(I just got off the phone.)

Me: Okay, everyone. It would seem that my Author Booths repairs are almost finished! They say that it should be finished at the end of the hour!

Otto: FINALLY!

Wally: It'll be nice to sleep in my own room again!

Ace: (Turns to Nutcase and the robots.) But..! (Grabs both boys' ears.) It's been a real pleasure to stay here with you boys!

Wally: (Cringes as his ears being yanked.) Yeah! It was great! I really enjoyed hanging around with Zane and the robots again!

Otto: (Cringes less the Wally does.) Yeah, if coulda had one more incident that involved one of the robots getting sliced in half, turned to ash, or broken into a million pieces, I'd die happy… (Everyone stares at Otto eyes wide. Otto smirked mischievously.) I was kidding! Just kidding!

Nutcase: Ah it's okay guys. I understand.

Me: Anyways for this chapter, The view point will switch to Peach and Twink who sneak out for the first time. We also see Blaine Mallet Zalles again, and a new problem comes to the Koopa's mind. Enjoy!!!

Chapter .12.

Start of a Struggle

The view once again shows Bowser's Castle, with Peach's castle still on top of it. The screen turns black, and comes back on, showing Peach still locked up in her room. Twink had rejoined her some time after giving the Lucky Star to Mario and friends. Peach was pacing around out of boredom and anticipation. Twink floated in front of Peach, getting her to stop. "What's wrong Princess Peach?"

Peach stared at Twink. "Well I'm so worried about Mario… I'm worried that he's hurt… I'm just so worried!"

Twink spun a little, and flashed her a small smile. "Don't you worry Princess Peach! I'm sure Mario's fine, definitely!!" He looked to the balcony. "Why I bet he's out collecting some Star Spirits right now!"

Peach turned to Twink and smiled. "Yeah you're right Twink. Why should I worry? Mario's okay and he always will!" Peach started pacing around again. "But still, I can't stand just waiting around!" She turned back to Twink. "If only there was a way to help Mario and not just stand here waiting to find out what happened next…" Peach thought about it for a second… Her face suddenly brightened. "OH! I've got it!"

Twink looked surprised. "You have an idea?"

Peach nodded. "Yes! I remember Toadsworth saying something about an escape route out of this room!"

Twink gave a few celebratory cheers. "Really? Then what are we standing around here for?? Let's take a look around for it!"

Peach nodded. "My thoughts exactly!" And with that Peach and Twink started looking around for the secret escape route…

Meanwhile, Blaine was taking his break from his guarding duties. (It was someone else's shift.) As he walked around, he allowed his mind to wander to what all had happened to him in recent days. He had finally gotten over the nightmare he had when he first started guarding Peach's bedroom door. He and his friends were now messing around in a certain room of the first floor foyer. They were planning on setting up a small game show set so they could have a bit of a quiz show. Blaine's friends were a band of crooks called… James Thieves.

One of the thieves was a Magi-Koopa that constantly kept his rather large wizards hat pulled down so it covered his eyes in an almost shy matter, and he also seemed like something of a dweeb. His name was Steve.

Another one was a female goomba with a purple top-hat, and a small bowtie. Her name is Goombalina.

There was also a female boo, who wore jewelry on her arms, a small bow and had a snide look in her eyes. She was named Betty.

And last, but not least, was the leader of the group. He was a bandit, wearing red robes, the usual white bandit mask, brown boots, and seemed to be carrying a small orange bag, that looked strangely reminiscent of a Fire Flower. His name was James.

Blaine was moving a large piece of cardboard that, on one side, resembled a flashy game show platform. Goombalina, being the strongest of the group, was helping him. James was fixing a small system that could make an actual working buzzer for the four platforms that were against the wall. Steve, riding on his broom while doing so, was up to the ceiling, trying to make a spot-light system. Meanwhile, Betty was helping by placing streamer all along the ceiling.

"I have to admit…" James said putting the finishing touches on the buzzer system. "I never thought setting up a quiz show like this would be fun." He pushed one of the buzzers to give it a test. He smiled smugly when it buzzed like it should've.

