Downfall of the Mushroom Kingdom

by geddiknight

As it feels like the worst is behind her, Now-Queen Peach resumes rule of the Mushroom Kingdom. Sadly, due to the costs of having upheld the Ultimate DoubleDash Tournament, everything seems to only be getting worse. With Rates of Violence reaching new highs and rates of approval dropping by the day, can Queen Peach handle her self-inflicted destruction? (Now rated M)

2. The Morning After: Peach's Day

Downfall of the Mushroom Kingdom

The Morning After – Peach's Day

A/N: Now that the Prologue has been released, we will now focus on the storyline. Everything will be back to how things were left off from the 'Fighting In The Streets' ending and Epilogue.

An additional note for these chapters: some parts of them will be written in the eyes and mind of other characters. As for the 'Narrator', the current default would be written and read out in the eyes of the Narrator. It will usually begin with the Narrator doing so. When it doesn't or if it is the turn for someone else to be talking in their perspective, it will be indicated and when it ends, it will either switch to someone else's perspective with it being indicated, or going back to the Narrator. When it is the latter, there will be an indication marked: (*).

...

(In the Narrator's Perspective):

There are two very important places to begin with here as the sun rises on this day. Firstly, we have the capital of the Mushroom Kingdom: Mushroom City, currently recovering rather swiftly from the disastrous events of the final race of Bowser's Trial. Although the result of the trial did not go the way Peach originally anticipated it to go, her spirits were not down and defeated. Bowser's existence as a threat was no longer there to her and now she felt like she could fully focus on her other intentions. However, this could not immediately be put into practice. With a city in recovery and parts of the entire lands in fear of escalating violence, the Queen of the Mushroom Kingdom felt like she needed to address the nation that things will now be on a better path to peace throughout the lands. Following her personal events that escalated through the night, she felt almost like a Goddess, like she could do anything. This confidence gained by her made her think fully believe that the recovery will go swift and smoothly, and that the families of all those people affected by the city's catastrophe will be understanding, merciful and forgiving to her. She knew that she would have to take most of if not all responsibility for all of the incidents, building damage and any lives that are currently being tallied up in the streets as we speak. Peach was willing to apologise on behalf of the government and the Toad Brigade for all of this mess.

She was now back at home in her castle. The sun had risen quite a while ago, and some of the castle workers were starting to wake up and get ready to start their day in the offices. I don't know what exactly it was that helped her but Peach was still going strong in terms of keeping herself awake at this time. She had been up for nearly twenty-four hours and showed no signs of tiredness to herself in the mirror. Specifically right now she was in the bathroom, examining her worn, tattered biker outfit used in the final race last night. She wanted to change, but not into her large pink dress. She wasn't feeling that vibe at the moment and she didn't want to put on a new biking outfit either. Something casual would best suit her right now. Before thinking of going out to another room to change, she turned the taps on and sprayed some water over her face, making sure that she was keeping herself awake. Visibly, she was fine, but on the inside she began feeling like her body wanted desperate attention for hours of rest. An early night was in order, maybe even a nap, but at the moment, this day mattered to her. There were a lot of things to cover, including the national apology and briefing to the nation on the days to come.

Unfortunately, Daisy was still fast asleep. When Peach left the bathroom on the top floor, she peered into Daisy's quarters where she saw her body wrapped up in the duvet. It was best not to disturb her; she doesn't need the burden on her shoulders without a good night's sleep at least. Peach gave the sleeping girl a half-smile and then went back to her dormitories to change clothes. From the walk through the town to the castle, she felt the morning breeze and it was much cooler than it used to be a few days ago. Though still sunny, the morning temperatures were no longer in the upper twenties. Still, short sleeves would be enough. Peach now dressed herself in a cotton baby pink t-shirt and denim shorts, along with white socks and no shoes. She didn't feel like wearing shoes right now. Now that she was fully dressed and prepared, she was ready to start her day off with breakfast.

Peach descended the staircase nearest to her bedroom and travelled to the dining room on the nineteenth floor of the castle. This was where she typically ate all of her meals if she wasn't going out. None of the cooks were ready to start working today so instead of having a large buffet selection that she would usually have, she decided to stick to a bowl of cereal and two of the fruits in the fruit bowl. It would be just enough to keep her going through the morning. While she sat herself down and began eating, she received a rather surprising visit from a blue-spotted Toad. It was Toadheim, a worker in the department of security in the castle who she frequently spoke to over the past few months. He looked shattered, wanting sleep, but tried to look as well-established as possible when in her vicinity.

"My Queen." Toadheim gave her a bow. Peach turned her head a little in his direction and noticed a pile of papers he was carrying in his hands. She gave him back a nod and beckoned him over while her mouth was full of a spoonful of cereal. "Have you... had any sleep?" He asked before putting the stacks of paper down to the table nearby.

"None, but I'm fine." Peach giggled. "You don't need to worry about me. Can you explain what all of this is?" The papers weren't perfectly lined up together, but there looked to be at least a hundred sheets in the pile. Whatever it was, she was going to dread hearing about it.

"It is a sum of all expenses... basically a bill for last night in the Capital. My team are working on calculating any damages caused directly and indirectly from the events of last night in other towns over the lands and tallying up a bill for the government." Toadheim replied, moving over to the other side of the table to look at Peach from. "You don't need to worry about a thing however; the bill is far less than all of the revenue generated from these races. In fact, it is just a mere percentage in single figures."

"That's good." Peach felt relieved, but for a few seconds afterwards, she expressed a bit of concern. "One thing about this, what is it worth to you, telling me this? Is there something else about these sheets I should be worried about? As for the bill, the vault in the lower floors can be used to pay it all off. That's where most of the flow is stored from ticket sales and advertisements." While eating more of her cereal, she watched Toadheim lean over towards the papers and divide them into two piles. He had intentionally left a crease in one of the sheets somewhere down the pile so he could do this. The now-lower pile was much smaller than the other sheets he removed, and the first sheet Peach saw on the new low pile was a title labelled 'March 10 Costs – Lives'. This was then separated into two categories: individuals that had died during the events as a result of their actions during the panic and rioting, and the individuals that were killed as collateral; innocent lives lost. Thankfully, the list wasn't as long as she thought it would be based on the amount of paper still in the pile. Each death had a description of the person and their cause of death, as well as other statistics about them. Peach still gulped and expressed deep sadness for the pile, but no tears to stain the papers. This was serious work for her and she knew she had to contribute something genuine that only she could do.

"We recorded one hundred and seventy-eight deaths in Mushroom City last night, including eighty-five official workers, fifty-two management crew members, seven castle workers, and five children. Additionally, we have three deaths at the very bottom of people outside of the city but found dead caused by similar reasons." Toadheim mentioned the major statistics to save as much hassle as he could for Peach. He examined her look at the papers and knew she was not content with any of it. "We can take care with it all if you want."

"No. You can do some things yes, but I do want to make a briefing to everyone tonight. This will be something I as the Queen of the Mushroom Kingdom have to do. Let the castle know that I will be doing this. It will give some of the news channels something to prepare for as well." Peach brought the smaller pile of sheets closer to her as she moved her breakfast cereal bowl aside.

"As you command, my Queen." Toadheim gave Peach a last nod before making his way out of the room.

"Toadheim, wait just a moment." She stopped him as he got to the doorway out of the room. He turned around and stared right back at her, blushing. "I am going to be forming a new high-council in my castle command, and I want you to be my new head of security, for your years of service and extreme aid in these recent months too." Toadheim gave Peach a brief bow, appreciating the honour.

"It will be my pleasure, Queen." He then departed from the corridor and out of her sight. Now it was time for her to read over a lot of these sheets of paper; however, there was a light flashing from her phone on the table beside the bowl. The phone was on silent but she knew she had received a new notification. It was a new important message from the contact: 'R M Archbarn'

Neodjan was right, Aypyidaw has fallen to the Hostiles.

She decided to call him immediately.

...

The problem Peach currently faced with this matter was that she never knew about the collapse of the northern city until this very moment. It seemed that none of the three Red Martyrs who came to Mushroom City for the Rainbow Race knew about it either. Unfortunately, she wasn't able to say goodbyes to the three after the race due to the catastrophes and they made their way up to the town during the night.

