Got a nice amount of candy last night. I know this chapter came a bit fast, but I just couldn't wait for everyone to review before posting it. So, ah... Well, here you go. Extra chapter, I guess.

Lotsa exposition here. Some of it you already know, some you don't. This is actually longer than I'd expected.

Chapter 10

One week ago, in another world...

Mario pounded on the door of a strangely-shaped yellow building, Princess Peach panting as she ran to catch up to him. "Mario, what's going on?"

"Luigi, that's what! Bowser sent him to another world! And I've got to-" The door opened to reveal a little old man in a lab coat, who quickly jumped back to avoid Mario's continued pounding. "-get him back! Elvin, where... Oh." Mario put his hand down after seeing that Professor Elvin Gadd had had, indeed, opened the door.

"Yes."

"... Whoops."

"What's this about my apprentice?" E. Gadd asked. "Another world? Come in, explain."

Mario took a sip of the tea the professor had prepared for him. "Well, it's like this. A few days ago, Luigi went missing. No idea why, or how, until Bowser kidnapped Peach. Again. So, I called off my search for Luigi for a few hours-"

"And thank goodness you did before you leveled more buildings..."

"I rebuilt them! Anyway, I saved her. Again. Beat Bowser, as usual... Then he let slip that he sent Luigi to another dimension. I figured that since you built that Time Radar thing, you could find Luigi and then I could pop in and get him out of there. Do you have anything?"

Elvin nodded. "Follow me, posthaste." He led them through the incredibly cluttered laboratory, dodging around colorful machines as though it were second nature. He led Mario and Peach into one of the several rooms branching off from the laboratory, where there was a device that immediately caught Mario's attention: A huge metal hoop with brightly colored lights all over it mounted to the wall, with stairs leading up into it and a computer terminal embedded in the wall next to it. E Gadd took out a handheld device, red in color and with two screens folding onto each other, and opened it. He began entering commands into it.

"The 3DS Horror has a dimensional radar function, a step up from the previous time radar," E. Gadd explained. "Let's see... If I do this... And that... Luigi's Star signature should be enough to find him, so... Got him!"

"Where's my brother?"

"Hold your horses, youngster, I'm working on that. Let's see... His current dimension is the one I have designated as PKMN-2. Ah, good, very good. I have plenty of information to work off of for you to get him back..."

"Can't you just pull him back?" Peach asked.

"I'm afraid it's not that easy," E. Gadd said. "I have barely enough power to open a portal for a few minutes, and I have no way of knowing exactly where in the world my portal will open. Only way to get him is for someone to go in after him, watch him, and stay undercover until I can get him back."

"Why stay undercover?" Mario asked. "I'm not exactly known there, right?"

"Well, no, you aren't. However, I doubt that Bowser would have sent Luigi to that world unless he had a contact there - As I'll explain in a minute, creatures of great power live there, and many of them would be willing to help Luigi return home. Bowser probably has a contact, who in turn probably has a plan for if you show up. So, you'll have to be undercover. My technology can help you fit in quite easily, so no problem there."

"I see... Well, Peach, are you ready for an adventure?" Mario asked.

"Oh, Mario, you-"

"That won't work," E. Gadd said, shaking his head. "Peach's presence might be even more of an alert than yours, Mario. They have handheld devices that can scan DNA to pinpoint which species someone is, and provide information on their species. Since Peach isn't pure human, attention would be brought to her almost immediately, which almost certainly would cause Bowser's contact to act."

"Oh... I see..." Mario trailed off. "Hmm... Going alone might be a bad idea, though... Could you come, E. Gadd?"

The professor shook his head. "I'm afraid not, my boy, for two reasons. One is that I am the only one who knows how to operate this machinery; and the other is that, while I am mostly human, I still have enough non-human blood in me to be noticeable."

"Oh... So that leaves... Wario and Waluigi?"

"Wario's one-quarter elf, and Waluigi's not human at all."

