Mystery of Pinna Park

Zelda followed Peach up the hilly path, careful to avoid the nearby cannon explosions. Peach had explained that the roller coaster was a popular ride that was fast and full of loops. Zelda saw the tracks and loops and began to think about going for the pirate ships instead, but it was too late now.

"All we have to do is take a peek at the inside of the car," Peach assured her. "We don't need to actually ride it."

"That plane ride was bad enough," Zelda mumbled. Soon enough they reached the boarding area, which had a colorful roof and a rock wall. There was a single car that was big, circular, and had small flaps on the sides. Peach pulled herself onto the edge to look in, but the flaps were making it difficult. There did not seem to be any doorway for easy entry.

"Could you give me a boost?" Peach asked. Zelda pushed her over the edge, landing her face-first inside of it. "Whoa! That's enough! I can't get out!" she said, kicking her legs in the air.

"Goddesses," Zelda sighed. She tried to pull Peach out by her legs but she seemed to be stuck. Zelda stepped onto the narrow pink track, holding onto the part of the car where the flaps were not. As her feet began to slide along the sides of the track, she pulled herself up so that she was kneeling on edge of the car. She carefully stepped inside to help Peach when she noticed that the car was slowly beginning to move along the track.

"I think the safety bar locked me in," Peach said, still upside down. "Hey…Are we moving?"

"I'm afraid sooo!" Zelda exclaimed as the coaster rolled down the first hill. As they careened down the track and approached their first turn, a large chainless Chomp burst out of the rock wall and onto the rail. It then began to skid down the rail, with sparks flying following Peach and Zelda's car.

"ROWF ROWF!" it barked as it made the turn.

"Peach, we have a situaaaation!" Zelda's stomach jumped as they went down a small hill and began to climb a tall hill. "There's a Chomp following us."

"Don't worry," Peach said, still stuck upside down. "It can't reach us all the way up here on the ride."

"It's on the track!" Zelda cried as the Chomp quickly neared their slowing car.

"What!" Peach screamed, kicking her legs in the air. "Is there anything you can do?"

"I don't knooow!" Zelda wailed again as the car went down the steep hill and turned high above the pool of water below. She sunk down into the car to settle her leaping stomach. "Who invented this insanity?" Zelda muttered.

When the Chomp reached the other side of the hill it began to roll involuntarily, picking up speed. "ROWF ROWF!" it barked again. It followed the car down the track to the point that it was close to the ground and went under a higher part of the track. The Chomp barely made it under the higher rail. They were close enough to the Pirate Ships now to be fired on. The shots had not been made with their speed in mind so the cannonballs hit the Chomp instead, nearly knocking it off the track. The shells merely made its spinning more chaotic.

"Zelda, save yourself!" Peach yelled, still struggling to get loose. "You can jump out of the roller coaster and…"

"Aaaaaaah!" Zelda screamed, hunkering down into the car as it made a very high, twisting loop that ended above the hole where the Buckies had been. "Stop this thing! I want to get off!" It was no help to her when the track immediately went into an even steeper, twisting loop. Zelda's head was spinning and her stomach was turning. Fortunately for her, the track was leading up a long hill back to the boarding area. Unfortunately, the Chomp, though struggling to stay on the track, was still following them.

"Now's your chance!" Peach shouted. Zelda groggily saw that they were heading back to the starting point. Still feeling unsteady, she stood up and attempted to pull Peach out of the harness. As the car continued to slow down, Zelda stood on top of the car and pulled harder, while the dizzy Chomp stopped spinning and simply followed them up the rail, chomping the whole way.

"A promise is a promise," Zelda grunted as she continued to pull, while trying not to look up her dress. "Just don't blame me when Sheik starts looking at you differently."

"I don't mean to be such a burden," Peach apologized, trying to assist her by pushing away from the floor.

Zelda took a moment to blast a fireball at the approaching Chomp. The Chomp paused and turned red hot with anger. Then, she returned to pulling. "I was speaking of your unmentionables."

"Oh!" Peach yelped, closing her legs and attempting to straighten out her skirt.

