Peach Down Under

(Cubed Cinder)


Captain Olimar and his assistant, Louie, watched with delight as their band of Pikmin emerged from the leafy jungle, carrying a small petal from a fire flower. Once the Pikmin led the petal to the spaceship, the petal was beamed onboard. Research Pod, the floating computer that had been helping Olimar and Louie throughout their journey, quickly calculated the value of this small petal for their home planet, Hocotate.
"Estimated value of artifact... 100 pokos." Research Pod said.
"Duh... that don't sound like much, Olimar..." Louie said.
"Well, every little bit helps, Louie. I'm sure we are bound to find a lot of treasure in this new world." Olimar said. He then watched as each of the Pikmin, in five different colors (red, blue, yellow, purple, and white), ran up to him.
"Nicely done, Pikmin. Now we can go exploring for some more treasure together." Olimar said. The Pikmin, however, decided to get a head start by running back into the leafy jungle.
"You know, it's amazing to think that there are Pikmin hidden on this planet as well. It's amazing what wonders we can find in the galaxy." Olimar said.
"Duh... Olimar, sir? When are we going home? I'm hungry!!!" Louie shouted.
"Be patient, Louie! And besides... aren't you on a Pikpik diet ever since the incident back on Hocotate?" Olimar said.
"I couldn't help it... they're so good!" Louie said. Then, all of a sudden, the two spacemen looked where the Pikmin were heading, and that's when it happened. A very huge wall of pink came crashing down on not just the entire leafy forest but on the group of Pikmin, killing them instantly.
"Great googly moogly, what was that!?" Louie shouted, with his eyes bugging out.
"Oh no... it's back! The great wall of pink returns! Run everyone!!!" Olimar said, looking at both Louie and his remaining batch of Pikmin before they all ran away from their previously cozy spot. Soon, another huge wall of pink came crashing down, along with another wall that didn't look as solid as it fluttered about. There was no more scenery outside of the cozy spot. Nothing but pink, plus a huge shadow that felt like to Olimar was stretching out for miles.
"Man, what is this thing? It's the biggest thing I have ever seen!" Olimar said.
"Duh... maybe it's another one of them monsters. Why not throw the Pikmin on it?" Louie said. Olimar didn't say anything as he continued to look up at the huge wall of pink, trying to make something out of it in his mind.

That huge wall of pink turned out to be Princess Peach's pink glass slipper. And that softer wall I was talking about? Her dress. Despite being in her all too familiar pink princess outfit, Peach was out in her garden, down on her knees and checking up on the faces of her vegetables. The leaves of those vegetables was that leafy forest that little Olimar was seeing. If the vegetables were showing a smiley face, that meant they were nice and healthy. Otherwise, if there was a mean face... they would be tossed out. Toadette, one of Peach's assistants, soon joined up with the princess, nearly crushing Olimar's ship as she walked alongside her.
"So, princess, how are the vegetables today?" Toadette said.
"Oh, very well. Looks like we have a healthier batch this week." Peach said.
"Y'know, I've always been wondering something. Have you ever wondered what the world was like beneath our feet?" Toadette asked.
"What do you mean?" Peach asked.
"Oh, sometimes I wonder what those little bugs that crawl around your garden think when they see people as big as we are." Toadette said. Peach looked over at one of the vegetables still rooted to the ground and noticed a couple of Bulbears walking around. Of course, they were nothing but little bugs to Peach's eyes.
"Well, I'd hate to even think about it, Toadette." Peach said.
"Oh, right... I understand." Toadette said. Peach then handed her a few of the vegetables.
"Here, take this batch inside. Just make sure Yoshi doesn't spot them!" Peach said. Toadette smiled.
"Of course, Princess Peach!" Toadette said before she walked away. Peach, meanwhile, wiped the little bit of sweat off her forehead, resting her ungloved hand down on the soil and very close once again to Olimar and company.

