It was a warm, sunshine filled day in the Mushroom Kingdom, as it almost always was. The perfect day for a walk in the woods! Luigi thought to himself as he strolled along the path. He was constantly thankful for the forest surrounding his and Mario's house. Although it was filled to the brim with all sorts of weird and sometimes terrifying creatures, when you ignored that fact, it was one of the most peaceful places you could go for miles.

He heard a loud rustling from a nearby bush. Probably just a goomba or crazee dayzee or something. He thought, uninterested. "If you're planning on sneaking up on me, you've already failed," he announced to whoever was making the noise, then continued on.

He stopped in his tracks when he heard a whisper. It almost sounded like someone was calling his name. He shook himself and kept going. He heard it again, more distinct this time: "Mr. L…"

"T-that's not my name!" he yelled, almost out of reflex. He turned on his heel, intent on going home before this got too weird.

The whispering voice laughed, a beautiful and harmonious laugh that at the same time was like nails on a chalkboard. "Don't leave yet…" it said, becoming ever more distinct and loud. The trees at the end of the path fell and twisted together like melted steel, blocking the path. The same thing happened to the other side of the visible path. "We haven't even had fun!"

Luigi dropped into a crouch, then jumped from that point over the treetops, and landed on the other side of the blockade. He then ran as fast as he could down the path, panting heavily. A tree's root wrapped around his ankle and pulled it out from under him. He gasped, the wind knocked out of him. He turned what he could of his body over so he was on his back and tugged at his encased leg, but the wood only wrapped around it tighter.

"Oh, come now, Mr. L," the voice said from behind him. Luigi whipped his head around and saw a face he had hoped to never see again. "Is that any way to greet an old friend?"

"Dimentio," Luigi gasped.

The magician smiled his regular smug, self-satisfied smile. He looked exactly the same as when they had first met, with the exception of one difference: he was monochromatically blue. His purples and yellows had faded so he looked like a photo that had been in the sun too long. He was lying on the ground, on his stomach, with one of his detached hands holding his head up. "Oh, you even remember my name!" He seemed to hover, not quite touching the ground. "It's as if you're an amnesiac meeting his wife again! How exciting."

Luigi tried to back away from him. "W-what are you doing here?! I thought your game ended!" The tree root twisted higher up his leg, slowly but still noticeably, leaving splinters and sawdust inits wake.

"Oh, we all have our continues, don't we now?" Dimentio answered nonchalantly.

"Not people like you! Queen Jaydes would never let a soul like you come back to life," he growled.

Dimentio laughed. "You must not know. Her highness loves a good deal. Haven't you ever heard the phrase 'a deal with the devil'? Or do you live under a rock?"

Ignoring the insult, Luigi asked, "A deal? What deal did you make?"

"Oh, a simple one." He looked at his translucent blue hand, and Luigi could have sworn he shuddered. "If a certain living being remembered me for three months, I wouldn't be punished anymore, but I would still be stuck in the Underwhere. If that same being continued to remember me for another three months, I would be free to go to the living world, but with a catch: it would beonly as a ghost."

That explains his sudden change in appearance, Luigi deduced.

"If I could haunt the same being for three months, then I would come back to life! And guess who I chose."

Luigi's eyes widened. "M-me. You chose me."

Dimentio leaned in close to him. Waves of cold came off of him. "Correct," he whispered.

The tree root released Luigi's leg. "That's all I wanted to-" The magician was cut off by Luigi, who got up and ran away at top speed. "Inconsiderate," he muttered.

Luigi was at the front door of his house in seconds. Once inside, he slammed the door behind himself. "Mario, something really- What are you doing?"

Mario was stuffing multiple sets of clothes and handfuls of mushrooms into Stuffwell, their faithful suitcase. "Peach has been kidnapped again," he muttered. He was a selective mute, so Luigi was one of the only people who had heard him speak. Even then, he was very quiet. "Do you want to help?"

Luigi shuddered. "No, thanks. I've had enough adventuring for a long while." He frowned. "I hate it when you go, though. It gets really quiet around here."

Mario shrugged apologetically. "I miss you too." He patted his little brother on the back. "I'll be back as soon as I can. Bye." He left without another word.

Luigi hugged his arms and sighed. "Did you already forget about me?" Dimentio asked, half in the wall, startling him.

"Gah!" Luigi shouted, and fell over. "Go away!"

"You know what's funny?" Dimentio asked, completely ignoring Luigi's annoyance (either that, or relishing it). "I think you're the only person who can see or hear me. I tried pestering your brother, but he didn't seem to notice me."

Luigi pushed himself off the floor. "Great. Spectacular. I'm stuck with a ghost only I can see, of the worst person I know."

"Oh, am I really the worst-"

"Yes!"

Dimentio frowned. "Alright, fair enough." He pulled himself fully through the wall. "Well, you'd better get used to me, because I'm not leaving you alone for three months!"

"I don't think- Hold on a moment," he said. He ran to his room, then came out lugging a large, dusty machine.

"What is that?" Dimentio asked, floating around it. "Looks like a computer."

"It's kind of like that. It's a communicator that Professor E. Gadd made," he explained. "He only uses these to talk to people from far away. For some reason." He booted it up. Its blank screen slowly woke up, sputtered twice, then displayed a messaging screen. He sent a simple message: 'Are you at your main lab? I need the poltergust.'

"Poltergust?" Dimetio peered at the screen. "What's that?"

"A machine that sucks up ghosts and locks them away where they can't bother anyone,"Luigi explained, a tad smugly.

The professor responded, 'No. I will be doing research somewhere far away for three months.'

Luigi's eyes widened. 'Can you give me the key code to your lab at least?' he asked, typing rapidly. He looked at Dimentio, who had a smug grin.

'No. I don't give the key code to anyone,' E. Gadd answered. 'Some things in there are absolutely top secret, and if they fell into the wrong hands, they could cause a disaster.'

Dimentio laughed out loud. "Nice try, Mr. L, but the odds are in my favor today!" He slapped him on the back. "Looks like we'll be together for longer than you thought."