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

YAHOO!!! You wouldn't believe how long I've waited for this...seems like it's been forever since May 2003, when the series first began! And it just keeps getting longer and longer and longer and longer and......you get the picture.

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DEDICATION

This fanfic is dedicated to my college buddies in the Computer Graphics Technology program--Brad, Dan, and Jason. Although they know virtually nothing about Mega Man, they're still great friends. Sayonara 'til next semester, guys!

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And now, the continuation of the Super Mario Fanfic Series...

Chapter 1: Plotline

Bowser Battle Theme

Mario socked Bowser in the jaw. Roaring in pain, the Koopa King tried to crush his plumber nemesis by leaping forward onto him, but Mario dodged the body slam and seized Bowser by his spiky tail as the oversized Koopa skidded to the floor.

"RAWRRRR! I thought you knew by now, Mario - that old trick don't work on me anymore!" With a tremendous heave the Koopa King flipped himself up and over Mario. The red-capped hero suddenly released his grip on Bowser's spiky tail and dove to one side, allowing Bowser to crash to his back on the stone floor of his throne room. Mario coolly approached his now-helpless enemy.

"And that trick doesn't work on me anymore, either," he retorted with a grin. "I've learned a few things since you last tried that one on me."

Bowser waved his limbs helplessly in the air. "Grrr. I can guess who you're here for."

"Where's Professor Gadd?" demanded Mario.

"Yeah, figured it was him you were after. He's locked up in my dungeon for insulting me. That twerp doesn't know when to shut his trap." Bowser groaned. "But I ain't givin' you the key!"

"Say again?" Mario asked innocently as he prepared to slam his fist into Bowser's tender midsection.

"I ain't givin' it to you!

"Blurgh!" Bowser gagged as Mario pounded him in the belly, knocking the wind right out of him. The Koopa King finally succeeded in regaining his breath. "All right, all right! You can have it! Here!" Bowser produced an iron key, which Mario promptly snatched from his scaly hand and pocketed.

"I'd say it's been a pleasure, Bowser, but that wouldn't exactly be the truth. See ya!" Mario raced out of the throne room, leaving Bowser in his helpless state.

"KAMMY, YOU OLD HAG!" roared Bowser. "Get in here and help me up! NOW!!"

---

Great One's Theme

"So the seven Guardians still reside at the castle."

The messenger bowed low. "Yes, O Great One. They apparently have no intentions of leaving."

"Hmmm..." The woman referred to as the Great One stroked her veil gently. "I see. You may go." Her black eyes burned behind the translucent film shrouding her face.

As the courier left the room, the Great One brooded over the situation in silence. She preferred silence. None of this joyful squealing of children and the strains of music entering her ears at all hours. The quiet was much the better atmosphere, especially for thinking...and plotting.

The Rainbow Guardians must not be allowed to interfere with the plan this time, she said to herself. The power they wield - those Rainbow Discs - destroyed the Shadow Legion effortlessly. If they resist me, I will fail. And failure...failure is something I will not tolerate. Abruptly she rose, stepped down from the platform on which sat her silver throne, and began to pace up and down the throne room, thinking and talking to herself.

"Those seven girls who guard the Discs must be neutralized. They present too great a threat, a threat that must be eliminated before I can get my hands on ALL the rainbow objects...and that pathetic Peach." Mentally she reviewed the Rainbow Guardians, mentally checking them off one by one - Ruby, the mind reader; Amber, user of solar fire; Citrine, the calm and collected controller of electricity; Emerald, that childish Guardian who could teleport herself anywhere instantly; Aquamarine, wielder of ice; Sapphire, the one who could bend all energies to her will; and Amethyst, the transformation artist. The Great One shook with rage as she remembered what she had been told of the fate of the mighty Shadow Legion - how they had been wiped out so quickly and completely by those accursed Guardians and that chubby plumber Mario. In her mind's eyes she saw again the Shadow King and Queen trembling before her, attempting to explain their failure.

"The Shadows Royal will yet have their role to play," she muttered, "but I will need something stronger than they to eliminate the Guardians. Something more...subtle. Hmmm..." The Great One fell silent as she formulated her plan of attack. Her straight, jet-black hair, cascading down her back almost to her lavender miniskirt and longer, clingy black skirt, hung perfectly still, catching the gleam of the fluorescent lamps overhead. At last she raised her head from her reverie.

"Zaron! I summon you!"

Instantly there was a puff of thick black smoke in front of the Great One, and there stood before her the dark specter Zaron, dressed in his ragged black cloak, face shrouded in the shadows of his hood. His fiery red eyes glowed hotly from their sockets. He clutched a black staff tipped with a mystic purple gemstone - it was the Staff of Shadows, capable of controlling all darkness in accordance with Zaron's wishes. This evil creature bowed low to the Great One.

"Your wish, O Great One?" His voice rasped in his throat.

She regarded him coolly. "Get in touch with my contacts. Tell them...it is time for the seven. They'll know what you mean."

"Yes, Master," replied Zaron swiftly, and he vanished from the room.

*end music*

---

Tentatively Princess Peach picked up the telephone receiver and dialed. She seated herself on her bed's pink comforter. A lump settled in her stomach as she counted the rings, wondering what she could possibly say for herself. One ring...two...three...

"Hello?"

"Hello, Shyga?" Peach took a deep breath. "This is Princess Peach."

There was an explosion of questions from the female Shy Guy on the other end of the line, and Peach held the receiver away from her ear until it died down. "You're wondering where she is, aren't you?"

Shyga answered in the affirmative.

Again Peach took a deep breath before continuing. "I'm just going to be straight out with you, Shyga. She's dead."

More frantic questions.

"No, no," Peach hastened to say, "she's here with me. In fact, that's why I'm calling. I need to know if I should send Aster home or what. Don't worry, she's just fine. Just...tell me what to do."

There was silence on the receiving end.

"Shyga?"

Finally the Shy Guy girl's voice came through the receiver. Peach listened, and her eyes widened. "No, I wouldn't even consider it -" She broke off as Shyga interrupted with an insistence in her tone. Peach sighed. "You seriously think that's best for her?"

Shyga affirmed her previous statement.

"All right," Peach sighed, "I'll do it for your sake - and Daisy's."

Shyga asked another question.

"Yes, I'll do that too. Mm-hm. Goodbye."

Peach hung up the phone and sat in silence on her bed, momentarily stunned. She'd been given a tremendous task. Could she handle it adequately...and do it as Daisy would have? After pondering for a moment, she rose to her feet, went to the door of her spare bedroom, and opened it.

The spare bedroom was themed in pink, as was her own. A soft blue carpet covered the floor. A queen-size bed, complete with pink silken bed curtains, sat in royal splendor against the far wall, next to the ornate nightstand and dresser set. Built into the left wall was a sliding-door closet.

"Aster?"

No one answered.

"Aster..."

A giggle issued from the closet.

Peach put her hands on her hips. "I know you're in there, Aster. Come on out..."

There was no response.

Stealthily Peach crept up to the closet and suddenly shoved the sliding door aside. There was a girlish scream, then laughter as a young girl in a green silk dress tumbled out of the closet on top of Peach. The Princess playfully pushed her little assailant off her and got to her feet laughing. The little girl named Aster sprang up and flopped herself on the bed, still giggling.

"All right, Aster," Peach said at last, finally getting herself under control, "enough fun and games. I need to tell you something important." She sat down on the edge of the bed and patted the spot next to her. Immediately Aster bounced across the bed and sat down, dangling her legs off the edge. In this position the red oval gem on her chest was finally visible - a sure indication that this little child was a princess in her own right.

Talk Theme

Peach stroked Aster's auburn hair gently. "Do you remember what I told you earlier about your staying with me until I could send you home?"

The little seven-year-old nodded, listening with rapt attention.

"Well, I just called Shyga - you know her - and she told me that, instead of sending you back, I should keep you here with me until you're grown-up enough to handle running a kingdom." Peach watched closely to gauge Aster's reaction to this potentially upsetting news.

Aster's lower lip quivered. "You - You mean I can't go home?"

"Not yet," Peach answered gently.

The tears began to flow. "But I want to go home! I want to see Shyga and play with her in the castle garden! I want to climb the apple tree in the courtyard so the watchman will yell at me! And I want to -"

"Aster," Peach hastily interrupted, "not yet. You need to learn some things first. And since your sister is gone, I'm the only one who can teach you. Please, Aster - be patient."

Sobbing, Aster flung herself onto her pillow and wept into the cotton fabric. "I want to go home!" she cried. "Why did Daisy have to die?! I want her back! Daisy!!!"

The question struck Peach with its logic. Why had Daisy died so cruelly at the hands of the Great One? Even though four days had passed since her ashes had been scattered to the wind, it felt like an eternity. Peach was at a loss for words. She simply sat where she was, pondering the question. But, try as she might, she could not come up with a satisfactory answer.

*end music*

---

"You guys heard already?"

"Yeah, we're go on the original plan. When do we strike?"

The first speaker, a female Toad, glanced around the room at her five partners. "As soon as possible. Harry, you take the first. The knife. You know what that means."

Harry, dressed in his Toad-sized battle armor, nodded solemnly. "Tonight."

"Bill, get in touch with Goomther and Doopliss," ordered the original speaker.

"Will do," responded the Toad named Bill.

Footsteps sounded in the hallway outside. Instantly the little group disappeared through a side door. A minute later Russ T., captain of the Mushroom Kingdom Royal Guard, strode into the chamber on his routine patrol of the castle. Satisfied that all was as it should be, he left, never suspecting the fatal conference that had taken place under his very nose only minutes before.

---

Peach sat on the bed beside Aster's prone form for a few moments, softly stroking the little girl's head in an attempt to comfort her. After a little while she said gently, "It's time for dinner, Aster."

"I'm not hungry." Aster's choked voice was muffled by her pillow. The tears still streamed from her eyes, staining the pillowcase with moisture.

Quietly, like a charitable angel, Peach rose from the bed and glided to the door. "If you get hungry, just tell me, OK? I'll leave you alone for a while and check on you later."

The Princess left the spare bedroom and reentered her own chamber, shutting the separating door softly behind her. She paused for a moment before her full-length mirror to adjust her crown slightly.

"The poor girl..." murmured Peach sympathetically. "I hate to see her like this. Hopefully some time to herself will calm her down a bit. Aster..." Peach gave her blonde locks a tuck here and there and finally left her rooms entirely, heading for the dining hall.

As Peach entered the long, spacious hall, a smile spread across her face. She took her seat at the head of the polished walnut table as usual. Gazing down the long line of familiar faces, she again smiled as she picked out those faces that had not been there the first time she'd sat here in the dining hall as a small child.

To her right, a few chairs down, sat Russ T. and his lovely wife Rachel, Peach's personal servant and organizer. Between the two was their son Michael, an eight-year-old who was absolutely obsessed with his dad's profession of soldiering. The young boy was dressed in a mock-up of his father's battle armor.

Peach looked to her left and saw the seven Rainbow Guardians - Ruby, Amber, Citrine, Emerald, Aquamarine, Sapphire, and Amethyst - seated in a row, talking lightly amongst themselves. The seven girls were nearly identical, each of them wearing similar rainbow-colored robes, but one detail made it a simple matter to tell them apart - their hair. Each Guardian's hair was the hue of her respective rainbow color; Ruby's was deep red, Amber's carrot orange, and so forth.

Seated just past the Guardians, next to Amethyst, was a man dressed in the clothing of a forester. His brown cloak covered much of his green tunic and rough brown leggings. While wearing this peculiar garb, Athos was by no means a dirty hermit. He had once been one of the three Shadow Aides, a servant to the Shadows Royal, but now worked for the Princess as a courier. He and Amethyst kept smiling at each other despite repeated warning glares from the stoic Citrine.

On Athos's left sat a powerfully-built Koopa with a rifle strapped to his back. Athos turned to him and addressed him as "Hardshell." This calm, even-tempered Koopa commando was the former spy/assassin for Bowser himself, and with his black steel shell and matching black leather boots, he still looked the part. Obviously this Koopa was no one to play around with.

"Where's Yoshi?" Peach suddenly inquired. "He wouldn't miss a meal if you paid him."

"He returned to his home only an hour ago, Your Highness," offered Athos in his precise English. "He appeared to be homesick."

"Well, that makes three fewer people here since Wario and Waluigi left yesterday," Peach commented. "Are we all ready to start eating?"

"No," spoke up Luigi from the right side of the long dining table. "Mario's not here."

"Ah-ah, don't speak too soon, bro," came a familiar voice from the dining room door. Everyone looked over to the door to see Mario himself entering the room with Professor Elvin Gadd in tow.

"Professor!" exclaimed Peach. "How nice of you to join us! Please, sit down!"

"I reckon I could stay for a bit," the Professor said with a grin as he seated his small, elderly frame on Luigi's right-hand side. "Pleasure to see you again, Your Highness."

Peach smiled in response as Mario sat down between her and Luigi. As everyone was now present, the meal began, and a lively dinner conversation started bouncing from person to person like the puck in a game of air hockey.

"So, Ruby," began Peach after swallowing a mouthful of Shroom Steak, "did Leika tell you where she was going? I was expecting her for dinner as well..."

"Yes," replied the first Guardian. "She said she was returning to her homeland. I really can't blame her. If I had gone through what she did, I would want to return home myself."

"Of course. I should have known," said Peach almost apologetically. "That makes four missing people, then." She helped herself to some Koopasta. "That poor Rainbow Fairy..."

Mario spoke around a mouthful of dinner roll. "Profeshor, doesh Bowsher shtill have dat Cwoneificashunisher?"

"The what?" asked Rachel in puzzlement.

"The Cloneificationizer," answered the Professor. "Bowser sure wasn't too imaginative when he named the thing. Yep, he's still got it, far as I know. Why?"

Mario swallowed. "Then Luigi and I are gonna go take that thing out tomorrow morning. I just hope Bowser hasn't managed to clone anyone else by now," he finished with a serious look at the Princess.

That comment was all Peach needed to set her thoughts whirling with a torrent of memories. As the conversation continued in the background, her mind drifted back to that horrible night, a scant eight days ago...

Memories Theme

"Let me go, you witch!"

Kammy Koopa responded by flying faster, myself trussed up and bound tightly to her broomstick. "I'm not going to keep His Angriness waiting!" she screeched in reply. "He'll have my head if I do!"

"I said let me GO!!!" I screamed at my captor. I struggled fiercely against my ropes and nearly made Kammy crash into a tree as we zipped through the forest. The old Magikoopa angrily recovered her balance and sped up again, making the trees just a blur as we passed them...

"Har har har! Aw, poor Peach got a little dizzy going so fast?" clucked Bowser sarcastically as he looked at my woozy expression. Being treated so roughly so late at night was getting to me. Bowser lost no time in taking me, dead-tired, to his newly-constructed laboratory, built courtesy of his newly-conscripted "helper" - Professor Elvin Gadd. The old man had been laboring on a machine of mammoth proportions.

The Cloneificationizer. It stretched from tiled floor to ten-foot ceiling, and was easily twenty feet long and ten feet deep. Its main features were two huge upright plastic tubes anchored to either end of the monster - tubes large enough to accommodate a full-grown man each. Countless wires ran from the tops of these tubes to the central control panel, a dizzying array of knobs, switched, levers, meters, dials, and whatnot.

"Put her in there!" Bowser ordered, directing Kammy Koopa to the tube on the right. Immediately the old hag hustled me forward to the indicated spot. Bowser pushed a button on the console, causing the tube to open up like a clamshell. Kammy shoved me inside, sealing the tube shut after me.

Weakly I tried to break through the reinforced plastic. "Help!"

"No one's going to help you in there, Princess Peach!" cackled the old witch.

Bowser pushed the red "Activate" button on the control board, and my plastic prison began to fill with a horrible yellow chemical. The smell was overpowering. The liquid level rose at an alarming rate. Desperately I tried to keep breathing, to stay above the rising fluid, but soon I slipped under its surface...and then...I don't remember...but Bowser must have cloned me right then. I remember seeing her - the clone - later on that week. Ugh...

*end music*

"Peach?"

"Hm?" Peach snapped out of her reverie. "What?"

"What are you thinking about?" asked Mario seriously.

Peach shook her head. "The time Bowser cloned me. That clone of me is still out there somewhere, you know - probably at Bowser's castle, still."

"Yeah, I thought of that. We'll take care of her too when Luigi and I smash that infernal machine to bits."

Peach nodded and took a bite of her pasta.

Evening Theme

It was ten o'clock when the Princess finally headed for her rooms to retire for the night. The evening's festivities had all but exhausted her, and all she looked forward to was a long rest in her luxurious bed.

"Good night, Your Highness," called Ruby as she and her sister Guardians passed the Princess in the hall.

"Good night," returned Peach, watching as the seven girls entered their respective rooms; then she turned and entered her own room, shutting the intricately-engraved oaken door tightly behind her.

The Princess removed her crown and favorite blue earrings and placed them on top of her four-foot-tall jewelry cabinet. Slipping out of her pink dress, she folded it neatly and placed it near the door for the laundry crew to pick up the next morning. Next she removed her pink silken nightgown from the wall-length closet and slipped it over her head, sliding her arms through the puffy sleeves and adjusting the gown until it hung just right on her. The nightgown's light, airy material billowed around her in soft folds as she went to the window that faced the courtyard, pulled the shade up, and opened the window wide, admitting the evening breeze. The weather in early August was stiflingly hot, and despite the castle's natural coolness, the rooms around the courtyard received much sun and were always hotter than the rest of the castle. For this reason she had selected her light gown on that warm night. Peach leaned on the windowsill, breathing in the sweet fragrance of the vast flower beds that made the courtyard something of a botanical garden.

A light rap on the door broke the spell of the evening that had cast itself over the Princess. Slightly annoyed at this interruption of her enjoyment, Peach went to the door and opened it. Harry saluted smartly.

"Hello, Harry," she greeted the night-shift guard pleasantly.

"Good evening, Your Highness," Harry replied. "Is everything all right tonight?"

Obviously Harry was on his nightly rounds. "Everything's fine, Harry. Thanks. Good night."

"Good night," he returned as he moved off down the hall toward the Guardians' rooms.

Shutting the door once again, Peach went to her bed, pulled back the blanket, and lay down. The pink silk bed canopy billowed slowly in the light evening breeze, and she lay watching it for a few minutes in tired fascination. At last she rolled over, closed her eyes, and drifted off to sleep.

*end music*

---

"EEEEEEK! YAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!"

Peach sat bolt upright in bed. "What was that?" she whispered, somewhat frightened. A door slammed in the hallway, and footsteps pounded down the hall, growing fainter and fainter until they could not be heard.

