Chapter Four: Ghostly Get Away
"King Bowser, Lady Lavanda has returned!" Skyri, a paratroopa, hurriedly flew into the room, leaving a trail of feathers in her path.
Bowser watched impatiently as Lavanda entered the room. "What do you have to report?"
"Everything is going well, your highness. Tomorrow Princess Peach and her friend Princess Daisy will be at the Forest Maze near Rose Town. I'm sure it will not take too long for her to realize her true feelings for you," Lavanda explained with a confident smile.
"Then you're actually making progress? When will Peach and I be together?" It had been far too long since Bowser heard such good news and he couldn't wait any longer for more.
"Tomorrow, but you must remember to take things slowly. I must ask you to go deep into the Forest Maze and wait for Peach there. I will lead her to you and you will have a chance to become her hero."
Bowser liked the sound of that. He would be Peach's hero instead of Mario. "Hear that Kamek? Everything is going according to- Kamek?" The Koopa King had been so busy pacing around the room that he didn't even notice when the magikoopa left.
xoxox xox xoxox
The next day, the first thing Lavanda had to accomplish was to help Peach and Daisy leave the Mushroom Kingdom unnoticed. She arrived at the castle and a toad let her in. "Welcome Miss Lavanda, the princesses are waiting for you."
"I hope I didn't arrive too late." She smiled appearing very friendly and trustworthy; it was all part of her plan.
"Not at all, you arrived just in time." The toad showed her the way to Peach's private living room. "Princess, your guest is here."
Peach thanked him and the toad bowed and left. "I'm glad you came. Lavanda, this is Daisy." After the introduction, she pulled a picnic basket from under a pile of plushies where she had hastily hidden it when the toad arrived.
"Hi, nice to meet you! Peach was telling me that you're a fortune teller. That sounds fun, could you read my fortune later? But first we need to make our great escape." Daisy was certainly talkative and social. She got used being around new people very quickly.
"Of course, Princess, I would be honored to read your fortune." Lavanda took a small bow, but Daisy shook her head.
"You don't need to do that. Just call me Daisy." She never liked formalities.
"Very well, if it is alright. About our escape plan, I thought of a possible way to leave the castle unnoticed." Peach and Daisy watch as Lavanda materialized three little dolls that looked like the three of them and used her magic to make them life size.
The Lavanda doll was surrounded by a pale purple light and came to life. "Have a good time in the Forest Maze today! The other dolls and I will take care of everything here as soon as they wake up..."
"That was amazing!"
"I'm happy you think so." Lavanda smiled, this was too easy. "To animate the other two dolls I'll need your help. Just try to clear your mind and relax so I can copy your personality into them."
The princesses did as Lavanda had asked. In the beginning, she didn't think it would be that easy to make them lower their guard┘but her plans were progressing at an excellent pace. The same pale purple glow surrounded the princesses and their identical dolls.
"Looks like everything is ready," the Daisy doll spoke.
"Just don't forget to come back before midnight," the Peach doll reminded them.
"Why midnight? Will they turn back into dolls then?" Daisy asked.
"Yes, this is only temporary." Lavanda checked her wand's amethyst and grinned when she saw two small glowing lights within the jewel.
"That's too bad. I was going to ask if I could keep mine." Many times, Daisy wished she had a double that could take her place during boring royal duties.
"I'm sorry, but my magic isn't powerful enough to maintain the living dolls for too long." That was a lie... she simply had no reason to keep up the charade for too long. For her plans to have their full effect, the Mushroom Kingdom had to realize that their princess was missing. If Sarasaland could be added to the mix, it was even better. "I can still cast a basic invisibility spell on the three of us to make it easier to leave the castle unseen."
"I've always wanted to be invisible" It would certainly make things easier for Daisy when it came to sneaking out of meetings if she had that power.
They headed towards the front door, not even making an effort to try to use a back door or windows since they were invisible. On their way they saw Toadsworth talking to Toad. "Monday, it should take place on Monday."
"But Sir Toadsworth, most people are too busy to attend the parade on a Monday. Perhaps a Saturday or Friday would be best."
Toadsworth examined his clipboard and tapped the pen against it muttering something about risks and probability. "We cannot do that. Statistically King Bowser seems to prefer those days for his kidnapping attempts. Sadly, the majority of those attempts are successful, at least until Mario saves her. We simply can't take this risk and ruin the parade for both the princess and the people. Last year the Mushroom Day parade took place on a Saturday only because the princess had been rescued the previous Friday and Bowser doesn't usually attempt another kidnapping so soon."
"I can't believe you're discussing this." For a moment Peach forgot she was invisible and spoke as if Toadsworth could see her but had not noticed her yet. They were scheduling the parade so that it wouldn't take place on one of "kidnap days" and that didn't make her feel very good.
Toadsworth nearly had a heart attack as he searched for the source of the voice and didn't find it. "Did you hear that?"
"Y-ye-s," Toad's face was pale and his heart was pounding.
Peach froze and Daisy could hardly contain her laughter. "Do you hear that? It sounds like muffled laughter. Could it be that Boos have intruded in the castle?"
"I don't know, but it's scary!" Boos were often shy and didn't attack those who were brave enough to look straight at them. Toad kept turning to look in every direction to make sure a Boo wouldn't sneak up on him.
