As the sun was fully gone, Daisy said "It's time for us to leave." to the group.
In response, Valerian, Luigi, Peasley and the chosen soldiers that are tagging along grabbed their camp-like bags and put them on their backs, as did Daisy.
"Please be careful." Peach said once again.
"You said that like ten times already." Daisy replied, starting to get annoyed.
"You know I'll always worry about people that I care about, Daize." Peach answered "You're not even fully healed yet." she added.
Daisy rolled her eyes in response and explained "That big scar on my back needs a lot of magic, which we can't afford to just throw out of the window if Bowser is to attack. Otherwise I would've had it healed already."
"We'll be fine Peach, we've got enough supplies to defend ourselves, as well as training." Valerian spoke.
"Princess, we didn't go through all this hard training the last few months for nothing." one of the soldiers added.
It was true that they'd gotten a lot more and harder training than they're used to. Ever since Valerian and Daisy took over things have been more serious around here when it comes to training. Daisy even started personally training Luigi and a few more soldiers, who are most likely to take over the position Mario once had, and let me tell you, that training is not for the faint of heart. It also took a lot of getting used to, which made some of the candidates fall out of the race early on while other soldiers grew stronger, which you could clearly see as their muscles increased. Valerian on the other hand trained the rest of the soldiers, making them battlefield ready.
"Okay then, I guess all of you have been through harsher training than the other soldiers." Peach concluded.
The soldiers that Valerian had chosen to go along with them on this mission were mostly the candidates for the commander job. There were also a few of the 'regular' soldiers that tagged along, soldiers that Valerian thought stood out.
"What are you going to tell Mario when he comes back?" Luigi asked out of curiosity "About our whereabouts, that is." he added.
"I'll figure something out." Peach responded, to which Luigi nodded in return.
"Is everyone ready to go?" Valerian asked, to which everyone replied or nodded. "Then let's get this mission started." he said after everyone answered.
"Good luck!" Peach said when the group left the castle.
"How much further?" Valerian asked the undercover soldier who provided them with the information of the location.
"It's about an hour, hour and a half walk from here." the soldier replied.
The group had been walking to the location for quiet some time now. They chose to go by foot because hiding vehicles/carriages or horses/Yoshi's would've only taken more effort for Peasley and drain him even more, which they couldn't afford to do. It also would've been way more obvious of what they were doing. After five hours of walking with heavy bags on their backs, the friends and soldiers started to feel tired, but they can't take a break: they must be at the location before the sun goes up. If they're not there by sunrise, they will be caught immediately by Bowser's soldiers.
"Can't we take a break?" one of the soldiers whined.
Luigi noticed that Daisy eyed her brother annoyed. Valerian rolled his eyes at his sister in response and sighed. I wonder what that's about. Luigi thought.
"No, we can't." Valerian responded annoyed.
"But-" the soldier said, but Daisy interrupted.
"Unless someone's life is in danger, we ain't stopping." Daisy commanded "You were informed of this before we left the castle and you agreed with the terms." she added in an angry voice.
Is it bad that commander Daisy turns me on? Luigi thought dreamily.
The soldier was too afraid to say anything else and continued walking with his head down.
"If I didn't need all my energy to keep us hidden at the location, then I would've cast a spell to lessen our burdens." Peasley said, trying to lighten the mood a bit. It didn't really work though, as no one said anything and the mood remained awkward.
After a while, the undercover soldier spoke up "We're crossing the border to Darklands right now, it's around half an hour walk from here to the location."
"Good, soldiers, keep your voices down. We don't know what or who we will run into from here on. It's best to lay low." Daisy responded to the information.
The soldiers agreed and the group kept on walking to their destination. They were as alert as ever, considering that they're walking on enemy grounds.
As the undercover soldier predicted, they arrived at the spot half an hour later. "It's here." he said "Right over there is where I've spotted him a couple of times." he added while pointing at an open space in the forest.
Everyone looked confused. "An open spot in the middle of the woods?" Valerian asked confused.
