School. It's all I have to say.

Review Responses:

RRPA: So sorry for the wait, and thanks a lot for the support and the Rainbow Road idea! Credit goes to you my friend.

SnivyLatios: Hey you found the whole thing! Good job for making your way over from MA! I'm glad you enjoyed it, Mario Kart was actually quite enjoyable to write! Although it's close, I do prefer the BeanBean arc over MK, just barely.

Professor Elvin Gadd tinkered away at Toadette's holo-map, he had considered for a while adding more to the map under Toadette's instruction but he felt that at the time the locations she had worked so hard to program in were going to be enough to stop Bowser and his forces. The professor now felt that adding the City in the Clouds, and various other places would assist things greatly. These additions included the Sprixie Kingdom, Isle Delfino (in case there were more pesky graffiti guys and there was a job for F.L.U.U.D) and Pi'illo Island. He was going to add the Paper World Luigi told him so much about but E Gadd did not know how to connect with that world and Peach currently held the book that linked them to the Paper Universe in her possession so he found it redundant and a waste of time to add.

E Gadd took a spanner from a blue, thin ghost, and tampered with the device, trying to incorporate the new places into Toadette's programming. It was a difficult job, every piece was delicate. But with the help of the ghosts, he should manage just fine. Since the Dark Moon had been restored and returned to its place in the sky, the ghosts had been nothing but help that the professor almost felt he was a tyrannical ruler over them who did nothing but drive them like slaves...no. That wasn't right. E Gadd didn't do slaves. He had employees. Except the last time he hired living beings, he forgot about the toads who were his assistants and they left him out of fear of being returned to the very mansions they were afraid of. King Boo's meddling hadn't helped much either, since all the toads had been trapped in paintings. E Gadd had nothing to worry about, however, since King Boo was still trapped in that container, safely stuck in there till E Gadd accidentally...

The professor froze, leaping off of his chair and examining the remote that controlled King Boo's prison. The button to release the hatch on his container had been pressed.

"C-Crrriminy!" E Gadd cried, setting up to call Luigi, his brother and friends right away.

Zeke huffed, examining the piece of the Beanstar Wendy and Morton had returned with, and the broken piece of the cup that Bowser Junior, Wario and Waluigi had obtained. Both sat on a dais in one of the many rooms in Bowser's Castle. This particular room looked old and decrepit. The stone walls were caked with mould, the once-red carpet now tattered and well-worn, as if the old rug had seen many battles, its holes resembling that of old scorch marks. The 'red' carpet led to the back-centre of the room, with small stairs leading up to a knocked over and ruined throne. It was large, and in the past it would have been a regal gold throne, large enough for Bowser himself to sit in. What sat in front of it, was the newly made dais, used specifically for holding and storing the items Bowser and his forces had retrieved. The only light source was from the sunlight that peaked through the ceiling, shining upon the dais. 'We have barely made any progress!' Zeke thought, frustrated.

"If you work with me, I'm sure you can accomplish more than a piece of the Beanstar and a broken trophy" Crooned a distant voice with and echoing chuckle.

Zeke tensed, scanning the room but finding no immediate danger. "Who and where are you? No one else should be in this room! Show yourself!" He called out, still trying to find the intruder.

"Oh, I bring you no harm" A large, white and round ghost materialised before Zeke. On top of the ghost's head sat a large crown to go with his just as large eyes and evil grin.

Zeke frowned, crossing his arms. "I don't recall inviting you here, King Boo." He sneered.

"Oh?" King Boo chuckled. "Are you sure? I recall you or a…significant power…calling me here a while back."

Zeke grew confused, not at all intimidated by King Boo. "'Significant power'?

"Yes, the power that dwells inside you, it seems." Explained the ghost.

"What power? I wish to know, King."

"Magic that's not yours." King Boo chuckled at Zeke's confused and surprised expression.

"Then…who does it belong to?!" Zeke demanded.

"Before I tell you that, I'm here for a…proposition…of sorts." King Boo replied.

"Name it!" Zeke snapped, only wanting the answer.

"Whenever you're finished your plans with Luigi, hand him over to me. I have a score to settle with him."

"Done! Now tell me!"

King Boo grinned, giving Zeke the answer. Serena's childhood friend's eyes widened in what King Boo could either gauge was surprise…or…fear.

