Super Mario 10: Ascendancy of Darkness, 7/16/09 -- Last chapter posted!

[NintendoMasterGC]

Chapter 14: Breakout

"Grrr...No!" gasped Mario. "I...won't...give in... AAAGH!!" The poison continued to weaken his body as he lay on the floor of the cavern.

"Yes, you will," corrected the Shadow King demon, a wicked smile on his face. "You may as well do it now, weakling!"

Suddenly, silently, a tiny winged figure darted out from behind the Shadow Queen, slipped through the ethereal spirit being up to the human vessel inside, and pulled the Turquoise Ring from her left fifth finger. Immediately the massive Ring on the demon's corresponding finger vanished.

"Wh-What?" exclaimed the Queen demon. "My Rainbow Ring - NOOOO!!"

The winged figure shot away from the Queen and flew straight to Mario. She hovered safely away from the poison coating his body and carefully placed the Turquoise Ring on the correct finger. Instantly the poison was negated and Mario was revitalized. He opened his eyes and stared at the little pink-clad fairy before him.

"Leika!"

"Come on, Mario, get up!" urged the blue-haired fairy. "You can still win!"

Mario leaped easily to his feet, and Leika perched on his right shoulder. "OK, Shadows Royal, time for round three! I'm waiting for you!"

"Curse you, Leika!" roared the Shadow King, clenching his demonic hands into great fists. "You and the rest of the Rainbow Fairies should have all been killed by Zaron those many years ago!"

"A lot of us survived, sorry," Leika answered in mock sadness. "Now it's your turn to get your just reward for your wickedness. I'm going to finish the job the Rainbow Guardians started last time we fought!" She rose into the air and pointed accusingly at the Royals. "You're going DOWN!!"

"We cannot fight her," the King said hastily to the Queen. "She embodies a part of the rainbow power. There is no way for us to destroy her!"

"Then another will have to eliminate her before we can finish Mario," replied the Queen readily. She fixed Mario with a hateful, demonic glare. "Consider this a stalemate, Mario. The Ring is yours." She and the King demon began to fade from view. "But mark my words, slave - you will learn to obey your masters someday!"

Both demon spirits faded away completely, leaving no trace of their presence. Mario heaved a sigh of relief. "Split-second timing, Leika. Another minute or so and I think I'd have been a goner. Thanks."

The fair-skinned fairy blushed. "Not a problem. I'm always ready to help. That's what we fairies do."

Luigi's voice echoed down from above. "Bro! You OK down there?"

"Just fine!" Mario yelled back up through the hole in the platform some forty feet over his head. "Gimme a minute and I'll be right up!"

---

Koopaseum Theme

Luigi hauled Mario over the edge of the pit. "Sounded like an earthquake down there!" he told Mario with a relieved grin.

"It almost was," Mario replied. "Man, I never want to face down two demons again. I wouldn't have gotten out alive if it weren't for Leika."

"Leika?" Luigi asked in surprise. "She's here?"

Leika darted up out of the hole in the platform. "I certainly am," she replied with a smile.

Luigi's face lit up. "Leika! Wait 'til Peach finds out you're here! She'll probably hug you to death!"

"Then let's go get Peach," Mario suggested, leading the way toward the exit.

As soon as Mario, Luigi, and Leika passed through the colosseum doors into the main hallway, Peach spotted Leika, and she too lit up in recognition. "Leika! It's you!"

"Hello, Princess," Leika greeted her gracefully.

Peach held out her hands, and Leika lighted on them. "It's so good to see you again!" Peach bubbled. "I thought you'd be back at the sky city by now!"

"The elders of Aotearoa commissioned me to return and bring the Rainbow Rings back to the temple where they belong," Leika explained. "I see Mario has five of them now, but where are the other three?"

"Cyanara has them," Peach said gravely.

"Cyanara?" Leika frowned. "Who's that?"

"The Great One, Leika. You know her."

Leika's expression instantly turned to one of fear. "She has them?!"

Peach nodded soberly. "And seven of the Discs and the Rainbow Pendant."

The little fairy paled. "This is unthinkable! For her to gather even most of the rainbow objects is absolutely unthinkable!! She's incredibly close to destroying us all!" Leika was nearly hysterical. "Do you realize what she could do if she managed to get all of them?!"

"The Twilight Disc is missing, Leika," Mario informed her. "We don't even know where it is, let alone Cyanara."

"It was stolen from the castle," Luigi added.

Leika relaxed a little. "That's good. Perhaps she'll never find it." She darted up to Peach's shoulder and seated herself there. "My mission still stands. I am to retrieve the eight Rings at any cost and return them to their temple in Aotearoa, where the Rainbow Fairies can keep a watchful eye on them as before."

"Then on to the next dimension so we can start getting the last three Rings," Mario put in with a trace of eagerness.

Peach gave him the "oh brother" look. "Mario, in case you haven't noticed, it's three o'clock in the morning."

Mario looked crestfallen. "You're saying we should -"

"I'm saying that isn't it about time we got some sleep?" Peach reprimanded him. "I'm about to go to sleep on my feet here!"

"Well, uh..." Mario made a show of looking around the bare anteroom. Not a furnishing of any kind was to be seen. He shrugged helplessly. "...Pick your spot?"

*end music*

---

"...Amber..."

Amber lay propped against the musty stone wall, sound asleep.

"...Amber...wake up..."

The second Guardian stirred. "Hm? Ruby?"

Ruby lay completely still, eyes closed in the darkness of early morning. "...Amber..."

"What?" Quietly Amber crawled over to Ruby's side. "What is it?"

"Amber...I...I'm...dying..." murmured the slowly-fading first Guardian.

"No, Ruby," replied Amber softly but firmly. "Fight it!"

"I...can't...fight..." mumbled Ruby almost inaudibly, "but..."

"No, no, you can!"

"I...can't...but...you... You...and...Sapphire...can..." Ruby managed.

Amber frowned. "What are you saying?"

Ruby forced open chapped lips and spoke two faint words. "...Rainbow...Mix..."

The import of the words struck Amber like a bolt of lightning. Slowly, determinedly, she rose to her feet in the dark cell.

"It's up to me to save Ruby," she said aloud. "She's told me the way - but I have to make it work. I have to get Sapphire in here with Ruby, or..." She trailed off. It seemed impossible.

"Amber."

Amber jumped at the voice and turned to see a Paroidian Guard standing in the doorway, face void of emotion.

"Amber. You are to come with me."

She paled. "No, please! Not back to that cell again - please, NO!"

The guard drew his sword. "Come with me now."

Tremblingly Amber obeyed, and the guard led her to the cell adjoining Ruby's and unlocked the door. A burst of frigid air washed over both guard and Guardian as the door opened, making Amber shudder. Without hesitating the guard shoved Amber roughly into the cell and locked the door behind her.

Amber was shivering in the supercooled cell within seconds. Huddling in the far corner, she drew her knees up to her chin and wrapped her arms around her legs in a desperate attempt to conserve body heat. The freezing temperature inside her solitary confinement cell did not mix well with her heat-based nature and powers of solar fire.

"I h-have t-to get out-t of h-here," chattered Amber, her breath making clouds in the freezing air, "b-but h-how? R-Ruby needs h-help!"

"Did you say Ruby?" came a faint female voice from the right-hand wall.

"I-Is that y-you, C-Citrine?" shivered Amber.

"Yes."

"C-Can you b-break m-me out of-f h-here?"

"My cell is all wood," answered Citrine. "My electricity is useless against wood."

"T-Then overl-load the c-circuits and-d d-destroy th-the c-cooling m-mechanism in h-here!"

"I'll try." There was a long silence, and Amber huddled further into the corner, absolutely frozen. It was a wonder she didn't turn to ice, it was so cold.

Suddenly there was a popping, sparking noise over Amber's head, and all of the lights went out. The cooling mechanism in Amber's cell shut down but was not destroyed.

"Figures," spat Citrine in disgust. "Overloaded the main system. The whole fortress is offline."

Amber waited for her internal heat to build back up, then stood. "Thanks, Citrine."

"Whatever you're doing, do it fast. Cyanara will have the generator running again in no time."

"OK." Amber looked around her cell. "I need sunlight. With it I could easily melt my way out." She moved to the rear of the cell and ran her fingers over the still-icy steel wall.

Her fingers caught against something. It felt like an overlapping plate of steel. She ran her fingers along the edge, then to the right, down again, back to the side, up again. It was an overlapping plate - a plate of steel added to the cell seemingly as an afterthought, after the rest had already been built.

"It's a long shot, but worth trying," Amber said with a shrug and proceeded to pry at the plate's edges. Soon she discovered that one of its corners was loose and concentrated her efforts there. She could feel the rivets coming loose as she pried at the unfastened corner. A mixture of fear and excitement gripped her - fear that she might be discovered, excitement that she was nearing her goal.

Suddenly the plate tore away from the wall and lay loose in her hands. A stream of light from the eastern horizon poured in through Amber's new window.

"Yes!" Amber nearly skipped for joy. "They must have covered the window before putting me in here to keep me from getting any sunlight. Now to get to Ruby!"

Amber stood in the path of the sunlight and faced the sun. She looked directly at it, not squinting or closing her eyes - instead she smiled as if welcoming the warming rays. As the sunlight fell on her face, she began to glow with the fiery orange radiance of the sun itself. A few seconds more and her entire body burst into flames, flames that neither harmed her nor scorched her clothing. She had become a living torch, encased in a pillar of fire.

"Ah, that feels so good," sighed Amber in delight. "Now, first things first." She looked up at the cooling mechanism on the ceiling. Raising her hand, she shot a wave of flames at the machine and instantly melted it into a worthless pile of scrap.

"There, no more turning me into a popsicle," she told it in satisfaction. Just then the lights flickered back on. "And not a moment too soon. Now to get Citrine out." She raised her voice. "Citrine, move to the rear of your cell!"

"Why?" came the indifferent response.

"I'm going to melt you out!"

"In that case..." Citrine was silent for a few moments. "Ready."

Without another word, the blazing Amber put out both hands and poured a torrent of fire at the steel wall. It melted the steel like butter and burned easily through the wood layered over the interior of Citrine's cell.

Stopping the fiery blast, Amber moved out of the sunlight, and her body ceased to flame. Citrine came through the still-smoking hole and entered Amber's cell.

"Thanks." Citrine's expression was flat and somewhat aloof, as usual. She turned to the door of Amber's cell, critiquing it silently.

"This door should be no problem to open from the inside." The third Guardian moved to the door, placed a hand on the confining steel, and shot her electricity through the conductive material into the door's locking mechanism. Instantly a shower of sparks flew out from the crack between door and wall, and the lock shorted out, unlocking the door.

"Simple," Citrine affirmed with a nod.

"Can you get the others out?" Amber requested. "They all need to be here. In this cell."

"Why here?" queried Citrine, raising an eyebrow.

Amber looked straight at Citrine. "Rainbow Mix."

Now Citrine's other eyebrow went up. "Amber..."

"It's for Ruby, Citrine," Amber said hastily. "There's no time to explain but it could save her life. Please!"

Citrine hesitated, then nodded briefly and went out the unlocked door, shutting it behind her.

---

Great One's Theme

"M-Master, please! Allow me to explain -"

"I'm not interested in feeble excuses." Cyanara turned her back to the pleading technician and coldly issued a single command to the guards holding him. "Execute him."

"N-No! NO! Please, NOOOOO!! MASTER! LISTEN TO ME! PLEASE!!" screamed the doomed man as the guards dragged him from the throne room. The silver doors shut behind them with an echoing boom, cutting off the sound of his hysteric cries.

Cyanara remained standing with her back to the doors, face smoldering with a silent anger. "Pathetic." Her black eyes narrowed to mere slits. "Athos and Amethyst cannot resist my mind-control devices forever. They are not that strong. And all that fool can come up with is excuses - equipment failure, lazy assistants, not enough time!" She smashed her fist into her palm. "I'll perform the mental overwrite myself. If that imbecile can't do the job, then I will!"

*end music*

---

Minutes after Citrine's escape, six Guardians were assembled in Amber's cell. Ruby lay on the steel floor, barely conscious, struggling for every breath. The others were clustered on the floor around her. Amber explained Ruby's request.

"Ruby believes that if she and Sapphire perform Rainbow Mix, her mind will no longer be affected by the evil within this fortress." Amber looked at Sapphire. "Are you willing?"

The quite, passive, dark blue-haired sixth Guardian nodded. "If it will save her, yes."

"Then why are all the rest of us here?" demanded green-haired Emerald in her childish voice.

Amber shot her a warning look. "Would you rather stay in your cell?"

Emerald was silent.

"The truth is," Amber continued, "if we all perform the Mix, our combined strength could get us out of the fortress entirely."

Aquamarine looked thoughtful, her head inclined to one side, light blue hair cascading down one shoulder. "You mean that not only should Ruby and Sapphire merge, but that Emerald and I should as well, and -"

"Can't." Citrine was short and to the point. "Amethyst is my merging companion. And she's not here."

"Then only Ruby and Sapphire will merge. Perhaps later we will be able to get Amethyst here with us." Amber stood, letting the sun fall on her back. Within seconds her entire body was ablaze. "Sapphire, do your thing!"

Sapphire concentrated on Amber, and suddenly the heat being thrown off from Amber's body was bent back toward Amber as Sapphire used her powers of energybending to concentrate the heat around her sister. Amber's temperature climbed rapidly. In just minutes it rose to over 900,000,000 degrees Celsius.

"Almost - there!" cried Amber as she strained her solar power to the limit, building up heat in the "greenhouse" created by Sapphire. Her face was stretched in a taut grimace, squeezing every available bit of heat out into the layer of flame blazing over her body.

Suddenly the inferno covering Amber burst into brilliant white radiance. Amber's temperature had peaked at the critical one billion degrees, triggering a nuclear fusion reaction that released the immense power of the atomic nucleus. Sapphire struggled to hold the torrent of power back.

The sixth Guardian seized the dying Ruby's hand. "Now!" she cried as she released her hold on the energy. Instantly it formed into a brilliant white beam and shot directly toward Sapphire and Ruby, striking the two at their joined hands. An intense light engulfed the two Guardians as the immensely powerful Rainbow Mix was triggered.

The blinding light surrounding Ruby and Sapphire lasted for only a few seconds; and when it died away, there were no longer two separate Guardians, but one, with hair shining red on one side and shimmering royal blue on the other. Her appearance was as if someone had put Ruby and Sapphire together to form a whole new being.

Amber cooled down and ceased to burn. "How do you feel, Ruby?" she asked anxiously.

The fused Guardian spoke in Ruby's voice. "...I am fine. My mind is regaining its strength. Thank you, Amber."

"Thank goodness," Amber sighed in relief. "I was afraid we'd lose you."

"Well," said the newly-formed Guardian, still in Ruby's voice, "we can leave any time. Citrine's made that possible."

"That's true, Corundum," answered Aquamarine, "but Cyanara -"

"My shielding powers can and will protect all of us," Corundum assured her.

"But Amethyst -"

"Yes, Amethyst." The Ruby/Sapphire fusion named Corundum pondered a moment, then spoke in Sapphire's voice. "We can't just abandon her to the Empress."

"I say we wait here," spoke up Citrine. "Cyanara is bound to bring Amethyst here to the confinement cells if she's caught. And if she doesn't show for a while, we'll go looking for her. We'll need all the power we can get in order to escape."

"I agree," Corundum responded. "Let's wait this one out. Perhaps we'll have an opportunity to strike at the Empress."

---

Koopaseum Theme

Mario yawned, stretched, and sat up, rubbing his eyes as he did so. He looked across the Koopaseum's green-and-gold anteroom and saw Luigi's sleeping form contorted into a seemingly painful position, one which made Mario wince just to look at it.

"He's gonna be awfully sore when he wakes up," Mario commented with an "oh, well" written across his face. Then he looked over to the sleeping Princess. She was lying on her side in flawless posture, as if she were in her bed at the castle and not on an entryway floor. Mario smiled as he gazed at Peach. But his smile was not elicited by her beauty. Instead, he nearly chuckled aloud as he noticed that Peach's head was resting on a very sleepless and uncomfortable Toadsworth!

"Enough sleeping, you guys," Mari announced, standing to his feet and stretching again. "Time to get up!"

Peach stirred and turned over, making Toadsworth groan painfully. Her eyes opened about halfway. "Hm? Morning already?"

Luigi snored on, completely oblivious to Mario's wake-up call.

"It was morning when we went to sleep, Peach," Mario chuckled. "Yes, it's time to get up. We've got to move on."

The Princess sat up and rubbed the sleep from her blue eyes. Toadsworth gasped in relief as she removed her weight from his stomach. "I dare say," he wheezed, feebly shaking a finger at Peach, "I shall never again volunteer as the Princess's pillow! OH, my aching back - OHHH!!"

"Oh - did I hurt you, Toadsworth?" asked Peach in concern.

"No, Your Highness," corrected the steward as he lay prone on the floor. "You've nearly killed these poor old bones! I shall never recover from last night!"

Peach helped Toadsworth to his feet. He tottered a bit as he attempted to walk. "Hmph, it appears I am still in working order," he grumbled, "but still - never again will I volunteer as the Princess's -"

"All right, Toadsworth, we get the point!" exclaimed an exasperated Peach. "I know you're not a morning person, but please stop your grumbling!"

"Luigi!" called Mario. "Wake up!"

Luigi's curled-up form instantly uncoiled like a twisted spring, going full length in less than a second. He screamed and scrambled over to the wall, huddling there and shaking in fright.

Mario rolled his eyes.

"A g-g-ghost w-was c-c-coming after m-m-me!" Luigi cried.

"Another nightmare about getting eaten by ghosts, huh?" Mario guessed in frustration. "Get over your fear, Luigi. We're gonna see plenty more ghosts in our lifetimes, so get used to them."

Shakily Luigi got to his feet. "O-OK."

"Good." Mario pulled DT from his pocket and activated the little machine with the Turquoise Ring. In moments a glimmering indigo portal opened in front of him.

"Amazing," Leika murmured. "But why are you using this method of travel? Don't you usually just...walk?"

"Walking's a bit overrated these days," Mario answered dryly.

Peach rolled her eyes. "What he means is that the Mushroom Kingdom has been split into eight dimensions. The Rainbow Rings activate this Dimensional Transport Device and allow us to get to other dimensions."

"And Cyanara did this, too?" questioned Leika. "Don't even answer - I just know she did! All the more reason for us to get rid of her! Let's go!"

"Now proceeding to Indigo Dimension," droned DT in his mechanized monotone.

"Yahoo!" yelled Mario as he took a great leap forward through the shimmering portal.

---

Great One's Theme

Cyanara's black eyes blazed at the two figures before her. She smashed her fist onto the arm of her throne. "Failed? You, who claim such power, whose sworn enemy is Mario - you have failed?!"

The Shadows Royal, back in their human forms by this time, both wore expressions of defeat. "It was not Mario who bested us, Great One," explained the Shadow King. "If only he had tried to overcome us, we would have crushed him. It was that pesky Rainbow Fairy Leika that interfered."

"Do you mean to tell me," interjected Cyanara, rising threateningly from her throne, "that that troublesome fairy Leika, whose rainbow power is pathetically weak, actually scared you off??"