"Hello?" Peach spoke through the phone after hearing nothing on the other end for the first few seconds of the call.

"Hello... I take it you received my text." She finally heard Archbarn's voice, as well as the sound of faint muttering going on in the background. She assumed it was Muji and Eoréc, as they were the two who were with him all this time.

"What's going on?" She asked dearly. "What's happened to Aypyidaw?"

"We're currently in New Donk City at the moment. Trains to Aypyidaw and other parts of the north have recently been suspended. I've lost contact with Neodjan, but the scenes of many residents of Aypyidaw fleeing to the south provided us with enough information on what the city has become. Some have said it's up in flames. Some say the Hostiles assaulted it while we were gone and that we lost, I have a fear both have happened." Peach gulped over the phone, for now yet another threat has risen in her path to peace in the lands.

"Make sure all the innocents have been escorted out of the tunnels. I am willing to shut them down from the west to ensure that everything is okay. Do you know anything about the situation going on in the South Mountain Village? I'm sure there would be many fleeing to there as well since there's a second tunnel there I'm sure you know about."

"I know very little on what's happening in South Mountain Village, but as far as I am aware, it's no different to here. The Toad Police in that town should be on the case. Try contacting someone there in a few minutes." South of the town of Aypyidaw was the mountain range that splits up the northern lands with the three southern kingdoms. For train services and roads going under the mountains, the tracks go under two separate tunnels in the western part. The main tunnel takes a south route and then an eastward path towards Donk City and New Donk City in the disputed lands. The second tunnel goes west towards Wuhu, and the nearest town towards the mountain tunnel there is known as South Mountain Village, a few miles east of the town containing the Electrodrome.

"I will get to that. Is there anything else you would like me to know?" Peach spoke over the phone, peering over the first page of the sheets on the table. "It's important in times like these when people are informed as much as possible."

"I'd say, bring all operatives in Résethal back down south. Completely abandon anywhere west of Castelia and monitor the eastern tunnels, I'll do my best with Muji and Eoréc here with handling the western tunnels. New Donk City should be able to assist us as well."

"That is good for now. Text me any updates. Bye for now." Peach quickly hung the phone up and placed it on her left with the cereal bowl far to the right. Now it was time for her to read over many papers concerning the deaths of lives from last night. The first category she got to was members of the Toad management crew and the first name to appear on the list on the first page below the top was the details of the head operative of the crew: Toadant Stone. Peach sighed, getting very emotional. Tears began to leak from her eyelids to which she quickly wiped them across her face. She didn't want anything to get on these precious, delicate articles.

Toadant Stone, beloved leader of the Toad Management Crew and race director of the Trial of Bowser Koopa – End Result: Overturned.

Below was more information about him, his age, connections, appearance, residence, as well as a brief description about who he was and how he was to others. Peach gave it a read, trying her best to work through the burning in her mind hurting her mentally. She had no idea it would have come to this, and sadly, he will be missed to her and many others.

The list went on... and on... and on. She ended up spending well over an hour looking at them all and the further she got down the list, she spent less time on each sheet, eventually getting to the point where she was just skimming through the names and getting to the bottom as quickly as possible, grabbing only the important information such as the name of the person, their age, and where their body was found. Most of the bodies were found in Toad Town and she had witnessed the deaths herself. Most of the eighty-five Toad Brigade soldier or government worker bodies were caused by the dark energy burst let out by that magical dark spectral figure that she still doesn't know much about. Soon after, she reached the final sub-category of the sheet pile, that which being the three deaths of people found outside the boundaries of Mushroom City. One in Leshenza, a relatively large town in the middle plains between Mushroom City and Sarasaland, one in Canchos Palace, a smaller area north of Leshenza and an old home to one of the former monarchs of the lands, and one in the village of Summer Meadows. All of the deaths were connected in that they were all Koopa detectives that worked for the Mushroom Kingdom, and their deaths were all the same; all three were shot dead instantly in the head. Craig Marvin was the first, a Koopa originally from Koopa City and had been working for the government for several years, found dead with a gunshot to the head in the back end of an alley in Leshenza. Diego Koopist, born in Seven Farms and serving the government for two years, found dead in a farm on the outskirts of the Canchos Palace town, and lastly, Koops McShell, one well-known to Peach and an enemy-turned-ally over the past five years, found dead behind a gas station convenience store in Summer Meadows alongside another victim, being the shopkeeper: Marigo Leems.

This third detective death was a big surprise to her, and currently one that mattered the most, almost as much as Toadant's and the rest of the management crew. She knew that a lot of his work was private, and the last thing she remembered about him was his frequent works with some of the Koopalings before they were sent to be hidden away from her. Still, Koops... Mario knew this Koopa. She couldn't imagine what the look on his face would be when he finds out that he had been shot in the head presumably by a hostile. She thought that perhaps it could be the same people involved in these killings as some of the Toads murdered among the management crew in the control room while it was infiltrated. Surely the three Koopas involved in the power shortage made their way to the city via the Summerfield curve; the name given to the five towns along a train line east of Sarasaland connected only by the Savannah Circle, consisting of Summer Meadows at the top which connected to the circle, Canchos Palace, Daisy Hills, Ambozia and Leshenza. It seemed to her that another thing to do would be to conduct a hunt for these three unknown hostile Koopas, as they have committed more damage to her Kingdom over the past week than Bowser could have ever dream to do in a year.

There was still one more page at the very bottom of the pile, almost forgotten about. This was the only one that was double-sided as well and left for Peach to keep for herself. At the top, it read: "In loving memory of our beloved Toadbert: assistant, friend, and one-time partner to the Mario Brothers". Peach couldn't believe this slipped out of her mind. It had been less than twelve hours and she had already forgotten about this casualty. So much had happened in such a short time and there was still much for her to do throughout the morning.

KNOCK! KNOCK!

(In Peach's Perspective):

I turned around and noticed the arrival of Princess Daisy. It was almost nine in the morning and I could tell that Daisy was looking better and well-dressed than I was. She was also wearing her traditional orange dress ready to start the day. I guess that shows what some hours of good, well-earned sleep can do to someone. I sure hope she's available to help me deal with some of these papers. It's going to take me hours to make individual letters of apology to the next-of-kin of each person. There are going to be some nasty exceptions, because there are going to be some people who would have emotional families, some who do not support me as much as I wish, and some people who probably don't have anyone who care for them but me, and nowhere for me to put these notes. I may have to call Toadheim back up soon. Maybe he could give me some sort of guidance with all of this.

"Hey-ho." Daisy didn't seem as loud and energetic as I thought she would be. Usually she would bring a bright mood to my eyes, but not this time. This was good though, as it wouldn't seem very fitting to be all energetic considering I have a lot of dealing with the dead to do this afternoon. I still smiled back to her, unsure what to say.

"Come over." I just beckoned to her. She needed to have a look at this as I doubt she would have been told about it already. "I have some things to say."

"That's a lot of paperwork." I showed her the top of the first pile. There she could have a sift through the dues to be paid to the residents of the city. I don't want to give her the other pile just yet. This would be something she must be prepared to read and hear me explain it to her.

"Before me is a document accounting for all the current deaths in the city from the disaster that we witnessed last night. Each sheet of paper accounts for one to a few people, and each have their own statistics on them. Every loss matters, and I want to make some reparations and apologise to all those affected. It's not just lives that were lost down there that night, but buildings were damaged, people were injured, and other things were destroyed. Our security as we know it had become totally flawed. Tonight I will be making a live broadcast to lands as we need to start tackling down our problems to zero and making sure that every law-abiding citizen is safe." It seemed like much to Daisy, but hopefully she would be understanding and helpful with all of this.