As he went to test the second one, Blaine and Goombalina came up and put up the cardboard decoration. By the time it was up, it looked like it actually came from a quiz show. Steve looked away from his wiring and saw it being set up. "Not bad guys! At the rate we're going, we'll have this thing set up in no time!" While he was not looking, he placed a certain wire in a nozzle… Obviously that was NOT where it was meant to go… ZZZZAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAPP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! In an astounding light show, Steve was sent flying every which way, the electricity surging through him like he was a piece of machinery. The light, every few seconds, showed Steve regularly, every other few seconds, it would flash and show his skeleton like that of a classic cartoon. After a few minutes, Steve hit the floor, a lot of his body parts twitching every few minutes.

Everyone quickly ran to his side. "STEVE, YOU DIMWIT!!! ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL YOURSELF?!?!?!?" Betty shouted in frustration, obviously used to Steve's little accidents.

"You okay, Steve?" Goombalina asked, knowing that he was quite alright.

"Yeah…" Steve answered, a small pained tear going down his face.

"Good… What did we learn today?" Goombalina asked in a sweet tone.

Steve twitched from the electricity still going through him. "Never take your eyes off your work? ESPECIALLY if it involves electrical wires, which can send 8000 volts of electricity into your body?"

Goombalina rolled her eyes and smiled, "Good enough."

Blaine turned to James. "I guess it's safe to assume this happens often?"

James rolled his eyes annoyed. "It's a miracle we get anything done with this moron around, but he does have his uses." Blaine knew what James meant; Steve's hood was where their strongest member, Goombalina, lived, and he had the flying broom which Steve could use to take the group away for long distances; by far his only skill.

"Yeah, but he's still fun to have around." Blaine commented, turning to see Betty and Goombalina helping Steve back up. "Maybe, you should take care of the spot lights James."

James sighed annoyed. "I'll get a ladder…" He reached into his bag, and, no matter how impossible it seemed, he pulled a rather big ladder out of his tiny bag. He placed it underneath the spotlight system and climbed up. Using a pair of rubber gloves he had pulled out of his bag before coming up, he corrected Steve's mistake and fixed it up properly. "There! All taken care of!" He took a switch from his pocket. "Someone hit the lights!" Steve, twitching from the electricity with each step, went to the lights.

"Whoa!!! Oh no you don't Steve!! You're a fire hazard right now!" Betty said stopping him. "I'll hit the lights."

"Hold on!" James said climbing down the ladder. Betty turned off the lights after James was at the bottom of the ladder, and had stored it back in his bag. James hit the switch, once the lights switched off. A spotlight came on.

"LAAAAADIEEEES AND GENTLEMEN!!!!!!!!" Came Steve's voice. "We present to you, for your entertainment tonight! The 64th annual Nintendo Quiz Show!!! And here's your host's with the most!! BLAINE MALLET ZALLES, AND BETTY BOO!!!"

The Spotlight widened and Blaine, now wearing a small bowtie, jumped into the spotlight. He was followed by Betty, who was wearing some snazzy looking earrings along with her other jewelry, and her bows looked more dressy. "Hello everyone!!! I'm Blaine Mallet Zalles..!" Blaine introduced.

"And I'm Betty Boo!" Betty finished for Blaine.

"And we're coming at you live from Castle Toadstool, under Bowser's control if I might add, to give you the show of a lifetime!" Blaine said, as if he was speaking to a live audience.

"And that is, you guessed it, the 64th annual Nintendo Quiz Show!!! The Quiz that could be over just about anything!!!" An audience's cheer could be heard from somewhere. "For the first segment of the show, we will be with our contestants so they can choose the topic they want to be quizzed over! And here they are!!!"

The lights came back on to reveal one finished platform and three uncompleted ones. Blaine took control of the situation. "As you can see, we are still trying to complete our stage being under a low budget, but we are doing fine! Contestant #1 is a fiery tempered bandit and the leader of his own band of crooks. Your favorite hardworking minion, and mine..! James Bandit!!!!"

The spotlight shown on James, who chuckled and bowed a little. "Thank you Blaine! It's an honor being here!"

