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. 

"Okay, let's stop here," Peach panted as they reached a small grassy clearing. Toads began falling to the ground in relief, and Perry floated up to her.  

"Princess, have you got any water?" 

Peach gave him her canteen of water, and he sucked down half the bottle. Peach downed the other half. 

A toad had fallen victim to the heat a while ago and had passed out, so Peach and Perry helped cool him off with a washcloth dipped in water while another toad went and got him some pucker buds to eat. A few others had major headaches, and since Peach didn't have any medicine, she gave them all the rest of the water. Soon, everyone was semi-satisfied and hydrated. 

"What now?" Toadonelly asked Peach. "Should we keep going?" 

Peach gazed around at the toads that were lying in the grass, fanning themselves. "No. Let's rest here a while longer. Then we can move on." 

Toadonelly nodded. "As you like." 

They rested for half an hour. The noon-day sun was still very high in the sky and was steadily beating down on them. The clearing they were temporarily camped in was protected by the lengthy boughs of the trees, but the heat was still stifling. Peach wished she were wearing a shorter skirt and sandals. 

Just as Peach was dozing off for a short nap, a loud noise rumbled through the air. She recognized it - the hoot of an owl. She was tempted not to pay it any mind - this was a forest, wasn't it? It was teeming with life-but she felt a certain doubt. For the past couple of days, she could recall hearing an owl's hoot from the camp, loud and very close by. Now, it sounded even closer than before. Almost as if its source were right beside them. 

"Princess?" Perry asked sleepily from where he was lying beside her. "What's the matter?" 

Suddenly, the branches of the trees began to shake wildly, and a couple snapped off and fell to the ground. Peach jolted in alarm as the trees' canopy ruptured, causing more falling branches. One of them fell on Toadkins' head, and he sputtered awake. 

"Gimme the money!" he squeaked, his eyes snapping open. When he realized that he was not in a western film, he rubbed his eyes and said, "Hey, what's going on?" 

Peach put a finger to her lips and looked back up into the trees. The shaking had stopped...for now. What had that been? What had the power to make the trees shake like that? 

There was a rumbling hoot from somewhere close by, and it was so loud that the ground shook. Resting toads were literally shocked out of their sleep, bumped awake by the powerful noise. They began scrambling to their feet and grabbing for their weapons.  

"Quiet!" Peach hissed, getting to her feet and moving over to the trunk of a tree. She gazed back up into the canopy of the trees. It was gone. She turned back to the toads. "Everything's all right," she said quietly. "The...owl...is gone." 

"That was an owl?!" Toader cried. "Judging from the intensity of its hoot..." 

"Yeah. That's one heck of a bird." Perry looked frightened. 

Peach nodded. "We should stay out of its way. It'll be nothing but trouble for us. For now, we should get back to our search. Let's take a path away from where that huge owl went." 

She was gathering up her cloak when a scream exploded in the air. She whipped around to the toads wildly, wondering what was wrong, but no one around her was screaming. In fact, all the toads were looking around like she was, wondering where the scream was coming from. A shriek pierced the air again, and Peach realized that it was coming from somewhere deeper into the forest - and it was the scream of a toad! 

"Someone's in trouble," Perry said as Peach felt her stomach drop. "And it sounds like its coming in the direction that owl went!!"

 ***************************************

Peach had no choice but to go against her will - it sounded like toads were in danger, and she indeed had to follow the path it looked like that giant owl had gone. She and her toads packed up immediately and headed in a very straight path northward, from which feeble screams were still echoing.  

As they hiked on, Peach told herself to breathe slowly and not to worry. Perhaps they weren't headed towards that giant owl after all. Maybe this was a direction the owl had simply flow in, heading towards a deeper part of the forest looking for prey. Prey that didn't include toads on the menu, hopefully. 

The land began to slope steeply upward and jut with crags and a conglomerate of rocks. They soon came up against a scraggly rock wall that sloped high into the air and ended with a jutting shelf at the top. Using their grappling hooks, the toads hiked up the rock wall while Peach and Perry flew to the top using the Joyful Stone. When everyone was present, Peach looked at what lay ahead. 

