Part I: A New Beginning
Chapter III: Reunion
Mallow was having it tough these past few days. He had learned that some key files had been misplaced, and because of this Nimbus Land was in a state of disarray. Not only because of this, but in addition, their king was due to set off on the "Bringer of Miracles" in just a month.
"The Bringer of Miracles," or "the Miracle" as it was called for short, is what the Nimbians called the great ship that has been built by the Mushroom Kingdom and Sarasaland. The reason that they called it this is because that is what they hoped would happen, that the ship would bring back a civilization or species that could help the continent of Plit recover from their state of war with the Koopa Troop.
For that is what the ship was built for. It was a great vessel designed to find another civilization or country help Plit recover from the war. Not only for that reason, but to make contact with other beings, find new worlds on the great planet that has been largely unexplored by anyone on Plit, (or at least any that have returned) and act as a way to gain allies throughout the planet.
Being the most affected land by the Koopa Troop's attack (other than the Mushroom Kingdom), they had waited for two years, ever since the Koopa Troop had been defeated and their rule over Plit overthrown, for the ship to sail off. To their knowledge this was only the third ship in the entire history of Plit to set out into "lands unknown." They were unsure however of King Mallow Nimbus' decision to join the crew of the "Miracle".
The stress of everything he had to do was finally getting to Mallow. Helping the entire country of Nimbus Land rebuild from four years of brutal dictatorship and consistent attacks was quite a handful, to put it mildly, but preparing for the what was possibly the single greatest event since the arrival of the Mario Brothers decades ago was causing his head to hurt.
First of all, he was gathering together and organizing the fellow Nimbians who were joining him on the crew of the "Miracle". In addition to that, as king, he still had to keep rule and order over his citizen. Perhaps his most difficult chore was to find a replacement to lead Nimbus Land while he was absent. He wanted to make sure that he chose the perfect person, his experience with Valentina all those years ago still made him shudder. Or shake his head, or laugh out loud. It all depended on his mood, or the day, but those two seemed to go hand in hand with him.
Either way he was having a lot of trouble choosing someone. If he found the smallest little thing that he didn't like about the person he was choosing, that he thought might upset the people of Nimbus Land he chose to send them off. He knew that some of his advisors thought him to be picky, and maybe a little loopy, but he couldn't live peacefully on the Miracle if he thought that his citizens might be having problems. He cared for them too much.
Mallow lay back on his bed, adjusting his robes and slicking back his short pink hair. He still felt strange about lying in the bed that his deceased parents used to share, and wearing the robe that his father used to wear. He was looking forward to sailing out on the "Miracle," and being able to get away from all the stress of running an entire country. He would definitely miss his homeland, but being able to be part of the Mario Brothers' crew was an honour in itself, not to mention the fact that this was only the third ship to sail out from the continent of Plit, and the first in centuries. Hopefully this one wouldn't end up like the other two.
"King Nimbus sir… " Mallow's secretary Gabbo Jr. opened his bedroom door and called into it. "A visitor here to see you sir."
"Thank you Gabbo. I will be out in a moment." The Nimbian secretary quietly shut the door, leaving Mallow alone, still lying on his massive "king size" bed.
He finally got up, adjusted his robe and placed his father's former crown on top of his head. He left the enormous white, puffy room to meet a familiar face.
"Princess!" Mallow yelled, absolutely ecstatic. He had not seen Princess Peach Toadstool for over a year, but there she stood by his secretary's desk, wearing her usual pink dress and beautiful golden crown. He then looked around the room to see Gabbo Jr. and two Nimbian guards, and decided to compose himself. He didn't want to show weakness in front of his citizens.
"Hello Mallow, or King Nimbus as I should rightly call you." Peach said, slightly embarrassed.
"What brought you out here so early? I didn't expect to see you until a few days before the ceremony."
"Mind if we discuss it in private?" Princess Toadstool asked, almost whispering.
"Of course," Mallow replied politely. "We can discuss it in my bedroom if you like."
D'oh, he thought to himself, what kind of person would say that? I sound like a pervert. I hope I haven't upset the princess.
"Fine with me," Peach replied, seeming not to notice.
"Perhaps the Conference Room would be more appropriate," Mallow said. "We finally have it completely rebuilt."
"Okay," Peach said, seeming just a little off put.
"Guards," King Mallow spoke. "Lead us to the Conference Room."
"Yes sir," the two guards in the room said in unison. They lead the way down a hallway towards the northern region of the building. Mallow and Peach followed.
"This must be quite an important message to have a person such as yourself come all this way," Mallow said quietly to Peach.
"It is very concerning," Peach responded, not wanting to hint at what the problem was until they were alone.
