Yeah, Been really, really, really busy these past few months, but I'll be cranking out chapters as fast as I can...
'suppose I should have some disclaimer thing about how I don't own any of this apart from Evelyn U. Gainer and P. R. O. V. E. ...then again, its fan fiction, none of us own any of this...enjoy Chapter 2...the last peaceful chapter in this thing :P
Chapter 2
Toad led Evelyn through the castle, up some stairs, across some hall, through some doors and past some paintings. They wandered all around Princess Peach's castle it seemed before they finally reached their destination. Toad went up to the door to the room and he knocked three times. Inside, Princess Peach gasped. There were still a few things not ready. She turned to a couple of Koopas standing by.
"You four, go sit on the pedestals that are missing plants, try to make it look like it's supposed to be that way." Peach said. The Koopas glanced at each other and shrugged, scurrying over to where the princess wanted them. Peach cleared her throat. "Come in!" She called out sweetly. "Look professional." Peach hissed at everyone in the room. The door swung open and Evelyn and Toad stepped into the decorated room and Evelyn's eye instinctively started glancing off one thing or another. Peach's eye twitched, hoping beyond hope that she would not notice the few details that had not been refined. She would so much less tense if Mario was here.
"You must be Princess Peach?" Evelyn said, extending her hand. Peach nodded taking the hand.
"Yes, Ms. Gainer, that's me and on behalf of the entire kingdom, I'd like to welcome you. And we've even prepared an extraordinary meal just for your arrival!" Peach said. "It should be out…shortly." Peach said, hoping that it would be. Peach and the rest of the room's inhabitance all hurried around, taking their seats.
"Come with me, Miss!" Toad said, pulling on Evelyn's hand. She unintentionally, pulled it away when he touched her hand. She still found the little guy…strange…very, very strange. Toad escorted Evelyn and Princess Peach to their seats towards the top of the table. All of the Toads, Koopas and Lakitas got to their own conversations, chatting away. Peach turned towards Evelyn.
"So, what exactly is it that you are here to do?" Princess Peach asked. Evelyn cleared her throat to deliver her usual run down.
"Well, I am here to evaluate your kingdom runs, a few things about the residents here and list any problems that I see throughout the place. You can all just go about your normal lives while I'm here, you won't even know that I'm here." Evelyn said. Peach smiled.
"Let's hope our lives aren't as 'normal' during your stay." Princess Peach said with a laugh. Evelyn laughed a bit to be polite, but was not very sure what it was she was laughing about. The two of them sat and they chatted for a bit as did the Toads and the Koopas all around the dining hall.
"I would very much like to meet one person in particular." Evelyn mentioned at one point.
"Oh?" Peach asked, although she knew exactly what she would say.
"Yes, this uh…" Evelyn paused to check her paper on her clip board. "Mario, your…plumber? He's your plumber? Wow, he must have had one HECK of a plumber training course…" Evelyn said glancing over a few things on the page. "…looks like a communist…" She mumbled to herself, noting his hat and mustache. Princess Peach cleared her throat.
"Yes, he's a very nice person, but he can be a little lazy with times, he late quite a bit." Princess Peach said. Evelyn resisted the urge to write that down on her clip board. She reminded herself to be a bit more forgiving.
"Well, as soon as he arrives, I would very much like to meet him." Evelyn said.
"Oh, I'm sure he'll arrive here shortly. He never fails to show up." Princess peach said. She felt a small tugging on her dress and she glanced down to see a Toad looking up her.
"Princess?" She asked timidly. She snarled a bit.
"If you tell me that there is anything wrong with the meal, so help me…" Princess peach said. "This is one time we can't mess up; she's going to report every slip up."
"Uh…We're out of strawberries for the cake." The Toad said. Peach sat back in her chair, her head lolling back before she let in slap down on the table with a moan. Evelyn glanced around for a second.
"Uh, are you alright Princess Peach?" Evelyn asked. Peach waved a gloved hand.
"Yes, yes, I'm fine." She said, a bit shortly. She leaned down to the Toad once more. "You guys are useless, go find some! Mario had an entire party game in a cake factory in his second party, go get some there!" Peach said. The Toad nodded and she hurried off. Peach sat up and folded her hands, becoming professional once again.
"Is everything alright?" Evelyn asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Yes, it is, there was just a slight delay on the meal, that's all." Princess Peach explained, biting her lip. Evelyn could tell she was lying, but paid it not much attention. Peach prayed that Mario would arrive soon. Then, as if her prayers were answered, she heard a familiar Budum-budum-budum sound from across the room by the pedestals that the Koopas were sitting on. All of the Toads stopped their chattering and Peach looked in the direction with a smile on her face. A wide green pipe started rising from the ground, sliding up from nothing.
"Ya-hoo!" Called an echoing voice from within the pipe. Suddenly, there was a flash of red and blue, a short, chubby figure launched itself out from within the pipe, doing multiple flip. The figure landed on the ground with grace, flipping off his hat and twirling around. "It's-a me, Mario!" he said, tossing his cap back on.
"Mario!" All of the room's inhabitance shouted in unison. Peach sighed in relief.
"It's about time." She said with a smile.
"Where did that thing come from?" Evelyn asked, tilting her head. She did not know if the rest of the people…creatures witnessed a green pipe coming out of the ground magically. All of the Toads and Koopas rushed to be the first to greet the famed Mario. Princess peach made her way calmly through her subjects, making her way to Mario. She shoved passed a green shelled Koopa and stepped up to greet Mario.
