"Land ahoy! Look, guys! Vibe Island!" 

It was early the next morning, and everyone was just watching up from their hard night's sleep. But now, everyone aboard struggled to access a window so that they could look down below them. Peach and Perry squeezed together to look out a porthole. There was Vibe Island, several miles before them. It was pitifully small compared to the Mushroom Kingdom, but even from here, but it looked beautiful and exotic in the same way Hawaii or Jamaica did. Peach could see lush green forests, mountains, white clouds, beaches, and even a volcano in the distance.  

But Peach was more relieved at its presence than awed at its beauty. It was real, and it was here. Mario was within reach. 

"When do we get there?" she asked the pilot. 

" 'Bout ten minutes, Princess," he replied. "I've got to find a suitable place to land." 

"I'll take a look," a toad volunteered. He took some binoculars out of his pack and peered through the window again. "Hmm, not good...I don't see many good places to land...hey, wait a sec, what about...yeah! That'll do. Captain! Take a look. There's a huge area of plains down there that I think will work." 

Captain T took the binoculars and peered through them. "Hmm, yes, that's good. Pilot! See those green plains down there? We'll be landing there." 

"Roger that. Hold on to your hats, folks!" Slowly, Peach felt the aircraft dip slightly downward, and soon they were cruising down towards the earth. Peach grabbed her suitcase as she saw the island grow bigger and bigger as they grew closer to their destination. They were almost there! 

Suddenly, there was a loud beeping noise. In the pilot cabin, red lights flashed on the operational dashboard. 

"What's that?" Perry asked. 

"Uh oh," the pilot said. "Captain! I've got a projectile heading towards us! Half a mile out and closing in fast!" 

"What?" The captain, Perry, Peach, and Toadsworth crowded the pilot's area. Sure enough, directly out of the front windshield, there was a black dot a couple of football fields away from the plane, heading straight towards them and gaining speed fast! 

"What is that thing?" Toadsworth asked. 

"I'm not sure!" The pilot sounded worried.  

"Can we avoid it?" Peach asked. 

"Unsure about that too. We're going at a steady speed now and so is it. If we can pass before it gets to us, we're in the clear, but if not..." 

"Can we speed up?" Peach wondered, feeling her heart beginning to flutter. 

"If we pick up speed, we might crash into our landing spot or the plane might catch on fire," the captain said. "Think of it as a meteor heading down to earth-the meteor being us." 

"Then what can we do?" Perry demaded. 

The pilot and the captain looked at each other. 

"Captain!" one of the toads cried from the passenger area. His binoculars were pressed against the glass of the window. "I've identified the projectile - it's a Banzai Bill!" 

"Aw nuts," the pilot groaned. "A Banzai Bill!" Peach glanced out the window and saw that the projectile - now she could see that it was a huge bullet - was getting closer and closer - maybe 1000 feet out. 

"Is there a way of destroying it?" Toadsworth asked. 

"Sorry, Toadsworth, but this plane is strictly cargo," the pilot said. "It's not loaded with weapons of any kind." 

"We'll have to speed up then," Perry said. "We'll have to take the risk." 

"Yes," the captain agreed. "I'll load you all up with air chutes. If we speed up and the plane gets out of control, we'll just jump out and regroup somewhere else." 

"Jump!" Peach cried, going sheet white. "Will that really be necessary?" 

"I don't think we really have a choice," Perry said, not looking too happy himself. 

The Banzai Bill was even closer now - 500 feet - so that Peach could see the eyes drawn on its side. 

"Chute up, men!" Captain T cried as he handed Peach a backpack-there was a parachute inside. "If the plane loses control, we've got to jump!" 

Peach reluctantly pulled on the bookbag and grabbed her suitcase. Perry closed himself and slid into Peach's hand. Toadsworth put on his overweight bookbag too, almost falling over it was so heavy.  

"Okay, here we go!" The pilot pushed the joy-sticks forward, and the plane's speed increased dramatically. Silverware, belongings, lunchtrays, and all sorts of loose items clattered out of their positions and hit the floor. Peach lost her balance as the plane dipped forward; she tumbled to the floor. She hooked Perry's handle onto the leg of a seat and hung on. 

"You're - suffocating - me!" Perry gasped. Peach slipped her hand down to allow him to breathe, but still hung on tight.  

"Toadsworth!" Peach yelled. 

"I'm all right!" he said from the other side of the passenger area. He was jammed between two seats, but he seemed to be unharmed. The rest of the passengers were holding onto any protrusions to keep from slipping forward. The captain was with the pilot, at the front of the crazy roller coaster ride. 