"You're going to take forever if you want to write a note of apology to every single household of a lost member. Just pay all the families back with grants and be on with it. This is not something you as the Queen should be doing. They knew the event would lead to overcrowding in the capital and they should have been prepared for any possible consequences. Also, we have an excuse. Three hostiles were spotted in the management crew area. We can issue a hunt out for those three." Daisy was right. I shouldn't be handling any of this. At first, I thought that it was my job to be genuine to everyone but what if I don't get the respect that is owed to me for this? Is respect what I should be looking for anyway? I shouldn't be making promises to people and instead I should be actually out there doing things for the people. That's the way they'll want me to be. Just... I don't fully agree with her.

"Telling the Mushroom Kingdom about those three hostiles being linked to national terrorism would only bring fear to their minds, surely?" I wanted to hear what Daisy's reasoning was behind this suggestion. It didn't seem very ethical of her, but maybe it is the right thing to do. I can't just pretend to the people that we're living in an era of peace when we sure as hell are not.

"It is actually what happened though." Daisy was right again. I watched her look at the pile of sheets with all of the deaths. "We're down this many lives. Can we at least be three less than this? Toadbert... hell, Toadant didn't die so that those three vile Koopas could get away with terrorism. Tell the Red Martyrs about this back in Aypyidaw. Surely they can help us on this problem. Aren't things going alright up there, anyway?" She doesn't know. This will be more heartbreaking news that I have to tell her.

"The Red Martyrs have collapsed, Daisy. All that remains are three and it is the three that joined us in town last night." She froze, as expected.

"What do you mean, they collapsed?"

"I mean, the headquarters have been destroyed, the inhabitants of the town fled to New Donk City and South Mountain Village. We've also called for the Brigade guards up there to close down the western tunnels. Only the eastern ones operate. Also we've suspended all trains. I gave Toadheim a lot of orders when he was here just before you. He's part of this new council I will be forming in response to this sudden change in the land. I want you by my side, as always."

"Of... of course." She stuttered, still taking in all the information about the current state of the Red Martyrs. "Does Pauline know about this?" For once in quite a long time, I'm seeing Daisy lose her pride and her macho. Her voice pitch rose a little with every word she spoke and she kept looking in different directions awkwardly every few seconds. For some reason I think she feels scared, but I'm not too sure what's caused her sudden change in behaviour. I feel like there is something more to this than just the news about Aypyidaw.

"I'm sure she does, that is if she went back there with Rosalina last night. I haven't seen them since we were with Bowser on the field." Unfortunately, Daisy knows very little about anything in Wuhu. The South Mountain Village scenario is still pretty unknown to me, and she wouldn't be able to add anything to it even if I sent her there. I wish I could send someone out there on a mission to maintain the town and help all of the immigrants, but sadly those imbeciles from Earth got lucky and vanished in front of my very eyes. Only they know where they are now.

"Bowser's pretty lucky right now." Daisy grinned. "He's like being in jail three hours in to a game of Monopoly."

"Don't say that board game." Peach laughed. "You make me more wanting to visit London now, and I really can't." That gave me a really annoying thought though. Every hour wasted playing games with Mario and Luigi or going out on a useless recreational trip to the beach could have been spent in working on the security and making sure everyone was safe. A hundred and fifty people at least, died that night and all I was doing was loitering around instead of preparing for it.

"Peach, are you okay?" Daisy was looking at me, I must have phased out. This is awkward. She was probably speaking that whole time I was thinking to myself about my foolish acts and being ignored by me because of it.

"Yes, I'm sorry. Did you say something? I didn't really get any sleep last night." I really need some coffee or something. That would keep me going.

"I said, we should work with the remaining Red Martyrs as much as we can right now, maybe saving as many as we can from Aypyidaw would be our biggest priority." Daisy took the sheets and had a flick through all of the names across each category. All I could do was watch and wait for her to get to the bottom. She's bound to recognise Koops' name up there. Koopie and Kooper are going to be so upset when the news eventually comes to them and that's something I have to do as professionally and as genuine as I can.

"Oh fuck... him too." I saw her reach the bottom. "He died in Summer Meadows? What happened there?" Daisy took the second sheet from the bottom pile and her eyes went all across the page. She finally gave me a breakthrough thought: what was Koops doing there at the night of his death? Was it last night, or the night before?

"I don't actually know. I only received the papers just now." Daisy was still reading through the notes about him. All I could think of was to find out what he was doing there just as Daisy mentioned. As far as I am aware, Koops was only on work for local inquiries and investigations. He should have been here in the capital last night but instead he was all the way nearer towards Sarasaland. (*)

...

Sadly, neither Peach nor Daisy know the exact date and time of Koops' unfortunate death. Not even local authorities in the area were able to release any information on the death of the two in the shop.

"I desperately need to get someone to check that all out." Peach said back to Daisy whilst waiting for her to be finished with the papers. "We need to check up on him and then the two others connected to him. Maybe we'll be able to find a clue on finding those three."

"No mercy this time." Daisy responded almost immediately, stopping Peach's thought process. She seemed completely distracted by her four words. "Every time we have given someone a chance to redeem themselves or a means of imprisonment, they've almost always gotten away and out of our sights. We cannot let them do this to us any longer."

"Alright, fine. Yes." Peach nodded. "We've got to bring back executions to terrorists."

"Will shoot on sight be enough for any of the Toads as a means of order? The cameras showed us what they look like, right?"

"Ah, I'm not so sure about that, Daisy. So many Koopas look the same. They can be so easily mistaken for someone else. Remember what happened with that Koopa who got mistaken for Koopak in the stands of a race one time? That report wasn't very nice to read that night."

"Okay fine." Daisy stopped getting herself into a rather unnecessary argument. "Arrest them and take them for execution." She put all the papers down on the table beside Peach and fell down onto one of the nearby seats, sighing rather loudly and letting out stress. After a few more seconds, she jumped up and leaned over the table, reaching out for Peach's hand. "Come, we can't stay up here all day. We need to be out and about, finding out what's been going on everywhere."

"Aren't you going to have some breakfast?" Peach questioned back.

"Right..." Daisy reacted awkwardly.

"Don't forget your meals. I'll be making my way downstairs now." Peach giggled and got out of her seat. Her intention now was to head down to the front of the castle and be ready to head out for a long day commencing soon. "I'll see you at the picnic table at ten thirty." She was done here and was leaving the papers behind with Daisy to hold onto until they would be returned back to the headquarters. On her way to the nearest staircase, Peach turned towards a balcony on the floor and had a look outside. She could see a view down to the city in its majesty. From here, nothing looked different. The skyline still soared in perfection to her eyes from this height. Hopefully the streets below were finally back to normal. With the amount of workers working through the night, she knew she would have to be sending out higher payments to all of them down below. Some of the Toads got no sleep as they were working deep through the night to ensure that everywhere was safe and anywhere that was a chance for danger would be closed off. Most shops that had their front glass damaged were quickly blocked off and some of the streets were completely closed, but not much of any residential area was damaged. This was another thing for her mind; she would need to employ someone on her council to be in charge of the department of finance. She knew that it would be in her best interests to elect someone to be in charge of the government spending and making sure everyone gets their fair pay and anybody who works overtime, such as last night, would be getting paid extra and on a multiplier.

With a look of slight relief, Peach turned back indoors and made her way down the floors. The first floor on her descent that she stopped at was floor sixteen, the upper guesthouse, also a floor with an infirmary block. With the thought of all the Toads working down below in town on her mind, she felt the need to pay a visit to any of the wounded castle workers, surely many of them would be in here. Casually, she approached that sector of the floor, being greeted by a few of the guards. Here, she found a few medical bays where many Toads lie with their bodies resting and wounds being healed.

"Ha, Queen Peach!" She heard the sound of heavy breathing calling her over from one of the beds. On the end of the row she didn't see a typical castle worker, but a member of the management crew. She guessed some of them survived from the attack by the armed hostile Koopas. This Toad wasn't wearing his cap and had suffered bullet wounds to the arm and leg. This Toad was none other than assistant and former football professional Toadrin Sminder.

