Super Princess Peach

Ch. 12, Pt. 1

The night came slowly. For hours and hours, Peach and the remaining toads of her team hid down in the thick undergrowth below the nest. Tensions were high - Peach and the toads knew that owls had very keen senses and could distinguish the tiniest of movements on the forest floor. So they had to stay absolutely still and make no noises whatsoever. It was horrible. Peach felt a backache developing. One of the toads managed to quietly maneuver into a resting position and fell asleep, breathing quietly. 

The sun slowly set in the sky and the night grew loud with nocturnal hunters as other forest life retired for the day. Peach paid special attention to the nest as it grew darker and darker. The moon, a waning crescent, lit up the nest as if it were a spotlight. The huge owl was sitting on the nest, watching her young sleep.  

Eventually, one of the owl chicks woke up and started chirping. This woke up the rest of the chicks, and they started to squeak loudly. They must be hungry, Peach figured. 

The mother owl rose to her full height and unfolded her wings. She flapped hard a couple of times, and the arousing wind whipped Peach's long blonde hair around. She spat strands out of her mouth as she watched the owl leap out of the nest and soar into the night. She flew in a wide circle over the forest below before descending some two miles away. 

Peach's heart raced. This was their chance! 

"Toadonelly, wake everyone up," she whispered. She and Toadonelly nudged the other two toads awake, and she popped open Perry so that he was shaken out of his sleep. 

"Wha?" he said drowsily. "What's goin' on? Is the owl gone?" 

"Yes. We've got to get up there before she gets back." Carefully making sure that no one else was around, Peach and the others cautiously rose out of the undergrowth and stumbled towards the pillar. It was a long way up, but Peach didn't want to use the Joyful Stone as she had originally intended. In this deep darkness of night, the mother owl would probably be able to see her from a mile away. "Toadonelly, set up some grappling hooks." 

"You sure, princess? It'll take a lot longer. You don't want to use your magic?" 

"We can't - the mother owl'll see us."  

Toadonelly nodded. "Right." He and Toadkins set to work setting up the grappling hooks. Toadkins was a great shot - the nest was at least twenty to twenty-five feet high in the air, but when he tossed the hook, it nailed the side of the nest, hooking into a space between two joined tree branches. After making sure that the rope was on tight, he offered the rope to Peach, and they set to climbing. 

A good ten minutes later, Peach finally reached the top of the pillar. She grabbed ahold of a tree branch and struggled to haul herself upward. Then she slid her foot between two twisted tree roots and used it as a foothold to finally climb over the side of the nest. 

It was very spacious inside, consisting of a wide, flat area covered in pine straw and deciduous leaves. The sides of the nest were lined with thick-branched trees that blocked out the wind and rain. Sitting in the very middle of the nest were four of the cutest owl chicks Peach had ever seen. They had huge, curious eyes and tiny beaks haloed with auburn and dark brown plumage like their mother.

At the sight of Peach struggling over the edge, they hopped towards her, nipping at her clothing in curiosity. Besides being cute, they were also large - at least four feet tall. 

Perry popped open beside Peach and the chicks squeaked in surprise, fluttering backwards. "We made it! Phew, good climbing, Princess!" 

"H-hey! Little help here?" A hand appeared over the edge of the nest. Peach clasped it and pulled Toadkins and then Toadonelly and his two companions into the nest.