Notes: Mario and Luigi: Paper Jam confirms that the Paper Mario timeline is separate from the non-Paper timeline, occurring in a world that is located in a book, which Luigi found in the beginning of the game. I don't think it's a stretch to assume that the prophecies and the history of events from Super Paper Mario would be written in the book, and that Luigi might have ended up reading them and finding what happened to his Paper self—and wondering if that could happen to him, too…
Back at the banquet hall, the other fighters were still preparing for an imminent attack from Ridley, unaware that he had chosen to confront the search party. Rosalina had been elected to look after the young fighters and had taken them to a different room in the elegant mansion. Bowser, despite trusting her, was clearly on edge with the notion that his children were in harm's way.
And his expression only grew as Palutena announced, in a sad and somber voice, that the search party had found Mario—and that he had not survived.
"What are you so worried about?" Ganondorf scoffed, watching Bowser fret even more at the announcement. "I would have thought that you would rejoice to learn that your greatest foe is no more a concern to you."
Bowser shot him a glare.
"Mario has defeated me time and time again," he snarled. "If Ridley has killed him, then it's a cinch that I don't stand a chance. More than that, I have them to think about!" He indicated the room where Junior and the Koopalings were staying. "If anything happened to any of them…!"
Ganondorf just shook his head, amused, prompting Bowser to get angrier.
"What!?" the turtle-dragon growled. "What's with that look!? You should be shaking in your shoes like the rest of us right now! Mario has defeated you, too, you know!"
"That was never my concern," Ganondorf said, dismissing it with a wave of his hand. "And you might as well relax; Ridley will not harm you or your brood. This was never about you—it was never even about Mario."
Bowser's eyes narrowed.
"What are you talking about…?" he queried. "What do you know about Ridley and what he did to Mario!?"
Ganondorf smirked.
"Do you recall, two tournaments ago, that absolutely powerful Final Smash that Luigi would use?"
"…This is about Green 'Stache!? What!?" Bowser barked. "And that weirdo dance he did!?"
"The Negative Zone," Ganondorf said, his eyes narrowing. "From the moment I saw Luigi using it—the moment I saw the darkness in his heart and the dark magic he could unleash with it, I knew that I had to get a power like that on my side. After our battle with Tabuu, I looked into it; much like how I have existed in multiple timelines, there are multiple timelines for Luigi, as well—and in one of these timelines, there apparently exists a prophecy wherein Luigi is described as the ideal host for a powerful darkness—a darkness which was awakened in him and empowered him until those using him were defeated. But in this timeline, if the prophecy holds true here, as well, then it appears that the darkness in his heart was being kept at bay all this time—and I realized that it was because of his brother! That was why it became so apparent during the Brawl tournament; they appeared to have had some sort of rift, and without his brother to keep it in check, Luigi's darkness was awakened because of it. Didn't you find it odd that Luigi wasn't cheering on his brother during his exhibition match with Kirby?"
Bowser grunted.
"So what? That's all history now; whatever was going on, they worked it out and put it behind them."
"Yes, and that was the problem," Ganondorf insisted. "Once again, Mario was keeping the darkness in check. The darkness in Luigi's heart had nothing to feed off of—the negative emotions that fueled the Negative Zone were severely reduced to the point that he couldn't use that as his Final Smash in the last tournament. He switched to that Poltergust 5000 and light magic! The two brothers were as close as ever, and continued to be, even with this new tournament being announced! I could not let that darkness be extinguished—I had to take action."
"You…" Bowser realized. "You put Ridley up to this!?"
"I told him I would deliver Samus to him on the condition that he eliminate Mario swiftly and absolutely," Ganondorf bragged. "Mega Man was collateral damage—but if this won't strengthen the darkness in Luigi's heart, then nothing will. I expect Ridley is confronting Luigi now as we speak… The darkness will inevitably awaken."
Bowser stared at Ganondorf with an unreadable expression—and then let out a loud roar that caused everyone in the hall to stare at them in shock. Furiously, Bowser pointed at the Gerudo king.
"He put Ridley up to killing Mario!" he announced.
"Ungrateful beast!" snarled Ganondorf. "I have helped rid you of your worst enemy, and this is the thanks I get!?"
"I wanted to defeat Mario on my own terms—head to head, not have some space dragon ambush him just to emotionally manipulate and corrupt Green 'Sta—Luigi!" Bowser threw back. He turned to the others. "Where is this reactor!? I'm going there right now—Ridley's still there!"
After getting the directions, while the others now rounded on Ganondorf, Bowser bounded off towards the reactor, snarling as he noticed Daisy following him.
"This doesn't concern you!" he barked.