Zeke lowered his head before looking up at King Boo again, now with a menacing grin on his face.

"Things just got interesting." Zeke said, recovering. His voice sounding not like his own. He walked past King Boo and towards the worn out double doors that led out of the tarnished throne room.

King Boo smirks, floating into the ground. "Hehehe. Luigi is mine."

Serena walked down the marble halls of Peach's Castle, glad she no longer gets funny looks from the passing toads. Her yellow spotted hat hangs from her side like usual, not having the heart to leave it in her borrowed room and not really wanting to wear it. It had taken a little while but she had successfully managed to brush through her brown hair, and tie it back up into her singular braid. The most recent events in the Karting Universe left Serena lost in thought should she think of what Rosalina had told them about the secret of the castles. Well...half the secret. She had refused to tell them about whatever evil that was to be unleashed should the castles fall and that's what annoyed Serena the most. Why couldn't they know? Was the princess scared of revealing the truth? Or did she feel they didn't need to know yet?

What was more worrying was that it has been a whole week and a half since the sudden trip to the Karting Universe, and Bowser's forces have been eerily quiet. It's made everyone in Peach's castle scared and Mario has become restless while Toadette and Toadsworth (in which the latter was more than annoyed about Rosalina whisking Peach off on a "dangerous adventure like that!") were tirelessly trying to figure out the Koopa King's next move to no avail.

The only good thing about this? Luigi has had time to recover after Morton was forced to break his foot back in the Bean Bean Kingdom. Peach hasn't allowed Luigi to walk anywhere without crutches. When the green hero wasn't trying to get around, he was stuck with being confined to bed rest, so Toad, Mario and Serena took turns in visiting their friend (or brother in Mario's case) in hopes that they weren't boring him to death. Now though, it seemed Luigi was much better, as he was now walking on his own.

Instead of visiting Luigi, however, Serena wanted to find a certain red plumber. She turned left and almost ran into the very person she was looking for.

"Woah! Look out, Serena!" Mario said, surprised as he gripped her shoulders to stop her from falling backwards. He let go once he steadied Serena.

"Th-Thanks Mario. Sorry...I didn't see you there" she replied.

Mario waved her apology off. "Don't worry. Were you looking for something?"

"Yeah. In fact, I was looking for you" Serena told him.

"I'm not in trouble am I?" Mario asked with a coy smile.

"No! I wanted to ask you something."

"Okay...what do you want to ask?" Mario was curious.

"Teach...Teach me how to fight properly! Umm...please?"

Serena's request surprised Mario. "But you already appear to be fighting well, even without training."

"Oh please, I'm making it up as I go"

"Give me one good reason why you think you should be trained."

Serena looked at Mario as if this challenge were easy. "Ludwig. Need I go on?" she stated dryly.

"Good point." Mario said rather quickly. "Let's-a go!" And with that, Mario and Serena took off for the field outside of the castle in order to start Serena's training.

Luigi awoke in a cold sweat, panting and trying to inhale some air as he sat up in his bed, keeping a hand on the wall beside him for minor support.

Luigi shuddered, trembling in fear at his dream. He'd had it again. That same dream. Since the encounter with Wendy in the Bean Bean Kingdom, he'd have the exact same dream, and wake up the same way. In fear.

Toad burst into Luigi's room, panic and concern etched onto his face. "L-Luigi!" He cried, rushing to Luigi's side. "A-Are you okay?! Do I need to get Mario?" His questions were asked in frantic succession.

Luigi looked at Toad with surprise, trying to calm his still rapidly beating heart. "I-I'm fine...you?" The green plumber tried to redirect the topic.

"I heard a shout." Toad mumbled. "Did you have a bad dream?" He then asked.

"Something like that..." Luigi looked away, watching his hand tremble against the wall.

Toad went quiet, before getting Luigi's attention. "Y-You can tell me what it was...if you want."

Luigi shook his head, wiping the sweat off his forehead with the back of his hand. "Sorry Toad. N-Not today..." he said dejectedly, frowning.

"O-Oh..." Toad looks down before giving Luigi a smile, surprising the hero. "That's fine. It's just a dream, right? You don't have to share if you don't want to yet"

Luigi smiled softly in return, almost faking it. "Y-Yeah. Just a dream." Luigi chuckles awkwardly and Toad follows until an awkward silence fills the room.

