Disclaimer: I'm really sick of these things, but just so I don't get sued…I don't own any of Nintendo's awesome characters. Okay? Okay.
Chapter 3
The remainder of the day passed by fairly quickly, and soon it was time for Daisy to return home. After Daisy's carriage was completely out of sight, Peach quietly departed to her room, where she spent the next couple of hours testing out some fighting moves. It felt a little awkward at first, punching at nothing but air and almost falling over when trying to perform a decent kick. But it didn't take very long to adapt and she was soon pulling off maneuvers that were performed so gracefully it was as if she had been doing it for years. She was soon adding sound effects, yelling triumphantly as her limbs flew swiftly in all directions. With each thrust of her arm or kick of her foot, she was feeling more and more confident in herself. The kind of confidence she had always strived for, but could never achieve until this moment.
"I can see it now," Peach said excitedly, bringing her hands up and gliding them apart as if her movements would bring forth a dazzling marquee adorned with bright flashing lights. "Princess Peach Toadstool, Superstar!" She smiled to herself, briefly imagining the captivating thought of her name in lights. But not just any lights. Lights that stood for her accomplishments instead of her inborn fame.
A few more moves, and she was forced to relax. The constant punching and kicking she was not accustomed to doing had taken quite a toll on her delicate body, and she needed a little time to rest and rejuvenate her strength. She slowly limped over to her bed and collapsed, her heart fluttering madly and her chest violently heaving up and down as her lungs screamed for fresh air.
After her breathing had slowed and her heartbeat had attained a reasonable consistency, Peach sat up and wiped a gloved hand across her forehead. But she quickly pulled away when she felt the extreme dampness and looked down to find that the palm was completely soaked in her perspiration.
Peach frowned and immediately removed the glove from her hand. Her urge to fight may have been burning intensely for many years, but she still wasn't used to sweating so profusely. The thought of herself in those conditions were still foreign and repulsive.
Unfortunately, her forehead wasn't the only thing drenched in her sweat. As she became more aware of the sensations around her, she realized that much of her body was covered in a thin layer of the disgusting moisture. Her dress was sticking uncomfortably to her skin, along with her hair and other glove.
She began to rid herself of these burdens, first by removing the other glove and kicking off her shoes, which she had just realized were making her feet feel as if they had been placed upon burning hot coals. A quick check to make sure the door was securely locked, and she unzipped her dress. As she released her hands she allowed it to fall limply to the floor, now nothing but a disorganized mass of fabric.
When she approached her make-up table, where she placed her crown whenever it wasn't on her head, she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror. But the individual who stared back was not the person she remembered herself to be. Aside from looking more confident, this Peach's face was bright red, a clear indication of how hard she had actually been working. Peach frowned once again at the sight of the warm liquid glistening on every inch of her face, not to mention all over the rest of her body as well, which could now be seen since she was wearing nothing more than her modest undergarments.
"How could I possibly have gotten this sweaty and nasty?" Peach asked her reflection. "I wasn't even practicing for that long."
It was true that she hadn't been in her room air-punching and air-kicking for very long, but there were a few very crucial factors that she had so quickly overlooked. First of all, she was inside an enclosed space with the door locked and the windows shut, which provided poor circulation of cool air and excellent entrapment of heat. She had also been wearing a dress perfectly fitted to her form, complete with plenty of ruffles and fabric, making for a toasty outfit in such a warm environment. The gloves or shoes didn't help much either; andsuch long hair, no matter how elegant, was never a good method for keeping cool, especially when worn loose.
Still frowning, Peach shook her head to try and clear it at least a bit. She then turned and looked over her left shoulder and her smile returned. She was looking to her bathroom, where the promise of a cool shower awaited her.
"Ah." Peach let of a quiet, calming sigh after stepping out of the shower, dressed in her fuzzy pink bathrobe. She was feeling quite content after ridding herself from the uncomfortable situation she had been in only moments before. But her stressors had been washed away by the gentle, refreshing waters of her shower, and the whole ordeal was now back in the corner of her mind, ready to be forgotten.
As she sat at her make-up table, her comb slowly making its way through her damp locks, her eyes couldn't help but stray to the tiny clock in the corner of the room. It was about 7:45, which came as a great surprise. She hadn't thought that she had been in her room that long. She would have normally just dismissed the time and continued combing her hair, but she just couldn't help pondering if she had spent so much time practice fighting, or taking the shower.
She was finally able to release the thought from her mind because she knew she couldn't have figured out the answer no matter how long or hard she tried. Now, she was more intrigued with the whereabouts of Mario and Luigi. For the past hour or so, she had the feeling that she needed to test her confidence on a completely new level. And Mario and Luigi would surely be most helpful in achieving this goal. If only she knew where they were.
After her hair was completely dried and had once again attained its usual bounce and healthy shine, she slipped on a fresh clean dress and made her way downstairs. But she wasn't even halfway down the grand staircase when she began to hear a multitude of voices in a variety of volumes coming from the great hall. Peaked with curiosity as to what was causing such a commotion, she quietly crept down the rest of the stairs and peered into the boisterous chamber.
There had to have been at least fifty servants, all standing in a tightly packed circle. Every mushroom was obviously caught in the heat of the moment, with little arms flailing, legs jumping up and down, and voices screaming. There didn't appear to be any method to their madness until Peach poked her head a little farther into the room and found the source of the pandemonium.
Right in the middle of the mushroom circle was none other than the Mario brothers. The sight wouldn't have been so perplexing, except they seemed to be in the midst of a heated brawl. Each were throwing swift punches and powerful kicks while the other one jumped and swayed to dodge each attack. The two looked very evenly matched, each able to land only a sparse amount of hits on the other. Everyone was still completely absorbed in the match when Peach decided to fully step into the room.
