At Least Your Brother's Not Gonna Die Because of You!

More Side Effects, and Now the Bros Are All Up to Speed

When Luigi comes out of his Radiology scan, Mario's still sitting in the lobby, waiting for him.

"Well?"

"No biggie." Luigi shrugs.

"You're in good hands." Mario promises.

"I'm in your hands." Luigi teases. "You covered for me when the experimental therapy had me bedridden and I couldn't be there for an important job. Must've been embarrassing."

"Nah, they told me they wished you a speedy recovery." Mario replies.

"We're gonna have to start telling people, aren't we?" Luigi says regretfully. "How do we even start a conversation about this?"

"Maybe we should ask Peach for advice?" Mario offers, right as the other doctor returns quicker than expected.

"Hey!" Luigi greets. "Did you get a look at the scan? Can you take it out?"

The other doctor, however, doesn't look optimistic as she says, "We had you do the scan so we could measure the size of the mass. We were hoping the experimental therapy would make it shrink so we could take it out."

"Did it?" Luigi asks.

"I'm so sorry, both of you." The other doctor apologizes. "The mass is still growing."

"Okay. Then we try something else." Luigi says.

"That might work, but we need to talk it over with your doctor first." The other doctor explains. "But I will be looking over the biopsy again. There is nothing I won't overlook so we can figure out what this is. Got it?"

"Remember." Mario squeezes Luigi's shoulder. "It's not a tumor, and it's not cancer."

"Right." Luigi nods. "But it's something that's messing with my head and making me snap at people I care about, and I want it to stop."

"You snap at me all the time." Mario jokes. "That's why I haven't gotten sick of you yet."

In response, Luigi grabs him in a tight hug.

Later, the other doctor's looking at the scan, and his eyes widen. "Holy stars, how did we both miss this?"

When Mario and Luigi come home, Mario's quick to say, "Weeg, it was just one experimental therapy that didn't work. He said it could be another one that does the trick."

"You're right." Luigi concedes.

"But right now, I think we need to focus on telling Peach that you're going to be out of commission for a little longer. And we should tell her in person." Mario encourages.

"Tell her what? I'm not out of commission." Luigi looks at him in confusion. "Nothing's wrong with me, why would I be out of commission?"

"Lu, you're sick." Mario reminds him, also confused. "Remember? Mass in your brain?"

"Huh?" Luigi still looks confused. "What mass in my brain?"

"Luigi completely forgot about his diagnosis." Mario says to Luigi's doctor.

"You reminded him?" The doctor asks.

"You kidding? It's all we talk about these days." Mario replies.

"How long before he remembered?" The doctor keeps asking questions.

"About 5 minutes." Luigi admits sheepishly. "And then it hit me."

"Well that's actually a completely normal side effect for someone with a mass inside your brain." The doctor says.

"The radiologist said the treatment didn't work on it and it's getting bigger. Is it true?" Luigi asks, scared. "Is that why I'm having more side effects? What is this thing doing to me?"

"I'm not going to pretend like I know anything about what you're feeling." The doctor says. "But side effects from experimental therapy include swelling of the brain, which can lead to others."

"Just give me a straight answer, please." Luigi begs. "Is this thing growing?"

"It is, but it's slow." The doctor finally admits.

"Good, because I refuse to go through forgetting everything again." Luigi says adamantly.

"Weegee that's not--"

"I can't live with myself if I ever hurt Mario like that again." Luigi finishes, cutting Mario off.

"Okay, first off, what you're experiencing now has nothing to do with your brainwashing." The doctor says. "You're still Luigi. Mario's still your brother. That won't ever disappear."

"If she can't promise it, I will." Mario steps forward to squeeze Luigi's neck.

"Go home and sleep, okay?" The doctor advises. "No reason to think we won't see an improvement."

"What if there isn't one?" Luigi asks.

"Then we try something else." The doctor says. "Just relax."

Then she leaves, but Luigi's already shaking his head.

"She knows something." He says in despair. "It's worse than we ever imagined."

As he paces, Mario tries to stop him, "Lu, you can't know that for sure. All that's gonna do is send you spiraling. Why would she lie to us?"

Then the radiologist comes back, and Luigi sighs in exasperation, "Great, more bad news I take it?"

"I was looking over everything again to see the next experimental therapy we could try." The radiologist explains. "And make sure we had an accurate diagnosis."

"So it is a tumor ?" Luigi's eyes widen.

"No." The radiologist says quickly. "It's not, I promise."

"But there's something." Mario theorizes. "Something you guys lied about."

"No we didn't." the radiologist defends. "Lying implies we knew something and deliberately withheld it. We didn't know this initially. The pathologist team said this particular mass was unlike anything they'd ever had to work with."

"So I'm the first person to ever have this problem?" Luigi rolls his eyes.

"Well you see, the problem is the mass is a plant." The radiologist explains, noting how Mario's face goes pale then turns completely ashen at the words. "And it's one that hasn't been seen in this world in ages, if ever, with an odd sounding name."

"A Floro Sprout." Mario says quietly, which makes the radiologist and Luigi look at him.

"How did you know?" The radiologist demands.

"Because I saw what it did firsthand." Mario says, his voice completely drained of emotion as he pulls something out of his pocket, holding it up. "Look familiar?"