"Hello everybody." Peach waved to the other injured Toads in the room after they had caught sight of her entering. Toadrin's bellow of a greeting got the patients up and looking her way. She didn't know much about many of the management crew, but she was happy that she recognised someone from it. Her one past experience with him, being on Grumble Volcano made him stick into her head quite easily. "I wish for all of you a gentle and swift recovery. Your service to the city and the lands has made me forever in debt to you. I will do my best to provide as much as I can for it." She continued speaking to all of the patients as well as the castle doctors and nurses. Each one including Toadrin was not looking very well and with a lot of their body patched up for healing. Some looked like they would have difficulty trying to walk again, others might have a swift and healthy recovery, some others might even have to be put on wheelchairs or never able to walk again. Only the doctors knew about each individual patient, but for Toadrin, who Peach paid the most attention to, he would be ready for service in a matter of days at most.

"It... is an honour to have you visit this ward. It means a lot to us, surely." Toadrin spoke to Peach as she approached him while accompanied by his personal nurse.

"The pleasure is all mine! I wanted to say something especially for you for your courage and bravery to assist Daisy at the scene to publish the final race results. I didn't notice until today that you were suffering from these wounds you have even then? So strong you must be to be able to keep up at the time." The nurse accompanied Peach with a seat to sit by Toadrin's bed. She sat by him for some time and had a look at his bandages on his limbs.

"Trust me. I think I made my injuries worse being so brave. They hurt so much right now, worse than it was then. Obviously, it's not as bad when I got shot. Those three were so surprising. I never expected such Koopas to be so skilled." Peach gave a brief nod back in acknowledgement. It could only make her think about those three Koopas more and more. The surveillance that provided the appearance of the three Koopas was good but it only showed physical appearance. Peach wanted more. Anything she could get out of Toadrin; this was the time to ask.

"About these three Koopas... I have some questions I need to ask you about them."

"Yes, sure!" Toadrin tried to lean up a little more on the resting bed, ready and prepared to answer anything she would fire at him. Peach smiled, admiring the Toad's enthusiasm with assisting her even in his current state.

"What can you tell me about the three Koopas, try to ignore anything about their appearance." She began asking him, leaning in towards his bed. Her voice was much quieter, and her expression was very serious. "I know what they look like from the security footage, but what I want was their intentions, their voices, their movements. What made them want to do such a thing and how did they get away with it."

"Oh it was..." She looked right into Toadrin's eyes. To her, he looked like he was about to break down like his confidence in helping her had shattered. Thinking about such a traumatic and near-fatal experience bothered him into many distractions. He began looking everywhere around the room, stuttering and pausing before getting out any proper sentences. "...I mean... there were two boys and a girl, but the girl had a very deep voice. They all moved very quickly, but there was one who acted as the leader. One of the boys..." It took about thirty seconds for him to speak those two sentences before going into another pause.

"Go on." Peach nodded, acknowledging his little-provided information.

Toadrin took a deep breath. "I don't know exactly what it was they were saying while they were... shooting and screaming, but they wanted to sort of gatecrash the event, trying to kill as many as they could... as many racers that is... that's all I can say about it right now. I don't really know what their true intentions would be as they wouldn't say that kind of thing out loud."

"I understand." Peach paused for a few seconds, looking down at the floor. The best way she could learn about the plan those three Koopas had to cause such a massacre would be to have them held accounted for their crimes and to have access to them. She would have to interrogate them herself.

"Is there anything else you would like to ask me, Queen Peach?" Toadrin still seemed eager, but his assistance to Peach was almost rendered useless. She didn't have the most pleasant look on her face and this disturbed Toadrin. He felt like he had disappointed her and was now feeling worried himself.

"There's not much I can ask you about, but one thing I do know about this is that these three Koopas are potentially tied with the murders of three other Koopas in various towns to the near-west, including that of Koops McShell. I will have to get someone in my department of security to inquire about their cases. You don't happen to know anything about those, do you? We deciphered their link just this morning and only found out about them last night." Toadrin looked blank, facing forward and trying to think on the inside but found nothing of use that he could tell her.

"I'm... I'm sorry. I don't know anything about them. I give their families my condolences on behalf of the Toad management crew if we had anything to do with it."

"You don't." Peach sighed. "It's fine. Anyways, I best be getting a move on. I have a lot of things to do today. I wish everyone in this room a swift recovery." She got up from her seat after thanking Toadrin for his time. The nurses, doctors and patients in the halls all praised Peach on her way out of the floor. As she reached the exit, she saw a few members of the infirmary ward bring in a familiar face. Toadsworth still looked half-conscious on a carrying tray, but the faces on the people working with him showed optimism.

"I thought he was in the grand hospital?" Peach asked some of the workers.

"He's looking good and just needs some time to rest." One of the workers replied. "All the tests on him were successful. Now, he would be better suited here." Peach nodded, acknowledging the improvements to Toadsworth. Since he didn't seem very interactive, she thought it would be best not to interact with him. Now it was time for her to move on with her day.

The next floor on her list that she wanted to have a look through was floor seven: the department of security. Though this is where Toadheim usually resides, he was not currently here. While Peach was here however, her intention was to send out a task on finding all the documents relating to the three Koopa detectives killed in the Sarasaland outskirts. Additionally, any member of the Toad Brigade soldier involved in the surveillance of any of the three towns specified would be needed to provide information on the activity in the town on those days. Another order Peach wanted to issue out was the hunt for the three Koopas, currently unnamed to the Mushroom Kingdom.

...

That was all sorted swiftly. The orders were sent out to active members of the Brigade and now the time was 10:30 in the morning. Peach was still in her casual attire and outside she saw Daisy, sitting by the picnic table, looking different to how she saw her an hour ago. She too was wearing casual clothing, no longer the big, plump orange dress she had on earlier. It seemed to both of them that now wasn't the time for fashion.

"I am now beginning to employ more people onto my newly-formed council." Peach spoke softly into Daisy's ear as the two approached eachother and exchanged a big hug.

"That's good to hear. How many people are going to be part of it?" Daisy asked back, slowly sitting back down on the picnic table, currently empty.

"Not that many; just a few to be in charge of everything that matters. I will have Toadheim on security, Toad on anything to do with us, Toadasha on anything with monetary purpose, and the new Captain of the Brigade on defence. All will be dealt with tonight after my briefing to the people." Daisy seemed very intrigued about her idea, giving an optimistic full smile in response.

"That way we will be informed all the time as these people on the council will be in charge with gathering everything we know about the towns and if anything wrong happens somewhere."

"Exactly." Peach grinned, feeling warm around Daisy, or maybe it was the open sunlight as that still appeared in the sky. "They'll be giving us our news."

The two remained at the picnic table for a little while longer, talking between themselves until they caught sight of a familiar Toad living in the area. This was none other than Toad himself, looking fresh and ready for the day after catching up on lost sleep last night. He was sent straight home and stayed indoors during the incident that occurred on the streets late into the night. Despite looking well and giving out a vibe of brightness and optimism, he didn't seem happy at all with his first words to the two girls.

"You two are looking very fine today." His voice was lower pitched than usual and almost slightly aggressive. Peach was immediately hit with a look of concern for him. Now, he showed his disappointment with the two.

"Thank you, I guess." Peach replied awkwardly. "Why the long face?"

"Yeah, you don't seem happy at all." Daisy added, supporting her as usual.

"No it's just... with everything that's happened and literally a bloodbath outside my house last night... Toadette and I are going to be making a move out of the capital very soon. This place doesn't feel safe at all anymore and it only seems to get more dangerous by the day. We're not comfortable here anymore and from what I can read from how you look, you've treated the sight of hundreds of fallen Toads like none of this ever happened." Peach now saw a reason for Toad's concern. As a matter of fact, a lot of the Toads in the area were seen outside their houses and packing things up in boxes.

"Toad, of course I am deeply upset about our lost brothers and sisters. As the Queen, I cannot show weakness to our people. I am very sorry for their losses, but I must remain mentally strong and confident in the government because we will rise from this mess as we have done every time!" Peach got up from her seat on the picnic table and slowly went to approach Toad at a much closer point. Every step she made to get nearer to him, he started to back away a little. "What's the matter?" She asked him as she realised what he was doing.

"How dare you say such a thing about my people? Their lives matter and I'm sure everyone would understand if you actually expressed sadness. You've lost all sense of expression ever since this year began. What's happened to you, Princess Peach?" Toad snapped back at her, surprising both of them and angering only Daisy. She got up from her seat as well and stood close to Peach, disappointed with Toad's behaviour.

