(Unknown Location)
Back in the villain's hideaway, the mysterious leader tapped impatient fingers on the arm of his throne. The group of lackeys had come back with the princess, as directed, and were now ready to begin their missions and put the plan into action.
"Even still, this Luigi fellow may prove to be a problem." The leader mused. "I can't take any chances here. I need to get my men to take him out as they search."
"Boss! I'm ready to go!"
Looking up from his thinking, the leader saw the huge figure walking into the room, his huge club slung over his shoulder.
"I trust you, boss, but are you sure this won't end up like Tatanga's plan?" The figure asked in a deep voice.
"YES!" The leader shouted. "Now, I expect you to get to the Ancient Essence before that shrimpy plumber and his friends do!"
The huge figure stepped out of the shadows, revealing a huge, muscled Kremling. "No problem." Kudgel said confidently. "This will be WAY easier than fighting those stupid Kongs."
"For your sake, I should hope so. You wouldn't want me shipping you back to K. Rool, now would you?"
The huge Kremling gulped. "N-No, sir."
(Luigi's Mansion)
Luigi scratched his head as he and his team left his mansion, stepping out into the midday sun. "Well, where do we go now?" He asked. "We don't know of anyone that may be able to help us."
"Yeah. I doubt Russ T. will be able to help us this time. He doesn't have much knowledge of foreign lands, including Monstro Land." Goombaria muttered.
"Well, who do we go to, then!" Waluigi asked, waving his arms in a comedic way.
Luigi sighed, looked at Waluigi and started waving his arms as well. "We don't know! That's what we're trying to figure out!"
"Well, we need to hurry! I wanna save Maple!"
"I know you're worried about her! We all are!"
"Then why don't we know who to go to by now!"
"Be patient for crying out loud!"
"I bet that if it was Daisy in danger, you'd be as frantic as I am now!"
"Don't change the subject, Waluigi!"
"I'm not, punk!"
The others watched as Luigi and Waluigi continued shouting at each other, each of them constantly waving their arms in the air. Vivian sighed. "Guys."
"Look, I'm sure if we put our heads together, we could find out who to go to!" Luigi insisted.
"How could you be so freaking calm!" Waluigi screamed. "We have a princess to rescue!"
"Guys." Vivian tried again.
"Waluigi, just calm the heck down! It won't help Maple in the least!"
"Neither will standing around doing nothing!"
"Guys!" Vivian said, louder this time.
"Whaddya mean my feet stink!"
"I didn't say that! I said your brother's did!"
"Finally! Something we agree on!"
"GUYS!" Vivian shouted and snapped her fingers, causing the ground beneath the two bickering plumbers. This put an abrupt end to the argument, but it also sent both plumbers high into the air.
The two plumbers landed on the ground, and quickly cast two dark looks at the Shadow Siren. "WHAT!" They shouted at the same time.
"I was trying to say that maybe we should try Mr. Toadsworth!" Vivian explained, frustrated. "He's been all over the place. He might know what the hey's going on."
Luigi and Waluigi sat in silence before looking at each other. "Why is it always the newbie that comes up with the best suggestions?" Waluigi asked.
"You got me." Luigi shrugged as he got up. "Well, it's a start, so let's go check."
(Peach's Castle)
Luigi knocked on the front door to Peach's castle, hoping that someone was in. Luckily, before too long, the door opened, revealing a blue-capped mushroom guard.
"Oh! Hey, Luigi!" The guard greeted. "You here to see Peach?"
"Actually, it's Toadsworth we want to see." Luigi said. "Is he in at all?"
"Of course." The guard opened the door further to let everyone in. "He's in the library."
"Uh…Where's the library?" Biff asked, looking around the huge foyer of the castle.
"Down the hallway, third door on the left." The guard pointed out. "You can't miss it."
"Thank you muchly." Luigi said as he led his team down the hallway.
The team quickly arrived at the door to the library. Luigi twisted the doorknob and opened the door.
Inside was the library of the castle, obviously filled to the rim with volumes upon volumes of books stacked on what looked like an endless amount of shelves. And at the top of one of the shelves, looking through a list of books, was Toadsworth.
"Hey, Toadsworth!" Luigi called out.
The old toad, caught off guard by Luigi's shout, slipped off the shelf and landed on his back. Toadworth was stunned, but quickly got up and dusted himself off.
"What were you doing up there, Toadsworth?" Daisy asked.
