Jinxed
Out of the circle of raptors surrounding Sheik and Peach, the green raptor returned. It slowly approached them and sniffed at them. Sheik readied his needles and whispered to Peach, "We're in a bit of trouble." He gave her a shake.
"Mmmhuh?" she said, drowsily looking up. "What is it?"
"Take a look."
She hardly glanced at the colorful creatures surrounding them and snuggled her head into the fabric of Sheik's wrappings. "Just Yoshis…"
"Think again," Sheik said, giving her another shake.
She moaned in a slightly irritated fashion and looked again. Her eyes focused and widened at the sight of the monsters that had nearly killed them before. "What should we do?" The raptors had already closed the distance.
Suddenly, the green raptor sat down and seemed to beckon them to hop on. The other raptors also lowered themselves.
"What are they doing?" Sheik asked, confused.
"I think they want us to ride them," Peach said unsurely, "just like…Oh! They are Yoshis!" she said in horror.
"What?" he said as she got off his back and moved to the green raptor.
"Yoshi, is that you?" she asked, meekly touching its snout.
"YOOOOOSH!" the raptor nodded in a harsh growl. It sounded nothing like the Yoshi calls she was used to hearing.
"What have they done to you!" she cried, hugging it. There was an increasingly loud swish of moving bushes. All the raptors turned as two Hammer Brothers entered the scene.
"Bro, there they are!" one said, tossing his hammer immediately. One of the raptors lashed its tongue out to the hammer and ate it. Several other raptors pounced onto the hammer-wielding Koopas.
"Sheik, get on one!" Peach called, climbing onto Yoshi.
"If you say so," he said, climbing onto a blue raptor. All rose and scurried into the jungle. Sheik was somewhat surprised by how similar it felt to riding a horse. They moved especially fast into the jungle. They passed by a group of spinning Koopa shells that rapidly streamed through various colors. The shells quickly began to pursue them, steadily picking up speed.
The green Yoshi gave out an irritated growl as it continued to run. The raptors without riders turned around and caught the shells with their tongues. With mouths full, they sprouted demonic wings and sprinted along before taking low flight next to Yoshi. When Spinies began to fall from above, two raptors spat fireballs into the treetops, instantly losing their wings. Several burned Lakitus hit the ground with a thud. As they entered a clearing next to a cliff, several cactus-like Pokeys rose out of the ground in front of them. Yoshi and the blue raptor took a moment to quickly lap up each section and continued ahead. Several Giga Koopas climbed onto the cliff and stood in their way. The flying raptors folded their wings and bowled them over with a collective body slam.
Then, three Bandits hopped onto the scene. They looked like taller members of the 8-bits club, much like a Zeus Guy. However, their white masks also seemed to actually be their faces since they were actively expressive.
"Hold it!" the green one said.
"Right there!" the blue one said.
"You two!" the one in red said. All of the flying raptors dropped down and belched fireballs at the Bandits. All but the red one was burned to a crisp. That was because the fireballs going for the red Bandit had been absorbed into a miniature flame wall. The Flame Wall grew and bowled over all of the raptors, knocking Peach and Sheik off their Yoshis.
"I didn't do that…" the red Bandit said.
Then Bolt dropped down in front of her. "I did."
"Thanks for the help, but I don't need it," she said, taking a fighting stance.
"Take the other two back to base," Bolt said. "I'll handle things from here."
"But Bolt!"
"That's an order, Bandita," he said, raising his voice slightly. She frowned, picked up her comrades and dragged them away quickly. Bolt watched them leave, but was suddenly struck down by a punch from Sheik. He followed up with a barrage of needles and bounced off of Bolt with several stomps. Then, he picked him up and tossed him away.
"That should do it," Sheik said, seeing Bolt hit the ground with a thud. "You can't handle any speed." He was shocked when he saw Bolt hop to his feet and wipe the dust off.
"I've seen faster," Bolt said casually. Yoshi roared and all the raptors surged forth to attack him. Their tongue lashes were unable to stick to him, but they did knock him around quite a bit, at least until he got bored and jumped into the air. "Static E." A bright electrical flash went off. The next moment, all of the Yoshis were left crippled by the shock.
"What was that?" Sheik cringed.
"Just give up," Bolt said.
"And let Peach suffer again?" Sheik glared hatefully. He dashed at Bolt and sent a series of kicks and punches. Bolt took a few hits without much care, but suddenly reversed the flow and battered Sheik. When Sheik fell, Bolt struck him with a thunderbolt.
"No!" Peach cried weakly. "Stop!" Bolt tossed the defeated Sheik away and began to approach her.