The two are silent before Luigi speaks again. "Toad...please don't tell Mario I'm having dreams. He'd overreact or something" his voice is almost pleading.

Toad studies Luigi for a moment, probably trying to find out what he dreamed about, before Toad nods confidently. "Okay! Consider this info safe from Mario!"

"Thank you." Luigi said quietly. He couldn't fight off the foreboding feeling that his dream was more real than he thought. And that idea scared him.

Toadette sighed in defeat as she brought her head down onto the wooden table before her, Toadsworth carefully examining a particular parchment before him as he sat across from her. This parchment was the very one they found months ago that had predicted Serena's arrival to the Mushroom Kingdom. Toadette had forgotten such a parchment had existed after investing all her time into the map and the communications device. Toadsworth had initially suggested rereading through it to try and find clues that would help them fight Bowser.

They were currently in the Archives. And despite this place being the best thing in the castle to Toadette, she couldn't think straight. Couldn't focus.

'I hope Morton's okay…' Toadette found herself thinking. Startled by the thought, the genius sat up quickly, shaking her head quickly to banish that thought. 'He's currently the enemy, work on peace later…'

"Is something wrong?" Toadsworth questioned, looking up from the parchment and straight at his companion.

"It's okay Toadsworth, I'm just feeling a bit stressed out over all this. Since when has a spat with Bowser escalated this far? And how much is Rosalina hiding from us?" Toadette asked.

"We don't know. I'm in the dark as much as you are for both questions." Replied the sagely toad.

"I see." Toadette grumbled. "Found anything useful yet?" she then asked.

"Afraid not, my dear." Spoke Toadsworth, setting down the parchments with a sigh. "All this searching and finding nothing is beginning to become quite cumbersome."

The genius groaned in annoyance. "Then I guess we wait and see?"

"It appears so…" Toadsworth said gravely. "…It is all we can do."

Peach examined Toadette's holo-map with a sigh. It was awfully boring, sitting around all the time while the others went out and did the rescuing. The karting adventure was quite exciting, and they'd managed to stall Bowser once more. Although they didn't quite return with the cup, Rosalina insisted that she hold onto the detached golden wheel, knowing that Bowser only had the trophy and not the wheel meant that they could all rest easy for now.

But resting easy was probably the hardest thing to do right now. Peach heard about everything that happened in the Bean Bean Kingdom…at least all that Mario was willing to share, and from all that Toadette filled her in on. Besides that, building up contact with the kingdom to even put Toadette's device there was hard enough. Peach wished she had heard of Queen Bean's sudden passing sooner, and vowed to keep in contact with all her allies in the future.

The last thing she needed was to cause an unnecessary rift between kingdoms. That could lead to more war and destruction.

Suddenly, Toadette's idea of Universal peace didn't sound so bad after all.

Peach had listened to Toadette's idea numerous times, and from what Toadette told her about Morton (she had tried to keep it secret but Peach saw through her), it seemed Universal peace sounded even more possible.

But then that led to the question; If Morton had been willing to form a temporary truce with Toadette, helped them recover pieces of the Beanstar and lied to Wendy to save Toadette and everyone else…what was happening to the Koopalings? What happened that caused Morton Junior to be so…nice? And for Wendy to be so…murderous? Just what was going on behind the scenes? Peach recalled the time they encountered Bowser Junior in the Karting Universe, thinking back to when Junior was so upset about losing, and spoke about Bowser himself being really evil. Was Junior telling the truth? Or was Junior just putting up a front to steal the trophy from Toad?

Peach closed her eyes with a heavy sigh. Overthinking wasn't going to help her. The civilians of the castle and Toad Town were counting on her to stay positive. But what else could she do? Wait for Bowser to princess-nap her like he always did? No. Peach opened her eyes, staring at the hologram display of various places across the Universe with a new resolve. If Mario refused to let her get taken again, then she was going to fight back!

Peach stood up, walking over to her wardrobe. She searched through it until her right hand grasped a metal rod. Smiling, she pulled it out, examining the dusty golf club. She had tried to play golf once, but she couldn't find it within herself to really get into playing it. Although apparently herself in another Universe had mastered the game.

Cautiously, the princess swung the golf club down, stopping its descent just before it hit the floor. Peach adjusted her position, now holding the club like a bat. She swung it again, similar in a fashion to a baseball bat. Peach grinned, feeling like she could take on anything.

