Desert Hill. Nowhere in the Mushroom Kingdom will you find a location so inappropriately named. Oh, the "Desert" part is certainly apt, for there is a LOT of desert- much more than the mere HILL suggested in its name. Even along its borders, the golden sea of sand stretches for what seems like forever, both in a spacial and temporal sense. Mushroom civilization was born amongst those dunes; fossil records and ancient artifacts unearthed by the Kingdom's most knowledgeable archaeologists suggested that the prehistoric people of Desert Hill were the most educated and technologically-advanced people of their age, creating complex machinery, detailed written records and amazing architectural marvels when most of their contemporaries in other kingdoms were squatting in caves and mud hovels, grunting at each other while banging mushrooms together to try and make fire. Desert Hill's wonders were not just historical; many modern-day marvels lay scattered throughout its endless expanse. The palace of the Desert King was a shining beacon of wealth and opulence, rising tall and white above the burning desert sands, visible for miles distant. In the heart of the desert lay a lake of quicksand ten miles in diameter. The nomad tribes of the desert called it the Shifting Sands, for obvious reasons. The landscape of the Sands was constantly changing, churning multicolored minerals from deep within the Earth, bringing them to the surface, only to pull them back down again to replace them with another beautiful, deadly and completely unique tableau. Well-hidden on the eastern border of the desert was an oasis containing water more clear, cool and pure than anywhere else in the Mushroom Kingdom. Still, the most famous landmark in all of Desert Hill was also its oldest: the Great Pyramid of Mushroomkhamen. Since the beginning of Desert Hill's history, the Pyramid had served as the final resting place for the desert's royalty. The exterior was largely featureless; massive blocks of weathered stone arranged in a geometrically perfect pyramid- a feat of architectural genius even in modern times. Nevertheless, it was fairly plain, which completely belied the amazing interior of the tomb- a labyrinth of lavishly-decorated passages and heavily-trapped corridors. It was said one could enter the pyramid and wander for years without ever again finding the exit, or even crossing the same path twice. Whether this was a testament to the complexity of the structure's interior maze or to the effectiveness of its countless deadly booby-traps, none were quite sure. But our heroines were soon to find out. ----- WORLD 2: Peril in the Pyramid! Another madcap misadventure starring Peach and Daisy: the DANGER-PRONE PRINCESSES Presented by Shax ----- Ancient wonder or not, Princess Daisy of Sarasaland was beginning to get just a bit tired of the Great Pyramid of Mushroomkhamen. She and her companion, Princess Peach of the Mushroom Kingdom, had been winding their way through the structure for what felt like days, and by all appearances, they didn't seem to be getting anywhere. Admittedly, most of the tomb's burial chambers looked very much alike to her untrained eye- a gold vase here, a large stone coffin there, and maybe a statue of a Cobrat-headed Toad in that corner- and every inch of the wall covered in ancient pictographs. Peach would study the hieroglyphics at each turn, however, and would somehow always decipher which course they should take from them- usually in a direction that made no sense to the brunette Princess. "Come on, Peach! That's the third left in a row! I'm telling you, we're going in circles!" "And I'm telling YOU, Daisy, that we're SUPPOSED to be going in circles," replied Peach, without looking away from her studies. "Thutmouser II's tomb is right down this passage, and that's where we'll find his Seeing Stone." The two had come to the Desert King several days prior in hopes of obtaining information as to the whereabouts of the Mushroom Kingdom's saviors and most accomplished plumbers, Mario and Luigi. The Desert King was surprisingly well-informed for a ruler of such a remote kingdom; he had heard of the plumbers' disappearance, but unfortunately had no information as to the circumstances surrounding it. Despite that bad news, the King's chancellor and chief wizard suggested that he might be able to divine the Bros.' situation with the help of the Seeing Stone of King Thutmouser II- a magical artifact that gave the user the ability to spy on any target they chose. "Seems like a pretty handy thing to have around," Daisy said to Peach as they approached Thutmouser II's burial chamber. Suddenly, she snickered. "Imagine if Bowser got his hands on it- you might never be able