Galaxies Colide

Through the Smoke

"I-a," Mario began with a highly embarrassed tone as he crawled through the massive, dark vents behind Daisy, "Should-a probably apologize-a for-a punching the Princess of Saraland-a in-a the face like I did." "Well, as hard as you do hit, and as much as I'll totally feel that tomorrow," Daisy replied with sass-coated remarks that quickly cleared to reveal total understanding, "I'm actually kinda glad you did; in the heat of that moment, I probably would've killed you if you didn't stop me right then and there before Bowser could interrupt us." "Speaking of-a him," Mario spoke once more as he and Daisy pressed their backs together to begin a corporative climb up a rather elongated upright section of the vents, "I'm-a curious if you'd-a know why he-a wouldn't sound-a the alarm; it's been-a far longer than-a ten minutes now."

"I'd honestly tell you the answer to that if I even had an idea," Daisy replied after an extended ponder, "You'd think he'd just cheat us on that ten-minute timer and catch us as fast as possible, plus there's only so many places we could have gone." "Exactly," Mario replied as the duo at last arrived at the top of the vent section, "Though, we-a really should be-a quiet moving-a through here; he's-a bound to still-a have patrols in the halls-a." "In that case," Daisy confirmed; her voice almost instantly lowering to a whisper, "I've got a pretty good idea how to make it to the hanger; follow me and we'll be there soon. Oh and, watch where you place your weight, we don't want these vents to drop open on us!" Nodding with silent approval, Mario then followed his nearly muscle memory routine of sneaking around in tight places, which he'd implemented countless times in his travels throughout the universe.

With each silent place of her knees and palms, Daisy's direction of gaze highlighted her strategy of navigation clearly. With the flashing of shadows on the floors below the vents; the movements of guards on the floor below provided Daisy with a clear indication as to where the areas of interest were in this huge castle. Stopping nearly so abruptly as to cause Mario to collide with her heels; the Princess of Sarasaland's waving hand signaled an obvious time to remain silent for Mario. Watching to where her eyes lay, Mario too was able to gain a glimpse of just what it was that Daisy had her vision locked on. Matching with a rather exhausting pace; their helmets gleamed in the torchlight as the battalion of air-ready Koopa Troopas wasted no time taking a turn down the next hall on their way to perhaps the place that the duo was currently seeking. "They're getting ready to launch a ship!" Daisy spoke with a rather sharp, rushed whisper, "Follow them! Quick!" Caught off guard as she began racing down the vents into the shadows ahead of him; Mario for a few seconds was only able to track her path through the rapid, metallic banging pattern she left in her wake.

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Spending only perhaps 5 minutes racing loudly through the vents after his rather energetic, determined partner in crime, Mario at last came to rest as he inevitably ran completely out of breath; struggling to regain it due to the smoke and dust that composed a large portion of the air within the vents. Luckily for them both, Daisy too had come to a heavy-breathed rest just in front of where the young plumber had. "This...smoke..." Daisy chocked, "We've really gotta...be careful running around like that." "I'm-a sorry we-a lost those Air Troopas," Mario spoke, his breath at last returning in its clean nature, "We'll-a have to find another way-a to the hanger." "Well, I won't give up if you won't," Daisy spoke encouragingly, "I'm guessing we're pretty close now; we're pretty far from the dungeon anyway." "Bows-a really should-a lock these-a vents," Mario spoke as he continued to crawl after Daisy, "He-a really has no idea what could fall out..." Interrupted instantly by the surface beneath his knees vanishing with a rather metallic cracking; Mario's falling lower half proved helpless against gravity as his upper half searched frantically for even a remotely greppable surface to pull himself back up with. Desperate, flailing hands firmly gripping Daisy's ankles without a thought as to what he was about to do; Mario found himself silently falling a rather large distance from the open vent cover. With the much lighter Princess of Sarasaland landing silently atop him a second later; Mario's mind once again found itself in a state of surprise to discover that his impact had caused him no pain whatsoever.