"Yes, I don't know what it is he does there, but it's the only place he could be headed to when he comes here." the undercover soldier explained "That's why I came to report, as there is nothing to find out here, I already covered the whole place. Also, when Bowser is here, I can't get too close because it might risk exposing me, so I can't see what exactly he is up to."
"Good thing we have me then!" Peasley perked up.
"Peasley keep your voice down! We haven't done a full scope of this place yet!" Daisy whispered loudly.
"Eh, whoops." Peasley said.
"Let's search the whole place before we set up camp, that way we can also find the best place to do so." Valerian ordered.
"But stay with at least one other person." Daisy added.
"We'll all meet up here again once we're done." Valerian finished.
The soldiers nodded and went off with at least two to search the forest, leaving the four together.
"Luigi and I will go that way, you two go over there. Then I think we'll have the whole place covered." Daisy said.
Valerian went on, but Peasley smirked to the couple and joked "Don't let us catch you two in the act somewhere, this is a secluded forest after all." before skipping after Valerian.
"Peasley!" Daisy yelled in disbelief while both her and Luigi went beet red.
"Keep your voice down! We're at enemy grounds!" Peasley yelled back at them before laughing.
"Shush it!" Valerian said once Peasley had caught up "What were you two yelling about anyway?"
"Wouldn't you want to know." Peasley snickered "That'll just have to be a secret between me and the cute couple." he added.
"Whatever." Valerian scoffed. He did not want to know what his sister and her boyfriend are up to anyways.
After an hour and a half everyone was back at the meeting place. Luigi and Daisy were the last two to arrive.
"Well there you two finally are!" Peasley conducted loudly. "Any reason you two are this late?" he added teasingly.
"Jeez P, the other soldiers arrived literally five minutes ago, leave them alone." Valerian butted in before either of the two could say anything.
Peasley turned to Valerian and said "Aww, come on Val, you're no fun!"
Valerian ignored Peasley and asked "Did you run into anyone?"
"Not directly." Luigi replied.
"South from here, across the lake, soldiers are 'guarding' the area." Daisy filled in.
"They were sleeping..." Luigi explained.
"But still, best not to set up camp over there." Daisy concluded.
"Then it's best to set up north from here, where we searched." Valerian decided while nodding towards Peasley "By that small pond is an open spot."
"Well then, everyone follow me!" Peasley said, taking the lead.
The other soldiers got up from where they were sitting and started to follow Peasley, so did Luigi, Daisy and Valerian.
After a fifteen minute walk, Peasley said "We're here!"
They'd arrived at an open, but secluded, spot at the north side of the forest. There was also, as Valerian stated before, a small pond present. The area looked really out of place compared to the rest of the forest.
"Didn't think there would be a spot like this in this creepy forest." Luigi admitted.
"The cute little pond is a nice touch." Daisy said "Nature has it ways to be beautiful." she added.
"Enough talk, let's start setting up our tents, we don't have much time left before the sun sets and we still need to cloak ourselves and the tents with Peasley's spell." Valerian interrupted.
At that, the soldiers gathered their materials and started doing so.
"You're literally no fun at all, Val." Peasley complained.
"You're still helping me with this tent, Peasley." Valerian replied.
Peasley grumbled, but complied.
Luigi and Daisy bundled forces and also set up a tent together. They were struggling with the agile poles for a while, as they bounced back sometimes.
"Oww, jeez." Daisy said as one of the poles got loose from the ground and, literally, smacked her on the ass.
Luigi failed to stifle his laughter as Daisy rubbed her butt in pain. "What are you laughing at?" Daisy asked annoyed.
"I'm not laughing." Luigi said, still failing not to laugh.
"I'd say you're sleeping outside tonight, but we already are." Daisy grumbled.
Luigi managed to control his laughter and walked up to Daisy. "You alright?" he asked.
"So now you're gonna ask if I'm alright?" Daisy said annoyed.
"You're the toughest person I know, I didn't think I'd have to ask a person as strong as you that immediately." Luigi responded smoothly.