"I'm sorry about what happened to you," he said. "But better you than the ones I care about."
"Picking on women, eh Bolt?" a voice said tauntingly. "I'd expected better from you."
"Stay out of this," Bolt said irritably. "This doesn't concern you."
"That voice," Peach said, looking for the source. "It sounds so familiar."
"Down here, Princess," the voice said. She looked down and saw a small figure, barely a foot tall, standing next to one of the Yoshis. He had light skin, a petite, almost doll-like body, a small red cape, and a round head with a green stalk that looked like a blade coming out of his forehead and arching upwards. His features were very simplistic. He had no mouth, but his eyes were arched and fierce. He stood as if he was looking down on his opponent, despite the severe height difference.
"Jinx?" Peach said, surprised to see him in such a distant area.
"So, what'll it be, Bolt?" Jinx asked.
"I have bigger priorities," Bolt said, charging an electrical fireball. In a blur that left after images, Jinx dashed to Bolt and knocked him away with an open palm. Bolt was sent a short distance, but grounded himself and charged forward.
"I see you've improved," Jinx said. "Vigor up!" he called out, powering up with a red light around him. He blocked Bolt's kick, blurred behind him, and punched him in the back.
"Ugh!" Bolt grunted, being sent tumbling. Sheik and Peach watched in awe as an attack finally seemed to hurt him. He got up and leapt away as Jinx attempted a second attack. "You were a good teacher," he said, lobbing an electrical fireball. Jinx was hit, but took it well and continued to attack Bolt. Jinx was getting in most of the hits, but Bolt kept getting up from all of them. Most of Bolt's attacks were too slow to hit the amazingly fast Jinx.
While they fought, Peach moved to Sheik and attempted to heal him. Unfortunately, she was out of energy.
"Who is that little warrior?" Sheik asked, sitting up
"That's Jinx," Peach replied. "He's a martial arts master on the same level as…the Master, maybe higher. I've fought him before and he's tough to beat, but he's one of the good guys."
"They seem evenly matched," Sheik commented, watching Jinx knock Bolt into a small boulder. "But reinforcements will be on the way."
"Just wait a little longer," Jinx said to them before continuing the fight. Bolt picked up the boulder and lobbed it at Jinx, who smashed it to pieces and zipped in front of Bolt. He sent a flurry of impossibly fast punches into Bolt's body, uppercut him, and finally slammed him back down. Then, he picked up Bolt by his legs and began to swing him around before finally tossing him away. Bolt stopped himself with a blast of electrical energy and landed safely.
He revealed a red ball of energy and whispered, "Willy Wisp." As soon as the ball went into the ground, Jinx tackled him to the ground and, standing on Bolt's chest, began to pummel him in the face. Bolt electrified himself to knock Jinx off, and then rolled himself away.
As soon as Jinx touched the ground, the blue particles rose out of the ground and surrounded him. He was trapped within them, but remained calm. He powered himself up in a blue light, calling out, "Valor up!" The red ball of energy seared through him, but he was still okay.
"As much as I'd like to continue this fight," Jinx said, stepping back. "It's time for us to leave." A shadow passed over them in the air. They looked up and saw a small flying saucer.
"You're not going anywhere," Bolt said, charging an electrical attack. "Electrosho…Ah!" Somehow, the blazingly fast Jinx had gotten behind him and sent a devastating punch into his back. Bolt fell to his knees, breathing hard and angrily.
"You forgot about my Silver Bullet," Jinx said, facing the other way with his fist still outstretched. "I'm surprised that didn't knock you out." He calmly walked to Peach and Sheik and stood there, watching Bolt's eyes angrily watch them escape.
The shadow of the aircraft moved over the trio and they were raised into the saucer by its tractor beam. As soon as they disappeared into its hull, the craft zoomed away and out to sea.
"Any serious injuries?" Jinx asked the two as they stood in the relatively empty control room of the ship.
"Just my pride," Sheik winced. "Maybe a broken rib or two."
"I'm exhausted," Peach said, falling into a sitting position.
"Here, take these," Jinx said, handing them some Mid-Mushrooms. "They should get you back on your feet." Sheik chose to change into Zelda instead of moving his cloth to eat.
"Thank you," Peach said, feeling somewhat recharged from the first bite. "How did you find us anyway?"
"I didn't," Jinx said. "It was a group effort."
"Who helped you?" Zelda asked.
