(A/N: So now Mario and Cappy should be en route to the Cap Kingdom. What's going to happen when they find Peach and Tiara? Not telling! You'll have to read and find out for yourselves!)
On their way to Bonneton, Mario walked over to the bed, took off his shoes, and lied down, figuring he would try and get a catnap in.
"What's the matter, Mario? Are you tired?" Cappy asked.
"Non ho dormito bene la notte scorsa. I didn't sleep well last night." Mario explained.
"Given how upset you looked last night, and this morning, I don't blame you for that. Why didn't you just stay with us at the castle?" Cappy asked.
"Well, that's actually the norm when I rescue Peach and I get her home late at night, but she's the one who asks me first. I've never refused before... until last night..." Mario said, thinking back to that moment again.
"Oh, no! Don't be sad." Cappy said, trying to comfort Mario.
"She didn't ask me, so I didn't stay. I couldn't ask her, Cappy. Doing so was not an option. Not last night. Not after what I did to her." Mario said.
"Don't worry, Mario. When we get to Bonneton, you and Peach can talk and clear things up a bit. In the meantime, you try and get that much-needed catnap." Cappy said.
"Okie-dokie. But if I'm not awake when we get there, then please wake me up." Mario said.
"Don't worry, Mario. I will." Cappy promised as Mario closed his eyes and tried to get some sleep. He wondered if Peach ever slept when she was in Bowser's clutches. He never thought to ask her before, and that adventure had taken days to complete.
However, Mario did manage to get some sleep, because the next thing he knew, Cappy was nudging him awake, saying, "Hey, Mario. Wake up, buddy. We're here."
"Huh? What?" Mario groggily asked as he slowly opened his eyes and looked around. He saw Cappy hovering over him.
"We're in Bonneton now. Did you sleep well?" Cappy asked.
"I... I guess so..." Mario said, sitting up and rubbing the sleep from his eyes.
"Ready to go find the girls?" Cappy asked.
"Sì. Let's-a go." Mario said as he swung his legs over the bed and put his shoes back on. Then Cappy took his place as the hat on Mario's head, and they disembarked the Odyssey.
"You know, Mario, the airships here in the Cap Kingdom also double as homes for Bonneters like me and Tiara." Cappy said as they began to explore the kingdom again.
"Really? I never would have guessed." said Mario.
"Would you like to see the one where Tiara and I live? I wonder if anyone here was kind enough to maybe fix it up a little while we were away?" Cappy said.
"It wouldn't hurt to check..." Mario said slowly.
"Great!" said Cappy. He assumed his Bonneter form and motioned for Mario to follow him while saying, "Follow me!"
"I will. But don't go as fast as you did when I first set my eyes on you! You flew off like a frightened little girl. I know you're a boy, Cappy, but... you get what I'm saying, don't you?" Mario asked.
"I do, Mario. And don't worry; I'm not going to move that fast." Cappy promised.
They did find the airship that Cappy and Tiara called 'home'. Thankfully, it did look like it was fixed up a little, but not much.
"Still needs some work, I guess..." Cappy sighed.
"I could help you work on it, if you want." Mario suggested.
"You'd do that?" Cappy asked, a little surprised.
"What else are friends for?" Mario asked.
"You're the best." Cappy said.
"No, you are. If it wasn't for you, I never would have been able to save Peach. She'd be in the Overthere by now, and Bowser would be laying her kingdom to waste as we speak." Mario replied.
Cappy didn't know what Mario meant by what would've been happening, but he was glad that Mario thought he was the best.
So Cappy and Mario worked on the airship some more. As they worked, Mario wondered what he was going to say to Peach when he saw her again.
Not surprisingly, the plumber and Bonneter didn't stop working until the airship was fixed and able to run again. It was nightfall by the time they finished.
"Mama-mia! I didn't think we were working that hard!" Mario exclaimed when he saw the moon and checked his watch.
"I just hope Peach and Tiara are still here..." said Cappy.
