Early Morning runs, cold showers and introductions

All of the princesses woke to the banging of metal in a sort of improvised bell and the screaming of Doctor Croft.

“Everyone up! Now! MOVE! MOVE!” she shouted from the hallway between the rooms, “Dress in Kits and grab your gear! MOVE! MOVE! MOVE!”

A few seconds later all of the princesses were in the hallway wearing a version of what Lara called her “Tomb Raider Chic”; a Latex Leopard, booty shorts, gunbelt with drop holster on each thigh, holding some form of “long gun” in their hands and their holsters packed with pistols. As soon as they were out, they were instructed to follow Lara as she started running down the hallways. They follow Lara out to the battlements and around whole outside before going back into the front gatehouse before going back out around again and making another lap. It was only on the second lap that the princesses started to wonder what was the emergency and question what was going on. Lara lead them to the garden and then barked orders for them to stand in a line under a second floor balcony.

“Good Morning ladies, enjoy your run? I suppose you would all like a spot of tea, maybe some biscuits and a nice shower, am I right?” Lara said standing before the princesses, “Well here you go…”

Just then the princesses all let out shrieks of surprise as they felt buckets worth of cold water get dumped on them.

“Alright then ladies, since you couldn’t keep your hands off what you, yourselves declared to be forbidden fruit, it looks like I am going to have to reinstall some discipline in you!” Lara crossed her arms across her chest, “You are supposed, to be royalty, princesses and effectively queens, that means you do not have time to lose yourselves to lust or other silliness. And before any of you try to pull the Lesbian discrimination card out, I will have you know I have over twenty confirmed beddings on my lesbian card already.”

Lara stopped and glared at each and everyone for a solid second before continuing to speak.

“Now, none of you can afford to lose your minds because you feel something in your panties from looking at your friends in a whole new light. You are Princess Royals, not Pub Hussies. I will hold you to no less a standard than I held myself, and that was having three boyfriends, five girlfriends, modeling gigs, internship digs, attending Officer Cadet Training for her Majesty the Queen’s, God Rest Her soul, Royal Marine Commando Regiment all while getting perfect marks in my Uni class. And that is in spite of numerous professors deciding that I needed to fail simply because I was the daughter of Lord Doctor Richard Croft.”

The princesses all were noticeably impressed, they didn’t know what to say, but fortunately, they didn’t have to come up with responses.

"Alright, You ladies wanted me to be your trainer, well I am using that authority to set tasks and conditions, you now have ten minutes to be showered and dressed in catsuits, you have fifteen minutes to be seated in the dining room or you will not be having breakfast period. MOVE!”

Lara set a timer on her watch.

*

Mario and Luigi stood silent as the Judge went back and forth with their lawyers and the lawyers for the state. They didn’t understand the legal mumbo jumbo they were using, but they understood they were talking about admission of evidence, namely Mario helping his cellmate in the night and letters of support from other people offering to be character whitnesses on their behalf.

“The defendants will stand,” the Judge said shooing the lawyers back to their tables, “I understand that you get medical aid for a fellow inmate having a medical emergency.”

“Yes Ma’am,” Mario said to the judge.

“Your Honor,” one of the Lawyers corrected.

“Yes Your Honor,” Mario corrected himself.

“Very noble,” The judge kept glaring at Mario for a long moment before turning back to something on her desk, “How every giving the seriousness of the charges I am going to deny request for bail. You are to remain remanded to custody of the state. We will see you in two weeks on the Friday after next…”

*

Bowsette strutted into the office nursing a cup of tea as she was followed by the three Dinohattanite generals behind her, in the room a row of Koopa-Troopa officers stood ready to give the morning briefing. They stood silently as Bowsette went to the chair by the desk. Bowsette looked herself over in the giant mirror next to the desk. Her blonde hair was done in a librarian’s bun and she wore a pair of black latex leggings, a black rubber corset top and knee boots. Bowsette took a seat and turned to look at the Koopa-Troopa officers.

