Surprising even himself, Luigi managed to, more or less, walk down the halls of the station without trembling in fear. However, once the guards stopped in front of a heavy steel door stamped with the purple image of Tatanga's head, his knees buckled, and Luigi leaned against the metal wall for support. Tatanga's emblem split in two as the doors hissed opened leading into a square-shaped windowless room. Luigi yelped as the guards pushed him inside. He stumbled and fell forward onto the cold metallic floor.

Sprawled out on the ground, Luigi noticed that the floor was so polished he could see his own reflection and also the reflections of the guards and a peculiar looking contraption that resembled both a chair and a car wash. Luigi licked his lips and looked back at his own reflection, noting how pale his face was.

One of the guards poked Luigi in the back, "Get up, we haven't got all day," With his hands cuffed, behind his back, Luigi struggled to get back onto his feet.

Once standing Luigi got a better look at that contraption. It was a black chair with two large robot arms hanging from the ceiling. Each one was holding what looked to be an enormous feather duster.

One of the guard's whistled. "This is the Tickler 2.89. Isn't she a beauty?"

Luigi violently shook his head, "no."

The toad guard looked him in the eye, or at least Luigi thought he was. "We don't have to do this the hard way, ya know," he said. "You could tell us where your brother and the Princess are."

He told himself not to hold it against the toads. They were brainwashed and not doing any of this simply because they felt like it. Luigi forced himself to stand up straight. "I already said that even I don't know what happened to them." His voice only slightly quivered at the end.

The toad hung his head. "I was afraid you were going to say that," he said. "Do you realize how much work it is to set this thing up for each use?" He pushed Luigi closer to the tickler 2.89. Luigi stumbled, but managed to regain his balance before he could fall onto his face again. "Strap in, green stache."

As they drove on the wind flew through Peach's hair turning her silky golden locks into a tangled crowber's nest. If she had known she would be going on a high-speed ride like this, Peach would have tied her hair back beforehand. Then again, she was not planning on getting kidnapped that day, she even brought both Mario and Luigi along as an extra precaution. She entertained asking Bowser Jr, or at least she found her kidnapper to shockingly resemble Bowser Jr, where they were going, but even if she could hear her own voice over the roaring of the sports car engine, she doubted she would ever get an answer out of him.

They passed through a portal reminding her of another excursion she took through time thanks to the inventions of professor E. Gadd. Funny how that adventure also involved purple aliens invading.

Soon enough, the car exited the tunnel freeing Peach from the place that she felt like was a fever dream. They were let out onto a stone roadway between two sides of lava reminding Peach of the raceways near Bowser's Castle. She realized this was because they were at Bowser's castle because just up ahead was an enormous gate she were very familiar with.

As they sped towards it, Peach studied the black stone gate trying to figure out if it looked any different from her time. No changes in the structure's appearance jumped out at her. Then again, she was not certain how old it was exactly when Bowser moved in.

Once they passed through the gate, the sports car finally slowed down in the large entry way. Now that they were no longer speeding with the air flying against her face, Peach found the room to be hot and sticky. Already, a thin layer of sweat lined her skin. Loose strands of her hair and flecks of ash from the lava stuck against her. She swallowed and tightly bunched her skirt in her fist. How was she going to get out of this one? Mario and Luigi had witnessed her capture, but were they able to enter the time portal behind her before it closed? If not, would they be able to catch up with E. Gadd and have him assist in trying and find her?

Bowser Jr opened the door to his sports car and climbed out. Someone unlatched the passenger side door, and Peach jumped in her seat. Looking down, she saw a koopa holding the door opened for her and another koopa offering her his hand to assist her. To be polite Peach took the koopa's hand, who smiled sheepishly as he helped her down. Peach smiled making him blush even more.

A shadow fell over Peach as she looked up to see Bowser Jr. looming over her. Now that she was standing directly in front of him, Peach could say for certain that this was Bowser's son. He no longer had a round infantile face, but his jaw was still not as hard as his father's. "What do you have planned, Jr.?" Peach asked breaking the silence.

