"Yeah, that sounds like a recipe for blowing up," Matt said. "Like I said, let's try not to unload the big guns unless we don't have a choice."

"There's a lot of smoke in here," someone said as the door to the lab opened. "You guys blew up the device, didn't you?"

"Not our fault," R.D. told Alasea, not looking up from his work. "The Essence is still being a pain in the ass to work with."

Hugo changed his screwdriver into a small welding needle and pointed it at the circuitry to repair it from the last attempt. "Is Helena all right?"

"I'm fine," Helena said, still out of sight from the doorway.

"You don't sound fine."

"Then I WILL be. Good enough?"

"Why are you hiding, Helena?" Ileyna asked from where she was sitting.

Helena let out a sigh and pushed the door aside, revealing her new...differences.

"Ohhhh," Matt said, rocking on his feet. "I get it now."

Luigi promptly yelled in panic and dove underneath Gadd's worktable. The professor, still absorbed in his work, only stopped to look underneath. "Luigi, my boy, I've figured out how you can help me - you can shine my shoes! I've been so preoccupied that I haven't had the time."

"Luigi, chill," R.D. said, having looked up himself and seen Helena's current form. "She's on our side and she's a friend."

"This is far as we can revert the transformation," Alasea explained during her approach. "Whatever's affecting her is preventing it from going farther, but its not spiritual in nature. I couldn't detect any kind of interference."

"Whoever's doing it might have the Omega Essence as well," R.D. replied. "We'll need to make sure we find them and stop them."

"I didn't want to stall you because of this," Helena said. Hell, she sounded pretty deep-voiced. "Getting back the Omega Essence is more important. I can tolerate it for now."

"We'll fix you soon," Hugo said. "Don't worry."

Helena bent down and laid her arms over her knees - standing at full height, she loomed over Mario. "I'm sorry for causing any trouble. We'll help you get the princess back."

Mario whipped out a thumbs up and a smile. But Luigi's blubbering snapped him out of the moment, so Mario reached past Gadd's knees and yanked out his brother.

"Helena, dealing with your state isn't going to stall us," R.D. said, leaning against the edge of the worktable. "If your condition really is the cause of one of Magister's minions, we need to deal with him anyway. They'll likely be after the Essence, and we've already got a bunch of that with us."

He pointed a finger at the girl from where his arms were crossed. "That includes the piece that's inside you, and the ones Matt and Ileyna have. Never mind the piece being used for this machine and the ones stored in the pendant."

"He's got a point," Alasea said. "Chances are when we go back in time, they'll follow us and attack."

"Then we'll give 'em a good talking to," Matt said. "With our feet."

Helena chuckled. Her deep voice did NOT help matters. "I figured you would, Matt."

"Then it's settled!" Gadd declared, still adjusting a tricky wire. "Let's get this machine finished and help you and the princess! I think we're on the right track..."

"You got those routines finished, Professor?" R.D. asked. "If you do, let's try the uploading again. The frame's about as fixed as its going to get, and I can't reinforce it any further."

Gadd pecked a few commands into the large, dull grey laptop plugged into the device. "We're ready! R.D., if you would be so kind as to help Hugo put the shell back together?"

After R.D. and Hugo welded the frame back onto the device, they cleared away from the device's emitter, aiming at a blank wall. "Excellent!" Gadd said, bounding off of his stool and pinching the on switch. "Wish for the best!"

As Gadd flipped the switched, a thin energy beam lanced from the emitter and pierced through the wall. The professor then twisted the dial on the side of the machine, forcing the beam to expand, stretching open a massive hole within the wall.

"Eeeee!" a dressing mushroom shouted from the room they could now access through the hole.

"It collapses a minute portion of physical matter in order to create a portal!" Gadd shouted over the whining, shaking machine. "Mario, quick! Leap through that hole!"

Mario bent down and burst towards the hole, bounding through the gap with his amazing jumping skill. As soon as he cleared it, Gadd turned the dial and shrank the beam again before switching off the device. The rumbling creaks it had made died to a dull silence.

"We've done it!" Gadd said. "Ha ha! Excellent, excellent!"

