Mario grumbled, threw down the Catch Card Sp and began to walk around the dock. Following the path out of the docks, Mario heard some workers conversing about a girl. It had to be Daisy, after all, the way the kremlings talked, it had been a while since they'd see a girl who hadn't been devolved to look like them in a long time.

Heading under the giant Count Bleck poster, Mario entered some weird factory like area. There were gears, pipes and steam pumped all around him. To a plumber, that was anything but nauseating. Yet the more he continued on, he still found no sight of her. The closest he seemed to get was people talking about her. There were cops all around and he didn't want to attract their attention, so Mario just tried to stay away.

"Get out of here, snipe!" Mario heard some men say behind a metal door. At first he paid them no attention, but he did notice the malice in their voices. "You wanna know what we do to pretty little stowaways? Or maybe you don't." That got his attention. There was someone in trouble. The first step to becoming a good person again was perhaps becoming a good person. Besides, what would this one act of kindness cost him? Despite his enhanced strength, pulling the door apart still required effort.

Thankfully, there on the ground, crystal around her neck, was Luvbi and two burly Koopas above her. As soon as she turned and saw him, though, she ran away from the men, who looked at Mario with confusion. "Hey, just stop for a minute!" pleaded Mario.

"Get away from me! Stay away!" she yelled. Did she really think she could stop Bowser without him?

"I just want to talk to you!"

"I said stay away!"

"Luvbi!" Mario shouted as he neared her, but all of a sudden, party decorations flooded out of an open portal and into his face. Wading through them, Mario yelled, "I'm not angry with you!" There she was, in front of him then and pushing open a large wooden door. As he neared though he noticed that she summoned a train using the crystal and he quickly jumped back to avoid it.

"I am not going with you! Not with all these people in danger! I have no need for you anymore!" She was at a wall now, Mario walked, trying to approach her calmly but tensely. She quickly used her crystal again and jumped through to the other side. From what Mario could see, there were two officers there. Sure enough, they grabbed her, and Mario could hear her struggling on the other side.

"It's her! Call it in, call it in!" called one of the cops. No, not now. Not when they were this close. All they had to do was get Mowz her gunships and they could bounce out of this place! Mario doubled out of the factor by heading up on out through a flight of stairs. He could see above from the empty corridor he spilled into that the officers were taking Luvbi into a corridor perpendicular to his position.

Their distance was within reach, so Mario jumped and incapacitated one officer by stomping on his head while hitting the other one square in the chest with a fireball. He took a few deep breaths. That took out a lot more out of him than it did nine years ago. Turning to Luvbi, all Mario could ask was, "Are you done now?"

"I'm not going with you," she maintained, and she booked it. Running into a docking yard, Mario followed her. There were crates on supply lines everywhere, a conductor's platform and several boxes of paperwork and liquor scattered around. She was there in front of him in a second, in an open area. Hopefully he could get her to calm down now.

"Plumber!" came a roaring voice and Mario fell back as a body collided into him. Nearly knocked out by the sheer power, Mario looked up and he recognized the man almost instantly. It was Chuck, the police guard who presided over his meeting with Ludwig in that first adventure. So, it seemed all of Bowser's cronies were in this place.

Grabbing him by the head, Chuck used inhuman - or in-koopa - might and launched Mario off the platform and above the endless sky below. Grabbing on to a crate, still hanging above danger though, Mario quickly found himself slipping but quickly pulled himself up. Just as he did though, Chuck shot the ropes to the crate and he quickly descended to the heavens below. Landing on a cushiony surface, Mario was for a second relieved to find that Luvbi used the crystal to zap a zeppelin in for him. Only for a second the relief lasted as he soon found himself slipping. Grabbing on to a rope off the side of the blimp, Mario came face to face with Luvbi as the blimp took him near a platform and far away from Chuck.

"Do not attempt to follow me, Mario," Luvbi warned him as Chuck roared in anger in the distance. "Your part in this adventure is done."

"Luvbi, I've made an arrangement to get our airship back!" Mario cried out, it was a desperate plea. It had to work otherwise he was screwed. Thankfully she turned around.

"You can get us out of here?" she asked skeptically.

