Here's chapter 2. This is the first chapter where I change things up a little from the original movie. Mostly just the plot structure, nothing really huge. Enjoy!

Chapter 2: To Make a Long Story Short

Mumkhar Valek was not in a very good mood. Having a simple mission interrupted by a giant gorilla monster that ravaged your entire team tends to do that to people. Even worse, his foot and head were both aching like hell, and he was being forced by protocol to give a report to Ocelot, albeit a brief one. He was tempted to tell the general to stick it where the sun don't shine, but he didn't want to find out how Ocelot would choose to interpret that.

"We had the bloke in our sights," reported the soldier, "We only lost track of him for a moment, but it was enough. And then that...thing...just appeared out of nowhere. Tore us apart. We couldn't even scratch it." He ran one hand through his greasy black hair, now even greasier with sweat from his previous activities.

Ocelot nodded, as though this were a routine post mission briefing. Which, in a way, it was. Ocelot sighed, hoping Martin wouldn't get too far away before they found him again. This endless chase was starting to cost more than it was worth. His superiors weren't exactly happy that he'd consistently failed to catch one guy. Every failure only served to aggravate everyone further, as a simple scientist should not have been able to evade the military might of the United States for this long. He wouldn't throw in the towel just yet, though. Martin couldn't get away every single time.

Ocelot turned to his one remaining soldier, who'd retrieved Luigi's bag from the scene, and was currently rifling through it in search of clues. "Anything useful?" he demanded.

The soldier shook his head. "Not so far, sir," he responded, "We'll have to pry open his computer just to be sure. Oh, and this." He held up the framed photo with Luigi and the brown haired woman.

Mumkhar, taking an interest in the photo, took it to examine it. "Some sort of contact for Martin's?" he asked, "Maybe a girlfriend he might be-"

The Brit was cut off by Ocelot snatching the photo out of his hand. "She," said the general, giving him the don't-you-dare-question-me-you-slime look, "Is of no consequence. He wouldn't contact her since his escape. He thinks it's better that way."

Mumkhar was willing to accept that explanation, but that didn't mean he was backing down. "So, are we ignoring the fact that a bloody giant gorilla, strong enough to throw a bloody forklift and smash through a bloody wall, came out of bloody nowhere to protect Martin?!" he snapped, "And now it's bloody out there, doing God knows what?!"

"First of all, cool it with the bloodys," retorted Ocelot, "We don't want to piss off our British readers. Second, King Kong won't be active for much longer today. He never is. He'll be Martin again before midday."

Mumkhar opened his mouth, most likely to try and cuss out his commanding officer as much as he could, but stopped as the full realization of the general's words hit him. "Martin didn't steal military secrets, did he?" he asked. Ocelot made no response, but that was as good as a yes. "What the bloody hell happened to him? How could that thing be Martin?"

Ocelot snorted. "That information's on a need-to-know basis, Valek. As in, you don't need to know," he replied, barely attempting to hide the condescension in his voice, "Now pack up. We've wasted enough time." He turned without another word, walking up the staircase to the balcony. Mumkhar would've loved to introduce the general's rear to his boot, but settled for punching the wall in frustration, hurting his hand, and issuing another stream of words that would up the rating of this story.

Ocelot stood on the balcony overlooking the small town, the picture from Luigi's bag grasped in his hand. Memories, so distant that they might as well have been from another life, drifted back to him, of Luigi and her gleefully walking off together, while Ocelot himself stood and watched. He loved her, and her happiness should have spread to him. However, he could never understand why she'd chosen the quiet genius who could be frightened into submission by the evil eye. It didn't matter, though. She was out of the equation. Martin himself had ensured that.

?

Upon opening his eyes, Luigi immediately knew he wasn't dead, because of the hammering pain that penetrated every square inch of his body, along with the nausea. These were the side effects of the transformation, and he'd become well acquainted with them by now. To understand what Luigi was feeling, imagine your typical hangover, but while your trying to get over it, there's a guy in a clown suit banging on your skull with a golf club, and screaming bad puns into your ear with a megaphone. Okay, maybe not that bad, but you get the idea.