Quietly the Princess got out of bed, glancing at her wall clock - it was two o'clock. She slowly opened the door and stuck her head into the hall, looking and listening for anything that might betray the presence of an intruder. There was silence for a few moments; then a deathly moan came from the direction of the Guardians' rooms. That was enough for Peach. She rushed out into the hallway and stopped by the girls' rooms, listening. There it was again - definitely coming from Ruby's room. Peach seized the appropriate knob and tore Ruby's door open, calling out for her to answer.

"Ruby! Are you all right? Say something!!"

Another moan came from the floor by the Guardian's bed. "...Princess...unhh..."

"Ruby!!!" Peach rushed to the nearly-unconscious Guardian and knelt beside her. Ruby's beautiful red hair gleamed in the moonlight from the window, matching the gleam from another substance soaking her chest and pooling on the carpet - blood. Peach's hands were quickly stained red, but she didn't care. She reached up to the nightstand and seized the telephone.

"Dr. Herb T., get to Ruby's room immediately! We've got an emergency on our hands!"

Peach slammed the phone back onto its cradle and knelt down by Ruby again, gently probing the young lady's body for injuries. Her fingers detected a profusion of blood near Ruby's heart. Feeling further, she discovered what felt like a deep cut very close to her heart - a knife wound? "Oh, Ruby..."

Dr. Herb T. raced into the room with his faithful nurse Lily and the other Rainbow Guardians. Immediately he began to put a stop to the bleeding. After the bleeding was under control, he swathed Ruby's chest in bandages, and the other six Guardians, carefully lifted her onto the stretcher the medical team had brought with them. Together doctor and nurse wheeled the stretcher away.

---

"You have to save her, Herb! You have to!" pleaded Peach as she and the doctor stood in Ruby's hospital room after breakfast the next morning.

Dr. Herb shook his head. "That's a tall order, Your Highness. That knife narrowly missed her heart. It's a miracle she's still alive." He looked over at Ruby's prone form lying on the spotless white sheets of her hospital bed, completely still except for the rhythmic breathing pattern that proved she was still living. "She's barely hanging on as it is. I'm surprised that she's actually conscious."

"Get Athos," instructed Peach. "His healing powers can -"

"I've already tried that, Your Highness," interjected Herb, "and he's apparently been given some sort of sleeping drug. He's still sound asleep, and no one who's tried has been able to wake him up. Whoever attempted this murder certainly knew what he was doing."

Peach sat down heavily on the chair by the bed, trying to take all this information in. "What's happening to my peaceful Mushroom Kingdom?" she lamented. "First Bowser cloned me and tried to steal the throne; then the Shadow Queen returned; then the Shadow Legion burned Toad Town to ashes; then the Great One burned Daisy to death; then that Great One tormented me, tried to take my crown from me; and now that the Great One's dead and the Shadows Royal have left, this happens. Oh, what's going on?"

"Shadows Royal?" queried the doctor.

"The name for the Shadow King and Queen." Peach's eyes welled with tears. "That day in the Sacrifice Chamber, the Queen was reawakened - and she possessed Princess Eclair. She took my friend..."

"You'll have to tell me the story sometime," said Dr. Herb, looking at his watch, "but right now I'm due at the lab for blood tests on the samples we took from Ruby." He rushed from the room, his white coat flapping behind him.

Peach gently stroked Ruby's feverish forehead. "Ruby..."

The Guardian's eyes fluttered open. "Princess Peach...I..."

"Shhh, you just lie still," instructed the Princess gently. "You're very fortunate to be alive after last night. Rest."

I am just speechless at how good and satisfyingly long this chapter was. Keep it up NGC! Honestly, I can't wait for more!

*wants to learn the awesomeness of writing by NGC's hand*

Oh come on, you give me too much credit.

Chapter 2: Developments of the Stranger Sort

"What happened to you last night?" Peach inquired softly as she sat beside Ruby's hospital bed.

The red-haired Guardian tried a deep breath to get enough wind to speak, but only accomplished a coughing fit. Peach laid her hands on her friend to steady her.

"Easy, Ruby. Don't push yourself."

"I...I was asleep in my room," whispered Ruby hoarsely. "There was a noise...I woke up...and sensed someone in the room with me. I read his thoughts - he intended to kill me...that was my first scream..."

"And the second?"

"...When he stabbed me... He lunged at me before I could get out of the way...thankfully he missed..."

"By a fraction of an inch, apparently," Peach added sympathetically. "I'm just glad you're alive. Did you get a look at him?"

"All I saw...was a suit of armor..." coughed the first Guardian.

Peach rose with a start as Ruby lapsed back into semiconsciousness. "Armor... The guards!" She hit the intercom button on the wall. "Russ T., report to Ruby's room immediately!"

Within thirty seconds the stalwart captain stood at attention before the Princess. The taller-than-average Toad saluted smartly.

"Russ, Ruby just told me that her attacker wore a suit of armor."

Russ caught on immediately. "So you're thinking this was an inside job?" he inquired.

"I want every guard who was on duty last night standing here in this room in five minutes, including you."

"Yes, Your Highness!" the captain responded and rushed off, armor clinking.

Peach sank down by Ruby's bed. "We've already lost Daisy, Éclair, and Toadsworth in just the past three weeks. I'm not going to lose anyone else!"

Five minutes later the last night's guards were assembled in the hospital room. "We're all here, Your Highness," reported Russ. "Including me."

Peach rose and faced the assembled company of fifty Toad guards, all in full battle armor. "Which of you were on patrol in the main building last night?"

Twenty guards raised their hands.

"Which of you were in the west wing?" she asked, addressing the raised hands.

Eight hands remained raised; the others went back down.

The Princess scrutinized these eight with an eagle eye, probing for guilty expressions, nervous eyes, fidgety fingers. Nothing. All eight stood at attention like their comrades, meeting her gaze with straight faces and level eyes. At length Peach turned to Russ.

"Search them."

The captain instantly carried out the order, performing a full body search on each of the eight suspects. His experienced fingers turned up nothing.

"I didn't think it would be this easy, Your Highness," he said resignedly. "They're all clean as a whistle. No evidence whatsoever."

Peach sighed. "Keep an eye on those eight, Russ. That's all for now. You may -"

A gunshot rang out in the hall outside the room. Russ bolted for the door and tore it open to reveal Amber, the second Rainbow Guardian, face-down on the tile floor, her right shoulder bloodied and broken. The captain gave a shout that brought the medical team scurrying to her aid.

Peach watched from the door, her hand over her mouth. "Not again... Not another...!"

Amber gritted her teeth as the nurses lifted her onto a hospital bed. Immediately the doctor administered painkiller before wheeling her down the hall to another room.

Russ turned to Peach. "That about blows the theory out of the water, Your Highness. All the night-shift guards were in the room with you when Amber was shot. Whoever attacked her wasn't one of them."

Peach fell back in her chair. "So what you're saying is..."

"I'm saying that perhaps Ruby wasn't attacked by one of the guards."

"But Ruby said -"

"I'm not saying anything definite, Your Highness," Russ hastened to say. "Just naming a possibility. Be thankful that whoever it was had poor aim."

"You may go, Russ. Keep an eye on those eight guards," she repeated. The captain saluted and marched out of the room with his men.

Peach left Ruby to her rest and went down the hall to the adjacent room to check on Amber. The second Guardian lay on her own bed in her room, which was nearly identical to Ruby's. An IV was dripping painkiller into her veins, and a heavy bandage covered her right shoulder. She smiled.

"Hello, Your Highness. Sorry I'm so much trouble."

"No, no, Amber, it's all right. You couldn't help it and you know it." Peach took a seat by the bed and faced Amber. "So what happened to you?"

"Somebody shot me from behind. I didn't even get a look at him, either." She smiled ruefully. "I'm just glad I'm not dead right now."

Peach sat in silence. What is going on? she asked herself. Why is someone trying to kill the Rainbow Guardians? Who would do such a thing? And since Ruby and Amber have already been injured - is Citrine next?

Leaving Amber's infirmary room behind, the Princess made her way through the hallways into the front lobby, expecting to find Mario and Luigi leaving for Bowser's castle. The entryway, however, was devoid of life. Puzzled, Peach walked out the castle's front door, glancing around for the Mario brothers. Her eye spotted the door on the library tower wide open. Immediately she was suspicious. The library tower door was always kept tightly locked.

Hesitantly she set foot inside the tower. All was quiet. Too quiet. Slowly she climbed the spiral staircase, listening harder with every step. She had that sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach again.

Peach finally found herself at the top of the tower, standing before the great oaken doors of the royal library. She tremblingly reached for the knob.

Voices came from within the library.

Peach jerked her hand back as if she'd been burned. Could these people be the plotters, the would-be murderers of the Guardians? She wasn't sure if she could face such a threat alone. For a moment she considered calling the guards; then, growing a bit bolder, she squared her shoulders and pulled the doors open wide.

Professor E. Gadd's Theme

"Oh, hello, Peach!" Mario called from the reading table. "The Professor's showing me a diagram of his new invention -" He stopped as he saw the startled look on Peach's face. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

Peach found her tongue. "Mario, you scared me half to death! I thought...oh, never mind. Weren't you and Luigi going to Bowser's castle today?"

"Oh, that." Mario smiled. "Luigi's on his way there right now. It's about time he learned the meaning of courage, and I think he'll get the point this time. But I'm staying here with you until these bizarre attacks stop. If the Guardians aren't safe, you certainly aren't. How does that sound?"

Peach sat down beside him at the table. "It sounds fine to me," she replied, returning the smile.

"Do I have your permission to continue, Your Highness?" inquired Professor Gadd from across the table.

"Please do."

"As I was sayin', young feller," continued the Professor, laying his hands on the blueprint before him, "the machine's warpulator receives its power from the magnetic coil right here -" he traced the wiring on the diagram and tapped the coil with his finger - "and transforms that power into a high-energy pulse that can dismember a segment of the space-time continuum and manipulate it at will."

"You and your time machines," Peach laughed. "Explain that in less technical terms, please!"

The Professor grinned. "Never did care much for science, did you, Your Highness? This little number -" he tapped the blueprint again - "is called the Time Sequence Alternator. It has the ability to select a specific geographical area and rewind or fast-forward time in that area. It's not a traditional time machine by any means. It acts on a location, not a person. Also, a standard time machine acts as an insulating 'time bubble' that keeps its occupants from getting any older or younger as they move through time. No such thing exists with the Alternator. Anyone in the selected location will experience a fast-forward or rewind in age." Elvin Gadd lifted his balding head and looked at Peach. "Understand?"

"Yes, I -" Peach suddenly stopped and stared at the diagram. An idea had exploded into her mind with such intensity that it shocked her into silence. The power of Gadd's invention could make possible - WHAT?!

"Daisy!" Peach shot to her feet, knocking her chair backward. "It's Daisy!"

"What's Daisy?" asked a startled Mario. "She's dead, Peach - what are you talking about?"

"Near the Great One's fortress there was a town. It's just down the mountain from the ruins. That's where Daisy was executed! And if we used the Alternator on that spot, we -"

Mario was on his feet by this time, the concept striking him like a bolt of lightning. "We could bring Daisy back to life! It'd be as if she'd never been gone! Peach, that's brilliant!"

"Professor," Peach addressed the slightly-eccentric scholar, "begin building that machine immediately! I'll pay for construction myself!"

"Yes, ma'am," responded the aged professor. "I'll get on it right away!"

*end music*

Peach took hold of Mario's hand and guided him to the door. "I've got time for a morning walk, Mario," she hinted with a smile.

Mario feigned surprise. "Really?! Wow, that's amazing! In that case, we'll just have to take one, won't we?"

Before Peach could answer, a single guard came bursting through the library doors, steel armor clinking. "Your Highness!" he cried, breathing heavily. "It's Citrine - they got her!"

"No!" Peach dropped Mario's hand. "Put every guard in the castle on full alert - take no chances! I want the other Guardians safe!"

"Yes, Your Highness!" The guard turned and scrambled down the tower stairs. Peach rushed downstairs behind him, praying all the way.

Citrine, please - don't die! You can't die! Hold on - I'm coming!

---

"They poisoned her, apparently," Dr. Herb T. said grimly as he and the Princess watched the unconscious Citrine being wheeled out of the operating room. "It was a slow-acting poison that attacked her red blood cells - a hemotoxin. Deadly stuff." He sighed. "I just hope we were able to pump it all out of her."

"Doctor, no one is allowed into the kitchen during meal preparation except me and the cooks." Peach looked both puzzled and worried. "One of the kitchen crew is to blame for this."

"More than likely," the doctor agreed. "And from what happened the other two times, I'd say were dealing with a criminal ring of some sort. Of course, I'm no expert in the area of criminal justice, but that's what I get out of all this."

"Doctor, Citrine's blood pressure and heart rate have stabilized," reported one of the nurses as she walked up to him and handed him the printed report on the Guardian's condition. He took the paper quickly, relief written on his face.

"Thank goodness," he breathed. "She just might pull through after all!"

Peach smiled a little. "Good. I've ordered the guards to stand watch around Ruby's and Amber's rooms. Another squad will report to you in a few minutes. Have them guard Citrine. The culprit may choose to strike a second time while his victims are vulnerable, and I'm not going to let that happen. And...see to it that all three survive."

"I'll certainly do my best," Herb replied confidently.

"Thank you, Doctor." Peach turned and left the infirmary.

---

Emerald, Aquamarine, Sapphire, and Amethyst sat around the small wooden table in Emerald's little room, the sun streaming through the window beside the bed and warming their hands as they discussed their predicament.

"I still think we should go back to Rainbow Temple!" affirmed Emerald in her childish voice, her green hair tossing as she nodded her head to back up her statement. "It's not safe here anymore!"

"Patience, Emerald," replied Sapphire in her quiet, passive way. "That may be just what our attackers want us to do. No, the better plan is to stop this threat, not run from it."

"Sapphire has a point," conceded Aquamarine. "If we do leave, the castle will become far more vulnerable to attack. I think we should stay."

Emerald got up in a huff and flounced down on her bed, staring at the dresser in frustration.

Amethyst nodded in agreement. "You're both right. But what can we do to stop this...this murderer? I mean, it's not like he's going to come walking through the door and -"

"Don't move, any of you."

The four Guardians looked up at the door, startled. There, as if in mockery of Amethyst's unfinished sentence, stood one of the royal guards, his glinting steel armor matching the glint in his eyes. His sword hung unused and unneeded in its sheath, for the Toad held a loaded pistol in his hand. He smiled at the shocked expressions of his four victims.

Sapphire was the first to speak. "You're here for us, aren't you?"

The guard pointed his pistol at the Guardian with the dark blue hair. "I sure am, Sapphire. The first three attempts may have been bungled, but the last four won't be. I'll make sure of that!" The pistol clicked ominously as the guard cocked it. Again he grinned as he prepared to put a bullet through Sapphire's heart. The intended victim met his gaze squarely, as if she knew she could not escape and was not going to try.

"So this is how it ends for us," Sapphire said calmly. "You won't see fear in me. None of us fear death. Shoot if you must. You'll pay - someday."

"Shut up," barked the guard, his finger pulling slowly back on the trigger.

Suddenly a stream of lasers punched through the guard's back, dropping him to the floor. The pistol clattered to the floor and went off, the bullet punching a hole in the plaster ceiling.

Hardshell strapped his laser rifle back to his shoulder. "Caught off-guard, huh?" he asked with a straight face as he scanned the room from the doorway.

"Thank you, Hardshell!" burst out Emerald in relief, jumping up from the bed. She rushed the surprised commando and gave him a bear hug. The Koopa's eyes rolled behind his sunglasses as he stoically allowed the childish Guardian to squeeze him.

"Hmph. Don't mention it."

"Hardshell! I heard a gunshot!" Russ T. skidded to a stop beside the commando. "What's going on?!"

Hardshell nudged the dead guard with his boot. "Looks like we've caught our prowler, Russ."

"Harry?!" Russ exclaimed. "He wouldn't dream of killing innocent people! Harry was our mysterious attacker?!"

"Looks like he sure fooled you, Russ," Hardshell said quietly. "Fooled all of us."

Russ shook his head in disbelief. "This is crazy," he said aloud, more to himself than to anyone else.

Hardshell hoisted the body to his shoulder. "One less threat, anyway. Let's go, Russ. We've got a burial to take care of." The two soldiers left Emerald's room, leaving the four Guardians sitting in stunned silence.

---

Peach sighed. "So it was Harry?"

"Mm-hm," affirmed Russ. "He was on guard duty in the west wing the night Ruby was stabbed. He must have attacked her too."

"Then he was the one behind it all," guessed Peach. "The problem should disappear now. But keep the guards on the alert, just in case."

Russ saluted and marched from the throne room.

The Princess remained on her golden throne, mulling over the shocking turn the past day and a half had taken. This should have been a happy time, she realized. The Great One is dead, the Shadow Legion has been destroyed, and the Shadows Royal have fled for their lives. Toad Town is nearly rebuilt since the Legion burned it. And Professor Gadd's machine promises to bring Daisy back to us! Aster will be overjoyed to see her older sister again!

But now, mere days after the Legion's defeat, someone tries to kill the Rainbow Guardians. Why? Why wouldn't everyone be thankful to the Guardians for what they've done for us? For defeating the Shadows Royal? Is there something going on that I don't know about? And if so - what?

---

Bill trooped briskly into Toad Town that Friday afternoon. The bright August sun made beads of perspiration stand out on his forehead as the heat penetrated his armor and built up inside his leather underjacket. Shielding his eyes from the sun, he peered down the street, noticing the busyness of the townspeople. The rebuilding process was rapidly nearing completion, although several sections of the town were still lying in charred ruins. It was one of these burned-out areas that Bill headed for, not taking a direct route, but going a roundabout way that gradually led closer to his destination. Soon he was standing on the street next to his target zone, with newly-rebuilt homes and shops on his left and the blackened ruins on the right. Looking nervously around, he saw no one watching him and quickly darted in amongst the ruined structures.

"Pssst. Bill. Over here."

Still glancing around nervously, the Toad guard slipped into one of the charred buildings. Inside were a Goomba and a strange-looking character covered in a white sheet and wearing what appeared to be a blue party hat.

"What's up, Bill?" asked the Goomba in low tones.

"Any orders from the one in charge, Goomther?" Bill questioned.

Goomther shifted his weight to his right foot and leaned against the blackened brick wall behind him. The building was well lit by the sun since the roof had burned completely off. "Freak-sheet here can tell you that."

"The name's DOOPLISS!!" exploded the white-sheeted character.

"Keep it down, wouldja?" Goomther responded angrily. "You'll give us away!"

"Oh, yeah, right," mumbled Doopliss as he fumbled for something amongst the piles of charred wood. "Where'd I put it?"

"Don't tell me you lost the note," grumbled Goomther sarcastically.

"No, it's here somewhere - aHA! Gotcha!" Doopliss pulled a crumpled sheet of paper from the ashes and unfolded it triumphantly, smoothing out the creases with his fingers.

