mission that involves crawling through such areas."

"You're right there Sugar, you're Koopa's are needed" Karnage added "I hear Bowser blocked the toilet this morning."

Captain Sugar huffed and marched faster away from Karnage who was just behind him. The place of this so called secret meeting was in fact the throne room, because of course no one would think of looking for a meeting whether secret or not in here Karnage thought. The secret part was even less credible because in the throne room apart from the other five Koopa commanders there were also dozens of Koopa's and Goomba's milling around.

Karnage couldn't help but notice the Magikoopa in green robes and creepy wide grin come into the room and start pushing past everyone to get to the throne where Bowser sat, he was clearly annoyed that his secret meeting had been discovered so easily.

"How can Bowser expect secret meetings to stay secret when his security has more leaks then than his sewage pipes!" Karnage commented.

"I smell a rat" Sugar said suspiciously looking at Karnage accusingly, he just ignored him and quipped.

"No, that's just Ester Randson over there" he said referring to Bowser's wide grinning MagiKoopa friend.

"HEY, ATTENTION! ATTENTION!" Bowser called and the murmuring and conversation between the different Koopa's and Goomba's halted.

"Now, first I'd like to say, thanks everyone for taking time to attend this meeting but honestly if you're not supposed to here... GET LOST OR YOU'RE TOAST!" he shouted the last few words. The Koopa's and Goomba's not wanting to be turned into kebabs quickly left the room in a flash, within seconds there was not a trace that they had been there at all.

"Ever thought of doing crowd control at the next Football Strikers match?" Karnage joked, of course Bowser took it seriously.

"Crowd control? Yeah, maybe I will, then I can 'make' everyone all cheer for the Koopa Thumpers this year at the Star Cup!"

"Your Royal Koopaness" the pale MagiKoopa said in that hiss of a voice "Maybe we should start the meeting."

"Oh yeah, right" Bowser sat back down in his throne. There were only a handful of them there, Karnage and Sugar, plus five other Koopa commanders who looked like all the other Koopa's except they were slightly taller. Bowser's Hierarchy was based on whoever was the largest rather than skill or tactics, which is why if you were a good commander but you were short you weren't going to get anywhere. The other one was his advisor, Kamek, another Magikoopa who prided himself as being the most powerful magikoopa of the lot.

"I call this meeting to a start" Bowser said stamping his foot. "Now I've called you all here because we have a new enemy, that freak who stole my coins!" Bowser growled.

"and humiliated your kids, and beat you up, and gave you a wedgie and defeated your entire army." Karnage added.

"Huh? Yeah, yeah that too, who's in charge here?" Bowser growled

"You are sir" Karange said while saying under his breath "But I can't think why."

"That's right!" Bowser went back to what he was saying "The guy who calls himself Green Thunder, I have reason to believe this human with magic powers is a powerful Norse God of Mischief called Loki."

"Sir, how did you work that out?" Sugar queried. Lady bird book of Norse Gods I'm guessing Karnage thought.

"I have been granted an insight into these matters by a new ally, this!" he gestured towards the Magikoopa. "Is Nobody"

"That's rude isn't it? If he's our ally." Sugar said. Clearly the Koopa has said something and Bowser's taken it to mean exactly that.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Bowser growled.

"Shouldn't we call him by his name" Sugar asked.

"That is his name." Bowser growled.

"Nobody calls themselves Nobody" Kamek said

"If we could get back on track" the Nobody Magikoopa said, "if you want to call me anything call me..." he paused in thought, didn't he know his own name? "...Ouroboros"

"Are you Latin?" Kamek asked.

"You'd better stick with 'Nobody'" Karnage said quipping "Bowser has enough trouble with English."

"ENOUGH!" Bowser shouted, it was hard to take these meeting seriously the way Bowser and his Koopa commanders kept getting side tracked. "I've called this meeting to discuss what we're going to do with this guy, I can't have someone more powerful then I am in this kingdom!"

"That'll be half the Mushroom Kingdoms phone book obliterated." Karnage quipped dryly but no one paid attention to him.

Luigi felt ill, it was one in the afternoon and he had his head down on the table and was just dozing, he just wanted to crawl into bed and go to sleep but he had work to do, he had to do the laundry and vacuum the floors, there was an entire list of things that needed doing around the house but he was just too exhausted to do it.

