Mario and Luigi
The Shaman of Shadows
Area 2: Mt. Chimney
2-4: Clay Pit Clash
Luigi stood in awe at the size of Mt. Chimney in the distance. All the trees from the Wildfire Woods had vanished in the fog as he left them. All around Mt. Chimney lay a field of reddish clay. Luigi walked into the field and found the ground to give way under his feet, each step making an audible squishing noise. The clay stuck to Luigi's shoes, "Mama Mia, this is gonna stain my shoes!" he said in disgust. "Hmm, I wonder where the Foundry is?" he said as he placed his hand over his brow and stood on his tiptoes.
"It's probably around back or something," Mario pondered out loud.
"Good thinking, bro," Luigi agreed. As Mario dismissed himself, Luigi found a Hint Block in plain sight and recorded its message. Then he heard a set of footsteps behind him. He darted around to set his gaze on no one. Again, he heard the footsteps behind him, only closer this time. He quickly about-faced and once more..., found no one. For a third time, he heard the footsteps behind him, but as he turned around this time his eyes caught a sight that stunned him. A familiar figure stood before him, his brother, Mario. The brim of his hat covered his eyes.
Mario's shadow appeared, "What is this?" he asked befuddled.
'Mario' jumped into the air and Luigi instinctively defended himself. Luigi stepped back, making his brother's jump attack miss. Luigi placed a punch at Mario's chest and it was a puppet that shattered. The iHaunt chimed and Luigi answered it. Gadd was on the line, "Luigi, where are you?! I got a huge paranormal reading where you are! Get out of there as soon as you can! It seems to be a hot spot!" he said as he hung up.
As Luigi hung up, a red clay Mario emerged from the ground from behind Luigi. He reacted quickly and kicked the fake Mario, breaking it. Luigi then took in his surroundings and noticed that many clay Marios began to form and surround him. A familiar voice, one that strikes fear into anyone who hears it, could be heard. "Ah, Luigi, my old friend, it's me! KING BOO!" announced the voice.
Luigi and Mario's shadow stood back to back, trying to find the King of all Boos. "King Boo! I knew you would show up eventually!" Luigi said as the Poltergust scanned the environment.
"Show yourself, Boo!" Mario demanded.
"In time, plumb-scum, in time! But first, I have an art project I want a second opinion on! So, could you critique my Mario statues? I want to know just how close to the original they are!" King Boo giggled deeply.
In that instant, all the Clay Mario clones leaped at Luigi. Luigi used his High Jump to get some air and many of the clones collided, shattering into pieces. Luigi began to run as more clones formed and came after him. Luigi dodged and counterattacked while he avoided being surrounded. Only two clones at a time could reach him. He deflected punches, kicks, and jump attacks, and broke every clone that came his way. This went on for some time until Luigi was breathing heavily. Luigi backed up to get some distance between himself and the clones, but this time, as they approached, they lost all form and turned into puddles as only one lunged at Luigi. Luigi blocked the punch and with frustration, hit the clone in the jaw with a left jab. Only this time, the clone did not break and it performed three backflips, recovering. The clone then turned to Luigi and smiled as a small trickle of blood ran down its lip.
Luigi and Mario's shadow grew curious as the apparent clone wiped its mouth and smiled in a way that Mario never had before. His mouth opened and his tongue dangled. His eyes became like King Boo's. He laughed, but it was not Mario's laugh, it was the laugh of King Boo. "That's upsetting, and here I thought Mario was superior to you, Luigi. It looks like I even bought into the hype!" King Boo said through Mario's body. "Have you figured out what's going on, Luigi? This isn't an illusion like the others...," he said to a confused Luigi. "Let me spell it out for you both..., THIS... IS... MARIO'S... REAL... BODY! It's mine now!" King Boo laughed maniacally. "I'm gonna use your brother's super strength to crush you! What's the matter, Luigi? I can see you trembling!" he taunted.
Then, something happened that King Boo did not expect. Mario's shadow began to laugh and even fall over with laughter. "Y-you think you can beat Luigi... with MY body?!" he laughed mockingly. "Of all the stupid things, Boo!" Mario continued as Luigi stayed silent. His eyes were downcast and hidden under his hat. His fists tightened as a tranquil fury took him over.
