Brother's Loyalty

Boos on the Balcony

He moved through the darkened corridors with a sense of purpose, hardly stopping when a ghost got in his way. Blue eyes fixed, gloved hands tightly gripping his trusty Poltergust, his iPod playing as loudly as his ears could tolerate. All he was thinking about was Mario, whose mortal enemy was now in cahoots with a new enemy which lacked the Koopa King's moral code and sense of fair play. He imagined the two of them ganging up on Mario, taunting him, tormenting him, torturing him. It made sweat bead thickly on his face, but he journeyed on, capturing any Boo he came across. Nobody messed with his bro—even if the perpetrators scared him senseless!

In a safari room, the eyes of the three mounted lion heads glowed ominously before three water-based ghosts and two of those banana-eating ghosts dropped in to say hello. Good thing Luigi had sucked up an Ice Elemental Ghost earlier. A precise ice shot froze both water-based ghosts in their tracks, and Luigi smoothly captured them, evading or trying to evade thrown banana peels as he did. After he vacuumed up the banana peels, he dealt with the litterbug ghosts, and once the lights came on, he sucked up a Boo and earned a key which unlocked the door at the end of the third floor hallway.

This door took him to a balcony, where his Boo Radar was immediately sent into the red.

A cluster of Boos floated together in a circle, the milky light of the full moon washing down on their bodies and giving them a more ominous appearance. His guard up, Luigi tiptoed toward them. Maybe he could ambush them and vacuum the lot of them without difficulty.

Too bad they had something else in mind.

"That scaredy-cat Luigi has made it this far," they snickered, making the man in green see red. "Oh, we're so frightened! I guess it's our turn, then."

The Boos all turned and leered at the man in green, but he didn't back up an inch.

"All right, Boos—let's assume our real form! But first, how about giving him a little scare?"

The Boos disappeared one-by-one—only to reappear seconds later, surrounding Luigi!

"Get away!" Luigi cried out as the Boos giggled. "Get away, all of you!"

Joining appendages, the Boos tightened their circle around Luigi, floating closer and closer to him until their tongues could almost touch him. He recoiled from them as they creepily licked at his nose, cheeks and ears. Faster and faster they encircled him, and then everything went white before his eyes—

Luigi now stood in an eerier version of the balcony, two unicorn statues on either side and everything else backdropped by a violet aura. All of his brain cells were screaming Danger! Danger! It was a struggle to keep his breathing controlled.

Am I in another illusion?

He glanced up, and a scream ripped from him as a colossus of a Boo emerged, grinning wickedly at him. If he hadn't jumped aside when he did, this ginormous Boo would've made a pancake out of him. The giant Boo laughed gleefully as he glared down at Luigi with yellow eyes.

Oh, God, help me.

Luigi took off as the huge Boo—Boolossus, he decided to name this one—bounced after him, trying to splatter him all over the floor! Before panic could overtake him, he glanced at one of the unicorn statues and saw the Ice Elemental Ghost next to it.