"Just checking through the 'G' section of books, princess." Toadsworth replied. "Having a heck of a time finding anything, though."
Luigi looked up. "Uh…Toadsworth? That's the 'S' section." He pointed out.
The elderly toad chuckled with a shrug. "Oh. Well, there you are, then."
Waluigi looked at Luigi. "And we need this guys help…WHY?"
Luigi ignored him. "Look, Toadsworth. We need your help."
"Really?" Toadsworth asked. "I can actually assist one of the Mario brothers in a quest?"
"Yes." Daisy nodded. "We're wondering what you know about the history of Monstro Land."
Toadsworth scratched his chin. "Well, in fact, I have a book around here that may help."
"Really?" Goombaria asked. "Where is it?"
"Is THIS what you're looking for?" A new voice asked.
Everyone turned and saw a huge reptile with a giant club standing with an old-looking book in his other hand.
Toadsworth's eyes snapped open. "That's the book! That reptile has the book!"
"What the heck IS it!" Biff asked.
"The freak that knocked me out when I tried to save Maple!" Waluigi growled.
"A Kremling." Luigi observed. "Workers for K. Rool, the rival of the Kong clan. One fact to consider is that the bigger the Kremling, the dumber they are."
"So this one is the dumbest possible, then?" Vivian asked with a smirk.
Kudgel frowned. "You've got some nerve insulting the strongest Kremling in the clan!" He shouted. "If you don't mind, I'll be taking this because it has something I'm looking for. Now if you'll excuse me…"
With that, Kudgel raced at the team, swinging his club at the same time. He knocked Biff and Luigi out of the way as he charged past, plowing through the door leading back into the hallway.
Daisy helped Luigi to his feet. "That lizard just took that book!"
"We need that book!" Goombaria shouted. "Let's go after him!"
The team raced into the hallway in time to see Kudgel racing towards the front dor of the castle. With one quick swing of his giant club, the huge Kremling knocked both guards away from the door. Kudgel ran through the door with the team hot on his heels, each of them looking intent of stopping the huge lizard.
Kudgel paid no mind to whatever citizen he bowled over during his trek to the edge of Toad Town. In fact, he took a coupe of swings along the way to clear his path. Luigi's team kept pressing on, as the book that Kudgel was holding was going to be of great value to them on the quest.
(Soon…)
Eventually, the team had chased Kudgel clear out of the town. The huge Kremling pressed on, Toadsworth's book in his huge hand. He was determined to get what he needed to get, but in order to do that, he needed to lose Luigi's team.
Kudgel looked ahead to see where he was going, then saw something that made his almost non-existent eyebrows raise. Thinking quickly, he swung his club and leapt into the air at the same time. He slammed his club into his target, leapt over whatever it was and continued running.
Luigi's team, however, had to come to a halt, as whatever this was, it was taking up the whole path.
"Great! We can't go on!" Luigi sighed.
"What IS it, anyway?" Goombaria asked, eyeing the huge, red object on the path.
"It looks like a Koopa shell, but that's impossible…" Vivian said.
Suddenly, the huge, red object moved, turning to face the team. Everyone stepped back in shock as the object turned out to be a gigantic, red-shelled Koopa with a pair of large glasses on his head.
"You just hit me, pal!" The giant reptile shouted, pointing at Luigi. "No one hits Kent C. Koopa from behind and gets away with it!"
Luigi frantically waved his hands in front of his face. "I-I didn't! It was the guy we're chasing down!"
"Such a cheap lie!" Kent C scoffed. "You're asking for a fight, my friend, and I intend to give you one for that cowardly shot!"
"Looks like I got no way around it, now." Luigi muttered to himself.
(BATTLE: START!)
(MINI-BOSS: KENT C. KOOPA)
(HEALTH: 3 HP)
Kent C ran at Luigi, but it looked more the less like a walk to Luigi. Deciding to get rid of the guy the usual Koopa way, Luigi leapt into the air as the huge Koopa ran underneath him. Lashing out his foot in midair, Luigi struck Kent C's shell. Imagine his surprise when he noticed that it didn't do anything.
"Was that a kick?" Kent C laughed as Luigi touched the ground. "My shell is way too tough for your puny attacks!"
"He's right." Luigi thought. "Looks like I'll have to find a different way to defeat him."