"You mentioned 'emotional manipulation,' 'corruption,' and 'Luigi' in the same sentence—you bet your shell it concerns me!" Daisy huffed, not the least bit intimidated. "Is this about the Negative Zone?"
"Yeah. Ganondorf wants Luigi to start using it again and awaken some inner darkness he's supposed to have according to some prophecy—and having Mario killed was his surefire way of getting Luigi awaken that darkness. …Between you and me, is that likely?" He frowned as Daisy lowered her gaze. "…I thought so."
"Well, I mean, you've seen for yourself," Daisy said. "Those brothers mean the world to each other. Luigi is never going to be the same. But why does Ganondorf want Luigi to use the Negative Zone again and awaken the darkness? He'd just be bringing it on himself—especially when Luigi finds out that Ganondorf masterminded this whole thing."
"Because if Luigi gets overcome by the darkness, then Ganondorf can step in and control him!" Bowser snarled.
"Oh…"
"It's worse than that—the search party took a Smash Ball with them in case they ran into Ridley there," Bowser said. "We've got to get there before Luigi uses one and ends up using the Negative Zone with his emotions all out of control!"
Luigi was certainly feeling a rush of uncontrollable emotions as he stared down his brother's killer, still taunting him with his cap.
"You…" Luigi said, his voice growing uncharacteristically cold and angry. "You did this to my big bro…"
He gently laid Mario on the ground and stood up, glaring at the giant dragon; Samus had Ridley covered in case he was ready to make a move. But Ridley merely smirked and continued to twirl Mario's hat around.
"Luigi, wait…" Peach said. "He seems to want you to attack him…!"
"Then that's exactly what he'll get!" Luigi declared, his hands ablaze with green fire. "I'll give him the fight that Mario would have given him!"
Pit also launched into an attack at the same time Luigi did; Samus cursed and fired at Ridley; the dragon merely tanked the hits and sneered at them.
Peach stood up now, ready to join the fight as Luigi, Pit, and Samus moved to attack again together, but she paused as she felt Link gently touch her wrist.
"What is it?" she asked.
Link indicated the fallen Mario, and then himself as he began to concentrate; Peach realized he was trying to do some form of magic.
"I understand," she said. "I'll cover you."
She also had access to the items that they had brought with them; she equipped a back shield for herself and Link, handed an Ore Club to Pit, and gave Luigi a Super Leaf. With his ability to fly, Luigi now focused his attacks on Ridley's head, striking repeatedly and without mercy as Samus and Pit backed him up.
"This is for my big bro!" he fumed, using his Fire Jump Punch on Ridley's jaw. The dragon flinched, but didn't back down.
"We need to finish this!" Samus said. "Or at least get away and regroup with some of the others! Get the Smash Ball-quickly!"
Peach tossed a Smash Ball into the air, but Ridley seemed to know exactly what it was. Pit began to shoot arrows at the ball, aiming to break it and unleash its power before Ridley could—
"Look out!" Samus called.
Ridley's tail zipped towards Pit like a spear; he dove out of the way to avoid taking the full impact, but the glancing blow was enough to send him flying. Pit hit wall and then the ground, stunned and wide-open; Samus changed position to protect him now.
Luigi dove for the Smash Ball, but Ridley beat him to it now, seizing it in his fist. With his other hand, he grabbed Luigi.
"No!" Peach cried. She was no longer thinking of her kingdom and its heroes, but of the brothers' mother, and how it would be to lose both of her sons to this monster.
She would not allow it. Thankfully, she had already taken matters into hand, even as Samus fired at Ridley's arm to get him to let go of Luigi.
Thinking quickly, Peach seized a vegetable from the ground and hurled it at the Smash Ball in Ridley's hand, which broke it. But instead of enveloping her in its aura, the sphere exploded in Ridley's hand, sending Ridley to the ground in a daze now, letting go of Luigi as he fell.
"What was that!?" Samus demanded.
"A fake Smash Ball," Peach replied, calmly. "I had a feeling Ridley would try to steal it from us. Here's the real one—quickly, while he's still stunned!"
She tossed it into the air again; Samus took aim, but Luigi leaped forward again, punching the Smash Ball until it broke, and its aura surrounded him. By habit, Luigi reached for his Poltergust 5000, which he was expecting to materialize as the ball's magic would activate. But the vacuum did not appear.
A familiar, dark feeling was returning to his heart—a feeling that he hadn't felt in a long time, but was now being fueled again by his sorrow and anger over the loss of his brother. And a voice was whispering in his ear-
"That Poltergust of yours will not be strong enough—Ridley would be too big for that tiny vacuum! Use the Negative Zone—with the feelings you're feeling now, you should be able to cast it again, stronger than ever before!"
