I have been very eager to publish this story here, having seen how many views it has gotten so far. The only thing that has bugged me about this chapter was finding a good means of the Sapians interrogating the Mushroom King.

Chapter 3

So Mario, Luigi and the Princess all headed out to rescue the King while Starlow decided to stay behind to keep Toadette company once she had been taken care of. They traversed the village toward the looming shape of Yoshi's Peak. After exiting the pipe, they found that the toad men had destroyed the bridge that connected the pipe to the rest of the area. The gap was much too wide for the Brothers to jump across. Peach smiled.

"Oh, how wonderful!" Peach said. "I get to be of immediate assistance. Listen. These waters surrounding Yoshi's Island are filled with Cheep Chomps, so it's probably best to avoid swimming. But I can easily float across that gap to the other side. Mario, you'll need to give me a boost though. Cheep Chomps can still jump out of the water to try to eat me, so I need to be at a safe height. Ready?"

Mario gave her the boost she needed so that she was at least 15 feet above the water's surface. Sure enough, several Cheep Chomps jumped out of the water to swallow her. However, the Princess was much too high for them. In fact, she used one of them as a stepping stool to give her additional height. She landed safely on the other side.

"Now I just need to put together a makeshift boat to bring to the brothers to use." Peach commented. "Perry may be able to form himself into one, but it's only big enough for two. Hopefully I can find something that I can use."

As she explored the area, she found that the warp pipe that lead to the summit had been covered with large rocks that were much too big for any of them to move. They'd need to find another way to get up to Yoshi's Peak. She then remembered the kindling from the campfires that the Babies had extinguished in this area in the Past. Where had the wood come from? She looked around and saw at one end, there appeared to be a small metal section on the rockface with a spherical cavity.

"Hmm . . . a keyhole." she murmured. "Could there be a key around somewhere?"

Searching the area, she soon found a Keystone Gem inside a ?-Block. Upon returning, the rock fit solidly into the hole, and a hidden passageway opened up. Exploring the caverns, she reached an underground pool filled with broken ship parts. Several of them had been cannibalized significantly. However, she saw that there were several small boats that were in good condition and could easily accommodate four passengers.

"Bingo!" the Princess shouted, picking a boat that had oars. "This vessel is much too big for any normal Cheep Chomp to swallow." She maneuvered around the skeletal ship remains and out of the pool, the stream she followed eventually emptied into the open water through a well-concealed cave entrance. Now that she had a boat, the Cheep Chomps didn't try to catch her. Though they could very well have been able to capsize it, they are quite lazy by nature and prefer to go after victims that can be attacked directly, though they did protest by sometimes bumping into her vessel. Soon she was back at the broken bridge and paddled her way to the Brothers.

"Hop in!" she called. "It looks like the pipe that leads to the Peak has been blocked off. It'll take too long to clear it, so why don't we go around the island and try to find another way up?" The Brothers nodded in agreement.

After paddling for several minutes back in the direction that the Princess had come, the Island on the starboard side, Luigi suddenly shrieked in terror. They looked in the direction he was facing . . . and saw a giant dorsal fin approaching! Mario and Peach both gasped.

"MEGA CHEEP CHOMP!" Peach screamed!

Being out in the open water, there was not much they could do. Before they knew it, everything went black as the great fish swallowed them, boat and all, in one big gulp!

After the initial shock, Peach finally tried to look around in the pitch blackness. There was water on the fleshy ground about knee deep, and she felt the wood from their boat bumping against her legs. Soon the Brothers came to and tried to look around.

"Oh . . . no . . ." Peach was heard to moan. "Is this really gonna be how it ends . . . as fish food?" She felt the large base of their boat upside down on the ground. She went up and sat on it, head in her hands. "I wish I could at least have some light."

Luigi's face suddenly brightened — not that anyone would have been able to see it. He held his hands out in front of himself and concentrated. It took a few moments, but they finally started glowing in a bluish-white light: his Thunderhand. Mario then remembered his ability and eventually got his Firebrand working as well. Peach lifted her head up upon seeing the sudden light source and smiled.

"You guys always think of everything!" she said. "I completely forgot about your hand powers." Then Peach suddenly remembered a book that her father had read to her as a child. She went over to Mario in excitement.

"Mario, do you think you can get several of these pieces of wood to burn and produce smoke?" she asked him. Mario nodded. "Then let's step on it! Hopefully Cheep Chomps will react in the same way as a whale." Scrounging about for pieces of their boat, Peach eventually put together a pile of kindling. It was sopping wet, but it wouldn't seriously matter since Mario could maintain his Firebrand for as long as he wanted. Mario concentrated on the pile while Luigi kept his Thunderhand going for additional light. It took about five minutes for the wood to start burning, though their oxygen was dwindling to the point where they were in an ever increasing danger of asphyxiation. Soon, smoke began to collect in the creature's stomach. Adrenaline rushing, Peach clapped in excitement, though she did start coughing herself from all the smoke. Soon, they felt the creature begin to move violently . . . the water sloshing turbulently. The fish suddenly heaved, and the trio was sent along with all the water and wood back up and out the giant Cheep Chomp's mouth like being shot out of a cannon. When they came to themselves yet again, they were on a sandy beach right at the bottom of the steep side of Yoshi's Peak.

"Yayy! We did it!" Peach cried. She ran over as best she could on the dry sand, which was made all the more difficult in high-heels, and gave the Brothers a trio hug. "Fortunately, that fish didn't wander too far away from the island. I'm surprised to see a Mega Cheep Chomp so close to shore. Usually they don't wander closer than a mile and a half or so." Peach then noticed the concealed cave entrance not far away from them, the one she had exited from after obtaining their boat.

"Do you suppose that we could reach the summit from that cave?" Peach speculated. "Let's give it a shot. Are you with me?" The two jumped as one in agreement.