He'd spent all night out crime fighting as Green Thunder, he said crime fighting, there was hardly any crime to fight so rather then turn in for the night and rest he did nothing but eat, go to the cinema, went into hospital to pay the Wario's a visit, which they didn't like because he tormented them by appearing at the front of their beds and running away before anyone else turned to look. He did it enough times to make the hospital staff think they were both insane, then he 'friendly' smacked them both on the back very hard before doing his road runner act.

Lifting his head he grabbed his cup of coffee from the table and took a grateful sip of it before his head slammed back down on the table. His hat rolled off his head and he very quickly he pushed it back on because under his hat he kept the Mask. It was the safest place he could think of because he needed to keep it hidden and on hand in case he quickly needed to become the Green Thunder, just so long as the bad guys strike at night, otherwise he's stuck as plain Luigi but he can leave the day stuff to Mario. Leave the night stuff to Luigi/Green Thunder because 'Green Thunder owns the night' or so he kept telling himself.

"Hey Luigi!" said Mario coming into the room "You okay, you look terrible."

"I didn't sleep well" Luigi yawned lifting his head off the table.

"You must've suddenly become a light sleeper" Mario said "Your bed looks hardly slept in."

Luigi didn't reply, he just kept his eyes shut as his foggy mind tried to force himself to go to sleep.

"Luigi wake up, we've got guests" oh, not guests, he can't stand guests, not right now, not while he felt so drained.

Luigi gratefully downed his coffee, stood up, walked over to the sink and turned the taps on. He gathered a handful of water and splashed it into his eyes, he took a deep breath and turned the water off and yawned again.

He then left the kitchen and walked into the living room where there sat two Koopa's, and Luigi nearly jumped out of his skin and screamed because he thought Bowser was invading again.

"Hey there Luigi" said one of the Koopa's who sat on their sofa with a drink.

"Hi there" Luigi asked looking at both of them, they didn't look like Bowsers Koopa's, in fact they looked like plumbers by the tools they had on their belt "what's going on?"

"We're Rob and Dave Packer of Packers plumbing. We've come to ask for your plumbing expertise." The Koopa on the left said who looked more relaxed then his counterpart who looked bored and like he didn't want to actually be there.

"Just expertise mind" Dave said quickly "We can do the job ourselves."

"Dave, be quiet." Rob said before continuing on "We're working on opening an old section of pipe that has been sealed off for years and... well we've found something odd. You'll have to see it because we don't understand what we're seeing."

Luigi looked at Mario and Mario at Luigi, it had been years since they had an honest client who wanted them just to do a plumbing job. Luigi liked plumbing it's what they both trained for after all before becoming heroes.

"What's so weird about it?" Mario asked.

"We've got a weird pipe, it looks like it's been blown out but it's also produced an odd rock formation. I thought you might've seen something similar in all your years of plumbing."

Mario turned back to Luigi "What do you think bro?"

"Hey, let's do it, it's been years since we've been offered a plumbing job." Luigi added

"By the way" Dave piped up "Did we mention there was a monster who was trapped down there centuries ago" did he just say monster? "and is probably still down there, roaming along in the darkness." Oh no, no, no, no, no not a monster, Luigi couldn't stand monsters. Dave must've been able to read his expression because he looked pretty smug about himself.

"Do we have to go now?" Luigi asked quickly "Can we go in 10 hours time?" if they go when its night then Luigi could don the Mask and fight and defeat the monster easily.

"That'll be after hours" Dave cut across "We only work 8am-5pm, and we don't get paid overtime."

"Well, can we just put it off for a while?" Luigi asked, then suddenly without thinking he added "preferably until after I'm dead."

"Luigi!" Mario said surprised at Luigi's rudeness.

"Don't worry, we've been working down there for weeks and haven't seen any monster." Rob said shooting Dave a warning look, but when Rob turned back to Mario and Luigi, Dave added "Of course, that doesn't mean the monster doesn't exist."

Luigi felt his legs turn to jelly, the idea of fighting monsters was terrifying to him, he'd be okay if there was something at stake like the future of the Mushroom Kingdom, but to make way for an extension to a sewer, no way. He wasn't going to fight a many tentacles monster with drool dribbling from long, monstrous fangs that could rip his body to pieces in seconds just for the sake of installing plumbing in some new homes. He'd only go if he could use the Mask.

"Hey, Luigi" Mario said pulling his brother to one side out of ear shot "Don't pay any attention to him, he's only trying to scare you."