Kent C ducked into his shell and spun himself (slowly) at the green plumber. Realizing that there was no way to damage him like that, Luigi jumped into the air again, off Kent C's shell and back on the other side of the path. Seeing that he had missed, Kent C got out of his shell again, turned and charged again.
"There's got to be a way to beat this guy!" Luigi pondered as he jumped again. "Everyone has a weak point!"
In the air, Luigi landed a hard karate chop to Kent C's chest. Unfortunately, this too did little more than faze the giant. Kent C laughed once more. "What a lame attack! That didn't even hurt!"
Stepping back a couple of steps, Kent C smirked. "Now it's time to show off my new move! Get a load of my 'Invincible Whirlwind'!"
After rearing back for a split second, Kent C lashed himself out, ducking into his shell at the same time. Luigi watched as Kent C spun at high speeds, straight at him.
"Man." Luigi thought as he once again jumped over the huge Koopa. "This guy's a complete wannabe. That's a cheap ripoff of Bowser's Whirling Fortress."
Once Kent C got to the end of his spin, he quickly got out of his shell and started wobbling in place, holding his head.
Luigi smirked. "That last attack made him dizzy! Now's my chance!"
Luigi tried attacking with a hard punch to the stomach, but unfortunately Kent C's stomach was as hard as his shell.
Kent C quickly recovered from his dizzy spell and looked down at Luigi. "I told you! You have nothing that can get past my defenses!"
Luigi growled in anger. "Why doesn't anything work!" He shouted. Suddenly, he felt an odd feeling coming from his hand. Looking at it, he saw that his anger had activated his Thunderhand.
Kent C's eyes sprang open in horror from behind his glasses. Bad memories of fighting Watt, one of Mario's past partners, flooded back. The giant stepped back and hysterically ducked into his shell again.
Luigi saw the fear in the giant's eyes and a light suddenly went on inside his head. He didn't have time to ponder further, as Kent C had spun himself at Luigi again. Running to the side, he allowed the titanic Koopa to pass by.
Realizing that he had again missed his target, Kent C climbed out of his shell and spun around to face Luigi. "I need to take him out before he finds my weakness!" He said as he ducked into his shell and did another Invincible Whirlwind.
Luigi luckily saw this coming and leapt over the attack. Once Kent C spun a little more, he sprang out of his shell and wobbled in place.
Seeing his chance, Luigi ran at the giant reptile, charging his Thunderhand at the same time. Leaping into the air, Luigi slammed his palm into Kent C's face and activated the attack, filling the giant with a lot of electricity. (HIT)
Kent C toppled over, but quickly jumped to his feet. "No! He's found my weakness!" He wailed. He quickly ran (walked) at Luigi, hoping to trample him.
Unfortunately for the gigantic Koopa, Luigi saw the attack coming a mile away. The green plumber ran at Kent C, dove at him and slid on the ground between the giant's legs.
Kent C stopped running (although it took him a couple seconds) and turned around. Ducking into his shell again, Kent C spun himself at Luigi normally.
Luigi pondered the battle as he leapt over Kent C. "Okay. This is going to be easy. All I need to do is wait for this guy to rip off Bowser's moves, let him get dizzy and nail him with my Thunderhand. This shouldn't be too hard."
The green plumber then saw Kent C still spinning in his shell, towards the rest of the team. Everyone jumped out of the way, leaving nothing in the way for Kent C to run into other than a tree. This, however, acted as a bumper, as the giant shell bounced off the tree rather than mow it down. Luigi had to jump over this as well.
After passing under Luigi a second time, Kent C popped out of his shell and spun around to look down at Luigi. "You are really starting to annoy me! I don't like people who annoy me!"
Deciding to try his new attack again, Kent C spun himself at Luigi, this time doing another Invincible Whirlwind. Luigi easily jumped over the attack, landed and waited for Kent C to come out of his shell.
The giant did. As Kent C stood in place, wobbling in dizziness, Luigi ran up and slammed another charged Thunderhand into his face. (HIT)
"D'oh!" Kent C shouted as he fell onto his back. "This isn't going as well as I had hoped…"
"You mean that you were actually EXPECTING to win with slow moves like that?" Luigi asked with a smirk.
Kent C roared in anger. "You're in for it now, pal!" He shouted as he leapt into the air and came down hard.
Luigi ran to avoid the attack. "This guy keeps stealing Bowser's moves! Can't he come up with anything good on his own?" He thought as Kent C leapt into the air again.
