Chapter 28: The Final Break III: Gemini and Luigi

"Come on Gemini, where are you?" I murmured to myself as I wandered down the hallways. "Luigi? Luiiiiigi?" I cupped my right over around my mouth to increase the range of my voice, but to no avail. I rounded a corner, and I didn't hear the sound of footsteps to indicate that anyone was around. "Bah, either neither of them are around or they are standing perfectly still." I folded my arms in front of my chest and stood still to try and think of a plan. "Come on, there has to be a way to make my job easier…" After a few seconds of thinking I widen my eyes and promptly smack my forehead with the palm of my right hand.

I can't believe I didn't think of this sooner, though in all honesty after using the Elemental Forms for so long I had almost forgotten that I could use the elements in my base form. "I'll try and get a lock onto the electricity inside of Gemini's body." I close my eyelids and hold my hand outward at the center of the junction like a magnet. Concentrating on the air around me, I feel a light, static pulse coming from the left. My arm begins to move on its own towards that direction, but I follow through soon enough with ease. "Ok, lets go this way." I keep my arm out as I walk, just in case Gemini changes locations.

The corridor is longer than all the others I've traversed thus far, the lights flickering on and off consistently thanks to the pulse coming from my hand. "Hopefully the lights will signal Gemini of my presence…Or they'll put him on guard. Hmm, still, I have to keep this up or I'll lose him." I sensed that I was getting closer to my target, and hastened the pace. I began to hear footsteps in the distance, but after a few seconds the lights up ahead suddenly broke apart, leaving a portion of the corridor pitch black in darkness. "Hmm?" I was rendered curious by a figure I saw hanging in the distance who did not share the build of either Gemini, Florence or Alpha. He appeared slender, kind of like a human, but with a more rounded head.

I lowered my arm, stopping my advance as my warning senses perked in my mind and told me "This isn't anyone you are familiar with…" Within seconds of continuous caution, the figure makes a move, swinging his right arm outward as if he was making a pitch and tossing an object that spins around rapidly like a discus and nearly shaves off the top layer of my hair as it passes overhead. I notice its flight curving upward before it gets near me, and after a quick turn around I watch as the object impales itself through the closest light on the ceiling behind me. A loud crash is heard as sparkles of electricity spread out like rain, followed by the clinks of glass against the floor.

The object is illuminated by the electricity flowing through it for a few seconds, and I realize then and there that it is an axe with a slick, red metal head. "Wait a second…Could it be-" As I was about to top my sentence off with a question with a tone of familiarity I am leapt at through the darkness by this mysterious assailant, his right arm connecting with my chest as he knocks me to the ground and pins me on my stomach. The feeling of nausea that rang through my stomach from the impact wasn't welcome, especially considering all the food I ate earlier. The being grabs my right arm and forcibly pulls it behind my back, recognizing that it is the one I wield my sword in and incapacitating it so I couldn't use it against him.

His touch felt cold, with a texture similar to that of smoothed steel. I was being attacked by a machine, and with the appearance of the axe it didn't take long to put two and two together about the identity of my assailant. However, I had to make sure that I would live long enough to say it, so I first needed to get out of this situation. "You know, if you think I need full use of my right hand to fight back, you are sorely mistaken…" I say, grunting through the pain brought by the forced bending of my arm before squinting my eyelids and focusing all of my efforts into generating electricity through my body. I didn't need a source to draw the electricity from thankfully, and in a matter of seconds I was surrounded by a field that shocked my assailant through the arm and forced him to quickly withdraw the moment his limb began to spasm.

After the weight of his body had vanished, I quickly got up and drew my sword, making certain that the length of the blade wouldn't tear up the walls nearby. Looking ahead of me, I saw the being shake his right hand around while his left hand was wrapped around the wrist. His slender body had black leather legs with metallic red boots attached to the bottom, and the cylindrical gauntlets behind his white hands were connected to similar limbs as the legs. His oval-shaped head was topped with a spike, his pipe-like mouth showing no activity as his eyelids creak halfway shut. "I don't know what you are thinking Axem Red, but I won't let you get the drop on me again."

