Luigi found himself in the void again. It was cold. It was dark. It was empty. Not again, he thought. He wasn't alone, however.

Behind him was a figure. The figure crossed its arms. As he drifted closer, it turned around. He was met face-to-face with himself, or rather, Mr. L

"You!" Mr. L shouted angrily, quickly drifting closer to Luigi. Luigi tried to take a step back out of reflex but remembered there was no ground beneath them. "Why did you do that?!"

"I had to do something! You were gonna kill him!" Luigi retaliated.

"This is just great! Now, I'm stuck in this...whatever this is, thanks to you!" Mr. L turned away from him, furiously crossing his arms. "Why do I keep coming back here? I left your mind so I can avoid these kinds of things. To avoid you. To think what I want to think. To do what I want to do. To be my own person," The angered tone in his voice faded as he dropped his head.

"You say you want your own person, but we both know perfectly well that you're just me. You've always been me and you always will be!" Luigi informed, slightly annoyed

Offended, Mr. L tensed up, turning back to his irksome counterpart, "You- I have been my own being for as long as I can remember. I've just been trapped in that hellhole you call a mind for years." He covered his face with his hands before groaning in frustration, "There's so much I want to do. There are so many things I want to see for myself. But I can't do that if you keep getting in the way."

Mr. L began to feel the tingling sensation once again. He was regaining consciousness. He looked at his arms to see them start to fade away. "Things are going to change. I'm going to make sure you can't get in my way anymore," he told Luigi, chuckling maliciously.

~

Luigi awoke with a piercing pain in his forehead. He sat up and looked around. He knew this was the same place he fought Mr. L, but Mr. L was nowhere in sight. And neither was Mario. Luigi stood up off the floor in a panic.

Where was Mr. L? Where was his brother? He turned around, noting the castle that protruded from above the trees Luigi started back to the castle, hoping Mr. L hadn’t already beaten him there.

~

Mr. L, carrying Mario over his shoulders, ran towards Peach’s castle at fast as he could.  The sun was beginning to set, slowly darkening the forest. The breeze stung his discolored eye. He underestimated how hard his dopplegänger could hit.

Now, Mr. L could have put an end to the red-clad hero right here, but he had a different plan. A new plan. A plan that’ll stop Luigi from getting in his way again.

A wicked smile briefly showed on his face before changing to a falsely worried look. If he was going to pull this off, he needed to pose as someone else. Someone he knew not only Mario, but the princess would trust. He already had the look. He already had the voice. All he needed was an act.

~

Peach, seated in her throne, was finishing up a conversation she was having with a toad assistant when someone ran into the throne room.

"Luigi?" she stood up from her seat in shock and concern. She noticed the unconscious Mario in his hands ran over to him. "What happened?" The toad assistant slowly walked out of the room.

Mr. L, pretending to be concerned responded, "It was Mr. L! He attacked us in the woods! I managed to get away with only a bruise, but… Mario…" he nearly scowled at the name. He lifted up the brother's hat, which had fallen over his face on the trip to the castle, to reveal a burn mark on the side of his head, right above his cheek.

Peach gasped, "How did this happen?"

"He shot him!" Mr. L blurted out. Peach cocked her head to the side in confusion. "With a bolt of electricity. From his hands! Peach, he's dangerous. We have to do something about him!"

Peach thought for a moment. "Okay, lie him down in the infirmary. I'll gather up the Reserve," she told him. They nodded off and went separate ways into the castle.

Once out of sight, and earshot, of the princess, Mr. L chuckled to himself. Luigi was screwed, Mario was knocked out, and Peach was distracted. Everything was coming together. All he had to do was play the waiting game.

Soon the Mushroom Kingdom will be his.