"What do you mean?! This plan is foolproof!" King Boo said confidently.
"If you think your plan is foolproof, then you don't know us as well as you think you do! Let me tell you this! In all of the Mushroom Kingdom, no one beats Luigi in unarmed hand-to-hand combat except for me. And that's only a 50-50 chance ordeal. We're still pretty even," Mario explained.
"So, you admit that you are capable of defeating Luigi! What's the problem?!" King Boo asked, still bewildered.
"You know what, I'll let you figure that out on your own!" Mario said still giggling.
"Well then, SHOW ME!" King Boo shouted angrily as he charged Luigi.
King Boo attempted to punch Luigi who effortlessly blocked with his left hand and planted his right fist in 'Mario's gut. King Boo felt the air get knocked out of him and he doubled over. "That was sloppy, Boo!" Luigi said as he cracked his knuckles.
"W-what...?! I didn't even see...!" King Boo growled.
King Boo jumped up and threw a volley of sloppy punches Luigi's way, but he effortlessly evaded all of them with bobs and weaves. Luigi got in close, grabbed Mario's overalls, and delivered a punishing head-butt. King Boo recoiled and was disoriented.
"Understand yet, Boo?" Mario asked teasingly. "I spar with Luigi all the time! We even have our own fighting style called 'Plumb-Fu'! We know each other's weaknesses and strengths. I may have an edge in strength, but Luigi's more durable. I may be faster, but Luigi has more stamina. We can make up for what the other lacks! That's why we are such a great team and just because you have my body, Boo doesn't mean you have my skills or experience!"
King Boo growled again and ignored Mario's taunting. There was no technique to King Boo's attacks as it became strikingly apparent that melee combat was not his strong point. Luigi walked all over King Boo. The Three Musty Fears appeared. "Heh, oh how the mighty have fallen! I may not be a Boo, but it warms my dead heart to see you humiliated, King Boo!" Greaper said with a wide grin.
"I must admit, seeing him rattled like this gives me the shivers!" Dry Bones said with a chatter.
"Yeah, take that, you're not my King!" Boo claimed with a cheer.
"...And just who are you three clowns? And you, you're a Boo! Why are you hanging out with them?!" King Boo said, breathing heavily.
"...Because I hate you...," Boo retorted with a raspberry gesture.
"Why you ungrateful little...!" King Boo grumbled. "Alright fine, so it looks like I hit a minor snag in my plan. Mario's body may be harder to control than I anticipated! However, all I need is more time. This plan is far from dead! So, as a precaution, I am retreating today, but only for a little while! You won this battle today drain-brain! In the meantime, why don't you play with Merloom's childhood art project?" King Boo gloated as he cast a spell. A pool of clay bubbled between them as a mass began to take shape. It took the shape of a three-headed Blargg. One head was fierce, one was gloomy, and the third was apathetic and skeletal. King Boo laughed deeply, "Have fun!" he taunted as he escaped into a Warp Zone.
"Uh oh," Luigi moaned.
"Uh, you might want to move...," Greaper suggested.
As expected the slippery ground made it hard for Luigi to get any real traction as the saurian-shaped creature lumbered its way to Luigi.
"Luigi, find a Fire Flower! If you use the Super Flame attack, that thing will turn to stone!" Mario suggested. "Quick, find some blocks to bash!"
"Okie dokie, go Weegie!" Luigi cheered himself on as he avoided waves of clay that came at him from the monster's stomps. Finally, he found what he was looking for, a Fire Flower. He consumed its power and he transformed. "Alrighty then, all I need now is a good position!" Luigi said as he scanned the area.
The Blargg's immense size made it hard to avoid and even harder to predict. The middle head was constantly spewing balls of clay Luigi's way and he had to do some fancy jumping to avoid them. The gloomy head, the left one, only tried to bite when Luigi was too close and the apathetic head yawned, which spawned clay wizards.
Luigi, jumped, double-jumped, and triple-jumped to find a safe vantage point. "Hey, what about here?!" Boo asked hurriedly.
