Chapter 8

Wind rushed past Luigi's ears as the earth rolled lazily beneath him. From his vantage point, buildings were just tiny shapes and even large truck karts were mere specks. He could trace roads and rivers for miles, see the beginning and end of forests, farmland and other features. It was a view as enchanting as it was terrifying, and though he'd viewed all this from a plane before, it was nothing like being out in the open air. He sat suspended in a hanging chair beneath Cliff as the freerunning paratroopa flew through the sky with relative ease. They were flying high to avoid being spotted, but the height made Luigi very uncomfortable. Even after 2 hours he still hadn't gotten used to the sensation of travelling thousands of feet in the sky, with nothing between him and the ground far below. He didn't think anyone could get used to it, though Cliff seemed to prove him wrong. The paratroopa strolled through the air with more grace and agility than he ever had on land, which is saying a lot because Cliff was also a champion freerunner. He never seemed concerned, even at 15,000 feet in the air there was not an ounce of fear in him. Luigi wished he could act more like Cliff, but instead found himself vomiting off to the side, probably onto some unsuspecting toad miles below. Eventually he had nothing left to throw up, and was able to continue the journey more peacefully. Cliff laughed the whole time, telling Luigi he wasn't the first passenger to respond this way. That made the plumber feel a bit better, but not his stomach.

Green grass gave way to sandy, desert plains with the occasional shrub or cactus dotting the landscape. This high up, the air was cold so Luigi didn't notice a difference in temperature. He did, however, feel a dryness to the wind that wasn't there before. The fierce gusts at this altitude made conversation difficult, so the journey was mostly silent for the next hour as they approached Morton's castle. Luigi was scared of falling, but he also worried that whatever waited for him on the ground might be just as deadly. Morton could be reasoned with - sometimes - but he had a temper on him. If Luigi or Cliff set him off, there's no telling what he would do. Hopefully the rubies would calm his mood.

The castle's moat was up, so they decided to set down in the courtyard rather than wait for permission to enter. This was a mistake. Dozens of goombas and koopas immediately surrounded them with spears and halberds. Cliff took off, but Luigi had already left the chair. The paratroopa grabbed his arm and began lifting the plumber, but about 20 feet in the air his hold slipped and Luigi fell to the ground in a spin. Cliff hovered, looking at the crumpled Luigi and then at the goombas before saying "Sorry! I'll be back Luigi!" Luigi, bruised and lying in a heap on the ground, tried to look up at Cliff but the koopa was just a tiny red point in the sky by the time he got to his feet. Goombas and koopas surrounded him, with many more pouring out of the castle keep. There was no way out of this.

o-o-o

Luigi never saw Morton. The goombas took his rubies and everything else but his clothes before locking him in a dark cell in a dungeon beneath the keep. He'd tried to plead with the guards to let him see Morton, but apparently there had been a recent incident while Mariowas meeting with the koopaling. There was no way Luigi would be able to talk to Morton, although he was happy to at least be on the right track. The cell was dark like the rest of the dungeon, with walls and floors made of bare sandstone and small traces of sunlight coming through slits near the top of the back wall. Light also came through the open bars from the torchlight hallway, making for a dire setting. As Luigi sat on the cold floor, he heard a voice in the darkness-

"Luigi? Mario's brother?" It came from somewhere in the shadows, but Luigi still hadn't adjusted his eyes to the darkness.

"Who-a is asking?" Luigi questioned the shadows. Suddenly a figure came forth, a long shape. A wiggler?

"William Wiggler, at your service. I got captured while helping your brother escape." The wiggler smiled slightly in the dim light.

"What-a happened? Where did he go?" Luigi felt lucky to be getting any kind of information while imprisoned.

"Well," said Willaim, "I've been traveling with your brother, Captain Toad and a goomba named Gomar and we were told that Morton might know something about a group that's been attacking both the kingdoms - a mysterious organization called LTM. The only thing Morton said was that Iggy Koopa might know something in Giant Land. Then Gomar, that little bastard, said something about how stupid Iggy is, something like 'He's the stupidest of the Koopalings, present company excluded'. Obviously that set off Morton, and in the ensuing fight Mario and the rest of them barely escaped while I held off Morton. I nearly gave my life for Mario, I don't regret that. But I wish I could get back to him in case he needs my help again."

"Wow-a," remarked Luigi, "but how are we-a gonna get out of here?"

"Don't worry," said William, "I have a plan. And it'll be easy now that I have some help." Then the wiggler began explaining the plan in detail to his fellow prisoner.

It was simple enough. Luigi would call for help, pretending to be assaulted by William who was actually waiting in the shadows with a large piece of sandstone that had chipped from the wall. When a goomba guard came up to the cell, William would throw the rock at him (he was really quite good at throwing) and then Luigi would retrieve the keys with a stick. And that's exactly what they did, except the guard that came to their cell had no keys. His unconscious body lay motionless in front of the bars while Luigi continued to poke at it, looking for anything.

"Just forget about it, it's the wrong guard," William said without even a hint of disappointment. "Which means it's time for plan B"

"What-a is plan B?" Luigi was pretty sure they'd never discussed a second plan.