"Blast!" Zelda cursed as they neared the boarding area. "We're going to be in trouble if we don't get you out soon. Shield yourself as best as you can!" She charged her hand with magical energy and hacked away at the harness. Even when her hand went numb from pain, she continued to strike the harness. Sparks and magical sparkles jumped out of the car as she continued to strike. They were passing the boarding station now. Finally, the harness broke. The Chomp was only a couple of feet behind them. Zelda pulled Peach out of the car and they dived into the water under the swinging Pirate Ships. The Chomp mistakenly derailed itself and smashed into the Pirate Ships, sending everything into the water and finally silencing the cannon fire and barking.

The two princesses broke the surface of the water gasping for breath. "Peach, are you okay?"

"I'm okay. Thank you, Zelda."

"Hey, you two," came a voice from a nearby palm tree. It was a Noki girl in a cool blue shell and matching outfit. "I'm Lucky of the Buckies. You kinda destroyed our park…but thanks for saving me anyway."

"Were you even imprisoned?" Zelda asked, frowning.

"No, I was just hiding," she giggled, taking out a large yellow key. "But anyway, take this key to that pool over there and…what else…? Oh yeah, use the power of the stars…or something like that. Thanks again!" Then, she sprinted toward the entrance.

"I just hope there aren't any more roller coasters," Zelda mumbled, pulling herself, and then Peach, out the water. They wrung out their hair and walked toward the other pool. It was knee deep and had fountains on the edges. At its very center was a small yellow dome. After they waded to it, they tried to jam the key into it. When that did not work, Peach figured it to be a switch. To Zelda's amazement, she jumped above it and did a ground-pound, flattening it. It shifted into a star shape.

Peach took her position on the star pad and said, "Oh, great Power Stars, help me break this cursed seal and find the Great Fairy of this island…Stars, give me strength!" Her pink aura appeared and briefly turned yellow as a giant Power Star rose out of her and circled her, spreading sparkles all around. Strangely, a black keyhole appeared in midair.

"This world never ceases to amaze me," Zelda said, shaking her head. While Peach maintained the keyhole, Zelda inserted the oversized key. She was startled when the keyhole expanded and absorbed both of them. Suddenly, she found herself falling through a white nothingness.

"Don't be afraid," Peach said, falling beside her calmly. "It's just like a warp pipe." They suddenly pierced the white nothingness and entered black space. There was a bright sun high above, yet it seemed as if it were night time since the there were sparkling stars far into the distance in all directions but down. Somehow, the two safely landed on a block of wood floating in space. There were various other blocks, some wood-like or plastic, floating around in space, some of them spinning and shifting. They all looked like oversized toy blocks. This and the bottomless pit beneath them disturbed Zelda. Then, she looked into the distance and noticed strange designs that looked like doodles that had been drawn by children floating around behind the stars. Some resembled items that she had encountered in the Mushroom World such as mushrooms, fire flowers, and stars. There were many cute train track doodles meandering among the designs. For her, however, it was more creepy than cute when she saw a few animated train doodles silently traveling the tracks, puffing out clouds of smoke.

"Where in Nayru's name are we?" Zelda spoke in bewilderment.

"It looks like a special area," Peach said, not nearly as bothered by the surroundings. She looked to the two oversized nails sticking out of the wood block they were on and got an idea. Without an explanation, she climbed onto the head of one nail and ground-pounded it three times until it was completely flattened.

"What are you doing?" Zelda asked. Peach said nothing and went to the other nail and pounded it into the ground in a similar fashion. Once it was completely flattened, a green mushroom swirled into existence above her and disappeared into her.

"Ah, that's better," Peach said, stretching.

"This world is going to be the end of my sanity," Zelda sighed.

"Okay, all we have to do is get to the other side of this obstacle course," Peach explained. Zelda looked at all the moving platforms and blocks moving over the pit. Zelda frowned and transformed into Sheik.

"I think this will be a more appropriate form," he said, walking to the edge of the block, where an orange block was floating up and down. "Shall I carry you, Your Highness?"