There was a wide, mostly clear area ahead with sprouts of thick brush and bushes popping up here and there. Tall pine trees lined the area. Near the back of the mostly-clear area was a huge pillar-shaped stone construction. Moss encroached up the smooth stone sides and leafy vines crisscrossed all the way to the top of the pillar - where there was a huge nest sitting like a throne. 

The nest was enormous. It was made out of the branches of trees and a couple of pine tree trunks. It was easily over fifteen feet in diameter. 

"You think that's that big owl's nest?" Toadonelly asked Peach. 

"Probably," Perry said. "Unless there're any other huge birds in this wood as well." 

Another scream pierced the air. Everyone craned their necks to look up at the nest. Peach was positive that the screaming was coming from it. "I think there are toads up there!" she told her team. 

"Do you think we can rescue them before the owl gets back?" Toadkins asked, glancing around nervously. 

"We can if we move it," Toader said. "While we're waiting here, that abomination of an owl could be getting closer." He rushed over to the pillar and latched on to one of the vines. Using the gaps as footholds, he began to levy himself up the scraggly wall. Two other toads grabbed on and began climbing in tandem with him. 

"Wait, Toader!" Toadonelly said. "Shouldn't we use the grappling hooks?" 

"If you wanna take the time to set 'em up, then go ahead!" Toader snapped. He was about ten feet above them now and was getting higher.  

Toadonelly bit his lip and watched his friend scale the wall.  

Peach, Perry, and the group of remaining toads watched with baited breath as Toader and the other two toads climbed higher and higher. At last, Toader reached the top. He grabbed onto a protruding tree branch and clambered higher onto the edge of the nest. His two friends struggled behind him. 

Finally, Toader disappeared over the side of the nest. 

After a moment or two, Peach heard exclamations and loud talking. It seemed as though Toader had gotten to the stranded toads! 

But after another moment, Peach heard some loud chirping. Very loud chirping. Screams and shouts rose from the nest. 

Toadonelly rushed over to the pillar. "Toader!" he shouted up to the nest. "What's going on up there? Toader?" The screams and shouts got louder and louder, as did the exuberant chirping. Toadonelly turned worriedly to Peach. "What's happening?" 

A slight wind began to blow, ruffling Peach's long hair. Slowly, she turned around to face the trees, just as an ear-rattling hoot blasted through the air. Over the cliff, about half a mile away, the trees began to ruffle and snap, as if something massive were moving through them. 

Peach's stomach sank. 

Toadkins ran over to the pillar face. "TOADER!!" he shouted upwards. "Toader! Can you hear me?! You guys have got to get back down here this instant!" 

The chirps from the nest got steadily louder, and Peach heard Toader scream. 

Peach gazed back over the cliff. The tree-shaking was getting closer and closer to their current location. "Everybody hide!" she shouted to the remaining toads, who were shivering in fear. "Get out of sight! The...mother owl is coming!" 

They didn't need to be told twice. The last two toads rushed away, diving behind some thick brush. Toadkins ran off behind them. Toadonelly began to step back, but he stopped.  

"I'm not hiding until I get them down from there!" he declared. 

Peach grabbed him by the shoulders. "We can't do anything at the moment," she told him. "Toader and his friends are strong - they'll be able to handle themselves." 

"But we can't just leave them!" Toadonelly cried. The owl was getting closer - its hoot was practically on top of them. 

"We won't!" Peach urged. "But we can't just blunder in! Let's regroup. We'll come up with a better plan and then we'll save them!" 

Toadonelly nodded reluctantly and he and Peach dashed over to the bushes and dove undercover - just as the huge owl flew up to the top of the cliff.  

She was magnificent. She had bright yellow eyes and dark auburn plumage that rimmed her eyes perfectly like a halo. Her long wings flapped harshly and stirred up a light gale that tore leaves from nearby trees. She flapped harder to gain more height and eventually landed on the top of the nest. The chirping increased as she bent over and opened her beak and Peach guessed that there were baby owls in the nest that she was feeding. A couple of screams sounded from the nest; the toads must have been terrified. 

"What do we do?" Toadonelly whispered as the remnants of the group ducked down low behind the brush. 

Peach bit her lip. She didn't know much about owls. Besides the fact that they were nocturnal creatures - they did a lot of their hunting at night. "I guess...we wait until night," Peach said quietly. "When the mother goes out hunting."