Death is but a Game
"Please take a seat, Koops."
Princess Peach motioned to one of the seats around the table, and Koops obediently sat in one.
"Now," Peach began. "Let's commence the meeting."
Koops glanced around. He was in the same room that they had been in before during their previous meeting. All of the members of the Death Game Coalition had gathered once again, minus Yoshi, who was still recuperating from his injury. Birdo was with him, diligently watching over her lover. She had had many questions, of course. At first, everyone was hesitant to tell her what was going on. Would she believe them about the Game? However, when the twins had proposed that they kill Birdo to keep things quiet, Peach had launched into an explanation detailing the events of the Game so far, with the others joining in to fill in any other details left out. Throughout the explanation, Birdo sat still with no expression on her face. When they had finished, she had simply nodded and asked them to leave, bending over Yoshi's unconscious body and weeping silently. Without another word, they had obeyed.
"Let's start by going over what happened last night." Mario said, dragging Koops back to the present. "What went wrong?"
"From what Yoshi told us," Koops spoke up. "It seems like Daisy knew that we were coming for her." He paused, a wave of mixed emotions flowing through her as he mentioned the woman's name. "She ambushed him and trapped him in the basement."
"She also disguised herself." Alice added. "That also threw us off of her trail."
Peach sighed. "I suppose I'm partly to blame. I looked everywhere for her, but I could not find her. Then, when the Infected came, I escaped instead of continuing the mission..."
Mario laid a hand over her's, sending her a comforting smile. "It's okay, Peach."
"No, it is not." Erika said, glaring at the princess. "She saved her own skin while we risked ours to complete the mission."
Mario opened his mouth to protest, but Peach raised her hand, silencing him. "No, they're right, Mario."
Frustrated, Mario changed the subject. "Well, how did Daisy know we were after her?" A half shocked, half angry expression crossed his face. "Did one of you tell her!?"
The question was obviously aimed at Koops and the twins. Hastily, Koops shook his head, and the twins plainly answered no.
"Just because you say you didn't doesn't make you any less suspicious!"
"Mario, calm down."
The mustached plumber glanced at his lover. "What are you talking about? If there's a traitor in our midst, we need to flush them out!"
"There have always been traitors here, Mario." Peach answered. She sighed heavily and closed her eyes. She seemed extremely exhausted. "At least three of the fifteen players have died so far-"
"Four." Koops blurted out without thinking. Then, when all eyes were focused on him, he sheepishly said, "Four. I...I killed the first guy..."
He thought he saw a glint of approval in the twins' eyes and a slight twitch downwards in Mario's frown, but perhaps he had imagined it. Nevertheless, Peach continued.
"Four deaths." she corrected herself. "It seems too soon to dissolve alliances, but I wouldn't put it past someone to cut ties early in order to eliminate a few more players."
With that, every player in the room glanced at each other suspiciously. Koops made sure to try to keep his mind blank to make sure that the twins wouldn't pick up any secret information.
"Anyways," Peach continued after a while. "It that's all, I suppose we should get on to the next part of the meeting. Daisy is dead, and that's all that matters. Now we need to find our next target."
Koops didn't like the way she sounded. Peach sounded so businesslike. Did she realize that this was her best friend she was talking about? Perhaps she was so tired, physically and mentally, that she just couldn't summon the energy to care.
'No, not tired.' Koops thought. 'Worn out.'
"We don't have any leads right now as to who our next target could be." Alice spoke up. "Our spies haven't reported any useful information."
Peach nodded to her. "Then perhaps this lull in the action will be the perfect time to initiate another bombing."
"Bombing?" Koops inquired.
Mario shifted uncomfortably. "Uh, yes." He looked to Peach and motioned for her to explain. He obviously did not want to.
"You remember the various terroristic attacks happening in the city?" Peach elaborated. "As you know, we were behind those."
Koops nodded. He didn't exactly like the idea of killing innocents. But, after some thought, he had been able to see through his allies' perspective. Those people were all going to die in the apocalypse anyways. Ending their time early almost seemed like an act of mercy. It wasn't so hard to understand. After all, hadn't he done the same thing to Parakarry?
"Just tell me what we're going to do."
Peach nodded. "Very well. We'll need your help for this, anyways. I am sure you remember the Glitz Pit?"
Koops nodded, but suddenly froze.
Not sensing his pause, Peach continued. "Well, in the past few months, in order to increase tourism and sales, the Glitz Pit has moved to an area above the city. They believed that due to their new location, they would receive more business, which makes sense, since considering that their previous clients were mostly Rougeporters, rough individuals with not much money. Anyways, our plan is to-"
"Jolene."
Peach turned to Koops. "I'm sorry?"
"Jolene." Koops almost kicked himself with frustration. How could he have forgotten? "She's another player, too."
"What?" Mario exclaimed. "How do you know this?"
"At Wario's casino, she was there. They must have been allies or something. She escaped at some point, though."
"And you only thought to tell us this now?!"
"Yoshi should have known too..." Koops tried to defend himself.
Peach placed a hand over Mario's arm. "It's okay, Mario. At least we know now." She then turned to the others. "We'll proceed as planned with the operation. But make sure to keep an eye out for Jolene. We must eliminate her as well."
Mario settled down, but he was still visibly perturbed. "Alright." he said after some time. "Peach and I will formulate a plan. Alice, Erika, and Koops, be ready to head out in a few hours. Yoshi, of course, will be sitting this one out. Got it?"
The others nodded.
"Good. Meeting adjourned, then."
Sorry for not updating in a while, but I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Sure, not much happened, but now we know that Jolene is the next target! What do you think here power is? What will happen? Please review, and find out next time!