A/N: I hope you guys like the new cover art I edited in for this story. As for today, things take a turn for the gang. What exactly will happen to our heroes?
Disclaimer: I don't… Ah, you know the rest.
Chapter 46: Tough Luck, Luigi
Body was tense. Muscles felt weak. A splitting headache hurt him so badly.
What made it worse was the fact that he could barely move, he couldn't open his eyes or blink, and he felt like he couldn't breathe. He was still alive. Nevertheless, he was stuck. Shaking his wrists and shins, he felt the cold, aluminum shackles that kept him restrained on whatever he was lying on.
He didn't know what was happening, or what time of day it was. The last thing he remembered was getting slammed by something, which was why he felt discomfort and wished it could subside. Even though the sensation kept vibrating in his head, there was one thing that overpowered it. Something that he was desperately worried about. Or rather, someone.
"Luigi…"
He didn't have the willpower to see where he was. But it was definitely anywhere far from his brother.
"Please… be okay, Weege…"
His mind immediately went back into unconsciousness.
Shadow, Vector, Silver, Colombo, and Luigi walked into the first-floor center of the Treacherous Mansion. Upon entering the dark, grassy courtyard, the staircase was missing. In the middle of the room, there was a fountain with a gargoyle statue holding a cage in each hand.
"This is definitely the same as the first mission. Only this time the fountain isn't invisible from a Boo."
"How does that fountain reach the top then?" Silver asked.
"There's supposed to be a staircase here instead. It should be hidden underneath this fountain."
"And how do we trigger the stairs to appear?" Vector rubbed his head, adjusting his headphones.
"We need some weight in the cages to reveal some green panels I can flash with my Strobulb. But because none of the Toad Assistants are with me, I can't shoot them inside."
"How about Shadow and I climb into them?"
"You expect me to stand in that?" the black-furred hedgehog questioned.
"Well, Luigi can't be in there, Vector's too big to fit, and I don't think Colombo is that heavy. No offense."
"Bark!" That was the Polterpup's way of saying 'None taken'.
"Sigh, fine. But if either of you tries to lock me up like a canary, I'm not afraid to use my Chaos Spear move against you."
"Don't you need a Chaos Emerald for that though?" mentioned Vector.
"Then I suggest you sleep with one eye open tonight."
Luigi wanted none of that business, not like he was going to pull a prank on Shadow. After all, he had been through serious matters up to this point, and there was no point for fun and games. He waited for the hedgehogs to stand in the cages, pushing the gargoyle's arms down and unlatching the panels at the front of the fountain. He advised them to shield their eyes before flashing the light. Once the panels were activated, Shadow and Silver hopped out before the fountain started to move. Everyone backed away as the floor opened, and the staircase spiraled up to the second level. A mechanism with a makeshift rotor also appeared.
Vector whistled. "Nice job, guys! Now which way do we go?"
"I said I would rescue Charmy while the others find Espio. So let's head to the Train Exhibit in the East Corridor."
"I still don't think they're doing anything productive. They might as well be lost and unhelpful."
"Oh, don't talk like that, Shadow. Sonic, Tails, and Mario have to be out there doing their job. I'm sure of it."
Luigi wished he could agree with Silver's statement, but his mind was telling him otherwise. As his thoughts wandered, he blew on the rotor to swivel the stairs to the right. The five of them ascended and sauntered into the East Corridor.
"Where do we go from here?" the crocodile asked.
"The Train Exhibit is the farthest room here. The Study is in the middle, and the Nautical Exhibit is the last room to our right."
"Then let's head inside."
"Wait, Shadow! That's a-" Shadow opened the door, only for it to slam him into the wall. "-fake door…"
"Ugh, Chaos…" Silver and Vector pulled him up from the floor. "Wish I would've known that earlier," he shot a glare at the plumber.
"I'm sorry! I tried to stop you from getting hurt!"
"Ignore him, Luigi," Silver waved it off. "How do we really head inside?"
Luigi opened the room to the Study. "There's a yellow bookcase right here, and a door is concealed behind it. A book is missing here though."
"Don't tell me we came all this way to find a book," Shadow grumbled.
The man looked in the mirror on the far end of the room. In the reflection, he saw the book sitting on a small table. But it wasn't there in front of his eyes. He shined the Dark-Light Device on the table to reveal the object, while also capturing the Spirit Balls, which were paranormal bubbles that caused invisible illusions.
