The stadium erupted in cheers. Goombas, koopas, shy guys, and a large variety of Bowser's other minions sat in the yellow-green patterned stands surrounding the center island, which itself was surrounded by an empty moat dubbed the 'dead zone'.

Mr. L stood on one side, eager to fight, while Bowser stood on the other, ready to unleash his anger upon his opponent. In the middle, a cloud of blue smoke appeared. Upon it, emerged Kamek, a magikoopa.

"Welcome, fellow minions, to Koopa Stadium!" He greeted the crowd to be met with cheers. "Our ruler, King Bowser, has been challenged to a battle by the masked green man," he gestured to the competitors. The crowd booed to Mr. L, who simply smiled, basking in the not-so-glorious spotlight.

"Last one standing, wins. Falling into the dead zone results in instant disqualification," Kamek explained the rules before raising his wand. "Ready?...Set...Fight!" He pointed his wand down, disappearing back into the cloud with a horn sound, signaling the start of the battle.

~~~~~

Mario and Luigi were walking back from Peach's castle. Mario was ultimately glad his brother was awake again. Luigi on the other hand.... He wasn't sure himself. Luigi was glad he was back in the real world and all, but he couldn't help but think something, or even someone, was planning against the both of them, if not, the whole kingdom.

He rubbed his arm in thought but was snapped out of it by the sound of his brother's voice in an attempt to break the silence between them.

"So, you've been out for quite some time. I bet you had some interesting dreams in there," Mario spoke, trying to get his brother to talk.

Luigi only glanced to the floor, indicating he didn't want to talk about it.

"Oh, don't want to talk about it? I understand," Mario nodded.

Luigi had not wanted to talk about anything recently. Even before he was asleep for half a week. Luigi has been awfully distant. Mario knew something was up, but he could never get an answer out of his brother.

"Hey. I've noticed you haven't really said much recently. It's kind of... worrying. Is something wrong?" He had to ask again. It felt a little excessive since he's essentially asked the same question every day for half a month.

Luigi's attention snapped to his brother. Out of reflex, he commented, "No, of course not. Everything's fine." He was, in fact, not fine. He knew what he was doing was greatly concerning his brother, but he couldn't bring himself to admit that something was wrong as it may only concern Mario even more. A few seconds after he commented, Luigi exclaimed in pain. It felt like someone had punched in the stomach.

All of Mario's attention was now on Luigi. If he was concerned then, he was even more worried now. Luigi clutched his stomach before noticing Mario was looking right at him. He gave a fake smile and thumbs up. Mario's face sported a confused expression before turning his attention back on the road ahead.

Something was definitely wrong with Luigi and Mario desperately wanted to find out. Not just for curiosity's sake, but for his brother's too.

Luigi knew that something was wrong. Something's been wrong for quite a while and he hasn't told anybody, but this was new. Another sharp pain struck him, this one in the side of the head. His vision temporarily blurred and his ears rang. He bit his lip in an attempt to not yelp to not alert Mario.

He was hoping to figure out a way to put a stop to this and quick before it was too late.

~~~~~

Mr. L slid to a stop, his foot slipping off the edge of the platform. Taking a few steps forward, he collapsed, falling to his hands and knees.

Bowser laughed, "Ha! That was way too easy. What were you even thinking challenging me?" He began to inch closer to the soon-to-be defeated foe, with many ideas to end this.

Mr. L looked up, his cheek bruised and lip busted. His opponent charged to him, he breaking out a smug look. Things were just about to get started.

Bowser let out a ball of fire towards Mr. L, who jumped up, avoiding it entirely. Bowser nearly gasped at the sight of his formerly fallen opponent who was now back on his feet. This didn't stop him, however. If anything, this only made him angrier. Now only a few feet from Mr. L, he clawed at him, only to miss as Mr. L jumped once more, this time, over the large turtle and kicking him in the back of the shell, nearly causing him to lose his balance. Bowser turned to face his opponent again, balling his hands into a fist.

Mr. L did the same, his hands beginning to spark with electricity. With a smirk, he tauntingly winked to him,

Bowser stood confused for a second but quickly shook it off, charging to him again. The two set out a flurry of punches upon one another. Mr. L's punches definitely felt stronger and the electricity coming from them was weakening the Koopa king.

