The next day, Daisy got up when it was still dark. She dressed in her orange gi and combed her hair into its usual bob before placing her crown carefully on top. Then, she got up her bo staff and snuck down the hall towards the kitchen, hoping to grab a snack before going to meet Birdonna. 

Unfortunately, Toadobuki was sitting on the counter, boiling some tea, when she walked in. 

"What are you doing up so early?" she demanded. 

"It's healthy to get up early," Toadobuki said wisely. "Half the day gets wasted when you sleep in late." He pushed a small cup filled with steaming liquid towards her. "Care for some tea?" 

Daisy tasted it and almost gagged. It was horribly bitter. "Pass on the rest," she gasped. 

"Very well. Good luck out there." Toadobuki sipped his own tea. "If you succeed...I will reward you." 

Daisy frowned. " 'Succeed'? What do you mean? I've already beaten Birdonna twice." 

Toadobuki grinned mysteriously. "I'm not talking about Birdonna." 

Daisy continued to frown as she left the dojo and hiked down the hill. O-kay. What was with that geezer, giving her cryptic clues? Best not to think about it, though. She needed to focus on the task at hand: getting to the meeting place without getting eaten by a jungle cat. 

The old creek was somewhere behind the village, in the thick jungle growth. It took almost half an hour to get there. Fortunately, no jungle cats were out. They must have all been asleep. 

Calling it a creek was being generous. Toadobuki had told her that something was blocking the creek's source, so it had narrowed down to a trickle. It was true. Only a thin stream of water was flowing down the weedy ditch now. Daisy was careful to keep away from it as she reached it. Be on even ground, that was the key to winning a fight. 

The hoots of owls and night animals filled the air as Daisy circled slowly, anticipating attack from all directions. Sweat dribbled down her back. Her hands shook. She didn't know why Birdonna had asked her to meet out here...couldn't she have chosen a nice, safe area? Like in the middle of the village? 

"Birdonna?" Daisy asked hesitantly. "Are...are you there?" 

No answer. Then - 

Bonk! Something clocked Daisy on the head. She spun around to see things flying towards her. She backed up. An Egg Barrage? No...clubs! They were clubs! Like the ones she'd used at gymnastics practice!  

Daisy spun her bo staff like a fan, knocking the projectiles into the grass. The attack stopped. Daisy panted, squinting up into the trees. The air was foggy. What was going on? 

Suddenly, a loud snapping sound, like one from a whip, lit the air. A ribbon flew down, wrapped around Daisy's staff, and yanked it out of her hands before she had time to react. She gasped as she watched it fly up into the foggy darkness.  

"Hey - !" she began - only to be cut off as another barrage of clubs flew down from the trees. Daisy rolled through the grass as the projectiles pummeled the mud behind her. 

"Why you!" The princess grabbed up a couple of fallen clubs and launched them towards her attacker. Daisy knew they'd hit their mark when a squeal of pain came out of the fog. 

"BIRDONNA!" Daisy yelled. "Is that you up there? Knock it off!" 

A shadow above shifted, and Daisy saw, indeed, Birdonna up in the trees. The Birdo was clothed in a bright pink leotard with purplish sequins. She eased along a thin branch with the confidence of an Olympic gymnast. In one hand, she held the end of a ribbon. In another, she held Daisy's bo staff. And in between two of the toes on her right foot, she held a couple of clubs.  

"Interesting!" Birdonna said as she moved-easy as you please-with one foot along the branch. Her balance was rock-solid. "And here I thought you'd duck out." 

Daisy crossed her arms. "Why would I duck out?" she hollered up to the Birdo. "I've already beaten you. Twice." 

Birdonna scowled, but regained her composure. "Brave words...for one about to taste failure for the first time." She lifted her ribbon. "Watch, kin and friends, as I defeat this foolish apprentice! Watch as I prove that our school of martial gymnastics is as good as Toadobuki's foolish school!" 

Daisy realized that the two were not alone: as she gazed around, she saw many, many Birdos filling the trees around her, hanging lazily like monkeys.  

"What the - " Daisy said. 

"Hyahh!" Birdonna whipped her ribbon down towards Daisy.  

The princess leapt out of the way, and was amazed at how the ribbon slashed a swath of mud behind her like a rod might have. She glanced upward - just in time to see the ribbon slashing down towards her again.  