"Yeah? Well I won't let you advance any further, intruder!" That last word made me widen my eyes in confused surprise. I mean really, a remnant of Smithy's forces is accusing me of intrusion? Wait, don't tell me that- "Break it up you two…These hallways weren't made for fighting." The lights turned back on save for the one above me, and the axe impaled into that one is pulled out by magnetism and brought back into Axem Red's right hand as he raises his left one to salute the being standing behind me. The voice belonged to Gemini, who walks past me without much acknowledgement besides a simple glare from the corner of his eyes before he then chooses to stand before Axem Red.

"Sir, I'm sorry for any damage to the building, I was just assuming that this guy was an intruder, sir!" Axem Red was being surprisingly obedient towards Gemini, especially evident by him giving him the respectively title of "Sir" twice in the same sentence. As I stood there frozen by my own self-brought confusion, Gemini said to the Axem Ranger "At ease Warrant Officer Red" Raising his left hand in order to get him to lower his current stance. "He's a friend of ours. In fact, he-" Gemini lowers his head towards what I assume to be Red's hearing receptors and begins quickly whispering a bunch of information, the machine's facial expressions changing to show surprise and understanding depending on what was said. A few seconds and a couple mumbled responses from Red later, and Gemini lifts his head back to allow the machine to nod at him.

He then turns towards me and apologizes for his behavior "Forgive me young Overlord, I didn't recognize you, that's all." With the politeness of his voice assuring me of his true allegiance, I dispelled my sword and nervously rubbed the back of my head. "Umm…Yeah, its ok, I guess." I was still a bit surprised to see Axem Red here, but the machine didn't take any offense to my comment and after a nod he turned to Gemini and asked him "So, now that this is all sorted out, anything I can do to start the morning off?" "Yeah, the inventory guy has been sent to the infirmary with a cold, so could you head on over there and take count of everything in the weapons deposit?" "That I can do, thank you very much Gemini." And with that, Axem Red scurried on, tucking his axe onto a metal plate on his back as he passes by.

I looked at my left hand, muttering to myself "Stupid magnetism" as I realized I was lured towards the plate on Red's back, and then turned towards Gemini as he in turn swerved around towards me with a sly grin on his face and his arms folded in front of his chest once more. "Ok…I-I need a moment to comprehend this…" I said as I waved my right arm towards the Koopa and tapped my left fingers against my forehead, bewilderment still plaguing my mind. After recovering and presenting myself in a more composed manner, I let you a heavy breath and asked Gemini "So…Mind explaining to me why Axem Red is working for you guys?'

"Yeah, that's not something you would have known about, would it?" Gemini starts the explanation off with a rhetorical question. "You see, we captured Axem Red a year ago during the whole Apocalypse Royale Fiasco-" "Apocalypse Royale?" I interrupted the Koopa for a moment just to get some clarification on the name. "Basically, the group Cackletta, Dimentio, Smithy and the Dark King were a part of." He politely answered, and after I calmly went "Oh, ok then…" Despite how shocking that news would've been for other people the Lieutenant continued on his way. "Anyways, Alpha got the information out of him about Smithy's location, while at the same time convincing him that Smithy didn't care about his existence, which was more than enough to get him to switch allegiances."

"And Smithy didn't blow him up for that treason…Why?" It was a legitimate question, especially since even though the machine king was a madman I figured he would at least have enough brains left within him to think ahead on such a matter. "Well besides the fact that he was busy dealing with me and Mallow, Alpha removed the bomb from Axem Red. I got to admit though, considering how much hatred I kept towards Smithy for a while after his permanent demise, I really did warm up to Axem Red joining our organization. Pardon the pun here, but while he may have been a bit rusty at the start he has been working up the ranks dutifully."

"Well…I guess if you can trust him considering the circumstances after Smithy's demise, then I guess I can trust him too." I said in agreement of Gemini's viewpoint. "Not like there really is a reason to distrust him now." "That's true." With that exchange of words, everything was off to a good start. "So how are you doing?" I asked. "Pretty well. Its nice to finally be back in my element after almost a week away. Besides being lost, how are you holding up?" "Err…Rather well actually. In fact, speaking of my condition, I just want to say sorry for-" Gemini raises his hand up to stop me mid-sentence, calmly blinking as he lowers his arms beside him and says to me "Its fine Mew, I don't hold any resentment towards what happened yesterday."

