"Man, this place is huge," wheezed Luigi as he trudged down the circular hall after Mario. "How big around is this thing?"
"Aha! This looks like what we want," Mario announced as he looked to his left toward the center of the huge mothership. A door in the wall led to what appeared to be a cylindrical elevator shaft. "It's the elevator. We've got to get to the top of this ship and find that fourth Rainbow Ring. Let's go!" The brothers stepped through the doorway and onto the steel elevator platform, on which was emblazoned a huge purple mushroom with eyes and fangs—the emblem of the Shroob aliens. Mario grimaced at the insignia and hit the button for the top floor. The elevator began to rise—and as soon as it did Mario knew they were in trouble.
"The walls of this shaft are clear!" Mario exclaimed in consternation. "That means anyone in those hallways out there can look in here and see—"
Suddenly sirens wailed throughout the mothership, and red lights began flashing inside the elevator shaft. Every Shroob in the encircling hallways turned and stared into the shaft at Mario and Luigi.
Luigi gulped. "This doesn't look good..."
No sooner had he spoken than Shroob after Shroob dropped into the elevator shaft from above, guns aimed at the brothers. They surrounded the two within seconds. Mario and Luigi stood back to back in the middle of their enemies, staring back at them.
Nothing happened.
The elevator continued to rise. The Shroobs simply stood there, holding Mario and Luigi in their place. After a long minute of tense silence, the elevator shuddered to a stop at the top floor. The door slid open, and the Shroobs parted to allow Mario and Luigi to leave.
"Looks like we could fall right through the floor," Luigi whispered as he and Mario hesitantly stepped into the top floor hallway. He gulped as he looked down through the twenty stories of clear ceilings and floors all the way to the bottom.
"We have more important concerns right now, Luigi," Mario whispered back, looking around at the Shroobs lining the hall. All guns were trained on the two intruders. Two Shroobs came up behind the brothers and pushed them forward.
The plumbers and their hostile escorts came to a large mushroom-shaped door in the outer wall of the circular hallway. One of the aliens pushed a button on the wall, and the door split in half and slid to either side, revealing a black passageway lit only by infrequently spaced lights embedded in the ceiling. Mario and Luigi were shoved inside, and the door slid shut behind them.
A yellow glow abruptly lit the interior of the darkened corridor. Mario gazed down at the Hyacinth Ring on his right fourth finger as it sent forth its brilliant gleam.
"Next Ring, here we come," Mario muttered under his breath. "That is, provided we aren't being held prisoner in here."
"No more traveling in the dark," Luigi whimpered. "I hate the dark! It reminds me of that creepy mansion I had to rescue you from. Brrrr!" He shivered in fright.
"No time for being scared now, Luigi," Mario reprimanded him. "Let's see if there's a way out of this hall."
Together the brothers cautiously felt their way down pitch-black hallway. Walls, ceiling, and floor were all painted black to absorb light, leaving the brothers in total darkness with only one sense of direction—the few dim fluorescent lights in the ceiling. It felt like walking on an invisible floor—neither brother could see the floor. The Hyacinth Ring glowed ever more brightly as they continued forward.
After an eternity of walking in pitch darkness, Mario ran smack into a wall that blocked the hallway.
"End of the line," he announced. He ran his hand over the nearly-invisible wall hidden from sight in the darkness of the corridor. "Now what?"
"Maybe it's a secret door," suggested Luigi hopefully.
"Could be," Mario replied, still passing his hand over the surface of the wall, "but I don't feel anything like a—"
click
"—A button," Mario finished, startled. The wall began to slide ponderously to the left, admitting bright light into the dark corridor and nearly blinding the brothers. When their eyes had adjusted to the light and the wall in front of them had finished sliding aside, they saw a large gleaming steel room. A giant video screen at least thirty feet tall floated in mid-air behind a complex control panel loaded with touch-sensitive monitors. Seated at this ten-foot-long console were two figures obviously of the Shroob race, but different from run-of-the-mill footsoldiers. The one on the left was large, almost three times taller than the standard Shroob, and was obviously female, judging by her crimson dress. A white crown sat atop her bulbous head. The Shroob on the right was the average Shroob size, but was apparently aged. A crooked cane leaned against the control panel beside his seat, and his body was somewhat old and frail-looking.