"Whoa, how did you find that?" Vector queried.
"Like I said, it's all too familiar to my first Dark Moon Quest in this area. It was secretly hidden, which typically happens from the work of the Boos. Surprisingly, I haven't ran into a single one in this mansion. I've only seen them back at the Haunted Shipwreck, but that's all."
He placed the yellow book back on the shelf. The first time around, it was pushed out by a Strong Poltergeist. The ghost took the book to the Space Exhibit as an attempt to draw him into a battle. Only this time, the large shelf moved under the floor to reveal the entrance to the Train Exhibit without any disturbance. (1) Inside this room, there was a rideable train on the tracks, some decorative pieces, and a miniature train display in the center.
"Hey, there's Charmy!" Vector pointed at the painting behind the display. He carefully climbed over it to grab it off the wall. "Alright, Luigi. You know what to do."
He nodded and shined the Dark Light to free the bee. When he was released, Charmy looked at his surroundings. The first thing he reacted to was the crocodile. He gave him a neck-choking hug.
"Vector! Oh my goodness, it's been so long! I thought you were dead!"
"Hey, calm down, Charmy. Don't be so overdramatic. I'm fine!"
"I'm glad you are! But, where's Espio? And Sonic? And everyone else?"
"We still have to save Espio, but we'll get him back soon," Silver reassured.
"And as for the others, I'll explain on the way," Luigi responded.
"Man, it's been almost forever since I've seen you guys. Especially you, Luigi! You aren't hurt from the bad guy, right?"
"No, not really," Luigi fibbed, knowing it'd probably be traumatic to explain the harm he experienced from Edge. Shadow was about to open his mouth before Silver hushed him. "Now that we're done here, let's head to the West Corridor."
Before they did, he remembered to activate the E-Gate in the Nautical Exhibit. He had a run-in with some Strong Slammers, Greenies, and Sneakers. But with a few Shriek Shields and help from his friends, he pulled it off with little difficulty.
A few minutes later, Luigi and the others entered the second-floor west side. Luigi took care of some Creepers that hid as goopy puddles from the ceiling and on the floor. After cleaning up the hall, he opened up the map on his 3DS to go over the layout.
"The Aviation Exhibit is down that way near the window, the Archives is in the middle, and the Space Exhibit is the last room over here."
"But I don't see a door there," Charmy scratched his helmet.
"You don't say?" Shadow replied sarcastically. "Maybe this time I won't get slammed."
"Is there a secret entrance somewhere like how we got into the Train Exhibit?" Silver wondered.
"What about this door out here?" Vector pointed in the southern direction.
"That door leads to the West Balcony. It's practically useless. And I bet the door is hidden, like the yellow book."
Luigi's theory was proven when he shined the Dark Light and sucked up the Spirit Balls to disclose the entryway. As they went inside, it felt like they were in space with the room being dark. But neither Colombo nor the Parascope of Luigi's 3DS detected any supernatural entities.
Charmy found something that made him yelp. "Espio!" He buzzed over the moon structure and to the painting of the purple chameleon. He embraced it for dear life, like a child's stuffed animal. "Oh my god! He's dead! Dead, I tell you! All from a painting!"
Vector rolled his eyes before he nudged the bee away. Luigi stepped forward and shined the rainbow light. Seconds later, Espio withdrew from the frame.
"Ooh… What the heck?"
"ESPIO!" Charmy screamed that made everyone cover their ears.
The chameleon became off guard from Charmy's bear hug. "Charmy? Vector?!" he noticed the crocodile.
"Long time no see, pal!" He gently pulled Charmy away to give him some breathing room.
"Shadow, Silver. You two are here as well."
The former crossed his arms and shrugged while Silver responded to him. "Great to see you again, Espio. And it's all thanks to Luigi."
Said man blushed when he turned to him. "Ah, yes. Thanks for getting me out of that, Luigi. It's been since the party when I last saw you."
"I know. And you're welcome, too." Luigi then took the next few minutes to brush up on what occurred over the past week.
Espio nodded and put a hand on his chin. "So the Oblivion is less than three days away from consuming everything? And Myster Edge would take control, huh? Well, he's certainly not getting away with this."
"At least we're all back together again!" Charmy cheered.
"Bark! Bark!" Colombo back flipped.
Luigi opened up the rocket door and turned on the E-Gate shortcut.
"Is that where we need to go next?" Espio questioned.