The huge Koopa slammed into the ground again, but Luigi had quickly avoided by running to the side. Kent C tried his powerbomb move one more time, but Luigi avoided it again.
Seeing that his last resort attack wasn't getting him anywhere, Kent C spun himself at Luigi normally again. Luigi easily avoided the attack, but kept his eyes on the retreating shell.
Just as Luigi predicted, Kent C bounced off another tree and continued spinning at him. The green-clad plumber quickly jumped again. He then saw Kent C bouncing off yet another tree. This time, he didn't have time to jump. Instead, Luigi dove to the side as Kent C passed by.
Now that his spin had missed three times in a row, Kent C jumped out of his shell. "Okay! This is my last chance! I need to make it count!" He said as he reared back. "Invincible Whirlwind!"
Luigi smirked.
The plumber jumped to avoid Kent C as he spun by at high speeds. Kent C wildly spun for a few more feet before popping out of his shell again. He staggered in place, trying to keep himself from falling over.
Luigi ran at Kent C, leapt up to his face and gave the giant Koopa a final mouthful of electricity. (HIT)
"No…" Kent C said as he fell onto his back. "…How could…I let myself…Be defeated…"
Folding his arms, Luigi stood triumphant over his opponent. "Next time, try thinking before you attack." He said.
(END BATTLE – LUIGI WINS)
Everyone standing at the sidelines watched as Kent C jumped to his feet and ran away crying. They saw that his retreat was faster than his run during the battle. Luigi shook his head and sighed. "Thanks to that guy holding us up, that huge lizard with the club escaped."
"Then let's go after him!" Vivian shouted, pumping her fist into the air. "He couldn't have gone far!"
"He went that way!" Waluigi pointed out. "Let's go get him!"
The team of six ran off in the direction Kudgel had fled after striking Kent C, hoping to catch up and figure out what he wanted the old book for.
Everyone searched the path for any trace of Kudgel for a good while, but were unable to find anything that would point in the right direction. Nothing along the path looked like a two-ton Kremling had ran through it.
"This is pathetic!" Waluigi ripped his hat off his head in anger. "How long have we been freaking searching for!"
"I don't know." Daisy sighed. "This is taking way too long."
"Wait." Luigi said as he walked over to a tree-covered path along the side of the road. "Take a look at this, guys."
Everyone else curiously walked over to where Luigi was and inspected the path he was in front of. The two trees on either side of the narrow path were pushed aside, bending over a good amount. This showed that something too big for the narrow walkway had recently passed through.
"He went that way!" Vivian pointed out.
"Gee! Ya THINK so!" Waluigi asked sarcastically.
"Well, we have a lead!" Luigi said. "Let's go!"
The team started running through the path that had been opened up to them, hoping to see where Kudgel had run off too.
(Later…)
Eventually, the team pushed their way to the end of the path. Once they did, they looked around and saw that they had arrived in Gusty Gulch.
"How the heck did we get here!" Waluigi asked, looking around.
"You mean that we could have taken this path in the last adventure and avoided Forever Forest altogether!" Goombaria asked Luigi.
Luigi scratched his head. "I had no idea that path existed. We'll have to remember that for when we need to get here faster."
"Well, let's go ask someone if they've seen that muscle-bound idiot!" Biff suggested.
The team quickly saw that they were close to the village of Boos. Going into the village, they saw that the place looked pretty deserted for a change.
"I wonder where everyone is…" Luigi said as he looked around.
"Let's take a look around." Vivian said.
The team walked further into the village and suddenly saw why there wasn't anyone hanging around. The entire village of Boos were standing in the way of a very-frustrated Kudgel, preventing him from going any further.
"Let me go ahead, you punks!" Kudgel shouted. "If you lot weren't already dead, I'd kill you all for holding me up!"
"There's no way we'd let someone like you through!" One of the Boos shouted. "Not after the way you rudely plowed down poor Charlie on your way through!"
"There he is!" Daisy shouted. "Let's go get him!"
Kudgel spun around and saw the team rushing at him. "Oh, crap!" He shouted, turning around and plowing through the crowd of Boos anyway.
The team chased Kudgel through the village, but the huge Kremling ended up getting away again, jumping into off the main road and running towards the edge of a cliff a couple miles away.
"He's going towards Jagged Stone Cliff!" Luigi pointed out. "After him!"
"Why the heck is he going towards the cliff?" Daisy asked as she jumped off the road after Luigi.
"Something tells me we're about to find out!" Vivian replied.