"Daisy?"

"Half-Dayzee."

"Wario's employees?"

"I honestly have no idea, but probably not."

Mario sighed. "Do you know of ANY pure humans besides Luigi and me?"

"No, and I'm quite sorry about that," E. Gadd said, pulling a smaller, white handheld device out of his labcoat. "However, we'll still be able to help you. If you take the DS Horror, I can keep in contact with you. And there are several functions on it that can help you, as well, so take a look once you get there."

"Right," Mario said, taking it and putting it away. "I'm ready to go. Peach, I'll-"

"No, you aren't, youngster." E. Gadd said. "First, I have to do some exposition about this world you'll be going into, so that you can safely pass yourself off as a native."

Mario nodded.

"The first thing you have to understand is that, in this world, humans can randomly have powers. However, compared to the powers any species can have in this world, they're very limited. Psychics, aura-users, and magicians are as far as it goes, and all three are uncommon. Your powers would draw a lot of attention, so make sure you keep it on the down-low. Now, second part to understand: This world is populated by strange creatures, known as Pokemon. There are over six hundred species of Pokemon; each falling into seventeen elemental types. Don't worry about them right now, I'll just create an application for the DS Horror and send it to you after you're there. Many people in this world are Pokemon Trainers, who capture Pokemon in Poke balls, and bring them along with them for companionship and to enter several different types of competitions. Most notably, and what I believe you'd be most interested in, Pokemon Battles. These are friendly competitions in which two trainers send out their Pokemon to have a battle, which lasts until one trainer's Pokemon is unable to continue battling. You'll figure it out. There's much more I'll explain later, but that's the basics. Now... Are you truly ready, Mario?"

Mario remained silent for a moment. "... Yes, professor. I am."

Elvin nodded. "I'll fire up the portal. Say your goodbyes to Peach." He walked over to the terminal embedded in the wall, and started typing.

Mario turned to his friend. "So... This is it, for now. I'll be gone for... Who knows how long."

"Yeah."

"Well... Goodbye, Peach. And if Bowser kidnaps you... Well, I'm sure Yvan and Wolley will be willing to help out again."

"Yeah..." Peach sighed. "I'll miss you, Mario. Be careful."

"Don't worry," Mario grinned. "I'm Super Mario! What's the worst that could happen?"

Peach giggled. "That's the Mario I know."

Light filled the hoop on the wall, a swirling vortex of yellow and red appearing within.

"Take care, Peach, Elvin," Mario said, walking towards the portal with the DS Horror.

"Oh, right, I almost forgot!" E. Gadd turned off the portal, and dashed out of the room. Seconds later, he was back with a backpack. "Here, take this subspace backpack I made. It'll draw less attention, and you can fit just about anything in the secret compartments. I've also taken the liberty of putting a headset in there, so you can talk to me with the DS Horror in the backpack."

"Uh, thanks," Mario said, putting the backpack on. "Anything else?"

"You can't let anyone know where you're from. Not even Luigi can know that you're you, so make your disguise good. Also... There are no power stars there, so you'll only keep some of your power. I predict that you'll keep your strength, because it's your most prominent power; and your fire power because it's not powered by the stars. But your speed and durability probably aren't going to be anything more than slightly above the high end of normal, and your jumps will probably be powered-down but still super. Luigi, I would assume, is probably keeping his jumping and durability in full, with his strength sapped and his speed cut down a lot. So, be careful."

"Don't worry, both of you." Mario said, determination in his eyes. "I can deal with it."

"I know," Peach said. Elvin walked over to the terminal, and opened the portal once more.

"Take care, Mario," Gadd said.

"I will. Call me sometime." Mario started walking up to the portal. Just before he entered, he turned to Peach. "Don't get kidnapped too much, alright?"

Peach smiled. "I'll try. Good luck, Mario."

"Here I go..." Mario took a deep breath, and stepped through the portal.