Use the Negative Zone? But Mario had never approved of that, and had never been subtle about his disapproval, either. He had been stunned and clearly upset when Luigi had shown off the move for the first time during their preparation for the Brawl tournament—questioning why Luigi had found the need to use dark magic, and questioning why he hadn't seen this development. Luigi eventually let it slip that the move had been powered by dark emotions—emotions that he'd been feeling when he'd been left behind while Mario had been off on solo adventures as of late—and since he hadn't been there, he hadn't been able to notice it.
Mario hadn't taken that revelation well at all—not only had he not caught this sooner, but that he was the cause of it? He had felt hurt, and, with his own emotions now starting to get out of control, they'd had an argument—Peach, who had overheard part of it, had broken it up, but Luigi had chosen to leave after that to sort out his muddled emotions—thus being absent for Mario's exhibition match against Kirby.
As for Mario, he tried to deal with his emotions by focusing on the match, and the battles that came after as the whole Subspace fiasco began. It was after the battles with Tabuu that the brothers found themselves together again—that Luigi had admitted how terrible he'd felt, and how, after seeing Mario lying there with the others after they'd lost to Tabuu the first time, how he'd been haunted by the thought that their last conversation had been that big argument.
And Mario had felt the same way. They had apologized to each other; Mario still had been honest about his disapproval of Luigi using dark magic, and Luigi had, too, about being left out and left behind. Once the tournament ended, however, Mario had made sincere efforts to spend more time with him, and Luigi had found his negative emotions lessening over time to the point when, in the most recent tournament, he could no longer cast the Negative Zone and used the Poltergust instead for his Final Smash, much to Mario's joy.
But here he was now, with the drive to cast the Negative Zone stronger than ever before, because, this time, Mario was gone, and all Luigi had to hold onto was the knowledge that, at least, their last words to each other had been joyful and optimistic this time.
Luigi would have to do the work of his brother now—and he had to be as strong as he possibly could be to do so. He would have to stop Ridley by any means necessary… and that would mean using his strongest move, even if it was dark magic…
"Luigi…!" Peach exclaimed, realizing what was happening. "Luigi, wait-!"
"Luigi!" Daisy called, as she and Bowser approached. "Luigi, you can't use the Negative Zone!"
It wasn't even fully registering to Luigi that Daisy was here; he was only just barely aware of her words.
Can't use it? But I have to… The emotions in his heart pulsed and strengthened. What other choice do I have…?
"Words won't work!" he heard Bowser snarl, and before Luigi could even move, he felt the Koopa king's arm slam into him with such a force, the Smash Ball's aura was knocked right out of him, re-forming back into a sphere.
Bowser roared, hammering his fists at the ball until it shattered again; now he had the aura, and used its magic to become Giga Bowser.
Luigi could only stand by and watch as Giga Bowser, now bigger than the Space Pirate dragon, did what he should have done and finished the fight; with one punch, he sent Ridley flying with so much force, Ridley went right through the reactor wall, still hurtling further to parts unknown.
"…Well, that works, too…" Pit said, quietly, as Bowser roared and returned to normal as the Smash Ball's magic wore off.
"It's only temporary," Samus said. "He'll be back once he recovers, and we'll need to be ready, with everyone teaming up to take him down."
"Everyone but Ganondorf…" Bowser muttered.
"Don't tell me…" Pit groaned. "He worked with Ridley to try to take out Samus?"
"No-Mario," Bowser said, and he indicated Luigi, who was still trying to come to grips with what had just happened. "He wanted Luigi to start using the Negative Zone again in the hopes he could eventually gain control of him after he fell to darkness-some sort of prophecy, he said."
Luigi looked to Bowser in surprise—not because of the revelation of the prophecy, but because of Bowser's apparent concern.
"Why would you care…?" he managed to say aloud.
"Because I don't want you using dark magic against me or my family," Bowser insisted. "Especially if Ganondorf is going to have a hand in things."
"…Yeah…" Luigi admitted.
Don't listen to him, the darkness whispered. You can control me just fine—no Evil King can stop us!
Unbidden came the recollection of his and Mario's argument during the Brawl tournament—
"I can control this power just fine!"
"Is that so? Or is it controlling you?"
Luigi was startled back to the present by Peach and Daisy checking on him now.
"Are you alright?" Daisy asked.
"I… No," he admitted. "I couldn't avenge my brother like I wanted to…. And now I'm finding out that Ganondorf knows about the prophecy…"
The two princesses stared, noting his phrasing—not that he was finding out about the prophecy, but that Ganondorf knew about it, which meant…
"You… you knew there was a prophecy?" Daisy asked, incredulously. "And you never told us?"
"…I couldn't…" Luigi said, looking down at the ground. "I was too ashamed… And Mario was so happy that I wasn't using dark magic anymore—I just couldn't tell him…"
Peach's expression softened.
