6-2: Corneria, Cont'd
Luigi was brought from his thoughts by the whine of airplane engines. He looked up to see the three Arwings flying his way.
"Hi, Luigi!" a familiar voice called from one of the Arwings.
"Hi, Falco!" Luigi called back. Though Falco Lombardi was also tied to this 20XX nonsense and was right behind Fox on the tier list, it was difficult to stay upset with him. Falco and Luigi came from similar linguistic and cultural backgrounds, so Luigi's affinity with the avian was pretty strong.
"Don't get too comfy down there!" warned Falco. "You've got another round with Fox coming up. And this time, you'll have our Arwing lasers to deal with!" He laughed as he flew out.
"Okay…" Luigi said to himself, placing his hands in his lap, closing his eyes and retreating back into himself. Another round with Fox. Arwing lasers. He'd recognized the setting—during 1P Mode, he fought and trounced McCloud atop this very ship, except that it was in space instead of Corneria. The stage strategies were also the same, except that Luigi had sharpened them for this go-round. So, Fox was coming back for him. Hopefully, he'd come with a strategy more effective than spamming his Blaster and trying to provoke his opponent.
While Luigi was in a deep, meditative state, Master Hand was getting Fox ready for round two. "What was that?" he demanded as the vulpine changed into a new pair of clothes.
"Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery," shrugged Fox. "I figured that if I took a defensive stance, Luigi would fall right into my trap."
"Trust me, he's keen enough to sense what his opponents are up to," said MH. "He's not the same, timid guy you fought against two years ago. He's lost some matches and learned from them, rather than acting salty about it."
"You should've seen the look on his face back there," said Fox. "He once told me that he's going to give me his all, and he's not reneging on that promise!"
"Indeed, something's up with him," murmured MH. "His attitude has been noticeably more competitive since the day he fought Koopa. He looks at that turtle, and he gets really angry. I hear him muttering about Koopa, too. Did something—happen between them?"
"Luigi really wanted to win. That way, Koopa would know that he was as much of an obstacle as Mario," Fox explained.
"Luigi should know that winning isn't everything here," said MH. "The important thing was that he fought his best."
Fox sighed. "Koopa just doesn't know how to win or lose properly," he told MH. "Leave it at that."
The vulpine was now clad in a red and orange ensemble. His Reflector was as good as new, and he'd recharged his Blaster. "Well, here we go again," he muttered.
MH gave him a friendly pat on the back. "Just be yourself," he advised before teleporting away.
Fox emerged back onto the roof of the starship and waved to his three friends as they zipped by on their Arwings. His gaze was riveted on Luigi, seated pretzel-style, eyes closed, sweating from their first tussle but relatively unscathed. "L!" he shouted.
Luigi's eyes snapped open, meeting Fox's brown orbs, his face tight. "Come for second helpings?" he asked.
"You wanna play rough?!" yelled Fox over the roar of Arwing engines. "I'm cool with that! Come on—let's play rough!"
Luigi stood back up and approached Fox. "Okeydokey."
The two met in the middle and raised their fists at the same time, feeling their shared aggression rising. Fox wasn't going to rein in the beast this time around. If Luigi wanted his taste of homegrown 20XX, then he was going to get it! But Luigi kept his jaw locked as he stared Fox down. The top tier vulpine wanted to take a second shot at him, and he was perfectly okay with that! 20XX wasn't long for the world of Smash!
"You want 20XX?" Fox asked Luigi in a low voice. "Huh? You want it? Then come on, man. Take it. Take it."
READY—GO!
