A/N: Jesus, I need to get better at proofreading my work. Last time I read Ch. 27, I used the word 'guys' no less than 18 times in that chapter alone. So I went back and edited that document. Basically, I got to stop repeating words like that, but it's probably going to happen again. Hopefully this one is better considering Luigi will be facing off against another Possessor. If not, I need help.
Disclaimer: Still don't own Mario and Sonic, just the plot and my OCs only.
Chapter 28: A Tree-mendously, Harsh Battle
Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong led the gang further into the bottom of the mines as the Harsh Possessor pursued them. They came to a stop when they reached a cracked wall with no other paths to take.
"What the?! You led us all the way to a dead end?!" yelled Sonic.
"Hold your horses, hedgehog!" DK retorted. "This is a secret exit to get back to our home!"
"The switch should be right around here somewhere," Diddy patted the wall.
Luigi looked behind again to see the furious scowl of the white ghost. "Hurry! He's coming!"
"You sure there's a way to get us out of here? Because it doesn't look like it!" Mario panicked.
"Ah-ha!" The chimp pressed a concave button and a hidden door opened as the sunlight came through the large aperture.
"How is that even possible?" questioned Tails.
"No time to explain! Let's get out now!" DK demanded.
He led the pack with Diddy following behind. Mario, Luigi, Colombo, Sonic, Tails, and Amy went after them and began running through the dense jungle, swiftly passing the trees, jumping over rocks, and ducking under branches. The Harsh Possessor turned invisible to easily evade the same obstacles and charged up his speed by using the Dark Moon's powers.
"Where do we go from here?" Amy called to the others.
"We need to figure out how to stop that freak!" Sonic proclaimed.
"But how? All we're doing is running away from the Possessor!" Tails shouted back.
Luigi took a moment to realize what he and the others were doing, especially after the fox pointed out the obvious. They were running away, but not taking him down. Although Luigi would prefer being safe from danger, he knew that wasn't the best option in this scenario. Putting on a determined face, he slid across the grass to stop, causing some blades to fly from the ground due to his low traction.
Mario noticed that his brother wasn't next to him running. He, too, stopped his motion while the others ran ahead.
"Luigi! What are you doing?!"
The green man didn't answer as he turned around to see Harsh approaching at high speed from several hundreds of feet away. Harsh evilly smirked as he found his target standing there. He rushed even faster than before. Luigi grabbed the Poltergust hose and switched to the flashlight. He charged up the Strobulb and waited for the right moment. By the time Harsh realized that he had the Poltergust, he was too late to evade the stunning light.
The rest of the gang heard a ghostly shriek and halted, only for them to run right into each other and form a dogpile.
"Ooof! Ow!"
"Hey! Get off me!"
"You get off first!"
"Do you really have to be on top of me?"
"My legs! I can't feel them!"
"Rrrruff! Ruff!"
They all argued and struggled to get back on their feet. The animals wiped the dirt and dust off their fur. Colombo shook his body and tail to clean off his residue.
"Did you hear that?" Donkey Kong asked the group.
"I sure did! That was such a loud squeal, it was probably higher than my own octave!" exclaimed Diddy Kong.
"But where did it come from?" wondered Amy.
"Wait a minute." Sonic looked at his surroundings. All he saw were a bunch of trees encircling an empty part of the jungle and the rest of the party. But the two mustachioed men were absent. "Where's Mario and Luigi?"
"Did the Harsh Possessor take them? Or do you think they went to fight him?" Tails became worried.
"Well if my fellow mates are thinking about fighting that darn ghost figure, we might as well lend them a hand," suggested DK.
"I think so, too. He harmed us both, and who knows if he'll do the same to them!" Diddy added.
"Come on, guys! Let's head back to where we ran from and help out the Mario Bros.!" Sonic raised a fist in the air.
"But where did we come from?" Tails contemplated. "We're in the middle of the jungle and I can't tell what direction leads to."
"If only there was an easy way to tell," Amy pleaded.
Colombo started to sniff for Luigi's scent. He began searching for tracks or any indication to find his owner. And soon, he received a clue.
"Bark! Bark!"
