AN: Yes! 30 chapters baby; woohoo! I don't usually reach this milestone with my stories, so I'm feeling rather proud of myself here!
Once again, thank you guys for the support with this story in particular! I hope you enjoy this chapter.
Chapter 30 A Fortress to Storm
Traveling across a dry, arid, blazing hot desert…if this wasn't the best way to shave decades off of Luigi's soul, he didn't know what was. It felt as if his insides were boiling, and his skin felt like it was going to fall off from the sun's scorching, merciless rays. Sure, he had trekked across deserts in the past, but never before had he realized how hellish the experience was (maybe this time around he chose to hike across the dunes on a bad day?). If it wasn't for Daisy's presence, he would've given up a long time ago. As is, she turned out to be a great source of motivation; she encouraged him to keep going even when his nerves made his brother's body quake. Heck, she even suggested that they use E Gadd's ultra ultra ULTRA sunblock, an action that did in fact save both of them from dropping like flies.
So, they continued on their trek without any major hiccups. They did come across a lone baddie or two, but that wasn't too terribly difficult to deal with. In other words, it wasn't anything that a simple bounce on the head couldn't fix. Even with that in mind, the trek across World 2 went smoothly. Luigi knew the path well for what it was, so even though he hated combing the desert, he at least had the knowledge that the path would end and when. It wasn't exactly a happy thought, but it was a hopeful thought.
Yes, hope. That was an emotion Luigi needed to hold onto in this trying time. He needed to hope he could get across World 2. He needed to hope that he could stand a chance against the gigantic monster that was King Bowser Koopa. He needed to hope that Mario would be able to change the course of Fortune's Comet. Hope was a good motivator after all, and a good thing to cling to in the dark times and hard trials. So, Luigi focused only on his hope. He focused on it so hard that he nearly forgot that he was in the middle of the Mushroom World's second hottest region. It filled him, making him feel lighter than air.
At least for a time. It quickly vanished when he saw one thing in the distance, one big imposing thing that replaced all semblance of hope with nasty fear.
"Well," he said, swallowing a lump as he did. "There it is. The fortress."
The fortress cast a shadow over the ground in its immediate vicinity. The dark bricks used to construct made it look like it's constructed out of pure, untainted, evil darkness. A perfect parallel to draw considering that, inside the fortress, there was a boss. Luigi didn't know exactly who that boss was (his money was on one of the Koopalings), but that didn't matter. That fortress spelled doom, more so than the heat. It taunted Luigi as it stood before the fork in the road that allowed him to go to World 4.
"Man," Daisy said, staring down the fortress with her hands on her hips. "Talk about an ugly building." She snickered. "Would make sense that someone as hideous as Bowser would make his minions patrol such a place."
Luigi nodded, although in all honesty, he didn't appreciate the connection. In his head, he tried to motivate himself to move forward. He's beaten bosses before, and the Koopalings themselves were fairly weak minions (at least, most of them were anyways). He could do this! He could do this…
"You okay, Lou?" Daisy asked, her brow furrowed as he looked at him.
Luigi took in a deep breath. "Yeah," he said as he let it out. "I'm fine." He faced the fortress, gripping his hands into fists as he did. "Let's do this, shall we?"
Daisy nodded, all while smiling at the determination her boyfriend displayed. They made their way over to the looming construction. The bigger the fortress got in Luigi's eyes, the more his heart pounded. He looked over at Daisy, studying her expression to see how she felt. He squirmed a little when she saw the tiniest glint of fear in her eyes. Why wouldn't it be there; this was the first rescue mission she ever went on! Of course she would find the idea of going into fortress constructed and owned by the Koopa royal family to be intimidating!
With this though in mind, Luigi reached for her hand and grabbed it. "Are you okay?"
Daisy smiled at him, even with the uncertainty in her normally tough demeanor. "It's…this whole thing is new to me, I'll admit. It's…it's strange, really. It's kind of…scary." She snickered. "Man, never thought you'd hear those words come out of my mouth, did you Weegee?"
Luigi nodded, once again completely missing the humor in Daisy's words. "Well, if you are too frightened then…" he gulped; what he was going to offer didn't appeal to him at all. However, he was still going to suggest it for the sake of Daisy's safety. "You can always wait outside the fortress. I'll defeat the boss all by myself; you don't have to get involved."
Daisy stared at him before snorting. "What? Are you crazy? I'm not sitting this one out! No way!"
Luigi blinked. "But…but you're scared…"
"Yeah, I'm scared. That doesn't mean I'm incapable of fighting." She smiled at him. "I want to do this. I want to be of use in this rescue mission. Peach is counting on both of us. Plus, I don't think you are very fond of the idea of storming a fortress all by yourself."
"Huh." Luigi smiled. "It seems to me like you've developed the power to read minds."
Daisy laughed. "Hardly. I'm just really good at reading you." She grinned at him. "You're scared witless at the idea. I know you are."
Luigi shrunk back a little. "Gee. I'm that transparent, huh?"
Daisy chuckled before putting her hand on his shoulder. "We're doing this together, Weegee. You want to prove that you can pull off a rescue mission? Well, I want you to do that too. And I'm gonna support you in any and all ways possible." There was a cheekiness to her expression, a playfulness one would never expect from such an important figure as a Princess of Sarasaland. "We're doing this Lou. And we're doing it together."
