This is a more experimental story I've been developing for several years. It's based on my love of Nintendo video games, and features my favorite character in the Mario games, which is Princess Peach. I always thought it would be interesting to imagine the Princess being captured and taken by the evil King Bowser, and so this is what has formed from that idea. It's told from her point of view, and therefore it is quite an appeal to the senses. Enjoy!
Chapter One: The Alarm Sounds
The castle phone rung insistently in my chamber as I focused on my chess game.
"Would somebody mind answering that, 'cause I'm kind of busy!" I called out to anyone within earshot.
Finally my husband Mario picked up the phone in the hallway.
"Hello?" His face darkened as he listened to the fast-chattering person on the other end.
After a long silence on his part, he said, "All right. I'll be there as soon as I can. Lock every gate to the kingdom, get rid of every enemy inside the walls and post warriors on the tops of the walls to fend off the others from getting inside. That should do until my troops and I can get there."
He hung up the phone quickly and came into the room. "Peach, there's been a slight change of plans."
"So I heard," I said, getting up from my game. "I heard you talking about what sounded like battle plans and troops. What's going on?"
"Well, there's a distant kingdom called Flower Kingdom," Mario said, his voice level. "Have you noticed, by the way, that Bowser has not attacked us recently?"
"Yes, I had noted the pleasant change," I said facetiously.
"Well," Mario said, his voice serious with an edge of worry, "he's there at Flower Kingdom attacking the entire kingdom. His forces have already penetrated their defenses and swarmed the kingdom. All attempts to battle them have failed. I need to prepare for at least a two-week trip over there. Would you mind calling around to some of my friends and tell them I will need their aid? I need to leave ASAP; it sounds like the Flower Kingdom is in great peril."
So while Mario packed food and clothing for his journey, I called all his buddies from all his previous adventures. Also on my list to call was Yoshi Village, down in the islands of Mushroom Kingdom. I asked that seven Yoshis be prepared to fly Mario and his troops over to Flower Kingdom, and they graciously agreed to send all seven of them right away.
Once they had all gathered and the Yoshis were ready to fly, I kissed Mario goodbye.
"Please come back safely," I pleaded softly, as only a wife could. "You've got a lot of work and trouble ahead---"
"Don't remind me!" he exclaimed jokingly. His friends all laughed. "I think we can whoop some Koopa butt if we but try." With that, he and his friends all hopped on their Yoshis and flew off, silhouetted by the sunset light.
Chapter Two: The Call To Action
Night fell and morning came without much ado, and I expected a call from Mario at any time. But as afternoon flowed over the kingdom and night followed it, I grew worried; Mario usually called me within six hours of landing. I started to fear, at that time with ungrounded worry, that he had been captured. But the confirmation of my fears would arrive soon.
The next morning, there came a Koopa messenger at the door. One of my guards almost didn't let him in, screaming instead, "We don't want you here, you traitor!" But I bid him come in, and he unrolled a piece of paper from his shell.
"Mario has been taken prisoner of Wendy Koopa. She---" I grabbed him by the shell and held him suspended. "Who in the world is Wendy Koopa?"
"Bowser's daughter!" cried the little messenger. "Don't kill me, please! I'm only a messenger!"
At this, realizing my cruelty, I set him down. "I can g--give you information, Princess," he stuttered nervously. "I wasn't even supposed to come here, but I disobeyed direct orders to come and tell you. I am willing to help you, Princess. This time, I think Bowser has gone too far, and does not deserve my help in his 'cause' anymore."
I softened visibly, and said graciously, "Well, thank you for volunteering your services. What is your name?"
"I go by Cal."
"Well, then, Cal, I welcome you into the Mushroom Army. Now what can you tell us?"
Cal went on to spin a story of elaborate deception and plans for ultimate victory.
"Wendy is Bowser's sixth child, and the only daughter. All his sons have been defeated by Mario, and Bowser has since condemned them all to prison. This I know from being close to Bowser; I had been one of his trusted advisors until a few months ago. They probably don't even miss me." He laughed without mirth, and with a touch of bitterness.
"After I started showing sympathy to you and Mario, they started to ostracize me; a party here, a meeting there. Soon, I was demoted publicly to nothing more than a messenger boy."
I nodded my head in sympathy. "I'm so sorry that happened to you." Truly, this was my first meeting with an honest member of Bowser's group.
"And there's more, fair Princess. Bowser chose Wendy to help operate his plan. His plan, to be more precise, is this: to get Mario away from you, which would leave you unprotected, and then swoop in and claim you. I need not go into the details...they are rather diabolical, and you can probably extrapolate in your mind what would happen to you once he would capture you."
I shuddered. "God."
"I know," he said softly, his tone of voice conveying empathy. "I know that Bowser also plans for Wendy to tempt Mario into infidelity to you. That would cause a rift between you and Mario, and there he has another advantage."
"I know Mario, and he would never betray my trust," I said, my heart admittedly swelling a bit with pride. He did love me very much, after all.
"Well, Wendy has grown up quite a bit, and she has made herself over into a beauty...but her heart and soul are so shadowed with greed and lust and her past crimes." He leaned in. "Flower Kingdom is the code name for the army base in which Bowser has five thousand Koopa troops stationed. I was the one commanded to make the 'distress call', Princess. I was threatened with torture and slow death if I did not; God forgive me for instigating a most evil and reprehensible plot."
He let his head fall into his hands, and his strong facade dissolved into quiet sobs. I patted his shoulder softly in friendship. "I forgive you. Lord knows, I know what it's like to be commanded to do something and you don't want to do it. Bowser asks me every time he captures me to have sex with him, and I never have and never will."
"He's told us all what he plans to do to you when he captures you this time...in graphic detail," Cal said, his face twisted into an expression of disgust. "He almost made me retch with all those horrible things he planned..."
"Like what?" I asked out of curiosity.
"He has demented fantasies, Princess. He is so hungry for more power, and that's psychologically the reason why he has a virgin fantasy."
"Virgin fantasy?" I asked.
