Sleep didn't come easily. Anxiety kept Peach awake most of the night, to the extent that when Toadsworth came by on his nightly rounds, he had to force Peach to stop pacing and attempt at going to sleep. 

It was around three in the morning when Peach's heavy eyelids finally gave up and she drifted to sleep. Her dreams were strange, confusing - Vibe Island hovered at the outskirts, eclipsed from sight by a dreamlike fog. 

When she awoke the next morning, she saw Perry hovering by her open door, a small pink suitcase standing beside him. 

"Gramps came by," the parasol said as Peach rubbed her eyes and climbed out of bed. "He said the General's got your hundred toads waiting for you out at the tarmac. We'll leave as soon as you're done with breakfast." 

Peach didn't think her stomach could handle breakfast - this was the day they were going to rescue Mario, after all. Her belly was all in knots. "Is that for me?" she asked, pointing to the suitcase. 

Perry nodding, grinning widely. "Yep, one of your servants packed some stuff for you. Oh, and don't forget your umbrella. Could be rainy weather where we're heading." He wiggled his handle. Peach couldn't help but grin at him. 

Peach took a quick shower before she and Perry headed down to the grand dining room, where her servants had left a large breakfast of pancakes and sausage ready and waiting for her. She took about two bites before pushing the rest away and getting to her feet.  

"Hey!" Perry protested, gesturing towards her nearly-full plate. "What about all this?" 

"Let's go, Perry," she said, offering her hand to him. Perry obediently floated into her grasp, and she grabbed her suitcase and headed into the main hall. 

Her entire housekeeping staff was there, forming two lines on either side of the hall. She paused in surprise and spotted Toadsworth at the front of the procession. 

"What's all this?" she asked. 

Toadsworth raised an eyebrow. "It's protocol," he said. "Whenever the princess leaves the throne, the servants must gather and wish her a safe journey." 

"Wow," Perry said, looking at all of the waiting toads. "I wish people cared this much whenever I left the castle." 

"This isn't necessary," Peach said, blushing slightly. "It's not like I'm going to be gone for very long." 

"Protocol is important," Toadsworth counseled. 

Still blushing, Peach followed Toadsworth down the aisle to the front doors. The servants toads bowed as she passed, saying, "Safe journey, Princess Peach!" 

Another surprise awaited her as two toad guards opened the front doors: the press was back. 

They swarmed her as soon as she stepped foot into the courtyard, surrounding her and shouting questions in her face.  

"Princess, what do you plan to do if Bowser refuses to give up Mario?" one reporter asked. 

"Are you even sure you know where this Vibe Island place is?" another demanded. 

"What will be your tactics for negotiating with Bowser?" a third questioned. 

A ring of toad guards escorted Peach towards the castle tarmac, a plane sitting at the far end, engine idling. A toad dressed in military fatigues waited for her by the plane steps, leaping to his feet and saluting sharply as she came within earshot. 

"Princess!" he said above the din of the squabbling press. "Captain T. Pleasure!" He took her hand and planted a polite kiss on her palm. "Toadsworth told us all about the mission. We're ready to get back Mario at any cost, ma'am!" 

"Thank you," Peach said. "Toadsworth, why don't you board and get comfortable? Please take my suitcase with you." 

Toadsworth obeyed and Captain T helped him pull the pink suitcase up the stairs. While they were doing that, Peach turned back to the press. 

"Excuse me?" she called, lifting her hands to gather attention. "I'd like to make a general statement." 

The press reluctantly quieted down, a forest of microphones aiming up towards her. Cameras flashed and rolled, getting her words on tape. 

"I'd like to assure you that we have strong evidence that Bowser may have taken Mario to a place known as Vibe Island," Peach said, popping open Perry and propping him over her head. "We're not sure of what jurisdiction Vibe Island lies under, but as this is a matter of our country's security, I assure you that we will use our military authority to search for and rescue our kingdom's guardian." 

"With only a hundred toads, Princess?" a reporter asked. 

"One hundred toads from our kingdom's fine military should be quite enough," Peach said firmly. "As you've seen time and time again, any one soldier of ours can crush a dozen of Bowser's." 

"But what if Bowser refuses to negotiate the release of Mario?" another toad said. 

"That's why I've commissioned one hundred toads in the first place," Peach said. "Thank you, and please wish us luck." She turned as the press began to shout and yell further questions. She only hoped that her own words proved true. 

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

Army-toads filled the plane from front to back, armed and ready for combat. They all stood as soon as Peach stepped on. 

"Thank you, you may be seated." As the toads sat, Peach said, "I'd like to thank all of you for agreeing to come with me on this military mission. I know some doubts have been cast on Vibe Island, its existence, and the unlikelihood that Bowser was smart enough to take Mario there, but I ask for your patience on this endeavor." 

A toad raised his hand - "Yes?" Peach asked him. 