They continued to walk through the beautifully detailed white hallways of the castle, with rich red tapestries hanging on the walls and golden chandeliers hanging down from the light blue ceiling. Every once and a while they would pass a room or hallway that was still being reconstructed or rebuilt.
When they finally reached the great white doors that led into the Conference Room the two guards who were walking in front of them stood at attention, facing each other, and leaving a big enough space between then for Mallow and Peach to get through. The Nimbian guard on the right opened one of the doors for them.
"No one can walk past these doors until we leave," Mallow ordered the guard, who nodded.
As the King and Princess walked through the doors the guard shut it behind them.
"Come and sit down," Mallow offered to Peach, pulling out a chair from the long conference table.
"No thank you," she said. Mallow then decided to sit on the chair himself.
The Princess continued to walk around the room, looking at all of the lovely portraits that were hung on the walls of the room.
"Do you remember the plot to assassinate the Mushroom Kingdom Chancellor?" Peach asked.
"How could I forget?" Mallow replied. "Those radical Black Mushrooms nearly did it too. Thank the stars that you, Rubosov, and the Mario Brothers were able to stop them. Are they back?"
"Not exactly. Ever since we were able to kill their two leaders they have been heavily crippled. The plan to kill our Chancellor was sort of their last gasp to cause turmoil in the Mushroom Kingdom."
"What has you so worried then?
"An entire Goomba village just off of our borders was attacked a few nights ago, leaving thirteen dead."
"My heavens, they certainly have come back with a bang."
"Even more alarming however, and the real reason I came to see you, is that there was a threatening letter addressed to you personally that came to us just before the attack."
"Wow!" Mallow said, slightly stunned. "I don't understand though, why on Plit would they have sent the letter to the Mushroom Kingdom? Did you bring it with you?"
"That brings me to why I came here personally instead of sending a helper or ambassador. Shortly after the letter came, two Mushroomer generals ordered it to be destroyed, apparently under orders from the Chancellor. In addition to this, some of my advisors and secretaries have told me that some generals have told them that I had sent orders to them, but I never did. The orders we're quite odd too, most of them had to do with the ship that you and the Mario Brothers are going on."
Peach paused for a sec, almost trying to remember all the strange things that have been occurring.
"There have also been many other suspicious events going on. For example, I found some plans of the ship arranged differently and moved around in the desk in my room. Later on, I found my door open when I was going to bed early. I hid behind a pillar at the bottom of the stairs, and after about a minute of waiting there I saw a Colonel of our army leave. Again I found my files on the ship out of order. I went to inform the Chancellor of the Colonel's spying, and of course he was arrested.
"The next few days after that my files were fine, and believe me I've checked many times, but the strange orders that were supposedly sent by me continued. I asked whom they were sent from, but I could never get a straight answer. Four days ago, the same day we got the letter and the Goomba village was attacked, my secretary told me that a Colonel Green had told her I had left for a meeting in Sarasaland. I checked my files and found out that this was the same Colonel that had been arrested a few days ago for sneaking into my room. I asked if she had spoken to him face-to-face,, and she said 'yes, just outside of the castle.' I went to tell the Chancellor, but he said that Green was still in prison. I decided to dismiss it, but once I heard the order to destroy the note sent to you, I knew I had to warn you myself, because I could tell something was rotten in the Mushroom Kingdom.
"I managed to convince the Chancellor that I needed to contact you personally about the voyage in a few weeks from now. I left four days ago on the Royal Bus, and now I'm here."
"So you suspect that some in your government had something to do with the attack on your village?" Mallow asked.
"It's a possibility. I'm not even sure if I can trust the Chancellor, which is hard of course because I've known him for so long, and he's been such a good person."
"Of course," Mallow said sympathetically.
"He's just been acting strangely lately, like many around the Mushroom Kingdom have." Peach said, as she started to cry a bit.
"It's okay." Mallow said.
Peach managed to pull herself together, and said, "I suppose I should be heading back, or else the Mushroom Kingdom may become suspicious of me."
"Well, I greatly appreciate you coming here. As you said, there was a definite possibility that if you had sent someone else, they may not have arrived."
"Whoever's behind this conspiracy, if there is one, I knew that they would think I was too important to get right of."
"That's for sure." Mallow smiled encouragingly.
"Sorry we had to see each other again at such a bad time," Peach said.
"Think nothing of it, Mallow replied. He got off of his seat and opened Conference Room doors for Peach.
"My guards will show you to the Royal Bus. If problems continue for you can be sure that I will come personally to see what's wrong."
"Thank you," Peach replied. "Goodbye."
One of the guards shut the door to the Conference Room. Mallow sat back down again, taking off his crown. His life had likely just got a lot more complicated.