Brother's Loyalty

No Mountain High Enough (GOOD ENDING)

Luigi could taste his own blood. It dribbled into his mouth, tangy and sweet and coppery at the same time. He paid it no mind, however, gripping the Poltergust's nozzle so tightly that it hurt—and he ignored that pain, too. The only thing on his mind was his brother—and the need to free him from the clutches of the wretched King Boo.

So far, the advantage continued to swing back and forth between the headstrong plumber and the Master of Illusions. The former was truly a force to be reckoned with, thanks to his trusty ghost vacuum and his resourcefulness. However, the latter began to battle him with the ferocity of someone who had nothing to lose—the most dangerous adversary by far. Luigi might have depleted close to half of the sadistic king's HP, but King Boo was still fighting hard—and dirty. If he wanted to win, then he needed to be careful.

Once again, Luigi forced King Boo out of the protective confines of the Koopa mech, dodging the ice shots from the mech's head as he turned the Poltergust on him full-blast. He was bruised, slashed up, sweating and in all-over pain—but he was concentrating hard. His blue eyes met King Boo's violet eyes as the life-or-death game of tug-of-war went on.

"Even if you defeat me, it's your loss," taunted King Boo. "In spite of everything you've done—eventually, you'll go back to being in Mario's shadow. Why bother?"

"Because," Luigi said evenly, "he's my brother—and I'll live and die for him."

King Boo snickered. "So be it," he said ominously.

With a violent jerk, he tore himself free of the Poltergust's suction and dove back into his mech.

Fluidly, Luigi dodged among the pillars as the mech's claws swiped and slashed, remembering to breathe—even as the mech belched more gouts of fire at him. A hammy fist connected, sending him sprawling, whereupon a claw slashed him hard. But Luigi rolled to his knees and stood, Poltergust raised, eyes narrowed.

"You just don't know when to quit, do you?" asked King Boo.

"I can do this all day," snapped Luigi.

"Oh, we'll see," cackled King Boo.

The mech summoned more spiked balls and rolled them at his opponent, who casually snagged the nearest one, took careful aim and fired it back at its master. The impact sent the mech's head and body toppling in different directions.

Luigi yelled out a wordless battle cry and lunged, catching King Boo in the vacuum's suction for the umpteenth time.

Oh, yeah! You're doing it, Luigi! Mario's voice happily exclaimed. Can't you see, King Boo? Your magic has nothing on a brother's loyalty!

King Boo smirked at Luigi. "That brother of yours—he has a mouth on him," he said, "but he won't be talking all of that trash once I'm done with you."

Luigi didn't take the bait. Instead, he kept his body braced against one of the pillars, scorched from the Koopa mech's fire breath and pockmarked with scratches from the claw swipes. The other pillars were in similar condition, too—yet they were still standing. Boo magic, perhaps? Probably. However, that wasn't Luigi's top priority right now.

"Your brother humiliated my reptilian friend," King Boo went on, "so now, I've humiliated him. And after I deal with you, I'm gonna humiliate him further. How's that sound, Luigi?"

Luigi just stared at the vile king, calm anger oozing from his limber body. It was the kind of anger more potent than white-hot rage, where the voice was soft and the manner was as polite as ever.