They went back to exploring, and that's when they heard Tiara's voice call out "Cappy!", followed by Peach's sweet voice calling, "Hey, Mario!"
Mario turned in the direction the voices came from, and if Peach wasn't a blonde, he probably wouldn't have noticed her. She was wearing a black wool coat that reached her knees, black gloves, a black beret, black tights, a white mini-scarf, and black high heels. She practically blended in with the scenery.
"Oh dear, what can I do? Baby's in black, and I'm feeling blue..." Mario thought as he looked at the Princess.
"Come on. Let's go say hi." Cappy said as he flew over to the girls. He was talking to his sister, and Mario slowly made his way to the girls.
"Hi, Mario!" Peach greeted the plumber.
Mario nervously looked up at Peach and squeaked out the words, "Ciao P-Principessa. H-hi, P-Princess."
Peach was glad to hear him talk to her, after the events of last night, but she could tell that he was really nervous. She needed to let him know there was nothing to worry about.
"Mario, you do know that you can call me 'Peach', right?" Peach asked.
"Oh, right. Sorry, Peach." Mario said. He really didn't know what to say.
"I'm glad to see you're still traveling!" Peach replied.
"Don't tell Cappy I said this, but he kind of twisted my arm into doing this." Mario whispered.
"I won't tell him." Peach whispered, before adding, "Anyway, Tiara and I decided to take a trip around the world. It'll be nice to see all of these places we "visited" before, but on our own terms."
"Yeah. And this time, you don't have to worry about anything, right?" Mario asked.
"Right. This is healthy for the both of us." Peach smiled.
"So, Peach, how do you like the Cap Kingdom?" Mario asked.
"It's a nice place. Tiara told me she just loves how the ships at home look like hats!" Peach replied.
Tiara looked happy that Peach said that her home kingdom was nice. Then she looked at Mario and asked him, "Isn't the scenery here just breathtaking?"
"Oh yeah." Mario replied.
Tiara and Cappy both looked pleased at Mario's response.
"The people here are so gracious! I was given a Power Moon, but you can take it." Peach said, and she gave Mario a Power Moon.
"Grazie, Peach. Thank you." Mario smiled as he accepted the Power Moon from the girl he loved. He was quiet for a moment, but then he said, "You look nice."
"Thank you. I was wearing my normal attire when we got here, but it's a little cold, so I had to dress warmly. Good thing I packed this outfit, huh?" Peach asked.
"Yeah. You knew just what to bring on this tour." Mario replied.
Peach looked at Mario, and asked, "Can we talk?"
"About what?" Mario asked.
"What happened." Peach said.
"When you were with Bowser?" Mario asked.
"Yes. That..." Peach replied, looking uncomfortable.
"We can... if you really want to..." Mario said, equally uncomfortable.
"I really think we should..." Peach said.
"Come, Tiara. I think we'd better make ourselves scarce." Cappy began.
"Do we have to?" Tiara asked. She didn't want to be away from Peach.
"I think we should. And besides, Mario and I actually did some work on our home to fix it up. I'll show you if you come with me!" Cappy said, leading his sister away from Mario and Peach.
"Alright..." Tiara said. But she looked back at the pair for a moment before allowing Cappy to lead her back to their home.
"So, Peach, you go first." Mario said.
"You sure?" Peach asked.
"Ladies first." Mario told her.
"Okay." Peach said. She was quiet for a moment, figuring out how she was going to word what she needed to say.
Mario noticed that Peach wasn't saying anything, but he didn't urge her to start talking. That's what caused her to be mad at him at the Moon Kingdom in the first place, and he really didn't want to make that mistake again.
"Here we go..." Peach said to herself. She took a deep breath and said, "Okay, let's go back to the day the adventure began."
"Which part? Was it the part before I showed up, or after I got launched away from you by that chowderhead, Bowser?" Mario asked, but he had a feeling it was going to be the former.
Peach found herself giggling when Mario called Bowser a chowderhead, but she managed to reply, "The former, when Bowser showed up at my castle."
