Luigi stood shocked at his ticked-off dopplegänger, watching his hand glow as he charged up another attack. Mr. L shot a beam of electricity to Luigi, who shifted to the side, barely avoiding it. Angry that his attack missed, he charged to Luigi, drawing his arm back as he prepared to strike. Pained as he was, Luigi stood his ground, grabbing his opponent's hands, keeping them away from his person. The force of the attack threw Luigi back to the walls of his brother's cell. Luigi let out a pained grunt.

"What is your problem? Why are you doing this?" he asked through his teeth, using all his strength to keep Mr. L restrained.

"If you were in my shoes, you'd be doing the same thing," Mr. L responded, struggling to break free from his double's grip.

Luigi was both shocked and confused by his response. He pushed him away. "No, I wouldn't! I could never bring myself to hurt them. I care about them!"

Mr. L scoffed, "This innocence of yours is merely a façade. I know how you really feel about them. How you feel devoid of your true abilities from underneath your brother's shadow or how you think you'd make a much better leader than the princess. Have you forgotten? I've been in your head for years. I've seen everything you've seen, heard every thought you've manifested, felt every emotion you've felt. There is nothing I don't know about you."

Luigi froze at this. He knew Mr. L wasn't wrong about his thoughts and feelings. He felt attacked. His mind raced as he glanced down to the Sarasaland princess. "...What about Daisy? She didn't do anything to deserve this."

Mr. L looked down to Daisy then back up to Luigi with a shrug. "Merely a precaution. You know what she's capable of and you're afraid of it. She is a rather... experienced fighter and leaving her out of all this would just get in my way," he replied. For a brief moment, his mind wandered. For a brief moment, he felt... bad, but he immediately shook it off. "But, this isn't about her, it's about us..."

Getting his mind back together, he noticed Luigi try to take advantage of his inattentiveness. Luigi slowly worked his way to help Daisy. Mr. L would not accept this and shot a bolt of electricity to Luigi's feet.

Luigi jumped in shock and snapped his attention to his alter ego.

"...or rather... you," Mr. L scowled. "I know what you want. This is what you want," Mr. L gestured to himself, "Attention, power... being player one. I've seen the scenario you've played for yourself time and time again. And I really liked it," He smiled, evilly.

Luigi shook his head, "What? No! You- You put that in my head, didn't you?" He questioned.

"Me? Oh no, no," Mr. L chucked, "I didn't put those thoughts into your head. All your twisted wishes, your selfish desires, that was all you," Mr. L smirked. Luigi refused to believe what he was being told. He thought he was being lied to, yet, deep down, he knew it was all true. His breathing quickened as Mr. L continued.

"I just sat back and enjoyed the show, hoping someday your wishes would come true. Then again, you being... you, I knew your wishes would never come to fruition. So, I wanted to take matters into my own hands, and I'm so close! And I know you can't do a thing to stop me." His smirk only grew.

Luigi's head was to the ground at this point. While his thoughts may have been a little screwed up from time to time, deep down, he knew he was still a good person. His motives, his intentions, his passions, they were all for the greater good, something his alter ego couldn't possibly understand. "But you're wrong, I will put a stop to you..." Luigi spoke up.

Mr. L scoffed once again, "Really? You really think you can stop me?" He laughed, "I would love to see you try."

Mr. L stood, opened armed, awaiting Luigi's attempt at an attack. Luigi charged a punch to Mr. L, striking him in the stomach. He doubled over in pain, having completely forgotten about their shared pain.

Mr. L was also in pain but laughed through it, "You can't hurt me without hurting yourself! I know you! I know you can't handle it! You should just give up, I've already won."

Those words juggled around in Luigi's mind. He did not wish to prove him right once more. He turned back to Mr. L and charged at him once more, striking him in the head, dizzying the both of them. Through his light-headedness, Luigi attempts to land another attack.

Mr. L notices this and charges up his hand again, shooting a ray of electricity at him. Unlike previous attacks of this kind, this one lasted longer than usual. This beam was to keep Luigi off his feet, to weaken the willpower that had suddenly grown inside of him.

Mr. L winced through the pain as he could feel a burst of determination flow through him. He noticed Luigi trying to break free from his prolonged attack. He knew where this newfound determination was coming from.

"I can feel your determination to beat me," Mr. L spoke through his teeth. Luigi suddenly realized the consequence of his burst of persistence. "Determination is one hell of a thing."

Mr. L charged up his free hand for the attack, effectively doubling its strength. This kept Luigi on the ground.

"Bowser's Castle, Sarasaland, and the Mushroom Kingdom are just the beginning. Once I take care of you, nothing will stand in my way of carrying out your wildest dreams!" Mr. L exclaimed, a pained tear forming in his eye.

Luigi noticed this through his own, coming to a realization. "So... you're just going to... kill me? If you... if you do that, what's going to happen to you?" He struggled to speak.

Upon hearing this, Mr. L realized what he was doing. He had no idea what would happen to himself if he killed his dopplegänger and he didn't wish to figure it out if he did. Reluctantly, he stopped electrocuting the green-clad hero, only growing angrier in turn.

"Then I'll just have to find a workaround. One that involves keeping your ass alive. One that involves keeping you out of my way," he commented. He approached Luigi -- who struggled to get back up to his feet -- and swiftly kicked him in the face in a display of rage. Luigi flew backward as Mr. L bit his lip in an attempt to not exclaim in pain. He could feel blood spill from his nose and wiped the flow away with his hand.

On the ground, Luigi put his hands to his face in pain, pulling them away at the feeling of his own nosebleed. His gloves now marked with a stain of blood, he looked up from his hands to see Mr. L drawing close to him. Mr. L drew a punch to Luigi who rolled to his side, causing Mr. L to punch the ground. As Mr. L recovered from the punch, Luigi pushed himself off the ground, leaving a stain of blood on the cell floor.

