Huh. Well, I hadn't quite imagined the slow updates to take nearly as long as they have, but, ah well. At least we have some time to continue this story after all!
Thankfully, we've got some new games with Pauline in them to help with fleshing her out even more since I last updated this, which means we have a little extra to work with once again. Adding that to some old ideas that I had written before, and we can continue the adventure!
Enjoy the latest!
... ... ...
~Unknown Location~
"Kidnapped again. Fantastic."
Peach sighed as she slipped off her shoe and chucked it at the cage before her. A cyan aura repelled it and flicked her heel back. Catching it, Peach rolled her eyes, leaning against her rather tight cylindrical confinement, poking at the bar. There was little room for her to shift around or stand, never mind lacking legroom for at least pacing.
"Well, if this is Bowser, then he's come up with something more creative than usual," she observed. "While that might make sense, I don't think he'd spend time creating something this fortified for me. He's too arrogant for that." Peach folded her arms. "So, if not Bowser, then who…?"
Tapping at the bars, tiny sparks flickered at Peach's touch. Taking her shoe and hitting it a bit harder, the cage's aura snapped it from her hand.
"Huh, the harder I hit it, the more it resists…" She puffed out her cheek. "That's admittedly clever."
Sliding down against her cage, Peach glanced to the shimmering electric wall that obscured her view from the outside world. Squinting her eyes, Peach trying staring through the cage's force field, spotting trees below.
"Hmm. I can make out trees, but…" Pulling back from the cage, Peach rubbed her eyes. "Ah! If only this lousy energy field wasn't up." Smacking at the bottom of the cage, the power from the field around her flickered and the light dimmed. "Oh. That works." Peach gazed out from the cage and studied her surroundings below. "Dense vegetation, with…a lot of variety between those plants…not great lighting to really take it all in either." She leaned back and tapped at her cheek. "So, we're in a jungle somewhere…"
Reaching into her dress, Peach fumbled around until she plucked out her rose gold and pink covered phone. First, she leaned back and snapped a picture of herself with the cage and jungle behind her. Tapping at the phone and swiping past the home screen with herself and her friends, she opened and scrolled through her contacts.
"If I could just message Mario or Luigi about this, then maybe they could find where this is," murmured Peach. "The signal is spotty at best, though I suppose that…oh, wait a minute, neither Mario or Luigi is available because they're checking racetracks for the upcoming karting tournament." She sighed and sank down to the cage's floor. "Great. They were my best hope. So, what do I do now?"
Trying to play with her phone's location services, Peach waited a moment as she picked herself up, reading over the struggling reception for the phone. She drummed on the side of her phone, but then jolted upright.
"Oh no! Pauline was supposed to be coming over today!" She smacked her forehead and slumped down. "This is positively the worst timing! Pauline finally had a free day from her busy schedule, new toys for us to test, and instead I'm stuck out here. She'll be so worried about me!" Peach cupped her cheeks with her hands. "But, there is no need. I've been kidnapped…perhaps too many times. And yet, that has given me survival experience!" Typing on her phone, Peach attached the image and set up a message for Mayor Pauline. "Please let this work, I have to let her know that I'll be ok. Maybe she can send help too…although, the Toads must be on that. Still, she must know that everything will be fine!"
Sending the picture with the location services on, Peach blinked as the message sent out, catching the name of her location. She lifted an eyebrow and looked to the roof of the round cage, unable to observe the ship that carried her onward.
…
~Later, at Donkey Kong Island~
Of all places to end up on the first part of my adventure, I wasn't anywhere near expecting the first to put me in direct contention with an old adversary, in a sense. But, I suppose that would be only natural in a starting point for a personal journey.
What feels like a lifetime ago, Donkey Kong had kidnapped me and held me captive. Mario was the one to rescue me back then, and I was very grateful for him to have done so. Since then, Donkey Kong had gotten me into a few more tricky situations, having swiped me away a few times while Mario and I had been working on promoting my mini toys to the Mushroom Kingdom.