"What is it, boy?" Sonic asked.
Colombo yipped and jumped in the air before running forward into the trees.
"He might be searching for Luigi's scent," assumed the fox. "Come on! We have to follow the Polterpup!" Everyone nodded their heads and hurried after the ghostly canine.
Meanwhile, Luigi was sucking up Harsh into his vacuum, trying to remove his first layer of skin. Mario was shocked to see his brother step up and attack the Possessor. He was more impressed with the fact that he's fighting him off before the ghost could even possess anything.
"Go, Luigi, go! You can do it!" he cheered.
"Urgh! Almost have him…" Luigi resisted.
Sonic and the others finally caught up to Colombo who stopped behind Mario. They barely caught a glimpse of Luigi fighting the Harsh Possessor, who was currently struggling against the 6000's suction power.
"Whoa, I didn't expect this!"
Mario turned around and saw his friends. "I'm surprised myself. When we were running, he just suddenly stopped and stunned Harsh with his flashlight."
Soon, Luigi sucked up the white layer as Harsh became weaker with his orange skin. The ghost went to desperate measures as he conjured up his plan. The trees started to rumble and quiver around everybody. The ground shook violently as if an earth tremor struck the jungle.
"H-hey! What's going on?!" shouted Tails.
"I don't know! But it d-doesn't sound good at all!" Sonic tried to keep balance.
The Harsh Possessor took possession of one of the trees and used his dark powers to break more off the ground to construct a massive figure. It was a twenty-foot tall tree monster made of wooden stalks, shrubs, leaves, and vines. (1)
Diddy Kong was aghast. "Holy mackerel! I've never seen anything like this at all!"
His ape partner, however, was infuriated. "So, he thinks he can just wreck our wildlife by taking control of the trees and destroying them?"
"Not to mention that he built a freaking mammoth out of it?!" yelled Sonic.
"Like hell he's going to get away with this!"
Luigi quickly pulled out two Fire Flowers from his pocket. He absorbed one of them. "Mario, catch!" He threw the other power-up to his brother and began taking charge of the game plan. "Here's what we should do. Mario and I will pelt the tree legs with fire. Amy, summon your hammer and attack the creature's feet. Donkey Kong and Diddy, both of you swing up to the arms and chest. Sonic and Tails, you two fly up and try to hit him in the head. Colombo, start loosening as many vines as you can. Once he is stalled, we can all grab those and pull them tightly against its stature. With enough force, we can compel the Possessor out of the body!" (2)
Everyone just stared at him and blinked their eyes in amazement.
"What?"
"Well, we didn't expect you to come up with such a well thought out plan," Tails complimented.
"Let alone, you came up with a plan that quickly," added Amy.
Mario engrossed the fire powers and his clothes changed color. "I'm impressed too, but we're getting distracted from the task at hand right now. Just do what Luigi told you, because here he comes!"
The plumber pointed up to warn the group that the Possessor was about to squash them. They barely dodged the impending foot, but they were shaken by the impact. The primates climbed up the legs before the Mario Bros. began their turn to strike. The pink hedgehog brought out her mallet and ran towards the feet. Tails grabbed Sonic's hands and twirled his appendages for liftoff. Colombo became invisible and dashed forward to complete his mission.
The Harsh Possessor was clueless on who to take on first since the gang split up and aimed for different parts of the large body.
Donkey Kong clambered up the stomach and used his mighty hands and strength to punch the chest. "HROOO! This is for shooting tranquilizers at me and my buddy!" He knocked out some lumber above the abdomen.
Diddy took advantage of a loose vine to swing from the stomach to on top of his right arm. From there, he took out his peanut gun and shot his ammunition to damage the shoulder limb. At the same time, it tried to swing at him with his left arm, but the chimp pulled out his barrel jet pack to evade it.
"Ha! You missed me, fool!" He shot out another peanut towards the other shoulder, causing the creature to growl.
Amy gripped her weapon tightly with both hands and aimed for the right big toe. "HIIIII-YAAAAAAAAH!" She slammed it so hard that the Possessor let out a loud shriek from the monster's mouth. "That's for taking me away from my hero!" She whipped the hammer in the middle of the foot the second time.