"It's Queen Peach. How dare you speak back to her in such a way!" She began to argue with him too, but it only gave him more reason to act the way he is.

"You don't understand what it means to us Toads. Do not call them your brothers and sisters either. You're not a Toad like we are. You're human, and you're different... I'm... sick of living here. It's time for us to leave."

"Toad... wait!" Peach tried to grab his attention as he started to turn around and head back to his house. "Let me explain myself to you. I have a Kingdom to run, you're probably very aware of that, but I cannot do this alone. I am not a Toad yes, I am human. There are some things that I will not understand but someone like you will." He stopped walking away from her and kept listening. She knew this too. "I am in the midst of making a new council for the Mushroom Kingdom, and I would like you to be part of it as Master of Royal Affairs." He finally turned around. He still had a look of upset on his face, but he was now facing her again. Peach didn't look as happy as she wanted to be after seeing him turn around. She knew that he wasn't fully with it based on his original intentions of moving away.

"I'm happy to support you and be part of your council, but Toadette and I cannot stay in the town. As much as we have made it a haven for the highest governors, it has been breached into so many times as your castle has become a centre of strangers to us. I will be at my seat in the council, but I will no longer be residing in the capital." She didn't know what to make of it, and Daisy didn't look too impressed either. This was one of the Toads they had known since they were kids, and now, after all that they had seen recently, Peach questions if he is starting to part ways with them. She didn't want to let this happen, but what use would it be to have him forced into service. Nothing involving his presence would seem genuine to her anymore.

"Very well, I'm sorry you have come to this. I will be making a broadcast about last night later on in the day. I shall have you updated on the council matters by tomorrow morning."

"Sure." Toad replied, still not overly happy about everything. "Just make sure not to say too much. I'm not the only one who thinks this way. I will be visiting Toadsworth in the castle infirmary before I leave today. I got an update from his carers that he was being discharged from the grand hospital and transferred to there as he is a major influence to the castle and an honourable member, all of that stuff, but that will be all from me. Don't come begging me for some help; at least wait until tomorrow." He turned back around and strolled down the hill back to his old house on the street. Peach and Daisy still watched in the distance.

"Damn it." Daisy sighed. "We should have asked where he was moving to."

"You know, I don't think he would be willing to tell us that." Peach replied with a look of concern on her face. Something about Toad wasn't right in her eyes, and instead of trying to figure out what it was, she thought that it would be best to let it slide and move on, accepting the fact that they have moved on too.

"...And, you know, you can just force it out of him. Demand him tell us where he is moving to."

"No." Peach snapped back with a quick reply. "I cannot be that type of ruler to these people. I will just lose my respect and confidence in the lands... Wherever they're moving to, it's probably as far away from here as possible. How can such a place be so far away from visible danger that it has now recently become a zone for surprising new threats?"

"I hope that's a rhetorical question." Daisy walked back to the picnic table, uttering under her breath. "You tell me."

...

What passed by now was an hour gone to waste. Despite being outside the main streets, Peach and Daisy remained bored and behind the large hedge walls of the Toad Town. Most businesses went back to usual after the events of last night, but a lot of things weren't operating as expected. A lot of buildings remained closed and many wondered the streets, heading out of the centre at the lunch rush hour. As time went on she began to realise that trying to owe it back to the people for their losses and disruption caused by last night would be a lot worse than she thought it would be. Maybe she should just get others to do it, but that way it wouldn't feel genuine.

So then what should she do today? All that filled her mind was the paranoid feeling of having to do something on her own behalf to make it up to the people. The broadcast is tonight and that is still several hours away. Surely there could be something for her to do on the streets of the capital while the day is still bright. There was always improvisation. That was... until she finally opened the doors to the city. What she hadn't yet noticed (and also not informed about by the Brigade and the castle workers) was that there was a mass of citizens quietly standing outside the front gate. So many, that the nearby roads were blocked off due to the amount of people occupying them. To her surprise, the Toads on the street did not all start speaking at once, calling her name, praising or jeering her, or asking any questions. Almost all of them remained silent and the only noise she could hear was the distant background noise of traffic and cars driving around. For about five seconds, she alone stood awkwardly in front of the gates as the at-least-thousands stared right back at her. The pupils in her eyes shrunk greatly and with that her pulse rose rapidly. It was as awkward as it could possibly be for her, but not the most embarrassing. Still, nobody was shouting at her, cursing at her, or making any violent gestures her way. It was only complete silence. If there were any security guards behind the gates, now would be the perfect time to bring them out to help her.

"Well, hello everybody!" To her relief, the entrance of someone else wasn't quite of any security guard, but of Daisy herself, giving a bright smile and a wave to the crowd in front of the open gates. However, nobody still said a thing to her, surprising both her and Peach. "Why is nobody saying anything?" The silence went on for a little while longer, and while it did, more and more people started appearing in the crowd.

"Why didn't my brother Toadisko come back from his duties last night?"

"Yeah, and my dad Joseph?"

"And my sister Toadetta?" What started with a few people questioning about disappearances in their eyes led to the roar of an angry mob full of complaints by the front gate. As the voices started getting to Peach and Daisy's ears, the security guards came to aid. The angry mob's constant loudness could be heard well beyond the fencing, and only brought more and more guards to assist Peach and Daisy.

"Please, stop! I can explain!" Peach tried to quieten down the crowd but nothing seemed to be working.

"Shut the gates." Daisy went over to a nearby guard and whispered to him, sounding alert for the watchers above to seal the gates. The security guards standing on the outside all protected Peach, moving her back in before the gates could be sealed from the inside. Luckily, nobody from the outside made an attempt to sneak through.

"Oh fuck, this is bad." Peach slid down and sat against the doors, still hearing the noise from the other side. "Nobody's informed anyone because they're all busy out protesting."

"This is what happens when the families of a hundred-or-so workers start to realise that they have lost contact with said people."

"I can't handle this right now." Peach groaned. "I'm going back inside."

...

This was something she couldn't bear to witness. For once in her life she started to feel like she couldn't be honest with the people with all the costs it will bring. Several minutes had passed since she had arrived back in the sanctuary of her top floor of the castle, and those minutes were spent dwelling on all the possible outcomes of the news being brought to be people and the consequences it would follow. As well as she remembered last night, tens of workers were slaughtered by dark magical sorcery, and yet she is still making the Toads working in the castle go back to work the next morning. With that accounted for, she had witnessed a recent report in the amount of absences. Approximately thirty percent of castle workers have not shown up since last night, and that does not include the deaths.

Daisy knocked on her headquarters door, wanting in. The two greeted each other and quickly sealed the door. Nobody else was allowed to come inside with them, not even Mario and Luigi. The situation the two were now dealing with was something well out of their ability to handle, and as it lingers, the approval of the people of the Mushroom Kingdom was dropping more and more by the hour.

"I don't know what to make of this." Peach seemed rather calm and collected on the outside, but her mind was filled with several different emotions rotating around her conscience at once.

"I don't know what to make of it either." Daisy replied, not providing much help but at least showing her that she was on the same thought process: none at all, for once. Usually, she would be able to come up with helpful suggestions that Peach could take into account and consider, but now, she had nothing in mind.

"It's not right that there is darkness lurking among us and could appear at any moment. Whatever that was, murdered nearly hundreds." Peach walked around the table in the middle of the room, trying to piece any sort of idea together in her head.

"We couldn't protect any of them, and because of their deaths by the darkness, their blood is on our hands... wait... no." She had just realised something very grave that could help the two of them win this new battle. "It's on their hands."

"Whose hands?" Daisy looked in from across the table, hoping Peach would have something in mind because she still didn't.

"The Earth humans. There's no way they died that night, they were saved. We need to find them, and for one last time, kill on sight. We cannot keep letting these people get away with this. We gave them one shot at it, and we were still too nice and passive with them. I cannot buy in to their otherworldly charm. Enough is enough."

Daisy smiled. "Finally, someone is getting it." She said.

