Fighting in the Streets

Chapter 36 – Missing

A/N: I bet you're all still surprised.

February 4, 2015 – 11:00AM

Uldersal, North Delfino

Joharnés opened his bagged eyes, waking up after finally getting a few hours of sleep. The sight he saw yesterday evening managed to haunt him until the early hours of the day after. Within a few seconds, his tired eyes widened as he remembered what happened. The Koopa removed his duvet and jumped out of bed, heading over to the window whilst rubbing his eyes. Assuming it would still be there, he leaned over the window to check on what would now be a rotting corpse lying on the side of the roof of the floor below.

"Wait. It was just a dream." He said to himself as he looked down to see no body. Thinking it was that way, he turned around and headed back to bed, but then he realised. Something didn't look right on that roof, so he went to check again.

It really did happen. There were some leftover blood marks staining the brick rooftop tiles, but the body was gone. Joharnés now became more paranoid than yesterday. Not only did he realise that he actually shot Rosalina, but now somebody else knows about this and had probably taken the body from where it lied last night. He began to panic in his room, hoping that the Brigade didn't spot the body and would plan to kill him for it. He knows that if he actually killed someone of importance he would immediately be executed for it and any sort of trial or minor punishment would be completely revoked.

What would he be able to do now? As far as he knew the only people who know about this so-called death of Rosalina are himself and whoever took the body. Eventually people in the lands will come to realise that she is either dead or disappeared, and Joharnés would be considered suspicious for it. Whilst cleaning up his bedroom, he began to think of people he could trust with this information, in order to help him get out of this mess. Since Koopak and his son were still missing to him, the only people he thought he could speak to about this were his two cousins in the family: Cyra and Jenna Asquia.

"So he goes all the way over to the hedge gardens and says to me 'is this shell too fat for me?' and I was completely out of words!" Joharnés overheard his cousins talking to eachother in the dining room. They were both sitting down at a table eating their brunch together.

"It's crazy to think that all of this happened whilst Peach and Bowser were at war. It's like half the world didn't care." One spoke to the other before noticing Joharnés.

"Rosalina's dead." He spilled the news to the two, expecting a reaction from them. Instead, they just looked at him with confused faces for a few seconds.

"What?" Jenna, sitting to his left, spoke first.

"What?" Cyra said immediately after. They both looked at eachother for a second before looking back to Joharnés, waiting for him to say more.

"...and I think I killed her."

"What do you mean you killed her? Did you get bad sleep?" Cyra still looked confused.

"The body is gone, but I killed her last night. The body sort of disappeared in the night. It was rotting for a good hour before I tried to get to sleep but when I woke up from deep sleep this morning I looked out the window and there are only bloodstains." The two began to grin, not being able to believe him.

"Yeah sure, you killed the lady of the shooting stars." She joked.

"I'm being serious." Joharnés insisted, turning very anxious seeing her cousins react in such an off-putting way.

"Joharnés Asquia, the Killer of the Star-Queen." Jenna joked with her sister, but their expressions were short lived upon seeing his pistol being pointed at them.

"Come upstairs." He said softly, beckoning them to follow him. "Don't tell anyone else. I trust you both here." This time, Joharnés presented them with something else that belonged to Rosalina: her wand, which was left behind after her body disappeared. The two looked at eachother again, this time they were both way more shocked than before. Joharnés checked all corridors before leading them both up to his bedroom in the manor. Once they were inside, he closed the door behind them and pointed them both to the corner of the ceiling where Rosalina struck her wand and then to the window, still open. "A gun wouldn't cause that mess in the wall unless there many, many shots." He showed them before moving over to the window with them. He peered over to the sloped roof of the floor below and pointed towards where he could see the bloodstains. "Tell me that isn't blood."

They both looked over, and they could see that is was very visible compared to the paint of the bricked tiles of the roof.

"Tell me what happened, all of it." Jenna whispered to Joharnés in the room. "Because if this is true, then we're either going to be in so much good fortune or so much trouble with the government."

"Get Jeanette on the phone." Joharnés responded before sharing his story to them. He followed Jenna out of the window and the two of them crept on the rooftop without being seen by the guards in the courtyard below whilst Cyra walked over to the desk in the room where Joharnés' bedroom house phone was kept. She called up Jeanette's mobile and watched the window whilst waiting for the other end to answer.

