* * * *CHAPTER 9* * * *

The crowd had gathered around the front of Peach's castle, watching the chaos of the green lighting storm play out up above. The strong wind battered against them, forcing the small Toads to cling to each other; the princess' beloved parasol had already been pulled out of her hand and taken by the elements. She was shaking her head in disbelief, not noticing that a certain plumber was approaching from behind.

'I don't know what happened!' she cried. 'The storm just blew up out of nowhere...'

'Luckily you had the quick thinking to evacuate the castle immediately!' wheezed her old steward Toadsworth, clutching his walking-stick and staying close to the princess' side. 'No-one was harmed, thank the Stars!'

Just then, Mario appeared and put a tentative arm around Peach. 'I know who caused it,' he said softly, his voice barely audible over the howling of the wind.

'Who?' she questioned.

'Luigi's evil counterpart, Mr L.' As quickly as he could, Mario gave her an abridged version of everything they'd discovered in the last week. Merlon thinks that the only way to destroy this guy is for L-Luigi to kill himself, because they are connected... one can't live without the other.' He choked up and couldn't say anything more.

'Oh, that's horrible,' cried Peach. 'But surely Luigi doesn't plan on actually doing this? He knows how much we all love him. He'll find another way...'

'That's just it,' Mario whispered. 'We had an argument a little while ago, and I said... bad things to him. Knowing what Luigi's like, he probably thinks I hate him now.'

Peach turned to look directly at him for the first time since he arrived. She was tempted to interrogate him, to ask exactly what he said to his brother that could potentially make Luigi turn suicidal. But upon seeing the sheer amount of grief, regret and horror mixed into Mario's expression, she fell silent. It wasn't entirely his fault that this happened. Luigi was always a bit self-sacrificing – he'd probably go through with his plan even if Mario had tried to stop him.

Instead of asking questions, she just said, 'Maybe you should go to him.'

'I can't,' Mario said hopelessly. 'Merlon told us that Mr L's so powerful, he'll instantly destroy anyone who isn't Luigi. At least... at least my bro has a little chance of standing up to him.'

'But he's going to get himself killed! He... wants to...'

The red-capped plumber said nothing, and Peach guessed he was in a state of shock, unable to speak through his emotions. He really did regret hurting his brother, she realised. He was afraid that his last words to Luigi would be something cruel and uncaring.

He would never recover if that happened.

She was about to say something in an effort to console him, but they were rudely interrupted by the arrival of a bedraggled, out-of-breath and very upset-looking Daisy.

'He's come this way!' she shouted without preamble. The others stared at her, not comprehending. 'Luigi! He ran this way. He's going to fight this Mr L-shadow-guy! We have to stop him!'

'We haven't seen him, Daisy,' Peach told her friend as gently as she could. 'I just evacuated my subjects from the castle because of this storm, and Mario hasn't seen him anywhere either.'

Abruptly, the Sarasaland princess rounded on Mario with a look of intense fury printed on her face. 'You MORON! You're the reason he ran off like that! I met him after he left his house. He was horrified by the things you said to him – he told me he was going to kill himself fighting Mr L because no-one cared about him!'

Mario had gone very white and was making odd noises in his throat. 'I-I-I...'

Her tirade over, Daisy left him standing there and turned back to Peach. 'You. Send someone up onto the roof. That's obviously where Luigi and Mr L went. You have to put a stop to this stupid fight, now.'

'I-I can't,' Peach stammered, slightly frightened by the icy coldness in her friend's eyes. 'The Toads can't climb up there –'

'So send Mario! He's responsible for this mess anyway!' Daisy was rapidly gathering steam for a second explosion.

Just then, Toadsworth hobbled across to the two princesses and raised a withered hand for peace. 'Please, halt a moment!' he cried. 'Something is happening on the castle roof!'

Like one creature, every head turned towards the stormy sky and the darkened castle silhouetted against it. Without anyone even noticing, the wind had abated and the green lightning no longer streaked through the clouds. The ferocious energy was focused on something different.

'Look!' Daisy screamed, pointing. 'Up there, on the right!'