Betty introduced the next competitor. "Contestant #2 is one of the toughest girl's I've ever had the pleasure of knowing! Despite lack of hands, this girl can kick butt with the best of them! We have the Goomba Warrior Princess..! GOOM-BA-LINA!!!"

Goombalina jumped on the unfinished platform table, and gave a small bow. "Thank you for the wonderful introduction Betty!"

"And finally! Our third contestant! He's a trainee Magi-Koopa with a knack for flying! His clumsiness is known almost everywhere, but where he lacks in grace he makes up for knowledge..! We have the Hooded Turtle Mage..! STEVEN K. MAGI-KOOPA!!! OTHERWISE KNOWN AS STEVE!!!"

Steve blushed a little. "I'm not afraid to admit it, I don't have much grace, but I'm still one smart cookie!"

Betty turned to the fourth platform. "Our original fourth contestant, Petunia, the giant Piranha Plant, and Steve's girlfriend, was unable to attend due to being stuck on the ground. But rest assured! A new contestant will be found before the game begins in a few days!"

Blaine walked on screen. "But until then, I'm Blaine Mallet Zalles…"

Betty floated beside him. "And I'm Betty Boo…"

They finished together. "And we're here with the 4-1-1 on the biggest show on the Mushroom Kingdom!"

It was quiet for a second. Everyone started laughing at the whole thing. "Oh man!! If you two really became hosts, you'd really become the life of the party!!" James said with a grin.

"Yeah, whatever." Betty said removing her more dressy bows and placing her original ones back on.

Blaine removed his bowtie. "Well that was fun. Well guys, I think we should get back to work, my shift starts in…" He checked his wristwatch. "40 minutes, we should get as much done as we can." Everyone nodded and immediately went back to work on the quiz show.

… He would consider himself lucky that this wasn't his shift, after what happened today…

The view now shows Bowser's room in Peach's castle. It was devoid of Bowser or any other Koopa. It was quiet for a few moments… The fireplace in the room stood still, no flame lit, and the kindling sitting idly around. The fireplace was decorated with a tiny fence like barrier, and had some decorated tile inside the barrier… Tiles that was different from the floor outside the tiny fence barrier.

The fireplace suddenly started a slow spin; it spun around until it was revealed that the wall around the fire place, was, in fact, hollow, and had a hallway was hidden behind it. The wall continued to spin until the other side of the wall took the place of the original. Standing near that wall was Princess Peach herself. She was looking around in a panicky fashion. She was obviously not expecting the wall to spin. When she found herself in the empty room, smiled in relief. "Well, I'm glad we didn't end up in a room full of guards…"

Twink appeared from behind Peach, and looked around himself. Once he established the same thing, he flew out freely, and gave a sigh of relief. "Yeah… That wouldn't have ended to well…"

She slowly walked around the room giving a careful look to the door she had noticed. She noticed a desk on the opposite side of the room from where the door was. She slowly walked up to the desk. There was a dark red book that was left out and open on the desk. Peach took a small look at it. "What's this?"

Twink took a close look at the book himself. "Hmm… This looks like a date here… Maybe this is someone's diary."

Peach looked pleasantly surprised. "A diary?? Maybe this will give us clues as to where a Star Spirit is!"

Twink nodded, thinking the idea made sense. "Kinda devious… But hey, it's for the Honorable Star Spirits well being!" He took a closer look at the writing style. "But still, it makes me wonder whose diary this is…"

Peach took a close look at the diary, Twink did the same…

(Unknown Diary.)

Month: April, Day: 14

Heya diary, today was something of a drag. The soldiers have been slacking off as usual. But if one good thing came out of this, Kamek read up on some kind of ancient artifact that's called the Star Rod that's guarded by the ancient Star Spirits. It all sounded very good to me! As soon as we found it, we could go and steal the Star Rod. After hearing all of this, I spent the rest of the day to think about where I can find this… 'Star Haven'…

(End Entry.)

Twink stared questionably, Something about this writing style reminded him of someone. "I can't help but feel that I know the person who wrote this." He turned the page. "Should we keep reading?"