to take a shower again!" Her friend snorted. "He'd only get one look, anyway. It seemed like a pretty handy device to have around, so I asked the Chancellor why nobody had gone to fetch it yet. Apparently, Thutmouser realized how easy it would be to use the Stone for less-than-wholesome purposes, so he enchanted it to return to his burial chamber in the Pyramid after each use." "I guess that makes sense. Getting this thing's been a major pain in the butt so far; I can't think anyone would want to make the trip more than once-" "Stop right there for a second," interrupted Peach, holding an arm out to block her friend. The blonde Princess studied a string of hieroglyphics on the passage walls for a moment, then reached into her bag. From her satchel, Peach produced a small rock gathered from just outside the Pyramid, and bouncing it in her palm a couple of times, she then tossed it onto the ground a few feet in front of them. It clattered down the hallway and, in mid-bounce, was crushed to powder between the floor and a massive Thwomp, which dropped from a concealed nook in the ceiling. It felt like the entire Pyramid shook with the impact. Daisy shielded her head with an arm as a disconcerting shower of pebbles and dust rained down from the ceiling. As the Thwomp slowly rose back into place, the Princesses dashed underneath it into Thutmouser II's burial chamber. "You're getting pretty good at this whole adventuring thing, Peach," remarked Daisy, honestly impressed. Was this the same girl that needed her hand held to so much as stomp a Goomba? Seemed like only yesterday! "Oh, it's pretty easy to tell where the traps are if you can read the signs," said Peach, with a hint of a blush. Never mind that the signs were written in a language only a handful of people COULD read, thought Daisy. Peach could certainly come off as something of an airhead at times, but Daisy had to admit that her friend was a whole lot smarter than most gave her credit for. Her surprising breadth of knowledge had come in handy more than one time on their journey so far, getting them out of situations that Daisy's natural athleticism and energy couldn't. Without Peach's knack for languages, Daisy knew the pair probably would've suffered a messy end before they'd journeyed three rooms into the Pyramid. "Anyway!" continued Peach, "this should be the place, and- yes, there's the Seeing Stone!" Resting atop a cushioned stand just beside King Thutmouser II's appropriately Mouser-shaped sarcophagus lay a spherical stone, about the size of Peach's fist. At Peach's touch, clouds began to form in the Stone's interior, but without the proper knowledge of how to work the Stone's magic, they refused to form into any kind of discernible image. Peach gently placed it into her bag. "Awesome! Now we just sneak back by that Thwomp and re-trace our steps to get out!" Daisy began rummaging around the burial chamber for something to trigger the Thwomp. "Well... not exactly," said Peach. She KNEW Daisy wasn't going to like this. "Remember when I said we're supposed to go in circles?" "Uh-huh." "That's because the exit to the Pyramid is in its center. I'm afraid we have to keep going." "You're kidding!" protested Daisy. "How are we supposed to get out of this place by going to the MIDDLE? Wouldn't the exit be along an outside wall?" "That's what you're supposed to think," explained Peach, with a wide sweep of her arm. "The Pyramid holds the treasures of thousands of Desert Hill kings and queens, ripe for the taking. This place attracts thieves like... like Wario attracts police! It's built like a maze with the exit in the middle to keep those thieves from escaping- once you enter, it's impossible to backtrack to the exit, even if you only go a couple of rooms in." "Ugh, what a pain," Daisy said with a grimace. "Mushroomkhamen sure went out of his way to make things difficult!" "Well, Mushroomkhamen only named the Pyramid, and since he was the most powerful King in Desert Hill history, they let him get away with it. Nobody knows who actually BUILT it. Anyway, it's a pretty effective design- why do you think you never see any ancient Desert Hill artifacts for sale?" "Ah HA!" exclaimed Daisy. "Check out this bracelet I bought in Dry Dry Outpost's Bazaar yesterday!" Daisy removed her left glove and held forth her wrist for inspection. Around it was clasped a fat golden bracelet, carved with squiggles that approximated ancient Mushroom hieroglyphics, set amidst a rainbow of large, flashy gems. "The shopkeeper told me it was a hundred thousand years old and belonged to Queen Cleopeachra, your distant ancestor! Pretty cool, huh?" Peach examined the bracelet with a concentrated scowl. Was her friend really THAT