When he felt something yank him backwards during his trip through cyberspace, he knew that something had gone drastically awry.
Luigi found himself dumped in a dark, blank void, standing on a floor covered in glowing purple spirals. Encroaching iciness was all around him, the very air pulsing with venomous, vile hate. He had no idea what was happening or where he was—but he knew he was anywhere BUT in the Bunker. Was he back in the dimension where he'd battled the tough-looking Possessor?
"Hello?" he called, his voice echoing.
He looked for a landmark, a fellow soul, anything. But there was only the emptiness, the cold, the hostility. He grabbed the Poltergust's nozzle firmly with both hands, seeing it as his only sense of security.
Then, he heard a noise—a cackle. It was faint at first, and it was coming from everywhere. His mouth went dry as the cackling grew louder—louder—louder. Tendrils of cold worked their way along his body. He now understood that he was in the clutches of someone who wanted him erased from the face of the Earth.
"Wh—who's there?" he demanded, tightening his grip on the Poltergust. "Show yourself!"
Cold sweat beaded on his skin as the laughter grew more acidic, sadistic, demented. Multitudes of windows inexplicably materialized around the black void, and through those windows, Luigi saw a familiar silhouette casually flying by. And all the while, that cackling grew louder still, until it was as if he was in a twisted version of a binaural recording studio, the laughter seemingly closing in on him. Almost like someone was laughing directly in his ear, but when he whirled around, he saw no one. He saw nothing.
The windows disappeared, re-immersing Luigi in blackness. He was disoriented, his stomach liquid.
"Please, God," he whimpered. "Please, God. Help me…"
He slowly reoriented himself, swallowing back the rising dread.
"Okay—all right—pull yourself together," he chided himself. "This is no time to panic. I need to focus. I need to find a way out of this place…"
Luigi? Dio, he pulled you back into his dimension, didn't he?
His dimension? Are you here, too?
That S.O.B. It was a lure. He's gonna…
We're gonna be okay. I'm right here. I'm getting you out of this if it's the last thing I ever do…
I believe you, Luigi. I believe you…
Luigi turned, and Mario's monochrome portrait was in front of him. Bruised, battered and panicked. The sight of him set Luigi's heart ablaze. When he found King Boo, he was gonna…
But King Boo would have to wait. Mario's safety was his current priority.
"Mario…" breathed Luigi, walking toward the painting. "It's okay now. I'm here. I'm here…"
He reached out for his imprisoned bro…
…only for Mario to disappear in a poof of smoke!
And in his place…
…was someone he hoped never to lay eyes on again.
King Boo.
…
"Are you f—ing serious?!" hissed Gadd. "Out of all the times to go on the fritz—now?!"
He was seated before his console, frantically typing code sequences into the keyboard. "Hang in there, Luigi! I'll get you out of this pickle…"
The monitor came to life, showing nothing but pink static and snow. And then that godforsaken cackle resonated from everywhere.
Gadd's blood turned to ice. "Mary, mother of God…"
"Professor," Fred said slowly as the realization also dawned on him. "I don't think the Pixelshifter is on the fritz."
"You mean to tell me—that King Boo—just grabbed him out of cyberspace?!" Gadd practically shrieked. "Was he there all along?!"
Quiet in the room.
"If he's able to fake a security image," said Zed, "then he can certainly jump into cyberspace whenever he pleases."
"He didn't just jump into cyberspace," gasped Ned. "I—I think he hijacked the Pixelshifter itself!"
More silence.
"This one—and the other Pixelators?" Ed asked in a small voice.
"Possibly," Ted fearfully replied.
Gadd facepalmed, letting out a groan. "Why didn't I spot it earlier?! He was always there! Lurking—waiting to strike!"
"Well—if that was the case," Fred spoke up, "then why didn't he take the Dark Moon piece?"
"Because—he doesn't want the Dark Moon anymore," said Gadd. "It was just a means to an end. He wants—Luigi."
Ted and Ed began to blubber. Zed recited a Hail Mary.
"So—Luigi—is stuck in a pocket dimension with someone who'd give anything to see him dead," said Fred, crossing himself. "God help him. And God help us."
…
He'd thought about nothing else for over a decade. He'd dreamed of Luigi—studied him—smelled him—tasted him. But now that he was here and significantly rattled, primal excitement swept through the King. He was gonna draw this out for as long as he possibly could. Besides, he had all the time in the world now.
"Now, what do we have here?" he mockingly asked, leering at the man in green. "Why, if it isn't my old pal Luigi! Or is it Baby Luigi? I frankly can't tell the difference."
"WTF do you want from me?!" Luigi sharply demanded of him.