Goomther rolled his eyes. "Sure kept it in good shape, too."

"Well?" asked Bill. "What's it say?"

"...Uh, yeah, plans have changed," muttered Doopliss.

"What?" said Bill impatiently.

Doopliss raised his voice a little. "You're supposed to stop the attacks on the Rainbow Guardians and wait."

"Wait? Wait for what?"

Doopliss whispered lengthy instructions into Bill's ear. A smile spread over the guard's face as Doopliss finished.

"Genius as always," he told his two comrades. "That's outright brilliant. We'll do it."

"Good," Goomther replied. "Freak-sheet -"

"DOOPLISS!!!"

"Doopliss, get back to our leader with our report."

The somewhat-distracted Doopliss ran from the burned-out building.

"Well, I'd better get back to the castle before I'm missed," Bill said in farewell as he turned to go.

"Keep it under your hat," Goomther replied knowingly.

"I sure will."

Bill left the building and made for the castle. As he trudged down the main road under the blazing sun, he caught sight of someone he knew - a tough-looking Koopa with a black steel shell and boots of the same color. A laser rifle hung from his shoulder strap. Bill gulped and disappeared into the crowd on the street.

"It's Hardshell!" he whispered to himself. "Has he caught on to me? Is he after me?"

Bill waited nervously while Hardshell moved down the street and entered one of the shops. Breathing a sigh of relief, the guard dashed off toward the castle, leaving the Koopa behind him.

One word: Epic.

I never got a one-word response before Thanks, Marc!

Chapter 3: Return of the King

The opponents' swords struck one another with tremendous force; then they withdrew and struck again. Tired and drenched with sweat, the two foes struggled fiercely with one another, each striving to overcome the other.

The first battler was human, six feet four inches tall, clad in a suit of tempered steel armor that gleamed brilliantly in the setting sun. His face was strained with exertion and streaked with mingled sweat and blood, and he panted heavily as he swung his blade. The second fighter was a Toad, little more than a boy of eight, also wearing a suit of armor and wielding a sword. He too looked worn, but he had not the injuries of his opponent. Furiously the two mismatched fighters clashed, staining the ground with blood.

Suddenly a blow of the younger dueler's sword caught his opponent off balance. Seeing his enemy teetering, he dealt a second strike that knocked the man down and sent his sword flying out of his hand. Panting from exertion, the Toad boy put the tip of his sword at his opponent's throat. The fallen warrior shakily raised his gauntleted hands in token of surrender.

The spectators in the stadium bleachers went wild, clapping and cheering and whistling for all they were worth. Someone in the stands held up a large placard. It read:

"GO MICHAEL!!!"

As the two opponents exited the arena to thunderous applause and shouting, one of the royal guards pushed his way through the screaming fans to an empty seat. Quickly he sat down and kissed his wife beside him. "How's he doing, dear? Am I too late?" he yelled over the din.

Rachel smiled at him. "He's doing great, Russ!" she shouted back.

The noise of the cheering onlookers died down somewhat, allowing the two to converse normally. "That's my boy!" Russ T. said with a nod and a smile. "I never thought he'd last this long, but he's blown me away! The tournament's almost over!" He looked out over the arena thoughtfully. "Any good contestants this year?"

"Two that I've seen," replied his wife. "Michael's one of them. The other is -"

"Attention!" barked the announcer's voice from the loudspeakers. "We have our finalists! From the first division, we have the Mushroom Kingdom's own Michael Toadfrey! And from the second division, we have possibly the most powerful fighter ever to enter the tournament - the Masked Warrior! This looks to be a tight match, folks! The final round will be held in fifteen minutes!"

Russ looked over at Rachel. "That's him?"

Rachel nodded. "He didn't register his name when he entered. That's what everyone's been calling him."

"Sounds like one tough cookie," Russ remarked dryly. "Come on. Let's go see Michael before the final round starts. He'll need a little pep rally to get him energized for this last fight." He stood and took his wife's hand, guiding her through the mass of spectators toward the stairs.

The couple pushed through the teeming bleachers and descended the steps into the entrance hall of the stadium. As Toads they were at a disadvantage among the many taller species thronging the room.

"Dad!"

Russ quickly pulled Rachel toward the call. He knew that voice.

"Dad! You made it!" Michael, still dripping with sweat, rushed into his father's arms.

Russ squeezed his son as much as Michael's armor would allow. "You're doing great, Michael! Keep going! You're almost to the top!"

Michael squeezed back with a huge smile on his face.

"I remember when I came here to compete for the first time," Russ told his son energetically. "I wasn't half as good as you are now! Make me proud, Michael!"

"Russ..."

The captain looked back at his wife. "What?" he asked, half-surprised at Rachel's warning tone.

Rachel put her hands on her hips. "Russell Toadfrey, quit wanting that boy to win just because you didn't." She shot him a warning look. "This is his battle, not yours."

Russ looked sheepish. "You're right as usual, dear," he admitted. "I didn't realize what I was doing." He held Michael at arm's length. "You're right on track, Michael. Don't give up now!"

"Contestants for the final round, please return to the arena. The referees will direct you to your starting positions. Contestants to the arena, please," boomed the loudspeakers.

"This is it, Michael," Russ said quickly, giving Michael a shake as he gripped his son's shoulders. "Go get 'em!"

"Yes, sir!" Michael bolted from his father's grasp, heading for the arena doors. Russ watched him go, a feeling of pride rising in his heart. Rachel came up beside him and gently took his arm, guiding him back to their seats in the stands to wait for the final round.

"You know, dear," commented Russ, "I seem to recall that you didn't want Michael in this tournament." He looked at his wife with a grin on his face.

Rachel looked reproachful. "Russell, you know I changed my mind, you little tease!"

Russ laughed. "I know, honey, I know. I just couldn't resist. See what you would have missed? Michael's going to walk away from this with the trophy, just you wait and see."

If Rachel had had a reply, it would have been drowned out by the announcer starting to introduce the finalists over the PA system. Husband and wife listened with anticipation, waiting for the match to begin.

From his seat in the staff booth, the announcer boomed out the names of the top two contestants. "On the east side of the arena, we have today's most popular contender - the Masked Warrior!"

The crowd erupted with cheers as a powerful-looking figure strode from the eastern arena entrance, cloaked in black and wearing a dark mask over his face. In his hand was a menacing steel sword that reflected the sun's setting rays. He seemed oblivious to the cheering around him as he gazed at the western doors, waiting for his opponent to come and face him. His very presence exuded an ominous chill.

"And on the west side, the challenger, and the youngest contestant ever to reach the final round - Michael Toadfrey!"

Again the spectators roared as Michael bounded from the west doors. His armor shone like burnished bronze in the orange rays of the sun. He looked almost angelic, so innocent and pure - and deadly in his skill with the sharp blade he gripped in his right hand. The Masked Warrior stared coldly at his young opponent from behind his mask.

"You mock me," muttered the black warrior. "You would send a boy to fight a man's battle?" He tightened his grip on his sword. "He shall taste my steel ere long - as it pierces his youthful heart."

"Let the final battle BEGIN!" shouted the announcer as the gong sounded its crashing note, signaling the start of the last round of the World Swordfighting Tournament.

Silence settled over the stadium. A brisk breeze blew through the arena, making the Masked Warrior's cloak flutter in the wind. Gripping his sword, the muscular warrior slowly moved toward his opponent. Michael braced himself for a sudden attack, but it did not come. Instead, the Masked Warrior stopped in the center of the arena and gazed around the stadium at the silent spectators.

"You've done well to come this far, little boy," the Masked Warrior said to Michael with iciness in his deep male voice. He leaned forward a bit and looked Michael in the eye. "But I'm afraid you've come too far for your own good." With that, his cloak fell from his back, revealing a red tunic with a long black vest over it. Completing the outfit were a pair of black leggings and two black velvet boots. He cast his sword aside, and his hand went to his mask.

"What the -" Russ stared at the man. "It - it can't be -"

The mask fell from the warrior's eyes, revealing a human face with a cruel, leering expression. He reached beneath his vest and withdrew a blood-red crown. Lifting it high over his head, he shouted to the horrified crowd, "Behold your king! Your Shadow King!!"

Shadow King Battle Theme

Rachel screamed.

Setting the crown on his head, the Shadow King again reached under his vest and brought forth a sword twice as large as his first. Russ started when he saw the massive blade. Michael backed away from his unmasked enemy, frightened.

"The Aeshma Sword!" shouted the King. "You may have cleansed it of its demon power, but its blade is yet sharp and cries for blood to avenge the Shadow Legion!" The Shadow King threw his left arm up, and with a crack of thunder, a pulsating dark-energy barrier encased the entire stadium, casting a shadow over the arena. Terrified screams rang out from the bleachers.

The King again fixed Michael with venomous red eyes. "Not one of these thousands will leave this place," he breathed menacingly. "After I have killed you, every last person here will fall to the Aeshma Sword. I will avenge my noble Legion today!"

Slowly the Shadow King advanced toward Michael, who backed against the arena wall and froze there as if paralyzed. The boy's breathing was rapid and shallow, and his face was chalky white.

"Come, little boy!" breathed the King vehemently as he stalked Michael. "Fight like a man!"

Michael was too terrified to reply.

"Fight!" exploded the King. "Fight! Or I will begin with THEM!" He swept his arm around the stadium at the spectators.

At this threat, Michael seemed to snap out of his terror. Cautiously he edged away from the King and out into the open arena. His opponent smiled wickedly.

"No!" Rachel jumped up and would have run down and leaped into the arena had not her husband grabbed her. "Russ, let go! It's the Shadow King! Michael - !!"

Russ held his wife tightly until she ceased struggling. "Rachel, no. Sit down. There...there's nothing we can do for him now."

Rachel burst into tears and allowed herself to be placed in her seat again. The captain watched his son with groaning heart. There was no hope now.

Michael now stood near the arena's center, and he and the Shadow King faced each other silently for a minute or so. Then, with an unearthly yell, the King rushed his eight-year-old enemy, the Aeshma Sword poised to strike. Michael braced himself and lashed out with his own sword, knocking the King's blade off aim. Seeing that he had missed, the King brought his sword around in a vicious arc toward Michael's neck. The boy ducked the decapitating stroke and jabbed his own blade into the King's right arm. Jerking his arm back, the Shadow King glared at Michael.

"Not bad - for a mere boy." He pointed accusingly at his adversary. "But do not think your skill will prevail against the might of the Shadow King!"

Immediately the King unleashed a fury of melee attacks which Michael could barely keep up with. He blocked and parried for all he was worth, never having a chance to counterattack, slowly being forced backward toward the arena wall. Once pinned to the wall, he would have nowhere to flee. The King would have him. Rachel put her hands over her eyes to hold back the tears.

Suddenly two petite arms seized Michael from behind in a crushing grip. The little boy cried out, dropped his sword, and struggled against his new assailant, but was held fast. There were more screams from the stands.

"My Shadow Queen!" greeted the King with an evil smile. "You have come!"

Rachel buried her face in her husband's shoulder, unwilling to watch.

The black-dressed Shadow Queen held the struggling Michael tightly. Her eyes met those of her husband's, and her red lips parted.

"Finish him."

With another wicked smile, the King raised the Aeshma Sword over Michael's head. Michael stopped fighting the Queen's hold on him and stared at the huge blade in terror.

"STOP!!!"

The King turned his head, still holding the Sword high. The Queen breathed hate through her teeth at the interrupter of their cold-blooded murder.

A lone woman stood not ten feet from the Shadows Royal and their helpless victim. Her hair was emerald green, shimmering as it blew in the dusk breeze. She was dressed in a rainbow-hued robe, and her green eyes sparked with childish indignation.

"Let him go!" she commanded in a girlish voice.

Lowering the Aeshma Sword, the King glowered at the intruder. "Emerald," he said under his breath. His eyes blazed. "Get out of this place. This is our business, not the Rainbow Guardians'." He raised the Sword as if to hack her in two with it.

Emerald's eyes blazed back at him. "You'll not kill him!"

"Oh, won't I?" The King smiled again and started to take a swing at Emerald - then toppled onto his face as Emerald warped behind him and slugged him in the back. Emerald turned to the Queen, authority on her youthful face.

"Release him!"

The Shadow Queen fixed Emerald with a defiant glare. "Never."

Emerald raised her right hand high, and her body began to glow bright green as the rainbow energy in her manifested itself. An expression of fear flitted across the Shadow Queen's face.

"No... Not that!" The Queen cowered back from the glowing Guardian.

The King was on his feet by this time. He moved to his queen's side. "Don't think you'll get the chance to use that power on us!" he growled. "We'll get you Guardians someday, someday...sooner than you think!"

The Royals faded into nothingness, and Emerald lowered her hand; she ceased to glow. The dark barrier around the stadium vanished.

"Are you OK, Michael?" Emerald asked anxiously. The eight-year-old nodded in relief.

*end music*

---

"Not the Shadows Royal!" cried the Princess.

Emerald nodded. "They're around again."

Peach was obviously frightened. She moved restlessly about the throne room, unable to remain still. The only sound was that of her heels clicking against the marble floor.

"Your Highness, please," asked Russ T. at length, "try to remain calm."

"Calm?!" The Princess whirled around and confronted the captain. "CALM?!?! The Royals are back, and you want me to keep CALM?!?!?!" She was almost in a rage. "That's insanity!" Russ backed away a little, surprised at Peach's unusual outburst.

Mario put a hand on her shoulder, and the anger seemed to melt from her body. She sighed heavily. "I'm sorry, Russ." Peach lifted tear-filled eyes and looked at the captain of the guard. "I'm just really...stressed out. That's not much of an excuse, though, for snapping at you like that. Forgive me."

"Forgiven, Your Highness," replied Russ readily.

Mario took Peach by the shoulders and looked her in the face. "You're tired, Peach. You're going to bed - NOW."

Peach protestingly tried to brush him off. "I'm fine, Mario, really. Just...mentally strained."

"You need rest," replied Mario firmly.

"That is true...Your Highness..."

Mari, Peach, Russ T., and Emerald turned to the golden double doors of the throne room to see the lovely Amethyst supporting a very tired-looking Athos as he struggled to remain on his feet. Athos smiled wanly. "You do seem...tired...Your Highness."

"I could say the same of you, Athos," retorted Peach playfully. "How are you feeling?"

"I have felt better in the past," Athos replied wearily "I am somewhat ashamed of myself, however. I have only just awoken and now find that it is time to prepare for bed!" He chuckled at his own joke.

"He's finally recovered from that sleeping drug, thank goodness," Amethyst reported with obvious relief.

"I would advise that you take some rest, Your Highness," pressed Athos.

Peach looked back at Mario, who gave her the "you-know-you-need-it-so-admit-it" look. She sighed again. "It seems the majority vote is that I go to bed now. I feel like a little girl again, being told when to go to sleep. It's only nine-thirty!"

Mario rolled his eyes.

Luigi burst through the throne room doors, sweaty and breathing in gasps. "The...the...Bowser's machine...and the clone...I got 'em..." he wheezed.

Mario pounded him on the back. "I told you you could do it!" All Luigi could do was grin as he caught his breath.

"I'm going to bed, Mario," Peach informed the plumber with a smile, knowing that she was giving in to his pressure. Then she looked serious. "In fact, I think we all could use some sleep right about now."

"Luigi and I are going to head home, then," replied Mario. "Good night, Peach."

"Good night, Mario," Peach called back as the brothers left. She and the others dispersed to their rooms for the night.

Amethyst helped the weakened Athos to his room and got him into his bed. As she tenderly drew the blankets over him, he said gratefully, "Thank you, dear Amethyst. It seems I am ever in your debt."

"It's my pleasure, Athos," she replied with a sweet smile.

"Come closer, Amethyst," requested Athos. "I have a secret to share with you."

Obligingly the seventh Guardian bent down to Athos's face so he could whisper into her ear. Athos suddenly kissed her cheek. She jumped, not having expected a kiss, and blushed deep red.

"I love you, Amethyst," said Athos gently. "I am smitten with your kindness - and your beauty."

The blush deepened. "Enough flattery for tonight, Athos," she replied with a bashful smile. "Good night."

"Good night, Amethyst," responded Athos as the fair Guardian turned the lights off and left the room. He heaved a deep sigh and shut his eyes, exhausted.

Stopping outside Athos's door, Amethyst allowed herself to smile that unbelieving yet expectant smile elicited only by romance. She breathed deeply as if to still her fluttering heart, then stepped off down the hall toward her room feeling light and free. Entering her own room, she shut the door and flipped the switch to turn on the lights. Immediately she screamed as, in the light, she saw someone standing in front of her.

"Citrine!" Amethyst stepped back, startled. "You're supposed to be in the infirmary!"

The golden-haired third Rainbow Guardian regarded her sister coldly. "I'm fine." Her face held a smoldering anger.

Amethyst rolled her eyes tiredly, sighed, and hung her head, shaking it in frustration. "Please, Citrine, no more. Not again."

"Give up this stupid idea of marrying Athos," Citrine began in disgust, ignoring Amethyst's plea. "You're a Rainbow Guardian first and foremost. You can't abandon your duty like this."

"How many times must I tell you that I am not abandoning my duty by marrying him?!" Amethyst exclaimed, exasperated.

"You swore the pledge like the rest of us," Citrine informed her coldly. "'To keep and protect the Rainbow Discs until death, as a duty sacred and feared above any other,' I believe it reads in part. If you marry Athos, what if the duties of Guardianship and matrimony conflict?"

Amethyst was taken aback at this pointed question and did not reply.

"It's one or the other, Amethyst." Citrine smiled slightly, certain she'd cornered her sister at last on this issue. "Make your choice." With that, the third Guardian brushed past Amethyst and left the room, leaving her sister alone and bewildered.

---

Professor E. Gadd's Theme

A huge plume of smoke shot from the dungeon doorway, quickly followed by a coughing and hacking little old man in a white lab coat and thick spectacles.

Mario stuck his head around the corner and quickly retreated as the smoke billowed out into the dungeon hallway toward him. After the smoke dissipated a bit, the intrepid plumber came trooping back through the hallways to the site of the explosion.

"Professor? You OK?"

The old man sneezed and wiped his nose with his handkerchief. "I'm just fine, sonny, and I plan to stay that way, you hear?" He shook his head as he surveyed his workspace. "Still don't know why those guards set me up to work down here in this hole..."

Mario chuckled. "Is the Time Sequence Alternator almost ready?"

"Yep," came the prompt reply. "Should be ready any time now." Professor Gadd held up a complex electrical component looking something like a spider with two dozen legs. "This here energy router won't sit right without blowing the system all to pieces! I'm trying to stick it somewhere where it won't cause trouble - shouldn't take long!" The eccentric professor disappeared back into the still-smoky cell.

"Let me know when it's done!" Mario hollered as he left the castle dungeons.

