“What’s up, pal?” Yoshi asked in a hushed voice as he practically limped toward his equally battered friend.
“It’s all the same,” Luigi whispered, plus to himself than to Yoshi; for all he knew, it was as if the green dinosaur wasn’t there. “Since the very beginning, it has always been the same.”
“What is?”
“The soil key-eyes monster back in Yoshi’s Island, Lakithunder from World Seven, King Boo from Luigi’s Mansion, and finally the labyrinth that required the jewel that got us past Bowser’s security system…”
“And…?”
“They all followed through the same procedure.”
“I’m…not following you, Luigi.”
“Huh. I guess I kinda confused you, didn’t I? I’ll a-break it down to toi in rather simpler terms.”
“Please do, but”—Yoshi looked nervously at the trio of shadow clones that were still surrounding them, tense and ready to attack at just on moment of an advance—“just do make it quick, though. I can tell that even though these guys won’t make a déplacer until we advance to attack, they likely won’t be waiting here forever.”
“What made us know which eyes to hit?” Luigi began, all while keeping his eyes on Kamek’s shadow minions in case they would take advantage of the duo’s hesitation. “What had us figure out the presence of the ‘key-eyes’?”
“Easy,” Yoshi replied. “We looked hard and around. It wasn’t that easy, though—if we hadn’t properly paid attention, we may have had a hard time distinguishing the keys from the clones.”
“And then there’s Lakithunder. He made me fall victim to my own illusions.”
“Yeah.” Yoshi nodded. “I had to snap toi out of it….”
“Indeed, toi did. But what was it that made me believe that it was all bogus?”
“Hmm. I know toi a dit something about the fake Yoshi saying stuff that I wouldn’t have. But there was more….”
“Of course. toi see, the fake Yoshi had a black saddle. It hadn’t been obvious to me—in fact, looking back at all that now, chances are I overlooked that tiny detail. It really forced me to look hard in order to get myself to know that none of what was happening to me was real, as much as I may have wished otherwise.”
“So how does King Boo factor in on this…?”
“That’s where it gets plus obvious, Yoshi. While I fell for Lakithunder’s ‘wonderland,’ toi fell for King Boo’s depressing images. It was so convincing he actually made toi give up.”
Yoshi flinched at the memory.
Luigi saw the green dinosaur’s reaction, yet he went on with his speculation (while secretly glad none of the shadowed minions moved in advanced—they were still silently observing them, as well as the fact that Kamek had gotten bored seeing the duo battered without so much as a fight and now fell asleep due to his boredom). “But maybe there was a hypnotic quality to his voice? Maybe…but if toi think about it, the fact that he flashed all those images at us proved that, looking at it now, everything wasn’t a-what it seemed to be. The key-eyes from Yoshi’s Island, the fantaisie from World Seven, the scenes King Boo showed us...”
“What about the labyrinth that needed the key jewel?”
“That’s exactly it, pal! We couldn’t have—”
“Or maybe I couldn’t have,” Yoshi interjected. “Don’t share the credit of your sleuthing skills with me.”
Luigi smiled and otherwise ignored the interruption. “That couldn’t have been figured out if we hadn’t looked around to see that the area before that puzzle of a hallway was exactly as Bowser’s little riddle had meant.”
“So you’re trying to say is…?”
“Maybe that’s what we should do here. The setup here is a-that we can’t hit them but they can hit us, right?”
Yoshi’s eyes practically popped out of their sockets when he saw where the thin Mario brother’s speculation was headed. “So…you think that we also need to look beyond what we normally see here, right?”
Luigi nodded. “That’s a-right. In fact, I’m a-starting to think that this is exactly like how we were ‘brought back to the beginning’ par Kamek.”
“INCREDIBLE!”
“Ssh!” Luigi shushed at Yoshi, but it was too late. Kamek stirred in his sleep, then his eyes fluttered open. The shadows thought of it as an advance and now tensed themselves forward.
“Sorry,” Yoshi muttered.
“Now what’s this?” Kamek called over. “You two are still standing?”
“Yes,” Luigi answered. “And this time, your minions will be the ones going down.”
Yoshi nodded. “Yup, if toi want to fight us, man up and quit creating a bunch of underlings to do your bidding. It’s pretty cowardly if toi ask me.”
Kamek was taken aback par the calmness of their tone. “I don’t see what you’re talking about. Is this a bluff?”