"Jeanette, its Cyra. Where are you?"

"Hi Cyra, we aren't able to disclose that information to you. Just know that Koopak and I are alive and well beyond the mountains."

"According to Joharnés, Rosalina's dead, and we might be suspicious for it. He claims he killed her."

"Oh well... That's none of my business."

"Could you get Koopak on the phone? I need to speak to him about something personal." Cyra knew that Jeanette didn't want to get involved with their problem as she was facing her own. Hopefully she could get hold of her cousin. The short period of silence that happened after made her distressed on the phone.

"Give me a second to get him." She waited a few more seconds for Jeanette to get Koopak II on to the phone. The phone was wired, and connected to the mains, so she wasn't able to walk all the way to the window and check on the other two inspecting the bloodstains.

"Hello, Cyra." Her spirit was lifted upon hearing her cousin's voice. Thinking about him often in the past and being unable to see him since his disappearance from sight, she was content to talk to him about more than just Rosalina.

"Koopak! It's been so long! I wasn't expecting Jeanette to actually bring you to the phone." She said with delight, loving to hear what Koopak has to say to her.

"It's good hearing you too. How is everyone, is my son doing OK with you guys?" Cyra briefly paused, looking out of the window and still seeing the two others outside.

"Yeah he's... doing fine."

"Could you get him on the phone for a minute then I'll resume the conversation with you?" She paused again.

"He's just very busy at the moment you see. He's with your brother and Jenna on the roof space because of what happened to Rosalina." She thought that hopefully she could evade that question by lying and making them all seem occupied for him.

"What are you saying about Rosalina then?"

"I've been informed that Rosalina was shot by Joharnés but the body is missing."

"Good, now tell him to kill Peach if he really did kill her."

"I don't think it's as easy as that. She came home to interrogate him about something you did and he says he shot her for it. The next morning her body was gone and all that was left was stains of blood on the bricks."

"I don't see a problem here then?"

"We need you back home cousin, the Toad Brigade are going to hunt us down if they find out Joharnés did it."

"Why did my brother get in to a mess with Rosalina anyway?"

"I don't know, he never said. The Brigade has been trying to siege our land ever since the New Year. You need to stop running." Cyra began to put more emotion into her words over the phone, emphasizing the fact that she misses him.

"I was running, now I am just hiding. Unlike you the Princess wants me dead. That's why I am unseen to them with Jeanette. Now that Rosalina's dead, you should make sure someone else gets blamed, and that they need their attention directed elsewhere."

"You're really putting us into a big bad spot here Koopak. If you were here you'd be able to stay alive, we're here for you as always. The Jautjas... the Fonavans... they answer to you."

"If you want me to come out of hiding, whilst I'm doing all of this undercover stuff for the future, you're going to have to do one thing for me. One thing and I will appear in Uldersal the day after."

"What is it you want us to do?"

"Kill Princess Peach, without being caught."

Cyra paused for a short moment, freezing on the spot. She could see her sister and her cousin climb back into the bedroom from the window in front of her, and they both looked at her with curiosity. Before saying anything else, Cyra reached out, offering the phone to her cousin. Joharnés walked close up to her and took the phone from her hand and jumped on to the bed with it.

"Brother?"

"Brother."

"I don't know who but somebody else knows about Rosalina. They took her body, but not her wand." Whilst on the phone he passed the wand that he still had over to Jenna and Cyra.

"If your lives are at risk due to suspicions of this murder, then you must put the blame elsewhere. I said this to Cyra. Do the government know that she's dead?"

"I hope not. There's been nothing on the news and no reports of it yet."

"What matters most is that all of you are safe. You four are the ones that matter at the moment. Can you get my son on the phone? I have something to say to him."

"Your son isn't here."

"What do you mean? I was told he was outside with you and Jenna."

"He's missing. He has been for a very long time, and we're trying to get him back." He heard no response back from Koopak for a few seconds. Knowing what he said, he probably angered him greatly.

"That's why you shot Rosalina. You and the government on the search for him and Rosalina must have intervened about it. Fucking hell... You're all in a mess now." Joharnés looked up at Cyra and gave her a look of disappointment, knowing that she lied to his brother.

