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

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

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

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

"And the second?"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Twenty guards raised their hands.

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

Eight hands remained raised; the others went back down.

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

"Search them."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"But Ruby said—"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Voices came from within the library.

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Please do."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Don't move, any of you."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Hmph. Don't mention it."

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

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

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

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

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

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

Peach sighed. "So it was Harry?"

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

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

Russ saluted and marched from the throne room.

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

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

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

"Pssst. Bill. Over here."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"What?" said Bill impatiently.

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

"Wait? Wait for what?"

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

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

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

"DOOPLISS!!"

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

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

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

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

"I sure will."

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

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

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