Chapter 5: The Grass Land


"Woah." Red and Yellow Yoshis panted then guzzled water from a nearby stream after an arduous journey from the capital of the Mushroom Kingdom.

"That's a good Yoshi." Peach stroked her Red Yoshi's head and plucked a large berry from a nearby bush. When the yoshi saw it, he shot his big tongue out and ensnared the fruit in a single gulp.

"Yoshi!"

"Hah!" Daisy's yellow Yoshi tried to nuzzle her, but the Soccer Princess hesitated.

"Relax, Luigi was right when he told you Yoshi's are friendly. In fact, they're some of the kindest creatures around. Whose a good yoshi!" Peach scratched her yoshi's chin, and he stomped his foot. Within moments, the red creature lay on his back, foot still kicking as Peach rubbed his belly.

"Yoshi!"

"Ummm, good Yoshi." Daisy slowly stroked her yellow Yoshi's head, and she licked the athlete across her face. "Ahhh, so sticky." Daisy splashed herself with some water from the stream as Peach chuckled.

"So Daisy, what is your life like back in the human world? If you don't mind me asking." Peach tried not to sound nervous, but Daisy saw through her facade. It was clear the Princess wanted to know what other human women were like, and Daisy gave a slight smile.

"Well, for starters, I'm not like most women, Peach. I'm an athlete, you see. Meaning I play sports, soccer, professionally."

"So you're one of the only women who plays sports?" Peach looked taken aback, but Daisy laughed and shook her head.

"No, Peach, there are lots of women athletes other than me. I meant that most people, men, and women aren't athletes. I'm trying to say my life isn't very typical of humans. I think you'd do better asking Mario and Luigi."

"Oh, I have. Mario has told me so much about your world. But I'd love to hear your take on it too."

"Ok, well, I first started playing soccer with my dad. He never got to play professionally but loved the sport and always had time to play it with me after school. After a while, I got better and started to fall in love with the sport. Dad pushed me hard but never got obsessed with it. He even told me the most important thing about soccer was having fun and enjoying it." Daisy lost herself in the fond memories of playing soccer with her father, and Peach saw her enraptured expression with intrigue.

"But you are a professional, right?" Peach saw her nod and smiled. "Your dad must be proud of you." Peach regretted her words when she saw Daisy's smile fade into lament.

"He was." Her tone and silence told Peach enough, and the Princess touched her shoulder.

"He is proud of you, Daisy. I know it." She watched the athlete nod and take a deep breath.

"How did you end up here, Peach?"

"I, I don't remember. The Toads told me I wandered in through a pipe like Mario and Luigi. Since then, they raised me as their Princess. They're my family now, and I will protect them!" Peach's voice kindled into fiery determination, and Daisy now understood why Peach cared for them so much. She took a deep breath and stood to her full height.

"I'll do my best to help you, Peach. I'm not a warrior, though." Despite her lack of confidence, Peach smiled back at Daisy with assurance.

"Neither were Mario and Luigi and look at them now. It's hard to admit, but Mario has surpassed me, and there's no getting around it. Still, I'm the toads' Princess, and I will protect them, and so will you."

"Woah!" Both yoshi cheered and stood upright, refreshed and ready to ride. Peach leaped back onto hers while Daisy got on with more caution.

"Ok, be gentle!" Daisy screamed when her Yoshi charged ahead, Peach's close behind. After another half-hour, the four stood on a hill overlooking what remained of a Mushroom colony. The Grass Lands rested in a valley with the tall grass dancing in the wind. Several dozen toad houses lay in ruins as hundreds of Bowser's minions ran rampant across the colony. Daisy's stomach hardened to stone at the sight, and she almost did not want to look Peach's way. However, instead of dread, fiery determination filled the Princess's expression as she tightened her fists. Both yoshis likewise pouted in anger and growled at the koopas.

"Look!" Daisy spotted a castle on an island in the middle of a small lake where an airship lay anchored over.

"That wasn't there before. The Koopalings must have built it!" Peach spotted Boweser's flag atop the castle.

"Princess!" A soft voice reached them, and both women looked back at a half-dozen toads and toadettes who raced toward them. "Princess, you came!" Tears filled their eyes as Peach knelt down and embraced the band.