"Our allies on the outside are still looking for him."

"Don't make me give the order. Even from here I can have all of you in that manor burned to the ground."

"It wouldn't be so difficult if you stopped hiding from a bunch of idiots in the east."

"And would you kill an idiot if it meant that the family could live together in peace again? Just like when Dad wasn't around. We all loved it when our dad and aunt weren't in the manor when we were kids... we all had our friends over and life was good. There are sides in this war, sides in our war. It is us against them. We may not be in their war with the north, but we can end ours. Kill Princess Peach, and god damn it, bring my son home."

The phone hung up on their end. Jenna and Cyra watched a distraught Joharnés leap off his bed, slamming the phone back in its holder. He beckoned his cousins to give him back the wand to play about with it to see what he could do with it. The two watched him wield it up towards the window. He kept making gestures and manoeuvres with it to see if anything could work with it, but nothing happened.

"Here." He tossed it over to Cyra. "Give it a try." She picked it up from the floor after miss-catching

It. The Koopa practiced the same manoeuvres as Joharnés did, but still nothing happened. She then passed it to her sister to see if she could get anything out of it, and after a few seconds of flicking it around and flash of light leaped from the star-shaped tip. Jenna smote through the windows, causing no damage, but at least something happened. The others in the room jumped, and Jenna treaded over to the window so she could cast the same gesture outside and out of the way of anything she could hit inside. The flash wasn't as visible as it was cast up into the air, but it was confirmed that Jenna was able to do something with it.

"How were you able to do that?" Cyra asked her sister.

"You told me to give it a try, and I did. I have no idea how though." Jenna inspected the design of the wand. The grip appeared to be made with a thin strip of silver, but the tip was completely different, perhaps out of this world. "I suppose this will be in my hands." Before she tucked it away in her shell, Jenna wanted to do one last thing with it. She climbed out of the window once more and smote the rooftop where the bloodstains were. The pieces fell off the roof and smashed into pieces in the courtyard below. The two watched her climb back in and put the wand away.

"Now nobody can tell she was here."

5:45PM

The three spent most of the day paranoid, spending it with their family friends in the manor and around the area. The race was being broadcasted across several channels on their TV, and they all tuned in to watch it. Being fifteen minutes before the race was due to begin, they all could tell that Rosalina wasn't going to be there. The living room of the manor had multiple TV screens, and each one was on a different channel so they could get multiple cameras viewing the track. One of them had an interview with Koopa Troopa, and another with Diddy Kong, but all the others were showing fans and the layout of the tack. Eventually the cameras would get to the starting area of the course, and there they could see most participants setting up, with Rosalina still not being there.

"She isn't coming." Cyra had her eyes glued to the television in front of her. "You were right all along, she really is dead."

"And now he wants us to kill Peach. I mean, we can't even get out of town." Despite being worried, Jenna let out a little laugh. "This is actually crazy." Joharnés said nothing, as he kept watching the TV. It got to the point in the broadcast that MC Ballyhoo was announcing to the people that Rosalina wasn't around and wouldn't be able to participate in the race. Pauline was then left without a partner and the Toad management were deciding with Peach whether to keep the race going and have Pauline go on her own. It was a worse case for her since Lakitu's disappearance for Luigi's Mansion was not known and they got Jagem Lakitu to substitute in for him.

Jenna and Cyra sank in their chairs upon seeing channels point their cameras at Pauline, who stopped on the side of the track at the end of Lap 1. They could hear the sounds of the crowds from the outside that the racers couldn't hear from the inside. Many of them were cheering on other racers, but they could hear a consistent background sound of booing. The people were not happy, and many were concerned about the whereabouts of Rosalina, not knowing a thing.

Eventually the race ended and the broadcasts showed the updated scores to the viewers. The announcers on the channels all had mixed views, some specifically talking about Pauline stopping mid-race and some talking about highlights, specifically the top end competition between Bowser's team, Peach's team, Funky Kong's team and Toadbert's team. After all, it had been the first time in a while that the second team of Toads had placed so well in a race.

Time went on and the racers started departing from the scene. One of the racers who left the venue via the public path was Funky Kong, and hundreds of people who watched the race at the venue gathered up by the fences to interview him on the race. Joharnés got the attention of the others in the room to mute the other channels and pay attention to the centre TV screen which had the interviewer on.