"Okie-dokie." Mario said.
Peach swallowed nervously and got ready to tell him about that part of the adventure.
(Flashback...)
It was a beautiful morning in the Mushroom Kingdom. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, and there was hardly a cloud in the beautiful blue sky. It was one of those mornings where it looked like nothing could go wrong.
And on this lovely morning, the fair Princess Peach was more than certain that Mario was going to come to the castle and pay her a visit. That was so like him.
At this moment, the Princess was standing out on her balcony, hoping to catch a glimpse of her favorite red-capped suitor making his way to her castle to see her.
But because Peach was intently looking forward and below, she failed to notice what was above and behind her. She didn't hear the sound of propellers from a gigantic airship. Nor did she notice the mechanical hand that came out from the front of the ship and grabbed her from behind!
Peach yelled out as the hand grabbed her around the waist and pulled her up into the air. That caused her to look behind her and see what was going on!
"Put me down! You put me down right now or I'll scream! I mean it!" the Princess shouted as she was lifted high into the air, being brought up to a giant, fancy-looking airship. Next thing she knew, somebody pulled her free from the hand, and she found herself standing on the fancy-looking deck of the airship. When she saw who the airship belonged to, she was less than pleased.
"Hello, Princess Peach! Glad to see me again?!" Bowser asked.
"Bowser, you jerk! Since when am I glad to see you?! The day I'm glad to see you is the day the sun shines in the Underwhere!" Peach said, glaring daggers at the Koopa King.
"Do you have any idea how cute you look when you're angry?" Bowser asked, hoping that a line like that would make her melt. Unfortunately for him, he was not as good as Mario was at flattering her.
"Does this look cute to you?!" Peach asked, not looking amused. The angry look on her face could've frozen a volcano solid.
"You bet it does!" said Bowser. Now his airship was circling Peach's Castle from above.
"Well, I don't think so! I think I look much better when I'm happy, and as you can see, I'm clearly not happy. So why don't you just put me back on my balcony and forget that I ever existed?!" Peach demanded.
"Not a chance, tootsie." Bowser said.
"Bowser, if I were you, I'd put me back right now, before Mario shows up to kick your sorry tail into the 4th dimension!" Peach said.
"Not today, Princess! I'm feeling lucky!" Bowser said as he flicked Peach's crown off of her head!
"Hey! My crown! What did you do that for?!" Peach asked, angrier than before.
"You won't be needing it anymore, Peach. Check out the new head gear I got you! I think you'll like it a lot better than your old crown." Bowser said. He opened his hand to reveal what looked like a ghostly, hat-like being. The hat-ghost looked to be a female that resembled a bridal tiara, and she had purplish-pinkish eyes. She also looked very frightened. So frightened, in fact, that she turned into a tiara, which Bowser happily placed on Peach's head.
Peach didn't look too happy about this, and neither did the tiara.
"I knew that girl would look nice on you. Guess I was right!" Bowser said, looking pleased with himself.
"Bowser, why are you doing this?! She looks terrified, and I have no idea what you're playing at!" Peach shouted at Bowser.
"Isn't it obvious, Peach? You're going to wear that tiara at our wedding!" Bowser said.
"Excuse me, but did you say our wedding?!" Peach asked, even madder than she was before.
"You bet I did! We're going to get married and live happily ever after!" Bowser declared.
"Happily ever after, my foot! I didn't exactly agree to this!" Peach cried.
"I know you didn't! I thought I'd surprise you! I've got the wedding all planned out, too! All we have to do now is go out and get the supplies on the way to the wedding venue!" Bowser said.
"Don't I get a say in this?" Peach asked.
"No way! If I let you have a say, you might do something really idiotic, like try and invite Mario to the wedding, and... well, let's face it; he'll never let us get married!" Bowser said.
"Because he knows that if ever I have to get married, I don't want to marry you. I wouldn't want to marry you even if we were betrothed since birth!" Peach said.
"Come on! Don't you think we make a lovely couple? I sure do!" Bowser said.
