Chapter 3: Soccer Princess Daisy


Mario and Peach managed to escape the dance floor and a swarm of excited toads in every direction. Toad managed to get them to a secluded city overlook and stood guard for any interlopers. Neither spoke as they took in the festival and their people's joy around them.

"Ashamed Donkey Kong couldn't show up." Peach chuckled while Mario gave an exhausted laugh.

"Yeah, well, he's said he wasn't coming back until he took back his people's banana horde from the Kremling Krew. Ashamed Luigi, and I couldn't help him."

"You've been busy enough here with the remnants of Bowser's army. Besides, you know Donkey Kong, he's too proud to ask for help."

"Yeah, well, I hear his nephew Diddy snuck along. Crazy kid." Mario was careful but moved his hand closer to Peach's. "So, where do you think you'll expand the Mushroom Kingdom next? Iced Land, Giant Island, or the Pipe Maze?"

"I'm actually not sure. It's odd not having to worry about the Koopas anymore. Being able to think about the future." Peach moved her hand closer to Mario's. "What about you, Mario the Hero? What's your next big plan?" Peach leaned a little closer with eager anticipation but was shocked to see the Italian plumber's lost expression.

"That's the thing. I'm not really sure. All my life, I've had a goal or dream to reach for. Start my own business with Luigi, be our own men. Now we've got it. We're our own plumbers here in the Mushroom Kingdom, fighting the Koopas."

"There's still plenty of plumbing to do in our new towns." Peach chuckled with some reassurance, but Mario only smiled a little.

"True, but, uhh, I don't know."

"Aww come on, you can tell me." Peach nudged Mario with a playful shove which grew his smile.

"Alright, I guess I just wonder what I'll do without a goal. Not that you have to worry about that, Princess. For you, the sky is the limit!"

"I'm glad you think that, and your right. But the same is also true for you, Mario. When your brother and this Kingdom needed help, you stepped up without hesitation. Since then, you've proven yourself again and again and again. Do I even have to mention Wart?"

"Aww, Wart." Mario laughed and threw a dismissive hand. "He was nothing to Bowser. Big ugly frog. I could have beaten him in my sleep."

"There you go. Keep that passion lit, and you'll find what you're looking for. Wherever it may be."

"Woah." Toad's heart raced, and he watched in awe as Mario and Peach clasped their hands together. However, nothing prepared him for what came next as they moved their heads closer. "No way, no way, no-"

"Princess! Mario!" Both humans yelped and jumped upright as a group of toads raced toward them. Toad turned bright red and steamed up before he halted the interlopers.

"What!? What is it!? Do you know what you've just done!?" Toad loomed over his fellow toads who shrunk before him.

"Uhh, we just thought you should know there's another human in the city." Mario and Peach both went silent, then stared at each other.


Meanwhile, Daisy lost herself in the sea of color, wonder, and disbelief. She could not take in the little toad people who stared at her with almost as much.

"Woah, another human!"

"She's beautiful like Princess Peach!"

"Luigi, who is she!?"

"Uhhh, what are these things." Daisy squeezed Luigi's shoulder and hid behind him but did not notice his scarlet face or how his body shook.

"They're toads. They won't hurt you." Luigi assured Daisy, who peered closer as the little men and women came closer. Soon the athlete's fear transformed into delight when their cuteness.

"Hi." She waved her hand back at them before the crowd, who shared a collective smile.

"Everyone, this is Soccer Princess Daisy! She's from where Mario and I come from!"

"Soccer, what's soccer?" A toad asked and earned a bewildered expression from Daisy.

"What is soccer!? It's only the greatest sport ever invented! It requires skill, courage, determination, and spirit!" Daisy's fiery enthusiasm enraptured the toads, whose eyes widened.

"How do you play?!" A toadette cried. Luigi looked around until he saw a child toads playing catch with a ball roughly the size of a soccer ball and smiled.

"Hey kids, mind if we borrow this?" Luigi took the ball over and set it down in front of Daisy. "Why don't you show them?" Luigi struggled to suppress the butterflies in his stomach as Daisy giggled back at him and nodded.

"That's a wonderful idea. Try to block me." She almost saw him stumble away to set up a makeshift goalpost out of two orange construction cones. Luigi had never been athletic, though the last year of fighting koopas beside Mario changed that dramatically. With a deep breath, Luigi took a protective stance while Daisy kicked the ball up and headbutted it into the air.