"Nuh-uh, smoothness or boosting my ego ain't gonna help you in this case, sweetie." Daisy answered while crossing her arms and turning her back to her beau.
Luigi hugged her from behind and mockingly said "Sweetie."
"Shut up, just because I said that doesn't mean that I'm not mad at you." Daisy answered, still refusing to acknowledge his existence.
"I didn't put that particular pole in the ground." Luigi argued.
"You still laughed." Daisy said while still crossing her arms but looking up at him.
"My deepest apologies your highness for laughing when a bendable pole got loose and smacked you on the ass- I mean hit you on the buttocks." Luigi formally said.
Daisy maintained her glare while Luigi stared at her.
"I could always kiss your boo boo?" Luigi joked with a smirk.
Daisy blushed, averted her eyes and replied "Shut up, perv."
"Can you two stop before I barf, Jesus." Valerian interrupted the loving couple.
"Val! Shut up, this was getting good!" Peasley said, enjoying the show.
"It's also distracting you, all three of you should get back to work, we need to get this done soon." Valerian argued.
"You're such a bore." Peasley said while getting back to the tent.
Luigi and Daisy also got back to setting up their tent, which went better now that they knew how to handle the bendable poles.
After half an hour, everyone was finished putting up their tents. They gathered together in the middle of the camp.
"By the amount of tents, we'll have to share with one other person. Decide among yourselves who is gonna share a tent with who quickly, then after Peasley will do and explain his spell." Valerian stated.
The group decided just to share the tent with the person they set it up with, to make the decision easier and faster.
"Good, allow me to explain." Peasley said while handing everyone a necklace or a bracelet. "These souvenirs contain a special stone, look at it as an extra power source for my powers, to keep the spell up longer and better." Once Peasley finished dividing the jewelry, he continued "Keep this on at all times! Otherwise my spell will wear off!"
"That's an order." Daisy and Valerian added at the same time.
The soldiers nodded and started putting on the jewelry, as well as the other four.
"There will be sound barriers around your tents too, making it only so that people in that tent can hear each other, but the outside can't. The people in the tent can hear the outside, meaning if we have to alert anyone, we still can. When we're outside of our tents and inside our camp area, only we can see and hear one another. Is that clear?" Peasley explained.
People nodded or said yes to the question.
"Now, each go to your tents and go inside, that way I can activate the spell on every one of you." Peasley said.
The soldiers did as asked, and Peasley did as he told he would do. Soon he finished with the soldiers and returned to his friends. "We're up next." Peasley said.
"Let's go." Valerian said to his sister.
Daisy looked confused, then realized what he meant. "Oh hell no, you take up the whole fucking tent and you can't lay still for a minute, I don't need a reminder of being sandwiched next to you again. Peasley is sharing with you."
"You think Peasley wouldn't mind being sandwiched next to me?" Valerian asked annoyed.
"No he wouldn't." Daisy replied.
"Of course I wouldn't mind sleeping next to my childhood bestie! Especially not when he looks like you." Peasley said while winking.
"You see." Daisy said.
Valerian grumbled and said "Fine, but no inappropriate touching!" while pointing at Peasley. Then he looked at Luigi and Daisy and said "You two neither!"
Luigi and Daisy blushed while Daisy replied "Whatever asshole." They both walked to their tent and went inside.
"It's not like we'll hear anything once they're in their tent." Peasley joked, but only for Valerian to hear, making him receive a dirty look from the latter.
Peasley did the spell on the couple and after that on both him and Valerian too. Then he did a cloaking spell on the whole camp, making them invisible to the outside world. Soon after, they all went to sleep, not that there was much nighttime available.
"Lou?" Daisy asked.
"Hmm? Yeah?" Luigi mumbled, half asleep.
The both of them were in their tent, each in their respective sleeping bags, but it seems like one of them can't sleep.
"You up?" Daisy asked.
"Now I am." Luigi grumbled.
"Hehe, oops." Daisy simply said and after she started moving her sleeping bag closer to Luigi's bag.
"What are you doing?" Luigi asked, hearing the shuffling.
"I'm cold." Daisy replied.
