Author's Notes:: Honestly, I am a tad surprised about just how fast I was capable of writing this next chapter, but lately I have had quite a bit of inspiration as of late, and I had this one done before I even know it! So, anyway, this one deviates from the norm, checking up on the other cast members, just like always after the end of a major arc. You'll see some faces from before, that's for sure. Nothing major contributing towards a twist, just a foreshadow of things to come!

Chapter 29: The Unexpected

"AT LAST!"

The door slammed open, revealing an extremely excited Professor.

"Hey, cool it, Gadd!" Sarah shouted. "Do you have any idea what time it is?"

"DO I EVER?!" he shouted. "Everyone pack your bags, it's time to go home!"

"Home?" Lee asked.

The group had been allowed to stay in the Princess's Castle since they had arrived almost a week ago. It wasn't too bad, living the good life with royalty. Though it had been boring as well. This was the last major thing to occur since Luigi was accidentally sent to another dimension.


Everyone got dressed, and proceeded back down to the castle's basement. The Professor had been working for days, trying to re-create his time-space machine from before. Odd for someone who spent days awake to be so full of energy.

"Here it is!" he shouted, unveiling his machine once more to the group. "Behold, the Time-Space Machine 2.0!"

"Ooooo!!!" Ed exclaimed, running over to the machine. "Is it my turn!?"

"Stop, stop, CEASE!" E. Gadd shouted. "This time, I will be deciding on who gets to go."

"Can I go?" Ed asked again. "I really want to go to the underworld! It's been a burning ambition to visit the minions of Hades!"

"…Hades?" E. Gadd asked.

"Yeah, lookie here, I'll show you!" Ed shouted, running towards the machine.

"Wait!" the professor shouted. "I haven't told you how it works yet!"

Ed jumped into the booth-like machine.

At once, the time machine began to glow. Small lights began blinking, and a series of beeping noises could be heard. The machine began humming to life, and even began to lift upwards into the air. The group watched in awe as it rose higher and higher, becoming louder and louder. Air rushed across the room, and dust picked up, forcing everyone to cover their ears and eyes.

Ed, oblivious to it all, laughed goofishly. He wove a goodbye wave to everyone, then pointed into the sky heroically.

"TO HADES!!"

"No!" everyone shouted at once.

ZZZZZZZZZZAAAAAAAPPPP!!!

The machine suddenly vanished with a loud explosion. With that, silence resumed in the room.

Sarah and Johnny exchanged glances, then looked back towards the spot.

"…did it work?" May asked.

"I don't know." E. Gadd said, flabbergasted. "He didn't give me a chance to test it."

"It kind of looks like he just exploded." Johnny said.

"I'd be fine with that." Sarah stated.

"He might be in trouble…" E. Gadd said. "The machine, if not controlled manual, does respond to voice command too."

"…so he actually-"

The group stopped. "Nah."

There was a sudden explosion once more. In instants, the machine suddenly reappeared. The entire machine was soaked, dripping on the floor, a horrible dark purplish ooze. It looked as if it had taken severe damage somehow, as it was dented in several placed. The glass walls were shattered, and wires and coils hung loosely around the machine.

"Ed!" Johnny exclaimed.

The group approached the machine. Upon getting a closer look, it looked even more damaged. Handprints were seared into the metal casing. Several of the bolts and nuts had been ripped out, causing a lot of the framework to break apart.

Inside of the machine stood Ed. He was entirely soaked in the same peculiar dark purple liquid. He fell to his knees, with an expression of petrifaction on his face. His cloths looked battle-torn, and both of his shoes were mysteriously absent.

"Ed, what happened to you?!" E. Gadd asked.

"S-scary… dimension." Ed moaned softly.

"Figures." Sarah said.

"That's the price you pay for not listening to the instructions, unfortunately." E. Gadd stated. "He must have accidentally sent himself to the wrong dimension. By the looks of it, some horrifying world."

Ed ran towards the machine's controls again, albeit still shaken.

"I have to go back!"

"Back to where?" Lee asked.

"…that place." Ed stated. "THEY NEED ME!!"

"He's lost it." Sarah said. He turned to the professor. "Hey Gadd, he should get out of here."

"I MUST RETURN! The others, they want their marrow!!"

Two Toad guards arrived on the scene, one of each grabbed Ed

"No! No! NOOOOOOOOO!!!"