Bowser Jr frowned, "This way, Princess" he said turning around. Peach was startled by how much deeper his voice was. He sounded almost exactly like his father.

The koopas that helped her from the vehicle stood on either side of Peach. Realizing she had no choice but to follower, Peach lifted her skirts and tagged behind the Koopa Prince from the entrance and through a wide doorway, up a winding staircase and into a hallway where the walls were lined with portraits of the koopa ancestors.

"Could you at least tell me, how many years have passed since I would have last been here, Jr?" Peach asked. Jr. Grunted, but did not reply. Peach lowered her head realizing the futility of asking questions. She would have to find another way to get her answers.

Finally, Jr. stopped in front of a door at the very end of the hallway and opened it. "You can stay in here for now," he said, as if Peach was a guest who invited herself over instead of a prisoner.

Peach stared at the opened door for a while before standing on the tip of her toes and tilting her head back as far as she could to look directly in Jr's eyes. "Can you at least tell me how you obtained time traveling technology?"

Jr scowled and shook his head. "Something I have learned is never ever let your enemies know your plans."

Peach sighed and turned to enter the room. If she were to try and make a run for it down the hallway, she would not get very far. And even if she could escape, her legs were feeling about as sturdy as celery stalks after that wild ride through the desert, then the time portal, and then the volcano. "As you wish, Jr." she said as she passed through the doorway.

"One more thing, Princess," Bowser Jr. said, "It's Bowser the Second, not junior." He slammed the door shut.

He might demand to be called Bowser II, but Peach would continue to think of him as Junior. She sighed and smoothed down her skirt. The pink satin was covered with grains of sand and smeared with ash. Peach shook it out, but it did little to clear up the fabric. Her white gloves were not in much better shape. What her clothes really needed was to be dry cleaned. She sighed and turned away from the door to get a better look at the cell. It was a decent sized room with four twin sized beds and a large, but barred, window at the very end providing an excellent view of the lava rivers.

But, Peach's attention was completely taken by a small girl sitting in the farthest corner from the door. She was crouched with her two knees pulled up to her chin and her arms wrapped around her legs. Her wide blue eyes stared at Peach as if the Princess was the most peculiar thing she had ever seen. Was this future the present to her, or like Peach, was she snatched away from whatever time period she was supposed to be from? No matter where or when she was from, the poor child was absolutely terrified to be here.

"Hello, love," Peach said as gently as possible as she walked over to the girl. As she approached, the girl continued to stare until Peach was standing just above her left shoulder. "Is it alright if I sit here?" she asked. The girl stared blankly ahead and chewed on her lip until she finally nodded.

Peach slid down the wall and kneeled next to the girl. As she thought of something to say. "What's your name?"

The girl replied in such a low voice Peach almost missed it. "Your dress is very pretty."

"Oh, thank you, sweetie," Peach said. "But I don't think that's your name." The little girl shook her head. Peach smiled kindly, "Well you must have one."

The girl breathed in. "Lily," she said. "My mama loves flowers."

"That's a lovely name," Peach said. "You can call me Peach."

Lily swallowed, "Hello, Peach," she said before dropping her gaze back on her feet. She reached behind herself and pulled out a faded yellow stuffed rabbit. It had mismatched button eyes and an embroidered smile that was beginning to unravel. Lily twisted the rabbit's ears in her hands.

"Does your friend have a name?" Peach asked. She was going to cheer this poor child up or so help her.

"Bunny," Lilly replied.

Peach shook the rabbit's front paw, "It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Bunny." She said.

Lily made the tiniest smile, and Peach thought she heard her giggle. "You're silly," she said.

Peach smiled and placed her hands on her lap. "I think it's good to be silly every so often."

As quickly as Lily's smile came, it disappeared as she nodded and clutched Bunny tightly against her chest.

Peach's heart grew heavy. "Have you been here a long time?" she asked gently.

Lily shook her head. "Only a few days," she explained very quietly. "The mean koopa said we can go home after Grampy builds him something." She stared down at Bunny and twisted the plushie's long ears in her hands.