Toad, having left Luigi a while ago, went to check on Princess Peach. He knocked on her bedroom door, and didn't get a response. Worried, he opened it. "P-Princess?" he called out while opening it.

"Hyah!" Peach cried, swinging the club in Toad's direction.

"Ahhh!" Toad jumped back in fright, falling to the floor. The club bent from the impact it made with the floor where Toad was previously standing.

The club clattered to the ground as Peach gasped. "T-Toad!" she yelled with worry, rushing towards him. "A-Are you okay?"

"Wh-What was that for?!" Toad cried, recovering from the shock of almost being clobbered.

"I-I'm sorry! I was practising some swings in case Bowser ever shows his face here again." Peach explained quickly, helping Toad up.

"Maybe you should practise elsewhere." Toad breathed, looking at the discarded weapon. "It's like I was Bowser, that's how hard you swung."

Peach giggled. "Pretty sweet huh? Although I don't think it'll hurt much."

Toad grinned. "I don't think you'll be hurting anyone with that anymore, look at how bent it is!"

"I think I swung a bit too hard." Noted the princess, smiling at the thought.

"I think you need a new weapon." Toad joked. "How about a frying pan? You won't bend that one so easily."

Grinning, the two shared a laugh, enjoying the moment.

However, such moments can only last for so long, because Toadette's holo-map lit itself up, flashing the colour of red. Grabbing their attention, Toad and Peach shared a look of surprise before rushing towards the small table the map sat on.

"Wh-What is it?" Toad asked "What's going on?"

Peach examined the map. "There!" she cried, pointing to the hologram of a familiar mansion. She touched it and a message box popped up. Peach read it in earnest. "Professor E Gadd needs us. He says it's very urgent!" she said, looking down at a very concerned Toad.

"Luigi's not going to like this…" Toad sighed. "Shall I go get the others?"

"Quickly!" Peach yelled. "The sooner the better!"

"Y-Yes Ma'am!" Toad replied, scurrying off to get the others.

Serena plopped down on the grass, panting with exhaustion and wiping sweat away from her forehead. She trained with Mario until she felt like she couldn't stand anymore. Mario appears a little tired, but is nowhere near as exhausted as Serena.

They were not far from Peach's Castle, they were near the hill that had started this whole adventure, choosing to spar on flat ground rather than a hill.

"You're doing well Serena." Mario commented with a smile before smirking. "For a beginner, I mean."

"Just…because you…currently have more stamina than I…doesn't mean you can pick on me…" Serena huffed tiredly.

Mario chuckled. "Well too bad. I had to push you hard enough. Who knows when the next fight will be?"

Serena shrugged in response, trying to catch her breath.

Mario's cheerful manner shifted to concern, watching as Serena slowly recovered. "Anyways, are you alright? You do look pretty tired there," He handed her a regular mushroom, which she gratefully took.

Having finally recovered, Serena gave her thanks. After a pause she sighed. "What do you think about this?" she asked.

"About what?"

"Junior, Morton, Wendy. Are they showing off their true colours?"

Mario frowned in thought. "I know for sure that Wendy isn't a psychopath. I don't know about Junior and Morton though. Bowser Junior has always been loyal to his father, and would have never acted like he did in the Karting Universe. Morton, however, I'm not sure. He's always reminded me of Roy with a gruff personality…so I wonder why he allied himself with us like that…"

"So then…do you suppose there's someone behind the scenes that's causing them all to act like this?" Serena suggested.

"It wouldn't surprise me." Mario responded. "Bowser never would have thought of this plan on his own. It must be Zeke who is behind all of this."

Serena gave him a puzzled expression. "And what makes you think that?"

"Well the Koopalings have never acted this way before. None of them. Then you and Zeke turn up and all of this has happened," Mario said. "It can't be coincidence."

"So you think it's our fault? You think we wanted any of this to happen?" Serena gave Mario a firm stare, not taking what he's saying lightly.

Mario backpedalled. "Err, I didn't say it was your fault specifically. I'm just saying it's weird that you guys turned up, and everyone has changed, for better or worse."

"Well I'm telling you this now, I don't think Zeke really wants any of this to happen. And things could be much worse if we were on the same side."

