Love Hurts

"Love Hurts" aired alongside its sister episode, "Where the Tide Ends" on July 19th, 2013. It is the 9th episode of the overall series.

## **Plot**

Peach goes out to grow some peaches out in an orchard when all of a sudden, she hears a loud scream. She quickly goes to investigate to see a child who has fallen into a river and goes to rescue him. She successfully does and goes back to the castle. That night, she begins having odd dreams of being in love with everyone around her. She begins to question herself on what is happening but doesn't think too much of it. She then wakes up and the next morning is awfully loving and nice to everyone around her. Mario and Luigi do notice a difference in her behavior but chalk it up to her just being extra nice, it just does so happen to be, "Very Nice Day", a day dedicated to being overly nice in the kingdom. Due to this, the town does not suspect a thing is wrong with her, worse yet, she is the princess after all. However, Mario notices that she is giving everyone she meets a kiss on the cheek and he points out that is something she never does, he also says it doesn't seem like something she would do, even on a holiday like that. Suddenly, the ground begins to rumble and a giant worm pops out and lets out a horrifying shriek. Mario, knowing Peach can fight back, doesn't worry too much until she does not move and instead goes for a hug to the creature. Mario gasps and dashes towards her and grabs her just out of harm's way. Luigi and Squirt throw Mario chains to wrap around the creature but it doesn't work. Mario gets caught by its tail and pleads for Peach's help but to his horror, she is smelling flowers. Luigi tries his best to let her see what is happening but to no avail. He then suddenly glows green eyes and shoots fireballs at the creature, injuring it and allowing it to drop Mario. It quickly dashes away, leaving Mario in shock that Luigi can also possess firepower. They both question Peach why she didn't help out to which she only responds with a kiss on the cheek for both of the bros. Luigi becomes flattered and faints while Mario for sure suspects something is off with her.

That night, Mario goes to have a talk with Peach about the incident. She insists that nothing is wrong and goes to shut the door to which Mario begins to blush. Luigi opens the door and sees that Peach is about to untie a nervous Mario's overalls, he gasps and realizes something is totally off with her. He goes in and snatches her away to which Mario has a brief upset expression. Luigi tries his best to snap her back to reality and ultimately decides to have her checked with the most famous doctor in the kingdom, Dr. Toadley.

He along with Squirt take her to his office to which a receptionist named Cathy says that he is only available by appointment only. Luigi and Squirt, fed up with the problem barge in any way and demand to see Dr. Toadley but Cathy insists that he is very booked and the wait time to see him is an astounding 3 weeks for new appointments. Desperate, they barge through the doors and head to the doctor's office. He becomes furious with the duo until he notices a purple dot forming around Peach's nose. He immediately dismisses his current patient with random antibiotics and takes in Peach to examine her and is horrified by what he discovers. Apparently, Peach landed in a "Purified Empathetic River", said to infect those who touch it with an overly affectionate personality. Luigi and Squirt question what could be done and Toadley responds that only a true love's kiss could break the trance she is in. Disgusted by the response, they decide to leave the office and find out the answer themselves.

They take Peach back to the castle and lock her in the room to which she becomes antsy and wishes to date someone. Luigi and Squirt devise a plan to figure out how to stop her. Through a montage, they force her to drink a special liquid designed by Luigi that forces one to be disgusted by anything they see. Another attempt has them forcing her to drink water since it would water out the effects. The purple pores around her nose become larger and larger until they are seen all over her face. With no other choice, Luigi decides to do the unthinkable: kiss her. Before he can, Mario comes to see him about to kiss her and becomes immediately confused and dumbfounded. When trying to explain, Peach lunges at Mario and demands he kiss her, with her voice becoming out of range and her skin becoming purple. Mario becomes extremely alarmed by this and Luigi pulls her off of him. Luigi then goes in to kiss her but to his dismay, it doesn't work. Peach becomes more and more purple and has a dramatic attitude shift towards everyone, only wanting love and affection. She suddenly grows wings and flies off to the roof. The team chase her and Mario decides that it is his turn to kiss her. He does so in a dramatic fashion and it works, she begins to turn back to normal and the purple pores begin to fade. She collapses onto Mario's arms and wakes up totally confused and unaware of what happened. Mario takes her to her room. Squirt assures Luigi that maybe she just isn't the one for him to which Luigi reassures Squirt that he isn't in love with her but then makes a solemn expression, indicating what he said is false.