A/N: I want to thank Infinite's Ruby, Tiger of Darkness, and Steel Fairy for their reviews, as well as anyone else who has either added this as a favorite, followed, or just read the story. You guys are the reason to give me motivation to continue writing, to which I appreciate all of you for.
But yet again, I have another important note at the bottom, and I'm sorry for it.
*NOTE: Another PCN is added while the numbers changed, too.
Disclaimer: I still don't own the rights to Sonic or Mario to this day. I am not worthy.
Chapter 51: Into the Oblivion
Location: Station Square
Outside the train station, Amy, Cream, and Cheese finished evacuating the townspeople in the city for the second consecutive day. The robots haven't infiltrated the city yet, but some visitors arrived. Popping out of the warp pipe were Shadow, Silver, Vector, Espio, and Charmy.
"Amy! Look!" Cream tapped her shoulder.
"Oh my goodness! Guys! You're back!"
"And it's been a long time since we're back home," Vector grinned.
"It's all thanks to Luigi. Otherwise, we could've spent the rest of our lives in paintings," Silver sweated.
"Anyways, we're back to help you guys get rid of those robots as soon as they come," said Espio.
"We really appreciate it."
"How's Knuckles, Blaze, and Rouge?" asked Charmy.
"Knuckles is busy on Angel Island. Rouge and Blaze are in Emerald Hill with a few other friends. They also managed to convince Eggman to defend Chemical Plant since his base is still overtaken by Edge's army."
Shadow was unimpressed. "That guy can't even get his lair back?"
"I mean, he's basically powerless by himself, even with Orbot and Cubot, and he was repairing Metal Sonic at the time."
He rolled his eyes. "Figures."
"Hey! More are coming this way!" Cream yelled as she pointed at the sky.
"Chao!" Cheese yelped at the sight of the Shadelings.
"Hmph. Better trash up these fools while we can," the black hedgehog sped off on his Air Shoes.
The others followed him as they reached a street intersection as the robots landed on the ground. One of them shot a laser at Shadow. As he swayed to the side, he performed a spin dash to destroy the enemy. Silver stalled two robots with his telekinesis. Cream and Cheese defeated one while Amy smashed the other with her hammer. Vector, Charmy, and Espio threw some jabs towards a trio of Shadelings. Everyone had their own strategies to fight off these robots as more spawned from the black hole.
"This is gonna take forever!" Charmy complained.
"It was like this yesterday, too!" Cream mentioned.
"What matters is that we prevent them from destroying Station Square like the first time," Shadow huffed.
"That is if it doesn't get consumed by the Oblivion," Vector grunted as he punched a mech with his elbow while another tried to restrain him.
Espio came by to free the crocodile. "Our only hope is to let Sonic, Tails, and Luigi handle Edge. But they need to hurry."
Amy spun her mallet to wipe out a circle of Shadelings that surrounded her. "I really hope they won't fall into a lot of trouble. Especially Sonic."
"If you ask me, I think we should be more worried about Luigi," Silver kicked a robot in the head. The gang tried to endure the time-consuming fight.
Location: Boo Woods
With Sonic running, Tails flying, and E. Gadd, Colombo, and Luigi riding in the Poltergust 3001, the five raced their way to the heart of the spooky forest. Shadows of the trees and the mansions stretched so wide and long from the sun, but the black hole exhibited a hint of darkness covering the land. The professor screeched to a halt while the Mobians reached the front of his bunker. He quickly got out and unlocked the entrance to let everyone inside.
"The 6000 is fully charged with the maximum number of Shriek Shields. Now you'll be prepared to take on the real Tough Possessor. And while I was gone, Zephyr was busy preparing the cannon to shoot you to the hole above Star Hill."
As they entered the lab, the Greenie was typing away on a keyboard. He paused and gave a cheerful wave to the heroes before resuming his work. E. Gadd detached the charger from the vacuum.
"Here you go, lad."
"Thanks," Luigi slipped the straps over his shoulders.
"So, where's your cannon, Professor?" Tails asked.
"It's stored underground in the backyard of the mansion."