"Yes!" Mario promised. "I just need enough weapons to supply an uprising!"

"And where will we get these weapons?" she asked. "From one of our many friends and allies?"

"A gunsmith in Twilight Town!" answered Mario, as the blimp neared the platform he got ready to hop off. "Should be a walk in the park." He looked at her and extended his hand. "What do you say, partners?"

"You're a liar and a thug, Mario," Luvbi said, shaking her head. "But you're also my only means of reaching Paris… and the one who can beat Bowser." She took his hand and pulled him on to the platform. He took a second to catch his breath, but Luvbi continued to sulk. "Don't get too comfortable with my company, Mario. You're a means to an end, no more."

That was it? After all they had been through, she disagreed with him because he didn't care enough to want to fight Bowser? Well the way it was going they may as well have done it now. Luckily, right by them were stairs descending into a station that promised to take them further into Twilight Town.

As soon as they entered the station, Luvbi pulled a pamphlet off of a bullet board, it was of a man named Gloomer. "That would be your gunsmith," she told him after reading the description. "Who told you to find him?"

"Ms. Mowz."

"She's either a great hero or the worst of scoundrels depending on who's doing the telling," Luvbi remarked.

"If she's good for an airship I don't care if she's the queen of Brooklyn," said Mario.

They walked through a currency exchange and then through some revolving doors they found the door blocked by troopers. Luvbi only looked at Mario and he nodded, they would have to get into Bleck's shanty towns illegally. Going off to stairs on the side, the two found a door that quickly took them to the lower levels of the building. There was a lobby below them with a door that could take them into Twilight Town, the problem was that it was guarded heavily. Coasting along the railings, Mario dropped Luvbi down below and quickly followed suit. Chucking a fireball up to the platform he was at before, Mario quickly got the attention of most of the guards and swiftly pushed through and into the doors.

It was an empty office space, nobody else was in there thankfully. Heading off to the back, where Mario spotted a service elevator, they noticed some safety deposit boxes. One was teetering open, heading there, Luvbi stepped back a little. "This was Morton Jr's box! He must have kept some personal stuff here," her voice trailed off as she pulled a diary out of the locker.

"This is Lena's diary. Why would Morton Jr have it?" she mused. Opening it, she began to read it out loud: "'My husband claims that our child is blessed by Kamek's divine will. I am a believer, but I am not a fool. The portal keeper's daughter... will be held under our roof when the congregation of the Pianta Syndicate occurs.'" Then she began to speak extremely fast; she was trying to hide her real feelings.

"You okay?" asked Mario.

"Well, so Bowser had been planning this for a long time," said Luvbi, ignoring him. "He always wanted to make Delfino Isle, something must have changed his…" Her breath got heavy. "Probably you… the Plumber arriving…" Then she blurted it out. "This dead witch decided years ago that I would be locked in Kamek Tower!"

"Luvbi...," Mario extended a hand to console her, but she looked at it once and then acted like it didn't exist.

"I just want to beat Bowser," she told him. Hitting the door of the service elevator, they both entered and slowly headed down into the bowels of Delfino Isle. It was a long descent to Twilight Town, with nothing eventful occurring until about halfway of the fifteen minutes they spent in it. That was when the elevator phone rung.

"Hello?" Luvbi answered it.

"Hold for Count Bleck please," a female secretary said on the other end.

"What's going on?" she asked, passing Mario the phone.

"Mario? Count Bleck here," it was indeed the ghastly voice of the disgusting racist right-hand man of Bowser. "Listen my boy... we've had our eyes on you for quite a while now and I can tell you right away that you are our top candidate! Top! My associate Doopliss will help you with anything." With that, he hung up the phone, leaving Mario bewildered as to what on Earth that maniac wanted.

"What the hell was that?" Luvbi asked Mario.

"No idea," said Mario.

"He seemed oddly pleased to make your acquaintance," noted Luvbi and they were quiet again, and then they passed by it: a giant golden statue of Count Bleck. The very sight of such a sickening measure made her huff in defiance. It was probably towering over the denizens of Twilight Town. Soon they entered the levels of the town itself, they could tell as the first thing they passed were cramped living quarters with rats all around. Then men watching propaganda videos. Then a trooper assaulting a Kremling, or was it a Toad? It was hard to tell in the dark light, they couldn't make out just how exactly the man had been devolved.