Mario looked at Serena curiously. "Which side? This one?"

"No. Bowser's. Remember? My original purpose here was to side with Bowser."

"So are you going to side with him now?"

Serena faltered. "No…"

Mario crossed his arms. "You don't sound very sure"

"I'm not going to side with him! It's just that…"

"What? Zeke? He's with Bowser now. There's nothing you can do." Mario told Serena firmly, then his expression softened. "We're going to have to fight him, you know that, right?"

Serena was silent for a moment before mumbling, "It won't come to that."

Mario tilted his head to the side, not hearing what Serena said. "What was that?" he asked.

"I said it won't come to that!" Serena snapped with a determined expression. "We won't need to fight him. He'll be on our side in the end."

Mario's expression hardened. "What makes you think that? He hasn't exactly shown that he's willing to switch sides. Need I remind you what he's done and caused so far?"

"No. But he's my best friend, Mario. You can't look past that. He must be under someone's control," Serena tried to reason.

"Are you sure it's not the other way around?" Mario suggested, "Perhaps they're all under Zeke's control and he is the mastermind?"

"Why would he do that? Zeke wouldn't hurt a fly…" Mario glared at Serena's attempt to defend the villain, "…under normal circumstances…Someone else must be pulling the strings."

"Who then, do you propose is behind it all?"

"Someone you've never encountered before in your adventures. A brand new evil force"

"You seem to be defending Zeke a lot," Mario commented with barely contained frustration, "Are you under his influence?"

"What makes you think that?!" Serena shouted. "He's my friend and I choose to defend him, but I'm still on your side!"

Mario didn't so much as flinch at her outburst. "Perhaps you're under his influence, waiting for the perfect moment to strike us down now that we trust you?"

"Are you accusing me again?! I'm so sick of this!" Serena shouted, starting to walk away from Mario and towards Peach's Castle. "What will it take for you to believe my devoted, undying trust for you guys?!"

"Solid proof that you aren't going to randomly switch sides on us!" Mario retorted, following her. "These are hard times and I don't want anyone I care for placed in any more danger!"

"Fine then! I'll prove it to you when I get the chance! I'll prove to you that I'm on your side!"

As the two neared the castle, Toad rushed out the doors, panting. Startling the two arguing, they stop and quickly approach Toad. "Where's the fire?" Mario asked worriedly, commenting on Toad's panicked expression.

"I-It's Professor E Gadd! He needs our assistance with Gloomy Manor!" Toad cried. "The Princess wishes for all of us to see her, Toadette and Luigi are already there!"

"Well, what are you waiting for?" Serena urged, "Let's go!"

Mario rolled his eyes, showing no other indication of hearing the human-turned-toadette. Toad noticed this and frowned as Mario ran ahead, bolting inside the castle.

"…Are you two fighting again?" Toad questioned rather bluntly.

"Please don't tell the others…Mario wants me to prove my devotion to this side." Serena said sullenly.

"Again?" Toad inquired, "Well if you really are with us, you'll be fine. Now come on!" he moved to re-enter the castle.

"Wait!" Serena called, stepping forward to grab Toad's attention. "Just one question," She looked at Toad, desperation in her eyes.

"What is it?" Toad asked, frowning in worry at her desperate tone.

"Do you trust me?" Serena questioned.

Toad thought for a moment before giving his honest answer. "I do, however questionable your actions and words are. I believe you've always got the best of intentions."

Serena smiled, showing nothing but gratitude. "Thank you, Toad."

"Anytime for a friend," Toad grinned. "Now come on! Let's go!"

"Oh yeah!" Serena mimicked Mario's cry and Toad chuckled, the two dashing into the castle to Peach's room.

"Everyone's here." Toadette announced, watching Serena and Toad enter while everyone else merely looked at the new arrivals. "What took you two? Weren't you with Mario?" she then asked.

"We were, I just had to ask Toad something, so Mario went ahead." Serena shrugged as if it were nothing. "Anyways…Gloomy Manor?" During this conversation, Toadette reached into her bag and pulled out her C.D

Luigi grimaced. "Yeah…here I go again…"

"Don't worry Weegie, no-one is getting captured this time, especially not in a painting." Mario tried to comfort his brother. "So Princess, how are we going to get there?"

"Why you're being pixelated to me of course!" chuckled the familiar voice of the professor before Peach could answer.

