The afternoon Peach and Quirrel had was a pleasant one.

After Quirrel was told of Knight's return, Peach had brought him to the dining hall where they ate a delicious lunch of burgers and fries. A meal Quirrel had never tried and with one bite, fell in love with. Soon after their meal, Peach asked Quirrel if he wanted to see more of her Kingdom. It would pass time since it would be a while before Samus returned with Knight for his trip home.

He accepted the offer and was soon walking along the grass and rocky hills of the Mushroom Kingdom. As they walked, they soon came across some question blocks. Peach decided to explain what they did.

"You probably want to know what these are for, right?" asked Peach.

"Yes actually." Replied Quirrel. "I've seen them through the window of my room. Very odd- Oh! Sorry, no offense." Quirrel hung his face down in embarrassment.

"None taken. I agree they are odd." Peach walked under one of the blocks and looked at Quirrel. "But they're one of the reasons why my Kingdom still stands."

Quirrel looked up. Before he could reply, Peach jumped up in the air and hit the bottom of the block with her fist. From the top of the block, a strange flower appeared. It was orange and yellow and had eyes too.

"Even odder." He said.

Peach than jumped onto the block and grabbed the flower, within seconds her appearance had changed. He bright pink dress was replaced with a dress of red and white. Peach than lifted her hand in front of her for Quirrel to see. In an instant, a fire appeared, staying within Peach's grasp. Peach than looked to her right and saw a Goomba walking by. She threw the ball of fire toward it, it bounced along the ground and soon hits the target. The Goomba burned to ash in seconds and the fireball disintegrated soon after.

"Poor creature." Said Quirrel. He was impressed with the power the strange flower possessed but was a bit scared of how Peach used it.

"It's okay, it was a Goomba. There dumb creatures that constantly wonder my kingdom trying to attack my people."

"Oh… What other creatures are there?"

"Well, we have Koopa Troopa's, turtle men that also wonder about. Moles that pop out of the ground and charge at you. I could go on a lot longer, but I'd rather not bore you." Preach chuckled.

"I'll read up on them later. Your kingdom is so much livelier than mine." Quirrel looked in the distance, taking in the scenery. The endless hills of greenery, the creatures wandering about, and the plant life which all had eyes. Peach thought to herself if it would be a good idea to ask him more about his kingdom. He mentioned that it was in ruins and it wasn't what it once was. But she held back, for now at least.

"What other… things are in these blocks." Quirrel asked.

Peach looked at him with a smile. "Boy, are in for a treat." Peach grab him by the hand and started running with him across the field. Quirrel was surprised by her fast speed and firm grasp she held as they ran. They were soon near more blocks, waiting to be opened. "Go on Quirrel, give it a shot."

Quirrel looked up at the block, he took a deep breath and then jumped up towards the block. He came back down and looked up to the block and saw a feather floating down. It landed softly on the ground and Quirrel looked puzzled.

"So… what does this one do?" he asked.

"We call it the Cape Feather; it lets you fly." She replied with a smile, she was excited to see Quirrel use.

Quirrel grabbed the feather and a sudden 'poof' sound was heard and a bit of smoke appeared around Quirrel. Once the smoke disappeared, Quirrel looked at himself and noticed a cape around him.

"How interesting, how do I fly?"

"Well, the way I do it is by giving myself a running start, then jump up in the air and you'll go flying. And to control it, just grab hold of it and you'll sort of… bounce-" Peach said while doing the quotations symbol. "in the air to fly forward."

Quirrel thought carefully about what she said. It was a lot to take in, hell, this whole world was a lot to take in. But he decided to try regardless.

"If it's too much we can try some other time?"

"I'll give it a try. No harm in trying something new."

Quirrel looked down a grassy plain ahead of him, it was clear with no blocks or creatures wondering, so it was perfect for running. Quirrel got himself in a running position, one leg back and straight, the other bent and facing forward. With his hands lightly touching the ground and facing the plain ahead. He sprinted off, gaining as much speed as possible. He took a quick breath and jumped up into the air and, he did it. He was flying. He looked down and saw the field of grass going farther and farther away. When he looked up, he saw Peach's castle in the distance, the endless hills stretching out before him.

Quirrel was enjoying every minute of it, seeing all of Peach's kingdom with no limits. He then realized he was going to far up, he remembered what Peach said; grab the cap and do an air bounce to fly forward. He took a firm grasp on the cap and prepared for the bounce; he began falling, but the updraft of wind allowed for the bounce to happen. He was now flying forward, enjoying the view once more.

The cap then slipped from his hand.

Quirrel was plunging toward the ground faster and faster with every passing second. He closed his eyes expecting splatter all over the field once he hit the rock-hard surface. But then, the impact was soft. He opened his eyes and saw he had landed on a cloud just a few inches from the ground. He looked to his left and saw Peach, except she was now wearing a puffy white dress. She looked both shocked and relieved at Quirrel's safety.

"Damn, you scared me there. I'm lucky I found a Cloud Flower." Peach lightly chuckled and was panting a little, she had been running to keep track of Quirrel.

"I'm so sorry about that." Quirrel got up from the cloud which disappeared as he got off it. "I kind of got carried away."

"Hey, it's alright. It's amazing seeing everything from up there isn't it?"

"Yes. Yes, it was." Quirrel chuckled a little. "So, what else is there?"

"So much more!" Peach cheered.

