Peach was lying motionless on the bed. Her crown was on the table next to the bed and her forehead was bandaged. She had a cast on her right arm and a cast on her left leg. Besides Luigi, she seemed to have taken the most damage in the accident. "Oh dear!" Toadsworth gasped. He turned to Dr. Pianta. "Is she going to be all right?" he asked with a tone of panic in his voice.

"She should be fine," Dr. Pianta replied, "but it's going to be very difficult for her to get around for a while. We won't know the extent of the damage until she wakes up and lets us know how she's feeling."

"Can you tell me exactly what happened?" Toadsworth asked.

"Well, the paramedics said that she was found about ten feet away from where the kart had landed," Dr. Pianta explained, "in the middle of the road, too. She was almost hit by a bus after she landed, but he stopped in time. Saw the blast and hit the brakes hard… he almost caused another accident with that abrupt stop." The doctor shook his head. "Hey wait," he said, remembering something, "Doesn't she have the ability to float in the air for a short time? The Royal Family of the Mushroom Kingdom is famous for having that ability! Couldn't she have floated to safety?"

"She can only float if she concentrates," Toadsworth replied, "And I'm pretty sure she panicked too much during the explosion to really focus on anything."

At this moment, Mario came limping in through the curtains (hey, it's hard to walk with a cast on your leg! I think… I've never broken my leg before so I wouldn't know). Dr. Pianta and Toadsworth were surprised. "Master Mario!" Toadsworth exclaimed, "You shouldn't be up and about in your condition! You need rest!"

"I feel fine," Mario said, "I just needed to see if Peach was ok. Besides, you're not a doctor, Toadsworth. I don't see how you can tell me whether I'm ok or not."

"Yeah, but I am," said Dr. Pianta, "And I agree with him. You really should be in bed."

"I feel fine, Doc!" Mario exclaimed, "Really!"

"Are you sure?" Dr. Pianta asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Positive," Mario replied, "And if you're really that worried, I'll sit down here. I just want to be with Peach and make sure she's ok."

"All right then," Dr. Pianta sighed, "You can sit here and wait for her to wake up. Just stay seated," he stressed, "You really shouldn't be up and about after suffering a concussion! I'll go get some crutches for you so you can go back to bed after she wakes up. You don't need to be hopping around everywhere on one leg; you could lose your balance and hit your head again."

"Thanks, Doc!" Mario said. Toadsworth helped him over to the chair next to Peach's bed. Mario sat down and Dr. Pianta left to get him some crutches. Mario held Peach's hand as she lay there, still not moving. "Come on, Peach," he whispered, "Please wake up. Please show us you're ok…"

HAHA! ANOTHER CLIFFHANGER! Stay tuned for Part 3: Peach's Recovery! I'm about to start writing it! Sorry for this part being so much shorter than the first one...