"If another were to rid us of the Rainbow Fairy," stated the Queen, avoiding the question, "we and the third would have no trouble bringing Mario to you."

"Diamond is already in Indigo Dimension, preparing to take on Mario herself." The Empress resumed her seat. "She should be able to exterminate Leika easily." Her black eyes narrowed. "You speak of the third. Are you intending -"

"Yes," answered the King. "He will be most helpful."

"And what of the fourth?" questioned Cyanara. "Have you not found a suitable vessel?"

"The Queen has housed the fourth soul within her own vessel for the time being," replied the King. "No vessel has been found."

"Then I know just the one," Cyanara informed him with a crafty smile. "As a matter of fact, I brought her here for that very purpose. I've promised her a little 'present.'" She laughed softly to herself. "I believe you know what I'm talking about."

The Queen's red eyes lit up. "You have prepared a vessel?" She smiled in wicked anticipation. "When shall we have its use?"

"As soon as I take care of some unfinished business in the mind-control room," replied the Empress. She rose from her imperial throne. "It shouldn't take long."

[NintendoMasterGC]

Chapter 15: Diamond

Indigo Dimension Theme

Mario hopped out of the indigo portal and nearly fell off a sheer cliff not three feet from it. Peach stepped through the portal next, and Mario put out a hand to stop her from moving too close to the edge. She nodded, gently pushed his hand down, and stepped up next to him, gazing down from her vantage point on the scenery below. A vast glistening glacier spread out before her eyes, stretching into the distance until it reached its limit and gave way to towering pine forests.

Luigi, Leika, and Toadsworth exited the portal just before it closed. The green-capped plumber nearly went over the cliff despite Mario's warning. "Whoa!" He backed away from the cliff, shivering as the wind bit ferociously at him and the others.

Peach seemed deep in thought. Mario studied her face for a moment. "Peach, what is it?"

She furrowed her brow. "I know this place," she answered. "I've seen this view before. What escapes me is the name of the place. I just can't remember it..."

"Don't worry about it," Mario consoled her. "We'll find out later, more than likely. Come on." He turned away from the cliff to see an icy granite peak stabbing into the overcast sky behind them. "Hey, wait a minute! Isn't that -"

"It's Star Mountain!" exclaimed Peach, gazing at the lofty summit far above them. "I knew I'd been here before!"

"Man, how are we supposed to find a Rainbow Ring on that huge thing?" Luigi asked.

"I've got an idea of where it might be already, now that I know where we are," Leika informed them. "There is a hidden rainbow shrine on this mountain. The first and most logical place to look would be there."

"And you know where this shrine is?" Mario asked.

Leika nodded.

"Good. We'll let you lead out, since you know where you're going. Are you coming or staying, Peach?"

Peach smiled at him. "You couldn't talk me into staying behind, not in a thousand years, Mario. It's been forever since I last went mountain climbing, and I want to see this secret shrine anyhow!"

"It's a long climb, Princess," warned Leika.

"I'm up to it."

"Never!" spluttered Toadsworth. "A princess going mountain climbing? Preposterous! Absurd! Absolutely unladylike!"

"You're not going to stop me, Toadsworth," retorted Peach. "I'm going, so you may as well live with it!"

"OUTRAGEOUS!!!" Toadsworth would have grabbed Princess Peach if Luigi hadn't grabbed him first.

"Looks like I'm gonna have to stay here and keep this animal under control," Luigi grunted as he clutched Toadsworth in his arms to prevent the struggling steward from escaping.

"Master Luigi, take your hands off me THIS INSTANT! I DEMAND that you let me go!" shouted Toadsworth.

"That might be a good idea, Luigi," agreed Mario, referring to Luigi's offer. He smiled at Peach. "Looks like we get to climb together."

She smiled back. "I can't wait!"

"Looks like I get the role of chaperone," Leika said with a playful shake of her finger. "I see that smile!"

Mario pretended to ignore the fairy's scolding. "Lead out, Leika. We've got a mountain to climb!"

---

Great One's Theme

The black-eyed Empress stepped into the dim, dungeon-like mind-control room. Her sinister gaze fell on the legions of machinery along the wall, then on the helpless figure pinned to the steel table before her.

"Well, if it isn't the little resistor in my electric circuit," Cyanara said aloud while seating herself at the main computer. A bizarre steel helmet with countless wires protruding from it lay atop the massive computer tower to her right. An identical helmet was fastened to the skull of the victim on the table.

"I resist because I must," was Athos's grim reply. "Amethyst does the same."

"Hmph," Cyanara scoffed as she began entering endless commands into the system at her fingertips. "Once I overwrite your brain, traitor, I'll have you perform the overwrite on Amethyst. It will serve you right for your blatant betrayal of me!"

"I will not permit that to happen," retorted Athos. "Your scientists and machines have worked for over two days to overcome me with no success. Do you truly think you will have any more chance than they?"

She turned and fixed him with her icy stare. "I do."

"I will not allow it," Athos repeated emphatically.

"Your will won't last long against mine," answered Cyanara, fitting the second steel helmet over her own head. "This time no mere machine is going to do the fighting."

Athos looked shocked. "You...y-you...!"

"That's right," said the Empress with a smile. "My incompetent assistants used computers to attempt the overwrite. I've reworked the system to route the mental signal directly from my mind to yours.

Athos steeled himself. "A mental tug-of-war? So be it."

Cyanara shook her head in mock sympathy. "You always wanted to tussle with me, didn't you, Athos? Always wanted to show me just what you thought of my great plan...the plan you helped create." She looked back at the control panel, and her hand moved to the on switch.

"Do your worst," Athos spat.

Cyanara, her hand still resting on the switch, looked again at her erstwhile servant, and her red lips parted in a cruel, condemning smile.

"You don't need to tell me that, Athos," she said quietly, and her expression turned ugly. "I plan to."

The next instant she snapped the switch on, plunging the two into a vicious mental battle, a battle for Athos's very consciousness. Athos's face went taut, and sweat broke out on his forehead.

Cyanara smiled.

---

Star Mountain Theme

"M...Mario?" wheezed Peach as she scaled the last rock between her and the plumber. The wind whipped around the two, voraciously tearing at their clothes and skin. The overcast sky looked gray and threatening.

"What?" he shouted over the wind.

"It's nearly dark," she called back loudly, although Mario was scarcely two feet away.

Mario nodded. "Are you OK?"

"Just tired," she responded. "Shouldn't we head back? We've been scouring this mountain all day and haven't found a thing?"

Leika, beating her fairy's wings with a fury to keep from being blown away, yelled back in her musical voice, "I told you it was hard to find! Even I get lost up here sometimes!"

"Leika, we have to go back," Mario shouted. "We can't stay up here all night!"

Suddenly the rock beneath them lurched sickeningly, sending Mario's heart into his throat and knocking both him and Peach to their knees. He snatched at Peach's hand and caught it as she started slipping. "Hang on tight!" he yelled above the howling wind.

"I-I'm slipping!" cried Peach. Her pink dress, not particularly suited for mountaineering, was causing her to slide on her knees down the now-tipped rock slab toward a long drop down the side of the mountain. Despite her grip on Mario's hand, her knees continued to slide out from under her.

Within moments Peach's knees gave way completely, sending her onto her stomach and letting her feet dangle over the edge of the chasm. Her face registered a desperate terror. "Mario! Help!" she screamed over the rushing wind.

Mario's grip on her hand began to slip. "I can't - hang on! Peach!"

"Princess!" screamed Leika.

Mario's hand gave out, and he involuntarily let go his hold. Peach screamed and dropped into the abyss below.

"PEACH!!!"

Peach fell twenty feet and suddenly jerked to a stop. A strong hand grasped her flailing one, and she hung suspended in mid-air for a moment, stunned by her fall.

An unfamiliar face appeared over her head, apparently from a hidden ledge. The stranger's golden locks tumbled out from under her gray hood. "Are you all right?"

"I think so," Peach shouted back.

"Hang on; I'll pull you up!" The stranger reached down her other hand, seized Peach's arm, and slowly heaved her up onto the ledge. The Princess sat down heavily, gulping in tremendous lungfuls of the rare mountain air. In a moment she looked up into the face of her savior.

The stranger was clad in a thick, white, long-sleeved top and a blue multi-layered skirt. Over it all was a soft gray cloak which she clutched about her. The cloak's hood served to keep her head warm in the chill wind but allowed her blond hair to spill out a little. Her fair cheeks were red and windburned.

"Thank you," Peach said gratefully.

Her rescuer was silent, looking down at the lady she'd saved. She possessed almost a dignity about her petite frame, yet a fear seemed to overshadow her. She fingered the folds of her cloak nervously, never taking her eyes off Peach.

Peach rose to her feet. "What's your name?" she asked kindly, sensing her benefactor's nervousness.

The stranger hesitated, avoiding Peach's eyes, and remained silent. For a grown woman she certainly seemed unsure of herself. Turning, she fled from Peach into what appeared to be a small torchlit cave carved into the mountainside. Peach followed, curious about her new acquaintance.

No sooner had Peach entered the little cave than Mario rushed up to her from within and grabbed her in a bear hug. "Peach! You're alive!" he exclaimed joyously.

"M-Mario?" Peach stammered in surprise, allowing herself to be hugged. "H-How did you get here?"

"That would be the fault of the mysterious girl in gray," replied Mario, releasing the Princess from his arms. He turned to see the girl timidly approaching them through the torchlight. Leika was with her.

The mysterious girl looked at Peach with vacillating eyes. "Y-You are all welcome to stay the night here, with - with me," she hesitantly invited, gesturing around her at the sparsely-furnished cave. "In the morning - I will take you to the Sanctum."

"You know where we're going?" Mario inquired.

"The fairy Leika has told me everything." The girl waited nervously for an answer.

"I don't see why not," Peach replied. "We really don't have much choice now. We'll never make it back down the mountain by nightfall."

Their hostess pointed out the single bed against the cave wall. "P-Please, Princess Peach, take it. I will - I will sleep on the ground."

"Oh, no, I wouldn't take your bed," protested Peach.

The girl, for all her timidity, remained unmovable. She lay down against the wall and covered herself with her cloak.

Peach sighed. "If you insist. Thank you." She lay down on the bed and pulled the single blanket over her. Leika settled on top of the blanket, and both princess and fairy were soon fast asleep. Mario shrugged and lay down against the wall opposite the girl in gray. He watched her from beneath half-closed lids as she drifted off to sleep.

Strange girl, Mario thought to himself. For some reason I get the feeling she's got something to hide. I wonder... He yawned and dropped off to sleep.

---

Peach awoke the following morning feeling rested. She sat up and looked over at the mysterious girl in gray. The girl, rather than being asleep still, was sitting against the wall, gazing down at something in her hands. Peach, trying to see the object of her hostess's gaze, caught a gleam of silver.

Suddenly the girl looked up, started when she saw Peach, and quickly closed her hands over the object. The uncanny fear of yesterday flowed back into her face.

"What is that?" inquired Peach curiously.

The girl shoved the item under her cloak and remained silent, shivering nervously.

Peach rose from the bed and went over to the timid girl, seating herself next to her. The girl's breathing became rapid and shuddering, and she stared straight ahead at the opposite wall, unwilling to look at Peach. Peach put a hand on her arm, surprised at her behavior.

"It's all right," she assured her. "You don't have to hide. Just tell me the truth. I'd really like to know what that was."

"I-It's nothing," managed the girl with a shiver. Quickly she got to her feet and disappeared outside the cave.

Peach's heart groaned. "I feel sorry for that poor girl," she said softly. "It seems to me that she thinks she can't trust anyone. I wish she'd open up and let me help her." She sighed. "She's so...timid, and yet she has a grace about her that makes me wonder..." The Princess pushed back her thoughts and rose to awaken Mario.

---

Great One's Theme

"Grrrr...agh!" grunted Athos, straining against the mental barrage coming from Cyanara's mind. "Ungh!"

"We've been going at this all night, traitor Athos," stated the completely unfatigued Empress. "You're stronger than I expected. But you're giving in to me - ever so slowly, you're giving in."

"I...am...not!" Athos managed. "I will fight still!"

"I might have guessed that the genius who helped formulate my master plan would be of strong mind and strong will," continued Cyanara.

"I am no longer yours to use!" cried Athos. "I will fight the plan to the death! It threatens the lives of innocent millions!" He glared at Cyanara as he heaved and struggled against the onslaught. "And you are nothing but a cruel dictator wishing to enslave the world under your tyrannical rule!"

"Tyrannical?" The Empress's eyes blazed. "Perhaps so." Her hand moved to the signal amplifier dial on the mind-control server. "But let's see if you won't take back those words of yours once I'm through with you!"

Cyanara spun the dial to the right, multiplying the signal strength tenfold. Athos's face went taut under the strain of fighting it.

"Let's see how long you last against that, traitor," spat Cyanara. "And when I'm through with you...Amethyst will suffer the same fate."

---

Star Mountain Theme

The girl in gray timidly reentered the cave. "Are - Are you all ready to leave?"

"Ready as we'll ever be," Mario replied.

Without a word the girl turned and led the little group out onto the rock ledge outside the cave. The wind was no less fierce on this day as it had been on the last, for it still stung their exposed faces. The girl pointed up a nearly-vertical fifty-foot wall of granite on their left.

"It is a difficult climb," she admitted, "but it is the only way to the Sanctum."

"Then let's have at it!" Mario answered eagerly.

Their timid guide moved to the rock wall and turned briefly. "The Princess should come after me, with Mario behind her." So saying, she fitted her delicate hands into the crevices in the rock and began the long upward climb.

"Do exactly as I do," she called down. "It is the only safe way."

Peach gulped a little and started up after the girl in gray, Leika flying along beside her. Mario began his climb shortly after Peach did hers.

For nearly an hour they climbed slowly toward the top. The girl in gray was forced to stop and wait for her followers to catch up several times. Obviously she was a far more experienced climber than they. The bitter wind threatened to catch the climbers and fling them from the rock to a crashing death at the foot of the mountain, and their exposed hands nearly froze to the rock face in the cold of the heights. But they struggled on through it all and at last gained the top of the cliff.

Reaching down, the girl in gray pulled Peach up the last foot or so onto a wide ledge at the cliff top. Mario managed to get up without assistance, and Leika simply flew up over the edge. She hadn't climbed an inch. Mario eyed her wings jealously.

The mysterious girl pointed across the ledge. There, carved from the very rock of Star Mountain, was a mammoth temple, nearly invisible due to the huge rocky projections on either side of the path leading to it.

"Rainbow Sanctum," she called over the wind.

"It's huge," breathed Peach, momentarily stunned by the size of the temple.

"Come on," called Leika as she darted forward toward the entrance, maneuvering skillfully between the rocky outcrops that walled in the narrow passage leading to the temple. Mario and Peach followed.

Peach was the last to enter the Sanctum. Turning, she began to ask their guide a question - then noticed with a start that there was no one there. Peach stared.

"Hello?"

No answer. Only the empty howl of the wind across the mountain answered her.

"She...she just...disappeared..." Peach frowned. "Another mystery from the girl in gray..." She looked about again for the girl, and, not finding her, gave up and entered the Sanctum.

Rainbow Sanctum Theme

The shutting of the door echoed through Rainbow Sanctum's vast empty space as Mario, Peach, and Leika looked around the huge room in awe. The towering wall were washed with the hues of the rainbow, with red at the top progressing to black at the bottom. The floor was pure crystal, so clean and transparent it seemed almost liquid. In each of the mammoth room's four corners stood a giant pillar, each polished to a mirror sheen. And in the very center, dwarfed by the gigantean proportions of the rest of the room, was a single crystal pedestal, sparkling in the ambient light. Atop this crystalline pedestal sat a plush red velvet cushion, and in the center of this cushion, floating motionless an inch above it as if magically suspended there, was the sixth Rainbow Ring, its rich indigo gem gleaming brightly. The Turquoise Ring on Mario's left fifth finger glowed brilliant blue in response to its proximity to the new Ring.

"It's the sixth Ring!" exclaimed Mario, dashing forward. Suddenly he screeched to a halt a few feet from the pedestal. A thought had struck him.

"Wait a minute..." Mario scrutinized the Ring. "This is just too easy. No way would Cyanara just leave this Ring lying out here for me unless there was a catch here..."

Again Mario stepped toward the pedestal, more cautiously this time. Again he examined that sixth Rainbow Ring with keen eyes. Everything seemed normal; so he reached out his hand and took it.

Tried to, anyway.

It wouldn't budge.

A look of disbelief crossed Mario's face, and he tugged at the hovering Ring. Still it remained unmovable.

The next thing Mario knew he'd been smacked backward by what felt like an invisible hand slapping his face. He stumbled, off-balance, then recovered himself, and, staring at the Ring, saw that there was no one there.

A voice came from the Ring's immediate left - a familiar, derisive female voice. "Things like the Rainbow Rings aren't nearly as easy to just pick up and walk away with as you might like Mario. They require a certain...dominance to acquire."

Suddenly, out of nowhere, a woman appeared on the Ring's left. Her hair was coal black, and an expression of crafty amusement was written on her face. She wore the rainbow robe of the Rainbow Guardians, but with one major difference. Across her waist, interrupting the pattern of rainbow colors, was a bold black stripe. And on her left fourth finger she wore that mysteriously "floating" sixth Ring.

"Diamond!" rang out Mario's voice in accusation.

Diamond lifted her hand delicately from the velvet cushion and examined the Ring on her finger as if curious, eyeing Mario seductively as she did. "Some people just never learn when enough is enough," she said smoothly. "You and Princess Peach have resisted the Great One far too long, Mario. Isn't it time you faced reality and submitted to her plan for this world?" Her hand fell to her side, and her black eyes turned evil.

"Mom!" cried Peach. "Mom, snap out of it! You're not acting like your old self!" She was crying by this time. She'd thought her mother was dead - killed in the collapse of the Great One's fortress nearly two weeks ago. "Please, Mom, whatever evil has a hold on your heart, fight it! Come back! Come back to me!"

Diamond's eyes pierced Peach through with hatred. "Mother? I am not your mother, Princess Peach," she answered, spitting the last two words out in disgust, "and I don't plan to treat you as my daughter, either." Instantly a long, slightly curved sword - a katana - appeared out of thin air in Diamond's hand. "You'll feel the same pain that Mario will."

"MOM!" screamed Peach desperately. "You never were truly evil! You have to fight yourself! Don't give in to the evil inside you!"

"Enough of this nonsense," spat Diamond. "I am NOT your mother! Now DIE!!"

Diamond Battle Theme

Diamond instantly vanished from sight as she ended her battle cry. Mario turned and ran for the sanctum wall, pressing his back into the corner. Having fought Diamond before, he knew exactly what she was capable of when using her powers of invisibility.

A razor-sharp shuriken came out of nowhere and sang past Mario's left ear, missing it by millimeters. He jerked his head away from the deadly projectile and readied his fists.

"Next time I won't be so merciful as to miss purposely." Diamond's voice was cold and calculating. "You would be far better of if you would simply surrender."

"Never!" Mario retorted.

"Remember what happened last time we fought, in Rainbow Temple, Mario?" questioned Diamond relentlessly, her voice moving as if she were pacing back and forth before her prey like a hungry cat. "It took your entire party of thirteen to barely defeat me. How in the world do you expect to do the same - alone?"