“Any reports from the guards over night?” Bowsette asked.

“No your majesty,” one of the officers, a blue shelled Para-Koopa said.

“Any sign of our missing people?” Bowsette asked.

“No, your majesty,” another officer said.

“This is rather vexing,” Bowsette said steepling her finger tips together, “What are the statuses of our granaries and larders?”

“With our current population, enough to last until the harvest…” One of the officers said, “However many of the stores were used to make rations and sent with the forces that we have lost contact with…”

“Very Vexing Lena,” Bowsette said.

The red-haired woman in the black mock military mini-skirt and blouse moved around to rub her queen’s shoulders.

“How bad are the support industries understaffed?” Bowsette asked.

A red shelled Koopa-troopa at the end winced before giving her report.

“Your majesty, we do not have the staff to keep the farms operational until harvest,” she braced herself for a rage, “Much less to conduct harvests at these rates…”

Bowsette looked up and down the line knowing full well these were not the ones responsible.

“I find this galling,” Bowesette pronounced before taking a dramatic breath, “But, I want all offensive operations reduced to Para-Koopas and Lakitu patrols to search for our people. Reduce defensive operations to absolute minimum. Maintain the boarder fortresses and palace and minimal staff to free up people to be released for work in the support economy. Start with the deepest reserves called up first, and work your way up to my most elite forces. If we must make the most with the least, we must keep our best in place to protect us.”

“And the Mushroom Kingdom? The Kongo Bongo?” another officer asked.

“Leave them for now, any of our scouting posts that we can contact are ordered to return home as soon as possible,” Bowsette said, “I want our forces and people consolidated as much as possible for now. Once we find our people or we finish the harvests we will be in a position to strike out again… later. Pass my orders to all, and if any want to question them, sent them to my office…”

“Yes… Your Majesty,” came the terrified responses with a collective gulp.

*

Lara smiled, fourteen minutes and everyone was seated at a place at the table.

“Good, I think we are ready for breakfast Madam,” Lara turned to the senior Toadette that had taken over as the head of the castle staff.

“Of course Doctor,” the Toadette smiled and went to get the serving trays.

“I suppose that it helps that you didn’t actually have to put on your outfits,” Lara smiled, “Rather you just had to touch the powerup…”

There was a round of head nodding.

“My room had five this morning,” Jeannie Toadstool noted.

“Did I hear right? You are a doctor?” the second Daisy with the blonde dye job asked.

“Yes, Doctor Lara Croft, Lady of Croft Manor and doctor of Archeology,” Lara smiled, “I suppose we should have our newest members introduce themselves.”

The second Blonde Toadstool sister stood up, and Lara looked her over. Her hair cut shorter than the others, to above her shoulders, and the tips were dyed purple. Her triangular face was made up with purple mascara and matching lipstick, while her red eyes almost glowed like the unbacked red ruby earrings she wore. Her outfit consisted of pewter gray latex top and charcoal grey latex booty short with metallic silver gloves, white trimmed her top and shorts and a red gold framed ruby hung from a choker. Lara looked her up and down again, she was elegant and graceful at six feet tall with a slender but firm figure, and the grace of royalty with the makings of a fighter. She moved her hands as if trying to cast some sort of spell but found nothing happened.

“I think you need to use your words,” Jeannie said.

The third of the Toadstools shot the red head a spiteful glance.

“I am not a mere princess, I am the Shadow Queen,” the woman snapped, “I was killed and entombed at the height of my power, but I broke free and took this mortal woman’s body as an anchor to walk the living world once more and conqueror it.”

“I have no memory of that happening,” Peach said.

“Definitely not in my timeline,” Jeannie said.

Shadow Queen looked around confused.

“You want to tell her?” the original Daisy asked.

“Tell us how we ended up here?” the second Daisy asked.

