Luigi was sat at the u-shaped table of a conference room, Peach sitting on the interior side across from him and Mario next to him. The two tried to talk to him, but he didn't respond. He sat quietly, staring to the ground. His hat covering his eyes so neither Peach nor Mario could tell his expression.

"Luigi, listen. I understand that this might be overwhelming, if not, annoying, for us to be asking you about this so often, but... are you... doing okay?" Peach asked. She was just as concerned for him as Mario was. She expected more silence but was met with a very unusual response.

"Lay off," Luigi simply responded. His tone of voice was very different from the ones that are used to. It was almost as if... he was angry, an emotion neither she nor his brother were familiar with him having.

Mario, who had been leaning on his hand, sat up with a confused look. "Bro, we're just trying to help. You've been acting very different lately. Are you sure you don't want to tell us what's wrong?" he asked.

"Get off my back, okay?" Luigi finally looked up and turned to Mario for a moment before looking back down.

Mario unconsciously moved back in a seat a bit. The look in his brother's eyes was unsettling, to say the least. There have been moments where Luigi had been quite annoyed, but this anger he was showing off was a rare occurrence. Mario felt like if he asked any more questions, someone was going to get hurt.

"Luigi, I understand you're getting frustrated with us about us berating you with all these questions, but we're not going to stop asking until we know how to help you," Peach informed him. She was a tad afraid of Luigi's new attitude but did her best not to show it. "So, please answer us this. What's wrong?"

"What part of leave me alone do you not understand?" Luigi snapped. His new-found anger was building up and needed to be let out. He had no idea what he was doing or why, but he had the feeling to just... yell. "It's always the same thing with you guys. 'What's wrong?' 'Are you okay?' 'Do you need help?' All the damn time! I'm sick of it! I don't know what's wrong. I don't know if I need help. And I definitely am not okay! I need to figure this shit out by myself instead of relying on you guys like a kid. I am a grown-ass adult and I need to figure these things out on my own." He stands up from the table in a huff, the chair loudly scraping against the floor. "I'm going home. When you guys are done treating me like a child, you can meet me at home." He leaves.

Mario and Peach just sat there, mouth agape, absolutely speechless on what had just happened. Luigi has never 'snapped' before. The whole thing was just unexpected. They looked to each other for questions or answers, but neither of them could form the words.

Luigi angrily stormed out of the castle, making it just outside before finally processing the previous event. He just yelled at his friends. Just the thought of it hurt him, but actually doing it? It already broke his heart. He leaned against the castle wall, taking a deep breath before breaking out into tears. He had no idea why he was so angry, but now, because of it, he was just very upset.

He assumed whatever was going on was just Mr. L messing with his mind like he always does. He needed help. He didn't want to admit it, but he definitely wanted his friends to help, but he thought, by yelling at them, he wasn't going to get that help.

The more upset he got, the more anger he felt. His anger, mixed with his sorrow, was making it hard for him to think rationally. He was trying to calm down, but his anger told him things like, 'they hate you now' 'you can't go back to them' 'they won't help you' And that only made him even more upset.