"Hey, Funky Kong! This is channel seven news reporting." The most audible interviewer got his attention. "Are you able to give us a few words about this race that just happened?" They watched him lean in to the microphones that all the news reporters pointed at him.

"Bowser is becoming a bit of a problem." Calmer than ever, he responded. "And I hope you're alright, Rosalina. You have some catching up to do. I hope to see you in Gorge." Before he could walk away, the interviewers kept his attention to them, wanting to ask him more questions.

"What do you think is happening to her? Do you think she has gone back to her space observatory?"

"...No comment." He left the scene quickly, walking away from the crowds on the other side of the fence. Joharnés muted the TV after the camera turned back to the news reporter.

"We need to see what someone else has to say. Funky Kong's only gotten on with her because they're threats to eachother in the races. We need to see what someone who knew her personally has to say about it." Jenna unmuted the other screens and watched the cameras.

Over time, the rest of the participants would eventually leave the tent after the discussion ended in there. On their screens, Toadsworth was the first to show up, and he appeared on many of the screens. Joharnés once again muted them all except for the screen in the middle of the living room, with all of them waiting to hear what he has to say.

"Toadsworth, second place! How does it feel?"

"It does feel very good to be up there at the top of the pack. It really gets the blood flowing!" He responded with excitement. "But still, we have a problem as you can see... Rosalina not showing up severely impacted the way that race went and I know many people are unhappy with that."

"What do you think has happened to her?" The people behind the fence asked.

"I feel like... knowing her... she would have shown up. If she wasn't going to she would have told us otherwise. From what I know however, is that maybe she had something urgent to deal with. She will apologise for the act she has made on the people and scaring them, and I'm pretty sure she is just fine. If there was a problem that really affected her then we would know so... that's all I have to say about that. Anyways, second place yes!" He muted the screen after knowing the conversation went off-topic.

"Yoshi's on that screen!" Jenna pointed out in the room, interrupting her cousin before he could say anything. Cyra grabbed the remote on the side of her chair and unmuted it.

"-up to the top spots?" They heard the interviewer finish his sentence.

"Yoshi getting much better on the roads. Yoshi know how to score lots of points. Yoshi coming after big Bowser." He said with content, looking around at all of the interviewers.

"What do you think about Rosalina not showing up to the race?"

"Yoshi have no idea, sorry."

The TV was muted.

"It seems like they all think Rosalina's got a problem of her own and that she's very much alive." Cyra said to the others, feeling a little more relieved now than before watching some of the interviews. At this point nobody on the screens was getting questioned, but they were yet to see what Peach and Daisy had to say about Rosalina.

"I would have expected Toadsworth to say something about it!" Joharnés slammed the left arm of his chair in anger. "Why are they tempting me with these lies? They have suspicions but they don't want to the let the general public know."

"They do that with a lot of things." Jenna giggled on his left.

"That means we have to assume that they are suspicious of us, and of her. I bet tonight the Brigade will want to come over and ask us about this. I haven't wanted to kill Captain Toad this much but I can't because of this." At the same time, the three could hear gunfire coming from outside and in the direction towards the bridges to their sector of the city.

"What's going on now? Can they just leave us alone?" Jenna got up from her seat and headed towards the corridor leading to the front entrance to the manor. "Don't worry guys. I've got this."

The Koopa strolled down the dark courtyard towards a band of soldiers who pledged to the Asquias. They were near the upper bridge to the courtyard, and the guards began to escort her over.

"I heard gunfire, what's going on?" Jenna turned a corner and could see another siege happening on the bridge. Toad Brigade and Toad Patrol soldiers were firing at the Asquia personnel from the western end of the bridge. Seeing the action and danger going on, Jenna shouted and called for a ceasefire.

"STOP FIGHTING!" She shouted at her troops, making them back away from the eastern end of the bridge and allowing her to walk over. "Toad Brigade, what is your problem? Please leave us alone."

"By orders of the Queen you are to tread no further or we will open fire." One of the Toad Patrol called out from the other end of the bridge. "We ask you to hand over Rosalina, so that nobody gets hurt."