While we did get things cleared up, to an extent, I'm still uneasy when it comes to being around Donkey Kong. Sure, he's a lively type and can make most events into a fun party. But, overall, he's still imposing, and he doesn't have the most upstanding relationship with Mario, much less others from the Mushroom Kingdom.
It certainly could be plausible for Donkey Kong to kidnap Princess Peach, though a bit of an unlikely target for him. Nowadays, I hear that he mostly visits for sport events with Mario and friends, uncommonly getting involved on adventures with them. Typically, he busies himself with circumstances concerning his homelands, not traveling to the greater kingdom domains that Peach oversees.
However, ambition can form anywhere at any time. Hence my arrival through a Warp Pipe onto this jungle filled island.
For a moment, I glanced down at my outfit combination, a new adventure getup that I hadn't been planning on. Though my sneakers had been intended for running shoes during tennis matches, their new purpose would be getting me through whatever wilds this journey would take me through. The tennis miniskirt was thrown over my golfing pants, neither of which I had planned together, but they were the fastest to get together after leaving Peach's Castle. Thankfully, I had a spare pair of gloves from my cowgirl racing outfit still laying in my traveling bag, which would likely come in handy with traversing any odd terrain. A black backpack rested on my shoulders, giving me access to my mini toys, in case I'd need them to navigate. My golfing hat completed the outfit, giving me just a little extra coverage for my head and hair.
Stepping ahead, I checked back at the Warp Pipe, tucked away in a small clearing on the island. Mario's usual fast travel option for when he came around to invite the Kongs to sporting events. It led to neutral grounds for him to visit Donkey Kong, a place not quite near the ape's home, but easy enough to reach him. However, DK was certainly nowhere to be found now. That would force me to search for him.
Making my way from the clearing, I ambled through a few trees and bushes. Slipping past branches trying to needle out at me wasn't much to worry about, though I would rather have Princess Peach's arms reaching to me instead.
Stepping out past a bush, I placed my hand on my hip, studying the wall of obstacles before me. A set of trees led up the side of a mountain, leading to a peak where one of Donkey Kong's meeting points would be, a type of observation deck. Several platforms leading up sturdier trees, with long branches that a few people could likely stand on. Some spots had a few barrels and stones blocking the way. Vines were around to be climbed and swung from tree to tree.
This was likely a level designed to keep Mario busy and give Donkey Kong more time to amuse himself before inevitable engagements. Unfortunately for me, that would mean I'd need to find my way to the Kong as well. Unnerving would be an understatement, and there were many obstacles to carry across to reach the treetops.
Double checking my red cased phone, I spotted this area in the photo that Princess Peach had sent me. It was from the opposite end, but she was definitely being held not far ahead from here.
Inhaling, I thought of returning to that golden goddess once again…being the one to help her from any perils ahead…that's all I needed to start.
"All right…here we go!"
Running to the first tree base, I hopped up the green platforms that were set up like stairs. It led to a long yellow landing, connecting around two trees. Charging across, I raced to the next tree, and with it, the start of the obstacles. A folded red flower fan was situated at the end of the main landing, and a small platform stood ahead of me, with a red switch just above. While some might make some acrobatic maneuvers to reach it, I'm not up to par with my jumps right now.
Fortunately, I have another solution. Digging into my bag, I plucked out a Mini Mario, placing the toy down beside me. Winding the key on his back up, I readied him for movement before tossing him overhead and onto the small platform. He ambled across and made his way to the switch ahead, pressing into it. The flower fan activated, opening the flower shaped device and accessing a gust from within.
Grabbing the Mini Mario as he dropped down, I stored him away and returned to the flower fan. Biting my lip, I hesitated just a moment, unsure if it was powerful enough to raise me up. But, I was far from the only one to travel this way, and much larger people and creatures should have needed to go along as well. Jumping over the rushing gust, I called out as the wind pushed me upward.
"Whoa, hey!"
Completely unlike what I had expected, I had jumped up into the air and soared away, with the fan pushing me well past the next platform for a moment. Reaching the top of the spouting air rush, though, I fumbled back and rode its current for a moment, leveling with the next spot to travel. Jumping down from the flowing current, I landed on the tree's next spot, an extended thick branch.