"Live life easy like Luigi, my ass," groaned the scientist, struggling to get to his feet. From what he could tell, Mr. Monkey had dragged him to the middle of nowhere again. He was lying on a thick rock next to a stream, and his surroundings consisted of nothing but trees and bushes. Birds chirped in the morning light, and the occasional insect zipped past his head. If it weren't for Luigi's present circumstances, he would've appreciated the natural beauty a bit more.

Having established that he had no idea where he was, Luigi decided to take stock. A quick look down revealed his pants had survived this incident, at least above the knees, for which he was eternally grateful. His pockets were empty, of course, but he'd crossed that bridge before. Sitting down on the rock, Luigi rested his pounding head in both hands as he tried to come up with his next move.

He couldn't go back to his job in Brazil. Aside from the fact that he'd probably been fired once the military came looking for him, they would easily find him again. Other than that, he could think of no other viable options. A voice in the back of his head spoke up, telling him to follow Evershade's advice, and go home, but he shot that idea down.

Luigi lazily turned his gaze into the stream beside him, but he nearly jumped when he saw his reflection. Instead of a half naked man, a massive, brown gorilla stared back at him, it's brown eyes boring into him. It's expression was one of irritation, as though Luigi were a gnat that refused to leave it alone. Luigi didn't need his monitor to tell him that his pulse was starting to rise again, as he could feel it throughout his body.

"No...no! Leave me alone!" cried the scientist in fear, before trying to spin around and flee. However, his soaking wet feet slipped up, causing him to fall face first into the dirt. His feet kicked out as he fell, knocking a stone into the river's image of the Kong with a large splash. Luigi turned back to his reflection in fear, only to see a perfectly normal representation of himself staring back. Relief flooded through him, and he inhaled as deep as he could, bringing his pulse back down to normal levels.

"Now do you see why we've gotta go back?" chimed in the voice in his head. Luigi made no reply, and not just because he didn't want to look even crazier by talking to himself. He sat and thought, before finally standing and walking off through the woods. If the chance of a cure existed back home, he had no choice.

A few minutes of wandering through the trees eventually led Luigi to the road. For once, his timing was impeccable, as he reached it right as a truck, carrying a massive pile of green and red turtle shells, was coming in his direction. Luigi immediately waved his hands in the air, and the truck cruised to a stop. Luigi scurried up to the passenger seat window.

"I get ride? Please?" he asked in Portuguese.

The driver, a short humanoid creature with a mushroom on top of his head, blinked at him in confusion. "I'm sorry, I don't speak Portuguese," he answered in Spanish.

Luigi's eyes widened. How far had the monkey managed to wander in one night? "My bad. Where am I?" he asked, switching to Spanish. Thankfully, he was more proficient in this language.

"Just outside of Guatemala," responded the toad.

Luigi breathed a massive sigh of relief. Gorilla face had actually been helpful! It was just a week, maybe two, of hitching rides to the States from here. "Can I get a ride to the next town? Please?" he asked again.

"Whatever," responded the toad, throwing open the door. He handed Luigi a jacket, covering up the wet man's body, "What the heck happened to you?"

"Rough night," said Luigi. There was the new understatement of the year. Mentally, he began to prepare himself for the journey ahead. It wouldn't be especially difficult to get to the States, but it would require time. He'd have to beg for money again, which he hated, but it was preferable to starving. Getting over the border meant hitching another ride, an especially long one. Luigi would survive, though. It wasn't like King Kong would let him die, anyway.

Patriots Military Base, Virginia, Several Days Later

Ocelot slammed the door of the office behind him. "Bureaucrats," he snorted as he stormed down the hall. Of course they blamed him for this, instead of the man running away with the most powerful weapon the United States had ever produced. He might've been willing to accept that, but of course, they were more concerned with the damages the Kong had created. They continued to claim he should never have pursued the project in the first place. It frustrated him to no end. They needed the power Luigi had uncovered. He never understood why they couldn't grasp how Luigi was their highest priority.

"General!" called a growling voice from behind him. Ocelot turned to face Mumkhar, just as he'd expected. The soldier marched up to him, determination filling his eyes.

"What do ya want, Valek?" asked Ocelot, "If you wanted to drop out of the mission, you could've just sent me a note." He thought it was a fair assumption. Even the most hardened and experienced soldier would piss their pants when faced with the rage of the Kong.

"I'm staying on this bloody operation," snapped Mumkhar, "But I need to know the details. That thing slaughtered us, because we weren't prepared for it. Thanks for omitting those details, by the way."