Without warning both Shroobs turned in their seats and looked directly at the startled Mario and Luigi. Both Shroobs had those haunting hollow black eyes with gleaming red pupils, and the elderly one had a scraggly white mustache and goatee.
"Well," sneered the tall female on the left, "if it isn't Mario and Luigi, those pathetic mushroom heads!"
"P-Princess Shroob?!" exclaimed Luigi.
"No way!" Mario yelled. "We did you and your sister in years ago! And Shroobsworth too!"
"I still despise you pathetic humans," spat the alien princess, ignoring the brothers' words. "I still desire revenge for my precious younger sister, whom you so cruelly killed! And I STILL will spread the Shroobs to every corner of the Mushroom Kingdom until all of your race have been conquered and enslaved!" she shouted. "My sister...my dear, sweet younger sister... I WILL AVENGE HER!!" Princess Shroob leaped out of her seat with surprising agility and crashed to the steel floor not five feet from Mario and Luigi. The brothers backed away and went into battle stance.
"So this is why those Shroobs stuck us in that hallway," Mario muttered. "Princess Shroob wants hers. Well, we'll make sure she gets it!"
"Fools!" cried Princess Shroob, enraged. "I fear nothing! Do you hear me? NOTHING! The present I was going to give you before in payment for my sister's death—I will give it to you NOW! DIE!!!"
Princess Shroob roared and rushed the brothers, who leaped to either side to avoid her body slam. She turned toward Mario and began firing energy balls from her pincer hands. The red-capped plumber found himself dancing to avoid the relentless barrage.
Luigi ran up behind the royal Shroob and leaped, planting his feet squarely on her head. He quickly rebounded to the floor as his target roared in pain and swiped at him with her steel claws.
Without warning, the white-haired Shroobsworth clocked Luigi over the head with his cane. Luigi turned and swung a fist at the diabolical steward, knocking him backward into the control panel.
"Don't touch him!" roared Princess Shroob. "You will pay for that!" A huge black-and-purple meteor dropped from the ceiling, and the royal Shroob caught it and hurled it at Luigi. It struck him on the back as he turned to run and sent him flying, smashing his head into the giant video screen.
Mario started forward to help his brother, but Princess Shroob seized his left arm in her pincer claws and picked him up as easily as she would a rag doll. He struggled, but the Shroob princess held him fast. "Going somewhere?" she questioned viciously.
"I sure am!" Mario doubled up his free hand and socked Princess Shroob in the eye, making her roar more loudly than ever. She immediately dropped Mario and clutched at her wounded eye. Quickly Mario rushed to Luigi and helped him to his feet.
Princess Shroob roared again, and a single Shroob saucer zipped into the room, bearing a glass of green liquid on its topside. The Shroob Princess grasped the glass and downed its contents, healing her injury instantly. She then threw the glass aside and smacked the saucer back out of the room.
"Ahh, now I am stronger. Now to crush you two pests!" Again she fired a barrage of pink energy from her pincers. The brothers barely dodged it.
"Is it just me, or is she getting faster?" Luigi gulped.
Suddenly Princess Shroob charged up a tremendous energy ball in her mouth and fired the huge projectile at the brothers. They dodged it, but when it struck the floor it exploded in a shock wave of energy that sent them sprawling. Shroobsworth, having recovered from Luigi's blow, rushed up to the fallen brothers and tried to bite Mario's leg with his sharp fangs. Mario rolled out of the way and lashed out with his feet, scoring a direct hit on Shroobsworth's midsection. The steward tottered backward and collapsed, the wind knocked out of him.
"So you two are still as stubborn as you were before," sneered the royal Shroob with a nasty overtone. "Then I will have to unleash the power of this Ring to rid myself of you for good." She held out her right pincer, showing the green fourth Ring on one of the hand's two fingers.