For the next two hours, Peach showed Quirrel all the different power-ups there were. She showed him the Helicopter Mushroom, which Quirrel seemed to control better. An Ice Flower which they used on a Hammer Bro gang. She even showed him the Mini Mushroom, they went into small pipes and collected roughly 200 hundred coins.

Soon they were near a river, it was clear and if you were to look, you could see multiple Cheep-Cheeps swimming. Peach punched two nearby blocks and each one popped out a Penguin Suit, Peach grabbed hers and was instantly in the suit.

"This one we call the Penguin Suit. It shoots ice like the Ice Flower, but I think it's better since we can swim better and breath underwater with it." She turned toward Quirrel. "What do you think?"

When Peach turned toward Quirrel, he didn't look well. His face was glued towards the river, he was just staring silently, he wasn't even breathing. He even stood perfectly still; he wasn't even moving an inch. Was he frozen with fear? Did he see something she didn't? She looked where he did and saw nothing, so what was it?

"Quirrel?" she said softly near him.

Quirrel suddenly moved, shaking his head and looking around. He seemed lost, confused as if he didn't know where he was.

"I… Uh… I would like to sit this one out. If that's alright?" he said quietly.

"Oh, of course." Peach got out of her Penguin Suit. "Are you… alright, Quirrel? You seemed scared."

"It's… nothing." Quirrel looked away.

There was an awkward silence for a moment. At that moment Peach's thoughts were racing. She wondered if maybe his experience in the water might have scared him. She thought back to how Quirrel had slept till noon, how he must've not slept at all. Maybe he had PTSD? But that wouldn't add up. If he had a bad experience with water beforehand, why go near an area filled with waterfalls as he mentioned? She decided to let it slide; Another time. She thought.

"Well, let's get back to the castle. I'll show you how an oven works."

Quirrel looked back at her. "Sounds good… what's an oven?"

Back at the castle, two guards were holding back the giant entrance door to Peach's castle, with many more coming to help as well. For the past five minutes, they've been holding the door firmly ready for the coming impact of the intruder. Said intruder was seen ahead of time thanks to the watchmen in the towers of the castle.

Now, they waited.

And waited.

And waited.

Suddenly, a sound was heard from the outside of the door. "Get ready!" shouted one of the guards. There grip on the door became harder, ready for the mighty impact of their foe.

They then heard a simple knock on the door.

"May I please speak with the Princess?" said a male voice. The guards at the door looked at each other in confusion. Was their enemy being… nice?

"She's not here!" said one of the guards.

"You expect me to believe that?" said the voice.

"Just leave demon! We have this door ready for anything you throw at it!" said another.

"You know I can just… go throw the door… like nothing right?"

All the guards started looking at each other as realization dawned on them. Their enemy could do just that, go through walls without even breaking them. Most of the guards started panicking and started running around crying. Two of the large group of guards looked at each other. They were higher up in the rank of the guards of the castle. And seeing all the training they put in for these men now felt meaningless.

"So, can I speak with her?" said the voice.

The two guards that weren't cowering in fear, considered the idea. Peach was out with Quirrel so, if this foe was truly coming in peace to talk, they figured they should speak for her. They opened the door and went outside to speak with him, shutting the door behind them.

Standing before them was King Boo.

King Boo was accompanied by three of boos, none of whom had that familiar grin they were known for.

"Princess Peach is absent at the moment. We will speak on her behalf." Said one of the guards.

"I'm afraid that won't due." King Boo was getting angry but held it back. "I have an emergency that she needs to hear right now. It affects my people and her people, so tell me where she is or-"

"Or what?" said a voice from behind.

King Boo turned around to see Peach standing before her, along with a bug-looking guy who seemed confused as to what he was seeing. "You're just the person I was looking for Princess."

"Good to know." Peach looked at Quirrel. "Quirrel, meet King Boo, lord of the Boos. King Boo, Quirrel, my new friend."

"Uh… Hello King Boo." Quirrel spoke with a bit of hesitation, he wasn't sure he like this King Boo.

"What's the matter Quirrel? You looked like you've seen a- "

"I'm not letting you say that bad joke." Peach cut in. "You were saying something about an emergency? I assume it has something to do with that truce letter you sent." Peach crossed her arms, preparing herself for more of King Boo's attitude.

"Yes, that." King Boo's jokey nature vanished, replaced by a sterner look, it took Peach by surprise, normally he would play around before getting to the point. "You're aware of these Red Flames, right?"

"Yes, you've seen them too?"

"Yup and a red ghost appeared when we approached one. It used the torch as a weapon and its flames can burn my people to ash."

Peach's eyes went wide, the guards eavesdropping had their mouths dropped, and Quirrel was simply confused.

"But I thought only stars could kill you guys?"

"So did I."

"Then, that explains your truce letter." Peach thought to herself briefly before she continued. "Alright, I'll let you inside to… talk."

"Sounds good to me."

Peach and King Boo now walked side by side to the doors, the two guards and three Boos accompanying them. Peach then notice Quirrel was still behind them.

"You coming?" she asked.

"I uh… I'm allowed to? I don't want to intrude." He said politely. Quirrel was still new to the kingdom and didn't know if getting involved with its politics was a smart move.

"You will intrude." Said King Boo bluntly. Peach threw him a cold stare which shut King Boo's mouth shut.

"You may come to Quirrel." Peach said politely. Quirrel ran up to them to get caught up.

"I must say Peach, your kingdom continues to get more interesting." He said.