Nevertheless, they soon descended to the bottom floor and the elevator doors opened up. Waiting for them at there was a pale man, blonde, red eyes with his clothing covered by a pale white cape. Only his ostentatious red shoes were visible. This had to be Count Bleck's associate, Doopliss.

"Mario, welcome to Twilight Town," he bowed slightly. "You'll find a variety of supplies here that should see you through your visit."

"What does Count Bleck want with us?" Luvbi asked him.

"So sorry, ma'am, but Bleck is only interested in the gentleman," Doopliss told her while eying her curiously.

"But still," insisted Luvbi.

"So sorry, young miss," he slithered. "Any questions regarding the gentleman's application must be taken up with Bleck himself."

With that, he punched a button behind him and a giant metal gate opened up. They were in Twilight Town. It was a dirty, grey town. It was much like Doopliss, but very much unlike his almost regal clothing. The cobblestone floor was cracked under much pressure. The smoke and pollution fogged every street and window. The officers seemed extra cruel. It was almost like New York from the 50s or a coal mining town in the Klondike gold rush. The way to Gloomer's gunsmith shop was not long, it was almost right by them, just across a bend. Entering, the first floor was full of powder, smelting equipment and a forge. In barrels there were gunpowder barrels and in side rooms the gunpowder was in fine plastic sacks. Heading up the stairs, Mario stopped to look at an idol. It looked like Rool, but kind of like Luigi as well...

"I've read about this... that's not Rool, but Waluigi," Luvbi told him. "Kremlings worship him, they say that nine years ago he became the next Rool and will usher them into an age of enlightenment."

"Something tells me Bowser doesn't take to the worship of any idols but himself, especially Luigi," chuckled Mario. The irony that his brother could be worshipped as a rival deity against Kamek was not lost on him. Yet he stared hard at the idol. Could the nine years under the sea really have warped Luigi into a crocodilian monstrosity like that? He hoped not, for Daisy's sake… for his Daisy's sake.

Heading upstairs, to the gunshop they found some machines in order. Most of them, though, were broken and busted. Some papers were thrown around. Overall, the entire room seemed to be in disarray. "Someone worked this place over, Don Pianta's boys no doubt." Almost as if on cue, they heard a woman crying. Turning around, there was a woman, her name tag said Eve, crying at the Waluigi statue. Heading down, Mario asked her, "Excuse me, ma'am. Where's Gloomer?

"Not here," she said between sobs. "They take him. I pray to Waluigi they give me my husband back."

"Where did they take him?" asked Luvbi.

"Pit, everyone is taken to the Glitz Pit," bawled Eve.

"Leave her," Mario told Luvbi when she pressed. "We'll find this Glitz Pit. The Pianta Syndicate probably got their foot on his neck while asking about Mowz. Now, let's find it."

Stumbling back outside into Twilight Town, Mario began to make way for a pair of open gates. Best way to head would probably forward. If the gates were open, it meant that the officers that took Gloomer opened there. Wherever the troopers were, sow as the Glitz Pit. Suddenly though, Mario felt a harsh hand on his neck.

Flying through the air, Mario knew that it could only mean one thing: Chuck had found him. Getting back up, Mario was backhanded into a wall. The blow would have certainly killed him had he not been graced with enhanced strength. Running, Mario started to throw fireballs at him while standing on the patios in front of shops. They hardly seemed to faze Chuck. He was just an ordinary police officer all those years ago… something must have happened. Bowser must have experimented on him to make him stronger.

Picking up a Kremling, Chuck threw the poor man at Mario. Ducking, Mario instantly regretted not taking the hit as soon as he saw the poor man in a crippled heap. No time to dwell on it, though. Jumping up to a rooftop, Mario started to throw even more fireballs. Chuck stumbled back, but suddenly generated an electrical ball, shaped kind of like a rugby ball. The ball of electricity hit Mario with such force that he fell and hit the canopy before stumbling onto the cobblestone floor.