Mario and Luigi spawned red and green flames from their gloves as they continuously burned the boss's inferior.
"Keep it up, Luigi!" Mario yelled as he shot some fireballs to the left leg.
"I have plenty more where it comes from, Mario!" Luigi shouted as he spawned green fire to the right.
Tails carried Sonic in front of the behemoth's head. His face saw their determined looks, eager to take him down.
"Sonic, let's home attack it repeatedly! That could make the Possessor feel off-balanced!"
"I'm right on it, buddy!"
Tails started swing his arms to give Sonic momentum. Once he did, he threw the hedgehog forward. Sonic curled up into a ball while his fox friend copied his move. They both landed hits on the forehead, the eyes, and the mouth while dodging punch attacks from the colossal tree hands. Tails noticed some heavy breathing coming from the oral orifice. He also looked down to see plenty of vines hanging loose from the superior portion of his physique.
"Luigi! I think Harsh is feeling fatigued!"
"Okay! Just keep it up until Colombo gets the vines ready!"
The Polterpup managed to loosen more near the legs after taking care of the waist up. He reappeared near the green man.
"Ruff! Ruff!" Colombo barked.
He nodded at his message. "Everyone! Grab a vine, quick!"
They stopped their physical attacks. Luigi, Mario, Colombo and Amy grasped the vines from the legs. DK and Diddy grabbed some attached around the arms. Sonic and Tails took two more near the neck.
"Pull!"
The group of eight used all their might to yank the vines. Seconds later, the Harsh Possessor groaned in pain as he exited from the mouth and landed on the grass. The monster's body was now inert as it stood on its own. Luigi commanded Tails, Sonic, DK, and Diddy to deal more damage to the structure so that he'll have difficulty operating the body later. He told the others to elude Harsh, considering they were the most vulnerable. All of them nodded at him. The quartet from the upper half released their vines to punch, spin dash, and shoot peanuts all over the lifeless figure. The remaining members got into fighting stances. They watched Harsh build up a force field and started to dash into them. Colombo turned invisible while Mario and Luigi ducked and rolled away. When he was charging for Amy, she swung her hammer to hit the force field. Luckily, it bashed Harsh so badly that he crashed into the right leg and the barrier disappeared.
"Nice hit, Amy!"
"Thanks, Mario! Now go get him, Luigi!"
He nodded and charged his Strobulb. Using full blast, Harsh was easily stunned and started to get sucked up. Luigi managed to get rid of the orange layer, leaving him with a weak red color. The Possessor shook his head and regained control of the monster. The four who were debilitating the body held on tight as it roared loudly throughout the wild jungle. Everyone didn't need another explanation on what they should do. They repeated their actions: DK punched with his fists, Diddy fired tons of peanuts, Sonic and Tails spin dashed, Amy smashed her hammer, Mario and Luigi spammed fireballs, and Colombo let more vines loose. All of that while dodging the giant's attacks.
"He's getting weaker by the second!" Diddy screeched.
"Come on, we almost got him!" Sonic yelled excitedly.
"Bark! Bark!"
"Colombo's finished! You know what to do!" called Luigi.
The heroes clutched their vines and pulled very hard. Harsh groaned in more pain and landed on the ground once more. Diddy, DK, Sonic and Tails continued hitting the body in case Harsh repossessed the beast. Amy, Colombo, Mario and Luigi dodged the ghost sprinting into them. At one point, Luigi used a Shriek Shield when he aimed at him. Harsh bumped into the barrier and the ghost catcher took advantage. He stunned the Possessor again and went full power on the Poltergust. In a few seconds, Harsh lost his battle and was trapped in the vacuum. It started to shake until the Dark Moon piece flew out of the nozzle. Luigi fell backwards, but got up with help from his red partner. Both of their clothes reverted to their normal appearances.
"Luigi! You did it again!" he patted his younger brother's back.
"Thanks, Mario. But, I couldn't have done it without help from our friends," he mentioned as the gang reunited into a circle around the corrupted purple fragment.
