Super Princess Peach

Ch. 11

They camped out in the woods for two whole days. Peach took the time to catch up on sleep - she'd fallen out of an airplane, slept in a sea cave, run from an army of Goombas, and fought with a huge piranha plant. She was completely exhausted. Perry slept a lot too, but awoke frequently, usually because he was hungry. 

The rest of the camp participated in similar sleepy activities, but, in Peach's place, Toadonelly had dispatched scouts to go hunt for water and more of the sour-tasting plants they called "Pucker Buds". The rations of bread were steadily running out, and, being the only carbohydrates they possessed, they needed a suitable substitute before they went blundering through the forest again. 

The toads also reported other findings. Toadkins said that there was a river flowing nearby, curving harshly through the forest growth. It tumbled in twists and turns through the trees and the toads predicted that it emptied out somewhere outside of the territorial line of the woods and back into the Atlantic. The toads had gathered plenty of canteens of water for the future journey. 

Other than that, the two days were peaceful and quiet. Peach got so much sleep that she was sore on the second night of camp. Perry was taking gladly to his diet of Pucker Buds. At dinner, the toads made more coffee and passed the last of the bread around. As Peach bit into the wheat bread, she wondered when she would be able to taste another carbohydrate again. She was already desperately missing the taste of meat. 

On the third day, Peach got up at sunrise to stretch her sore muscles. Perry joined her outside, yawning widely. "Mornin', Princess." 

"Hey there, Perry. You ready for our big search today?" 

"You bet." The previous night, Peach had discussed the "battle plan" with her toads - before blundering off to find Mario, they'd decided to comb the forest for any toads that might've survived the plane crash. Several doubts arose, such as how they were going to care for the toads if they found any with their limited provisions, but Peach refused to be discouraged. If they had to live off of Pucker Buds, then that was what they would do. She wasn't going to leave her people stranded on all parts of the island. 

After Peach finished stretching, she woke up the other toads of the camp. And so began the process of taking down the tents and distributing some more bitter coffee and uncooked Pucker Buds. Perry happily yumped Peach's down when she offered him hers. "You sure, Princess?" he asked, a stem sticking out of his mouth. "You're goin' to get pretty skinny if you keep dieting like this." 

"I'm not 'dieting'," Peach retorted as she sipped some bitter coffee - she was still very tired, and hopefully the beverage would keep her awake for the journey. "I just don't like those sour things." 

After all the packing was done and the rest of the water was bottled up, Peach said, "All right, let's get started. Toadonelly and crew, this way with me and Perry. The rest of you head to the northwest. Our goal is to find and rescue any toads that possibly survived the plane crash. Good luck to you all. Burn a fire if you need any assistance and we'll come to your aid as quickly as possible!" 

They split into two teams - Peach, Perry, and Toadonelly with five others on one team and the remaining toads on the other. Peach and her crew headed in a northeasterly direction, Toadonelly cutting down plant growth and brush to make a path.  

They hiked through the woods for over two hours, inspecting different areas of the vast forest. Every mile or so, they would stop and split up and search and listen for anything or anyone that could be stranded in the tightly-packed trees or thick, tangled vines. They found nothing, though. They even called out a little bit just in case, but they heard no attempt at an answer.  

They kept going for several more hours. The sun began to rise higher in the sky and refused to be blocked by the thick leaves of the deciduous trees. Pretty soon, Peach felt sweat slicking the back of her neck. She swept off her cloak, but the heat still baked her head to toe - she later found herself panting. The toads were suffering similar afflictions. A few had heavy packs on their backs, and they were lagging behind.