Notes: there are a few references in this chapter to the prequel of this fic.
Luigi's sleep was mostly dreamless, but it was as he slipped into a deeper sleep that he heard a familiar voice speaking to him—and an unpleasant one, at that.
"Do you now regret marooning me in the Dream World!?" Veran scoffed. "You would never have gotten captured and controlled by Galeem and Dharkon if you had agreed to host my spirit!"
"It would've been far worse," Luigi insisted, wishing that she'd show herself long enough for him to contain her in the Poltergust—but she seemed to sense that and was refusing to make herself visible. "There's a difference between using my darkness for good, and someone else using it to get that devastating power from the prophecy. I wouldn't be in control of it—and in the wrong hands, it would be dangerous. Even in the right hands, it's too risky; I can't even afford to use it myself—not after what I've seen what Dharkon is capable of. I'm just lucky he doesn't know about it."
"And how long do you think that will last?" Veran asked. "If he is the Lord of all Darkness, he will sense it slumbering in you. He probably has, but hasn't realized it yet. Why else was he so determined to being you back to his side? He can't quite place it, but he knows there's something about you that draws him to you. Galeem was willing to discard you—or use you to manipulate your foolish brother into a surrender. But Dharkon won't ever give up now that he's got a lock on you."
"Then my big bro and I will have to take him down!" Luigi retorted. "This great darkness from the prophecy will never be used by anyone—not Dharkon, and not you!"
"Try telling that to Ganondorf," Veran said. "He won't take that for an answer—not when he's now become aware of his eventual fate to become Calamity Ganon. He will do everything in his power to prevent it—and that means getting ahold of your power."
"I can't let him," Luigi returned.
"Then I hope you can live with being an only child, because he will absolutely ensure that fat idiot's death to get what he wants from you."
Luigi fired a fireball in the direction of her voice; he clearly missed, for her cackle echoed all around him.
He jolted awake after that, with a slight gasp.
"Luigi?"
He glanced over to see his brother, still on DK's other shoulder, looking back at him in concern.
"I'm alright," Luigi promised. "I forgot I'd left Veran in the Dream World—she didn't appreciate it, and was trying to get on my nerves again."
"As long as you're alright," Mario said, with a smile. "What did she say?"
Luigi paused.
"The usual—I need to unlock my true potential by unleashing the most powerful darkness from the prophecy," he said, deciding not to go into any further detail.
Mario shook his head.
"It's not that I don't trust you to use that darkness for good—" he began.
"I know," Luigi said, with an understanding nod. "It's still too risky to use—and I'm not going to. Besides, it might change me too much—and not in a good way. That kind of power changes people, and in bad ways. I'd like to be stronger, but not if it's going to take away what few good points I have."
"You have more than you think, Fratellino," Mario insisted, and he leaped off of DK's shoulder, looking around. "We've been walking for a while—well, everyone else has. Incineroar is here; we must've picked him up while I was still asleep. This is the Village of Outcasts, according to the sign we passed."
"I remember one of the Zeldas telling me about this place," Peach said, looking to the brothers as Luigi now leaped down to join Mario. She paused and smiled. "How are you feeling, Luigi?"
"Much better," he assured her, as Raichu clung to his shoulder again. "What were you saying about this place?"
"Right; one of the Zeldas that we knew around the time of our Dinosaur Land adventure said that this village was part of the Dark World, which had been created after…" Peach trailed off, looking around to make sure that none of the Links were around. They weren't. "After one branch of the timeline where the Hero of Time was killed. This place, which used to be the Sacred Realm, turned into the Dark World after the Seven Sages sealed Ganon here upon the Hero of Time's defeat."
Mario winced; Sheik had told him about that earlier. He'd had no idea that the Link he'd subsequently met around that time had been the reincarnation of the fallen hero—nor had he realized that the Hero of Time he'd met in the first two Smash tournaments had been the same fallen hero.
"Ganon—I mean, Ganondorf is here?" Luigi asked, his voice rising an octave. Had Veran been right after all…?
"Well, Sheik did say the three pieces of the Triforce were here," Pit said. "And Ganondorf does have the Triforce of Power."
"Luigi, I know what you're thinking," Peach said. "Should we rescue him or not? …And after what he did, I don't know the answer to that."
"Since he died along with the rest of us at the cliffside and was resurrected, my lock on his memories will have broken," Mewtwo transmitted.
"Couldn't you put another lock on his memories?" Mario asked. "I don't want him going after Luigi again!"
"Please!" Luigi added, more worried for his brother than himself.
"I can try, but I cannot offer any promises," Mewtwo replied, regretfully. "He is of darkness, and my psychic powers are greatly suppressed by darkness; it took everything I had to put the lock on his memories before. Now, with Dharkon's influence infecting this entire realm… I am doubtful I will be able to do so until Dharkon is weakened."