Luigi, still confused, turned around to face Daisy. "Are you moving around so you'll get warmer?" he asked.
Daisy giggled and answered "No, silly, I'm moving closer to you." Daisy could read from Luigi's face that he still didn't get what she meant. "You're always warm, come closer, then you can warm me up." she added.
Luigi blushed and stuttered "B-But what if one of the soldiers open up our tent? O-Or worse, your brother?"
Daisy rolled her eyes in response and said "The soldiers wouldn't dare to open up our tent, they'll just yell from the other side. As for my brother, fuck him, he needs to mind his own business."
"You heard what he said earlier, Daisy..." Luigi mumbled.
"Jeez, Weegee, he was just joking around, and it isn't like we're gonna go full on fuckfest in here, now are we?" Daisy joked.
"N-N-No!" Luigi yelled nervously while blushing furiously.
Daisy couldn't contain her laughter at the sight of Luigi blushing and being nervous like that. He's acting like he was at the beginning of our first date. Daisy thought. Cute. "I'm just messing with you Weeg, come here." she said after laughing.
"You're gonna end up giving me a heart attack someday." Luigi mumbled while moving closer to his girlfriend, at which she giggled.
"You're too cute not to mess with." Daisy said once she was laying with her back against Luigi's chest.
Luigi put his arms around her and pulled her closer to him. "Are you warm now?" he asked.
"Very much, thank you sweetie." Daisy responded while placing a kiss on his bicep, as it was the closest part of Luigi's body to her mouth.
"Good night, amore." Luigi said while placing a kiss on the top of her head and closing his eyes again.
"'Night." Daisy answered, closing her eyes too.
The truth was, Daisy wasn't really that cold, she just wanted to snuggle but didn't want to be too obvious, giving her tough nature and upbringing. It's safe to say that in the end, they both enjoyed it.
"Where is my brother, Peach?! Those Sarasa's are gone too, did they do something to him?!" Mario yelled loudly.
"Jesus, Mario, for the last time, they went off to Sarasaland for business!" Peach yelled back at her longterm boyfriend. She knew she was lying, but it is for the best that he doesn't know that he isn't included in something Bowser related.
"Then why didn't my brother say anything to me, huh?" Mario shot back.
"You ran off to god knows where! You were nowhere to be found!" Peach yelled back.
"He could've called!" Mario yelled at his girlfriend.
"Your phone was off!" Peach shot back.
It was true, he had indeed turned his phone off because Peach kept on calling him and he didn't want to deal with it. "Still, I didn't have any missed calls from him!" Mario argued.
"Because I told him you weren't picking up!" Peach reasoned.
"He still could've tried!" Mario kept on yelling.
Peach sighed and grumbled audibly. "You know what, Mario? Your brother is old enough to do whatever the fuck he wants without running to you to ask for permission. And don't you dare argue with me that it isn't true, you were and are doing all kinds of dangerous shit without informing anyone."
Mario opened his mouth to argue back, but he realized that his girl was right.
"It's not like either of you tell your parents where you're off to all the time, so why should he inform you of everything?" Peach added.
"Sure, take his side, again!" Mario said, having no other argument.
"Go on, accuse me of taking sides, again, when I'm pointing out the obvious and you know that I'm right!" Peach raged.
"Whatever, I'm leaving." Mario grumbled while throwing his hands up and leaving the castle.
"Yeah, leave again! Like you always do when you know someone else is right and you're wrong!" Peach yelled after him. What am I going to do with him... Peach thought after Mario had left the castle once again.
The next day, in the late morning, almost noon, most of the group were out of their tents and hanging around the camp. A few of the soldiers were preparing breakfast for the whole group by the fire they created, while other soldiers gathered utensils and such.
"Isn't this exciting?!" Peasley asked Valerian "It's like the camping trips we took together as kids all over again!" he added.
Valerian looked wearily at his friend, and said seriously "Peasley, we are at war."
"Well when you say it like that it sounds awful." Peasley admitted.
"Morning." Luigi mumbled as he joined the two on the floor by the fire while the soldiers prepared breakfast.
