Note: After my long absence I have become determined to write another chapter and this one I am actually dedicating to one of my recovering friends. She just came from surgery and she has commented recently that this story was one of her top favorites. So for her and wishing her a speedy recovery, Houki…this chapter is for you.

Lost in the moment, brought back by chance

That victory would have come a lot sooner over his two advisories had the one in red not slowed him down during the tennis match earlier. At least that is what Mr. L believed as he walked through the hallways with a sly smirk on his face, tossing one arm to the side to realign the cape that draped down his back as he eyed the locker room to which his true prize was waiting.

Mr. L walked into the room as he saw before him a more perfect sight than he had ever though possible as the lovely desert gem sat in the exact same spot that he had left her but now she had been looking towards the window, the beams of sunlight managing to bring her lovely green eyes to a brilliant and beautiful sparkle…the sun did not seem to strain her eyes. Naturally, she was the princess of the desert and Mr. L should not expect anything less.

"I made myself a promise…to not keep such a perfect mirage waiting…least I suffer the heartbreak of such an image to leave my sights and not know when such would return." Mr. L whispered in a dark manner as he placed both his hands on the shoulders of the princess, actually feeling her jump from her startled nerves under his touch as her head whipped around to look towards Mr. L with wide eyes.

"Geez, Luigi…you scared me half to death." Daisy called out as she placed a hand to her chest as if it would still her beating heart. The fight from her eyes vanished in seconds as she stared into Mr. L's eyes and she even held her breath for a second.

"Only half to death, then you have not completely left me…allow me to bring you back to life, my dear sand gem." Mr. L grinned as he lifted a hand to her chin, cupping it under his curled index finger as he leaned in ever so slightly.

Daisy could not explain what was happening to her, it was like Luigi had suddenly gained such a domineering presence about him that not only demanded that those around him submit to him but commanded it and such a powerful energy was actually swooning Daisy's senses and robbing her of her ability to fight against his words…worse yet, she found herself in conflict as a part of her mind pleaded for Luigi to not tease her so and just reward her obedient silence.

The warmth…burned her lips with an invisible fire as Luigi touched his lips to hers and she was allowed to experience what she thought she would never be able to; Luigi taking control of everything and leading the way. By whatever gods there might be she found her lips throbbing under the intensity that the dark clothed man pushed onto her senses. Whatever these clothes did to the mindset of Luigi she had to remember this and maybe even get him to bring it back every once in awhile…the man had a way of making even a second last for eternity as her body tensed for a moment under his claiming kiss against her soft lips.

Every nerve tingled in her body, startling from her lips and tickling down her spine to arc out into the farthest corners of her vessel. 1000 days and nights in the lands of her kingdom would never capture the heat he was pushing onto her with a single kiss.

The parting of their lip lock proved to be more torturous than waiting the second he delayed to actually kiss her as her eyes slowly opened to look into the smirking expression of her lover…it was a perfect blend to her, a very complicated yet well thought out mixture of a sinister aura, confidence, and command was what his one smirk could be described as. The room around her spun for one moment as she brought her hand up to her head to steady the world and try to regain control once more, a light misting of sweat had actually coated the surface of her forehead…the man had made her anticipate so much in such a short time that her body reacted in such a manner it never had…no man had ever been so bold…yet so confident in their steps.

"Come…let us go elsewhere…let us be alone." Mr. L's hypotonic voice echoed in her mind and she found herself unable to resistant…his voice woke one of the most primal urges in her mind that not only was curious what was to come but wanted it all the more as she raised a hand, her mind silently pleading for him to take it and carry her away to where they could be alone.

Mr. L's smirk turned into a sly grin as he gently took her hand, tipping his hand to her with the free hand while pulling her slowly to her feet and slowly he guided her towards the door…the exit…no…the entrance way to where ever Mr. L would take her, to the place they could be alone…a place Daisy wanted to be right now more than anything in all the kingdoms.

"Mr. L!" thundered a voice that made the man of dark clothing snap his head forward and the moment his eyes broke their lock on Daisy's green eyes she found herself wanting to have them back as her head whirled for a moment and all the anticipation turned to irritation as she looked towards the voice that was intruding on their moment.

"Mario?" Daisy blinked while her tone maintained a grip of annoyance.

"Ah…Mr. Jumppingred…what an untimely entrance you have made, no tact at all…I see some people do not change." Mr. L chuckled as he placed a hand to his forehead while his eyes came to a close while he shook his head for a moment. "If you do not mind…you are intruding on what was to be a lovely evening; take offense or none at all, I do not care, but this evening does not involve you." Mr. L casually spoke out while he adjusted his finely pressed green cap.

