8

Peach and Daisy sat in the dark of their cage prison as they waited for something good to happen, which they knew would not come for a while. It had been evident for the past two hours that Peach was coming down with some sort of sickness. Her face was unusually pale and she was running a very high fever and her nose had been running for the same amount of time. Then there was the uncontrollable sneezing and coughing that made Daisy very concerned; after all, she herself did not want to contract Peach's sickness. She did not want to join her cousin in being sick.

"I wish I had some...some...ACHOO!" Peach said as she sneezed hard. "Cold medicine..."

"I wish I wasn't stuck in the same cage as you right now." Daisy replied.

"I don't blame you." Peach replied in a sick tone. "I hope this illness of mine goes away soon! Whatever happened to...ACHOO! Pauline?"

"I wish I knew the answer to that." Daisy said. "I know just about as much as you do, Peach. My guess is that she didn't make it that far."

"What do you mean by...ACHOO! That?" Peach asked.

"It's been so long since she tried breaking us out of here." Daisy said. "I hope she's alright. The Koopas probably got her though."

"Well, at least she tried." Peach said, developing tears in her eyes as she sniffled on snot that kept dripping from her nose. "I want Mario to get me out of here."

"I can say the same for Luigi." Daisy replied. "Just try and get some rest for now. The longer you sleep, the more quickly you can get over your cold. Before we know it, Mario and Luigi will come get us, so try sleep off the rest of it, okay?"

"Okay." Peach replied weakly. "I'll try."

Meanwhile, hundreds of miles away in the icy tundra, Pauline and Yoshi were quietly sleeping and shivering under the cold stars and the faint glow of the brightly colored aurora. The fire which they set up was now reduced to just a few glowing embers that did not do much to keep their body temperatures in check. However, it did not keep them from getting their rest. Suddenly, Pauline woke up as she heard crunchy footsteps that sounded like they were headed in their direction. She looked around and saw two strange figures roaming in the dark that were indeed headed towards her and Yoshi. Pauline immediately went over to the sleeping Yoshi and shook him violently until his eyes started to open.

"What is it?" Yoshi asked in a tired tone.

"Yoshi, we need to hide somewhere." Pauline whispered. "There are two figures headed our way and they look like a couple of Bowser's Koopas!"

"Quick! I know a place where we can hide!" Yoshi said, pointing to a large boulder. "They won't see us if we hide over there!"

The two friends ran behind the boulder and nervously watched as the two Koopas walked over to the dimly lit fire pit to examine it for some unknown reason. The extreme cold outside made both of them shiver, especially Pauline who was wearing nothing but her short red dress.

"Looks like the woman and the dinosaur were here!" one of the Koopa soldiers said. It was obvious they were hunting down Pauline and Yoshi. "I can both of their footprints on the ground here."

"Where do they lead?" the other Koopa asked.

"How am I supposed to know that?!" the first Koopa shouted. "It's in the middle of the freaking night in the middle of the freaking flat tundra. The only light we have is the aurora, but even that isn't enough to help us see where we're going! If only we brought a flashlight!"

"Man, seriously. When are you going to appreciate the things that you already have?" the second Koopa asked. "At least God was thankful enough to put on this light show in the night sky!"

"I don't care about the stinkin' light show!" the first Koopa said. "All I care about is finding those escaped fugitives and bringing them back to Bowser's castle before Bowser himself lights our asses on fire! You heard about what happened the other day, didn't you? I don't want that to be me! Got it?!"

"Yes, I get it!" the second Koopa yelled. "Geesh! What am I to you? Chopped liver?!"

Suddenly, the first Koopa received an incoming transmission on his radio. He pressed the button and was surprised to hear Bowser on the other end.

"Did you find the fugitives?" Bowser asked, his voice fuzzy through the radio static.

"No, sir. We haven't found them." said the Koopa. "All we know is that they're somewhere out here in the tundra. We did manage to find a couple sets of footprints, but they haven't taken us anywhere."

"Well, never mind the fugitives!" Bowser shouted. "We have an even bigger issue to worry about now! The Mario Brothers are making their way towards our northern base just above the Mushroom Kingdom! I was lucky enough to spot the airship that they used to escape from Sarasaland while I was on my way to get Kamek."

"So they're somewhere near the base?" the Koopa asked.

"That's what I said, wasn't it?!" Bowser replied. "Hurry and get both of you asses out here. We need to take those Mario Brothers down!" Bowser said. "This time, I really mean it! No excuses!"

"Yes, sir." said the Koopa as the conversation ended. The other Koopa looked at him with an irritated expression.

"Let's hurry and get back to the airship!" said the first Koopa. "We're going farther to the west to meet up with Bowser and Kamek."

The two Koopas left the campsite as they walked back in the direction that they came from. Sure enough, there was a large airship out in the distance that Pauline failed to notice earlier. She and Yoshi had been listening to the entire conversation.

"Yoshi, we need to sneak onto the airship!" Pauline said.

"Are you crazy?!" Yoshi asked. "If we try doing that, we'll end up getting killed!"

"But, Yoshi! It's the quickest way to find Mario and Luigi!" Pauline replied. "They need our help! Would you rather walk?"

"Yeah, you're right." Yoshi said. "Hop on my back."

Pauline climbed on top of Yoshi's back, and the two of them continued into the dark, silently following the two Koopas back to their airship. Pauline looked up at the colorful glow in the sky and could not help but have her thoughts race about Mario and Luigi. Her life would have been over had it not been for their presence. The more she thought about it, the more obligated she was to helping them save the world. She knew that the fate of every kingdom rested upon their hands, but that did not stop her from being a part of it. All she wanted was something that she could be proud of and remember for the rest of her life.

As Yoshi and Pauline neared the airship, they saw that the door was closing.

"We're not going to make it!" Pauline shouted.

"Yeah, we will!" Yoshi replied as he raced faster towards the doors. "Hold on tight!"

Then, just as the door started becoming too low to duck under, Yoshi slid on his knees and Pauline lowered her head as they both went flying underneath the door and into the ship, where they quickly ran down towards the living quarters towards the cargo room. There was no sign of the two Koopas anywhere, though they figured they were at the wheel, since they could feel and hear the ship lifting itself off the ground. Once inside the room, Yoshi closed the door and both of them let out a sigh of relief.

"They'll never find us in here!" Pauline said. "At least it's warm in here."

"It'll be even warmer once you put this on. It was lying on the floor." Yoshi said, handing Pauline a warm and fuzzy coat that was made for a Koopa, but was still the right size for her to wear.

"Thank you!" Pauline said. "But aren't you going to be cold?"

"I'll be fine." Yoshi replied. "You need it more than I do anyway."

The airship was now soaring over the frozen tundra and making its way to the snow-covered mountains to the west, where Bowser and Kamek were keeping a lookout for Mario and Luigi. It would be a few hours before the airship would arrive at its destination.