Shards of Love: REDUX!
Shard II: Revelations
Chapter VIII
Princess Fled the Koopa Koop!
"Geez, when's Dad coming back?"
Iggy paces around the laboratory as Ludwig ponders over his recent invention blueprints. In spite of their dad selling one of the doomships due to its defensives rather than its speed, both of them plan to create a product that will combine the two into a wondrous compromise. They plan on testing the product on Ludwig's, Roy's and Morton's doomships before putting it on everyone else's, Bowser's included.
"No idea, little brozzer," Ludwig replied, eyes glued on the page, "Anyvay, ze doomship's plating zhould be able to use tungsten, chromium and vanadium steel, but titanium vould be best."
"Due to its density," Iggy, who already knows what Ludwig's on about, adds on.
"Correct. Vanadium steel's a great metal to use in defence, hence mine, Roy's and Morton's doomships containing such compounds, but titanium's less zan half the veight of ze steel per cubic centimeter, and much, much less zan tungsten. Not to mention, pure chromium metal and koopas... don't necessarily mix vell in biological terms."
"Figured. That's why I want Dad to buy more titanium. Titanium by the ton, too! But Roy and Morton messed that up!"
Ludwig nods his head. Roy, and to a lesser extent Morton, struggle whenever any other sibling harnesses any sort of authority. Both of them foiled Ludwig's plans multiple times due unwillingness to share any sort of glory. Rather than pondering on the subject more, the eldest koopaling studies his notes and notices another issue.
"So, ze notes of mine here. Zink it's best ve just coat ze doomships in ze metal, zen just put vood over them? I like ze vooden structures; it makes ze doomships appear more auzentic, but if zat sacrifices ze full potential of ze metal, zen it's best not to."
"I agree with the authentic thing," Iggy nodded, "If stuff covers the outside, it should be fine. When I created the robots we used when we took over Jewelry Land, I put mainly paint and insulation on the outsides on all of them. Mine and Larry's bots, I made even fancier to make them fit in with the ocean since our bots were underwater, while I made Roy's fit the air more... Roy's bot, unfortunately, still worked. If anything, we survived longer than the rest of you guys."
"So you zink it should be fine zen?" Ludwig questioned, "Zen so be it. Ve should get started-"
"DINNER!" a voice called from upstairs. Their project halted, they both let out a large sigh.
"Interrupted, vunce again. Let's get ze Princess."
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The lavender fields passed Peach long ago; now only vast grasslands fill the area between her and the pipes. Relief overcomes the princess as she notices how close she is to being in her own kingdom. Not only that, but this moment may be the first time in her life that she rescued herself from Bowser, rather than having to depend on Mario, Luigi or Yoshi. Sure, she adventured before, such as the ill-fated trip to Sub-con, but even during those times, she depended, in one form or another, on the rest of the gang.
Curiosity causes Peach to turn around. Behind her, an almost-endless sea of purple fills the landscape, stretching all the way to the horizon; no sign of Ella's house or the lake. She's far from the woods; far from Bowser. The situation only gets better.
Now looking forward, Peach exhales in anticipation. She's able to see the faint figurines of tall pipes on the horizon to her east; Peach only needs to journey a few kilometers at the most to reach a pipe to the Castle. She's close to home, close to the life she lived for all her life, and close to the circumstances she's comfortable with.
Attempting to push out the rumours Ella told her out of her head, Peach instead summons happy thoughts. She'll spend time in her castle, she'll be with Mario and she'll be with her friends. Her life will be back to normal and she'll rule the Mushroom Kingdom while authorities search for her parents. A diplomatic crisis, or even a full-blown civil war, will be averted. All will be well.
Peach gazes at the pipes out in the distance. Thinking about returning to her normal life made the journey not seem so bad after all. Plus, no woods or rugged terrain separates Peach from the Pipe Maze, and this area's nowhere near Bowser-friendly.
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"Larry! Roy! Morton! Wendy! Aren't we supposed to wait for Peach?"
Larry, Roy, Morton, Wendy and Lemmy all sit at the dining room table with a sort of stir fry dish from Chai. While the former four stuff their faces with food, Lemmy expresses concern over the breaking of tradition.
