Vs Samus
Those Kirby fighters, thought Luigi as he found himself back in the steam room. They left quite a few dents on me. The pink puffball was cute, but he was still a Star Warrior, defending Dreamland against greedy monarchs and ferocious monsters. And what will I be remembered doing? He asked himself as he reclined and inhaled deeply through his nostrils, allowing himself to remember some of the events which brought him to this moment.
"Where is he, the last-place loser? You're the bottom of the food chain, buddy!"
Luigi's eyes snapped open then, jaw clenching in anger. Some cocky A tier had tried to dump on him—and a fellow hidden character, no less! Couldn't you believe that? The fact that a man who was lounging around with him hours prior to that incident could drunkenly make fun of him was enough to make the plumber queasy. His words rang in his head every night and throughout every match he fought. Last-place loser, huh? Bottom of the food chain, huh? Wait till he saw him fight his way through opponents until he reached the toughest of them all!
"Let's see how low you are!"
"Somebody here had better explain the pecking order to him, because it's not fun and games anymore!"
The latter came from Fox, who had since softened his stance toward Luigi—even more so after the plumber had whooped him so atop the Great Fox, disabling his Blaster and Reflector in the process! Luigi replayed every glorious moment of that battle in his mind, along with how he'd unnerved the vulpine a few weeks ago in a telling conversation inside the spacecraft.
"That tier list will be ready for the shredder by the time I'm through with them."
Oh, yes, it would.
He retreated back into the steam, feeling it extinguish the anger that had welled up inside his soul. None of these injustices had been dealt against him until that infernal list. But when the makers of that list discovered what he'd accomplished today, they'd be forced to do some serious revisions! Same as with the higher tiers who thought they were everything. They'd be wishing they could unsay those mocking things about him, and their wishing wouldn't be in vain!
He'd rolled up his sleeves, plunging an ominous stare into them as they sneered at him. One of them, the racer, had called him a name, and—that did it. Fox had decided to let his friend to the grunt work of actually charging at him, and—well, there wasn't much to say. Mario had grabbed Fox and physically restrained him while Luigi had administered quite a pounding to the good Captain. He'd never forget the song that was playing on the stereo on that fateful afternoon. And he'd left his challenger with quite a few things to think about, notably a hangover, a guilty conscience and a bruised, aching body. He'd been apologizing and begging Luigi's forgiveness since, but the man in green decided to leave him hanging for a fair amount of the tournament.
He was pulled out of his flashback by the sound of the door opening.
"Oh, my gosh! I'm so sorry!" said a female voice.
Luigi opened his eyes and looked at the tall, ponytailed woman. "Hey, Samus. No harm done," he said.
Samus Aran sighed in relief. "Just a heads-up, I'm your next opponent. Meet me on Planet Zebes. Okay, bye!" And then she popped back out.
Luigi grinned at the prospect of dangling with the mighty bounty huntress and her Varia Suit. Word was out that she had the hots for a certain racecar driver. Maybe she'd tell him herself that he was far from some "last-place loser" after their battle.
The climate of Planet Zebes would be tough to battle on. Below the earthy stage was an acid pool which rose and fell at random times. The acid would deal sound damage and high knockback, and it had K.O. potential. The giant glove was right—the matches would keep getting harder until the final one!
Just the thought of fighting Samus on Planet Zebes was enough for him to exit the sauna, deciding that rest time was over. He dressed quickly, this time in blue, and met the glove in the Waiting Area.
"Well, I see that you're invigorated," said the glove.
"Yep," said Luigi. "I have a bounty hunter to fight."
"Just watch out for her projectiles and her Screw Attack," cautioned the glove.
"Duly noted," Luigi told him before hopping into the Warp Pipe.
He emerged on Planet Zebes to see Samus waiting for him, decked out in her Varia Suit. "Good timing, L," she said.
"You got some pampering in?" he asked her.