gullible? "Um... I hate to tell you this, but that shopkeeper lied. Pretty badly." She pulled a gold coin from her satchel and tapped the bracelet with its edge. "Tin, with a pipemetal core and painted with gold paint. See, some of it chipped off where I hit it with the coin. Definitely from Pipe Land, probably made last month." "Pssh, right. You know how much I paid for this thing?! How do you know so much about it, anyway?" Peach shrugged. "I know my accessories, Daisy. I also know my history. Cleopeachra ruled a little over two thousand years ago, and this bracelet's design doesn't come close to matching the art of that period. And a hundred thousand years ago, this desert was probably still on the bottom of the ocean." Daisy interrupted the history lesson with a low growl. "Besides," continued Peach, oblivious to Daisy's darkening mood, "I doubt any of my ancestors would've worn that thing. I know *I* wouldn't be caught dead in it." Catching a glimpse of Daisy's reddening face, Peach hastily added, "But only because the color and weight are all wrong for me! It looks GREAT on you, honest!" "What-EVER." Daisy removed the bracelet and jammed her glove back on. "Okay, so next time I go shopping, you're coming with me." She slammed her worthless treasure down on the carved stone lid of Thutmouser II's coffin. "There ya go, number two- a little present for letting us borrow your magic rock. So now which way do we go?" Peach read a row of hieroglyphics next to a tunnel on the right side of the tomb, then a row on the left beside another exit. "We'll need to turn left down this passage to get to the burial chamber of King Ahmenhotoad I." "...Which means?" "Well, we're in Thutmouser II's room right now; going right takes us to King Lakinemses' area, and it wouldn't make sense to go that way." Daisy rolled her eyes with a smirk. "Oh, of COURSE not." She turned down the left tunnel and began counting down the seconds to Peach's inevitable explanation. "See," started Peach (fifteen seconds,, a new record!) "the center of the Pyramid is its most ancient area. Lakinemses was from the twelfth dynasty, while Thutmouser II was from the 18th; Amenhotoad I is also from the 18th, but ruled several years before-" "Ssh," hushed Daisy, stopping suddenly. "I think I hear something up ahead." Peach listened, but heard nothing above the sound of their breathing. "I don't hear anything, Daisy. There are air vents all through the Pyramid, though, designed to howl when the wind blows through them to scare off potential thieves-" "Peach, save the architecture lecture for later- this doesn't sound like anything natural. I think there's trouble up ahead." Daisy might not be up on ancient Mushroom Kingdom history or fashion, but Peach knew better than to second-guess her friend's instincts. "Power-up, then?" "Don't mind if I do. Got enough for both of us?" Peach nodded. "I've been saving them up since we got to Desert Hill." She pulled a Fire Flower from her bag and handed it to Daisy before selecting a Raccoon Leaf for herself. Giving the Leaf a squeeze, Peach found her usual poofy pink dress replaced by a sporty pink miniskirt and tennis shoes. A pair of magenta raccoon ears sprouted from her blonde hair, and a matching tail peeked its way out from... ugh, underneath the skirt. She really WOULD have to have a word with the Royal Outfitter when she returned to the castle. Still, as embarrassing as it was to have a raccoon tail perpetually hiking her miniskirt up, she felt slightly more lucky when she caught a glimpse of Daisy's Fire Flower costume. It was certainly more brief, though also strangely appropriate to the setting. Daisy had traded her yellow gown for a snug bikini of orange satin, accented with small gold coins and oval fire-flower medallions. Leggings of a flimsy red see-through gauze adorned her legs, along with a pair of red velvet shoes. A small yellow turban sporting a single feather in the front completed her friend's desert chic look. Peach blushed as she realized the outfit definitely highlighted her friend's best physical attributes- endowments that, to be honest, she occasionally felt a little jealous of. She glanced down at her chest, thoroughly covered by the miniskirt. Yeah, now was one of those times. Properly equipped, the pair cautiously continued towards the chamber of Amenhotoad I. As they drew nearer, Peach began to suspect her friend's hunch had been right; her Raccoon ears were picking up a strange noise coming from ahead, which didn't sound at all like the howling of air vents. Fortunately, it also didn't sound like the scurrying of Buzzy Beetles, or the clanking racket of a Dry Bones- or even the high-pitched squeaking of a Swooper. No, it had