Chapter 21: Right into a Trap
The Blitty wasn't very hard to keep up with. Its meows echoed off of the walls and constantly provided a way to find it. It was about twelve hours before the Blitty stopped. Luigi and Peter almost fainted in exhaustion. They were now in a small cavernous area with multiple crystals in it.
"Are… we there yet?" Peter gasped. Luigi took a few seconds before answering to catch his breath.
"The cat stopped so I guess so," he said. He looked up and saw a large hole in the ceiling. The stars shone through it. Luigi was able to recognize one of the constellations he used to look at while in Sarasaland and that did not appear in the Mushroom Kingdom.
"We're underneath Sarasaland's Shrouded Forest," said Luigi, "Amazing! The block actually got us here!" Suddenly, the Blitty sprouted a propeller directly under the hole, confusing the two heroes until Luigi realized it was floating up to hole in the ceiling.
"Hey wait, what's it doing?" asked Peter as he pointed at the Blitty. Luigi quickly grabbed Peter's arm then jumped up and grabbed one of the Blitty's feet. It was still able to hold their weight. It floated up out of the hole and landed them on the ground in a small forest clearing. Then it flew back down, meowed, and when Luigi and Peter looked down again, it was gone.
"You think it went back?" asked Peter as they stood up. Luigi didn't answer. He was transfixed on something in the sky.
"What's wrong?" asked Peter. Luigi didn't answer and dashed off towards what he had seen. Peter was confused until he saw what Luigi had run after. It was an airship. Peter dashed off after Luigi.
Peter almost ran right past Luigi's hiding spot but Luigi pulled him back. They were looking at a small cottage where Morton and what appeared to be a female Koopaling were threatening an old man at the door.
"Wendy O. Koopa," said Luigi under his breath, "Why of all the Koopalings did they have to send her?" Wendy was one of the brattiest, meanest, and most annoying girls anybody could have met. Even so, she was often called a tomboy, likely influenced by her seven brothers. Peter and Luigi could barely make out what they were saying at their distance.
"… the Star Cure or else!" Wendy yelled.
"Never!" Herman cried in a high voice, "Younguns like you should ask politely before you receive anything!"
"Ugh… you're so defiant…" Wendy was cut off by Morton who made up a huge lie about having both of the other Star Cures on hand already and talked for a good five minutes before Wendy cut him off because the subject was beginning to change to why pepperoni pizza was so delicious. Herman the hermit looked rather frightened after that lie. Luigi felt something emanating from inside his cloak. He pulled out the two Star Cures and saw that they were glowing, as though reacting to something.
"Is that another feature?" asked Luigi.
"Yep," said Peter, "The Star Cures emanate when they are all three brought together. Herman must be keeping his close." Luigi figured that that was why Herman was so nervous. He probably sensed that his Star Cure was emanating and thought that the others were under Bowser's possession. He put the Star Cures back in his cloak and stood up.
"Are we going to fight?" Peter asked eagerly.
"Can you handle this one on your own?" asked Luigi in response. Peter looked shocked.
"Why?" he asked.
"I have to go take care of something," said Luigi. He was about to dash off when suddenly, Wendy's wand buzzed.
"Oh hold on, let me take this call," she said putting the wand up to her face, "Yes? Uh-huh. Oh that's great! Yes, we'll take care of them right away and let you come and get them. Uh-huh. Bye-bye Daddy!" She turned to Luigi and Peter's location and blasted away the bushes with a razor ring from her wand. It went right between the two of them and flew off, slicing down a few trees before disappearing.
"Some boys here need to be taught a lesson," she said slyly. Morton's eyes went wide. Herman almost looked like he would faint.
"Dad wasn't kidding!" he yelled, "There they are! The ones that made me blow up my fortress! The brother of that idiot red guy! The…"
"We get it already Morton," said Wendy, "Let's take them down. Hambro! Pyrux! Rally the troops! We're storming these boys!" They heard Hambro's voice and another person's voice yelling at people on the airship docked above.
"Are you going to leave this to me now?" asked Peter.
"Absolutely not," said Luigi, forming a ball of heavily compressed electricity between his hands. It would explode on contact. Peter drew a staff and grabbed it in his hand. Morton pulled out a bazooka and began firing Bob-ombs at the two of them which Peter batted away and Wendy gripped her wand tightly. Herman quickly backed into his cottage and shut the door. Wendy began pounding on the door with her wand.
"You'd better get out here before I have the Sledge Bros. break your door down!" Wendy yelled. A Fire Bro and Hambro suddenly jumped off of the airship followed by at least a hundred of Bowser's troops, though probably more. Luigi fired the ball of electricity. Hambro and the one who was apparently called Pyrux dodged the attack and it blew up in midair after hitting a Sledge Bro. Just like that, the whole middle of the force was gone. The Bob-ombs Peter had been batting away had begun exploding all over the place, starting a forest fire.
