Chapter 8 Unwelcome Guests

Peach drummed her fingers on the surface of the table. She squinted at the clock hanging on the other side of the inn. When she saw what time it was, she groaned; almost an hour had passed. While Peach wasn't known for being impatient (when you get kidnapped every week, you come to develop a sense of patience as you await the arrival of your rescuer), she had to admit that this was taking a while. Where were the other guests?

She turned her attention to the other people present. Solar was all smiles; smiles so bright that they strengthened the glow that the rest of his body gave off. Rosalina hummed right next to him as she fiddled with her wand. Daisy and Aqua were making faces one another, in what appeared to be an attempt to rile each other up. Peach shook her head at her sisters' buffoonery.

"Way to act like Princesses, guys."

Daisy cast her a glare. "Hey! There's no one right way to be a princess!"

"Yeah," said Aqua. She puffed out her chest in what Peach guessed was a way to make her appear more important. "We can act however we see fit."

Peach rolled her eyes and turned to Rosalina, still humming the sweet notes to her mysterious song. "At least you know how to act appropriately."

Rosalina grinned. "Oh, I don't know. I think it's okay to act silly every once in a while." She stood up and waved her wand, replacing her usual aquamarine outfit with a teal colored ringmaster's uniform. Peach's eyes grew wide as the Watcher or the Cosmos laughed. "I, for one, have picked up a bunch of silly tricks in my watching of the universe. In fact, I have some stashed up my sleeve…right now!"

When she said "right now," cards came pouring out of her sleeve. Peach shrieked as the cards rained down on her, disorienting her in a way that made her forget which way was up. She batted the cards away, shielding her eyes so that she wouldn't get injured. "Rose, stop!"

The magic cards stopped raining on her. Rosalina grinned, adjusted her sleeve, and sat right back down. It was then that Peach noticed that Solar, Aqua, and Daisy were laughing their heads off. She shot both of her sisters a death stare.

"It's not funny."

"Really?" asked Daisy. "That seemed pretty funny to me."

Aqua giggled. "That was like something you'd see in 'The Mushroom Kingdom's Funniest Home Videos.' Except it was made even better because you were the butt of the joke!"

The laughter welled up to gigantic proportions. Peach just shook her head, turning her attention away from her sisters and onto Solar. "Really? You find this enjoyable too?"

Solar covered his mouth. "No, I don't. I really…" he couldn't contain his laughter. He put his head right down on the table, his breaths sounding ragged. "I'm sorry."

Peach sniffed. What a great way to start off the game. She supposed she should be thankful that the other guests weren't here yet, otherwise she would have more people to get embarrassed in front of. Speaking of which…where the World Eight were they?

"Rosalina, are you certain the other guests are coming?"

Rosalina nodded, her eyes shining with some of her leftover joy. "I am absolutely certain. I sent them an invitation right around the time that I sent you yours. I even asked them to…prepare for the event."

Daisy raised an eyebrow. "Prepare, huh? How can they prepare for a game none of us have ever heard of?"

Rosalina chuckled. "Oh, they've heard of the game before." She faced the table. "They have played it before too; they seemed to enjoy it based on what I've heard."

Aqua looked confused. "Who exactly are these people?"

"You'll see." Rosalina winked at the lot of them. This caused Peach to shake her head and glue her eyes to the door. Whoever they were, she hoped they showed up soon.

…

"Make way, make way!" Bowser bellowed. He stomped with authority, spoke with gusto. The Koopalings sent him annoyed looks as he engaged in his egocentric walk through Mushroom Kingdom territory.

"Bowser, there's no one here; who're you even talking to?" asked Ludwig.

"Anyone who has eyes and ears to see my might!" He flexed his muscles, as if to further illustrate his poorly made point.

Iggy shook his head and adjusted his glasses. "I must admit, I was taken aback to a dramatic degree when we received that invitation, and that was not spurred on by the fact that it exploded." He looked at his siblings. "Why would Rosalina invite us to a game of Blank White Cards? I was under the impression she despised us!"

Wendy shrugged. "Maybe we were wrong."

Iggy huffed. "Unlikely, consider she is friends with and does align her core loyalty and values with Princess Peach." He tapped his pointer finger against his bottom lip. "This is beyond perplexing."

Bowser laughed. "What's perplexing about it? We're going to play a great game in a great place! What's there to get perplexed and perpuzzled over?"

"Yeah," said Junior as he cast Iggy a smirk. "Lighten up, wouldn't you Ignatius?"

Iggy shook his head, the scowl on his face telling everyone he despised being shut out. He kept his eyes on the path, not saying a word as the family made their trek to the Little Fungi Inn. Not even the serene scenery of the Mushroom Kingdom's plains was enough to quell the questions racing around in his mind. Seriously, this was beyond bizarre. Was Rosalina luring them in with the bait of a card game just to place them all in an inescapable trap? That would make sense, but she was the last person in the world who would pull of trickery of that caliber.

Maybe he had no reason to worry. Maybe, this really was just a simple card game that she wanted to partake in. While that possibility was the least likely in Iggy's eyes, he didn't know what else could be occurring within these circumstances. He supposed he should just relax. They were, after all, already at the inn.

Bowser grinned as he banged down the door. He yelled into the dimly lit room with all the magnitude of a lion. "Guess who's finally here! That's right; it's everyone's favorite Koopa King!"

Iggy shuffled around Bowser's burly body to see who he was proclaiming his arrival to. The room was mostly empty, but those who were present made Iggy's eyes grow wide. It…it was the Mushroom Kingdom princesses! THE princesses! His jaw dropped to the floor when he saw them. Ludwig and Larry by his side were doing the exact same thing.

"Dude," said Larry. "Why are the princesses here?"

"Yeah," said Ludwig. "They weren't…were they invited too?"

Iggy marveled at this. They logically had no reason to be at such an out of the way inn; they usually haunted Peach's Castle. The only logical explanation that Iggy could come up with was that THEY were the ones who they were going to play with.

W…why?

Peach gawked at Bowser and the Koopalings as she stood up from her chair. "What are you guys doing here?" Her tone was angry, very much unbecoming of the usually peaceful princess.

"You guys didn't come to crash the party and wreck our game, did you?" Daisy asked. This only drove the nail into Iggy's hypothesis that they WERE who the Koopas were going to play with. A pit formed in his stomach.

"This is not going to go over well," he murmured.

Bowser, completely unaware of the awkwardness and oddity of this situation, grinned as he went over to the where the Princesses were seated. "Ah, so YOU guys are the ones we're going to play with!" He took Peach's hand and kissed it. "I can tell that this is going to be a lovely game already."

Peach held back a wave of vomit. "In your dreams!" She pulled away from him. "There is no way I am going to play a card game with you!"

"Yeah!" Aqua turned her attention to the Lady of the Shooting Stars. "Rose, are you out of your mind? Why would you invite them?"

Rosalina hesitated. "Well…I just…I thought…well, you know…."

Peach exhaled in disgust. "I'm sorry, Rose, but this is NOT at ALL what I had in mind when you invited us here." She stood up, and so did her sisters. "Come on, guys, let's get out of here."

"Right behind you, Peach," said Daisy.

"Already five steps ahead of you," said Aqua. They made their way to the door, ready to bust out of it and go on there merry way. Right before they got there, however, the door slammed shut with a BAM!

Peach blinked, her mouth gawking open as she turned to Rosalina. "Rose…"

Rosalina crossed her arms. For the first time since anyone present in the room had met her, she appeared dark and angry. Threatening, even.

"You guys are not going anywhere."