Super Princess Peach

Ch. 6, Pt. 1

Peach didn't know where she was, but she knew that she was still alive because she could still feel pain. And it wasn't pleasant. It was throbbing, pulsating, from her shoulder socket.  

It was dark; the sound of sloshing water surrounded her. She was in it, or at least partially; she could feel the water washing up against her shoulder. It was cold. Really cold.  

She was lying in something shaped like a scoop; it suddenly jerked, and a splash of water hit her face.  

Peach shuddered with the cold and sputtered awake, gasping. 

"Princess!" Perry's deeply relieved and slightly alarmed voice was coming from somewhere around her. She couldn't tell where. The water was so bright... "You're all right?! You're alive?!" 

Peach coughed salt water out of her mouth and said, "What?" Her voice was rough. "Perry? Where are you...?" 

"Below you!" Peach looked down and realized that she was riding inside the umbrella - he was positioned upside down in the water, and Peach was riding inside of him as if she were in a tiny raft.  

"Oh, there you are." Peach was suddenly enormously grateful for Perry's presence - if the parasol hadn't been there, she'd probably be sinking to the depths of the Atlantic by now. "What happened?" 

"I was so worried, Princess." Perry sounded distressed. "Remember us falling?" 

"No...oh wait, yes I do." Peach remembered the split plane, Toadsworth stranded on the other side, Peach and Perry falling, Peach hitting the water... 

"You landed in the water really hard," Perry said. Peach shuddered at his words - she didn't want to remember that moment. "So hard that I thought you were dead when I fished you out. But thank heavens you were still breathing. So I loaded you on and we're now sailing towards the island. We're not far. Look." Dazed, Peach looked up to see Vibe Island looming ahead, not two miles from where they were floating in the open ocean. Sunny plains and bluffs covered this part of the island - a welcome cheerful sight, after what had just happened: the plane crash, the loss of her toads, of her faithful steward... 

"Oh," Peach said, groaning as the throbbing in her arm grew worse. A welcome distraction from her depressing thoughts. "I hope we get there soon. My arm really hurts." 

"Oh yeah, your arm too," Perry said, sounding slightly weary. "Princess, you just relax and try to get your strength back. We'll be there soon enough."

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They reached land about fifteen minutes later. The part of the island they had reached blocked them off with tall, wave-licked cliffs that towered hundreds of feet into the air. Perry looked up at them in irritation. "Great! Now we'll never get on land. We'll have to travel around and see if there's a beach around here somewhere." 

"Hey wait...what's that?" Peach exhaustedly pointed over to the left, where there was a small opening in the stone walls of the cliff. Its entryway was surprisingly smooth and round, like a hole in the wall, and sea water flowed inside of it. "Why don't we go in there, Perry? We can rest and then find another way onto the island tomorrow." 

Perry frowned, but consented. "All right. You do need to rest. You look like you're going to keel over." He maneuvered over towards the small cave and let the ocean current carry them inside. It grew darker as they floated further into the cave, and it was almost pitch black when they finally bumped onto a small sandy shore that led up to a rocky shelf. Peach climbed out of Perry, and Perry flipped over and followed her up onto the ledge. 

Peach could hardly move. She didn't remember ever feeling this exhausted before. But well, she didn't remember ever falling out of a plane - without a parachute! - and hitting the ocean full force either. Today was a day of firsts.