an almost musical quality to it, but sounded just a touch... other-worldly. Much like the other burial chambers the duo had passed through, Amenhotoad I's resting place was a spacious square room, with all four walls detailing the life and deeds of the king in intricate pictographs. Dim light filtered in from some discreet source (though Peach knew a network of intricate shafts and mirrors channeled outside light into most of the Pyramid's chambers) and glinted off the king's favorite golden treasures, scattered about the chamber, as well as off the miniature (but lavishly ornamented) coffins containing the remains of the king and queen. Unlike the other burial chambers, however, this one had a large circular well in the middle of the floor- quite plain, compared to the treasures that lie arranged about it. As Peach's studied it, however, she noticed the well itself was giving off a light- more precisely, whatever liquid was inside of it was glowing with a light that slowly yet steadily intensified. The well was also giving off a faint chiming sound. "So THAT'S what I heard," said Daisy. "Any idea what this is about?" Peach studied the well. "That's strange; it's definitely not made of the same kind of stone as the rest of the pyramid. I suppose it was placed here with the rest of the treasure...?" Daisy looked inside. "I don't know- looks like it's pretty deep. It definitely goes through the floor." She sniffed at the water. "Doesn't smell weird or anything..." Peach wasn't paying much attention to her friend; she had turned her study to Amenhotoad's story as written (well, chiseled) on the walls of the tomb. Well... well... There it was! "Aha! I KNEW Amenhotoad's name sounded familiar! What we're looking at, Daisy, is the world's very first Warp Zone!" "Neat-o!" said Daisy, genuinely impressed. "This Akenhootoad guy actually invented it?" "Seems that way. He was the first one to figure out the spell used to link two pipes- or, I guess, two wells in this case." Peach continued to scan the wall. "Now, let's see if it tells us where the other side of it is..." "Say, you think it might be at the center of the pyramid? That'd be the only way to get out from there- to warp out." Peach nodded. "True, but this warp well was made a long time ago- the other end COULD have been in an ancient city that's now on the bottom of the Mushroom Sea, for all we know." Yeah, that was true, to. "Shoot," grumped Daisy. She looked back into the well. "Think it'd be okay to take a drink before we move on? Don't know about you, but I'm about to shrivel up, here." "I'm not so sure that's a good idea, Daisy..." "We'll be fine as long as we don't actually jump IN the well, right? That's the way warp zones work!" She reached down and cupped some water in her palm. As her hand broke the surface of the water, the gentle chiming of the well suddenly became one deep, loud boom of a gong. Daisy felt a tug at her wrist, and managed one quick yelp before being jerked down the well. "DAISY!" Peach rushed to the well and looked inside. The water was still glowing, but where it had been clear before, murky swirls now lurked just beneath the surface. Gathering up her courage, Peach dove down the well after her friend. The well gonged again and Peach was lost in a rush of water and noise. ---- The very next thing Peach knew, she was emerging from the other side of the Warp Well. "Emerging from" was probably the wrong term; more accurately, the princess shot out of the well as if launched from a Bullet Bill Blaster. She shrieked in surprise and braced herself for a hard landing, but to her surprise, something soft and yielding broke her fall. "OW! Get off, Peach! You're HEAVY!" Whoops! Peach hastily rolled off her friend and sat on the floor. Wherever the Well had taken them, it certainly was dark; the only light in the area came from the well, which still glowed too dimly to allow them to see very much. This was soon rectified; light flared in her friend's palm as she conjured up a fireball. Daisy reached her non-ignited hand down to Peach and helped her up to her feet. "Well, THAT was reckless and foolhardy," scolded Peach as she brushed off her skirt. "Though I guess I should expect that from you by now." To her surprise, Daisy grinned and shot her a thumbs-up. "Yep, that's what I do!" she said, with a sense of pride Peach found infuriating. "But look on the bright side, Princess- at least we're not on the bottom of the ocean." That was certainly true. Peach took in their new surroundings; in fact, it looked as if they were still in the pyramid, though the room was small and sparse compared to the giant, ornately-decorated chambers in the rest of the pyramid. "You know, I think your crazy