"I'll do it - somehow!"

"Think again." Diamond suddenly reappeared directly in front of Mario, her katana less than an inch from his throat. Mario froze. Peach gasped, and her hands flew to her mouth.

"Mario!"

"Boasts are only empty words unless you back them up," Diamond informed her opponent haughtily, keeping her weapon at his throat. "Let's see you prove your boldness now, hm?"

Slowly, imperceptibly, Mario raised his foot over Diamond's while keeping his eyes locked with hers. "Listen, Diamond. I don't care how powerful you think you are." Diamond's eyes raged, and Mario grinned mentally. He had her full attention now. "You're nothing but a stooge to Cyanara. She could care less about you. She's just using you!"

"I'll teach you to disrespect me!" exploded Diamond. Nothing but an insult to her status and abilities could have evoked such a violent response from the evil eighth Guardian, normally the epitome of self-controlled deliberation. Up went the katana as Diamond prepared to brain Mario with her blade.

STOMP

Diamond yelled in pain. Her katana clanged to the floor, and she clutched at her left foot, which Mario had nearly crushed with his powerful stomp. Instantly Mario sped past her, snatching up the katana and swinging it at its owner.

Again Diamond disappeared and dodged the blade just in time. Mario, watching carefully for his powerful foe, suddenly saw two kunai blades appear out of thin air, held by the invisible Guardian. Diamond was going to use her deadly twin knives on him.

The kunais whizzed through the air, one at a time, directly at Mario. He deflected the first with Diamond's katana, but the second ripped a long cut along his left arm. He clutched the wound and grimaced.

Now Leika came alive, firing colorful beams of rainbow energy randomly about the Sanctum. Though invisible, Diamond was still vulnerable to attack, and she was kept busy dodging the ricocheting beams for a while, giving Mario a chance to recover.

"Show your face, Diamond!" Mario challenged at length, having recovered from the wound he had received earlier.

Diamond's almost-haunting voice echoed through the Sanctum's empty space. "Very well - but you may not like what you see, Mario."

Suddenly Mario could see the sixth Rainbow Ring in mid-air on Diamond's invisible finger, glowing with an indigo radiance. Then the Ring seemed to duplicate itself and become two, the copy floating to a spot about three feet from the original. Then Diamond again became visible.

"No way!" spluttered Mario. "The Ring -"

"It gets better," Diamond said with an evil smile. She motioned to the copy Ring, and suddenly another Diamond appeared, exactly identical to the real Diamond, Rainbow Ring and all!

"The Tanzanite Ring's power of mirror imaging is most useful," added Diamond in explanation. "If you don't care for one of me, I'm sure you'll enjoy two!"

Both Diamond and her copy rushed the stunned Mario, pinning him to the wall. The real Diamond gave the copy a brief command, and the copy turned toward Peach with a glimmer of hatred in her eyes.

Mario gasped. "No! Don't touch her!"

The copy Diamond's hand flicked, and a single shuriken sliced into Peach's right arm. She screamed in pain; then an expression of desperation crossed her face. She choked and fell to her knees, then collapsed onto her face.

"What did you do to her?!" demanded Leika.

"Just my special sleeping shuriken," Diamond informed the fairy while holding Mario against the wall. "It will keep her unconscious until you defeat me - and if you don't do it soon, the poor Princess will bleed to death," she added with mock sympathy.

"Let me go!" cried Mario, struggling against Diamond's overwhelming strength.

Diamond wrenched her katana from Mario's hand and pushed its tip against his Adam's apple, choking him. "Let's see you get out of this the way you did the last time," she spat through clenched teeth. "You can't do it."

Leika darted down and zapped Diamond with a beam of rainbow light. The eighth Guardian only looked up and swatted Leika as she might a pesky fly, sending the fairy crashing to the crystalline floor, stunned.

"No way out this time, Mario," hissed Diamond, preparing to drive her katana through his throat. Her eyes blazed with hatred. "This victory is MINE!!"

[NintendoMasterGC]

Chapter 16: A Mother's Legacy

Just as Diamond was about to run Mario through with her katana, something grabbed her and ripped her away from her intended victim. Mario watched in amazement as Diamond was pulled kicking and screaming to the center of the Sanctum and held paralyzed in mid-air over the crystal pedestal, suspended by some mysterious force. Then a brilliant white beam struck Diamond from behind, encasing her in a field of white light and making her scream in agony. The copy Diamond vanished instantly.

The black-haired ninja fighter screamed hysterically. "N-Nooooo! AAAGH! DIAMOND - STOP! AAAUUUUUUGGH!!!"

Another female voice rang out from behind the screaming Guardian. "No, Onyx. You are receiving your just reward, you impostor!"

Mario edged along the wall to the Sanctum door. From this point he could see a woman standing behind Diamond, or Onyx, or whoever was being punished. This newcomer was pouring her energy into the white beam that was forever tormenting the screaming victim. Her flowing hair was white as snow, and her robes were rainbow-hued except for a white band across her waist. Mario stared at the scene.

The black-haired screaming Diamond - or was it Onyx? Mario wasn't sure anymore. At any rate, he watched spellbound as she gave one last horrifying, bloodcurdling scream and disintegrated under the force of the white-haired one's beam of light. The Tanzanite Ring pinged to the floor. Shutting off her flow of energy, the white-haired woman picked up the Ring and approached Mario.

"Wh-Who are you?" Mario asked uncertainly, edging closer to the still-unconscious Princess Peach.

The woman smiled slightly. "I am Diamond, eighth Guardian of the Rainbow."

"Huh?" Mario's face betrayed puzzlement. "But I thought - wasn't she - the eighth -"

"Her name is Onyx, a trained assassin and mimic. Cyanara hired her to impersonate me and obtain the eight Rainbow Discs. Obviously she failed." The woman smiled fully. "I am the true eighth Guardian."

"Then you must be -" Mario broke off and stared again.

Leaving Mario to his staring, the true Diamond moved quietly to the unconscious Peach, knelt down, and gently plucked the shuriken from her arm. Peach stirred.

"Peach," said Diamond softly.

Peach turned over onto her back, and her eyes fluttered open. She caught her breath as she saw Diamond's face.

"M-Mom?!"

"I'm here, dear. Everything's all right."

Reunion Theme

"MOM!!" Peach sat up and flung her arms around her mother, crying tears of joy as she did. "It's you! It's really you!"

"Of course," Diamond replied tenderly. "I told you you'd see me again someday, and I keep my promises."

Leika picked herself up off the floor and flew to Mario's shoulder. "...Peach's mother?" she asked quietly, watching the reunion. Mario nodded and remained silent.

"Mom," Peach finally asked, "why did you leave me? I needed you so badly when I first took the throne. Why did you go?"

Diamond gently pushed Peach from her arms and placed her hands on her daughter's shoulders. "I had to, dear. My duty no longer lay with the kingdom. You had that responsibility. I returned to Rainbow Temple because my duty lay there." Her blue eyes gazed tenderly into Peach's. "You understand now."

"I..."

"Peach, look at yourself," Diamond told her. "You're a grown woman now, the princess of the Mushroom Kingdom. You have your own duties now. Don't worry about mine."

"But...Mom...why didn't you come back sooner?" Another tear spilled out from the Princess's eye. "I missed you so much..."

"My explanation doesn't matter, Peach. Suffice it to say that I've been trying to stop your sister. But even my white magic has had no effect on her. She nearly killed me several times."

"Oh, Mom!" breathed Peach.

"I'm just fine, Peach. Stop your worrying. That always was your weak point, daughter." Diamond smiled as she administered the mild reprimand. "It is nearly time for me to again take my leave, Peach. But before I do," she added, rising to her feet, "there is something I must do for you. Kneel."

"M-Mom?" Peach questioned uncertainly.

"Kneel, Peach."

Still puzzled, Peach knelt before her parent. Diamond smiled down at her.

"Peach, you are the true ruler of the Mushroom Kingdom. You earned that right when Cyanara was banished. And you have the gift of white magic as well." Diamond's gaze fastened on Peach's face. "You have received almost the entire legacy of your royal lineage."

"Almost?" Peach inquired. "Mom, what are you talking about?"

"My daughter," answered Diamond, "you are ready at last. It is time for you to receive the full heritage of the crown." With that, Diamond bent down and placed her hands on Peach's shoulders again.

Suddenly Peach's dress burst into blazing white light, as did Diamond's rainbow robe. Peach was startled by this unexpected move of her mother and stared down at herself as she saw her clothing changing shape. The light flowed from her clothes over her entire body. After what seemed an eternity Diamond removed her hands from Peach's shoulders, and the light faded away to reveal a startling change in both mother and daughter.

No longer did Diamond wear her rainbow robes. Neither did Peach wear her pink silken dress. Mother and daughter had switched outfits. Diamond was now dressed in pink, and Peach was clad in the robe of the eighth Guardian.

Princess Peach rose to her feet, gaping at her new attire in utter astonishment.

"Reach inside it," Diamond told her daughter.

With shaking hands Peach obeyed, reaching into the folds of "her" robe. Her fingers struck a flat circular object, and her eyes widened as the tremblingly withdrew a black, shimmering disc.

"The Twilight Disc! M-Mom - are you - a-am I -"

Diamond smiled. "Yes, my dear. You are the eighth Guardian of the Rainbow now."

Peach caught her breath and stared at her mother. "Mom - I -"

"This is my final gift to you, Peach," Diamond told her gently. "It is the last inheritance you will receive."

"B-But why me?" Peach asked, still incredulous.

"Peach," Diamond answered, "the keeping of the Twilight Disc has been passed down from generation to generation, and now it has come down to you. I was the eighth Rainbow Guardian before you, and my mother before me, and so on for hundreds of years."

"Mom, I don't want to be a Guardian!" Peach responded tremblingly. "Take it back! Take the Disc back!"

Diamond shook her head. "I can't, Peach. Neither can you give it back. This is not a matter of choice, Peach. This is your destiny. My mother did the same to me."

"Why now, though?" Peach was still seeking a way out of this unexpected thrust of fate.

"You needed the strength, Peach. There is a power inside you now that will aid you in regaining your kingdom. They are part of your Guardianship."

"What powers?"

"White magic." Diamond tried to produce a sphere of light but managed only a spark or two. "As you can see, my power is gone. It now resides in you, my daughter. You had the little you were born with already, but now you possess the full power. I entrust you with it, Peach. Use it wisely."

Peach was silent, stunned by all of the new information her mother had given her.

"Peach, the Twilight Disc is not like the other Discs. Within it is housed a power unlike any other. Guard it with your life, and it in turn will guard you. Give it your all, and it will give you all it has to give. Whether you unlock its full potential or not is up to you."

Peach finally found her voice. "B-But Mom, I can't do this! I can't be a Rainbow Guardian!"

"Yes, you can, dear; yes, you can. I must go now."

"Mom, NO! You can't leave me now! I need you!!" Peach pleaded desperately. "Why must you leave me when I need you most?!"

"To show you your true self, Peach. I leave so that you will stop depending on me and reach within yourself to find the strength you need." Diamond smiled at her daughter. "You are stronger inside than you think you are, dear. Reach deep into your soul, and you will find that I am right."

Turning, Diamond placed the Tanzanite Ring in Mario's hand. "Care for it well, Mario. The future of this kingdom rests with both you and Peach. I know I've left the Mushroom Kingdom in good hands."

"You can count on us, Diamond," Mario replied staunchly. "We'll put a stop to Cyanara somehow."

"I know you will. I have faith in you both." Diamond turned back to Peach and gave her one last tender smile. "Farewell, my daughter. We will see one another again someday. I promise." She began to fade from view.

"Mom!" Peach grasped at her mother but felt only empty air. The tears began to flow again. "MOM!!"

"You are truly strong, my daughter," Diamond said tenderly. "You must discover that for yourself." Her eyes welled with tears as she disappeared from sight, and she whispered one last thing to her beloved daughter.

"...I love you, Peach."

Rainbow Sanctum was filled with nothing but an empty silence for a long while after Diamond had faded from sight.

Leika was the first to act. She flew up in front of the rainbow-clad Peach and curtsied solemnly. "I am at your service, Eighth Guardian."

"Stop it, Leika!" cried Peach through her tears. "I am not a Guardian! I don't want to be one!"

"From what your mom said, you don't have much choice," Mario responded softly, trying to ease her tension. "I think you'd be better off just accepting what she said and living with it rather than fighting it."

"Mario," Peach answered with a twinge of sadness, "do you even know what this means for me?"

Mario slowly shook his head no.

Peach's gaze dropped to the crystal floor. "I've always been the one being protected. Protected by you, by Luigi, by the Rainbow Guardians... There's always been someone to come to my rescue. And now...all of a sudden...I'm supposed to be the protector? How can I make such a change so quickly?"

Mario laid a hand on her shoulder. "You'll get used to it eventually, I'm sure. Besides, I'm still here. That hasn't changed. And as far as I'm concerned, you're still the Princess Peach we all know and love. You're just a little stronger now, that's all."

Peach smiled somewhat regretfully. "Thanks, Mario. Let's get off this mountain and into the next dimension."

"I'm sure Toadsworth will just love this new outfit you've got," Mario remarked with a grin, gesturing at the beautifully becoming rainbow robe with the white band cutting diagonally across the waist. "Probably he'll go berserk and order you to change back into your dress."

"And won't he have a fit when he finds out I don't have it," Peach added, the smile returning to her face. She brushed her tears away. "Come on, let's get back to Luigi and Toadsworth!"

---

Great One's Theme

Cyanara shut the mind-control system off and smiled evilly at her helpless victim on the steel table. "Well, Athos, how does it feel to have your mind replaced?"

Athos said nothing. He lay on the table as one dead, eyes shot, breathing imperceptible. The struggle had completely exhausted him.

"Are you ready to put all of your traitorousness behind you and return to serving me?" asked the Empress deliberately.

"...I...I will...s-serve you...Master..." Athos murmured through chapped lips.

"Excellent," Cyanara answered with another smile. She rose from her seat at the computer and came up to Athos's side. "Now I want you to kill Amethyst."

Involuntarily a look of horror flitted across Athos's face. Cyanara caught it, narrowed her eyes at her erstwhile servant, and slugged him in the face. Athos cried out, blood oozing from his nose.

"I might have guessed you were lying, traitor," she spat viciously at him. "What you have coming to you now is going to be a thousand times worse than what you have already been through. No one toys with me and lives to tell about it!" With that parting threat, Cyanara left him behind in the chamber and headed back up to the fortress's ground level.

The Empress stopped before an ordinary-looking wooden door and knocked. A small voice came from within.

"C-Come in."

Cyanara opened the door. Beyond it was a small room with bed, dresser, nightstand, lamp - in short, everything a little girl might possibly need to spend the night there in comfort. There was even a teddy bear lying on the neatly-made bed. Princess Aster, with her green silk dress and auburn hair, sat on the edge of the bed, watching her visitor fearfully.

Quietly the Empress approached her young "guest" and sat down beside her. "Aster, your present is ready," she informed the little girl while stroking her hair softly.

Aster looked up at her "benefactor." "C-Can I have it now?" she inquired in a small voice.

Smiling, Cyanara nodded. "Yes, little princess. Come with me." She rose to her feet, took Aster's white-gloved hand in hers, and led her from the room.

The two wound their way through the fortress's intricate system of hallways, finally arriving at the silver double doors that proclaimed the entrance to the throne room. Cyanara pushed the doors open, and she and Aster entered the imposing chamber.

Immediately Aster saw the Shadow King and Queen not six feet from her. She gave a little scream and hid behind Cyanara's black skirt.

The King laughed. "Ah, the little one is fearful!"

"Come, Aster, there's no need to be so frightened," Cyanara told her, gently but firmly drawing the young princess out from behind her. She looked Aster in the eye. "I thought you were a brave girl," she said half-reproachfully.

"B-But - the - th-the -" Aster cast fearful eyes on the Royals again.

"They're here to give you your present, Aster. Don't be afraid." Cyanara motioned to the Queen, who slowly, gracefully approached Aster, wearing the friendliest smile she could muster. Aster shrank back against Cyanara with a small whimper.

The Queen got down on her knees and put her face at Aster's level. "Would you like your present now, young one?" she asked softly.

Aster hesitated, then nodded slowly.

The Queen's eyes glistened red. "Very well. I'll give it to you."

Without warning the Queen leaned forward and kissed Aster's lips. Princess Aster's face registered surprise, and she tried to pull away, but could not. What could not be seen during the few seconds of liplock was that something resembling a shadowy ether flowed from the Queen's mouth into Aster's.

"How do you like it, dear?" asked the Queen with a wicked smile.

Aster's face betrayed shock, and she stood stock still for several minutes. Suddenly she clutched at her chest, cried out, and fell to her knees as a purple glow issued from her eyes. Her head went back in a childish scream of horror.

"Is it done?" came a male voice from the door.

The King looked past Cyanara and the screaming, shaking Aster to see a young man standing just inside the throne room doors. He was dressed in a red tunic and gray leggings identical to the King's, and a short black cape hung from his shoulders. A blood-red crown similar to that of the Royals sat atop his raven-black hair. The King smiled in greeting and answered the query.

"Yes, my prince. She is yours."

---

Star Mountain Theme

"Princess! What on earth do you think you're wearing?!"

Peach giggled. "I knew it," she whispered to Mario, who nodded and grinned.

Toadsworth continued his insistent ranting. "Take that ridiculous...whatever-it-is off this instant and put your dress back on! I demand it!"

"You want me to change clothes right out here in the open?" Peach asked with a smile, gesturing around at the flat clifftop plateau.

"Well, er...no," Toadsworth stammered. Then he recovered himself. "And where did you get such an absurd piece of clothing?!"

"For your information, Toadsworth, my mother gave it to me." Peach's voice indicated that she would brook no further opposition. Fortunately for Toadsworth, he did not offer any.

"Your...mother?" he gasped. "The good Queen Diamond is yet alive?!"

"Yes," Peach replied calmly.

Toadsworth was stunned by this news. He worked his jaw, but no sound came out.

"Good to see you safe and sound, bro," Luigi greeted Mario. "Looks like you got the Ring!"

"The Tanzanite Ring." Mario held up his left hand and let the sun glint off the indigo gem on his fourth finger. "Now it's on to Violet Dimension. Luigi, it's your turn to do the honors." He handed his younger sibling the white DTD disk.

"B-Bro?" stammered Luigi.

Mario placed the Tanzanite Ring in Luigi's gloved hand. "Go ahead."

Luigi, still hesitant, took the Ring and fitted its gem into DT's central socket. The device whirred musically, and in seconds a beautiful violet portal shimmered before the group. Luigi handed the Ring and DTD back to Mario with a wide grin on his face.

"On to Violet Dimension," droned DT.

"Wahaa!" yelled Luigi as he leaped through the portal.

Violet Dimension Theme

Peach stepped through the violet portal, and her feet rested on soft green grass. She gasped at what she saw before her. A large stone structure surrounded by a deep moat sat solidly on the ground in broad daylight, several hundred yards distant.

"The castle!" Peach cried. "It's my castle!"

The portal closed behind her. The others had already come through behind her by this time. Mario moved slowly forward, staring at the castle. It looked normal.

