Chapter 14: Outnumbered and Unveiled

Luigi and Peter burst out of the labyrinth at top speed. Peter had warped them to the room of the labyrinth's brain and before they could decide what to do next, they had heard a large explosion from somewhere outside the labyrinth. Now that they were outside, they could see smoke to the north.

"What do you think is going on there?" asked Luigi. Peter lifted his head up.

"Perhaps that battle the Griffins went charging into," said Peter, "And the Star Cure just so happens to be in that general direction!"

"How do you know?" asked Luigi.

"Another security measure added when the Star Cures went under new possession," said Peter, "It's a homing signal that allows those with the marks to find that respective Star Cure wherever it is. Every time they move onto different owners it seems they get more advanced." Luigi nodded.

"Let's head towards the explosions then," said Luigi, "Larry is probably fighting if that's the battle Daniel and Canzor mentioned."

"Right," said Peter. They were about to advance but something else rumbled behind them. They slowly turned around to see face to face to an enormous yellow circus ball flanked by Bowser's forces on either side. Atop the ball was a small Koopa with a colorful Mohawk and crazy eyes who held a wand in his left hand.

"Lemmy!" Luigi shouted.

"Yeah that's right you cloak dude!" Lemmy yelled, "I've been assigned to take you down for rebellion against my dad!"

"How many Koopalings is he going to send after us?" Luigi asked Peter. Peter just shrugged and readied his pen. Luigi drew his dagger, thinking about popping the ball and sending Lemmy to the ground.

"Ha! That little knife isn't going to get into this ball!" Lemmy taunted, "It's made of solid iron! Go ahead and try to hurt it!" Luigi charged forwards and stabbed the dagger into the ball, but sure enough, the ball wasn't harmed at all and Luigi was bounced back, a bent out of shape dagger in his hand. He quickly threw the old weapon aside and readied his electrical powers. Peter had been drawing something while Luigi had been trying to pop the ball but none of them were able to see just what it was yet.

"Attack now my troops!" Lemmy yelled. His whole force, about a hundred units, charged forwards at the two of them. Luigi let loose a blast of electricity but instead of going at the force as Luigi had intended, it went straight up and into Lemmy's wand!

"A wand with a lightning rod," said Lemmy, "Very useful against people using electricity! Like you for example!" The army continued to get closer and Luigi drew his hammer instead. He began smashing Koopas and Goombas out of the way. Peter finally finished drawing and waved his hand. Another rumbling sound came from behind Lemmy and he turned. He nearly screamed. About five circus balls identical to his in size, color, and pattern to his own were rolling towards him; they just looked cartoony. He quickly began to roll his own ball towards where the explosions were occurring but more specifically, straight at his little army and Luigi and Peter.

"Run!" Peter yelled. Lemmy flattened about half of what was his army and the other half was flattened by the other five circus balls. The balls rolled after Lemmy, Peter, and Luigi, as Luigi and Peter were being chased by Lemmy, and the balls were chasing Lemmy. Peter seemed to be trying to drive the drawn circus balls to the north.

"You can control what you draw?" Luigi yelled as they ran.

"Why wouldn't I be able to?" asked Peter as he tried to steer the balls using only his pen. They were indeed heading north, just as Peter had intended. Lemmy saw what Peter was trying to do.

"Can't get involved in that fight!" he said to himself, "Larry and Iggy will kill me!" He turned around and began running backwards on the top of the circus ball with expert footing. He waved his wand at the five drawn circus balls and five blasts of yellow magic flew at them, vaporizing them on contact.

"Hey, no fair!" Peter yelled.

"How is that not fair?" Lemmy yelled back as he turned around, "You can summon things at will!" He flung a few more magical fireballs in front of them and they exploded. Luigi and Peter were knocked back towards Lemmy's side of the chase. Lemmy grinned crazily and ran faster on the top of his circus ball so as to crush the two heroes. But as soon as he reached them, he hit something and he and the circus ball went flying. Luigi and Peter opened their eyes and looked around them. Something had shielded them with a cubicle force field.

"Go," a female voice said from nowhere, "Go to the battle you see in the distance. Your friends are in grave danger." Luigi thought he saw a shadowy figure in the trees nearby but it vanished.

"Let's hurry!" said Peter, "You heard that voice. We need to get to that battlefield! And I'm sensing much stronger Star Cure readings the closer we get!"

"I think I know who we'll find," said Luigi, "And I don't think it's exactly good that they're in grave danger." Peter stared at him for a few seconds before figuring out what Luigi was thinking.

"Let's go!" Peter said, more hastily than before. Luigi nodded and the two of them dashed to the north.