"Well, he's wasting his time because I'm scared already." Luigi blubbered.

Luigi realised that by blubbering he's only confirming the myth that he's as chicken as a... well... a chicken. So to prove to these two Koopa's he could be as brave as Mario he decided to lie to get out of this. "Actually, there is nothing I'd be willing to do more than fight giant, monsters with sharp teeth but..." he thought quickly "...I'm expected at the castle, Toadsworth wants me to help... with something."

"That's okay" Rob said "We can manage by ourselves if Toadsworth needs you for more pressing duties."

"Truck load of pens need counting?" Dave taunted.

"No, no, umm..." Luigi tried to think "Toadsworth needs me to guard Peach, you know, in case Bowser tries to kidnap her again."

Inside Luigi gave a sigh of relief, he may be the Green Thunder, sometimes, but right now he's just a mortal and mortals could die. Though he could tell Mario could see straight through that deception he'd just conjured up, but deep down he knew too that Rob and Dave knew he was making it up as well, but he didn't care. If there was a monster down there then he'd leave it to the Green Thunder when night fell.

"Hey, can you hear that?" Dave said holding his left hand up to his ear and listening to the air.

"Hear what?" the Koopa brother asked him.

"Oh no, it's all right it's just a bull taking a massive dump" Dave said acidly.

Luigi clenched his fists so tightly his knuckles cracked, why that arrogant little Koopa. The green plumber just wanted to go over there and punch his lights out, but instead of giving in to his frustrations he just turned around and stormed out of the room.

"Hey, Luigi!" Mario shouted after him as he climbed the stairs but Luigi ignored him. The plumber pushed open his room door and shut it behind him just a little harder then he intended.

What did that little Koopa know? He was just a stupid little reptile. Had he ever saved a princess, fought off monsters, knock Koopa Troopa's out of their shells, fly like a real super hero by using the magic feathers, give Bowser Koopa a wedgie? No he hadn't, if he gets half the chance he'd get him for this.

Lifting his hat off his head he took the Mask from the inside and looked into those craggy wooden eyes and that slight upward turning smile. It was almost egging him on, 'Go on, put it on, do it, get your revenge' and he would have.

He looked out his bedroom window and saw Mario and the two Koopa's retreating into the distance, yeah and he meant to use the word 'retreating' because he never knew what he was going to do once he put this mask on his face. As he said he would've put this Mask on and taught Dave the Koopa a lesson. But unfortunately the Mask only worked at night and it was still daytime.

Realising this Luigi took a deep breath and as he exhaled it was as if all the frustrations were evaporating with it, boy he really got upset. He replaced the Mask inside his hat and placed it back on his head.

Two hours later...

Luigi sighed deeply, his heart was pounding in his chest and his stomach had butterflies in it. He wasn't scared per say, it was just the feeling he got when he saw a young woman called Princess Daisy.

Luigi was in the castle of Princess Peach, leaning against a window his elbows on the windowsill, his face in his hands and he just looked at Daisy in the courtyard.

She was with Peach, in the middle of the courtyard having a picnic in the glorious sun shine with two other Toads. Luigi would go down and join them but to be honest, whenever he saw Daisy fear hit him, not fear for his life, just fear of Daisy herself, fear of rejection. Whenever he saw her he'd make some excuse not to talk to her, it was rude but it was either that or he makes a fool of himself and become tongue tide or something.

Daisy was almost as tall as Peach, she wore a similar dress to hers only Daisy's was yellow and orange with a broach like a flower. Her brownish, reddish hair reached down the back of her neck and spread out like a pair of wings, unusual analogy he admitted but it's what his mind was coming up with. Her eyes were such a shade of blue they glistened like diamonds. She was also very slender, almost as much as Peach and she was such a flirter. The way she talks was also unusual, she uses slang and talks like a 'commoner' as some would put it. This made the other kingdoms see her as slightly inferior because of how common she acted, but to Luigi it was just one of a few cute flaws in a perfect gem stone, it's always those cute 'flaws' that keep a guy interested.

Luigi continued to stare dreamily at her until...

"Hey Luigi" said a voice that spooked Luigi so much he jumped to his feet and smacked his head on the window, he bit back the temptation to yell.

"You okay Luigi, I didn't meant to startle you." Luigi turned around, it was that little Toad Toadrick whom he'd saved from the Koopa Bullies as Green Thunder and whom helped deliver a bag of coins to the Orphanage a few weeks ago.