Gazing upward at the remaining platforms, I sighed, noting that I would need to jump and climb a lot more than I was anticipating.
"What I wouldn't give to have Rosalina's graceful vertical traveling prowess," I wished aloud. "If I could just launch up all of those platforms in one go…"
My Mini Rosalina could definitely make it further ahead using her Lunar Launch, but that wasn't going to help me, still down below. But dwelling on that wasn't going to get me closer to rescuing Peach, and I had to keep moving.
Traversing the branch, I hopped over a couple of blocks in the way, and made my way back across to the first tree. Vines dangled down from above, and I tugged on one, as it snapped and fell down. Grabbing a second one, I tugged again, harder this time, and it remained sturdy. Climbing up it, I slid down after a moment, and rubbed at my hands. Even with the gloves, I probably couldn't keep a great grip, not with my bag weighing me down.
Time for another toy. Opening the backpack, I grabbed out a Mini Donkey Kong, and wound up his key next. Placing my backpack around him, I watched as he climbed up the vine first, taking my load up to the top. It paid off to make a toy with hefty strength designed into it after all. Climbing up after him, I used parts of the tree's main trunk to catch my footing and made my way onward.
Once the Mini DK reached the top, he grabbed at the nearby platform ledge, tugging himself up and on. He slowed to a halt after arriving, and stopped moving a bit after. That vine climb took a bit out of him, so that would have to do for now. Reaching the top and pulling myself to the same landing, I placed Mini Donkey Kong into the bag, and returned it to my shoulders.
"Ok, what's next…ah."
Studying the coming platform, I noticed it was connecting to the next tree on the other side, but, there was more to it. There was a type of counterbalance to it, with a small platform of barrels resting above the opposite end. Once I jumped onto it, my weight would raise it to the other side, making the climb a bit trickier, but more dangerously, it would send those barrels tumbling down toward me.
Tucking my hat down and squinting, I counted at the barrels waiting above. Just three for this spot, so…that shouldn't be too tough to handle. Mario always made it look so easy…
"He's not the only one that can jump well!"
Even as I tried to rally myself, I knew he was still the best at it, followed by Luigi and the Kongs. Rosalina and Peach tended to use magic that would help defy gravity, and Daisy could do that sometimes too. Me, on the other hand…I wasn't magically gifted in that sense, and I'd have to do my best to mimic the Mario Bros. to hop the obstacles.
Still…I wasn't going to let this keep me from Princess Peach.
Dropping down onto the platform, it moved exactly as I had anticipated, and the opposite end smacked the barrels down, tipping them to roll down at me. Hurrying across, I watched as the first barrel approached. Slowing myself a bit, I waited and jumped up and forward, clearing the first one. The second rolled along after the first, and I made my way forward, clearing that one easily enough as well. But the third was right after, and my timing was off…if I didn't jump quick enough…!
Forcing myself up, I jumped and slipped on the top of the barrel. Stumbling as it rolled away from me, I landed, but fumbled about, waving my arms around to regain my balance. Forcing them out to each side, I steadied my legs and held my position as the barrels crashed on the other end. This lifted the platform further up, and I climbed on, reaching the next branch. Not the most graceful results, but solid enough to keep adventuring.
"Well, well…guess I'm in better shape than I expected."
Seeing a faint outline of what should have been a set of blue blocks for the next platform, leading back to the center tree, I scratched my head. Someone had to have switched them out of functioning, and that meant no further trespassing would be allowed. Unless…ah! I spotted a couple of walls to the end of the tree's branch, leading further ahead.
There was no way that I could climb that up, as it would require me to bounce back and forth between the walls. Jumping was one thing, but springing from one wall to the next was a skill that I hadn't developed yet. Mario and Luigi could, but…wait!
