“Ah finally,'' said Danny who turned on the television and sat on a lone chair. “the Crash Nebula marathon is tonight! Both dads are away rescuing Princess Peach, Cindy is having a girl’s night with Daisy and Peter and I have the house all to ourselves. It’ll be just us, junk food and the Crash Nebula marathon so once Peter is finished making the popcorn and ordering the pizza we won’t be moving from this spot. Nothing can ruin this night!”
“Um Danny, we might have a problem.”
“What is it? You didn’t burn the popcorn again did you?”
“No, it’s just that I may have released the Box Ghost from the thermos.”
“Why? You know that he will just bug us all night.”
“Yeah I know but I told him that he could watch the marathon with us as long as he behaved.”
“Fine, but if he ever so makes even a little peep than he is going back into the thermos!” For a moment it was quiet and that was when he realized that something else was wrong. Without even thinking he said,“The Box Ghost is right behind me isn’t he?”
“Ha, ha! I am the Box Ghost! I am ready to enjoy the moving pictures inside that rectangle box!” At this point Danny was unamused while Peter whistled as if nothing happened. The doorbell then rang and Peter went to get it since the pizzza delivery guy was there. Peter then tipped the delivery guy with a few gold coins before leaving.
“The pizza is here!” Peter declared. “I have to admit that it was pretty clever of you to use some of Professor E. Gadd’s invention in order to capture radio signals from the Real World. How did you manage to convince him into loaning this stuff to you anyway?”
“He kind of owed me.” Danny said and there was indeed a strange device hooked up on the chimney and said device was sticking through a portal leading to the ghost zone. Meanwhile, the paranormal researcher was wondering where all of his stuff went. Back at the Mario Brother’s house, the boys were unaware that there was a storm and neither of them noticed the lighting that stuck the device that was connected to the television. The lightning then hit a cord until it stuck an old family photo.
It was a picture of Mario and Luigi from when they were younger. Once the lightning stuck however, the photo of Mario and Luigi came to life and ended up being outside in the storm. Mario still wore his signature clothing except the colors for his shirt and overalls were reversed. It was the same for the younger version of Luigi.
“Hey Mario, how did we end up outside?” Said Luigi but his accent was different from the original Luigi. In fact, it sounded a bit Brooklyn instead of Italian.
“Maybe we can find some shelter inside that house.” Mario suggested. When he opened it, it turned out that the door was already open. “After you.” Mario said. The brother were still cautious while going in Luigi was more paranoid than Mario was. Eventually, Mario came in right after his brother and that was when he saw that there were rows of photos scattered across the wall. There were photos of Mario fighting Bowser, photos of Luigi and Polterpup and even a new photo of the Mario Brothers with Peter, Cindy and Danny.
There was even a picture of Danny in his ghost form with Polterpup next to a photo of Luigi. Luigi on the other hand was distracted with the actual Polterpup who just wanted to play with him.
“Easy there Fido.” Said Luigi who was trying to keep the dog away from him.
“Check it out Luigi, I have a legacy!”
“That’s nice Mario but can you please help me.” Polterpup was now chewing on one of Luigi’s shoes. Mario just so happened to have a ball in his pocket so he threw it towards him in order to distract the pup.
“Beware!” Luigi then looked up and saw that it was the Box Ghost who seemed to pop out of nowhere. He then left just as soon as he came. That was when both brothers heard the tv and decided to check it out. That was when the plumber began to hear footsteps. It was only Danny and he seemed to be in a bad mood.
His eyes were the color green the entire time until he saw both Mario and Luigi. When Luigi saw him, he jumped into Mario’s arms.
“Who are you guys?” Danny asked but was in a defensive stance the entire time.
“I’m Mario and this is my brother Luigi.” After he introduced himself, he dropped Luigi. Danny on the other hand wanted no part of the weirdness that was about to take place so instead he went upstairs to his room and slammed the door shut.
“Well that was rude.”
“No kidding Luigi but I think he was just spooked to see us.” Next, Peter saw them and realized what was going on. He was holding a bowl and once he saw the younger version of the brothers he dropped the bowl of popcorn and went up to Danny’s room. Mario, of course, was confused. He took off his cap and scratched his head while wondering what was going on. Back with Peter, he was in Danny’s room trying to console him.
“So we met an alternate version of Mario and Luigi. I guess we should have seen it coming.” Said Peter who was sitting on Danny’s bed.
“Yeah but it is so weird.”
“I once met a cartoon version of myself and he was a talking pig.”