WHIZZZ...

"Peach!!" Mario tackled her and brought both her and himself skidding into the dirt.

Peach pushed him off and got to her feet. "Mario, what on earth do you think you're doing?!" she demanded.

Mario pointed to an arrow embedded in the turf not three feet behind the spot Peach had been standing on. If Mario hadn't knocked her over it would have pierced her heart. Peach hugged him tightly.

"Come on, we've got to find a place where whoever-it-is can't shoot at us," Mario said urgently. He led the way away from the castle into the surrounding forest.

No sooner had they set foot in the forest than they saw, to their surprise, Princess Daisy herself stepping out of a black portal amongst the trees. A Shy Guy in a black suit, black bowtie, and sunglasses accompanied her. The instant she laid eyes on the startled group, she stormed over to them.

"Peach! I demand to know what's going on around here!"

"Daisy, calm down," Peach responded gently, trying to cool her friend's temper. "How did you get here?"

"I know about the dimensional rifting thing, Peach. Spy Guy here told me all about that. But then my little sister gets kidnapped!"

Peach gasped. "Aster - kidnapped?!"

Daisy's eyes welled with tears. "The Great One has her. I just came from that accursed fortress, where I was trying to find a way inside. It's no use. The place is sealed more tightly than a can of tuna." She began to cry, then checked herself. "I'm sorry for the outburst. I get like this when I think about Aster..."

"Daisy," Mario told her gravely, "we know the Great One's true identity now."

Daisy's eyes widened. "You do?"

Peach nodded. "Her name is Cyanara, and...she's my older sister."

Daisy almost fell over. "Do you mean to tell me - !! I mean, I know she hates you and everything, but is this thing between you and her some kind of sibling rivalry or something?"

"I guess you could call it that," Peach conceded. "She claims she should have the throne, not me."

"Not in a million years!" exclaimed Daisy heatedly. "She'd never do half as good a job as you do!"

"That's not the point," Peach hastened to say. "Cyanara was banished and stripped of her royal rights because of her dark heart. According to law she can't have the throne - ever!"

Daisy was silent, taking all this information in.

"Daisy," Peach addressed her friend, "we need to get into my castle. Apparently the Paroidian Guard is still inside. Can you and Spy Guy help us out?"

"Spy Guy," Daisy ordered, "get into that castle and open the gates so we can get inside."

"Understood," replied the black-suited Shy Guy. He put his black sunglasses on and cautiously slipped out of the trees, heading for the castle. The others sat back to wait for him.

In less than half an hour Daisy's radio crackled. "Your Highness?"

Daisy lifted the transponder to her lips. "Come in, Spy Guy. What's up?"

"The security inside the castle is too heavy for me to do anything as blatant as opening the gates," replied the espionage expert. "I'm going to have to use the timechanger to get you guys in here."

"The timechanger?! But Spy Guy -"

"It's the only way." Spy Guy's voice was perfectly calm.

"...OK. Let me explain this to Peach and the others. Stand by."

Daisy turned to her friends. "Spy Guy's timechanger gadget can speed up or slow down time. What he's going to do is speed up time all around us. Everything except us will be affected, including Spy Guy. Once it's nighttime, the security inside the castle should be lessened, and Spy Guy should be able to let us in."

"I never quite understood all of that time travel theory stuff," Peach laughed, "but I trust you."

"Go ahead, Spy Guy," Daisy relayed over the radio.

"Ten-four."

Suddenly the world around them burst into rapid motion. Plants and even large trees shivered erratically as the effect of slight breezes over hours of time was compressed into mere seconds. The entire forest around them seemed alive as it continued its shaking, wavering motion. It was like watching a film in rapid fast-forward. Leika pointed up through the canopy of shivering leaves, and the others looked up to see the sun gliding across the sky at a rate that would place sundown at a distance of less than a minute rather than several hours. The group watched in awe as the sun dipped below the horizon, plunging them into darkness, and suddenly the time fast-forward stopped. The third quarter moon shone down on them.

Daisy clicked her two-way radio back on. "Spy Guy, give us your current time."

"Four AM," came the staticky response.

Mario quickly reset his watch to agree with the new time. "Man, over fifteen hours in just minutes!"

Spy Guy's voice came over the radio again. "Security's not as tight. I'm opening the gate now." In another minute or so the castle's massive oaken gates swung open almost noiselessly. Spy Guy had oiled every hinge well to avoid making a racket.

A Shy Guy silhouette scuttled out of the gates and onto the moonlit castle grounds. "Come on!" he called in a hoarse whisper, beckoning furtively to the group concealed in the forest tree line.

Mario dashed out to Spy Guy first and hunkered down in the grass. Peach followed closely. Leika was so small in comparison to her companions that she needed no concealment; she simply flew close to the ground and reached Spy Guy rather quickly. Luigi almost tripped and barely saved himself from a fall which more than likely would have revealed their presence to the Paroidians atop the watchtowers. At last the entire group of seven was reassembled in the grassy field, a hundred yards from the open castle gates.

"Huff! I say," Toadsworth panted, "this is rather the dangerous escapade! Are we certain about this?"

"No going back now," replied Spy Guy quietly. His black suit concealed him almost perfectly in the cold moonlight. "When I say go, we dash for the gate." The others prepared themselves for the sprint.

"Ready - GO!"

Instantly the group charged forward through the grass, seven figures against a backdrop of dim light. Toadsworth quickly fell behind, and the others rushed through the gates ahead of him.

Suddenly there were shouts from the top of the wall, and a hail of arrows rained down on Toadsworth. He yelled in pain and fell onto his face, unable to get up.

"Toadsworth!!" cried Peach and rushed back out of the gates to help her steward, not giving the slightest thought to her own safety.

Mario gasped. "No! Peach! The archers on the wall!!"

She paid no heed to the warning. Quickly but gently she knelt by her trusty steward and tried to help him up.

A horrible whizzing sound suddenly filled Peach's ears, as if her mind had just awakened to her danger. Her head shot up, and terror filled her eyes as she watched dozens of arrows lofting into the air from the wall, falling toward their target far below. She froze where she was, paralyzed, unable to move, unwilling to leave Toadsworth as her sharp-pointed executioners plummeted toward her.

[NintendoMasterGC]

Chapter 17: Royal Flush

Violet Dimension Theme

Just seconds before being the arrows came down on her, Princess Peach finally let out a scream and threw herself across Toadsworth in protection, waiting for those penetrating points to stab into her flesh.

The pain never came.

Peach felt a dozen arrows beat a tattoo against her exposed back, and all was quiet. Stunned, she reached behind her and felt her back. Not a single arrow was lodged in it. Her hand, moving to the grass beside her, detected an object lying there. She picked it up and, bringing it before her face, was shocked to see that it was one of the arrows intended for her - and its tip was literally bent in half! She stared at the mutilated arrow in amazement.

Suddenly she remembered Toadsworth. In a flash she had him on his feet and was helping him toward the gate. No further volleys were fired at them, and soon the Princess and her steward were safely inside the gates. Apparently the guards were confident that two waves of arrows were sufficiently fatal.

"Are you all right, Toadsworth?" Peach asked anxiously.

"Just a few nicks and scrapes," grunted the old Toad painfully. "I'll be right as rain in no time."

"Are you all right, Peach?" Mario inquired, turning the question back on the questioner.

"I'm fine," she assured him. "Perfectly fine."

"Peach, I saw those arrows hit you." Mario's face betrayed amazement. "Do you mean to tell me that -"

Peach held up the bent-tipped arrow. Mario ran his finger over the ruined point in stunned silence.

"It must have been the Twilight Disc," Peach guessed. "Mom said the Twilight Disc would protect me if I protected it. That's...that's the only thing I can think of..."

"Incredible," breathed Daisy, eyes wide. Leika too showed signs of astonishment.

"We can't keep standing out in the open like this," Spy Guy broke in impatiently. "We've got to get inside."

"Follow me," Peach instructed. "I know me castle's layout better than anyone else." Quickly she led the way from the yard inside the gate to the main castle building. She found the doors locked, but once again Spy Guy came to the rescue and picked the lock easily. The group entered the main castle lobby and shut the doors behind them. Immediately they all noticed something peculiar about the castle interior. They stood in pitch blackness except for the faint aura of rainbow light shed by Leika's body. There was no light anywhere else.

"Not this again," muttered Luigi. "Does this setup look familiar to anyone?"

"None of the lights are on," Mario replied grimly. "That's exactly what the Shadows Royal did last time they occupied the castle - they shut all the lights off."

Peach's eyes blazed in indignation. "If they're here again, we'll give them a good reason to pack up and leave!" Boldly she led the way out of the foyer into the red-carpeted hallway and from there into her own throne room. No one was there.

"Last time the Royals were in here," Peach remarked a bit hesitantly as the group scanned the darkened room. Peach's golden throne loomed large and mysterious at the far end of the long chamber.

"Don't let your guard down," Mario whispered as he began advancing slowly into the room, intending to go the room's full length just to make sure that there was no one there.

Suddenly he stopped. He strained his eyes into the blackness ahead. Faintly he could discern the silhouette of a young girl a few yards in front of him. He quickly returned to his friends.

"There's someone up there!" he whispered hoarsely.

"Then I'll just go see who it is," Daisy replied staunchly, and before anyone could stop her she had begun walking toward the mysterious person ahead.

Nearing the figure, Daisy slowed and scrutinized her target. In the faint light she could barely make out the form of a small girl. The shape looked familiar. Daisy's eyes widened.

"Aster?!"

The girl said nothing; her back was toward Daisy. She ignored Daisy completely.

"Aster!!" Daisy rushed to the girl and tried to hug her, but the girl whirled around just as Daisy ran up and -

SLAP!

Daisy cried out and stumbled backward, and her hand flew to her stinging face. She stared at the face of her little assailant. It had to be Aster - of that Daisy was certain. She knew her sister's face. But her actions...

"Aster!"

Aster's eyes gleamed red, and a strange voice came up from her throat. "I am not Princess Aster."

Another figure suddenly appeared beside Aster or whoever-it-was. He stood near her as if protecting her.

"Who are you?" Mario challenged, moving closer.

The young man glared at Mario. "I am called the Shadow Prince."

Aster's strange voice interjected. "And I am the Shadow Princess."

"Shadow Princess?!" cried Daisy. "Aster, no! Wake up!"

"There IS no Princess Aster!" spat the Shadow Princess spitefully.

Leika darted over to Daisy's side and responded in defiance, "I command you to leave Aster alone, filthy demon!"

The evil Princess's eyes blazed red. "Leika, you accursed fairy! It was you that destroyed my nine other brother and sister spirits! With them, all thirteen Aeshma Souls would stand before you today!"

"And I'll do to you what I did to them!" retorted Leika hotly. "Your creator Aeshma, the lord of the Shadow Legion, is dead! He deserved what he got, the wicked spirit! You, the Prince, and even the King and Queen will perish just as he did!"

"We will see about that, Rainbow Fairy!" shouted the Prince. "My princess, let us destroy these fools who dare resist the great Empress Cyanara!"

Junior Royals Battle Theme

"It will be my pleasure to begin with Princess Daisy!" replied the evil Princess. She put out her hand and shot a jet of scorching flames directly into Daisy's midsection, knocking her backward into Peach and setting her dress ablaze. Peach caught Daisy and quickly squelched the fire.

The Prince withdrew a long silver-handled whip from his belt and brandished it threateningly. "I, as an Aeshma Soul, will play the role of slave-driver in this brief conflict. Bow before your masters, feeble slaves!" The whip sang out and cracked across Leika's skull, sending the fairy crashing to the floor, nearly unconscious. She reached feebly toward Princess Peach.

"Eighth Guardian... Help!"

Almost involuntarily Peach rushed to her fallen friend, cradled her in her hands, and sent a pulse of white magic into her, rejuvenating the fairy. In moments Leika was airborne again.

The Shadow Prince and Princess stepped back a little.

"It appears we are facing the Eighth Guardian of the Rainbow," remarked the Shadow Princess hesitantly.

"No matter," responded the Prince. "Never yet have the eight Guardians been able to destroy the Shadows Royal. Nor will this single Guardian stand a chance against us!"

Again the whip snaked out and struck like a serpent, this time biting Peach. But to the amazement of both Shadow Prince and Princess Peach, the stinging blow only bounced off Peach's body without so much as scratching her. Not even her rainbow robe was damaged in the least.

"She is impervious to standard weaponry!" exclaimed the Prince. "No solid object can damage her!"

"Then allow me," put in the Shadow Princess, firing a stream of flames directly at Peach. As expected, the fire did hurt her, and Mario came to her rescue by smothering the flames on her robes. Frightened, Peach retreated somewhat, taking Daisy and Toadsworth with her to keep them safe. Mario, Luigi, Leika, and Spy Guy would have to do the fighting.

Now the Prince's whip was in a dozen places at once, striking with stunning rapidity and pinpoint accuracy. In just seconds he cracked the stinging strap into all four of his foes, striking them backward. Spy Guy recovered from the lash, pulled a miniature bomb from his pocket, armed it, and lobbed it at the Prince. The Prince caught it, smiled evilly, and crushed the device in one hand.

"No mere playthings are capable of damaging me!" he crowed while knocking Spy Guy off his feet with a well-placed crack of the whip.

Mario and Luigi began pelting the Shadow Prince with fireballs, and Leika busied the Shadow Princess with beams of rainbow light. Spy Guy readied two more bombs. At the right instant he tossed one at the Prince. Of course the fiend simply caught and crushed it as he had the first, but he failed to notice the other bomb, which Spy Guy had rolled behind him. In second a violent explosion sent the Prince flying over the heads of his opponents, crashing to the floor at the feet of Princess Peach herself. She immediately reached down and took him by the throat, choking him.

"I'm going to end this right here, Shadow Prince!" said the Princess through her teeth as she choked the life out of the now-desperate Prince. "I will not allow you harm those I love!"

Peach, however, failed to notice the Shadow Princess's fiery glare.

Suddenly Princess Peach burst into flames, instantly becoming a living torch. She screamed and released the Prince from her grip, beating at the inferno with her blazing hands while screaming hysterically.

"PEACH!!" Mario rushed to her, knocked her to the floor, and tried to smother the fire that covered her entirely. As suddenly as they had come, the flames vanished, leaving Peach lying on the marble floor of her throne room, covered in severe burns and still screaming in pain. Daisy, Toadsworth, Spy Guy, Luigi and Leika clustered around her as Mario tried to soothe her agony.

"Aaah - AAAAAAH!! AAAH!! A-AAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!"

"Peach, it's OK," Mario said anxiously. "It's OK. We're all here. You're gonna be OK."

After a few agonizing minutes, the pain subsided to near-tolerable levels, and Peach ceased her screaming and lay there on the floor, completely exhausted.

"Hey!" cried Luigi. "They're gone!!"

Sure enough, both Prince and Princess had left the room - vanished without a trace. Mario stood and clenched a fist. "They won't get away with this!"

Violet Dimension Theme

"Mario..."

He looked down at Peach inquiringly.

"Mario... Just leave me here...with Daisy and Toadsworth..." She sucked in her breath as pain spiked through her nerves. "Take...the others...and chase the Prince and Princess..."

"No way am I leaving you here in your condition!" exclaimed Mario. "If those two Shadows Royal Juniors were to attack you while I'm gone, you wouldn't stand a chance!" He shook his head in a very definite no. "I'm not going anywhere!"

Peach looked him in the eye. "I'm not...asking you...to go, Mario... That's an order. As the Princess...of the Mushroom Kingdom...I order you to pursue them!"

Mario was taken aback. Never before had Peach exercised her royal authority over him. The order stunned him. "Peach...?"

Her eyes softened. "Mario...I love you. Now go! GO!!!"

Mario's indecision evaporated instantly. Reassured, he smiled down at Peach, then quickly rounded up Luigi, Leika, and Spy Guy and led the little group of four in search of the Shadow Prince and Princess.

Daisy knelt next to Peach and squeezed her hand. "Did you just tell Mario what I think you did?"

Peach smiled softly in spite of the pain of her burns and nodded. "He deserved it."

Toadsworth shook his head helplessly.

Mario and his group crept through the pitch-black halls of the castle, warily watching for their foes who might appear at any moment around any corner. Their hunt through the castle could be compared to that of a blind mouse in a dark maze. All they could do was keep going and hope they weren't going in circles.

At a T-junction in the halls, Mario halted. "Left or right? One's as good as the other, I guess," he shrugged, turning into the right-hand hall. The hall he had chosen terminated in twenty feet at a solid oaken door. Mario turned the knob and swung the door open to reveal the starry sky and shining moon overhead, visible above the castle courtyard. A wave of cool air washed over the group as they looked out into the immaculately landscaped courtyard garden. The tiniest hint of red tinged the sky over the eastern wall, a sign that daylight was not far off - perhaps an hour or two away.

Leika darted silently into the moonlight, her rainbow aura casting faint shades of color onto the flagstone pavement. "Come on," she called quietly. "Let's check this place thoroughly."

The others moved stealthily forward, creeping down the shadowy walkways so silently they appeared to be shadows themselves. Their eyes roved about in the dim light, searching for any sign of their escaped enemies.

There were four stone statues in the courtyard, surrounding the central fountain which bubbled quietly in the background. The north statue was a man, tall, striking, gazing intently into the sparkling water of the fountain pool as if musing over some mysterious puzzle. The stone figure opposite him, the south statue, was a woman, in her arm bearing a water pitcher from which she continually poured into the fountain - but she paid little attention to her endless task, for her eyes were fastened on the man opposite her, and a smile graced her lips.

On the east stood a stone boy, chiseled with almost photographic realism, captured in the essence of play, throwing a ball across the fountain with childish delight. Above the fountain's burbling spurt of water was a stone ball, cleverly supported by a steel rod concealed in the fountain's spray. The stone figure of a girl stretched out her hands from the west side of the fountain to catch the ball which never came down. The four statues surrounded the fountain like silent sentinels in the pre-dawn darkness.

Time and again Leika darted in and out amongst the statues. Time and again Mario passed close to them.

The eyes of the man statue, unnoticed, followed Leika's every move, always quickly returning to meditate upon the waters should the fairy chance to look his way.

Luigi, passing close to the woman statue, was almost certain he'd seen her glance at him.

Spy Guy, prowling about the outskirts of the courtyard, thought he saw the little stone boy turn his head and look at him.

Leika hovered to a stop near the little girl statue. "I guess there's no one here," she said aloud, half to herself.

The little girl's outflung stone hand slowly reached up toward the fairy.

"LEIKA!" yelled Mario. "THE STATUE!!"

In the nick of time Leika turned, saw the cold stone hand about to close on her, and shot forward out of the hands reach. She turned and stared at the statue, transfixed by terror.

Slowly, dramatically, four figures emerged from the statues. A man with black vesture, gray leggings, and a red crown stepped out of the man statue, and a young man with red tunic and black cape emerged from the sculpture of the boy. Simultaneously a woman clad in a black dress and a red crown left the confines of the statue of the woman, and a young girl similarly dressed slipped from the girl statue. All four figures smiled evilly at Mario and his group.

"It's the Shadows Royal!" cried Leika.