"There's one thing I have to tell you now... It's about what happened after you went to bed."

"What do you mean?" Daisy looked a little confused. Immediately, she knew that there was something not shared to her from Peach, and now she demanded that she must know everything on the matter.

"While you went to sleep last night, I headed to Isle Port, and to the Villa house that belonged to the twins after they moved away from the north." Daisy still listened in, but said nothing. Her ears were fully focusing on hearing the words coming out from Peach's mouth. "While I was there, I had the place set ablaze, and while that happened, I had a brief encounter with one of the kids, the shorter one. I put a knife through his body, but he soon vanished. The Villa is no more, but what is important is that those boys have returned."

"Those two pests thought it was clever to stay hidden in the shadows while we had our tournament to deal with Bowser. I'm sick of these magicians and sorcerers trying to escape us while we have to deal with the problems of reality. It's unfair." Now just as stressed out on the inside as Peach was, Daisy expressed herself openly, slamming the table and kicking the air before sliding down to the ground on her knees. Her face went slightly red, but with a mix of sadness instead of just pure anger. "Are we not trying our best to keep the people safe? We've had a loyal personal guard and fully functioning Toad Brigade for years, and now I'm getting the sense that things are starting to crumble apart from within.

Bzzzzzt!

The phone in the room went off. A call going off must be super important as it would be accepted through the monitoring service.

"You should answer that. It's the best we can get if it's not us calling someone." Daisy pointed towards the phone, where she saw Peach approach it. She picked it up and waited a few seconds before greeting whoever was on the other end. Daisy had no idea who it was as the first few seconds after Peach picking the phone up was just her attempt in getting to the other end.

"Hello? Hello, yes, sorry." She heard Peach repeat a few times, immediately putting the phone on speaker now that the other end was clear for her.

"Hi, this is Acudin Torlans currently operating in the Brigade Force at Mushroom Port. We have made two arrests with a possible link to the terror attacks caused last night. We have transport taking them straight back to the capital."

"Toadrin said there were three of them." Daisy whispered over to Peach before she was to give her response.

"That's good! Bring them to Mushroom Yards, I will see to them as soon as I can. Please update me when you arrive, thank you!" She hung up the phone, which now after a second of realising, was rather stupid. The Toad on the other end was straight to the point, but there could always be more they could ask. "Two arrests is still something. Maybe they found two of them and are still on the lookout for third. Don't worry! Anyways, that reminds me about the humans. Soon, I will address out an order to shoot on sight, and for them to take it literally this time. We should have photos to show what they look like to them. That will help them massively. I don't want to end up having them shoot some random citizen in Donk City or Progue or something."

Bzzzzzt!

"No way..." Daisy watched Peach pick up the phone again.

"Hello?" She said with a polite tone. "Please state your name and business."

...

The line was silent. Peach stood awkwardly and waited a little longer just to hear the background static over the phone.

"Nobody." She hanged up the phone and looked back at Daisy. "Slightly concerning, but hey, what can we do at this point in time. We take the reports of the two captives and see to them later. I would much like to head to the yards myself and see who they are, but judging from what we just saw outside..."

"...Yes this doesn't look very great for either of us." Daisy tried to think of a way to go about this issue. Mushroom Yards was quite a distance away in town and getting towards it would definitely involve some interactions with the common people if they aren't discreet about it.

"We'd have to create some sort of distraction to allow us to take our personal transport to the Yards. That's where they will be taken to."

"I've got an idea." Daisy sprouted. "Why don't we distribute all of the prize money back to the people? That will at least help them with their financial struggles and perhaps build trust back into us."

"We can do that, yes..." Peach replied slowly, still in deep thought. "...For the sake of a distraction to allow us to get to the Yards. The thing is I don't think it's many of the people that lost our trust. I would say it is particularly the residents of the capital, but we'll see... I'm just... still upset about our fallen soldiers from last night... Cleaning up the bloodbath must have been a travesty for some of our workers. They should be paid more."

"Actually, now come to think of it, we should perhaps announce the payments back to the people in your message to them tonight. You have a lot to say on that matter regarding everything that has happened in town, and if you need any help I will always be here for you."

Peach smiled, and stared straight into Daisy's eyes.

(In Peach's Perspective):

Thanks Daisy, I can always count on you. Though sometimes counting on you doesn't provide that much for me. Yes, you're there when I need you but sometimes nowadays you don't exactly offer what I need in you anymore.

"Thank you." That's all I can really say to her right now. These thoughts I have for her are my own and will be kept in my mind only. I can only hope that you change for the better as we delve into these new ventures and hazards with the people of my Kingdom.

"Go now to the government department and send word to workers on the plan to redistribute the wealth fairly and how they deserve it. I trust you to devise a plan on this." I like it when she bows back to me.

"Of course, Peach. You can count on me!" Her bright, upbeat mood always shows her dedication and for that, she always has my respect. That will distract her for a while. Such a task as this should take lots of time, effort, and calculations. This will give me time to hear about the fresh, new arrivals in the Yards...

Now how am I going to get there? Is it one of those 'undercover' moments? I'd love to take a private taxi with Toad and Toadbert, but... that's the problem... I still often forget over short periods that the latter is no longer with us, and the former doesn't want to be with us, in a better sense thankfully. It's trench coat time... or is it? No, it's still rather warm out. I'll just stick to plain short clothes and no dress. No crowns on this bitch either. I've got to look no fresher than a western Wuhu woman and no more out-of-the-crowd than an up-street citizen of New Donk City. If only there were many humans in the capital; that would make this so much easier. I'm like one of ten that live here, and I look nothing like any of them.

Oh... that's right... I'm on good terms with him. Hopefully he could give me a lift to the Yards. There's nothing else that he should be doing right now.

...

"Hello?" Brilliant, he's at home.

"Hey, Mario. Could you-."

"Queen-a Peach! How lovely it is to hear from you. Are you well? Are... you in need of anything or were you..." Well it would be bold of him to assume I would be calling him just for some chatting.

"I am well, yes. Thank you, glad you asked. Are you fine? How's the complex? I hope Mushville stands very strong." I'll get around to calling him over to drive me to the yards. There might be something else he has to say that would be of some use to me.

"Everything remains untouched here. Us people here definitely keep our places watched and kept under surveillance. I am also doing rather well. I basically went straight to sleep when I got back to the guest chambers. I hope you didn't need me for anything. I needed my sleep, especially after realising that Bowser had... you know, won it all." Mario's tone was unusually lower than usual. Maybe he's going back to his everyday self again now that he's no longer in the spotlight that everyone in the world saw. No more Yahoo's and okey-dokey's from him, that I can tell.

"Anyways, I need you to drive up to the back entrance. I need safe and secret passage to Mushroom Yards. I'm afraid I can't tell you the exact reason yet, but if you wait quietly outside I can bring you in later. This business is very important to me." Hopefully that gives Mario enough of a reason to head out of his house and assist me this early afternoon.

"Do you want me immediately?"

"...Yes, please. I'm getting changed and after that, I will be making my way to our usual pick-up point."

"Ooh, I wonder what the Queen is-a wearing right now." Oh great.

"Not now, Mario, please."

"My apologies, I am getting a little carried away."

"You bet you are, please behave yourself. I will be at the pick-up point at one-thirty. Please be there before I do." I'm not even going to let him say anything back to me. That was so off-putting to hear and rather rude too. He needs to just listen to his orders and get there in time. I'm basically ready to go down now. I don't want to be kept waiting since I know that he won't be there by the time I get there if I leave now. I'll trust Daisy to keep the castle under control while I'm gone. I'm still surprised that she said nothing about Mushroom Yards before heading off with her new orders. Maybe she isn't that interested or she expects me to relay everything back to her word-for-word. I guess she trusts me more than I trust her... Good. That's how it should be for me at least.

...

Now that I'm all ready, Mario should be here by now. Here I stand waiting for the car to pick me up and yet he's not here.

Oh, finally. Here he comes...

"What took you so long?" I was waiting for a whole ten minutes, and that amount in today's terms is a lot of time. So much can happen in ten minutes. It could mean that I'm spending ten less minutes in the day at the yards to deal with these Koopa captives. I need as much time as I can get with them. Hopefully the detective team working there can allow me all the time I want.