"Daisy…get away from him!" Peach suddenly called out from behind Mario.

"You too, my fair princess? Such a shame, if one would be silent for just a moment you could swear that you hear my heart break just ever so slightly." Mr. L snickered before glancing over his shoulder towards Daisy. "Is this to be the part where we must bid each other farewell?"

"What? No." Daisy defensively spoke out before looking to Mario and Peach with a confused yet irritated glare. "Why are you two acting this way?"

"I think the safer question is: why is Luigi acting this way." Mario called out which made Daisy think for a moment before looking towards Luigi.

"Daisy…you were not there for it but this is not the Luigi you know, Luigi was once brainwashed by an evil creature and turned into this Mr. L." Peach tried to explain.

"Heh, Count Bleck was but a fool who thought to control one as great as I…but now that Count Bleck is nothing in our existence I am free to do as I wish." Mr. L grinned while his eyes narrowed from behind the black mask he wore over his eyes, giving Mario a challenging glance.

"You're…not working for Count Bleck anymore?" Peach blinked once in surprise.

"Then who are you working for now?" Mario demanded, keeping his guard up.

"Heh heh heh," Mr. L cackled while raising a hand to adjust his already perfectly aligned hat. "And who said I was working for anyone? I am…Mr. L, gone rogue." Mr. L grinned as he raised a hand up above his head, pointing towards the skies with his index finger. "Oh…I quite like the sound of that…gone rogue, has a devilish charm to it…don't you think?" Mr. L casually commented as his eyes lowered from the ceiling towards his intruders.

"Gone…rogue?" Peach blinked once before looking to Mario.

"Now…I would humbly ask the lovely beauty in the pink dress to please step away from Mr. Jumpsalot." Mr. L gestured politely with his hand as he gave Peach a gentlemanly bow of his head which surprised the princess.

"W-why?" Peach asked softly.

Mr. L could tell that Mario was on the defensive and trying to make sense of everything that was happening, if Mr. L had to guess anything, then he would think that Mario was trying to make sense of why and how Mr. L was here if Count Bleck had not summoned him…something that Mr. L thought of for a moment but also did not give it too much thought, beyond what it was worth.

"I shall not keep you waiting, my beautiful sand gem." Mr. L whispered in a soft yet dark manner as he half turned and guided her away from him as if he were trying to protect her from the two intruding figures that happened to be her closest friends. She was going to rebel against his gesture but his commanding energy somehow had a way of robbing her of her will to fight his words. "Wait until the diamonds of the nights shine their brightest and I shall come to thee." Mr. L grinned.

Mario knew the mind type that Mr. L was and he was trying to escort the ladies from the area in case the meeting took on a more physical escalation. Mario looked over his shoulder towards Peach, the bewildered Peach, and gave a confirming nod of his head to follow what Mr. L suggested as Peach held her breath for a moment, looked between Mario and Mr. L and slowly turned around to clear the area. Mr. L was not going to get anywhere; Mario was blocking the only exit.

"How you do like to interfere in my plans." Mr. L commented while his head was still turned towards Daisy, not looking at Mario yet. "At first I found such to be a little cute in the stereotypical hero's way…then it became quite annoying to me that you managed to best some of my best creations." Mr. L casually commented while his head turned slightly to look towards the ceiling. "But then I remind myself…the one you bested a Mr. L with a mind clouded…mudded over by the brainwashing of Count Bleck…that is the only explanation possible for my past failures, clearly there is no way you could beat me at my best, Mr. Redjumpper." Mr. L suddenly turned his head to stare intently at Mario as lightning started to surge around the body of Mr. L, making Mario tense for a moment as his eyes only narrowed even more. "I have quite a few past embarrassments to make up for…and I shall be starting with you…" Mr. L's taunting voice took on a sterner, serious, battle ready tone as the room flickered to life under the flashes of lightning that had consumed Mr. L's body.

"What happened to you, Luigi…what brought this back?" Mario tried to reason with his younger brother as he calmed his tense nerves and took a step forward, a bold move considering that lightning was arcing in and out of the mans body.

"Not a matter of what…I would say who." Mr. L arched one eyebrow before lifting a hand to look at the lightning spidering along the surface of his glove.

"What?" Mario blinked once, watching his brother observe the lightning like he was actually creeping Mario out, like he was dealing with a man on the last peg of his sanity.

"They shall never…take another drop of blood from me." Mr. L whispered to himself before his eyes became consumed in a split second with an ice cold determination. "Have at you!" Mr. L proclaimed before pushed his palm forward as the lightning crackled in the air, snapping to life before the arcs lashed out towards Mario.

