The past week was filled with boredom. During the day Peach would walk the aisles, looking at various treasures. Sometimes she would sit down at her spot and start braiding her wire hair, all for it to be undone when someone walked past. From her spot she could see things being packed into crates and taken off to shipping. She once tried to hide away in a crate headed to Toad Town. She had made it out to the loading dock when she was discovered by a worker double checking the manifest. The cabin fever was starting to get to her, she often found herself talking to some of the statues on her aisle. The Raphael the Raven statue seemed to have a good sense of humor.
At nights she couldn't wander around, as guards would do patrols. She had to sleep in her statue form since there was no room to lay down.
But today Peach felt a little funny. That's the word she best described it with. Others were 'spread out', 'small', and just 'different'. She couldn't even feel her arms or legs. She had fallen asleep in her spot last night, but now she didn't know where she was. Everything seemed dark, warm and damp. She could tell she was moving, and she could hear sounds outside. Wheels on floors, people chatting, and the distinct 'beep' of a grocery store register. Hello? Can anyone hear me? She tried to say but with no avail.
Remain calm, just breathe. She tried to breathe but found she couldn't. Every time she tried to inhale she felt constricted, like she had been run over by a steamroller.
"Ok, It looks like your total today is 22 coins, sir." She heard a female voice say.
Suddenly a light shone down from above and a large hand reached to grab her.
"Will this cover it?" a familiar voice had said.
Mario? Mario! Help me I- AAAAH! She screamed as she noticed what she was. In Mario's hand was a 50 coin piece, the image of the Princess on the front. The only thing different about this coin was its pink coloring, and the consciousness trapped inside it.
"Certainly sir. Money is money after all." The cashier said, as she took the pink coin and dropped it in her till. "You have 28 coins change, have a good day!"
MARIO! WAIT! IT'S ME! NOOO! She cried as the drawer slammed shut.
"NO!" she screamed as she awoke. She looked around and realized she was back in the vault, body and all. "Thank goodness it was just a dream!" she sighed.
Her heart was still racing as a group of four workers came down the aisle with a handcart.
"So what are we looking for?" Asked one of them.
Another one pulled out a clipboard. "Says here, 'PS014-029' a pink Princess Peach statue... Here it is."
They pulled up to Peach and attached a harness to her. Using the crane on the cart, they lifted her up onto it.
She was taken to the south elevator this time, which seemed a lot nicer than the one she was taken down to the vault in. One of the workers was chatting about a poker night he was invited to the other day. Something about a rabbit and whatever a 'strong bad' was. He didn't seem happy about it.
The doors opened to an executive office. Pictures of Wario at various events, Even a couple diplomas on the wall. Who knew Wario had a P.H.D in Economics? She was brought into the center of the room as Wario himself walked in, dressed in a nice business suit. Beside him was a short toad with a small briefcase.
"So this is the piece we were discussing? Magnificent!" The toad said. 'Toadington' was embossed on his suitcase.
Thank you!
"Yes, but it's no Wario." He said, striking a pose. If she could, Peach would've rolled her eyes.
"Indeed, let's see what it's worth. Shall we? How much does it weigh?"
Normally this question would offend Peach, but even she found herself wondering what she weighed. One of the workers pulled out a clipboard. "Looks like it's 2,825 pounds 4 ounces."
WHAT! Wario carried me here by himself! Peach knew he was strong, but that was just ridiculous.
"Let's see here, using normal conversions. That much gold would amount to... 45,200 coins."
"Not bad. I have certainly earned less in one go." Wario said with a look of approval.
"I'm not done. This isn't gold." Toadington pointed out. "This is pink-gold. One of the rarest substances on the planet."
"Wow, so what's it worth?"
"2800 pounds of pure pink-gold is worth ten times as much, so you are looking at 450,000 coins."
"It's worth how much?!" I'm worth how much!? Both Wario and Peach were dumfounded.
"Hold on now, it being a sculpture severely depreciates its value. As it is right now, on the market you would be able to get about 75,000 coins." Toadington certainly knew his stuff. And while Wario was disappointed about how much the value dropped, he knew his 'investement' (read: theft) was a good one. But Wario wasn't the type of man to settle for good.
"Ok, Thank you for your time Toadington, we will have your payment in the mail shortly." Wario was a different man when it came to his business. He almost seemed civilized. He turned to the workers, "Take it to reclamation." There was the Wario Peach knew.
"Yes sir!" The worker with the clipboard said as they wheeled the Princess out of the room. Through the front door instead of the elevator.
Peach was definitely a wise person, but for the life of her she couldn't remember what reclamation was. Reclaim, to claim or demand the return of. To bring back to a preferable manner of living. She paused for a moment to consider the last definition. To bring into a condition for other use. Toadington said pink-gold was more valuable in it's pure form. She finally figured it out. NO!
The workers carried on through a set of double doors labeled 'Reclamation'. It was a large room with multiple furnaces and presses. Gold and other metals would go into a furnace, come out of it molten, and be poured and pressed into coins. Her worst nightmare was coming to fruition.
"So basically your job is to schedule appointments, take phone calls, and check I.D.s as people come into the facility." The former secretary was happily coaching her replacement, Barry.
"Seems simple enough." Barry was confident. Not only was he helping the Princess, but getting a second paycheck too!
"Sure, you keep thinking that. If you have any troubles, call me." she handed him a small business card.
"Thank you, enjoy retirement!"
"Ohoho, I certainly will young man."
As she left, Barry plugged a small flash drive into the computer, one with a Gadd Sciences logo on it. A small dialogue box popped up onto the screen. It simply said "Run? Yes/No". After clicking yes, a progress bar and a chat box opened. He typed into the chat.
Blue: I'm in.
Red: Good, we are getting the files.
On the other end was Red and Green, or Mario and Luigi. He started to look over the details of Wario's staff and security. 720 employees, 75 of them security staff. The Vault crew consisted of 15 security guards patrolling the shelves from 9:00pm to 6:00am, but surprisingly there were no guards in the vault during the day. There were two guards at each of the buildings 12 entrances, 4 at the entrance to Wario's office, and 4 at the cargo elevator. So it seemed their plan of attack would be the ventilation after all, but they would have to do it in broad daylight.
Green: Blue, is the air conditioning system computer controlled?
Blue: Hold on a moment.
Barry was digging into the files when the phone rang. "Thank you for calling WarioWare Inc. This is Barry, how may I help you?"
"Hello." The woman on the phone spoke very professionally. "I would like to speak with Wario about purchasing an item in Wario's personal collection."
"Sure!" Barry said. "Let me transfer you." After transferring the call he went back to his research.
Blue: Yes, it is. In fact I can control it from here.
Green: Good, now open the file named 'Destroyer 6000' on the flash drive. Once it is open, click on the climate control window.
Blue: Ok
He proceeded to open the file, and his cursor turned into a bomb, stylized to look like Professor Gadd's head. Once he clicked on the control window, the fuse on the bomb lit and counted down. '3...2...1... Have a good day!' The window was gone. As well as the icon to launch the application. 5 seconds later he heard the air conditioning unit shut down.
Blue: Ok, what did you just have me do?!
Red: I believe Green just provided us with a way in.
Looks like the princess is in trouble! Will she be rescued in time? Or will Mario need to get into coin collecting? Find out on Monday!