"Hide in the shadows with me and don't make a sound. You'll see."

And that's what they did. Minutes went by, maybe an hour, but eventually the goomba laying in front of the cell woke up. He looked around, then to where his prisoners should have been. Seeing none, he ran back down the hall with a surprising amount of speed for a goomba.

"And what-a did that accomplish?" asked Luigi, still unsure about this new plan.

"He's gonna bring the goomba with the keys, probably, and they'll check in here for us. We just rush him when they open the door," answered William.

"And-a if they bring more guards with them?"

"Well then, Mr. Luigi, we're gonna have to kill some goombas." William sounded like he was looking forward to it. Luigi responded:

"Lets-a go!"

o-o-o

The dozen or so goombas that showed up were immediately assaulted when the door opened. A flurry of rocks crashed into them, then a green figure dived into the mob head first. Six or so managed to get back onto their feet after this, but were met with a spinning, angry wiggler. All 8 of his legs spun around him like some kind of sadistic windmill, catching goombas beneath the chin and flinging them into the ceiling at impossible speeds. A few more goombas stood on their feet, but the battered and confused creatures stood no chance against their assailants. Fists and feet smashed them into submission before they could even react to the incredible pace of the attacks. It was all over in less than a minute, with Luigi and William standing triumphantly over the carnage now decorating the sandstone dungeon.

"Morton won't stand a chance against us," William said as he marched off down the hallway. He'd barely even broken a sweat during the fight.

"Morton?! Why don't-a we just try to escape?" asked Luigi, not wanting to pick a fight with a Koopaling for no reason.

"Well he locked me up, which I don't like. And I do need to get my knives back." There was no arguing with the wiggler. Luigi followed behind, wondering if they could actually beat Morton Koopa Jr.

There was opposition on the way to the throne room, but they were systematically slaughtered as the pair traveled through the castle. Even without his signature knives, William could throw koopa shells and rocks that always hit their target. Often a shell would ricochet once or twice before it struck - mostly just to show off the wiggler's skills.

Walking into the throne room, the two intruders saw Morton go wide-eyed then scream bloody murder as goombas started to flood the room. The Koopaling's shrieking was immediately interrupted by a salvo of green shells, crashing into his face one after another and shattering into hundreds of pieces. Then came Luigi, also flung by William, just as Morton had recovered from the previous storm of shells. He wasn't expecting this at all, so Luigi landed a solid punch into the side of his head as he flew by. Morton's face turned red as he became enraged at the escaped prisoners, turning to face Luigi who was behind him. William started hopping on goombas towards Morton, trying to capitalize on this mistake. That's when the wiggler saw his bandolier full of knives next to the throne.

Luigi, now facing Morton, tried to remember how he'd fought the big koopa last time. He threw out fireballs only for his opponent to dodge them with ease. He then tried stomping on Morton's head, but kept getting knocked away. Finally he tried punching the Koopaling but found himself on the receiving end of several serious punches as well.

"Morton!" yelled William Wiggler, his voice drowning out even Morton's screeching and wailing. Turning his head, the koopa quickly found a knife entering his right eye, sinking in deep. Howling in pain, he was only able to look for its source for maybe a second before another knife plunged into his left eye. Morton screamed louder than ever before, fell backwards and then started twitching on the ground. Luigi couldn't tell if he was dead, but goombas began scattering into any exit they could find, believing their ruler to have perished. Luigi and William walked out of the keep and into the courtyard, finding one of Morton's karts stashed in a building. No guards tried to stop them, in fact there was barely a goomba or koopa in sight anymore. Except one.

"You made it out!" said Cliff, hovering above them. A knife flew up to greet him but the paratroopa was too nimble.

"Don't-a hurt him! He's a friend!" screamed Luigi, realizing that Cliff just looked like a normal paratroopa to most people.

"Yikes, where'd you find this guy? I've known a couple wigglers in my time, but most of them didn't throw knives. Actually, I don't think a single one of them threw knives. You're certainly one of the weirdest wigglers I've met, and I've met a lot of them so-"

"Silence, koopa." And William got what he asked for.

"Cliff, this is William Wiggler," said Luigi, pointing towards William. "And William, this is Cliff Koopa."

"The freerunning paratroopa!" added Cliff, though William was not amused.

"Whatever. We need to make our way to Giant Land," said William, still focused on getting back to Mario.

"Giant Land?" began Cliff, "Well then we'll have to go through Water Land, and I definitely can't carry both of you so that means we'll be taking the seabed road. Dangerous road, never taken it personally but I suppose we stand a pretty good chance with Luigi and a ninja wiggler-"

"Excuse me?" William interrupted, "What makes you think I'm a ninja? Did you confuse my hat for some sort of black mask?" The wiggler seemed genuinely offended.

"Sorry sir, I just, with the knives, I thought-" Cliff was strangely at a loss for words.

"I'm just a wiggler who's good at throwing things. You best not forget that." Then William got in the back of the kart.

"Sorry, wiggler sir," Cliff responded, before getting into the passenger's seat. Luigi took that as his cue to get in the kart as well. The trio drove off in the direction of Water Land, with the late afternoon sun sinking towards the horizon.