The team raced after Kudgel the whole way to the cliff. Once Kudgel reached the dge of the cliff, he skidded to a halt and spun around to face the team.
The huge Kremling smirked as he held the book out. "You want the book that badly?" He asked. He held his hand over the book a couple of seconds. Then, much to the team's surprise, a white mist of some kind was pulled from the pages in the book and flew into a device in Kudgel's other hand. Once the strange mist was fully out of it, Kudgel held the book over the edge of the cliff. "Then catch!"
With that, Kudgel dropped the book over the cliff, down into the valley hundreds of feet below.
Vivian zoomed past the huge Kremling and stepped off the cliff. Because she was always anchored to the ground, she wouldn't be injured by the fall anyway. On her way back to ground level, Vivian caught the book and held it safely in her hands as she reached the floor of the valley.
Kudgel saw this from the top of the cliff. He growled, not knowing Vivian would have been able to do that.
"Hey, loser!"
Kudgel turned around and saw Biff walking away from the team, pounding his fist into his palm. "After everything you've put us through, you'd better tell us everything you know!"
Kudgel smirked. "Well, look at that." Raising his club, Kudgel reached for a device on his wrist at the same time. "A challenge!"
Biff narrowed his eyes. "So, you wanna do this the hard way, eh?" He asked. "Okay! Let's go!"
Biff ran at Kudgel and swung his fist. He connected it with the Kremling's huge club, but once he did, both giants vanished from sight.
(The Sky)
The next thing Biff knew, he quickly saw that he wasn't in Gusty Gulch anymore. Instead, he was on a stone block floating high above the clouds. The bodybuilder had nowhere to move and Kudgel was nowhere to be seen.
"Where the heck am I?" Biff asked, looking around.
Suddenly some for stone blocks lifted up from below, connecting with the one Biff was standing on. Soon, the stone blocks had formed one gigantic square with stone pillars scattered around.
The last stone square rose from the cloudy abyss below, carrying Kudgel. The Kremling slapped his club into his palm several times. "Is the big, bad bodybuilder scared yet?"
"Cheap tricks like this won't scare me!" Biff shouted. "But where the heck are we? Is this the Nth Dimension that Mel told us about?"
Kudgel chuckled. "Nope. This is still the Mushroom Kingdom. We're just floating high above the skies. Our boss didn't like recent risks of constantly going to the Nth Dimension anyway. Especially with what's at stake here."
"What are you up to, then?" Biff interrogated.
"Sorry. I've already spoken too much." Kudgel said getting into a stance. "Now, let's see how strong you REALLY are."
(BATTLE: START!)
(BOSS: KRUDGEL)
(HEALTH: 3 HP)
Biff lunged at Kudgel and lashed out with both fists. Both of Biff's powerful fists struck Kudgel in the chest, but to the bodybuilder's shock, it did nothing other than make the Kremling flinch.
"Surprised?" Kudgel asked with a smirk. Without giving Biff a chance to reply, Kudgel swung his club, striking the blonde man in the side of the face. Biff flew back several feet and landed on his side.
Luckily, this didn't hurt Biff all that much. He quickly jumped to his feet and glared at Kudgel. "You're gonna pay for that, lizard!"
The blonde man rushed forward again, hoping to do some damage this time. However, this attack proved to be just as pointless as the last. Biff bounced off Kudgel's body once again.
"Are you quite finished yet?" Kudgel asked as if he was starting to get bored. "Because it is now MY turn to attack!"
Kudgel ran at Biff, swinging his club wildly. Biff quickly dodged the blow by running to the side. The giant Kremling was going so fast that he couldn't stop for another three seconds. Once he came to a complete stop, Kudgel charged again, being careful not to plow through the pillars on the arena. Biff dove to the side and allowed the club-wielding strongman to pass by.
As soon as Kudgel noticed that he was no longer running at his target, he tried stopping. It took him another few seconds, but Kudgel finally managed to come to a stop. However, once he did, he felt like he was going to topple over from the sudden halt in movement. Kudgel tried to regain his balance, and this gave Biff enough time to run from his hiding place and land a hard right hook into the square of Kudgel's back.
Once again, the attack was rendered useless. And to make matters worse, Biff had REALLY made Kudgel angry with the blow to the back. Kudgel swung his club with one hand, striking Biff in the chin. Biff flew high into the air and came crashing down hard, but he flew back-first into one of the pillars on the arena. Biff accidentally destroyed the pillar, but paid it no mind.