"All four of us this time," put in the Shadow Queen. "And were it not for you, Leika, we would today be thirteen strong! I will personally see to it that from this day forth you will breathe no more!" Her eyes glowed red with hatred.

"What happened to 'can't destroy the Rainbow Fairy'?" Leika questioned sarcastically. "Decided to try anyway?"

"You don't stand a chance, Shadows Royal!" Mario shouted in challenge.

The Shadow Prince flicked his silver-handled whip menacingly. "We will emerge victorious this time, Mario. This will be your last battle!"

"It is time, Mario," spoke the Shadow King with finality, "time for you and those with you to feel the combined might of the last four Aeshma Souls!" He drew the enormous Aeshma Sword from beneath his vest and glared at Mario with burning red eyes. "We will avenge the glorious Shadow Legion and our omnipotent creator Aeshma by sacrificing you to the power of shadows!"

Final Shadows Royal Battle Theme

The Shadow Princess was the first to act, firing a ball of flames directly at Mario. He dodged the burning projectile easily and hurled a fireball of his own at the dark Princess. Before it reached her, however, the Prince's whip snapped forward and shattered the fireball into a harmless shower of sparks.

"None shall touch her!" crowed the Prince.

A beam of rainbow light zapped the Prince's skull and momentarily stunned him.

"Then we'll just have to take you down first!" retorted Leika from high above him, out of reach of the stinging whip.

Mario dashed forward to attack the stunned Prince but was felled by a bolt of lightning from the Shadow Queen. The King, seizing the opportunity, rushed up to the fallen Mario and raised the Aeshma Sword over him.

A gunshot rang out of the darkness of the terraced courtyard, and a bullet sparked off the Aeshma Sword's broadside, sending the blade spinning out of the King's hand. It clattered to a stop on the flagstones some distance away.

Before the King could retrieve his weapon, the black-suited Spy Guy sprang from his hiding place in one of the flower beds and hurled himself through the air at the King, gripping his black pistol in his hand. Four more shots shattered the stillness of the courtyard, the muzzle blasts lighting up the surrounding area for brief instants. Four more bullets went speeding toward their mark.

The King threw up his hand, and a dark energy shield surrounded him. The four bullets dissolved instantly on impact. Letting down the shield, the King fixed his red eyes on the hurtling Spy Guy and brought his foot around in a roundhouse kick, striking the spy squarely in the midriff and hammering him backward into the courtyard wall more than twenty feet away.

Now Luigi charged forward to deal payback to the Shadow King. The Shadow Princess easily scorched him with her powers of fire while the King retrieved his sword. Again the King raised the Aeshma Sword over Mario's still-stunned body.

Just before being hacked in half, Mario gathered his feet under him and sprang backward in a tremendous backflip, launching balls of ice from both hands as he flipped through the air. The ice pummeled the Shadow King with relentless force, making him stumble back a few feet. Like the Shadow Aides Zaron and Takanyar, the King and the other Royals had a weakness - ice. Mario landed flawlessly on his feet and went into his battle stance again.

Meanwhile the Prince was busy repelling Leika. Again and again his whip cracked in mid-air, each time missing the fairy by mere millimeters. Leika dodged too quickly to be hit but was kept so busy dodging the lashes that she had no chance to return fire. Eventually she found herself forced to retreat beyond the range of the Prince's whip.

For a few brief moments the fight ground to a halt. The opponents eyed each other, each side silently daring the other to make the next move. Neither side had gained an advantage over the other; all of the combatants were still in the fight. The tense, heart-pounding silence lasted for only a minute or two, but to the opposing sides it seemed an eternity.

"Trying to force us to show our hand?" inquired the Queen at length, showing a facetious smile. "Let's see, we have a king, a queen, a jack, and a ten. The last card, of course, is the 'ace' in the hole." She turned to the Shadow Princess. "Let them taste the power of the Ring!"

The dark Princess raised her left hand, revealing the violet gem on her left middle finger.

"The seventh Rainbow Ring!" Mario cried.

The Ring gleamed brightly from the Princess's gray-gloved hand, and Mario suddenly felt all strength leave him. He struggled to hold himself upright as he grew steadily weaker. "Wh-What the -"

"The Kunzite Ring will leech every last drop of energy from you," the Shadow Princess told him with an evil glint in her eye. "And when you are weak and helpless, the others of your party will meet the same fate."

The Shadow Queen smiled. "Royal flush, Mario. We are unstoppable."

Mario could stand no longer and collapsed to the flagstones beneath his feet. He strained every muscle in an attempt to rise but failed. He had not the strength. "...Grrrr... Come on, get up, Mario!" he grunted to himself as he still tried to get back on his feet.

Within minutes Mario, Luigi, Leika, and Spy Guy lay helpless on the courtyard's stone pavement, completely drained of all their energy. The Shadow Princess smiled evilly and walked up to the fallen Mario.

"It seems you were unable to protect those you care for," she remarked cruelly. "What a sad thing that you have failed to defend them." She placed her hand on Mario's face. He felt the heat from her hand but was too weak to resist.

"As your punishment for such failure, I will burn you to ashes. Your foolish friends cannot help you now, 'hero.' Prepare to die at the hands of those whose creator you murdered!"

[NintendoMasterGC]

Chapter 18: The Sacrifice

Final Shadows Royal Battle Theme

Suddenly the courtyard burst into white radiance. All four Shadows Royal cringed and cowered back from the harsh, penetrating glare of the brilliant light.

Princess Peach stood in the courtyard doorway, arrayed in her rainbow robes. Her burns were gone. She held her outstretched hands toward the Royals, and that brilliant white light emanated directly from her hands, nearly paralyzing the four Royals.

"Aaaagh!" cried the Shadow King, shielding his face with his hand. "This power - too - strong! It - it is the -"

"The Eighth Rainbow Guardian!!" finished the Queen, herself blinded by the light. "Diamond should have been killed long ago!"

"That is not Diamond!" protested the Prince in agony. "It is Princess Peach!"

"What?!" gasped the Queen. "It is! No! Diamond has passed the powers of the Eighth Guardian to Peach! We are doomed!!"

"I'm not about to let you kill Mario or anyone else!" Peach shouted, hurling her voice through the courtyard. "You've lived too long already, Shadows Royal! It's time you were sent back to the place you came from!!"

"N-No! This light - AAAAUGH!! I - cannot resist - this - light!" cried the Queen. "I - am going to - NO! I CANNOT DIE!!!"

Suddenly a black cloud enveloped the Shadow Queen, and a black ghost-like being was torn from her body. The demon gave a horrible scream.

"CURSE YOU PEACH!!!"

As the words left its mouth it disintegrated under the force of the blinding light. The Shadow Queen's body, no longer under the demon's control, collapsed to the stone pavement, and its physical features began to return to normal. Her dress morphed from black to sky blue, the gem on her chest from red to orange, her crown from red to gold. She lay as one dead. A similar transformation was happening to the other three Royals as their possessing demons were drawn out and destroyed. The light from Peach's hands faded away, showing the courtyard in twilight once again.

*end music*

Peach rushed to Mario and knelt beside him. Daisy was right behind her, flying past Mario's prone form and going straight to her no-longer-possessed little sister Aster, now lying on the ground looking perfectly normal.

"Mario!" Peach placed her hands on Mario and revitalized him with a pulse of white magic. His energy restored, Mario sat up, looking in bewilderment at Peach.

"Peach, that light - was that - you?"

She nodded. "I had to do something."

"How in the world did you do that?! I mean, of all the people who might have destroyed the Shadows Royal, I never thought it would be you!"

"I don't know," she confessed. "I opened the courtyard door just as the Shadow Princess sucked out your energy, and...something in me just rose up in indignation. It was almost instinctive." She held out her hands in frustration. "I can't explain it any better than that."

"Does this mean you're...willing to be the eighth Guardian now?" asked Mario.

Peach shook her head. "...No, I still don't want to. I still think this was all just a big mistake." She rose to her feet and finished reviving the rest of the fallen fighters. Then she returned to Mario.

"Peach," Mario began, "when you challenged the Shadows Royal like that... That wasn't the Princess Peach I know. What came over you to make you act like that?"

"I-I don't know, Mario," she admitted. "I have two conflicting sides inside me right now. Part of me wants to embrace Guardianship, and part of me wants to reject it. Right then...I guess the embracing part took over for a minute." She sighed. "I don't want to change. I want to be the same person I've always been."

"Looks like it's going to take something serious to get you to change your mind about this Eighth Guardian thing," Mario remarked. His eyes wandered over the courtyard's central fountain and lingered on a figure in a sky-blue dress who was slowly sitting up. "Hey, isn't that -"

"Éclair!!" Peach rushed to her friend. "Princess Éclair!!"

"Peach?" questioned the black-haired princess in bewilderment. "...A-Am I - ?"

"Oh, Éclair!" Peach enveloped her friend in a bear hug, the tears falling fast. "You're safe now. The Shadows Royal are dead." Éclair said nothing else and hugged Peach back. Daisy was a few feet away, repeating the same scene with her little sister Aster.

"Looks like the reunion's just getting started," Luigi remarked as he came over to Mario. "...Huh? Who's that?" He pointed to the right of the fountain at a handsome, clean-cut figure arrayed in scarlet. A golden crown sat atop his head.

"I don't know," Mario admitted. "Maybe -"

Éclair suddenly noticed the man standing near the fountain and gasped. She jumped to her feet, pushed past a startled Peach, and ran to him, calling his name.

"CREME!!"

The man turned, saw Éclair, and caught her in his strong arms with a look of astonishment on his face. "...Éclair?!"

"Creme!" cried Éclair joyfully. "It's you! I was so worried!"

"I'm fine, Éclair," he responded, embracing her tenderly. "It's good to know you're safe!"

Éclair released Creme from her arms and turned to the puzzled Peach. "Peach, this is Prince Creme, my fiancé."

"Fiancé?!" exclaimed Peach. "Éclair, you never told me you were engaged!"

Prince Creme laughed and looked Éclair in the eye. "I told you you were a little too secretive for your own good, remember?"

"I'll admit it," Éclair replied with a sweet smile.

"Well, we know Éclair and Aster already, and Creme's been introduced," Mario said aloud, "but who's that?" He pointed at the teenage boy who had previously been the vessel for the Shadow Prince and who was now struggling to his feet. His clothing had not changed. His eyes narrowed.

"Traitors!" he screamed, pulling a DTD from his pocket. "You still resist the Empress?" A black portal opened before him, and he started to step through, then turned.

"She will be waiting for you!"

He disappeared through the portal, and it closed behind him.

"Looks like Cyanara made sure there was one bad egg in the basket," remarked Mario dryly. "She'll have advance warning that we're on our way now. Come on, let's go."

Daisy took the purple Kunzite Ring from Aster's finger and gave it to Mario. "Just another ring to add to your collection," she said with a smile, indicating the six Rings already on Mario's fingers.

"Thanks." Mario slipped the seventh Ring onto his left middle finger. Pulling his own DTD out, he fitted the Kunzite Ring's gem into the proper place. In seconds a portal as black as midnight opened before him.

"Black Dimension," breathed Mario. "Cyanara's in there somewhere, and we're gonna find her!"

"Shall I save you the trouble, Mario?"

Before Mario's astonished eyes, Cyanara herself stepped out through the portal. She eyed Mario craftily. "Talking about me?"

Mario quickly backed away and put his fists up. "C-Cyanara!"

Great One's Theme

"The Great One!" gasped Daisy. She wrapped her arms around Aster a little more protectively.

Cyanara turned and smiled at Daisy. "Why, hello again, Princess Daisy. So nice to see you again. Pity you aren't still a pile of ash in my town square."

Daisy glared back at the Empress and said nothing.

"I must thank you for the loan of your little sister," Cyanara added. "It was so kind of you."

The Empress turned to Mario again, black eyes penetrating his blue ones. "And Mario. Still causing mischief, I see. I'm not exactly appreciative of your killing off the Shadows Royal." She fingered her moon-topped iron staff impatiently. "Not nice of you."

"You're next in line, Cyanara," Mario informed her hotly.

"Really? That's too bad, because you'll be very disappointed when you try to kill me." She smiled that cunning smile of hers. "I'm completely immortal."

Peach laid a hand on Mario's shoulder. "She's telling the truth," she whispered.

Mario steamed. "...I-I'll get you somehow!"

Cyanara ignored the statement and turned her attention to Peach, who paled immediately. "Hello, little sister," she greeted Peach pleasantly. "You're coming with me."

"I am not!" shot back Peach.

"You'll not take the Eighth Guardian!" cried Leika.

Cyanara's eyebrows shot up. "Eighth Guardian, hm? So Mother finally decided she was too old for the job and gave it to you, did she?" Her smile turned evil. "Then perhaps you can tell me where the Twilight Disc is."

"I won't tell you anything!" Peach responded hotly.

"We'll see about that." Cyanara raised her voice. "Bring out the prisoners!"

A solid line of red-tunicked, silver-armored Paroidian Guards marched out of the black portal behind Cyanara, each leading a single prisoner. Russ T., Rachel, Michael, Toad, Toadette, and Hardshell were there, all tied tightly with yards of rope, completely helpless. The guards and their prisoners lined up in front of the Empress. At her command they drew their swords and brought the razor-sharp blades up to the prisoners' throats.

"No!" gasped Peach. "Don't!"

"Surrender yourself and the Disc, Peach," Cyanara breathed threateningly. "Come with me and they live. Refuse, and -" Her eyes narrowed. "You wouldn't want me to have to kill them one by one, would you?"

Peach stood in helpless indecision for a few moments more. Then she heaved a deep, tired sigh and started toward her older sister. Mario immediately caught her by the arm.

"No, Peach!"

"Mario," Peach said quietly without looking at him, "let me go."

"No!" he repeated anxiously. "If Cyanara gets you she'll kill you! You know that! I won't let you give yourself up like Amethyst did!"

Peach turned and looked at Mario, pain in her eyes. Silently he pleaded with her.

Suddenly Peach pushed Mario away and continued walking toward Cyanara. Mario recovered from the shove and would have rushed after her, but something inside him held him back. He could only stare in horror, heart-wrenched, as his beloved Princess Peach gave herself into the hands of her worst enemy. He felt sick to his stomach.

Peach stopped in front of her sister. "Take me, Cyanara," she offered quietly. "Take me and let them go."

Cyanara smiled craftily. "Release them," she barked to the guards lined up before her. Immediately the Paroidian Guards obeyed, slicing the ropes with their swords and allowing the prisoners to go free. The captives immediately clustered behind Mario, well away from the Empress.

Cyanara brought Peach's hands behind her back and held them there. "Compassion always was your greatest weakness, little sister," she stated suavely, snapping the shackles onto Peach's wrists. "Very foolish of you, giving yourself up for them. You have nothing to gain but the loss of your own life."

Peach hung her head. "I don't care. Just so long as my people are safe."

"How touching," Cyanara replied sarcastically. "How selfless. How giving. How utterly ridiculous. Just remember, Peach -" her voice dropped to a mere whisper, and she leaned forward to speak into Peach's ear - "you are the bait for luring Mario in..."

The Princess paled. She'd forgotten that detail.

"Yes," Cyanara said aloud, her cunning smile returning to her face, "I'm sure your oh-so-sweet Mario will come after you and try to rescue you. Don't worry." Turning, she ordered her guards back through the black portal behind her, and they filed through. With one last glare of defiant hatred at Mario, Cyanara led her captive sister through the portal, and it closed behind them, leaving the castle courtyard as still as death in the early morning.

*end music*

No sooner had the dimensional portal closed than Mario tried to reopen it with the DTD. He wasn't expecting the message DT gave him.

"Destination under temporary lockdown."

"Lockdown?!" exclaimed Mario.

"Affirmative," droned DT. "The signal to Black Dimension is being jammed. Portal is inaccessible."

"How long until we can get there?" Mario asked anxiously.

DT paused, computing the answer. "Exactly twenty-six hours, five minutes, and thirteen seconds until temporary lockdown status ceases to exist."

"More than a day?!" Mario was tempted to smash DT to bits on the courtyard flagstones but restrained himself. "We can't wait that long! By the time we get to Black Dimension, Peach could be -" He choked.

"Calm yourself, Master Mario!" urged Toadsworth. "I too am worried, but going all to pieces certainly won't help Her Highness."

Mario took a deep breath and steadied himself. "You're right, Toadsworth. Guess all we can do is wait."

Russ T., captain of the royal guard, tapped him on the shoulder. "Mario?"

Mario turned and gave him an almost-smile. "Sure is good to see you again, Russ, and the others too," he greeted them heavily. Russ shook Mario's hand. Michael sensed the tension in the air and was quiet for a change. His mother Rachel pulled him close, and the eight-year-old Toad snuggled against his mom's pink-dotted purple dress.

Hardshell shook Mario's hand gravely. His face was straight, and his dark sunglasses concealed his eyes completely. "I should've gone instead of her," the crusty commando told Mario frankly. "We all should have. She shouldn't have turned herself in like that."

"I know," Mario replied reluctantly, "but I didn't want you killed anymore than she did. I think I would have done the same if I'd been her just then."

"You can't talk that way," Hardshell cautioned him. "She did what she thought was best, but I can't say I agree with it. She's endangered the entire kingdom by her actions." Seeing Mario's dejection, he added, "Get your head up, Mario. There's still a chance we can save her."

"Yeah," Mario agreed half-heartedly.

"Mario?" Daisy spoke up. "Aster and I are going back to Sarasaland. Éclair and Creme are coming with us so they can get back to the Waffle Kingdom."

"How?" Mario inquired. "You forget we're stuck in this dimension. You can't just walk out. You've got to have an exit portal."

Spy Guy produced a remote and pushed a button on it, and a white portal opened up behind him. "That's why I've got this."

"You got a DTD too?" Luigi asked, amazed.

"It's a similar device," Spy Guy replied. "Goodbye, all of you."

"Bye, Mario! Bye, Luigi!" called Daisy and Aster before stepping through the portal with Éclair and Creme. Spy Guy followed them through, and the portal closed behind them.

Leika settled on Mario's shoulder. "Come on, Mario, cheer up. We'll get Cyanara yet!"

"Yeah, bro, don't sweat it!" chimed in Luigi.

Heartened, Mario allowed himself to smile again. Looking up, he saw the sun finally peeking over the courtyard wall, bathing the courtyard in golden light.

"You're right, guys. We'll win this fight yet. Now come on. Since we're waiting anyway, let's get this castle cleaned up and back in shape."

"Mario wants to help me clean house?" Rachel asked, surprised. "I'll take help any day. Let's get moving!"

---

Great One's Theme

Peach reeled under the force of her sister's fist and stumbled backward, nearly falling to the marble floor of the throne room. Her face began to swell.

"Where is the Twilight Disc?" demanded Cyanara, threatening another blow.

"I-I don't know!" cried Peach.

"Oh, I think you do," Cyanara replied, circling Peach slowly, hungrily. "You're the Eighth Guardian now, aren't you?"

"I am not!" protested Peach vehemently. That much was true - at least she wanted it to be.

Cyanara, still circling her younger sibling, eyed Peach's rainbow robes critically. "Then why are you wearing the robe of the Eighth Guardian?"

Peach said nothing. She had no answer for that question.