He opens his eyelids up and folds his arms back in front of his chest with a brimming smile on his face. "After all, what type of friends would we be if we didn't learn to forgive each other?" "Rather intolerant friends, that's for certain." I said with a hint of sarcasm, which caused Gemini to chuckle lightly at the remark. "Ha, I guess you got a point there." "Also, I wasn't really lost…I was trying to find either you or Luigi, and I figured one of you had to have been wandering the hallways." "Oh?" The Koopa seemed surprised by my motive in wandering about, and with a helpful look in his eyes he said to me "Didn't Alpha tell you about the Tracker Map?"

"The Tracker Map?" I asked in confusion. "Yeah. You came from the cafeteria, right? Its not far away from the front door, and it allows one to find out where a certain M.S.I. member is via a specific genetic scanner built into all the cameras so long as you know their code name. The screen then pops out a miniature G.P.S. device that allows you to navigate the halls until you find them. You can also get a map of the corridors from there if you just want to get to a specific room or whatever." By the time Gemini's explanation was done, I had applied my left hand to my forehead and began calling myself an idiot via my mind for not being attentive in the cafeteria.

"Hey, in all fairness to you Mew, its not easily noticeable, especially during the breakfast, lunch and dinner rushes." Thankfully, Gemini was there to comfort me with an empathetic message. "Whew, well that's a relief." I sigh and raise my head up, my spirits high once more. However, by this time Gemini now has a rather grim look in his eyes, a somber mood overcoming his expression as he gazes back and forth to make sure that no one else is in the area. "Ok, good…" Is a whisper that grazes my eardrum before he looks back at me and says "Mew, what I'm about to tell you cannot be told to anyone else, especially since you were the only other one to see my 'Shadow'."

I do admit, I was rather surprised to see Gemini taking the initiative towards bringing up the incident with his 'Shadow'. "But wait, what about the cameras?" I asked, especially now that the Lieutenant made note of the "Tracker Map" and all. "I shut them down already. Besides, this hallway is pretty deep into the base, so no one bar a few soldiers would even bother coming this way, and the breakfast hour is still going strong. Anyways, listen to me…" After derailing what he wanted to discuss momentarily Gemini returns to the prior topic strongly, his gaze as serious as it ever has been. "Actually, I guess I better start from the beginning of this whole thing…"

"Ok, you know about Koopa Village, right?" "Yeah." I answered. "Ok. You see, before I came to the M.S.I. I was just a normal citizen living there with my best friend Kooper and this young gal named Kaylie." "You were friends with Kooper?" "WILL YOU LET ME FINISH?!" My innocent inquiry is given a harsh rebuttal by Gemini, whose impatient outburst zips my lips shut so he can continue without further interruptions…Once he calmed down, that is. "Anyways. We lived a peaceful life together, and no one could've suspected the events that would occur to ruin that peace forever. Bowyer, one of Smithy's generals, attacked and captured me as I was going home one night, and brought me to Smithy's Factory."

"There I was placed in a lab and forced to have a demon heart transplanted into my body, since apparently the enzymes in my shell would mix with the blood of the heart and cause me to gain the power of electricity…I don't really recall the details on that one. Anyways, after becoming a demon/Koopa hybrid I busted out of Smithy's factory and made crash landed in Koopa Village, where I was attacked by my villagers including my best friend, who didn't recognize me until Kaylie stood up to them. However, events led to me willingly banish myself before my mutation spread further and caused me to kill everyone there. Now, this is a point where its fine for you to acknowledge what I'm saying. You see the scarf I wear?" He says, pointing at the red scarf on his left arm. I nod to show that my attention is focused towards it.

"That was a gift from Kooper, and my primary source of motivation in this world. I've NEVER scarred or got blood on this scarf, just to honor the memory of our friendship. Kaylie gave me a picture of our younger years that I've kept in my shell through many battles, pulling it out every now and then and wondering how they have been holding up. So I wandered the world after my self-imposed exile until I reached a desert, where Alpha found me and convinced me to follow him back to the M.S.I. base. There he removed all of my demon flesh and grafted mechanical parts on my body that allowed me to take on a more normal appearance."