Two black figures were standing twenty feet apart on the roof, apparently staring at each other. They must have been talking, but of course nobody on the ground below could hear a word. One of the figures had a short bandanna tied around its neck and the other was wearing a long scarf that flapped wildly in the breeze.

'It's Luigi and Mr L,' Peach whispered, wringing her hands together. 'Oh no.'


Luigi was nearly blasted off the castle roof multiple times before he finally succeeded in climbing to the top. The windstorm was getting ridiculous now, screaming through the sky, and the bright flashes of green lightning that half-blinded him every few seconds weren't exactly helping.

But at last he managed to get onto the wide, flat part of the roof. As soon as he did, the hurricane abated somewhat. He shakily stood up straight and looked around. He knew Mr L was somewhere nearby; he could feel him. 'I know you're there!' he cried out, nervousness making his voice tremble.

Nothing happened for a long moment, then he heard an answering laugh echoing back to his position. The wind stilled, the lightning vanished, and through the haze of rain that continued to fall he spotted a very familiar figure standing motionless at the other side of the roof, a figure with glowing silvery eyes.

'I knew you'd come!' Mr L shouted, his tone high and mocking – slightly childish too, Luigi couldn't help but think. 'You couldn't resist the urge to come up and prove your heroism to the kingdom. Could you, Weegee?'

The plumber scowled at the nickname, the one nobody other than Princess Daisy was allowed to call him. He felt a pang in his heart as he remembered her. He knew for certain he'd never see her again, and now he was regretting not taking a while longer to give her the proper goodbye she deserved. Although Mr L's intention had been to frighten him, the result was quite the opposite. Knowing that Daisy might be killed if he couldn't stop this monster made him all the more determined to win.

He clenched a fist and concentrated fiercely, feeling blue sparks crackle and shoot from his hand. 'I'm ready,' he said. 'Let's finish this!'

Mr L burst out laughing. 'And have you spared a thought for how you're going to defeat me, Weegee?' he asked. 'Yes, I've figured it all out by now. We can't hurt each other directly without suffering the same wounds ourselves!'

'Then what are you going to do?' Luigi shot back. He didn't want his evil counterpart to know his own plans yet.

But Mr L just smiled and, turning away, jumped off the edge of the castle roof. The wind picked up a little more as Luigi stood stock-still, unsure what had just occurred. Was his counterpart so insane that he'd killed himself? But no, if that had really happened then he'd be dead as well.

He didn't have to wait long. A minute or so later he heard a whirring of engines and machinery, and a tremor rocked the entire castle, causing him to topple over and land hard on his back. He looked up, trembling, and saw a massive shape blocking out the sky. As his eyes adjusted to the poor light level, he realised it was in fact a robot – a great flying robot controlled by his evil shadow. But that wasn't the most horrible thing. The robot was constructed to resemble a giant version of his own head.

'Hahaha!' laughed Mr L from inside the cockpit. 'Give a warm welcome to Brobot! He and I share a bond, you know...'

Luigi found himself crawling rapidly backwards to escape the sight of the hideous thing. 'H-how does this work?!' he cried. 'You still can't hurt me!'

'I've thought that out, doofus!' Mr L retorted. 'I can't damage you directly without damaging myself... But what if I do it indirectly? Yes, I'm gonna use Brobot to smash you into little pieces! I'll never have to lay a finger on you myself!' He erupted into hysterical, slightly demented-sounding laughter.

Luigi felt a sharp, cold shiver run up his spine as he watched the mechanical menace floating in the storm-driven sky above him. His counterpart was right. That robot would be able to hurt him.

Still, he wouldn't go down without a fight. His plans hadn't changed – he would destroy this robot, and then he'd end himself and let Mr L fade with him.

Leaping to his feet, he struck a heroic pose and let electricity surge from his fist, ready to attack. 'Come on!'

'Have at you!'

'HYYAARGH!'

'Aargh!'

Laser beams shot from the Brobot's cannons, barely missing Luigi as he jumped and ducked around them. His natural speed and agility gave him a strong advantage here. The Brobot, however dangerous, couldn't seem to move and aim fast enough to hit him.