Chapter 4: A Princess's Question

Professor E. Gadd's Theme

"It's done!" exclaimed Professor Gadd as he wiped his grimy, oil-stained hands on a clean rag. "Finally! And the energy router's functioning perfectly."

"Did I hear the word 'done'?" came a sweet woman's voice through the cell door as Princess Peach walked into the room. She smiled at the professor.

"You sure did, Your Highness," replied Gadd.

"Good. I'll have the guards bring it upstairs right away." The Princess turned and swept out of the room, trying to hide the tears. All she could think of was Daisy and the fiery fate she had met at the hands of that horrid Great One. Soon, though, she might be brought back from the ashes. Please, Peach pleaded silently, please work...

It was nearly noon by the time the guards managed to lug the awkward and heavy Time Sequence Alternator up from the dungeons and out into the castle's front yard. There the somewhat-cubical steel machine was loaded into a special truck Gadd had retooled for the express purpose of carrying his prized invention. The modified pickup was equipped with a padded cargo bed, extra-strong suspension struts, slightly-deflated balloon tires to absorb bumps and jolts, and of course the Gadd Science logo emblazoned on the hood.

"I haven't run diagnostic tests, haven't triple-checked all the parts, haven't this, haven't that...I think this is a bad idea to rush off and test this thing right off-hand," Gadd muttered as he revved the truck's engine and prepared to start off.

Mario hopped into the truck's passenger seat and was about to close his door when he heard another engine moving closer. He stuck his head out of the truck and stared as a pink limousine with hubcaps, trim, and door handles all of gold came rolling to a stop next to him. Princess Peach opened the door and smiled at Mario from the back seat.

"I thought we'd take the limo this time," she called, beckoning him inside. Mario eagerly jumped from the truck, allowing Luigi to take his old seat, and got into the royal limousine. To his surprise, Princess Aster was also seated inside, and she smiled shyly at him as he sat down next to her.

"What on earth possessed you to use the limo?" Mario asked Peach, incredulous. "You've been using horse and carriage for over ten years!"

"I know," she replied readily, "but the carriage can't keep up with the Professor's truck. And I want to get to the old fortress site as fast as possible." Peach signaled Swiff T., the chauffeur, and immediately the limousine began to cruise smoothly forward. A rumbling noise behind the limo told Mario that Professor Gadd was following right behind them with Luigi and the Time Sequence Alternator. The convoy was on its way to that unnamed mountain to the north - the mountain where once had stood the evil Great One's fortress, and the place where Princess Daisy had met her doom. Perhaps...perhaps they would be able to bring Daisy back to life again...

*end music*

The limousine and truck moved along the hilly forest road for nearly five miles. At last they reached the mountain and began ascending its not-too-steep slope.

"You said there was a town not far from where the fortress was, Peach?" queried Mario.

Peach nodded as she looked out the window. "Mm-hm. It shouldn't be far -" She broke off her sentence, stared out the window at something, and frantically signaled the driver to stop. The limo glided to a halt, and the truck stopped behind it.

"Peach, what is it?" Mario asked, puzzled by her behavior.

"Get out and see for yourself, Mario," was the somewhat-fearful reply as she herself opened the door and climbed out of the vehicle. Mario opened the opposite door and hopped out. He nearly fell over when he saw what Peach was staring at. His eyes got big, and his jaw dropped.

"The - The fortress - it's -"

"It's standing," Peach whispered.

"B-But that's impossible!" Mario spluttered. "We blew it up six days ago! There's no way it could have been rebuilt in less than a week! A place this big would take at least a month!"

Peach's eyes were troubled. "Get back in the car, Mario. We're going to make this trip into town as quick as possible." She and Mario got into the limousine, and the little caravan picked up speed again, moving quickly toward the mountainside town.

"There it is, dead ahead," called Swiff T. to his passengers as he spotted the town. "Looks rather small - and I don't see anyone around."

Peach shivered a little, and Mario put his arm around her. "Peach?"

"I'm fine, Mario. Just...just memories."

Mario squeezed her a little, and she smiled wanly.

The two vehicles rolled into the town via the main road, which was entirely cobblestones. The drab wooden buildings, once brown, were weathered a dull gray, giving the place an atmosphere of dreariness and despair. The few people on the sidewalks turned and stared with vacant, hollow eyes at the limousine and pickup as the vehicles passed them. Peach looked into those haunting eyes and shivered. The Great One's iron rule over these people was...killing... They have no personality left. They're like...machines...

"It'll be OK, Peach," said Mario comfortingly. "Even if the fortress is standing, we know the Great One's dead. There's no way she could have survived that grenade going off in her face, much less the entire building collapsing on her. You're safe. She won't be coming after you anymore."

The Princess said nothing.

After a few minutes of silence, the limousine cruised to a stop, and Swiff T. shut off the engine. He quickly got out of the driver's seat and opened the door for the Princess. Peach thanked him somewhat distractedly ad carefully stepped from the vehicle. Mario and Aster were right behind her. The next moment Gadd's truck pulled up and stopped beside the limo, and Luigi and the Professor scrambled out of the cab.

The group now stood in the town square, a large open area paved with cobblestones and circled with buildings. Peach's eyes were riveted on the center of the square, where a large black scorch mark stood out boldly from the cobbles.

Peach shuddered. "That's it... Daisy..." She brushed the tears away. "Professor, target the center of the square."

"Got it!" The Professor climbed into the truck bed next to the Time Sequence Alternator and flipped the switch to turn it on. Instantly the Alternator whirred into action, its complex circuitry booting up and going into standby mode. After waiting a few seconds for the machine to warm up, Gadd punched in a series of coordinates on the Alternator's numeric keypad. An LCD screen next to the keypad immediately displayed the town square. Elvin Gadd selected the center of the square by touching the screen, and the screen highlighted the indicated area in blue.

"How far back do we need to go?" questioned the Professor, craning his neck around the Alternator to see the Princess.

"Six days, Professor - to Sunday, August 6," Peach responded in a choked voice. "Seven o'clock in the morning."

Professor Gadd promptly entered the date and time into the Alternator using the keypad. A yellow button next to the screen began to flash, and he pushed it.

"Initiating continuum segmentation sequence in 3...2...1..." A flash of light burst from the center of the square, then nothing.

"It's working so far," breathed Gadd in relief. "The center of the square is now cut off from the rest of space-time. Segmentation complete." A red button just below the yellow one started flashing. The Professor crossed his fingers. "Here goes! Beginning time rewind!" He pushed the fatal button and held his breath.

Suddenly there seemed to be a bubble around the center of the square, a bubble containing a movie playing in rapid rewind. People rushed backward from one side of the bubble to the other, then vanished just as fast as they had appeared. The scene inside the bubble grew dark, then light, then dark again as sunset and sunrise came in quick succession. Mario, Luigi, Peach, and Aster watched in amazement as time in that little area literally "played backward." Upon reaching 7 AM, Sunday, August 6, the rewinding "movie" suddenly paused. Princess Peach nearly lost control of her tears as she saw Daisy again before her, bound to that horrible stake, fear etched into her face. Peach turned to Mario as Aster burst into tears.

"Mario - !" That was all the Princess could say before choking up.

Without a word, Mario dashed forward and leaped into yesterday, going back six days with one jump as he entered the bubble containing the past. Quickly he torched the ropes around the frozen-in-time Princess Daisy with fireballs and wrenched her free of the stake. He retreated back into the present just as rapidly.

Daisy gasped and went limp in Mario's arms, shocked. "Wh-What? Mario - How - ?!"

Mario quickly carried the startled princess to Peach and Aster and gently laid her on the ground. "It's OK, Daisy. You're safe now. We're gonna get you out of here."

"Stop right there!"

Mario whirled around to see a menacing silver-armored soldier in a red tunic stalk out of the time bubble. "Return the princess at once!"

"The Great One's personal bodyguard - he's a Paroidian Guard!" Peach screamed. "Mario, watch out!"

Another Paroidian stepped from the bubble, sword in hand.

"Impossible!" Gadd spluttered, punching away at his keypad. "Those guards should be incapable of moving! Time in that area is frozen!"

"Just shut off the Alternator, Prof!" Luigi hollered, backing away from the two hateful-looking soldiers.

"Can't! I have to return time to its normal state first, or the entire continuum might collapse!" The Professor was frantically checking his watch and trying to enter the exact current time into the machine's database.

Another guard set foot in the present.

"And what'll happen if the continuum collapses?" Luigi yelled.

Professor Gadd punched in a few more numbers in rapid staccato. "The universe will be destroyed!"

Luigi gulped. "Not good."

"Almost got it!" Elvin shouted. The yellow button began to flash again, and he immediately smacked it.

A fourth Paroidian Guard stepped from the bubble just as it dissipated, leaving the center of the square untouched and perfectly normal again - but without the scorch mark on the cobblestones. This minor detail went unnoticed by Mario and his companions. They had more important matters to consider - such as four very angry guards with four very sharp swords. Mario readied his fists.

"You'll take Daisy over my dead body!"

The four Paroidians rushed Mario and Luigi, but the brothers leaped to either side, allowing their attackers to pass harmlessly by. Immediately the guards stopped, turned, and attacked again, blades swinging.

Ducking a slash, Mario shot out his leg and tripped one of the guards, sending him sprawling. The other guard attacking Mario was met with a flying kick as Mario performed a backflip and smashed his shoe into the Paroidian's jaw, knocking him out instantly.

Luigi ran at the two guards pursuing him and dove headlong between the legs of one of them, catching him off balance and knocking him to the cobbles. Rolling onto his hands and knees, Luigi scrambled out of the way of the second guard, who wound up stabbing his partner instead of the green-shirted plumber. Enraged, the guard attacked Luigi like a berserker, forcing Luigi to flee.

Mario, seeing his brother running, grabbed the sword from the guard he'd tripped and rushed the one chasing Luigi. Instantly the guard turned and made a tremendous slash at Mario, which the plumber easily dodged. Mario took advantage of his foe's temporary lack of protection to bring his stolen sword down on his enemy's head, killing him on the spot. The guard Mario had tripped stumbled to his feet, only to have his head stomped on by Luigi. He went down like a rock.

The threat eliminated, Mario and Luigi returned to the two vehicles to find Peach, Daisy, and Aster in a tearful reunion. Aster was all over her older sister, finally settling in Daisy's lap and locking her arms around Daisy in a tight embrace, crying tears of joy. All Peach could do was shed her own tears with a smile as she too hugged Daisy. But Daisy was the most emotional, for in her mind she'd just been saved from a fiery death. She didn't know that to Peach and Aster, she'd been dead for six long days. And even if she had known, she wouldn't have cared. It was enough just to be safe again and to be in the company of friends, not enemies. Daisy simply wept as she squeezed her little sister close.

"Daisy!" cried the little princess in green, hugging Daisy even more tightly.

"I'm OK, Aster, I'm OK," Daisy choked out between sobs. "Oh, it's so good to see you safe, and Peach too!" Daisy looked up at Peach with teary eyes and smiled. Peach hugged both sisters at once, at a complete loss for words to describe her joy.

Mario put a hand on Daisy's shoulder, and she looked up at him. "It's good to have you back safe and sound, Daisy."

"Thanks, Mario," she replied with a sniffle.

"Uh, Daisy, I, uh..." Luigi fumbled for words. "I'm glad you're OK," he finally managed.

Princess Daisy smiled at him and he reddened.

Suddenly Peach screamed "LOOK OUT!", and Mario dove to the side as the previously-unconscious guard slashed at him. The enraged Paroidian attacked Mario in silent fury. However, Luigi managed to kick the guard from behind, knocking him onto his face. Mario promptly stomped him into oblivion.

"It's OK, Peach," Mario reassured the anxious Princess. "They're all gone now."

"That's more of the Paroidian Guard than I ever wanted to see again," Peach said nervously. She shuddered. "It just makes me think of that horrible Great One and all she did to us. Let's get out of here - now." Quickly she bundled herself into the limousine, followed by Mario, Aster, and Daisy. Luigi and the Professor hopped into the truck. Swiff T. revved the limo's engine and sped off toward the castle, the truck close behind him.

"Daisy, won't you stay with me for a few days?" asked Peach. "I just want to have a few long talks with you. There's so much you don't know - so much on my mind..." She trailed off.

Daisy shook her head. "I'm sorry, Peach, but I can't. Sarasaland is without a ruler unless I'm there. And I still need to teach Aster how to handle things around the castle. I have to take her home." Daisy's voice was apologetic. Aster snuggled closer to her older sister.

Peach looked crestfallen. "I understand," she sighed and dropped her head. Mario put his arm around her.

"Don't worry, Peach. I'll call you tomorrow," Daisy hastened to say, "and we can talk then. I've got to get Aster home first, though."

"I don't blame you," Peach replied. "She's been through a lot."

In minutes the group arrived back at Peach's castle. Great was the staff's surprise when Daisy walked through the front doors after having been dead six days! From the hundred-and-one questions posed her, Daisy finally figured out the six-day gap she'd passed through via Gadd's Alternator machine. She was so grateful that she actually hugged the Professor, nearly breaking him in two with her crushing squeeze.

"Ooof! Daisy!" protested the elderly man as he felt himself being asphyxiated.

"Thank you, Professor, thank you!" was Daisy's response, squeezing a little harder before finally letting go.

"Well, Daisy, your carriage is still here from the tennis match two weeks ago," Peach informed her friend. "If you wanted to go..."

Daisy hugged Peach again. "Yes, we're going. Come on, Aster. We're going home!"

"Home!" repeated the little seven-year-old excitedly as she raced to her sister. Daisy caught Aster's hand and followed Peach out to the royal stables. The yellow-and-orange carriage with gilded green wheels was already outside waiting for them, complete with four beautiful white stallions. The majestic creatures pawed the ground from their harness, impatient to be off.

With one last hug, Peach parted from her friend and watched her and Aster climb into the carriage. The driver flicked the reins, and the carriage rolled out of the stable yard, headed for Sarasaland. Peach waved after it, tears welling in her eyes. Mario came up beside her and put a hand on her shoulder to comfort her.

"Well, that's done," he said at last, breaking the silence that had settled over the stable yard.

Peach still gazed after the retreating vehicle, now just a tiny toy moving down a distant road. She looked over at Mario. Her face held a deep, unexpressed sorrow.

"Peach, what is it?" asked Mario, worried. "What's wrong?"

She hung her head with an exhausted sigh. "I don't know," she finally answered with a trace of uncertainty. "Ever since the Great One put me through all that psychological and physical torment, trying to get me to give up the crown, I just haven't been the same up here," she added, putting a hand to her forehead. "My mind seems to be a swirling blank, hollowly taking in its surroundings but not really comprehending anything."

"I'm sorry, Peach," Mario told her, trying to ease her mind somehow.

"It's not your fault." Peach stared at the sky, watching the cottony white clouds drift lazily through the August air. Her expression was one of puzzled worry.

"...I just have...so many questions," the Princess managed at last. "So many questions - but no answers." Her eyes roved the sky as if searching for the answers to her queries. Then she looked back at Mario and voiced the question that lay heaviest on her mind, the question she felt she must know the answer to.

"Who was she?"

"The Great One?" Mario counter-questioned.

Peach nodded. "Something about her seemed...I don't know, familiar to me, I guess. Like I'd met her before. But I know I hadn't." The Princess seemed deep in reverie; then she looked back up at the sky and voiced her question once more.

"Who was she?"

After a few minutes of watching the Princess gaze into the cloud-dotted sky, Mario quietly took her hand and escorted her back into the castle. She was subdued and quiet as they entered the building, but managed a smile at Michael, who always seemed to view her with both awe and excitement. He tagged along beside the Princess as she and Mario walked the castle halls, smiling up at her now and then, until Peach finally bent down and kissed his cheek in a motherly way. The Toad boy blushed and smiled bashfully as her, and she smiled back, her gloom and stress forgotten. Suddenly Rachel's voice filtered down the hall.

"Michael!"

"Coming!" called Michael and scurried off down the hall.

"Why does he always cheer me up when I'm like this?" Peach said with a lingering smile on her face as she watched him go.

Dinner that evening was a happy affair, as the Princess had been cured of her blues by Michael's childish charm. The time around the table with those she knew and loved was joyous to her, made doubly so by the rescuing of Princess Daisy that afternoon. Peach still felt like she would burst with happiness at having seen her friend alive and safe again. Mario, sitting on her immediate right as usual, sensed her joy and met her eyes with a knowing smile several times. Conversation was light and cheerful.

After dinner, everyone, including the Rainbow Guardians and Russ T.'s family, participated in a game of charades. Mario led out by making short, hard jumps across the great dining hall.

"Hold it, bro! That's the Goomba-stomping domino-effect thing!" Luigi yelled out.

Mario pounded his fist onto his leg in disbelief. "Man, and I was only one jump away from a 1-Up, too!"

Laughter erupted in the hall, and Luigi took his place for his turn. He crouched on the floor, storing up his energy until he flashed brightly, then suddenly sprang upward in a tremendous leap that wound up bonking his head on the twenty-foot ceiling. He landed with a dazed look on his face.

"I've never seen such a high jump!" Amber exclaimed. Luigi took this as a compliment and grinned. The others were dredging up memories, trying to remember what Luigi was acting out.

"Got it!" called out Toad. "The Super Jump!"

"Of all the people to remember, it would be you, Toad," Peach laughed. "You were the one who needed it the most back then!"

Toad then took his turn by saying, "Thank you! But our princess is in another castle!"

"AUUUUUUGH!!" Mario put his hands over his ears. "Knock it off, Toad! You KNOW I hate it when you say that! Was that ALL you guys could think to say when I saved you?! Talk about ANNOYING!!!"

"Speaking is against the rules, Toad," Peach admonished him after she managed to stop laughing. "And you know it!"

Toad grinned mischievously.

Evening Theme

It was nearly midnight by the time the impromptu party broke up. Mario, Luigi, and Professor Gadd left the castle, and the others went to their respective rooms.

The Princess took her time getting ready for bed, feeling somewhat leisurely that evening. First she went through her usual routine of removing crown and jewelry and meticulously arranging them on top of her bureau-sized jewelry cabinet. She then went to her wall-length closet, pushed back the sliding door, and removed her light, short-sleeved pink nightgown from its hanger. Removing her dress, the Princess slipped into her airy gown, folded her dress neatly, and set it near the door for the laundry crew to take care of.

Entering her adjoining private bathroom, she brushed her golden hair in front of the pink-framed mirror, then brushed her teeth with her pink toothbrush. The Princess walked back into her bedroom, crossed the room to the courtyard window, and opened the window as she always did.

Being surrounded by cool stone walls, the courtyard was usually pleasantly cool despite the August heat. Sure enough, a wave of cool air washed over the Princess as she opened the window, making her smile at its delicious feel. She seated herself on the wide stone sill and gazed up over the courtyard walls at the myriad of glittering stars overhead, intrigued by their sparkling grandeur. She was the perfect picture of pure, untarnished beauty as she sat on the sill looking up into the vast canopy of space, with her golden hair cascading down her back in wavy folds and her pretty silk gown that accentuated her loveliness without being too revealing.

