The Koopa Princess

-Mog Anarchy-

One

Ricco Harbour was packed to bursting with tourists and merchants, screaming for passing Toads and Goombas to purchase their freshly-caught fish. You could barely take a step without bumping into someone; or spend time browsing in the shop windows without having tourists breathing down your neck, or stepping on your toes. It was like being in a can of sardines.

The scorching sun beat down on the head of Princess Peach, and she sighed with frustration. Toadsworth and a multitude of Toads were walking nervously along the narrow girders above the sea, trying to reach the best lookout spot over the harbour. Mario and Luigi were wearing duck shaped inner-tubes, and were splashing about in the warm sea beside the warehouses, along with some other Piantas wearing inner-tubes. A few metres away, The Blooper-Surfing Daddy was watching proudly as his prized racing Bloopers whizzed several Goombas and Nokis across the water's surface at incredible high-speeds.

This was the Princess' second time to Isle Delfino, and was determined to make it even more enjoyable than the last time. Now she was walking around with her pink baseball bat tucked under her dress, ready to strike at anyone resembling a shadow version of Mario who'd dare to approach her.

She sighed once more, and seated herself on a stack of boxes by the construction site. She watched as a pair of burly, hairy Piantas hauled stacks of bricks across the site, and pounded wooden posts into the ground with massive sledgehammers. One of them looked up at her and waved, flexing his great muscles, and showing off his great hairy underarms. Peach smiled, but grimaced as a faint waft of his body odour travelled over to her delicate little nostrils.

She stretched her legs out, and gazed up at the clear blue sky above the harbour. She was bored, and nothing for her to do.

She'd wanted to go Blooper-surfing, but the intense high-speeds, and the sudden adrenaline rush, reminded her of the Mario Party mini-game Hide-and-go-BOOM! Which didn't bring back great memories, and she felt nauseous flying across the sea at unbearable speed.

She'd have loved to go up to the girders with Toadsworth and look out over the view, but heights had never been her favourite thing, not since Mario had dragged her onto the Pinna Park pirate ships. She'd been so frightened, she was sick over the side, and some poor soul below got horribly splattered. Mario constantly teased her about that; he called it his 'sick, sick joke'.

She'd also have liked to go swimming with Mario and Luigi, but wasn't sure. She'd have felt self-conscious for one thing, especially with all these tourists and sweaty construction workers eyeing her up.

She sat back with her back to the wall and thought of the time she was last here on Isle Delfino…

It had started okay, the plane had a little turbulence, but that was all… Upon landing however, Mario got arrested for a crime he didn't commit, and then she'd got kidnapped for the fourteen-hundredth time…

Being locked up in Bowser's prison in his castle was one thing, but being locked up in an active volcano was something else! She'd almost died of heat frustration.

Asides from that, Bowser was always asking Peach to join her in his hot tub. One thing, she didn't want Bowser to see her half-naked, thank you very much. Another thing, she also didn't want to lounge around in green, slimy swamp water either…

She'd been so awash in her thoughts; she hadn't noticed the dark shadow looming up behind her…

She opened her mouth to scream, but a pair of rough, scaly hands covered it tightly, so not a sound could escape.

Everything went black.