Mr L didn't take long to realise this and it infuriated him. 'STAND STILL, YOU WIMPY PIECE OF JUNK!' he cried, firing another round of lasers that missed his counterpart. He swore loudly in Italian. 'I need a better strategy here...'

Luigi, who had just dodged the latest attack effortlessly, stopped for a moment to catch his breath. He was smiling, and the knowledge that he was still better than Mr L made him feel wonderfully alive. Ironic, really, considering what he planned to do.

'Take THIS!' he yelled, leaping up into the air with all his strength and delivering a powerful electrical punch to the Brobot's side. He made a dent in the metal, but to his slight dismay the robot seemed to still be fully functional.

Mr L spotted the look on his face, and grinned. 'Yeah, how's that? Your pathetic attacks can't hurt my little mechanical brother!' he bragged.

Luigi wasn't listening. He took advantage of his shadow's distraction to jump again and land a kick on the underside of the Brobot. This time, he hit something vital and a cloud of smoke billowed out. Through the thick haze he was aware of Mr L cursing repeatedly, trying to repair his machinery.

'AWW, DAMMIT!' he cried, finally abandoning his attempts and leaping out of the cockpit. He landed on the castle roof and glared at Luigi with vicious loathing, not even glancing back as the smoking debris of the Brobot crashed somewhere in the castle grounds.

'All right,' he said through clenched teeth, raising a hand and stepping deliberately forwards. 'This ends now.'


The combat continued for several minutes, though it was little more than pointless circling around and sizing each other up. Mr L was obviously intending to make an attack that would instantly kill Luigi without hurting himself, and was struggling to come up with a way to accomplish this.

Luigi realised his counterpart still didn't know about the death thing – that if one side of the coin died, they both would.

They stalked around each other once more, moving like two dancers, smooth and synchronised. Then Mr L suddenly lunged forwards with an electrical punch which Luigi quickly evaded, and they were back at square one.

The shadow was snarling in frustration. 'There must be a way to do this!' he shouted.

'There is,' Luigi responded in a quiet tone. He immediately felt Mr L starting to pay more attention as he spoke. It was strange and a little uncomfortable how he could often sense what his counterpart was thinking. He didn't want such a close connection with someone who intended to kill him and all of his friends. 'Will you listen to me?'

Mr L stopped circling. 'Talk,' he growled.

A hint of nervousness crept into Luigi's voice as he began to quickly recall everything Merlon the fortuneteller had told him. He wasn't sure why he was telling the shadow this. He supposed he just wanted his opponent to know what he planned to do, before he actually went and did it.

By the time he'd finished, Mr L's face had gone deathly white – or what little could be seen of it around his mask. His hands were shaking and for the very first time, Luigi saw he was scared.

'Wh-what is this nonsense you speak of?!' he snapped angrily in a brave attempt to regain his composure. 'A-are you saying that neither of us can live if one dies?!'

Luigi had been expecting a reaction, but he still found himself surprised by the complete change in the shadow's bearing. He nodded silently in confirmation, and Mr L's shoulders sunk.

'Then there is nothing I can do,' he said, his voice sounding like a bewildered child's. He wasn't stating a fact; he was asking a question to himself. 'I can't kill you no matter what I try.'

'Yes.' Luigi took a single step forwards and Mr L, still reeling from the revelation, took one backwards out of instinct. 'And I know that if I let you live, you're going to hurt the innocent people of the Mushroom Kingdom. So...'

He lifted a hand and blue sparks of lightning crackled up and down his forearm.

'I'm going to kill myself,' he continued, and shocked himself by how easily he spoke those words.

It seemed to take Mr L and long time to figure out his meaning.

'NO!' he yelled, eyes widening in fear and disbelief. 'Are you crazy?!' He lunged forwards, hand outstretched. But he was never going to be fast enough.

Luigi smiled slightly and, with an effort, turned the full power of his lightning upon himself. The last thing he remembered seeing was those blind-white eyes gazing back at him, as familiar as his own.


A/N: Don't kill me... everything will be explained in the next (and final) chapter.