“And you were actually a pig one.”
“Hey.” Danny then stuck out his tongue and Peter was able to get Danny out of his room. Little did they know that a younger version of Bowser was there as well. He was busy spying on them through the window and was hiding behind a bush. He even had a pair of binoculars. While he was watching the group he saw that Danny had a fake smile once he saw Mario and Luigi.
“I think that we all might have gotten off the wrong foot. My name is Peter and this is Danny.” Said Peter trying to be nice. Once again Polterpup came back and gave the younger version of Luigi a bunch of ghostly kisses. “Sorry Luigi, Polterpup doesn’t usually get this excited when he is around people.
“That’s okay, I think that I kind of like having him around.” Luigi replied and he continued to give Luigi more kisses. “Down boy, down.”
“Oh, now that we are acquaintances. I am kind of curious how you ended up here in the first place.”
“Well, it all started like any other ordinary day. We were in the middle of saving the princess from the evil King Koopa when suddenly, we fell into a glowing green portal.” Mario answered.
“Yeah, that was what I was afraid of but I think that there is someone who could help. I think that you guys might have accidentally jumped into a portal to the ghost zone. That is where all the ghosts live and sometimes a random portal would appear and you would never know where you might end up.” Danny replied.
“Thanks but how are we going to do that?”
“Easy, I can fly us all into that portal and that tear in the sky should be large enough for us all to get in.” Danny said and transformed into his ghost half. Peter did not have any flight abilities but he had other ways to get around.
“So they are going to the Ghost Zone? Well it is a good thing that I stole these gauntlets from those ghost hunting wackos so that I can tear my own portal to the ghost zone and with this new equipment, I can finally use it to beat the Mario Brothers and his friends.” The green lizard says before creating his own portal. Peter was glad that he could fly in the ghost zone because in the ghosts zone, it was the people who were the ghosts. They were all in flight mode and the Mario Brothers were having a difficult time getting around.
“Don’t worry, it gets easier once you get used to it.” Danny reassured since he was trying to be nice. Eventually they found a castle. A lot of clocks could be easily noticed on the castle.
“So Danny, why are you bringing us here?” Luigi asked.
“Ever heard of Father Time? This is where he lives.” Said Danny. Once they arrived at the castle they all landed safely except for Luigi who was still having trouble moving around.
“I have been expecting you.” Said the ghost master of time nearly giving Luigi a heart attack. He was in child form before turning into an adult.
“Wow, you must be Father Time. It is an honor to meet you.” Said Mario and they shook hands.
“Please, my friends call me Clockwork and I haven’t used it in years. I was expecting your visit and the portal to your world is ready but I believe that we are missing someone.” The group then turned around and it was none other than King Koopa. His younger self looked more like a lizard and he even wore a crown.
“Luigi, look out!” Mario warned his brother before dodging an attack. Danny, who was still in his ghost form was surprised when he had the ghost gauntlets. He was going to attack him with his ghost ray while Peter ranted on about how dangerous and stupid the younger Bowser’s stunt was.
“Time out.” Said Clockwork and all of a sudden time seemed to freeze. He then went to grab a time medallion and put it around Mario’s neck
“What? What happened?” Mario was gasping for air and turned around. He soon realized that he was the only one besides Clockwork who could move at the moment. “Did you make it so that only I could move?”
“That’s right and once you and your brother are back in your own world everyone’s memories of today’s events would be erased. You and your brother would be the only ones who would remember.”
“Wait a minute, I thought that this was the future.”
“A possible future and one of many.”
“Okay but what are you going to do about Stupa Koopa?”
“Oh, I have plans for him.” Clockwork smiled before turning into his elderly form. Danny and Peter were sent back to their home and did not recall a thing from the event that happened tonight. Mario and Luigi were back on their own dimension and told their version of Princess Peach all about their amazing time travel adventure.
“So Koopa is still at Father Times castle? I have been wondering why you two have been gone for so long and I wonder when Koopa will get back.”
“Don’t worry Princess, Clockwork said that he had a special job for him.” Mario replied. Princess Peach only shrugged her shoulder since she was unsure of how she should react. As it turned out, Koopa was forced into servitude by scrubbing the castle floors from top to bottom and it seemed that Clockwork was enjoying his misery the entire time.
“Ah, I knew I shouldn’t have quit my day job.” Bowser complained.
“I am not paying you to idle around, now get to work!” Clockwork demanded and Koopa only shrugged his shoulders before doing so.