"You put it behind my mansion?" Luigi raised an eyebrow.
"Yes. I didn't have any room on the front lawn, so I managed to use the spacious land after getting rid of some of the trees. Hohoho, at least the wood makes a great source for some warm fires in the winter."
"How exactly will this cannon work?" Sonic put a hand on his hip.
"Right now, Zephyr is setting up the coordinates of the cannon's trajectory. Once it's locked and loaded, the four of you will be launched into the Oblivion. And somewhere inside, the Tough and the last Dark Moon piece are waiting there."
"Don't forget about Edge."
"And Mario, too..." Luigi pondered.
Zephyr floated over to talk to E. Gadd. He whispered in his ear and addressed his concern.
"Ah, okay. Thanks, Zephyr." He waved his hand to let him leave the room. "He told me that the cannon's coordinates are prepared, but it's currently low on fuel."
"I thought this cannon was new," Tails tilted his head.
"Heh," the professor chuckled in embarrassment and rubbed the back of his head, staring at the floor. "You see, um... When I said it was low on fuel, I rather meant, it doesn't have any in right now."
"Are you kidding me right now?!" Sonic yelled with his hands up. "Why the hell doesn't the cannon have fuel?! Are you trying to waste more time?!"
"Don't worry, boys. Zephyr's got it covered. I'll just look over any other components before you take off."
"You guys better hurry it up."
"I can lend a hand if you want," the fox offered.
"Thanks, Tails."
Sonic and Luigi went over to the table as the others were looking over the main control panel. Colombo hopped over to rest in Luigi's lap. The plumber patted his back, eliciting a soft, congenial whine from him. It was quite awkward and silent in the lab, excluding the keys clicking on the computer keyboard and the whispers between the twin-tailed kit and the old man. As Luigi rubbed the Polterpup's back, he tilted his head back, aimlessly staring at nothing in particular.
"Thinking about something?"
The comment made Luigi turn to the hedgehog who was staring at him with his arms folded on the table.
"Not much."
"What does that mean?"
Luigi bit his lower lip. "It's just..." It was hard for him to put it in words.
"It's about Mario, isn't it?"
He sighed heavily as he slouched.
"Dude, you're not the only one concerned about him."
"Well, Mario's not the only thing on my mind."
"What are you talking about?"
"Remember how I keep getting nightmares involving Edge?"
"Yeah, so?"
"On the day you guys got captured in Sparkling Waters, I went back here to discuss what to do next. As I waited for the girls to arrive, I had a dream where I was in the Oblivion again. Except, there was someone else there with him."
"Dimentio?"
"Not in this dream. He was in all the others, but this figure was different."
"Then who was it?"
Luigi scratched the side of his head before answering. "Mario."
Sonic sat up straight. "Mario? Why was he in your dream?"
"He wasn't normal. He looked demented. Or rather, possessed." The Blue Blur leaned forward to continue listening. "And, Edge ordered him to attack me. He trapped me in a ring of fire before he was about to impale me with a piece of a Dark Shard." (1)
Sonic's green eyes widened. "You dreamt that?"
He nodded.
"Damn, dude. Well, I'm sure we can save him if he's really in danger. We just gotta hope Tails and the professor can get the cannon running as soon as possible. And everyone knows that I'm not a patient guy."
Luigi couldn't help but smile at his joke, but it faded away immediately as he resorted to ire, thinking about Edge and his plan to manipulate his brother to get what he wants. Colombo looked back to see his owner's troubled face. Letting out a whine, he turned around and placed his paws on his chest. He stared at Luigi with puppy eyes. The plumber softened his expression as he scratched Colombo's head.
"You're not going to be alone in this. Tails, Colombo, and I will help out to rescue Mario, defeat Edge, get those Chaos Emeralds back, and get rid of the Oblivion."
"Thank you, Sonic," he monotonously replied. Luigi knew it wasn't going to be easy. But for this specific mission, or set of missions, he needed to do the one thing he rarely showed throughout this entire adventure: believe in himself.
