XXII

Down in the Deep

The deep woods allowed no sunlight from the dense canopy above. The only light came from the little phosphomoths that made a home in the kheprisia flowers. Their white petals provided enough reflection to amplify the tiny burning balls. Golden amber puddles dotted the ground. Falco stepped in one and recoiled. He tried to wipe his boot on the grass but the substance was sticky, leaving a patch of lawn on his sole. "What is this?" he asked as he used a nearby twig to scrape the matter off.

Fox dipped a finger in and gave it a whiff, his sensitive canine nose twitching as he recognized what it was. "Syrup," he said and touched his tongue to it, knowing better than to ingest. "Maple." He spit the syrup out. No telling what kind of pathogens could be hiding there in the dark.

"Maple!" said Luigi excitedly. "My favorite." Throwing caution to the wind, he scooped up a handful and gulped. Peach took out a small glass vial and filled it with a sample. She was a scientist after all and at the very least, it would make for a neat discovery: maple syrup on the far world of Pinna.

Toad shook his head and laughed. "Afraid of everything except when it comes to his stomach."

"Dee-licious," said Luigi, smiling. He wiped the syrup from his mustache and sighed deeply. He was feeling good. Fox pointed to the trail of syrup that led deeper into the woods.

"Let's follow it," said Mario, cocking his pistol. "Guns up everyone. We don't know what's down here." They obliged. Fox, Falco, Luigi and Toad pulled out their pistols. Daisy threw the sniper rifle over her shoulder. Again, she struggled with it. Fox noticed.

"Trade me," he said.

"Are you sure?"

"Absolutely. I'm a crack shot with that weapon. I can hit a roh-pidgeon from a hundred yards through thicker brush than this."

"It's true," said Falco. "I've seen him do it."

"Thank you," said Daisy. "I hate that stupid thing." She removed the rifle from her shoulder and handed it over. She grabbed Fox's pistol and readied it. It was a smart move, too. Fox was renowned as one of the galaxy's finest infiltrators. His illusion technique that he developed in conjunction with his tactical cloak was the stuff of legend. Daisy, on the other hand, was a stout vanguard and had no proficiency with sniper rifles.

They made a slow and steady pace through the dark woods. Luigi jumped at every noise but whatever critter was there in the shrubbery was too shy to come out. It was enough to announce its presence. It was a symphony of all manner of forest folk with clicking, croaking, and squawking that bounced through the boughs. Pairs of yellow eyes appeared in the dark and then were gone. The woods were dense and nondescript with the trail of maple syrup as their only guide. Daisy thought of an old story about a brother and sister who found themselves at the mercy of a witch. She shuddered at the thought of being fattened and cooked.

They crested a hill and to her relief, they found a shaft light instead of the witch's house. The light came from high above, the only sunlight in the entire woods, and fell upon a massive maple tree. Its leaves were bright gold and its trunk was thick and strong. At the base of it was a massive puddle of maple syrup that was oozing out of a hollow higher up on the trunk. The tree was huge, its many limbs stretching for miles and intertwined with the upper canopy all throughout the woods.

"The Maple Treeway" said Peach, astonished.

"The what?" asked Mario.

"We used to go karting on its branches when I was younger. But that was up top in Pinna Park. How did it get down here?" She shuddered as the truth dawned on her. During the Air Raids, the koopas used the Unwatched Territories as a home base. When they were driven out, the space pirates moved in. It must have been they who rocked the planet, which caused the tree to fall. They had far more ingenuity than she had ever given them credit for. Meaning, they were more dangerous than she could have imagined.

In the splendor of the great tree, they failed to notice the shadow standing upon one of the giant roots. The shadow raised its arm and it blinkered a fiery red. There was a crack like a splitting log but it was no log. It was a superheated air pocket that popped, the unmistakable sound of gunfire from a weapon that used thermal clips. The shot landed just before Toad's feet, kicking dirt up into his face and mouth. He spat, choked, and swore.

"Find cover," said Mario. "Fox, get to the high ground. I want a visual."

Fox nodded and made for the hill. He threw himself into a prone position at the top and scoped out the tree but the figure was gone.

"Anybody got eyes," asked Mario. They fanned out in formation. He took point and inched his way towards the tree.

"Negative," said Fox through the ear piece.

"Nope," confirmed Falco.

"I can't see shit down here," said Toad, still wiping dirt from his eyes. His nose was running, which left his face caked in snot and soil. There was a long silence as they moved in a radial formation. Daisy checked behind a nearby oak tree but there was nothing. Luigi looked under a bush and a little green tree frog hopped away. Falco looked skyward to see if maybe they had used thrusters to mount the canopy but all he could see was branches and darkness. All was quiet. Even the forest critters abandoned their chatter.

"Is anybody out there?" Mario called out at last. "This is Mario, Spectre Agent First Class, on a search and rescue from the Galactic Council."

"First Class?" came a voice like the wind. "And here I thought I was the only one."