Meanwhile, Polterpup had been carried away to an unknown place. Scared out of his mind, the ghost pup sat down and whined. He didn't like being alone without Luigi. That's when a gasp caught Polterpup's attention. He turned and saw a beautiful princess in a cell. Her face was covered in dirt, her long blonde hair was a mess, she had tired sapphire eyes, she was wearing a rather dirty princess dress, barefooted, and her tiara lacking its luster.

It was Peach. Polterpup ran over to her, he liked to play with humans. But he was also worried about this girl - who was obviously a princess like Daisy. Polterpup walked through the bars as Peach became more frightened.

"Please don't hurt me," Peach begged, scared out of her mind.

Polterpup tilted his head as he licked the dirt off of her face. Peach realized that he was friendly and sat down, holding Polterpup in her lap.

"Why you aren't trying to hurt me, you're just worried," Peach cooed.

Polterpup barked as he licked her face again. Peach giggled as she looked at his tags.

"Polterpup," she read as she looked at Polterpup. She smiled and said, "That name suits you."

Polterpup tilted his head as he wagged his tail, as if he was expected something. Peach giggled again as she introduced herself, "My name is Peach Toadstool, heiress to the Mushroom Kingdom throne."

Polterpup wagged his tail happily as he licked her face again and layed down on top of her. Peach smiled, welcoming the much needed company. She was getting really depressed that Mario wouldn't save her in time. But she then got curious about her new four legged ghostly friend who was now asleep in her lap. Peach thought, 'Where did you come from my friend? Who do you belong to? And why are you staying here with me when you can easily escape?'

That's when Peach saw the back of the tags.

It read: 'If found, please return back to Luigi Manfredi in Evershade Valley at Professor E Gadd's.'

Peach gasped softly as she looked at Polterpup, who was still sleeping. She couldn't believe that Luigi was alive...but he was.

Peach whispered, "Luigi, if you're here, I hope that Mario is with you."

With that, she hugged Polterpup as she fell asleep on the hard cold floor. As she slept - rather uncomfortable - she had a dream where she was married to Mario, Luigi was back home and married to Daisy, and Polterpup would be the guard dog of their children. She was thinking that they had a boy, they would name him Melvin. And if it was a girl, they would name her Pamela. Peach blushed in her sleep, dreaming about her future.

Back with Manfredi brothers, Luigi shone his Dark-Light Device around, hoping that he would at least find Polterpup's tracks. But no luck.

The red hated plumber sighed annoyed as he stated, "Give it up, Weegie. The Boos carried him off. He couldn't have left any paw prints."

Before the green hated ghost hunter could explain, the Dark-Light Device picked up something ghostly...paw prints.

Luigi smirked and replied, "You were saying, Malleo."

"H-how did he do that," Mario asked, surprised, as he followed Luigi.

Luigi answered, "Polterpup and I came up with this plan, in case we got separated by accident. He would make paw prints, like a trail, and I would follow them til I found him. Until then, he stayed put."

Mario stated, "Must've been hard to train him to do that."

"It was at first but he's a pretty loyal puppy," Luigi replied, still following the trail.

Mario commented, "After the way he saved your life, I can see that."

Luigi nodded and stated, "Yeah and that's why he needs to stay in Evershade Valley with me."

"What," Mario questioned, "I thought I told you that I wanted you to come home?"

"I took that as more of a 'suggestion'," Luigi explained, "I'll be there for the wedding but afterwards, I have to go back to Evershade Valley and help finish off Elvin's research. He's actually onto something new...parallel dimensions. I want to help him see this through. You might not understand that but that's what I would like to do."

With that, Luigi headed off without saying another word. Mario followed, doing the same.

Back with Peach and Polterpup, the little ghost pup woke up and saw that Peach was still dirty. Polterpup gently licked her face, making her smile in her sleep. Polterpup continued until Peach finally woke up to see her four legged ghost friend.

She smiled and cooed, "Aw, it is so nice to wake up to a sweet pup like you instead of those evil Koopas."

Polterpup panted but then perked straight up.

Peach saw this and asked, "What's wrong?"

Polterpup immediately got in front of Peach and started to growl.

"Polterpup," Peach asked, confused to why the ghost pup was defending her.

She saw nothing. That was until a flash of light appeared and she heard evil cackling. Peach had to close her eyes due to the light but when she opened them, she saw King Boo and Bowser together.

"Bowser and King Boo," she hissed.

Bowser smirked evilly and said, "Hello, Peach."

King Boo looked at her and then saw Polterpup standing in front of her, growling at them.

King Boo smirked and stated, "Well, if it isn't Luigi's ghost pooch."

Bowser didn't seem surprised by this, almost if he knew Luigi was still alive.

Bowser asked, "So that means that Mario and Green Stache are on their way?"

"It won't be long til they finish tracking Polterpup and get here," King Boo answered.

Peach put two and two together as she stated, "So you kidnapped Polterpup to lure Mario and Luigi here, to trap them!"

Bowser replied, "You got it, those two are going to take a tumble."

King Boo added, "Yes, then I - mean we - will take over Mushroom Kingdom!"

Peach hissed as Polterpup growled, "You won't get away with this!"

"Wanna bet," King Boo stated, with a smirk.

"See you, Peach-y," Bowser added as King Boo teleported them out.

When they were gone, Polterpup eventually calmed down and turned to Peach, looking a tad worried.

Peach smiled at her loyal friend and stated, "I'm okay, thank you for defending me. You are a very loyal pup."

With that, she kneeled down to Polterpup and scratched under his chin. Polterpup's tail wagged in happiness.

AK1028: Okay, it is official, Luigi & Polterpup are my two favorite characters in the Mario series. I really want to see more of the ghost pup plus more of Luigi stepping up and out of Mario's shadow. I do hope that I captured the cuteness with Polterpup and Peach, I thought it would be sweet if Polterpup kept Peach company while they waited for Luigi & Mario to arrive. Anyways, forgive my ranting! Please read and review! And always think outside of the box!