"Looks too big to carry around, though," Alasea pointed out.

"Luckily we knew we weren't going use the machine itself," R.D. said, stepping back from the machine. "Let's see if Matt can copy its power with the Genesis Arm."

Matt summoned his arm, twiddling his fingers. "All right...let's give it a shot." He placed his Genesis Arm on the device, and immediately the arm glowed, releasing brilliant light through the room.

"Oh my!" Gadd exclaimed. Helena raised an arm to shield her eyes from the glare.

When the light faded, Matt now sported a cybernetic right arm, wires connecting the bicep to the forearm. He pointed his fist at the wall, and part of the forearm rose, connected by hydraulics, to reveal an emitter similar to the device. He fired a beam at the wall and it automatically swelled open a hole for Mario to leap back through.

"Why are you so fascinated with watching me DRESS?!" the mushroom wailed as Mario leapt back into the other room.

"Hey, this works pretty well!" Matt said, shutting off the beam. "I don't FEEL like it's gonna overload, so we should be good to go."

"Aren't you going to name it something stupid?" Hugo asked.

"What? I dunno. Portal Runner. Whatever."

"That'll be useful if we have to bypass any other barriers we encounter," R.D. said. "Ileyna, get the Essence. Might as well secure it now so we don't lose it later."

"Right!" the girl exclaimed as she opened herself up to her power, filling the room with blue light. She lifted up one hand at the container connected to Gadd's portal gun, and it glowed briefly at the seems. The top opened itself up, and the Essence lifted out before zooming to Ileyna's hand.

Helena rubbed her eyes. "Give me a moment. Matt blinded me with that light."

Matt laughed that triumphant "HA-HA!" building in his chest. "That's right, baby, I blinded you with SCIENCE!"

"Seriously, Matt. I'm seeing spots. My eyesight's too sharp for me to handle right now."

"...oh. Sorry."

Hugo sighed and bounded off the worktable, landing on the floor with a clean smack. "Doesn't matter. We've got what we need. Let's go. Matt won't be able to hold that arm forever."

"This time machine isn't gonna make us feel too weird, is it?" Alasea asked as she handed over the satchel.

"It can't be any worse than Chaos Control," R.D. replied as he accepted it.

"Oh, like that's reassuring," the girl remarked, giving R.D. a look.

Gadd dusted his hands. "Actually, we can't use the time machine. It was able to return to the present time, but its power source had mysteriously vanished."

"Then I don't suppose you've got a backup plan for doing the time warp again?" Matt asked.

"I do! And it's on the third floor of this castle." Gadd opened the laboratory door, readjusting his thick spectacles. "Come on, come on, let's go! There isn't a moment to spare!"

"Let's hope this new time warp isn't too complicated to accomplish," R.D. remarked.

They left the main castle through the east exit, a slash of air striking Matt's face just as he stepped outside. Up ahead in the east courtyard were a pair of loud, crawly kids scampering over two mushrooms like they were scaling Everest. One of the mushrooms looked beat to hell and back, but if it wasn't for that and his white hairs, he'd be a dead ringer for the mushroom with the brown mustache next to him. The brown mustached mushroom was playing with someone little inside a gaudy pink stroller, ignoring the kid in green shirt and familiar hat plop down on his head.

"Masters Mario and Luigi!" the older mushroom shouted at the plumbers. "Thank goodness you here. Your younger selves have been so rambunctious that they've -" His face quickly soured. "M-M-M-MONSTER!"

He pointed at something past Matt's shoulder. Probably freaking out over Helena. "Calm down, she's with us," Matt said.

Mario explained that Matt and the others helped out in Cackletta's defeat, and that they were good guys. The older mushroom took a dramatic breath. "At least warn me next time you want to give me a heart attack, then!"

"What's this about your younger selves?" Alasea asked, looking over at the two plumbers.

The older mushroom peeled the kid in the green shirt off of the younger mushroom and curled his arm backwards to yank the kid in the red shirt off his back. "THESE younger selves."



"How the heck did THAT happen?" Matt asked.