Plucking out my Mini Mario once again, I wound up his key. Built into him was a sensor that detected walls just like this pair, and allowed him to mimic Mario's exact wall jumping movements. Definitely a perk to his toy's design, and one that would wow many children, and possibly terrify some parents if not play-tested carefully. That wouldn't matter here, though.
Setting Mini Mario off, I watched as he waddled over to the walls. He jumped up at sensing them, and sprang from one to the next. His Wall Jumps allowed him to climb higher up, and I spotted the small block landing that housed the blue switch. With his jumps ending just near it, the Mini Mario bounced onto the switch, and activated the blocks near me. He dropped down from above, and I held out my arms. Catching him, I stored him into the backpack again.
The blue platform led to the center tree, and more vines awaited. I swung across them in succession, grabbing a vine, swinging ahead, and then grabbing onto the next one. There were enough that made me feel comfortable enough with going from one to the next with little issue of falling, as I could grab the end of another and keep myself from dropping further away. Perhaps I simply chose to ignore the possibility by that point, but regardless, I swung from vine to vine with relative ease.
Reaching the next long branch, a large stone waited at the end of this one. I placed my hand on my hip, looking to see if I could climb atop the rock and continue ahead simply, but it wasn't the best way forward. Pulling out Mini Donkey Kong again, I tested his arm, moving the toy's shoulder and fist. Winding up his key, I studied the boulder and pressed my lips together. His sensor would activate at the obstacle, but had this toy been upgraded enough?
"Time to test it out…"
Unleashing the Mini Donkey Kong, I waited as he traveled the branch landing. He reached the end, and his sensor detected the stone obstacle. Spinning his fist around to charge up, he pulled back after about five rotations. Slamming his fist forward, I grinned at the shattered stones falling away, and the rock was no more. Once again, the Mini DK was out of energy, and slumped to a halt.
Rushing across, I scooped him up and stored him back into my backpack. There were still six toys past the two that I had been using, but so far, I was pretty impressed that this pair could get most of the work done.
There was a gate waiting along the treetops, and that would lead ahead to where I needed to be. But, to open the gate, of course, I would need a key. Scaling across the tree's upper area, I made my way across a wooden bridge. It might have made a nice view of the island jungle below, but I didn't have the time to really take it in. Sliding across some stationary barrels on the other end, I glanced upward, and spotted the key resting on the landing just above me. Well…maybe more than just…so I plucked out Mini Mario once more.
Tossing him up, he ambled across, and his tiny arms pinched around the key. Lifting it overhead, he carried it back across the platform. Dropping down, I caught him again, and accepted the key from his stretched out hand. Tucking him away, I slid past the barrels. Carrying on and returning across the wooden bridge for the center tree, I arrived to the locked gate.
Twisting at the lock, I heard a click and pulled the key away. Pressing into the gates, I opened them up and raced ahead.
Climbing up the mountainside's stone steps, I hopped up onto the wooden crafted landing. Smaller trees provided some respite from the potential sunlight and maybe other elements that could pour over the observation deck.
Waiting on there, as expected, was Donkey Kong, just outside of his little hut. But next to him waited not a captive Princess Peach, but instead…some kind of crocodile that was decked out in a long red cape, a shining crown overhead, and with a big golden belly that…I think may have been armored. If I recall this type of fellow correctly, then that would be…Princess Daisy told me…ah, a Kremling, I believe. Though, this one seemed built different from those that she described, rather round and more so than muscular. She mentioned that they were top heavy, not, um…well, I suppose big-boned.
Both seemed to be in conversation with one another, but they directed their attention to me as I approached. Given their baffled expressions at my appearance, I gathered that I was far from who they expected to arrive.
"Hello," I greeted. "I'm…Mayor Pauline, of New Donk City."
"Ook oook!"
"Graw haw!"
"Uh…I don't have the time to figure this out." Pulling out my phone, I scrolled on the translator app. "Let's see…Komboo, Kōmori, ah, there's Kong. And…Kowalee, Kremling, perfect!" I tapped on my app to adjust her selected languages and held it up to the two creatures. "Ok, let's try that again. What did you two say?"
"Ook!"
"Haw?"