At last the Princess got up from the windowsill and slipped under the blankets on her bed, the pink silk canopy fluttering a little as her movement stirred up a breeze in the room. For a brief moment she smiled; then, closing her eyes, she fell almost immediately into a fitful sleep. Her evening had been enjoyable, but she needed rest now.

---

Great One's Theme

"So...I assume the order was received?"

The Paroidian Guard nodded silently, it not being characteristic of his kind to speak much at all.

A slight, cunning smile spread itself over the Great One's veiled face, and she waved the guard out of the throne room.

In a moment she rose from her silver throne and exited the room also, winding through a maze of stone hallways that would confuse nearly any intruder in her imposing fortress. At last she came to the door she wanted. Opening the reinforced-steel door, she stepped into what appeared to be a research laboratory. Test tube racks holding countless chemical vials were scattered about the room; several tables holding microscopes, computers, and complex machinery also dotted the area; and seated at one of the tables was a single man. He was built like a weightlifter, incredibly toned and muscular, even tanned a little - and wore a white lab coat and thick glasses, contrasting his powerful exterior with an intelligent interior. He looked up from his microscope as the Great One entered the room.

"Greetings, Master. The test is almost complete."

"Excellent, Ray," replied the Great One. "What does the diagnostic program predict from this DNA alteration?"

Ray pointed to a nearby monitor, and looking at it, the Great One smiled. "Perfect."

"The DNA must still be used to develop a starter cell," cautioned Ray.

"I know that." Swiftly she moved to the wall of the room and placed her eye in front of a sensor for a retinal scan.

*Subject verified as the Great One. Opening cryogenic storage chamber.*

The wall slid back to the computer's announcement, revealing a grayish room with six icy-blue capsules against one wall. The Great One stepped inside, and the wall slid shut with a swish behind her.

"Ah, my beauties," crooned the evil woman to the grotesque creatures sealed in the capsules, "soon I will awaken you and, after multiplying your numbers, release you to take control of the Mushroom Kingdom once again!"

The hideous creatures stared blankly back at her as she continued. "The time has nearly come. You are the sole survivors of your race, but soon there will be countless millions of you!" She laughed softly to herself, gazing at her prized possessions, suspended in time in their cryogenic capsules. Six ugly purple mushrooms with claws that glinted like steel on their pincer-like hands and terrifying fangs protruding from their half-open mouths.

Shroobs.

*end music*

---

RRRRRING!!!

Peach groaned at the intrusive buzz of the alarm clock that had invaded her slumber. "Six o'clock already?" she yawned as she reached for the alarm and shut it off. The quietness that settled over the room without the noise of the clock was overpowering, and the Princess was almost immediately lulled back to sleep. Sunday morning would have to wait for her...

"...ake up! Your Highness, wake up!"

Peach's eyes flew open. "Wh-Whuh? Did I fall asleep again?" she asked tiredly.

Rachel's smiling face bent over the Princess's sleepy one. "It's almost eight o'clock, Your Sleepiness," she reproached lightly.

"Eight o'clock?!" Peach would have gotten up, but her limbs felt like lead and protested against moving.

"Yes, and of all the days to sleep in, you would pick this one," continued Peach's personal servant with a shake of her head, making her golden braids swing back and forth.

"What do you mean, Rachel?" queried Peach, thoroughly puzzled.

Rachel slapped her forehead. "Sometimes you amaze me, Your Highness. I never thought a princess could forget her own -"

"Birthday!" Peach shot up from under the blankets. "It's August thirteenth!"

"About time you remembered," admonished Rachel with a smile. "Now you'd better hurry up and get ready. The day's not getting any longer, you know."

"Yes, Toadsworth," Peach returned in feigned exasperation. The two laughed, and Rachel left the room so Peach could get dressed for the day.

Toadsworth... The thought triggered a pang of sorrow as Peach recalled seeing her trusty steward's lifeless corpse lying on the throne room floor at the feet of the Shadows Royal. She shook her head. "No... I can't get lost in memories today. My birthday party's this afternoon, and I mustn't spoil it with moroseness." Peach pushed the painful past from her thoughts and forced herself to focus on the day ahead. Soon she was all smiles again, humming to herself as she put on her pink dress (of which she had several dozen), brushed her hair, washed her face, and otherwise made herself presentable as royalty.

Emerging from her chambers, the Princess briskly made her way to the dining hall to partake of an unusually late breakfast. She received a good deal of good-natured ribbing about sleeping in on her birthday. It appeared that the day would progress as any other - no mishaps, no tricks, and certainly no attempts on her life. After all, who would try to kill the Princess on her birthday?

---

Great One's Theme

Silently the Great One surveyed the castle from her aerial vantage point. Her private helicopter hovered not two miles from the Princess's castle, just far enough away so that it would be difficult to spot but just close enough for the Great One to brood over her target. She smiled behind her translucent veil.

"Perfect," she said to herself, the roar of the gyrating rotor blades drowning out the rest of her words. Turning, she nodded to her black-suited pilot, and he immediately started the chopper moving, setting a course for the Great One's fortress.

The Great One smiled again. Soon...soon she'll be mine...and this time she won't escape. I'll get my kingdom back from her yet!

Chapter 5: The Rifting

"Your Highness! Princess Daisy! And Aster too!"

"Shyga!" Daisy bent down and enveloped her personal servant in her arms. "It's so good to be home!"

"And you don't know how much we've missed you both," the blue-suited female Shy Guy responded with a wide smile.

Daisy straightened up and looked around the empty castle foyer. "Where is everyone? It's so quiet!"

Shyga looked mysterious. "They're around."

"Where?" asked Aster, looking around the ornamented foyer.

Suddenly a multitude of Shy Guys flooded into the room and surrounded a happily-surprised Daisy and Aster, shouting, "Welcome home, Your Highness!"

Daisy looked around her with a surprised smile. She almost broke down and cried right there, but caught herself before she did. She put her arm around Aster. "Thank you, everyone! It's great to be back at home again, and to see you all still here waiting for me! That...that really means a lot to me."

Turning to the expectant Shyga, she said, "I'm taking Aster to our room. Please have everyone return to their tasks. I don't mean to be bossy, but you know how things are around here."

Shyga nodded. "They'll trail you for hours unless you order them not to!"

"At least I know I'm popular around here," Daisy added with a laugh. "But I'm no goddess and don't need to be adored like one." With that, Daisy picked up her seven-year-old sister and carted her off like so much baggage to the room they shared. Aster giggled and squirmed in her sibling's grip. Shyga watched them go.

"She's still a tomboy," she said aloud to herself. "Hasn't changed a bit. Looks like I'm still going to have to work on her to get her to behave like a lady!"

After settling back into her familiar orange-and-yellow room, Daisy plunked herself down on her flowered comforter, picked up the phone from its blossom-shaped cradle on her nightstand, and dialed 137-3224, the number for Peach's castle. There was a familiar click as the connection was made.

"Hello?" came Peach's familiar voice over the line.

"Hi, Peach, it's Daisy."

"Daisy! Oh, I've been waiting for your call! How is everything over there?"

"Fine, Peach, just fine. I feel like I've been gone for years. Aster's happy as can be. I believe she's out in the garden playing with Shyga right now." Daisy smiled. "So why did you want me to call you?"

Peach was silent for a moment, leaving Daisy with only whispering static in her ear.

"Daisy," she finally sighed, "I have so much on my mind that I simply have to tell it to someone. Please, could you just listen to me for a while? I need to just...let all this loose somewhere..." Peach faded out at the end of her sentence.

"Sure I can," Daisy replied quietly. "What's up?"

"Daisy, it's my mother. I can't get her out of my mind. You never did meet her, did you?"

"No."

"Oh, she was beautiful, Daisy. I looked up to her like a little girl, even when I was a teenager. I still wish I were more like her - sweet, king, generous, loving... She was...she was the best person in the world - my best friend, my confidante.

"Then, after the Great One...executed you, Daisy, I saw her. She was standing at the Great One's side, promising to kill Luigi and Hardshell as they tried to rescue me. Her black eyes were cold and hard. She moved like a ghost, slipping around the room like a shadowy vapor as she fought them to the death. She...she was..." Peach choked. "She was evil, Daisy."

Daisy was silent, listening intently.

"I - I couldn't believe it. Diamond...my own dear mother...she turned against me... Her heart became black -" Peach broke down and sobbed. "Mom...!!!"

"Peach, I...I don't know what to say." Daisy's voice was subdued and quiet. "You don't seem yourself."

"I'm not." Peach's admittal was frank but sad. "I haven't been myself since I saw Mom there in the fortress. And I'm afraid I'll never get back to being myself again!" The Princess almost started crying again. "She's dead now, Daisy. Hardshell killed her to protect Luigi. I-I'm heartbroken!"

"Peach, there's no turning back now." Daisy knew there was small comfort in those words, but they had to be said. If your mother was evil, there was no alternative but to stop her. You said yourself she tried to kill Luigi and Hardshell -"

"I know!" Peach started to cry. "That's the thing I can't get over! Was...was my mother really the way she seemed? Or was she being controlled, manipulated somehow? I still can't believe that -" Peach broke off and gasped. "Rachel! Whatever is the matter with you?"

Crisis Theme

Listening closely, Daisy was able to make out the frantic voice of Rachel informing Peach of something, but Daisy couldn't quite catch the exact words.

"Oh!" Peach exclaimed fearfully. "Tell me you're not serious, Rachel!"

Rachel affirmed her previous statement.

"Peach, what's going on over there? Is something wrong?"

"Daisy, my castle's under attack by the Great One's Paroidian Guards! The royal guards have been driven back, and it's only a matter of time before -"

"Peach, get out of there NOW!" Daisy shouted into the phone.

"We'll take my plane. I hope we can make it out before we're all captured!" Peach sounded desperate. "I'm leaving the phone off the hook so you can hear what's going on. I want to know what happens to this place!"

"Peach, fly here. Stay with me!" Daisy urged.

"I-I will, Daisy. We're on our way!" There were sounds of running footsteps, and all was quiet on Daisy's end of the phone.

After an interminable wait, Daisy heard heavy footfalls entering Peach's chamber, and sounds of shattering glass filled her ears. Then there was a clunking noise as someone picked up the receiver. Heavy breathing echoed through Daisy's phone.

"Who are you?" demanded Daisy. "And why are you in Peach's castle?"

"We have our orders," was the deep bass response. "And you, girl, will be keeping your mouth shut about this matter. We Paroidians have the castle, and no one else shall hear of our conquest!"

Suddenly a high-pitched shriek burst from Daisy's receiver and pierced her ears. Daisy's eyes widened. Her hand trembled, and the phone clattered to the floor. Then her face went white, and she slid off the bed and collapsed onto the floor.

"Your Highness, I have a very sweaty little princess here to see you -" Shyga broke off as she led Aster into the royal chamber. A startled expression flitted over the Shy Guy girl's face, and she dropped Aster's hand and rushed into the room.

"Your Highness! Princess Daisy, what's wrong? What happened to you?"

Aster gasped when she saw her older sister lying face-down on the royal blue carpet. "Daisy! Oh no, Daisy!" Her hands flew to her rosy cheeks.

Shyga knelt and rolled Daisy over, and Her Highness's arms sagged limply to the sides. Daisy's face was ashen white, and her eyes held a blank stare. Suddenly she started, trembled a little, and tried to speak.

"I-I-I-I...I...th...the...ph-phone...P-Peach..." Her face now held an alarmed fright.

Shyga spotted the phone lying on the floor and grabbed it. "Shh, Princess, keep calm. I'll get the doctor." She canceled the current call and dialed the castle medical officer, Medic Guy. Within minutes Daisy was in a hospital bed with legions of machinery monitoring her vital signs.

Medic Guy took one look at the monitor readings of Daisy's heartbeat and shook his head. "This is not good. Her heart rate is incredibly erratic. It races, then slows to a crawl, then picks up speed again. What on earth happened to her?"

"I don't know," replied Shyga anxiously. "She can't speak coherently at all."

The white-coated Shy Guy with the Red Cross headband frowned. "Something has to be done about that heart rate. Whatever happened to her made her systems go haywire. We'll run some diagnostic tests and see what we come up with."

Daisy shivered on her bed. She was seeing things that no one else could see, and what she was seeing was scaring her to death. Her eyes were wide as she stared into empty space, watching the vision play over and over before her eyes...

*end music*

---

"Whew..." Russ had his face plastered to the window of Peach's private plane. "That was too close." He looked back at the squadron of Paroidian Guards standing on the runway, shaking their fists at the departing plane.

Peach sagged back in her plush velvet seat, eyed closed in tiredness; she wiped her forehead and let out a sigh as she said, "At least we're safe." She pushed the special cabin-to-cockpit intercom button on her chair arm. "Fly T., set a course for Sarasaland National Airport."

"Are you sure it's safe to go that far with the amount of fuel we carry?" asked Tess T., one of the two head cooks, with a critical look.

Peach looked tiredly at her questioner. "Since when were you an airplane expert, Tess?"

Tess kept her mouth shut and did not reply. She turned in her seat, looked at the Toad guard named Bill directly behind her, and ever so slightly nodded her head. Silently Bill rose from his seat and walked back into the tail cargo area. Nurse Lily looked secretively at Tess from her seat next to Dr. Herb T. and saw Tess wink at her. Lily winked back, then resumed looking out her window.

About ten minutes later, Bill emerged from the cargo compartment and handed Tess T. a brown paper-wrapped package. She looked up at him, smiled knowingly, and nodded. Bill acknowledged the gesture with a slight nod of his own and returned to his seat. Tess undid the wrapping slightly.

"We're out of range of the Mushroom Kingdom National Airport's radio signal," reported Fly T. a few minutes later. "Switching to Sarasaland radio comms channel in ten minutes, when we come within range."

"Just what I needed to hear," interjected Tess T. coldly as she rose from her seat, throwing the brown paper wrapping aside. In her hands was a deadly-looking submachine gun. She aimed the gun directly at Princess Peach.

Crisis Theme

Peach stared down the barrel of the weapon. "Tess, what do you think you're doing?!"

"Think about it; you might guess," Bill replied for Tess T. as he also rose from his seat, gripping two loaded pistols. He too aimed at the Princess. "Lily, cover Hardshell."

Nurse Lily stood and trained her rifle on Hardshell's head. "Don't move, Hardshell, or you and the Princess are both dead."

"What is this you are doing?" Athos demanded.

Tess and the others ignored him. "Bill, let Fly T. know about the change in course and give the autopilot that little adjustment as planned." Bill nodded and moved forward through the cabin door into the cockpit.

The traitorous cook glanced around. "No one try anything, or the Princess ends up with a bullet in her shoulder. From there I'll move to more sensitive areas." Her finger tightened around the trigger of her submachine gun.

"P-Princess!" Fly T. spluttered over the intercom. "We - We've been - AAAAAAH!" A groan issued from the speaker, then nothing.

"What did you do to him?!" Peach cried.

There was silence for a minute or two; then Bill emerged from the cockpit. "Just shut him up, that's all. Tess, the autopilot has been reprogrammed."

"You - !!!" Peach buried her face in her hands. "You killed him!!!"

Citrine stood, glowering at Tess T. "Put the gun down now, or -" A crackle of electricity in her right hand completed the sentence threateningly well.

"Sit down, Citrine," replied Tess coldly, "because if you do zap me -" She lifted the flap of her unzipped purple jacket to reveal packs of dynamite strapped around her body. "There's more than enough charge here to blow this plane and everyone in it to bits. So either sit down and save your life, or zap me and kill us all. Your choice." Tess kept her gun trained on Peach.

Citrine slowly resumed her seat, face black with rage.

"What do you think you're doing, Tess?!" Peach repeated desperately.

Tess T. regarded her coolly. "This, Princess Peach, is called a hijacking. We're taking over the plane."

*end music*

---

"Of all the things to forget!" Mario berated himself as he dashed into Toad Town. "I am such a blockhead! For me not to remember Peach's birthday present is unthinkable! Especially this time," he added under his breath. Rushing into Toad Town Jewelers, he asked the clerk at the desk if his order was ready.

"Certainly, sir," replied the bespectacled Toad as he sat behind the counter. "I'll have it for you in just a moment." He rummaged through his filing cabinet and pulled out a receipt. Handing the paper to Mario, the clerk reached under the counter and pulled out a small red velvet box.

"That will be 100,000 Coins, please," the clerk droned.

Mario pulled a check from his pocket and gave it to the clerk. The clerk barely glanced at it before putting it into the cash register. Seizing his purchase, Mario raced out of the shop. He checked his watch.

"Only ten minutes 'til the party starts! It's 2:20 already!" Mario took off running for the Princess's castle.

Passing through Toad Town's gate, he ran until he reached the outskirts of the castle grounds - then stopped. His grip on Peach's present tightened a little, and his eyes widened in shock as he saw hundreds of silver-armored, red-tunicked Paroidian Guards slowly patrolling the castle property.

Crisis Theme

"What the - How in the world did they get here?! They should've all been killed when we destroyed the Great One's fortress!" Mario backed away from the castle and concealed himself in the trees at the edge of the property. "This is unbelievable!"

Luigi came puffing up behind him. "Am...am I too late for the party?" he wheezed, out of breath.

"No, Luigi," Mario said quietly. "There's not going to be a party today."

"What are you talking about -" Luigi broke off as he followed Mario's pointing finger and saw the hundreds of enemy guards patrolling the area. "Huh?! Those are the Great One's guards! What are they doing here?!"

"I don't know, but the situation doesn't look pretty." Mario looked worried. "Peach..."

"Mario!"

Mario turned to see a Toad running up to him. "Yes?"

"I followed you all the way from town but couldn't catch up," panted the Toad. "The Princess is OK. She and her staff escaped in her plane." He puffed out a few short gasps. "She...she wants you to follow her to Sarasaland. That's where she's headed."

"How do you know?" asked Mario, surprised.

"I...I work at the airport...and I heard the radio message from the royal plane," he managed between breaths.

"C'mon, Luigi! Let's get after that plane!" Mario and Luigi took off toward Toadwood Forest in the direction the plane would have taken to reach Sarasaland. The Toad watched them go - and a sneaky smile suddenly plastered itself over his face. There was a puff of purple smoke, and the Toad transformed into a creature dressed in a white sheet and a blue party hat. His eyes gleamed red.

"Heh, I'm slick, Slick - too slick for you! There was no radio message!" Doopliss grinned mischievously. "We've got you right where we want you now, 'Super' Mario! With you away from the castle, the Great One can finally smash this stupid kingdom into smithereens. Say bye-bye to the Mushroom Kingdom, Slick!"