"While venturing through time, Mario and Luigi decided to team up with their younger selves," Gadd said. The older mushroom set the children on the floor and they scurried in front of Mario and Luigi, who them picked them up. "They may be small, but they're quite tenacious!"

"And just as troublesome as my older self has discovered," said the younger mushroom, his big mustache bunching up in a smile. "By the way, my name is Toadsworth. And the older chap next to me is...well, Toadsworth. You may call him Toadsworth the Older to tell us apart."

"Just wait one minute!" Toadsworth the Older said to the other Toadsworth. "We agreed that you would be called Toadsworth the Younger and I would get to be just Toadsworth!"

"We never agreed to that!"

"We most certainly did!"

"Liar!"

"I demand satisfaction!" The two Toadsworths tightened their fists and squared off.

"Still not worse than Little Tokyo," R.D. said as the two time-displaced mushrooms began to argue. "But getting there."

"... a-anyway, are you two sure that was a smart idea?" Alasea asked the Mario brothers. "I mean, if something happened to them, well..."

"Yes, I will have to analyze the effects of these events on the space-time continuum some other time," Gadd said, with a twiddle of his big hair strand. "Right now, however, both the present and the past are in mortal peril. If one falls, the other one will be doomed as well. We must save both time periods, no matter the risk!"

Mario and the baby Mario nodded. Looks like they both shared that sense of determination.

"They're so adorable," Helena said, smiling. "Those are some of the cutest noses I've ever seen."

Baby Mario scrambled out of Mario's arms, clenching tight to the plumber's head. Mario wrapped his hands around the kid's stubby legs, and Baby Mario slapped his little fingers onto Mario's cap, studying Helena intently.

"It's like he's never seen a weredragon before or something," Matt joked.

"At least he doesn't look afraid of you," Alasea commented to Helena.

"So I'm guessing, risks aside, we're taking the kids with us?" R.D. asked, looking none too thrilled about the turn of events.

"Trust me, they hold their own quite well." Gadd clasped his hands behind his back and spun on his heel to face the babies. "They are...vicious with a hammer."

"Have you found a way into the barrier that covers the castle in the past?" Toadsworth the Older asked.

Matt flexed his metallic arm, waving the claw-tipped fingers. "Yes, sir! This little doohickey should get us in. We'll nab your princess and get her out safe. No problem."

"Then please rescue her right away!" Toadsworth the Older said, clasping his hands together. "I've worried myself to near EXHAUSTION at what could be happening to her right now!"

"We're on our way!" Gadd said. "I'll return after they've gone through the time hole." With that, the group set off for the flight of stairs crisscrossing up the side of the main castle walls, leading to an imposing set of bolted double doors.

"What's a time hole?" Ileyna asked as they started towards the double doors.

Gadd took the lead up the staircase, as the baby in the carriage below promptly started bawling. "It's a rip in the time-space continuum caused by my time machine. Mario and Luigi have been using them to travel to the past and search for the princess. Fascinating vortexes, really!"

"Rips in space-time aren't fascinating," Hugo said. "They're dangerous." He tapped Helena's leg, and the weredragon scooped him up and carried him up the steps.

"Maybe so," said Gadd, "but so far they've been our only way to get to the past."

"Let's just hope they seal up after this business is over, then," Matt said. "Last thing you need around here is time holes that anyone can fall into."

"Yeah, we've had enough problems with time travel already," R.D. muttered.

"Since when have you been time-traveling?" Alasea asked, looking at him.

Matt chuckled with a gesture. "Alasea, considering the nature of our work, you'd be surprised what kind of time travel we inadvertedly accomplish."

"More things you won't tell us about?" Helena asked, words loaded with poison.

Nope. He didn't have a comeback for that.

"Relax, Helena," R.D. said, sparing her a look. "Matt's talking about when we reached the world GaoGaiGar came from. You were there for that."

He turned his gaze back to Alasea. "When I defeated Dragon Drive FINAL, Matt was transported to a world where everyone already knew about us," he explained. "But he didn't know any of them. When this journey started, we wound up back in that same dimension, only a year before the time Matt ended up at. We had to be careful about what we said and did."