"I'm-a sorry, Queen Peach." Mario looked a little anxious. "There is so much going on in town. Almost everywhere seems to be blocked off and there are very few roads open right now. Where there are open roads, there is traffic too."

"That's fine. Just travel around the city. I bet the outer roads are still open. You're taking me to the yards so it will probably be quicker going around town than through town." Mario nodded. I'm glad he understands me. While I got into the back seats of the car, I noticed that he was sweating a little bit, and that he wasn't in his usual overalls that I thought he told me he would be wearing again. That's actually good now come to think of it. He may be just as noticeable in his clothes as I am. Where he took me now was onto what we call the flat-roads. These are a system of dual-or-triple-lane highways that we use to web every major town and city. They are not too far from the nearest big town at any given point and never run directly through any. The part of the flat-road we're going northward in has the capital city always to the left, and now, the Acorn Plains to the right. I haven't heard anything special from there recently, but it seems like a lot of the vehicles ahead of us are on different lanes to us. We're on the left as we will be taking the next left; all I can say about the others is that they're either sticking to the middle lane to continue going northward, or they're going to the right-hand side to take the small upward slope to get across the other side of the highway and head eastwards off it towards the plains. I wonder if any of them are from the capital and moving out.

Mario finally took me off the flat-road, and up ahead was an unusually empty single lane heading into the capital. We joined up with the other side of the road for people going in the other direction, and the closer we got into the city, the more condensed the other side of the road started to be. More and more vehicles started heading out of the capital, and a lot of them were filled with belongings on the top of the car or in the back. Most of the drivers had another person in the front passenger seat and a few of those would have many in the middle. It looked like whole families of Toads were migrating out of the capital. I'm going to have to ask someone back at the castle for some data on this later. I don't like the way this looks.

"Where would you like me to park?" Mario asked me as we got past the first buildings on the outskirts of the northeastern part of the capital.

"Just go straight into the car park." I don't want to have to walk far, and surely the car park alone would be discreet enough. "Just wait inside when you do park. I'll have someone bring you in if or when you are needed."

"Very well."

We waited for a few minutes just to be able to take the right turn into the yards road, since the other side was filled with cars heading towards the exit to the city. It looked like all those people were heading for not just Acorn Plains, but other towns nearer to the coastline in the northeast direction: Kalinka, Super Bell City, South Port, Toad Harbour... well, probably not South Port, but everywhere else, surely.

"Thanks, Mario." He gave me a nod back and reclined his front seat to lean much more back, allowing him to lie down. I looked over towards the road in the distance. Unfortunately, all the vehicles were too far away for me to check if anyone had noticed me. Oh well, time to go inside and check on these captives. Surely they would be here by now.

...

"Toadsworth? What are you doing here?" This was a sight I did not expect to see at the front desk. I got closer to see what he was really looking like since he kept his face flat against the front desk, with his mushroom hat covering most of the windowsill. "Shouldn't you be recovering in hospital?"

"I'm sorry. I really should be." Toadsworth didn't move at all, but as I got closer, I could finally see to the secretary awkwardly looking away from him and working at her computer behind the desk.

"You know, he's been here all morning." The secretary called out to me from behind Toadsworth... All day she said... I wonder if Toad ended up going to the infirmary today. Wait a minute... All morning?

"All morning? Since what time roughly?"

"Since we opened." I don't like the sound of this. "He's been waiting for something, it looks like."

"Anyways, have the Koopas arrived?" I sure hope they have. I wouldn't like to be kept waiting, especially with Toadsworth running out of the hospital or infirmary or wherever he ended up at last night.

"The Brigade squadron are expected to bring them in within the next ten minutes. Please take a seat while we wait. I would say the same to Toadsworth over here, but it looks like he doesn't want to lift his head up from the desk at all." The secretary said back, literally telling me to sit down and not him. I hope she somewhat knows who I am. There's no way that my outfit would make me completely unnoticeable.

"You... do know, who I am... right?" I just had to be sure if she did or didn't.

"Oh yes, I do. I'm sorry if I'm being very informal." So the secretary Toad-girl did know. "...but I know what it looks like outside and I was there last night. I think the last thing you would want to do is make yourself open to the people right now, my Queen." Oh. That definitely put a smile on my face. So she did know who I was but understood my intentions. "You're also well-dressed for the purpose of staying unnoticed." That's really nice of her. At least she can relate to the problems I am facing right now. Let's just hope that Toadsworth and I can wait quietly until the Koopa captives are brought in. Speaking of Toadsworth, he finally raised his head slowly from the desk. He's moving freakishly slowly, but maybe that's because he is still petrified and weak from last night. It would make a lot of sense... Wait a minute... He was there when I left the ward, and the secretary claims that he's been here since they opened up. (*)

Toadsworth began to face Peach, glaring right into her eyes. Peach noticed a slight difference in his usual appearance. He wasn't the flushed-skinned Toad that he was this morning, in fact, his skin was looking oddly normal. However, he was without glasses, and his eyes were shadowy. A few seconds of staring right back at him passed and then the thought clicked into Peach's mind.

"Hide! Call the security! Get anyone!" Peach called out the secretary, also resulting in Toadsworth leaping forward and reaching over to her on the chair. Peach quickly got up and evaded the lunge that Toadsworth made towards her. She noticed another change to him. His arms were blackened, and the movement of them created lingering trails of thin, but condensed darkness. It reminded her of the dark spectral figures which she had already seen at least once before in reality and several times in her dreams. The secretary panicked and sealed her desk window, hiding in her small room behind the counter. Toadsworth ignored Peach for a few seconds upon noticing the secretary reach for a button and start calling someone on her desk phone. Toadsworth turned around and hovered up into the air, freaking Peach out. He began to phase through the small glass window and approach the secretary more closely. He stared straight into her eyes and made his own flare red a little. The look he gave to the secretary petrified her and as she tried to call with the phone, causing her to faint off her seat and onto the ground, yanking the wire from the phone and causing several things on the desk to be pulled with it and onto the floor, creating a big mess in the desk room. Whatever was controlling this appearance of Toadsworth sought to lock the doors to the corridors on the other sides of the room using only movement of his arms and what must have been magical abilities. He made no contact with the doors, but Peach could still hear them locking. The only hope for Peach to escape was from the front entrance of the building, which luckily, was still unlocked. Peach tried to open the doors quickly and successfully, allowing her to run out of the building. However, as she made two steps out and down the footsteps, she felt a huge force pulling her back into the building.

"Aaaaah!" She screamed, squeezing her eyelids and doing her best to relieve the pain. After opening her eyes again, she turned to her right where she saw Mario in the parked car. The slightest bit of hope was there as she managed to make eye contact with him just before being pulled back into the building due to the grappling force of darkness becoming too strong for her to resist.

She flew straight back in to the waiting room and landed against the front desk wall. Her back was in a lot of pain, and her limbs were numb. She fell down to the floor, trying her best to still look up to see what was ahead of her. The darkness created by what looked like a spectre of Toadsworth floated across the entire room, turning it completely black. The glass and certificates hung up in the room all began to fall off and shatter onto the floor in front of her. Peach could no longer see them as the darkness covered everywhere in her vision.