Luigi grinned—he could tell par the look of Kamek’s face that they hit right at the spot. “Why, toi still don’t a-get it, do you?” He looked back and forth toward the shadowed fiends that surrounded them. “All of this…”
“…is just…,” Yoshi continued.
“…AN ILLUSION!”
And on cue to Luigi’s loud statement, the scene suddenly Lost its stability. Everything fell apart; the skies have Lost color and the ground began to crumble and eventually huge chunks fell into the endless black void, though Luigi and Yoshi continued to stand where they were as if they were standing on an unseen platform. It was as if a spell had been broken, which was exactly the case—now that the duo had opened their eyes and seen past Kamek’s illusions, everything had set the way it had originally appeared. Even the Koopa mage’s shadow copies of their précédant foes had dematerialized and soon faded into nothing.
All that was left of the scene was a pitch-black place, possibly a twisted land cooked up par Kamek’s magic, Kamek himself, and the Heroes composed of the green plumber and the green dinosaur.
“Impossible,” Kamek whispered.
“Give it up, jerk-face,” Luigi called out. “We’ve had just about enough of your shit.” His face looked like he wasn’t going to tolerate being fooled anytime soon.
“Same here,” Yoshi agreed. His expression mirrored the thin Mario brother. “It’s over.”
“Impossible,” Kamek repeated, as if he hadn’t heard either of the two. His hands were clenched into fists, which strangely began to tremble.
Right, looks like he’s a-losing it right now, though Luigi. He cleared his throat, about to have him tell them where Bowser was right now, when suddenly the Koopa mage’s head snapped up like he’d known the plumber was about to speak.
“SHUT THE FUCK UP!”
Both Luigi and Yoshi jumped in surprise. It wasn’t because of the sudden outburst (or even the fact Kamek’s tone made it clear that plus profanity was coming their way), but because of the expression his face took on. It had become violent, crazed, and somehow creepy.
“You motherfuckers want me to give up? In your fucking DREAMS!” Kamek practically snarled.
Yeah, he really was going to throw plus cusses at us, Luigi a dit to himself, in agreement to his earlier assumption.
“How about a nice battlefield, shall we?” Kamek’s grin was either crazy-looking, ou really, really disturbing. He waved his wand, and the scene from when they fought those shadowed fiends had regenerated.
Yoshi, who had all but fallen silent when Kamek had shouted, whispered in a quiet aside to his partner, “Shit is about to get real.”
“It’s all the same,” Luigi whispered, plus to himself than to Yoshi; for all he knew, it was as if the green dinosaur wasn’t there. “Since the very beginning, it has always been the same.”
“What is?”
“The soil key-eyes monster back in Yoshi’s Island, Lakithunder from World Seven, King Boo from Luigi’s Mansion, and finally the labyrinth that required the jewel that got us past Bowser’s security system…”
“And…?”
“They all followed through the same procedure.”
“I’m…not following you, Luigi.”
“Huh. I guess I kinda confused you, didn’t I? I’ll a-break it down to toi in rather simpler terms.”
“Please do, but”—Yoshi looked nervously at the trio of shadow clones that were still surrounding them, tense and ready to attack at just on moment of an advance—“just do make it quick, though. I can tell that even though these guys won’t make a déplacer until we advance to attack, they likely won’t be waiting here forever.”
“What made us know which eyes to hit?” Luigi began, all while keeping his eyes on Kamek’s shadow minions in case they would take advantage of the duo’s hesitation. “What had us figure out the presence of the ‘key-eyes’?”
“Easy,” Yoshi replied. “We looked hard and around. It wasn’t that easy, though—if we hadn’t properly paid attention, we may have had a hard time distinguishing the keys from the clones.”
“And then there’s Lakithunder. He made me fall victim to my own illusions.”
“Yeah.” Yoshi nodded. “I had to snap toi out of it….”
“Indeed, toi did. But what was it that made me believe that it was all bogus?”
“Hmm. I know toi a dit something about the fake Yoshi saying stuff that I wouldn’t have. But there was more….”
“Of course. toi see, the fake Yoshi had a black saddle. It hadn’t been obvious to me—in fact, looking back at all that now, chances are I overlooked that tiny detail. It really forced me to look hard in order to get myself to know that none of what was happening to me was real, as much as I may have wished otherwise.”
“So how does King Boo factor in on this…?”
“That’s where it gets plus obvious, Yoshi. While I fell for Lakithunder’s ‘wonderland,’ toi fell for King Boo’s depressing images. It was so convincing he actually made toi give up.”
Yoshi flinched at the memory.