"Ma'am," he said, standing and nodding respectfully as he stood. "Lemme just say that you're the boss around here, and doubtful or not, we'd follow ya to the grave." 

"Hear hear!" the rest of the toads shouted in agreement. Peach smiled, her cheeks pinkening once again.  

"Thank you," she said to the toad. Another raised his hand a second later. 

"Yes?" she said. 

"Uh, ma'am?" he asked. "Is that umbrella...smilin'?" 

Everyone craned their necks to get a better look at Perry, who hopped out of Peach's hands and did a little twirl. 

"Yep! I'm alive!" Perry said. "My name's Perry!" 

"Perry is a friend of mine," Peach explained. "He'll be accompanying us on our journey. I hope no one has a problem with that?" 

The toad who'd asked about Perry snorted. "No ma'am," he said. "Believe me, I've seen weirder."

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

Shortly after, the engine started, the plane rumbled, and soon, they were off the ground, leaving the Mushroom Castle and it's crowd of annoying press behind them. Toad Town flashed by beneath them, and soon they were flying over forests and plains and finally ocean.  

The pilot turned around in his seat. "Princess!" he called to Peach. "A word?" 

Peach, Toadsworth, and Captain T sat in the first row behind the pilot and his rig. Peach unstrapped her seatbelt and walked over, taking a seat in the empty co-pilot's chair. Perry floated right behind her. "What's wrong?" Peach asked. 

"Nothing, of course. Just trying to make sure I've got the orders straight. We're going due...west, right?" 

Perry nodded and said, "Vibe Island is an elusive, mysterious island. Even the books in the castle's ancient library didn't yield much information on it. The only concrete information we got on it is that it's located about three days directly west of the Mushroom Kingdom - it was in my great-grandfather Roland Toadstool's diary." 

The toad turned back to the controls. "Affirmative," he told the two. "All right, Princess, I'm heading west." He turned the steering joy-sticks slightly to the left, and the plane began to ease to the west.

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

Sixteen hours and counting passed. They were sailing over five thousand feet above sea level, the cold Atlantic surging beneath them. Dinner - microwaved C-rations that Peach had no taste for - had just been served, and was Peach passing the time by reading magazines and then reading more of her grandfather Roland Toadstool's ancient diary to see if he wrote any more information on Vibe Island. Perry ate some of Peach's food and busied himself with taking long naps. Toadsworth was writing some of his autobiography, often tapping a pencil on his mushroom growth when he got stuck. 

"Toadsworth," Peach said on the afternoon of the second day. "Something's been bothering me." 

"And what would that be?" 

Peach flipped through her grandfather's diary. "In this diary, my grandfather speaks of the time period where there was the rise of the Kameks in the magician's society. They'd often try to seize the Mushroom Kingdom, but my grandfather always foiled them." 

"Indeed. Your grandfather was brilliant at sorcery and a knack for strategic fighting. It was no wonder he won every battle so easily. The Kameks had power but not logic." 

"Yes. And in this time period, my grandfather got worried when the Kameks got ahold of something called the Vibe Scepter." 

Toadsworth put down his draft for his autobiography and raised a graying eyebrow. "Do tell?" 

Peach returned to page 83. "He says that the Vibe Scepter was from Vibe Island, and was one of the most powerful weapons in the land. And he says...he says that the only match for it is another powerful item called the Vibe Necklace." She closed the diary. "Remember when we tried to interview those sick toads about the castle raid? You know they all said one word in common?" 

Toadsworth closed his eyes. "'Staff'. 'Scepter'," he remembered. 

"Yes. Do you think...do you think the staff they remember in the raid is the same thing as the Vibe Scepter?" 

Toadsworth sat still for a minute, thinking deeply. "If it is," he said slowly, "then Bowser truly does have a powerful weapon at his disposal. Is he not at Vibe Island? He could have sent his men to find it and then sent a raid to the castle..." He shook his head. "Let's hope that isn't the case. Let's hope that it's just another semi-powerful entity that we can take away easily. If we're wrong though...then we have no chance of defeating him without Mario - or this 'Vibe Necklace'." 

They sat in silence as Perry ate some more of Peach's C-rations. Peach, for the first time, began to fret. She was hoping that they could go find Bowser at his Villa, snatch Mario away and give Bowser a bonk on the head, and return home. But if he had the Vibe Scepter... She didn't want to believe it, but now that she thought about it, it seemed to make sense. How else could Bowser kidnap Mario, for heaven's sake, without something as powerful as this Vibe Scepter? She didn't know what the scepter's powers were, but she knew for a fact that they overpowered her own abilities. And maybe that of 100 military toads. 

"You want that?" Perry asked, motioning his handle towards the rest of Peach's hardtack. She gave them to him and then squeezed her hands together in a silent prayer. This will work, she thought. Everything will work out. It has to.