"If I'd told you the details, you wouldn't have believed me," retorted Ocelot, "The goal was to get him without triggering the monkey, if you recall. We already know we can't outfight him."

"Oh, real brilliant," snapped Mumkhar, "Look, you want my experience, or not? What did Martin do to himself?"

Ocelot threw up his hands in defeat. Clearly this guy wasn't going to back off. He might as well know the truth. "This information is highly classified, so keep your trap shut," he began, "It went a little something like this..."

Five Years Ago, Woohoo Hooniversity Laboratory, Virginia

"General Ocelot," said Luigi Martin, spreading his arms wide, "Our project manager pays us a visit. Welcome to the house of horrors."

"Not today, Martin," responded Ocelot, his gruff voice sounding angry for no reason, "Let's just get on with it."

Luigi's smile faded. So today evidently wasn't going to be the bonding day. He dropped his arms in defeat. "O-okay..."

"Come on, dad!" called a voice from across the lab. The general and the scientist turned to find a woman approaching them. She stood with average height and build, dressed in typical lab gear, with long brown hair hanging down her back. She marched up to Ocelot, glaring at him in a way none of his soldiers would dare to do. "You know Luigi's just trying to make small talk!"

Ocelot's tough stance fell. "Sorry, Daisy. It's...been a long week...I'll just wait outside." He walked out the door to the observation window. Try as he might, he could never really stand up to his daughter. She had just as much presence and commanding authority as he and her mother combined.

Daisy patted Luigi on the shoulder. "Why do you let him walk all over you?" she asked, "It's not like we need his approval."

Luigi sighed. "You know I let everybody do that to me," he muttered, "It's...I don't want to get in a fight." Luigi hated conflict of any kind, even casual disagreements, so much that he never raised his voice, even when insulted. His self-esteem wasn't in jeopardy, but he'd never really been able to stand up for himself. It still baffled him how Daisy had chosen him, dismissing all her father's concerns over the relationship. Ocelot didn't hate Luigi, as he had no reason to, and he knew Luigi's genius was a valuable asset to the military. He just didn't see Luigi as proper life-partner material, even if he did little to stop the relationship.

Daisy hugged him. "Screw him, he's a politician who thinks he's still a soldier," she cheerfully replied, "Now knock his socks off." Luigi's smile returned as she walked into the observation room. If he was gonna prove himself, this was the place to do it.

He walked to the middle of the laboratory for maximum dramatic effect. On his right side was a large, white chair with a strange looking black device hanging down by one metal arm. It would be sitting in front of a person's face if they sat in the chair. Luigi turned to the observation window, where Daisy and Ocelot stood, along with a few other generals and military scientists. He cleared his throat.

"Radiation," he began, "Sometimes a threat, sometimes our only chance of surviving a deadly illness. Unfortunately, in everyday life, it's usually the former. Today, that comes to an end." He held up a large syringe, filled with a green, transparent liquid. "With the combination of this prepared serum, as well as a high, nearly lethal dose of gamma rays, I will make myself resistant to all of radiation's ill effects."

Daisy smiled nervously. She was a little hesitant to let Luigi test this on himself, considering the risks to his health. They both held multiple doctorates, and knew very well what could happen to him. However, the simulations they had performed earlier had been extremely positive, and the chances of accidents, injury, death, or irreparable and grotesque mutilation were unlikely. "And maybe it'll finally get somebody to appreciate him," she thought, shooting a glance at Ocelot.

Luigi rolled up his sleeve, wrapping a cuff around his arm to bring out the vein. Sticking the syringe needle into the vein, he gave a push, sending the green liquid into his body. It felt odd, first like he was injecting ice water, which suddenly rose to a warmer temperature, which spread quickly throughout his body. Taking a deep breath, Luigi turned to the controls in the observation room. "Mr. Sakurai," he called, "Would you kindly*?"

Sakurai obeyed, activating the shielding to ensure none of the gamma rays would get out of the room, and burn everybody's skin off. Luigi climbed into the chair, the black screen, the radiation emitter, directly in front of his face. He attached a pulse monitor to his finger, as well as several suction-tipped wires to his temples, in order to keep track of his vitals. In his mind, he mentally went over the process of this formula again to calm his nerves. It was simple. The serum would activate on exposure to the gamma rays, creating a radiation absorbing membrane over all of his cells, leaving him completely intact. "Nothing could go wrong," he told the sweat creeping down the back of his neck. Looking out the observation window, he gave Daisy a reassuring wink.

