Brother's Loyalty

Dark and Full of Terrors

Boosted by shrimp salad, filet mignon, baked potato, chocolate cake, ice cream and devotion and determination, Luigi marched back into the house of horrors, exchanging nods with Thad, Brad, Chad and Conrad as he passed them. He made one last stop in the boneyard to water that plant, which spat out coins, dollar bills and a priceless gem. His iPod was freshly charged and playing upbeat motivational music. Nothing was stopping him from getting to Mario now—nothing!

On the balcony where he'd fought Boolossus, Luigi paused at the door with a glowing blue diamond on it. The glow dissipated, but just as Luigi was about to unlock the door, there were several starbursts of lightning, and everything was rocked by a clap of thunder. All of the bright lights around him flickered—and then went out, leaving the man in green in inky darkness.

Not good. At all.

Luigi jumped when his GBH chimed.

"Hello?" he answered.

"What a calamity!" Gadd exclaimed. "The electricity has gone out!"

"That was a very big blast," said Luigi.

"It must've caused a blackout," said Gadd. "I can't see anything!"

"Well, that makes two of us," said Luigi.

"Now the ghosts will have the run of the place," warned Gadd. "Remember, the dark is their best friend."

Luigi was sweating now. "You don't have to tell me," he muttered.

"Be careful, Luigi," said Gadd before hanging up.

"Great—thanks for the tip," muttered Luigi. Gadd was at least safe in his lab, while he was in the middle of this f—ing mess!

Sinister laughter warned him that he was no longer alone. Luigi grabbed the Poltergust and faced off against the attacking ghosts. After he managed to capture them, more spawned, and Luigi wisely decided to save his energy, unlocked the door with the diamond on it, and dashed inside, slamming the door behind him.

Since there were now ghosts in every room, Luigi knew that it was best to have both ears open. So, he turned off his iPod, pocketed it for later and hummed to himself as he crept down the dark hall. A ringing telephone spooked him, and he followed the sound into a telephone room.

This telephone room had three telephones, and the center one was ringing like crazy. Luigi figured that maybe he should answer it; that ringing would get annoying after a while. Slightly shaking, he picked up the phone. "Hello?"

"He-hello?" asked Thad's voice. "May I ask who's speaking, please?"

Luigi smirked. "It's Koopa!" he replied in a low, menacing voice.

"Oh, [bleep]!" yelped Thad, quickly hanging up.

Chuckling to himself, Luigi answered the leftmost phone as it started to ring. "Yes?"

"Wh—who is this?" Thad asked nervously.

"Sorry about that, Thad," Luigi apologized. "I just needed—a bit of levity."

"Luigi?"

"Yeah, it's me."

Thad laughed. "Whew! I didn't know what I would've done if a ghost had answered! Anyway, we have a terrible problem! The thunderstorm caused a major blackout! What should we do?"