“Well, yes,” the first Peach said, “Daisy had come for a visit, and yesterday morning, it seemed that all of the men were gone… and we found all of these strange powerups… There were these ones that looked a bit like a three tier x shaped hourglass and it seems to pull an alternate version of who ever touches it from their alternate timeline into this world. And before you ask, other power ups seem to affect ladies in a different way and I am pretty sure when I touched the hourglass last night, we were both tossed into some of those power ups so that is why you may be feeling, interesting… feelings right now.”

“You are responsible for this?” the gothic Peach hissed.

“I would remind your immortal majesty that you seem to have misplaced your powers,” Lara said calmly but as a vailed threat, “And what about you Princess, what is your story?”

“Well, doctor,” the Daisy with the blonde dye job said, “I never really got a chance to be a princess…”

“A Doctor?” Jeannie asked.

“Well, Paleontology,” Daisy said.

“Paleontology?” Peach asked.

“Yes the study of the fossilized remains of ancient life forms,” the blonde Daisy said.

“We have that?” The princess Daisy arched an eyebrow.

“Well, I have never been… here… before” Daisy gestured to everything around her, “I was abandoned as a baby and grew up in New York City…”

“New York City? With Brooklyn?” the three princesses all snapped.

“Yes,” the Blonde Dasiy said surprised at how animated the other three became.

“Did you meet a pair of plumbers…” Peach started.

“Mario and Luigi?” the other Daisy added.

“Yes, if fact, they saved Dinohattan from Koopa…” Daisy said.

“What?” was the collective response.

“Dinohattan, is that like Dino world?” Jeannie asked.

“I guess so,” the Blonde Daisy said, “It was really just an alternate Manhattan island surrounded by endless wastelands where the Dinosaurs survived and evolved when the meteor that caused the KT extinction event killed the rest of them on our world.”

“There is an island of dinosaurs?” Lara asked.

“Sort of, yes, most of them now are like me… I mean, what kid didn’t feel like they didn’t belong, and I always chalked it up to being an orphan…” the blonde Daisy sputtered.

“You are a dinosaur?” The brunette Daisy shouted.

“Sort of,” the blonde Daisy shrugged, “Like I said, they evolved, I grew up like anyone other human girl…”

“I think you will find they can partly relate, but don’t have familiarity with many of the same cultural references as we would share,” Lara said calmly.

There were nods.

“This is where I grew up,” Peach said.

“I was raised by the kings of Sarasaland,” the First Daisy said.

“I grew up in an alternate Mushroom kingdom,” Jeannie said.

The Shadow Queen just watched while eating the breakfast before her.

“So are all of the people here…” Daisy started only to finish by pointing a fork at a Toadette walking around.

“Yes, mostly,” Peach said, “The Toads are the native people of the Mushroom Kingdom. At the moment only the Toadettes are around, like previously stated, the Toads are missing…”

*

A cassino in Reno,

“Are you sure we didn’t have a convention for midgets on the schedule Jim?” the blonde man asked his partner behind the security kiosk.

“Yep, nothing on the schedule, they all just showed up yesterday and checked in Steve,” Jim said looking at out the cassino floor.

“How are they paying for all of this?” Steve asked.

“They paid in advance with one pound gold coins,” Jim answered.

“Are they causing any trouble?” Steve asked.

“So far they are just enjoying the card tables, the slots and the buffets, minding their manors…” Jim said.

“Hi there,” One of the mushroom headed midgets said walking by.

“Hi’ya” Jim and Steve tipped their cowboy hats in unison.

They watched the little guy walk towards a bathroom.

“Was that fella wearing pajama pants and a vest?” Steve asked.

“That is what it looked like…” Jim responded.

“Are you sure we didn’t have a convention for midgets on the schedule?” Steve asked again.

*

“I dread to think of how scared they must be,” Peach continued, “Toadsworth must be going insane…”

*

“Mister Toadsworth? Here is your Pinacolato and bottle of water sir,” a waiter said coming up with his drinks.