Peach assumed that Jr. was the 'mean koopa' that wanted her grandfather to build something for him so he captured them both. What exactly would Jr. need? A stronger wall? The world's largest Bullet Bill?

A time machine?

"Lily," Peach asked, "Is your grampy an inventor?"

The little girl nodded, and was silent for several moments before adding, "I would help him make stuff."

"You are his apprentice then," Peach replied as the wheels in her head started to spin. This little girl seemed like a wilted flower locked away like this. She had to get herself and Lily and her grandfather out of here. Perhaps they could devise a plan if they put their heads together.

The Toad Town police station was not the same building Mario recalled from his time. Instead of a blue mushroom house with a large police badge for a sign, this one was a broad concrete structure. It was the same dark gray as the rest of town, except for the wide windows above the double doors at the front entrance which were tinted purple. Mario looked to his left at Mariella. She seemed more determined than afraid, although, she was chewing her lip.

"Nervous?" Mario asked.

Mariella pressed her lips into a line and shook her head as she crossed her arms. "I am not."

"It's okay to be a little unsure," Mario said. "Just don't let it stop you."

Mariella nodded and crossed her arms in front of her chest as the two approached the doors. There were two onyx colored handles on either of the double doors. Mariella reached out to grasp one.

"I think that will probably locked," Mario said as he scanned the frame around the door for some sort of bell to ring. However, Mariella pulled the door opened easily enough. "You would think there would be more security."

Mariella looked back to Mario, "Well would anyone dare come here if they were up to no good?" she asked.

Mario had to admit she had a good point. He clasped his hands behind his back to create the illusion that they were in cuffs and followed Mariella inside. The large double doors swung closed behind them with a dull thud.

The interior of the station, was just as cold and un-personable as the outside. The floor and walls were the same gray color and no furniture lined the walls of the waiting area. Against the far wall was a reception station behind a sheet of glass, manned by single purple capped toad in a uniform similar to the officer whose cruiser Mario and Luigi had stolen.

Mariella swallowed hard and the duo made their way to the desk. The receptionist did not lift his head to greet them. He continued to type away at his keyboard, staring blankly into his computer monitor. Had he noticed them, but was choosing to ignore them? Mario felt the brainwashing Tatanga subjected these poor toads to would not allow for that sort of behavior. Mariella took a deep breath and hesitantly tapped on the glass.

Dumbly the receptionist lifted his head from his work and blinked a few times before focusing his gaze on Mario and Mariella. "Touching the glass in any way is against protocol."

"Sorry, I just have something urgent to report," Mariella replied in a very nasally voice she had practiced, "I have apprehended the fugitive who resisted arrest earlier today."

The receptionist nodded as he placed his hands back onto his keyboard, "What were the charges?" he asked.

"Breaking dress code, assaulting an officer, stealing government property and resisting arrest," Mariella replied.

The receptionist typed some more. And then continued to type for far longer than necessary to code in whatever report Mariella had given. Mariella held her fist above the glass, unsure, and glanced back at Mario who nodded. The receptionist appeared to not even paying close enough attention to notice that an officer just took directions from a prisoner. Mariella carefully tapped on the glass again and the receptionist returned his attention to her.

"Touching the glass in any way is against protocol," he repeated.

Mariella shrugged, "Sorry, I am new here."

"What's your license number?"

"456-123-789" Mariella replied. This was not looking good.

The receptionist typed something with one hand, glanced at the screen and back at Mariella, "It does not look like you are in our system."

"That's how new I am," Mariella replied firmly.

The receptionist gave Mariella another very suspicious look before pushing himself away from the desk. "Please wait while I go check with the sergeant."

Mario leaned near Mariella's ear and whispered, "This could only get harder if he gets help."

Mariella continued to prove herself as very capable of thinking on her feet as she stepped in front of the toad attempting to step away from the receptionist station. "If you do not mind," Mariella explained as she blocked the toad from leaving. "I would like to give my report to the sergeant personally. Catching this guy was a bit or an ordeal."