He felt something building up inside of him, it wasn't an emotion, but whatever it was, it wasn't good.

~~~~~

Daisy fell back, holding her hand over her nose. She twitched as a bolt of electricity ran down her spine. She moved her hand, spotting a small splotch of blood on it. Balling her fists, she stood up. As terrified as she was at this ability she has never seen from him, she also was not letting him get away with it.

She went for a punch to the stomach but was stopped when Mr. L's hand grabbed hers mid hit. He tried to punch right back but was stopped with his own move being used against him. Both Mr. L and Daisy strained, trying to break free from the others' strong grip.

Then, a single tear rolled from his eye and down his cheek. He felt a sudden gloomy feeling rolling over him, catching him completely off guard. Daisy noticed this sudden change of emotion and used this as an opportunity to free her hands from his grip and punch him in the stomach, causing him to stumble back once again. This time, he tripped over his own feet, landing on the ground.

Mr. L wiped the tear from his face and rolled to the side, avoiding another hit and the princess. He found it difficult to fight. It made him angry, but the more angry he got, the stronger the feeling of sadness was getting. It was very distracting.

Standing back up to his feet, Mr. L charged to Daisy, determined to get that crown. Of course, he was met with his hands restrained by her again. Tears ran faster down his face, but he tried to ignore it. Daisy gave him a look of confusion.

Mr. L wasn't too happy about this look he got from her. He felt like he was coming off as 'weak'. It only angered him more. He wanted -- no, needed -- to win this crown. He sent a wave of electricity from his arms to hers.

Daisy gritted her teeth, trying her hardest to withstand the pain of a shock, but she couldn't hold it for long. It drained her energy. She let go of his hands and fell to the ground on her knees.

She looked up to Mr. L, watching as he drew back his arm, presumably for one last hit. She flinched, away from the forthcoming blow, but nothing happened. She looks back up to him. He stood frozen, twitching. A single spark emitting with each one.

Mr. L had no idea what was happening. While he was getting more and more angrier at his increasing level of sadness, I felt something else building up. It was no emotion, but whatever it was, he knew it wasn't good.

Mr. L had only been frozen for about three seconds before the power building up inside of him let out, in the form of an explosion of lightning.

A ball of lighting radiated from Mr. L. Everything within a ten-foot radius was knocked back, with quite a great deal of force, including princess Daisy. She was sent back to the wall of the castle, hitting it. Hard, before falling unconscious to the ground.

This surge of electricity burned the ground beneath him and drained all of Mr. L's energy. He fell shortly after Daisy to regain his energy.

~~~~~

The build-up of energy didn't just affect Mr. L, but Luigi too. He released a ball of pure energy as well. The shockwave blew through a small field of flowers, practically uprooting them from the ground and leaving a similar burn mark beneath him. His vision blurred as he fell to the ground before going entirely black.

~~~~~

Luigi found himself back in the dream world. Everything was black and he was fully aware he was dreaming. He was waiting for something to happen, but... where was it?

A figure faded in from the dark and endless void. Who else could it be than Mr. L? Luigi sighed at this.

"Hello again, Green! Did you miss me?" Mr. L greeted happily. Beyond that suspicious smile, Luigi could tell he was behind something.

"What are you up to?" Luigi asked.

"Why do you ask?"

Luigi sighed again in annoyance. "Well... I did just get knocked out for no apparent reason and am now floating unconsciously in the void. I have to assume you played a part in this somehow," he responded. He did not want to deal with Mr. L's nonsense today, or at all.

"Hey, I don't know what happened either. One minute I was fighting someone for their crown and the next thing I know, I'm here," Mr. L defended. Luigi raised an eyebrow to this. Before he could intervene, Mr. L continued, "I assume it has something to do with you and your stupid emotions.

"My stupid emo- have you been messing with my emotions?" Luigi asked, offended.

"Of course not! I have so much more important things to do than messing with your head!" Mr. L exclaimed.

"What are you on about?"

"Isn't it obvious? I'm free! Free from your mental prison. Free to do as I please. I would have gotten so much farther if your damn emotions didn't get in the way!" It was Mr. L's turn to be annoyed.

Luigi's eyes widened. He knew what escaped from the dream world. It was a threat, but not just to him, but to the Mushroom Kingdom, or even the world. If his nightmares told him anything, it's that he needs to find out how to stop this threat. And fast.

Mr. L felt a tingling sensation as his body began to fade away from the dream world. He smiled again, waving to his dopplegänger. "Oh? I'm drifting back into consciousness. I'll see you when I see you. I certainly hope you're ready because we're going to have fun," he chuckled as he completely faded out.

Luigi felt the sensation too, he began to fade out from the dream world too.

~~~~~

Mr. L shot up from the castle floor. Looking around, he spotted an unconscious Daisy, with her crown lying besides her. He crawled over to it and picked it up, smiling mischievously.

~~~~~

Luigi found himself awake back in the bed at Peach's castle, both her and Mario at either side of him. Neither of them looked too happy. Luigi smiled nervously. He could tell they wanted answers.