Peach nodded. "It'll be a good idea. Let's keep going." Peach took a close look at the page.

(Unknown Diary.)

Month: April, Day: 15

Today was great diary!! Today, me and Kammy went up to Star Haven and took the Star Rod!! I even imprisoned the Star Spirits so they wouldn't give me any trouble!! OH YEAH, I'M BAD!!! And if that wasn't enough for ya' try this! I even defeated Mario!! After that I lifted Peach's Castle so HIGH into the sky we're floating above the clouds now!! HAHAHAHA!!! Talk about an improvement!! Anyways, now that that's done, I actually got to enjoy dinner today, despite my kids being as annoying as they usually are! Well, at least the worst of them are playing around at Wendy's new castle.

(End Entry.)

Twink and Peach went wide eyed, realizing whose diary this was. "PEACH, This is BOWSER'S DIARY!!! YUCK!!!"

Peach was disgusted at this aspect. "Right now, I'm starting to get thankful that we haven't found his more 'PRIVATE THOUGHTS'…" She shuddered, not even wanting to think about how out of control that little turn would take. "We might as well keep reading and hope for the best…" She looked at a few entries and found the one that he must've written earlier today. "Hopefully this one will give us some info…"

Peach and Twink took a careful look at the entry.

(Bowser's Diary.)

Month: April, Day: 19

Well I'm officially ticked off now! The Koopa Bros lost to Mario and his friends, and rescued their first Star Spirit. GRRR! If I EVER catch those morons in my castle again..!! Grr, better calm down, else I pop a blood vessel. But despite Mario finding this Star Spirit, I'm not worried. Wanna' know why? Because, the next Star Spirit is hidden in the Dry Dry Ruins in middle of Dry Dry Dessert. The Ruins are so well hidden in that dessert that there's no way Mario could find it! I'm feeling so relaxed I think I'll go and take a nap now…

(End Entry.)

Peach and Twink gasped at this. "DRY DRY RUINS IN THE MIDDLE OF DRY DRY DESERT?!?" Peach said almost in a shout.

Twink looked equally distraught. "One of the Honorable Star Spirits is being held there?!? Oh my!!"

Peach turned to Twink. "Twink, here's my next wish; I want you to go to Mario and tell him what we've just read! Can you do it?"

Twink nodded, "Of course! I'll go right now!!!" The sound of a doorknob turning caught both Twink and Peach's attention. Both of them jumped and turned to the door.

Both Peach and Twink could only gulp as the door opened. Twink quickly hid behind Peach as the door opened. Standing on the other side of the door was Bowser himself, looking somewhat annoyed. "I can't believe I left my diary out… I swear to the lord almighty that if anyone read that thing…" He turned around from looking at something just out of view from the door, and stopped mid-sentence when he saw Peach. His eyes were now wider then Peach had ever seen them before, also there was a very big blush on his face. His eye developed an unhealthy looking twitch after a second, and his entire face turned red with embarrassment and rage.

The view now shows the room where Blaine and James' Bandit Troupe was still working on the quiz show set. Blaine and Goombalina was moving another cardboard quiz show prop to the platform, while James was working on the lighting system some more. Steve, who was finally cured of the remaining electricity from his earlier shock, was now flying on his broom and was working on a few Christmas lights to make the scene look a bit more festive. Betty Boo was working on her introduction and was sprucing herself up.

… … … … … …

"WHAT THE HELL IS PEACH DOING OUTSIDE OF HER ROOM?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! HEADS ARE GOING TO ROLL FOR THIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIISSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"Came a voice that was so loud, it caused the entire castle to shake. The sudden noise was so startling, James fell off his ladder, Steve's broom went topsy turvy and bucked him off, Blaine and Goombalina jumped, causing their cardboard prop to be thrown upwards and fall back down on their heads hard, and Betty Boo messed up on her makeup, causing the lipstick to miss her lips and go up her cheek.

Blaine and Goombalina saw stars for a second, before shaking it off. James rubbed the now forming bump on his head. Steve slowly got back up and pushed his back, causing it to crick back into its usual position. And Betty? Well… Furious didn't even BEGIN to describe how mad she was about Bowser's interruption. "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT ABOUT?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?"