Her actions irked the receptionist, but there was not much her could do about Mariella who was almost a head taller than him. When he stepped to the right, Mariella also stepped to the right and spread her arms out. The toad stepped to the left, but Mariella continued to mirror him. This comical dance went on until the receptionist threw his short arms into the air and retreated back behind the receptionist station. "You win, officer 456-123-789" he said as he opened a small cabinet on the wall that revealed a large red button.

The toad punched the button and a screeching alarm filled the room. Both Mario and Mariella covered their ears. The situation would only get worse if they stayed and were captured.

Mario scanned the room until his eyes landed on a set of metal double doors on the far-left side. Elevators? He pointed to it and Mariella followed. They stopped about arms-length away from the door as Mario looked over the wall, trying to think of ways to open them. If it was an elevator wouldn't there be a pair of buttons to start it. One for going up and one for going down?

Just as he was about to give up on this door, the elevator dinged, or at least, Mario thought he heard it ding. It was difficult to tell with that blasted siren that sounded like a walrus with laryngitis trying to sing Mozart's Queen of the Night aria. The doors slid open revealing Toadsworth. For a second, Mario was happy to see an old friend, but this relief soon dissolved when he saw that Peach's oldest advisor and the two other Toad officers standing on either side of him, had the exact same swirling tell-tale look in their eyes of Tatanga's brainwashing.

Even with his unnatural looking eyes, Toadsworth's still widened with surprise when he saw Mario standing directly in front of him. "Master Mario," he said bewildered. "This is a surprise, but not an unpleasant one."

Mario did not have time to exchange pleasantries with an old friend who was now, not completely acting of his own free will, nor did he have the time to think through the implications of one of Peach's confidants working under Tatanga. He grasped, Toadsworth's shoulder and hauled him out of the elevator.

"What's gotten into you?" Toadsworth protested as he attempted to knock against Mario with his cane. Mariella quickly shoved the other two flabbergasted guards onto the ground. They shouted in protest and clumsily attempted to get back onto their feet as Mario and Mariella entered the elevator.

The entire elevator glowed with a serene white light as Mario frantically pressed the button to close the doors. To his relief the doors closed and the elevator began to move before either of the toads could reach them. Mario let out a breath. The alarm the receptionist had sounded still blared, but was muffled slightly.

Mariella stepped beside him. She had removed her mushroom hat, and her hair was incredibly messy because of it. Her eyes were focused on the panel of buttons on the wall. "Which floor do you think he is on?" she asked.

Mario paused. "That is an excellent question." He thought for a moment. If he really did not want a particularly annoying prisoner to escape, he would put them somewhere very difficult to slip away from. "Let's start with the top floor," he said pressing the button labled 5. It glowed and the elevator continued upwards. Mario swallowed hoping there would not be even more guards waiting for them when the elevator doors opened again.

After only a few moments to catch their breaths, the elevator dinged. Mariella quickly shoved her pigtails back into the mushroom cap. Much to Mario's chagrin, the doors opened to three uniformed toads, who stared at the duo as if they were a piranha plant on a pogo stick. Mariella held her head high and stepped forward. "This prisoner tried to escape and we sounded the alarm," she explained in her nasally voice. "Situation is resolved, but I think they need some help cleaning up down there."

"So why is the alarm still going?" The toad standing closest asked. He stepped in front of Mariella as if to intimidate her, but she puffed her chest out.

"They told me the emergency was not over until this prisoner is safely in a cell." She explained. "He's a slippery one."

This seemed to satisfy the toads. They nodded and stepped into the elevator as Mario and Mariella stepped out.

"That was good thinking on your feet," Mario said once the elevator doors closed behind them. In that moment he was as proud of her as if she were his own.

Mariella beamed, "I got that idea from a story Papa told me," she said. "He and my uncle tricked a witch, who kidnapped a Princess, into releasing her by making the mean ol' witch think she had the wrong woman.

Mario paused. He swore he heard Luigi laughing, although the sound was feint and it was difficult to make out. "Did you hear that?" Mario asked.

Mariella shrugged as she continued to walk down the hallway, "Hear what?" she asked. "I cannot hear anything over the alarm, wait." She paused and put her hand behind her ear as she leaned forward where she stood. "I think I do hear something." She pointed to the right of the hallway. The two ran as fast as they could. The closer they got, the clearer the laughter became. However, it was not from mirth and Mario thought her could hear the person begging for mercy.