Everyone turned to Toadette, who was holding her C.D. It was on and a hologram of the professor was being projected.

"Oooh boy. My worst fears have been confirmed," Luigi panicked at the thought of being pixelated.

"Ohoho! Luigi, my boy," E Gadd chuckled. "Not to worry, Sonny, pixelation is nothing to panic about! Nothing better than getting split into a million pieces and then put back together again!"

"I always wanted to be pulled apart and pieced together like a puzzle" Toad muttered under his breath.

"Hah! You guys will be fine!" Toadette assured them almost too positively, grinning from ear to ear. "With our technology and smarts, we've been able to make the 'pulling you apart' bit much less painful."

"And there is no chance of you lot being fused together by accident!" Added the professor gleefully.

Luigi visibly paled. Toad and Mario frowned. Serena, unlike the others was grinning. "Awesome! When are we leaving?" she asked

"Right now!" E Gadd replied. On cue, a camera-like machine emerged from the large holo-map sitting on Peach's table. Peach gasped as she watched it light up the group in a bright, green flash. The Princess had to shield her eyes from the harsh light.

When it was safe to look, Peach uncovered her eyes and gasped, seeing everybody gone.

She didn't even get to say goodbye this time.

"Stay safe everyone…" Peach murmured clasping her hands together with worry.

E Gadd's bunker was a room that barely resembled anything worth living in. There were so many monitors and a there were a large assortment of unidentifiable technological equipment placed everywhere, as if the bunker was just a secret lab. E Gadd spun happily on his chair as he watched his pixelator camera turn on and release a bright green light. E Gadd watched with a large grin as Luigi, Serena, Mario, Toad and Toadette were all reconfigured after being broken into bits and deposited onto the floor where they all fell in a heap.

"Urgh...I hate being pixelated..." Luigi shuddered as the group all stood up. Toadette admired the handiwork on the camera, excited that they all made it in one piece.

"I want to stay whole for the rest of my life..." Serena said, now agreeing with Luigi's sentiments.

"Ohoho! Luigi my boy, it is always a delight to see you here!" Cried E Gadd with happiness, clapping his hands together.

"T-The feeling is mutual...Professor..." Luigi mumbled in return, nervously looking around the bunker. "Wh-Where are all the ghosts?"

"Aha! Straight to the point I see! Well my boy, see how they're not here? It's because they aren't!" E Gadd said, adjusting the height of his spinning desk chair.

"I think we all noticed that one..." Mario commented dryly.

"Just what did happen here? I don't get it..." Toad huffed, crossing his arms in annoyance.

"He means that the ghosts of the Evershade Valley are gone. They are not here." Toadette surmised.

"Ohoho! Precisely, Toadette! E-Even the Dark Moon is gone-!"

"GONE?!" Luigi snapped suddenly, startling everyone in the bunker. His eyes widened in surprise before he visibly calmed down. "B-But how?!" he then stammered.

Mario watched his brother silently with concern. "I-I may have sat on the button...Luigi..." E Gadd responded, all his pride and positivity drained out. "I-I'm so very sorry...I-I didn't mean to push the wrong button!"

Luigi felt guilty for suddenly unleashing his anger, noticing his proper name had been said. "I-It's fine E Gadd. I shouldn't have yelled like that..."

The professor smiled at this. "Thank you...Luigi. I really DO owe you, you know that." he said sincerely.

"No you don't, Professor..." Luigi replied tiredly. "So...you want us to investigate the mansions for you to look for ghosts and the Dark Moon?"

"Oh no! All I want you to do is investigate Evershade Valley's mansion. The paranormal readings there are through the roof! But it's unlike anything I've detected before!" E Gadd instructed in his usual manner.

"So wait, where IS the Dark Moon, if it's not here?" Toadette inquired, looking at E Gadd sceptically.

"It isn't here! And neither is King Boo. My hypothesis is that King Boo has simply taken the Moon and vanished, because I cannot find either anywhere!" the professor explained a little too excitedly. "It's like both disappeared with magic!"

"Magic, huh?" Serena mused in a thinking position.

"Zeke." Mario said, clenching a fist in anger.

"'Zeke'? Luigi who is this lad Mario speaks of?"

Luigi explained their adventure so far to E Gadd while Serena crossed her arms and glared at Mario. Toad and Toadette sighed, preparing for the fireworks.