Location: Star Hill
With Edge waiting impatiently at the top of the mountain, he stared into his scepter that held the seven Chaos Emeralds. Along with the influence of the Dark Shards that were scattered in a ring around the apex, he could feel the negative, yet strong energy emanating in his body. With this immense power, he can revive Dimentio. However, he preferred to restore his dark soul in the Oblivion once he coaxed Luigi.
Slimmer came up and tapped his shoulder. "Sir, Alpha is returning right now."
Edge turned around to see his main assistant. He landed next to Clawdio and the Tough Possessor, a.k.a. Mario being possessed. As he approached the shadowy man, Slimmer returned to his original spot.
"My lord, I have delivered the message to the green man and everyone who was in Toad Town with him."
"And I presume he understands the circumstances, as well as the consequences?"
"I advised him to listen to your words. However, I cannot assure you that he will follow them."
"What makes you say that?"
"You have tortured him in the past. You captured his friends and his brother on numerous occasions. And you merged Tough to take over his spirit, to which the man is unaware of at the moment. Do you really think he's going to listen to you after all that?"
"He should listen to me. After all, I am the most powerful being on the planet, or rather, the whole universe at this point. Everyone shall bow down to me, and me only! They will listen to me and do my bidding! And that goes for that mustached weakling!"
"He sounds like a worthless, inept president," Slimmer whispered to Clawdio. (2)
"For once, I agree with you. I'm starting to get tired of his boastful remarks. He's like an annoying sack of shit."
"Should we prepare ourselves now?"
He lowered his head to Alpha. "Yes, let's head on in. I'll be anticipating his arrival. If he's not scared of me, of course."
Clawdio rolled his eyes. He turned over to Mario who stood upright in silence, hands clenched at his sides. He tilted his head back towards Slimmer. "Can't believe I'm saying, but I'm starting to feel bad for the guy."
"The green one or the red one?"
"Both, actually."
Slimmer shrugged but agreed with him. "Can't say I blame you. As much it was cool to see that transformation, I'm starting to regret we did that in the first place."
"Another thing I can agree on."
"Mario," he called the plumber's name rather than the ghost's. "Come this way."
The man sauntered to the villain. In addition to being possessed, Myster Edge forced Slimmer and Clawdio to make adjustments to his attire. He was sporting red, metallic armor on his arms and legs, a shell guard over his abdomen, and rocket boosters under his feet. What made his appearance more ominous was the purple and white aura around him, as well as the pupils in his eyes. Instead of shades of blue, they were tinted in red, looking like he was ready to kill someone.
"Follow me. Alpha, Clawdio, Slimmer, you'll proceed behind us. You'll get your chances to stall Luigi. If you are successful, bring him to me in the deepest depths of the Oblivion. If not, I'll let my new minion handle it. Any questions?"
Slimmer cautiously raised his hand.
"What?"
"If we do get pounced on by the guy again, what are the chances that we'll get another repair before the Oblivion consumes everything, assuming that happens and we stay alive?"
Myster Edge snorted. "We'll see about that."
"What's that supposed to mean?" said Clawdio.
"It means, we'll see about that."
"Gee, that sure cleared things up."
"Just shut up and follow me. This is only the beginning of the end."
Clawdio and Slimmer gave glances before shaking their heads and sighing. Alpha remained indifferent as he waited for Edge and Mario to depart. By then, the Shadow Spirit flew up to the dark hole first. Mario had his rocket boosters to ascend, trailing the purple boss. The other three robots pursued the same route until they were gone.
Tails and E. Gadd double-checked the cannon after Zephyr announced that he filled up the entire tank with fuel. Everything else seemed to be normal and ready to go. All they needed was an okay sign from the professor. Luckily, it didn't take long to wait.
"Well, gentlemen, with my Eclipse Cannon filled with gas and the coordinates are preset, I believe we're ready to send you guys to Star Hill!"
Sonic jumped out of his seat. "Finally!" he yelled enthusiastically. "Let's get to blasting off!"
Luigi let his Polterpup jump down before he got up to stand next to the hedgehog. He took a moment to remove his hat and wipe some sweat off his forehead.
