Chapter 29 Eight World Trek

Luigi stopped to catch his breath for the first time in this long journey. Man, he had been running for what felt like half an hour! He barreled through Koopas and Goombas alike, bouncing on them and rendering them immobile and thus non-threatening. Honestly, with how much physical activity he was able to partake in, he couldn't help but feel a little shocked. After all, Mario wasn't in the best shape! Luigi was in much better shape than he was, and yet he never had this much stamina and endurance. He could run across the eight worlds for hours, only feeling tired in small spurts, miniscule enough so that it wouldn't be any inconvenience to him.

"Wow," he said once he had fully recovered. "This is incredible!" He turned toward Daisy, running up to him from the distance. "I feel like I can conquer the world!" He looked down and smiled at his feet just as Daisy caught up. "Who knew that Mario was this…this…super?"

Daisy chuckled in between pants. "I…thought…that went…without saying. After all…the title…of Super Mario…was given for a reason."

"I know, I know." Just for the sake of further testing out his new abilities, Luigi jumped into the air. Landing on the ground, crunching the grass when he did, was one of the most satisfying feelings in the world. Still though, something felt a little off.

"Huh. Mario doesn't seem to jump as high as I do," he said.

Daisy snorted. "This is news to you? I think it's pretty much common knowledge for most of the Mushroom Kingdom."

Luigi snickered. "I am aware of that. And no, it wasn't news to me; I was very much aware of it beforehand. Still though…" Luigi did a little hop. "It's something I need to get used to." He grinned. "The great amount of physical stamina, however, is something I welcome with open arms!" He put on a burst of speed, racing toward the border of World 2 which was a few miles off in the distance.

"Luigi, wait!" Daisy called out. Luigi blinked and turned toward her, stopping when she noticed how heavily she panted and how exhausted she seemed. His heart actually ached for her when she caught up to him once again, as the sight reoriented him to the fact that he needed to slow down to accommodate for her.

"Sorry." He smiled sheepishly and scratched the back of his head. "Just…I just got a little over zealous."

"It's alright," Daisy said. "It's not everyday that someone gets the chance to pilot a much stronger body."

Luigi frowned as he nodded. That didn't sound too terribly understanding, but it wasn't a sarcastic bash either. It kind of made him feel a little guilty, so he decided he needed to stay close to her from then on. Well, he really should've stayed close to her to begin with, as the two of them staying together would stop any critters or baddies from attacking.

Realizing this made Luigi feel even guiltier. So, when Daisy was all set and ready to go, he walked at a very slow rate. He also stuck to her like glue, making sure that he was prepared to defend her if anything cam their way. He didn't want anything to harm his Daisy, the Princess who was the supreme ruler of his heart.

Unfortunately, Daisy didn't really seem to get what his intentions were. She turned toward him with a wrinkled up nose. "Weegee, do you mind backing off a little bit? You're practically breathing down my neck; I need some space!"

Luigi seized up, pulling away with impressive speed. "Sorry." He hung his head, now feeling shame on top of the mountain of guilt. "Sorry. I just…I just, um…"

Daisy looked at him for a little bit before smiling. "You just want to protect me in anyway you can, don't you?"

That made Luigi's heart flutter. She understood him! She could instinctually realize what he wanted as well as what his intentions were! That was so sweet!

"That's exactly the case." He grinned at her despite his face growing warm. "You know me so well."

Daisy giggled. "How can I not when we're practically joined at the hip?"

Luigi nodded, now feeling like a strong bond that existed between the two of them. It was even stronger than the one he had with Mario! Granted, that was like comparing apples and oranges, as they were different types of bonds completely. Mario was his brother, who he had familial love with and a partnership of sorts that was sturdier than most. For Daisy…well, it was a different love entirely. There was a erotic love in there, as well as an overwhelming desire to protect her and treat her like the beauty that she was. He wanted Daisy to be his life partner. He wanted only a strong, never ending friendship with Mario.