"Oh no!" Peter yelled, "The forest is burning!" Luigi was too busy fighting Bowser's minions to notice. Morton fired a Bob-omb directly at him. Luigi bicycle kicked it away, right into the troops that Hambro and Pyrux were leading. Another huge explosion occurred, but this one set Herman's cottage on fire.
"Uh-oh," said Luigi noticing the fires that were starting. He quickly crushed a few more Goombas under his boots and knocked a Koopa shell into the force and tackled Wendy to the ground.
"Hey, that's no way to treat a lady!" yelled Wendy as she tried to pick herself up off the ground.
"Who ever said that you were a lady?" asked Luigi. Wendy took that as a direct insult and fired a few razor rings at him out of rage. Luigi dodged all of them and kicked down Herman's door.
"Get the Star Cure and get out now!" Luigi yelled. Herman, who was cowering inside nodded and grabbed a jar off of the shelf, which had a small blue sphere within it, as well as his walking staff and followed Luigi out of the cottage. Wendy tried to attack them but Luigi zapped her and she fell to the ground unconscious.
"Luigi… you came back!" Herman said with joy.
"Yep, I did," said Luigi, "I'll have to yell at you later. Right now…" A Bob-omb flew over their heads and into the cottage, exploding and setting the whole structure on fire.
"Let's get outta here!" Luigi yelled. He pulled Herman away from the cottage and over to an unburned group of bushes away from the fire nearby.
"Stay here," said Luigi. He turned and went face to face with the Fire Bro called Pyrux.
"You that plumber who's been messing with Bowser ain't you?" he said in an uneducated accent.
"Uh… yeah," said Luigi. Pyrux didn't say another word and charged up a fireball to fire directly at his face. Luigi swept him off of his feet with a drop kick and then shocked him with a surge of electricity. He amazingly seemed unfazed. He scrambled to his feet and then jumped back a few feet.
"We been developin' new technology to counter your special electrical powers or whatnot," he said, "It's called… rubber!" He pounded his chest and his fist bounced off of his chest plate. Luigi kicked him in the face after he was done gloating and he fell to the ground unconscious. He looked over and saw that Peter was fighting off most of the troops and had knocked out Morton. He also noticed that Wendy was gone.
"Huh? Where did she go?" Luigi asked himself.
"She went towards the west," said Herman, "I saw her." Luigi's heart sank. Could they possibly know about his family? He dashed towards the west, past the battle that Peter seemed to have under control and had put a large rain cloud over so as to put out the fires, to find that naughty Koopaling and teach her a lesson. But before he got too far, he almost ran into somebody.
"Whoa!" he yelled, stumbling to the ground in front of the person he had just seen in his way.
"Get up Mage of Thunder," the person said, "Hurry!"
"Tanya?" said Luigi as he scrambled to his feet. She looked him straight in the eyes with her strange blue and black eyes.
"Yes, it's me again, Luigi, the Mage of Thunder," said Tanya in her usual mysterious tone.
"Did you see a Koopaling run past here?" asked Luigi.
"The Koopaling is the least of your problems," said Tanya, "The minions shall call their leader to them to take their prisoners. One will be taken and the others will be saved." Luigi went pale and ran past Tanya and onto the familiar path that took him to the cabin.
He was too late. Bowser's minions were already storming the house. He didn't know why they were doing it, but he just couldn't stand the sight of it. Wendy apparently wasn't around so Luigi dashed forwards and took out the troops that were leaving the house with a few swift kicks. He quickly dashed inside and saw that enemies were everywhere, destroying things all over the place. He zapped them all out of anger and found Daisy and Danny hiding behind the couch nearby.
"Luigi!" Daisy cried. She and Danny came out of their hiding spot and hugged him tightly.
"Daddy, you came back!" Danny cried, tears streaming down his cheeks.
"I did," said Luigi, "We have to get out of here before…" They heard a sonic boom outside. The three of them huddled together and suddenly, the roof was blown off of the house. Above them was a terrifying sight. There was an enormous battleship floating in the sky that seemed to have come from nowhere… and it was firing everywhere. And Luigi could make out a figure on the battleship's helm; it was none other than Bowser himself.
A/N: Luigi has finally been reunited with his family and the hermit, named Herman, after twenty chapters. But Bowser has decided to show his face to our hero for the first time in ten years. And so the question stands; Will Luigi be able to defeat Bowser if they end up battling? And are Tanya's words about someone being taken and another being saved come true? And if they do, who will be taken and who will be saved? We'll find out in the next chapter!
The Star Cures react to each other in the same way the Triforce pieces react to each other in the Legend of Zelda series when the three pieces are brought together in one place.
I do not own Mario. All characters, ideas, and places belong to Nintendo.