"PILOT!" a toad shouted from the back - he had his binoculars out and was looking out the window again. "I think we've made it!! He just went past us!" 

"Thank goodness!" The pilot wrenched the joy-sticks upward, and Peach and Perry flew skyward from where they'd been hanging, so hard that they almost hit the ceiling. Peach's breath flew from her when she hit the floor. As soon as the plane was level, several toads hurried over and helped her to her feet. 

"Princess, are you all right?" Perry asked. 

"I'm fine." She sat up, breathing heavily. She looked around. "Is everyone unharmed?" 

"I think so," the captain said. All around, toads were getting to their feet. He turned to the pilot. "Nice work there." 

"I try, sir." The pilot looked embarrassed.  

"Thank goodness we didn't have to jump," Peach said, shrugging out of her backpack. "I'm terribly afraid of heights." 

"Isn't everyone?" Toadsworth sighed. He fell into a chair. "I'll take mine off in a second. I just...need to rest." Peach nodded at him - she was relieved that the stressful maneuver hadn't given the poor old toad a heart attack. 

Perry floated to the front. "Any idea of who shot at us?" he asked the captain. 

The captain nodded. "It must have been Bowser," he said grimly. "At least we know he's actually here, now." 

All of a sudden, the loud sirens went off again. Peach's heart leapt. "Again?" she asked. Perry floated over to join her. 

The pilot cursed. "They've sent another one at us! 400 feet out!" 

"Dive!" the captain shouted. 

"I can't! We're too close!" 

Peach rushed over to the window just to see the second Banzai Bill coming towards them, 10 feet out. 

Using all her strength, she leapt out of the way. 

There was a head-jarring explosion that racked the entire plane. Peach and the other toads tumbled hard to the floor, and the pilot was knocked out of his seat. Peach opened her eyes to see, in horror, the Banzai Bill rip through the metal wall and plow through the passenger area and out the other side, cutting the plane clean in half. 

"Toadsworth!!" Peach screamed as the sky opened up underneath her. He was stranded on the other side! She waved Perry and he reached out to grab it, but the destroyed half of the plane fell away. Peach shrieked as her side of the plane lit with fire, licking at the edges of her dress. 

"Princess!" Perry cried as the plane began to fall down, down, down. "We've got to move! This thing is going to explode!!" 

Peach grabbed his handle, and together, they leapt out of the ruined plane. As soon as they jumped, Perry popped open, and they jerked upward, higher into the sky. Moments later, their half of the plane exploded into bits below them, sending fire and smoke curling up towards them. 

Peach watched the pieces of plane fall away, stunned at how quickly things had gone downhill. She couldn't believe how their flight to Vibe Island had fallen apart so easily! How many people had been on that plane? A hundred? A hundred and three, counting Peach, Perry, and Toadsworth? And now it was just Peach and Perry... 

This was a nightmare, in every sense of the word. 

Perry seemed to be struggling to maintain height-they fell a couple feet. "Perry?" Peach sniffed, hanging onto his handle tightly. She glanced nervously downward, to the sickening height that spanned between them and Vibe Island. "What's going on?" 

"I can't - keep going!" Perry gasped, his eyes squeezed shut. They fell another ten feet, Peach's stomach jerking. "This is hard!!" 

"Try!!" Peach begged. They were still so high in the air-if they dropped now, they were good as gone. "Why don't you try closing, falling a few feet, and then opening?" 

Perry was panting. "Okay, hold on, I'll try it. Hang on!!" He closed abruptly. 

They fell like two rocks. Peach tried not to look down, but she couldn't help it-her stomach squeezed when she saw how fast the island was coming up to meet them. Perry burst open, and she was yanked upward so hard that it hurt her arms. She cried out in pain and her hand let loose of the handle. Suddenly, she was falling like a star. 

"Peach!" Perry screamed as Peach fell away, her hand reaching outward. He closed and shot down towards her until he was alongside her. Then, he snagged his hook on the hem of her dress and popped open. But it wasn't as easy this time. Peach was heavy. Perry filled with air, but they kept plummeting downward, unable to stop. 

"Perry!" Peach cried, her face cut by the wind. 

"I'm sorry Princess!" Perry said, still struggling. The wind was so powerful that he was turned inside out, and that made them fall even faster. 

Peach titled her blue eyes downward, just to see the cold Atlantic rushing up to meet them. 

She hit the water hard.