"But we don't have Rosalina!" She yelled back across the bridge. Jenna kept walking, with the Toad Brigade and Patrol pointing their weapons towards her. She stood at the centre of the bridge, now being able to talk back to them without having to shout. "We still don't have Koopak's son. This is all your fault. Yes, we had Lakitu held at ransom as a result, but we have nothing to do with what happened to Rosalina."

"Ma'am, we need to send some of our own to assess the area. You must let us be sure that you do not have her. If you refuse then we will have to use force." The Toad Brigade kept their weapons pointed at Jenna. She stopped on the bridge and went silent for a few seconds. "If any of our troops do not return to our side of the bridge, then we will use force upon that also."

"Very well. You can send up to five people across the bridge. But wait when you get to the other side, I will inform everyone about your inspection." She stepped aside, glaring at the Brigade as they lowered their weapons and started making their way past her across the bridge. Many of them went across, and they all brushed past the Asquia infantry that guarded the eastern side. As they stopped, Jenna informed them to stand in the courtyard whilst she walked into the manor. The Toads looked around the area, being watched on all sides by the unhappy faces of several Koopas and Goombas who patrolled the courtyard. The five Brigade soldiers were to inspect every single household in the district of the town, hoping to find any traces of Rosalina.

As the doors to the manor opened slowly, two other Koopas came out, walking down the steps to the Brigade soldiers.

"Who gave you the orders?" Joharnés, who walked out with Cyra, asked. Jenna was still inside, getting all of their family members outside to allow the Toads to search the houses. "...because at this point in time Peach is still addressing the people."

"We were given orders directly from her through the government before she left the tent, Sir." One of the Toad Brigade soldiers replied, feeling slightly nervous.

"You will be grateful to find no trace of her here. You have ten minutes." Before the Brigade soldiers moved in to the manor first, one of them stood directly in front of Joharnés as the rest of the Asquia Koopa relatives were walking out the front door.

"Why do you threaten us like so... what can you do to us? We have thousands searching all over the lands for her as we speak. You have the grace of us to inspect your home."

"Are you willing to die for Peach?" The two argued.

The Toad stood up to the Koopa, still appearing shorter than him. "Always... we can spend as much time as we need in this town."

"Get on with it then, do your duty." Eventually, Joharnés calmed down from his normally-threatening presence and let the Toads proceed. They planned to check the manor in the centre of the town square before checking all the other buildings on the sides. As they walked up the steps to head past the Koopas and the manor's open doors, another Toad appeared on their side of the bridge, having just crossed it. It was Captain Toad.

Joharnés noticed him first, and started walking over towards him. The Toad stood and waited patiently for the Koopa to reach him. Soon after, Cyra followed him. Jenna decided to stay with the rest of their relatives, huddling up on the stairs to the manor.

"Spare me your future lies, traitor. Your family has a large record of unpardonable crimes. What have you done with Rosalina?" Although he didn't appear armed, and was surrounded by Asquia Koopas, Captain Toad acted like he had the superiority over him.

"You not leaving us alone because you blamed us for the actions of our fathers is why you keep coming to us for everything Bowser or Zane hasn't done. Once you find out that Rosalina isn't here you will regret ever blaming us for anything. You have locked us in to the bounds of our own home, the least you could do is leave us alone." Being less threatening and more reasonable, Joharnés sought to take the moral high ground, but that idea went straight past Captain Toad.

"Deserters from the north, traitors to Bowser, traitors to the Mushroom Kingdom, traitors to Peach... we could have your entire family put behind bars but instead Peach showed you mercy five years ago. This is by far the least we can do. You make more jokes, more threats, even one small twitch of no-good mischief... then we'll show you what a true siege is like. Hell, we won't even need to siege. We'll just unleash hell on all of you. Every single one of you in this district will have to submit to the Queen that way..." Before Joharnés or Cyra could reply to the Captain's ever more threatening words, the Brigade soldiers were seen departing from the manor's entrance. They didn't appear to be carrying anything extra from the manor and from what the Captain could learn from this was that Rosalina was certainly not inside. The entrances to the other buildings in the town square all looked to be barricaded up with wood as they have been for weeks ever since the siege began. All the Toads started heading back to Captain Toad, who had an upset look on his face seeing them arrive.

"You're back rather early. Are you sure you didn't miss any spots?" The captain asked, losing his confidence.