"No, that's just to open up for convenience." Luigi exited the Space Exhibit with the others following him down the West Corridor. "We originally planned to split up and bring your paintings to the Terrace. But I think something dubious is going on."
"We?"
"Mario, Sonic, and Tails."
"Oh. It's also been long since I've seen either of them. Where are they?"
"That's the thing. They were supposed to rescue Silver and take his frame to the Terrace, followed by yours. But when I tried calling them earlier, none of them answered. And I was the one to go through some quests to free him and you."
"Really? That's weird."
"I thought that as well!" Silver exclaimed.
"Hey, guys. Hold up," Vector stopped the group before they went through the door to the Inner Courtyard. "Do you hear something?"
Everyone looked around and stayed quiet to listen. Luigi spoke up, "It sounds faint to me. But it doesn't sound like a ghost."
Shadow walked to the broken stained-glass window and peeked through the hole. "This is rather something."
"What is it?" Espio wondered.
"Come see for yourself."
They spied the outside where the Terrace was. However, what caught everyone's eyes fried their brains. In other words, made them completely puzzled.
"It's Sonic and Tai-!" Charmy's mouth was covered from Vector and Espio slapping their hands on him. They didn't want them to hear from the inside.
Luigi glowered at the scene. The blue hedgehog and the yellow vulpine were standing outside. But behind them, leaning against the crescent moon statue, were two paintings, featuring Espio and Silver. He also noticed that Mario wasn't with them.
"What the heck is going on?" Silver couldn't take his eyes off them.
"It's a ruse, that's what's going on," the plumber hissed.
Charmy threw the Chaotix's hands off his face. "A ruse? What are you talking about? It's Sonic and Tails!"
"But are Espio and Silver with them or us?"
"And where's Mario?" Vector added.
"Well, maybe they're playing tricks with us!" he accused a finger at the silver hedgehog and chameleon. "What if you rescued phonies instead of the real ones?"
"Then I wouldn't have choked from your hug," Espio thundered.
"I can easily bet that's not the real Sonic and Tails."
Vector grinned at the sound of money. "How much you wanna bet?"
Luigi stared at him, unamused. "Nice try. I have an idea on what to do. Follow me."
After a few minutes passed, the party reached the north balcony that led to the Terrace. They stood near the prototype Pixelator on the wall.
"What's the plan, Luigi?" Silver put a hand on his hip.
"I'm going to confront them. Just listen carefully, and when I give the signal, that's when you come out." He further explained in a group huddle. Once everyone understood, Luigi breathed in deeply before opening the door. When it creaked, Sonic and Tails turned around and smiled.
"Luigi!" Tails greeted first. "You finally made it here!"
Luigi kept his composure at the fake Tails. "Tails, Sonic. I see you found Espio and Silver's paintings. Good job."
"Thanks. Got 'em right here," he patted one of them. "Where are the others?"
"Oh, don't worry. I brought all of them with me," he added a slight amount of emphasis, but luckily they didn't catch it. "They're just sitting on the balcony on the other side."
"Then why didn't you bring them out?" Tails wondered.
"I was going to. But first, can I ask you something?"
Sonic walked up until he was next to the fox. "What's up?"
"Where is Mario?"
The hedgehog's smile faded away and sighed heavily. Looking at the ground, he mumbled, "We're sorry, Luigi. But, he got taken away by the Tough Possessor when we weren't looking."
Luigi pretended to accept his response. He knew that it was far from the truth. That didn't mean he forgot about Tough though.
"Don't worry, Luigi," Tails reassured. "We'll find him soon once we get them out," he referred to the captives in the picture frames.
"I hope so." That reply was genuine. "Now for my second question, how long did it take to retrieve their portraits?"
Tails hesitated, giving Luigi another impression of their subterfuge. "Oh, um, you know, about an hour, maybe less than two."
"Really?"
"Sure did!" Sonic smirked.
Luigi was piqued by his cheerfulness, but he kept up with his act. "I see…"
"Is something wrong?"
"No, no," he shook his head. "I'm glad you were able to find them. I just hope the ghosts weren't a problem."
"We did have a few instances where some ghosts tried to attack us. But we took care of them."
"I'm surprised we didn't have that much trouble," Tails added.
"That's good. Speaking of surprises, I happen to discover something interesting on my hunt for 'your' friends."
"What is it?" they asked simultaneously.
Luigi creased his eyebrows down. "Come on out."