"I understand," she said, and Daisy nodded in agreement.
"Look, I agree this is an important discussion," Samus interrupted. "But even if Ganondorf orchestrated this to manipulate Luigi, Ridley will still want me, and he'll be back to threaten anyone still here. Let's just take Mario back and-"
"Wait," Peach said. "Link was going to try something…"
She had been focused on the fight and hadn't been paying attention to what Link had been trying to do; they all turned now to see Link concentrating as he successfully summoned what looked like the spirit of a creature they hadn't seen before.
"Uh… Lady Palutena?" Pit asked, baffled.
"That's the spirit of a Zora," Palutena said. "I believe she's a specific Zora—Champion Mipha, who fell in battle against Calamity Ganon."
"Yes, I am Mipha," the spirit said. "After my spirit was freed, I vowed to use my healing powers for the Hero." She looked to Link, who was still kneeling beside Mario. "But it seems that he has not summoned me for himself this time, but for another hero."
"Champion Mipha," Peach said. "Can you resurrect Mario?"
"My magic is usually preventative, meant to activate upon the moment of death," Mipha said. "As my spirit was trapped for one hundred years, it was too late for my magic to resurrect me. But this hero has been dead for a few hours now. Perhaps, it is not yet too late. If I summon every bit of my power, there is a chance I can bring Mario back, but…"
"But…?" Peach asked.
"It will take much, much longer before my magic can be used again," Mipha warned. She looked to Link. "I believe Link had intended for me to protect him during the tournament. I will not be able to do so if I use all my power now."
But Link waved a hand in dismissal and indicated for her to continue.
"Are you sure, Link?" Peach asked.
He nodded in response, and Peach nodded back.
"Whether or not this works," she said. "I will be eternally grateful to both of you."
"M-Me, too," Luigi managed to say.
Everyone, even Bowser, watched intently as Mipha cast her magic. A bright, blue light surrounded Mario's body, giving him an unearthly glow. Mipha concentrated further, and the glow intensified.
"Please, Big Bro…" Luigi silently transmitted as he knelt on Mario's other side and placed a hand on his glowing shoulder. "Come back to us."
Peach sat beside him, finally allowing a tear to slip from her eye. Silently, she leaned forward and kissed Mario's forehead as Mipha finished casting her magic.
No one moved or spoke for a moment—a moment that felt like an eternity as they all waited to see if it had worked.
And then, Mario's fingers twitched.
"Mario!" Luigi exclaimed.
A few more moments passed, and, finally, Mario stirred.
"Oh… mamma mia…" he groaned. "What happened…?" He blinked, noticing everyone gathered around him with concern and worry—and did a double take as he noticed Bowser. "Is everything alright? Luigi? Peach?"
Luigi, overcome, burst into tears of relief. Peach dried her eyes and put on a smile.
"Everything's alright now," she assured him.
"But what went wrong?" Mario asked.
The others exchanged awkward glances, not sure how to break it to him, but Bowser decided get right to the point—
"Ganondorf had Ridley make you bite the big one so that your brother would go to the dark side," he said, bluntly.
Daisy and Peach both scolded Bowser as Samus rolled her eyes.
"What? I don't do 'subtle'," Bowser said, with a shrug.
"That, we know," Daisy said, annoyed.
"And it's not like I mentioned the proph-"
Peach hastily shushed him; Mario would eventually have to know about the prophecy, but this was not the time or place.
Mario now scrambled to sit up; Pit and Link gave him some helping hands.
"Is… is this true?" he asked, though his brother's reaction left little doubt.
"Yes," Samus said, bitterly. "Ganondorf apparently made a deal with Ridley to take you out for that reason—in exchange, he could take me out, too. Ganondorf knew that I would ask for your help, and that you would accept. Mega Man was in the wrong place at the wrong time, but R.O.B. says he'll be okay. I'm sorry, Mario—I should have suspected a trap."
"It's not your fault, Samus," Peach said. She turned to Mario. "Link summoned this Zora spirit, Mipha. It was her magic that brought you back."
"Not entirely," Mipha admitted. "My magic was able to restore his body, but the return of his spirit was guided by you and Luigi."
"I… We did that?" Luigi managed to choke out.
"Yes, you did," Mipha said. "Though, for my part in this effort, I wish to say that it was my pleasure."
Mipha disappeared from view after that, and Samus cleared her throat.
"Now can we please get out of here before Ridley comes back?" she asked.
"Yeah, good idea," Mario sighed. He glanced again to the two princesses, and then to his brother. "And then, I guess we've got a lot to talk about."
Luigi gave a timid nod, wondering how breaking the news of the prophecy would go, hoping against hope that, in spite of it, his brother would continue to stand by him.
