Chapter Twenty-One:

A Brother Gone Too Far

He lay unconscious for many minutes, feeling dazed with a slight pain in his head. But he soon woke up, slowly sitting up. Luigi walked out of the van, followed by a dazed Mario, right as they heard footsteps. Someone was coming closer, they looked up, seeing a pair of Nintendo Ninjas coming their way.

"Is that Mario and Luigi?" A Nintendo Ninja asked.

"What are they doing?" Another remarked, "I can't believe they would do something as ridiculous as giving out memes."

"The boss wants them either way, we're taking them in."

"N-No..." Luigi wailed, "Leave us alone."

The Ninjas advanced on the plumbers, preparing to take the Italians. Luigi struck several combat poses, preparing to fight back. But then, an idea struck him. There weren't many options left, were there, might as well give it to 'em.

Luigi reached into his pocket and pulled out a PINGAS aka a Robotnik Head, one that he'd cooked up before he and Mario gave the last one to a Koopa. And without a second to waste, Luigi pounced on the Nintendo Ninja on his right and pulled down the mask before feeding him the meme, much to the shock of the other Ninja.

Mario took cover inside the van and Luigi watched what was going to happen. In the following seconds, the meme took effect as the Ninja's eyes widened. Then his head became wide in a cartoonish fashion before going back to normal, the meme seemed to be working harmlessly...

"Jacob." The Ninja's accomplice asked.

Jacob, the Nintendo Ninja who'd taken the Robotnik meme, made a truck horn sound and started spinning around, then he started going really crazy and flailing his limbs while making more wacky noises until he stopped spinning and pulled a gun from his pocket before raising it to his head.

"Farewell, my friend." Jacob said, "I'm moving on to a better place."

BLAM! To Luigi and the Ninja's shock, Jacob raised the gun to his head and pulled the trigger. The Nintendo Ninja dropped to the ground, smoke oozing from the hole in his head. Luigi could not believe his eyes; the meme had driven the Ninja mad to a point where he would do this.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, JACOB!" Jacob's accomplice cried, he glared at Luigi, "YOU! YOU MONSTER! YOU DID THIS! I'M TELLING!"

And with that, the Ninja scrambled into the van and drove off, leaving Luigi terrified as Mario stepped outside. Luigi surveyed the corpse of the Nintendo Ninja, a great darkness slowly seeping into his heart.

"Luigi?" Mario asked, "Are you okay?"

"It's… It's too late. I've gone too far, Mario." Luigi said, his voice sounding near-regretful, but also dramatic.

The next thing Mario knew, Luigi removed his hat and started shaving off his mustache, followed by his own hair. And then, he slapped on a goatee, followed by glasses.

Mario gasped; he'd seen every season of Breaking Bad. He could tell what was happening, Luigi had gone full Heisenberg, the man he knew as his brother had changed and all because of one meme-induced Ninja yeeting himself.

"Brother?" Mario asked.

"We need to cook." Luigi White told him, looking at the fat Italian with a serious expression in his eyes, "Our task is vital and we cannot waste anymore time than we already have, there can be no mistake and no compromises. But first things first..."

Luigi went inside the van and examined what had been a mini-meme workshop. Mario came inside too and the now-serious green Italian turned to the dim-witted plumber with a serious look in his eyes.

"...We need a new lab." Luigi said, "And I know where we can start. Mario, you have the wheel, I will provide the directions."

Mario gulped, there was no way out of this one.

The plumber took the wheel and started up the engines, making sure the tires were in order first. Then, he put the van in reverse, backing away from the rock, then he turned the wheel and drove off across the countryside with Luigi White reading off a map on the phone as it showed them the way to the brothers' next destination...