shortcut actually WAS a shortcut," said Peach. "I think we're actually close to- if not AT- the center of the pyramid!" "You think?" Peach found a small panel of hieroglyphics- block representations of familiar shapes, mostly. A Fire Flower here, a Koopa Troopa there, with clouds, question-blocks, Starmen and all sorts of other shapes scattered between. "I can't read a word of this," she told Daisy. "The syntax doesn't match up at all with the rest of the hieroglyphics we've seen so far, though these pictographs look similar to those. I THINK it's Type A Pre-Mushroom, which means this chamber has to be at least five thousand years old- about the same age as the pyramid itself!" "Awesome! So... where's the exit?" That... was actually a good question. "Light those torches over there," said Peach as she pointed to a couple of simple stone braziers along one of the chamber's walls. "Maybe there's a switch somewhere..." Daisy hurled a fireball at each of the torches, and they flared to life. Warm light flooded the stone chamber- it was smaller than Daisy had first realized, and relatively featureless. Hieroglyphics only covered two walls, here, and aside from the torches and the well, the only other feature in the chamber was a massive golden sarcophagus nestled in a nook between the two torches. One look at the golden lid of the coffin sent a chill up Daisy's spine. "Uh, Peach, you might want to find that switch, like, NOW." Peach turned. "What is it?" Daisy pointed. There were a couple of minor differences, but the figure on the sarcophagus' lid was otherwise the spitting image of King Bowser Koopa. The flower princess expected Peach to be shocked at what could possibly be the ancestor of her perpetual tormentor. Indeed, her friend seemed speechless. When she finally spoke, however, her tone was all wrong. "That's not right- there shouldn't be ANY Koopas buried in the pyramid." Daisy blinked at her friend, then shook off her confusion with a giggle. Leave it to Peach to reduce their current predicament down to a historical inaccuracy. "I'm serious! Nothing I've ever read has indicated that Desert Hill was ever ruled by a Koopa, even in ancient times. Maybe that Well links the pyramid to Dark Land?" Daisy laughed again. "I know the desert's pretty harsh, but seriously- Dark Land makes it look like PARADISE. Why would anyone want to go THERE?" "Who knows? Maybe way back in those days, the Koopas were friendly, and the Warp Well made diplomatic visits easier." The two princesses stared at each other for a moment before bursting into laughter. "Okay, seriously," said Peach, "let's jump back through the well and get out of here." The princesses walked back towards the well, and froze as the chamber echoed with a long, loud moan. "...Please tell me that was the air vents, Peach." "Um, I don't think so," said Peach, turning around. The eyes of the golden Koopa had begun to glow. A mist began to fill the chamber, which gradually coalesced into a spectral figure- pale, skeletal, but unmistakably a Koopa. WHO ARE YOU TO SO RIDICULE THE GREAT KING KOOPAHOTEP? Peach and Daisy winced; the voice of the dead king was so loud it was still echoing off the walls of the narrow tomb. Peach was wondering just how they could understand a millenia-old ghost's speech when she realized Daisy was replying. "We're Princesses, that's who! I'm Daisy, and she's Peach, and your kind's been a constant pain in our neck!" Peach grimaced. Daisy was handling this with her usual level of diplomatic tact. If the spirit was offended, however, he wasn't showing it. PRINCESSES? AH, YES. YOU ARRIVED THROUGH THE WELL, THEN. Peach nodded. "Yes, your highness," she replied with a bow. "We honestly did not intend to disturb your slumber. We are searching for the exit that lies at the center of the Great Pyramid of Desert Hill." YOU ARE AT THE CENTER OF THE PYRAMID, replied the spirit, FOR I AM THE ONE WHO BUILT IT, AND ITS FIRST RESIDENT. That certainly came as a shock! The history of the pyramid's construction had long been forgotten, though, and its earliest history had been told on the walls of the tombs of kings who had been buried there a thousand years after it had been built. Peach supposed it was completely possible- if unlikely- that a Koopa could've been responsible for it. "What?!" protested Daisy. "Then were IS the exit?!" NOT HERE, repeated the spirit. IN FACT, YOU ARE THE FIRST TO VISIT SINCE KING AMENHOTOAD STOLE MY SPELLBOOK FROM MY CHAMBER. ONLY THOSE OF ROYAL BLOOD CAN USE THE WELL. Could THAT be right? Peach wasn't too sure- she'd never seen Bowser use his magic for any other purpose than for terrorizing people. It was hard to believe he could use it to invent something as useful