"Hi Mario, I'm so glad you could make it!" Peach said and they embraced each other in a hug. Meanwhile, Evelyn was struggling to keep pace with Princess Peach, stepping over a Toad and almost falling on a Koopa. When she reached where Mario and Peach were hugging, she raised an eyebrow in disgust.
"You do realize that he just came out of a sewage pipe, right?" Evelyn asked. "That aside, where the hell does this sewage pipe lead? Your plumbing must be horrendous!" Evelyn said, grabbing her pen from behind her ear and taking down the note of mysterious appearing pipes as well as Princess Peach not caring much at all about hygiene. Mario and Peach finished up and Peach turned towards Evelyn, who was still looking around at the pipe.
"Evelyn, I would like to introduce you to the one and only Mario." Princess Peach said, the Toads and Koopas all still gathering in around them. Evelyn looked at him up and down.
"Uh huh…Well, nice to meet you." Evelyn said, holding out a reluctant hand.
"It's-a my pleasure!" Mario said heartily, slapping his hand into hers.
"Ew…" She murmured to herself, imagining what that hand must have had to drag through. Mario twirled around and faced the large crowd.
"Alright everyone, let's-a make this girl feel-a welcome!" Mario announced and all of the Toads and Koopas cheered their approval.
"He really knows how to hype up a crowd." Evelyn said to Peach. She smiled.
"Oh yes, they absolutely adore him, he saved them so many times, and me too!" Peach said, but then she immediately regretted it. Evelyn looked at Peach.
"Whoa, whoa, saved them? What do you mean, he's a fat plumber?" Evelyn asked suddenly. Peach bit her lip; she knew she should not have mentioned that last bit. She looked around, hoping for an excuse out of this conversation. If only those bumbling Toads could have finished the cake by now…Princess peach just had to stall for a bit of time.
"Alright everyone, we're all excited to have Mario finally here," princess peach started, trying to calm down the crowd a bit. "But let's get back to our seats; the food should be out shortly!" Princess Peach called out to everyone. Evelyn scowled.
"You're dodging my question." She said, folding her arms.
"Please wait a moment Ms. Gainer, I need to get my subjects in order." Peach said sweetly. Evelyn sighed and tossed her hands up. She absolutely hated being ignored. Peach hurried about, giving instructions and chatting with Mario as Evelyn was forced to wait by patiently. She looked up and she saw the Lakitas swooping about up around the ceiling and remembered that Lakita Bro that she had encountered outside. It was a little disturbing that she was being watched, but she had already written that down, she could not give them the same offense twice, P. R. O. V. E.'s company rules. She folded her arms, noticing that all of Peach's subjects getting settled in their places. Princess Peach, out of ideas, made her way slowly back over to Evelyn.
"Would you like to come with me to your seat?" Peach asked, gripping for another stalling tactic. Evelyn scratched the side of her head.
"Nah, I have a couple of questions to ask you first." Evelyn said, raising an eyebrow. Princess Peach bit her lip, glancing towards Mario who was sitting in his chair that was opposite of Evelyn's at the table. He was engaged in a conversation with one of the Toads and Princess Peach really did not want to tell Evelyn about…the not-so-pleasant parts of the Mushroom Kingdom.
"Yes? What, uh…what sort of questions is it that you would like to ask me about my kingdom, the lovely Mushroom Kingdom, of which I preside over." Princess peach said, trying to make her response as long as possible. Evelyn cleared her throat.
"Well, first off, I'd like to ask you about what you said earlier." Evelyn said. Princess peach winced. "You said that Mario has saved your subjects, the Toads and that he's also save you. But my question is saved you all from what exactly?" Evelyn said, twirling her pen between her fingers. Peach licked her lips and she played with hair, straightening her crown and fiddling a bit, delaying her response. Where were those Toads with that stupid cake? How long did it take fro them to get a couple of freaking strawberries?! Peach pushed her hair back. She was out of time and she knew it. She would have to tell Evelyn Gainer everything and risk a bad review for the Mushroom Kingdom…and that could mean anything from extremely heavy fines to a complete inspection and that could result in her being removed from her throne. That would not be very good…at all. Her subjects needed her and she needed them. Then she realized that she had been standing there silently in front of Evelyn for quite a bit. She cleared her throat.
"Okay, alright…It is on rare occasion…very, very rare occasion, that the occasional and complete and utterly unexpected and random crook works his way into the castle to kidnap me and possibly one or more of my subjects." Princess peach said, trying to sound as professional as possible, but Evelyn was not interested in how good Princess Peach could make something bad sound, she just wanted the straight up facts.
"What kind of 'Crooks' exactly? Name them." Evelyn said, eyeing Peach suspiciously. Peach bit her lip. That was the question that she had feared was coming next. Peach cleared her throat, brushed her hands on her dress, clenched her fists, took a deep breath and she finally gave in, resolving herself to speak the name that she detested as much as the next Mushroom Kingdom resident.
"One of the more common crooks that tends to strike here at the heart of the Mushroom Kingdom is known by the name…" Peach said, taking a second to gather herself. She could rule with iron fist when she needed to, but when it came to who she was about to mention, she faded in comparison.
"Yes? Go on." Evelyn urged impatiently, tapping her foot on the ground, glaring at Peach. Peach opened her mouth.
"…B-Oh, look! The cake's done!"
"Good God." Evelyn moaned, rolling her eyes at the timing of things.