"That translates to ['Hi!'] for Kong, and ['Huh?'] for Kremling." I looked to Donkey Kong, who nodded, while his Kremling counterpart…scratched his head. "Well, let's start again with introductions. I'm Mayor Pauline from New Donk City, and I know that this is Donkey Kong, so…who are you, Kremling sir?"
["Me? I'm King K. Rool, leader of the Kremling Krew!"]
"…I have no idea what that is."
["What?! How do you mainlanders not know about us?"] King K. Rool twisted around and pointed a finger at Donkey Kong, with a hostile tone. ["This is your fault! You always go running off the islands and play sports with that Mario guy, but never invite anyone else!"]
["Not true! I invite Diddy to plenty of things!"]
["Big deal. Kongs come and go, but anyone else? Forget it."] King K. Rool rolled his eye and patted his round belly. ["The Kritters got to play as goalies, and then I got to join them for baseball. Can't you put in a better word for us?"]
["What do you want me to tell them?"] Donkey Kong put up a goofy grin and waved out to no one. ["Start with, 'Hi Mario, I know you don't really like hanging out with me sometimes because of our fights, but would it be ok if I invited my sometimes-friend and sometimes-mortal enemy, King K. Rool? You know, just for fun!' Like that?"] Donkey Kong lowered his eyes at the Kremling leader. ["Because that sounds like it will definitely go over well."]
["…You see me as a friend sometimes?"]
"Wow, ok, I sincerely don't have the time for this maybe friend-bro, maybe more moment," I decided. "Donkey Kong, you know Princess Peach. Have you seen her?"
["Princess Peach? She hardly ever comes here unless we're doing some kind of sport in the jungles."] Donkey Kong shrugged. ["In fact, I don't really see you very often around these parts either."]
"Then you haven't seen her?"
["Nope!"]
"Great…" I sighed and stared down at my phone. "I guess that takes me back to square one."
["Does she have a weird miniature airplane or something?"]
"Huh?" Turning to the rotund crocodile, I raised an eyebrow. "Um. No, I don't think so. What did it look like?"
["Fancy and futuristic."] King K. Rool shrugged. ["One of my Kritters made a big fuss about it, but when I saw it, the plane was mostly out of sight. Had cargo dangling from the bottom."]
"That must have been her!" Perhaps, or it could be that my desperation was acting up. No, no, it must have been Princess Peach! My golden goddess needed me! "Did you happen to notice which direction they went in?"
["North, I guess? Which is weird, because they would have had to come from north to get here from the mainland."] King K. Rool blinked and shook his head. ["Wait, why am I even helping? I don't have any investment. What's the point of all this anyway?"]
"Well, if I manage to save Peach, I can put in a good word for you and your, ah, 'crew' I believe, regarding future events."
["…Worth a shot."] King K. Rool shrugged.
["How come you can't be that nice for me?"] Donkey Kong placed his hands on his hips. ["You didn't pop up to help with those creepy tikis or the angry icy guys."]
["You're fun to tease, and that help required more effort."]
["Lazy bones."]
["Hey, no one asked, you brute!"]
["You're one to talk!"]
"Right, ok, well…I'd better be on my way, then." As a Toad had informed me back at Peach's Castle, there should be another Warp Pipe along the other side of the deck, allowing an easier return for another in this area, and back near the castle grounds. "Um…it was nice seeing you, Donkey Kong? And nice meeting with you as well, King K. Rool."
["See you later, Pauline!"]
["A pleasure, much nicer company around these parts!"]
["Oh, here we go…"]
["What? It's true, she looks nice!"]
Wandering around the other side, I shook my head as the two creatures argued with one another for a moment more. But, before I put my phone away, I listened in as they continued, and their argument…devolved to simpler conversation.
["Hey, do you want to come watch a movie or two tonight? It'd be just us, since Diddy's with Dixie and Funky took Cranky out for a ride."]
["Oh, I'd love to! …Uh. I mean, I guess! If you've got nothing better to do—"]
["She's out of range to listen and no one else is around to care."]