They were confused at his loud response, but the Terrace door opened, for Silver and Espio to walk out and stand beside the plumber. Following behind were Shadow, Vector, Charmy, and Colombo, who made themselves visible to the duo.
"Wait a minute! How did you manage to rescue them?" Sonic was baffled.
"That's all the proof I need to know."
Tails slapped his partner in the head. "Way to go, Slimmer, you freaking idiot."
"Shut up, Clawdio. What gave it away?" he turned to the heroes.
"Isn't it obvious? You have sham paintings of me and Espio, trying to forge them as if you found them on your own," muttered Silver.
"They're nothing but props. They're fakes, just like you two," roasted Espio. "And we didn't need to divulge your true identities ourselves."
"Luigi had earlier suspicions about this, and now we know what you're up to!" Vector boomed.
"Shit… You would be smart to figure out Myster Edge's ploy," Tails, or rather Clawdio, muttered. He pressed a button on the wrist communicator and transformed back into the orange robot.
Slimmer did the same, reverting into a tall, chrome mech from his hedgehog disguise. "Okay, wise guy. Just because you exposed us, that doesn't mean you'll stop our boss from taking over the worlds!"
"You don't know what you're saying at this point," Shadow huffed. "Believe me or not, he's actually a formidable person, given how much torture he's dealt from that disappointment you call your boss."
Luigi was a bit shocked Shadow acclaimed him, something he doesn't particularly do to others. But it gave him more confidence in himself. "Now, where's Edge and the Tough Possessor?"
"Edge isn't here right now, but we might as well leave the latter to you weaklings," Clawdio snapped his fingers, causing the picture frames to dematerialize into ashes.
"Weaklings?! I'll show you who's weak!" Charmy threw a couple of air punches.
"Save them for Tough, you wacky stinger. Not like it will work."
Charmy grumbled. The rest of them got into fighting position. A few seconds later, they heard some metal clunking. Wondering where it was coming from, they soon found a suit of knight armor appear from behind the moon sculpture. He stood in between Edge's minions. It shined with a white and purple aura.
"It shouldn't be that hard to realize that Tough is here. In the meantime, I hope you meddlers have a happy haunting, a haunting that will spook you to death!"
"I told you not to say that," Clawdio moaned.
"What? What's wrong with that?"
"Forget it! Tough, just take these people down! Slimmer, we need to get back to business!"
"What business?" Espio inquired.
"None of your own!"
"Just shut up and let's leave already!" Clawdio dragged his incompetent partner away and jumped off the Terrace.
"Are they going to survive from that?" Charmy thought.
"That doesn't matter. We have a ghost to capture," said Luigi determinedly.
"Ruff! Grr!" Colombo growled.
It was about that time for another 'knightmare'. (2)
The suit of armor pulled out a metal axe, pointing it directly at Luigi. He gulped a little but maintained his heavy stare. The Chaotix and the hedgehogs kept their cool without getting too tensed up.
With Tough possessing the knight, he ran up to Luigi and the gang and swayed the weapon horizontally. They all jumped back from the radius. Shadow sped around the enemy to distract him. Silver performed his telekinesis to prevent him from using the axe. Vector sidled behind to whip his tail at the knight's feet. Espio camouflaged himself to sneak an acrobatic attack with his Ninjutsu skills. After a few hits on the knight, he tried swinging his axe again. Luigi shot a Shriek Shield at Charmy so he could utilize his stinger to zap the tall figure without being hit.
When the Possessor was at bay, the other Chaotix members, Silver, and Shadow bumped and punched the suit to force him out. The Tough Possessor shook his head and scowled at the protagonists. The strong, white ghost featured four horns protruding from the sides with a fifth one sticking out above his eyes. Cracked lines emanated from his body as the Dark Moon piece dimly glowed inside.
"What's he doing?" Silver saw Tough charge up.
"Run and dodge!" Luigi ordered.
The guys either jumped, ducked, or ran off to the side as the ghost went straight at each of the heroes. Trails of electricity followed behind him and went off in different directions. Shadow barely evaded Tough as the latter ran into the wall. The black hedgehog did a homing attack but was disappointed that it didn't do anything.
Luigi took care of him by flashing the Strobulb. A green paranormal shield protected the boss. He waited until his Poltergust's power gauge turned green to shatter the barrier. Once it was gone, Luigi charged up the meter at full power to remove the first layer of skin.