"That's very kind of you," Peach answered graciously, "but I can take care of myself when it comes to things like these." Then, she effortlessly jumped onto the platform, which Sheik also promptly jumped onto. It rose higher up until there was a long, rectangular, slowly spinning, wooden block with a few oversized spikes on top. They hopped onto the block and ran along it, careful not to slip off as it spun. The giant spikes proved to be bothersome walls, but they quickly got to the end. After that, they had to jump onto a pole and climb it to the top. Sheik made sure not to look up her skirt, even though she didn't notice him at all. A rotating cube floated toward them, allowing them to jump onto it and run to stay on top.

"Exactly what caused the formation of this place?" Sheik asked, realizing how ridiculous this was.

"I don't know," Peach said, keeping pace. "I do know that Mario had to go through a lot of this sort of thing to collect the Shine Sprites. Either Bowser set this up or it was already like this to hide Shine Sprites." They jumped to other rotating cubes and finally reached a wooden block with a red pipe on it. Without a word, Peach instinctively jumped inside. Sheik silently followed her.

They reappeared in a similar area. Instead of a nighttime scene, it was vaguely late afternoon. Instead of random doodles in the background, there was an actual colored background that depicted trees, bushes, and a few flowers. It still appeared to be drawn with crayon, but at least nothing was moving. The path floating over the abyss also appeared straightforward. There were sandy blocks lined up with no gaps. In the distance, they could see a row of orange rectangular platforms. They appeared to be darkening until they turned black and disappeared for a moment before reappearing in their bright orange form. At the very end was another wooden platform with a palm tree near the edge.

Sheik spoke, "It appears that we'll need to hurry across that section just as it reappears to make it across…Each platform seems to disappear every 5 seconds and reappear 2 seconds later."

"Let's worry about that when we get there," Peach said. They stepped onto the first sandy block and immediately heard the sound of sand falling. "Oh no…"

"Run!" Sheik said, grabbing her hand. They ran across each block as they collapsed behind them. Peach was unable to run as fast as Sheik, so he was not running at his top speed. Fortunately, the sand blocks were collapsing at slow enough rates for them to reach the other side in plenty of time. Unfortunately, the timing was poor. They reached the first orange platform just as it was darkening.

"What should we do?" Peach asked as they stopped at the last disintegrating sand platform.

"Risk it!" Sheik said, hefting her over his shoulder. He bolted across the blackening platform, reaching the next just as the previous one disappeared. His dash placed his face mere inches from the ground, but gave him much speed. He sped across the next blackening platform and jumped as it disappeared. He landed on the final blackening platform and did a short dash before jumping into the air as it disappeared. As mighty as his jump was, he knew it would not be enough to reach the final platform. As he began to fall towards the abyss, Peach seemed to be carrying him.

"Don't worry; I've got you," she said, holding onto him. Sheik could see sparkles in their wake. They floated smoothly to the final platform and landed safely.

"How did you do that?" Sheik asked, with his eyes wide open.

"I've always been able to float short distances," Peach smiled innocently.

"And when were you planning to tell me this?" Sheik asked.

"Sorry," she giggled.

"Don't worry about it…What should we do now? There are no pipes or obvious portals here." Peach walked to the lone palm tree and whacked it with a slap of her hand. A blue switch with a "!" floating in the center fell out.

"There," Peach said, jumping on the switch and flattening it. A pipe appeared and she hopped in.

"Of course," Sheik sighed, following her.

They reappeared in a dark, giant coliseum. The sky appeared to be in a state of cloudy twilight. All the seats were empty, except for a few oversized sunflowers staring at Sheik and Peach. The wilting sunflowers looked miserable and were barely able to hold their heads up. Even the largest one, seeming to be forcibly planted in the stone seating, looked as if it would die any minute.

"I'll assume this is where the Princess of Evil dwells," Sheik said, looking around.

"You'd assume right," a new voice echoed all around them. A troupe of iguana-like Dinolfos stormed into the coliseum and surrounded them. Most were armed with their standard swords. A few had lances. Two carried Bullet Bill Blasters.

"Who said that?" Peach asked as Sheik took a guarded stance.