“Oh thank you, can you place them,” the older Toad and adviser to the crown of the Mushroom looked up from his book and pointed at the small table to his side.

“Here you go sir,” the waiter said, “If you don’t mind me saying, but you seem to be enjoying your book. What is the title?”

“Oh,” Toadsworth half closed the book so the front cover was exposed, “Collected Stories of Reno, a living historical account. Fascinating stuff.”

“Reno has a interesting history sir,” the waiter said.

Toadsworth reached in his pocket and pulled out at paper bill and handed it to the waiter. The waiter took and smiled before nodding and backing away before looking and realizing it was a fifty-dollar bill.

*

Peach shook her head and tried to gather her thoughts.

“If I may?” Lara spoke up, “I think as Princess Royals you may want to take this morning to reassess your economic policies. A castle cannot keep a Siege stance indefinitely.”

Peach nodded and looked at Jeannie.

“Would you mind helping me?” Peach asked.

“My pleasure,” Jeannie said to be polite.

“I think Shadow and Dina here need remedial lessons since they missed out on yesterdays training,” Lara said indicating The Shadow Queen Peach and the Dinosaur Daisy.

“I suppose I should help Peach,” Daisy said.

“And Remember, now is the time for work, not play…” Lara said with a stern look.

*

“Doctor Daisy,” Lara said leading the two women and the group of Toadettes out into the garden turned shooting range, “How familiar are you with firearms?”

“Vaguely,” Daisy said, “Outside of the De-evolvers from Koopa’s armories, being a law-abiding New Yorker and not a member of the police, I didn’t have any real access to guns in the city.”

“I take it you do know what the muzzle, trigger and safety are in general terms?” Lara asked stopping at one of the stone tables placed at what was made into the firing line.

“Yes, in vague terms,” The Blonde Daisy said.

“Well in that case, I will entrust you to walk the range and inspect the targets and the backstops with the Toadettes while I go over the parts with your Royal counter part,” Lara said smiling to Daisy.

“Sure, come on girls,” Daisy said unsure how else to address the Toadettes as they started walking down the grassy lawn.

Lara waited for them to walk off before turning to the grey clad Princess Peach clone.

“Well your Majesty,” Lara said, “I know you want to run with the whole big bad, Alpha bitch, I am in charge act… But I can read you like a book… You are imagining me holding you down in a bed and going to town between your legs. Oh yes, I can pick up on your Pillow Princess Fantasies, you want some other girl to tie your hands and ankles to the head board and go to town and eat you out while fingering your needy bottom like a cheap hussy.

The Shadow Queen tried to remain stoic, but Lara smirked as she started blushing despite herself.

“I don’t fuck my students,” Lara said, “So the quickest way to make that fantasy at least have a hint of possibility is to pay attention, get good marks and graduate from my classes, deal?”

“What makes you think I wouldn’t run off and join the Koopas in the Darklands?” Shadow asked.

“I know you and I know their type too… Neither of you would tolerate having any rivals getting in the way of being the head honcho and without your magic, you know you wouldn’t stand a chance of winning,” Lara laid out the math.

“Fine, at least not everyone around here is some sort of ugly turtle monster,” The Shadow Queen said looking at the Dinosaur Daisy walking around the berms.

“Good now that we have that covered,” Lara grabbed a piece of wood with a series of diagrams drawn on it, “Lets start with the basic parts of firearms. They all have a metal pipe called a barrel, like this, that and that… and the end the projectiles come out are called a muzzle, as marked there, there and there…”

{Wackjob's note... Yes that is the Shadow Queen Peach from the Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door game and the Princess Daisy from the 1993 Live Action Super Mario Bros movie... I was planning on having an alternate Shadow Queen Peach as part of the royal cast for some time and have been using Scarlett Johansson as a base to separate her in AI prompts for ideas from other blonde Peaches.}