"Oh, no we don't! I'm not marrying you! I don't love you, and I refuse to marry someone I don't love!" Peach screamed.
"You do so love me, Peach! You just haven't admit it to yourself, that's all!" Bowser said.
"Bowser, you're going to have to face facts: I wouldn't marry you even if you saved me from dying on the kitchen floor!" Peach shouted.
"Why don't you just quit being shy and admit that you love me?!" Bowser ordered her.
(End flashback...)
"And then that's when you showed up and said, 'I've got a better idea, Bowser: why don't you remove your head from your behind and realize that I'm the one she truly loves?!' You had no idea how much I wanted to laugh when you said that!" Peach said.
"Why did you want to laugh?" Mario asked. He was a little nervous that Peach was going to laugh because she thought it was funny that he claimed that he was her true love.
"Because you told Bowser to remove his head from his behind, that's why. I thought it was funny that you were implying that his head was stuck in there. The only reason I wasn't laughing is because I was too relieved at the sight of you." Peach said.
"Frankly, instead of the word 'behind', I would've said the other word. You know, what a donkey is called, but I decided against it because I know how it makes you feel when that word is not used to describe a donkey, but a person's behind." Mario said.
"Mario, you're a very considerate man." Peach said.
Mario almost said "That's because I love you.", but he stopped himself. There was no way Peach would believe that. He was afraid she might reply, "Really? After what you did to me at the Moon Kingdom? Yeah, right! That was lust, not love!"
So then he thought of saying, "Because I care about you.", but that wasn't going to work, either. If he cared, he wouldn't have forced her to pick him, and she would've pointed that out. She would've said, "And this comes from a man who decided to stoop to Bowser's level? Ha! That's a good one, Mario!"
Then he came up with the perfect response. He said, "Provo ad essere. I try to be."
"Sometimes, you seem to do it without trying. What a trait in a man." Peach replied, before adding, "That's all I want to talk about from my side right now. I'd like to know what happened to you... if you'll tell me..."
Mario smiled, and then he said, "Okay, I know this I'm jumping way ahead here, but I'll tell you what happened to me after I was launched from the airship, away from you. Did you know that the Cap Kingdom was where I landed after I got launched?"
"No. I didn't know that." Peach said.
"Would you like me to show you where I woke up?" Mario asked.
"Okay. Lead the way." Peach smiled.
So Mario led Peach to where he had landed. As they walked, they passed by Cappy and Tiara, and Tiara was admiring the handiwork her brother and Mario had done on their home.
At that moment, Cappy saw Mario and Peach walk by, and he thought all was well because they were walking together, and they seemed happy. But then he realized that maybe all wasn't well between them because they weren't holding hands or talking, and neither of them had an arm around each other, either.
"I hope they're working things out. I don't want Mario's heart to be broken forever." Cappy thought as he watched the couple go by.
"It was right around there." Mario said, pointing to where he and Cappy landed the Odyssey.
"That's where you were?" Peach asked.
"Well, the Odyssey wasn't there at the time. Just me. And, of course, Cappy was checking on me to see if I was alive. When I got up and saw him, he got scared and flew away like a frightened little girl." Mario said.
"I don't blame him, but then again, you were in a new and unfamiliar place. And since he was the one trying to wake you, the least he could've done was explain things to you." Peach said.
"We went all the way to Glasses Bridge, and that's where Cappy finally got up the nerve to speak to me." Mario said.
"What did he say to you?" Peach asked.
"He told me where I was, apologized for running off, and told me that his little sister, Tiara, had been taken by Bowser, to be part of the wedding you didn't wish to participate in. He'd hoped to give chase, but all their ships, their homes, had been damaged because Bowser anticipated that the Bonneters might give chase in order to rescue Tiara from him." Mario explained.
"I should've known Bowser was nothing more than a big coward, given that he's afraid to stand there and take his licks." Peach said.