"It's the Rainbow Ring!" exclaimed Mario.
"Prepare to feel my new power," intoned Princess Shroob wickedly. "You will love it!" Holding her right claw high, she shouted something in guttural Shrooboid, and the Ring suddenly gleamed bright green.
The next thing Mario and Luigi knew, they had been hit by a blast of invisible energy and been smashed against the control panel behind them.
"Wh-What?! Where did that come from?!" Luigi cried.
"The Jade Ring possesses psychic powers. You are at my mercy now!" laughed the monstrous Shroob in glee.
"Not yet we aren't!" Mario shot back. "I'm gonna get that Ring from you if it's the last thing I do!"
Princess Shroob picked Mario up off the floor with her newly-acquired psychic ability and bashed his head repeatedly against the ceiling until he was almost unconscious. Then she simply let him fall. He struck the floor and crumpled into a heap.
"Ungh..." Mario strained his muscles, trying to rise, but could not. "Too...strong... Ngh!"
"I will crush you, you filthy plumber!" threatened Princess Shroob, crushing his body with her psychic power. He grunted in pain and struggled against the invisible hold on him.
"HIYAA!!" Luigi slammed his fist into Princess Shroob's unprotected head, making her stumble forward and cutting off her psychic concentration. Immediately Mario was back on his feet, and together he and Luigi kept Princess Shroob too busy to focus and use her psychic powers. Gradually they wore her strength down; slowly they tired her out. At last the royal Shroob gasped for breath and staggered away from the Mario Bros.
"Why, you—!! How could this have happened?! Beaten by only two instead of four, and with my new power! Aagh—Noooo!!!" She staggered again and nearly fell.
"Time to finish this up," stated Mario confidently. "Lights out, Princess Shroob!"
Princess Shroob was knocked into the control panel under the force of Mario's finishing blow. She gave a horrible Shrooboid screech and collapsed. The red glow of her pupils faded into blackness. She was dead.
"Guess that takes care of that," said Mari with finality. He plucked the Jade Ring from his fallen enemy's claw and slipped it onto his right fifth finger. Now his right hand held the first four Rainbow Rings—Jasper, Topaz, Hyacinth, and Jade. "Four Rings down, four to go. Now let's get out of here." The brothers made for the door.
Suddenly Mario's four Rings burst into flaming color, glowing with such intensity that Mario and Luigi were nearly blinded. Mario's right hand began to shake uncontrollably under the influence of some powerful unseen force.
"I can't—control these things!" Mario yelled as he clutched desperately with his left hand at his spasm-wracked right. "Something's gone wrong! The Rings are reacting to something, but what?"
As Mario spoke, the four Rings suddenly shot off his fingers like bottle rockets and hovered to a stop over Shroobsworth's limp body. Mario and Luigi watched in open-mouthed amazement as the Rings unleashed a torrent of multicolored energy into the steward, causing him to lose his alien characteristics until -
Toadsworth groaned and opened his eyes. "Ugh... I say, where on earth am I?"
"Toadsworth!" Luigi dashed to him and helped him up.
The old steward tottered precariously on his feeble legs. "Thank you, Master Luigi. I'm feeling rather exhausted at the moment. Give me a minute to rest my feet." He slowly sat down in one of the chairs by the control panel.
The Rings, having finished restoring Toadsworth to his original form, flew to Princess Shroob and began channeling their energy into her as well. Mario was suddenly struck by a shocking idea. "Wait!" he cried as he watched the Rings transform the Shroob princess. "If Shroobsworth was really Toadsworth, then is Princess Shroob—!!" He stared at the transforming creature.
Having completed the change, the four Rainbow Rings returned to their places on Mario's right hand, leaving none other than Princess Peach lying on the control room floor. Her eyes fluttered open.
"Hm? Where am I?"
"PEACH!!!" Mario rushed to her.
"Mario!" Peach sat up. "It's you!"
The next instant Mario had Peach locked in a tight embrace. "You have no idea how worried I've been about you!" he exclaimed. "Thank goodness you're all right!"