Luigi's heart welled with positive emotions, one that he recognized as comfort and relief. Man, Daisy was just as brave as Mario himself. Both of them could push their fear to the side in a moment when it was really needed. They were both selfless in that way, thinking about how they could help in situations that Luigi found daunting and terrifying. That was a skill that Luigi wished he was born with, similar to how they were. Sure, he had worked on developing it, and to be fair, he had done a good job at that. But even then, he was jealous of Mario and Daisy's gift. Not so much that it consumed the very core of his being, but enough to make him realize he had a long way to go when it came to building up bravery.
"I wouldn't have it any other way," he told the spunky princess.
Daisy grinned at him. Without anymore conversation, they continued on their way. Once the fortress was close enough, Luigi kept his eyes on the purple door. He exchanged a look with Daisy before pushing on it. It opened up without any problems, except of course for the screechy creek it produced. Luigi winced upon hearing it, but tried his best not to let it bother him too terribly. He turned toward the princess.
"Well, ladies first."
Daisy snorted. "Didn't know that rule applied when walking into danger, but sure. Whatever."
With that, they stepped inside. Just like had happened during previous kidnapping missions, the doors slammed shut behind the intruders. Lights came on overhead to, allowing Luigi to see the massive lava pits scattered around the floor. This made him sweat for multiple reasons.
"Don't go into the lava," he told Daisy. "That'll be instant death."
"Truer words have never been spoken." Daisy faced forward, her chest puffed out, her hands gripped into fists, and her expression more serious than a category five hurricane. "Well, come on! Let's do this!"
Luigi nodded. Without anymore conversation, the two ran forward. They both jumped from platform to platform with ease. Luigi did have a little trouble adjusting to Mario's shorter jumps, and he admittedly felt envious while watching Daisy using the Springy Steppers. Even then, he wasn't going to let this bother him too much. The baddies in this fortress weren't going to take pity on him after all.
The two continued jumping. Luigi, once he adjusted to his new jumps, actually felt a little more comfortable. As his feet touched one more platform, he smiled to himself. This was turning out to be much easier than he anticipated. Sure, the lava still freaked him out to no end, but that was easily avoidable. Overall, this was going well.
"Man." He wiped his brow as he stood next to Daisy. "This doesn't seem to be that big a deal…"
"LUIGI, LOOK OUT!"
Luigi barely had time to react. He and Daisy jumped out of the way just as a bone came sailing through the air. Luigi's heart rate picked up when he saw who (or rather, what) had thrown the bone. A dry bones stood right in front of them. A dry bones accompanied by about ten of its zombie koopa brethren.
"I really need to learn how to keep my mouth shut," Luigi lamented.
Daisy's brow scrunched up. "Come on Luigi; let's rattle these bones!" With enough oomph in her step to cause an earthquake, she jumped on the various dry crumbled when the Springy Steppers made contact with their shells, causing the princess to chuckle in both amusement and pride. "Yeah buddy! This is going…" A sound came from behind her, causing her to turn around with wide eyes. "What the heck?"
The dry bones she had bounced on had regenerated. Daisy's eyes grew wide, and they only grew wider still when the corpse she currently stood on rattled and returned to…."undeath" (life wasn't exactly the right word to use here). She hopped off of it, surprise and fear claiming her expression when she saw the hatred in those glowing yellow eyes.
"Luigi, what do we do?" she shrieked.
Luigi put on his brave face now. "Hold on!" WIth both speed and precision, he got out the Power Trapper. Out of it, he pulled out two ice flowers. "Catch!" He threw one to Daisy, who gobbled it up without questioning. Luigi gobbled his too, and the power up activation noise carried throughout the fortress.
"Throw ice balls at them!" Luigi said. He immediately started doing that himself, freezing the zombies in a block of solid, unbreakable ice.
Daisy nodded. She too froze the dry bones. The baddies, for once, seemed to have some semblance of a self preservation instinct, as they bolted away from the powered up princess. Regardless, she showed them no mercy whatsoever. She froze them in place, causing them to let out little crackly shrieks. She beamed when she did this, even going so far as to admire an ice ball glowing in her hand.
Eventually, all dry bones became frozen bones. Luigi beamed at Daisy, proudly looking upon the enemies who had no chance of actually harming them now. "We did it!"
"Yeah we did!" Daisy whooped as she raised her fist in the air. "Man, that was awesome! I feel…oh, I feel so alive!" She smiled at him. "I should've gone with you guys on a rescue mission ages ago!"
Luigi chuckled. He then faced forward, now looking serious once again. "Let's try to hold onto these power ups. They could be useful when facing the boss."
Daisy nodded. Together, they ran and hopped through the fortress, freezing any enemies that happened to get in their way. It only felt like a second had passed to Luigi when they came across the violet doors that would lead them to the boss.
"Well, that was easy." Daisy laughed in triumph. "I just hope the boss is just as easy to take out."
Luigi nodded as hs stomach churned. "I…I hope so too."
With that, he pushed the door. It creaked open, revealing a dark hallway on the other side. Luigi took hold of Daisy's hand.
"Come on." The two of them went in, the doors creaking shut behind them.