Olimar, meanwhile, was just trying to stay alive with these walls, which were really Peach and her dress, coming down on him, Louie, and especially on his Pikmin. He couldn't bear watching as all those poor Pikmin got crushed trying to avoid the giantess.
"Aaaarrgh! That's the third time this week that thing tortured the two... of us!" Olimar said, trying to use perfect alliteration but not quite able to do so.
"Duh, yeah! We should do something about it!" Louie said.
"Yeah, but what? Those walls are far too big for even us to mess with." Olimar said.
"Oh, oh! I know! I know!" Louie said.
"Well, stop jumping up and down like you're the boss and tell me!" Olimar said.
"Duh... we should use the Micro Wave Generator?" Louie said.
"Huh? The Micro Wave Generator?" Olimar said.
"Affirmative, Olimar. It is a device built into this new model spaceship that you have piloted for your mission to save the Pikmin of this area. The Micro Wave Generator emits a series of electromagnetic waves that shrink anything directly in front of the waves to exactly 1/125th of that object's normal size." Research Pod said from the top of Olimar's ship.
"Really? How come nobody ever told me we had something like this?" Olimar asked.
"It was installed literally before takeoff from Planet Hocotate. You did not ask directly for input." Research Pod said.
"Oh, right. Sorry about that. Come on, Louie, let's use this Micro Wave Generator on that really big object!" Olimar said.
"Cool... we get to use spaceship technology!" Louie said as he and Olimar ran into the ship. After pushing a series of buttons and aiming the satellite up at Peach, the generator was activated and large waves of energy went flying upwards.

Peach was continuing to inspect her vegetable garden when she had to hold her head. She then started to feel quite woozy.
"What's going on? Maybe it's that intense sunlight that's making me tired..." Peach said to herself. Then she looked down and could swear she was hallucinating, but nope... it looked as though the vegetables were getting bigger!
"Huh? Now the garden's getting bigger? Or maybe I'm shrinking!" Peach shouted. Indeed, she had figured out that she was somehow getting smaller. She looked terrified as there was no telling how small she was going to get. It certainly was small when she could see the leaves from the vegetables towering over her like trees! Finally, though, she stopped shrinking at about half an inch tall. Her headache went away just as quickly and she was able to think clearly again, although that wasn't helping her with her situation.
"*gulp* This doesn't look very promising..." Peach said as she slowly wandered around the soil that her vegetables had been buried in. Much of it looked like big rocks as she walked around them, which told her how tiny she now was. After looking some more in the sky, Peach suddenly looked in front of her and almost bumped right into a red Pikmin. Of course, she was just as tall as this Pikmin now.
"Eeeek!!!" Peach shouted as she backed away from the Pikmin, tripping into the dirt. Amazingly enough, the Pikmin also scurried away in fear, hiding behind Captain Olimar and Louie.
"Duh... easy there, little guy! She won't bite. I don't think she will anyway..." Louie said.
"Greetings, young lady." Olimar said as he walked up to Princess Peach and held out a hand. Peach grabbed it and was helped up by the spaceman. She then brushed her dress of all the dirt she had picked up as well as straightened out her crown.
"Thank you. Who are you two?" Peach asked.
"Oh, I am Captain Olimar, and this is my partner, Louie. These creatures are Pikmin." Olimar said.
"I see. It's nice to meet all of you, but I must find out what it was that caused me to shrink to this small size." Peach said.
"Well... you see, that was our doing." Olimar said.
"Huh?" Peach asked.
"Please, come inside our ship and I shall explain. Louie, make sure the Pikmin safely get back to their onions until further instructions." Olimar said.
"Aye aye, captain!" Louie said, hitting himself a little too hard on the helmet as he saluted. Olimar and Peach soon entered the spaceship, the same one that had made Peach so incredibly tiny.