"I was worried about you, you mean," Peach responded, arms still around Mario. "Cyanara's laid a trap for you! She's sent one Rainbow Ring to each kingdom dimension in order to lure you forward into her fortress, and she's got a trap there waiting for you!"
Mario released the Princess from his arms and put a hand on her shoulder. "I don't have a choice, Peach. You're safe and so is Toadsworth, but—"
"Toadsworth?!" Peach looked hastily around and spotted her steward. "You're all right!"
"Of course I'm all right, Your Highness!" spluttered Toadsworth. "I dare say I've had enough of this drab old room, though. Might we return to the castle?"
Peach smiled and brushed the question aside with a wave of her hand.
"Peach," Mario continued seriously, "you may be safe for now, but the Rainbow Guardians and the rest of the castle staff are still captive in that fortress. You know what Cyanara will do with them if they stay there long enough."
Peach nodded, tears welling in her eyes at the thought.
"And you know too what will happen if Cyanara manages to get all the rainbow objects."
"She'll never find the last Rainbow Disc, Mario," Peach informed him with an air of certainty. "It disappeared from the castle the day after we defeated the Shadow Legion. I don't even know where it is."
"Maybe that's for the better," Mario replied.
For the first time Peach took notice of her surroundings. "Mario...where are we?"
"We're in the control room of the Shroob mothership."
"Shroob mothership—!" Peach put a hand to her mouth. "Mario, I—I was—Did I—"
Mario silenced her. "I don't know how, but you were Princess Shroob. And yes, we had to fight you."
Peach began to cry. "Oh, I'm so sorry, Mario! Cyanara injected me and Toadsworth with Shroob DNA and mutated us both. And I actually attacked you!"
"It wasn't your fault, Peach," Mario said soothingly. "It's OK. We're fine and so are you. No harm done."
"Master Mario," Toadsworth spoke up, "shall we get out of this alien craft? I'm nearly airsick from flying so long!"
"Now that's the Toadsworth I remember," chuckled Mario.
"How is he holding up?" asked Cyanara, an intensity in her black eyes.
In this dim mid-sized room of stone, a startlingly complex array of electronic gadgetry lined one wall. A steel table sat in the room's center, and on it lay Athos, completely unconscious. A weird steel helmet with countless wires attached to it was firmly locked onto his head. The wires connected the helmet with the machinery along the wall.
The blue-suited technician bit his lip and looked nervously at the Empress.
"I said, 'Has Athos given in yet?'" Cyanara rephrased.
"N-No, Great One," stammered the technician. "H-He's s-still fighting it. J-Just another d-day or so and w-we should b-be able to overwrite h-his brain."
Cyanara's eyes blazed. "What about Amethyst?" she questioned menacingly.
The technician shook his head fearfully.
The Empress struck him in the face with her bare hand. "Imbecile. I want them both completely under my control by midnight, or I will have your head. Is that clear?"
He nodded rapidly, fear in his eyes, and rubbed his stinging cheek.
"Good." Cyanara started to turn away, then looked back at her underling. "I'll be waiting to hear of your success." Swiftly she left the room, leaving a fearful technician to complete his work under the shadow of her threat.
"Spy Guy is on his way," reported Shyga tiredly as she collapsed into the chair beside Daisy's hospital bed. "Dealing with him absolutely exhausts me. He can be so unreasonable sometimes!"
"He's my best agent," Daisy reminded her. "I trust his judgment."
Shyga didn't argue. She knew from past experiences that there were some things that simply shouldn't be questioned. She changed the subject. "Your Highness, Medic Guy was wondering about your behavior immediately after you came out of your coma. It was rather...odd."
"What did I do?" inquired Daisy. "I don't remember anything."
"Well," Shyga began, "you sat up very suddenly and yelled 'PEACH!!!' Then you fought the nurses and became almost hysterical when the doctor tried to calm you down. It was very unlike you. You seemed...frightened. Did you have a dream or something that scared you?"
Daisy frowned. "I can't remember anything, Shyga. Maybe I did. I—"
A loud beeping interrupted her. She sighed. "Shyga, could you give me a moment?"
