Two weeks had passed since the mission on the Jungles, and all the questions Big Chill and Chromastone had about Swampfire's weird behavioring on that day were eventually forgotten. Rosalina healed Jetray's wounds with her magic right after they had arrived at Peach's castle; a few days later he was already walking and flying better than ever. Also, the plumbers didn't receive any new missions during these weeks, so they were able to enjoy their "normal" life at the caste while taking turns to monitor the alien activity around the area.
Peach and Daisy were at the courtyard having a match of Tennis. The day was bright and sunny and the weather was cool, it was the perfect day for a little sports practice. Rosalina was on a nearby table as the judge, watching the ball bounce from side to side of the court without any winner.
"Enough of this! It's time to win!" – Daisy said as the other princess returned the ball again. – "It's time for the Super Dooper Daisy's Spring Illusion Ball!" – She shouted.
"WHAT!" – Peach gasped in shock as her adversary's racket glowed in a golden color; and for her surprise, when the flower princess hit the ball it split into five others which all went flying towards her side of the court. She tried to hit the one that flew the closest to her, but it just passed through her racket.
"Game! Daisy won!" – Rosalina said standing up and clapping her hands.
When the Mushroom Kingdom princess looked back, four of the five balls that got past her had disappeared; she also saw Chromastone coming closer distractedly while looking down to a holographic screen. – "So we're using super powers now, huh?" – She said getting a hairclip and a towel from the table next to Rosalina.
"Yeah! You know, the Sonic Team won't go easy on us during the Olympic Games. You gotta stay alert!" – Daisy explained, also getting a towel for her.
"I'm gonna show you who's gotta stay alert..." – Peach murmured to herself and then turned to her rock friend who was passing by near the court. – "Hey, Chromastone! You wanna play?"
"Huh?" – The rock man's thoughts were cut by the invitation, and he looked back at the three princesses.
"Me and Rosalina, against you and Daisy. What do you say?" – The girl continued, waving her racket.
"Sorry, but I can't right now. You see, I've made this graphic about all the technology we retrieved from the Forever Knights in the past few weeks, and I think I've discovered something. I'm looking everywhere for Swampfire to report to him but I just can't find him." – The Crystalsapien explained. – "Has any of you seen him?"
"Swampfire? I haven't seen him the entire week." – Peach replied.
"I've seen him at the gardens some times on these past days." – Daisy answered. – "But I don't know, he was acting very strangely. He had that big smile on his face, and when I went after him, he suddenly disappeared."
"I'd say that since the day you guys came back from your last mission, both him and Big Chill are acting weird." – Rosalina added. – "On that day, right after the ship landed and I was coming inside to take care of Jetray, Swampfire rushed past me in a hurry almost like XLR8's. I'm not sure, but I thought I saw something red on his back. And as for Big Chill, sometimes he suddenly stops what he is doing and stares blankly at nothing for a short time. It's weird."
"It… sure is." – Chromastone agreed, with a doubt expression. – "Well, thanks for the info. I'm gonna look for him at the gardens." – He finished before leaving.
"So, Daisy, you're ready for the revenge match?" – Peach said on a threatening tone.
"Anytime." – The other replied getting her racket. When she turned to face her friend she felt a little fear upon her back: Peach had tied her hair on a ponytail. That was a signal that the game had just become serious.
Chromastone didn't have time to give ten steps forward before he heard Peach shouting "Peachy Bomb" and a big explosion sound right after. In a hurry, he went back to the court to check on the girls and saw that the place had become a battlefield, with dust smoke entirely covering Daisy's side, Rosalina ducked under a chair and Peach striking a winning position.
"WH-WHAT DID JUST HAPPEN HERE?" – He asked still not believing what he was seeing.
"We're taking Tennis to a whole new level!" – Peach replied on a joking tone.
"Try not to kill each other, okay? You gave me quite a scare." – He stated before leaving again.
"I-I think we should go play Mario Kart now…" – Daisy groaned from inside the smoke.
On another part of the castle, Big Chill was getting out of his bedroom after taking a shower. He had spent all the morning there reading his books and doing nothing at all, but then he suddenly had a bad feeling and decided to check out things at the castle. The necrofriggian was walking on the corridors towards the dining hall when, all of a sudden, he heard a noise coming from behind him like something was being dragged along the ground. When he turned his head to see tough, there was nothing at all.
"It must have been my imagination" – He thought to himself but then, the ventilation duct caught his attention and he glanced deeply into it, but since no sound was made he decided to just let it be.
When he turned around again he saw XLR8's smiling face very close to his. – "Boo!" – The kineceleran said.
Big Chill instinctively reacted by leaning his body back with a shocked expression, what made the other laugh. – "Stop trying to scare me." – He then grumbled.
"You were standing there looking at the nothing, I couldn't resist." – The dinosaur alien joked – "By the way, you seem to be very distracted over the last days. It's not the first time I caught you motionless while staring at the time, is there something wrong?"
"I… don't know. I... just have this… bad felling. I feel like I'm being watched when I'm alone." – The moth alien confessed.
"HAHAHA! ARE YOU SERIOUS?" – XLR8 joked – "Why would someone secretly watch you, when they know that there is me, who is way more handsome than you, living in the same castle?"
"I'M NOT JOKING XL! This is serious! I just heard a noise coming from the ventilation duct right before you arrived. There IS someone watching me, and not for any good purposes." – Big Chill warned while trying to keep his cool.
