They're finally here, preforming for you, if you know the words, you can join in too… Okay, I'm done.
Chapter 20 (Luigi & Tails)
Luigi and Tails dropped out of the portal into the sand, Luigi somehow managing to get his head stuck in it.
Tails pulled him out, and looked around as the portal closed. They'd landed on the beach where they'd first met each other.
"Where'd everyone go?" Tails asked.
"Probably just ended up somewhere else," Luigi said. "And if anyone can handle themselves, it's them."
Tails laughed. "Yeah, that's true. Well, let's go find them, anyway."
Luigi didn't get a chance to answer, as Eggman's gigantic airship suddenly few overhead, heading in a different direction than last time.
"… Aaand it hasn't been five minutes and we're back to adventure," Tails said, running off, Luigi close behind and to his left.
"Yeah, that's pretty much how it is with me and Mario," Luigi said. "I remember this one time, when he left town for a few minutes to chase some crook, and when he got back? It was overrun by minions and some weird talking knife had taken over the castle."
"Heh, stuff like that happens with me and Sonic, too. Not much rest, really, when you've got evil villains trying to take over the world."
"Yeah, it's-" Suddenly Luigi skidded to a stop, having noticed a flash of yellow to his left. It couldn't have been Tails, as Tails was on the other side, what he'd seen looked metal, and Tails was the wrong shade anyway.
In fact, there was only one thing he remembered being that distinct shade of yellow. He ran over to the bushes he'd seen it in, and uncovered something he certainly hadn't expected to just find lying there on the beach. Tails stopped too, following to see what Luigi had found.
It was a small, bright-yellow plane with a blue nosecone. It was much smaller than any of the Tornados, and it wasn't a biplane. Its owner was unmistakable, though, by the huge red 'M' painted on the side of the plane.
"Sky Pop," Luigi said.
"… I think this is actually going to be fun," Tails said, smiling at Luigi.
Eggman and Bowser were lazily lounging in the cockpit of Eggman's battleship, discussing plans for how they'd split up the world once they ruled it and ignoring Elise, who was stuck in a cage.
"So, anyway, I was thinking that I'd get Empire City, just to spite the Mario Bros," Bowser said. "They grew up there, you see."
"And I want Station Square and Emerald Town. Tails' workshops are a goldmine!"
"And I'll also have Spagonia. I think it's important to the Mario Bros, or something."
"In that case, I'll take the BeanBean Kingdom. Heck if I know anything about it, but-" Suddenly, alarms started blaring, cutting off Eggman's comment. "We're under attack!" Eggman jumped out of his chair, rushing to the nearest computer to see what it was. "Oh, great. It's the fox boy and the green stache, what's-his-name. And he's wearing different clothes."
"Mr. Green Mario Brother Guy?" Bowser stomped over to the screen, trying to get a good look at it. What he saw was Tails, piloting a plane that looked vaguely familiar to Bowser, with Fire Luigi in the back seat. Tails was using the plane to fire missiles at robots, and Luigi was flinging green fire at anything that got too close. "Huh. Weird. Haven't seen those two in awhile."
"Well, unless we start firing at them, they're going to take out my entire fleet of flying-"
"ALL FLIGHT-TYPE BADNIKS DESTROYED!" The computer announced.
"- robots. Come on, that was even faster than usual! Don't we ever catch a break?"
"Probably not. But I've got something that'll slow them down." Bowser pressed the button for the PA on the battleship's console. "KOOPA TROOP, MOVE OUT! Attack the green plumber and the vulpine with too many limbs as soon as they land!"
"If they land," Eggman said, pressing another button to fire a laser at the little plane.
"That's the last of them," Luigi said, wiping his brow. "Let's get on there before they decide to do something crazy." Tails brought the plane in for a landing on top of the airship, but something happened that interrupted it – Specifically, a blue laser shot out of it and sliced off the wing.
Tails yelped in alarm, desperately trying to get the plane working again.
"Tails, it's not gonna fly!" Luigi said, hopping out of his seat onto the remaining wing. "We need to get out of here!"
"No, I can-"
Luigi grabbed Tails, and jumped off of the plane as hard as he could. The plane was thrown into the cliffs below by the force, exploding on impact, and Luigi soared through the air. As soon as Tails got his bearings, he got out of Luigi's arms, flying himself down to the battleship as Luigi landed, using the palm of his right hand to balance as he hit the deck hard – Literally.
Luigi brushed himself off, and looked down at the obliterated loop where the Sky Pop had crashed. "… Mario's NOT going to like that. But we need to get inside. How are we going to-"
Tails jumped into the air, curling into a ball and spindashing downward through the metal.
"… Okay, I'll just go with that," Luigi said, hopping down after the little fox. What they found inside was a new site to Tails, buck shockingly familiar to Luigi. The ship was filled with question blocks, floating coins (rather than the rings that seemed so common here), firebars, and even lava pits. Rushing down the hallway towards them was a group of Goombas.
"Bowser's gotten to this place, all right," Luigi said, taking out a row of Goombas with some fireballs. "Come on, Tails, let's go!"
Tails nodded, spin dashing forward to knock over another row of goombas. He ended up crashing right into an item block, causing a boomerang-shaped flower to come out. Tails touched it, and instantly gained Boomerang Bro armor, sky blue with orange-yellow trim. His sneakers were replaced by orange-yellow boots. He wondered how to use it, and a blue boomerang with a white stripe on one side appeared in his hands. Accepting this, he tossed it, taking out another row of Goombas.
"Way to go, Tails," Luigi said, attacking the last Goomba by jumping on it. "Come on! There's bound to be more!" The two ran into the next room, which was full of Ice Bros who retreated as soon as they realized that they were facing a Mario Brother in Fire form. Then came the Thwomps.
"... Great," Luigi said. "Of course there's thwomps! A whole row of them! How are we going to get past them?"
Tails grinned. "You're forgetting something!"
"And that is?"
"Fastest fox in the world," Tails said, jumping above Luigi and grabbing him by the hands. Tails shot forward at top speed, the sonic boom rattling even the thwomps above. They were at the other side before the first one even started to fall.
"… Oh… right… I'm kind of used to working with people slower than me," Luigi said, somewhat faintly. "… That was… fast."
Tails smiled. "Yeah. Sorry, I know it's a bit disorienting at first, but, you gotta do what you gotta do, you know?"
Luigi nodded in agreement. "Even if you're scared."
"Yeah. Even then. Unless it's lightning," Tails said, as he opened the door ahead of them. Right inside, Bowser and Eggman were waiting for them.
"Oh, come on!" Bowser yelled. "That's not fair! You were supposed to go through some mega-awesome gauntlet I designed and lose a few lives! Not slice through the ceiling three-quarters of the way through and show up fully powered-up!"
Luigi noticed Elise immediately. "Let the princess go, Bowser!"
"And why would I do that?"
"Because-"
Luigi was interrupted by the beginnings of a crashing sound as the ship shook. Everyone in the room lost their balance and feel to the ground, and as soon as they got up, it was easy enough to see the big warning screens on every computer monitor in the room.
And I decided to have a little reference to Sky Chase from Sonic 2, instead of having them just run through Wave Ocean again. So, now Luigi and Tails are on the Egg Carrier – And it's about to blow up.
Next time - Kingdom Valley, which will also be Silver's finale! And afterwards, Shadow's finale; and finally the heroes' finale (which will be two chapters).