Bowser sent out one more punch, this one stronger than the last few, only to miss again. Mr. L ducked to avoid this hit and immediately returned it with an uppercut, sending him into the air and down to the pit surrounding the platform.

The sparks emitting from Mr. L's hands subsided as he shook them. He had won but felt it wasn't the end.

The blue cloud reappeared above the stadium, quickly fading away to reveal Kamek once again. He flew around Mr. L a few times before raising Mr. L's hand above his head. "Ladies and gentlemen. We have a winner! The unlikely assailant and your new ruler, Mr. Lime-green!," Kamek exclaimed.

Mr. L turned to the Magikoopa. "I do prefer to be called 'Mr. L'," he corrected him.

"Your new leader, Mr. L!" Kamek quickly righted himself.

Those words rung in Bowser's ears. No one was taking over his kingdom under his watch. He dug his claws into the side of the platform and climbed his way back up.

Mr. L watched the former King climb back onto the platform, "Oh, you're back. Come to give me my crown, I assume?" He taunted.

Bowser marched over to him, obviously upset about his loss, but his face read pure spite. "As if I'd hand over my kingdom to someone of the likes of you," He responded.

"But you remember the rules. I won this kingdom fair and square," Mr. L reminded him in a mocking tone.

"I'm the king. I don't do 'fair and square'." Bowser reached over to Kamek, snatching his wand from his grip before putting it towards his feet. The wand activated, surrounding him in a cloud of smoke. The cloud grew in size as well as Bowser, three times normal size.

The crowd gasped, but Mr. L was unfazed. Bowser was determined to get the Mushroom Kingdom while Mr. L was determined to get Bowser's. The battle wasn't over, but the fun had definitely begun.

Bowser unleashed a large stream of fire to Mr. L. It was too large to be jumped over, but was slow enough to outrun. Mr. L ran to the left, making a circle around the platform as the stream followed him with a turn of Bowser's head.

Mr. L eventually ended up behind Bowser. Before he had the time to grab Bowser's tail, Bowser jumped and turned around, making his tail just out of reach. Mr. L's tripped over his own feet as he missed. He planted both feet on the ground before he could lose his balance.

Bowser stomped over to Mr. L, trying to crush him under his weight. Cockily, Mr. L stepped out of the way of each of Bowser's stomps, occasionally jumping over them. This only caused Bowser to stomp even faster.

Eventually, they became too fast for even Mr. L to dodge. One foot came crashing down, Mr. L raising his hands over his head and using all of his strength to keep it from crushing him. Bowser applied even more pressure to drive him into the ground, but Mr. L only returned it with more and more strength.

As Mr. L exerted more and more force, his whole being began to spark. It started off with a few sparks from here and there, but now it was full-fledged lightning surrounding him. Mr. L pushed Bowser's into the air, causing him to lose balance.

Seeing this as an opportunity, he spread his arms out before slamming them together in a clap formation. A wave of lightning shot from his hands, completely knocking over Bowser's other foot and stopping at the painted stone wall behind him.

The beast fell over, giving Mr. L a chance for a finishing move. He ran over Bowser and grabbed his tail, spinning around in circles before throwing him into the air. Mr. L then jumped beside him, holding his hands together as large amounts of electricity were surging from them. With a malicious smile, Mr. L slammed his hands against Bowser, spiking him to the ground.

Bowser hit the ground. Hard. He left a large crater where he laid. Mr. L landed on the ground next to him, watching as the magic from Kamek's wand was wearing off, causing Bowser to shrink back to his original size.

Kamek, who had been pushed to the sidelines, flew over to Bowser. He had been knocked unconscious by the fall, unable to object to his status about to be handed over.

Kamek and grabbed back his wand from Bowser's grip and flew back over to Mr. L. "So, Mr. L, now that this kingdom is all yours, what are you going to do first?" He asked him, the crowd stopped their constant cheering, quiet to hear the new king's first words.

"Prepare the arsenal," Mr. L spoke, "We're going to war."