Shadow crossed his arms, acting as if he wasn't impressed. "Whatever. I can still defeat him, with or without your help."
The plumber rolled his eyes at his egotism.
Meanwhile, Tough created a clone of himself, and repossessed the suit of armor. The second one took over another suit that was lying on the west portion of the Terrace, this one wielding a sharp sword. Espio, Charmy, and Vector focused on one knight with Colombo as backup. Luigi, Shadow, and Silver fought the other.
The Chaotix teamed up to combat against one of the Tough clones. The chameleon displayed his ninja expertise, the crocodile blew bubble gum orb breaths to cover the holes in the helmet, and the young bee dealt more hurtful stings against the armor, incapacitating some of the limbs. At the same time, the knight swung his axe vertically in the hopes of attacking a nearby victim.
"Watch out!" Charmy yelled at Colombo.
The axe was in range of the Polterpup, but he disappeared when it almost decapitated him. Even though he was a ghost, that would seriously hurt. Because he avoided it though, he ran away from his initial spot to stand behind him. He lunged forward to knock him onto his stomach. The clone fell out of the knight.
"Excellent!" Vector shook a fist in triumph.
"Make sure he doesn't go back into the suit!" Espio called to his partners.
On the other end, Shadow slid on the stone surface, causing the second suit of armor to fall down. Silver levitated some rubble and shot them his way, creating a couple of dents. The Tough clone barely managed to stand up after the damage. Soon, he parried with his sword at Luigi. The man protected himself with another shield, falling back several feet from the impact.
"Luigi! You alright?" Silver dashed to him.
"Yeah. I'm unhurt," Luigi got up with his help.
"Get out of there, you pest!" Shadow performed a Spin Attack at the helmet, effectively causing the Possessor to exit the armor that time.
When both clones were knocked out, they merged together to reform into one.
"Uh oh! More of this!" groaned Vector.
After the charge, Tough zipped at Charmy, who flew upwards to avoid him. Then he went at Espio, who used his camouflage ability and sped away from his path. The ghost traveled back and forth at the others, but he missed every single target as they evaded him and the electrical streams. Ramming into the moon pedestal, Luigi dashed near him to stun him with the flashlight. As a blue shield appear, he charged one-third of the gauge and destroyed the paranormal safeguard. He went to full suction to scrape off the orange layer.
Tough shook it off and went to desperate measures. Instead of tripling himself, he quadrupled the duplicates.
Espio reappeared, his face full of astonishment. "Four ghosts?!"
Silver's eyes bulged wide. "Holy Chaos! I've never seen anything like that before!"
"This isn't new to me. Nonetheless, he's quite dangerous with four of them," Luigi mumbled.
"What did he do the first time?" Charmy asked.
"Oh, please. He's just gonna reclaim the suits again. We'll take them down in minutes, if not seconds," Shadow put in with confidence.
"It's more than just possessing suits of armor, Shadow."
The four Tough clones floated in the air, only to disappear from the outdoor balcony.
Charmy was bewildered. "Huh? They went away?"
"Wow, you're so observant," Vector satirically extolled.
Just then, they felt the Terrace, no, the whole mansion rumbling.
"What's going on?" Silver tried to keep his balance, spreading his arms out.
"Oh, crap…" Luigi whispered. Colombo let out a small whimper afterwards.
The sounds reverberated until it came into view. A gargantuan knight with a massive scimitar rose up from the back of the mansion. Inside were the Tough Possessor clones. To wonder how or where it's standing was mind-boggling, considering this building was built in the middle of a ravine. It's a miracle how it hasn't fallen into the gorge yet. But one easy move can not only eradicate the mansion, but also take the lives of the heroes, too. And the potential cause of it stood above all of them.
"Vector, I'm scared!" the bee hung onto the crocodile tightly. Vector tried pushing him away, but his grip was somehow strong.
"So, Shadow… You were right about repossessing a suit of armor. But do you think we're going to take down this in minutes, if not seconds?"
"Shut the fuck up," he scowled at Silver.
"Luigi, what's the plan?" Espio turned to him.
He wasn't so sure. The first time he faced a gigantic knight, he manipulated him to stand on two separate carpets. He'd pull on one to make him lose his balance, then he'd tug on the other to make him slip from the ground. But that was in a mysterious region of King Boo's Illusion, where the place was stable. Here though, since the only thing the knight could crush with his feet was the Treacherous Mansion itself, there's a good chance, scratch that, a certain probability it will crumble into the abyss, as well as everyone else.