"We searched everywhere; the rooms are all very big and open. There's no sign of her being held there at all." Another of the Brigade soldiers responded, looking defeated as well. The captain kept shaking his head, refusing to believe that she wasn't here. With all of the Brigade and Patrol searching the lands for Rosalina, they have totalled up zero information on her whereabouts.

"You must be mistaken. You surely haven't searched everywhere." He tried to get past his own soldiers, but they stopped him and looked at him directly in the eyes.

"I'm sorry captain. We would know if she's here." They all took off their headgear and showed him their sad faces. The captain didn't know if they were persuaded or they actually can't find her.

"I refuse to believe that she's gone. We can still get her back. This isn't the last time you'll see my face!" He growled at Joharnés, who only made a small wave goodbye to him as he stormed back on to the bridge. They all heard him scream on the bridge before bursting into tears of anger and sadness mixed together before walking back to the steps to see the rest of their relatives.

11:30PM

Before going to bed, Joharnés leaned over his bedroom window and looked down on the square outside. The side rooftop was damaged by Jenna, and the view of the bridge looked more disappointing by the day. His mind was full of contemplation of the fact that she must be dead in his eyes, and that earlier today he was told by his brother that he should try and do the same to Peach. How he could do it twice he had no idea. Eventually he became tired enough that he would have to go to bed and play out another night trapped in his town, hoping nothing crazy would happen to him or his family.

For minutes he laid in his bed trying to get into deep sleep, but the weight of paranoia on his shoulders kept him awake to the point where he decided not to go to sleep just yet. Instead, his next thought of what to do would be to go downstairs in to the living room and watch some television. He thought maybe he would drift off to sleep in front of the TV, and at least he would get some sleep.

Somebody else was down there. Walking down the steps to the ground floor, he could hear the sound of a TV turned on. There in the living room he saw Jenna, wrapped up and cosy on one of their big and comfortable chairs. Her shell was off and on the floor next to her, and Rosalina's wand was placed next to the TV remote on the right arm of her chair.

"Can't sleep?" He said quietly to his sister, taking a seat next to her.

"This... is all over the news." Jenna pointed at the TV, which was showing highlights of the race and the news reporter talking about how Rosalina was not there. "Why did she let you shoot her?" She complained with frustration, sinking in her sofa chair. "She was an idiot to let herself in here without any of us knowing."

"The body disappearing overnight really concerns me. I feel like something must have happened to it. Do people of the stars vanish when they die? Are they like, reborn into stardust or something?" The two talked to eachother for some time whilst the news report was playing in the background.

"I'm sure they die like any other human. Honestly, if I keep this wand in safe hands we shouldn't need to worry about anything. Wherever the body went, the person who moved it will be held responsible. Otherwise, they will have to accept that Rosalina's just vanished forever and the world will be reshaped anew. One with a new trial for Bowser or one where they can learn to settle their differences and leave eachother alone."

"They're never going to leave us alone." The two laughed and smiled at eachother. "Thousands have died fighting for either side, but mum, dad, uncle, granddad, they treat them like they were the real enemies."

"Well..." Joharnés debated. "Although I am my dad's son, I would say he was known for being quite the deceiver in the past."

"They will have to change their ways. She's not going to be around for any of the races."

"We'll have to wait and see." The two kept watching the news. It started to go on to other topics in the world as the time went into the early morning hours. Both Jenna and Joharnés began drifting off to sleep as time went by.

February 5, 2015 – 10:30AM

Peach's Castle, Mushroom City

It had officially been a day after the deadline Joharnés gave to Rosalina for giving back his nephew to him. Rosalina was not around, and Joharnés didn't have his nephew at home.

With the entire evening spent worried about the whereabouts of her partner, Pauline stayed at the castle for the night in one of the guest bedrooms. After the race she was treated to a luxury dinner with Peach, Daisy, and the Toads. At the same time, Tom's group of eight set off their expedition west, resurveying everywhere he had gone with Rosalina, checking anything that might help them find her. After having breakfast with Peach and Daisy as well, Pauline walked out with them and sat on a bench by the lake in Toad Town outside the castle, enjoying the consistent hot and sunny weather. Their parasols were up and put towards the sun, keeping them in the shade. She could only wish to smile as much as Daisy was right now.