Luigi saw the green dinosaur’s reaction, yet he went on with his speculation (while secretly glad none of the shadowed minions moved in advanced—they were still silently observing them, as well as the fact that Kamek had gotten bored seeing the duo battered without so much as a fight and now fell asleep due to his boredom). “But maybe there was a hypnotic quality to his voice? Maybe…but if toi think about it, the fact that he flashed all those images at us proved that, looking at it now, everything wasn’t a-what it seemed to be. The key-eyes from Yoshi’s Island, the fantaisie from World Seven, the scenes King Boo showed us...”
“What about the labyrinth that needed the key jewel?”
“That’s exactly it, pal! We couldn’t have—”
“Or maybe I couldn’t have,” Yoshi interjected. “Don’t share the credit of your sleuthing skills with me.”
Luigi smiled and otherwise ignored the interruption. “That couldn’t have been figured out if we hadn’t looked around to see that the area before that puzzle of a hallway was exactly as Bowser’s little riddle had meant.”
“So you’re trying to say is…?”
“Maybe that’s what we should do here. The setup here is a-that we can’t hit them but they can hit us, right?”
Yoshi’s eyes practically popped out of their sockets when he saw where the thin Mario brother’s speculation was headed. “So…you think that we also need to look beyond what we normally see here, right?”
Luigi nodded. “That’s a-right. In fact, I’m a-starting to think that this is exactly like how we were ‘brought back to the beginning’ par Kamek.”
“INCREDIBLE!”
“Ssh!” Luigi shushed at Yoshi, but it was too late. Kamek stirred in his sleep, then his eyes fluttered open. The shadows thought of it as an advance and now tensed themselves forward.
“Sorry,” Yoshi muttered.
“Now what’s this?” Kamek called over. “You two are still standing?”
“Yes,” Luigi answered. “And this time, your minions will be the ones going down.”
Yoshi nodded. “Yup, if toi want to fight us, man up and quit creating a bunch of underlings to do your bidding. It’s pretty cowardly if toi ask me.”
Kamek was taken aback par the calmness of their tone. “I don’t see what you’re talking about. Is this a bluff?”
Luigi grinned—he could tell par the look of Kamek’s face that they hit right at the spot. “Why, toi still don’t a-get it, do you?” He looked back and forth toward the shadowed fiends that surrounded them. “All of this…”
“…is just…,” Yoshi continued.
“…AN ILLUSION!”
And on cue to Luigi’s loud statement, the scene suddenly Lost its stability. Everything fell apart; the skies have Lost color and the ground began to crumble and eventually huge chunks fell into the endless black void, though Luigi and Yoshi continued to stand where they were as if they were standing on an unseen platform. It was as if a spell had been broken, which was exactly the case—now that the duo had opened their eyes and seen past Kamek’s illusions, everything had set the way it had originally appeared. Even the Koopa mage’s shadow copies of their précédant foes had dematerialized and soon faded into nothing.
All that was left of the scene was a pitch-black place, possibly a twisted land cooked up par Kamek’s magic, Kamek himself, and the Heroes composed of the green plumber and the green dinosaur.
“Impossible,” Kamek whispered.
“Give it up, jerk-face,” Luigi called out. “We’ve had just about enough of your shit.” His face looked like he wasn’t going to tolerate being fooled anytime soon.
“Same here,” Yoshi agreed. His expression mirrored the thin Mario brother. “It’s over.”
“Impossible,” Kamek repeated, as if he hadn’t heard either of the two. His hands were clenched into fists, which strangely began to tremble.
Right, looks like he’s a-losing it right now, though Luigi. He cleared his throat, about to have him tell them where Bowser was right now, when suddenly the Koopa mage’s head snapped up like he’d known the plumber was about to speak.
“SHUT THE FUCK UP!”
Both Luigi and Yoshi jumped in surprise. It wasn’t because of the sudden outburst (or even the fact Kamek’s tone made it clear that plus profanity was coming their way), but because of the expression his face took on. It had become violent, crazed, and somehow creepy.
“You motherfuckers want me to give up? In your fucking DREAMS!” Kamek practically snarled.
Yeah, he really was going to throw plus cusses at us, Luigi a dit to himself, in agreement to his earlier assumption.
“How about a nice battlefield, shall we?” Kamek’s grin was either crazy-looking, ou really, really disturbing. He waved his wand, and the scene from when they fought those shadowed fiends had regenerated.
Yoshi, who had all but fallen silent when Kamek had shouted, whispered in a quiet aside to his partner, “Shit is about to get real.”