Unlike the times he's faced the other Possessors in the past week, Luigi was at a loss on how to defeat this one. He couldn't give up though. But what can he do?
Suddenly, out of nowhere, an orb of dark magic whisked towards the monstrous armor. A shade of black and purple spewed on the helmet, blocking Tough's view. Then, two more aimed at the deltoids, disabling the shoulders. It somehow cut off the arms and debilitated the knight.
The seven stood in shock, wondering what was happening. The suit of armor started to break off, body part by body part. The legs, the anterior, everything went falling into the darkness below. Seconds later, the Tough clones angrily revealed themselves to amalgamate into his singular form. Luigi shot Shriek Shields at each of his friends, with the exception of Polterpup. For the third time, he charged his dash move and soared towards the heroes. Colombo became invisible, Charmy buzzed away, and the others leapt over the trails. Tough failed to hit any of them as he crashed into a wall.
"He's stunned! Finish him off, Luigi!" Vector shouted.
The man in green got his Strobulb at the ready and flared the white light at the boss. A red paranormal shield protected him. Luigi waited for the meter to fill up. He destroyed the barrier and charged up once more to suck up the Tough Possessor in the 6000. With the red-skinned ghost trapped, the vacuum shook before the celestial piece flew out of the nozzle. It landed squarely in front of the moon statue. Everyone stood around the collectible.
"Nicely done, everyone! Especially you, Luigi!" Silver congratulated.
"Got to admit, you were amazing with the fight," Espio praised.
"Yeah! It was so cool to get some action after being stuck for so long!" Charmy adulated.
"That's the ghost buster we know!" Vector slapped Luigi's back.
"Ruff! Ruff!" Colombo barked with excitement.
"But that Edge guy isn't here, so call it a letdown for him being a coward," groused Shadow.
Luigi remained silent, staring at the fragment. The others noticed his face.
Silver waved his hand in front of his face. "Luigi?" He was unfazed, still engrossed at the object. "What's the matter?"
The plumber strolled up to the Dark Moon piece and picked it up. He rotated it in his hands. As he inspected the item, his face had a combination of confusion and disappointment.
"Luigi?"
"It's another scam."
They all blinked, excluding Shadow. "What?"
He turned to face the others. He narrowed his eyes. "This is not the real Dark Moon piece."
"What are you talking about?"
Before he could respond, a bolt of lightning struck the Terrace in between Luigi and the rest of the gang. Everyone jumped back at the sudden occurrence.
The black hedgehog looked up in the sky. His teeth clenched at the sight. "You again!"
Myster Edge, with his magical staff, floated down near them. Colombo growled at the Shadow Spirit. The others glared at him as they stood up.
"Would you look at that… The man in green and his little ghost pup managed to save all five of you? That's not a surprise at all, considering he saved your other pathetic friends in the past."
"Okay, first of all, Mr. So-Called-Evil-Dude, our friends aren't pathetic!" Vector snarled.
"Except for Faker."
"Shadow…" Silver wanted him to stop.
"To add on to that, Luigi has shown why he's more powerful than you!"
Luigi thought to himself, knowing how much Vector was WRONG, with a capital 'W'. He knew he couldn't compare to the amount of power Edge has, especially when he's holding all seven Chaos Emeralds, and created a set of black holes waiting to devour every single dimension in a few days. All he's done was capture ghosts, threw two unexpected tantrums, and chicken out whenever he felt scared. Then again, he wasn't giving himself much credit.
Edge snickered, amused at the crocodile. "You think this guy is more powerful than me? Do you need a scan to check the size of your brain?"
"No, because what I said is true!"
Edge disapprovingly shook his head. "Stop revering like he's a god. He may have saved you idiots, but what he didn't manage is to defeat the Tough Possessor."
"But we did fight him! And we beat him! Now he's got the last moon thingy!" Charmy pointed at the fragment in Luigi's hand.
"You ignorant, annoying insect… That Possessor you faced was a clone."
"So were the others one he created to possess those knights," Espio didn't get the logic.
"The real Possessor is elsewhere, but I'm not going to let out that information. And that piece he held was a Dark Shard."
"Dark Shard?" Silver repeated.
"It's a copy of the Dark Moon pieces," Luigi explained, a death stare fixated at the hovering figure. "He produced tons of them to become stronger and combined them with the Chaos Emeralds to construct the Oblivion."
