The Last Resort

Chapter 1: A Deadly Invitation

It is a sunny afternoon on the open road with our favorite pasta-loving heroes and their friends. Mario, as excited as ever, sits on the bus next to Princess Peach as they look at a brochure. Princess Daisy fixes her crown and stares out the window of the other side of the bus. The shortest one of them all, Toad, is driving because he can totally see the road as long as he stands on his tip-toes. In the back of the bus, Luigi is sleeping with the adorable Polterpup wagging his tail next to him. Of course, we can't forget our guests.

In the back of the bus there is a girl named Maria. She is nineteen years old with a jumpy attitude and a smile on her face. She is the shortest of the guests, but still reaches around five feet and ten inches. She is sporting her cute shoulder cut yellow, cheetah printed shirt with black leggings, and her blonde hair wrapped around her head in a small braid while the rest stays down. Next to Maria is another female one year younger than her. This one's name is Julia, and she can't seem to keep herself still for longer than five seconds. She has long, brown hair that is tied up tightly in a ballerina bun. Her style consists of a loose, long sleeve, dark red crop top with a white tank top underneath and two white stripes horizontally cutting the sleeves, bootlegged blue jeans, and a simple five beaded bracelet. Lastly, we have Ethan; a loud, caring, bundle of very tall joy. He plays on his portable Switch in a seat diagonal from the girls. He wears a purple hooded tank top with light blue jeans and his thick, brown hair stays a mess on top of his head.

The group is heading to the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, and every competitor was allowed to bring a guest along. Peach was good friends with Maria, and since the brothers didn't know who to bring, the princess insisted they invite Maria's friends Julia and Ethan, who also happen to be siblings.

"I can't believe we are already heading to the Olympic Games! Time sure does go by fast." Maria continues to smile as she peeks over the back of Mario and Peach's seat, seeing they're reading the brochure.

"That's not what you said yesterday," Ethan comments without looking up from his screen. He is so close to the finish line in Mario Kart...

"Yeah, you've been saying this whole week how slowly time's gone by." Julia backs up her younger brother's claim, her hazel eyes swiveling over to blink at her friend.

"Oh, quiet you two! I don't need you all up in my case," Maria says, making the other two laugh slightly. Their joy is cut short when the bus shakes violently, almost tipping over on Ethan's side. Peach falls onto Mario and Daisy's face smashes into the window. Luigi continues on with his snoring.

Once the bus tips back over onto all of its wheels, Peach sits up and blushes slightly. "Sorry about that, Mario."

"Not-a problem, Princess." Mario straightens his hat which fell over his eyes during that whole fiasco.

The Switch slipped out of Ethan's hands, but luckily fell in the seat next to him. He sighs in relief and picks it up before glaring over his seat at the driver. "Are we there yet?!"

Julia puts her hands over her mouth when she sees the device fall, but laughs it off when she sees it's undamaged. Maria laughs at Ethan's sudden outburst while Toad looks in the rear view mirror and shouts, "Not yet!"

Toad makes sure to keep the bus steady, but doesn't see that the road turns and a tree is coming up in their path. Ethan stands up and quickly rushes into the aisle so he can try to get to the wheel. "Toad, watch the road!" Ethan makes it to the front of the bus right as Toad swerves to avoid the tree. The guest sits in the passenger seat to make sure the driver doesn't kill them on the way there. "Do you even know how to drive this thing?"

"Of course I do! I drove back then," Toad points to the game still in Ethan's hands. "Just be glad you aren't riding with Sonic."

A sharp turn in the road comes up quickly, but Ethan doesn't have enough time to take the wheel before Toad turns dramatically. Everyone stumbles once again except for Daisy, who was prepared after learning from the last few times, and continues to read. After she shakes her head to recover, Julia glances over at the orange cladded princess and asks, "What are you reading?"