The first to notice her presence was a servant that was facing in her direction. He immediately stopped his erratic jumping and stood still as a statue. His eyes went wide and without breaking his gaze with the unexpected guest, stuck out his elbow and jabbed the servant next to him. When that servant realized what was going on, he got the attention of the one next to him, setting off a chain reaction that spread across the room like wildfire. Suddenly, the entire room was filled with an eerie silence with all eyes on Peach.
It took Mario and Luigi a few seconds to break away from the trance of their fight and actually become aware of what was going on. They stared sheepishly up in her direction, knowing that they wouldn't be able to pin the blame on anyone else. It was clearly them, and only them, who had been fighting.
"Heya, Princess!" said Mario cheerfully, hoping to lighten the mood. "Good to see you!"
Peach didn't respond. She simply folded her arms and raised her eyebrows into an undecipherable expression that suddenly made everyone a bit edgy. In fact, the entire mass of servants had already fled the room, leaving only the princess and the embarrassed plumbers.
"We're really sorry, Princess," Luigi apologized, his cheeks becoming red with embarrassment. "But we got back from the Dojo and some of the mushrooms asked us to show them some of our moves and then it started getting really exciting and-"
"It's okay," Peach said finally, halting Luigi's rambling explanation. "I'm not angry. I just wanted to see what was going on down here."
"We were just showing off," said Mario in a much calmer tone than Luigi had been able to use. "We didn't break anything or anything like that."
"Okay," said Peach, obviously not giving very much thought to what either brother was saying until she made her point. "Actually, I was hoping to find you here."
"Really?" They said, both slightly confused as to why she would be looking for them for no apparent reason.
"Yeah. And as a matter of fact, it actually pertains to what you were doing."
"Fighting?" Luigi asked. She was leading them deeper and deeper into confusion and she couldn't help but find it amusing.
"Well, you know the big annual Smash Brothers tournament that's having try-outs in two weeks?"
Two slow and solemn, but confused nods.
"Well, I was thinking of trying out this year."
The eerie silence returned as Mario and Luigi stood there dumbfounded, their mouths gaping open like their jaws were broken. Once again, the imminent sign of disapproval was being waved in front of her face. But this time, she would let nothing deter her from reaching her goal.
"Oh come on!" She fumed, not realizing how angry she sounded. "What makes you think I can't fight just as good as anyone else?"
"But Peach," Mario managed to say in hopes that a response would suppress her sudden burst of anger. "Y-you can't be a fighter. Why would you even want to be?"
"And why not?" She was trying to keep her rage under control, but her cheeks were burning and she was afraid she might burst if she held it in any longer. "I want to fight just like you get to do."
"But... but…" Mario sputtered, trying to find the right words to say, for fear that uttering the wrong ones might get a result he would rather not deal with. "You're just not cut out to be a fighter. Not everyone is. You don't have to fight."
"I know you think I can't do it," said Peach, "But I can." Suddenly, she raised her arms and put herself into the assumed stance of a fighter. "I'll just have to prove it to you then."
Mario didn't move. "Come on, Peach," he said calmly, "I don't want to fight you."
"I don't care. I want to show you that I'm good for something."
"You don't have to prove anything," he was beginning to get a little nervous and a small bead of sweat ran down his cheek. "Come on, knock it off."
Peach scowled and without any indication, swung her foot like she had practiced straight at Mario's chest. He instantly lifted his hand and stopped her attack in midair.
Peach's mouth dropped open as she gaped at her small foot in the middle of Mario's palm. He released her foot, but the instant it contacted with the floor, Peach's shocked subsided and she attempted to deliver a hard slap to Mario's face. Once again, he seemed to know what move she would make before it was executed and her wrist ended up trapped in Mario's hand. This time, however, he didn't intend on being quite as gentle as before. He wrapped his fingers tightly around her delicate wrist and pulled her arm behind her back. A small cry escaped Peach's throat as an unexpected acute pain shot up through her momentarily seized limb. She fiercely fought for freedom, but it was no use. Mario was too strong.
"Now will you please stop?" he asked sincerely, fearing that one wrong move might break her arm.
Peach nodded, tears springing to her eyes. "Yes," she squeaked softly, half out of pain and half from disappointment in herself.
Mario promptly released her and she silently stood there, blinking back tears as she rubbed the wrist Mario had been squeezing.
"Peach, I'm really sorry," Mario said worriedly. He wished he had had other options to stop Peach from fighting him, but he didn't know what else he could have done. And now he was afraid that he hadn't been as gentle as he should have been with the delicate princess and had broken her wrist. "I didn't hurt you, did I?" He hadn't ever used force against a woman before, let alone a fragile princess like Peach. He had spent so many years protecting her and didn't know what he would do with himself if he had allowed any harm to come to her at his hands.
Peach shook her head, still trying to evaporate her tears before either of them noticed. "I'm sorry that I bothered you," she said in a quiet, emotionless tone.
There was a few seconds of silence before Mario responded. "Just promise me that you won't try to fight anymore."
"Okay," she agreed, her voice now sounding a little more hurt. "I shouldn't have been so foolish as to think I stood a chance against you anyway."
"Hey, come on," Mario said, placing his arm around her shoulder in an effort to console her. "You're just not cut out for this sort of thing. That's okay. Besides, you don't need to fight anyway."
Peach wanted to protest, but didn't see what the use of arguing would do, so she simply nodded instead. "I'm just going to go to my room and forget I ever wanted to fight."
She turned to leave, but when she was a few steps away, her persistence returned and anticipation burned in her eyes. When she was certain no one would hear, she mumbled under her breath, "If they think I'm going to give up just because I couldn't fight an expert, they were very, very wrong!"
A/N: Well, that was much longer than the last chappie, and hopefully a lot more interesting too. Let me know what you think!