But King Boo just snickered, the profanity failing to intimidate him. "I was just getting to that part, handsome. But before we do that, I figured that we might do some—catching up. It's been a long time. But time hasn't tarnished your delectably good looks. I guess I should be grateful for that."
He leaned close to Luigi and inhaled his scent before licking the film of sweat off his face. Luigi reacted with extreme disgust.
"And while we're on the subject of reminiscing—remember when you trapped me in a f—ing painting for all eternity?" cooed King Boo. "Good times."
"Can't argue with you there," Luigi said smartly. "I was also hoping that you'd—I don't know—stay in that painting."
Ah—so the hatred was mutual. The King could feel the spite in Luigi's voice and see it in his posture, despite the fact that he was completely unnerved. That was good to know. By the time King Boo was done, that man in green would have more reasons to loathe him.
"Too bad for you," snapped the King, "because guess what—I GOT OUT! And now—I'm painting this town red!"
"You were responsible for this mess, weren't you?" asked Luigi.
"Dingdingding! We have a winner!" chortled King Boo. "Yes—I was the one who broke the Dark Moon. This power-enhancing jeweled crown of mine made it easy. And now that every ghost in Evershade Valley is under my control, the time has come for me to take my rightful place as supreme ruler of your world! You, that f—ing geezer scientist, your friends and everyone you've ever loved will look great hanging from the wall of my throne room!"
Laughing evilly, King Boo allowed his aforementioned bejeweled crown to glow before sending a powerful pulse of dark energy at the surrounding void, turning the blackness into a nightmarish morass of shapes and colors.
A nightmare to remember for his dear little Luigi.
…
The situation was now a Code Red.
Luigi understood that King Boo would no longer be satisfied with just going after Mario. Targets were now on the backs of Professor Gadd, Peach, her Toad retainers, and perhaps his beloved Flower Princess, Daisy. His fans and old acquaintances from Brooklyn could be fair game, as well. And the maniacal Master of Illusions wouldn't stop until they all suffered for Luigi's supposed "crime"!
He would not let that happen!
"And who knows?" King Boo joyfully went on. "I just might let my new ghostly foot-soldiers [bleep] them. Every. Last. One. And then I'll let my loyal Boos [bleep] them before giving my allies a turn f—ing them. You're going to watch as they all [bleep] your good friends over and over and over—until there's barely anything left of them. And after that, when they've become hollow and empty shells of their former selves and lost the will to fight, to live—that's when you'll know that the debt has been paid." He threw his head back and laughed.
That did it!
Luigi narrowed his eyes at King Boo and brandished the Poltergust 5000. "Not if I can help it!" he vowed.
"A little fight in you," said King Boo. "I like that. And I'm really gonna enjoy this."
He soared into the air before slamming himself against the ground, creating a shockwave. Luigi cartwheeled aside and saw three growing shadows cast on the floor. He looked up, seeing three spiked balls drop onto the arena. Then he looked at King Boo, floating ominously toward him.
What is it with King Boo and spiked balls?
Luigi licked his lips. He found a way to defeat King Boo with his own weapons the first time around, and by God, he'd do it again! Maybe he could simply launch the spiked balls at him, like with the Koopa mech…
But when he tried suctioning a spiked ball onto the nozzle, King Boo slammed against the platform again, jarring Luigi's grip. The fiend had grown smarter in the interim! Luigi now had to focus his energy on evading the shockwaves, the larger spiked balls and even King Boo himself. If he could fight him without a giant mech, then his power had definitely increased!
However, King Boo had a weakness. The villains that the Mario Bros faced always did. Usually, three powerful stomps to the crown of the head would leave even the most imposing foe on the ground, moaning. When it came to Koopa, they'd always turn his own weapons and his overconfidence against him, exploiting all of his flaws until he lay in a heap on a certain bridge in his castle. But Koopa and the other villains weren't King Boo—at least they had morals, lines they wouldn't cross, and in Koopa's case, loved ones. And King Boo was a ghost, after all. Three stomps, three hundred stomps or three-thousand stomps wouldn't faze him. But Luigi knew something would.
And eventually, he found that something.
King Boo acted just like any old Boo, shyly covering his face whenever Luigi looked at him directly or shone his flashlight at him. Inspiration soon struck, and when the King summoned more spiked balls, he looked for those growing shadows on the platform, using some tricky maneuvering to get his opponent beneath one of them. It took several tries and several painful blows from the King, but he eventually got the timing right.
WHUNK!
A huge spiked ball landed atop King Boo, practically flattening him into a pancake. With a strident battle cry, Luigi moved in at once, pushing the Poltergust to the max and beginning to vacuum up the Master of Illusions.
The battle for Evershade Valley—and the world—had begun!
Please R&R.