"Why, it's almost noon, Mushroom Kingdom hero! What have you and the flower child been up to, huh?" Peasley teased while elbowing Luigi.
"We were sleeping peacefully, until someone started making too much noise after not being able to get a fire started." Luigi grumbled, not being awake enough yet to give in to Peasley's teasings.
"Eh, sorry?" one of the soldier said in return. It was true, he had made a lot of noise when he couldn't start the fire half an hour ago...
*Flashback to half an hour ago*
"Stay lit!" one of the soldiers yelled at the dying fire. "This wood is shit! And so is this stupid rock" he added while throwing the rock away, making it hit a cooking pot loudly.
"Maybe you're just shit at making a fire." another soldier said in return.
"Then you should try it!" the first soldier yelled while storming off.
"Jeez, temper much." the third soldier said after the first one was out of sight.
The second soldier went to retrieve the stone and easily started a fire that kept on burning. "Easy, camping one o one." he said.
The third soldier snorted and said "Don't tell him that when he comes back."
*Flashback ended*
"Where's my sister?" Valerian asked, ignoring the soldier's expression.
"She was fixing her hair when I left the tent, she should be here soon." Luigi answered.
"Aww, missing me already?" Daisy teased as she took a seat in the middle of Luigi and Valerian.
"Never." Valerian replied.
"Always." Luigi responded.
"You two make me want to jump in a lava pit." Valerian stated.
"Shut up Val, you have no knowledge of young love." Peasley said lovingly. "Also, you're such a bore." he added.
"I can't wait till someone has you wrapped around their finger." Daisy mentioned.
"That, my dear sister, will never happen." Valerian answered.
"We'll see, my dear brother." Daisy mocked after Valerian.
Peasley giggled at the sight "Oh, how I've missed the Sarasalandian banter between siblings... I'd love to see Daisy kick her brother's asses again though." he said.
"That never happened." Valerian defended.
"Yes it did, pussy." Daisy argued.
"Siblings, siblings, come on now, we're all adults." Peasley interrupted.
"Exactly, stop it." Valerian said while pointing at his sister.
"And we all know that Daisy has kicked your ass on multiple occasions, Val." Peasley added after which he burst out in giggles.
"You are the most annoying person I know." Valerian said to his Beanish friend.
"I took the title from Daisy?" Peasley dramatically asked "I'm honored." he added while wiping away an imaginary tear.
Daisy rolled her eyes as Luigi chuckled at the situation. Valerian just ignored it altogether.
"So, now you make noise?" Daisy said as she turned to Luigi.
"I was still waking up." Luigi grumbled.
"Not a morning person I see?" Daisy inquired.
"Not when I've barely slept a wink." Luigi responded.
Peasley was about to ask something to tease the couple, but one of the soldiers was faster than him. "You all want some eggs and bacon?" the soldier asked.
The four gladly accepted the food, thanked the soldiers and started eating.
"This is delightful!" Peasley exclaimed.
"My grandma's recipe." one of the soldiers replied.
Can one have a recipe of bacon and eggs? Daisy questioned herself confused.
"Tell her it's wonderful." Peasley answered while taking another bite.
"She's dead." the soldier stated.
Peasley's face fell as he said "Oh, my deepest condolences, I didn't know."
The soldier nodded and said nothing in return.
One of the soldiers noticed Daisy handing the bacon to her boyfriend and her brother in turn. "Is the bacon not good?" he asked.
Daisy looked up from her food and explained "It probably is, to people who like bacon, it's too salty for my taste."
"You don't like bacon?!" another soldier asked shocked.
"Yeah? What's so surprising about it?" Daisy asked in return.
"Everyone likes bacon!" the same soldier replied.
"I don't, never have, I've tried eating it multiple times though." Daisy answered.
The soldier tried to say something else, but he was interrupted.
"Shush!" Valerian yelled loudly, which caught everyone's attention. He pointed to his ear, as to make clear to listen for anything.
The group kept silent and listened for anything that caught their attention.
"What the fu-"