Olimar spent the next few minutes explaining the situation. Peach, always remembering to think before she spoke, took a moment to take in all that was happening with her. Certainly, she had been so used to slowly getting taller and sometimes growing as big as her friend, Princess Apple, but she never thought much about the day when she would be shrunk to the size of a Pikmin.
"I see... so I've been minding my own business in the garden when all this time I've been crushing these innocent creatures? And I've almost harmed you in the process?" Peach asked.
"That's about the size of it..." Olimar said, not realizing the bad pun he just made. He would be surprised to see Peach taking in all of this so well.
"Gee, I'm so sorry. I had no idea." Peach said.
"Hey, it's okay. How could you as tiny as we folks from Hocotate are!" Olimar said, also appearing to take it in stride.
"Hmmm... is there anything I can do for you and your band of these, I believe you called them... Pikmin? I can help all of you perhaps relocate to a far less dangerous place." Peach said.
"You would really do that?" Olimar said.
"Of course! I'm the princess of the Mushroom Kingdom. It's the least I can do. But I'll only do it if you can help me find a way to reverse the shrinking you've done to me." Peach said.
"Oh, that's no problem. I used the Micro Wave Generator to shrink you. All I have to do is reverse the energy flow and it will have you back to normal in no time." Olimar said.
"Then it's settled. Come on, we should get your Pikmin ready." Peach said.
"Actually, first I was hoping you would help finish my treasure hunt of this area. That's why I came here, aside from wondering what a bunch of lonely Pikmin would be doing here, especially with dangerous Bulbears and Bulborbs perhaps out there!" Olimar said.
"Okay, I guess we can do that." Peach said. Soon she and Olimar, after shaking hands, both exited the ship.

Louie was playing with some of the different colored Pikmin just outside of the ship when he saw Olimar and Peach coming out.
"Louie, this lady here, Princess Peach, has agreed to help with the rest of the treasure hunt as a way of apologizing to us." Olimar said.
"Duh... cool! But don't you usually say sorry to apologize?" Louie said. Olimar just rolled his eyes.
"You'll have to excuse my partner. He's been mind boggled ever since the Titan Dweevil incident." Olimar said.
"It's okay. I understand." Peach said. Just then, everyone could feel the ground rumbling once again.
"Princess Peach!" a familiar voice called out. Peach quickly recognized the voice.
"Oh no... it's Toadette! She's probably looking for me!" Peach shouted.
"Duh... I'm sure it's no big problem if she is a friend of yours." Louie said. Right when he said that, however, everyone looked above the tall grass and leaves from the vegetables and could see the giant Toadette walking towards them. Peach had to stop and marvel at the sight for a few seconds. She never would've imagined looking at Toadette from this angle. At her size, she looked well over 100 feet tall in her eyes. Toadette was walking all around the area.
"It IS a big problem, Louie!" Olimar said.
"Gee, where could the princess have gone?" Toadette said as she now stood very close to Olimar's spaceship. Peach ran as close as she could to Toadette's feet.
"Toadette! Down here! It's me!!!" Peach shouted. Sadly, Toadette didn't seem to respond, not that Peach expected her to.
"It's no good! We need to activate the Micro Wave Generator!" Olimar shouted. But Peach was watching Toadette's movements very carefully. She watched as Toadette got down on all fours and seemed to be scanning the soil. Then she looked to see one of Toadette's locks of mushroom hair come swinging down towards the ship!
"Look out!" Peach shouted as she dove for Olimar and hit the dirt, just as Toadette's hair pinned the ship down to its side, knocking Research Pod off the top of the ship.
"Ouch! Ow!!! That smarts!" Research Pod shouted.

Toadette, meanwhile, was looking closely through the soil for almost no reason. She did, however, stop to see the little dots of red, blue, yellow, purple, and white... with one pink dot running around in front of her. Of course, that pink dot was Princess Peach, still trying to get Toadette's attention.
"Hmmm... these are some strange looking bugs, including that pink one. I'll have to tell Peach that there are some bugs in her garden!" Toadette said.
"Hey, Toadette!" Toad shouted in the background. Toadette stood up and let out a shout to Toad, a pretty loud one to Peach's ears.
"Yes, Toad?" Toadette said.
"Princess Daisy just arrived!" Toad shouted.
"Okay, I'll be right there! I guess I'll have to wait later to search for Peach... I'm sure she is fine, though." Toadette said as she finally walked away from our group of tiny heroes and Pikmin. Peach let out a deep sigh and watched with sadness as the giant Toadette was walking away. On the other hand, though, she felt relieved that she and the others were safe for now.
"If only you knew, Toadette..." Peach said as she walked back over to join Olimar and Louie.
"Sorry about that, Captain Olimar. I was worried you'd get hurt in that ship after Toadette came walking by." Peach said.
"Hey, it's no biggie. We've kinda gotten used to it, haven't we?" Olimar said.
"Duh... we have?" Louie said.
"Never mind. Research Pod, what's the damage report to the ship?" Olimar asked.
"It appears only minimal structual damage was sustained. However, the Micro Wave Generator has been knocked offline." Research Pod said.
"You mean that thing that shrunk me and is going to get me back to normal!?" Peach said.
"Now now, please don't panic, my princess. Louie here can fix anything on the ship, can't you?" Olimar said.
"Duh... sure I can! I just have to read the instruction manuals again..." Louie said.
"Well, Research Pod can help you there. In the meantime, I say we begin with our treasure hunt while we have the chance. I'll gather about 70 of my strongest Pikmin." Olimar said.
"Okay then. Sounds good with me." Peach said before she turned her back on the two spacemen and looked up at the sky, "(sigh) I'll never eat another Mini Mushroom again..."