"It was, like, a tradition for one night," Wendy responded, "Daddy's not here to enforce any rules. We can totally do what we want. Duh!"
"Sis gotta point, big bro," Roy butted in, "Plus dat Peachy-Peach's probably dreamin' bout dem Mario invasions or whatever women dream about."
"Well... Okay," Lemmy conceded before dishing up his plate.
"Plus I been tharvin' ever thince I woke up," Morton added, his stir fry-packed mouth causing him to slur his words, "Growin' Koopa's gotta eat."
"Why're you so cautious lately, Lem?" Larry questioned with curiosity.
Lemmy looks up from his plate and scoffs, "Wouldn't you be after getting dragged by the tail from Dark Land to Grass Land for unintentional disobedience?"
Being a spy, Larry knows full well the wrath of his father. Bowser knows his son well; even with his advanced spy background, Larry still finds hurdles preventing him from spying on Bowser, from the king soundproofing his throne room to shrinking ventilation pipes. Once in a blue moon, Larry passes such circumstances, only to result in Bowser catching him and giving him 'the grounding of a lifetime' involving painful tail-draggings and the dungeon.
"Eh, good point," Larry acknowledged before turning back to his food, "But I'm still eating."
Shrugging, Lemmy digs in with the other four, none of them talking to each other the majority of the time. However, as each of the five finish up, Ludwig and Iggy bolt in, worry written all over their faces.
"Guys!" Iggy huffed, "It's Peach!"
"Ze fled ze coop!" Ludwig added, "Have you zeen her?!"
The five koopalings look around the dining room, puzzled. Lemmy starts worrying with them while the other four brush off the concern.
"She's probably just hiding," Larry offered, "How many times does she save herself? Think about it."
"Yeah, seriously, if a guy liked me, I would, like, totally run off and hide too!" Wendy agreed.
"Hah! Guys likin' Kootie Pie! What a joke! Ain't nobody wanna stare at her Medusa snake eyes! Turn demselves into some worn-out, crumblin' stone statue!" Roy teased, earning a death glare from Wendy, "Anyway, I can't believe I'm tellin' da two brainiacs dis, but Pink Princess probs needed, y'know, space to breathe. Do you even know how often Pops gets all up in her space?"
Iggy nods, while Ludwig scowls, "I know zat. I vas just asking. I just vonder if she's still in Dark Land."
Lemmy stated, adding on to Ludwig's concern, "We can't have her gone! We won't find her! We'll get in trouble!"
"Yeah, because it's SO hard to find her since everyone wears wedding dresses! Must be the new, Peach-inspired style now!" Morton rolls his eyes, voice dripping with sarcasm, "Seriously guys, she'll be fine. If she ever did escape, her wedding dress wouldn't survive real well in the woods, and... Well, you know, she's not one of the vanity types."
"Feh, she's probably joggin' 'cross dem Grass Land plains now," Roy remarked.
"I hope zat, in ze holy name of science, zat she isn't," Ludwig hoped, "Don't you know vhat vould happen if she vent back since she left?"
"Oh yeah? All the crap about the Mushroom Kingdom and Dark Land being taken over?" Morton questioned before responding, "You should've thought about that before kidnapping her, ay Lug?"
"... You're still blaming me, Morton?"
"Aye."
"Silence yourself zen," Ludwig commanded as he and Iggy turns away from the table, "You five have nozzing vorthy to add onto the investigation of Peach's vhereabouts, so I vill not vaste my time being around an intellectual black hole of a dining room. Hence, I vill converse vith Kamek about zis occurrence. Grab me if any of you find ze Princess."
With those departing words, both Ludwig and Iggy leave, not even bothering to eat any of the food on the table, nor bothering to comprehend the five sets of scowls.
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Peach notices that breathing becomes easier. She's now in the safety of Pipe Land; back in her kingdom and away from Bowser. During the normal days in her life, the musky smell associated with aging pipes would've bothered the princess to no extent. The scent, this time, only confirms she's in a safe, secure location away from the koopas. If anything, the smell of run-down pipes refreshes her.