The Griffins and masked ones were fighting a losing battle against the Koopa Troop. They were heavily outnumbered, at least twenty Koopas to one warrior or Griffin. Canzor and the chief of the masked ones tribe, Facles, had figured that they would be able to take down the weaker Koopa Troop with less warriors, but even the male Griffins, the strongest warriors out there were being given a hard time. Those who weren't fighting were residing in a camp nearby. All Canzor could think was…

"If only Luigi were here…" He knew it was almost impossible. Luigi was probably off looking for the next Star Cure. He didn't realize just how wrong he was. Out of nowhere, the whole battle stopped and went dead silent for a noise could be heard from the sky. It was screaming. Something crashed right in the middle of the battlefield. It was a Koopaling.

"Lemmy?" Larry asked in disbelief.

"Hey… bro…" Lemmy said in pain. The circus ball flew from the sky and bounced on the ground, knocking Lemmy back into reality. He jumped out of the ground and rolled out of the way as the ball bounced on the spot where he had crashed. He backflipped back up onto its top and rolled over to the side of his brothers and Kamek.

"So, how's it going?" asked Lemmy. Larry glared at him.

"You're supposed to be going after the cloaked guy!" Larry snapped.

"You mean the Electric Cloak," Kamek corrected.

"Be quiet Kamek!" Larry snapped again. The warriors on both sides of the battle watched the Koopaling twins argue, though they didn't necessarily know what they were talking about, until suddenly, a burst of lightning just erupted from the sky, disintegrating a whole section of the Koopa Troop. Luigi and Peter landed feet first in the middle of the large battlefield, one armed with a hammer, and the other with a pen. Everyone looked surprised to see the two of them jump into the middle of the still battle ready to fight.

"What are you doing here?" asked Canzor with wide eyes.

"We're taking back Chlorus's Star Cure from these idiots!" Luigi yelled pointing at the three Koopalings.

"I thought you were getting rid of them," said Larry impatiently.

"Yeah, the littler one kind of copied my act and flattened my force," said Lemmy.

"Isn't that the one kid that escaped a while back?" asked Larry.

"No duh," said Kamek, "That's the one kid that… wait, why were we holding him captive?"

"Because Dad holds people captive," said Iggy, "Now can we please blow these people up or something like that?"

"Let's see you try," said Luigi fiercely, "Bring it on!" The masked ones and the Griffins rallied to the cry and charged.

"I'll kill you right here you little jerk!" Larry yelled, "Charge Koopa Troop!" Even losing a section of the force, the Koopa Troop still outnumbered the rebels by a lot. Many warriors went down almost immediately due to being outnumbered. Luigi stayed strong firing small jolts of electricity to keep the troop busy so the others could take them down. Peter summoned a swarm of five cartoony hammers that were swatting at the Koopa Troop while he controlled them from afar. The Griffins let the masked ones on their backs and they flew overhead throwing spears down at the Koopa Troop. Larry set his mark on Luigi and he and Friese ran forwards to tag team him. Luigi figured he was ready for it but Friese jumped over him and Larry socked him in the face. The hood stayed on. Larry readied a shot from his wand but Luigi sidestepped and drop kicked him. Larry was down but out of nowhere, a snowball hit him and his abdomen and lower body was frozen to the ground. Larry got up.

"Now let's see who you really are," Larry said with an evil smile. He walked over to Luigi and was about to remove his hood but a hammer came from nowhere and smacked him away, almost right into his brother's circus ball. Then, a nail appeared from thin air and the hammer quickly thawed Luigi out. Peter gave a thumbs up from a distance and Luigi returned the gesture. He set his sights on Friese. That was a mistake on his part. Luigi charged forward with his hands charged with electricity but Friese sidestepped and Luigi ran straight into Iggy.

"Hello Mr. Electric!" Iggy said with an evil tone. He socked Luigi in the face and he fell to the ground. Larry, Friese, Kamek and Iggy suddenly all loomed over him. They had a look of shock on their faces.

"No way…" said Larry, "That is not…"

"It can't be…" said Iggy in disbelief, "He disappeared years ago."

"You?" said Kamek in amazement, "You're the Electric Cloak?" Luigi realized what they were seeing. In the light of the sunset, his face was visible in the hood's dark protection. He frowned solemnly. His cover was blown.

A/N: Uh-oh. Luigi's identity is finally uncovered by the Koopas. Finally! Those Koopas really are stupid aren't they? But now that it's been revealed, what will the Koopas do with him? Or his loved ones? Ever heard the rule that heroes aren't really supposed to have families because the bad guys can get at you easily? I was originaly going to save the revelation of his identity to the villains for later but I decided to put it in now because of where and who the third Star Cure guardian is. Who is the third guardian, and what will the Koopas do now that they know Luigi's identity? And who is this mysterious figure who keeps appearing at battles?

Lemmy's appearance in this chapter is modeled after his New Super Mario Bros. Wii appearance in the World 3 Castle, with the giant circus ball and all.

I do not own Mario. All characters, ideas, and places belong to Nintendo.