Anyway, the two continued on their journey. Daisy's brow grew noticeably more sweaty as they got closer to the border of World 2. It didn't help that, as soon as they crossed it, they were confronted by hammer bros. Two hammer bros, to be exact. The annoying little buggers tossed the heavy hitting tools at them, all while they jumped between standing on a floating collection of blocks and standing on the solid sandy ground.

Luigi gulped, looking at the two enemies with fright. "Oh man, these guys are never easy to deal with." He turned to face Daisy. "We should be really careful so we don't get hit by…"

He didn't even get to finish his sentence. Daisy jumped high into the air, mostly thanks to the Springy Steppers that E Gadd had given her. She whooped as she fell to the ground, landing on one of the hammer bros and leaving a very nasty bruise on his unconscious head. The other hammer bro's eyes grew wide, and much to Luigi's surprise, he bolted away as fast as his little turtle legs would carry him. Meanwhile, Daisy looked down at Luigi with a confident grin and her hands on her hips.

"Looks like I'm deserving of the 'super' title now."

Luigi laughed. "It would seem so!" He grinned at her, now feeling even more like he won the lottery in terms of finding the perfect woman. "You were awesome! And believe me Daisy, I don't use that word lightly!"

"Thanks!" With that, the Princess jumped back down to the ground. Once she did, she looked up at the question mark block that she had just stepped off of. "Well. I'm thinking we find out what's inside this bad boy. It wouldn't hurt to one more power up to our collection of thirty plus."

Luigi chuckled. "I like the way you think." With that, he jumped up and hit the block with his fist. He even went so far as to whoop when he did, similar to how his brother had done so in the past. He grinned when he saw two fire flowers pop out of the block.

Daisy, however, didn't. Instead, she just sniffed. "Fire flowers. How original; it's not like we have fifteen of those already."

Luigi just went over and picked up the items. "Don't take them so lightly, Daisy. Fire flowers are really useful, especially in a fight against Bowser." He got out the Power Trapper and put the two flowers inside, feeling extra satisfied as he did.

"I know," Daisy said. "Still though, I'm allowed to wish for something different. What are those leaves that help you fly? The magical fox power ups?"

"They're tanooki leaves, actually." Luigi wiped sweat off his brow; he just now noticed that the heat of the desert was starting to get to him. "And don't worry, I'm sure we'll come across those eventually."

Daisy sniffed. "Right, because we've had such incredible luck finding them so far."

Luigi frowned as they resumed with walking. Not just because he wasn't particularly fond of seeing Daisy be sarcastic, but also because World 2 was proving to be a challenge. With sand in his shoes, sweat on his back, and heat causing his overdressed body to feel like it was baking in an oven, he found that this was definitely not an ideal trip. Daisy seemed to agree, as she too wiped sweat off her brow. Luigi also noticed that her skin was starting to turn flamingo pink.

"Do…do you want to stop and rest for a while?" he asked. "We can set up camp and sleep if we want." A good idea in his opinion, as the sun was teetering on the edge of the horizon line.

Daisy panted a little. "That…that doesn't sound like a bad idea."

…

Later, the moon glowed down onto the sandy region with its silver light. Luigi couldn't help but admire it; the gold of the sand and the silver of the moon blended together in an interesting way. It almost looked like the sand was sparkling, teasing Luigi with the promise of golden nuggets and silver treasures that it had no intention of actually fulfilling.

Oh well. He didn't want to dwell too much on that. Instead, he looked over at Daisy. Even though it had been boiling during the day, it was now cool enough to cause the Princess to shiver. She rubbed her arms together, all while keeping her eyes on one patch of sand. Luigi considered making a fire, but he didn't think that would be possible considering there was nowhere to get firewood.

So, instead, he scooted closer to her. "Cold?"

"A little." Daisy cleared her throat. "But it's okay. I can deal with the cold. Especially in comparison to the horrible heat that we dealt with four hours ago."

Luigi nodded. "I know exactly how you feel." He looked out at the sand again, the sparkly expanse that covered the ground for miles in either direction. It was actually kind of lonely. If Daisy wasn't here, Luigi would probably be crying himself to sleep over being the only person around in this desolate, empty desert. He supposed that was an even greater reason to be grateful of Daisy volunteering to accompany him.