"What if she never comes back? We can't delay it because of you know who." Pauline worried to the others in regards of Rosalina and Bowser. Over the weeks, some of the racers forgot to realise what the true purpose of the tournament was. Sometimes, even Peach would not remember what the ending of the tournament would lead to. At the rate the races are going, Bowser might be able to get out of this alive.

"I know we try to stick to the rules where we can and that Bowser's currently in first. We cannot afford to delay this any longer. We planned to have a race every other day, until it finishes." Peach replied back to Pauline from the other side of the bench. "We are more than able to make changes to the races after Parkway. It is a halfway point and we can help tend to his trial if we see that Rosalina does not return. This was just not what I had hoped for."

Daisy moved around to both of them and held one of their hands each with hers. "You two have nothing to worry about. My guess is she has some extraterrestrial stuff to deal with up in the stars. She will come back in a few days and explain it all to us when she's done."

"But she will take a few days. We have another race tomorrow." Pauline sighed. "What then? Can I have a substitute? Is that not allowed?"

"Well we did manage to keep what happened to Lakitu away from the public." Peach recalled. "We managed to get a substitute for him for Luigi's Mansion and it didn't seem to bother the people watching."

"That's because whoever that Lakitu Koopa was who substituted in for the Lakitu looks exactly like him. Nobody here looks like Rosalina. Besides, is there anybody who is anywhere near as good as Rosalina who can race for her? I am not a driver, I am a passenger." Pauline kept complaining, saving all of the thoughts on her mind from last night to say now.

"Who would you want to race with you?"

"Rosalina."

Peach frowned and rubbed her hands on her cheeks. She couldn't think of anybody who's associated as much with Pauline as her, Daisy or Rosalina. "Do you know anybody from Donk City who would be able to race for you?"

"There is nobody that I could ever work with on the track. It's not my specialty! The only person I could ever think to have done this with was her. I want her back."

"There's nothing I can do for you then. We have to wait until she returns." Peach began to argue with an upset Pauline, something she really didn't want to have escalated.

"You're the most powerful person in the lands. Surely there is something that you can do." She tried to think, and think, and think about all the possibilities.

"I'm really thinking about it. I have so many people in the Brigade on the inside with me on this. We are searching everywhere in the south for her. I could ask the Red Martyrs if they have seen traces of her, and Enrique to look in the northeast."

"Have you tried looking for her brother?" Daisy interrupted the two to suggest something not yet mentioned. "Maybe he knows where she is."

"We don't even know where he is." Peach reminded her before thinking about it more clearly. "He's just as hard to find as she is right now."

"Well we'll have to act somehow. Searching on land isn't going to get us anywhere."

"Are you saying we should go up to her observatory? Because that's long-gone in orbit, there's no trace of her anywhere." Pauline sank down on the bench, looking as though she admitted defeat.

"Let's just let the day take its course and then eventually we'll find something. If we can't find anything down here then we'll have to resort into taking more measures up north. I know that this thought is really putting us off enjoying our days off racing, but I promise you we will find her soon." Peach got out of the bench and started walking back into the castle. Daisy and Pauline stayed on the bench and watched her leave. Maybe not having her around would make them think less about the situation.

11:00AM

Aypyidaw, Southwest Résethal

Bzzt! Bzzt!

"Get the phone for me Muji; I've got so much work to do here." Inside one of the main offices of the headquarters of the Red Martyrs, Archbarn sat in front of several papers. They all showed skirmish plans, cities under different levels of safety, and lists of personnel who work for them, categorised under squads. Muji too was also in the room, acting as his advisor whilst the leader planned the days out. He walked over to the phone hanging on the wall and answered it, it was Peach.

"You have reached the leaders' residence. What is your business?" Muji spoke over the phone, not yet knowing who was on the other side.

"Hey friend, Peach here. I take it you have heard the news about Rosalina?" She was calling from her headquarters on the top floor of her castle, alone from her friends.

"We have indeed. Some of us here were not impressed with Pauline forfeiting. Northerners are entertained too you know." He mouthed the name Peach to Archbarn, who whispered to him asking for who was on the other end of the line.

"Have you seen her up there, or anything that might help us find her?" She asked him, planning on getting him to search as thoroughly as the Brigade is in the south.