"Don't worry about it" though inside he was in a foul mood with him "It was only an accident."

Toadrick then walked over to the window and peered out of it. "Lovely weather isn't it?" he stated "Oh look, there are the princesses down there."

Luigi looked outside again and saw Daisy, and his heart went aflutter, he felt like he should be melting into the stonework at his feet.

"You like Daisy, don't you?" Toadrick asked. This took Luigi by surprise

"Wha... I don't know what you mean!"

"Come on, everyone sees how you go all googly eyed over her." Luigi could feel his face start to go very red. "It's okay" Toadrick added "I fancy Toadla and Toadette. There I've shared my crushes."

Luigi was going to argue again, but he caught sight of Daisy through the window and his heart took control of him again "Yeah" he said dreamily "She's perfect."

"Well, she's nice, go talk to her." Luigi turned to look at Toadrick as if he had two heads.

"No, no, no, no. I don't want to talk to her." Luigi said so quickly that he was almost tripping over his own words.

"Why not, she won't bite your head off." Toadrick said "In fact I think she likes you as well."

"Really?" Luigi said without thinking "Nah, you're just bluffing."

"No really, I mean it." Toadrick said, though Luigi didn't believe it. Daisy wouldn't be interested in him, he was just a plumber, he was just the sidekick to the hero, he'd never rescued Daisy singlehanded, in fact she only needed rescuing once or twice and both those times it was Mario who came to her rescue.

Luigi looked at Daisy, sucked in his gut and pushed out his chest to make him look more masculine, but just as he was about to walk out the door and say hello his nerve failed, his lanky form sagged back down to his original look and he turned to Toadrick and said. "No I can't, she won't believe I'm just walking over there to talk causally to her."

"Sheesh, do you want me to bring her over to you to talk?" Toadrick said.

"NO!" Luigi almost screamed out loud holding out his hands to emphasise he didn't want to. Toadrick just looking at Luigi with a look of pity, pity he didn't need, 'Tell him to crawl back under the tree he grew from' said a voice in Luigi's head but he ignored it.

"Well, you better make your move soon, she's only staying for the day and she's off back to her own kingdom." Toadrick then turned and began to walk away. Luigi turned back to the window and continued to look at Peach and Daisy. Where was he? Ah yes, and he continued from his original train of thought. There was something about her more roundish face that made her more appealing to Luigi then Peach did, maybe it was because Peach was perfect, Daisy was flawed like himself, he was sure they were meant for each other but he just didn't have the courage to talk to her.

From the grass Daisy took a sip of tea from her cup and placed it back down on the saucer. She then glanced up and spotted him looking at her, he quickly tried to pretend he was looking at something else, but it was no good Daisy knew he was looking at her. Their eyes met across the lawn, tension built in Luigi's shoes, tension that became even tighter when Daisy winked at him. Feeling his face start to burn red again he ducked away from the window.

That could've been the moment, he should've gone over to talk to her, but instead he shied away. He's probably blown his chances now, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid!

Pressing his back to the wall he slowly sank down to the floor until he was sitting on it, his legs sprawled out beneath him. Lifting his cap off his head he retrieved the Mask from under it and held it out in front of him, facing its face. Why couldn't he have the courage this Mask gives him while he's wearing it. He knew exactly what he'd do, he'd go over to Daisy, introduce himself and maybe ask her to dance in the most gentlemanly type way but again his nerve would refuse to do it. He could don the Mask and ask her out as the Green Thunder, but what good would that do, they wouldn't be in any kind of relationship worth having, it would be based on lies. No, he'll just stay out of her way, at least then he live in blissful ignorance of knowing if she liked him that much or not.

"Why can't I have the bravery you have" he said talking to the Mask as if he was talking directly to the Green Thunder himself.

"Hi Luigi" said another, softer voice and for one shocking moment Luigi thought the voice came from the Mask. Spooked he dropped it and leapt up so quickly he sent himself into a high jump that made him hit his head on the rafters above. Then he dropped to the floor in a heap.

"Ouch! You okay?" the voice asked again and as Luigi's eye sight and mind came back into focus he saw standing over him the form of Daisy. Suddenly realising he was laying on the floor at her feet and quickly got up.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm fine. I was just..." he tried to think fast "testing the rafters." He looked up "Yep, they held up pretty well to my attack."