The group ran up to the second floor foyer. As soon as they got there, they saw Bowser was throwing one heck of a tantrum. Peach was standing by his side, head bowed down to hide her face. Many of the Koopa soldiers had expressions of great fear on their faces… Kammy being one of them. "Now, now. Calm down Bowser. Mind your blood pressure…" She was now standing in front of Bowser trying to calm him down.

She might as well have been trying to calm down a hungry and infuriated dragon. "CALM DOWN???!!!!!????!???!!??!! HOW CAN I CALM DOWN WHEN PEACH SOMEHOW GOT OUT OF HER ROOM, GOT IN MINE, AND READ MY DIARY???!!!???!???!!!???!!!???"

Blaine and the bandit troupe gulped a little. They knew that when he was on a tirade, their was no stopping him. "GOT OUT OF HER ROOM?!?!?" Kammy repeated, gulping afterwards.

Bowser didn't let that stopped him. "THERE SHOULD BE CONSEQUENCES FOR THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SOMEONE WAS GUARDING HER DOOR, AND FOR FAILING, THAT SOMEONE SHOULD FACE THE MUSIC...! THE MUSIC THAT PLAYS IN MY FREAKING DUNGEON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Kammy, although she found Bowser's temper tantrum a bit much, turned to the Koopa soldiers in front of her, a frown forming on her face. "Okay then… Who here, guards Peach's door?" Blaine gulped a little, knowing that the job was his. When no-one stepped forward, Kammy started to tap her foot impatiently. "IF THE SOLDIERS WHO TAKES SHIFTS IN GUARDING PEACH'S DOOR, DOESN'T STEP FORWARD IN THE NEXT TEN SECONDS… SEVERE CONSEQUENCES WILL BE PASSED OUT TO EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" The koopa soldiers looked at each other now afraid of what would happen in the next ten seconds. "ONE!" Blaine shivered a little. "TWO!"

Blaine tried to take a step forward, but James stopped him. "ARE YOU CRAZY?!?" He whispered harshly. ("THREE!" Kammy continued in the background.) "YOU STEP FORWARD, AND YOU'LL NOT ONLY SPEND A LONG TIME IN THE DUNGEON… MAN, OH MAN, WITH HOW TICKED OFF BOWSER IS, HE'LL ALSO BEAT YOU TILL YOUR BLACK AND BLUE!!!" He finished. ("FOUR!" Came Kammy's voice again.)

Blaine lowered his head. "Yeah, I know… But if someone doesn't become the scapegoat here…" ("FIVE!") "Then I have a feeling we're ALL going to be in Bowser's next punching bag!" Blaine whispered back.

James slapped his forehead. "Well at least, wait it out!" Blaine stared at him confused. ("SIX!") "If no-one walks forward when the count reaches nine, you do what you have to do…"

Blaine nodded, the idea sounded good enough. "SEVEN!!" Kammy said. No koopa walked forward. "EIGHT!" The Koopa's started to sweat nervously. "NINE!!" Blaine gulped a little, well, it was time to face the music. "TE-"

"WAIT!!!!" Came a voice suddenly. Kammy turned to the voice, the koopas parted like the Red Sea, bringing Blaine into view. "It's my job to guard Peach's door." James and his bandit troupe took three cautious steps away from Blaine… They knew he had just sealed his fate…

Bowser growled angrily and stomped forward. "YOU LITTLE..!!!!"

"Wait a minute!!!" Came another voice. Blaine and everyone looked to see Steve stepping forward. "Don't guards take shifts? Cause Blaine was on his break, when Peach escaped."

Kammy considered that. "My son's right, someone hand me the guard schedule." A koopatrol walked up and gave Kammy what she asked for. "Good…" The koopatrol tried walking to another room. "BACK IN LINE…" The Koopatrol gulped and got back with the others. "Hmm, let's see here… Name… YOU THERE!!" Blaine jumped at that. "What is your name?"