"Of course, Your Highness," replied her servant sweetly. The blue-suited Shy Guy girl rose from her seat and left the room.
Daisy pressed a button on the side of her hospital bed, and whispering static filled the room. "This is quite a surprise, Spy Guy. You've never reported in this quickly before."
"That's because I usually don't have anything to report this soon," replied a masculine voice over the hidden radio. "Your Highness, it appears that the Mushroom Kingdom has been partitioned into multiple dimensions. I had to use the handheld teleporter to access different areas."
"Is Peach there?" asked Daisy hastily.
"I'm afraid not. Her castle is being occupied by the Paroidian Guard. But there is another, more pressing matter at hand. I'm currently outside the Great One's fortress. Brace yourself, Your Highness. You're not going to like this."
Daisy took a deep breath. "What is it?"
"It's your little sister, Your Highness. She's—"
Shyga burst back into the room, completely frantic. "Your Highness! Aster's gone!"
Instantly Daisy connected the two statements and realized what was going on. "Tell me you're not serious, Spy Guy!"
"I'm afraid it's true," Spy Guy responded. "I saw her here myself."
"NO!!" Daisy bolted out of her hospital bed. "ASTER!!!"
Shyga protested. "Your Highness, you're supposed to stay in bed—"
"Bed, nothing!" snapped Daisy. "My little sister has been kidnapped, and you want me in bed?! I don't think so! Spy Guy, can you get her out of there?"
"Negative. The place is too heavily guarded for me to enter in secret. You'd need a full-scale army to get her out."
"No!" Daisy buried her face in her hands. "Noooooooooooo!!!"
"Eeek!"
Princess Aster backed away from the approaching Empress. "D-Don't come any closer!"
Cyanara smiled at the little seven-year-old in the green silk dress. "If it isn't Princess Aster, Daisy's little sister," she remarked. "So nice of you to pay me a personal visit."
Aster hugged the wall of the throne room. Her breath came in short gasps, and her terror-filled eyes were glued to Cyanara.
"Come, come, Aster, there's no need to be so frightened," Cyanara soothed. She reached out her hand toward Aster.
Little Aster recoiled in horror. "D-Don't touch me!!" she shrieked.
Despite the frightened plea, Cyanara took her little captive's hand and drew her away from the wall. Aster shivered uncontrollably in the grasp of her captor. The Empress laughed. "Aster, I said there was no need to be frightened!" she said lightly. "I'm not going to hurt you!"
"But you killed Daisy!" protested Aster, still shivering. "You killed her!"
"But she's alive now, isn't she?" Cyanara counter-questioned. Aster, not knowing how to answer, kept silent, but her shivering remained.
"Aster," Cyanara said, getting down on her knees beside the little princess, "I'm not going to hurt you! Why should I hurt a little girl like you?"
"I-I don't know," stammered the child. "B-But—"
"No 'buts,'" Cyanara reprimanded softly. "I'm going to give you a present."
"...A present?" Aster asked hesitantly.
"Yes, a present," Cyanara answered with a smile. "You'll have to wait for a couple of days, but you'll get your present. Guard!"
A single Paroidian Guard stepped into the throne room. Aster, having no fond memories of Cyanara's bodyguards, shrank back from the newcomer. Cyanara put an arm around her. "It's all right, Aster. He's just going to take you to your room. He won't hurt you."
Aster looked at the guard uncertainly. He nodded, not a trace of emotion in the gesture.
"O-OK," conceded Aster shakily. The Paroidian Guard took her white-gloved hand and led her silently out of the throne room.
No sooner had the silver doors shut behind the two than Cyanara's kind smile turned evil. She laughed to herself and mounted the low steps to her silver throne, seating herself on the imposing throne with a flourish.
"Oh, Aster, you have no idea what I've got planned for you," she purred. "The Shadows Royal will fail to halt Mario's advance in Blue Dimension. I know they will. And when they do...you'll have your part to play, little princess."
Abruptly she rose from her throne again. "I must pay a little visit to Green Dimension. Perhaps Mario has done his sweet princess in by this time." She smiled wickedly at the thought and swept out of the throne room.