"Must be a headache testing rafters like that." Daisy joked. Luigi started to feel himself tremble, he swallowed and knew Daisy wasn't buying the testing rafters story.

"By the way, is this yours?" she said holding up the wooden Mask, he must've dropped it when he jumped up.

"Yeah, yeah, that's mine." Luigi confirmed.

"It's a cool mask" Daisy said and playfully placed it over her face. Luigi felt his guts and intestines clench in panic but thankfully it was still day so nothing happened. "This thing must be an antique, it looks like it belongs in a museum."

Luigi's mouth refused to function, he tried to move his mouth but nothing was coming out of it. Daisy removed the Mask and held it out for Luigi to take it, as Luigi gingerly grabbed the opposite end of the Mask and pulled on it Daisy didn't release her grip, she kept a tight hold on it and as Luigi tried to pull it away she tried pulling it back towards her and Luigi didn't resist. He was too mesmerised by those pretty eyes of hers.

"You don't talk much do you sweetie?" she smiled and winked at him "Don't worry, I don't bite." Luigi felt his legs wanting to tremble at twice the rate. Did this mean she liked him, it must be. Luigi felt his heart began to inflate to a larger size, but it stopped when he realised he couldn't tell if she just liked him or if she actually wanted him. All Luigi could do was giggle a little and feel his face turn a little red.

Daisy let go of the Mask and Luigi let his arms drop to his side still holding onto it.

"Me and Peach and a few Toads are having tea in the court yard, wanna join us?" Daisy asked. Was this acceptance or merely her being polite?

"Fleathen" Luigi garbled "Fthathe thagr oferar" he spouting nothing but nonsense and Luigi's face just went redder and redder. STOP IT, STOP GOING RED! He screamed at his cheeks but they didn't listen, they just went redder and redder.

"I see." Daisy said taking a single step back "you must be busy, I'll see ya later" with that said she turned and slowly walked away back to Peach. Luigi still sprouting nonsense in her wake.

When she was out the door he collapsed again onto the floor. That was another chance he had and it must've been strike three, you're out. Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid.

"Hey don't worry about it Luigi" said yet another voice, this one was not kind or soft spoken, it spoke bluntly "You don't stand a chance anyway" the plumber looked up to see the Toad Toadlop standing over him, that stupid Toad with at stupid little moustache of his. "You're more likely to get a date with a Goomba then a princess, or even a human."

Something in Luigi's mind snapped and he leapt to his feet "Oh, look who's talking about getting girls, Mr. I'm so unstylish I've got a Hilter 'tash!" he fumed. Toadlop looked taken aback and surprised at Luigi's outburst, but still the little growth of athletes foot decided to push it even further.

"Oh, I see you've finally grown a backbone, you green sneeze stain." And Toadlop raised his right hand to his forehead and made an L shape with his forefinger and thump imitating the L on his cap and started to mouth the word 'Loser' because that's what the sign he was making also meant.

It was as if a damn had burst in Luigi's head, he dropped the Mask and clenched his knuckles so much they cracked. He couldn't stop himself from what he was about to do. He reached into his overalls and pulled out a large hammer from his pocket, it was one of his plumbing tools and he knew how to use it. He raised it over his head and brought it straight down where a moment ago Toadlop had been standing before he'd jumped back.

The brat of a Toad looked at Luigi in horror "YAH! KEEP AWAY FROM ME YOU LOON!" he yelled and ran away as fast as his short legs could carry him. Luigi could easily catch him up and mash him into the floor but after releasing all the fury his brain seemed to just drain it away from him.

Realising what he's just done he quickly put the hammer away, and shook his head to clear it before scooping up the Mask and took one last look at that mischievous grin on its face before replacing it into the roof of his cap and placing it back on his head. Losing all that sleep was starting to make him irritable, maybe he'll take the night off as Green Thunder to catch up on some sleep.

To be continued...

Authors notes: It's been suggested that Luigi and Daisy have a similar relationship to Mario and Peach, so I'm writing this as the start of it.

I'm planning to have the relationship between Captain Sugar and General Karnage the same one as between Blackadder and Darling of 'Blackadder goes forth'

I came up with the name Alexader Sugar from catching a bit of the Apprentice UK where the boss there is a man called Alan Sugar and I just thought how he must've been tortured at school for that name, so like Darling of Blackadder I gave Karnage's opposing Koopa rival a silly name to do similar jokes.

Hope you all enjoyed the new chapter

Cheers