Mario, Peach, and Daisy raced down the shadowy corridors of the castle. Mario was clearly straining to go faster, but he would not leave the princesses behind. Peach remembered what she had seen from the balcony right before Mario pulled her away. A river of wolves flowed toward the castle with frightening synchronicity. It almost seemed like a dark river. Grays, blacks and browns all weaving in and out of each other approached the town. Peach knew it was one river you did not want to drown in.
Finally, the trio exited through the back doors of the castle into the courtyard. Despite the refreshing, crisp, cold air, Peach was scared out of her wits.
Mario howled melancholically.
"What are you doing?" Daisy hissed. "You'll tell them where we are!"
"I'm calling a friend, he can help us," Mario growled.
"What kind of friend?" Daisy asked. "A manticore? A cockotriace? A hippogriff? or one of your weird combinations of two to seven animals all together? Will he want to kill us too?"
"If he wanted to kill us, why would I call him?" Mario reasoned.
"Because you didn't know that he wanted to kill us." Daisy offered. Mario snorted, very unamused. A furious screech echoed overhead.
"Duck," Mario barked, tackling Peach as Daisy dropped to her knees. A flying shape went careening into the pulled-up drawbridge, shattering it to splinters. A disgruntled gorgon lay in the moat beyond. Mario returned to his feet and leapt across the dark water easily. Peach recovered from her shock and jumped, her dress poofing out to catch the air. She landed daintily on the other side. Turning, she said "You coming Dai-" just as the flower princess hurled herself over the gap with ease, landing in a crouch reminiscent to that of the ninja.
"Come on, lazy brains!" she yelled. "They're here."
The wolves streamed around the sides of the castle, still flowing as if they were a river ready to bash you against its rocks that were the wolves' teeth. However, now the trio was close enough to distinguish the leader of this pack. His matted, scraggly fur was a sickly yellow color. His claws were grizzly with his last victim's cartilage, as well as the dead grass and mud their razor points had pulled up by running over the lawn. His teeth were no better. Just without the mud or grass, and lots more blood.
The trio ran, but they weren't faster than the wolves.
The girls started to lag behind, and Mario wouldn't leave them. Daisy ripped the skirt off her dress and ran like a mad woman, but even in the face of death Peach was a little more hesitant. It cost her precious seconds. The alpha wolf grabbed the edge of Peach's skirt in its mouth. Peach screamed.
A black rocket plummeted out of the sky, bringing hard paws down on the alpha's skull. The wolf let go of Peach, knocked out cold. The wolves trailing their alpha lost their balance as the broken mustard form tripped them up.
"Luigi?" Peach asked.
"Nope!" A voice growled, right beside her. The voice came from another wolf, this one was flying on large bat wings, very similar Luigi's. He seemed rather dashing for a wolf. His jet black fur was slicked back so it clung to his form, which was small and lithe compared to Mario. He swooped down in front of Peach and suddenly stopped running.
Peach fumbled onto his back, and in an instant he was off again. He soared over the forest behind the castle and swooped down to where Mario's and Daisy's forms could only just be made out. Landing in a half-run and tucking in his wings, he growled to Mario, "Were you missing this one?"
"Yes, thanks," Mario replied. "Hop on Daisy."
Daisy wasted no time mounting the wolf. She could see the blood-red eyes of the alpha again. The wolves had not fumbled for long, and they were still much faster than the two princess.
"Hold on," Mario growled, and the two wolves went full speed.
Werewolves are fast.
It was a fact new to Peach. They sped through the trees, weaving and dodging the large trunks and leaping gracefully over the fallen ones. The two were doing 60 miles per hour, easy. It took a while, but the yaps of the pack faded into the distance. However, in the back of her mind, Peach knew that as soon as they stopped, the sounds would return. Not only that, but she could tell that Mario was beginning to tire. Despite the fact that he was running for her life, Peach didn't want him to overexert himself. Suddenly a shadow fell over them. A very big shadow.
"There's a stream if you turn off to your left," Luigi called. "They'll lose the scent!"
"It won't work, we can't get properly submerged," Mario called. "Even if our paws lose some scent, it will still be on the trees we've passed!"