"Precisely. The glow on that shard is dimmer than the ones on the original pieces. But they look exactly the same, with the exception that the true piece is besmirched with sparks. You managed to recover the first five, but not the last one."
"Then, the sixth piece is still with the real Tough Possessor?" Charmy tilted his head.
"Exactly, Captain Obvious."
"Well no matter what, we'll take the real ghost down like we did with the false one!" Vector stated.
"Don't make me laugh again. This ungrateful Italian will have no chance of capturing him. He's still a lonely shell and a useless wimp, unlike his brother."
That boiled Luigi's heart, but he ignored the insult as he concentrated on something more important to him. "Speaking of Mario, where did you take him?!"
"Did you assume I kidnapped him again?"
"I'm not assuming. I'm accusing. What the fuck did you do to him?!" Everyone, except Edge and Colombo, were staggered to hear the unusual ire in his voice.
"Easy now, Green Bean."
"Don't talk to me like that! The Sonic and Tails that traveled here with us were your robots, meaning you made them manipulate me so you can have him to yourself! And based off that, the real Sonic and Tails are also gone, most likely captured, too. So where are they?!"
"Fine. If you're so eager to know, I'll tell you. But only in private."
Edge shot an electric streak, except it streamed over to a button next to the door, which wasn't there the first time Luigi explored this place. When it was pressed, the Terrace shook again. No one knew what was going on, until the ground opened up.
"AAAHHHHH!" Silver, Shadow, Colombo, and the Chaotix screamed when they fell through a trapdoor. The only one who was unaffected was Luigi.
"NO!" He tried to dive in after them, but the floor sealed shut, leaving him alone with Edge.
"HAHAHAHA!"
Luigi growled as he faced him. "What did you do?!"
"Don't worry, Luigi. I sent your friends to another comfortable prison. They'll be joining that overconfident hedgehog and the nerdy kitsune."
He was livid at the purple shadow. "If Sonic and Tails are held against their wills, then where is my brother?"
"That's none of your business. But I can say he'll also be vital for you to join my side permanently."
"How?"
"You'll see eventually. But for now…"
Another beam of electricity shocked Luigi for the umpteenth time. He shrieked in pain, his blood coursing and heart rate increasing.
"YAAAAAH! S-S-STOOOOOP!"
"You wish I would listen to you. But you're under my control! And in the meantime, I have some unfinished business to take care of."
Luigi shook as the electricity still ran deep in his bones. He felt more pain, as if something was leaving his body. His excruciating cries muted the other sounds that surrounded him.
After a while, he could barely feel anything.
Then, he felt nothing. Nothing at all.
But later, he was insensible. He laid on his stomach, eyes closed. His body didn't respond after the torture he suffered. No small movements or twitches. Once again, the green hero was stuck in a state of silence and darkness.
"Just when you thought it was close to being over, all I can say is… Tough luck, Luigi!"
END OF CHAPTER
The Tough Possessor has been defeat- Actually, no. I baited you. Based on the plot twist, yes, he is still out there somewhere, same goes for the Dark Moon piece. The one Luigi recovered was bogus, considering it didn't have the corrupted sparks, and it didn't shine brightly like the first five fragments. So… this boss fight was for nothing.
Not only that, the situation became inauspicious for Luigi as he's separated from Colombo and Sonic's friends whom he rescued. For Myster Edge, he (sort of) played our hero like a fiddle. Regardless, it was in his favor because he got what he wanted: torturing Luigi (once again), as well as something else. What is it, you ask? Well…
Next time on Hidden Bravery, questions will be answered, and secrets will be revealed. More importantly, identities will be uncovered, and Luigi will be put into a position where he must prove himself that he can withstand the dangers ahead…
With that being said, stay tuned for Ch. 47. This is TGN, signing off.
Post-Chapter Notes:
(1): This sequence of events took place in Mission E-3: 'A Train to Catch' of Dark Moon. Except in this case, Luigi did not face a Strong Poltergeist, and he rescued Charmy (and eventually Espio) with few impediments.
(2): The boss level of Treacherous Mansion was named 'Stop the Knightmare', where the Tough Possessor made clones of himself to possess multiple suits of armor and attack Luigi. In this scene, it's the same battle, but rewritten to add the other characters into the action. Additionally, it wasn't against the real Possessor.