Blaine gulped a little, "B-B-Blaine Mallet Zalles…"

Kammy nodded. "Blaine… Okay then… (Incoherent mumblings.) Ah, here's Blaine, (More incoherent mumblings.) And the soldier that's going to face the music is…" The koopa's started to sweat. Kammy smiled, recognizing the name. "Silver…"

It was quiet for a second… Blaine slowly turned around to face someone. The 'someone in question' was the same Koopatrol that gave Kammy the shift schedule, and tried to sneak off. His face had turned as white as a sheet as Kammy turned to face him. She knew that he was the koopa since she noticed that every eye had traveled to him. "Do you have anything to say for yourself Silver?"

The Koopatrol known as Silver gulped. "I swear! I don't know how she got out!! She never came out my door!!"

Kammy frowned. "A likely story…" She took a small look at the schedule again. "It would seem you already have two strikes against you." She gave him a stern look. "You remember what happens when someone gets three strikes against them do you?" The koopa gulped. It was quite obvious that he remembered all right. "Guards, seize him."

Nearby Koopatrols took Silver by the arms. "Wait please!"

"Silver." Kammy started with an angry frown. "From here on you are demoted from palace guard to…" She thought about it for a second. "Janitorial duty."

Silver looked flabbergasted at this. "WAIT NO!!!!" He had good reason to be afraid, if Bowser's Koopa kids were to ever visit, they'd make his life, absolutely, undeniably, MISERABLE! "Wait please! HAVE MERCY!!!"

Kammy turned around. "Take him away, and prep him for his new duties." And that's what the koopas did… They slowly started to drag Silver away.

"No wait, please!! It was a misunderstanding!! I don't know how she got out; it's not what you think I swear!!!" It didn't matter how much he begged nothing could change Kammy's mind. With a slam of the door, Silver was gone.

Kammy turned to the other koopas. "WELL?!? WHAT ARE YOU ALL STANDING AROUND FOR?!? BACK TO YOUR POSTS!!!" The Koopas did as such, not waiting for a second invite. "And you two…" She pointed at Blaine and a random Koopatrol. "Take Peach back to her room!"

"Yes Ma'am!" Both Blaine and the Koopatrol answered. They walked up to Peach and, instead of gently handling her, they picked up Peach, the Koopatrol holding her around her feet area, while Blaine held her up around her head and upper back area.

"What the!?!? Let me go!!!" She shouted not expecting to be handled in such a way. Blaine and the Koopatrol carried her back to her room. "HELP ME!!!"

Peach's bedroom door opened and the koopas walked in, carrying Peach. With a single movement they THREW Peach back into her room. They both walked out knowing that the chore was done, and closed the door as they walked out. Poor Peach got back up and dusted herself off. She lowered her head shamefully. Sure, she knew what she did was good, but she couldn't help but see the sight of that soldier's terrified look when he had been demoted. She sighed a little. After a second, Twink reappeared from behind Peach after doing his best to hide from the koopas. "You okay, Peach?"

Peach dusted off her dress a bit more. "Yeah I'm fine." She walked to the glass door to the balcony, and opened it. "Quickly get to Mario and tell him what we found out! Before those koopas come in here!"

Twink nodded. "Of course Peach! I'll be sure to give him the info!" Twink quickly flew out the door, and was off to the Mushroom Kingdom.

Peach, meanwhile went to the bed and sat on it, lowering her head slightly.

Meanwhile outside, Blaine Mallet Zalles was talking to the Koopatrol that had helped him carry Peach to her room. "Don't you think we were a little rough?"

The Koopatrol shrugged. "Hey it was Kammy's orders to seize her."

"BLAINE MALLET ZALLES!!!"

The Koopatrol looked to see Kammy approaching. "And speaking of Kammy…" He in a cartoony fashion, swung his arms back, and as he swung them forward again, he was gone in a flash, by running.

Blaine gulped. "Y-Yes ma'am?"

Kammy crossed her arms angrily. "Well, due to the fact that we lost a soldier you're going to have pull some more of your weight."

Blaine's eyes widened. "Do you mean to tell me that I have to pull double shifts?"

Kammy nodded. "Afraid so, Blaine… at least until we can find a decent replacement to Silver." She turned around. "So get to it, just in case she tries to sneak out again. Your next break will begin at 7 P.M. Today."