Mr. L noticed this, but before he could turn around, a sharp pain struck him in the back of his head. Luigi had delivered another blow to his wicked counterpart before stumbling back to the ground at its dizzying effect.

Mr. L laughed at this, his anger now simmered down a tad. "Pathetic. This must be... very difficult for someone like you. Maybe- maybe we could put all this- this fighting behind us and you could come with me peacefully. Before... one of us gets us both killed," he mocked, dizzily and out of breath.

"I... I-I can't do that! I've... seen what you've done. To my home. To my friends. To my own family. I- I've seen the mess you've made, the trouble you've caused and you think I'd have the audacity to just... give up?" He realized the only way out of this situation was not a pretty one. "If... if the only way to defeat you is to get us both killed..." Sparks of lightning emitted from one of his gloves, a long-lost ability returning to his fingers. He raised his now glowing hand to his chest, just above his heart, "so be it."

Mr. L took a step back in disbelief. "You don't have it in you to do something so... careless," he gasped.

"Then you clearly don't know everything about me." Luigi's hand glowed brighter. He had no idea if his plan was even going to work, but he just had to try.

Desperate, Mr. L lunged to Luigi to attempt to separate his hand from his chest. Before he could even get close, Luigi shot a beam of his own at Mr. L to keep him away, sending him backward.

On the floor behind the two, Daisy stirred awake, confused, to witness the end of their battle.

Mr. L returned the electricity beam to Luigi. Luigi took a deep breath, preparing himself for what he was about to do. Mr. L's ray of electricity struck him just as he struck himself, intensifying the shock. Luigi one last exclamation of pain before it suddenly stopped, his arms falling limp to his sides as he fell to his knees, giving Mr. L one last look. A weakened look that simply read, 'I won.' Luigi fell to the ground, no longer moving, no longer breathing.

Both Mr. L and Daisy gasped in shock. Seeing her friend's lifeless body on the ground, Daisy turned to Mr. L, angrily. She knew whatever was going on was entirely his fault. She tried to push herself off the ground but was too weak to pick herself up with her own arms. She collapsed back onto the floor as she noticed something changing about Mr. L

Mr. L glanced to Daisy, noticing the perplexed look on her face towards him. But just then, he could feel something off, a strange, tingling, sensation in his fingertips. He quickly pulled off one of his gloves to see his hand slowly begin to vanish. He did the same to his other glove and rolled up his sleeves, watching his arms slowly fade out of existence. Without Luigi, he couldn't exist. He looked back to Daisy, a fearful look in his eyes.

Daisy's confusion shifted to a smirk. The tyrant was finally getting what he deserved. As Mr. L's limbs disappeared, his clothing grew limp. His jumpsuit had come from the real world, so it stayed in the real world. The final part of him to vanish was his head. He gave both Luigi and Daisy a scowl, softly uttering the words, "You... green... fool" before disappearing completely, his hat falling softly to the ground.

Now that the miscreant was no more, Daisy's attention shifted to Luigi's lifeless body. Weakly, she crawled over to him. She put an ear to his chest in desperation. No heartbeat. She quickly searched her person for any spare 1-Up mushrooms. She didn't have any.

Her eyes began to well up with tears as she picked him up off the ground with the little strength she could muster and hugged him close. Her tears only flowed faster before she felt something poking out from his chest. She pulled away to examine, noticing something in his overall pocket. She reached in and found the one thing she was desperately looking for: a 1-Up mushroom.

She smiled, relieved as she gave the mushroom to him. Almost immediately Luigi took a deep breath and shot up, catching his breath. He turned his head to Daisy, whose grin was as wide as it could possibly be. Luigi smiled back before glancing to the pile of clothes that used to be his alter ego.

"Is he... is he gone?" He asked.

Daisy looked back as well. "I-I think so," She responded, turning back to Luigi, "You did it!" She stated proudly.

Luigi's smile grew before looking to the ground. "I don't think I could have done it without your help," he said, quietly.

Daisy looked at him as her grin grew softer. She placed a hand on his shoulder, causing Luigi to look back up at her. "That... that was all you,' she patted his shoulder. "Now, come on." Daisy hands Luigi a super mushroom. "Let's go help the others."

Luigi stood up to his feet and turned around to offer Daisy a hand up. She denied with a simple hand gesture and grabbed another one of her super mushrooms and used it on herself. Luigi continued back to Mario, super mushroom in hand, while Daisy made her way to help Peach.

Upon using the super mushroom on his unconscious brother, Mario blinked his eyes open, turning his head to the green figure that sat beside him. The figure slowly made itself clearer to his eyes. "L-Luigi..?"

Luigi smiled to his older brother.

"Did... did you stop him?" Mario asked, quickly sitting up.

Luigi simply nodded

Mario smiled as well before engulfing Luigi in a tight hug. "I am so proud of you, bro!"

Partially choking from the hug, Luigi managed to utter, "Thanks, Mario. And... thank you."

Mario pulled away from the hug and looked at Luigi, confused. "What for?" he asked.

Luigi sheepishly looked down, twiddling his thumbs. "For uh... being there... E-even when I said I didn't want you to. I really did. I just... didn't know what was going on inside my own head..." He responded.

"No problem, little bro," Mario chuckled, pulling Luigi back in for another hug.

From the corner of his eye, Luigi spotted Peach and Daisy enter the cell the two of them were in. He could see the proud smile across both of their faces. He outstretched one of his arms and gestured for the two to join them. Quickly, they joined in, Mario, Peach, and Daisy all giving Luigi a hug to express just how proud of him they really were.

Luigi sighed contently.

Everything was going to be okay.