The tall, snow capped mountain loomed menacingly off in the distance, the foreboding peak daring anyone to come near. One could hear a train slowly ascending the natural citadel before another suddenly roared back downwards at a breakneck speed, accompanied by the screams of those onboard. As Luigi looked at the towering heights, he could only sputter one question…
"You expect me to ride that thing?"
"Yes, Luigi…" Mario replied, "We are going to ride that."
"But… But… It's huge! And scary! And that's the biggest drop I've ever seen! Are you insane?"
As Luigi turned to the others, hoping pitifully to get some support on his side, when he noticed that everyone else had walked ahead… Except for Daisy, who was still admiring the mountain from a distance.
"Wow!" Daisy cheered, "That ride looks awesome! I can't wait to go on that!"
Luigi stared at Daisy for a moment, and then hesitantly turned back to Mario.
"Well, uh… Fine, I'll go on it… But can I… um… sit next to Daisy?" Luigi asked, turning a little red.
"Sure," Mario replied, slightly rolling his eyes.
"Thanks! Erm… Hey, Daisy! Wait for me!"
As Luigi ran off after the princess, Mario sighed knowingly, realizing that Luigi was actually taking his advice.
"It's amazing what love can do…" Mario mumbled, following after his brother.
The steam train slowly ascended the mountain, pushing the cars holding Mario and the gang ahead of it as it went. Luigi observed the surroundings from the incredible height and talked to Daisy, trying his hardest to forget about the inevitable drop that was soon to come.
"So… Uh… Wow, we're up pretty high, aren't we?" Luigi muttered.
"Yeah, we really are!" Daisy agreed, "Look over to the left… I think I can see the Magic Kingdom from here!"
Luigi looked and, sure enough, he could make out some of the taller landmarks of the Magic Kingdom, like Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain.
"Oh, cool! Look at that!" Luigi shouted, "You're right, Daisy! You can really see far from here!"
For one moment, Luigi had forgotten all his fear. For one single moment, Luigi wasn't scared. Unfortunately, Waluigi made sure that it stayed only one moment.
"Yeah, what a pretty view…" Waluigi snorted, "Let's see you remember that when we run into that yeti!"
"YETI? OH SHROOM! I COMPLETELY FORGOT ABOUT THE YETI ON THIS RIDE! YIKES!"
"Way to go, Waluigi…" Peach murmured, "You couldn't let Luigi enjoy himself for once, could you?"
"I'm going to take that as a compliment," Waluigi retorted with a smug grin on his face.
If he hadn't been sitting in a different car than Peach, she probably would have killed Waluigi outright. Fortunately (or perhaps unfortunately), she couldn't reach him from where she was sitting. Regardless, the train kept moving up the mountain… Unaware that the yeti wasn't the only giant monster waiting for them.
"Um… Pop? Explain this to me again…" Bowser Jr. requested, "We're gonna get rid of the Mario Bros. by fixing the track here?"
"We're not fixing the track, boy!" Bowser corrected, "We're wrecking it!"
"But it looks wrecked already…"
Bowser put his hand on his forehead and sighed. This was harder to explain than he thought.
"Ok, son… You see this track here?"
Bowser Jr. looked at where Bowser was pointing. The track right in front of them was part of the 'railroad' the ride was on, obviously, but there was something very peculiar about it: it just stopped. The railway at the very top of the mountain looked like it was ripped out, and the remaining rails were bent upwards in a crooked fashion.
"Yeah… It looks like someone beat us to hijacking this ride."
"That 'someone' is the yeti!" Bowser explained, quickly losing his patience, "According to the ride's story, the yeti got mad that some idiot built a railroad on his turf, so he started ripping it apart! This part of the track is supposed to look damaged! When the train reaches this part, it stops and starts going down the mountain backwards!"
"Then why do we care?"
"The rail is bent upwards at a very high angle and is bent wildly so that the train doesn't accidentally come flying off the track here. If we 'fix' the track, that is, make the rails flat and even again, the train will keep going and ride off the side of the mountain… taking the Mario Bros. with it!"