"Mamma Mia!" The front door opened, and Mario cried. He felt useless, unsure what to do. "Peach, I'm coming to save you. Ah!" Peach's vision began to look distorted, and her mind started to become uneasy. She began to hallucinate, thinking that the possible last thing she would ever see was a dark Toadsworth beginning to devour her soul. She felt like she was going to faint, also feeling like time was slowing down. The sounds she could hear started to vary. She was hearing Mario crying, the shadows lingering, the sounds of fists banging against the doors to the side being people trying to get through to the waiting room, and a sharp static sound of something slowly trying to leave her body. Her eyes started to close, but in the darkness, a spark of light started to appear, and when it did, it grew quickly. The darkness and the shadows cleared away, and what she saw behind the figure was Mario on his knees behind what looked like the real Toadsworth, shining his wand on the figure. This figure was no longer taking the form of Toadsworth, but in the form of a middle-aged white male with a lot of facial hair. He kept turning around for a few seconds, awkward and embarrassed. He turned his head and noticed Toadsworth shining the white ray of light onto him. The human growled, eventually turning back into a spectre without a host body. All that everyone else in the room saw now was a black cloud of darkness. The real Toadsworth tried to control it, but flew straight past them and out of the building, heading upwards into the sky for it to eventually disappear from the eyes of anyone else outside who tried to see it. Peach was barely awake, feeling weakened yet again. On the bright side, Toadsworth was looking better than ever physically, but he didn't seem very happy. Mario rushed over to Peach, quickly stopping one of the side doors from swinging onto her as he reached her. The Yards operatives finally managed to break through the magically-locked doors to get to the waiting room, seeing Mario and Peach on the floor together.

"Peach, please wake up, are you okay?" Mario sobbed. "I thought things were going to get better from here. I can't afford to have you like this for another day."

"I'm fine, Mario. I'm just really tired. I've had no sleep." Peach replied softly, her eyes rapidly widening as she noticed several others in the room, including Toad, Toadette, and Toadsworth.

"What happened here, how is Lycia doing?" Many of the Yards operatives rushed into the desk room, still seeing the secretary unconscious on the floor.

"It's... complicated." Peach replied back to one of the operatives that stayed with her.

"We heard her call for help, we tried to get through the doors but they were jammed. You didn't do this, did you? You didn't have a fight in here, surely?" The operative looked concerned at her, since he saw nothing else but the three other Toads at the

"Did you do this, Peach!?" Another operative questioned her as he reached for the secretary's unconscious body.

"No I didn't do this! How dare you assume something so low of me to do?" She tried to shout, but it came with a few coughs. Mario tried to help her up, letting her clean herself from the mess made in the room. It seemed like the operatives were more annoyed at the damage in the rooms and their colleague being unconscious than the fact that Peach was wounded from all of this.

"I did all I could to stop that thing." Toadsworth spoke up, getting her attention. "I don't quite know what that is, but I gave it my all to stop it."

"How did you know that I was here?" Peach asked the Toads back.

"I just... felt awake again, and felt a compelling intuitive feeling that you were here and in danger. Toad and Toadette thought I was crazy, but... I guess I was right." Toadsworth too began to feel a little dizzy after a few seconds, slipping and moving over towards one of the walls to rest against. Toad and Toadette rushed with him to the floor, sitting with him to see if he was going to get any worse or not.

"The darkness... it took the form of a figure, and it was... you..." Peach replied back to Toadsworth across the waiting room, hoping that he would look her way.

"It was me? That could be-." The two felt interrupted by the sound of voices and marching coming from outside.

"Bring them both in quickly. Then we will take them to the- what in the Mushroom Kingdom is going on here?" It seemed like the rest of the operatives were met with some Toad Brigade forces in bringing in the two Koopa captives. Peach could see in the distance two male prisoners being taken in to the building and halted at the front entrance. The Brigade and the other operatives walked in to assess the damage, confused as to why there was so much mess as well as many 'royalties' were inside and on the floor.

"Why do you lot bring nothing but trouble these days?" What seemed to be the boss of the Mushroom Yards complained at Peach and Mario on the floor as he arrived. "I don't intend to be rude here but you've already cost us about a thousand mushroom pounds worth of damage to our waiting room. I don't have time for this, come on team let's bring them in. As for Acudin and the other members of the Brigade Squadron of Mushroom Port, the Mushroom Yards thank you for your service. These two hostiles are in our hands now." The boss of Mushroom Yards barely approached Peach and went straight past her and in to the corridor on the left-hand side. Mario tried negotiating with the boss of the yards but he large Toad didn't want to hear anything from him. Peach watched the detectives of the yards bring the two handcuffed hostiles through the tattered waiting room and take them down the left side. One of the hostiles growled back at Peach, noticing who she was, but was quickly held back and restrained before being taken through.

"Oh my goodness, Lycia!" Another operative of the yards called out to the room behind the front desk to see a few other members handling the secretary's unconscious body. "What has happened here?" The Koopa detective turned his head back to the waiting room and called out to the Toads and Peach: "You did this!"

"Trust me, we didn't!" Mario tried defending them, but was quickly interrupted.

"Bullshit you didn't, get out of the yards! You've caused enough damage to our team already today." Peach and the Toads were speechless. It looked like nothing they could say would make some of the detectives in the building believe them. She had watched the two Koopa hostiles be taken in on the left and now she wouldn't be able to talk with them. She didn't want to give up so easily however.

"Excuse me, sir." Peach mustered enough energy to spring back up and confront one of the detectives. "I hope you haven't forgotten but I am still Queen of the Mushroom Kingdom, and I came here waiting to see these hostile Koopas so I can interrogate them, question them, and gather some more knowledge on how we can stop things like last night happening in the future. So if you would just trust me as you should, then you would let me go about my business here. Believe me when I said that I didn't cause this, but something else. You can ask your friend Lycia about all that happened once she recovers. She will have remembered it." She got the attention of the other detective that threatened to have her leave while tending to his unconscious colleague. "The smart thing to do would be to call an a-."

"The phone isn't working. I will use my mobile in a minute." Another colleague interrupted her, allowing the detective to respond now.

"What you've done in here since we've been out is damage our building and possibly killed one of our colleagues. I don't care if it was directly your fault or not, but this all probably happened because you were here. Now, from what I remember, it's not your job to be a detective and to do the questioning, it is ours. Your job is to stay in your high tower of your castle pampering yourself and drinking your sorrows away. We're the ones aimed at preventing these sorts of things from happening again, not you." The detective angered Peach immensely.

"If it was your job then why did you let yesterday happen then? Huh?" She shouted back at him, thinking she had him locked in position to lose the confrontation between him and her.

"Because maybe you always intervene like you have done now and let them slide yet again just like what you do with those Earth-humans all the time. Yeah, you say that you want them shot on sight but if you saw that Enrique again you'd fall for his grace once again and let him run over you like he is the King." The detective turned towards Mario now. "Yes, you should be hearing this too! Any smart person could tell that you were being manipulated by him, letting him get away with everything. You think that nobody noticed that he was gone from some of the races? Everyone knew! He broke the law and you let him get away with it, and oh I wonder. You've lost him yet again!" He somehow kept his angered voice up for so long. "You're a failure, Peach, and I'm ashamed to call you my Queen, now get out, before I do what you do and let these two Koopas free to fuck you up another day." Everyone else in the room was silenced. Peach's anger froze, and she felt defeated on the inside. Maybe the clever thing to do would be to admit defeat for once and just let them get on with their job. She raised her hand at the Toads in the back of the waiting room and signalled them all to leave. Toad understood immediately and followed Toadette out of the room, taking Toadsworth with them. They walked straight down the steps so quickly that it looked like they were ignoring Mario and Peach still inside. The boss of the yards returned to the main room and issued a calling for the other detectives to meet with him down in the next room. As they did so, another female detective moved past Peach and Mario and turned her head towards them as she was heading through the corridor. She was the last to go from the secretary room to the corridor.

"If you have it in your heart, you would leave us alone, please." Peach nodded back at the woman, feeling flooded with guilt and sadness on the inside. Mario took her outside, and the two awkwardly stood atop the steps to the entrance.

"I should probably leave you at peace this evening. I will happily take you back to the pickup point and then head back to my own house." Mario looked back to the car and debated heading down there to get it running and ready to take her home.

"Mario?" She stood atop the steps as he started to make his way down.

"Yes, Queen?" He turned his head before he got to the care and looked back at her.

"Could you stay with me, for another night?" She asked in a soft tone. Mario blushed, and smiled.

"Yes, I would love to do that for you."

EOC: The stories begin once again.

Thankfully, this chapter had a lot more main characters involved in it. I hope that the prologue did not put people off of reading more of this since it had very little involvement of main characters. Then again, me uploading this to FFN is only means of tracking my progress. I know that there isn't much feedback to it, but that's alright with me. If you would like to give a review, feel free to.