Chapter 5
*Pauline's POV*
I didn't realize that I never explored far enough into the world. The Mushroom Kingdom is certainly…huge. I always thought that the world pretty much ended at Mushroom City, but I guess I was wrong. Daisy and I were headed towards "Bowser's Castle". It's supposed to be some evil fortress that is controlled by one person named Bowser. He's the one to look for if we wanted to keep Peach away from Mario as long as possible. He has quite the fortress though; airships, towers, lava, huge rocks that could clobber a person in seconds, tanks, a few soldiers guarding every square inch, and practically a whole empire going.
I think that this plan will work well.
Daisy made sure that we both wore cloaks to cover our faces because Bowser apparently doesn't take too kindly to humans. I kept my hood over my face, but I could still see perfectly. Well, I could still see the floor perfectly. Daisy wore her cloak as well, but she tied her hair up and wore gloves.
"What are you doing, Daisy?" I asked, keeping my voice and head down.
She put a red cap with an "M" on it to keep her hair from falling to her shoulders. "You'll see…" She said with a smirk.
As we neared the castle doors, the guards backed away. Daisy made sure that the cap was visible through her cloak, although her face was still hidden by a shadow.
"Oh no. He's back." A guard turned to the one next to him.
"Run. Don't bother to fight, it's useless." The second guard dropped his spear and ran to the other side of the castle. The first guard opened the door as we walked in. He kept his head bowed and as he rose, Daisy punched him in the face. The guard fell back, covering his eyes. The other servants and guards looked at us and bowed as well.
"What are they doing?" I asked, curious by their actions.
"Shh. Don't spoil it." Daisy kept walking forward as the guards kept their heads down.
We entered the throne room, where a large mutant turtle with red hair, red eyes, and orange reptile skin. He looked at us and obviously noticed Mario's cap. He jumped up and put his hands out.
"ALRIGHT MAN, I DIDN'T DO NOTHING THIS TIME! I SWEAR...What happened to you? Why are you hiding your face like that? You got a pimple or something?" He chuckled with this deep roar that almost shook the castle.
Daisy did not respond. She kept her head down and balled her gloved fist. Bowser raised an eyebrow. "What's wrong, Mario? Chain-chomp got your tongue? Ha-ha. Seriously, showing no emotion doesn't make this job any easier though."
She slowly walked closer, making Bowser slowly lean back on his chair. "Mario…"
Daisy pulled the cap off making her hair flow down perfectly to her shoulders. She pushed her bangs back and giggled to herself for fooling the entire castle.
"WOAH! MARIO'S A…girl?" Bowser slouched back down and relaxed his shoulders. "Wow. You really had me going there. The whole looking like a guy thing was pretty exact. I even thought the mustache was real for a long time."
"That means that you just had your butt kicked by a girl for the last year." Daisy laughed.
Bowser sneered. "Daisy. I totally knew it was you. No one can fool me. I'm 100% final-boss material. I'm not gullible like you guys."
"Oh, Bow Bow, you're so stupid. By the way, I'm here with a friend." She gestured towards me as I pulled my hood down slowly.
"Wow, this one's new." Bowser looked at me with this strange glare. I winced, remembering that the same glare that came from Donkey Kong the first time I saw him. My entire body shivered.
"My name is Pauline." I stated clearly, my voice echoed through the dim-lighted room.
"What do you guys want?" He growled. He reached for a glass filled with a strange drink. He took a quick sip.
"A kidnapping." Daisy said quickly.
Bowser spat out the drink and began to cough loudly. The drink sprayed everywhere, making Daisy and I step back. "What?" He said hoarsely.
"We want you to kidnap someone," Daisy looked away, and then looked back at him with a sly sound in her voice. "A regular."
He took another sip of the drink, processing her words and taking his time with a response.
"Toadstool?" He said after what seemed like ages.
"No, the prince of Armenia. Yes, Toadstool." Daisy scoffed. I was quiet, looking around the room. It was evil looking, so I'd give him points for that, but I don't think that the castle matches the villain.
