Chapter 8: Reunion and Partings

"We have to get off the island!" shouted Luigi, still in shock from what he was looking at. "We have to try and get to Pinna Park! Toadsworth and the others may need help!"

"Don't worry," replied one of the Pianta officers, "We've already sent boats over to the park to retrieve everyone. There's nothing to worry about.

Peach couldn't help but feel angry towards the police officers. How could they say there was nothing to worry about when they were clearly being attacked by someone? Before she realized it she was screaming at the officer in the angriest tone she had ever used.

"Nothing to worry about, sir?" she screamed. "How can you say that? You and your people are clearly in trouble, and you wouldn't even listen to me when I told you something was going on! Well, I think it's pretty obvious now that I was right. We have to get over to that island and search for clues NOW!"

The officers looked at her strangely as if there was something ugly attached to her face, but then they smiled happily and spoke to her in a very gentle tone.

"Princess, I think that you're a little tired. You haven't slept at all since you've gotten here. Why don't you head back to your beach house, and we'll send your friends over when they return, ok?

Peach was so angry that the natives were doing nothing to help her, but also realized that there was nothing she could do that would make them change their mind.

"Princess, I still think we should all just go home!" Luigi interrupted. "There's just too many weird things going on here, this vacation just isn't going right!"

"Why would you want to do a thing like that?" replied the officer. "Isle Delfino is a beautiful place, stay and enjoy yourselves! Things may look bad now, but they'll probably get a lot better!"

"Luigi, Nino," Peach said angrily, annoyed by the lack of help the officers were giving them, "Let's get out of here."

She led the way towards the docks so they could get on a boat to the park, but she remembered that there weren't any boats going there because they had crashed the only one. "What are we supposed to do?" she asked her two friends.

"We might as well go back to your house, Peach," replied Nino, "There's nothing else we can do; we should just wait until Mario gets back from Bianco Hills. Hopefully He's ok…" Although Peach didn't like the sound of sitting around doing nothing, she realized that there was nothing else they could do.

"Fine, let's get out of"-

"Peach!" shouted a voice far away from Peach. The voice had come from a distance, but Peach knew right away who it was. Mario and the rest had returned from Bianco Hills.

"Mario!" Peach replied just as loudly, and she could soon see Mario coming out of the Jungle and into the streets of the Plaza. He brushed himself off and walked towards her, followed by Yoshi, Toadette, the Zoshis, and the large but still unconscious Petey Piranha. "Mario, what's going on? Who are these creatures? What happened at Bianco Hills? Where's Tina?"

Mario told Peach everything that had happened while they were away, and Peach was shocked to hear that his adventure was just as dramatic and terrible as hers. "Mario, Tina's gone? That's terrible! I wish I could say things were better for us, but it definitely isn't. Daisy was killed, we were almost eaten by a shark, and Toad, Toadsworth and Pablo were all on Pinna Park when it was attacked!"

"What!" shouted Toadette in surprise. "Daisy's dead? And you don't know what happened to the others? Mario, there's way too many strange things happening on this island." Mario and the rest of the gang all agreed with her.

"Mario, we have to get Petey to the police!" said Zoshi, looking at the monster as if he could wake up at any moment. We have to hurry!

"Alright," replied Mario, knowing that Petey would wake up soon, "The Zoshis and I will take Petey to the police station, and the rest of you can meet us at the docks. We might as well head back to Gelato Beach, there's nothing else we can do." And so the group split up, Peach, Yoshi, Luigi, Toadette and Nino going to the docks while Mario and the Zoshis took Petey to the station.

"The way the police are acting," Peach began, "They might not even take Petey!"

"He's a wanted criminal, Peach," replied Nino, "They'd get in huge trouble if they didn't arrest him and put him in jail. I'm sure there's nothing to worry about."

Nino was right. Peach and the rest were only waiting at the dock for ten minutes when Mario and the Zoshis returned without Petey Piranha. "Well, at least he's finally locked up," said Mario, "The construction workers can start working on our house again! Well, after we figure out what's going on".

Everyone jumped on the boat and within twenty minutes they had arrived on Gelato Beach. "Ah, the peacefulness," Toadette said smiling. "Wait, what am I saying! There's just so much chaos, it's hard to believe anything is ever going to be peaceful here again! I really hope Toad is ok…"

"Mario smiled and the replied "Don't worry, Toadette, I'm sure Toad's fine. They'll bring him back on one of the boats in no time. Well here we are, back at the home!" Mario led everyone up to the front door, but suddenly stopped right at the entrance. He noticed there was a note on the front door.

"Mario, what does it say?" asked Peach. "Who's it from?"

"I don't believe it!" Mario began excitedly. "It's a note form Tina!" He began to read the letter out loud:

Dear Mario,

I hope you're all ok, I was glad to hear you were able to catch Petey Piranha! Anyway I'm sure the Zoshis have told you I've been captured, but I know exactly where they're taking me! They're stationed at the highest point of Noki Bay, and I need your help! Mario, please save me, I don't know what's going to happen to me!

From Tina Noki

P.S. Please make sure my son is ok!

Mario finished the letter and shut the door to the house. "Ok, we have to go get her! Who is coming with me?" Everyone looked at Mario surprisingly, and Peach was the first one to speak.

"Mario, it's getting late out, and it's almost dark! How do you expect to save her anyway? She could be surrounded by Piranha Plants! It's just too risky." Mario was very angry at the fact that Peach would rather sit around and do nothing than save one of his friends.

"Fine, you don't have to come. Zoshis, I'm going to need your help. Nino, you'll have to take us there by boat. I'll rent one down by the shore. We'll be back…well, I don't know when we're going to be back, but we're going to save her!" Peach thought Mario was being incredibly stupid, but really wanted to help.

"I'm coming with you, too!" She shouted, "If your going, then so am I! Let's get moving. Luigi, you watch over the house and stay with Toadette and Yoshi. Try and find out about Toadsworth and the rest. I guess we'll be back sometimes tonight, but you never know."

"We'll do our best princess!" replied Toadette, still sad about her friends at Pinna Park. "But be careful, we don't want anyone else getting hurt!"

So the group separated once again, Mario, Peach, Nino, and the Zoshis renting a boat and leaving the island, and Luigi, Yoshi, and Toadette staying at the beach house, wondering what was going to happen next.