Luigi's heart sunk.
"Now what?"
"We'll have to discuss this with Sheik," Peach decided. "Sheik will have a better idea of what to do—whether to leave him or not."
"I think I hear Sheik now," Mario said, pausing to listen to some very loud arguing that was going on at the top of the peak that led away from the village.
They hastened their pace, pausing as they stared at the sight that greeted them. Sheik, along with Zelda, were trying to reason with Bowser. Among them stood the rest of Bowser's group, along with those they had rescued: Sonic, along with Knuckles's spirit, Cloud, Young Link—the Hero of Time himself, Chrom, and (Mario was glad to see) Junior and the Koopalings, who seemed to be part of the reason why Bowser was agitated.
"I just got my kids back!" he snarled, holding Junior close to him with one arm while pointing at the top of the peak with the other. "I'm not going to put them in danger again by freeing that Gerudo creep! …Er, no offense," he added, glancing at Urbosa's spirit.
"None taken," she assured him. "His very existence is a shame and a stain upon our proud history."
"See?" Bowser said.
"I agree with Bowser," Revali's spirit said. "If Ganondorf remains here, frozen in time, then he can never become Calamity Ganon—meaning that I won't be killed, and neither will the others." He glanced at Urbosa, Mipha, and Daruk.
"And I am pleading with you all to listen to me!" Sheik said, clearly drained from having to explain the situation. "The timeline of Hyrule has already become extremely unstable because of my actions—which I take full responsibility for. But a single additional paradox, particularly one as gigantic as this, will doom the timeline so severely, time and space itself could collapse upon itself!"
"Looks like you were right," Mario said to Peach. "Sheik does know what to do—but I don't think I like it, either."
Luigi sighed. He certainly didn't.
"I hate to tell you this, but there isn't much left to collapse," Bowser said. "Galeem already wrecked everything, and Dharkon is continuing with the wreckage!"
"And if we defeat Dharkon—what then?" Sheik asked. "If Galeem and Dharkon's damage is reversed, but our new damage is applied, what will happen?"
"Heck if I know!" Bowser said.
"I understand your frustration," Zelda said now, gently, as she stood next to her counterpart. "But you simply must look at the larger picture."
The spirit version of Zelda also stepped forward, alongside her living counterparts, to appeal to the Koopa King.
"Calamity Ganon took everything from me—the temptation to leave Ganondorf here and prevent it all from happening is incredibly strong," she said. "But even if it seems that we would be solving many problems, it will, in the long run, cause even more."
"Surely, you don't doubt our strength—and our word that we will keep your children safe?" the flesh-and-blood Zelda added. "You have honored our alliance, even if it is usually not the way you do things. But it goes both ways, and so we shall do the same for you."
Bowser let out a frustrated growl.
"Papa…?" Junior asked. "Papa, I wanna go home."
"I know, Son. I know," he said, his expression softening as he glanced at his youngest child.
"But it doesn't sound like we can go home unless we can fix this. We all wanna go home, so we gotta do what we gotta do to get there. And I know you're strong enough to take that nasty Ganondorf down, Papa!"
The Koopalings all chattered in excited agreement.
Mario spoke up now.
"Our temporary alliance still holds now, too," he said. "I have as many reasons as you do for wanting to leave Ganondorf behind. I… We'd already decided to go along with whatever Sheik said, and if Sheik says we need to get him out of here, then we will—but that doesn't mean that we'll let him get away with threatening our families. We'll free him, but we'll make absolutely sure that he knows where we all stand."
Luigi didn't look so keen on the idea still, recalling Veran's words, but he had to hope that with this many people and spirits ready to resist any attempt of Ganondorf to exert his power, they would be okay.
Bowser looked to his longtime foe, then to Luigi, and back to Mario. He nodded.
"I don't like it," he insisted. "But I'll go along with it."
Sheik looked satisfied.
"Good. Now, we just need to find Ganondorf—"
Everyone's attention was distracted as heavy footsteps lumbered towards them from the mountain's peak. Looking up, they saw Ganondorf, his eyes glowing with Dharkon's influence, approaching them.
"Lord Dharkon insists upon your demise," he said, leering at them.
"Well, 'Lord Dharkon' can…" Bowser began, but he reigned himself in, knowing that his children were right there. "Nevermind. I'm going to enjoy clobbering you."
"Go get 'im, Papa!" Junior cheered.
"Save some of the fight for me, Bowser!" Mario insisted, running alongside the Koopa.
They both landed a simultaneous first hit on Ganondorf, right on his torso. The Gerudo King was sent backwards several feet, but shook both blows off.
Peach hesitated for just a moment before grabbing her frying pan and running into the fray alongside the Links, the Zeldas, and three of the four Champions. The other fighters soon joined in, except for Luigi, who continued to watch, anxiously.