Chuck ran forward and punched Mario again, sending him flying - but the plumber made sure to land on his feet. For a little bit, that was all it was, Chuck pounding on Mario - who kept on absorbing the blows, but there had to be a time when he no longer would. He wasn't that young anymore either, that time would come faster than it usually would.

Although he hardly thought so, his fireballs were indeed affecting Chuck, slowly wearing him down. When Chuck took a breather, Mario kicked him off and darted backwards. Eventually getting some distance, Mario saw the wear and tear in his enemy's movements and unleashed a flurry of fireballs, bringing Chuck to his knees. Taking the chance, Mario charged at the gargantuan trooper, jumped and stomped Chuck's bloody brains into the pavement. He didn't want to, but this time, he had to.

"I admit, Mario," Luvbi told him when he caught his breath. "But you certainly do know your way around a brawl. I apologize, you know, for calling you a thug."

Mario simply nodded, and they headed down the street until Luvbi stopped him and pointed upwards. The Glitz Pit was not a small codenamed building, no, as Luvbi pointed it out, it was a giant fighting arena. A boxing ring and all within a building that seemed out of place in Twilight Town. "There it is, Mario. Now we just need to find Gloomer and get out of here."

The lobby featured a strange welcoming automaton, green carpeted flooring and twin staircases. It was fancy and was like some weird fancy gentleman's club, it was completely out of place in Twilight Town.

"Ah, Mario my boy!" said Count Bleck through the PA system. "You know, the best kind of interview is the one where the applicant doesn't even know he's being evaluated! I've watched you since the other day at the lottery! You're a brute, and in times like this I could use a brute!"

"What do you want, Count Bleck?" asked Mario.

"Why Mowz is coming!" laughed Bleck. "She's got the whole jungle riled up! A man like me could have use for an old Plumber like you!" Heading up the stairs, Mario opened the door to find himself in a skybox with a bar overlooking the boxing ring.

"Let's find Gloomer and get the hell out of here," said Mario to Luvbi, with her curtly nodding in response.

"Now, now, all I ask is that you finish what you started, Mario," requested Bleck over the PA. "Wouldn't want to disappoint the other applicants!" As if out of nowhere, a man ablaze rushed Mario. His main power was fireballs, how would he fight a human blowtorch? Avoiding fireballs for once, Mario ducked behind a pool table, but grabbed the cue. As the fireman neared, Mario smashed the cue over his head and threw the defeated foe down the balcony. "He was a veteran of your fight with Rool! Fought for Don Pianta as a capo! Now what's that they say about old soldiers? My money was always on you! This next one though? He's a devoted servant of the late Lady Lena, worships her statues and all!"

A flying Koopa came charging at Mario, the problem though with mechanical wings? They overheated easily. Quickly causing the parakoopa's wings to implode, the man went flying in circles until he hit a wall.

"Now enough of the opening acts. Your true rival is an excellent replicant! His ambition has already served him well! Fight Doopliss, fight!" Out came Doopliss, the man who had encountered them earlier. Wearing white cape now with its hood covering his face, he looked like a Klansman… well aside from what appeared to be a blue hat with stars over the cowl.

He was probably the best fighter out of all them, attacking Mario with swift succession. Pounding at Mario's face, he smashed the plumber into a wall and used momentum to throw him off. Luckily Mario landed on the ropes and slid off onto the floor, it did not stop the pain though. Jumping off, Dooplis nearly smashed Mario's face into the floor like Mario had Chuck. That would have been it. That was when Mario realized why he was losing so easily to this man, Doopliss was copying his every fighting move. The man had watched Mario fight and was mimicking him perfectly.

He may not have had Mario's strength, but he had his skill. There was no way Mario could beat Doopliss. Taking the punches, Mario eventually began to wear out and stumbled down, he was going to lose. Luckily though, he noticed Luvbi behind Doopliss, she pointed her crystal at him and opened a portal. Where it seemed to go to, Mario couldn't exactly tell, but it looked like Dinohattan. He didn't think twice and bowled into Doopliss, pushing him into the portal. Before he could jump back, Luvbi closed it.

