"Mario?!!!! Mario!!!! You're okay!! You escaped!! Thank goodness I thought I lost you!!" Luigi said, happily. He pulled Mario into a hug but he wasn't having it.

"Let me go!!!" Mario growled in anger. Luigi pulled away in shock.

"Oh... I-I'm sorry Mario... I didn't mean to invade your space. You've probably been through a lot..." Luigi replied, looking to the ground in shame.

"You will be..." Mario whispered, but Luigi didn't understand what he said.

"I'm sorry bro... What was that? I didn't hear you..."

"Bro??? Bro!!!" Mario started to laugh. "You think we're still brothers??? I don't think so!! Why would a coward like you be my brother?"

"M-Mario???" Luigi mumbled. "Wh-what do you mean??? W-we are Brothers. We're the Super Mario Brothers..."

"Not anymore we aren't. You're weak! Why would I have a brother like that!" Mario growled.

"M-Mario I-"

Lightning looked at Luigi. He looked like he was going to cry. "Hey, Mario!!! That's not very nice! How could you say that to Luigi! You should be proud of him. He looks up to you. He tries his best to be like you. All he wants is to be a hero. I would be proud of him if he was my brother. What has gotten into you?" Lightning replied, not noticing Mario's eyes at the time.

"He'll never be a hero, he'll always be a zero!! He's worthless to me! He's just a big baby!" Mario then tackled Luigi to the ground and started hitting him.

"Luigi!!!" Lightning cried. She quickly pushed Mario off and helped Luigi to his paws.

"See, he can't even defend himself!!"

Luigi completely lost it at that point and broke down into tears. He pushed passed Lightning and ran off.

"Luigi, Wait!!!" Lightning called out to him. She never got a reply. She turned back to Mario and growled. "Mario!!! How could you?! I can't believe you did that to him! I'm going to go see if he's alright while you stay here and think about what you've done!"

Lightning then ran off after Luigi.

***
Lightning finds Luigi crying by a lake. She rushed to him to try and cheer him up.

"Luigi... It's okay... Don't listen to him. What he said isn't true. You're just as special as Mario is."

"But I don't feel like a hero... What can I do... I'm just a coward..."

"That's not true Luigi. You're brave to me. You're my hero. You saved me a few times. It doesn't matter if you have fears, you face them to save the ones you love. That's what a good hero would do."

Luigi rubbed his eyes with a paw. "I guess you're right..."

"Here Luigi..." Lightning gave him a Sitrus Berry.

"Th-Thanks..." he replied, giving her a small smile before taking the berry.

Before he took a bite, he looked at Lightning then back to the berry. He cut the berry in half with Iron Tail and gave her a half. "Here... I think you need to get your energy up too..."

"Aw!! Thanks Luigi..." she kissed him on the cheek before taking the half of the berry. They both ate it together.

After eating, Mario finally found them.

"You know cowards run away, right?"

"Leave him alone, Mario! What happened to you? You're not acting like yourself." Lightning asked him.

"Nothing is wrong with me. What's wrong with you?"

Suddenly Jake, Churro, Max and Gabe ran towards them. "We're sorry we tried to hold him back and talk to him but he wouldn't listen..."

Lightning took a closer look at Mario and realized his red eyes. "Oh no... I knew it!"

"What is it, Lightning?" Luigi asked.

"That isn't the real Mario. He's being hypnotized!!" Lightning answered.

"Hypnotized?!" The rest of the group gasped.

Mario growled and went into a battle stance.

Lightning walked in front of Luigi to protect him. "Mario! Snap out of it! We don't want to fight you!"

"That's too bad. I guess that gives me the upper hand then."

"Mario!! I know you're in there!!! You have to fight it, Bro!" Luigi called out.

Mario used a Shadow Ball at Lightning. Lightning countered it with Electro Ball. "Mario, please! I don't want to have to hurt you!"

Mario didn't listen and ran towards her with Iron Tail. He managed to hit her in the side and made her fall back.

"Lightning!!"

Mario grinned and walked towards Luigi but Churro, Jake And Max Walked in front of him, while Gabe stayed by Luigi's side.

However, Mario managed to get passed them. Gabe stayed by Luigi's side.

"Gabe be careful..." Luigi said.

Mario's Tail turned to Iron as he was ready to use Iron Tail but Gabe wouldn't back down.

Mario slammed his tail down, only to have it be reflected by a blue force field.

Gabe used Protect.

Lightning slowly got to her paws to see the force field Gabe made.

"Gabe, you have learned Protect!"

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Alright I'll stop there now. I may update more tomorrow before Press START is updated. Hope you enjoyed. More coming...