Chapter 53: Reunitions: Good and Bad
"What are you three doing here?" Luigi asked in disbelief. He couldn't believe it. Sitting in front of him in the cell within the Deep Dark Galaxy's prison were the three Star Cure Guardians, Canzor, Chlorus, and Herman.
"We could ask you the same thing," said Canzor, "Where in the universe have you been?"
"Let's just say," said Danny, breaking into the conversation, "My dad will explain later. Right now we'd better get you out of here."
After they had gotten the guardians out, Luigi was able to tell them what had happened and what they were doing currently. In exchange, the guardians shared how they had gotten into the prison.
"It was terrible…" said Chlorus sadly, "We were held captive until Bowser's forces had retaken the entire planet and then we were brought here."
"So Tanya wasn't kidding," Luigi said to himself under his breath. He also cursed the Koopa King silently in his head, reinstating his vow to destroy Bowser. E. Gadd rushed into the room suddenly with James on his back.
"Guys, you may want to come see this… who are they?" he said. James had his face buried in E. Gadd's shoulder.
"We'll explain later," said Luigi, "What's going on?"
"Nothing good," said E. Gadd, "How did they get to us so quickly?" Something purple dripped from the ceiling and hit the ground at Herman's feet. It burned right through the floor.
"Oh gosh," said Danny, "We have to get out of here. Now. Cover your face dad. He'll kill you on sight."
"He'll?" asked Luigi.
"You don't want to know," said Danny, "Now, let's go!" He took James from E. Gadd and cradled the young Bro in his arms as he ran out of the room. E. Gadd left the room and the guardians followed him. Luigi waited a few more moments before pulling his hood over his face and walking out after them.
Danny was right. Luigi really needed to keep his face hidden. He fully understood where the somehow acidic purple substance had come from. It had been poisonous paint. And that paint came from the brush of none other than Bowser Jr., who didn't look very junior any more. Bowser Jr. had grown to his father's size at least and might have continued growing. There were almost no differences between the two. The only things were that Bowser Jr. continued to wear his bib to cover his mouth and his eyes were vividly different.
The second Junior saw the heroes from his airship over the pirate ship, he threw at least three different colors of paint at them from his brush. The yellow paint missed and smashed directly into one of the spotlights at the top of the cavern, causing an electrical charge that shorted it out. The blue one hit at the heroes feet and icicles grew from the splash it created, threatening to stab the heroes in front of them. The red paint would have hit dead on if Luigi hadn't blasted it with his staff.
Flames flew everywhere from the explosion and the pirate ship nearby them was set on fire.
"I'll lead them out!" said Danny, "You take care of them!" Understanding that the comment was directed at him, Luigi nodded and readied his staff.
"You can't escape me!" Junior screamed. He flung red paint at the way they had come into the cavern. A fire blocked the exit. Luigi ignored the fact and turned to face Junior. He twirled the staff in his hand and pointed it at his opponent. Junior wasn't fazed. He simply pointed his own weapon at Luigi. The two of them both unleashed their blasts at the same time. Junior this time shot green paint, which immediately burst into twisted vines that hit the electricity and absorbed it. The vines fell to the ground in a twisted mess nearby Luigi. Out of the corner of his eye, Luigi saw that the others had escaped through some other exit.
"Who are you?" Junior yelled, "I demand to know who you are in the name of King Bowser!"
"Or what?" asked Luigi. Junior apparently was too enraged to recognize his voice and jumped down off of the airship, charging at him with amazing speed for such a large Koopa. Luigi countered a swing of the paintbrush with his staff and sent a small charge through in order to stun Junior for a second. It worked for about half a second, but in that half of a second, Luigi was able to knock Junior to the ground. But again, in almost less than half a second, Junior rolled out of the way before Luigi could shock him again.
Luigi kicked Junior in the stomach, but Junior appeared unaffected. He charged forward at Luigi, attempting a close range paint job with purple paint but Luigi knew from experience that these attempts were futile. He was able to knock Junior's brush out of his hands and almost into the water. They were still for a few seconds before Junior tried to dash over and retrieve his brush, but Luigi blocked him and shocked him with his staff. Junior fell on his bottom to the ground.
"Give it up," said Luigi, "Go tell your father that he will fall soon."
"Never!" Junior said weakly. Before Luigi could react, Junior had pushed him to the ground. He was able to retrieve his paintbrush just before Luigi caught him with in an electrical trap the hilt of his staff. Luigi pulled himself up, picking up something that he had seen on the ground nearby.
"Wrong word," said Luigi, as he swallowed the item whole. This time he felt his body becoming increasingly stronger. His hat and clothing turned to solid rock. His cloak melted into the rockiness of his clothing but his hood remained over his head and he sheathed his staff. Junior stared at him with a wicked glare. This was his Rock form, Zaprock Luigi.
Luigi rolled himself into an electrified boulder immediately, and rolled at Bowser Jr. Junior managed to evade him and Luigi managed himself not to fall into the water. Junior tried flinging purple paint at him again, but it was useless against the electrified boulder flying at top speed towards him. Junior was struck hard by the boulder and thrown against a nearby wall. Luigi burst out of his boulder form and looked up at where Junior had landed. He was one cliff up from the ground and Luigi slammed into it in order to make the Koopa fall. Junior would have done just that if Luigi hadn't suddenly been knocked to the ground and powered down by someone.