However, the voice un-mistakenly belonged to Luigi. Mario scowled as his face flushed as red as his hat. They were torturing his brother!

They arrived at a steel door with the purple emblem of Tatanga stamped onto it. It did not have a handle like the doors at the station's entrance. Next to the door was a control panel that looked similar to the ones inside the elevator. Mario pounded his gloved fist against the it pressing all the buttons at once. The door split opened. Inside of the small room were two more uniformed toads, but Mario almost did not see them. His focus was solely on Luigi strapped to a chair while what looked like enormous feather dusters were tickling him underneath the chin. Luigi had been laughing for so long that tears were running down his face.

The toads turned away from their victim and to Mario and Mariella. "Do you guys have authorization to be here," the first one asked as the one standing behind him was reaching for his belt. If they were to call for back up, they could all subjected the tickling machine.

Mariella crossed her arms. "Absolutely," she said. "In fact, I can take over the interrogation from here."

"We weren't notified of your arrival," The toad closer to Mario pulled a walkie talkie from his belt. Mario quickly nocked it from his hands. "Excuse me," the toad shouted as he hurried to retrieve it. Mariella dove for the walkie talkie and grasped it the same time the toad did. "Give that back," he said.

"No," Mariella replied. The other toad ran to his friend's aid. While Mariella and the guards fought over the walkie talkie the way toddlers fight over a toy on the playground, Mario hurried to Luigi, and unstrapped him from the chair.

Freed, Luigi threw his arms around his brother. "Mario!" he cried as tears poured from his eyes and into puddles on the floor.

"No time to talk," Mario said as he gently pushed Luigi away and looked to Mariella struggling with the guards. "We have to help her."

Luigi reached for a switch on the wall and turned the tickling machine off. The giant feather dusters stilled. "I have an idea." Mario nodded as he and his brother snuck up behind the guards too occupied in their game of tug-o-war with Mariella to notice them. Each brother grabbed the shoulders of the guards.

"Hey," one of them shouted. "What are you doing?" The chair to the tickling machine was the perfect size to hold both guards. Mario and Luigi dragged them over and strapped them in like placing a baby in a car seat.

"You can't do this," the other guard shouted. "We are officers of the law!"

"Sorry," Mariella said as she got on her feet and stood beside the brothers. "But we can't have you chasing after us.

As the trio exited the cell they left the door wide opened behind them. Mario was afraid the guards would be forgotten if they had locked them inside. Like this their friends would find them soon enough. Mario tried not to worry about it too much. He could have left them in a worst position, he could have turned the tickling machine back on before leaving.

Once they were a good-ways down the hallway they stopped running to catch their breaths and regroup. Mariella studied Luigi and her eyes grew wider and wider. "Uncle Luigi?"

Mario froze and looked down at the little girl next to him. As did Luigi. "Mario," Luigi said. "Who is your new friend?"

Mario opened his mouth to answer, but Mariella spoke before he had the chance to. "I'm you niece, Mariella," she said her voice hallow as if she was hurt a great deal. However, after studying Luigi's face for a bit longer, her expression softened a bit. "No, wait," Mariella said. "You can't be my uncle because your mustache is not gray enough."

Mario felt like his soul had just left his body. This girl also had an uncle named Luigi? "Mariella," Mario said. "When I told you my name, you said it would be easy to remember."

The girl's face became thoughtful. "I don't remember saying that, but it is easy to remember."

Mario could not believe he was asking this. However, if he was in the future, it was probably that he would run into a situation similar to this. "Was that because your father's name is also Mario"

"That's right," Mariella replied.

"And he went on adventures with his brother that he tells you about every night."

"You have a very good memory."

When his legs became as sturdy as flower stems, Mario found himself sliding against the jail's wall. "Mama mia."

"What's wrong?"

"You're not going to believe this," Mario said. "But the reason we have the same names and look like you papa and uncle is because we are your papa and uncle, only several years younger."