Before there was an answer, the saucer came to a stop and beamed them down onto a naval flagship. It was large, had white and blue paint, and had several smokestacks along the middle. The main deck was made of wood paneling and there were several mounted cannons and guns along the sides. There were sailors everywhere, all of various races that were only slightly different from the usual Mushroom Kingdom variety. A fleet of smaller, but similar ships surrounded the ship itself.
"This seems so familiar," Peach said, looking around.
"It should," Jinx said, pointing at a door a short distance down the deck as he walked away. There stood a woman who looked extremely similar to Peach. Her cheeks were rounder, her chestnut-colored hair was slightly shorter, her crown was crimson, and her skin was tanned. She wore orange short shorts, a sleeveless yellow shirt with a flower brooch, and matching flower earrings.
"Hey, Peach!" she said, running to her. She caught Peach in a tight hug and lifted her up slightly. "I'm so glad to see you safe!"
"Um, excuse me," Zelda said.
"Hi, I'm Daisy!" she said instantly, shaking her hand.
"She's the Princess of Sarasaland," Peach explained, amused at how annoyed Zelda already was with the outgoing princess.
"I see," Zelda said, removing her hand from her grasp. "So, are you the one who owns all of these machines?"
"Yep," Daisy nodded, smiling. "One flagship, four carriers, ten cruisers, twenty destroyers, fifteen bomber saucers, and thirty fighter jets."
"Daisy," Peach said, somewhat mystified. "When did you get such a strong military?"
"A little while after Mario saved me from Tatanga, like, years ago," she replied. "No trouble since."
"Why didn't I ever notice that you had anything like this?"
"Because you totally never visit," Daisy said matter-of-factly. "I always come to your kingdom for, like, the tournaments, grand prix, parties, and stuff. Not that I blame you, what with Bowser attacking you, like, every five minutes…"
"Jinx said that it was a group effort to find us," Zelda said, returning to the original subject.
"Well," Daisy began, taking a deep breath, "Luigi called me in Chai and told me that Bowser had an army that was going to attack your kingdom after he tried to kill you, so I sent some units to investigate, but they didn't find you or any toads, just Bowser's army, so they went looking everywhere for you until they ran into this doll guy named Geno on an island, and he said to recruit Jinx from Monstro Town while Geno was escorted to Star Hill to contact his 'superiors.' Caught all that?"
"I think," Peach said unsurely.
"But…" Zelda began, but was interrupted by Daisy.
"I almost forgot! Geno said your plane was going to Delfino Isle so I called up my cruise line managers, who said the island was being shielded by the Shine Sprites and something evil had taken over the area around the island. Then, Syrup told us what was going on, so I took a fleet down there and stuff. We got into a fight with Bowser's navy until they retreated. Then, two of Bowser's kids, Hip and Hop, told us that you were near the Forest of Illusion in Dinosaur Land, so we moved the fleet there and sent Jinx in. Whew!"
"Where is Luigi now?" Peach asked.
"In Chai, safe and sound," Daisy smiled. "I think he only got there a day or two ago. He was looking for Mario and you for a long time."
"Did he find Mario?" Peach asked hopefully.
"Sorry, Peach," Daisy said regretfully. "We haven't heard anything from Mario at all…I miss him, too."
Suddenly, they heard an explosion out in the distance. One of the destroyer ships had been hit. More explosions followed all around them. They were surrounded by Bowser's ships, on and underwater.
"Princess!" one of the Goomba-like Chichibos called as all the sailors reported to battle stations. "They've got us surrounded on all sides. Please, move to your safe quarters."
"They're after you two," Daisy said, looking at Sheik and Peach.
"Will everything be okay?" Peach asked.
"Don't sweat it, girl," Daisy grinned confidently. "We beat 'em once, so we can beat 'em again! But just one question…Who's this person? Luigi said something about a Supreme Commander or a princess from another world…She looks kinda familiar…really familiar, actually."
"I am Princess Zelda," she replied.
"What's with the tacky dress? And speaking of tacky, what's with the maid outfit, Peach?"
"That's not important now," Zelda said irritably. "Shouldn't we be getting to safety?" The explosions were indeed getting closer and a Doomship could be seen entering the sky above the battlefield.
"Actually," Daisy said, "I thought we should just get out of here and head back to Sarasaland. Luigi said you were stranded here, so our scientists started modifying a long range teleporter that can get you back to wherever you're from. The sooner you get to them and help them locate the place, the sooner we can get you home."
"As things stand," Zelda said, seeing a plume of water blast into the air nearby, "I don't think you can move this ship, let alone an entire fleet, out of this area so quickly."
"I wasn't planning to," Daisy said, picking up one of the ship's phones. "Ready my personal craft, please."