"Well, we wouldn't have known what to do if you didn't come up with an awesome plan," Sonic smiled. "That was one of the best fights I've taken a part of!"
"Same here, pal. I haven't had a good punching in quite some time!" boasted DK.
"And thanks again for helping us escape out of the mines!" Diddy gratified.
"Yeah, it was pretty musty and gross in that prison cell," said Amy.
"You're welcome, guys." Luigi crouched and picked up the Dark Moon fragment. It was the third one overall, which meant half of the moon has been found. But like the first two, it needed to be restored with E. Gadd's Energy Suppressor.
Just then, a familiar jingle played from Luigi's 3DS.
"I wonder how the Professor calls you at the most convenient time possible," Tails tilted his head.
"Even I don't know how he does it," Luigi said before opening his communicator. "Yello?"
The professor popped up on the top screen. "Luigi, my boy! How goes the ghost catching?"
"Very well, actually. My friends and I found Harsh and got another piece of the Dark Moon!"
"Excellent work, Luigi and company! Now, take that the chunk back to my lab in a jiffy. I'll just actuate my Pixelator real quick…"
"Um, excuse me, Professor," Mario interrupted. "But we actually came here via Peach's helicopter and we need to return it back to the castle helipad. So we can't use the Pixelator right now."
"Plus, I don't want to get stuck Edge's limbo state of darkness again."
"Oh, is that so? Well, I can't blame you for that, Luigi. And if you did use a helicopter, I guess you can fly on over to Boo Woods with it. I'll call the princess to tell them that you'll be returning it much later than necessary."
"We appreciate that," thanked Mario.
"Alright, it's settled! See you back at the lab!"
Professor E. Gadd went off-screen and Luigi put away his device. Then, the group heard the tree monster disassembled into a gargantuan pile of broken, burnt trees.
"Sigh, well… at least it's done for. But I'm not gonna be happy cleaning this up," groaned the spider monkey.
"Maybe we can hire a deforestation crew to clean up this mess," Mario suggested.
"As long as they don't tear apart all the trees and our home," cautioned DK.
"I'll be sure to tell them that specifically. But for now, let's head back."
They all nodded and followed the ape and chimp as they knew their way around the jungle. Eventually, they returned to DK's treehouse with the Mushroom Copter nearby.
"Well, I guess this is farewell for now," said Diddy Kong.
"I suppose so, but don't think that we won't see you again!" Sonic winked.
"I'm just glad we're back home. And thanks for the help back there," DK gave them a thumbs-up.
"No problem, DK. We're relieved that you two are safe from Harsh," Mario smiled.
"Bye guys!" Tails and Amy called from the helicopter.
"Bark! Bark!" Colombo yipped.
"Come on, Mario. We don't want to keep the Professor waiting."
"Right, Luigi. See you later!"
"Good luck with the rest of your journey!" shouted Diddy.
"And be sure to kick Edge's butt for us!" yelled DK.
The six boarded the Mushroom Copter while waving goodbye at the two primates. Mario and Luigi started the ignition to hover from the ground before taking off to Boo Woods. Once they left Kongo Jungle, the man in green felt proud of himself for defeating the Harsh Possessor. And even though he was the one who thought of the plan, he appreciated his friends for supporting his back.
END OF CHAPTER
Luigi recovered the third Dark Moon piece and is set for E. Gadd's lab to restore it. DK and Diddy made it back to their home safely with the help of the heroes. And overall, this was a fun chapter to write because of the boss fight. I hope you enjoyed it!
Thanks for reading as always! Please review to let me know how I did, follow/favorite if you want to catch up on future updates, and I'll see you guys for Ch. 29 of Hidden Bravery! This is TGN, signing off.
Post-Chapter Notes:
(1): I'm not good at explaining this boss set-up, but if you want to draw up a comparison, think of it as one of those tree house robots from Phineas and Ferb. Yeah, pretty weird coming from a childhood show of mine, but it's the closest I can think of.
(2): I wanted to juxtapose the vines as tassels, those pieces of hanging fabric that Luigi pulled to reveal hidden passages of the mansions or, most notably, force Harsh out of the staircase he possessed in the boss fight of Haunted Towers.