"Why didn't they recognize my voice?" Peach kept her voice to a barely audible whisper.
"It's a side effect of being invisible. To those who are not under the same spell, your voice sounds ghostly." Lavanda's words gave Daisy an idea.
With a mischievous look, the Sarasaland princess started making ghostly sounds. With a shriek, Toad jumped into Toadsworth's arms shivering all over. "G-gg-ho-st!"
Toadsworth gulped. "Remain calm, we will not let the ghosts bring us down!" He tried to make his voice sound as confident and calm as possible but he really didn't like the possibility of the castle being invaded by Boos.
Listening to the sounds of more stifled laughter, as if the ghosts were mocking them, only served to increase Toad's fear. "Ma-ma-mm-ma..."
"That's enough, Toad." Toadsworth set Toad on the floor and took a determined pose, reminiscent of a knight who was ready to draw his sword and go to battle. "This is no time to be crying for our mums. This is a time to take action and defend the Mushroom Kingdom!" He raised his arm in fighting spirit, holding his pen as sword and clipboard as a shield. There was no way he would let a bunch of Boos chase him out of his home.
Toad shook his head and took a deep breath. "Mario," he finally managed to utter the words he had been trying to communicate.
"The Mario brothers you mean? I'm certain that they would be able to handle this situation, but we must also take action. Close the doors and windows! We will not let the Boos take over the castle!" If it came down to it, Toadsworth would send for the Mario brothers. Nevertheless for the moment being he would try to handle the situation himself.
"But Boos can go through walls" Toad reminded him in a frightened voice.
"Well now, that is a problem." Tapping the pen on the clipboard once more, Toadsworth looked thoughtful. "Call the Mario brothers!" He finally decided.
"Yes sir!" Toad saluted, he felt much more secure knowing that the Mario brothers were on their way.
Peach's "oh, oh" was followed by Daisy's "oops" and the princesses looked at each other then at Lavanda, in search of idea to stop them from getting the Mario brothers involved.
"Should we just leave?" This was not what Lavanda had planned; it was amusing, but not what she had planned.
"We can't leave everyone like this," With Toad spreading the word that there were Boos in the castle, almost everyone had began to panic and either hid or searched for the Boos. "I shouldn't have gotten Toadsworth's attention."
"And I shouldn't have scared him. Although I must admit this is very funny." It was times like those that made life an interesting experience for the princess of Sarasaland. She wondered if she would be able to stop herself from telling Luigi the entire story later.
"It'll be alright if we leave now. The dolls will take our place and when the Mario brothers realize that there are no Boos, everyone will calm down." Lavanda made sure to keep her voice to a whisper. The princesses nodded and followed the magikoopa.
Peach looked back at Toadsworth for a moment. "Sorry..." It was not loud enough for him to hear, but it was something she had to say.
Daisy noticed that Peach was a little behind and signaled for her to hurry to the door. She wasn't sure how Lavanda was going to open it, yet assumed she had a plan. Toad continued to run all over the castle announcing the presence of Boos. While she was distracted a scared toad ran into her.
"The Boo! It's there!" The toad was pointing straight at Daisy. "I ran into something but there's nothing there so it has to be a ghost!" He was too frightened to consider the possibility of running through a ghost.
"Run!" Peach called out to Daisy. There was no time to stand still and think about the situation. The dolls would take their place and the Mario brothers would calm the chaos. If they remained there any longer, things could only get worse. They made a dash for the door and Lavanda created a powerful wind. The gust blew toads, tables, vases and decorations alike out of the way and threw the doors open. "That was your plan?" Peach looked at the toads with worry. Luckily, it seemed that other than being terrified they were just fine.
"My plan was to leave quietly. I'm making this up as I go!" It had not gone exactly as the fortune teller was expecting, but none the less the princesses were on their way to the Forest Maze. Hopefully the next part of the plan would proceed smoothly.
xoxox xox xoxox
For Mario, it was one of those days when he could sleep in all morning, get up at noon and spend the rest of the day watching TV and eating. This was his day off... and it was interrupted by the sound of the phone ringing. Mario buried his head under the pillow but it still wasn't enough to block out the unwelcome noise. "Luigi, could you get the phone?" His brother usually got up first so Mario assumed he be awake.
"Not right now. If I leave the spaghetti alone it will burn." It was the story of his life when it came to cooking. Everything appeared to be fine with his meal but if he took his eyes off it for a second, when he came back it would be burnt to a crisp.
Mario dragged himself out of bed. At least breakfast should be ready soon so his effort would not be a complete waste. He glanced at his Yoshi clock on the night stand, next to a picture of him and Peach. It was 10:30 in the morning. If this was about a leak it would have to wait until the next day. Why can't people understand that plumbers need a day off every now and then? He stopped in front of the phone and gave it a few more seconds to stop its insistent ringing.
"Are you gonna pick it up?" Luigi's voice came from the kitchen.
"I guess I have no choice" After yawning one last time, Mario cleared his throat and picked up the phone. "Mario Brothers Plumbing Se-"
"Mario, come quick! We're under attack!" Mario recognized Toad's voice right away. He could only assume this was about Bowser.
To be Continued
I hope everyone liked the humor in this chapter. :D Beta reading credit goes to Razzi (ebtwisty9) Disclaimer, I do not own the Mario games.