...First, a humiliating past.
Luigi woke up, standing still. That's weird. He usually never falls asleep standing still.
He looked at what was in front of him... Wait... was that...
...Mario?!
It was Mario, none the less...
No, this was a trial... It was not really Mario...
Mario seemed to be holding some rainbow jigsaw pieces in his hand. 10 of them.
Next to Mario was a floating yellow Bob-omb type figure with a star atop their head...
Wait... Was that Starlow too?!
He glanced to his right... Frozen alien creatures...
He shrank in pure fear. The Shroobs. That was a horrifying experience to go through... But why was he at this point in time?
Starlow turned to Mario. "Whew... That was pretty scary... Alien invasions are no fun!"
Yep... Luigi knew that firsthand. Wait... Don't tell him...
Starlow continued. "What I can't believe is that you defeated those things as a baby! Only you could do that, Mario!"
...Oh. Oh no. Luigi bit his lip. Does he really have to re-enact this scene? This scene...
...where the helper was at her lowest scum moment?
Luigi jumped into action. Remembering his line, he spoke. "Hey, I helped Mario, you know!"
Mario turned to Starlow and also spoke. "Yeah, he fought-a pretty hard!"
"Hm?" Starlow questioned. "Luigi fought hard as well?"
"Yeah!" Luigi jumped. "I was like boom, then bam! I helped defeat those aliens along with Mario! Hah! Hah!" Luigi pointed both directions. "Nobody could stand a chance against us!"
...And then... Luigi knew it. The very same line that nearly broke him.
"Heehee! Did you attack them with some ferocious crying?"
Luigi simply turned away from them, bending his knees to look at the floor. He picked the floor with his finger as he was truly lost in thought. Why did Doremy bring him here? And why was it at this point in time where an ally was mocking him? Trial her ass! This is just torment! To be honest? What has he done recently?
Cried over some ridiciously hard bosses in Gensokyo?
Cried over seeing his brother safe from his first mansion experience? Why did he cry there? Was he just crying tears of joy to see Mario...? Or was he crying because of his own incompetence to handle this simplest of tasks?
Cried over running away from Yuuka? Because he was nothing without a Poltergust?
Cried to Reimu about helping him? Because he's not strong enough to face Yukari alone?
Cried because - No...
Ever since he could remember, he had always been a crybaby.
A wimp. A coward.
Staying in his brother's shadow.
That was all he had. Luigi sometimes wish he could legitimately become the shadow of Mario. To simply just do whatever he does, in a reflected sunlight. To simply run away without any thoughts, and just simply be a shadow of the hero who deserved better.
That was his best option... So why hadn't he considered it before?
"Hold on!" Mario spoke angrily at Starlow. "I'm-a not allowing you to diss-a my brother like that!"
"...Huh?" Luigi thought to himself, without turning around.
"In-a actuality, he was the one to defeat them in-a the end!"
"...Really? Luigi was the one to defeat them in the end?"
"Uh-huh!" Mario nodded. He seemed to really stand up for his little brother.
"...Really?!"
"Yep! Don't-a underestimate him!"
"Oh... I'm sorry, Luigi. You really are super."
Luigi turned around, and posed. "All is forgiven!"
"Yes, you're both super. Now, let's get on with our quest!"
Starlow went back into Mario's pocket space, as Luigi looked a little down.
Dreams. A weird phenomenon that nobody knows how it works... One's own memories stuffed inside a fictional scenario when the user sleeps...
But something odd seemed to play out in this specific scene... Not exactly how Luigi remembered it...
Because Mario and Luigi were sitting on Plack Beach, with Starlow nowhere in sight.
"Hey bro... You look kinda down..." Mario looked to Luigi. "You-a wanna talk about it or-a something? Starlow won't be-a back for a while."
"...To be honest? Yeah. I've got a lot on my mind."
A lot on his mind that he couldn't really tell Mario at this moment in time. Crazed gap hags, murderous flower ladies, and a whole lot of boss fights, with Luigi using crying in the end due to the mere fact he SURVIVED.
Let's just focus on one thing at a time... That was a good thought.
"Hee hee!" Mario chuckled. "Don't-a worry! You can tell me! I am-a the older bro after all!"
"..."
Luigi gulped.
"Well... I've been thinking about the past ever since Starlow humilated me..."
Mario sighed. "She said she was-a sorry, but I do understand-a you. That was a bit too-a far..."
"No, Mario. Way beyond what you could think."
Mario went 'huh'... and Luigi needed to explain how far back he had been thinking.
"Like, since the day I was born. That's how far back I've been thinking."
"Tell me... Tell me please, Luigi." Mario looked at him.
And thus, began Luigi's backstory.
This was Luigi.
He had been chosen to be summoned to Gensokyo.
Him, out of all the possible male-self-inserts, had been chosen, and he was not a self-insert.
He was just Mario's loving younger brother.
But he didn't always love Mario. Siblings do have their rivalry now and again.
He would always bicker with Mario when flipping turtles and crabs... And they would compete to see who had the most points there.
He would always be the SECOND person on the first grand adventure they ever had.
Luigi was not even informed of Mario going on vacation on Isle Delfino. He was just left at his newly built mansion.
And sure enough, Mario saved the entirety of Isle Delfino. Another group that would endlessly praise Mario and not Luigi.
Sure, Luigi helped rescue Mario in the first mansion experience, but who was an eyewitness to that?
...Oh. Right. Only one. E. Gadd.
What about that one Galaxy experience, huh? Luigi managed to get a few Power Stars... but he got all dizzy and woozy from finally being helpful to his brother... that he could not get down from the simplest of places, or even get trapped in some places. He humilated himself in front of his brother.