"Hey," Daisy said. Luigi turned to face her as she looked at him in curiosity. "In the morning, what's the game plan? Like, is there a specific route we want to take?"

Luigi put his hand to his chin. "Hmm. Well, I think that we would want to skip World 3 and go straight to World 4. That place has a cannon that'll take us straight to World 8." He shuddered as something occurred to him. "But…but in order to do this, we'll have to pass through a castle on the border. Without a doubt there'll be a boss there we'll have to deal with." He hugged his knees close to his chest. "Oh, that's not gonna be fun." He trembled, all excitement about the adventure draining away. "Not fun at all…"

Daisy furrowed her brow. "Hey." She wrapped her arm around him. "It'll be okay, Lou. We can take down any silly boss that stands in our way."

Luigi blinked and looked back at her. "You think so?"

"I know so." She grinned. "We're tough. You're tough enough to deal with boos all the time, and I'm…well I don't think I need to give any examples for how headstrong I am."

Luigi laughed. "No you don't. That is certainly true." He let out a breath. "And I suppose you're right. We can deal with a boss."

"Of course we can! I mean, what do you need to do to defeat a boss; jump on their head five times?"

"Three. You need to do it three times."

Daisy's face lit up. "Ooh! Even better!" She patted Luigi on the back. "See? This won't be a problem at all. We'll plow through that boss, punch Bow Wow in the nose, and rescue Peach once and for all."

Luigi snickered. "Bow Wow?"

"Yeah. Bow Wow." Daisy chuckled. "I don't consider him nice enough to give him the dignity of being called by his real name."

"Fair enough." With that, Luigi looked back out at the glittering land. If he were more artistic, he would probably paint this landscape. Even now, when his art skills made dogs look like master painters, he wasn't opposed to taking brush to a canvas.

"Hey, can I ask you a question?" Daisy said.

Luigi turned back to her. "Sure. You can ask me anything."

Daisy nodded before taking in a deep breath. "Is there any particular reason why you chose to do the rescue mission instead of going up into space?"

Silence. Luigi's heart pounded in his ears as he thought about that question. He slowly turned his head back toward the desert dunes. For a solid minute, he stewed in the question. He knew what the answer was, but…would Daisy judge him if he were to be honest about it?

"Uh, well…" Luigi hesitated. "The…the truth is…" he sighed; might as well rip the band aid off. "I just want to prove to myself I can do this without Mario. I want to prove that I'm not too much of a wussy to pull off a typical rescue Peach mission. And…well, I want to know what it's like."

"What what's like?" Daisy asked with a blink.

"What it's like to earn all the praise. I mean, Mario has clearly earned his reputation. He's earned it time after time after time. I want…I want to earn it too. I want people to see me as more than just a sidekick, more than just a second fiddle."

Daisy's brow furrowed. "Luigi! You're not just a sidekick!"

"You know that." Luigi sighed. "But the rest of the Mushroom Kingdom doesn't. I just…I'm kind of sick of it, I guess. I want to be recognized."

Daisy frowned. She thought about this for a little bit before her face fell a little more. "Well…I don't know if you'll necessarily get all the praise this time. I mean, since you are in Mario's body…"

"Then it'll be Mario that the people see. I know." Luigi hesitated for a minute. "Even still, I feel like I have to do this. I…have to prove to myself that I'm capable of being…well, super."

Daisy was quiet for a minute before she smiled at him. "Well, for what it's worth…" She put her hand on his shoulder. "You're super in my heart."

Luigi blushed, all while a smile bloomed on his face. "Thanks Daisy." He let the silence linger for a little bit before standing up. "While, try to rest. You need all your strength to fight that boss."

Daisy looked up at him. "What about you?"

"I'll be lookout. You know, just in case any baddies run into our path."

Daisy gawked a little before nodding. "Okay then."

With that, she rolled over and closed her eyes. Luigi thought about what she just said. He was super in her heart. That was sweet. In fact, it made his already blushing face grow even warmer.

He just hoped that he could prove it to himself too.