---

"Where are you taking us?" demanded Russ T.

"That's for me to know and for you to find out," Tess replied steadily. "Bill, please stay in the cockpit. This thing can't land itself, you know."

"Yes, ma'am," Bill responded in mock salute and reentered the cockpit of Peach's plane.

"We should reach our destination any minute now," Tess said aloud, settling back into her seat next to her scared twin sister Tace T., the other head cook.

"Tess, why are you doing this?" whispered Tace, frightened. "You're betraying the Princess!"

Tess wedged the barrel of her submachine gun into her sister's abdomen, making Tace wince. "Quiet, Tace. I'm doing what must be done. If you knew what I know, you'd do the same." Tess's eyes narrowed. "Don't think I'll hesitate to shoot you just because you're my sister. You get in the way - you die."

Tace gasped as the barrel shoved itself farther into her gut before withdrawing.

"You might be interested, Princess, in knowing just who was behind all those attacks on the Rainbow Guardians," Tess remarked off-handedly. She looked over at the frightened Peach. "As you might guess, I was the coordinator. That bungler Harry handled Ruby, Lily shot Amber in the infirmary, and I was the one who slipped the poison into Citrine's breakfast. Bill was our go-between with our leader."

"What leader?" Peach asked, trembling.

"You'll see."

The plane began to slowly glide downward. Peach looked out the window at the ground, and her stomach knotted up with dread. She paled.

Far below was the Great One's fortress.

The plane circled in a gentle arc, slowly spiraling downward toward the runway behind the fortress. Within five minutes it was taxiing to a stop on the concrete.

"We've arrived," announced Bill over the intercom. "Opening the hatch." There was a hissing as the airlock was unsealed and the exit hatch popped open. Peach sat petrified in her velvet seat, staring at nothing.

"No... Please, no... This can't be happening to me!" she cried. "This is just a dream!"

Tess T. seized Peach's hand with an incredible strength and hauled her out into the aisle. A dozen Paroidian Guards boarded the plane, surrounded the terror-stricken Princess, and marched her out onto the airstrip. Other Paroidians removed the remaining passengers, including the seven Rainbow Guardians, Athos, Hardshell, Russ T. and family, Toad, Toadette, and even Professor Gadd. The captives were forced to enter the imposing stone fortress looming near the airstrip.

---

Great One's Theme

The throne room was themed in black and silver. Walls, ceiling, and floor were all dyed pitch black, and the silver banners emblazoned with the crescent moon hanging from the walls did not serve to lift the evil atmosphere created by the color scheme. The only strip of color was the red carpet running from silver double doors to silver throne. It gave the appearance of a river of blood flowing through the room. On this carpet stood Princess Peach, surrounded by a dozen armed Paroidians. The other captives were hemmed in by another, larger contingent of guards in the rear of the throne room.

"Well, well, Peach, so good to see you again," greeted the Great One pleasantly. A mysterious smile played behind her veil. "You're my guest once again. I assure you that your visit this time will be infinitely more enjoyable than your last."

Peach could only stare in terror at her enemy, the enemy she'd been so sure was dead and gone.

The Great One fingered her iron staff, studying its crystalline crescent top. "It seems you find it difficult to believe I'm still alive." She rose from her imposing silver throne.

"You can't be alive!" Peach blurted out. "No normal human could have survived a grenade going off in her face, let alone a building collapsing on her head! It's impossible!"

"And yet here I stand, Peach," replied the black-haired, black-eyed woman. Her veil stirred slightly as she slowly advanced toward Peach. "How can you refute reality?"

Peach had no answer. Somehow...somehow this evil woman had cheated death. It was a haunting reality, but reality nonetheless.

"Well, since today is your birthday, Peach, I've got a present for you," the Great One informed her helpless captive.

Stunned, Peach stared at the Great One. "How...?"

"How did she know it was Peach's birthday?" whispered Russ T. to Rachel. One of the Paroidian Guards silently smacked him in the mouth. Russ got the point and quickly shut up.

"I know more about you than you could ever dream of, Peach," the Great One said suavely. "Your birthday, your favorite food, your usual morning and evening routines - I know it all. And for good reason." She smiled. "Back to your present, Peach. I'm going to give you the thing you've wanted ever since you saw me first. I'll take off my veil for you."

"...You're serious?" Peach wasn't too sure about the offer.

"Why not?" the Great One counter-questioned. She touched the veil lightly. "This veil has served its purpose. There's no reason why you shouldn't see now what's behind it." She smiled again - smiled her crafty, cunning smile.

"Show me," Peach said with trembling voice. "Show me who you really are."

One of the Great One's black eyebrows wet up. "You're sure you want to see my true self?" She laughed softly. "Very well, then." With that, she reached up with her left hand, took hold of her veil, and smoothly swept it off her head, revealing her full face to Peach. The Princess was totally unprepared for what she saw.

Peach hit the floor in a near-faint. With wide, frightened eyes and a bewildered look she stared at the face of her enemy. She trembled violently, and her breathing quaked and shivered. She squeezed her eyes shut, then looked again, but nothing had changed. The face before her was stark reality.

"N-No... N-NO! It can't be you! You...!! Cyanara?!?!"

The Great One smiled again. "That's Empress Cyanara to you...little sister."

Peach let her head fall back to the black marble floor. Her eyes were glazed, and sweat dotted her pale face. Still her breathing was erratic. Her eyes were half-closed as if in delirium. The other captives watched her in shock, also stunned by the announcement made by the Great One - Empress Cyanara.

"Nooooo...no no no no NO!!! This is not happening to me! I'm dreaming!" cried Peach.

"You're very much awake, Peach. This is no dream." Cyanara's smile vanished. "I'm no ghost come to haunt you. I'm very real."

"I'm imagining things! You're dead, Cyanara!" Peach was almost crying. "You're dead! You can't be real!"

"Well, I certainly fooled you, didn't I?" asked Cyanara haughtily.

"B-But you should have been killed when that grenade went off in your face!"

Cyanara smiled mysteriously. "I know more magic than you ever will, Peach. My pact with the darkness, the Seal of Fatalis, makes me as immortal as a god! Oh, I still feel pain. Yes, you may wound me severely, even fatally, and shed much blood. But no earthly weapon can kill me as long as the Seal remains in place!"

Peach shakily got to her feet and backed away from Cyanara. "I-I'm still not convinced."

"I thought as much." Cyanara nodded thoughtfully. "This should be proof enough." She reached up to her neck, took hold of a thin gold chain, and slowly pulled it out from beneath her dress. A rainbow charm dangled from the chain, one half of a complete circular rainbow. It glowed ever so faintly.

Peach gasped at the sight. Almost involuntarily her hands went to her dress collar, and tremblingly she withdrew an identical necklace with an identical charm from beneath her own dress. "So Mom gave the other half of the Pendant to you," she whispered. "You...you really are my sister..." Her eyes welled with tears. "Cyanara, you don't know how much it would mean to me to have you back."

"Back?" spat Cyanara in disgust. "Back as what? Just one of the royal relations, I suppose. No authority."

"No, Cyanara, please! I only want to -"

"It's too late for that!" shouted Cyanara. "The only way you can make things right is by handing over that crown of yours this instant!"

"NO!" Peach's eyes flashed. "I don't have anything to make up to you, Cyanara! Father banished you because of your evil! I had nothing to do with it, other than crying because you were gone! Why hate me for that?!"

Cyanara seethed with rage. "Listen, Peach," she spat through her teeth, "you and I both know that I was in line for the throne, not you! I was the firstborn! The crown belongs to me!" Her black eyes burned with anger. "I don't hate you because I was banished, Peach. I hate you for the crown you wear - a crown that is rightfully mine! I am the true ruler of the Mushroom Kingdom!!"

Without warning Cyanara reached out and wrenched Peach's necklace, snapping it in two. Peach's rainbow charm pinged to the floor, and Cyanara snatched it up with a wicked smile.

"No, DON'T! CYANARA!!" Peach screamed. "You KNOW what will happen if you -" Peach broke off and gasped as Cyanara brought the two rainbow halves together. There was a rushing sound and a flash of light, and the two halves fused together to make a complete circle that dangled from Cyanara's necklace.

"Caught off guard, hm, Peach?" Cyanara laughed. "The Rainbow Pendant is complete at last. With its power I'll wipe 'your' little kingdom from the face of the earth!" Cyanara removed the necklace and held the Pendant high. "Power of the rainbow! Rift through time and space and DESTROY this kingdom!"

Rifting Theme

"NOOOOO!!!" screamed the Princess.

The Rainbow Pendant began to glow with blazing color. The seven Guardians stared at it in horror. Ruby's eyes widened.

"Sisters, this is the end!"

Suddenly the Pendant gave off a flash of red light. Ruby choked; she tried to breathe but could not, and she pitched to the floor, unconscious.

"One Guardian down, six to go," announced Cyanara cruelly. "Again!"

This time the Pendant flashed orange, and Amber was knocked out. Then the colors of the rainbow flashed in rapid succession - yellow felled Citrine, a burst of green knocked Emerald out, blue light sent Aquamarine into unconsciousness, and indigo and violet carried the effect to Sapphire and Amethyst.

As the powerful Pendant glowed brilliantly in her upraised hand, Cyanara said with relish, "One last flash, and the Mushroom Kingdom will be no more!" The central hole in the rainbow circle filled with a shadowy vapor, and a flash of darkness plunged the room into twilight for a fraction of a second. Then a tremendous rumbling shook Cyanara's fortress like a baby rattle as something happened across the entire Mushroom Kingdom.

If you could have looked down on the kingdom just after the Rainbow Pendant flashed black, you would have seen the entire kingdom separated into eight parts, each individual "piece" encased by an energy field, and each energy field one of the colors of the rainbow. The rumbling subsided.

---

"C'mon, Luigi! We can't stop now!" Mario called back to his younger sibling.

"Huff...huff..." Luigi puffed up to Mario. "I'm still not in shape for this kind of thing."

"Let's go! Can't keep Peach waiting!" Mario cried, taking off through the trees of Toadwood Forest again.

Suddenly a crash of thunder brought both brothers to a screeching halt. Another roar of thunder, and instantly a pouring rain rushed onto their heads, soaking them thoroughly and chilling them through. Then the earth began to reel crazily beneath their feet; they were barely able to keep their balance. "What on earth is going on?!" Luigi yelled over the rushing and rumbling of earth and weather.

Luigi had barely got the words out of his mouth before the sky flashed brilliant red for a split second. Two giant lightning bolts seared down from the sky and struck them dead-on. They collapsed instantly, too stunned to even scream. The last thing Mario saw before blacking out entirely was the black clouds hanging low in the sky, unleashing their torrents on the earth. A sigh escaped his lips, and he lay still.

< insert Drama Chipmunk! >

Chapter 6: Cyanara's Plan

Great One's Theme

Peach stared in horror at the seven unconscious Guardians. She rushed to Ruby and felt for a pulse, but there was none. She looked up at Cyanara. "You've killed them!"

"So it might seem," agreed the Empress, still smiling at her victory, "but such is not the case. They only sleep. The Pendant has drained much of their power from them."

Athos attempted to get to Amethyst, but one of the guards struck him down with a fist.

Cyanara glared at Athos, then cast her eyes on the unconscious Amethyst - or rather the spot where Amethyst should have been. The Empress's eyes widened.

Amethyst was gone.

"Where is she?" Cyanara demanded, eyes roving over the group of prisoners.

Athos's face betrayed horror. "Amethyst -" He too scanned the room, desperately searching for his fiancée. She was nowhere to be seen. Instead of seven unconscious Guardians lying scattered across the floor, there were only six. Amethyst was missing.

"I said WHERE IS SHE!?" shouted the Empress, black eyes flashing.

"I-I don't know!" Peach stammered, trembling at her sister's rage. "She just disappeared!"

Cyanara seethed. "One of you must know. Tell me NOW!!"

"We do not know!" Athos shouted back. "I only wish I did!!"

At this, the Empress seemed to lose some of her anger. "Very well, traitor Athos," she replied coldly. "I'll take your word for it. But if you're lying - when I find her, she'll suffer because of you. Is that clear?"

Athos said nothing.

*end music*

---

Mario groaned and stirred. The rain poured onto his exposed face, running down his neck and into his collar. Weakly he turned his face away from the heavy downpour as he lay on the soggy forest floor, soaked and chilled.

"Agh - ouch!" he exclaimed as he attempted to get up. Every muscle in his body felt like a burning knot inside him, causing intense pain when he tried to move. He had no choice but to remain still, exposed to the fury of the elements. Lightning flashed through the trees, and the wind howled like a wolf, almost drowning out the roar of a million raindrops drenching the earth.

Eventually Mario's muscles relaxed and he could move again. Slowly he got to his feet and saw Luigi not ten feet away, also struggling to his feet. He stumbled over to his sibling.

"We gotta get out of this rain," Mario yelled over the storm. Luigi nodded weakly. Together the brothers limped through the forest back toward Toad Town, intending to find shelter.

Without warning Mario ran smack into something he couldn't see and fell backward. Luigi helped him up, and they started forward again. This time, both were knocked over. Getting to his feet in the pouring rain, Mario reached out a hand into the apparently empty space in front of him - and rested it against a solid wall, completely invisible to their eyes. Mario and Luigi looked at each other.

"Looks like we're not going back, bro," Mario said hopelessly. "For some reason we're stuck out here - trapped."

As Mario finished speaking, both he and Luigi heard something nearby. They cocked their ears. There it was again. It sounded like a moan. Quickly the brothers began straining their eyes into the gloom of the fierce storm, looking for the source of the sound. After a few minutes of scanning their rain-drenched surroundings, Luigi motioned to Mario, and the two cautiously approached a nearby cluster of trees.

"I think it came from in there," Luigi half-whispered, pointing into the clump of foliage. Slowly the brothers pushed their way into the dense brush. Here the rain did not fall as hard, thanks to the shelter of the trees' thick leafy canopies overhead. The two were tense, alert for any noise or movement.

Then Mario saw her. She lay among the trees as if she'd been thrown there, her purple hair wet and matted from the downpour. Her eyes were closed, but she moved slightly every few seconds and moaned infrequently. From her heaving chest, Mario could tell she was frightened, even though the rain's rhythmic beat drowned out the sound of her breathing. But one feature made Mario recognize her instantly. It was her robe - a rainbow-colored robe. He started.

"That's Amethyst!"

Mario rushed to the young woman and shook her. "Amethyst! What are you doing out here like this?!"

Suddenly the seventh Guardian sat bolt upright and wrenched herself away from Mario, a deep fear in her eyes. "D-Don't hurt me!"

"It's just me, Mario," the plumber assured her, wondering at her behavior. "What's the matter?"

"Oh, thank goodness it's you!" Amethyst's eyes welled with tears.

"You're supposed to be on Peach's plane, heading for Sarasaland! Why are you all the way out here?" Luigi asked.

Amethyst shivered in the bone-chilling downpour. She was completely soaked. "T-The plane didn't make it."

Mario's stomach dropped into his shoes. "Don't tell me it crashed! Please, no!"

"N-No, no crash." Amethyst shuddered. "Worse."

"Worse?!" A clap of thunder almost obliterated Mario's exclamation. "What could possibly be worse?!"

"The plane was hijacked."

Mario was stunned. "By who? Where was it taken?"

"Some of the castle staff betrayed us all. They flew us to the Great One's fortress. She's...she's still alive."

"Impossible!" Mario exploded.

"I saw her with my own eyes, Mario. She's alive, and worse yet, we know her real identity. Her name is Cyanara - and she's Peach's older sister!"

"No way!" Mario shook his head. "It's a known fact that Peach's older sister was exiled when she was eighteen. She's back?!"

"And that's not even the worst part! She used the power of the Rainbow Pendant to drain the power from us Guardians!" Amethyst shuddered again. "Then..."

"Then what?" Luigi asked breathlessly.

"She split the Mushroom Kingdom into eight separate dimensions, one for every rainbow color." Amethyst did not feel the need to explain the concept of an eight-colored rainbow to the brothers. She knew they understood. "The kingdom's been rifted, Mario. Split in pieces! The Mushroom Kingdom, as a whole, no longer exists!"

"So that's why we ran into that invisible barrier," Mario guessed. "That's the edge of this particular dimension. Is there any way we can possibly undo the damage?"

Amethyst shook her head in the rain. "I'm sorry, Mario. I don't know. But I don't...think you can..."

---

Great One's Theme

"What have you done?!" Peach cried as Cyanara returned the Pendant necklace to its place about her neck.

The Empress's eyes smoldered as they stared at Peach. "You know the old adage, Peach. Divide and conquer. I've just cut 'your' little kingdom into eight pieces. Eight pieces of succulent pie - and I'm very hungry for them." She smiled wickedly. "Guards. Take Peach to the holding room. Put the Guardians into the special solitary confinement cells. And confiscate the Rainbow Discs. The others - disarm them and throw them in the dungeon." The Paroidians immediately obeyed, removing the Discs from the Guardians' robes and giving them to Cyanara. Then they herded the captives out of the throne room. Six burly guards carried the limp Guardians out.

Cyanara stood on the blood-red carpet, holding six of the eight Rainbow Discs. She gloated over them with an evil glint in her eyes. She turned her gaze to the Pendant about her neck, then to the eight Rainbow Rings on her fingers.

"Fifteen of the fabled objects are mine," she breathed craftily. "Only two Discs remain to be found; then I will possess all the power of the rainbow. Then - then who will be able to stand against me?"

She threw her head back and laughed.

"No one!"

Empress Cyanara strode to the window of her throne room, still laughing, and gazed out over the town below her fortress, mentally roving over her personal domain in evil delight. "I think I'll have a talk with little sister. It's about time she found out exactly what's going on. After all, my guests have a right to know what I'm doing." She laughed again. "Guard!"

A single Paroidian entered the room and saluted.

"Tell Peach I'd like to have her join me for dinner tonight - just the two of us." Her eyes sparkled in glee. The guard bowed, turned on his heel, and left.

---

"Princess."

Hesitantly Peach answered, her voice quavering. "C-Come in."

The door to the small but comfortable holding room swung open, and in walked a single Paroidian guard. Peach cringed. Her breathing quickened, and she backed against the miniature refrigerator.

"I have not come to harm you," spoke the guard in a cold, metallic voice. "The Great One would like you to dine with her tonight."

Peach looked startled. "Me? She wants me to - to eat with her? Alone?" Her tone was one of uncertainty.

The guard nodded solemnly, waiting for a definite response.

What is she planning? wondered Peach. What could she want to see me alone for? Is this a trap? Is she going to - Peach stopped and heaved a great sigh before answering.

"Tell her...I'll come."

*end music*

---

"That still doesn't answer my first question," Mario shouted over the noise of rushing wind and pouring rain. "How did you get way out here when you were in the Great One's - I mean Cyanara's - fortress?"