as a Warp Zone. "Your forgiveness, O king," said Peach, with another deep bow. "If you'll excuse us, we will leave through the Well and allow you to continue your eternal slumber." A cold wind seemed to hiss through the chamber. Wait, that couldn't be right- no wind actually REACHED this far into the structure. It took a second, but Peach realized that the sound was the wheezy, rasping laughter of King Koopahotep's spirit. OH, I THINK NOT, PRINCESS, he replied. YOU SEE, ETERNITY IS AN AWFULLY LONG AND LONELY TIME. The spirit lifted its bony hands, and with a powerful rumbling, two sarcophagi burst through the stone floor of the tomb. Peach glimpsed the figures on the lids of the coffins- one was carved in Daisy's exact likeness. the other.... Uh-oh. The lids of the sarcophagi snapped open, exposing a roiling blue swirl of Koopa black magic. "Watch out, Peach!" her friend yelled before hurling a fireball straight into the darkness. It vanished without a trace. WHY NOT STAY A WHILE AND SHARE ETERNITY WITH ME? With a dry rustling, countless long, pale ribbons of cloth exploded from the interior of each coffin, streaking straight towards the princesses. Peach turned to flee back towards the well, but was stopped short as several ribbons looped around her waist. The wrappings held her fast as more linen streamers began to swirl around her, binding her arms and legs. With each pass, the bindings grew tighter and tighter, and Peach's room to struggle grew smaller and smaller. Amidst her current crisis, Peach's attention was drawn by several bright flares. She glanced over at her companion, who was faring only slightly better than she was. Several of the wrappings had caught Daisy around an arm and a leg, but she was using her free hand to hurl fireball after fireball at the linen streamers. The attack was definitely having an effect; the slithering gauze burst into flame and shrank back whenever a fireball connected, but mere seconds later, was replaced by a fresh streamer coming from the magical darkness. Peach could tell that Daisy's brave struggle was, ultimately, a futile one. Meanwhile, she was wishing she had something to fight her OWN linen attacker off with. Her own bindings had grown almost uncomfortably tight; everything but her feet and head had been encased in a thick prison of cloth. She struggled as best she could anyway; the wrappings kept her from losing her balance, but didn't allow her much room to wiggle. She began to yell for Daisy to send a fireball her way when the wrappings began winding their way around her lower face, forming a tight gag over her mouth. She found it impossible to turn her head and look at Daisy, but out of the corner of her unmummified left eye, Peach still caught an occasional flare, though they had become much less frequent. The muffled grunts of exertion told her that the gauze had already gotten to her friend's face, and that Daisy's own mummification was probably a foregone conclusion. Peach felt the wrappings force her feet together as they wrapped around her shoes, and abruptly, her mummification stopped. Her left eye remained uncovered, as did what felt like much of her hair, but everything else was tightly pressed into a second skin of unbroken cloth. She could bend just a bit at the waist and knees, but otherwise could not budge an inch. She only had a couple of seconds to struggle, however, before several wrappings attached to her back hauled her forcefully into the open stone maw of the sarcophagus. The magical darkness dissipated as she slammed into the hard stone floor of the coffin with a muffled grunt. Peach had time for one last sidelong glance at Daisy- who was steadily losing ground to her own wrappings despite still flinging fireballs with her one free hand- before the lid of the coffin slammed shut, cutting off all light. She felt the coffin shake violently as it re-buried itself in the tomb's stone floor, and heard a steady thudding as the stone blocks carefully re-seated themselves, sealing up the hole in the floor. Panic flooded Peach during her first moments in the darkness. Her life flashed before her eyes, taking an instant tally of all the things she had left undone. Chief among them finding and rescuing Mario. Would anyone ever find him? Would anyone ever find HER?! Koopahotep had said the only way into his tomb was through the well, and only royalty could use it. None of the Mushroom Kings were adventuring types. That left Prince Peasley of the BeanBean kingdom, who as far as she could tell, was clueless to any of the current happenings in the Mushroom Kingdom. Prince Pine of the Jewel Kingdom was another possibility, but she hadn't spoken with him in YEARS. That only left Daisy, who