Luigi stood high on a row of three '?' Blocks, "This will do!" he agreed and took his position. Luigi cast the Super Flame attack, expending his Fire Flower as he did so. The attack hit head-on. When the smoke cleared, the muddy dragon's gloomy head was petrified into crackling and crumbling stone. The creature seemed stunned, "And now, let's knock that head off!" Luigi said as he rushed to the monster's side. He High Jumped onto the petrified head and performed a Ground Pound attack. This shattered the head leaving only razor-sharp spikes of ceramic littering the ground.
The monster, now with two heads, jumped back to life, now more active than before. It tried to trample Luigi, but he dodged by a thread as the creature's mass created a small sonic boom as it rushed by. Luigi managed to put some distance between himself and the Blargg as he searched for another Fire Flower. How lucky he was, as another Fire Flower emerged from the block. He collected it and tried hastily to get to another position, but the Blargg kept getting too close and destroyed the blocks he was standing on. Luckily, he was able to find another spot to stand and use another Super Flame. The apathetic head was now ceramic as Luigi repeated the process he used to defeat the first one. Luigi was successful as his Ground Pound completely annihilated the head. However, before Luigi could get too excited, he noticed the sharp ceramic spikes that now littered the area. "I wouldn't touch those," Dry Bones warned flatly.
"That goes without saying...," Luigi responded.
The creature regained its composure, or what little of it, it had to start with, and was now much faster than before. It set its eyes on Luigi, "Run, Weeg," Mario said with slight terror in his voice.
Luigi shouted in terror as the dopey clay dinosaur gave chase around the field. Luigi made sure to keep bashing blocks to find one more Fire Flower. Luigi jumped and leaped to avoid being munched on until he finally found another Fire Flower. As Luigi ran to find a place to use Super Flame, something caught Greaper's attention. "Oh, would you look at that! That building over there must be the Foundry! Your brother was right about it being around back!" he said with levity.
Luigi huffed and puffed while holding onto his hat to keep it from falling off, "Is that really important right now?!" he said in a panic.
"Oh, sorry, you still haven't destroyed this thing?" Greaper said sarcastically.
"I'm working on it!" Luigi said as he High Jumped to a set of blocks. The Blargg opened its mouth, ready to swallow Luigi, "Take this!" he shouted as he showered the monster with another Super Flame. The smoke cleared and the body stumbled around as Luigi tried to jump to the petrified head. He was successful as he pounded the last head. The clay lump seemed to be melting back into the pit. Until that is, it began to take another shape entirely. It was now just a large blob with two eyes and a large fang-filled mouth. It had ceramic spikes covering its body.
"What now? You bashed every block in sight!" Greaper asked worriedly.
Luigi winked with a grin, "That's okay, I bought an extra Fire Flower from Merlicity last time we were there!" he said practically pulling a rabbit out of the hat. He took his stored Fire Flower and consumed it. Staring the Blargg down, he made one final High Jump to a single empty block. "Bye-bye!" he said as he showered the Blargg with massive spheres of green flame. Luigi then wasted no time as he carefully scaled the monster's dangerously sharp body. He made it to the very top of the Blargg and ended things with one final Ground Pound and the Blargg turned into nothing but chunks of fired stone. Luigi pulled himself from the rubble with a large diamond in hand and looked over his shoulders with cautious optimism, hoping that was the end of it. Sure enough, everything was quiet, until the iHaunt went off, spooking him.
Luigi answered, "Hello?"
"Luigi, are you alright, my boy? The hotspot went cold suddenly! Why don't you come back and rest for a while?" Gadd urged politely. "You haven't been back in quite some time!"
Luigi looked over his shoulder and then turned to face the gloomy Foundry, where the Wheezing Wizard was rumored to be hiding in. Mario appeared, "Weeg, I think that's a good idea. Let's get some rest. Besides, I think we have enough Wizard Coins to buy those Super Boots from that witch anyway. We need every advantage we can get before going into that place! Whaddya say?"
Luigi nodded, "Yeah, it sure is a foreboding place, isn't it?" he said as he took out the Warp Whistle.
Mario also got a good look at the place, "Yep, looks haunted to me. If I were a ghostly wizard, I would hide there."
*End of Chapter*