Biff glared daggers at Kudgel, but stopped short when he saw the giant's eyes widen. Biff raised his eyebrow in confusion as he looked down. He suddenly saw something that made his eyes widen as well. In the place of the pillar he had just destroyed was a barrel with the words 'TNT' painted on it.
A light went on inside Biff's head. "If my punches can't hurt him, maybe this stuff can!" He thought. He reached for the TNT.
"Don't touch that!" Kudgel ordered as he charged at Biff, swinging his club. "Away from it!"
Biff smirked as he picked up the barrel. Just in time, Biff then rolled out of the way, allowing Kudgel to run straight past him. Holding the TNT barrel under on his his arms, Biff waited for the opportune moment to strike, and he had a good idea as to when that would be.
Kudgel skidded to a halt (eventually) and spun around. The giant charged again, hoping to plow through Biff and set off the TNT before he could use it.
Biff was anticipating this, however, and easily avoided the charge. The bodybuilder turned around and saw Kudgel skidding to a halt again, but this time, the Kremling was trying to regain his footing again.
The blonde man, smirking, brought the TNT barrel from underneath his arm and bowled in directly into Kudgel's back. (HIT)
"YEEEEOW!" Kudgel shouted, reaching for his back. He then turned around. "That hurt."
Now seeing how to defeat him, Biff didn't have time to ponder his chances, as Kudgel leapt high into the air. Quickly seeing that the giant was about to land directly on top of him, Biff dove to the side as Kudgel's feet struck the stone arena, making a few cracks.
Standing straight, Kudgel walked in Biff's direction. Biff backed away just as Kudgel attacked with another swing of his club.
The huge Kremling approached Biff again. Once he got within range, Kudgel swung his club horizontally. Biff was lucky enough to duck as the huge club went over his head. Grabbing the first chance he got, Biff ran away.
Kudgel narrowed his eyes. "So you run from a battle, eh?" He asked. "Very well. I'll just run after you."
The giant Kremling ran at Biff again. The blonde man quickly slipped to the side as Kudgel ran past. While Kudgel was trying to stop himself from running, Biff slammed a fist into one of the pillars, destroying it in an instant. Looking down, Biff saw another TNT barrel. Picking it up, Biff turned to prepare for Kudgel to charge him again, but stopped short when he saw Kudgel already running at him. Kudgel plowed straight into Biff, making him send the TNT flying off the edge of the stone arena.
Kudgel smirked. "Looks like I'm getting the upper hand, here." He mused.
Biff grunted as he got to his feet. "Oh, yeah?" He asked.
Kudgel replied with another club strike to the face, sending Biff flying several feet away. "Yeah."
Biff, rubbing his jaw in pain, slowly got to his feet. Looking at Kudgel, he saw the giant rushing him again. Narrowing his eyes, Biff rolled out of the way as Kudgel ran right on by.
"He's running faster." Biff deduced as he demolished another pillar. "I need to make this quick."
Biff quickly picked up the barrel and turned to see Kudgel charging him again. Biff rolled to the side, allowing the giant to miss him again.
After doing this, Biff prepared to throw the TNT into Kudgel's back, but instead saw the huge Kremling charging him a third time. As quickly as he could, Biff jumped to the side. Kudgel saw that he had missed and started stopping.
After he had come to a full stop again, Kudgel suddenly felt himself losing his balance. Biff quickly threw the barrel into Kudgel's back while he tried to regain his footing. (HIT)
"This isn't going as well as I had hoped." Kudgel said as he got to his feet.
"What're you gonna do about it now, huh?" Biff asked.
Kudgel didn't answer. Instead, he leapt high into he air again. Biff waited until Kudgel's shadow appeared over him to move out of the way. Kudgel came crashing down hard, making some more cracks in the arena.
Biff rubbed his chin in thought. "Maybe I can pull a Mario here." He thought.
Kudgel leapt into the air again, over Biff. The bodybuilder ran out of the way and quickly ran to a spot that already had some cracks in the floor.
The giant Kremling, unaware of what Biff was planning, leapt into the air again. Once the time was right, Biff ran out of the way. Kudgel landed on the stone flooring, but once he did, the stone blocks he had landed on gave away and crumbled. Kudgel wasn't prepared for this to happen and dropped into the abyss below.
