Sunlight faded behind Mario as the fog slithered over top of him, allowing him to see a little in front of him but chasing him - in a way - towards impending doom. He stopped at the very edge of a smooth cliff, skidding to a halt and causing tiny pebbles to fall into the emptiness below him. Columns of rock stood tall in front of him on either side, creating a makeshift staircase up to a metal platform similar to the one Kirby found him on. Said platform was caught in between the rock pillars, bridging the empty gap beneath it. The plumber tried to keep his eyes up towards his target, which for him wasn't the easiest considering he had no idea how deep the fall would be if he missed a jump. His leg muscles pushed into gear now, and he took his first great jump onto the first pillar. When he landed firmly, he gave himself a running start and jumped onto the next one. In no time at all he made it to the third pillar, where he miscalculated a landing and nearly fell off the end of it. Luckily, he pulled himself up onto the rock, but just barely escaped potentially chipping the end and falling. Now he made it to the main steel formation in the middle. The ghostly blue lights swirled around the stage without a pattern, seemingly searching for something they couldn't find. Mario took another look around the stage, feeling like he was being watched. He was unable to quench the need for safety however, as he didn't find whatever may or may not have been watching him. Suddenly, he was struck in the back of the head by something and was shot towards a steel formation on the short end of the platform. His skull made hard contact with the steel, causing his head to swim and his brain to shake. Mario turned slowly, grabbing the back of his head and straightening his hat before eyeing his attacker in both terror and confusion.
The Villager stood in front of him with a net in his arms, the pupils of his eyes glimmering red with bloodlust and some kind of monstrous hate that Mario couldn't comprehend. It gave the plumber a vicious stare-down, walking slowly towards him equally scarily. It became difficult for Mario to move all of a sudden, as the tension alone was stunning, nay, killing him as the Villager came closer. Without warning the madman charged at him with the net raised above his head. Mario was only able to dodge the incoming attack when he felt his nerves fray, and tried to follow up with an attack that never came out of sheer anxiety that this creature would react faster then he would. Villager pulled out a stick from its back pocket and jabbed Mario in the chest with it as hard as it could manage. Surprisingly it worked, and the plumber felt his heart in his chest beating faster than ever before now. The jabbing continued until Villager pulled out a bowling ball and threatened to crush Mario's skull with it. Snapping back into reality, Mario brought a fist to Villager's face, striking it precisely and hearing the unholy sound of skin hitting skin. After the first punch came another, and another, the last blow being one fueled by the need to survive. Villager tumbled back to the other side of the stage, its facial expression unchanging as it got up without trouble. From out of nothingness came a Lloyd rocket that took off at high speed from the Villager to Mario. This one was also dodged by Mario, who shot a fireball out from the palm of his hand at his opponent. The flames whizzed past the Villager as it sidestepped out of the way, facing Mario with even more hate in its eyes. The net came back out again, this time just barely catching Mario off guard as the plumber shifted to one side. A fifth punch hit Villager in the face as Mario prepared to juggle him into the air, angling his strikes upward towards the sky. When the knockback increased, Mario took to the sky and followed with a series of horizontal kicks to the Villager's abdomen. After the second kick came a vertical kick that pushed Villager in the direction of the impact slightly, one that Mario succeeded with a spectacular forward spike. Both fighters landed on the steel platform again; one made a clean landing on his feet while the other landed face first on the cold ground. Mario turned back around in hopes of seeing his opponent defeated, but to his dismay Villager rose again with a dent on one side of its face. What the hell!? He cried to himself, giving Villager time to slap him across the face with three turnips and pushing him back.
