Chapter Two: A Young Heroine

Meanwhile, back up in the plane, the pilot had spotted the two missles on radar and was ordering the passengers to remain seated with their seatbelts fastened while he prepared to evade the missles.

"Oh my God!" Peach gasped, "Why would they be firing at us? Didn't they give us permission to land?"

"I think we're all just as confused as you are," Daisy said.

Suddenly they heard a whooshing noise accompanied by laser fire and two explosions outside the plane. Everyone looked out of the windows to see what had happened. A plane that looked like a cross between an F-16 and an Arwing had just destroyed both missles and was now escorting their plane to the runway. After both planes had landed, the passengers got out of the plane to see who had just saved their lives. The pilot of the fighter plane jumped out of the cockpit and went to go greet them.

As the pilot approached, they were surprised at how young she looked. She couldn't have been much older than 17. They were also surprised at how short she was (she wasn't much taller than Mario), and that she wasn't wearing a flight suit. In fact, her clothes were pretty casual, yet still looked like a uniform. She wore blue pants with a matching vest, and a green t-shirt under the vest. The only piece of pilot gear she wore was a helmet with a visor. She lifted the visor and removed her helmet to reveal her very short and wavy brown hair and blue eyes.

"Are y'all ok?" she asked once she had made it over there.

"Yeah, I think so," Mario replied, "Who are you?"

"Call me K-Star," she said, "Everyone else does... Unless they're trying to be formal with me and now's not really the time for formalities. No need for y'all to tell me who you are," she added, "I already know. Y'all are quite famous over here."

"Really?" Luigi asked.

"Yep," K-Star replied, "Anytime Peach or Daisy gets kidnapped it's front page news over here."

"Oh," Peach sighed, "Is it because it happens so often that it's getting ridiculous?"

"Not really," K-Star laughed, "It's mostly because of your position of power in your country. Though in a way it's also because it's happened a little too often. We're starting to get tired of hearing about it. In fact, we were planning on sending some soldiers over there if it happened again, so Bowser would be gone for good."

"Hey!" Mario snapped, "I'm diong my best!"

"And I'm doing my best, too!" Luigi added.

"I know, and you're both doing a fine job," K-Star explained, "It's just... you think Bowser would've learned his lesson by now after all the times y'all have kicked his butt!"

"Let's hope he has," Toadsworth replied, "I was worrying about what might happen if he followed us here."

"Don't worry," K-Star said, smiling, "Security's going to be tightened a little while y'all are here, just in case he does try to come on this island. If he shows up, we'll take care of him. Anyway, I'm supposed to be your escort and guide around here. I was waiting for y'all here but y'all were taking so long... I decided to go fly for a little bit... And I guess it's a good thing i was up there or y'all would be sleepin' with the fishes right now."

"Yeah, thanks for that," Peach said, "Why did you guys shoot at us, anyway? I thought we had been given permission to land!"

"That would be this idiot's fault," the commander said, pushing the trainee in front of him towards the group. They had just approached the group and the young trainee (who looked much younger than K-Star) was terrified.

"Greg!" K-Star exclaimed, addressing the trainee, "I thought you said you were going to try harder to pay attention!"

"Sorry, K-Star," Greg apologized, "I'll try harder next time..."

"There won't BE a next time!" the commander barked, "You really blew it THIS time!"

"Sorry, Greg," K-Star said, "But he's right. You're going to have to explain yourself to the King this time, and you'll probably have to go back to training."

"Can't you deal with it?" Greg pleaded, "Can't you go easy on me?"

"Sending you back to training is pretty much the easiest we can go on you for something this serious. You almost killed two well-known political figures!" K-Star explained, "Come with me, I'm supposed to take these guys to see the King anyway."

"Ok," Greg sighed. He turned to face Peach and Daisy. "Sorry I almost killed you guys," he apologized.

Peach, being the kind and forgiving person she is, smiled and said, "Apology accepted." Daisy smiled too. Greg was, after all, just a cute little kid with severe ADD, and it was hard for anyone to yell at him (except for the commander).

"That was very nice of you, Greg," K-Star said, "but we really need to go now. We're about 30 minutes late." She turned to the rest of the group. "I hope y'all are up for a nice hike," she said, "'cuz we're gonna be walking to the castle."

"Yay! I finally get to stretch my legs after that long trip!" Yoshi exclaimed, bursting with energy. "If anyone gets tired on the hike, I'll carry them!" he said to the group.

"That's ok, Yoshi," Mario said. "I think we're all ok, right guys?" he asked his friends. They all nodded in agreement.

"Great!" K-Star said, "Well, just follow me, the castle isn't really that far anyway, maybe about fifteen minutes." She calculated the time it would take to get there in her head, and added that to the amount of time they were already behind by. "Holy carp!" she exclaimed, "That means we'll be almost an hour late! Perhaps it would be better if we drove... Hey, Kalahan?" she asked, addressing the commander, "Do y'all have a spare Jeep we can use?"

"Yes, ma'am, we do," the commander replied, "It's parked over there." He pointed to a large, army green Jeep parked in front of an open hangar. It had no roof or windows and could seat everyone in the group.

"That'll work," K-Star said, "Let's get going then!" Everyone followed her over to the Jeep. K-Star got in the driver's seat and Greg sat up front next to her. Mario and Peach sat in the middle row and Luigi, Daisy, and Toadsworth sat in the very back. Yoshi (who was feeling very energetic and hyper at the moment) chose to run alongside the Jeep instead of ride in it. They started driving along a dirt road to the castle.