"Well, I think it's just your imagination." – That's when a "brilliant" idea popped into XLR8's mind – "It's that, or…" – He said with his teeth shaped into a creepy smile.
The other rolled his eyes, he was sure his friend would say something silly just to pick on him. – "Or what?" – He finally asked.
"YOU HAVE ANATIDAEPHOBIA!" – The dinosaur answered with a smile while lifting his hands up.
The moth's eyes widened in a shocking expression – "I HAVE WHAT?"
"Anatidaephobia. It's the fear that somewhere and somehow a duck is secretly watching you!" – His friend explained while trying to make a scary voice.
Big Chill sighed. He had heard enough and he knew that anything that his friend would say from now on wouldn't have any hint of seriousness. – "You just made that up…" – He said before walking away.
But XLR8 wouldn't give up so easily and followed him. – "Nope, that's a real phobia! I've seen it on the internet and… HEY! I've just had an idea! I need to go now, but don't worry, I'll be 'watching' you later. Hehehe." – He had that silly smile on his face when he said that before running to outside, and Big Chill was sure he was up to no good. The ice alien could almost guess that the dinosaur would soon try to play another prank on him.
The castle gardens were an external ambient which also worked as a track for Kart racing. It had a small round lake with a brick island in the middle, fountains, and of course lots of flower beds and live walls. Also, big Chain Chomps could be seen walking freely around the place, and Monty Moles digging the soil.
When Chromastone arrived, he could see no sight of Swampfire anywhere and no matter how much he called for him, there was no answer. The purple alien sighed and sat on a small wall to think where in world his leader could be, and a little after Rosalina came by.
"Still didn't find him?" – She asked sitting by his side.
Chromastone was watching a small Chain Chomp trying to catch a red butterfly without any success – "Not at all. Maybe he went for a walk on the city…" – He replied. – "By the way, how was your game?"
"We stopped after Peach blew the place up." – The girl laughed – "We're going to race here now. Hey! Do you think the Chain Chomp could sniff for Swampfire?"
The rock man looked down at the black round creature who had given up chasing the poor butterfly. – "Hey! You can sniff for Swampfire, can't you?" – He talked to the little dog, and it replied by jumping and barking a little. – "Looks like a 'yes' to me. Let's go." – He stated to the princess with a tone of excitement as he stood up and grabbed the chain attached to the creature.
Meanwhile Jetray was laying in his bed listening to classical music. His eyes were closed and his arms were crossed behind his head, which was moving side to side according to the song's beating. He was having a good relaxing time, or at least until XLR8 came running inside his bedroom carrying some unusual yellow clothes.
Jetray didn't move from his comfy position, he just opened his eyes and lifted his head a bit to see what his best friend had in his hands. It was a duck costume. – "I'm not gonna ask anything, but you're gonna say anyway, aren't you?"
"Of course!" – The other said between laughs. – "Big Chill is afraid of ducks watching him and I'm…" – The dinosaur suddenly stopped talking when he realized what was the sound playing in the ambient. – "You're listening to Beethoven?" – The red alien nodded while making an affirmative sound with his throat. – "But I thought you liked heavy metal."
"But I do." – Jetray replied while sitting on the edge of his bed, and then there was an awkward moment of silence.
"Well… anyway, help me to put on this costume" – He said while taking his helmet off.
A moment later Jetray was looking at his friend dressed as a duck, while completely failing at trying not to laugh. – "You know, I've never seen a duck with a kineceleran tail before." – He joked.
"That's because this costume was not designed for kinecelerans. My tail doesn't fit in. And thanks for the help Ray, now I've gotta find Big Chill." – XLR8 said and went outside.
"WAIT FOR ME!" – The red alien shouted while turning off the radio, and then going after his friend. – "I wanna see Big Chill beating you up."
Back at the gardens, the Chain Chomp had led Chromastone and Rosalina towards a plant wall. It looked like a dead end, but the creature managed to get through the live fence and disappear on the other side.
"Looks like we've found his secret spot!" – Rosalina said with excitement. With some difficulty, both she and Chromastone managed to squeeze through the plants and get to the other side, where they've found a small round garden, but there was still no sight of their leader. – "He's not here either... but I bet he spends lots of time here" – The girl said while walking towards the flower bed. When she got to the center of it, the ground next to her began to lift up as if something was going to pop out of it.
"ROSE GET OUT OF THERE!" – Chromastone warned but it was too late.
A medium sized Piranha Plant came out of the ground next to the princess making her scream; she also lost her balance and fell to the ground. The girl turned her body and crawled away quickly right before the plant tried to take a bite out of her. Chromastone stood in front his friend and charged up his powers to attack; and it was at this moment that Swampfire arrived at the secret garden carrying a package of manure. His happy smile turned into a horror expression as he saw one of Chromastone's lasers flying in the Piranha Plant's direction.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" – He shouted while, as in an instinctive reaction, he let go the manure package and tossed himself in the middle of the trajectory.
"SWAMPFIRE!" – Both Rosalina and Chromastone shouted in shock as they saw the methanosian being hit, and falling to the ground next to the monster.
At the same time, Big Chill, Peach and Daisy arrived at the secret garden, guided by the tumult and the screams.
"AAAAAAHHHHHHH! WHAT IS THAT THING DOING HERE?" – Peach screamed in horror when she saw the Piranha Plant in her garden. – "Kill it, before he eats Swampfire!"
"NOOOOOO!" – The plant alien shouted from the ground. – "Don't hurt Matilda!"
"Matilda?" – Everyone looked confused to the methanosian at the ground.