The attack was instant but the reaction from Mario was impressive even to Mr. L as Mario swooped his hand in front of him and a flash of red fire exploded from his hand, acting like a wall of fire for the lightning to impact but not penetrate.

"New tactics, Mr. Redjumpper…good, I thought this battle would be far too boring had you not learned anything since our last encounter." Mr. L gleefully cooed.

"We don't have to fight!" Mario tried to reason with his former younger brother.

"Oh…how wrong you are." Mr. L responded while leaping forward, closing the distance. Mr. L swiped his arm in front of him, cutting through the flames of one of Mario's fireballs that had been hurled at him to try and stop his advance. Mr. L landed in front of the one in red and dropped to one knee to swipe in a tripping kick but his attack got nothing but air as Mario jumped up and over Mr. L. "Heh…like before, you are surprisingly quick for your proportions." Mr. L commented while his head lifted, watching Mario's every movement with his eyes as Mr. L spun back to his feet to turn completely around to where Mario was going to land. "But not nearly quickly enough." Mr. L grinned as he shoved his hand forward into a palm strike, hitting Mario in the chest as the lightning passed through Mr. L's palm and burned every nerve they touched inside Mario's body. Mr. L watched as the muscles in Mario's body became stiff, locked under the pain of lightning as his body twitched and danced to the power of Mr. L's attack. Mario was not even allowed to release an anguished scream, his mouth opened but that only allowed for Mr. L's lightning to slither into Mario's body.

Focusing for one single moment, the lightning pooled into Mr. L's palm, constructing a small orb of lightning that snapped to life before flashing a bright radiance and exploding, sending the red jumper hurling towards the wall.

Mr. L gave out a gleeful laughter as he waved his hands in front of him, allowing the lightning to chase after his hand like a playful game of tag. "Just as I thought…you were always inferior to the like of myself…Count Bleck just held me back and it is obvious as to the why…he, like everyone should, feared me and feared what I would be capable of." Mr. L snapped his fingers as the lightning fizzled out and Mr. L only shook his head in dismay at what he thought was supposed to be a challenging fight before looking to the side to see the bewildered Daisy just staring at him in disbelief.

"Have I startled you? I am very sorry for all this needless excitement." Mr. L reassured, regaining his dark, haunting, whisper-like tone. "Come then…allow us to leave here and find a place of peace to which to calm your nerves." Mr. L smiled as he extended his hand.

Daisy took a step back for a moment as if trying to fight the power that Mr. L had over to entice, enthrall and capture her as she swallowed hard for one moment before looking from Mr. L's eyes to glancing over his shoulder. "Luigi! Watch out!" Daisy suddenly called out.

"Hm?" Mr. L blinked as he glanced over his shoulder, only to see that his sights were now being dominated by the flashes of red and orange. "Urg!" Mr. L proclaimed as the fire blast hit his back with full force, making Mr. L drop to one knee as his teeth pressed together, enduring the burning agony that the attack brought to life in his body. "Heh…" Mr. L suddenly grinned as if a realization washed through his mind and he suddenly gave into a mad cackle while standing back to his feet. "Good…good…pain, and here I thought this all could not have been real…but it is, I feel pain…and pain is real, this is excellent." Mr. L laughed out as he turned around to face Mario, who was not charged from shoulder to fingertips in his fire. In the flash of a second, lightning consumed Mr. L's body as the gentlemanly thief breathed out once as if calming himself before shooting a glare towards Mario.

It did not take long for the room to be consumed in blasts of fire and flashes of lightning, every punch that Mr. L threw met the forearm of Mario or caught nothing but air as fire and lightning blended together in their deadly dance for control. Mario managed to grab Mr. L by both of his arms and Mario jumped up as high as the ceiling would let him as he spun around once and tossed Mr. L to the ground, his body hitting the unforgiving surface once and even bouncing off the ground to roll off to the side before Mr. L could recover and roll to a kneel. Mario dove down at his younger brother with one hand in front of him as the fire swirled around the surface. Mr. L rolled forward with such speed and recovery that one would not think he felt anything from being tossed so violently to the ground. Before Mario could react physically, his eyes were forced to watch the speed of Mr. L while the man rolled forward, then jumped into the air and the next thing Mario felt were two fists slamming into Mario's gut as Mario coughed out breathlessly and felt his body slam into the ceiling as Mr. L shoved his hands as deep into his adversaries gut as possible and let the two of them drop to the ground before Mr. L turned Mario over in mid-air so Mario was the one to slam onto the ground with Mr. L's hands around the jumping heroes throat.

