Chapter 28: Desperate to Escape

"Lee?" Peach asked, noticing the desponded look on Lee's face.

"Shut up, Toadstool." Lee responded.

"What's wrong?"

Lee angrily turned around.

"She really hasn't been the same since Eddy rejected her message." May said.

"Shut up!" Lee shouted again.

"Calm down!" May said back.

"What are we going to do now?" Peach asked.

The doors to their room opened as if on cue.

"It's TEC again." Peach muttered bitterly.

"We'd better go see what he wants." Marie sighed.

"I'm going to have a word with him. There's something I got to say." Peach left the room.

Marie and Lee followed but May was hesitant.

"Wait!" Marie said, turning backwards. "May, aren't ya coming?"

"Go on." May said.

"Whatever." Lee said, leaving her behind. Marie took one last look at her sister before following behind.

"So, TEC?" Peach asked, walking in. "What is it? Am I going to go under disguise? Another Dance? Or perhaps, I'll sing a song?"

"Please, calm down for a moment, Princess Peach." TEC stopped. "Where is May Kanker?"

"She stayed back. She hasn't been herself lately." Marie answered.

"Please retrieve her. She is vital to what I am going to say." TEC said.

"Alright, alright…" Marie said, walking out of the room.

A second later, she rushed back in. "SHE'S GONE!"

"What? Where?" Lee asked.

"She's not in her room!" Marie said.

"I cannot locate her. This is not good."

"Maybe she made a run for it?" Peach asked.

May made no attempt to stop running. Each corridor in the hallway was unfamiliar to her.

"I've wasted enough time here! I've got to find a way out!" She was very surprised that no one detected her as she ran.

"There's got to be a way out!" As she ran, she a tear streaked down her eye. She looked back in the direction of where she ran from.

"I'm sorry to abandon you, Marie and Lee… but I can't waste another moment knowing Ed's still missing! I'm gonna get out! I'm gonna find him!"

"What do we do now?" Lee asked.

"Nothing. We can't risk trying to find her and being caught." TEC explained. "We will have to proceed without her."

"No way!" Lee said. "She's family. If she ain't here, we ain't doin' anything."

"We have to!"

They finally calmed down.

"Now that we are underway… I must indeed ask for your assistance."

"Listen." Peach approached the monitor. "I don't want to help."

"Peach. Please… you're my only hope."

"You're trying to take over the world. Why should I help?" she asked.

"This matter concerns all of us." TEC said back. "But first… do you like your world?"

Peach, Lee, and Marie looked up at his monitor, showing the world from a view in space. "I mean, this world possesses many faults… so many problems…"

"That's true." Peach sighed.

"…ours does too." Marie said. "Depletion of resources, wars… but don't get me wrong, it's got it's pros."

"As does mine." Peach said. "No place is perfect."

"I see." TEC said before here was some sort of beeping, as if it was processing the information. "…I wish to give you a quiz."

"What?" Peach asked.

"If it's about this world, then Peach's probably the one to take it." Marie said.

"Fine, I accept." The princess sighed.

"First question:"

The following question appeared on the screen.

"What is Grodus's goal?"

"To take over the world." Peach sighed. "Why must you remind me?"

"Question 2: What is behind the Thousand-Year door?"

Peach, Marie and Lee gasped in unison.

"I see what you're getting at." Lee said in realization.

"Please choose one of the following choices." Three choices appeared on screen.

"10,000 coins, A Thousand Year old demon's soul, a long lost diamond."

Peach looked at the middle choice. 'I hope this isn't the answer. What a fright it would be if that was it… I shall choose that as my answer and hope I'm wrong. If it is wrong, then I can at least be relieved.'

"The middle answer." She said.

"Correct, now next question." TEC continued.

Peach shivered, now realizing that the legend of the treasure behind the Thousand-Year Door was not real.

It was much, much worse.

"They ain't gonna catch me…" May thought as she ran down the hallways. "Come on, where's the exit?"

"Right here." A new voice said.

She saw a guard had found her. "

Now, come quietly."

"No!" May charged at the guard, knowing she was twice the size of this small guard.

"I said, come quietly." The guard repeated, hold out a gun.

She stopped in her tracks.

"That's a good little girl. Now, follow me." He went over to grab her.

"I can't believe they got me…" She thought, looking into her situation. "But… maybe…"

"HI-YA!" She shouted, kicking the guard back.

In the moment, he fired the gun, but missed. She grabbed it from him and ran.

"We got a breach in sector 2." the guard said into his radio.

Sirens bared as she continued to run…

"Ah! What's that noise!" Peach asked when the sirens sounded.

"Do ya think they found us?" Lee asked.

"No." TEC said. "I am picking up a breach in sector 2."

"May…" Marie said under her breath.

TEC's monitor switched to a security camera. The scene of May running down a hallway appeared.

"Told ya! She's makin' a run for it!" Lee said.

"You cannot escape us." Another guard said, running towards her.

"Watch me."

She wasn't finished but stopped. Five more guards blocked the end of the hallway. She was pushed backwards, until she was cornered in front of a door. May tried to open it, but a red light above the door meant it wasn't going to let her in.

"Come on May!" Marie shouted into the monitor. "Get out of there!"

Peach noticed in all of the commotion another screen on the computer. She noticed something occurring on the screen…

Without any warning, the door May was held back against opened. She fell in the room.

"You will come quietly." one of the guards said.

May noticed the machine behind her.

"In your dreams, suckers!" She walked into the unusual pod-esque machine in the room.

A flash occurred and she had vanished.

"She's escaped." One of the guards said.

"So…" Another started. "Who wants to report this to Grodus?"

"Where'd she go?" Lee asked.

"I think she made it out." Peach said.

"Listen." TEC said. "The guards will be going to your room to see if you have escaped as well. You must return immediately."

"Maybe we can get out too!" Marie said.

"No." TEC replied. "That would be pushing luck beyond limits."

"Hurry, I need to type my e-mail!" Peach said urgently.

"Yeah, us too." Lee said in ageement.

"Eddy 's not gonna read it." Marie pointed out.

"Oh, he will alright."

They quickly typed a few sentences each and sent their messages.

"Now hurry, return to your rooms!" TEC shouted.