"Where have you been!" The black wolf called up irritably.
"Looking for a way to get you out of this!" Luigi snapped.
"Do you two really have to get into that now?" Mario whined.
"YES!" Luigi and the wolf snapped at the same time.
"Well too bad, because you can't! We are running for our lives!" Mario retorted.
"I'm not," The black wolf pointed out. "I could stop right now and I wouldn't be killed by them."
"If you stop right now, I'll kill you," Luigi snarled.
Amid all of the monsters arguing, Daisy was silent. It struck Peach as strange. Daisy loved arguing. Even if she had no idea what the argument was on, she'd hop right in as if she'd started it. She also loved finishing arguments. She had stated several times that was one of her favorite things about being a princess, (an astounding upside in a voluminous list of reasons why being a princess sucks) and yet, she wasn't ending this argument at all. Furthermore, a look of deep thinking etched her features. That was the most enigmatic thing Peach had ever seen. Daisy never thought deeply. She seldom thought at all. Intuition, recklessness, and impulsiveness were her three middle names. Then her features hardened into a decisive face. Peach groaned inwardly. She knew that face. That face meant I'm going to do whatever it is I have on my mind no matter how hair-brained, stupid, or absolutely ridiculous it is; I'm going to do it alone, and there is no way on the face of the planet you will stop me from doing it unless it clearly, completely, and directly endangers my friends to sudden death. Peach became more confused as she saw a single tear trace its way down Daisy's face.
"These wolves won't give up will they?" She muttered to herself.
"No they won't," Luigi answered her instinctively. "They're hunting machines, unalloyed werewolves especially. They are full-blown monsters and relentless pursuers. Alloyed Werewolves, on the other hand, are still part human. Their resilience is admirable, and their speed is about ten miles per hour more than their monstrous packmates, but extra stamina is something to be desired. Why are you asking?"
He glanced at Daisy, who stared back at him. Peach could see it in her eyes that Daisy had not wanted Luigi to hear a word she said. Then again, if he was regular Luigi, he could not have heard a word she said. But, if he had good enough ears to use echolocation, he definitely had some freaking awesome ears. Part of Peach wanted to experiment, but now was not the time.
Daisy had a faraway look on her face as she gazed at Luigi.
"I'll miss you, you know," she whispered.
Then she jumped off Mario's back. everyone was so shocked they could only stare for ten whole seconds.
In those ten seconds, Mario and his friend put at least a sixth of a mile between them and Daisy.
Also in those ten seconds, the pack had gotten five thirty-sixths of a mile closer to Daisy. Peach did some quick calculations in her head. Assuming the wind speed (which was to her back), Mario's speed, the pack's speed, the assumption that werewolves cannot turn on a dime at full speed, the other assumption that it takes time to build up to full speed again, and then turn on a dime again after picking up a princess and build up to full speed again, there was no way to go back for Daisy on foot.
"Daisy!" Luigi cried.
He, however, had no trouble turning on a dime. At least, he would have had no trouble if Peach hadn't grabbed his wing. Luigi yanked it from her grasp, or tried to. Peach had a surprisingly good grip, and the best he could do was keep himself level with his other wing.
"We have to go back!" He insisted.
"That's not what Daisy would want," Peach said. "Don't you see? She's given them a reason to slow down. We can escape now."
Surprise blasted itself onto Luigi's face. "It's not like you to be this heartless, Peach," He said coldly.
"It's too late," Peach said. Half a minute had passed since Daisy had left them. Half a mile was between her and Luigi now.
"Besides, it was the only way to stop them," Peach continued. She let go of Luigi's wing. He still glided along beside them, despite his urges. His eyes had glazed over in disbelief.
Peach felt her dress ruffle as her mount unfurled his wings and lept into the air.
"Mario, get on Luigi," The black wolf commanded. Mario gave a flying leap into the air and landed squarely on his brother's shoulders, once again in his mostly human form. The jolt seemed to shock Luigi back to the world, and determination hardened his features.
"Come on!" He called. "Follow me!"
In truth, he was desperately trying to shut out Daisy's vicious insults towards the pack as she made her last stand.