"You never could…and never shall beat me." Mr. L growled while he focused all his will into his lightning, paralyzing Mario in waves of agony as Mario's body convulsed violently under the hands of Mr. L and the lightning serves the purpose Mr. L wanted, cease every muscle and nerve in his body while Mr. L choked the life out of his enemy. "Now…Mr. Jumpsalot…you die." Mr. L gravely spoke out as his fingers tightened around his throat, the lightning only crackled louder, reaching a deafening degree as the energy filled the room, providing a prison for the hero in red to die in…a prison that Mr. L made just for him.

"Luigi! Stop it!" Mr. L suddenly heard the pleas from a terrified, desperate princess call out as he suddenly felt slender hands place themselves on his shoulders and gently pull at Mr. L, trying to get him to spare the man with the shortening life span.

The woman had to be a complete fool to step into the room, the prison of lightning had to be causing her intense agony and she was braving it to try and get him to spare his pray. Mr. L pushed that thought to the side as his eyes focused on the agony that Mario was going through and what pleasure such a sight was giving him. The man who had thwarted his plans and his bots and had been the cause of such humiliation and grief, Mr. L was going to make sure that his death would be as slow as possible while being filled with so much agony that the story of Mr. Jumpingred's demise will strike fear into anyone who would ever dare considering going up against him.

"Luigi! You can't do this…you can't kill your own brother! You're going to kill Daisy too if you don't stop…and…me." The voice pleaded as Mr. L felt the strength of the woman slowly leave her body as her body started to press against his back as she fought the pull of unconsciousness. The cage of lightning that had claimed this room was wrecking havoc on all except the prison master…the prison master being Mr. L.

Mr. L blinked once when he felt dead weight against him as her words finally reached the depths of his mind and he shook his head once. "Daisy too?" Mr. L arched an eyebrow before he looked a head of him to see Daisy laying on the floor, he had escorted her off to the side of the room for the soul reason of not having her beauty being caught in the ugly flames of battle and now she was being claimed by his lightning as he watched it pass into her body and surge right back out. Blonde strands of hair hung down his shoulders as the mild, yet awakening scent of peaches filled his nostrils and his eyes looked to the side to see Princess Peach slumped over his back, she had been trying to pull him off and the lightning had claimed her as well. The lightning that surged through his body fizzled out instantly as the cage of lightning vanished into nothing but cracking sounds that slowly faded. Mr. L tried to move but felt the dead weight of Princess Peach slowly start to fall to the side towards the ground. Mr. L released Mario's throat instantly as he heard Mario gasp out in agony and cough in violent heaves as Mr. L twisted his body just in time to catch Peach before she hit the ground and Mr. L carefully lowered her onto the ground as he tried to put her down in the most peaceful position possible, brushing aside a few stray hairs from her creamy face. The scent of peaches had somehow snapped him from his moment of insanity and he did not even know why as he looked down at the peaceful expression of the princess, knowing that behind that expression was a woman who had suffered a great deal before passing out all thanks to him…and Daisy, his desert gem, had passed out who knows how long ago.

Mr. L brushed the last few blonde strands of hair away before standing to his feet, glancing down at the recovering Mario with a slight sneer before walking across the locker room and then kneeling down before the unconscious Daisy as he shifted her body as carefully as possible, she had not fallen in the most comfortable of positions and although there was nothing he could do about the pain that he had caused her, there was something he could do about her comfort, he would never be able to see himself as anything but a worthless cad if he did not at least do what he could as he placed her in the same peaceful position as he did with Princess Peach, leaning over to whisper darkly into her ear.

"I had no intention of harming beauty during my battles, it shall be too much to ask of you but I do hope both of you find some means of forgiving me…I shall be sure to make amends." Mr. L whispered before gingerly brushing the brown locks of Daisy's hair away from her face.

Mario's vision blurred as he recovered, the only thing he was capable of comprehending at the moment was that he was coughing and each cough felt like it was tearing the flesh of his throat while he pushed himself up to a sitting position.

"Luigi!" Mario suddenly called out as his senses came back and his eyes darted around the room to see none but the Princess's around him.

"Fortune favors you on this day, Mr. Jumpsaroundalot." A voice called out, catching Mario's attention as his eyes darted towards the source.

Mr. L was standing against the window, high up in the room as the run created nothing but a silhouette of Mr. L, he was leaning against the window ledge with his arms crossed, looking down at Mario as Mr. L raised a hand to his hat, placing his index and middle finger to his rim before waving off the sign of his departure.

"Enjoy your blessing whilst they last…L-ater!"

Mr. L pressed his hand to the window as he pushed it open and jumped out to disappear from sight as Mario blinked once and felt his hand tense into a tight ball as his muscles trembled in anger.