Meanwhile, inside Peach's Castle, Toadette continued to scan the hallways for Princess Peach, but at the same time, she walked up to Princess Daisy who had been standing patiently in front of the front doors.
"Princess Daisy! Welcome to Peach's Castle!" Toadette shouted. Daisy kneeled down to shake Toadette's hand.
"Oh, please... Toadette. I've been here so many times, you don't have to remind me where I am!" Daisy said.
"Of course, I'm sorry." Toadette said.
"So where is Peach?" Daisy asked.
"Well, to be honest with you, I don't know. Last time I saw her, she was out in her garden." Toadette said.
"Hmmm... the old vegetable garden. I haven't stepped out there in a while. Can I take a look there while we wait for the princess?" Daisy asked.
"Sure. Please follow me!" Toadette said.


For the next couple of hours, Peach would be helping out Olimar, Louie, and their band of Pikmin in their 'treasure hunt.' The Pikmin started to take a liking to Peach, which made her very happy to see they were able to forgive her. She was definitely getting a new outlook on the lives of such tiny creatures. It's ironic that Toadette and she were talking about such a thing before she was shrunken.
"These Pikmin seem very loyal to you." Peach said back to Olimar.
"Well, yes they do. Before I met them, it seemed they didn't have any sort of direction to take themselves in. They were always at the mercy of their predators, yet my appearance seemed to have given them the courage they need to fight back, and that feels very rewarding to me." Olimar said.
"So I see. I wish I could spend more time to study these wonderful creatures." Peach said.
"Maybe I can share notes with you when we get back to the ship!" Olimar said, showing a smile. Just then, some of the Pikmin came running back towards our heroes.
"What's wrong, little guys?" Olimar asked.
"Duh... maybe they saw a ghost!" Louie shouted.
"Whoa... look over there!" Peach said, pointing at the leaves (from her vegetables) that were rustling around. Coming right out of those leaves was a Bulbear carrying quite a few of the Pikmin as they were all beating and banging on the large creature, but it was having no effect.

"Yikes! A Bulbear!" Olimar said. Peach simply looked over the large creature.
"I guess those are one of the predators?" Peach asked.
"Duh... they are pretty dangerous!" Louie said.
"Wait here, everyone, I'll go get some more Pikmin!" Olimar said.
"No, wait! I'll handle this!" Peach said as she magically summoned her umbrella and ran for the Bulbear. Peach stood with no fear in front of this creature as it looked curiously at the little princess.
"Back off, you! I have an umbrella here and I know how to use it!" Peach said, standing her ground as the Bulbear inched closer and closer to her.
"I said back off!!!" Peach shouted. Soon, her entire body lit up with fire; a clear sign that she was going into her angry vibe. The Bulbear jumped up when it saw this and then ran off like a scared cat. Peach twirled her umbrella around and smiled.
"Well now, that was fun!" Peach said.
"That was incredible!" Olimar said.
"Duh... remind me never to tick you off, miss Peach!" Louie said.


