My first upload! Yay!

Disclaimer: Mario, Luigi, Daisy, and Peach are owned by Nintendo.

Now to the Story:

The Forest of Monsters

Peach and Daisy stared at the grand facade of the forest that loomed in front of them. Peach gulped nervously.

"Are you sure they went in here?" She asked Daisy timidly.

"Yep." Daisy replied with no fear in her voice. She marched into the forest. Despite it being late at night, the forest kept the two princesses wide awake and alert. They were following their boyfriends.

The two female royals had recently taken notice that sometimes, at night, neither Mario or Luigi was to be found in the castle, at Toad Town, or at their own house. Polterpup and E. Gadd had searched all of Evershade Valley and a little bit beyond; as well as in all of the many houses Luigi owned and explored. Toadsworth was stationed at Mushroom Castle, and Toad was in Toad Town, but no one had found the two brothers anywhere. This had occurred for a few nights, scattered on the calendar here and there. Then a pattern began to emerge when more and more absent dates were gathered. The night of the full moon and the two nights adjacent to it, the Mario bros had gone. Same thing with the new moon. The two were also gone the day before the moon phase was exactly between half full and full, the milky whiteness on the right side of the celestial sphere. When they looked up the phase, it was listed as the waxing gibbous. The Bros were also gone the night after the waning gibbous, and the night before the waning crescent reached it's most recognizable appearance; exactly between empty and half full.

Daisy and Peach had found the pattern when recording the last set of data about the waning crescent for the third time, predicting the next absence on the three nights of the new moon, and they were right. The Mario bros had gone, and Daisy volunteered to follow them with Polterpup by her side. The princess of Sarasaland had gotten as far as the forest undetected, but by the time she arrived, night was falling. Daisy had decided not to risk the mission at night, or at least that night. She would have been in total darkness with no moonlight at all. Also, despite his training to remain stable without the help of the Dark Moon, Polterpup would not enter the forest. Daisy and Peach had decided to wait for the next phase to go, but on the waxing crescent, Daisy had gotten sick. Peach did not want to go alone, yet only Daisy and Polterpup knew where the forest was. Also, the waxing crescent moon would provide minimal light. The pair of princesses decided to wait for the next night the bros were absent to go.

Now the couple entered the forest under the waxing gibbous moon, feeling the atmosphere immediately seem to change. They followed a well-worn path as creatures growls from other parts of the forest echoed around the trees.

A ways into the trek, huge thing leaped out onto the trail. It was a huge ferret like creature, with disproportionately huge fangs; as long as Luigi was tall. Though it was huge, it would obviously be agile. The thing hissed and rose on it's hind legs. In an apple grove, it would have towered over the trees; but this was a legit forest. The smallest of it's trees were taller than the top pinnacle of Mushroom Castle. The thing pounced, but a brown blur struck first. It barreled into the giant Ferret's side, flying both things off the path and out of view of the princesses. Fierce barking could be heard, as well as hissing and growls. Daisy and Peach ran in the direction that their savior had come from, grateful they were wearing their biking jumpsuits, as their dresses would have gotten caught on the bushes as they retreated. Behind them, a significantly louder squeal rang out in the night. A triumphant howl came from the same direction.

It was of little comfort to the duo. All it meant was a monster that was smaller, but stronger than the giant ferret was done with it's not-such-a-challenging ordeal. Whatever it was, it was now on the trail for a less challenging ordeal. Two little ladies lost in the woods would make a great meal, wouldn't it?

Peach and Daisy heard footfalls behind them. They sped up to lose their pursuer, but it was no use. Peach felt something touch her shoulder and suppressed a scream. When she realized it was just a clean white glove, Peach tuned and hugged the familiar face.

"Mario!" She cried in joy.

"Hey, what are you two doing here?" He asked. Neither princes responded. Both where taking in Mario himself. He had acquired furry triangle shaped ears, but they replaced his normal ones instead of being on top of his head and an addition to the norm. Peach pushed away her questions. Mario had furry ears quite a lot. The only thing was, when he looked mostly human and didn't have a suit on, he usually had two sets, and not one replacing the other. The one other prevalent thing that was alarming about Mario's appearance, was his eyes were red. Normally this wouldn't bother Peach or Daisy because Mario's eye's changed color sometimes, it was a fact. The three colors; red, blue, and no color (just large black pupils that doubled as irises), switched, though they they tended to be blue most often. The thing that was alarming was they were glowing red. Mario didn't seem to mind, or notice.

"Come on," he said, "you guys are farther in than out. You might want to wait out the night at the castle with us.".

Mario headed off into the forest with no fear of the shadows whatsoever. After sharing a brief glance, the princess followed him.

They had entered a circular clearing with a diameter of a sixteen wheeler when Mario tensed suddenly.

Daisy screamed with surprise, fear, and exhilaration as she was suddenly snatched into the air.