"We have had no word from her. I take it you want us to inform you of anything we find?"

"Please do, I may send Enrique up there to look for anything that the hostiles might have as well. But I'm going to assume that she isn't there either. It's been nearly an entire day and we've had no sign of her since."

"I'm sorry things are this way. We are doing what we can to help you already. We have our own problems up here but we will do enough for you."

"She talking about Rosalina?" Archbarn whispered to Muji from his desk. Immediately put off of his work. Muji nodded back and waited for Peach's response.

"You are probably aware of how this is affecting me, Bowser, and the people. We told everyone who is participating that there are no exceptions for absence. So no matter what the excuse is behind Rosalina not showing up, she will have to pay for it back to me."

"I will relay that to anyone who finds her, so they can tell her directly." Muji knew that she was not in a good mood from the sound of her voice. It was not her average put-on-a-smile type voice and instead was very serious and even slightly aggressive.

"Very good. If we are unable to find her we may have to put this on hold. It will upset some people, but if that's what happens we can at least handle this mess we're still dealing with in the north. How are the people doing up there?"

"They are normal; we haven't done as much inspection as we have done before due to updating a lot of the towns on how safe they are. We have begun to realise that our presence in some areas incites challenge and violence made by some of the hostile natives that live there. For now we are doing our best to leave them alone and at the same time protect the people who still live there. They refuse to move under your regimes."

"I too have learnt that I cannot keep rule over everybody unless something convincing enough shows me the way to make it so. On the one side I hope that they can live independently and won't worry about my or your presence in the north. But on the other side I feel like they can secretly be hiding a means of attacking. I cannot let that happen. I cannot thank you enough for your duties and your accomplishments up there."

"What you need to focus on now is what you're going to do after this trial with Bowser ends. One way or another if it is cancelled, he wins or he loses, without his influence I am pretty certain they will do something. I know you said to me before that we have time but if we have to deal with Bowser some other way... they could use this to their advantage."

"I might need you to come down here and help me Muji." It was from that message he paused the conversation, knowing well that Peach was in a spot so troublesome it could cause a change in the expected outcome of the next few weeks.

"When I am finished with everything here, I will arrange to get transport down to you for your aid. I will meet you at Toad Town after your race in Mushroom Gorge." As he told Peach of his actions, he awaited a confirming nod from Archbarn, making sure it is safe for him to leave Aypyidaw for the day.

"Thank you very much. I will try not to keep you here for too long."

"Take as long as you need. I know of the consequences if we do not find a solution here." After saying goodbyes, Muji hung up the phone and put it back on its holder, turning his attention over to Archbarn, who had neatened up all of his papers into separate piles.

"The princess of the south wants you down there for what exactly... holding her tissue box whilst she takes and takes to wipe the tears off her face knowing that we're going to go into hard times again?" He groaned, getting out of his seat and walking over to the window. The soldiers were training the recruits, and the chiefs were supervising them in the courtyard.

"Peach may be on the verge of admitting defeat to Bowser. Even though she had the chance to kill him, she's let him off with a chance and that chance may be easier to obtain now than ever before." Muji walked over to the window and looked out with his fellow elder.

"People aren't going to be happy with her. It might be easier for the common folk to look into the ways of the northerners. Seeing that they can live freely instead of under somebody who claims they will give the people her grace and aid, but can't even put on something she swore to entertain them with."

"It really confuses me sometimes. Why not... just kill him, or give him a chance in a way that takes far less time?"

"Peach has gotten most of their attention from providing this. It's like all of the people have been hypnotised by such a tournament so large, that it really makes them put everything they have and think towards her." Archbarn still looked at Muji with a very confused look.

"The power must have got to her. She thought she could get the people's vote and liking of her by throwing out the best possible trial for her arch-nemesis. Something's gone wrong with it that isn't in her control and now everyone's going to freak out."

"Time for me to save the world again." Muji smiled at Archbarn and started heading towards the door of the office. "Try not to do anything too big while I'm gone. You know I don't like to miss out on a bit of action." He said, standing at the door before leaving.

EOC: The whole world seems to be blinded by what happened, even the readers.

For the record, eleven races have played so far and the results of them can be found in the previous chapter.

See you in the next one!