Daisy followed the sound of Wanda's pleas for help, weaving around trees and trying to catch sight of that cad Waluigi. He was fast, but there was no way he was taking the lead. Her heart raced. This was starting to get fun.
The forest grew thicker as she closed in on him. She rounded a corner and spotted him staring at a huge wall of spiky plant roots blocking the way forward.
"You sure it's this way?" he said.
"Let go of me!" Wanda said.
Daisy smirked. She leapt into the air and bounced off his head and landed on top of the wall with a twirl.
"WAUUGH!" Waluigi cried like an idiot before falling face first into the dirt. "…uigi."
Wanda zipped into the air and out of his grasp. Daisy smirked down at him from atop the wall.
"What's the hold up, scrawny? I thought you said you were gonna be the 'weiner'?"
The purple freak lurched to his feet and gave her an ugly sneer. He leapt onto the wall, finding footholds among the spikes, and climbed up after her with surprising speed.
"Whoops, gotta go!" Daisy cut her gloating short to hang onto first place. She jumped deeper into the woods.
Thorny vines and plant tendrils snaked along the ground, heaping up in great thorny brambles and creeping up tree trunks to wrap themselves around every tree. They writhed, reaching out in every direction, sprouting little piranha plant buds along their stems. The place could do with a weeding. It was downright infested.
"Huh," Daisy said. "This looks more like a piranha plant grove than a magical forest."
"Aaaaugh!" Wanda said, fluttering into view. "What happened to my home?! This is a disaster!"
Daisy stepped out of the way as Waluigi tried to ground pound on top of her head. "Is it not supposed to be like this?"
Wanda flailed her arms. "We get piranha plants but never this bad! This is a nightmare!"
"It is very strange," Waluigi said, getting to his feet. "They don't usually grow this large. Could be a magikoopa spell. Or some other special power."
"You think the dream gem is causing this?" Daisy said.
"Maybe." Waluigi stroked his chin. "Piranha plants don't care about much beyond getting big. The gem might be making its dream come true."
They watched piranha plant buds sprout along the length of the nearest vine before they each grew to full size with a POP to gnaw at the air.
"I don't think we have a lot of time," Daisy said. She set her eyes on Wanda, who was keeping her distance. "I need you to show me the way to the center of the forest, Wanda."
"I'm not helping either of you!" Wanda said. "You're both crazy!"
"I want to help!" Daisy said, stepping closer. "This is your home, right? Do you want to fix this on your own? If we work together, we can set this right!"
Wanda took in the forest around her. A piranha bud hanging off the nearest vine was doing its best to extend its tongue long enough to lick her. She shuddered.
"Fine! I'll show you."
"Great!" Daisy said. "You're officially my side-kick! Let's go!"
"Wha?!" Waluigi said. "You can't do that!"
"Too late!" Daisy said, shoving Waluigi off his feet and making a break for it with Wanda. She spotted a hole in the writhing tendrils and leapt through. "We're off to save the day! Bye!"
Waluigi charged toward the hole but it closed before he could follow. Daisy heard his muffled cursing on the far side. She smiled and hurried off alongside Wanda.
Vines wriggled to surround them as they navigated the toothy thicket. Daisy swatted the thorny growths with her tennis racket to keep them back. In hindsight she was glad she packed it, but wished she had the foresight to bring a machete too.
"Are you sure this is the right way?!" Daisy said, thwacking piranha plants over the head. "Maybe there's a less feisty trail?
Wanda zipped around in the air to avoid getting chomped. "We're heading TOWARDS the danger. I don't know what you want!"
Daisy noticed something moving in the shadows behind Wanda. A jumbo-sized piranha plant head snaked through the forest toward them.
"Look out!" Daisy yanked Wanda out of the way before the plus-sized piranha snapped its jaws down on her. The piranha head loomed over them, grinning.
A loud wooden crack rang out ahead. A shiver ran down the nearest vine and it poofed into a string of coins. A battle cry of "Wahoo!" pierced the air. The piranha plant's smile wrinkled into a grimace.
"Is that…?" Daisy said.
A figure swung out of the overbrush and leapt into the air, bringing a large wooden hammer down on the head of the massive piranha plant. It vibrated from the shock, before bursting with a pleasant pop, atomized into points.
"Mario!" Wanda cheered.
Super Mario threw up a victory hand sign. "It's a-me!"
"I'm so glad I found you!" she said. "Look! I found someone who says she can help find the dream gems!"
He blinked, looking surprised. "Oh! Daisy."