Suddenly Cyanara deftly reached out and slipped the Twilight Disc out from Peach's robe. Peach gasped and would have grabbed at the Disc, but her hands were still shackled behind her back. Cyanara gloated over the Disc.

"As I suspected, Peach. Sometimes you are so transparent in your lying."

"No! NO!!" Peach cried. "The eight Discs - Cyanara, STOP!!!"

The black-haired Empress produced the other seven Rainbow Discs. "Ah, yes, the eight Discs. All mine now, at long last. All that remains is to retrieve the Rings Mario stole from my servants." She set the stack of eight Discs on the arm of her silver throne and returned to Peach. "I've got something very special planned for you tomorrow, little sister. Until then -" She looked past Peach. "Guards!"

Immediately two red-tunicked Paroidians stepped through the silver double doors and bowed.

"Take Peach to the holding room. Do not let her escape. I need her for my little trap." The Empress's eyes gleamed in anticipation.

"Cyanara!"

Cyanara regarded Peach coolly.

"Cyanara, if - if you're going to kill me, just do it now," Peach pleaded. "Don't torment me with waiting!"

"That is not your concern, Peach," replied Cyanara smoothly. "I am the one in control, not you."

"Why do you enjoy putting me through such mental anguish?" asked Peach, the tears starting to flow.

Cyanara's response was direct, cold, penetrating. Her steely black eyes pierced Peach's face like daggers. "Because I find, in your waiting, a certain satisfaction - a repayment for the twelve years I've waited to get my crown back from you. And I will have that crown yet."

"Cyanara, I -"

"Don't even bother." Cyanara turned her back to her younger sister. "I have no use for feeble excuses. You stole my crown, and I want it back. Tomorrow, Peach - you will die." Her eyes narrowed to hateful slits. "Slowly." She whirled about to face her guards. "Take her away!"

*end music*

---

The Rainbow Guardian sat clustered together in Amber's bare, tiny cell. Not that they were imprisoned - Citrine had shorted the door lock. They were waiting. For what, they did not know. Amber, Citrine, Emerald, Aquamarine, and the Ruby/Sapphire fusion named Corundum sat in silence for an eternity. They'd been waiting for nearly two days in this single cell, waiting for something, anything...

Suddenly Corundum tensed. "The Discs...I feel them near..."

"I can sense their power," Citrine affirmed. "But so much of it..."

Emerald brightened. "They've all been put together!"

"Wait," Aquamarine said slowly. "If the Discs are truly all together, then that means -"

The Guardians simultaneously gasped. "Cyanara has the Twilight Disc!" Amber exclaimed. "She must!"

"Amethyst." Corundum stood. "We've got to get Amethyst. Together we Guardians might be able to stop the Empress from using them."

"You can't go out there, Corundum!" Emerald cried. "It's too dangerous!"

"My shields can hold off anything, including the guards," Corundum replied decisively. "I'm going to find Amethyst!"

Corundum slipped silently out of Amber's cell, shutting the door behind her. Glancing furtively to both sides, she saw that the hallway was deserted. Corundum, acting on impulse, chose to go left. She crept to the hall's end and turned right, going down a flight of stone stairs to the next lower level. Stepping off the staircase, she arbitrarily selected a direction and turned right, into another stone hallway.

As she neared the end of the hall, where it turned abruptly to the left, she suddenly heard voices from around the corner. She peeked around the corner and saw a troop of Paroidian Guards coming directly toward her. Instantly she caught her breath and flattened herself against the wall, hiding behind the corner. Perhaps they would turn off their course before coming around that corner.

The leading guard of the group, face emotionless as was typical of the Paroidians, led his squad directly forward and turned the corner, heading right for Corundum - and on they went still, marching down the hall as if nothing were there. The Guardian was nowhere to be seen - unless they had chanced to look up, for there, with her back pressed to the ceiling, was Corundum!

After the guards were out of sight, Corundum levitated back down to the floor. She let out a deep breath. "That was close." In a few moments she resumed her search through Cyanara's fortress.

For hours Corundum moved unnoticed through the fortress like a stealthy shadow, hunting for the missing Guardian, Amethyst. Finally she stumbled upon the mind-control room quite by accident. Entering the dimly lit dungeon room, she found the central table unoccupied, the legions of computer equipment in standby mode. Corundum picked up one of the mind-control helmets with a stunned look on her face.

Suddenly the door to the room was flung open. Corundum dropped the helmet and ducked behind the computer towers, holding her breath lest its sound betray her presence.

A cluster of Paroidian Guards led Amethyst herself into the room and clamped her to the steel table. They left as silently as they had come - not a word spoken, only the muffled clanking of their silver armor.

No sooner had the door shut behind them than Corundum was at the table, bending over her sister. "Amethyst!"

The purple-haired seventh Guardian slowly opened her eyes. "...C-Corundum?"

"Yes, it's me, Amethyst."

Tears welled in Amethyst's eyes. "Thank goodness for you, Corundum. I can't take any more of this torture!"

"I'm going to get you out of here - just hang on!" Corundum pried at the clamps fastening Amethyst's neck, wrists, and ankles down but could not loosen them. "There's got to be a release button for these somewhere."

"It's on the control panel," Amethyst said weakly. "Big, red - you know the cliché..."

Corundum spotted the correct button almost immediately and pushed it without hesitation. Amethyst was instantly freed. The seventh Guardian sat up painfully and swung her legs over the edge. Corundum caught her as she began to slip. She hugged her tightly.

"Come on, we've got to get back to the others," urged Corundum. "Cyanara has all eight Rainbow Discs, and we've got to get them back."

Amethyst paled. "She what?!"

"Shhh," Corundum cautioned her. "Follow me." She led the way to the door and turned to find that Amethyst was nowhere to be seen.

"I'm still here," came Amethyst's voice from nowhere. "I'm just in my invisible form right now. Go ahead; I'll try to keep up with you."

"Can you make it all right?" Corundum asked, concerned.

"I-I think so. Let's go."

Once safely back in Amber's tiny cell, Corundum and Amethyst were welcomed heartily by their sister Guardians. "Amethyst!" Emerald cried, throwing her arms around Amethyst in joyous greeting.

Amethyst smiled wanly. "It's me, Emerald. Good to see you, too."

Emerald backed away with a smile on her face. The smile slowly faded as she looked at Amethyst more closely.

"...Amethyst? What's wrong?"

Amethyst's smile vanished, and her eyes seemed to glaze over. Slowly she began to topple forward.

"Catch her!" cried Amber in alarm, and Citrine and Aquamarine quickly grabbed Amethyst's arms to stop her fall. Emerald pushed her back onto her feet.

"Amethyst, are you all right?" inquired Aquamarine.

Amethyst blinked. "Oh - oh, I'm sorry... I'm so...tired...four days of no sleep... Cyanara...gave...me...no...rest..." Again she faded out and sagged limply in her sister's arms. Gently they lowered her to the floor.

"Looks like we're not going anywhere until Amethyst gets her sleep," Amber said soberly. "No sleep for four days... I can hardly imagine what she must feel like."

"But the Discs - !!" exclaimed Emerald.

"Amethyst is more important," Citrine put in quietly. "Without all of us working together, the Empress will easily overcome us. Her power is not to be underestimated. No, we need Amethyst's strength as well as ours. The Discs will have to wait."

[NintendoMasterGC]

Chapter 19: The Empress's Trap

Late that Sunday night Mario finally collapsed into his temporary bed in one of the castle's many guest rooms. "Man, I had no idea cleaning a castle was so much work!" he sighed in exhaustion. "I think I'm gonna be sore in the morning."

"I warned you not to push yourself so hard," Rachel admonished him with a smile as she stuck her head into the room, "but noooooo - you had to go and work yourself half to death anyway."

"Point taken," Mario chuckled. "Next time I think I'll pay attention when you give me advice."

"Good," Rachel answered emphatically. "Even the best of heroes isn't perfect." Her eyes twinkled merrily. "Good night, Mario. Same to you, Luigi."

"Good night," the brothers called from their respective bunks. Rachel switched the lights off and shut the door tightly behind her.

The two brothers lay in the darkness in silence for a few minutes. Mario turned over restlessly. "I hope Peach is all right."

"Same here," Luigi responded with a yawn.

Mario lay on his back and stared at the darkened ceiling. "This waiting just gets to me. It's hard to know she's in danger of her life but not be able to do anything about it. It's...really hard." He sighed heavily.

"Tomorrow we can do something, bro," Luigi reminded him, "so get some sleep. I think we're gonna have our hands full tomorrow." Taking his own advice, Luigi rolled over and was soon snoring away in his usual loud manner.

Mario, lost in his own thoughts, did not even notice the noise. In his mind he kept seeing the cruel face of the Empress leering at him. He could nearly feel Peach's fright. I know she's scared, he thought, his expression troubled. Cyanara has no conscience. She'd do anything to Peach.

Suddenly he remembered Peach's birthday present, still tucked away in his overalls pocket. He hadn't thought of it for two weeks, and thinking of it now brought tears, not pleasure. Will I ever get a chance to give it to her? he wondered, pained at the thought. Will I ever even [i]see her again?[/i]

That haunting question plagued his mind relentlessly all that night, stealing his much-needed rest from him. Exhaustion eventually took its toll, and he finally dropped off to sleep near morning, only to dream of Peach.

Despite his lack of rest, Mario was the first to rise the next morning. The digital clock on the nightstand between his and Luigi's beds proclaimed the time in glowing red numbers - it was seven o'clock. Already faint rays of sunlight filtered between the curtains over the single window. Mario slipped out of bed quietly so as not to wake Luigi (who could be rather catankerous in the mornings) and silently left the room. Throughout the long night he'd debated with himself over whether or not to act on his gut feeling. He knew that detection by anyone spelled the ruin of his spur-of-the-moment plan. Stealthily he crept down the red-carpeted hallways, at last making his way outside the building entirely.

Stepping out the door, Mario shut it as quietly as possible and squinted into the golden rays of the early morning sun as he crossed the drawbridge. A warm, comfortable breeze blew gently around him. In the forest far in the distance he could see the green leaves showing the first signs of the autumn color change. The day seemed quite peaceful. But all of this tranquility could not calm ths storm in Mario's mind and heart. He was torn between two opinions.

"Should I, or shouldn't I?" He voiced his question to the breeze, which caught his words and carried them away, scattering them to the four corners of the wind.

At last he clenched a fist and turned his face to the sky again. "I have to," he said aloud. "No one else can help me do this. I have to do it alone." He reached down and pulled Peach's present from his pocket. Opening the tiny red velvet case, he gazed a moment at its shimmering contents, then snapped it shut and replaced it in his pocket. Then, decisively, he withdrew the DTD from the other pocket and held it silently for a moment.

"Mario?" queried DT in his male drone.

"The temporary lockdown, DT. Is it off yet?"

DT's CPU whirred rhythmically. "Lockdown going offline in thirteen, twelve, eleven, ten, nine -"

Rachel opened the castle door to admit the breeze and spotted Mario standing on the opposite side of the drawbridge. "Mario? What are you doing?"

"- Six, five, four, three, two, one, lockdown is offline."

Mario jammed the Kunzite Ring's violet gem into DT's socket, and a black portal opened before him. Rachel gasped and started running after him.

"Mario, don't! STOP!!"

Mario whirled around to see Rachel dashing toward him. Indecision flickered across his face for a moment; then he suddenly turned and leaped through the portal, which closed immediately.

Rachel slowed to a stop, staring at the spot where Mario had disappeared. She shook her head. "No, no, Mario, what were you thinking?! Going after Peach by yourself?! Cyanara - what chance does he stand alone against Cyanara?!"

Mario hopped out of the portal and landed silently in the dirt on the other side as it closed behind him. Replacing DT in his overalls pocket, he glanced around to determine his location. His roving eye, passing along the trees all around him, caught something between the towering trunks, far in the distance, sitting atop a low, shallowly sloped mountain. He examined it as closely as possible.

"That's Cyanara's fortress," he said with finality. "I'd know that place anywhere - how could I possibly forget it?" Pushing back a flood of painful memories associated with that imposing structure looming in the distance, he began making his way through the trees toward it. The sun climbed higher and higher as the fortress once on the horizon came closer and closer. He reached the unnamed mountain and began trudging up its rocky face. When at last he stood before the great iron gates, it was nearly ten o'clock.

Mario reached up and grasped the giant handle on the massive right-hand gate, tugging at it with all his might. The gate wouldn't budge. He tried the left door with the same degree of success. After yanking at both handles with all his might for several minutes he gave up and started around the side of the building to seek an alternate entrance.

Suddenly the huge gates groaned ponderously and swung slowly outward. Mario immediately dashed behind the opening gates to conceal himself and plastered his back against the fortress's outer wall, hoping against hope that whoever was coming out would not spot him.

The gates finished their ponderous outswing, and a troop of nearly fifty Paroidian Guards marched out through the open gates, apparently going on a routine patrol. Mario waited until they had all passed, then quickly darted around the door he had hidden behind and through the open gateway before the doors closed behind the guards.

Cyanara's Fortress Theme

The closing of the iron gates echoed hollowly through the fortress's cathedral-esque main hallway. The high ceiling and sweeping Gothic arches were distinctly medieval in style. Doors unending lined both sides of this massive hall. Mario looked cautiously about. Apparently he was alone for now.

Mario started off down the corridor at a run, his rapid footfalls echoing loudly as he raced along. He knew exactly where he was going.

"Cyanara always keeps Peach in that one little room," he recalled as he turned aside and pulled open one of the countless doors, entering a normally sized hall branching off from the main. "That tiny holding room. She's always in there." He picked up his pace a bit more. The sooner he got Peach out, the better.

Within ten minutes he was creeping down the hall toward the holding room, watching warily for guards or other unfriendlies. Coming up to the steel door barring entrance to the room, he tentatively tried the knob. Strangely enough, it was unlocked. A pang of fear galvanized him to action, and he threw the door open.

"Peach!"

Mario scanned the room hastily. There was the wooden table with its two chairs; the miniature kitchen area with sink and refrigerator; and the small cot on the left. The cot had a depression in its center, as if someone had recently occupied it. Feeling it, Mario found that it was still warm.

A lump settled in his stomach. Peach had obviously been here just minutes or perhaps even seconds before he had arrived. What if Cyanara had -

"No!" Mario told himself. "She's not dead yet! I've got to find her - she must still be in the fortress somewhere!" He turned and rushed out of the room.

---

Peach cowered behind an open door as a squad of Paroidian Guards rushed down the hall. They ran past without spotting her.

"They must have found the empty holding room by now," she whispered to herself, sighing in relief that she was yet undiscovered. Her breathing was heavy from running. "I've got to get away. I've got to get out of here!"

She shrank back into her hiding place as another troop of guards sped past. After they were gone she cautiously peeked around the door. No one else was in sight. Quickly she dashed off in the very direction her pursuers had taken. They'll never expect me to follow them, she thought hopefully as she sped off.

Wrong. Without warning the guards ahead turned and doubled back, heading right for her. Peach screamed and fled, only to find another contingent of the dreaded Paroidians coming at her from the other direction. Terrified, she ducked down a side corridor and ran with all her might. There was a door at the end of the hall, and she hoped beyond hope that it was unlocked. Otherwise - she cast a fleeting glance behind her and gulped - those guards were going to catch her. She didn't even want to think about what would happen to her if she were caught.

The guards, seeing Peach fleeing toward the door at the hall's end, gave a shout and picked up speed. Desperately Peach grasped at the doorknob and pulled. The door opened. Frantically she dashed inside and slammed it shut, locking it behind her. She leaned back against the door, eyes closed, catching her breath. From behind the door she could hear the frustrated voices of her pursuers. Then, strangely enough, they simply walked away, their footfalls growing ever fainter until Peach could no longer hear them.

That's funny, she thought. Why don't they just break down the door?

Then she opened her eyes - and caught her breath.

"Oh, my -" Her mouth dropped open.

Botanical Gardens Theme

Spread out before her was an immense garden, filled to overflowing with exotic plants, trailing creepers, towering palms, and gorgeous flowers. Intertwined with the array of foliage was a complex network of stone-paved paths, turning the breathtaking panorama into a pleasure garden where one might enjoy a quiet stroll. Peach's ears, growing accustomed to the near silence, now began to hear the chirping of birds in the treetops and the rushing of water somewhere nearby. Her senses were lulled by the utter tranquility.

Slowly Peach relaxed, letting herself unwind from her breathless run. After a few minutes she hesitantly stepped onto one of the wending pathways.

Peach moved as a rainbow-cloaked angel through the vast indoor garden, stopping here and there to smell the flowers, gaze on the laughing, burbling creek that bubbled musically through the midst of the garden, or just breathe a sigh of happiness. Of all the places she had never expected to find peace, she had found it here. A quiet beauty attended her as she strolled through the garden. She was seemingly oblivious to potential danger. So absorbed was she in the peaceful stillness that she forgot even the possibility of peril.

Two round yellow eyes stared hungrily out of the dense foliage, following the rainbow-clad Princess's every move. The eyes narrowed to contemptuous slits, and a low growl issued from the undergrowth.

Peach did not notice the sound.

The eyes vanished, and a shadowy form slunk away into the greenery, only to creep to the very edge of its leafy camouflage, mere inches from a pathway that crossed Peach's path. Still Peach failed to notice the presence of her mysterious watcher. She seemed not even to know that she was not alone. She bent down to smell a particularly beautiful rose, then plucked the flowering stem and softly walked onward, crossing the path on which her hungry watcher lurked.

A strong body hurled itself across the intersecting path behind Peach and vanished into the adjacent garden terrace with a loud rustle. Peach started and turned; she saw no one. Unnerved, she hesitantly started forward again.

Imperceptible footfalls padded through the leafy growth on Peach's right. They stopped a few yards ahead of her. Peach warily moved on, not knowing that she was walking into the very jaws of -

With a vicious roar the beast sprang from her hiding place and pounced on the terrified Peach, knocking her to the stone path beneath her feet. Her claws dug into Peach's shoulders as the weight of her powerful orange body pinned Peach to the ground.

"EEEEEK!!" screamed Peach.

The tigress snarled into Peach's face, choking her with the hot stench of her breath. Her wickedly sharp teeth prepared to devour her prey. Peach shut her eyes tight and turned her head away, not wanting to see those horrible fangs rip into her flesh.

A sharp whistle pierced the air of the garden.

The tigress's ears perked up. Giving Peach one last snarl, the big cat jumped off her potential victim and loped off down the pathway.

Peach lay stunned on the stone path, trying to collect herself. Frightened almost into shock by the sudden attack, she lay still, catching her breath and recovering from her rude shock. Suddenly she heard a voice coming closer, growing louder...

"...yes, you're such a good girl, Sanya."

There was a loud purr.

"Yes, my beauty -" The voice stopped. "Well, if it isn't Peach!" exclaimed the voice with an overly smooth overtone.

"Cyanara," Peach whispered, all hope draining from her face.

Great One's Theme

Cyanara, the tigress at her side, strolled up to Peach. "Just look what the cat dragged in," she remarked casually. "Sanya, don't you eat Peach. I'm saving her for later."

The tigress again purred loudly and rubbed her neck against Cyanara's sheer black skirt. Cyanara stroked Sanya's massive head fearlessly.