With that, the bumbling Ed was pulled away through the basement door,

E. Gadd looked back at he battered old machine.

"…anyway, it looks like it will still function." E. Gadd stated. "But it will need some repairs. I'll likely be working all day, by golly. Again."

"Thanks to that moron." Sarah grumbled.

"C'mon." Lee groaned. "Let's go kill time."

"AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!"

Everyone turned around to face the door. The blew open, slammed against the wall, and cracked due to the force. Toadsworth threw himself into the room, and ran towards the others in a complete state of panic.

"Whoa!" May shouted.

"What's going on?" Sarah asked.

"The-the-the castle! We're under fire!" Toadsworth shouted.

Everyone exchanged glances at one another. It was only in their moment of silence that distant explosions and shouts could be heard from somewhere upstairs.

"By Jove, who's attacking?" E. Gadd asked.

"We don't know!" Toadsworth shouted. "Our guards are upstairs, returning fire!"

"GREAT SCOTT!" E. Gadd shouted back.

"I shall go do my best in the heat of battle." Toadsworth stated.

"…you?" Sarah asked. "But you're-"

"I'm perfectly fine." Toadsworth stated. "You kids stay down here and have that professor beam you all out of here as soon as possible."


Toadsworth rushed upstairs, into the main foyer. Two of the castle guards braced themselves against the front door.

"We can't hold it!" one of them shouted.

"You must!" Toadsworth shouted. "I say, our lives depend on it!"

But all in vain. The door quickly shot open, revealing a large creature on the other side. It looked like a huge, dragon-like Koopa, with a large, green spiked shell and red hair.

All of the guards in the room sighed in relief

"Oh, it's just you." one of them said. Some of the guards continued about their business.

"Hey!" Bowser shouted, walking into the room, clearly upset. "I just busted in dramatically! Don't just ignore me!!"

"Sorry." One of the guards said. "But your princess is in another castle."

Bowser groaned. "What?"

"She's not here right now. It seems she's trapped in another dimension." Toadsworth stated.

Bowser sighed, sounding somewhat disappointed. "Do you know when she will be back?"

"I don't know." Toadsworth shrugged.

"Ok, I'll come back later." Bowser stated, turning towards the door.

"Hey!" another one shouted at him. An old lady of a Koopa, garbed in a purple and blue witch's flew inside the door, riding atop a broomstick. "You're just leaving, just like that?!"

"Well duh, Kammy." Bowser said. "I came to kidnap Peach, she's not home, so I'll come back when she is."

"Don't you see, my lord?" Kammy Koopa asked. "With her gone, there's nobody to take the throne. It's yours for the taking!"

"It is?" Bowser asked.

"I swear you're like a child sometimes." Kammy sighed.

"That's child king to you, Kammy!"

She sighed again, and shook her head.

Bowser pointed forth, towards the toads.

"From now on, and forever, this castle is mine!" Bowser exclaimed.

The guards didn't respond, still going about their duties.

"Where is Mario, I need some kind of challenge." Bowser said.

The guards sighed again. "Mario's stuck in another dimension too."

Bowser's face slowly turned into a smile. "Is he?"

"Yup." one of the Toads said. "He won't be back for a while."

"Really…" Bowser's expression turned into an evil one. "And who's here to protect the castle."

All of the guards suddenly stopped, exchanging glances amongst one another.

Bowser pointed into the castle again. "Koopatrol!" He ordered. "Invade! Seize the castle! Make it ours!"

A series of Koopas dressed in shining armor rushed into the foyer. All of the guards shouted and screamed in shock as the castle instantly flooded with enemies.


The basement was in a state of panic as well.

"They're inside the castle, I can hear it!" May shouted.

"That's it." Sarah said. She pushed all the others aside, and walked towards the machine.

"Wait!" E. Gadd said. "Don't make the same mistake your brother made!"

Sarah ignored him and got into the booth of the semi-broken machine.

"I haven't finished repairing it yet! There's no telling what will happen to you!"

Sarah ignored the warnings and pushed the "start" button. The machine, awkwardly and noisily, came to life again. It shook as it rose into the air again, glowing brightly.

"Wait!" Johnny shouted. He attempted to stop her, but the professor held him back.

The machine flashed, creating a loud zapping noise, then vanished from the room.

"…she's gone." May stated.

"Good riddance." Lee said.


Miss Francis Foster opened the door. Two people stood on the other end. A teenager dressed in a green shirt, black shorts and red hat, and an older man, garbed in blue overalls, a green shirt, and green cap.