was in the same predicament as Peach. ...Or was she? Peach realized she hadn't felt a second quake; was Daisy still fighting in the tomb? Could she actually WIN? A second, fainter rumbling shook Peach's coffin, followed by more thudding of stone blocks. Whoops, apparently... not. ---- As the sun set over the western dunes of Desert Land, it reflected redly off the ancient bricks of the Great Pyramid of Mushroomkhamen. The monument was the final resting place of countless kings and queens of Desert Land, but whatever their actual number, as the day ended, two more had joined their eternal rest. ---- Peach awoke with the harsh desert sun in her eyes and a disquieting rumble in her belly. ...Wait- harsh desert sun?! Peach sat up, and every joint in her shoulders and back popped loudly. "OW!" she exclaimed, and flopped back onto the soft sand of the desert. Sure enough, the vast expanse of Desert Hill surrounded her on all sides, with the Great Pyramid of Mushroomkhamen on the horizon. Had her entombment only been a bad dream? She wasn't sure; her body certainly FELT as if it had spent hours- if not DAYS- mummified and pressed into a small stone box, with her hopes of rescue fading with each passing breath. Had Daisy actually managed to pull it off? ...Come to think of it, where WAS Daisy? "GET BACK HERE, YOU! I ain't eaten in DAYS and I need you for breakfast!" Peach rolled over and found her friend chasing an Albatoss, who despite being slightly singed, was still nimbly dodging fireballs flung by her furious, famished friend. Whew! So they were both okay. Maybe it HAD been a dream after all. "Finally awake, I see," said Daisy, who had given up on the Albatoss. "Man, you should've seen me take it to that Koopahootoot freak!" Peach blinked and sat up again, albeit very slowly. "Wait- that actually happened?" "Yeah, unfortunately," replied Daisy. "I'm starting to wonder whether Luigi's worth all this hassle. Sure, he's a sweetie, but really, I don't think Waluigi would be so bad if he'd take a bath every now and then, and he'd actually be kind of hot if you put a bucket over his head- AHA!" Her friend suddenly threw a fireball into the air above Peach, and a moment later, a barbecued Albatoss carcass hit the sand. "Yes!" Daisy pumped her fist. "Daisy, PLEASE focus," said Peach. "We were just buried alive- how can we be HERE!?" Daisy tore off a drumstick and sank her teeth in. "One-Up Mushroom," she replied, full-mothed, as she wiped the grease from her chin. Peach blinked. "One-Up Mush..." Of COURSE. Toadsworth's last gift to the pair before they left the Castle. It had gotten them out of several scrapes so far, though the ends it rectified had always been sudden and abrupt. Peach didn't think it would've worked for something... slower. "Sucks that it took you so long, though," said Daisy, passing Peach the Albatoss' other leg. "I've been waiting for you for days!" "You have? How long has it been since... it happened?" "Oh, only a couple of days," replied Daisy. "I figured Toadsworth's little doo-dad would kick in, so as soon as I was in that box, I filled it up with fireballs." She chewed and swallowed another mouthful. "Word to the wise- when it's your time to go, DON'T choose cremation." Peach shuddered and took a delicate bite of breakfast. Reckless and foolhardy- Daisy had never considered that the Mushroom WOULDN'T work. Still, she supposed Daisy really didn't have much to lose in that particular situation. If the One-Up Mushroom had gotten them out of their fix... Peach gasped and reached for her bag. "Yeah, already checked," said Daisy. "The Seeing Stone ain't there." Curses! But that's how the Mushroom's magic worked- when it brought the pair back from death, it did so by returning them to a state shortly before they had entered whatever locale they had met their temporary end in. Though, as Peach's aching joints were currently reminding her, its magic wasn't PERFECT. Now that she thought about it, she realized Daisy currently didn't have any eyebrows. "Well, looks like we're just going to have to go back in there," she sighed. Daisy sighed as well. "Yeah, I know. But hey, look on the bright side- how many lonely perv-o ghosts can there BE in that place?" "Wasn't ONE enough?" replied Peach, working the kinks out of her neck as she took another bite of her breakfast. "This time around, try to avoid jumping down any more magical wells of certain doom, okay?" "You bet." Daisy's eyes twinkled. "Say, think we're still buried in the floor of Koopahootoot's tomb?" "I think I can live without ever finding out." Peach tossed away the picked-clean bone of the Albatoss's leg and stood to stretch her legs. "Ready?" "Whenever you are! C'mon, Princess- let's go!"