"What, because there's magic involved you're going to indict Zeke?" Serena snapped, raising Mario's level of annoyance. "You know very well that Kamek is the master of magic in Bowser's Castle"

"That does not mean Kamek is behind it all, does it?" Mario returned

"Oh boy..." Toad and Toadette commented dryly, watching the two.

Luigi, who had now finished talking with E Gadd, noticed Mario and Serena and he sighed. He really hated it when members of the group got into an argument

"Do we really have to do this now? Let's just listen to what E Gadd wants us to do." Serena suggested, trying to stop the argument from escalating.

Mario sighed, realising he'd been fighting again. He turned toward the professor with a forced smile. "Sorry. Go on, Professor."

E Gadd chuckled, seemingly unaware of their fighting, "Ohoho! Now this is the exciting part!" upon his exclamation, he pushed a button on his seat and a shelf came out of one of the walls. When it opened, the group peered at the shelf to find a set of five poltergusts. The only thing that really differed between the vacuums were the colours and size. There was Luigi's red one, and next to that was a green one, a pink one, a blue one and a yellow one. The latter three were smaller in size to accommodate the shorter members of the group.

"I'm not even going to question how they're practically colour coordinated to us" Serena stared in awe at the set of vacuums.

"Who gets the green one?" Mario asked, watching Luigi strapping on his ever-so-familiar red one.

"Why you of course Mario!" E Gadd replied with his usual enthusiasm, "You're the second player here!"

"Ouch." Toadette muttered as she, Toad and Serena walked by a shocked Mario and each grabbed theirs, copying how Luigi put his on.

Luigi held the nozzle of the poltergust in his hand and gripped it tightly. He had mixed feelings about wearing this again. He watched as Mario put his on and E Gadd explained to them all how to use their poltergusts. Luigi grimaced as he recalled the last two adventures like this. Then his mind shot to the nightmare he had not long ago and he paled. Was this where it was going to happen? He was scared that something really bad was going to occur, and there was nothing he could do to stop it.

"Luigi, my boy, are you alright?" E Gadd questioned with worry after explaining everything to the others. They all looked at him with pity and Luigi hated that.

"I'm fine" he snapped. "Let's get this over with."

The professor recovered quickly. "Well then, once you're all prepared, I can pixelate you all there."

"Just give me a few minutes. I need to talk to Mario." Luigi said suddenly, surprising everyone.

"Sure Sonny, take all the time you need," E Gadd said softly.

Luigi headed out of the bunker without another word, and Mario gave the remaining occupants of E Gadd's makeshift lab one last look before following his brother.

Outside, Luigi gestured for Mario to walk a ways from the bunker. Once they were at a distance away that Luigi was satisfied with, he got straight to the point. "Tell me, Mario," Luigi began quite seriously. "Tell me what happened to Paper Luigi."

"Wha…?" Mario was stunned, but he quickly regained his composure. "Luigi, what's the matter?" he asked worriedly.

"Don't avoid my question like you always do!" Mario recoiled at Luigi's sudden anger, "Tell me, did Paper Luigi undergo some sort of change in that adventure? Was that why he wasn't allowed to come here?"

"Luigi…"

"Was he brainwashed to attack Paper Mario, Peach and Bowser?" Luigi interrogated, glaring at his older brother, "It was Dimentio, wasn't it? That was how he was able to fuse with him at the end, and why he was missing for three quarters of the adventure. There's no other way that my paper self could have missed out on that."

"Luigi…"

"That's right, isn't it, Mario? My paper self was evil, he was the villain that stopped Paper Mario during that adventure, wasn't he?" Luigi's voice was rising, and it was scaring the man in red.

"Luigi…I…"

"Answer me!" Luigi shouted, startling Mario and himself. Luigi trembled as he thought of his nightmare, and his voice softened. "Please Mario…stop hiding this secret…was he evil or not?" Luigi was pleading now, wishing he could finally get an answer to a question he'd been asking for months.

Mario sighed, silently apologising to his paper counterpart for finally breaking the well-guarded secret. "His name was Mr. L…"

"Oh god…" Luigi breathed, "So I was right…"

Mario sighed and put a comforting hand on his brother's shoulder, smiling as best as he could. "Luigi. You and your paper self are better than that. Don't let it get to you, put these feelings and doubts to rest. E Gadd is counting on you to help him. And so are we."