"Uh. Hi Mario." She tried not to let her discomfort show. Teaming up with Mario was NOT a good idea. The guy would soak up all the credit like a sponge. Her plan was to beat him to the punch, not become one of his hapless cronies.
Wanda turned to Daisy. "Oh, so you DO know each other! I guess I shouldn't be too surprised. Mario does get around. I didn't think you were friends after all the nasty things you said about him!"
Daisy tried to silence Wanda with a glare, but the sprixie was too occupied with the plumber to notice.
"You're looking good Mario!" Wanda said. "Much better without the bucket on your head. Haha."
Mario nodded with a smile.
"I bet you didn't know a country sprixie like me was friends with a celebrity, huh Daisy? Me and Mario go WAY back. He's such a big hero!"
Daisy clenched her teeth. "You don't say." Deep breaths, she reminded herself. "Hey, Mario? Why don't you sit this one out? Me and Wanda have got this on lockdown, and I think you're due for a vacation."
Cracks splintered along the ground around them. Mario's eyes went wide as thorny vines burst out of the Earth spraying dirt and rocks everywhere.
"Whoa whoa whoa whoa!" Mario said as a fresh crop of piranha plants sprung up to bully them.
Daisy sighed and readied her tennis racket. "Alright, let's get this over with."
She threw herself at the oncoming horde, Mario right behind her. She pounded away at the ravenous weeds while Mario smashed his way through with relative ease using his hammer. Daisy eyed the mallet, jealous. If she had thought to bring a real weapon this would have been easy.
"Ugh! These things just keep coming!" Daisy said. "What's the deal?!"
More piranha plants gathered in the grove, driving Mario and Daisy back into a corner. There was no way they could keep up. But Daisy was not about to game over here. She growled and reared back to lay into the piranha pests.
"Wahahaha!"
Waluigi sprang out from the brush, fire flower in hand. He reduced the hordes to ash with a few well-chucked fireballs and struck a dramatic pose.
"Hey losers. Looks Like I just saved your sorry hides."
Mario did a joyful hop in response. Daisy was not so pleased.
"No one asked for your help, scrawny," she said.
"Yeah, yeah, you're welcome." Waluigi sauntered over to Mario and offered a hand to shake. "I know we don't always get on the best, Mario. But I hope we can put that behind us and work together."
Mario shook his hand without hesitation and was electrocuted. Daisy caught a glimpse of Mario's skeleton as an electrical current jolted the man off his feet. The plumber collapsed onto the ground in a heap, unconscious.
"Yow!" Waluigi fanned the joy buzzer in his palm. "I forgot this thing gets HOT."
Wanda bonked him over the head with a magical fairy wand. "What've you done?! I knew you were a villain! You killed Mario!"
"What? He's fine." Waluigi prodded Mario in the ribs with his foot. Mario let out a pained moan. "See? Just making sure he doesn't get in the way. For his own safety, of course."
"You're despicable," Daisy said, who was incredibly grateful. "Someone like you doesn't deserve to go on this quest!"
Waluigi shrugged. "Whatever. Either you die a villain, or you live long enough to see yourself become the hero."
A bellowing laugh split the air: "Ssssahahahaha! Impressive work, Mario! But I knew you could defeat my little pets. Now you've fallen right into my trap! Sahahaha!"
Daisy turned as a shadow dropped down from the treetops. The figure of a massive three-headed snake loomed over them. It was hard to make out, but it was either a red snake with black stripes, a green snake with orange stripes, or else Daisy was color blind. The smug expression on all three of its faces soured into confusion.
"What?" it said. "Who the heck are you three?!"
"Waluigi."
"My name's Wanda. I live here."
Daisy sighed. What was even the point of winning sporting events if no one recognized her?
"Hi, I'm Daisy but less importantly who are YOU?"
The snake (snakes?) looked offended at the question. "Hmph. I suppose it would make sense that you would not know of our greatness. We are Tryclyde of the 8-Bits and YOU'RE in the way!"
"Are you the one behind this piranha plant problem?" Daisy said.
"Sahahaha. Guilty."
"Why would you do this?!" Wanda cried.
"We hoped to eliminate Mario before he became a problem. But it appears you've done most of the work for us."
Daisy stomped toward the serpent. "Hand over the dream gem or I'll clobber you!"
Waluigi grabbed her by the shoulder. "No, we've gone over this. I'M going to clobber them and you're going to watch!"
Tryclyde cackled. "Fat chance, interlopers! If you think you can stop us, then you're about to get… TOASTED."
Tryclyde sat there smirking, while one of its heads stole a glance into the woods.
"We SAID… They're about to get TOASTED. That's your CUE."