"Ready, sonny?"
"As ready as I'll ever be," he put the cap back on.
"Alright. I'll activate the cannon from in here. Zephyr will escort you four to the mansion's backyard. There is a mission control booth there as well so Zeph can monitor the shot. If it's successful, he'll report to me immediately."
"Sounds like a plan," Tails nodded.
"And lastly, I don't know if the signal of your 3DS will be strong enough for me to contact you or vice versa. Kind of like those rough calls when you fought Shrewd in the Secret Mine, I might have an extremely terrible connection to reach your end of the call and communicate. Thus, there's a chance I may not be able to pixelate you out of the hole, so I devised a backup plan."
"What is it?"
E. Gadd held up his fingers to give him a moment. Walking over to a shelf, he searched through a cardboard box and grabbed something. He walked back to the heroes who gazed at the device in his hand. It was a pair of Joy-Cons attached to a Grip base. The left Joy-Con was colored in red while the right sheened in neon green. (3)
"I call it the Emergency Egressor. I programmed this controller to transport up to five people from anywhere in the world to the comforts of my bunker. And the reason I modified it that way is so that the four of you will return alongside Mario once you take him back from Edge."
"That looks very familiar," Sonic inspected it.
"I was going to call it the Site Switcharoo, but it didn't really sound well. Regardless, in order to activate it, everyone must be within a five-foot radius. Press and hold the 'L' and 'R' buttons simultaneously to trigger the warp sequence."
"Is this safe?" Luigi was skeptical. "How long did it take to build this?"
"It took a few hours overnight while everyone was asleep. I finished it before I left for the castle this morning. Unfortunately, I haven't tested it out, and it's only good for one stint. I could've enhanced it to do some test runs and see if it worked, but I figured we won't have a lot of time if I just spent several more hours and make you youngsters linger."
"Then it'll have to do." The professor handed the controller to Luigi who put it in his other pocket. "We better get going now."
Zephyr motioned his way to the front door, waiting for the heroes to leave.
"Good luck, boys. All the best to you."
"Thanks, Professor!" Tails called as he ran out of the lab.
"Don't worry, we'll handle it!" Sonic winked and gave a thumbs-up. He quickly dashed out, following the yellow fox.
"Bark! Bark!" Colombo yipped and wagged his tail, his tongue sticking out as he panted. He ran off to catch up to the Mobians.
Before Luigi made his move to leave, E. Gadd laid a hand on his shoulder. "Luigi, I don't mean to sound dubious again, but..."
"Yes, Professor?"
He shifted his glasses and reached a finger near his right eye. Luigi thought he heard him sniffle.
"I just want to let you know that... whatever happens, I'm... I'm always proud of you, Luigi. That is a fact, and don't think otherwise. Sniff... Over the past week and a half, you've come so far, a long journey with your friends and some baddies. But... despite those times where you felt you lacked confidence, you've... you have proven yourself to be a brave, young man...
"I don't care what Myster Edge thinks of you or anyone else who bombards you with negativity. Luigi, you have the passion to fight, defend, and persevere. You have the heart to save your brother, your friends, and all of these worlds. You may be the key to fulfilling Edge's dastardly plan, but I believe you can counter him with your powers and abilities...
"Do your best, youngster. Sniff... Be the hero you deserve to be."
Luigi was getting emotional from his old friend's speech. He leaned down and gave him a tight hug.
"Th-Thank you, Professor..." he squeezed his eyes, trying to keep his tears at bay.
After a long minute, the scientist let him go. "I better not let your friends wait. I'm stalling unnecessarily."
"It's not your fault, but thanks again. I'll see you later."
"See you soon, Luigi."
Luigi gave one nod before he ran outside the shelter. E. Gadd sighed before he returned to his computer, preparing the launch countdown.
Heading to the back behind his large mansion, he slowed his pace as he lifted his head to see the Eclipse Cannon. It wasn't as large as the Grande Boom, but the sleek design was impressive. Painted in white and made of steel, this cannon was prepared to send him and his friends to Star Hill.