"I'm sorry we weren't here to protect you. What's happening?"

"Ohh, Princess, Wendy, and Iggy Koopa have declared themselves the new Lords of the Grass Land! Anyone who defies them is transformed into an animal by their wands!" The fear and desperation in the toads' voices fanned the flames inside Peach, who stood back up tall.

"We're going to stop them. Send word to the other Toads. The time to rise up is now! Daisy and I will spearhead the attack and bring down the Koopalings. You will take care of the rest."

"Yes, Princess! If you lead, we'll follow! But we have something that might help. This way." The toads and toadettes led Peach and Daisy into a mushroom-shaped house perched on the hillside, hidden away from the koopas. There, another dozen or so more toads and toadettes hid. However, Princess Peach's arrival came like the dawn and chased away the shadows of lament over them.

"Princess!" One by one, the toads surrounded their Princess, who assured them all they would stop the Koopas. Angst filled Daisy as she tried to do the same. However, the little men and women stared back at her with more intrigue than hope.

"Princess, Princess Daisy, inside." The lead toad waved them inside the house where a pair of wooden chests lay. "It wasn't easy. The Koopas have been destroying any power-ups they find across the Grass Land, but we've hidden any we could in our safe houses."

Peach and Daisy opened one of the chests and saw the power-up inside. Despite having used one before, the Soccer Princess still was not entirely sure how these power-ups worked. She gave Peach a look that all but asked the question.

"Just squeeze it when you're ready to use it. But be careful. If you get hit, it goes away." After this, they put the power-ups handbags for later use. Daisy looked back at the toads and the renewed hope within them. She was no warrior or hero, but she had to do something. Daisy gave the same determined smile she bore before a tough soccer match and followed Peach out of the toad house.

Inside the ransacked Grass Land colony, toads and their brethren transformed into animals fled before swarms of Bowser's minions who laughed as they abused the little people, raided their homes, and collected their valuables. A few koopas carried off piles of gold coins while others smashed apart any power-ups they found. Koopas, except Bowser, could not use them. A toad and toadette hid under some brick blocks when a handful of goombas led by a Koopa found them.

"Awww, afraid to come out-" The green-shelled Koopa yelped after a high-heeled foot hit and sent him spinning into his goomba companions, who flew away. Soon the entire mob of Koopas turned on Peach.

(Recommended theme Super Mario Bros. 3 - Overworld [Remix])

"Pick on someone your own size!" The Princess snarled. She picked up the Koopa's spear and aimed it at them with fiery determination.

"Princess Peach! Think what Kind Bowser will give us when we bring her to him! Hee hee hee! Attack!" A yellow-shelled lieutenant Koopa aimed at her, and his platoon swarmed.

Peach saw a Ptooie piranha plant race ahead of a few goombas and blow a spiked ball her way. With masterful agility, she flipped herself over the projectile and hurled her weapon through the ground in front of the flower monster. Upon landing, she seized the weapon's shaft and spun herself around. With a series of kicks, Princess Peach sent the Ptooie and his goombas flying. From there, she flung herself up and over a hammer bro who had jumped onto a walkway of floating bricks. His hammers missed her feet by inches, and Peach stomped him into his shell before she spun herself into a parakoopa who flew over. With another sharp kick, she propelled the Koopa from his shell, seized it, and hurled the green weapon down into the minions below.

Daisy watched Peach in awe and disbelief as she did in the capital. Even with her athletic abilities, the Soccer Princess wondered how she was supposed to do anything like that. For a brief moment, Daisy considered using the power-up but shook her head as she remembered she had but one.

"What have we here, another human!?" Daisy's heart sank when she heard the snickers of more Koopas. Her body trembled, but the athlete forced herself to look in that direction. However, to Daisy's complete surprise, she saw five Koopas dressed in soccer jerseys and shorts of various colors. "Eat this!" The lead Koopa strike set down a white and black shell, then kicked it toward her. At that moment, all fear and dread left Daisy. Instead, a wide grin emerged across her face as she took an athletic stance.

"Here comes Daisy!" All five Koopa strikers' mouths dropped in disbelief when they saw Daisy kick the shell up and headbutt it with a mastery they never imagined possible. The same striker who kicked the shell flew backward after it hit his chest. Before the others could react, Daisy recovered her shell soccer ball and kicked it at the next. One by one, she dispatched the Koopa strikers but did not stop. A fire lit inside Daisy, who continued her soccer game against more Koopas, goombas, and ptooies in her path across the Grass Land.