"I'd heard you'd escaped from your room, Peach," Cyanara informed her sibling. "The only reason my guards didn't catch you was that this room is off-limits. I am the only one allowed inside - which obviously means you are trespassing."

Her eyes fell on the rose in Peach's hand and narrowed. "I see you managed to pick my favorite rose, too." She bent down and took the blossoming stem from Peach, who did not resist. "It's rather impolite to walk into someone else's garden without permission and begin picking the flowers at leisure." She twirled the rose stem in her fingers.

Peach shakily got to her feet beneath Cyanara's cutting gaze. Sanya growled, the hair on her back standing on end as it does on angry cats. Her tail lashed back and forth with hypnotizing rhythm. The silence was almost deafening.

"You know, Peach," Cyanara said at last with that sweet, cunning smile of hers, "I'm glad I found you here. You've saved me the trouble of having to get you from your room." She took Peach's arm, her eyes sweet as sugar, her grip like iron. "It's that time, little sister."

Peach could say nothing, so terrified was she. Death she feared not, but...Cyanara's methods were less than merciful.

The Empress shoved her sister roughly forward, making Peach gasp and stumble. "Get moving," she ordered, a smoldering hatred filling her face. "Go!"

Tremblingly Peach obeyed, Cyanara's hand still gripping her arm like a vise. Her mind was almost incapable of sensible thought, so numbed was it, but she managed one silent cry.

Mario, where ARE you?!

---

Cyanara's Fortress Theme

Frantically Mario dashed through the deserted halls of Cyanara's fortress, growing more and more desperate with each passing moment. Peach could be anywhere in this vast place, and he was without a map or other directions to guide him through the maze of hallways. Although feeling utterly lost and helpless, he refused to give up.

"I know she's here somewhere!"

Suddenly, quite by accident, he stumbled on a steel door equipped with keypad entry. Acting on impulse, he stepped over to the silvery keypad and considered a moment. A thought struck him.

"Cyanara always did seem to like the number thirteen," he mused, recalling the many occurrences of that number over the past weeks. There were too many to mention - plus the thirteens in everyday life, such as Peach's own birthday, August thirteenth. Hesitantly he entered 1313 - double thirteen - into the keypad. The lock clicked open, and Mario pulled open the door, amazed that he'd been correct.

Mario cast a swift glance around the hall beyond the door. It seemed perfectly ordinary. Not a single person was in sight, not even the usual guard or two who would require avoiding. His ears strained to catch even the slightest sound.

From the far end of the hall rang out a bloodcurdling scream. The horrifying sound sent cold chills down Mario's spine, and he started. He knew that voice.

"Peach!!" Instantly he was flying down the hall at breakneck speed. He skidded to a stop at the hall's end. There was no door. Frantically he looked for an outlet. He heard that horrible scream again, sending the adrenaline pounding through his arteries, driving him to act faster. What to do? The tension made his emotions boil over, and in frustration he smashed his fist into the wall. Surprisingly, instead of hurting his knuckles, he punched a hole right through the wall.

Instantly Mario threw himself against the fake wall, easily ripping through the flimsy barrier. Another hallway lay beyond it. He barreled down it, turned right at the corner, and found his path blocked by an impenetrable steel door with security lasers guarding the path to the door.

Cautiously Mario scooted along the floor on his stomach, edging under the red beams stretched across the hallway. He barely made it through undetected. Having got safely past the security system, he scrambled to his feet and tried the door. Locked, as he had suspected. Now he put his elemental powers to good use, heating the door red-hot with fireballs then supercooling it with ice. The sudden temperature change strained the steel until it buckled and sheared apart. One punch smashed the ruined door wide open, and Mario stood aghast at the sight before him.

The room beyond the door was made completely of steel. Lining the walls was a super-complex array of computers. And in the center, sealed inside an airtight glass tube, was Princess Peach herself, a look of horror on her face as the shadowy ether filling the tube flowed into her. She seemed paralyzed, unable to respond to Mario's cries.

"PEACH!!!"

Without thinking Mario rushed forward and dealt the tube a stunning blow. A tremendous jolt of electricity seared up his arm into the base of his neck and hurled him backward, smashing him against the wall. He rebounded from the impact and landed flat on his face on the floor, stunned. The nearly fatal shock caused his brain to almost instantly lapse into unconsciousness, but just before he blacked out he heard footsteps approaching him...

---

Penumbra's Tomb Theme

Mario groaned and sat up, rubbing his head. Suddenly he remembered Peach, still trapped in that glass prison. He bounded to his feet, ready to break her out - then froze.

He wasn't in the room with Peach anymore.

The plumber now stood in a huge semicircular room. The walls, floor, and ceiling were all washed a foul gray. A black stone altar sat in the center of the room with four tiny flames flickering from its four corners. But that which brought to Mario's mind the name of this room was the massive door, a door at least thirty feet tall, set into the far wall, engraved with crescent moons, flaming meteors, curling smoke, and a ribbon of fire licking up its center. Mario caught his breath. He knew where he was now, and he didn't like it one bit.

"Well, well," remarked Cyanara with her cunning smile as she entered the room from behind Mario, "it would seem the indomitable hero has fallen right into my trap. I knew Peach would serve as an irresistible lure to draw you to me."

Mario spun around and faced her. "What are you doing to her?!"

"Peach?" The Empress's smile grew still more crafty. "Just running a little self-destruct program. Once she's saturated with darkness she will be under my entire control. All I'll have to do is say the word, and poor little sister will immediately disintegrate."

"You can't do that to her!" cried Mario, stepping toward the Empress, fists upraised.

"Oh, can't I?" asked the Empress smoothly, circling around Mario to stand before the black altar. "Look at your hands, Mario, and tell me what's missing."

Mario glanced at his fists and stared at them in shock. The Rainbow Rings were gone. His head shot up, and he fixed his eyes on Cyanara's hands. Sure enough, there they were - all eight Rings, one Ring on each of her fingers. She laughed softly at his dumbfounded expression.

"I can do with Peach whatever I very well please," she informed Mario suavely, "because I have the power to do so. No one can stop me." Reaching behind her, she lifted the eight Rainbow Discs from the altar and held them up. The Discs floated out of her hands and began to circle her slowly, each emitting its own rainbow hue and bathing the Empress in a kaleidoscope of color. The Rings on her hands and the Rainbow Pendant hanging from her neck began to glow as well.

Cyanara reveled in her impending climax. "I repeat, Mario - no one can stop me now!!"

With a brilliant burst of light the full energy of the rainbow was released from the seventeen sacred objects. Cyanara's body absorbed the energy immediately. The glowing ceased, and the floating Discs settled themselves back on the altar behind her.

"What...was that?" Mario asked slowly.

Cyanara laughed. "Don't you understand? With all of the rainbow objects in my possession, I can unlock their full potential. All of the power of the rainbow is now at my command. Now I am not only immortal - I AM INVINCIBLE!!"

Mario went into his battle stance. "We'll see about that!"

Cyanara smiled and held up her left hand, indicating the black eighth Rainbow Ring on her index finger. "I'm sure you've wondered what the power of this last Ring is," she said smoothly. "I've saved it just for the pleasure of using it on you myself." She pointed her finger at Mario, and the Ring began to gleam.

"Now, Shadow Ring," intoned Cyanara, "let's see how he fares against his own mind when it's turned against him. Mario," she cried in challenge, "feel the power of memory!"

With that the Shadow Ring emitted a light beam that caught Mario directly in the face. He cried out and tried to shield his eyes. To his dismay he found himself completely paralyzed. The light's intensity increased, and suddenly it shut off, leaving Mario to pitch onto his face, unconscious. Cyanara smiled again.

"Let's see how you resist your own memories, Mario. They will fight for me."

Memories Theme

"......ungh...no......NO!"

Mario felt himself floating, tumbling slowly through empty space. He could see nothing, hear nothing. He was completely isolated, cut off from the outside world, and was now trapped in the confines of his own mind.

Suddenly, like lightning, an image seared through his consciousness. He saw the edge of the forest surrounding Peach's castle. Running away from him was a huge spiny-shelled dinosaur with horns and a crop of fiery red hair. Slung helplessly over his shoulder was a hysterical Princess Peach, reaching out to him. Instantly the scream he'd heard that day came back to haunt him.

"Eeeeeek! Mario! HEEEEEEELP!!!"

"Peach!" Mario knew what that scene was from. That had been the first time Peach had ever been kidnapped by Bowser. Oh, how he hated that memory. He started to reach out, to save the Princess, but no sooner did he try to interact with the vision than it vanished completely.

In another instant another scene flashed before him. He saw a circular room with a stone coffin lying in its center and hundreds of black candles lining the walls. Sir Grodus was there, before the coffin. Peach lay weak and exhausted at the foot of the stone casket. Then the horrifying Shadow Queen demon rose from the casket in all her haunting blackish-purple majesty of evil, enveloped Peach in a torrent of blackness, and possessed her.

"No! Peach!" Again Mario tried to act; again the scene was lost in blackness.

Now yet another memory burst into life before his eyes. He was looking out over the Koopaseum's vast amphitheater. The numberless Shroob hordes packed the colosseum bowl to overflowing. The younger Shroob princess was on the central platform, shouting some guttural command into the microphone. Then, to Mario's horror, Peach came flying into the colosseum, bound and dangling from a Shroob UFO. Petey Piranha stuck his ugly maw out of a blue pipe in front of the platform, opened wide, and the screaming Peach was dropped right into his toothy jaws.

Mario did not try to react, to save her. He was too far away. But the tears blurred his eyes as the cheering Shroobs faded from his mental theater.

A fourth "memory film" began to play. In it he saw Bowser himself standing in the Princess's castle, wielding the mystic Star Rod. He was fighting against Mario, who in his memory could feel the blows and burns being dealt him by the fiend. At last he could fight no longer and collapsed. From behind him he could hear Peach gasping, calling for him to get up, to fight, to protect her. He tried. He threw all his strength into the effort, but all his remaining strength was not enough. A pang shot through him as he realized he had failed. The mental screen went blank again.

Suddenly Cyanara's voice cut through his consciousness like a knife, slicing through the stillness. "Remember the pain you felt, Mario. Remember how helpless you were each time to do anything for your princess. You failed her miserably."

"I did not!" Mario shouted back inside his mind. "Every time I rescued her!"

"And every time you failed to prevent the evil occurrence from happening," returned the Empress's icy voice. "Think of all the terror and suffering she's gone through because her 'hero' wasn't there to protect her from the start - or else was too weak to do anything."

"Stop it!" cried Mario. He was confused, bewildered by Cyanara's logic.

"Not only that, but after every episode you walked away from her and went back to your own house, leaving her to whatever might choose to attack next. You would think that after a few of your 'adventures' you would have learned your lesson and stayed at the castle to guard her. But you didn't, of course. You don't care about her anymore than I do."

"STOP IT!!" screamed Mario. "I DO care!!"

"Then why didn't you do anything to protect her?" came the cold, calculating question.

"I did!" Mario was angry now. "Stop trying to make this whole thing my fault, Cyanara! You know good and well that you're the one behind this whole scheme to get Peach! I tried to stop you and failed because of your trickery! ...I care about Peach! But just because I can't do anything to stop you doesn't mean it's my fault that she suffers! You are the one in the wrong!"

Cyanara's voice was silent for a moment. "Hmmmm... It appears that you are stronger in mind than I had anticipated. Perhaps I'll have to deal with you physically after all."

Penumbra's Tomb Theme

Suddenly Mario found himself back in his body again, inside Penumbra's Tomb. Cyanara was still standing in front of the black altar, smiling at him. He scrambled to his feet.

"Now it's your turn to feel the pain, Cyanara!"

"I wouldn't get so cocky if I were you," remarked the Empress casually. "Take a look behind you."

Mario turned and gasped. Amber, Citrine, Emerald, Aquamarine, Amethyst, Corundum, and even Athos lay sprawled across the gray stone floor near the door, completely unconscious. Their bodies showed countless bruises and a few serious gashes.

"While you were busy with your own little memories, Mario," Cyanara informed him, "these fools escaped and came after me. They were no match for me - not with my ultimate weapon."

Mario whirled around to face his enemy again. "Weapon? What weapon?"

Cyanara smiled as she slipped a pair of white gloves over her hands. Something about those gloves stirred a faint recollection in Mario's mind, but he didn't know why. He scrutinized them but found nothing unusual. Still, those gloves...

"Curious?" Cyanara's voice broke into his reverie. "I'm surprised you don't recognize them right away. Don't worry - you will." Her black eyes danced in glee. "Oh, you will."

Suddenly a wide black portal opened overhead, covering the lofty ceiling of Penumbra's Tomb. Flashes of lightning from within the portal illuminated the dimness of Penumbra's Tomb for brief instants. Cyanara lifted her face to the portal and smiled evilly, eyes gleaming in anticipation.

"Only in the realm between dimensions can my weapon be unleashed. So, Mario - care for a lift?"

Mario felt his feet leave the floor. He looked up and saw the portal seemingly rushing toward him, growing larger by the second. Cyanara, too, was shooting up through the air toward the portal, and her wicked laugh was the last thing Mario heard before he passed through the portal into the darkness beyond.

[NintendoMasterGC]

Chapter 20: Parting Threat

Last Dimension Theme

As he passed through the dimensional portal, Mario lost sight of Cyanara. He felt himself tumbling again, falling through impenetrable darkness. Where he was he did not know. On he fell, seemingly in slow motion, on and on into the blackness...

"Ooof!" Mario grunted as he smacked face-first into solid ground. He heaved himself back onto his feet and took a look around. He stood on a perfectly flat octagonal platform with a broad black stripe down the center of its metal surface and pink around its edges. The platform seemed to be flying, for now the black sky began to show red and purple racing past him in symmetrical bursts. His eyes widened.

"Wait a minute! I know this place! It's -"

"Ha ha ha ha ha!!" echoed a loud laugh from behind him. "Welcome, Mario, to your...Final Destination!"

Mario jumped and whirled around. There, floating just off the platform's edge, was the gargantuan face of Cyanara herself, complete with black hair, black eyes, and contemptuous smile.

"YOU!" he shouted, shaking his fist at the mammoth face. "You really were behind everything that's gone on lately - even the Super Smash Bros. tournaments! This is the Final Destination stage, isn't it!?"

Cyanara laughed again. "But of course, Mario. I will admit that your fighting prowess allowed me to perfect my prototype weaponry. Now behold as I unleash their terror on you!"

Suddenly, out of nowhere, a huge white glove came flying down to the platform and hovered menacingly on Mario's right. Another glove glided in on the left. The heroic plumber gasped.

"M-Master Hand! Crazy Hand! You - You -" He ground his teeth in rage, glaring at the Empress in hatred.

"YOU MONSTER!!!"

Mario balled up his fists, breathing heavily due to his boiling anger. "You've played us all along, haven't you!? Hosting those innocent tournaments to perfect deadly weaponry - of all the sick, insane, deluded plots!" He growled savagely. "That does it! Right here, right now - YOU'RE GONNA PAY!!!"

"Don't underestimate the strength of my own two hands," punned Cyanara with her cunning smile. "They are not mere robots obeying preprogrammed commands as they did during the tournament matches. They are now under my direct control. Literally - they are my hands!"

"So that's what the white gloves were for, huh?" Mario seethed. "I'll shred your little toys into a million pieces!"

"My, my, the hero is angry," remarked Cyanara. Her voice turned sinister. "It is finally time, Mario -" Master Hand (Cyanara's right hand) seized Mario in its crushing grip - "time to show you the crushing power of evil!"

Instantly Master Hand began to repeatedly squeeze Mario, making him scream in pain as his body was mercilessly crushed. Master Hand then hurled Mario to the metal platform, stunning him.

"Is that all you've got?" taunted Cyanara wickedly. "Surely the hero is stronger than this pathetic display of incompetence!"

Mario grunted and got to his feet again. "You caught me off guard, that's all. Don't go celebrating just yet!"

"Caught off guard, hm?" Cyanara's black eyes gleamed. "Good. That's my specialty."

Suddenly Crazy Hand (Cyanara's left hand) balled up in a hard fist and came smashing down on Mario's head, grinding him into the platform like a pile driver. When Crazy Hand rose from the platform, the plumber was lying prone on the metal surface, battered and bloodied from being crushed again. He staggered to his feet again, only to be caught between the two Hands as they slammed together in a giant handclap. Their force made Mario scream in pain and collapse once again. This time he did not rise. He lay there helplessly as both Master Hand and Crazy Hand unleashed blue lasers from their fingertips, passing the burning beams right over him and causing excruciating pain.

"Get up!" ordered Cyanara. "Get up and fight like the hero you claim to be!"

Crazy Hand hovered over Mario and began dropping bombs on top of him. The explosions nearly blew Mario to bits and left him bleeding and broken on the platform's surface.

Now Master Hand began to stalk across the platform using two fingers like legs. It came right up to Mario and flicked out one finger, striking him dead-on and tumbling him across the platform a little distance. Mario landed limply, like a rag doll, and did not move except for his ragged, painful breathing.

"Through yet?" asked Cyanara innocently.

Mario groaned and did not reply.

"Very well, then." Master Hand flew up, away from the platform. "One last blow should finish you off. Die, pathetic plumber!"

With that, Master Hand came flying in from behind Cyanara's towering face and brought its palm down right on top of Mario in a powerful smack. Mario screamed one last time, and everything went black.

---

Penumbra's Tomb Theme

For the third time Mario awoke on the cold gray stone floor of Penumbra's Tomb. This time, though, he was so battered and weakened that he could not rise. Cyanara stood over him, removing her white gloves and returning them to her pocket. She smiled wickedly at Mario.

"Still alive after that beating? Quite an accomplishment." She reached beneath her lavender miniskirt, the one she wore over the longer, clingier black one, and withdrew her prized demon-handled dagger. "Not that you'll live much longer anyway." Cyanara glared at him and brought the dagger down in a vicious arc, heading straight for Mario's heart.

With a burst of desperate strength Mario flung out his arm to intercept the blade. The dagger tore a gash down his right arm just before his hand struck the dagger from Cyanara's grasp and sent it hurtling into the air, embedding its blade in the ceiling directly over the black stone altar.

"Why, YOU!" raged Cyanara. She brought her foot over Mario's head and struck his skull with her heel. He groaned in pain. Again she rammed her heel into his head - again and again and again, spewing hatred from her mouth with each passing blow. Mario felt himself fading away. The stream of kicks to his head was slowly making him black out. Not much longer and he would be finished in this life. He closed his eyes in exhaustion.

Suddenly there was a blinding flash of light in the room. Cyanara stumbled backward, stunned, and Mario leaped to his feet. His strength had been mysteriously restored in that instant, and his wounds had vanished. Around him the Rainbow Guardians and Athos, too, got to their feet, also revived and replenished.

Cyanara stared past Mario and his companions in horror to the entryway to Penumbra's Tomb. There, in the open doorway, stood Princess Peach herself, arrayed in her rainbow robes, hands outstretched. Determination fired her eyes.

"P-Peach!" spluttered Cyanara, for once caught completely by surprise. "How did you escape?!"

Peach brushed the question aside. Her face held the determined look of a challenger as she faced her older sister, and her voice carried the same challenge. "I am Princess Peach Toadstool, the Eighth Guardian of the Rainbow. I have it in my power to protect those I love, and protect them I will. It is my duty to destroy the evil - and destroy you I will, Cyanara!"