She whipped behind a tree, and felt the trunk rattle as Birdonna's weapon sliced up the bark on the other side. Daisy waited a moment before leaping out from behind cover towards another tree.  

Wah-psht, wah-psht! Mud and debris flew up behind her as Birdonna's make-shift whip tore up the ground. Daisy ducked behind the tree, trying to wrap her head around all of this. Birdonna was crazy! Had Toadobuki really upset her that much when he'd done that "demonstration" in her village? 

"Come out, little girl!" Birdonna taunted from high up in the trees. "No need to hide! I won't humiliate you...that much!" 

The other Birdos hanging up in the trees with Birdonna began to shout and boo at Daisy: 

"Come on out, apprentice! Show us those 'moves' Toadobuki's taught you!" 

"What moves? All she's been doing is ducking and hiding!" 

"Is that all Toadobuki taught you? How to run away?" 

Daisy fumed. How dare they underestimate her, and the things Toadobuki had taught her! If they thought that she was weak, or that she was a coward, they had another thought coming.  

"Shut up!" the princess snarled as she rounded the tree. "Birdonna, you're gonna be the one hiding when I - " 

A sudden flurry of gymnastics clubs flying from the shadows shut her up. With her bo staff gone, Daisy forced her hands up, knocking the projectiles away as best she could. One grazed the side of her head, making her stumble backwards with pain.  

Wah-psht! The ribbon flew down out of the fog again, wrapping around her ankle. Before Daisy could blink, she was being yanked upside down into the air by the foot. When she stopped, she was staring at an upside-down Birdonna, poised and confident on her tree branch. She had tied the other end of the ribbon to a nearby limb.  

The polka-dotted Birdo tsked from where she stood, twirling Daisy's bo staff in one hand, half a dozen clubs in the other. "Poor, poor apprentice," she said sadly. "Is this the best you can do?" 

Daisy flailed, struggling to reach the knot that the ribbon had spun around her ankle. But she couldn't reach it. "Maybe if you'd stop messin' around," she spat at Birdonna, "and fight honorably, I could show you what I can do." 

The Birdos in the surrounding trees cackled with laughter - Birdonna just shook her head, as if she were ashamed of Daisy. It made Daisy furious. 

"You don't know anything, do you?" Birdonna asked. She lifted her hands proudly, encompassing all of the Birdos in the branches around her. "In my village, we specialize in martial gymnastics, a fighting technique that uses gymnastic props, such as clubs and ribbons, to their full capacity. It is a fighting style that cannot be bested." 

"Except by Toadobuki, right?" Daisy sneered. 

Birdonna glared at her. "Toadobuki is an expert at the martial arts he teaches. I am just a beginner. Of course he can best our style." It was her turn to sneer. "But it appears an apprentice of the conventional methods that's as good as I am cannot." 

Daisy said nothing, just kept trying to reach the knot. But it was still too far away.  

"So." Birdonna stepped closer and poked Daisy in the chest with her own bo staff. "Do you surrender?" 

Rage filled Daisy. "Never!" 

Birdonna giggled. "I think you're going to have to. I don't fight unarmed foes, and you can't really fight in your..." She looked pointedly at Daisy's upside-down body. "Condition." 

"I can fight fine!" Daisy yelled. She was so furious that she saw red. She couldn't believe that she was being made fun of like this in front of an entire village of Birdos. She held her hands up before her. "Come at me!" 

Birdonna just smirked. "I believe this round goes to me." She lifted Daisy's bo staff triumphantly. The Birdos in the trees around her cheered and shouted at her victory.  

"Come, kin!" shouted the Birdo. "I propose a feast tonight in my honor!" 

"Stop!" Daisy yelled, still swinging upside-down. "I didn't surrender! I can still fight!" But the Birdos were already hopping from tree to tree, disappearing from sight as they headed back towards their village. A couple gave her sneers as they jumped by.  

"Birdonna!" Daisy yelled, incensed. "Come back!" 

But the Birdo was long gone. A few minutes later, all was quiet in the jungle. 

"COWARD!" Daisy screamed. She had never, in all her life, felt so furious, so embarrassed. She couldn't believe that a Birdo that she'd defeated twice had strung her up in the woods, humiliated her, and then run off. She should have been concerned about undoing that knot around her ankle, getting down from that tree. But honestly, only one thing was on Daisy's mind right now: 

Revenge.