"Yeah, pretty much. But Cappy and I became fast friends after that. I learned how to use him to do all sorts of cool things, including capturing, so I can take control of someone or something, like you saw me do with Bowser in the Underground Moon Caverns. The first thing I ever captured was a frog in Top-Hat Tower. I freaked out when I realized that I was in that frog's body." Mario replied.
He then told Peach what he used the frog for, and how he had to deal with the Broodals for the first time.
"I had to deal with the squat one that was dressed in green. He looked a little like a rabbit version of a leprechaun. What was his name?" Mario said, trying to remember the name of the first Broodal he dealt with.
"Does it even matter?" Peach asked, obviously hating the Broodals.
"Now that I think about it, nope. Not really. And after the battle, I had to travel to the Cascade Kingdom by way of a spark pylon. Cappy was really amped up after we arrived." Mario said, getting Peach to smile.
"Can we talk about this some more tomorrow, maybe? Right now, I'd like to just spend some more time enjoying the Cap Kingdom and the sights it has to offer. And maybe we can just talk about this place, too." Peach said.
"Qualunque cosa la signora desideri. Whatever the lady wishes." Mario said, giving Peach a smile, to show no hard feelings.
They walked back to the place in the Central Plaza, where Peach and Tiara had been, just in case Cappy and Tiara decided to see if they were done talking.
To their surprise, Cappy and Tiara were flying towards them.
"How are you doing?" Cappy asked Mario and Peach.
"Stiamo bene. We're fine." Mario smiled.
"We are." Peach added, putting a gentle hand on Mario's shoulder.
Seeing Mario smile made Cappy feel good inside. He knew how upset Mario had been, and to see Peach doing something nice to him would surely help to mend his achy breaky heart. (A/N: Had to!)
"Did you two have a nice talk?" Tiara asked.
"We did." Peach said.
"So, Tiara, did you see the work we did on your home?" Mario asked.
"I did. It looks a lot better now. Better than it did when I showed Peach." Tiara replied with a happy twirl.
"May I see?" Peach asked.
"Sure. Come on!" Cappy said, and he led them back to the airship where he and Tiara lived.
Peach was glad to see that it did look a lot better than it did several hours ago, when she and Tiara first saw it.
"It looks very nice now." Peach smiled.
"You can thank Mario for helping me." Cappy said.
"I do. Thank you, Mario, for helping my big brother fix up the ship we call our home." Tiara said, and she gave the plumber a big hug.
"Prego. You're welcome, Tiara." Mario said, returning the hug from the young Bonneter.
Then the group returned to the spot where Peach and Tiara had been standing when Mario and Cappy found them. Peach sighed happily as she looked at the big, full moon. It was quite a sight.
"I'll never look at the moon the same way again...but it's still lovely." Peach said.
"It is. I never really stopped to admire it before because I was so worried about you. Whenever something happens to you, saving you becomes la mia priorità assoluta, my top priority. I don't stop to enjoy the scenery or worry about myself, because if anything happens to you while you're in the clutches of evil, I'll go out of my mind. I'm not happy until I know that you're happy and safe, Peach." Mario said.
"How romantic..." Tiara sighed lovingly.
"You're a sweet man, Mario." Peach said, giving Mario a hug.
"Can I... hug you back?" Mario asked, a little nervously.
"Of course you can." Peach smiled.
So Mario returned the hug from the princess. He hoped she was still his girlfriend, but he didn't want to ask her yet. Not until they'd talked some more.
"I wonder if it's true that dinosaurs enjoy basking in the sun... It'd be fun to ask one!" Peach said.
"You want to go to the Cascade Kingdom, next?" Mario asked.
"I haven't been there, Mario. Bowser didn't go there." Peach said.
"We'll go there next, then. I'll see you there." Mario said.
"You too, Mario." Peach replied.
So after they bid each other good-bye, Peach made her way to her transport ship, and Mario went to the Odyssey.
When we rejoin them, they'll be in the Cascade Kingdom, where Mario and Cappy found the Odyssey, dealt with a beached whale, and thought they were in Jurassic Park! Stay tuned!
