The Evils Within

Chapter 10

The stadium erupted in cheers. Goombas, koopas, shy guys, and a large variety of Bowser's other minions sat in the yellow-green patterned stands surrounding the center island, which itself was surrounded by an empty moat dubbed the 'dead zone'.

Mr. L stood on one side, eager to fight, while Bowser stood on the other, ready to unleash his anger upon his opponent. In the middle, a cloud of blue smoke appeared. Upon it, emerged Kamek, a magikoopa.

"Welcome, fellow minions, to Koopa Stadium!" He greeted the crowd to be met with cheers. "Our ruler, King Bowser, has been challenged to a battle by the masked green man," he gestured to the competitors. The crowd booed to Mr. L, who simply smiled, basking in the not-so-glorious spotlight.

"Last one standing, wins. Falling into the dead zone results in instant disqualification," Kamek explained the rules before raising his wand. "Ready?...Set...Fight!" He pointed his wand down, disappearing back into the cloud with a horn sound, signaling the start of the battle.

~~~~~

Mario and Luigi were walking back from Peach's castle. Mario was ultimately glad his brother was awake again. Luigi on the other hand.... He wasn't sure himself. Luigi was glad he was back in the real world and all, but he couldn't help but think something, or even someone, was planning against the both of them, if not, the whole kingdom.

He rubbed his arm in thought but was snapped out of it by the sound of his brother's voice in an attempt to break the silence between them.

"So, you've been out for quite some time. I bet you had some interesting dreams in there," Mario spoke, trying to get his brother to talk.

Luigi only glanced to the floor, indicating he didn't want to talk about it.

"Oh, don't want to talk about it? I understand," Mario nodded.

Luigi had not wanted to talk about anything recently. Even before he was asleep for half a week. Luigi has been awfully distant. Mario knew something was up, but he could never get an answer out of his brother.

"Hey. I've noticed you haven't really said much recently. It's kind of... worrying. Is something wrong?" He had to ask again. It felt a little excessive since he's essentially asked the same question every day for half a month.

Luigi's attention snapped to his brother. Out of reflex, he commented, "No, of course not. Everything's fine." He was, in fact, not fine. He knew what he was doing was greatly concerning his brother, but he couldn't bring himself to admit that something was wrong as it may only concern Mario even more. A few seconds after he commented, Luigi exclaimed in pain. It felt like someone had punched in the stomach.

All of Mario's attention was now on Luigi. If he was concerned then, he was even more worried now. Luigi clutched his stomach before noticing Mario was looking right at him. He gave a fake smile and thumbs up. Mario's face sported a confused expression before turning his attention back on the road ahead.

Something was definitely wrong with Luigi and Mario desperately wanted to find out. Not just for curiosity's sake, but for his brother's too.

Luigi knew that something was wrong. Something's been wrong for quite a while and he hasn't told anybody, but this was new. Another sharp pain struck him, this one in the side of the head. His vision temporarily blurred and his ears rang. He bit his lip in an attempt to not yelp to not alert Mario.

He was hoping to figure out a way to put a stop to this and quick before it was too late.

~~~~~

Mr. L slid to a stop, his foot slipping off the edge of the platform. Taking a few steps forward, he collapsed, falling to his hands and knees.

Bowser laughed, "Ha! That was way too easy. What were you even thinking challenging me?" He began to inch closer to the soon-to-be defeated foe, with many ideas to end this.