"Oh, now I get it!... But how are we gonna 'fix' the track?"
"Like this!"
Bowser grabbed the left rail and tried to pull it downwards. However, it wouldn't budge. Undaunted, he moved his hand to the very end of the rail and began to apply a little extra force, but it still wouldn't move an inch.
"Grr… Stupid rail… Move, why don'tcha?"
The only response Bowser got was a sudden 'snap!' as the one inch of the rail he was holding in his hand broke clean off. This caused Bowser to suddenly lose his balance, and he toppled head-over-heels down the mountain!
"Hey, Pop!" Bowser Jr. called out as he climbed down after his father, "I thought you said you wanted to send the train down the mountain, not yourself!"
"Shut… Ow!... Your… Eek!... Trap!... Argh!..." Bowser retorted in between bashing his brains against rock ledges on the way down.
Meanwhile, the train itself had finally reached the wrecked rails and came to a complete halt.
"What the heck?" Wario grunted, "The track just ends? What, did the builders just get lazy or something?"
"I think the yeti did this," Mario corrected.
"Oh, right… I knew that."
"Well, we can't go any further…" Luigi pondered, "Now what?"
His question was answered when the train started to slowly move backwards.
"Ah… Heh, heh… That's what… Gulp…"
Luigi held onto his lap bar tightly as the train began to pick up speed when he suddenly felt something on his hand. Looking down, he saw that it was Daisy's hand holding on to his to comfort him. He shyly looked over to her in the seat next to him and saw her smile warmly for a second before the train plunged into total darkness.
Luigi never remembered what happened after that. He couldn't recall going down the incredibly steep drop seen from the front of the ride or the close encounter with the yeti at the very end. He felt like time jumped straight from when Daisy held his hand to when the train stopped at the unloading station, and he felt perfectly fine, to boot. While Mario and Peach bought the obligatory souvenir photo (and Wario and Waluigi tormented some poor six-year-olds with a yeti plushie), Luigi and Daisy waited outside the attraction.
"You didn't have to go on, you know," Daisy stated.
Luigi didn't reply. Instead, he just looked out over Discovery River, which passed right in front of the mountain.
"I already told you: you don't have to go on all these big, scary rides to impress me. I like you anyway, Luigi!"
"I know…" Luigi said, turning to face her, "I know it looks like I'm showing off and saying, 'hey, look at me, I conquered all my fears to impress you' and all that, but the truth is, I'm not going on to show you that I'm brave… I'm going on because you make me brave!"
It was Daisy's turn to be silent as Luigi fumbled around for the right words.
"You see… I would never go on any of these rides just to impress anyone. If I did, I would just be lying to them, and myself… But when I'm with you, I feel like I can take on anything! Sure, it doesn't always work, like on the Tower of Terror, but I wouldn't even try if it weren't for you! It isn't a matter of me impressing you, it's you inspiring me! It isn't me doing something to impress you, it's me doing something because you! It's… It's because I lo---"
Click!
Luigi whirled around to see Wario and Waluigi standing a short distance away. Wario was holding a camera (which he clearly already had used) and Waluigi began teasing the couple.
"Luigi and Daisy, sittin' in a tree! K-I-S-S-I-N-G…"
"Ruining the moment as always…" Daisy sighed.
"Let them be," Luigi responded, "I don't think neither of us care what they think of us, right?"
"Right," Daisy replied.
And so, holding hands, the two walked off, hearing the satisfying sound of Peach's frying pan hitting against both Wario Bros.' heads only moments later.
Author's Note: And I'm back! Miss me? Of course you did. Anyway, I have returned from my trip to Disney World with a renewed vigor for writing this story (not that the old vigor ever went away or anything...). However, I have a very small question. When I was at Disney World, I discovered that quite a bit has changed in two years that somewhat affects certain parts of this fanfiction. Nothing on the scale of a full-blown attraction (THANK GOD), but changes nonetheless. Should I go through the trouble of re-editing certain parts of this fic that are now... out-of-date? Or should I focus on updating new chapters rather than fixing old ones?