"Throw the switch," he ordered Sakurai. The man pressed the button. The emitter in front of Luigi's face lit up with a green light, slowly sliding across his entire body. Luigi's skin began to heat up as the radiation reached him, but he had expected this. He would be just fine.

That's when everything went to hell.

Luigi sharply gasped in pain as his insides began to bulge up. Over by the monitor, he could hear loud beeps as his pulse rate increased to unnatural levels. The serum and the radiation inside him began to react, penetrating every one of his cells. His muscles began to bubble as they expanded, stretching his clothes to their limits. He felt at though needles were forcing their way out from under his skin, when in reality it was hundreds of long brown hairs. His teeth began to sharpen, his bright blue eyes turned a deep brown color, and he could feel his entire body enlarging. The last things Luigi Martin saw in that moment were the shocked faces of Daisy and Ocelot on the other side of the window.

For the first time, the Kong roared.

Present Day

Mumkhar just gaped at Ocelot. "That's it? He injected himself with some crap, stood in front of some rays, and now he's a giant monkey?" he asked.

"He's not actually a gorilla," said Ocelot, as though he were speaking with a complete moron, "He just looks like one because of all that hair. As far as we can figure, whatever was in the formula he tested reacted in someway with his particular DNA. Could be different for everyone." He turned around to walk down the hallway, but continued his story. "He destroyed most of the lab that day. My daughter, one of the techs, and I were the only survivors, and he still put all of us in the hospital. I tried to capture him right after that, but he thought ahead and ran off. He'd been on the run ever since."

"How'd you find the bloke in Brazil, anyway?" asked Mumkhar, "If he's managed to evade capture for five years, he's clearly good at it."

"Well..."

Brazil, Two Weeks Ago

"Hey, Luigi! Catch!"

The American turned at the sound of his name, just in time to catch an empty mushroom box to the face. It didn't hurt very badly, especially since he'd been training himself to resist pain, and he heard no beeping from his wrist monitor. However, the impact was still enough to smash his nose, sending dozens of tiny drops of blood all over the area. Luigi shoved the new box off to the side, frantically searching for the spots of red, wiping up any that he found, and removing any mushrooms with them.

The man who had thrown the box came over to his station. "Sorry about that, man," he said, "I guess I threw it too hard." He noticed Luigi's search. "Is something wrong?"

"No," responded the American, "Just spilled a little blood from nose. Don't want people get sick from my blood."

Unfortunately for poor Luigi, he didn't notice the tiny red dot on the nearest mushroom, already packed inside it's block, which he then sealed.

Present Day

"We found a case of gamma radiation poisoning," answered Ocelot, "After ingesting a mushroom from the factory where Martin was working. Easy enough to trace back."

"So, what exactly was the original purpose of Martin's work?" asked Mumkhar, "I can tell the whole 'radiation immunity' thing was a cover up."

"Have you heard of Project: Evolution?" said Ocelot, "It was an series of experiments meant to advance human soldiers to the greatest level of physical perfection that was possible to be attained. Unfortunately, the little 'Super-Soldier' lab hasn't had any successes since WWII with...well, you know. I unearthed the project recently. Martin's work was intended to cover the radiation aspect of the original formula, since we couldn't figure out how to do it without killing the subject. He didn't have any idea what he was part of, but he created something far superior, completely by accident."

"Riiiiiiight..." thought Mumkhar. Out loud, he responded "So how are you gonna catch him? No living creature can stand up to that thing."

Ocelot looked at Mumkhar, deep in thought. An idea suddenly sprung into his mind. "Valek, you're pushing forty, right?"

Mumkhar's face shifted into an extremely irritated grimace at the sound of those words.

"I'll take that as a yes. Still serving in the field at your age?"

"You have no bloody idea," said Mukhar, "I'm better than half the rats they give guns these days. If my body were younger, I could tear 'em all a new one by myself."

Ocelot smiled. That was almost too easy. "What if I told you Martin wasn't the only one working on the project. We did create one formula that looks promising, but haven't had a chance to test it..."

Mumkar's frown faded, replaced by a grin of almost insane delight. "If you're suggesting what I think you are, I'm in."