"Can I help you?" she asked them.

Kevin approached her. "Have you seen someone by the name of Nazz?"

"No, sorry." She said.

"How about somebody named Double D?"

Francis nodded. "Yeah, have we ever! They visited very recently, and helped everyone here a lot."

Kevin and Luigi looked up at the old building.

Foster's home appeared to be in a severe state of disrepair. Several of the walls appeared damaged. Several cranes and plenty of repairmen had surrounded the building, hammering and drilling the house back together, causing quite a racket.

"Did he do this?" Kevin asked.

Francis sighed. "It's a long story…"

Another figure approached the door. It appeared to be a tall, olden rabbit, wearing a butler's suit, as well as a monocle. He was wearing a large bandage on his head, clearly trying to recover from a recent injury.

"Whom is it?" Herrmann asked.

"It's two guys, looking for Double D."

"Oh, good evening, gentlemen." he stated. "I'm sorry to say you have just missed Eddward. He and his friends left to go to Peru about 5 days ago. He even took Master Mac and Master Blooregaurd with him."

"Peru." Kevin said. "'K, thanks."

With that, Kevin turned around and walked away.

"W-wait!" Luigi said, following Kevin shortly behind.

Francis and Herriman merely shrugged and closed the door, resuming to their cleaning duties.

"She's got to be there." Kevin said.

"Do you think we will find my bro there too?" Luigi asked.

"Probably." Kevin said. "I guess."

"You guess?" Luigi asked.

"That dork's group seems to be growing bigger. They got some little 8-year old kid with them now, it sounds like."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" responded a voice.

The two of them looked to see a scraggly, pimple-faced teenager in a red plaid shirt.

"Did you just say an 8 year old?" the teen asked.

"Yeah, what's it to you?" Kevin asked.

"That sounds like my brother. You know where he is?" the boy asked.

Luigi glanced behind the teen, noticing a small poster on a fence.

"Hey…" Luigi started. "Is it me, or do you look kind of familiar?"

The teenager looked backwards, spotting the picture. He gasped, ripped the "missing" poster off the wall, and shoved it behind his back. "Nah, we never met, but I'm not running away or anything!"

"Whatever." Kevin groaned.

"The name's Terrance." he said.

"Kevin."

"I'm-a Luigi."

"Cool, cool…" Terrance sighed. "Ok, let's get down to the point."

"The point?" Luigi asked.

"Sorry, we don't have time now." Kevin said. "I guess we need to find the next plane to Peru now."

"Hey, hey, slow down." Terrance said. "That kid who went with them, that's Mac. He's my brother. My long, lost, beloved little brother." His voice sounded insincere.

"And your point is…?" Kevin asked.

"I'm looking for him. Take me with you!" Terrance said to them.

Kevin's eyes widened. He held both of his hands outward. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. We don't just let any old dorks join us, you know."

"Oh, I'm not just any old dork!" Terrance said. "I'm a supreme, one of a kind, major awesome dork!"

Kevin and Luigi merely stood there, with raised eyebrows.

"…wait, that didn't come out right." Terrance said.

Kevin closed his eyes. "We're out of here."

"W-wait!" Terrance said. "What if I promised you something?"

"Like what?" Kevin asked.

Terrance silences. His eyes darted right and left, and his words were stuttering. He seemed to be searching his mind for a solution, albeit failing.

"Uh, uh, uh, uh…. Uh……….. Oh!!!"

Terrance snapped his finger. "Before they left, there was thing big old fight with a huge monster-thing! They wrecked the house an cause some pretty awesome action! And this dude, the guy with a mask on his face, came here, trying to find a big star made out of crystal!"

"A crystal star?" Kevin asked, sounding genuinely interested.

"Yeah, that was it!" Terrance said, snapping again. "Mac had it! But then he left with those guys!"

"A crystal star…" Kevin said. "If they have it, then Beldam will go after them. And if Beldam goes after them, then she will be there with Nazz."

"Huh?" Terrance asked. "Beldam? Who the heck is Beldam?"

"Never mind that." Kevin said. "Ok… we'll help you find Mac, if you help us find the others. Do we have a deal?"

"Yeah, sure." Terrance said, shaking Kevin's hand. As he did, his face began turning into a shady sneer.

"Wait." Luigi said. "Won't your parents be worried about you just leaving?"