Luigi struggled to get up but he was pushed down again.
"Stay down or suffer the consequences," said a deep male voice from behind him. He felt something sharp under his neck. He saw out of the corner of his eye that Junior had jumped down on his own and was approaching him.
"What are we going to do?" asked Junior.
"What do you think we're going to do?" said the other person in response, "We're going to imprison him… right after we find out who he is, a fact I'm surprised you didn't discover."
"You know who he is!?" cried Junior in disbelief.
"Of course I do," said the other person. Luigi took this opportunity of argument to zap both of the people behind him. Whatever was under his neck was gone now and he was able to turn himself over and jump to his feet, only to find himself looking into the eyes of someone he never expected to see again.
"Peter," he said breathlessly.
Had he not been informed that his nephew had gone to the dark side, Luigi might have embraced him right there, but instead, he charged his powers in order to knock them both out of the way. He released the blast but Peter seemed unfazed, though Junior was knocked backwards.
"Please uncle, try to act like you actually got stronger over another ten years," said Peter, "Or has age gotten caught up to you?" The answer to a question he had been asking himself since he left the void clicked in his head. The staff imparted power to him so that he didn't feel the effects of aging. When he became out of range of the staff's power, age caught up to him and he couldn't fight as well. After all, being forty one didn't help anything at all.
But Luigi had the staff with him now and he tackled Peter, only to find himself overpowered and pushed to the edge of the lake where Junior was waiting to singe him. The Koopa looked absolutely pissed off.
"You are going to die for what you've done!" Junior screamed. But before he could burn Luigi to a crisp, Peter stopped him.
"Hold on Junior," he said, "I think King Bowser will want to deal with him personally." He gave a wicked grin and walked over, seizing Luigi by the arm. To Luigi's surprise, Peter whispered something into his ear.
"Go to the Dusty Dunes Galaxy," he whispered. Luigi was shocked, so shocked that he accidentally zapped Peter and Junior both. Seeing his chance he dashed for the exit he assumed his allies had taken. He took one more look at Junior, who was on his knees glaring towards Luigi's direction, and Peter, who he thought he saw wink before he drew his staff and zapped the top of the cavern, causing stalactites and rocks to fall everywhere in the cavern. Then he left without even thinking to look back again.
Luigi explained what had happened to his allies on the ship after they had left. They took it rather lightly, even Chlorus who had treated Peter as though he was her brother.
"We all know," said Chlorus sadly, "It's not a mystery."
"Will those freed prisoners be alright?" asked Luigi to Danny.
"They'll be fine," said Danny, "I told them to stay in the prison. It'll warp somewhere and then they'll be able to leave. I don't think that Bowser will be going back there anytime soon." They were all silent for quite a while before Herman spoke for the first time.
"We can't all stay on this ship," he said.
"He's right," said Canzor, "We're going to have to find a place you can drop us off." Luigi wasn't listening. In the silence he had gotten to thinking about Peter again and what he had said about going the Dusty Dunes. He wondered over and over again whether he should trust his nephew's advice.
"Dad, where should we take them?" asked Danny snapping him out of his trance.
"I have an idea," said Luigi quickly, "But first we need to go to the Dusty Dunes Galaxy." Danny had a surprised look on his face.
"I was going to mention that place after we figured out where we should take them," said Danny, "That's the location of another one of the prisons Bowser has."
"Well then, let's head there and then decide where would be a good place for these three to stay," said E. Gadd.
"I've got an idea for that too, but first, we must head to Dusty Dunes," said Luigi, "I have a feeling we'll find something there." James, who had been sitting in silence on Danny's lap the whole time spoke up in a soft voice.
"Daddy and Mommy and Janet?" he asked for about the fiftieth time.
"Perhaps," said Luigi in answer.
"I'm for it," said Canzor.
"I am as well," said Chlorus, though she sounded reluctant. Herman nodded and Danny gave his consent through a thumbs up to E. Gadd.
"Alright then," said the professor, "Setting a course for the Dusty Dunes Galaxy. Hold on." The ship lurched to top speed and disappeared into the depths of space towards the predestined galaxy, Luigi in hopes that Peter could be trusted still, even after going against them.
A/N: The former Star Cure guardians have been found in the Deep Dark Galaxy prison! Peter has met Luigi face to face for the first time in ten years, but this time, they were on opposite sides! But Peter has slipped the fact that Luigi should go to Dusty Dunes next. Can Peter be trusted by the heroes? If so, what will they find? But if not, what is waiting for them?
Dusty Dunes was a very large galaxy in the original Super Mario Galaxy. It is a few notches under Freezeflame on my favorites list since I liked all of the Bedroom galaxies. Also, I believe that presently in the video games (not in this story) Luigi and Mario are twenty one, which is why Luigi is forty one in the story currently.
I do not own Mario. All characters, ideas, and places belong to Nintendo.
