Technical Panic

Professor Gadd held his machine over the area where Peach had disappeared from. Suddenly the computer set up off to the side started flashing and beeping.

“What the…” Mario muttered.

“Professor?” Luigi tapped the older man on the shoulder.

“Eh?” Gadd turned and asked before seeing the computer.

Gadd rushed over and looked at the results.

“It seems your sister-in-law was **** by a magical teleportation spell!” Gadd turned to Luigi before quickly turned back to the computer.

Toadsworth, Mario, and Luigi all shot silent looks between them as Professor Gadd continued to process the data and results. Toadsworth broke the silence as he cleared his throat loudly to get the professor’s attention.

“Ah?” Gadd looked back and asked.

“You mind going over that one more time, so the rest of us can understand it?” Luigi asked politely.

“Oh, yes, of course,” Gadd chuckled for a moment, “How did it go? ‘Once Technology has advanced to a sufficient place, it will be indistinguishable from magic.’ Well, an ancient Gomba Mage once said that or something to that effect. Either by the study of arcane forces or the application of advanced machinery, the result is the same. Someone used quantum energy fields to reach across dimensional barriers and open a portal between here and another reality designed to allow a living organic person to cross, but not dead matter or in organic material.”

“How do you figure that?” Mario asked.

“Well, these marks are from sublimation of the metal in the chair frame into a gas and then the ionization of that gas into a plasma on contact with the event field of the portal. And, the ground around it has traces of the metal from its recombination and sublimation. There are traces of proteins and some other organic material, but no traces of calcium… so it is most likely that the event field allowed the princess to pass, but her clothing; silks, wool, cotton, leather and so on, were similarly converted to plasma and back.”

“So, the princess is in another dimension, naked?” Luigi said trying to wrap his head around what the professor told them.

“Well probably not naked, whatever instigated the event would naturally have clothing waiting for her on the other side,” Professor Gadd said looking back at the grass with a magnified glass and a magnet, “Unless they were some sort of pervert or monster.”

Mario, Luigi and Toadsworth all looked between each other silently knowing the history of Peach getting kidnapped.

“Is there any way to get her back?” Toadsworth asked.

“I am not sure,” Professor Gadd said.

*

It was a moment of panic, neither side knew what they were facing. Peach had exited the passage into a sort of store room with a group of upright walking weasels in tunics. Each group was shocked. One of the weasel people screamed something and seemingly from nowhere, the weasel men pulled out curved wooden sticks and started throwing them at Peach. Peach recognized them from the Earth “Olympics” she had attended, it was an Australian hunting weapon called a “boomerang”. Peach pulled the shield up and deflected the boomerangs.

“I don’t want to fight,” Peach called out.

One of the weasel things came at her holding his boomerang over his head like a dagger. Peach pulled the short sword and swung to block the attack, slicing off the things hand.

“Shit!” Peach said.

The thing screeched and lunged at Peach. Her training as a fencer took over and she lunged, thrusting her blade into the thing’s neck. The thing turned into a bright blue light before fading, and a faint glow of blue was left on Peach’s blade.

“What the?” Peach arched her eyebrows and looked at the blade for a long second before turning her attention back to the other weasel-men, “Anyone else want some?”

Three more of the weasel-men charged while one tossed more boomerangs towards Peach. Peach switched the sword and shield between her right and left hands, using the shield on the right to ward off the thrown attacks while blocking and striking the weasel-men in their melee attacks. One by one she struck them down and finally got the one in back by throwing one of the boomerangs at him. Each had vanished in a pale blue light. Peach looked around.

“Where did they go?” Peach asked herself.

Peach spotted green gems on the ground where the things had been.

“What is this?” Peach reached to pick up a small leather bundle on the ground where the last weasel-man had been.

Peach reached out and picked up the small bit of brown leather, it was a pouch with loops on the back for a belt to go through. It flashed and disappeared from her hand and appeared on her own belt at the small of her back.

“Wow,” Peach said, “Uh… ok, that just happened.”

The handful of green gemstones all glowed for a half second and then disappeared, causing Peach to arch her eyebrows in silent surprise.

“Hmmm, I wonder,” Peach said before reaching into the pouch on her back, “Well I’ll be…”

Peach had a hand full of the green gemstone as she removed her hand from the leather pouch. She smiled and stuck them back in the small pouch.

“I guess it is like carrying a purse,” Peach mused.

Peach turned to the store room and started checking for food, weapons, and something to drink…