Princess Peach And The 12 Elemental Keys

Chapter 9: The Ice Castle Veiled In Flames

"Where is everyone else?" Ventus asked. "It's been like this since I rescued Poisius." Peach replied. After Ventus told her to find the last four Keepers of The Elements, Peach vanished from the temple. This time, she was teleported to...a fiery mess of a landscape. Pine trees were on fire, there were lava lakes, it was super warm, and the sun was out. Peach suddenly noticed clumps of white stuff on the ground. She stepped on it, and it crunched. "Snow?" She asked. "Princess Peach," The voice said, much more serious. "Voice?" Peach replied. "Do you see what has happened to Shiver Valley?" The voice asked. "Shiver Valley?" Peach asked. "This used to be a glacier - hard to believe, but's it's true. Pyro, The Keeper of Fire is obviously being kept here."

At this point, the damage that Bowser had done was now alarming, poisoned water and crystalline candy was nothing compared to a burning glacier. Peach started taking this last third of her adventure more seriously. She started walking through the should-have-been glacier, absorbing the circumstances that she is currently dealing with. Peach been walking a few miles through the fiery landscape, when she encountered a small town run by Bumpties. They were wandering aimlessly, wiping their foreheads of sweat, but more concerningly there were houses on fire, and firefighters trying desperately to put the fires out. Families and children had practically lost their homes. Peach debated on whether it was safe to venture further into the town, or if she should just leave it alone and look for Pyro. Peach decided not to go near the town and continued on her way. She was still in viewing distance of the town, when she got stopped by a fire caused by fallen trees. Peach tried to turn, but the trees had completely surrounded her. "How am I supposed to get out of this mess?!" Peach stood in that ring of fire, helpless, when all of a sudden, she heard a fire truck siren. "It's those firefighters!" Peach thought. "Hey!" She exclaimed. "If you can hear me, I'm stuck inside this ring of fire!" The fire was quickly put out by extinguishing agents. Peach was saved, but the trees were burned black and smelled like pine-flavoured smoke. Soon, the firefighters started pulling the trees off of each other to get Peach out. Eventually, they managed to make a walkway to free Peach. "Madam, you may come through, now." One of the firefighters told her. Peach squeezed through the walkway and out of the burnt ring of trees. "Thanks for getting me out of that." She told the firefighters, hands folded. "No problem, Princess," The lead fireman replied. "That's what us firefighters do." Peach left and continued her search for Pyro. Further ahead was a winding path weaving through a series of mountains. Like the last time she was in a situation like this, Peach waded through the walkway. On the other side of the path there was nothing but lava. The lava was rolling and churning down hills and was burning everything in its path. Peach thought she was trapped here, but she quickly notices that the lava was quite slow. Still, she was afraid to go near the lava. Suddenly, within minutes, the lava was being put out by...was Peach seeing this correctly? A fire hose? How? She saw that the hose was being used by one of the Bumpty firefighters. "You! How were you able to get here?" She asked the, surprisingly timid, firefighter. "Over the hills, that's all." He replied, clutching the hose, which looked to be portable. Stranger stuff happened today, and she remembered she was inside a picture book, so Peach chose to ignore it. When she tried going near the hardened lava, the Bumpty pulled her back. "Ma'am please don't approach that!" He said, frantically. "Why?" Peach asked. "Because," he replied. "It's too dangerous to approach lava, you can get badly burned or killed!" So, that was the end of that. "But how else am I supposed to find Pyro?" Peach asked the firefighter. "The Keeper of Fire?" He asked. "Yes, he's the ninth Keeper I have to find." Peach replied, before listing the Keepers she had found. The Bumpty, Mr. Shivers, agreed to help Peach find Pyro. Since the path ahead was too dangerous to walk through, Mr. Shivers opted to bring Peach to a shortcut. What was it exactly? A pine tree plantation. It looked fine compared to everything else Peach had seen in Shiver Valley. Mr. Shivers led the way as he and Peach headed toward the plantation. Nothing too crazy happened, it was all moderately peaceful, but the plantation felt more like a greenhouse. Peach looked up into the sky, and just as well she did, as a large, red fireball came flying into the plantation and hit a nearby tree. Slowly, the plantation started burning, and Peach and Mr. Shivers had to get out of there! "Hurry! This way!!" Mr. Shivers exclaimed, frantically. The two quickly started running out