"Oh, yes—and I see that you did, too."
Luigi stepped resolutely toward her. "Have you practiced lately? Because you're going to need all of the practice you can get."
"Ditto. I'm not going to make this easy for you."
Samus held out her hand. Luigi shook it.
"Give it your best," she encouraged.
"You, too."
3…2…1…GO!
Luigi knew the first thing Samus did after the word "Go" was to charge her Charge Shot. As she did so, he quietly went up to her, but she saw him and rolled to the side. Luigi punished the roll with a breakdance sweep and got her in the air to do some aerials on her. She recovered quickly, laying a few Bombs on the stage during the descent. One blast launched her opponent toward her, and she greeted him with a few hard hits from armor-clad fists and feet, blasts from her Arm Cannon and upward corkscrew kicks. She finished with a Screw Attack.
"I told you I wasn't making this easy!" she called to him as he spun into her with a Cyclone and battered her armor with Smash attacks. That armor was rough on his fists, but he wasn't going to quit. They danced and shuffled, looking for openings, and before Samus knew it, Luigi had captured her in a combo. She escaped using fire from her Arm Cannon and fired a Charge Shot at him. Luigi retaliated with his fireballs. Surprisingly, it could still damage Samus, despite her armor. He rushed at her with his dash attack and pelted her with more punches. The places where he saw denting and chipping were where he attacked the fiercest.
Samus lifted her leg and brought it down on Luigi, popping him up diagonally, following up with her forward aerial and then her down aerial. The plumber quickly picked himself up, grabbed her and threw her off the stage after spinning three times. She hit the acid pit and shot right back up, allowing her opponent to smash her back down over and over.
She escaped once again and battered him with her cannon, throwing fast roundhouse, forward and axe kicks. Her cannon fired flame blasts above her head in an arch, dealing a whopping 50% if all blasts hit home. Luigi took about half that damage before leaping to safety. He threw out some more fireballs, and then dashed at her and started a combo with his down aerial.
The acid pool began to rise, covering the lower half of the stage. The combatants jumped up on the highest platform and continued to go at it, sometimes knocking their opponent into the painful liquid. Luigi had put a crack in the Varia Suit, and he sported slight acid burns from the stage hazard. He thought he saw Samus's face through the visor of her suit, her blonde hair a little messy. As the acid bubbled below them, punches continued to fly, Samus's heavier but Luigi's a tad quicker. She tried to force him beyond the upper blast line with her Screw Attack and/or her up aerial. But Luigi always escaped in the nick of time and found ways to meteor-smash her. They kept their eyes on the acid as the level fluctuated. It was a handy strategy as well as a stage hazard, for it could lead to an assisted K.O.
Time ticked down. Acid burned. Punches slammed and kicks rammed. Breaths shortened. Samus made a mental reminder to thank the Chozo—look at the job her armor was doing on her opponent. Though throbbing all over and a little tired, Luigi soldiered on. His blows caused her armor to sustain some damage. A thin line was now crossing her visor. Thinking quickly, he aimed a fist right at the crack, creating a spider web pattern.
Samus retreated, firing off another Charge Shot, before pulling off her helmet and tossing it aside. Her face was red, and her ponytail was starting to come loose.
"I didn't see that coming," she said honestly before charging up another shot.
"You didn't see this, either," Luigi whispered into her ear. He'd sneaked up behind her during the interval.
"Wait, what?"
PIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGG!
Luigi plowed a Super Jump Punch straight into Samus's back, landing a K.O.
GAME SET!
"I hope we fight again!" he called after her.
He was transported back to the waiting area, where the glove waited with some honey-roasted cashews.
"How was it?" he asked as he handed Luigi the can.
"I was honored to do battle with her," replied Luigi.
"Very nice," said the glove. "Rest up and rebuild your strength. Your next opponent will be metallic. Won't that be fun?"
Luigi popped a handful of cashews into his mouth. "Oodles."
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