Well, he was gone. Mario took some deep breaths and wanted to fall down. He thought he was a dead man there. "Congratulations Mario! You know when your name was first passed to me I wasn't sure you were the man for the job! But now I can say with all certainty that I was wrong!"

"I'm not interested in your job Bleck!" yelled Mario.

"Now, now I know all about your little job for Mowz," Bleck's words oozed out the PA. "Do you really want to take her job over mine? Do you know how many would kill to be head of my security? You're a tough nut to crack, Mario... but I promise you this, I will get what I want." With that, Bleck went silent.

Pressing forward to a door, Luvbi pushed it open to reveal a stairwell. Heading downstairs, the basement of the Glitz Pit was dank, wet and dark. The wood flooring was weak and wearing away. Mario was slightly scared that they could rot and send him plummeting to the world below.

Inspecting a blackboard, Luvbi pointed out Gloomer's cell number: 9. "Fink reminds me a lot a guy I knew, Big Eddie," remarked Mario.

"Really?" asked Luvbi. "Is he a businessman too?"

"He is now, but Fink reminds me him when we were teens," responded Mario. "I'll tell you this, if people like him are in the world, then people like Mowz are required." Making their way into a chamber, they both stopped cold as they saw what was playing on the projector. An interrogation, a man in a hood. As soon as the officer in the video started talking, Mario knew that it was Gloomer under the rag.

"Tell us what you know about Mowz you damn Kremling!" the o sfficer in the video pat. "We know you can hear us? You want to say something, or do you want us to bring in Eve for company?" These men were dastardly and evil, just like most of the Pianta Syndicate. Throwing a bucket of ice water on him, Mario looked to Luvbi who was disgusted by man's actions. They moved on, and this time, when they spotted a Catch Card SP, it was Luvbi who hit play. It was Bowser.

"To tax the Kremling more than the Koopa, is that not cruel? To forbid the hybridization of the species, is that not cruel? To give the vote to the Pianta, and deny it to the human, the Kremling, the Toad – is that not cruel? But is it not cruel to banish your children from a perfect timeline? Or drown Culex's flock under an ocean of water? Cruelty can be instructive, and what is Delfino Isle, if not a schoolhouse of Kamek."

It was not too long ago that Mario had learned that he too was biologically a Koopa, not a human. He still regarded himself a human though, a Brooklyn boy altogether. Luvbi too was a Koopa, and she too was exempt from Bowser's racism. Making their way to the cell blocks, Mario opened up the door to number 9 but it was empty inside. That was when Bleck's voice aired up on the speakers again.

"Mario, you're a true brute!" he complimented, but it hardly felt like one. "But you can't blame me for looking after my own… interests, can you? I know Mowz has come calling, but I think you'll find your business with her has come to an end. Koopas walk with Koopas, not Kremlings!"

Heading down a stairwell opposite them, Mario and Luvbi made way to an interrogation room... by following a trail of blood through a series of clinical rooms. The blood ended in a black room, the same room where that video of Gloomer had been made. Hitting the light switch, Mario could hardly show any surprise when he saw the mangled, brutalized body of Gloomer.

"We're too late, goddamn it," cursed Mario.

"This is what he meant," gasped Luvbi, as she put her hand to her mouth.

"We need someone to make those guns, dead is dead," sighed Mario. Another light from a distance blinked open.

"Dead is dead," came a voice from the light. It was Iggy, with his sister Wendy not far behind him. Mario gasped, where the hell did they come from?

"I see heads," remarked Wendy.

"I see tails," Iggy retorted.

"It's all a matter of perspective," declared Wendy.

"Why are you following us? Who sent you? Count Bleck?" asked Mario. Lighting up a fireball in his hand, he was prepared to put down two more Koopalings right there and then.

"What do you see here? From this angle?" asked Iggy.

"Gloomer," answered Wendy.

"And that angle?" asked Iggy.

"Eve."

"Mario," said Luvbi, pulling on his arm. "His wife."

"This one needs a nudge," sighed Iggy and he pointed to a tear in space and time, one that Luvbi could use her crystal to hop through. It was the gunsmith's shop.