A sign for the Pipe Maze, just half a kilometer away, interrupts her train of thought. She journeyed far enough; she might as well do a tad more for the pipe.
As Peach continues, she studies the landscape. Several miniature pipes pop out throughout the ground and numerous toad farmers till their land, declaring the mid-spring rainy season to suffice for planting. Other than a few large cities far from her location, farmers converted the flat, fertile land into farmland, making Pipe Land the second-largest food producer in the Mushroom Kingdom. Unlike the more produce-abundant Grass Land, Pipe Land also has a booming technology sector in its cities; the Land's responsible for the plurality of the Mushroom Kingdom's technology, weapons and transportation machinery. Hence, Pipe Land's as vital to the Mushroom Kingdom as oil-rich Desert Land.
The technological awakening might also explain the Pipe Maze. Even as Princess, she never fully knew how the Maze came to pass, but she heard of the pipes being both from magic and from engineering.
Another sign pops up for the Pipe Maze, this time pointing to the right. By the sign, Peach spots a purple pipe in the ground with a third sign having a down arrow. Peach knew this is good news; recent color-coding represents purple pipes as being pipes leading to the Pipe Maze.
She jumps into the pipe, and for what seems like hours, she feels as if she's freefalling towards the center of the earth before she gets swung side-by-side, somehow not even hitting the sides of the pipe. After an eternity, she then feels the sensation of being hoisted into the air before popping out of a tube at the Pipe Maze.
Peach stares in awe at the destination: a well-lit cave littered with hundreds of coloured pipes. An ecstatic toad wearing a blue-spotted cap greets the princess.
"Hey! You escaping a wedding?" the toad questioned, "It happens. I almost fled during my own wedding."
"Haha, yes," Peach lied. She figured she wouldn't tell the toad who she really is just in case Ella's rumour turns out to be correct. Even then, mushroomers figure Peach would never want to be seen in such dirty attire, "I'm actually, uhh, kinda late to it."
"And you're getting wedded in THAT?" the toad interrogated as he eyes the dress. Dirt and grass stains cover the dress, while nothing more than a few strings of ripped fabric make up the train. Large gashes also appear in other areas of the dress, although not shredded.
Peach looks down, defeated; hopeless.
"Aww, don't worry. My wife's a super outdoorsy person. She'd love if her dress looked like that for our day."
Peach nods and smiles; what a great excuse! At least she can cover up the more complicated story of her being a kidnapped, abandoned princess who walked all the way to Pipe Land to get home. Even though the story adds up due to Dark Land's lack of purple pipes for obvious reasons, she won't risk telling anyone who she truly is.
"Yeah. My soon-to-be husband loves the outdoors, that's why. I'm learning to like them too," Peach managed to lie, "But can I get a pipe to Toad Town?"
"Yes you can," the toad responded before checking a computer, "Unfortunately, the Mushroom Province's Toad Town pipe is down. Would the Grass Land side of Toad Town, or the Desert Land side of Toad Town work better?"
Peach never had to bother with leaving the Mushroom Province all too much. The castle's in the Province, and if she remembers, the Grass Land side of Toad Town's much closer to the castle than Desert Land's. Desert Land's at least thirty kilometers away.
"Let's do Grass Land."
"Okay, madam," the toad acknowledged, "Let me get that set up for you."
The toad types a few lines of code into the computer and dramatically hits the Enter key. Not long after, a light green warp pipe activates and a spotlight shines over it.
"There's your pipe! Good luck at the wedding!"
Peach thanks him and jumps in the pipe. The same feeling of freefalling before freefloating occurs before she once again pops out another pipe.
This time, she expects to be in the middle of a business district, with hundreds of toads walking around carrying goods. Instead, she pops up on the east side of her own castle.
'What?' she thought, looking around, 'This isn't Grass Land! I thought this pipe was broken! But I guess I'm home anyway.'
With her concerned look switching to one of content and relief, she makes her way to the castle's front door. Oddly, no guards stand guard at the door. She knocks on the door and gasps at the person who opens it.
The person she's been wanting to see; to rescue her. From his freshly-ironed blue overalls and lavender-scented red undershirt, she knows he didn't try one bit to rescue her.
"... Mario?"