Peach emerged from a green pipe and kicked another parakoopa out of the sky. As she landed, the Princess saw Daisy clear a path through the mass of minions below. She, too, smiled again at the athlete's courage.

"Daisy, I knew you had it in you." Peach caught the parakoopa's shell, then threw it down before she rode it like a skateboard. "You can't escape me!" A malevolent grin overtook the Princess as she knocked aside more than a dozen koopas, goombas, and ptooies in her path.

"Yes! Yes! Follow the Princess and Soccer Princess Daisy!" Within moments, dozens of toads and toadettes emerged from their hiding spots and charged the now-disorganized Koopa host. Peach and Daisy regrouped, then led the charge.

"See, nothing too-" Peach started before a baseball hit her stomach and sent the Princess in her stomach.

"Peach!" Daisy felt the wind knocked out of her as a football collided with her stomach.

"Going somewhere?" A gravelly voice echoed in both women's ears, and as they looked up, two bulky koopas adorned in football pads complete with helmets loomed over them.

"Chargin Chucks." Peach groaned before the athletic Koopas charged them.

"Woaah!" Daisy tried to scramble onto her feet but soon found it unnecessary.

"Yoshi!" The red and yellow yoshis raced in from behind and knocked their respective riders onto their backs. "Woah!" Both yoshi now jumped up and slammed the Chargin' Chucks onto their behinds. The koopas shook their heads and tried to charge again but came to the same result when the yoshi jumped on them again and then again.

"Good boy!" Peach stroked Red Yoshi's head while both Chucks lay on the ground unconscious.

"Get them!" A green Koopa charged Daisy, but Yellow Yoshi stuck her tongue out and ensnared the monster in her mouth.

"Woah! Good girl, good-" Daisy spotted a few goombas close behind the Koopa. But when Yellow Yoshi came down, the shell still in her mouth. Upon impact, a seismic tremor sent all four goombas into the air. Daisy's mouth dropped, and her Yoshi ate the egg with delight.

"Yoshi!"

Red Yoshi likewise snatched up another green Kopa in his mouth when at Peach's command, he breathed a spray of fire into another mass of Koopas, goombas, and ptooies, who scattered in pain.

"Ok, you know what, I'm starting to like these things." Daisy hugged Yellow Yoshi's head.

"Let's go!" Peach and Daisy rode toward the castle, where Bowser's flag flew in the wind.

"Ready!?"

"Ready for what!?" Daisy screamed when the two Yoshis jumped up and propelled both women into the air toward the battlements.

"It's ok!" Peach grabbed Daisy by the wrist and used her dress to parachute them down.

"We've got company!" Daisy spotted two Hammer Bros at the head of a Koopa platoon, weapons ready. Despite this, Peach smiled back and reached into her bag.

"Now!" Daisy, too took out her power-up and squeezed it. Peach landed with a blue shell and helmet over her and a pair of boomerangs in her hands. Daisy, likewise, hit the parapets and bounced.

"Huh?" The soccer star soon realized she had turned into a giant metal spring. "Are you freaking kidding me!?"

Peach saw this and suppressed a desire to laugh. However, her discipline kicked in, and she hurled the first boomerang, which knocked away a few thrown hammers, then cleared a path through the first hammer bro and several koopas behind him.

"It's not the power-up. It's how you use it!" Peach cried after she hurled the other boomerang and caught her first. Daisy wanted to scowl. It was easy for her to say with one like that. Even so, the second hammer bro hurled a few hammers toward her, and she yelped. The soccer star sprung herself up and over him, then came down and crushed him through the floor.

"Woah!" Daisy sprung herself back up and into the koopas, one after the other. Within minutes, the castle walls lay clear. "Ok, maybe this one isn't so bad." Daisy laughed as she bounced herself around the walls like a child. Peach smiled and shook her head, but the joy faded when a burst of dark magic flew toward Daisy.

"Look out!" Peach tackled her away just in time, and both women grunted as a pair of maniacal laughs loomed over them.