"Grodus!" shouted Cyanara over the mechanical din as she entered the X-Naut factory. Sir Grodus himself came up to the Empress from between the machines, bowing as he did so.
"You wish to travel to Green Dimension," guessed Grodus before Cyanara could open her mouth to give him the order. "Here." He produced his DTD. Cyanara fitted the black Rainbow Ring's gem into the central depression, and Grodus entered the proper passcode. Immediately a shimmering green portal appeared before Cyanara, and she stepped through it, emerging in the control room of the Shroob mothership.
"Cyanara!" Peach gasped.
The Empress's eyes bulged, then blazed with anger.
"NOOOOOOO!!" she screamed. "Peach! You should be DEAD! Mario should have KILLED you!!!"
"I did," retorted Mario, stepping between Peach and the Empress, "but the first four Rainbow Rings undid what you did and gave both her and Toadsworth their lives back. So much for your plan, Cyanara!"
Cyanara shook with rage. "You—I'll get you yet, Peach! My method may be slow, but the end is sure! You and that pitiful plumber will both lie dead at my feet before long!" She clenched a fist. "You claimed that light would have its ascendancy in the end, Peach—remember? Remember when all was in readiness to awaken the ultimate evil?" Her teeth ground at each other. "Again the half moon approaches, Peach, and all is ready once again! And THIS time—THIS time I will not fail! Darkness shall have the ascendancy!"
Mario stepped forward, fists upraised. "Get lost before I pound some sense into that empty head of yours!"
"Don't think you frighten me, Mario," Cyanara seethed. "You'll taste my power before many days are gone—and you won't enjoy it!" She disappeared through the portal she had come through, and it closed behind her.
Peach looked at Mario in fear. "Mario, don't take her lightly! If she said she'd do something, she means it. She's ruthless. You know that!"
Mario let down his fists and turned to Peach. "I know," he answered. "And I'll be careful. But someone's gotta stop her before she destroys everything!"
Peach wrapped her arms around him. "Don't do anything rash, Mario. Play it safe around my sister. She won't forgive your missteps—she'll use them against you. Be very careful."
Luigi cleared his throat. "Have you two hugged long enough already?"
"Come, we should move on!" urged Toadsworth. "We've wasted too much time here as it is!"
Peach laughed at their comments, than caught herself. "...I'd almost forgotten what it was like to laugh," she murmured. "Somehow Cyanara just depresses me. It feels good to be able to laugh again."
"I know what you mean," Mario replied consolingly. "You'll be your old self again before you know it. Come on, let's go." He pulled the DTD from his overalls pocket and fitted the Jade Ring into the depression.
"Engaging dimensional portal," droned DT in his computerized male voice.
Peach gave a little gasp. "...It talks?"
"Princess Peach," intoned DT with a trace of recognition. "It is a pleasure to finally meet you."
"How do you know my name?" queried Peach, a little leery of the talking machine.
"I am an independent component of the TEC-XX and have full access to its databases. Now if you will excuse me, my speech circuits override my portal logarithm. I must cease speaking in order to complete the portal opening sequence." The gadget was silent for a few moments more, and a shimmering blue portal opened before Mario and his three companions.
"Wait!" Luigi blurted out. "We forgot Ms. Mowz!"
"She'll be fine here, Luigi," Mario replied. "There's a pipe back to Rogueport down there so she can get back to her shop. We have to keep going with or without her."
Luigi shrugged and vanished into the portal.
"So this is how you've been getting around," Peach said with a smile. "Looks like fun!"
"That glowing blue whatever-it-is certainly looks VERY unsafe to me," Toadsworth put in, giving Peach a stern look. "I'll not step through that...that thing!"
"Oh, yes, you will!" Peach walked over to him, seized his hand, and half-dragged him over to the portal, ignoring his spluttering protests. She pushed him through the portal and turned to Mario.
"Shall we?" he asked with a smile.
Peach took his hand and returned the smile. "Let's." The two stepped through the portal together.