But shortly after that, everyone could feel the ground rumbling once again. It shook in different intervals, but Olimar and Louie were very familiar with that shaking.
"Duh... the ground's shaking again!" Louie said.
"But that's impossible! We shrunk Princess Peach already!" Olimar said. Suddenly, Peach heard a very familiar call.
"Yoohoo! Peach, are you here!?" the female voice shouted. Peach gasped and clearly looked stunned.
"Oh no... Daisy! I forgot she would be stopping by today for kart practice!" Peach said.
"Daisy? Duh... what could be wrong with a harmless little flower?" Louie said. Once again, of course, he would be proven wrong as finally the huge Princess Daisy came into view. Peach was floored to see how huge she looked from her new perspective. Toadette was with the princess, which meant double trouble for our heroes.
"How about a daisy that has two arms, two eyes, and two legs like us!?" Olimar shouted.
"We have to get her attention somehow!" Peach shouted as she finally got the courage to run towards the giantess. A group of Pikmin suddenly followed her.
"Hey, wait! Come back here, my Pikmin!" Olimar shouted as he and Louie followed as well.

While it was a jungle to Peach and the rest of the gang, all Daisy saw was Peach's beautiful vegetable garden. She bent herself down and plucked one of the vegetables from the ground, noting the happy face.
"Well, you gotta admit, Peach makes a great gardener! I wonder where she is anyway?" Daisy said.
"I know... but it beats me." Toadette said. Daisy then dropped the vegetable and let her eyes wander in another direction. She was now looking straight down at the Pikmin and the tiny Princess Peach, but of course as small as they were, they were nothing but colorful dots in her eyes. Naturally, Daisy didn't run away... coming from a tough kingdom like Sarasaland, she learned to cope with bugs.
"Hey, look at those little bugs!" Daisy said.
"Yeah, aren't they weird? I was gonna tell Peach about those little critters." Toadette said.
"Oh come on... why should we wait to tell her about these pathetic little things? Haven't you tried stomping on them?" Daisy said.
"Um... well..." Toadette said.
"Here, I'll show you." Daisy said as she lifted her azure-colored glass slipped up into the air...

Peach was making her way towards Daisy, not knowing how she was going to get her attention as big as she was, when the Pikmin suddenly ran ahead of her.
"Huh? What are they doing?" Peach said as she watched the many different colored Pikmin approach the giantess.
"They must be getting the right idea, but..." Before Peach could realize how much danger the wild Pikmin were getting themselves into, she looked up again. Daisy was looking right down at them. Then, covering her ears from how loud Daisy's voice was, she was able to pick up on her conversation with Toadette. She simply gasped when she heard Daisy say they should simply crush those little bugs instead of wait until Peach showed up. Although Peach was not directly underneath Daisy's raised heel, many of the Pikmin certainly were.
"No! Stop! Come back!!!" Peach shouted. But it was too late. Daisy slammed her foot down into the soil, crushing those Pikmin that were underneath and sending those that didn't get crushed up high into the air from the shockwave. Peach grabbed onto one of the leaves of the vegetables to keep from flying away herself. There were a handful of Pikmin that were darn lucky enough to get on top of Daisy's foot after flying in the air, and Peach was most concerned for them. She took one look back at Olimar and Louie who were running towards her.
"You two, stay back here and keep the other Pikmin away!" Peach said.
"But what about you?" Olimar said.
"She's my friend... she'll have to to recognize me somehow." Peach said. She took a deep breath and started running towards the giant Daisy, even though she continued on her stomping spree, making a new stomp every few seconds or so. Since she raised her right foot, Peach ran up as close as she could to her left foot. In fact, she was just inches away from her slipper.
"Daisy! Daisy!!! It's me!!! I'm down here!!!" Peach said, shouting as loud as she could in an effort to get Daisy's attention. But it was no good.
"Die you little insects!" Daisy shouted. Peach then watched as the giantess raised her foot right above her. The fact that Peach could see inside Daisy's dress made little difference to her. She was surely going to be crushed flat.
"Eeeeeek!!!" Peach shouted. She covered her head, thinking this was going to be the end of her. But what luck!