"I then took the name of Gemini, discarding the existence of my former name Koopis until I could one day go back to Koopa Village and tell them that I was in control of my demonic heart. Well as fate would have it, many years later when Tabuu invaded Plit one of his Subspace Orbs was predicted to spawn near Koopa Village. Worried about my former home's safety, I brashly rushed there and introduced myself as Gemini the Lieutenant, not Koopis. I helped them fight off the Subspace Army, but when one of Tabuu's strongest generals appeared and knocked out Kooper and threatened Kaylie's life, I cast aside any doubts, went into my Star Spirits empowered form, and boldly declared that I was Koopis to not just the Subspace Army, but to every one of the villagers that were within earshot."

"In the aftermath of Tabuu's invasion, I reconciled with everyone for a bit, having a good time just like the days of old until Alpha called me up and asked me to help with the clean up. It was a sad departure, but this time there was a little more hope about all of us reuniting again someday. However…Its been a year since then, and I haven't been back to Koopa Village. I do know a few things about how the two of them have been doing, but otherwise nothing else. You see, that's what my 'Shadow' was bugging me about before you arrived. He was telling me that 'I had a difficulty deciding where I wanted to go' and 'I didn't know what I wanted to be'. And honestly, no matter how much I denied that he was me, I knew he was right."

"But its not really an easy issue to handle. While I'd love to go back and settle into life at Koopa Village again, it has been seven years since I left there. All of us have grown up and gone down our separate roads by now, and not only do I have duties to fulfill as a Lieutenant of the M.S.I. but I feel I still owe Alpha greatly for turning my life around when I was probably inches away from becoming an unrecognizable, berserk demon. Basically, it all amounts down to a confliction between responsibility and the bonds I'd like to rekindle. So while you are here, I was hoping that maybe you'd be able to offer me a little insight into what I should do?"

It took longer than expected for Gemini to detail his backstory and problems to me, and I could tell that he rushed through some parts of the story to avoid wasting time so no one would end up listening to even a fraction of what he had to say. However, this wasn't a subject I was very familiar with. But just by looking at the Lieutenant's tranquil eyes I could see deep down that he wanted me to give him at least some type of answer, even if it isn't the most helpful one. "Well Gemini, since you want my honest opinion on your situation, here is what I got to say."

"First off, its nice to know that you took initiative by thinking about the benefits of choosing either side. However, I have to admit that its really not up to me to make the final decision on where you should choose to either go or stay. You have to be happy with your decision, and from the sounds of things the only thing keeping you here is that you feel obligated to Alpha for saving your life and thus want to repay him with that new life in return. So if you believe that you should go have a life again at Koopa Village, and reconcile with your old friends, then just go ask Alpha about it and see if he can maybe work something out. After all, with all the people that work at the M.S.I., not the mention the communicators and all, I'm pretty certain Alpha would at least allow you to go out every now and then to say hi to them, right?"

It was the best, honest answer I could give, which I ended off with a question that Gemini needed to answer to confirm to me that he would be able to make the right decision later down the road. "You…You got a good point actually." He admitted as he rubbed his chin with his right hand, intrigued by my idea. "Yeah, I'll keep that in mind and ask him after this Mr. Reality scenario settles down." Gemini walks over to me and raises one hand to pat me on the shoulder, keeping his face within the proper distance as he smiles and says "Thanks for the help Mew." Before letting go and continuing his stride without ever looking back.

However, I turn around and ask him "So, where are you heading off to now?" In a subdued tone of voice. He raises his left hand up and says in response "I'm going to find Florence and get some breakfast, since I promised him we would get some after I talked with you. Oh, and since you wanted to talk to Luigi too…Go down the hallway I'm heading, but take a left and take a right at the second hallway you see afterwards and you'll reach the hangar. If he isn't there, there is another 'Tracker Map' nearby, so just find me again and I'll help you locate him. For now though, fare thee well." With that rather medieval toned departure Gemini disappeared into the shadows of the hallway, leaving me to my own business.

