Author's Note: Well, it's been exactly one year since I last updated. And it was two years ago that I published this damn story. My how time flies. I'd be surprised if any of the old readers still paid attention to see if this thing was alive, heh. In any case, here's the next chapter. I'm hoping to update more frequently at least until school starts up again, so I guess you can try to look forward to that. Enjoy.
Luigi did not know what to expect in the coming battle. He had fought against many foes in the past and defeated nearly all of them but he almost always had the assistance of his brother, Mario. And now he was gone. So was Yoshi, one of his best friends in the world, and Peach, the young woman he and his brother had gotten along with so well and rescued so many times for reasons no more than friendship. It looked as though he was the only one left to carry on the Mario legacy.
Sure there was his distant relative Dr. Mario, but the two of them had never gotten along. The same went for Daisy. He would talk to her once in a while when at parties and cart races, but he hadn't known her long enough to really form a bond with her. So all things considered, he was on his own now.
So why fight? Why even bother trying to survive the upcoming fight? His opponent probably had friends and family to return to and things to live for. Luigi felt as though he had none. So why should he live and have his opponent die?
A violet wire frame creature announced the next battle. "Luigi and Isaac must now report to the telepads for the upcoming battle!"
Luigi trudged his way up the steps to the center podium and glanced over at his opponent who gave a nod of respect when they locked eyes. At least it seemed that he was an honorable young man.
Luigi took his place on the telepads at the same time his opponent did. He scanned the crowd, which was staring intently towards the two warriors preparing to be departed to their battle location. He closed his eyes and a moment later he and his foe were gone.
When he opened his eyes he looked about the place he was fighting at. He knew that he was to be fighting at a simulation of Princess Peach's Castle, but he had no idea how realistic it would be. Everything he remembered about the place was there; the beautiful architecture of the central tower, the footprints of Yoshi in the brickwork, the mountains in the distance…
Those mountains were very significant to Luigi. He remembered that not even two nights before this chaos began he was standing on this castle as he did now with his brother, admiring the way the fog danced about those landmarks in a truly captivating way and how the serene waterfalls ran through them in such a peaceful manner. Even now he could smell the beautiful aroma that the fog produced from its far away location.
Out of the corner of his eye, Luigi noticed the swordsman he was to fight coming over the central tower of the castle with his sword held vertically above his head. Luigi had been so caught up in his memories that he hadn't noticed the fight had begun.
Thinking quickly the plumber rolled out of the way of the slash the young swordsman had just made with his silver blade. Thinking he had avoided the moment's danger Luigi took the time to try and stand up in order to execute his counter attack. However, Isaac wasn't as off guard as Luigi had hoped. The young swordsman quickly slid his blade across the surface of the castle top, tearing up bricks as he did so, and used the blunt side of his sword to strike Luigi's chest, causing the plumber in green garments to fly backwards at a high speed. His flight was stopped abruptly when he smashed into the unforgiving central tower behind him.
Although he had many aches throughout his body, the plumber stood up and faced Isaac, who had his sword pointed horizontally at Luigi as if he meant to thrust it at the plumber. And Luigi was almost ready to let it happen out of despair when finally his depression was replaced with determination. In just a moment something changed him from a man wishing for death to a warrior longing to avenge his fallen comrades. He did not know why it happened exactly, but he guessed it had something to do with the fact he was in someplace that at least resembled his homeland and the spirit of the place had gotten to him as he was tossed around on it. This was his and his friends' turf and he would win this battle and the tournament then rescue them from their perverse prison of trophies.
Isaac could see the sudden change in Luigi's eyes and it caused him to hesitate, which proved to be a horrible mistake. Luigi took advantage of the swordsman's pause and launched his attack. He drew back his right arm to gather energy then quickly thrust it forward toward his foe and launched a green sphere of flame at him. It was too quick for the swordsman to dodge and he didn't have time to try and block it with his blade so he ended up taking the full blunt of the attack.
As expected the attack was extremely unpleasant for the young Isaac. The fireball had connected with and dispersed on the young man's face, causing him to be partially blind for at least a few moments. As he dropped his sword and clutched his face in pain, Luigi executed his next attack.
He crouched down to gather energy once more before launching the attack. Once enough was built up he unleashed it in the form of a blast of energy at his feet, using it to propel himself forward at his enemy horizontally with his flaming head pointing towards the young man.
The attack was very powerful and once again Isaac felt the full effect of it. Luigi collided with Isaac at an extremely high speed and caused the young swordsman to fly uncontrollably through the air and land hard on the edge of the castle. And if it weren't for the large metal poles holding up wavy red flags he probably would have slipped right off of the castle and into the moat below.
Isaac finally managed to regain his composure due to the fact Luigi needed a few moments to regain his after that last attack. Although one of his eyes were burned shut and his entire face felt as though it was being held in a fire Isaac managed to stand and face Luigi once more to attack.
The two looked each other in the eyes for a few moments as each tried to figure out what to do next. Luigi was the first to move and he did so quickly, running toward his opponent with his arms flailing behind him. Isaac, who was only about ten yards away, had to react quickly.
Speaking for the first time, the young swordsman shouted, "I call upon the power of the Earth! Spire!" As he shouted the words he thrust his arms into the air as if calling upon some greater force. The attack came swiftly in the form of a large cone shaped stone pillar that had just materialized in and fallen from the sky.
Luigi didn't notice the large piece of matter until it was too late. Although he managed to dodge the deadly point of it the side of the object still struck Luigi in his ribs and crumbled right next to him, causing chunks of stone to bombard him from behind.
After the last attack both fighters were quite weakened and had little energy left to fight with. As the two prepared to launch what would probably be the last of their attacks an unexpected object began rushing toward them from the sky. As a large shadow covered them, the two fighters looked up at the sky in unison to see a gigantic black bullet racing toward them with what looked like a sinister grin on the front of it.
"Bullet Bill," Luigi muttered to himself in horror just moments before it hit.
Neither of them had time to avoid the enormous object. Instead they tried in what seemed like futility to guard themselves from its impact. As it drilled into the ground between them it began to glow a bright red color. Seconds later it let off an enormous blast of tremendous heat and explosive force.
The castle they stood on felt the impact just as much as they, with bricks and other scraps of the building being dematerialized by the flame and thrust outwards from the impact of the explosion as the entire structure shook uncontrollably as if it would collapse in on itself at any moment. After the explosion had finished and the smoke had cleared the effects of the devastating blow were obvious. A giant crater replaced what used to be the central tower of the castle and all around it were torn up bricks and scorched surface.
On one side of the crater lied a lifeless Luigi in a position that would be impossible for one to put their self into without being injured greatly. On the other was a standing Isaac with an almost transparent brown barrier about him.
"Thank you my friend," he said softly to a brown almost sphere-like creature that floated around him. His friend, a Djinni of the Earth, had managed to save his life by forming a protective barrier about him when the explosion occurred and he was summoned. If it had not been for that creature there would most likely be two dead warriors on this scene.
Isaac limped his way over to the telepad that had just appeared a few yards away from him and was teleported back to the stadium where he of course went to receive immediate medical attention. This meant that the first half of round one of this bizarre tournament was almost over…
Luigi stared into the familiar sky of the Toadstool kingdom as darkness slowly swallowed him. This was the end. He had failed his friends and his kingdom. He would not be able to avenge them after all. He could only hope that the winner of the tournament would free his soul and the soul of his friends so that they would be free and together once more.
After taking one last look at the waterfalls he loved so much, Luigi slowly closed his eyes and allowed himself to be pulled into his dark home in oblivion.