Peach opened her eyes to see she was standing beneath the archway of the shoe. She took a deep breath.
"Wow... and I thought getting pinned underneath Apple's golden sandals was bad enough!" Peach said to herself. She crawled out underneath Daisy's shoe and could see some of the Pikmin still attached to her foot, albeit all beaten up from Daisy's stomping show. Some, on the other hand, were trying to climb up her legs.
"Oh dear... not a good idea." Peach said, accidentally getting a glimpse of Daisy's panties in the process. Indeed, Daisy could feel them squirming up her ankles and she gave each of her feet a good shaking, knocking all of the Pikmin (or dots to her eyes) loose.
"Ha! That should've given them a good shaking!" Daisy shouted.
"Daisy, please... perhaps we can think of a more gentler way to deal with these things? Besides, you nearly crushed one of Peach's plants!" Toadette said, pointing to one of the leaves of the vegetables that Daisy was standing on. Peach could just hear Toadette say that despite still being underneath Daisy's dress, and indeed she saw one of her vegetables getting stuffed into the ground. She didn't look too happy about this.
"If I survive this, I'm gonna make sure she learns how to properly walk around my garden!" Peach said. She ran over to the wall of yellow that was the inside of Daisy's dress, lifting it up and finding herself back outside once more. Just in time too, as Daisy made one more stomp just inches away from where Peach was running. The resulting shockwave flew Peach back to where Olimar and Louie had been hopelessly standing along with a small group of Pikmin still remaining.

"My goodness, are you alright?" Olimar said.
"I'm okay, captain. But we're never going to get her attention at this rate..." Peach said.
"Duh... if only there were some way that one of us could fly up to that thing's face or something, and tell it to stop!" Louie said.
"We could use our spaceship to blast that giant thing down, but Research Pod says it's still under repair!" Olimar said.
"Wait a second... Louie, did you say you wish one of us could fly up there?" Peach said.
"Duh... yeah! I think that's what I said. I mean, my memory is not the greatest in the world, but I think that's what I said." Louie said.
"Hmmm..." Peach began to think of her idea. She took one look over at the one vegetable that had been crushed by Daisy. She walked back towards it, realizing it was safe to head back that way with Daisy now walking in the opposite direction with her crushing spree, and then tore off a piece of one of the leaves.
"Now then, hopefully I still have my magic dust." Peach said. She reached into one of her pockets, and she's lucky the dress she wore today had a couple of them. Indeed, there was a bag full of magic dust. Peach placed the leaf down on the soil and poured the magic dust on this leaf.
"I hope this works..." Peach said. Just as she said that, the dead leaf suddenly began to float around with a lot of energy. It also slowly changed in color from green to red.
"Yes!!!" Peach shouted as she quickly grabbed the leaf and held it in the air.

Peach soon became Raccoon Peach.

That's right. She could feel the raccoon ears forming on her head as well as the tail. She looked behind her to see the tail there.
"Heh, I haven't used raccoon power in a long time." Peach said with a smile. Olimar and Louie ran up to the princess with stunned looks on their faces. You could tell with Louie because his eyes were bugging out again.
"Wow! That's incredible! I'll have to research on this..." Olimar said.
"Later, captain. Now then, clear the area... I'm gonna need all the space I can get!" Peach said. Olimar and Louie did what they were told and backed away. As soon as she felt the area was clear, Peach took one more look up at both Daisy and Toadette (who continued to stand there watching Daisy do her thing) and then she took off running. She felt like she took about 20 to 24 steps before she could feel the wind flying in her face and her tail flapping in the breeze. And so that's when she leapt into the air and was now flying through the skies. Raccoon Peach's target... Princess Daisy.
"Louie, you're a genius!" Olimar said, patting his friend on the back for his idea about flying in the air.
"Duh... I am?" Louie asked.


Daisy, meanwhile, just continued on her Pikmin crushing spree, not that she could possibly know she was crushing these cute little creatures with the power of her azure-colored slippers. She could see the numbers dwindling significantly.
"See? Problem almost solved! There was no need to call for Peach to solve this crisis!" Daisy said.
"But, but... they could've been innocent little bugs looking for food." Toadette said.
"Nonsense, Toadette! Sheesh, you should get out more!" Daisy said. Toadette just shrugged. She wanted so badly to plead her case, but there was just no arguing with a princess in the Mushroom Kingdom, especially not a tough one like Daisy.