Time and time again. There were even times were they had full-out rivalries.
Collecting a bunch of Power Stars for themselves, using items from a roulette to help them, such as Mini Mushrooms, Mega Mushrooms, and even Starmen.
Or those intense soccer games where the fence was electric? People would assume those were "friendly spars", but Mario and himself were a lot more angry and serious with each other.
Or perhaps Mario would LITERALLY fall asleep during Luigi's talks about his own adventure in the Waffle Kingdom?
Or in those Smash Bros. tournaments, where Mario would launch Luigi
time
and
time
again.
...
Then he realised. It wasn't just Mario who he had a vendetta against.
Starlow... Well, her example was shown earlier, with her mocking Luigi.
That one Toad who went all "Oh. Luigi's here too. Super."
That one Rabbid robot that couldn't even remember his name.
A certain tennis racket that had a knack for possessing him.
...
But above all?
The person who he hated most?
The guy who got tricked into a luxury mansion... twice.
The fool who had to restore the Dark Moon because nobody else was available.
And the person who made him so unlikable in the first place.
Oh. That's right... Himself.
"Oh, so that's-a it?" Mario thought. "You just-a hate yourself because of some-a unlucky incidents and friendly-a spars?"
"Mario..." Luigi quietly sobbed. "I've had these thoughts for a long time... Time and time again... I'm the punchline. It really was not fair... for me. At all.
I've tried so hard to make you proud as a little brother.
A little brother worthy of being the little brother of Jumpman himself.
So what the hell am I doing wrong?!
Even as a baby... I remember that time too...
I was carried by a stork... Not even my birth parents wanted me... And then I was the one captured by Kamek!
Me, of all people!
But why...?
Why do you all hate me so much...?!
I wanna know..."
Mario took this all in as Luigi ranted about his life. As Mario got up on his feet, he walked up to Luigi and spoke his inner thoughts, this dream finally becoming reality.
"I know." Mario hugged Luigi.
"You... know?" Luigi looked up at Mario with tears in his eyes.
"I do know... one-a thing." Mario nodded. "Despite how you think-a everyone hates you, the only one I love-a more than Peach is-a my big bro."
"Huh...?"
"Nobody can-a replace you, Luigi. You're the bestest-a bro anyone could ever ask for!"
"Mario, I..."
"You-a hate yourself? I'll always love you even more as a sibling. A little-a brother that even I could-a look up to. Despite my-a cold dead serious glare, I'm-a sometimes terrified inside."
...And then Luigi fully opened his eyes, finally realising the truth.
He wasn't crying laughing at his own incompetence, he was just so happy that Mario had been rescued.
That wasn't a serious rivalry on who could get the most Power Stars, that was just friendly banter.
Luigi was always chosen second on the grand adventures... Because Mario wanted to be on the frontlines to protect his brother.
Mario falling asleep during Luigi's stories wasn't ignorance, he was just resting from his own adventure.
And after all, who could forget the quote that always brightens up Luigi's day?
"That's my bro!"
That line. That line right there.
Speaking of being brightened, this trial meant nothing to him now. He had overcome his own inner demons of the past. Loathing himself and his brother were now unacceptable.
Luigi stood up and looked at Mario. Now understanding the exact scenario, he nodded to Mario. "Come on! Let's go stop Fawful!"
Mario got up on his feet too, and spoke the line Luigi wanted to hear again. "That's my bro!"
Luigi ran on ahead to Peach's Castle, but the world around him started to fade, into a black starry abyss.
Space?
Suddenly, space, apparently.
Luigi was floating in space as he looked around. "Did I pass the first trial?"
He noticed some text on his right. Luigi craned his head to the right to read it.
Luigi was not the Impostor.
1 Impostor remains.
"...huh?"
"Oh, whoops, wrong setting." A new voice spoke out, as Luigi plummeted onto the ground. The ground looked like the rooftop of Peach's Castle, except everything aside from that platform was in deep space. The figure then revealed itself. A pink-hair girl with a blue shirt and a pink dress. The most disturbing part?
Was that an.. eye connected to a string?! The eye gazed at Luigi, sending fear down his spine.
But regardless of his fear, he stepped forward. "Who are you, eh?! Are you the doofus who made me do that trial? Or was it Dore-meme? I gotta tell you! Having a maid as my companion? Three trials, relating to past-present-future? Boy, if my Yuuka incident wasn't a ripoff already, then this takes the cake!"
The girl sighed. "As usual, you ask who I am first thing. How very predictable of you, Luigi. You're so clingy to that incident."
"Oh, you know who I am?" Luigi smiled. "I'm honored."
"You..." The girl stared. "Have a lot of confidence. A surreal amount."
"I was feelin' depressed up until now, but now that I finally got to hear Mario say what I wanted to hear most, I feel a lot more confident!"
... The girl ignored his deep ego and introduced herself. "I'm Satori Komeiji."
"Oh, another dream goon who works for Doremy?"
"Well... technically? I'm Satori Komeiji, or to be more precise, her dream world counterpart."
"Eh?" Luigi blinked. "You're self-aware that you're in a dream?"
Satori nodded.
"...aaaand if you're aware of yourself in a dream... you can lucid dream and do anything you want?"
Satori nodded.
"...and you're gonna be a boss fight?"
Final nod.
Luigi sighed. "I don't know how that works. After all, this is MY dream."
"Does it matter? I'm going to fight you, and you're going to lose. I am infinitely more experienced in combat than you. AND you lack a Poltergust. What are you going to do? Cry and run away in fear again?"
Luigi put up his fists. "I won't run away any more. Let's-a-go!"