A pit crew of shy guys tumbled out of the woods and assembled a full musical drum kit in front of Tryclyde complete with cymbals and drum shield before disappearing back into the forest.
"Ugh. Finally," Tryclyde said. "Alright, prepare for your doom and whatnot."
The snake beat their heads against the drums, launching into an up-tempo drum solo. Daisy squinted at the scene, unsure about what was happening.
As if responding to the sound, piranha plant vines crept out from the forest, convulsing to the beat. Dozens of hungry piranha plant heads burst out of the ground, dancing on their stems and chomping to rhythm. The forest darkened as a gargantuan piranha plant head, three times the size of the last one they killed, lowered itself into the grove.
"Eep," said Wanda.
"Step aside chumps." Waluigi shoved the others aside. "The Great Waluigi will take care of this with his Fire Flower!"
He hucked a couple fireballs which 'ploked' against the face of the piranha plant with zero effect.
"Hm," Waluigi said as the piranha plant bit down on him. His legs thrashed out of the lip of the plant as it pulled him into the air.
Daisy dove out of the way as piranha pests snapped at her. Spotting Mario, she scooped up his hammer and used it to whack the carnivorous vines out of existence one after the other. Wanda kept behind her as Daisy cut through the hordes, but more and more just kept sprouting. She eyed Tryclde's drum kit. He was controlling them.
"Keep an eye on Mario!" Daisy told Wanda. "I'm going in for the kill!" She leapt at Tryclyde, smashing his drum kit out from under him. She stomped through the batter heads of his tom-toms, dented his cymbals, and punted the kick drum out of sight.
"You fool!" Tryclyde snarled. "Now it's out of control!"
Daisy watched as the piranha grove around them thrashed, pulling up trees and banging its vines trying to make some new sound to dance to.
"It's destroying my forest!" Wanda wailed as the three of them dodged out of the way of a tree trunk sent sailing through the air.
The grove roared in frustration, and Waluigi plopped to the ground nearby. He sat bolt upright.
"The dream gem!" he said. "The big one ate it! I saw it sparkling in its throat!"
"That must be why it got so big!" Wanda said. "It should shrink if we pull it out, but how're we supposed to do that?!"
"I got this," Daisy said, readying her hammer. "I just need to get up to its mouth!"
Wanda's eyes lit up and she flitted ahead.
"Here!" She waved her wand and ascending blocks poofed out of thin air.
"Nice!" Daisy charged up the blocks, climbing them like stairs up to the gaping maw of the piranha grove. A large, shiny, petal shaped red gemstone sparkled at the base of its gullet. Daisy dropped straight down after it, bracing her legs against either end of the monster's saliva slick gullet. She tensed her leg muscles, trying to keep the beast from snapping itself shut, and aimed her hammer like a croquet mallet.
"Fore!" She said and smacked it free. It soared through the air and bounced off a tree or two before landing somewhere in the rough.
The Piranha Grove withered with a plaintive gurgle. "Wrow, wrow, wrow…!" and with one POOF Daisy found herself tumbling through the air and onto the hard ground.
"Y'alright?" Waluigi pulled her to her feet. "Better be."
Daisy shook the dizziness out of her head. "Hoo. Everyone still in one piece?"
"I'm good!" Wanda called from the other end of the clearing. "And Mario is still breathing!"
"Where's the dream gem?" Daisy said.
Daisy and Waluigi, battered and tired, ambled to where the gem glittered in the grass. But before they could grab it, Tryclyde sprang out and snatched the gem in one of their mouths.
"Well!" One of the other heads said. "Looks like our fun is spoiled. But we'll be keeping this all the same."
"Dang it!" Daisy said as Tryclyde slithered out of sight. "After him!"
The three of them gave chase, dodging around trees until the forest gave ways to plains. The slippery little hydra was faster than it looked. Shy Guys leapt out from cover to intercept them, but Daisy bowled straight through them.
"Evac!" Tryclyde shouted. "We need evac!"
"Above us!" Wanda said. "Look out!"
Daisy looked and spotted forked spears raining down toward them. She and Waluigi dove out of the way just in time to avoid getting harpooned. A battalion of winged shy guys, beezos, circled overhead and mewed their customary war cries.
"Get back here!" Waluigi shouted as he clambered to his feet.
But the beezos dive bombed before he or Daisy could do anything. A magic carpet, piloted by a squat bird thing called a pidgit, sailed down from the sky to pick up Tryclyde.
"Sahahaha! So long, numbskulls! Be sure to check us out when we go on tour!"
The magic carpet took off, rising high into the air before it and the beezos zoomed out into the horizon.