Chapter Three: The Female General

The group arrived at the castle relatively quickly (and Yoshi didn't get tired at all on the way up). After K-Star parked the Jeep, they all walked up to the castle. They were surprised when they saw the two spear-carrying guards at the gate. They were creatures that resembled backpacks wearing brightly colored windbreakers with hoods that covered their faces, and appeared to have swim fins for feet.

(AUTHOR'S NOTE ABOUT THE APPEARANCE OF THE CREATURES: I'm sure y'all have done this before at school when you were younger. You take your backpack and your jacket (if you were wearing one that day), and you wrap the jacket around the backpack and zip it up as if the backpack was wearing the jacket. If your jacket has a hood, you put the hood up to act as the head. And voila! You have a backpack buddy! The fins I added just to make it weirder, and to give them feet.)

"What are those things?" Peach asked K-Star when they passed the guards.

"Those are Nutzonians," K-Star explained, "Aliens from the Planet Nutz. They're the dominant species on this island, believe it or not, though they kinda like to keep to themselves. They're also pretty defenseless, which is why they rely on our military for protection. King Jake is a Nutzonian, too."

They continued past the gate and into the castle grounds, then into the castle itself. They didn't have to go far before they reached the throne room and saw King Jake standing in front of his throne, waiting to greet the guests.

"Well, well! General Katina Star! How nice to see you!" the king said, approaching K-Star and the rest of the group. He looked exactly like the guards outside, only he was larger and his coat was pink. He also wore a crown on top of his hood.

Upon hearing how the king had addressed K-Star, the entire group had gasped. "Wait a sec," Daisy said, "YOU'RE the General? And you didn't tell us?"

"Your name's 'Katina?'" Yoshi asked in surprise.

"I'll discuss it with you later," K-Star muttered to the surprised guests. She turned to face the king. "It's nice to see you again as well, King Jacobululu," she said, bowing to the king.

"Why did you have to call me by my proper name?" the king muttered to K-Star, looking embarassed, "You know I prefer to be called King Jake!"

"Well why did you have to call me by MY proper name?" K-Star muttered back, "You know I hate my first name!"

"Well I figured I'd have to be formal since we have royalty from other countries present!" King Jake replied.

"Yeah, whatever, just don't call me Katina again, ok Jake?" K-Star mumbled.

"Ok, K-Star," King Jake replied.

"Do you seriously argue with your king like that regularly?" Peach asked, surprised at the nature of the argument.

"Oh yeah, all the time!" K-Star replied, "We're like best buddies, he doesn't mind, right Jake?"

"Right!" the king nodded, wrapping his arm around K-Star and pulling her close to his side in a quick, one-armed hug. "So," he said, releasing K-Star from the hug, "I see you've brought our guests here! And… Greg helped, too?"

"Actually, Greg's here for a different reason," K-Star said in a much more serious tone, "I'm sure the commander informed you already?"

"Yeah, but he didn't mention names! Is Greg seriously the one responsible for the missile?" King Jake asked.

"I'm afraid so," K-Star replied.

"Is this true, Greg?" King Jake asked the cowering trainee who was sort of hiding behind K-Star.

"Y-yes, your majesty…" Greg stammered fearfully, "I'm r-r-really sorry…"

"The commander wanted to know what you planned on doing about this," K-Star said, "since the passage of punishment is not his decision for something this serious."

"No, but it IS your responsibility, K-Star," King Jake explained, "You ARE the one in charge of our military, so it's really up to you what happens to Greg."

"Yeah, but we're very close friends," K-Star said, "Me and him and John and Cassidy were all in the same squadron at camp, it would be difficult for me to make an unbiased decision as to his punishment! That's why I wanted it to be up to you, since no one below me can make this decision and you're the only one higher than me."

"He's as much my friend as he is yours, K-Star," King Jake replied, "I would be unable to make an unbiased decision, too. Maybe you should've delegated the task to Lieutenant General Kalahan. He IS Greg's commanding officer after all, AND he's second in command of the military…"

"He'd be too hard on Greg," K-Star explained, "You should've seen how angry he was when it happened. But Greg's just a child, and he has trouble paying attention."

"Well then what do you say we do about this?" King Jake asked.

"Maybe send him back to training…" K-Star said, "We had discussed this possibility earlier."

"That could work," King Jake replied, "See, that wasn't so hard, was it?"