It was Urbosa who stood back from the other Champions, noticing Luigi's distress.
"I would've thought you would be eager to take him down," she said. "Like with me, it's personal with you."
"I don't want him to hurt my brother when he's freed," Luigi said. "Mario's angry with him because of what happened to me at Dracula's Castle, but Veran is right—Ganondorf will hurt him to get to me."
"I hate to state the obvious, but standing around doing nothing isn't going to help your brother," Urbosa insisted. "But I don't think I need to tell you that."
Luigi nodded, watching as the other fighters surrounded Ganondorf, each of them drawing his attention long enough for others to get the drop on him.
"Even Mewtwo is fighting him, despite being weak against his darkness," Luigi realized. He clenched a fist. "I need to fight, too—fight to protect my big bro!"
"Then lead the way!" Urbosa said.
"Rai rai!" Raichu added.
Luigi adjusted his cap and dashed towards the fight, with Urbosa and Raichu surrounding him with electricity.
"Big Bro!" he called, as he used his jumps to close the gap. "Knock him into the air!"
Mario blinked in surprise to see his brother leaping overhead, but, pushing back his own worries for him, he nodded, working with Bowser so that the two of them could launch Ganondorf upward. Luigi then attacked from above with a downward kick, energized by the two spirits' lightning attacks; Ganondorf was sent crashing down to the ground, Luigi landing in front of him, giving his best death glare as Dharkon's bonds around Ganondorf broke.
"Nice one," Urbosa said, also sounding satisfied with being able to lay some punishment upon the shame of her people.
"Grazie…"
"Luigi…?" Mario asked.
He looked back at his brother and smiled. They had coordinated that move perfectly, just like several of their other tag-team techniques. But this was now something that Luigi had to do alone.
"I've got this, Big Bro. Just stay back for a bit."
Mario did not look like he wanted to stay back at all, but he reluctantly took a couple steps back, but still readied himself to jump back into the action.
Luigi turned to Mewtwo now.
"Mewtwo, can you try…?"
Mewtwo stood in front of Ganondorf and attempted to concentrate, focusing vast amounts of psychic powers on him. The Gerudo King flinched, and he gritted his teeth as he started to awaken, trying to fight back.
"It isn't working…!" Mewtwo relayed, sounding strained from the effort. "It is as I feared; the sheer amount of darkness around us is suppressing my powers and giving him resistance against them!"
Ganondorf let out a furious roar as he now came awake. With a sweep of his gigantic arm, he knocked Mewtwo aside, sending the cat crashing to the ground.
"Mewtwo!" Peach called, seeing to healing the psychic Pokémon.
"I'll be fine, Princess; thank you," Mewtwo insisted, though still sounding strained. "Luigi—protect him…"
Mario was already running back to help, but Luigi threw an arm out to stop him.
"Luigi—!"
Though he was shaking slightly, Luigi continued to stare down Ganondorf as he now turned to face him. His initial confusion gave way to sheer anger and fury as his repressed memories now returned to him full-force, along with those memories from the battle of the cliffside and everything after.
"You…!" he fumed. He pointed an accusing finger at the younger plumber. "This is all your doing!"
"Me!?" Luigi asked, indignantly.
"You heard me!" Ganondorf snarled. "We would never have fallen to Galeem if you had allowed me to tap into your dark powers from the prophecy! Had we used the Triforce of Power to merge, we'd have created a being that would have destroyed Galeem and prevented this!"
"No, then, we just would've been fighting you instead—with Luigi fighting you from within!" Mario said, running forward now to stand by his brother. "I won't let you take him—!"
"This does not concern you!" Ganondorf bellowed, slamming his arm into Mario now.
"No—!" Luigi cried.
"Mario!" Peach shrieked.
Mario was sent crashing near where Mewtwo had landed, and Peach now tended to him as he lay there, momentarily dazed, but, thankfully, otherwise unharmed.
Ganondorf sneered at them for a moment, but let out a grunt of pain as he was struck on the chin by Luigi's Fire Jump Punch, sending him momentarily into the air and crashing back down.
He glared, furiously, at Luigi, and paused to see that Luigi was glaring right back at him with another death glare.
"Don't you ever hurt my big bro again," he ordered. "Or else."
Ganondorf's response was a laugh.
"You are threatening me!? Fine—just try to stop me! See if you can protect your 'big bro' from this! Or realize the futility and merge with my majesty!"
Luigi hadn't expected this, though, in hindsight, he realized he should have. He stumbled back, staring upwards as Ganondorf grew, transforming into Ganon—the very same beast that had slain the Hero of Time in that fateful branch of the timeline.
And unless Luigi acted fast, his brother would be next.