"...I don't know..." Amethyst was clearly puzzled. "How far are we from the fortress?"

"About four miles, maybe more," Luigi guessed.

"The dimensional rifting must have affected me somehow," Amethyst concluded. "But why only me? Why not the others as well? Oh, Athos, what's happening to you?" Her tears mingled with the rain streaming down her face.

"We're doing no good just standing out here," Mario said at last. "Let's find some shelter from this weather!" He helped the young lady to her feet, and the three companions started off through the stormy, rain-drenched forest to seek shelter from the incessant downpour.

---

Great One's Theme

Princess Peach walked slowly into the dining hall, the place she'd been told dinner would be served. Her Paroidian escort remained outside to ensure that she would not attempt to escape.

Before the Princess was outspread a luxuriant feast on the long silver dining table. Two silver chairs faced each other from the long sides of the table, and Peach hesitantly started toward one of them.

"Oh, where are my manners?" asked a cheerful voice from the opposite side of the room. Peach looked up quickly to see Cyanara herself entering the room through the far door. The Empress laughed lightly at Peach's startled expression. "Please, sit down." Following her own directive, Cyanara seated herself at the table and beckoned Peach to do the same. Hesitantly the Princess sat down directly across the table from her older sister, watching her sibling closely.

"Shall we begin?" asked the Empress, beginning to heap her plate with food.

Peach looked from side to side, scanning the length of the table. Roast duck, quail, pheasant, more pasta dishes than she could count, peaches, grapes, oranges, and a tremendous devil's food cake were just the beginning of the massive selection. Her head snapped up, and she locked eyes with her older sister.

"How do I know it's not poisoned?"

Cyanara set her plate in front of herself and gave her younger sibling a disapproving look. "Not taking any chances with me, are you, Peach?" she asked, raising an eyebrow as she spoke.

"I've learned that it's not exactly safe to do so," Peach replied evenly, folding her hands and settling them in her lap. "Thank you, but no thank you."

The Empress laughed. "Discerning as always, little sister." She leaned forward slightly. "Are you sure you're not going to eat?"

Peach shook her head.

"Very well, then," Cyanara said comfortably as she settled back in her chair, leaving her own steaming plate untouched. "I had hoped we could have our discussion over dinner, but I suppose having it before dinner won't hurt." She smiled.

There was a heavy silence for what seemed an eternity.

"What do you want from me?" Peach finally asked, voice quiet.

"Quick to cut through veneer and get down to business, aren't you?" Cyanara asked nonchalantly. "You might guess what I want. As if I hadn't told you before."

"My crown."

"Precisely." Cyanara's eyes glittered.

"You don't mean that," Peach corrected. "If you were really after just the crown, you'd have killed me last time, when you had the chance. But you didn't." She eyed her hostile sibling. "What are you really after?"

"Seeing through it all, aren't you?" asked Cyanara with a little chuckle. "I am after the crown - a crown that is rightfully mine - ah-ah, Peach, hear me out," she broke in as Peach attempted to interrupt. "You'll get your chance to speak, I promise. But let me finish. It's written in the law of the Mushroom Kingdom that I am never to sit on the throne as ruler. Correct?"

Peach nodded, wondering where the conversation was headed.

"And there is no way for me to overturn that edict, correct?"

"That's right."

"Then, according to law, who is the only one who can repeal that pronouncement and restore me to my rightful place?"

Peach started. "You wouldn't dare..."

"It's you, Peach," Cyanara said suavely. "Like it or not, I must acknowledge your current position as ruler. You are the only one who can give me my throne back. You, however, are now in my power. Go ahead - take another guess as to what I'm really after."

"I'll never do such a thing!" Peach exclaimed hotly. "You can torment me all you like, but I'll never sign the Mushroom Kingdom over into your filthy hands!"

"Petty insults don't become a princess," Cyanara remarked sarcastically. "You will do as I say."

"Over my dead body will you rule the Mushroom Kingdom, Cyanara. And I mean that - literally!"

"Someday it may come to that, then, Peach," answered the Empress coldly. "First, however, I'll give you a chance to save your own worthless life. If you won't give in, then I'll have to resort to more...painful methods of extraction." Her black eyes burned with hidden anger. "Anyone who may have remained behind in your castle is already dead. I gave my guards express orders to spare no one."

Peach gasped. "No! You didn't!"

"Yes." Cyanara's cold black eyes leered at her sister. "You would be wise to cooperate and avoid further bloodshed."

"I'll never give you control of the Mushroom Kingdom!" cried Peach.

Cyanara fixed Peach with a look so full of hatred that Peach shrank back in fear. "Oh, you won't, will you?" inquired the Empress bitterly. Her eyes narrowed. "We'll just see about that." She snapped her fingers, and two Paroidian Guards stepped up to Peach's chair and wrenched her from her seat.

"Take her back to the holding room," instructed the Empress coldly.

"You can't be trusted, Cyanara!!" Peach screamed as the guards dragged her from the dining room.

Cyanara smiled and began her meal.

*end music*

---

Mario, Luigi, and Amethyst covered their ears against the deafening thunder as they dashed along the muddy, rain-slick trails, seeking shelter from the storm. The leafy canopy overhead deflected some of the raindrops, but the millions that were not impeded in their fall plunged straight down onto the forest floor, making Mario's every step a treacherous mire. On the three companions ran, looking for a cabin, a cave, anything that would serve to keep them dry.

Of course the first accident would happen to Luigi.

One minute he was beside Mario. The next his feet went out from under him as he stepped too close to a downward-sloping side trail, and away he went, sliding madly down the shallow slope on the seat of his pants, yelling frantically the whole way. Mario, startled, also lost his balance and went sliding down right after Luigi. Amethyst stared after the two as they shot down the slippery slope.

Luigi hit bottom and began to slow down. "Whew!" he said in relief as he wiped the rainwater from his face. "That was actually kinda fun -"

The ground dropped away beneath him, and before he could even yell, he was bouncing down a set of granite steps that led below ground. A series of pained exclamations echoed out from the mouth of the staircase as his tailbone was pummeled without mercy.

Mario managed to stop himself before skidding onto the staircase. He stared at the set of steps, and a bell of recognition went off in his head.

"Hey, I know this place! This is Takanyar's old hideout, the one he used back when he stole the Staff of Dreams from the museum! It's deserted now, though. This is just what we've been wanting!"

Amethyst cautiously descended the slope on foot, grasping branches and tree trunks to keep from sliding down. At last she reached bottom and helped Mario up, and they slowly moved down the stairs into the empty underground lair, leaving the wind and rain behind them.

---

"No...no..." Peach sobbed into her pillow as she lay on the cot in the holding room. "My poor castle workers...killed by my own sister!" She clutched her pillow tightly. "It's too much! I can't stand anymore of her cruelty!"

A voice filtered into her thoughts. "Princess..."

Peach sniffled. "Wh-Who's there?"

"Over here, Princess."

She sat up, wiped her eyes, and looked around for the voice's owner. There was the little kitchen area, complete with ceramic sink and mini-refrigerator; the small wooden table and two matching chairs against the far wall; the hateful steel door to her right that kept her prisoner; the bare white walls all around her; the fluorescent lamps in the plaster ceiling whose light illuminated the short red carpet. But no one else was in the room.

"Cyanara's just playing tricks on me again," Peach sighed, the tears rolling down her cheeks. "For some reason she enjoys tormenting me." She lay back down and tried to sleep. It was getting rather late.

"Princess Peach..."

Slowly Peach sat back up, somewhat nervous. She sensed what could only be described as a presence, as if someone were watching her. She shivered. "Wh-Who is it?"

There was a whispering sound, and a ghostly figure floated right through the closed steel door and into Peach's room. The Princess opened her mouth to scream, but no sound came out. Almost paralyzed with fright, she shrank back against the wall as she sat on her cot, staring at the apparition.

Suddenly, as Peach stared at the transparent being, all fear left her. Her eyes took in the ghost's appearance. He looked old, with graying beard and long gray hair, and wore a flowing white robe with delicately embroidered patterns on hem and cuffs. On his head was a shimmering tiara made of yellow crystal, and in his hands was a long staff of the same material. The Princess's mouth fell open as she recognized her visitor.

"Is that you, Marlon?!"

"It is I, Princess." The elderly Star Sage fingered his staff.

Peach still stared at him. "B-But you're dead!"

"My body is dead, Princess. It is my spirit that speaks to you." Marlon gazed at Peach with sadness in his deep brown eyes. "I am come to warn you. Listen." He raised his staff. Immediately Peach heard two voices in the room, so clear they sounded as if the speakers were right next to her.

"Zaron! I summon you!"

Peach's eyes widened as she recognized Cyanara's voice. Then came a rasping response:

"I am here, O Great One."

"That's Zaron!" Peach whispered, frightened.

Cyanara's voice again echoed inside the holding room. "I have an assignment for you, Zaron."

"Name it, Master," Zaron rasped in reply.

"First, take this. It's a special hand-held teleportation device Sir Grodus developed for me. It will allow you to travel to any of the eight Mushroom Kingdom dimensions. But to use it, you'll need this."

Zaron gasped. "M-Master? The - Rainbow Ring?"

"The first Ring, the Jasper Ring. Take it. When placed in the device, it will open a portal to Red Dimension, the first of the kingdom dimensions, which encompasses Toadwood Forest and surrounding areas."

"And what is it you desire that I should do with these gifts, Great One?"

Cyanara's voice became low and vengeful. "Mario and Luigi are in that forest. Grodus's sensors have picked them up. They're waiting out a storm inside Takanyar's old hiding place."

If Peach could have seen Zaron's wicked smile as he heard this information, she would have been even more terrified.

"I understand, Master," Zaron replied eagerly.

"The Jasper Ring's power will aid you should you need it. Use it well. And Zaron -" Cyanara's voice became impatient. "Bring him back alive."

"Yes, Master."

Marlon lowered his staff, and the voices were silenced.

Peach shuddered. "Not Zaron! Oh, Mario!"

"Yes, Princess," Marlon said solemnly. "If he does not withstand Zaron's attack -"

"Don't say that!" Peach quickly interjected. "Please, don't!" She shut her eyes and forced herself to calm down. "Is there any way you can warn him?" she asked hopefully.

"If there were, I would have gone to him instead of you, Princess," Marlon replied. "Alas, Zaron's curse remains in place on me and my brethren, so that we cannot go to Mario's aid." He sighed. "My strength fades rapidly, and soon I must return to whence I came."

"Can you send someone to him, then?" Peach begged. "Please!"

"I can. I will send for him." Again Marlon raised his staff, and a small Star Kid with a cheery expression on his face materialized in front of Peach. She recognized him instantly.

"Twink!"

The little Star Kid smiled brightly. "Hi, Princess!"

"Farewell, Princess. My strength is spent. Perhaps I will see you again, perhaps not. Fate will decide." Marlon raised his hand in goodbye as he slowly vanished from sight.

"Twink, do you know what my sister did to my kingdom?" asked Peach anxiously.

Twink nodded vigorously. "Marlon told me everything!"

"Can you get to Mario?"

"I sure can!"

Peach breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness! Tell him Zaron's coming after him. He's using a special device that lets him teleport between dimensions. Tell Mario he's not safe! Oh, and Twink?"

"Yes, Princess Peach?" asked Twink expectantly.

"Tell Mario I'm OK."

"I sure will!" Twink made a loop in mid-air. "I'm on my way!" The little Star Kid sped through the bars on Peach's door and out of sight. Peach turned out the light and lay down on her cot again. Soon she was fast asleep.

---

"Zzzzzz...zzzzzz..."

"Mario, wake up! Wake up!"

Mario groaned, mumbled something about a plate of spaghetti, and rolled over on the stone floor. His snoring resumed.

"Come on, Mario! I have to tell you something!""

"Huh? What?" Mario sat bolt upright. "Who's there?"

"It's me, Twink!" Twink exclaimed.

"Twink?" Mario's face broke into a smile. "Boy, it's been a while since I last saw you!"

"Mario, listen! Cyanara's sending a creepy guy named Zaron to -"

"Did I just hear my name?" came a raspy voice from around the corner of the underground room.

Twink blanched. "Oops, too late..."

Mario grabbed Luigi and shook him awake just before Zaron himself entered the room. "Well, well, I see the little pest named Twink got here first. Not that it really matters -" Zaron caught sight of the sleeping Amethyst across the room. "Aha! So this is where Amethyst disappeared to! You pathetic plumbers had something to do with this, didn't you?" demanded the black-robed specter in his rasping voice.

"We found her out in the forest, soaking wet," Luigi stated simply. "We don't have a clue how she got there."

"Hmph, a likely story," Zaron sneered. "The Great One will greatly enjoy hearing you tell that to her face!"

"So Cyanara's still determined to get ahold of me, is she?" Mario asked stoutly.

Zaron bared his fangs at Mario. "I'm here for her sake - and for my own. I will never forget the thrashing you gave me years ago in Bowser's dungeons! I will have my revenge!"

Chapter 7: Gloom Town

Zaron Battle Theme

"I'll see you lying dead at my feet yet, you so-called hero!" Zaron shouted as the purple gem atop his black Staff of Shadows began to glow. The next instant there was a boom of thunder, and the entire room was instantly filled with a thick black mist, so dense that neither Mario nor Luigi could see his hand in front of his face. Before either brother could react, Zaron rushed forward in the darkness and struck them down with a sweep of his staff. He aimed his staff at Mario's face, grinding his teeth in hatred.

Just before Zaron zapped him, Mario rolled to the side, allowing the bolt of dark energy to harmlessly scorch the floor. He sprang to his feet and threw a punch that sent Zaron into the wall. Mario and Luigi lit fireballs in their hands, dissipating a little of the gloom and revealing Zaron's silhouette coming toward them, red eyes burning from beneath his black hood. They parted and allowed Zaron to speed between them, smashing himself into the wall behind them. He staggered backward, stunned.

"Rather quick, aren't you?" Zaron grunted, regaining his balance. "Perhaps I'll cut the introductory thrashing and just wring your impudent little necks right now! Behold the power of evil!"

Zaron raised his Staff of Shadows, and his body began to glow green. Then a tremendous WHOOSH filled the room as a hurricane-force wind nearly threw Mario and Luigi to the floor.

"Don't move!" Mario yelled to his brother over the howling wind. "I saw this before when I fought Zaron in Bowser's dungeon! Stay put or you're dead!"

Luigi nodded, bracing himself against the blast.

There was another gale and a violent rumbling, and Mario and Luigi found themselves in a dome of air, completely surrounded by a pink protoplasmic gel. All through this room-filling substance floated little particles of dark matter, the fuel source for Zaron's energy. And facing the brothers from the far wall was Zaron's evil, leering face, with its two glowing red eyes glaring at the brothers in wicked glee.

"Wh-What in the world?!" managed Luigi in shock.

Zaron's cackle was more like a boom. "Remember this, Mario? Remember the pain? The agony you went through trying to defeat this form?"

Mario doubled his fist and socked a powerful punch to the wall of his protoplasmic prison. The gel shivered under the impact but did not give way. "And do you remember defeat, Zaron?" he shouted back. "You'll get nowhere with this! I know your weakness!"

Zaron's face contorted with fury, and he let out a horrible, deafening screech of hatred that made Mario and Luigi wince and cover their ears. "You little plumber PEST!" he screamed. "How DARE you defy ME, the master of the darkness! You will pay for your words with your LIFE!!!" The monstrous face lunged forward at them to emphasize the threat. "Darkness! Reach forth the cold fingers of death and consume them!"

At Zaron's command, the particles of darkness inside Zaron's room-filling protoplasmic body drew together into dozens of long black tentacles. These octopus arms snaked through the gel until they neared the brothers; then they suddenly whipped forward through the gel walls and seized the two with crushing force. There was no time for Mario or Luigi to dodge.

"Who's the one being defeated this time, Mario?" rasped Zaron with a grotesque grin. "Darkness! Pull them in and let them feel the true pangs of death!"

Before either brother could react, the tentacles jerked them into the sea of pink gel. The foul arms released them, but the two could barely move because of the thick gel encasing them. It felt like being buried in warm Jell-O.

"Suffocate them!" screeched Zaron in glee, revealing his fangs in a wicked smile.

Again the tentacles came at Mario and Luigi from all sides. Stubbornly the brothers tried to fight back - stubbornly but uselessly. Their movement was so hindered that there was little they could do. A single snaking tentacle wrapped itself around Mario's throat and began strangling him. Another seized Luigi's neck and made him gasp. Unable to breathe, the brothers struggled mutely against the choking arms.

"Give up!" cackled Zaron. "You can't win!"

"No," rang out a voice from the corner, "unless I help!"

Zaron's hovering face turned to see Amethyst standing in her own bubble of air, herself trapped by his ultimate form. She glared at him in defiance.

"What can you possibly do to save them now?" he asked snidely.

Amethyst raised her hand and transformed it into a searchlight. "This!"

The intense beam of light from Amethyst's searchlight blinded the darkness-loving Zaron. "AAAAAGH!" he screamed, his disembodied head reeling and quivering. "NO! STOP THAT THIS INSTANT!!! AAAAAGH!!!"

Amethyst turned the powerful beam onto the tentacles strangling Mario and Luigi; they vanished instantly, making Zaron scream in pain yet again.

"ENOUGH!" screeched Zaron. "NO MORE LIGHT!!!" His head began to quake violently. The gel pulsed and shook, and in a burst of greenish light Zaron resumed his normal black-cloaked humanoid form, allowing Mario and Luigi to drop heavily to the floor.

Again Amethyst blinded Zaron with the light. The shadowy specter had little choice but to flee, and flee he did, screaming as he rushed out of the room.

"Mario!" Twink darted out of the corner he'd hidden in. "Mario, Zaron's got a device that lets him travel between dimensions! If you get that, you should be able to get to Princess Peach!"

Instantly Mario was on his feet. "We can't let him get away or we'll be stuck in this dimension forever! C'mon, we've gotta catch him!" He seized Luigi's arm, hauled him to his feet, and dashed out with his brother in tow. Amethyst and Twink followed close behind as Mario half-dragged Luigi down the dank underground hallway. The plumber caught sight of Zaron's tattered black robe disappearing up the flight of granite steps leading up to the surface.

"He's getting away!" Mario pumped his legs still faster, the adrenaline coursing through his veins. Seconds later the group burst out into the sunlight. The storm was long over; the sky was still gray and rainy, but no drops were falling. The ground was totally saturated.

"Where'd he go?" Luigi asked in puzzlement as the four halted just outside the hideout entrance, trees all around them.

"I'll find him!" Twink volunteered, flying up over the treetops. There were a few seconds of silence as the Star Kid scanned the surrounding area. Abruptly he waved to Mario and glided forward. Mario and the others immediately followed him. Soon Twink dropped back to Mario's level, motioning for all of them to stop.