Biff looked down the hole in the arena and watched as Kudgel vanished below the clouds. "Yes! I got him!" He said in triumph. He then looked around. "Now how am I supposed to get down from here?"
Suddenly, Biff heard a deep laugh coming from behind. Daring to look over his shoulder, Biff jumped when he saw Kudgel floating from underneath the arena, engulfed in a white circle, most likely the strange energy he had absorbed earlier.
Still flying in the circle, Kudgel flew headfirst at Biff, swinging his club. Seeing that Kudgel was flying much faster than he could run, Biff dove to the side, allowing the giant to pass.
Kudgel quickly turned around and dove at Biff again. Biff ducked under him as Kudgel continued on. As quickly as he could, Biff destroyed another pillar and picked up the TNT barrel.
No sooner had he done this when Kudgel flew at him again. Biff, thinking amazingly quickly, tossed the TNT barrel into the air and jumped. Kudgel flew underneath him and continued on. Biff landed on his feet and quickly caught the TNT barrel.
Turning around, Biff saw that the strange energy encircling Kudgel had vanished, dropping him to the ground.
Sensing his final chance, Biff threw the TNT barrel at Kudgel while he was getting up. It slammed straight into his back. (HIT)
"Impossible…" Kudgel moaned as he blacked out. "I'm way stronger than him…"
Biff shoved both fists into the air and waved to the imaginary crowd around him. "You? Stronger than ME? Forget about it!"
(END BATTLE – BIFF WINS)
Suddenly, Biff was engulfed in a white light, clouding his vision.
(Gusty Gulch)
When the light cleared, Biff found that he was back at the top of the cliff with the rest of the team.
"Biff! You won?" Goombaria asked.
"Sure did." Biff replied. "Unfortunately, I couldn't get that energy he absorbed from the book."
"I wonder what it was, anyway." Luigi pondered.
"You punks'll never find out!"
Everyone turned to see Kudgel getting to his feet. The giant sneered at them. "What we're after is WAY more powerful than the Power Crystals! Our boss is going to use the Ancient Essences to do something Tatanga could never HOPE to accomplish!"
"What about poor Maple?" Daisy demanded. "What does she have to do with this?"
"Ha! You'd really think I'd blab about that!" Kudgel laughed. "No freaking way!"
Without giving anyone a chance to react, Kudgel vanished from sight.
"He's probably gone back to his boss." Waluigi muttered.
"Well, let's get this book back to Toadsworth." Vivan said, holding the book in her hands.
"Yeah. Maybe he can tell us what's going on." Luigi said.
(Unknown Location)
Maple groaned as she slowly woke up from her chloroform-induced sleep. When she finally woke up, she quickly saw that she wasn't in her kingdom anymore, but rather in a cold, stone-walled cell of some sort.
"W-Where a I?" Maple asked as she stood up. She suddenly remembered what had happened the night before. "That's right! I was coming back from a date with Waluigi when those goons jumped me!"
Biting her fingernails, Maple started to worry. "I sure hope Plum's alright! If those goons got her as well, then I'll never forgive myself! And what about Waluigi! I saw him running at those guys just before they knocked me out!"
Maple rushed over to the door to her cell and twisted the doorknob. She wasn't surprised to find it locked.
The tan-haired princess sighed. From the looks of things, she couldn't do anything to escape. She was about to go over to the side of the cell to sulk when she heard a voice coming from the other side of the door. Maple curiously pressed her ear against the door to listen in.
"You disappoint me, Kudgel." A voice sighed. Maple bet that it was the leader behind her kidnapping.
"I'm real sorry, boss." Kudgel replied. "I honestly thought I could get that strongman."
"Look, lizard. I didn't hire you to think, because I know your head isn't meant for that." The leader snapped. "Now that Luigi and Waluigi know about this, they'll end up racing us to the Ancient Essences."
Maple felt like shouted for joy, but prevented herself from doing so. Now she knew that Waluigi was trying to save her, and had teamed up with Luigi and some others to do so.
"Well, I suppose that the main thing is that you DID manage to bring that Ancient Essence here." The leader sighed. "I guess that we just need to pick up the pace to get the others."
Feeling that she had heard enough, Maple backed away from the door. When she reached the other side of the room, she leaned against the wall and slid down it. Maple sighed and curled into a ball.
"I can only hope that Waluigi finds me soon." Maple said softly. "When I told myself I wanted to be like Peach and Daisy, I didn't mean it to be like this."