"I'm already out on a trip anyway." Terrance said. "They won't even know."

Luigi looked down. "Something isn't right about this."

"Ok." Kevin announced to Terrance and Luigi. "Let's run to the airport while there's still time!"

The three of them took off, racing away from Foster's Home, down the street, and away.

"Hey!" shouted the little girl with braided hair. "Watch it!"

She had to jump to the side in order to avoid the three rampaging down the streets.

She got back up, dusting herself off.

"Doncha have any manners? Huh, donchadonchadonchadoncha?!"

She continued to wave her fist and shouted beyond the point in which they rounded a corner and vanished.

Goo, sighed. "Insensitive jerks!"

She hadn't quite managed to catch a glimpse of who exactly it was that had nearly run her over. Though it didn't really matter whom it was, she figured. Just a couple of insensitive guys with a place to go, and fast.

Goo walked further away, talking to herself as she walked.

"You know, it's a good thing that my mom let me go on that new trip across the country. I didn't think she would let me go, 'cause little girls don't normally get to travel across the country all by themselves. But then, when I asked he, she's all, yeah sure, just don't forget your underwear. I mean, why do adults always say that kind of stuff, they're like broken records or something weird like that."

Her one-sided conversation continued as she pressed further down the streets, in the opposite direction as the three who ran past.

She had on her person, a long stick, with a tied of sack on the end, with red and white polka dots.

"Heh, just like in the movies! I'm gonna find Mac and Bloo! They'll need my inventive genius!"


…..bbbbAAAAAAANGGG!!!!

Sarah growled in frustration, pushing the wreckage aside.

The time-space machine made an abrupt-crash landing. It seems that hyperspace wasn't too kindly on her travel. After the loud explosion when the machine hit, and debris had scattered about, she was forced to crawl out of the remains of the machine.

The angry little red-head finally managed to pull herself free from the pile of machinery remains.

"This things definitely won't travel again." she said. "That Gadd person have better send me to the right place."

Sarah began to look around. She appeared in be in an empty lot. A few cars were nearby, underneath city-styled light posts. She looked beyond the lot, noticing some tall structures surrounding her. They were interestingly designed, looking somewhat different in architecture then the kind she was used to.

However, the thing that gave her local away, was a looming strutting in the distance. An tall, brightly glowing clock tower stood there. It indicated the time: 4:52 AM.

She took a few steps forward, and focused her eyesight, just to confirm it.

Sarah sighed and brushed some of her red hair aside. "Ok. That's good. That's Big Ben. At least I'm on Earth."

Sarah growled one more time. "But they couldn't even get me home! How do you mix up Peach Creek, USA and London, England?!"

As time went on, she slowly began to realize her situation.

"…ok, I'm in a foreign country, across the Atlantic Ocean… no passports, no sane way to explain it. I'm so screwed."

She sighed. "Ok, I'll stow away in a plane or something. Ok, yeah, and I'll run from there to home."

She suddenly stopped, however. Sarah noticed that a shadow was forming in front of her. The source: behind her back.

Sarah gasped and turned around. There was a taller, teenaged man. The lighting in the lot made it complete impossible to see who it was.

"What do you want, pal?" Sarah asked.

"Please." he said, sounding desperate. "Where am I?"

"…whaddya mean?" She asked. "You're in London."

The man's eyes widened. "London? I'm not… …?"

Sarah folded her arms. "Not what?"

"Oh no!" he shouted. "I shouldn't be here!"

"Neither should I, buddy." Sarah replied. "But that's just how stuff happens, isn't it?"

The man gasped and ran past her, racing from the parking lot, and into the city streets.

Sarah narrowed her eyes and shook her head. "What is going on?"


Author's Notes: So, what do we end up with? I intro-ed Bowser, finally, as many people have been urging me too. Truthfully, he should have been in this story since the end of chapter 5 one fanfic ago, but at least he gets his entrance. More with him in the future!

So, what else can we expect with the impending new story arc:

Vivian's past will be explored, as a gift left by Beldam will leave her on a quest for answers. Goombella will be conflicted, when she, and her two devotees will be forced into a major, story changing situation. Our newest crossover will make Beldam meet her match. A certain witch will begin searching for a newer, stronger host. Mario will be confronted by his very own past. And, on top of it all, by this arc's end, a certain hero will be slain…

But, in the meantime, I'd ask again for your kind support and comments!