"Mario…" Luigi looked at him with hopeful eyes, "D-Do you mean that?"

"Of course. I've told you before, right? You have never been second best."

"Th-Thank you…" Luigi sniffled and Mario hugged his brother.

"Come on, let's go investigate the mansion."

"Yeah!" Luigi smiled and followed his brother back inside the bunker. "Hey E Gadd, let's get going already!"

"Will do, Luigi!" E Gadd responded with great enthusiasm. And the group was pixelated away once more.

In the foyer of Gloomy Manor, the camera deposited the group on the carpet. Toad nearly collided with a suit of armour trying to regain his footing when he landed.

"Oh boy!" he cried, "That was close."

"Alright," Mario spoke, gathering everyone's attention. "The best way to do this is to split into two groups. Luigi, there are two floors here, correct?"

The man in green nodded. "Yeah, and a basement."

"How about we split into a group of two and three?" Toadette suggested. "The group of two should take the first floor while the group of three should take the second. Then we can tackle the basement together." Toadette fiddled with the C.D and a hologram of the mansion floor plans popped up. "E Gadd sent me this to show us where the signal was coming from…ah! See? The signal is coming from the basement, so we'll tackle that last." A red dot was blinking in the floor below them.

"Remember we have to take the elevator there. Hopefully E Gadd has fixed it," Luigi shuddered, recalling his own trip down there.

"Okay, so what are the groups?" Serena asked.

"I'd say you, myself, and Toadette tackle the upper floor," Mario suggested, pointing upwards. "While Toad and Luigi tackle this one."

"Zoinks! We're taking the second floor?" Serena thought back to her own failed play through of this mansion. It was a miracle she beat the game.

"You know the mansion layout too, don't you Serena?" Luigi inquired, Serena nodding in response. "It will be easy then. I'm sure you can do it."

"You're taking the 'I've played your adventure as a video game' concept awfully well" commented the human-toadette.

"It's not the strangest thing that's happened," Luigi assured her.

"Alright, are we ready to split?" Toadette questioned, "I believe its ghost hunting time."

Serena grinned, "Okay gang, we've got a mystery to solve. The mystery of the missing Dark Moon."

"Serena don't make this awkward" Mario told her "None of us know what you're saying"

"I just wanted to—!"

Toadette cut her off, dragging Serena into the next room. There was a shout of "Avoid the metal dudes!" from Serena, a surprised shout from Toadette and the sound of metal impacting against the ground.

Luigi gave a grim smile. "Well you better go after them Mario"

"Good luck!" Toad said

"Thanks," Mario replied. "Stay safe you two." And with that farewell, Mario entered the hallway Toadette and Serena just went through, making his way to the rest of his team with no problems.

"Okay Toad, you ready to be a professional ghost hunter?" Luigi grinned, almost forcefully. "You kinda get used to it after a second time"

"Mm-hmm! Let's do it!" cheered Toad

"Nana nana poo poo! Hehehe!" A bright green ghost emerges from a suit of armour in the room, spooking Toad and making Luigi flinch.

"Well Toad, you wanted a ghost—I give you Greenies, the weakest of the bunch" Luigi spoke as if he were introducing an old friend, and he and Toad readied their flashlights. "I don't miss doing this…"

There was a bright flash, and the greenie shrieked, trying to escape the all too familiar suction power of the poltergust. It was all for naught as the Greenie soon became trapped in Toad's poltergust.

Toad cheered at his first capture. "I got him!"

Luigi sighed, "One down, an uncertain amount of ghosts to go…"

Ahhh! So sorry for wait guys, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, E Gadd was quite hard to write tbh. I have it all planned out I just need to write it! As always, please review, the time taken to write one isn't going to kill you.

I'm sure the references were obvious, kudos to those who got them! There's more where that came from!

And there are so many mysteries afoot here. Will they all be solved in this arc? Let me know what you think whether it's in a PM or a review.

And the news? SnivyLatios kinda pointed it out. Anyone heard of Amino? It's practically a social gathering for fans under many different fandoms. I'm a part of Mario Amino, where SMU is also being posted. I'm working with a user there to get some things drawn, maybe we'll get a cover soon?

Until next time,

Magyk-Foal1, out!