"Oh shut up!" K-Star giggled. She knew Jake liked to tease her like that because it frustrated her a lot. She had been getting better at taking that comment, though. "Very well. Greg, we're going to have to send you back to training camp. You'll report to the camp tomorrow at 5 a.m. and you'll be assigned to a new squadron. Any questions?"

"No ma'am," Greg sighed.

"Ok then, you're dismissed," K-Star said. With that, Greg left the castle and went home.

"So!" King Jake exclaimed once Greg had left, "To business! In case you didn't already know, I am King Jacobululu, ruler of Klopford Island, and I am very glad that you have chosen to spend your vacation on our beautiful island! I'm sure y'all have read the brochure, as it contains many facts about our island that you might care to know about, as well as a list of activities you can participate in here…"

"I think they get it, Jake," K-Star interrupted, "You're going into your 'tour guide' rant again…"

"Oh, sorry!" King Jake replied, "I got carried away. So, do y'all know where you're going to stay?"

"Actually, we haven't looked into too many hotels here," Mario said, "Because they were all either too expensive or too close to the base… We didn't want to be woken up by fighter planes all night."

"Y'all can stay at my house if you want," K-Star offered, "It's big enough to fit all of y'all comfortably, and it's not too close to the base. Besides, the hills block out a lot of the noise from the base anyway. Just enough noise so I can still hear if there's something wrong at the base, though. Besides, I'm supposed to be your guide during your vacation, anyway."

"That sounds lovely, uh, General," Peach replied, curtsying a little, "We'd be honored to stay with you."

"Please, just call me K-Star," K-Star reminded her.

"So, why didn't you tell us you're the General?" Daisy asked.

"I said I'd discuss it with y'all later…" K-Star muttered.

"Honestly, I'm a little surprised that you're the General," Peach said, "I mean, aren't you a little… young?"

"The position of General of the Military is an inherited position for the most part," K-Star explained, "Kinda like being a king or queen. My grandfather on my mom's side was the General before me, and my mother had chosen not to join the military. My uncle joined the Special Forces, but he had no children and then… he, uh, kinda can't run the military in his current state. Plus, I'm an only child. If my parents had had a son, he would've taken the position when he was ready. But they didn't. So, after I had completed training, my grandfather was fatally wounded in battle and during that particular battle I had proven that I was capable of taking his position by leading a group to eliminate the enemy unit that had shot him. So, I got promoted right after he died."

"Oh," Peach said, "Well, I'm sorry to hear about your grandfather."

"John Klopford, Jr. was the greatest General we ever had, and his father was even greater," King Jake sighed, bowing his head in respect, "This Island is named after John Klopford, Sr. because of that. And K-Star is shaping up to be almost as great as her grandfather was! She's the most talented young pilot I've ever seen, and one of the best soldiers we have! I believe you witnessed some of her fine pilot skills today firsthand, am I right?"

"Uh, yeah," Mario replied, "Thanks for saving our lives earlier."

"No problem!" K-Star said cheerfully, "I actually enjoyed doing it! I haven't seen any action since our last war, so I was afraid I'd be a little rusty. Guess I'm not after all! Perhaps I should have Greg fire missiles intentionally sometimes so I can get a little practice in… Not AT anyone, of course!" she added, seeing the worried look on everyone's face, "Besides, it would be a waste of government money to fire missiles just so I can get in some target practice!"

"I see you're becoming a little smarter, too," King Jake said, "And not as reckless!"

"Hey, I've always been smart!" K-Star snapped, "Not too sure about the reckless part, though. Clumsy, maybe, but not reckless!"

"Whatever…" King Jake sighed, not wanting to get into another argument, "So, will y'all be staying at K-Star's house?"

"We've already agreed to," Peach replied, "It would be an honor staying with such a great General."

"Ok, someone needs to remind me that I REALLY need to tell y'all why I didn't mention the fact that I'm the General earlier," K-Star mumbled.

"Why don't you just tell us now?" Luigi asked.

"Because I don't really want to tell y'all in front of Jake," K-Star muttered to the group.

"Why not?" Yoshi asked.

"I'll explain that to you later as well," K-Star replied, "So, shall we get going?"

"Ok, let's-a-go!" Mario exclaimed.

The group said goodbye to King Jake and headed to the Jeep. Since Greg wasn't riding with them, there was a little more room for Yoshi, who didn't want to jog such a long distance to K-Star's house. Everyone got into the Jeep and departed the castle, eager to see what K-Star's house was like.