of the plantation, the smell of burnt wood filling their lungs. Unfortunately for Mr. Shivers, a tree fell down in front of him, and worse, he didn't have his hose on him. It was actually with Peach, but she didn't know it was there. To put out the fire, Peach pulled out her fan and started using it to cool down the fire. "Princess!" Mr. Shivers exclaimed over the sound of the fire. "What!?" Peach replied. "Stop what you're doing, it'll make the fire worse!" Peach withdrew the fan. "Have you got the hose?" Peach picked up the hose, and looked at it like she'd never seen a hose before. "I do!!" "Quick! Aim it at the fire!" Peach did as she was instructed, and as soon as she did, water started gushing out of the hose. The process was slow, and in the end, half the plantation was burnt down. "Hopefully they'll grow back..." Peach thought. "Can you get out, Mr. Shivers?" Peach saw the trees starting to move apart, and then appeared Mr. Shivers. "Thanks for that." He said once he emerged from the burnt trees. "Here." Peach replied, returning the hose to Mr. Shivers. The two made their way out of the pine tree plantation, Peach wondering who caused it to burn down. A few miles later, they reached a large lava lake. Sitting in the centre of the lake was a tall tower-like island, with a light blue castle sitting on the peak. It was hotter here than anywhere else in "Shiver" Valley, so clearly Pyro had to be here. To get to the castle, Peach would have to cross the lake, if only she knew how to get across. "Hold on..." Mr. Shivers stepped in front of Peach and turned on his hose. He proceeded to aim his hose at the lava, and the extinguishing agent hardened it. "Is it safe to walk, Mr. Shivers?" Peach asked, remembering the last time he wouldn't let her walk on hardened lava. Mr. Shivers put his foot on the hardened lava. "Affirmative." He replied. Mr. Shivers continued to spray down the lava, which created a path for them. It was a long way to the island, and it didn't help that the closer they got, the hotter it became. It went from being as warm as an afternoon in spring, to as hot as the Lake Kingdom, to being as scorching as being in the middle of a desert. On closer inspection, it looked like the castle was made of ice, and it seemed to be melting. Peach had been suspecting that Pyro was hidden here, and only now was her theory confirmed. Peach and Mr. Shivers finally made it to the island and started making their way to the castle. The castle was dripping and hot, Pyro was definitely in here. Mr. Shivers and Peach entered the castle and walked through a series of melting halls to the largest room. There on the icy throne sat Jr, who had a red orb attached to his hair-tie. "About time you showed up." Jr. remarked, getting up from the throne. "Give us the orb, Jr!" Peach demanded. "We know you caused this heatwave!" Mr. Shivers chimed in. As always, Jr. refused. "Nuh-uh-uh!" He said, you'll have to fight me for it. At that, Jr. spat out a fireball, which Peach thought looked familiar. It reminded her of...the fireball that burned down the pine tree plantation. Battling Jr. was a task in itself, the floor was wet and slippery, things were on fire (courtesy of Jr.), and it was simmering in this throne room. Not to mention how fast Jr. was, he wasn't as fast as Piccolo mid-dance, but he was a close second. Mr. Shivers helped out as best he could. He sprayed the things Jr. set fire to, so Peach could jump on Jr.'s head. Then Mr. Shivers decided to do something he should have done before. He sprayed Jr. with his hose, knocking the little brat to the ground, giving Peach an opportunity. She yanked the red orb off Jr.'s hair-tie and chanted. "O Pyro, Keeper of Fire, awaken and undo this turmoil!" Once those words left Peach's lips, the ice castle stopped melting and fixed itself, the moon replaced the sun in the sky, it started snowing again, and all the lava and fires were put out. Best of all, it was nice and cold, the best reward. Peach and Mr. Shivers exited the castle, and the now braver Mr. Shivers parted with Peach, returning to finally retire from his duties as firefighter.

As Peach watched the snow gracefully fall from the sky, she looked down at her hand and saw a red key lying where the orb was. "Princess Peach, chant 'Furnace Ruby Key, guide me to The Temple of The Keepers!'" The voice told her. As always, Peach chanted and was sent back to the temple. The key inserted itself into the hole under Ventus's key. A red outline formed above the circle next to Ventus's, which eventually took the form of Pyro, The Keeper of Fire. Pyro had crimson, messy hair, tanned skin, and a muscular build. His outfit was a red, ripped kimono with no undershirt and dark red sandals. Pyro also had a scar going from his forehead to his right cheek.

Author's Note: Sorry for the wait, everyone, I've been focused on other projects and have been neglecting to finish this story.