After another one of her stomps, Daisy now had to contend with a fly of some sort flying in front of her face. Little did she realize that this 'fly' was really Raccoon Peach.
"Daisy! Please, listen to me! It's me, Princess Peach!!!" Peach shouted.
"Bleh... now there's a mosquito flying around me! I guess Peach hasn't been taking as good a care of her garden as I thought." Daisy said. She took a good swipe at Peach, but she was quickly able to fly out of the way even though the wind coming from Daisy's swing nearly sent her off course.
"Shoo, you little fly!" Daisy shouted.
"Daisy, stop it!!! You have to listen to me!" Peach shouted. She then looked to see Daisy now raising both her hands and spreading them out real wide. Peach gulped... she had to be real quick to get out of this one, so she flapped her tail more rapidly than ever. By the seam of her dress, she was able to avoid getting crushed in between Daisy's hands, although her ears were ringing from the deafening clap. Daisy knew that she missed when she opened her hands and didn't see anything. She caught Peach in the air once more.
"Hah! I got you now!" Daisy shouted, raising her right hand once again.

"Daisy, STOP!!!" Toadette shouted, putting an emphasis on the last word. Daisy was able to pick that up and lowered her hand before she could take another swing at Raccoon Peach.
"Huh? What do you mean STOP?" Daisy asked. Toadette walked in front of Daisy and held out a hand towards Raccoon Peach.
"It's okay, little fly. Come here... I won't hurt you." Toadette said. Her gentle voice was definitely a convincing one to Peach, and she slowly flew down to Toadette's hand. She sat down to rest her worn out raccoon tail, waving up to the huge Toadette's face at the same time.
"Toadette, thank you for saving me! I'm glad you could finally notice!" Peach shouted. Toadette, however, didn't say anything.
"Oh my gosh... Princess Peach!? Is that you?" Toadette asked.
"Yeah... it's a long story." Peach said. Toadette then looked up at Daisy and didn't look too pleased.
"Princess Daisy... you know you almost swatted the princess of all the Mushroom Kingdom out of the sky, didn't you!?" Toadette said.
"Huh? How can that silly little fly be Peach? Maybe you're seeing things, Toadette!" Daisy said. Peach jumped into the air and took off flying again, using all her strength towards her raccoon tail to fly right up to Daisy's right eye.
"Still think she's kidding, Daisy?" Peach said. Daisy was now taken aback as she stepped back a couple steps, nearly tripping over another one of Peach's vegetables. Peach kept up with Daisy to make sure she wouldn't lose sight of her.
"P-P-P-Peach... but I... you mean I nearly crushed... I didn't mean to..." Daisy said.
"Forget it, Daisy. We'll discuss this later. Right now we have a more pressing issue. Those little 'bugs' you've been crushing are my new friends." Peach said.
"Huh? What do you mean?" Daisy asked.
"They are the Pikmin. It seems they called this place home and none of us have realized it, now they've been tortured every day by myself or someone else." Peach said. Toadette could hear
"Wow... that sounds fascinating." Toadette said.
"It sure does. Look down there at those two flashing dots. They are Captain Olimar and his friend, Louie. They introduced me to the Pikmin and I've been helping them find treasure as well as thinking of a place to relocate them." Peach said.
"Gosh, I had no idea..." Daisy said.
"I know you didn't, Daisy. Neither did I, until they shrunk me." Peach said. Daisy then decided to take Peach into her hands. Then she very gently got down on her knees, making sure not to crush any more of the Pikmin. She looked down at the blinking red dots on top of Olimar and Louie's helmets that they each used to find each other in the darkness.

"Listen, I am very, very sorry. I wish I could make things up to you." Daisy said.
"Oh, that's quite alright. We've kinda been used to the situation for the past couple of days." Olimar said.
"Duh... we have?" Louie said.
"I just wish there was something out here that I could use to spawn some more Pikmin. I'll take anything... even a vegetable!" Olimar said.
"Hmmm... perhaps I can remedy that. Daisy, get one of the happy vegetables, please." Peach said, looking up at the giant princess. Daisy got up and used her free hand to pluck one of the smiling vegetables from the ground. Daisy walked back in front of both Olimar and Louie, hovering Peach above them.
"Come on, let's take that vegetable back to your ship, gentlemen." Peach said.
"Sounds fine with me." Olimar said as he, Louie, and the few remaining Pikmin all walked back for their ship (and onions for the Pikmin). Daisy and Toadette followed suit, taking very miniscule steps to make sure they didn't crush anyone.