"Well, well, well, what have we here Iggy?" Wendy spun her wand while Iggy shook as he laughed like a madman.

"Ohhhh! We have two interlopers, sis! The Princess Kind!" Iggy's eyes spun from behind his glasses, and the Koopaling flipped himself.

"Hmp, Peach. What does my uncle see in you!? You're not worthy of being a Princess! The Mushroom Kingdom needs a real woman in charge of it, someone like me!" Wendy adjusted her bow while Peach boiled.

"Restore my toads, now!"

"Hee hee hee! Or what!? We have the power wands!? What are you gonna do about it, humans!?" Iggy laughed again, and this time Daisy snarled.

"We're gonna kick your scaly butts!"

(Recommended theme Fortress Boss - Super Mario World - Super Smash Bros. Ultimate)

"Hmp, you can try!" Wendy waved her wand and sent magical rings upon them. Peach and Daisy avoided them, but the rings bounced off some parapets and came back.

"Oh no!" Peach spun herself and only just avoided them. Moments later, Iggy, too, waved his wand and sent bursts of dark magic toward Daisy, who sprung herself around the castle. Peach avoided the incoming rungs and hurled her boomerangs at Wendy, who jumped and ducked to avoid them.

"Hmp, is that the best you've got!?" Wendy's smile faded when she saw the look on Peach's face. Within a moment, both boomerangs struck her on their return trip and sent Wendy into her shell. Daisy likewise propelled herself up and landed square on Iggy's head.

"Ouch!" Iggy snarled and, too, went into his shell. Before the women could celebrate, Iggy and Wendy now spun themselves around and came like heat-seeking missiles.

"Oh no!" Peach and Daisy tried to run/spring, but the Koopalings struck them dead center. They cried out in pain as their power-ups vanished.

"Hmp!" Wendy flashed her fangs as she loomed over a dazed Peach.

"I'd turn you into an actual Peach, but Uncle Bowser would be furious! Your friend, though, well. Iggy, use your imagination!"

"Ohhh, don't mind if I do!" Iggy's eyes flashed a dozen colors as he raised his wand over Daisy, who turned pale.

"Yoshi!" Less than a moment later, Iggy was pounced back into his shell by Yellow Yoshi, who then landed beside Daisy and licked her face.

"Good girl! Good girl!"

"What!?" Wendy, too found herself jumped on by Red Yoshi, who followed his sister's example and then stood in front of Peach.

"Grrrrr!" The Koopalings spun themselves around again.

"Look out!" The Yoshis pushed their riders away before Wendy and Iggy knocked them aside.

"Yoshi!" Peach and Daisy cried together. Their beloved dinosaurs moaned in pain. A fresh wave of rage and determination flooded both women who charged the spinning shells.

"Nobody hurts my Yoshi!" Peach and Daisy kicked the shells into each other. When Iggy and Wendy collided, they landed on their backs, their heads spinning.

"Ohhh, what happened!?" The brother and sister hugged each other in terror when they saw Peach and Daisy come down upon them. With one final blow, the Koopalings went through the floor, and their wands landed beside the hole.

"Hmp! Serves you right-" Daisy stopped when she saw a blue-shelled Captain fly up from the opening, Wendy and Iggy in his hands.

"How dare you-" He stopped when Daisy and Peach picked up the wands. "Hmp, next time!" At that, the Koopas boarded their airship and flew off, their ground troops fleeing close behind.

"We did it. We actually did it!?" Daisy panted in disbelief.

"Not yet." Peach and Daisy held up the wands and waved them. A sense of unmatched relief took hold as hundreds of transformed toads returned to their original bodies.

"Yay!" A makeshift party overtook the Grass Lands as the toads and toadettes reunited with their loved ones. Peach, Daisy, and their Yoshis watched from the castle, overwhelmed by it all.

"I can't believe what I just did." Daisy trembled and felt Peach touch her shoulder.

"That's what it means to be a hero, Daisy. Come on, Mario and Luigi are waiting for us."


Author's note

Yep, this is meant to be world 1 from Super Mario Bros 3

As I said, I tried to base all the enemies and elements on things that exist in Mario, including the Koopa Strikers from Super Paper Mario

Next chapter is going to be my personal favorite

So until next time,

Please review, comment, suggest or ask (VIA PM)