Chapter 6: Race to the Plaza

Peach did not know what to do. All she knew was that she needed to get back to the mainland as soon as possible to report what had happened, and that nobody at Pinna Park was helping her at all. "I'm going back to shore to see if Luigi and Nino had done anything," Peach said angrily, and she quickly walked out of the park and ignored the Noki that asked her if she had enjoyed herself. When she arrived at the crash site, she didn't even need to ask the either of them if they had made any progress; it was clear that they hadn't.

"Sorry Princess," said Nino, clearly sorry that there was nothing he could do. "I just never got taught how to fix these things. It's never really been a problem…"

"This is just great! What are we supposed to do? Daisy is dead and it is clear that there are definitely some weird things going on on this island. We have to find a way back to the Plaza, I don't care what it takes!"

"Uh, Princess"- Luigi started, but was interrupted by Peach's emotional speech.

"Daisy is my friend, and people need to know what has happened to her! And what about Mario, we have to find out if he is ok! He could be in trouble. We HAVE to get out of here NOW!" She finished her speech and began to breath hard due to the fact that she was out of breath.

"Peach, look!" Luigi shouted, making sure that the princess didn't interrupt him this time, "It's one of those things Mario rode on last time you were here, he told me about them and even took some pictures!"

"Huh?" Peach replied, confused at what Luigi was talking about. He pointed something out that wasn't to far away from them, and when Nino returned, he had a happy expression on his face and it was clear that Luigi was right.

"It's a Gloober Jet!" exclaimed Nino, "We can definitely ride this in to town!"

This news made Peach incredibly happy, and she jumped up with joy and hugged both of them with a smile on her face. "Well what are we waiting for, let's go!"

"But what about the others?" Luigi asked her, "We can't leave them behind; they'll wonder where we've all gone to!" Peach though about it for a moment, but then came up with a conclusion.

"W can ride back to the Plaza, inform the police of what happened, and then tell them to send a boat over here to pick them up," Peach stated. Luigi and Nino both approved, and without wasting another minute, all three of them jumped on Blooper Jet (a little uncomfortably because they were only meant to hold one person not three) and began to ride towards the island.

Although Peach was not completely happy, she couldn't help but smile. This is what she really wanted to do on her vacation, have fun with friends and doing things she had never done before, like this. Her smile quickly vanished, however, for she saw something in the water that made her scream.

"A SHARK! A SHARK!" she screamed loudly, "Nino, go faster, it's catching up on us! This can't be happening, not again…" She began to think about Daisy, the Pianta boat driver, and even II Paintissimo, who had all been eaten by a great white shark, and she was hoping that she would not end up like them.

"Everybody hold on!" shouted Nino, and he began to go even faster on the Blooper Jet, and Peach thought that his skills on this were much better than his skills on a boat.

While they were getting closer to the Plaza docks, the shark was getting even closer to them. Every breath Peach took she thought would be her last, and just as the shark jumped out of the water to try and take a bite at them, the Blooper Jet flew into the air, and Nino made it land perfectly on the streets of Delfino Plaze.

"Thank God," Luigi said, his heart clearly beating ten times faster than usual, "I thought we were going to be eaten for sure! Good job Nino!"

Peach was not listening to Luigi. When the shark jumped out of the water, she, being the only one looking at him, noticed something very strange. The shark didn't seem to look real in the moment she had to look at it close up. It looked mechanical, as if somebody had built it and let it loose in the water…

"What's the matter, Princess?" Nino asked her curiously. "Is something wrong?"

"No, no," Peach replied, taking her mind off of what she had seen, "I'm just glad we're alright, it was a pretty close call! Thank you, Nino. We wouldn't have made it if it wasn't for you.

"Oh, it was no problem," Nino said proudly, "I'm glad I could help. We better get going; we have to report to the police right away!" All three of them practically sprinted to the other side of the island, and when they reached the guards, they were nearly out of breath.

"Is there a problem, Miss?" One of the Officers asked, "You look like you've been running quite a bit, eh?" Peach nearly collapsed on top of the officer, and he looked at her like she was some sort of alien.

"Officer, you've got to help us! Our friend has been killed, and I think I found out something about the sharks that have been around the island. Please, can we go sit down somewhere?"

The officer suddenly looked shocked. "Somebody killed? What about the sharks? Sit down? Yes, yes, right this way!" They followed the two officers into what seemed to be their office, a dark room where it was very hard to see each other.

"What have you found out about these sharks, Miss?" The one officer questioned. "And what happened to your dear friend?"

"Well," Peach began, "Our friends was eaten by a shark, but on our way back from Pinna Park, I noticed something strange about one of the sharks. It looked like it was mechanical!"

Everyone in the room looked at her curiously, especially Nino and Luigi, for they had clearly not seen what she had. The officer that had been silent up to now laughed at her like it was some kind of joke.

"Mechanical, you say?" he asked, clearly amused by her story. "Why would anybody want to put fake sharks around our island? And what proof do you have of this?"

"I don't have any proof," Peach replied angrily, "But I know what I saw. I think someone is up to something!" Peach could tell that the officers did not believe her at all.

"Many people have now been eaten by these sharks, one of them being your friend, and you think that they're mechanical? I'm sorry but you're story is just absurd. I am sorry for your loss, but I think it is time for you to go. Have a nice stay here at Isle Delfino."

Peach was outraged. "You've got to believe us! I swear I'm telling the truth, why would I make this up? I"-

But at that moment, I loud, distant explosion could be heard throughout the office and the entire room was shaking uncontrollably. When everything returned to normal, all five of them ran outside to see what had happened.

"What the heck was that?" one of the officers asked, a little shaken up from what just happened.

Peach looked around but could not see the place from where the explosion came from. However, she heard many people screaming from the other side of the island, and she led the way down the streets to where they had left the Blooper Jet. When they arrived, it was clear what had happened and why everyone was screaming.

"My god…" Luigi gasped.

"Good lord…" Nino shrieked.

The explosion had come from Pinna Park, and the one thing that everybody was looking at was the enormous ball of smoke that could have only come from a bomb. Pinna Park was under attack.