Vs Mario Bros

Upon arrival at Peach's Castle, Luigi nearly lost his marbles. He could swear he felt a vein explode in his temple as he took in the scene before him.

Mario, his brilliant, loving, older brother, smiling and cozying up to some doppelganger trying to mimic his appearance. Almost a carbon copy of the real McCoy, except that it wasn't really him. Same height, same build, same hairdo and everything—but not actually him! And now he had slithered his way into Mario's good graces! Had he sweet-talked a slice of cake from Peach, as well? Luigi had no idea where this clone came from, but he was going to send him back there.

"Yoshi," his ally whispered to him, calming him, focusing him. Luigi nodded, breathing in a curious rhythm, his mind still seared by the false him, duplicitous eyes shining with false affection towards his brother, giving him the looks he gave him and hugging him the way he hugged him. This just had to be the work of that mysterious, unpredictable glove!

But how come Mario didn't suspect anything? That thought packed more of a punch than anything.

Mario turned then, his mouth flying open at the sight of the real deal. The classic hand-in-the-cookie-jar look took over his face. His eyes flew from one Luigi to the other, questioning what was going on and why. The false Luigi stood there, looking shameless.

Slowly but surely, it dawned on Mario how he'd been deceived, how he'd easily fallen for it, and how he deeply hurt his brother—his real brother—the only man he could ever dance with and the best partner a guy could have.

The two teams stood facing one another, an infuriatingly sweet smile on the false Luigi's face. Handshakes and a brofist were exchanged, and then a powerful gaze between two brothers which said everything but not really.

Yoshi decided to take the heat off his teammate and "mom" and confronted the false Luigi, knowing that he'd hold an emotional advantage over the real McCoy. Meanwhile, the real Luigi was left with Mario, to get some answers and to talk things out.

"Bro—it's you," Mario breathed, still in awe over the big switcheroo. "I mean, the real you."

"Yep," said Luigi, nonchalantly. "Surprised?"

"If I can't find a better term, yes."

Mario felt that familiar pull which was strangely absent a while ago. Yup, he'd been jinxed. He tilted his head up so that his eyes could roam over the deeper blues of his brother's. With each deep breath he heard, all of Luigi's emotions were channeled into Mario's blood, a warm, tingly feeling made itself known in his chest and he found himself drawn closer to him.

"I—I admit it, Bro. That impersonator got me good. He put on such an act…"

He heaved a sigh, guilt feeling him as he inhaled his younger brother's scent. Luigi's eyes sparkled, his nostrils breathing in his big bro's essence, a sudden outpouring of love and devotion threatening to overtake him. He almost felt bad about having to fight him. Dio, there were so many things he wanted to say to the red-capped guy holding his gaze, so many ways he wanted to express the deep and tender love he felt for Mario—and at the same time, envious that he was held in higher regard in Smash as well as in life and stung that a potentially dangerous look-alike could play him so well.

In a soft voice, Luigi posed the question. "How—how could you just blindly trust someone who looked like me—but wasn't me?" He felt his eyes moisten. "How could you let Peach near him? For all I care, he could've been a pawn in a dangerous scheme to—to…"

"I get it," Mario broke in, putting a hand on Luigi's shoulder.

Luigi reached up, slipped a gentle hand under Mario's cap and began ruffling his brown hair. "You should've known he wasn't me," he whispered. "You should've sensed something off."

"I—thought you were in one of your moods," explained Mario, eyes also welling up. "I noticed behavior that wasn't really you, and—I thought I was to blame. Because, you know, of that side of our relationship and that you don't get recognized as much as I do. I bet he really milked that dry."

"So you did notice something off."

"Yeah, but I just chalked it up to our little moments of tension. Look, Bro, I'm sorry I wasn't there for you. I'm sorry I haven't given you as much credit as I should. But I'm going to make that up to you. I'm going to rectify certain inequities."

Luigi chuckled and lightly massaged Mario's scalp with his fingertips. "I'm sure you will, but that's for another time," he said. "Right now, though…" His voice was charged with excitement as he trailed his hand down Mario's face and stroked his cheek like a child. "…right now, only one team will move on to the next battle, and it just so happens that you and I are on opposing teams."

"Ah. Of course." Mario toyed with the bangs on the back of Luigi's neck.

"We both know that it's my turn to win," murmured Luigi. "My turn to have a chance for once."

"Well," Mario said playfully. "We'll see about that, won't we?"

Luigi pulled his big bro in for a powerful hug. "No way I'm making this easy for you, Bro," he said breathily. "You'd better warn him that he's swimming in infested waters."

"I'll make sure he gets the message," promised Mario.

They enjoyed the pleasurable contact of being in each other's arms before they were forced to separate to begin the battle.

3…2…1…GO!

On the main platform of the stage, Luigi and Mario were at it. They loved each other fiercely and always would, but the tight, competitive side of their relationship started to come out. The elder, especially, had a lot to answer for after giving affections to a clone. And the younger had a lot of tension to release from his system. What better way than to skirmish with his big brother?