I followed his directions, keeping my hands in my pockets and whistling a merry tune as I traversed the hallways in search of Luigi. "Man, I wonder how difficult it is for everyone here to wander around after the meal hours pass? These corridors may be a bit on the wide side, but I'd imagine hundreds of guys leaving the cafeteria at once would make them feel crowded rather quickly." That was a thought of mine that I was hoping to never see come to fruition while I was here. I took a right down the second hallway like Gemini said I should, and at the end was an open doorway to a massive room filled to the brim with a variety of vehicles both conventional and military.

"Helicopters, tanks, cars, and even motorcycles…" I listed off a few of the many vehicles, glaring around the room as my footsteps echo off of the metal paneled flooring. "What use would Alpha…Actually, what use would most of the soldiers here have for these things? This room just seems like a waste of space, honestly." Delivering my final verdict on this hangar, I continued walking around the vast room, looking around for any signs of the man in green to no avail at first. However, the moment I stop in place to think about where he might be I hear footsteps edging ever closer to me. I turn around, and standing in place with a shocked expression on his face and his arms folded in such a way that his right elbow is pressing against his left arm as he bears his knuckles against his chin is Luigi.

"Oh thank goodness its only you Mew. I thought someone was trying to break into this place for a moment…" That man in green calmly states, lowering his limbs down and letting out a heavy sigh. "Honestly, I think Alpha probably setup this vehicles to activate and bombard anyone who intrudes through here. That sounds like something he would do." Though I was partly serious with my remark, it garnered a laugh from Luigi all the same. "Heh, yeah, you're probably right." I quickly followed up on his comment by asking him "So what are you doing here all by your lonesome?" The man in green takes another breath and turns his body, allowing himself to fall back and lean against the side of a nearby armored van while he takes his right hand up to the lip of his cap and grasps it.

"I was trying to get away from everyone for a bit. I needed a break, especially after the conundrum YOU left me to deal with yesterday…" His emphasis on the "You" was directed towards me, and after that obvious thing was figured out I swiftly yet nervously apologized for my involvement in Luigi's current state of exhaustion. "Don't worry about it…Its just that, well…" Luigi gets up and lets go of his cap, walking forward a bit and looking straight into a reflective surface of a polished crimson red copter that just happened to be lying about. From that reflection I could see a the faint melancholy look in his eyes, and instantly knew what he was thinking about. "You really miss Mario, don't you?"

Out of all the heroes from our journey, Mr. Reality chose to make it so Mario would be the last one I would rescue from the influence of the 'Midnight Channel', and out of all of us the impact of his disappearance weighed heavily on Luigi the most. "Yeah, I do…" The man in green plants his right hand against the side of the copter. I didn't even want to imagine what he was thinking as he looked into that reflection of himself, because after another sigh he said to me "I never realized how hard it was…" He moved his hand away and turned towards me as I piqued my eyes in curiosity and waited for him to continue his sentence. "Ever since you freed me, I've not only had to be myself, but I also had to become like my brother. I had to keep the tensions low between everyone, be optimistic at all times, and never show any signs of giving up."

"Those last two were the hardest to maintain, because deep down something is telling me that this whole thing with Mr. Reality is NOT going to end well. I-I just don't know how my bro does it each and every day. How he always maintains such vigilance in the face of such unspeakable odds, how he always keep the groups he travels with from bickering amongst one another, or how he always keeps a smile on that people look up to during grim times…Heh, its like Alpha once said…If anyone wanted to break Plit emotionally, all they would have to do is kill my brother…"

"Yeah, but do you honestly think that's going to happen?" I said, trying to shed some of my optimism onto the somewhat depressed Luigi in hopes of lightening his mood, only for him to look away from me and say. "Dark Kings, witches, one-dimensional lords and now reality benders…The threats that are coming to this planet are increase in both scale and power…We've gotten lucky as far as casualties go, but eventually something is going to have to give…" "Well that's why we Elemental Overlords exist Luigi. To keep the type of threats in-check that the planet's heroes can't handle normally. Trust me, I may not have as strong of a connection to Mario as you do, but he is still a friend, and I'm not going to let him die under any circumstances."