"I'd like to see you prove it, little sister," retorted Cyanara with a touch of sarcasm.

Peach's only answer was to shoot out a beam of light from her hand. The Empress countered with her own black beam. The two clashed halfway between the sisters and struggled to overcome one another. Their energies were balanced. Neither could overpower the other.

"Ha," Cyanara laughed as she continued to hold off Peach's beam. "Even as the Eighth Guardian your power is only a match for mine, Peach. You haven't the strength to best me even now."

"Oh, I wouldn't be too sure of that, Cyanara," Peach replied grimly as she fought against Cyanara's ray of darkness with her light. "There's one thing you forgot to take into account. Amber!"

Amber dashed back to the doorway Peach stood in. "Yes, Eighth Guardian?" she asked hastily.

"Rainbow Mix - you and me!"

"Wh-What?! Me - fuse with the Eighth Guardian?!" Amber was stunned.

"Do it - and hurry!" Peach ordered as she held off Cyanara's ray of darkness.

"Athos, give me the sun!" cried Amber, and Athos promptly transformed himself into a miniature replica of the sun itself, filling the Tomb with brilliant sunlight and nearly blinding the Empress. Amber began glowing fiery orange and within seconds was ablaze.

Peach, holding off Cyanara's dark ray with her left hand, put out her right and formed a barrier of light around Amber, trapping her heat energy inside and making it build up rapidly. In no time Amber had reached the critical fusion temperature, and pure energy began to concentrate inside the barrier.

Now Peach did the unexpected. She suddenly shut off her beam of light and ducked as Cyanara's beam shot over her head. Then, still holding the barrier around Amber, she actually stepped through it into the billion-degree zone within. Untouched by the unearthly heat, she took Amber's hand and dropped the shield. Instantly the fusion energy concentrated around Peach and Amber and engulfed them in a tremendous sphere of light. Cyanara, surprised at this unexpected move, watched in stunned silence as not only Peach and Amber fused, but also Citrine with Amethyst and Emerald with Aquamarine. The light energy vanished, and Cyanara found herself faced with four of the most powerful beings the world has ever seen.

The first, Ruby and Sapphire's fusion form - the red-and-dark-blue-haired Corundum.

The second, Emerald and Aquamarine's fusion form - the green-and-blue-haired Beryl.

The third, Citrine and Amethyst's fusion form - the yellow-and-purple-haired Quartz.

And the fourth, Amber and Peach's fusion form - the orange-and-white-haired Chalcedony.

Cyanara stepped back, still stunned. "Incredible," she murmured. Her eyes narrowed. "I don't care how much power you gain," she announced loudly. "I possess all of the rainbow objects. My strength is undefeatable. You poor fools will perish at my hands unless you surrender to my authority!"

"Never, wicked one!" cried Athos hotly, returning to his human form. "You and your 'master plan' have gone too far already. It is time for you to receive the just reward of evildoers!"

"That reward would be world domination, traitor," replied Cyanara darkly. "I will rule over all - and you, my opponents, will be the first whose lives will be sacrificed to bring in my new order. My era of evil is at hand. Bow to your master, all of you - for I am not simply your ruler, but your omnipotent GOD!!"

"So you presume to play God, is that it?" queried Corundum. "Pretending to be a deity will earn you nothing but destruction!"

With that, Corundum levitated off the gray stone floor of Penumbra's Tomb and used her powers of shielding to place red-and-blue energy barriers around the four fused Guardians, herself included. "Let's see you break through these, Cyanara!"

Beryl's dark eyes sparkled as she prepared to unleash her psychic powers on the Empress. Quartz used her power of summoning to give herself a small army of ferocious lions, primed to attack the Empress at her command. The stage was set for the ultimate superpower conflict - Cyanara versus the fused Rainbow Guardians.

The fight would have been an awesome thing to behold - if it had ever taken place.

Chalcedony turned to Corundum. "Lower your shields, Corundum."

Corundum was shocked. "Chalcedony -"

"Lower the shields."

Confused, Corundum withdrew her protective barriers from herself and her Guardian sisters. Chalcedony motioned to the others to stay back. They relaxed their battle stances, looking at her in puzzlement.

"Stay back," commanded Chalcedony quietly. "This is for me to do."

A hush settled over Penumbra's Tomb. Even Cyanara was struck by Chalcedony's quiet, purposeful bearing. Slowly the fused Guardian stepped in front of the Empress and issued an unbelievable challenge.

"Kill me."

"What?!" cried Mario. "No! Peach, NO!!"

"Trying to trick me into making the first move, aren't you?" Cyanara asked slyly, a cunning smile breaking over her face. "What are you planning?"

Chalcedony said nothing. She simply stood there, waiting.

"You can't do this!!" protested Beryl. "Chalcedony, STOP!!"

A wicked grin spread across Cyanara's face. She drew her hands back, charging up the dark energy within her. "So the Guardian Chalcedony wishes to die? Very well - then so be it!"

Cyanara flung her hands out toward her surrendering opponent and unleashed a torrential beam of darkness at her. The beam stretched from Cyanara's hands in seeming slow motion as Mario stared at it in horror. He reached for the motionless Guardian.

"PEACH!!!"

Chalcedony lifted a hand and intercepted the beam. It struck her palm and stopped instantly, its energy gathering into a sphere in her hand. Cyanara stared at her in shock.

"Y-You - my - you couldn't have - !!"

In another instant the beam went shooting right back at Cyanara, punching a gaping hole directly through her heart. The heat of the beam seared the blood vessels shut and prevented blood flow from the fatal wound.

The Empress stood still and looked down at the hole in her chest. Her face slowly paled, and she looked up at Chalcedony. Her voice was hoarse.

"So...you think you are victorious... I...cannot...be...killed...like......that......" She pitched onto her face and remained motionless. The room was deathly silent.

"It is done," Chalcedony said quietly. She canceled her fusion, splitting back into two separate beings - Peach and Amber. Mario rushed to the Princess and grabbed her in a bear hug.

"You really had me worried for a minute there!" he exclaimed as he squeezed her tightly.

Peach hugged him back. "Amber and I knew what we had to do," she answered softly. "Cyanara had to be convinced to act out of maliciousness, not from a preplanned strategy. That was her weakness - bloodlust." Her eyes watered. "My sister..."

Mario released her from his arms. "You've changed," he said simply.

She nodded. "I know. I had to come to grips with my role as a Rainbow Guardian. I'm willing to accept it now. Mom knew what she was doing when she passed her title and powers down to me when she did. If I hadn't had the power I do know...I hate to think of what might have happened."

"How did you escape from that tube she had you locked up in?" Mario asked, puzzled.

Peach smiled wryly. "Mom. I kept thinking of her words when she told me, 'You are stronger inside than you think you are.' She told me to reach inside myself to find the strength I needed. So I did...and here I am. I was able to break free."

Seeing Mario's disappointed look, she hastened to add, "Don't be sad, Mario. I'm still the same Princess Peach you've always known. I'm just a little stronger, that's all."

"So does this mean I won't have to rescue you ever again?" Mario asked. His tone was dejected, but there was a twinkle of humor in his eyes.

Peach laughed. "We'll see. I may have to arrange a kidnapping just so you have something productive to do with your time." Her eyes danced with laughter. "Come on, let's go." She took Mario's hand and began to move toward the double doors which led out of Penumbra's Tomb - but she froze halfway there. Someone frighteningly familiar was blocking the open doorway. She had black hair, black eyes, a clingy black skirt with a lavender miniskirt over it, and a form-fitting ruby-red top. In her hands she clasped an iron staff tipped with a glittering yellow crescent. She smiled cunningly.

Cyanara.

Not a word was spoken. Every one was stunned at the Empress's reappearance. Mario took a look behind him to see Cyanara still lying on the floor of Penumbra's Tomb, right where Chalcedony had felled her. He turned back to the doorway. It couldn't be - two Cyanaras?!

Cyanara erupted with laughter at Mario's incredulous expression. "A little disbelieving, Mario?"

"If you're Cyanara, then who's that?" demanded Mario, pointing at the dead "Cyanara" behind him. "A clone?"

"Android," Cyanara replied smoothly. "While you were wandering down memory lane, Mario, I replaced the real me with a copy. I knew you'd kill her sooner or later, but it doesn't matter. My plan is still active, and your little scuffle with my alter ego has only furthered my designs."

Peach reached out a hand to Cyanara. "Please, Cyanara, enough of this senseless fighting. Come back to the castle with me."

"The castle?" spat Cyanara. "What for? I have my own place right here. I don't need my little sister to dole out charity to me."

"But Cyanara -"

"Enough," barked the Empress. "Farewell, all of you. Thanks to you, my trap is now set." She turned and began walking down the entry hall toward the stairs that led up to the main floor. "I'll be waiting for your return, Mario...for tonight is the night of the half moon." She reached the stairs and disappeared up them into her fortress.

Peach, still staring after her estranged sister, clasped Mario's hand in hers a little tighter. "Mario, the half moon -"

"She's going to try awakening the evil behind that door," Mario finished tersely, turning to gaze at the ominous mammoth door lurking behind them. "We'd better leave now."

"Wait," Peach said, quickly stepping over to the fallen Cyanara android. The humanoid robot still wore the Rainbow Rings and Rainbow Pendant. Peach removed the objects from the false Empress and put them on herself, each Ring on its proper finger, the Pendant dangling from its golden necklace about her neck. Then she moved to the black altar and picked up the eight Rainbow Discs. They floated out of her hands and began circling her just as they had Cyanara, glowing with brilliant rainbow colors.

Peach lifted her hands. "Cyanara has done much damage with her dimensional rift. It is time that rift was healed."

"Do it, Peach!" exclaimed Mario.

"Power of the rainbow," cried Peach, "restore these eight dimensions into one and remove the curse of destruction placed on this kingdom!"

The Discs halted in their flight and channeled brilliant rays of color directly into Peach's body. The infusion of power was painless; Peach neither winced nor cried out as the rainbow energy poured into her. The Pendant began to glow.

The eight colors of the rainbow burst forth from the Pendant in rapid succession, flashing brilliantly for moments apiece. At the final flash, the burst of black, the room was seized with a tremendours quaking. For almost five minutes Penumbra's Tomb and its occupants reeled under the force of the earthquake. At last the rumbling subsided, leaving the Tomb silent and still. The Discs floated back into Peach's hands, and the glowing ceased.

"Is...is it done?" breathed Quartz.

For the first time Peach allowed herself a worry-free smile. "Yes," she replied happily. "The Mushroom Kingdom has been restored!"

Triumph Theme

A rousing cheer erupted from the threats of Mario, Athos, Corundum, Beryl, Quartz, and Amber. Peach shed tears of joy.

"Finally," she whispered to herself, "finally my people are safe again." The thought brought more tears to her eyes. "Safe. Safe at last."

When the cheering died down, Peach remembered Cyanara's threat about the half moon. "Emerald."

Beryl canceled her own fusion, splitting into Emerald and Aquamarine. The green-haired Emerald stepped forward. "Yes, Eighth Guardian?"

"Emerald, go to my castle and bring the captain of the guard to me."

Emerald flashed a smile and winked out of existence. In moments the reappeared in Penumbra's Tomb, bearing Russ T. in her arms. She set him on his feet before the Princess.

The armor-clad Toad looked utterly bewildered as he looked at Peach. "...Your Highness? Is that you?"

Peach nodded. "My mother made me the eighth Rainbow Guardian, Russ."

Russ's eyebrows went up. "...OOO-K," he said hesitantly, "you lost me completely on that one." He shrugged. "Guess I'll just take your word for it. What did you want me to do?"

"Russ," Peach answered earnestly. "I want you to guard the entrance to this room tonight. If anyone or anything gets inside, report to me immediately. We're going back to the castle."

"Back?" Russ queried. "The dimensional rift -"

"Taken care of, Russ. It's gone."

"Thank the Stars for that!" exclaimed the captain. He saluted. "I'm on it, Your Highness. No one's going to get into this room tonight!"

"One more thing, Emerald," Peach said aloud. "Please check around this fortress. I want to know if Cyanara's still here."

"Be right back!" Emerald again vanished, returning a few minutes later instead of within seconds as she had last time.

"The place is empty," she reported in her girlish voice. "Cyanara's nowhere to be seen."

"She must be expecting something to happen tonight," guessed Mario grimly. "Come on, let's get out of here." Russ stationed himself just outside the Tomb entrance as the others filed out.

---

Return Theme

"Home at last!" sighed Peach happily as she walked through the doors into the castle's front lobby.

Rachel came into the foyer from the other direction and dropped the stack of folded sheets she was carrying. "Your Highness!" she cried, rushing to the Princess. Peach enveloped her trusty servant in a warm hug.

"Oh, it's so good to see you safe and sound!" exclaimed Rachel. "I was so worried about you!"

Luigi stuck his head into the lobby. "What's all the commotion - HEY!! You're back, bro!" A huge grin split his face wide open. "Lemme get everybody else!" The head was withdrawn from the doorway, and within minutes the lobby doors flew open. Michael, Tace T., Hardshel, the royal guards - even Toadsworth came rushing out to greet the Princess. Joyous shouting echoed around Peach as everyone clustered around her. The Princess just stood there, tears streaming down her cheeks at this show of love and appreciation.

"Your Highness?" rose a tiny voice above the clamor.

Peach turned, and her smile became tender. "Leika!"

Leika curtsied. "Your Highness, I must take the eight Rainbow Rings. They must be returned to their place in my homeland temple."

Graciously Peach removed the eight Rings from her fingers and handed them to the hovering fairy. The Rings shrank to the appropriate size as Leika took them, and she slipped them onto her own tiny fingers. "Thank you, Eighth Guardian."

"Leika," corrected the Princess, "enough with the title. I'm just Princess Peach."

Leika smiled.

Ruby tapped Peach on the shoulder. "Your Highness - um, Eighth Guardian -"

"Ruby." Peach stopped her. "I'm not just your ruler anymore. I'm your sister Guardian. Please - call me Peach."

The red-haired Guardian hesitated. "...Peach," she began, somewhat uncomfortable with the informality, "the Shadows Royal are dead. Our duty is done. We are returning to Rainbow Temple immediately."

"That's all right," Peach assured her. "That's where you belong, at least for now. I must remain here, though." She handed the first seven Rainbow Discs back to Ruby. "My love goes with you, Ruby. Feel free to visit me any time you wish."

"Thank you, Peach," Ruby said gratefully.

Amethyst clasped Athos's hand "Before I go..."

"Before we go, you mean," corrected Athos gently. He faced the Princess. "We would like to be joined in holy matrimony." Amethyst beamed.

Citrine stepped forward. "I object."

"State your objections, Citrine," Peach interposed.

The third Guardian faced Athos with an air of directness. "Athos," she began bluntly, "the pledge of the Guardians requires absolute loyalty to the protection of the Discs."

"Rest assured," Athos replied, "that I have no intention of making her break that committment. I intend to help her fulfill it. It is the least I can do for her after all she has done for me."

"So you will not allow the duties of Guardianship and matrimony to conflict?"

"On the contrary," Athos answered, "I intend to make the two duties one. Whatever her Guardian's duties call for, I will be beside her to assist."

"Very well." Citrine stepped back, placated. "I have no further objections."

"Then it's settled," Peach announced. "When would you like to have the ceremony?"

Athos looked down at his fiancée.

"Today," Amethyst answered happily.

Peach smiled. "I can arrange that."

With that, Peach raised her voice above the welcoming din and ordered everyone back to their duties. The crowd dispersed, leaving only Mario and Peach in the lobby.

"It looks like Amethyst will get to have her wedding after all," Peach said with a smile, speaking to no one in particular. "I'm glad for her."

"Peach," Mario said hesitantly, "about your birthday... I'm sorry I was late."

"I'm glad you were," Peach replied, turning her smile toward Mario. "If you'd been on time, you would have been on my plane when it was hijacked. Cyanara would have had both of us."

"Still, I never did get a chance to give you your birthday present." Mario smiled as he withdrew the small red box from his pocket and handed it to Peach. "I hope you like it."

Peach took the small red box and flipped the lid up. Inside glittered a diamond ring. She caught her breath. "Mario - this - is this -"

Mario looked her in the eyes. "Princess Peach...will you marry me?"

The next thing Mario knew he was being smothered in hugs by a joyous Princess Peach. He returned the embrace.

"Of course I will!" she exclaimed happily. "I've been waiting so long for you to ask me that!"

"I still don't know why I waited so long," Mario returned with a smile as Peach released him and slipped the ring onto her finger. "Maybe because I didn't want to hear -"

"Your Highness! What is that you have on your finger?!"

"- Toadsworth," Mario finished with a mock groan.

"It's an engagement ring, isn't it? ISN'T IT?!" Toadsworth ranted from the lobby steps. "Speak up!"

"For your information, Toadsworth, Mario just asked me to marry him," Peach replied matter-of-factly.

"And what did you say to him?" demanded the elderly steward.

Peach smiled. "Yes."

Toadsworth's eyes bulged, and his face went red. He clutched his cane with a death grip.

"Uh-oh." Mario gulped. "RUN!"

Both princess and plumber dashed out the lobby doors into the castle yard just as Toadsworth's choice protest came bellowing after them.

"ABSOLUTELY OUTRAGEOUS!!!"

---

Penumbra's Tomb Theme

Evil... The ultimate evil...

It sleeps behind the towering door in Penumbra's Tomb...

Cyanara has threatened to awaken it. But only Mario holds the key to opening that door.

That key?

His blood.

But Cyanara has none of Mario's blood, you say.

True.

She does not need it...

Come with me. Step into the realm of the Mushroom Kingdom and watch as the terrifying drama unfolds before your very eyes.

You are standing in the long, dim hall leading to Penumbra's Tomb, deep in the bedrock beneath Cyanara's fortress. You slowly move forward to the black double doors, grasp one of the half-moon handles, and pull the door open. Slowly, hesitantly, you step inside.

Immediately you sense an atmosphere of foreboding as your gaze falls on that huge, ominous door across the semicircular room. The air seems filled with a strange tension, as if something dreadful is about to transpire. Your ears, straining for the slightest sound, catch whispering noises, as if the unseen spirits here are discussing your presence.

Suddenly, without reason, you are overpowered by the impulse to look up. There, embedded in the ceiling directly over the altar, is a dagger, a demonic face leering at you from its hilt, blood coating the blade. It is the very weapon with which Empress Cyanara attacked Mario And the blood on the blade...it is Mario's blood.

You stare in deadly fascination, transfixed, as the bright red liquid trickles down the blade, pools at the hilt, creeps down the handle. A single drop forms at the end of the handle and hangs suspended there for a moment.

Time seems to slow. The room appears to whirl about you. Your eyes are locked on that single ruby droplet hanging in mid-air. A chill runs down your spine.

Then, as if in slow motion, the droplet falls, down, down, down, toward the stone beneath it. The silence in the room is almost deafening. Then you hear it - the sound of that fatal drop of blood striking the altar's surface.

plink...

THIS IS NOT THE END. IT IS ONLY THE BEGINNING...

[Ozimul]

*from the back of the room, the sound of one person applauding is heard.*