"He's up ahead," whispered Twink. "Careful!"

Mario peeped around a tree. There was Zaron, busy with a white circular gadget in his hands.

That must be the transport device, Mario guessed. But how to get it away from him?

Suddenly Luigi burst forward and snatched the device from Zaron's fingers, returning to the group just seconds later with a triumphant grin on his face. "I got it!" he hollered, holding the machine aloft.

A torrent of screaming and cursing poured from Zaron's throat as he turned toward Luigi. The green-shirted plumber froze in his victory stance. Zaron aimed his staff directly at him.

"Run!" yelled Mario, and the group scattered as Zaron's staff shot an energy ray that sliced the tree Mario had been hiding behind in two. The mammoth crashed to the forest floor as Mario's group leaped clear of its fall.

Zaron bared his teeth in rage. "Bring that back NOW, you green imbecile!!" he screamed.

"This is the thing for sure, bro!" Luigi whispered to Mario as they and Amethyst crouched behind a thicket. "Just listen to how angry he is!"

"Must be important to him," quipped Mario dryly.

Suddenly the ground beneath them gave a lurch, and a huge portion of earth somehow wrenched itself from the ground and tilted at a crazy angle, catapulting the three from their hiding place into Zaron's line of sight. Walls of earth rose all around them and their enemy, far too high for even Luigi to leap over. The little group scrambled to their feet and clustered together.

"How is he doing that?!" asked Luigi in disbelief.

Amethyst spotted the glowing red ring on Zaron's right index finger and gasped. "He's got one of the Rainbow Rings!"

Zaron grinned maniacally and held his hand high, showing off the brilliant red glow of the jasper stone set in his golden ring. "It is the Jasper Ring, entrusted to me by the Great One herself! I was told to use its powers against you should I have need. It would seem I do!" He bared his teeth again. "Hand over that device this instant!!"

"Not a chance!" retorted Mario, going into battle stance.

"Then prepare to meet your DOOM!!!" Zaron screamed, again raising the Jasper Ring high. It gleamed with a fantastic brilliance, and two mammoth earthen hands broke through the ground, one on either side of Zaron. Luigi gulped.

"Attack!" screamed Zaron. "CRUSH THEM!!!"

*end music*

---

Shyga sat silently at Daisy's bedside, listening to the quiet beeping of the heart monitor. As Medic Guy had said, Daisy's heart rate slowed down and sped up completely unpredictably, making the monitor's beeping totally arhythmic. The chaotic anti-rhythm ground at Shyga's nerves. She'd been sitting there for most of the morning and the noise was becoming more than a mild annoyance.

"Your Highness?"

Daisy still stared blankly at the ceiling, completely unresponsive.

The blue-suited Shy Guy girl stroked Daisy's sweat-beaded forehead. "Your Highness, can you hear me?"

No response. Daisy was alive but mysteriously unable to interact with anything around her - awake yet asleep. In her mind she was desperately trying to respond, to move, to get up, to speak. For some strange reason, however, the only conscious movement she could make was a blink. Her entire body felt limp and helpless. And that strange vision still haunted her mind.

She saw Peach running from the Great One. A wall of Shroobs rose up before her, towering over her. The Great One overtook her fleeing captive and stabbed a hypodermic syringe into Peach's back. Peach screamed and collapsed as her hand began to gnarl and take on a bluish hue - then the dream stopped. It repeated itself over and over at infrequent intervals. Daisy tried to speak again but could not. She felt that she desperately needed to tell someone what she was seeing. But for the time being, she was powerless to do so.

---

Zaron Battle Theme

As Zaron screamed his command to attack, the two giant hands of earth reached out to grab Mario, Luigi and Amethyst. The group was trapped inside Zaron's walled-in area, created by the earth-moving powers of the Jasper Ring, and had nowhere to run. They ran anyway, the hands following relentlessly behind them as they circled the area, ducking and weaving to avoid the deadly-accurate swipes of the two hands.

"Perhaps I'll get my hands on you yet, Mario!" Zaron cackled.

"Bad pun, you black-hearted creep!" Mario shouted back as he somersaulted forward to avoid a hand smack. He sprang to his feet and began hurling ice balls at Zaron.

"Bah! Begone!" Zaron puffed as the hands batted Mario's ice right back at him. "Seize him!"

Before Mario could react he'd been grabbed up by the massive hands.

"Crush him!!" cackled Zaron in glee.

Mario took aim and planted an ice ball between Zaron's eyes, making him stumble backward with a scream of pain. The plumber grinned. "Gotcha."

The hands quaked and, no longer under Zaron's concentration, released Mario, letting him hit the forest floor with a thud. He was back on his feet in moments, pummeling Zaron with more ice. The specter reeled under the hits.

"STOP! STOP THAT!!" he screamed, waving his hands wildly to block Mario's onslaught.

"Then get out and don't come back!" Mario shot back, breaking off the attack.

Zaron suddenly waved his hand, and the two Hands came right back at Mario, knocking his feet out from under him and pinning him to the ground. The enemy laughed maniacally at Mario's predicament. "You're not shooting at me from your stomach, Mario! I've got you now!"

"Let - go of me - Zaron!" Mario grunted as the hands bore their weight down on him.

Zaron, still laughing, made the hands squash Mario still more. "Never let your guard down around me! You'll live to regret it! Now hand over that device or I'll crush Mario into oblivion!"

Amethyst vanished. The next instant Zaron was flat on his back as an invisible fist struck him down. The Jasper Ring slipped from his finger.

"N-No! The Jasper Ring!" Zaron scrambled to his hands and knees and lunged at the object, but Amethyst bent down and plucked it from the earth. She looked at him in mock curiosity. "Looking for something?"

"Give that back!!!" screamed Zaron, swiping at her with his sharp fingernails. She backed away from him and placed the Ring on her own finger. Instantly the hands ceased to crush Mario and hovered over the ground, awaiting the order of their new commander.

Amethyst pointed at Zaron. "Get him!"

"N-No!!" Zaron took one look at the oncoming hands and fled for his life. Amethyst, using the Jasper Ring's earth powers, dismantled the barrier of earth around them so Zaron could run away, the hands still pursuing him.

*end music*

"Looks like we got what we wanted," Mario remarked while studying the white circular device intently. The gadget was about eight inches across and one inch thick with one tiny depression in its center. A single switch was located on its edge. Cautiously Mario flipped the switch on. Immediately a voice came from the device.

"Greetings, user. I am the DTD, the Dimensional Transport Device. State your name, please."

Mario was slightly taken aback. "Uh...I'm Mario."

"Mario..." The device whirred for a moment. "Pleased to meet you. You may call me DT."

"Just what are you?" questioned Mario.

DT's circuits buzzed busily, retrieving data from his memory banks. "I am an independently-functioning component of the TEC-XX, originally designed and built for the purpose of opening other dimensions for exploration and conquest. I am capable of transporting anything across dimensional boundaries."

"Sounds like something Grodus would do, all right," Mario muttered under his breath. "Listen, DT, since you're part of TEC, I assume you know about Princess Peach?"

"Correct," DT droned. "I have wireless access to TEC's entire memory. Why do you mention her?"

"She's been kidnapped again by Cyanara, DT, and we need your help to rescue her. She's in another dimension, and we can't get to her without your help." Mario felt a little strange trying to negotiate with a machine, but then stranger things had happened in the Mushroom Kingdom. Peach's life was at stake here. He would do what he had to.

"I am not programmed to assist the Great One's enemies," began DT cautiously.

"Would you rather let Peach die?" asked Mario pointedly, hoping the gadget would understand his logic.

DT whirred again, this time for several minutes, before finally replying. "If it means her life, TEC would desire that I help you. I have contacted him, and he has requested that I pass this information on to you. I will help you in any way possible."

"OK - so how do we get to another dimension?" Mario asked.

"My hardware has been specifically redesigned for this particular scenario," DT replied in his computerized drone. "Observe the depression on my upper surface. To access the portal to another dimension in the Mushroom Kingdom, you must possess the Rainbow Ring whose color corresponds to the color assigned that particular dimension. To reach Orange Dimension, for instance, you must place the gem from the orange Ring in contact with the depression on my surface. There is no other way."

Amethyst quickly stepped forward and placed the Jasper Ring's gem in the small depression. DT's circuits hummed for a moment.

"I am sorry. You are already in Red Dimension. This Ring cannot take you anywhere."

"Looks like Cyanara knew what she was doing," Mario commented grimly. "She's not about to let us get out of here that easily. Can you do anything about the problem, DT? Rewrite your own programming or something?"

"Perhaps TEC can assist me in resolving this dilemma. Please wait." DT began to emit a hum again as he communicated wirelessly with the moon base computer. Mario tapped his foot impatiently.

At last the white gadget ceased to hum. "Success. TEC has overwritten part of the security subroutine, enabling me to transport you to the next dimension in color order. But that is as far as I can take you. To reach the next dimension beyond that, you will need another Ring."

"It's a start, anyway," Mario said in relief. "And I've got a feeling Cyanara'll be sending more Ring-powered underlings our way. Let's go!" Amethyst again placed the Jasper Ring in contact with DT's depression, and a wide circular portal of orange energy opened wide before the group.

"I can't come along, Mario," Twink said regretfully. "I gotta get back to Star Haven. There's wishes to be granted, you know!"

"Then we'll see you later, Twink," Mario said in farewell. "Bye!" Together he, Luigi, and Amethyst stepped through the orange portal into Orange Dimension.

---

Ruby stirred and opened her eyes. "Ohhh..." she groaned as she felt the pain. For some reason the atmosphere in Cyanara's fortress was affecting her sensitive mind, attacking it like a slow disease. She could feel the evil creeping through her brain, inflicting its damage as it went, disrupting her thoughts and hindering her ability to control her own body. Of the six Guardians currently imprisoned in the Empress's fortress, Ruby was by far in the worst condition.

"I have to...get out of here," she moaned as she lay motionless on the stone floor of her tiny cell, running her hand over her aching head. "I can't...take this...forever..."

"So it seems Sister Ruby has a great weakness, hm?" came a smooth female voice from the other side of the steel door holding Ruby prisoner.

"Diamond..." groaned Ruby weakly. "Why...must you taunt me?"

"Because you always were a foolish little girl," replied the voice haughtily. Although Ruby could not see her sister Guardian, she could picture the raven-haired, rainbow-robed Diamond standing behind the door, sneering at her. She sighed and closed her eyes again.

"Just...go away..."

"I'm here to make you an offer, Ruby," Diamond continued. "Work with us. Work with me and the Great One. Together we can rule this world!"

Summoning all her remaining strength, Ruby stood painfully to her feet. "Don't even bother, Diamond! I will never cooperate! You turned against your sisters for the sake of power, and you would drag me down with you to destruction as well? Never will I...ah...agh..." Her knees gave way, and she collapsed to the floor, too exhausted to speak further.

"If you refuse, Ruby...well, the Great One will simply have to kill you. Is that what you want?"

Ruby suffered in silence, letting Diamond continue without interruption.

"Or perhaps that's not enough to make you break," Diamond added, voice dripping with honey. "Ah, I know! You can have Amber take your place as the one to be sucked dry of her power. That should be incentive enough."

"Don't...do that!" Ruby cried almost involuntarily.

"It's your choice, Ruby," Diamond said simply, her voice fading away as she walked away from the cell door.

Weakly Ruby turned onto her side. "What can I do?" she moaned. "I can't...just let them...torment Amber..." She struggled to maintain clear thinking against the evil creeping through her mind. "Amber...what has the Empress done...with you? With all..the others?" She groaned again.

In truth, the other Guardians were not much better off than Ruby. Cyanara had cleverly found a way to exploit each girl's weak point to ensure that escape was impossible. Amber's cell was a icebox, so cold that the heat-based Guardian could not keep warm, let alone use her powers of fire. Citrine was imprisoned in an all-wooden cell, rendering her electrical powers useless. A strong force field prevented Emerald from teleporting out of her prison. Aquamarine was kept in a heated cell with a constant temperature of one hundred degrees Fahrenheit, making the ice-type fifth Guardian unbearably hot. And perhaps most cunning of all, the walls of Sapphire's cell held a dark energy so intensely strong that even Sapphire's energybending powers could not affect it. The evil Empress had six Guardians under her control and one, Diamond, working for her. Only Amethyst, the seventh Guardian, remained to be caught.

---

Orange Dimension Theme

Mario, Luigi, and Amethyst stepped out of the shimmering orange portal, and their feet hit solid rock. The portal closed, leaving the three in complete darkness.

"Where are we now?" Mario wondered aloud, cautiously venturing a few steps forward. "Feels like the floor's wet. Watch your step."

"It's too dark to see anything!" Luigi whimpered.

Amethyst again turned her hand into a searchlight. The powerful beam stabbed through the darkness. The Guardian cast the beam about, dimly illuminating the distant stone walls of what appeared to be a large cavern.

"Amethyst, give me some light over here," Mario requested. "Last thing I need is a serious fall." Amethyst obligingly shone the light at Mario's feet, and Mario again ventured forward carefully. Suddenly he stopped after having gone just a few feet.

"Whoa! Big drop-off here." Mario backed away from the edge and tried another direction. Again Amethyst guided him with the light; again he was confronted by a steep drop-off, the bottom of which he couldn't see. He tried yet another direction and found the same thing.

"Looks like we might be stuck here, guys," Mario finally announced.

A shout echoed through the hollow cavern. The three looked around and spotted a tiny figure holding a torch coming toward them. He appeared to be walking on air, but as he came closer, his torchlight revealed the thin rock bridge he was traversing. In a few minutes the figure reached their ledge, the torchlight showing him to be a Shy Guy.

"Welcome," greeted the Shy Guy uncertainly. "What brings you here?"

"It's a long story," Mario replied, avoiding the question. "Where exactly are we?"

"You don't know?" The Shy Guy in gray frowned. "That's kind of...strange. You're in Subterra Caverns, beneath Toad Town."

"Beneath Toad Town?" Luigi questioned.

"That's right," the Shy Guy answered. Suddenly his face lit up. "Wait a minute! I know you two! You -" he pointed at Luigi - "are Luigi! And you, in the red cap with the 'M' on it, are, uh...what's your name...it's on the tip of my tongue...uh..."

"Mario," Mario finished for him with a roll of his eyes.

"Yes, Mario. Sorry, my memory's not been the best lately." The gray Shy Guy gestured toward himself. "I am a Gloom Guy. I and my fellow Gloom Guys all live down here in this gloomy cave." Gloom Guy motioned toward the narrow rock bridge. "Follow me. I'll take you to our underground town."

Obediently Mario, Luigi, and Amethyst followed Gloom Guy onto the thin bridge. The three newcomers were obviously unsure of themselves on the narrow walkway, but Gloom Guy had no trouble keeping his footing.

"You know, we've been having a lot of Toads coming down from the surface lately," remarked Gloom Guy as he led the way over the narrow bridge. "They say these weird guys in red uniforms with white X's over their chests are overrunning Toad Town."

Mario and Luigi exchanged glances.

"Sounds like things aren't exactly rosy in Toad Town," Mario muttered under his breath. "And the town's barely been rebuilt from the Shadow Legion's destruction. Looks like we're gonna have our hands full with the X-Nauts again."

The group reached the end of the rock arch, passed through a wide tunnel, and emerged onto a cliff overlooking another large cavern, this one lit by countless flaming torches. Spread through this cavernous space were hundreds of cubical stone buildings, arranged in neat rows along stone streets. In fact, most of the town seemed to be made entirely of stone. Luigi whistled in amazement.

"What a place," Mario breathed. "I had no idea such a big town was down here!"

"Well, it's been growing like crazy ever since the Toad Towners started coming down from the surface," Gloom Guy offered, "but there's still lots of room in the caverns. We could fit all of Toad Town down here with room to spare."

With that little boast, Gloom Guy led the trio down a steep stone trail literally carved into the cliff face. The path would descend steeply for several yards, level out, make a sharp U-turn, and begin descending again. Here, once again, Gloom Guy kept his footing easily, but Mario, Luigi, and Amethyst found themselves sliding down more often than walking down.

At last they reached the bottom of the cliff and stepped off the trail onto a torchlit stone street, bustling with hundreds of Toads and Gloom Guys. Mario and company tried to see everything at once in this unique underground city as Gloom Guy led them through the streets toward his home.

Gloom Guy stepped off the street and pushed open the door of one of the stone buildings. "Home sweet home," he said with a smile. "Go on in."

Mario set foot in the small dwelling, curiously examining every inch of the place. The floor, walls, and ceiling were all stone. The chairs and table were of the same material. Cabinets, shelves, even the doorknobs were of stone. The only noticeable non-granite feature was the mattress on Gloom Guy's otherwise-stone bed.

"Nice place," Luigi commented somewhat uncertainly as they entered. "Could use some lights, though."

Gloom Guy grinned. "We're working on getting electricity down here. Maybe someday." He fingered the doorknob. "I'm going to get Toad Town's mayor over here. He can explain what's going on up there better than I can." The gray Shy Guy turned and became lost to sight in the crowd on the street. Mario, Luigi, and Amethyst seated themselves around the stone table to wait for his return.

It was only ten minutes before Gloom Guy came back, this time with a single Toad in tow. "This is Mayor Gray T. of Toad Town," he said in introduction. The mayor nodded to Mario and his friends and sat down at the table with Gloom Guy.

"So, Mayor," Mario began, "what's going on up there in Toad Town? Gloom Guy told us about the X-Nauts...?"

"It's true," Gray T. answered. "Just yesterday the sky flashed a brilliant orange for a brief moment. Sometime around noon, I think it was. It wasn't but a few hours before a black portal opened up in Toad Town square and those accursed X-Nauts came swarming out. Seems like the two events are connected somehow but I don't know how."

"Did everyone make it down here all right?" Mario questioned.

Mayor Gray shook his graying head. "I'm afraid not. There should still be several dozen citizens up there somewhere."

Mario was taken aback. "There are still people up there with those X-Naut creeps?"

"You're not thinking of going up there, are you?" asked the mayor anxiously. "Please don't even try it, Mario! The X-Nauts have advanced weaponry with them. For your own safety, please remain down here!"

"I don't have much choice, Mayor," Mario replied. "Eventually the X-Nauts will find this place and you'll all be either dead or taken prisoner. If I go up there, maybe I can find a way to stop them altogether. Besides, those few dozen still up there need help." He stood up from his chair. "Come on, Luigi, Amethyst. We're headed for the surface."

"I'll guide you to the surface exit," Gloom Guy volunteered, standing and heading for the door. "Follow me!"

Hm.... this underground town reminds me of something.... another underground town....?

O RLY?

If it reminds you of anything, the similarity was completely unintentional. Do also keep in mind that these stories were written before Super Paper Mario...so any likeness or contradiction between this series and that game are also unintentional. I hate inconsistency.