Above them, a pesky bumper floated, ready to deflect fighters and possibly send them hurtling earthward. On the sides of the castle extended a walkway, constantly moving back and forth so that an unsuspecting combatant would find themselves on air if not careful. The brothers would knock each other into the bumper or stall the other on the walkway as it receded in the other direction. But most of the time, they occupied the main area, hungrily assailing the other.

These brothers were almost identical; in fact, Luigi was considered Mario's inferior clone. They exchanged the same or similar attacks, and they could easily mimic or read their opponent. Despite the similarities, there were several key differences. Luigi's higher jump height, for example, as well as a slower running speed, lower traction, taller stature, different taunts and victory poses, a different dash attack and different damage outputs for some of his moves. Most of all, though, his Super Jump Punch had this nice little spot which turned a weak punch into one wowza of an uppercut. If he could get into position to deliver one of these, then the match was his.

Luigi was also on a mission to prove that he could be number one as well as his brother.

Fully engaged with each other, the Bros didn't notice Yoshi serving up some retribution to the false Luigi, trapping him in an egg, battering him all over, and repeating. There was no love lost between those two, that was for sure. But the clone was really aggressive and had managed to deal some good ones to the green dino in between being captured in a spotted egg. Yoshi was furious. Would you blame him? His opponent was making mockery of the guy who'd nurtured him since he hatched from an egg! That being said, he felt no guilt over the ugly bruises clustered all over the clone's body, or exhaustion and pain beginning to cloud over his eyes. He could clone someone else, but never his mommy!

The clash between the real deal and Mario, however, remained center stage, in every sense of the word. Identical pairs of blue eyes flared into faces as identical pairs of gloved fists went hard at any opening they could find. Their voices floated together as they grunted and shouted. Concentration saturated their breaths as their lungs took deep pulls of oxygen. Nothing else mattered—they were just two brothers having a friendly fight. With their similar-but-different fighting styles, there was no clear advantage—at least, not yet. But in the center of Luigi's steadily dilating pupils, Mario saw primal determination. And he knew that despite being technically "better" in the tournament, even he couldn't hinder his younger brother's ambitions.

Sweat dripped into Mario's mouth, and he savored the salty taste on his tongue. He saw Luigi glide his tongue in a graceful motion across his lips, and then back again. Both were plastered all over with sweat, the smells of their perspiration mixing together as they went nose-to-nose, practically falling headlong into each other's eyes. Luigi lightly rubbed his thumb over a bruise on Mario's jaw, biting his lip in remorse. Despite the complexities of their relationship, Luigi hated seeing Mario hurt, especially on his account. As the younger brother assessed the damage done to the elder, his eyes softened, just for a moment. He twirled one of Mario's sweaty locks round his index finger.

"I'm okay," whispered Mario. "I'm okay."

"Don't take this personally, Bro," entreated Luigi. "I have to win this."

"If you don't, I'll still love you," Mario said softly.

"Yeah, but the rest of them need to understand something. I'm nobody to toss aside just because of a piece of paper."

"You can't let that piece of paper get to you," counseled Mario.

"Make sure you tell them that," Luigi said pointedly.

"Okay."

A scream caught their attention. Yoshi had just sent the false Luigi reeling toward them. Thinking quickly, the real Luigi did a very painful uppercut, rendering his clone down for the count.

"Yoshi!" The dino thanked his teammate.

"I sort of wanted the pleasure of landing the finishing blow," Luigi told him.

He turned back to Mario. "Now, where were we?"

They re-engaged each other as Yoshi eagerly and nervously looked on.

The more damage they took, the more relentless they became, but Luigi couldn't stop Mario's little interjections of pain from hitting a nerve. They were more than brothers. They were a team, so good together, and just as good going against each other. Both of their strengths and weaknesses were showcased. Both of them had their power displayed. Both of them proved themselves as worthy protectors. But Luigi was out to cash a check, so to speak, of funds owed him over the last sixteen years. And that check was going to be accepted.

As the clock ticked down, the Bros continued to deplete their energy sources until every nerve in their bodies screamed at them to put a lid on it. That wasn't going to happen, especially in Luigi's case. The little bro had to prove that he wasn't so little anymore.

Finally, at the last possible second, the outcome of the match was decided by one strategic blow—Luigi's Super Jump Punch!

Mario wailed as his brother's uppercut Star KO'd him.

GAME SET!

"He'll get over it," Luigi reassured himself and his ally.

They parted ways at the waiting station, where the plumber greeted the glove with a cool stare. "Mind explaining what I saw back there?" he asked.

"I—just wanted to see how you would do against you. I admit that I didn't expect Mario to buy his act hook, line and sinker."

"He did," Luigi said to him, "but we'll discuss that later."

"That was one sweet win over your bro, though," said the glove.

"You're just trying to butter me up," said Luigi, "and it's actually working."

"I mean that, L. If you can win over Mario, imagine who else you can overcome."

Luigi blushed. "We're still not finished with this conversation," he said.

The glove chuckled and left Luigi to enjoy a slice of deep dish pizza as he recovered from the match.

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