Satisfied that the plumber didn't get up immediately, Villager quickly took out a packet of seeds from its pocket, picked out a seed, and - albeit somehow - planted it into the ground. With just a tiny bit of water from a watering can the little sprout shot up into a tree. Mario lifted his head up slowly, half surprised and half frightened at the sight of the massive tree in front of him. Using the formations at the very back of the stage, he ran up to them and jumped off them to tackle Villager to the ground. His opponent stared him down again, moving a hand to where Mario's was around his throat and clenching it tightly. Out of fear he threw him to the other side of the stage with an audible grunt, giving Mario some time to think about what he could do to get his friend back. What was it that Kirby did to wake him from his hypnosis? Was it the hammer? Was it just fighting the plumber until he gave out? For whatever reason, he couldn't think of what it was. His thoughts were interrupted by his flesh being sliced clean off his chest, causing blood to coat the stage and Villager's face. The impact of the attack sent him flying towards the tree behind him, causing him to cough up blood and his life to fade incredibly slowly. Weakness overcame him, followed by a rush of pain and adrenaline. Villager was creeping closer with a bloodstained ax in his hands, looking ready to give Mario an even bigger wound the second time he sliced him. Mario gripped the end of a tree branch and ripped it off the wood of the tree, tearing a thick chunk of wood from it and throwing it into Villager's eye. It hit with a gross squelch, getting wedged into Villager's eye and making it drop the ax. Mario took the opportunity he was presented with and jumped into the air to land a spike onto Villager's head. The spike pushed his opponent back, and Mario grabbed the ax from the floor and threw it to Villager's head. Like the piece of wood, the blade wedged itself deep into the flesh of Villager, keeping it from getting off the ground - and not drawing blood. The plumber nursed his terrible gash pathetically, hoping that the ax was enough to stop his opponent for good; but to no avail. Villager slowly rose to its feet again, giving Mario a bone chilling glare with the one eye it had left. The same feeling of helplessness and terror overcame him a second time as Villager's mouth opened to an ungodly width; the gums lined with rows of sharp teeth behind flesh threading between the jaws of the Villager. A raspy hiss came from Villager's throat, making Mario think twice about fighting and wanting to surrender. Villager took a leap into the air, only stopping when it came down to try to bite Mario's head off. Mario's arms shot out to grab it by the shoulders and pushing it away with all his strength. Villager snapped and snarled at Mario, its saliva dripping onto Mario's face, disgusting him. Eventually, Mario lowered Villager slightly and kicked him in the torso to the right end of the battlefield. As expected, Villager didn't give up yet, and got right back up to charge at Mario. It took another jump into the air with its unholy mouth open wide, hoping to take a bite out of Mario. Just seconds before it could, Mario raised a flaming fist to give Villager his most powerful attack yet to the chin. The flames eagerly licked and stuck onto Villager as it fell to the ground below. The heat intensified around Villager, and it shrieked in pain as it finally exploded in front of Mario. Flesh coated the stage and Mario's overalls, making him gag a little at the sight.
A circular white light appeared to him, pausing momentarily to create the outline of the Villager. The light twinkled brightly as the outline was filled suddenly and the real Villager stood where the fake had once been. Its eyes flickered open with confusion, turning about to register its surroundings and figure out where it was. "Oh! Mario! You're here! But, if you're here and I'm here, where are we?" It spoke, scratching the back of its head as it looked around again. "Oh my goodness, you're hurt! Here, let me help." From the back pocket of the Villager's shorts was a tiny flask filled with a lime green liquid. Villager unfastened the cork and gave it to Mario, who drank it desperately. "T-thanks," He coughed, letting the gash seal itself. "Let me guess, I did this didn't I?" Villager asked in a sorrowful tone. "Well I wouldn't say you did it. I'd say an evil clone of you did it because you were mind controlled," Mario replied, brushing himself off. Villager began to shake in panic. "M-mind controlled!? By who?"
"I don't know. But whoever is in charge of stealing our friends and turning them against us messed with the wrong heroes!"
Villager looked into Mario's eyes somewhat fearfully. Seeing the person who was pretty much a legend back in its town made him feel a little bit better about the trials ahead of them. "Y-yeah! They don't know who they're messing with! So, uh, what do we do now?" Mario gave Villager a bit of a tired look before taking a seat on the ground. "First, I think sleeping is an order."