They traversed the caverns for some time, but they did indeed reach the summit where they found a conglomeration of the toad people with the Mushroom King tied up within. The impostors appeared to be interrogating him. The three of them quietly stole behind a large boulder and eavesdropped on the ensuing exchange:

"You're not getting anything out of me!" the monarch shouted. "This is classified information you're talking about!"

"Listen, mister," they snapped. "Our Master has need of that treasure. You don't wanna mess with him, buddy!"

"Insolence!" the Mushroom King shouted in anger. "That's not the way to treat a royal figure!"

"Your royalty means nothing to us," the toads retorted. "You're just another puzzle piece in our Master's greatest scheme yet!"

"My daughter will certainly be on her way by now with the Mario Bros to stop you all in your tracks! You can bet your life on that!" the King announced with confidence. "There's nothing you can do to make me talk! Nothing, I say!"

"Don't be so sure about that," the leader of them said, who was wearing a brown bandanna. "Our Master has given us means to draw out all sorts of information. We know very well that we can't get you to talk just by demanding it, so we'll find a way to make you talk or simply leech out the information ourselves." His nearest comrade pulled out what looked like a headband.

"This is a mental stimulator," he said, holding it up for the King to see. "It can manipulate your nerves in all sorts of ways. If we can't find that memory of yours, we can simply create a mental strain that soon reaches a point in where you can no longer bear it anymore. I know this sort of thing has become so cliché, but what other choice do we have? This thing won't seriously hurt you physically or mentally, our Master made sure of that, but it'll certainly seem like it to you! Why don't we demonstrate it right now?" He reached up to hook it to the King's cranium.

"NO! Don't you dare!" Peach suddenly cried. She ran out from behind the boulder and into their midst while Mario and Luigi followed right behind. The toad creatures were all startled except their leader, who seemed to have anticipated it.

"Princess! Brothers! You came just in time!" the King shouted relieved. He looked back at his captors. "You frogs are in trouble now!"

"Darn it!" one of them said. "I thought for sure that we had lost them, Crauput!"

"And we are not frogs," another one said. "You can call us the Sapians." The Princess chuckled.

"'Sapians'?" she repeated. "What kind of a name is that?"

"Don't blame us. Our Master gave us that name." the leader said, stepping forward. "Call me Hiki. I'm the one in charge of this group. Your father has valuable information that our Master needs, and we're not letting anything get in the way of that, even if it means fighting you colorful figures. Come on everyone! We have them outnumbered! Let's take them out and move on!" And they all stepped forward to battle.

Their assailants were an unusual bunch. They had long chameleon-like tongues like a Yoshi, which easily showed how they could impersonate them, but it appeared to also function like a chameleon's tail as an extra limb, as the Sapians were able to grab one of them with it and strong enough to hoist them into the air, though the heroes were too big for the creatures to hold in their mouths. But the trio soon took out all of their unusual adversaries. They looked down at the strange race of toad people sprawled on the ground and gasping.

"Uuggghh . . ." Hiki groaned. "You . . . you're all much stronger than you look . . . even you, Princess. Maybe I should have taken Master's warning more seriously."

"You guys tasted terrible, too!" the one identified as Crauput added. "When was the last time you guys showered?"

"Why does that matter?" another one said. "Even if they showered before coming, they would still have gotten sweaty from climbing the mountain."

"Oh quiet, all of you!" Hiki shouted. He managed to rise to his feet and tend to his captive. "We've gotta get out of here." He pulled out a com device and sent out an SOS. In a few seconds, the trio was stunned to behold a Dream Portal opening in their midst. "Everyone, jump in!" And in an effort to stall them, one of the Sapians pushed the Princess into the Brothers with his tongue knocking all three of them over.

"Peach!" the King cried out. "I'm counting on you, my dear! But please! Stay out of my study, okay?"

"Aw, shut up!" the toad snapped. He then gagged the King and jumped into the portal.

"NO! FATHER!" Peach cried. She ran at the portal, but was too late, as it closed right before she reached it. "Father . . ."

She fell to her knees on the grass and began to weep softly. Mario and Luigi walked over to her and put their arms around her.

"How shall I ever find him?" the Princess said through her tears.

But then, at that moment, she had a very sudden revelation. Her head perked upward in excitement.

"'. . . please stay out of my study . . .'" Peach repeated. "Could it be?" And wiping her face, she got up and faced the Brothers.

"Mario, Luigi, I believe my father was trying to tell me something," she began. The plumbers gave her their attention.

"When I was a girl, I had once gone into his private study. He usually locked it, but one day, he forgot to and didn't close it fully either, so I went in when I happened to pass by it, as curiosity was much too strong. One of the things that I saw in there was a chest with a bright orange gem on it. I managed to open it and see what was inside: an old parchment. It looked like it had been written centuries ago as there were strange characters on it that I had never seen before. Anyway, the King eventually caught me in there, and after I returned the parchment to its vessel, he sent me out. He had always been more careful to lock his study after that. But as I got older and more respectful of his privacy, his strictness of the room decreased. After cementing my position as a co-ruler, he was much more open to letting me in, as he didn't have to do any more government business in there. In fact, I get the feeling that he enjoyed spending some father-daughter time in front of the fireplace after that. The point is, I think he wants me to go back to his study and retrieve it for him. It wasn't a restriction, but a hint . . . and a warning.

"We should return to the Castle and take a look at it," the Princess concluded. "Whatever the treasure is that they're talking about, it must be super important, and that parchment must be our first paw print to finding it. Let's go, guys!" And as if on cue, a warp pipe suddenly appeared out of the wall to the right of them. The Bros clambered inside.

"Too bad we don't have a notebook to write this down in . . ." Peach chuckled to herself. And she too entered the pipe.