Super Princess Peach

Ch. 4

"Land ahoy! Look, guys! Vibe Island!" 

It was early the next morning, and everyone was just watching up from their hard night's sleep. But now, everyone aboard struggled to access a window so that they could look down below them. Peach and Perry squeezed together to look out a porthole. There was Vibe Island, several miles before them. It was pitifully small compared to the Mushroom Kingdom, but even from here, but it looked beautiful and exotic in the same way Hawaii or Jamaica did. Peach could see lush green forests, mountains, white clouds, beaches, and even a volcano in the distance.  

But Peach was more relieved at its presence than awed at its beauty. It was real, and it was here. Mario was within reach. 

"When do we get there?" she asked the pilot. 

" 'Bout ten minutes, Princess," he replied. "I've got to find a suitable place to land." 

"I'll take a look," a toad volunteered. He took some binoculars out of his pack and peered through the window again. "Hmm, not good...I don't see many good places to land...hey, wait a sec, what about...yeah! That'll do. Captain! Take a look. There's a huge area of plains down there that I think will work." 

Captain T took the binoculars and peered through them. "Hmm, yes, that's good. Pilot! See those green plains down there? We'll be landing there." 

"Roger that. Hold on to your hats, folks!" Slowly, Peach felt the aircraft dip slightly downward, and soon they were cruising down towards the earth. Peach grabbed her suitcase as she saw the island grow bigger and bigger as they grew closer to their destination. They were almost there! 

Suddenly, there was a loud beeping noise. In the pilot cabin, red lights flashed on the operational dashboard. 

"What's that?" Perry asked. 

"Uh oh," the pilot said. "Captain! I've got a projectile heading towards us! Half a mile out and closing in fast!" 

"What?" The captain, Perry, Peach, and Toadsworth crowded the pilot's area. Sure enough, directly out of the front windshield, there was a black dot a couple of football fields away from the plane, heading straight towards them and gaining speed fast! 

"What is that thing?" Toadsworth asked. 

"I'm not sure!" The pilot sounded worried.  

"Can we avoid it?" Peach asked. 

"Unsure about that too. We're going at a steady speed now and so is it. If we can pass before it gets to us, we're in the clear, but if not..." 

"Can we speed up?" Peach wondered, feeling her heart beginning to flutter. 

"If we pick up speed, we might crash into our landing spot or the plane might catch on fire," the captain said. "Think of it as a meteor heading down to earth-the meteor being us." 

"Then what can we do?" Perry demaded. 

The pilot and the captain looked at each other. 

"Captain!" one of the toads cried from the passenger area. His binoculars were pressed against the glass of the window. "I've identified the projectile - it's a Banzai Bill!" 

"Aw nuts," the pilot groaned. "A Banzai Bill!" Peach glanced out the window and saw that the projectile - now she could see that it was a huge bullet - was getting closer and closer - maybe 1000 feet out. 

"Is there a way of destroying it?" Toadsworth asked. 

"Sorry, Toadsworth, but this plane is strictly cargo," the pilot said. "It's not loaded with weapons of any kind."