"I don't know. I was planning to kidnap her next week, after my dart gun was complete." He called for a person by the name of "Kemek" and a turtle on a broom came flying in with a calendar. "Let's see...This is such short notice, calling for my help." Bowser stared at the calendar, not making eye contact with either of us.
"One: Wallow in self-pity. Two: Stare into the abyss. Three: Solve world hunger…Tell no one. Four: Jazzercise. Five: Dinner with me…Can't cancel that again. Six: Wrestle with my self-loathing." He looked back at us, closing the calendar. "I'm booked."
Daisy ran up to him and grabbed him by the neck, holding her fist from his face. "Listen to me you over-grown lizard," She hissed, "If you don't do this then I won't get payback and you won't get to see daylight again. Capeesh?"
"Y-yes. Ca-capeesh." Bowser stammered.
She jumped down from his shoulders and dusted her cloak off. I was pretty speechless; I had never seen a princess do that before. I could understand self-defense, but not…THAT.
"So," I broke the stillness of the conversation, "Will you do it? Will you kidnap her?"
"Whatever." Bowser rolled his eyes, but Daisy twitched which made Bowser stop mid-roll. "Yeah. But, what's in it for me?"
Daisy put her finger to her lips and pretended to think. "Hmm…The gift of living another day."
He clapped his hands together and laughed nervously. "GOOD ENOUGH FOR ME!"
Daisy smiled victoriously. I couldn't help but laugh at his simple defeat. I wish I had known about Daisy sooner, she's a riot.
Bowser had us leave the castle and we both walked back to The Mushroom Kingdom as the sun had descended to the east. The day was almost over. Daisy and I both laughed the entire way back as she shared stories of how Bowser feared her secretly.
We returned to the castle as the sun was just setting, making the sky light up with vibrant colors. Daisy allowed me to sleep in the room next to hers, which were joined together by a door. The only way I could get out was by going through her room, but that also meant that no one could get in. It was an advantage and a disadvantage, to say the least.
"Tomorrow, Peach shall be kidnapped." Daisy announced, soft enough so that only I could hear.
"Thank you for the assistance, Daisy." I said, raising my small glass filled with water.
"No problem, Pauli." She raised her glass as well, "To her kidnapping and to payback."
"And to love." I said quietly.
She rolled her eyes but smiled. "And to love." We both clicked our glasses together and before I knew it, I was fast asleep.
*Peach's POV*
I can't trust anyone. No one is my friend anymore. There is no one in this world I can trust.
Except for Mario. I'm pretty sure I can still trust him.
But other than that, no one.
I can't believe that witch. I can't believe Daisy either. It was just a kiss anyway, she needs to grow up. The entire kingdom knows they like each other (even if they didn't, I pretty sure that they do now).
Alas, that is all in the past. It's time to plan out this little battle of mine. I just needed to find a way to make everything fall into place; a way to make all the dominos fall perfectly into place so that this all works out to my favor in the end.
I sadly don't know Pauline well and because of that, my knowledge of her weaknesses is limited.
But, if there's one thing that I do know, it's that Mario dated her a while back. If I can get him to oh, I don't know…spill some kind of information on what she can't stand, then I might just be able to think something up.
That was the plan. I had to find Mario and get him to tell me one of two things.
One: What Pauline's weaknesses are.
Or two: That he loves me.
Either one would benefit me really.
And that was chapter 5! Bowser is going to kidnap Peach by Daisy's orders? Peach is preparing to start a war using Pauline's unknown weaknesses? Bowser jazzercises? That and whole lot of questions that make no sense whatsoever will NOT be answered in this chapter…because the chapter is over. ANYWAY, the whole schedule thing with Bowser that has the whole "Two: Stare into the abyss." stuff, that is actually not my work. I actually took that from the live action movie called "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" which is one of my all time favorite movies. I do not own that part of the story, practically. Nor do I own the Mario characters, but I'm pretty sure you already knew that. Until next time, toodles!