Woohoo Hooniversity

Ah, the old campus. Luigi sat on the bench looking over the university, a green baseball cap pulled over his face, and his nose buried in a newspaper. It was unlikely any of these people would recognize him, but he'd learned a long time ago not to take chances. Thankfully, the students either didn't care about random hobos hanging around, or they were too engrossed in their games of Ultimate Frisbee. Seriously, how did that catch on?

It had taken time, effort, and a lot of bribing, stealing, and even sitting on the street corner asking for money, but Luigi had finally made it home. Some of the buildings had clearly been remodeled, but the campus was still the same. Even the air tasted the same, in a way Luigi didn't know how to put into words. If he weren't still a fugitive, he would almost feel relaxed.

He knew he was taking a huge risk by even being within the same square mile as the campus. It was probably one of the places they kept a constant sentry on the lookout for him. However, this was only place where records of the experiment still existed, or at least he hoped. If there was any chance of Evershade curing him, he had no choice but to return. Maybe he'd get lucky, and Ocelot would think he'd never want to see this place again. Then again, probably not.

After sitting for a few minutes, he pretended to check the watch he'd pilfered off some loser, as though it were time for him to return to class. He got up and entered into the front door of the biology build he'd used to work in. He did his best to appear inconspicuous, as he was unsure if anyone who remembered him still worked in the university. Thankfully, everybody's attention seemed to be directed towards another man wandering across the halls, singing "Let's go say hi to Senpai! Oh, Senpai, where are you!? I'm coming for you Senpai, don't you be afraid of me!" The man was then tackled by half a dozen security guards.

Unfortunately for poor Luigi, he was forced to stop dead in his tracks as he tried to make his way to the computers. A security guard now stood by the entrance to the laboratories, checking every visitor, and they required some form of identification to get through. Luigi sighed and turned around, exiting the building.

So he'd hit a bump in the road. He wasn't going to give up, not when he'd made it all the way here. He'd just have to think of another way to get in. Luigi was no cat burglar, but he'd broken into places before. Then again, maybe there was a way to reach the database without adding breaking and entering to the crimes he'd committed.

Luigi was just about to leave the campus, when he noticed the list of staff members outside the building. He only gave it a sideways glance, but it was enough for him to catch the name Daisy Ocelot on the microbiology department, still working in the same place after half a decade. Just the sight of her name was enough to freeze Luigi again.

He began to mentally wage war with himself yet again. "There's no way we can see her," screamed his brain, "It's too risky. Forget about her and focus on the mission." However, his soul forced the logical organ to shut up. He couldn't talk to her, but he had to see her, if only just for a moment. It had been five years. Nothing more than a glimpse would save his life.

Luigi cautiously took a spot under a nearby tree. His heart thumped in his chest, and he had to take several deep breaths to calm down. Transforming now would be the worst kind of disaster. He waited, desperately pretending to read the newspaper, keeping one eye on the building. He was just about to leave and spare himself further pain, when she came out the front door.

Daisy was just as beautiful as he remembered. Her auburn hair hung at the same shoulder length she'd always loved, and her eyes still held the purest joy he'd ever seen. She walked down the front steps of the biology building, the familiar spring in her step sending a fresh stream of memories to Luigi's mind. His heart boiled over with emotion, and he was within seconds of charging towards her and throwing away his chances of survival, when something paralyzed him where he stood.

A man walked up to Daisy, smiling and showing off his pure white teeth, and Daisy responded in kind. She reached up and ran a hand through his blond hair, which seemed to send a sparkle over the entire area they stood in. She kissed his cheek, and the two walked off, hand in hand.

Luigi tried to come move, or do anything, but his body would not respond to his brain's commands. His heart felt pinned under a massive pile of rubble, unable to move or breath. Part of him wanted to rush over to them, and try to make her see sense, while another part only desired to smash everything within reach. The only thing preventing the second part from taking control was the threat of turning into a giant gorilla monster in front of hundreds of people.

Finally, his brain stepped in. "She's happy," it insisted, "She's moved on. She can't be with you. Don't you love her enough to let her have a life of her own?"

Luigi didn't answer himself. Finally, he turned around and left the campus, banishing thoughts of Daisy Ocelot from his mind.

*Yes, I did that on purpose.