Blaine looked at his watch and saw that it was now 2:45 P.M. Seeing this he nodded and sighed. "Yes Ma'am…"

Kammy, knowing that this was done, walked away. Possibly to go deal with the still ticked King Bowser. Blaine walked up to Peach's door and sat down on the side of it. He sighed a little. "This is going to be a LOOONG day…"

Suddenly he heard a sniffle from inside. He slowly turned to the door. Now curious, Blaine slowly opened the door a hair and looked inside. Peach was now crying slightly, now seeming sad. Blaine looked at her sadly, and sighed. He slowly looked around to see if anyone was looking. He got up and, surprisingly, entered the room. While inside he looked around but didn't try going any further then a few feet from the door. "(Clears throat.) Princess… Peach?"

Princess Peach lifted her head at this sudden noise. She turned to the door to see the very same Hammer Bros Koopa that had taken her to back to her own room. "What are you doing here?" She asked with a voice full of scorn. "I'm guessing Bowser sent you in here as a messenger."

Blaine bashfully scratched his head. "Actually, I'm here on my own time…" Peach's eyes opened wide at that. She slowly turned to the Koopa. "Look, I'm going to be the one guarding your bedroom door for a while, so I figured I'd try to start off with a nice clean slate…"

Seeing that this koopa meant no harm, which was a surprise in and of itself, she gave him a confused look, "Okay then… Why are you in here?"

Blaine lowered his head. "Look, what's it gonna take to stop the waterworks?" Peach looked at him with an annoyed face.

"If you let me out of here and return to my kingdom!" Peach said, not hoping in the least for this koopa to comply with the request.

It was just as she thought… Blaine sighed a little. "Well, I can't do that…" Peach groaned, knowing that was going to happen. "But for all that it's worth… I'm sorry for handling you so roughly… We should've just escorted you to your room, and not do what we did…" Peach, since her head was turned away, slowly turned back, a look of surprise on her face. "I hope you'll forgive me for my rudeness, but it's how we were trained, if we did it any other way…" He chuckled slightly. "We can, sometimes, kiss our posts and most often times, honor goodbye."

Peach, after hearing that and remembering what happened to that Silver character, couldn't help but stare at Blaine. "Well, having said that, I better get back to my post… Else Kammy or, worse yet, Bowser notices I'm gone and yells at me." He started to walk off…

"How can you work for them? They always degrade you or your fellow workers, even when you all do nothing wrong…"

Blaine stopped DEAD in his tracks… He slowly turned around and looked at Peach. His eyes were wide, and he seemed confused. "Well – I… Uh… I gotta run…" He rushed out closing the door behind him. Peach couldn't help but look at where Blaine disappeared to, now extremely confused.

"What was that about?" Peach asked confused.

Blaine was now outside of Peach's room, and was sitting beside the door. Right now, millions upon millions upon millions upon millions of thoughts. 'Why DO I work for them?' 'Why am I here?' 'Why does Bowser and Kammy have to be ones to give orders, while we can't make a single suggestion?'

Blaine hit himself in the head to clear out the thoughts. "What am I thinking? Such thoughts are considered treasonous…" He stopped hitting himself, and lowered his head. "I don't understand, why am I thinking this..? Where'd it come from?"

Blaine continued to ponder such thoughts as the day progressed…

Me: And after a very long wait, we have LotSR (Legend of the Star Rod) chapter 12, 'Start of a Struggle'!

Ace: Aw, poor Blaine…

Otto: So, a simple soldier starts to have doubts about his true place… (Chuckles.) This is going to get interesting quite quickly.

Wally: Whoa..! Bowser almost popped a blood vessel back there! He kinda reminds me of Otto somehow… (Gets hit in the back of the head by Otto.) OWW! What was that for???

Me: COOL IT!! BOTH OF YOU!!! (Otto and Wally calm down.) Anyways, after I move into my new authors booth, I'll be sure to work on the next update! (Turns to the screen and gives a peace sign.) R&R people!!

Wally and Ace: Until next update!