"A different building, a different gunsmith, a different perspective," spelled out Iggy. Why were these two helping him? "Heads. Tails. Husband. Wife." Iggy walked to the left and left, Wendy did the same but went right. No other alternative, Luvbi opened up the portal to Gloomer's shop and they stepped through. They were in the ground floor. There was shouting outside, was there a protest? The building was surrounded by unorganized sound, incredibly violent noise. Had they stepped forth a few days in the future? Twilight Town was bad when they exited but this… this was just terrible.

"We're two weeks into the future," said Luvbi, pointing to a calendar with days marked off. "It's practically another Delfino Isle."

"Something tells me things changed from the days since we were at the Pit," sighed Mario. The yelling was riotous. There were men and women banging on the doors, which were barred with iron. Once they broke the glass they pulled at the metal rods.

They could hear Bleck's voice outside. It was loud, was he leading a charge against the rioters? Probably. "What is going on here Doopliss, as my head of security, I suspect you'll want to find out how Mario and the girl got out of the basement and into the gunsmith's shop!" So, he was still after them! Yet there was no way that Count Bleck could reach them. For now, they were safe. Heading up to Eve, Mario could not find any machines there at all, or any powder or anything. Where was everything?

"Eve, Ms. Mowz sent us, we need to talk about getting some weapons!" he called out to her.

"They took my husband's tools, Bleck's men," she whispered. "They locked them up in the… impound in the Creepy Steeple."

Nodding to Luvbi, the two knew that they would be heading to the Creepy Steeple. This was too goddamned complicated at this point. First find Gloomer, too bad he was dead. Then find his tools for his wife to work with in the future? Well, they're gone. Too bad they needed that airship.

Heading out, the rioting in the streets was bad. The ground was literally bursting beneath them and being reduced to rubble, ash and dust. It appeared that Bleck had left, and so had Doopliss. More surprisingly, Doopliss had returned from Dinohattan. Well, it had been a few weeks, he certainly did have time to make his way back.

Yet the sun was shining, the Kremlings were rioting in broad daylight. Making their way into an area of quiet, Luvbi took the lead. What connection did she have to the Daisy in Dinohattan right now? "If you want to ask me something, then ask," Luvbi told him, probably noticing his gruff silence. "It's all right, I'm as much a mystery to me as anyone else. Bowser knows though." Mario said nothing in response. If Twilight Town was this bad, then the Creepy Steeple had to be worse. The path to the Steeple was a long golden bridge, made by Bleck's laborers. Like Mario expected, they were rioting there as well, so he had ample time to get across with Luvbi in safety. Walking into the Twilight Town Housing, Mario took an elevator down.

It was not like the last elevator rides, Luvbi talked right away. "You must think me some sort of freak," she said in frustration. "A girl who can make portal to the future. Whose only acquaintance is a giant dragon? I must seem ridiculous."

"You just got dealt a bad hand," said Mario.

"I'm not going back to that tower, no matter what happens!" she declared.

"They won't stop until you do."

"Why? What did I do to them?"

"You frighten them."

"Good."

That was that, no more talking between the two as the housings that dignified the true disgusting nature of Delfino Isle came into view. Just like last time. The elevator opened, and they walked into the Creepy Steeple. It was exactly what Mario had expected, a giant housing project with dirt for a road, some broken stone paths here or there. Twilight Town had been bad, this was that much worse. Deteriorating rooms, no light but that which was allowed. Candles burning everywhere, waxing and melting in equilibrium. No wonder Mowz was leading a rebellion. It was better to die than to know your descendants would live in a cesspool like this. Some men were gathered near the center there, where on a few cardboard boxes stood a Kremling. The word, or name, 'Heronicus' was tattooed onto the man's bare back, likely a form of humiliation. Whoever this man was, he was rallying these Kremlings and Toads, the disenfranchised. He had a booming voice and he was using it.

"This is what they want, brothers! To keep you so hungry you can't speak to beg! To keep you so ignorant you can't think of solutions to all your problems! To keep you chasing that Koopon so you can buy everything that they are selling! Brothers! Ms. Mowz says there is another way, another way coming soon!"