"Woah!" The toads all held their mouths in awe and wonder with each move Daisy made. She kicked and guided the ball with the mastery of a professional athlete, which included a few acrobatic jumps and flips. Luigi became hypnotized by Daisy's moves and almost missed her final charge.

Daisy performed an acrobatic kick which shot the ball past Luigi faster than a bullet bill. The Italian plumber dove at it, but despite his best effort, he faceplanted and missed the shot by a foot.

"Wohoo!" Daisy threw her hands up while the toads erupted into a cheer. Luigi was halfway up when Daisy offered him a hand.

"How'd I do?" Luigi grunted and kept a sheepish smile as she giggled.

"Not bad. I've seen worse."

"You've gotta meet the Princess and Mario!" A toad raced over and took Daisy by the hand.

"They're right. Peach and Mario are the best." Luigi added, and the collective assurance from the toads earned a nod from Daisy.

"Why not. Lead the way, Luigi!" Several toads giggled when she took him by the hand. Luigi turned as red as Mario's shirt and cap but kept his face forward.

"Right, let's-a go!" It took them no time at all before Mario and Peach arrived in the streets. The Princess and older plumber brother stared at Daisy in disbelief.

"Mamma mia, it's Soccer Princess Daisy!" Mario gasped while Peach, too, tried to take in the young woman before her. With the exception of her very brief trip to Brooklyn a year earlier, Peach never met another human woman before, let alone one her age.

"So, you must be Mario and Princess Peach?" Daisy's earlier nerves returned, somehow worse than before, despite the fact that it was humans she faced instead of some other odd creature.

"Welcome to the Mushroom Kingdom. Daisy, was it? I've never heard of the Soccer Kingdom before."

"...I'm not a Princess like you." Daisy, Mario, and Luigi barely suppressed chuckles.

"How did you end up here? The same way as Mario and Luigi?"

"I don't know. I was inside the sewer in Brooklyn when these four dinosaurs jumped out at me, and we all fell into the green pipe. That's when I ran into Luigi."

"Dinosaurs?"

"Yoshis, four of them came out of the pipe after her. Their eggs must have gotten sucked into Brooklyn with Bowser a year ago." Luigi answered Mario and Peach's question.

"Well, you picked a good time to visit, Daisy. This is our first victory festival! Why don't we show you around!?" Peach now led Daisy on while Mario smirked and nudged his brother.

"Look at you. My little brother."

"What?" Luigi muttered even as his body trembled before Mario's smile.

"Luigi, the woman of your dreams is here! This is fate, destiny!"

"What!? No, she just got lost, is all. I, she-" Luigi sighed as Mario patted his shoulder.

"I'm gonna help you, Luigi."


Elsewhere, Toad walked through the castle to check on their 'guest' of honor when soft piano music filled his ears. His eyes narrowed at two enraptured castle guards who leaned against the wall as little Bowser sang from his birdcage.

"Peaches, peaches, peaches, peaches, peaches, I'll never let you go!"

"Hey, on your feet!" Toad's command snapped both guards to attention and saluted him as he walked over to Bowser.

"Enough with the piano and your stupid crush on the Princess! In case you didn't get the memo, Bowser, she hates your guts." A wide grin overtook Toad's face when he saw the little Koopa King snarl and huff out smoke. "And even more, she and Mario are basically an item now."

"Grauu!" Bowser flung himself against the cage bars and tried to slash at Toad, who tickled his stomach.

"Ahhh! Stop, no!" Bowser collapsed onto his shell as the other guards erupted into laughter.

"That's what I thought. Now be a good little Koopa and be quiet." Toad left Bower, who boiled in his shell.

"Fear not, my King." Kamek's aged voice reached Bowser, who turned and saw his Chief Magikoopa trapped in another cage nearby. Kamek did not have his wand but waved his hands over a crystal ball by his feet. A terrible grin tore through his wrinkled scales as it showed a figure shaped just like Bowser cloaked in a shadowy black aura. "All will be well."


Author's note

Yep, the toads spoiled a special moment, but don't worry, still plenty of story left

Next chapter is when things really heat up and I should tell you guys, every character I include I'm going to try and adapt from an existing Mario character, though some will be more obscure than others. Even so, I want to make this a love letter to the Mario franchise for all the joy it's brought us.

So until next time,

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