Soon, everyone was back at the ship. Research Pod was floating in front of the ship.
"Ah, Captain Olimar, sir! I am pleased to report that the Micro Wave Generator has been repaired!" Research Pod said.
"Excellent, and what of the main thrusters?" Olimar said.
"I haven't tested them yet, but they should be good to go." Research Pod said.
"So what am I supposed to do with this?" Daisy asked. Peach, still with her raccoon powers, flew down next to Olimar to get the message.
"Just place it underneath one of these onions, please." Olimar said. Peach flew up to Daisy's ear and passed that message to her. Daisy placed the vegetable underneath the red onion, just barely able to fit it there.
"Well, here goes nothing." Olimar said. He pressed some buttons on his suit, and then the onion shot out a beam that pulled the vegetable inside... seconds later, hundreds of seedlings came popping out of the onion! It almost felt like rain, there were so many coming down.
"Duh... it's raining seedlings!" Louie shouted. The storm of seedlings lasted just a few seconds, but the ground was literally covered with the leaves of newly born Pikmin. All of them red, of course, but Olimar could fix that later.
"Yikes! Look at all these new Pikmin. It'll take me hours before I can uproot all of them." Olimar said.
"Perhaps we can help you out there." Peach said. Then she flew over in front of Toadette's face.
"Toadette, how about picking all of these Pikmin up for the captain?" Peach said.
"Well, sure... I think I can do that." Toadette said. She walked up to the patch of leaves, with Olimar and Louie taking shelter between her feet. Toadette put her hand down and pulled out a big clump of dirt, but they got the Pikmin out of the ground. With three more dunks, all of the Pikmin were running around, ready to serve Olimar and Louie.
"Duh... think of all the work they could do for us!" Louie said.
"With this many, it will be no problem, I'm sure." Olimar said. Peach then landed next to Olimar and Louie again.
"Well, I'm glad things worked out great in the end. I'm sorry we couldn't find any more treasure for you." Peach said.
"It's okay, there will be other places. Hopefully we can find them in this vast world." Olimar said. Peach nodded.

"Duh... thank you, miss Peach, for all you've done for us. Good and bad, too!" Louie said. He then, under Olimar's orders, began to lead their new batch of red Pikmin into the red onion so they could be carried safely to their new destination.
"No problem... although I wish I could return to my normal size now." Peach said.
"Ah, don't worry there. I shall go activate the Micro Wave Generator in reverse." Olimar said as he and Louie (with the red onion full of new Pikmin now) walked inside the ship. Peach walked to the front of the ship and motioned for Daisy and Toadette to step back, which they did. Soon, the generator began to fire its waves of energy down at Peach. Instead of shrinking, this time Peach found herself getting bigger. Soon, she was back to her normal size. She quickly got down on her knees to see Research Pod placing itself back on top of the ship.
"Good luck, both of you!" Peach said. Olimar and Louie gave one final salute before they started the engines and took off for the skies. The three onions (red, blue, and yellow) followed suit. Peach waved goodbye to her new friends, as did Daisy and Toadette.

"Well, I'm glad things were settled there." Daisy said. Peach then turned around and looked at Daisy in the eyes again.
"So, Daisy... what was that you were saying about all bugs being disgusting and worth crushing?" Peach said. Daisy knew she was in trouble for accidentally trying to crush her.
"Um... well... you look good with those raccoon ears!" Daisy said, rapidly changing the subject as she playfully ran back for the castle. Peach let out a giggle watching her run away and she felt like jabbing her back.
"And you have a nice color for your panties!!!" Peach shouted as she followed suit. Toadette just shrugged as she watched the two princesses run back for the castle doors.
"Oh well... just another day between those two." Toadette said to herself as she smiled and walked back for the castle, leaving behind the vegetable garden that served as one big adventure today for Princess Peach.


END