["Look, I have an image to maintain. Anyway, absolutely."]
["Perfect. Double feature on action and comedy?"]
["Yeah! Those are the best!"]
["Ha. You're cute when you're excited."]
["Yeah, well…so are you. Now, let's get going!"]
Glancing back to them, I watched as they wrapped their arms around one another and walked toward a treehouse. While I found it rather odd that Donkey Kong is at least friends with his nemesis, and from the sound of it, almost certainly more, I am reminded that Mario has a similar relationship to Bowser, to the point that they're working on a new racetrack. Though maybe not as close as these two, who seem to regularly get together for watching movies and television…unless I'm missing something that Mario and Bowser do when they're not juggling Peach between them?
…This is definitely a strange adventure so far. But I've got far more to contend with, and Princess Peach needs me. So, I'll have to make my way back to the castle and find out where to head out next.
... ... ...
Whee, I'm happy to have finally gotten back into this! I've been wanting to update for years.
The idea that I had when I was first working on this was to incorporate some elements from the Mario VS Donkey Kong series, which would include the use of the toys that Pauline works on, the Minis, as a means to help her progress on her journey. Hilariously, Nintendo ended up releasing a Switch update to Mario VS Donkey Kong this past year, so, that worked out in my favor as a refresher to some elements. The Mini abilities for Mini Mario and Mini DK, though, come from their appearance from that amiibo challenge game. (Well, Mario's and DK's vine climbing do; the Giant Punch is from Smash.)
It was pretty fun having Pauline step into an adventurer's role! That's a very fresh take for her, I think, at least from the games. I like that she's peppier than she was originally from years ago, and should be a far cry from her early damsel role. For her outfit, I think it's self-explanatory in the story, but it combines her tennis and golf outfits, with a slight touch from her karting costume from Tour. (I considered that or the Strikers gloves, but maybe that'll come up later. Cowgirl gloves seemed like a fun costume option and wasn't just her usual sports gear for adventuring.)
Peach not being involved with the story until the end seemed like a pain, and I wanted her involved much sooner, so I was happy to include an aside at the beginning of the story for her. And, she'll be the main way that Pauline can even find her, so, she's far from helpless in her typical kidnapped role. She also has a new game that was released earlier this year, so, I'm thinking that could maybe be looked into for future story elements, and maybe could help in a scene with this story later down the road. Haven't had the pleasure to try it out yet, but I'd love to look into it!
Donkey Kong pops up here and there for my stories, but it was fun including him in a bit more. And this is my first time writing in King K. Rool, so that's another fun new inclusion too! If I was better versed in DK games, I might've been able to play off of that history more, but as it is, I only had time to slide in some extra references. (If you want to know about King K. Rool's only Mario spin-off appearance, that would be in Mario Super Sluggers, back from 2008. He's very overdue for a return to the Mario franchise, in my opinion, which...I think many fans agree with. At least he made it to Smash?) They seemed like an enjoyable couple to play off one another, and I was going to leave them as just maybe friends or frenemies...but I could make it gayer, and I did.
Hopefully the level design was fun to follow in text form? I wasn't sure how that would translate, and I tried to include some dialogue from Pauline to break it up a bit. I was considering enemies, but I found it would be out of place for toys to be waiting as traps while Pauline just started her adventure. So, it was just the area itself as an obstacle here. Maybe that'll spice up later, or maybe the worlds themselves are the challenge for Miss Mayor going forward. We'll see!
As for what comes up later, well, I'm hoping on a couple of fun faces to join Pauline as she continues on her adventure. If you've read the previous stories, or if you notice some names dropped in this chapter, then you'll have a good idea of who will be joining in. And, Peach may be sending more information out to Pauline as well, but...could that come back to bite her too? We'll learn more as the story unfolds!
For now, that'll be all. Hopefully the next update won't take as long, but, no promises, as I am trying to juggle this with a few other stories too. But, I do fully intend on finishing this short story, with just three more chapters after this one. So, stay tuned, and feel free to check in now and again!
Thank you for reading. Please take care!