There was a distinct growl and a thud behind them. They turned around and saw her. She had changed quite a bit since the last time Peach had seen her. She was taller and slimmer. She was no longer the bratty little Koopaling that Peach had known before. She seemed to have matured. Her spiked shell was gleaming red, matching her lipstick. She had apparently grown medium-length hair, having the same fiery hue as her father. She stood tall, smirking before them. The only clues to her identity were the gold rings on her wrists and ankles and the trademark oversized pink and white polka-dotted bow she wore on her head.

"Wendy?" Peach said. "You've changed so much…but I only saw you a few months ago. What happened?"

"Jealous?" the matured Koopaling taunted. "Daddy gave us all an upgrade. I wanted this and he gave it to me…along with the job of taking over Delfino. It's only a matter of time before this entire vacation spot is all mine."

"So, you're Bowser's daughter," Sheik commented. "He must have used the Star Rod to change you. I had heard that he was a hideous beast. And they say that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree."

"SHUT UP!" Wendy yelled angrily. "I was a beautiful, sweet little girl. I just thought it was time for a little change. It's too bad the other princess here didn't just marry Daddy and become my new mother. Oh, well. It's her loss. GET THEM!" The Dinolfos charged after the two.

"Be careful," Sheik said, throwing several needles at them.

"I will," Peach replied, yanking two turnips out of the ground and tossing them. The two Dinolfos running for her sliced them apart, unimpeded. "Yipe!" Peach yelped, blocking their sword strikes.

Sheik was dealing with most of the Dinolfos. He ran at them with his knife, blocking their immediate strikes and slashing back. When one tried to sweep him with its lance, he hopped over the lance and kicked the lizard in its face. While it was stunned, he grabbed the lance out of its claws and swept it off its feet. Then, he immediately finished it off with a strong stab of his knife. Sheik spun around, knocking back all the Dinolfos, and tossed it at one of them, skewering it. He heard a burst and dived out of the way just as a pair of Bullet Bills exploded where he had stood. He had to run when the blaster-carrying Dinolfos kept taking turns firing at him. He drew their fire towards the other Dinolfos, managing to get a few blasted away. None seemed to care much. When he threw needles their way, they merely blocked with the blasters and continued firing.

Peach was having trouble with the two Dinolfos attacking her. They had backed her against a wall and were slashing away. Her arms were beginning to sting from blocking so many strikes. Finally, she pushed forward with her hands outstretched and shoved them back. Her upper arm had been cut in the process, but she continued to push them back until one stumbled away. She parried the counterstrike of the remaining one and slapped it several times. The other one lunged at her, knocking her down even though she had blocked it. She rolled back to her feet in a crouching position and smacked at the nearest Dinolfos's feet. It was sent tumbling into the air and fell on its face. She jumped at the other Dinolfos and spun around in the air, hitting it several times with her arms. She grabbed the collar of its armor and smacked it in the face repeatedly. Eventually, she let the stunned creature fall to the ground. The other Dinolfos growled and breathed a jet of flame her way. When she ducked the flame, it aimed downward. She scampered to the side and jumped at it as the flame died. It slashed beneath her, not expecting her to float toward it. She knocked it out with an upward kick to the chin.

"YOU IDIOTS!" Wendy yelled angrily. "DON'T LET THAT BLONDE BIMBO BEAT YOU!" One of the Dinolfos with the cannons turned to face Peach and fired away. Sheik was still having trouble with the other one shooting at him. Peach saw the Bullet Bills flying at her and ran straight toward them. She sidestepped the first one, letting it pass harmlessly. She jumped over the next one and floated over a few more. She dropped down beneath the next one. The Dinolfos were back-to-back now. She jumped onto every following missile, defusing them.

"Is that all I had to do?" Sheik sighed, as he stopped running. He followed her example and jumped on every Bullet Bill that came his way as he dashed for the Dinolfos. Soon both Peach and Sheik were in front of the Dinolfos. Peach knocked her target out in one blow with a swing of her crown. Sheik knocked the cannon away from his target. When the lizard tried to pounce on him, he moved around behind it. He grabbed it from behind and cut its throat.

"So, you beat my guards," Wendy said, baring her teeth. "I guess I'll just have to get rid of you myself. GET READY!"