Two gloved hands grabbed the rim of the muzzle as the individual stuck his head out. "Hurry up, Luigi!" Sonic called.
"Oh, Sonic! There you are! Sorry for taking so long."
He shook it off. "Just get in! We're ready to roll!"
Tails was also inside. "The ladder is on the other side. That way you can climb in."
"It'll be a tight squeeze for the four of us, but I think we'll fit!"
"Alright. I'll head up now."
Luigi sprinted to the other side and found the ladder. From a few feet away, Zephyr was in the control unit. He made a noise to get his attention. Luigi looked back and gave the Greenie a small smile. Zephyr waved at him, wishing him good luck.
"Thanks, Zephyr!"
He reached the muzzle of the cannon and carefully slid down the inner wall. Sonic, Tails, and Colombo all greeted him at the bottom.
"I gotta say, I don't think I've ever been shot out of a cannon before. I can't wait!" Sonic made a fist, full of excitement.
"Now all we have to do is wait for the launch," said Tails.
"Ruff!" Colombo barked.
Luigi exhaled and closed his eyes.
Zephyr gave the signal to the professor, notifying that the heroes were ready. Once E. Gadd got the message, he pressed a joystick, pushed some buttons, and pulled a large lever.
"Countdown sequence for the Eclipse Cannon initiated. Path is set towards the Oblivion floating above Star Hill. Launching in T-minus ten seconds. Nine. Eight. Seven."
Inside the cannon, everyone heard the old man counting down from a speaker, waiting for the big boom.
"Almost there!" Sonic was eager.
"Better hold on tight," Tails mumbled.
"Bark!"
"I'm coming, bro," Luigi thought to himself.
"Three. Two. One. FIRE!"
The Eclipse Cannon set off a thunderous noise as the four heroes blasted off at such high velocity. A stream of white, yellow, blue, and green flew across from Boo Woods, over the Mushroom Kingdom, to Star Hill.
In the streets of Toad Town, Peach and Daisy were setting up a Toad battalion, still waiting for their first robot invasion. The latter tapped the pink princess on her shoulder.
"Peach, look!"
They caught a glance of them shooting across the sky.
"Luigi, I'm rooting for you!" Daisy shouted at the top of her lungs.
Peach held her hands close to her heart. "Please be careful, Luigi. And please rescue your brother. I want you all to be safe."
While flying in the air, Luigi didn't express any bit of fright. His eyes were planted at the large hole as they came close to it.
"There it is! Get ready!" he shouted.
"We're with you!" Sonic and Tails responded.
"Ruff! Ruff!" Colombo replied.
And within a matter of seconds, they entered the Oblivion, disappearing from the atmosphere. It was the start of their new quest inside the darkness.
END OF CHAPTER
Although this chapter is over, I'm still pulling myself through as I'm getting through the last full month of my third year. But ever since I uploaded Ch. 50, I have been so damn stressed, miserable, and angry at myself for personal reasons. I hardly had any time to write this chapter because of my upcoming school schedule, which made it more infuriating. I'm sorry that I'm feeling this way and that I'm letting it out here. I did make a promise to try and finish this as soon as I can. But with the way things are going, it's not looking great. So for future reference, this story will be on hiatus as of this update.
I know I won't go back to writing until I'm finished with my spring semester. I'll have to see if I have any free time when I'm on rotations. Otherwise, the next chapter will have to wait until June. I've been really busy the past several weeks, and it doesn't stop there. I hope to see you all as soon as I can, and I'm sorry about the last-second change. This is TGN, signing off.
Post-Chapter Notes:
(1): Mario was the mystery character in Ch. 36, the only time he appeared in Luigi's nightmares as an actual foe.
(2): I'm just going to leave this here, and that's it.
(3): The Joy-Cons are two controller inputs for the Nintendo Switch, and I implemented them with the Grip accessory. The red color originates from the Super Mario Odyssey bundle (not the neon red that's one of the primary colors in many Switch packages) while the neon green is associated to the Splatoon 2 release.