8 Different Worlds

by BLAZIN TRAIL

As Mario and Luigi venture out to rescue Princess Peach once again, an unlikely Blue Toad insists on accompanying them on their mission. However, the longer he stays with the brothers, the more he struggles to hold back his feelings for the princess, and he wonders if she could ever love him the way he loves her.

Neatly-wrapped gifts stacked on top of each other formed skyscrapers inside of the light rosy castle. The occasional box was decorated a propeller mushroom. Even fewer had penguin suits on one of their six faces. Expertly tied ribbons sat naturally on top of each box.

In front of all the presents was an elongated table, each seat occupied by either a Toad or another royal member of the Mushroom Kingdom. Small talk and laughter filled the friendly air as dishes filled with fillet of Cheep Cheep were served to the many guests at the get together. Two oddly colored Toads (one with blue spots, the other with yellow) sat near the head chair of the table. On the other side of them sat the two most popular Italian brothers in all of the Mushroom Kingdom. A tall man in his green shirt, green hat, and dark denim suspenders was named Luigi. The shorter man (Luigi's younger brother) in the red shirt, matching red hat, and light blue suspenders with yellow buttons was long ago given the name Mario. Sitting at the very end of the extremely long table was a young woman. Her back-length golden-blond hair, lively blue irises, and lavender pink dress were her trademarked symbols.

Today is Princess Peach's birthday. It was the day to celebrate her twenty-two years of life with the loyal Toads that inhabited her beloved kingdom.

Several frantic Toads rushed past the princess with hot plates of Cheep Cheep in their hands. Some however, proved to be clumsier than others as they tripped over their own feet and dropped the plates on the once spotless ground, scattering fish and shards of fine china across the floor. Peach rested her beautiful face into her right hand, face-palming at their clumsiness. She made it crystal clear to the Toads that she wanted a small birthday party, one with only Mario, Luigi, Blue and Yellow Toad as the guests. Toadsworth, however, insisted that the party have more guests in the event that King Toadstool decided to visit her castle. As much as the young woman would like to believe this, she knows not to expect any scheduled visits from her father, as he often drops by the castle at spread out, random times. A single salty tear ran down her pale cheek as a picture of her father appeared in her mind.

Her brief sadness quickly faded away and turned into amazement as her colossal cake had appeared before her. The vanilla flavored dessert had two incredibly thick layers, each smothered with even more vanilla frosting. Peach was no taller than each gargantuan layer of cake, and it would most likely take two and a half Toads standing on top of each other to reach the top of it. While the rest of the Toads croaked and gazed at the cake in awe, Princess Peach slowly approached it. She noticed eight odd-looking decorations on the stacks of cake, and she could've sworn she saw one move slightly, but she quickly brushed it off as another one of the tricks her eyes often played on her.

The closer she came to the cake, the more the decorations seemed to twitch and shake. Reluctance took the place of her previous amazement as she took yet another small step towards the cake. Her gut had told her not to get any closer to it, as she feared a Toad or something else would jump out and frighten her. The young princess quickly realized she should've listened to her gut much sooner as eight figures, just as she expected, emerged from the surface of the cake. One stood at the top of the cake, a position she assumed could only be taken by the leader of the group.

Each young koopaling was obviously an offspring from the infamous King Koopa, or Bowser. Each of Bowser's children stood before the now shocked princess, and, much to everyone's surprise, they all worked together to lift the dessert off the ground and hurl it onto Peach. The weight of the cake was not heavy enough to crush the bones of her fragile body, but it was heavy enough to render every one of her muscles useless.

Bowser Jr. stood on the top layer of the cake, glaring violently down at his "subjects". With a mere wave of the hand, the remaining seven koopalings lifted the large frosted treat on their small yet powerful shoulders and hauled it out of the castle. Swiftly and elegantly, they managed to place the cake on to the airship as they prepared to sail away without a trace.

The muffled cries of the distressed princess could be heard by Mario and his younger brother, Luigi. With a panicked look on his face, Mario turned to his sibling, and Luigi knew exactly what he meant.