Fox opened round two with a strong forward kick, but Luigi sidestepped and sent his knifehand thrust into Fox's hip. The three Arwings zipped around the two fighters, firing lasers at random. The sound of laser fire cannoned down Luigi's bloodstream as he unleashed a combination of punches, chops, kicks and throws on the more aggressive Fox. The vulpine wasted no time reading or trying to read Luigi's movements, pushing him away with his Shine and using his laser techs as edgeguards and combo set-ups instead of defense. One famous combo of Fox's was an up throw into an up smash and a u-air. His up throw could combo into a lot of moves, by the way. Oh, he'd learned the first time, and he was being himself. He wanted to leave bruises on this plumber, nasty and ugly bruises which would stay for weeks. He wanted to see him bleeding and wincing in pain. He wanted to see—wait a second, what was he thinking? This was a fighting tournament, but not a battle to the death! Well, Luigi brought it on himself, getting all in his face, hooking him, chain-throwing him and making colors swirl before his eyes with his smash attacks. Fox saw Luigi's Timex sports watch glinting on his wrist, surprised that it hadn't broken with the force of his blows. He saw the beads and bands of sweat covering him. He saw the fireflies dancing in his slightly dilated pupils. He saw his slightly parted and rounded mouth, his respirations sounding angry. Or, his lips would be closed, and Fox would see Luigi's tongue, sometimes moving and other times just staying curled over his upper lip. As the Arwings fired around them, a heated fight ensued between the two, both of them going combo crazy and using all parts of the Great Fox to their advantage, from the spacious bow to the top of the back wing to the death trap that was the stern. Luigi loved to force Fox to hang onto the back wing and then shyly kick him off and follow him to the stern area. They also exchanged punches while balanced on the turbines, or at the bottom of the bow, where the huge lasers stored there tended to charge and fire periodically.
But most of all, Luigi and Fox wanted to make friends out of the Arwing lasers. Whenever they saw one of those crafts coming, they'd craftily knock the opponent straight into its trajectory. These lasers hurt more than Fox's Blaster, which he sometimes used to blow Luigi into one of the Arwings. But Luigi also tended to use his fireballs whenever Fox tried to escape from Arwing fire. He could hear the whoops and cries of the Arwing pilots as they did all sorts of tricks around the mother ship, even barrel rolling into Luigi a few times, nearly knocking him away. And the two would find themselves on a random Arwing, their breaths harshly whistling into each other's ears as they fought close—that is, until the pilot barrel rolled them off and flew away.
Arwing lasers, Blaster fire and Firefox flames shone in a spectacular show over Corneria. Green fire lit up the sky. Bodies flipped into the air, were slammed to the floor and balanced on the Great Fox. Fox cut off Luigi's approaches with the Fox Illusion and followed up before the plumber hit the ground. He loved his new side special and the way it caught his foes off guard! The downside was that an Arwing's lasers could cut him off, or he'd wind up in those lasers at the end of the move. But it could also send Luigi upwards into heavy Arwing fire.
Try as he might, however, Fox couldn't shinespike Luigi or lay an infinite shine on him. He was too fast and too smart. He'd smash attack his face and then go for the body, especially his waist so he could crack that Reflector again. Fox peered closely at Luigi again. He was bloodied and bruised, burned from lasers and still bursting with aggression. The vulpine's muzzle and snout ached, and he, too, tasted blood. As Falco, Slippy and Peppy soared in from all directions, laughing and peppering both fighters with their lasers, Fox's shouts joined Luigi's in an amazing symphony as blows continued to hail on bodies, neither refusing to give in regardless of their injuries.
Luigi kicked Fox into the wing of the mother ship and bounced him back and forth for a while using his forward smash, angling it differently with each hit. For the grand finale, he charged himself up and then misfired into Fox's stomach, sending the vulpine straight into an Arwing blast.
"UUWAAAAAAAAA!" screamed Fox as he was Star KO'd.
GAME!
"Fooooooooooooox!" shrieked Slippy.
"Aw, he'll be okay," Falco assured him. "Right, L?"
Luigi nodded. "Right."
"Way to tussle!" Peppy joined in. "What's your secret?"
"Practice and plenty of rest. You know—eat your green vegetables," Luigi said to him.
"All right, Luigi—we'd better get going," said Falco. "See ya round!"
"Yeah," said Luigi. "See ya."
"Do a barrel roll!" commanded Peppy, and with that, the Star Fox crew had disappeared.
"That was actually one of the most challenging stages of this adventure," gushed MH, "and you beat it!"
"That's because I put my mind to it," Luigi said humbly.
"Good for you," said MH. "Now, this next stage is different because it only has one part, but you still have to be quick on your feet. Think you can handle it?"
Luigi nodded. "Sure, I can!"
Mission Complete, for Luigi, that is! Move over, 20XX!