Bowsette: A New Life
Chapter 22
Brother Vs…
Luigi got to his feet and rushed upstairs to the second floor as soon as he heard the screams. Luigi knew that Daisy would be able to handle herself well enough, but Peach he wasn't so sure of. Luigi burst through the main door on the second floor with a few Toad guards following along. Inside the room the windows to the outside were broken and a dozen Toads stood there. However, they looked… wrong, wearing mostly black and purple clothes, but their skin was an unnatural blackish color and their eyes with pink glowing pupils seemed to be filled with rage.
Luigi shivered at the sight of these strange Toads and before he could even say a word, they charged at him and the Toad guards. Luigi quickly jumped over the first few and leaped onto another, knocking it out. As he did, the being vanished in a puff of pink smoke. Luigi didn't let it distract him and leapt onto another, and another. Using the enemy Toads as a springboard, he aimed for the door onward and left the rest to the guards as he entered.
Inside, a horde of more of the evil Toads surrounded the two princesses. Like in the other room the windows had broken, and now Luigi saw bolts of pink lightning from the windows impacting into the long hallway and bringing more evil Toads where it struck. The two women were doing their best to fight back, but the enemy was going to overwhelm them quickly.
"Peach! Daisy!" Luigi yelled. Luigi was never the bravest man, but he was never one to stand by while innocent people were in danger either. Daisy was swinging the tennis racket she had brought at the enemy Toads and taking them out one after another. Peach apparently didn't have her vibe scepter on hand, or she'd be doing just as well. As it was, Peach was casting a magical barrier to keep the enemy back as best she could while Daisy did the work, but she could only slow them down, not stop them.
Luigi took one look at Daisy trying her hardest and it was all it took to get him to literally leap into the fray. Luigi hopped from one evil Toad to the next taking out one after the other, but that wasn't going to do the job on its own. In midair, grabbing out of his pocket an emergency powerup he had on hand for moments like this, Luigi donned a hammer suit. Luigi began throwing down a stream of hammers while leaping from enemy to enemy.
This seemed to finally stem the tide, and the evil Toads poofed out of existence faster than the bolts could make more of them. Working in tandem with the girls Luigi made hammers rain down as fast as he could. Soon, the evil Toads started to lessen, it seemed like the battle was turning in their favor and it wasn't long before all the evil Toads disappeared.
The bolts suddenly stopped for a moment… and then a dozen bolts struck the same spot simultaneously. The ground rumbled, then the bolts struck the same spot again, and then again. Finally, a massive pink cloud of magical dust filled the room. As it cleared, Luigi and the girls could spot a familiar figure within, short, plump, wearing a purple cap with an M on it, but otherwise it was wearing a black shirt and purple overalls similar to Waluigi, but it wasn't him.
"M…m…Mario?" It was all Luigi could get out of his mouth before his 'brother' rushed up and struck him square in the jaw.
***
"WAAAAGH!" Bowsette screamed. "ARRGGHH!" Mario joined as the two in the Koopa Copter shot through the large pipe at breakneck speeds. The Koopa Queen and plumber were thrown about as the Copter turned in circles while it continued its journey, smacking against the pipe walls and being forced faster and faster. This beating had long since rendered the Copter inactive, now it was simply a metal ball holding its occupants as they shot down the pipe sending them who knows where.
"YOU BETTER NOT DIE YOU HEAR ME!" Bowsette yelled hysterically at Mario. "IF WE SURVIVE THIS, I'M KILLING YOU!" Mario couldn't blame her at this point. "I… UGH GOT IT!" Mario yelled back. The two grabbed onto anything in the Copter they could, but it tended to last only so long before it was ripped off. Out of sheer desperation Mario and Bowsette ended up grabbing and holding onto each other tightly.
Suddenly, the Copter exited the pipe and was shot through the air. The occupants, however, were oblivious to this in their situation. All the two could do was continue to scream and hope that they would land without turning into mush.
***
Luigi was thrown back by his 'brother's' blow. He hit the wall and lost his Hammer Suit powerup on impact. Shaking it off, Luigi finds Peach standing in front of him holding the being off with a barrier, but it, whatever it was, was pushing through. There was no sign of recognition or mercy in its blank pinkish glowing eyes, seemingly only blind rage. As it went through the barrier, it did something his brother would never do.
It struck Peach across the face throwing her to the ground. The Princess laid there unmoving. Luigi got to his feet and leapt at the creature, causing it to jump back to avoid Luigi's kick. "You're not-a my brother." Luigi said. It was sheer surprise that kept Luigi from realizing it sooner. Luigi was shaking in terror, he stood no chance against the real Mario, not that the two would have ever truly fought under normal circumstances but Luigi knew this.
'Mario' threw a stream of fireballs at Luigi, who dodged to the left and bounded off the wall to leap at the facsimile. It pulled out a hammer and swung at Luigi, forcing him to do a double jump out of the way to avoid being hit. Luigi pulled out his own hammer in turn, jumping to strike only to be parried by the thing's own hammer. 'Mario' responded with its own acrobatic leaps and strikes.
'Whatever this-a thing is, it doesn't just look like my bro, it moves like him too.' Luigi noted. It wasn't the first time the Mario Bros had fought evil doppelgangers of themselves, but this one seemed to possess both all of Mario's strength and skill. As good as Luigi was and as many adventures he had been in on his own and alongside his brother he was still badly out of shape and practice compared to the real Mario.
Luigi fought valiantly, but as he avoided one kick and fireball and hammer strike after another, he started getting tired. It was only a matter of time before Luigi started to slow down. The evil Mario thing managed to hit Luigi with its hammer, breaking his arm. "Aarrgh!" Luigi screamed and was knocked to the ground clutching his arm. Luigi stared up at the thing wearing his brother's face as it approached, it didn't seem to be mocking him or taking glee in his pain, it only had it's constant expression of malice on its face the whole time.
Luigi grunted and held his arm trying to get up, but he was in too much pain. The thing took its time approaching, only as it stepped up to Luigi to suddenly go flying. "Forgot about me, didn't you?" Daisy boasted. "Ah dammit…" Daisy said as she noticed she broke her racket against the thing's face. "That was my favorite racket…" Daisy leaned down and pulled Luigi to his feet.
Rather than move to attack again, the 'Mario' double pointed at something… or more specifically someone. Princess Peach was still laying on the floor unconscious from the earlier attack. A pink spark formed on the doppelganger's finger and turned into a full on bolt of pink electricity that jumped across the room and struck Peach. "Princess!" Luigi yelled, but both were too late to do anything.
As the bolt struck Peach, she at once started to change. Purple/black colors flowed across her dress, replacing the original pink colors. "I… I understand now…" A voice that was Peach's but not quite said. Gradually Peach got to her feet and opened her eyes, glowing with pink energy. "This is not how the world is supposed to be."